Sergius Paulus Devil on Your Shoulder

Throughout the pages of Earth’s history, government and occultism have often walked hand in hand. Even the famous Protestant queen Elizabeth I had as one of her advisors a known occultist by the name of John Dee.

So it should come as no surprise that the Bible also has accounts about dark political influences. During the apostle Paul’s first missionary journey, Paul and his company traveled to Paphos, a city on the coast of Cypress. The governor of that region was a man by the name of Sergius Paulus, who Scripture tells us was a perceptive seeker of gospel truth (Acts 13:7). Upon learning of the arrival of Paul’s party, Sergius Paulus arranged a meeting with them. It was a wonderful opportunity for the missionaries to share Jesus with one of the officials of the Roman Empire.

But Sergius Paulus was not alone. With him was a man of insidious bearing, a “sorcerer” and “a false prophet” (v. 6). His name was Bar-Jesus, and he was a Jew who had the governor’s ear. This was no ordinary lobbyer; this was a man who worked on an emotional, personal, and spiritual level: through the belief system. He had been deliberately spreading lies about the Messiah, about the living God, in an effort “to turn the proconsul away from the faith” (v. 8).

But God, who sees all things, saw through Bar-Jesus’ façade of half-truths and calumny and moved Paul, by the Holy Spirit, to pronounce a powerful judgment upon him.

“O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?” (v. 10) declared the apostle.

And Bar-Jesus was struck blind, “not seeing the sun for a time” (v. 11).

Sergius Paulus had seen the deportment of the missionaries and had heard “the teaching of the Lord” (v. 12). He had discerned what a vast contrast the gospel was to the whisperings of the false prophet. Bar-Jesus’ supernatural punishment was just proof of what the governor had already been told. In that moment Sergius Paulus became a believer.

Reflect: How is the spiritual war between Christ and the devil at play in your life? Invite Jesus to give you full victory over self, sin, and Satan.

Key Bible Texts

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12 KJV)