This is a topic that is deeply concerning to me after hearing a short presentation by Ryan Miller, a Christian Social Media influencer and host of the Jesus People podcast, in which he spoke about a prophetic warning he received in a late-night vision regarding using Artificial Intelligence to help him write his daily devotionals. Initially, he thought AI could be useful to help him be more accurate and intentional in representing God’s Word in his written and published devotionals. But the Lord made it clear with His warning that AI should not be depended upon for spiritual guidance when helping people develop their spiritual relationship with Him.
But how many pastors or church leaders do exactly that? With the trials of society today, it is easy to understand why the shepherds of the flock might be tempted to employ AI’s vast data banks of knowledge to make their job easier. After all, we are told that AI continues to learn from Large Language Models (LLMs) to train itself in self-supervised models to amass large amounts of text and fine-tune it for specific tasks, guided by engineering, to be used in chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, or Claude. What better way to use this technology than to apply AI’s expertise to write an impressive or effective sermon?
While Ryan Miller was initially tempted, God’s prophetic warning quickly steered him away from that course. But Gloo (a technology platform designed to connect faith communities and enhance outreach efforts by offering AI-powered tools and resources for ministry leaders), and the Barna Group (a Christian polling firm), both report that AI is becoming a factor in the decisions pastors and the Church are making about technology and the pulpit. According to Ministry Watch, an American nonprofit organization who reviews ministries for financial accountability and transparency, “a recent survey conducted by Gloo says a majority of leaders (54%) are uncomfortable with the emergence of AI. Another study conducted by Barna Group says that three in four U.S. pastors (77%) agree that God can work through AI. However, only one in 10 pastors (12%) are comfortable using AI to write their sermons, while two in five (43%) see its benefits in sermon preparation and research”.
In my opinion, all this is reason for concern. In matters of faith, we are to follow our Savior, God, who became man and sacrificed Himself so that we might escape eternal death and separation from our Creator, and enjoy eternal Life with Him in Heaven. We are to become like Jesus, who [as I have repeated so many times] made all His decisions in ministering to His fellow man by listening to what His Father told Him to do, or seeing in the Spirit what the Father was showing Him. And, it should be apparent to everyone who calls himself a man [or woman] of God, that a machine developed by man IS NOT a sanctified guide, counselor, advocate, comforter, empowered spirit, or a foretaste of future glory in our redeemed bodies (Roman 8:23).
I'm not saying that God can't use AI's extensive gathering of data to support, substantiate, and authenticate valid Scriptural resources in order to align with Christian doctrines and teachings. But to assign it equal status with the Holy Spirit, is a means of grieving the Spirit, which Ephesians 4:30 explicitly cautions us against. It should be clear to all Christians that the Presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to experience not only the Divine Person of God in our own spirit, but affords us the conscious impact of the power of God that resides in us. AI is incapable of doing that!
The Holy Spirit is an extension, if you will, of God; a part of Him. We can trust that the answers we receive [from Him] to our questions are TRUTH. We know the Source of the knowledge that He shares. We must never forget that the knowledge AI shares is only as good [and true and valid] as what is input by the human who entered the data. What are the biases of that human; their prejudices, their feelings about religion? Can that person, or that machine, be trusted to accurately guide your spiritual life?
I can see the temptation that AI offers those in the faith community. There is so much to know about God; so much information that spans thousands of years. And when we are seeking a closer relationship with the Triune God, it can be tempting to use AI's data banks to try to gain my knowledge about the God we serve. After all, the Bible tells us in the last verse in the Book of John, Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. That's a lot of knowledge. How are we to ever gain access to all that has been written? AI is definitely a temptation that promises more knowledge than we can accumulate or consume on our own. But again, who was the human that input that knowledge, and did they vet [examine] the veracity against Scripture or seek the guidance of the ultimate screener, the Holy Spirit?
We must resist the temptation to rely or depend on AI as the preferred source of wisdom when it comes to God or our faith. The Bible makes it clear: the fear (reverence and awe) of God is the beginning of wisdom [Proverbs 9:10]. Wisdom does not come from the worship of technology and AI! When we begin relying and trusting on technology/AI more than God ... or going to it first before we approach the throne of God, then I'm afraid we are treading on dangerous ground. Whenever we hold something or someone in more esteem than we do God, the Enemy is given legal authority to draw us deeper into submission to his temptations. Technology and AI, in themselves, are not bad. They only become a stumbling block when we let them get in between us and God.
Here is my final thought... unlike AI, which began as an invention of man, contrived by man's thoughts and goals, and which is designed by its inventor to educate by a human perspective ... the Holy Spirit seeks to fill us with His own spirit and change our perspective to see our lives and this world through God's eyes. Nothing is impossible for God; His wisdom, love, and power is imparted to us by and through the Holy Spirit. There is a richness in that relationship that no piece of machinery can ever hope to match or emulate. The Holy Spirit speaks the promise of God's Glory. If we are not careful, AI will be the harbinger of man's despair.
1 Corinthians 2:13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual [and guided by the Holy Spirit.
