General Articles

The Fullness of the Gentiles :: By Randy Nettles

Published on: by RR7

Several of Jesus’ original disciples were fishermen, including the brothers Simon Peter and Andrew and the brothers John and James (the sons of Zebedee). Luke 5:1-11 tells the story of how Jesus first met these fishermen.

“Jesus was preaching at the shore of the lake of Gennesaret and saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to go out a little from the land. And Jesus sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

“When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ But Simon answered and said to Him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.’ And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’

“For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.’ So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him.”

This was the fishermen’s first great catch of fish, but it wouldn’t be their last.

These new disciples of Jesus did indeed become fishers of men during Jesus’ three years of ministry, and especially afterward. Many Bible scholars believe there is a symbolic meaning in this ‘fishing’ experience. The men became the disciples who became fishers of men that cast their net (word of Jesus/God) into the water (Holy Spirit). The water/Holy Spirit guided the multitude of fish (souls of men & women) into the net and then into the boat (Jesus’ ministry) and ultimately into the hands of the Lord.

Jesus and his disciples caught many souls during his earthly ministry. Some of these lost souls became followers of Jesus and were baptized by the disciples with water, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given (John 4:2). Many of these followers later became ‘disciples’ (in some translations, brethren) of Jesus. After the death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus, and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the disciples became the ultimate fishers of men by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Promised

On the same day Jesus ascended back to heaven (40 days after the resurrection), he met for the last time with his apostles (original 12 disciples). “He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now'” (Acts 1:4-5). Jesus commissioned his apostles as witnesses to His ministry, resurrection, and coming ascension and to spread the gospel throughout the world. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men (angels) stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).

This is a prophecy by an angel in regard to Jesus’ ‘parousia.’ Parousia is the Greek word for ‘coming.’ It can refer to the Rapture or the 2nd Coming of Jesus. So, are these verses in Acts referring to the Rapture or the 2nd Coming? The answer is yes… both. Jesus will return “in the clouds” at both supernatural events. Don’t look around for Him on the earth; look up; he will be in the sky. “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come (50 days after Jesus’ resurrection and 10 days after His ascension), the apostles were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

During the Feast of the early summer harvest known as Pentecost, Jews from all over the known world came to Jerusalem, as it was one of the three annual Feasts of the Lord that all adult males were required to attend. Of course, the Jews spoke the language of the nation, kingdom, or tribe where they resided.

When these Jewish pilgrims heard the great sound of the Holy Spirit, the multitude came together and was confused because every man heard an apostle speak in his own language. It was like a reverse Babel incident. Instead of separating the people by making them speak different languages, this time, God brought them together by allowing them to speak the same language. This was done so the apostles could better communicate the gospel of Christ with the Jewish pilgrims who had dutifully gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Lord, known as Pentecost.

The Church of Jesus Christ is Born

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:38-41).

On Sivan 7, AD 33, Peter cast his net preaching the word of God under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the 3,000 souls that were caught on that Pentecost day was a great catch indeed. The Church of Jesus Christ was born on this day, 1,989 years ago. It will die (end) and then be resurrected to new life and purpose on the day and hour of the Rapture. When will this happen? The answer (I know it’s not the one you want) is found in the book of Romans. Paul said: “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25).

The giving of the Holy Spirit on that God-ordained Pentecost day was quite a contrast to one that happened a little over 14 centuries earlier when Moses received the 10 Commandments from the Lord on Mt. Sinai. The ‘contrast’ occurred immediately afterward when the children of Israel had Aaron make them a golden calf idol. You know the story. When Moses saw the calf and the lewd celebration, his anger became hot, and he threw the tablets of stone to the ground and broke them. Then he took the calf and burned it in the fire and ground it to powder. He then scattered it on the water and made the people drink of it.

“Then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, ‘Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!’ And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day” (Exodus 32:26-28).

So, there you have two God-ordained events both occurring on Pentecost (both on Sivan 7, according to my research).

Regarding the timing of the Rapture, and I am just speculating here and not setting dates (for nobody knows the day and hour), wouldn’t it be just like God if the 3rd (3 is the number for divine perfection) God-ordained event, the Rapture of the Church, took place on Pentecost. The coming down of God and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai to the Hebrews (and the world), the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus as Messiah (start of the Church), and the taking up to heaven of Holy Spirit indwelt Christians (end of the Church) all occurring on Pentecost. The Law was good, the giving of the Holy Spirit is better, and the Rapture will be the best. You know the old saying, “The third time is a charm.”

The Post Resurrection Great Catch of 153 Fish

In John 21, Jesus showed himself again to the apostles at the Sea of Tiberias. This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to them after He was raised from the dead. This time Jesus appeared to seven of his apostles, including Peter and John. On this day, Peter declared to his fellows that he was going to go fishing. Six of the disciples decided they wanted to go with him. They fished all night and caught nothing. “But when the morning had come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Children, have you any food?'” (John 21:4-5). Jesus then told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat and they would find some fish. They did as this stranger told them and were not able to draw the net back into the boat for the multitude of fish.

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was the first to recognize that it was Jesus they had been talking to. He exclaimed, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he jumped into the water and swam to shore. The rest of the disciples came in the little boat dragging the net with fish. Then as soon as they reached land, they saw a fire of coals there with fish and bread laid on it. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”

Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Jesus then gave them fish and bread, and they did eat. Although the number of fish caught on this day may not mean anything (other than it was an abnormally large catch of fish), many theologians throughout the centuries have believed there is a prophetic significance to the number 153.

There have been many theories given throughout the ages regarding the number of fish that were caught that day. Saint Jerome, the fourth-century historian and theologian, theorized that the 153 fishes caught by Jesus’ disciples represented all the species of fish. The fish represented all the races of man, and there was not enough room within the church to contain them all. Augustine also believed that this multitude of fish represented all kinds of men being saved by the gospel net.

Augustine and Gregory the Great used mathematics and biblical numerology to try and solve the hypothetical meaning. They both agreed that the number 17 was the main number involved within the breakdown of 153. Gregory simply multiplies 17 by 3 and again by 3 or (17 x 9), and thus arrives at 153. Augustine, on the other hand, uses addition and takes the sum of all the digits up to and including 17 as amounting to exactly 153.

Mark Becker, in his recent article on R.R., The Love of God, quotes Henry Morris, who further expounds upon Jerome and Augustine’s theories:

“The reason why the disciples were careful to count and John to record the number of fishes brought to shore must again involve symbolism, as there seems no other reason for it. It has been calculated that there were 153 distinct nations in the world at the time of Christ (the number is not much different at present); these were represented at Pentecost by 17 ethnic groups (see Acts 2:8-11) when the disciples first began to carry out the Commission, preaching to the world in miniature, as it were. The number 17 is also symbolic; when all the numbers are added up through 17 (that is, 1+2+3+…+16+17), they add to 153. One might even multiply this 17-fold security by the 9-fold fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and again there results 153-fold effectiveness in true evangelism.”

I believe the number 17 is significant in the fact that it is the 7th prime number and is the sum of 7 and 10, two of the perfect numbers of God. In this instance, the number 9 represents the fruits of the Holy Spirit. So the number 17 represents the perfection of spiritual (7) and ordinal (10) order. 153, therefore, symbolizes Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to ‘catch’ believers for the glory of God.

The Greatest Catch of All – The Rapture

When the Rapture occurs, it will be the greatest catch of souls ever in the history of mankind. This supernatural event will be the end of the church age as we know it, for Christians who are indwelt with the Holy Spirit will be removed from the earth. The Holy Spirit’s role upon mankind will change after the Rapture. Here is how the late Bible teacher, Jack Kelley, explains it:

“After the Rapture, I think the Holy Spirit will return to earth in a ministry similar to His Old Testament assignment. He’ll convict people of their sins and bring them to the Lord as He always has. He’ll be with believers and come upon them in power when needed, but He won’t be sealed within them to guarantee their salvation. That blessing belongs to the Church alone. Revelation 14:12 and Revelation 16:15 give hints that post-rapture salvation will be contingent upon obedience and faithfulness like it was in Old Testament times.” {1}

Romans 11:25 says that when the “fullness of the Gentiles” (a term for the Rapture) has come in, then Israel’s blindness will be removed. What is the number of this fullness? No human knows, but the number is huge. Consider that the world’s population is currently at approximately 7.8 billion people. It is estimated that there are 2.5 billion Christians in the world. That is 32-33% of the population. I personally believe this percentage is greatly exaggerated as many of these so-called “Christians” are Christians in name only.

Let’s be a little more realistic in our estimation and drop the percentage by 13% (number for rebellion and apostasy). That would place the percentage at 19-20% of the world population or approximately 1,530,000,000. If you break it down, it looks like this: 153 x 10 to the 7th power (seven 0’s- zeros). Peter just thought he made a great catch! It is minuscule when you look at Jesus’ (and the Holy Spirit) catch. If you believe this number of Christians to be raptured is still too high, you need to remember that all the young babies/children and those who don’t have the mental capacity to make a qualified decision for Christ will also be included in the Rapture.

This great number of souls only accounts for the living believers being taken up but doesn’t take into consideration the dead souls/spirits in Christ (coming down from heaven). They will be resurrected with a new heavenly body and will meet the living believers (who are translated also) in the air where Jesus will be. The dead in Christ consists of all those believers who have died since Sivan 7/May 22, AD 33 (proleptic Gregorian calendar) on the day of Pentecost, and up to the moment of the Rapture.

The living and dead in Christ, who will meet the Lord in the air at the Rapture, will be an astronomical multitude of souls. They will come from every nation, race, color, age, Christian denomination, and ethnicity. This multitude will include males and females, rich and poor, young and old, free and slaves from every age (1st century to 21st century) and background you can imagine. The one thing every one of them has in common is: “they obeyed the Lord their God and believed in the One He sent.” All of the redeemed will have new spiritual bodies made for eternity. Jesus Christ will then take his betrothed bride, the Church, to their new home in heaven, the New Jerusalem, and we will be with the Lord forever.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6).

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Randy Nettles

nettlesr@suddenlink.net

Endnotes: {1} www.gracethrufaith.com

Christians Have Rights Too :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR7

Acts 16:16-24, 35-40, Acts 22:22-29 (NKJV)

“Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, ‘These men are the servants of the Highest God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’ 18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour. 19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, ‘These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.’ 22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

Acts 16:35-40 “And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ 36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.’ 37 But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.’ 38 And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. 39 Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.”

Acts 22:22-29 “And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!’ 23 Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, ‘Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?’

26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, ‘Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.’ 27 Then the commander came and said to him, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ 28 The commander answered, ‘With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.’ And Paul said, ‘But I was born a citizen.’ 29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.”

Sorry for the extended texts, but it was important that we get the right context. Last Tuesday night, we had our mid-week Bible study, and we looked at this topic. It is one of those things that can get missed as we go through these texts. And truthfully, when one is reading the book of Acts like I am right now, it is easy to get caught up in the amazing exploits of the new churches, starting with the one in Jerusalem. We see Paul transform into the spiritual giant from one who persecutes our brothers and sisters, and we miss these little engagements that take place.

Most of us are familiar with the Acts 16 text, the salvation of the Philippian jailer and his whole family. We have countless songs about singing in prison and rejoicing in the storms of life. We love to talk about the way that doors magically open and that supernatural transformation of the jailer from enemy to brother. I have heard many sermons about the salvation of the man and his family, heard many references to the singing in troubled times, and I have enjoyed them. But if we truly believe that God wrote the Bible, that He used mere men and women to do the physical writing but superintended the writing of the text, then we must learn to pay attention to the little parts that seem insignificant; they are not.

Twice in the book of Acts, Paul affirms his Roman citizenship. He demands that his rights as a citizen of Rome be met, and we will look at these two examples today.

  • Wisdom and Discernment

We have this lovely sister in our church that regularly prays for wisdom and discernment in her life and in the life of our churches. We have a world around us that is running amok on emotions. Everyone has their feelings hurt, and this is seeping into the Lord’s churches and wrecking us. We need to seek wisdom and discernment to be able to counteract and defeat emotional outbursts. This is why we study the context of the Bible; we ask questions like who is speaking, to whom are they speaking, what did they say, why did they say it, and what did it mean at the time it was said? These are essential questions of discernment and wisdom; they help us to think rationally and not emotionally in most situations.

Now, there is nothing wrong with emotions; God is a God of emotions, and He gave us emotions. But we are not to be ruled by our emotions. Our emotions are to be ruled by the foundation and the truths of the scriptures.

God led Luke to write about Paul standing up for his rights as a Roman citizen twice, not once, and in different cities and situations. A Roman citizen was considered innocent until proven guilty in a court; he could not be punished until he had been proven guilty, and he had the right to appeal to Caesar, the Roman equivalent of the Supreme Court if he knew he was innocent. If we look at Paul, he was under house arrest in Rome for about 2 years, where he was allowed to see his friends and have fellowship with them. We find this in Acts 28: 11-16, 30-31 (NKJV):

“After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island. 12 And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days. 13 From there we circled round and reached Rhegium. And after one day the south wind blew; and the next day we came to Puteoli, 14 where we found brethren and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. 15 And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

16 Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him…. 30 Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.”

He had these rights as a Roman, and he used them openly, and God made sure that these events were recorded for our benefit and learning. Paul was a humble man, and he submitted to God, he submitted to the Jerusalem church leaders, and he led many local churches as well as established many of them. But he was a Roman citizen, and he asked and, as a matter of fact, demanded that his rights be honored and met.

  • Let Them Apologize, Acts 16:35-40

In the early part of Acts 16, Paul casts out the demon or demons from a young slave girl, and her master immediately turns the whole city against him and Silas. They are arrested and beaten quickly and badly. Then they are thrown into the deepest parts of the prison and held in stock. They had not killed, robbed, or even hurt anyone. They cast out a demon and made some rich people lose their source of income, and for this, they were beaten and imprisoned.

They spend a large part of the night in prison, and at midnight they begin to sing songs and praise God. The gates are opened, and not one prisoner escapes. The jailer is saved along with his household, they are baptized, and then they tend to the wounds of Paul and Silas. In the morning, the magistrates send to simply release them, and then Paul drops a truth on them that makes them shake in their boots, I am a Roman citizen. He reminded them of their actual crimes; they had beaten and imprisoned an innocent Roman citizen, and he demanded that they come and apologize to him openly as they had beaten him openly. They did. These magistrates had committed the real crimes, and they had done so against a citizen of Rome. They were in big trouble; they were afraid.

There was a time when the elected officials in our respective countries had regard for the people and even feared the people. They understood that they served at the behest of the people who elected them and not the other way around. But somewhere in the last 10-15 years, we have allowed the central control of power to be gathered to the elected superclass, and we, the non-elected masses, have surrendered our rights and powers to them.

I am reminded of a dear fellow Pastor here in Canada, Artur Pawlowski, who was arrested multiple times by the Alberta Police for holding church during the COVID shutdowns. He had grown up in Poland in the midst of communism, and he understood the path that Canada was taking. The suspension of the freedom of assembly and the looming suspension of free speech was in real danger of being taken away. We see that not long ago, our Federal Government here made the peaceful and legal assembly of the truckers illegal because it did not fit their narrative. Many people were arrested, like Pastor Artur, and held without bail. Men and women whose only crime was that they questioned the government. They were arrested, held without bail, and assumed to be guilty without a trial or any serious investigation.

Pastor Artur was also denied bail and was held in solitary confinement for long periods of time. Yet, even murderers can apply for bail; child molesters can apply and often get bail. But this dear brother was guilty before he was ever put before a court of law. He is going to sue the Alberta Government, and I pray that God makes an example of them.

Paul refused to allow his rights as a citizen to be abused and taken away without him saying something. He demanded that these magistrates come and apologize for treating an uncondemned man like a common criminal. Sadly, the injuries and damage to his body had been inflicted already, and that could not be taken back.

What we learn from this is that it is okay to be a Christian and still demand your rights as a citizen. If you refuse to ask for your rights, do not be surprised when the Government takes them. When we keep electing arrogant and elitist leaders, do not be surprised when we get treated as the dross of society and not as the gold that we are. It is okay as a child of God to ask that our rights as parents, citizens, and free people be observed and meted out to us. If we give up our rights, what have we done to our kids, and what have we taken from them?

Benjamin Franklin said this a long time ago; it is still good today:

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

We have been told over the past 2 years that we needed to surrender our liberties for the safety of our neighbors. But we need to recall that governments rarely give back what they take. There are still sections of our governments that want to retake the freedoms that we are again enjoying. And, it is important to recall that we did not get these freedoms from the government; they are rights given to us by God. It is the government’s job to make sure that those rights are never infringed upon by anyone, especially the government.

  • I was born as a Citizen, Acts 22:28

Once again, we see Paul, this time in Jerusalem, not in Philippi, standing for his citizenship. He is about to be beaten as a way of getting at the truth, and he makes those about to beat him aware that he is a citizen of Rome. The commander is also a citizen, but he paid for his. Paul’s citizenship was by birth. He demanded his rights, and what happened was that the same soldiers that were supposed to beat him became his protectors.

I am an immigrant here in Canada; I was born a Barbados. Nonetheless, I am a citizen; I took an oath in January 2006 and became a citizen. Like this soldier, I became a citizen of my own free choice, but my citizenship is no less powerful nor relevant than if I was born here.

We have certain inalienable rights as citizens of Heaven. We have a Father who will never abandon us and will always make sure we have what we need. We have an Advocate in Jesus who defends us continually, and we have eternal promises that come with the citizenship we are born into through Jesus; no one can buy their way in.

There are a lot of great lessons to be learned in the book of Acts. The preeminence of Missions and local churches, the importance of church associational work to expand and export the Gospel, and the importance of having a good ministry team and people that love you. But no less important is the need to defend our rights as citizens. If the government takes our rights by force, that is one thing, but we should not just lay down and surrender them without a fight or at least a stand.

There is a famous quote that says, ‘all it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.’

An interviewer asked pastor Artur if it was worth it to be treated this way and to be imprisoned. Pastor Artur basically said I am doing this for my kids. We need to make sure that we do not lay down and let them take our rights, thus leaving our children in a horrible world in what used to be the bastions of freedom. Christians make for good citizens, and we should never stop letting them diminish our value to society.

In every place that Christianity has flourished in history, the lives of the people have gotten better. Stop cowering; go and see how we changed history, education, science, and on we can go. But if they kill our voices and thwart our freedoms, what then?

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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