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Other Sheep |
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 "They may not all worship the same way, but as long as they love Jesus they're saved and members of His Kingdom." |
Many religious groups develop doctrines and
traditions that promote exclusivity, teaching that if an individual does not believe just
as they do and join them, that God loves them less. While David fervently believed that
the movement he had organized was the best place to serve God, he never made the mistake
of thinking it was the only place. He often reminded his followers that there were
millions of other Christians around the world, many of whom were accomplishing a lot of
good. "We have a big Family, not only our little Family but all believers around the world that love the Lord!" [91] "Every Christian is a citizen of the Kingdom of God. ... So His Kingdom is spread all over the world already, everywhere there are hundreds of millions of Christians all over the world who love Jesus." [92] "We are not the whole Body nor the whole Church, ... there are millions of others who love the Lord, who truly trust Jesus Christ for their Salvation and are born-again Christians following or serving the Lord in various degrees and ways and places. So there are millions of us the world over, and in the other world as well. -- Billions!" [93] "They may not all worship the same way, ... they may not understand the Bible the same, but as long as they love Jesus and they believe He died for them and have received Him as their Savior, they're Christians. They're saved and they're His children and members of His Kingdom." [94] "It's good for [our children] to see that there are others sort of like us and that we're not the only ones. That there are other Christians in the world and have been other Christians in the world who have been like us and who have obeyed the Lord and who've forsaken all and gone into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature." [95] From the earliest days, David warned his followers to avoid becoming too exclusive, and to work with other Christians when possible: "Some of us have become so exclusive, self-righteous and pharisaical in our own doctrines, practices and certainty of being right that some of us seem to have gotten the idea that we're the only Christians alive, that no one is saved unless he's one of us, and no Christian is serving God unless he's joined us! This is a damnable lie of the Devil! "If this were true, then all the saints of God before us were unsaved and not serving the Lord, including my own mother, who didn't agree with my separatism from the churches! This is certainly not true, as there have been many genuine Christians and true saints of God giving their whole lives in full-time service even unto martyrdom, both in and out of the churches, ever since the time of Christ! "Today there are many of God's children who are genuinely saved, love the Lord, and want to see others saved throughout the world, both in and out of the churches! Do you count them as brethren or as heretics? ... How can you condemn them as not being Christians nor serving God? This is as self-righteous and hypocritical as the Pharisees themselves!" [96] "Help us ... not to get sidetracked on some tangent where we insist on this little shibboleth or that little interpretation before we will fellowship with [other Christians]. Help us to work with anybody for the salvation of souls as long as they love [Jesus] and want to win souls! Help us to be willing to go to anybody with [God's] Love, no matter what their faith or politics!" [97] |
