Religious people often reject the truth because they are willingly ignorant and because religionists hate the truth that upsets their settled beliefs.
Les Feldick teaches that religionists always hate the truth and have only one way to deal with its messengers: get rid of them (Acts 5:33). People who are willingly ignorant have no desire to learn, and those who have been drilled in false teaching since childhood find it almost impossible to hear truth without resisting.
2 Peter 3:5 — Describes those who are willingly ignorant — a core reason religious people reject truth.
Acts 5:33 — Shows the religious leaders responding to the truth by wanting to kill those who spoke it.
2 Peter 3:4 — Quoted by Les as the attitude of those who refuse to believe anything has changed.
Scripture portrays the reaction of religious leaders to the truth in Acts 5. When they heard the apostles' testimony, 'they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them' (Acts 5:33). The truth did not produce repentance among these religious leaders; it produced a desire to eliminate the messengers. Scripture also describes those who reject truth as willingly ignorant. In 2 Peter 3:4-5, mockers say, 'all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,' and the Scripture responds, 'For this they willingly are ignorant of...' Such people have no desire to learn; they do not want to know the truth.
Les Feldick is direct: 'religionists always hate the truth.' In Acts 5, the religious leaders were cut to the heart when they heard the truth, and their response was to kill Peter and the eleven. Les says religion has only one way to deal with its enemies — get rid of them — and this has not changed. Human history is filled with wars fought over religion. Les also points out that people are often willingly ignorant. They have no desire to learn, and if they heard the truth, they would simply say, 'I don't believe it — don't tell me.' When people have been steeped in a religion since they were old enough to listen, it is extremely hard for them to admit they were taught total falsehood. Every time a person rejects the gospel, it becomes harder to break through those barriers of resistance. Les adds that the Bible never speaks of religion in a good way. Religious people — even a moral 'Muhammadan' — may seem to do what is right in the eyes of men, but they fall short before a holy God. Religion, according to Les, is what Satan uses to stop the truth from spreading.
Les explains that a person who is willingly ignorant has no desire to learn. If they heard the truth, they would just say, 'Hey, I don't believe it — don't tell it to me.' They deliberately refuse to know the truth. Les uses the analogy that there is a difference between being ignorant because you have never been taught and being willingly ignorant because you refuse to learn.
Les points to Acts 5:33, where the religious leaders heard Peter and the apostles and were cut to the heart. Instead of accepting the truth, they took counsel to slay them. Les's comment is that religionists always hate the truth, and religionists have only one way to deal with their enemies — kill them, get rid of them. The religious leaders were willing to acknowledge the miracle but wanted it to spread no further.
Les says he empathizes with people steeped in one religion or another since childhood. When a person has had something drilled into them from the time they were old enough to listen, and someone comes along and shows from the Scriptures that they have been taught totally wrong for so long, it is not easy. People have told Les it is the toughest thing they have ever had to do, even when they can see he is right from the Scriptures. Additionally, every time a person is confronted with the choice of believing the gospel and rejects it, those barriers of resistance become harder to break down.
Les sees Satan at work in Acts 4 when the religious leaders acknowledged the notable miracle but said, 'that it spread no further.' Les says this is how Satan uses religious people to stop the truth, and it hasn't changed. He points to human history abounding with wars fought over religion — Yugoslavia, the Middle East — and says the basic controversy is religion.
Les says the Bible never uses the term religion in a good sense — never. He notes that there is only one place, and even then it is not a strong point; usually religion is used in a bad sense. He then applies this to all the religions of the world: a moral Muhammadan or anyone else who performs religious practices may be doing what seems right to men, but in the eyes of a holy God they are far short.
Why Did Ananias & Sapphira Die? Acts 5 Explained
Grace. When Paul comes on the scene, then it goes to the Gospel of the Grace of God, and that just totally changed my whole concept of Scripture. Now this is how God works. I had no more than finished reading that, and I thought I had seen a lot, and then somebody gave me a copy by Sir Robert Anderson, a book titled, The Silence of God, and I�ve made reference to that book before in this program.
Truth Found in the Book
Les tells of people from a doctrinally deficient denomination who, by asking 'What does the book say?,' discovered they were under false teaching — showing that searching Scripture opens eyes to error.
Religionists Hate the Truth
Les teaches that the religious leaders in Acts 5, cut to the heart by truth, responded by wanting to kill the apostles — showing that religionists hate the truth and get rid of its messengers.
Hard to Unlearn Childhood Teaching
Les explains that when false teaching has been drilled in since childhood, being shown from Scripture that it is wrong is painful and difficult, which is why many resist.
Repeated Rejection Hardens
Les warns that each time a person rejects the gospel, it becomes harder to break through the barriers of resistance later — as with Pharaoh in Egypt.
Religion Is Not Approval
Les teaches that the world's religions, even morally good practitioners, fall short of a holy God, and the Bible never uses 'religion' positively.
Satan Uses Religion
Les shows how the religious leaders in Acts wanted the miracle known but the truth to spread no further, and he states that Satan uses religious people to stop the truth — seen throughout history in religious wars.
Willingly Ignorant
Les explains the attitude of the willingly ignorant: they have no desire to learn, and if they heard the truth they would simply refuse to believe it.
Acts 5:33: When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
The religious leaders' response to the truth of the apostles' teaching was to plot their murder.
2 Peter 3:5: For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Describes the willful ignorance of those who reject the truth.
2 Peter 3:4: And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
The scoffers' claim that nothing changes — an attitude Les says is willingly ignorant.
Acts 4:17: But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
The religious leaders wanted to stop the spread of the truth, revealing religious opposition.
Les says religionists always hate the truth, but he also tells of people from a false-teaching denomination whose eyes were opened when they searched the Scriptures. So while religious systems resist truth, individuals can be delivered from false teaching by asking what the book says.
Les explains that false teaching is often drilled in from childhood. When someone comes along and shows from Scripture that the person has been taught wrong, it is painful. Each rejection of truth also makes future resistance harder, as it did with Pharaoh.
According to Les, a willingly ignorant person has no desire to learn. If they heard the truth, they would say, 'I don't believe it — don't tell it to me.' They refuse to know.
Watch the Teaching: Why Did Ananias & Sapphira Die? Acts 5 Explained