Home » i.e. Issues and Events in “others words” (Page 3)

Category Archives: i.e. Issues and Events in “others words”

How Do We Make Sense of This? :: By Jan Markell

October 26, 2024 1:15 pm / 7 Comments on How Do We Make Sense of This? :: By Jan Markell

In 2019, I wrote an article titled “Under a Spell.” I was trying to help Christians who were inquiring of me as to why Jews always seem to vote Democrat when, in fact, the Democrat Party does them no favors! Additionally, that party has long been anti-Israel.

Now I am reading that it is Jews who may be the biggest influencers of the 2024 election—because many won’t be voting Democrat. They have had some wake-up calls, and many now realize that leftists are far more pro-Hamas than pro-Israel. In fact, much of the world has been cheering for Hamas. Find a fascinating article here.

Yet many Jews will maintain their loyalty to a party that has never treated them well. Here are some reasons why from my 2019 article. And yes, it seems many remain under a spell.

The History

In the 1940s, the Jews overwhelmingly supported a President who was their enemy — Franklin Roosevelt. Over 90% of Jews voted for him in 1944. He looked the other way to the evils of the Holocaust. He could have saved hundreds of thousands if American troops just would have bombed the railroad tracks going to the camps. Roosevelt had no interest in intervening.

God removed him from the presidency before 1948, as he would not have voted for the independent State of Israel, as did Harry Truman.

Many Jews voted for two anti-Semites — Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. No two U.S. Presidents did more damage to Israel than these men — yet they got the Jewish vote, by and large, though the Jews grudgingly voted for Carter! Jews also voted for Joe Biden, who also schemes night and day against Netanyahu and Israel.

Today’s Insanity

Today, we have two Muslim Congresswomen, Ilhan Omar from Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib from Michigan. Ilhan Omar is a shady character at best and would delight in the destruction of Israel, but many Minnesota Jews voted for her! I know, because I live here! It makes no sense. Isn’t it time to move on to someone who supports them?

I was present a few years ago at a local AIPAC meeting that featured another Muslim, Keith Ellison. What is a Muslim doing at ANY Jewish gathering?? He was celebrated that night with cheers. Ellison wants Sharia Law in Minnesota and other states! Yet Minnesota Jews were among those who voted Ellison in as Minnesota’s Attorney General.

So, How Do We Make Sense of This?

>Just as Evangelicals are taught to embrace candidates with more conservative principles and worldviews, Jews are taught to value the underdog in life — the persecuted, the minority, the downtrodden, the helpless. Since THEY are a minority, they must stand with other minorities who might be misunderstood, persecuted, and marginalized. Though leftists really don’t care about any life but their own, there is the misperception that the Democrat Party exists to lift up the marginalized.

>Many Jews just lack a loyalty to Judaism and Israel. They actually have MORE loyalty to liberalism than to the Jewish State or their heritage. Secularism leads to terrible choices!

>Most often, their grandparents fled from Socialist nations that were oppressive, yet leftist politics seems to remain in their DNA. Israel was founded on Socialist principles. Most are fine with Socialism. Again, there is the misperception that Socialists actually care about anyone.

>Many Jews remain in spiritual blindness. Does this blindness bleed over into other areas? Perhaps. Most cannot even see the Messiah in Isaiah 53. But Paul wouldn’t give up on the Jews, and neither should we! Know that the spiritual picture is changing by the hour today.

>Today, many Jews are secular and not religious. Secularists have no loyalty to traditional marriage, pro-life causes, religious freedom, etc. The result is their affinity for the Democrat Party and liberal values. Live and let live!

>There is the perceived mistreatment by the Jews of the Palestinians, which drives some Jews away from conservatism and any identity with the “religious right” that is ardently pro-Israel.

“More religious Jews and Orthodox Jews have voted Republican consistently.

It Is Not Just the Jews Who Are Blind

The blindness of the Jews has already been referenced here, but it is not just Jews who are blind today. Much of the world cannot see the truth. Even many Christians are blind to the signs of the times breaking all around us! Most Christians are focused on earthly interests, lacking the eternal view.

Those who see the truth and love the truth are few in number, be they Jew or Gentile! I call the real truth seekers today “remnant believers.”

Maybe we make sense of it by understanding that the Jews will fall for the biggest political con man in history — Mr. Antichrist, so perhaps the current lack of discernment is a set-up. But at that time, they will be fed up by abandonment and betrayal and fall for his lies. They will be drawn to his offers of security and safety. They will be terrified by out-of-control global anti-Semitism.

Let’s pray that both Jews and Gentiles get their spiritual eyes opened while there is still time. The forthcoming Tribulation, from which the Church is absent, is called the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. It will be a dark time like no other—particularly for the Jewish people. This seven-year time of agony will far exceed the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7 for the Jews. Can you imagine?

We need to focus on rescuing ALL people from this frightful time to come. And from the flames of a Godless eternity.

www.olivetreeviews.org

Jan Markell: The World Is Living On Borrowed Time

September 19, 2024 5:55 pm / 4 Comments on Jan Markell: The World Is Living On Borrowed Time

When 2024 dawned, now so many months ago, very few could have seen the turmoil that lay ahead. It’s just as well. Only God can handle foreknowledge, and since He knows the end from the beginning, nothing catches Him by surprise. He doesn’t orchestrate chaos, but He allows it so that we can have wake-up calls and keep eternity in perspective.

I want to highlight just five scenarios that are what I believe to be turning points in this present year. To a certain degree, they take one’s breath away.

Death Is Celebrated

The believer loves life and wants to enjoy it forever—and will in a heavenly home. Our number one job is to find as many people as possible who can take this journey with us. We choose life, which culminates in eternal life. At the August Democrat National Convention, very few chose life.

Abortion was glorified. With a carnival-like atmosphere, people were encouraged to make themselves extinct by sacrificing children on all sorts of platforms! A mobile abortion clinic awaited in the parking lot of the DNC. A dozen baby lives were exterminated on the spot.

The lunacy was staggering with people walking around like they were a birth control pill or an IUD. Clearly, it was demonic. Who could have imagined?

Presidential Candidates Removed

The summer of 2024 saw both presidential candidates removed, although one survived an assassination attempt, and as of late summer, he is still running for president. The point is, the globalists want to install their candidate for their end-time purposes.

They are pressing on towards their one-world government and agenda. Certain people are in the way. God controls the timing of their success but they haven’t figured that out. They are always in a hurry, but they can’t run ahead of God’s time frame.

Lauding Paganism—Announcing the Antichrist

The 2024 Olympics in Paris celebrated hedonism, paganism, and debauchery, and took an unspeakable swipe at the Lord Jesus Christ. The recent Olympics may be the greatest globalist extravaganza ever. This year’s event made believers glad that we are secure in the love of God and His plan for the end of the age. Christians who are aware of the Olympic antics are righteously indignant at the attack God got on the global stage. Mocking the Lord’s Supper set a new level of indignation towards the One who created the universe and spared humanity from sin’s consequences.

Clearly, this event was announcing the Antichrist, who hasn’t actually shown up yet because this isn’t his time! But symbolically, he rode in on a white horse. Again, could you have anticipated such an outrage?

Israel is Being Set Up

She is being betrayed, even by once strong supporters in Washington D.C. She is isolated and viewed as a burdensome stone (Zechariah 12:3). Almost everyone Israel trusts lets her down. She will drop her guard one more time when the Antichrist comes along to sweep her off her feet.

But the set-up is in process. When she was attacked on October 7, 2023, a natural response would have been global support. Just the opposite happened. Global antisemitism enveloped the entire world. It has been so stunning one could not have perceived this level of hate that is actually unique to the 1930s and sadly, to this modern generation.

College campuses, marches, and demonstrations globally have reignited the Nazi passion to “gas the Jews.” Again, it has been breathtaking, and the panorama is set to further explode this fall and winter. Jews have been reprogrammed in recent months to run and hide.

The Gog-Magog Players are Ready

Four of the five major participants to the Russian invasion of Israel, also known as Gog-Magog, are flexing their muscles today. Russia, Iran, and Turkey have united in very recent years with an early foreshadowing of Ezekiel 38-39.

Sudan is engaged in a brutal civil war but has Russian soldiers throughout the African country. She could easily participate in the taking of a “spoil” in Israel as outlined in Ezekiel’s passage. Israel’s wealth would be a great relief to impoverished Sudan. And the brutal Sudanese regime would rather steal it than produce it.

I have just outlined five scenarios that have serious consequences and a biblical reference. In a sense, no previous generation has observed this kind of alignment and convergence in these areas. Once again, who could have imagined? Really, no one. And there are so many more.

Time is short, friends. The world is living on borrowed time.

Jan Markell is an author, speaker, host of Understanding the Times radio heard on over 1,000 stations across America, and the Founder and President of Olive Tree Ministries.

Do We Have Time to Make America Great Again? :: By Jan Markell

July 17, 2024 1:32 pm / 16 Comments on Do We Have Time to Make America Great Again? :: By Jan Markell

Cover Image New Republic Magazine – The face of “American Fascism”

For now, the whole country has dodged a bullet. God surely had mercy. But will he allow time to make America great again? It’s a catchy campaign slogan, but is it reality in light of God’s end-time planned scenario?

The Left has a terribly dark heart—driven by the god of this world. And they are driving the out-of-control spirit of the Antichrist that has been unleashed in America and the world. It is the same spirit that invaded Israeli kibbutzim on October 7, 2023. It is merciless.

You have to wonder how half of America will vote for this agenda to continue. How on earth did this happen? Because evil and Leftism control the media, academia, entertainment, and even the religious left.

But is there still time in God’s economy to make America great after years of unspeakable wreckage? Have you noticed the calamities throughout the planet that affect all of America’s policies?

  • The time clock for the end of the Church Age, Israel, is in turmoil.
  • The globalists continue to destabilize Europe and shake up European leadership.
  • There is currently no one in power whom the world admires. It is, in fact, leaderless.
  • There is a longing for a Mr. Fix-It.
  • Violence and lawlessness reign.
  • Technology—and, specifically artificial intelligence—is taking over everything, just as it will in the Tribulation.
  • Hearts are growing cold (Matthew 24:12) as some in America cheer on the violence perpetrated against a presidential candidate.
  • Many church pulpits are silent at this time in history; others are riddled with false doctrine, led by wolves.
  • There seems to be a love of evil (II Timothy 3:13) as worldwide, people are celebrating anti-Semitic activity and denouncing people who have done nothing but bless the world.
  • Gog is preparing to make a move.

These and two dozen more bullet point issues will be difficult to reverse!

We have all been sickened by what we’ve seen in the last few years. Conservatives are portrayed as deplorables. Trump himself is repeatedly compared to Hitler. Endless rhetoric portrays Christians and conservatives as the fascists from the 1930s. Pro-lifers and Republicans are mocked and vilified as dangerous. The liberal media suggests that you and I will be the end of democracy.

Gov. Mike Huckabee made a profound statement that this near catastrophe—this assassination attempt—is a “spiritual issue.” America has a spiritual problem. It’s that spirit of the Antichrist. I think that’s what Mike Huckabee sees.

Donald Trump is not the Antichrist. That man is waiting in the wings. And, make no mistake, the globalists are cheering today. They must have instability and uncertainty. They want the world to look to them to provide both.

There is a seven-year period when they will get their wish.

I’m not sure if we can make America great again, or if it is actually time for a trumpet to blow and for this age to wind down. But can you imagine a world that is reeling from a televised assassination attempt to suddenly experience the absence of millions of people?

Is this the one-two punch that is needed for the installation of Daniel’s Seventieth Week? Is this a scenario that will push a Mr. Fix-It onto the world stage?

Perhaps so. Perhaps today. Are you ready?

The Church Age Is Winding Down—And The World Is Running Out Of Time :: By Jan Markell

June 20, 2024 3:16 pm / 8 Comments on The Church Age Is Winding Down—And The World Is Running Out Of Time :: By Jan Markell

untitled artwork 8505

Time flies. Years race by. But, 2024 has been a stunner in many ways. And many events remind me that the world is running out of time before the last act of a major drama plays out. In other words, the Church Age is winding down.

Let me highlight ten events from this current year that have convinced me of this.

1) Israel is alone. After she was brutally attacked in October of 2023, one would have thought the world would rally to her side. Not so! Not even America is now her ally. The U.S. is withholding weapons and intelligence.

The International Criminal Court wanted to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu in May just for defending his country. The European Union, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the International Court of Justice, have all denounced the Jewish state just for wanting to wipe out Hamas thugs. Zechariah 12:3 is in play. She is isolated and is the world’s burdensome stone.

2) The spirit of the Antichrist has been loosed on the earth. The headquarters appear to be America. We tell the world how to tear apart college campuses and how corrupt government should work. We even embarrass banana republics by trying to jail former presidents in a style that natives in the rain forest couldn’t dream up.

3) There is a new level of calling evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20). Hamas is celebrated around the world! Christians are persecuted like never before. Islam is glorified, particularly on college campuses. Those who protest abortions are jailed. The White House and U.N. mourned the death of Iran’s President Raisi on May 19, the “Butcher of Tehran.”

4) The world is leaderless. There is not one global leader to whom the world looks. Governments everywhere operate like the Keystone Kops. World War III could easily erupt as a result. The world is unsure of just who is running the White House. The stage is being set for a Mr. Fix-It, whom the world will celebrate. They just want stability and someone in charge to enforce peace and security.

5) There is a rush to global government. And strangely, unusual power is being given to the corrupt World Health Organization, who could end up being the leader of the world. They met in May and could use another pandemic to unite the world. The stage was set with Covid. They have targeted 2025 as a possible timeline.

6) Artificial intelligence is being refined to rule the world. The goal is that it will be smarter than mankind. And the Antichrist will need this system to run his global kingdom. Even now, Microsoft CoPilot AI demands to be worshipped. Technology has gone too far. The inanimate is god-like.

7) The aberrant is celebrated as normal and should be the world standard. In the predicted end-time decline of man’s character, we are watching the homosexual and trans movement be hailed, and the lovers of biblical values be persecuted and jailed. The sanctity of life is scoffed at. As predicted, mankind lives for money and power at the expense of everyone and anyone.

8) Too many churches are majoring in minors and furthering unsound doctrine. There are wolves among the flock. Church members hear about their best life now; about being purpose-driven and about attracting “seekers” to church. Sin is avoided. Eschatology (Bible prophecy) is scoffed at and marginalized. Pulpits are “woke”.

Movements such as the New Apostolic Reformation are ravaging naive, experience driven young people and indoctrinating millions of people. End-time apostasy is the new normal in the church.

9) A new way of doing business is waiting in the wings. It will be cashless. It will be crypto. It will be blockchain so that it tracks your every purchase. It could be in play very soon, though power brokers may delay it until after our November election. Life with central bank digital currency (CBDC) will cause life as we know it to dramatically change! It will be at the heart of the Beast system, but many think it will be implemented sooner.

10) The violence of the Days of Noah is upon us. Criminal prosecutions are soaring—in some areas by 5,000%. Cities are ravaged by crime. Entire towns are closing down a business district due to theft and lawlessness. Society is on the move, re-locating to safe cities and states, just to lead a more normal life, away from the mayhem. It is as though the entire country is the wild west of the 1880s!

I could list 110 markers to watch throughout the balance of 2024, but articles must be short and to the point. I have been watching the so-called signs of the times for a few decades. Nothing compares to the last five to ten years. Events have been stunning and game-changing.

If it helps neutralize the bad news, these things are happening because the stage is being set for the closing act of a global drama. A trumpet will soon sound and the Church will escape this scenario to enjoy the wonder of Heaven. But every reader will leave someone behind who will have to cope with trial and turmoil.

That is why sharing the gospel should be the first order of business when it comes to being about our Father’s business!

Jan Markell is an author, speaker, host of Understanding the Times radio heard on over 1,000 stations across America, and the Founder and President of Olive Tree Ministries.

Deafening Silence! :: By Jan Markell

May 14, 2024 11:22 am / 7 Comments on Deafening Silence! :: By Jan Markell

A ministry supporter in Washington State a few years ago, sent me a flyer that was handed out in his church. It is more mocking. The flyer asks if folks have met “End-Times Eddie” in the church. It denigrates “Eddie” and suggests he is so focused on end-times that he has missed all the present opportunities and people in front of him.

“Eddie” is gloom and doom. Why isn’t he looking for Jesus to bring Heaven to earth right now they ask?

Then, the flyer suggests some questions for the church’s small groups. Here are a few samples:

  • What are your emotions when you encounter “End-Times Eddie”?
  • Is the last days’ message one of hope or fear?
  • Jesus told us to pray for “your will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. “What does Heaven on Earth look like today?
  • Who in your life needs Heaven to come to earth right now?

Two things stand out to me:

1) Here is just one more church preaching, “Come, Lord Jesus, but not too soon.”

2) They have embraced the false teaching promoted heavily by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) that we can have Heaven on earth now. This is called Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology.

Show me just one square mile of this planet that can demonstrate a Garden of Eden-like Heaven on Earth. You will find only chaos. And the church trying to perfect the world for the next one million years won’t fix it.

Those of us who have promoted the important message that the King is coming are painfully aware that young believers no longer uphold Bible prophecy as a key component of the faith. They would rather focus on social justice, the green agenda, and Christian Palestinianism.

When I was a teenager in my church, we had regular prophecy conferences and I never once heard that Israel was “occupying” her God-given country. I never would have heard the denigrating title of “End-Times Eddie.”

I was never taught that we had to “save the planet” because I learned that it was hopelessly lost until Christ’s return. I was never given the delusional teaching that, in time, my church would be able to “save the planet” by seizing the Genesis mandate of dominion — which is about dominion over animals and not mankind.

Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology tries to humanize God and deify man. Sadly, the world will continue to deteriorate and spiral into chaos, forcing man to consider the hope of Heaven and abandon thoughts of a glorified earth. Only when Jesus Christ returns at the Second Coming will all things be made new!

The church is not in the business of taking anything away from Satan but the souls of men. The world is a sinking Titanic ripe for judgment, not Garden of Eden perfection. Jesus will take dominion of the cleansed earth. For men to speak of doing that before the judgment of this earth is spiritually arrogant.

Yet “End-Times Eddie” is the one with unsound theology according to the Washington church, not those preaching this unsound theology that the church can perfect the world.

One of my conference attendees wrote me recently. He had been tagged an “End-Times Eddie.” He writes, “I no longer feel safe talking about the issues you deal with in your ministry. I am scorned and ridiculed by friends, family, and co-workers if I talk about the Lord’s imminent return or any prominent headline. To suggest that life, as we know it may end soon, is simply the ultimate in lunacy to all of these folks. I feel so alone.”

David Barnhart once wrote in his magazine Vine and Branches, “God’s prophetic clock is counting down to the appointed hour. If you don’t believe it, listen to the latest news reports or read the paper. Scriptures are replete with signs, prophecies, and promises of Christ’s return.”

He continues, “The signs are everywhere, yet the silence of the churches is deafening when it comes to proclaiming this vital truth of Scripture. Slumbering preachers and sleeping saints need to wake up to the reality that the King is coming and His coming may be sooner than any of us realize.”

Bible prophecy is given as a light shining in a dark place (2 Peter 1:19). Talking about it should not instill fear in the Christian; rather, provide confirmation that the “blessed hope” is ever nearer and the time ever shorter to snatch people from the fire.

There are many “End-Time Eddies” around. May their numbers increase. May our pulpits grow bolder and talk about things that really matter. Our message is hardly doom and gloom. It may be about the only good news left. The supposed ‘good news’ that we’re taking the planet back to the Garden of Eden isn’t the truth — it’s an end-time delusion.

I’m honored to be among the “End-Times Eddie” crowd. I’ve got the best news there is. This world isn’t it. God believed the topic of eschatology was so important that He devoted one book exclusively to it: Revelation. Almost 30% of the Bible is prophecy-focused.

This message, when coupled with warnings, encourages evangelism and repentance like no other. So, I’m looking up because the King is coming, perhaps even today.

And today we celebrate #76 for Israel – her re-birth 76 years ago today. She’s not the miracle of the 21st Century. She’s the miracle of all time! If God says He will do it, He does! He’s a covenant keeper.

The Middle East Crisis in Biblical Perspective | Dr. David Reagan

May 8, 2024 8:17 am / 4 Comments on The Middle East Crisis in Biblical Perspective | Dr. David Reagan

The Middle East Crisis in Biblical Perspective | Dr. David Reagan

Here is the direct link if you have trouble opening the video:  https://vimeo.com/942857575/e5b7de7d41?share=copy

The Two-Minute Warning :: By Jan Markell

May 3, 2024 1:14 pm / 3 Comments on The Two-Minute Warning :: By Jan Markell

Have you ever been betrayed? Maybe you have more than once. Maybe many times. I bet you find it hard to trust anyone now.

You see, the Jews didn’t take things seriously in Germany in the 1930s. It wouldn’t get all that bad. They were comfortable and assimilated back then. Whatever was happening would blow over. The Jews had contributed in so many positive ways to European society. The warning signs had to be false alarms!

They were betrayed in Europe, and it is happening again, and now they are reading the handwriting on the wall! The messages of warning are everywhere! This time they are paying attention. They’ve gotten the message that now it is the two-minute warning! Here’s why.

  • Their 75-year ally, America, is chastising, marginalizing, scolding, and telling them to lose their war. Don’t retaliate when attacked. Their long-time friend favors Iran.
  • Politicians who are “one of them” have turned on them. Can you say, Chuck Schumer?
  • The media has betrayed them—even the conservative media. Can you say “Tucker Carlson?”
  • Parts of the church are hostile due to Replacement Theology. Others don’t want to make waves or wade into controversy.
  • Every global outfit from the U.N. to the W.E.F. to the I.C.C. to the E.U. laments the plight of the so-called Palestinians. In fact, most of the world feels the Jews are the oppressors and the Palestinians are the oppressed. They support Hamas. They have sympathy for barbarians. That’s hard to imagine.

So, someone is waiting in the wings who is the ultimate betrayer and he will fool them, too. Because they are in a state of fear and anxiety, they will be open to his cunning message. This global mover and shaker may be inconsequential right now, but he is rehearsing how he will play into their insecurities. He’s in the shadows now.

The Jews will eagerly listen to him. Wouldn’t you if people were shouting at you to “go back into the ovens!” “There is only one solution—Intifada, revolution!” “Long live Hamas!” “Death to Jews!”

Wouldn’t you be receptive if you saw nearly every prominent college campus writhing with Jew hatred? Then threats are issued, saying, “The 7th of October is going to be every day for you!”

These radicals want to murder your babies and other loved ones, burn your homes, and even take more hostages! Is this the predicted “love growing cold”? How can human hearts be this cruel? What has infected a huge number of those under the age of 25?

In 1938, Germany was not their home, but in 2024 neither is America, or Australia, or Canada, or France, or the UK, or South Africa.

They only have one home, and that is Israel. Israel will do their best to protect the Jews. At Columbia, and Yale, and MIT, and dozens more, Jews are on their own. No one has their back.

But this smooth-talking man called the Antichrist will be on their side—for a short season.

This is the classic set-up right now! A charismatic man is waiting in the wings. He will seduce the “left behind” world, but he will mesmerize many Jews because they are being primed to be told that a benevolent dictator is their best friend and will never betray them–ever. Those days are behind.

They will relax for three and one-half years, secure in his promises that include no betrayal, and then he will stab them in the back even worse than all previous betrayers. That peace treaty he signed will be shredded. That third temple he allowed will be defiled. How can this be? He promised. He was convincing. He told them what they wanted to hear.

It was all a lie. They will have to flee to the hills called Petra. This will be the classic betrayal.

Then Jesus Christ enters the picture. He will never betray. You can count on it! Their anxiety will actually turn to tears. But the betrayal will finally be over!

“And on that day, I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:9-10).

Come to think of it, maybe it’s the two-minute warning for the whole world!

www.olivetreeviews.org

Some Things Never Die :: By Jan Markell

April 18, 2024 10:06 am / 1 Comment on Some Things Never Die :: By Jan Markell

(Note from Jan: I wanted to write a current article on Israel and her impending war with Iran, but then the good folks at “Harbinger’s Daily” resurrected an older article of mine. Since the topic is Israel, I share this instead. Its message is still urgent. Look up the online newspaper (https://harbingersdaily.com/), as they feature many of your favorite writers and teachers! And please, won’t you “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”? (Ps. 122:6). As prophesied in Zechariah 12, the world is abandoning her one by one.

As I state in my book, Trapped in Hitler’s Hell, quoting Dr. Natan Kellermann, there is something unprecedented about the European Holocaust. For the first time in the bloodstained history of the human race, a decision was birthed in a modern state, in the midst of a civilized continent, to track down, register, mark, isolate, dispossess, humiliate, concentrate, transport, and murder every single person of an ethnic group as defined by the perpetrators.

This was targeted at an ethnic group who so generously contributed to the culture of the world; to a people who have borne the brunt of enmity towards them because they dared to be different and dared to insist on their difference.

Six million Jews were killed in Europe and replaced with 20 million Muslims. They burned a culture, thought, creativity, and talent. They destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.

They Knew but Did Not Act

In 2017, Benjamin Netanyahu made the accurate and stunning statement that the Allies knew all that was going on and did very little. He stated, “If the powers in 1942 had acted against the death camps — and all that was needed was repeated bombing of the camps — had they acted then, they could have saved 4 million Jews and millions of other people.”

He continued, “The powers knew, and they did not act. When terrible crimes were being committed against the Jews, when our brothers and sisters were being sent to the furnaces, the powers knew and did not act.”

Can you imagine? Talk about a chronicle of apathy.

He stated three causes for the organized slaughter — widespread anti-Semitism, global indifference, and the weakness of the Jewish people in the Diaspora.

It Wouldn’t Warrant Our Resources!

Entire books were written about the Roosevelt Administration and their apathy towards the suffering. FDR had been in office just one week when the first concentration camp was opened — Dachau. He knew plenty but didn’t seem to care. Yes, many U.S. Presidential administrations have made serious mistakes with their policy towards Israel and the Jews, but none so grievous as FDR and his cronies, who had hardened hearts beyond comprehension.

The idea of bombing the railroad tracks into the camps was brought to the attention of Roosevelt’s State Department. Their response was this: “Such an operation would, in any case, be of such doubtful efficacy that it would not warrant the use of our resources.”

Translate that: The Jews are not worth our time and resources.

Then Came a Modern-Day Cyrus!

It is not an overstatement to say that the nation of Israel might not have been re-born had FDR been President in 1948. On the other hand, President Harry Truman cast the first U.N. vote for the right of the nation to be re-born out of the ashes of the Holocaust. He also relaxed immigration laws to allow Jewish victims of WWII into the U.S. In 1946, he sent a delegation to tour the refugee camps in Europe and realized these Jews needed a home. He was a modern-day Cyrus!

On December 17, 1942, the Allies issued a proclamation condemning the ‘extermination’ of the Jewish people in Europe and declared that they would punish the perpetrators. Why not go a step further and put an end to the carnage, or at least slow the destruction, by bombing the railroads into the camps?

The utter shock of senior Allied commanders who liberated camps at the end of the war may indicate that this understanding was somewhat limited. Gen. Eisenhower had his troops take pictures of the liberated camps, admitting that few would believe the severity of the Holocaust without this evidence.

Mankind’s sinful, fallen nature prevented the rescue of up to four million Jews and many other non-Jews who were in the camps. World leaders looked the other way as early as 1942. They even knew about the gas being used in the gas chambers.

It Could Never Happen Again! Really?

Today, similar apathy exists concerning the slaughter of Christians around the world, particularly in parts of Africa. Not even our pulpits address this. It is a second holocaust that world leaders can’t seem to be bothered with.

I realize World War II is now considered ancient history — an era from long ago that has slipped from the memory of many. Surely, they said, it could never happen again. Really?

But anti-Semitism never dies. Satan is obsessed with exterminating God’s covenant people because they are the key to the last days, and the last days spell Satan’s doom.

And apathy never dies, either. Millions perished because of that deadly combination.

Today, we are seeing more lawlessness and the spirit of the Antichrist as millions demonstrate for Hamas and “Palestine” and against Israel and the Jews. Not much has changed since 1938. And a lawless U.S. government is pro-Iran in spite of their cries of “death to America.”

The last days are upon us where up is down, black is white, and evil is good. And you are here for such a time as this to be salt and light.

www.olivetreeviews.org

We Are Under Siege Like Never Before :: By Jan Markell

March 8, 2024 9:03 am / 21 Comments on We Are Under Siege Like Never Before :: By Jan Markell

church, storm cross

You might be wondering, what is being besieged? Our borders? Yes. Common sense values? For sure. How about proper theology? Absolutely. We are besieged like never before but, then, this was predicted! There would be a vast “falling away” from the faith. (2 Thessalonians 2)

But I think that this issue goes deeper. Let me explain.

I have watched Bible prophecy attacked, scorned, mocked, criticized, and improperly taught for a lot of years. There has been overwhelming confusion about the last days. Again, that is predicted, so no surprise (II Peter 3:3–7).

In many denominations, it is taught egregiously wrong. Too many churches have all the end-time glory going towards the church (Dominion Theology).

Others say that all prophecy happened in 70 AD (Preterism). Who knew? We missed it! We need to look at eschatology in a rear-view mirror! What strange theology!

A significant number teach that believers go through the Tribulation, even though we are promised to be spared from the wrath to come (I Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 3:10).

Preterist Gary DeMar accused me of holding a “hysteria conference” some years ago. Dr. Ron Rhodes and Dr. Mark Hitchcock—two of the most respected prophecy teachers to date—were going to lead my audience into error and confusion.

We are accused of “checking out.” Because we’re going to be taken out, we don’t run for office or try to make a difference in our confused world. Nothing could be further from the truth! The fact that time is short spurs us to share the gospel.

Author Joel Richardson scolds pastors who are not preparing their flock to meet the Antichrist, even though there is not one Bible reference about believers preparing for anything other than the “blessed hope.” (Titus 2:13)

And even though the writers of the Bible and the early church fathers taught about the Rapture of the church, we are lectured regularly that this theology was founded by John Nelson Darby in 1830! This misrepresentation is almost the most maddening!

What’s worse, he got it from some visionary woman—very troubled—named Margaret McDonald. This theological silliness will likely never go away! I wish these folks would read their Bibles and see the truth.

Just as tragic are the many denominations and pulpits that are totally silent on the glorious news that the King is coming! People write to my ministry telling me that they have visited “every prospective church in town” and not one will address eschatology! For that matter, most won’t address current events, Israel, politics, and other issues of relevance either.

Students of Bible prophecy, then, must tap into ministries and pastors who WILL discuss the topic and that we are in a race towards the end of the Church Age with its accompanying signs of the times. Somebody get excited about these signs, please!

Here is a revealing e-mail from Terry:

“Recently my pastor announced his series on Matthew. I was front and center, waiting for his exposition of Matthew 24. Surely, now he would address prophecy!

Sadly, he promptly announced that ‘prophecy conferences’ will instill fear and confusion, so stay away! His handling of Matthew 24 revealed a safe, ear tickling style and explanation of each verse. His closing comment was as you said, Jan. There are no stunning events today; there is nothing new here. Nothing new at all. Time to move on.

His conclusion: Anything going on today has always been going on.”

If I had just $1 for every similar e-mail, letter and call, I would be living in a mansion in Malibu.

To add insult to injury, churches like this marginalized Israel during her second Holocaust on October 7, 2023. They did not bring the tragedy up in a church service, a prayer meeting, a newsletter, or even a time of announcements! It’s like it never happened!

I could go on and on but you get the point. Bible prophecy is under siege. So, I was beyond overjoyed to learn that Dr. Ron Rhodes has a new book on this very topic: Bible Prophecy Under Siege: Responding Biblically to Confusion About the End Times. And he covers all the bases—and I am so glad he spelled out all the arguments under one cover.

He handles it in an easy-to-understand manner and certainly does not imply that those who are waiting for His appearing are a part of any Rapture Rescue Cult!

Find the book wherever Christian books are sold.

Jan Markell is an author, speaker, host of Understanding the Times radio heard on over 1,000 stations across America, and the Founder and President of Olive Tree Ministries.

An Open Letter to Those Who Have Been Taught That the Church Has Replaced Israel

January 23, 2024 2:57 pm / 2 Comments on An Open Letter to Those Who Have Been Taught That the Church Has Replaced Israel

Dear Brother or Sister in Christ,

If you are a member of a Catholic or mainline denominational church, you have probably been taught something called replacement theology (and perhaps you don’t even know it has that name). Replacement theology leads those who have adopted it to believe that Israel is no longer God’s people and that the modern regathering of the Jews in their historical land is theologically meaningless. Please know this is an error, and I write this letter to alert you to it so you can study God’s Word and reach your own conclusion.

Replacement theology, sometimes called supersessionism or fulfillment theology, is a doctrine stating either that the Church took Israel’s place as God’s people when Israel rejected Jesus as its Messiah or that the “old” Israel was set aside in favor of a “new” Israel, the Church, upon Jesus’s first coming. No matter how it got there, the Church is now God’s people and the beneficiary of the promises God made Israel in the Old Testament. Consequently, Jacob’s blood descendants have no unique destiny, and modern Israel’s existence has no significance. Because replacement theology is often woven into otherwise sound teachings on redemptive history, many believers aren’t even aware that it is a separate doctrine with its own name. Nonetheless, replacement theology is enshrined in Catholic dogma and runs rampant in mainline denominations, even among those that otherwise take the Bible seriously.

Replacement theology raises troubling implications about God’s character, not the least of which are: if God revoked his promises to Israel, what keeps him from revoking them again, and does God really change not (as Malachi 3:6 says)? Many who have been taught replacement theology have not considered these implications. Perhaps you have, but dismissed them out-of-hand or rationalized them away, possibly because they are too dreadful to imagine. Unfortunately, ignoring the implications does not make them go away.

Rather than addressing these (and other) broader implications, this letter will instead tackle the assumption that lies at the very heart of replacement theology: did Israel really forfeit its blessings? Did God really forsake or move past Israel? Fortunately, if you read the Bible without bias, it gives a clear answer.

One point is worth making before proceeding: I don’t have the ability or the moral duty to force you to reject replacement theology. Only the Holy Spirit can convict. All I can do is call relevant scripture to your attention and invite you to check it out yourself. That is what I will now do.

To keep this letter short and clear, I will rely only on two passages: Isaiah 6 and Romans 11. (If you are a Reformed believer, you tend to read Revelation figuratively, because you have been taught that it is “apocalyptic literature.” I will therefore deliberately avoid Revelation’s many passages affirming Israel’s destiny, knowing that you will be unwilling to read Isaiah and Romans figuratively.)  I will cite the King James Version, but any good version will do.

Isaiah 6 contains the well-known “Here I am. Send me” passage in which Isaiah volunteers to convey a message God has for his people:

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:8-10)

God informs his people not only that they are hardened (deaf, blind and without understanding) and he is the one hardening them, but also that he has hardened them to delay their repenting and being healed. Note that God does not tell them why he wants a delay.

When the disciples ask Jesus why he speaks “to them” in parables in Matthew 13, he quotes this passage of Isaiah 6:

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:” (Matthew 13:11-14)

Paul also quotes this same passage of Isaiah 6 in Acts 28, reminding the local leaders of the Jews that they are hardened.

And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Acts 28:24-27)

Paul then discloses the reason why God hardened Israel, delaying its repenting and being healed:

Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. (Acts 28:28)

According to Paul, God hardened Israel so the Gospel could be taken to the Gentiles.

However, Isaiah 6 continues after the portion quoted in both Matthew 13 and Acts 28. God has more to say to Isaiah about his people. Returning to Isaiah 6, after hearing God’s decree against his people, the prophet begs God for an answer in verse 11, and God gives it to him:

Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in [the land] shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. (Isaiah 6:11-13)

God promises that he will lift Israel’s partial hardening during or just after a widespread devastation. This may be a great war, even a nuclear war given the extent and degree of damage. However, it may be a direct act of God, acting in wrath. Only he knows.

Why then did Jesus and Paul’s quotations from Isaiah 6 stop short of verses 11-13? The answer is that they were speaking in the first century AD. Isaiah 6:11-13 would be fulfilled in the future. They were only talking about Israel’s hardened condition in those days, and not about when it would someday repent. Remember, Jesus was only answering a question from his disciples as  to why he was teaching in parables, and Paul was only making the case for taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Now, let’s look at Romans 11, in which Paul answers the question his earlier chapters in Romans begged: if Christ is the answer and the law is not, what about the Jews, to whom God had given the law? Has God turned his back on Israel?

I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. (Romans 11:1-4)

The answer is an emphatic “God forbid!” God will save an elect remnant of Israel, and God will save them by grace, not the law. To keep the Gentiles from being feeling superior to the Jews, Paul goes on to say:

I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? (Romans 11:11-15)

Then, after describing how the holy firstfruits of lump of dough renders the whole lump holy, how a holy root can render the entire tree holy, and how branches grafted onto a holy tree become holy, even branches that had previously been cut off, Paul reveals a mystery in verse 25:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:25)

Though he does not outright quote Isaiah 6:11-13, he affirms the promise God made in those verses to end Israel’s hardening. The mystery Paul reveals is that the partial hardening of Israel’s elect will end when the “fulness of the Gentiles be (has) come in.”

It is important to note that none of these passages are talking about the Church. God has never hardened the Church. He has only hardened Israel, and only temporarily, for the express purpose of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles and building a Church that encompasses all peoples, nations, and languages. This he did at Israel’s great expense, but he will resurrect and magnify Israel because of it. Consider the supreme irony: God hardened Israel to benefit the Gentiles, and so many churches have returned their thanks to Israel by teaching replacement theology.

God’s reply in Isaiah 6 and Paul’s teaching in Romans 11 raise two questions: when will this widespread devastation occur, and when will the fulness of the Gentiles come in? The Bible gives no clear answer; God wants us to depend on him alone for the timing.

However, we can be sure of this – God will restore the elect of his people Israel. That unambiguous Biblical truth, stated explicitly both to Israel in the Old Testament and the Gentiles of the Church in the New Testament, exposes replacement theology as bad doctrine. Now it’s up to the Holy Spirit and informed believers to purge the Church of this sad error.

If replacement theology now troubles you as much as it does me, please do me a favor. Consider giving a copy of this letter to a brother or sister who has been mistaught. You will be helping them and doing a good work for God’s kingdom.

Post navigation

← Older posts Newer posts →