We had our discipleship class last night. A lady came up afterward and told me how she had mentioned to a pastor that she was writing a tract about being conformed to the image of the Lord.

The pastor's comment was, "You're being too hard."

If this remark isn't characteristic of our country I'll eat my Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, genuine leather cover and all.

Too hard! The Bible is too hard! You bet it is too hard for pleasure-loving people.

What's harder than denying yourself, taking up your personal form of execution, and following Jesus?

But our whole country is like that. The standards for graduation are too hard, so change the standards! It's too hard to lose weight, so cut the fat off with a knife! It's too hard to keep from fornicating, so develop pills and vaccinations so you can keep on fornicating and not get a disease! It's too hard to be responsible for a family, so don't bother with marriage!

This world is not paradise. It was once and then God cursed it. The curse is still operating. You may notice there are weeds in your backyard.

The fastest way there is to lose your soul is to try to restore paradise before God's time. The only way you can live a happy, carefree life is by breaking God's laws and losing your personal integrity.

The present world is a testing ground for future rulers. You will be tested constantly concerning your integrity. Take the easy way, follow the line of least resistance, leave your wife and children, change partners all you want, and you will lose your soul. By that I mean the soul that was given to you by the Lord will become full of poison and corruption. You will lose control of it. You will become the slave of Satan.

Go ahead, preacher, tell the congregation the way of the Lord is easy. "Do you owe the Lord a hundred dollars? Take your bill and write down fifty."

The people you are courting now will receive you when you die. You can live with them in the cobwebbed shacks of Hell. At least there you will have friends. You would be kind of out of place with Elijah and Jeremiah in Heaven.

The Lord's yoke is easy and His burden is light—for the individual who is doing His will. It is true that the Lord's will more often than not leads to the death of much of what we crave. We are sinners and the purpose of salvation is to change us, not forgive us and leave us as we are.

But the Lord's way is light and joyous compared with the way of Satan and self-will. The way of the transgressor is hard!

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is a tough message for a nation of relatively rich people. But it is the only right way, the only way that leads to the castles in the sky.

Take the easy way, live an undisciplined life, and you will have a long time to sit in remorse wishing to God that someone cared enough to tell you the truth about the Lord and His demands, and that you had brains and character enough to listen!

Where are the faithful stewards?