Innocent but imprisoned and kept in chains.

Acts 28:17

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans…” Acts 28:17

“After three days” refers to three days after Paul was imprisoned in Rome and kept under guard [day and might] by a Roman soldier [as described in Acts 28:16]. He was also bound in chains. After those three days, Paul gathered the Jewish leaders within Rome to his jail cell, bound by chains. He began speaking to them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul wanted to make it clear to them that he did not come against the Jewish people or the customs of the Jewish culture. Paul’s only intention was to make known that Jesus is the fulfillment of all prophecies of the Old Testament. Jesus is the Christ, Son of God, and Savior of the world. For that reason, the Jewish people delivered him to the Romans as a prisoner.

Today, Christians and the Gospel of Christ are “imprisoned” and kept under guard day and night. The testimony of Jesus is bound in chains. This is obvious because the Gospel has been abandoned by the churches, government lawmakers do not integrate the values of the Bible in policies and laws, the educational system does not allow the teaching of the Bible in classrooms, and Christianity is not welcomed in any sector of society. As followers of Christ, our hands are nailed to put in chains our ability to share our born-again experience. Our feet are nailed to put in chains our ability to mobilize the spread of the Gospel. A crown of thorns is on our head to put in chains the freedom of thought in the word of God. Our heart is pierced with a spear and there is heartache, as Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice…” John 16:20

We might not be in prison with steel bars, but like Paul, we are kept in a room away from the general population, or mainstream society. We bring no harm to those around us, as we are sheep, and Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. We hear His voice. We have no desire of being destructive to our cultural heritage, or to today’s atheistic culture. Our Lord Jesus wants our spirit to be sanctified/cleansed from feeling like we want to call fire down from the skies upon those who oppose us, as quoted, “And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them…?” But [Jesus] turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Luke 9:54-56 Only because we talk about the need to believe in God, to acknowledge our need for Jesus Christ, and to embrace the Holy Spirit, we are kept as “prisoners” within an atheistic culture.

The reason the testimony of Jesus Christ is not permitted to permeate through today’s culture is because He teaches us that our body is His temple, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God…” 1 Corinthians 6:19 This conflicts with today’s culture who serves the entity that intertwines itself within thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors. This entity sets within the temple of God, our body, as if it is God, and is the one “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 The “he” in this verse is the “man of sin”. Click here for a post on the “man of sin”.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11