The Bible says:
“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: 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. And this did she many days, But Paul, being grieved, 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.”
— Acts 16: 16-18
A “damsel” is a young unmarried girl. The damsel in our text is a slave girl that is possessed by a demon who gives her the discernment to predict the future for which she makes money that her masters take.
As Paul and his companions were going to prayer, this damsel meets them and the evil spirit through her declares that Paul and his companions are the servants of the most (Supreme) high God and are showing to them the way of salvation. She did this for several days until it grieved Paul and became a burden to him, and he did something about it.
This damsel had a demon in her body. This is actually an incident where you have a male, (because all angels, good and evil and demons are male), in a female body.
It causes one to wonder if those today claiming to be possessed with the disposition of the gender that is opposite of their actual gender are not experiencing the same dilemma as this damsel. Can the male claiming to be a female be possessed with a male demon that is impersonating a female?
But Paul spoke to the male demon that possessed the female damsel and commanded him to come out of the girl in the name of Jesus Christ. And “he” did.
Though all that the demon said about Paul and his companions was true, Paul would not accept testimony from an evil spirit. Paul did not want a demon in his “amen corner.”
By casting out this demon out, Paul set the damsel free from the demon and from her masters, for they had no more use for her because her power of divination which made them money was now gone.
James H. Cagle is a Ray City resident who pastored several churches for a total of 11 years. Email him at pastorjameshcagle@ yahoo.com
