confesses

Dear friends, don’t believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world. This is how you know if a spirit comes from God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come as a human is from God, and every spirit that doesn’t confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is now already in the world. You are from God, little children, and you have defeated these people because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world. So they speak from the world’s point of view and the world listens to them. We are from God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God doesn’t listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6, CEB)

Ok, this seems to be straightforward, if they confess that Jesus came from God then they are true, but if they don’t confess Jesus is from God then they are false.

But people confess Jesus is from God and say LGBTQIA+ are damned and others confess Jesus is from God and say all of God’s people are included, including those on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. So who is actually true and who is false? They can not both be right.

You see this verse was written to a community in a time when it was straightforward. Jesus was either from God or not and that was the determination of true and false prophet, but now the waters have muddied and there needs to be another test.

What is that test?

Love. I believe the test is love. If you read and speak of a way to love all of creation and help the world see the love they have available then you are a true prophet. If you read and speak of ways that keep people out, then that is not love.

Love God and Love Neighbor. Period. And that test tells true or false.

Loving People. Loving God.