I remember a show on Comedy Central called Con trying to prove this.
The show followed a con artist who went around and conned
people and companies.
There was a way in which he did this.
While he was very clever it was also very wrong.
There was an episode where he said he wanted to ski down a
famous ski mountain with just him and his friends in the middle of the day.
I didn’t think he could pull it off, but he did.
He claimed he and his friends were a boy band all struggling
with serve acid reflux disease and they were making this music video with
skiing being a part of it.
They pulled it off, skiing in the middle of the day during
peak time all by themselves on a mountain.
I couldn’t believe they pulled it off, but they did.
Whether we know it or not we can get conned into believing certain
things and are tricked.
There was this ancient god by the name of Artemis.
The entire city of Ephesus lived making money off this god.
When Paul came through and people started to believe in
Jesus, they stopped buying and started to ruin the money making con of this so
called god.
People were ticked.
You mess with people’s money and they get ticked.
This was stated in verses 26-27 in Acts 19…
“And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and
led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole
province of Asia. He says that manmade
gods are no gods at all. There is danger
not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of
the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is
worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her
divine majesty.”
This made the people a lot of money in this city.
The city was known for the temple of Artemis, 425 feet long
and 220 feet wide, having 127 white marble columns 62 feet high and less than 4
feet apart.
This god was known for fertility and either was considered
to have many breast of eggs on her showing fertility.
Very much a sex symbol, people believed in her so they could
produce offspring and there was prostitution surround this god.
Paul threatens not only there money, but the culture and
values as the people looked at what they were doing was ok.
People started to riot over Paul supposedly trying to take
over the city with this Jesus character.
When faith comes along, it sometimes requires us to change
what we do with our life.
We turn away from those things that kept us from God.
Not saying you have to just listen to Christian radio or
stop drinking, but you live your life for something greater and you get rid of
things that keep you from living a holy life.
The people in Ephesus had to give up their belief in this
man made god.
Certain things can con you without you realizing it.
Jesus did not come and die for you as a con.
It really happened.
What do you need to give up in order to have a stronger
faith then you have right now?
Will that make things better in your life?
Have a great day.
