Contrary to being accepted by those around them as promised by religious veterans, the life of a true Christian is the exact opposite. Jesus warned those who embraced Him, who  “… put their hand to the plough ….” not to “look back”–wish they had not made the commitment. Why would He have mentioned “looking back” if all was destined to go smoothly? To the contrary, the path to the Kingdom of God is rough, hard, strait and, for some, deadly as the prophets, apostles, heroes of Hebrews 11:35-38, the tens of millions who were martyred during the Inquisition and Jesus Christ Himself attest. Two facts need to be stressed at this point: 1) all of the above DIED BECAUSE OF THEIR OBEDIENCE TO GOD and 2) all were KILLED BY RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF THEIR DAY. True Christianity is not for those who need to be liked, who measure religious and social success by the number of friends they can claim. In fact, the exact opposite is true. I have often wondered how large a bribe I would need to offer in order to speak to a local congregation. I feel sure that the amount would be more than I could amass.

Those who need to be accepted by family and others can never be true Christians. God has promised that those in the saint’s family will be his/her worst enemies (Mat. 10:36). The billions of parishioners found in the Institutional Church refuse to believe the Words of Jesus Christ concerning this Truth. Unfortunately for them, this is only one of many Scriptural facts they reject. But not to worry; the God they reject by rejecting His Word (Lk. 10:17) has supposedly saved them. Next stop, heaven, which is another of the lies Satan has sold them.

God’s “little flock” number only in the thousands globally and are universally rejected, even hated by some church members. They are accused of being divisive, judgmental, narrow-minded, exclusionary, etc. Parishioners level these accusations at them BECAUSE THEY ARE TRUE. Not knowing what God wrote, the Biblically ignorant and unbelieving condemn His people for believing and proclaiming that faith in and strict obedience to the Bible constitute the ONLY  route to eternal life. A sign on a local church building states that “JESUS SAVES.” The sign makers left off the most important part–“BUT ONLY IF ONE OBEYS HIM.” The members of that denomination (and all other denominations) do not believe the added part. Obedience is not only not necessary, it is impossible. And Satan smiles.

If one accepts the fact that the Bible is the ONLY STANDARD OF SPIRITUAL TRUTH, believes and obeys that Standard, then the charges leveled by their detractors are TRUE. Therefore the world, including the church world, is RIGHT about true saints. God’s people are everything counterfeit Christians say they are. They are divisive, judgmental, narrow-minded and exclusionary, just like God, Jesus, the prophets and the apostles were, and just as His saints are today. God’s people wear the world’s accusations like badges of honor. In other words, we are GUILTY AS CHARGED. L.J.