Speak up or pray?

Exodus 29; Proverbs 5; John 8; Galatians 4

One of my relatives and his family belong to a cult. We have had conversations about our conflicting beliefs, most around the identity of Jesus Christ and the importance of what He has done. This cult does not believe that Jesus is God nor do they believe that salvation is by faith in Him. They teach their members that they must belong to their organization and that Jesus died to give them the hope of salvation by doing good things. My relative hopes that the ‘good’ he has done is good enough but he has no assurance because his faith is in his organization and in himself.

I wept for him as I read John 8, particularly verse 11 to the end. Several time Jesus declares who He is and what will happen to those who deny His identity. He talks about the truth and the liar who wants to destroy people. He tells how to be free from the power of sin and how to escape death. My gut knotted as faces of family and friends came to mind.

Devotions with God are supposed to be about my spiritual walk with Him. What is this passage saying to me? How am I supposed to apply it? One thought was that I send a challenge to this family, an invitation to read John 8:11-59 every day for the next month. Would they do it? I don’t know. Will I do it? Maybe.

Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” (John 8:12–13)

These self-righteous religious leaders accused Jesus of lying. It reminded me how a member of this cult responded when I quoted Jesus and said He would not lie. She replied, “I don’t know about that!” Faith cannot think God’s Son is a liar.

Jesus also told the Pharisees what would happen to them if they remained in their sin of not believing Him . . .

“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

They changed the subject. I’ve noticed that these cult members do the same. Either they don’t get it, or they don’t want to hear it. The next few verses show that their claim to salvation was their heritage, their ‘belonging’ to Abraham was their hope:

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did." (John 8:31–39)

My relative is convinced that belonging to this organization is his salvation. He ignores the words of Jesus who said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

The chapter goes on to describe how the liar had captured the hearts of those Pharisees and how Jesus is the everlasting Lord, but all they did was pick up stones to throw at Him. My gut is still in a knot. I’m not worried about stones. I just want to share truth with words that illuminate rather than alienate.

APPLY: Pray and be certain. God’s ways are not my ways. He could be telling me to take action or He could be telling me to wait on Him, that He will take action. Either way, obey Him.