And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? – Acts 9:3-4I’ve always had a nomadic way about myself, a feeling that there was something greater “out there” and a longing to find it. On this journey called life, I have discovered many detours from the straight and narrow which Jesus commands us to follow (Mat-thew 7:13-14); all of them lead to hell.
We live in a world with many paths, many highways and bi-ways that all seem to be right and while some may prove to be good for our humanity they will not lead us to eternity with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, In Galatians 1:13-14 Paul recalls His conversion on the road to Damascus stating, “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers”. Paul was on one of many religious “paths” of the time, Judaism, a path even through which Jesus Christ was born. He was not only inducted and ordained into Judaism by the traditions of His fathers but he was “more exceedingly zealous” of those traditions, meaning he was committed faithfully to the law and honorable to his religious “path”.
Many throughout history have walked about searching for the answers to life, seeking peace, even attaining a form of righteousness, even discovering dimensions of what they assume is God yet it is what the bible says is a form of godliness that denies the power of God. The only power thereof is the Power of the Holy Spirit. Yet man wanders like a lost sheep into the unknown until the Shepherd finds them stuck in a pit that only His mighty staff can pull them out of.
In separate conversations with a couple of peers who I hadn’t seen in almost 15-20 years and a family member, I encountered a phenomenon of this age and time we are living in. There are people seeking God, earnestly. They have discovered tools of righteousness, powers of healing and wisdom beyond worldly measure.
They are intelligent, observant and even aware of religious strongholds.These are brilliant ones in the eyes of mere men; some who even see themselves as spiritual leaders and healers of some sort to mankind. The Spirit of the Living God quickened me to prayer after these conversations in which one of my peers said, “I am so happy that you have found your path. This is my path. I have found so much peace on my path. I am in a good place” I believe that it is Godly wisdom to be slow to speak and swift to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying therefore I had little to say until there was unction from the Lord to speak. These are delicate matters that the flesh cannot serve until the Spirit of God’s ministry can plant the seed.
It is God who brings increase. was once on the path, as I stated earlier, to find what was greater “out there”. On that journey I smoked a lot of marijuana and dibbled and dabbled in every spiritual experience I could find short of animal sacrifice. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christian Science, Sweat lodges, Afrocentricism and every “ism” I could find. A year here or there, this path, that path; I was on a journey to find self-awareness andSelf-discovery of the god within. I was so broken by the hypocrisy of religion and on the brink of suicide as a result of trauma in my life. If I wasn’t going to give up, I wanted to find out the true meaning of life so that I could live it out. I could see in the eyes of my peers and family member that same longing and desire to be whole.
I also saw, by the Holy Spirit, that same hatred that I had for the Christian religion and a strong desire to prove it wrong?How? By taking another path. Simply denouncing Christ or changing the truth of who He is to a lie, denying that the word of God is infallible and opening my soul to a legion of spirits that I hoped could lead me to my “path”. What happened along the way for me was devastating and heartbreaking in retrospect. Did I gain knowledge? Yes. Did I become a better person? Yes. But as Jesus said to Paul, he could have said to me,”Whamae, Whamae, why persecutest thou?” Lord, knows how sorrowful I am now that I took has name in vai many times and walked into utter darkness all for the sake of finding me. When I was yet a sinner, Jesus took that path to Calvary to die for me. That was the path that He would ultimately strike me down upon all others only to lead me to carry my own cross and follow Him. He must increase, but I must decrease.
Some historical sources say that the name of Damashaq (Damascus) is derived from the Aramaic word (dam shaq) which means a town built on the rock. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave Peter (whose given name was Simon) the name Kephas or Cephas meaning “stone” in Aramaic. He said that upon that rock he would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The true church, which is the body of Christ is not a bunch of money hungry, judgmental religious zealots but those who have been baptized by the washing of the word and by the trying of fire, sanctified and made righteous by God and God alone; a royal priesthood who long for and are led by the presence of God’s grace and mercy in accordance to His holy Word. I truly believe many a sincere folk are out here searching for the right way, many, neither angry or even bitter with Christianity but who simply have a desire to find what is right and what is good in life.
My prayer is that they would have a supernatural encounter with the One and Only True Living God in Christ, who will set them upon the straight and narrow path for the gate that is wide leads to destruction. I pray that the misconceptions of the bible would become null and void as the Spirit reveals God’s word in the light of truth to those who seek to prove it’s spiritual authority wrong. With man things are impossible but with God all things are possible. There have been many men and women from Atheist to every world religion, even Christian denominations who have tried to prove the bible wrong, which ultimately is an attempt to prove Christ to be a lie. God proves us all wrong with one supernatural encounter with Him.
That’s what it took with Paul and all the other children of God from Moses until now; they all had to see God for themselves. Everything else is futile. We preach Christ and Christ crucified for it is His Spirit that draw men unto Him that they may receive the gift of salvation.
Many are called, but chosen are few. Who are the chosen? Only God truly knows yet he tells us that we will be known by our fruits. It is only by the fruit of His Spirit, not fragmented versions but by the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God through Jesus Christ that we may see God.
Jesus is not another spiritual leader with another spiritual path as some would like to assume. He was not simply a great healer amongst many. He did not die as some heroic act; He died to set us a free from the bondage of sin. He only He only has one spirit, the Holy Spirit. Every other spirit is a lie from the pit of hell and if we follow spirits seeking a spiritual path we will end up with those spirits in hell. Finding oneself is not enough; finding the feeling of peace will never be not enough on earth and there is no peace in hell. There is no path greater than the straight and narrow. Jesus Christ is the truth.
Jesus Christ is the life. Jesus Christ is the only way to God. Whatever path you may be on at this moment, one thing is sure and one thing is true, He is calling you.
Originally published in the print edition of DIVINE Magazine, Issue 02.
