Narrow is the Road

Narrow is the road
John’s gospel records Jesus as saying,
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6.
I’ve heard many non-Christians say there are many ways to heaven. The question I would ask is, are there?
What if as Christians believe there is only one way to heaven, that being through Jesus?
Jesus said,
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13,14.
It to my way of thinking is logical that God would make a single road to heaven. A road that I believe is through Jesus Christ.
The way I see it is if I and other Christians like me are wrong then we have nothing to fear by following the teachings of Jesus, because in doing so we will have lived a good life.
C. S. Lewis said,
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” C. S. Lewis.
I believe it is of infinite importance.
What do you think?
Please think about it.

The Biggest Idiot

The Biggest Idiot
The apostle Peter states,
“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  
Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” 2Peter2:1,2  
In my previous blog I quoted evangelist Charles H. Spurgeon as saying,
"A time will come when instead of the shepherds feeding the sheep. The church will have clowns entertaining the goats." Charles H. Spurgeon.
Strange as it seems I understand what Spurgeon is talking about. You see before I retired I was a professional clown and magician. I always said it was my job to make people believe I was the biggest idiot in the room. I use a carefully scripted combination of words and movement to make people think things came out of thin air.
Every sentence I used every move I made was there to fool my audience. Like any good magician I used just enough truth to make things plausible. The rest was pure deception.
Sadly it is the same with many pastors and evangelist. Particularly those in the media.
While there are some very honest men and women in the media. There are also a lot of charlatans. Their only purpose to build themselves up and line their pockets.
These are the people that the apostle Peter was talking about in 2 Peter 2:1.2.
Unfortunately as someone pointed out to me in church many of these false teachers have become the face of Christianity here in North America. They have done exactly what Peter said, brought “the way of truth into disrepute”.
As Christians. True believers in Christ Jesus, we must be on our guard. We must make sure not to support such ministries.
I feel if we support any ministry we have the right to ask questions. Especially financial questions. We need to ask where every penny is spent. Even to the point of asking the salary and benefits the pastor or evangelist gets.
I know the church I attend every year gives account to its membership where the money goes and that includes the pastors salary.
Finances aside we also should be asking basic questions as to what the doctrinal statement of the ministry is and examine what the pastor or evangelist is saying.
If things don’t add up or there is any doubt in your mind you shouldn’t be supporting them.
There are many good ministries out there who are speaking the truth. Who are financially responsible. Taking care to spend every penny prayerfully. Ensuring what is spoken from the pulpit is doctrinally correct. These are the ministries we need to support.
Please think about it. 

Peace

Peace

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD'S temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 
Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 
Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.” 
                                  Micah 4:1-4.

I firmly believe that one day all mankind will live in peace with one another. But man cannot do it alone.
Man has shown how selfish and self centred he is throughout history. One statistic I read stated that there has been but a few days of true peace in all the history of mankind. Through the centuries man has become more and more violent. Another statistic states the twentieth century seen more deaths due to violence and war than all others combined and the twenty-first century seems to be continuing to add to the deaths.
Mankind it seems cannot live at peace. Man doesn’t seem to see all men as brothers with rights given to them by God. The right of freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom to enjoy life. To as the Americans say, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It seems there is always some despot out there trying to impose their will on people. Love seems to be slipping away in our global society.
Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society.  Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.
                   Abba Hillel Silver.
It seems as our society becomes more secular it is becoming more violent.
Around the world terrorist groups like ISIS, rather than seeing the one true God, they are fashioning a god after their violent twisted beliefs.
Mankind is on a slippery slope that is leading to a lake of fire and brimstone and he cannot stop the slide himself.
Man needs to turn to God.
God sent Jesus into this world to show how much He loved mankind and today there are an estimated 2.2 billion Christians. Jesus has been called the Prince of Peace. Not only that most religious leaders in the world recognize Jesus as at the very least a great moral teacher.
Sadly however the majority of the world wants nothing to do Jesus and his teachings They wish to blunder on doing their own thing and getting nowhere.
Eventually however as the Prophet Micah said,
“In the last days the mountain of the LORD'S temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 
Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 
Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.” 
                                  Micah 4:1-4.
It will indeed be a momentous day in history. I know many reading this will not believe it. But it’s what I believe as a Christian.
The Lord God of Jacob will one day make himself known to modern man in the flesh and he will bring peace to all mankind.
Something mankind will never do himself.
Think about it.