Episode Title: Path Lit by Lightning: The Awakening of Jim Thorpe

Series: Kingdom People in the Pages of History

Date: January 20, 2026

Target Length: 45:00

Theme: Gift discovered → Glory revealed → Gift will be tested

[SHOW INTRO MUSIC / PODCAST INTRO VOICEOVER]

“Hello, and welcome to the Kingdom Corner Podcast…”

[MUSIC FADE UNDER]

MATT (warm, reverent):

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me… all His wondrous compassion and purity.

Oh Thou Spirit divine… all my nature refine… till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

And today—just for a moment—I’m going to shift the lyric, because it fits where we’re going:

O let the gift He has given flow out of me… for all His wondrous compassion and purity.

O Thou Spirit divine… all my nature refine… till the gift You have given flows out from me…

Till the gift You have given flows out from me.

[PAUSE 2 beats]

MATT (signature upbeat):

Good day, good day, Kingdom Corner followers and devotees—The Great Matt Gibe with you once again—coming to you from the Pacific Northwest, where the coffee is strong, the air is crisp today… and I’ve had the past tapping me on the shoulder these last few days.

Welcome back to our series—Kingdom People in the Pages of History—where we look at people, places, and events… and we lay biblical truth right alongside them… and we glean. We extract. We learn. We repent where we need to repent… we adjust where we need to adjust… and we find courage where we need courage.

Because people learn through stories. They remember through stories.

Jesus told parables for a reason.

And today… we have a true story from history that deserves to be sung again.

MATT:

We’re stepping into a new chapter in this history series, drawn from David Maraniss’ powerful biography:

Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe.

And the title I’m using for today is this:

Lightning Rises: The Awakening of Jim Thorpe.

Now—quick reminder—our rhythm is usually Tuesdays and Fridays. Fridays we’re continuing our reading through Power and Authority Over Darkness by Angela Greenig—spiritual warfare, discernment, and how the enemy tries to move in patterns. This Friday we’ll be touching divination, familiar spirits, and the antichrist spirit. You do not want to miss it.

But today… settle in. Because I’m excited about this one.

MATT (slower, weightier):

As I’ve been reading and studying Jim Thorpe… a thought came back to me from John Eldredge’s book Waking the Dead. He opens with a quote from the second century—St. Irenaeus:

“The glory of God is man fully alive.”

Let that sink in.

Not a man merely surviving.

Not a man merely coping.

Not a man merely existing.

Fully alive.

And in this story—Jim Thorpe is a picture of a gift being awakened… like lightning splitting the sky… sudden, undeniable… impossible to ignore.

MATT (storytelling tone):

Not long ago, I sat in a local coffee shop. Two young people behind the counter—baristas—one about eighteen, the other mid-twenties.

And I decided to run a little experiment.

I asked:

“Have you ever heard the name Jim...

Kingdom Corner Podcast — January 16, 2026

In today’s Kingdom Corner, Matt Geib continues the Friday reading series from Angela Greenegg’s powerful deliverance manual Power and Authority Over Darkness. We explore two destructive spiritual strongholds—the Seducing Spirit and the Perverse Spirit—and how they infiltrate minds, wound hearts, distort truth, and trap souls through deception, lust, offense, and unresolved trauma.

Matt opens by updating listeners on the two-track rhythm of the podcast:

• Tuesdays — Kingdom People in the Pages of History (just завершено: The Nightingale Song series)

• Fridays — Book readings that equip believers to recognize and defeat spiritual strongholds.

This episode is both a sobering warning and a hopeful call to healing, repentance, and renewed minds.

📖 Reading from Power and Authority Over Darkness

Author: Angela Greenegg

Section: Spirits #10 and #11

• The Seducing Spirit

• The Perverse Spirit

• Completion of The Nightingale Song historical series

• Teaser for the upcoming history series (keyword: “running”)

• Ongoing Friday reading series through Greenegg’s book

• Upcoming interview with Pastor Andrew Scribner (Philippines)

Key Characteristics

• Misleads and persuades

• Twists truth

• Entices through promise or pleasure

• Burns images into the mind

• Dulls conscience

• Opens door to lust, pornography, adultery

• Targets the vulnerable

• Reprograms thinking

• Captures and enslaves

Biblical Foundation

• 1 Timothy 4:1 — Seducing spirits in latter times

• Genesis 3 — Eve and the twisted word

• Galatians 6:1 — Restore gently, watch yourself

• Matthew 12:29 — Bind the strongman

Prayer Focus

• Breaking seductive influence

• Cleansing of mental images

• Protection of families

• Binding and casting out in Jesus’ name

Key Characteristics

• Wounded spirit

• Offense as an entry point

• Twisted thinking

• Deceit

• Sexual perversion

• Self-love and pride

• False teaching

• Mood instability

• Resurrected past hurts

• Entrapment through unforgiveness

Biblical Foundation

• Isaiah 19:14 — A mingled perverse spirit

• Proverbs 15:4 — Perverseness breaks the spirit

• Acts 13:10 — Perverting the right ways of the Lord

• Romans 1:17–32 — Fruits of a debased mind

• 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 — Washed, sanctified, justified

• Hebrews 13:5 — God never leaves nor forsakes

Core Insight

Matt shares personal reflection on how none of us are exempt — even mature believers must guard their hearts from offense.

• Spiritual warfare begins in the mind.

• Seduction twists truth before it traps behavior.

• Offense is often the hidden doorway to deeper bondage.

• Healing of wounded spirits restores discernment.

• Binding the strongman requires prayer, patience, and truth.

• Renewing the mind realigns the walk.

• Healing of wounded hearts

• Release from past offenses

• Cleansing of thought life

• Restoration of purity

•...

Kingdom People in the Pages of History (Conclusion of The Nightingale’s Song)

Date: Jan 13, 2026

Length: 50:53

In this closing chapter of The Nightingale’s Song series (based on Robert Timberg’s 1993 classic), we step back and listen to the echo of five lives—John McCain, Oliver North, Robert “Bud” McFarlane, John Poindexter, and James Webb. This is more than a history recap; it’s a Kingdom lens on the human heart.

Using 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 as a foundational “history-as-admonition” passage, we explore how historic events become tupos—impressions, templates, warnings, and encouragements for God’s people today. From Annapolis to Vietnam to Iran-Contra, we trace how a single national furnace shaped these men in profoundly different ways—and then we turn the mirror toward our own generation: What kind of people will we become when our hour of testing arrives?

1. 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 — History as “examples” (tupos) for admonition and escape from temptation
2. 1 John 2:16 — Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life
3. 2 Peter 1:3 — God’s divine power for life and godliness
4. Psalm 8 — “What is man?” (human frailty and divine mindfulness)
5. James 1:12 — Steadfast under trial
6. Romans 10:2 — Zeal without knowledge
7. Galatians 6:2 — Bear one another’s burdens
8. 1 Corinthians 8:1 — Knowledge puffs up; love builds up
9. Psalm 42:5 — Hope in God amid inner turmoil
10. 1 Corinthians 1:18–25 — The cross vs. human wisdom
11. 1 Peter 1:6–7 — Trials refining faith like gold
12. Ephesians 2:8–10 — God’s workmanship: created for good works

Opening: Why this history series matters

1. Why “Kingdom People in the Pages of History” exists: extracting biblical principles from human events
2. The Nightingale’s Song as the first completed “chapter” of the series
3. 1 Corinthians 10 as the anchor text: history is written for our admonition

Tupos: How history becomes a template

1. The Greek idea of “tupos” (impression/strike)—like a typewriter imprint
2. Israel’s wilderness failures and God’s “way of escape” as a pattern for today

The conclusion monologue:...