Plowing is a hard business, especially if the soil is rocky, or there are a lot of roots, or the ground has a high clay content. One can easily become discouraged and give up, figuring the land is not suitable for farming.

The Christian discipleship is like this. It is never an easy course, and sometimes it is so difficult as to appear impossible.

I have been a Christian for over fifty years. After considering myself and my fellow believers I have come to the conclusion that the most serious mistake we can make is to quit. Jesus said we ought always to pray and not to faint. Why did He say this? He said it because He understands that the way to eternal life is narrow and constricted.

We have to be proven worthy of the Kingdom of God. We have to be fit for the Kingdom. We prove our fitness by persevering in the face of difficulties. The righteous are saved with difficulty.

Do not be afraid or faint-hearted because of what I have written. You can make a success of the Christian life if you really are determined to do so.

Christ has all power in the heavens and on the earth. He is ready to help you in the smallest detail of life as well as when you are faced with gigantic, seemingly unsolvable problems.

What I am deploring in this essay is the current view of the Christian salvation as a ticket which one receives by taking a particular theological stance. Salvation is not a ticket. It is a fight to the finish, a race that requires our sternest efforts.

Paul advised us to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and not to entangle ourselves with the present world.

As I said, the days ahead in America may be rough indeed. This is not a reason for fainting with fear. But it is a reason for arming ourselves to stand in the evil day. As long as we perceive the Christian salvation for what it truly is, the opportunity through the grace of Jesus Christ to recover the fellowship with God that was lost in the Garden of Eden, we will overcome all obstacles and finally stand in victory before the Lord Jesus.

But if we view the Christian salvation as a ticket we hold while we drift aimlessly along in the powerful currents of the American culture, we will never be able to stand against the forces of Antichrist.

Here they come at two o'clock in the morning. They grab us and drag us into the bathroom. There they keep plunging our head into the toilet. When our lungs are bursting they yank our head back and ask us if we will go along with their system. If we will not, they say, we will never see our children again.

We have been awakened from a sound sleep to experience this, just as has happened to Christians in other parts of the world. We are terrified. The hordes of Hell are depressing our spirit. All we have to do is to go along with them and not resist their program.

How many Evangelical Christians are ready for this? How many are ready to drown in the toilet? How many are ready to trust Jesus when their children are taken away?

To be continued.