Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are from God;
for many false prophets are in the world.
1 John 4:1
Some Ideas to Contemplate:
- The Johannine Writer (different from the Gospel Writer called John) warns his community to be wary of false prophets or any leaders who claim infallibility. The Writer wants them to be careful about idolizing people, like star athletes, or possessions, like castles, because these are temporal, not eternal.
- Some people declare that God (Higher Power, Divine Source, Supreme Universal Energy, etc.) has given them the specific mission of being our greatest guru or sole savior. However, the best teachers, physicians, parents, leaders, friends, and coaches encourage us to be ourselves, access our own healing energy, and/or maximize our talents, without claiming credit for themselves.
- Mystically and metaphysically, testing spirits is distinguishing between truth and illusion (false beliefs). Some of our illusions may include believing that:
- Only one road leads to “The Promised Land.”
- Other people are better or worse than we are.
- Our heritage hinders our success.
- Money buys love and happiness.
- We are broken, depraved, unlovable, unredeemable, unteachable, and/or unworthy.
- We understand exactly how others feel.
- We can live in or reconstruct our current body temple forever.
- An illusion of some traditional Christianity is that only Jesus—Master Mystic, Healer, and Wayshower—was God’s divine beloved. But Jesus said, “All the works I have done, and greater, you also can do” (John 14:12). So, practical Christianity and other spiritual paths reveal that each of us has the presence of the Divine within us. When we do our soulwork, we shatter the illusion that we are not enough. Then, everything that is not us dissolves so we can live as our true soul selves, just as Jesus did.
Practices for the Week:
- Remember: You are a spiritual being with a radiant soul, living in a sacred body temple, having human experiences.
- Reflect on any illusions you may believe.
- Illustrate, journal, and/or record how the illusions transform when you view them from a different perspective.
- Then discern how you can live differently based on a new point of view.
© 2026 – Rev Jenn Sacks – All rights reserved.
Photo from Shutterstock by Stone36.
