This was the incident immediately after Lydia became a Christian. There was a fortune-telling woman who had an evil spirit. For days, she followed Paul & Silas shouting, "He speaks of the most high God......who is the way of salvation" or something like that.
Why do you suppose Paul was "troubled" by this?
He did eventually rebuke the spirit and it came out of her but.....I guess my real question is this: She was speaking the truth (or at least, the spirit was making her speak this truth about God).....how is this a bad thing? Maybe I'm just not seeing the real translation of "Most High God" here?
Your thoughts
2007-04-27 06:23:46 · 21 answers · asked by primoa1970 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
'And it came to pass... a certain damsel POSSESSED of a spirit of divination [i.e. prophecy] met us, which [spirit] brought her [the damsel's] masters much gain [financially and in standing in the community] by soothsaying: the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, "These men are servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation."
'And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, "I command thee in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out the same hour.' (Acts 16:16-19, KJV: EMPHASIS, and words in [square] brackets not in original).
This used to puzzle me, too. But after reading it several times (each time prayerfully), I noticed several subtle things:
1) the spirit was emphasising "these men"
2) it was a continuation of the spirit-possessed girl's high standing within the community
3) as Paul and his followers would not be staying in the town, then the people would want to turn to a source they regarded as authoritative; and what better place than the woman who had told them to listen to Paul in the first place? Thus the possessing spirit would have been perfectly placed to bring in all kinds of damnable heresies (2 Pet. 2:1), or if the spirit had not been believed, then to cause disruption and schism within the church, and whip up anti-Christian feeling within the region.
It may also explain why the Holy Spirit allowed Paul to tolerate the spirit-possessed girl in the first place, as the esteem in which the locals held her prognostications made more people willing to listen to Paul and the others, and also the Holy Spirit didn't want Paul and the others arrested (as they were in v.19) before they achieved their God-ordained result . Once that was achieved, however, then the Holy Spirit brought Paul to the realisation of just how destructive this possession could be.
Following their arrest, of course, Paul and the others had a miraculous chance to bring their jailer and his family to faith; another example both of God's timing being perfect, and of all things working together for good for those that love God, and are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).
2007-04-28 00:50:05 · answer #1 · answered by Already Saved 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dear Primo,
This troubled me years ago and I have pages of notes about it. But I'll give you a quick answer I found in the footnotes in my Life Application Bible.
16:16 - This girl's fortune-telling ability came from evil spirits. Fortune-telling was a common practice in Greek and Roman culture. There were many superstitious methods by which people thought they could foretell future events, from interpreting omens in nature to communicating with the spirits of the dead. This young slave girl had an evil spirit, and she made her master rich by interpreting signs and telling people their fortunes. The master was EXPLOITING (my caps) her unfortunate condition for personal gain.
16:17,18 - What the slave girl said was true, although the source of her knowledge was a demon. Why did a demon announce the truth about Paul, and why did this annoy Paul? If Paul accepted the demon's words, he would APPEAR (my caps) to be linking the gospel with demon-related actitities. This would damage his message about Christ. TRUTH (my caps) and evil do not mix.
The girl's master did not care about her, but rather the money she provided.
Notice that when Paul prayed in the name of Jesus Christ that the evil spirit leave her it did. I call your attention to Deut. 18:20-22. This shows me that Paul was indeed speaking God's word and God was confirming that Paul was speaking for Him.
This also confirms that the Truth will set one free.
2007-04-27 07:21:19 · answer #2 · answered by JOYfilled - Romans 8:28 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Just like the enemy understood the purpose of Christ. He understood the kingdom, and understood God's sovereignty. and his imps and demons know the word as well as Satan does. the enemy knows the truth. It is His job to make us comfortable enough to believe the truth so that he can throw in deception and cause you to forfeit your promise.
Take this. I had to deal with this recently. i am going back to school. The enemy began to tell me that "you did okay before, you are smart. You may not wanna do this because you failed the first time."Those statements had truth in them but the enemy's intent was to discourage me.
The spirit that was in her spoke the truth. his intent was be the instrument that he needed to be able to persecute them. the enemy uses the truth in whatever way he can. You still have to believe the report of the Lord. And that is how Paul and Silas were delivered.
Hope that helps.
2007-04-27 07:41:45 · answer #3 · answered by beautyzhername 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Would people want to talk to you if there was a crazy woman following you and shouting things about God? Paul and Silas were wanting to witness to the people but they couldn't get the peace and quiet to do it with her around. Many times Satan will use tactics that seem scripturally sound to keep people away from God.
2007-04-27 06:32:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
Wow, everyone has done excellent with this one. God Himself enjoyed this I'm sure.
My thoughts are we should be ready and willing to do just as Paul did in the scriptures with this young lady. She, I'm sure was tormented by the demons. Everyday we come in contact with people who have issues, perhaps not as evident. The medical field call it mental illness these days.
Good question... great answers.<>< Star for you!
2007-04-27 07:36:33 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It would send the wrong message that somehow God needed or cooperated with spiritists and demonized people to get His work done.
The Bible is clear that spiritism is condemned by God, so why would the apostles make it appear that it was somehow approved by the Christian Gospel? That would serve the Devil's purpose, not God's.
2007-04-27 06:42:39 · answer #6 · answered by בַר אֱנָשׁ (bar_enosh) 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Even though she was speaking the truth it was still a demonic force....spiritual battles wear you out physically...Paul was probably physically worn out from this "demonic" presence with them for days on end...The only way to get relief from this "presence" was to get rid of it. Because it was speaking the truth, he probably tolerated it's presence until he realized it was impacting his life, witness and ministry.
Which shows what happens when we allow little things...even it they are true and seem harmless, to distract us from serving the Lord.....eventually if we don't take care of them they will overtake us, so we need to get down to business and get rid of them immediately. Just as beautyzhername said happened to her.
2007-04-27 16:30:25 · answer #7 · answered by Jan P 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
NLT Acts 16:16-18
One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shoting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved." This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And instantly it left her.
--------
The woman was mocking Christ. Paul got ticked about it. So he cast the demon from her.
2007-04-27 06:34:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
My guess would be that it was because it was a spirit that was speaking the truth, and Paul didn't want people to think they could rely on spirits to tell the truth.
2007-04-27 06:33:59 · answer #9 · answered by Deof Movestofca 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
She was irritating them. It has a different translation in the Amplified Bible..I will look it up for you.
v. 18 says, Paul being sorely annoyed and worn out. (She was aggravating, almost mocking even though she was speaking the truth. She kept following them saying this over and over like a little mocking bird).
I think farm bred said it well.
It looks as though the haters are out in packs today.
2007-04-27 06:31:00 · answer #10 · answered by 1sweet lady 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋