THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS CHAPTER IS THAT IT’S THE STORY OF PAUL’S FINAL MISSIONARY SWING THROUGH THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD. PAUL IS MOSTLY REVISITING AREAS IN WHICH HE’S HAD PREVIOUS CONTACT AND ESTABLISHED SOME NUMBER OF FELLOWSHIPS. BUT AS THE TRUST IN YAHUSHA IS BEGINNING TO TAKE ROOT IN FOREIGN LANDS WHAT WE SEE IS THE INCREASING POLARISATION (DIVISION) OF THOSE WHO EMBRACE THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL THAT PAUL IS TEACHING - VERSUS THOSE WHO REJECT IT. SUCH POLARISATION CAUSES NOT JUST DISCORD BUT ALSO DIVISION AND SEPARATION.
IT IS EVIL IRONY THAT INSTITUTIONAL RELIGION HAS (AT ITS CORE) A STATED DESIRE FOR UNITY (AT ALMOST ANY COST), BUT YAHUSHA HAS (AT HIS CORE) A DESIRE TO DIVIDE, ELECT AND SEPARATE. RELIGIOUS MESSIANIC AND NATSARIM DON’T WANT TO WINNOW THE HARVEST; RATHER THEY WANT TO FIND WAYS TO ALLOW THE WHEAT AND THE TARES TO REMAIN UNITED. YAHUSHA CONSTANTLY DEMANDS OF HIS TRUE FOLLOWERS TO “BE SET-APART”. SO WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE
CONTENTIOUS DIVISION AND SEPARATION WE ARE READING ABOUT IS THAT IT IS ACTUALLY YAHUSHA’S PLAN BROUGHT ABOUT IN WAYS THAT MOST FOLKS RESIST MIGHTILY.
ACTS .19
1While Apollos was in the city of Corinth, Paul was visiting some places on his way to Ephesus, where he found some other followers of the YAHUSHA. 2He asked them, “Did you receive the Set-Apart Spirit when you believed?”
These followers said, “What? We’ve never even heard of a Set-Apart Spirit!”
3“So what kind of immersion did you guys have then?”
“It was the immersion that John taught.”
4“Ahh I getcha … John told people to be immersed for repentance, to change their lives, telling them to believe in the one who would come after him, and that's Messiah YAHUSHA.” ONLY THROUGH YAHUSHA'S IMMERSION DOES A DIVINE HEART OPERATION HAPPEN, WHERE THE INCORRUPTIBLE SEED/SPIRIT OF DELIVERANCE IS GIVEN TO US.
5When these followers heard this, they were immediately immersed into the Name of the Master YAHUSHA. 6Then Paul laid his hands on them, and the Set-Apart Spirit came on them, and they began speaking different languages and prophesying. 7There were about twelve men in this group.
>>> THE IMMERSION SOCIAL CLUB <<<
WHAT OFTEN HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE FIND OUT ABOUT YAHUSHA THROUGH VAGUE OR CARPET-BAGGER SOURCES IS THAT A MOVEMENT CAN ASSUME VARIOUS FORMS, MANY OF WHICH WERE NOT INTENDED, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE FOUNDING LEADERSHIP IS NOT PRESENT TO KEEP THINGS ON TRACK. OR AS WE SEE HAPPENING AT THE OUTSET OF CHAPTER 19, PEOPLE GET ONLY PARTIAL INFORMATION ABOUT YAHUSHA AND THE GOOD NEWS AND ACT ON IT, NOT REALISING THAT THERE IS MUCH MORE TO KNOW TO GET A FULLER AND MORE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE (OPEN-PORTAL ACCESS). SO APPARENTLY (THROUGH ONE BELIEVER OR ANOTHER) MANY JEWS AND GENTILES HAD LEARNED ABOUT YAHUSHA, AND BELIEVED WHAT THEY'D HEARD. AND, JUST LIKE APOLLOS, THEY'D EVEN BEEN IMMERSED - BUT INTO JOHN’S IMMERSION: AN IMMERSION FOR REPENTANCE OF SINS.
AND INDEED PAUL AGREES WITH THIS BUT SAYS THAT THERE MUST BE ANOTHER IMMERSION AS WELL. ONE OF THE ISSUES OF “NEW TESTAMENT” TIMES WAS THAT IMMERSION HAD BECOME A SOCIAL NORM THAT TENDED TO IDENTIFY A PERSON WITH A PARTICULAR TEACHER, PHILOSOPHER, OR EVEN RELIGIOUS PARTY. SO WE’LL HEAR OF PAUL SPEAKING OF PEOPLE BEING IMMERSED IN HIS NAME, JUST AS WE HEAR THE SAME OF JOHN THE IMMERSER AND OF COURSE OF YAHUSHA. IN FACT BEING IMMERSED IN THE TEACHINGS OR WAYS OF SOMEONE WAS COMMON AND DIDN’T CARRY THE SAME MEANING THAT WE THINK TODAY. SO THEN IT WAS RATHER USUAL THAT AFTER BEING IMMERSED INTO A CERTAIN TEACHER, ANOTHER TEACHER WOULD EVENTUALLY COME ALONG THAT TICKLED THIS PERSONS EARS AND THEY’D CHANGE ALLEGIANCE BY BEING IMMERSED (LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY) INTO THIS LATEST TEACHER’S WAYS. SO THE PRACTICE OF IMMERSION HAD BECOME SOMEWHAT TAINTED IN ITS REASON AND PURPOSE.
NO DOUBT PAUL SENSED THAT THESE BELIEVERS HAD BUT THE MOST VAGUE UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR BELIEF IN YAHUSHA. PAUL NEVER SEEMS TO QUESTION WHETHER THEY RIGHTLY ACCEPTED THAT YAHUSHA WAS THE MESSIAH; BUT TO PAUL THERE WAS ALSO NO SIGN THAT ANY OF THESE FOLLOWERS WERE BEARING THE EVIDENCE OF HAVING RECEIVED THE SPIRIT. IE - HE COULD TELL BY THEIR BEHAVIOUR! NO DOUBT PAUL HAD ENCOUNTERED THIS BEFORE; SO HE KNEW THE SYMPTOMS AS WELL AS WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK, AND HOW TO RESPOND.
PREPARATION OR DELIVERANCE ?
JOHN’S IMMERSION (OF ITSELF) WAS NOT FOR DELIVERANCE BUT MERELY A PREPARATION FOR BECOMING DELIVERED IN YAHUSHA. REMEMBER: THE SCRIPTURAL CONCEPT OF IMMERSION WAS FOR A PERSON TO TAKE ON THE QUALITIES OF WHOEVER THEY WERE BEING IMMERSED INTO. SO TO BE IMMERSED INTO JOHN MEANT THAT A PERSON WAS ABSORBING AND TAKING ON WHATEVER QUALITIES THAT JOHN PREACHED AND STOOD FOR. JOHN WAS NOT THE DELIVERER; HE WAS THE PROPHET THAT ANNOUNCED THAT THE DELIVERER WAS ABOUT TO REVEAL HIMSELF.
SO TO MAKE SOMEONE READY FOR THE DELIVERER, JOHN TAUGHT THAT THE FIRST STEP WAS TO REPENT OF SINS. THEN WHEN THE DELIVERER WAS MADE KNOWN, THEY WERE PREPARED TO TAKE STEP TWO, WHICH WAS TO ACCEPT DELIVERANCE IN YAHUSHA’S BLOOD. EVER SINCE YAHUSHA REVEALED HIMSELF THOUG, THE REQUIRED IMMERSION IS NOW SINGULAR AND SIMULTANEOUS - NONETHELESS WE STILL CANNOT SEEK DELIVERANCE UNTIL WE FIRST REALISE OUR SINS AND REPENT OF THEM. BUT HOW DO WE REPENT OF SOMETHING IF WE DON’T KNOW WE’RE DOING ANYTHING WRONG? HOW CAN WE KNOW WHAT SIN IS AND IS NOT? JEWS GENERALLY KNEW WHAT THINGS WERE SINS (ALTHOUGH ESPECIALLY IN THE DIASPORA IT HAD BECOME GREATLY WATERED DOWN), BUT HOW ABOUT FOR GENTILES? WHAT MAKES US WRONG?
1 JOHN 3:4
"EVERYONE WHO KEEPS SINNING IS VIOLATING TORAH - INDEED, SIN IS VIOLATION OF TORAH (YAHUAH'S DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS)". WHAT IS SIN? JOHN SAYS IT CLEARLY: IT IS BREAKING THE TORAH. SO THE NEW-BLOOD COVENANT DEFINITION OF SIN IS THE SAME AS THE OLD-BLOOD COVENANT DEFINITION OF SIN: VIOLATING THE LAW. WHAT LAW? THE ONLY LAW THAT EXISTS IN THE SCRIPTURE : THE DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS YAHUAH GAVE TO MOSES. JOHN WROTE THOSE WORDS DECADES AFTER YAHUSHA’S ERA, SO CLEARLY HE STILL THINKS THAT THE LAW REMAINS AS THE STANDARD FOR DEFINING SIN.
WE MUST ACTIVELY BEHAVE YAHUSHA'S WORD !
THERE CAN BE NO DELIVERANCE WITHOUT A DIVINE HEART OPERATION, FOR ONLY THE INCORRUPTIBLE SEED OF HIS TRANSFORMING SPIRIT GIVES US THE POWER TO OVERCOME OUR FLESH.
1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-11
"DON’T YOU KNOW THAT THE UNRIGHTEOUS SHALL NEVER INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF YAHUSHA? DON’T BE DECEIVED. THOSE WHO WHORE, IDOLATERS, ADULTERERS, EFFEMINATE, HOMOSEXUALS, THIEVES, GREEDY OF GAIN, DRUNKARDS, REVILERS, OR SWINDLERS WILL NEVER INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF YAHUSHA. SOME OF YOU WERE THESE THINGS, BUT THEN YOU WERE WASHED AND SET APART, AND DECLARED RIGHT IN THE NAME OF THE MASTER YAHUSHA AND BY HIS POWERFUL SPIRIT.
IF WE DON'T BECOME CLEAN AND MATURE WE WON'T BE DELIVERED!
8Paul went into the synagogue and spoke very boldly for around three months, talking with the Jews, trying to persuade them to accept what he was telling them about YAHUSHA’S Kingdom. 9But some of them were stubborn and hard, refusing to believe. In front of everyone, they said evil things about `the Way’. So Paul left these Jews and took the Master’s followers with him.
He went to a place where a man named Tyrannus had a school. There Paul talked with people every day. 10He did this for two years. And because of this work, everyone in Asia heard the word of the Master. 11YAHUSHA used Paul to do some special miracles. 12Some people carried away handkerchiefs and clothes that Paul had used and put them on those who were sick. The sick people were healed, and evil spirits left them.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
IT'S SUPERNATURAL & MIRACULOUS !
WHAT ARE WE TO MAKE OF THIS? FIRST, LET’S GO BACK TO A YAHUAH-PATTERN THAT WE LEARNED IN LEVITICUS: RITUAL PURITY AND IMPURITY ARE CONTAGIOUS. EVEN YAHUSHA'S DIVINE SET-APARTNESS CAN BE TRANSMITTED FROM PERSON TO PERSON, PERSON TO OBJECT, AND OBJECT TO OBJECT. WE FIND SOMETHING SIMILAR HAPPENING WITH YAHUSHA IN THE CROWD. REMEMBER THE WOMAN WHO WAS BLEEDING WHO ONLY WANTED TO TOUCH YAHUSHA’S GARMENT? SHE WAS HEALED JUST FROM THE PERFECT RADIATION OF HIS SET-APARTNESS. INSTEAD OF HIM BECOMING UNCLEAN - SHE BECAME CLEAN!
13-14Some Jewish Exorcists were also traveling around trying to force evil spirits out of people. The seven sons of Sceva, (one of the Pagan Chief Priests) were doing this. These Jews took it upon themselves to use the name of the Master YAHUSHA to make evil spirits go out of people. They all said, “By the same YAHUSHA (the one that Paul talks about) I order you to come out!”
17When the people in Ephesus (Jews and Greeks) learned about this, they were all filled with fear and gave great honour to the Master YAHUSHA. 18Many of the believers began to confess, telling about all the evil things they had done. 19Some of them had used magic. These believers brought their magic books and burned them before everyone.
15But one time an evil spirit said to these Jews, “I know YAHUSHA, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
16Then the man who had the evil spirit inside him jumped on these Jews. He was much stronger than all of them, so he beat them up all up and tore their clothes off them. Then they all ran away from that house.
These books were worth about 50,000 silver coins. 20This is how the word of the Master was spreading in a powerful way, causing more and more people to believe.
PAUL THE
SORCERER?
IN THE EPHESIAN CULTURE (THAT ABOUNDED IN MAGIC AND SORCERY) MANY VIEWED PAUL AS AN EXORCIST. SO WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING IS A SORT OF ONE-SIDED RIVALRY PLAYING OUT. PAUL WAS HEALING AND EXPELLING DEMONS, SOMETHING THAT THESE 7 SONS OF SCEVA DID PROFESSIONALLY AND MADE A LUCRATIVE INCOME FROM IT. THEY CERTAINLY COULD NOT IGNORE THE COMPETITION. IN EXORCISM THE CORRECT USE OF A POWERFUL NAME IS VITAL; IT IS IMPORTANT AS BOTH THE POWER THAT EXPELS DEMONS, AND AS DISCOVERING THE NAME OF THE DEMON THAT INHABITS HIS HOST. BUT WHEN THEY CALLED ON YAHUSHA’S NAME TO EXPEL A DEMON, THE DEMON WASN’T TERRIBLY IMPRESSED. IN FACT THE DEMON ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HE WAS AWARE OF YAHUSHA AND OF PAUL AND IMPLIES THAT HAD PAUL ORDERED HIM OUT HE WOULD HAVE GONE; BUT HE HAD NO IDEA WHO THESE 7 WERE, SO THE THOUGHT IS THAT HE HAS NO INTENTION OF DOING WHAT THESE EXORCISTS SAY JUST BECAUSE THEY PRONOUNCE THE SAME NAME. SO IN REALITY NEITHER YAHUSHA’S NOR PAUL’S NAME ARE INVOKED OVER THE POSSESSED PERSON AND INSTEAD THE DEMON’S HOST JUMPS ON THESE UNWITTING EXORCISTS AND BEATS THEM TO A PULP. IN FACT HE TEARS THEIR CLOTHES OFF (WHICH WOULD HAVE MARKED THEM WITH GREAT SHAME).
SYNCRETISTIC SUPERSTITION
BY THIS TIME IN HISTORY A GREAT DEAL OF SYNCRETISM HAD CREPT INTO THE RELIGIOUS LIVES OF THE JEWISH DIASPORA. THAT IS, MUCH PAGAN MYSTICISM AND MAGIC HAD INFILTRATED OTHERWISE SET-APART AND PURE TORAH PRACTICES. WHY? USUALLY BECAUSE IT WAS PROFITABLE OR CONVENIENT IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER. THERE IS AMPLE EVIDENCE OF JUST HOW INFECTED WITH PAGANISM THAT JUDAISM HAD BECOME BY LOOKING AT THE SARCOPHAGI OF MANY VENERABLE RABBIS BURIED IN A SYSTEM OF BURIAL CAVES AT A PLACE CALLED BEIT SHEARIM IN ISRAEL. WE FIND THEIR TOMBS DECORATED NOT ONLY WITH MENORAHS BUT ALSO OCCULT SYMBOLS. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? IT WAS YET ANOTHER DEVASTATING RESULT OF THE BABYLONIAN EXILE. ROUGHLY 95% OF THE JEWS WHO WENT INTO EXILE TO BABYLON DECIDED ON THEIR OWN FREE WILL NOT TO RETURN TO THE SET-APART LAND BUT RATHER TO CONTINUE THEIR LIVES IN THE GENTILE WORLD. BY NOW 5 CENTURIES HAD PASSED SINCE THE JEWS WERE FREED BY PERSIAN KING CYRUS, THE JEWS’ NUMBERS HAD GREATLY INCREASED, THEY HAD SCATTERED ALL OVER ASIA TO MAKE THEIR WAY IN LIFE, AND MANY FOUND PROSPERITY AND STATUS. IN OTHER WORDS, THEY LIKED LIVING AMONGST GENTILES AND ENJOYED ALL THE BENEFITS THAT IT BROUGHT TO THEM. BUT THE.BARGAIN WAS MORE COSTLY THAN THEY WOULD EVER KNOW. IF THEY WERE GOING TO LIVE AMONG GENTILES AND PROFIT FROM IT ECONOMICALLY, COMPROMISE WAS ESSENTIAL. MANY JEWS REFUSED COMPROMISE; BUT MANY MORE EMBRACED IT. SCEVA AND HIS 7 JEWISH EXORCIST SONS ARE A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THIS SYNCRETISM AND BLENDING OF JEWISH WITH GENTILE IDENTITIES. AND ONE OF THEIR GREAT COMPROMISES WAS TO ADOPT (OR AT LEAST OPENLY CONDONE) THE MORALS, ETHICS, AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES OF THEIR GENTILE NEIGHBOURS. THESE RELIGIOUS PRACTICES INEVITABLY INVOLVED SORCERY. TO HAVE NOT DONE SO WOULD HAVE, OF COURSE, BEEN SEEN BY GENTILES AS THE JEWS BEING ALOOF AND UNFRIENDLY. WHO WOULD WANT TO ASSOCIATE WITH SOMEONE LIKE THAT?
21After this, Paul made plans to go to Jerusalem. He planned to go through the regions of Macedonia and Achaia, and then go to Jerusalem. He thought, “After I visit Jerusalem, I must also visit Rome.”
22Timothy and Erastus were two of his helpers. Paul sent them ahead to Macedonia. But he stayed in Asia for a while. 23But during that time there was some trouble in Ephesus about ‘the Way’. This is how it all happened: 24There was a man named Demetrius. He worked with silver. He made little silver shrine-models of the goddess Artemis, and the men who did this work made a lot of money.
THE CITY OF EPHESUS WAS THE PATRON CITY FOR THE GODDESS ARTEMIS, AND MOST OF THE WORKS CREATED BY THIS GUILD OF SILVERSMITHS WERE IN HONOUR OF ARTEMIS; SHE WAS THE ALL-IMPORTANT FERTILITY GODDESS FROM THE MYSTERY BABYLON-BASED PANTHEON. HER NAME WAS ARTEMIS IN EPHESUS, BUT IT WAS ASHTEROTH IN THE HEBREW LANGUAGE, ASTARTE IN PHOENICIAN, ISHTAR IN AKKADIAN, EOSTRE IN ANGLO-SAXON, AND EASTER IN ENGLISH.
SO EVERYTHING THAT WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WORSHIP OF ARTEMIS HAD A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY OF EPHESUS THAT EXTENDED TO MOST OF THE PROVINCE OF ASIA. HER INFLUENCE WAS ON THE ENTIRE REGION FINANCIALLY AND RELIGIOUSLY. NATURALLY, ARTEMIS MADE EPHESUS AN INFLUENTIAL AND ADMIRED CITY; THOUSANDS OF VISITORS CAME ANNUALLY TO PAY THEIR RESPECTS TO THEIR GODDESS.
28So when the men heard this, they became very angry and shouted,
“GREAT IS ARTEMIS, THE GODDESS OF EPHESUS!”
29And the whole city was thrown into confusion.
25Demetrius had a meeting with these men and some others who did that same kind of work. He told them, “Men, you know that we make a lot of money from our business. 26But look at what this man Paul is doing. Listen to what he’s saying. He’s convinced many people in Ephesus and all over Asia to change their belief. He says the idols that people make by hand are not real. 27I’m afraid this is going to turn people against our business. But there is also another problem. People will begin to think that the Temple of our great Goddess Artemis is not important. Her greatness will be destroyed. And Artemis is the Goddess that everyone in Asia and the whole world worships.”
HER SYMBOLS WERE THE SAME THROUGHOUT: RABBITS, EGGS, AND SHE WAS USUALLY DEPICTED WITH BARED BREASTS (NOT MEANT AS EROTIC, BUT AS SYMBOLIC OF THE PROVIDER OF LIFE-GIVING MILK). BUT ARTEMIS WAS ALSO SUPPOSED TO HAVE HAD A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH EPHESUS AS THEIR PROTECTOR AND GUARDIAN.
WHAT IS KNOWN IS THAT HER TEMPLE AND THE ASSOCIATED TEMPLE TREASURY WAS AMONG THE RICHEST IN THE WORLD. HER TEMPLE STRUCTURE WAS ENORMOUS, HALF AS BIG AS A FOOTBALL FIELD. A VAST ARRAY OF ARTS, CRAFTS, JEWELLERY MAKING AND OTHER COMMERCIAL VENTURES OF EVERY IMAGINABLE TYPE WERE BUILT AROUND ARTEMIS WORSHIP.
The people grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus, men from Macedonia who were traveling with Paul, and rushed all together into the stadium. 30Paul wanted to go in and talk to the people, but YAHUSHA’S followers did not let him go. 31Also, some leaders of the country who were friends of Paul sent him a message telling him not to go into the stadium.
THE MAIN ASSEMBLY PLACE IN EPHESUS WAS THE CITY THEATRE; IT WAS USED FOR GOVERNMENT AND CIVIC PURPOSES. NOW INCENSED THE CROWD RUSHED INTO THE THEATRE DRAGGING ALONG WITH THEM AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS OF THE WAY, GAIUS AND ARISTARCHUS, WHO HAD COME TO EPHESUS FROM MACEDONIA TO ASSIST PAUL. IT IS LIKELY THAT GAIUS AND ARISTARCHUS WEREN’T SO MUCH CAPTURED AS THEY WERE SWEPT ALONG WITH THE IRREPRESSIBLE MASS OF HUMANITY AS IT FLOWED INTO THE THEATRE, UNSTOPPABLE AS A FLASH FLOOD.
32Some people were shouting one thing and others were shouting something else. The meeting was very confused. Most of the people did not know why they had come there. 33Some Jews made a man named Alexander stand before the crowd, and they told him what to say. Alexander waved his hand, trying to explain things to the people. 34But when the people saw that Alexander was a Jew, they all began shouting the same thing. For two hours they continued shouting, “GREAT IS ARTEMIS OF EPHESUS! GREAT IS ARTEMIS OF EPHESUS! GREAT IS ARTEMIS …!”
35Then the city clerk persuaded the people to be quiet. He said, “Men of Ephesus, everyone knows that Ephesus is the city that keeps the Temple of the great Goddess Artemis, who came down to us from Zeus. 36No one can deny this, so you should all be quiet. You must stop and think before you do anything else. 37You brought these menhere, but they have not said anything bad against our Goddess. They have not stolen anything from her Temple. 38We have courts of law and there are judges. Do Demetrius and those men who work with him have a charge against anyone? If so, they should go to the courts. Let them argue with each other there. 39Is there something else you want to talk about? Then come to the regular town meeting of the people. It can be decided there. 40I say this because someone might see this trouble today and say we are rioting. We could not explain all this trouble, because there is no real reason for this disorderly meeting.”
41After the city clerk said this, he told the
people to "GO HOME!"
