Acts 19:29-34 :

The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel. When Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn’t allow him. Certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was in confusion. Most of them didn’t know why they had come together. They brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made a defense to the people. But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice for a time of about two hours cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Money isn’t a god of peace because when people love money more than the truth, they end up living in confusion. It is interesting that these people had enough extra time to take hours out of their schedule to do absolutely nothing. This is a luxury that few poor people have as they are required to labor night and day just to eat and sleep under a roof, but these rich people were so afraid of losing their riches that they took time out of their “busy” schedule to drag innocent men to the theater for no real reason.

When someone decided to try to reason with them, they yelled “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for two hours! Evidently, this god of theirs didn’t provide much security. The people were afraid that this “great” god of theirs might be overcome by these Jewish Christians.

Satan had them so confused that they didn’t even know why they were there. I think that the people were in need of something more than money. They needed to know that what they were doing was good and they had no basis for knowing how to satisfy their own conscience. They were bound up by their own worldview and only God could help them to find the way out.