“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:” (Matt. 7:13)
Sorrow increased exponentially, not quite to the point of despair, but not far from it at times. We speak with them about eternity, about love abounding that is waiting for them, a peaceful assurance that can make all the cares and woes of this world seem insignificant. And they listen for a few moments, smiling politely, and then thank us and go about their business on the wide path to eternal damnation.
Time after time after time.
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matt. 15:14)
We warn them that the religious ideologies they have attached themselves to are not in-line with the truths of the Word of God, that what they have allowed themselves to believe is a deceitful lie, meant at its foundation to keep them in bondage, brought by no less than Satan himself, half-truths twisted to coerce the minds of the feeble into believing how the Almighty is to be worshipped.
These rarely listen for long, instead the language of hate is hurled at us, telling us that we are the ones who are deceived, we are the ones who are on the wide path. And every time, with every one of them, our sorrow is increased, for we know their end if they do not repent.
“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” (Eccl. 1:18)
These we speak with about the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they are blatantly wicked or trapped in a religious cult of works for salvation, are all on the wide path to hell, and in my mind, I see the narrow path to the strait gate dead center in the middle of that wide path.
They assail us from both sides, they attempt to draw us away from where we are to remain, and at times we do stray, but not for long. We are the outcasts of this planet my friends, not the thieves and murderers locked behind prison bars, not those who live on the streets, the extremely wealthy who live in high towers. While the religious organizations train those who adhere to their doctrines of devils, joining in with the world when necessary for their own welfare, we remain the outcast.
“Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;” (2nd Cor. 4:9)
We will not bend, we speak love but always in firm truth.
We have been and always will be hated by this world, the world we are sent out into every day to search for the lost, and time after time we arrive back to our house in sorrow, in frustration, and if we are not careful, Galatians 6:9 will become a truth in our lives.
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
I think I understand a little better today the truth of Luke 16:31 as it applies to the wicked, those who will die in their sins.
“And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
But I still have much difficulty with those who profess to love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God who will not look to the left or the right in search of the lost.
I do not believe they have spent enough time considering hell, listening to the screams of those there, the eternal anguish of hopelessness that will never cease. I believe it is why the Lord occasionally sends someone to us, places someone in our path that truly is a brother or sister in Christ, He realizes we do not just want those moments, we need them. Not for ourselves only, but just to know that we are not alone on that path to the strait gate, that while the majority walk the wide path, there are others who also know the depths of sorrow for the wicked that we have felt.
The outcast of this earth, my friends, are the chosen.
