E196 The Cost of Casting Out
Unrefined Podcast .com · Brandon Spain, Lindsy Waters and The Unrefined Crew
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (2.gum.fm) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
This isn’t an attack on the supernatural. It’s a call to integrity, accountability, and making sure what we call freedom actually looks like Jesus. Deliverance is real. And so is the damage that happens when zeal outruns discernment. In this Sponsors Only conversation, Brandon and Lindsy talk with Dr. Merrill Greene about “exorcistic abuse,” the history behind exorcism language, why “unclean spirits” mattered in the Second Temple world, and how fake manifestations, celebrity culture, and bad theology can wreck vulnerable people.
https://join.unrefinedpodcast.com
2 ways to join- $6/monthly OR $10/monthly- support the movement!
Timestamps:
00:00:48 Brandon frames the episode redemptively not anti supernatural
00:03:02 Why Merrill started writing The Cost of Casting Out
00:04:10 A sham deliverance meeting eyes flashing and peer pressure
00:06:10 Leg lengthening and the danger of staged miracles
00:07:39 The Winger /Bolz /Bethel tension and how discernment gets weaponized
00:08:50 Deliverance vs exorcism why Protestants changed the language
00:10:55 Brief history of exorcism from ancient world to early church
00:13:20 Divine council worldview and territorial powers without obsession
00:16:37 Unclean spirits vs demons Second Temple context and 1 Enoch thread
00:18:44 What exorcistic abuse looks like in real cases
00:23:25 When people mean well but bad theology turns lethal
00:25:47 Accountability without becoming a heresy hustle culture
00:28:04 Fake manifestations Munchausen dynamics and ministry incentives
00:30:23 Zoom deliverance social pressure and manufactured demons
00:32:41 Theology has consequences why what you believe shapes what you do
00:34:58 Practical markers character accountability and fruit not theatrics
00:37:20 Covering concerns disciple making movements and lone wolf danger
00:39:48 How common is real possession and why proof matters
00:42:02 Celebrity church culture performance pressure and entertainment
00:46:44 Ignorance training gaps and trauma created by careless labels
00:49:02 Character integrity humility and community as a safeguard
00:56:09 Charismatic realism wanting the real without the spectacle
00:58:20 Closing word and why this matters for judgment and witness