Your Story Has a Villain: JP Pokluda on Faith & Warfare

THE UNITE US MOVEMENT

It all began on September 12, 2023.  Under the leadership of Founder Tonya Prewett, thousands of college students gathered at Auburn University’s Neville Arena with one singular focus – to lift the name of Jesus. 

What began in Auburn, Alabama has continued to grow into a movement of 17 events thus far, reaching college campuses across the nation, including Kentucky, Ohio State, Purdue, SMU, and Baylor.  The main goals of these gatherings are: 

· Salvation - for non-believers to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel in a welcoming environment.

· Freedom - for believers to know and experience true freedom from sin and burdens on their hearts.

· Community - for students to find community and discipleship through connection to local ministries and the local church.

Jonathan has spoken at all the events thus far, joining other speakers like Jennie Allen and Madison Prewett Troutt.  The main topics are the gospel, worship, one’s identity and purpose in Christ, confession of sin, and are followed by an altar call and opportunity to be baptized.  Jonathan says there have been 75,000 college students who’ve attended these events, 20,000 who’ve come to Christ for salvation, and 1000 baptisms.  “College students are hungry to know what is truth,” he says.  Local church representatives also come to the event to connect students with a place to grow in faith and fellowship. 
 
YOUR STORY HAS A VILLAIN

Jonathan is quick to confess that for most of his life, spiritual warfare was not on his radar.  “Honestly, it rarely even crossed my mind,” he says.  “Though I’d been a pastor for 15 years, I had not thought of Satan or demons much at all.”   That changed in January of 2019, when Jonathan and his family of five moved from Dallas to Waco, TX to lead Harris Creek Baptist Church.  Almost upon arrival, Jonathan says he sensed a spiritual darkness in the city he couldn’t put his finger on.  Despite a huge Baptist presence, Waco also has dark aspects of its history, e.g. being home to one of the last red-light districts in Texas, as well the infamous David Koresh’s Branch Davidian compound, and performing one of the last public lynchings in 1916.  “I was experiencing a façade of religiosity and cultural Christianity in a whole new way.”   A couple years later, he did a sermon series on spiritual warfare, and his awareness of the unseen reached a whole new level. 
 
WHO THE VILLAIN IS

Jonathan posits that most Christians are not very aware of the spiritual war whirling around them.  “Many of us believe there’s an Enemy; we believe there are devils, demons, and evil.  If I were to say, “True or false: Satan is real,” my hunch is that most of you reading this right now would answer “True.”  And it would have zero implications on how you live.”  He lays it out clearly.  “Your story has a villain.  You most likely don’t think about him much, but he thinks of you every single day.  He has an active plot to bring you pain and suffering.  He wants to drive you to despair.”  Jonathan identifies him as our Enemy the devil, Satan, and his demonic
 
Forces, and says too few Christians experience the abundant life Jesus came to give us because we allow that villain to rob, kill, and destroy us.  He also emphasizes that hell is absolutely real, not some “fun” place for unrepentant sinners, as many today jest.  Hell is eternal pain, regret, and unsatisfied longing, he reminds us, and we must take those realities seriously as believers.  “To be abundantly clear: Satan is not in hell.  Satan is roaming around the earth like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, according to 1 Peter 5:8.  Ultimately, the Enemy loves to stake territory and keep people as slaves.  But Jesus effortlessly sets people free. He has the ultimate authority, and we don’t have to be afraid.”  Why does it have to be this way?  Jonathan explains that we must have the possibility of evil to know that God is good. 
 
WHAT THE VILLAIN DOES

There are many strategies our Enemy employs to achieve his wicked ends.  Jonathan goes into depth on six of them: He destroys, distracts, deceives, dis-unifies, desensitizes, and deconstructs.  Taking a closer look at deception, Jonathan explores the many ways Satan deceives us, starting with his original lie: “’You can’t trust God, and God’s holding out on you.’  He’s also the Accuser, using shame to isolate and take you out of action.  We fight him by knowing what is true: the gospel, and the Word of God.  As we fight with Scripture, we take our thoughts captive and lean on the power of the Word.  Friends, for the rest of your life remember this: the way you fight a lie is with the truth.  Whoever knows the truth wins.”

The Enemy also loves to deconstruct what is right and true, he says. “Deconstruction is a buzzword in faith today, but what is it?”  Jonathan points out that it’s much harder than demo day on Fixer Upper, and he has been through the process himself.  “It’s a way of questioning faith, a way of tearing down old beliefs and building up newer stronger ones.  The Enemy, on the other hand, wants to use this process to separate people from God.  It’s normal to walk through seasons of doubt, and healthy to question and seek truth.  Satan’s big lie in response is, ‘Did God really say that?’  The Enemy loves to use confusion, and hopes we’ll throw the baby out with the bathwater.  God hopes we will reach out to others and rebuild well, changing, seeking, and moving toward Him.  Of all the many valid and painful reasons people leave the church, there are just as many ways to heal and build.”  
 
HOW TO FIGHT BACK

Rightly using the armor of God, explained in Ephesians 6:10-18, is the most effective way to defeat our Enemy, Jonathan believes.  The first weapon described is the belt of truth, referring, of course, to God’s Word.  “This is something I am so passionate about: Your Sunday morning worship service is not enough. Your quiet time is not a passive thirty-minute Bible study as you sip your coffee.  Reorienting your mind around what is true cannot be contained to small chunks of time; it has to be a constant, daily process where you are filling your mind with truth. The scriptures you read, the podcasts you listen to, and the worship songs you sing as you go about your day are helpful tools as you focus your mind on the things of God.  This is what it means to wear the belt of truth.” 

The second weapon the Bible explains is the breastplate of righteousness, about which Jonathan says, “We serve people.  We love people.  We use everything that has been entrusted to us to care for people.  We open our homes and show hospitality to everyone.  We care for widows and orphans.  We don’t view relationships as transactional, but as opportunities to see life transformation happen.  Some of you may be thinking, I have never met someone like that.  Then maybe you have never met a Christian.  I don’t know what else to tell you.  That is simply how followers of Jesus lived back then, and it is how we are to live today.  When you gain a heart (breastplate) of righteousness, it changes your life.” 

For more information on JP Pokluda click the LINK!  And to learn more about his movement UniteUs click the LINK!
 
CREDITS

Author, YOUR STORY HAS A VILLAIN (W Publishing, 2025) / Lead Pastor, Harris Creek Baptist Church, Waco / author of several other bestselling books, including Welcome to Adulting, Outdated, and Why Do I Do What I Don’t Want to Do?  Jonathan was previously the leader of the largest weekly young adult gathering in the country, called The Porch, in Dallas.  Jonathan’s partner in ministry is his wife of 20 years, Monica, with whom he has the joy and privilege of discipling their three teenage children.