General Articles

The Criticality of Clarity :: By Dave Hubley

Published on: by RR10

I hope you will read the “Special Message” at the end of this article.

This is from the Chick.com website: “A recent study shows that over 60% of Americans no longer believe that God has any effect on their lives. Even more troubling, nearly half of self-identified Christians —and 40% of born-again Christians— believe the same thing.”

Link to article below:

https://www.chick.com/information/article?id=Can-America-Be-Saved-From-Itself&utm_medium=Email&e=20a138fd684e4a45a9c5cdcbaa18f0bc&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=2025-0404

I feel compelled to question the terminology here, so I am pasting the last portion with Emphasis added by me.

[and 40% of born-again Christians— believe the same thing.]

For the purpose of making my point, I am going to add a phrase to the above statement {in Italics} that I think should have been included either in the original question to the “Christian” respondents or perhaps as a footnote to the final posting.

[and 40% of {people who claim to be} born-again Christians— believe the same thing.]

One of the most serious degradations to genuine Christianity by today’s culture is a broad perception of hypocrisy. Accusing Christians of that is nothing new. In fact, one might say to any unbeliever who makes that excuse when declining our invitation to come to church might accurately be, “Well then, come on in; there’s always room for one more!” All levity aside, the church does not hold a monopoly on hypocrisy.

However, sometimes, accusations of hypocrisy in or by the church are not possible to refute because it does, in fact, exist, and we should be willing to acknowledge it.

The True Church is comprised of fallible human beings, just as the rest of the world is.

So, the extra scrutiny of everything Christian should, I believe, make us extra cautious about how we present our concepts to the unbelieving world.

We should do this with the awareness that no matter how careful we are, accusations will come because it is really a spiritual war we are engaged in.

But we continue to march.

God is in the midst of the details.

This same confusion that seems to be invading the True Christ-honoring and believing Church can best be expressed by a modification to the old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt”: perhaps by changing it to “familiarity breeds indifference.”

Indifference to the accurate understanding of what it means to be “born again,” what truly defines it, and how that definition relates to the present-day unsaved culture and even to many genuine believers.

Some may think I am being somewhat judgmental. If so, I fall back on the Scriptures to explain my thoughts, fully cognizant of Jesus’ warning against being judgmental without examining yourself first, but not against discerning and evaluating circumstances and observations based on the Truth of God’s Word.

The promise: “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” (Acts 2:38).

The Ministry and purpose of the Holy Spirit: “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13a).

Our responsibility: Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

The Plumbline Jesus established for us to observe: “Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:20).

Emphasis in the above four verses added by me for clarity.

Scriptures cannot be broken: “and the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35b).

How seriously should the Church view this terminology, and should we validate the claim people are making when they declare that they are “born again” to be sure that they truly are before posting it and allowing the unbelieving world to decide to define it in their own terms, or worse, mock it as a form of entertainment.

Is it possible that a truly born-again believer can actually claim that God has no effect in their lives? Would the Holy Spirit allow that to happen without convicting the one who makes that claim? I’m not sure, but I am concerned.

Why this is so important: The term “born again” appears fairly often in this deteriorating modern culture. In very general terms, it seems to fall into three categories.

> By believers who truly understand that it means a genuine spiritual regeneration (rebirth) from their former spiritually dead condition into eternal life by the promise of God and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

> By “believers” who repeat the phrase because they have heard it said but do not understand it. They might be those who claim to be Christian because they live in America, or their parents or grandparents were perceived to be (or genuinely were), or even just because they went to church every Sunday.

> By the unbelieving world who hold the term “born again” in derision for a myriad of reasons. Unfortunately, the reasons would require an entire volume of books to cover all the manifestations that it takes. Suffice it to say, they mock and deride, not because it is not an accurate description of a True Follower of Jesus Christ but because they embody the Truth of God’s Word in today’s perishing world.

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1 and 53:1).

Now to the crux of this article.

The Lord Jesus Himself, the very foundation of our eternal life, made it clear in unequivocal terms how important it is to properly understand and receive this spiritual rebirth.

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Emphasis added.

Can we hold to anything less? I believe that before we accept anyone’s declaration of that spiritual rebirth and declare it to the world, we should make sure they understand what it means. If we do that, then we have done our due diligence as Christ’s witnesses.

The state of salvation of any individual is truly known only to God. When we understand what is meant by the Word of God – Jesus Christ, the Living Word –  and the written Word of the Scriptures, we can fully comprehend the importance of this verse:

“For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

The Plumbline Jesus established for us to follow: “Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:20).

From the same article: “George Barna, director of research at Arizona Christian University, didn’t mince words: “…nothing short of sweeping national repentance and spiritual renewal can save America from itself.”

I completely agree with this statement from that article and applaud Mr. Barna for making such a sobering and truthful declaration and making it so clear.

Many people, both Christians, and Non-Christians, have noticed or are beginning to see the flat and meaningless tripe of the past several decades, the empty promises and the obvious lies about “God is dead,” the world is becoming a better place, blah, blah, blah.

Perhaps they don’t realize where to look for answers: Truthful answers.

This satanically inspired lie appears to be falling apart as the weight of the reality of current human events, the empty and meaningless prognostications of the world, and the Truth of God’s Word shines its Light and Truth for anyone who has ears that are willing to hear and eyes that are willing to see – and a heart that is willing to repent.

I truly hope and pray that the optimism that is also expressed in this Chick.com article reflects the beginning of a massive harvesting of souls into the family of God as He prepares to execute the final stages of His plan for the end of the age.

Let us, who are truly born again, pray without ceasing.

In the meantime, we cannot be too careful about defining Christian terminology and legitimacy in order to fulfill the directive/command given us when communicating to the unsaved world.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

The special message I promised you:

For anyone who may read this article and has not trusted in Jesus Christ and therefore has no hope or peace in your life.

You can have hope. You can have the peace that Jesus has promised to all who have made Him their Lord and Savior. The peace that passes understanding.

It requires that you come before God on His terms and that you do so in your living years.

And, what are His terms according to His Word?

  • Genuine repentance (turning to God instead of continuing to reject or ignore Him).
  • Confession of sins (that you are a sinner and acknowledge that to God).
  • That you understand that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
  • To acknowledge to God that you are unable to pay that debt.
  • Belief that Jesus Christ paid your death sentence for you on the cross and rose from the grave three days later, conquering death, just as He promised.
  • To believe that Jesus is the Way, the only Way, that God has established by which humans may be saved from the consequences of their sin and rebellion.

God has made it absolutely clear that there is no one who comes before Him, under His terms, that will be refused.

  • No one: no race, no color, no country of origin, regardless of any previous belief system: no one.
  • No matter what your past sins have been, God can and WILL forgive you because He says He will.
  • Salvation is available to everyone without any exceptions.

If you put all your trust for salvation in Jesus, and Him only, you can follow that prayer up by simply saying, “Thank you, Father God, for hearing my prayer and saving me,” because we can trust Him to keep His Word. He always has. He always will.

“Truly, Truly, I say to you that he who hears My words and believes the One who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed from death to life” (John 5:24).

There are no answers and there is no hope in the world by governments, organizations, politics or politicians. There are only lies and deception. But you can have the Truth and the peace you seek.

The answers are in the Word of God—The Bible. If you ask God, with all your heart, He will hear you.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Pro Salvator Vigilans                      

To contact me: canoeman96@gmail.com

The Signs of the End :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10

Matthew 24:3-8, 23-25

“Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows….

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.”

Just last Saturday, I was walking into one of my manager’s offices, and all three managers on site asked me what the signs of the apocalypse were. I had to think for a minute, and it would have been able to get to the sensational things like wars and pestilence and the like, but over and over again in this passage, in fact, three times, we are warned not to be ‘deceived,’ and in another verse not to ‘believe’ what you are hearing about Jesus being here and there.

As children of God, we should be ready to answer these questions. People, even lost people, know that something crazy is happening. There is something going on beneath the surface, and they can’t put their fingers on it. There is a great division in households with those who are ‘woke’ and their partners or kids who are ‘awake.’ There are those who can see the deception and those who have swallowed the deception hook, line and sinker. There is real division, as Jesus said there would be; a man’s enemies will be the very persons in his household.

Sadly, this deception has crept into churches; too many want to look to the world system and embrace the lies. The idea of ‘inclusion’ has crept in to pervert the Gospel, and now our true living God is the bad boogeyman because He has strict rules about entering Heaven. Jesus is the only way is now a statement of hate, and all of a sudden, churches can’t say that because it is not about love. This is heresy.

I just saw a situation at a church where the speaker, I will not call him a pastor, stated in relation to a teaching that Jesus did, that Jesus needed to be re-educated about the subject and that, had Jesus lived in the modern times, He would not have said what He said. This is blasphemy.

To openly state that Jesus needed to learn something is crazy. Yet there are hundreds of ‘churches’ that speak this same drivel every week, and they are filled with people who amen and agree with this heresy. The deception is real.

There are other deceptions like someone telling his congregation that most people are good people. This is a direct contradiction of Romans 3:10-18. In this passage, we are all evil and unable to help ourselves; we are in need of a Savior.

There are old deceptions that still run rampant today like we need to work to be saved or stay saved, and there is a select group that is going to Heaven, and no one else gets to go. I had a family member make a statement about my FIL, saying that even if he did call on Jesus, maybe Jesus was not listening because he was not one of the called. Heresy. The Bible tells us that ‘all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved,’ yet this idea that they are in some specially selected group is so very popular.

There are many other deceptions; we can go on and on about them. Girls can be boys and vice-versa, and if you say differently, it is because you are hateful. The truth has become hateful. The truth about salvation has become hateful. There is a hatred for the Gospel, for the word of God in its basic purity and simplicity that is so real and dangerous. There is a hatred from the ones who are deceived that is pointed at the ones who have seen the ‘light’ and come to understand that there is good and evil, right and wrong, light and dark, and one has to choose.

There is a deception in our schools masked as education that is indoctrinating our kids against their own parents and teaching them to hate them. There is a deception in our government that tells parents that their children belong to the collective society and not to the parents. There is a deception that has people truly believing that the Government is their friend. Government is the new ‘god.’ The ‘god’ who determines what is true, what is right, and the one who makes sure that the ‘poor’ have their fair share of someone else’s goods.

There is a deception amongst us that tells many of our people that we can solve the world’s problems without God. All we need is more laws, more government intervention, more oversight, less freedom, and if we can all just get along. But that is not the case; our overlords are simply getting richer, taking more of our freedoms, and, in many cases, trying to kill us in the guise of health care.

There is a deception that tells us from the pulpits of the world systems that only if there were fewer of us, we could save the planet. They tell the masses not to have babies, but they do. They tell the masses not to own homes, but they own multiple homes. They tell the masses not to get married, but the elites’ kids are still marrying. They tell the masses that there is no need for privacy, but they have tons of secrets. They tell the masses not to buy cars, but they own planes and travel all over the world. They are liars, and they have told the lies so much that the truth is no longer even wanted, furthermore needed.

Jesus warned us that this deception would be so ‘good’ that it may even deceive the saved person. Yes, some of the children of God may swallow the lies, drink the Kool-Aid as they say. Too many Christians do not spend enough time on the word of God, in prayer, and in study. They have not filled their hearts and minds with the truth and, as such, are susceptible to the lies. It is a sad state of affairs.

Jesus is the Way, Jesus is the Truth, and Jesus is the Life; no one can come to the Father except through Him. This has not changed, and there are no other options for eternal life. God does not need to learn, grow, or change; we do!

The ONLY antidote to the lies is the Word of God. Get in it, read it, know it, live it, obey it, and make it your own. Never let it go; pass everything you hear through it and check to see what God says about what you hear before you accept what the masses or what the government says. As a child of God, the lies won’t take you to Hell, but it will destroy your home, your testimony, your church family, and thwart the Gospel if you let them in.

Jesus is coming soon; that is the Truth. There is no deception here.

God bless you,

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