Flight Path

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

– John 10:9 

One of 2020’s most outlandish internet conspiracy theories involves the supposed return of John F. Kennedy Jr. — the son of the assassinated 35th President of the United States. The true believers say that for more than 20 years, JFK Jr. has been hiding out in Pittsburgh living undercover as a financial advisor named Vincent. And sometime soon, he’ll return to the political stage to assume his family’s legacy.

That’s intriguing. But it’s unlikely to happen because JFK Jr. was killed in a 1999 plane crash that also took the lives of his wife and sister-in-law. And that tragedy had, and still has, its own conspiracy theorists. They claim it was no accident because political operatives would do anything to stop Kennedy from entering national politics and upsetting the 2000 presidential election. So-called witnesses even claimed to have seen his Piper Saratoga airplane explode in mid-air.

For most people, however, the tragedy was just that: a tragic accident. They point to the young pilot’s relative inexperience with instruments-only flying procedures.

The weather that day was supposedly hazy with less-than-ideal visibility. The simple answer — they claim — is that JFK Jr. became disoriented during the flight and failed to trust his instruments. He instead decided to trust his instincts and divert from the flight path, which led to plowing his airplane into the sea.

Did his self-reliance and refusal to believe the truth (his instruments) result in disaster? If so, he wasn’t a trendsetter. As King Solomon observed centuries ago in Proverbs, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

That’s true for physical death. But it’s also the case for spiritual death; a stern warning that Jesus reiterated to his followers and enemies alike. He understood 1st century ideas about faith and spirituality, and how in many ways they would never change. The Roman Empire that governed Israel at the time was one of multiculturalism. Although the Jews worshiped the one true God, the Romans and others bowed down to multiple false, man-made deities. But if they were willing to worship Caesar as Lord, all was good and tolerated.

Modern society continues to embrace a multiculturalism and political correctness that declares no faith is better than another. Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism; it makes no difference — particularly if you’re sincere in your beliefs. Those who stand for Biblical principles are denounced as naïve, bigots and intolerant. And today in Canada, Holland and other nations, those who denounce the evils of Islam can be brought up to special commissions for questioning and prosecution.

Jesus — who was at the foundation of the world — knew that man’s self-reliance and willful ignorance about faith and salvation meant destruction, death and separation from him. To this, he responded, “I am the way and the truth and the life. “No one comes to the Father except through me.” And in Matthew 7:13 he likewise said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”
 
Are these outrageous and intolerant claims? Only to those who are lost and refuse to believe in him as their exclusive guide. But to those who follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior, his stunning declarations are a clear flight path that leads to truth and eternal life.