Articles

Never Quit

One thing that is apparent from Trump’s first weeks back in office: the enemy never takes a minute off. As I write this, the ridiculous “Pentagon leak scandal” is ramping up after battle plans made their way to a reporter for the Atlantic. In reality it’s a minor issue, but the Left acts like a military coup just took place. With Chuck Schumer hunched over a batch of papers in the background, one odious Democrat congressman read from prepared remarks and claimed this was the worst leak he’d ever seen.

There must be a special level in hell for people that knowingly lie 24 hours a day.

It’s even worse in Israel, if possible. David Ben Gurion might have declared statehood in 1948, but he also allowed leftists to rule the country from within. That’s why they are still controlling the media, judiciary, and now part of the military. It is, in my view, a satanic attempt to stop men like Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu from advancing their countries’ interests.

It is literally painful to watch the damage done by covert operatives that constantly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The way I see it (for what that’s worth), there are only a relative handful of smart people making decisions. It might be time to bring in someone from the outside to make decisions. I saw this wise comment this week from Dumisani Washington, a pro-Israel Christian that fully understands the issues:

“The gravest mistake that American Christian organizations and churches are making where Israel’s war against Hamas (al-Qaeda, etc.) is concerned is not explaining that this is a religious, spiritual war. Hamas wants to kill all Israelis (Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze) and obliterate the Jewish State enroute to establishing an Islamic caliphate. They do not care about a two-state solution or any type of coexistence. Further, the same ideology at work in Hamas is what fuels the Islamists in our own country. In other words, we’re next.”

I’m not sure at all that Trump understands the existential threat from Islam. He initially wants to negotiate with Iran about their nuclear program. Then again, it might be a feint. At this minute, American aircraft carriers are in the Indian Ocean, the perfect striking position to take out Iran. This would also no doubt include the Israelis. Are we about to see what we have hoped to see for 20 years? No American president had the courage to remove this evil threat.

For our part, we have a flood of traitors in government. And media. They literally hate our country. And Israel has almost the exact same situation. This week a Jerusalem Post editorial lambasted the government for initiating judicial reform (Israel’s judiciary is awash with leftists, like ours, that want to influence policy via their activism). I remember a time when the Post was led by men like David Bar Illan and Conrad Black. Now, apparently, the Post (like the Times of Israel) prefers to undermine conservative prime ministers.

And back to Washington’s astute comment. I have noticed for a while that some pro-Israel Christian organizations are not strong enough in their opposition to evangelical leaders and organizations that in reality are enemies of Israel. Individuals like Russell Moore, Shane Claiborne, and organizations like the Telos Group…they don’t like Israel, or at least they don’t have a biblical worldview when it comes to Israel. Moore, a former leader in the SBC (now, tragically, managing editor of Christianity Today), while writing what appeared to be a supportive column on October 7, 2023 (I thought it strange his column was ready to publish the very day of the Hamas invasion), tipped his hand in the second paragraph that he does not consider modern Israel a link to the ancient prophecies of the ingathering of the exiles.

“Some might assume that evangelical Protestants automatically support Israel based on eschatological views that cast the modern state of Israel in some role in biblical prophecy. For some, this is indeed the case. Many of us, though, don’t share those beliefs. We believe the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ, not in the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence. Many of us are quite willing to call out Israel when we believe it is acting wrongly. We don’t believe the Israeli Knesset is somehow inerrant or infallible.”

There you have it. What a disgusting and smug statement. Moore says it right there: he does not see Israel as anything special biblically. This man spent a decade bringing in Reformed theology into the Southern Baptist Convention. He is also a political operative that supports leftist models. He is part of the opposition that never quits.

We have many, many enemies. We are living in momentous, tumultuous times. We must continue to pray hard and be vigilant. Educate ourselves.

They never quit.

Neither do we.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

Jimfletcher761@gmail.com

www.patreon.com/TheGodThatAnswers

Matthew 28:18-20

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

Over the past decade or so, maybe a bit longer, there has been a rise in the ‘multi’ campus churches. These so-called churches have campuses all over the world sometimes. Here in Ontario, for instance, we have a division of the Elevation church; they have campuses in New York and other regions. Sadly, one of the breakdowns in modern Christianity has been the importance and scriptural position of the local church. Most people do not have a Biblical understanding of what a local church is, and I deliberately use the term ‘a local church.’ There is no such thing as ‘the local church.’ For sure, there is no scriptural support for the Universal church.

Of course, many Protestant ‘church’ groups came out of the Reformation and, as such, took on the Catholic view of church and churches. True ana-Baptists have never identified with Rome and, as such, are not Protestant; we already observed the doctrines that Luther espoused. The very word Catholic means Universal; thus, the view is that of the universal church that is subject to the head, the Pope. Many people do not know that, for the most part, you can attend a Catholic ‘church’ assembly anywhere in the world, and the lesson for that day, that time period, will be the same no matter what country or language you are in. Each individual congregation does not teach a lesson as the Lord leads for the benefit of the local group.

Sadly, many people do not understand the idea or the doctrine of the local church. Jesus established a local church; He called out a group of men (there were also ladies; read Luke 8) who funded a lot of His ministry, and He taught them the doctrines of the Old Testament. He empowered them to go out on short-term missions two by two. He had them come back and report their endeavors. He continued to fine-tune them, and then as He was leaving, He left them with what we call The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.

As we venture into the New Testament, we will find churches at locations such as Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth, Rome, and the like. These all looked like the church in Jerusalem as far as doctrine was concerned, but they all had their own pastors and elders, sent out missionaries, and conducted business.

The word that we get church from is ‘Ekklesia’; this is a called-out (out from within the city) assembly with a purpose. Ironically, one of the best examples of this is in the book of Ruth. In Ruth 4: 1-4,

“Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So, Boaz said, ‘Come aside, friend, sit down here.’ So, he came aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, ‘Sit down here.’ So, they sat down. Then he said to the close relative, ‘Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ And he said, “I will redeem it.”

Here, Boaz is about to perform the duty of the Kinsman Redeemer; as such, he called together a city council of ten men. These men had the purpose of witnessing the redemption of Ruth and Naomi’s property and Boaz taking Ruth as his wife. These men are assembled, they have a purpose, and they conduct the business of the city. A local church is exactly the same; we assemble from within the city, and we conduct the business of the Kingdom of God on behalf of that city. Our purpose is Matthew 28:18-20, and this is the business that we do. In the same way, we are overseeing the work of Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus, who came to buy back and redeem us from Satan.

This may seem like a trivial thing, but consider that one of the issues that plagued the first church in Jerusalem was that of people not spreading out. God allowed persecution to come under the supervision of the Pharisees headed by Saul of Tarsus, and the Christians scattered and carried the Gospel to other cities. Thus, we have churches established throughout Asia Minor, Northern Africa, and into Europe. The Jerusalem church did have some initial ‘control’ over these other churches, but that was more oversight than anything else.

Eventually these churches had to live and breathe on their own, so to speak, and learn to obey the Lord and His leadership. A close look at the seven churches of Revelation will show us Jesus directly communicating with the ‘angels’ of these churches; we come to learn that the angels are the elders or, in our modern term, the pastors. Jesus led each individual church and either upbraided or commended them based on their obedience to Him. Jesus then established Himself as the Head of each local body. The pastor is never the head of a local church; he is an ‘under-shepherd’ and serves under Jesus who is the Head; see 1 Peter 5: 2-4:

“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”

Imagine if these ‘super’ churches, instead of bleeding thousands out of communities, established local assemblies that conducted the Lord’s business, and instead of one super church, we had a congregation of 10,000 now split into 20 churches of 500 serving a local community with the authority of the sending church to do church in-service to their community. What if they had 30 churches of 300 in 30 communities serving those communities? And on we could go.

A local church, in many cases in North America, is between 75-100 and can be financially self-supporting and also support missionaries. But then pastors of 100 or so are not celebrity pastors, and no one offers them book contracts. When we get this way, church becomes a job and not a calling. Jesus called the apostles to be ‘fishers of men.’ He trained them and empowered them to do the work, and it was a lifetime calling (see John 21 and Jesus calling Peter back to the work of the Kingdom).

Pastor friend, if you are in obedience to the call of God — if you are leading the church you serve to obey Jesus, live like Jesus, follow Jesus, and obey the Great Commission, and you protect and preserve the simplicity of the Gospel — you are already famous with Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, and that should be enough. Lord, help it to be enough for me.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

31 Mar 2025

The Local Church :: By Sean Gooding