Few Find the Way to Life — Zac Poonen

Mega Churches and the Question of Genuine Salvation

We are living in a day of what is known as mega churches and I don't think Protestant Christianity has seen the type of numbers that there are in churches nowadays. I mean there are huge Roman Catholic churches in many places, but in many, many countries we have many thousands of churches with 20 -30 ,000 people and churches with even more than that, some I think 100 ,000.

And of course everybody would be proud of the fact that they are part of a large church. The question that comes to me in all this is, of course we rejoice, God wants all men to be saved. And if there are nearly 7 ,000 million people in the world, God wants every one of them to be saved.

It says that in 1 Timothy 2. And it says in 2 Peter 3 that God wants every one of them to repent also. So there is not a single person whom God does not want to repent or to be saved. The question is, in all these churches nowadays, were all the people sitting there really saved or not?

Was it God's will that there should be these huge churches which just listen to one pastor and where people don't know one another, don't build fellowship with one another in the local church? I don't think so.

The goal of God was ultimately to build fellowship between people, to make two people into one, to make opposite people into one. In Luke chapter 13, someone asked Jesus this question, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?

Striving to Enter Through the Narrow Door

Are there only a few who will be saved? He said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door, for many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able. He didn't answer that question directly. The question is, Lord, are there only a few who are going to be saved?

What was his answer? Strive to enter. Don't worry whether other people are saved or not. Don't worry about how many people are saved or not. You make sure that you have entered through the narrow door.

And is it something you can walk through? No. He said here you got to strive. And in the Message Bible it says it requires your total attention. It requires your total attention. You got to put your mind to it.

Set your mind to it. Strive. And then that's one thing. I don't think a lot of people are being told to strive. Have you ever heard an evangelist preach a gospel saying strive to enter in through the narrow gate so that you can be saved?

I've never heard one like that in my life. And I've lived a long time listening to preachers. I want to tell you something honestly, brothers and sisters. We're living in a time when the words of Jesus are not preached.

And he said that heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away. And people have taken just some words of Jesus here and there and made that the gospel. When we proclaim the whole counsel of God, the whole purpose of God, if someone says to me, are there only few who are going to be saved?

I've got to give him the same answer that Jesus gave. Brother, let me urge you, strive to enter through the narrow door. And the second thing I will tell him is, there are many who will seek to enter and will not be able.

How about that? Now we thought that anybody who wants to enter, he can enter. But he said, there will be many who will seek to enter and will not be able to enter. There could be various reasons for that.

The Rich Young Ruler and the Cost of Following Jesus

You know the rich young ruler, he wanted to enter. He wanted to enter through the narrow door but he couldn't enter. Because his money made him so big. Now if he had got rid of his money, he could have gone through quite easily.

Now Jesus told him to get rid of it because he loved it so much. He didn't tell everybody to get rid of all their money. Zacchaeus gave up only half his money to the poor. And Mary and Martha, as far as we know, probably gave up nothing.

So, you know, it's like cancer. In some cases the doctor says, yeah, I can just go in and it's very early stage. Just take out a little bit and you'll be okay. And some other people, the cancer has spread so much, the doctor says, I've got to take out the whole organ.

I've heard of people who's got cancer in the stomach and 80 of the stomach is cut out. It's the only way they live. Sometimes the whole organ is taken out because the whole thing is spread. And some other people, just a little bit and they're cured.

So, in the rich young ruler's case, the cancer of the love of money had spread so much that the whole thing had to be removed. But he wasn't willing. So, what happens when a person's cancer has spread so much and the doctor says the whole thing has to be removed and he says, no, I don't want it.

Well, then keep it and you die. That's what exactly what happened to the rich young ruler because Jesus gave him the same invitation that he gave to Peter. Come, follow me. He could have been an apostle, but he had to go through the narrow door.

And just think, I don't know where he is today. If he never repented, then of course he's in hell. But if he repented towards the end of his life, maybe he did get to heaven after living a wasted life on earth.

But wherever he is, go and ask him. I mean, if you were to make that choice again, what would you do? He'd say, oh, now that I see from eternity's standpoint, I have no doubt as to what choice I would have made that day.

But it's too late now. Brothers and sisters, we are going to review the decisions we made in our life one day. All the little, little decisions that we made, you know, we're making decisions. Decisions about money, decisions about our attitude to sin, we decide what type of books to read, we decide what type of programs to watch on TV, we decide what type of sites to go to on the internet.

Daily Decisions as Seeds Sown in the Heart

It's all decisions. And we got to remember that a decision is like sowing a seed. Your mind and your heart is like a vineyard, and every day you're sowing some seeds. And those seeds may be good or bad.

And you know how it is when you sow seeds. Some seeds, you plant a mango tree, you won't get anything for a whole year. Coconuts, some years you get nothing. But then, it keeps on producing. So, it doesn't, I mean, it's too late to change the type of tree after it started growing up.

It's just going to produce what you sowed. So, years later, you're going to be reaping exactly the result of all these little seeds that you've been sowing in your younger days. You remember, you know, in the Gospel, in Hebrews 12, in verse 15, it says, take, make heed, take heed that there's no one among you like Esau.

Hebrews 12, let's turn to that verse for a moment. Hebrews 12. Now, Hebrews is very obviously written to believers. Can you believe it, that I was in the city in the Gulf, where some brethren people, Plymouth brethren people there, were disturbed that I was preaching that your name can be erased from the Book of Life.

I mean, it's written in Revelation chapter 3, but I don't know why they don't believe it. So, they wanted to have a discussion with me, and they invited me to their home. And one of those elders, there were two or three of them sitting there, asked me, do you believe that you can be saved and then you can be lost?

So, I said, I'm not going to say those in my words. I will read you scripture, that's all, and I won't add anything to scripture. I'll read the scripture and stop. And you tell me what it means. I mean, that's the best way, so that your argument is not with me, but with God's Word.

I want to give you that little bit of advice, when people question you about something, just give them a scripture, so that, move out of the way and let them fight with God, not with you. So, I said, I want to show you from Hebrews some verses.

And immediately he said, this is a brethren elder. He said, Hebrews is not for us Christians. I got a shock. I had never heard such a thing in my life. I mean, if some godless unbeliever said it, I can understand.

That's the first time in my life. I said, who is it for then? Hebrews, for the Hebrews. Oh, I'm not a Hebrew. Well, I suppose I'm not a Colossian either. I'm not a Philippian. I'm not from Thessalonica.

I'm not a Roman. That's all. Hardly anything left in the Bible for me. I was absolutely surprised. I mean, you wouldn't believe it. I mean, if I had heard that story from somebody else, I would have thought, yeah, maybe he didn't hear it right.

But I've got very sharp hearing. And he was sitting right there. And I said, why don't you cut it out of the New Testament? Why do you keep it? He said, it was for the Jews. Anyway, he, but you know what the Bible says in Hebrews 3 .1, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our confession.

That's no Jew. No Jew accepts Jesus as his high priest. You know that. Holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling. Who's that? The Jews had an earthly calling. It's so clear. But if you want to be blind to it, you'll be blind.

Knowing Scripture and Rejecting Spiritual Pride

Now, the reason why so many people can go around fooling many believers today is because many, many believers today don't know the Bible. How many of you sitting here seriously go through the Bible? I'll tell you honestly, I think a lot of people in CFC do not seriously go through the Bible.

There's a CD of mine called Through the Bible in 70 Hours, which was produced six and a half years ago. And CFC people were the first people to know about it. Do you know that my guess is 90 of people here have never listened to it.

I've heard in different countries people say, Brother Zach, I've gone through it twice. In many countries in the world, they have valued God's word. But we have got so much of it. We say, we know. We're specialists.

You know, that's why we find, I'll tell you honestly, we are now finding brothers and sisters from other churches who are much more spiritual than brothers and sisters in CFC. How did that happen? How can you have such good doctrine and not become more spiritual than some of these other people?

It astounds me. I've actually seen such people. And it really amazes me. Now I believe the reason is, there's a certain amount of haughtiness and pride that has come into people in CFC. Because we think we're better.

We think we know more. There are many ways in which we can be proud. It could be because we have Bible knowledge or we are associated with a church which has got a good name or something like that. You know, like the Jews said, we've got Abraham for our father.

John the Baptist said, that doesn't mean anything if Abraham is your father. We can, in the same way, we belong to CFC, we can say. It's just like saying, we've got Abraham for our father. So what? It doesn't mean anything.

John the Baptist said, the stones can be better than you. So we've got to be very careful. God gives his grace to the humble. And I'll tell you, there are many marks of humility. Essentially humility is before God.

But if you have low thoughts about yourself, one mark of humility will be that you seek fellowship with lowly people. CFC has got some highly educated people and thankfully CFC has got some lowly people who are not so educated, not so cultured.

And if you are a humble person, you will seek fellowship with them. I asked, I found out rather from one of the poorest sisters in our church. I said, do some of these educated sisters speak to you? She said, no.

They haven't spoken to me for two years. Can you imagine? Now if that sister was a highly educated sister, all of you would have spoken to her. You ask yourself, whether you have spoken to some of these lowly brothers and sisters in this church.

When was the last time you just spoke to them? Even on a Sunday. It could be years. Do you realize how haughty you are? You know, you may think you have grace. You don't have it. I'll tell you the truth.

Some of you young brothers, you came from very poor families, but you seek for fellowship only with the rich and the educated. You may be very zealous, but I can see there's not much grace upon your life.

You may be doing well in your profession, get good jobs and all that. It counts for garbage in God's eyes. I would exhort you to be lowly minded. I have been tremendously enriched in my life. I'm as educated as most of you, but I've been so tremendously enriched in my life by fellowship with very, very lowly people who are not so educated, who are not so cultured, who are not so capable.

I'll tell you honestly, my salvation is when I go down to the villages of Tamil Nadu and escape the sophistication of Bangalore. It brings me down to earth. It helps me to fellowship with people who are not sophisticated and highly educated and talk at high levels and talk about this thing and that thing, the latest thing.

They don't know about all the things you can talk about. And they talk about the Lord and it blesses my heart. And that's preserved me through 32 years that I've received the grace of God. I'll tell you honestly, I fear for a number of you because I don't feel you have that spirit.

So be careful. That's all I can say. I say to you as a father. It says in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 16, see that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal.

Esau, the Birthright, and Irreversible Choices

He made a decision in his life as a young man. I want this. I don't care for the birthright. That's in the future. When is it going to come? I don't know, many years. And in any case, the birthright is a sort of invisible thing.

This bowl of soup is what I need right now. Satisfaction for my body. That's what I need right now. The birthright was something spiritual, you know, because God had said to Abraham that through your seed I will bless the whole world.

So in some way, I don't know how much Abraham knew, but Jesus once said in John chapter 8, Abraham saw my day and was glad. He said that in John 8, which means that Abraham had some understanding that Christ was going to come.

And he may have passed that on to Isaac, who must have told his two sons Esau and Jacob, you know, for this world of sin, this Messiah is going to come one day. And Esau, you're the lucky one, because you got the birthright.

Esau said, who cares for that? It's something in the future. I want to take care of my life. He sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. And it says afterwards, when he realized what it was, I mean, it was also an earthly blessing, he desired to inherit the blessing.

He was rejected. There was a time later on when he wanted that badly and he wept. Couldn't get it. He found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. I want you to see that expression.

He found no place for repentance, even though he sought for it with tears. I mean, that's written, as I said, to holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling. And I want to take that seriously. Is it possible that if I don't repent today, one day I may want to repent and I can't, even though I weep?

Many Christians feel, well, I can repent any time I want. Well, it's not true, because this is a warning to holy brethren, that the time may come when you won't find a place for repentance if you take certain decisions today, where you despise what is spiritual.

Why did I speak about educated people and not educated people? When you value an educated brother, you are valuing something of the world more than spirituality. And you are, in a sense, rejecting the birthright and choosing a bowl of soup.

Bowl of soup is good. It's very valuable on the earth. Education is very valuable on the earth. It has no value in God's kingdom. I found simple brothers in Tamil Nadu who speak anointed words. I mean, some of them who can't speak one word of English, but boy, when they get up to speak, I'm blessed.

How is it that they can speak such words, which highly educated people sitting here can't speak? It's grace. It's not education. It's grace. You've got to be lowly minded. God doesn't care for education.

I mean, he can use an educated person like Paul. I think Paul was the type of fellow who would come first in every class and top of his college and God used him. And he uses a chap like Peter who was always in the lower 10 of the class.

Always, I think. It didn't make a difference. Paul and Peter equally anointed, equally used by God, because there were spiritual values. So, when we value something earthly and seek fellowship with people who have something earthly, or we want to be known as people who are associated with high society.

I've noticed that in different places. People who come from lower levels of society, they like to be associated with higher society people because it shows that we're sort of upper class. Because they feel very inferior.

In the back of their mind, they say, I come from a very lower level and I'm a bit inferior, so I want to show that I'm higher level. That shows that such people don't know the Lord. Don't really know the Lord.

I mean, they've gone through some ritual. And there are people like that in our midst. I see that. I like to go to the poorest brothers and sisters and ask them, do people talk to you? Do people in this church talk to you?

Some people who have been here 20 -30 years, do they speak to you? No? Well, it gives me a pretty good understanding of the spirituality of all those people who appear so zealous. You know, we've got to change our whole attitude of mind.

Now you see, next Sunday you can go and start talking to them. It doesn't change your attitude of mind. You're just going through a ritual because you heard something today. It doesn't mean a thing. It's a whole attitude of mind that has to change.

And that won't change just by you going and speaking to somebody. I'm telling you, you're a loser. You're losing a lot and you probably discover it only in eternity. I don't want to discover in eternity that I've lost anything that God wanted me to have on this earth.

You know, we're so careful with money. If we discover that we misplaced something or gave a 500 rupee note away thinking it was a 100 rupee note, I think you'd think about that a long time. These notes look so alike and I made a mistake and I lost such a lot of money.

That is nothing compared to the loss we have when we don't value what is spiritual above what is earthly. See, we're making decisions and in those decisions we are saying what I want. Lord, this is what I want.

The Narrow Door and the Final Separation

Jesus said, strive to enter in. Afterwards, Esau said, oh, I want it. It's just too late. That's what Jesus said in Luke 13 .2. If you turn back to what we read earlier, someone said to him in verse 23, Lord, are there just a few who are going to be saved?

He said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, hey Lord, open up to us.

He'll answer, I don't know where you're from. Then you'll begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence. Lord, don't you remember we were there for every breaking of bread meeting. We ate and drank with you.

We drank the cup. We ate the bread and we even stayed back for the lunch. We used to have one once a month and you taught in our church. Oh, we heard such anointed messages and he'd say, yeah, it's all true.

But I tell you, I don't know where you're from. Depart from me. And in that place, there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves being thrown out.

See, those people who heard it never thought that they're going to be thrown out. Some of you feel, I'll never get thrown out. I hope so. But don't be so cocksure. If you're humble of mind, I can guarantee you'll enter in.

It all depends on your thoughts about yourself. What do you think about yourself in relation to other people in this church and in other churches? If you have low thoughts about yourself, you go in. If you have high thoughts about yourself, you get stuck in the narrow gate.

So Jesus said, you know, there are going to be people coming from the east and the west and north and south and sit at the table of the kingdom of God and some who are lost, who you think are lost today.

When you think of some names in the telephone list, ah, who is there? Nobody cares for them. Lost. You may get a surprise. You may find them to be first. And some who are first will be lost. Not all. It doesn't say all who are lost will be first and all who are first will be lost.

No. But some who are lost will be first. Some who are first will be last. Some who were considered, you know, some of the senior brothers and some of the fine young brothers and sisters of CFC, they may be, may not even be there.

What is the great gulf? You know, Abraham told the rich man in hell, he didn't have a clue. The biggest surprise of the life he got was as soon as he died. As soon as he died, he said, hey, where am I?

Who are these fellows around me? Why is it so hot? He got a surprise. And Abraham said, he wanted to get out of there. Everybody who is in hell wants to get out. And if he can't get out himself, he says, oh Abraham, please at least go and tell my brothers.

They also think they're going to heaven. They don't have a clue. Please go and tell them to repent of all their pride and their arrogance. So Abraham said, son, remember, you had so many good things in your life.

And there's a great gulf between you and me. I can't cross it and come there and you can't cross it and come here. You know what that great gulf is? It's pride that takes people to hell. It's humility that takes people into God's kingdom.

There's a verse in Zephaniah chapter 2, I think, it says, pursue humility, seek for more humility. You've often heard me say the three secrets of the Christian life. Number one, humility. Number two, humility.

Number three, humility. Those are the three secrets of the Christian life. And you can make out when you speak to people whether they've got a humble spirit. Everybody can talk humble. But a humble spirit you cannot acquire unless you walk close to Jesus, who was the humblest man that walked on the earth.

There's only one way to be really humble, I'll tell you that. It's not by listening to messages on humility. You can hear something right now and say, oh yeah, I want to be humble. You won't be humble.

You've got to walk with the humblest man that walked on this earth, and that's Jesus. And that's the great gulf. It's a very big gulf. You can't cross it. Once you're dead and gone, it's over. Well, I want to make sure that I'm always on the right side of that gulf, and that the right side is the side of humility and brokenness.

Walking in Humility and Fellowship With the Lowly

And for myself, I've discovered through many years, there's only one way to be humble, and that is to walk with the humblest man that walked on this earth. And isn't it a great privilege to be able to walk with him every day?

I fear that many of us are not walking with him, because you cannot hide your spirit. You can act humble, but you can't hide your spirit, brother or sister. And I believe there are a lot of proud people in CFC, a lot of them, not one or two.

Now I have to tell you, I don't know which side of the gulf you'll be on the last day. You can't say, we have Abraham for our father. Lord, we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our church.

It counts for nothing. There is a great gulf. Walk in humility. Walk in low thoughts about yourself. Consider others as more important than yourself. There's a command of the Bible. Let this attitude be in you, which was in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2, verse 3 to 5. Consider others as more important than yourself. You live like that every day. I guarantee you'll be on the right side of the gulf in that day. But you get taken up with what God has done for you, and how he has blessed you, and how he's blessed your family, and all that.

There may have been a time when you were on the right side of the gulf, but you're on the wrong side today. And if you're going in that direction, I would say you're in great danger. It's happened to other people who are better than you, who were here in CFC once.

They were humble brothers. It went to their heads, and everything went well in their home, and they've fallen away. So we should take a warning from what's happening like that around us. I heard a preacher once say that in Job's time, the devil said to God, Job follows you because you have blessed him so much.

You've given him ten wonderful children, and you've given him houses, and lands, and business, and good health, and everything, and a lot of money. He's one of the richest people. Naturally, he'll follow you.

Take it all away, and then let me see whether he'll follow you. And the preacher said, now it is different. Now the devil says to God, these fellows are following you because they're so poor, and they're so helpless, and they don't have much, and they're struggling, struggling, struggling.

Just give them money, and make it go well with them financially. Make it go well for their children financially. Then let's see whether they are still spiritual or not. Do you think there's some truth in that, that the devil has changed his tactics?

Because he knows, in each generation, how to ruin people. Honor God, and he'll honor you. In every little thing, honor him, honor him, and he'll honor you. Walk in humility. Take those right decisions in life.

The 144,000 and the Symbolic Language of Revelation

Yeah, that's very important. And he was speaking mainly here to the Pharisees, who thought that if anybody would get into God's kingdom, I will. I want you to turn to Revelation, in chapter 14. You know, this is a passage which certain groups say, we are these people.

The Jehovah's Witnesses say we are the 144 ,000, and I think some other extreme Pentecostal groups also say we are the 144 ,000. The book of Revelation is a book of symbols. We must never forget that when we read the book.

When it says a sword came out of the mouth of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1, it's not a literal sword. I hope you know that. It refers to the word of God. When it says his legs were made of bronze, you know that Jesus' legs are made of flesh, not bronze.

It's a picture. And, I mean, that's right there in the very beginning of Scripture. Sorry, in Revelation it says, the things which he sent and communicated by his angel to, and in one translation it says it was signifying.

That means with signs, Revelation 1 .1, it was signified, it was with signs that God spoke to John. Now in Revelation 14, so when it says 144 ,000, that's just a way of saying that it's a very small number.

144 ,000 is a very small number compared to an earlier passage in chapter 7, where it says, Revelation 7, we read of verse 9. After these things I saw a great multitude which no one could count. See, 144 ,000 can be counted.

But here is a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb and they cry out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God.

That means our salvation is entirely due to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And they fell on their face before the throne and worshipped. And the elders explained to John in verse 14. These are the ones who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

This reason they are before the throne of God, verse 15. So who are this great multitude from every tribe, tongue and nation? I believe there will be millions of Indians in that crowd, millions of Africans.

You know why? Because there are more babies that die in India and Africa than in almost any other country in the world. And all those babies, as soon as they die, they go to heaven. There are millions of abortions in these countries and all those aborted babies, whoever they are, Hindu, Muslim, Atheist, Christian, it's a baby.

How does it go to heaven? Because the righteousness of Christ is put to its account. Can you put a million rupees into the account of a one day old baby? Yes or no? Okay, you go to a bank and ask them, they'll tell you yes, you can.

You can open an account in the name of a baby and put a million rupees there. It didn't earn one bit of it, but it's in its name. And it's like that, the righteousness of Christ is put to the account of these babies.

Because they haven't consciously done any sin, they have not had the opportunity to accept Christ. And that itself will be a fantastic number that we cannot count. Think of all the babies that have been aborted and killed and you know the devil is behind all abortions.

But God's going to turn it for good because all of them are going to go to populate heaven. And so many, this infant mortality rate is very high in poorer countries. And that's why I believe there's going to be a lot more people from the poorer countries in heaven than from all the rich countries.

From every tribe and tongue and nation, there's not one tribe or tongue or nation on the face of the earth, even in the jungles. The babies that die in the jungles of those barbarians are going to God's kingdom.

It's such a great multitude that you can't even count that number. And they're all cleansed in the blood of the Lamb and they're clothed in white garments. It's the righteousness of Christ and they stand before.

Now that's a number which cannot be numbered. Then you come to chapter 14. Compared to these billions and billions and billions and billions, you find 144 ,000. That's nothing. I mean, even compared to the population of Bangalore, which is about eight and a half million, 144 ,000 is nothing.

It's nothing. This is about one or two percent of the population of Bangalore. It's a very small number. What is one percent? It's even much smaller compared to the population of the world right now. And compared to the population from the time of Adam, all the people who lived in the world, 144 ,000 is a tiny bit of sand.

It's a very small number. So that's what he's emphasizing here, not a fixed number of 144 ,000. It's compared, contrasted with chapter 7. And he says here, these people are different from the people there in chapter 7.

Public Discipleship and Bearing Christ’s Name

What did the people in chapter 7 say? Oh Lord, our salvation is due to you. We did nothing. We're cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. That's good. We all need to start there. But here, about these people, it doesn't say these 144 ,000 had their sins cleansed in the blood of the Lamb.

It says a lot more. Just read. They have the Lord Jesus' name and the Father's name on their foreheads, which teaches me one thing, that they were not ashamed, wherever they are, to be known as disciples of Jesus.

Have you seen some Hindus who got marks on their forehead? They're not ashamed. They are boldly proclaiming wherever they go. They go to work like that. Hindu ladies who have a red mark, they boldly say everywhere, I am a Hindu.

I have worshipped my God today and here is ash I have put on my forehead. I've seen Muslims even in trains. I was travelling in the Brindavan once and I saw a Muslim man asking his children to get up from the seat and I was wondering what he was going to do.

He spread his little mat on that seat and bowed down towards Mecca and he was praying. It's Christians who are ashamed. It's the ones who believe, who say they believe in the true God, who are ashamed to acknowledge I'm a disciple of Jesus.

I may not get my promotion. There are Christians who are happy that their names don't sound like Christian names. Oh, thank God! My boss doesn't know whether I'm a Christian or not, so he won't stop my promotion.