Thought for the day

"We must get it right. The path that leads to eternal life with God is in the opposite direction of the path that leads to destruction. God designed it this way - to assure the believer that they would know when they were on the right path. It would be narrow and it goes in the opposite direction of the world.

Let me tell you a true, modern day story about the times we live in. An acquaintance of mine just came back from North Vietnam. He was on a hiking expedition through the northernmost mountains of North Vietnam. He was with a group of men and women that hiked about 400 miles. Then they continuing kayaking another 100 miles to end up in Hanoi.

North Vietnam is a communist country. But in their own way they are trying to bridge the gap with foreigners. They (the North Vietnamese government and military) treated the hikers with respect and they left the hikers alone to travel without supervision. As the hikers traveled throughout the mountains and then down to the coastline, they met many native people who allowed them to stay in their houses and eat their food, which was scarce. Most of the children speak English, but noone there knows why they speak English or where the language came from. The natives don't know the word America. They know nothing about America or its people.

The North Vietnamese government is adamantly against religious expression of any kind, however they do allow some religious influences in their country. There is a Buddhist Pagoda and a small Catholic sect in Hanoi, which is the most modern city in the Northern side of Vietnam.

As my friend was going through indoctrination, the North Vietnamese government officials explained the rules, regulations and boundaries set up for the hiking adventure. They discussed every aspect of the hike. Generally speaking there rules were no different than they would be anywhere, even here in our country - except one rule: During their hike, they cannot speak the name of Jesus. If the hikers were to break this rule, their Visa would be revoked and they would be sentenced to an indefinite stay in state prison. Here is a real life example of one of those stations along the broad path that stop those who turn or have turned toward Christ. This was in 2004.

There are two paths: The broad path that leads to destruction and the narrow path that leads to life everlasting. We need to quit wasting our time trying to merge the narrow path that leads to eternal life with the wide path that leads to destruction. They cannot merge. They never did merge. They never will merge."

Excerpt from The Power of God Thinking by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2010