The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds • Deshen Daily

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. (Acts 14:2 ESV)

When the Jews heard that Paul and Barnabas were preaching to the Gentiles in Iconium, they came over to the city and “poisoned” the minds of the gentiles against the brothers. Luke chose the word “poisoned” to describe what the Jews did to the Gentiles. The obvious implication of his words is that someone’s mind can be poisoned. What happened?

When Paul preached to the Gentiles, they were very open to the Gospel, but when the Jews came over to the city, these Gentiles turned around and persecuted Paul. The Jews had made them believe something that caused their attitudes towards Paul to change.

The message of this devotional is simple: do not let your mind be poisoned. How does the mind become poisoned? When it receives distorted information and is made to believe it. Think about that for a moment. Someone can knowingly or unknowingly sow the wrong information into our minds and convince us to believe it as true. Once we know and accept it, we then behave the way they wanted us to behave.

If we understand this devotional, we should immediately recognize the astronomical power and influence of TV, internet or the media in general. We can also understand the power of false teachings or doctrines. Once a person’s mind is poisoned, their life without fail will follow suit.

MEDITATE

Please take a moment to think about what it means by poisoning someone’s mind. Why would someone want to poison the mind of another person? What are they seeking to achieve?

APPLY THE WORD

You might never have realized how the information in your mind controls you in ways beyond your wildest imagination. Do not let anyone poison your mind with deception, lies or corrupted information. Your Christian life stands on Truth and the moment your mind is poisoned, your entire life becomes shaky. Beware of mind poisoning!

PRAY

Ask the Father to keep you and those around you from poisoning of the mind by the information overload that comes our way daily.

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