Falling Into Place

Announcer: Welcome to our programming. Falling into place with host Jan Markell and Michelle Bachmann, brought to you by Olive Tree Ministries. In a fast-moving world driven by news cycle anxiety, Jan and Michelle examine breaking global headlines, cultural shifts, and geopolitics through the lens of scripture, concluding that as the Bible predicted, all things are falling into place. Here is today's programming.

Jan Markell: So folks, it's that season of the year again, and unless you people prepare for it, in other words, put your armor on, you can be dragged down emotionally and spiritually by legions of skeletons, witches, ghosts, and assorted dark images. The emphasis this time of year seems to be death and not life. Well, it's Halloween time, and it has become the second largest holiday response in the world. Witchcraft, tarot, paganism, occult spirituality have moved out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Social media is filled with paranormal and new age activity. Online marketplaces sell spells, curses, online searches for learn astrology increased almost 800% in the last year.

Searches for tarot leap to almost 600% The Bible rings true when it says in 2nd Timothy 3 that in the last days evil will wax worse and worse. I took a short trip investigating the paranormal years ago, and most people get into it. They get a wake-up call from such activity like I did in my 20s and cut it off before it got out of hand. But my entry point was seemingly innocent, naive to be sure. It began out of curiosity, out of going along with the crowd, and was rooted in our inherent desire to know the future.

The tool to do that in my world was a Ouija board, which I was introduced to at my Christian college. It was considered amusing and innocent back then. Little did we know. Now remember the film The Exorcist depicts a young girl who gets possessed by Satan after using a Ouija board. And I am convinced this can happen to anyone if they are not careful. So today, companies are trying to sell products utilizing Ouija boards, crystal balls, and more. Check this out put out by CBN.

Guest (Female): Cibola is under fire for using occultic imagery to promote the return of margaritas to some of its locations. Social media ads showing a Ouija board and then a crystal ball have Christians pledging to drop their support. Let's take a look at a couple of those ads.

Jan Markell: Raj, you know, this is this is unfortunate. This happens I feel like every year we see McDonald's and these other, you know, companies sort of diving into the occult around Halloween. But this one really seemed to go a lot wider in terms of frustration. What's your reaction?

Raj: Oof. This is this is messing with evil that wants to destroy you. I I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to paint a a pretty picture and try to be PC about this. I walk around my neighborhood and other neighborhoods and I see the outward manifestation of Halloween and it's dark and it's sinister and it's scary and it's terrifying and it's evil and um it's sadistic, it's twisted. This these decorations that people put up all over their house. I think we are seeing I'm not not that this is anything new, but the but the normalization of things that are not just um dabbling are not just innocuous, but are an outright dance party for the enemy of the king of the world at a a uh a a a celebration of the demonic, a celebration of things that are evil.

Jan Markell: Yes, a celebration of things that are evil. The named that ad campaign for the restaurant is this. Get this summoning the spirits. They have no idea what they are asking for. Contacting the spirit world is that casual. But look, all of Hollywood and the entertainment industry is promoting this. Check this short video of singer Celine Dion trying to turn newborn infants into gender neutral babies. The promo is laced with occultic overtones, pentagrams on the kids, and an overall anti-Christian theme. This has to take some kind of an award for being brazen and bizarre.

Celine Dion: Our children, they are not really our children as we are all just links in a never-ending chain that is life. For us, they are everything. But in reality, we are only a fraction of their universe. We miss the past. They dream of tomorrow. We may thrust them forward into the future, but the course will always be theirs to choose. I can't believe they called security.

Jan Markell: Look, Deuteronomy 18 explicitly condemns divination, sorcery, consulting mediums, and seeking communication with the dead. God described these practices as detestable because they represent a forbidden pursuit of supernatural knowledge and power. Ephesians 6 describes the invisible conflict against spiritual forces of the devil, requiring believers to stand firm using the spiritual armor of God. Have you seriously looked at your neighborhood this year? Yeah, take a look at this neighborhood near me. Hard to believe. So one of the most dangerous assumptions about the occult practices is that participation is harmless. It's only a game. It's just curiosity. Nobody really believes anything will happen.

Scripture never suggests that the occult experimentation becomes acceptable when participants are just curious or naive or uninformed. So during my years of occult experimentation, I was convicted because I'd been in church since age 15. I knew better. And my life was taking a terrible downward spiral thanks to this seemingly innocent participation and exploration. When I asked the Ouija board where it got its power to predict things, it spelled out Satan in seconds. Well, Satan is a liar and he comes to kill and steal and destroy, and this is a season of destruction. Keep in mind that Halloween is a special day for witches, for Satanists, and other dark forces in the demonic realm.

They say so. They even warn us. Yet the world thinks this is cute, clever, and that children should immerse themselves in these themes. And if they do, they are rewarded with candy. But here are the warnings of this ex-Satanist.

Guest (Female): Ryan Swigular, you are a former leader in the church of Satan, and you are now sounding the alarm about the demonic realities of Halloween. Can you peel back the curtain for us?

Ryan Swigular: Absolutely. Um thank you first and foremost for having me on the show. Um it's really an honor to be here. I think a good place to start is that so many people have no idea, you know, the significance of Halloween and what it means to celebrate Halloween. And I think it's also largely due to it has become part of popular culture without many people really thinking um about what it represents. And I think what's even more concerning is that there's even Christians who are celebrating Halloween. Now there's so many things to say here, but I think an important thing to say to start with is that Anton LaVey, who was the original founder of the Church of Satan in the States in the late 60s, he had a very well-known quote where he said it makes him so happy to see that Christians are allowing their children to celebrate the devil one night of the year.

And what we are doing if we are celebrating Halloween as Christians, you are actually having a one-night stand with the devil. That that's that's a simple way to put that.

Jan Markell: So the Bible is clear that the last days would be characterized by a demonic outpouring. Demons are real and the battle we wage is real. And when we see these things increasing, we are to know his return is very near. But Satan is masquerading as an angel of light wherever he can. The world is fooled during this season of witchcraft, for they think as it's outlined in Isaiah 5:20, and that is that evil is good. But every October it is as if a spell comes over the entire globe, for it's under the influence of the evil one.

Let's remember the exhortation to believers. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 1st John 4:4. But this is why believers are encouraged to be salt and light and delay the decay, to push back against this darkness, to shine with the light of Jesus, to shine a bright light amidst the darkness and the decay, and certainly not to participate in a holiday that Satan has taken over and that glorifies his kingdom, that offers only despair and death. Christians shouldn't be casual at the world's fascination with witchcraft and the paranormal, and scripture could hardly be more clear about divination, sorcery, and attempts to obtain spiritual power apart from God.

Let our banner verse be this from Ephesians 5:11. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. Well, don't be discouraged. Look up. All of this is a herald of his coming. Jesus is coming very soon to disarm the powers of darkness.

Announcer: Thanks for joining us today. Contact us through our website, olivetreeviews.org. That's olivetreeviews.org. You can call us Monday through Friday at 763-559-4444. That's 763-559-4444. We get our mail when you write to Olive Tree Ministries, Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota 55311. That's Box 1452, Maple Grove, Minnesota 55311. Join us for each program as we look up, count down, and see how all the predicted events of the Bible are falling into place.