Political assassinations. Darkness in Europe. Lawlessness abounding. and the desire to divide the land of Israel. Are we in the last moments of the last days?
We will talk about it. The evildoers? Responsible for my husband's assassination. Have no idea. But they have done.
They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism. Feith. and of God's merciful love. But they should all know this. If you thought that my husband's mission was powerful before.
You have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country. In this world, you have no idea. 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 Jan Markell, the founder of Olive Tree Ministries. The world is chaotic. but what did you expect the last days to look like?
Now let me go fast forward to just this Wednesday. This Wednesday obviously was the assassination. of Charlie Kirk, who is a prominent public Christian. And I'm going to talk about this here in a second. Just stay with me.
Two days before the assassination of Charlie Kirk, this was posted on X. This account is called Jezebel. It's like a huge account. It's had like 900,000 followers.
Now, let me just point this out. First of all, Jezebel is mentioned in the Bible twice. That's a biblical name. It's mentioned in 2 Kings chapter 4 and then Revelation chapter 2 and 3. When Jesus references that woman, Jezebel, in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, he's speaking about a woman that was active in the church, and he calls her Jezebel because he wasn't addressing the woman, he was addressing the demonic spirit that was empowering the woman.
So Jezebel in the Bible is literally the name of a demonic entity, and that's what this account names itself. And then they post two days before the assassination of Charlie Kirk: we paid some Etsy witches to church to curse Charlie Kirk.
Now again Am I saying that that necessarily had something to do with his assassination? I don't know. I'm pointing out things that spiritually discerned people ought to be able to see and understand. That's what I'm doing. Welcome to Understanding the Times.
I'm Ken Michael, along with my co-host, Pastor Josh Schwartz, and we are so pleased to have with us the founder and CEO of Olive Tree Ministries, Jan Markell. Jan, thank you so much for joining us. Pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
So before we dive into our topic today, I just got back from Europe a couple weeks ago, and I don't care where I go around the world or in this country, people ask, How is Jan Markel doing? What is she up to?
So, real quick, Jan, just tell our listeners what you've been up to.
Well, I kind of stepped back from doing the radio broadcast after 25 years, and you gentlemen are doing such a good job. I just decided to turn the microphone literally over to you two. But I'm still very involved in day-to-day activity here at the office and in the ministry, and doing a lot of writing and some other things that. Oh, you know, maybe not or as prominent as uh media, but I'm still here at Much to the chagrin of my detractors who wish I'd go away totally.
Well, we at the office are certainly glad you're here because now we get to see you more often. That's true.
Well, from that clip we heard, I think we've reached another flashpoint in American history. It literally has changed, I think, not only that we're hearing from all over the world, but certainly here in the United States. It's a major culture. Culture shock and culture change. Both you and Pastor Josh commented on it right after.
But let's dive more into this violence and lawlessness that we're seeing. I know you have a paragraph, an article that you want to refer to. I'm going to quote. And, you know, Josh and I tried to address it a little bit last week with David Tull, and that is this terrible catastrophe as it concerns the. assassination of uh Charlie Kirk.
I think we just wanted to add a few more comments this week, because it's such a game changer, it really is. And I think that some things stand out in my mind, and we all get our all three opinions here, but I'm reminded of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation 11 and the celebration of the left. At the demise of Charlie Kirk reminds me of how people are going to be reacting when the two witnesses are killed during the tribulation. They're giving the gospel out, et cetera. And it also reminds me that we are smack dab in the middle of the rebirth of the days of Noah.
Totally characterized by violence and lawlessness, and that's what we're seeing. We've seen it forever. Course last summer with the attempted assassination of President Trump, but it goes on and on. A whole lot of illustrations. But those are my first two thoughts.
I have some other thoughts, but Josh, your perspective. Yeah, absolutely. Like you said there, with the two witnesses and the tribulation period, the people after their death are going to celebrate them. They're not going to allow them to be buried. They're going to celebrate them while those who truly know Jesus in that time will mourn.
And I think we're seeing maybe a run-up to that here with the people all around the world that are celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk. It is disgusting, but it shows that the love of many is truly growing cold. And we know that we are seeing the literal birth pangs of the last moments of the last days. But the beauty is this. Tertullian said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, meaning that as someone is martyred, and I believe Charlie was martyred for his faith and his political stances.
But as we have seen this past weekend, churches were packed. And many people have come to a fork in the road moment of what am I going to do? What am I going to do with Jesus? What am I going to do with this Bible? Am I going to follow it?
Am I going to believe what Charlie believed and what he was willing to die for? Or am I just going to pass by this as the news begins to grow cold again? And Ken, you and I were talking about this, and I think it's really important to point out. This can't end here. This has to Press on to next week and next month and next year.
People's faith needs to be founded in Jesus, not just high and low moments in the society. Yeah, if we look at this from an emotional standpoint, people did come together, they did go to church, they did hear the word in a lot of these churches, but I also heard that many churches wouldn't even speak about truth, which is tragic, I think.
So, my prayer is that. All of these people not only went to church and heard the word, but were commanded to go out and preach the gospel across the world. And that's what we need to be. We need to be disciples for Jesus Christ now. After an event like this, we need to take it and move forward.
We can't. We can no longer be spectators in this. No. Jan. Prophecy News Watch wonderful article, one paragraph.
The shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah University has done more than rattle a nation it has jolted thousands awake. Suddenly questions of eternity, purpose, and truth are not just whispered, they're shouted. And this Sunday, America saw something Few expected. reviable. That's true.
It is absolutely true. And I think we also have to recognize that Charlie's wife, Erica Burke, gave just a stunning response to everything that had happened last week. I would encourage, if you haven't heard her response on Friday evening of last week, I would encourage you to listen to it. But her main point is... People, they thought they would silence Charlie.
They thought they would silence this movement of the right, this movement of Christianity, but they have no idea what they've ignited. And we're beginning to see that. It was the shot heard around the world for good and for bad. It truly was. And I think we're only beginning to see the first ripples of what will actually happen here.
But we must also remember that we've got to be praying for Charlie and his family, his staff, those who were closest to him, because this has rocked them way more than it's rocked any of us. And we need to also be praying for someone, many people, to stand in his place and to speak truth and to tell what is right and what is wrong. And more than anything else, to preach the gospel to literal souls that are at stake.
Well, Ken, you, like you mentioned, were just in Europe. And so what we want to do is give a recap of that.
So let's listen to this clip and then talk about it. David here is a Gen Zer, and he's telling us how lost this generation. If you had to tell people, what's the best way to reach people your age? Kind of telling us that there is hope and. That we don't have to be hopeless because I mean, we see it, the young people these days, at least.
Older people who are now in their 70s or 60s attended church at some point in their lives, but the churches nowadays are just so.
So much about works, and it that just doesn't save anybody.
So, here in Germany as well, people are trying to uh Kind of fill that hole in their heart with drinking, taking drugs, and sexual immorality, and all that stuff. Everything the Bible says. Exactly, exactly. And I mean, you can just see it clearly. I've always been a very observant person, but even before I was saved, I was thinking.
Why does everybody, you know about intrusive thoughts, right? Sure.
So, why does everybody have these intrusive thoughts? First of all, and second of all, why are all of them negative? And I thought to myself, there has to be something behind that. Why can't it be positive, intrusive thoughts? And then I realized once I got saved, it all started making sense that that is Satan and the old nature tempting them to do those things.
Well, friends, you're listening to Understanding the Times Radio, the program founded by Jan Markell. And I want to remind you and apprise you of an upcoming Understanding the Times event. It's our bimonthly event at Revive Church here in suburban Minneapolis. We are going to be having Pastor Barry Stagner join us October the 9th at 7 p.m. Central.
You can Come in person. That's to Revive Church at 7849 West Broadway, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Or you can watch the live stream at markhenryministries.com.
Now, Ken, as you mentioned and as we've just heard, you were in Europe. Can you give us a recap of where you were and how things were going? And from an outsider's perspective, what is the theological temperature of Europe? Yeah, well, in answer to your last question, Europe's on life support, and they're warning us that that's coming here. And we told them we're well aware of that fact.
But our first stop was in Bristol in the UK, and it was kind of an impromptu stop that Mondo Gonzalez set up for us. The pastor there really didn't teach eschatology, and a friend of Mondo set this up. About, I would say, 40 people showed up, and they had never heard what we had to say. In fact, only one person had heard of either Prophecy Watchers or Olive Tree Ministry. And after Mondo and I spoke, they were absolutely blown away.
In fact, people were lined up to talk to us afterwards, and they wanted to know everything we were talking about. What does the Bible have to say about the last days? Out of all four stops that we made, I think that had the most impact. Even though there were hundreds that showed up at the other events.
So that was really interesting to. go over. In fact, the pastor came up to me at the end and said, you know what? I have some work to do. He goes, I've been preaching the gospel for 20-some years, but I never taught the book of Daniel.
I never taught the book of Revelation.
So I think that made a huge impact.
Now, Jan, how would you have liked that response when you started ministry? I've got a lot of work to do from pastors around. That would be amazing, right? Yeah, that would be terribly encouraging, actually. You know, I just want to comment, though, a little bit here.
Because you know, Europe threw God out 60 years ago, and that has terrible consequences. It does. And America, please listen, okay? Because we're. Kind of toying around with doing the same thing.
But America, but Europe threw God out, other than the remnant, which you were privileged to minister to. And Europe today has a form of godliness or a form of Well, quite frankly, they have a lot of, let's say, cathedrals, et cetera, surrounded by a bunch of demonic gargoyles that you'll see on every one of these, which literally looks like they're demons out of hell. And then you've got this remnant, and I often say this remnant is like. They're like lonely fish. in a uh in a in a goldfish bowl.
And they're looking out and trying to find somebody who's like-minded. But I'm also mindful gentlemen, of what the Beatles said some sixty years ago. Yeah. and they were speaking from Europe, You know, we're going to be more popular than Jesus. And I think some people around the world, starting with Europeans, I said, you know what, that sounds good.
We agree with Paul McCartney. And so this philosophy Spread quickly. Not just the continent of Europe, but then was spread literally around the world. But I think some of the seeds of this. We're where you were.
Yeah, you're absolutely right, Jan. There is just the remnant left there. There's just points of light scattered all through Europe, and they love to come together for these conferences because our second stop was in Oxford. The place was packed, and they came from all over Europe. And it's easy to travel there.
They can go anywhere by plane, train, or some people drove 10, 12 hours to come to the conference. It was very well attended. Everyone there has heard of our ministry and Jan Markell. Most everyone had heard of Prophecy Watchers and Billy Crohn, get a life ministry.
So that was a very well attended, and people just want to come together and talk. In fact, we encourage them to. Meet people so that they can start their own small churches, and that's the key to this. It's not just coming and hearing these messages. Two points: they need to meet someone there, they need to come together and start their own church, and then they need to act because they had an election coming up the next day.
And we told them: if you don't vote these people out, you're going to continue on the same track. You can't just move out of London, you can't just move out of these major cities. If you don't make a difference where you're at, it will come to you. What can but what can American Christians learn from this?
Well, the same exact thing. We're doing the same thing here. We're looking at what's happening city by city. We've talked about this numerous times, where Islam is moving in and taking over. They get elected to city councils, county boards, school boards, and then we see right here in Minnesota to Congress.
And we're looking at what's going to happen. We're going to talk about this in the extended version, but Islam is taking over major parts of the West in Europe and also here in America.
Well, possibly Islamic mayor in New York City and possibly Islamic mayor Omar Fatah in Minneapolis. Yeah, Patterson, New Jersey. You can go right to Dearborn, Michigan, and we'll talk about those. But very prosperous as far as the remnants are concerned. Our next stop was Friedrichstadt, Norway.
We walked around the city, and you talked about the symbolism there. It's unbelievable. There are literally posters, pro-Palestinian, LGBTQ posters everywhere. In fact, at the venue that we showed up at, there were Pride flags everywhere. There were anti-Semitic posters on the wall when we walked in.
Like I said, LGBTQ colors everywhere. And the promoters of the event said these weren't here the day before.
So we're thinking that they were put up mainly for us. Which is fascinating because whether they were there intentionally by maybe people that. Had heard that you were coming, or not, that they came up the day before the whole Bible prophecy conference that was probably one of the first Bible prophecy conferences in Norway in the last 20 at least years, if not 50 years. It was. It shows this demonic.
Oppression that is running rampant all throughout Europe. It is dark, it is demonic, and it is overrun. Yeah, and then down the main street where all the shops are, there was a pro-Palestinian protest going right down the middle of the street.
So it's everywhere. The anti-Semitism, the pro-LGBTQ movement, and we You know, you have to almost laugh because these two joining each other, they don't even realize. They don't realize. And we talked about this earlier, Jan. They're kind of the useful idiots because they would slaughter them in a heartbeat if they're over in the Middle East.
That's right. And then finally, our last stop was in Grushwalstadt, Germany. Germany has their issues that we're going to talk about in the second half, but there's a lot of violence and lawlessness going on, not just there, but all over Europe. And it has to do with the major factors that are going on politically, culturally, economically. And then now we're seeing the spark that's lighting the fuse is Islam moving in there.
There's protests. It's getting violent. And Germany is basically the only country that's starting to do something about it because they're actually banning pro-Palestinian protests right now in some of the major cities.
So they're actually trying to do something about it. Yeah, and I want to bring a little bit of encouragement because in the previous clip that we heard, there was a young man that was from that stop in Germany. Tell us about him, Ken. Yeah, David was an amazing young man. He was on the brink of suicide.
And he was one of these Gen Zers that played video games every day. He had a large group that he was playing games with overseas. And one day when he made a friend and he was playing a video game and His the person he was playing against, his father, stepped in and said, Hey, you know, I know you've got all these issues. I know you're thinking about suicide, but there's a better way, and that way is through. Having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and the more he spoke, the more he realized that was the way, the truth, and the life.
And he just came to know Christ as his Lord and Savior. It's an amazing story. I mean, who would have ever thought how God can work through someone playing video games? But that's how David was saved. As you could hear, he can speak perfect English.
So he's a very bright, intelligent young man. But he said the hardest thing he's had to realize and deal with is trying to reach people his age because it's, as you heard in the clip, it's so dark and it's so hard to reach the lost. And that's what we found when we were over there. People are just wandering around doing their own thing. They're starting to wake up to the cultural issues.
But as far as God goes, that country is basically been given over. It's been given over, becoming Romans 1. Yeah, exactly.
Now, Ken, thank you so much for sacrificing time, effort, and energy to go on such a long trip over there. And, friends, many will say, Oh, that's just a vacation. But, Ken, we know that when I traveled with you there and when I've traveled with others, it is attack after attack. It is exhausting. It is waiting in airports.
It's trying to find a hotel bed that actually you can get some rest in.
So, as strange as this may sound, there was some suffering there, and we're thankful for your willingness to go and to share the good news about Jesus and the important truths of what's coming in these last days with. What Jesus says about the scriptures. Yeah, you're right. We were attacked. In fact, Billy's team was attacked right out of the from the get-go after a 10-hour flight.
They got into their rental car, got into an accident, and it took them almost 10 hours before they could get it fixed, get to their hotel, and pick up.
So they spent an entire day being attacked.
Well, Jan, any concluding thoughts on this segment?
Okay.
Well, again, and you said it. Thank you for What you gentlemen are doing. I think it's incredible. I've done the travel routine. It's exhausting.
There's very little sleep. There's just a lot of stress, as we've already talked about. But the rewards are eternal. And I hear from the folks who attend these events, and they are so thankful. thankful.
Finally, somebody sees us and sees that not only are we here, but our hearts are longing. to be talking to somebody who understands and Yeah, I mean understands where we are at, our loneliness, our isolation, our lack of a good church, our lack of uh anybody preaching a sound gospel.
Well, Jen, we've got a lot going on in the world that we want to get your thoughts on.
So if you would, listen to this clip and we will dive right into the next. The internet is flooded. with the feast of trumpets Coinciding with the rapture.
So let's put kind of an end to this. Is there any relationship to the rapture of the church, Christ calling his church home? And the Feast of Trumpets. My background's a Jewish study, so I studied this 30 years ago. Studied a lot of rabbinic theology.
And so the typical thing is that. The spring feast Jesus fulfilled perfectly to the exact moment. And then the church was born on Shabu'ut, the Feast of Weeks, on that day. And so the expectation then is that the fall feasts will be fulfilled in Jesus' second coming. And so then, what people are doing is they're looking for some sort of correlation.
And so. Within many of the rabbinic writings, they will talk about the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast Yom Totura, which is the Feast. Trumpets or Roshashanod, the head of the new year. They will talk about in the Jewish rabbinic tradition, it refers to resurrection, it actually refers to the creation. And also, that typical idea is that when Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, that no man knows the day or the hour, that this is a Jewish idiom.
This is what you're hearing, this is everywhere. This is a Jewish idiom. Referring to the Feast of Trumpets. My biggest problem with this is twofold. Number one, the Bible is very clear that the rapture.
is an imminent event.
Now what does that mean? It could happen any moment. Hence, imminent. Right.
So, if you say it can only happen on the Feast of Trumpets, no, maybe it will, whatever. But if you say, and that's not what they're saying, they're saying it. Can only happen, that's called setting a date, by the way. It can only happen then, you just destroyed imminency. And so, like right now, you and I can do one of two things.
We could go goof off and sin because, hey, We got time before the rapture. Or Hey, what a bummer. I had nothing to long for. Why am I longing for his appearing? Because it's not going to happen for a couple more weeks now, according to these guys.
You're listening to Understanding the Times. Our guest today is founder and CEO of Olive Tree Ministries, Jan Markell.
So Jan, you heard in that clip. The internet is exploding. With The Feast of Trumpets and That coinciding with the rapture of the church. Should we expect the rapture of the church this September 23rd, 24th? No.
And by the way, this happens almost every year. This is nothing new. As a matter of fact, I remember Edgar Weisnant's book in 1988. 88 Reasons Why Jesus Coming Back in 88, followed by Harold Camping. Followed by others, preceded by others, so it goes way back.
This is a turns out to be a huge embarrassment to the church when believers do this. It's clear in the Bible that no one knows has the insight to any of this. No one is privileged to have any inside information. I think it's a huge black mark. On the church.
And my motto, as gentlemen, you know, and I even signed some emails this way: is you know, it's perhaps today. Amen. And again, it was pointed out so well in these clips just beautifully. Um imminency is the key. Any moment, it can happen at any moment again, perhaps today.
So I am. Apologizing to what I'm going to be blunt here: the fools out there who are doing what we have just been talking about here: this date setting, and again, the Year after they never learned. Why is that? Why do we never learn? It didn't happen last year, year before, year before.
Why is it going to happen this year? No one is privileged to have this inside information. But the point is, it could be any minute. Amen. Yeah, Pastor Josh, you should know this more than anyone.
People come up with all these calculations and they use sevens into the future of how it's going to turn out that after, well, and they coincide not only the Feast of Trumpets and the rapture, but the beginning of the tribulation.
So, what's your take on this? Yeah, I think I agree absolutely with Jan. This is foolish. This is absolute, utter foolishness. Foolishness to try and name a date.
And it gives us a black eye for those of us who want to be consistent with what the scriptures say. And we get pegged as being mean or leading people astray because we're not excited about this date or that date. Friends, we need to not be excited about this date or that date. We need to be excited about any date, the imminent return of Jesus, and how do we live today as if Jesus was to return today. We need to be sharing the gospel with people to help them understand their need for a Savior.
I mean, this is why John tells us in 1 John chapter 2 to be ready to, so that we're not cast out in shame at his appearing. We need to be living godly lives in the here and now, not worrying about this date or that date, but worrying about what we are doing with Jesus, how we're proclaiming him. One more thing, I think, too, Josh, is the terrible letdown when it doesn't happen. Yes. And then.
I talked to people. People who are depressed for the next long time because they were expecting it and it didn't happen. And woe is me, and now we got to wait another whole year. No, you don't have to wait another whole year. You might have to wait only another day.
But again, point is. Uh their expectation got foiled again, and it will again next year and the next year until Jesus or is commanded to Go get your bride. Amen. Yeah, Jan, and you know this as well as I do, that they loop our ministry in with all these people. That's right.
And it does so much damage. The other thing they're correlating with this is the upcoming UN meeting, where there's going to be, where they're saying the UN anyway wants a two-state solution. Is that ever going to happen? A two-state solution? Yeah.
Well, there was a two-stage s solution. It was called Gaza. How'd that go? You know, didn't work out very well. I For some reason, the world insists Israel make peace with barbarians.
It's never going to happen. And Israel, since October 7th, Israel has turned off to the idea. Of a two-state solution of a Palestinian state, in other words. This is total and utter foolishness. It's what the UN is going to focus on next week like a laser beam.
And I think they're going to make a fool of themselves. And I think it's time for America to pull out of this United Nothing organization. But this year is going to be bad because They're going to be ticking off God. That's who you don't want to make mad. And He's going to be really ticked, focus like a laser beam on His covenant land, and let's divide it.
Welcome back to the extended version of Understanding the Times. I'm Ken Michael, along with Pastor Josh Schwartz. And our special guest today is founder and CEO of Olive Tree Ministries, Jan Markel. Jan, thank you so much for joining us. And thank you for having me again.
So great to see you, Jan. Yeah, as always.
So We're going to extend this conversation that we had in it. It's around violence and lawlessness, and we're seeing it everywhere. I mean, I saw it in the UK, what's going on over there, and we're seeing it here in the United States. And I want to play just a quick clip and get your take on it. It's been nearly 400 years since Britain had a civil war.
The idea of one today might seem unthinkable and impossible. Yet some experts are seeing signs of civil discord and sounding the alarm. They believe the nation is about to explode from within. Great Britain looks like a nation where life is functioning normally. Below the surface, however, lies a growing sense that the United Kingdom is coming apart at the seams.
King's College London professor of war studies David Betts set off alarm bells this year by saying Britain is headed towards civil war, and he advised people living in its large cities to move before the violence starts. From the US to the UK, Poland, Australia, Ireland and many others. A fresh wave of anti-immigrant protests are being witnessed in many countries in the West. Concerns over crime and security dominate the discourse. With top leaders often linking migrants to terrorism or violent crime.
What is behind the rising protests against migrants in the West? Why is the right to asylum under stress in many European nations? Are the protests xenophobic or carefully orchestrated to win votes? When you have a country in decline, When you add large numbers of new people into the mix, what you end up with is ethnic conflict over resources. Experts fear all that might be needed to trigger a civil war is another terror attack.
White working class anger exploded last summer when the son of a Rwandan immigrant stabbed 11 children and two adults at a dance studio. Right-wing and working-class British are also angry over what they claim is a two-tier justice system that favors Muslims. London Daily Telegraph columnist Tim Stanley told us he agrees with Betts. That Britain is heading for open sectarian conflict, possibly war, and there's nothing we can do to stop it.
So, Josh, I just returned from a two-week trip to Europe where we conferenced over there. I was able to speak to a number of people about what's going on over there. You and I were there last year, and we saw some protests and heard what's going on over there. I said it earlier in the program. It has doubled or tripled as far as the amount of violence.
Now, we're seeing the pushback. People are protesting now, they've had enough, and they warned us that is coming here to America, and they're absolutely right. I mean, the amount of violence and lawlessness that we are witnessing right now in this country, and you know it's getting to anarchy when you see political assassinations, and that's the key. When you start disagreeing with your political opponents and you won't talk to them, the next step is to kill them. We saw it with the Republicans that were playing softball a few years ago, the attack on them.
Steve Scales was almost killed. President Trump. The two assassination attempts on him, and then you go right down the line now with Charlie Kirk. It's just tragic. It's a watershed moment in our history.
not including Uh The woman that was set on fire on a train in New York, or the woman that's riding the train in North Carolina that was stabbed to death. I mean, you go right down the line, right here in Minneapolis. Minneapolis. A school shooting, horrific. I mean, it's just one event after the other.
And, Jan, we're seeing violence and lawlessness abound. It's almost like we're living in the days of no one.
Well, I. The days of Noah are predicted to return, and I think it's pretty obvious they're here. It's like you say all the time, Jan. We're living in a Romans I world.
Well, we have the spirit of Antichrist unleashed, and I think that's what we're seeing. At the same time, gentlemen. We still have we still have the church here, and the church is acting as a restrainer. Can you imagine, and we kind of referred to this a few minutes ago, but can you imagine? Church being gone, and what we're talking about playing out with nobody to restrain it.
Some of what we're seeing is purely demonic. And when you look at the Shooting at the Catholic uh school.
Now, this is a few weeks ago. Uh uh I Frankly, I grew up in the neighborhood very close to where this happened. But when you look at that more closely, And I think it was the New York Post who had the headline in huge letters, demonic. Mm-hmm. That's really what we're dealing with in some of these instances because the evil is out of control.
It is demonic, but. The good news is Believers are still here. The restrainer is still here. There's still a lid on this. It's not like it's going to be once we're gone.
But still, Um we talked about, you know. preparing for what we do here weekly. We have to study these things and look at videos and look at things that are very tough to watch in order to interpret them from our perspective, a biblical perspective, and make sense from a biblical perspective. But it's tough, is my only point. Absolutely, it's very tough.
because we are seeing this spirit of Antichrist that's running rampant in our country, around the world, where you go. And it seems as though we could just Sit back, bury your head in the sand, and not engage. Good idea. But we can do that. As followers of Jesus, we are to be salt and light in the midst of a dark and tasteless world.
And, Jan, we're so thankful for the ministry that you founded so many years ago for these exact same reasons because people weren't talking about it and people weren't standing against lawlessness. And now here we are, many years removed, and we're still talking about. the same things, but they're even worse. They're even Darker.
Well, we're trending towards the tribulation, and that's why it's happening.
Now, I realize there are entire denominations that don't even believe in a tribulation and all of that, but that's why we're doing what we're doing, by the way, is to be a voice for ten. Telling the truth and the biblical truth and the eschatological truth. But again, The people in the pews need to better understand. In other words, people in the pews want to understand. Why on earth is this happening?
Why are we watching in real time a dear young lady from Ukraine. She fled the killing fields of Ukraine. to hit the killing fields of North Carolina. uh and violence. Is out of control as it we're in a run-up to the tribulation where it will rule.
It'll be what. Everyday normal society will be violence, lawlessness, killings. Thank you, Lord. Believers won't be here. Yeah, Jen, you talked about growing up in that area.
That church and school is a block from where I worked.
So for 30 years, I drove by that church. I know it well. I'm not surprised. I'm saddened and disappointed. But when we're talking about the violence and lawlessness that's not coming, it's here.
And the reason for it is because of the people that we're putting into power. Correct. The people we're putting into office. We're electing these very people, and that's their agenda. They want this violence and lawlessness.
I don't think people understand that number of Not only anti-American, but communists and Marxists and Islamists that we voted into the government. And these And New York wants one now, real badly. If New York elects this person, and I've said this before, the Jews will have to flee New York. If Minneapolis elects the person that they're considering, we're going to have full-on Islamist control of major cities. We're seeing it all over.
Call the prayer five times a day here in Minneapolis. Patterson, New Jersey, Dearborn, Michigan. They're doing it in Atlanta, too? I mean We're seeing police departments. With their insignia, not only from the United States, but written in Arabic, like they do in Dearborn, Michigan.
I've never heard of this before. I can't even imagine an American police department putting Islamic insignia on their patches. This is your background. You ought to know. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be able to work there.
I'd have to resign.
Well, have we ever seen this before? Has there ever been another police department who has placed a separate language on their patch? No, Patterson, New Jersey was the only one I saw where the police officer had a Palestinian flag on his police vest. But that's just the start of it. If you allow this to continue, if the Justice Department doesn't step in and put a stop to this, this will spread just like what we're seeing in Europe and now here in America.
And we might be pegged for talking about this as bigoted or unwilling to let people integrate or immigrate into our nation. And that's not it at all. It's just we don't want people to come in and transform the nation from the values that it was built upon from the bedrock constitutional Rights of the American nation. We just want people to integrate and accept that, yes, we are Americans. We are speaking the language that we speak, and we don't have to be transformed from the outside in.
Well, gentlemen, we have just recently witnessed the, I believe it's the 24th anniversary of 9-11. And I'm not sure that 10 years before that, even though we had another threat in 1993. A trade center parking lot and all that. But but who could have imagined, yes, who could have imagined? Airplanes, Islamic hijackers flying into the buildings as they did on 9-11.
And so all I'm saying is we have an enemy, and we need to be aware of this enemy. We need to be getting the gospel to this enemy. That would be the ultimate solution to the dilemma. Yeah, I don't think the average person realizes that not only have we elected these people into power, but there are people here that want to do us harm. And when you talk about a theocracy, which Islam is, they're here to dominate and take control.
And we're hearing from Intel people that there are thousands of people here that want to do us harm. And I don't think Americans are ready for what we're seeing overseas, not only the mass shootings, but people showing up at events with explosive devices on them and blowing up things. That's what they're saying is going to happen because there are literally thousands of Islam. Islamists here, and when the time comes, and they're very patient, they're going to start attacking. And I think as Americans, we need to be vigilant, we need to be ready and prepared for things like this.
You have to. You have to caution yourself if you go to these big gatherings where there's thousands of people or even hundreds of people gathered together, you have to be aware of your circumstances, your situation. Absolutely. And I want to bring this just full circle back to the scriptures. John, the Apostle John tells us in 1 John 3, verse 4, he says this, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.
Sin is lawlessness. And you can take it the opposite way as well. Lawlessness is sin. And we're not asking for A legislated morality from the top down, like a theocracy, we're just asking for lawlessness to be dealt with, for sin to be dealt with, for law and order and lawfulness to prevail. That's really what we need to see.
We need to see law and order back at the top. Yeah, and I liked some of the things that the administration is doing to combat some of this violence and lawlessness. They've called in the National Guards to some major cities, and that's a start. But what's the long-term solution? Can you keep deploying the National Guard throughout the United States to combat this?
I mean, there has to be a long-term solution, and that is this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values, and we need to stick to those. And the further away we get from that, the more violence and lawlessness we'll see. And we need to get back to a value system. Even if you don't believe in God, the Ten Commandments are rock solid. Anyone can live by those values.
Because godly morality. Exactly, and we're not.
So I think, first of all, we need to start electing officials that don't have this ideology. We talked about George Soros bringing in people to flip the country, to change the ideology of the country. He's done it right here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We have a county attorney that is a Marxist. She goes after law enforcement versus the actual criminals.
So that's what we're seeing. We're calling good, evil, and evil, good. Yeah, and Jen, you asked the question before we started filming. What is the solution to this? And the solution that you gave when the introduction is so important.
It's going back to recognizing what Paul says to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The restrainer is still here. And we, as the church, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, are to restrain sin and lawlessness while we still can. What are your thoughts on that?
Well, again. That is our assignment. That is our primary win the loss, of course. Um but then to try to put a lid on some of on some of this evil, I mean. Um my mind keeps going back to this um innocent, harmless uh woman who was sitting on this uh train in in North Carolina.
And just what if there had been a Christian in that train who was just pr just praying or not not necessarily praying about that incident 'cause she didn't know. Nobody knew it was going to happen, but But if if somebody had been there praying just that that, um uh that there would be calm, that that that that the Lord's presence could be I think that wouldn't have happened. And and so again, I think wherever we are, we need to feel like we are on assignment. And I think we need to again, We get tired of saying it and people sometimes get tired of hearing it. We need to be salt and deli and salt and light and delay the decay.
Yes. Because the decay is rotting so fast Which means I believe the church is going to be taken very, very soon. But in the meantime, let's continue to be salt and light and try to delay the terrible. We've talked about this kind of decay here for several minutes, but there's good news involved in that too. Jesus is coming again, He's going to rescue His church.
He's going to remove us out of this cesspool, which is what it's becoming, quite frankly. This earth is becoming going to take us to a place of perfect safety, perfect harmony. and where we are going to live forever and ever and ever in Well Perfection, amen, and like you said, what do we expect? The last days there, you go.
Somebody, we have hope. Jesus' rapture of the church is our blessed hope that we get to look forward to because we know, as he's promised, that he is going to come and take us to be with him. And then seven years later, after the tribulation, he is going to come and make things absolutely right for a thousand years, literally on earth. Literally a thousand years where this is going to be made right, yeah.
Well, in the last few minutes that we have here on this extended version of understanding the times, I think it would be very important for us to at least touch a little bit about what's going to happen next week in New York City with the UN General Assembly. Jan, the question is this. We touched on it in the radio program. We know that the majority of the talking points are going to be primarily about a two-state solution. Correct.
Here's my question to you. Can the juice, and the Muslims live in peace as neighbors. Um No, they cannot, because the ideology of the one side is jihad. And you cannot simply Uh strike up a treaty and Get the jihad out of the heart of the radical Islamic, not saying all Muslims, but out of the radical Islamists. Again I am deeply concerned about what's going to happen next week in New York City.
I'm deeply concerned that America is going to obviously take a stand. I I wish America would pull out of the United Nations. But again, we tried a Palestinian state, Israel tried a Palestinian state, it's called Gaza. Um it was a terrible flop. put it mildly.
And that's what's going to happen again if in fact it's tried. complete failure. The two ideologies Um Judaism slash freedom and Islamicism cannot live side by side successfully. They're trying now and it's a failure. Yeah.
And I really think it's important to lay out that this is a theological issue. Yes, thank you. This is not a. A race issue. This is theology.
This is ideology. This is a Judeo-Christian worldview, a biblical worldview versus a non-biblical worldview. A worldview that promotes peace and human thriving through obedience to God versus a worldview, an ideology that promotes conquering through power, ultimate world takeover through a lot of times jihad. And so this is not Arabs versus Jews. This is an ideological or a theological discrepancy that's going on.
But I think what we're going to see at this United Nations is that. Hmm. The United Nations, which is representing the people of the world, Favors Islam. favors Islam over The Jewish people and over the nation of Israel. Which is a socialistic ideology, right?
Because it's the oppressed versus the oppressor. True. And Israel is always going to be seen as the oppressor. They're the so-called oppressor.
Well, Jan, this has been a great conversation. And I have to tell you, I've had the pleasure of working with you now for the last 10 years. You have. Everywhere I go, people want to know how you're doing, what you're up to. Thank you.
And as everyone can see, you're doing just great. Josh and I and everyone here in the office have a chance to work with you all the time. You're in the office now all the time.
So it's just been a blessing to be with you and to work with you and just watch how this ministry has expanded.
So I just want to thank you. This has been the joy of my life. And thank you for carrying on with Understanding the Times Radio. It's a time where people do need to understand the times, contend for the faith, and be a watchman on the wall, and that's all we're trying to do. Amen.
Well, folks, make sure you catch us on our website, olivetreeviews.org, our social media sites, YouTube. Telegram, Instagram, and we have a new project coming up. It's called Powered by Text. Look for that. We're going to be promoting it here very soon.
So until next week, take care. God bless you all. Contact us through our website, olivetreeviews.org. That's olivetreeviews.org. Call us Central Time at 763-559.
Mm-hmm. That's 763-559-459. 4444. We get our mail when you write to Alatri Ministries in Jan Markel. Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota.
So, I'm going to go to the next one. That's box 1452. Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. All gifts are tax-deductible. The days are growing ever darker, and the love of many is growing cold.
But look up. Followers of Jesus, because we know that all things are falling into place. His honor and glory be unto your name Be unto your name.
