Jesus had just cast out a demon from a man possessed (Luke 11:14). As usual, two classes of people reacted to this event. The first were the skeptics. They just did not want to believe that someone would speak to demons and they would simple obey.

They had seen many people possessed and had been helpless to offer any solution whatsoever to the plight of these people. They probably blamed the sufferers for their state and only God knows what exercise in futility they must have subjected those unfortunate people to, in the bid to exorcise the demons oppressing them.

Here was a man coming from nowhere, who had the ability to command demons to leave the body of a human being and they just leave without any form of resistance! Who was He anyway? He didn't even attend any of the excellent theological schools in town; neither did he learn under any of the famous Rabbi. There was only one explanation, they thought; "He had to be in league with the demons! That is why they leave without much resistance!"
The other set of people were those who wondered and were moved by such a miracle. They had never seen it before, never thought it was possible but it was happening right before their eyes! That this was done by a man not known in the circles of the knowledgeable and famous in religious hierarchy was unheard of. This had to be a man whose power came from God!
A dialogue began when some of those who were offended by Jesus' miracle accused Him of casting out devils through the power of Beelzebub, the chief of devils. Jesus' first response was so logical and rational that it shamed His accusers.  First He said, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to ruin and a house divided against itself falls" (Luke 11:17). He summed it up by saying if Satan is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?" (Like 11:18)

Jesus did not even trying to prove the validity of His miraculous work- He did not need to. He simply destroyed their line of argument with a simple logical statement. It was so obvious, they could not fault or argue against it.

Many times we find ourselves the object to other people's unfair accusations. They target us for various reasons but most importantly because we are Christians. They ignore other people's mistakes and even make excuses for them but when it comes to a Christian, they come down harshly looking for the maximum penalty.

 

Unfortunately, even in the church we face unfair criticism. We do things because we love God and people view it with scorn and distaste. I remember an email I received concerning the man who used to sing when the choir was singing, to the chagrin of the choir and members of the church. After failure to stop him from singing in church, he was excommunicated. Did this stop this man from singing? Absolutely not! He kept singing till he was taken into glory.

 

When I was a young Christian, I was attending a church where my mother attended also. The more I knew about God, the more it dawned on me that the messages being preached in that church had nothing to do with salvation of souls. A friend of mine and I were in the choir. Young as we were, we  tried to effect change but we ended up being booted out of the church before we could cause serious 'damage'. Today we are the better for it and that church is in a worst state now than then.

What are you doing for God that is earning you nothing but ridicule and criticism from others? Do not be discouraged. The enemy knows you are hurting him with what you are doing and he cannot get you to stop except you decide to. This is why he fans up the flames of undue criticism in order to frustrate you and discourage you from carrying on.

When Jesus was commissioning the apostles, he told them, "….If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household?"   (Matt 10:25) In other words, "if they have criticized me harshly, they will do the same to you who are called by my Name".

Jesus never allowed those criticisms to discourage him from fulfilling His mission here on earth, will you?

 

StevePopoola
© Biblepraise Fellowship

Steve Popoola is the editor of Biblepraise Newsletter and the owner of Biblepraise Fellowship Online at http://www.biblepraise.org. He currently resides in London where he works as an IT professional. He serves in the ministerial team of his local church as well as in the music ministry. He is the Moderator/Editor of Biblepraise Newsletter. He can be reached through His email address, steve@biblepraise.org