When These Things Begin to Happen, Look Up

Jesus came the first time just as predicted, but He's coming again.

Here are some things to watch for. All of these things are to tell us the clock is ticking, time is moving on, and we're on the verge of the coming of Christ. Therefore, we ought to live our lives to make a difference in the world in which we live now, share the gospel with as many people as possible, that they might come to faith so that they would, as Jesus said, escape all these things that ultimately will come to pass. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell. Radio for the Remnant brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries. Today we play a special message by ministry friend, Dr. Ed Hindson. Dr. Hindson was a part of the recent conference on Globalism sponsored by Michelle Bachman and Regent University.

What are some prominent signs indicating that Christ that turned in the sky, known as the rapture, followed seven years later by the second coming, is on the horizon? Here is today's programming. I'm glad you can join me this special resurrection weekend, and I'm playing a special message given by Dr. Ed Hindson at the recent Globalism Rising event Regent University hosted by my friend Michelle Bachman, a one-day conference. You can access the entire conference at regent.edu forward slash globalism. I'll give that again throughout the program. In this message, Dr. Hindson considers seven events that are a marker of our times, indicating that the hour is so very late, the king is coming and it could be today.

We'll say more about that at the end of this presentation. Here's Dr. Ed Hindson. And now it is my pleasure to introduce to our audience Dr. Ed Hindson. Ed Hindson is a prolific author.

He's a former dean of the Liberty University School of Divinity. And Dr. Hindson will now explain to us what the Bible has to say about the times we live in. I've heard Dr. Hindson speak on this topic before. He's not only an expert, he's an absolute joy to listen to, and I think you will love hearing from him too. Again, I urge you, contact other people that you know right now and tell them to tune in to hear the words of wisdom of Dr. Ed Hindson.

Welcome to Regent University, Dr. Ed Hindson. Thank you, Michelle, and thank you for allowing me to come to you from across the state. We're going to take a look at what the Bible says about the last days and what it says in regard to issues like globalism. You know, we're in a battle for the culture, that's obvious, and you all have done such a wonderful job of dealing with that today. We're in a wave of secularism with the attitude that there really is no God, which leads to relativism. There is no truth, and if that's true, then self-ism takes over. I'm all that matters, and that leads to materialism.

The more stuff I have, the happier I will be, won't I? And that leads, oddly, to mysticism, eventually. If God's not out there, who or what is? And we're living in a time where people are viewing the universe as a vast place of random choice that really obliterates the soul into a sense of meaninglessness, and God becomes nothing more than a moralistic therapeutic deism of these last days. Now, in spite of all of that, the scripture tells us there are some things that we should expect in the last days, and as we look at the day and age in which we live, we see that the stage is certainly being set in that direction. Now, I want to remind us in the beginning that Jesus himself said, nobody knows the day or the hour of my coming.

People will read that text and say, aha, it says the day or the hour, but it doesn't say the year, let's guess the year. But the point of the passage is, nobody knows the time, so don't waste your time trying to guess the time. Be ready all the time, because Jesus could come at any time. That we're to live in anticipation of his coming, so you live with an eye on the sky, he could come at any moment, but you live with your feet on the earth. That you have a job to do to serve the Lord, in the meantime, to make a difference in the world in which we live. And when he talked about signs of the future, he said when these things begin to happen, look up, know that your redemption draws nigh. So I want to suggest to us several things that would indicate final signs of the last days in which we're living. These things in Scripture are clearly indicated to us, and we can take a clear look at them. So if you want to contact me, you can reach me at thekingiscoming.com or over at Liberty.edu. Final signs before the return of Christ that are given in Scripture.

I'm going to suggest seven of them, and they all point toward these issues. Number one, the rebirth of the state of Israel. Why is that so significant? Because Israel did not exist as a nation for over 1900 years. The miracle of the rebirth of Israel is something that God himself brought about.

I have a book at home written by Joseph Seitz in 1856. He was a Lutheran minister who in 1856 said one day the people of Israel will go back to the promised land. I don't know how, but it will happen because the Bible predicts that it will happen.

Whereas the vast majority of theologians were saying that's never going to happen. Israel was destroyed by the Romans twice. Hadrian changed the name of the country to Palestina, which was Latin for Philistines.

I wrote my first book on Philistine archaeology over 40 years ago. That was about the worst name he could have given the country because he was trying to eliminate any memory of Israel as a nation and as a people. And yet the prophet Isaiah, looking down through the corridor of time, said, who has heard such a thing? Shall a nation be born at once?

But as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children. That's in the last chapter of Isaiah 66 verse 8. The prophet Isaiah was living back in the six and seven hundreds BC. 700 years in advance. He foresees the nation being reborn in the land in the future.

And we know that that occurred on May 14, 1948. That suddenly with a declaration of independence, Israel was a nation again in fulfillment of that prophecy. And in spite of all of the challenges and difficulties over these last 70-some years, God has blessed them and today half the Jewish people in all the world now live in Israel.

That ought to get our attention. When there was only a handful of Jewish people there at the beginning of the 20th century, this may have seemed like an impossibility. But today it's more obvious than ever God has re-established his ancient people in their ancient homeland and he's setting the stage for what's coming in the future. That tells me that Israel will remain a major player on the international scene in the days ahead. A second thing that I think is obvious is rumors of war in the Middle East. If the Middle East were quiet and peaceful, we might wonder how would these prophecies of the end times ever really ultimately be fulfilled.

But we all know that that's not the case. Islamic extremism is pushing the limits of instability so often in many of the countries in the Middle East. Now we're very thankful for the Abraham Accords, for the nations at Bahrain and the Emirates in Morocco that have made peace with Israel, the peace that still exists between Israel and Jordan and Egypt, etc. But for the most part, the Iranian hostility has continued to stir this up with Israel in the target zone of the end times.

That if you've been to Israel and spent any amount of time there, you realize that they live out their daily lives realizing that we're living at the end of military hardware pointed at us every single day of our lives. And the tensions that still exist in the Middle East will one day lead to conflict in Israel. The prophet Zechariah put it this way, he said, it shall happen in that day. Now when the prophets use the phrase that day, they mean that future day.

Not this day, their day, 500 BC. He's looking 2,500 years into the future saying in that future day he will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all peoples. Even though all the nations of the earth are gathered against it, they will not be successful. And you have these predictions in the Bible that while God will bring the people of Israel back to the promised land, it will be in a time of tension, a time of threat, and ultimately a time of conflict. Now Jesus himself said there will be wars and rumors of wars, the end is not yet. Just because there's a crisis somewhere in the world or in the Middle East or in Europe doesn't mean this is the end of the world. People ask me all the time, Russia and Ukraine, is this the end of the world?

No, it's not the end of the world. No, it's not the beginning of the tribulation period. The rapture has not yet occurred, etc. What we are told in the Bible is that in the last days the final conflicts will come in the Middle East. The battle of Gog and Magog described in Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39. The battle of Armageddon described in the Bible. In fact, Armageddon only appears one time in the Bible. Revelation 16 verse 16, it's the only place you find that word. The battle itself is described in the 19th chapter of Revelation when Jesus returns, speaks the word, and the battle is over. It's a battle in which there is no battle. He speaks the word, slays the army of the Antichrist, the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, and Satan is bound in the abyss. That has not yet happened.

Neither of these wars have ever taken place. They're part of what the Bible predicts will happen in the last days. Now, in the meantime, I think as believers we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem, work for the peace of Jerusalem, and be thrilled when peace accords are made.

The people that were involved in drafting the Abraham Accords are actually going to be here in Lynchburg, and we will hold a series of meetings celebrating what has been accomplished. But we do that also realizing this is not the end of the story, that the scripture warns us that in the future expect that a time of crisis will develop in the Middle East, and the Western nations will have to get involved in some way to try to resolve this. When you look at the passage in the book of Ezekiel, the implication in that passage is the nations of Tarshish, that's Western Europe, will object to an invasion by nations that appear to be Russia and Iran in the last days, but they will not intervene, that some of the Arab states will object but will not intervene. Israel will be left on her own having to trust the Lord to come to her rescue.

Well, when I read that prophecy in the book of Ezekiel, one thing is very obvious, that particular battle as it's described has never taken place. That is yet to come in the future. If you just join me, I'm playing the message given at the Globalism Rising event at Regent University with Dr. Ed Hindson. Access the entire event at regent.edu slash globalism.

Back to Dr. Ed Hindson. And then the third sign that I think is obvious is the rise of the global economy. And you've talked about that extensively today.

It's a reality. The clothes we're wearing were made all over the planet. You can say to yourself, I'm only going to buy American products, but chances are half of the things in that product were made somewhere else. I grew up in Detroit, the automobile capital of America.

You can buy an American car, but there are parts in it from Germany, Mexico, and other places, etc. But the global economy is a reality because of modern technology, communications, jet travel. It's a shrinking world in which we live. It only takes a matter of hours, and you can circle the entire globe.

My daughter's family was ministering in Romania this past week while they get on a plane in Timișoara in Romania, and within a matter of a few hours, they're in Washington, D.C. The globe is right on our doorstep every single day of our lives. You say, well, why does that matter biblically and prophetically? Because the Bible says this in Revelation, the thirteenth chapter, talking about the false prophet and the anti-Christ. And it says of the false prophet, he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, to receive a mark in their right hand or on their forehead that no one might buy or sell except one who had one of three things, the mark, the name, or the number of the beast, etc. That ultimately the anti-Christ figure, as he's described in the Bible, will gain control of a global economy.

Well, there has to be a global economy in order for that to happen, and the global economy already exists. So these things are like flashing lights. You're driving down the highway here in the state of Virginia, say, between Lynchburg and Virginia Beach, between Liberty and Regent, and there's a construction zone. And the flashing lights are going, warning you, slow down, something's coming up ahead, etc.

God has given us a series of flashing lights. Israel's back in the land in the last days. The Middle East is in turmoil in the last days, and the global economy already exists. Now, the economy is not evil in and of itself.

The problem is that when someone can control the economy electronically, so that nobody can buy or sell anything without this system being in place, that ought to get our attention. Now, the details, it'll be obvious when the time comes. The word mark, for example, in the original Greek New Testament, kragma simply means a mark or a tattoo. It's some kind of insignia, and it involves a name and a number. Well, if you think of it, a credit card has an insignia, a name, and a number.

Is there a way to take that information electronically, put it in your right hand or on your forehead, so it can be read electronically instantaneously? We're already seeing that kind of technology developed today. It already exists. Therefore, the idea is this. Once that can be controlled internationally, you have a global economy that is vulnerable then to global markets and global activities. What happens in China affects what happens in Europe, what affects what happens in America. The globe circulates economically virtually every single day. You watch the stark market go up and down today in light of, right now, what's going on in Europe. Yet at the same time, we sense that there are challenges all over the planet with China, with Russia, challenges with North Korea, challenges with Iran and Islamic extremism, et cetera. While the global system is in place electronically, it is not yet totally unified politically. I believe, biblically, that is yet to come in the future.

But in the meantime, the global economy exists. Now, I've been in the ministry for 50 years. Fifty years ago, that was not so obvious. People wondered how could this ever actually become a reality.

But today, we know exactly how that is. Sign number four, the rush toward global government debt. In order to run the system economically, there has to be some sense of global control. And several of your speakers today have dealt with that very, very effectively, reminding us that the center of control often is in Europe, sometimes in America, sometimes in other places.

But in reality, what's happening with NATO, what's happening with the United Nations, what's happening with the attempt to say all the nations of the world should follow certain policies, whether that has to do with climate control or whether that has to do with military control or economic control or economic boycotts, etc., we're seeing global governance affecting policy that affects the entire planet. Now, it's not yet fully perfected, but the push toward it is certainly there. It's certainly a reality. And unfortunately, it's virtually always been a reality. Now, from ancient times, there's always been this tendency to think if somebody or some system of people could control the world, then we could bring prosperity, stability, and peace.

Instead, it brings instability, chaos, and ultimately war. The Bible says this again about the last days in the book of Revelation. All the world marveled and followed the beast. Now, the beast is a symbol used in Revelation for the Antichrist, who's empowered by the symbol of the dragon, Satan. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

As the author of Revelation, I believe the Apostle John looks down through the corridor of time, down into the distant future. He sees a time of international control by one person who is assisted by a false religious leader. A false religion and a false political leader try to gain control of the world. And eventually, and eventually if you read the book of Revelation in detail, it says the nations of the world gave their authority to the beast willingly. He didn't have to go out and conquer them all militarily. They give their authority to him in an attempt to control the world of the last day, because the global system is being threatened.

And there's an attempt then to bring the whole thing together under one authority. And the authority is given to that Antichrist figure. Now, he's called a lot of things in the Bible. The Antichrist is the abomination.

He's the beast. He's the prince that shall come. The term Antichrist is only used in John's letters, 1 and 2 John. In the book of Revelation, he's never called the Antichrist.

He's always called the beast. And it's simply a symbol of the idea that while he may look like a prosperous leader, he's inspired by Satan himself. And I think the passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 makes it clear that he will not come to power until after the Restrainer is removed. So I'm not looking for the Antichrist. I'm looking for Jesus Christ to come, to call us home to heaven, to be with him before he declares war on the world. But in the meantime, Satan has to sit back and wait for the sovereignty of God. Jesus said, nobody knows the time of my coming, not even the angels of heaven.

If the angels don't know, Satan doesn't know because Satan is a fallen angel. He's intelligent and brilliant. He can read the Bible and read the newspaper and make a guess. But again, been in the ministry for 50 years. I've heard every guess imaginable for the date of the coming of Christ. 1972, 75, 88, 96, 2000, 2011. They're always wrong.

Why? Because Jesus said, nobody knows the time. In fact, he even went so far as to say, nobody knows the time except my Father.

Now, obviously, Jesus knows the time if Jesus is divine, if he's God and has omniscience, but what did he mean? Only the Father can authorize the Son to go back and get the bride and bring the bride home to heaven. The whole promise that Jesus made to the disciples on the night before he went to the cross, I'm about to go back to the Father's house. And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Well, he said that after Judas, the unbeliever, had left the room. The promise of his return was only for the believers. And seven times in that passage in John 14, he uses the pronoun you.

I'm coming for you. I'm taking you home to the Father's house. And there are the palatial rooms of the place of blessing, etc. He's using the analogy of a Jewish wedding in the first century that I think the disciples would have clearly understood. The bride and the groom in those weddings were betrothed to one another in a permanent relationship. Then the groom would leave, go to his father's house, and add a room onto the house for he and the bride to live in.

They were wealthy, maybe several rooms, or maybe even build his own house. The bride would remain at her house. In the meantime, the groom would have to wait for his father to authorize his return by inspecting the room and saying it's ready for the time of return. You can go now and go now and get the bride.

And then he would return by surprise, take the bride home to the Father's house. I think that tells us that we're to live in anticipation of the fact Jesus has gone back to the Father's house. He's been there now for nearly 2,000 years, preparing a place for the bride of Christ, the real believers who will live with Him in eternity forever and ever and ever in the Father's house. In the meantime, we're to watch, we're to wait, and we're to be ready, and we're to keep serving. We're not just sitting here waiting to go. We have a job to do in the meantime to influence the world. Again, this was a recent conference sponsored by Regent University with Michelle Bachman as the planner and host for the event.

I'm hoping to have her in studio with me next week to talk about all that's going on in our world. Back in just a minute, we'll continue with Dr. Ed Hindson. Dr. Ed Hindson, thank you for trusting the messages from Olive Tree Ministries and understanding the Times Radio.

We'll always tell you the truth. We are so pleased to present another Understanding the Times event to equip you to be a watchman on the wall. It is Thursday, April 21st, 7 to 9 p.m. Central Daylight Time here in the Twin Cities area but live streamed to the world. Doors open at 6 p.m. but then join us at 7 p.m. in person or via live stream to hear Pastor Brandon Holthouse, Pastor Mark Henry, and Jan Markell interpret our times. To live stream, log on to markhenryministries.com a little before 7 p.m. Central Daylight Time, Thursday, April 21st at Revive Church. The program will be archived permanently at markhenryministries.com and under video at olivetreeviews.org and will be offered as a DVD shortly after the presentation as well. The church is located at 7849 West Broadway in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. It is formerly Brooklyn Park Evangelical Free Church. There is no cost to attend or to live stream. Again, that is Thursday, April 21st, 7 p.m. Central Daylight Time with special guest Pastor Brandon Holthouse. Become a watchman on the wall in these incredible last days. When you get to the book of Revelation, the wrath of God is being poured out on the world and the church has often been the object of the wrath of Satan and the wrath of man, but the bride is not the object of the wrath of Christ.

Jesus loved the bride, died for the bride, gave himself for the bride, and he took the wrath of the father against our sin. Are you taking advantage of all that Olive Tree Ministries has to offer from live streamed events to daily headlines and articles, an active online store, archived radio programs, and more? Visit our website for all details. OliveTreeViews.org.

That's OliveTreeViews.org. Now here's Dr. Ed Hindson to close today's program. Let's return to Dr. Ed Hindson at the recent Globalism Rising event conference at Regent University hosted by Michelle Bachman.

Here's Dr. Hindson. The tension that we have as believers is prophetically we know how it's all going to end, and so when we see trends moving in that direction like global governance in a global economy, tension in the Middle East, we understand the problems that will come with that and want to do everything we can to hold that back and ought to and hold back the spirit of Antichrist that is at work in every generation. But in the meantime, in the meantime, we also have to recognize ultimately these things will come to pass and the Lord will call us home to be with him.

Until he does, we're to continue to work for the cause of Christ, spread the message of the Gospel worldwide that Jesus died for your sins, he rose from the dead to give you the gift of eternal life, and Jesus alone can give you a home in heaven forever. Now I didn't grow up in a Christian home. There was no God, no Jesus, no Bible, no church in our home.

My parents were not raging atheists, they just didn't know any better. I came to know the Lord through a church that preached the Gospel, that built a new building a few blocks from our house. They sent out a flyer advertising daily vacation Bible school. You send kids there in the summer when regular school was over with. My mother got the flyer and thought, great, I can get him out of the house for five days. Here's the flyer, go down the street, go to that church, don't get hit by a car, you'll be all right.

I was backing on days when kids were tough, parents were tough too. I went there and I heard that Jesus loved me, that he died for my sins, that he rose from the dead, that he was coming again, that I could have that I could have a home in heaven forever, and it was free. I recognized a good deal. When the invitation was given, I raised my hand.

Unfortunately the lady that dealt with me, Mrs. Johnson, was very clear and very thorough. She let me know, kid, we're not talking about Santa Claus here, we're talking about the Son of God who stepped from the glory of heaven to the midnight of earth to pay for your sins. And when he died on the cross, he didn't die as a murderer or a victim, but he died as a substitute. He took your sin upon himself and then took the wrath of God against that sin and put it to death for you. And I'm calling on you to put your eternal faith and trust in what he did for you.

I remember I said yes and meant it with all of my heart. God stepped into my life at that point. Later my parents would come to faith, but none of us had any idea of what was coming in the future, that I'd one day teach over 100,000 students personally, write 50 books, travel all over the world. I have an opportunity to preach in 40 different countries, only God could do something like that.

God is raising up people to make a difference in the world because eventually the beast will do everything he can to pervert that world and Satan will do everything he can to take it away from God, but he will not succeed. Sign number five, the revolt of apostasy. Apostasy is a simple Greek word, apostasia, which means to stand away from something, to make a declaration of truth and then later turn around and say, I really don't believe that. We have a major problem today of people supposedly deconverting all the time. You know, I thought I believed the Bible, but I really don't believe it anymore, or I don't believe the Bible, I don't believe the basic truths of the Bible. I'm going to reinterpret it, reinvent it, reshape it, get it to say what I think I want it to say. And there have always been challenges to the faith, and there's always been tendencies, leakages toward apostasy, so to speak.

But today, I'm out of control more than ever before. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 4, and said, now the spirit expressly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith. Expect this as you get closer to the end times. And then in 2 Thessalonians 2, he said that day and then will not come unless the falling away, the apostasia, the departure from the faith, comes first, and then the man of sin, the lawless one, is revealed.

In other words, the Antichrist will not come to power until after there is a wave of apostasy and unbelief. Now, in the Christian world, there have always been differences of opinion from one denomination to another as to how we understand church governance, or how we understand the process of explaining the gospel ought to be done, or how the process of salvation takes place. But for the most part, until about the middle of the 19th century, most Christians believe the Bible was the word of God, Jesus was the son of God, he died for our sins, he rose from the dead, and he was ultimately coming again, etc. Those were the fundamentals of the faith, the basic truths of the evangelical movement. Evangel is simply the Greek word for gospel. They believed that the message of the gospel was true and needed to be proclaimed. By the end of the 19th century, apostasy was rampant in Europe. European theologians were saying Jesus really is not the son of God.

A teacher, maybe a good teacher, maybe not a good teacher, but a human being. He was not born of a virgin, and the virgin birth is a biological impossibility. He didn't really die for your sins, in the sense of atoning for your sins. He died the death of a martyr, of an example, and that's about all, etc. And they began to water down the basic truths of the Christian faith, and the end result was apostasy, lukewarm unbelief, spreads through the European churches, and they become spiritually dead for the most part, and tragically still are.

Now there are some exceptions. I've preached in Germany and England and France and various places and seen God do some amazing things, but those are minority situations. The vast majority of people in Europe have no confidence at all in the truth of the Bible or the power of the message of the message of the Gospel. The European church for the most part is dead, and the influence of it academically then spreads from Europe to England, from England to America, and by the beginning of the 20th century theological liberalism and apostasy is spreading in the United States. The mainline denominations are walking away from the faith. Now, when the 20th century began, the liberal churches had most of the money, most of the buildings, most of the people, and most of the influence. But throughout the 20th century, within a hundred years, that influence begins to dissipate, because there's no commitment to the Bible, certainly no commitment to evangelism, and the influence of Christianity in American society begins to die. The only exception are fundamental evangelical Christians who say, no, the Bible is the Word of God.

It's the inspired Word. The message of the Gospel is true. Jesus really is the Son of God.

He died for our sins. He rose from the dead, and we need to proclaim this to the world, and because of that they evangelize unbelievers, and the evangelical church grows and grows and grows throughout the 20th century. By the time you get to the end of the 20th century, the evangelicals have all the money, all the churches, and all the buildings, all the television programs, all the radio ministries, and they're influencing the nation. But as you get to the end of the 20th century, the wave of apostasy begins to erode even the conservative churches. And now, 22 years into the 21st century, there is a tendency in many of our evangelical churches to say, well, maybe we shouldn't take these things so seriously.

You know, maybe Jesus isn't really fully divine, but he has divine truths and ideas that can be helpful to us, etc. Maybe we should quit calling people to faith and just call them to a better life of some sort, etc. And all of a sudden, we have people who once would have proclaimed the message of the gospel, walking away from it today. That's the last bastion of conservative Christianity that's left. And as people walk away from that, they walk away from biblical commitments, like their commitment to marriage, and family, and morality, commitment to Israel, having a right to exist in their own land, etc. And all of a sudden, the very groups that once defended these things are starting to water these things down and move away from them.

That's one of those flashing lights that ought to get our attention. The wave of apostasy is already here. If you join me late again, this is Dr. Heinsohn's message at the recent conference sponsored by Regent University. You can access the entire event, well worth your time, regent.edu forward slash globalism.

There were at least a half a dozen speakers and the topic again was rising globalism and authoritarianism, well worth your time at regent.edu slash globalism. Now, in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 6, Paul said, you know what? What is neutral is restraining him, the anti-Christ, that he may be revealed in our own time. And the one who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

So the restrainer is both a what and a he. I think there's only one person in all the universe powerful enough to restrain the anti-Christ from being identified and revealed, and that's the Holy Spirit of God. That the Spirit of God restrains evil through the church, through the message of the gospel, through the message of scripture, and that that restraining ministry is still going on today until the time of the rapture when the restrainer is removed, then and only then will Satan be free to empower someone to be the anti-Christ. So again, Satan has to wait until God makes his move first.

Satan's limited by the sovereignty of God. And again, I'm not looking for the anti-Christ. I've heard every crazy idea who it might be. It's usually some presidential candidate you didn't vote for, and you're convinced he's got to be the anti-Christ.

I word it all. It's John F. Kennedy. It's Gorbachev. He's got a birthmark on his forehead. It's Ronald Wilson Reagan.

There are six letters in each of his three names. It's George Bush, and he doesn't know any better. It's Jimmy Carter. It's Bill Clinton, and Hillary's the false prophet. It's Obama.

It's this person. I don't know anybody, though, who thinks it's Joe Biden. I haven't heard anybody say that because the anti-Christ is powerful, intelligent, and persuasive in every way. But our challenge is not to worry about who might be the anti-Christ, but to look for anti-Christian systems that oppose the truth and push us further down the road of unbelief.

Sign number six, I'd suggest, is the rage of evil in the last days, that evil will get out of control more and more and more. Paul said this to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, but this know also that in the last days, perilous times will come, for men shall be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, blasphemers, unholy, despisers of good, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. There's probably not a verse in all the Bible more descriptive of life in the Western world today than this verse.

Selfism has taken over the lives of most people. That leads to a indulgence in entertainment, that leads to an indulgence in pleasure, in self-seeking, etc., and then leads to open blasphemy. Now 30, 40, 50 years ago, there were plenty of unbelievers. They weren't blaspheming God as openly as they do today on television. One program after another after another, one program after another after another blasphemes the whole idea of the existence of God. You see this in television programs constantly, like the Big Bang Theory, where a group of young college graduates make fun of the idea of the existence of God because they're all committed to science. Now you have young Shelton, who's raised by Bible-believing parents that he makes fun of constantly because he knows that everything they claim to believe is not true. And young people watch these programs and are influenced by that. There's an era of blasphemy running amok in our society.

Really, there's just a couple of examples out of many examples. The rage of evil is out of control, and evil leads to violence then in so many cases, where people's expressions of violence are out of control today as well. And then number seven, the reality of weapons of mass destruction. Now people will say, the Bible doesn't predict nuclear war, right?

It doesn't, technically, because people would never have understood that in the ancient world. But the Book of Revelation does predict things that sure sound like nuclear war. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire were thrown to the earth, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all of the green grass was burned up.

You read that passage of the trumpet judgments in the Book of Revelation, and all of a sudden the vegetation's burning up, the air is polluted, the fresh water's polluted, and the oceans are polluted. It certainly starts sounding like nuclear war. Now, we have dodged the nuclear apocalyptic bullet for the last 70 years, and I pray that we'll keep dodging it. But the very fact that Vladimir Putin threw that on the table recently, that ought to get our attention.

That woke people up. You see, we're sitting on a bomb every day of our lives, but we don't like to think about that. We're trying to just enjoy life and move on, but the truth is there are thousands of nuclear warheads on this planet. You can disarm two or three thousand. That doesn't solve the problem. How many is it going to take to blow up the whole planet one day?

Probably a dozen would get the job done. Now, again, I think we should pray for peace, work for peace, do everything we can to de-escalate these crises, etc. But when I look at the biblical doctrine of human depravity, the sinfulness of the human heart, and the availability of weapons of mass destruction, time tells me it's only a matter of time until some madman somewhere has the bomb and is willing to push the button.

He backs somebody into a corner where he thinks this is my only option, and even though it's going to lead to mutually assured destruction, it could very easily happen. And the Bible, I think, predicts that ultimately it will happen. You and I are living in a moment of tension where we need to get the message of Christ to the world today as fast as we can, because the clock is ticking, time is running out.

Now, I'm not only a minister, I'm a professor, so let me give you the final exam. Ask yourself, is Israel back in the promised land today? I think the obvious answer is yes. Is the Middle East in crisis?

Absolutely. Does the global economy already exist? Yes, it does. Is there a rush toward globalism and global governance? Yes, there is. Does apostasy threaten the church today?

Yes, it does. Is evil out of control worse than ever before? Do weapons of mass destruction already exist?

Unfortunately, they've already been invented. All of these things ought to tell us the clock is ticking, time is moving on, and we're on the verge of the coming of Christ. Therefore, we ought to live our lives to make a difference in the world in which we live now, share the gospel with as many people as possible that they might come to faith so that that they might come to faith so that they would, as Jesus said, escape all these things that ultimately will come to pass. Now, we have just a couple of minutes left, and so if anybody has a question you'd like to raise at this point or comment to make, we'll be open to that, and I'll turn this back over at this point to Michelle or whoever is hosting at this moment to see if there's anything else anybody would like to ask. Dr. Heinsohn, thank you so much. That was a wonderful presentation, a brilliant presentation and a hopeful presentation. We have our studio audience here right now, and I'm wondering, is there anyone who has a question for Dr. Heinsohn? We have a gentleman going to the microphone right now and your name and where you're from. Dr. Heinsohn, thank you for your talk today.

I'm Peter Mitchell from Regent University School of Law. You talked about the church as the bride and going to the father's house, a beautiful image that I was not familiar with. If the bride and the bridegroom resemble each other, what can you talk about the church following Christ in his passion and imitating him in his suffering? Because, you know, the church is called, we know, in the book of Acts when Christ appears to Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he's, of course, persecuting the believers so that the believers share in the Lord's passion. Is that an aspect of theology that you are familiar with, and can you talk about that call of the church to follow the passion of Christ in the end times?

Absolutely. I think that one sense, the passion of Christ to atone for our sin is unique to Jesus. We cannot atone for our sin like he does, but at the same time, we're often called to suffer.

We're called to serve. The difference, however, though, I think, is when you get to the book of Revelation, the wrath of God is being poured out on the world, and the church has often been the object of the wrath of Satan and the wrath of man. But the bride is not the object of the wrath of Christ.

Jesus loved the bride, died for the bride, gave himself for the bride, and he took the wrath of the father against our sin. So that in the one sense, we suffer the wrath of humans and the wrath of satanic opposition, even the wrath of being made fun of on Saturday Night Live, if you will, but we don't suffer the wrath of God. First Thessalonians 5, 9 says we're not appointed under wrath but to obtain salvation. So you have this beautiful balance in Scripture. On the one hand, we're called to serve, and if necessary, to suffer. And Paul was told, you'll suffer many things for the cause of Christ. Peter was told that, and some of the other disciples, etc. That if we're serious about our faith, in many cases, it's going to cost us human suffering.

But the good news is, we're not going to suffer the wrath of God because we are experiencing the grace of God and the love of God. Say as I go out of the program, a quick reminder of our Understanding the Times event this Thursday, April 21st, 7 p.m. Central Time. April 21st, 7 p.m. Central. Pastor Brandon Holthouse, special guest for the evening. Pastor Mark Henry and I will be the hosts at Revived Church, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Revived Church, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Livestream markhenryministries.com, markhenryministries.com.

Archived, you can watch it anytime at your leisure, olivetreeviews.org under video, or anytime at your leisure, markhenryministries.com. It's so very disappointing to hear Christians, the very people who should be watching for Jesus Christ's return, say that He isn't coming back anytime soon. However, it's not surprising. In fact, it's yet another sign that Jesus is right at the door and about to return.

Why do I say that? Because Peter said these exact comments would be common in the last days. Quoting Peter, most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days, scoffers will come mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, what happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?

From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created. 2 Peter 3, verses 3 and 4. Don't be discouraged. Many of the so-called signs of the times are for the tribulation period and for the second coming. But if we are seeing those signs cast a shadow on the church age, and I believe we are, then the rapture of the church is imminent. Indeed, it is perhaps today. Turn your life around today. Ask Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life.

No one is promised a tomorrow. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation. I want to thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you again next week. Get our mail when you write to Olive Tree Ministries in Jan Markell, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

All gifts are tax-deductible. God called you to be a part of this generation to shine a light in the darkness, to give someone a cup of cold water, and to tell them about eternal life available through God's Son, Jesus Christ. So don't grow discouraged. Just know that today's events are allowing everything to fall into place.