Saved By Grace, Not Credit

What if the credit you crave points to a deeper hunger no applause can fill? We open with the relatable punch of stolen praise and follow it to a liberating truth: salvation isn’t earned by effort, status, or spotless behavior—it’s received by grace. Ephesians 2 reframes the scoreboard, reminding us that good works are fruit, not currency. That shift breaks the cycle of striving and replaces it with gratitude, humility, and steady courage.

From there, we step into a charged cultural crossroads: Halloween. You’ll hear strong warnings from pastors and former occult practitioners who have lived on the other side of the spiritual line. We talk about roots, rituals, and why some practices carry more weight than a costume and a bag of candy. Whether you grew up trick-or-treating or always avoided it, the core question remains the same: what story are we joining, and which doors are we opening or closing? We explore practical discernment—pursuing righteous standing with God, closing hidden compromises, and praying for neighbors to encounter Christ—even on nights when the culture leans toward darkness.

Anchoring all of this is grace. If God initiates rescue, we don’t boast, we bear witness. We share with one person today, even if our voice shakes. We plant seeds, trusting that some will take root in ways we may never see. Along the way, you’ll hear compelling testimony of deliverance, moments of healing, and the kind of bold faith that trades approval for truth told in love. If you’ve been exhausted by spiritual performance or unsure where to draw lines in a confusing season, this conversation offers clarity, conviction, and hope.

If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a quick review so more people can find these stories of grace and truth.

Chapters

• 0:00 Monday Motivation And Man Camp
• 1:16 When Credit Gets Stolen
• 2:31 Grace Over Works In Ephesians 2
• 4:03 The Creator’s Gift We Cannot Earn
• 5:50 Mercy, Salvation, And Our Response
• 7:05 Share Grace And Plant Seeds
• 9:09 Pivot To Halloween Topic
• 10:04 Claims About Halloween And The Occult
• 12:44 Should Christians Celebrate Halloween
• 14:44 Former Satanist’s Warning
• 18:41 Testimony Of Deliverance And Ministry
• 19:37 Closing Blessing

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 0:35

Hey guys, it's B Rob. I'm your host for the Food for Thought Faith Cast. And we've got a lovely Monday motivational for you today. Woke up, it was a little brisk outside. You can tell it's fall, but it's a beautiful week. We got man camp going on in Royston, Georgia. So you guys pray for all them guys who are in the woods this week with no technology, no phone, just God and his living word. Amazing stuff. I've got great news for you today. Have you ever done anything significant but someone else stole your praise? Maybe you did a good job at work. Someone else took the credit. Maybe you had an idea to invent an app and you didn't do it and somebody else did it instead. Or wrote a song. Whatever the case may be, whatever the case may be. Maybe you served behind the scenes, voiced and important idea, or crafted something wonderful, but somebody else came in and demanded full credit. I know it's happened to me. I don't know if it's happened to you guys. It's not exactly the same thing what I'm talking about here. And I'm getting to a point because we're not nearly as awesome as the person that I'm talking about or the but a lot of times when we do something, we have to be cautious. And what I mean by that is we must not steal the credit from the Almighty Creator God. The apostle Paul, writing from a Roman prison, said in Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can take you cannot take credit for this. It is but a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for doing good things we have done. So none of us can boast about it. So basically, what Paul's telling you here is that it's not a reward for good things. We can't get to heaven by our works. We can't buy our way to heaven. We can't do our way to heaven, which means by doing good deeds. Although we're supposed to do those good deeds because we're supposed to be a servant. But that cannot buy us or our way into heaven. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this. It is but a gift from God. On a foundational level, we wouldn't even be here without God, the creator, the sustainer. We wouldn't even exist without the universe and the body in which we inhabit or we live. A universe and a body that we did not make ourselves. We wouldn't be able to breathe without the oxygen in our lungs or the oxygen that hovers right above our heads. We wouldn't think, see, hear, or talk without the minds, ears, eyes, and mouths given to us by God, the Creator. But on top of creating us, God is the only one who can save us. The story of God and the story of us is that He pursued us even when we did not deserve it. He saved us when we were lost. He saved us when we were broken, when we were hopeless. We are not capable of saving ourselves, even though we try, we try, we try, and we try. God saved us by grace, and that's his gift. Salvation isn't something you can be you can earn or pay for. But it's mercy that is given by the Creator, our Father, God. We can't think we're better than anyone else. We don't get to decide that. Who's deserving of his love and who isn't? We don't get to decide that sort of thing. Because none of us are. We all sin and we all fall short. Yet here comes the great mercy. God has chosen to reveal himself to us at this particular time in history because he loves us. He initiated salvation when we could not save ourselves. And he has invited us to join him in the greatest story ever told. Are you in? Will you accept it? And will you share this great gift God has given you? I sure hope so. There is bad news. A little bit. There's nothing you can do to earn favoring God. But the good news, the great news is grace is free. Salvation is a gift. And Jesus came to give you life. All you do is have to ask him. All you do is have to trust him. Today, I want you to make it a point to tell at least one person about God's amazing grace. If you feel nervous, ask him for courage. Always. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is a free gift of God, not by works, so that no one can burst. Boast. You can't walk around and say that you did that. Because you don't have the ability to do that. What you can do is tell people what God can do through Jesus. I love you guys. I hope this was a great motivation for your Monday. And remember, when trying to accomplish anything, whether it be sales, whether it be talk about the gospel, whether it be anything, all you can do is plant a seed. Some will, some won't, so what? Plant the seed. I love you guys. I hope you have a beautiful week. Got some topics that we're gonna cover here. Um one that I've toyed with for a long time in the past four to five, maybe well, the past four to eight years. I don't I haven't been celebrating. My kids are grown, and I don't need to give anybody excuses, but what I'm about to play for you is absolutely the truth. It's not really opinion, it's the truth. So I hope you guys enjoy it. I hope some of it makes you think. Because that's what it's here to do. Love you guys, God bless. Hope you enjoy.

SPEAKER_02: 9:53

The truth about Halloween. Halloween is the highest day on the satanic calendar. It is also the night of the year where there is the most human sacrifice on the whole planet. If we look at it in a, let's call it the popular culture aspect first. So many people think Halloween is about candy and it's about dress up, and but they don't question the meaning behind it. In a neighborhood or an area, there's houses, there's homes that celebrate Halloween. That whole parameter becomes one big satanic ritual for that whole neighborhood. You're saying my neighborhood right now is cooked? Like what are you saying there? Whether they're Christian or non-Christian that have open doors that moves or lives in a neighborhood like that will be affected. That's what I'm saying. Okay, so what do we do as Christians? Firstly, we make sure that we are in righteous standing with God, that we do not have any hidden sin or open doors in our lives, that we are in a righteous covenant with him. So if we can get there, that is a very good place to start. And then it is about praying, like being in serious prayer that people who celebrate Halloween, um, whether that's being a Satanist or an atheist or someone having fun, that whilst they're doing that, that they will actually have a true encounter with Christ.

SPEAKER_00: 11:26

So a lot of Christians um they think there's nothing wrong with you know celebrating Halloween and all this stuff. And Casey, um, you being in you know in Satanism and God delivering you from that, healing you and bringing you freedom. Uh what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01: 11:41

October 31st is like the ultimate day. Um it starts, it it's like Christians, Easter and Christmas all rolled in together. Um the celebration usually starts at dusk. And goes on. The golden hour is 11 p.m. to midnight. That's when the most demonic forces are out and about about and active. Um people should not be participate in any way, shape, or form because you are worshiping the devil. There is no two ways about it. I mean, he's real happy that Christians allow their kids to serve him one night of the year. I mean, he's pretty happy about that.

SPEAKER_03: 12:22

Alexa. And I'm going to assume this is a human Alexa and uh and and and not the artificial intelligence Alexa asking the questions, should Christians celebrate Halloween? I've got an easy categorical answer to that. I think the answer is no. I've done many radio programs on this, just about once a year uh on the briefing. I address this. I do not mean by that that your children can't dress up as cowboys and Indians and and uh firemen and policemen and uh and princesses and go ask people for candy. That's a that that's a different thing. But we cannot celebrate Halloween, which is, after all, a celebration of paganism and is deeply, deeply, and I mean centuries long rooted in occult practice. And and by the way, it's showing up even in recent years, more graphically, uh Halloween as a cultural celebration is being increasingly openly repaganized uh with fascination with the occult. So uh, you know, just take a hint. Uh those who created Halloween, and which is by the way now one of the bigger consumer holidays in the American economy, uh it has become largely uh for many people, it's really kind of a two-story thing. For many people, and this was the way it was when I was a boy growing up. I mean, we uh we dressed up uh I mean, never anything scary, never anything occult. We just went around and went to the neighbors and uh asked for candy. They gave us candy. So far as I was concerned, as I was a kid, that was a great thing. Um I think it's wise for a lot of Christian parents to rethink even that, just given some of the stuff that goes on. But again, in a neighborhood where you know people when there's no paganism and no one acts like there is, it's kind of a fall festival, it can be pretty innocuous. Um But when it comes to the what was asked here about celebrating Halloween, that's where I can be categorical. No, we can't celebrate Halloween. Um that's just uh celebrating paganism, rightly understood. Good question, though.

SPEAKER_06: 14:21

Well, should Christians celebrate Halloween? Some believe it can be taken back like other holidays, but a former Satanist who is now a pastor says no, Christians should not celebrate it. I recently caught it with John Ramirez, and he had a strong warning for believers. Tell us a little bit about where you were in relation to Satanism and worshiping the devil.

SPEAKER_05: 14:45

Well, 25 years, uh, eight years old, boy, little boy, eight years old, demon church. I learned being trained by high-ranked devil worship with Warlock and spiritual witches, training me to know how to take over territory, demonic uh demonic contract, demonic different demon territory, demons, principalities, first, second heaven. I was being trained all the way to the age of 35, sold my soul to the devil, got married in Halloween, had a demonic wedding in Halloween. I baptized my daughter to the dark side at the age 11. So that was my whole entire life. I mean, I I breathe, ate, and slept witchcraft. Astro projecting. I will astroproject over region, leave my body, astroproject, curse the region, because if I can curse the region, I can capture the people.

SPEAKER_06: 15:26

Knowing what you came from and what you used to do, you're pretty um discouraged that you see Christians celebrating Halloween. Why?

SPEAKER_05: 15:33

I I I I I I I don't know how you can cheat on God. I don't know how you can cheat on the Lord Jesus Christ because I don't see Satan is coming on Good Friday and coming hanging out with us, right? You know, I come having Halloween and had a demonic wedding. Why would you put your kids, your family, why would you put your purpose, your destiny, why would you put your whole eternity in a demonic altar?

SPEAKER_06: 15:54

But people say it's just fun, candy, kids are having costumes on.

SPEAKER_05: 15:59

But you say it's much more. But these candy, people from different walks of life pray over these candies. Witchcraft. They pray over the candies. You knock on people's door, you don't know the person that you knock on know she's a witch. Okay? You don't know if she's a witch, she's doing wicca, she's practicing new age, and you knock on her door and you coming in, you come in in legal rights of this witch or this wall, this person's practicing this stuff, giving you this kind of candy. Now you're taking that stuff home, you put that stuff into your body. Amen. And on top of that, and on top of that, I'm Tom Lavane said, out of his mouth, you know, he's he used to he's he was the ruler of the church of Satan, right? Out of his mouth, he said, I want to thank every Christian parent for allowing their child to celebrate Halloween one time a year. The devil's holiday. And it took Adam and Eve to lose everything because of one mistake. It took Esau one circumstance to lose his birthrights.

SPEAKER_06: 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 16:57

Right? So why would you bring that kind of curse into your house and curse your family from three to four generations? So when your kids are five and you think it's cool, you dress them up. Once you put a costume on someone, see the trick of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they were made in the image of God, they were made in God's perfect image, right? The devil tricked them with sin and changed their identity. Once you put the costume on the kid, I don't care if you dress them up as Noah, I don't care if you dress them up as Abraham. Once you put this costume on Halloween, the birthright of Halloween, you're changing your kid's identity. The purpose of the destiny has been canceled unless you renounce it and bring it back.

unknown: 17:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_05: 17:34

That is the trick of the devil.

SPEAKER_06: 17:36

Now, now that you're sharing and you share this everywhere you go. Everywhere I go.

SPEAKER_05: 17:40

I'm not afraid. I mean, I'm not I'm not politically correct. I'd rather be right with God. You'd be mad with me, but at least you'll make heaven.

SPEAKER_06: 17:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_05: 17:46

You know, I mean, churches sometimes they get mad. They get mad with me. They get, oh, why are you saying that? Why are you talking that way? What how should I talk? If I might God told me to speak the truth. You know, I'm just a mailman.

SPEAKER_06: 17:56

Amen. Now that you are a Christian, you're actually a minister of the gospel now. Amen.

SPEAKER_05: 18:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_06: 18:02

Um you say that you're now in a season where in your life where you're saying, I want to pay the enemy back for all the dogs.

SPEAKER_05: 18:09

25 years and plus. You know, I I I've I've gone to places that people manifest the manifestations of demons, people casting out demons, healing, healing the people. I mean, I'm living in the place today of the church of the book of Acts. The powerful church, the church that came out of the upper room. You know, that's where I'm living. People saying, I was just talking to another sister. I was saying this Muslim lady came up to the altar, she had four-day cancer, she's a Muslim, she renounced Islam, she renounced uh the situation, she accepted Jesus, she went to the doctor, no trace of cancer. That's the God that I know. That is the Jesus Christ I know.

SPEAKER_06: 18:41

He's the same.

SPEAKER_05: 18:42

The same yesterday, today, and forever more. There's people that come from their cult practices. You know, I've been in the cult, I did Ouija boy, I did this, I I uh I I did uh I I practice Wicca, I practice New Age. You know, manifestation, people set free. And you see the transformation they face, you see the love of Jesus Christ wrap around them. I mean, how much that is priceless. I don't mind paying the price. I'm gonna do that until God called me home. And when I leave, my sister, listen to me carefully. When I leave this world, I'll make Jesus Christ proud. And heaven will rejoice. Hell will rejoice because I left the battlefield.

SPEAKER_06: 19:15

Amen.

SPEAKER_05: 19:15

I play for keeps.

SPEAKER_06: 19:17

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_05: 19:18

I play for keeps. Give the devil a perm.

SPEAKER_06: 19:20

That's right. John reverence. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. God bless you.