No Easy Road
by Richard St.James
No Easy Road
Bible 1611.Com / Sluice Box Adventures.com / Old Paths Bible Ministries © 2008Propounds that the road in life for the true Christian is no bed of roses.
• America’s Highway To Destruction
• A Little Girl Learns in School
• Girl Meets Boy
• The Young Woman Finds Jesus Christ
• The Great Division
America’s Highway To Destruction
Unknown to the world and almost completely misunderstood by fundamentalists, or "un-believed," the following text stands as a rock in many a broken home to show forth an inexorable law with no exceptions, but for God’s grace! The phenomenon, which so completely engulfed America in the last 40 or 50 years of broken homes and marriages [destroyed families], has resulted because of man’s hatred of God and The BOOK [AV1611].In man’s depravity and sin darkened mind lays the reason for our nation plying the highway called: DESTRUCTION. The purpose of this message is to deal with the home whose members include at least one true Bible believer. In the heart of the believer is the Holy Spirit, indwelling in him since the day of his translation from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. This is "the new birth!"
The "new birth" is the most sensible and important thing that can happen to an individual, but in the eyes of the world, if that happens, that person, being guilty of receiving Jesus Christ, has entered into the ranks of the radical fringe. You see, that husband or wife, or that son or daughter, who has by faith been justified, now has peace with God. Jesus Christ brings that peace within the heart of a man, but on the outside [creating strife and division] separates him from his unbelieving loved-ones.
The believer must enter into the fray of spiritual war-fare, not only in the fight against his flesh, the world and the Devil, but he must even contend with his loved ones, yes they, of his own household. This comes into action because of the bomb leveling fact of the "new man". "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." [II Corinthians 5:17] For the sinner, who receives Him, peace is obtained, yet the world knows nothing of that peace. Jesus did not come to this earth to give peace.
"I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straightened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you,
Nay; but rather division: For henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against the mother in law."[Luke 12:49-53]
A Little Girl Learns in School
Now, once upon a time, many years ago in a "black earth" farming community of central Illinois, there was a sweet blue-eyed, blond-haired little girl who was three years old. There she was, with her backpack over her shoulders, going down the road. She was very determined to run away from her home. At that very moment her daddy was coming home in his old tried and true truck, and lo, he saw his little girl heading down that road. He says to him self, "I wonder what my oldest girl is up to?"Now, in this distant scene from many years ago, I can see her daddy stopping his truck. I see him with a broad smile on his face, as he scoops up his little daughter and brings her home.
Little did this "little girl" who was growing up know what was ahead of her down the road in the later years of her life? It would be no easy road! Now I am sure this story has been repeated so often with many of the daughters of our land. It is a story of growing up and being found moving along in the "current of this world." "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]
In the years just prior to this girl’s birth in 1959 the "fruit" of the rejection of God's Bible [AV1611] in America was brought to the foreground. Remember, ever since our nations birth our Supreme Court had steadfastly maintained the intent of our "founding fathers" as to, and concerning the requirement for our nation to preserve its Christian principles in order for it to perpetuate its existence as a nation.
In 1947, the Supreme Court, in "Everson v. Board of Education," without regard to any precedent, totally pulled out of context Thomas Jefferson's statement in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Church in reference to the "separation of Church and State." The 1947 decision in essence declared that we were no longer a Christian nation. The stage was now set for further erosion. By the time "our three-year-old-girl" was heading down the road in the summer of 1962, another decision was made for her.
The Supreme Court, in "Engel v. Vitale," decided [again without citing any prior precedent] to strike out against school prayer [June 25,1962]. This girl would never be able to participate in public school prayer. The goal simply was to get God out of our public schools.
On June 17, 1963, in "Abington v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett," the Supreme Court "outlawed" Bible reading in the public schools [without regard to any historical or legal precedent]. She would never hear the Bible read in her public school. In this decision, "Bible reading" was considered psychologically damaging. Downward we go!
With "Dekalb v. DeSpain” [1967] the decision was to not allow “The Ten Commandments" to be posted in the public schools of our land. She would not get to see "The Ten Commandments" posted on the wall of her school telling her not to lie, cheat or steal! Those "wooly-headed, bleeding-heart, knee-jerking Liberals" saw to that!
And if that was not enough, in 1980, with "Stone v. Graham" the Supreme Court decided that the word of God could not be even be mentioned in a public school. This was a long, long way from our beginnings as a nation. President James Madison once said that we should "govern ourselves according to the ten commandments of God." The stage is set!
The little girl was ready to go to school. She will be learning more than just her A B C's. She [like the last several generations] was:
1. Walking in the counsel of the ungodly.
2. Standing in the way of sinners.
3. Sitting in the seat of the scornful. [Psalm 1]
You say, "How? Aren't you just getting a bit too judgmental?"
Now just settle down! Don't be so thin skinned. Well my friend, our nation has been going down for years. Remember that Supreme Court decision of 1947? "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." [Romans 1:21
By the time she was five [1964] her educational program [with God removed] in the public school was already determined. She would not be able to see in every facet of her life the GOD of Heaven and Earth. Humanism! Humanism! A steady diet of secular humanism would be all that she would receive. But you say, "Her parents could have prevented this by instilling into her the precepts of God."
Yes I say! And no doubt they tried. They may very well have read to her this Scripture as she was growing up: "My son [daughter], if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee: so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding: Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." Proverbs 2:1-5
God intended for the rearing of children to be raised on the precepts found in Deuteronomy chapter six. Her very education should have been rooted in Bible. The "mixed counsel" she received in those years planted "the seeds of destruction" which was to come later.
Like many of the sons and daughters growing up while immersed in the ungodly counsel, she was to reap for what was sown years earlier. She was, by all accounts, "a pretty good kid" or "normal" as one would say. When she was ten, she professed to have trusted Jesus Christ as her Savior and was baptized at a good Baptist Church.
It was "the thing to do" for a young person in response to hearing the Gospel each and every Sunday. The credit really belongs to the parents who tried faithfully to have their family attending church whenever the doors were open. They did their best in the face of our nation's spiritual and moral declension to raise their children.
Girl Meets Boy
Our “little girl” now comes to her teenage years. She "outwardly” is trying to do right, yet was hopelessly "moving in step with the current" of this world.• Because she was player at the "dating game", she was loosing her purity.
• Because she heard dirty Rock music all around her when she was outside the walls and protection of her home, she was loosing her innocence.
• Because of her hearing the filthy mouths, she was experiencing the vexation of her spirit.
• Because she saw all those filthy tee shirts of her peers, she was being pulled down into the dirt.
• Because of all that TV she was seeing, she was being corrupted.
It all worked to pull her down. Now is not that what we have seen?
Removing the "Old Black Book" and the God of that Book has destroyed our youth for several generations. Look at the fruit. [Romans 1:29-32]
As I said; our teenage girl tried to do right. [Yet in hindsight with 20/20 vision, she realizes, that what she thought was right, was dead set wrong]. "Well, what do you mean? Give us an example."
Well, for instance, when a professing young Christian girl is going about trying to find her mate [that guy of her life], what should she do? The myopic ringing answer by all her peers would be loud in her ears. She is to "date with whomsoever she is pleased". No parents will be welcome here! No matter if they can see right through the entire mess with the coming tears and all the hurt, even all those future children.
Into the dating game, plays our teenage girl! Boy meets girl. Boy kisses girl! Girl falls for boy! And with the parents not in control concerning that big decision of who to marry, the parents were doomed to passively follow whatever their children's decision was, whether bad or good [which is the custom of our day]. The two then get married, which seemed to be the right thing to do. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" [Jeremiah 17:9]
At this point in our young woman’s life, everything seems to be the norm. I mean, just look at it: Boy meets girl. Boy kisses girl, and girl falls for boy, and they get married [or if they are less than honest with each other, they shack up]. Everything in view thus far in her life looks like the ordinary.
"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north: it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." [Ecclesiastes 1:4-9]
"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark." [Matthew 24: 37-38]
It is an inexorable law that is set. The circuits are established. All things are full of labor. Being filled or satisfied is not possible. There is no new thing under the sun. That is a set thing!
The Young Woman Finds Jesus Christ
Let's consider the path of this young woman who chose her course and
charted her life. She only did, what her parents did, when they were
young and setting out. Same! Same! Same! This is the same mold and
the same pattern, and it all defined by God's word, which is found
in the book of Matthew. They [the men and women] were eating and
drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage.
Now young woman gets
married and she pursues the "normal" goals. The children are born,
and the home, which is a little nest, grows. Everything appears the
same here as all across America. That is, until the exceptional
thing occurs. You see, she was still not happy deep down inside. My,
my, my! And, why was she not? She had everything! In her own words,
from a poem written at the time, she had "a loving husband" and the
"children were healthy", "her house was well furnished" and her
"needs all supplied".
But, why wasn't she happy? "The eye is not
satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." She
realized: "my needs all supplied...all except one...Cause something
was missing deep down inside. The need of it caused a great ache,
and sometimes I cried, and didn't know why."
She, as I will repeat,
was like so many of those who have been raised in Christian homes
and who have professed to have received Jesus Christ. And, as so
often is the case, she was like many who have misunderstood the true
salvation, which is shown in II Corinthians 7:9, 10.
"Now I rejoice,
not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for
ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive
damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to
salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh
death."
This young wife was at the crisis point in her life in the
fall of 1981. She further related: "All my life I'd been religious.
But what good did that do? All those years in church, just a body in
a pew." She, like Christian in The Pilgrim's Progress, had not
experienced the removal of the burden that was on her back [the
weight of sin] until she saw [by faith] Jesus Christ on Mount
Calvary.
She thought: "For I did not know the Savior or his salvation with
joy and peace. Didn't know the feel of burdens lifted, Sins forgiven
or guilt released." On December 4, 1981, the ordinary did not happen
for this young woman. No longer would things be the same in her
life. She heard "the still small voice" say to her:
"Behold, I stand
at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me"
[Revelation3:
20].
She responded to the invitation from Jesus Christ [by the Holy
Ghost] to open the door of her heart. She did this by crying out to
God from the depths of her aching soul, confessing her sin and
asking His forgiveness. Instantly, she was translated "into the
kingdom of his dear Son:" [Colossians 1: 13]. She had found
"redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:" [Colossians 1: 14].
She
had become a new creature. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new" [II Corinthians 5:17].
It could now be said of this young woman
that she had been raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, [See Ephesians 2:6]. And had become a member of
"the
church of the firstborn" [Hebrews 12:23]. This is because of the
supernatural power of the Spirit of God in the human heart. "But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name" [John 1:12].
She could
now cry out: "Abba Father!" See Galatians 4:6. The ordinary had not
happened here. It is the extraordinary. It was the supernatural.
Indeed, it was miraculous! Whenever, one lost soul comes to Jesus
Christ by the new birth, it is counter to all the natural laws that
govern this life in this sin-cursed world. It is in total opposition
to the flesh, the world and the devil!
In retrospection [years later] in her own words:
"That 'great ache' in me was godly sorrow working to bring me to
repentance! Thank God for His working in a poor, ignorant sinner's
heart- one so ignorant that I didn't even know what the 'something'
was that was missing!
Thank God for showing a poor, blind, ignorant
young woman that belief in God [which I'd had since first hearing
about Him] was not enough! I had to come to the end of myself, have
everything I wanted, yet be empty inside, then sorrow to repentance
and call on Jesus Christ to save and forgive me and then find that
He was the missing piece in my puzzle!!
Glory to God for showing me
the truth after I had sat in church all those years! Praise Him for
being patient with me until I came to repentance! [II Peter 3:9].
What a weight came off of me at that moment! The 'great ache', the
puzzle of the "missing" piece, forever gone, replaced with 'the
peace of God which passeth all understanding' [Philippians 4:7]"
This young woman was on the right road now [having gone through the
straight gate and was on the narrow way]. It would be no easy road.
The Bible-believing "Christian" will not only
BELIEVE but will
SUFFER for Jesus Christ's sake. "For unto you it is given in behalf
of Christ, not only to believe on him, but to suffer for his sake;"
[Philippians 1:29]. In the conversion of a man, woman or child, an
upset will occur in the inter-human relationships. This, we will
see, did happen to her. First the Principle:
The Great Division
The Great Divider is speaking: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that oveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:34-37In this bizarre passage the truth must sink into all who believe the Bible, that it will cost you something to trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation.
1. You must lose your life in order to find life. Verse 39
2. You must take up your cross and follow him. Verse 38
3. You must love Jesus Christ more than all others. Verse 37
It may actually cost a son or daughter, or a father or mother. In Matthew 19:27; Peter is talking: "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" [Verse 27]
Now what this "forsaken all" means is an eye-opener. "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life" [verse 29].
The cost that possibly can be incurred to the individual can even result with the loss of an unbelieving husband or wife in your act of "forsaking all" for Christ. Please remember, the Lord is speaking to his disciples. No doubt many of them standing there were married. Re-read it again! "Behold, we have forsaken all."
Does that mean these men left their wives [failing to honor their marriages]? No! Absolutely not! It means that when an individual trusts Jesus Christ for his salvation that the unbelieving partner may of their free will not elect to stay with the believer.
Now let's go back and see how it went for young married woman. When she received Christ Jesus, as her Lord and Savior, her family now would head one of two ways. The command from the Lord God to her as a saved wife was to believe I Corinthians 7:13-14,16. It may result in her unbelieving husband and/or the children getting saved.
She decided to by faith to fasten on to these verses in a labor of prayer for her family. She prayed for a true Christian marriage by having an attitude of subjection to own husband. [This would be a true trial of her faith by her obeying the Lord concerning her submission to her husband, and yet not crossing the line and sinning against God]. This is her testimony: "It seemed the closer I got to my husband, the harder it was to be close to the Lord, [and the reverse was true]."
Certainly the scripture shows the two ways it can fall out. Either her husband was to be drawn to Jesus Christ or he was going to be repelled. Jesus Christ is the great divider of men! Scary isn't it? Just believe the BOOK on this score. She provided by her relationship with Jesus Christ a sweet savour of Christ [A SWEET SMELL]. "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other savour of life unto life."
Now, I can see as the years went by, she grew in grace and in knowledge of her Savior and was becoming painfully aware that her husband was becoming more and more distant and even "hostile" to this "savour of Christ" or smell. Soon she would be alone and be cast off and thrown away, and "deserted" for another woman. Soon her former husband would "shove down her throat" the writ of divorce. Now she was alone! It was no easy road.
And again, I see this young woman carefully, carefully considering the words of God in Luke 9:62. "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Brethren, let's stare the stark truth in the face. Jesus Christ is come to the earth to be the great divider of men. He creates variances among human relationships even "they of his own household". And if it were not for Gods grace shown in His word in such places, as I Corinthians 7:16, there would be no hope for that household. "For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?"
It is no easy road!
End of The Age Messages
Return To Home
[THE BIBLE] This is God's Holy WORD to you and I!
Do you believe it?
The A.V.1611 [or The King James Bible] is God's word
PRESERVED in
the English language for you and me.
It came from the English Reformation.
This Bible declares that: "All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness." [2 Timothy 3:16]
God's inspired word is preserved in the A.V.1611.
The word
"preserved" means maintained inspiration.
"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in the
furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O
LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."
[Psalm 12:6-7]
[PRESERVE]
You see what God is saying here? GOD promises that no matter what
man does, even with his corrupting influence in all these Madison
Avenue money-making productions, which have resulted in over 200
"new" English translations of the Bible in the last 100 plus years, HE WILL
[in spite of the scholars]
"PRESERVE THEM FROM THIS
GENERATION FOR EVER!" Stick with the Book! Amen! Amen! AMEN!
I simply have in child-likeness believed THE BOOK
... no matter how
hard things got ... for it has BURNED in my heart for these last
thirty-four years.
I have by GRACE not gotten off course either ... for He has held me
to Himself.
God is faithful, and I [literally] have taken God at His word
concerning 1 Peter 1:5.
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready
to be revealed in the last time."
And while I have seen the Lord hold me to Himself, I have with
sadness watched as many people, churches, Bible colleges and even
our nation, are slowly slipping ... degree by degree ... away from
THE GOD of THE BIBLE.
Why has this happened?
Could it be, that we can, through unholy alliances, lose something
that we never intended to give up?
For me, Rick St.James,
I am to approach THE BOOK, as like a child, with a trusting heart
through faith.
I want to line out with that BOOK!
I want this said of me, as also was said of the believers at
Thessalonica,
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye
received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God which
effectually worketh also in you that believe." [1
Thessalonians 2:13]
What about you?
"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the
LORD. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him
with the whole heart" [Psalm 119:2]
They who keep his testimonies have a whole heart.
Their heart will approach God and His Book with total joy and
expecting to commune with the Holy God who is infinite, for this
purpose:
"Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have
I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the
way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in
thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself
in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word" [Psalm
119:12-16]
Will You Come TO Jesus Christ?
Do you believe this scripture, my friend?
Do you sense from within your heart ... the tugging and pulling of
the Spirit of God?
The Holy Spirit "will reprove the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment."
Are you under tremendous conviction of sin, and are you mulling over
within your heart the TWO WAYS in life that lie before you?
You must make a decision.
It is a matter of whether or not to go to
THE STRAIT GATE, or to stay on THE BROAD WAY!
Where are you, my
friend?
What will you do with Jesus Christ?
Will you flee from the wrath of God, and go to THE DOOR, and Knock?
If you go through this DOOR you will be on location at Mount Calvary
which place is where the weight of your sin will drop off your back
at the sight of the ONE who died for you, and
WHO shed His BLOOD for
you.
You ... my friend ... will then ... be on THE NARROW WAY TO
HEAVEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!