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Tag: Luke

Evil spirits, exorcism, possession of Power
ACTS 19:

..and the evil spirits went out of them.
Acts of the Apostles 19:12c KJV

Acts of God, evil spirits and exorcists

In his account of Paul’s third missionary journey the physician Luke now records signs YOU may find hard to believe.

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS, 21st Century believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?

..they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.
Acts of the Apostles 19:12b NLT

Previously, in Luke’s account:

Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols

Back in Athens Paul had lectured about the futility of worshiping things made by man as having the power of God.

Powerful Preaching to powerless Christians

Luke tells us how (as an itinerate preacher) Paul had encountered some believers who had not received the power of the Holy Spirit.

Powers of Preaching

Apollos had preached the word with power prior to departing Ephesus for Corinth. Paul then arrives in Ephesus and proclaims the Gospel in the local synagogue for three months.

BUT in the meantime, some itinerate Jews have heard ot these men attracting a following and so sought to imitate their techniques and powers of persuasion.
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As you may know it doesn't go so well for them, even as some time ago on Paul's first missionary journey Bar-Jesus lost his evil influence on events in Cypress.

AND you probably have a Hollywood-tainted image of a ritualistic Roman Catholic ceremony.
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Jewish Exorcists

But there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who attempted to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus when dealing with those who had evil spirits. They would say, “I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
ACTS 19:13- J.B. Phillips New Testament paraphrase – The violence of evil and the power of the “name”

“I command you in the name of Jesus!

CAN ANYONE DO THIS? OR CAN A PRIEST OR PREACHER COMMAND EVIL SPIRITS?

YOU probably have your 21st century of the Common Era doubts.

But what happened to these exorcists?

Mostly nothing at all — just like the Pentecostalism preached on some 20th century television stages. AND of course no authentic healing of the sick like JESUS had done so often.

Luke’s account however does give us one powerful example of what did happen:

Acts 19:

14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them,

“I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Acts 19:14-16 Legacy Standard Bible
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Don't YOU just want to say, 'GOOD!' They got their just due?
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BUT WAIT A MINUTE!

IF WE ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT LUKE TELLS US ABOUT SEVEN PRIESTS RUNNING OUT OF A HOUSE NAKED AND DEFEATED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT, THEN WE MUST ACCEPT AN IMPACT OF EVIL SPIRITS ON ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN.

Miracles and Power!

Luke now moves on from the ethereal teaching of Tyrannus and Mars Hill to the aetheris winds beyond that which is seen by man.

Most of us don’t really believe in miracles, do we?

WE know of the unexplainable, but rare is any occasion of seeing the unseen.

Sinful men and women want power!

Seven priests talked a good game, but when the higher unseen truth is told, they were humiliated and exposed as frauds.

POWER has a source — as does life and spirit.

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
Acts of the Apostles 19:11-12 LSB

THEOS (Greek word for God) was performing extraordinary MIRACLES! — dynamis, from which (in English) we get DYNAMITE!

NOT Paul, but God by the hands of Paul.

And as a consequence of GOD using these lifeless items and Spirit-filled Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ became known for HIS MIRACLES among the Gentiles of Ephesus.

KJV Translation Count — Total: 120x
The KJV translates Strong’s G1411 in the following manner:

power (77x), mighty work (11x), strength (7x), miracle (7x), might (4x), virtue (3x), mighty (2x), miscellaneous (9x).
inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth; power for performing miracles; moral power and excellence of soul; the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth; power and resources arising from numbers; power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts
Strong’s G1411 – dynamis – BlueLetterBible.org

evil spirits

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:21; 20:6-7

confronted by Jesus
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“Aw, let us alone! What to us and to you, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked it, saying, 
“Be quiet and come out of him!” 

And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they were talking with one another saying, 
“What is this word, that with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.”

And the report about Him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district.

Gospel of Luke 4:34-37
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So you say you don't believe in evil spirits? 
The Law of Moses addresses them AND
JESUS *cast them out of possessed men [*exorcism] and commanded unseen spirits with Authority.
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confronted by Paul

And certain of the wandering exorcist Jews, took upon them to name over those having the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul doth preach;’
Acts 19:13 Young’s Literal Translation

and the evil spirit, answering, said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with; and ye — who are ye?’
Acts of the Apostles 19:15 YLT

SPIRIT – pneuma – from ‘breath’ or ‘of the wind‘

Holy or unholy? Good or evil?

Can the HOLY SPIRIT or an EVIL SPIRIT indwell a mortal man [anthrōpos]? (OR perhaps influence intellectual reasoning or affect any actions of a man or women of flesh?)

By what POWER may a mere mortal become an EXORCIST of EVIL (ponēros) and healer of diseases?

Questions of the first century Ephesians.

Yes, even questions for 21st century christians of the Common Era, perhaps skeptical of Scripture and miraculous signs through the Apostles which God gave to witness the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Acts of the Apostles 19:17 KJV

ACTS of the Apostles — To Be Continued…

NEXT:
and fear fell upon them all

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
October 5, 2023
Apollos and Paul – Apostles crossing paths
Apollos arrives in Ephesus

Acts 18:

The Connection of Christ’s Missions

21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

[No mention here of Silas, Luke or Timothy also part of this 2nd mission. Email me or comment if you know where these apostles of the church might be as Paul begins his 3rd missionary journey. – Roger@TalkofJesus.com ]
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Notice where Ephesus fits into our A.D. 51-52 timeline as the noted Jewish teacher Saul of Tarsus [Paul] departs and Apollos, another notable Jewish apostle to the gentiles begins working alongside disciples of The Way of the Messiah Jesus.

Priscilla and Aquila (also Jews) remain in Ephesus as Paul sails back to Jerusalem and Antioch, Syria [his home church].
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Paul’s Third Missionary Journey Begins

23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

As you can see on a map more familiar to Saul of Tarsus than 21st century christians who simply see modern Turkey, the Apostle Paul has once again set out to visit the churches of his Second Missionary Journey.

Ephesus is miles ahead where Paul will journey through the mountains to the Aegean coast where Apollos has already arrived and preached.
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Luke continues his detailed account of Acts of the Apostles by way of introduction to Apollos.
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Who is this Messianic Jew Apollos?

24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
- He was an eloquent man,
- competent in the Scriptures.
- 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.
  - (Not by Paul, but by other disciples of the risen Christ.)
- And being fervent in spirit,
- he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus..
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We'll leave it there for the moment. 
Pretty good credentials for a new Preacher of Jesus to the Jews in Asia Minor (Ephesus).
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Apollos the Baptist

Now, perhaps, some controversy might arise from calling apollos a ‘Baptist.’ This is no mere division of denomination of an early church in Asia Minor. No, the Baptist moniker in the year of our Lord 52 would have referred to the preaching of John the Baptist.

MANY would have heard of the Baptist, perhaps even hearing him preach prior to Herod beheading him.
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A.D. 30 - Twenty some years earlier from Luke's Gospel (yet to be published ten years from now along with ACTS of the Apostles sometime between A.D. 60 and A.D. 62.)
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Gospel of Luke 9:

Verses 18-21 Legacy Standard Bible

And it happened that while He [JESUS] was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying,

“Who do the crowds say that I am?”

And they answered and said,

“John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” And He said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

But He warned them and directed them not to tell this to anyone..
- AND suppose that Apollos and other disciples had heard The Baptist preach and yet as must have been the case for many never heard the Christ of God preach in Person?
- What might these disciples of JESUS recall some twenty years later?
Luke 3:

[John] .. came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;
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Now unlike most 21st century christians, these 1st century Jews knew their SCRIPTURE!
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as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
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“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.

‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED,

AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW;

THE CROOKED WILL BE STRAIGHT,

AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH.
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AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.’”
Luke 3:6 LSB quoting: Isa 40:5; Isa 49:6; Isa 52:10

a response to Apollos OR The Baptist OR JESUS

“But indeed the ax is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what should we do?”
Luke 3:9-10 LSB

John answered, saying to them all,

“As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

“His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn,

but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people.

Gospel of Luke 3:18 LSB of the preaching of John the Baptist

Refining the Preaching of Apollos

Acts 18 continued in Ephesus

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
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It is expected that mature believers must instruct new followers of JESUS Christ more accurately. 

Even as Aquilla must have given exhortation to Apollos, the Apostle Paul on the way to Ephesus is most like doing the same as he revisits the new churches of previous missionary journeys (some to whom the Apostles has already written an Epistle).
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27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

God-willing, ACTS of the apostles Paul, Apollos, Aquila and many others — To be continued

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
September 1, 2023
When HE takes Vengeance
DOES THE FIRE OF GOD’S ANGER BURN WITH VENGEANCE?

Paradise on fire – Idolatry consumed!

Remember the lyric of lament over a lost love?

Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus?
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way..
Source:
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I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
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You shall not make idols or any image of things that are in the heavens above or that are upon the earth or that are in the waters under the earth.
Exodus 20:4 New Catholic Bible

Of course FIRE and RAIN are elements of the 12 idolatrous signs of the zodiac,

even as love of a friend, family member or the EARTH or AIR may easily become your WORSHIP of idols.

So Those were the days, my friend, of Paradise

We SANG of them in the paradise lost of our memories. In the year of our Lord 1970, half a century ago – a time of imagined idolatrous paradise where one might honeymoon in Hawaii with the Eve or your dreams or perhaps worship each other’s nakedness in the mind-altering smoke of your California dreamin.

How we all sought the peace on earth of friends with benefits..

And that by the children of Jesus raised in the Commandments by the family of the Church — prodigal children wandering into a paradise lost of our own making.

WE KNOW THE STORIES OF SCRIPTURE,

Yet we try God’s patience

And fail to TEACH OUR CHILDREN WELL in the Commandments and Praises, the Proverbs and Gospel

of the HOLY BIBLE of the LORD God of our cultural prodigal witness!

The Imagery of Apocalypse

WE know it. Yet we quickly attribute God’s vengeance to ACTS of man-made cause.

What more idolatrous treason against the Creator of Heaven and Earth can you imagine than to attribute apocalypse to ‘mother nature’ and to ‘humankind’?

WHY do we so easily dismiss GOD’s warning of His vengeance against SIN and SINNERS (who we have become as we now wallow in the muddied cultures of self-worship and karma of the ashes of their phoenix fallen).

.. angels .. he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones..

Woe to them..
excerpt from the letter of Jude, warning of ‘ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. – v.4b

A Repeated Warning behind the Headline

WE can ‘talk of’ KING JESUS all we want but best not dwell on the glory of grace without heeding the warnings of Christ our Lord.

Recognize the signs of false news which does NOT seek the TRUTH of God or acknowledge the LORD’s story of vengeance against SIN and justification ONLY in Christ.
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Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—

.. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

“Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
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The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ from Luke 17:

Deseret News
‘Apocalyptic’ Maui wildfires death toll reaches 80, making it the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii — see the latest updates

Sat, August 12, 2023 at 1:16 PM EDT

TWO Pictures of Maui including our COVER PHOTO TODAY:

NOTE warnings IGNORED as you read FACTS

from the story of JULY 12 in A.D. 2019
- thousands were ordered evacuated,
- it was unclear how many people fled the west Maui coastal communities of Maalaea and Kihei.
- three shelters housed about 500 people
- The Maui High School housed about 200 cats and dogs moved from a local animal shelter
Have you NOT READ?
- He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
- “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
- And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
  - excerpts from the Good News of Matthew, quotes of JESUS CHRIST
Vengeance is Mine!

Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’

Deuteronomy 32:35 ESV
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ESV Quotes on Vengeance

Hebrews 10: NEW CATHOLIC BIBLE


Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
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28 A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses:

29 How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people.

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay,”
and
“The Lord will judge his people.”
³¹It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:30b-31 New Catholic Bible
August 12, 2023