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“A Spiritual Con Game”

“Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?”
That was a question the Apostle Paul asked the churches in Galatia (4:16). Truth tellers are a rare breed these days, but as Solomon said, “…there is nothing new under the sun,” so in reality, they have always been rare. The early days of the New Testament church had many obstacles, most of which stemmed from false teachers, fake apostles, and lying prophets masquerading as Christian leaders.
My thoughts today come from one of the little books in the back of our Bibles, II John. A major heresy called Gnosticism was gaining steam within Christian circles. Over the past two thousand years, Gnosticism has morphed into various beliefs (or unbeliefs), but the basics remain the same: God, the creator, is a lesser God than the highest God; Jesus wasn’t the incarnation of God becoming man; and He certainly didn’t resurrect from the dead. It is a denial of a couple of the basic biblical doctrines we hold tightly.
It is the mindset that man has a spark of the divine and that a special class of mankind are “in the know.” They claim the ability to become “good” without regeneration, which isn’t a possibility. They believe they are the special ones because they have more enlightenment than most of us plebes, us commoners. The Apostle John, the last of the original Apostles, saw this danger in his old age and addresses it head-on in his writings, including II John. There are only 13 verses in this little book. The “elect lady” to whom the book is addressed has been debated since its arrival between A.D. 90-95. Some think it refers to an actual lady, while others, myself included, think it is a euphemism for a specific church. Why not address the church by name? Persecution! John was likely trying to protect the believers in that church from being arrested or even killed by the authorities of Rome. My main reason for believing this is addressed to a church is found in v. 13. “The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.” This is likely the church members (from Ephesus) who are sending their greetings to this unnamed sister church that needed to be warned about this heresy. There are three tests that John gives in these few verses to determine if genuine Christianity is present among them.
1. There is the Moral Test (v. 4-6.) The first thing is found in v.4, where he commends them for walking in the truth. Among the Gnostics, supposed knowledge they possessed was much more important than actual obedience to the commands of Christ. They were, in their bodies, immoral, yet that didn’t matter because they had been chosen, set apart, as one of the enlightened ones. Sounds much like social Christianity all over the internet. V.5 gives the Christians at this church a reminder that every person in the church is to be loved by everyone else. No divisions, classes, or caste systems; every Christian deserves the same. That’s the way it was in the first church (A.D. 30), and it still is for you (A.D. 90). BTW, it still is today as I write this and you read this. V. 5-6 both use the word “beginning.” That beginning likely refers to from the time of the incarnation, when Jesus left heaven, took upon Himself flesh, and became the God-man.
2. There is a Doctrinal Test (v. 7-11). He begins with a fact that false teachers are present. How do we know they are false teachers? They deny that Jesus actually came in the flesh, the incarnation (v. 7). How many times do you see someone acknowledge “God,” but if “Jesus” is mentioned, certain people become apoplectic? God can be used in general, but Jesus is specific. I have been asked a few times to pray publicly at grand openings, government functions, etc., and I always pray publicly in Jesus’ name. If I can’t pray in Jesus’ name, I refuse to participate. Why would I refuse to pray in Jesus’ name? Look at v. 8. I could lose the blessings of the Lord for my compromise. I can’t lose my salvation, but I could certainly lose rewards here and at the Judgment Seat of Christ. V. 9 tells us about those Gnostic false teachers and the way they cross lines. They trespass concerning the doctrines of Christ and the doctrines of God. I have already alluded to those earlier in the blog. The Apostle is so adamant against these godless men that he tells these church members if they knock on your door, don’t let them in your house, and don’t even say, “Well, God bless you” (v. 10). He goes on to say if you do let him in and ask God to bless him, you are partaking of his works, his false teaching, because to fellowship with him gives the appearance of you embracing his teaching (v. 11).
3. Finally, there is a Social Test (v. 12). His desire isn’t to just keep writing to them, giving them instructions, but to actually come and see them face-to-face. Believers should love being around other believers! The Gnostics wanted to be only with a select few, the others of the enlightenment class. It bothers me greatly as a pastor when people name the name of Jesus and have absolutely no desire to fellowship with other Christians at church services or church functions. If you don’t like being around God’s people, that speaks volumes about you and not them. John is likely writing from Ephesus and, even as an old man, desired to see them face to face. That means travel when travel was much harder than today. Why did he desire to see them personally? “…that our joy may be full.” Notice he didn’t say “your joy” he said “our joy”. He knew that a source of his joy as a Christian was other Christians. It is a sad day when we get more joy out of the world and all of its trinkets than we do just hanging with the people of God. The word love is used so flippantly among the people of God, but for a genuine Christian, love is to be supernatural, and it is based on truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The Gnostics were guilty of failing all three of these tests. Do you see this happening before your eyes in your daily life? Do you have the discernment to recognize those claiming enlightenment more than others? I see this constantly in my sphere of life and ministry. I pray that you also will be able to recognize religious people and movements who seek to run a spiritual con game on you.

Pastor Tom Foskey