Encourage One Another With These Words

The consequences of being saved by Olive Tree Ministries. Today we feature part two of our programming with Pastor Billy Crone. Jen and Pastor Crone consider many aspects of the rapture of the Church, but also include the consequences to the left behind world. They ask the question, are you ready for the rapture?

We hope you'll capture the rapture this hour. The total number of people from all over the globe have disappeared. The total number of people who have disappeared has not yet been confirmed, but it is expected to be a lot higher than what was initially reported.

According to authorities, the numbers are expected to be in the millions. Many flights have been cancelled because of security fears. According to reports, there have been plane crashes all over the world because some pilots simply disappeared mid-flight. Chaos has also spread to the roads where a great number of traffic accidents have been reported.

Hospitals have not been able to cope with the number of patients coming in. Many parents are in complete despair as their children have also disappeared. Rumours are rife that this could be an alien attack, and there are those who believe that Jesus raptured these thousands of people. Witnesses believe to have seen a bright flash followed by a huge thunderous sound and are being like a man in the clouds. Here are some images caught on CCTV cameras. The images you see now are from CCTV cameras all over the world.

These images have been analysed by experts and they are genuine. CCTV footage from parks, shopping centres, parking lots, churches and traffic monitoring systems are indeed real and frightening. What has perhaps been most alarming is the report of a hospital where nurses have said in shock that all children just vanished. We are receiving images like these non-stop from all over the world. We are yet to hear from heads of state from all over the world who are in shock but have not yet released any statements. Members of various churches are saying that this is the rapture of the church.

When asked why they also hadn't disappeared, many cried and regret not having taken Jesus more seriously before. We are closing this news bulletin here but will return with more news as and when it happens. And we're going to talk about that for the hour. We're going to be focusing heavily on apologetics today because we've covered news broadcasts the last three, four weeks. We're going to focus a little bit more on the rapture of the church. Mostly good news this hour because the most frequent email I get is that folks are attending a church that will not talk about the Lord's glorious return in what is known as the rapture, the harpazo. And we are carrying a new product on the topic. Pastor Billy Crohn's Are You Ready for the Rapture?

happens to be nine DVD 18 teaching set and I've seen portions of it and I feel it is encouraging, informative and more. And what if the rapture of the church were today? Are you ready? Are you and your loved ones ready? How can we make them ready?

What are the consequences of not being ready? We'll look at that and more this hour. In this presentation, I heard Pastor Crohn make an interesting statement. He said Jesus didn't just save us from hell.

He saved us from hell on earth. That being the tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, Daniel's 70th week. That's what the Bible calls that seven year time of hell on earth.

Jesus will remove all born again believers from the earth right before that time period begins. So again, we're going to talk about that for the hour today. Pastor Billy Crohn, welcome back to the program. Thank you, Janet.

It's always great to be on. Billy Crohn, many denominations, they have no trouble with the second coming of Jesus. It's probably in most of the creeds that they read, et cetera, but fewer and fewer in the last, I would say, 25 years, maybe more. No longer believe in a rapture.

Do you know what might have happened? Seeker sensitive, church growth movement, what? Certainly that, and I would add even prior to that unfortunate movement that came upon the church scene about 30 years ago, a lot of the mainline denominations, when it came to eschatology, the study of last things, it's like they turn the spigot off, which is really wild. They're great on a lot of theology. They're straight on. They take the scripture as you're supposed to literal in its grammatical historical context, but then when they come to prophecy related passages, they just fall over the edge. And so there's been that crowd that's been there still there.

Unfortunately today, again, I would say that's duplicit. You should be consistent in how you approach the scripture, but yes, Jen, I think the other aspect is even those who historically used to interpret and teach all the Bible, the whole council of God, which includes prophecy because nearly one third of the Bible deals directly or indirectly with prophecy. So you have to get to it, which includes the rapture, but they have bought into a huge lie called the church growth movement that has now redefined what's considered a successful church. Jesus said in Matthew 28, you want to be a quote success in his eyes, then you go out there in all the world and make disciples. Disciples is Matthaitis in the Greeks, where we get the word mathematics from.

It means disciplined learner, learner of what? Well, of the Bible. So we're not out there just sharing the gospel, but when people get saved, they come to the church and the equipping of the saints.

You're taught the whole of scripture to become a disciple. Well, that's not a success anymore. It's now been redefined. A successful church is the one that has the most numbers. OK, people are not people. They're just a product, a number in the pew. You're a means to an end.

And that's the game that's been played. You think, well, how do I get to this new definition of success that it's all about the numbers, numerical growth instead of what Jesus said, spiritual growth? Well, here's what they say. In order to get all those numbers, you need to start cherry picking the scripture. Don't ever teach about not just prophecy, Jim, but don't talk about hell. Don't talk about wrath. Don't talk about antichrist stuff and don't talk about future events and how it's going to get worse before it gets better. And don't talk about sin or backsliding basically the whole of the scripture. And if you do that, then guess what?

People will stick around and you'll get what you long for. Not spiritual growth, but numerical growth. OK, as insane as that sounds, Jan, that's how I believe probably 90 to 95 percent of churches, mainline denominations are operating.

This is why there is an illiteracy of the scripture in general, certainly prophecy and unfortunately, even the rapture. Let me get to some general questions about the topic and let me just fire away at you with some of these. Quite frankly, there are probably dozens and even hundreds of questions. So I'm trying to shrink them all down here to less than an hour. Let's explain first, Billy Crone, what the fullness of the Gentiles means.

And if I just have a succinct answer, we'll get to a lot more questions. The fullness of Gentiles, Paul talks about that, is when the last Gentile non Jewish person gets saved, then we're out of here. And then in that context that Paul's talking about in Romans, then God's eyes goes back to focus on Israel.

Correct. And of course, we're talking about in the seven year tribulation. And then he begins to fulfill the promises. He's yet to fulfill the Davidic promises that one is going to rule and reign from the lineage of David, Jesus, literally from Jerusalem over the whole planet.

Obviously, that hasn't happened yet. So that's a future event. But when that last Gentile, the fullness of Gentiles, this age right now that we call the church age, when that last person gets saved, that only God knows. And we're out of here at the rapture.

The seven year tribulation begins and God begins to focus on Israel again, which is one of the purposes of the seven year tribulation. It has nothing to do with the church. The church is out of here. The church was a mystery. When the seven year tribulation was originally talked about, not in Revelation, it started in the Book of Daniel.

The church was not even in existence for 570 years. And it's about Jacob's trouble, not the church's trouble. It's a time when God restores a remnant of Israel and then he fulfills his promises and ushers them into the millennial kingdom. Key words here, Jacob's trouble, the three words, four words, time of Jacob's trouble. That describes the tribulation, as you just said. It's not the time of the church's trouble. It's the time of Jacob's trouble. It is when God really deals with the Jews. Of course, one third of them are going to come to faith because they're going to flee to Petra, very likely. During that tribulation, Billy Crone, in this nine DVD 18 teaching production that I have seen a portion of, you outline what's going to happen during the time of Jacob's trouble, otherwise known as the tribulation.

And I want to just play a clip. It happens to be you. And you're outlining what's going to happen during that seven year period. And folks, this is one of the reasons we're doing what we're doing today. And that's because anybody listening who may not be a born again believer, this is what you're facing unless you do turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. What's going to happen during the seven years?

Just real quick highlights, OK? According to the scripture, first of all, it starts off with the seal judgments. And how does it start off? It starts off with the first seal, the white horse, the global false peace brought in by the Antichrist. That's what starts at Daniel 9, 27. The Antichrist makes a covenant, a peace treaty with Israel. That's what starts that final week of Daniel's 70th week, the seven year tribulation.

And that's just the beginning. It doesn't last very long because the second seal is the red horse. A global war breaks out. Then the third seal, the black horse, you've got a global famine breaks out. A fourth seal, a pale horse, a global death. One fourth of mankind is killed by the sword, by famine and by plague and by wild beasts hunting people down and eating them. OK, you don't want to be there. Then the fifth seal, those that did get saved during the seven year tribulation, not the church. But guess what?

Now you are going to get it big time. Basically, the picture is for those that turn to God in the seven year tribulation, you're going to be slaughtered like flies. There's a global persecution. And if you want to avoid that, it's called get saved now. OK, then the sixth seal, man, again, we're still in the first half.

It's just the first half. The beginning of the Great Tribulation, just before that, all of a sudden there's a global earthquake. Then the sun turns black, the moon turns blood red, asteroids begin to fall to the earth.

The sky recedes, mountain and islands across the whole planet are literally shaken, removed from their places. Then there's the global fear of God's wrath. They know this is God's wrath, but they still try to hide. They don't repent.

It's not good for mankind. Then you get into the trumpet judgments, right? Really one third of the way there. The trumpet judgments, right, opened by the seventh seal. There's silence in heaven for one half hour. Now there's a debate on what does that mean in the scripture? Some would actually say, this didn't come from me, some would say that means that proves why women are not in heaven. I didn't say that, Michaela, I did not say that.

I'm just repeating the theory that I disagree with, biblically. OK, others would say, I don't know about you, I grew up in Kansas, in Nebraska, I'm familiar with tornadoes. You knew the tornado was about to hit when all of a sudden, it was total silence. I mean, not a bird chirp. You couldn't even hear the crickets, everything shut their mouth.

In what? In anticipation. And that just lasts for a couple of seconds, then all of a sudden, here comes the tornado. For one half hour, the whole planet is just, that's why it's called the Great Tribulation.

You thought this first half was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet. Here comes the trumpet judgments. The first one, hail and fire, one third of the earth, the trees and all the green grass is burned up. Then the second trumpet, a huge asteroid, one third of the sea dies, one third of the ships is destroyed by that giant asteroid slamming into the sea. The third trumpet, a blazing comet comes by and it poisons the fresh water and the rivers and many people die. The fourth trumpet, you have a solar smite, one third of the sun, the moon, the stars are struck, one third of the day and night is now without light. The fifth trumpet, Satan releases a demon horde of locusts from the Abusas, the abyss, and they torment people with the mark for five months. It's so bad they want to die, but God says, I ain't gonna let you die.

And it just keeps going on and on. The sixth trumpet, four angels are loose and now another one third of mankind is killed from that. Then the seventh trumpet announces, here comes the bowl judgments.

And you thought, those are bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. The first bowl, ugly, painful sores break out on those that took the mark. The second bowl, all the sea, not a third of it, all the sea turns to blood, all sea creatures die. The third bowl, all the rivers and fresh water turn to blood.

You got nothing to drink and then God turns up the sun. The fourth bowl, the sun scorches people with fire, they curse God, they still don't get right with God. The fifth bowl, the kingdom of the antichrist is plunged into darkness. The sixth bowl, the Euphrates River is dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the east to go to the battle of Armageddon at the end. And then three frog-like spirits deceive the world. That's from the mouth of Satan, the mouth of the antichrist, the mouth of the false prophet.

As we saw last time, they do people to try to take on God at the battle of Armageddon. And then the seventh bowl, that's it, God's had it, no more, we're at the end, it is done. Is the final pronouncement, then it's the greatest of all earthquakes this planet has ever seen takes place. Jerusalem is split into three, all the cities on the whole planet completely collapsed. There's a cup of wrath for Babylon, the one world mystery, religion, harlot. All the islands and mountains are not just shaken, they're this time gone.

You can't find mountains, you can't find cities. That's how big that earthquake is. And then here comes a massive hailstorm, 100 pounds each slamming into the earth and then battle of Armageddon.

And guess what? God doesn't lose. The blood is as high as a horse's bridle for 1600 stadia.

That's four feet deep for 200 miles. And then you got the angel harvest, the angel harvest of the righteous, the remnant of Jewish people. God's not done with them. And then those gentiles that are somehow still alive that got saved during the seven year tribulation, most are going to be slaughtered. Then the angels come and scoop them up and prepare them to enter into the millennial kingdom.

But guess what? Those that still after all this still refuse to get right with God and somehow somehow survived all this. The angels are going to come and scoop you up and throw you straight into hell.

That weather report was pretty tame, wasn't it? That's the importance of the rapture. If you're not saving, you get saved.

This is not a game. That event is going to happen. All of a sudden, people are just going to disappear. And I hope you disappear with us. He's made away. No matter what you've done, God is willing to forgive you through Jesus. Why would you hesitate?

Why wouldn't you? That's why it's called a gift. Receive the gift and be saved before it's too late. If you join me late, you're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell. I have Beck with me for a second week. Pastor Billy Crone, he pastors Sunrise Bible Church in Las Vegas, Nevada.

You can learn more at his Web site, GettyLifeMedia.com, GettyLifeMedia.com. Last week, we talked about the Ukrainian slash Russian invasion of Ukraine and some deeper meanings to all of that. But this week, trying to stick to apologetics. But Billy Crone, we just talked about the church growth movement a few minutes ago. And you got to admit what you just talked about. That was you.

That was a lot of doom and gloom. How is what you just shared going to grow a church? I can understand the mindset of some skeptical pastors. Where did I quote all that? I didn't get that from the newspaper. I didn't get it from Reader's Digest.

I didn't get that from my own self-inflated statements. That came directly from the scripture. And you mentioned pastors, Jan. As a shepherd, you're supposed to, yes, love the sheep and take care of the sheep.

Dare I say, protect the sheep. But you're also supposed to teach the sheep. And the Bible is very clear. If you really love the sheep, you teach the sheep the whole counsel of God, all the Bible. And everything I just quoted was recorded in the Bible. I just read it in chronological order. So therefore, if God recorded it for us, there must be a good reason for it.

Well, there is. God knows the beginning from the end. He knows what's coming to this planet and he loves people enough to tell them in advance what is coming so that they can be encouraged to take the way out through Jesus Christ before it's too late. The scripture says that God is not willing that any should perish, but all come to repentance. And he's giving people an opportunity to see and to realize, listen, you not only don't want to go to hell. And by the way, Jesus talked more about hell than he did in heaven.

Why? Because he knows it's real and he doesn't want people to go there. So he tells them about it so that they can be motivated to escape from that and receive the exact polar opposite heaven.

Well, it's the same thing. There's a period for seven years coming to this planet because God is going to judge the wickedness and the evil that we're dealing with right now. All these great reset New World Order guys, all the tearing and blowing that's going on right now. God is going to judge them in a time frame called the seven year tribulation. It is not a party.

It is not just some passive time. It is not peaceful. It is a time of God's wrath being poured out for seven years.

It is hell on earth. We not only need to tell people, please don't go to hell forever. Please don't go to hell on earth being left behind after the rapture. And that's biblical.

Well, there I say it's a heart of compassion. I understand completely. I'm just repeating what I know some pastors are thinking, and I appreciate the clarification and I certainly do agree with you. Billy, you and I take a strong stand on behalf of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. And I may dwell there for a moment or two here.

And actually, I'm going to play a couple of sound bites and have you challenge the sound bites here in just a moment or two. But let me first say, people come back at us and say, but there are saints in the Book of Revelation. Well, of course, there are saints in the Book of Revelation because that is the next time of revival. We hear now about revival coming or revival is here or come visit to our revival in such and such a city. And if that's happening, that's great.

Happy to hear it. But the revival of all revivals, in spite of what's going to cost those folks, it's in the tribulation. So folks are seeing saint in there and they come back at you and me. You see, the church is in the tribulation.

And we deal with all these red herring arguments in massive detail. But that's a classic one, Jan. And really what they're doing, and this is what typically people do that disagree with the pre-trib position that the church leaves prior to the seven year tribulation. And they put the church in this time frame.

This is one of the things they do. They take the scripture out of context. And yes, the word saint is the Greek word hagios.

It does appear in the events in the seven year tribulation. But what determines the meaning of a word is the context in which is placed. Let me give you some examples. And we do this all the day.

This is not trying to skirt the issue or get all theological. For instance, let me give you the one word cool. C O O L. I could spell it the exact same way, three different times.

And it will literally, based on the context, mean exactly three completely different things. I could say, hey, Jan, that blouse you have on today, that's really cool. Or I could say, hey, Jan, I bet you up there where you're at compared to Vegas is kind of cool outside. Or I could say, Jan, what's going on? Your attitude towards me is kind of cool.

Is everything OK? Now, that's the exact same word spelled the exact same way. But if you notice, it had three completely different meanings. Why? Because this is just common sense interpretation.

We do this all the time. You don't just look at a word and assume what it means. You have to observe the context.

Now, I said all that to get to this. So it is with the word saint. If you do the research and study the scripture, scripture interprets scripture, then you will see there's actually four different saints mentioned in the Bible. There's Old Testament saints. There's New Testament saints.

That would be you and I today, the church age. There's people who get saved in the seven year tribulation. That is not the church called Tribulation Saints. And actually, there is millennial saints, the saints that are in the millennial kingdom. That happens after Jesus comes back at the end of the seven year tribulation. So you can't just assume it's the church.

You have to look at the context. And the context that these people are quoting, Jam, is not the church. It's the tribulation saints, those that get saved after the seven year tribulation begins.

They took it completely out of context. I just want to read the verse that you and I hold to as a concern. And a lot of people say to both of us, there's no single verse that's going to teach a pre-tribulation rapture.

You and I hold to the fact that Revelation 3, 10, let me read it just briefly here, which I think is the most convincing argument for a pre-tribulation rapture. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world. Folks, this is right before Revelation 4, when literally all hell is going to break loose on earth, that is coming upon the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth.

Again, because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world. Billy Crone, to me, that is so clear that he's talking to the church in Revelation 1, 2, and 3, and he's saying to them, I'm keeping you from the wrath to come. Exactly, Jan. People say, you know, there's no single verse that teaches the rapture. Certainly they hone in on the pre-trib. Well, we know the rapture is a real event, 1 Thessalonians 4, also John 14 and 1 Corinthians 15. But they specifically say, but not the pre-trib position. And just to define, Jan, for the listeners, the rapture, there's different positions. You have the post-trib position that says the church is all seven years in the seven-year tribulation. There's the pre-wrath position, which says the church goes from our timeline about three-quarters of the way the tribulation period. The mid-trib position, which says the church goes halfway into the seven-year tribulation. And then there's our position called the pre-trib, that we believe the church is raptured prior to the seven-year tribulation.

And that's their objection from these other ones. There's not one single verse that says that we're out of here prior to that event. This is the most obvious verse that you just quoted, Revelation 3, 10.

Number one, what's the context, as you rightly stated. Revelation 2 and 3 is all about the church, the letters to the seven churches. And so he's talking to the church, and he makes the church a promise that he will keep them from this hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world. So this isn't some localized event, this isn't just some general trial that these people are going to experience at that time, because the context is global. And it specifically brings about a dichotomy there. You will be kept from, literally taken out of, from those that remain to test those who are on the earth.

That's two different audiences. So he's promising the church that even though you may have had it challenging now, you can have it direct from me, Jesus speaking, I'm going to take you out of a time frame that's coming to the planet to test those who live on the earth. If that's not the seven-year tribulation, I don't know what is.

It's about as plain as days you can get. Let me play a little clip here, it's less than a minute. It happens to be Dr. Michael Brown, and I've got issues with Dr. Brown on a number of points. His book, Not Afraid of the Antichrist, because he believes we're going through the tribulation, and if we go through it, we're going to be protected, so he's not afraid of the Antichrist. But here's a point he makes, and I'd like you to challenge it. Jesus promises us tribulation. It's just a common word, klipsis, in the New Testament. John 16, 33, Jesus says, in this world you'll have tribulation, but be encouraged, I've overcome the world. Or Acts 14, 22, you must pass through many tribulations in order to enter the kingdom of God. Or Romans 5, that we grow through tribulation. Or Romans 8, that tribulation will not separate us from the love of God. This is just a normal word, we're promised tribulation, but in it, we overcome. And the whole idea that we have to be taken out first because we're not appointed to wrath, first in context, it's talking about the outpouring of wrath at the end of the age when Jesus comes to destroy the wicked, and the wrath of hell and judgment. But even so, when God put out his plagues on Egypt, he protected Israel, even though they were right there in Egypt. Pastor Billy Crone, Michael Brown is suggesting that the tribulation that we go through on a day-by-day basis, which every listener experiences, and granted it can be very trying at times, is equal to the tribulation.

And you just gave a line-up about 20 minutes ago of the horrors of the tribulation. Not comparable, correct? Not even close.

Not even close. In fact, Jan, it's actually two completely different Greek words. He mentioned correctly general tribulation trials that we are promised, thalipsis in the Greek. And dare I say, even though I hold to the pre-triposition, it can happen today, but nobody knows exactly when, only God knows. I'm not saying that even as a pre-triposition, that means we're going to make it out of here with some even worse thalipsis or general trials. But the Greek word for wrath is not the same word.

It's orge, and it literally means like a violent, outpouring, shaking, emotional thing. This is not the same thing. You're right, Jan. When you look at those global events mentioned in the seven-year tribulation that I already highlighted earlier, that's not normal problems.

That's right. Do we have asteroids slamming into Earth right now on that scale? Do we have a third of the sea dying? Do we have an earthquake so big that all the mountains and islands are moved? Not a portion of the planet.

The whole planet, of course not. So he's wrongly comparing general tribulation to, dare I say, capital T, the tribulation, which is a period for seven years nonstop. It isn't normal. There's nothing normal about it.

It's all God's wrath being poured out on the planet. Two different things. Here's where I want to go in part two of my programming. By the way, there are scoffers out there as well, and I'm going to play a clip of one of the primary scoffers. We'll do that here in just a moment.

I also want to go in part two of my programming. We've got to clarify that the rapture does not start the tribulation. The rapture is an event that's going to be a glorious event that happens in an instant, and then following that, it's very likely a gap of some time.

It could be days, weeks, it could even be months. We'll talk about that. We're carrying Pastor Billy Crone's newest product, at least one of them. Are you ready for the rapture? The online store OliveTreeViews.org, OliveTreeViews.org. It is a nine DVD, 18 teachings on the rapture. It would be outstanding for a small group or a Sunday school class. We'll get back, and we're going to hit some more bullet points in part two of my programming, so don't go away.

We'll be back in just a minute. We hope you'll stay in touch with us online through OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org. You can call us, Central Time, at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. Write us through the mail at Olive Tree Ministries in Jan Markell, Post Office Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

That's Post Office Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. In this unstable, chaotic world that is groaning to be free from the curse of sin, thank you for trusting Understanding the Times Radio and Olive Tree Ministries. We are so pleased to be carrying the new Terry James and Pete Garcia book, The Disappearing, Future Events That Will Rock the World. What we are witnessing today is about to bring down the curtain of prophecy's final act. Each hour brings troubling headlines from the many news sources now available.

Every report seems more intrusive upon our daily lives than the previous, and all accounts appear to be setting the end-time stage for soon fulfillment of God's prophetic Word and a great disappearing known as the rapture of the church. Find the book in our online store, OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org, or call us Central Time at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. You can also pay by check. The price is just $12 and we offer free shipping to the U.S. and Canada. Write to Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. Turn today's darkness into anticipation as you learn about the forthcoming disappearing in the new book, The Disappearing, future events that will rock the world. You can always be by a radio, so catch Understanding the Times Radio at your convenience online. Watch the video version of the program or listen to the audio at OliveTreeViews.org, then to complete archives on YouTube, on Rumble, on LightSource, and on his channel, Christian TV. Now let's return to Jan Markell and Pastor Billy Crone to wrap up today's program. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we which are alive will be caught up.

There's the term. If you like to mark things in your Bible, you might circle that. Harpazo in the Greek, boosh, you're out of here, snatched away, caught away is what it means. Caught up together with them, the dead and the living at the same time. To meet the Lord, notice in the air, and you might underline that, not on the earth, but in the air. So shall we always be with the Lord, therefore encourage one another with these words. It's been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus ascended into heaven and left us with the promise that if I go back to the Father's house, I will do what? Come again and receive you unto myself. Glad you can join me today for Understanding the Times Radio. That was Dr. Ed Hindson giving a classic verse, caught up to meet the Lord in the air, Harpazo, and we are to encourage one another with these words.

Let me reset the program here. You are listening to Understanding the Times, and I have on the line with me from Las Vegas, Pastor Billy Crone of Sunrise Bible Church in Las Vegas. Learn more at GetALifeMedia.com. He was on with me last week as well with a different topic. This week, we're focusing heavily, almost exclusively on one of his new products because we carry it, Are You Ready for the Rapture?

It's a nine DVD set. You can find it in my online store. We now offer free shipping in the US and Canada. Call my office Monday through Friday.

You can sign up for my various newsletters, e-newsletter, print magazine be offered in there as well. Pastor Billy Crone, Ed Hindson ended that passage with the wonderfully promising words, encourage one another with these words. Encourage one another that we are going to be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds.

If you and I were running from the Antichrist, if we were trying to escape the 100 pound hailstones, et cetera, we would not have much to be comforting one another about. Right. And I fully agree, Jan, and that's very important. In fact, there in the context, Paul not only mentions once, but twice. He says to encourage or comfort one another with these words.

Well, what words? That we are going to be taken out of this timeframe called the seven year tribulation when God has said that he is going to pour out his wrath seven years nonstop that final week, and he's promised the church is not going to be there. When you take a look at the events that we've already outlined, God tells us what that time of him pouring out his wrath is going to look like.

That isn't normal problems. This is a timeframe that you want to avoid. And here's the good news. God not only told us that he's going to pour out his wrath. He not only describes what that wrath is going to look like and it's horrid beyond normal events, but he promises in Romans chapter five, first Thessalonians one and first Thessalonians five, which by the way, is before and after the rapture passage and first Thessalonians four that we are the church and we are saved from God's wrath.

That's why Paul says not once, but twice, encourage or comfort one another with these words. You may have some challenges this side of heaven. We're going to have general problems. We're going to have general persecution.

But when it comes to God's wrath and specifically that timeframe when he's going to dish it out in judgment on the wickedness and rebellion that's going on even now, you're not going to be there. Yes. I'm going back to apologist Dr. Michael Brown.

This is very, very short clip of him and he's going to be saying it's a little bit how I introduced this segment of this topic. And that is. But Billy Crone and Jan Christians are going through hell on earth right now. Why would we not go through hell on earth during that time known as the tribulation? On the other hand, around the world, our brothers and sisters are being heavily persecuted for the faith to this day. Christians are killed every single day around the world for their faith. Some are tortured. Some are brutally imprisoned. Some are beheaded. Some are buried alive.

Some have their children taken from them. In other words, there are all kinds of horrors taking place in the present tense. I say let's take hold of God's grace to be overcomers today and to stand strong in the midst of tribulation today as the church has through history. And let's look forward to the victorious return of Jesus, at which point we will be caught up and glorified with him.

Pastor Crone, I think the mistake Dr. Brown makes and so many others as well is the suggestion that the persecution of believers be it Afghanistan, be it Nigeria and it is awful, folks, and we are not minimizing it whatsoever. Still, that's man's wrath. That's Satan's wrath. That's not God's wrath.

What we see in the tribulation is the outpouring of God's wrath, which will really minimize some of the man's wrath going on today. Am I right, Billy Crone? Oh, absolutely. In fact, a little surprising there. He actually contradicted himself in his position, which is no surprise because what he's saying with all due respect is not what the Bible teaches. He said there that these other Christians, brothers and sisters, they're being beheaded. There's persecution. They're martyred for their faith. OK, I agree with you. That's going on.

That is horrible. But to compare that to the events of the seven year tribulation and God's wrath being poured out, it's not the same. We don't see on the scale of those events in the seven year tribulation taking place today. You can't make the comparison there. But notice he said in his position why he puts the church in the seven year tribulation, not only trying to say, well, if we're going to have troubles now, why do we escape that trouble? Well, they're not the same, too. But he said earlier, just as God protected his people as he poured out the plagues in Egypt, so he'll protect the church in the seven year tribulation.

Wait a second. You just told me on this clip that people around the world are being beheaded and we shouldn't expect anything different. But you just told me the church is going to be protected.

So which one is it? So there's a contradiction that's going on there. Plus, the other big problem with that is when you take a look at the saints, not the church the tribulation saints, but he says it's the church in the seven year tribulation.

These people are not being protected. The scripture is very clear, right? Even in the first half, it's clearly that there's a global martyrdom. These people are being slaughtered like flies and they're crying out for God's vengeance to be poured out. And he says, wait a little longer.

And he's coming back and he'll deal with it. He'll have the last word on this. The point is, he's saying the church is going to be protected, but there is no protection with these people and it's not even the church. To use the term, Jan, I think a lot of people, they're called tribulation wannabes. They just want the church to be in there. And then they approach the scripture and then they look for passages, unfortunately out of context, like what he's doing, and try to cram the church in there. To me, again, you go back to the basis of the rapture. Why did Paul write that? He told us it's to encourage or comfort one another.

If I'm in this timeframe that you opened up the broadcast with, Jan, for one half of it, or three fourths of it, or all of it in some supposed protection. But when you read the Bible, there is no protection for these people. That's not comforting. It completely undermines the whole purpose as to why the Bible even mentions the rapture. It's called the blessed hope.

That's right. The blasted torment. These people are twisting the very meaning and purpose of the rapture.

So glad you said that. I actually made a DVD some four years ago now, how the blessed hope became the blasted hope. And that quite frankly leads me, I'm not quite through with some of the things we're dealing with right now. But just since we're talking about the blasted hope, because in fact, the rapture in many circles has become the blasted hope. We've got very prominent people who are putting this down something terrible saying you can't find it in the Bible. There's the classic. It was only discovered in the 1800s by Darby, et cetera. But let's just play a clip because here we hear Bible Answer Man, supposedly, and cantograph and I've played this on air before folks.

So if you hear it, this is not a repeat program we're hearing right now. But some of you will recognize this where Hank just says you can't find the rapture in the Bible. What I'm trying to understand is where do they get the teaching that the church will be ransomed out and will not have to go through tribulation? Where is that found at?

It's not found. That's the whole point. The point is, it's something that is imposed on the scripture. The notion is a very new notion in church history. It's a 19th century notion that was popularized by John Nelson Darby, and it comes with the presupposition that God has two distinct people, and therefore he has two distinct plans for the two distinct people, and he has two distinct phases of the second coming and two distinct destinies. This, however, is an imposition on scripture because the truth of it is God has only always had one chosen people, one covenant community, beautifully connected by the cross and illustrated by a cultivated olive tree in Paul's letter to the Romans. So the point here is that all those who are followers of Jesus Christ are the one chosen people, and this is prior to the cross as well because all that look forward to Christ prior to the cross are God's covenant chosen people, and that covenant chosen people are made up of people from every tongue and language and nation and people. You're not a son of Abraham because of some genealogical construction.

You are a son of Abraham because you believe in the God of Abraham. If you join me late, you are listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell. I have on the line from Las Vegas, Pastor Billy Crone from Sunrise Bible Church. Learn more at his website, GetALifeMedia.com. Get a Life Media and we're carrying one of his new products, Are You Ready for the Rapture?

Nine DVD teaching series. Pastor Billy Crone, this only came along in the 1800s by John Nelson Darby, when in fact the early church was actually expecting the any-minute, imminent rapture of the church. He also disinherited Israel right there on that clip.

But give me your thoughts. Yeah, Jim, where do you start? He got so many things wrong on that, it's wild, but let me see if I can unpack that. First of all, he says there's no biblical basis for the rapture that's imposed on the text. Again, where do we get the idea of the rapture? From the Bible.

1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15, John 14, and it specifically mentions in 1 Thessalonians 4, as Ed Hindson mentioned, harpazo, a quick snatching or catching away. So this idea of a rapture, we're not imposing it, we're reading the Bible. And that's what the Bible says, number one. Number two, he said it's a recent teaching. No, it's not. Where I derive my beliefs on the rapture is what I just quoted to you from the Bible that's been there for 2,000 years in the New Testament. What he's really talking about is this red herring argument that reminds me of the old classic axiom, if you repeat a lie loud enough, long enough, often enough, people will believe it.

And that's what's happened with this. John Darby invented this recently, and then they'll even go another step and say, he got it from some girl that got some vision in 1830. I couldn't wait in our study, and we deal with this in great detail, to blow that thing out of the water.

The girl is Margaret Macdonald from Scotland. We actually were there on location doing research, and that's the biggest lie ever. We got a copy of her utterance that these people say that John Darby got this idea from. And when you read that so-called utterance, Jan, it's not even pre-trib. The irony is, it's actually post-trib with a partial rapture, which is not pre-trib at all. So if Darby were to be influenced, he should have come out being a post-tribber, according to her, not a pre-trib.

So that's lie number one. Lie number two, John Darby, he had an accident in 1827, and he began to, as he had a lot of time on his hands, read the scripture, and he began to see the delineation between the church and Israel, and began to understand that at the end of the church age, there's going to be this event called the rapture. So he had arrived at his conclusions three years prior to her and that accusation. Number three, he also knew about her and her charismatic abusive behavior, and he not only discounted her and what the others she was hanging with were doing, but he even used words like, this is demonic. So to say that John Darby got his rapture teaching, pre-trib position from that source, that's a lie, number one. Number two, they'll say, well, it's still a recent teaching. We go through eight pages of notes that I brought out of historical examples of prior to 1830, even that red herring argument, to where it throughout church history, from the early church forward of people in documentation having a pre-trib, pre-mill mindset.

So to say that there's been no evidence of it's only recently popped on the scene is a lie, but still back it up, Jam. The reason why I believe in the rapture is not because of John Darby, is not because of the historical evidence of other Christians throughout the centuries who also believed in that. It comes from the Bible. And then to address his issue where he does away with Israel, that's called replacement theology. That's a lie from the pit of hell. And I like to bring this out, Jam, even though Hanegraaff completely discounts the rapture, most people don't realize that those who take the post-trib, pre-rath, and mid-trib positions, which puts the church in the seven-year tribulation, either all the way, three-fourths of the way, or half the way, they are in essence doing an eschatological version of replacement theology.

Thank you. Because what they're doing is they're putting the focus of the seven-year tribulation not on Israel listen and replacing it with the church. That's a form of replacement theology. That's completely unbiblical.

Let me just fire away at a couple of bullet points here because I made the reference to this before I went into my break. The rapture doesn't start the tribulation. There's going to be a signing of a covenant. We've had 69 weeks of Daniel's 70th week.

That's transpired. But there's coming the 70th week of Daniel, Daniel 9.27. So let's clarify that the rapture does not start the tribulation, rather the signing of this covenant by the Antichrist, as he is going to feign becoming Israel's best friend, that starts the tribulation.

Right. That's two major passages that are parallel passages, tells us of when the seven-year tribulation starts. And that's Daniel 9.27, when the Antichrist makes a covenant or treaty, dare I say peace treaty with Israel, that's coupled with Revelation 6.1, which is the beginning of the seven-year tribulation, starting with the first seal, and that talks about the white horse rider, which many believe is the Antichrist, who comes in on a peace-less coup because he's only with a bow, no arrows, and he brings in this time of utopia. He's the man, Mr. Fix-It with the plan.

He brings back global peace. That's how the seven-year tribulation period starts. The rapture takes place prior to that, and the reason why is because when the seven-year tribulation starts, also known as the day of the Lord, the Bible is very clear. It is a time of God's wrath. He pours out his wrath from the second that time frame starts, and it goes for the next seven years.

Again, the Bible says that we the church are not appointed unto or saved from and rescued from God's wrath. So we have to leave prior to the beginning of the seven-year tribulation. So the question becomes, how long after the rapture does it take before the seven-year tribulation starts?

And again, we don't know. It could be a short time period. I would take more of the position that is probably going to be shortly thereafter. To me, what starts the seven-year tribulation, Mr. Fix-It, he's coming out of apparently some sort of global crisis, and the world's clamoring for a world leader to fix all the problems on the earth, and then what better excuse to dovetail off of to dupe the planet you're Mr. Fix-It with the peace plan than right after the rapture of the church, and on top of wars going on, and who knows what else at that time frame, an economic collapse, and then millions of people disappear on the planet, wouldn't it be a great time for somebody to stand up in the midst of all that chaos to say, hey, I've got a plan. And then here comes this religious global cohort called a false prophet, and he further dupes the people to put their hopes and trust in this guy, and we're now entering into a great time of peace. So to me, that's why I would say, not thus saith the Lord, but I would say it's more a shorter time frame than a longer time frame. Some people actually want to say that it's going to be years and years. I personally don't think so.

Oh, I don't see how that's possible. Global chaos, are you kidding? Perhaps lacking a world leader.

Actually we lack a world leader as we speak, but even more so at that time, the world will be clamoring for someone to come on the scene, make all things right. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio, Jan Markell, have Pastor Billy Crone on from Las Vegas, GetALifeMedia.com. Let's quickly hit Billy Crone, the Restrainer. I think we need to spend an extra minute on the Restrainer because you talk about the removal of the Restrainer.

The Restrainer is taken out of the way. I do believe you feel that is the Holy Spirit's presence in the church today. And again, folks, I've seen a number of the videos that we're talking about from the video series. Are the Holy Spirit's present in the church today going to be taken out? In other words, salt and light going to be gone. The Holy Spirit, however, will be here in the tribulation. Help us understand this.

If he's taken away, how can he still be here? I believe what he's talking about there is the Holy Spirit's presence in the church today, that we are to be the salt and the light. We are the reason why, as the Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 2, why the Antichrist can't make his full appearance, because we're the one that's holding it back. In fact, that's what the word there, restraint, literally means in 2 Thessalonians 2, 7.

It's kateko in the Greek. It means to hold back or hinder the course or progress thereof. So think about it. He can't make his full appearance on the planet, duping the planet, while we're still here. And that's common sense, because guess who'd be blowing the whistle on the guy? Which also, Janet, another reason why we can't be in the seven-year tribulation, because if we were in the seven-year tribulation of this church, we'd be the first one saying, hey, there he is. Watch out for that guy. He's the Antichrist.

We'd be blowing the whistle on him. That's why the Bible says he can't make his full appearance until, the Greek word that's used there, verse 7 again, we hold him back, restrain, hinder the course or progress of his appearing until we are taken out of the way. The Greek there, Jan, is very vivid. What it literally means there, it's not just taken out of the way, it means to rise from the midst.

Gee, I wonder what that is. So the scripture is very clear, shocker, just happens to fit the pre-trib scenario, that the Antichrist can't make his full appearance, start the seven-year tribulation, Daniel 9 27, Revelation 6 1, until the church, who's currently now holding him back from doing fully his dirty deeds, is risen from the midst of this world. If that's not the rapture, I don't know what else is. But you mentioned who is the restraining influence, the Holy Spirit in the church today. It's important to note, I'm very deliberate with my words, it's the Holy Spirit's presence in the church today. And the reason why I say that is because the Holy Spirit, hello, is God. God is omnipresent. So how can you say that he's gone?

He can't be gone, otherwise he wouldn't be gone. Rather, the Holy Spirit's presence in the church today, that's what's been removed. But of course, the Holy Spirit, who's God and omnipresent, he's still active.

And we all know he's going to be active because the Bible is clear. If people make the worst mistake in their life, and they don't get saved today, and they're left behind by their own doing, and they're thrust into the seven-year tribulation, which is what the Bible teaches will happen if you don't get saved. The Bible says, good news, bad news, at that point, people can still get saved in the seven-year tribulation. Again, the tribulation saints, not the church. That is evident with the 144,000 male Jewish witnesses, and the scripture is very clear. That's the revival that's going to happen, but it's not the church.

It's there in that timeframe. So we see the two witnesses, Revelation chapter 11, and then God even sends an angel to declare the eternal gospel. So God, in the midst of his judgment and his wrath, he still demonstrates his mercy. The Holy Spirit's still operating and sharing the gospel.

That's the good news, but here's the bad news. If you wait until then, number one, you're flirting with, you're not going to die first from these judgments before you have an opportunity to say yes to God. Or if you do get saved, and praise God you got saved, but the Bible's very clear, there is no protection. You're going to be slaughtered like flies. In fact, the Bible says that even decapitation is going to come back as a form of capital punishment. And I like to challenge those people with this common sense thought, Jim, who say, well, I'll tell you what, if you Christians disappeared the rapture, I'll know that you're right, and that's when I'll get saved.

Really? You really think that right now, when you got it relatively easy to accept Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, so as to escape not only hell, but hell on earth, the seven-year tribulation, and you won't do it now when it's relatively easy. You really think you're going to turn to him when your head is literally on the chopping block? How about not even risk that and get saved today and avoid the whole thing? Very well put, Pastor Billy Crone.

Again, we're carrying this wonderful set of DVDs. You can find it at OliveTreeViews.org. You can get more acquainted with Pastor Crone at GetALifeMedia.com. Billy, I'm down to a few minutes left, but let me read three verses and I'm going to have you tackle it. You'll have to do it in a minute or two, but that would be Second Thessalonians 2, first couple of verses. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. Here's the thing, and I get so many emails about this because chapter two, verse one is the rapture of the church. Verse two and three sounds like the Antichrist is going to be here, and people say, but there's evidence that the church is going to go through the tribulation. And the key words they're not catching would be the day of the Lord. You take it from there and clarify.

I'm down to about a minute. I love this passage because, again, it actually fits the pre-trib position, even though people want to bring it up and say it doesn't. But the context is clear. Verse one, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, the rapture in the context, we ask you brothers not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy report or letter supposed to come from us saying the day of the Lord has already come. The day of the Lord is not the rapture. The day of the Lord defined in Old and New Testament starts at the seven year tribulation moves forward and it clearly is a day of wrath. Then he says, don't let anyone deceive you in any way for that day. What day? Not the rapture.

What's the context? The day of the Lord or the seven year tribulation will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. So when is the antichrist revealed?

We just talked about it. Daniel 9 27 when he makes the covenant with Israel and Revelation 6 1, the right horse rider. So it's very consistent if you don't take things out of context. Paul wrote this because there were some people saying the church was in the day of the Lord, the seven year tribulation, and he says, don't be easily unsettled or alarmed by that.

It's not true. And then he even says, don't be deceived because the day of the Lord will not come until the antichrist is revealed, Daniel 9 27. So again, Jan, it fits perfectly with the pre-trib scenario. I think what folks are missing is that key words there, day of the Lord. Verse one is the rapture. Verse two is talking about the day of the Lord or the tribulation.

And that's what's throwing them. Exactly. And then verse three, what they do is it says, don't let anyone deceive you in any way for that day will not come. They assume that day is the rapture and the tribulation.

Bingo. Billy Crone, you're coming back with me again next week, and we're going to talk about one of your other new products, and that's the DVD set on the COVID deception. So we'll hit that next week. Week number three with Pastor Billy Crone. Let me go out of the program saying that the point of this hour has been more than just presenting good apologetics. It has been a clarion call, as you could hear, to make sure you are ready for eternity and before eternity to make sure that you are ready for the rapture. To ensure that the Bible says simply, all who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. That's out of Romans 10. Call on him today, folks. No one is promised it tomorrow.

That is why the Bible says today is the day of salvation. Do it today, folks, if you don't know for sure where you are spending eternity. I want to thank you for listening. 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. We get our mail when you write to Olive Tree Ministries and Jan Markell, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. All gifts are tax deductible. God knew of today's events before the beginning of time. He knew you were going to play a primary role in these final days, and he's orchestrating all we see transpiring so that everything falls into place.