My response to accusations

May 24, 2012 My response to a person who accused our church of not being a church because: 1: Name of our denomination 2: No actual building (brick and mortar) 3: Said we were a cult. I will address the third actuation first, for I feel this one is more offensive than the other two. I consider the other two as being just plain ignorant. A cult according to Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner in their book The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics, states that “Religious Cults are schismatic deviations of established religious bodies. They are generally led by a powerful individual who is convinced that he or she has the only true message of God.” There are five basic traits to classify a church as being a cult. 1: Extra biblical Revelation: This means they have their own secret book that they rely on and theirs is the book. 2: Presumptuous Leadership: This means the leader thinks he has the only message for you. Examples of such leaders were men like Jim Jones and David Koresh. 3: Exclusive Salvation: This means our group is the only ones who can be saved. 4: Limited Eschatology: This means Jesus is coming only for my group. 5: Persecution complex: This means the world is against us because we have the truth. To you who state we are a cult, I quote Matthew 22:29 to you: “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” You have spoken things that you are not knowledgeable of in your assessment of our church. In the Newsweek magazine on March 15, 1993 Sheik Oman Abdel-Rahman told his Muslim followers to “kill the enemies of God in every sot to rid it of the descendants of apes and pigs fed at the tables of Zionism, communism and imperialism.” This man assumed that his enemies were God’s enemies as well. Your actuation of calling us a cult is placing us in the same category as this person. Shame on you. I will now address our denomination by simply stating this. Visit www.foursquare.org and you will be enlightened on what we believe. Enough of that. My denomination stands on its own merits. I will now address your accusation we are not a church because we do not have a building. Acts 20:20 states that we should meet in houses as well. A building is not the church. The church is the people inside the building. Jesus did a vast majority of his work outside the buildings. He fed the multitudes after preaching to them in an open field. He told them to push the boat out a little ways that he was in so he could preach to the people. He preached by the seaside. He preached in the graveyards. The church is the people. The Word of God states that where “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20 The bottom line is that you do not like it that people of color attend our church. Therefore you have to make up things to hide your true feelings. Your hatred toward people of color will eventually be your downfall. Jesus died for all of us. Yes mam, He even died for you. With all of that being said, let me share this with you. My wife and I will be more than happy to talk with you about your desire to destroy this church. Let me stress that neither you nor the devil can destroy this church. The devil has tried to destroy the Church of Christ for thousands of years. He has failed and you will fail. Let me encourage you to come to Jesus yourself. Please know that He died for your sins and He does love and care about you. I say to you what Christ said when they crucified Him. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” Luke 23:34 My friend, you are not aware of what you are talking about, because if you were, you would be quaking in your boots right now. Come to Jesus.