Only God Knows: Rejecting Divination for the Holy Spirit’s Truth

In this episode Justin focuses on Acts 16:16-18, exploring the encounter between Paul and a slave girl possessed by a spirit of divination, identified as the "spirit of Python," linked historically to the Greek god Apollo, known for prophecy. Justin warns against the pervasive counterfeit of true prophecy which he describes as a demonic force that mixes truth with error to deceive, manipulate, and profit off people's fascination with the supernatural, a phenomenon he sees as increasingly mainstream today, much like in the Greco-Roman world where consulting oracles was a universal practice. Justin emphasizes that this spirit attempts to infiltrate when one seeks truth or communion with God, as illustrated by the slave girl’s accurate yet misleading proclamation about Paul and his team, aiming to associate them falsely with pagan deities like Apollo rather than true salvation. Justin cautions against modern "prophets" who lack accountability to a local church, urging listeners to test prophecies rigorously, as Paul advised in 1 Thessalonians 5:20, and to rely solely on the Holy Spirit for genuine revelation about the future, contrasting this with the limitations of ancient sorcerers in Daniel 2 who couldn’t access divine secrets, reinforcing that only God, through His Spirit, holds true knowledge of what’s to come.