Simon The Sorcerer

Last night I turned to some things in the Bible which I read with a new kind of understanding.

One passage I randomly turned to, asking for God's guidance, was about Simon the Sorcerer.

I guess I'll get into this in a minute. But because of this, and things I've seen, I looked up a few things, for educational purposes, about voodoo, black magic and other things.

In one chapel, there was a speaker who talked about how the "magi" that came to see Jesus were not "kings". They were magicians. Wizards, he said. Sorcerers, but another word for those who practiced magic was "Magi" which is for magicians.

Another totally random tangent, is that I read yesterday or the day before that priests or Israelis were not wearing a little cloth or yamika--they wore turbans. That's really random, so back to what I was writing about...

Daniel was among those who had a gift of prophecy or dream interpretation and he was with the camp of sorcerors but his gifts and those of his friends were above the powers of others so they were given special access to the king or rulers at that time.

However, there are plenty of people who use gifts with a bad source or intent. So last night I ended up, after seeing this twitch on this guys' face and having seen things like this and other forms of spells and things...

Thinking about how "we wrestle not with ________ (?) but with principalities and darkness". I'll have to look that verse up.

Technology, as I've described, is very real and it is totally different from being delusional or even spiritual things. However, there is also an underestimated element of spiritual and other forces that are real.

In the New Testament, there is a passage about a man named Simon whose powers were so great, he had this incredible renown among the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. His powers were incredible and he had this amazing following. They said he had "The Great Power" (that was divine).

But then they believed Philip as he was preaching the good news, and as Simon followed Philip, he was astonished by the power that was displayed. People were being healed from being paralytics and cripples and delivered of bad spells and evil spirits.

So then the apostles heard people in Samaria had become christians and they had been baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, but not yet by the name of the Holy Spirit. So they sent Peter and John to them, to put their hands upon them and pray the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:18 "When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

And he was rebuked as having tried to buy a gift of God. Simon repented and asked that nothing bad would happen to him for having committed this error.

I guess it made me think about modern times because there is renewed interest in practices of various kinds and a good parable for those who are gifted with abilities that are beyond the natural sphere.

I read a few other things which I'll keep to myself, but it was nice to have a small section highlighted that I haven't read in awhile.

It is from Acts Chapter 8.

I like this hillsong song today "Forever Reign":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au3EGgISYMc