Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:14
Most Churches teach that believing Christians will be “raptured” off the planet before the Great Tribulation begins – A teaching I believed and taught for many years.
No one wants to go through affliction, especially a “great” affliction. A majority of our lives and our income are spent making our lives a tribulation-free zone. We endeavor to have nice homes with running water, flushing toilets, comfy beds, thermostats, and hot-water heaters.
Grocery stores have so much food that we plant flower gardens rather than food gardens.
I’m all for comfort – I spend much on the amenities of life, but I am preparing myself for the discomfort the Word says is coming.
Jacob suffered affliction; Joseph suffered affliction; Job suffered affliction; David suffered affliction. Nearly all the prophets are reported to have suffered affliction. All the Apostles suffered torture and death for their beliefs, except for John, who was given a comfy Roman prison to live out the rest of his life.
Christ was unjustly persecuted, tortured, and assassinated.
Comfort tends to make us believe we are our own savior, to forget that we have a purpose. Affliction brings us back to a heavenly savior.
Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
Psalm 119:67, 71
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent
Revelation 3:17, 19
Because comfort is universally desired over affliction, we bend the Scriptures to appease our desires, even though Christ specially told his disciples (which applies to us, also, if we seek to be his disciples) that they would face persecution.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
John 15:18-20 (see also, Matthew 10:22)
When everyone in the Bible is facing affliction for their deeply held belief in the Father and His son, why would we assume that there is an option for us to avoid pain and suffering – especially when Satan is committing his last great act of defiance?
Christ faced unjust persecution and torture. We are told to be like Christ:
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
1Peter 2:21
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
1John 2:6
We are not called to seek out affliction and suffering, but if we follow the example of Christ, it will find us.
Christ taught the multitudes (at the sermon on the mount):
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:
Matthew 7:13
Why would many chose a path that leads to destruction?
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:14
Why is this way hidden? It is hidden because we seek to “bend God’s Word to fit our lives.”
What did Christ tell them:
Because strait (stenos / sten-os’ [G4728] narrow – from obstacles standing close about – strait) is the gate,
The gate is narrow, not the path:
and narrow (thlibo / thlee’-bo [G2346] akin to the base of 5147; to crowd (literally or figuratively):–afflict, narrow, throng, suffer tribulation, trouble) is the way, which leadeth unto life,
The path is linked to suffering and affliction. Who chooses such a path?
and few (oligos / ol-ee’-gos [G3641] of uncertain affinity; puny (in extent, degree, number, duration or value); especially neuter (adverbially) somewhat:–+ almost, brief(-ly), few, (a) little, + long, a season, short, small, a while) there be that find it.
“few” refers to both the number of people and the time available. Few will enter in salvation and the time to repent and change is diminishing.
Faith in the Father is declining rapidly.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/us-churches-closing-religion-covid-christianity
In an appeal to dwindling attendance, the churches are competing to be the most inclusive, and must therefore repudiate the Word that makes its new parishioners uncomfortable.
The younger generations are not being taught the Father’s directions. Faith is unintelligible, obedience is unimportant, and doctrine is changed at the whim of man. It is no wonder the youth of today are unimpressed by the churches. Who would want to stand with a group that stands for nothing . . . and that nothing becomes less nothing with each new influencer and each new government mandate.
Telling people that “God loves them just the way they are” does not promote self-improvement and hides the fact that Christ will return as a judge. Any guesses as to the standard he will use to judge us?
He ate with sinners, but he did not condone their sinful behavior. He told the woman caught in the act of adultery, “go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11)
What is “sin”? Is there a universal standard?
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1John 2:4
Maybe we should stop thinking and teaching that it is something we can decide for ourselves (which is a major reason for the rise in lawlessness in our land).
Tribulation is coming. You are not going to be sucked up into the air to escape it. You need to decide whether you will bend yourself to the truth of the Word of God or whether you will join the many that are distorting the Word and promoting lawlessness.
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Revelation 22:14, 18-19
