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Friday, October 16 2009
The Greek word pronounced per-ee-er-gos means meddlesome, or acting all around. The word is found only twice in the Holy Scriptures. In 1 Timothy 5:13, it is used in its literal meaning. The King James Version translates it here as "busybodies."
"5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." (1 Timothy 5:13 KJV)
The other recording of the Greek word per-ee-er-gos is found in Acts 19:19 where the KJV translates it as "curious," as in "curious arts."
"19:19 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." (Acts 19:19 KJV)
"Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them"
The "curious arts" ("magic arts" in the RSV, "occult practices" in the Complete Jewish Bible) were a matter of people eagerly wasting their time (and themselves) on mysticism and "fortune telling" - men and women busily searching for answers in places where evil, not God's Truth, is found.
"18:10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 18:11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 18:12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee." (Deuteronomy 18:10-12 KJV)
Some "exorcists" in the time of Paul learned a painful lesson about trying to cast out evil spirits with no other power than their own "curiosity."
"19:13 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. 19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 19:16 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." (Acts 19:13-16 KJV)
Many of them thereafter repented of their "curiosity" and rid themselves of their familiarity (see the Fact Finder question below) with evil spirits.
"19:17 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. 19:18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. 19:19 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. 19:20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." (Acts 19:17-20 KJV)
Fact Finder: What are "familiar spirits"?
See Familiar Spirits
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This Day In History, October 16
1555: During the reign of (Roman Catholic) Queen Mary I (known to history as "Bloody Mary" because of the religious persecution that she inflicted upon those who rejected papal rule of Britain), English Protestant reformers Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake at Oxford after being convicted of heresy (they weren't heretics).
1594: William Allen died at age 62. The English cardinal supervised the preparation of the Roman Catholic Reims-Douai translation of the Bible. During his lifetime he was much involved in subversive activities against the Protestant regime of Queen Elizabeth I. He called upon the Catholic King Philip II of Spain to conquer England and assume the English throne. After Philip's invasion force, the Spanish Armada, was defeated by the British navy (and some very curious weather), Allen fled to Rome where he was made a cardinal.
1793: Queen Marie Antoinette of France was beheaded during the French Revolution.
1859: John Brown led his famous raid on the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and seized the armory to provide for his anti-slavery militia. He was later captured and hanged.
1916: The first birth-control clinic in the U.S. was opened in Brooklyn, New York, by Margaret Sanger.
1934: The "Long March" of Chinese communists began under Mao Zedong.
1946: After being convicted of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials, the major Nazi war criminals were executed the same day: Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl. Hermann Goering escaped the gallows by committing suicide in his jail cell the day before.
1962: Day 3 of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1964: China exploded its first atomic bomb, at the Lop Nor test site in Sinkiang.
1973: U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissenger and North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1978: Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland was elected pope, choosing the name John Paul II. He was the first non-Italian pope in 486 years.
1981: Moshe Dayan died at age 66. The famous one-eyed Israeli general and minister of defense was a hero of the Six Day War in 1967.
1984: A baboon heart was transplanted into a human infant in California. After the transplant, "Baby Fae" lived 30 days.
1987: The Great Storm of 1987 in Britain. 20 people were killed when a devastating gale with gusts up to 115 mph struck southern Britain, the worst since records began. The storm flattened 15,000,000 trees and caused 1,000,000,000 pounds damage.
