A strange thing happened when NBC censored the comments that Houston Texan quarterback, C.J. Stroud, made about his Christian faith, after the team’s dominant playoff win

The Texans routed the Cleveland Browns 45-14, and Stroud, a rookie, had an outstanding game. In the words of NFL.com, he “diced up the NFL’s No. 1 rated defense.”

But during his sideline interview with NBC immediately following the game, Stroud started off by stating that he gives “all glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

However, when NBC posted the interview on X, formerly called Twitter, it deliberately edited out Stroud’s lead-in comment about Jesus, a fact quickly picked out by those on social media.

Since that happened, there has been a slew of stories and comments about NBC’s censorship of Stroud’s statement, including this one on Fox News:

• READ: Former Pro Bowl QB Donovan McNabb says NBC cutting C.J. Stroud’s Jesus mention was ‘lame,’ ‘disrespectful’

With whole stories now being written on NBC’s censorship, Stroud’s praise of Christ effectively has a broader reach than it would have had if NBC had simply let it play.

The network’s censorship got the exact opposite result of what NBC intended it to accomplish.

I call it the ‘crying stone’ principle.

When Jesus was riding the donkey into Jerusalem for what would be His final visit to the storied city, people were lining the road crying out, “Blessed is the King, the One who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38).

This proclamation irritated the Pharisees in the crowd, who cried out for Jesus to censor his followers. “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!”, the Pharisees said (Luke 19:39).

In so doing, they were also undoubtedly hoping to intimidate those who were making this proclamation.

So how did Jesus respond?

He made that rather curious statement, “I tell you, if these stop speaking, the stones will cry out!” (Luke 19:40).

If believers are censored or intimidated so they won’t speak of Christ, then God will have the stones cry out.

Can you imagine the uproar and stories that would be told if people actually heard the stones speaking of the glories of Jesus?

This is the ‘crying stone’ principle at work. If people try to censor expressions about Christ, then God will ensure those words have a much broader impact than they would have had if they had remained uncensored.