"But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Matthew 7:14
Ever notice how when you start shopping for or driving a particular vehicle you see them everywhere? Ever notice when you learn a new word or phrase you'll suddenly hear it with greater frequency? There's actually a name for that. It's called The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion.
If someone told you to look around a room and make a note of everything of a certain color, your brain would not only focus on the things of that particular color but it would also block out everything else to maximize the efficiency of retention.
In 1987, U2's iconic song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, was released on the Joshua Tree album. Some attributed the song's success to the apparent tension between Bono having found life, peace, and solace in Christianity while still struggling with questions of lingering brokenness in our world. U2's lead singer and songwriter, Bono, referred to the hit as "a gospel song with a restless spirit." But the truth is, yes, Bono did find exactly what he was looking for.
The key phrase in Bono's statement is "a gospel." By his own admission, Bono is not a Bible-believing, Jesus is The Way, kind of orthodox Christian. Instead, Bono boldly and unashamedly promotes the heretical doctrine of universalism, i.e. the belief that "all roads lead to heaven." During a concert some years ago, Bono strapped a COEXIST headband on and began to repeatedly chant, "Jesus, Jew, Mohammed-all true. Jesus, Jew, Mohammed-all true!"
Calling oneself a Christian doesn't make it so any more than claiming to be a cat or a cheeseburger does. King Jesus revealed something quite contrary to Bono's "all roads, universalism, COEXIST" false gospel narrative, when The Lamb of God declared, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
In his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul exclaimed, "I am not ashamed of The Gospel!" In his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul announced, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!" And when Paul stated, "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel," he wasn't creating a new gospel narrative, but emphasizing that his gospel, unlike the false gospels of the false teachers and prophets, was The Gospel of Scripture.
There is an insurmountable gap and irreconcilable dichotomy between The Gospel and all the competing alternative gospels of the world: world religions, atheism, secular humanism, progressivism, social justice, coexistence, health & wealth prosperity, pay-it-forward, random acts of kindness, moralistic therapeutic deism, etc.
The testimony of Scripture is clear that while we're all seekers, we're seekers of the depraved, prideful, self-deluded, indulgent, narcissistic, manipulative, and exploitative variety. “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
When Bono sang of his arduous search for God in climbing the highest mountains, crawling, and scaling city walls "only to be with You," he followed those words with, "but I still haven't found what I'm looking for" and that's a bold, bare, and bald-faced lie. We know this with all certainty because King Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." When we truly are born-again by the Holy Spirit that God-shaped hole in us is finally and permanently filled.
The LORD never promised the ministry of The Gospel would be easy or well received. On the contrary, He noted The Gospel of Peace wouldn't bring peace to the world, but would be a sword of division (Matt 10:34-36). He warned His disciples of the unavoidable sufferings and high cost of discipleship. He noted that His followers would often be despised, rejected, and cursed and that faithfulness to Him and The Gospel would create irrevocable division in families, communities, and the entire world.
Christ commands us to be faithful in the doing of the work God prepared in advance for His Body & Bride to walk in (Matt 28:18; Eph 2:10). He said, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
Therefore, when we put our faith in Him, He promises we will be satisfied, satiated, filled, and quenched. He declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty," which is a very different song than the one Bono sings.
Like countless other singers, movie stars, sports heroes, celebrities, models, TV personalities, and cultural icons, Bono has, in fact, found precisely what he was looking for. He found some fleeting satisfaction in the cravings of his flesh from the high of drugs, the numbness of alcohol, the taboo of adultery and sexual immorality, materialism, and the worship of fans.
Proverbs 5:11 states, "At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and body are spent," and the Apostle Paul wrote, "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, or frequency illusion, dictates that, in our flesh, we all find precisely what we're looking for. The problem is that our default setting is to find the wide path that leads to destruction and death.
Death masterfully disguises itself in countless ways according to the longings of our flesh: acceptance, intimacy, productivity, success, fame, family, wealth, security, comfort, etc. Tragically, many celebrities, heroes, and icons find themselves still empty, craving, longing, and hurting after all the fame, all the awards, all the parties, and all the shopping sprees... and rather than opting out of the illusion for life in Christ, they either believe the lie or choose suicide.
C.S. Lewis once said, "If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world."
We can choose to believe any of the countless false gospels of the world, or we can choose to repent and put our faith in Christ Jesus. He's the only one who came, died, and rose again to assure us of abundant life in Him.
We've all found precisely what we were looking for in our fleshly desires through the sins of the world, the only question is will we settle for illusions and vapors? The King of Kings and Good Shepherd found what He was looking for too. He left heaven and the ninety-nine for the one... for you!
Blessings and love,
Kevin M. Kelley
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