General Articles

The Dark Powers :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10

Ephesian 6:10-12

“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. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

One of the hardest things to comprehend as saved people is the depth of evil around us. Most of us who are saved never understood the depth of our own sinfulness until we were saved. When the Holy Spirit moves in and begins to shed light on our dark areas or secret sins, our motives and the like, then we can begin to scratch the surface of how sinful we are. But men are evil, all of us, and the longer one lives without Jesus, the eviler and more susceptible to evil one becomes.

Since the pandemic came front and center to the eyes of the world, and then on top of that, the WOKE agenda that is working to take over the world, we saw, many of us for the first time, the true global reach of evil. Overnight, we saw that people could become the agents of the state and the enemies of their loved ones. We saw that people can hate you simply for having a different opinion, and we saw that truth was pushed aside in submission to feelings.

It was clear to those who could see what we are learning now that the vaccines were dangerous, that the pandemic was not as dangerous as was being promoted, and that this was a test to find out who could and could not be controlled.

We saw firsthand that a person who was your friend one day could hate you the next, simply over the belief of what was going on. Families were divided, homes divided, churches divided, friends divided, and countries divided.

Even now, the WOKE agenda continues to thrive in areas, and right now, our children are the target of their attacks. The desire to undermine the authority of the parent, and especially the fathers, is radical and forceful. All men, unless you are liberal, are bad. Even conservative gay men are dangerous, misguided, and not to be trusted.

We came to understand the global reach of the dark principalities we have spoken of here. All over the world, men and women of different ethnic backgrounds, different religions, different cultures, different languages, and different histories all began to believe and extol the same evil ‘virtues.’ They spoke almost the same words and phrases as if they had met, yet they did not know each other. Those of us who understand the scope of the evil in the world understood that this was a spiritual thing; the same evil power was evident in every government in the ‘free’ world; it seemed to frame the speeches and the laws that were made, and it still is.

We need to understand that there are serious enemies of the Lord who hate you and me, and they will stop at nothing to promote their agenda. The time may come and may already be here when we in North America who love and serve the Lord may find ourselves in grave danger.

Paul tells us that even though the people speaking are the faces that we tag, these are not the power. The real power is the principalities behind them. The faces change, people die, and new leaders get elected, but the rhetoric stays the same because the principalities behind them do not. When we get a leader who tries to go against the flow, he or she is branded as radical, racist, hateful, and the like. Those who speak the truth and point out the obvious flaws in the way that we are headed are hated and down cried by the others. They are square pegs in round holes, and the round holes are loud and violent. It will seem for a while that these principalities are winning. And in fact, for a long period of time, they have been winning. It may seem as if the ship is sinking and all may be lost.

We may begin to question if God is noticing and if he will come to help us. How much suffering will we have to endure before there is relief? That is an honest question that no one here can answer. The timing is in God’s hands and his alone. He has a plan that needs to be fulfilled, and nothing will thwart that. But there is some light that we can hold on to, some hope that will bolster us, and some insight that will help us in the dark days ahead.

Romans 3:38 reminds us that the principalities cannot stop God’s love:

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come…

Ephesians 1:20-21 reminds us that Jesus is already elevated above all principalities, “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”

In Colossians 1:6, we find that these principalities are all created by Jesus and, as such, are subject to Him; they go as far as He allows and no further. “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

In Ephesians 3:10-11, we see that the local church reveals to these principalities what will happen; they may not believe it, but we know the truth; “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And in Colossians 2:15, we find that Jesus has disarmed these principalities; they are in the death throes of their existence, and He did so at the resurrection. “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

It may not seem like it, watching from this side of eternity, but we have won. We have won the victory in Jesus. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection won the war, killed the enemy, and destroyed the principalities of darkness. Hang on; the end is near. One day, these principalities will be revealed, no longer living in the shadows and no longer strong. Soon, they will bow before Jesus and then be ushered off into the Lake of fire forever, never to wreak havoc on mankind ever again (Revelation 20:11-15).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus. And as we wait, please help us to live for you in the light of the grave danger that we may face. Lord, please help me, help us not to deny you out of fear and pain. Lord, please help us not to bring shame on you.

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

Rapture or Rupture :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR10

Author’s note: Events we are witnessing revolving around God’s chosen nation, Israel, speaks to my spirit in ways I’ve not sensed to this point. Christ’s Call to His Church must be very near indeed.

It is time as never before to look up and lift up our heads, for our Redemption (the Lord Jesus Christ) is drawing near. I.e., He is, I believe, on the very cusp of stepping out onto the Clouds of Glory to Call to Himself all believers of this Church Age –those alive and those already passed into His Presence.

I heard again this week an interview between Scottish Christian broadcaster Sheila Walsh and Dr. David Jeremiah regarding the Rapture. This and the likely Prophetic Import of things happening surrounding Israel prompted me to again post this article, which was previously posted January 3, 2022.

 Rapture or Rupture

Twenty-something years ago, Pat Robertson was on his network, Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). I remember him saying in an almost amused, mocking tone that there would be no Rapture of the church. He declared that if that were to happen, it would completely disrupt all of the human condition across the world.

Planes would be crashing, cars would be wrecking, trains would run wild, and destruction of every sort would take place in such a moment. That’s not going to happen, he said. There will be no Rapture. He implied rather that there will be a “rupture” of all culture and society across the world. The Tribulation would be the implosion that wrecks everything rather than the explosion a so-called Rapture would cause.

I remember distinctly Pat talking with his then co-host Sheila Walsh, the Scottish Christian broadcaster. As a side note, I presume Sheila has since moved on from agreeing with Mr. Robertson and his dismissing the pre-Trib Rapture “theory,” as he called it. I’ve heard her just within the past year on air with Dr. David Jeremiah, who teaches solidly on the pre-Trib Rapture of the church. She seemed to agree totally with all he said on the prophetic topic.

Over the years, there has been banter coming from those who adamantly hold that the pre-Trib Rapture is a myth. These sometimes use the word “rupture” to sneer at the idea of a Rapture, which we believe is Bible truth as taught by the Apostle Paul—and, by the way, by the Lord Jesus as well. He said the following as recorded by the Apostle John:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).  

In these words of the Lord, we are told, I’m convinced, the same as the Apostle Paul foretells.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

For all the fun-making against pre-Trib Rapture and those of us who believe it to be the next catastrophic intervention by Christ into human affairs, they can’t erase these powerful promises. That is, they can’t without spiritualizing and allegorizing as they make their case. They have to conclude that neither Jesus nor Paul meant what they said in a literal sense.

There is, however, a biblically prophetic passage that speaks, I believe, of a rupture. It is a key prophecy that will take place immediately after the Rapture of the Church. As a matter of fact, we’ve seen this rupture beginning for some time. It will be the tear in the fabric of this world system that will rip civilization the way Mr. Robertson once feared.

The prophet Zechariah forewarned of this coming rupture.

“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:3). 

The prophet is saying here that when the world takes on Jerusalem and Israel–God’s chosen city and nation—it will be a load too heavy to lift. They will be injured severely, or ruptured, in their attempt to remove the city and nation from being in the place where God put them.

We’ve seen almost daily leaders from countries surrounding modern Israel declaring they will destroy the tiny Jewish state. Those such as Nasser and Sadat have tried to do so. Israel not only remains, but is now in a stronger position than ever, even though constantly threatened.

Antichrist and his juggernaut will finally manage to invade Israel, following all of Israel’s surrounding enemies being destroyed in the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel 38 and 39. But the man of sin will, too, be severely injured and ultimately bound in chains and removed to eternal punishment. Israel will become the chief nation of the entire world during the Millennium—Christ’s thousand-year reign on planet Earth.

Thankfully, all who accept Christ now, this side of the Rapture, will not endure the rupture the whole world will suffer when God again begins dealing with His chosen people, the Jews.

Here again is how to avoid being part of that future injury—that rupture—that will condemn the soul to eternity apart from God.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).