Wake Up, Sleeping Church!

We are asking this hour, do you know what time it is? If you don't know what time it is, please let us know.

As well as Muslim terrorists. This is an information packed hour. Now here's Jan Markell. Hey and welcome to the program.

So glad you can join me today and I have two guests with me. They believe that we are, well, in the last hour and that the tide turned, perhaps May of 1948. Both of my guests are trying to get that message to a, quite frankly, a sleeping church and to some younger people as well who often are not all that interested that life as we know it may be about to change. Chad Thomas has an outstanding YouTube channel where he sounds the alarm weekly that the hour is late. Unlike many of his peers, he is watching and waiting for the Lord's return and is trying to, again, wake up that kind of sleeping church.

Todd Hampson is also a young man. He is an author. His book is titled The Non-Prophet's Guide to the End Times and his hope is that he could engage the younger generation, frankly anyone, into a discussion of things to come. And before I bring them on, I just want to read a couple of lines of what Chad sent to me.

I believe it was an email and he said this. He said, the world is asleep and God has been shaking this world, but since Israel turned 70, I think it has gone to a whole new level. And then he says at 30 years old, it's sad to see most of my family, co-workers, and people I've grown up with my age think this is all just normal and taking no thought on Jesus and his soon return. I have no doubt he has called you and me and many others to plant the seeds of truth to a world in darkness. And Chad goes on in this email, he says, we are hoping just to reach one.

Just like the parable of the lost sheep, the angels rejoice over the one more sheep that was found than the 99. And then he concludes the younger generation have grown up in households that don't fear the Lord. And with God being removed from the schools, we have seen the 2 Timothy 3 prophecy gain speed like never before. Things aren't what they used to be.

Families rarely have a meal together as families at the table anymore are rare. And when you look at the younger generation, well, they're on their phones. The bottom line is the human condition today is mirroring again that 2 Timothy 3, 1 through 5. So gentlemen, welcome to the program for the first time. Thank you, Jan.

Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here with you. Say, Chad, let me direct this question to you. And we'll kind of go back and forth here. What has been the response? Now you've got a YouTube channel.

We'll give that here throughout the segment. What has been the response to your channel, the feedback from younger people you're hearing from, let's say under age 40? What's been the response? Well, Jan, what I will tell you, since I've had a YouTube channel for close to going on five years now, I have noticed over the last couple years that there has been an increasing number of younger adults that are becoming more interested in Bible prophecy.

I would say you're going to have a very mixed response. I mean, there's a ton of mockers, scoffers, people that are out there just to attack you. But I do notice over the last couple years that there is an alarmingly, surprisingly increase in the younger generation that does see something happening, and they're trying to do something about it. I believe, again, with the younger generation, a large percentage of them are still asleep, and they're going on thinking about their future years down the road, and they could care less about the Bible and Jesus Christ and Bible prophecy.

But I am noticing that there is, especially over the last couple years, an increase in more of the younger generation that is becoming interested. You're 30, but you came to faith some seven years ago or so, and how did all of this impact you? And I need a short answer, but I'm still curious, because this impacted you so dramatically.

Yes, it did. Back when I was 23 years old, that's when everything changed for me, when Jesus Christ changed my life. But my eyes weren't opened until I really sat down. I read through the Scriptures, when I read through the Bible, and then I looked at what's actually occurring around the world, and I actually found you and a lot of others like J.D. Farag, Amir Sarfati, that were teaching on Bible prophecy, and what you guys said lined up with the Word of God, and I see everything happening, and it lines up with the Bible. That changed everything, and I realized this is all real. This is all true, and in fact, we are living in that time frame.

We're to expect the Lord to return at any moment. Going to go to Todd here, because you wrote an intriguing book, Todd Hampson. You wrote a book called The Non-Prophet's Guide to the End Times, and it's kind of targeting young people at the same time.

I'm sure you'd like to kind of target just about anyone. It's a tremendous endorsement you've got by Dr. Ron Rhodes. Give us a short synopsis, and then I'm going to ask you the same thing.

What has been the response from younger folks? What are you hearing? So, the non-prophet, I'll explain that first. I have an animation background, and so he's a character called the non-prophet, non-p-r-o-p-h-e-t, so it's kind of a play on words. Knowing that prophecy is an intimidating topic, I wanted to have some humor and some comedy relief, so he gets prophecy wrong, and he's a terrible businessman, so he's a day late and a dollar short. But the book itself is basically an overview, a Prophecy 101 overview, to introduce people to the topic of Bible prophecy in general and the signs of the times and the period that we're in specifically.

I approached it like a missionary would a mission field. Like, I realized that my generation and below has a lot of baggage when it comes to eschatology. People have been saying forever that the Lord's going to return, and what they really mean is since the 70s when Hal Lindsey came out with the late, great planet Earth, and I'm kind of like, well, that's really a short time span, you know, 30 or 40 years. It's not like, you know, a super long time.

Then, of course, the Left Behind series, that kind of ramped things up again. But just like Chad said, I'm noticing since 2015 when God laid this project on my heart, I'm noticing a serious uptick. It's the elephant in the room. Everybody sees the world falling apart and everyone deep down. Yeah, they want to know what's going on, but they're not getting the answers.

Chad hit it on the head, too. I think until people do the intentional study themselves, eschatology will remain untouchable and scary and complex. I believe that's a multifaceted attack from the enemy, and he's just done a great job at us getting our eyes off of what we should be looking at in our day. Well, let me just ask you each a couple of questions, and I do want to read a couple of emails I've gotten as well. If you just join me, folks, you're listening to Understanding the Times Radio.

I'm Jan Markell. I have on the line two gentlemen, Todd Hampson, author, Nonprofit's Guide to the End Times. You can find that at Christianbook.com. Frankly, you can find it in your local Christian bookstore.

Any of them would have it. And then, Chad Thomas. Find him on YouTube.

Watchman on the Wall 88 is his channel. Let me ask you guys a couple of questions here, because we're talking about the younger generation. Let me go back to Chad here for a minute. Tell me, when you hear from them, what are they focusing on, if not current events, theology, eschatology, and the obvious fact that, as Todd just said, everything's falling apart? You and I, the three of us, know everything's falling into place, but things are falling apart. What do you find them focusing on, the here and now?

You know, Jan, this is something that, you know, I was thinking about earlier. A majority of the world is focused on worldly things. Jesus said we're supposed to focus on treasures in heaven, not treasures on earth. But what we're finding today is that the enemy has deceived this planet so much that all they want is, they want treasure on earth. They're worried about what's next week, next month, 10 years from now, retirement, what house we can get. They're focused on the future, and they're not focused on their eternal future. You know, we see in Ephesians 6 13 that the battle, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. Again, we see that the enemy, principalities, the rulers of the darkness of this world, have people so focused, have their roots so dug in this world, that they want to be here, and they're striving for things on here and not, they could care less about the kingdom of heaven and what's coming. Well, I want to read an email from a college student, get your take on it here. This is from Jamie Smith. He's given me permission.

He says, I love listening to your podcasts. Learning about biblical prophecy actually helped me reconnect with my faith, and it gave me so much hope for the future. Again, college-age person. I actually attempted suicide before I came back to Christ, thinking that the way the world is turning was actually a good change according to the left, and that there is no room for Christians in this new world that they're trying to build. Now that I know better, I have felt nothing but joy and hope, and I have even grown the courage to tell my friends on campus about Jesus Christ and his teachings. I just wanted to ask if there are any outlets for the college-age prophecy watchers like myself to connect with each other. I love the guests on your program, but we have a unique perspective that needs to be addressed in that we are actually the ones being fed all of the unbiblical ideas. And then he concludes, and by the way, he's at Auburn College in Alabama.

If you're a college-age person and you want to connect with someone who wants to connect with you, Jamie Smith at Auburn College is interested, so write me and I'll send it to Jamie, and then he concludes. Also, I would say our numbers are much smaller, so it is much rarer to find someone that believes in the rapture like I do. I have been to many Christian organizations on campus and nobody I have met is excited about eschatology. I have also had church jobs that I left when I learned of their apostasy. And then he concludes, they said they didn't want Jesus to come back yet.

Basically, they enjoy the world too much. That's his conclusion. Thank you for everything you're doing. Again, Jamie at Auburn College in Alabama. Todd, does that surprise you? It really doesn't. It's interesting. My oldest son is in his first year in college, and then I have my daughters in high school, and then I have a younger son in middle school. So I kind of have a built-in focus group from all the different age groups, and they're experiencing the same thing. And I think it's similar to how we as watchmen and watchwomen are kind of spread out. In my gut, I feel that there's not going to be a great awakening of end times Bible prophecy, but I think God has certain people strategically placed in every generation. But what I have noticed, just even with my son who's a college student, is similar to what that young man shared, and that it's really hard to find solid theology.

And college life right now is crazier than it's ever been. There's so much temptation and so much evil coming at them that they really need something solid to dig into. So even my sons had to find unique ways to find fellowship and good Bible teaching, and not in a judgmental way, but that's just the reality.

He really has struggled to find good connections even at college. But one thing I have noticed on the positive side is that unlike my generation that had that baggage, it's almost like my generation has been inoculated. They've had just enough eschatology to be immune to it and be able to ignore it, even though, like we said, the signs are all around us. What I found is with all three of my kids, actually the first one to finish read my book was my middle schooler.

I didn't even know he was reading it, and he came down the steps one day and said, hey dad, I just finished reading your book. So there's definitely hope. But what I found with college age is that if you can just get their attention long enough and address the fact that there's an elephant in the room that most people aren't talking about, they will listen to the message of Bible prophecy, and they don't have that baggage that a lot of people in my generation have. To them, it's very exciting and very fresh and like a whole new world has opened up.

So if you can just slow them down long enough to take a look. Chad, in your update of a few weeks ago, this is your YouTube update. Again, I'm talking to an author, that's Todd Hampson, and a YouTuber, and that's Chad Thomas.

In your update recently, you stated that, quote, people around the world know something is happening. Nature is out of control. We would say the birth pangs are escalating. We keep hearing that some of these birth pangs are a biblical proportion. So true. Here we're new into 2019, and we had the most incredible horrific tornado. This is back in February. That hit Alabama, now with the most incredible flooding that's hit the heartland. What do you tell these younger people when we have to talk about these birth pangs are just horrific?

What kind of advice do you give? Are they coming to you? Are they mad at God? Are they confused?

What I've noticed, people that do know me, that know that I'm into eschatology, and a lot of them obviously don't agree with me. I think I'm a little bit nuts. That's usually what they think. But when I say that people know something's going on, you can be at work, you can be at the grocery store, you can be pretty much anywhere, and you'll hear people talking about the earthquakes, the weather, the fires, the flooding, like you said. And when they come to you about it, they might mock a little bit and say, oh, this is pretty crazy.

Well, it must be another sign. You know what I mean? And you lead them to the Scriptures. You mean you can show them it's right in the Bible. You're not making it up.

This stuff is all in there. What I did notice, too, Jan, is that the way we're going to get their attention is not only when they're asking you questions to lead them to the Scriptures and show them in the Scriptures where it's saying this stuff, but also you're not telling people to get religious. This is something that I've had said to me recently, where I actually was witnessing to a co-worker, and she said I was sharing the Gospel with her, and she said, I've never had anybody explain to me the Gospel that way. She's like, I grew up in a religious household, and I was told all these rules and regulations and different things that turn me away from Jesus, but the way that you just share the Gospel, that all makes sense to me. So in the same way that we would want to share the Gospel with people, we're not preaching to them religion, we're preaching to them a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's the same thing we need to really effectively witness to people. We need to show them what's happening right now and how it is in the Word of God, not doing it in a rough way, but doing it in a loving way. Answer their questions, plant the seed. Again, we can only plant the seeds to people. God is the one that's going to provide the increase, but we're all given opportunities almost every day, I believe, to plant a seed.

I want to play a clip. It's the gentleman who influenced me, and one of you referenced him earlier in the interview, and that's Hal Lindsay with his book, Late Great Planet Earth. His book sort of caused everything to make sense. Now, I think this was, I'm not sure when it came out.

I think I got a hold of it in the late 1970s. My world suddenly made sense. Today, we've got some new tools. It's called the Internet.

It's called YouTube. It's called all things electronic, but this is Hal actually very recently. Even people who know nothing about Bible prophecy are asking the question, are we headed toward the end of the world as we know it? Jesus Christ Himself warned of just such a time as the one we see unfolding before our eyes. In His last and most important prophetic message, recorded in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 21, the Lord Jesus gave a list of signs to watch for that would signal the end of this age. His disciples asked Him for the signs of His coming and of the end of the age. Jesus then predicted that a number of special signs would all appear together in the same time period, and these signs began to appear in earnest when Israel was reborn as a nation in 1948. Parenthetically, nothing in the way of signs of the end times was relevant until Israel was reborn as a nation, because every one of these assumes that Israel is restored as a nation. And Todd, you've actually made that point kind of over and over again, and I appreciate the fact that you do, and that is that everything is on overdrive since 1948.

All these signs, many of which really converge in the tribulation, but they're casting a huge shadow today. And that's because Israel, the bones, the dry bones, came together back in 1948, and I appreciate the way you emphasize that all the time. Again, this is on his YouTube channel.

You can find it at Watchmen on the Wall 88. Go ahead, Chad. People don't realize how significant that was. That's right. When that happened, and the fact that in May of 1948 entered into the 70th year, and it's going to be concluding here in a few weeks, and we're going to begin the 71st year, but the 70th year is huge prophetically, and I think God is letting us know how significant it is by showing us the major convergence factor.

The convergence. Oh my goodness. I mean, since May 14th of 2018, the very first day when Trump moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on that anniversary day, and then we've seen everything that's happened since then.

I know. I mean, it's incredible to see what God is saying to this world, this marker of when Israel became a nation and how we just entered into going on almost 71 years here, that generational time frame. He's speaking to this world. What time it is. When I get back, I'm going to read another couple of emails that I've gotten from young people who are very in tune with what we're talking about, and yes, they are the exception.

I would have to acknowledge that. And then I want to ask my two guests, and they are Todd Hampson and Chad Thomas. I'm going to have them give some advice to those of you who are parents and grandparents, and you love the topic that the King is coming, and you just do not know how to reach the young people in your life, be they kids, grandkids, great-grandchildren, whatever.

You do not know how to talk to them. So we'll do that when I get back in just a couple of minutes. Don't go away. God is shaking the world to get our attention. He is also shaking the church.

And if we are in the Laodicean age, it is no easy task. We are thankful young men like Chad Thomas and Todd Hampson are proclaiming the gospel in their own unique way. We'll hear more about this in just a moment. Why not save the date of Saturday, September 21 for Understanding the Times 2019. Tickets go on sale June 1st for $25 and include lunch. We will be selling general admission seats only and no assigned seating. Speakers this year include Dr. Robert Jeffress, Amir Sarfati, Pastor Jack Hibbs, Pastor JD Farag, and Jan Markell.

They will help you understand the times and become watchmen on the wall. Location once again is Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis. The teaching is timely and the fellowship is unparalleled as you make friends for life. Save the date and visit our website's conference page for a list of hotels and other pertinent information. That's OliveTreeViews.org.

OliveTreeViews.org. We hope to meet thousands of you September 21 just outside of Minneapolis. Man, what greater time to be living in a human history to be living in this time where our King is coming at any moment. The blessed hope, yet people are so caught up in this world. It's sad to see, but once I realized and I started studying the Bible and Bible prophecy, and I realized how close we are to the coming of the Lord, it encouraged me.

And like you said in JD Farag again, if we didn't have that blessed hope, Jan, I'd probably lose my mind. Olive Tree Ministries loves hearing from listeners. You can always give us a call at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. You can write us through our website, OliveTreeViews.org. That's OliveTreeViews.org. Reach us by mail at Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311.

That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. Since you are running to and fro, you can catch the program electronically at our website on Saturday morning at Complete Archives. Or enjoy our YouTube presentation with images related to the discussion inserted.

You can stream, download, or tap into the OnePlace.com mobile app and listen at your leisure. More in a moment. What is your challenge? What is our responsibility as Christ followers before the church's rapture, which could occur at any moment? Well, I'd say first of all, read the Bible. Get your idea about the coming of Christ right out of Scripture itself. You don't read the Bible through the newspaper.

You read the newspaper through the Bible. So if you understand what the Bible says about the future, then you can look at the news and say, oh wow, it looks like the stage is being set. We don't want to run ahead of God and set a timetable. That's in the Father's plan. But we also want to be alert to the fact that Israel is back in the promised land. The Bible said they would return, and they did after nearly 1900 years.

That's never happened before in history. That the Middle East would be in crisis in the end times, and it is. That there'd be a global economy that could potentially be controlled by one individual, and that there would be weapons of mass destruction that might bring about the kind of things predicted in the book of Revelation, and they already exist. Those things get my attention to say the clock is ticking.

We have a date with destiny, but we also have a job to do in the meantime to reach the world for the cause of Christ while there's still hope, while there's still time. That was my good friend, Dr. Ed Hindson, commenting on what we're talking about today, and I have as guests for these two segments. You can learn more about Todd Hampson at ToddHampson.com.

Just the way it sounds, ToddHampson.com. You can find his book, The Non-Profit's Guide to the End Times. Find that at ChristianBook.com.

Find it in your local Christian bookstore. But first, guys, I want to read another couple of emails from younger people, and then I want to talk to you some more about reaching them with this topic that we love so much, and it's hard to break through, quite frankly, Todd and Chad, much of the church. It doesn't have to be just young people. Much of the church, all ages, has sort of gone numb to this topic.

So the fact that we're waking anybody up, it's getting harder and harder. But Miranda writes, and she says, I'm 23 years old. I'm a music teacher, a graduate student. My mother and I love your radio program. We even have a Saturday afternoon tradition where we listen to your program while working on a puzzle. I was listening to your recent talk and just wanted to encourage you that there are young people out there who are eagerly awaiting our Lord's return, myself included.

Some people my age may not be shocked by this, but it's not that I don't want to experience certain milestones in my life. It's that I understand that what the Lord has in store for all of us when we return home, in other words, heavenly home, will be far greater than anything this world has to offer. I'm happy to occupy until He returns, however long He gives me, and however much of this life He allows me to experience. Please keep up the good work. Then let me just read another short email from Jesse. I'm not sure if it's a he or she, but they say, I just wanted to send you a short note and tell you how much I appreciate the truth that you speak every week. I heard you read an email on Saturday's program about a young woman who was introduced to your ministry by her parents and had shared with you the struggles of being a young woman trying to discern the times in our day and age. You specifically mentioned the difficulty of reaching the younger generations, and I just wanted to share with you and encourage you with the fact that through your faithfulness to God's calling, you have reached many young people, not as many as any of us would like, but I for one have grown and been encouraged by your ministry.

I'm 21 years old. I was introduced to your radio program by my mother. It went from tuning into your radio program now and then to a week rarely going by that I don't tune into you, J.D.

Farag, Jack Hibbs, Amir Sarfati. I listen to all of you regularly and praise God for the biblical truth. Each one of you speak in a time when so few have the courage to stand on the Word of God. That's just a couple of more kids in their 20s. Todd, tell me, what do you think is the biggest detractor today? Do you think it would be the technology of today that's distracting these younger people? And if so, it is our friend and our enemy in a sense. Do you just think it's the tide of our times? That question kind of haunts me. I really prayed about that and thought about it, and I think it's more than one thing.

I think technology, they're being bombarded by everything for sure with 18 types of social media on their phone and the internet readily available. I'm sure that's an influence. But as you said, that could be leveraged for positive purposes as well. So that's the beauty of it.

But I really, really wrestled with it. And I don't think there's any single answer as to why they're so tuned out to it other than just the enemy has really done a great job laying a minefield of getting our eyes off of it. When you think about it, it just it lines up with all the things we read about the last day's church, the Laodicean church. And in my gut, and I kind of mentioned this before, my gut, I don't see, of course I could be wrong, but I think it lines up with scripture. If we're where we think we are, I don't see a great end times revival. I mean, I see it happening in closed areas like Iran and China, where God's really kind of leveraging the oppression that they're facing to grow the church. But in the West, I just see it dwindling away. But what I'm encouraged by is just like you said, that there are people scattered around almost like a grassroots effort where there are going to be people that are naturally drawn to Bible prophecy.

So I think we just need to keep shouting it from the rooftops in every way, shape and form we can. And you mentioned it is complex. And how do we even approach it, especially when people don't have a frame of reference? I found that even using just one key thing, like to me, when I became a Christian, I grew up unchurched, didn't believe in God, believed in evolution, you know, whole nine yards. But when I was in the eighth grade, I had an art teacher who was also a Bible teacher at this private school I went to that one year. And he pointed me to fulfilled Bible prophecy as an evidence for the reliability of scripture.

And just like you said, Hal Lindsey opened up a whole new world for you, that opened up a whole new world for me. And that's the root of my interest in Bible prophecy. But I think just pointing people to even just one key thing, like one thing, I'm blown away by is that the church at large, and I'm thinking of probably every church I've been a part of, I've never heard a big push pointing to the fact that Israel becoming a nation again is fulfilled Bible prophecy predicted by every Old Testament prophet except for Jonah. You know, I mean, to me, that is a huge end time sign that has been swept under the rug unintentionally that I think we can leverage to point people to the times that we're in.

I want to play that clip. And Chad, this is you. And you speak with such passion here, because you're trying to wake up a sleeping church. I mean, there's just so much happening.

Again, it's hard to keep track of everything. But what's amazing, guys, is talking about the parable of the fig tree, and that we're in Israel's 70th year. And I was getting I was reading the other day, I'm getting about everything that's happened during Israel's 70th year.

And of course, it blows my mind every time I do that, because literally everything's right in our face. And God is trying to shake this world is trying to wake us up. Do we know what time it is? Wake up sleeping church, wake up sleeping world. My son is coming.

It's time to wake out of sleep. If you just join me, you're listening to Understanding the Times Radio, Jan Markell here. I have on the line both from the East Coast, Todd Hampson as an author. You can learn more about him at Todd Hampson.com. You can find his book, The Nonprofit's Guide to the End Times, Christian Book.com, any Christian bookstore, and Chad Thomas.

Learn more at his YouTube channel, Watchman on the Wall 88. His numbers there are going up astronomically. And we talked about that in the first few minutes of the program. And we believe that's because really there is some sort of an inherent interest in what's happening. We often say here things are kind of falling apart.

Well, not really. They're falling into place and people are getting curious about that. That's why we don't want you to give up on talking about these issues to anybody, any age group. Okay, guys, let's just spend a few minutes. Todd, if you could give some advice to any parent, grandparent listening, great grandparent listening, aunt, uncle, whatever, what would you tell them? And let's kind of target now the underage 40 crowd, how we can reach them.

Absolutely. I think number one, just really being sensitive to what perceptions they already have of eschatology. There are a lot of reservations. Some of them are understandable, like the endless parade of date setters and sensationalism. But also, a lot of it is just they've never come in contact with it in a solid, clearly defined way. So I think avoid getting too much into the weeds and focus on some of the big things like we've mentioned a few times, Israel becoming a nation again, the hundreds of fulfilled Bible prophecies that show that future prophecy will also in like manner be fulfilled, literally, and also the convergence of everything that's happening right now. And I think to the younger you go, like high school, middle school, even college age, they still have that sense of awe and wonder. What we're talking about are some fantastic things. You think about everything that they see in the movies and on TV, it's all about hyperrealism and all these fantastic things. Well, we're living in a time when we're very close to some very fantastic things happen. And some of them are happening in our days.

That's right. So if we could just recapture their sense of awe and wonder and somehow get them to look into scripture, even challenge them, like I often challenge people, like I'll make a statement on my blog or even in the book, I say a few things and I say, don't take my word for this, dig in yourself and find out if it's true. I have a small group Bible study that goes with the book.

And in one of the sessions, I talk at length about don't take somebody's word for it. You've got to put the work in yourself because it's one thing to hear other people talk about it, but until you study it and wrestle with it and ask the questions and internalize it, you're not going to own those convictions for yourself. There've been several authors like Lee Strobel, for example, who was an atheist and wanted to prove his wife wrong.

So he used his investigative skills to try to prove that God didn't exist and he became a Christian. Well, the Bible is a supernatural book and it does supernatural things to us. I think the more we can get people to not just brush it off, but to dig in themselves, the better off we'll be. And also, you know, you hear a lot of talk of, I've heard the phrase, you're so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good.

I think the opposite is true. I think the more we can focus on our glorious future and the things that God has promised to us, the things, his return is part of the gospel, almost everywhere where the gospel is mentioned, his return is part of that promise. So the more we can focus on our glorious future, I think that impacts how we live our life today versus detracting from how we're supposed to live our life today.

So I don't know if there's any, there's no magic bullet. I think really just praying specifically on how God would use you. I think like we've been saying, people are strategically placed in families and in areas where he has good works before them he wants us to bump into. And if we'll just be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and pray that God will use us in a way that he can only use our specific set of spiritual gifts and our relationships with those people, I really think people, it'll be more of a grassroots effort of people waking up. And I think that's the way to go. Chad, turning it over to you. What kind of advice would you give to parents, grandparents, anybody who trying to get, you know, we can just say trying to get truth to younger people?

I mean, we'd love it to be eschatological truth as well. But how did they communicate to the underage 40 generation? Because you're doing it effectively. But on the other hand, you're 30 years old. And I think younger people are more inclined to listen to a peer than they are to someone twice their age. I don't have kids yet. But I will say this, Lord willing, the Lord tarries and I do have children. One scripture that I have in front of me that I read every day is Proverbs 1533. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor is humility. We need to raise our kids, our grandkids, in the fear of the Lord in his word and in the world that we're in, knowing that the way society is and how kids are glued to their phones and all this junk out there.

Think about this. From the beginning, when God created us, said right in the beginning, he's created us for a relationship with him. But since we have this deception out there right now with the media, with music, with television, with the phones, it's taking away from that relationship that one-on-one we have. It's getting people so engraved in the affairs of this life and all the junk out there.

So I think advice to parents and grandparents out there is, again, to raise your kids in the fear of the Lord and make sure you have that time each day for prayer and eating a dinner with a family. I mean, what happened to that? Yeah, it's ancient history. Yeah, I mean, I was just talking to a brother in Christ the other day.

He's in his 60s, but he said when he was growing up, I mean, that was all his childhood. You know, they would have Bible time each day, prayer time, and dinner as a family. They didn't have the phones out. Now you try to go to a regular family today and people are on their phones.

Even you go try to go into a restaurant today. Look at all the people around you on their phones. They're not even talking to each other.

They're buried in their phones and doing what they're doing. But in this world, the closer we get to that trumpet sounding, the deceptions are going to get more rampant. People are getting so sucked into this world, they're going to be caught up in part of that anti-Christ deception that's going to come on once the Church is out of here. The stage is set for that. We're seeing the precursors to it right now.

That's right. The bottom line is, if you're a parent or a grandparent out there, again, there needs to be, again, a fear of the Lord. And if you have a child that's gone off course, obviously you want to be praying for them, but you want to bring them back to the basic values of spending time in the Word and spending time with the family. Because the closer we get to God, like I said earlier, the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. So there needs to be that fear of the Lord. But it seems like in the world we're in, Jan, that there isn't a fear of the Lord.

I would agree. And you know, the one thing about your testimony, Chad, is the news that the King is coming is what ultimately ignited you. First you were an unbeliever, and then I think you were kind of maybe a little bit lukewarm, and then this concept came to you, and you caught fire.

I mean, and something that you've said, and also Pastor J.D. Farag, is the blessed hope. Once I realized that the King's coming, once you realized that, I wanted to live for the King.

I mean, this is like incredible. Like you said, now it's pretty much the blasted hope. Yeah, it's the blasted hope. The blasted hope, man, what greater time to be living in a human history, to be living in this time where our King is coming at any moment. The blessed hope. Yet people are so caught up in this world, it's sad to see. But once I realized, and I started studying the Bible and Bible prophecy, and I realized how close we are to the coming of the Lord, it encouraged me. And like you said in J.D. Farag, again, if we didn't have that blessed hope, Jan, I'd probably lose my mind.

Yeah, I know I would. Gentlemen, I want to thank you so much, because we've spent two segments here. I hope we've conveyed some practical information and helpful information to anybody. Doesn't have to be necessarily just to parents and grandparents. Anyway, we got young people listening as well. And you can hear from my two guests today, Todd Hampson and Chad Thomas, that you're not an aberration if you happen to have an interest in this particular topic.

The good news, the glorious news that the King is coming. Learn more at ToddHampson.com. Find his book in any Christian bookstore. Look up Chad's outstanding YouTube channel, Watchman on the Wall 88. He posts updates sometimes twice a week. Thank you both, gentlemen, for what you're doing.

Appreciate it so much. We'll stay in touch. Say just a heads up on some conference activity coming up this spring, summer and fall. Saturday, May 11, awaiting his return conference Toronto, Canada, sponsored by Amir Sarfati, Behold Israel. And you must get a ticket at BeholdIsrael.org, $15, 2000 seats sold now. Speakers Amir Sarfati, Jack Hibbs, Barry Stagner, and yours truly. Then, Hope for Our Times Prophecy Conference, Indian Wells, California. Hyatt Regency, sponsored by Pastor Tom Hughes and his Prophecy Outreach, Hope for Our Times.

You must register. HopeforOurTimes.com, HopeforOurTimes.com. Almost 20 speakers, including Jack Hibbs, Ed Hindson, Dave Reagan, Billy Crone, Tom Hughes, Nathan Jones, Barry Stagner, yours truly. And many more, June 28, 29th, and 30th. As for live streaming on these two activities, contact BeholdIsrael.org or HopeforOurTimes.com. Again, BeholdIsrael.org or HopeforOurTimes.com. And then, Understanding the Times 2019, here in Minneapolis, live streamed at no cost, Saturday, September 21st. Tickets go on sale June 1st for $25, and that includes a boxed lunch.

And we will tap into the services of Brushfire again, the Brushfire Agency, and I won't give that contact info at this time. Speakers Amir Sarfati, Jack Hibbs, J.D. Farag, Robert Jeffress, and yours truly. Folks, you'll make friends for life at these events. Check them out.

Welcome to Understanding the Times 2018. Tim has come all the way from Iowa. Nick and Tina from Vancouver, Canada. I'm Darlene from New Jersey. I'm from the great state of Texas. Glenn, how many times have you been to the conference?

About 19. Been following Jan for about the past year. She's such a blessing, very informative. And it's just a joy to see that people are seeing the importance of end times study and eschatology. One third of the Bible is prophecy, and pastors these days don't really want to even touch on that. And it's all pointing toward Christ coming back and how the things in the Bible are being fulfilled.

I was so inspired. We welcome to our radio station lineup the Life FM network of 25 new stations, taking our total stations to nearly 850 across North America. Stay up to date by reading our daily headlines at our website at olive3views.org. We have two years of radio programming posted there as well, plus an online store, conference information, and a contact link.

Find info there on how you can text to give as well. Jan talks to Pastor Brad Brandon next. You don't want to miss his incredible story. Olive Tree Ministries is carrying a new book by Douglas Stauffer and Andrew Ray reviving the blessed hope of Thessalonians. I did not think I would see the day when we would have to have a discussion about reviving our hope in the rapture of the church. Something that has to be revived has often expired, and yes, discussion of the pre-trib rapture of the church has been on life support.

Find this excellent book in our store at olivetreeviews.org, in our print any newsletter, or you can call us central time, 763-559-4444, 763-559-4444. This ministry is committed to helping the entire church to keep looking up and expecting his return, even if vast portions of the church have little interest in doing that. We will keep reminding you that the trumpet and the shout could happen even today, and I promise you, you don't want to be left behind. Check out Reviving the Blessed Hope today. So wherever you see great numbers of persecution happening, or great amounts of persecution towards Christians happening, you see the growth of the word of God, you see the growth of the gospel.

Look at what's happening in China right now, and look at what happened behind the Iron Curtain. Once the Iron Curtain was dropped, we realized that the Christian church was flourishing under the communist regime there. We often feel helpless when it comes to the persecuted church. Jan now talks to one man who could not sit idly by and not help persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Pastor Brad Brandy did not know that his mission field would also include Fulani Muslims as well. May this short segment encourage you to be more aware of this situation in Africa.

And welcome back. We're heading into our closing segment of the hour, and do you know that a staggering number of Christians perish daily at the hands of all sorts of extremists? Boko Haram in Nigeria is wiping out entire Christian sections of the country, and that's just one nation. In Afghanistan, Christianity is outlawed, and that is nearly the case in Pakistan, where the remaining few Christians are under constant threat. Recently, you may remember, a deranged lunatic gunned down dozens of Muslims at two mosques in New Zealand. That was a major news story, and it actually needed to be reported, but shouldn't mass killings of Christians be given the same sort of media coverage?

And sadly, we all know that does not happen. Now, whenever there is mass slaughter of Christians, it is usually, quite frankly, entirely ignored by the mainstream media, particularly in the United States. I'm aware that recently Vice President Pence made some statements. Let me just quote him here, and he says Christians are clinging for survival. He says, quoting Vice President Pence, in more than 100 countries, from Iran to Eritrea, over 245 million Christians confront intimidation, imprisonment, forced conversion, abuse, assault, or worse, simply for holding on to the truths of the Gospel. Again, Vice President Pence, a recent statement by him. Now, are churches even talking about this? Are they even financially supporting the persecuted church?

Are they having regular updates? So here's what I want to do for the remainder of the program, and we don't have a lot of time left, but still, I wanted to squeeze this very important topic in, and I'm joined by Pastor Brad Brandon. Brad, welcome to the program. Thanks, Jan. It's so good to be with you. Thanks for having me on. And you're with Across Nigeria, and I'll give the website here in just a minute or two, but let's just talk for a few minutes here about your boots on the ground in areas, and you're getting the Gospel to some of the perpetrators of this persecution, even Boko Haram, some of the Fulani in the Nigeria area.

Talk to me a little bit about this. Yeah, we are boots on the ground. We have operations in both the south and the north of Nigeria. The north of Nigeria is obviously a lot more dangerous. It's filled with and controlled mostly by Muslims, largely the Fulani, as you mentioned, and Boko Haram. Those are the two groups that have strongholds in the north, and what we're doing is going into different villages and into these areas and using different means and ways, as the Lord leads, to evangelize people, and we're actually seeing a really good response. These, mostly Fulani, are 99% Muslim, and we're seeing a fantastic amount of Muslims come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Really? Now, you told me there are two million people displaced in various camps in that part of Africa, and in some of these camps there can be up to 15,000 people, 90% of them Christian, I think. No security in the camps, little food, little water.

You're bringing the Gospel. What's going on in these camps? Well, what you have is a lot of the Fulani are going into Christian villages, and they're persecuting the Christians. They're being targeted, so don't believe the news media when they tell you that the conflict between the Fulani and the Christians is just a land conflict. A lot of times you'll hear people say, well, it's over grazing ground for their cattle, so it's cattlemen versus farmers.

That's not true. The Fulani are going into these Christian villages, they're targeting Christian homes, they're targeting churches, and they destroy the whole village and kill many people in the village, many Christians, and the survivors are left displaced. And so what's happened in the country is this has become really an epidemic of literally biblical proportions, because we've filled up 4,000 IDP camps in Nigeria. And IDP stands for? IDP stands for Internally Displaced Persons, and there's 4,000 of them throughout Nigeria, and the total population is over 2 million people.

Now I think it's 2.1 million. It's largely due, I'd say, 99% of the inhabitants of these camps are from the displacements that are caused by the Fulani and Boko Haram. So the persecution is on a scale that I've never seen anything like it before. Why is Nigeria such a hotspot?

And this seems to be your target, but why such a hotspot? Because I think it's been largely forgotten by the media. It's sort of laid dormant for a long time. So it's allowed a lot of groups like this to operate under the radar screen. You know, the Mideast has been on the radar screen for many, many years now. Nigeria, not so much. And Nigeria is one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. If you look at the GDP, there's a lot of money pouring into Nigeria. Now it goes into corruption, and then it also goes to pay for a lot of the terrorism that goes on there.

So you have this huge gap between those at the top and those at the bottom. 80% of people in Nigeria live in abject poverty. I mean, they have literally nothing.

And all the money's flowing to the corrupt government and to the terrorist organizations. But so many Christians in Nigeria. How come? Yeah.

How come? Well, years ago, there was a large outreach to Nigeria, probably 200 years ago. Britain sent a lot of missionaries to Nigeria, targeted that area with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and had a lot of success there.

A lot of conversions happened. And so that's how Christianity was introduced to the area. One of the drawbacks from that was that the missionaries who first went there had the belief that the Fulani were, because they were nomadic people, they were like animals, and they didn't have a soul. So the early Christian missionaries didn't do a lot to reach the Fulani people. And that false teaching has now led to the stronghold of Fulani that are literally wiping out tens of thousands of Christians. I think the number's 50,000 since 2011. 50,000 Christians have been killed since 2011. Really?

Mm hmm. And as someone said, the New York Times would not place a story of this kind of persecution on the front page. In fact, they do not cover it at all. Apparently, when assessing, now again referring to New York Times, all the news that's fit to print, the massacre of African Christians does not measure up. The same can be said for the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, the LA Times, and every other major paper in the United States. The news shows from the three major television networks, they do not mention any such story. Nor, of course, would CNN, MSNBC, etc. Frankly, I don't even see it on Fox News. I'm not sure why this is, Brad. It's almost like a blackout of this kind of stories.

Yeah, I think it is, Jan. I think you're absolutely right. And the reason, I believe, is because that persecution really is the fertilizer to the seed of the Word of God. If you look at the book of Acts, they're told in Acts 1-8 to go out and preach the gospel to the entire world, go reach the uttermost part of the earth. It wasn't until Acts chapter 8 and verse number 1 that they actually start going out and doing what Christ commanded them to do. And the reason is, chapter numbers 6 and 7, they were suffering persecution at a great scale. So wherever you see great numbers of persecution happening, or great amounts of persecution towards Christians happening, you see the growth of the Word of God, you see the growth of the gospel.

Look at what's happening in China right now, and look at what happened behind the Iron Curtain. Once the Iron Curtain was dropped, we realized that the Christian Church was flourishing under the communist regime there. Talking for this segment with Pastor Brad Brandon, you can get acquainted with him at his website, acrossnigeria.org, acrossnigeria.org. And Brad, you're actually having some outreach to the Muslims. And I found that fascinating because you're bringing them some medicine, some other kinds of items that they need, and they're open to your message. Tell me a little bit about that.

BRAD BRANDON Yeah, they are. You know, it's really been an amazing thing. The Bible speaks very definitively that it's God that opens the doors. So anytime we see open doors, we know that God has done it. And we have walked into Fulani villages, I mean, literally not knowing if we're going to walk out at the end of the day. And we've been talking with them and really just showing Christ's love.

That's how the Bible says they're going to know us is by our love. So we go into these villages, and we see what kind of medical needs they have and other needs that they have. One village that I was just in back in January just simply needed clean water brought to their village. They were drinking out of a dirty well, and it was causing their children to be sick. So we went in there with just some means and ways to get them clean water.

And that opens the door for us to sit down. From that, they invited me to preach the gospel to their entire village, about 150 men, 10 of those men ended up coming to Christ. And we're using other means to evangelize the Fulani.

One village that we've had a lot of success in has allowed us to set up a school in the village for their children. And the stipulation that I told them was, we have to use the Bible in order to teach your children to read and write English. We'll do it as long as we can use the Bible. And they negotiated, and they went back and forth for a little while. But at the end of the day, they said, You know what, this is a blessing.

And we thank you for showing us some love. And now we're in there teaching their children and using the Bible to do so in a Muslim Fulani village. And you said one of these Fulani Muslims said to you, we had been praying for years that somebody would come and help us with medical issues.

And here comes a white guy from America. That was you. That was me.

Yeah, it was pretty amazing. So I went in there and I gave the gospel to the whole village after we had given them some medical help and clean their water. And, and we talked about educating their children and helping them with that, of course, using the Bible to do it.

And the chief, El Ejigamo, got up in front of the entire village. And he said, You know, we've been praying to God for years that he would bring help to us. And he said, Here comes this white man to our village, bringing help and preaching about Christ. He said, Who are we to say that God didn't send this man to deliver the message of Jesus Christ to us? I mean, these are the kind of doors that God is opening. It's really amazing to be part of it and to see it.

Learn more folks across Nigeria.org. Pastor Brad Brandon. Brad, about a minute left. How can my listening audience even be a part of this? Well, the best part is to pray. I mean, we say that all the time as Christians, but I mean, really getting on our knees and praying, and we need strength. All of our operators on the field, myself, every single day, I make decisions that put people's lives in jeopardy and have to make those decisions.

I need wisdom, and I need strength for that. Our operators on the field who are going out every single day to these villages as well, they need strength and they need help. You can go to our website at acrossnigeria.org, and on there is a list of ways that you can pray for Across Nigeria. And Jan, I think that's the biggest way that we can get support right now is just asking God to strengthen us and empower us to do this work. Remember folks, persecution is on the increase and predicted to increase for a final generation. Jesus Christ says in Matthew 16 that in this world you will have persecution, and yes, Christians and Jews are on the run today. When will the Western church take a more active role on behalf of the persecuted church? As I said, even Vice President Mike Pence is getting involved. We hope you'll take this short update seriously and prayerfully I want to thank you for listening. We will talk to you next week. The church is all too quiet when it comes to members of the body of Christ suffering and dying around the world because they display the cross.

Those who survive often lose everything they own and live in squalid conditions, barely surviving. Please pray for the persecuted church. Let us hear from you right through our website olivetreeviews.org. That's olivetreeviews.org. Call us at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. Or write with a tax-deductible check to Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. In a day of deception, thank you for trusting us with the truth and the inconvenient truth as well. Join us again next week for Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell.