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The Saints That Serve Podcast
Welcome to The Saints That Serve Podcast!
Where each week, your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture and the unknown.
Christ is Lord and the Kingdom is now!
We are The Saints That Serve!
The Saints That Serve Podcast
Episode 28 - Are Pokémon and Christianity Compatible?
- Tune in every Monday for a new episode of "The Saints That Serve Podcast" -
- If you want to watch the video version of this episode you can do so by going to https://tinyurl.com/ydfynh49 -
In this episode, we explore the world's highest-grossing media franchise from a biblical perspective. From its roots in Japanese yokai lore to unsettling spiritual connections, we examine the themes and concerns Christians should consider.
Hear about a missionary's account of a converted witch doctor recognizing Pokemon's spiritual functions and explore the shift from innocent beginnings to god-like entities and afterlife references.
Join the conversation on balancing entertainment with spiritual discernment. And don’t miss our worship livestream on April 4th at 7pm!
If you want to send us a question or a comment you can by texting us by clicking this link!
Hey everybody, it's Jairus with the Saints that Serve. I wanted to get on here real quick before we start episode 28 and let you know that this particular episode in the second half of it, it is very heavy with the visuals. So we created a video version of this podcast with those visuals inserted into the episode. So if you want to see that, you can head over to our YouTube channel, the Saints that Serve Podcast, and enjoy it there. Also, we will have a link to that episode in the description of this as well. All right, I hope you enjoy it well, all right.
Speaker 2:I hope you enjoy it. Welcome to the Saints that Serve podcast where each week, your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture and the unknown Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now.
Speaker 1:We are the Saints that Serve.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Saints that Serve podcast with your host. My name is Johnny and my name is Johnny. All right, which one is which? Can you tell by our voices? I'm Johnny number one and I'm the real Johnny.
Speaker 1:So you know, when you do username, I'm Jairus. So you know, when you do usernames, it's always like the first one without a number is the real one, and then the second one that has any kind of number, even if there's number one, is not the original one. Yeah, that's what it is there. It's my username and you're just the real Johnny.
Speaker 2:Just Johnny, and then Johnny number one, which you know I was like I. I feel like I should have the right to you know, we'll talk about it later In what conversation, I don't know. It'll come up organically. Maybe we'll see We'll be, we'll be super old and we'll be like sitting in like a retirement home, like, hey, I think I should be Johnny number one, do you?
Speaker 1:remember that time Eight or two years ago, when we were talking yeah, we're over 100. At that point, I'm impressed with future us. Yeah, we really got our butts in gear and got healthy.
Speaker 2:I'm also impressed with our logistical coordination between our families that our kids would both put us in the same retirement home.
Speaker 1:No, it's just going to be this house still. You're still living in it 82 years later.
Speaker 2:Oh, don't put that on me, ricky baby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're still sitting there. Like I got to go get the wall put up and extra red room upstairs, Just a 90-something-year-old man is like.
Speaker 2:I still got 10 projects left to finish on this house. Oh, man.
Speaker 1:Welcome to episode 28 of the Saints to Serve podcast.
Speaker 2:Heck yeah, two away from 30.
Speaker 1:That's right. We're getting close to our actual ages, that's right.
Speaker 2:The decades, the decades, our third decade. We're getting close to it.
Speaker 1:That's right, anyways. Do you ever like have you heard about that logic that it's like, that's right, anyways, do you ever like have you heard about that logic that it's like the 20, like, say, it's like 21 years, but that's your third decade?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:See what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The logic of it is that we're now like if one We've entered our third decade. We've entered our third decade even though we're another 10 years away from being in our third decade, yeah, so right now we are oh, even better of an example. The podcast is now two years, not two years old two years, you mean 20, you mean two decades no, the actual length of the podcast, not the number of episodes. Oh, because we are in. We started in 2024 and now it's 2025.
Speaker 2:We are now two years oh, okay, you went, uh, yeah completely different direction I was like I don't think your math is math and it might not be anyways, uh, yeah.
Speaker 2:So announcements, we got announcements, guys. Not a lot, but we got them. Big, exciting things happening the first week of April. Do you know what it is? I know you know what it is. April Fool's Day, that's right, april Fool's. We are also, on April the 4th, going to be doing our first live stream worship night, that's right. So make sure that you're following us on social media, on Instagram X, facebook Threads, youtube, we will be streaming that on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook Live.
Speaker 1:Correct, Yep.
Speaker 2:So make sure you're following us on any platform to get up to date. But then we will be on Twitch, youtube and Facebook with the live stream. It'll be about an hour long of just worship music that we'll be playing just to try and help people get into the weekend with their hearts filled with the Spirit of the Lord. So make sure to tune in, and we'll be posting updates on that through our social accounts. And if you need prayer for anything— that starts at 7 o'clock.
Speaker 1:Yes, sorry. Yes, you're good.
Speaker 2:It starts at 7 pm on April the 4th, which is a Friday night.
Speaker 1:So if y'all want to come hang out in the chat beforehand, the actual stream will start at 630.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And we'll have kind of some lead up countdown. But the actual worship night starts at 7, though the stream technically starts at 6.30.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there'll be a countdown on the screen, but then we'll be live in the chat board where you can make comments and we'll be responding to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll be chatting with you at that point, yep, so come chat with us and then come worship with us.
Speaker 2:Amen the.
Speaker 1:Saints, that Worship, that's right. Our music channel, if we ever start that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if we ever get into music, it'll be the Saints that Worship.
Speaker 1:Speaking of worship pray for you Friday yes pray for you Friday.
Speaker 2:We're doing it every Friday. If you you need prayer for anything, you can reach out to us at the saints that serve pod, on Facebook threads and Instagram. Or you can reach out to us on Twitter or X, if you will STS ministry. Or you can email us at the saints that serve at gmailcom again, that's the saints that serve at gmailcom. Or if you scroll to the bottom of the description for this episode on I'm going to.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go out on a limb and say any platform you're on any platform that you're on.
Speaker 2:Then there's a link for a SMS messaging option. It'll just pull you up in a text right on your phone and you'll be able to text us a prayer request and we will get it and we will read it and we will pray for you.
Speaker 1:So these prayers are not public. This is not like a public type thing. This is a private time that we are praying for you, our listeners. So don't think that this is something that we are going to call out and sit there and talk about on the podcast. That's none of that. This is strictly the Saints that Serve team praying for our community. That's right. Privately, that's right, unless you specifically say that you want your prayer request. Tell everybody about it.
Speaker 2:Tell everybody about it. So that's pretty much it for our announcements. Shout out once again to Ashley for commenting on episode 26. I think adding short form content from the podcast is a great idea. For sorry, I had to open the full time for the podcast clips.
Speaker 1:Keep in mind John doesn't know how to read, that's right, we'll probably have.
Speaker 2:We'll probably have to add some words and some background imagery. This is all. Thank you, ashley, it's a great comment and thank you for coming. It's literally just a lot of suggestions, giving suggestions on what we should do, and they're all suggestions, and we will figure out how to do them. I guess what I'm getting at is great comment, great information, but I don't know if everyone wants to sit here and listen to me slowly read. He sounded out yeah, yeah. Cat it out. Yeah, yeah, uh, I think cat, I don't think.
Speaker 2:Uh, I think that's the most recent as far as comments, I believe so we have anything else, but if you comment on our stuff, we read them and we want to give you a shout out. So we read them very slowly. Yes, very slowly, with a lot of thought.
Speaker 1:And a lot of well. You got to think about what you're reading.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:A lot of thought, think it through, think it through, sound it out, think it through.
Speaker 2:Stu. Anyways, without further ado, let's go ahead and get to them. Yeah, can we talk about that? Further ado, further to do.
Speaker 1:Let's go ahead and get into them Can we talk about that Further ado, further to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you were right.
Speaker 1:I know I'm right. I don't have any issues with you being right. It's just really funny to me. Okay, it was so funny how quick in the episode you just skirted away from that hazing oh, very quickly. I'm just like you made a huge mistake and you're like yeah, I did All right, all right, moving on.
Speaker 2:I mean, okay, yeah, you know what You're right. I'm sorry, let's linger more on. When I make mistakes, it sounds great. Let's make sure that we just draw it out, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's what everyone's here for, anyway. Yes, so Mean jokes, yeah, okay that sounds great to me.
Speaker 2:I actually think our viewership will increase because of that, more than likely. Yep, so you heard it here first. The saints that serve like to make fun of John for all his mistakes.
Speaker 1:But we are the saints that serve. That's right, you also make fun of yourself, yeah.
Speaker 2:I am self-deprecating, yeah, self-deprecation. No breathing.
Speaker 1:Don't give a honeysuckle plant if I cut my arm bleeding. This is my last book report. This is my last vacation resort. That is my last retort. Are we ready now? The people want to hear the meat, the meat of the of the foam. So we're going to play facebook marketplace madness. Yeah, okay hold on.
Speaker 2:Just so I need to clarify this is not our main topic tonight.
Speaker 1:It's not.
Speaker 2:We were building it up like it was. So, Tyler, this is your transition into our mini game Facebook Marketplace Madness.
Speaker 1:So it's just one, but this one I don't. It's okay, so it's bad, but it's funny. So I was scrolling through Facebook Marketplace getting material for the segment Correct, and so I click on this and I'm going to give you two things. I'm going to give you the title Okay, and then I'm going to give you what I didn't know you could do. I'm going to play a video. What Facebook Marketplace can play videos? Oh, I mean, I knew that. I mean it within the like and within the ad you can upload videos, yeah, so this started playing and I'm like what in the world?
Speaker 1:so I'm gonna give you the title the video. Okay, the actual item is not funny, like we usually like to do on this segment. Yeah, but the video is to me okay. So if it's not, we'll cut this whole thing out, okay, but so the title is boat for sale. Okay, boat for sale. And here is the video hi, um, I'm Um.
Speaker 2:He died Last week and I I hope somebody can buy the boat. Thank you, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I couldn't believe, watching that right, that she's trying to sell her husband's boat After him being dead for a week.
Speaker 2:That just put a huge Bummer on the podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm just like watching. I'm like this is so sad.
Speaker 2:Is she selling it for 200 bucks?
Speaker 1:No, it's more than 200 bucks. Oh it just to me. The reason why I'm doing this is, it seems fake and a lie. 500 bucks, You're still incredibly off 13 000 you are now over 8 000, 9 000 I'm giving hand motions to y'all now 8 500, 8 500, really. Yeah, that's why I'm just like what kind of boat is it? Um, I don't have that detail.
Speaker 2:Oh, because I took a screen grab or recording of her talking you notice how much time I spent like talking about how much of a bummer it was compared to how much time I tried to figure out the info on the boat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a really bummer. So what kind of boat is this and how much is it?
Speaker 2:So what's the engine on the back of that bad boy?
Speaker 1:Glastron G-L-A-S-T-R-O-N. Is that the name of a person? That's the name. Yeah, that's her name.
Speaker 2:If you want to find out, go ask her yourself. It's Miss Glastron.
Speaker 1:No, that's the brand of the boat. It's a Glastron G-L-A-S-T-R-O-N.
Speaker 2:I don't actually know boats, so it's okay, it doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1:If anybody wants a Glastron boat, contact this lady. She's selling it. Her husband died. It's awful, you know what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, reach out to Jairus and ask him for the info and he'll get you hooked up, if you want a dead man's $8,500 boat. Don't bring. I mean, it's not the boat's fault.
Speaker 1:Or maybe, maybe you don't know it might have been a boat accident. She didn't say this is getting really dark, really quick.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, you know what? That was great. Yeah, let's move on. All right, tyler, this is your transition.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to move into the topic the topic, the main topic of this episode, which is a reoccurring topic of this episode.
Speaker 2:Oh right, yeah, Of this episode I was like I don't think we've ever talked about this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you remember when I said reoccurring topic of this episode? That, yeah, you remember when I said reoccurring topic of this episode?
Speaker 2:That's what I meant was a reoccurring topic of this episode. Got it, got it. So when you were talking, you meant that it was a reoccurring topic of this episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the reoccurring topic of this episode is going to be the topic that we're going to do Pokemon. So, just so we're clear the reoccurring topic of this episode will be reoccurring in this episode. Yes, in this episode. Strictly okay, let's go, pokemon go anyways, yeah, pokemon, yay.
Speaker 2:What do you know about pokemon jerseys? Me personally a lot really, really cool.
Speaker 1:A reoccurring topic in my life good, good to know.
Speaker 2:So you've messed around with it once or twice, or 100, 200,000 times. To get to relate to all the 90s moms, how many Pocket Monsters have you got in your pocket?
Speaker 1:No, it's Pokeman, no Pocket.
Speaker 2:Monsters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Pocket Monsters, but how's that relating to the 90s?
Speaker 2:Because all the Christian 90 moms that didn't want their kids to play Pokemon. Their one argument was if you translate it, it means pocket monsters. Do you want monsters?
Speaker 1:in your pocket? No, and the people who supported it but didn't actually, or not supported it but allowed it, called it Pokeman.
Speaker 2:Pokeman yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, pocket Monsters yeah, because it was like a really hot thing in our house for one week, really yeah, because we watched an episode or two and then we kind of started getting into the cards and stuff and we're like, wow, this is awesome. And then a week later Mom actually did some research and she was like's, like nope, threw them all in the trash. Pokemon means pocket monster. We're not gonna have monsters in our pockets. And and then?
Speaker 1:you threw away about two million dollars worth of cards.
Speaker 2:That today's prices I think that we I think that we got like between all four of us boys we just got one pack of cards and we're just kind of like playing with one pack together, and then that, and because we didn't have enough money to get more, that devolved into us creating our own cards. So we would sit down with paper and we'd like create our own Pokemon. I give it stats and stuff and then, like cut it out like it was a card.
Speaker 1:So you played Pokemon, but you just played your fake Pokemon. Yeah, we played the Timu Pokemon for a week the 90s Timu Pokemon yeah.
Speaker 2:That sounds like a bit in itself. 90s Timu Pokemon.
Speaker 1:And it's just grown. Men cutting out pieces of paper.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Drawing poorly with crayons, pokemon on pieces of paper.
Speaker 2:And then laminating it, Laminating it.
Speaker 1:So on that topic, how like?
Speaker 2:How many people have a laminator in their house? What's the percentage?
Speaker 1:Do you have a stat for that? No, okay, no, I was going to say the craze of the Pokemon cards is as large as it has ever been, if not bigger than the 90s craze. Right now, right now, jeez, you go into a kroger. Have you seen the pokemon vending machine? Yeah, I've seen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I, I've, I've started noticing that and I was like huh so they're trying to like bring it back, but it's not, they're trying to it's just, it's always been here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the thing is, pokemon has never what am I trying to say? It has never gotten as a whole, yeah, out of the craze. Yeah, it's just the people who are in the craze in the 90s grew out of it, and so it created that illusion for a lot of people that that craze and that fad went away.
Speaker 2:It never went away well, yeah, I think that the market number is like around 50 billion in worldwide sales to this date.
Speaker 1:Pokemon is the highest grossing property ever. Yeah, because you have cards, video games, movies, games, apps, pokemon Go, like all this nonsenseushies. Plushies, yeah, um, puzzles, all just marching yeah, seriously, merchandise in general shirts, all this nonsense it is. It is the. You say speakers, sneakers, sneakers, yeah, sneakers, speakers. Uh, they just announced yesterday a collaboration with lego, so they're gonna to have Lego Pokemon toys coming out. To be honest, I'm surprised that it hasn't already. It hasn't already. Well, you know they had the Lego Mario sets. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. And so now they're going with Lego Pokemon, which I think they will be more less interactive, like the Mario sets were, yeah, where you could play with them like actual toys and create your own levels and play those levels with Legos. I think these are just going to be the display Legos.
Speaker 2:The real question is when are we going to get a Lego Bomberman set? Never, It'd always blow up while playing with it. Or maybe if they put it on the market it would blow up, Maybe.
Speaker 1:So you came to me with, with your this idea ironically because I'm the one who so we're all clear I came up with this. John came up with this episode's topic and I'm like, yeah, let's do it, let's go, let's get into it. And that was maybe three or four days ago, yeah, of this recording, and you're like, man, let's do it, let's do this. Where you know, we talk about pokemon and we debate on whether or not it's good for christians or not to interact with the pokemon brand. I'm like, let's do it, that's a great idea. Yeah, and so I called you today and I'm like all right, I'm on the way to your house. I've got 13 pages of notes and you're like, I wrote down some stuff yeah, I've got.
Speaker 2:Okay, to be clear, I researched pokemon for about two hours today, so I've only got. I've got a page of notes, but the information is like in my head. That's how I do it, like I, I read a lot of stuff and then like key points, I jot down something to remember the key point. So my notes are really condensed, but it's from all the info that I reviewed.
Speaker 1:So to get into it real quick. I don't know if you can tell, johnny doesn't have that much knowledge with Pokemon. I've been playing Pokemon since I was eight.
Speaker 2:To be clear, Johnny has, as of today, the most information about Pokemon that he has ever had in his entire life.
Speaker 1:To be fair and for all who want to know it, everything I had on this piece of paper came from my brain. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 2:Just so we're clear. I am the real reason that they created Pokemon.
Speaker 1:No, All right, so disclaimer on this. So again playing Pokemon my whole life and I still do. I'll still play the games. They have a new pokemon trading card game app that I play every day.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you would say that you're a big satoshi tashihari fan yes, okay, the creator of pokemon?
Speaker 1:yep, yeah, after doing my research and looking into this and comparing it to the bible, like, and the morals and our, what am I trying to say? The things we should do as christians? Yes, and the data yes and pokemon.
Speaker 2:I don't know about that game this is okay, I'm looking forward to getting into this, okay.
Speaker 1:So we came to one another and said, all right, we're going to come up with arguments for engaging with pokemon, like, hey, this is why it's okay to play pokemon, and then arguments on why you shouldn't, as a christian, be playing pokemon, yeah, or interact I want to say interacting, because it's the largest media IP that there ever was yeah, so there's so many different ways to interact with Pokemon yeah, so you can't just say play Pokemon.
Speaker 2:Correct. Yeah. I want to be clear, though, that when I'm presenting an argument for it tonight, it's not from a me personally. This is my personal argument for it. This is the best I could come up with. This is me taking the stance of just a average evangelical American. Okay, that that goes to church once a week on Sunday and does not read their Bible, but has a couple of Bible verses on standby. Okay, so someone who's not really devoutly pursuing Christ, but someone who's affiliated with Christianity, because that's the only way that I could come up with an argument for Okay. I hate to be that way.
Speaker 1:but so the way we should do this is we'll both present a for argument and then against argument. I personally have five. We don't have to do them all.
Speaker 2:No, I want to hear yours first.
Speaker 1:for the four Okay, so for the first one I have here, pokemon fosters creativity, problem solving and community interaction. The concept of training and bonding with Pokemon promotes imaginative storytelling and interactive learning. Fans often create artwork, fan fiction and even animations inspired by their favorite creatures. Games like Pokemon Legends, arceus, offer players the chance to explore the Pokemon world in a historical setting, fostering curiosity about world building and lore. And I have Bible verses to back up my points. Okay, yeah so. Philippians 4, verse 8,. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commend, commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things okay so four, it's, it's imaginative, it promotes imagination and creativity.
Speaker 1:Yep, so what you? What you're writing there? Bud, I forgot to write down these verses, so I gotta write them you got verses.
Speaker 2:I have to have verses no, no, I had some for the for but for the against. I didn't write those down. I have verses for everything as we should.
Speaker 1:Yes, we should. So what is your for okay?
Speaker 2:so my for is very close to yours, like it's in the game or the original Game Boy games. It does promote kind of a community. It's one of the first games that kind of promotes intercooperative gameplay. So it creates community. It promotes competition because you can battle each other. You can battle, you can trade trade, yep.
Speaker 1:And then the start fights over those trades because because you stole your brother's game boy and traded all his good pokemon over to you, yep yep and the pokemon go.
Speaker 2:It promotes people getting out into the world and walking around and, you know, finding new areas in the real world while playing the augmented right. The TV show promoted teamwork and friendship. There is an aspect of creativity in there. And then the Bible verse that I had for it was Galatians 5.1a For freedom. Christ has set us free. So that's the idea is, we're no longer bound to slavery or to be like you can do this, you can't do this, you can do this, you can't do this. We're free in Christ, right, uh, and then first Corinthians 10, 23,. All things are lawful, not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. So you know, it's not that it's against the law, as a Christian, to play Pokemon, but you just got to gauge, you know, is it beneficial to me, is it helpful to me? Does it build up, is it creative? You know, does it help me in some way? So those are the arguments you could take with those two Bible verses so you want me to start with my negatives?
Speaker 1:oh, boy do I no, here we go, guys, again it is. It's bad. Yeah, go for it. The bad side of pokemon bro, we're a christian is awful. Yeah, after looking at it, I've always known these things, but it's like after doing deeper research into the deep lore of Pokemon, it's crazy. So, avoiding idolatry? Some argue that Pokemon introduces godlike entities that could be perceived as promoting idolatry. Pokemon like Arceus, described as the God of Pokemon, could lead to confusion or discomfort for Christians. Mindful of the first commandment, the concern is that engaging with fictional representations of divinity could diminish reverence for God, and my Bible verse is Exodus 20, verse 3. You shall have no other gods before me. Bang, boom, okay, do you have anything else? That's all I have for that one.
Speaker 2:Okay, do I do another? No, you would now do a negative, a negative, okay. So the Bible makes it clear that we're not supposed to be like imitators of the world. Right, we're supposed to be imitators of Christ, and so embodying just things that the world does just for the sake of entertainment isn't truly living in Christ. Living in Christ, I mean. The creator of Pokemon even said in an interview that our game's not really compatible with a Christian lens. I'm paraphrasing how he said it. But because the game takes on that, they're openly saying like, yeah, we took inspiration from Eastern Asian mythology and these things don't line up with the christian faith. And so if you're trying to look at pokemon through the lens of christian faith, you might have an issue with it. But our game's not bad, it's for it's fun and free for people, or whatever is the way he. He worded it. Kind, of.
Speaker 1:Initially, he created pokemon based off of his childhood of going into the woods and collecting insects.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, which was what I was going to use for a four argument is that the creation of it was not some dark, sinister thing. It was just a joy of video games and a childhood hobby of collecting and identifying insects. Yeah, so, john, 17. I've got 15 through 21.
Speaker 2:I don't think I'm going to read all that, but the idea is that it's like don't take them out of the world. Let them stand out from the world while they live in it. So I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They're not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. Yeah, so that was Jesus talking about his apostles. He's going to send them out into the world and but be sanctified, he doesn't want. They're not of the world, just like christ is not of the world. And so we take that mentality of we are not of this world and so we shouldn't embody the things of this world. We should embody christ. We should embrace that sanctification that only comes from God. And we'll find that. And this is all. So let me clarify this is all hinging on the idea that there is an actual demonic force that is active within the realm of Pokemon. So, at surface level, it's just a game, it's just a TV series. It's just a game, it's just a tv series, it's just a form of entertainment.
Speaker 2:But when you start using spiritual discernment in the spiritual realm, what is the essence or the spirit that hovers around the idea of pokemon? What is going in hand in hand with the paraphernalia, with the games, with the trading cards? What is it? Because the spiritual world is? I mean it's, it's like what we've talked about in the past. It's like the upside down from stranger things, like it's a mirrored realm. Right, it's, it's going hand in hand with what's going on here. So what is clouding over pokemon? Is it the spirit of light and truth or it is a more nefarious spirit? So that's the discernment we have to use, and I would argue that there's not the spirit of light and truth hovering over the world of Pokemon. I would say that it is very much of this world, even though it's not like super blatantly dark and ominous, you know, it still has a spiritual force that is moving in it. And so what is that spiritual force? I would say that it's of the world, and as Christians, we need to be set apart.
Speaker 1:So, for my positive, many Pokemon stories promote friendship, loyalty and perseverance. Characters like ash ketchum often display qualities of courage, resilience and selflessness, sacrificing for the sake of his friends and pokemon. His determination to help others exemplifies positive moral lessons and my Bible verse that supports that is Galatians 5, 22 through 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. There you go, there you go. So what's your positive? One big guy.
Speaker 2:It was that what we talked about earlier, that the original inspiration for the game wasn't from some sort of dark, occult. That was like go into the world and make a video game worthy of Satan. It was just a young man who enjoyed a hobby of getting out into nature and collecting and identifying insects and then thought like, hey, it would be fun to incorporate that into a video game. So, yeah, I think that Satoshi, I think that it wasn't from a dark to furious place. I think he was just trying to incorporate a bunch of his different likes and enjoyments to make an enjoyable game. Yeah, right so, but from that original inspiration he created, but with the help of, you know, other designers like I think the main one was ken sigamoni, sigamori, sigamon mori, he was the like creative director for red green and blue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so red, green and blue is the original release games in japan, yeah, and then we got red, blue and yellow here, okay, okay. So they always okay pokemon history or patterns. They will release two games when a new Pokemon generation comes out and there will be slight differences between the games, but it's typically the same story, the same structure and the difference is so that people can interact with one another. So, okay, I can't get this Pokemon in red, but you can in blue. You have to trade to get them all Got it. Yeah, 100%, you have to trade. That way. It promotes that community within Pokemon. Sure, yep, and then what they'll do is, a couple years after those two pair of games will come out. Then they'll come out with what is kind of a director's cut.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for that yellow is actually more in line to the story of the anime where you have pikachu following you around, and originally the characters in the anime are different in the games. Ash isn't the main character. He's original to the anime, okay, stuff like that. Um, the, his two companions at misty and Brock they are in the original games, but they're just gym leaders, they're bosses, gotcha, okay, but in that game you have Pikachu following you around, you have the characters from the anime with you. It's promoting. Not promoting it is along the lines of the anime, but still playing the same original game at the same time yeah, the same areas you go to, and that kind of sort of thing yeah, okay, yeah, it's um, but do you want to talk about the game boy cord link real quick the the link cable yeah, just just for people who don't know.
Speaker 1:So back in the day, when you had to trade, you didn't have a Wi-Fi signal, something connecting your devices. You had to have your link cable.
Speaker 2:Specifically with a Game Boy Special cable. Yeah, but like, okay, what's a Game Boy? For those who don't know A Game.
Speaker 1:Boy is a Nintendo handheld device.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a gaming console. That was one of the first right, One of the first handheld gaming devices.
Speaker 1:Pretty close, I feel like Not 100% on that.
Speaker 2:I don't think so. No, okay, well, it was one of the. It was one of the first major consumer versions yeah, it was the one that everybody had back in the 90s.
Speaker 1:So there is. So my first Game Boy was a Game Boy Color.
Speaker 2:Mine too. My first Game Boy was a Game Boy Color, and my very first game was Monsters Inc.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mine was a game called Rats.
Speaker 2:Rats, rats with a Z. It was fun because it was a Christmas gift and it was me and two other brothers. We all got game boy colors and we each got an individual game. So it was like already built in. We had three games starting out. Yeah, because we could just, you know, pop a cartridge out, put a cartridge in, kind of deal.
Speaker 1:So I got rats and my brother got pokemon blue yeah, that's funny. And so I was playing his game and I messed something up on his game. I was, I'm young, I was young, I was maybe six or seven, maybe eight, yeah, and I messed up his game. So not long after that, I got my own copy of pokemon so I wouldn't have to mess up my brothers. There you, there you go. That's awesome. I got Pokemon Red. Yeah, came with a Charizard on the cover.
Speaker 2:So yeah. So Game Boy was a handheld gaming device. And then there was an option where you could plug a cable from your Game Boy into your friend's Game Boy and then y'all could share data. Mm-hmm Between your two little handheld consoles.
Speaker 1:Right, which is sharing data. That ran on AA batteries, so sharing data in that sense would have been you could only trade Pokemon and battle. That's it. That's it. Yeah, there wasn't any real true cooperative gameplay in the first game. Okay, you would go against one another and that was it.
Speaker 2:That's as far as it went you would go against one another, and that was that, was it? That's as far as it went, yeah, so, but yeah, that's my pro is that the, the origins of it, wasn't nefarious.
Speaker 1:It was, yeah, no, it's you, you can you'll hear it in my voice a lot. It's a very fond memory, dumb thing that we me and my brother both played a lot of growing up. Yeah, he got out of it, I really didn't. Yeah, yeah, anytime a new pokemon game just comes out, I'll still play it what do you think your brother's stance is on it now? It's probably of the devil. He's not wrong, though to a degree I yeah, we'll get into that, okay.
Speaker 2:So what's your against argument?
Speaker 1:occult and spiritual concerns. Hey, all right, go for it. Some pokemon have powers linked to psychic abilities, ghosts and spiritual elements. Hey, we've talked about psychic abilities before. Yeah, we did, don't do it. Yeah, don't do it. Pokemon like gengar and dust snore are associated with the afterlife and spirits, while alakazam uses psychic powers which can be perceived as promoting occult practices. Christians who wish to avoid media that trivializes spiritual warfare may feel uncomfortable with these elements. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer. That's Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verses 10 through 12.
Speaker 2:Yep, and we've talked about that before too like not practicing divination, not practicing sorcery, not doing those things. Hey, don't do it.
Speaker 1:Stop it. Yeah, look it's God. And he says't do it. Stop it. Yeah, look it's God. And he says stop it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was kind of the thing for me. For another big argument against it is the idea of spiritual warfare. So there's an article that a lady wrote about. In my research for Pokemon I could find very few things.
Speaker 1:That was like as a Christian can.
Speaker 2:I play Pokemon Very few things. That was like pro Pokemon as a Christian. Now, one of the articles was a lady writing about a story that they had gotten from her husband's dad, who is a full-time missionary in South America dad who was a full-time missionary in South America. And this is hearsay, because once again, I mean, it's just a. It's a story from an online blogger, like who's to say how legit it actually is. But in South America their father did full-time ministry.
Speaker 2:He converted a lot of people to Christianity, one of them being a witch doctor from a local village who had reached a certain like the pinnacle of the practice. So he was like a level, you know whatever, but he had this he had the ability to step into the spiritual realm and steal the spirit of a child, and that child in real life would die soon after, and so they called that level. I think they called it like the child eater or something like that, like something really dark, right, but anyway. So this guy like that's how deep he is in the occult, being a witch doctor, and he gets converted, he finds deliverance from that bondage of being in the dark, and so he's living with the Christians. He's got a relationship with the missionary.
Speaker 2:Someone sends him a codex book of the Pokemon when it came out and basically like hey, we're having a debate at our church about whether or not we should be involved, like, say like it's okay or no, don't do it. And he, that former witch doctor, happened to visit and so they brought in the book. He doesn't. This witch doctor does not read english, doesn't know what the pages say, but they would open it up and point to a random one and he would tell you what its spiritual name is and what it would do. And the abilities of the Pokemon were very similar to what the actual spirit would do and the characteristics were almost identical because it would be a picture of the Pokemon. And the guy would say like, oh yeah, I know what spirit that is. That demon does this.
Speaker 1:It's crazy because spoiler to the episode. We have a corner segment a little bit coming up that talks about yokai. Yeah, which is a deep inspiration to the designs of Pokemon. Yeah, and that might be what it is.
Speaker 2:He's seen these yokai demons is he's seen these yokai demons. Yeah, so that's that's so. That's.
Speaker 2:My argument is that maybe not every single one of the pokemon created for the game, but there is a decent amount of them that are taking inspiration from demonic forces that are real, that are active, and so, for that, ephesians 6, 12, and it says this is a classic one, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, and then it goes into taking on the armor of God. But it's that we need to be aware of the spiritual enemy that is around us. Satan is the authority on earth right now, and the only thing that trumps his authority is Christ. And so we're at battle with the authority of this earth, which is Satan, and we invoke the name of Jesus to combat his every conniving, interloping, attacking movement that he does. And we are called to shine the light into people's lives and let them know that Christ will rescue them from the darkness that Satan has authority over if they will put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:So that's our battle, and we need to be aware of who we're fighting, and part of that is knowing the demonic forces that are around us. So we can't be naive and say like, oh, it's just to combat the previous argument that I made. Oh, it's just coming from a place of innocence, it's just a game for fun that promotes fun and creativity. Okay, that's great, but it is including demonic forces inside it.
Speaker 1:So there you go, so I'm going to go to a negative on this one, even though I think I'm supposed to be doing a positive. Because I want to end on positive. Okay, yeah, it's always nice to be doing a positive because I want to end on positive. Okay, yeah, it's always nice to end on a positive, yeah, yeah, yeah. So my little segment here is a little long-winded, that's okay, so bear with me here. All right, so I did a bit of a research on the whole episode, sure, but, but I looked into correlations, like things that you can tell are inspiration to pokemon, that correlate to the bible okay so I'm going to kind of go through this and it's more about kind of a very specific kind of line around pokemon.
Speaker 1:so there are legendary pokemon, right, yeah, so those are typically really hard to catch. They're the big ones that you want to get the end goal pokemon in the lore, they're typically of higher power one way or another. Okay, so, very specifically, we're going to start with and and again, we're Christians, right, we are, we don't worship Pokemon, correct, but when talking about it, I'm going to give kind of like a bit of a lore and talk about this line and the connection to all these Pokemon.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So Arceus, arceus, arceus, okay, I mentioned him earlier. He is. It is, I don't know what you, I don't put a gender to Pokemon, but he is, in the lore of Pokemon, considered the god of Pokemon. He is the creator of Pokemon. Okay, arceus is considered the creator of the Pokemon universe, similar to God in the Bible. Considered the creator of the Pokemon universe, similar to God in the Bible, arceus shaped the world and brought forth time, space and antimatter through the Pokemon. He created these three Pokemon Dialga, palkia and Giratina. This mirrors the concept of God as the creator in Genesis. In Genesis 1, god created the heavens and the earth. Just in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth, just a correlation Bible verse. Okay, the creation trio Dialga, palkia and Giratina. The quote unquote Trinity.
Speaker 2:Hold on. Are these actual Pokemon? Yes, that you can catch in the game. Okay, because this would have nothing to do with the bible creation story. This would be more of an egyptian creation story well, correlation of egypt.
Speaker 1:Well, god creating, with him being the holy trinity, creating all things, and then correlating that into pokemon, where they mirrored that from the Bible.
Speaker 2:Okay, keep going.
Speaker 1:Yes, god is the only single God.
Speaker 2:In Pokemon they branch out, so yes, yeah, okay, so that's what I'm saying is because in the Egyptian creation story, the starting point is there's a deity or one or two deities that are in the void and they start procreating and creating other gods, and those other gods are the symbols of different creations.
Speaker 2:So, like the nile, the land, trees and creation inside trees, biological, all these things they're attributing to different gods that are the offspring of their parent, god, who created them, and they're the representation of the creation, and then they continue on and create other things. So that's why I was saying that, because in the creation story of Genesis, god is outside of all things. There is no time, matter, space, nothing and he, in the Holy Trinity, they, if you will, father, son, holy Spirit they create all things through speaking it into existence, and none of it has identity. It all has what God gives it. Yes, right, so that's why I'm saying it doesn't— I wouldn't use a parallel to the creation story from the Bible, because it sounds like there's individuals that represent— so the better comparison on this, because it does actually kind of come back around is they're not God, they're angels doing God's work.
Speaker 2:Okay, that would be a better correlation, because Giratina sins against Arceus and Arceus banishes him to the distortion world, the hell okay so that's once again we ought to be closer to yes, I understand, to the egyptian, because, because god doesn't use any of his angels for creation no, he doesn't, you know, but you could, you could correlate those to the Egyptian creation story.
Speaker 2:It's not like, because in that Horus I'm not going to remember their names but Anubis kills his brother and that's like the sin against the creation right and the son of I can't remember his name, who the sun god is, but I think it's anyways he kills him and then Horus, his son, the son of the killed god, goes into an epic battle against Anubis and ultimately defeats Anubis and sends him to be the caretaker of the dead.
Speaker 1:But one could argue that all of these inspirations come from biblical facts, though People writing these Egyptian stories writing the Greek mythology, it all stems from the truth, which is God.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say it stems from the truth, which is God. I wouldn't say it stems from the truth. I mean, in a sense, that it's trying to make sense of the truth. Yeah, but in a demonic way, sure, because all these different religions that center around polytheism a pantheon of gods, if you will, they have their own creation story. Pantheon of gods, if you will, they have their own creation story, and it has to do with a plethora of gods coming into existence and battling each other and creating mischief and arguing and bickering and creating disorder and creating their own little kingdoms and this, that and the other, and so it that? That would be what it is. So the the only I mean the only connection it would have to the true creation story would be the fact that there was a beginning. You know, that's really it. The demonic does not want to attribute anything to God, because then it would put people in submission to God. They're going to take things from the truth and distort it. So that's what I would say.
Speaker 1:So, to bring it back all around, this is in a children's game. So whether you agree with that correlation or not, it is taking aspects of biblical truths of a creation and warping it and putting it into a piece of media that is designed for children.
Speaker 2:Was this your ending on a good note, or is this?
Speaker 1:your bad. This is my bad note. Okay, all right, I'll end on a positive. Okay, go ahead. But you understand what I'm saying, yeah, that the entire point of us talking about this is and that'll go into my positive note it's a children's game and there's so much more to it, and, as parents, as guardians, as whoever you're letting your, as adults, playing pokemon, as children, adults, letting your children play pokemon, you need to be aware of the content within these games, for sure, and and knowing that, okay, it is more than a children's collectible game.
Speaker 1:There is so much more hidden in this stuff, yeah, so I got you and then so, ending on my positive, hold on let me. Oh, sorry, you got a negative we're exchanging.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to actually end on a negative, so I'm going to give my other positive. Okay, do it.
Speaker 1:So I'll let you do your positive, then your negative, and I'll end on my positive.
Speaker 2:No, no, you need to end on your positive so that I can end on my negative, because my negative, I know that my negative is going to combat your positive, so it doesn't make sense if I go first. Okay, go ahead's a fictional game. It's a fictional world, like they take inspiration from our world, just like every other fictional thing out there. But it's not real. It is, it is made up and it's made for the enjoyment of children to play a game. So that's the positive, you know, because I mean they made up this imaginary world. They focus the story on Kanto, which draws creation from the Japanese region Kanto. But it's not.
Speaker 1:It's not a real place, but it's not a real place. Every single Pokemon game is based off of a real place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's based off of a real place, but it's not. It's a fictional alternative. Yeah, yeah, and so in all of the Pokemon, they're based off or they gain inspiration from things in our reality, but it's in their fictional reality. And we've talked about them taking inspiration from Eastern mythology or, as we would call it, demonic forces, but they also take inspiration from creatures in our world. Like you know I think I wrote down Charmander is a giant Chinese salamander, yep, because he's a fire type. And he giant Chinese salamander, yep.
Speaker 1:Because he's a fire type and he's a salamander, so it's a charred salamander Charmander.
Speaker 2:Magnemite, magnemite, yeah, boy Takes inspiration from a magnet. It's literally a ball with two magnets on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you have electrode in there? I do not have electrode in there, it's literally a ball.
Speaker 2:It's just a ball with eyes. And then the other one I had was Pikachu is based off of a mythological creature called Raiju, which is a kami. Am I saying that right? Kami yep, which is a kami? It's Japanese folklore, right? All right, how do I?
Speaker 1:remember it Pika Pika, Pika Pika is in Japanese, I believe is mouse, Okay. And then chu is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a mouse makes. So where we say mew like or sorry, not mew Kik, kik, kik, kik, so if we say squeak, they say chu, yeah so if we we say squeak, they say chew, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So mouse, mouse, noise, pikachu, yeah, so it gets in. So raju the kami is a deity that can turn itself into a squirrel-like creature, but can also turn into a electric, a ball of electricity. So it's, I mean literally just taking, it's just yeah, and that's how all of them are. They're. They're literally taking whatever their inspiration is and just making a creature, making a creature out of it. There's, there's, no, there's not really any big difference from whatever they're inspired from, right it.
Speaker 1:It's all very basic designs Like the.
Speaker 2:What's the one with? It's the duck, something, a Psyduck, psyduck. It looks like a platypus and its inspiration is a platypus.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, and it's a psychic duck, psyduck.
Speaker 2:A psychic duck? Yeah, psyduck, so platypus, maybe platypuses are psychic we? Yeah, psyduck, so platypus, maybe platypuses are psychic. We should do some research into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll let you know next time. Tune in next week when we find out if ducks are psychic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. Do you want me to go ahead and give my negative? No, I'll give my positive. Are?
Speaker 1:you sure I don't. I promise I won't cry. I feel like I hurt your inner child you did. This is my episode, sorry, no. So something that we always talk about, every single time. We talk about these properties that are a little bit controversial, whether it be Harry Potter or watching Disney movies or whatever.
Speaker 2:Wow, way to throw them all. Every single Disney movie.
Speaker 1:Every single Disney movie in the last 10 years.
Speaker 2:Okay, no.
Speaker 1:But you know what I mean, every single property that we've talked about on this show. Christians can enjoy entertainment that does not lead them into sin. Yeah, pokemon, for many, is a harmless form of storytelling and strategy. It's a strategy game. Yeah, for example, games like pokemon snap and pokemon go encourage exploring nature and appreciating god's creation through digital means. Players often marvel at landscapes in the games mirroring the beauty of the natural world. Yep, pokemon can provide a relaxation and stress relief, which can be beneficial for mental well-being, as we said, as always, 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 31. So, whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Okay.
Speaker 2:You didn't have a sound bite for that. What Is your sound bite for later? I don't have a bit a soundbite for that. What as your soundbite for later?
Speaker 1:I don't have any.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'll play that later, okay alright, that's why I thought this was going to come back, what you were saying.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry do you want me to play the funny soundbite first, and then you can have?
Speaker 2:your. Maybe I'm wrong now. Maybe I don't know what you're playing. I thought you were going to be playing the bit from the TV, the episode, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll play it right now, okay, so this is to me very humorous, right? So there is an episode of Pokemon, yeah, and it's about a 30-second clip or so. I'm going to play it real quick, okay, quick, okay. Let's see nothing but ocean in every direction and no way to tell which direction to go. I remember the story of noah when he had to find dry land, sent a bird to find it and return with a branch what a great idea.
Speaker 1:We're gonna do the same thing as noah you heard it here first, folks noah's in the pokemon. That means god is real in pokemon. That's right.
Speaker 2:So that's my argument against it. Yeah, okay. So just because things of the world incorporate truths, or incorporate truths we find in scripture, does not mean that therefore it is scriptural.
Speaker 1:Okay, and my example for that is and that can go back to my point before where, even though it has some aspects of the bible within it, yeah, like oh, a deity, a trinity, a flood, because one of my other points was there is a flood in the pokemon game where two pokemon fight and it floods the earth okay yeah, so it's just because there's aspects of different points in the bible. Yeah, does not make it scriptural yeah, and so we're.
Speaker 2:I go to matthew, chapter four. It's four, one through eleven. This is when j Jesus is in the wilderness, fasting for 40 days and 40 nights and he's confronted by Satan to be tempted. Let's see it's verse 6. And he said to him if you are the son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. So that's Satan. And he is quoting scripture to Jesus to tell Jesus why Jesus should test God and to prove that Jesus truly is the son of God and Jesus's responses. Jesus said to him again, it is written you should not put the Lord, your God, to the test. So there you go. It's Satan. It's Satan knows scripture.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's a lot of people in darkness and there are a lot of things that are the servants of the darkness that will use truths from the Bible and distort them and use them as an argument against whatever they're trying to say. Right, so it's our job to know God's word, it's our job to know the context of God's word. That way we can combat whenever a wolf in sheep's clothing tries to come alongside and lead the flock astray. So a little plug, shameless plug here. That's why it's important for people to inductively study the Word of God. So if you want to know how to inductively study the Word of God, reach out to us. Thesaintsthatserve at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:We are putting together the resources now. We actually have a course going on right now. It's a four-week course that we're doing in person in our community, but we're putting together all of the information. So we'll have notes and eventually we'll have videos. Hopefully, If you can get your camera to work, yeah, I can get my camera to work. Yeah, I can get my camera to work. But no, we'll have videos and we'll have notes and walkthroughs and just we'll explain how to inductively study God's word and we'll give you step by step ways to accomplish that and we'll have handouts and things like that that you can utilize to be able to approach God's word with confidence and get the context out of it. And get the context out of it so that if anyone ever confronts you and tries to use the word to manipulate.
Speaker 1:The word manipulate or attack.
Speaker 2:To prove their point, but it's not correct. Correct, you'll have the ammo to be able to stand for truth. So anyways okay, shameless plug over, go ahead.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, yeah, that's it, that's it Seriously.
Speaker 2:You can enjoy something yeah, I think it comes back around to what we've said before is you're not going to hell because you play pokemon, but you need to be in touch with this holy spirit and whatever this spirit convicts you of, humble yourself to that. If you're not feeling convicted, then I don't know if it's necessarily something you need to be like. Am I just not a Christian because I don't feel convicted about this? I don't think it's that. But make sure you're testing all things against the spirit and against the truth of God and try to walk in that, against the spirit and against the truth of God, and try to walk in that. You know, because things like we've talked about with Pokemon, you can build good relationships with people by playing the game and that's an opportunity to be a testament and a witness to them.
Speaker 2:My biggest argument against Pokemon and we didn't really explicitly go into this my thing is I do not think it's wise for Christian children to be playing Pokemon because of the doors that could be opened and they're not necessarily mature in the spirit to practice the discernment to say no and so it could be opening in doors for spiritual conditioning that the demonic forces will use right. And so, as Christian parents, it's our job to practice that spirit discernment for our kids. So as an adult where you've got the ability to be mature in the spirit and you know when you're being convicted, I think there's a little bit more freedom. I guess you could say in that aspect. Little bit more freedom, I guess you could say in that aspect. But as a child I would very strongly walk very carefully and be very, very controlled over what your kid plays. Let's not limit it to Pokemon, let's put it for everything.
Speaker 1:Didn't you tell me that the reason why you stopped letting Bigfoot play Fortnite and the reason why you cut Fortnite out of your family this is long after I stopped playing it? Yeah, was that there was a feature. They added that you have to sell your soul or something to that effect essentially it the idea of one of the seasons.
Speaker 2:There's a special character that you can go to and he's sitting on a golden throne and you essentially I do in air quotes sell your soul and they give you like a beefed up weapon, but it's it's imaging sell your soul to satan and he'll give you the greatest desires of your heart or whatever. But it really was a very close imagery of a satanic environment, like the things that they were decorating it with and all that stuff. So, yeah, we just stepped away from the game entirely, which you know kind of a bummer, because it's a fun game and we have some I mean you and I have some investment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we put a lot of money into.
Speaker 2:Fortnite. We put money into Fortnite, so it kind of sucks, but it's the and again, that's a children's game. Yeah, it's supposed to be for kids, like young teens and stuff, so it was a bummer, but the reality is they, the creators of the game, opened the door to the demonic, and so we, as Christians, are pulling back because we don't want that influence in our home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so a little bit of defense on pokemon to a degree. Pokemon a lot of the things that made it deities and gods and creation and hell and all this stuff yeah, was not in the first two or three generations of the game. It was years down the line before they started adding these things. From the get-go it was pretty bare-bones, basic. You're just walking around trying to get Pokemon and become the Pokemon champion.
Speaker 2:So the first 151 Pokemon that Game Freak created. The lore of the creation wasn't there, right, it was just the game, right, it was just the game.
Speaker 1:Right, it was just the game, it was just this world, and they are just animals. They're not deities or anything like that. And there was some. There was one that was genetically modified and that was like. That was the one you wanted to get.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean I remember when I was doing my research that mew in the game was a was a joke like one of the designers. He. Mew in the game was a joke Like one of the designers.
Speaker 1:He put it in there as a practical joke and they ran with it, and so it was actually the first 150 and Mew came into play later on as the 151st Pokemon. Yeah, even so, mew 2, ironically, was 50, mew is 51, 150, 151. Okay, I just remember reading it and they were like yeah was 50. Mew is 51. 150. 151.
Speaker 2:Okay, I just remember reading it, and they were like, yeah, this one designer guy, he put it in there as a practical joke on the other guys and it ended up just staying as a glitch and then everybody wanted it.
Speaker 1:Back then there was a lot of lore that's passed down from kid to kid on the playground type thing. Yeah, yeah, lore that's passed down from kid to kid on the playground type thing. Yeah, yeah, so it's that mew was under a truck in one of these levels, because of something that was word, was hidden in a library somewhere like oh, the pokemon mew, oh, he's under this truck. And everybody thought that this pokemon was under this truck. It it never was. Oh really, yeah, so there you go crazy things. So yeah, pokemon, it's, it's fun to play and it's fun to collect, but don't let it engulf your soul yeah, because it could easily, it could become a very financial.
Speaker 2:You could spend a lot of money on pokemon, yeah, so, and a lot of time. You could spend a lot of time a lot of time I spent two hours today and I barely scratched the surface oh, it's okay.
Speaker 1:There is over a thousand pokemon now. Yeah, that's ridiculous. There's a lot, and I've caught them all you've caught them all.
Speaker 2:No, you've coughed them all, so should we create the christian pokemon?
Speaker 1:there's already a pokemon called coughing. No, I'm saying, should we create the christian version? What's that, I don't know? Gotta been gotta banish them all. Gotta exercise them all.
Speaker 2:oh, they've already got that with the game we talked about last time. The darkness, oh yeah, the unholy trinity, or whatever.
Speaker 1:All right. So hey, bud, hey, you want to transition? Hey, tyler, we're going to transition.
Speaker 2:So this is your transition, Tyler.
Speaker 1:Step inside if you dare. Shadows move, mysteries whisper, and the unknown awaits. Welcome to the Corner.
Speaker 2:I'm actually really excited for this, because this is Jairus' first corner.
Speaker 1:I've had a corner before.
Speaker 2:No, really, this is your first one.
Speaker 1:This is my corner, yeah, wow. So we talked about it already earlier. In the podcast, we're talking about yokai Yokai. In the podcast, we're talking about yokai yokai. So yokai are supernatural creatures from japanese mythology, often portrayed as spirits, demons or mischievous entities. They vary greatly in form and behavior. Some are malevolent, while others are more playful and protective. Stories of yokai have been passed down through generations, serving as a cautionary tale or explanation for unexplained phenomena.
Speaker 2:Many Pokemon are directly inspired by these mythical beings, so let's I have a question for you, and if you don't have it, as the Christians would right, no, the demon is not an outcast, fallen angel from God's presence.
Speaker 1:No, so a better way to view it, even though I think it's spelled D-E-M-O-N, m-o-m.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:D-E-M-O-N. Sorry, yeah, it's more pronounced Damon Damon. So I think the only other thing I've personally seen that has quote unquote Damons in it and it confused the heck out of me is the Golden Compass, which is also something we should probably talk about at some point. Just, we should have an episode that's strictly devoted to Christian media controversies, one like large media thing like yeah.
Speaker 1:Harry Potter, pokemon, the Golden Compass was a major one, the Da Vinci Code I remember that A lot of like of major Christian community issues. Yeah, so look forward to that episode because I just came up with that on the spot and I think that's a great idea. There we go, episode 30. No, let's do it Anyways. So they view them, it's a demon, but, like you said, they don't view demons as a demonic presence.
Speaker 2:It's just more of a spiritual being but leans more towards like mischievous evil.
Speaker 1:They're not necessarily like evil all the time, but it's just more of just the same way that we use the phrase ghost. We all know that ghost, so we could say like chaotic neutral. That would be probably the closest, because I think there is good yokai, there's bad yokai, you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:I love how we went to a D&D referencing chart when neither of us played D&D.
Speaker 1:Maybe one day, jk, we're Christians, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. So what I did was you know, I got a list of 10 Pokemon, okay, and then I have the Yo-Kai inspiration to that Pokemon. We don't have to hit them all, okay you?
Speaker 2:mean we don't have to hit them all okay, but I mean we don't have to catch them all, but these, to me, are really interesting.
Speaker 1:Okay, because a lot of these are very you were talking about. You know the correlation this guy I, he could recognize the pokemon in the inspiration to it. Some of these are very close and some of these is like you have to squint your eyes and tilt your head, but it's like you get it, yeah, yeah. So the first one we're looking at is Jinx, and Jinx is inspired by Yami Uba. Yami Uba, a mountain witch known for her supernatural powers and eerie appearance. Much like Yami Uba, jinx has an unsettling yet ematic presence. So I'm going to read two of these to you, okay, and then, so you can look at the pictures afterwards and not be surprised, okay. So, because I have pictures, hey, and anybody listening on the audio podcast, these pictures will be on a video version of this episode. I will put forth the effort and have these pictures ready.
Speaker 2:So you can listen on YouTube or you can go over to YouTube and look and you can see the pictures. Is this something we could upload to the website too, in the notes, maybe, picture. I don't know if we could do pictures. We can't. I don't think so, not right now, sorry guys.
Speaker 1:So the other one, this one is so between the two. One is kind of like okay, I can kind of see that, and the other one, uh, this one is so between the two. One is kind of like, okay, I can kind of see that, and the other one's like, yeah, spot on, okay. So the other one is the pokemon nine tails and that is modeled after the kitsune, a magical fox spirit that gains tails as it grows. Older kitsune are often seen as shapeshifters, sometimes appearing as beautiful women. Ew Yuck.
Speaker 2:Ew.
Speaker 1:A characteristic Nantels also shares in its lore, so that top one is Jinx, next to the Yama-Kuna, whatever it was, and then the Kune.
Speaker 2:Yama-Uba and Kitsune. Yeah, yeah, I can see that. So Nine Tails. So the Kitsune is a shapeshifter.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm Okay, which in a lot of anime you also see a lot of inspiration on that um yokai yeah, uh, we need to eventually.
Speaker 2:We need to get into north american shapeshifters because we need eventually.
Speaker 1:We've got to talk about skinwalkers and and stuff that can be yours next week, but this is my segment today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right. That's right, well, but my point I'm sorry, but my point with that is like I don't think we can do just a corner segment. If you want a whole episode. There's so much like we've got to spend a whole because we've got to watch Skinwalker Ranch and talk about that as a documentary and like there's so much on.
Speaker 1:Skinwalkers. So we'll just call it the unknown episode. It's the episode where we dive deep into the unknown, that's right.
Speaker 2:What we've been promising we'd do, but we haven't. We haven't dived that deep, or cannonball into a kiddie pool.
Speaker 1:So I'm not going to do dust noir. But if you want to talk about it when I hand you the paper, you can.
Speaker 2:Dust noir. I want to talk about.
Speaker 1:Frostlass. Frost lass is derived from the yuki ona, a ghostly snow woman who haunts blizzards and preys on travelers. Frost lass's icy, elegance and ghostly nature align closely with the yuki ona legend why have I heard that before yuki ona?
Speaker 2:I feel like I've heard that before yuki ona now we're going to move on to.
Speaker 1:This one is a shiftery. It resembles the pokemon. Shiftery resembles the tengu, a bird-like spirit with powerful abilities. Tengu are often seen as protectors of forests, which mirrors shifry's role as a guardian of nature, and what's crazy to me is how similar it actually is to the Pokemon. Wow, that is funny. It's like like some of these is like okay, maybe if you squint your eyes and then on this one it's just like oh yeah, no, that's, that's it, that's it. That's it. That's funny.
Speaker 1:Which is crazy, because it actually looks different if you look at them separate, but when you're looking at the inspiration, oh yeah, for sure, that's what that was inspired by.
Speaker 2:Yeah when you put them side by side.
Speaker 1:I like this one as well A wish cache. The Pokemon is modeled after the Namazu, a giant catfish believed to cause earthquakes. The Pokemon's earthquake attack and aquatic form directly linked to this mythological creature.
Speaker 2:Hey, just so everybody knows, Jiris does not speak conversational Japanese. So Ohio, he knows more than me.
Speaker 1:But namazu, namazu and namazu and you can see a I mean, but it's not hard to have a catfish looking creature yeah, yeah, except their catfish has teeth.
Speaker 2:This one doesn't have any teeth. Well, he's not smiling in that picture. So that's true. This one, the Japanese creature, he looks like Sonic. He's got them animated. Sonic teeth, the original.
Speaker 1:Oh, those teeth. You're talking about the movie Sonic.
Speaker 2:Movie Sonic original design. That's the kind of teeth he's got for all the listeners out there.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, and then then all the listeners that are in the know. In the know, I'm in the know. So I want to end on mawile. Mawile, because of how creepy this one is, but how crazy accurate. How different the two are, but how you can see the inspiration, yeah, yeah. So mawile, based on the futa futa kuchi una, futa kuchi ona that's the only time I'm saying that one. Okay, a woman cursed with a second mouth hidden in her hair. Mawile's design, with jaws extending from the back of its head, is a direct homage to this unsettling yokai.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh dude.
Speaker 1:It's messed up, but you see it, don't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely see it. Definitely see the link.
Speaker 1:So, again, if you want to see these pictures, go ahead and just head on over to the YouTube version of this episode.
Speaker 2:And you can comment on the YouTube episode.
Speaker 1:So make sure you like and comment and, while you're there, go ahead and subscribe and subscribe.
Speaker 2:We need all those things to happen on our YouTube channel. Yes, please, because right now, my personal YouTube channel that I have zero commitment to, is doing better than the saints that serve.
Speaker 1:Something that you barely put work into your personal stuff, and then you put hours of work into this Exactly.
Speaker 2:And mine. There is no work put into it, it's literally 15-second videos, and I just say something that I think would be funnier, relatable in the moment, and people are viewing and liking that more than our YouTube that we put a lot of effort into.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, that's a, that's Yo-Kai, that's the corner. Yo-kai, in the corner Yo-Kai in the corner, so that's the corner Awesome. Kai in the corner, so that's the corner Awesome. But before we end the episode, I wanted to leave you with some Pokemon facts, like some weird Pokemon lore Could you just email it to me.
Speaker 2:I don't have a fax machine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so this has been the same. So, facts, f-a-c-t, not F-A-X. And it's sometimes, you know, confused with a saxophone. You know the sax.
Speaker 2:I'm a sax man.
Speaker 1:So you know the Pokemon episode. I'm going to read some. So Pokemon, you know, like you said, they have the databases in the games and all the information in the lore and all that kind of thing. So these are some related Pokemon lore stuff that is weird and creepy. So again, kind of going back to kids might not should be playing this if this is like hidden lore in the game, but also interesting. So the Pokemon Yaw Mask carries a mask that was once its human face, symbolizing its tragic past, Yuck. And then another Pokemon Phantom said to be the spirit of a child who died in the forest. Its cries are believed to lure others to the same fate. Which generation are these coming from? Um, a lot of these.
Speaker 2:Let me see because I feel like the first generation is like very surfacy and like, and then now the talking about other ones that are like someone just spent all day researching, like dark.
Speaker 1:So this spans from the Pokemon themselves, from the first one to the newest game.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so literally every generation.
Speaker 1:Every generation. But just because it's that Pokemon from that generation does not mean this is its Pokedex entry and the lore of it in that game. Because later on they might have changed it. There's no way to really tell at this juncture, but it's spanning all Pokemon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that first one you read made me think of that episode in Avatar, the Last Airbender, when he has to go into the spiritual realm, sort of. So that's a picture of.
Speaker 1:Yom-Esk the top one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but you remember when I'm talking about that creature, that's like the face snatcher, or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, what was it? Ko or something like that was the name of it. Yeah, I think it was Ko.
Speaker 2:I like that show.
Speaker 1:That was a good show. Uh, benete benete, luigi benete, do I keep going? Benete benete is formed from an abandoned doll. It seeks revenge on the child who discarded it. Wow, chucky, much chucky the doll.
Speaker 2:And I don't know if you saw it before, but yeah, that's essentially what I would think chucky would look like as a pokemon, even though I haven't watched a single movie with chucky in it. Well, no, no, that's not. That's essentially what I would think Chucky would look like as a Pokemon, mm-hmm, even though I haven't watched a single movie with Chucky in it. Well, no, no, that's not true. Because I watched Ready Player One, I had Chucky. Chucky was in that movie Technically.
Speaker 1:Chucky was in that movie. Me and Ashley went through all the Chucky movies. Why do you keep on? They're actually really funny. Oh, okay, they're not like spooky, like they're like it's horror comedy. Yeah, it's not. I think the closest one that would be a scary movie is the first one, but watching it it's just like a doll jumping. I'm going, I'm gonna get you. It's like watching leprechaun to me. Oh man. So now we're talking about cadabra. So now we're talking about Kadabra.
Speaker 2:What Remember when we were going to make a comic book?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Abra-Kadabra, abra-kadabra, we might still do that One day, one day.
Speaker 2:So don't take our idea, guys.
Speaker 1:So Kadabra? It's Pokedex states that it once was a boy who woke up, transformed into a psychic Pokemon, so just randomly woke up and now he's a Pokemon Psychic abilities. So fun fact about Kadabra Kadabra, for decades because Pokemon is that old at this point was not allowed to be put on Pokemon cards because they based his design around a famous Japanese psychic. He was like one of those guys who bends spoons those kind of psychics, like a fake, obviously fake psychic. Yeah, well, an entertainer. Yeah, well, an entertainer. Yeah, and he claimed that you know, you based your design off of me and he sued Pokemon and won so that they couldn't use Kadabra anymore on Pokemon cards and promotional material and toys. And that got lifted not too long ago, like last year. Okay, show me a picture of it, of Kadabra, yeah, yeah, how does this look like the dude? Which one is it? The top one?
Speaker 2:Oh, because it has a spoon.
Speaker 1:Because it has a spoon. No dude. That's something we'll have to look into another time.
Speaker 2:Okay, not to throw shade on the Japanese court system, but that's pretty silly.
Speaker 1:I think that the symbol on its stomach is also a symbol that he utilizes a lot. Oh, okay, so there's some smaller things he might have, like a mustache and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Still, that's like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with you, Anyways, so I think I'm gonna do you what he should have done.
Speaker 2:He should have sued and tried to get royalty, royalties instead pokemon, any game that cadabra is in he would get a percentage of sales.
Speaker 1:He would get a percentage of sale no, he just didn't want the pokemon around anymore. Yeah, he's kind of stupid. So, moving on, we're going to talk about Drifloom. Drifloom this one is like the one that comes to my mind every time I hear about bad like dark Pokemon. Lore, okay, and this Drifloom attempts to kidnap children by latching onto their hands, though it often fails due to its light, to its lightweight. Essentially it looks like a balloon, so kids grab a hold of it and will drift off with the kids. That is, in pokemon lore jeez dude mimikyu wears a disguise resembling pikachu, to be loved, but anyone who sees its true form is said to meet a terrible fate.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then there you go. There's Mimikyu. Yeah, that is a newer Pokemon that people who like Pokemon have greatly attached to. There's a lot of merchandise with Mimikyu on it now. Oh really, yeah, gengar. Gengar Legend says it was once a human who turned into a ghost and now seeks companionship by pretending to be shadows. So it was a person who died, I guess, okay, who turned into a ghost and now seeks companionship by pretending to be shadows.
Speaker 2:Isn't Pokemon, though like. The idea is that if you collect a certain amount of them, you can merge them together to create an evolution of the of that pokemon.
Speaker 1:No, that's just pokemon go no, yeah, so that, so that, okay. So, pokemon in the games, you just battle them and they level up and when they hit certain levels, they evolve into the next stage, which is something we didn't actually talk about. Okay, funny enough, we didn't talk about gameplay. No, we didn't talk about evolution in pokemon oh yeah at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know everybody knows it's not real yeah so, but so in pokemon go you get a bunch of the pokemon and then to level up pokemon and pokemon go, you get the other ones and then you get a material yeah, that Pokemon and then to level up Pokemon in Pokemon Go, you get the other ones and then you get a material that allows you to then level up your Pokemon. That is a very specific mechanic in Pokemon Go and not in any other Pokemon media.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because you remember when we played Power World, which is, you know, something we didn't talk about either, but we didn't talk about it at all. But like that was a big thing in pal world is, if you collect a bunch of one kind of a pal, yeah, slap them all together and then you can get a stronger pal, you can upgrade your, that is.
Speaker 1:That is something also very specific in pal world, which is funny, because I I guess from your what the two things that pokemon s games that you've played, that yeah, no, it's about collecting and really keeping the one pokemon. Once you collect it, yeah, I am, you can get multiple ones, but there's no getting rid of it to put gain on another pokemon, sure gotcha. So, lamp it is, it a lamp it is, it stills the life force from people often lingering around hospitals to harvest souls.
Speaker 2:That's really dark. But before you were going to say that, I was going to say it just sounds like a Christian cuss slang Like lamp it, lamp it Gross.
Speaker 1:So now we're going to talk about froslass, froslass. These get like progressively, progressively darker. In my opinion it sounds like it uh, frost last we. We looked at frost last earlier as one of the yokai. Yeah, yeah, it freezes its victims and displays their frozen bodies as chilling decorations in what its house in its cave on. Okay, yeah, it's quote unquote house.
Speaker 2:Yes, I've got a three bedroom, two bathroom, with a garage.
Speaker 1:And if you come over here you can see this hiker I killed last week.
Speaker 2:Great access to trails in the local area, so not far to transport any of my victims.
Speaker 1:And then we're going to end on the saddest one. Okay, cubone, cubone, mm-hmm. Cubone wears the skull of its deceased mother and is known to cry at night mourning its loss. That's pretty sad, it is. That's really sad. So, so sad, so, very, very sad. I don't know what to do there.
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'm just bringing the sadness yeah.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, this has been a.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks for joining me on my Pokemon episode. Hey, thanks for letting me be here. Thanks for contributing. I tried no. I didn't mean it like that?
Speaker 2:no, I mean. No, I mean it was good information, um, and I mean I think that that, like everything you've presented, it's like it's the two sides that we're trying to get at. Like you need to be cautious, you need to be concerned and you need to stay focused on making sure you're pursuing Christ, but you got to realize that.
Speaker 2:Pokemon is an enjoyable hobby that people have, and so you can't just look at somebody and say, Satan, worshiper. You know like you've got to approach it with gentleness and with love and you know, really bring the truth of Christ's love into somebody's life Before you get into the. You know, is that really beneficial for you? Is that really building you up, Right? So yeah, All around, I feel like that was a pretty good conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So at the end of the day, as a listener, I'll ask you this question, but also listeners who won the argument. What side do you think it lands on? Do you think that it's okay for Pokemon to be played based off our evidence, or do you think that it shouldn't be played? For Christians playing Pokemon, yes or no?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we want to hear what your input is and if there were things that you wanted to bring to the argument, points that you have for or against, you should comment those so that we can see what your points are, because we will respond Ten points to Gryffindor.
Speaker 1:There we go, but yeah. So what's your final verdict?
Speaker 2:Mine. Yes, oh, you didn't change my mind. I'm not playing Pokemon, yeah same.
Speaker 1:Oh, you didn't change my mind. I'm not playing Pokemon. Yeah, same here. You didn't change my mind, I'm not going to stop playing Pokemon. Okay, as a Christian with adult, an adult Christian, I have discerned that it is not interfering with my spiritual well-being. There you go. That's fine, and that's fine.
Speaker 2:I'm just. All I'm going to do is kind of challenge you when it seems like you're not pursuing Christ. So as long as you're pursuing Christ and it's evident, we're good friend.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I pull out that game every day on my phone and I collect some Pokemon cards digitally, and then I move on with my life.
Speaker 2:Yep, and you pull your Bible out just as much.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So there you go, no problem, if not more, if not more. People keep that in mind. The Jairus standard is equal to more, equal and or more. There we go, not less, not less. That's right, all right. Well, this has been episode 28. 29.
Speaker 1:No, this is 28. I know.
Speaker 2:I was seeing if I could catch you off guard. You almost did. Anyways, episode 28, talked about Pokemon, had a good time. We're looking forward to the next one and, once again, guys, make sure you're following us on social media. We're going to be posting updates on our live worship night coming April 4th at 7 pm. Be there Early at 6.30 to chat withth at 7 pm.
Speaker 1:Be there Early at 6.30 to chat with us in the chat. Yeah, all right, you have to be there, no matter what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to show up, it's mandatory, mandatory.
Speaker 1:If you don't show up and we see that you're watching, john will hunt you down and catch you like a Pokemon.
Speaker 2:I'm going to throw a Pokeball through your screen and catch you.
Speaker 1:I do feel like that we didn't really talk, like we went into the lore of Pokemon but didn't really talk about the mechanics as much as we should have. Maybe another time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe another time. Maybe we'll do a Pokemon part two. Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now. We are the saints that serve. I want to be the very best. I don't remember the rest. Pokemon gotta catch them all. I know it's my destiny. I'm just saying random words that I know from the song Something, something, something, something, pokemon, pokemon Gotta catch them all.
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