Can’t Stop Speaking

But Peter and John answered [the authorities who wanted them to stop teaching about Jesus], “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.’” – Acts 4:19-20 (NASB) 

Peter and John declined to accept censorship. 

After witnessing an executed man raised from the dead, they were not so easily intimidated or coerced. They would not stop speaking about what they had heard and seen. 

Their death-defying boldness echoes through history. 

Take Helmuth Hübener, a teenager in Nazi Germany who distributed anti-Nazi pamphlets after his Jewish friend was disappeared. He risked everything, including his life, because he could not stay silent in the face of evil. 

Or Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers after witnessing the devastating lies behind the Vietnam War. Facing over 100 years in prison, he spoke anyway. He simply couldn’t not speak about what he had seen and heard. 

Last month, Dr. Mark Bray, a historian at Rutgers, was targeted by Turning Point USA for teaching the history of fascism and anti-fascism. After receiving death threats, he moved his family overseas. But he’s still teaching, still writing, still speaking. 

The message of Acts 4 is not rebellion for rebellion’s sake. It’s about living unafraid because you’ve encountered something far greater than fear. It’s about knowing that no one can bury the truth, especially when it has a habit of rising again. 

Prayer
Lord, let undying love be louder than my fears.

About the Author
Matt Laney is co-Pastor of Virginia Highland Church UCC in Atlanta, GA and the author of Pride Wars, a fantasy series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Young Readers. The first two books, The Spinner Prince and The Four Guardians are available now.