A church group invited a speaker to address their meeting. “Talk about God,” the group leader told him, “but leave out Jesus.”

“Why?” the man asked, taken aback.

“Well,” the leader explained, “some of our prominent members feel uncomfortable with Jesus.  Just use God and we’ll be fine.”

Accepting such instructions, however, was a problem for the speaker who said later, “Without Jesus, I have no message.”

Something similar was asked of followers of Jesus in the days of the early church. Local religious leaders conferred together to warn the disciples not to speak about Jesus (Acts 4:17). But the disciples knew better. “We…