{"id":208,"date":"2026-02-24T11:51:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/?p=208"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:51:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:51:44","slug":"personal-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/personal-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ponder: Fending off personal attacks<\/span><\/p>\n

Scripture: \u201cAre you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee\u201d (John 7:52, NKJV).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jewish high court was fed up with Jesus. They wrongly saw Him as a false prophet, a deceiver, and a dangerous challenge to their authority. Therefore, \u201cthe Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him\u201d (John 7:32). When the officers returned without Him, the Court demanded an explanation: \u201c\u2018Why have you not brought Him?\u2019 They answered, \u2018No man ever spoke like this Man!\u2019\u201d (7:45-46). They were so awed with Jesus that they couldn\u2019t bear to arrest Him!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Court\u2019s ugly response shows the bankruptcy of their complaints against Jesus. Rather make a logical case, they resorted to personal attacks against Him and anyone sympathetic to Him. With bitter sarcasm they asked, \u201cAre you also deceived?\u201d According to them Jesus was a deceiver and anyone favorable to Him was a simpleton.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their attacks continued against the common people who believed in Jesus: \u201cThis crowd that doesn\u2019t know the Law is accursed!\u201d (8:49). Accursed = fit only for total destruction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicodemus, himself a member of the Court, protested their rash words. \u201cDoes our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?\u201d (8:51). Nicodemus knew the Law of Moses required hearing both sides of a dispute and then rendering a fair verdict (Deut. 1:16-17). But he paid for his protest with more personal attacks: \u201cAre you also from Galilee?\u201d What a transparent appeal to prejudice! Prophets just don\u2019t come from Galilee \u2013 except they do! Remember Jonah from Gath-Hepher? That\u2019s in Galilee!<\/span><\/p>\n

When you teach the truth and people attack you personally rather than refuting what you said, mark it down: they have no case. Absorb the slings and arrows and keep doing what you know is right!<\/span><\/p>\n

Hymn: \u201cReady To Suffer\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer: Father, help us to rejoice when we are attacked for Jesus. In His name, Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joe Slater<\/span><\/p>\n

\r \t
\r \t\t\r \t\t\"\"<\/a>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\tSend article as PDF<\/span>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\t\r \t\t\r \t<\/form>\r <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ponder: Fending off personal attacks Scripture: \u201cAre you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee\u201d (John 7:52, NKJV). The Jewish high court was fed up with Jesus. They wrongly saw Him as a false prophet, a deceiver, and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading… Personal Attacks<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}