Judges 2: 11-19

¹¹ Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; ¹² and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. ¹⁴ And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So, He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

¹⁵ Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so.

¹⁸ And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. ¹⁹ And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.”

There has been a cry out against the idea of Christian nationalism over the past few weeks, and there are a lot of videos accusing many prominent conservatives of being ‘Christian Nationalists.’ I am a Christian, and I love Canada. I know that the only way to save Canada, or any nation for that matter, is to return to the God of the Bible in our homes and our schools. If we as a nation will humble ourselves and obey God, He will save our nation.

I was reading this morning how God protected the nation of Judah because Asa, a good king, humbled himself before God. I recently saw that Poland has made Christianity the official religion. This is a slippery slope; one cannot legislate obedience to God.

Now we have the Ten Commandments, and these are the basis for the laws that govern most Western nations, but serving Jesus is a free-will choice; it cannot be legislated. Each man must have the freedom to either worship or not to worship the God of the Bible. Over and over again, we see that the Pharisees tried to kill Jesus because He taught a different religion (look at Matthew 12 1-14, Mark 2:23-3:6, Luke 6: 1-11). Over and over again, we see that – when we mix religion and politics – freedom to be different always dies first.

Just yesterday, I was watching an undercover reel from one of the main mosques in London, England, and there, the woman teaching the other women made it clear that the penalty for leaving Islam is death. I can think of many people over the years that have left Islam to follow Jesus; they are under the threat of death. In contrast, I know of many professing Christians who have ‘left’ the faith. They decided that Jesus was no longer for them. While we pray for them, anguish for them, and fear for them, no Christian I know has suggested hunting them down and killing them.

When we look into the passage from the Book of Judges, we see the beginning of a pattern that would be repeated for 400 years under the Judges and then for another 400 years under the King of Israel. When there was a Judge or King that obeyed God, the nation, in general, obeyed God. But, and it always happened, when there was a Judge or King that did not follow God, the people strayed away into idolatry and demon worship.

It is essential that people obey God based on a personal encounter and true belief in Jesus – that they have a full reliance on Jesus’ finished work on the cross and the empty tomb as the salvation they have and hold on to.

I would love for our leaders here in Canada to espouse the ways of God; to run the country on the laws and principles of the Scripture; it would be nice to hear my Prime Minister talk about Jesus and not about the world-ending agendas that are set up by globalists that hate everything about God. At this time in Canadian history, our government is trying to revoke the charitable status of churches or any non-profit that will not agree with them on homosexuality. They will call for taxing properties and income like a business, effectively bankrupting a lot of churches. But even with all that, I would have the separation of church and state.

The kind of power that spiritual power can offer can only be handled by one man, Jesus. One day He will merge the political and the spiritual perfectly. But even then, there will be free will. In fact, there will be so much free will that Satan will be able to make an army (see Revelation 20:7-10) to make war against Jesus. The people involved in this battle would have seen Jesus, heard Jesus, seen Him solve world problems, and seen His power; yet, they could choose not to submit to Him and instead follow Satan. This is free will, given to us by our Creator, knowing full well that free will would cost Jesus His life.

You cannot legislate people into righteousness. You cannot legislate people into Heaven. What we ask for, what we need, is simply the freedom to present the Gospel. In the same manner, the Muslin should have the freedom to speak about his religion as well. The atheist would be free to not believe and be free to not be sure. The people should be free to choose; that is all that is asked for from us who are conservatives. Let us be able to present our Biblical ideas with just as much freedom as you can present your non-Biblical ideas.

When people hear the truth, then the Holy Spirit will take that and change them. The other side knows this, and that is why they try to shut us up. The Pharisees could see the way that Jesus’ love, compassion, power, and the way He taught affected the people and drew them away, thereby diminishing the power and influence of the Pharisees. They wanted to even kill Lazarus because Jesus raised him from the dead (John 12:9-11).

I love hearing the political leaders of the USA speak about Jesus. I saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio give an excellent explanation of the Gospel recently. I know that the POTUS calls on Jesus often and that the cabinet meetings and many of the meetings begin with prayer. But I would never want to see Christianity become the ‘state religion.’ Christianity is in the hands of local churches; it is our job to spread it and teach about it, and we should not ever vacate that place to the state, NEVER. Jesus is coming to judge us, and we need to be ready to give an account of the proper stewardship of the Gospel.

Yes, I am a Christian, and yes, I pray that Canada will return to God, but of their own free will, not because of legislation from the government.

God bless you,

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

2 Corinthians 2:17

“For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”

1 Corinthians 9:18-19

“What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it. Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”

1 Timothy 5:17-18

Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and, ‘The worker is worthy of his wages.’”

There is an epidemic of money-chasing that has crept into too many churches over the last few decades. The ‘church’ has become a very profitable business, and there are a lot of men and women who have become very wealthy doing ‘The Lord’s Work.’ Many churches are huge organizations that produce millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. They have multiple campuses that can stretch over continents and across entire nations. Groups like Elevation and others have multiple campuses and even have campuses here in the Toronto, Ontario area. ‘Churches’ like Hillsong actually transcend continents, stretching from Australia to Europe to North America.

These organizations are often top-down ‘ministries’ that often begin with the best of intentions but soon become so big that compromise is inevitable. Fame, money, fortune, influence, and expansion become more important than truth.

Pastors can become dictators, and the church begins to take on their identity and not the identity of Christ. Doctrine becomes watered down, they begin to be viewed through more progressive eyes, and things, stances, and truth are re-interpreted to fit the culture and not to promote the righteousness of God. These churches, not all, but many, become man-centric and not God centric. They want to please man rather than God. Soon, the goal is to get bigger, not more Christ-like, and there is still the assumption in our churches that if one is getting bigger, if people are joining and investing, then God is in it and He must be blessing them. Jesus, on the other hand, left us this warning in the book of Revelation, 3:17-20,

“¹⁷Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

This local church here was so wealthy that they did not need Jesus. They had grown so big they no longer needed Him. Look in verse 17: they ‘have need of nothing.’. What a sad testimony of how our churches’ world is in 2025. Most of our churches have no need, yes, sadly, not even of Jesus. We can go about the ‘business’ just fine without Jesus involved. Yes, we use His name and we invoke His power, BUT in truth, it is merely ceremonial. The drive for more money has crept in, and the god of too many churches is growth. Too many will compromise for numbers in the pew.

Now, there is nothing wrong with money, and if you can build a large, Godly, doctrinally sound ministry without compromise and without dismissing Jesus, then more power to you. There is nothing wrong with a church paying a pastor and paying them well. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 5 that pastors have a right to be paid from the church that they serve. If a church is not able to pay a pastor a decent salary, they should be willing to let him work a secular job to be able to care for his family. But no pastor should bleed his local church dry financially. I have had to work a secular job for the vast majority of my years in ministry. I do not begrudge that one can work full-time, and I am not sure that I would. It may be better if our church could hire another guy and his family, and we also work a secular job to be able to have a team and ministry partner.

There are countless examples of men and, increasingly now, women who obviously do ministry for the money. They have incorporated so much pomp and excess into the services and even into the sermons that it is all about entertainment and certainly not about glorifying God or edifying His people. It should be enough to open the Bible and expound from a passage without fanfare, without fireworks, and without compromise so as to bring glory to God and growth to His people.

Now, does a church need money? Yes, it does. Can ministry be done without money? No, it cannot. But what we learn from Revelation 3:17-20 is that when we put God first, when we make sure that what we are doing is not just right but God ordained, then God will provide the riches for said endeavors. But like many Christians, a lot of churches want to be self-willed and self-powered and self-funded; you see, they see dependence on God as a weakness.

The Bible teaches that total dependence on God is actual wealth; God’s hand is not shortened. I have countless stories of missionaries who have seen God provide in the craziest ways for the needs on the field and personally. God met big needs and small needs, He met immediate needs and long-term goal needs. God did it; God got the glory. These men and their families will never be rich as the world counts richness; they may never be known as the richest persons in the world, but they are rich in Christ. He provides ALL of their needs.

Preach for the glory of God. Preach for the building of the Lord’s people. Shepherd the flock that God has given you, and if you end up pastoring thousands, rejoice. If you end up pastoring hundreds, rejoice, and if you end up pastoring a handful, rejoice. God put you where you are for His glory and to show you His power. The money will come; God is not poor. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your might. Please don’t fall in love with money. Jesus is coming soon, and judgment, we are told, begins with the preachers first.

James 3:1

“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”

God bless you,

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