Scripture: Acts 16 v 14 - 18: "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
16 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:
17 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.
18 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."
There are two kingdoms with opposing kings who rule over the affairs of mankind. The One is King Jesus from Heaven, the other Satan from Hell. Jesus is the Creator of all things, Satan is the destroyer. Through Adam's transgression Satan was given a full mandate over the Earth and its people.
God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He showed them the Tree of Life, taught them its beautiful blessings, told them to enjoy its fruit. He pointed out the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He said that's the only bad tree, don't touch it. God did not want us to know anything but Him and His love, provision and dominion.
Without any resistance they chose the wrong tree and we are stuck with knowledge that will eventually destroy this planet in nuclear war. Without that knowledge we would never have had to work, be sick, die or be poor. There would be no car wrecks, planes crashing, hospitals or scientific discoveries. There would be no crime, war, fake news, financial crash, nor pandemics and vaccines. There would be peace, love and joy without Hollywood.
There would be no sin or evil, no school shootings, no cartels, no big Pharma, no royalty, no sex slavery, paedophiles or human trafficking, no religions. It would just be Heaven on Earth. We would all be born as God's perfect, healthy, loving children.
In the scripture passage Paul, an ambassador of the Kingdom of the Most High God, is met by a "cheerleader" from the satanic kingdom. There is no way he wanted a demon speaking through this fortune-teller damsel to proclaim his mission.
He knew she was possessed, rather than oppressed, so it was many days of intercession and warfare prayer to bind that spirit of divination. There comes a moment when the Holy Spirit nudges you and you know its time to cast that spirit out. This is where the kingdoms of light and darkness meet. When Jesus Christ, in the heart of a believer, sends a demon back to hell, and sets a captive free.
The best David could do against King Saul's violent murderous demons was calm them and him by playing melodies on his harp or lute. He could not cast them out. This is why God commanded in the Old Testament for witches, warlocks, Satanists, false prophets and homosexuals to be put to death. They were the most possessed, most dangerous, enemies of righteousness and until Jesus defeated Satan at the Cross, they could not be cast out by man.
It was not a perfect covenant but Jesus would reveal the New Covenant to His disciples. The Law of Moses was onerous but necessary. The resurrection of Jesus ushered in the time of Grace, because the king of the Satanic kingdom was dethroned.
This is where Jesus triumphs over Satan and shows him the door. According to Mark 16 v 16-18, we who are born again have authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt us. So if something is blocking your ministry or faith ask Jesus to show you what kind of spirit it is and deal with it like Paul did.
In Acts 19 v 19ff some unsaved Jewish exorcists saw Paul casting out demons so they took a possessed man and tried this too. They rebuked the demon by calling on the name of Jesus whom Paul preached. The demon said to them Jesus I know, and Paul I have heard of, but who are you? And he leapt on them and all seven went naked and wounded out of that house. So you must be born again to have spiritual authority.
If you have ever been to a fortune-teller or psychic medium, everything they say is backed up by evil spirits who are then sent by your "faith" to put into action what you have heard. You need to pray for forgiveness and put every word they said to you under the power of the Blood of Jesus for these "contracts" to be cancelled. Some of them are still binding after both the medium and the customer have died.
We are caught between two kingdoms and our time on Earth is to choose which kingdom we will serve and where we will spend eternity. There is no middle or neutral ground. If you are not serving Jesus with all your heart, you are serving his enemy ignorantly or not. There is no "My Way" in this scenario. Jesus said in John 14 v 6: "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through Me."
Jesus, after He was baptized, spent forty days fasting in the wilderness where Satan tempted Him in every way. He never gave in to His enemy so he eventually gave up. In this trial Jesus won the moral high ground and went forth to heal the sick and cast out demons. His 12 followers were given they same power and authority. Every born again, baptized in water, baptized in the Holy Ghost follower to this day has the same authority.
We must overcome all the wiles of the enemy and walk with our Father as Adam and Eve did in Eden before they sinned and lost it. As Jesus told His disciples, You know not what manner of men you are! We have been given nine powerful gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable us to walk as Jesus did. Receive and open and use those gifts as He directs you to achieve what Adam and Eve lost. Paradise Regained.
So if you have not made a decision yet to serve the Living God and spend eternity in the joy of Heaven, don't leave it too late. There is a real hell that was never intended for humans but many have been sent there as our God is holy and will never permit sin in His kingdom.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I can't wait to spend eternity in Heaven with You, no sin, sickness, pain or sorrow, no death, lies, evil or poverty. What a wonderful place it must be. Help me to bring many into Your glorious kingdom through sharing the truth with them. In Jesus' name. Amen.