Article taken from Prophecy News Watch.

This is a scary and dangerous trend. Using AI to take the place of humans in a religious setting. Have we fallen so far from what the church was intended to be? What doctrines of demons will happen next? Thankfully there are true remnant churches who follow the Bible and preach it in its fullness, not some dead soon to be forgotten chapel of dry bones in the Swiss Alps. Rh

In a quiet Swiss city known more for alpine beauty than theological controversy, a strange glow now flickers inside an old Lucerne church. It’s not candlelight. It’s not stained glass catching the morning sun. It’s a screen–an AI-powered “Digital Jesus”–installed right in the confessional booth.

More than 1,000 people have already stepped inside to ask questions, seek guidance, or simply experience the curiosity of it all. The project, titled Deus in Machina, is part academic study, part spiritual experiment, and part cultural provocation. And the world is noticing.

But beyond the novelty and the headlines lies a deeper question–one every believer must answer: What happens when technology begins to imitate the sacred? And what dangers arise when we confuse spiritual authority with artificial intelligence?

The Swiss experiment isn’t the first. Over the last few years, churches around the world have flirted with technology in startling ways.

A Lutheran church in Germany drew global attention when it hosted an AI-powered worship service–complete with AI-generated prayers, AI-delivered sermons, and an AI pastor projected onto a screen.

In the United States, several congregations have used AI-generated worship music or sermon outlines to help pastors structure their messages.

Each time, the reaction has been the same: amazement from the curious, concern from the faithful, and confusion among those watching the line between human and machine blur in sacred spaces.

The deeper threat is not technological–it’s theological.

If believers begin relying on AI for spiritual instruction, comfort, interpretation of Scripture, or moral decisions, then we have effectively placed the programmer–and the algorithm–in the role of spiritual authority.

That means a handful of developers, many of whom do not share Christian beliefs, could shape the spiritual opinions of thousands. Not intentionally, perhaps–but inevitably.

And if we turn to artificial intelligence for answers only God can give, then AI becomes more than a tool. It becomes the idol we consult. The “god” we trust.

Is this not the very definition of spiritual deception?