And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
Acts 19:18 belongs to the account of work in Ephesus, a major commercial center that was a promising field for missionary effort. It was a stronghold of heathenism where ministry raised up a large church. The confession it records followed special miracles and the overcoming of the seven sons of Sceva by an evil spirit, after which fear fell on all Jews and Greeks dwelling at Ephesus and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Some who had accepted Christianity had not fully renounced superstition but still continued the practice of magic to some extent while keeping the facts concealed. Being convinced of their error, those believers openly came and confessed and disclosed their deeds, bringing to light what had been hidden and making concealed wrongdoing public. Their coming meant openly exposing and forsaking the curious arts, sorcery, magic and witchcraft, turning decisively from former practices because accepting Christ meant renouncing them. They acknowledged that the secret arts they had followed were deceptive and Satanic.
Things they once delighted in they now abhorred, because by magic they had especially offended God and imperiled their souls. Their repentance involved breaking their ties with Satan. Their open confession and renunciation of magic gave evidence of true conversion. This renunciation was shown in action when they brought their magical books together and burned them before all men. The burned books were counted at a price of fifty pieces of silver, and afterward the word of God grew mightily and prevailed.
The deeds of sorcery they forsook were worked through mystic voices and were real workings of evil angels using all their arts to deceive and destroy, to cause men to forget God, to bewilder the mind and pollute the soul. That ancient magic is the same as modern Spiritualism, spiritualistic mediums, clairvoyants and fortune-tellers, where Satan gains access to thousands of minds under the guise of departed friends and leads the sick, the bereaved and the curious to communicate with evil spirits. The dead know nothing and hold no communion with the living, so all such contact is with evil spirits and stands on dangerous ground under God's stern judgment. The verse requires men today to cease prying into magical science, to commit books on captivating human minds to the flames, and to fear learning Satan's art of influencing minds instead of dishonoring God, hardening hearts and neglecting the work. The people of God today must have no fellowship with these unfruitful works of darkness but reprove them.
Acts 19:18 belongs to the account of work in Ephesus, a major commercial center that was a promising field for missionary effort. It was a stronghold of heathenism where ministry raised up a large church. The confession it records followed special miracles and the overcoming of the seven sons of Sceva by an evil spirit, after which fear fell on all Jews and Greeks dwelling at Ephesus and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Some who had accepted Christianity had not fully renounced superstition but still continued the practice of magic to some extent while keeping the facts concealed. Being convinced of their error, those believers openly came and confessed and disclosed their deeds, bringing to light what had been hidden and making concealed wrongdoing public. Their coming meant openly exposing and forsaking the curious arts, sorcery, magic and witchcraft, turning decisively from former practices because accepting Christ meant renouncing them. They acknowledged that the secret arts they had followed were deceptive and Satanic.
Things they once delighted in they now abhorred, because by magic they had especially offended God and imperiled their souls. Their repentance involved breaking their ties with Satan. Their open confession and renunciation of magic gave evidence of true conversion. This renunciation was shown in action when they brought their magical books together and burned them before all men. The burned books were counted at a price of fifty pieces of silver, and afterward the word of God grew mightily and prevailed.
The deeds of sorcery they forsook were worked through mystic voices and were real workings of evil angels using all their arts to deceive and destroy, to cause men to forget God, to bewilder the mind and pollute the soul. That ancient magic is the same as modern Spiritualism, spiritualistic mediums, clairvoyants and fortune-tellers, where Satan gains access to thousands of minds under the guise of departed friends and leads the sick, the bereaved and the curious to communicate with evil spirits. The dead know nothing and hold no communion with the living, so all such contact is with evil spirits and stands on dangerous ground under God's stern judgment. The verse requires men today to cease prying into magical science, to commit books on captivating human minds to the flames, and to fear learning Satan's art of influencing minds instead of dishonoring God, hardening hearts and neglecting the work. The people of God today must have no fellowship with these unfruitful works of darkness but reprove them.