The Great Divorce

This hour, we talk about the world and the church.

Stay tuned. Therefore what? Comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. Don't sell them destruction. Don't sell them annihilation. Don't sell them the Antichrist.

That's not for you. You should comfort one another and edify each other. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell, brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries, radio for the remnant. Israeli Bible teacher and author Amir Tsarfati is back again this week to discuss current events, apologetics, and the state of the church today. Amir is an Israeli tour guide, but also speaks on five continents with the good news that Jesus is coming again.

Here is today's programming. How close are we to the rapture? Very, very, very, because we see the convergence of so many prophecies right now. You know that in your lifetime, more prophecies have been fulfilled than any other generation since the time of Jesus Christ.

How can we, seeing all this convergence? Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come, by which we know that this is the last hour. Welcome to part two of our programming here on Understanding the Times Radio. Last week you heard from my guest of this hour, Amir Tsarfati, as well as Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, California.

In part two, I am joined only by Amir, as we decided that due to the number of topics on our mind, that one program was not sufficient. Actually, I'm going to hold off on election-related comments today, but we'll pick up again next week with White House correspondent Bill Koenig, as well as Pastor Barry Stagner. And America is clearly at a crossroads. We have socialism knocking on our door as a part of the leftist agenda, and this has staggering consequences.

But God raises up kings and He removes them, so please always remember that He is in control. Jack, Amir, and I said a lot concerning the U.S. election here last week. Access that program, please, on my website, OliveTreeViews.org. You can get the audio and the video. Very active on YouTube.

You can get it on his channel and Lightsource.com. So we're going to talk about some apologetics issues this hour, and I am reminding you that when it comes to apologetics, we're carrying both of Amir's books, The Day Approaching, as well as the study guide to The Day Approaching. It's in my online store, and we carry his first book, The Last Hour.

Amir, welcome back to the program here for part two. Thank you, Jan. Let me just say, and per your book, The Last Hour, which by the way I love, but you know what, Amir? I no longer think we're in the last hour. I think we're in the last minutes, and some days I think we're in the last seconds. And we're going to talk about that this hour, but I think you would agree with me.

I would agree with you, but thankfully the last second, even of the last minute, it belongs still to the last hour. And I want to talk about some of those issues, and I want to talk a little bit about the attack that you and I deal with on a daily basis. Amir deals with them so effectively. Obviously, I've referenced his book, but he's dealing online almost on a daily basis. You can find that at BeholdIsrael.org.

You can find that under Amir Tsarfati heavily on YouTube and on his website. You were here the month of September. You ministered to thousands of Americans. You do that every year, and you would acknowledge, as do I, that it's very difficult for people to find a good church. It's very difficult for people to find a eschatology preaching church. That's heartbreaking to you and me. We were talking a little bit off air, and you summed up that dilemma as pastors and people are getting away from even being in the Word of God.

That seems to be the run of that. Exactly. I believe that in the days and eras of social media, people tend to watch sermons rather than read the Bible. Therefore, they are completely depending on what the pastor said and his view rather than the Word of God. And by the way, that releases you from the need to have the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is here to guide us and to give us discernment and to lead us and to even interpret the Scriptures for us. Well, the pastor is doing that for me.

I don't need to. If the pastor says that critical race theory is something that is important, then I as a Christian think it's important. If the pastor says that abortions are okay, then as a Christian, I need to agree with that. Now, is the Bible saying that?

No. But again, when you are not in the Word of God, then you fall into that trap. The same goes with believing that God has limited atonement. The same is that Israel is no longer God's people and God has replaced Israel with the church. All of these things are the product of Bible illiteracy. The reason why I'm saying that is because people forgot the very simple thing of reading the Bible and praying.

These are the two things that were pushed aside when it comes to our modern day's Christianity. And people come to church to be entertained. People want good music. They'll leave church if the music is not good. People want a funny pastor. They leave church if he is not funny enough. People want a close by church. Doesn't matter if the church is good or not.

I don't mind spending 40 minutes waiting for a table in a restaurant, but I don't want to drive 40 minutes to a church. A lot of what we see has to do with people are just too spoiled. And they forgot the basic things of reading the Scriptures, spending time in prayer and knowing the heart of God and the plan of God. And by the way, this is exactly when Bible prophecy is also being kicked out of so many churches. Well, let me read a couple of paragraphs. It's a wonderful article written by Jonathan Brentner, The Tragic Divorce of Our Blessed Hope from the Gospel.

Let me just read a paragraph or two and we'll talk about it. Jonathan writes, Somewhere in the past, a tragic divorce occurred. Theologians decided we must separate the return of Jesus for his church from the proclamation of the gospel. The results of this untimely divorce have led to a dearth of understanding among believers regarding Jesus appearing and the joyful anticipation that comes with such awareness. Jonathan says the divorce of the rapture from the gospel has resulted in a near blackout of teaching about our blessed hope in most churches. This negatively impacts new believers as well as seasoned saints as it leaves them ill-prepared to live in a fear-ridden society because such teaching provides no prophetic context into which they can place the violence and lawlessness of our day or the push for a new world order.

He says one sad result of this sorrowful divorce is that it has taken the eyes of believers away from their ultimate hope. The purposeful neglect of Bible prophecy in many churches today has resulted in the suppression of the ultimate good news of the gospel. Very few pastors today talk about what happens at the moment Jesus returns for his church. Pastors who attribute God's promises of the restoration for Israel to allegory rarely, if ever, talk about Jesus' promise of physical and inner wholeness for New Testament saints that begin at the moment of our departure from the earth. They make death the expectation of the saints rather than Jesus' glorious appearing. He says, I once heard a pastor loudly proclaim that everyone in attendance would someday die. Such a message contradicts Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 4-17 and 1 Corinthians 15-51.

One more paragraph. We do not know when Jesus will come for us, but as we watch the signs of the last days converge as never before, it's not unreasonable to assume that many of us will be alive at the time. Does this not draw our eyes to Jesus and the hope of his appearing?

It could happen at any moment. And Amir, as we talked last week about the tide of our times now in the world and the church, and we talked about troubling things going on, even the election-related troubling things. And then we've had again, as Jonathan Brentner talks about, the tragic divorce of our blessed hope from the gospel. You see, what many of the church has done is ripped away indeed the blessed hope from the lives of millions of believers today, and that it's grieved you and it grieves me enormously. It does, especially when they don't talk about the physical return of Jesus and actually the physical rapture of the church. What is left for the Christian is this pathetic world.

That's it. And then how in the world can we look at this world and see any hope in this world when it all goes the wrong direction, not the right direction? If Jesus thought that this world is such a great place, why would he take us out of here? Why would he prepare a place for us there in his Father's place in heaven? Why would he say, I will come and receive you unto myself so where I am, you will also be?

He could have easily said, great job, where you are, I'm coming also to be. Everything is resulted from the divorce from that blessed hope. And what is left is to start crowning this world as God's kingdom and trying to take over this world by Christians.

And that's where you have dominion. Amir, here's a clip of you talking about the rapture, but when it will not happen. So when will the rapture not happen? By the way of elimination, you probably will guess when it will. First of all, it will not happen when you think it will happen. Therefore, you also know, be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

It will not happen on the day that people say it will. 1 Thessalonians 5, we read it concerning the time of the season. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, you yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as the thief in the night. Now, of course, it says that it's not that the thief in the night for us in a sense that we do not live in the darkness in the night.

But it is going to surprise earth dwellers. Here's the thing, Amir, in light of what we've just heard here is that in spite of the biblical basis for this pre-tribulation rapture, we are accused of being escapists. Okay, I'm guilty. I want to escape.

Thank you. We must prepare people for the very worst of the worst. Why? Why do we have to prepare anybody for anything? We are not preparing people properly or we're offering a false hope.

This is so tragic. It's so funny because every time I hear them, I see people that are actually not that serious about their walk with the Lord and why. If we believe that the rapture can happen any minute and that we have to be ready now, not tomorrow, that means that we're actually people who are teaching that the church must be holy and ready at all times. First of all, if I say that the rapture will take place, but only after the Antichrist is already appearing and only halfway through his seven years.

And then what am I doing? I'm telling the church, hey, you've got time. It's not biblical because no one knows the day and the hour. And if it's in the middle of the seven years tribulation, then you know the day because it's exactly halfway. It doesn't make sense for him to take us when he's actually coming back with us.

Obviously not at the end. Why would Jesus take his church after the tribulation and then what, come back immediately? That is, of course, the problem that people are mixing the saints of the tribulation with the church.

We talked about it so many times. Jesus never destined the church to the wrath of God. We know that. The Bible says that in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5, if Jesus thought that the rapture of the church has anything to do with the tribulation to be in the middle or to be at the end, He would have told Paul that and Paul would have written that to the Thessalonians. But every time he wrote to the Thessalonians, whether it's the new body when he talked to the Corinthians or the rapture when he talks to the Thessalonians, he never attributed that to any tribulation. By the way, if the tribulation was supposed to be part of what has to happen before the rapture, why would Paul think that he could be part of that rapture at that time? Where is the church after Revelation 4-1?

The church is definitely not there. There are believers, they're getting saved during the tribulation, but the church is removed. Still God and the Holy Spirit has the capacity to save, of course. Why is it that God is going to send two witnesses?

Yes, 144,000 as well. Why is he sending an angel to the gospel? That is because the church is not here anymore.

I'm saying biblically to ignore the rapture and ignore the blessed hope of that rapture is wrong. When you sell people the illusion that this is it, this is God's Kingdom. Here on Earth right now, you get them to be completely under your thumb. If this is it, then I want all your money. I want your complete subordination.

I want you to do ABC. Look, a lot of it is a control issue. Also, in order to be liked by so many, they move to some theories that are completely not biblical, such as what we talked about, the critical race theory that is afflicting the church right now. I've seen great pastors falling into that trap. Yes, indeed. And the whole social justice issue. Oh, it's crazy. And that again, the problem is that they are ignoring the whole issue that it's a sin.

For them, this is a systematic illness and therefore you have to destroy the system and build a new one. We're called to tell people that this world is not their place. We're not to build a new world here, we're telling people this is not your place.

Your citizenship is in heaven from where God sent His Son and He will take us to be there with Him and reign later on with us here on Earth when He returns with us. Brentner concludes his article, The net impact of this divorce is that it focuses the eyes of the believers on this life rather than the joys ahead for them in eternity. When a teacher reconciles the Gospel of Jesus appearing, the saints look upward with eager anticipation rather than downward where death and despair reign. More than that biblical prophecy puts current events in perspective. And here is Dr. Gary Fraser on the importance of the Pre-Trib Rapture. There are seven different raptures in the Bible.

This is not some kind of a new concept or new... Now, what are some of them? Well, we obviously have of course Elijah is caught up in a whirlwind. Rapture, caught up, edict before him. The edict, he walked with God and it was not for God took him. Revelation 11, two witnesses are raptured up.

So there are seven different unique raptures in the Scripture where these people are translated, transported if you please, from earth into the presence of God. But what is so incredible about this thing is if I were the devil then my ploy would be what would be the one biblical truth apart from salvation by grace through faith because that has been the first battleground because Satan realized what the problem there was so he instituted works and gave us religion instead of relationship. But having said that the second most attacked area of Scripture of course is if I can get people confused about the coming of Jesus then I can do something that is vital. And that is I can rob the sense of urgency from their life. Oh, and their hope.

I can create confusion. I can make them think that life will just kind of go on forever at some point in time. Get apathetic about the Lord's return. You just get totally indifferent and disconnected from the reality that Christ could come at any moment. And I will tell you that through the years as a former pastor and having been on the road, I've preached in churches almost every week around the country and have now for 30 years. I will tell you that Satan has done an incredible job of stealing urgency, robbing the body of Christ with a sense of urgency because he's confused this issue.

Certainly. Amir, I want to talk current events for a moment or two here. Perhaps in light of end time issues, I have come up with a list of the top 10 Bible prophecy stories of 2020.

We can't get into them all, but let me just throw a few of them at you and get your thoughts on them. I think the most stunning thing, and I think you would agree with me here, in 2020 has been two things. The decline of America, though we hope that that's not going to be any kind of a permanent decline, though in the Bible it would indicate that America really has to minimize and Europe likely has to rise. So the decline of America is probably no shocker. But number two, I don't think we saw on the horizon, let's say last January, and we were ministering Southern California at that time, is the rise of the lawlessness and anarchy.

Give me your thoughts on that. We know that's characteristic of Matthew 24, but we're in a run up to Matthew 24 right now, and I don't think we thought we would see it in such living color as we've seen in 2020. Well, you're right, this is the spirit of the Antichrist. He's called the lawless one. By the way, we see that in Israel also. Left liberals are also calling for lawlessness. In the name of the rule of law, they break every law on the way just to promote their own agenda.

It's everywhere around the world we see that. The law is only when it suits them. When it's not, then let's tear it down and bring something that fits us. Lawlessness is a way for the enemy to introduce new laws. So what is lawless now, because it's based on biblical principles, is becoming irrelevant. And now we're going to introduce new laws, new legislation that will change society. Look, one of the reasons Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court is because the more conservative justices you'll have there, the more conservative the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution is going to be.

How can you change it? How can you take away 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and I don't care what amendment. You do that by packing it with whatever they can. If they all understand that the laws that were written with the inspiration of God's Word must be replaced, what you and I call lawless is not lawless for them. Look, we call the Antichrist, Antichrist, but only Christians called him Antichrist. For the people, he will be the Messiah. He will be the one who brings peace and prosperity and safety.

So when we say lawless, it's the law of God that he's no longer practicing. But at the same time, and this happened to be number 10 on my list here in light of what we're talking about, would be the longing for a Savior. And I don't mean Jesus Christ as Savior, but I think there's a longing for a Savior in this world because with the world in a meltdown mode, millions are looking for just one superhuman man to bring back peace and prosperity. And I believe he's waiting in the wings. They're going to cheer for him for a short season. That would be the Antichrist. And then he reveals his true colors, of course.

They won't be cheering at that time. And here is Dr. Mark Hitchcock. Talking about this Savior, this Mr. Fix-It. The Bible talks about this coming world ruler, the Antichrist.

It's interesting. He's called the Little Horn. So he arises first insignificantly. That's why when people always write me today and say, well, who do you think the Antichrist is?

And they're trying to figure out the Antichrist. We don't know who he is today. He's going to rise insignificantly.

If someone were significant on the scene today, that's not him because he's going to rise from insignificance. So this could be someone who is a backroom bureaucrat. That's right.

Not a clue. That's right. That's right. And my view is that I think Satan always has a man ready in every generation. I think there's always an Antichrist who's alive somewhere. That's an interesting thought.

That is. One of these days when everything's ready, whatever man he has ready in that generation is going to step to the forefront and become this world ruler, this dominant player on the world scene. They don't know that they're longing for a Savior. They just know they're longing for someone who can come and make it all right again.

Mr. Fix-It. They don't understand what Messiah is all about. Even the Jewish people today, up until today, their perception of Messiah is not the Son of God or God in the flesh.

It's a human being coming and delivering the goods. The only time the Jewish people understand that he is Jesus is only upon his second coming. My point is, if the Jews who were given the Bible, who were given the promises and the covenant, if they cannot see who Christ is, how can you blame those that don't even have that?

And for them, it's going to be someone that will be held as a deliverer, that will be held as someone who is bringing us out of the misery, chaos, pain, suffering. Let's face it, the very beginning will be times of great deception. Let me go there for a minute, and we actually talked about that in part one of our two-part series here, and that would have been last weekend, folks, with Jack Hibbs.

Find that at my website, OliveTreeViews.org, and just go to radio and you'll find the program there, both audio and video. I want to add something to that, and I loved the way you explained it last week at this rise of deception, and that happened to be number eight on my list of 10 things, and that is the rise of delusion, same thing as deception. There's so much delusion here in 2020.

What thinking person wants all police abolished, or thinks America is a racist nation, or destroys the economy over a virus, or its youth think the Holocaust is a myth? I mean, 2 Thessalonians 2 suggests that such delusion is sent because there is no love of the truth, but this then will cause people to fall for the lies of the Antichrist. This strong delusion, all this deception that we talked about last week and now this week. Yeah, first of all, it says because they rejected the love of the truth that might save them, then God gave them strong delusion. Deception is the masterpiece of Satan. This is what he knows to do the best. If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, Satan is all about deception and lies, the father of all lies. He's deceiver, that's one of the names, the great dragon, the great devil in Isaiah 14. He who weakens the nations, it says, and in Revelation 20, the one who deceived the nations will be thrown down to the bottomless pit.

And then when he will be released for a short time, what is the first thing he's going to do? Deceive the nations, because that's all he knows. And I've seen deception all throughout 2020 in so many different ways. For me personally, it started with killing Soleimani and how suddenly people portrayed Soleimani as a saint. And then it continued with the virus that started in China. While the world was looking at a potential pandemic, America was busy trying to impeach a president.

On what basis? On it was all lies. It was all fraud. And then when they finally were done with that, now we couldn't do that.

Let's use the pandemic to try to bring him down. So Democrat governors are doing whatever they can to depress and destroy the economy to keep people locked up in their houses and to keep churches locked down and completely closed. And they tried to shut down the campaign trail so there will be no pro Trump rallies anywhere. And look, it was one deception after the other. And when the news came that there is a simple drug that can help people, they immediately suppressed it and said it's not working, although what did they do? They actually did trials that were with the wrong doses in the wrong time.

They tried to manipulate everything. And then, of course, they try to tell you that you need to wait for a vaccine or else you'll die. They try to tell you need to stay in your house or else you die. You need to put a mask. Everybody knows the masks are a joke, but they're still imposing that.

They tell you, look, only remove the mask when you eat. And the latest is in between. My point is this. Everybody can see it's a joke. It's deception.

It's manipulation. But it's not only in America. It's all around the world. I'm seeing growing anger in Europe. The only places where it really works well is places where they've gone through pandemics before or outbreaks of stuff like that. And they already know how to deal with these things. And funny, none of those countries had a lockdown. These countries that have seen it before, they know lockdowns are not effective.

They know exactly what they need to do. Here's what I want to do in part two of my program. I want to look at two things a little bit more closely.

I want to look at Israel for a little bit here. And I want to talk about the fig tree when we get back. But I also, Amir, want to talk about some contentious contending going on. Now, folks, this might not have anything to do with eschatology. But quite frankly, it's a growing problem online. And it's very tragic. We're going to talk about that. I need to take a real short time out.

Coming back in a couple of minutes. Don't go away. We get our mail when you write to Jan Markell and Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

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Now in our 20th year, here are Jan and Amir Tsarfati to wrap up this two-part series. Of course, Jesus also said about the fig tree generation, learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you when you see all these things. Who is that fig tree that two chapters earlier was Israel? Of course, it's Israel right now. And that fig tree is the rebirth of Israel from that death of 2000 years came back to life. And you know that the rebirth of Israel is the most important end time signs of all.

And he says, you also, when you all see these things, know that it is near at the doors. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation, this generation, say my generation. Because a generation is the longevity of people from the moment of conception to their death, including the nine months of swimming lessons in your room. Ladies and gentlemen, all of you are alive. You belong to the same generation, whether you're a two year old or 90 year old right now, this is a generation. And all of you live right to see today that Israel is back in the land.

A Jew from the tribe of Judah is standing right in front of you right now, speaking with a broken English and with a tent. Ladies and gentlemen, you see those things. Surely, I said to you, this generation shall by no means pass away until these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.

Welcome back. I replayed that clip because I just find it to be profound. The greatest event, not of the 20th century, but of all time, happened in the 20th century.

And that's when the fig tree blossomed. Israel came back to life. I have a representative from Israel Online with me, Amir Tsarfati. Behold Israel dot org. Behold Israel dot org.

You want to sign up for the various things that he produces from newsletters to online presentations that are just fantastic by way of education, information, things that are happening in the world, in the church, apologetics, eschatology. Again, the greatest event of not just the 20th century, but of the last 2000 years. A nation that disappeared, came back and even recreated its own language. Another incredible miracle. Amir, I think the thing that grieves me and we've already touched on the church. So I don't want to dwell on this, but the greatest thing that grieves me is that perhaps only 10 percent of our churches are even talking about this incredible rebirth of the fig tree of the nation of Israel. When you talk about it, particularly here in the Western world, of course, you're talking to friendly audiences that come out to some of your conferences and church meetings.

What kind of a response are you getting? Obviously, churches that invite me and conferences that invite me, they're like minded. But I have noticed that even among those that used to teach this truth, that in the original movement, there was a healthy teaching of prophecy, that the fig tree that Jesus is talking about in the Olivet Discourse is the same fig tree he also talked about two chapters earlier when he rebuked it for the lack of faith.

And those same people I see buds of attempts to rethink and maybe suggest something else. It's not going to change the fact that Israel is God's fig tree, not only because Jesus said, but also because Isaiah 28 and Jeremiah 24 and Hosea 9 and in Judges 9 and Mark 11. You can see in 1 Samuel 25.

Look, we are looking at an amazing thing. The first four festivals were fulfilled in Christ in the springtime. Then, of course, we know that the next three will be fulfilled in the autumn time. In between the spring and the autumn, there is the summertime.

And maybe people don't know that. But the best figs you can find and the ripest and the best flavor is in June and July. And then those that are coming later are of the August beginning of September. You can read that in the Old Testament in order for the next three festivals to be fulfilled. First of all, the coming back of Jesus for Israel, then Israel repentance, and then the Millennial Kingdom from Jerusalem. All of these must be taking place when Israel is already back, when the fig tree is back to life, when the figs are already coming out, and that is, of course, the summertime. One of the things, by the way, Jan, that Christians have a hard time with is how come God is bringing Israel and is faithful to Israel when they are still in rebellion? And they don't understand that God promised two phases of redemption for Israel. First, He will physically bring them back to the land. And the Bible says, then He will pour His Spirit upon them. What we are watching right now, we're on that very, very thin line between the physical regathering, which still happens right now.

Can you imagine? We're still talking about Jews returning to Israel, formed the four corners of the world in September. The Jewish people return back home. But yes, they're still blinded. They still don't understand. We know that. How can the Antichrist rise and even allow them to build a temple and walk into that temple and declare himself as God in that temple if the Jews are not back in their land? And of course, only then those that understand, hey, this is not God. Sorry, we know God. This is not God.

For them, Jesus says, run, run, don't even go home to pack, run. If you believe that God is done with Israel, you don't understand the Bible. You don't understand the plan of God. You don't understand the heart of God. You are taking a partial picture of God and you portray Him as someone who is not faithful to His promises. And if God is not faithful to His promises and He's breaking a covenant, then it actually reflects on His covenant with us as believers. I think that Israel, and I've said that many times, Israel is the greatest insurance policy for every Christian to know that God will never, ever forsake us. Folks, if God could abandon that covenant with the Jews, He can do it with us as well.

There are many, many churches that just don't comprehend some of the things that we're talking about. It's very, very tragic. Somebody penned these words.

I do not have it in front of me. How odd of God to choose to choose, but not so odd is those who choose the Jewish God, but spurn the Jews. Amir, your words here on the rebirth of Israel. Apart from Christ, you cannot deny the fact that God is handling them in a very unique way. The fact that after 2000 years being away from their land, they're still back. And they still got back to their language and back to their culture and back to their homeland.

This is unheard of. No nation on the surface of planet Earth has ever survived what Israel did. And it's not because Israel was strong and smart and beautiful and great. It's because God is strong. God is smart. God is beautiful. God is great. And he that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleep. It's God.

And God always from the very beginning wanted the nations of the world to see who he is by ways of how he handles Israel. Talking to Amir Sarfati this hour, it's actually part two of a two-part series. Last week, I had Amir and Pastor Jack Hibbs on the line. And last week we talked about some other things, including the election last weekend. Also the attack on the church. My goodness.

I referenced some churches, particularly in California, but other places as well, being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars just because they want to keep their services going. Amir, I'm just morphing just a little bit here to kind of a different topic. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell.

I have Amir on from Israel. And this is part two. Find part one at my website under radio. I wrote an article, this is two, three years ago.

It's called contentious contending. I can't take time to read it. I can read a couple of paragraphs. And I think just reading a couple of paragraphs, my listening audience, you'll get the drift of the sentiment behind it. And then I'm going to discuss it briefly here with Amir, my guest. Said, I have watched as fellow Christians have torn into one another, slandered Christian brothers and sisters, tried to harm successful ministries and behaved in such a manner that would result in the unbelieving world fleeing from them. I said added to this is a new contention online, particularly on social media. Disagreements over even minor issues often result in name calling and denigrating one another. Whether the venue is YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, many others as well, the contentiousness is out of control.

I'm just reading a few paragraphs because I can't get into the whole article. I say, I have watched mean spiritedness coming from Christian leaders that might make the secular world blush. It is friendly fire that isn't so friendly. And if I publicly chastise them and name their names, they would reply with even more vindictive blogs and radio programs and articles and commentaries and YouTubes. They can dish out the chastisement, but they cannot take an ounce of correction. Yes, there is raging apostasy. The most frequent email to me is, can you recommend a church in you fill in the blank city? Many churches have caved to the most unsound doctrine. True heresy needs to be called out with the naming names and citing the aberrant theology. But some in today's discernment crowd hide in the bushes waiting for a Christian leader to make a single misstep. They are then pounced on, labeled a hopeless heretic and marginalized by others in that community. And if you associate with people they disagree with, feature them or if you quote them or if you publicly show approval of them. Well, you have lost all common sense, discernment, judgment and more. You are an equal heretic and a guilt by association game. Quite frankly, Amir, we are saddened to see the way some are doing what's called discernment. Most of us, you, myself, we are reachable and we're willing to comment on some of the things that we have supposedly said that are supposedly heretical.

I think what I was saying in this article, I only read three paragraphs from a long article because we can't take the time to read it all. But the contending for the faith has become contentious, has become mean-spirited. And the so-called friendly fire that's not so friendly, and you've been a victim of this too. I have been a victim.

I'm being a victim almost every other week. And I can tell you, Jan, one of the things about these people is that they start bashing you publicly. And then when you ask them, wait a minute, why don't you talk to me first?

Why don't you ask me? Most of them will not. They won't even follow a biblical protocol. And those that will, will then do that. But it's only after they already bashed you. And then they will try to scramble and see, okay, but I think you did say this, but I say, no, I didn't. And well, it did sound like you did say this, and then they'll dance around it. For the most part, I see through all of these things a hidden agenda, nothing that is related to the actual accusation, but it's beyond it. First of all, I must say, the Bible says in Galatians 5, 14 and 15, you shall love your neighbors yourself, but you bite and devour one another.

Where lest you be consumed by one another? I think what they do is very destructive. For the most part, many of these people don't even go to church because they hate any authority. They hate any correction. Many times when what we do, our habit is if you have a problem with us, give us your phone number, let's talk, and they will disappear. That's it.

You won't hear from them again. As I said in this article, again, I only read two, three paragraphs here, you and I acknowledge there is raging apostasy today. I mean, that's perhaps second only to the rebirth of Israel.

The Bible talks about end time, false teaching, doctrines of demons, giving heed to unsound doctrine. We get it. It's out there. It's tragic what's going on. The most frequent email to my ministry, to your ministry is where can we find a church?

You fill in the blank city. So we acknowledge you and I and others, Jack would acknowledge the same thing. He was with us last week that this is going on big time in the church.

All we're saying, folks, is could you handle it a little bit better? If you've got an issue with a leader or a teacher, that ministry is usually available somehow. And go to them first.

Go ahead, Amir. Look, we have a website. We have phone number there. We have an email address there.

We always answer phone calls and emails within 24 to 48 hours. Don't tell me you don't know how to reach me. If you know how to bash me, you know how to reach me also.

But you choose to bash rather than reach because it's easier and because you're running away from confronting the truth. I'm not a saint. I can make mistakes. I can say stuff that maybe I was wrong saying it. And by the way, I have no problem correcting myself and apologizing if I made a mistake. But the habit of attacking you publicly and then running and hiding or in other cases, I will see a public accusation online.

But then in unofficial channels, they will ask, can we just be friends? And I'm like, if you don't have a problem with me, can you at least say that also online? You can't accuse me online and then be okay with me not online.

If you think I'm okay, then say that to people the way you said that I'm not. Look, there's a lot of hypocrisy. There's a lot of cases of not following biblical protocol. But eventually it is something that is consuming each other and is such a horrible witness and testimony to the non-believing world. One of the things Jesus said that they will know that we are His disciples by our love to one another. I don't have to agree 100% with everyone on everything, and I don't expect people to agree with me on everything. But where is the love? Where is the brotherly correction?

Why would you run and accuse me on your radio or podcast or whatever without even having the courtesy of picking up the phone or writing an email or doing the necessary things? And that to me exposes so many times, Jan, that there is something much deeper there and between them and the Lord. But it does not stop me.

I don't think it stopped you or stops Jack or others from continuing. Look, these are just what I say, bumps on the road. They are. We keep going, Amir, and you do it well and we try to do it graciously. And yes, you make mistakes. I make mistakes. We're fallen human beings, folks. We do make mistakes. You are listening to Understanding the Times Radio.

I'm Jan Markell. I've had on the line for two weeks. Last week, Pastor Jack Hibbs wasn't able to join us this hour.

And last week, Amir Sarfati and Amir came back this week. There's so much going on. And last week we talked so many election related issues, but I knew I had in my head here. I wanted to hit some apologetics as well. I wanted to address the attack on the rapture of the church. The fact that churches have dropped a lot of things. They've dropped eschatology. They've dropped their support of Israel. Not all churches. My goodness. My ministry wouldn't exist if churches didn't still hang in there with us.

Amir's wouldn't exist. Many wouldn't exist if there weren't some remnant churches out there that still hold to truth. Amir, what parting words or thoughts do you have for pastors who've listened to our programming and they've heard us be critical of some theologies that have sprung up here in these final days? We actually want to go out encouraging them.

How would you do that? None of us exist in order to attack and destroy. If anything, we want to encourage pastors and churchgoers to understand the times and the seasons in which we live and to draw the lines between current events and Bible prophecy and to take the entire word of God seriously, not only part of it. Look, a lot of pastors get it eventually. For example, we had a conference in a first Baptist church in Fort Worth not long ago.

And I realized that the pastor of that specific church, because he's so much into pre-Trib rapture and he's so pro-Israel and he gets it, he had to branch out of the Southern Baptist into forming a conservative Southern Baptist. So eventually people get it. Unfortunately, it's not the majority, but when they get it, they get it. And we're there to help them. We're there to serve them.

We're there to support them. We're not against pastors. We just want them to teach the entire council and not to be drawn to become seeker friendly and accepting social elements that are so non-biblical just to appease people and to become in what they think relevant. I think if anything, people want to hear the truth. This is why I am so in admiration to young leaders that are standing for the truth in America, such as Candace Owens and such as Charlie Kirk and others, because they speak with conviction and they speak the truth and they expose the hypocrisy and the lies and the deception. But at the same time, they understand that it's the Word of God and only the Word of God that can change people. I do want to be about encouraging churches.

I really do. I want to be about encouraging the saints. We referred here to Hebrews 10, 25, that we are to encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. In program number one, Amir, we talked about the assault on the church. We talked about in certain segments of that hour the collapse of society. Here in 2020, the fact that government is trying to become God, certainly in America, but other parts of the Western world as well. And as a result of all that and the COVID crisis, the fact that, my goodness, some people have lost everything.

They've lost their businesses. Some have lost loved ones to this illness that tore into the society here in 2020. But the point of Hebrews 10, 25 is to encourage one another and all the more as you see the day appearing. What day?

The last day. And that's why I want to be about encouraging. I don't want to be about tearing apart and tearing down. I want to be a part of building up and building up the church and building up ministry. I think that the problem is it's not like we tell people not to go to church. It's that not enough churches that are teaching the Word of God. And I think the most amazing thing is that churches invite people like us to speak. You can see that the pastors get it. You see the members of the church get it. We as a ministry, we want to go to as many churches.

By the way, size doesn't matter. The church could be 40, 50. I have a team in the United States and I told them I may not be able to go and fly and especially now when I have to have mandatory quarantine every time I come back from America. But you guys, you go, go.

If we get invitations and we can fit that in the itinerary, why don't we just go? Pastor Mike from our team just went to a wonderful, predominantly black church in Virginia Beach on the East Coast. The black community of that church, they preach to Mike how important it is to vote for Trump. Really?

Really? And how important it is not to fall into this social justice nonsense because they can see, look, when you know the Scriptures, when you know the Word of God, it sets you free. Your eyes open up to also understand deception, to see all the schemes of the devil.

I mean, what is it that we see? We see that in the name of fighting slavery, the Democrats are enslaving the black community. These people see that. They see. And that's why we see a wonderful exit of black people from the Democratic Party. And we see that led by wonderful, courageous people. And all of that is when they understand the schemes of the devil. And by the way, maybe not too many of those churches, but any church that wants us to share the truth will go and do that.

We encourage that. We want it to be in the setting of a church service because eventually, okay, we may have a conference today, but tomorrow these people go to church. We want the church to teach them well, not just once a year in a conference. Folks, get more info at BeholdIsrael.org, BeholdIsrael.org, and sign up for the various things that he produces, particularly his online updates, which are several times a week. You might want to check out the Prophecy Roundtable.

He and Pastor Barry Stagner and myself try to do that twice a month. We carry Amir's two books. They're in my bookstore, OliveTreeViews.org. That would be The Day Approaching, and The Day Approaching has a study guide. So many of you write and want a Bible study, The Day Approaching book, Complimentary Study Guide, we recommend it, or his first book, The Last Hour. And by the way, Amir, thank you for all you do.

Books, online teaching, in-person teaching. Say, folks, due to my recording schedule, I've not been able to announce the passing of Anita Dittman a few weeks ago. I did send out an e-newsletter on her death, and you can sign up for those at my website, OliveTreeViews.org, and be kept apprised of breaking news and information. Many of you have heard Anita on this radio program. She was a Holocaust survivor. I wrote her book published by Tyndale in 1980.

It had a 40-year shelf life, which is very rare in the publishing industry. But I believe God allowed her Holocaust ordeal so she could have a nearly 40-year ministry of telling people her miraculous 12-year survival story during the Holocaust from 1933 to 45. Anita died of natural causes at age 93 here in Minneapolis, where we met many years ago. And I was early in my writing career when my phone rang. It was Pastor Alan Talley of Hope Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis.

And he said to me, Jan, I met someone. She needs a book written about her life and her story of World War II. She survived the Holocaust. He said I noted her accent and asked about her amazing story.

Her name is Anita Dittman. So when I connected with Anita, I had her recount her amazing story. She captivated me. The Holocaust has always been a passion of mine.

My grandparents fled Lithuania many years ago, sort of a fiddler on the roof story when they escaped, and they came straight to Ellis Island, then to northern Minnesota. So to my knowledge, my family escaped this sordid Nazi time in history. Anita and I spent weeks together as she relayed a story of deprivation, marginalization, starvation, separation, loneliness, isolation, fear, and faith. How could this woman even stand up straight?

She had lifted 100 pound items as a teenager. As the Nazis perpetrated forced labor on her and her mother, they had been abandoned by her Aryan father. She has affected millions of people around the world of all ages. Grade school children and teens would sit motionless as she related the story of her ordeal in their classroom. They had no concept of war and concentration camps and deprivation and starvation.

They don't know anything about the meaning of the word separation. She wrote to hundreds of followers to encourage them. She let a stranger call her if they had questions or just wanted to talk about the Holocaust and to a survivor, because along the way she could lift them up even if they were low. Every fall, Anita Dittmann stood behind a book table at my annual conference and signed thousands of books. One year a German lady came up to her and just wept.

I actually saw it. The German lady apologized for the insanity of the Third Reich. She asked, what were they thinking? Anita talked to every person and made them feel special. She was a ballet dancer as a child until Hitler said the Germans no longer wanted to be entertained by her kind.

Well, she's dancing on streets of gold today. And thanks to Anita and her story, millions more have learned that letting government become God, as did the Germans, is not a good idea. So we still carry her book, Trapped in Hitler's Helm, in my online store, OliveTreeViews.org, in my office of call as well. Thanks for being a part of her ministry and this ministry, and we'll talk to you again next week.

You can download or stream at OnePlace.com. You encourage us when you write us through our website, OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org. Call us central time at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. Get our mail when you write to Jan Markell and Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. All gifts are tax-deductible. And we again remind you that though it may seem like things are spinning out of control, everything is falling into place. 🎶🎶🎶