Understanding the Times: Preparing for What is to Come

Our theme this week is, “It could never happen in America.” Of course, our great grandparents may have been able to say this with a little confidence but today, we are witnessing history most Christians would rather not see repeated!

An openness to socialism has spread across the land, and moral relativism now rules our culture while liberalism has infected the Church. Not a good sign for America, but these are definitely signs of the times as predicted in the Bible. Make no mistake; what we have today is not a culture war, but a war against the deity and person of Jesus Christ.


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persecutioncross Today’s guest, Jan Markell, of Olive Tree Ministries, writes:

I’d like to prepare you for what is likely to come, so consider this information a warning and perhaps a harbinger of things to come. Fascism starts slowly. It did in Nazi Germany and it has here.
Christianity is not appreciated by the Left any longer. They just mocked conservatives and Christians over guns, faith, and prayer. It started with the New York Daily News but moved on to scolding by many on the Left.
Let’s be honest: They are out of control. For most of them, government has become god. They wish we would go away and are testing the waters to come up with ideas that will speed that up. They are calling good evil (Isaiah 5:20).
They have allies in their back pocket: Google, YouTube, Bill Gates, Apple, Facebook, and dozens more. I am now talking from personal experience.
Understanding the Times radio aired a benign radio program November 28-29. It featured Tom Doyle of E3 Partners talking about Christian persecution in the Mideast and Africa. It also talked about Muslims coming to faith in Jesus Christ. It was all about “overcoming.” And this violated YouTube’s “community guidelines.” But to the Left, “coming to faith” and forgiving killers are offensive. It is hate speech.
We read the guidelines and nothing was violated. So why were these topics off limits? Keep in mind that YouTube is the purveyor of a lot of evil, but they only have issues with righteousness.
But on Saturday, November 28, all of Olive Tree’s YouTubes were shut down due to “inappropriate content.” We had had a warning or two starting two weeks earlier. But mid-day on November 28 all the lights were turned off.
After an inquiry by World Net Daily, the lights came back on. They were confronted by a powerhouse and YouTube, owned by Google, said it was all a mistake, but that would have been 2-3 weeks of mistakes on their part.
In Nazi Germany, Germans in the early 1930s were promised a return to the “glory days” after the devastation of WWI. Government then started to paint a picture of the good life returning, but only if government could become their god. The Germans thought that was a great idea.
They hung onto every promise of “hope and change.” They simply had no idea that Hitler’s “hope and change” would cause the swastika to be burned across the very fabric of Europe. Once it began to be burned, they looked the other way as the “good life” was going to return for them — or so they thought. Hope and change agents always promise utopia.
There are haunting comparisons in America to Nazi Germany. It’s easy to get comfortable with government. Human nature wants to be taken care of. It’s easy to let compromise gradually turn into tyranny and that’s a frog-in-the-kettle phenomenon. It never happens overnight.
When the people fear government that is tyranny. When the government fears the people, that is liberty.
Censorship for Christians who maintain a biblical view of marriage, who are pro-life, and who maintain other biblical worldviews is likely dead ahead. Do you remember Lois Lerner and the IRS war on the Tea Party and other conservatives? Isn’t it obvious that religious freedom is under fire?
What about Christianity’s claim to be the only true way to God? Is this hate speech? After the San Bernardino slaughter, they hung out with radical Muslims at a Washington D.C. mosque and showed solidarity with them. But not with Christians — ever.
The history of WW2 is repeating itself. But in persecution, the church prospers.
Stand firm and let’s fight the bullies while there is time.