Power of Jesus Christ is noted and the command is given to shut the Gospel down.

Acts 4:13-17

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

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

Peter and John spoke of Jesus Christ from what they saw and experienced within their own life, not from things written down to be learned. They were uneducated and untrained, but they were witnesses to His life on earth, to His death on the Cross, to His resurrection from the grave, to His ascension into Heaven, and to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit within their own life. The governors of the Jewish people marveled at the boldness and wisdom in the Spirit of Peter and John. The Jewish leaders knew that Peter and John had definitely been with Jesus. That was not a compliment but a condemnation.

As followers of Jesus Christ, our born-again experience is His Gospel written on our heart. This is not something we have learned in books or were trained to say but is something living within us by the Spirit. We know how our life was before being with Jesus Christ and how it is while walking with Him. We know the work of the Holy Spirit is in us to root out ugly attitudes to separate us from the ways of this world as Holiness is being processed within our heart and soul. People of today’s culture know we are different from them, we don’t bond with their atheistic views, and they can recognize that we are with Jesus.

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

 “And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What will we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.” Acts 4:14-17

Those who live and govern for today’s culture realize that the power in the name of Jesus is able to change lives, to restore belief in God, and to move people to embrace the Holy Spirit. For that reason, there is an unspoken or secret conspiracy to silence we who share our born-again experience [the Gospel of Jesus written on our heart]. That’s because being born-again moves people away from the beast that gives people what to speak, think, feel, and do. That beast opposes belief in God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. The beastly entity gives life to the image of the beast to speak and live through people, but Christians desire the image of Christ to speak and live through us. Today’s culture, which is global, is groomed to the mark, name, number of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

The intent of today’s culture is the same as what the Jewish people intended to do to Peter and John: To punish them to stop the spread of the testimony of Jesus. Today, that is done through the process of behavioral modification. Social approval is shown and respect given when living by the beast that gives people what to speak, do, think, and feel. Negative feedback, social scrutiny, and disrespect are given to those who lift up the name of Jesus Christ.

---

“….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