The Possessed Damsel

Act 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

Act 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

This young woman followed them around mocking them and mocking God also. She wanted them to accept her as their equal. In other words she wanted them to say she was the same as they were in the fact that they believed in God and were saved.

This day and time, we hear lot of talk about tolerance and how all beliefs are equal. People say all gods are the same true God. They say there are many different paths and many different truths. They are deceivers following after their father, Satan, who is the first deceiver. They want to be accepted as righteous, while remaining sinful and unrepentant. So what do we do about them?

Act 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

We are to do what God tells us to do. We are to rebuke them in the name of Jesus. There are unclean spirits at work in these that do these things that are ungodly. These same spirits will deceive many more if allowed to be counted among the righteous of God. We are to "prove" them to be ungodly and expose their sinfulness. When we do this, we do what is right in the eyes of God. We also stir up Satan and make him mad.