The Apostle Paul, on his second missionary journey, went to Philippi with Silas, Timothy, and perhaps Luke, the doctor, as his missionary companions. As they were on their way to prayer one day, they were met by a certain damsel (probably a slave girl since she had masters) who was possessed by a spirit of divination. Her soothsaying brought profit to her masters or owners. Paul, being very irritated by her continual words, discerned that she was demon-possessed. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, he cast the devil out of her, and she was completely delivered. The story is told in Acts 16:16-18.
And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But, being grieved, Paul turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
So, what is soothsaying and divination? According to Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, soothsaying is the foretelling of future events by persons without divine aid or authority, thus distinguishing it from prophecy. On the other hand, prophecy is divine communication of God’s will, often foretelling future events or conveying messages of moral and spiritual significance. Simply stated, it is a message from God.
Divination is associated with the spirit of witchcraft. It is defined by Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology as the communication with a deity for the purpose of determining the deity’s knowledge, resulting in a clarification of a decision or discernment of the future. Divination is prohibited in several books of the Bible.
Exodus 22:18 says Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Leviticus 19:26 tells us, Ye shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
In Leviticus 20:27, we are told: A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them.
And in Deut. 18: 10-12, the scriptures say, There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
The young girl in this story was not only communicating with a demon but was totally possessed by a spirit of divination (v.16), making the words that came from her mouth the demon’s words and not her own.
This young girl followed the missionary team everywhere they went for several days (vv. 16-18), stating, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” Using his God-given Spirit of discernment, Paul knew that although what she said was true, the words came from the demon, which aggravated his spirit. Some may be confused about why Paul was so agitated by her because she was telling the truth. Apostle Paul did not want a demon associated with anything that he and his team did for God. For example, if they worked a miracle with the power of the Holy Ghost, the people might say, “Ooh, that girl is powerful. She said they were men of God.”
This is what Dake’s Annotated Bible had to say about the situation in Note u pg. 248:
“Every word of this is truth, but the purpose of Satan in it was to discredit the message of the apostles by making the people think that they were in league with demon spirits who were making this announcement through a demon-possessed medium. The people would conclude that they were doing miracles by the devil, and so discount the gospel. When the demon was cast out in the name of Jesus, it proved that they were of God and not of demons.”
Apostle Paul would not have the people misled and the gospel discredited. Therefore, using the Holy Ghost’s power over demon spirits, he spoke to the demon with godly authority and commanded him to leave the damsel. He based his authority on Luke 10:19, which states: Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
In so doing, Paul demonstrated the same power over demons that Jesus used when he spoke to the demon-possessed man in the 8th verse of Mark chapter 5.
5 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
Just as the demons obeyed Jesus in the fifth chapter of Mark, the demon that possessed the slave girl had no choice but to obey Paul, and it came out of her immediately (v.18).
The outcome of this sinful girl’s deliverance. There is no record in the Bible that this young girl was ever bothered by this spirit again. She was totally delivered from this spirit by the power of God as it was spoken by God’s anointed. Today, we who live godly are grateful to Apostle Paul for his bold stance against sin. He believed the Word of God, he discerned the presence of a demon in the young girl by the power of the Holy Ghost, and he acted on that knowledge by delivering the young girl from demon possession. What peace the damsel must have experienced when she was set free.
By the way, are you aware that the Holy Ghost gives any Holy Ghost-filled believer the same power over demon spirits? Acts 1:8 says,
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The power that the Holy Ghost-filled Saint has is the same that Paul used to deliver the damsel. Saints are given the power to live as God requires, to believe and apply the Scriptures to their own lives, to witness to those who are estranged from God, and to cause them to be saved from Hell.
If you don’t have God’s power in your life, please repent and ask God to save you. Then, you have the right to ask for the gift of the Holy Ghost today. It’s yours for the asking.
