The Consequences of a Romans 1 Worldview

Has the Romans' one worldview led to the rise of today's rampant paganism? We think so. Burning Man is known as this Enormous. Get together in the middle of the Nevada desert. And Carl keeps saying that it's more than just a party, oh my.

Is it ever? It's a symbol of the elevation of man. It's spiritual. It's. It's a party, yes, but there's so much more deeper going on with Burning Man.

What he does is he takes a team every year. and goes and sets up a camp. It's really brilliant. But they go to reach people, to listen, but also to be a gospel witness for Jesus. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio, the programming founded by Jan Markell and brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries.

Today, radio hosts Pastor Josh Schwartz and Ken Michaels speak with Carl Tycrib about a troubling cultural trend in the West, paganism. Just what is burning man and how does it play into the pagan scenario? And how can we as Christians push back against this darkness and reveal the light of Jesus Christ? In the extended version, Pastor Josh and Ken continue the conversation with Carl Tycriff. You won't want to miss it.

If you are listening on radio, you can find the extended version ad-free on our website, olivetreeviews.org, or on our YouTube and Rumble channels. There are many types of paganism, like Hellenism, Asatru, Heathenry, Wicca, and more.

So it can be really confusing to tell them apart. What makes each of them stand out and how do they differ? We can broadly classify paganism into five main categories. While all pagan paths fall into at least one of these categories, some can overlap and fall into two, three, or even more. The five categories are Reconstructionist Paganism, Neopaganism, Nature and Earth-centric paths, Regional and Ethnic Traditions, and Shamanistic Traditions.

Wicca. This is a modern pagan religious movement that emerged in the mid-20th century, drawing inspiration from a variety of ancient pagan traditions, folklore, and ceremonial magic. Druidry. Druidry is a spiritual and religious tradition that finds its roots in the ancient Celtic cultures of Western Europe, particularly in regions like Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and parts of France. The ancient Druids were the learned class among the Celts, serving as priests, poets, judges, and teachers.

They were highly respected for their wisdom, knowledge of nature, and spiritual insights. Hellenism. This is a modern revival of the ancient Greek religion, focusing on their rich pantheon of gods and the rituals that honored them. Hellenism as a contemporary movement emerged in the late 20th century, driven by a desire to reconnect with the spiritual traditions of ancient Greece. This is Understanding the Times.

I'm Ken Michael, along with my co-host, Pastor Josh Schwartz.

So what is paganism? Where did it come from? Does it affect our daily lives? And what should we do as followers of Christ?

Well, we're going to find out today from our guest. He's been a frequent guest on our program in the past. He's a teacher and author of Game of Gods. We'd like to welcome back to the program Carl Tycred. Carl, welcome to the program.

Hey, it's good to be back. Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to our conversation.

So Carl, you have a unique ministry that God's called you to that we're going to talk about here. But first of all, I think our audience should be brought up to date on what's going on in Canada where you live.

So tell our audience real quick what's going on inside the government and with the current legislation that's being proposed. Yeah, thank you so much. As a Canadian, of course, what happens in Ottawa? What happens in our our national culture impacts us directly. It impacts my family, it impacts churches in the area, it impacts potentially our own church.

Right now, probably the one thing that is on everybody's mind is a bill called Bill C9. Which will, in essence, strip away legal protection. For religious texts, the use of religious texts that may be now deemed as hate literature.

So let's say you use Romans chapter 1 and you speak out on the moral issues of the day. And you use that as your base text. uh to call out let's say uh LGBTQ. The government has the ability to step in and say, well, now you have just engaged in a form of hate speech, a form of hate action. And can take appropriate measures against yourself.

It seems at this point that our federal government has a very intentional path. This is not accidental. There is a very intentional path to reframe Canadian thinking away from a Christian ethos, a Christian background. And to Bring it into either a form of secularism or even a form of paganism. And actually, realistically, it's both combined.

Uh We see that within our politics. It is an area of concern, 100%. It's an area of concern. Canada has been wrestling with hate legislation, hate speech legislation for some time. But when you go down that road, this is where it ends up taking you, where all of a sudden the Bible itself, or sections of the Bible, are considered to be hate literature.

Well, I think, you know, from down here in the U.S., we are praying for you guys. And we know that, in essence, what happens in the more liberal areas of the West is eventually going to come our way.

So we need to be preparing ourselves for facing exactly the same sorts of laws and statutes. Yeah, I mean, it already is. I mean, if you look at the blue states in our country, I mean, they are certainly not only leaning that way, they're trying to pass legislation for the exact same thing. What happens up there, what we're seeing happening in other countries in Europe is Definitely coming here.

So, Carl, from that clip that we heard, define for our audience what is paganism for those that may not know. You know, the clip was very accurate. Paganism is a broad umbrella term. That covers a lot of usually smaller movements, but all of them have a particular worldview in mind. And that is probably the easiest way of boiling it down, and again, this is very generalized.

Not talking about a great period of time that we can wrestle through all the nuances, but in a very broad way, it is a form of. worshiping or venerating nature. It is a religion of nature. where nature has a central place in a particular spiritual worldview. And of course, we think of witchcraft, we think of Druidism, we think of heathenry.

These are all branches within that broad umbrella of paganism. It will typically worship a goddess. especially on the Wiccan side, it's its focus is on goddess worship. And understanding that the entities that are being venerated. more often than not have some type of connection or linkage into uh Elements of nature.

And gentlemen, if you go back into ancient Israel, that time period. where you see the nations around Israel, whether they're worshiping Moloch or Chimosh, Or they're worshiping Ashtaroth or any of the other pagan deities, they almost always have some connecting points back into nature. uh gods and goddesses of victory and war and wine and fertility. Uh That there's always this Combination of the spiritual and the physical coming together. And by worshiping the one, you think that somehow you can make an impact on the other.

That of course is is kind of in a very again a very broad brush stroke. way of looking at what paganism is.

So, in today's context, now we have, of course, witchcraft. As I mentioned before, Wicca, which is a form of witchcraft. expressions of paganism. Including reconstructionism, where you're looking to how do you now reconstruct, let's say, the Greco-Roman Forms of pagan worship? How do you rebuild that considering that there isn't a lot of you know, hard text going back to tho that era saying Here's the do's, here's the don'ts, here's the systems, here's the structures.

Ironically, of the Bible. Uh when you think about worshiping worshiping God. From the even the Penate point of view, Uh you have very specific Guidelines for the Jewish people when they're in the tabernacle, when they're in the temple, what to do, how to worship. And you can look back, and you see this is both a theological but a historical document. giving precise details.

You don't find that kind of Precision. within the the pagan world. it's it becomes more eclectic, it becomes more of a synchronistic Mixing Of ideas, traditions, even speculations of what it might have been like. And then The kind of the postmodern element that comes into it is this.

Well, if it works for you. It doesn't have to be authentic, but does it work for you? And I've heard that said so many times going to pagan events as a Christian researcher. And it's interesting to watch how the pagan community has been wrestling with their own authenticity. for a long time going, mmm, you know, where is our where is our lineage?

How do we document? How can we find that authentic history, that authentic lineage And realizing that, in essence, they are, especially in today's context, a new religious movement. Wicca specifically is a new religious movement. really only emerging as the video said. Um back in the the mid uh the mid part of last century.

So, there's a lot of things here that are going on, but in essence, it's a worldview. that says we will worship and venerate creation. Rather than the creator, it really is that Romans 1. From a Christian point of view, it's a Romans 1. worldview that's not being lived out With uh certain s uh certain deities entities, however you want to define uh they're they're supernatural representations that they have within nature.

Wow.

So in essence, it's it's go it's man's rebellion against God and God allowing them to worship the creation over the creator, something that is more a in our terms tangible than intangible. I can see this, I can touch this, I can feel this, I'm going to worship this. Yeah, and then it takes on ritualistic elements. It becomes not just simply a theoretical concept of I'm going to worship nature, I'm going to have this veneration towards the natural space, but now it takes on very specific expressions. This is how we do it.

Here's the degrees, here are the ceremonies, this is. We with there is an action to the belief system, because it is a belief system. That absolutely is. And um As Christians, we look at this and we go, well, really, it is a form of rebellion. It goes back realistically to Genesis chapter 3.

When the essence of our sin, the essence of our disobedience, was that we, as creation, Adam and Eve, the human creation, said, that we will become as God. We will disobey what God has instructed us. because we find that there's some type of tangible benefit. We will Gain wisdom, we will live forever, we will be as God. But when you break it all down, what happens in Genesis 3 is it's basically this: creation, us.

saying that we are the focal point.

Now the Um The intention is on us. We will transgress God's law, we transgress God's word, we transgress God's desire. And now creation can stand there and proudly boast that we. We are the masters of our own meaning and destiny.

So, Carl, this is fascinating to think of because many people will think or say that paganism is on the rise. Many people will say that paganism is a newer form of a religious movement. But as you've broken it down here, paganism is, when it comes down to it, worshiping of the creation rather than the creator. It goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. And so this is just a continual deception of Satan to pull worship away from the one who worship is due, that is God, and towards other created things.

Now, is there any truth to this uprising, though, of paganism in our culture here in the modern times? As you've studied it over the last number of decades, are you seeing this on the rise? Is this becoming more and more acceptable? Oh, no question. It absolutely is on the rise.

And it's on the rise in I would put it this way, in three specific ways. And I'm going to use The word pagan. To kind of give you a sense of what I mean.

So, first of all, you have what I now, this is my own categorization, okay? You have small P paganism. A generalized worldview that's already Basically, embedded within our education system, our entertainment systems, our way of looking at the world, and that small P, paganism. Is And most people don't even recognize it, is built around this idea that man, nature, and God are all essentially the same. And, however, that might look, it even lands within the realm of politics.

I'll give you an example here in a few minutes. And then we would have, let's say, mid case paganism. Burning Man, when I go to Burning Man, definitely fits that definition of paganism. It is both bringing a mystical and a secular materialist. and spiritual view together.

It's syncretizing all of this. And then there is what I would say is uppercase. P. Paganism. and that is self-proclaimed.

Self- Proclaimed pagans, that is your Wiccan community, your Druid community, your heathen community. They recognize themselves that way. That's their own label. And so they are proudly. Pagan.

And in all three of those cases, I would say we are absolutely seeing uh a an outgrowth of of this pagan world view, whether it's just a generalized we're not even realistic you know, we don't even realize how it's slid in to our thinking, all the way to here is where the the people stand firm. Uh we will now. Um identify ourselves, let's say, as as Wiccan or one of the other. one of the other movements within the pagan community. An example.

This is taken from my book, Game of Gods. This is This is the statement given in 1992 at the United Nations Rio Earth Summit, okay? by Boutros Galli, the UN Secretary General at the time. He is commenting, these are the closing statements. And the nineteen ninety two Real Earth Summit gave us Agenda twenty one, the Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity.

In other words, it set the international legal framework or began to set that legal framework for us to put our focus and attention on the earth in a both a legalistic, pragmatic way. but also within the context of just a general world view. I mean, you can't escape this now. Every Probably every state in your country, I know every province in my country. We'll be teaching climate change, we'll be teaching environmental stewardship that goes beyond, way beyond just conservation.

We're past that point. We are now venerating. We are not Process of actually Making this Political, cultural connection that really lands in the realm of spirituality.

So these are the statements made by Bruchov Scali in 1992. as he's wrapping up the Rio Earth Summit. I should like to conclude by saying that the spirit of Rio must create a new form of good citizenship. After loving his neighbor as the Bible required him to, post real man must also love the world. including the flowers, birds and trees, every part of that natural environment that we are constantly destroying.

over and above the moral contract with God, over and above the social contract concluded with men. We must now conclude an ethical and political contract with nature. with this earth. to which we owe our very existence, and which gives us life. To the ancients the Nile was a god to be venerated.

as was the Rhine, an infinite source of European myths. or the Amazonian force, the mother of force. Throughout the world nature was the abode of the divinities that gave the forest, the desert, or the mountains a personality which commanded worship and respect The earth had a soul, the To find that soul again, to give it new life, that is the essence of Rio. Gentlemen. That's pagan politics.

So here you have What is supposed to be, this is, of course, this is the first major international event after the Cold War has done. This is now going to set the the tone for how the world is supposed to have moved forward, Post Cold War. Remember, this is nineteen ninety two. And now the purpose is no longer, hey, we've got to create this bulwark against communism. The West has to put up these walls against communism, or the Communists putting up walls against the West.

No, now the whole world can come together. And uh and we have a new unifying problem, a new unifying message, and that is of course We have to now serve. the earth. And that's exactly what Mutro Scali was talking about. We are now in the process of setting up this new contract, a new social contract.

really a new spiritual contract. With the Earth. And then that ends up. percolating into your national Your state, in my case, provincial. and then your municipal city governance.

And now we've we've landed where we are today. Where uh in my country we pay carbon taxes, you know, fill up my my fuel tank, and I don't have a choice. I'm paying a carbon tax on my fuel.

Well, that stems from a Very specific. worldview and that worldview is that we have to now and I'm going to just use Christian terminology here we have to pay our our tithes and offerings to the earth Well, Carl, we're going to transition here. I want you to take a listen to this clip, and we want to get your take. Burning Man is known as this enormous Get together in the middle of the Nevada desert. And Carl keeps saying that it's more than just a party, and oh my.

Is it ever? It's a symbol of the elevation of man. It's spiritual, it's sexual, it's. It's a party, yes, but there's so much more deeper going on with Burning Man. What he does is he takes a team every year.

And goes and sets up a camp. It's really brilliant. But they go to reach people, to listen, but also to be a gospel witness for Jesus. Hey friends, we've got a plethora of materials on our website. You can check it out at olivetreeviews.org.

That's olivetreeviews.org. Underneath the store tab, we've got plenty of resources for you. And also, just so you know, you can catch us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else that podcasts can be found at Understanding the Times. Carl, um Melissa Doherty in that clip explains a bit of what you do.

Now You are at the most recent Burning Man. Can you give us a little bit of a taste of what took place there and maybe s a couple of stories of how you interacted with different people who are searching for more at Burning Man? Yeah, so Melissa's right. It's not just simply a party. We have focused usually on that side of it when you take a look at media stories.

It's a great big party, or it's a big orgy in the desert, that kind of language is used all the time. Those things happen. Yes, there's a party element. Yes, there's an orgy dome. Yes, there's camps for all kinds of.

I'll out. different sexual alternative Lifestyles, experience, it's there. It's all there. I'm not going to deny that, that's for sure. Because it's in your face.

And yet, at the same time, it's also a place where you have thousands and thousands of people coming. because they're seeking out some type of Uh oh. Spiritual encounter. They're already anticipating that they're going to have a transformational event. They're anticipating.

That their world is gonna be rocked. They just don't know how it's gonna be rocked, but they're looking for something. They're searching. And by the way, there's a lot of lost sheep. A lot.

We run into a lot of former Christians. who attend the event now who have either Gone off into the realm of atheism or some other form of. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm Either a paganism or progressivism, they're all there. They're all there. And it's a big event.

I think this last year we had 70,000 people attend, roughly 70, 72,000, something like that.

So there's a lot of people. It's a small city.

So what happens? The people who attend Burning Man make Burning Man what it is. There's nobody who comes up from the organization point of view and scripts it out.

So you have hundreds of theme camps that come. We set up shop. They'll be having workshops and lectures. I was at workshops on artificial intelligence, workshops. on on some major international trends.

You have people who are attached to the World Economic Forum. I've been to some of the the events at Burning Man with those individuals. And then you have very dedicated spiritual experiences. There are There are art pieces that have very pagan themes dedicated to certain gods or goddesses. That's there.

You run into that all the time. There are temples and shrines and sacred spaces set up. There is a main temple. for the for the city It's a place where you can go and pour out your grief and pour out your pour out your heart. And what's interesting is the last couple of years that has become a lightning rod of.

international politics, specifically around the Russian-Ukrainian war. But then even probably in a more Hard way. the uh the conflict between Israel and Hamas. And so Again, this year was no sur it was no surprise. There were flags set up to Palestine.

Um anger angered comments aimed towards Israel. Uh and and it became a a a type of of of clash between these two positions. And that makes sense because for one week in the year, Burning Man now has the world's attention. The world's eyes are on this event. Again, it's a city of I'll put it this way: it's a city of 70,000 people.

On any given day, in any other city of 70,000 people, if somebody passes away, somebody dies, they walk down the street and they queue over dead. It never you know, it might make your local news It might probably not even that. Probably not idea for that. And Burning Man. A person walks over, keels over dead.

and it makes international news. And that's literally what happened in 2024. uh a younger lady literally stopped in the street and She died. And bang, it's in the papers. Know from Reno to the international press, they're talking about it.

This last year. We had a man, a young man, who was unfortunately murdered. He was stabbed to death. And it made it made international news.

Well, if there's a stabbing in your city of 70,000 people, it doesn't make international news, but it doesn't burning down because the world's eyes. are on this event. for one week. It it has an international flavor. The world is attending.

We had over a hundred I believe that I was told I think a hundred and ten uh nationalities represented So it it's this melting pot, a mixing of mysticism and materialism, spirituality and secularism, People searching, people seeking, and then people at the same time selling their idea, not saying it from an idea. consumer point of view, there is no buying or selling, but they're Pushing forward an agenda, pushing forward an idea.

So that's what's taking place, and it's a raw, raw environment. It's harsh physically. But it's also raw emotionally, spiritually, and sensually because the place is known for its sensuality. But my goodness, that's where the world is at this point. Uh you don't have to go to Burnman for that, that's for sure.

Just walk down the mall, right? Um So that's what you're seeing happening at this place.

So we set up a little camp. We are in the open camping area. We're not placed like a theme camp would be placed. But we have a a a couple of spots on the street that we try to go to every year. And uh we set up a camp, and the camp is called the Camp of the Unknown God.

And we have a sign called the Cap of the Unknown God based out of Acts 17. And we use that model that Paul uses. As he is going to Athens, spending time in Athens, he of course, if you read Act seventeen, you see that he has already engaged in a type of survey. He's assessed with where the city's at. He sees that it's given over to idols.

He sees that, oh, you even have an idol to the unknown God just to cover all your bases, and then uses that as leverage to launch into the gospel. Even quoting their own poets, their own philosophers in the process. That's the same kind of approach we're taking. And just the sign of loan gentlemen raises conversations.

So we have had numerous people stopping by, going. Who is a Sunkoon God? Uh hello. It's as simple as that. Then you have a conversation.

You talk about Acts 17. You can bring the whole gospel into it, and we have. Um Or people will ask you. 'Cause that's a common thing on the streets. Hey, you're having a conversation with somebody.

Hey, I like your bicycle, I like your costume, whatever, isn't that a cool art piece? And they'll you'll have this this little informal conversation and they'll be going, What cap are you with? 'Cause almost everybody is with a theme camp. And we've been going, yeah, the camp of the unknown God. And then that opens up a conversation.

So it's not it's n it's not tough, it's not difficult. And we have found more often than not people are willing to have. have a conversation because you have taken the time. That is fascinating, Carl. And I just want to thank you for what you're doing because not too many people are out there doing what you're doing.

You have a fascinating ministry that God's called you to. Unfortunately, time has gotten away from us. How can people get in touch with you? Yes, a couple of different ways. You can go to my Substack page, Convergence, Power and Belief, and I have articles and essays that are published there.

I've also started a new organization with my friend George Olson, who comes with me to Burning Man and to other events. The organization is a non-profit group called Orbis Century, O-R-B-I-S. Dash sentry as in the soldier. And we're looking at training Christians to be ambassadors, not for the culture war, but to engage in cultural diplomacy for the cause of Jesus Christ.

So those are are are two ways of of connecting with our work. Welcome back to the extended version of Understanding the Times. I'm Ken Michael, along with my co-host, Pastor Josh Schwartz.

And today we're interviewing Carl Tycrib. And if you listened to the first part of this program, we're going to continue that conversation. Carl, welcome back to the program. Thank you. I have a quick clip for you that I want you to listen to and then I'll get your take on it.

In the video, Dr. Berry tells this story. She was in her 20s. And she'd gone to see a lecture by Dr. Naeem Akbar, a brilliant scholar of African-American psychology.

And during his talk, And she explained that he always leaves room for spirit to move through him while he's speaking. And she said it was almost like a trance-like moment. She knew that he was receiving this message. And in the middle of this talk, he said, Why me here now? And so she began using it as a kind of mantra.

For whenever she went into new spaces or was experiencing challenges, whatever, why me here now? Letting it guide her attention and her responses and her purpose. And this inspired me so much that I decided to let those words guide me throughout my spiritual retreat.

So Carl, it seems, I mean, we've been talking about paganism the whole first half an hour, and we're going to continue here in this extended version. And from that clip, that video there, there is this spiritual reality that people are trying to tune into. They realize there's something outside of themselves. You were just talking about how you were at Burning Man in 2025. Can you share with us, maybe in cohesion with that video, of just the spiritual desire that people have, that they're seeking something and how you saw that not only where you're at in Canada, but at Burning Man and other places, and then how we should interpret that as followers of Jesus.

Oh, absolutely.

So I'll give you an example from the burn itself. And it was, in my mind, it's a miracle event. A small miracle, but a miracle.

So before the break, you had played a little clip from my interview with Melissa Doherty. Um That clip was dropped on Friday before Burning Man. There was a a couple Who is at the bird? I don't know who they are. I didn't know who they are.

But they had downloaded, apparently, the video and was watching it while they were at the berm, and they're part of a camp. This is Wednesday. Wednesday about 7.30 in the morning. I am coming back to my tent. Um And I was about to zip myself into my tent.

You know, you go to the quarter bodies, you kind of set some stuff up for the morning. You want to maybe catch an hour more sleep. And as I'm ready to zip myself back in the tent, there is this younger couple. about thirty five, forty feet away, standing in the street, staring at me. And you're staring at me.

And they're staring at me. And this is getting awkward. And I'm thinking, you know, they must be looking past me at something.

Something must be going on. And, you know, you turn to look, and Then there's nothing un unusual going on. It's just It's Burning Man. It's all unusual. There's nothing unusual going on.

And you're like. What's happening? And then the guy goes, Coral? Is that you? And I'm like you.

Yeah, yeah. And here, so this is what's happening. They're going to the quarter parties as well, and they are watching Melissa's video. As far as I understand, they are not believers, and she herself is specifically not a believer, though they are there seeking spirituality. Absolutely, there's no question.

They put the video on pause and said some little prayer to the universe. That um that they would maybe find me somewhere. And as soon as they were done, they lifted up their eyes and I am the first person they see.

Now this is a place with seventy thousand people. It has a nine mile perim a nine mile perimeter. Uh And it turned out they were camping only uh you know a few hundred feet from us. And they were in shock. I was in shock.

They would come then to our morning Bible studies and to have more conversations. I gave them copies of my book. We had a fantastic time of being able to present the gospel to them, having conversations about Christianity versus paganism. They brought more of their campmates over. And so we had this incredible opportunity to to share the truth of scripture In the midst of You know, this desert wasteland spiritually and physically.

And because they're they're searching and seeking. And God had already prepped their hearts and had set it up so that they would end up. running into our camp and the most amazing way imaginable. I mean, one second later, I would have been zipped in and gone. One second.

I can't fathom the mathematical odds of any of this. Yeah, I'm amazed at how God moves in people's lives and puts people in situations. I mean, they were meant to be there to talk to you, and there's, I don't think there's any doubt about it. That's an amazing story. No, praise God for that.

And thanks for being faithful. Yeah. Again, we tend to think that sometimes this requires specialized training and all the rest, and that'd be great. That's fantastic. more often than not, and whether it's in Burning Man or probably in Walmart, It's more of a matter of are you Are you willing to see what's happening around you?

And I'm guilty of not being willing to. see what's around me. I'm guilty of that. We all are, I know that. Um But at Burning Man There is this anticipation that people are coming with that we're going to find something that's going to, you know.

blow our mind and transform our world. We had three people part of our camp. intentionally covered in part of our camp who are not Christians. And every morning they were part of our Bible study group listening, contributing with questions. And they were there every day as non-Christians.

because they wanted to be with a safe group of people. And uh we're it. We're a safe group, we're a safe camp. And they felt very comfortable with us, and we didn't shy away from any of the conversations, any hard topics we tackled at all. Um but We did so in a manner that exhibited respect to them.

Our grace. as you wrestle with truth. It's not a hard thing. Um But we were honored by the fact that they wanted to be with us and every single Bible study because we did a Bible study, Bible study every day. And the Bible study is out in the open.

People were walking by seeing us studying the Bible. and uh people would join us. And then, of course, we also made a lot of contacts with the neighbors around us. We've been going to the same. rough area for the last well, since twenty seventeen.

And so we have already built a rapport with people around us. They know, they know what we're about. Um And we help them out, even physically, helping them out. Let's say, like last year, we had the huge dust storm. Right in the very beginning of of the week, even before the the gates opened.

And I was there for for Build Week. I was there for, you know, a few days before the event even started. And it wiped out the city. I mean, a massive dust storm would sustain 50 mile an hour winds with Up to, I was told, up to 70 mile-an-hour gusts, and of course, famously it blew down the Orgy Dome, but it also blew down most of the city. I mean, the place was a wreck, I was caught in the middle of it, and it was.

It was wild. And so you're there literally with your hands, with callousness, you're getting dirty, you're covered in dust, and you are helping your neighbors. And they all, I mean, our neighbors know where we stand. We don't hide it. But it's not just that we've done with words, it's done by our actions.

We're in there with them and trying to rebuild. literally rebuild their life for the week. Um Yeah, so that's that's how it it all unfolds. I think in all of that, you're talking about just, and I think this is, all of us need to hear this and understand, it's about being present. In the places which God has planted you, and being willing to serve, to love, and most of all, to speak the truth and to tell others about why we are here doing what we're doing, and that's namely to be ambassadors of Christ.

So even in. darken very potentially uh uh different pagan places like burning man we you God has called you to be there and to be present. And I praise God for that. Carl, thank you for being a great example to me and to Ken and to the listeners. Thank you.

May I tell you one quick story? for our our S okay, our Sunday morning. This was This is crazy.

So, we wanted to do a more traditional Sunday morning service at our camp. Like I said, we can do these Bible studies. We've done them last year as well. And we have people who have been coming. uh to to our little Sunday morning uh service.

And we probably had maybe, I think maybe 20 people in our shade structure. Um We've got a guy, his name is Alex. And he's there. And he is peaking on LSD. And I mean, he is at the top.

He is totally peaking. And we had set up as a camp: hey, we're going to do scripture reading, we're going to do prayer, I've got a devotional laid out, you know, this is, we're going to have this service.

Well Other plans happened. We didn't have a service. Instead, we Work to try to keep this guy under control as he is absolutely agitated. He's standing, he's sitting, he's standing, he's sitting. Um At one point, he's begging us to be told something from scripture.

We tell him two, three different things. points of truth. Jesus is the only way, and he's like, This is some of the most important things I've ever heard. This is the most important spiritual information I've ever received. And then he would reject it all, and it was just, it was.

I think 40 minutes. Of just like chaos. And at one point, all he was wearing was like. He's wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a house coat. And I remember at one point he stands up, he bunches his house coat all together.

slams it on the on the dust. under the desert floor. And he's like, You're my elders, and I need to listen to you. But look at you, you're old, you're dying, and you don't even have an Instagram account. And it's this bizarre back and forth and we he ends up Finding himself at the threshold, So the very entrance of our character.

And he's like very, very obviously agitated, going, I need to hear what you have to say. This is important. I recognize what you're saying is true. But there are girls. There's girls.

This is the party. And towards the end, he had a Bible in his hand because whenever guys give him a Bible, He had a hand made cross in his other hand, Brian, one of our guys from our camp, does some blacksmithing as a hobby. He makes these crosses, beautiful crosses.

So this guy is standing there in his bathrobe. at the threshold. Bible in his hand. Crossing the other. And he turns and he bolts.

And it was like something out of a cartoon because you could literally see the dust pounding off his feet as he's racing away from us. yelling loudly, saying to the effect that I cannot follow Jesus. There's girls and of course he's using explicit you know more explicit language. And it was like a whirlwind had gone through our place. Keep in mind, we've got non-Christians.

who have been part of our camp the whole week. We have others who have joined us just specifically for that Sunday morning. We didn't have to say too much. We all were looking at each other. We were quiet.

And the realization struck everybody. that Alex had just demonstrated for us. The tension between do we follow the world. Or do we follow Christ? And for that forty minute period, we just saw that modeled out.

And that ended up being the course of our conversation afterwards. Um guys, you guys who are non-Christians? Look. You're you're literally standing at the threshold too. Same as Alex.

Alex chose to run. Alex chose to run it. Um You have to make a choice to run to Christ or run away from Christ, which is it. Yeah, and that's the choice we all have, Carl. And that is a fascinating story.

So, as we wrap it up here. We know that we either live by the world or we follow Christ. And you've been to all of these places. You've been to Paganicon, you've been to Burning Man, and all these. We're watchmen on the wall.

So we know all these things are out there. What advice would you give to followers in this time that we're living in? Because they may have friends and/family members that are involved in this. What advice would you give them to try and get a stronghold into their lives and get them on the right track to follow Christ? Uh we tend in the Christian world to be reactionary.

And that means that needs to end. the the reactionary path is the path of the culture war. We'll be a keyboard warrior and we spill our guts. Usually it's it doesn't really make any difference at all because we have come from a position of our raw emotions. Uh That really isn't the place to come from.

We need to take it more measured. More purposeful position, we need to have a response. And that's what you see what's happening in Acts chapter 17. Paul is giving a response, it's not a reaction, it's a response. And so we come with knowledge, we come with love.

We come of grace, we come of truth. And then we bring that into the conversation in a way that is measured. and hopefully in a way that is honourable. And we just put it out. There's the there it is for them to make a decision.

Now they have to be either you know, running like Alex away from Christ or hopefully running to Christ. All you are is the messenger. That's it. You know, the the person's salvation is not on your shoulders. Um it's not on my shoulders.

That's God's work. Uh our work. Our work is to be the messenger. You don't have to go to Burning Man. Wherever your feet are, That's where your ministry is, period.

Um And that's literally moment by moment, wherever your feet are, that is where your ministry is. and and how we ex we exemplify that in our day-to-day walk. And I think if if we understood that Better? Um I think it's so easy to be pulled into the emotion of this. It's so easy to go down the road of reaction.

because that's the culture we're now in. But I think we can pull it back a bit and now take, let's say, more a diplomatic ambassador approach, because that's what we've been called to be ambassadors. That demonstrates that there's actually a measured response, a measured level. uh that we that we engage in. not just simply be the keyboard warrior that We all want to be.

Praise God for that. And I think, you know, you're you're absolutely right. I uh there is a difference between a reaction and a response. And and being called to a response is it means it's intentional. It means that we're we are studied.

We know how to interact. We we know what the scriptures say and we are submissive to the leading and guiding and directing of God's Spirit who will lead us and speak through us in the times in which he has led us into.

So thanks for that because that's true. I think so often we react, react, react, but we need to faithfully respond as a follower of Jesus as his hands and feet and mouth in a very dark and dying world.

So Carl, thank you so much again for your ministry. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for just everything that you're doing for the body of Christ. Again, how can people get in touch with you? Sure, you can find me on Substack under Convergence, Power Belief.

And you can also go to my webpage for my book, gameofguards.ca. I have an older website called Force You Change. It's still relevant. You can sign up with your email and download. Nine years of back issues and reports that I had published going back of, I think, 2000.

Nine or seven, something like that. It was already escaping me up until about 2015. There's lots of material there, so forcingchinish.org. And uh then you can check out our new organization, Orbis Century, by uh going online and typing in Orbis. Slash century.

And it's a non-profit group as we are looking to try it and pay ambassadors for cultural diplomacy to be able to respond So react. as we find ourselves facing an increasingly painful sculpture.

Well, check out his book, Game of Gods. You can look us up at olivetreeviews.org. Carl Tychreb, I want to thank you for your time, and God bless you and your ministry. Thank you, gentlemen. Contact us at our website olivetreeviews.org.

That's olivetreeviews.org. We get our mail when you write to us at 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. While we are all weary of the antics of a sin-sick world, it is still a privilege to be born for such a time as this.

Everything is lining up. and everything predicted is falling into place.

Sorry. Yeah. Be unto your name Be unto your name.