It happened in Ephesus on the west coast of Turkey, and to visit, explore and examine the area was a tremendous privilege. We can read the details of the actual incident in the New Testament book of Acts at Chapter nineteen.
A troop of travelling exorcists decide to attempt to minister to those who were influenced by evil spirits.
They do not know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and King, and the demons knew that these men do not know Jesus. That is some insight and discernment! Terrible things happened.
No-one should take it upon himself to venture into this field, but if Almighty God calls you to embark upon such a dimension of ministry, He will equip you for it.
How do you exercise this ministry? You minister with prayer and fasting and by putting on and continuing to wear the whole armour of God. Is it not significant that we read of this teaching in the Ephesian letter? That was where this all happened.
Following an explosion of evil, the exorcists are beaten, and escape naked and bleeding.
No, you do not enter this ‘hard hat’ area lightly. This is a hard hat area and the hard hat is called the helmet of salvation which guards the brain and the mind.
News of this incident went around fast and some folks were seized with fear, and with good cause.
Many who believed in Jesus Christ came to confess their sins, acknowledging and admitting their sinful pasts, from which they still had to be set free.
These new fresh young disciples had been holding onto private or personal sins in their own individual lives. We could accurately call them secret sins. As a consequence of what had happened in their city, they realised they were not what they should have been in the eyes of God.
All sorts of books and literature on the occult, and secret societies, and pornography are brought and burned publicly. Everyone could see they were destroying all that filthy contaminating polluting stuff.
They were going to invest their lives in what was clean and pure and this was how they got rid of the filth which can ruin many lives.
What went up in smoke had a huge commercial value, but these items would have caused deep damage spiritually and physically, in the long term.
These believers in Jesus wanted a totally clean start in life. Never hold onto what might enslave you.
Sandy Shaw
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children’s Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.