- Nov 3, 2012
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HaShev, this is my response to part 3 of your OP.
You begin with quoting Ecclesiastes 3:20 and add but they say sky:
Death is final rest back to the dust of the earth (but they say sky):
Ecc 3:20 All go to the same place; all originate from dust and all return to dust.
Ecclesiastes 3:20King James Version (KJV)
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
Ecclesiastes 3:20 in all English translations
As you can see the King James Version Holy Bible does not say sky.
The King James Version Holy Bible is the pure Word of God.
Next you quoted Ezekiel Scriptures 13:20, 13:22 with your comments in parenthesis:
Ezekiel 13:20 "Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; 'Behold, I am against your pillows<font color=yellow>
(symbolically meaning:feathers/wings or dream/ fantasy), wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them FLY, and I will tear them from your arms. and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly...
(this means the souls that are stolen in the false hope of afterlife where they are told the soul rises and flys to a false, fantasy heaven.)
(22) Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way,
by PROMISING HIM LIFE:
Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver
My People out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord."
To get the full context of these Scriptures we need to examine what is before and after those scriptures. Allow me to post those here:
Ezekiel 13 King James Version (KJV)
13 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
3 Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God.
9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
11 Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14 So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
15 Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16 To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord God.
17 Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,
18 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
19 And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am theLord.
___________
HaShev, the LORD is speaking about sorcery here. These women were involved in divination and witchcraft. Let's look again at a couple of the Scriptures you quoted:
18 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
19 And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
_____
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here but these women were hunting the souls of God's people through the occult / witchcraft. They were literally being paid to slay the souls of those who should not die and to save the souls of those that should not live. They were in the business of witchcraft and sorcery, HaShev. It was creating wealth for them and it is still creating wealth for people to this very day (at the expense of their own soul suffering throughout eternity in hell). Witchcraft is real. This is not some allegory, dream or fantasy. This was cold blooded murder through witchcraft.
Paul the Apostle was well aware of the occult. In the book of Acts, some who practiced witchcraft and sorcery burned their books of "curious arts."
We can examine the full story here in Acts Chapter 19:
Acts 19 King James Version (KJV)
19 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his 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.
21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
22 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.
31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.
32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused: and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.
34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.
37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
38 Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.
39 But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
40 For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.
41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
As you will note in this account depicted in verses 12 - 17 Paul performed miracles which certain Jews took note of and decided to try and use the name of Jesus whom Paul preached in order to cast out demons. Paul was acting by the Power of the Holy Spirit. When the Jews tried to perform an exorcism as noted - the sons of Skeva - the demons spoke to them and said Paul we know, but who are ye (you all)? The demons didn't recognize the authority of the sons of Skeva who were Jews but they did recognize the authority of Paul (who was also a Jew but now a son of God through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation) whose authority was based on Luke 10:19 and his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those demons turned on the sons of Skeva and attacked them, prevailing against them and they fled that house naked and wounded! Paul was acting on the authority of Jesus Christ which the sons of Skeva did not have as they had not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation nor did they have the baptism of the Holy Spirit which endued Paul with power from on high.
I have authority to destroy the works of witchcraft because I am a born again Christian. Although you are a Jew and a descendant of Aaron you cannot operate in that authority. These are the Scriptures that explain the difference between the authority of the Believer vs. a Jew who has not yet believed on Jesus Christ. As these people in this story noted Paul's authority and that the people were being converted they feared that their "craft would be endangered," (put out of business). Note verse 25,26,27. It is sad to say that many in the church fear the subject of witchcraft and do not engage in spiritual warfare such as Paul did in this story and elsewhere in the Book of Acts. The truth is that if a person is a born again believer, baptized in the Holy Spirit and walking in obedience to Jesus Christ they can use the same authority Paul used. There is nothing to fear. The Believer has the authority to destroy the works of witchcraft and see Jesus set the captives free.
In verses 17,18,19 you see that many turned from their craft (witchcraft - it was worded here as curious arts - ) and burned their books (which they used to practice sorcery) after witnessing such power and authority which Paul had operated in but the Jewish sons of Skeva did not have any such authority and were openly put to shame by those demons who had legal ground to attack them and do them bodily harm. Those books were quite expensive but those who believed Paul's preaching considered not the cost and cast them into the fire to be destroyed. They did believe on the Lord Jesus Christ realizing His authority was far greater than theirs and that Jesus had all authority over Satan or the goddess Diana as it is noted in this particular story.
___________
I was not sure whether you wanted me to address the matter of life after death in your first choice of scripture or not. If you did I could refer you to 1 Samuel Chapter 28 and the story of Saul going to the Witch of Endor and saying to her, "Bring me up Samuel." (1 Samuel 28:11) who was at rest. Samuel did tell Saul that the kingdom had been torn from his hand and given to David. Dust cannot do that, HaShev. This was indeed Samuel who spoke to Saul. How can you explain that if not to believe that there is indeed life after death, HaShev? If you have any further desire to discuss 1 Samuel 28, let me know.
_____
For now this concludes my response to part 3 of your OP. Thank you for your time in reading. I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to have this discussion with you.
You begin with quoting Ecclesiastes 3:20 and add but they say sky:
Death is final rest back to the dust of the earth (but they say sky):
Ecc 3:20 All go to the same place; all originate from dust and all return to dust.
Ecclesiastes 3:20King James Version (KJV)
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
Ecclesiastes 3:20 in all English translations
As you can see the King James Version Holy Bible does not say sky.
The King James Version Holy Bible is the pure Word of God.
Next you quoted Ezekiel Scriptures 13:20, 13:22 with your comments in parenthesis:
Ezekiel 13:20 "Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; 'Behold, I am against your pillows<font color=yellow>
(symbolically meaning:feathers/wings or dream/ fantasy), wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them FLY, and I will tear them from your arms. and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly...
(this means the souls that are stolen in the false hope of afterlife where they are told the soul rises and flys to a false, fantasy heaven.)
(22) Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way,
by PROMISING HIM LIFE:
Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver
My People out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord."
To get the full context of these Scriptures we need to examine what is before and after those scriptures. Allow me to post those here:
Ezekiel 13 King James Version (KJV)
13 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
3 Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God.
9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
11 Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14 So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
15 Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16 To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord God.
17 Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,
18 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
19 And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am theLord.
___________
HaShev, the LORD is speaking about sorcery here. These women were involved in divination and witchcraft. Let's look again at a couple of the Scriptures you quoted:
18 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
19 And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
_____
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here but these women were hunting the souls of God's people through the occult / witchcraft. They were literally being paid to slay the souls of those who should not die and to save the souls of those that should not live. They were in the business of witchcraft and sorcery, HaShev. It was creating wealth for them and it is still creating wealth for people to this very day (at the expense of their own soul suffering throughout eternity in hell). Witchcraft is real. This is not some allegory, dream or fantasy. This was cold blooded murder through witchcraft.
Paul the Apostle was well aware of the occult. In the book of Acts, some who practiced witchcraft and sorcery burned their books of "curious arts."
We can examine the full story here in Acts Chapter 19:
Acts 19 King James Version (KJV)
19 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his 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.
21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
22 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.
31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.
32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused: and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.
34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.
37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
38 Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.
39 But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
40 For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.
41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
As you will note in this account depicted in verses 12 - 17 Paul performed miracles which certain Jews took note of and decided to try and use the name of Jesus whom Paul preached in order to cast out demons. Paul was acting by the Power of the Holy Spirit. When the Jews tried to perform an exorcism as noted - the sons of Skeva - the demons spoke to them and said Paul we know, but who are ye (you all)? The demons didn't recognize the authority of the sons of Skeva who were Jews but they did recognize the authority of Paul (who was also a Jew but now a son of God through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation) whose authority was based on Luke 10:19 and his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those demons turned on the sons of Skeva and attacked them, prevailing against them and they fled that house naked and wounded! Paul was acting on the authority of Jesus Christ which the sons of Skeva did not have as they had not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation nor did they have the baptism of the Holy Spirit which endued Paul with power from on high.
I have authority to destroy the works of witchcraft because I am a born again Christian. Although you are a Jew and a descendant of Aaron you cannot operate in that authority. These are the Scriptures that explain the difference between the authority of the Believer vs. a Jew who has not yet believed on Jesus Christ. As these people in this story noted Paul's authority and that the people were being converted they feared that their "craft would be endangered," (put out of business). Note verse 25,26,27. It is sad to say that many in the church fear the subject of witchcraft and do not engage in spiritual warfare such as Paul did in this story and elsewhere in the Book of Acts. The truth is that if a person is a born again believer, baptized in the Holy Spirit and walking in obedience to Jesus Christ they can use the same authority Paul used. There is nothing to fear. The Believer has the authority to destroy the works of witchcraft and see Jesus set the captives free.
In verses 17,18,19 you see that many turned from their craft (witchcraft - it was worded here as curious arts - ) and burned their books (which they used to practice sorcery) after witnessing such power and authority which Paul had operated in but the Jewish sons of Skeva did not have any such authority and were openly put to shame by those demons who had legal ground to attack them and do them bodily harm. Those books were quite expensive but those who believed Paul's preaching considered not the cost and cast them into the fire to be destroyed. They did believe on the Lord Jesus Christ realizing His authority was far greater than theirs and that Jesus had all authority over Satan or the goddess Diana as it is noted in this particular story.
___________
I was not sure whether you wanted me to address the matter of life after death in your first choice of scripture or not. If you did I could refer you to 1 Samuel Chapter 28 and the story of Saul going to the Witch of Endor and saying to her, "Bring me up Samuel." (1 Samuel 28:11) who was at rest. Samuel did tell Saul that the kingdom had been torn from his hand and given to David. Dust cannot do that, HaShev. This was indeed Samuel who spoke to Saul. How can you explain that if not to believe that there is indeed life after death, HaShev? If you have any further desire to discuss 1 Samuel 28, let me know.
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For now this concludes my response to part 3 of your OP. Thank you for your time in reading. I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to have this discussion with you.
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