Matthew 24:6-7

“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. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”

I am reading in the Book of Joshua right now, and the Jews are at war constantly to conquer the Promised Land. Every chapter almost is filled with war, battles, skirmishes, and conquests. The death toll is astonishing; entire cities, entire armies, entire peoples are wiped out and gone forever. There is bloodshed and destruction as the Jews take possession of the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Most of us have lived in times of relative peace. I have not lived in a war. There are wars all around us; when I was born in little Barbados, the Vietnam War was going on thousands of miles away. I am now 58 and there has not been a time in my life when a war of some kind was not in the news.

The British fought the Falklands War and the wars in the Middle East, which involved many countries, Kosovo, Iraq, Kuwait, and on and on we can go. But most of these wars were far away; yes, they involved US and Canadian troops, but they were far away. We experienced them through the news and various other media outlets.

In a more modern situation, many people do not understand the NATO Alliance; it is a treaty that was agreed to end the kinds of wars that came in WW1 and WW2. Many will recall that the US did not enter WW2 until after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but the war had been raging in Europe for some time. The NATO alliance is based on the idea that an attack on one member is an attack on all, with the US providing the heavy lifting in the event of an attack.

This is why the US has to keep Ukraine out of NATO; if they joined, then the US would be obligated to protect them and put US soldiers on the ground. This puts the US in direct line to be at war with Russia and perhaps China. The current administration does not want this to happen and put the US on a war path with the other two superpowers.

Sadly, Jesus told us that there are going to be wars and rumors of wars until He returns, and there is nothing we can do to stop that. It seems that men will always find a reason for war. Even in the current war in Ukraine, there have been so many deaths, so many innocent lives taken as collateral damage, and yet there is a thirst for war. God never intended this kind of carnage to take place, but man’s sin and the quest for power lead to wars.

The whole world thought that WW2 and the carnage from that would stop man’s appetite for war, but it seemed to whet it even further. In WW1, the world experienced more than 1,000,000 deaths in a conflict for the first time, and it was not even 35 years later that WW2 saw somewhere between 50-85 million deaths, depending on who is counting. WOW! It took just over 1,900 years since Jesus to get to 1,000,000 deaths in a war, and then we jumped to more than 50,000,000 in one war in less than a generation. We love war. Sinful man loves war.

There are even more wars to come. The anti-Christ will kill millions in wars; he will lead wars and attacks against various opponents and eventually attack Jerusalem itself, ending in the death of 5/6th of the people that come up with him. It is estimated by many that about 25% of the world’s population will die in the Tribulation. Now, we expect a massive loss of population in the Rapture, but even so, if there are 6,000,000,000 people left, that is the death of 1.5 billion people in a short 7 years. The carnage will be unfathomable. Once the attack against Jerusalem is done and Jesus wins (see Revelation 19:11 and on), there will be a period of 7 months that it will take to cleanse the land of the dead bodies. See Ezekiel 39:11-13:

“And on that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon-Gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day I display My glory, declares the Lord GOD.”

As you can see, even today, there are constant attacks on Jerusalem and Israel, and they will get worse and worse. Then, one day, a man will get them to agree to a 7-year peace treaty and gain fame for himself. But even that will be short-lived, and he himself will lead a war against Israel once they realize that he is not their savior and they begin to look for the real Messiah. In Revelation 13: 5-8:

“And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

The Jews realize too late that this messiah is not The Messiah but a complete fake and forgery. They rebel, and another war takes place against the Jews. Sadly, mankind has not yet had its fill of war. There are more and more wars to come, and millions more will die. Sin is expensive; the wages of sin is death, lots of death. One day soon, not too far from now, Jesus will make an end of wars for 1,000 years, and we will know what peace on earth really is. Take a look at Isaiah 2:4:

“He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Imagine a world where no one needs to learn war any longer. No need for soldiers and no guns; what a day that will be. But for now, until Jesus comes, there will be wars and rumors of wars. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Matthew 10: 16-26

¹⁶ “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; ²⁰ for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

²¹ “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! ²⁶ Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”

If you have been following the events of this past week, you may have seen the speech that Vice President Vance gave to the European Union that caused many to stir, and later, he was made fun of. In that speech, the VP made reference to a man being arrested in England for praying 50 meters from an abortion clinic; he was praying because he and his girlfriend had agreed to an abortion in their past, and he was grieved over it. He was arrested and charged.

In another example, he mentioned that in Scotland, one could be charged for praying in your own home. Persons were encouraged to snitch on people that they knew were praying IN THEIR OWN HOMES if it was too close to an abortion clinic. Here in Canada, parts of our Bible have been deemed as hate speech, and one can be arrested for speaking in public.

This kind of control surprises us in North America, but it is coming as we get closer and closer to the return of our Lord Jesus. It would seem that for now, the new administration in the US will slow down the erosion of our freedoms, especially of speech. But many parts of the world are following the EU model and telling their people what they can think, how they can pray, where they can pray, and asking the very people in their homes to tell on them.

In our text, Jesus warns us that a man’s enemies will be the very people in our homes. We saw this in COVID; homes were divided and still are, for the most part. Even in the homes of ‘saved’ people, it was clear to see those who thought for themselves and those who ‘drank the Kool-Aid,’ so to speak. The same will happen again; it will happen in our homes. Someone will call the government on their son, on their daughter, or on their parents because they heard them praying – something that was not allowed. This kind of evil will also happen in our church homes, and the ‘tares’ will spy out the liberties of the saved and cause us to be arrested, killed, and our families threatened. We are called to be wise by our Lord and to be harmless. We will not win our freedoms with violence and war.

It is okay to vote, to speak up, and to stand up, but it is not for us to kill someone for our freedoms. The truth is, we are free in Jesus. We are to expect to be threatened and, yes, even killed for the cause of the Lord. Sadly, the people who will be there to point fingers and maybe even throw the first stone will be the very people we sat at the table with. Wow, sobering.

They will accuse of not living like Jesus; the world’s view of Jesus is that He never stood up to evil, never talked about sin, never spoke about Hell and the like. But nothing could be further from the truth. They are ignorant about the Bible. Then there are others who call the God of the Old Testament an ogre. He promotes slavery, hates women, and is an unloving tyrant. We know this to be lies and falsehoods, but they hate Him. It is amazing how they hate a God they claim does not exist. Please notice that they do not have the same rage against Islam or other religions. It seems that Christianity is the most evil and dangerous ‘religion’ in the world. We know that they are wrong, but they are enraged by the indignation against the God of the Bible.

We should enjoy the reprieve that is here, and hopefully, it will spread to Canada as well. There Is a window of freedom that gives us the opportunity to speak the truth, share the Gospel, tell others what Jesus has done, pray near the abortion clinics, stop the transgendered attacks on our kids, and be louder than the lies. Soon, the tide will turn; the left will be back in power, and the march toward the loss of free speech will begin or continue again.

Don’t waste this opportunity that we have been given; it may not be afforded to us again. Our kids and grandkids need us to step up and show Jesus to the world around us. Show the real Jesus; the one who had opinions about sin and sex, the one who stood up to tyranny and still loved the slave. The one who had to suffer because sin is so egregious to God that He cannot look the other way. We need to talk about the Jesus who will return as a Judge to call out sin, right the wrongs, and eventually judge those who rejected His free gift of salvation.

No one on the left and, sadly, not too many in our churches can picture this Righteous Jesus presiding over and sending people to their eternal doom in Hell. Yes, this is the real Jesus, and we have a short window to talk about Him. Let us be about the Master’s Business.

God bless you,

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