E16: Homestead Security | John Dyslin, Author of Nehemiah Strong

As homesteaders, we work hard to make our homes a refuge from the storms that rage in the world around us.  Learning to protect what we are building and prepare for the future is an essential part of pursuing homestead security. 

Author John Dyslin gets fired up about teaching people to stand up against and overcome evil in the world.  For those who are believers and those who are not, this conversation will encourage you to be strong and courageous as you prepare for whatever may come in the days ahead.

In this episode, we cover:

• How John’s book helps the homesteader prepare for what is to come
• What it means to get “a knock on the door” and how you can be prepared
• The importance of assembling a community of like-minded people
• A word on arming yourself against home invasion
• Explaining how to use the tangible lists and resources included in the book
• An exhortation for strong men and women to rise up against the evil all around us
• Recognizing spiritual warfare around us and preparing to fight with authority in the Holy Spirit
• The most important area of preparation for the believer to pursue

E16: Homestead Security | John Dyslin, Author of Nehemiah Strong – Homesteaders of America

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Premier 1 Supplies is your one-stop shop for all things homesteading!  Visit Premier1Supplies.com to browse their catalog.

About John

John Dyslin has been a student of ‘alternative’ history and world events since 2007, and a lifelong student of Scripture and Christian doctrine.

Following careers in finance and as an internet entrepreneur, he turned his attention to today’s emerging issues, including training in counter-human trafficking, pistol and rifle tactics, Ham radios, comms, and scout tactics.

John was turned around in his life by Jesus Christ in 2014, and is a blood-bought chief sinner who strives to do his imperfect best to follow Jesus’ plan for his life.

John is the author of Nehemiah Strong, a 480-page reference guide equipping believers to stand, occupy, and overcome when the enemy comes in like a flood.

Resources Mentioned

Use code HOMESTEAD at JohnDyslin.com for 15% off any purchase

Nehemiah Strong by John Dyslin

Download John’s free Advent guide!

Nightlock Door Security Devices

Connect

John Dyslin | Website

Homesteaders of America | Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Pinterest

Join us at the Homesteaders of America Conference in October 2023!

Homestead Security Transcript

Amy Fewell Welcome to the Homesteaders of America Podcast, where we encourage simple living, hard work, natural healthcare, real food, and building an agrarian society. If you’re pioneering your way through modern noise and conveniences, and you’re an advocate for living a more sustainable and quiet life, this podcast is for you. Welcome to this week’s podcast. I’m your host, Amy Fewell, and I’m the founder of the Homesteaders of America organization and annual events. If you’re not familiar with us, we are a resource for homesteading education and online support. And we even host a couple of in-person events each year with our biggest annual event happening right outside the nation’s capital here in Virginia every October. Check us out online at HomesteadersofAmerica.com. Follow us on all of our social media platforms and subscribe to our newsletter so that you can be the first to know about all things HOA (that’s short for Homesteaders of America). Don’t forget that we have an online membership that gives you access to thousands—yes, literally thousands—of hours worth of information and videos. It also gets you discount codes, an HOA decal sticker when you sign up, and access to event tickets before anyone else. All right. Let’s dive into this week’s episode. 

Amy Fewell Hey, guys. Welcome to this week’s episode of the Homesteaders of America podcast. I have a super special guest this week. We have author John Dyslin. And in his notes, I love that he wrote, “it’s pronounced like sizzlin'”. I laughed out loud when you said that. 

John Dyslin That’s funny. 

Amy Fewell John Dyslin, the author of Nehemiah Strong. So welcome to the podcast, John. 

John Dyslin Thank you so much, Amy. As you know, you and I first kind of came together four or five months ago before Christmas, so it’s nice to get back together with you and sharpen a little iron and catch up a little bit. 

Amy Fewell Yeah. So you guys might remember if you’re part of our newsletter, we actually sent out a really big push for Nehemiah Strong. You guys have been asking for this topic a lot, especially since last October when we had John Lovell at the conference about homestead security and just how to make your homestead a safer place. And so we pushed out Nehemiah Strong back then during the holidays with a special discount code. We are also going to link all that information in the show notes below and on our website, so you can easily find all of that information. Make sure you grab the code, too, with a discount. So, John, why don’t we just hop right in and get started? Tell us a little bit about yourself and a little bit about the book. 

John Dyslin Absolutely. Well, I’m just a regular guy. I grew up down here in the South, grew up in Tennessee and just had a normal kind of middle class upbringing. I went to college. I don’t look as tall on the screen as I am in person. I’m actually seven feet tall. And so that aided me in having a chance to play basketball. So that was kind of fun. So I played basketball for a few years in college, and after that just went into a career in finance and just doing my thing. And then right around 2014, I really just started getting sort of shaken or woken up might be a better description. And so starting in 2014, really just got shaken down to my feet in terms of what’s going on in the world, the nature of the world, the evil that’s going on in the world. And that just completely changed my direction in terms of what I was about. So I got born again, got saved, became a follower of Jesus Christ. And then from there, it’s been kind of a wild ride. So I started a couple of years ministry doing counter abortion work, and then a couple of years after that, doing a lot of training with different spec ops people and three letter agency people and getting involved in counter human trafficking and satanic ritual abuse with Russ Dizdar, who was just one of the loveliest men on earth and had this bleeding edge just tip of the spear counter satanic ritual abuse ministry. So did that for a few years and then kind of entered a new season, Amy, and God kind of laid it on my heart to start writing. And in particular, start writing about what happens if there’s a knock on the door. And in particular, how do you control the narrative? How do you win that moment? And how do you not fall into the pitfalls that are set up for you by these self-described public servants who come and have an agenda for you that’s not in your best interest? And so I started out down that little narrow trail, and really what I had envisioned in my mind was kind of a thick pamphlet worth of information. And two years later, I had a 480 page book. In fact, here’s a copy of it. And so that’s the front. But, you know, that’s the side. And in fact, you’ll see here, it’s so thick that I had print tabs put on the edge of the book so you can see what section of the book you’re in. But anyway, so two years later, 480 pages later, it was kind of interesting because God’s idea for the book I was going to write was way, way bigger and more complete than this little idea I had. And so coming out of last year, the book came out. And ever since then, I’ve been, as I describe it to people, Amy, I’ve been lighting brushfires of faith and liberty and equipping folks so that we’re… Because we’re meant to be victors. And it was even prophesied by Daniel in Daniel 11:32 where he said, “But they that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” And that’s what we’re supposed to be like in this season. So that’s what my books are all about. And it’s got a bunch of detail in it that’s practical, but also it has a lot of detail in it, Amy, as you know, because you’ve got a few copies, it’s got a lot of detail that’s spiritual because ultimately you have to understand all of this nonsense going on right now, it originates in a spiritual dimension or a spiritual realm, and it’s cascading over into kind of the natural realm. But if you don’t understand the origin of what we’re dealing with, it won’t all make sense. But if you do understand it, everything makes sense and then you’re able to tackle it appropriately. 

Amy Fewell Yeah. Yeah. The one thing I loved about this book, and like I told John when we started reading it, is that and I think we mentioned this in our email, too, to you guys, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Christian or not with this book. It does have the spiritual aspect of it. But I love that you kind of talk to both people. You talk to the non-Christian and the Christian. And if you’re not a Christian, obviously, like 90% of our audience is, but there are some that are not. And so don’t discount this podcast episode at all. Like there’s legit good information in this book. And so, John, why don’t you give us a few examples of what’s actually in the book and what it teaches people? 

John Dyslin Absolutely. And just to reiterate what you just said, Amy, if you’re not a follower of Jesus Christ, that was me not so long ago. And so I have a heart for you. I would love to edify you with the book, with all the things in it that we wouldn’t have an argument about. And I would just encourage you because if Christians are right, and if Jesus is who he claims to be, then it’s the best news you could ever hear in your whole life. And of course, if he’s not, then it’s the most ridiculous nonsense that ever was. But it’s worth considering. And there is some of that in the book. But there is plenty there. If Jesus isn’t your thing, there is a ton of stuff there that can really equip you and your family. And I would just encourage you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, if you will. So, yeah, let me give you a couple examples. I’ll start on the practical side. So one of the points… When I started writing the book, Amy, it was from a video by a lovely woman named Celeste Solum. And you talk about a woman who switched on. She was a high level planner and executive at DHS and FEMA. And then she realized how unpleasant and not good their schemes and plans were. And so she basically ran from that organization and she’s been a truth teller ever since. And that’s what seeded my initiative on the knock on the door. And so, as you know, Amy, and as any reader who picks this thing up will quickly learn, I’m a little bit of an OCD person. And what in some contexts can be a weakness, if you direct it correctly, it can be a real strength. And so I sort of rode my OCD pony and produced multiple sections on, for example, if there’s a knock on the door, God forbid, you have to open the door because the first answer is, don’t open the door. But life happens, and so if you have to open that door, there’s pages and pages and pages of description of not only what they’re trying to do kind of on a generalized basis, you know, they’re trying to run a narrative. They’re trying to hold theater for you. And the response they want is fear, compliance, whatever the box they’re trying to check, Amy, they’re looking to get you to comply. And fear is kind of tool number one. And so much of that section is about recognizing it for what it is, but then also recognizing the authority you have. You’re the king of your castle. And so if somebody comes to your castle and wants you to do something, you’re the rule maker on your property. And so you get to set the narrative, you get to set the tone, you get to lay out how the script goes. And it’s all about having the sort of encounter with these folks, not in an ugly way, but certainly from a position of calmness, power, and authority on your property that what you say goes, and by the end of the conversation that I’ve outlined for folks, you are in complete and utter control. And frankly, the people who came on your property are going to wish they never met you. And not in a sense that you did something bad, but your relative position to them will be so overwhelming that they’ll be looking for excuses to move on. 

Amy Fewell Right. That’s right. I thought that was really encouraging in your book that you… A lot of people nowadays are like guns blazing. Let’s go. You know, but your book really, it equips people with information that they don’t know. So if you guys are wondering, like what in the world are y’all talking about? You know, on a homestead, there’s some different things here. We can have conversations about, you know, the government could come on your property or anybody really, but mostly we’re talking about more government things and try to tell you you can’t do this or we need to take this. And this has happened frequently in the homesteading and farming world, specifically, when they say that people are going against laws that they’re not going against. I mean, we’ve seen all kinds of animals euthanized because they had diseases. There’s a lot of different things that go on in homesteading related situations. Now, John’s book isn’t necessarily just about homesteading, but it could pertain to any of this that happens on your property. We can even go back to COVID where… And I think that’s probably what started prompting you to think about this. Is that right, John? Do I remember that right? 

John Dyslin It was in the COVID season and a lot of the pressure being put on people played right into the genesis of the book, certainly. Yeah.

Amy Fewell Right. Yeah. So, I mean, it could even go into something like that if we were to see other outbreaks or whatnot. So take this information and start thinking of your personal situation that maybe you’ve thought of, or maybe you have a friend that’s gone through or you’ve seen on the news. So those are the types of things that we’re talking about. Just to help you kind of understand that a little bit more. So, yeah, John, you’re right. I love that you equip people with information before even going to the thing we hear all the time, right? Like we hear tactical training and things like that, which you do talk about. So let’s kind of go a little bit further into what else is in the book. 

John Dyslin Okay. I’ll tell you something else that this is an example of kind of the next level out from that core topic I started with, Amy, that is so practical and so applicable and can benefit, I venture to say, every single person listening to this podcast is forming up what I call a mutual assistance team. Other folks have called them mutual assistance groups, and there’s a whole lot… First of all, to back up a step, whether it’s a knock on the door or whether it’s trouble out of people who aren’t from your community, who are coming around to cause trouble or take stuff or anything in between or maybe a natural disaster, having a pre-organized group of like-minded folks that you know you can trust that when push comes to shove and and times get tough, you know they’ll be there for you and you’ll be there for them. That’s invaluable. But you don’t just sort of roll a stone down a dirt road and come up with a great team of people you can count on. It doesn’t just happen. 

Amy Fewell Yeah, you don’t do that. 

John Dyslin No. And so I spent just weeks and weeks digging into that, exploring that, and fleshing out not only how you form that team up—and I’ll talk a little bit more about that in just a second—but also then, okay, once you formed this team up, how do you administer it? How do you practice your tactics and your activities so that you’re ready to go? And this is a really important one, Amy, I’ve got multiple sections in there on what kind of equipment do you seek? Whether it’s simply apps on your phone, but also VHF UHF radios, depending on your range, for communicating with each other. Because when stuff goes sideways, communication is going to be… You know, communication with every single party I’ve trained with—and I’ve done some interesting training—it’s a force multiplier. And anything that’s a force multiplier where you get an outsized result from the benefits of whatever that technology is or that understanding is or that app is, that’s worth having because it is what it says. It multiplies the effectiveness of what you’ve got, your team, whatever. And of course, having a team itself, definitionally, that’s kind of the definition of a force multiplier because you can have a multiplied force. So that’s a really good example. And I could just go on for pages and pages, not only about how you form it, but then how do you work together, how do you train, how do you prepare, how do you make sure you’re ready? Another one, and this is one of my favorites, Amy, I don’t know if you came across this in the back of the book because there are 48 essential supplements and additional exhibits in the back of the book, and that comprises over 200 pages of the book. And it just has all manner of practical application things. And one of my favorite examples is the home invasion— I call it OODA loop evaluation and then homeowner countermeasures to a home invasion. And so an OODA loop, for those who don’t know, it’s Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. And so it’s this decision loop, and they talk about it in the military— military training and doctrine. But whatever you’re doing, you’re constantly going through this decision loop of how you do things and how do you go get the groceries and how do you pick up the kids and how do you plant the winter wheat, whatever it might be. Home invaders run an OODA loop. And so they’re looking for the juiciest targets, and they’re evaluating, and they’re sizing them up versus the ones down the street. And so one of my favorite sections— it’s just a three or four page section, but it has dozens of practical tips for, first of all, how home invaders look at targets. And it puts you in the mind’s eye of a home invasion crew. But then it says, okay, well, if that’s the playbook they run, what’s the countermeasure playbook that you should run? And some of it is as simple as, let’s say, for example, you don’t have a big strapping man in the house, go get an old pair of dirty work boots. Big. And put them on the front steps. Make it look like that sort of thing is in place. Or a big dog bowl. If you don’t have a big dog, make it look like you have a big dog. One of my favorites in it— and I just love these things. And I’ll tell you, you mentioned John Lovell. John Lovell loves these things, too. It’s a door brace called a Nightlock. And literally, when they trained in the field— because he was a door kicker in Fallujah in Iraq. When they trained in the field and they trained against Nightlock door braces, they had to cut the door in half to enter the house. And so if you want to secure your perimeter in your home, go get some Nightlock. It’s Nightlock.com. I’m not paid anything. I’m just sharing the information. But it is a way to absolutely lock down the exterior of your house so that if they start coming into your home, there’s a good chance they never get in, because those dang Nightlocks, it’d take 1500-something pounds of force to defeat the Nightlock. And nobody’s that big. I’m not that big. So anyway, that’s just one little tip. But there are, like I said, there are 48 supplements in the back of the book, all different varieties. But, you know, that’s one of my favorites.

Amy Fewell Yeah. And you have other things in there, too, right? Like, if I remember, you have supplements, like actual supplements you can take. You have lists of those things. I think you even had homemade baby formula in there, which, you guys know, Weston A. Price and Sally Fallon have spoken at our events. These are things that are in there for you. It’s an incredible handbook, a very big handbook, but an incredible handbook to keep with you as a reference. If you’re sitting here thinking, “I don’t know that I’ll ever need that”, or “it’s too overwhelming”, there’s way more than that in there. So it’s just really a good resource for you guys to have for safety and just understanding of things on your homestead. 

John Dyslin Well, and I think you used the key word, Amy, because when you write a book, it’s nice to hear from people that you didn’t waste your time and it doesn’t suck. And so I’ve shared it with some different friends and whatnot, like-minded people. And something I found myself telling people because I heard some feedback from people who said, “Oh, it’s overwhelming. I’m only on page 40.” It’s a reference guide. It’s not a novel. 

Amy Fewell Yeah. You don’t have to sit down and read all of it at one time.

John Dyslin No. But, for example, I don’t know if— let me hold something up. So here’s the essential supplements, for example. I don’t know if you can see that, Amy. 

Amy Fewell Not too well.

John Dyslin Okay. But anyway. Yeah, I’m sorry. The camera’s not focused for that, but it has really detailed tables of contents in it. And so, for example, it has 258 subsection titles in the table of contents of the main body, and then it has the 32 essential supplements and then 18 other exhibits in the exhibits table of contents. So you can open up the table of contents and say, “Ooh.” You know, take a little pencil and, “I want to read that, that, that, that.” Go read those. And so, like you said, it’s more of a reference than it is something to read from start to finish. 

Amy Fewell Yeah. 

John Dyslin And Amy, I forgive you if you’ve never read my 480 page book from start to finish. I forgive you. 

Amy Fewell I’m going to be honest. I have not read it from start to finish. 

John Dyslin I knew you hadn’t, but that’s okay. 

Amy Fewell It’s just the season of life that I’m in. Now, my husband started reading it.

John Dyslin Well, you got other fish to fry, right? 

Amy Fewell Man, yeah. You’re not kidding. But I have gone through it and I have read quite a bit of it. But the one thing I want to point out, too, is you have some forms in there and then you also have them as a PDF download on your website, right? So if people want to purchase it, they… You know, that was the first thing I went for when I got the book were the forms that you have. So like John said, if somebody shows up from the government, you have these forms to kind of go through with them, and if you want to hand them to them, you can actually print them out. You can either make copies from the book or he has a PDF printable. So I just wanted to mention that. Do you want to talk just briefly on those forms and what they are and then we’ll move on to the next part? 

John Dyslin Absolutely. In fact, I call them questionnaires, but those questionnaires are one of my favorite parts of the book because I realized if you’re going to control the narrative… You know, the key is when they knock on the door and they want you to do stuff you ought not do, you ought to get some questions answered first before you go answering any questions of theirs. Right? And so I didn’t find what, to me, would be a satisfactory set of those questions. And so I just started with a whiteboard and I just… Well, not technically, I started with the spreadsheet, but I mean, I just went through and said, “What is everything and the kitchen sink that we could ask these people to make them squirm out of their shoes as they stand there wanting to make you do something?” And Amy, I’m going to confess, I had a ball writing those questionnaires because I was just picturing in my mind, this is going to be a very interesting engagement with people asking questions that really… You know, part of my thinking behind the questionnaire was what are the most appropriate yet uncomfortable questions we can possibly ask to put these uninvited guests on notice that they’re going to be in real trouble? There’s liability here of the personal kind if they, for example, try and deny me my constitutional rights. I mean, there’s real teeth out there if you know your rights. You can create absolute sort of emotional chaos for somebody showing up on your property. And so yeah, there’s seven pages of questionnaires in there. There’s three for kind of a normal Joe, or let’s say law enforcement, for example. But then there’s four more pages. If they take the healthcare route, which I think is a real vulnerability of our constitutional rights. And I think we still have them. I would argue that’s no exception to my God-given rights. Right? They would argue differently, but at least there’s an argument. But anyway, there’s four pages. If you show up and you claim to be a healthcare provider, man, you just entered a whole new track. Because not only are you answering the first three pages, but then you’re answering the next four pages. And then of course… And it’s just comically detailed. If I were them, I would be absolutely terrified by the end. I wouldn’t make the end of the questionnaire because I would say, “I’ve got other things to do. I’m not going to stand here and do this”, which is the point, right? Okay, fine. You do you. You have a great day. But back to your point about the electronic thing. I thought it would be fun and trendy if I just sold the book electronically. Because it’d just be easier. Like printing thousands of books… I mean, I spent most of my first year investing in my book because I got pallets of books for people. So at first I was going to sell the book electronically, and then I tried to edit my own book on the screen, and at 480… I mean, imagine that book on your screen. 

Amy Fewell That’s a lot. 

John Dyslin And I just realized that people needed it in paper because it’s just too… You can’t navigate it on that flat screen. It’s just too much. So that’s when I did the print. But then I realized that those essential supplements, as you mentioned, are invaluable to have as individual files so that you can work with them, you can open up the questionnaires, you can print out five copies, whatever. And so yeah, the book’s $48 and then for 12 more bucks, you get 48 individual PDF files in the back that really equip you to be facile and nimble with, “Oh, I’m going to print this out,” “Oh, I’m going to make a couple extra copies of this or that.” So yeah, for 12 more bucks you get 48 files. And I just wanted to really equip people in as efficient a way as I could. 

Amy Fewell Well, I appreciate it. I bought some, so I appreciate it. It made it easier for me. 

John Dyslin I know you did. I appreciate that. You made it Christmas presents, which I thought was really sweet. 

Amy Fewell I did. 

Amy Fewell Hey, thanks for listening. We’re going to take a quick break to introduce you to one of our sponsors that has been with HOA for a few years, and that’s Premier 1 Supplies. At Premier 1, they’ve been providing electric fencing and electric netting, sheep and goats supplies, clippers and shears, ear tags, poultry products, and expert advice for over 40 years. Whether it’s electric netting for your chickens or cattle or horses or poultry, or clippers and shears, and even poultry supplies such as fencing, feeders, waterers, egg handling supplies, hatchery items, they have it all. They are a one-stop shop for all things homesteading. Just like many of our sponsors. Check out Premier 1 Supplies at Premier1Supplies.com and don’t forget to check them out at the HOA event this year.

Amy Fewell Okay, let’s switch gears here a little bit. So one of the questions… I keep seeing this everywhere in your book and on your bookmarks and stuff. Okay, I’m not even going to say this word right. What is—you can say the word—”Chazaq Asah”. 

John Dyslin “Chazaq Asah”. 

Amy Fewell “Chazaq Asah”. All right. Explain this to us. 

John Dyslin I’m so glad you asked. And by the way, if you buy my book from my website, JohnDyslin.com, I just fell in love with it so much that we made up a bunch of bookmarks. So you’re going to get a bookmark and it’s going to say the reference, and then it has “Chazaq Asah” in the background. And it’s kind of funny, Amy, because it’s a little bit of a cart and horse because I just felt led to write this book. And it was so massive. It was so much bigger than I was expecting. And it was only after I wrote the book that I took a step back and I said, “What is this thing and what is this new ministry of sorts that I’m doing? Like, what am I doing here? Why am I going on talk with Amy? What’s the point of this?”

Amy Fewell Yeah. 

John Dyslin So the order of it’s kind of funny because I kind of came to my understanding of it after I finished writing the book. So here’s what I came to understand, Amy. And I’ll use three Bible verses to illustrate what I’m talking about. The first one I’ll use is from the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament is chapter 59. And in the second half of the verse, it says, “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against him.” Well. I don’t know about the people listening, but I see a flood of evil. And it’s not abating. The flood waters, I mean, we’ve all seen flood waters, right? I’m not a homesteader, but my dad grew up on a farm in Iowa, so some of my favorite memories of my childhood were on the farm in Iowa. So I understand that lifestyle, and I have a heart for it, frankly. I wish I were more of that than I am. But I’ve got life considerations I’m working through. But anyway, so I’ve seen flood waters. I know what that looks like. This flood is still going up. You know, the waters are still going up. So that’s the first context is there’s this terrible set of issues we’re having to face in this season. And I’ve really been ruminating over that and what does that mean? And what are we to do? And that’s a big part of what the book is about is what do I do now? Now that I see this flood, what do I do now? And I think what is just spectacular, Amy, is that for those people who do know the Bible and who are Christians, Scripture interprets itself. One part of the Bible will answer a question in the other part of the Bible. 

Amy Fewell Right. 

John Dyslin And I came to realize that in another place in the Old Testament from Daniel, the Book of Daniel and the man Daniel who wrote it, there’s an answer to the call, right? So that picture of the Spirit of the Lord raising up a standard, that’s a battlefield picture, okay? It’s a war. And God himself has raised up this standard, which is like a battle flag, okay? It’s like a rally flag that you might see that they had in the Civil War. Right? Carrying the colors of the regiment. Well, the answer to that, in my humble opinion, is because Chazaq Asah, which is Hebrew, and I’ll get to that in a second. But in Daniel in chapter 11, verse 32, Daniel has been describing, frankly, the last days. He’s been describing this Antichrist character that John gives a lot more detail about in Revelation. And he’s talking about these attributes, and then all of a sudden there’s this comma, and there’s some… This is a whole other podcast, but there are some amazing commas in Scripture, Amy. 

Amy Fewell You’re right. 

John Dyslin All of human history pivots around some commas in Scripture, and this is one of them. And so Daniel’s talking about this lunatic, wicked, you know, the embodiment of evil who people describe as the Antichrist. And there’s a comma. And then he says— and of course, he’s writing in Hebrew, not in English, but in English, he says, “But they that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” And I read that, and I started thinking about that in the context of the flood. And so I got stirred up to really dig into it. And when I dug into it, that Hebrew for be strong, do exploits is Chazaq Asah. 

Amy Fewell Wow. 

John Dyslin And what’s neat about those words, Amy, is those are the most foundational root-level words in Hebrew for be and do. And if you think about it in your life, before you can go do something, you have to be something, right? You have to be strong. You have to be aware. You have to be prepared. You have to be right-minded, whatever it may be. And so Daniel is telling us, he’s prophesying about people that we know, people in this age that we’re living in saying there are people in that time that he couldn’t imagine millennia later who were going to be strong and do exploits, which is Chazaq Asah. And I would just exhort people listening to us today, Amy, and obviously you and I’m preaching to myself, I’m talking to you, but this is the hour for us to be our finest, to really challenge ourselves to set aside the fear, to put our boots on the necks of the iniquity and the lies and the going along. And I’m not saying go storm the castle and burn it to the ground; I’m saying square away your personal life first, but then there’s a season coming when good men and good women, strong men and women are going to have to stand up, assert ourselves, assert what is good, and strive to push back against the flood. And I just would exhort… If anybody gets anything out of my message in my book, I would hope it would be that because this season we’re going to have to have good men and women standing up and standing up in the fight and resisting the evil. And so Chazaq Asah— go be strong and go do exploits. 

Amy Fewell That’s something I don’t think we’ll forget. Thank you for explaining that, because it’s really… I hope it encourages you guys, because it encourages me to hear that. It’s a charge for who we are and who we were created to be. And, you know, we talk about that a lot, especially the homesteading community. We’re essentially creating our own Goshen is what’s happening. Joel Salatin will say, “Get in the ark. We’re the ark.” You know, “Get in the ark.” And so this is just another piece of that that we can do this and not be fearful. We can do it and not be fearful because of who we are and who we serve. But we can also do it and not be fearful because of having the knowledge and equipment on how to do the things, right? So let’s do jump into the spiritual aspect of your book, because that’s one thing that I really enjoy because one thing that my husband and I have talked about, especially this year, is that a lot of the things that you’re seeing in media and on YouTube and social media is just very fear-based and physical. And what we don’t realize, especially, specifically talking to Christians here, is that there’s a totally different unseen realm that we should know about and we should know our authority in Christ. So, John, let’s talk about that? Let’s unpackage the spiritual side of your book and how you kind of explain that in there. 

John Dyslin Yeah, absolutely. And I’m so glad we’re going there because it’s maybe the parts of the book that might feel the most foreign to a lot of the folks listening and watching today. But doesn’t it feel less and less foreign when you consider the nature of what’s happening in the news? I mean you don’t even have to go to alt media to see the lunacy, right? I mean, you don’t have to go digging for it. 

Amy Fewell You can just walk down our street. My goodness, you can walk into your nearest town and see the crazy that’s going on. 

John Dyslin And in fact, just to speak to that, I won’t spend much time on it, but a week and a half ago, for some crazy reason, I was in downtown Chicago, Illinois, Saturday night at 10:00. 

Amy Fewell Oh, my. 

John Dyslin And I come out on Michigan Avenue, which is like the big main retail kind of visitor street in downtown Chicago. And I’m about to turn left, okay? There is a wall of blue police lights a third of a mile north of me. And I just get a check in my spirit just says, “Don’t go that way. Go around.” And only later did I find out that those were the Chicago riots of Saturday night, the 15th. And I was about two minutes from getting my head caved in by driving into the middle of this race riot effectively. And so if you think, “Oh, it couldn’t come here. It’s not happening. It’s over there. It’s somewhere…” It is washing up wherever you’re at. It’s going to find us, right? Also if you are a Christian and it still feels weird, which is kind of funny because you can’t swing a dead cat in the New Testament without reading about Jesus casting out spirits and Paul— 

Amy Fewell Well, that’s the problem, John. People don’t actually read the Bible anymore. 

John Dyslin Yeah, well… Hey, go pick up your Bible, go read a chapter, go read two. You can hardly read a chapter or two without encountering that spiritual realm evil, whether it’s literally casting out demons… Paul, for example—I’m trying to remember the reference—Corinthians chapter 11, where he’s talking about false preachers who are manifesting as ministers of righteousness, just like their father, the devil, who can— I’m trying to remember the word. I used to run with Russ Dizdar who did all this counter human trafficking, satanic ritual abuse, and it’s… so you change your appearance— well, this is Satan. He changes his appearance to an angel of light, as it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, without changing his nature. And so don’t be surprised if these ministers appear as ministers of righteousness who are utterly wicked, by the way. They’re playing for the black team. So if this feels strange to you, I would just encourage you just to set aside this discomfort for a minute and listen to us reason this out and consider the veracity of it as we talk about it. So my background, Amy, that formed the foundation of me writing those chapters on our spiritual authority and then Spiritual Warfare Tool Kit was founded in… Well, first of all, it started with counter abortion work for a couple of years because that’s really heavy duty spiritual warfare. I mean, there’s death going on and there’s… It’s a dressed up human sacrifice is what it is at its essence. And so, you know, you’re in it. When you go do that, you’re definitely in it. And I encountered—without getting into details—I encountered some substantial personal spiritual attack that harmed me physically. And God found a way, and he wound up making me stronger for it. But I was laid up in bed for six weeks after surgery because of it. So it’s real. And I’ve experienced it personally. Now, after counter abortion work, I spent a couple of years running with Russ Dizdar and basically confronted some of the most wicked, despicable traitors to humanity that walked the earth— trafficking children, doing satanic… Look, people, it’s real. Doing satanic rituals, human sacrifice, the whole bit. I’m not speaking hyperbolically. I’m not speaking allegorically. That is literally what the enemy does, whether you believe in it or not. They believe in it and they do it. 

Amy Fewell Yep. 

John Dyslin And so because of that experience I had, I knew I had to write about the spiritual aspects of this season we’re in because without it, it doesn’t make sense. You can’t explain what Dylan Mulvaney’s doing with his whole Bud Light promotion, let alone Bud Light. What are they doing? You can’t explain Audrey Hale going out in a blaze of gunfire, and on the way, she murders three little kids who she never knew who will never have a future, never have kids, they’ll never get married. You can’t explain that in the natural realm. You have to understand the spiritual. And so I spent a section talking about our spiritual authority. And when you… Amy, did you really dig into that section? Did you read the spiritual authority section? 

Amy Fewell I started. I haven’t finished all of it, though. 

John Dyslin Okay. I’ll tell you, what’s funny is when you go write something like that, you wind up learning more than most of the people who read it. 

Amy Fewell Yes. 

John Dyslin And when I wrote that section, I’m here to tell you it absolutely astounded me the authority that we have if you’re a believer. Now, if you’re not a Christian, it’s available to you if you will just receive the good news of Jesus Christ that he died for your sins, that you repent and believe and you confess that he’s Lord, this authority’s available to you. It’s not like you’re an outsider. You just haven’t accepted the gift yet. But if you have, I’m here to tell you, based on Scripture, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path, according to itself, our authority for walking around, for taking authority of this evil that’s washing up is absolutely astounding. And it’s all founded in Scripture. So I can’t remember… You know, I wrote it all, but I can’t remember it all by rote. 

Amy Fewell Oh, no. I feel ya. 

John Dyslin But I’ll tell you one thing that Jesus said is he said, “Miracles like these you will do and greater than these after I depart.”

Amy Fewell And greater. 

John Dyslin “But I must depart so that the Comforter may come. And it’s a good thing that he comes because that’s the Holy Spirit living in us,” right? And then elsewhere, he said, “All authority.” You know, Jesus didn’t speak in half measures. He didn’t speak hyperbolically, except when he was speaking in a parable or something illustrative. He said, “All authority I give to you to trample on scorpions and serpents and nothing shall by any means harm you.” He said those words. And so if he is the Lord of your life, take him at his word. And so then when you read through that section, you will be… I challenge you not to be floored by the authority we’ve been given. And then the counter piece to that that marries up with that is, frankly, the last section I wrote in the book, Amy, which is the Spiritual Warfare Tool Kit. And I was editing my own book, of course, which is very hard to do. You’re reading your own stuff, right? It’s like tasting your own cooking and trying to figure out if it’s good. 

Amy Fewell Yeah. 

John Dyslin So I’m reading through the draft of the book and it’s like the Holy Spirit is rolling his eyes at me, shaking his head because I talked all around spiritual warfare, but I had not written the Spiritual Warfare Tool Kit section yet. And so I felt really convicted. I set down the draft and I spent over another month writing the longest section of the whole book, which is the Spiritual Warfare Tool Kit. And I basically poured everything into that that I picked up through counter abortion, counter human trafficking, satanic ritual abuse with Russ Dizdar, put it in this section to say, “Here are the nuts and bolts of, okay, if you have this authority, how do you wield it?” And so it’s 37 pages of here’s what it looks like to wield it. And so I go into excruciating detail on what it looks like to walk in your authority, to exercise that authority, not in some Hollywood dramatize fire and brimstone kind of way, but simple spoken authority rooted in your faith, in what you believe and speaking that authority, that truth to power, so that you’re the victor because we’re meant to do those things. And I did my level best, Amy. 

Amy Fewell It was great. 

John Dyslin I pray that it’s effective for people, but I did my level best to equip people with that. 

Amy Fewell Yeah. 

John Dyslin If you’ve never had a chance to go do counter satanic ritual abuse work. 

Amy Fewell Right. Yeah. You know, one of the things that my husband likes to say is, “It doesn’t matter how much food or ammo or anything that you have, if when those times come, if you’re not listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, if you don’t know his voice, then none of it matters because you’re fighting a battle that’s spiritual all along. It’s not physical. It’s completely and totally spiritual when that time comes,” you know? And I think you’re right, to go back a little bit when you were talking about your experiences and how people are kind of just… They like to sit back, especially Christians in America, like to sit back and think, this could never happen here, it could never happen to me. I’m just going to turn my T.V. off and I’m going to go do something else and just stick my head in the sand. And the reality is that it’s been happening forever since our existence, right? It’s just the same tactic over and over again and the same things, just a different era. And so we perish for lack of knowledge, right? The Bible tells us that we perish because we don’t understand. We don’t know. We put our heads in the sand. And so I specifically love that you put that section in that book. That was kind of… When I started flipping through it, I’m like, “Okay, I’m going to start giving this the time of day now,” because all the other stuff, I’m going to be honest, all the other stuff, I’ve read it, I’ve seen it, I’ve watched the video. You know what I mean? Like, I’ve watched people talk about this. But to really encourage people to do the most important thing, which is learn the voice of God, dwell in the secret place, just like Psalm 91 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High.” You know, to abide under his wing, not come out from under there, that’s where your safety is. We can take all these steps and we should. We should take the steps in the beginning of the book. But really think about the end of it as well. Like John said, he was convicted to put that section in there for a reason, for such a time as this. It’s very important and it’s your greatest hope for what’s coming. I mean, I say “what’s coming”, but you guys, there’s places that are already experiencing such depth of evil in cities and third world countries, and we’re just very blessed to live in a bubble here in America. We’re blessed to live on farms and homesteads in America where we were so blessed that we got it, right? It clicked. We want to create these places of refuge. But that’s not how the rest of the world is. And the rest of the world will come looking for a place of refuge. And so we don’t say that for you to be fearful of it. We say that because we want to equip you with as much information, with as many tools and as much solid foundation in the Bible and in Christ and the Holy Spirit for you to be prepared for what’s coming and what is essentially already here, just not manifesting yet. So, John, is there anything else you want to add to this and our podcast today? 

John Dyslin Yeah, just real quick, because I mentioned before the two scriptures about the enemy coming in like a flood and then the answer to the call being Chazaq Asah, right? Be strong and do exploits. I think that part of the glue that marries up between those two speaks to what you were just talking about, to have understanding. And so discernment in between those two I think is so imperative that you see, you’re watchful, you’re observing what’s going on, but you have the understanding to process it and then turn it into action. And the verse that, for me, just absolutely leaps out of the Bible and speaks to that is from 1 Chronicles 12:32. And so that’s an Old Testament book, and it’s talking about the formation of King David’s army when he first ascends to the throne. And it’s talking about the different tribes of Israel that sent men to join the army. And it’s just one of those boring lists in the Old Testament, you know? And then all of a sudden, there’s this gem and there’s this verse, 1 Chronicles 12:32 that says, “Of the tribe of Issachar, the sons of Issachar, who understood the signs of the times that they might know what to do.” Okay? Of the 200 captains, all of them were at his command. And so there’s so much to unpack in that one verse, and we don’t want to spend another hour. But they were watching. They saw the signs. They had understanding. And then they converted that understanding into action that they might know what to do. And just in that one verse… And that sort of discernment, if you don’t have it, if you feel like your head’s spinning and you don’t understand, you don’t see the illumination of this battle space we’re in, I would just exhort you to pray for it. Because in James it says, “My people have not because they ask not.” And so ask for discernment, ask for understanding of the sons of Issachar and watch God move in your life. And once you have understanding, Amy, I would contend it really gives you a calm because— 

Amy Fewell Oh yeah. 

John Dyslin It’s not all confusing anymore. You see that it’s the schemes of the enemy, but you also know simultaneously that God has not left the battle space and he will never concede the battlefield. And we know from Revelation, I think it’s 19, that Jesus Christ himself comes in righteousness to judge and make war. And he’s going to square the ledger. He’s counting on us to have enough faith in him that we stand in the gap in this hour, and we honor him by having the faith to stand strong in this hour. And not only him, but stand strong like it says in Nehemiah—which, of course, Nehemiah Strong, my book is named after—he says, “Fight for your wives, fight for your sons and daughters, fight for your homes.” And we’re in that kind of season. 

Amy Fewell Yeah. Absolutely. All right, John, thank you for joining me. This could go on, you’re right, for another hour. We could unpackage so much more just getting into the spiritual aspect of it, but I only have you for an hour today. So, guys, check out John online. John, why don’t you tell us everywhere they can find all your information and anything else you want to share about that. 

John Dyslin Sure. Thank you so much. Well, first of all, if you want to follow stuff, I am on Parler, Telegram, and Twitter. But if you’re interested, if my message is resonating with you at all, I would just encourage you to go check out JohnDyslin.com, which is my website. You can learn all about the book. There’s tremendous detail on the website like there is in the book, and think about getting the electronic essentials because having those 48 files is really nimble, makes you nimble. And then also, Amy, as you know, I gave it to your followers before and I want to re-extend that. There’s a code, if you put in the code HOMESTEAD, you save 15% off the book and the electronic essentials if you choose to get them. And that’s the biggest public discount we’ve given anybody is for you homesteaders, because like I said before, I’ve got a heart for you guys because growing up playing with my granddad and my uncle and my brother and sister on the farm. I love you guys. So anyway, I encourage you to check it out at JohnDyslin.com. Thank you for listening to Amy and me visit. And, Amy, thank you for having me. 

Amy Fewell Oh, absolutely. I’ve enjoyed it. I wish we had more time. You also… Do you still have your Advent printable on your website as well? 

John Dyslin I do, and I’ll let you talk about that. But at the top in the menu bar, there’s an item that says Advent, and it’s there. So why don’t you tell people your perspective on that? 

Amy Fewell Yeah. So John actually sent us a printable of this. Basically it goes through scriptures. It’s an Advent calendar, essentially, which most of you, I assume, would know what that is. And I really loved it. We actually used it. We sent it to our parents at our church school that we have, and then we use it at home. And it’s so cool because it goes through the prophecies, like on this day, you know, this. And it gives you scriptures. And so for those of you looking for a really good Advent option to really bring Scripture alive during Christmas time to your kids and even to yourself… I mean, it was even fun for adults to look at, too, to just prove the lineage and the prophecy of Christ and even beyond that. It’s a really great resource. So if you’re on there and you’re checking stuff out, click that Advent tab for that as well. I know it’s nowhere near Christmas at the recording of this, but you will definitely use it during Christmas. So thank you for putting that together, John, too. 

John Dyslin And Amy, that’s free. You can just go get that. You don’t have to pay anything for Advent, so just go get that yourself and enjoy it. But thank you for mentioning that. I’m glad it was a blessing to you all because it was… You know, when I put it together years ago, I just put it together for my family. I thought, you know, maybe I should share this. 

Amy Fewell I’m glad you did. I’m glad you did. We will use that every year to come and hopefully our kids will just memorize it. All right, guys, thank you for joining us this week. Check out all of this information we went over in the show notes below. It’s on our website. If you’re watching on YouTube, it’s also below in the description of this video. Leave a comment if you have any questions or something to comment about the video and until next time, happy homesteading. 

Amy Fewell Hey, thanks for taking the time to listen to this week’s Homesteaders of America episode. We really enjoyed having you here. We welcome questions and you can find the transcript and all the show notes below or on our Homesteaders of America blog post that we have up for this podcast episode. Don’t forget to join us online with a membership or just to read blog posts and find out more information about our events at HomesteadersofAmerica.com. We also have a YouTube channel and follow us on all of our social media accounts to find out more about homesteading during this time in American history. All right, have a great day and happy homesteading.