Zionism and anti-Semitism, should there be a middle ground? What are they, and where should the believer stand? We will discuss it. Flavor of the month there is someone called Zoran Mandani.
Now this is somebody that, in my opinion, is a very dangerous candidate for mayor. I think he is pushing an ideology that is cancerous, an ideology that could spread across this country and change what defines America. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Pastor Josh Schwartz and Ken Michael. Radio for the Remnant. Brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries.
In our program, Pastor Josh and Ken talk to Brent Meader, pastor at AFee Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. We are witnessing a rise of anti-Semitism worldwide, and Zionism is often given a bad name. Is this deception or a new level of enlightenment? What does the Bible teach? Here is today's programming.
Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mandani once rapped about his love for Hamas terror funding group.
Now, this is somebody that, in my opinion, is a very dangerous candidate for mayor. I think he is pushing an ideology. That is cancerous. An ideology that could spread across this country and change what defines America. Jacob Fry is challenging the Minneapolis DFL endorsement of his rival, State Senator Omar Fateh.
You want to know who the real threat is, Madam President? I'll give you a hint, it doesn't th they don't look like our cheap author. They don't look like the folks up in the gallery. They don't look like the folks out on the rotunda. They look like many of the members that sit in the front.
And you don't have to take my word for it. According to DHS, Madam President. The greatest domestic threat facing the United States comes from, quote, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race. You heard that he's backing those that are financing a known terrorist group and that he's lying on applications and he's pushing socialism. Let's talk about his views on Jews and terrorists.
He refused to condemn the position to globalize Intifada. Welcome to Understanding the Times. I'm Ken Michael, along with Pastor Josh Schwartz, and we are so pleased to welcome back our guest this week. He's the senior pastor at Athey Creek Church in Lynn Hills, Oregon. We'd like to welcome back Pastor Brett Medor.
Pastor Brett, we are so glad you joined us this week. I'm always happy to see you guys. And man, I'm always so blessed by the work you're doing. Keep up the great work. It's been just encouraging to have a voice.
Uh, willing to talk about some of the things that uh a lot of people are afraid to talk about, or or even ignorant of.
So, you guys. You guys always are a blessing. Praise God. Oh, you as well.
Well, say, before we dive into our topics this week, you are coming off a huge event here, a big crusade that you just put together. Can you just briefly tell our audience about it? Yeah, you know, just the Lord put on our heart about a year and a half ago to do kind of an old school Billy Graham crusade, you know, preach the gospel. And Portland needs that, you know, and we've been working on this and we knew the Lord was stirring, but man, it just turned out. 10 times better than we ever imagined.
And, you know, we had 3,900 volunteers and 35,000 people showed up over last weekend, just two days, 35,000 in the Moda Center where the Trailblazers play. But the best part was 3,200 people accepted Christ and we connected them with local churches here. That was part of the blessing too is Athe, we're kind of particular about which churches we link up with and we found some solid Bible teaching, good churches, and we've connected all those people. And we're already seeing the ripple effect. It's just outstanding what happened.
The Fox News just did a thing on it. It's just kind of become bigger than what we imagined, you know. Praise God. That's amazing. And thank you for being moved by the Spirit and then actually doing something about it.
It is so amazing to see what God does when we just simply walk by faith and say, all right, Lord, you're in charge of this. And it's amazing. 3,200 people saved. Praise God for that. That's fabulous.
Yes. It was amazing. Yeah.
So, Pastor Brett, we're seeing this rise of anti-Semitism spreading all across the globe. I've been teaching on it. We're going to Europe next month. We've been there the last couple of years. Pastor Josh and I witnessed it firsthand when we were there last year.
And they told us after 9-11, this is what they were going to do. They're going to go city by city and start spreading. And we're not talking about good standing Muslims. We're talking about those that aspire to the Islamist movement and Sharia law. Are you seeing that out where you're at?
And what should Christians be doing to combat this? Boy, that's a big topic. And, you know, yeah, out in the Pacific Northwest, I don't know if you guys have followed, but some of the sleeper cells, we have more sleeper cells in Oregon than any other state when it comes to radical Islamic jihadists. But even watching what's going down in Texas, you think Texas would be the kind of the last place something like that would be happening, but. It's happening there as well.
And so you have to kind of. Step back and realize, I think the main thing is there's 2 billion Muslims in the world. And a lot of people think, well, they're peace-loving Muslims, you know, but if you go conservatively, they say 16% of the 2 billion are radical Islamic jihadists, you know, and that's about as many people as there are in the United States of America.
So it's not just like a lot of the college professors and even local high school teachers we've had here teach that, oh, there's just a tiny fraction of people that are radical Islamists, you know, but we're seeing that Sharia law is something when you, when they start talking about Sharia law, we know they're not. Necessarily, you're just your peace-loving Muslims. It's so, it's amazing that our culture will embrace such an anti-women, anti-freedoms, anti-everything America stands for. And yet, it seems like people are really open to receiving and embracing that.
So, I think the answer since you asked that question, I know what it is for me, and that is. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. Islam is just pure darkness. And Jesus is where you go. When you want to go out of the darkness, you can, like Peter said, into his marvelous light.
And I think, as Christians, we need to just be sharing the gospel. And then, you know, there's some other residual things we can do too. I think voting is something that's really important because our officials, you know, elected officials are going to be the people that are going to either tolerate all this or they're going to make a difference and step in. And so I think we have to have Christians, you know, being salt and light and actually doing something that actually will help protect the freedoms of the United States. Yeah, Josh, absolutely right.
And we're seeing this right here in Minneapolis, where they have the call to prayer five times a day. And you look at the Palestinian situation. Reports show that about 88% of them agree with Hamas.
So that's a huge problem. It is an absolute huge problem. And it's almost as though they are trying to systematically take over very important districts politically in the United States of America. America, we've got Mom Dani running for mayor in New York. We also have a gentleman, a Somali gentleman, running for mayor here in Minneapolis.
And it's really stirring things up. Pastor Brett, why do you think that they would do this very systematic approach when coming to the American government and trying to get in the right offices in the right cities?
Well, that's a good question. One of the things we've observed, if you're old enough, you realize the Muslims are extremely patient. And they play the long game probably as good as anybody. They'll work on things for hundreds of years. And if you know history, that's the way it rolls.
The United States, we're behind Europe. But if you go to England today, Great Britain, most of their mayors are Muslim. A lot of their politicians are Muslim. The prime minister, it's amazing how that's going to start. Happening, I think, here.
And Mamdani might just be kind of the tip of the iceberg as it comes to the United States. I think we might see more and more of that. Yeah, I mean, they're talking about if he gets elected, Jews are going to literally have to flee the city. And I agree with that. I mean, I don't see any other way out of this.
Sure.
So. As we look at this, and I remember when I was in law enforcement, we were confronted with this because I was right outside of Minneapolis. And we heard from them that they were coming and they were there and they were going to implement Sharia law. And in many parts of the city where we live right now, they don't contact the police, they don't call the police, they take care of business themselves. Are you seeing that out there in Oregon?
I don't know as much about that. I think. Probably in Oregon, we're seeing lawlessness in general, which, as you guys know, is part of the end time scenario. But our church, we support our law enforcement as much as we can because. They're up against so much here.
It's just crime in general.
So I'm not sure I've seen where we have communities of Muslims like you guys over in that neck of the woods, but we are seeing more and more mosques and more. We're seeing that starting to populate more here on the West Coast, but not really stepping in law enforcement. I think our biggest battles right now is just law and order in general, especially here in the Portland area. Sure.
So there's been a cry all across America and even the world, especially post October 7th, 2023, that is really quite anti-Zionist. You had a great prophecy update just this past week with Steve the Tour Guide. And I want you to listen to a clip, and then I think we should transition and really define what is Zionism and how should Christians view themselves. You can't Judaize the Bible. It is Jewish.
It's ridiculous when people claim we're trying to Judaize the Bible. It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up for the tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserved of Israel. That is what the crux of the Messiah is. The Messiah is the Savior of the Jews.
Okay, but here Isaiah, for the first time, is intimating about the global reach. Why should you even be a Zionist?
Now, the word Zionist is used as a, you know, a byword and a curse word. Guess why? Because Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the original Zionist. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio, the radio program founded by Jan Markel. And today we have with us Pastor Brett Medor.
Now, Brett, in that clip, Steve the Tour guide says very clearly that God was the original Zionist. What are your thoughts there? And then how should a Christian respond to that?
Well, that's a great question. You know, there's several verses in the Psalms that. Where God really declares what Steve was just saying there. In Psalm 132, verses 13 and 14, it says, for the Lord has chosen Zion and he's desired it for his dwelling place. That is my resting place forever.
And he says, here will I dwell. And then in Psalm 102, 16, he says, for the Lord builds up Zion. Psalm 87, 1 through 3, it's on the Holy Mount. That's the temple mount, the most controversial. property in the world perhaps.
It says on the holy mount stands the city he founded. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. You know, it's interesting that God is a Zionist according to, by definition, you know, and Zionism, you know, it's interesting because Zionism, Steve mentioned it was a by, it's like a byword now, and people think Zionism is this evil thing. I sort of understand where that came from because Zionism in its cradle was more of a political movement. Theodor Herzl and the Jews, I believe it was God stirring Jews in their unbelief, which is an important part of this equation, to gather them into the Holy Land.
But it was largely, Zionism was a political movement at its inception, but to Today, it's become more of an ideology, and there's people that think it's a horrible ideology of colonialism, and that's why it's become such a bad thing. But when you realize, As a Bible reader, God said, This is what's going to happen. And this is, I'm, you know, I'm into Zion and I'm I've given this land for my people. And so, when it comes to people, should I be a Zionist? Am I pro-Zionism?
Well, if you're pro-Bible and if you're pro-God of the Bible, we have to just acquiesce and say, Amen, the Lord gave the land as an everlasting covenant to the Jews.
So Zionism is linked to the Abrahamic covenant where God said, I will give to thee and your seed after the land where you're a stranger, the land of Canaan. And he says it's an everlasting possession.
So, you know, this replacement theology in the church has really opened the door with even Christians to say, yeah, who cares about the Jews? And they don't have the right to the land. And we, as Bible-teaching Christians, need to be champions of saying, Here's what the word of God. God says. And part of this, you know, is we're getting a lot of pushback from a lot of Catholics.
There's some outspoken Catholics nowadays that are really going on hot and heavy about the evils of Israel. And you've got Candace Owen calling Israel the nation demonic. And a lot of conservative people who are Bible believers follow Candace. And it's really unfortunate that people aren't really looking to the scriptures.
So Christian, you know, being a Christian, I think if you're a Bible reader, you have to land on the idea of pro-Zionism. Amen. It's pretty amazing that Satan himself is the deceiver and he uses great delusion to lead people astray. And I really believe that this anti-Zionist movement, this anti-Semitic movement is really just Satan behind the scenes, pulling the strings and deceiving and deluding many, many people, even Bible-loving followers of Jesus. It reminds me of, you know, like the even the very elect could be deceived in the last days.
And I think we're seeing a lot of deception, especially as it relates to Israel. And isn't it interesting in Romans 11? The one, you know, the Bible only tells us a few times not to be ignorant of certain things. You know, we're not supposed to be ignorant of the spiritual moving of the Holy Spirit. And yet the church, sometimes that's where they're ignorant.
But one of the big ones, not to be ignorant concerning God's plan for the Jews. And Zionism is part of that plan. And yet the ignorance is profound right now. It is. Yeah, Pastor Brett, I completely agree with you.
And I think this is, I mean, after October 7th, we saw this spiritual attack on the world. It just spread worldwide instantly. Do you speak much about how? How demonic this is. I mean, this is a spiritual attack on the world and especially on the church because we're seeing, like you said, Christians buying into this.
Yeah, you know, I think that one of the big mistakes we all make is we think it's strictly political, you know, this Arab-Israeli conflict, or we maybe even think it's geographical and it's about borders and lines and wars and stuff like that. And we go back in history and we see that with all the British mandate and all the history there. But ultimately, when you step back, you realize it is a spiritual battle. And that's the only thing that makes sense. When you're looking at this conflict, how can the world, after seeing October 7th, you'd almost, a logical person would think, well, everybody's gonna.
side with Israel. That's the most horrific thing that we've seen in a lot of our lifetimes. And yet, the world, it's opened up to this whole, suddenly the Jews are genocidal and God's people, you know, they're not really God's people, and that this big discussion that who are the real Jews and stuff like that. He just really sensed that it's really straight from Satan himself. Yeah, it truly is.
And what's fascinating to me is as we've discussed all these things, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, just this whole movement away from what God clearly mandates in the scriptures of supporting, praying for, and loving the people of Israel, even in this time, this church age, the age of the Gentiles, you stand firm. for Israel and with Israel, and so also do we and ministries like ours. And I think the question we often get is, why do you do that? Why do you do that? And I think you guys hit that very clearly in your last prophecy update again in talking about the importance of a literal grammatical historical hermeneutic.
So let's. Listen to this clip and then we'll have a discussion on why dispensationalism is so important. Biblical literalism is under attack, okay? And it's being cursed under the name dispensationalism. A dispensational sort of view has primary distinctives, and I want you to know there's really just a few.
You know, it's a way of ordering things, sort of an administration, a system of management.
Now, who's managing and who's ordinating? Or God. God is orchestrating what's going on in the world. Dispensationalism is a consistently literal interpretation of scripture, especially when it comes to Bible prophecy. People that are not dispensationalist, they tend to take more of a figurative interpretation of the Bible and leave out Bible prophecy or think that Bible prophecy has already happened and there's nothing to see here.
You're under attack because you're being taught to take the Bible literally. And biblical literalism is attacked as dispensationalism because the honest to truth. Is if you read the Bible from Genesis to the end of the book of Revelation, I'll argue that the default setting of the Bible, you will automatically settle on what's being cursed is dispensationalism. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Pastor Josh Schwartz, along with my co-host, Ken Michael.
There is so much on our website, olivetreeviews.org. That's olivetreeviews.org, that you can catch up with us with. We've got a pastor's huddle coming up. Ken is traveling to Europe coming up. And then we've got all kinds of new products in our bookstore.
So if you check us out at olivetreeviews.org, you can find all of those things. Ken?
So, Pastor Brett. We heard a brief description, but give us a description of what is a dispensational hermeneutic.
Well, you know, the hermeneutic is kind of the way we rightly divide the word, you know, of truth and how we teach the Bible. And I, you know, as I read the Bible, I like what, you know, Steve said there, you know, that if you just naturally read the Bible, you are forced really. One thing I've noticed, and I'm going to tout, through the Bible teaching, I'm a big fan of that. And one of the things you'll notice, all the through the Bible teachers are dispensationalists. It's easy to not be a dispensationalist if you kind of pick and choose topics here and there and don't really cover the full scripture.
But there's a real natural flow. When you read the Bible, you get a sense where to take the Bible literally. You know, for example, every prophecy about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament was fulfilled literally. Jesus' birth, his ministry, his death, his resurrection all occurred exactly as the Old Testament predicted. And the prophecies were literal, where he'd be born in Bethlehem, you know, that he'd ride.
On a colt of a donkey. These were all pre-literal prophecies. And yet, isn't it interesting that people try to figuratively look at all the prophecies of his second coming? Why would we look at Jesus' second coming figuratively?
So, you're preterists and amillennialists, they just make everything figurative, but that's why you don't see those guys teaching verse by verse. It's hard to teach through the Bible cover to cover and try to argue the figurative view.
So, I think that's the biggest thing about dispensationalism. You know, it's funny how it's been demonized by influencers and podcasters and news people, even musicians. I think it was Big and Rich, you know, that guy was his name, John Rich, you know, dispensationalism and the Schofield Bible, and they're demonizing all this stuff that they don't even know what they're talking about. But as it turns out, dispensationalism is, you know, the Bible talks about how, you know, there's a dispensation of time for everything. Ephesians 1, 9 through 10, you know, the Lord said he's going to make known the mystery.
Of his will according to his good pleasure, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he'll gather together in one all things. From the book of Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation and the Millennial Kingdom, the new heaven and the new earth, those are all dispensations that God has ordained. It's not that we're making up times, it's all very clear in the Bible. And, you know, it's really not this mysterious doctrine of dispensational and the way they present it, but it's actually just a simple reading of the scripture and the order of events that God has ordained.
Well, with the few minutes we have left here, you know, that's a great point. I can't understand it. It frustrates us why they take the Bible and look at it through an allegoric lens and say, well, yeah, that was fulfilled literally in the beginning, but that's not going to happen at the end.
So with the couple minutes we have left, Pastor Brett, just explain to our audience, why does the rapture and the millennium matter?
Well, you know, some people take a passive view on eschatology. You know, you've heard the people, I'm just a pan-theology, you know, just going to pan out, whatever. But the Bible handles the rapture in a way that it actually serves a purpose before it even happens. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where we read about the rapture, which, you know, there's all those, there's no rapture in the Bible.
Well, the word is rapture in the Latin Vulgate, and it's harpazzo in the Greek. It's to be caught up and meet the Lord in the air. But one of the things that in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, it says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. And it's funny because the people that don't believe the rapture, they always call it the secret rapture, which is, you know, somebody's anti-rapture when they call it secret rapture because it's not going to be a secret. We're talking about it right now.
It's such a ridiculous argument, kind of a straw man argument. But with the rapture, it says, Wherefore comfort one another with these words. And then the people that don't believe in the rapture, they say, Well, you're just trying to escape. And I always say, That's right. I would like to escape.
And Jesus even said, pray that in Luke, he said, pray that you be counted worthy to escape all these things.
Now, one thing that I would say about that, though, is we may not escape persecution. None of us that believe in the pre-trib rapture are saying that we're going to be perfectly insulated from trouble. I mean, just ask the victims of the Holocaust or Christians that have been persecuted through the centuries. We could end up just like them. It's just the worst time that will ever happen in history is going to be the tribulation period.
And the Bible says the rapture, and it makes sense, the Lord doesn't put his people in the time of the wrath of the Lamb because we are his children. We're the bride of Christ, and we're taken out before that wrath.
So that's where the comfort comes from. And he reiterates that several times, even in 1 Thessalonians 5, comfort one another.
So when I talk about the rapture, I just love talking about it because it just means that that's when the Lord's going to take his church up to. Be with him. The millennial kingdom, again, as a literalist, I believe it's a literal thousand years, and it's going to be a, and the Bible tells us a lot about it.
Some people believe we're living in the kingdom right now. That would be really depressing because it would prove the Bible wrong. The Bible says during the millennial kingdom, Daniel chapter 9 says there's going to be an end of sin, and there's going to be the Lord ruling and reigning on this earth, and it's going to be glorious.
So Those, the rapture of the millennium, those are things we should be talking about, excited about. And it changes the way you live because you live with the imminent rapture of the church and the return of Christ eventually, too. Yeah, Josh, it really does. And you just look, there's so many verses, Revelation 3. He promises to keep us from the wrath to come.
I mean, it's laid out right there. Yeah, it is, and it's so clear. And Pastor Brett, I just love how you explained the rapture of the millennium and how it is hope for us even in the here and now, because it hasn't happened yet, obviously, but we get to look forward to it. Paul calls it our blessed hope in Titus. And then he also tells us in Colossians chapter 3 that we are to be heavenly minded.
We are to look for these things, long for these things, so that we can be of earthly good. This capital belongs to all Americans. And starting now. We're taking it back. And that's the angle.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was given the tall order of handling this, and he's here with me exclusively. Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us tonight.
So the President called this a public safety emergency, and you said we're going to start seeing the National Guard this week. Tell us more. This week and in the coming weeks, and we're going to work right alongside our law enforcement partners as force multipliers. This is what the American people voted for, Laura. This is what the common sense is Clarity, strength.
I hadn't heard that story from President Trump before, the story he told about his father, that he told him, Hey, son, if you look at the front door of a restaurant and it's dirty, then I bet the kitchen, you can count on the fact that the kitchen is too. I sat there thinking, That's exactly right. If our capital city is a mess, if we can't control our capital city, then what does the rest of the country look like? And what signals does the rest of the country take from that?
So, just like we did in Los Angeles, alongside our federal law, we took a lot of criticism for 4,000 troops, 700 Marines. You know what we didn't get? There was no summer of love in 2020. In 2025, there was a summer of law enforcement. And we quelled the protests of the attacks on ICE officers.
We're going to help get DC under control by working with local officials who have been federalized, with federal officials who are coming in. The DC Guard's proud to be a part of it. Other states will contribute this week going into the weeks to come. Whatever's needed, the DOD will provide to make sure this is a safe city for those who live here, for those that work here, and the Americans who want to come visit here and love our capital city. Welcome back to Understanding the Times.
I'm Ken Michael, along with Pastor Josh Schwartz. This is the extended version that is on YouTube, Rumble, and our social media sites. We are so pleased to have back with us Pastor Brett Medor of Athey Creek, right outside of Portland, Oregon.
So, Pastor Brett, what do you think of that clip? I mean, you're experiencing it there in Portland. We're certainly experiencing it here in Minneapolis and the surrounding areas. What do you think of the federal government moving in and kind of taking charge of the situation there? I feel a little split on that one.
I feel really good because, you know, lawlessness is abounding, just like the Bible said in the last days. And, you know, I really would applaud, you know, our president for trying to clean up our Washington, D.C. You know, I was just there a few months ago, and it's sad to see our capital city in the condition that it is. But from what I understand, he's doing exactly what's within the You know, the rules of law, and he's taking control of that.
So I love that. I feel like, you know, remember, you know, 2 Thessalonians, it talks about how the church in the King James, it says, will let or hold back. I feel like some of the things that You know, we're seeing in our current administration are trying to pull back some of the evil that's going on in the world. And I see that with this attempt to clamp down on crime and what have you. I'll tell you what my concern is: is you know.
As long as the president and the government is acting in good faith and with moral uh your clarity I think that's great. The thing that I would be concerned about is you can see in the last days where People are going to force Christians or the mark of the beast. There's going to be kind of this. Orwellian, you know, takeover and arresting people for things that. It could be even going to church.
So I love that we're taking control as long as it's within the boundaries of the law. But I also see if you switch presidents and you have a different ideology behind that kind of government power, which I think we're in the law. If Trump went to Portland and did this, I don't think he has the power to federally take over the city of Portland necessarily. But at the same time, do you guys agree with me that that's something that you can almost see if you get the wrong leader in there, there could be an abuse of that? Yeah, that's kind of the plus and minus.
That's totally my concern because I'll tell you a story. When I was in law enforcement, I remember, and I've told this story before, I remember President Obama coming out and saying, we need a police force. to police the police. And I'm thinking to myself, what in the world is he talking about? That's what they did in the 30s in Germany.
And then uprose the Gestapo.
So I couldn't agree more. My main concern is if they abuse this, the other side gets in there and saying, you know what? We're just going to federalize everything. We're going to move in. We're going to tell you exactly what you need to do.
And we're going to start mandating things. And you will have to do this.
So I could see, it's like the Patriot Act. Remember? We were going to fight terrorism oversea.
Well, we saw what happened here recently, where now they've used the federal government. Against their own people. It's a surveillance, surveillance state. And I think you're right there, Pastor Brett. We have to see this as a double-edged sword.
This is a great thing because God is a God of law and order, not lawlessness and chaos. I mean, Romans chapter 13 lays out clearly how, as followers of Jesus, we should be respecting authorities and how we should live in a way that is as probably the best citizens on the planet of whatever country we live in. But at the same time, we see in Revelation chapter 13 this beast system and ultimate control, not only economically, but just physically and then religiously. And so this is a tricky one to deal with. But, you know, as Hegseth talked about there with the illustration about the restaurant, it's pretty amazing to think that if the front door is dirty, the kitchen's going to be bad too.
And as our capital city of the greatest country on earth, it should be a city that normal citizens are safe in going to and visiting. When I was there just earlier last year, it was probably one of the number one darkest cities I've ever been to, but also it was dirty and it was actually quite fearful to be there.
So I understand the need to clean this up, but it is a very, it's a hard line to toe when it comes to authority and control, but also not authoritarianism. 100%. You know, do you remember de Tocqueville, you know, several generations ago, came to America and he said, where's the greatness lie in America? And he said, it's in its churches and in the pulpits. But then he said, America will be great.
As long as America is good. But as soon as America stops being good, America will cease. To be great. And that's the dichotomy that we're kind of seeing here: as long as we're doing good, good things, and really the only way to do good is to follow what the Bible says. The Bible is the anchor of morality.
But as soon as we start enforcing our own, you know, crazy progressive, liberal, anti-Bible laws, I think that's where this, you know, our constitution even starts to break down is if we let relativism rule rather than having biblical morality. Yeah.
Now, Pastor Brett, you live in a city that was and continues to be full of broken people and lawlessness at times and in places.
So With all that we've discussed in this segment, How should a Christian respond? What would be your advice to a follower of Jesus in D.C. or in any other city that this might be coming to?
Well, I know people will think this is sort of, well, of course he's going to say that, but I'm just a big believer to be anxious for nothing, you know, everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. You know, let your request be made known to God. And then the peace of God, which passes understanding, will keep your hearts and minds.
So I think it is troubling to watch the crime in our country and the way things go, but that's the first thing to keep our anxiety about it under control is through prayer. And then again, I believe that we need to be active in the sense of, you know, we live in a democracy. We have the privilege of selecting our leaders. And I'm saddened, you know, as I look at the numbers, people could have voted in previous elections and Christians largely stayed home. And so we're getting what we deserve in a lot of ways as leaders in this country.
So I'm just hoping and praying that Christians will take advantage of that. Vote that we have, and also to realize that when you elect someone, no matter who it is, they're going to be a sinner. That's that's given. Yes, uh, in some ways, God, uh, let me let me put it this way: God elected um certain leaders in history, like Samson. But Samson was in some ways a total loser.
He went and saw prostitutes down in Philistine country, he was self-centered, narcissistic. God raised him up. God raised up David to be king over Israel, and God voted for David, if you would. It was God's man, but he was an adulterer and a you know, a murderer. But but God still.
So, but I think Christians have just checked their voting card in and said, Well, we can't vote for anybody who's a sinner. I think that's hurt our nation, especially in this topic. We have the blessing of voting and helping shape where this country goes. Yeah, we couldn't agree more. We're voting for president, not top theologian.
And I think it's also important to realize that in the early church, when Paul was writing, when Jesus was living and the apostles were living, there were some very oppressive governing authorities called the Romans. And yet, we don't see them afraid. We see them living boldly in faith. Why? Because Jesus changed their lives and they were going to proclaim Him.
And so, thank you for explaining that not having fear or anxiety, but being in prayer and just looking to Jesus. It's that's the right way to approach all these things. Amen. Well, Pastor Brett, as we transition to our next topic. There are many good things going on in the country.
We see that. There are some major changes. But we also see evil pressing forward 24-7. And this next clip I want you to listen to has reached a new level of evil.
So listen to this, and we'll get your take on it. You are about to not believe what I'm about to say. What I'm about to announce is so out of line, it is so bizarre. It is so grievous that only our elected officials in Sacramento could think this stuff up. Assembly Bill four nine five.
Is a bill that has been put out there to accomplish this. That Anyone to the fifth generation out or to the fifth of your family. Think of a divorced individual, somebody who's at odds with your family, any way that they're related in any way. They could take this form and fill out a form. They can obtain it online, they can copy it, they can make it available, get it to them.
It's something that is easily obtained if this passes. And they will be able to sign this form. They sign the form announcing that the parent of this child, whose name is here, Uh it's free to go with me. They take responsibility of your child. Listen, wait for it.
And the parent does not have to be contacted. Pastor Brett, we talked about this a little earlier. I don't know how much more evil this can get. We're watching children being taught that it's okay to be a different sex. We're helping them do that.
School officials, our government is helping them change their sex, giving them poisonous hormones. sexually mutilating them w through surgery. I mean, now they can literally take them from the where they're going to school. Uh what what are your thoughts on this? Oh boy.
And the thing that I'm overwhelmed is how could this even Make it into a bill that people are going to vote on. It's so dark and demonic. But, you know, we've seen this creep. It's been creeping in. You know, I remember what was Hillary, I think, the saying it takes a village to raise children.
And that sounded so warm and fuzzy, but I think that was actually a very dark, it takes a family. It takes a mom and a dad. Remember Black Lives Matter at its peak back in 2020? One of their mantras on their charter, on their website, was, we want to disrupt the nuclear family. The war against families and parents, parents that went to school board meetings, they were called terrorists.
They were on watch lists because they wanted to express their opinion. I think we've seen a war on the family, war on parents, and really war on children. And it really does, it smells like sulfur. It smells like it's right out of the pit of hell, if you ask me. But this legislation, you know, they always kind of try to mask it and using language.
That's very, you know, sort of loose. But what this does, it just leaves it wide open. It lacks any meaningful safeguards to protect children, regardless of their immigration status. And it really opens the doors for exploitation or predators. That's why they're calling, some people are calling this the human trafficking bill or the sexual predator bill, because it just so egregiously does not protect our children.
Yeah, and we know what starts in California. If this passes, just like if Mondani gets elected in New York, it's going to spread across the country, Josh. Yeah.
And praise God for Pastor Jack and other pastors in California that are willing to actually stand up and say something. And for those of us, or those of our listeners that are in California, Pastor Jack has a lot of information on his website, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, as what they're going to do. August 18th, that is the Monday following the time that this program comes out, is a very important day where many people are going to go to Sacramento and stand against this. And praise God, at this point, this has not been voted on. This has not been signed into law, but I mean, it's very potentially just steps away.
And if this is just the beginning, what's coming next? I mean, could this be coming to cities all around you, or states all around the United States? And it's just a very dark day in which we live when the The government thinks that they should have control over the children. No, the parents, the family should have, and Pastor Brett, you're absolutely right. It's this whole destruction of the nuclear family.
And that, again, this has the fingerprints of Satan all over it. Yeah, and when you have 100%. Yeah, when you have the former president of the United States, President Biden. Said it right out loud. The children aren't yours.
They're all our children. And they proved it.
So, well, Pastor Brett, we want to thank you for your time today. How can people get in touch with you? Do uh You can go to athecreek.com, A-T-H-E-Y Creek.com. And our website's there. Also, Instagram, Pastor Brett Meader on Instagram.
I'd love to have you link up with me there because we give little prophecy update notes. I do some truck talks in my truck when there's pertinent news popping out. And it's kind of fun just to talk about what's going on. But again, thank you for having me on. I sure appreciate what you guys are doing.
Oh, it's our pleasure. We appreciate what you're doing. Make sure you check out Pastor Brett's prophecy update. It's fabulous. We look forward to continuing this conversation.
Pastor Brett, thank you for all you're doing and God bless you. Thank you. God bless you. Contact us through our website, olivetreeviews.org. That's olivetreeviews.org.
Call us Central Time at 763-500. 559-445. Mm-hmm. That's 763-559-4444. We get our mail when you write to Olipri Ministries and Jan Markell, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.
That's box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. All gifts are tax deductible. Please visit our web store with many new and featured items at olivetreeviews.org. We are living in a time of great convergence and satanic delusion. Do not be discouraged.
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