Demetrius was a silversmith whose business in the making of silver shrines of Artemis. (Acts 19:24) When Paul came to teach the truth that man-made gods were no gods at all – this threatened Demetrius’ business. It may have been the truth but this teaching of The Way was jeopardising the reputation of his business and his ability to make money. He wanted to make sure by any means that this teaching from Paul would do no further harm. He plotted against Paul and brought many against Paul in an attempt to stop the teachings.
In the same manner people tweak & alter the doctrine to suit that which they are doing. In Acts 19:11-12 God performed miracles through Paul whereby handkerchiefs that had touched him touched those who needed healing and deliverance and they were healed and delivered. Some present day preachers want to use hankies routinely to get people to send donations in exchange for the hankies. The use of hankies is fine if that’s what the Holy Spirit directs one to do.
The other case was the one of the slave girl possessed by an evil spirit that did fortune telling, (Acts 16:16-18), who followed the Apostles around saying,
“These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved”
Paul discerned that this was by an evil spirit, got annoyed and he cast the demon out of her. Her owners who were making money out of the existence of this evil spirit were not pleased. How are they supposed to make money now. They wanted to get things back to the way they were including the evil spirit – as long as they got what they wanted.
We need to have a personal relationship with God, we need to know what He says, have no doubts about what he says, study the Word so that we are not deceived and taken to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
Sometimes we take a path, while we’re making progress, we learn that we are not in the right path. Stop, get off and follow the right path. Seek first the kingdom of God and all else will follow. Material wealth is temporal. No amount of embarrassment or financial expense warrants you tweaking what the Word of God says in order to make you look right. It will never be worth it. It always pays to let God be the guide – He’s always right after all.
Are there any ‘gods’ , any items of so much importance in your personal life that you would die for, that seem to take precedence over the Word of God in your life – they need to move. Moved to where they belong. Don’t lose sight of God even in prosperity.
Faith MORSI