Today is the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the concentration camp where over one million European Jews died or were killed by Nazis.  This is only a fraction of over six million Jews who died or were killed in all of the Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

This date officially was designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005 by the United Nations.  Here are five Holocaust memorials and museums that can be visited in the U.S.:

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C.
• The Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida
• Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, Los Angeles, California
• Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Skokie, Illinois

The NFL’s final two games, prior to Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, took place today.  In the AFC Championship game, the New England Patriots played against the Denver Broncos in Denver.  In the NFC Championship game, the Los Angeles Rams played against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle.  To see the fourteen AFC and NFC teams who played each other in the past few weeks, click here.

Today, the Patriots defeated the Broncos with a final score of 10-7.  The Seahawks defeated the Rams with a final score of 31-27.  Each of the winning teams will play each other in Super Bowl 60, in Santa Clara, California, two weeks from today.

 

At Olive Tree Ministries this weekend, Pastor Josh Schwartz and Ken Mikle talked with Melissa Dougherty.  She fell into the trap of the New Thought Movement.  Now she is combating New Age, New Thought, and Progressive Christianity.  Have you fallen into the traps of New Thought or Progressive Christianity?

         

         

         
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Today’s program, lasting 30 minutes, can be heard here:

Today is National Squirrel Appreciation Day.  It was first observed on January 21, 2001.  It is a day to encourage kindness to our bushy-tailed neighbors.  Squirrels plant seeds.  Some of the seeds eventually grow into trees, thus assisting with forest renewal.

       
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Today is a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.  He would have been 97 years old on January 15.  Each year, this holiday is observed on the third Monday of January.

       
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At Olive Tree Ministries this weekend, Ken Mikle and Pastor Josh Schwartz talked with Carl Teichrib.  Carl reminds us of the perils of paganism.  How does man become a god at “Burning Man” pagan festival?  The consequences of man’s rebellion against God are staggering as are the number of expressions of paganism today.  How can Christians counteract this?  Extended version begins at 29:03.

         

         

         

         
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For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.  Amen. (Romans 1:20-25)

Today’s program, lasting 48 minutes, can be heard here:

At Olive Tree Ministries this weekend, Pastor Josh Schwartz and Ken Mikle talked with Jonathan Brentner about the importance of Premillennialism.  This is the only eschatology that makes sense and leads to the theology of the pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.  Find Brentner’s book, Invitation to a Lavish Feast, in our online store.

         

         

         

         
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Today’s program, lasting 29 minutes, can be heard here:

The National debt of the United States (the U.S. National Debt) has surpassed another milestone high.  It now is above $38.5 trillion.

A year ago, on Jan. 5, 2025, the debt was over $36 trillion.  Since then, it has risen more than an enormous $2.25 trillion in barely a year.

There is no end in sight to the debt escalation.  Most likely, this eventually will lead to the worst economic collapse that this nation ever has experienced.

At Olive Tree Ministries this weekend, Pastor Josh Schwartz and Ken Mikle talked with Pastor Jonny Ardavanis of Stonebridge Bible Church, Franklin, Tennessee.  In this chaotic and stressful world in which we live, what must the follower of Jesus do to combat the evils and anxieties that are ever-present?  Extended version begins at 29:03.

         

         

         

         

         
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Today’s program, lasting 55 minutes, can be heard here:

Happy New Year!  I hope that 2026 is a good, favorable and prosperous year for you and yours.  Hopefully, none of your kids or grandkids went out into space on a fireworks rocket. 

       
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PDF formats

If you’ve never read the Bible straight through, from cover to cover, you might want to do it in 2026.  Go to the following page, print out the pages in PDF, HTML, DOCX or DOC format, and check off the passages as you read them:

Another option is a daily reading schedule that skips around the Bible.  I now prefer reading it this way myself.  Samaritan’s Purse has a yearly reading list, which I like, that does this.  You can download these four pages in pdf format and print them out: