Acts 16: Cast into Prison

                Paul goes to Derbe and Lystra where he met up with Timotheus, who was a Christian but had a Jewish mother and a Greek father. They travel through Phrygia and Galatia, but the Holy Ghost forbids them from entering Asia. They did this so the churches were “…established in faith, and increased in number daily.” (Acts 16:5)

Paul has a night vision of a man inviting him to Macedonia. Paul and those with him travel to Phillipi (near the city of Macedonia) where they stay with a devout Christian woman named Lydia. Later they run into a possessed slave girl who proclaims Paul and those with him to be the servants of the Most High God. Paul uses the power of the Priesthood to cast the demon out.

Paul and Silas are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for delivering the slave-girl from her demonic possession. The slave masters were upset that they could no longer make gain from her as a soothsayer. At night, while in the jail, the chains fall from them. The jailer, thinking his prisoners have escaped, thinks of committing suicide but Paul and Silas reveal themselves to him saying; “…Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.” (Acts 16:28) The jailer and his family are then baptized. The next day, the magistrates free Paul and Silas. The magistrates are anxious when Paul reveals his Roman identity.