2 Billion People Can't be Wrong - or Can They?

"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Apparently Christianity is the largest world religion, with over 2 Billion adherents. Does anybody else find this statistic hard to believe. Certainly the Bible seems to contradict this idea when it says that "only a few ever find [the gateway to life]". I think there is definately a lesson here that needs to be learned.

It has become increasingly apparent to me that there are actually far fewer REAL disciples of Christ than we realize, although to look on the surface it appears as though we are legion. By now, most Christians recognize the fact that no other "religious" group in the world is as widely reviled and disrespected as the Christian Church. Sometimes it seems as though there is some kind of conspiracy out there to discredit and ridicule us.

Fact is there is a very real conspiracy that starts in the spirit by way of the devil and his cronies, and therefore translates into the natural world by way of the popular media and the world system. Let's face it - the devil would love nothing more than to reduce the image of Christianity to an empty, sterile, laughing stock consisting of boring old men, irritating middle-aged ladies and over-the-edge, obsessive young people that must naturally earn the ire of the "thinking" world.

A large part of the devil's strategy, as I see it, is to promote people who declare themselves (and perhaps truly believe themselves to be) real Christians and yet in reality have no clue (or in some cases simply aren't interested) in what it means to be a true Christian.

Some of these are people who could be described as modern-day Pharisees. These are the religious people who love to point out everyone's flaws and call down divine judgement on those they deem to be unrighteous, or talk Bible circles around the unitiated. These are also the kinds of the people that fill large and powerful churches, man the political juggernaut that is the "Religious Right" and wear the titles such as "fundamentalist" as a badge of honour. They're cowardly because they hide behind their knowledge of scripture while judging other people but never seem to realize that those same scriptures apply to their own lives as well.

"The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the Scriptures. So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach. They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden." Matthew 23:2-4

In other cases we see the devil's tactic in the form of random strangers (usually standing on street corners, often looking unkempt, occasionally drooling) who seem to think it is their mission to tell every stranger that walks by that they are going to hell or screaming slogans like "turn or burn!". These people disgust almost everyone besides themselves and, if given half the chance, are almost sure to inspire most people to swear off anything associated with Christianity.

"How can you think of saying, `Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye." Matthew 7:4-5

Then there are the listless, exhaustingly changeable, adolescent (in age or mentality) youth groupers, who just never seem able to get themselves together. These are not to be confused with the actually sincere teenaged youth groupers who really are working for the kingdom, because I definately recognize the hard work and honest devotion of these (particularly in my church - our youth and young adults are pretty amazing for the most part). The people I'm talking about are the ones who have an obvious habit of making completely backwards lifestyle choices and are known by pretty well everyone for being completely unreliable. Most of these showed up to Church once or twice and had some kind of emotional "experience" where they became saved. After that they disappear for awhile and are occasionally spotted downtown, drunk or stoned or some other variant of these and show up for church every few months to wave their hands in the air and have another emotionally charged "experience". I find nothing terribly real about this kind of faith because there is absolutely no fruit.

"You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don't pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles. A healthy tree produces good fruit, and an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced." Matthew 7:16-20

Then there are those who seem to think that Christianity is a membership in some kind of religious social club, with a bouncer at the door prepared to weed out the undesirables and make sure that the club stays members-only. This type of "Christian" often looks extremely devoted on the outside as they flit from church to home-group to alpha meeting to men's breakfast to choir practice. But put them in a room with a non-Christian, especially one who is rough around the edges, and they don't have a clue what to do. They've never had time for anybody outside of their circle, so of course they are completely unprepared for this type of situation.

Some of my best memories revolve around hanging out with a bunch of neo-pagan/wiccan/you name it's who had nothing but derision for Christians before they met me. They were my most regular friends for awhile and were always reliable and true and desperately in need of the truth. I feel sorry for "Christians" who have no time for unbelievers because they'll never feel the reward that comes with leading someone to the kingdom.

"The Pharisees were indignant. "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked his disciples.
When he heard this, Jesus replied, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do." Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: `I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough." Matthew 9:11-13

The final group I am going to mention is probably also the largest. These are the ones who think that Christianity is a birthright or habit. I've talked to people who say they are Christians because they go to church, or because they were born into a Christian family, or because they do good deeds. There are people who think they are Christians because they were born in North America and go to church on Christmas and Easter. Or people who think that because they believe in some kind of vaguely defined god, or pray regularly or went to sunday school, or hold Bible studies in their home that this makes them a Christian. But they are lacking that essential component - that relationship with their creator, and they in turn mislead others.

"Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as `Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. On judgment day many will tell me, `Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I will reply, `I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized.'" Matthew 7:21-23

So subtract all the fakers and those 2 Billion "Christians" very quickly start to look like a whole lot less. Its an insidious plot on the part of the devil, but also a very effective one - I know I have been guilty of more than one of the things I have described above. Everyone has done one of these things at some point in their walk with Christ. Thankfully all of these things can be put down and left behind, if only we will look outside of what we "know" and seek the truth instead.

In the end it all comes down to this:

"And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life." 1 John 5:11-12