The man who spoke these words was Demetrius, a silversmith whose shrine-making business for the goddess Artemis (or Diana, in Latin) kept many craftsmen in ancient Ephesus employed. Paul’s preaching was disrupting their commerce, and Demetrius wasn’t happy about it.
So he gathered the silversmiths and every craftsperson connected to their line of work into the local amphitheater — the ruins of which still stand today. There, he held a rally and whipped the crowd into a chaotic frenzy against “this man Paul.”
It's interesting to note how he starts with their wallets, warning that Paul’s message is wrecking their livelihood. Only afterward does he tack on a religious concern: that “the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin — the very one all of Asia and the world worship.”
The result was an hours-long, life-threatening riot.
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Truth is...people have been using religion for personal gain for a very long time. That doesn’t make faith the problem, but it does mean we should stay alert whenever someone tries to blend profit and piety.
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