Becoming Godlike: Holy Possession, Multi-Realm Living, and the Cost of Small Faith

Wendy Backlund, a Christian author and speaker with Igniting Hope Ministries, opens this conversation with a provocation that lands like a cold splash: “We keep trying to make ourselves small because we think we're still human.” She argues that the church has been so focused on teaching people how to die that it has forgotten to teach them how to live as resurrected beings. The central question of the episode is whether most Christians are operating far below their actual identity and authority—and what would change if they stopped.

The New Creation as a Different Species

Backlund’s framework begins with a radical redefinition of what happens at conversion. She rejects the common view that a saved person is still essentially human with a spirit inside them. Instead, she insists that the new creation is a whole new species—one that resembles God more than it resembles the old self. “Do you know how stupid it would be for a human to think they're more doglike?” she asks. Yet Christians routinely make an equivalent mistake, trying to stay small out of fear of pride or of “stealing God’s glory.”