Key points

1. 1

   1God places a hedge of protection around every person, and Satan complained to God about it in Job's story.

   Pastor Linn walks through Job 1, where Satan roams the earth and accuses God of protecting Job with a hedge, limiting what Satan can do to him and his household. This hedge is not unique to Job — every person has one, and it is what keeps Satan from having free reign to do all the damage he would love to do.

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   Hear it in the message · 27:50Job 1:6-12
2. 2

   2Christians likely have an even greater measure of protection than non-Christians, though you never want to step beyond it.

   Pastor Linn offers this as his own opinion, comparing it to a parent being more protective of their own child than of the neighbor's child playing in the street. The point is not to test the edges of that protection but to stay behind it.

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   Hear it in the message · 30:26
3. 3

   3Stepping outside God's protection is like a woman who climbed into a polar bear enclosure at the Berlin Zoo — you are exposing yourself to something far stronger and smarter than you.

   He tells the true story of a woman at the Berlin Zoo who scaled the wall to pet a polar bear and was mauled, surviving only because the bears had just eaten. He applies it directly: Satan is smarter and stronger than us, and dabbling breaches the hedge just like she breached the moat.

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   Hear it in the message · 31:25

   1 illustration
4. 4

   4Dabbling in the supernatural apart from God leaves you only two options: a charlatan making good guesses, or genuine contact with something demonic.

   Pastor Linn explains that God has already made everything we need available through scripture and prayer, so seeking answers elsewhere means excluding Him. He mimics a fake psychic guessing about a dead relative to illustrate how mediums often just cold-read people.

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   Hear it in the message · 34:30
5. 5

   5Dead relatives do not come back for visits — scripture records only two such events in six thousand years.

   He points to Saul's contact with the dead prophet Samuel and Moses and Elijah's appearance at the Mount of Transfiguration as the only two instances, arguing that no one today is a third exception.

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   Hear it in the message · 36:08

   1 quote
6. 6

   6Jesus's account of the rich man and Lazarus confirms hell is real and that the dead are not sent back to the living, even for a good reason.

   Pastor Linn argues this is not a parable, since Jesus never says the kingdom of God is like and He uses actual names. He reads through Luke 16, where even the rich man's request for Lazarus to warn his brothers is denied by Abraham, showing that this practice simply isn't permitted by God.

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   Hear it in the message · 36:40Luke 16:19-31
7. 7

   7When Saul consulted the medium at Endor, even she was terrified when God actually allowed Samuel to appear, proving her usual results were demonic impersonation.

   He walks through 1 Samuel 28, noting Saul had banned mediums yet disguised himself to consult one anyway. When Samuel genuinely appears, the medium herself is shocked and terrified, showing that what she normally produced for clients was demonic counterfeit, not real contact with the dead.

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   Hear it in the message · 42:551 Samuel 28:9-12
8. 8

   8Practices like Ouija boards, tarot cards, horoscopes, astrology, witchcraft, and crystals are all ways people step through the hedge, even when packaged as harmless fun.

   Pastor Linn lists these practices and warns that calling witchcraft white magic or nature worship doesn't change that scripture calls Satan an angel of light, meaning there is no harmless version of it.

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   Hear it in the message · 45:10

   1 quote
9. 9

   9The Greek word for witchcraft, pharmakeia, raises questions worth prayerfully considering about drugs, movies, and music that glorify darkness.

   Pastor Linn shares this as his own opinion rather than a firm doctrine, noting the linguistic link between pharmakeia and pharmacy, and connects it to his personal choice to avoid certain movies and songs that give glory to Satan.

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   Hear it in the message · 46:42

   1 quote
10. 10

    10Scripture treats consulting mediums and spiritists as a serious offense, not a minor curiosity.

    He reads Leviticus 19:31 and Leviticus 20:27, showing that God's command is a flat prohibition, not a suggestion, because of how much spiritual danger is involved.

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    Hear it in the message · 48:26Leviticus 19:31
11. 11

    11Stepping beyond the hedge opens the door to demonic oppression, which can show up as strange occurrences, destructive thoughts, or violent hostility to Christianity.

    Pastor Linn lists specific marks of oppression, cautioning that some symptoms overlap with mental health struggles and that discernment is needed, but that oppression is a real potential consequence of dabbling.

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    Hear it in the message · 49:37
12. 12

    12Demon possession is real, but Christians cannot be possessed because the Holy Spirit already lives in them.

    He recounts a personal story from age 16, witnessing to a homeless man outside Denny's who went into violent convulsions each time Jesus's name and blood were mentioned, and who repeatedly shouted "it isn't that it isn't," which Pastor Linn connects to God's name I AM. He then reads Romans 8:9 to show the Spirit and Satan cannot coexist in a believer, though a Christian in disobedience can still become deeply oppressed.

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    Hear it in the message · 51:40Romans 8:9

    2 quotes · 1 story from life

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