Sorcerers, False Prophets- Murderers of Eternal Life.

Paul and Barnabas, called to separate themselves from the others to fulfil the will of the Holy Spirit sailed to other parts ending up for a time in the isle of Paphos and it was there they found a sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Barjesus also interpreted as Elymas.

They FOUND a SORCERER, a FALSE PROPHET.  

When we think of witches, sorcerers, false prophets, soothsayers, mediums, conjurers, familiars etc, we often regulate them to the realm of unreality. We've become so twisted by fictional characters with fictional attributes that we have denied the reality of there actually being real human beings who have succumbed to Satan's deception in such ways they've truly become witches and all the above mentioned sorts of people. They don't have the fictional powers Satan has deluded people's minds with but they do have Satanic powers given them by Satan to work evil with. The greatest evil is deception, keeping people from God's truth in Jesus Christ. Getting people to believe in falsehoods about Jesus and creating whole religions based on the falsehoods leading people to believe they are following Christ- these are some of the great works of those being used by Satan. So when we read in the Bible that Paul and Barnabas found a sorcerer, a false prophet does this mean they found a "Harry Potter", a "Merlin", type sorcerer that we have been conditioned to believe are what sorcerers are? No. The sorcerers of Biblical times were not anything like the fiction characters that are so popular.

Act 13:4  So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 

Act 13:5  And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister. 

Act 13:6  And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: 

Act 13:7  Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. 

Paul and Barnabas were sharing the good news of the gospel wherever they were called and here in the ilse of Paphos it was no different. However, the sorcerer who had attached himself to the deputy of the country didn't want the true message of salvation in Jesus Christ to reach the ears of the deputy. Remember this particular sorcerer, this false prophet made a living in deception NOT truth. The deputy really wanted to hear Paul and Barnabas, but the sorcerer was WITHSTANDING the followers of Christ because he knew that if the deputy was exposed to truth he would leave the deception he'd embroiled him in. Just think about it for a moment- Paul and Barnabas knew the deputy of the country WANTED to hear them, but an evil man was preventing this from happening, they really couldn't let this evil one stand in the way of the truth, right?

Act 13:8  But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 

Act 13:9  Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 

Act 13:10  And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 

Act 13:11  And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. 

Act 13:12  Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 

Paul was FILLED with the Holy Spirit- the Holy Spirit was working through Paul and looking at the sorcerer he said to him- Oh full of subtilty and ALL mischief, thou child of the DEVIL, thou ENEMY of righteousness-

Let's stop here for a moment, did you read what he said to the sorcerer?! Paul with the Holy Spirit working through Him laid bare the deception of the sorcerer. He said the sorcerer was FULL OF SUBTILITY, FULL OF ALL MISCHIEF.  There was No truth in the sorcerer! The power of the sorcerer had its origins with the DEVIL and Paul told him so.  Paul called the man a CHILD OF THE DEVIL, the ENEMY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. Sorcerers are NOT lovable fictional characters- a bit bad boyish yet desirable. NO! NO! NO! This is pure deception perpetuated by Satan himself! You scoff and think I'm a nut job, that it's all harmless entertainment but what the harmless entertainment does is DECEIVE, it opens doors especially to the susceptible youth and leads them to not so much believe that all those fictional characters are real, but rather that the real are fictional! And when we believe that real evil is fictional we are deceived and we are caught in a web of Satan's weaving.

Here were the disciples of Christ, followers of the Savior confronting a REAL sorcerer and they did NOT hold back the truth of who this man really was.

After declaring the truth of his evil, Paul through the power of the Holy Spirit told him that the Lord's hand was upon him- and that he would be blinded, not seeing the sun for a season.

The sorcerer was being punished by the Lord for his evil, he was trying to keep the truth from the deputy of the country who truly wanted truth. Not being allowed to deceive by being publicly punished revealing the truth of the Christ follower's words, the deputy DID believe in the doctrine of the LORD! The deputy believed in the word of God being preached to Him, he believed in the salvation found only in the Lord, Jesus Christ!

 Evil was called out for being evil and led by the father of all evil and received a punishment- PROOF of the power of the word of GOD over Satan!

We have to comprehend the truth of evil, not ignore it and pretend it's not real. Evil, is deception. The evil of a false prophet is so much greater than the evil of a murder, a thief etc. The false prophet is in truth murdering thousands, only they are murdering eternal life, not temporal life-- which evil is greater? Yet so many have been taught over time to not believe in the reality of false prophets, of sorcerers, and the like. Deception.

Please, LORD, please FATHER GOD in HEAVEN, please keep us from ALL evil, from ALL deception, help us to live in Your truth through the HOLY SPIRIT, now and always through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!!!!!!!