The spiritual world fascinates me. Demons, angels...all these unseen things are interesting. The following is one of my favorite passages (from Acts 19) about such things:
13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
15One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.
Some observations:
1. These Jewish exorcists wanted to experience the full responsibility of knowing Jesus, but they did not want to commit to Him. Notice they added the tag, "...whom Paul preaches..." to their incantation. It seems they did not want to take it upon themselves to preach about Jesus, but just to cast out demons in His name.
2. "One day the evil spirit answered them..." Can you imagine days of talking to this "evil spirit" and all of a sudden, the spirit answers back? Frightening moment! I think I would have passed out cold...
3. "...the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor." Despite the fact that the demon "won," the name of Jesus was still held in high honor! No matter how evil something may seem, there is always an opportunity to see and praise Jesus.
4. "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" I pray that my faith will grow to the point where, one day, the evil spirits know MY name. I hope that I will become a powerful warrior for God, and that the demons will say, "Let's get out of here, here comes that Franklin guy!" Do the evil spirits know YOUR name?
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