Cult or Christian?

     The conversation at the next table in the restaurant was quite lively.  Four young adults were discussing the fallout from a pastor’s introduction for a presidential candidate last week.

     News reports indicate the pastor referred to one of the candidate’s opponents as a member of a cult.  However that opponent refers to himself as a Christian.

     As I listened to the nearby discussion, it occurred to me that the question being raised was an important one.  And not just for presidential politics.  It’s important for you and me.

     Since his remarks, the pastor took some hits in the media for what they called “disparaging statements” about the other candidate’s religion.  Some even called him a ‘moron.’

     But are remarks ‘disparaging’ if they are true?  Shouldn’t the media do a fact check first?

     “Hold on just a minute,” you say.  “If a person says, ‘I’m a Christian,’ who are we to judge?”

     Who indeed?  But someone has to decide.  Otherwise, if the word ‘Christian’ means anything the speaker decides, then it means nothing.

     Just what makes a person (what the pastor called) “a genuine follower of Jesus Christ?”

     I propose that, to settle the debate, it is most appropriate to let Christianity’s founder decide.

     When Jesus Christ was first introduced publicly by his cousin, John the Baptist, John said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  And Jesus did not disagree.

     A “genuine follower” believes Jesus when he said, “I and the Father are one” [John 10:30].  His listener’s understood he was claiming to be God and not just a man.

     Then Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6] Another time he said, “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved” [John 10:9].

     “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother,” said Jesus [Mark 3:35]. When asked what it meant to do God’s will he replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” [John 6:29].

     Speaking of himself Jesus said, “The Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” [John 3:14].  Later the Bible states, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” [Acts 4:12].

     If you haven’t done so, I encourage you to get a Bible and read the Gospel accounts again.  But read them as a child.  Without any pre-conceived notions.  Let the Bible speak for itself.

     Some religious groups claim they helped ‘restore’ the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But it’s never been lost.  It’s right there for all to read in the Bible.  And you don’t need special glasses to understand it.  The language is plain and simple enough for a child to understand.

     The Bible says about Jesus, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” [John 1:12].  Notice that membership in God’s family is by grace alone.  It is a gift from Jesus Christ to you.  All you must do is believe and receive it.

     God wants you to find faith in Christ so he kept it simple.  He also warns us against “turning to a different gospel–which is really no gospel at all” because some people are “trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” [Galatians 1:6,7].

     The best test of whether someone is “a genuine follower of Jesus Christ” is to compare what they believe with what Jesus taught.  If they add to the Bible or take away from what it clearly teaches about Jesus Christ, you can be sure they belong to a cult.

     Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!