Islam’s Goals for the West

Part 2

Ken Mikle: Well, it’s a pleasure to be with you, Tim. Thanks for having us.

Josh Schwartz: Yep, so honored to be part of your show.

Tim Moore: Well, I obviously, gave a very brief introduction of both of you, but tell our viewers how you came to be associated with Olive Tree Ministries and really how God’s prophetic Word begin to burn in your hearts. You can give us a little more background on your former life, if you will, but how did you become motivated to share the glorious truth that Jesus is coming again with a darkening and quite frankly, skeptical world?

Ken Mikle: Well, I started out doing security for the Billy Graham crusades. I was in Amsterdam for the Billy Graham crusade in 2000. And as a follower of Christ, I was just always following ministries that told the truth. Well, one day I was riding around in my squad car and I heard this radio program and I’d never heard that before. And I thought to myself, who is this woman and what is she talking about?

So, as I listened, I became more interested in the ministry. I started going to Jan Markell’s huge conferences here in Minneapolis. Started listening to these speakers and just became enthralled with what was happening in the country and around the world and how the Bible actually, explains and tells us the future. God’s the only one that knows the beginning from the end and can foretell the future.

So, I asked Jan one time as I approached her at a conference. I said, “Do you have any security people here?” And she said, “No.” So to make a long story short, I became her security director. I started traveling around with her around the country. We were down in Dallas for your conference I believe in 2017. And as I met these amazing pastors and Bible teachers, I became interested. So, my detective mind kind of kicked in and I wanted to understand exactly what was going on in the country around the world and what does the Bible say about it.

And as I became more familiar with it, Jan noticed this and she said, “Well, why don’t you go out and start teaching some of this?” So, to make a long story short, it’s a God thing. It had nothing to do with me. Took the gifts that I was given in investigations, and I just started going out and talking about current events as they relate to the Bible.

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, and it’s a just a beautiful thing that Ken had that opportunity there that Jan saw it and let him do it. It was beautiful. And Ken’s been all over the country and the world speaking about these things, and he’s done phenomenal job with it.

Personally, I was a pastor, I started in youth ministry and I was a senior pastor of a small church in rural western Colorado. And as COVID hit and churches shut down, I was determined not to shut down. And I needed just help with ministry and life and all of the, what that looks like, and tuned into Jan’s show on YouTube and really fell in love with the ministry and the willingness to say the hard things and to deal with the whole council of the Word of God.

And through learning from Jan and the others that she has showcased so well, and the connections that I’ve had with people that are on our board, I was asked personally, to endeavor, to join a new endeavor, which was called the Pastor’s Huddle, where we wanted to do just that, to equip and encourage the men on the front lines in the pulpits to teach the whole council the Word of God and to be well found in their eschatological beliefs.

So, I was the pastoral liaison for that. And after the first huddle, I was brought on part-time to lead that and be the staff pastor for Olive Tree Ministries. And then from there came on full-time, and now, I’m the staff pastor and co-host the radio show. It’s just been such a blessing to be able to fill Jan’s small, but very large shoes and to continue the program. And Ken’s been just a great person to co-host everything with.

Tim Moore: Well, you mentioned it being a blessing. Obviously, you guys are a blessing to many, and I speak for myself and for so many others who listen on a regular basis and who have appreciated y’all carrying that torch forward and continuing to sound truth. You know, your program is called Understanding the Times, and even that title harkens back to the sons of Issachar in 1 Chronicles, who were men who understood the times and what Israel should do.
And clearly, we need more people to understand the times we live in and could certainly use more men and women in positions of power and responsibility who know what America should do.

Josh Schwartz: Amen, I couldn’t agree more. We’ve seen so much chaos over the last five to seven years in evangelicalism. So many dividing lines, whether that be COVID, wokeism, the rise of Islam, the George Floyd situation, the Israel-Gaza War, and the murder, the assassination, the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk. And all of these require a biblical lens to look through, and they need men and women who are willing to stand and speak truth in the midst of confusion, chaos, delusion, and darkness. And we’re just honored to be able to do that.

Ken Mikle: Yeah, and I think we always have to go back, no matter how bad it seems or what is happening in the world, we always have to go back to the Bible. And when you read the Bible, when you read Scripture, I think now more than ever we’re seeing the stage setting of this opening scene of the final act. I believe we’re in the last moments of the Church Age, because that’s what I found so amazing that Bible prophecy has never been wrong, not once. God is batting 1,000. So, every prophecy that has been foretold has been fulfilled literally.

Josh Schwartz: Yeah.

Ken Mikle: So, we can be rest assured that the ones that are about to happen and are going to happen during the Tribulation are going to be fulfilled, literally. And that’s what’s so amazing and that’s what I fell in love with the Bible and especially, Bible prophecy eschatology, because everything we’re seeing right now, we’re seeing the stage being set for those final events to happen.

Tim Moore: You know, I know you’ve seen a lot in your even police and detective career, Ken and Josh, even from a pastor’s perspective, you see the world as it truly is. We who are Christians and read the word of God, I like to use a phrase that was coined by Adrian Rogers who said, “It’s getting gloriously dark, the world is getting gloriously dark.” And he didn’t celebrate the darkness, but he said, “It is because we understand the perspective,” the worldview, as you said the moment ago, Josh, from a Christian perspective.

So, from that perspective, how do you guys think things got so bad in our formerly Christian nation? What was the turning point or how have we allowed it to devolve into what we see today all around us?

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think it really had started within the last 50 to 75 years, maybe even 100 years, a century in the seminaries. Pastors have not been trained in the full counsel, handling the Full Counsel of the Word of God. And so, if they don’t feel comfortable dealing with eschatology, dealing with Bible prophecy, dealing with current events, and how to view those through a biblical lens, they’re not going to equip the saints to do it.

And so, you have a slow fade in seminaries, you have a slow fade in educational institutions that spills over to pulpits and then from the pulpit it spills into the pews. And it’s a snowball effect. It starts small, but it has grown greatly over the last number of years.

Ken Mikle: I got to witness it from a geopolitical standpoint, being in law enforcement, I saw a huge culture change. So, in other words, I think we confused two things, and that was ethnic diversity, where we welcome anyone and everyone as long as they adapt to our culture. But what we’ve done now and what the left has been really good at, is switching that to cultural diversity where American culture has to adapt to their beliefs, to their system. And I know we’re going to talk about this in a minute, but we’ve really seen it with the Red Green Alliance, and especially in Islam.

Tim Moore: I think that over the last number of years, a lot of even professing Christians just decided they didn’t believe the Full Counsel of God. Is homosexuality a sin? Well, I’m not sure God really said that. And it says, if Satan is perpetrating his age old lie of asking, “Did God really say?” And he’s planting seeds of doubt and deception that are infecting even churches.

But let’s bring it closer to home, Ken, building on what you just mentioned. You guys are based in Minneapolis, a city that was once a quintessential American city. It was the home of Mary Tyler Moore, my goodness, back in the day. But now, Minneapolis is hardly recognizable from its leftist political leaders to its large immigrant population with American-hating representatives like Ilhan Omar. There has been a dramatic shift in the Twin Cities. How does this happen? How did it happen?

Ken Mikle: Well, I can tell you what I witnessed personally, and unfortunately, we didn’t learn our lesson after 9/11 when the Islamists said, “This is just the beginning. What you just witnessed after 9/11, we’re going to carry on and we’re going to make the United States an Islamic state.” And what we did here, not only in Minneapolis, but all across the country, is bring in immigrants that didn’t want to assimilate to American culture.

And I’ll just give you a quick example. I arrested two Somali young men, and as I was bringing them to jail, they were laughing, because they said, “Not only will we be out tomorrow, but you’re going to live under Sharia law very soon.” And I kind of chuckled to myself and I’m like, “Yeah, right, not here in America.”

Well, now we’re witnessing it. And if you want to know what’s coming, we just got back from Europe. We were at Oxford and we talked to, I talked to hundreds of people all over Norway and Germany and in London, and they said, “We’ve had it, we can’t take this anymore. We can’t even fly our British flag without being persecuted.”

And you saw, if you’ve been watching YouTube, you’ve seen the protests, which are going to get violent. They said, “We will not stand for this.” In Ireland, you’ve got Catholics and Protestants coming together and they’re saying they’re going to fight this.

So, if you want a glimpse of what’s going to happen here, just look at what’s going on in Europe, because now we’re seeing it here. Now, we’re electing Islamists, not good-standing Muslims. We’re electing Islamists that believe in a theocracy that they will, by whatever means, implement Sharia law, and that’s the danger we face.

Josh Schwartz: It’s a slow infiltration, and it’s very methodical and intentional. And we’ve seen examples of this. There’s a building I drive by on my way to the office every single day. And it was a vacant building for many years. Previously, it was a kind of an extension campus of a college. And what happened is someone, without public notice, purchased the building and it got rezoned and it also got turned into an educational center.

So, I started looking at it like, what is going on? There’re more and more cars that are showing up here. And it was in the city of Blaine; it’s called the East Blaine Community Center. And as I did some digging, what it is, is it’s actually a school and a mosque that is fronting as a community center.

And now, that they’re out in the open, there are tons of cars there every single day of the week and people have just slowly accepted that this is going to be what we do. And it’s a slow infiltration of taking over community by community.

Ken Mikle: Well, what they’ve done too is they’ve brought in useful fools to help them do this, our politicians. Not only do you have politicians, you have social media, you have the transgender and LGBTQ community aligning with these people. So, Islam’s even come out and said, “We don’t care. By whatever means, even if we have to lie, we’re going to change American society.” And that’s what they’re seeing.

And we as Christians need, if you ask how to combat this, if we don’t start preaching the Gospel, getting the Gospel out there, and having pastors talk about this. You have pastors that are either, one, afraid to talk about this or they completely affirm this and go along with it. So, we’re in a lot of trouble here, Tim. This nation is on the brink of doing exactly what Europe’s doing right now. And if we don’t be careful, we’re going to have, we already have a revolution, full-on revolution, taking place right now.

But that revolution’s going to get violent, if we don’t start acknowledging this. Getting people into offices that don’t agree with this. And you’re seeing this huge divide not only on the left who’s fighting with each other, because the radical social Marxists left now want to drag the rest of the progressives in with them. But you’re also seeing it on the right, and that’s the sad thing.

Tim Moore: True, yeah.

Ken Mikle: Now, you’re seeing those on the right, and unfortunately, they expound to be Christians and they’re starting to argue about it. And a lot of it has to do with Charlie Kirk, but the main thing they’re arguing over is what to do about the state of Israel. So, we need to keep our eye on Israel. That’s the main stumbling block. Zacharia 12, we know that Jerusalem’s going to be a burdensome stone, and we’re witnessing that right now.

Tim Moore: Well, fellas, obviously, this last fall we saw the rise of several militant Islamists coming into office, even in New York City; a young man trying to become mayor in Minneapolis. And we see this rising threat.

How do Christians balance the need to push back against the encroachment? And obviously, they’re using our own laws and principles against us, but how do we balance the pushback, while yet, seizing an opportunity to witness to Muslims who are now all around us, not just somewhere distant overseas?

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think we have to allow the Gospel to speak for itself. And we also have to be willing to do the hard work of learning what our neighbors are like and spending time with our neighbors and having hard conversations with them, being intentional, because, I mean, the reality is, Tim, eternal souls are literally at stake. Whether they come from afar or they are homegrown in our backyard, literal souls are at stake and Jesus is the answer to all of it. And so, we can’t run from it, we can’t hide from it. And we have to speak the truth in love begging that the Lord would open the eyes to see the truth.

Ken Mikle: If pastors, first of all, don’t start speaking and teaching the Full Counsel of God, I don’t know how you get a remnant church to go out and preach this, and there are so few pastors. Josh and I go all over the country and almost everywhere we go, they can’t find churches in that area that align with them. They can’t even find pastors that’ll go to school boards and speak out against the LGBTQ agenda.

Don’t look at what’s going on nationally. If you don’t get into your city council, your county boards, your school boards, and start influencing those, because that’s where all this started, that’s where the big change came.

So, it’s not going to matter who the president is. We saw what happened in New York, they’re going to start picking off city by city, because they told us they were going to do that. So, if we don’t start getting the Gospel out there and getting people into power, into positions of power, this thing is going to come to a head.

Tim Moore: Well, we often quote Jan Markell here on Christ in Prophecy and throughout our ministry, specifically, regarding her assertion that the world isn’t just falling to pieces, the prophetic pieces are falling into place. And we believe that that message resonates not only with us, obviously, with the two of you. Without expecting you to assume the role of prophet, what do each of you see as sort of the next shoe to drop or simply the trajectory we’re on, if the Lord tarries?

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I really think we’re going to continue to see the socialization of America. And it’s a very difficult thing. I praise God for the red wave that we saw in the previous election, presidential election that is. And we need to take advantage of that opportunity.

But I really do believe that the nation has forgotten its God. And as God is forgotten, a void is going to be filled and it’s going to be filled with the thoughts of man, and the thoughts of man are always evil. And we’re going to see just this socialization; this Marxism that’s gone continue to grow.

Ken Mikle: Yeah, and I’ll add to that. Never take your eye off the ball, and that’s Israel. That’s God’s prophetic timetable. And if you want to know what’s going to happen in the world, keep your eye on what’s going on there. We see what’s going on there, this Abraham Accords and what’s going on in not only Gaza, but the entire Middle East.

And when you hear the president say, “We’re entering a new golden age, and there’s going to be eternal peace in the Middle East,” the hairs on the back of your neck should stand up because if you’re reading the Bible, you know that’s not going to happen. Yes, there is coming a temporary peace there, but it’s going to be a false peace. And I think Israel’s being set up for that right now, because we know in the end, every nation is going to abandon Israel. They’ll stand alone and God will have to step in.

Tim Moore: Well, we obviously, stand with Israel not because of what the world would see, but because that’s what God commands. And because those who love the Lord love the things the Lord loves. I believe that with all my heart.

You know, Jan Markell refers to the remnant church. Ken, you touched on that a moment ago. Made up of believers who are all in for Jesus Christ and who seek to gain discernment and who are intentional about serving the Lord and serving His watch men and women in this age. What is your word of encouragement and challenge to the remnant church?

Ken Mikle: Well, my challenge is, is what I’ve been, I’ll give a warning first. Satan’s done an amazing job of dividing the world, right? Governments, people, political parties. But he is also done a horrific job of dividing the Church, all right? The Church is divided, and there’s very few remnant churches left.

So now what is Satan doing? He’s going after the remnant church. So, we have to be very cautious, because I’m hearing from pastors all over the country that people are leaving, because of what they’re teaching or they don’t like what the style of music, or their wife wasn’t the music director. I mean, we have to be very careful, because you have to know your enemy and he’s going to divide even the remnant church. So, we have to stick together, stick to the truth, stick to the Word of God.

Josh Schwartz: Every time that the Rapture is mentioned or eschatology is mentioned, or the Last Days are mentioned in the New Testament, it just doesn’t stop there. There’s a continued call of how then you were to live. I’m reminded of 1 John Chapter two beginning in verse 28, where John the apostle in his old age says this, “And now little children abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. We are to be living righteously. We are to be salt and light in a dark and tasteless world.”

It’s the same thing that Peter says when Peter talks about how the world is going to end. He says this in 2 Peter 3:11, “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” Friends, we are to watch for Jesus to come to take His bride to be with Himself. And as we’re watching and waiting, we live righteous, God-honoring, selfless lives.

Tim Moore: And we serve as watchmen and women sounding the alarm. Some people say, “Well, folks don’t listen to me.” And my answer is, “Well, they didn’t listen to Ezekiel, but the Lord held him accountable, whether they listened or not to speak truth in his age.” I think that still applies.

Obviously, your words should resonate not just with those who are in the remnant church, but indeed with any lukewarm Christian who has lost their first love, return to your first love, but wake up, because we know that Satan really is raging and he’s like a lion seeking someone to devour, especially wayward sheep.

So obviously, fellas, what would you say to a scoffer who is outside the Church? What is your message of Good News and of the Gospel that will reach even those who truly are groping in darkness right now?

Ken Mikle: Yeah, I think, if you’re a scoffer or non-believer, do what I did, be your own investigator. You can’t just espouse that it’s not true without knowing the facts and evidence and the evidence is so overwhelming. I tell this to my law enforcement colleagues that are nonbelievers, “If you consider yourself a good investigator, a good police officer, and can investigate things, you look into it yourself and then you come back and tell me what you found is not true.”

And it’s amazing, once you read the Bible and you look at the overwhelming evidence that Christ came, He lived a perfect, sinless life, and He went to the cross willingly and was crucified so that all of us could live for eternity with Him. He rose again from the dead so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. It’s an amazing story, but it’s factual.

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, and I would point people to the end of the book of Revelation, Revelation 22, as John brings it all together from what he saw, what he heard, what he experienced. He lays out two simple statements. Number one, “We all worship something.” And number two, “We all follow something.” And his call and Jesus’ call at the end of the book of Revelation is this, worship and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the answer.

Like Ken said, do some investigating, study it out, try and disprove that Jesus is the Savior. And what you will have is your eyes will be open to the truth that He has proved Himself to be the sacrifice who gave His life on our behalf so that we through faith in Him can have an eternal life with God our Father. Where we will spend eternity in Heaven with Him with no pain, no crying, no mourning, no death, nothing like that anymore. Why? Because the former things will pass away.

Tim Moore: One of my favorite passages in Hebrews is Hebrews 10:23-25. And the crux of it is that we should not forsake our assembling together. We should still unite with other believers in the remnant church, with ministry to ministry and why, so that we can encourage one another and all the more as we see the day drawing near. You all and us, we see the day drawing near. That’s what we proclaim day by day ongoingly, but how can we encourage the two of you? How can we pray for you as you continue the work of Olive Tree Ministries?

Ken Mikle: Well, we have some really exciting things going on here in our ministry. We’re expanding, we’re hiring people, and we’re really excited to see what the Lord has in store for us. So, we’ve expanded our social media outlet, and God is just doing an amazing work. To even be here talking to you, you know, Josh and I are just blessed every day to even be able to have this platform.

So, just pray that we can continue this, that we have discernment. We know that in the Last Days Jesus said that deception is going to be the overwhelming thing we’re going to see, and we are seeing it.

And I would just encourage your watchers to make sure that everything you’re taking in is the absolute truth, because with all the technology, with AI and social media and everything, we’re seeing deception on a scale like we’ve never seen before. So just pray that we have discernment, that we can continue to expand and get the truth out there. We want to be disciples for Jesus Christ.

Josh Schwartz: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s very important to just be praying for us that we stand firm on God’s Word unwavering, knowing that it is the truth and it’s going to be hated. We’re going to be persecuted, we’re going to face affliction, but by God’s grace in His timing, we will stand firm. And that we pray the same for you.

Tim Moore: Well, we appreciate it. We welcome those prayers. A good friend of mine recently shared how Joel Belz, the founder of the World News Group, was asked back in the day how people could encourage him. And he said, “Just pray that we will remain faithful.” If we remain faithful, then the Lord will take care of all of our needs.

Ken and Josh, I’m so glad that you are remaining faithful. We are so appreciative of the partnership we have with Olive Tree Ministries. I want to thank you again for joining me today on Christ in Prophecy. We will continue to lift you up by name and as a ministry, and we’ll ask that the Lord Himself will guard and guide both of you as you serve Him boldly in such a time as this.

Josh Schwartz: Thank you so much.

Ken Mikle: Thank you, and God bless you and your ministry.

Closing

Tim Moore: I’m so delighted that ministries who have been faithful to proclaim the Lord’s soon return are continuing with new voices and new generations, because the need is urgent and the time is short.

Well, folks, that’s all we have for today. I hope it’s been a blessing to you. I hope you’ll check out the ministry at Olive Tree to see what great things are going on there, and I hope you will look up and be watchful. For Indeed, our redemption is drawing near… Godspeed!

End of Program