40 - Avoiding Spiritual Deception

The religious world is a swamp, not an oasis. Just because people say they believe in God doesn’t make it a safe place. It’s full of confusion, deception, fraud and sometimes truth. So how does a person know which is which? Who should we allow to teach us? How do we know if what that person is saying is really from God? The spiritual environment in the city of Jerusalem when Jesus ministered there contained all these elements. There was controversy. There were corrupt religious leaders who dominated the people. There were powerful religious traditions which had evolved over the centuries. There were rules that controlled everything, and oh, there was also truth—God-given, Spirit-revealed truth, all mixed together in a huge, confusing mess. John gives us a sample of some of the opinions people had about Jesus, and they sound just as muddled as opinions we hear about Him today (vs25-27, 31-32, 35, 40-53).  Even though two millennia have passed since Jesus had this dialogue with religious leaders in the temple courtyard, people are still asking the same question: How do I know who is telling me the truth about God? And the answer Jesus gave them then is just as true today. We too are living in a jumble of religious opinions, and we desperately need to know how to avoid spiritual deception. Let’s go stand in that crowd and listen to Jesus.