Page 24 - April 2025 - Truth & Tidings

hath not come a razor upon mine head; Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with
for I have been a Nazarite unto God from the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and
my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief,
my strength will go from me, and I shall thou child of the devil, thou enemy of
become weak, and be like any other man all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to
…. And she made him sleep upon her pervert the right ways of the Lord? And
knees; and she called for a man, and she now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon
caused him to shave off the seven locks thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the
of his head; and she began to afflict him, sun for a season. And immediately there
and his strength went from him. … But fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he
the Philistines took him, and put out his went about seeking some to lead him by
eyes” (Jdg 16:10-21). the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw
Samson had such strength that he killed what was done, believed, being astonished
a young lion, caught 300 foxes and then at the doctrine of the Lord” (Act 13:7-12).
smote the Philistines “hip and thigh with Clearly, Elymas had considerable influ-
a great slaughter.” But his “Achilles’ heel,” ence on the governor Sergius Paulus, who
his weakness, was in the lust of the flesh. was possibly impressed by the sorcerer’s
Judges 16 records Samson being with a displays of magic. Paul denounced Ely-
harlot and then with Delilah. In the NT in mas for his activities in turning men away
Corinth, immoral sin seriously affected the
testimony of God. When Paul arrived and from the gospel. What Paul did was no act
started to preach the gospel, many were of magic but a work of the power of God in
saved and baptized, and an assembly was inflicting blindness upon this man. When
formed. But instead of maintaining the Paul called him a child of the devil, it was
pure character of the assembly, the believ- a penetrating description of the man and
ers allowed shameful immoral practices in the source of his magic. The governor was
their midst, seemingly boasting of their left in doubt as to the evil nature of what
tolerance. The apostle’s judgment was Elymas had been doing. Such was the ef-
firm, calling upon them to deal with this fect on Sergius Paulus that he believed, no
sin (1Co 5) by the exclusion of the guilty doubt having heard what Paul had said
parties. It is not enough for an assembly before Elymas intervened.
to hold to sound doctrine; there must be Second Corinthians 4:4 reminds us of
holiness in the lives of the saints. Believers the principal objective of the devil: that
are not simply saints by name; they must of turning sinners away from seeing their
be so by character and behavior. need of repentance and faith in Christ. We

The Devil and His Influence on live in a world where there is no place
for faith in the gospel, a world in which
Elymas Satan offers every imaginable attraction
“Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, … and activity to fill peoples’ lives. The three
called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired men we have referred to were blinded in
to hear the word of God. But Elymas the different ways. But like the blind man
sorcerer (for so is his name by interpre- who was healed in John 9, the believer can
tation) withstood them, seeking to turn declare, “One thing I know, that, whereas
away the deputy from the faith. Then I was blind, now I see” (v25).

120 TRUTH kTidings April 2025