We Know the Lies and Methods

Scripture: The lying witnesses testified again that Stephen was constantly speaking against the Temple and against the laws of Moses. They declared, "We have heard him say that this fellow Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and throw out all of Moses’ laws." Acts 6:13-14

Observation: If Stephen was preaching a message completely consistent with Jesus, he in fact very likely said ... the temple will be destroyed, and Jesus has fulfilled Mosaic law providing sanctification by faith.

In other words, Stephen - and all the apostles and most educated disciples - would have been teaching a message that said there was a new means to worship the Lord. That new means was not based on even the existence of the temple, nor upon legal compliance, nor upon the merging of the two through ritual sacrifice, but rather was based on faith in Jesus as Messiah. If Stephen said that sanctification was not dependent on Mosaic law, then someone looking to twist the words would say Stephen was "throwing out" the law. If Stephen said that the temple doesn't even need to exist since Jesus is the source of salvation, then someone looking to twist the words would say Stephen was declaring that Jesus destroys the temple.

We see this as yet another example of how those who attacked the faithful - and Jesus himself - twist truth. They don't invent fact, they reinterpret truth by presenting it with a different context. Stephen never said to throw out the laws of Moses for he knew they still taught well about sins to be avoided. Stephen never said Jesus would destroy the temple though he knew the temple would soon be destroyed and that's its loss no longer greatly mattered. Yet in a flawed context, presented with malice, good truth becomes the lie to attack the faithful.

Application: I know how this feels. My wife knows how this feels. My children know how this feels. My pastor knows how this feels. Many of my brothers and sisters at our church know how this feels. Some of my friends know how this feels. And Christians throughout our nation and world know how this feels.

We know the lies that exist when non-believers choose to twist good truth into an attack. And we know the source of that attack, because we know the singular source of all lies against the Lord and against Jesus.

Satan, your future is known. We see your evil lies at work, and we know your methods. We will not be shaken in our faith, nor in our knowledge of the truth.

Prayer: Lord, when Stephen was attacked through the lies of the enemy, the result was an explosion of the truth throughout the world. As we live in this time that is almost completely defined by the lies of the enemy, may your truth now explode and be known all the more in the world. Amen.