Minions of Minneapolis
My great friend Jan Markell, head of one of the most Christ-centered ministries of recent decades in America, has spoken and written on the geographical area where her Olive Tree Ministries and Understanding the Times radio program have been located. She has expressed that she senses the demonic influences that have manifested in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
She and I have discussed how this region seems to be the center of Satan’s concentrated attack in very recent times. And the evidence of this demonic assault continues to mount.
My son Nathan and I were in Minneapolis just days before a direct statement by Heaven, I believe, took place in the city.
We were there on July 25, 2009, to be interviewed for the History Channel’s series The Nostradamus Effect. I remember vividly sensing a fearful ambience while there, even while being driven from our hotel to the building where the filming would take place.
Our driver, a young woman who was probably about nineteen or twenty, told us she was very nervous about having to pick up the next person to be interviewed.
She was Hispanic by ethnicity, and the man she was supposed drive to the studio next was a person she called “a white supremacist.” I could hear the fear in her voice, even though, being blind, I couldn’t see her while she was speaking.
Being the grandfatherly sort, I tried to assure her that all would be well. Any such person would be on their best behavior.
I remember the date very well because while I was in the chair to be interviewed, having the TV make-up applied, one of the film crew came in excitedly and said Michael Jackson had just died. Also, we later learned that Farrah Fawcett of Charlie’s Angels fame also had died that day.
So, it was a memorable trip to that city, now so central to what Jan and I agree have been evil doings going on.
Less than a month after Nathan and I visited Minneapolis, as stated above, Heaven made a direct statement about wickedness taking place in the city and area even then, before all the evil we’ve witnessed there in recent weeks.
On August 19, 2009, the first buildings on the downtown side of I94 in Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Convention Center and a church, were struck by a tornado. The twister severely damaged the convention center roof, shredded some tents on the grounds, then broke off the steeple of the church, splitting in two the cross atop the steeple before it lifted. It was 2:01 p.m. that the tornado touched down at Central Lutheran Church, the largest ELCA cathedral in North and South America, where the assembly had gathered for worship.
At the very moment of the storm, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was meeting in a convention in Minneapolis to vote on whether to begin ordaining practicing homosexual pastors. For years, liberals had tried to get this policy change through, but it had always been thwarted.
Pastors and other theologians at the time called the out-of-the-blue tornado a “warning” from God to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which had been meeting to debate a liberalized policy on homosexuality. This is also definitely my thought on this dramatic weather event that produced what was, I believe, a spiritual tornado. At least, I think it was meant to give God’s opinion about that organization’s ungodly decision.
Now, it seems any lesson from above that might have been learned has been forgotten by those in charge of things going on in Minneapolis. The darkening, demonic activity that continues to spread, considering the governmental leadership that champions anti-God comportment and the theft of billions of dollars from American taxpayers, exhibits just how prevalent the days of Lot configuration is there and elsewhere in America and the world.
And the proof that the lesson hasn’t been learned in Minneapolis is seen clearly in this news excerpt:
On Thursday, the Minneapolis City Council voted to begin the legislative process that could potentially lead to the legalization of “adult bathhouses and sex venues.”
Since 1988, adult bathhouses have been outlawed in Minneapolis. Those bathhouses, which housed saunas and pools, were almost exclusively frequented by gay men who met up for anonymous sex. As a result, the bathhouses were a hive of sexually transmitted diseases.
In Minneapolis, the bathhouses were banned largely due to the spread of AIDS throughout the gay population…
Now, the Minneapolis City Council has advanced a measure that could result in bathhouses returning to the city. In a 12-0 vote, the 13-member city council directed staff to explore changes to existing law regarding bathhouses. (“Minneapolis advances measure that could lead to legalization of ‘adult bathhouses and sex venues’” by Luke Sprinkel, Alpha News MN)
In reflecting on my brief conversation with Jan and thinking about that once-great American city, the realization struck. This city, which is obviously under satanic attack, is a target for the Ephesians 6:12 powers and principalities for reasons that make spiritual sense.
This is the area of the world where the gospel of Jesus Christ exploded onto the world in modern times. With the coming of mass communications came perhaps God’s foremost evangelist. It is a name everyone in America recognizes, and this goes for the people of most of the world as well.
September of 1950 was when Billy Graham’s organization was founded in Minneapolis.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was the very heart of powerful expansion of the saving message of Jesus Christ. Jan’s own ministry carries on that all important push to get the message that Jesus saves from this geographical area. Is it any wonder Satan and his minions wage war on this twin-city area that serves as the center for evangelization of America and the world?
Those minions of Minneapolis might seem to have the upper hand in the spiritual battle at the moment. But Jesus has spoken truth, and the victory that will belong to all who believe in Him is already accomplished.
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
“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” (1 John 4:4).
—Terry
How Much Closer Can We Get?
Over the past several years, I have written several articles about the nearness of the Revelation 6 seal judgments. In doing so, I often thought we couldn’t get any closer to the Lord’s release of the riders of the apocalypse than we already were at the time, but I was wrong.
As I look at what’s happened just since the start of 2026, I realize the world has continued to rapidly move toward the start of the Tribulation, and yet we still wait for Jesus’ appearing. I still wonder, “Can we get any closer to the time God’s wrath descends upon the unsuspecting world than we already are?”
I believe we find the answer in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8:
“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (emphasis added)
The answer is yes, it’s because the Lord is even now restraining the terrors revealed in Revelation chapters 6-18, the very ones I thought would’ve begun years ago.
Things Pointing to the End
Although the “mystery of lawlessness,” mentioned in the above passage, was already at work during the first century AD, it has grown exponentially in recent years. In the past several months, we have heard reports of how corrupt politicians have facilitated the theft of mindboggling amounts of taxpayer funds. The total exceeds several hundred billions of dollars. The numbers are impossible to fully grasp.
Almost every week, I’m shocked by reports of violence. I remember the 1960s and the violence of that era, but it’s far more widespread and common today. Just last week, I heard of shootings in Iowa City and watched videos of the huge brawl that ensued afterward, with scores of people fighting in an area where I walked even at night, years ago, without even the slightest thought of danger.
The Apostle John wrote that the “spirit of the antichrist” was already at work in his day (1 John 4:3). The dramatic rise of antisemitism during the past twenty-five years demonstrates the increased activity of this evil spirit in our day. The hatred of Israel that’s becoming epidemic in the U.S. and elsewhere is satanic and is leading to the demonic hatred of the Jewish people.
When we look at what the Bible tells us about the covenant Israel will someday make with antichrist, what we see is exactly what we would expect leading up to that time. A nation at peace with no threat from its neighbors wouldn’t seek “refuge” in what Isaiah refers to as the “covenant of death” (see Isaiah 28:15). But a nation with a long history of wars threatening its existence would do so.
Why Are We Still Waiting?
All these things, and many more, tell us that we most definitely live in the season of Jesus’ appearing. What seems like a delay to us is that of the Lord accomplishing at least a couple of purposes before His judgment arrives on the planet.
In the Old Testament, God sent multiple prophets to warn Judah of impending disaster unless the people repented of their sins. For many decades, He alerted His people to the judgment that would surely come. At the moment, I believe He’s warning the world of what lies ahead. He has sent many messengers to alert people to what the Bible says about the last days and the wrath that is coming. YouTube and the Internet contain a multitude of such messages. The widespread scoffing of our belief in the Rapture also tells me that many have heard what the Bible says about what lies ahead for the world and refuse to believe.
Given the horrific magnitude of the disasters that lie ahead for this world, might we not expect the Lord to extend His time of warning and allow many people to come to salvation in Him?
I also believe Jesus is trying to wake up His Church. Yet just like the world, the normality bias dominates the thinking of most pastors and believers. They see Bible prophecy coming to life just as we do, but they don’t believe He will intervene in human history until a distant end-of-the-age Second Coming. Until then, they assume things will somehow get better just as they have in the past.
I don’t know how much closer we can get to the Rapture. I never thought I would see so much lawlessness, violence, and demonic hatred of Israel before Jesus appears to take us home. The time of Jesus’ appearing must be ever so near.
When the Lord intervenes in our world, the Bible says that judgment will come quickly and without warning. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, Paul wrote that the Day of the Lord wrath will come upon people with “sudden destruction.” For us, the news is a whole lot better; 1 Corinthians 15:52 says that the Rapture will happen in the “twinkling of an eye.” Life for us and everyone on the planet will change in an instant.
In the meantime, we watch with great expectancy, knowing that one day our wait will end quicker than we can even imagine. We cling to the good news Paul wrote in Colossians 3:4, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
-Jonathan