“And saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.”
2 Peter 3:4-6

What a tumultuous few weeks, the death of Charlie Kirk and then, in the last few days, the death of Voddie Baucham, both men who loved the Lord, were very outspoken about the truth of the scripture, and did not back down from standing for the Lord. I did not agree with Brother Voddie as far as the Calvinism that he and John MacArthur stood for, but in general, his expository teaching of the scriptures was/is very good, and I have learned a lot over the years. The explosion of Biblical truth on the airways and online has been refreshing, and it is good to see a lot of people decide to obey the Lord in salvation and baptism. It is good to see people returning to the truth.

Make no mistake, our enemies have not died or laid down; they are still very active in our governments, and more and more we can see the end times playing out before our very eyes. In Canada, our very Liberal government is moving toward a ‘voluntary’ gun buy-back or confiscation that will become mandatory by the Fall of 2026. There has never been a case in history where a government dis-armed its people and then did good by them. Free speech in Canada is dead for the most part, and one can be arrested for speech. This is already rampant in the UK, and one report said that between 2008 & 2017, some 5,300 people had been arrested in the UK for social media posts under the Communications Act of 2008. This kind of censorship is legal here in Canada, and I am sure it will be more and more enforced in the years to come.

The UK just announced that they are moving ahead with the Digital ID that will be compulsory in the next year or so. Everyone will be required to have one to work or travel. This is no less than a Governmental tracking law that will lead to less and less privacy and more control over the lives of her citizens. This is just more and more evil. Those of us who know the Scriptures understand that these things are happening as a setup for the One World System that will engulf the world and the governments of the world. We know that there will be heavy-handed tactics to force compliance with the laws of the coming World Order. In Revelation 20:4, we see that there will be a severe punishment when people defy the government.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

During the COVID control experiment, many were threatened with job loss, being shunned by family, being unable to travel, see loved ones, attend events, and the like, and the Governments of the world saw that there was still a very large group that would still say no. So, the next time that some kind of enforcement is done, it will be even heavier handed. They will shed blood and do so with the idea that they are doing society the greater good. More and more, we are seeing that our governments have been lying to us for a very long time, and they still are. As such, it will become more and more important for the Lord’s churches to be bastions of truth. But, telling the truth will make us a target to the left-leaning population around us, and to be honest, I am surprised at how many ‘churches’ are left leaning in their politics and, of course, their teachings.

This is where we find the naysayers. Just this week, I watched a short reel of a Catholic minister teaching that the Rapture is just a hoax – a story made up by Christians who are afraid of the world we live in and are looking for a way out. In 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Paul tells us that we are to live expecting Jesus to return and catch us up into the air.

“By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.”

This is not the Revelation 19 appearing; in Revelation 19, Jesus comes WITH His saints, and in the other above, He comes FOR His saints. Two very different events. But this Catholic priest said that we should just live out our days in expectation of dying because Jesus is not coming to get us. In his view, even Revelation 19 seems to be a dream, a mere story and nothing to be hoped for. In his estimation, Jesus is NOT coming back.

My question is, well then, why live for Him? If He is not coming back, He is not coming to get us, and there is no reward for obedience, then why live for Him? But we are warned by Peter in our text not to listen to these ‘naysayers.’ They don’t know the Bible, and they make stuff up. These are the same people we are told that made fun of Noah right up until the heavens opened and the waters of the firmament rained on them. God did not lie then, and He is not lying now. Jesus is coming to get us. I don’t know when; no one on earth does. Jesus will come and get us when The Father is ready. That is it.

The rapture completely mimics the traditions of the Jewish wedding that is played out for us in John 14:1-3: “I go to prepare a place and then I will come and get you.” Jesus is coming; we can see the Digital ID system being laid out for what will become the ‘Mark of the Beast.’ We can see it, and this is why we need to know the truth, so these things will not catch us off guard, nor will they unsettle us. Do they spark a bit of hesitation? Of course.

I wonder, how will this affect my family in the short run? Will this affect my ability to get a job? How long before the government goes from voluntary to mandatory? But those of us who know Jesus, who have put our faith in Him alone for the full payment of our sin debt, have this confidence that to die in Jesus is gain, and to be killed for obeying God is gain.

So let the naysayers naysay; their lies will not destroy the promises of God that one day Jesus will come to get us. I will listen to the Bible and not let the naysayers shake my faith. One day, too, they will believe in the Rapture; sadly, for them, it will be too late.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

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

Acts 11:1-18

“Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, ‘You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!’ But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying: “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, “Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.

“But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’

“And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’”

As we spiral toward the end of the Gentile age, God is doing a work to get as many saved as possible. I watched a devotional this morning by one of the men who helps me along in the ministry. He was answering the question, ‘Why would God let Charlie Kirk die?’

Often when these catastrophic things happen, we are hurt, confused, and we can come to question the person and even the character of God. Why would God let this happen to His child, to a man with two kids and a loving wife, a man who was doing good and sharing the gospel? Brother Ray pointed out that Jesus told us His life purpose in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” That was Jesus’ purpose, and it is still the purpose today. This is the main directive that drives all that God does with regard to mankind.

What we have seen in the last week or so is an explosion of the Gospel. It has reached areas that Charlie did not go, and it has reached people that he never spoke to. People who were once silent have begun to speak up. I have seen men and women who never opened a Bible, never attended a church, suddenly begin to read and attend. Charlie was simply a servant of the Lord, just like you and me, and God has the right to allow whatever is necessary to promote and push forward the goal of saving the lost.

This morning, my devotion took me through Acts 10 and 11, where Peter goes to Cornelius’ home. Peter, a Jew, enters the home of a Gentile, and he does so because God told him to do it, and when he is there preaching, God sends the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his household to show Peter that they, too, are going to be saved. Yes, the Gentiles are going to receive the Holy Spirit and be saved.

When Peter is back in Jerusalem, the elders question him about entering the house of a Gentile, and Peter recounts to them what God did. Then at the end, the elders come to the conclusion, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Yes, God has granted salvation to all who would believe, even the Gentiles.

Today we can see that the Gospel is being heard by gays, lesbians, people of all colors and creeds, and even people over in Europe, many of whom had never heard of Charlie Kirk until he was killed. But through the massive explosion of news media and the explosion of conservative uncensored news agencies, the message of Jesus, His love, and His salvation is beaming all across the globe.

You and I are no different; we are just servants, tools in the hands of God to push the mandate forward. That mandate is to see as many people saved as possible before Jesus returns and the chaos of the Tribulation begins. What the enemy meant for evil, God has turned into good. God has never been outplayed or outwitted by the forces of evil. They see the short term; God sees around the corner. They thought they were shutting up Charlie’s voice, but they awakened an entire army of persons who are refusing to shut up.

The message is not about Charlie Kirk; it is about Jesus and what He did to save the lost people of the world. The message and the mandate have not changed in almost 2,000 years; we are still seeking the lost to be saved. We are still preaching salvation by grace only, and we need to realize that God will save everyone who will call on the name of the Lord. The Jews in Peter’s Day did not think that Gentiles could be saved; they were and are still being saved millennia later.

It would be easy for us to think that this person is too far left, too far into the lesbian world, the gay world, and maybe a drag queen, BUT GOD. God will save everyone who will turn even for second to think. He will save and transform all who will call on Jesus’ name. Don’t rule people out; God doesn’t. Heaven will be filled with people we never thought would be there, and people will look at you and me and wonder how we got there. We will all get there the same way, by faith in Jesus and Jesus alone.

I leave you with 2 Peter 3:9 as a reminder to all of us Christians. God is still actively looking to save lots and lots of people.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Jesus is coming soon. Are you and I actively working in His agenda, or do we have our own?

God bless you,

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