What lies beneath…

Fear not the path of truth for the lack
of people walking on it. - Arab proverb

Introduction

There's a popular maxim these days that says, 'what doesn't
kill you, makes you stronger." True Christianity can be defined in
similar terms when it maintains that we are here on earth to overcome the
tempting ease of the flesh, and that can only be accomplished by discipline,
dedication and resolve. 

Much of our human creativeness and ingenuity has been aimed
at serving humanity and making life easier, but there's another proverb that
says, 'technology is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.'
This is not to say that technology in itself is bad or evil. As
always, it is the use of these things that determines their moral
stance. But a growing by-product of our dependence on our 'devices' is
that we have become soft.

Here in America we are losing our resolve and witnessing a
generation arising similar to that which existed when the Roman Empire began to
decline. A generation saturated and seduced by a culture of distraction. For the
Romans it was the brutal spectacle of the Games in the Coliseum. Now the
brutality is 'virtual' with violent video games, or contrived wrestling
matches, which even though they are far from reality, still desensitize young
minds.

Under lock and key

The ethical and moral shifting sands promoted as 'normal'
today will be a 'Pandora's box' opened tomorrow, if current trends
continue unabated. In this regard, Paul Valery recently made these succinct
remarks; 'A man who is of sound mind is one who keeps the inner madman under
lock and key.' It takes effort and resolve to learn to control ourselves, but
our 'it feels good, so do it' generation has been encouraged not to
make the investment. William Morrow put the same thought another way; 'What
lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies
within us!'

The inner unredeemed man is a spiritual 'couch potato'
who will do anything to avoid any effort that might propel him higher towards a
realm of greater spiritual strength. He innately knows what is right but is a
slave to the flesh and never can find the resolve to go upward. He eventually
looses his spiritual appetite and moral collapse soon follows. His flesh is
continually pounded by persuasive 'truths' that spin him around so fast that
he becomes giddy and can no longer stand up for righteousness.

Bitter sweet

Has the social upheaval in America over the last forty years
produced any different result than what Adolf Hitler wrote about in his book 'Mein
Kampf' (My Struggle) in the 1930s; "By means of shrewd lies,
unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is
hell -– and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be
believed." And yet Isaiah 5:20 says, "Woe to those who call evil good,
and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" 

Wide is the gate!

The easy way is not always the right way! These days, taking
a stand for biblical truth can be like swimming up-stream. Sometimes people find
it easier to go with the flow of the shifting sands of popular opinion. The
contemporary idea of truth is like building a house on those same
shifting sands. But Matthew 7:13-14 declares another way; 'Enter by
the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and
difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.' It
is precisely because a diminishing number walks the road of truth and
righteousness, that true Christianity has the best chance of becoming a new
counter-culture movement amongst today's young radicals. It will be up to them
to keep the lid on the box, to keep the genie in the bottle and to squash the
enemy's plans.