Take the 2-minute tour ×  The story in Acts 16 of the demon-
possessed slave girl is a curious story to me for many reasons.
If it's better to break up my questions into several, I can do
so; but for now I'd like to keep them as one since I suspect the
answers will be related. Here is the story in Acts 16:16-18
(NIV):   Why is this spirit giving seemingly positive witness to
Paul's claims? If it is true testimony, why does Paul eventually
get annoyed with the girl? Does he just tire of her screaming?
Why didn't he perform the exorcism immediately upon encountering
her?  share|improve this question  5 Answers 5  up vote 8 down
vote accepted  Why Stop the Girl?  It seems as though the
testimony of a competitor would be the ultimate advertising.
(Imagine a picture of Bill Gates happily using an iPad.)
Something that Paul could not accept in her testimony of them
was that she left out something very important—the definite
article. This is a time when the Greek leaving it out is
important (unlike the last clause i