Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Where are the Riots?

About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. . . . When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. -- Acts 19:23-26, 28-29 (ESV)

In ancient Ephesus, the ministry of one man ("this Paul") turned the whole city upside down in a riot. Where are the modern ministries so powerful that the world riots over them?

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