The Wide Gate Is Booming—Part Three

January 1, 2024

T. A. McMahon

Enter ye in at the strait gate: forwide is the gate, and broad 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 unto life, and few there be that find it.

—Matthew:7:13-14

Each part of this three-part series began with the above scriptures because we believe they capture the options the church and the world face. What's found through the "strait gate" are numerous instructions that make up the truth of God's Word. Although that gate is open to all, only those who are born again of the Holy Spirit choose to enter therein. Yet still retaining their old nature, believers can be enticed by the sins of the world. Twice in Proverbs (14:12; 16:25) we find, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death," indicating that believers can still slip into the errors of the wide gate/broad way. William MacDonald in his Believer's Bible Commentary calls the wide gate the way of a "life of self-indulgence and pleasure." Simple observation reveals that such an attraction would be the case for a majority of Christians whether they are professing or true believers. Obviously, that's more attractive than the difficulties that accompany the exhortation of "denying self" found in Matthew:16:24. What is overwhelmingly clear and increasing exponentially is that the instructions of the "strait gate" are being abandoned by the church in wholesale fashion.

In Part Two we noted prophetic verses from Scripture that alert us to such a fulfillment. Take 2 Timothy:4:3-4 as just one example among dozens that could be given: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." In fact, I don't think that there are two more fitting verses to describe the state of the church throughout the last two and a half centuries. The 1800s gave rise to the cults and spiritism. The 1900s saw the technology of radio and motion pictures become a highly favored instrument for Christian communication. In spreading the gospel, those devices seemingly held the potential for good. However, the reality is that they have spread a leaven that continues to corrupt the body of Christ by undermining sound doctrine and leading Christians astray unto fables. It's called the leaven of entertainment.

Anyone who isn't aware of the overpowering influence of entertainment in the church, especially related to youth ministry, has been spiritually comatose for decades. Moreover, what captivated them as children has continued to blind and deafen them as adults and grandparents. Examples abound among the glowing reviews and heavy support by popular evangelical pastors such as Greg Laurie (see—https ://bit.ly/3TodPup) regarding The Chosen film series produced by Mormons. The overwhelmingly successful series is without a doubt the fables of 2 Timothy:4:4 ("And they shall turn away their ears [and eyes] from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables"). Biblical definitions given for the word fables include myths, inventions, falsehoods, tales, and fictions. The Chosen is hardly the first celluloid myth to present false Christs, nor will it be the last. Many Calvary Chapel fellowships continue to show Mel Gibson's Catholic gospel presented visually in The Passion of the Christ during Easter Week (see Showtime for the Sheep, page 6).

Volumes could be written documenting the fulfillment of what the Word of God plainly states regarding 2 Timothy:4:3-4. "Sound doctrine" is used here to indicate that what is written in the Scriptures and is no longer endured is God's truth. Other than for a diminishing remnant, truth is not endured today. Why? Truth brings about conviction of sin. On the other hand, Bibles devoid of truth sell by the millions. Currently, the head of the bible-marketing pack (but not for long if the Pirate Bible and the GenZ Bible are any indication) is The Message (20 million copies sold to date). Eugene Petersen's work of blasphemy is best defined (and I mean most accurately defined) by the term sophomoric, which means "conceited and overconfident of knowledge but poorly informed and immature; lacking in maturity, taste, or judgment."

This is how Psalm:1:1 reads in the latest, "revised" edition (2018) of The Message:

How well God must like you—you don't walk in the ruts of those blind-as-bats, you don't stand with good-for-nothings, you don't take your seat among the know it alls.

This is the same verse, Psalm:1:1, in previous editions, (1993, 2003) of The Message:

How well God must like you, you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, you don't slink along Dead End Road, you don't go to Smart Mouth College.

Blasphemy, according to Noah Webster's dictionary of 1828 (which looked to the King James Bible for most of its definitions), was defined as "an injury [meaning insult] offered to God, by denying that which is due and belonging to him, or attributing to him that which is not agreeable to his nature [meaning contrary to His perfectly holy character]."

There are thousands of different bibles that have been produced to support the doctrines/agendas created by such groups that have teachings that are specific to their false beliefs. Most of the cults, in addition to the obvious Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation, have their own bibles, as do the Roman Catholic versions guided by their unbiblical Catholic dogmas. The Mormons have the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible in which he deemed it necessary to write himself into the "scriptures." The Green Movement bibles are promoted to supposedly help us save our planet environmentally and prevent a global warming cataclysm. The Christian Counseling Movement has its Christian psychology and mental health bibles as well as its self-esteem building programs. The LGBTQ Movement has bibles and books written by those who claim to be Bible-believing evangelicals, yet they endorse the sin of homosexuality for which God literally destroyed those who practiced it in Sodom and Gomorrah and its surrounding cities. We shouldn't miss the point of the seriousness of the sins of homosexuality and lesbianism. Why? Its punishment is extreme because it perverts God's design for humanity, and as a promoted lifestyle it would effectively be the end of the human race. Gays do not reproduce. That's the ultimate victory for Satan. But he has a host of others.

Snaring our children has been a major objective of the Adversary, and there seems to be no age that's too young, nor is there anything that is too wicked or vile no matter the age. Our public school-systems allow everything but the truth. Those promoting the lifestyle of transgenderism and drag queen activities have free access.

In a talk I gave not too long ago, I challenged those in the audience who had trouble believing what I was telling them about the current moral assault on our children to simply walk through a bookstore such as Barnes and Noble and peruse the materials in the "YOUNG ADULTS" section all the way down to the "BABIES & TODDLERS" section. They are literally a shop of horrors that include every form of demonic wickedness (magic, witchcraft, sorcery, homosexuality, graphic sex illustrations, etc.). They include not only story-telling books in the "YOUNG READERS" section, but many are "how to" manuals.

As many of you who follow The Berean Call are aware, the Lord has moved on our hearts a great concern for our children. To that end, we have produced a booklet titled How to Strengthen the Faith of Our Children and Grandchildren with 5-Minute Conversations. To date, we have distributed hundreds of copies and plan to continue as the Lord leads. Satan's strategy is to overwhelm young people with a flood of lies. Our response is to counter his flood with an ongoing flood of the TRUTH! Our counter-flood booklet is available for free on our website (see—https ://bit.ly/48rkA3z).

We are in a fierce spiritual battle until the Lord returns for His believers. It began with the Adversary's first words given in Scripture to a human: "And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said...?" (Genesis:3:1). Her response to Satan is a good lesson in why we are not to "dialogue" with the chief of deceivers, the father of lies. Not only are doubts raised, but humans tend to add their own contributions. Eve certainly did regarding the death penalty for disobedience: "Neither shall ye touch it," referring to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, are not God's words, they are hers. Although it may not seem like a critical addition, it's nevertheless man's addition and therefore a lie. "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" (Proverbs:30:6). As was also underscored in Part 2, the apostasy is booming well beyond the effective correction of normal apologetics.

We have, without a doubt, reached the time in which Scripture has prophesied that fewer and fewer Christians will “endure sound doctrine.” Except for a remnant that has a love for the truth, Christians in general neither have the understanding nor an interest in being like the Bereans of Acts:17:11. They were those who were commended because "they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, [as to] whether those things [that were taught to them by the Apostle Paul] were so."

What are some ways that we could go about fixing this problem? Obviously, it has to be a work of the Holy Spirit. We suggested in Part 2 that two aspects could be helpful for a correction to take place, at least in terms of turning the church back to the truth of God’s Word.

They are simplicity and conviction. Discernment requires simplicity because Satan not only wreaks havoc in the world with his lies but has mixed them with half-truths, creating an environment of ultimate complexity and widespread biblical confusion. That can be corrected by making sure we are teaching the Word of God as it's presented: simply and in truth. One cannot be convicted by the Scriptures if he or she does not understand them. Yet we are assured of that understanding: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John:8:31-32).

Although the Bible makes it clear in 2 Timothy:4:3-4 what problems believers are facing and will be facing prior to the Rapture (sound doctrine will not be endured, Christians will follow after their own lusts, following after false teachers, turning their ears from the truth, and be turned unto fables), nevertheless, God's Word does not leave believers without exhortations and instructions in how to address what's ahead."Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry" (2 Timothy:4:2,5). That can only be accomplished "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah:4:6).

The overall objective in this series is to encourage a believer to depend completely upon the Scriptures as his authority. Without that he becomes his own authority, and being a Berean becomes impossible. The process involves challenges to many things he assumes, to beliefs he failed to question. They include his presuppositions that have no basis in biblical truth. The hope is that an exercise such as this will urge believers to think and get back on track with God's Word. In our day of strong delusion just motivating them to think biblically may move them in the direction that they will receive a love of the truth (2 Thessalonians:2:10).

As we noted throughout this series, all signs seem to indicate that the return of the Lord is close at hand. Scripture tells us that Satan is fully aware of that fact and is pouring out his wrath upon the earth "because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Revelation:12:12). Nevertheless, our prayer and heart's cry is for the Lord to help us to continue in His Word.

Even so, come Lord, come quickly!

TBC

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