By the Jesus that Paul Preaches
By Manny Vazquez, M.S., LMFT, Christian Counselor and Lover of the Word of God
Monday, September 21, 2026
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in our LORD Jesus Christ,
This past Saturday night, during our time of devotion, our Precious Holy Spirit drew the attention of my Wife and me to Acts 19:11-20, where the Word of God declares:
“God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, so that even facecloths or work aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. The evil spirit answered them, ‘I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul — but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.
This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. Then fear fell on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. In this way the Lord’s message flourished and prevailed.” (from the Holman Christian Standard Bible [HCSB] version of the Holy Scriptures)
Many theologians believe that strange things happened in the first century because that time period was so close to when our LORD Jesus walked the Earth. These same theologians often claim that the miracles of the first century passed away with the original Apostles. I would challenge that type of thinking and ask how God has changed since the first century? If we truly believe that our LORD is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, how can we limit Him by saying that He no longer acts in ways that He did at any time in history.
I believe many of these theologians say that manifestations of spirits, like the one presented here in Acts 19 no longer happen because there are an untold number of possibilities for false prophets and wolves in sheep’s clothing to settle in among believers and deceive many Christians. But Jesus Himself warned that this would happen, when He warned that many would come in His Name, claiming the Messianic title.
So, the fact that these things will happen should not limit our LORD in any way. In fact, the Bible is clear that Believers in God need to be discerning when it comes to testing the spirits. If a spirit manifests itself, like they did in the early days of the church, and especially when Christ was here, as Christians, the first thing we should do is ask our Precious Holy Spirit to give us discernment. And He undoubtedly will.
Our LORD is not interested that His people be deceived. In fact, I would say that He is supremely interested that we avoid deception. I firmly believe that Christians are deceived by evil spirits because they are not walking with God. In fact, they have probably strayed so far from God that they find it hard to identify the very Spirit of God speaking to them. So, how can they be expected to discern the spirits, if they are far from God to begin with.
If you are afraid that evil spirits will deceive you, the first thing you need to do is get close to the real Holy Spirit of God. And the main way I see this happening is if you read God’s Word everyday. Only then will you become equipped to recognize when a spirit is evil.
I often give the following example. When bank tellers are taught to tell real money from counterfeit money, they are not shown a bunch of counterfeit bills. No, they are shown the real McCoy; they are taught to recognize real money first and above all because then, and only then, will they recognize all counterfeit money. It is the same with our Precious Holy Spirit and our Blessed Father and his Holy Son. They have revealed Themselves in the Blessed Word of God, but if you are not reading that Word, how will you recognize God at all? At that point, any spirit that manifests itself to you may lead you down a rabbit hole of deception.
In this example from Acts 19, we see some Jews who fancied themselves exorcists. We are told that they are itinerant Jewish exorcists. The word itinerant literally means that they were vacillating in their faith. Another word for them was that they were wanderers, unsure of their faith. And that is precisely why the evil spirit first questioned who they were and then overpowered them. Their faith was not genuine like the faith of the Apostles, so they had no power over demons.
And that is precisely what I am asking you, do you have genuine faith in God, or are you vacillating, not sure if you follow Him? I will tell you one thing, if you are not sure that you are following God, then you are not following Him. Our LORD asks that our faith be secure in Him. If you doubt that you believe in God, it is like looking in the mirror, walking away, and immediately forgetting what you look like. This is a serious thing, for there are many “Christians” in the world who do not truly know if they are following Christ, and our LORD does not want that kind of followers. Just like the faith of the Jews in this passage in Acts 19 shows, a faith that doubts is a useless faith.
I know that last statement sounded harsh to you if you find yourself doubting your faith, but as I tell my clients, you did not hire me to lie to you (by reading this blog, you have hired me to explain these things to you; if not, then please stop reading my blogs). I tell everyone that I do not lie; I don’t even stretch the Truth a little bit. If I write something in these blogs, it is the Truth, according to the Scriptures that I read everyday.
My LORD has sent me to tell the Truth, and I know for a fact that if you are not reading His Word regularly, then you are far from God. And I don’t exempt myself from this Truth of God. There was a time when I did not read the Word regularly, and I can honestly say that those were terrible times when I was far from God. Now, I cannot imagine my life without the Word of God in it, and my relationship with my LORD has grown by leaps and bounds.
Trust me when I say, the best way to rid your life of the sin that so easily entangles you is to dive headfirst into the Holy Bible; and the worst way you can live, where your life continues to be a chaotic mess, filled with all sorts of sin, is to not read the Word. Friends, this is your choice, and if there’s one thing that I know about my God is that He will never force you to read anything you don’t want to read. All He will do is invite you lovingly to know His Word and to know Him as a result. Please, for your sake, and for the sake of your loved ones, accept my LORD’s invitation to know Him. In the Name of Christ Jesus. Amen and Amen and Amen.