Acts 16:19

Acts 16:19 says, And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,  The masters of the girl who Paul had cast the evil spirit out of were not pleased, because they were losing their source of income, so they brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates.  If we want to make people of the world mad at us today as we reach people with the gospel, there is no quicker way to do so than to interfere with their income.   Verse twenty adds, And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,  They accused Paul and Silas of being Jews and trouble-makers, which for those who opposed the gospel they were.  If we are faithful to God and begin to cause problems for people of the world, they may bring us before the courts today.  Verse twenty-one continues, And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.  They then claimed that Paul and Silas were teaching things that were unlawful for Romans to believe, but this was a lie in itself.  As long as they weren’t teaching people to overthrow the government, the Romans weren’t very concerned about religious beliefs.  People are still using lies against Christians today in an attempt to discredit them. Verse twenty-two states, And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.  The crowd rose up against Paul and Silas and the magistrates had them stripped and beaten, without even giving them a chance to defend themselves.  The mob mentality is never a good thing, and we should never condemn anyone without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves.  Verse twenty-three adds, And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:  Paul and Silas were severely beaten and the thrown into prison.  The jailor was charged with keeping them safely in prison.  Verse twenty-four continues, Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.  The jailor put them in the inner prison with their feet in stocks.  He was taking no chances, though Paul and Silas had done nothing to indicate that they were a threat to anyone.  People still go overboard in trying to silence the gospel.