Tag: evil

  • Evil spirits, exorcism, possession of Power

    Evil spirits, exorcism, possession of Power

    ACTS 19:

    ..and the evil spirits went out of them.

    Acts of the Apostles 19:12c KJV

    Acts of God, evil spirits and exorcists

    In his account of Paul’s third missionary journey the physician Luke now records signs YOU may find hard to believe.

    DO YOU BELIEVE THIS, 21st Century believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?

    ..they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.

    Acts of the Apostles 19:12b NLT

    Previously, in Luke’s account:

    Back in Athens Paul had lectured about the futility of worshiping things made by man as having the power of God.
    Luke tells us how (as an itinerate preacher) Paul had encountered some believers who had not received the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Powers of Preaching

    Apollos had preached the word with power prior to departing Ephesus for Corinth. Paul then arrives in Ephesus and proclaims the Gospel in the local synagogue for three months.

    BUT in the meantime, some itinerate Jews have heard ot these men attracting a following and so sought to imitate their techniques and powers of persuasion.

    As you may know it doesn't go so well for them, even as some time ago on Paul's first missionary journey Bar-Jesus lost his evil influence on events in Cypress.
    
    AND you probably have a Hollywood-tainted image of a ritualistic Roman Catholic ceremony.

    Jewish Exorcists

    But there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who attempted to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus when dealing with those who had evil spirits. They would say, “I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

    ACTS 19:13- J.B. Phillips New Testament paraphrase – The violence of evil and the power of the “name”

    “I command you in the name of Jesus!

    CAN ANYONE DO THIS? OR CAN A PRIEST OR PREACHER COMMAND EVIL SPIRITS?

    YOU probably have your 21st century of the Common Era doubts.

    But what happened to these exorcists?

    Mostly nothing at all — just like the Pentecostalism preached on some 20th century television stages. AND of course no authentic healing of the sick like JESUS had done so often.

    Luke’s account however does give us one powerful example of what did happen:

    Acts 19:

    14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them,

    “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

    16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

    Acts 19:14-16 Legacy Standard Bible
    Don't YOU just want to say, 'GOOD!' They got their just due?

    BUT WAIT A MINUTE!

    IF WE ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT LUKE TELLS US ABOUT SEVEN PRIESTS RUNNING OUT OF A HOUSE NAKED AND DEFEATED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT, THEN WE MUST ACCEPT AN IMPACT OF EVIL SPIRITS ON ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN.


    Miracles and Power!

    Luke now moves on from the ethereal teaching of Tyrannus and Mars Hill to the aetheris winds beyond that which is seen by man.

    Most of us don’t really believe in miracles, do we?

    WE know of the unexplainable, but rare is any occasion of seeing the unseen.

    Sinful men and women want power!

    Seven priests talked a good game, but when the higher unseen truth is told, they were humiliated and exposed as frauds.

    POWER has a source — as does life and spirit.

    And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

    Acts of the Apostles 19:11-12 LSB

    THEOS (Greek word for God) was performing extraordinary MIRACLES! dynamis, from which (in English) we get DYNAMITE!

    NOT Paul, but God by the hands of Paul.

    And as a consequence of GOD using these lifeless items and Spirit-filled Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ became known for HIS MIRACLES among the Gentiles of Ephesus.


    KJV Translation Count — Total: 120x
    The KJV translates Strong’s G1411 in the following manner:

    power (77x), mighty work (11x), strength (7x), miracle (7x), might (4x), virtue (3x), mighty (2x), miscellaneous (9x).
    inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth; power for performing miracles; moral power and excellence of soul; the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth; power and resources arising from numbers; power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts

    Strong’s G1411 – dynamis – BlueLetterBible.org

    evil spirits

    Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

    And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

    Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:21; 20:6-7

    confronted by Jesus

    “Aw, let us alone! What to us and to you, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
    
    But Jesus rebuked it, saying, 
    “Be quiet and come out of him!” 
    
    And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they were talking with one another saying, 
    “What is this word, that with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.”
    
    And the report about Him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district.
    
    Gospel of Luke 4:34-37
    So you say you don't believe in evil spirits? 
    The Law of Moses addresses them AND
    JESUS *cast them out of possessed men [*exorcism] and commanded unseen spirits with Authority.

    confronted by Paul

    And certain of the wandering exorcist Jews, took upon them to name over those having the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul doth preach;’

    Acts 19:13 Young’s Literal Translation

    and the evil spirit, answering, said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with; and ye — who are ye?’

    Acts of the Apostles 19:15 YLT

    SPIRIT – pneuma – from ‘breath’ or ‘of the wind

    Holy or unholy? Good or evil?

    Can the HOLY SPIRIT or an EVIL SPIRIT indwell a mortal man [anthrōpos]? (OR perhaps influence intellectual reasoning or affect any actions of a man or women of flesh?)

    By what POWER may a mere mortal become an EXORCIST of EVIL (ponēros) and healer of diseases?

    Questions of the first century Ephesians.

    Yes, even questions for 21st century christians of the Common Era, perhaps skeptical of Scripture and miraculous signs through the Apostles which God gave to witness the Lord Jesus Christ.

    And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

    Acts of the Apostles 19:17 KJV

    ACTS of the Apostles — To Be Continued…

    NEXT:
    and fear fell upon them all 

    Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel


  • A Python of Prophesy Stalking Paul in Philippi

    A Python of Prophesy Stalking Paul in Philippi

    Who is this soothsaying python of Philippi?

    Luke mentions this woman in Acts 16 who follows Paul, Silas and Timothy around as they frequent a place of prayer down by the river.

    She may not have had such a nickname but her presence foretells the inevitable upcoming skirmishes between good and evil in Europe.

    Acts of the apostles 16:16

    As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out,

    “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”

    She’s right!


    Who is this girl?

    Why is a slave girl following these apostles sent out by the Holy Spirit of the Most High God?

    Luke continues by telling the reader:

    18 And this she kept doing for many days. 

    This Philippian slave girl continually followed them back and forth between the wall of Philippi and their place of prayer down by the Krenides River near town.


    Mythical and 1st c. Greece

    Many first century cultural subtleties escape our 21st century eyes. This is especially true of 1st century Greece.

    Paul understands the people of Macedonia much more than we will.

    Luke reveals more about Paul’s challenge ahead in this first European missionary battle about to take place in Philippi between good and evil.


    Philippi is an important Roman city unlike the small mountainous towns we just left. This incident is central to events about to take place.

    This girl is a slave. In the Roman empire her role is ordinary where more than one in ten people (perhaps more than 10% in Philippi) are slaves owned by and performing their labors for someone in town.

    Roman men, their families and slaves settled here in Macedonia live their everyday lives steeped in the myths and idolatries of a Hellenist lifestyle foreign to our 21st century cultural-inclusiveness and geometrically opposed to the Lord God and Christ Jesus.

    Mysteries of a higher and spiritual plane impact men and women in unknown and partially evident ways.

    Certain messengers of darkness, seers of the divine such as this young girl, become actors of revelation in the unseen battles between good and evil. These diviners of the oracles of darkness typically shun exposure to the Very Light of The Most High God.

    pneuma python – the spirit of divination

    Luke’s account of Acts begins with the power of the HOLY SPIRIT, of course — and therein lies the battle in the heavenly places between that which is HOLY [hagios] and that which is unholy.

    πύθων – pythōn

    From Putho (the name of the region where Delphi, the seat of the famous oracle, was located) – source: BlueLetterBible.org

    Parnassos, son of the nymph Kleodora – source Wikipedia.org

    Mount Parnassus [Python] near Corinth Greece
    oracle of the snake charmer

    Python – myth & mystery of the oracle

    DIVINATION .. a spirit by which she predicted the future

    .. by supernatural means. ..a fortune teller,

    μαντεύομαι –manteuomai from a derivative of G3105 (meaning a prophet, as supposed to rave through inspiration); to divine, i.e. utter spells (under pretense of foretelling:—by soothsaying.

    The young slave girl in Philippi is a soothsayer for her owner.

    “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”

    Acts of the apostles 16:17b Legacy Standard Bible

    Since as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve we have partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what conclusion must we draw from the source of her magical insight?

    Paul understood her evil and super-natural source of knowledge. He may have been familiar with Greek mythology of the Oracle of Delphi (as are some of us).

    The Apostle certainly knew Scriptural instances of such knowledge, even one by his Hebrew namesake.

    The Witch at Endor

    1 Samuel 28:

    Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land…

    And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”


    Previously, on Cypress

    And Paul was more recently familiar with encountering such spiritual battles as the Apostle engaged a Jewish magician on Cypress.

    Elymas the magician, AKA Bar-Jesus

    But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said,

    “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”

    Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand..

    Acts of the Apostles 13:9-11a
    READ more about this earlier incident above.

    THESE Biblical encounters challenge the 21st century view of all mystery being explainable by science and logic. Even Christians struggle to image the higher reality of powers and principalities of the heavenly places.


    More of Greek Myths & false gods

    We will return to 1st c. Philippi shortly, but first some more background into the culture of these Roman cities in Greece.

    Oracle of Delphi

    source: ehistory.OSU.edu

    Source: Britannica.com

    a python at a river's edge

    The world famous Oracle of Delphi played an influential role in ancient history. For fourteen centuries it helped determine the course of empires. The prophesying was abolished in the 4th century as it conflicted with Christian beliefs that were at that time being embraced by Rome.

    Preston Chesser, Professor Dept of History, The Ohio State University

    A booming industry grew up around the Oracle. Temples were built and rebuilt, priests were trained, rituals evolved and sacrifices were performed. Priests interpreted the incoherent utterances of the Pythia. Presents were brought to both placate the deity and in the hope of influencing a positive prophesy. The Delphic temple itself became one of the largest “banks” in the world. Delphi became a center for banking and commerce.


    oracle, (Latin oraculum from orare, “to pray,” or “to speak”) – source Britannica.com

    DO NOT MISS THIS! Paul, Silas, Timothy and others have gone down to the river to pray. 
    So has the young slave girl who speaks revelation of the identity of these apostles of God. 

    The most famous ancient oracle was that of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mt. Parnassus above the Corinthian Gulf. Traditionally, the oracle first belonged to Mother Earth (Gaea) but later was either given to or stolen by Apollo.

    Oracles delivered through incubation were believed to come from chthonian (underworld) powers..


    A cultural ACT against idolatry.

    18 And this she kept doing for many days.

    Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, 

    “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”
    And it came out that very hour.

    Acts of the Apostle Paul [16:18b ESV]

    SO WHAT HAPPENS when a soul is freed from an evil spirit who has given mysterious knowledge by the powers hidden in the recesses of life’s light?

    The slave girl no longer posses the power that has possessed her and therefore can no longer give oracles of value to her owner.

    You don't believe in such power beyond your 21st century scientifically enlightened knowledge, do you? 
    
    I have encountered such evil attached to a place or person. 
    Perhaps you have as well, yet were deceived by angels (messengers) of darkness in the unseen places or even the pulpit of false teaching.
    
    Jesus and the Apostles warned the Church against such evil. Paul acted against it by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

    19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 


    ACTS of the apostles Paul and Silas — To Be Continued — in the town square of Philippi…

  • Gardener, Shepherd and Hunter: 5- the Hunter

    Gardener, Shepherd and Hunter: 5- the Hunter

    the hunter


    Do you see him?


    I strained my eyes to look back beyond the time when I had just witnessed the killing of Abel by Cain. Not only was he not the hunter, but I could no longer see him in the chaotic mist of that place beyond the field of Abel’s blood. In fact, I could no longer see their field at the edge of the garden.

    I can’t tell what I see, but I don’t see a hunter.

    Did you read what I just showed you from in the beginning Book?

    I thought I knew it without having actually read the Scripture to which my Guide had pointed me. With a questioning tone in my uncertain voice I read:

    “So it came about in the course of time that Cain…

    No, son.. You must look back further in the beginning of the Book to what I showed you. Do you see it again?


    My mind wandered aimlessly back to what I almost recalled, but could not see.

    In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep..

    and God divided the light from the darkness.. ..the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.. And God created .. every living creature..

    (Then my thoughts continued out loud.)

    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them…

    “No,” I replied with the cluelessness of a student caught off-guard by a teacher. “I don’t see it. I don’t see any hunter.

    Do you think that you know good and evil from the beginning of the Bible?

    I dared not answer from this chaotic recall from my mind. (But I had read this frequently in the past.)

    You open your eyes in a place of darkness. And darkness and deception are the place where the hunter hides.

    Was this a hint from my Guide?

    Please, won’t you just tell me where I can find the hunter?

    If you look closely you will find the hunter wherever there is disobedience to God.

    I gave his words weighty thought as I listened to my Guide read what I had missed as my Guide then read from the Beginning to me.

    Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”

    I had once memorized this from Genesis 2:16-17 and thought that I knew it well. But when my Guide recited it, NOT for my memorization but with authority, he said it differently.

    “The Lord God commanded the man,” my guide had emphasized.

    And then, as if to underline what he had just read, my Guide paused.. and looked into my eyes, making sure I was paying attention before he continued with what the Lord God had said.. I mean, what the Lord God had commanded.

    I wasn’t really thinking about the Hunter, then, but I knew it was important. He read on about the man being lonely and the woman being made from him.

    I tried not to let the naked part distract me (as it often did when I was a boy). So recalling that they were Cain and Abel’s parents helped. But then I couldn’t really see the serpent as a talking snake..

    Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made.

    Genesis 3:1a NASB20

    Why did you stop?

    So you could tell me about the serpent you see.

    It’s a snake and I don’t really like snakes at all. You know, I can’t really picture a snake talking to Eve either..

    You’re not saying that this serpent didn’t talk, are you?

    Oh? .. No, I guess not. Moses said that THIS serpent talked to Eve.

    I’d just never thought about her being Cain and Abel’s mom.. or how that meant that Cain and his brother would not grow up in Eden. Looking back, I guess I see the serpent talking to Cain’s mom.

    Then I recited the next part from some long-ago memory.

    “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

    And why does Moses’ story tell us that this serpent was cunning?

    Isn’t the serpent asking Eve to tell him something he already knows?

    Indeed he is.

    Is it a good question?

    I thought about it.. A good question? Is it a good question.. good..? good. Why would the serpent ask that?

    Isn’t the serpent trying to trick Eve? I don’t think that could be good. It can’t be a good question like the questions God asks.

    No it can’t.

    And if the serpent’s question is not a good question what kind of question is it?

    The serpent is up to no good. So I guess that makes it an evil question.

    You have already seen what happened to the man and the woman, before Cain killed Abel. Do you recall what happened to the serpent?

    That’s why he has to crawl on his belly?

    It’s much more than that.

    And I will make enemies
    Of you and the woman,
    And of your offspring and her Descendant;
    He shall bruise you on the head,
    And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

    Genesis 3:15 NASB20 – click here for more versions

    Finally I asked, “Is the Serpent the Hunter?”

    Yes. The Serpent is the Hunter.

    But this cunning hunter of souls so willing to question God appears in other forms, clothing himself in unsuspecting ways to wayward men and unsuspecting women.

    We will meet up with this hunter again…


    the hunter

    The hunter hisses at God

    Pursues his own passion

    Questions glorious Light

    Hissing silently

    Ruling a pit of darkness

    Darkness of stolen light

    Devouring his fallen prey

    Drawing blood from Adam

    DEATH in dry dust

    Stung by sin’s ever-damning curse

    .. therefore, beware.

    “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wary as serpents, and as innocent as doves.

    Matthew 10:16 NASB + Caution of the Lord Jesus to his disciples


  • What’s good about Good Friday?

    What’s good about Good Friday?

    15 April, in the year of our Lord, 2022:

    Looking for a question that will trip-up nearly any 21st c. christian?

    And since I have answered it before rather than answering it yet once more today on this GOOD FRIDAY, I will point you (my christian, jewish and anti-Christ friends) to previous Good Friday posts on which perhaps you might comment (publicly or privately) in this year of our Lord 2022.

    Why do you call a day JESUS was killed on a Cross good; what GOOD is it to you or for me?

    Look at the NEWS of today (and I dare say NONE of it is Good News.’

    CLICK FOR example of BBC World News
    
    • Is ‘god’ even news-worthy?
    • Does your local forecast not give more credibility to Mother Nature?
    • Even TgIF may soon give way to some new credit.

    It’s GUNS that kill, COVID which kills, FOSSIL FUELS will kill, the OTHER political party who kills everything right & GOOD!

    Tell me, How can JESUS make anything about TODAY good?


    GOD IS GOOD (Believe Him; or not)

    Will you believe David?

    19:1 למנצח מזמור לדוד׃ (19:2) השמים מספרים כבוד־אל ומעשה ידיו מגיד הרקיע׃

    Masoretic Text Psalm 19:1-2

    The heavens tell of the glory of God;
    And their expanse declares the work of His hands.

    Psalm 19:1b NASB20 – The Works and the Word of God.

    Will you believe Moses? מֹשֶׁה

    וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה בְּמִצְרַיִם וַיִּֽירְאוּ הָעָם אֶת־יְהוָה וַיַּֽאֲמִינוּ בַּֽיהוָה וּבְמֹשֶׁה עַבְדּֽוֹ׃ פ

    https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb20/exo/14/31/t_conc_64031

    When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.

    Exodus 14: Now the LORD spoke to Moses..:31

    This is the victory of the LORD after His Passover of good woshipers among the Hebrews when the LORD killed the firstborns of the land. 

    Will you believe the [Gospel] GOOD NEWS of John 5?

    “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way..

    “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father..

    You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me..

    Yet truthfully -- and sadly -- not only do many jews no longer believe Scripture, but too many 'evangelical christians' no longer hold to the Way, the Truth & the Life of the Scriptures either.
    

    “How can you believe, when you accept glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

    “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

    Gospel of John 5:45[46]-47 NASB20 + Challenge of the Messiah Jesus to those who refuse to believe Scripture.

    Will you believe the Bible?

    The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.”

    Galatians 3:8

    All Scripture is [God-breathed] inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for [reprimand] rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be [proficient] fully capable, equipped for every good work.

    2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB20

    Why don’t YOU Talk of JESUS?

    • I don’t talk of GOD.
    • I don’t care about the Israel of David.
    • I don’t think Moses applies anymore.
    • Certainly JESUS is not GOOD NEWS for most!
    • I do NOT believe the the BIBLE is TRUTH (for me).

    IF these are YOUR excuses to say that GOOD FRIDAY is NOT GOOD NEWS for YOU, you will not want to Talk of JESUS [HERE, or anywhere else].

    For salvation is only for those the Lord will choose as His faithful remnant who will believe.

    Good Friday’s past

    PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS [privately or publically] OR any of my previous posts which include, of course, OTHER GOOD Fridays and RESURRECTION SUNDAYS. - rh 
    Good Friday in the year of our Lord, 2021
    Good Friday in the year of our Lord, 2015 + Roger’s personal witness to the Holy Spirit of God

    And don’t miss yesterday’s post:

    14 April in the year of our Lord, 2022

  • .. because the days are evil

    .. because the days are evil

    What will it take to convince a world of universal appeasement of all enemies of God that these last days are in action and in deed: evil?

    destruction in Kyiv - Ash Wednesday in the year of our Lord 2022
    KYIV UKRAINE – ASH WEDNESDAY AD 2022

    A Caution about Evil for Christians

    Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

    Ephesians 5:15-16 HNV
    • What’s the Good News in this (if any)?
    • Do you know the next line of this caution to a Church witnessing to a world which surrounds the Gospel of Christ Jesus with works of darkness?
    Click here for Ephesians 15-17 in: NKJV, PHILLIPS English Paraphrase, German, Greek & Russian
    
    
    
    By Bettina Menzel Marcus GableMarcus Gable The Ukraine war is heading into its fourth week.
    In Mariupol, it is feared that the number of victims could rise to as many as 20,000. The news ticker.

    Wars & rumors of wars

    And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.

    Gospel of Mark 13:5 NASB20
    destruction temple ad70

    MARK 13:

    NKJV [EngliUpdated Gdańsk Biblesh]; Ukrainian Bible; Nádej pre kazdého; Russian Synodal Version

    Syria

    “Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and they will mislead many.

    “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.

    statue by UN man beating sword into plowshare

    “For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;

    there will be earthquakes in various places;

    there will also be famines.

    These things are only the beginning of birth pains.

    Gospel of Mark 13:5-8 – Caution of the One Messiah of God, Jesus

    Beat your plowshares into swords,
    And your pruning hooks into spears;
    Let the weak man say, “I am a warrior.” – Joel 3:10
  • Philip: Preaching to Good and Bad Samaritans

    Philip: Preaching to Good and Bad Samaritans

    ACTS of Philip the Evangelist

    Φίλιππος Philip who?

    Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod [Antipas] was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis ..

    • (No, not that Philip, whose wife Herodias his brother Herod Antipas took as his own wife.)
    Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis

    Jesus chose Twelve Apostles at the beginning His ministry in Galilee. The Apostle Philip was one of the Twelve.

    Philip has been an Apostle for about five years now.
    The year c. A.D. 32 or 33.
    • (But it’s not that Philip, either. Don’t get confused like I did.)

    When Simon Peter healed a lame man and spoke at Solomon’s Portico just two years ago, Philip would have observed the entire miracle. (Actually, two men named Philip may have been present.)

    Our other brother Philip 🙂

    As we learned in An Apostolic Model: Administration of a Growing Church from Acts 6:

    As the church grew rapidly, the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples, asking them to choose seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to lead in ministering to the Church: Steven, Philip and five others.

    • (Yes, this other brother Philip, a leading deacon of the Church, second in the list of seven, is known as Philip the Evangelist.)

    So now after Stephen’s trial, the Church in Jerusalem faces imminent persecution.

    Philip heads back north through the mountains of Judea, traveling one of their usual routes to Galilee through Samaria.

    mountains between Jerusalem and Samaria
    Samaria was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, and again by the Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus in 108 B.C. The city was rebuilt by Herod the Great between the years 30–27 B.C. According to Josephus, Herod expanded and renovated the city, bringing in 6,000 new inhabitants, and renamed it “Sebastia” in the emperor’s honor (translating the Latin epithet Augustus to Greek Sebastos, “venerable”). – Source: Wikipedia

    Acts 8:

    We will return to Luke's chronology shortly, but lets begin with a parallel timeline from his account of events in *Sebastia from the perspective of its people.

    The ‘not so good’ *Samaritan

    ..there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery [μαγεύω] in the city and astonished the people of *Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”

    μάγος – magus
    • the name given by the Babylonians (Chaldeans), Medes, Persians, and others, to the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, interpreters of dreams, augers, soothsayers, sorcerers etc.
    • the oriental wise men (astrologers) who, having discovered by the rising of a remarkable star that the Messiah had just been born, came to Jerusalem to worship him
    • a false prophet and sorcerer

    Luke had begun his account with Philip's departure from Jerusalem following the execution of Stephen.

    Philip went down to the city of Samaria
    and began proclaiming the [Messiah] Christ to them.

    ACTS of the Apostles 8:5 NASB20
    Philip leaves for *Samaria fully aware its reputation. He's been there before and passed through the town many times. And Jesus had illustrated general Jewish thought about this city and these northern tribes in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

    Miracles and Signs by Philip

    6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed;

    Philip, along with the Apostles and many other disciples following the Lord had witnessed Jesus’ power to command evil spirits. Peter healed a lame man in Jerusalem, just one of several Apostolic signs of power. Now we learn of Philip’s miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit.

    and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

    ACTS (of the Apostle philip) 8:7b – NKJV

    GOOD vs. EVIL!

    Scripture records several contests similar to Philip’s opposition. Some of these contests between God (good) and evil have taken place on this very mountain where Philip encounters Simon Magus.

    False prophets and idolaters deceive others by spirits (i.e. demons, devils, angels) from all that is evil.

    Our 21st century Christian minds easily dismiss powers we cannot explain.

    • Do you really believe in such powers of the spiritual realms?

    Acts reveals the Power of the Holy Spirit [πνεῦμα].

    • “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit G4151; you are doing just as your fathers did. – Acts 7:51
    • But he, being full of the Holy Spirit G4151, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God – Acts 7:55
    • They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit G4151!” – Acts 7:59
    The HOLY SPIRIT of the ONE GOD, WHO IS One with God the Father and the One begotten Son Christ Jesus, works for good in the hearts and lives of sinful men and women like us once we turn to Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
    • Acts of the Apostles is a first century account of a continuing battle between Good and Evil.
    • The Good News (Gospel) of the Lord’s death and resurrection is that JESUS will win this war.

    Simon Covets Philip’s Power

    Of course this power is not from Philip, but from the Holy Spirit.

    11 They [the Samaritans] were attentive to him {Simon] because he had amazed them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

    13 Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

    • Philip’s signs are more powerful than the power of Simon Magus, who the Samaritans called, ‘the great power of God!’
      • Was Simon’s baptism a complete turning from evil and a permanent cleansing?
      • Did Simon receive the Holy Spirit
        • (even as Ananias and Saphira had claimed, yet sought to deceive the Holy Spirit and other believers)?
      • Luke tell us: 16 ‘They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
        • Baptism alone does not make you any more faithful to Jesus than Ananias and Saphira OR Judas.
    Philip continues teaching of new believers in Samaria with great success.
    

    Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem..

    14 When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

    Why Peter and John?

    About eight days after these sayings, He took along PeterJohn, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

    Luke 9:28 NASB20
    Stained glass window of Jesus with James, John and Peter at the transfiguration

    Peter, James and John know the Person of Jesus more intimately than the other nine Apostles.

    1. These three comprised an inner-circle of leadership for the Lord Jesus.
    2. The Twelve in turn lead other disciples (hundreds of them at times), so that now these Apostles lead a growing Church.

    The Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven! (At the conclusion of Luke’s Gospel and opening of ACTS of the Apostles, leadership passes to them.)

    Simon Peter leads this inner circle of the Apostles, all of the Twelve (including Mathias), Jerusalem’s seven deacons (including Stephen and Philip); and NOW [c. A.D. 33] many disciples of Jesus beyond Jerusalem as they, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel.’


    Peter and John join Philip in Samaria

    ACTS 8:15 After they went down there, they prayed for them so that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit because he had not yet come down on any of them..

    Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

    • Apparently Simon is not of one accord with these new believers in Samaria. So the magician has missed out on the blessings of the Holy Spirit;
      • But the powerful always covet more power.

    18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying,

    “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

    If Simon’s story had ended here

    • Would you recognize this false prophet, a teacher with power?
      • Do you realize that such a man must bow down to the LORD God or face judgment with eternal consequence?
    • Does Scripture not warn us how to handle such sheep in the designer clothing of wolves?

    ACTS of the First Century Church

    Stephen had just called out such false leaders in Jerusalem! For two years now the Apostles have demonstrated signs from God to Jerusalem’s leaders. Revenge and persecution fill its political streets.

    These leaders of the Great City of religion misused Scripture. AND false accusation meant to silence opposition to the Truth of the Gospel, resulted in their false leadership condemning Stephen to death!

    The Lord Jesus Christ had warned of others to come. Simon Magnus could have been one of the first.

    “And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people.

    Gospel of Matthew 24:11 NASB20

    Jerusalem

    Peter’s Reaction to Simon

    YOU want such power, right? To make a lame man stand? Heal someone’s cancer? Help someone paralyzed with pain to get up and walk once more? Even to save a young man or woman from death? (Stephen was just thirty years old)

    So did Simon, who like so many just offered to pay Peter for such POWER.

    “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

    ACTS 8:19 NIV – Simon’s request to Peter

    PETER would have none of it.

    20 But Peter replied,

    “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought! You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right with God.

    Acts of the Apostles 8:20-21 NLT

    Is YOUR heart right with God?

    8:21 οὐκ ἔστιν σοι μερὶς οὐδὲ κλῆρος ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ ἡ γὰρ καρδία σου οὐκ ἔστιν εὐθεῖα ἔναντι τοῦ θεοῦ

    21 وَلَيْسَ لَكَ حِصَّةٌ أوْ نَصِيبٌ فِي هَذَا الأمْرِ، لِأنَّ قَلْبَكَ لَيْسَ سَلِيمًا أمَامَ اللهِ. 22 فَتُبْ عَنْ شَرِّكَ هَذَا وَصَلِّ إلَى الرَّبِّ، لَعَلَّهُ يُسَامِحُكَ عَلَى الفِكرَةِ الآثِمَةِ الَّتِي فِي قَلْبِكَ. 23 فَأنَا أرَاكَ مُمتَلِئًا مَرَارَةً وَعَبدًا لِلخَطِيَّةِ.»

    ACTS of Repentance

    “Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours,
    and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you.

    Acts of the Apostles 8:22 NASB20 Peter’s admonition to Simon Magnus

    23 for I can see that you are full of bitter jealousy and are held captive by sin.”

    24 “Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon exclaimed, “that these terrible things you’ve said won’t happen to me!”

    Returning to the scene of the crimes against Christ and His Church:

    Acts Apostolos - Acts of the Apostles - the chronicles of Christ's Apostles - a history of Christ's Church including early leaders like Stephen, Philip the Evangelist, Paul, Barnabas and many others

    25 After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.


    ACTS of Philip (the Deacon Evangelist): TO BE CONTINUED...
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