Gary Rhodes, originally of Springfield, Vt., has been the pastor of the Vershire Bible Church for 21 years. The following is an edited interview.
I was twenty-five years old when I was saved. I grew up in a good moral home, but when I went to college and went out into what the Bible calls the world, I did all the things that young people do and really got quite deep into sin and confusion. I was lost on the way to hell, and I knew it.
My wife and I said one day, “Let’s go to church, maybe we missed something.” We heard the very first Sunday what Christ has done for us and we just knew, this is the truth.
I believe God has called me to be a Bible teacher. Preaching Christ is not popular, but the Bible says that all who will live godly shall suffer persecution. Anyone that's really going to live for Christ, they're going to suffer persecution.
We are a Fundamentalist Bible Church and we study it verse by verse. It’s very obvious that the Bible is to be taken literally - it’s the word of God. My personal ministry is to teach the believers, those that have accepted Christ and have been born again, but also my responsibility is to try to reach people outside of the church. That’s the purpose of this Bible study; our doors are open.
What’s happening right now in the world is, and this is my own opinion here but it fits with the Bible, the formation of a global society is taking place. There’s going to be one world leader who’s going to coordinate things and try to bring people together - we’re talking about Satan now, the Anti-Christ - but it’s not going to work. Jesus is going to return and he’s going to rapture the church up before the seven-year judgment and the thousand-year reign.
The Bible says perilous times will come, and today we are in dangerous times. People say, “What’s going to happen to this earth? Look at the economic instability, the political instability, earthquakes and famines happening like God said they would. Is this world going to self-destruct? What’s going to happen?”
Well, the Bible has all the answers. God tells us in the scriptures judgment is on the way, and it certainly appears that God’s judgment upon this earth is near. We just don’t believe that it can be much longer.