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Paul had been preaching in Ephesus the message that there was only one true God and that idols were not gods at all.

Many of the people in Ephesus worshiped the goddess Diana. Her Greek name was Artemis.

There was a silversmith named Demetrius (dih ME tree us) who made silver images of the goddess Diana and sold them to the people. He probably made a lot of money selling these statues. Paul was a threat to his business.

Demetrius stirred up the people against Paul. They began shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians". Over and over they chanted until a great crowd started shouting. Some of them didn't even know why they were shouting. They just did it because everyone else was shouting.

Paul wanted to talk to the crowd, but his friends discouraged him for fear he would get hurt.

The shouting continued for about two hours. It was turning into a riot. Finally the city clerk gained the attention of the people and got them quiet. He said they had no reason to be behaving in such a manner, and that if Demetrius had a problem, he needed to take it to the courts.

The clerk dismissed the crowd and Paul was unharmed.

Read the story in Spanish El Disturbio en éfeso

Read the story in Amharic


Did you notice that some people in the group who were shouting didn't even know what it was all about? They were just following the crowd.

Sometimes you can get in big trouble by just going along with whatever the crowd is doing. Suppose your "friends" think it would be fun to vandalize someone's property; break some windows or spray some paint on things.

Use your head and think about the consequences of what they are about to do. Do you really want to face those consequences? Do you really want to do something that may impact the rest of your life? Your so-called "friends" have in fact become your enemies when they try to get you to do wrong.

You can read about The Riot in Ephesus in
Acts 19:23-41


The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. Acts 17:24-25 NIV