11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 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. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
It is the beginning of this text that particularly interests me today. St Paul's name had expanded greatly and people started using even his aprons and handkerchiefs to help heal people. Then you get to the truly adventurous sons of Sceva. These seven sons use the name of St Paul to cast out demons. But they wind up in pretty big trouble.
The use of clothing to cast out demons and heal diseases. This leads to one of the greatest heresies that affects the Church, Iconography or use of religious artifacts to heal and cast out demons. God gives power to the faith people pt in these objects. But more important St Paul is the one who proclaims repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Because of what happens to the sons of Sceva fear seizes the people.
They burn their magic books, and hopefully throw away their icons and idols. You can image the great revival for the people of Ephesus. But all this took place because those sons where reproved by the evil spirit. All it takes is one evil spirit to corrupt a town. It only takes one evil spirit to lead a town to turn from its wicked ways, especially if that evil spirit says it knows Jesus Christ and St Paul.
There are many of us that like to try short cuts in our faith. But when it comes to judgment day there is no other way than Jesus. Jesus is the way to our true salvation. He is our rock and our foundation.
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