The Prime-Time Occult Invasion

We have a foe trying to harm us, but we have a mighty God who has promised to crush Satan under our feet. Hollywood is responsible for most modern concepts of exorcisms, but reality, while much more subdued, isn't far from that.

If you are a demonic spirit you will leave this premises right now in Jesus' name. This is Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell. In this hour, Jan and co-host Eric Barger and Jill Martin Rishi continue to discuss how our enemy is operating in current events. As this program often reminds you, even though we live in some troubled times, we know God is still in control. Thank you for joining us for this second of a two-part series. A little later in this broadcast we'll tell you how you can obtain your own copies of both last week's and this week's program. But now, let's get the conversation going. Here is Jan Markell. And welcome again to the program.

I'm so glad you can join me. We look at news, views, truths from a decidedly biblical perspective. If you've listened for a while, you know that now and then I try to do an update on the paranormal. And it's encroaching on you and those you care about big time. It's invading the schoolroom, the entertainment industry, and even the church. It is evil being called good in some instances.

It's not even subtle any longer. And when I do these updates, I'd like to include my very frequent radio co-hosts, Eric Barger and Jill Martin Rishi, who were with me last week as well. And both have written extensively on the occult, the paranormal, and related topics. And I read a compelling article this week, happened to be in Christianity Today. And it says, in part, it says, we have an enemy who walks around roaring like a lion, looking to destroy us, so we should watch out. Many of us already feel like we're in the middle of a battlefield with an ancient foe, wreaking havoc and destruction. The Bible says, we're right. Even those of us who believe the Gospels, which show Jesus came casting out demons, aiming to bind the strong man, are flinging Satan down like lightning. We can tend to act as if all that stuff was way back then in biblical times. Yet the Bible says Satan is at work now, and we dare not forget it. Indeed, it's not enough to know that we have an enemy.

We need to know his schemes, Ephesians 6-11, and what resources we have in Christ Jesus against him. So Eric and Jill, thank you again for coming back to the studio again this week. And you both have written so extensively on this topic. And as that article states, and as another one I'm going to quote from in just a moment and play a soundbite, all of this is intensifying almost more, not every week, every day, every hour. Am I right, Jill?

JILL Absolutely. I mean, this occult revolution that we really noticed ramping up back in the 1950s, 1960s, has gone just pretty much ballistic with the advent of Harry Potter and all the other things that are out there on the market, and witchcraft, wiccans, it has grown tremendously. So yeah, I mean, it's out there, it's alive and strong. And I think it's going to continue to do this because, of course, we are approaching the end of the age. And we are going to have to deal with a spirit of the age that is much, much louder and more in our faces.

JILL Eric, your thought on this? ERIC Well, I begin to call it the end time occult invasion, which is really what it is. It's invaded our culture to make the occult look normal. And we've, of course, talked about that before, too, but it can't be stated enough that around us, every aspect of the world of the occult now appears to be normalized. It's happened to us as Christians as well. We seem to trivialize it. We seem to, even though we say, yes, we know that witchcraft, occult, et cetera, is wrong or evil, we seem not to be bothered by it. Yet, it's one of the main forms of entertainment. It is certainly all around us, and it's being practiced in our communities in places where we'd never dreamt we'd ever see it.

JILL I want to get to the entertainment industry in just a moment, because I want to quote somebody. Karl Payne writes a lot on spiritual warfare. I've read him various places.

He's got some excellent books. And he says, People by nature love darkness more than light. He says the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent, and demons are in a panic mode, stepping up the fight.

He says too many Christians and churches are more interested in blending into the culture than shining in the midst of it and standing for righteousness as obedient ambassadors. And again, he is so right, and I'm hearing more and more about demonic activity than ever before. And Jill, I am hearing, and I'm going to speak for myself, I am hearing from Christians who are being harassed by literal demons. I've had my own experience. You've had your experience. Jack Hibbs has had his experience where they come around to try to bug us, to scare us, to even sort of threaten us.

And again, one word drives them away. But talk to me about why you and I are experiencing demons. JILL Well, when you're fighting a battle, you're going to hit the enemy, you're going to be faced with the enemy, he's going to be there, and he's going to attack you. So if you are out there doing what God called you to do and trying to make a difference in the kingdom of God, like my father always used to say, they're coming after you. This is a fact of Ephesians 6. The spiritual world is real.

It is there. And man has always believed this, jammed down through the centuries. It's only been in the last 100, 150 years or so that we've seen this attack of the, like we were talking about earlier, about revering science and shutting out the supernatural.

So it is real. And if you are living and walking with the Holy Spirit, you will see that kind of attack in your life. JILL I'm going to play a quick sound bite here. It's Pastor J.D. Farag, and he's commenting about this. He's one of my speakers, Understanding the Times, 2018. And he's normally talking about end times, eschatology, things like that. And he's actually weaving what we're talking about into his prophecy update real recently.

PASTOR J.D. When we get to Ephesians 6, I can't wait. The Apostle Paul says we wrestle, keyword, not against flesh and blood, against people. But see that's what Satan wants us to do. He wants us to bite and devour and destroy each other. Jesus said that the enemy, the thief, comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I came to give you life and life more abundantly.

That's not in a material sense, please. That's that spirit-filled life that we just got done talking about in Ephesians. Here's the truth. This is a spiritual war that's being fought in the spiritual realm and it's for the souls of mankind. And as the end draws near, and the end is drawing near, this spiritual war is intensifying. That's what's really going on.

That's what we see happening certainly here in America, but even perhaps more importantly in Israel as well. Now I know that, and I actually almost in some ways wear it as a badge of honor, but this might sound gloom and doom, or doom and gloom. I'm not sure how that goes, but doom and gloom. But I have to say, because it's the truth, that according to God's word it's going to get even worse. Oh pastor, come on man. You don't get out much do you?

No I actually don't. I mean things are actually pretty good. Well okay. Yeah but things are great again. America is great again.

Are you putting your hope in that? You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell. I have in studio Eric Barger, Jill Martin Rishi as we're doing a paranormal update. Building a little bit on last weekend where we talked about, a little bit more about that Kundalini spirit coming into the church. So we're actually kind of building a further case for that as we go into this weekend's program.

And I want to quote from Carl Payne again. He writes heavily on spiritual warfare and he says, kind of building on what Pastor JD Farag just said there in Hawaii, spiritism is clearly on the rise in North America, typically associated with contacting spirits to communicate with the dead in one form or another. The media is replete with programs and movies glorifying walking and talking with the deceased.

Can successfully contacting demonic spirits which is what practitioners are actually doing, whether they understand this or not, open up a person to actual demonization? Yes it can. Is this done purposely? Sometimes it is.

Is this done innocently or naively? Sometimes it is. Do demons care whether a person's motives are purposeful or innocent for involving themselves with demonic spirits?

No. Payne said he had worked with people in the past who found themselves caught in a demonic bondage both purposely or through something thought of as a game or curiosity. Demons ultimately have one job and that is to destroy, he said, a friendly demon is a construct of childish entertainment, not reality. The good news, Jill Martin Rishi, is Christians cannot have a demon, correct?

Correct. There is no biblical foundation for that. When you have the Holy Spirit living in you, there is no room for anything else and certainly not something weak and that's defeated. You know, Jesus defeated Satan and his demons on the cross and so they're certainly not going to share space in you. So when they come around harassing you and me as they have and others I talk to with the name of Jesus Christ, they have to flee and fast?

Yes and they do. I mean, I know you went through this and I went through this at 15, how a fallen angel had to obey me and I was 15 years old. So the power that we have in Jesus Christ is tremendous and we should not fear them but we should recognize the fact that if we are doing battle for the Lord, they will at some point or another come and try to trip us up.

And we're going to wrap this up with Carl Payne comment anyway. He says, but those of us who know the promises of the word of God understand that Satan has a short time to reign. He will have his 15 minutes of fame and then it will be lights out for the great deceiver. God's day of judgment and his final destruction is coming. In the meantime, Satan knows his time is short and he seeks to wreak his havoc while he can. Yet those who belong to Christ know that we have been raised up for this time and our goal is to advance the kingdom of Jesus while there is still light. Eric, weigh into this please. Great comments.

I'm listening to him thinking about things that I've written too that are along the same lines. Satan loves to work in our ignorance and for those who just want to shut out any talk of Satan or demons or any of that kind of thing, the dark spirit world, understand that we need to understand these things. I'm not saying to major on it. I'm not saying that we should fixate on it, but we need to understand it because otherwise he works in our ignorance. Paul makes it clear in two places I can think of. First Corinthians two and Ephesians six about us not being ignorant. Let's not be ignorant about these things.

Here's where I kind of want to move into because I just gave a comment a few minutes ago about this invading the entertainment industry and that's an understatement and it's particularly affecting young people who take advantage of the entertainment industry, be it music, movies, television, even the internet. And Jill, I thought we got rid of the Lucifer television program and I was rejoicing and then, I'm not going to say what I think of Netflix, they picked it up. They picked up Lucifer and it's bad enough, there is a blatant program out there about Lucifer, but they're taking it a stretch further. First of all, they're portraying Lucifer, he's a young man, a dashing handsome gentleman, I think he's even in law enforcement, leaves hell and comes to Los Angeles to occupy Los Angeles, California. And kind of the sentiment underneath it is that Satan can be redeemed.

He's such a good guy, he can be redeemed. Eric, is this just universalism run amok? Well, kinda. And when you said he's come to Los Angeles to invade, I thought, well, is this a true story? Yeah.

Because you take a look around the entertainment and you have to think that's what's taken place. I think the universalist would love this idea, the idea that Lucifer, that Satan can be redeemed. We have nothing in scripture that tells us that.

We find in scripture that his end is in the lake of fire. That is not redemption. And the Bible does not say that the devil repents. He just goes on deceiving and ruining lives. And this is not harmless fiction.

My concern is that eternal damage can happen. I want to play just a quick clip here of call the vigilant Christian talking about this. The Lucifer television show. And I've done an expose for that one.

I'll leave linked up for you in the description section used this to market itself. And notice here it says, I hope all these big award nominees don't forget to thank me. Hashtag Lucifer is coming for the Lucifer television show. Now, one of the things that I've been showing in my series here covering the media is that these occultists, these Satanists love to hide the truth in plain sight.

And that is exactly what this is. It's hiding the truth in plain sight, literally on a massive, massive billboard. Here we see the glorified Lucifer. You know, the Bible says he comes as an angel of light that he's able to masquerade himself and here, Hollywood, the entertainment world portrays him as a good looking man.

So here he is. And they're saying, well, he's responsible for the success of the big award nominees. And that's exactly the truth, whether it's the Oscars or whatever else ceremony that they have to give these puppets, their little idols, Lucifer, the God of this world, Satan, the one who has caused a rebellion against God is responsible for giving them fame and fortune. Some of them, it's a very practical thing, selling themselves over to a secret society and then others, it's just selling their moral standards and themselves in a more, you know, metaphorical way.

But either way, Hollywood is just sucking up the souls of so many people, sending them down the wide path to destruction. So I just wanted to share this with you to let you know, again, more truth hidden in plain sight, encourage you to use it as a way to witness to other people, to show them, you know, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing them that he doesn't exist. And one of the things that you can do to help them see is show them the truth that's hidden in plain sight, because then when they see the chameleon and they see that he's there, they're going to understand that he is the father of lies and that there is a massive global deception and that the Bible is true. There is a global conspiracy that this world is ran by a fallen being and that he has little minions working for him. And we see that in the entertainment world. A number of professing Christians are defending the program, asserting that it contains a positive message that if Satan can be redeemed by God, that anyone can, but Jesus did not die for fallen angels.

I'm sorry, he just didn't. And they may be professing Christians, but did they know what the scripture says? Are they biblical Christians is the question. I can't imagine that they are.

It would sound not, yes. Jill, you had a comment. This whole thing about Lucifer, the character they've created, they've actually done what we see Hollywood doing all the time is redefining things. They redefine vampires. Now they're redefining Lucifer here and making him something the Bible says he is not, and he has never been down through history. He doesn't have an ounce of anything sympathetic in him. He doesn't care about purity.

This guy here runs a nightclub called Lux in Los Angeles, and he's drawn to the purity in this Los Angeles homicide detective. Well, I'm sorry, that is not the historical Lucifer. That is not who he has ever been.

So really what Hollywood has done here is create something not real, not based in fact, a fictional character that is really not Lucifer at all as Jesus showed us and Jesus defined really who Lucifer is. What does he want? He wants worship. He doesn't want purity. He doesn't want to look at human beings and hang around with them and think, hey, maybe there's something good here that I can get a piece of. No, what he wants is their absolute utter worship.

He wants to dominate and destroy. The Lord Jesus Christ said of Satan, he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. That's John 8 44. And all you have to do is read the last few chapters of the book of Revelation to see that Satan goes on deceiving the masses right up until the time he is finally thrown into the lake of fire.

You can read that in Revelation 20 through 22. For a long time, we've complained about the way Hollywood treats biblical characters and biblical stories. This is just another example.

That's what it comes down to. It's just another example that we cannot trust the theologies of Hollywood. Well, we are doing in this segment, moving into the second segment, we're doing a little paranormal update. And I tried to do that at least once a year, just because again, evil forces are moving in everywhere, in the church and the school and media into entertainment, and you cannot escape it any longer. We simply want to get you to be prepared to be on guard and to fight back against the powers of evil. We'll continue our discussion.

We'll come taking a short break back in just a couple of minutes. For the last two weeks on Understanding the Times Radio, Jan and her co-host have been discussing the inconvenient truth. You can order digital copies of both broadcasts simply by phoning 763-559-4444. Again, the order line number 763-559-4444. You can learn more about this ministry. You can become a financial partner with us. Just visit us online at OliveTreeViews.org.

All your gifts are tax deductible. Thank you in advance for your generosity. We'll get our mail at Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. Jan, Eric, and Jill return shortly.

Please stay with us. 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 JD 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 archive 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 based this experience on the fact that I knew that there was more. There was something. There was the other side. I mean, I was just, I was unhappy. So I was looking for an escape.

I was looking for literally the possibility of something else. You know, I mean, here I am, the town-drunkest kid, being abused, being neglected. I didn't feel loved. Soon after his experience with a Ouija board, the presence Jeff felt in his home spoke to him. I woke up one night and literally it was, there was like a voice behind my ear saying, Jeff, come, you know, come here. I got something to show you. This strange force took Jeff on out-of-body experiences.

During these times, he saw things days before he experienced them in real life. The state of the church and the issues that affect us all. That's the focus of today's Understanding the Times broadcast. Let's get back to our panel and the conversation. Once again, Jan Markell. And we're continuing our discussion on the rise of the paranormal, which is at an all-time high, as anyone who's observing these things would acknowledge. And I'm glad to have in studio, both Eric Barger and Joe Martin Rishi.

Joe is the daughter of Dr. Walter Martin. Some of you heard him on the radio and many other places back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. And Christians need to remember that the spiritual realm is real, demons are real, and the battle we are waging as believers is real. And we need to return to faith, even as popular culture grows increasingly anti-Christian. Okay, so how is the popular culture growing anti-Christian? In a minute here, I'm going to play a clip of just how the entertainment world is glorifying all of this.

And we've done programming before featuring the Long Island Medium and others that unfortunately, Eric, they have a platform and they're influencing millions. Oh, but Jan, it's just entertainment, didn't you know? Harmless entertainment.

Yeah. How often we have heard that this is just entertainment and we've heard Christians justify the idea that there was really nothing wrong with it. It was just harmless entertainment. But some of these people are not charlatans. They're really tapped into the occult. They are listening to the demonic and they're giving answers that, of course, Satan wants people to know about particular things to entrap them. So, you know, we've got to see it and understand it for what it is and never just kind of laugh at it. And that's one of the ways that Christians being marginalized is that anytime we suggest that this stuff is real, people around us in the church roll their eyes.

They don't want to hear about it. We've got to continue, though, to do exactly what we've been doing and that is try our best to communicate the truths to these people who would see these things in a different light than the scriptures. Jill, sometimes I think that this topic, and you are such an expert because you've got your outstanding 700-page book, Kingdom of the Occult. Sometimes I think this is looked at by fellow Christians almost as skeptically as end times. I mean, it's something that we don't want to go there. Number one, it'll scare people.

Number two, it's dark. Number three, it'll keep people away from church instead of bringing them into the church. And yet pastors need to be equipping the saints to deal with this topic.

They do. And it seems like a lot of people skate along the surface of life, like that old movie, The Matrix, where, you know, they're living in it, but they're not participating really in it. And I think that's what happens a lot. People forget Ephesians 6. We are warned and warned and warned that things happen on a spiritual level, that spiritual warfare is real. The supernatural is real. That's why Satanism and the occult, that's why they lure people in, because there is a real power there.

And we need to be out there saying, hold on a minute. This is the weak power. This is the power that has already lost. This is the power of the creation. God is the creator. Satan is the creation.

He's already lost. But the power out there is real. And we have God's power, the best, the greatest to stand and fight against these lies, against the power of darkness.

And so many don't do it. I'm going to play a clip here. We're talking a little bit about the entertainment industry and how it is certainly seducing millions and millions of people with its underlying themes and sometimes overt themes of the paranormal. And here's a program with John Edwards. Again, he's a self-proclaimed psychic. We can spend hours debating how he actually gets some things right. Here's a three and a half minute clip of him on a prominent television program.

It's just invading primetime hours, kids home from school now in the summertime, others year round watching this kind of entertainment. International renowned psychic medium, as well as a bestselling author, John Edward is here with us. And they're really excited because they want you to be able to connect with them, which I know you will. But before we even get there, I want to know when you're doing this, when you're doing your art, what's the feeling when you connect, do you hear a voice?

Do you have a feeling? I like to demystify what this is. I think a lot of people over the years when they think about psychic phenomena, they think it like in terms of Hollywood, right?

They think in terms of what they see on TV. It's really like a daydream. It's an energy. So it's like what you're thinking, seeing, feeling, hearing all happening simultaneously like downloaded. Then you're kind of, so I equate it to when you're in school and the teacher was kind of boring and you kind of fogged out and you like stared out the window and you had that thought. It's like I'm having that thought while I'm having this thought. So it's like having two things kind of happen simultaneously. It's really like a daydream. I'm just paying attention to what it is because they're giving me the daydream.

That makes sense. So is there anything you're seeing or feeling right now or someone you might be able to connect to? Did anybody have either a brain tumor, brain aneurysm or a cerebral hemorrhage?

Not connected to him, not connected to you. Somebody behind you had that. They tell me to talk about the brain aneurysm, the brain hemorrhage. It's in the last row, in the last row. Thank you.

My husband had a brain tumor. Where's the J name in the family? So who around you would be the J? Jacob, my grandson.

So his grandson? Yeah, yes, yes. Okay.

Did he know Jacob in life? Yes. Okay.

And is there somebody who's about ready to get a new car or is there somebody about ready to do something new with their vehicle? No, I don't think so. No, they are. Well, I am in the next year. Yeah.

But you're already starting to talk about it now. Yes, yes, yes. Because he's making me feel like I'm with you while you're having the conversations because I feel like it's like almost a wholesale change. Like if you've been a Lexus family, you're now thinking about becoming a Jeep family. You know what I'm saying? Like it's like that type of thing. So there's almost like this, like, can I do that? Am I allowed to do that? Am I allowed to do that?

Like, can I break with tradition and get a new type of like, I sold cars for 35 years. So yeah, I sort of, yeah. Yeah.

You have this like brand loyalty feeling. Yes. He's making me feel like, step out, live a little joy. I am going to ask you though, are you diabetic? Are you taking, yes.

He's making me feel like we need to talk about you taking your blood like, and like checking, checking the blood and staying on top of that. And then who's Stephanie or Stanley? Right here. My daughter. Hi Stephanie. I'm assuming you're Stephanie, not Stanley, right? Okay.

Just want to clarify. So this would be your dad we're talking about? Yes.

I feel like I need to let you know then, he's letting you know. Are you Stephanie, Anne? No, but my first name is Anne. Anne.

Okay. Cause he's telling me Anne. So you're Stephanie and Anne. So it's like his way of letting you know that, that he's here. I think you guys have some fun stuff coming up, but I'm going to tell you Anne, you need to stay on top of your house.

Just know that he's okay. And then I'm going to tell you, I'm seeing a white flower and that means happy birthday. So somebody's birthday is now. That's beautiful. Yeah. Thank you. You're very welcome, guys.

Thank you. Jill, this is either incredible accuracy or fakery. It's one or the other. It's quite amazing.

Yeah, it is. And the thing is that Satan has information or demons have information, but it's a limited amount of information and it's not always correct. So that's why when you listen to him, it's kind of like a prompt here, a push here, a question here. If you go back to what he said in the beginning, anyone here with a brain tumor, anyone here with an aneurysm, anyone here with something else.

Okay. That's like three very broad categories of illness and the chances of someone in that audience having a connection to someone who's had something like that are actually quite good. So you notice you didn't hear him say, does anybody here have a brain tumor and just stop and wait because it's not accurate.

He can't pinpoint it to that level. You know, like I've said over and over again and in the book, it's just, this is real. We all say this. This is real. There is real power here. Is John Edwards always correct? No. Is he always accessing this power?

No. Has he tried to maybe fool some people? Well, there are those out there who say he has.

So, I mean, it could be a combination of both things. Again, God's power is much greater. This is foolishness really in the eyes of God and will lead you into something very dark. Somebody might be astounded that he got the daughter's name correct.

Yeah, I was. Well, Satan has limited understanding, as Joel said. I believe he is feeding these people who have been put in the spotlight and who are now expected to perform to tell others about their past and in lieu of telling them about their future. Satan knows about the past.

He knows family members by name. He knows those things, but he doesn't know the future, which is the real prize that, of course, the psychic is trying to promote him or herself as being able to see. He doesn't know the future. Only God knows the future. And though the psychics may get things right occasionally, it's said that Jean Dixon got it right half the time.

Half the time she was wrong. And when these people are looked at, the sages that understand all things, they don't, and they only have that information coming from the dark world. You're listening to Understanding the Times Radio. I'm Jan Markell, and I'm doing kind of my annual, sometimes semi-annual, paranormal update. Again, sort of justifying it because it's making inroads into your world every day.

The school, the church, the marketplace, entertainment, everywhere. The paranormal is absolutely on overdrive, and it is out to ruin you and those you love. So we have to talk about it occasionally. It's also a primary sign of the end of the age of the fact that the king is coming very soon when we start to see these things go on overdrive. And Eric and Jill, I got in my inbox here very recently.

I certainly didn't ask for it. Are your deceased loved ones trying to contact you? This was the subject line that came into my inbox.

Here are 10 obvious signs to watch for. One of life's greatest challenges is healing from the loss of a loved one. But are they really lost to us? What if it were true that the spirits of our deceased loved ones remain close by, as close as a mere thought or mention of their name? That is exactly the way it works. Again, this is an email that came in my inbox the last day or so. That is exactly the way it works, says medium Sherry Engler, author of Pearls of Wisdom. I'm not going to give the rest of the title.

I don't want to promote her book. And that's because there's actually no such thing as dead. No one ever dies. Much like leasing a vehicle, our spirit inhabits the body for a lifetime, then return to its natural state in the spirit realm. Based on her years of experience communicating with the dearly departed, she states that most souls don't depart at all and usually choose to watch over their family and friends while also enjoying their beautiful spirit lives. They love being more present and helpful than they ever could have been in life.

And Engler ads, I think people would be very surprised to know how much comfort and guidance is coming from the other side. It's those little whispers in your mind or that person's essence that sweeps by, or perhaps you hear them call your name, then dismiss it. Well, don't dismiss it.

It is them. Though I've never heard them complain, I can imagine that it wouldn't feel good to be dismissed as dead and gone when they simply want to comfort you with the knowing that they're still with you. Well, Jill, again, I got that in my inbox here very recently. Well, I just go back to Jesus. He is the ultimate authority. And he told the story of Lazarus and the rich man. And Jesus said, you are definitely in one place or the other when you are not here. You are either in heaven with him or in hell. And he is the ultimate authority.

So I guess I would choose him over any author any day of the week. Several months ago, we gave an update on the plight of the white South African farmers and their struggle to actually just survive in South Africa. And the government of South Africa has turned against them and many blacks have turned against them as well. And the white farmers, even though they're risking the future of agriculture in the country by all these people coming against them, these white farmers are having a terrible time. We're in touch with Pastor Gabriel.

That's his first name hesitating to give his last name here. And this has become an active ministry actually for you. What is the current situation? Well, things are getting worse and worse in South Africa. Literally, we've been told it's quote unquote burning.

There's a move. I think the government just passed something to take away their guns. And they are currently trying to fight that. So the guns would be turned in without any kind of compensation.

And if you're caught with them on the way to the police station, you can be arrested for that. So I mean, it's a very, very strange and dark environment. And there are people in pockets of South Africa that have it, of course, worse than other areas of South Africa. In other words, the total confusion and nightmare hasn't progressed to encompass all of South Africa yet.

So we're in touch with in different areas. One of them, you know, they live daily with piles of tires set by the sides of the key roads so that if there's some kind of riot or some kind of insurgent demonstration or something going on, they can set fire to the tire so that people cannot get away from them if they're attacked. This is what people are actually seeing. These are reports on the ground. We have relocation, quote unquote, camps that really are so sad, Jan. I know you've seen the pictures of them. And it's so sad to see people living like this. And we're not just talking about the white Afrikaners, but we're also talking about some of the original inhabitants of South Africa, the very light brown-skinned groups, what we would maybe compare to Native Americans here in America.

They are also treated as very, very much second, third, fourth-class citizens. But we've had an incredible chance. We had a wonderful response. Thank you all so much for your response. We've been able to help people who are in one of these relocation camps in Pretoria. We've actually supported four needy farming families and paid for two ambulance evacuations from these farm attacks and to evacuate the victims. And we've paid for hospital admittance fees for four elderly victims. We're also supporting a relief ministry that's on the ground.

They're actively trying to help people and also cancer patients, a cancer group for these white Afrikaners. And also, we are hoping, this is what our next project is, we are hoping to start a preschool in the relocation camp that we're working in. And we are also hoping to help them with just the basic necessities like restrooms.

They don't even have stalls to block out the inside of the restrooms. They're living in such abject poverty. So that's one of the things we'd really like to try to help them do, and especially the preschool.

A lot of kids there are not getting much of an education in these relocation camps. So God has really blessed. I can see his hand in this entire South African ministry. And it is really a humbling thing to be able to help from so far away.

That's wonderful. And you've raised, I think, over $10,000. And you want to raise more, because this is an ongoing effort on your part. And folks, you can donate electronically. Sorry, we can't deal with checks, can't deal with phone numbers right now. But waltermartin.com is the best way to donate, waltermartin.com. Please don't send checks to this ministry, folks. We can't.

This is a waltermartin.com activity. How else can they help, Jill? Obviously, they can pray, they can become aware of these issues, which when we did this last time, the feedback to me was, I never knew. Exactly. And we don't hear much about it.

And the way... No, you don't. Yeah. The attitude of the media is that somehow we are racist if we're trying to help people from being butchered. That makes us racist because their skin is white. And I mean, who's the racist here? And I know Tucker Carlson talked about that too.

He said that he gets such a terrible backlash when he does segments on South Africa and the Afrikaners because they're white, and he gets it from the media. So unfortunately, the whole story is not being told. And South Africa literally, according to our source on the ground, is burning. It's starting to fall apart. It's starting to turn into an extremely dangerous place. It was dangerous before, but the temperature is rising there. So if you want to help, please visit waltermartin.com.

You can always contact me at waltermartin.com, Jill at waltermartin.com. And let us know if you would like to become involved in helping the people of South Africa. You know, Zimbabwe made the same mistake.

Yes, they did. And they turned on their farmers who were heavily white, very gifted farmers. Zimbabwe turned on them, and eventually Zimbabwe starved because they drove out their gifted farmers who were providing food for most of the country.

And all of a sudden, nobody had any food. Now, that same thing could happen in South Africa. I'm not saying it will, but there's certainly a possibility this could happen.

Yes. And unfortunately, that's the direction that it looks to be heading in. Because when you're talking about taking away people's land without any compensation, what is going to happen? That land is producing food.

So of course, what is going to happen? And just one more thing I wanted to add to, Jen, that I neglected to mention is we are also providing food for one of these relocation camps. And they are in desperate need of food.

Right now, it's an extremely harsh winter in South Africa. And I know that they're having a difficult time dealing with that also. WalterMartin.com, that's where you have to go to be of help. Jill at WalterMartin.com if you want to write her directly, and she will respond to you.

I know. Jill and Eric, thank you for coming in the last couple of weeks. Appreciate it so much. I'm going to wrap this hour up in just a couple of minutes.

Don't go away. We believe you're finding these weekly broadcasts helpful and insightful. Our media team continues to bring you themes that define our times and give you hope that God is still in control. Please pray for this program as we minister to thousands every weekend to help them to understand our times. We need your prayers to ask God to guide and direct our path. Your financial help too would be a tremendous blessing for Jan and her media team.

We totally depend upon tax deductible gifts from our listeners. You can reach us at Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota, 55311. Or visit us online at OliveTreeViews.org. Our full-time staff waits for your phone call at 763-559-4444. Without your prayer and financial support, this program would cease to exist.

Thank you for being faithful and helping us reach America with the inconvenient truth. Olive Tree Ministries is carrying a new product to help you contend for the faith and understand the times. It is Terry James' new book, Deceivers, Exposing Evil Seducers and Their Last Days Deception.

Our generation is characterized by deceiving tactics in the church, the media, the schoolroom, the government, the globalist agenda, and much, much more. I have contributed a chapter in the book talking about the deception that has invaded the church in the last 30 years. Find the book in our web store at OliveTreeViews.org, the hardbound 320-page reference book. You can call us to order at 763-559-4444, 763-559-4444. It is also featured in our print and e-newsletter.

Sign up online. Don't let the deceivers fool you or those you care about. Many are falling for these deceptions and delusions of our day.

Stay in tune and up to date. Order Deceivers today. We live in a day when discernment has become an essential part of spiritual growth. Without discernment we are subject to the deception of the culture and the delusion of false teachers in the church. Rarely will you have the opportunity to hear about discernment about our world like you will with Jan Markell. Each week we bring you the truth behind the trends in culture and the movements in the church. Be informed and be aware. We are Understanding the Times Radio with Jan Markell.

I remember some years ago Dr. David Jeremiah had a sermon series that was titled that he just didn't think he would live to see the day because we're at a time when up is down, black is white, evil is good, and we are challenged nonetheless to be salt and light and to delay the decay and as I like to say things are not falling apart they're falling into place. Understanding the Times Radio continues. In this final segment Jan Markell has some thoughts on how the world has changed. Here's Jan.

Welcome back. Remember this program is posted to my website every Saturday, OliveTreeViews.org. You can always go to oneplace.com and get their mobile app and have the program downloaded for you every Saturday morning and now airing on about 830 radio stations. You might want to be a CD subscriber. You have to call us on that. You'll hear that number throughout the program.

You get a CD of any program. Here's what I'd like to do in my closing segment because last fall I wrote an article listing a number of things I didn't think I'd live to see in my lifetime and Prophecy Update turned that into a short video. Now it's had 200,000 people view it so now almost six months later I've come up with another list of unbelievable happenings that I never thought I'd live to see. Sure we live in crazy times. A lot of things the Bible predicted, however, are simply now happening at breakneck speed but it still leaves me speechless.

So here are a few things I've updated my list and I never thought I'd live to see. Churches would not just recognize the Islamic holiday known as Ramadan. They would join in on the celebration while hundreds of innocents were being killed around the world at the very same time. I didn't think I'd live to see it. I didn't think I'd live to see the World War II anti-Nazi term the resistance applied to those who are opposed to U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

Imagine that. I didn't think I would live to see women's sporting activities curtailed or marginalized because transgenders can now participate as a woman even though they're males or women are transitioning into males getting shots of testosterone making them much much stronger than the female competitors. It's the dramatic end to a competitive and controversial weekend for Mac Beggs. The 17 year old Dallas area high school student won the title of champion in the girls state wrestling competition Saturday.

A mix of cheers and boos directed at the wrestler as he fell to his knees appearing to soak in the wind. Many in the audience feel Beggs has an unfair advantage on the road to victory. Beggs is a transgender athlete or a girl transitioning to become a boy. He takes testosterone injections to make that transition happen. Many believe that provides a young wrestler with an added competitive edge.

His strength and agility are hard to miss on the mat. Well let me go on with my my list of things I never thought I'd see. I didn't think I'd live to see. This is a good experience here. Seven out of nine supreme court justices all agree on a religious liberty case. Seven out of the nine.

Colorado baker Jack Phillips and there's actually a hope for the republic after that decision. I didn't think I'd live to see public libraries in my neck of the woods. The Twin Cities have drag story hours with cross dressers for children. I'll talk about the return to the days of Noah.

Well along similar lines and we talked about it earlier in this program. I didn't think I'd live to see Lucifer get his own tv program. First on the Fox network and now on Netflix as we just discussed. In fact he's glorified as a good guy.

Handsome charming and funny and you know what? Someday Christ rejectors won't be laughing about Lucifer. They won't even be sitting in front of the tv enjoying the entertainment.

They're going to have to look at him face to face someday unbelievers who've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. Well a few other things I didn't think I would live to see. I didn't think I would live to see. The Department of Homeland Security announced that it intends to compile a comprehensive list of hundreds of thousands of journalists, editors, bloggers and folks like me.

They'll collect any information that could be relevant about them. About me. That's our Department of Homeland Security. I just didn't think I'd live to see it.

I didn't think I would live to see. Christianity literally expelled from public schools but Islam taught and praised. Well the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion in this country.

Of course these days that law is usually used to stop prayers at football games and other dangerous expressions of faith like that. But now a Christian group says it is needed to stop the federal government from promoting the religion of Islam. According to the Christian Action Network the Department of Education is funding educational materials about Islam distributed by PBS that are just thinly veiled propaganda for the faith of Muhammad peace be upon him. The Department of Education spokesman told us the department does not fund nor encourage the use of particular curriculum.

One wonders what exactly they do and instead that's a strictly state and local issue. However the PBS website clearly states that classroom lessons are funded by the Department of Education. We pointed that out to the Education Department. We're still waiting for a response from them. Martin Moyer is the founder of the Christian Action Network and he joins us tonight.

Martin thanks for coming on. So explain how you believe the Department of Education is funding pro-Islamic propaganda. What are they doing exactly? Well first of all if you go to the PBS learning media website and pull up the Islamic education programs they have the Department of Education seal on it and it says funded by the Department of Education.

So we took a look at these various programs that are available for the public schools and we were quite frankly shocked at some of the lesson plans that students have to achieve in the classroom. For instance teachers are expected to ask their students what does the Muslim prayer sound like? What do Muslim prayer movements look like? What are some of the things that Muslims say when they are praying? And you have to ask yourself a question why does the federal government find it necessary that our kids grades 5 through 12 know what a Muslim prayer sounds like? As a matter of fact what would the proper answer to that be? How can a teacher grade a student on these type of questions?

But that's not all Tucker. Students are also given a worksheet and on that worksheet they have verses from the Quran and the Hadith that they have to read then the student has to give the meaning of those verses then they have to explain how those verses are used in the everyday life of a Muslim. Well I just never thought I'd live to see a lot of things. Never thought I'd live to see Netflix will have an animated drag queen series for children. Makes you think of the bible verse but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea Matthew 18 6.

I didn't think I'd live to see. Anytime we turn on the media the only story being talked about would be President Donald Trump. Stories about him his family and always in a negative light always negative. Can't the left give him an ounce of credit and what about all the other significant stories the media just ignoring.

Never talks about because all they want to talk about is Donald Trump. I didn't think I would live to see residents of Gaza who took Japan's gift of kites for children in Gaza and the terrorists in Gaza turn around and use them as incendiary devices to burn down southern Israel and folks Israel is supposed to make peace with such barbarians. It can't get much more low-tech than this yet the flying fire kites or balloons have caused extensive damage to southern Israeli crops and nature reserves. As you see it's burned from a kite that the Palestinians sent us as a present three weeks ago. Ofer Lieberman is the agriculture manager at kibbutz niram less than a mile from the Gaza border. In the last six weeks his kibbutz lost 250 acres of wheat 500 acres of cow pasture and 25 acres of trees that were older than the state of Israel.

We stand here with tractors and equipment when we see the fire you know we just run with the tractors and try to stop it as quickly as we can. It's part of the great march of return where tens of thousands of Palestinians repeatedly attacked the border fence with Israel. Palestinians posted this video with triumphant music on Facebook showing border infiltrations. Some have been killed or captured trying to do so. Israel is working on solutions to combat this latest weapon and some are calling for targeted assassinations for those who are sending the kites. Well I didn't think I'd live to see the left going absolutely apoplectic about the separation of kids from parents at the border but they defend and even celebrate the permanent separation of kids from parents. It's called abortion. I didn't think I'd live to see wiccans and pagans. They had a scheduled gathering in Maryland the other day. God had other ideas.

He caused a huge flood to cancel the entire event. I didn't think I'd live to see private conversations be at risk thanks to Alexa, Google plus and our iPhones and more literally spying on us. Today's world has absolutely no secrets. I could list so many more things folks that I never thought I'd live to see and you have a saturation point so I keep my list short whenever I do this but I suspect even George Orwell would be shocked at the tide of our times and the Bible says that there would be a day when good would be called evil. Evil would be called good.

Isaiah 5 20. We are there. These happenings remind us that we're not in Kansas anymore and things are absolutely falling into place. God is using the negative as a megaphone to say I am coming soon and I am saying again things are not falling apart.

They're falling into place. Look up our redemption draws nine. This was actually my e-newsletter a couple of months ago. If you'd like to get my e-newsletter or print newsletter go to my website OliveTreeViews.org.

You can sign up online there for the print or the e-newsletter. I want to thank you folks for listening and we will talk to you next week. 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 costs 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 list of 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.