Thursday, August 19, 2010

Acts Chapter Nineteen

Acts Chapter Nineteen (NIV)
Acts Chapter Nineteen (NASB)

I. SYNOPSIS

Verses 1-10: Paul preaches and teaches in Ephesus.

Verses 11-20: Seven sons of Sceva are cast out of the house while trying to cast out a demon.

Verses 21-41: A riot breaks out in Ephesus.

II. KEY PASSAGES

(A) Acts 19:11-12--"And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them." There can be no question that God's anointing was on Paul, confirming his status as an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

(B) Acts 19:15--"But the evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?'" Casting out demons isn't a matter of reciting particular words. Such work demands an appropriate relationship with Jesus Christ. Attempting to confront demons without God's protection is inviting an attack.

(C) Acts 19:30--"But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him." The crowd would most likely have torn Paul to pieces, yet he still wanted to enter the crowd in order to preach.

(D) Acts 19:35--"And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, 'Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?'" In the ancient world, cities would often treat meteorites as objects that fell from heaven. Interestingly, Muhammad often kissed one of these "sacred stones," which is still kissed by Muslims to this day. The Bible condemns reverence for sacred stones, as can be seen in the following passage:

2 Kings 18:1-4--"In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (See also 2 Kings 23:14, where Josiah smashes sacred stones.)

Here the Bible says that Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and as an example the passage notes that he "smashed the sacred stones." This clearly condemns Muhammad, who taught his followers to kiss a sacred stone. We read in the History of at-Tabari (Volume 6, p. 101):

Ibn Humayd- Salamah- Muhammad b. Ishaq- Yahya b. ‘Urwah b. al-Zubayr- his father ‘Urwah-‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As: I said to him, "What was the worst attack you saw by Quraysh upon the Messenger of God when they openly showed their enmity to him?" He replied, "I was with them when their nobles assembled one day in the Hijr and discussed the Messenger of God. They said, ‘We have never seen the like of what we have endured from this man. He has derided our traditional values, abused our forefathers, reviled our religion, caused division among us, and insulted our gods. We have endured a great deal from him,’ or words to that effect. While they were saying this, the Messenger of God suddenly appeared and walked up and kissed the Black Stone. Then he passed by them while performing the circumambulation, and as he did so they made some slanderous remarks about him. I could see from the Messenger of God’s face that he had heard them, but he went on. When he passed the second time they made similar remarks, and I could see from his face that he had heard them, but again he went on. Then he passed them the third time, and they made similar remarks; but this time he stopped and said, ‘Hear, men of Quraysh. By Him in whose hand Muhammad’s soul rests, I have brought you slaughter.’ They were gripped by what he said, and it was as though every man of them had a bird perched on his head; even those of them who had been urging the severest measures against him previously spoke in conciliatory ways to him, using the politest expressions they could think of, and said, ‘Depart in true guidance, Abu al-Qasim; by God you were never ignorant.’"

On a completely different note, notice that Muhammad promised to slaughter the Meccans, after he had (1) derided their traditional values, (2) abused their forefathers, (3) reviled their religion, (4) caused division among them, and (5) insulted their gods. This is quite different from the picture of Muhammad presented by Muslims in the West.

8 comments:

Zack_Tiang said...

Acts 19:13-16 - A real reminder for us to not mess with demonic beings or objects with such beings, unless we are strong in our faith and relationship with Christ.

Acts 19:11-12 - Most likely the proof text for those who preach healing through such 'miracle' objects (i.e. healing napkins)... and for profit.

What do you guys think of such ministries?


Acts 19:27-29 - "[Demetrius said,] "There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty." When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Soon the whole city was in an uproar."

This mirrors very well a certain religion this site talks alot about.
Just change a few names and the location and you wouldn't tell the difference.

leviMichealathan said...

off topic (sorry):
dr william lane craig wiped the floor with yusuf ishmail.

craig chose the wording of the topic appropriately:
Is Jesus man or man and God!

he smashed the rhetoric that muslims use, like: the pagan myth theory and bart ehrman.

eventually, yusuf strayed completely off topic and started spewing the same old stuff that muslims use when they are cornered; at this point, the muslims started cheering!

this is what dr craig said about the debate (from his podcast):

"…about a thousand people crowded the auditorium that night. The debate was anything but dull!
What Ismail (who is a lawyer by profession) may lack in substance he makes up in a robustious delivery, with lots of grandstanding and theatrics. By the time we reached the rebuttals, he had pretty much exhausted what substance he had, and so he began to throw out lots of red meat to his partisans in the crowd, offering the usual Muslim talking points like the inauthenticity of 1 John 5.7, at which they began to shout Islamic slogans.
In my rebuttal I rebuked them, saying that they ought to be ashamed of themselves for cheering for such irrelevant and fallacious arguments. I hammered home my positive case for Jesus' deity, which Ismail could not answer, and in my closing speech gave a strong evangelistic appeal to the Muslims in the crowd. It was a great evening and a strong witness for Christ..."

david, maybe this should also be ur topic instead of "Is Jesus God?"

Adam N said...

Hi,

I'm trying to get a hold of a representative of this website, or the youtube videos on it. My name is Adam and I host a podcast called The Breadless Circus that covers cultural issues, news, and societal memes. (I also have an apologetics podcast called Always Ready, but that's a different show.)

Anyway, I thought it would be great to interview you regarding your experience with Islamic culture in American, your treatment by security, and police when involved in evangelism, and other similar issues.

There was no email, or contact info on the website so I hope we can get connected via this comment

Thanks
Adam Naranjo
The Breadless Circus
http://breadlesscircus.com

mkvine said...

LeviMichael,

Where can we watch this debate?

Charis kai Eirene said...

Demetrius gives us a fine example of how the desire for profit often pits itself against the work of the Holy Spirit. Upset about losing profit from selling silver shrines, Demetrius uses Paul's criticism of pagan idols-- "gods made with hands are not gods"-- to incite a riot against Paul and his companions.

Also I can't help but notice the contrast between the town clerk of Ephesus versus the city of Dearborn.

In v.40, the clerk says, "For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion."

The town clerk of Ephesus showed more common sense and legal wisdom than the Dearborn officials in identifying the crowd as being charged with rioting rather than the people who had angered the crowd. Criticizing someone's belief does not justify a violent commotion.

Verumi said...

Hello, everyone. This is also off-topic.

Have you heard of Usama Dakdok of The Straight Way Grace Ministries and his translation of the Qur'an? I'm considering buying the book, but I'd like to hear your thoughts, especially if you own a copy.

The book is described as follows:
1 - Accurate English Translation
2 - Study Notes for the Reader
3 - Errors and Contradictions
4 - Comparison with Biblical Accounts
5 - Points to Original Sources
6 - Highlights non-arabic words and idioms in the Qur'an.
7 - Includes Table of Bible prophecies about Jesus
Gospel Invitation


I would like to own a copy of the Qur'an, and it looks like this is a good copy to have. What do you think?

Thank you in advance. :) God bless.

Verumi said...

Here are the links to the debate:

Identifying Jesus: Is he Man or both man & God? ( Dr. Craig's Opening Statement - 1 of 4 )
Identifying Jesus: Is he Man or both man & God? ( Yusuf's Opening Statement - 2 of 4 )
Identifying Jesus: Is he Man or both man & God? ( Rebuttals - 3 of 4 )

It looks like Part 4 is missing.

TURN DOWN the volume on your speakers when you watch the first video. The background music of the intro is quite LOUD.

Sam said...

Verumi and mkvine, you can watch the entire debate in 9 parts by going here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/naliakbar