Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Should We Ever Speak Directly to the Devil?

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Should We Ever Speak Directly to the Devil? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, should we ever speak directly to the devil? Some
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  Speaker 1: Christians do, many don't. Who's right? Here's the question from Frederick,
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  Speaker 1: a listener in Germany. Pastor John Hello, an episode of
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  Speaker 1: Apjaapja fourteen thirty nine really jumpstarted my prayer life, so
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  Speaker 1: thank you for it, as I felt really blessed. I
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  Speaker 1: was also concerned about something you did there. While you
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  Speaker 1: were pressing into reasons why the devil loves it when
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  Speaker 1: our prayer life is weak, you even address the devil directly,
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  Speaker 1: telling him to get out of the way. While I
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  Speaker 1: got the point, I was left concerned should we ever
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  Speaker 1: speak to or address the devil directly while praying to God.
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  Speaker 1: I know that it is a common practice and many
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  Speaker 1: churches to address the devil directly to rebuke him in
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  Speaker 1: corporate prayers, for example. I consider these practice as false,
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  Speaker 1: as I don't see any biblical reasons to do so.
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  Speaker 1: We even read in Jude quote. But when the archangel Michael,
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  Speaker 1: contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses,
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  Speaker 1: he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said,
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  Speaker 1: quote the Lord rebuke you end quote. That's Jude one nine.
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  Speaker 1: It seems like some people spend a lot of time
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  Speaker 1: speaking directly to the devil while praying to God. But
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  Speaker 1: should we.
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  Speaker 2: Well, May the Lord give us wisdom not to over
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  Speaker 2: emphasize the presence and danger of the devil and demons,
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  Speaker 2: and not to under emphasize the presence and the danger
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  Speaker 2: of devils and demons. That's what I'm going to try
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  Speaker 2: to do. Strike that balance in these few minutes that
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  Speaker 2: we have together. I want to get a biblical balance,
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  Speaker 2: and you can fall off the fence on both sides.
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  Speaker 2: Here here are three preliminary brief encouragements to set the stage. First,
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  Speaker 2: The devil is not our main problem. Sin is our
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  Speaker 2: main problem. We are our main problem, and therefore we
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  Speaker 2: should focus the lion's share of our spiritual warfare, not
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  Speaker 2: against Satan and not against other people, but against sin
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  Speaker 2: in our own heart and life. If you succeed there,
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  Speaker 2: you defeat the devil, and you defeat your adversary. What
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  Speaker 2: God delights in is your holiness. And if you attain
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  Speaker 2: that by putting to death your own sin through the
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  Speaker 2: power of the Spirit, you triumph over Satan and over
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  Speaker 2: the world. Satan doesn't care much about being seen. What
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  Speaker 2: he cares about is destroying people by trapping them and
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  Speaker 2: holding them in sin. So sin is the main issue.
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  Speaker 2: That's the first preliminary observation. Second, never forget. Preach it
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  Speaker 2: to yourself many many times. He who is in you
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  Speaker 2: is greater than he who's in the world. First John
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  Speaker 2: four to four. Christ, by his death and resurrection, dealt
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  Speaker 2: a decisive defeating blow against Satan. He cannot destroy you
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  Speaker 2: except by tempting you to distrust Jesus and walk in sin.
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  Speaker 2: Believe in the triumph that you already have down payment
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  Speaker 2: by the Spirit in your life, and walk in this victory. Third,
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  Speaker 2: prioritize the method of demonic deliverance that Paul gives in
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  Speaker 2: two Timothy to twenty four to twenty six. He said
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  Speaker 2: to Timothy that he should quote not be quarrelsome, but
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  Speaker 2: kind to everyone, able to teach patiently, enduring evil, correcting
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  Speaker 2: his opponents with gentleness. And then he adds, God may
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  Speaker 2: so as you do that, here's what God's gonna do.
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  Speaker 2: Perhaps God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a
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  Speaker 2: knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their
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  Speaker 2: senses and escape from the snare of the devil. After
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  Speaker 2: being captured by him to do his will. That's the
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  Speaker 2: steady state, normal way of defeating the power of the devil.
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  Speaker 2: In the Christian ministry, there is a kind of demonic
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  Speaker 2: possession that may call for a remarkable power encounter and
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  Speaker 2: real exorcism. I've been part of one of those in
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  Speaker 2: my life. But the ordinary way of deliverance is the
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  Speaker 2: way of teaching the truth that Satan cannot stand, and
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  Speaker 2: therefore he leaves because truth begins to take hold by
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  Speaker 2: God's grace in people's lives. Now, with those three encouragements
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  Speaker 2: in place, here's what I'd say about speaking to the
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  Speaker 2: devil directly. First, never negotiate with the devil. He is
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  Speaker 2: evil through and through. He is too subtle and deceptive,
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  Speaker 2: and he is expert in laying traps for people. Never
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  Speaker 2: bargain with the devil. Jesus refused to do it in
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  Speaker 2: the wilderness. We should refuse to do it everywhere. Second,
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  Speaker 2: never speak to the devil approvingly. In John eight, Jesus
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  Speaker 2: said he's a liar from the beginning, and behind that
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  Speaker 2: trickery is a murderous intent. Even when he speaks in
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  Speaker 2: half truths, you would do well not to approve any
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  Speaker 2: half of it because its intent is to trap and deceive. Third,
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  Speaker 2: never speak a self reliant or self dependent rebuke to Satan.
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  Speaker 2: Now mark those words, self reliant, self dependent rebuke to Satan.
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  Speaker 2: Any power that we have over Satan does not reside
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  Speaker 2: in us by nature. It is the power of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: We do not have authority in ourselves apart from him.
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  Speaker 2: We do not have wisdom in ourselves that is sufficient
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  Speaker 2: to oppose or figure out the schemes of the devil.
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  Speaker 2: It's all of Christ. Now. This is where Jude one
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  Speaker 2: nine seems to be misunderstood, even even by Frederick, who
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  Speaker 2: asked us this question. It seems Frederick, in his question
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  Speaker 2: seemed to use this text to say not even the
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  Speaker 2: angel Michael spoke to the devil. But in fact the
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  Speaker 2: text says the opposite. When the archangel Michael, contending with
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  Speaker 2: the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he
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  Speaker 2: did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said,
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  Speaker 2: the Lord, rebuke you. He's talking to the devil. The
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  Speaker 2: word you means he would speaking to the devil. But
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  Speaker 2: what he would not presume to do, and we should
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  Speaker 2: not presume to do, is speak to the devil in
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  Speaker 2: his own name or in his own authority, and so
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  Speaker 2: he says, the Lord rebuke you. We know that Jesus
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  Speaker 2: had authority over demons, and that he spoke to them
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  Speaker 2: like be silent and come out of him Mark one
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  Speaker 2: twenty five. And we know that he gave this authority
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  Speaker 2: to his disciples in Mark sixty seven. He gave them
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  Speaker 2: authority over the unclean spirits. And we know that when
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  Speaker 2: the seventy two disciples return, not just the twelve, but
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  Speaker 2: the seventy two disciples returned to report about their ministry.
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  Speaker 2: They said, even the demons are subject to us in
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  Speaker 2: your name. The words in your name mean that's how
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  Speaker 2: they cast out the demons. Jesus cast them out in
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  Speaker 2: his own authority. The disciples cast them out in the
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  Speaker 2: name of Jesus. Get out in the name of Jesus,
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  Speaker 2: is probably what they said. So when one Peter five
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  Speaker 2: nine and James four to seven say that we should
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  Speaker 2: resist the devil, I think those commands in One Peter
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  Speaker 2: and James include those times when the demonic assault on
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  Speaker 2: you or your loved one is so plain and so
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  Speaker 2: blatant that you should say something like no, no, in
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  Speaker 2: the name of Jesus, leave me alone or leave my
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  Speaker 2: child alone. In the name of Jesus, Be gone, Satan,
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  Speaker 2: get out of this house. Then we turn to Christ. Oh, yes,
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  Speaker 2: returned to Christ. This is the step that's probably neglect
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  Speaker 2: did at that moment we turned to Christ. We turn
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  Speaker 2: to the promise of Jesus. I'll never leave you, I'll
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  Speaker 2: never forsake you. I'll always be with you. I bought
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  Speaker 2: you your mind. No one can snatch you out of
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  Speaker 2: my hand. I will help you. I'll be your shield.
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  Speaker 2: Hold up the shield of faith. Believe in my promises.
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  Speaker 2: I'll protect you. You will never be less than a
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  Speaker 2: super conqueror as you trust in me, and then we rest.
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  Speaker 2: We rest in His sovereign care. So my answer is, yes,
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  Speaker 2: Christians may talk like that to the devil, but it
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  Speaker 2: will not be their normal daily way of triumphing over
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  Speaker 2: his schemes. That's the imbalance I'm trying to avoid the hour.
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  Speaker 2: By our life of faith and holiness and love will
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  Speaker 2: be the normal way, and God will make us. It's
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  Speaker 2: very useful in this world of defeating the schemes of
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  Speaker 2: the devil as we focus on his promises and defeat
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  Speaker 2: our own sins by his power.
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  Speaker 1: I'm very good, thank you, Pastor John. And you can
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  Speaker 1: read about his one power encounter or exorcism as we
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  Speaker 1: might call it, on page three forty six in the
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  Speaker 1: APJ book Crazy Story, And that falls within a whole
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  Speaker 1: section that covers all the questions we've addressed about Satan
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  Speaker 1: to date. Is he real? How and why did he
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  Speaker 1: first sin? Why is he not snuffed out but instead
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  Speaker 1: allowed to roam around? About what are his chief strategies
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  Speaker 1: for killing our joy and making us want to give
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  Speaker 1: up in life and ministry? And whether a Christian can
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  Speaker 1: get handed over to Satan? Can he devour us? All
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  Speaker 1: that is related to today's question about why Satan has
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  Speaker 1: so much spiritual authority in this world? And you can
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  Speaker 1: find your way to those episodes either at aspasture John
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  Speaker 1: dot com or in my digest of episodes in the
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  Speaker 1: APJ book on pages three thirty one to three fifty three.
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  Speaker 1: While speaking of debates, are motorcycles for fools? We'll find
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  Speaker 1: out Thursday. I'm Tony Rinky'll see you then,