Jude 1:8

Jude is a short letter in the New Testament written to warn Christians about false teachers who had quietly worked their way into the community. In the verses just before this one, Jude recalls the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah — ancient cities destroyed by God for their immorality, according to Genesis — as a warning about judgment. He now draws a direct comparison to people causing harm in the present community. He calls them "dreamers" — people who justify their behavior by claiming special spiritual visions or revelations. The three charges are specific: they defile their bodies, reject legitimate authority, and speak contemptuously of angelic beings — something even the archangel Michael, according to Jewish tradition, refused to do.

God, keep me honest. Guard me from dressing up self-will in spiritual clothing and calling it faith. Give me the humility to stay accountable — to you and to the people you have placed around me. Amen.

"Dreamers" is such an interesting word for Jude to choose here — we usually think of dreamers as visionaries, idealists, people who see what others can't. But Jude uses it as a warning label. These are people whose claimed spiritual experiences become the justification for doing whatever they want. It's a pattern that shows up across history and across traditions: someone claims direct access to God, and that access becomes a license to ignore accountability, dismiss authority, and treat others badly. The dream becomes the cover. This is genuinely hard to sit with, because we're right to be suspicious of authority — institutions fail, leaders abuse power, systems oppress. Jude isn't saying "never question authority." But there's a difference between honest accountability and using spirituality as a shield against any correction at all. If you find yourself always the exception to every rule, always receiving a convenient word from God that lines up exactly with what you wanted to do anyway — Jude would say: be careful. Real faith tends to make you more humble under accountability, not less.