l spirit wasn’t impressed with the words. He wasn’t afraid of incantations. And the result was humiliating . . .

Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

(Act 19:16 NLT)

Why did the demons flee from Paul, but attack these men? What was the difference?

The difference mentioned in the passage is that the evil spirit knew Paul, but did not know these pret

There’s something that has always bothered me about the way the devil is portrayed in film. Be it television or the silver screen, they never get it right. Sure, it’s their job to sensationalize the dark underlord so as to sell a few extra tickets, but I would like for them to get it Biblically right at least once.

Honestly, there’s nothing in the scriptures about holy water burning a demon’s flesh. Garlic and crucifixes mean nothing. The priest in The Exorcist would never cast out a true demon. It would take more than a swift kick and wooden stake for Buffy to rid Sunnydale of demons. And, I don’t care how big his guns or biceps are, Arnold would never be able to defeat Lucifer the way it was portrayed in End of Days.

I’ll save the truth about demonism for another article. Suffice it to say here that most of what you’ve heard about spiritual warfare – even in the church – is a bunch of hooey! I just want to take a look at an interesting little passage in the book of Acts that blows the lid off of a lot of ecclesiastical nonsense.

A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!"

(Act 19:13 NLT)

Here we have a school of prophets attempting to cast out evil spirits. They had apparently seen Paul do it, and they thought it was a pretty neat trick, so they figured they’d try their hands at it.

Give them credit, they were going about it in the right way – at least in the sense that they were using the name of Jesus. They weren’t trying some foolhardy method of combining superstition with tradition and mixing it with a little folklore they’d heard in some old-wives tale. They were going about it in the right way, but there was something wrong...

But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?"

(Act 19:15 NLT)

You see, the evil spirit wasn’t impressed with the words. He wasn’t afraid of incantations. And the result was humiliating . . .

Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

(Act 19:16 NLT)

Why did the demons flee from Paul, but attack these men? What was the difference?

The difference mentioned in the passage is that the evil spirit knew Paul, but did not know these prete

ld take more than a swift kick and wooden stake for Buffy to rid Sunnydale of demons. And, I don’t care how big his guns or biceps are, Arnold would never be able to defeat Lucifer the way it was portrayed in End of Days.

I’ll save the truth about demonism for another article. Suffice it to say here that most of what you’ve heard about spiritual warfare – even in the church – is a bunch of hooey! I just want to take a look at an interesting little passage in the book of Acts that blows the lid off of a lot of ecclesiastical nonsense.

A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!"

(Act 19:13 NLT)

Here we have a school of prophets attempting to cast out evil spirits. They had apparently seen Paul do it, and they thought it was a pretty neat trick, so they figured they’d try their hands at it.

Give them credit, they were going about it in the right way – at least in the sense that they were using the name of Jesus. They weren’t trying some foolhardy method of combining superstition with tradition and mixing it with a little folklore they’d heard in some old-wives tale. They were going about it in the right way, but there was something wrong...

But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?"

(Act 19:15 NLT)

You see, the evil spirit wasn’t impressed with the words. He wasn’t afraid of incantations. And the result was humiliating . . .

Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

(Act 19:16 NLT)

Why did the demons flee from Paul, but attack these men? What was the difference?

The difference mentioned in the passage is that the evil spirit knew Paul, but did not know these pret

lot of ecclesiastical nonsense.

A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!"

(Act 19:13 NLT)

Here we have a school of prophets attempting to cast out evil spirits. They had apparently seen Paul do it, and they thought it was a pretty neat trick, so they figured they’d try their hands at it.

Give them credit, they were going about it in the right way – at least in the sense that they were using the name of Jesus. They weren’t trying some foolhardy method of combining superstition with tradition and mixing it with a little folklore they’d heard in some old-wives tale. They were going about it in the right way, but there was something wrong...

But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?"

(Act 19:15 NLT)

You see, the evil spirit wasn’t impressed with the words. He wasn’t afraid of incantations. And the result was humiliating . . .

Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

(Act 19:16 NLT)

Why did the demons flee from Paul, but attack these men? What was the difference?

The difference mentioned in the passage is that the evil spirit knew Paul, but did not know these pret

edit, they were going about it in the right way – at least in the sense that they were using the name of Jesus. They weren’t trying some foolhardy method of combining superstition with tradition and mixing it with a little folklore they’d heard in some old-wives tale. They were going about it in the right way, but there was something wrong...

But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?"

(Act 19:15 NLT)

You see, the evil spirit wasn’t impressed with the words. He wasn’t afraid of incantations. And the result was humiliating . . .

Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

(Act 19:16 NLT)

Why did the demons flee from Paul, but attack these men? What was the difference?

The difference mentioned in the passage is that the evil spirit knew Paul, but did not know these pret

l spirit wasn’t impressed with the words. He wasn’t afraid of incantations. And the result was humiliating . . .

Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

(Act 19:16 NLT)

Why did the demons flee from Paul, but attack these men? What was the difference?

The difference mentioned in the passage is that the evil spirit knew Paul, but did not know these pretenders.

So, why did they know Paul? Had he been introduced to them at some Jewish social event? Did they become close friends on an internet chatroom?

No, they knew Paul because of his relationship with God. Compare this with the following passage from James:

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

(Jas 4:7 NLT)

We like to focus on the second part of the verse and say that if we only resist the devil, he will flee from us, but that ignores the first part of the verse. We must first humble ourselves before God, which means we submit ourselves to Him and recognize His authority over our lives. Then, and only then, will our resistance mean anything to the devil. The devil is not afraid of us, he’s afraid of our God. If we are submitted to God, the devil recognizes that and flees.

This is why the Jewish scholars in Acts got the clothes beat off of their backs. This is why a self-gratifying priest will never perform a successful exorcism. And this is why Buffy’s Sunnydale will always be infested with demons. : )