It was not long before the decision was pronounced which consigned Paul to a martyr's grave.
#Peter rebukes simon the sorcerer trial
Nero's mind was so impressed with the force of the apostle's words at his last trial that he deferred the decision of the case, neither acquitting nor condemning him. For this reason he made the second imprisonment much more severe than the first, granting him little opportunity to preach the gospel and he determined to cut short his life as soon as a plausible pretext could be found for so doing. The emperor's malice against Paul was heightened by the fact that members of the imperial household, and also other persons of distinction, had been converted to Christianity during his first imprisonment. He was therefore greatly incensed against the apostle, and was thus prompted to order his arrest. Nero was a believer in magic, and had patronized Simon. He had made himself especially obnoxious to the authorities by his zeal and success in exposing the deceptions and defeating the plots of Simon Magus the sorcerer, who had followed him to Rome to oppose and hinder the work of the gospel. 3SP 436.1Ībout the time of Paul's second arrest, Peter also was apprehended and thrust into prison. But in the providence of God, both were to bear witness for Christ in the world's metropolis, and upon its soil both were to shed their blood as the seed of a vast harvest of saints and martyrs. From high above the crowd, Simon suddenly lost his power of flight and fell to the ground, breaking his legs, and died soon after.The apostles Paul and Peter were for many years widely separated in their labors, it being the work of Paul to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, while Peter labored especially for the Jews. Peter knelt down and prayed that God would stop Simon, which God did – right in mid-air. Of course, it was not by the power of God but of Satan, which Peter quickly proved. Simon started following around Peter, directly challenging his teaching, and quickly became Peter’s most important opponent. Their conflict came to a head in Rome. Puffed up with pride, Simon Magus challenged Peter publicly in front of the Emperor Nero and a crowd, saying that he would fly as proof of his doctrines. He may have also claimed to be either Christ himself or some sort of divinity. In one version, Simon, rebuffed by the Apostles, abandoned the Catholic Church and turned to Gnosticism, an early Christian heresy that rejected the authority of the Apostles in favor of secret knowledge that individual Christians claimed to receive directly from God.
Though Scripture doesn’t record his life after this point, the rest of his amazing life is recorded by the early Church fathers and other sources. Of course, the Apostles refused to commit such a sacrilege, and today the sin of selling Church offices or sacred things is called Simony, after Simon Magus.īut his story doesn’t stop there. The power of the sacrament impressed Simon so much that he asked the Apostles to give him the power to confer it, offering them money. Soon after, Peter and John visited the area to strengthen the new believers with the Sacrament of Confirmation. By the grace of God, many people believed and were baptized, including Simon. We first hear about Simon Magus in the New Testament book of Acts, where we learn he was an occult magician living in Samaria, using the demonic forces to perform amazing feats and win adoration from his town.īut then Philip, one the first deacons, brought the Gospel to his area. But how many of them could support their false teaching by flying? That ability was demonstrated in the 1st century by Simon Magus, known in the early Church as the “Father of Heresies.” Heretics have plagued the Church since the very beginning.
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