Test the Spirits

In late September, scammers pretending to be me asked a bunch of you to buy some gift cards and send them pictures of the numbers on the cards. Up front, let me distinguish this from other things that could have happened. I would call this a scam. The scammers PRETENDED to be me by creating a free email account that LOOKED like my email address. It was intentionally very close to my email address, but was actually a misspelling of it. This PRETENDING to be me is what I would call a "spoofing" attack. This is different from me being "hacked." If my account had been hacked, then the emails would have actually come from my email address. If my account had been hacked, all you recipients and more would have come from my online contacts. If my account had been hacked, then I would worry about changing my password. I have no evidence that my account was hacked, but this makes little difference on the effects of the attempted scam, of the spoofing attack. The similarity, not only in the email address, but in the diction used in the body of the email was close enough to me and how I talk or write that four different people were about to purchase gift cards. Three of those called me for more details, just to be sure what I wanted before their purchase. Two were already in a store before they figured it out.

Let me pause here and say that I don't think any less of the people who responded to me (or to the scammer, thinking it was me). If anything I'm touched; it shows that people are willing to go out of their way to help me if I ask. I also want to say that just because I was not hacked does not mean I was not a victim. This sort of deception undermines trust in society. It MIGHT undermine trust in me next time I actually want to ask for something. People might ascribe an emotional field of distrust to my emails, even though these did not come from me. We, as a community, bear the harm of such attacks. I am glad it wasn't worse and that no one is out any money.

As fast as possible, I sent a warning by posting on this blog (here), and pointing to that warning on our Facebook page and in our Facebook group. I also sent warnings to a few other people that I thought might have been targeted. On that blog post I quoted I John, chapter four, verse one: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world." Amen. Test the spirits. Be a little bit suspicious. There are many scammers, hackers, and spoofers out there in the world.

While I casually tossed that verse at our scammer situation, let's give the verse its full worth as scripture; let's look at the scripture a little closer and do a little more exegesis. In the letters of John, there is also an attack going on. The most likely thing was that Gnostics were appropriating the beliefs, theology, and traditions of the Johannine community. The Gnostics valued all things spiritual to an extreme and rejected all things physical.

I love the Gospel of John, but some don't. One of the reasons I've heard people give is that Jesus doesn't seem very human, very connected to the earth. Someone with theological training might say the Johannine depiction of Jesus is very "Docetic." Docetism says that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body, that Jesus only appeared to interact with the physical world. The ultimate Docetic statement would be that Jesus only appeared to suffer on the cross. Let me be clear: we in the Reformed tradition are NOT Docetists. I think this charge against my favorite gospel is unfair. Jesus spits and rubs mud on the blind man's eyes. Jesus doodles in the dirt when they bring him a woman caught in adultery. Jesus wept when he saw the bitter grief of his friends, Mary and Martha, on the death of their brother, Lazarus.

The author of the letters of John, like me, were defending their belief about Jesus against the false teachers, false spirits, or false prophets that were harming their community. This all helps us understand and qualify the verse that follows: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God." This is not really about other religions. This is about Johannine Christians vs. Gnostic Christians. Gnostic Christians would not "confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh," though they would confess other things about Jesus Christ.

A shallow interpretation I've heard is to take that second part (out of its full context) and say that the people on this earth who have not heard about Jesus or do not cognitively assent to the (theo-)logical proposition that "Jesus is Lord," or "Jesus is Risen," or "Jesus is both human and divine" or whatever other creedal statement being posited, and do not actually say it with their physical lips and vocal chords and breath and believe it in their hearts--that THOSE people are doomed. This is one of those things that I kinda believe, grudgingly, but I also kinda think it misses the real point. When our Spirit confesses that Jesus is from God, there's much more to it.

Again, back in the context of the letter of I John, Eugene Boring says that "some members of the community had suffered economic and physical deprivation, and some had been killed as a result of their confession of faith" (I am so glad that no one was deprived economically because of the scammers). These were physical things happening to the members of the community. The test is not so much whether someone SAYS something or something else. In Chapter 2, verses 9-10, it says "Whoever says, 'I am in the light,' while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling." These are not attitudes of hate or love; these are actions. Theft of money, harm of body, killing. if someone says with their lips Jesus is Lord, but still acts out of hatred, they are sill in the darkness. Boring says, "Those who belong to God and the truth can be identified by deed, not creed."

So, we are told to test the spirits. We are told to identify false prophets. How do we do that? We look for people who say that Jesus came in the flesh and that Jesus is from God, yes, but also we look for people who live out the consequences of that saying. Boring puts it this way: "Faith in Christ involves keeping his commands, and 'walking as he walked,' that is, adopting the way Jesus lived as the believer’s own pattern of life. The author refers not to particular acts of Jesus that are to be imitated, but to a life lived in union with God and determined by God’s love." If someone professes to be a Christian, but preaches that neo-Gnostic view that merely professing is sufficient, then they are still walking in darkness. If someone teaches Christian spirituality, but also preaches hate and harm to others--to any others--then they are false teachers. It isn't enough to say "Jesus is Lord" with our lips; we have to say it with our lives.

I am so glad to that THIS community at First Presbyterian Church of Pauls Valley assumed the gift cards were acts of charity and love and that they WANTED to participate. I am so glad that people were not harmed by scammers spoofing my identity. Don't let others spoof Christ's identity either. Test the Spirits. Jesus came in the flesh. Jesus healed in the flesh. Jesus cared for other people in the flesh. Jesus calls us to do the same. "By this they shall know you are my disciples: that you love one another," and that means not hating, not deceiving, not harming. That means enacting and loving all the people whom God loves in the flesh, in real, material ways.

Blessings,

--Chas