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Acts 16:16-19.Did you like it too?

MatthewA

MatthewA

Active Member
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

I never read it... until now.
 
amorphous_constellation

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
MatthewA said:
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.
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Hm, well to me the story just seems to add questions.. what happened to this woman, if she couldn't make money any more? Was she not aiding the evangelization process?
 
exchemist

exchemist

Veteran Member
MatthewA said:
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

I never read it... until now.
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Me neither. And....it's not surprising, as it is a fairly useless story.;)
 
nPeace

nPeace

Veteran Member
ideogenous_mover said:
Hm, well to me the story just seems to add questions.. what happened to this woman, if she couldn't make money any more? Was she not aiding the evangelization process?
Click to expand...
No. The woman was drawing attention to herself, by showing people, that she could predict, and or see those with the ability to perform powerful works.

It's an old trick of the Devil, to bait people... Use a bit of truth mixed in with the lies, and soon enough, those who like a little bit of lies, will be following them fully.

In other words, there is no need to follow the apostles, when Lady Witch here has it also.
Is that not how religious people argue... We all have the truth. We are all following the same God.
Satan : Mission accomplished.
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MatthewA

MatthewA

Active Member
ideogenous_mover said:
Hm, well to me the story just seems to add questions.. what happened to this woman, if she couldn't make money any more? Was she not aiding the evangelization process?
Click to expand...

Good question.

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.​

They were headed to a place of prayer.
Met by a female slave.
The female slave had a spirit by which she predicted the future.
She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.


17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”​

The Female followed Paul and the rest of them: Shounting "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.

18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.​

The Female slave who made money for her owners kept up this annoyance for continually every single day making their presence known and being annoying apparently.

Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God became so annoyed by this he turned around said to the spirit; In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her! - So she was driven by some type of spirit to continually seek out after Paul but maybe was never overcame until Jesus Christ brought into the mix of having faith and trusting in God enough to cast out the spirit that was causing her the actual person (soul) to find rest / not the spirit. (This happened many times when Jesus Christ came around and demons/spirits sought relief)

Being healed at the moment that the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.​

When the slave owners of the Female : realized that their hope of making money was gone (the spirit leaving the female slave), they seized and Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

These are some of the things that stand out to me personally; but it is possible for me to be wrong. I do like looking into the text to see what you can pick and pull out of it as long is it stays close to the context and truthful to the best of our ability to be honest about looking at the situation here in this short 3 verses.
 
amorphous_constellation

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
nPeace said:
No. The woman was drawing attention to herself, by showing people, that she could predict, and or see those with the ability to perform powerful works.
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If she knew the future, and could miraculously proclaim that the christians had the truth, why then, she was conforming directly with mark 9:39, and so shouldn't be stopped , right?

nPeace said:
It's an old trick of the Devil, to bait people... Use a bit of truth mixed in with the lies, and soon enough, those who like a little bit of lies, will be following them fully.
Click to expand...

I don't understand where the lies were, as according to the story, the spirit enlarged her ability to know a supposed truth? Once she was dispossesed of it, her vision was then dimmed, and maybe she was even sent by her masters do something even more menial, if she wasn't put to death

nPeace said:
In other words, there is no need to follow the apostles, when Lady Witch here has it also.
Click to expand...

What exactly is the difference between her inspiration and that of a Hildegard of Bingen?
 
MatthewA

MatthewA

Active Member
Being a slave in that situation wouldn't you desire to be set free?
She was pointing to them knowing something: while still fortune-telling for others and making money up until the point when Paul became annoyed.

She was pointing to the truth, following truth, but not truly accepting truth. Because their was a division between her actual self, and the spirit that she was being led by.

At least that is what I am getting from the story.
 
amorphous_constellation

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
MatthewA said:
Being a slave in that situation wouldn't you desire to be set free?
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I don't know, paul himself declares that he is metaphorically a prisoner of Christ.. the spirit in the woman appeared to foster some form of strong faith, but when she is dispossesed of it, does that enlarge her proclivity to sin?
 
nPeace

nPeace

Veteran Member
ideogenous_mover said:
If she knew the future, and could miraculously proclaim that the christians had the truth, why then, she was conforming directly with mark 9:39, and so shouldn't be stopped , right?
Click to expand...
It was not a miracle. It was divination - a practice condemned by God, because it involves getting in contact with wicked spirits - demons. Not in harmony with Mark 9:39

ideogenous_mover said:
I don't understand where the lies were, as according to the story, the spirit enlarged her ability to know a supposed truth? Once she was dispossesed of it, her vision was then dimmed, and maybe she was even sent by her masters do something even more menial, if she wasn't put to death
Click to expand...
I probably used a word that could be misunderstood. I should have said false worship, rather than lies.
She was freed from the demons, and it's possible she joined the actions of the people mentioned at Acts 19:18-20
The lies were in the false worship - that people are gifted with ability to tell the future.
The truth is, they can't, but the wicked spirits can work on making certain things a reality, and fool people who believe these things.
Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation.

ideogenous_mover said:
What exactly is the difference between her inspiration and that of a Hildegard of Bingen?
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Her inspiration? What do you mean?
 
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