Concerning the Essence of My Altercation with Betty and Dell Benson of Moon River Estates
As many people at Moon River may know, I came into great conflict with the Bensons in the early 2020s, which they immediately reported by posts on the Moon River Estates Community Facebook page. We will provide their posts in full here at the Monocle.
The main reason I’m reporting this incident is because I want to make clear what happened, what the issue is, and to let not only the Bensons but also everyone at Moon River, know who God is and who is a true Christian according to the Bible and God’s definition, which alone counts.
Mankind has many notions of God, as does Dell Benson who is gravely mistaken about God’s Nature, Will, Ways, and Character. Therefore, he blasphemes and thinks himself fully justified to speak rashly and ignorantly.
A few years ago, I met Betty Benson on the walking path at Moon River. She professed to be a believing Christian. After some discussion in a visit or three, I recall her saying, “Isn’t it interesting how you can just tell when someone is a Christian?” She was speaking of me in a friendly way.
We got talking more about the Lord, churches, and the Bible. She said she was of the United Church where she had been raised by her parents. She asked me what church I went to.
Marilyn and I have not belonged to any official denomination or church for many decades, since the mid-seventies. God spoke to me in March of 1976 in Prince Albert, SK, and commanded me to come out of organized Christian religion and all its institutions, churches, and influences. He told me that I needed to leave all that behind as I would leave behind my dung. Yes, He did, and we did so.
According to the New Testament that we had been so intensely studying, the apostle Paul taught that we ARE the church. The church is His Body of which all true born again believers in Him are members. Therefore, we didn’t just occasionally or weekly attend some place, building, or entity called a “church,” but we were indeed the church ourselves, 24/7, by our born again natures.
Readers, it’s all in the Bible, in the New Testament; read it for yourselves.
So, according to my understanding, I AM the church, albeit a member with many members. And I said to Betty, “I AM the Church.”
It visibly shocked her, not unexpectedly, but I was hoping she would get curious as to what I meant and ask some questions so that I could share some Biblical truth with her. That wasn’t to be. She immediately shut down the conversation, saying something like, “That’s more than I can take; I’ve had enough.” So, I left it. She went her way and I went mine.
I didn’t say anything more, holding my judgment of where she was at spiritually for another conversation. I wasn’t persuaded she was a Biblical believer, which is very rare, but more the social, customary, partisan variety, of which there are many millions.
We had learned over a half-century of walking with the Lord that most worship another Jesus, a false one, unbeknownst even to themselves. This is what I almost immediately knew of Betty. I was content to let things play out and see if I was right. Meanwhile, Marilyn and I would willingly visit with her as neighbors.
One day, she brought by a box of Christian literature and left it with us. Someone gave them to her and she didn’t want them. “Seeing you are a Christian, I thought you might be interested,” she said. I wondered why, as a professing believer, she wasn’t interested. “Did you read them, Betty?” She said she hadn’t, and that she didn’t want them back.
We talked a bit more about God and the Bible, and the subject of good and evil came up. I said, “Did you know that just as God created both light and darkness, so, He created both good and evil?” Something more Betty was shocked to hear.
“Well, that’s not true! I certainly don’t believe that! No way!”
“Do you believe the Bible?” I asked.
I don’t recall whether she said she did or not, but I went on to say, all true believers in Jesus Christ believe the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. It’s their “Manual,” and favorite book. That God created both good and evil is declared in the Bible. Opening the Bible to prove it to her, I turned to Isaiah 45: 5-7.
5 I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded you, though You have not known Me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. END QUOTE.
“Well, I don’t believe it,” Betty exclaimed, “God is good! He would never create evil.”
“Betty, this is the Bible, the Book written by God. Are you calling God a liar?”
I believe she said, as many do, “He didn’t write the Bible. Men did.”
I replied, “God inspired men by His Spirit to write the Scriptures, about 40 writers over some 4000 years, all in agreement with one another, all saying the same thing, all confirming what the others said. Same Author, One God, One Book of a compendium of 66 Books. God has provided us with the Bible to confirm our steps, to strengthen our faith, edify us, and teach us.”
Betty adamantly differed, “I don’t care what you say, it’s not true!”
“Don’t you realize that the Bible is the One Written Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, His history, lineage, and life? The Bible is the Primary Source of our knowledge of God and the Record of Jesus Christ’s earthly life. It is a Record of His birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection. It is also the Record of the True Church and its establishment by Him.”
Now here’s where the spiritual confrontation came to a head. I said, “Then, you aren’t a Christian. True Christians love the Bible. It’s their spiritual food. They won’t live without it. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes forth from God’s Mouth,’ declared Jesus when tempted in reply to Satan.
“Betty, what you believe is false and contradicts what God says, does, and who He is. You’ve never had that relationship you presume to have with the true Lord Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ of the Bible.”
“Yes, I do, and nobody but God has the right to judge me as to whether I’m a Christian or not,” she insisted (a lie that persists among nominal Christendom).
Christians are encouraged, yea, commanded in Scripture to beware of false brothers. How will they do that if they can’t judge who is true or false? Jesus said the Holy Spirit would lead His followers into all Truth, which means we can know who is a believer and who is not. The entire Bible is filled with words to attest to this truth.
“Betty, you don’t believe the Bible. Therefore, you are not a genuine Christian.”
Did I say that to hurt or insult her? NO! A thousand times, NO! I wanted her to know she was in delusion so that I could perchance lead her to life and liberty in the True Redeemer of all mankind, the ONE and ONLY Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. I wanted to see her delivered from the delusion of what the apostle Paul called “another Jesus,” the fake one fooling multitudes.
(This conversation is not verbatim, but the essence and spirit are accurate.)
Part Two to follow, including where we had a surprise visit by the RCMP, whom the Bensons had called on us.
Victor Hafichuk