It has not been easy for people to build a case against us and our teachings for one very important reason: We have built our faith on the most solid foundation anyone could ever choose for any religion.
Jesus said that anyone who "hears these sayings of mine and obeys them will be like a wise man who builds his house on a rock. When the storms come and beat upon that house, it will not fall." (
Matthew 7:24-25)
We are fanatically committed to following the teachings of Jesus. No report on us would be complete without mentioning it. Our faith in Jesus opens the door for us to receive God's free gift of salvation. And our faith is made evident by our efforts (imperfect though they may be) to structure all that we do and say on the basis of what he has taught us.
It is our faith in Jesus and all that he taught, that has given us a kind of immunity to the attacks of the cult-busters. They will, of course, eventually succeed in destroying us personally and physically; but they will never stop the truth of the Rock on which we stand.
Cult-busters display their own hypocrisy when they accuse us of trying to work our way to heaven by obeying Jesus. All they can offer as an alternative is that we should deliberately disobey Jesus to prove our faith in God's grace. How absurd!
They can condemn us for being poor, for being zealously evangelistic, for breaking social traditions, for being prepared to lay down our lives in love. But the more they condemn us, the more they condemn themselves.
Paradoxically, we are becoming more popular and more hated at the same time. If it were all popularity, we might have cause to worry that we had compromised our faith in order to gain it; and if it were all persecution, we might wonder whether we were just trouble-makers, with nothing positive to offer. But we are getting a fair bit of both reactions to what we say and do.
Our hope is that eventually the entire world will hear what we are saying in spite of the cult-busters (in some cases because of them!); and that they will all be given a chance to choose between the lie of perverted grace (i.e. that it is sinful to try to obey Jesus), the lie of false works (i.e. obey the government; obey your parents; obey your pastor; obey your boss; obey anyone, but don't obey Jesus), and childlike faith in, and obedience to, Jesus.
We might add that the real error in cults like the Children of God (the one they try hardest to link us with) is the same as that of the born-againers: Both say they are free to break the rules because they are under God's grace, little realising that God's grace is given to those whom he chooses (and he does not choose to give it to those who wilfully reject the teachings and disciplines of his Son).
(See also
Jesus Christ, and
Why So Much Persecution?)
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