Meet Amanda Rodriguez

Herod needs some good publicity. His prisoner, the apostle Peter, had escaped from jail after God rescued him. Herod's people must have wondered what kind of leader loses a prisoner. His chance for a good headline comes when the cities of Tyre and Sidon need his help.

Acts 12:20 tells us that Herod is displeased with the people of Tyre and Sidon, but the two cities come together and ask for peace from him. Tyre and Sidon depended on Herod's other territories for food supplies, and they needed Herod's grace. 

This is Herod's opportunity to act as a benevolent ruler. So he delivers a public address to the people of Tyre and Sidon. The people need his favor, so they cheer him. When the praise rains down on him, and the people call him a "god," he takes their adoration. He doesn't give God the glory, and he dies a horrible death.

That should be the story. "King struck down, dies of intestinal worms," the headline would say; yet that's not the news that spreads. "But," the next word in the chapter says. "But the word of God continued to spread and flourish." (Acts 12:24, NIV)

This is the headline that stands.

I used to work in the news business. I was a newspaper reporter, and I wrote stories about city politics, crime, religion, and school districts. People all over the city talked about our headlines.

The Book of Acts is our historical record of the spread of the gospel. It's an early newspaper—the front page story of how God worked through history and built the church.

God's Word is the greatest headline of all, and despite attempts to stop its spread to the people, despite Herod's refusal to acknowledge God, the Word spreads. The church grows.

Herod's headline doesn't get the press. His words don't stand in history. We're not even told what he said to the people because his words don't matter.

Let's remember that God's good news endures (1 Peter 1:25), and there is power in His Word (Hebrews 4:12).