A very curious event happened in the life of the apostle Paul when he passed through the city of Philippi (currently in Eastern Europe). He was evangelising and preaching.

“Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour” (Acts 16:16-18).

See, there are many important points here. We understand the existence of “spirits of divination”. The human being is, by nature, curious. They want to have the power to know the unknown. The devil, knowing this, plays with the divination of the future (there are fortune tellers, seers, horoscopes and “evangelical divination”).

And you realise how cunning that divination spirit was in the young woman in the time of Paul because what was it’s strategy? The devil knew that with the preaching of the Gospel, people were turning to the truth. So, he tried to infiltrate Paul’s work. Just as today, in the evangelical churches, the spirit of divination infiltrated; at that time, this spirit tried to infiltrate Paul’s group.

She said, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation .” The devil can tell the truth with the intention of deceiving. Look how evil it was. His intention was for the people, hearing that of the young woman, to think: “Well, she is also one of them; she is also from God; she is endorsing their work. So, we can consult with her as well.” That was the strategy of that deceiving spirit. That’s why Paul was annoyed by that deceiving spirit because he knew what was happening. In a moment of fury, he turned to her and said to the demon in her: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And the demon came out.

Perhaps you have already consulted someone, or a sensitive person went to your house who said they had gifts of divination, something that even proved to be true, but the spirit did it through that person to gain your trust and then pull your carpet. Be careful with that. God doesn’t work that way. In the Bible, Prophecy has nothing to do with divination about something particular in a person’s life. Run away from these “prophets”. All the “message from the Lord” you need, is in the Bible. That way, you won’t be fooled either. Paul was not deceived because the Holy Spirit was in him, and he was in the Word.

The most exciting part comes now: “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities” (Acts 16:19). In other words, behind that young woman there were men who used her to make money. Those men just wanted profit.

Finally, Paul and Silas were falsely accused, beaten up and arrested.

But see how interesting, it still happens today: Paul cast out the demon, and those men went after him. The same that happens when the Gospel is preached, and it’s light reaches a person? Isn’t it interesting that because of the Gospel, someone’s profit ends? If the person gave money to the cigarette company, now, they don’t give it anymore. The cigarette company loses the profit. The gospel takes the profit of religions, of gurus. The person starts to live a different life; therefore, they no longer need the things the world lied to them, saying they needed.

See that history repeats itself. And you understand the hatred against the people who lead to deliverance. So, whoever wants to be a “Paul” has to be prepared to be persecuted.

Check out the entire message in the video above.