"FREQUENTLY one hears the assertion that there are numerous ways which lead to the kingdom of heaven. To the travel-worn sufferer who through many long years has been trying first one way and then another to attain the peace, health, and harmony which he expects to find in the heavenly kingdom, and because of failure has grown discouraged almost to the point of despair, it must come as a relief to hear that, after all, there is only one way leading to the long-sought goal.
It is customary for intelligent men and women to seek the authority for any statement of such great importance as one that relates to the attainment of the condition called heaven, which all Christian people unite in declaring to be indicative of happiness and contentment beyond mere human understanding, and therefore of all things most to be desired. No higher authority can be given for the assurance that there is only one way to heaven than that of our blessed Master, Jesus of Nazareth, who, in speaking of the Christ, his spiritual selfhood, in the beautiful fourteenth chapter of John, declares himself to be the way to the Father. It will be recalled that at that time Jesus was comforting his beloved disciples because he was about to leave them. He loved them very tenderly, and was telling them more about heaven and the way of reaching it, and finally promised them that when he was no longer personally present, the spirit of Truth would come and dwell with them, and prove to all of his followers to be the Comforter, which would enable them to understand the eternal verities of true being, which for three years he had labored so faithfully to teach them.
Again, in the tenth chapter of John, we find Jesus likening the Christ to "the door into the sheep-fold;" and he says of that door, "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." It is so evident that Jesus used the words "sheepfold" and "pasture" to indicate "heaven," and "the door" as the way of approach to this happy realm, that there is hardly room for dispute as to his meaning. Unfortunately, however, later generations came more and more to misunderstand Jesus' words, until it was believed that he had referred to heaven as a place unattainable save through the gateway of death, and then only by those who had been redeemed through the acceptance of Christ Jesus as a personal Saviour. The result of this misunderstanding has cost the world much.
