The Final Stage

Is it possible to have a Mark of the Beast without a beast, without the Antichrist? Everyone's talking about the Mark of the Beast, that the vaccine or vaccines are in fact the Mark of the Beast, that we are somehow being tricked, that we are in the tribulation period, the Antichrist is here somewhere, and that the vaccination pushed by these nations and by these manufacturers is the Mark of the Beast.

Honestly, I must confess I'm sad to hear that kind of dialogue. Welcome to Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell. Radio for the Remnant brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries.

Today, jazz visits with ministry friend Dr. Mark Hitchcock. They consider prophecy flashpoints that we should pay attention to. Is government overreach setting the stage for the reign of the most evil emperor ever, the Antichrist?

Stay tuned. Everybody would agree, I think, that the globalism we see today and people taking more and more control in government is certainly a precursor for what's coming. And a vaccine can be another way to exercise government control over people's lives, can be another gateway to globalism. It's a further means for people to gain power. So I think we would all say that some type of vaccine certainly can be used by people in government to gain more power over people. Others are saying, well, this can be a way for the government to not let you buy or sell or be engaged in commerce. In other words, they can hold that over your head and say, if you don't take this vaccine, then you're not going to be able to be engaged in commerce like everybody else. So a lot of people see this as symbolic. It's kind of a symbolic thing.

It's not really a mark on the right hand or forehead. It's this vaccine that's coming to pass. Glad you can join me for Understanding the Times radio today. We opened the program with a short clip by Pastor Jack Hibbs, exhorting us to be careful about what we believe and what we promote.

I just heard a very short clip there by Dr. Mark Hitchcock, who will be my guest for the hour. But people are suggesting that the mark of the beast is here now. Problem is, we don't have a beast. We don't have the Antichrist on the scene. That doesn't mean that some tactics being used today couldn't morph into some very sinister happenings once the church is removed and the world enters that terrible time known as the tribulation. With me for the hour is Dr. Mark Hitchcock, pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.

He's a prolific author, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, was one of my frequent conference speakers before we had to close things down in our conference world for obvious reasons here in Minnesota. And we're going to look at several current issues for the hour and how they might tie to the Bible. We're going to be considering, as you might have assumed by some of these opening clips, that the mark of the beast, we're going to talk a little bit about the decline of America as a superpower and why there's actually talk now of a civil war coming to America. We're going to talk about, well, there's a bear in the forest and he's stirring.

That would be Russia. And quite frankly, a lot more we could get to if time allows. Mark Hitchcock, welcome back to the program. It's great to be with you again.

Thanks so much for having me. Sure. I want to start with some info because you've written on it, you talk about it, this information on this mark of the beast. And again, as I said in my intro, some people think it's here now, and that's obviously impossible. And I think folks need to better understand what this mark of the beast is all about because some are saying today that the vaccine is the mark. We need to clarify that the mark of the beast involves loyalty to the Antichrist and worship of the Antichrist and mark clarify why it's not possible that it's presently being used. I think that's a really important point to make.

Sometimes people begin to recklessly speculate about certain things and go overboard. The biblical entry point to understand the mark of the beast is Revelation chapter 13, verses 16 to 18. And in that context, we read about in chapter 13 that this coming world ruler, the Antichrist, he's called there the beast out of the sea. He's going to have someone who's a lieutenant who works with him, who's called the beast out of the earth. We're going to be working in concert together, empowered by Satan.

We're going to have a one-world government, a one-world economy, a one-world religion. And part of the institution of all this and the control that's going to be used is a mark. And the word that's used there, mark, is a Greek word karagma. It's used like a tattoo or an etching back in that day. So it could be something as simple as just a tattoo on the right hand.

It says it's upon the right hand or upon the forehead. This is, you know, one can buy or sell unless they have this mark. Later on, it says the mark is the number of a man's name, and the number is 666. So when you put all of that together, what I believe that the mark of the beast is, it's the number of a man, it's the number of his name. So I believe when the Antichrist appears someday, the numerical value of his name will be 666. You say, well, what do you mean the numerical value?

There's something called, it's kind of a big word, but the word gematria. And in both Hebrew and Greek, which the Bible's written in these two languages, the letters of the alphabet have a numerical value associated with them. So you could take anyone's name and you can count up the numerical value of the letters in that name. And I believe it's telling us that the name of the Antichrist will equal 666, which also is a powerful symbolic number as well, because in the Bible, the number seven is the number of perfection. The number seven appears 54 times in the book of Revelation. So it's symbolic as well, because he's never going to be as great as he thinks he is. And as much as he puts himself forward in pride, he's still just going to be 666.

So he's going to fall short of what God desires. But I really do think that'll be the literal numerical value of his name. People will literally be taking his name upon them. They'll be taking his name on the right hand or forward. So as you mentioned earlier, it's a pledge of allegiance.

It's a mark of loyalty, but it's also the passport for commerce and for trade in the world in that day. But nothing today can be the mark of the beast for a couple of reasons. One is it's going to be instituted by the Antichrist during the tribulation period and actually not even till the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation. So we're not even in the tribulation yet. We're not even close to the midpoint of it. So nothing today can be the mark of the beast.

But let me ask you this. Is it possible that something like this, and again, we're referring more specifically to the vaccine being used today to fight COVID, and there are many who suggest that this is at least the beginning stages of the mark of the beast, the vaccine, is it possible that it could be a precursor to the mark? And the only reason I'm asking this, Mark Hitchcock, is because along with the vaccine, we're seeing government overreach, government control. We're seeing a sentiment that says you must trust the government. Government knows best. And we're seeing a sentiment that says government will keep you safe and healthy. Now, that's very tempting to people to want to follow any institution that says we're going to keep you safe and healthy. Therefore, could this be a precursor? Yes, I definitely think things like this are precursors.

I have no problem saying that. But it can't be the mark because we're not in the time of the tribulation. And also it can't be the mark because the Bible tells us that when people take the mark of the beast in Revelation 14, it says they're doomed. So God is not going to condemn somebody and doom them by taking a vaccine that they don't know is the mark.

That's right. When people take the mark of the beast during the tribulation period, they're going to be knowingly, willingly taking this mark. They're going to be pledging their allegiance to the Antichrist.

Then they'll be doomed. Nothing that we see today is the mark. And to identify things today as the mark is jumping the gun.

Sure. But we do see the way being paid because when you get to the end times, you're gonna have to have, I call it a conditioned citizenry. That's right.

That's my point. People are gonna have to be conditioned to begin to accept these mandates and the authoritarianism and willingly submit. This is all leading up to that. While this is happening, we see the economy of the world shrinking, really becoming one. We see authoritarianism all over the world. It's not just here in the United States. This is not a United States of America problem.

It is a global issue. And Mark, I've referred to this headline on air two or three times. It's out of Israel National News. It's headlines like this that stoke further fear and the conversation that I'm talking about that the vaccine is the mark. Okay, let me read the headline. Israel National News. We won't force a vaccine, but here's what we will do.

Sub headline. Amazon will force it. Airlines will. Banks will. Okay, now here's the kicker.

You won't be able to buy, sell, or trade without the vaccine. That was all a headline and a sub headline on Israel National News. It's things like this that get people wondering and questioning and worrying.

Sure. It's the kind of thing where these governments exercise this authority. You can't buy or sell if you have this.

We've seen it in our country. You can't go to the gym. You can't go to the restaurant.

You can't go to all these different places you're shut out from. This is kind of a trial run. You could say in some ways it's these things that are going to begin to happen more and more. And this is just the beginning. The next crisis that's going to come along that's going to be a manufactured crisis is climate change. Okay, I want to go there in just a minute, but I'm not quite through with COVID yet and the vaccine. I'm drawing here on an article you've written. Let me read two short paragraphs. The COVID pandemic is now in at least stage three. We've seen alpha, delta, now omicron.

With each variant, the response is predictable. Calls for lockdowns, masks, the persistent drum beat to get vaccinated, revaccinated, boosted and reboosted. People all over the world have been subjugated to alarming government overreach and control. And the end of the tyranny is nowhere in sight. One more paragraph.

This is written by Mark Hitchcock, my guest. What's clear is that the global elites, folks, that's a key term he's using, global elites. It's clear that the global elites and government officials have seized this crisis to stretch their tentacles into every area of life in an attempt to bring about their goal, the great reset. Some maintain that global elites have not just leveraged the COVID crisis to their advantage, but that they purposely unleashed it to foster their agenda to establish a one world government and economy. In other words, they believe COVID is a plandemic and those who have fallen in line with its endless edicts are sheeple.

While we may never know the origin of the virus with certainty, we do know what it has created. And one thing we know for sure is that the global resetters are fully aware that the pathway to tyranny is paved with over exaggerated crises. And then I'm closing this article with this statement. It's now clear, according to Mark's article, that the default position of the left is bigger government, more coercion, and a greater control. And I think that's the key, Mark, is this greater control. And you use the term global elites are in love with control.

That's right. Their answer always to every crisis, whether real or manufactured, is more government and more control. It's never freedom. It's never more power to the citizens.

It's always power more concentrated in the hands of fewer people. That's always their answer to every crisis. As our world goes along now, we're going to see cascading crises with COVID and others.

They're going to cause this to accelerate more and more. You raised the issue in your article, and folks, I only read a couple paragraphs from his article on COVID and the vaccines and all. You raised in the article, there's coming a global reset.

I want to play a clip here. Happens to be Glenn Beck. Glenn does not approach this from a Christian perspective, but he's very cutting edge on understanding the purposes of this great reset. And by the way, Dr. Mark Hitchcock has a book coming out in the spring on the reset, which we will carry.

I want to play this real quick clip of Glenn Beck and then come back, Mark, and talk about it. The progressive era is over. We are now in the era of the great reset. This is the final stage. Now, believe it or not, they're not coming out in the open calling it reconstruction. They're playing it cool with all of their wording.

But if you understand the wording, you'll see it everywhere. Listen to this from leaders all over the world. And enable us not just to come through this crisis, but to come back stronger and build back better. But this global pandemic has also created an opportunity to build back better. To keep drawing together our shared experience and insight and enable us to build back New Zealand even better. But the COVID-19 pandemic can also be a moment for resolving long-standing conflicts and addressing structural weaknesses. Four sets of priorities can guide the response to build back better.

Build Back Better. The slogan was used just here, three prime ministers and the secretary general of the UN. It is everywhere and it predates the Biden administration. The European Commission used Build Back Better to announce their COVID stimulus fund. The UN uses it all the time.

And guess who else? The World Economic Forum. And they make it very clear what this seemingly harmless slogan is truly all about. Let me quote them.

To build back better, we must reinvent capitalism. Did you vote for that? Because I didn't. I didn't even hear it discussed. So in other words, Joe Biden's campaign slogan and his main political goal that he and the Democrats are now trying to get past in the Senate is a UN and World Economic Forum propaganda line for the restructuring of all of society and ending capitalism as we know it.

I know this is quite a charge. There is no speculation here. I am giving you the facts as laid out by world global leaders. This is what's happening right now.

Quite honestly, it's the scariest thing I've seen our government do in my lifetime. Whether you're calling it wartime reconstruction, build back better or maybe the weirdest of them all. The great reset. It is about one thing, the fundamental transformation of the Western way of life, your life, global elites all over the world are united to ensure that this happens.

That's their idea of society pushed in force on people like you and me and being told that it's a fantasy or it's not really happening. I've been calling out the great reset now for over a year. It has been really hard to nail down in layman terms. It's exactly what it is.

It is a great reset. The threat that it poses is incomparable to anything I have seen. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell. I have on the line from Oklahoma, Dr. Mark Hitchcock, pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. By the way, we carry his book, Corona Crisis, Plagues, Pandemics, and the Coming Apocalypse. Find that in my online store at OliveTreeViews.org.

Call my office, get on our newsletter lists, and you'll find that book offered in those various outlets. Just a quick reminder here, we had a great evening with Pastor Tom Hughes just a few nights ago. You can watch the presentation, Trending Towards the Tribulation, under video at my website, OliveTreeViews.org, on our Rumble channel, or at MarkHenryMinistries.com. Allow us a few days for editing here, so probably be posted Monday of this forthcoming week. This was our bi-monthly Understanding the Times event at Pastor Mark Henry's church near Minneapolis, Minnesota, Revived Church, Brooklyn Park. Again, won't be posted probably until Monday of this coming week. Wonderful evening with Pastor Tom Hughes.

Check it out on our website under video, on our Rumble channel, or at MarkHenryMinistries.com. Mark, your thoughts on the clip you just heard? I thought it was fascinating the words he used. He said, this is the final stage.

Now, he didn't share the eschatology that we have or the end times we have, but he understands that this is a final stage as things are working towards this fundamental transformation of the Western world beyond what he even said as well. You know, they want to eliminate borders. Everybody will just be a citizen of the world. You'll no longer be a citizen of particular countries. And of course, we see that happening in our own country today where people can now vote in local elections.

You aren't citizens. So it's a breakdown of all of capitalism, of borders, of all nationalism. What I see behind all this is Satan is the master globalist. Behind these global elites is ultimately Satan because he had the whole world together before the Tower of Babel under the rule of one man under Nimrod.

God came and scattered people all over the face of the earth. We've gone from tribalism to nationalism now to globalism. And Satan is bringing the world back together again because he wants to rule the world again under one person. All of this is happening under the ultimate control and dominion of Satan. He's the master globalist. He's the master resetter who's working in all of these things to bring about this transformation again to reinvent capitalism, really to eliminate it, to eliminate borders, more and more social control over people's lives. All of this is paving the way to Satan's ultimate plan to rule the world through one man, through the Antichrist. So the reset, which is not implemented yet, it certainly could be, they met electronically in the middle of January.

They did not meet in Davos. They're going to do that in the spring. But they had a huge meeting of about 25 world leaders meeting electronically to plot and scheme global government. And Mark, I talk about this on air all the time, the reset. Could the reset then be the tribulation?

That's my bottom line question. The tribulation period certainly will be a massive reset of all the world. Of course, we believe the rapture is going to take place first.

You talk about a resetting event. Again, you talk about a crisis that people can seize, people all over the world disappearing. In the wake of this crisis, people are going to be looking for someone who can bring some order out of the chaos. I've heard you refer to the Antichrist before as the man with the plan, looking for someone who can come and bring order from the chaos. And ultimately, Satan's man will arise, the Antichrist, and people will look to him. And of course, his solution to this is going to be the ultimate reset here on earth where he rules and controls everything. It'll start out, the Bible tells us there's going to be 10 leaders, 10 kings.

He's going to uproot three of them. They're ultimately going to give him their authority. So it's going to start out with an oligarchy or a group of global elites who are leading the world. But it's ultimately, all power is going to be centralized in his hands. The tribulation period will be really the institution, finally, of this great global reset.

And the real mastermind behind all of it ultimately is Satan himself. I'm going back to your article on the vaccines. We're going to read two very short paragraphs. And you say the call to silence, suppress, and shut down those who disagree is mushrooming. No longer is dissent acceptable. It must be quashed when the next crisis is promoted by the left, parentheses, maybe climate change, and I would agree with that. The calls to punish those who refuse to fall in line will increase and intensify, I'm closing here, the shocking, surging intolerance and desire for retribution against those who refuse the vaccination or even question. It is a faint foreshadow of the tyranny that will engulf the world when the man of sin arrives on the scene.

And then Mark, you refer to something that I've seen and referred to myself. And that is this poll that was taken January 5th of this year by Heartland Institute and Rasmussen reports. Let me just summarize it here in literally one minute. Almost 60% of Democrat voters would favor a government policy requiring that citizens remain confined to their homes at all times except for emergencies if they refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. Secondly, nearly half of all Democrat voters think that federal and state government should be able to fine or imprison individuals. Again, getting back to the vaccination issues. 45% of Democrats would favor governments requiring citizens to temporarily live in designated facilities or locations if they refuse a COVID-19 vaccine.

Let's translate that designated facilities as quarantine camps, and some countries are calling them concentration camps. And then the last stat here, 30% of Democrat voters would support temporarily removing patients' custody of their children if parents refuse to take COVID-19 vaccine. Again, Mark, you're citing here, as am I, the strife, the animosity is growing in America like I never thought I would see. No, it's such a divided citizen. It's divided on so many issues as to polarization.

We see it all the time. But to think that over an issue like vaccination, 60% of Democrat voters would favor a government policy requiring people to be confined to their homes. Almost half, they'd be put in these facilities. But the one that was really the most shocking to me is 30% would support temporarily removing parents' custody of their children if they refuse to take this. The word harsh isn't really enough. These are draconian measures that almost half of Democrats, and 60% in one case, put place upon people who fail to do what they think the government should have them do.

And again, it's all about following science, but so many of these things that they claim to believe have been debunked and have been refuted. It just shows that not only does the government want to have this kind of control over people, but they have a willing citizenry who will also join them in wanting to punish people who disagree. And then you conclude this article, the call to silence, suppress, and shut down those who disagree is mushrooming. No longer is dissent acceptable. It must be quashed. When the next crisis is promoted by the left, and again, you refer to climate change as the likely next crisis, the calls to punish those who refuse to fall in line will increase and intensify. Folks, you can follow Mark on his website and get his prophecy updates there, marklhitchcock.com, marklhitchcock.com.

He's got articles, videos, and more at that location. Mark, in summary, even though I'm going to transition here shortly to the potential for all of this kind of sentiment leading to a potential civil war in America, I guess the bottom line for this first part of the programming is it's an illness for which the recovery rate in most categories of people is 99.9%. Obviously, some have had a worst-case scenario, and I've featured some of those on air, so we are not making light of the fact that some people get very, very sick from COVID-19, but most categories are going to recover in fairly good time. But this has undone the world. I'm talking about almost 200 countries.

Even World War II, basically, involved Europe, but this crisis has involved 200 countries. Dr. Mark Yes, it's really engulfed the world. I know a lot of people who've been vaccinated, and if people want to get vaccinated, get vaccinated. I have no problem with that at all. I really don't.

That's a medical issue. I'm not anti-vaccine at all. What I'm against, and you're against as well, is the government mandating not just one vaccine but two vaccines, boosters, you know, all of that. It's the government control over this that is wrong, and I think, again, is a setup for what's coming in the future. It's clear, again, the Bible's headed towards a one-world government, an economy, a religion where dissent's not tolerated, and the world's ultimately going to have to march in lockstep to the final Antichrist.

So what you're saying is correct. There's never been anything that's galvanized so many of the global elites that we refer to and nations and control like this issue, and I don't think this is the last one, but I think this is the beginning. This is the tipping point. Dr. Lynn Teitelbaum Well, I think you think climate is going to be next, but if we don't go along with the climate agenda, these kinds of repressive tactics are going to be utilized again. If we're still here, the church could be removed tomorrow, who knows, but if we're not, I think climate is next.

Dr. James Merrill I agree with that. I think the mandates are coming down about what kind of vehicles you're going to be able to drive. There's already talk about putting something on people's cars where they're going to know how many miles you've driven, and if you drive more than this certain allotted miles, you're fine for that.

Obviously, cows put out all kinds of methane so they can control how much beef people can eat and try to reduce the population of cattle and sheep all over the world, all these things. But again, it's going to be leveraged as a crisis. The world's going to end in 20 years if we don't do all of this. If you don't fall in line, you hate people and you're for the destruction of the world, and so it's going to be framed in that kind of a context where people are going to be panicked to have to follow these edicts, and it's just going to be more and more measures like this. When COVID finally dies out, that'll be the crisis de jour, be the next one that's in line. After that, I'm sure there'll be something else, but that will dominate, and all the spending that's going to go into that as well, how much money's going to drive inflation.

Then the government has to come in and exert more control to try to control the inflation. So it's all a cycle of where everything's ultimately headed to the final reign of the Antichrist. We carry Mark's book, Corona Crisis, Plagues, Pandemics, and Coming Apocalypse, and that's in my online store, OliveTreeViews, views as in viewpoint, OliveTreeViews.org, call my office, Central Time, we'll get that out to you, or get on our newsletter list, print NE. And Mark, you have a conference coming up Saturday, February 26th, and I want to say a word about it. You're featuring some of my good friends, including Amir Sarfati, and Jack Hibbs, and Jeff Kinley, and yourself, and a gentleman I haven't worked with, Philip DeCorcy. I think tickets are sold out to attend in person, but folks can stream it online for $25 and watch archived anytime after the event is over.

Talk to me a little bit about it. This will be at Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. How do they stream this and pay the $25 streaming fee? Thanks for mentioning that. I've been to a lot of prophecy conferences, so we decided to have one here at the church. This is the church I pastor here in Edmond, Oklahoma, and had the privilege to be here 30 years.

This will be our first big really main conference. The church is called Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, but it's faithbibleok.com. You go to our website. There's a place here that will get you to where you need to be to purchase the live stream and to be able to view it. Or again, you can watch it archived. You want to watch part of it live stream, watch part of it later. You'll be able to get online with that. But it's going to be five speakers, so it's going to be 9 30 to about five o'clock, 5 30 event that day with a long break for lunch.

Speakers that your listeners know about and that you know. It'll be a great event. I'm really fired up about it. Our people here locally are really excited about it as well, excited to see what God will do through it. February 26, it's a Saturday, and that's faithbibleok for Oklahoma, faithbibleok.com, where you can get further information and sign up for the $25 live streaming fee. And of course, the good thing about that is you can watch it anytime after the event.

You can watch it live or you can watch it archived. Again, Mark Hitchcock, Amir Sarfati, Pastor Chad Kibbs, Jeff Kinley, Philip de Courcy. And it sounds like a great day, Mark. Let me just throw in one other reminder here. That is those who watch this program on YouTube. I'm sorry I have to keep referring to this.

It's a very serious dilemma. There are now over 1000 phony olive tree videos posted to YouTube. They've been hijacked. They've been doctored. A lot of people cannot discern that they are phony and hijacked. And you've got to be careful or you're going to be listening to, it is me, but they've doctored the entire video. Olive Tree does not post as a shocking prophecy.

And that's how everyone is labeled. So would you watch our video version on our website, on Rumble, or on his channel, YouTube censors and allows this kind of nonsense to be posted to denigrate legitimate ministries such as this one. They will not take down these hijacked versions of our videos. Big Tech is not our friend, folks.

Matter of fact, it's our enemies. I'm going to keep reminding you because you folks are writing and calling saying, why are we posting such nonsensical videos? We aren't.

They are stolen and they are doctored. Sorry if I sound upset. I am.

I'll stop there. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell.

I have on the line from Oklahoma, Dr. Mark Hitchcock. I've worked with Mark Hitchcock for a lot of years and had him at numerous Understanding the Times conferences and carried his various books. Mark, how many books have you written now?

35. And you have one coming out with Jeff Kinley in the spring on The Great Reset. Give me a paragraph of what that will entail because we're going to want to carry it. And this is the topic of the hour.

I think some folks get tired of it, but it is so important. Give me a paragraph. The book's called Global Reset and the subtitle is Do Events in Our World Today Play a Part in the Rise of the Antichrist? Basically, the book is looking at what's happening today and is showing how all the things that we see happening on myriad fronts, but mainly through the World Economic Forum, through Klaus Schwab, through the Davos meetings and all of that, how all of this is trying to transform America, transform our world, and really is paving the way and setting the stage for the rise of the Antichrist. I know Thomas Nelson will send it to me, but I am looking forward to it, Mark. That's great.

I'm so glad you and Jeff did this. And that's going to lead me into another article you've written, and it's on the potential for a civil war in America. In your article, you talk about some of the things that potentially could take America down.

Why don't I mention those things? You're citing a Washington Post headline that reads, In America, talk turns to something not spoken of for 150 years, civil war. And then there's a reference to Victor Davis Hanson, and Hanson apparently says in an essay, which you're citing, how, when, and why has the United States now arrived at the brink of a veritable civil war?

Hanson warns, quote, almost every cultural and social institution, universities, public schools, the NFL, the Oscars, the Tonys, the Grammys, late night television, public restaurants, coffee shops, movies, TV, standup comedy has not just been politicized, but also weaponized. The United States stands at the brink of a veritable civil war. And then Mark, you in your article goes on here, many triggers for a second US civil war are possible. The following is a rundown of some of the most conspicuous recent flashpoints. And then you list anarchist groups like Antifa, issues over election legitimacy, gun rights, climate change, global warming, you list excessive government control, racial tensions, immigration issues, capitalism versus socialism. So I can't summarize the entire article.

I want to play a clip of yours in just a minute or two. But I think a lot of Americans are hesitant to use that term, civil war in America. I think most Americans never thought we'd come to this. No, I think that's definitely true. I love America.

So do you. We love this country. We pray for it. I just started running across different people who were saying this in December 2021. A member of the key CIA advisory panel said that the US is closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe. And a Zogby poll just last year found that a plurality of Americans, 46% of Americans believe a civil war was likely. And when I first read that, it's something I'd never even thought about until I started reading some of these things.

I thought, this is stunning. But when you think about our country today, and again, you don't have to say this to anybody, it's so obvious, but we're locked in a very fierce ideological, political, cultural civil war in our country. We really have two rival cultures. We have really two constitutions in many ways in our country and two ways of life. And some people that I've read here recently would even say that what we're in now is really, we're already in a soft, kind of a cold civil war.

It's not a hot civil war and we're shootings going on. But I think when we look around in many ways, we have to agree with that now. Whether it will get to that other point, no one knows, but a lot of people who are very... Victor David Hansen's not some kind of a person who just says things without thinking them through that you quoted earlier. So these are very reliable, very intelligent people who are saying, look, this is something that could happen. And again, it's sobering to us, but I think it's something that certainly could happen. Another item, by the way, that's just surfaced, not a surprise to anyone, $30 trillion in debt to the country at this point is the thing, Mark, that wasn't listed in this lineup of potential issues that are bringing about the rapid decline of America.

And I want to play this clip. It's a message you gave a year or two ago, but it's certainly relevant for our time. There's a fourth scenario or event, one that's actually mentioned in the Bible that I believe best explains the scriptural silence about America in the end times. And that event is the rapture of the church. One of these days in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, the Lord Jesus is going to return to the heavens. All those believers who are on the earth who are alive are going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The dead in Christ will rise, that is their bodies, and will be rejoined with their perfected spirits that are with the Lord. Those of us who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

We're going to receive an immortal, imperishable, incorruptible body and a perfected spirit in a moment of time. And when that happens, if the numbers that are out there of, you know, about eight percent of the people in America are evangelical Christians, believe that salvation is by God's grace alone through faith alone and Jesus Christ alone, that's about 30 million people that will disappear in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. You say, well, a lot of other nations will lose people as well, but if you go to the Middle East and to Europe, I mean, in most of those places it's less than one percent of the people would say that they believe that salvation is through faith alone and Jesus Christ alone. It's going to wreck this nation.

The salt and light will be gone in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. There'll be gaping voids left in every strata of society. Jeff Kinley, who's written a book called The End of America, describes it really vividly. He says, not a single believer will be left on American soil.

Imagine that for a moment. With our country's soul now removed, she'll become a zombie-like nation wandering aimlessly toward her ultimate and inevitable demise. In this miraculous moment, the complete departure of Christians is not the only thing that will change. Everything will be altered following that split-second departure. Government, states, communities, militaries, schools, churches, colleges, hospitals, universities, families, marriages, natural infrastructures, everything. There won't be a single pocket of society that remains unaffected, as for all practical purposes, God will have left the building. He says, with anarchy and chaos reigning, America will be paralyzed and officially no longer a major player in world affairs.

Like a heavy blanket, darkness falls on the entire nation. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell. I have on the line from Oklahoma Dr. Mark Hitchcock, pastor of Faith Bible Church, Edmond, Oklahoma, and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.

We've carried his books over the years, many of his books. Mark, we've just talked about the reset. The reset is on the horizon.

The reset very well could be the tribulation. If so, the rapture of the church is going to happen momentarily. And again, that will be what decimates America.

I believe it is. That's the biblical event that's spoken of. And when you think about the salt and light, as you said, being immediately extracted from this country, 30 million people, believers immediately taken out of this world, America is going to become a second or third rate power overnight. Think about $30 trillion in debt, and then you take the 30 million, maybe most productive people out of the country. I think the rapture will be the ultimate final demise of America. But that could also even happen in confluence with these other things, because you've got this debt that's going to exacerbate that. You've got the corrosive effect of sinfulness in our country, the confusion that's out there in our nation.

We can't even decide who a man is and a woman is. All of these things, we're in this Romans 1 downward death spiral towards the wrath of God. And I think when you put these things together, the economic scene of inflation, just the moral descent and corruption in our country, and then you put an event like the rapture on top of that, America is going to be reduced. And America is not mentioned in the end times in prophecy. Certainly the word American, United States, don't appear in the Bible. And if we were the great power we are today, economically and politically, you'd think we'd be mentioned somewhere in Scripture. So to me, the silence is suggested, something happens. Again, there's all these plausible scenarios about what could reduce America.

But I think the rapture in conjunction with these other things, to me, makes the most sense. In conjunction with all the other things that we talked about, we listed, which are legions, sadly. Again, it's hard for Americans to wrap their brain around the fact that this nation that's only been in existence for a few hundred years, you know, look at Europe, been around forever and ever in the Middle East as well. And for some reason, God had this nation become prominent in the shining city on a hill for a rather short period of time.

That's right. But you look at the other great empires in the world, you look at Babylon, back in the book of Daniel, Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, these empires that when they were at their zenith and their pinnacle, you know, no one thought that anything could ever bring them down. I mean, you even look at Great Britain, they had an empire in which something never sat. Today, I mean, they still are a powerful country in many ways, but they don't last long. They go through cycles, great nations doing great powers. And look, I pray and I work and I preach the gospel, and I want to do everything I can to see America remain a great nation, primarily to glorify God and to send the gospel through the world to support missions.

That's what we all want to see. But we have to also face reality of what we're seeing in our world today and say that there's things that are happening in our country today that have never happened before. And if they're not reversed in some way through revival and really ultimately repentance, we're going to go the way of these other great empires. You can learn more about Mark at marklhitchcock.com and keep up with his prophecy updates there. And again, for info on the Prophecy Conference, February the 26th, it would be faithbibleok.com, that's Faith Bible Church, Edmond, Oklahoma, faithbibleok.com.

That's the church he pastors. I'm moving into sort of a final topic here for the hour, Mark. And I think to introduce it, I'm going to play a clip of you and Gary Stearman talking about, well, there's a bear stirring in the forest, and that would be Russia. And Russia is threatening. I think it's imminent. I'm moving into Ukraine, and my concern is loss of life and bloodshed is going to be overwhelming.

I want to play this real quick clip and come back and talk about it. Talk about something that's in the news. Russia had sort of slid back to the back pages of the newspaper for a number of years, but not lately. Suddenly Russia is rising, as you say in the title of your book.

Well no, that's right. I was watching someone not long ago in the news, and they said, Russia, Russia, Russia. Everything's about Russia. And of course with the breakup of the Soviet Union back in the early 1990s everybody thought that the Russian bear had gone into permanent hibernation. Russia had gone into eclipse. Of course we've seen a lot of aggression with Georgia, with Crimea and the Ukraine.

There had been a lot of aggression. All the hoopla around the elections, the presidential elections, and tampering with that. And so Russia's everywhere, and they really are extending their footprint throughout the Middle East and really attempting to do it throughout the world. Chapter one of your book is entitled, There's a Bear in the Woods, and that's kind of a fanciful way of symbolizing Russia, but it's biblical because there is a bear in Scripture.

Well there is, and what's so fascinating to me is about the Bible. To me this is a great proof of the inspiration of the Bible. Over 2,500 years ago the Jewish prophet Ezekiel writes about a group of nations that's going to attack Israel in the end time, and one of those nations that's mentioned is Russia. And here we are, Israel's back in their land since 1948. Almost 40% of the Jews in the world are there, and at the same time that's happening Russia now is rising to become this great menace in the world. And I think this is a foreshadow or a setting of the stage of exactly what Ezekiel predicted so long ago. It's in the headlines, and yet Ezekiel talked about it so long ago. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell.

I have on the line from Oklahoma Dr. Mark Hitchcock. We're talking some current events, and I've moved into the situation between Russia and Ukraine. Mark, the Soviet Union broke up in the 1990s. Mikhail Gorbachev then was painted as such a good guy, and the Russian bear had been neutralized, and for that matter Mikhail Gorbachev even came to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the whole state just melted down over this newfound hero who gave up the Soviet empire in the early 1990s.

To some it might have looked like, oh, the Soviet Union's gone away, happy days are here again. Well, not according to the Bible, correct? That's right. The nation of Russia, it's referred to as Rosh in Ezekiel chapter 38. It's a great nation that the Bible says is going to rise in the end time. It's going to be this power from the north. It's going to be the leader of a group of nations. Iran's mentioned there as well, ancient Persia. A lot of the Islamic nations are mentioned as well. Turkey's part of this.

So it's a coalition of nations that will attack Israel in the end times. Again, Russia's in the headlines every day, their rise to power under Vladimir Putin. Now he's going to be president until 2036.

He'll be 84 years old. So he's basically the permanent czar now of Russia. As I mentioned in the video there, they took Georgia, they've taken Crimea. Now they've got 100,000 troops at the border of Ukraine, supposed to go to 175,000 troops.

America now we're sending more troops to Eastern Europe. So it's a real standoff between Russia and the United States as being part of NATO, which when you read Ezekiel 38, that's exactly the alignment of nations. You have Russia and the nations kind of in their orbit against the West, against the Antichrist and his nation.

So even the way the nations are aligning today really fits what we have in Ezekiel 38. What's happening over there today is Vladimir Putin said sometime back that the breakup of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. It's like a mother bear robbed of her cubs. He's wanting to bring the Soviet Union back together again. And here just a few weeks ago, there was a lot of civil unrest in Kazakhstan, which used to be part of the Soviet Union.

Who did they call to come in and help them? They called in Russia. They still have all these nations really in their orbit and under their control. Again, one of the nations that they don't want to be aligned with the West is Ukraine.

And that's really what all this is about. They want a clear statement that Ukraine will never be part of NATO. They want Ukraine brought within their control and within their power. And all of this, again, is just setting the stage for what's ultimately going to happen as Russia, the great northern bear, is going to one day come down into Israel in an attempt to finally wipe out the Jewish people. Let's talk about that for a moment, because first of all, what's happening between Russia and Ukraine is not Gog and Magog. It is not Ezekiel 38 and 39. And that's called the Russian invasion of Israel. Where do you put the timing of that?

It's also called Gog and Magog. Where do you put the timing of that? I put it in the first three and a half years of the tribulation.

A lot of Bible teachers put it different places. The reason I do that, it says there in Ezekiel 38 that when this invasion occurs, Israel's going to be at rest and living securely. Which, by the way, that passage says Israel is going to be in their land when this happens. So that precondition is already in place.

They're there now. There's six million Jews in Israel. But it says it's going to happen when they're at rest and living securely. And the only time I know in the future, other than in the millennium, when Israel will be at rest and securely, is during that first three and a half years of the tribulation, when Israel will be at rest and have a guaranteed peace from the Antichrist.

So that makes sense to me that that's when it will happen. Now, some will say, well, Israel's securely living at rest and secure today. You can go there and go on tours, which I have many times. But it's an armed camp when you're over there. They're on high alert constantly. To me, to say they're at rest and living securely today is a stretch. So I put it in the first three and a half years after the rapture. During that first three and a half years of the tribulation, Israel's going to let their guard down. They're going to have this covenant with the Antichrist. And then that's when this invasion of Russia and a lot of Russia's Islamic allies will take place in the land of Israel. Those participating in this invasion, again, we've got Russia, we've got Iran, Turkey, Libya, Sudan, and there may be some other nations, but those are blatantly outlined in Ezekiel 38 and 39. The interesting thing is, Mark Hitchcock, that it's not Israel.

They're not the miracle worker in this invasion, though they're going to be very victorious. And the passage suggests that God does this. Not America. Matter of fact, no nation gets involved. That seems to be the implication in Ezekiel 38, 39. No nation gets involved in a major invasion of a free country like Israel, but God gets involved.

That's right. And even further down in Ezekiel 38, around verses 13 to 16, it talks about how some of these nations issued a lame protest to what's happening, which reminds us a lot today of the United Nations and what many nations do. They just give some kind of diplomatic protest, but don't really do anything. So they'll sit on the sidelines, and these nations come into Israel. And as you said, God's the one who's going to take action. This is going to be an Old Testament scene where God is going to rain down fire and brimstone. There's going to be infighting among the nations, death by friendly fire, disease is going to be poured out on them.

It's cataclysmic. We talk about Israel back in June of 1967, the Six-Day War. I call this the One-Day War, when God is going to come and he's going to destroy these armies as they come into Israel. And it's going to be really a watershed moment for the nation of Israel in the end times. And many of the Jewish people will turn to God because of his great deliverance he brings about. What we see today with Russia and all their expansionism and aggression in the world today, it's part of this buildup to what we see that's prophesied in the Bible, again, over 2500 years ago. And it's just another proof that the Bible is the inspired and errant Word of God. Who could have ever predicted something like this 2500 years ago, or even 50 years ago?

Amen. We should clarify Gog, G-O-G, is the leader in the Gog Magog invasion. Gog is a reference to the leader. And could that be Vladimir Putin?

I know that speculation, but it could be, couldn't it, Mark? Yeah, I've been asked that a lot. People will say this leader, yeah, Gog, he's mentioned like 11 times in Ezekiel 38 and 39. There's a great quote I heard some years ago by Joel Rosenberg. I'm sure many of your listeners will know who Joel Rosenberg is. He made the statement one time that he says, we can't say for sure that Vladimir Putin is Gog, but he says he's certainly Gog-esque. That's a really good way to put it. He's Gog-alike.

If he's not Gog, which he may not be, but he's certainly paving the way for someone who will come along who is Gog. And closing here with another clip, it happens to be you and Ron Rhodes and Ed Hindson on the John Ankerberg program. And why am I playing this? Because it is such an uplifting few minutes. And we've talked about heavy things this hour, including the decline of America, and possibly war in parts of Ukraine, and coming Russian invasion of Israel.

And I'd like you to focus on these few minutes, folks, of a conversation that I find fascinating. But, Mark, where did these Thessalonians get this idea? Paul had been at Thessalonica during his second missionary journey for at least three weeks' time. And when Paul was there, and this is fascinating, these are people who came from paganism to believe in Jesus. And Paul was just there a few weeks, and yet he taught them about Bible prophecy. Which is fascinating, because a lot of people would say today, you know, the last thing you want to talk to people about and get them confused about is end-time prophecy.

Or at least don't tell new Christians about it. But Paul was there a brief period of time and told these believers about the Antichrist, the day of the Lord, the rapture, taught them all these truths. And Paul had taught them that Jesus could come back at any time. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says, we who are alive and remain. So he includes himself in that, because Paul believed that Jesus could come in his lifetime as well. So Paul had clearly taught them this idea that Jesus could come back at any moment, and they were to be waiting up for His coming. Ankerberg Yeah, they were waiting for a Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

We've got to unpack these really critical words. What does it mean? He delivers us, He actually delivered us from something, the wrath, the coming wrath. Paul uses the definite article.

What does that mean in terms of this whole subject? Did the early Christians in the church, did they believe Jesus could come back at any moment? And should we believe that Jesus could come back at any moment in the rapture, okay? And we're looking at this verse in 1 Thessalonians, and he says, we are waiting for a Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, and here's the key part, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Ed, what does this word delivers us mean? It's the idea of a dramatic deliverance with continuous action, that He is in the process of delivering us from the wrath that shall come. The question in Bible prophecy is, what is the wrath that is coming in the future from which we need to be delivered? Ankerberg Yeah. And, Mark, I love George Milliken. He says this word, deliverance, refers to a mighty act of power.

How do you apply that to what we're talking about? Hitchcock Well, you just think about the events that are going to happen when the rapture occurs. The Lord's going to descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, all the dead bodies of believers wherever they are. I mean, in the grave some of them have been burned at the stake. Some of them have been eaten by wild animals. I mean, you think where all the bodies are.

Someone has said there's not a maverick molecule in the universe. The Lord Jesus is going to put all of those bodies together, and they're going to become immortal, incorruptible, imperishable bodies. And then those who are alive in a moment of time are going to be caught up to be with the Lord and receive that imperishable body in a split second of time.

The power to pull that off, it can only be done by the One who has created all things. It's a mighty act of God's power and God's deliverance at the rapture. Ankerberg I think you have to underline that, too, because even in the book of Acts, or when we witness the ministry of Jesus Himself, Jesus would resurrect someone from the dead, and people witnessed the incredible power just in that one resurrection. But consider countless resurrections around planet earth at the same time of countless transformations of living Christians. It's an unfathomable amount of power. But with God, it says nothing.

I mean, we're talking about an omnipotent God who is perfectly capable of doing that and much more. Mark Hitchcock, I played that intentionally because, as I said, we were talking about some dark issues here for the hour, and I wanted to end on that wonderful note that you three gentlemen had the dialogue with John Ankerberg. Do you have anything you want to sum up as a concern, that little clip we just played? That is our hope in this world we live in, and you know, even when things in this world are going well, still that's our only hope. We don't have it in political parties or in leaders.

It's all in Him. There's an old quote, I know you've probably heard this before, the darker the outlook, the brighter the outlook. The Lord told us these things were coming. It may sadness, but it shouldn't surprise us. As we see these things happening around us, it should cause us to have an either greater sense of urgency in our lives, to live our lives for the Lord, to be sharing the Gospel with those around us, to have prophecy conferences and meetings where we gather together and talk about these things where we encourage and stimulate one another to love and to good works. That's our hope. We're not hopeless. We're filled with hope. We have an abundance of hope in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But we do want to warn people about what's coming to this world. And if anyone who's listening is without Christ, they need to flee to Jesus Christ for salvation. He paid the sin debt for us on the cross.

He died in our place, and He'll give eternal life and the forgiveness of sins to anyone who will come to Him and trust in Him and receive Him to be their Savior. Thank you for that emphasis, Mark. Again, we carry Mark's current book, Corona Crisis, Plagues, Pandemics, and the Coming Apocalypse in my online store, OliveTreeViews.org.

Learn more about Mark at MarkLHitchcock.com. And he just gave an invitation or a summary about the importance of salvation. And I want to go out of the program talking about the same because we have looked at a number of issues today that serve to remind us how very late the hour is. And that is why the Bible says today is the day of salvation. If Jesus Christ is not the Lord and Savior of your life, time could be running out for you to make that decision.

It says in Romans 10 13 that all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Do it today, won't you? Eternity is a long time to spend in the wrong place. Time is winding down.

No one is guaranteed a tomorrow. I want to thank you for listening, and we will talk to you again next week. Contact us through our website, OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org. Call us Central Time at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. You get our mail when you write to Olive Tree Ministries in Jan Markell, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

All gifts are tax deductible. We have considered prophetic flashpoints for the hour. Time is indeed running out. Nothing is happening by chance. God is orchestrating all of the stunning global events to remind us that everything is falling into place.