Speak the Truth

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

SPEAK ONLY TRUTH

Acts 19:28-41

28 When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. 30 Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. 32 The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. 33 The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. 34 But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. 37 You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. 38 If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39 If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40 As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today's events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it." 41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

NIV

This is a lot of information; however, it is all one narrative that we cannot break up for it would then not have the conclusion or outcome that is needed to complete the thought Luke was conveying to us, which is the idea of mob rule. Of course, the whole thing started because of one man, Demetrius, who was only concerned about his income being disturbed, which we are told he wasn’t, but he was concerned it was going to be a loss of his income, so he started this riot. The interesting thing is that some if not many of the riotous people did not even know the reason they were shouting for. They had been worked up into a frenzy without even knowing it was about one man’s concern about his income. Was the goddess that important to them that they should form a mob and become so irate they were out of control? Again, it was one man, who used the worship of an idol to take control or start this mob mentality. It is interesting that the statement of the city clerk made the statement that the image of Artemis fell from heaven. It was not a goddess that fell from heaven, but it was Lucifer who was cast from heaven, and thus we might just think that this image of a goddess, someone who is worshipped instead of the living God, was a result of the work of Satan. These men’s minds are completely void of the truth; therefore, their minds are filled with lies, which only come from Satan for he is the father of lies, and he speaks only lies which are his native tongue. All false gods are nothing but a lie, for only Jesus is filled with grace and truth. It seems that lies create mobs way faster than the truth and that is so strange, yet it does seem that men prefer to listen to lies rather than the truth even if the truth would set them free. But then, as long as they hide their minds and hearts from the truth, they do not have to deal with the sin that lurks within them. The only reason they dismissed was that the city clerk told them they could be breaking civil law, although they were actually breaking any chance of hearing the truth. We can even see this mob mentality today in so many areas of our society and even in a certain sense within some of the false teachers and the control of their mob of followers. There is no question that certain politicians do nothing but lie in an effort to create a band of followers. It does seem that lies are believed faster than the truth, which was the case then and is still the case today. Let us speak the truth and nothing but the truth no matter what men may say.