Full-Spectrum Faith: The Holy Spirit, Global Governance, and the Alert Church with Travis Weber | Ep. 368

Most Western Christians have a faith that lives almost entirely in the head. Travis Weber — Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs at the Family Research Council — argues that's not enough for the hour we're in. In this conversation, Travis shares what the Lord has been showing him about walking in an increasing measure of the Holy Spirit: displacing the enemy, receiving healing, and moving beyond intellectual Christianity into genuine spiritual power.

Then the conversation shifts to the geopolitical: Travis attended the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 2024, and what he observed should concern every believer. The WHO pandemic agreement, the UN Pact for the Future, and the steady march toward global governance are not distant abstractions — they are a coordinated shift away from national sovereignty and toward centralized, unelected power. This episode equips you to do what the sons of Issachar did: understand the times, pray with authority, and act.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Full-Spectrum Faith: The Holy Spirit, Global Governance, and the Alert Church

INTRO

Welcome to the podcast. This is Jesus Smart X the Podcast. I'm Brian Del Turco, and today I'm joined by Travis Weber, Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. There are two vital themes: what it means to walk in the full power of the Holy Spirit as individual Christ followers, and why Christians need to be awake to the global push for governance and the minimizing of national sovereignty. This is Episode 368 — a recast episode. I think you'll enjoy it. Show notes at jesussmart.com/368. Let's go.

Brian: We have a great guest on the podcast today — Travis Weber, Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., holding a Juris Doctorate and a Master's in Law.

Two great themes today. The first is Travis's own recent walk with the Lord and what I've been calling full-spectrum Christianity — full-spectrum Christ following. It is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not just the Father, Son, and Holy Bible. We hold a very high view of Scripture — you can't get any higher — but we have to move beyond doctrinal assent alone. We have to engage the Holy Spirit. We have to track with the first-century Christ followers and their experience of the Spirit as seen in the Book of Acts and Paul's writings.

If the American church and the Western church are going to meet this hour, we have to meet it with the power of God. And the second theme: my wife and I attended a conference in early October in D.C. and heard Travis on a panel discussing the push toward global governance through organizations like the World Health Organization and the United Nations. We discuss our call to be aware, engaged in prayer, and willing to act where the Lord leads.

For the show notes and to go deeper on today's themes, visit jesussmart.com/368.

Brian: Travis, welcome. You're a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, served as a Navy pilot, earned your J.D. from Regent University, and a Master's in Law from Georgetown. What was that LLM focus?

Travis: Thank you for having me. It's a Master's in Law from Georgetown — mine was in international law with a focus on international human rights law.

Brian: And you're increasingly involved in international outreach through FRC as well.

Travis: Yes. The family is really under attack globally. The things God established in Genesis 1 and 2 — his prescription for how we are to live — are under assault from the enemy worldwide. Many people are suffering. But it's important to understand that God is good. Suffering is not his doing — it's the result of the fall and the sinful brokenness man has introduced into the world. God is against suffering. He desires healing and hope. That's why he sent Jesus as the redeemer we can turn to and find life.

Brian: That reminds me of the chiropractic concept of subluxation — a misaligned vertebra pinching nerve energy from the brain down through the spine. So much of what's wrong in our world is that we are misaligned with God's created order. It crimps his energy and life flowing to us. You're seeing that globally — the assaults on gender, sexuality, marriage.

Travis: That's right. Being out of alignment with God's Word has caused enormous suffering. At the very same time we've seen profound technological advancement, the CDC is reporting elevated rates of teen suicide risk. We are technologically advanced yet suffering deeply in our overall well-being. That correlation is telling a story.

Brian: Jesus said in John 3 to Nicodemus, "You must be born again" — which implies we're fundamentally born wrong the first time because of the fall in Genesis 3. All of early Genesis seems to be under a coordinated, multifaceted assault — male and female, image of God, family, the creation mandate. Travis, on a personal level — what is the Lord showing you in this season? How is the Holy Spirit leading you?

Travis: One area the Lord has been showing me is walking closely with him to welcome his presence. When we welcome his presence — an increased measure of the Holy Spirit — it displaces the enemy and anything opposed to God. We need that presence to deal with physical and mental illness, to deal with demonic forces, to receive the Spirit's fruits of clarity, peace, and joy, and to receive his guidance in our decisions.

I did not always walk this way, but the Lord has awakened me to this reality. And when you read Scripture, it's all right there. There is nothing in Scripture that says the power of healing and driving out demons is not for today. You have to read that into the text or construct a theological framework to reach that conclusion. For those of us who claim Scripture as the rule of faith and life, the plain text says the Lord came, healed, cast out demons, and desires us to have that same power through the Holy Spirit.

Brian: Would you say there's a difference between the initial indwelling of the Spirit at salvation and an increasing measure of his presence as we grow?

Travis: Absolutely — and Scripture addresses this directly. The disciples couldn't cast out a demon, and Jesus said, "This kind only comes out through prayer and fasting." A certain level of power was needed that wasn't being brought to bear. That's clear in the text.

Many of us in the West are swimming in the sea of the intellect. We've absorbed information our entire lives — through education, culture, institutions — all of it conducted within that intellectual framework. God created the mind and we absolutely need right information. But intellectual knowledge alone is not enough. We need the Lord's presence and spiritual discernment. Psalm 91:1 — dwelling under his shelter and shadow — is a place of refuge. We will run into serious problems if we try to navigate spiritual forces with the intellect alone.

For more on full-spectrum Christianity and Kingdom living, visit jesussmart.com/368.

Brian: Paul told the Corinthians: "I did not come with words only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." That's a challenge. The American praying church does operate in power, but it needs to grow. We need those Kingdom jet streams synchronized with heaven, releasing the power of God even into the geopolitical arena.

My wife Penny and I attended the Pray and Vote Summit sponsored by FRC in early October in D.C., and one panel you were on — with Michele Bachmann and Gabe Lyons, led by Tony Perkins — was focused on the push for global governance. You attended the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May of 2024.

Travis: Yes. The discussion there was entirely focused on how to increase governmental power to address future health emergencies. Individual rights, religious freedom, the question of whether pandemic measures even accomplished what governments claimed — none of that was on the table. When the entire focus is on control and coordination, you get an outcome skewed entirely in that direction.

The fruit of that was borne out in discussions on a pandemic agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations. The IHR amendments were finalized with incremental steps toward increased global coordination. The pandemic agreement wasn't finalized due to disagreements between countries, but work continues. The trajectory is toward global governance, not away from it.

Brian:...