Hey friends, this is Michael Bohm with Youth Apologetics Training. Today, we're going to finish this series on Jediism. It's been kind of fun, actually. But we'll finish the series off today, and tomorrow we're going to get back to the Word of Faith series. I'm very serious about that series. The Word of Faith movement is tearing the Church up from within. But anyway, let's... So let's continue to have a little bit of fun before we get serious. We're looking at Jediism, what they believe, and well, perhaps even a little bit on how to reach them. So with that, let's go ahead and jump right in. Jedi believe that the dark side exists but refuse to dwell on it or follow it or use it in any way. The dark side is a negative energy also known as the negative power or dark energy. The dark side is considered to be evil, negative, the opposite of good, and is never to be followed or used by the Jedi. Three, the Jedi serve the living force. Jedi serve the living force and never serve the dark side in any way, shape, or form. Jedi are serious about their service to the force and are not thrill seekers or adventure seekers, as you see in the movies. They are serious about following the Jedi teachings in their own lives because the Jedi teachings lead to personal growth and help them to be conscious of their connections to the living force which is within. Number four, certain Jedi are stronger with the force than others. Number five, Jedi live in the present moment. And we already kind of talked about that. Six, Jedi can feel the force. Jedi are Force-sensitive people and are experts at feeling energy. Our senses and our scattered minds can block us from feeling the Force. But it's always there. Jedi are equally sensitive to dark energy or negative energy and know how to avoid it and to protect themselves from it. Seven, Jedi trust their feelings or intuitions. We kind of talked about that. Eight, Jedi practice meditation to achieve a calm mind. We talked about that. That is very, I mean, that is what you see in Buddhism. Clear your mind. Nine, Jedi practice awareness and are mindful of their thoughts. 10, Jedi have patience. 11, Jedi protect and defend the helpless. I'm cool with that. Number 12, Jedi avoid acting on dark side emotions like fear, anger, and aggression and hate. So the Jedi stay physically fit for many reasons. Okay, cool. Fourteen, lightsaber dueling. Lightsaber dueling is the Jedi sport of choice. Jedi duel with lightsaber replicas to practice living in the present moment. It's hard to think about the past or the future if you are dueling with a lightsaber. Lightsaber practice actually has a multitude of benefits. Dueling helps improve a Jedi's coordination, flexibility, and balance because when dueling with a lightsaber, it becomes an extension of you. It's a good form of cardiovascular exercise, too. The real lightsaber only exists in the Star Wars universe. Thank you for that. But for the Jedi, the lightsaber is a powerful symbol that represents alertness, mindfulness, agility, discipline, skill, and living in the present moment. Fifteen, Jedi believe in destiny. I'm going to read that. Jedi don't believe in coincidences. Jedi trust in the wheel of the force and accept the fact that nothing happens by accident. Jedi believe in destiny and that there is some method to what happens in the universe. Things happen when they are meant to happen. There is perfection. Nothing happens by accident. There is a soul plan for every person but it's hard to understand these things from our level. Huh. 16. Jedi believe in letting go of their attachments. Jedi work on letting go of their attachments and train themselves on this. That whole minimalistic movement. Kind of interesting, actually. There's a little something to the minimalistic movement where they're trying to get rid of their stuff. And I say that with a little disgust on my face. I've got a basement full of dusty stuff. Junk. And I've been throwing it away like crazy. And I'm not a minimalist, but seriously, good grief, man. The stuff, get rid of the stuff. Anyway, stop buying stuff. You don't need all that stuff. Okay. 17, Jedi believe in life after death. Well, this is interesting. Jedi believe that the soul survives death. Jedi do not obsessively mourn those who pass. There will always be some mourning and missing of that person, which is only natural. But Jedi avoid the extremes of mourning that can be so debilitating, negative, and destructive. Jedi trust the Force to take care of our departed loved ones and let go. Huh. Again, I just don't see where this movement has really thought things through. I mean, where did they go? Where did they come from? Didn't we just hear earlier that our soul is part of the force? So what, they just, they join the collective consciousness of the force again? Again, this doesn't, this worldview doesn't make any sense. But anyway, let's move on. Jedi use the force for good works. 19, Jedi have compassion. 20, Jedi believe in peace and justice. Jedi are humble and believe that they can always work on improving themselves. Okay. 22, Jedi believe in service to others and are selfless. That's cool. 23, Jedi are devoted to their mission in life. Jedi are devoted to accomplishing their mission in life Sometimes this requires great discipline, sacrifice, incredible focus and patience, inner strength, and a strong sense of duty for accomplishing the mission. But first, a Jedi must determine what his or her mission will be by deep soul searching and meditation. Here we go, we're back to Buddhism. You determine and choose what your mission will be. You decide it for yourself. Then you prioritize or decide how important it is for you to accomplish your mission. 24, Jedi are always mindful of the force. 25, Jedi work for mutual advantage or symbiosis. What do they mean by that? Jedi try to live in harmony with those around them and believe in mutual trust and respect. 26, Jedi believe in the law of attraction. Very interesting. This is creeping into the church right now. What is it? Jedi believe in the Law of Attraction, which is basically this, whatever you ask for and firmly believe, you will receive. The Force will bring us whatever we continue to think about, even if we are unconscious of it. This makes it extremely important to always be aware and mindful about what we are thinking about and what we are asking for. This is huge in the Word of Faith movement. This is the subject of that book, The Secret, by I can't remember her name at this moment. But you guys know what it looks like. Every Walmart's got it up on the shelf of bestsellers. It's that book that's got that little stamp on the front, the red stamp in wax. It's called The Secret. And it's this law of attraction, this idea that your thoughts and your words can change the universe around you. And I don't mean like, you know, convincing somebody to do something or convincing somebody that there's something. I'm talking about you thinking and speaking words to the cosmos and attracting the thing that you've spoken forth to you. And I mean in a supernatural way, okay, not naturalistic physical way. And we're talking about a supernatural realization of what you are speaking and thinking. So, For example, you could believe and continue to confess and speak forth riches into your life, or a brand new red Corvette, or you could speak forth the fact that you really are not dying of cancer and that you're perfectly healthy, and somehow that's gonna bring health to you. Now, there is something to say for having a positive attitude when you've got a nasty sickness. Sure, sure. You know, even the Bible says, I'm totally butchering this, but something to the effect of, a glad heart is good for the bones, or something like that. I totally butchered that. I apologize. But you know what I'm saying, right? You guys have all read that scripture. But yeah, this is creeping into the Word of Faith movement, and the Word of Faith movement is huge. In fact, we're interrupting the series on Word of Faith right now. But this whole idea that our words can attract cosmic assistance to us and thus change our lives to the better for whatever we're asking for, thinking about. So there you have it. Jedi believe in the law of attraction. 27 Jedi believe in democracy, but usually don't trust politics, but usually don't trust politicians. Oh, they do tend towards the dark side of the force, don't they? I mean, you know, politicians. Politics. Can somebody define politics for me? I'll define it for you. Poly. It's the word part that means many. Ticks. Blood-sucking insects. Politics. I have just defined politics for you. Let's move on. 28. Jedi believe that they need to bring balance to the force within. Jedi believe that They need to bring balance to the force within and not wait around for a chosen one to do it. If our minds are negative, then the force flowing through us will seem negative too. Our consciousness will seem negative and dark. If our minds are clear and wholesome, then the force flowing through us will be clear and natural. If our minds are clear and wholesome, then the force flowing through us will be clear and natural. We will be full of goodness and light. Jedi are responsible for balancing their own minds so that their minds are clear, good, positive, wholesome, and stay on the side, on the light side. This will serve to bring balance to the force within us so that the light side is dominant. Okay. Yeah. Think positive. No, really. I mean, the Bible does talk about Filling your mind full of good things, virtuous things, whatever's lovely, whatever's pure, whatever's perfect, whatever's virtuous, and on and on it goes. Yeah, fill your mind with good things. Don't be dwelling on bad stuff. Don't be thinking about your next sin. Okay? Dwell on that which is pure and holy. That's the difference here. The Jedi are looking at good things, sure, wholesome, good, positive, that's cool, but holy. They're not. So anyway, moving on, 29, Jedi train on oneness or union with the living force. Again, pantheism, collective consciousness, that whole idea. The highest purpose of life is to train on becoming one with the living force. This is considered immortality. Religions call it by different names, like enlightenment, self-realization, or God-realization, but it's the same thing. Huh, syncretism. 30. Jedi believe in and are part of the Jedi Order. Okay, we already kind of got that feeling, but okay. 31. Jedi can see the future through the Force. Through the Force, Jedi see both near-term and long-term future events. Futures seeing abilities are sometimes a result of meditation. No, I'm not buying that. Yes, Satan, you know, God does mention in the Old Testament that he will allow Satan to give you foresight at times, but no. No, there's no Jedi that has the predictable power, the ability to specifically call out future events to predict the precise day hundreds, and in one case, 2,000 years in advance, calling out the specific day that an event would happen. The force does not have the predictable power to call out the name of an event, an individual hundreds of years in advance, who will let the Jews go. The Force does not have the ability to predict specific characteristics and parts, pieces, locations, all kinds of really specific details about a coming Messiah, one who will come and die for his people, for their sins, taking their punishment. No, the Force doesn't have that. And if any of you out there who are Jedis and believe you have that ability, and actually have had success in this. First of all, I'd like to point out that 99.9% of the time you're wrong and you know it, and you've probably got some lucky guesses, and statistically, you were playing games that statistically you're gonna get right. I mean, even a broken clock is right twice a day, right? But no, keep in mind that Satan will grant people abilities from time to time, but I I kind of doubt that he's even really moving a whole lot within this movement. It's just not happening. So no, I don't buy that. 32. Jedi can feel disturbances in the Force. If Jedi are mindful and are consciously connected to the Force, they can feel disturbances in the Force. Feeling Force disturbances usually happen after there has been some type of disaster or a loss of life. Dude, if that's the case, you should be feeling a disturbance of the Force every stinking day with all of the babies that are being slaughtered in the womb across the planet. Non-stop. Every day. Okay? And all of the things that are being done that grieve God. That is a disturbance of the Force. 33 Jedi have a keen sense of humor and that is good. And hopefully they'll have enough sense of humor to not be offended by this series. I love you, Jedis. I do. Okay? So check this out, guys. I'm going to read this almost poetic writing by somebody named Khalil Gibran. I believe this is a man. I apologize. I'm not totally sure. But Khalil writes this, and this is concerning the Jedis. And you can't help but kind of get the feeling that perhaps Khalil got a lot of his ideas from Paul and James. Just feel what he's saying here, at least the first two paragraphs. Very interesting. He says, religion is all deeds and all reflection. Who can separate his faith from his actions? This is so James. Who can separate his faith from his actions or his belief from his occupations, who can spread his hours before him saying, this for the force and this for myself, this for my soul and this for my body. All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self. He to whom the force is a window to open, but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul, whose windows are open from dawn to dawn. Your daily life is your temple and your religion. If you would know the force, be not therefore a solver of riddles. Rather, look about you. and you shall see it playing with the children. And look up into space. You will see X-wing fighters battling the Sith. Oh, I'm sorry, it doesn't say that. Sorry, guys. You will look into space. You shall see it in the clouds, flashing in the lightning and descending in rain. You shall see its beauty in flowers and find it waving to you in the trees. Interesting. And also, I know you will find this interesting as well, the Jedi wedding vows. I couldn't help it. I mean, really, how is this going to help you in life? But right now you're listening to this podcast because you're like, really? They believe that? Yeah, they do. Check this out. This is the wedding vows. Do you Jedi blank take Jedi blank to be your husband? And do you promise before the Jedi church and these witnesses, Guys, they have ministers that will do this. These witnesses that you will be a true and devoted partner in forces of darkness and forces of light, wherever you may go and whatever you may face, do you promise to share your life and marriage with Jedi blank? And then to the husband, do you Jedi blank take Jedi blank to be your wife? Okay, that's the same thing. Jedi blank and Jedi blank have consented together in marriage. They have pledged their faith in each other as witnesses before us. They have promised to be truthful and devoted to each other. In the name of the Jedi faith, I pronounce them husband and wife. May the force be with them. Oh, oh my goodness. Okay. All right. Friends, that's it. That's all I got. I just wanted to talk about this. I mean, it's it's strange. It's bizarre. I've always wanted to study this. I've always wanted to get into this. And now for Halloween, using a terrible excuse to bring this podcast to serious to you. I have done so. And there you have it. That is what the Jedi. Church, the Jedi ism. faith, if you will, worldview, philosophy, whatever, that's what they believe. If you meet a Jedi in the street, or perhaps befriend one, you'll know more about their faith, and hopefully you'll know at least kind of where to start when you talk to them. Again, these are people, so treat them humbly. Treat them with respect and with love, And yeah, understand that they do come from a very pantheistic worldview. There's pieces of Buddhism, pieces of Christianity. But really, it comes down to find out specifically what they believe. Find out what they believe, respect them, and love them, and then show them that the God of the Bible is the true God, and try to win them over to the truth. I'm sure that this Jedi faith is a fun faith. There's no doubt. There's no doubt it's a fun faith. But it's not the truth, guys. And so we need to bring them to the truth, because there are eternal consequences, depending on which way you choose. So with that, come out to the website YouthApologeticsTraining.com and there you guys can leave comments and questions. I know, I expect to get some fun comments from this one. And I'm looking forward to it. Just be respectful and yeah. Also, you guys can hook up with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. I'm out there. I'd love to talk to you guys. And with that, I love you guys and I'll see you tomorrow.