In both the social and religious realms we find that truth has become the new hate speech. God’s Word, which His Son defined as Truth (Jn. 17:17), is no longer the standard by which religious man determines right and wrong. God’s Word is hated, despised and rejected, as are those who speak and write it. It is totally ignored, except in those rare instances when it appears to confirm church doctrine. To proclaim God’s Word as Truth automatically makes one a “hater.” Because of spiritual spinelessness,  spiritual “truth” has become that which offends the fewest people; right and wrong are now determined by what scratches the most ears. A ministers’ popularity is determined by his ability to give everyone that warm, comfortable feeling every Satan’s Sun Worshiping Day. As the Book of Acts reveals, ever-evolving, committee-determined “truth” is not a new phenomenon.

In the final chapter of Acts we find the Apostle Paul, having been arrested for speaking God’s Truth, has been taken to Rome where he is allowed to rent a house to live in while waiting for his trial. God has brought about this arrangement in order for Paul to present His (the Lord’s) Word to the Jewish leaders living in Rome. Beginning in vs 17 we find that the apostle has called the Jewish leaders together  in order to tell them about the kingdom of God and Jesus of Nazareth. In verse 21 we find them admitting that they knew nothing about the sect except that it was evil spoken of throughout the Roman Empire.

Beginning in verse 23 we find Paul “expounding and testifying about the Kingdom of God and persuading them concerning Jesus.” As was the case of all of the New Testament apostles, Paul testified about and taught them out of “(both) the Law of Moses (Tora–first five Books of the Old Testament) and the (writings of ) the prophets (the rest of the Old Testament). (The New Testament did not exist at that time). Verses 24,25 tell us that “SOME (of the Jews) BELIEVED the things which were spoken (by Paul), and SOME BELIEVED NOT. And when THEY AGREED NOT AMONG THEMSELVES, they departed.” Note it: Those who professed to believe what was written in their own Scriptures did not view them as proof positive concerning God’s Truth. Rather, they “compared themselves among themselves” (2 Cor. 10:12) in their search for what was plainly written in the tome they claimed to “the Word of God.” In verse 29 we are told that, following a searing rebuke from Paul, ” the Jews (believers and non believers alike) departed AND HAD GREAT REASONING AMONG THEMSELVES.” Again, there was no agreement that the Word of God was the final authority relative to spiritual matters. Rather, they relied upon human reasoning in their vain attempt to determine Scriptural Truth through group consensus. Also note that they refused to hear anything else Paul had to say. Such is the case of the modern church. The rejection of God’s Word, and therefore of both Father and Son, would later be the topic of discussion for the apostle in his letter to the churches in Galatia (1:6-9) who had turned from the pure gospel of God to a perverted gospel. To be continued.