StopLearnStopLearnIn Philippi a slave girl is being used by her owners as a seer or fortune teller. The young woman is possessed by a demon who quite accurately identifies Paul and Silas as “slaves of the Most High God” who have come to reveal “a way of salvation.” She follows them, crying out “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation”. After a few days of this, Paul is fed up, rebukes the spirit, and casts it out of her in the name of Jesus. As a result, she also lost the ability to foretell the future which created no little anger on the part of her owners.
So they took Paul and Silas and brought them before the magistrates (Philippi was like a “little” Rome), charging that the missionaries were forcing them, as Roman citizens, to follow customs which were unlawful. The result was that Paul and Silas were thrown into prison after being stripped, beaten, and severely flogged (Acts 16:20-24). Around midnight there was an earthquake and all the prison doors flew open. Paul and Silas did not flee, but instead stayed and shared the gospel with the jailer who subsequently—both he and his entire family—came to the Lord (Acts 16:25-34). After Paul had made a point about his Roman citizenship5 to the magistrates who were wishing simply to release them, the missionaries went to the home of Lydia (Acts 16:35-40) and then departed for Apollonia and Thessalonica (Acts 17:1).
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