attacked for loosing chains

History has a way of repeating itself, changing only slightly so that the unwary won't notice.

In the book of Acts, we encounter a slave girl who makes a profit for her masters by fortune-telling. St. Paul runs into this demon-possessed slave girl and finds her constantly praising him. Annoyed, he orders the demon to leave her--a good thing, except she loses her fortune-telling ability. The masters, realizing that their profits were vanishing, take the missionaries to the authorities. They basically accuse St. Paul and Silas of teaching "customs which are not lawful", a totally irrelevant attack. The masters pretend like they actually care about the unlawful customs, when in reality they're just upset that they're losing profits.

I couldn't help but think of corporate America when I read this today. Almost every successful corporation uses the power of the media in an attempt to enslave us to something--a product, an image, our own desires. As long as we become enslaved to something, we generate profits. We have value. As soon as we break free from our materialistic slavery, our profit-producing value ceases. When God steps in to break us free, He gets attacked--for totally irrelevant reasons.

It's interesting to note how the masters turn to the law to justify their anger at St. Paul and Silas. Yet it's painfully obvious that they couldn't care less about the law. The only reason they use the law as an argument against the apostles is because it's the only way they could justify being angry at such a good thing--a girl freed from slavery to her demons. They use the law not because they believe it is moral or just, but because it temporarily aligns with their own corrupt motives.

Isn't it amazing (and sad) how relevant this is today?