The Loneliness of the Remnant Believer

If you are feeling alone, out of place, and isolated, you may feel like the biblical Noah, and you may be a part of the remnant. I'm convinced that if a pastor will listen to the young generation right now, those who are between the ages of 15 and 35, if they will listen to them, what they want to know is, how do I sort through the political things of my day, or the, definitely the cultural thing?

And they want to know what in the world is going on, which brings in eschatology. And if a pastor is willing to reach that generation of people because they are out there, I'm convinced that they'll have a remarkable work within their own church. This is Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell. Today, two pastors who are not afraid to be honest about the condition of the church, Pastor Tom Hughes from 412 Church in California, and Pastor Mark Henry from Revived Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, are Jan's two guests. This hour, Jan and her panel of pastors will be examining the remnant church and the reasons why a remnant church even exists. To begin today's conversation, here is Jan Markell.

And welcome to the program. I'd say I'm going to be talking church-related issues this hour with two pastors. I've gotten to know Pastor Tom Hughes through his prophecy updates online, his books, and more.

We'll talk about one of his books, perhaps a little bit later. He's pastor of 412 Church, a Calvary Chapel Church in San Jacinto, California. And joining me in studio is Pastor Mark Henry from Revived Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Twin Cities suburb.

Some of you know that church is Brooklyn Park Eve Free. And they will join me in just, well, just a little bit later after I sort of set the stage to the topic of a remnant church and remnant believers. Now, let me just say this first that I recently wrote an e-newsletter and I titled it, well, it's about remnant believers.

And I'm just going to kind of review what I wrote. This went out to some 60, 70,000 people who sign up for our e-newsletter, which you can do at olivetreeviews.org. And I asked in this article if readers had ever heard of the word remnant. And some people are called remnant believers. There are remnant churches. And perhaps you know of some who attend one of those remnant churches.

And I often say I do radio for the remnant. So I began to pay more attention to this term when I got a couple of emails. Let me read just, just a couple of lines from a few emails. And Benjamin wrote, he said, Jan, I feel the remnant is getting smaller every day.

As the time approaches for the Lord's return, the world seems to be getting darker and more evil. I know I'm not alone as a member of the body of Christ, but at times I feel so isolated. Then I got another email from Patrice. And she wrote, I just read your newsletter. And I want to thank you for your article on the remnant church. She says, you hit the nail on the head and everything you write about that church. I am experiencing. She says, I feel so alone and no one wants to discuss events of the day and certainly not Bible prophecy or eschatology.

If I mention these things, they shudder. She goes on, my husband and I are visiting churches and have not found one that addresses these issues. Some in these churches have gotten angry and asked that I not come back.

I feel like crying when I leave. I try to sit there, but I wonder why they never talk about what's going on, what's happening in Israel or the intensifying birth pangs. Then I got another email from Carolyn. My church has no excitement about prophetic fulfillment applicable for today. When I bring up what I learn on your broadcast, Jan, I am put down. I am so lonely for like-minded believers.

Okay. So based on a lot of interactions, including some people at my annual conference, I came up with kind of what is a remnant church and I want to just give eight bullet points. And then I'm going to read a couple of more emails. And then I want to bring on my pastors who are my guests for the rest of the programming. A remnant church is made up of people longing for a solid church and a pulpit that will address issues of the day, as well as the nearness of the Lord's return. A remnant believer wants a church that will not fear offending with the truth, and that certainly will confront apostasy. Now here's point number two of what is a remnant believer or church. Remnant believers have offended friends and family simply by telling them the truth of our times or for sharing information that is relevant to our times. This will often bring on mocking and scoffing.

At the least, it results in irritated indifference. And this doesn't daunt a remnant believer and such a tragic response does not keep them quiet. Number three, enthusiastic remnant believers will travel across town or across country to attend events that present information about which the church is silent. Number four, remnant believers often feel isolated, misunderstood even though they have the truth and the naysayers quite frankly are clueless. Number five, members of the remnant church see our times darkening but remain enthusiastic that this is but a herald of his coming not signs of doom and gloom. Number six, when a remnant believer finds someone who is of kindred spirit, frankly it is like discovering a gold mine. Number seven, such believers often had a very solid church but in many cases it went haywire, a little leaven came in, it ruined the whole loaf. Then they begin a long journey of searching for a new church which may take years, in some cases decades. And lastly, very often these believers approach their church leadership to talk to them about these things but they are usually shut out.

So some who are hearing this find themselves among the above mentioned bullet points and you also identified with the three emails that I read. Now let me just say a few more words because I'm trying to paint the picture here to set the stage before I bring some guests on. I've got to thinking about people who make quilts. Some of you know such folks and they use a wide variety of mismatched remnants and such professionals discard sections of fabric from garments that were no longer usable but they were then sewn into an unbelievably elegant quilt.

The tossed aside remnant became an object of creativity and beauty. So I want to say this, if you are a remnant believer please take heart and remember that you too are a creative and colorful quilt. An eternity may reveal that you broke through to more people than you ever thought you did. Remember that such mocking and scoffing are fulfilling some end time prophecies as well and we are living in the most significant time in history and the most prophecy fulfilling days and yet we are in the days with the least amount of interest in taking a lot of serious issues quite frankly seriously.

People are perishing for a lack of knowledge and who will tell them if you don't. I hear what I'm going to do here before I bring in my two guest pastors. I want to read just a few more emails and I think some of you will identify with for instance Christina out of Washington state and she says going back to this item I wrote on the remnant church this latest email this latest newsletter you sent out Jan has put words to my vague sense of loneliness and isolation it seems like increasingly huge parts of scripture are being ignored just last Sunday it was announced that Wednesday night expositional teaching would be replaced by topical quote in order to be more relevant close quote there have been no more prophecy updates and she just goes on to say all I can say is I appreciate people like you I've discovered J.D. Farag and others and you have become my church I've heard from oh I heard from so many people I couldn't possibly read all the emails another writes thank you for your article my husband and I have been experiencing all you and your email have described we have been scrutinized and our eldest son even attended the morning sessions of your 2016 conference with me to see what we were being taught then derided us for any mention of world events or bible prophecy those are all negative and he has shunned us and cut us off even over who we voted for another one writes after 24 years in the same church I am wandering from church to church trying to find this needed balance but I direct everyone that has a brain to tune into your program and follow your daily news thank you for everything not sure where I would be without you because I am so alone Sandy writes oh how I needed this today thank you Jan I thought I was all alone another one writes as for all the emails you got about how alone people feel wow do I know that feeling so well Pam in Pennsylvania okay that sets the stage for a discussion I'm going to have and I want to bring on the line from California Pastor Tom Hughes 412 church San Jacinto California Tom welcome great to be here Jan and Pastor Mark Henry revived church Brooklyn Park Minnesota he's in studio with me Pastor Mark Jan it's great to be with you again okay where do we begin some questions to you two gentlemen I want to start firing and let's get some answers from you you heard what I anything I read there talked about anything in the email I've got more emails I will read any of that surprised you Pastor Mark you know none of it surprises me in fact I lead pastors conferences on a fairly regular basis and I find a lot of pastors are pretty lonely too Jan are they really yeah because you know you go you go to a seminary and quite honestly the seminary doesn't have classes anymore in systematic theology they don't talk about eschatology they're not dispensational they're having you know that the reading that's typically taking place anymore it's less and less Bible and more and more spiritual formation from all sorts of different avenues okay interesting Pastor Tom Hughes someone wrote in the list of emails I have and I probably get to it eventually if one of them wrote and said it has taken her 42 years and two countries to find a church but she finally has does that surprise you it doesn't totally surprise me it saddens me yeah but doesn't totally surprise me I you know 42 years is a really long time and I like Mark you know it's not just pastors conferences that meet other pastors in the the field this way but when I go to other conferences speak especially at prophecy conferences for example there are always people that come up to me as you and the other people you speak with Jan there's always people that come up to me they say their church is online they watch me online they watch you but whoever it may be and that has become their church so it doesn't and it's been that way for years 42 years is a really long time though it's really sad well the person who wrote me was very serious she was not being dramatic she just said it literally took 42 years and two countries but she finally has found a solid church Pastor Mark Henry pastors have to preach the whole council we all know that every topic imaginable from marriage to finance you name it but there are some issues that just won't be addressed these days you've already suggested one eschatology I suggested one politics I suggested another cultural issues same-sex marriage etc and if one or more of these are of particular interest to somebody should a person leave a church over a single issue that may not be being preached from the pulpit you know Jan I always pull people back there's five core Christian views that you got to have and when you're looking at any church what is their view of the scripture what's their view of Christ is he fully God in other words it's bible authoritative is Jesus fully God did he become flesh the virgin birth then you have substitutionary death bodily resurrection crucifixion of Christ and justification by faith and everything builds from there and so when I'm when I'm talking to a pastor I actually walk through those things because there's lots of pastors who don't believe in those five core things so when you start to jump to these other elements of theology it comes back to my view of scripture if I don't have a very high view of scripture when it comes to eschatology it's going to come out or social issues but here's another problem I'm seeing with pastors and Tom I know you see it as well is that younger pastors have not seen older pastors address current issues and quite honestly they're floundering how do I say you know these issues about homosexuality or bestiality or whatever how do I do this and honor God and walk through it and not just get you know just blown away or get sued or all these sorts of things and I think there's a certain sense of courage I think they have to understand the Bible but also just be mindful a lot of pastors are reading ancient literature and quite honestly common politics aren't in ancient literature and so trying to fuse that in I that's why Tom is so important and other guys like Tom setting a pace and an example for younger pastors in our generation it's really important to have that. Tom you want to weigh into that? I agree with Mark on those five essentials in fact I was on a panel not too long ago with another pretty well-known Bible teacher who does teach Bible prophecy and he'll even deal with the cultural issues and the whole bit but in that we were asked a question and it is should I leave my church if they're not teaching Bible prophecy and so we stuck to the core elements and the problem is that a lot of churches don't have Bible prophecy because as Mark mentioned that's been modeled but they the pastor doesn't really understand it because the seminaries aren't teaching and so the primary thing is you sticking with Christ crucified died risen again this is where your salvation is and everything goes from there however at the same time I have found this Jan there's a lot of young men and young women that want to know how do I relate to the world I live in because things seem really messed up it marks absolutely right they're not getting it primarily they're not getting a lot of the older churches believe it or not because they have been modeled for them but there's a lot of young people that are really hungry unfortunately there's young people coming out of seminaries that aren't teaching it and I'm convinced that if a pastor will listen to the young generation right now those who are between ages of 15 and 35 if they will listen to what they want to know is how do I sort through the political things of my day or the definitely the cultural thing and they want to know what the world is going on which brings in eschatology and if a pastor's willing to reach that generation of people because they are out there I'm convinced that they'll have a remarkable work within their own church I mean they don't have to bring up bible prophecy every single Sunday like I do but they'll learn to work it in if the pastor's willing to listen to what unchurched people and even young church people are looking for because they feel like they're missing they know something is missing well and I want to be clear that eschatology is is not really the focus of where it's very important and it's not the focus of this hour however having said that when I sent this e-newsletter out this would have been a couple months ago now as the replies indicated you know a lot of things are missing in my church or maybe just a few things are missing in my church but the thing that they wanted to emphasize Tom was but the thing that is closest to my heart that is missing is bible prophecy even though that wasn't the emphasis of anything that's what came back to me lots of things might be missing and maybe the youth group isn't the hottest or maybe this isn't the hottest but the thing that's closest to my heart that the king is coming will not ever ever ever ever be addressed and then they would say I've gone from church to church to church as you gentlemen have heard here's another email your article today about feeling so alone and being unable to find a truth teaching church hit me right between the eyes and as that's been my situation for several years I'm in the so-called bible belt yet can't even find a truth teaching church and that's another word that kept coming through gentlemen is truth truth teaching and other christians think I'm out of my mind as I believe what you believe it gets lonely being a remnant believer my dream for years now has been to attend one of your conferences as I sat here at my computer reading your email today I had a thought that up to now I never had before I know the chances are nearly impossible unless God puts it together okay folks I'm going to come back in just a couple of minutes we're going to continue our discussion and I've got in studio with me pastor Mark Henry from revived church in Brooklyn Park that is a suburb of Minneapolis Brooklyn Park Minnesota and that's formerly Brooklyn Park e free and pastor Tom Hughes part of the Calvary Chapel stream San Jacinto California so I'm coming back in just a couple of minutes don't go away one of the many things we do on this broadcast is to instruct and warn our listeners about dangerous activities invading the church within many western churches in many ways spiritual discernment is dead we feel God has raised up this program to remind people of God's standards learn more about this ministry visit olive tree views dot org at our website you'll find the many ways we help you understand the times in which we live both audio and video recordings from our most recent understanding the times conference are ready to ship to you to order your conference CDs or DVDs visit olive tree views dot org or phone seven six three five five nine forty four forty four your charitable gifts make it possible for us to continue producing and airing discerning programs like the one you're hearing today remember we are listener supported we need your help every week to keep this kind of programming coming your way please send your tax deductible gifts to olive tree ministries box one four five two maple grove minnesota five five three one one jan markel returns right after this short timeout almost five thousand people gathered from around the world on saturday september 29th to be encouraged and to learn to become watchmen on the wall our speakers included amir sarfati i believe 1948 was a great sound of the trumpet 1967 was a great sound of the trumpet if i may say 2018 was a great sound of trumpet as well all i'm waiting for is the last trumpet pastor billy crone maybe it's going to be watson who's going to help the antichrist control the buying and selling it's not far-fetched folks when you take a look at the technology pastor jd farag i believe the rapture can happen at any time because of the current situation in syria specifically concerning damascus eric barger they are a surveillance society beyond all others and i remember whispering about this to myself and then saying it to you and others this is made for the antichrist pastor jack hibbs jesus christ is coming back in judgment in his second coming the rapture he receives us in the atmosphere to himself to take us where he's been order in our online store at olive tree views dot org that's olive tree views dot o-r-g you can also call us at seven six three five five nine four four four five five nine four four four four that's seven six three five five nine forty four forty four they will be offered in our print and e-newsletters sign up online you can mail in your order as well we live in unprecedented times headlines are a herald of his coming these messages will encourage you to see that nothing is falling apart things are all falling together order today don't be left teaching bible prophecy would be one of the greatest things that a church could do to its congregants because one it gives them the hope of christ's soon coming secondly it motivates them to get the job done that is to get out there and tell their friends and their family and their co-workers that jesus christ is coming and then thirdly it brings people great great confidence confidence in knowing that god's word never fails it will never fail because what god has said in the past has been confirmed by his prophetic fulfillment study bible prophecy and get excited about the future in today's world who do you trust for good insight on current events for that matter who do you trust for good bible commentary america is full of fake news and false teaching that's why we want to offer you an alternative to both we are understanding the times radio with jan markell and our main objective is to tell you the truth about current events as they relate to a biblical worldview join us each week on this station for a source you can trust i wrote an e-newsletter a couple of months ago now on the remnant church on remnant believers what are they and had so much response from remnant believers who feel so alone feel isolated cannot find a church and i don't think any of them are looking for perfection but they just have visited church after church and they seem to be marginalized these kinds of remnant believers the reasons why pastors won't teach on bible prophecy or eschatology there's a lot of different reasons that are typical one of them is that they don't know it very well so they avoid it which is sad another one is i think this is the biggest one they are afraid that they're going to lose their audience or frighten them too much and people won't be tithing anymore let's return now to jan markell's conversation with pastors tom hughs and mark henry and welcome back remember this program is posted to my website every saturday morning olivetreeviews.org olivetreeviews.org or you can go to oneplace.com you can sign up for their mobile app program will be downloaded every saturday to the app or at oneplace.com now let me reset the stage by saying that i wrote an e newsletter a couple of months ago now on the remnant church on remnant believers what are they and had so much response from remnant believers who feel so alone feel isolated cannot find a church and i don't think any of them are looking for perfection but they just have visited church after church and they seem to be marginalized these kinds of remnant believers so i'm doing a program on it with two pastors one is pastor tom hughs 412 church san yasinto california that's a calvary chapel and locally pastor mark henry revived church brooklyn park minnesota formerly brooklyn park e free just changed the name and changed the pastor because pastor mark henry you're kind of new yeah we're new to the uh to the area we're excited god's blessing the church pastor mark henry we were talking a little bit during the break about the five points and you wanted to elaborate on something you said concerning those yeah once once someone can establish you know the five core things of christianity authority of scripture and the person and work of jesus christ the reality is if you're going to teach the bible eschatology is the bible it's about jesus winning he's the savior of our souls he's the promised one in genesis chapter three he's the coming savior and he's the king of kings and lord of lords and so you know i try and share with pastors all the time you've got to teach the whole council of scripture you say you believe that every 20 verses or so in the new testament come back to the second coming of christ in some way and we just need to open our eyes and teach the bible again tom hughes you wrote an article about this this is at least a year ago now and i don't have it in front of me but i did an eblast an e-newsletter on your article because it was so profound can you summarize that you know what i haven't read it in a while but i remember it it was a couple years back it got published in various places but it was about the reasons why pastors won't teach on bible prophecy or eschatology and there's a lot of different reasons that are typical one of them is that they don't know it very well so they avoid it which is sad another one is i think this is the biggest one they are afraid that they're going to lose their audience or frighten them too much and people won't be tithing anymore because they're just going to go elsewhere we we live in a culture that in america where the messages that are taught in a lot of the pulpits now are are really jam they're about having your best life now right and they're not looking into eternity we should be looking into eternity i have found the opposite like jd frog does i teach bible prophecy every sunday night and i'll give people the hope of looking forward to christ coming again but pastors are afraid to do it i think and they're gonna have empty pews they think things like that but i am also convinced of this jam if a church would be willing the pastor be willing to teach on these things god will bring those remnant believers he'll bring them to that church because they're the type who are looking for that he'll draw them that's right yeah so that's my my story and and we press forward and mark is absolutely right i think it's joel rosenberg who said there's eight times as many prophecies of the second coming of christ as his first coming and you have so many churches and a lot of them are solid in in other parts of theology but they completely avoid eschatology and they'll just say well it's just symbolic or they'll try to spiritualize a passage and you have to eliminate entire books of the bible when you start doing that if you can preach christ correctly it's his first coming and his second coming and who the person of jesus christ is which is the book of revelations the revelation of jesus christ let me read just another couple of emails here after she read my e-newsletter again this is uh many weeks ago now how heartening to see that i am not weird nor alone in my yearning for a real church this is julia not that i want to see anyone else that way but i it does speak to the culture of today and why i feel so alone and i know i'm not because of his words but it is a temptation to think that i am standing by myself thank you so much for this article and for the encouragement that it brings i think about our persecuted brothers and sisters and think they must feel terribly alone too somebody else writes thank you for this e-newsletter yes this is so very true even in my little world in south africa i haven't attended church for three years for none of the churches in my town speak the truth eschatology is a no-go for three quarters of these churches let me ask you a gentleman a question there's a verse obviously that i think all of us are familiar with found in hebrews 10 25 talks about not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together pastor mark does that assembling of yourselves have to be a church you know as i've looked at that passage over the years i think that's the natural reading of it i mean if you if you read on in the uh in the following verses the following chapters it talks about elders and submitting to them and following their example and and the them being a gift that god has given to him so i think that really is the overall context but you know god gives us individuals if you remember elijah felt all alone he was the one who said got him all alone he's in the cave jezabel is trying to kill him she's tried to kill off all the prophets and two things happen one he says elijah there's seven thousand who haven't bowed the knee to bail that's huge but then he does something else and he says now go anoint elisha he gives him one friend and you know god gives us graciously friends along the way to encourage our souls and sometimes that's your radio sometimes through tape pastored in a very remote place and guys would send me tapes and i would listen to those back before before we had all the technology we have today what a blessing it was and i find that uh still to be a blessing today tom what is your thought on hebrews 10 25 yeah great passage i've always looked at that in the sense of church however a church is where two or more gathered that's right the name of christ so you're going to have those places i think it's in the book of acts where you have ladies who are meeting for church service the small group and you have these various small groups in the new testament so in verse 25 it's encouraging one another and all the mores you see the day approaching and so if you've got to find at least someone to meet with the other thing is when we look at the church and what they were supposed to do when they gathered it was to worship together it does involve corporate worship and corporate learning of the word so it might be two or three people together but you really need to be in fellowship there's got to be somebody out there in your area we often hear stories of the missionary that's in the most remote part of the world or the person that's in their most remote part of the world that's praying to know this god that has been revealed to them through the creation god sends them a missionary and i believe that with the remnant believers they might be thinking i'm all alone like elijah did yeah but earnestly praying lord send me just one person and i think maybe a lot of times it's send me a church which would be great but sometimes it begins with that one person having that longing and then and then it's two and then it's three and next thing you know they start having a legitimate church service might be 10 people might be 20 people but you don't want to forsake the encouragement and the worship together as much as possible even if it's just a couple other people jan as you look at that passage definitely the churches in the new testament were pretty small and as you even read the verse before about them assembling together it talks about stimulating one another into love and good works and so the importance of the body of christ the importance of a local church but here's the thing every generation finds churches churches have a lifespan 80 year lifespan and they move naturally to randomness and chaos and destruction everything in our world does that our bodies are getting old and wearing out uh everything's like that and so god raises up a new generation of people to start new churches and so forth and that's the reason i started a couple of churches in colorado the town that i started the church in in order to go to a really good bible believing church a healthy thriving church you'd have to drive 125 miles to the east or you had to drive 45 miles to the west and you know we started a great church there and then we started another church about an hour away and another church down the road and and god raises up a new generation so if there's people listening you know one of the things you might want to think about is contacting tom's church there's a there's a 412 association and one of the things that we're doing is helping start new churches that are vibrant and helping also churches turn around recently i had a gentleman contact me and his church had been in decline and they're looking for a pastor and it's you know we need someone's going to teach the bible again and all of the bible including the book of revelations so forth and the all of that discourse they're just trying to revitalize their ministry again that's a healthy thing it's a good thing pastor tom hughes you have done prophecy updates online for quite some time i was i was privileged to be your tv guest here not too long ago and you've just kind of renamed your website give it please would you it's hopeforourtimes.com it was called end times tv yeah end times tv now it's hopeforourtimes.com go ahead for our times it scared too many people it's end times tv okay but it is hope we need hope and that's what we're finding you know what else is kind of interesting can mark talked about the churches we now have five churches that are part of the 412 association okay and my purpose in that was to help pastors strengthen them but to also teach pre-millennial doctrine okay and so it's great i look at this and i see there's a huge void and that comes back to i mean we i do encourage all the pastors to do teach on the cultural issues deal with what we have before us but eschatology and i don't expect them to be as far along as i am at this point but to be pre-millennial in your doctrine and to not avoid the books of books of revelations and so forth so maybe there's more churches like big jd inspires a lot so yeah he does well the 412 that's calvary chapel stream of churches correct we are four of them in our association are calvary chapels one of them is not okay and 412 stands for why don't you explain what that stands for uh act 412 hebrews 4 12 in ephesians 4 12 x is when disciples send act 4 12 there's no other name under heaven by which you can be saved hebrews 4 12 the word of god is sharper than a two-inch sword and ephesians 4 12 is the word of god for the equipping of saints and the work of ministry okay and but folks can get regular weekly prophecy updates at hope for our times dot com hope for our times dot com dot com also on our youtube site same name on youtube hope for our times his channel too okay pastor mark you said to me and i found this interesting because you talked about examples of remnant believers from different dispensations first explain what a dispensation is and then give me some couple of illustrations yeah dispensation is a period of time in which god requires some sort of action from his people so he gives them some sort of responsibility in regard to sin or righteousness and then they're supposed to to obey him in faith and follow him and do it so uh for example a dispensation of innocence there when god created adam and eve he put him in a garden one responsibility to only from the tree of knowledge good and evil and then of course they rebel against god so in every dispensation there's a responsibility given by god and here's what we find in every dispensation that group of people fails and we are living in the dispensation of the church age that's right and quite honestly it's not a surprise to me that the church as a whole is not strong and vibrant because if every dispensation just shows our desperate need for god and no matter how he blesses his people there's still this propensity for us to be hard-hearted indifferent and to drift from him it's not surprising to me that we're not doing very well as a church but as you look through each dispensation there's always this remnant this group of zealous followers of the living god so you think about no one in his family yes the dispensation they lived there was only eight of them for heaven's sakes on the whole planet eight and yet they built the ark 120 years talk about loneliness yeah you think their kids went to school and were lonely oh my word you know and then afterwards they get off and now there's only eight of them and god says go and fill the earth and multiply and you all the way through the scriptures and you find this lonely group of people seeking god just last night i was with a young couple they were only been married six months they're both about 26 years old and they're reaching out to their college friends one of their friends is getting married and they had dinner with them the other night and they started talking to him about spiritual things and the girlfriend was listening and the boyfriend they the fiance they invited him to church and he just started laughing in their face and they were suffering for jesus since the last night i just thanked them thank you for suffering for jesus thank you for pointing them to christ warning them about the consequences of sin and and judgment coming and that jesus is the way the truth of life and there's hope in him thank you for suffering for jesus they're part of that believing zealous remnant for jesus christ can you give me another illustration of another dispensation i love the story of noah and he's my i had a wonderful beloved cat he passed away real recently named noah and i have an elijah too by the way that's who we're talking about some of these characters yeah another dispensation yeah dispensation of law you think about moses being sent by god and the the giving of the the ten commandments and so forth and you get to number 13 they're about ready to enter the promised land they've entered into this new dispensation they said god if you'll you'll tell us what to do we'll do it and god gave him 650 laws roughly they agreed to do it god gets them to cadish barnia after destroying egypt after manna from heaven after water from rocks and uh the spies go in and ten of them say no don't go in god's not big enough the giants are too big and yet there were two of those guys that went in caleb and joshua and they come back and they say no no god's big enough go in you know and so you see again this believing remnant to the point that if you read there in numbers 13 they end up picking up rocks and they are going to kill moses and aaron and caleb and joshua they were a believing remnant in that day in fact so much so god killed all of that generation and you just continue on through every group every generation every dispensation there's this believing group that's zealous for god and i would suggest to you as you look into the new testaments exactly what we see in fact paul says in philippians chapter 3 to write the same thing to you again it's not a problem for me it's a safeguard for you and he warns them about the dogs those who are of the false circumcision and so paul had gone in and started the church at philipi now he's in prison and there's people coming in and distorting the gospel and he's trying to encourage them to follow christ and in the last part of chapter 3 you recall it says there that we're looking for jesus and eagerly awaiting his return want to learn more go to pastor mark henry's website revive brooklynpark.org revive brooklynpark.org and i ministered at a conference at your church three years ago mark to brooklyn park he free at the time you weren't there then but they had an interest in eschatology then and obviously now thanks to your influence they have a very serious interest in eschatology i'm going to wrap up this discussion in just a couple of minutes when i get back i have a closing segment it's a short one but we will we'll kind of condense our thoughts as we kind of wrap up a discussion on the remnant church and remnant believers all sprang from a e-newsletter i wrote a couple of months ago sent it out to 60 70 000 people and boy did i get response saying you know what jan i'm one of those believers i don't know where to go i am so alone i feel so isolated and is there anyone who possibly understands me thank you for what you wrote i believe at least you understand but there's just legions of people feeling this way we'll wrap this up in a couple of minutes don't go away one of the many things we do on this broadcast is to instruct and warn our listeners about dangerous activities invading the church within many western churches in many ways spiritual discernment is dead we feel god has raised up this program to remind people of god's standards learn more about this ministry visit olive tree views dot o-r-g at our website you'll find the many ways we help you understand the times in which we live both audio and video recordings from our most recent understanding the times conference are ready to ship to you to order your conference cds or dvds visit olive tree views.org or phone 763-559-4444 your charitable gifts make it possible for us to continue producing and airing discerning programs like the one you're hearing today remember we are listener supported we need your help every week to keep this kind of programming coming your way please send your tax deductible gifts to olive tree ministries box one four five two maple grove minnesota five five three one one jen markel returns right after this short time out welcome to understanding the times 2018 i'm here with my friend tim tim has come all the way from iowa nick and tina from vancouver canada hi i'm jennifer i'm from rochester minnesota i'm darlene from new jersey i'm with some friends from detroit michigan i'm from the great state of texas brandon is this the first time you've been here no i've been here several times glenn how many times have you been to the conference about 19 pia you're all the way from switzerland why in the world would you come from switzerland to minnesota to this conference it was for me important to be together with so many people which have the same hope and you got up early this morning to be here what compelled you um just to come to jan's conference to hear jan and the wonderful speakers that she brings in every year to put sort of put the book of revelations into contemporary times been following jan for about the past year she's such a blessing very informative of what's going on in our world through a biblical lens why are you at a prophecy conference i just think it's really important for us now to learn about prophecy to see how god fulfills it throughout the bible 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 uh pastors these days don't really want to even touch on that your first time here you're 22 what are you expecting um i'm expecting to hear some good speakers talking about the truth of the bible last year just showed me what god is doing around the world what are what's happening in politics it keeps me updated on the things biblically in the world the biggest thing was being with over 6 000 people learning about the end times and just being of like mind he's a true honest god and it's important for us to see that what he says he will do so we can follow him with every step that we take and it's all pointing toward a little bit more of when christ is coming back and how the bible the things in the bible are being fulfilled i was so inspired the christian in europe and in switzerland they are sleeping they are really in a very deep sleep and they they need good food good food from for example here from that conference from chan from chan from all the speakers here i think a lot of christians get swayed because they're not certain what the bible says on things and i think culture tends to influence more than the bible jack hibbs gives the message in in a way that is understandable that is real you know have courage stand on the gospel and and fight so many things amir said brings this book to life it was very clear and he's a great storyteller i loved it without christ you have no peace and so it's always important for us to be sharing that gospel message listening to jan and amir and jack hibbs and and jd we realized we needed to find a church that preached the bible that actually taught the bible and we got excited again about how important our blessed hope is and how soon we may all see our king jesus is coming it's a huge theme in the bible for israel and he's coming for the church and we know it as a rapture be sure to join us next year september 21st 2019 for understanding the times if we're looking for a perfect church what i tell people is remember this jesus grew up in nazareth and went to a little synagogue they probably had less than 50 people it was a small synagogue and it wasn't a very probably not a really dynamic place and then he went down and worshipped in the temple and the temple was being run by a bunch of crooks we know what the sadducees were like they were denying everything basically about the bible and they're running this thing and then the pharisees were there and it had to break his heart but yet he was still there and that's the reason i'm still in ministry i still believe in the church remember this when we insult the church we're insulting jesus's life understanding the times radio continues here with today's final segment once again jan markell and welcome back remember i offer a print newsletter an e-newsletter i've been reading from the e-newsletter today so sign up online olive tree views dot org and become a cd subscriber if you'd like and again the program posted to my website every saturday olive tree views dot org i don't want to give too many websites but at the same time i want you to get acquainted with pastor tom hughes and his hope for our times dot com where you'll find regular prophecy updates because many of you have written that that's what your heart is longing for is to better understand that the king is coming and how we can be excited about that and a lot more about pastor mark henry at revive brooklynpark.com larry cutzler you raised an issue during the break why didn't you raise it on air and let's deal with it since the 70s things have changed so much and that's when i came up as a christian in the early 70s and back then the pastors really had messages that were more prophetic from the scriptures not something that was made up of their own imagination people like david wilkerson and they really created a certain sense of awe or fear and honor of god which i don't find in today's pulpits as much they speak as if god is our friend but never is someone that we need to to fear as a judge do you gentlemen sense that in your ministries do you think there's a change somehow that has happened over the last 20 30 years i do i think you have the nail on the head larry i think that is probably the biggest problem why certain things aren't addressed is the fear of man is a snare the fear of god at the beginning of wisdom and people in pulpits are afraid of what people are going to say about them they're afraid to offend they're afraid that people won't like them and they are not concerned about what god thinks i can assure you the number one thing that drives me to to be in a pulpit is that i fear god i fear what i'm going to say i fear that i know i'm going to be accountable to him and i man i want to do what's right so i'm going to address those things but i larry i think you hit the nail on the head if this men would fear god all the way from washington down through the pulpits down to our leaders and schools then we would do the right thing i think there'd be great awakening in our in our country too it does help i i go to a lot of churches around the country when i'm visiting and traveling and i find that there's a big sea change like sociologists say the sea change a change that goes in a direction that will never return and everything i hear is all about the wonder of god which is fine but i never hear about the sin the the old hymns like the the blood will never lose its power and things none of those things ever come into play when it comes to worship or even in preaching well if i could just read an email from a pastor's wife again going back to emails that i got as a result of writing about remnant church and remnant believers she says i am a pastor's wife at a remnant church near ottawa canada we have a wonderful small church whose members understand the times but we have trouble expanding because people here don't want to hear the truth of our times sure wish people who are looking for a remnant church could find us that's phyllis and she's near ottawa canada okay the pastor's wife larry whose heart is aching for some of the things that we're talking about and you were a pastor for a lot of years too so did you experience some of this oh absolutely our elders and leaders of the church wanted me to not get on topics that were controversial okay i mean i've said this many times and i was told repeatedly you're here to help build this church you're here to bring the nickels and noses into the church and those kind of topics that you're talking about is divisive and you drive people away i was chastised many times well i think you probably talked about some of the cultural issues perhaps i did i talked about homosexuality and i had more people email me and say i would be embarrassed if i brought my gay friend to church so i mean what do you do with that do you think gentlemen i want to go back to some of my questions i have here do you think that some of these folks that i've heard from you've heard me read some of their emails and here's another one my husband and i are definitely remnant believers your article describes us and it is encouraging to know we're not alone we speak the truth we get blank strange looks even from family who profess to know christ they think we are out in left field and again echoes the same sentiment do you think mark that some of these people are looking for perfection because they will never ever find it but i'm going to answer that question i don't think they are you know tom and i pastored a long time i think between the two of us we got 60 years of experience and we'll both tell you that there are always people coming and they're they want a church that has everything that just like they want it just like like you just went to a restaurant and you know this has got to be perfect this and we all go to restaurants and we all order different things but you know when we come to a church it's filled with people on a journey seeking christ and when i trusted christ in 1979 i didn't know jesus as well as i know him today and so you have all these people at different levels and also you have tears with the wheats you remember that parable that jesus gave and that is such an important thing i mean if we're looking for a perfect church what i tell people is remember this jesus grew up in nazareth and went to a little synagogue that probably had less than 50 people it was a small synagogue and it wasn't a very probably not a really dynamic place and then he went down and worshipped in the temple and the temple was being run by a bunch of crooks we know what the sadducees were like they were denying everything basically about the bible and they're running this thing and then the pharisees were there and it had to break his heart but yet he was still there and that's the reason i'm still in ministry i still believe in the church remember this when we insult the church we're insulting jesus's wife and if i insulted tom's wife he probably punched me in the nose and uh i just i just think we need to be very very careful the church is what jesus is building he promises to build it he's working to purify it he's using you if you're following jesus and you love the scriptures love that pastor you got love that church you might remember the story of apollos apollos comes to town he's preaching and he's teaching the way of jesus accurately but only up to the baptism of john and then a couple of people take him aside and uh instruct him in the way more fully and what a great example um you know they were you can find that in acts 18 and i think i think that's the reason we're we're still in the places we are use those opportunities to strengthen the body of christ tom hughes do you think folks are just being hyper critical looking for perfection some people are you know obviously not everybody but you know you're all gonna have some they're gonna be a little bit hyper critical and i and thinking about mark said you know jesus still went to the temple he still wouldn't talk in the synagogue from the synagogue of capernaum he addressed the issues with the pharisees you know he heals the the lame man in john chapter 5 and you know he's confronted because he makes himself equal with god but jesus by the pharisees you know they're bothered by him but he doesn't stop going you know what i mean he still continued to move forward and really you only see the anger of jesus come out a couple of times and it was at the temple but certainly the money changer issues that he got angered over that was probably a fairly common sight there in the temple area so when you look at it jesus was totally involved he's still teaching he was still ministering and he still loved the people even loved the pharisees and we know from the book of acts that even some pharisees come to faith in him eventually one more email here from charlene she says i'm sitting at my computer with tears in my eyes as i read your article on remnant believers i totally relate to what you are describing i sometimes feel like a total failure because i can't get my friends and family to listen let alone believe me when i tell them what's going on thank you for the encouragement i love our lord and will continue trying to touch people with his word of truth and then a pastor writes and says um your remnant online newsletter encouraged me so much as a remnant believer living in a remotely rural area where there is little fellowship i have found myself feeling the same way as those reporting in your newsletter add to that i am an ordained minister 42 years and i have felt the isolation which comes from preaching and teaching prophecy from a dispensational scofield viewpoint in the 1970s this teaching was everywhere dave wilkerson and many others i find solace in prayer time studies and fellowship with genuine believers when possible and the lord has been gracious to keep a platform for me to teach and preach the message of preparation and consecration for the days before us this has been your best and most accurate newsletter in recent memory and that's from michael who has been a long time pastor feeling so very alone well let me kind of wrap up our programming today and you know jesus says in matthew 16 that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church but the enemy is trying nonetheless he knows that the church represents believers who are pushing back against the darkness of our times he knows the church is where people gather to be encouraged inspired and built up in the faith pray for our pastors and church leaders as they push back against the tide of evil rising trying to silence god's people and pastors i want to thank you for listening and we'll talk to you next week we are a moment you are forever oh lord of the ages god before time we are a vapor you are eternal love everlasting raining on high holy holy lord god almighty thank you for joining us for today's understanding the times radio with jan markell across america and across the world wide web we continue to report current events from a biblical perspective every weekend this broadcast comes to you at no cost but it cost us thousands of dollars as we produce and distribute this weekly media outreach would you consider standing with us with an ever changing world men and women of faith need to keep informed they need to be aware of current events as viewed through the lens of scripture week after week jan markell brings you a compelling hour pointing out the dangers in today's culture and bringing hope through faith in jesus christ we're asking you to join us in this listener supportive ministry as our financial partner please write with your tax deductible gifts to olive tree ministries box 1452 april grove minnesota 55311 contributions are also welcome at olive tree views.org or by phone when you dial 763-559-4444 don't forget global updates with a biblical world view are yours around the clock at olive tree views.org we look forward to hearing from you soon we appreciate your continued prayer support for jan and her media team jan markell returns next week with another information and inspiration packed hour designed to help you understand the times