But he said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.”

  - Acts 26.25

Let who will laugh and scoff. I will not be silent, nor will I conceal the signs and wonders which the Lord has shown to me many years before they happened – He Who knows all happenings since before the beginning of time.

  - Patrick, Confession, Irish, 5th century[1]

We can thank Patrick’s detractors back in Britain for the fact that he wrote his Confession. They refused to support him when he left for Ireland, and now they were acting like they owned him. Who did he think he was, refusing their counsel and having no “degree” or proper credentials for ministry?

His ecclesiastical superiors were insisting he return home to answer charges he was profiting from his ministry. These charges, of course, were just slander, intended to put this backwater preacher, as they saw him, in his proper place.

Patrick was unmoved by their taunts and threats. “Let who will laugh and scoff,” he wrote back to them. He was too busy to leave the field in order to submit to their jealous demands.

In writing to decline their call, Patrick over and over acknowledged his “rusticity.” He was not very learned and he didn’t write very well, a fact he knew would draw scorn and derision from some who read his words, just as it had drawn derision from the pagan Irish he had evangelized so faithfully for 60 years.

Let ‘em laugh. He wasn’t going to be quiet about the Gospel, and he wasn’t going to be quiet about the things God had done through his ministry. If his detractors didn’t like it, that was their problem.

After all, like Paul, he was merely explaining the way God had used him in leading many to the Lord. Festus mocked Paul as if he were a mad man, but Paul stood his ground, knowing that ground was true and reasonable.

What about us? Do we fear the laughter and scorn of our unbelieving friends and associates? Do we shy away from talking about what the Lord has done in our lives because we fear they’ll make light of our testimony or talk about us behind our backs?

Let ‘em laugh! And let them think we’re weird. Truth and reason are on our side, as will one day become evident to all.

We know what God has done, we know His truth, and we must not be silent out of fear that others may heap scorn and derision upon us for our witness.

Paul didn’t keep quiet, in spite of the many “educated” people and power brokers who mocked and slandered him.

Patrick didn’t keep quiet, and his faithfulness in the face of mockers and detractors sparked a revival that lasted nearly 400 years.

Might not God do the same thing in our day?

We will never know unless, in the face of all opposition, we face down our fears, refuse to keep silent, and speak up.

Psalm 71.12-16 (Solid Rock: “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”)
O God, be not too far from me; my ever-present Helper be!
Consume and shame my enemies; let them reproached and humbled be.
  A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me;
  My Rock and Fortress ever be!

But as for me my voice I raise to sing in hope and constant praise!
With saving grace my voice will swell Your never-ending grace to tell.
  A Rock of habitation be; command Your Word to rescue me;
  My Rock and Fortress ever be!

Give me words of witness and testimony, Lord, at just the right time!

The Good News of the Kingdom
We don’t hear much about the Kingdom of God these days, except as a passing remark to which we’re expected to give nodding assent.

But to enter and live in the Kingdom in such a way that its presence, promise, and power are increasing in and through us day by day – well, not so much.

But you have been called to the Kingdom and glory of God. Our mission is to help you enter more deeply and fully into this Good News, and then to bring others into it with you. Our book The Gospel of the Kingdomcan help you understand the difference between true and reasonable Christianity and “near Christianity” – which is, in fact, no Good News at all.

Here’s a New Year’s challenge for you. Order three copies of The Gospel of the Kingdom (less than 20 bucks, including shipping!). Give a copy to two friends, then read and discuss it together, looking for ways you can help one another go more deeply into the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom, and reach out to others with this Good News.

The Good News of the Kingdom has been entrusted to us. We must not be silent.

T. M. Moore, Principal
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All Psalms for singing from The Ailbe Psalter. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.