Are you interested in angels, demons, spirits, ghosts, and monsters? Are you curious about their origins, tales, and influence upon history and on the present day? If so, sit back, relax, and welcome to Southern Demonology, the podcast that explores all of this and more.
Hello all. Welcome back to another episode of Southern Demonology. As always, I'm your host, JJ. Today we continue our conversation with Father Michael Birdstone. In this episode, we go over some of the specifics around exorcism, along with some of his experiences over the years. We also touch on a pretty controversial topic, which is the unforgivable sin in Christianity. You don't want to miss that. Last Friday, October 7th, was the release of the very first episode of the mini-series dedicated to horror reviews, which is rather unimaginatively called Southern Demonology Bites.
And that episode focuses on two different series that start with the word Yami, the Japanese word for darkness. Yami Dolga, also called Tokyo Videos of Horror, and Yami Shibai. If you haven't had the chance to check that out, then please do so. Another one will be coming your way this Friday, as well as every Friday in October. The final part of this episode is 43 minutes in length, so let's not waste another minute. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the conclusion of our interview with Father Birdsong entitled The Kingdom of Hell.
I've got a few other questions more in particular around exorcism uh in general. Okay. So how do you normally prepare a room in which an exorcism is to take place in?
Well, first and foremost, JJ, while I'm preparing a room, so to speak, and nine times out of ten I try to get that person to the church. I have them come before the altar or the table of the Lord to where that presence is there. Because you know, as as you refer to Catholicism, you know as well as I do, where the altar of the Lord is, Christ is there in the real presence, right? And so I try to do it there, but then I also also prepare myself.
I will actually call my mentor and our canon which is our canon theologian who lives not too far from me, and I will go to confession myself and to to make sure that I am without blemish in that moment, you know what I'm saying? To where the enemy does not have anything that it can attack me with. And uh but I I prepare the room or right in front of the altar area, I will have a chair in which I will have the person sit in. First and foremost, and everyone needs to hear this, you do not do it alone. You need to uh if you don't I would I would say have two people with you.
If you can't have two, at least have one. Number one to help you and number two to be as a witness. And of and of course to help restrain if things goes bad. I have never strapped someone down. I hope I never have to. But if I had to, I would. But like I said, I will have other people there with me to uh take care of that. But also I will I will sprinkle the area beforehand with holy water and I will also sense the area and I will also be dressed in my alb, my purple stole with my crucifix.
All of that just for a sign and a symbol of number one, the authority that Christ has given me, but also as a sign and symbol of Christ upon me with the presence of the crucifix around my neck. And the reason why I use a purple stole, because exorcism is also a form of confession, and also it is confidential, and I will never break that confidentiality, and that's why I dress the way I do. Yes, sir. That makes total sense.
And I also use the Roman Rite more or less as a blueprint, so to speak, because there may be certain areas that you may have to go down that will maybe differ from the actual rite itself. But uh I use the Roman Rite because I believe in the church fathers. I believe in the history, the tradition. If it worked then, it's gotta work now.
Absolutely. Well, that and if you just read the Roman Rite as Roman, if you yeah, if you read it, it'd be done in 15 minutes.
Yeah, yeah. Well, see, you know what, JJ, you just brought up an interesting point. You said it'd be done in 15 minutes. Well, you know what, it it might be done in 15 minutes, but it may take weeks.
Yeah, and that's something that people don't really understand. In movies, you need an old priest and a new priest, and yeah, and you're done within an hour and everything's great. No, no, no, no.
Well, see, that that's that's what that's what people don't realize. Well, we all remember the movie The Exorcist, right?
Yes, sir.
Well, a lot what a lot of people don't realize is that's a true story, but it happened to a little boy. Yep. And that to that that exorcism took 21 days, I believe.
Well, and it wasn't broken until the priest in question received a holy visage of Saint Michael.
Yep. He called upon Saint Michael, and that's when it finally broke. And see, that goes back to the book of Daniel, JJ, about the rulers, the powers, and the principalities. The angel of the Lord was hammered by the prince of Persia, right? And he had and he had to call upon Michael, the archangel. Once again, that order. He had to call another angel in authority to help him. And, you know, we have to do the same thing. But see, most people like you and I from our past, I'm from Protestant background as well.
We were we were taught here in the Bible Belt of America in the South that anything that looked like Catholic was of the devil. Yep. Well, what we failed to realize, no, that's our rich history. We're all Catholic, we just may not be Roman Catholic.
I'm so glad you said that because yeah, growing up, not from my family, but from others that I knew, from some preachers that I knew. If it was even remotely Catholic, then it was all about eating babies and worshiping statues. Oh my gosh, it's kind of a miracle that I ever found my way into a Catholic church at all, honestly. Just based upon what I've heard. I'm laughing right.
I just looked at Josh and said, I love this guy. But yeah, you're right. I mean, I mean, we're taught it's all taboo and and not of God. And I'm like, okay, open your eyes, people, you know.
Exactly. Yeah, the the moment you disavow your history, only bad things can come about. And that goes back to what you said about dividing.
Yeah, well, I always tell people this: you know why Protestants are called Protestant? Because they protested against the church. Yep. We don't realize that.
That's exactly right.
I mean, although although I'm of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church, we're Catholic. We're just not Roman Catholic. We believe in the seven sacraments. We're evangelical because we're we're a people of the story, we're a people of Christ, and we tell the story, right? Yes, sir. We claim that we're fully sacramental, we believe in the seven sacraments of the church. There's just not two. We certainly don't just partake of the sacrament of Holy Eucharist once a quarter or twice a year. No, we do it every Lord's Day. That's what the book of Acts commands us to do.
And we're fully charismatic. Why do we call ourselves charismatic? Because we believe in the charis or the charismatic, as most would know. And what does that word mean? It means grace. We've all received grace and gifts of God the Holy Spirit within the church. You see, all these things have to be together. We we can't throw out the baby with the bathwater, right? That's an old southern saying, isn't it?
Finer than the frog series.
That's right. It all boils down to the ancient traditions of the church, and that's why I use the Roman rite. I love that answer.
Now, I I do have to ask you, and your experiences of performing exorcisms. Now, of course, you know, you never do so in your own name, it's always through the authority of Christ and the church and of God. But has it have you noticed that it has personally affected you in any way?
Oh, wow. To the negative man, you know what? Just like this latest incident that you discussed with Josh about the home deal. Man, it and see this is what people don't realize. Although we can invoke the name of Christ, it takes a toll on you. And and by the time I left that home, I was I was almost physically ill. I was so drained. During the time the the charismatic that I just spoke of, that grace comes upon me to sustain me, but man, I was a whooped puppy. I mean, I was I was physically, mentally, and emotionally drained to the point of nausea. But see, I know the order, right?
It always back to the order. And when we left there, I went we were in Fair Hope, Alabama, and actually my archbishop has a church in Selma. So I made a little detour on the way back to Thomason, Georgia, and I stopped in Selma, Alabama for ministry from my archbishop. And see, that's important because I gotta understand that I'm not doing this on my own strength and I'm not doing it out of the authority of the church. And once it's done, I need to return to the church for ministry my own self. I have to be minister to.
Remember Christ in the desert in the wilderness after 40 days, he faced the devil, right? Right. And then after that was done, God did what? He sent ministering angels to minister to him.
And I'm that is a beautiful way of putting it.
You know, if if Christ himself had to be minister to after spiritual warfare, who the heck am I, JJ? You know?
I've heard and I've read so many tales of some priests, they have performed thousands of exorcisms, and then I've heard of others who have performed just a handful and they are left broken physically. And I I've always wondered the you know, that strict dichotomy, you know, I of course every case is going to be different. Uh, you know, that is easily understandable. But what you know, what can bring someone to such to be able to perform, you know, so many, and what can break a few just after a handful?
Well, do you remember me back in one of our early questions? I told you that I prepare myself. Yes, sir. And I prepare myself with what? Confession. And it goes right back to the scripture that we talked about who can ascend until God's wholly healed. You know, those with clean hands and a pure heart. And and a priest cannot face a demonic presence and survive without the sacraments of the church.
That priest, if he does not partake in the sacrament of confession, if he does not pay partake of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist to gain strength, he's going to find himself defeated and worn out. And that is the very reason why I did what I did. I walked into that after the after the sacrament of confession and holy Eucharist. And when I left, I left with the sacrament of confession and holy Eucharist. And see, we as the body of Christ, we have to remember what Christ said in John chapter 6. Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, what? You have no life in you.
We have to partake of that life too, or we will be defeated and destroyed. And that's why so many priests have fallen after these things, because they walked in without they walked in in their own strength and not the strength of the sacraments of the church.
That brings up another question. Have you ever personally spoken with the possessing entity? And if so, have you ever been tempted to ask it questions?
I have spoken to the entity. The only question that I will ever ask, if it if it comes to that point, I will say, Who are you? Because because if I know the name, I can attack the name. Does that make sense to you?
It does. In fact, I have another question on that one, that exact thing. Is it absolutely necessary to get the possessing entity's name, or can you expel it without that information?
You can expel it without that information. I'm trying to think how to best answer that. Let me let me put it this way. Well, we just we just spoke about this a few moments ago. Jesus asked the demoniac, remember, who are you? And he said, We're legion, right? Because we're many. Well, that gives the exorcist strength. And see, names, names are powerful. The the names gives us a seal that gives us an authority over the entity. Does that make sense? If I got a name, if well, for instance, uh I did a house blessing one time and a girl was dabbling in um witchcraft, Wicca.
Wicca, and she gave herself over to a demonic presence. Well, she wasn't there when I was blessing the home, okay? That that's a whole nother long story. But when I was performing the exorcism of the home, God gave me a gift of the spirit of spiritual discernment at that time, and I discerned Azazel. And come to find out, I said, look up under her bed, the person that was with me. And they pulled out a tote where the girl had been storing witchcraft stuff, and she had drawn a picture of Azazel to a T with colored pencils.
So I I knew I knew right then to speak to that entity personally, which gave me more authority over it.
So you have actually had an encounter with Azazel.
Yes, sir. And it is powerful.
It's more yeah, I mean, it's one of the most ancient name. Of course, we don't really understand the historical significance of the rite that is spoken about in Deuteronomy involving the scapegoat. Right. Yeah, I mean, it's one of the most ancient named entities that we have in all of Christianity and Judaism.
Well and and see, that was also another case of of JJ when it was over. I was spent, man. I was I was done for. I could not imagine. Wow. But now, now that young lady that had the trouble, two years after the fact, she is a beautiful, beautiful young lady and doing awesome.
Oh, that's wonderful to hear.
Her mother was actually at the class this morning and shared that story.
For the people in which you have performed exorcisms upon, I have read many accounts where they suffer massive memory loss during their time afflicted. Yes. Have you seen that to be true?
I have seen that to be true. Absolutely. It's kind of like they have a time of amnesia where they can't remember specific time frames. And and of course we know that's when the entity itself had taken over.
Right. Now, one other thing about the actual act, Father Martin he would write about the clash, that moment where the exercising authority is directly mentally, spiritually battling the entity itself.
Well, in the beginning it was very much true. But after some experiences, I've I've come to know what to expect and and and I can prepare myself more. But in the beginning, it would I would have that clash with the demonic presence. And in what what I have experienced personally is I would have the entity would put in like senses of doubt and unbelief into my brain, so to speak, my mindset. I would doubt myself. I would even in the beginning, I would even doubt the fact that God could help me, you know. Because I was very inexperienced and a novice, so to speak.
And uh that's why we don't do those things alone, because the enemy wants to get into the mindset of the exorcist and make him doubt his faith. It makes us want to doubt our authority. It makes us want to doubt our even our own self being, if if that makes sense to you. It does. But over time you come to not to expect those things per se, but how to combat them and how to avoid them. And you get to a place to where you understand the scripture where it says to not give the devil place, you have to take absolute authority over it. You do not give it a chance to talk.
You do not give it a chance to exercise its power. You do not give it a chance to speak doubt and unbelief. Because if there's anything that's in your heart that's not cleansed as the exorcist, it's going to come out. And it's going to come out during that time of exorcism because the enemy wants to expose you as a sinner dog yourself. And see that that will make you go into a state of unbelief and doubt yourself. Does that make sense to you?
It does. In fact, I was going to ask you so I know how you minimize your own attack service by participating in the sacraments. Is there anything that you do in order to help protect the assistance that you may have with you? I know it must be the sacraments as well, but are there any other measures that you take?
I do not have anyone assist me that is not partaking of the sacraments of the church. I do not have anyone assist me who has not sat through some type of training. This charismatic slash type world that we grew up in the 80s about the believers' authority, and all we got to do is speak the name of Jesus. That's enough to get your rear end handed to you. Yep. And so I will not, I do not have anyone assist me that has not gone through the training which I provide or has had experience in deliverance ministry.
And they know that their first and foremost duties is prayer in intercession during that time. They are to pray, they are to say they're our Father, they are to pray the prayer of Saint Michael the whole time. Okay.
Without fail, they are to be first and foremost a what we would call a prayer intercessor. And that's that's number one, they're they're interceding for the person, but they're interceding for the exorcist himself as well to give strength.
And so if you're going off from the the Roman rite, do they also play the respondent roles? Yes, they do.
Yes.
Awesome.
I will it just depends on how many I have with me, but we we go through the rite, the beginning of like the litany, you know, and uh they will give the responses. And but then when it comes to the actual exorcism after the opening prayers and rite.
That's when they will pray the Our Father and the prayer of St. Michael and intercede.
If you don't mind, let me ask you one other kind of preemptive question. And this is more around exorcism of place. Okay. When do you determine if a an abode or a residence or a house needs to have a simple blessing? And when does it need an actual exorcism of place?
I I hate to use the word that's pretty simple, but let me explain it to you this way. Let's say someone's moving into a new home, right? Or especially during certain times of the church year like Lent. It's very common to uh do a house blessing. And the reasons for the reason why we do house blessings is number one, we want to set aside that home as a sacred place, right? Right. And but also what we have to realize is you know what, we don't know we what we bring into our home throughout the year. True. I mean, we don't know what visitors bring into our home throughout the year.
I remember one time someone gave me a gift, right? And I brought it into my home. Well, I didn't know that they had bought it through unknowingly a demonic area of a certain town, but I brought that into my home. I didn't know it, but all of a sudden I just started having bouts of depression. And then I said, you know what? That didn't happen until I brought this object into my home. So I blessed our home once more. Okay. Now, when it comes to exorcisms of a home, that's when you start seeing.
Well, recently a family brought in a girl that uh know they didn't know it, but she was practicing Wicca in their home and brought all kinds of satanic objects. Actually, I sent you some pictures of a few of them of the crystals and the skull crystal. They were put there to torment their own daughter and to bring division in their family. And uh, and all of a sudden they started seeing faces in the home and stuff sliding across the counters and and pictures. My God, JJ, these things were fastened to the wall, but they were but they were falling off.
And see, I never do an exorcism without first making sure that that's what it really needs. And so I interviewed the family and I walked through all the the the entire home to make sure that there was no drafts or no shadows or anything that could just, you know, just make something happen just out of the blue innocently. No, this stuff was really happening. And so I knew right then that this home we had to undergo the right of exorcism of a place or region, which is different from a person, of course. I called my bishop and said, I said, hey, we got this going on.
He called my archbishop and got permission for me to go to Alabama, which is out of my jurisdiction. And once again, order I got permission of the bishop in that state to go there and then perform the rite of exorcism. And it was it was a battle. It was a battle to say the least. But the but the greatest thing about it is going back to the sacraments of the church, once we once we finished, we celebrated Holy Eucharist. And it was in the breaking of the bread and the partaking of the cup that broke it. And the climax of it all is I was able to baptize the daughter.
And actually, she was at my class today, too. She drove five and a half hours with her mom to come to this class. Oh, wow. That is beautiful. It is, isn't it?
I was in tears. I could only begin to imagine. And how about when it comes to a person? How do you like I I know that the Catholic Church they always insist upon doing psychological evaluations and medical in order to determine how do you handle that evaluation?
The same way I will I will talk with the person and uh make sure that they're not well, I said it, I said it earlier. I mean, uh I understand that there is a real thing of mental illness, and I will never negate that fact. And you can't cast out mental illness, I'm sorry.
Right.
But I will talk with the person, counsel them in a psychological way to make sure that they're really in their right mind, that they do not have some kind of underlying disease or if some kind of medication is affecting them, and uh I have others beside myself to speak with them as well. Now, if a person is brought to me by another person, like a parent, and they're just off the wall and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that something is happening, I will perform it right then to get authority over it and and calm them down and speak to them and carry on from there.
It's kinda like we talked about earlier how every case is different. Yes, sir. There's not a there there is not a blueprint and we all know that, but ninety percent of the time if I'm able to rule out mental illness and know beyond a shadow of a doubt, and I have spoken with my authority, my bishop, and they agree that it needs to be done, then I will move forward. But like the person I told you at the beginning, if I walk up over somebody and they're burning their face with a cigarette and look at me and say, You're gonna die, well, that kind of speaks for itself. Accurate, highly accurate.
I mean, that's undeniable right there, buddy.
Yeah, my goodness, I couldn't even imagine. Are there going to these signs? Are there any like besides like the uh a distortion or the eyes, are there any other like surefire signs that you've ran across that you know, yep, that's exactly what I'm dealing with right now?
Well, yeah, a couple. Number one is like the supernatural strength that we mentioned earlier. And another thing, you and I, we're we're from the south, right? We're from the Bible Belt of the South. Yep. And if you know I you know, I I call myself many a times uh uh uh Chattahoochee River Redneck, right? If a Chattahoochee River Redneck is speaking in some foreign language, there's a problem. You know, knowledge is situated I mean this if this guy's speaking in let's just say Latin all of a sudden and he only has a seventh grade education, hey, what's going on with this cat, you know?
Have you actually ran across that?
I actually have one time, and and I picked on it very quickly, but see, this was after I had gained some experience. Mm-hmm.
You know, I count myself the least of my brethren, okay? I don't claim to be some kind of expert on it. I'm learning about this stuff daily. When I see something like that, uh I kind of pick up on it pretty quickly now. And there was one case, it was a gentleman. I ran across him m mishap too, and he wound up at the church, was talking with me, and then all of a sudden he starts speaking and what I picked up was Latin. I said, Okay, that that language is not used anymore And and then and then he said, I'm the king of Mecca which you and I know what that means. And okay, uh here I am alone.
And I that was the only time I've ever been caught alone. I basically just took authority over it right then because I knew uh I had him sit down and that was the first and only time that I've ever had to go through the right by memory.
Oh wow. I mean to do it from memory with no backup or assistance.
But it it was something else, my man. I mean, if I was to tell you I was not afraid, I'd be lying.
You you would I think you would have to be superhuman after in a situation like that.
But see, that's another thing. Every case, if if any exorcist ever comes to me and tells me that they're not afraid, I'll call them a liar.
Well, yeah, I mean you're dealing with something so much more powerful than yourself.
Exactly, exactly.
Yeah, I just the idea of it petrifies me, honestly. But we're coming up on time, so let me let me ask you just a few last questions, if you don't mind. How can a person come to know if the demonic is acting in their lives?
Wow.
I know it's not an easy question to answer.
That's a hard question, JJ, because most of the time when these things are happening in the beginning, like I said earlier, it's ever so innocently that they don't know. But nine times out of ten, if if if the person starts being aware, it's because they they have this sense to know that they're facing some situations that they cannot face alone. Depression, anxiety. You know, it wasn't not too long ago that a lot of the teenagers went through this cutting stage where they would do self-harm. They don't want to do these things, and most of them will cry out for help.
I will I'll I will share this with you because he's sitting right next to me. And my own son went through that, Josh. And he had the sense to know that something wasn't right, you know. He why am I doing these things to myself? So there is a period where they will know something is just not right, but it is also during that time where they will have to know that they can reach out for help. But in today's society, we have tend to brought shame on people like that, to where people are afraid to, God, JJ, you're gonna make me start crying, man.
Well, I'm certainly not meaning to, but I will tell you that.
Well, I say that I say that because it's my son and he's been through it.
Well, I should just tell you that in getting to know Josh over the last few months and speaking with him, you should feel inordinately proud because you have certainly raised a very fine and upstanding.
I am very, I'm very proud of him. But I say all that to say that there is a time where a person will know that something is not right. And we as the church, we as the bride of Christ, have got to be open enough, JJ, to just listen. Because people will tell you if we listen that they're having a problem. That's the saddest part. We don't want to hear it anymore.
Yeah, they we just completely ignore it. We're like, no, it must be something else, or no, that certainly can't happen.
You know, a wise man once told me one time that in today's society, most people listen to give an answer, they don't listen to understand.
Very true. And just from a let's say that a person realizes something isn't right. Uh-huh. Or they're trying to maybe get ahead of whatever is happening. Are there any particular methods of protection that you recommend? I always ask people this question.
Yes. Yes, there is. Number one, JJ, is we got to let them know, hey, it's okay. I'm sorry that you're going through this, but it's okay. And that's when we have to step in and protect them and take care of them. Number two, we have to we have to teach them. We have to teach them to take advantage of the sacraments at during those times. We need to teach them the prayer of Saint Michael.
That is one of the most powerful prayers there is, man, because we're calling upon the archangel Michael, the warring angel, to defend us in battle, to be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. And we say, May God rebuke and we humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. We gotta teach people that prayer. That is more that is one of the most spiritual warfare prayers that we could ever pray. But the biggest thing is to listen.
Listen to their story, love them, show them the grace of God. You know what? One of the biggest things that we need to let people know, JJ, is you know what? God's not mad at you, God is not angry with you, God is not disappointed in you, God will not leave you or forsake you. All you gotta do is cry out for help. And it's okay to cry out for help because you haven't failed. You're under attack, and there's nothing that you can do about it, but you can call on God, you can call on your church family, and hopefully that church family will offer them help and not condemnation.
True. Now, and of course, the prayer to Saint Michael is so powerful, not only because of the words, which is very true, but you also have just Michael himself, absolutely, whose name is you know, Mikhail.
Who's like God like God? Yeah, I tell my wife all the time, my name is Michael. I said, Sonny, you know what that means? He who is like God, so you better listen to me.
I like that, and this is not relating to exorcism or anything like this. I have a a question that I always like to ask anyone who is coming from a more Protestant background and from the South. Where I'm from, and from a lot of the churches that I grew up around, they always like to talk about the unforgivable sin.
Oh, gracious.
And to them, it's usually suicide. If you kill yourself and you've turned your back upon God, and they won't even allow like the funeral homes will not even allow you to have a funeral.
Wow.
Is there an unforgivable sin in your books?
In my book, JJ, for you to commit a unforgivable uh unforgivable sin, you have gone into the place that we call a reprobate mind, to where you have openly and blatantly rebelled against God and denounced him. Now, it's funny that you mentioned suicide because I got something to say about that.
Please do.
I've been faced with that many times in my life. And I remember I had a 14-year-old cousin, I was 15, he was 14, and he committed suicide. Are you gonna tell me that 14-year-old little boy was forsaken by God and sent to hell?
No, I don't I don't believe that. In fact, my when my eldest uncle passed away, his best friend couldn't take it back because they did everything together in life. And he he killed himself. My own mom had to clean up the bloodstains from his trailer floor. And I I can't ever think that this beautiful soul of a man would be condemned to hell just for that.
See, we when someone commits suicide, we don't know what they're facing. I mean, for anyone to commit suicide, they are not in their right mind. Let's let's let's take the pharmaceutical world for instance. What if they're on a medication that they have a severe reaction to, and that reaction causes them to have a mental breakdown and they kill themselves? Is that their fault? Let's say someone is suffering from schizophrenia and they're scared out of their mind. Are you gonna tell me that they purposely set out to kill themselves? No, of course not.
Well, let's just get down to the whole root of it. Let's look at Judas. I sometimes I believe Judas got a bad rap. We don't know how Judas was tormented after he betrayed Christ. You weren't there, we weren't there, other people weren't there, we don't know what was going through his mind, we don't know how he was affected. So to say that's the only problem that's one of the only problems that I have with quote unquote c Catholicism is that someone who commits suicide is damned to hell. And to deny them the respect and to deny the family the opportunity to grieve, that's not our place.
I knew I liked you. Thank you for giving your perspective on that. I I truly appreciate that.
Well, during this interview, I've looked at Josh many times and said, I love this guy.
Well, I greatly appreciate that one, my friend. Well, let me ask you this. Um, final thing. Is there anything that I haven't asked about that you would like to to to to speak about before we wrap things up? Oh wow, man. Well, you've I know we've kind of danced all the time.
We have covered a lot of a lot of things. We've gone down many rabbit holes. You've driven me to the point of tears and tugged on my heart strings. We've laughed, we've cried. Oh, oh yes, I do have one thing for you personally. Sure. One of the ladies that was at my class this morning, she was a witch for 20 years. I'm gonna get her in touch with you. Okay. Yeah. I would love that. That would be awesome for you two to get together and talk. And and to hear her story, man. Man, she she knows it inside and out. And uh that would be a good idea.
I do have a ton of questions on that front. Oh, yeah. I would love to be able to talk to her.
I would just say the biggest thing that I want everybody to walk away from this interview with is with the knowledge, as I said earlier, that God's not mad at you. That's my that's my heart right there.
Well, I I think that that is a phenomenally important and beautiful sentiment to end this on. Would you mind just telling everybody where uh where your website is and where they can find information about your book?
Oh yes, uh www.becoming a house of prayer dot com and also on Facebook Michael Birchong and Josh, what else? Oh, we are we are putting together a YouTube channel, and once we get that fully in effect, I will let you know that as well.
Yeah, please do, because I will I will share that out and I'll drive as not that I have like the most influence in the world, but I will be happy to uh to lend whatever I have to you.
Yeah, just I mean, I would I would highly recommend get the book, man. Get the book. Most people can't make it past the f second chapter without having to have a come to Jesus meeting with themselves.
Well, I am going to go off and uh get that today myself, because uh yeah, I would love to read it.
The book is only eight ninety-nine on Amazon.com, or you can get the digital one for I think it's two ninety nine. So uh I mean it's it's not like you're spending a lot of money on it.
Well, that sounds like an important message to to know. I mean, for and for such paltry sums that would definitely worth the exchange, I would think.
Uh just rest assured that it is written in plain southern English so it's easy to understand.
Oh, well, I have to tell you uh you have shared so much information with us and have done so from such a space of caring and humility and knowledge that I cannot personally thank you enough for that.
Thank you so much, sir. It's it's been my privilege. I mean, like I said, I I I yield to you. Your your knowledge is greater than mine. I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just a vessel.
No, I I'm a bookworm, and that's about it. And I'm still learning everything I possibly can. I know nothing. I know that from uh you know from a fact.
So very good. Very good.
All right, my friend. Well, thank you again. And yes, uh uh all that information will be in the show notes. In addition, on uh friends of the show. You can go to southerndemonology.com and find that under uh Father Michael Bird Song. Thank you again for all of your insights.
Yes, sir. My pleasure, and it's it's really been an honor to discuss this.
Thank you for listening to Southern Demonology. Find us online at Southern Demonology.com where you can find all of our social and podcasting links. Also, if you have a moment, please feel free to rate this podcast and leave any encouraging feedbacks that you may have. As always, I am JJ and it has been a pleasure getting to talk to you today.