Found here. I'm definitely not a fan of MacArthur, but I found this sermon excerpt to be excellent.
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Acts 16:16–18
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Let's look at the disfigured woman. And this is a sad, sad contrast...verse 16. Now, in the world's view, this may have seemed like a liberated woman. This woman probably would have been in on the women's lib movement. Definitely! Why?...because in the first place, she wasn't hung up on religion. In the second place, she wasn't tied to some man...some husband...having to fix meals. She wasn't having a bunch of screaming kids running around all the time. She was a professional woman. She was out there doing her own thing, making money, creating issues. The only problem was she was under control by Satan.
Now, the church began to grow. Old Lydia got saved and her household got saved, boy, the thing got off. Well, who do you know immediately is going to invade the situation?...Satan. It's inevitable. It's absolutely inevitable. He is not omnipresent, but he is fast. He is fast. He gets there and he got there in verse 16. Watch. "It came to pass, as we went to prayer"...they're going back to the same proseuche, the same place of prayer..."a certain maid possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying." We'll stop there for a minute. Now, they're going back to the same place and they meet another woman. Now, this woman has what the author calls a "spirit of divination." The literal Greek...I want you to get this, a most fascinating thing...the literal Greek is, she had a spirit, comma, a python.
That's the same as a python snake, the same term...a spirit, a python, or a python spirit. You say, well, what is a python spirit? Well, in Greek mythology...and this is all mythology...in Greek mythology, there's a place called Pytho, and Pytho was at the foot of Mount Parnassus. Now, at Pytho, there was a dragon. The dragon guarded Pytho...that area...and the dragon's name was Python. Stay with me. This dragon guarded the oracles of Delphi. Now you may have heard of that. Delphi was a place where oracles were given. Now, you say, what's an oracle? I'll give you the definition. The term "oracle," which is an occult term, means either a place where mediums consult demons or it means the revelation the demons give themselves. So it can refer to the place or the demonic revelation. The oracles at Delphi...Delphi was a place that was a monstrous temple and in this temple were all these medium priestesses and these priestesses were conjuring up demons and giving out information.
Now, you say, what about the dragon? Well, supposedly, long ago in Greek mythology, this dragon guarded these oracles. Apollo, who was the third son of Jupiter in mythology, came down and slew the dragon. All of the oracle power of the dragon was then transferred to Apollo and he took on the name Pythias. And so the python idea ties in with Apollo who received the dragon's power and was able, then, to contact these demon spirits at Delphi. Now, let me say this just so you'll understand. They believed, the people in this world believed, in that world of that day, they believed that the gods were alive. They believed in Apollo and Jupiter and Venus and Mars and all those people,Cupid and everybody else. Now, they believed that Apollo...that Apollo spoke through the oracles at Delphi.And so the term python means any kind of medium contact with the god Apollo.
This girl, then, was one of the thousands of priestesses from Delphi who were called pythons because they were plugged into Apollo whose other name was Pythias. Now, if you're confused, don't feel bad; I am, too (laughter). But, nevertheless, people would consult this girl, or these priestesses...and they had temples all over the place. In fact, it got to be a universal kind of worship. They would consult these priestesses and they would then think that Apollo, the god, was giving them the information. Now, we know who it really was, right?...Satan and his demons.
Let me give you another footnote that's just absolutely fascinating. The term "python" then became synonymous with ventriloquist and is used as such. Ventriloquists were called pythons. You say, why. Do you know what a demon-possessed medium is? He is a dummy for a demon ventriloquist. She was nothing but a demonic Charlie McCarthy (laughter)...essentially the same thing...nothing but a mouth through which a demon spoke...and this is the word ventriloquist. In Isaiah 8:19, the Bible says that the people were to watch out for mediums that peep and mutter and the word in the Greek...it's in Hebrew in the Old Testament, but the Greek translation, they use the word eggastrimuthus which means ventriloquist.They were to watch out for ventriloquist demons who used the voice of humans.
You say, then that girl was a dummy and demons talked through her. You know something; that isn't anything unusual. I told you last Sunday night about Hitler. That's all he was. He was nothing but a dummy through which demons spoke.You say, well, are there any around today? You better believe there are and they're all over the place. I can name them for you...some of them: Jeane Dixon, Jane Roberts, Taylor Caldwell and etc. They are just vehicles through which demons speak.
Now, here was this girl and Satan had his instrument. And according to the ancient writings, these girls would go into frenzies. It says "soothsaying" at the end of verse 16. The root word is frenzy. They would go into almost like a fit and in this terrible frenzy they would become totally distorted. There's some writings that describe visage of these people in the midst of this...horrifying. And they would utter these statements and this is exactly what is common today. Jane Roberts, I've seen pictures of her going into these things, when she gets this voice that speaks through her. It's absolutely grotesque. You can't even believe the distortion of her person as she becomes a dummy for the demon...and, of course, writes many books.
Well, this girl was doing what these other ladies are doing today. She was making a fortune...making a fortune. Why?...because everybody's hung up on the future. Everybody's preoccupied with finding out the future. So it says at the end of verse 16, she brought much gain to her masters. She was making money.Well, here we find the clash of light and darkness. Boy, here, we saw it, didn't we, in Cyprus, when they went on the first missionary journey? They started to preach the gospel and here came this magician. It's the same thing here. God moves and Satan counter-moves. He's been doing it all through history.
You say, well, this girl was really an unusual girl. Yes, but let me hasten to say this. Anybody without Jesus Christ is in exactly the same position she was in. You say, but I know some good people. They wouldn't do this. Listen, if you do not know Jesus Christ, according to the words of Jesus, you are your father, the devil. It is only a question of manifestation. That's all. It's the same Hell that all these people will occupy. It's the same Satan behind them. It's only a question of how he manifests himself in certain cases. That's all. There's no liberty apart from Jesus Christ. This girl was a slave and so is every woman and every man who does not know Jesus Christ.
I want you to watch how Satan operates. He is so subtle. Verse 17...this is this girl, now, and this demon's speaking through her...and "the same followed Paul and us"...well, followed Paul, Timothy, Silas and Luke...and she's crying, ekrazen, yelling at the top of her voice, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation." Let me ask you a question. Is that a true statement? Absolutely! That is the truth! You say, what is Satan doing speaking the truth? He does it all the time. Do you know that II Corinthians 11 says he appears as an angel of light and his ministers appear as angels of light?
A person said to me yesterday, called me on the phone and very disturbed about a person who was saying they had a certain experience, they knew it couldn't be of the devil because they did it in the name of Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean anything. Satan's been doing things in the name of Jesus Christ for centuries. White magic by definition is black magic in Christian terms; that's all. There are all kinds of demonic things going on in the name of Jesus Christ. Some even have recorded indications of demons who have taken the name of Jesus. You can't say, well, we did it in Jesus' name, therefore, it was of God. That doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything at all. Demons will say anything they need to say. That's exactly what's diabolical about the cults, you see. In eight out of ten things they're right.
And that's how people get sucked into them. They'll speak the truth just long enough to hook you, you see, and then you're lost and damned in the error of the system. Well, you know what's gonna happen here. The people in town are gonna say, hey, these guys are in the same thing they're in. Hey, this girl must be part of this group. Can you see the subtlety of that? Dynamite! All of the sudden the little church gets on its first legs and Paul and Silas and Luke and Timothy leave and who's gonna take over now? Who are they gonna all look to?...this girl who came along and said the same thing.
Boy, Satan is not stupid; believe you me. Some of Satan's most active and aggressive work is done in the name of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? You better believe it. Do you know, I read an article in a national Christian magazine saying that Jeane Dixon was a Christian and that we had to believe she was a Christian _______ because she talks about Christ and she does all this in the name of Christ. So what! It doesn't mean a thing. Of course she does it in the name of Christ. Why? That's the most subtle way.
You say, but, oh, Taylor Caldwell's written those books about "Dear and Glorious Physician" and all and she even wrote that book, "Dialogue with the Devil," and, oh, it's so Christian. Of course, of course, what do you think an angel of light is? But Pastor So-and-So stands in the pulpit and he talks about the Bible and God and Christ! Of course, what do you expect? Satan isn't stupid. That's why John says, you better get down close and look and try the spirits to see whether they be of God. It's not always evident on the surface. This is Satan's most subtle avenue. You think he gets tares in among the wheat in the church by having somebody come and say, "I'm not a Christian; I disbelieve all of it and I'm gonna get in and destroy it." Oh, we'd all say, no, you're not, boy, see.
You know how he gets tares in among the wheat? He gets people to say they're Christians when they're not. Oh, we believe ________. You know how he gets false teachers in? Not by having them state they're false teachers, but by having them state that they're really real and really legitimate and they get in and they get in and then they begin to propagate false doctrine. Satan is subtle. Infiltration is his first plan. If that doesn't work, then he gets outside persecution, but he always starts with infiltration. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? He thought he could destroy the church from the inside? That didn't work and then he turned to persecution.
Well, here he tries infiltration. And she says, these men are the servants of the Most High God. It's interesting she chose that term, "Most High God." That was a term that all the Gentiles would understand.That was their common term for the God of Israel and is also the Jews' own term for their own God, El Elyon, the God Most High, so Satan was really sharp. I mean, he was including his whole audience in this deal. And he said, they show us the way of salvation. The Jews and Gentiles were seeking a way of deliverance. He didn't use Jewish terms and didn't use Gentile terms, but he used terms that bridged both. And he was going to suck the whole population in and convinced them that this girl was a part of Paul's work. Boy, is that subtle. Oh, man.
And, friends, that is so devious. I'm telling you, believe me, Satan would love to get non-believers to publicize Jesus Christ. You know why?...because they suck people in on that pretense and then one of two things happen. The people get sucked into false doctrine or the people see what they think Christianity is and they reject it. There's a particular television thing that just bothers me to the core. And this particular individual's always having television programs where they have famous Hollywood people and inevitably they put a testimony in their mouths like they almost force _____, oh, I believe in God and, oh, I have faith and mmm, and make them look like a Christian. That is diabolical. That is demonic. You say, why?...because then people assume they are and they go out and see what they do the rest of the time and they say, well, that's Christianity.
I'll never forget our young people coming back from seeing the taping of one of these things one time and this comedian was there and he was so vile and so filthy and so, just immoral in his conversation, they had to cut the tape just to ribbons, practically. He was absolutely horrible, everything he did. They tried to put a testimony in his mouth, splice it all together so he comes out looking like a Christian. The next thing you knew, I picked up the paper the other day and read about the same guy, all kinds of unbelievable, gross, immoral activity in his life. Do you see how subtle that is? Do you see how subtle that is? Listen to me, beloved, God does not need Satan's publicity. We need to be so careful that we don't put the mouths of Satan's people into the place where they have to speak the testimony of Jesus Christ. It just is not right.
I'll never forget, there was this one guy who was a movie person. And he was saved and oh, his testimony was published and then I found out some things about his life that were just sordid and tragic. And the next thing I knew, there was a big article in the paper, he'd blown a gasket somewhere and he'd gotten into some trouble and he threw his beer can at the director and it went on and on about all the fouled up life. And, boy, that was really a blow. Here, the Christians had lifted up this individual without really being knowledgeable and concerned about the honesty of his testimony. Satan's subtle. Satan is subtle.
Well, all it does is drag the name of Jesus down. Christ never wants publicity from Satan. So watch what Paul did. Verse 18. And she kept it up for many days and Paul was grieved. I think he was grieved for two reasons. I think he was grieved because he didn't like what she was doing and I think he was grieved because he felt sorry for her. And he "turned and said to the spirit, 'I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.'
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