STUBBORN, DEAF AND RESISTANT TO THE TRUTH!

You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! —Acts 7:51

I am sure you have heard parents say proudly, “I am not going to force my child to go to church; I will let him make that choice for himself when he gets older.” But they have no problem sending their child daily to a godless public school where he will learn nothing about God and be encouraged away from God. Parents who say this do so because they themselves are not faithfully following God and in most cases are not even attending a church themselves. They are being deaf to the truth; they are thinking just like a lost person and being stubbornly resistant to the purposes of God as a parent.

In the context of the above verse, Stephen bore witness of the Truth to Jewish people who should have known the Truth, but did not. Because of his bold testimony about the Lord Jesus and accusing these religionists of their stubbornness and resistance to the Holy Spirit, Stephen was stoned to death. Stubborn, deaf to the truth, resistant people will seek to silence others who are speaking the truth by various means. The way they silenced Stephen was to kill him.

Other ways people have sought or do seek to have bold followers of Jesus Christ silenced is to have them fired from their jobs, have their business taken away or shut down, marginalize them, fine them large sums in court, imprison them, torture them, limit their activities, spy on them, kill them or have them killed. Persecution comes in many forms and the reason for this persecution is only because followers of Jesus love Him and love to encourage others to love Him as well, showing that love for Him by obedience to Him. And there’s the rub. Man wants you to obey his desires which are so often contrary to God’s desires.

This present administration spoke of bringing change to America. It has. It has encouraged godless behavior, deception, violence, relational divisions, unsafe conditions for its citizens, economic decline, and overall national insecurity. Franklin Graham clearly stated this decline and President Obama’s response to a heckler is very revealing to us as to his character. https://www.facebook.com/official.Ray.Comfort/photos/a.122900324397116.15609.110962898924192/1055475584472914/?type=1&theater. There is no doubt that the President is being stubborn, is deaf to the truth and is resisting the Holy Spirit of God. This is known by the fruit he is bearing and Jesus said that we would know them by their fruit.

Oh, may it not be the case that you and I are being stubborn, deaf to the truth and resistant to the Holy Spirit of God. May we be pliable, listeners of the truth and accepting of the truth. May it be so!

Dear Father, may I not resist the desires of Your Holy Spirit and Your Son. May my ears be open to the truth and have a soft heart to bend toward Your desires. Yes, may this be so!