Against Evil Practices

Anneta Pinto-Young 3 Minutes
“And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour” (Acts 16:18).

There’s a story in Acts, where Paul and Silas were in Macedonia. A lady with a spirit of divination followed them around for many days. She was a slave who her owners used to make money through fortune telling. “She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation”” (Acts 16:17). What this woman was saying about Paul and Silas was in fact true, as they were men of God who were proclaiming the way of salvation. Despite the truth of her message, something about the spirit operating in her caused Paul to become extremely annoyed. He turned to her and addressing the spirit, commanded it to come out of her and the spirit obeyed. Once the spirit left her, she was set free, but her owners were angry because she could no longer tell fortunes. Their means of income through her fortune telling was no longer available to them.

Paul and Silas were dragged before the magistrates, accused of disturbing the peace, beaten and thrown into prison. Paul’s response brought freedom to the woman, from the spirit of divination which operated in her. Her owners didn’t view Paul’s intervention in the same way that he did, as her bondage brought them financial gain. Divination is the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means. The bible makes several references to divination and in Leviticus 19:26 says, ‘you shall not interpret omens (divination) or fortune telling. Verse 31 also says, “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:31). There are other places in scripture where divination is referred to as witchcraft.

In Jeremiah, he warned the people about listening to false prophets, who were not sent by God. “And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds” (Jeremiah 14:14). These false prophets stood in direct contradiction to the words, which the true prophet Jeremiah spoke to the people. He had been sent to warn Isreal of the judgment of God due to their sin and immorality. While Jeremiah prophesied of destruction to come, the false prophets told the people that no harm would come to them. Their false prophecies of peace, gave the people a false assurance that they could carry on living in sin. The devil is a copycat who always tries to mimic the things of God through deception.

Most diviners and people who practice false prophecy, do so through the means of familiar spirits. These are demonic spirits that operate through mediums, sorcerers, necromancers and psychics, who use these spirits to contact and communicate with the dead. These spirits give these mediums information and intelligence about people related to their lives, past history and also about dead relatives. Many have been deceived by these people into believing, that they have special powers and abilities which are good and are given by God. The spirits operating in them and false prophets are demonic and are of the kingdom of satan. The woman in Acts 16 had information about Paul and Silas which someone could assume came from God. It was the Holy Spirit in Paul who discerned that the spirit in her was of the devil.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

A.P.-Y.

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Published by Anneta Pinto-Young

I am a trained Social Worker who currently provides professional leadership on a programme to support Social Work students and Newly Qualified Social Workers entering the Social Work Profession. Born and raised in Jamaica in a Christian family where my father is an ordained Pastor and Deacon who has served for over 50 years in the ministry. My father is also a trained musician and our family can be described as a musical family. I grew up in a small farming community in St. Peter’s, St. Andrew and my parents also have a small farm. I credit my gift of writing to my father who I watched and listened to over the years as he wrote sermons, poems and other recitals in his capacity in ministry. English has always been an easy subject for me and over the years I have developed an increased interest in writing. I am a Trainer, I sing and have a passion for worship, the spoken word and the free flow of the prophetic anointing. I am married to my best friend Andrew Christopher Young who is an advanced Musician and whose music you can find on YouTube and Facebook. I am a trained Coach and Mentor and I love experimenting with food so I love cooking. I enjoy trying cultural dishes from across the world and I view food as an entry into cultures and languages.

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17 thoughts on “Against Evil Practices”

  2. It was the Holy Spirit in Paul who discerned that the spirit in her was of the devil – yes indeed. We are to test every spirit. Sometimes, even when I cannot pinpoint yet why I feel a bit off about someone I hear teaching/preaching, I heed to that feeling and stay on guard. And in my experience usually after a while I am confirmed that I should not be listening to them at all. It is about staying alert to what we take in.

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    1. Amen 🙏🏾. We should never numb our discernment because we ‘want to believe the best in others or give people the benefit of the doubt.’ 9/10 times it’s the Holy Spirit prompting us that the spirit operating in that person is not of God. This is mostly true when we are fully surrendered to God and his leading. Bless you Manu. ❤️

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  3. Hi Anneta, as I was reading your post, I began to recognize that this spirit of fortunetelling in this woman has become more invasive in the world than only of fortunetelling, but as you included false prophets it may be as something that has creeped into the church, and the church is unaware because of lack of knowledge of the scriptures.
    We have allowed our governments to dictate the edicts of the church, even the church has included the perverted lifestyles of the world to come in and influence her through the lasciviousness of sexual immorality even from the clergy, and I’m not talking about the scandals as much as about inclusion of the perversions.
    For Paul to not respond right away to this woman’s (evil spirit’s) annoyance may speak to the way that righteous people don’t quickly respond until they have a fire lit under them – that is the condition of the church today, not that Paul was not observing, but that the spiritual nature of the church is not quick to respond today.
    Paul was effective, are we?
    Blessings
    BTW It’s good to hear from you.

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    1. Hey Pedro. I love your reflections on this. I get really exhausted when I go into churches and see people on pulpits, close to the pastor and his family who I know are operating through other spirits other than the Holy Spirit. Some Pastors don’t seem to be able to discern and that may be ok, but they need to surround themselves with seers and trusted people who can discern, because it’s not possible for them to see everything. This is why we need the five fold ministries in the church, but in some ministries it feels like empire building and so sometimes people with the gifts aren’t given an audience, because they aren’t a part of the family dynasty. God will help us.

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      1. It is what Paul said would happen in several places of scripture. Grievous wolves, perlous times, seducing spirits. Thes are the end times of the church, and it is going to be judged.
        Blessings Anneta, keep listeniing to the Holy Spirit.

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