Spiritual Recon

Episode 22: Has Tradition Replaced Mission? | Why We Had to Rethink Church

Twenty-five years ago, long before we understood the unseen realm or territorial powers, the Lord asked us to do something simple: open the doors of our home. That step of obedience began a journey that challenged many of our assumptions about church, discipleship, and mission. 

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we share how that journey led us to rethink what it means to make disciples and what the church is actually meant to be. Is church primarily an event, or is it the presence of Jesus among His people on a mission?

As we began to understand the unseen realm and the reality of contested territory, many of the practices we were learning started to make sense in a deeper way.

If Jesus is King and we are His ambassadors, what does obedience really look like?

 

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Episode 21: The Kingdom You Represent Is Bigger Than You Were Told

Most Christians were taught that the Gospel is about going to heaven one day.

But when Jesus sent out His disciples in Luke 9, that is not what they proclaimed.

They announced the Gospel of the Kingdom.

So what does that mean?

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we revisit the message Jesus actually commissioned His followers to announce — and why misunderstanding the Kingdom has quietly reshaped how we share the Gospel today.

In the first century, euangelion was a royal announcement: a new King had taken the throne. Allegiance was shifting. A new Kingdom had arrived.

Salvation, then, is not merely forgiveness of sins or a future destination.

It is transfer.
It is citizenship.
It is restoration into the family and reign of God.

Drawing from Luke 9, Colossians 1, the Deuteronomy 32 worldview, and Jesus’ proclamation in Luke 4, we explore what the Kingdom actually looks like — and how understanding it reshapes mission.

This conversation is not about minimizing the cross.

It is about understanding what the cross accomplished — and what we were sent to proclaim as ambassadors.

Because what we believe about the Kingdom
determines what we share with others.

🎙 Topics include:

• What “gospel” meant in the ancient world
• Why the disciples were not preaching “go to heaven”
• Transfer from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of Christ
• Allegiance to a King and obedience
• The rescue of the nations and the Great Commission
• The seven characteristics of the Kingdom: deliverance, justice, healing, peace, restoration, joy, and the presence of God
• Why a cookie-cutter gospel often fails to speak real good news

If the Kingdom is bigger than we were told,
then our mission is too.

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Episode 20: The Unseen War Christians Miss (And It’s Costing Us)

If the unseen realm is real, then the church was never meant to be passive.

Christ has entrusted His people as ambassadors of the Kingdom — sent into contested territory to reclaim image-bearers from deception and darkness. So why do so many believers experience church as an event rather than a mission?

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we wrestle with a sobering question raised by a former shaman:
“If you have the truth, why do you keep it a secret?”

That question forces us to examine whether we have misunderstood both the gospel and the role of the church.

Drawing from 2 Corinthians 5, Romans 1, Acts 2, and the ministry of Jesus in Luke 10, we explore what salvation truly means — not merely future escape, but restoration now. We discuss territorial powers, the difference between arguing and demonstrating the Kingdom, and why dependence on the Holy Spirit is essential for real mission.

This conversation is not about church criticism.

It is about recovering clarity.

If the war is real, then the assignment is urgent.

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🎙 Topics include:

• The church as mission, not building
• Salvation as restoration, not just relocation
• Territorial powers and contested spaces
• Why apologetics alone is not evangelism
• The Holy Spirit’s role in Kingdom authority
• Seeing captives, not enemies

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Episode 19: I Was a Shaman Until the Spirits Turned On Me (Pt. 2)

I Was a Shaman Until the Spirits Turned On Me (Part 2)

After years immersed in shamanism, ayahuasca, and spirit guides, Mitchell reached a breaking point.

The spiritual experiences were real — but the stories began to contradict themselves. What once felt benevolent turned hostile. And when Mitchell and his wife called on the name of Jesus, the unseen realm reacted.

In Part 2 of this two-part conversation, the deception unravels.

Mitchell shares how testing the spirits exposed their limits, how invoking Jesus disrupted everything, and how surrendering his life to Christ meant walking away from shamanism completely. What follows is a powerful testimony of repentance, deliverance, baptism, and the peace that replaced years of striving in the unseen realm.

This episode goes behind enemy lines to examine how spiritual deception works — and why real spiritual power must always be tested by truth.

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Guest: Mitchell 
📩 Contact: matthewpasquale@hotmail.com

🎙️ Spiritual Recon is hosted by Adam and Diana Clay, missionaries with over 25 years of experience serving in contexts where spiritual conflict is lived, not theoretical.

Episode 18: THEY LIED: Former Shaman Exposes Spirit Guides & Ayahuasca (Pt. 1)

Spirit guides, shamanism, and altered states are often presented as ancient, benevolent pathways to healing and wisdom. Many Christians, however, are left unsure how to interpret the real experiences people report through these practices. Are these encounters psychological? Symbolic? Or is something else actually at work?

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we’re joined by Mitchell, a former shaman who spent years engaging with spirit guides and ritual practices involving ayahuasca before coming to see them in a very different light. Mitchell shares his firsthand experience inside shamanism, how these spiritual encounters initially appeared helpful and illuminating, and what ultimately caused him to question the true nature of the spirits he was working with.

Rather than treating these experiences as imaginary or sensational, this conversation places them within the broader biblical worldview. Scripture consistently acknowledges the reality of spiritual powers, while also drawing clear distinctions between their claims and the authority of Christ. Together, we explore how the Bible helps us make sense of practices like shamanism, why spiritual experiences alone are not a reliable guide to truth, and how deception often operates through what appears helpful or enlightening.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. In Part 2, we’ll go further into what these spirits ultimately demanded, how their true intentions became clear, and how the gospel reframes spiritual power, freedom, and authority.

This discussion is not driven by fear or fascination, but by discernment—recovering a biblical framework that allows Christians to engage real spiritual claims with clarity, confidence, and faithfulness to Christ.

🎙 Topics include:

• Spirit guides and shamanism through firsthand experience

• Why spiritual encounters can feel benevolent while leading toward deception

• How Scripture understands spiritual powers without minimizing or exaggerating them

• Discernment versus experience as a guide to truth

• Why the gospel redefines power, freedom, and authority

🔗 About Our Guest: Mitchell is a former shaman who now follows Jesus after years immersed in ayahuasca, spirit guides, and the unseen realm.

📩 Contact Mitchell: matthewpasquale@hotmail.com

 

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Episode 17: If Jesus Already Won, Why Do Spiritual Powers Still Have Power Today?

If Jesus already won, why do spiritual powers still have power today?

Christians often affirm the victory of the cross, yet remain deeply confused when confronted with ongoing spiritual experiences connected to the occult, New Age practices, and non-Christian religions. If Jesus disarmed the powers, why do these realities still seem active—and why does the church struggle to respond to them with clarity and confidence?

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we examine why the Western church is often uncertain or divided when it comes to the unseen realm. Scripture never treats pagan or occult power as imaginary, yet it also never presents it as ultimate. Instead, the New Testament assumes a world where spiritual powers remain present but have been fundamentally reordered through the victory of Christ.

Drawing from Deuteronomy 32, the ministry of Jesus, and the writings of Paul, we explore what it actually means that the powers were “disarmed” at the cross, why they were not removed, and how this reality shapes the church’s mission and authority today. We also consider how cultural blind spots, modern assumptions, and past abuses have contributed to confusion surrounding spiritual power in the church.

This conversation is not about fear or fascination, but about clarity—recovering a biblical worldview that equips believers to walk in discernment, confidence, and faithfulness as ambassadors of Christ.

🎙 Topics include:

• Why many Christians are uncomfortable with the unseen realm

• What the New Testament assumes about spiritual powers

• What “disarmed” means—and what it does not mean

• Pagan spirituality as misdirected rather than imaginary

• Paul, Ephesus, and confronting occult power

• Transactional spiritual power versus freedom in Christ

• Recovering discernment and authority in the church

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Episode 16: Acts 2 and the Reversal of Babel: The Church Enters the Unseen War

Acts 2 and the Reversal of Babel

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we explore Acts 2 within the larger biblical storyline of Babel, the nations, and the unseen conflict that runs from Genesis through the New Testament.

Rather than treating Acts 2 as the birth of the church, we examine it as a continuation — the moment when the church steps into a mission shaped by Jesus’ victory over the powers. By tracing the narrative from the Tower of Babel and Deuteronomy 32 through Mount Hermon, the cross, and Pentecost, we show how Luke presents Acts 2 as a reversal of Babel, not merely a spiritual experience.

We also spend significant time redefining what the church actually is. Not a building or an event, but a people — restored image-bearers and ambassadors — sent into contested territory to proclaim and embody the reign of Christ.

This conversation connects the Testaments, clarifies difficult passages, and helps explain why the early church understood its role so differently from many modern assumptions.

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🎙 Topics include:

Acts 2 as continuation, not origin
Babel and the division of the nations
Deuteronomy 32 and spiritual authority
Pentecost as the reversal of Babel
Mount Hermon and Jesus’ declaration of conflict
The cross and the defeat of the powers
What the church is — and what it is not
Mission as reclamation, not escape

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Episode 15: Jesus and the Divine Council: The Missing Piece in the Old Testament | Doug Van Dorn

Jesus and the Divine Council

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we’re joined by Doug Van Dorn to explore the biblical concept of the Divine Council and how it reshapes our understanding of Jesus throughout the Old and New Testaments.

We examine how passages like Psalm 82 and Deuteronomy 32 describe God’s heavenly council, how ancient Israel understood spiritual authority over the nations, and why these ideas are essential for reading the Bible the way its original audience did. Most importantly, we trace how Jesus fits into this worldview—not as a late addition, but as the central figure who has been present and active from the beginning.

This conversation brings clarity to difficult passages, connects the Testaments together, and helps explain why the New Testament speaks about Jesus the way it does.

🎙 Topics include:

The Divine Council in Scripture
Psalm 82 and God’s judgment among the “gods”
Deuteronomy 32 and the division of the nations
Jesus as the Angel of the Lord
Christ in the Old Testament
Why this worldview still matters today

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