June 1
‘And at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed,’ Joshua 6:20b
Bible reading: Acts 16:16-18 (Go to the Bible passage)
Nowadays, advertising and commercials are very popular, but Paul was not so keen on it at all.
The woman who kept following him, shouting: ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved!’ was surely giving a good and reliable recommendation, was she not?
Paul was a man who genuinely walked with God, and instead of being happy with her message, he was sad, for Paul knew that Satan likes to masquerade as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).
When the evil one sees that he is about to lose ground, because God is coming with His light, he will surely attempt to get our attention anyway, by imitating God. Luther has correctly called the devil ‘God’s monkey’. And the devil knows how to make this counterfeit light more attractive to us than God’s light, for in the light of God, man must bow and die to selfishness, whereas in the forged light of the devil his sins are glossed over, and man becomes a happy superman who lives from victory to victory!
Therefore, Paul radically ended the pious words of this woman, who did not speak out of the light of God, but out of a spirit of fortune-telling, with the above described purpose: to mislead. Therefore, Paul commanded this spirit of false light to leave this woman. But then the devil showed his true colors and attacked viciously – as is to be read in the next verses.
What a blessing that Paul did not shy away from this, but - without hesitation - followed the clear way Jesus pointed out to him. And we: what a blessing to others will our lives be as well, if we - just like Paul - make a radical choice for a life in God’s light.

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