In Part III of this series, we’re looking at the damsel in Thyatira and how he handled this situation in the light of the Jezebel spirit and false apostles and false prophets. It was in Thyatira that Paul encountered a damsel possessed with a spirit of divination who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling (Acts 16:16).
The “masters” in this verse were governmental officers with natural authority in the jurisdiction just as the apostles were governmental officers with spiritual authority in the jurisdiction. But the thievery of these wicked masters lumps them in with the “sorry bunch” Paul described as pseudo-apostles and crooked workers.
So in Thyatira we see the damsel (false prophetess) making a way for the masters (false apostles) to gain unjust profit (merchandising) through a false ministry gift (divination).
We also see this false prophetess attempt to discredit the true apostles because many who heard her utterance may have wrongly believed that Paul and Silas employed the demon-possessed girl to announce their ministry.
This may also have led to some witnesses to question what power the duo used to bring forth the miracles in the city. The false apostles (masters) then sought to further damage the reputations of Paul and Silas by publicly beating and jailing them (Acts 16:23).
In Thyatira the false apostles prated against Paul and Silas with malicious words because the Holy Ghost-filled sent-ones put an end to their merchandising schemes.
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