Matthew 7:13

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (2 Peter 2:9-10)

Peculiar! Check out that word in Websters as an adjective and right away you can see that this is not the accepted norm. Yet God’s people are not of this world. Beyond not being normal I’m hated! “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18)

“Listen to the word of the LORD, all who tremble at his word. Your relatives, who hate you and exclude you for my name’s sake, say, “Let the LORD show his glory; then we will see your joy.” But they will be put to shame.”( Isaiah 66:5)

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing what God approves of. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them.” (Matthew 5:10)

God warns us as believers over and over in the holy scriptures not to be deceived:

“Those who try to live a godly life because they believe in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  But evil people and phony preachers will go from bad to worse as they mislead people and are themselves misled. However, continue in what you have learned and found to be true. You know who your teachers were. From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures. They have the power to give you wisdom so that you can be saved through faith in Christ Jesus. Every Scripture passage is inspired by God. All of them are useful for teaching, pointing out errors, correcting people, and training them for a life that has God’s approval. They equip God’s servants so that they are completely prepared to do good things.” (2 Timothy 3:12-17)

Soon after I was saved I read Johanna Michaelsen’s book “The Beautiful Side of Evil“. I was profoundly moved by this book. To know that what looks beautiful is not necessarily of God. Here is a link to a blog post with a short and recent interview with Johanna.

It’s one thing to have the “World” hate you. But really difficult to have to disagree with your brothers and sisters in Christ! They scream “UNITY & GRACE”! I’m not neglecting unity or grace. Yet I am not sacrificing TRUTH for the sake of unity. “You believe that there is one God. That’s fine! The demons also believe that, and they tremble with fear.”( James 2:19)

So this goes deeper than unity and belief. This is about the “wide gate” and the “many” who go through it, and the “narrow gate” which few go through.

“Enter through the narrow gate because the gate and road that lead to destruction are wide. Many enter through the wide gate.” (Matthew 7:13)