And what did he get from it? Well for one thing, lots of enemies!

And how did his enemies describe him?

They called him a plague, a creator of dissension, and a ringleader. And they very much wanted him dead.

It is interesting to note what happens when a person shares the real message of the love, grace, and mercy of God, and how people can be free in Jesus.

While some listeners get excited about this message and embrace it, those who reject it don’t just casually reject it. They violently reject it!!

I rarely see or hear anyone violently rejecting the messages of other worldviews. They may not agree with those messages among themselves, but they will graciously tolerate them all.

Except the message of Jesus!

Why is the message of Jesus so hated by those who reject it? Why is there so little tolerance extended toward those who try to speak about God’s love for humanity? Why is the tolerance that is extended to every other worldview not extended towards those who follow Jesus?

Here is the politically incorrect, but completely true answer. Every other worldview that is outside of the Biblical worldview of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is located in the kingdom of darkness.

To look at each other and interact with each other, they don’t have to turn a light on. In the darkness, everything that exists in the darkness looks the same. They are not confronted by their differences, because darkness masks everything.

But Christianity is different. The Gospel brings us into the Light of God’s love. And this is a completely different kingdom!

Those who embrace the darkness are opposed to the Light. Light exposes things that they don’t want to be exposed. Light shines on things that they don’t want revealed.

Just like the bugs that are suddenly revealed and agitated when you roll over a rock, the clarity that the light of the Gospel brings is not welcome when darkness is preferred.

No wonder they had called Paul a plague. He had rolled over the rock that they were hiding under. But in the end they were despising the Light.

When you start to live in the Light of God’s love, you will have enemies that hate your Light because they prefer the darkness.

Modern Christianity is trying to make peace and get along with everyone. But this is not Biblical.

If you live in the kingdom of Light, you can never be at peace with someone who prefers darkness. And all those books of worldly wisdom about how to win friends and influence people will not help you in the least.

You are a plague to them, so you might as well just go ahead and be contagious!

In the end you will have lots of enemies. But you’ll also have some people who came out of the darkness and embraced the Light with you. And how awesome will it be to know that YOU were the one who infected them with Light?

Go be contagious! Embrace your status as a plague, a creator of dissension, and a ringleader. Those titles were not just for Paul.