Should any religion be free to travel like a vine as it pleases? Or should we learn to discern between something that bears good fruit and something that chokes, kills, and destroys? Thomas Tarurongo Wynne writes.

Like so many in Rarotonga and at home, our parents and grandparents were planters – good planters – who knew how to work the ground, plant and reap a harvest.

They did this not only to eat but also to feed others in the family, as our grandmother did, and to turn a profit when that became part of our economy. They turned the resources God gave them – shaping, moulding, and cultivating the land – so it would release the bounty within, above, and beneath it, ensuring generations would benefit from its abundance.

Unfortunately, I did not inherit the planter gene. As Mum would often say, “Don’t pull out the weeds – you can’t tell the difference between the weeds and the flowers.” Much to her disappointment, I would pull out both – weeds and flowers – her plants and those killing her plants.

Try clearing a section without being caught in the foliage of the mile-a-minute weed or the Pikika‘a Papa‘ā weed. In Rarotonga, this invasive plant is known as Rakau Avare or Rakau Pikikaka‘a. These aggressive weeds and vines choke crops and agricultural land, smothering trees and pastures. Their spiny stems, leaves, and tangled networks of vines create thickets that trap animals and can seriously injure people.

But weeds that kill come in many forms.

Just this week in Aotearoa, a Korean cult was highlighted for spreading its insidious influence throughout the Pacific, including the Cook Islands. With a radio show promoted on Pacific media last year by a well-known Cook Islands presenter – and now a prominent Cook Islands TV personality – this cult, Shincheonji (also known as Mount Zion), is spreading like the mile-a-minute weed across the Moana if not already in our Ipukarea.

Should any religion be free to travel like a vine as it pleases? Or should we learn to discern between something that bears good fruit and something that chokes, kills, and destroys? Consider the Korean cult Grace Road Church in Fiji, which was exposed earlier this year. Fiji’s former Immigration Minister ordered an investigation into unauthorised passports allegedly issued to Grace Road cult leaders.

As someone who was caught in the grips of a Christian fundamentalist cult for over 15 years, I know firsthand the effects of spiritual abuse. Controlled and manipulated by pastors and leaders who abused their positions, the scars of that experience remain long after the church – or cult – has faded and its bank accounts, halls, and buildings lie empty. Some members of the church cult I once led tragically took their own lives. Others have never fully recovered. Most, if not all, of the marriages among its members have since fallen apart.

Famous author Isaiah Berlin wrote, “Freedom for the wolves has often meant death for the sheep. True liberty requires both freedom and responsibility to ensure justice and fairness.”

Freedom for the wolves has never meant freedom for the sheep; in fact, the wolves have happily fed on sheep left unfenced and unshepherded. While personal responsibility is critical – and I took that path, spending years in counselling to own my choices – it is also the role of governments and communities to balance freedom with responsibility. Should the wolves be allowed to roam freely without restraint?

Papa Jon Tikivanotau Jonassen captured this wisdom beautifully in his book on Māori proverbs: Kua ‘akamarama au ki te taeake, matakite i te veri tara—“I advised my friend, watch out for the centipede.” Why is this advice so valuable? Because sometimes it is our friend who sees the danger before we do, and it is the advice of others that can prevent us from being bitten unnecessarily.

God is bigger than any cult or religion, and this I know to be absolutely true. But He has given us, as citizens, communities, spiritual leaders and as governments, the responsibility to protect not just the physical and mental but also the spiritual welfare of our people. As Proverbs 3:27 says: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”