The Actual Reason Jesus Came To Earth- NOT What You Think!

Today is a very interesting conversation. I'm joined by author, speaker, and mentor Trevor Dunbar, co-founder of the Outlier brand. Together, we explore the bold idea that Jesus didn't come to establish a religion, but rather, to restore humanity’s direct relationship with God. 

Mr. Dunbar shares his transformative journey, from a career in the fire department to a supernatural encounter with God that set him on a new path of faith and purpose. He discusses how his experiences have shaped his mission to help others reclaim their God-given identity and step into their full potential.

Trevor opens up about his books, The Good Cult and The Law of Ability, both of which challenge traditional religious structures and encourage believers to walk in true communion with God. We both discuss the pitfalls of religious systems, the importance of personal faith, and how to distinguish God's voice in a world filled with distractions. With thought-provoking insights, they dive into the concept of faith as a dynamic relationship rather than a set of rules, inspiring listeners to seek deeper spiritual truths.

This episode is great for those questioning religious traditions, seeking clarity in their faith journey, or wanting to better understand their divine purpose. Again, our intention isn't to church-bash or destroy religion.

https://trevordunbar.com/home

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Transcript

  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host Mr. Whiskey, and as I said before on the show, one of the things I love to talk about the most is God. I believe that we are called to be a community of, you know, faith based people and believers, and when we interact with one another, we really help boost each other's faith, but At the same time, we can hold each other accountable and sometimes present new ideas that may open our eyes and today we have a man who has an idea that is one would almost say controversial and we'll get into that and why people would say that because he's fighting against a long history of pre existing and pre established, you know, ideas and organizations.

But when I read his bio online and I saw what he said, it really struck a chord with me in my heart. And I was like, see, that's exactly how it is and how it should be. So I'm excited for today's episode. Mr. Dunbar, would you please go ahead and introduce yourself for us?  Yeah, absolutely. I'm Trevor. I'm married, got five kids, four young adults and a newborn and, uh,  you know, living in Austin, Texas.

And my wife and I are co founders of the Outlier brand. So I'm author, speaker, mentor, and then we leave the Outlier brand together and our mission and our passion. really is just to unite and equip a global movement of truth seekers and bold leaders to reclaim their God given identity and step into their full potential. 

For sure. And I would say based off what I read in your bio, you're a bit of an outlier yourself in the experiences you've had in life between you and God. You spoke about a burning bush moment, just like Moses. Can you tell us about that religious encounter you had? Yeah. So in 2006, I was a lieutenant in the fire department.

I was serving in my local church as a leader running a business that I owned, but I was pretty bored and honestly becoming disillusioned with the concept of church. I've been a believer for about five years and I was reading in scripture about these powerful men that were experiencing  the supernatural power of God.

And I wasn't experiencing that in my life. And so I really began to just to seek the Lord on that.  And so that led me on a journey, retired, sold my business, moved across the country and I had met some mentors and we went off  to a prayer cabin. We were going to go just for 24 hours to pray and we got there and when we got there, walked in, went downstairs and there was a couple of walking sticks leaning up against the the corner of the room, didn't think much of it, dropped my bags, went upstairs.

We had worship music playing. We had, we were taking communion. And so four of us were just praying and, uh, just kind of worshiping. And I felt the Lord, now I was pretty young, so I still was trying to learn.  How God speaks to me and what that was, but I felt felt the Lord tell me to go downstairs and grab one of those walking sticks.

So I opened my eyes and looked around and everybody's eyes were just closed. So I'm thinking, all right, well, if this is you, so I went downstairs, grabbed one of the sticks and then I just asked him, well, what do you want me to do with that?  And so I felt like he told me that we were all supposed to hold on to it while we were praying So I came upstairs and um told the guys we were preparing for a trip to israel We were going to go meet the prime minister and some business leaders in israel And they're like well, hey, we're here to pray and we're here to meet the lord.

So let's do it. So we all Grabbed onto this stick in the middle of the room And as soon as all of our hands hit the stick the fire plays supernaturally  And at that exact moment, Gary's Blackberry went off.  And a friend who was praying for us said, uh, the Lord says expect angelic visitation today.

And so we just felt the weight of the Lord fill that room. That fire burned for about 10 minutes. We took our shoes off and we just really began to, um, just to praise God. Well, I had been praying, um, on some direction in my life. Purpose, clarity, calling, and this encounter really brought some clarity to me. 

When the fire went off, we, uh, we sat down and my friend Gary said, guys, the most important thing is that we hear the Lord's voice. And as soon as he said that, the fire lit again. And then it went out now. I had just retired from the fire department, even though I knew what I experienced was real. There was still part of me that was wrestling with the reality that that just happened.

And so the next morning before we left,  um, I'm like, I'm just going to do some investigation. I'm just going to make sure there's no way this could have possibly happened. Naturally, so I checked it was a natural gas fireplace propane  and I looked in the gas line was shut off. Well, maybe the gas line is broken.

So I started trying to light the fire wouldn't light turn the gas on lit it. And this time when I lit it, it looked and felt the same as it did the night before. But, you know, the 1st time you burn a fireplace or a wood stove after a summer and you get that kind of smoky. Dusty smell. Yeah, that's immediately filled up the room and that had not been there at all the night before.

So it's just a really beautiful experience and moment of clarity of Really opened the door to me to do to an untapped kingdom of potential that I had yet to experience up to that point  So many people I've heard say this before on TV and books in real life I've heard people say where are the miracles of the Old Testament?

Where is my strength like Samson? Where is my pillar of fire, you know? Where are these supernatural powers and you know, there are still miracles nowadays I think more than ever before but on different scales and people aren't tracking them the same way they were but I definitely agree so many of us wish to have that encounter to See and then believe, you know And I think that's that's very relatable to a lot of us In fact in my book God versus Indomitable Human Spirit Which may or may not be out by the time this episode comes out.

I kind of talk about that and how if we could just, you know, if God could come down and wrestle all of us, you know, it'd make, uh, that relationship a lot easier, you know, the way a father disciplines a child. But you talk about having that experience and even being skeptical of it, which a lot of us are because, you know, there are so many things that happen in life where we're wondering, you know, And it relates to a good question I was asked as a believer. 

I believe it was an atheist man who said this to me. He goes, Mr. Whiskey, you keep saying that everything happens for a reason, and that so many things in your life have lined up that it has to be God's plan. But let me ask you this. Does everything happen for a reason, or do we just find reasons for everything happening?

And I really struggled with that question for a while. I said, you know what?  Everything has been connected so perfectly in my life. But is that just the human mind just trying to justify everything? But you know, I, I did, I did some praying and thinking about it and you know, there are so many things in my life alone, let alone the millions of lives out there, uh, animals, plants, humans, and in the galaxy that just.

You know, like the book of Job kind of says, you know, there are complexities that the human mind can never try to even be able to justify a reason. So, you know, I do believe everything happens for a reason in that, you know, sometimes though it can be hard to understand if something is God talking to us or not.

You know, a lot of people want to say  that must be a sign from God. And is it really, or are we just kind of projecting onto that and then we're skeptical about it, which, you know, you said you did your  investigation and, you know, you thoroughly checked and it really was the Lord. And so where does it go from there?

You mentioned going to Israel on a trip, which obviously is a holy destination for a lot of people to visit. So did you still go on that trip?  I went on the trip, uh, got to shake hands with the prime minister, I mean, it was a powerful time. But I would like to go back, I, I think too, I think that, um, part of my teaching in both the good cult and the law of ability is making the gospel simple again.

And I think that it's been complicated and we were created for communion and connection with the father. So even when you're talking about, uh, you know, is everything happened for a reason or do we find a reason that everything happened? Well, Yeah. We're created for dominion. So we are creators. Some things happen in life, and then our role is to create out of what happens.

We respond to what happens in life. And we could definitely say,  God's sovereign. And so he knows what's going to happen, and he's going to make good of everything for those who love him. But I think it's, it's kind of a chicken before the egg kind of a thing, right? Um, but as far as  Understanding that, hey, does everything happen for a reason? 

Even our daily communion, how we hear the Father, has to, we have to know that happens for a reason. We have to know that He's prepared to speak to us as sons, not servants. And so we've been called sons and friends. And our role is to have daily communion with the Father. And as we begin to hear that voice regularly, We don't have to question.

There's five keys to effective prayer that the Lord gave me many years ago because I could not find someone who would just simplify. Hey, how do I know it was God's voice? How do  what's God's voice? What isn't God's voice?  And I felt like he gave me these five steps. Uh, position your heart,  remove distractions.

Expect encounters, believe what you hear, and take action. And so if I believe that if our hearts are genuinely pure toward the Lord, we want correction, direction, or revelation, and we come to Him in a state of seeking, We remove the distractions so that we can be still in his presence, and then we expect, by faith, him to show up, whether it's a bird flying by, whether it's a gust of wind, a text message, a license plate on a car that drove by, there's an infinite number of ways that God can talk to us.

But then, here's where many people struggle, is  Self confidence we have an identity crisis in the world and nobody trusts themselves. So very pure hearted people who are seeking god Oh, I think this thing happened But then everything gets stripped away and doubt is casted on that and that's the point of faith I believe that when men and women Choose to understand who they are, what they're capable, and trust that the Lord loves them and wants to speak to them.

At that place of decision, like, no, I'm gonna believe that that's what God said to me, because he wants me to hear his voice more than I want to hear his voice. And then the next step is take action. You know, if you think about God as a counselor, the Holy Spirit is called a counselor. If you have a friend or a client that's working, that you're working for, and you give that friend or client advice, Over and over and again, and they never take the advice.

At what point do you stop giving them advice?  Okay. I think a lot of people have closed the door to God's voice because they refuse to believe what he told them and then they, or they refuse to take action on it.  I really like that statement. Yeah, I agree. You know, people think that because of his mercy and love that God will just continually, continually, you know, just forgive everything, you know, continue to constantly babysit us and provide for us.

But if you actually read the story of the Bible, the whole Old Testament, it's a story of how eventually, you know, humanity is just too sickening. So I definitely agree. I love that analogy because I've definitely had plenty of people in my life where you're giving them all this great advice, you know, they keep coming back to you with the same toxic relationship or the same issue.

And you're like, well, did you do what I told you? And it's like, no, or, or I tried and they didn't really try. So I just got away from your breath at that point. Yeah, and you mentioned communion with the Father and what I want to focus in on here is a big idea that you put forward which is that Jesus didn't come to establish a religion but to get us back to our identity in God and to have that communion and to the eternal kingdom.

So can you tell us a bit more about that idea because most people You know, they think Jesus Christ, Christianity, you know, that's why he came down, to make the gospel, to make a religion. But you're claiming the opposite, and I actually really like what you've said so far, so I'd love to hear more about it.

Yeah, definitely. So, well, to start it off, I was, I was walking with the Lord one day on a prayer walk, and I just was wrestling with the state of humanity, and, and what it looked like to truly walk in the simplicity of the gospel. And I felt like the Lord said, Trevor, you know, Christianity is just the good cult.

Right.  And I was like, well, what do you mean? He said, yeah, it's just, I didn't, you know, the kingdom of God's a realm, not a religion. Jesus didn't come to start another religion. He came to expose religion and lead people to the kingdom. Jesus didn't preach Christianity. He didn't preach any sort of religion.

He preached the kingdom. He led people to me. And so I began to unpack that.  And  if we go all the way back to the beginning, God created us, gave us dominion, and Adam and Eve had the option to live in communion with the Father. Um, we have been born into a system, every single person who's alive today was born into a system that makes Christianity and the Kingdom of God synonymous.

They're, they're one and the same, but they're not. And Christianity wasn't even a religion until many years after Jesus was deceased. And so, for us to suggest that it's Jesus plan for us to adhere to this religion,  it doesn't make any sense if you're intellectually honest with yourself about it. But the problem is, as a community, we're so brainwashed into believing what we're believing.

Um, the ekklesia, the Greek word for church, was the called out ones. It was an assembly of called out ones. It wasn't what we know as church today, but by definition, Christianity is a religion based off the teachings of Jesus Christ. Thanks. And so  what I'm passionate about is teaching people the difference between the two.

If you choose to become a Christian, that's fine. You can choose to become a Cowboys fan too, or you can become a Steelers fan, or you can become a Mariners fan. It's a jersey that you wear, but it's not required. And I think that we have lived in an environment that says you have to become a Christian, you have to, Do the sinner's prayer.

You have to tie it to your church, all these things, or you're not going to make it to heaven, or you're not going to have the favor of God. And those religious mindsets have nothing to do with the teaching of Jesus. It has nothing to do. And so we ask yourself, well, where are the healings of today?

Where's the power? Well, scripture says in the last days, there will be those, there's a whole laundry list of things about them that are bad. And it says, those that have the appearance of godliness but deny his power. And these are Christians that Paul's talking about. And I think that sometimes we forget the fact that, well, they couldn't have an appearance of godliness if they weren't believers  or they weren't religious, but they lacked the power.

Well, the power is love. The power, you know, agape and power dunamis, which is the power to raise people from the dead, to create wealth. And so this concept, it really, it is, Revolutionary because nobody's having the conversation.  Jesus did not come to reform Judaism.  He came to create a revolution that led people to the kingdom.

In the same way I believe, you mentioned outliers earlier, I believe that the true called out ones of this day that are seeking the Lord, the mind of Christ, the heart of the father, the power of the spirit. And we're walking in truth. There is no religion that we're bound to. There are no practices.

There's no 501 c three nonprofit organizations that we need to give our allegiance to the kingdom and communion with the father. And there's so much liberty and freedom in that because most people's problem with God has nothing to do with God. It has to do with their experience with people who weren't a label. 

And they've associated God with these people and it's been a distorted viewpoint of who the father really is.  I agree with everything you're saying. We've seen a lot of idolatry be put into the world from, you know, what people believe is the right thing. And again, we're not saying that anyone who practices Christianity or Catholicism, Protestantism is a bad person.

Like, you know, they're, they are believers and they're doing what they feel is right. But like you said, when you're. You're raised into that, that it's what you believe, and I'm actually very fortunate. I was raised Catholic, and I have nothing against Catholicism, but I recently,  say within the past year and a half, a few months really, stopped being Catholic because I read the Bible end to end, I did a lot of research, and there's so much about Catholicism that is tradition or prayers or worship that isn't biblical.

Or based in the Bible, you know, Jesus gave us one prayer. It's a very simple, straightforward prayer, you know, and I don't want to get into a whole, you know, bit here, side pivot with Mary and saints and all of that, you know, that's a conversation for a different day, but I agree, you know, when Jesus came, he was speaking about the law and the Pharisees, you know, which was the religion aspect of it, you know, how it became rules, rules, rules, traditions, money.

Yeah. Yeah. Not about, you know, the morality behind it. So I completely agree. And I know you said these are the conversations people aren't having, but obviously you're out here guesting on podcasts, and speaking, and you wrote your books as part of your mission to spread that conversation. So can you tell us a little bit more about that, about your books and your speaking?

Yeah. Well, I think to even just to lay the framework, um,  You know, Jesus was hated by some and he was loved by others. And so we are, Jesus scripturally came to bring division,  and I think that we have sometimes forgotten that. And so we forget, what is it like to bring division? If you, if you read through scripture,  there's nothing inherently wrong with being a Christian, being a Catholic,  but if you really read through scripture, the apostle Paul said that sectarianism is a sin.

You know, some are of Paul, some are of Apollos. There's the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ that Paul even told the Corinthians, Hey, I'm concerned that just as Eve was led astray by the, the craftiness of the serpent, that your minds too will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

That's what we're called to. And so sectarianism, denominationalism, which All of Christianity is, there's 45, 000 denominations, and there's multiple expressions, they're all run by a government organization. They're a corporation that's given them, you know, what they can and can't say, right? And we can go, that's another rabbit hole. 

Yeah. But in and of itself, just intellectually speaking,  you could argue that Christianity, the practice of it, is actually sinful. And people are like, whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute. That's fine, but that's religion kicking in. You know, when you automatically are pushing back on something without having an intellectually honest conversation with yourself, then it's not allowing the spirit of God to reveal, you know, we have to ask ourselves for the spirit for to fall upon as a spirit of wisdom and understanding counselor and my knowledge and fear of the Lord.

Right? Um, and so that being said, are speaking my wife and I, we speak and we lead and we have a brand called the outlier brand. And so, Our big message, I'd say, to sum it up is we speak on identity  and relationships, relationship with ourselves, relationship with the Father,  Son, Holy Spirit, and relationship with others.

So everything in life is based around relationships. Everything in the kingdom runs off relationships. But if we don't understand ourselves and see ourselves through God's eyes, then we actually don't have the ability to show up powerfully in our life. We don't operate in dominion. We don't see signs and wonders following us when I pray for people, when I see healing or when I see a movement or revelation, something comes.

It's not an accident. It's because I'm submitted humbly to the father and Jesus never did anything that he didn't see the father doing. And we've gotten away from only doing what we see the father doing. We've got all this manifestation and create your best life. And yes, technically we have the ability as humans to do that, but if we're genuinely seeking the Lord and saying hey, I want to be a disciple of Christ, I want to be a son of God.

Then we have to submit our actions and our hearts to God. And so that's what my wife and I speak on. Um, the outlier brand is a, is a growing lifestyle brand that just allows, especially the younger generation who are disillusioned by religion and church, a fresh perspective on teaching them how just to connect.

Um, with God and also how to develop small communities that we call outpost groups, where two or three are gathered in my name that I'll be there. And so we just model what does it look like to not be a part of a religious system, but to be empowered and equipped and united in your local community to live life on your terms, your way, but invite God into that conversation. 

Right. And I know your book, The Good Cult, goes a lot more into the conversation about religion and how You know, people took the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection to kind of almost make a new set of laws and everything like that, as we've discussed. But you also have another book, The Law of Ability, which is less focused on that and more like a guidebook for people with their identity in God, which can definitely be applicable to a lot more people.

So can you tell us about that book? Yeah, so the Law of Ability, discover who you are and what you're capable of. Um, I wrote that because in 2005 the Lord gave me this concept of the Law of Ability.  It took me 20 years to really try, test, fail, understand. Um, back then I started asking the Lord to show me how he runs his world so I'll know how to run mine.

So that's been a consistent prayer that I've had for nearly two decades. And, and what I've come to believe through experience is that  when we understand our true identity, It unlocks unlimited potential and capacity for us to create the life we're meant to live.  And so the Law of Ability unpacks that.

How do we start with identity, tap into the unseen realm? What does it look like to understand an orphan spirit, to know the difference between being an orphan and a son or daughter? How do we come into the power that God created us for and  Practically live it out. How do we outsmart the enemy because we do have an unseen enemy?

How do we partner with the angelic realm? How do we take a look at the deeper things of God, but in a practical way? And put it into practice. My wife and I created what we call the breakthrough blueprint. And so my wife is a she's got a master's in psychology. She has been a licensed marriage and family therapist for over a decade.

I've had all of my own experiences for 30 years. So we came together and we created a blueprint. That we use for our clients and for ourselves, frankly, and it teaches people how to heal, transform, and create breakthroughs consistently in their lives. And so we walk them through that process. What does it practically look like?

We've got an outliers journal that helps people on a daily basis to be able to, um, have communion with the Father, document their, their, um, what's the Lord saying to you? What am I doing with it? What are my goals for the year, month? It, it's just making the gospel simple again and taking what's become very complex and say, no, we're actually just made for simplicity and, and there's power in that simplicity. 

For sure. There definitely is. And  we're going to have everything in the description below your website, which will have your books, your speaking, you know, your challenge and all of that included as well as the outlier brand. But before we close off here, Mr. Dunbar, if you could leave us with one Bible quote, you know, what would that be and why? 

Yeah, well, I think the one that I always come back to is the one I quoted earlier, where the Apostle Paul had already visited the Corinthians. He'd been sharing things with them. Some were listening, some weren't, and he went back from a, from a, you know, we have many leaders in this world, but we have very few fathers and a father is more of a mentor.

It's a guide. Somebody who doesn't have an ulterior motive, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Other than seeing people set free and activated in their own ability, and that's what Paul was speaking from was the heart of the father. And he told the Corinthians. He said that he was concerned. I'm concerned for you that just as Eve was led astray  by the cunning or the craftiness of the serpents that your minds to will be led astray by the simplicity and purity Of devotion to Christ.

We know that we are called to renew our mind. We know that we're called to bring everything to alignment with the Lord. But if we don't lean back on the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, we can get caught up in all kinds of religious activities. And even what some might not see as religious.

Um, scripture says the only the only true religion is to care for widows and orphans. There is no religion that's good in the eyes of the father. You know, if it's closer to Jesus, and it's a practice that you're using, that's fine, but there's nothing inherently good about religion. Um, good is. Focusing your mind on what's pure and keeping your devotion simple and dedicated to Jesus Christ. 

Amen. I agree with that. Like Jesus himself even said, there are going to be so many people who do all these things, uh, you know, quote in his name or for his name through religion. And he's going to say, I never knew you, you know, so I think it's so important to stay focused on Christ and the gospel and the word and what it says, not all these traditions, all these, you know,  These rules, these, these laws and you know, these  kind of the image that humanity has for us, you know, are, are you a good, you know, quote, quit Christian in the eyes of, you know, fellow men and women, or are you good, you know, follower in person to Jesus Christ?

You know, there are a lot of people equate them to the same thing, but they're different. So I would even take it to another level. Um,  what if you stop seeing yourself as a follower? And he started seeing yourself as a co creator because that's who God created you to be, you know, Jesus said that now, now I call you friends.

Yeah, Jesus said that you would do better things, more powerful things than he did. But as long as you're a servant or a follower,  and you're not a son who's living with delegated authority through Jesus Christ, Jesus didn't go through all he went through so we could live weak lives, right? He, he did everything he went through.

So he conquered death. So we wouldn't have to,  you know, he conquered death. So now we can go and create a life that pleases the father, but we have to be pure in heart to do that savage in our minds because the world has wolves in it and we have to live boldly and courageously in order to make that happen. 

Amen. And that's why having conversations like these, like you said, is so important to. You know, reach other people, whether they're of the faith or not, and to open up their minds, you know, to what is going on in the world. So, ladies and gentlemen, I really encourage you, one, to check out all the information in the description below to find out more information, especially the books that Mr.

Dunbar worked on, because they go in much greater detail than we talked today. So, if this is something that interests you, You can go deeper, or you can reach out to Mr. Dunbar himself. And I also encourage y'all to take another look at the Bible. So many believers out there have never actually read all of it, or most of it, or any of it.

So I encourage y'all to go take another look and, you know, compare it to the life you're living and, quote, all these religions and rules that you're following that are supposedly, you know, from the Bible, are they really? So it's great to look at that, but Mr. Dunbar, thank you for all you do. So, you know, it's clear that God is with you and blessing your work and I hope to continue to see you podcasting and speaking and writing. 

Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, just maybe closing out with one last statistic. I just read the other day that based on what you were just talking about, about reading the Bible last year in 2024 Bible sales among 30 year olds and under were up 22%. And yet church attendance was down 66 percent from those who had attended church at least one year in high school.

And we're now out of high school. So young adults are seeking. Truth and they're leaving religion. And so I think that there's a great spot in that to just find the word of god and see What that has to say and see what god might speak to you and how he might unlock your mind for greater things ahead