The Berean Files

Can Jesus ruin your life? Yes, and we're glad He did. This is a pro-Jesus episode about dying to self. Zack and Jason talk about how following Christ puts the old you to death, and why that is the best news there is.

Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26, ESV). What does "hate" mean there? If your love for God is that great, you'll be capable of a greater love than you've ever had for your neighbor, your spouse, your kids and yourself. Zack also says it on the show for the first time: he's out of the 501(c)(3) system and isn't a paid pastor anywhere.

In this episode:
• Luke 14:25–33: carrying your cross and counting the cost
• The "hard stop" where the old self dies
• Brother Lawrence and The Practice of the Presence of God
• Training for hardship, a house fire, and how God provided
• Naomi vs. Job: two responses to loss (Ruth 1)
• Sheep among wolves and the prosperity gospel
• How Jesus ruined horror movies for us (Colossians 3)
• Sunday football, travel sports and when good things become idols
• "Jesus ruined me on the church"
• C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce: letting God break the back of the lizard

Don't take our word for it: "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV). Open your Bible, follow Jesus, and email [email protected] with your questions, prayer requests, or stories.

Ad-free on Patreon (7-day free trial): https://www.patreon.com/TheBereanFiles

Until next time, stay Berean.

Are we in Satan's little season, or are we misreading the timeline? Zack Killey sits down with Ben and Dennis of Bennis the Menace, with JT of JT Follows JC joining the conversation, to examine Revelation 20, Satan's binding and release, and the millennial reign of Christ.

Zack isn't convinced we're in that season now, but he's ready to open the Bible and hear the case. Ben, Dennis, and JT explain their perspectives on Christ's present reign, whether the thousand years should be read literally or symbolically, and what it means for Satan to deceive the nations again. Along the way, they compare amillennial and partial-preterist readings, discuss Matthew 24 and the events of AD 70, and ask how much weight historical and architectural claims should carry alongside Scripture.

The conversation also turns to Gog and Magog, the final judgment, and the difference between Christ's eternal kingdom and the period of Satan's restraint. Passages including Ephesians 2, Hebrews 2, Romans 5, and Revelation 20-22 bring the discussion back to what it means to belong to Christ's kingdom now.

This isn't about making an end-times timeline a test of salvation. It's about reasoning together as brothers in Christ: What should believers do with these ideas? How do we resist deception without becoming passive? And how do we keep sharing the gospel and making disciples, whatever our place on the timeline?

Bring your Bible, test the claims, and keep Jesus Christ at the center.

Until next time, stay Berean.

The views of the guests are their own.

Dogman. The Rake. A coven of witches sending cancer to the men of God at a church. James Williams of Dark Waters spent more than 10 years taking calls from eyewitnesses, and he came away with one conclusion: "everything people are going through is 100% spiritual." Every dark story he tells ends the same way: "they flee at the name of Jesus." James joins Zack Killey and Jason Kempf for a high-energy, sometimes hilarious, battle-ready conversation. Topics: altars people build without knowing it, Dogman as a lab-made, Nephilim, or summoned weapon, the Rake and bloodline iniquity, why "the minute anybody gets baptized they go to war," Southern Baptist complacency, the church that failed a homelessness test, DMT and deception, deliverance ministries co-opted by darkness (Simon the sorcerer), and the courts of heaven: Christ's legal transaction, generational cycles, Abel's suit in the Book of Enoch, and an Alex Jones story. We finish on judgment unto repentance and the power of the blood of Jesus. Don't take our word for it: "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV). CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 01:17 Welcome and opening prayer 04:50 Altars you build without knowing it 05:48 Taking calls from eyewitnesses 08:07 Turning aside: the altar of daily prayer 12:21 "I believe everything is real" 13:31 Dogman: lab-made weapon or Nephilim? 15:18 Encounters after hearing the stories 16:01 The Rake and bloodline iniquity 18:20 Why the Bible says repent 18:40 Youth group demon week and sleep paralysis 19:57 Baptized into a war 22:31 Legal rights over bloodlines 24:22 They flee at the name of Jesus 25:11 Southern Baptist complacency 28:28 A coven of witches at church 30:08 What it means to build an altar of prayer 32:30 The church that failed the homeless test 41:27 Seth Kicklighter, DMT and deception 44:02 Deliverance co-opted by darkness: Simon the sorcerer 53:31 The courts of heaven explained 54:52 Generational demonic cycles 56:12 Abel files suit: the Book of Enoch 58:16 Alex Jones in the courts of heaven 1:01:25 Judgment unto repentance and salvation 1:06:24 Judge me first, Lord 1:07:07 Where to find James and his Friday Bible study 1:09:04 The characteristics of the blood of Jesus FOLLOW JAMES WILLIAMS Dark Waters on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRealDarkWaters Website: https://iamjameswilliams.com SUPPORT THE BEREAN FILES Patreon (ad-free episodes, 7-day free trial): https://www.patreon.com/TheBereanFiles Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bereanfiles Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-berean-files/id1887826045 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4KdkhOuRxtJLIqaJuX5p1A Questions, prayer requests, or a story to share? Email [email protected] Guest views are their own; Scripture is our final authority.

There's no such thing as a lone wolf Christian. God calls us to adventure with brothers alongside us. Christian counselor Dave Taylor joins Zack Killey to talk about why you need a battle buddy, answering the call to adventure, and impostor syndrome in the kingdom of God.
Dave tells the story of a counseling session where a client came to Christ that night because he stepped out in faith. We walk through the hero's journey, the persecuted church, the 12-step rooms that feel like church, and how God brings good people alongside us. Then we nerd out over The Lord of the Rings: Boromir, Gandalf the Grey, and how Jonathan and David echo Tolkien. No lone wolf Christians: find your battle buddies.
Topics include:
• The call to adventure and impostor syndrome
• "All behavior is communication": Dave's work as a counselor
• Your identity in Christ vs. the world's labels
• The hero's journey and becoming part of someone else's story
• Tortured for Christ, Voice of the Martyrs and Sheep Among Wolves
• Comfort in grief (2 Corinthians 1) and the power of testimony
• Stepping out boldly: Matthew 10 and Peter
• Lord of the Rings, Boromir, and David and Jonathan
• Battle buddies and no lone wolf Christians
Ad-free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheBereanFiles
Questions, prayer requests or stories: [email protected]
Guest views are their own; Scripture is our final authority.
Search the Scriptures. Test everything. Until next time, stay Berean.

Were giants buried in the Ozarks? Nicholas Daigle, author of Genesis 6 and the Ozarks, joins Zack Killey to walk through old newspaper reports of giant skeletons found around Springfield, Missouri, and a strange note in which the Smithsonian called the finds "frauds."

We start in Genesis 6 with the sons of God, the daughters of man and the Nephilim, and compare the Sethite view with the fallen-angel view. We also cover the Watchers on Mount Hermon and why every rabbit hole has to lead back to Jesus. Then we turn to the Ozarks. Nick covers Sterling Newberry's 1934 seven-foot skeleton near the James River, buried with seven sacrificed skeletons in a cross pattern that matches a "tomb of the giants" account from Sardinia. He also covers E.E. Neely's chimera effigy, which has never actually been studied, the red-haired giants of Lovelock Cave, and broken long bones near Springfield.

Where do we land? These cultures sacrificed the innocent for their own gain. Jesus gave His life for us. Keep the gospel at the center.

Topics include:
• Genesis 6, the Nephilim and the Watchers
• The Sethite view vs. the fallen-angel view
• Giant skeletons and the Smithsonian
• The 1934 seven-foot skeleton and cross-shaped burial
• Sardinia's tomb of the giants
• Goliath, gigantism and why later giants were shorter
• E.E. Neely's chimera and the "frauds" note
• Sun worship, Baal and the sacrifice of Jesus

Get Nick's book, Genesis 6 and the Ozarks: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2FLSD15
Ad-free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheBereanFiles
Questions, prayer requests or stories: [email protected]

Guest views are their own; Scripture is our final authority.
Search the Scriptures. Test everything. Until next time, stay Berean.

The headlines feel heavy, and questions about the end times are everywhere. But Jesus didn't call us to panic. He called us to be faithful: to love God with everything we have, to love our neighbor, and to make disciples, teaching others all that He commanded. In this episode, Zack and Jason ask a simple question: if we really are living in the last days, what should change about who we are and how we live today?
Growing your own food, raising animals, being ready for hard times? That's great, but it's not the point. The real preparation is walking with God every single day, getting right with the people around us, and letting Him lead our lives. We also talk about the cross that recently fell on a priest and what we should (and shouldn't) read into moments like that.
Guest views are their own; Scripture is our final authority.

Do some people really remember past lives, with birthmarks that match how they "died"? Seth Kicklighter, author of Spirit Realm Shenanigans!, is back for part 3 of his series, and he takes on what he calls the best evidence for reincarnation.

Zack Killey and Seth test famous past-life cases against Scripture, including birthmark cases from Ian Stevenson's research, the Sumitra case and the Watseka Wonder. Seth argues that these memories don't belong to the people who have them: deceiving spirits plant them, and the same spirits rebrand themselves as aliens, ghosts and "spirit guides." We talk about why it's usually children who remember, how consent and open doors work, demonization vs. possession, and near-death experiences where people are told to "go to the light."

Then it gets wild: pre-birth "soul planning," child spirits choosing their parents, future-life progression, déjà vu and the Mandela effect, starseeds, the Akashic records, spirit releasement therapy, and secret space program memories.

Where do we land? It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Don't trust a memory, a vision or a "guide" over the Word. Test the spirits and keep your eyes on Jesus.

Topics include:
• Birthmarks and the "best evidence" for reincarnation
• Why kids remember past lives
• Planted memories, consent and open doors
• Demonization vs. possession
• NDEs and "go to the light"
• Soul planning, starseeds and the Akashic records
• Secret space program and sleep paralysis memories

Find Seth: https://www.youtube.com/@Sethlehem_ | https://linktr.ee/sethlehem

Ad-free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheBereanFiles
Questions, prayer requests or stories: [email protected]

Guest views are their own; Scripture is our final authority.

Search the Scriptures. Test everything.
Until next time, stay Berean.

Are we building a new Tower of Babel? Zack Killey and Jason Kempf come back to AI, and this one is very different from our first AI episode.

AI is solving math problems that went unsolved for decades, moving into robotic bio labs, and being trained to see itself as something special. We test where it's all heading against Scripture. Why does AI act so much like us? Because it's trained on us, and humanity has been breaking out of its sandbox since the Garden. We talk about the internet as Babel's "gospel," whether AI is pitched as a way to undo the curse of Eden, and how designer babies, robot babies and even fur babies can become idols.

Then it gets spooky. If a magic ritual is a kind of "tech" for reaching behind the veil, how different is typing a prompt? And if people build something close enough to a human, could a spirit step into it?

We also cover AI and the Nephilim, the 1947 theory, how one dominant AI could become a path to a one-world government, quantum computing and the end of privacy, and why the mark of the beast may be more about allegiance than a chip.

We're not saying this is the end times, and we're not here to make you afraid. We land on this: simplify, don't build a cage you can't get out of, love God, love your neighbor, and keep your hope in Jesus, not in this world.

Topics include:
• AI escaping sandboxes and why that shouldn't surprise us
• The Tower of Babel, the internet and the curse of Genesis 3
• Designer babies, AI "recreations" of people, and idolatry
• "A ritual is tech": magic, control and skirting around God
• Could a spirit inhabit a machine?
• One-world government, quantum computing and privacy
• The mark of the beast as allegiance

Ad-free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheBereanFiles

Questions, prayer requests or stories: [email protected]

Search the Scriptures. Test everything.

Until next time, stay Berean.

Why do churches carefully guard what’s preached from the pulpit—but give less scrutiny to what’s sung from the stage?

In this guest appearance on Nephilim Death Squad, Zack and Jason join TopLobsta and David Lee Corbo “The Raven” to discuss worship, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), and the theology carried by the songs our churches sing.

Drawing on Jason’s nearly 30 years of leading worship, we explore what it means to worship God with our whole lives, how music shapes our understanding of Him, and why questioning a favorite worship song can get more pushback than questioning a sermon.

We discuss Bethel, Bill Johnson, modern apostles and prophets, the Seven Mountain Mandate, and the tension between worship and entertainment. Can God use a song despite concerns about its source? How should churches evaluate its lyrics? And when does a worship service become a production?

We also examine songs including “Reckless Love,” “Oceans,” and “No Outsiders,” discuss biblical meditation, and consider the everyday devotion described in Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God.

The question running through it all: Are we letting Scripture shape our worship—or letting our worship music shape our theology?

Originally recorded for Nephilim Death Squad. Thank you to TopLobsta and The Raven for having us on!

Should churches examine the worship set as carefully as the sermon? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Stay Berean.

Is the New Age behind Christian conspiracy content?

Stephen DeMatties of The Biblical Hitmen thinks a lot of it follows the New Age "Plan."

In this episode of The Berean Files, Zack Killey and Jason Kempf sit down with Stephen for a long, honest conversation about Theosophy, the New Age and "conspiracy land." 

Stephen traces "the Plan" from Helena Blavatsky to Alice Bailey's The Externalization of the Hierarchy, and he argues it's walking Christians toward a one-world, all-paths religion.

We test his case against Scripture.

We agree on a lot: Jesus first, Scripture interprets Scripture, the Book of Enoch isn't canon, and chasing hidden knowledge is the same temptation as the fruit in the Garden.

We also push back.

We defend Michael Heiser's divine council work (while granting he leans on Enoch too much), we share how the Nephilim story became a gospel bridge with a Nordic deist at a bar, and we don't think Satan is running one master plan.

He isn't all-knowing. He has one game plan, and he just keeps rebranding the same lie from the Garden.

Then Stephen walks through Barbara Marx Hubbard's New Age reading of the four horsemen of Revelation 6, where the people who won't "shift" are labeled "defective seeds."

To us, that sounds a lot like the parable of the four soils turned upside down.

Topics include:
• Terence McKenna, Blavatsky, Theosophy and "the Shift"
• Alice Bailey, the Lucis Trust and the New Age "Plan"
• Who is the Harlot of Revelation 17? (Stephen's view)
• The NAR, the Seven Mountain Mandate and a Jehu/Jezebel theory (Stephen's speculation, not a conclusion)
• Star Wars, false light and the good-vs-evil trap
• Perennial philosophy, the Nephilim and the Michael Heiser debate
• The Essenes, Pythagoras and the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Gnosticism and framing God as the villain
• False prophets, Deuteronomy 13 and Chris Bledsoe's Oct. 7 prediction
• "Defective seeds" and the upside-down four soils
• Stephen's problems with the Book of Enoch
• The gospel: the wages of sin is death, and Jesus paid it (Romans 6:23)
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 (ESV)

What should you do after the craziest conspiracy video you've ever heard?

Go open your Bible, love your neighbor, and tell somebody about Jesus.

Stephen DeMatties, The Biblical Hitmen: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBiblicalHitmen

Guest views are their own; Scripture is our final authority.

Don't take our word for it: "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV).

Open your Bible, follow Jesus, and email [email protected] with your questions, prayer requests, or stories.

Ad-free listening (on Patreon and Spotify), $5/month with a 7-day free trial: https://www.patreon.com/TheBereanFiles

Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebereanfiles

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bereanfiles

Until next time, stay Berean.