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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
with priestly authority was laid upon the head of the victim. Therefore,
when the ministers of Antioch laid their hands upon the apostles, they,
by that action, asked God to bestow his blessing upon them, in their
devotion to the specific work which God had chosen them to do.
The apostles started out upon their mission, taking with them Mark.
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They went into Seleucia, and from thence sailed to Cyprus. At Salamis
they preached in the synagogues of the Jews. “And when they had
gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false
prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus; which was with the dey of
the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas
and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer
(for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn
away the dey from the faith.”
The dey being a man of ree and influence, the sorcerer Elymas, who
was under the control of Satan, sought by false reports, and various
specious deceptions, to turn him against the apostles and destroy their
influence over him. As the magicians in Pharaoh’s court withstood
Moses and Aaron, so did this sorcerer withstand the apostles. When
the dey sent for the apostles, that he might be instructed in the truth,
Satan was on hand with his servant, seeking to thwart the purpose
of God, and prevent this influential man from embracing the faith of
Christ. This agent of Satan greatly hindered the work of the apostles.
Thus does the fallen foe ever work in a special manner to prevent
persons of influence, who could be of great service to the cause, from
embracing the truth of God.
But Paul, in the Spirit and power of the Holy Ghost, rebuked the
wicked deceiver. He “set his eyes upon him, and said, O full of all
subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all
righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the
Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou
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shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there
fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some
to lead him by the hand. Then the dey, when he saw what was done,
believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”
The sorcerer had closed his eyes to the evidences of truth, and the
light of the gospel, therefore the Lord, in his righteous anger, caused
his natural eyes to be closed, shutting out from him the light of day.
This blindness was not permanent, but only for a season, to warn him