Fake Religion

“Test the spirits,” says John (1). The word translated “test” is that used for checking for counterfeit coinage. Today we may be more at risk of being swindled through the internet and credit cards. We still need to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt 10:16, KJV).

The Greek world was alive with people promoting new ideas, as Paul observed in Athens (Acts 17:21). Reading between the lines in this letter we can detect that there were people in Ephesus who had deviated from the faith they had originally been taught. They had apparently claimed to have learned the truth about God from some source other than Jesus Christ. They seem to have been teaching that Jesus was not the Messiah. Their influence was confusing the church.

We need to be wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. We are aware of the many different religions that surround us and are appalled at some of the things they teach. It’s easy to point the finger at practices that are radically different from our own; it’s less easy to think in a Christian way about what is socially acceptable. There are false teachings in our own churches too—appealing to our love of money and power in ways that sit so comfortably with our lifestyle that we never notice. This scheme or that, someone claims, will appeal to the youth culture around us, or lead to church growth or gain us some publicity. In a world that is excited by big numbers—whether of people in our building or “likes” on Facebook—it is easy to be seduced. Success, as our culture sees it, is not our goal. We need discernment as much as John’s original readers did. The price of gullibility is the adulteration of the Gospel for which Christ gave his life.

How can you tell if a teaching, Bible interpretation or new program for your church is genuine or not? How can you train yourself to be spiritually street-smart?