Hostile culture tracks down the influencers of the way of Jesus Christ.

Acts 17:13-15

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

“But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.” Acts 17:13-15

The Jewish people from Thessalonica could not bear to hear that service to God was possible without the laws of Judaism. They considered Paul to be blasphemous and deserving of beatings and even death for saying Salvation could be had by faith in Jesus Christ. They tracked Paul down and followed him to Berea like a roaring lion seeking to devour him. The Jewish people from Thessalonica stirred up the crowds against him.

The Holy Spirit is letting us know that opposition to the Gospel of Jesus Christ will follow us from house to house, job to job, city to city, state to state, and nation to nation. The beast that gives people what to speak, do, think, and feel lives through today’s culture, which is global. They are synchronized in their opposition to belief in God the Creator, Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we live in an atheistic world that believes service to the community must be done through the beast that gives them what to speak, do, think, and feel. They consider it to be against humanity to believe in God who says we must come to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and to live in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Everywhere we go in today’s culture people are stirred up against the spread of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The beast that gives people what to speak and do is giving life to the image of the beast to speak and live through people. By what they say and do they oppose God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

Our Lord Jesus does not want us to be among the hostility of today’s atheistic culture, as quoted, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” Revelations 18:4-5  “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” Matthew 10:14-15 Jesus says, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:4-5

When people are not responsive to the Holy Spirit and they close out the Good News of Jesus Christ, it’s time to depart from them. Only the Holy Spirit can create a willing heart to hear the testimony of Jesus. As Paul says through the Holy Spirit, “…my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

The Christians in Berea [Berea was a city in the region of Macedonia] brought Paul to Athens. On the map below, Athens is almost due south of Berea and just a bit to the east. Silas and Timothy remained in Berea while Paul went on to Athens. Silas and Timothy would eventually meet Paul in Corinth [southwest of Athens], as described in Acts 18:1, 5 “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth…When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia…” 

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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