How can you leave the Gospel with those who will be left behind at the Rapture? Join guest Scott Townsend on the show Christ in Prophecy.
Air Date: April 19, 2020
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Transcript
Dr. Reagan: Have you given any thought about providing information that would be available to your family and friends who might be left behind when the Rapture occurs? There is a ministry that has produced an amazing resource for those left behind. For details, stay tuned.
Part 1
Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Hope, and welcome to Christ in Prophecy! My colleague, Nathan Jones, and I have a very special guest with us today. His name is Scott Townsend, and he is the founder of a ministry called, “I Am A Watchman.” Welcome.
Scott Townsend: Thank you very much, Dave.
Dr. Reagan: Glad to have you.
Scott Townsend: It is a pleasure to be here.
Nathan Jones: Good to have you on, Scott. Good to have you on.
Scott Townsend: Thank you very much, Nathan.
Nathan Jones: Well, Scott is the founder of a ministry called, “I Am a Watchman” that is a very unique name. What are you watching? Can you explain the name and the purpose of your ministry?
Scott Townsend: Sure. The name of our ministry came through the process of waking up as a mature believer, 40 years now, and also, just realizing that the time is short. And I began to understand the biblical timeline better. And when I did that I realized, wait a minute, I need to become a watchman to warn and to compare what is going on with Bible prophecy, and to reach the lost. And so, it became a natural thing. If I am reflecting on that I am a watchman now. And so, that was the impetus of our mission.
Dr. Reagan: When I hear that term watchman I think of one thing, Ezekiel talking about the watchman on the wall.
Scott Townsend: That’s exactly right. And you know what, in the old days you would have a literal wall where you would look out for the enemy approaching. Correct?
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Scott Townsend: But in today’s contemporary age that we are in now it’s more electronic, it’s digital, it’s media. The influences of the world occur in a different way now. So, it is a similar calling, but it is just done differently now.
Dr. Reagan: What would say is the fundamental message of your ministry?
Scott Townsend: Well, we try to reach the watchmen and watchwomen of our world and try to help them understand their calling. To affirm them actually. Many people have this innate desire to become a watchman, to take responsibility for informing the lost right now, but they need a little bit of encouragement and inspiration and understanding of what does it actually mean? What do you do as a watchman? And so, we designed our ministry to help fill in that opportunity of coaching, discipling, inspiring, and encouraging people to become watchmen.
Dr. Reagan: Okay, now you have a rather unusual background for a founder of a ministry.
Scott Townsend: Yeah.
Dr. Reagan: You’re not a seminary graduate.
Scott Townsend: I’m not. I’m a lay person.
Dr. Reagan: Alright, tell us about your background.
Scott Townsend: Sure. I have a very, I would say, normal background, mostly it is software development. And I’ve been a Christian as I said for 40 years, and I’ve had different responsibilities within the church, the local church that I served in. And everything was fairly normal in my career until the Lord really put a burden on me, when I began to wake up as a Christian.
Dr. Reagan: And that happened rather suddenly, didn’t it?
Scott Townsend: It happened about four years ago, and things began to make much more sense to me. The Holy Spirit played a really big role in helping me understand what was happening, and why.
Dr. Reagan: And you were jolted by some messages you heard at Jan Markell’s annual conference?
Scott Townsend: Yes, especially Amir Tsarfati that talked about the new world order, and the one world religious system. And for the first time I was listening to somebody that actually said something that helped me connect those dots. Because in church, as you know these type of topics don’t typically come up. And so, for many believers, myself included, you know, it was something that I had to wake up to.
Nathan Jones: I’m encouraged that–because you are being a little humble here, you are a Silicon Valley exec, you’re more than just software. And you hear so many negative things about spiritually coming out of Silicon Valley, but there are Christians in Silicon Valley such as yourself, right?
Scott Townsend: There are. And I’ll just say we have a burden for the Silicon Valley area. There’s only 5% that are churched. And part of the reason for that is it’s very multi-cultural, and there’s lots of influences. And the motivations to go to Silicon Valley are not the purest, right? So, it is a very difficult place.
Dr. Reagan: And you are still a full-time businessman, you are running.
Scott Townsend: I am.
Dr. Reagan: So, what you did is you pulled together a group. Tell us about that.
Scott Townsend: Well, as a layperson realizing my calling, I realized I needed to bring people, to bring a team together that would help me with this burden. And I did. I was able to recruit some pastors, and Christian educators to help me, really begin to formulate what we were doing in the website. And so, one of the things we did is we wrote all original content. The team is just prolific in terms of their ability to create posts, articles. We’ve created sermons, eBooks that are downloadable. And so that was the beginning of really shaping how we were operating as a ministry.
Dr. Reagan: What’s amazing to think that this only happened four years ago.
Nathan Jones: Yeah.
Dr. Reagan: Your ministry is taking off like a rocket.
Scott Townsend: It has. Yeah. It is kind of hard to believe actually. And one of the things that I just want to be sure that I give credit to is the Lord has the way of doing this stuff. And I feel like as a business person, as a lay person, without all the technical background of seminary and other things, there is still a role for us.
Nathan Jones: Oh, yeah.
Scott Townsend: To come along side and to help empower teams of people to actually elevate their ministry for such a time as this.
Dr. Reagan: And your team consists of people located at different spots?
Scott Townsend: Yeah, we have to.
Dr. Reagan: You’re not all together in an office in California.
Scott Townsend: That’s right. That’s correct.
Nathan Jones: And they’re all really strong professionals. I mean you picked very high level professional people to help you. And that’s probably one of the reasons, obviously the Holy Spirit, that your ministry took off so fast, because you picked like the experts in all of these different areas to help build your ministry. I got to meet Scott actually four years ago. I get this video it is like an hour long; it is from this guy in California and he says, “Hey, I got this ministry idea I want to run it by you.” And he sat and in detail, by detail laid out the ministry. I was like, “Wow, this is amazing! He’s put some amazing thought into it.” And to think four years later I Am a Watchman Ministries is now moved into radio?
Scott Townsend: Yes, we have. We are broadcasting on CSN now, 450 radio stations across the US. And we are broadcasting our “A View From a Wall” which is a co-hosted by two of our teammates, Joe Kerr, and Dillon Burroughs.
Nathan Jones: They’ve interview us, they are great guys.
Scott Townsend: They have. And Dr. Reagan you’ve been on the show once. And Nathan, you’ve been on twice. And what we do is we speak from a watchman’s point of view. So, we bring in guests to literally speak into the watchman community.
Nathan Jones: What do you want your ministry to do? Like what’s the end result? Obviously you are training and encouraging people. But the people that come to your website how do you want them to turn out? How do they change by your website?
Scott Townsend: Well, first of all we want them, probably the number one thing that we want is for them to feel like they are home.
Nathan Jones: Okay.
Scott Townsend: Because as a watchman it is a very difficult calling, and it is very difficult to face the burden of reaching the lost, and warning, and it is a tireless and thankless process. In fact, you get persecuted very often for this. And what we want to do is help reassure watchmen, and watchwomen all over the world. And we have about 185 inbound countries to our website. We offer our website in 33 different languages. And so, the point is you’re not losing your mind if you are a watchman, this is part of the calling and gifting that God has given you for this moment, in this season of where we are in the prophetic timeline.
Nathan Jones: It fits in with the Great Commission not only to evangelize, but to create disciples. And you are creating disciples to proliferate the message of the Lord’s soon return.
Scott Townsend: That’s right, because it is a discipleship process. For every disciple you have, you could then disciple others, and it is a classic multiplication model.
Nathan Jones: Excellent.
Dr. Reagan: Well, you have put out an incredible product. I don’t really like to call it a product, I call it a resource.
Scott Townsend: Resources, yeah.
Dr. Reagan: Called the Rapture Kit. And this is what it looks like folks, the Rapture Kit. And you open it up and there is a thumb drive. And you would be absolutely amazed what is on this thumb drive. And this is for those who are left behind.
Scott Townsend: That’s correct.
Dr. Reagan: And I was just blown away by this when I got it. And decided I had to have you on this program, and have you tell us all about this. What’s all on it. What’s the purpose of it, so forth? And how people can get a copy of it? So, folks, in just a moment we are going to take a brief break, and when we return we are going to go into detail about this great post-Rapture kit that Scott’s ministry has prepared for those who are left behind when the Rapture occurs.
Part 2
Nathan Jones: Welcome back to Christ in Prophecy and our interview with Scott Townsend about his remarkable ministry called, I Am a Watchman.
Dr. Reagan: Yes, and Scott let me just jump into this real fast. I mentioned this Rapture Kit before our break, it is remarkable. It’s just amazing all the stuff that you have on this little thumb drive here. Tell us about it.
Scott Townsend: Well, first of all I want to start by saying that when we talk about what do we do for those we suspect will be left behind, and I’d like to be sure that we cover we don’t want anyone to be left behind. So, it is really incumbent upon us to continue witnessing and reaching out to those that we love, especially in our sphere of influence. But we do realize that some will be left behind, they will not fully understand the significance of a decision for Christ, or their need. So, I think that will change. I have friends and family that are not saved. And so, this is a very personal thing to realize exactly what do we do. And as we talk to people, you know in conferences, and various other places we realize that many people are putting a very heartfelt letter into a Bible, and that is amazing, and we need to do that. But we also began to realize, wait a minute, we really need to equip a brand new generation of believers, to mature them up in faith, to disciple them, and to basically help them you know go through the process of being prepared for what is in store. And as we know, and we’ve covered this on your show before, it is not pretty what happens in the Tribulation. So, it’s really important to be honest and clear about what is happening.
Nathan Jones: One of those things about not being pretty is there is a reason that you put this on a jump drive and didn’t just put it on your website right?
Scott Townsend: That’s right.
Nathan Jones: Or just on your website.
Scott Townsend: Absolutely. Because one of the things that we wanted to do is update the technology of how this is going to need to work. And by putting it on a USB drive it is concealable. It gives us the ability to store lots of information. And for our viewers that don’t understand how USB drives work it is just like a drive that expands the storage of your computer.
Dr. Reagan: You plug it into your computer.
Nathan Jones: USB port.
Scott Townsend: Plug it into a PC or Mac you’re all set. And the goal is to deliverer a payload of amazing information.
Nathan Jones: And then after the Tribulation clearly as the Antichrist rises and tries to squash all materials online. You mentioned earlier to me that the Antichrist in what under two hours could shut down all the Christian websites across the planet with an algorithm? So, you put it on a jump drive so that the people could keep it with them privately.
Scott Townsend: That’s right. That’s right. And one of the things we have to do is we have to think like that. It is a very aggressive thinking process to actually try to anticipate the maneuvering that is going to occur.
Dr. Reagan: Now, one of the things you have on that jump drive is an explanation of what’s happened.
Scott Townsend: Yes.
Dr. Reagan: Tell us about that.
Scott Townsend: It’s the key thing. It’s a video that opens up the entire content and explains what happened, how we knew it was going to happen, and also basically affirm that its still possible for people to be saved.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
Scott Townsend: And we know that because of–
Dr. Reagan: And when you say what happened, we are talking about the Rapture.
Scott Townsend: The Rapture, absolutely.
Dr. Reagan: The Rapture,
Scott Townsend: The Rapture, yes.
Dr. Reagan: And that’s so important because immediately after the Rapture there is going to be a lot of explanations.
Scott Townsend: Yes.
Dr. Reagan: Secular, non-believing explanations. In fact back in the early 1970’s the leaders of the New Age Movement put out a statement one time saying that the Masters of the Universe had spoken to them, these are demons, saying that a time is coming when all those who live by faith are going to be taken off the earth so that those who live by reason can continue in their evolutionary development.
Scott Townsend: Right.
Dr. Reagan: And they are going to rush to the microphone and say, “See, we told you this back in the 70’s.”
Scott Townsend: Exactly.
Dr. Reagan: There’s going to be other explanations, aliens, and all kinds of things.
Nathan Jones: Global warming.
Dr. Reagan: But this is going to give the real explanation.
Scott Townsend: That’s correct. This is the antidote to the deception that is coming.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Scott Townsend: Because we look right at the camera to the audience and we speak to them about Bible prophecy, the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, and that this is not some kind of process of aliens or something else.
Dr. Reagan: And you give them an overview of what’s ahead.
Scott Townsend: Yes, absolutely.
Dr. Reagan: So, they know what’s going to come in the Tribulation.
Scott Townsend: That’s right. One of the hardest things to do is to set the right tone for that video.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Scott Townsend: Because you want to be encouraging, and you want to give hope, and you don’t want to alarm them right off the gate on the things that are coming, although that is really super important to do. What we try to do is reassure them, educate them, let them know that this is what’s coming, this is predicted. And that you need to come to faith in Christ now. It is a very direct and honest message.
Nathan Jones: What’s key to this is I believe of loving family member or friend who has talked about the Rapture with them couldn’t lead them to the Lord, and left this behind, so the key to this is after the Rapture they’ve got to say, “Hey, wait my mother. My relative. My sister, my friend talked about this and left me this.”
Scott Townsend: Yes.
Nathan Jones: And so, it really important as Christians that we share the message about the Lord’s soon return with them so they can think back and get the truth. Because doesn’t the Bible say there is going to be a great delusion just after the Rapture and the people will willingly believe it.
Scott Townsend: That’s right. And so, one of the things that we did is we struck a very fine line you’ll hear some of the content that we do speaking as though the Rapture hasn’t happened yet. And the reason for that is it’s also an important witnessing tool for today. So, as well as a critical resource for those that are left behind, so, there is a fine line there. But we tried our hardest to bring in guests, people into that video that speak into the distress that is going to be there.
Dr. Reagan: Now, this video you mention though is just a tip of the iceberg of what is on this thing.
Nathan Jones: Oh, yeah.
Scott Townsend: That’s right.
Dr. Reagan: I mean it’s just overwhelming the stuff you have on here. So, give us sort of an overview of what all is on there.
Scott Townsend: Okay. Well, after the opening what’s happened video, which is almost an hour long, we then offer a lot of resources there. And one of the things you have to understand is that it’s great that we have a letter in a Bible. It’s also great that we have an opening video that explains everything. But our team didn’t feel like that’s where we needed to stop. We wanted to equip, train, disciple a new generation of believers, because personally I believe that there will be a lot of people that are highly educated about the Bible but have not for whatever reason surrendered to Christ.
Nathan Jones: Head knowledge only.
Scott Townsend: So, what I think what is going to happen is the church will reboot with, you know, a lot of people coming to faith and repentance and motivation all of a sudden being called into ministry. So, it’s a scary thing, but we believe that the church will go underground. That people will congregate into small groups. They will worship, and sing, and pray, together and they will learn.
Nathan Jones: It’s almost like China, we are seeing, I believe what we are seeing in China with the persecution of the Communist Party cracking down on Christians, destroying churches. Setting up Xi Jinping as the person to be worshipped. And then you see that Christians are even congregating in groups of four or less because it is so dangerous to be in larger groups. And that’s almost a model. Even their social ranking model I think the Antichrist will use as part of his Mark of the Beast.
Scott Townsend: I absolutely agree.
Nathan Jones: So, having that is neat because then you can just plug it into your computer privately with your people and you’re not being cut off from online.
Scott Townsend: That’s correct.
Nathan Jones: No one asks twice about if you are carrying a jump drive or not. It is so innocuous.
Scott Townsend: Right.
Dr. Reagan: Well, I want to get back to my question. Give us an overview. What is on this?
Scott Townsend: Sure, so, there’s teaching videos. There are 14 hours of teaching videos on here.
Nathan Jones: Wow, that’s a lot.
Scott Townsend: Covering the salvation doctrine, Bible prophecy, how to be a watchman. And it may seem odd that you can be a watchman after the Rapture, but you are actually because there are still things that will be unfolding that will be part of the messages.
Dr. Reagan: Fourteen hours of video. But you have books and booklets as well.
Scott Townsend: There are 1,600 pages worth of books.
Nathan Jones: Sixteen-hundred!
Scott Townsend: Right.
Nathan Jones: Okay, I went through a lot of it, but I didn’t realize you had that many.
Scott Townsend: It is quite a bit, yeah.
Dr. Reagan: The entire NIV Bible is on there.
Scott Townsend: That’s correct. And there’s scripture booklets in various languages as well. So, our goal is to pack as much into this as we can. And what’s amazing is that because this is a USB drive the giver of this Rapture Kit to those that they love that suspect will be left behind, they can augment this drive. This is not everything.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Nathan Jones: You can add to it.
Scott Townsend: This is the foundation of what someone will add to it. So, they’ll put their documents on it. They will put their own personal video. They can add any other additional information that they want to.
Dr. Reagan: In other words, we could add a video of our own.
Scott Townsend: That’s correct. Yeah.
Nathan Jones: Yeah, what would really great is that the person who is leaving this with somebody makes their own personal video like on a cellphone or something.
Scott Townsend: Exactly.
Dr. Reagan: Oh, that would be wonderful.
Nathan Jones: And puts on a personal message.
Scott Townsend: That’s exactly what we have in mind. So, it is just like any other USB drive, you shoot your video and copy it on there.
Dr. Reagan: I noticed on there that you have one tract about all of this that is in 300 languages on that drive.
Scott Townsend: Yeah, the goal is to reach the lost. And when you consider that this is like a light bomb past the boundary of the Rapture, this literally can bring the truth to who knows how many people once you are on that side and you are personally ministering to people. I mean we have no idea yet.
Nathan Jones: How many gigs is that drive?
Dr. Reagan: Yeah, I was wondering that.
Scott Townsend: It’s eight-gigabytes and we have about seven of it already consumed.
Nathan Jones: Can you believe that if this was even just ten years ago you were lucky if you could get a two-gigabit drive? And now these are so inexpensive. You have whole terabyte jump drives now. We are truly living in a marvelous time. I think the Lord is giving this technology to do just what you’re doing.
Scott Townsend: I agree. I agree.
Dr. Reagan: Well, this is going to be a vital tool because again as you said it is going to be an age of deception as soon as the Rapture occurs, and boy people are just going to be inundated with all kinds of theories about what happened, none of which are true. And this will be giving them the truth. For years I have, I think I told you this morning when we were having breakfast together, that for years I’ve told people, “Open your Bible and take the time to write right at the beginning of the Bible the plan of salvation, and what people need to do.” Because again people are not going to have that much time to sit around and study and read the Bible. But this particular element, I mean this resources sums it all up so beautifully, and so much better than just writing it at the front of the Bible. I would still encourage them to do that because people are going to find these Bibles.
Scott Townsend: Yeah, I agree with that actually. That letter still has to be there. It has to be like what we’ll add to that letter for example is in the bookshelf is this Rapture Kit this is just much more information there.
Dr. Reagan: There you go.
Scott Townsend: So, we really do need to push very hard on reaching out right now. And I must add that it is very aggressive to think about evangelizing across the Rapture boundary. I had a very important epiphany when I realized that my role as a watchman is not over just because I’m raptured. I’m also a watchman after the Rapture in the sense that I have to leave the right things behind so that a new generation of believers can come forth.
Nathan Jones: Well, we believe that same at Lamb & Lion Ministries. We believe–
Dr. Reagan: Tell them about what you’ve done.
Nathan Jones: Well, not only did we put on multiple websites, and apps, and social media and everything, we tried to spread all our information out so that if the Antichrist starts cutting things off there are other venues. We even created our own left behind video called, “Jesus Came What’s Next.” You can check that right on our website. You can also get it on a DVD if you want to leave that behind as well. It’s not as extensive as that. We take that and put it on there if you wanted. But that was awhile ago, I was a much younger man in that video. But we believe as a ministry, and we share with this you I believe, is that our greatest outreach will be after the Rapture.
Scott Townsend: I actually agree with that.
Nathan Jones: And not before. And what’s great is there are sister ministries like you who we can work together. We might not have all the resources like you do to create something like that, but there are all these ministries filling in the pieces, that after the Rapture, including with 144,000 Jewish evangelists, and the two witness, and the Gospel Angel, and all that, this will be part of the thing that will lead millions of people to Jesus Christ.
Scott Townsend: What’s encouraging to me is I’m beginning see the remnant coalesce and actually, you know, own what’s happening right now. The dots are connected now. Now, there’s that point of action. They are being called to push hard now. The time for kind of strolling through our finish line phase is over, we are sprinting all out now at this point. And the remnant is beginning to awaken up, there is more focus on eschatology, what is going to be coming. And I’m very encouraged. When we talk to people at conferences and so on, it’s everyone has a very personal story about their family ones, family members that are not saved. So, we have people that come up and ask for prayer, and we pray with them. There are tears. There is a common burden that we have for the lost. And this is just a starting point.
Dr. Reagan: We receive a lot of messages like that from people who say, “Here is a copy of the letter I’ve written to my family that is going to be in my Bible. It is going to waiting for them.” We’ve had that happen several times.
Scott Townsend: Right.
Dr. Reagan: People are aware of the fact that they need to do something.
Scott Townsend: That’s right.
Dr. Reagan: And this is it. It’s time for you to ask the question.
Nathan Jones: Ah, I’ve been wanting to ask this question. Clearly you believe we are in the seasons of the Lord’s return. I mean after all you’ve been talking about the Rapture. Why though? Why do you think now we are getting so close to the Rapture?
Scott Townsend: Well, it is the convergence of all the signs that we are seeing today. And that by the way has started. I mean it is just getting quicker and shorter in the intervals.
Nathan Jones: What are some of these signs that you are talking about?
Scott Townsend: Well, there are all the natural disaster signs, they are unbelievable.
Nathan Jones: Oh, the earthquakes and hurricanes, and the volcanos that are exploding all over the place.
Scott Townsend: And look at the locust problem that was just reported.
Nathan Jones: Into Africa into Asia.
Dr. Reagan: Oh, my goodness, increasing in frequency and intensity.
Scott Townsend: That’s right. Pestilence now coming out of China.
Nathan Jones: Coronavirus is a big disease right now.
Scott Townsend: Yeah, we are still not done with H1N1. So, there’s almost every aspect from–it is like a prism everyway that you look at it, it shows us that we are reaching.
Dr. Reagan: Don’t forget Israel.
Scott Townsend: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Dr. Reagan: You know I’ve always looked on the re-establishment of Israel as sort of the cornerstone of end time Bible prophecy because end time Bible prophecy focuses on Israel. But I think the point you made at the beginning is the most import and that is for the first time in all of history all the signs are converging and coming together. Not just one here, and one there, or one there but they are all converging.
Scott Townsend: And what’s nice is that the watchman, you know the ones that are really informed with this, the number of watchman out there isn’t very many, but it is starting to come up through churches, through small groups, through Bible studies. And it’s coming up toward the pulpit where we pray that pastors will step forth to have courage to speak the truth in love, and to warn their congregations about what’s coming, and what we have to do now.
Dr. Reagan: Well, that’s something heavy on my heart. I pray all the time that we can get the pastors to start talking about the fact that Jesus is coming soon. Most of them have not been trained in that in seminary. And most of them say, “Well, I am just a pan-millennialist.” Which means to me that they are not willing to study Bible prophecy because the signs are so clear that we are living in the season of the Lord’s return.
Part 3
Nathan Jones: Welcome back to Christ in Prophecy and our interview with Scott Townsend about his remarkable ministry and the incredible Post-Rapture resource his ministry has produced called “The Rapture Kit.” Hey Scott, can you look in that camera and tell folks how they can get in touch with I Am a Watchman Ministries?
Scott Townsend: Sure, our primary website is iamawatchman.com, and we also have I Am A Watchman on YouTube. And from there, Nathan, you can see all the different things that we are involved in. We have many different social platforms. And so, once they get to our website they can see those links.
Nathan Jones: Excellent. And folks if you will just stick around just a few minutes I’ll tell you have how can get a copy of the Rapture Kit.
Dr. Reagan: Well, Scott thank you so much for being our special guest today.
Scott Townsend: Thank you very much, Dr. Reagan.
Dr. Reagan: It has been a real blessing to us.
Scott Townsend: Thank you.
Dr. Reagan: We pray that God will continue to bless your ministry. Well, folks that’s our program for today. I hope its been a blessing to you and I hope the Lord willing that you’ll be back with us again next week. Until then this is Dave Reagan speaking for Lamb & Lion Ministries saying, “Look up, be watchful, for our redemption is drawing near.”
End of Program