3 John 1:9-10 Cultish behavior
There is certain behavior by individuals that should set off a warning signal in our minds when we see it. One such behavior is when we see someone in leadership or authority tries to isolate those who they are leading from the opinions of anyone else. They don’t want you to know what others are doing and they want you to solely rely upon them for your source of information and direction. This is scary when it happens in the world with politician, bosses, or even in the school system but it is scary when it happens in the realm of church. John tells Gaius that there is a man in the church, Dioterphes, who refuses to accept them into the church because he wants to hold his authority over them. The body of Christ is one built upon fellowship and communion of believers and is not that of isolating yourself from other believers.
Just to make clear I don’t believe that you can just invite any into your church and had them the microphone to teach or preach, that would be ridiculous. What I am saying is that I believe a lot of our churches have become cultish in that the leaders of individual congregations seek to isolate their congregations from other believers. They discourage believers from visiting other congregations, they talk about and degrade other congregations, and they want to be the sole source of inspiration for their congregations. When someone gets to the point to where they are confident, they are the only one who has it right then this should immediate throw up a red flag to us that something is not right. If they must demean others to defend their stance then this should be a red flag for us. I don’t write this to have people on witch hunts for pastors who are out of line, I write it because it is a problem that John dealt with in the church over 2000 years ago and it is still a problem in the church today. We need to be aware and wise to the fact that we are not being misled or manipulated by those who seek to isolate us from other believers and their opinions.