Acts 19:8 tells us Paul spoke three months in the Jewish Synagogue. But some rejected his reasoning from the Scriptures and “spoke evil of the ‘Way’” (Verse 9). The word “Way,” capitalized as in the New King James Version, indicates that the word was not used in the common sense, nor was it an ordinary way.
Christianity is The Way; the pathway to God. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” His way is the only way to the Father. His way is the way of salvation.
The Way taught by Jesus is radically different from man’s. Isaiah 55:8, 9 records God’s words who said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Our Heavenly Father sent Jesus to earth to present the Way of salvation for all mankind. The way to the Father is not through the Muslim prophet Mohammed, the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, those who call themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses, nor any other way that adds to, takes from, changes or contradicts the way given by Jesus, as is done by denominations and independent or “non-denominational” churches.
The very popular Oprah is teaching a course on her XM Satellite program that rejects Jesus and what He teaches in a dangerously deceptive way, though plain enough for those who are perceptive. Lesson 70 teaches the student to say, my salvation comes from me. It is humanism to the core, teaching, there is no sin.
Neale Walsch, colleague of Mirianne Williamson who authored the book, A Course in Miracles, said his god stated that he was responsible for authoring those teachings. They would have us believe that God is like a man who has changed his mind and so contradicts himself. They, as the Jews of Acts 19, speak evil of the Way.
But Moses, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote the words of the prophet Balaam, who said, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).
Questions to aid your spiritual growth: Y or N.
1. Is the Way of Acts 19 the way taught by Jesus or the way of Christianity?
2. Did both the Jews of Paul’s time, and people today also, speak evil of the Way?
3. Can we reject the way taught by Jesus and not reject God?