The Naysayers :: By Sean Gooding

2 Peter 3:4-6

“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.”

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

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