The right words, but...

“This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’” Acts 16:17
I find this episode in Acts 16 fascinating. Here is a slave girl who is demon-possessed, yet she is pointing people to Paul and his group as having the message of salvation (which of course they did). This seems counter-intuitive to how we think demons should behave – surely Satanic forces all deny the things of God?
Not at all. You see, the demon was cunningly trying to make people think that the same spirit that was at work in Paul, was also at work in her. It was taking credit where it was not due, and thus taking the glory away from God. This is why Paul commanded the demon to come out of her, because it was misleading the people.
There are people today who can say all the right words, but have a wrong spirit behind those words. Think of the cult members who knock on your door, using words like ‘salvation’, ‘Christ’, and even ‘born again’. But they all deny the deity of Jesus Christ. They use these words to mean different things to what the Bible does. It takes a great deal of spiritual discernment to spot this, but once you find it and start explaining what the Scriptures actually say, they won’t stick around for long. I’m not saying these people are all demon-possessed – some may be, but most have simply been deceived. We need to pray for them, that they will find Him who is the way, the truth, and the life.