You are listening to the Passion City Church, D.C. podcast. To learn more about Passion City Church,

including our gathering times in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., visit us online at passioncitychurch.com.

Today's talk comes from Pastor Ben Stewart.

Well, over the last couple of years, my kids and I have been going back and watching the old

superhero movies. And by far, one of the most disturbing characters in the original X-Men

series was the character Mystique, shown here in this picture from the neck up.

She wasn't as physically strong as some of the other bad guys

didn't have the same powers as them, but she was a shapeshifter,

which meant she could assume the form of anybody. And so she could disguise herself

as someone you trust and look like your friend, but then say things to you that aren't true,

aren't commensurate with reality. And she would do that to affect your behavior so that you

would then do things that would even work against your own interest. And so she would deceive you

to distort reality to get you to go places you were not meant to go. It's a very damaging thing.

And when people realized she was out there, here's the most damning meant to go. It's a very damaging thing. And when people realized she was out

there, here's the most damning thing about it. It wasn't just that, oh, there may be this person

deceiving me, but the fact they looked like a friend means I'm not sure I can trust my friends.

And the disturbing thing is that you weren't sure anymore who to trust. And so they had to develop

tests to figure out if their friend was really mystique or not. Tell me something only my friend

would know. I've got to find some way to know if you're real. Now, why do I mention that?

Because that's kind of where we are in 1st John. We've been talking

about this. This is the Apostle John, and he's writing to these churches that he loves, and they're in the

midst of a crisis that there were some people who had risen up among them who claimed to speak for

...