Save Yourselves from this Corrupt Generation! We Must go Through Many Hardships to Enter The Kingdom of God

“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. (Acts 14:22) The title of this article is a direct quote from two different chapters in the Book of Acts in the New Testament portion of the Bible. The evil forces behind the "corrupt/perverse generation" of Peter and Paul's day, are the same evil forces behind the present generation that all of us are currently living in. So the instructions given to the New Testament believers, all still apply to us living today as well. Notice that in the New Testament portion of the Bible, that there is no teaching at all on many of the topics that are taught today in the Christian religion, and many other religions. The teaching that Jesus was a great religious teacher, for example, and that he came to make the world a "better place" and that we are to follow his example, is not only NOT found in the teachings of the New Testament, but the exact opposite is actually taught. Peter summed it up on that very first day, the Day of Pentecost, when he "pleaded" with the disciples of Jesus to "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation!" As we read through the pages of the rest of the Book of Acts which documents the lives of those first believers, we see exactly what Peter meant by that warning. Stephen is stoned to death in Acts chapter 7. James, the brother of John and one of the "inner three" apostles who were closest to Jesus, was executed by King Herod in Acts chapter 12. Of those who were not executed, almost ALL of them spent time in jail, and escaping from the Jews who did not accept Jesus as the Messiah.