Acts 8:4-13

Simon was an uncommon con man. He was uncommon because he stayed in the same place and practiced his fraud continuously. Most con men cheat their victims and move on to find new ones. He was not playing the role of sorcerer for the good of the people. He pretended to be a powerful magic user for power and profit. Luke does not go into the details of the tricks he used, but they were believable enough that they convinced the people that he was the Great Power of God.

Simon was able to fool the people until a true man of God arrived and proclaimed the gospel. When people acknowledge what true godliness is, counterfeits and fakes no longer fool them. Philip preached to them the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. When they, both men and women believed, they received salvation and their baptism marked them before the world as followers of Christ. Simon also believed and the church baptized him. He followed Philip, and the great signs and miracles, that he saw Philip do in the name of Christ, amazed him.

The following is not directly from the text, but is my reflection upon the implications of the text.

We still have spiritual con men today. Some, playing upon people’s grief and tragedy, claim to speak to the dead. They have their tricks and methods to deceive. In a world where so many have heard the gospel, it is amazing the number of people who fall victim to these charlatans. At least they are not running their swindles in the name of Jesus. The worst frauds of all are the ones who claim to be Christian preachers. They preach an imitation of the gospel, but the signs and miracles are fakes. They do not have a ministry; they have a criminal enterprise (worth over $700 million in one case).

Two pastors went to see one of these charlatans in action. He was slaying people in the spirit right and left. One pastor asked the other his thoughts about it. The second replied, “Christians must stand for something, or they will fall for anything.”