April 16, 2023

We have all become acquainted with the strident, aggressive, and violent tactics of the woke. Speakers are silenced when they go to college campuses. Blog writers are canceled from their platforms or fired from their jobs. Investors are threatened. Sensible debate is shouted down. Peaceful protesters are physically assaulted. In today’s world, those tactics intimidate and frighten many.

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In the early church, Christian leaders faced similar opposition, but not from woke groups. Instead, it came from existing religious groups who could not accept the radical new beliefs of Christianity. When early Christian leaders face this opposition, they typically did so with determination and courage. Sometimes they faced the crowd. Sometimes they realized they had to escape to another town. But they did not waiver from spreading the Gospel, even though they were risking their lives almost everywhere they went.

You can find practically every woke strongarm tactic from today’s world reflected in the book of Acts:

Censorship

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In Jerusalem, the ruling Sadducees told the apostles that they simply could not teach about Jesus:

“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name.” Acts 5:28)

The apostles simply decided to ignore that instruction and continued to spread the Word:

“We must obey God rather than men!… The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5:41-42)

Creating Lies

In order to counter the teaching of the apostles, their opponents manufactured lies: