Celestial Ovine Rustlers

John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know
his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for
they know not the voice of strangers.

In olden times in the Middle East, corrals were made by building stone walls
to enclose the sheep. The shepherd, or a keeper of the sheep would sleep in
the entry way of the sheepfold so that uninvited guests were kept out and
wandering sheep would not be tempted to stray.

When a flock was to be extracted from the corrals, the shepherd would come
to the door and call his sheep. They were well familiar with his voice and
would come at his call.

Here, the sheepfold represents heaven and the shepherd and the doorkeeper
represent Jesus.

Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life. Nobody can come to the
Father except through Him. This is an exclusive and undeniable claim. He is
the only door to heaven, not one of many. His narrow way is the only path
that leads to life, there are not many roads which lead to the same place.

Righteous works, religion, good karma, a larger amount of good versus bad
in one's life, simple believe in a higher power, these all amount to nothing
more than putrid leper's rags when it comes to true salvation.

We are no good! Every one of us is a filthy sinner. Anything we might
attempt to do to get us into heaven, other than trust the Son of God Who
gave Himself on Calvary's cross, is tantamount to trying to crash the gates or
to dig under or climb over the fence into the sheepfold.

Sin upon sin! That's what trusting anything or anyone other than Jesus' work
for us on the cross amounts to.

No amount of charity work, contribution, church membership, confirmation,
baptism, catechism or meditation can buy one minute of heaven or purchase
one iota of forgiveness.

Quit trusting yourself or your religion and put your faith completely in Jesus to find your way through the door of the sheepfold. He is the Door as well as the Shepherd.