The Christmas Season: A Time to Give Thanks! :: By Sean Gooding

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

I pray that all is well with you at this time. We are in unprecedented times here in North America. We are hit daily with the kind of news that shakes us to the core. From the COVID situation and the serious damage done to our economy done by our government and the continuing attack on churches and other gatherings, we can see that we are in uncharted territories. Each and every day, I see and hear stories of the unprecedented toll that has been taken on many, many people. Many businesses have been lost, not just ‘mom and pop’ businesses, but large companies have collapsed with thousands and thousands out of work.

There are countless collateral deaths from furloughed surgeries and medical procedures. There has been a marked rise in alcohol abuse according to many interviews I have seen with counseling professionals; the rate of divorce is going up; suicides are going up, and on and on we go. The cure, as they say, will cause more deaths than the disease.

I was just watching a street journalist asking people how many deaths they think occurred in the US from COVID? Some thought as high as 30-40%; that would be 90-120 million persons with COVID. But the reality is that some 2,000,000 have gotten the virus, or less than 1% of the US population. Even more eye-opening, of the 20-25 persons interviewed, only 2 had known a person or of a person that had the virus. COVID is real, the deaths are real, but the way that it has been used to attack and destroy the economies of the free world is astonishing.

We have all been told that it is for the greater good; if we just comply now, soon, very soon, things will go back to normal. A first it was a few weeks, then a month, then a few months; now it has been 9 months. Today I saw an interview with Bill Gates, and he thinks it will be summer 2021 before we can have any semblance of normalcy. But remember, it is all our fault. If we had just obeyed, all would be well. They, the powers that be, are never wrong; we are. You must comply to be free; this is an oxymoron.

Then we in Canada have just found out that our fearless leader Prime Minister Trudeau has been allowing the CCP of China to train their troops here in Canada. Not just in Ontario, but in many other provinces. We recently saw emails documenting some 17 interactions where they came to us and our soldiers went to China to train. Why are we letting this enemy onto our soil? Why let them on our military bases? Why bring the only other real superpower in the world to the border of the US? Because no one wants to believe that they are evil, hellbent on the rule of the world and taking away our freedoms.

Wow, Sean, you say, I just checked the title and it talks about giving thanks. Maybe you got the wrong title or simply got off-topic. Stay with me; I promise I am not off the point. Rather, this is my point: it is easy to be thankful when all is well in the world around us. But can you and I be thankful when it seems that we are seeing the demise of all that we know right before our eyes? For the past few weeks and months really, I feel like I have been living in a Psalm 73 moment. The Psalmist was in awe of the prosperity of the wicked, it shook him to the core.

“Truly God is good to Israel,

To such as are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;

My steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the boastful,

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For there are no pangs in their death,

But their strength is firm.

5 They are not in trouble as other men,

Nor are they plagued like other men.

6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace;

Violence covers them like a garment.

7 Their eyes bulge with abundance;

They have more than heart could wish.

8 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression;

They speak loftily.

9 They set their mouth against the heavens,

And their tongue walks through the earth.”

He could not seem to get over how the evil people seemed to prosper, and they never get caught; or if they do, they never get punished. In verse 4, they even seem to die happy – “there are no pangs in their death.” But in verse 17, Asaph, the Psalmist, went into the house of God, and he understood their end.

“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.”

I am thankful that even if evil men seem to get away with evil here and prosper here, they will not escape the judgment of God. He sees it all, and they will not be able to have high-priced lawyers and friends in higher places to get them a lenient sentence with God. I am thankful that I have a Bible, a Holy Book, written by God, and in it I have the truth that settles me and steadies me in the storms of life. This Book, the Word of God that gives me hope in the hopelessness of life, gives me light in the dark world and gives me solace in the midst of great pain. I am thankful that I have a God who loves me and made a way for me in Jesus, His Son, so that I can be His child (1 John 3:1).

I am thankful for the peace that I have, both in this life and in the life to come; it is all because of Jesus and His love for me. His Holy Spirit in me helps me to have peace in the storms of life, even the storms I create. In the midst of the chaos, Jesus gives me peace; in the midst of the COVID, we have been able to pay bills and do well. In the midst of the church shutdowns, we have revived mid-week meetings via Zoom that we had abandoned for some time. I am thankful that the government cannot thwart the local church; even the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.

I am thankful that I have a great wife, a good family, and a wonderful church family. In the midst of the shutdowns, we have essentially rekindled fellowship with one of our sister churches that had dwindled to just one meeting a year or so. I am thankful for the commitment of our people, some of whom have to drive more than an hour, often in bad weather to get to church, but they are faithful. I am thankful that our church offerings have been steady, that we have been able to help a few people in need, and that God has lowered our expenses at the same time.

I rejoice and am thankful that I get to share the Gospel with people at work. Get to tell them what Jesus did for me. People ask me to pray for them, and I/we do. I am thankful that every day I get to go to a job I enjoy and where I am respected and appreciated. I am thankful that the Lord is my sanctuary, He is my safe place, and that I can trust Him when I do not understand. I can have absolute confidence that He is in control, and whether things get resolved as I think they should be, these people and circumstances are not hindering God’s plan even for a second; rather, it is simply a part of His plan to bring in everlasting righteousness. I thank God for the men and women who are willing to stand and say ‘this far and no further’ and mean it.

What about you? What do you have to be thankful for?

I thank God that He loved me and sent His Son to die for my sins. I thank God that there was a first Christmas, a deliberate place where the Saviour was born, and I am thankful there was a place where He died for me; I am thankful there is an empty tomb. Rejoice and give thanks; God loves you. God knows you by name, and He has a plan to bless us, if not here, in the next life for sure. But I am sure that if we took careful stock, God has blessed us beyond all we could truly think of.

So, I challenge you to take a day each week, maybe a day each month, and simply make it a day of thanksgiving – no asking – just thanking Jesus. From the time your feet hit the floor in the morning until you lay your head down, just thank God for all He has and is doing. Let me clarify; don’t ask anything for yourself; if someone needs prayer for help and healing, pray for them. But on that day, simply give thanks with regard to yourself. I wonder how that will change you and me? How will it change our perspective and demeanor? What would it do to our attitude, and what will it do for our relationship with the Lord and each other? It is God’s will for you to rejoice and be thankful ALWAYS!!

1 Thessalonian 5:16 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Merry Christmas

P.S. Our next lesson published will be in January 2021. We will be looking at the book of Esther.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

 

Struggling to Form the Beast’s 7th Head :: By Gene Lawley

It was a hazy, uncertain and unformed seventh head of the Beast the Apostle John saw rising up out of the sea in Revelation 13. The other six heads were well identified as kingdoms of the world, looking back to earliest civilization and to John’s time in Roman rule. Daniel’s prophecy spoke of four heads, the last one being that sixth head in which John lived. But John saw two earlier heads, or kingdoms, that reigned before Daniel’s time.

The six kingdoms have been identified as Assyria, Egypt, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Five of them had come and gone, and the sixth one, Rome, was then in power when John lived. Note also, it was the kingdom in power when Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was born.

Daniel the prophet had looked forward from his place in history and counted four kingdoms, including the one in which he then lived. He wrote of those in Daniel 2 and again in Daniel 7 to identify them, as noted above.

Two ruling kingdoms which came before Daniel were Assyria, then Egypt. Assyria is known for its Tower of Babel, and Egypt for its four hundred years of Jewish habitation and the rise of Moses to lead them out of that bondage of slavery.

What is notable about that first kingdom’s Tower of Babel is that it appears to have been an attempt to rule the known world without regard to any input from the God of the universe. God saw something in their attempt that proclaimed great danger to their future. When He looked down from heaven and assessed their intentions, He said this:

“Indeed, the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:6-7).

The Scripture goes on to say, “So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.”

What did God see in those people that caused Him to propose that there would be nothing they could not do? They were building a tower that would reach into the heavens. If, then, they could work together with one mind and one heart, they could—without God—accomplish untold possibilities. How has it worked out, even though people were scattered around the world with separate languages? Well, through the discovery or invention of the computer and all of its associated developments, man has traveled to the moon and back, has inhabited space stations, and now plans to travel to Mars. All of this is much more than just a tower, but what has accompanied that is an ongoing thought pattern that leaves God out of any place of meaningful consideration of man’s destiny.

Actually, there seems to be a more sinister and concerning reason in God’s foreknowledge of what mankind might do. A future of atomic warfare could eliminate mankind from the face of the earth. Or, perhaps He saw ahead in today’s world a more sinister and demeaning destruction of God’s highest creation that was “made in His own image,” mankind. Man’s turning away from God and into himself with the sexual perversion of homosexuality and transgender frenzy that is rampantly pushing to the front page of all cultures is exactly how Satan would seek to defame God before the universe. We must not forget that the ultimate activity is that eternal warfare between God and Satan, in which Satan relentlessly pursues the dishonor of God.

It is clear in the timeline of history that the idea of existing without God is an underlying theme that is promoted by the secular society of the world. It is the very field of spiritual warfare that has gone on since the rebellion of Lucifer in the creation of the heavens at the very beginning of God’s revelation of Himself.

A forward look in Revelation 17 ties these kingdoms into the final wrap-up of man’s struggle to obtain superiority over God’s plan for mankind. Revelation 17:10-11:

“There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.”

When the Beast is seen by John, shown in Revelation 13, it is noteworthy that its energy is so identified: “The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2b).

That thread of Antichrist is the continual thread of opposition to God and His plan for the ages, and there we see its culmination in that final eighth head of the Beast, personified in the Antichrist who will be cast into the lake of fire, alive, with the false prophet. That seventh head is said to only last a short time. That is because it is the culmination of the long drive to create a New World Order, a one-world government, which has fronted for the Antichrist since the earliest kingdom. The Antichrist is always associated with the New World Order, but the Beast is not the Antichrist until he takes over as the solitary eighth head with authority challenges put down. He, alone, wants to be God.

Meanwhile, that New World Order goal that has captured the minds of many leaders in the world, and has no room for any God of the universe who demands their obedience, is now struggling to take over.  It is described as a glorious endeavor, made for the elite and served by those of lesser prominence. This is the current evidence of that “Tower of Babel Syndrome” that has continued from kingdom to kingdom. Its connection with that sixth head of the Beast, Rome, is noted in Daniel 9:26-27, where one who is of the lineage of that ancient Roman kingdom shows up in a key role of end-time prophecy:

“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be “cut off, but not for Himself, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.”  

Those who destroyed the city and the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. did not proclaim anything about any plan to be like God and require the worship of all people. It was a military endeavor to conquer the nation of Israel. It was allowed by God to finalize His judgment upon the Jews to scatter them into all nations and tribes of the world. It took sixty-five years for the city to be abandoned. For 1,800 years the land of Israel was a desolate place and hardly inhabitable. God preserved it for the return of the Jews according to His promise, on May 14, 1948.

Much can be written about the threads of conflict that have continued over the centuries, but it now appears that the end is drawing near. Promotion of the New World Order concept has run quietly, but rampant, in the highest levels of national leadership. Such can be found easily on the internet, where the blessings and benefits, so called, are promised by Bush 41 (George H. W. Bush), for example. He touts the glories of the New World Order wholeheartedly, saying with confident certainty, “After we are successful, and we will be….” After Obama’s election in 2008, Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State under President Richard Nixon, declared excitedly, “He (Obama) has been primed to lead us into a New World Order” and “We hired him right out of law school!”

But the presidency of Donald Trump has sparked the greatest concentration ever seen in the struggle of that Antichrist side of the warfare of Satanic evil versus what is right and what is wrong. The four years of Trump’s attempts to restore law and order, social justice, and moral integrity to this nation has been met with total rejection by the leftist Democrats. It is an indictment of their bent toward destruction of the nation’s sovereignty.

Denial of the 2016 election results, and now the 2020 results from the level of legality is in the forefront of that warfare to create a New World Order as defined by the godless throng of evilness that abounds today.

The “falling away” from morality and justice in this nation, the citadel of freedom in the world, is very apparent since the 2016 election. Now, with the uncertain position of a Biden win, the far left and immoral factions are demanding strong positions for sexual immorality in his administration.

Jesus said, in Luke 21:28, “When you see these things beginning to happen, look up, for your redemption is drawing near.”

That is the hope of the believers, who are the Christ-indwelt body of resistance to that ground-swell of evil that is readying for the revealing of that one who will be the Antichrist. That is when the “Blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” will take place, and the beginning of the end of the New World Order really gets underway.

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com