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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, and thank you for listening to your

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Speaker 1: Daily Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each

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Speaker 1: day to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Carol McCracken, and after a short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, will dive into today's Bible verse, First

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Speaker 1: John four to one. Today's Bible Verse is first John

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Speaker 1: four to one. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but

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Speaker 1: test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

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Speaker 1: For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

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Speaker 1: A few weeks ago, I found myself doing something I

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Speaker 1: never thought i'd have to do. I was watching a

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Speaker 1: video online, and about halfway through, I caught myself wondering,

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Speaker 1: is this even real? The verson's voice sounded authentic, and

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Speaker 1: their facial expressions look natural. In fact, nothing about it

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Speaker 1: seemed unusual, But then I learned it had been created

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Speaker 1: using artificial intelligence. Since then, I've noticed myself hesitating more often.

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Speaker 1: I'll see a picture and wonder if it actually happened.

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Speaker 1: I'll hear a recording and ask myself if that person

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Speaker 1: really said those words. Technology has advanced so quickly that

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Speaker 1: simply seeing something with our own eyes isn't always enough. Anymore.

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Speaker 1: I read an article recently that said, one of the

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Speaker 1: greatest challenges facing the next generation and won't simply be

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Speaker 1: learning how to use artificial intelligence, It'll be learning how

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Speaker 1: to recognize what's true in a world where almost anything

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Speaker 1: can be created, altered, or manipulated. Now that struck me

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Speaker 1: because in many ways, followers of Christ have always been

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Speaker 1: called to do exactly that. The technology might be new,

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Speaker 1: but the need for discernment isn't. When the Apostle John

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Speaker 1: wrote these words, that were no computers, smartphones, or AI

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Speaker 1: generated videos, but there were plenty of voices claiming to

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Speaker 1: speak for God. Some teachers sounded wise, others were persuasive

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Speaker 1: and charismatic. They used spiritual language and quoted parts of scripture.

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Speaker 1: If you listened casually, and you might have assumed they

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Speaker 1: were teaching the truth. That's why John writes, beloved, do

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Speaker 1: not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see

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Speaker 1: whether they're from God. John is likely an old man

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Speaker 1: by the time he wrote this letter. He was caring

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Speaker 1: for churches in and around Ethesis, which is modern day Turkey,

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Speaker 1: and he was deeply concerned about what these young believers

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Speaker 1: were hearing. False teachers had entered the churches teaching that

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Speaker 1: God wasn't really God in human flesh, or teaching that

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Speaker 1: in Jesus wasn't really God in human flesh. Others claimed

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Speaker 1: people needed secret spiritual knowledge beyond the Gospel. These ideas

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Speaker 1: sounded sophisticated, but they quietly pulled people away from from

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Speaker 1: the truth about Christ. I love the way John begins

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Speaker 1: this verse. He doesn't begin with the rebuke. He begins

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Speaker 1: with the reminder beloved. Before he warns them, he reminds

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Speaker 1: them whose they are, their God's dearly love children. That's

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Speaker 1: important because discernment isn't rooted in fear. It's rooted in

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Speaker 1: the confidence that our loving Father wants to protect us

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Speaker 1: from deception. Then John says, test the spirits. The Greek

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Speaker 1: word for test is document oddso it's a verb that

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Speaker 1: means to examine something carefully to determine whether it's genuine.

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Speaker 1: It was commonly used for testing metals. A goldsmith didn't

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Speaker 1: glance at a piece of metal and to clear a

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Speaker 1: pure gold, he examined it, and he looked for evidence.

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Speaker 1: He proved its authenticity before accepting it. John says believer

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Speaker 1: should develop that same habit spiritually. Something else has always

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Speaker 1: intrigued me about this verse. John doesn't say tests the teachers,

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Speaker 1: He says tests the spirits. Why because every message has

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Speaker 1: a source. Every book, every podcast, every social media posts,

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Speaker 1: every conversation, every sermon, even every thought we choose to entertain,

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Speaker 1: is built on some understanding of what's true about God,

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Speaker 1: about ourselves, and about the world. John reminds us to

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Speaker 1: look beneath the surface. Don't just ask whether someone's persuasive,

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Speaker 1: Ask whether what they're saying agrees with what God is

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Speaker 1: already revealed. That's still good advice, maybe now more than ever.

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Speaker 1: Every day we're absorbing information at a pace no generation

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Speaker 1: before us has experienced. News alerts interrupt our meals, social

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Speaker 1: media fills spare moments while we wait and learn. Podcasts

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Speaker 1: keep us company in the car, Friends and articles. Videos

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Speaker 1: appear in our feeds, and now AI can create content

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Speaker 1: that looks remarkably convincing. The question isn't whether we'll hear

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Speaker 1: different voices. We will. The question is which voice will

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Speaker 1: shape the way we think. John gives us the answers

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Speaker 1: we keep reading his letter. Every message should be measured

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Speaker 1: by the truth about Jesus Christ. Does it agree with

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Speaker 1: who Jesus is does it line up with what God

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Speaker 1: has already revealed in his word? Or is it asking

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Speaker 1: us to trust something else? Those are good questions for

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Speaker 1: every generation, and they're certainly good question for ours. You've

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Speaker 1: probably heard the illustration that experts who identify counterfeit money

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Speaker 1: don't spend all day studying fake bills. Instead, they become

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Speaker 1: so familiar with genuine currency that the counterfeit becomes easier

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Speaker 1: to spot. Whether or not you've heard that before, the

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Speaker 1: principles sound. The best defense against deception isn't becoming an

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Speaker 1: expert on every lie. It's becoming deeply familiar with the truth.

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Speaker 1: That's one reason reading scripture consistently manners so latch. The

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Speaker 1: more we know God's character, the more we understand his heart.

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Speaker 1: The more we understand his heart, the easier it becomes

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Speaker 1: to recognize ideas that simply don't sound like him. Jesus

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Speaker 1: prayed these words in John's seventeen seventeen sanctify them in

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Speaker 1: the Truth, Your word is truth. Notice he didn't say

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Speaker 1: God's word contains truth. He said God's word is truth.

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Speaker 1: As I think about the future, I have no doubt

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Speaker 1: artificial intelligence will continue to improve The day may come

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Speaker 1: when it becomes almost impossible to distinguish a real image

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Speaker 1: from a fabricated one, but that doesn't have to leave

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Speaker 1: us anxious. Long before technology raised questions about what we see,

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Speaker 1: God had already given his people a way to evaluate

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Speaker 1: what they hear. So maybe the question is that simply

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Speaker 1: is this video real? Maybe the better question is have

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Speaker 1: I spent enough time with God's truth to recognize a

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Speaker 1: counterfeit when I encounter one. That's a question worth asking,

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Speaker 1: because the more familiar we become with the genuine article,

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Speaker 1: the less likely we are to be fooled by an imitation.

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Speaker 1: We pray with me, Dear Lord in heaven, we love

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Speaker 1: you so much. You certainly have told us how much

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Speaker 1: you love us. Help us, Lord, to distinguish the truth.

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Speaker 1: As technology becomes so much more sophisticated, the deception is there,

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Speaker 1: but the deception has always been there since sin entered

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Speaker 1: the world. And you give us tools. You don't leave

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Speaker 1: us alone. But Lord, we can draw nearer to you,

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Speaker 1: We can spend more time with you. We can take

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Speaker 1: the time to hear what you have to say to us. Lord,

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Speaker 1: open our hearts and our minds so that we hear

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Speaker 1: you so that we become so familiar with your voice

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Speaker 1: that we know your truth and your preciousned. We pray amen. Yeah,