At the time that John the Baptist was preparing the way, those who witnessed Jesus had little trouble accepting him as the Messiah. The Jews in charge had other ideas, however. There was a constant campaign to discredit Jesus. We can look at our own times to see how quickly people have become bold enough to declare themselves Atheists. It only takes a few people to reach the critical mass where opinions, values and morals collectively change.
With a few page turns and some quick scanning of the Gospels, we can find all sorts of rumors and lies they told on our Lord.
They said:
- he was a glutton (Matthew 11:18,19)
- he was a winebibber (Matthew 11:18,19)
- he cast out demons by the prince of demons (Matthew 9:34)
- he was Beelzebul (Matthew 10:25)
- he was a sinner (John 9:24)
- he had a demon (John 7:20)
- he violated the Sabbath (Matthew 12:2)
- he was a Samaritan (John 8:48)
- he was a deceiver (Matthew 27:63)
- had a friendship with publicans and sinners (Luke 15:2)
- that no prophet could come out of Galilee (John 7:52)
- he lead the multitude astray (John 7:12)
- it was impossible for Jesus to be the Christ since Elijah had not risen from the dead (Mark 9:11)
- he had an unclean spirit (Mark 3:30)
- he is beside himself (Mark 3:21)
- he transgressed the tradition of the elders (Matthew 15:2)
- he is not from God (John 9:16)
- he forbade to give tribute to Caesar (Luke 23:2)
- he made himself a king (Luke 23:2)
- he was an evildoer (John 18:30)
- that Jesus claimed he would destroy the temple of God and build it in three days (Matthew 26:61)
The things we are seeing today are nothing new. The lies listed above and worse can still be expected from those who wish to discredit Christ and Christians. We have it pretty easy compared to those first century Christians. Those who are not in a Muslim country have it pretty easy compared to some Christians that do live there.
For today, just resolve to keep fighting the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12) and let God handle the rest.
Daily Bible reading for September 14
Psalm 44
2 Samuel 4
Ezekiel 4:1-5:4
Luke 9:51-10:24
September 14, 2013
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