Cults take control over the resources of their members. They focus their minds away from the idea of personal property and exploit their talents, money, time, and goodwill in the name of community.
Whether framed on a wall, or written into their creed, every cult has this quote from Jesus: “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:33). This, in their minds, gives divine legitimacy to their evil cause.
Jesus has not called you to a church where other’s dictate what you can and cannot have. But he does say that “None of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions”? (Luke 14:33). This you must come to grips with!
Which begs the question: “If renouncing all your possessions is a condition of discipleship, then surely, you are finished before you begin?” Or, as the disciples asked after being told that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:24-25).
Lest we spend another generation discussing another set of deep metaphorical meanings concerning the threading of camels through needles, it might be best to just take Jesus at his word: “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26).
So much is a man’s status tied up in what he owns that it is nigh on impossible for him to imagine his possessions as not being his own.
This is not complicated. You have nothing worth having that did not come from Christ. And nothing you have has value unless it is used for Christ.
Thus, you renounce ownership and accept stewardship.
John Staiger