Christian= Assassins???

Acts 21:38
“Aren’t you the Egyptian who led a rebellion some time ago and took 4,000 members of the Assassins out into the desert?”

In my bible reading today, this little verse really struck me.  Within the context of the passage, it may not really be significant.  In Acts 21, Paul is in Jerusalem and he gets beaten, arrested, then detained.  While he's detained the Roman governor orders Paul be taken to the barracks.  On his way to the barracks, the Roman commander asks Paul if he's the Egyptian who led a a rebellion along with 4,000 Assassins.

So as I read this I was struck with the thought, how does this Roman guy confuse Paul the Apostle, writer of most of the NT, and the greatest missionary in the early church with essentially a terrorist?  So I tried to put all of these thoughts I have and what I know about Paul now, into the context that the Roman commander lived in.  Paul had just stirred up this huge mob of people in Jerusalem that wanted to kill him.  The people in this mob were creating a raucous.  The picture I'm getting here is of the mobs that destroy 4th Ave when the Wildcat Basketball team loses.  And why was there a mob of people angry with Paul and wanting to kill him?

Well, according to Acts 21 its because Paul had been teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the lives of people who heard the gospel were being transformed.  These transformed people also started telling other people about the transformation Jesus was working in their lives.  These early followers of Jesus Christ were sticking out.  The way they were living was different from how they had lived before so much so that it affected their culture.  People in their culture noticed the difference in how these Christians interacted with government and it scared them.  For the Jews living in Paul's time, although the province of Palestine was under Roman jurisdiction, Israel was still a theocracy.  Government and religion went hand in hand.  So when people became followers of Christ it wasn't just a personal choice of belief that didn't affect how they lived.  The choice to follow Christ meant that everything about how they lived changed.

That makes me think about myself and other believers in my country.  When I say that I follow Christ, what about my life has changed?  Is the decision to follow Christ in America simply a personal and private conviction that has no external implications for how I live my life?  And is that right?  Well according to Acts 21 and the rest of the Bible, God's Holy Word...no it isn't right.

The decision to follow Christ should affect everything in my life.  When presented with a decision to continue practicing something that is socially acceptable but contrary to the commands of Jesus Christ, I should stop doing it.  People should notice that the things that I've changed.  They should notice that I don't live my life like everyone else.  And its not because I go around intentionally pissing people off void of common sense or ignorant of people's schema's. (the bible talks about that)

But my decision to follow Christ should have an impact on my life and the lives of others around me.  That's a question I need to give some serious thought to for myself and one that a lot of other Christians need to as well.

Cause one thing evident from the book of Acts is that when people decide to follow Christ people's lives are changed and the culture notices.

So is your life changed because you follow Christ?

Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Ac 21:38.