Being a Light in the Encroaching Darkness

We want to encourage you this hour as to how to overcome the encroaching darkness.

Stay tuned. This is Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell. Jan meets today with two of her Understanding the Times conference speakers, pastors Jack Hibbs and J.D.

Farag. We know you're going to enjoy their conversation. Remember, next week, both of this hour's radio guests will be in the Twin Cities for Jan's conference.

If you do not have tickets for the September 29th event, it will be live streamed from our website, OliveTreeViews.org. So, let's get today's discussion started. So, what's different this time?

Okay, I mean there's been red heifers over the years that qualified until they, you know, showed up with a blemish or a spot. What's different this time? Oh, what's different this time is Russia, Iran, Turkey are in Syria. Damascus is on the cusp of becoming a ruinous heap. A peace deal that was heretofore unreachable seems more plausible today than it ever has. The rebuilding of the temple is, I mean, at the ready as far as the Jews are concerned. And now, this last week, the Temple Institute certifies this red heifer.

Listen, I'm not a, certainly not a mathematician, but can I ask what are the statistical odds of all of those factors converging, I'll use that word, converging simultaneously for such a time as this? And welcome to the program. I'm so glad you could join me today. I'm spending the hour with two of my conference speakers. For my fall event, September 29th, I'm spending the hour with Pastor J.D. Farag, whose voice you just heard, and Pastor Jack Hibbs. Both are Calvary Chapel pastors, Kaneohe, Hawaii, and Chino Hills, California. Both have a significant online presence and both are encouraging the flock worldwide and reminding people, well, quite frankly, that the hour is late.

Now, you just heard that opening clip. We have a convergence of issues right now that I don't believe has happened before. Quickly again, Russia, Iran, Turkey are active in the Middle East. They're part of the Gog Magog Alliance of Ezekiel 38. Point number two, Damascus is in a precarious position as foretold and outlined in Isaiah 17. And number three, there's a potential peace deal as it concerns Israel. Number four, there's a constant talk of rebuilding the third temple. And there has been the birth of a red heifer in Israel necessary for that third temple.

Now, we're going to talk about these things and much more in this hour. By the way, that temple that I'm referring to would be known probably as the Tribulation Temple. It's nothing that Christians are going to be seeing, experiencing, visiting or anything like that because that's going to be built during the tribulation nonetheless. And by the way, I am extremely mindful of the fact that as we reference some of these, well, you could call them signs of the times. Many of these blossom in the tribulation, OK?

There are other signs that are for the church age, but even these tribulation signs are casting a huge shadow right now. We talk about some of those things at my Understanding the Times events. Jack Hibbs and Pastor JD Farag, welcome back to the program. Thank you, Jen.

Thank you. JD, you know, I don't want to overplay the red heifer situation here. I mean, there have been many who have had other red heifers before and we all know they sprout one white hair and, you know, then they're kind of disqualified.

So that certainly could happen. Nonetheless, as you brought out in one of your recent messages, the convergence of these things is quite interesting. Yeah, that's the game changer, for lack of a better word to me, is that this red heifer comes at a time that is the likes of which we have never seen before. And I am speaking of, of course, what we see taking place with chiefly Russia, Iran, Turkey, who are now at the ready in Syria, will invade Israel vis-a-vis Syria. And then to have the President of the United States, who is very strong at this time, all converging together as it relates to Israel and specifically Jerusalem, where the end zone is, where the goalposts are. I think the statistical probabilities of all of those things converging together is interesting at best and intriguing. Well, there are other elements to this convergence. There's the intensification of birth pangs, and yes, that really blossoms in the tribulation, I get that.

There's Mideast alignment you've referenced. There's Satan stepping up his activity, deception in the church, increase of knowledge, decline of America, rise of perilous times. Jack Hibbs, your thoughts on all this? Jan, you know, for those of us who are a little bit older in your audience, what J.D. was talking about, what you're talking about, as you guys began to, in the introduction, lay this out. In my old school days, I remember something called an overhead projector. Does anybody remember that?

I did. The old overhead projector, and you could lay one vellum, that is one clear sheet upon another, and as you laid one sheet down upon another, what you were teaching became more clear. And so what we're seeing, what we have been seeing, quite frankly, ever since May 14th, 1948, God has been laying down one transparent page over another on what is called eschatology or Bible prophecy, to the point where somebody on the other end of this might say, you know what, J.D., Jack, Jan, you guys are hyping this up. It's another cow born. Who cares? It's red.

You know, I got one that looks like that in my backyard. Well, here's the point. The point is, if it's the red heifer or not, the people who care about that in Israel, they're looking to see if it is or is not their red heifer. Friends, that's significant. It's not our opinion. What are they thinking? And J.D.

laid it down correctly. All of these global issues and predominantly Middle Eastern issues, predominantly Israel, these are things that, quite frankly, as of today, we've never encountered ever in the history of the church at the same time. And I find this very remarkable, very exciting, and something for us to discuss exactly how we are right now, because we are truly living in the very, very end of the end days. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm spending the hour with two of my conference speakers coming up about a week from now, believe it or not, Saturday, September 29th, and that's at Grace Church Eden Prairie. I'm spending the hour with pastors J.D. Farag and Jack Hibbs, both of Calvary Chapel.

I'll give more info and including some contact in just a few minutes, because you'll want to catch them for sure online, and you can actually catch them on radio as well. J.D. Farag, you have said for a long time, quite frankly, I think about a year and a half and a little bit more even, the election of Donald Trump would speed up the eschatological clock, the clock registering the advancement of Bible prophecy.

It would move more rapidly. He is promoting, I've already referenced it, called the deal of the century for Israel, and Palestinians, it won't go anywhere, we all know that. He has been the most pro-Israel president.

He moved the embassy on May 14th. He has honored Israel, the boom in the U.S. economy, I believe is necessary for the sort of the enjoying of life last days scenario. He's giving Israel a sense of peace and security. Now, talk to me a little bit about beyond that, why you felt he would speed up that eschatological clock.

Well, let me just add one more to that. So on Rosh Hashanah, he pulled the Palestinian, or I should say the Palestinian Liberation Organization, let's call it what it really is, the PLO. He pulled their embassy and is going to even now, as he has, completely pull all of their funding.

So you give that to Israel on Rosh Hashanah, and then on the heels of on the anniversary, the 70th anniversary on May 14th, you relocate the embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. What's interesting to me, and the reason I really truly believe that Trump has sped up, revved up the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, is because he is bringing to the table everything that we read in Scripture concerning what Israel will be and how it will be at the very end. And he is bringing that to pass like no one in history ever has heretofore. Jack, you want to weigh into that?

I would throw this into the mix as a speculation. We're watching economic job records. We're watching records being set not only here in the United States, but because of Trump's presidency, there are other nations that are doing fantastic because of his leadership globally in the economy. If I understand Ezekiel 38 properly, there is the look. Ezekiel makes us aware that when Israel is invaded by a Russian-led coalition of Islamic forces, the world can ask a question simply, have you come to take the spoil? Where's the United States?

I personally believe that Trump's success or whatever's going on doesn't expire with him leaving office. Is something happening in the near future that will render the United States unable or unwilling to get involved in the Ezekiel battle? I do not see the United States involved in the Ezekiel battle. I see Israel alone. What precursor must be in effect for Israel to be that target is that they are prospering, they believe they're at peace, and I just think that there needs to be a weakened United States for the Ezekiel battle to take place, either in policy or in strategy or in economics. But again, I speculate what's happening right now regarding Trump and his commitment to Israel.

Frankly, you guys sitting here in Southern California in the land of Ronald Reagan, we thought we'd never see somebody that would outdo Reagan in some of these things, and I got to tell you, Trump has. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. If you'd like to connect with my two guests, you certainly can do so. Easiest way, I think, is a Real Life with Jack Hibbs. That's reallifewithjackhibbs.com, and you catch that on radio as well. And Pastor J.D. Farag heads Calvary Chapel Kaneohe, Hawaii. That's calvarychapelkaneohe.com, or find him on YouTube.

Look for J.D. Farag and find the prophecy update that happens every Sunday late in the day. I want to move on here. I know that fellows like Amir Sarfati feel that we should not be paying a whole lot of unusual attention to this coming temple. I don't want to quite leave it yet.

I really don't. I mean, it is the tribulation temple. The church is not in the tribulation.

I don't think we're even going to see any beginning construction. Having said that, Jack and Pastor J.D., the priests are ready, the sheep are ready, the pottery is ready, the utensils and the garments are ready. I don't think we can just ignore it. No, I don't think that we should ignore it by no means. The fact that there's a temple institute, the labor over the decades that they've put into preparing everything, this is something to pay attention to. I know that Amir and us share that exact view.

And by the way, it's not because we share it. It's because it's biblical that the church will not be here for the tribulation temple. Yet at the same time, we need to realize that, my goodness, if we are starting to see and have been for a while these things that will be used, certainly the reality of them will be used in the coming temple, then it should just tell all of us the end, as we call it as Christians. That shadow, Jan, you used that term a moment ago, that shadow is really being cast long on the horizon. This is truly amazing because you've got to, again, going back to the analogy of the overlays, you've got to lay all these things out.

You've got temple talk, you've got red heifer stuff, you've got these global issues, you've got the apathy of the church, you've got the danger of pulpits leading people astray. This is global all at once happening now. This is remarkable. I'm going to play a quick clip here.

It is a Pastor Farag. It's one of his more recent update videos, and again it's still addressing the issue we're talking about. It should be noted that this ultimate peace deal is just one part of the puzzle prophetically. The peace deal will pave the way for the Jews rebuilding the temple, which can happen, and I'm going to use that word again, very quickly, very quickly, especially now that according to a breaking Israel news report, the Temple Institute is announcing the birth of a red heifer. Now some of you are going, a what?

Okay, just bear with me on this. So the Jews, keep in mind they're still waiting for their Messiah. They rejected the true Messiah, which they will embrace at the end of the seven-year tribulation, when the whole house of Israel is saved. Now they're waiting for their Messiah and they cannot conduct the purification ceremonies in the newly rebuilt temple absent the ashes of a red heifer.

This is part of the ceremonial purification and cleansing from their sins that they need. So this red heifer, and there have been many red heifers, but the problem is the red heifer has to be perfectly red, cannot have any black or white or any other color in it. It has to be a pure red heifer, as we're going to talk about with that any spot, any blemish, anything at all.

It has to be perfect. Okay, well again, that's found in Numbers, I believe it's Numbers 19, and you can read all about it there. J.D., you want to add to that at all? Only that the red heifer prophetically in Numbers chapter 19 points to the person of Jesus Christ, and not only the person of Jesus Christ, but the finished work of Jesus Christ, down to the minute detail of how they were to use the ashes of the red heifer. It is absolutely fascinating. It is one of the most fascinating studies I've ever done of God's word having to do with this red heifer. So it's my belief that, as Jack was saying, you have all of these things that are now coming together at the exact time. And it reminds me of what Jesus said in Luke 21, 28, and I'll include in this the temple, the peace agreement, all of the above. That when you see these things, keyword, begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your head because your redemption draws nigh. So when you see the propensity for the ashes of the red heifer beginning to come to pass with everything else that is beginning to come to pass, the conclusion should be that our redemption draws nigh. Folks, just a quick reminder here.

I'm going to be heading into my first break in just a second, but this is a last minute reminder, and it is last minute. Please turn in your tickets if you can't attend our conference. I know some of you bought them last spring. Something's come up.

Turn them into the Brushfire Agency. There are lots of people going to our website still wanting them. So if you can't attend, you're sitting on those tickets, here's the number to turn them in 888-338-5338, 888-338-5338. We still have a couple of hundred open seats in the chapel of the church, Grace Church, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, not the sanctuary, it's just off to the side.

And we have a few, again, prime seats available due to the fact that folks are turning in their tickets because they suddenly can't attend. Our doors will open about 7 a.m. roughly. The program begins about 845 a.m. Central Time. Why don't you sign on for the live streaming? We'll start live streaming, oh, probably 830, that's Central Time, Central Time. If you're west coast, it's earlier. All messages will be archived, and heads up here, CDs and DVDs will still be available about a month later.

CDs and DVDs about a month later. Okay, I'm going to take my first time out here. I want to come back.

I want to continue on with our discussion. I want to go a little bit different direction because I've been listening to Pastor Jack teach on the importance of the church, and yet the most frequent email I get into this ministry is, where can I find a church? And they're not looking for perfection either, but Jack's got some good words for those of us who are kind of troubled about our various churches.

We'll do that when I get back. Don't go away. Many are without hope today. We are awaiting our blessed hope that the King is coming, perhaps today. There is no greater good news.

It should turn your morning into dancing. We are just one week away from our annual Fall Conference. We want you to know that we are live streaming our Saturday, September 29th event free of charge. Beginning at 830 a.m. Central Time, you can watch the conference live from our website. On September 29th, just log on to OliveTreeViews.org to join the live stream.

We sense that this year's conference will be one of our best. We're encouraging everyone to plan on being online with us on September 29th. To order a compact disc recording of today's discussion on the encroaching darkness with Jack Hibbs and J.D. Farag, please phone 763-559-4444. You can help us maintain our media presence all around the country with a message to be ready for our Lord's return. Please consider becoming a financial partner with us. We welcome your tax-deductible gifts when you write to Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. Understanding the Times 2018 is almost sold out now. Why don't you consider getting a group together to live stream the event at your computer or perhaps put it on a big screen?

There is no cost or registration involved for streaming. Our speakers include Amir Sarfati, Pastor Jack Hibbs, Pastor Billy Crone, Pastor J.D. Farag, and Eric Barger. We will help you understand that nothing is falling apart. In fact, things are all falling together. Events that could be interpreted as chaotic and dark are really a herald of his return. We'll also help you contend for the faith. Fellowship with like-minded is essential for spiritual health and to stay optimistic and looking up.

Our event and live streaming is Saturday, September 29th, but you will be able to access the archived programming following that event. I promise our speakers and their topics will keep you focused on the bigger picture. God has everything under control. The King is coming right on time.

He's never early, he's never late, and he wants none to be left behind. I see businesses, I see motivational gatherings, I see a religious type of country club gathering. But when it comes to a New Testament church, one that is fearless in the face of sin and is uncompromising regarding the Word of God, a New Testament church is to stand up against the tide of wickedness. Today's edition of Understanding the Times Radio is helping you prepare for next week's fall conference. Our radio guest this hour will be addressing our September 29th conferees. We continue the conversation now with pastors Jack Hibbs and J.D.

Parod. Verse 17, Then we who are alive and remain shall be, there is yet the word, raptured, caught up, taken up, lifted up, carried away, together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Remember John 14? Thus we shall always be with the Lord, therefore comfort one another with these words. The tribulation period, Isaiah is telling us about it. But as a Christian, you will not be in the tribulation period. It's to chastise and judge the unbelievers, and it's to refocus on the nation of Israel, their God. It's important. It's Jewish in context, and an unbelieving world must be punished during that seven year tribulation period.

All seven years, mind you, not just halfway toward the end, all seven years is a time of great deception. OK, welcome back. Understanding the Times Radio. My guests include Pastor J.D. Farag, Calvary Chapel Kaneohe, Hawaii. We've seen him on his YouTube updates late every Sunday. And Pastor Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, California.

Real life with Jack Hibbs. If you want to be kept apprised of what in the world's going on as we speak, then catch these fellows either online or on radio. Pastor Jack Hibbs, I did give a little tease that I want to talk to you for just a little bit here about the church. The most frequent email into this ministry, the fact that folks can't find a church, that they're not looking for perfection. Look, the church has been invaded, new ways of doing church, seekers emergent, church growth, even the doctrine of demons. And it seems the new mood in the church today sort of is thou shalt not offend. And Jack, I think the real issue is a lot of the churches won't take the real issues that we consider to be serious today.

Won't take them while they want to deal with, they want to dress them. What do you say to people who have given up here? To the people who have given up, there's, or I should say they feel like they've given up. Jan, the truth is, JD, they have not given up because, Jan, they contact you because they care. So they have not yet given up, thank God. They're searching, they're looking.

Here's what I think is the comforting truth of the matter. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. They understand my voice. They recognize my voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will follow him.

So his word is out there. Sadly, we are living in the days where there's a drought in the land regarding the word of God. Now, we've got a lot of churches, but very, very few churches I personally believe. When I match them up against New Testament Christianity, I see very few New Testament churches in operation today.

I see businesses, I see motivational gatherings, I see a religious type of country club gathering. But when it comes to a New Testament church, one that is fearless in the face of sin, and is uncompromising regarding the word of God, that will not tolerate the perpetration of evil against our children, for example. A New Testament church is to stand up against the tide of wickedness.

And that's why both Old and New Testament, we see the pastor, in Ezekiel's day he was the prophet, blowing the trumpet of warning, warning the people of the impending danger that's arriving. I don't see that in very many pulpits in America today. I think the church is predominantly the people apathetic, the pastors probably apathetic. How many will even address, you know, let's vote biblical values? You know, I think the two of us, the three of us rather, probably talked to my audience and it was the weekend before the 2016 election. And Jack, you were just strong on let's vote biblical values and let's quit shredding babies and things like this.

But I'm hearing churches won't go there either. And I think this is just essential, not only that we vote because so many are inclined not to, but that we take some of these values into account, which you were so helpful back in 2016 when we did that, both of you. Well, you know, Jan, the scripture says, To him who knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin. So I have to ask the audience, is voting in the process of a republic that God has given us, voting against someone who is pro-abortion, is that not incumbent upon the believer to stand up? Doesn't God tell us stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, who are destined to death?

We do it by voting. And I believe that God holds us accountable for it. Pastor J.D. Farag, kind of directing this at you here at the same time, and that is our churches, I think, need to be, well, I think it was outlined in First Chronicles 12. I mean, the men of Issachar understood the times.

They knew what Israel should do. It seems to me today's church should understand the times, contend for the faith, and become watchmen on the wall. And both of you, and I hope I am as well, all trying to be watchmen here, sound the alarm. The enemy is coming just over the ridge there, and we're trying to blow the shofar and sound the alarm.

J.D. Farag, you too, you've got an international audience. I know back in 2006, when you started your updates, you didn't think you'd end up with a vast international audience. I have a feeling they're talking to you about the same thing I'm talking about. Am I right?

You are right, and yes, they are. And I was just thinking, interesting you mention that, because for the last 12 years, when I started doing these weekly Bible prophecy updates, it was 2006. That was, you know, basically 12 years ago. And there weren't really any others doing what I believe God called me to do. But over the last 12 years, I want to kind of come at this from a different angle, with a different perspective. There have been those since 2006 that God has raised up, and it has added to that voice, that clarion call, in these last moments of history, human history as we know it.

The problem is, there are so very few. And what that comes packaged with is a hunger and a thirst on the part of God's people for the prophetic word of God. And I was thinking about the Beatitudes, when Jesus, really comforting and encouraging his people, says to them, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and all add to that stand for righteousness. I really appreciate what you said, Jack, about, I even told somebody in my church this, when we had the last presidential election, I said, do you realize that you and I will be held accountable for how we vote and for whom we vote? He was blown away.

He had never thought of it like that. But see, it's a standing for righteousness that comes with that hunger and thirst for righteousness. And Jesus says, they shall be filled. That's why they're going to be blessed. And I think it's evidenced by your conference, Jim.

You have thousands of people and untold tens of thousands of people all over the world that will be tuning in to the live stream. They are being filled and satiated as only the Lord can because of their hunger and thirst for righteousness. Yes. Well, Jack, I'm going to quote you here. You say, what a time to be alive. We are not to be crushed by the issues of the world. And, you know, as I survey the headlines, as I do on a daily basis. And by the way, they're getting to be overwhelming and overwhelmingly negative. And I know we need to look at them a different perspective. But however, it is an incredible time to be alive. But it is very easy to get crushed by these issues of the world and the issues of the day and the heartache and the natural disasters and the birth pangs that are out of control.

As we speak, they're out of control. Well, you know what, Jan, I think for me anyway, the confidence comes in these ever darkening days from standing on the word of God. And that's me, by God's grace. I'm weak. I'm nothing.

Jan, JD, you know that that I'm weak, but he is strong. And so, in fact, while we have been together on this interview, I see a news flash up here on an email to me that I've been somehow labeled at the right wing watch and the Southern Poverty Law Center as a bad guy. Yeah, well, I'm over there. Lots of good people are over there, Jack. Exactly.

Welcome to the club. Yeah, about 45 seconds ago, I was just honored by that news across the line. So here's my point. You say, Jack, how can you be so callous about that? Well, I'm not callous about it. I just know who I'll stand before in the end, and I know what truth is, and I know that as an enemy target gets close to that bomber high above in the air, the bomber knows he's getting close because the flak will increase, the enemy retaliation will step up, and that doesn't faze us because we are anchored to the truth, and it's actually an affirmation from the Lord that we're doing the right thing. When you stand for the Lord, you don't need to be insecure.

All right. Well, I appreciate the perspective of the church issues. I mean, they are endless. A lot of churches are, I mean, they're just simply going haywire. It's all predicted as part of the great end time falling away, the end time apostasy, et cetera. I want to make a reference here, gentlemen, to Daniel 12. I want to go back to eschatology and the fact that both of you are talking about the fact that we've got an increase of knowledge going on today, and that's pretty obvious. It's part of that passage, and either one of you, please speak into this, where it says that the wise will understand the end times are going to make more sense to us as we move on into those end times, and the wicked aren't going to understand it. Evil people, indeed, are clueless, but the wise will understand. And again, gentlemen, the remnant is getting it, and they want to understand. They want to understand even more. J.D., your thoughts?

My thoughts are this. The increase of knowledge, I believe, is not just the increase of technology and the knowledge of mankind, but I also believe that it is the increase of knowledge biblically and prophetically. And the reason I say that is because in verse 9 of Daniel 12, he goes on to say that he's to close up and seal up the words until the time of the end. So in other words, it would imply that at the time of the end, which we are in now, that will be opened up and unsealed, and I believe it is. You know, I would just simply add this, that one of the great things, if there's any Bible students out there listening in right now, one of the things to prove your point, Jan, and of course the point being the Bible in Daniel 12, you can pick up a great scholar of yesteryear.

You can pick up Charles Spurgeon, or the Wesleys, or you name it. In fact, go on back and look at their view of eschatology. These were very stable, strong men of God who understood the Word of God, but when they came to eschatology back then, it was like, what are they talking about? It's very, you know, strange, and they're trying to figure it out. Now, here we are in the 21st century, and what great scholars didn't know just 150, 200, 500, 700 years ago, you and I now look at commonplace. It's like, well, everybody knows this.

And I think it's a revelation of the fact that as we approach the end, those who are walking in the light, none of these things will overtake us as a thief in the night. Thank you, both of you. I want to spend just a little time on another topic here. Pastor J.D. Farag, you're actually going to be addressing this topic. At least you're going to be involving the nation of Israel somewhat in your talk at my conference September 29th.

And this is a nation that has come back to life against all odds. J.D., I think you're going to be there the month of November, am I right? You and Amir Sarfati are leading a tour together, and I've been there about six, seven times.

I actually lose track. And in my world, and I don't want to get into what happened to me as a young person, but it was a trip to Israel in my youth to get me turned around and going in the right direction in every sense, mentally, emotionally, spiritually for sure. Shortly after that, about the same time probably, I came across Hal Lindsey's book.

I think that had come out some years before that. But I came upon the book in the 1970s to get my spiritual direction in the right direction. But it was that trip to Israel that really solidified where I was headed. Jack, you have been there numbers of times, and again, this country came back against all odds. It shouldn't have happened, but God said it would happen, and it's happened in miraculous ways. You know, I love what you're saying, because just Sunday night I was listening to a Christian apologist give argumentation for the existence of God. And this person meant well, but they said, you know, just like someone who says there is no God, they don't have any proof for that. Well, the person who says there is a God, we don't exactly have proof for that, but let's look at the preponderance of evidence over time.

And I wanted to jump up on the stage and say, wait a minute, wait a minute. We do have a scientific mode by which we can prove the existence of God, and it's called eschatology. And the proof and the pudding is you can erase all other topics, and you can just lay down this topic of Israel. It is impossible. There is no way. It's not going to happen.

It's never happened before. It's never going to happen again, where God said this impossible thing that his people would be taken away, basically distributed throughout all regions of the earth, and the last days would be reassembled in their land, and all of that in one day, May 14, 1948. And I believe that I can prove to anyone that God exists based upon the argument of Bible prophecy.

I can actually reduce it down to one word, Israel. Yep, and yet, as we're speaking, and J.D. Farag, we referenced this on the phone the other day, as we're speaking here and heard by the listening audience, and some are believers, some are unbelievers.

All denominations represented listening to Christian radio and online sources. Some are laughing at us right now because, well, they've been affected by the replacement theology, supersessionism, they've been affected by BDS movement that's infected the mainline Protestant churches. They're just simply laughing at us and saying, well, what? Someday they won't be laughing. I mean, yeah, it's okay. It's what we said earlier. We're standing on the Word of God, and we'll see who laughs in the end.

Yeah. But, J.D., thank you for your stand. You were even told you were a Palestinian when you were growing up, and you figured it out for yourself. No such thing as a Palestinian. Yes, and it came with great consternation on the part of my massive Arab family, many of whom are professing Christians, not necessarily born-again Christians, but they're quote-unquote Palestinian Christians, who to this day would say, I'll never forget when I came back from Israel, this was back in the 90s, and I told one of my cousins, I said, man, Israel was amazing. Oh, my goodness, I wanted to share with him about, you know, because my grandmother was born in Nazareth before statehood, pre-1948, and my family was from Nazareth. And so I wanted to share with him, I have to go to Nazareth.

And he looked at me with this horrid look. And he says to me, you mean Palestine. No, I said Israel. No, no, no, Palestine. I said, no, no, no, no, Israel. And so that was the end of the conversation.

I love it. Yeah. You know, like Jack was saying, I mean, this is why, as you and I were talking, Jan, Israel is the prophetic clock by which we can know what time it is. Well, in terms of the end, I have a saying, and that is when it comes to these issues of the end times, Israel is the clock. Jerusalem is the minute hand.

The Temple Mount is the second hand. We're going to wrap up our discussion here. I'm going to wrap it up with Pastor J.D. Farag, Calvary Chapel, Kaneohe, Hawaii. Catch him online.

Prophecy updates. Just go to YouTube. Also, my other guest, Pastor Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, California. Real life with Jack Hibbs dot com.

Real life with Jack Hibbs. Catch him on radio. Catch him online.

Catch him both next weekend. Understanding the Times, 2018. And that's going to be live streamed to be roughly 830 a.m. central time. Again, central time to 5 p.m. central time. No cost for the live stream. Again, there are some tickets available as folks are turning in tickets. Suddenly they can't attend.

Visit Olive Tree Views dot org or call the Brushfire Agency 888-338-5338. 888-338-5338. I'm back in a couple of minutes. Don't go away. When headlines have you down, this ministry is here to remind you to look up.

The King is coming. That's the ultimate good news. We think it's the best advice we can give you every week. Our invitation to be sure to visit our website. At Olive Tree Views dot org, you'll find our current radio broadcast. You'll also find information about our newsletter, our e-newsblast, news headlines, and much more. For the best resource, the latest information to help you understand our times, click on to Olive Tree Views dot org. On Saturday, September 29th, Olive Tree Views dot org will also be the place to go to watch a live stream of our fall conference at no cost to you. For more information about this listener supported broadcast ministry, call 763-559-4444 or write to Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. Remember, next weekend you can live stream the 2018 Understanding the Times Conference at Olive Tree Views dot org. Jack, J.D., and Jan will return right after this. I am so pleased that this ministry is carrying the new book titled Can We Still Believe in the Rapture?

The co-authors are Dr. Ed Hindson and Dr. Mark Hitchcock. I did not think I would ever have to ask such a question, but today many churches marginalized this message. We can scoff and mock about the glorious good news that the King is coming again, and perhaps today. Check it out in our web store at Olive Tree Views dot org.

You can call us Monday through Friday and order it by phone, 763-559-4444, 763-559-4444, Central Time. We'll be in our print and e-newsletter. Step online, look for Can We Still Believe in the Rapture? We want you to rejoice in the hope of His return, and this new publication will help you do just that. Things are all falling into place. We want you to look up and know that His return is right at the door.

This is Jan Markell. Many Christian leaders avoid the topics of our day, but here on this program we hit them head on. The Times demand we address the hard issues and bring a biblical viewpoint into focus. Thanks for joining us. Understanding the Times radio continues with pastors Jack Hibbs and J.D.

Farag. Let's wrap up today's discussion on overcoming the encroaching spiritual darkness. Jews and Christians are not allowed to ascend the Temple Mount with a prayer book. They're not allowed to ascend the Temple Mount with a Bible. They're not allowed to ascend the Temple Mount and utter prayers. If you could imagine in a democracy where the cornerstone of democracy is freedom of religion, Jews and Christians can't pray at our holiest site.

It's outrageous. In 1967, after Jordan had ruled over this area, it was retaken by the Israelis, by the IDF, after they were attacked by five armies in what's called the Six-Day War. And in a moment of incredible irony, the Jewish leadership of the time returned the control of the Temple Mount to the Muslims. And as of now, today, it's practically illegal for any Jewish person to go up there and pray. Jews and Christians are struggling to find their place on the very mount that is at the center of the history of the Judeo-Christian world and paradigm.

That's a very ironic phenomenon. But there are those that don't believe they need to wait until Messiah comes to build that next temple. The Temple Faithful under the leadership of Gershon Solomon and Halibah under the leadership of Yehuda Glick, they are planning on and preparing for the rebuilding of the Temple before the time of Messiah.

And that controversy is gaining more and more momentum as the days progress. In this program, in this series on the end times and the prophetic views of the end times, we're looking at the struggle for rebuilding the Temple and what it means for you as a believer and for the world at large. And welcome back. And we're wrapping up an hour with two very special guests. They'll be with me next weekend, Understanding the Times 2018, Pastor Jack Hibbs and Pastor JD Farag.

Most all of you are familiar with these two gentlemen and I'm privileged to be able to have them on air with me and in person next weekend just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can live stream it at no cost, OliveTreeViews.org. Remember this program posted to my website every Saturday, OliveTreeViews.org. Or you might want to sign up for the OnePlace app, the mobile app, OnePlace.com.

It will be downloaded to your device every Saturday morning. I need to move into the closing of the programming here because I want to say this, this concerns the forthcoming conference. We have 55 states, Canadian provinces or foreign countries represented just outside of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and Eden Prairie, Minnesota next weekend. Fifty-five. They're members of the Remnant Church, I believe.

They love the message that the King is coming. And as I asked my two guests here during a break, I said, you know, how should we wrap this up? This is the last real current program before this conference. We'll have to be doing a rerun next weekend. And I said, what do we talk about? And they said, we need to encourage one another.

Now, I could break down in tears right now because I can't tell you how much I know. Everyone that I know, self included, needs to be encouraged. And one of the great ways of doing that is, of course, through the Blessed Hope, the hope and the belief that the Lord could return at any moment, that imminent return of the Lord Jesus.

Gentlemen, you take it away here for a few minutes. Let's encourage one another. Let's encourage my audience because we see the darkness approaching.

Things aren't getting a whole lot easier out there for anybody to contend with. I would encourage you to be encouraged in the Word. And listen, though it seems like you're alone, it seems like you're out there and you can't find a church or the church that you've been to. All your life is now departing from the truth. Just know this, that even such things were prophesied in advance by our Lord Jesus. He told us that days like this would come. And we want to encourage you. This conference is such a great encouragement for us to thank that Amir, for example, coming from Israel, JD from Hawaii and myself and others out of Southern California, to come and to rally with Jan at this conference because it is almost as though the last ember burning.

This is the largest gathering of its kind in the United States. And that tells us something. I don't believe this torch that Jan started a long time ago will be extinguished until the Lord comes back. And I'm trusting that the Lord will wonderfully and powerfully use this time as a time of great encouragement for all of us because coming together to discuss the end times is for the believer, like getting ready for the parade. This is a good day. Amen. JD Farrag, you see the darkness approaching too. And you talk about it.

We all talk about it. We need to be salt and light and delay the decay. It's getting harder and harder to do that. We want to be overcomers. Again, it's getting harder and harder to do that. You do a wonderful job of that on your weekly report, Pastor JD.

You really do. And that Prophecy Update that you give every Sunday. Thank you for doing that. Talk to my audience about encouragement. Let me just share something that the Lord ministered to me most recently. And it's really under the banner of people sharing with me some of the trials that they're in and how we're talking life and death trials. I mean, we get so many people from all over the world that send us prayer requests where they've been diagnosed with stage four cancer. We have many prayer requests from people all over the world that are pleading with us to pray for them because their son or their daughter has just told them that they identify as a homosexual.

We have so many people that are coming to us with these, I mean, horrible situations. And what comes with that is this longing for the Lord's return. And we know there is a crown like Paul telling Timothy that awaits us, those of us who long for and are watching for his return. But here's what the Lord ministered to me concerning this question of, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it, I want the Lord to come back now. The Lord ministered to me that he will get us through whatever it is we're going through up until that time that the trumpet sounds.

Don't be afraid. The enemy comes in, he tries to give us this spirit of fear and trepidation and what am I going to do and I don't think I'm going to make it. This is just unthinkable and it's so painful and I want the Lord to come back and yet the Lord hasn't come back. Listen, God is going to enable you, strengthen you, and even encourage you.

I think of David when he comes to Ziklag and I mean it's the bottom. And it says that he strengthened himself in the Lord. He encouraged himself in the Lord, like Jack said, in the word of God. That's how faith comes.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And so I just want to encourage your listeners to, I know this might sound kind of, I'll say it, hang in there. Hang in there.

It's not much longer. He's coming, he's coming, he's coming and you're going to be okay and you're going to make it and that trumpet's going to sound. Last year, J.D., you and I in a mirror made a little video at my event. It was just something we posted on YouTube. And, you know, we were having a pretty innocent conversation, the three of us, and you said so appropriately and I chimed in as well that because of the encroaching darkness that if it weren't for the hope of the pre-tribulation rapture, not a mid-trib, not a pre-wrath, not a post-trib, but a pre-tribulation rapture were not for that hope. And you said you would pretty much go nuts and I chimed in and said I'd be going nuts right with you were it not for the hope of... And, you know, we were mocked and scorned literally around the... We had YouTubes made about us by name, mocking you and me by name for only speaking what the Bible teaches. We were only speaking what the Bible teaches and yet the contention against this belief has now gotten so bad that you and I have been almost for a year the subject of that mocking, scorning and ridicule for the truth. Thank you for standing for the truth, Jennifer.

Thank you, Pastor Jack Hibbs, for standing for the truth as well. Would one of you just wrap this up? Take a minute, wrap it up. Either one of you who feels really inspired right now, wrap it up.

Go ahead. I just want to make a comment about what you said a moment ago, how there are those ridiculing you guys for having the blessed hope. Even their ridicule was prophesied in Scripture that in the last days there'd be mockers and scoffers and yet again you see the confidence that we have in the Lord.

We cannot be moved when we stand upon the rock of God's word. And so for me personally, Jan, the only thing better than meeting up again with all of you at the conference is that that conference would be interrupted by a trumpet blast. That's what I'm hoping before I have to go through airport security or eat any hotel food is that the trumpet would blow. I'm listening now waiting for him. Amen.

Your JD's got a big trip from Hawaii. And listen, I made that in March, so we've got to pray for him too big time. Folks, again, CDs and DVDs will be available about a month later. And one more final going out of the program reminder.

Forgive me for being a bit of a pest here with this subject matter. Some of you are sitting on tickets. You can't come. Call the Brushfire. Here's the number 888-338-5338.

888-338-5338. Turn them in. They'll be purchased by someone else who's dying to go. Waited too long. Everything sold out. But you guys are sitting on tickets and you can't come.

Brushfire Agency will handle all of that for you. 888-338-5338. I've got to go out of my program. Gentlemen, so looking forward to seeing you next week.

I've got a throng of people who are also well enthused and encouraged by everything that's been shared, I think, today and our honesty as well. Let me go out by saying this one. The time was right. The sea parted. The walls fell down.

The lions went hungry. The sun stood still. The waves were calm. The stone was rolled away. The clouds were parted. The Lord ascended. And when the time is right, King of Kings will return. God is never early. He is never late. He's right on time.

His plan for you is good. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next weekend. 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.

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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-supported ministry as our financial partner. Please write with your tax-deductible gifts to Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. Contributions are also welcome at olivetreeviews.org or by phone when you dial 763-559-4444. Don't forget global updates with a biblical worldview are yours around the clock at olivetreeviews.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.