9/27/25

This week, the team at the whiteboard engaged in many great conversations - with believers, nonbelievers, and some in between. We've seen an incredible amount of openness and receptiveness from new members of the Fellowship Church cult, and we have seen one member begin preaching against the injustice and evil being done within the group. Even to his fellow members who tried to sell us things (part of the cult's scam), he has openly rebuked using scripture and contrasting it with their shared experiences in the group and with their leadership. This ex-member has freshly been kicked out of the group, and it's no wonder why - what fellowship does light have with darkness? The leaders of this group use vulnerable and desperate people who desire to follow God, and they use them to provide wealth for themselves at the expense of the members. Praise God for the deliverance of this man as well as his boldness in preaching to others in the group. There seems to be a growing number of people looking to leave the toxic and abusive group; however, the leaders are very skilled in manipulating and controlling people to stay by recruiting people from across the country who come from bad situations and then making them solely dependent on the cult for all of their needs. Many members are scared to oppose the group or leave as they will become homeless and stranded away from their families (though some additionally came to escape their previous situations). We praise God for the way He is clearly at work in this people, and we continue to ask that He would provide for those who boldly decide to leave the group and follow Him. May they be reminded of the cost of the cross, and may God provide them with peace and clarity as they process wat they've experienced.

I was a part of a number of conversations this week regarding the assurance of the believer in salvation - a very important topic for many reasons. One young lady that we talked to at CSUF came to us and expressed her insecurity in her faith in Jesus. She told us how she really wants to believe in Jesus, but that she has great waves of doubt that bring her fear. This is an interesting kind of engagement, but I feel like we've been getting more conversations of this nature, perhaps as students become more familiar with who we are and what we do, or perhaps it is merely God's grace at work. 

I had another gentleman come and talk to me this week to ask for my outlook on Christian sexuality, with the purpose of hearing if he had departed from conservative, evangelical Christianity (which I guess he assumed I fell under). This was different from the usual conversations we have as this young man was coming to test himself to some degree and make sure that he hasn't fallen off his rocker theologically at the hands of poorly interpreted studies overruling well interpreted scriptures. I'm not sure how satisfied I am with my response to him overall - as I wasn't familiar enough with the scholars and studies he mentioned to address them directly (as it also didn't seem that he could reiterate them completely either) - however, the one thing that I think I provided that is of value is the thing that uniquely sets these two conversations as distinct: they both desire to follow Jesus. This is actually pretty rare, I find, that people sincerely desire to follow Jesus so much that they approach someone to be corrected doctrinally. The reason that this is so valuable is that this is where your faith stands or falls. If your house is built on Jesus, then you can withstand the storms; however, you have to understand what it means to have faith in Jesus.

In my conversation with this gentleman, I asked him this question, "Do you believe that Jesus is God, and are you willing to take up any cross to follow Him?" The reason that this is such an important question to ask is that most things can be sorted out by this answer. If Jesus is God and I choose to follow Him at all costs, then it is a matter of information - that is, a need to understand what Jesus taught and did. However, if you are not willing to follow Jesus, for disbelieving His divinity or for disagreeing with His teaching, this reveals restrictive limitations that you have placed on Jesus' influence in your life and cannot pretend to follow Him. At best, you adopt His morality, but you only adopt it on the basis of it agreeing with you - revealing that you are the god and final authority of your own life, not Jesus. All of that to say, these two people seemed very unique to me in their apparent desire to follow Jesus despite doubt or despite cultural friction.

In many ways, my response to both of these positions would currently be the same at its root: to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit, Whom He promised to give when we ask. This Spirit is our guide into all truth, our convicter, our interpreter, our transformer, and the mark of our salvation which brings assurance of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. For those in doubt of their salvation, assurance is found in the Spirit. The Spirit that God has given us testifies with our spirit that we are His children. The Spirit gives us a new heart with new desires which align with Christ. Spiritual transformation must take place under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit who makes us into new creations. For this reason, I find that the most essential element in spiritual formation is that God is the main player. If we honestly make God the main player, all of the other duck fall in line: our desires, perceptions, actions, thoughts, etc.

When Jesus called the first disciples, who did He say would make them fishers of men?