What if understanding one biblical word could change everything about your relationship with God? In the comic strip Peanuts, Lucy fears a thunderstorm might flood the world, but Linus reassures her by explaining God’s promise to Noah and the rainbow as a guarantee. Lucy says Linus has really reassured her, and Linus says, “Sound theology has a way of doing that.” Indeed, the church desperately needs sound theology today, especially about salvation—what the entire Bible is all about. In our “Lost in Translation” series, we’re defining key biblical words that many Christians don’t really understand. Today’s topic emerges in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, a highly religious Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council, to whom Jesus delivered a shocking message: “You must be born again.” This conversation reveals where salvation begins—with regeneration, the miracle where God gives spiritually dead people spiritual life.

Have you ever heard of the placebo effect? It is what happens when a person’s health improves not because of any real treatment, but simply because they believed it would work. Most delusions are harmless, but Jesus warned about one kind that carries eternal consequences. And He is not talking to atheists or agnostics in this passage. He is not talking about those who are far from God; He is talking about people who walked an aisle, filled out a card, said a prayer, got baptized, and were absolutely convinced they were on the right road. As He closed the Sermon on the Mount, He said the most sobering words I have ever read: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21, NIV). Three warnings from Jesus will help you make absolutely certain you are not kidding yourself.

In 1971, a boy named David Vetter was placed into a germ-free protective bubble within seconds of being born. His immune system just did not work, leaving him with no ability to fight off even the most common germ or illness. Reading that story, I found myself wishing I could put the Church in a bubble just like it, where every piece of false teaching would be automatically filtered out. But Jesus made it clear that that is not the world we live in. As He neared the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He gave His highest spiritual alert, not about a danger coming from outside the Church but from within it: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15, NIV). Three steps from Jesus Himself will equip you to recognize a counterfeit prophet, reject their teaching, and never be fooled.