Friday, August 1, 2025

Hey there, Friend

This one’s a short, breezy edition of the Smart Edit—hope you’re catching some summer winds in your sails.

It’s the Smart Edit!
The Gospel of the Kingdom hits hard in a soft world (and a soft church).

This issue—The test of a real testimony, exposing the spirit of elimination.

P.S. — Some breezy info about roller coasters.

Confirmed or counterfeit? The test of a real testimony.

Each week, we highlight a Kingdom Dynamic: a key insight into how God’s Kingdom works in real life …

Brian—While putting this together, I can’t help but think this might not be the easiest way to win over newsletter readers—truth be told, I’m struggling to win myself over with this!

Do people sense you and I are from the future?

We’re not just called to believe in Jesus—we’re called to embody the age to come. Peter writes, “Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3.15).

But here’s the thing. Hope isn’t just a nice feeling. It’s a horizon, pulling us forward. It's a disruptive, innovative force that challenges the DESPAIR AND CHOS OF NOW.

Hebrews 6 says we taste the powers of the coming age. Not someday. Now. That means our lives should carry evidence of the future aspect of the complete Kingdom, breaking into the present.

The question is: Is the testimony of Christ being confirmed in you? As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.6, “even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.”

What does that mean? Is it possible to be a Christian (or at least think we are) without the testimony of Christ being “confirmed” in us? Gritty question. 😬

Because the testimony of Jesus—which the Spirit calls the spirit of prophecy in Revelation 19.10—declares something boundless in time-bound moments.

Here’s that gritty question again in another form: How many who claim to follow Christ are walking around with unconfirmed testimonies—no power, no separation, no prophetic edge, no future sense?

We’re not in the World’s Blender. We’re here to live like citizens of what’s coming, even while the world burns with counterfeit narratives and culture rot.

The future belongs to Jesus. And He’s calling us to live like it’s already spilling into our time (this is meant to be a witness of Jesus and what’s coming).

Help me to live like I’m from the future, Holy Spirit. I’m an ambassador of that completeness … the fullness of Christ and his Kingdom. Amen.

SIgn up for the Smart Edit here.

Spiritual Recon: Exposing the Spirit of Elimination

We’re witnessing a brutal surge in assassination culture going mainstream. It’s an undercurrent of violence rising fast, especially among the young.

Even former FBI Director James Comey casually floated “86ing” the sitting President—a term straight from the underworld meaning to eliminate.

🩸 That kind of rhetoric has now bled into pop culture: t-shirts, memes, hashtags. It’s no longer fringe. Rather, it’s feed-worthy.

A dark digital underworld is metastasizing like an aggressive cancer. A toxic network is spreading. It’s reportedly tied to crimes against minors, extortion, and child sexual abuse material. And it’s gaining traction.

• Suit up on God’s armor and wield truth/reality like a weapon.

• Engage spiritual reconnaissance.

• Expose the darkness, call out its lies.

• Reclaim our culture for life and human flourishing.

Download Demonic Violence Fueled By Technology (via IFApray.org).

Father … That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith" (Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3.2 NKJV). Holy Spirit, convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jesus in Gospel of John). Amen.

📩 SIgn up for the Smart Edit here.