While traveling with some friends in Italy a few years ago a funny thing happened. Our friend gave us some very good advice; never follow a stranger who wants to lead you away from the group. This makes so much sense. We are in a foreign country and we don’t know the language. We know some of the culture, but there are so many things we don’t understand. And Italy, like so many places where tourists gather, has gathered those who want to take advantage of the lack of knowledge and gullibility of tourists.
So we are outside of Pompeii, after spending much of the day walking around in this well-preserved ancient ruins. If you remember history, Pompeii was rapidly buried in volcanic ash in 79 AD. The city was frozen in time until it was rediscovered about 1700 years later. So it is a contrast of these ancient ruins and a city built next to it that was unaware of its existence for much of it development. And like a typical tourist town, the tacky shops and over-pricing are standard.
My wife and I are talking with his wife about lunch plans. Then it happens. We notice that our friend is talking with someone. He starts to walk away with this unknown man. Then the shouts come, “Come on, he knows a great restaurant.” So off we go, ignoring his advice. We survived, but the rest of the story involves running to our car in fear of the police.
It can be easy to be led astray. Even the best of us can walk away without really realizing that we are walking away. The charm and apparent trustworthiness of the individual can trick us. But con artists are good at what they do, otherwise they would be lawyers.
But tourist locations are not the only places and times when deception is active. We are bombarded by carefully packaged deceptions every day. So the words of John in our text can hit home with us. For him, the people who were teaching this alternate theory about Jesus and His nature were a real danger to the genuine faith. If their teaching was believed, everything of value would be stripped from what these believers had been taught and experienced. They would end up empty-handed.
And what these people were doing was not accidental. That man who led my friend and eventually all of us astray that day in Italy knew what he was doing. He was not innocently talking to my friend, being a kind and generous man. He was working us. He had a goal and he achieved it. After we were seated in the restaurant we notice our new friend standing at the bar receiving his finder’s fee in liquid form. He wanted a drink, and we were his paycheck.
John’s audience was in danger of being led astray. And the consequences of that deception would be eternal. But religious and spiritual deception didn’t stop in the first century. We have an abundance of deceivers alive and well today. They have the outward garb of Christianity, but they lack the substance. They remove Jesus from His place as fully God and fully man. They water down the meaning of sin and obedience. They promise not to mess with our neat little lives. They make us feel good about ourselves. They accept anyone, except those of us who would challenge their view of the world.
So heed the words of John. They are trying to lead you astray.
The Arnold Journey 