Scholars go either way, trying to understand what Luke was saying about Simon. Yet it seems what really fascinated The sorcerer wasn’t the resurrected Jesus. What he heard and observed prompted Simon to profess belief and be baptized. But now, Simon was losing many of his followers to the gospel of Jesus Christ, so he came to investigate this new phenomenon. He was the proud resident magician of Samaria, even considered by many people to be divine, and he had a wide and loyal following. God working miracles through Philip drew the attention of a powerful sorcerer named Simon. Therefore, Philip’s mission was a very successful evangelism campaign, with a great response to the gospel, accompanied by many miracles and signs, and the signature joy that wells up in the hearts of those who put their faith in Jesus and receive Him into their hearts and lives. Jesus had, in fact, laid the foundation five or six years earlier when He passed through Samaria Himself. Bitter persecution now sowed Phillip to Samaria where he became an evangelizer.
#ACTS 8 SIMON THE SORCERER CARTOON FULL#
Philip, like Stephen, was one of the seven Hellenistic deacons, selected because he was known to be full of the Spirit and full of wisdom.
Yet, though the Sanhedrin meant harm to Christians, God used this great wrong to bring about the saving of many lives. It was a painful impetus, bringing trauma and tragedy to so many. But instead, they did the exact opposite “ those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word.” the word for “scatter,” here, in Greek means “scattered in order to be planted,” like our word “sow,” like a farmer sowing seed.
It wouldn’t have been a surprise to read that the church went into hiding, went underground for fear of their lives. Jerusalem, in numbers, in spiritual maturity, in power, and in diversity.īut now, triggered by Stephen’s assassination, the fiery young Pharisee Saul was forging an intensive, ruthless, violent campaign against the church. The church had been growing steadily for five years in
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