Spirits and Magic at Ephesus

The pagan Ephesians see "magic" done by Paul in the name of this Christus figure, and some see that these miracles were categorically different from their own hit-and-miss methods using incantations. The next incident shakes them to the core. Jewish grifters, self-styled exorcists, copy the practice of their pagan magician neighbours by stealing the latest, most powerful name about. The new magic word is "Jesus", and they include it in their ritual of exorcism. Unfortunately, the evil spirits will not be commanded by the recital of magic spells, even if the name of Jesus is included. The devils respond only to authority greater than theirs, and only Christ and his agents have it. The evil spirit knows Jesus personally, and his fellow demons have been banished by Paul, but this bunch? It uses its host to attack the seven Jewish fakers forcing them to leave utterly humiliated and ruined. For some, this is too much evidence of the power of Christ to ignore. They repent, and in an outward expression of it which was both practical and symbolic, they torch perhaps more than £2m in magician books and saleable spells. The word of God continued to change people, cities and entire regions.