Quote from Forum Archives on April 23, 2010, 12:51 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net
www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails then the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
www.theburningbush.net.

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 455 new subscribers since January 1, 2010!!
There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

04.23.10

Hell's Gate

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is
the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who
find it. - Matthew 7:13-14.

Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" And He said to
them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will
seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has
risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the
door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you,
'I do not know you, where you are from.'" - Luke 13:23-25.

There is a huge flaming crater in Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert, which is
about 60 yards wide that is called "Hell's Gate" or "Hell's Door" by people
in the area. The crater is the result of a blow-out caused by a drilling
accident back in 1971. Soviet petroleum engineers decided to burn off the
gas, and it has been burning ever since. Hell's Gate is a tourist attraction
for the foreign tourists that actually make it to the country, and it is
said to be a beautiful sight to see (You can see photos of it on the web.).
However, Turkmenistan's president would like to put out the fire so that
development of natural gas reserves in the area will not be hindered.

It would be great if the actual gate to enter hell was located in the
Karakum Desert then we could just avoid the place and never go to hell. Hell's
Gate, however, is much closer and much more personal than that. We enter
Hell's Gate in more subtle, unsuspecting ways. Life has a way of keeping us
busy with things other than the vital spiritual ones. Are attention is
placed on work, family, our home, and we seldom think about God and
eternity.

The path to hell is more of a slide than a walk. The busier we are with our
worldly affairs the closer we slide to the gaping mouth of the Gate of Hell.
We ignore our spiritual condition, we push aside any thoughts about God, or
church, or Jesus, and we slide closer and closer to that Gate of no return.
When we do think about spiritual things we think of how we are not any worse
than many religious people that we know. We think that a good God would
never send anyone to hell. We think of all the religions in the world and
think they probably all lead to the same place. We slide closer to the
gaping mouth of hell as we focus in on more pleasant thoughts. It becomes a
habit to avoid thinking of spiritual things and only of worldly things. It
becomes a habit never considering, and to avoid considering what will happen
after you die.

The spiritual truth is that there is only One way to avoid the Gate of Hell
and that way is a very narrow way because that way is only through Jesus
Christ. Jesus says this in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." We can only enter the
narrow gate by believing upon Jesus as our Savior as Jesus explains to
Nicodemus in John 3:14-17, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness (Numbers 21:9), even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Are you sliding closer and closer to the gaping mouth of the Gate of Hell?
Or, have you already entered into eternal life through the "narrow gate" of
believing upon Jesus Christ?

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.