[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Hey, welcome everyone, to another episode of the Jonathan Project podcast where iron is sharpening iron and we help men navigate the complex world around them. And we take the inspiration between Jonathan and his good friend David as the inspiration for our show. And if you are seeking prayer, you found inspiration, hope from some of our previous episodes and you would like to reach out to us, please contact us at the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com. again, the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com. we also have a free men's devotional that's something you can't find often nowadays. 28 days, 2 minutes a day helps you become a better father and a husband. You also find that in the episode links. We have a great episode for you, folks. We're excited. We have a very honored special guest, Dr. Mark Hitchcock. Welcome to the Jonathan Project. We're so happy to have you.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: Great to be with you guys. Thank you. Yeah.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: So, folks, I'm going to go ahead and give a quick intro of Dr. Hitchcock. He is a phenomenal man. He is the senior pastor at Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. He is world renowned for end times prophecy, giving us insights into what the Bible has to say about the world around us in the final season, as the Bible describes it. So we're honored to have him on the show here today. Dr. Hitchcock, again, welcome. Jason, welcome to the show as always.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Hey, appreciate it. Dr. Hitchcock, welcome. Thank you for being here. Understand also, as I was kind of looking you up a little bit, you also enjoy lifting weights? Walking is a good thing. But, but, and I'm not big in golf, but I did notice you like lifting weights, so.
[00:01:55] Speaker C: I do, yes. It used to show more than it does now. You know, the older you get, it's a little harder to keep it, you know. But I still like doing it. Yeah, the weights have gotten a lot lighter and all that, but I still like it.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Good, good. Well, tell us a little bit about yourself and.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Yeah, I grew up in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Great, great Christian family. Both my folks passed away last year, so I missed them a lot. But they led me to the Lord. I got saved. I was a month before I turned 6 years of age watching Billy Graham on T television. Grew up in a great, great Bible church and grew up here in Oklahoma City. Then I went to high school here. I went to Oklahoma State University and then I went to law school. I was actually a lawyer for four years before I went to Dallas Seminary. I married my wife while I was still a lawyer. So I was telling everybody I did the bait and Switch with my wife. She thought she was getting a lawyer and got a preacher.
We went down to Dallas Seminary down there and have two sons. One was born right when I started seminary, one near the end. Then I went and got my D@DTS and had the privilege to teach down there. Been at Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Oklahoma for. And this October be 34 years.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: And we got two boys, Justin and Sam. They're 36 and 34, both married, and we have seven grandkids. Our one younger son's actually getting ready to adopt these two children in about a month. So that'll be. That'll bring us to the seven.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:03:15] Speaker C: But anyway, yeah, you know, I love. My wife and I, we love to walk together. And although I just walk so I can eat, basically that's what I do. You get older, you know, you gain weight, do something. So I just basically walking just so I can eat.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: I feel like it's a kindred spirit. I work out to eat.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: That's the truth, right?
[00:03:32] Speaker B: That's motivation. Good program right there.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: I love the lawyer to prophecy, you know, I really do. And is, you know, so in truth. And you kind of got to help us connect those dots, you know, because that's all, that's a big commitment. You're a lawyer, right? And I know when, when I finished my. When I was finishing my PhD, at one point, I almost quit. I was like, I think I've had all the information they have to offer. I think I'm just going to call it a quit. My wife gave me the famous knife hand and she was like, you'll sit down and you'll finish it. And I was like, I don't, I don't know if that's how that works, but I'm not going to challenge this. And then when I finished, I was like, I think I'd like to go back to school. And her advice was actually to swap to law. If I did that way I could represent myself at the divorce, help me connect the dots from, from lawyer to prophecy.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: Well, growing up, I knew the Lord as a, as a young boy, you know, like a lot of people for like 16 to 22. I didn't really live for the Lord. After my first semester of law school, I had a real dramatic turnaround of 180 in my life and, you know, went ahead and was a lawyer for that period of time. But, you know, I committed myself to the Lord and I got a chance to teach seventh grade boys and then high school group and then in college class. And then my wife and I got married. I was teaching cl. We're teaching our adult class. And it just became clear over time for myself and other people, you know, confirmed that that's what God wanted me to do all the time. It wasn't that I disliked what I was doing. It was just a positive call, strong call to. To leave. And so, you know, we sold every. Sold our house, sold everything, moved down to Dallas to go to Dallas Theological Seminary. But I mean, you know, I've never doubted at one. One moment of my life, ever, that that's what me to do. So, you know, never turned back. And, you know, being at our church, our church has been a wonderful place to be. Like every church, you know, there's difficulties and things, different times, but by and large, I mean, for the 34 years, it's been a tremendous place to be and just a great blessing. And, you know, I'm in a good time of life right now. I've been there all that time and get to, you know, do the teaching I do there at the church and do some writing and speaking other places. So, you know, it's a blessed season of life that I really appreciate from the Lord. You know, I appreciate the health I have as well.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, a lot of writing. 30 books, right?
[00:05:43] Speaker C: Yeah, 30 something. Yeah, I gotta. I'm working on a few things right now always. But yeah, I really enjoy that. It's a good way to, you know, get books out there. I, I get letters from inmates in prisons all the time that are reading books, man. Once these books get in the prison system, they're there. I mean, it's, it's amazing when a book gets published where it ends up. So it's been. Been interesting over the years, all the, you know, all the correspondence I received about where people have found my books and read them.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Yes.
You know, what was one of your first encounters with the End Times prophecy? Speaking of, I know you spent a lot of time as far as, like, let's say, your theological focus, and you're well known. That's why we've had you on the show and you've done a lot of other conferences and shows on prophecy. You know, what was it that made you say, hey, this matters, and people need to hear it? Because I think there's a lot of misnomers about, you know, Christian prophecy and people might have misconceptions, spooky kind of things about it. So what was it that hooked you and really helped you kind of put that message out there.
[00:06:37] Speaker C: Well, it started back when I was around 11 or 12, something like that. I don't remember the age exactly, but In May of 1970, a book came out called the Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsay. It was the number one selling book of the whole 1970s, other than the Bible. Sold 27 million copies.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:06:55] Speaker C: It's, you know, it was a book that really just kind of shook. Shook America in a lot of ways. And when I was a young boy, everybody was reading it in the youth group. My sister was in the youth group. I remember looking through the book and just was fascinated by it. And there was a guy named Russ Douton. I actually got to meet him years later, made these movies. One was called the Thief in the Night, and they showed it one Wednesday night at our church. It was about the Rapture, people just suddenly disappearing from the Earth. And I remember, I don't know, again, I was around 11 or 12 years old. And I was just captivated by that. I mean, it was just. I'd never heard anything really like that. From then on, I was really interested in prophecy. It was kind of dormant for a while in my life, obviously, but when my life turned around, in my early 20s, I met an elderly gentleman I studied the Bible with down in South Oklahoma City, and he liked prophecy. And I started reading some books. And what I realized is, you know, that you. I couldn't really understand the Bible if I didn't understand at least something about prophecy, about end times. Because when the Bible was written, about 28% of the Bible was prophetic at the time it was written. Now, a lot of those prophecies have been fulfilled, but there are still many that are unfulfilled. So I realized if I'm going to really understand the Bible, I've got to understand God's prophetic program. And so I studied books like Daniel, the book of Revelation, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, the Jesus Sermon on the Mount of Olives there in Matthew 24 and 25, and just really immersed myself. Books like Ezekiel to really understand prophecy. Really my interest wasn't so much, hey, I want to become a prophecy expert. I just wanted to understand the Bible. And prophecy was really an avenue to understand the Bible better.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: No, that's. That's great. Because I. I think as my father, who's a. As a chaplain and listening to this in. In Ector County, Texas, you know what, he kind of turned us on as growing up is having a heart to understand all the Bible and understanding that prophecy is really geared to have us have a heart for the present and gives us that hope for that future, that, hey, things are going to work out. And when you can have that kind of hope sometimes, especially as men, you know, when you think everything is going wrong, but you find that hope that, hey, we're on the winning team, things are going to go right, and that really, it's not about how it all breaks out and all these details. I know a lot of people get hung up on, but it's really saying that relationship with Jesus Christ today is what matters. And I think that's, you know, it's a powerful, you know, kind of story to put out.
[00:09:14] Speaker C: When it comes to prophecy, though, too. Have to remember, though, I'm sorry that, you know, there's a lot of. You mentioned all the details, but, you know, there's a basic things people believe, didn't have to believe. If you believe the Bible, Jesus is coming back.
There's going to be a literal resurrection of the dead, there's going to be a final judgment, and there's a literal heaven and hell. Now, we, we disagree a lot of prophecy people do about a lot of the details around all that stuff, but those are kind of the fundamentals or the pillars, you know, of an eschatology review. The end times, it's kind of orthodox.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: So.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: Sorry about that, Jason. I've stepped all over you there.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: No, it's absolutely fine. I was sitting there, as I really do like how, you know, you know, Colby, you said that it's, it's to give us a.
A better understanding of the present. And like you said, sir, it's really, it's to help you understand the Bible. A lot of Christians may look at it like, why does it matter if I understand prophecy? Because if I'm gone when the Rapture occurs, it'd be kind of like teaching people who pay their taxes on time, you know, teaching them about tax evasion. Right. Like, it just, it doesn't apply. But I like how both of you kind of presented that.
[00:10:21] Speaker C: Yeah, no, there's a great thought. You know, before God came and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he came and talked to Abraham. And Abraham, you know, said God, you know, if there's 50 righteous, there's 40, there's 10 righteous. Well, Abraham wasn't going to be there in Sodom and Gomorrah, but God came and told him what he was going to do there in Sodom and Gomorrah. And I always look at that as, you know, we're God. Abraham's Called the friend of God and we're God's friends. And God wants us to know what he's going to do and he takes us into his confidence and he shared with us what's coming so we can live in light of it now and to give us a sense of urgency and to pray for people, want to see people come to know the Lord even though we're not going to be here during that time. I believe a lot of these things that are happening in the future, God wants us to know about it and live today in light of it.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: I think that's absolutely a good point. You know, it's a sense of urgency. I was kind of thinking about, you know, when I've been in aircraft and it's time to get out of those aircraft when they're in flight. Absolutely. As the countdown goes, I make sure all my stuff's set. Like I double check it, you know, although I've already checked it, I'll check it again. But it does provide that sense of urgency to make sure it's right, it's right for your buddy and things like that. Do you also think that maybe understanding prophecy gives you a sense of calmness? Maybe it helps with anxiety. We talked a lot about, you know, we see a lot of ramp up of anxiety in this world.
[00:11:39] Speaker C: Well, yeah, Jesus, you know, John 14, he said, don't let your heart be trouble, you know, which means stirred up. That word does there. I want your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe in me, in my Father's house, from any dwelling places. If it weren't so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. I go and prepare a place for you. I'll come again and receive you to myself. Where I am, there you may be also. Jesus used prophecy and said, look, I'm going away, but don't, don't let this world stir you up too much because I'm going to come back someday and receive you to myself. And obviously people may die before the Lord comes. Everybody in history is dying, died before the coming of the Lord, but that's still the hope that when he comes, we're going to, our bodies will be resurrected and reunited with our spirit. And so, you know, that's the hope that we have. And yeah, in a world that looks like it's gone crazy and you know, it looks like a bus, you know, going down the mountain with nobody at the wheel. When you, when you study prophecy and you can look at our world today and say, you know, our world today is really set up just like the Bible said it would be before Jesus come that. And say all of these things can't, you know, the globalism that we see and Israel being in the center of the world's attention and the clamoring for peace over there and all these different things we see happening, all those things couldn't be happening by accident. So to me, when you look at that and you see the gosh, the Bible predicted these things in some cases thousands of years ago, gives you confidence that the Bible's true, that God's on his throne. You know, God knows what's, what's coming. And so, no, it does give a sense of real peace because. And there's a lot to be anxious about in our world today.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: You know, that's. That's, that's a good point, you know, Dr. Hitchhar, that you bring up. And it, it kind of ties back to, you know, this, this question and thought that I've had. You know, we talk about a lot here on our show of how to equip men to kind of step out into the boldness that God has, as, you know, and I can speak to American culture the best, because as all three of us, we all have lived it, served it in some kind of way, shape or form. And there's a lot of pressure on men now not to be vocal, not to lead.
And the capacity that God has. And when we think about prophecy, it's a very divisive thing, as you said, for a lot of different reasons, for a lot of different folks, even in the church. But how do you think that neglect.
And that's the best way I can put it, of men not fully diving into what the Bible is, and that is an understanding of prophecy, has left us kind of unprepared for spiritual leadership in this day and age where we really need that.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: Well, you know, the Bible tells us to be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior. We're to be looking for it.
Jesus said in 1 or Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1, we're be waiting up, you know, for his son from heaven. It means it'd be like waiting up at night, you know, for your wife to get home or your kids to get home. So if we're not doing that, we're not really obeying the Lord. And I think one of the ways. I think one of the ways that it's hurt men dramatically is what they don't have a sense that Christ could come back at any time and they're going to be accountable and there's going to be rewards and lack of rewards given. Have guys that are, you know, looking at pornography or not treating their wife like they should, or not spending time with their children. And there's not, again, this sense that, you know, Christ can come back at any moment. And I think people that don't live with that at least somewhat in their life or some thought of that, it's very easy for your life to lose a sense of accountability that, you know, you're just kind of living your life and you're kind of going along. You know, Christ can come at any moment, you're going to get cut short. So I think it's. I think it's really hurt people in that sense of just. There's a lot of things, you know, that you might think about, you're going to do, and you think, well, you know, what if the Lord were to come back, or maybe something you're not doing that you should do. And so when, when you have that sense in our lives of the imminent return of Jesus, he can come back at any moment. I think it's, it'll. It'll change the way that we live our lives. And it, it's a reality to us that Jesus really is coming back at some point in time. So I think a lot of men don't think about that, and I think that they're, they're a lot worse off because always in the New Testament, every time prophecies mentioned coming of the Lord's mention, there's always practical application with it. I quoted John 14, don't let your heart be trouble. In 1 Thessalonians 4, at the very end of talking about the Rapture, he says, comfort one another with these words. You know, when someone dies that you love, it's a comfort. Jesus is coming back.
In first John, chapter three, he says, everyone who fixes his hope on him purifies himself as he is pure. In other words, it has a purifying influence on us. And just one more I'll mention 1 Corinthians 15:58 after talking about the Rapture, he says, therefore, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your labor is not in vain in the Lord. In other words, he's coming back, so get busy and use your gifts and serve him, because it's not going to be in vain. He's going to come back. So it always has this motivation in our lives. And I think a lot of people who don't Study prophecy. Don't know about it, don't think about it. I think that they don't have that motivation and that passion in their life that I think it provides.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: I think you, you said something that's really important. You know, if you, if you do study the prophecy and you do realize that Jesus is coming back at any moment, right. I think one of Satan's greatest diversions is we're so busy now, right? I love the, the writing, the paradox of progress. All these things that's supposed to create time saving and we don't have any spare time. But it's almost like knowing where your north star is or where your, what's coming, what's your four compass. And if you don't understand prophecy and that Jesus is coming back, then you always think, well, there's tomorrow to get it right. And in reality it may not happen. It could happen right now. That's why I drive my truck slow in case I'm raptured. I don't want it to hurt anybody.
[00:17:03] Speaker C: Well, you know, no one knows how much time. I always like to say no one. None of us know how much time we have personally or prophetically. You know, personally. Obviously something can happen to any of us anytime. And prophetically we don't know how much time we have either. So I think to live with that idea. I think most people though are very, very earth centered. They think about here and now and you know, I think a lot of people think, well, prophecy is just kind of, you know, pie in the sky, kind of sweep by and by kind of stuff. You know, it doesn't really relate to everyday life. But again, every time it's mentioned, it's tethered to how you're living your life, you know, now in the, in the nitty gritty of life.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Well, you know, I think it's pretty interesting when you go the end of time, people go, I don't really buy into it or whatever. Right. And from a, from a standing. If something has an ending, it had to have had a beginning. And you know, a lot of physicists right now go, no, we absolutely agree there was a point at which time began. And that secular physicist as well as those that are biblically aligned. Right. I think that's something that's super important. This will come to an end. Not just personally, but all of it will come to an end at some point.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: No, but I want to tie in another good point and then weave in something for you. Dr. Hitchhike. In the End Time Survival Guide, your latest book, there you introduce what you call the 46 defense. You know, it was grounded in Philippians 4. 6 through 7.
How does that model help, you know, believers, men, women out there trying to understand what can feel like a very dense, complex subject. But that practicality of. With chaos, the calmness that Jesus really wants us to have, that understanding that you described, you know, not have fear the future, but have faith.
[00:18:41] Speaker C: Well, yeah, Philippians 4. Six, you know, don't worry about anything.
Don't worry. I've been everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God and the peace of God, the passes all understanding will guard. That's actually a military word. It means to build a fortress around. It's like put a guard around your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. And that's a great defense that we need. There's an old battle. I mentioned this old guy I used to study the Bible with in South Oklahoma City. He was an old guy. He's kind of a corny old guy, but he loved the Bible, loved the Lord. But, you know, he said this saying one time, and, you know, sometimes these dumb little sayings stick with you. But he used to say when it affects. Go to Philippians 4. 6. And, you know, it's just kind of a dumb little statement. You know, remember when I heard it, I was in my early 20s, you know, but I mean, I've. I've thought about that I don't know how many times since then. You know, it's a great place to go that we go to the Lord in prayer, and God's peace can come and fill our heart and mind. And, you know, we all need to be doing that constantly, need to be going to the Lord in prayer, because we all have things that makes it make us anxious, and we take those to the Lord and Lord can come and calm us and give us that garrison. I mean, build a fortress around our heart and mind in Christ Jesus. We need that all the time, and we need to. Need to share that with our families. To our. A lot of our wives need that. You know, they need to help share that with a lot of. You know, a lot of them worry about a lot of different things. And we. It's not good for them to be worried. We need to try to help them and encouraging them in that as well. But also be an example, because if we're worried and fretting and anxious about everything, you're trying to tell your kids not to worry or your wife not to worry, you know, it's going to fall on deaf ears. We have to set the example for that in our family.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: No, I love that. And that's a, That's a great point that we've, you know, hit a lot here on the Jonathan Project is being that example, you know, standing up like, what is what God has called us to be and to just be men and to give a great example. But I want to pull on a thread that we're kind of hitting on right here, is that I feel like with prophecy, right, it's really quick and easy to fall into this trap. And I know you've probably seen it, Dr. Hitchcock, for sure, that people can get kind of weird. They get focused on, well, you know, this person is the Antichrist and then this sign's going to happen and, and they're doing this prophetic connecting dots and, you know, in places. But really what you said, and I really hope that everyone takes this away, is it's really a tool. It's a discipleship tool. It's really something to ground you in practicality and understanding your Bible more than just intellectual curiosity. So how, how can people do that? How can men, women out there listening to us really understand that this is about, you know, discipling, helping others around them and not just this weird curiosity of this kind of thing of the Bible?
[00:21:10] Speaker C: Yeah. You know, being a prophecy guy myself, you know, I get a lot of weird stuff sent to me, you know, as people that, you know, they know who the Antichrist is. You know, they've counted the, you know, hairs in the Antichrist beard or whatever, and they know what country he's coming from or, you know, even people that, you know, they. They know the days coming back, you know, even though Jesus didn't know when he was on Earth, I think he knows now, but he says, you know, he didn't even know when his incarnation. So that's a pretty bold statement to make. They know something Jesus didn't know. You know, I always say when somebody sets a date for Jesus coming, you know, that's not the date, you know, when he's coming back. And, And I don't think we'll see the Antichrist. He's going to rise, you know, after. After the rapture takes place, is my view. So, you know, there's. Yeah, there's all kinds of views out, all kinds of things that people get caught up in. But I think, you know, to just focus on the main things about prophecy, that Jesus is coming back. There are signs of the times, things that are happening, you know, in, in Matthew 24 Jesus disciples asked him, you know, when are these things going to be? What's going to be your sign of the coming and the end of the age? He didn't say, well, don't worry about it. He gave him a bunch of signs. So there are things that we can look at in our world. But I think that what we need to do, you know, as men and leading our families, I think it's a good thing to teach your kids about prophecy. Look, you know, Jesus is coming back someday and hey, the Bible says there's going to be an Antichrist and he's going to rule the whole world. And you look and you say, you know, for the first time in human history since the Tower of Babel, somebody could rule the world. Now with all the, you know, technology, AI and all the things we have, just, you know, so people will say, wow, you know, that, that's, that, I mean, the Bible, what it predicted really is true. So it gives you confidence in other parts of the Bible that the Bible is really true. But, but I think one of the ways that disciples, you know, kind of disciples, men is, is again to have them understand that, you know, Christ is coming back and that's going to be the great event in history. But it's not just he's coming back. After he comes back, we're gonna have to stand before him and give an account. It's called the judgment seat of Christ. And so that's a sobering thought.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Yeah, no, when you, when you stand there, yeah. You get one lawyer and unfortunately, you know, Dr. Hitchcock, it's not going to be you, it's not going to be anybody else. Jesus Christ, that's it. So, you know, in your books, and I looked at, as I was looking back into them in 1994, long time ago for some of our listeners, but after it's called after the Empire Bible prophecy in light of the fall of the Soviet Union. And I thought, man, that's, that's, that's unique. 1994. The Soviet Union fell in 1991. And you know, you talk about things that kind of say, he, this is true. To help add that validity, Russia was in a very rough place at that point, establishing a new political and economic structure. They had hyperinflation, they had a massive increase in crime and organized crime. Unemployment, poverty, food, struggling homelessness, Large scale transfer of state owned enterprises into private owned enterprises. At that moment, at that moment when you wrote that book, that is not someone I would have picked and said, yep, that's. They play a Part in that world, power in the end. But like you said, now we see them coming on the scene or have for quite a while. But, you know, and I was kind of thinking about what you had to say about. Prophecy is a form of credibility, right. And just kind of looking at other, other things that the world is very interested. You know, like you and I were talking before the, the time, before the start.
I'm a big student of the psychology of, of, of large groups, right. Like where sociology and psychology kind of meet. And I've, I've watched the popularity of the Mayan calendar with the end date in 2012 and how that right there just fell off. And then you take a look a couple of years ago, there was this fabricated Nostradamus thing about prophecy. A dancing horse, right? But not that there was one, but it got a billion views.
So there is a. There's absolutely. I think it's ingrained in us just like, you know, it's written in our DNA that the longing for that, the, the second coming. Right. And people may not recognize it because they're lost, but I think it's there. What kind of significant events do you feel like have kind of set the stage, if you would. I know that's a popular question.
[00:25:19] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I think what you just said, though, people want a resolution. They want, they want some idea that, hey, someday there's going to be justice. You know what I mean? Now, to be honest with you, I don't want justice. I want mercy. But, but we have a sense of, in the larger picture. You know, we want, want to see some, some kind justice and God's going to bring that. But no, you know, the signs of the times that we see, you know, I mentioned a few of them earlier, but the super sign of the end times is the nation of Israel, the regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland. I mean, it's, it's in the news every day. Antisemitism's massively on the rise right now. But 1948, 6% of the Jews in the world lived in Israel. Now it's almost half of them. So there's about 16 million Jews in the world. About 7 million of these 7 and a half million of the Jews live, live in Israel.
So they just keep going, they're going back there. And Israel is the focus of the world. This little place the size of New Jersey, and yet there it is, a focus of the world every day. That's exactly. The Bible says that's going to be the kind of staging ground for the end times. So if we believe the Bible, we shouldn't be surprised by that. The Bible says, I believe that the tribulation period, this future seven year time after the rapture of the church of Christians to heaven is going to start with some kind of a peace agreement or something with the nation of Israel that allows them to carry out their sacrifices in a rebuilt temple. Well, what does the world want right now? Peace over there, Gaza, Hezbollah and Iran and all of that. You've got the nations in Ezekiel 38. You mentioned Russia a little bit ago, the fall of the Soviet Union. It mentions Roche, Rush, Several places are in modern day Turkey, mentions Persia, which is modern day Iran. Those places are mentioned. Just the globalism that we have today with AI, with all the surveillance technology, with satellites, with the Internet since the Tower of Babel, you know, man, God scattered man all over the earth and, and Satan's the master globalist who's been trying to bring the world back together again. He ruled the whole world under one man named Nimrod back in Genesis 11. And now he's been working inexorably. We've gone from tribalism to nationalism. Now we're back to globalism again. So these are a lot of the things that we see happening in our world today that I think are significant. Another one is apostasy within churches, within Christianity. The Bible says that apostasy, that false teaching, people abandoning the word of God and the gospel is going to increase as we get near the end. And we see both doctrinal apostasy, but also moral apostasy as people morally are just falling away. You know, these are the, you know, I mean, again, that can always get worse. You know, I mean it's, you know, apostasy can continue to deepen, but those are just some of the things that I see in our world today that, that are predicted. I believe in the Bible that we see happening unlike any time in history. And people will say, well, you know, people were saying this 50 years ago, whatever. But again, Israel, the focus on Israel, the Middle east, they have the European Union. The Bible predicts, I think a reunited Roman Empire in the end times. Well, I think that the EU could be the embryonic form of that. So a lot of signs that are out there, I think that point to the soon coming of Jesus.
[00:28:14] Speaker A: I think that's, you know, think what you had to say was pretty important. You know, when you talked about the, the Tower of Babel and you know, with the globalization believe it was said a couple of years ago that Internet is kind of like a basic right now. It's kind of where we're viewing it.
And, you know, that connectivity piece of it. And of course, AI, it's. Right. I thought what you had to say about apostasy was pretty unique. Colby and I have talked about this before. At 64% of America claims to be a Christian, but only 30% believe in the Holy Ghost. And then when you look at it, only 6% of those say, yep, I, I adhere to a biblical worldview. That number keeps getting smaller and smaller. And then what was scary, I think, in one of the statistics I was reading when we did that episode, was that like one third of all pastors are pretty much like, I don't really believe in the Bible, which is extremely scary to me. That arise of apostasy is. It's definitely there. I mean, we, we see it more than we've seen it ever before. Right?
[00:29:16] Speaker C: Yeah. And morally, too, just what people, you know, with, with same sex marriage and transgenderism and all these different things that are accepted by a lot of denominations and churches. You know, it's a. That's, that's moral apostasy, where people are accepting things that, you know, even 30 years ago, I always tell everybody, when I was in high school, the worst person that I could think of in my high school still believed those things were wrong. Now it's not even considered wrong by people. It's celebrated by people. So it's just, you know, it's been just. And people that are a little bit younger don't, don't, can't see. Haven't experienced just that.
It's like a seismic shift that's taken place. And the only explanation for it is it's satanic. It has to be satanically inspired. You can't explain it humanly.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the, the, the feverishness, which it was supported at one point, you know, is, is, yeah, like that, that much emotion behind something and. No, it's like you said, it went from, nope, that's a wrong thing to you think it's wrong, then you're wrong. Like, that's a 180 flip in your moral judgment factors. So. No, I totally agree with you. Yeah.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: So just shifting gears a little bit on you, Dr. Hitchcock. You know, we've been talking about, like, a lot of these signs, and I think that's really helpful for, you know, a lot of our listeners who may be uncomfortable, have been uncomfortable with this subject. They don't talk about it, like, in a church because I know there are Churches out there, they really don't touch this, you know, but there are some great examples and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
From Noah building the ark, you know, you have that remnant God always pulls outside. Like a man who in his generation is kind of that voice, you know, lot, you know, confronting, you know, corruption in his time. Daniel thriving under the pressure of Babylon. You know, how do those men or how can men take those examples? I given it's probably many others that you even know. And look at that end time fatherhood, that leadership in such tough times and how to model that and how to get an understanding if you don't have it, of this very critical subject. And what I believe at least we're in the final season. How long the season lasts, I don't know. But I do believe we're in that final season. And how should I, as a father, other fathers kind of lead and model?
[00:31:20] Speaker C: Well, you know, I think you take, you know, with Noah and all the, all those that you mentioned, you know, Noah heard from God, you know, he heard from God and he believed what God said and you know, against really all reason. And I think, you know, that the key for men today, I think to really lead their families in these times, you have to spend time in the Bible, you have to read God's word. You know, it's interesting In Daniel chapter 9, before God gives Daniel a massive revelation there that there's 70 weeks prophecy, one of the great prophecies in the Bible, Daniel is praying, but before that even he was reading the book of Jeremiah. So Daniel studied prophecy and the prophet Daniel. So I always think that's interesting. But you know, to be a man of God in these times, you've got to read the Bible, you've got to pray, you've got to go to church regularly, you've got to find a place to serve, you've got to give, you've got to fellowship with God's people. You've got to do the basic things that God calls on us to do. And you have to do them over and over repeatedly and be growing spiritually and be passionate about your walk with God. And when you're doing that, you're going to be passionate about all the aspects. If you're passionate about knowing the Lord, you're going to be passionate about him coming back someday to see him and for him to come and take us away to heaven. So just to me, you know, the Christian life for everybody, but for men comes down to those basics. You know, it's like if you're playing golf or if you're, you know, playing sports or whatever you're doing. There's some basic things you gotta master. And if you master those things and keep doing them over and over again, you're going to get better at what you're doing, but you're also going to become passionate about, about, about it. And I think a lot of men today, just you look at Daniel, I mean, Daniel had a passion for God's glory. Noah had a passion to do what God asked him to do. You know, Lot, I mean, even, you know, says Lot was a righteous man living there in the midst of this city, Sodom. So you've got to have a passion about the Bible, about the Lord, about God's people, about the church. You can't live off there by yourself. That's what I, I see throughout church history, those who've really had an impact for the Lord. And I think that's what you, that's what we have to do nowadays if we're really going to be men who are going to stand in these times in which we find ourselves.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: You know, you said something pretty important. And as I've, I've kind of was thinking here, you know, as we kind of move forward into this time.
I was reading something the other day about the literacy rate in America and it was amazing. The number of people that can't read at a sixth grade level. Right. That's dangerous to me because at that point you can manipulate information super easily through a digital platform. Right. No one has to fact check that. But when you look at the basics of just reading your Bible, you know, this is, I've got my old King James here and it hasn't changed since it was printed in 2012. And I love this thing. But I think when you couple passion with just that extra step of, of reading and not just, oh, I'm gonna grab it on my phone or I'm gonna grab it here, and those are good platform. But I think sometimes going back and actually taking time and spending time, it does, it draws you closer, you validating that truth. I always think about T.S. eliot, you know, when he talked about, we're inundated with so much information, we lose that wisdom. I think as a dad or a husband or single mom or a mom period, or anybody, like, how do you maintain that truth? And you talked about a lot of passion in sticking with the basics.
Do you guys do a lot of. Did you do a lot of family Bible time at home?
[00:34:46] Speaker C: Yeah, every night for my boys to go to Bed I'd tell them about. Have a Bible story. You know, I had that when I was a little boy growing up. We had that. I mean, I knew the Bible really well as a young boy. Boy, I was fascinated by it. And so, yeah, we had a time in doing that. But I, I'd go up and sometimes I wouldn't read the Bible. I just talked to him about things like tell them about a different area of prophecy or we talk about, you know, they'd ask me, you know, can you explain the Trinity to me? Or something like that.
Well, you know, so we just talk about theological topics, you know, things like that. And then they were at church growing up so they would hear, you know, me preach and we would talk about those things. So to me, it's. It's the Deuteronomy, you know, Deuteronomy, chapter six. You know, when you're up lying down, you're walking in the way, just talk about those things. Make it a natural part of what you do. I tried to, you know, since I am a preacher, you know, pastor, you don't want to, you have to be careful with your kids, you know, because they can, you know, it can become just old hat to them or they think this is just my dad's job or something. But. Yeah, that's why I, you know, I really tried very, very much to try to be consistent and try to live it out and if I didn't live it out, let him see that I confess my sins and ask for forgiveness and, you know, because there's no. The worst thing in the world I think a man can do for his kids if he is a believer or professes to be, is to preach at him about it all the time and not to live it. I think you'd almost be better to not preach it to them and to live it because then they're just seeing this. It doesn't seem real. It just seems fake and inauthentic and, and empty. And so that's, that's, that's the key thing, I think, you know, for, for men. Men to do is you've gotta. And again, be an example when you fail, you're going to fail, but be an example when you fail about how you man up to the thing and ask for forgiveness and go on and keep going.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: I heard a. There was a guy speaking, and I. I can't remember his name, but he was talking about when he was a kid and he was playing ball. His coach was a devout Christian. He said, they were out there, it was hot in summertime something. And things kept going bad and somebody did something, something. He had something to say and it was not reflective of our Lord and Savior. He let it fly. And he said the moment he did though, he stopped and he said, those kids looked at me. Says it wasn't, it was just a shock because it was so much out of his character, right, because he had lived it. And he said, he looked. He said what stuck with him was not that he said a bad word all those years, but that he stopped that moment. And he says, you know what? I'm wrong, boys. God knows I'm wrong too. And he. He owned it and moved on, right? And I think that's. That's important when you fail, you gotta own it. That's it. God knows I'm wrong. I'm gonna ask him for forgiveness and move forward, you know.
[00:37:23] Speaker B: Well, Dr. Hitchcock, you know, I want to be respective of your time and, and just thank you so much and graciously. We've. We've well exceeded what we call the parking lot for our viewers. But this was a bonus episode and we're glad to do it. But before I give it over to Jason for his final comments, I want to ask you, you know, to give us what you would say is a lightning kind of round of prophecy. What is a practical kind of start. What is a book besides the great books that you have? Again, we're going to have a link to your latest one in time survival guide. But what else can men kind of dig into, kind of help start generating those conversations and getting that footing to kind of move forward and understand this very important aspect of Christian life?
[00:38:04] Speaker C: Well, you know, there's some good, there's some good podcasts out there, you know, some guys that are doing a good job and some prophecy stuff. I do a deal with a ministry called end time dot com. Every week I have a YouTube video that we do with that. There's a book I wrote back. Oh, in 2012. It's called. It's. It's 500 pages, but it's really easy to read. It's called the. It's called the End. It's called the End and you just, it takes you through, you know, what is a prophet? Why should we study prophecy? You know, just the wrap just takes you all the way through all the key events. You know, that would really help somebody. A lot of people have read that book and it's been a real help to them. You know, you can get a used copy for probably 10 bucks on, on Amazon or something. And so I'm not trying to, you know, make money off of books. But anyway, the end, that's probably the book that I've written that I would recommend the most because you do need to sit down and just kind of get a, a little bit of a comprehensive view of what, you know, I always tell everybody, before you find the answers, you got to know the questions. You know, a lot of it's just figuring, okay, what, what are the issues in prophecy? And again, there's different, some different views on the timing of the rapture and the timing of the millennium and some things like that. But again, go back to your look, Jesus is coming back. There's going to be a resurrection, there's going to be a final judgment, and there's a real heaven and hell. Go back to those basic things. I think, you know, if you, if you, you know, you can come to different views about how to tie those things in, but allow that to give you an understanding of the Bible, give you a passion for the Bible. But also, and I don't want to, I don't want to miss this. In our time, just talking about this prophecy is a. As an unbelievable tool for evangelism. Tons of people got saved from the late great planet Earth in 1970s. The, the Left behind books by Tim LaHaye and, and Jerry Jenkins because there's something about thinking about man. Jesus can come at any time. I'm going to stand before God someday and give an account of myself. There's a difficult time that's coming for this world in the future that cause. Causes people to think about what's going to happen to me. And so I think we want to use prophecy sometimes as a tool to, for evangelism to kind of. It can awaken people to a need for Christ that they may not sense in any other way. So I would encourage men that are listening to do that. And with your kids, again, you have to start telling them, you know, you need to receive Jesus, tell them about prophecy, and I guarantee you they're going to be asking you, okay, now how do I make sure that I'm in heaven? You know, they'll begin to ask that. So use it. Use it in that way I think is very powerful.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: That's great. That is, that is great. Jason, final kind of thoughts?
[00:40:25] Speaker A: No, I was thinking about what he had to say about, you know, when those times came out in the 70s and so forth. I remember in 1988, it was the 40 years after Israel became a nation and there was this giant Jesus is coming Back this year, it absolutely helped correct a young man from Alabama as I paid very close attention. But I agree with you. No, I really do. So just, just a quick question. So in the rapture, who do you think is going to go first? You know, the Baptist church, Christian Catholics. I'm joking. I'm joking.
[00:40:56] Speaker C: Well, it says the dead in Christ will rise first. So that's, each group says, well, you know, the Presbyterians will go first because the dead in Christ will go first. Or whatever group you. You're talking about.
[00:41:06] Speaker A: No, I just thought I'd throw that out there.
[00:41:09] Speaker B: We, Jason's got to get that. That's going to get some emails.
[00:41:12] Speaker C: Look, we're.
[00:41:13] Speaker A: We're a big rock. I'm a big rock kind of guy, you know, Jesus, that's where we'll start. And that's where I'm, I'm real happy about. No, really do appreciate you taking time out to do this and if you, I guess, you know, kind of final some questions. If you, if you had about five minutes to discuss with somebody, what, what would you leave them with?
[00:41:31] Speaker C: You mean just a person to lead them to the Lord?
[00:41:33] Speaker A: Yeah, like you got five minutes, you're in the elevator with a person.
[00:41:37] Speaker C: Yeah, well, when I start out with people, a lot of times, you know, if I just, I'll just ask somebody to. Do you ever think about spiritual things? You know, what do you, what do you think about that? You know, about, about life, where you're going. But I've got a little simple deal, you know, that you look around this world, somebody had to make everything that's here, you know. Oh yeah, there has to be a God. And everybody seems to have a sense that God would communicate. If he's going to make everything, he'd communicate. Well, what book out there, what place has the fingerprints of God upon it? What's the Bible? Because The Bible has 500 prophecies in it that have come true, literally true. There's 500 yet to become 500. That's, that's a track record. So there's a God, God spoken. The Bible gives the evidence and it's got. That it has the handwriting of God because of prophecy. Fulfill prophecy. And the Bible, you know, what does it tell us? It tells us that we're lost and you know, that we're born in this world lost and we're sinful and that we. There's a redeemer that God sent that can wash away our sins and you can come to know him. He purchased a full pardon for you at the cross. All you have to do is take it. It's. It's a gift. It's a free gift.
[00:42:38] Speaker A: I think it's no mistake why he used the term lost. As we see more people face loneliness today than they probably have ever faced in their life. Now we got all this connectivity. People are lonely, and I think that's because they're lost. Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it.
[00:42:53] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, thank you, guys. It's great, great to be with you guys. And best wishes just in the future. Keep, keep up the good work. A lot of men out there. I'm sure you're helping and encouraging, so keep, keep it up. God bless you.
[00:43:02] Speaker B: Well, we appreciate it, Dr. Hitchcock. So, folks, that is that special episode that we've been talking about, Dr. Mark Hitchcock, senior pastor at the Faith Bible Church. We're going to have all the links to the resources that he pointed out and some others that we're going to hook you guys up with at the end of our episode summary. You can find this episode in every episode at your favorite podcast platform. That could be iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify, you name it. The Jonathan Project Podcast is there. Please share this episode with men, families, women, whoever's out there that you want to encourage, please reach out and share. You can also reach us if you have a men's event. You have something going on in a business, young people, that you want to impact, please contact us at the Jonathan project
[email protected] Again, the Jonathan Project podcast, gmail.com Again, special thanks to Dr. Mark Hitchcock, being so gracious with his time and expertise, spending some time with us today. Thank you. Bless you and your families. And I'll see you guys next week.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: All right, see you, Sam.
