Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991

Director's Chair: Is There Someone Else Up There I Can Talk To?

James Walker

The story is told of an Atheist who was standing on the edge of a cliff one day admiring the scenery.

Suddenly, without warning, the ground beneath his feet broke away and he began to fall.

In desperation he grabbed a small branch and tried to hod on with all of his might as he hung over the edge. The rocky ground was hundreds of feet below his dangling legs.

Now this man did not believe in God.... but at times like this it never hurts to try.

So the man cried out, "Oh God, if there be a God, save me?"

As the story goes, the man heard a loud voice from heaven.

The voice said, "There is a God and I a m He. Simply let go of the branch and put all your faith and trust in me and I will take you safely to the top."

The man paused for a second, looked intently at the ground far below and then back to the heavens when he yelled, "Is there anyone else up there I can talk to?"

In many ways people who are in cults are trying to talk with "someone else up there."

Like the fictional story of the man on the cliff, God requires us to place ALL of our faith and trust in Him alone for salvation (Romans 11:6).

With few exceptions, the cults uniformly teach that salvation is not by grace alone through faith alone.

They capitalize on our very human tendency to trust somewhat in or own ability to keep laws or do good works.

Although most cults call Jesus the Savior, they often see salvation as joint project in which they become "Co-Savior" with Christ - trusting partially Jesus and partially themselves as savior.

Like the man on the cliff, they would not mind God helping them climb back up, but they find it very difficult to trust God alone to "take them safely to the top." Like the man on the cliff, even the best intentions and most valiant human efforts offer no permanent solutions to our precarious position as sinners.

We regularly come into contact with people who are in the cults. They may be our friends, a relatives, some loved ones, or perhaps the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormon missionaries who knock on our door.

Whoever they may be, it is our challenge as Christians to help those in a cult to see that salvation is the work of God and not the work of men (Gal. 2:16).

And when they see that truth, we must encourage them to "let go and trust God.