“About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way….You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods. Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin — the very one all of Asia and the world worship.”” Acts 19:23, 26-27 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/act.19.23-27.CSB

Following Jesus, the One True and Only God, should change the culture and cause trouble for the culture changers in the process. The people in Ephesus were won to Christ and taught to obey His commands. They were previously worshippers of a false god, a man-made god, as all gods, not the One true God, are. This truth teaches us that all roads do not lead to the same place and that all those who worship anyone or anything other than Jesus must be converted to worshipping only Jesus. Some in Ephesus, especially those who profited from the false religion, opposed Christianity even to the point of violence. It is always the case that those profiting from the way things are will vehemently oppose permanently changing things God calls evil. Our culture has many idols that true converts to Christ must remove from their lives and help the culture understand that they are wrong. One is the idea that a woman has the right to choose to murder the child in her body. The most vulnerable human, the unborn, is a human and must be protected and welcomed into the world to also grow in the knowledge of God and to use their abilities to serve Him. Another is gender identity choice, which accuses God of making a mistake when He Who designs all people designed them in the womb. Male and female God created them in His image to join together in marriage for the propagation of a people who would live forever as His children in His kingdom. There are other false gods we must engage by discipling one another to obey everything Jesus commanded in His Word given to us for knowing Him, obeying Him, and sharing with others until His ways are done on earth as they are in heaven.