Enter ye in at the straight gate, for broad is the gate, and wide is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth to life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:13-14

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the father, but by me. John 14:6

Those of us who live in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky are all too familiar with narrow country roads. In many rural areas, two-lane roads are unheard of. To pass someone else coming from the other direction, you have to scoot to the edge of the shoulder, hoping the other vehicle will do the same on the opposite side of the road. Sometimes, there still isn't room, and one vehicle or the other has to back up to a space wide enough for the other car to pass. Tourists, of course, either don't know the rules of the road or don’t care. Besides causing a lot of heard feelings among the locals, that has the potential for causing serious injury or death. Fortunately, there isn't a heavy volume of traffic on most such roads, so the problems aren't severe.

Just like mountain roads, Christians have a reputation of being narrow in their opinions and beliefs. Words like "intolerant" and "bigoted" are among the nicer terms that the world uses to describe us. After all, we have the unmitigated gall to claim that all of the other great religions of the world are false, and that Jesus Christ is the world's only hope of salvation. We also deny that alternative lifestyles like homosexuality and promiscuity are legitimate expressions of personal freedom, and actually claim that fetuses are human beings. After all, the world claims, there are no moral absolutes, and there is no divine arbiter of human morality.

Jewish leaders hounded Christians everywhere they went, and Stephen wasn't the last one they killed (Acts 7:59). The Roman Empire took a similarly dim view of the early church. Christians were traitors to the state, as personified by the Emperor. The apostle Paul, a Roman citizen, was fortunate; according to tradition, he was killed by strangling, quickly. Peter, again according to tradition, was crucified upside down, because he didn't think he was worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. Other early martyrs were burned at the stake, or torn apart by wild animals for the sport of Roman spectators. Through all of the ages since, the world has seen Christianity as a threat that should be eliminated.

The road to eternal life is narrow for two reasons: there is only one way to get in, and not many people choose to go. In a typical strategy of attacking the messenger instead of the message, the popular media claim that Christians are narrow-minded for insisting that Jews and Muslims , among others, can never go to heaven if they persist in their beliefs. We are simply repeating what Christ clearly told us. If we stand idly by while the rest of the world goes to hell, as millions do every year when they die without Christ, their blood is on our hands. From the days of King Herod forward, the world has always hated the Truth of Christ, and our time is no different.

Besides persecution, direct or indirect, the world has other ways of attacking our faith. Since Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution, secular scientists and teachers have tried to understand and explain the universe without God. Humanist scholars attack the Bible as a collection of ancient myths, while liberal journalists ridicule the whole idea that Christ was all he and we claim him to be. A recent network documentary, posing as serious research, all but called Christ and his church the greatest farce in human history.

What are we to do in the face of these kinds of attacks, some of which may be directed against us personally? First of all, we must be firmly rooted in our faith. As the old saying goes, a man who doesn't know what he stands for will fall for anything. How can we defend what we believe if we don’t know what we believe? In my new church, I'm taking a "foundations" class, even though I've been a practicing Christian for almost thirty-nine years. It never hurts, even for "old" hands like me, to take a refresher course. We should know the Word of God better than any other book or any other subject. Jesus used the Word against Satan, and defeated the Devil's efforts to turn the tables. We can only speak with the authority of the Word when it's a part of us.

Next, we must be consistent in our lives and testimony. That doesn't mean we'll be perfect, but it does mean we must maintain Biblical standards in our day to day lives. It means remaining on intimate terms with the Father through prayer, worship, and devotions. It also involves not being ashamed to confess Christ no matter where we are, in the face of ridicule or hostility, or among family and friends. We defeat Satan, the book of Revelation says, by the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11).

The blood of the Lamb - the world calls us "the slaughterhouse religion," because we put such emphasis on the shed blood of Christ. It is the blood of Christ that saved us, and that same blood cleanses us from sin after we belong to Christ (1 John 1:9). As long as we remain under the blood, nothing the Devil and the world do can harm us. Our bodies may die, yes, but Satan can never snatch us away from Christ. Our Way is not popular; the world hates us, just as Christ warned it would. The broad road, the superhighway, is fast and fun, but it ends at a precipice. The easy way out is a ticket to Hell, and there are no return flights.

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JESUS IS the Bridge Ministries

Beneath His Wings Devotionals - Vol. 2