CHARLO, New Brunswick, October 29, 2023 – Paul tells us that God has given his children a sound mind. Having such a mind, we needn’t fall prey to flights of spiritual fancy like being “rapture-ready”. Millions have been seduced not only into believing these types of hysterias, but also into financially supporting them and spreading the hype. Meanwhile, the ringleaders are cashing in big time, either through the sale of doomsday survivalist gear or from being the recipients of their followers’ liquidated assets. The commercialization of the end times means boom times for the unscrupulous, which is why we need to keep our mind sound and fully focused on God, as only by God’s Spirit can we discern the wolves among us.

By their private jets and Escalades shall ye know them.

I confess to have fallen prey to a few smooth-talking false prophets early in my rebirth. My sorry excuse is that I was on a steep learning curve from atheism, but still, I should have known better. I was just happy at the time to be part of any organization that at least admitted God existed, as Canadian society in general has kicked God to the curb. So I gave as generously as I could to the local churches I attended and expectantly “sowed” into various online ministries, anticipating a bountiful harvest in return. When the bounty failed to materialize and a closer reading of the ministries’ doctrines revealed alarming deviations from scripture, I bowed out of the organizations and turned directly to God’s Word. That’s when I my promised “sound mind” began to develop in earnest through constant prayer and daily reading of the Bible. That’s also when my spiritual investments began to pay off.

The straitened and narrow path is just wide enough for one person to walk at a time. It’s not wide enough even for two to walk abreast. Each of us follows Jesus at our own pace and alone, just as each of us will stand before God at the Judgement alone. God made the path narrow for a reason – so that we won’t be “unequally yoked together” with those who either don’t have our best interests at heart or have been led astray by false prophets. Being on the path alone, we’re answerable only to God, though others can still see us and be encouraged by our presence and progress.

Jesus was very much alone on the path, despite being constantly surrounded initially by his family and later by his disciples and followers. But he walked the path alone, as evidenced by him saying “I always do that which pleases the Father”. He never claimed to compromise in any way or to do that which pleased anyone other than the Father. When you walk two or more abreast, there is compromise, even just in the pace of your gait. You adjust your gait to align with your partner’s, and your conversation and thoughts are towards each other, not towards God, even if you’re talking about God. You can’t truly walk the path any other way but alone as there’s only room for one at a time. You pass through the gate alone and you walk the path alone.

Mass movements are a snare to the godly. God permits them as a test, just as he permits false “rapture-ready” prophets for the same reason. The path is narrow because it’s uncompromising. Truth is uncompromising. Perfection is uncompromising. We likewise need to be uncompromising, even and especially if it means we stand apart and alone.

To be uncompromising in a world that values compromise is no easy feat. If we know something is sinful, we steer clear of it. If we make a mistake, we repent, take our knocks, and keep going. If someone tries to lure us off the path, we rebuke them and pray to God to keep them far from us. We only get one chance to walk the path and that’s it. If we knowingly and wilfully leave it, we can’t get back on it, and if we can’t get back on, we can’t go Home.

The world is the realm of diversions. Knowing that, we need to give a wide berth to spiritual hysterias like “rapture-ready” and other sparkly things that are vying for our attention. A sound mind is the inheritance of the children of God – we’re given it as a gift, but it’s up to us to maintain it. This we can only do by keeping uncompromisingly to the very center of the path and focusing fully on God.