Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 265

September 22;       Acts 22:24;       111/260(III);       ‘Religion Confuses’

Acts 22:24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.

Paul had been arrested.  Actually the commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem saved Paul from being murdered by the religious Jews.  The commander was about to bring Paul into the barracks, when Paul asked if he could speak to the frenzied crowd.  The commander gave Paul permission.  When Paul addressed the crowd in Hebrew they became very quiet and listened.  Paul shared his testimony with the crowd of being a religious zealot, persecuting the church, desiring to destroy it.  Then Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus and Paul became an incredibly faithful minister of the gospel.  The crowd listened quietly and attentively until Paul told them that Jesus, in a vision, told him that he would minister to the gentiles.  This enraged the crowd and once more their desire was to kill Paul.  The Roman commander had no understanding of what was going on.  Christianity, religion is all the same to an unbeliever.  The world always refers to Christianity as religious, when in reality we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  As I say so often, things like this only confuse those who do not as of yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  The world ‘lumps Christianity and religion into the same sack.’  Too often, when man made religious traditions are mistaken for the Bible principles, Jesus is judged unfairly.  Daily, look for opportunities to share gospel truth with others.  We are not religious.  Thank the Lord we are not.