Evil Spirits: Part 1

Acts 19:12 "So that from his (Paul's) body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed."

 My contention is that the human soul is like a sponge (Imbued With the Spirit). As such it's not like a glass wherein it's empty, then the Holy Spirit fills up the "cup"as Jesus called it. It's more as if the Holy Ghost is a rich stream of holy water who flows toward those who are receptive to him and are in accord with others. From Acts Chapter 2 and other places the "accordance" of the gathering was pre-eminent before the Holy Ghost makes his visitation.

This is not to say that the Holy Ghost is air for he's not. just as he is not fire. When the Holy Ghost came upon the Jews at Jerusalem it was like a storm: The "mighty rushing wind" was a "stream of spirit" and the "cloven tongues as of fire" was "as lightning". It's reasonable that since the comparison to a storm was made, that the symbolism of Spiritual Water is reasonable since water accompanies storms!

Using my sponge analogy, if it's clean it absorbs much water. However, there are material things which attempts to take up the same space. Since sponges are, well made of sponge, it can only contain so much water. The rest is occupied by matter.

In the souls of men resides evil for everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23). So not only can the flesh contain so much water (about 80%), but because of the evil within the soul (things of the flesh), the soul can only absorb so much "spiritual water". Jesus' wasn't like a sponge. He was more a "cup" (Matthew 26:39).  Jesus tells the disciples to "drink from his cup" (Matthew 20:23) it being full of "living water"(John 4:10).

Holy Ghost is pneuma (transliterated from the Greek). It means "breath" as like a gentle wind. It seems that the "breath" is the flow of living water from Jesus' filled "cup". Our drinking of his cup is being imbued or infused (soaked) with his living water!

What keeps people from being saturated? Well, saturation is the ability of a material object to take on as much liquid as it can. Sponges have matter and can take on only so much water. Us human sponges are only capable of so much as well to be saturated!

That's for clean sponges. If a sponge is exposed to a contaminant, such as tarry waters from raw oil, it loses it's ability to absorb. The contaminants block the absorption of water. That contamination for human sponges is evil. It's the dirty grime which resides in the hearts of all people. It's sin which all people have!

Paul cleaned up the "sponges" in Asia (present day Turkey), by the use of spiritual aprons and handkerchiefs resulting in the "evil spirits went out of them" (verse 12) . Their "sponges" were cleansed of the evil that resided in them. They believed what Paul said about Jesus and the "wiping" away of sins was symbolic with the handkerchiefs and aprons, but was real with the cleansing of the Spirit!

What Paul did through Jesus' since the Holy Spirit is the Ghost of Jesus, is to wring the dirt from the soul. It would seem that the soul is the "sponge" in each individual which is the temple which the Spirit of God lives. If it isn't wet with living water, it's full of greasy grimy dirty water which they drink of the serpent's cup! That soul is filled with liquid called "the flesh". It's pleasure, power, greed, pride, lasciviousness, and hate which has been absorbed by the flesh's sponge!

When the soul is wrung out, it can then be infused with living waters! When salvation occurs all sins past are forgiven (Romans 3:25) and it's the blood of Jesus which is the "handkerchief" which cleanses the sponge!

Since the sponge is now clean it can be imbued with living water. That water comes from Jesus' cup. He left us physically, but he left his "Ghost" behind. It's the Holy Ghost which is the living waters which flows like a gentle wind!  When a clean sponge is exposed to living waters it absorbs more opitmally and becomes imbued (filled) with it. Satan then starts his storm again!

After a Christian endures the storm of being imbued with living water, Satan darkens the skies and attacks with hurricane force. He gushes every temptation on the person that he can dream up! It's the cloud of despair, the wind of desire, the thunder of power, the rumbling of wealth and the turbulence of doubt which is the tsunami which floods the sponge. Christians do absorb some of that turbulent water. As we get contaminated again and our flesh gets contaminated, we must seek Paul's handkerchief again! We must continually repent! If we don't, we take on more of Satan's storm water, and even more if we keep falling for the seasonal storms of Satan!

If we aren't wiped clean with the symbolic handkerchief which Paul used, we become "water-logged" with dirty water and the sponge us ruined. It no longer has the capacity to absorb living waters because it's hardened! That sponge is through. It's reprobate.

It wasn't God who contaminated the sponge and ruined it. It was Satan. Prayer and repentance could have renewed it's capacity to hold living waters, but sponges make bad choices. They take on what looks good, tastes good, feels good; but will ultimately dry them out spiritually. In effect ruined sponges choose ruination by taking on the destructive fluids of sin! A ruined sponge is in apostasy. It becomes filled again with the dirty waters which was there before. It refuses to accept that handkerchief which cleans, or Satan takes a dirty handkerchief and defiles the sponge as he wipes!

Tomorrow we will look at those who wipe with dirty handkerchiefs!