Background to 

Vision and Mission Acts 19:23-41 AMP

 

 In Acts 19:23-41 we found Paul and his companions in the same predicament as true modern day Christians. The same fallen human nature is our enemy. 

Demetrius, a silversmith, made silver shrines of [the goddess] Artemis (Diana). His business produced “no small profit to the craftsmen”. Because of their love for money, he could persuade his cohorts that they needed to protect their self-interest at all costs because Paul persuaded people all over Asia to believe his teaching (the truth). 

 Due to his self-centered agenda, he twice called the truth a lie by stating that “Paul has persuaded [people to believe his teaching] and has misled a large number of people, (while he was the deceiver) claiming (actually, Paul stating as factual truth) that gods made by [human] hands are not really gods at all”.

By believing the Gospel, people were set free by the truth that idols are worthless, but Demetrius had to hide their deceit for fear of losing their hold over people.

Satan uses fear and lies to rule over human behavior. Therefore, Demetrius mobilized the mass media of that time to dominate the narrative on the marketplace by shouting slogans (provocative misinformation) in favor of their lie, even to the point that “…the city was filled with confusion; and people rushed together [as a group] into the amphitheater, dragging along with them  …“ Paul’s traveling companions. “Now some shouted one thing and some another, for the gathering was in confusilon and most of the people did not know why they had come together.” - typical of the protesters being organized by a few people in the background orchestrating the confusion. 

At least 700 years before Paul's experience Isaiah warned; “Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; …”  Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever and shrewd in their own sight! Woe (judgment is coming) to those who … justify the wicked and acquit the guilty for a bribe, And take away the rights of those who are in the right! Isaiah 5:19-26 AMP.

This kind of behavior is precisely what is happening today as described by Paul in Romans 1:25 – where people in foolishness “… changed the truth of God into a lie, …”. Today, a false narrative about almost everything truthful (from the weather to wholesome family values) is being shouted through the mass media by paid reprobates while suppressing the truth. 

The truth speakers are ridiculed and de-platformed to suppress the truth. A lie needs protection (from the truth) and has to be vigorously defended (against the truth). Truth does not need protection and can stand its ground without defense.  

As Paul’s life was in danger then, even today, speakers of truth and whistle-blowers are being threatened and even killed, if only out of revenge for exposing deceit. This enemy we face fearlessly. Jesus Christ is our Victor, we have already won. The enemies of the Gospel have lost already – we know the end, and the devil trembles …