Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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It is easy to misunderstand these words of our Lord because the word "strait" and the word "straight" sound alike. The word "straight" means "in a direct line", and that is not the word Jesus used to describe life in the Spirit. When God led Israel out of Egypt, He took them in anything but a direct line to Canaan. In fact, we are told in Exodus 13:17 that God purposefully did not take them to Canaan by the most direct way. If, as Paul taught, their winding trek through the burning desert to the Promised Land is a figure for our trek through this life to our Promised Land, then we can see why Jesus did not describe the way to eternal life as "straight".
What Jesus did say about the way to our eternal home is that it is "strait". That means that it is "narrow". The way of the Spirit is an ever-changing path, but not in width; it is always narrow. It may at times become "straight" for a while, but at other times it will contain sharp curves, or even double back, before it becomes "straight" again. Yet always, the road is never wide; it is always "strait".
While they lived, the very wise older saints who taught me Christ claimed that they were Christians, and although there was no place in Christianity where they were welcome because of the light they had from God, they still thought that Christianity was the family of God on earth. I, on the other hand, have come to despise Christianity, hopefully as much as Jesus himself does, and the title "Christian" is anathema to me. Nevertheless, I know that I am traveling on the same winding, narrow pathway of holiness that they traveled. I am being led by the same unseen hand. It is just that after their deaths, there came another bend in this "strait" road, and I stayed on it.
Actually, this bend in the road that led us away from the religion of Christianity came before the Lord took the last of those old saints home. There were four of them still living when Jesus revealed to me that Christianity itself, in its entirety (not just Catholicism, as some Protestants still teach) is that "great Whore" called "Babylon", and each one of those elders in the faith rejoiced greatly in this marvelous light. Though advanced in years, they were able to change, even from beliefs they had held their entire lives, because they were following the Spirit rather than custom or men. They were striving toward the goal rather than glorying in blessings of the past or trusting in tradition. They were able to bend with the strait road and not be confused when it took a sudden turn because they were alive in the Spirit and were wise. Their pastor had taught them well. He had fallen asleep in Christ ahead of them and had left them in my care, but he had taught them to hear the Spirit's voice and to follow it.
To recognize the voice of Jesus and to follow it is the strait road, "and few there be that find it." When Jesus opened my heart to the truth about the religion of Christianity and I then reported that truth to the congregation, the old saints still living recognized their Shepherd's voice and easily laid aside the filthy garments of that whorish religion and became even more perfect before Him. I honor them because of their humility and faith. Though at that time they were very old and weak, their faith was alive, trusting in the power and wisdom of God, and they esteemed His word above their own long-held religious opinions. Their road was very seldom straight, even in their last few days; it took many turns along the way, some of them sudden and severe. But it was always strait, and few ever were discerning enough to stay with them for long on that strait and curving road to glory.
So, my friends, avoid at all costs the straight and wide road; that is the way traveled by the foolish, and there are many fools in this world. Stay on the strait and winding path; that is the way of the Spirit, "and few there be that find it."