SIMON THE SORCERER the Father of Christian Gnosticism

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Who is Simon the Sorcerer, you can find the answer in your bible.

Acts 8 :9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:

8:10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of Elohim.

8:11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of YHWH, and the name of Yahushua the Messiah, they were baptized, both men and women.

8:13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of YHWH, they sent unto them Kepha and John:

8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Set-apart Spirit:

8:16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Master Yahushua.)

8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Set-apart Spirit.

8:18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Set-apart Spirit was given, he offered them money,

8:19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Set-apart Spirit.

8:20 But Kepha said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of YHWH may be purchased with money.

8:21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of YHWH.

8:22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray Elohim, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

8:24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Saviour for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

Simon the Sorcerer was a Samaritan man who studied mysticism in Egypt and was a great sorcerer who his people called him "The Great Power of God" he seen the works that Yah disciples did like rising the dead and other great works was greater then his so he was baptisied and wanted to buy the Holy Spirit in which the disciple did their work through

 

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The Nag Hammadi library[1] is a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. That year, twelve leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by a local peasant named Mohammed Ali Samman.[2][3] The writings in these codices comprised fifty-two mostly Gnostic treatises, but they also include three works belonging to the Corpus Hermeticum and a partial translation/alteration of Plato's Republic. In his "Introduction" to The Nag Hammadi Library in English, James Robinson suggests that these codices may have belonged to a nearby Pachomian monastery, and were buried after Bishop Athanasius condemned the use of non-canonical books in his Festal Letter of 367AD

Complete list of codices found in Nag Hammadi

Nag Hammadi texts
Codex I (also known as The Jung Codex):
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
The Apocryphon of James (also known as the Secret Book of James)
The Gospel of Truth
The Treatise on the Resurrection
The Tripartite Tractate
Codex II:
The Apocryphon of John
The Gospel of Thomas a sayings gospel
The Gospel of Philip
The Hypostasis of the Archons
On the Origin of the World
The Exegesis on the Soul
The Book of Thomas the Contender
Codex III:
The Apocryphon of John
The Gospel of the Egyptians
Eugnostos the Blessed
The Sophia of Jesus Christ
The Dialogue of the Saviour
Codex IV:
The Apocryphon of John
The Gospel of the Egyptians
Codex V:
Eugnostos the Blessed
The Apocalypse of Paul
The First Apocalypse of James
The Second Apocalypse of James
The Apocalypse of Adam
Codex VI:
The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
The Thunder, Perfect Mind
Authoritative Teaching
The Concept of Our Great Power
Republic by Plato - The original is not gnostic, but the Nag Hammadi library version is heavily modified with then-current gnostic concepts.
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth - a Hermetic treatise
The Prayer of Thanksgiving (with a hand-written note) - a Hermetic prayer
Asclepius 21-29 - another Hermetic treatise
Codex VII:
The Paraphrase of Shem
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
The Teachings of Silvanus
The Three Steles of Seth
Codex VIII:
Zostrianos
The Letter of Peter to Philip
Codex IX:
Melchizedek
The Thought of Norea
The Testimony of truth
Codex X:
Marsanes
Codex XI:
The Interpretation of Knowledge
A Valentinian Exposition, On the Anointing, On Baptism (A and B) and On the Eucharist (A and B)
Allogenes
Hypsiphrone
Codex XII
The Sentences of Sextus
The Gospel of Truth
Fragments
Codex XIII:
Trimorphic Protennoia
On the Origin of the World

 

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Study of the Nag Hammadi documents provides a clearer picture of some of the gnostic groups described by the Church Fathers, especially the Valentinians and the so-called "Sethians." The following Nag Hammadi tractates are related to the Sethian form of Gnosticism: The Apocryphon of John (II, 1; III, 1; IV, 1), The Hypostasis of the Archons (II, 4), The Gospel of the Egyptians (III, 2; IV, 2), The Apocalypse of Adam (V, 5), The Three Steles of Seth (VII, 5), Zostrianos (VIII, 1), Melchizedek (IX, 1), The Thought of Norea (IX, 2), Marsanes (X, 1), Allogenes (XI, 3), and The Trimorphic Protennoia (XIII, 1). While some of these documents (but not all) are Christian in their present form, it is now clear that Sethian Gnosticism, in its earliest stages, developed independently of, and possibly even prior to, Christianity. The Jewish components of Sethian Gnosticism are central and constitutive.
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The Sethians were a Christian Gnostic sect who may date their existence to before Christianity.[1] Their influence spread throughout the Mediterranean into the later systems of the Basilideans and the Valentinians[citation needed]. Their thinking, though it is predominantly Judaic in foundation, is arguably strongly influenced by Platonism. Sethians are so called for their veneration of the biblical Seth, third son of Adam and Eve, who is depicted in their myths of creation as a divine incarnation; consequently, the offspring or 'posterity' of Seth are held to comprise a superior elect within human society.

The first mention of Sethians (Latin Sethoitae) is by Pseudo-Tertullian,[2] who like Irenaeus, mentions Ophites and Sethians together (Ch.30).[3] According to Frederik Wisse (1981)[4] all subsequent accounts appear to be largely dependent on Irenaeus.[5] Hippolytus repeats information from Irenaeus. According to Epiphanius of Salamis (c.375) Sethians were in his time found only in Egypt and Palestine, although fifty years before they had been found as far away as Greater Armenia (Panarion 39.1.1 2; 40.1).[6] One of the sources of Epiphanius, the lost Syntagma of Hippolytus, was also the source for Christian heresies before Noetus in Philaster's Catalogue of heresies. Nathaniel Lardner (1838) noted that Philaster places the Ophites, Cainites, and Sethians as pre-Christian Jewish sects.[7] However, since Sethians identified Seth with Christ (Second Logos of the Great Seth), the view of Philaster that the Sethians had pre-Christian origins, other than in syncretic absorption of Jewish and Greek pre-Christian sources, has been questioned by some modern scholarship

 

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ABOUT SIMON THE SORCERER

The Gnostic teachings of this Samaritan sorcerer exercised the minds of Christian theologians. While in Jerusalem St Peter had to rebuke Simon the Samaritan for attempting to buy

the magical powers which he supposed the apostles had received from the Holy Spirit; the legendary encounter between the two men took place in Rome, where the apocrypha

l Acts of Peter tell how the Samaritan tried to fly heavenwards. Perhaps Simon should have been called magnus, ‘the great’, rather than magus, ‘the magician’, since he told the

Romans that he would forsake them, ‘impious sinners, and fly up to God whose Power’ he was. When he soared and ‘was lifted up on high, and all beheld him flying above Rome and

its temples and hills’, the faithful turned to Peter, who was disturbed by the impression that the spectacle made on their minds. ‘Hasten thy grace, O Lord,’ implored the evangelist

and let him fall from the height and be injured. Let him not die but be discomforted, and break his leg in three places.’ And so it happened that Simon fell to the ground and broke

his leg in three places, whereupon he received the added insult of a shower of stones from the disappointed crowd.

For the Ebionites, ‘the poor’, a Jewish-Christian sect living near the Dead Sea, Simon Magus was a hostile disguise for St Paul in his bitter controversy with St Peter. The Acts of

Peter, whose theme is the demise of Simon, may have been Ebionite in origin. The real opponents of St Paul were undoubtedly the leaders of the Jewish converts living in Jerusalem.

They included the original disciples of Jesus and they seem to have rejected the version of the faith expounded to the Gentiles by St Paul, a Hellenistic Jew and the first saint not to

have known the historical Messiah. He viewed conversion as the adoption of a new religion, Christianity, which had discarded the trappings of Hebrew belief, like circumcision and the
payment of temple tithes. After the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70, the challenge to St Paul's theology ceased, and converts were freely accepted into the fold.

The germinal significance of Simon Magus was recognized. Bishop Irenaeus (130–200) wrote that from him ‘all heresies originated…. He led about with him a certain Helen, after he

had redeemed her from a life of prostitution in Tyre…. He said she was the first conception of his mind, the Mother of all, through whom in the beginning he had the idea of making

angels and archangels. This Idea, leaping forth from him and knowing what her father had willed, descended and generated angels and archangels, by whom this world was created.

’ Angelic envy and ignorance led to her enslavement in a human body, so that her soul ‘transmigrated’ down the ages, once animating Helen of Troy, till finally Simon came ‘to rescue

her and free her from her bonds, before he offered men salvation through his knowledge’.

Gnosis, ‘knowledge’, was the principal claim of people like Simon Magus, who passed on to initiates an understanding of the cosmos, human nature, and destiny. The sharp dichotomy

of body and soul in Gnosticism found a cosmological analogue in the opposition of the Demiurge and the supreme being, which Simon said he was. Although the Demiurge created the

world, about AD 160 the Gnostic philosopher Ptolemaeus wrote that this being, ‘who is impotent to know spiritual things, considered he was the only God and said through the

prophets “There is no other one’ ’. The archetypal conjurer, Simon Magus is only remembered today in the sin of simony.

 

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i do not agree with one thing of this article calling John the Baptist a cult leader but other than that it's pretty on point

Simon lived in the early days of the Church, and first met its proponents when the mostly-Jewish first Christians were trying to spread their influence into Samaria, the area between Judaea and Galilee. The encounter was recorded in the Book of Acts:

Samaria at that time was a mixture of pagans from all over with the members of an outcast Jewish sect. These kept the Law as well as

any, but their sacrifices were not accepted at Jerusalem, and they worshipped at Mount Gezerim, where Abraham sacrificed Isaac. The

Good Samaritan described by Jesus was one of these.

The Simon described here may have come from any background, and probably incorporated elements from all cultures into his act. His offer is immortalized as the sin of simony.

Was the Simon of Acts the same as the one who, according to the early Church Fathers, toured the Samaritan countryside with Helena, a

prostitute he had purchased in Tyre, proclaiming himself God the Father and she Sophia, his Divine Wisdom? She had, he said, been cast

down to Earth by rebellious angels, passing through several incarnations (including Helen of Troy) until she experienced the ultimate

degradation. From which he had rescued her and would soon return with her to the Eternal Light, together with any who accepted the
grace he bestowed freely on all who could afford it.

Born at Gittae in Samaria, Simon studies magic in Egypt, then returns to take over a cult begun by John the Baptist, travels with Helena,

proclaims himself God, tries to buy the Power, seduces the widow Eubula, swindles Faustos, but is at last driven into exile by St. Peter.

He ends up in Rome, where he wins the favour of the Emperor Nero and is worshipped in his own temple. When Peter arrives in Rome as

well, the two meet in an epic contest of magic. This culminates in Simon flying through the sky, only to be cast down by Peter's superior

powers. His legs are broken and he dies soon after. He promises to return from the grave, but does not. However, the myth he invented

becomes the basis for Gnosticism, that other mix of Jewish scripture, Greek mythology and Egyptian mysticism which seriously rivalled its

more successful cousin in the first centuries AD.

 

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continuing..........


Extensive writings of this strange sect exist today, mostly from Egypt. Each contradicts the other, but the basic theory is as follows: the

God of the Christians and Jews is in fact Ialdabaoth, a demonic creature born in error of the solitary passion of Wisdom, who has created

Earth, and Man, for its own evil purposes. In company with Its fellow Archons, the rulers of this Earth, It now delights in tormenting its

inhabitants. It cast Its Mother (the First Thought of the unbegotten Father of Light, identified with Sophia) down to the horrors of Earth

in a fit of jealousy, upon discovering that It was not the highest God. Only by rejecting It and all Its works, including one's own body, can

one know the Perfect Mind of the Mother of Wisdom. And only then can one free the particles of light which are the spirit from the dark

prison of flesh, and thereby attain Oneness with the Father of Light. Later versions brought in Christ as well. As Sabaoth, the son of the

evil Ialdabaoth, he had rebelled against his father and joined forces with the Children of Light.

The form that bodily rejection should take was a source of controversy. Some said, "The flesh is evil. Purge it." Others said, "The flesh is

nothing. Indulge it." Gnostics were accused, often quite justifiably, of all manner of unnatural practices, which may account for some of

their popularity. But the Powers of both light and dark were soon multiplied into splinter groups, each with its fantastic and

incomprehensible mythology, and Gnosticism as an organized faith (if it ever was one) disappeared in confusion before the much simpler

message of Christ Risen. Still, neoGnostic cults continued to bedevil and influence Christianity for centuries, attracting believers and

ruthless purges through the Middle Ages and beyond, and survive yet in small pockets of the Middle East.

 

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THE TRUE HEBREW Christ Followers are the Ebionites and Nazarenes

 

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Simon's disciples allegedly revered him as an incarnation of the "Great Power of God," i.e. of Nous, or the Boundless Power. They believed that the Boundless Power, beholding the

crimes of the angels, had descended into the lower regions where he appeared as a man, though he was not a man. They believed that he had revealed himself as the Father to the

Samaritans, and as the Son (Jesus) to the Jews. As the Son he suffered a docetic passion, i.e., in appearance only, for a true manifestation of divinity cannot truly suffer or die. In

his current form, he offered salvation to his followers from angelic tyranny through his divine knowledge (Gnôsis), the knowledge of the Male-Female Mother-Father whose divided

essence pervades all Humanity.

To the Simonians, the term "salvation" meant liberation from the tyranny of the angels, from the repetitive cycles of physical life. Since these cycles were perpetuated by desire,

liberation could not be accomplished until desire had been extinguished. But the desire, which "makes the world go round," is the desire of the incomplete soul to become whole by

reuniting with its lost complement. Desire, therefore, could not be extinguished until it was fulfilled by the ecstatic reintegration of the male and female parts of the soul into a

quintessential unity in one body.

While teaching in the Phoenician city of Tyre, the divine Simon beheld a courtesan on the roof of a brothel. Her name was Helena, and he recognized her immediately as the current

incarnation of Ennoia, His First Thought, the Holy Spirit, the Mother of All. She was the Lost Sheep, forced by her progeny the angels to wander through the centuries from vessel

to vessel (including that of Helen of Troy), until she ended up at the brothel in Tyre. He purchased her from her master and she became his constant companion during his travels

and teachings. Their reunion represented the beginning of the redemption of the world, and was the model for the process of salvation to Simon's followers.

 

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Simonianism undoubtedly exerted considerable influence in the development of later Gnostic systems. All have made use of similar systems of aeonic emanations. Also, the story of

Simon and Helena seems to be a precursor of the Sophia mythos of Valentinus and the writings of the Sethians and "Barbêlô Gnostics," such as the Gospel of the Egyptians and the

Trimorphic Protennoia (both from the Nag Hammadi Library), and the Pistis Sophia (which is included in Section 2 of the A:. A:. reading list); wherein the feminine First Emanation of the Supreme God, called variously Ennoia, Sophia, Barbêlô or Barbêlôn, brings forth the powers which create the world, becomes ensnared thereby, and is ultimately redeemed by the savior.

 

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Now we seen how his teachings influence the christian gnositics let's look how he influence the Roman Catholic church.

"But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the LORD for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me." (Acts 8


Right from the very beginning, Satan had his counterfeit "messiah" operating right in the true Messiah's backyard. His name was Simon Magus or Simon the Sorcerer and this man, and not Simon Peter the Apostle, went on to found the Universal Roman "church." His career was the history of Roman Catholicism in miniature. For a long time he bewitched the people with his false miracles. Since the year 800 A.D., Rome has bewitched the world with her false miracles of transubstantiation.

Simon believed and was baptized. Outwardly he was a Christian but his belief was only superficial and he was still a pagan at heart. He coveted the apostolic office and saw the opportunity of using Christianity to make money — a business corporation masquerading as the church of Christ!!

From Simon Magus we get the word simony which means to buy a religious office with money.

After his encounter with St. Peter, this magician went to Rome and by tricks and false miracles established a "Christian church" in that city. This man can truly be considered as the first of the age long dynasty of Popes —many coming in Christ's name and deceiving many (Matt. 25:5).

As in the case of Patrick and Palladius, the arch-fiend Satan took advantage of the similarities of the names to supplant one with the other. We can be sure that Palladius took a big sack of gold with him when he set out for Hibernia. History does not record the encounter between the Roman and the Briton but we can be sure that St. Patrick told him the same thing that St. Peter told Simon Magus:

"To hell with you and your money . . . for trying to buy the gift of God......."

 

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PART 2

What were the origins of Catholic-Babylonian Christianity? What was Simon’s religion before he met Peter? Where did that religion originate? Read in this series of articles the detailed and documented account of Simon Magus and his great COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANITY!

THE FALSE religious system began very early -- almost with Pentecost in 31 A.D. Even in the earliest of Paul’s epistles, he informs us that "the mystery of iniquity DOTH ALREADY WORK" (II Thess. 2:7). Paul wrote this in 50 or 51 A.D. The plot to supplant the Truth had already begun. In the later epistles of Paul and in those of the other Apostles, we find it gaining considerable momentum. However, even though the Apostles discuss the diabolical system which was arising, THEY NOWHERE MENTION HOW IT STARTED. They had no need in mentioning its beginning -- that had already been done!

The book of Acts is the KEY to the understanding of Christian beginnings. Not only does it show the commencement of the TRUE Church, but it equally reveals the origins of the False Church masquerading as Christianity. Indeed, you would think it odd if the book of Acts did not discuss this vital subject.

The Book of Acts -- the Key

First, let us recall two points of necessary understanding.

1) The book of Acts was written by Luke about 62 A.D.-- some 31 years after the True Church began. Acts recalls ALL events which affected, in a major way, the True Church. It especially tells us about the beginnings of matters relating to Church history.
2) Acts does NOT record every single event relative to the Church, important as one might think them to be.

For example, Luke doesn’t mention a single thing about the activities of ten of the original twelve Apostles of Christ. Yet are we to assume that they did nothing important in the history of the Church? Absolutely NOT! They must have done many mighty works. But we can see from this omission that Luke recorded ONLY THOSE EVENTS WHICH WERE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for God’s Church of the future to know.

Notice that Luke’s geography leads him towards the Northwest and West of Palestine. He discusses Church history in Asia Minor, Greece and ROME. He wanted to leave us with the truth of what was going on in the West and North because the prophecies showed the false system arising in these localities.

All other activities of God’s Church -- all about the other ten Apostles, etc. -- fall into relative unimportance because the trouble wasn’t going to come from Palestine itself. It was to come from ROME and adjacent areas. It is no wonder that Luke spares no pains to tell us the truth of what was really going on in these critical areas, and that is the reason Acts concerns itself primarily with Paul. These are well-known principles that help us understand the overall viewpoint of Acts.

With the foregoing in mind, read the incident recorded by Luke, of the first encounter of God’s Apostles with a heretic. This encounter was not with an ordinary run-of-the-mill individual, but with one of the greatest men in the East at that time -- Simon the Magus!

The reason Luke describes the intentions of this man so thoroughly is the profound effect this man, and his followers, had on God’s Church in Asia Minor, Greece, and ESPECIALLY ROME. Actually, this man by 62 A.D., (when Luke composed the book of Acts) had caused the True Church so much trouble that Luke had to show the people that he was NOT, as he claimed to be, a part of the Christian Church.

All scholars realize that Luke tells about Simon’s beginning because of his later notoriety and danger to the Church.

In this regard, notice the comment of Hasting’s Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Vol. 2, p. 496: "It seems beyond question that Luke KNEW THE REPUTATION which Simon acquired, and that he regarded the subsequent history of Simon as the natural result of what occurred in the beginning of his connection with the Christians."

If we assume that Luke recorded this encounter of the Apostles with Simon Magus simply to show that "simony" was wrong, we miss the point completely. There is a score of places in other parts of the Bible to show the error of buying ecclesiastical gifts.

Luke was exposing SIMON MAGUS HIMSELF. This IS the important point!! Luke was clearly showing that Simon was NEVER a part of God’s Church, even though by 62 A.D., many people were being taught that Simon was truly a Christian -- taught that he was the HEAD of the only TRUE Christians; the Apostle to the Gentiles!

 

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PART 3

What Luke Tells Us About Simon Magus

Notice the points Luke places clearly before us.
1) Simon was a Samaritan, not a Jew -- (Acts 8:9). Remember that the Bible tells us salvation was of the Jews -- not of the Samaritans (John 4:22).

2) Simon Magus greatly used demonic powers to do miracles and wonders (Acts 8:9).

3) The whole population of Samaria (both small and great) gave heed to him (Verse 10). He was looked on as the greatest prophet -- all Samaritans BELIEVED IN HIM!

4) The Samaritans WORSHIPPED him as "the Great One" -- a god. "This man is that power of God called Great [that is the Almighty]" (RSV. Verse 10). Imagine it! They called him god in the flesh!

5) Luke is also careful to inform us that Simon had become firmly established in Samaria as "the Great One" and had practiced his powers "for a long time" (Verse 11).

6) Luke wants us to understand that he nominally became a Christian ("Simon himself believed") and was baptized -- that is, he physically, outwardly "entered" the Christian Church (Verse 13).

7) Simon even recognized that Christ’s power was greater than his but wanted to be associated with that great name (Verse 13).

8) Simon, seeing the potential of the Christian religion waited until the authorities, Peter and John, came to Samaria and then offered to pay them money to OBTAIN AN APOSTLESHIP IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (Verses 18-21).

 

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PART 4

Simon Coveted Apostle’s Office

Those who carelessly read this section of Scripture may get the mistaken notion that Simon wanted only to buy the Holy Spirit. Yes, he wanted that -- but his main intention went far beyond. He had eyes on becoming an APOSTLE!

Peter immediately perceived his intention and said "You have neither PART nor LOT in this matter" (Verse 21). The true Apostles had been chosen after Christ’s death to take PART in the apostleship by LOT (Acts 1:25, 26). Peter was telling Simon he couldn’t buy an APOSTLESHIP.

Luke is showing that Simon wanted to be one of the APOSTLES -- a top man in the Christian Church. He was after that office. After all Simon imagined himself to be fully qualified to be an APOSTLE, especially over the Samaritans since they already looked to him as the greatest religious leader of the age. However, Peter rebuked him sternly.

9) Peter perceived that Simon was in the "gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity [lawlessness]" (Verse 23).

NOTE: This verse has been misunderstood because the King James Version fails to give the full force of Peter’s accusation. This verse when understood in the manner Peter intended, is one of the most important of the whole chapter. IT IS A PROPHECY! Peter knew the mind of this man and what this man was to become. This is made plain by Sir William Ramsay in his Pictures of the Apostolic Church, p. 60. He says: "Peter rebuked him in strong and PROPHETIC TERMS. The PROPHECY is concealed in the ordinary translation: the Greek means ‘thou art FOR a gall of bitterness and a fetter of unrighteousness [lawlessness]’, i.e., a cause of bitterness and corruption to others.

This makes it plain. Peter was uttering a prophecy by the Holy Spirit. He was telling what this Simon was to become; Lange’s Commentary says: "Peter’s words, literally, mean: ‘I regard you as a man whose influence WILL BE like that of bitter gall [poison] and a bond of unrighteousness [lawlessness], or, as a man who has reached such a state’." (Vol. 9, p. 148).

Not only was Simon, in Peter’s time, a great antagonist to the Church, but he would be the adversary in the future.

This prophecy is the KEY that opens to our understanding the ORIGINS of the heresies mentioned in the letters of the Apostles. Peter clearly knew Simon wouldn’t repent. Verse 22 shows that in the original.

 

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PART 5

Gall of Bitterness Defined

It is also interesting to note Peter’s statement that Simon was to become a "gall of bitterness." People today may not realize the exact meaning of such a phrase, but no Jew in the First Century was in any doubt as to its meaning.

It was a figure of speech adopted from the Old Testament which denoted going over to the idols and abominations of the heathen. Read Deuteronomy 29:16-18 and see how plainly this figure of speech is used. When the Apostle Peter applied to Simon Magus the phrase "gall of bitterness," he meant that Simon would be the responsible party for the introduction of heathen beliefs and idols into Christianity. The prophecy takes on a new and important scope when we realize this real meaning of Peter’s prophecy.

No wonder Jude later says, speaking about the very men who followed Simon Magus (including Simon himself): "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ORDAINED to this condemnation" (Verse 4). We can be confident that Peter recognized that Satan was going to use this Simon Magus as the GREAT PROTAGONIST OF FALSE CHRISTIANITY.

The later history of Simon Magus shows that Peter’s prophecy came true in a most remarkable way.

Simon Magus Unrepentant

10) Even after Peter’s strong rebuke, Simon DID NOT REPENT! And Peter knew that he wouldn’t!

Conclusion: This means that Simon thought he deserved to be an Apostle -- if not the chief Apostle -- in the Christian Church. He became baptized which, in a physical way, made him ostentatiously a "member." It is important to remember that he DID NOT REPENT of his error. There is not the slightest hint that he gave up believing that he had divine right to be an Apostle.

He deliberately continued in this error, with his later followers -- calling himself "Christian"! It is because of the later deceptive activities of this would-be Apostle that Luke was compelled to show his ignominious beginning and to reveal what Peter prophesied about him.

It is by identifying the real beginning of the great false church system with this Simon that opens up a whole new vista of understanding in regard to the counterfeit Christianity which began even in the infancy of the Church.

 

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PART 6

What Did Simon and the Samaritans Believe?

One of the most scholarly of early church historians was Harnack, who wrote an extensive seven-volume work titled The History of Dogma. This man is recognized as one of the top authorities in the world on this subject.

He states: "Long before the appearance of Christianity, combinations of religion had taken place in Syria and Palestine, ESPECIALLY IN SAMARIA, insofar as the ASSYRIAN and BABYLONIAN religious philosophy . . . with its manifold interpretations, had penetrated as far as the eastern shore of the Mediterranean" (Vol. 1, pp. 243, 244).

Notice he says the Babylonian religion had come ESPECIALLY TO SAMARIA! !

And why not? The Samaritans were largely Babylonian by race. The Bible tells us in II Kings 17:24 that most of the Samaritans had been taken to Samaria from Babylon and adjacent areas. Later on, Ezra informs us that others who were mainly of Babylonian stock came to Samaria (Ezra 4:9-10). These people amalgamated their Babylonian religious beliefs with some of the teachings from the Old Testament. But they NEVER DEPARTED basically from their own Babylonian-Chaldean religious teachings.

If anyone doubts that these Samaritans practiced outright paganism under the guise of YHVH worship, let him read the extraordinarily clear indictments recorded in the inspired Word of God (II Kings 17:24-41).

 

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PART 7

A Brief History of the Samaritans

There were originally five Babylonian tribes who had been transported to the area where Northern Israel once lived before Israel’s inglorious defeat and captivity by the Assyrians. When these five tribes moved INTO the vacant land of Samaria, they brought their Babylonian and Assyrian gods with them.

After a short while in their new country, they were ravaged by lions. They interpreted this punishment as coming upon them because they failed to honor the god of the new land -- not realizing that there is only One Great GOD, who is not confined to any one land. These Samaritans didn’t have sense enough to realize that the True God of the land had sent Israel into captivity because of their calf-worship and their introduction of Phoenician religion.

They asked the Assyrian king to send back one of the priests of Israel to teach them the former religion in order that the plague of lions would be stayed.

The Israelitish priest who was sent to them taught the religion of Northern Israel. Remember that the priests of Northern Israel were NOT Levites. At the time of Jeroboam, the true priests of God were forced to flee to Jerusalem and Judea (II Chron. 11:14). Jeroboam set up his own form of religion with the calves at Dan and Bethel (I Kings 12:28-30). He moved the Holy Days from the seventh to the eighth month. He made priests of the lowest of the people, those who were NOT of Levi (I Kings 12:31).

All of these acts of Jeroboam were outright violations of God’s law. It was from the time of Jeroboam down to the time of Israel’s captivity, that the majority of Israel was NOT worshipping the True God at all! Jerusalem and God’s temple had been repudiated, and paganism had been introduced on a grand scale. When these transplanted Babylonians who were being afflicted by lions in Samaria asked for a priest of the former people -- THEY GOT ONE! But that priest was one of the former calf-worshipping priests of the rebel Israelites. He was almost as pagan as the Babylonians themselves!

This priest of Israel taught the Babylonians (now called Samaritans) to adopt the former worship of the Northern Israelites. The priest taught them to revere YHVH as the "God of the Land." Thus, these Samaritans finally took upon themselves the NAME: The People of YHVH; but their religion was outright paganism -- a mixture of Israelitish calf-worship and Babylonianism -- just as Simon Magus later was eager to appropriate Christ’s NAME, but continue his pagan abominations!

Notice what God says about the final condition of these Samaritans.

"So these nations feared the Lord [calling themselves God’s people], AND served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers [the Babylonians], so do they unto this day" (II Kings 17:41).

These people called themselves the worshippers of the True God, but were actually Babylonian idolaters.

PART 8

What Deities Did the Samaritans Worship?

It will pay us to notice the gods and goddesses that these forefathers of Simon Magus brought with them to Samaria. The people from the City of Babylon adored SUCCOTH-BENOTH; the Cuthites: NERGAL; the Hamathites: ASHIMA; the Avites: NIBHAZ and TAR-TAK; the Sepharvites: ADRAM-MELECH and ANAM-MELECH.

The first deity is SUCCOTH-BENOTH, a goddess. It was Semiramis in the form of Venus. Listen to Jones in his Proper Names of the O.T., p. 348. He says the name signifies "Tabernacles of daughters." It means: "Chapels made of green boughs, which the men of Babylon, who had been transported into Samaria, erected in honor to Venus, and where their daughters were PROSTITUTED by the devotees of that abominable goddess. It was the custom of Babylon, the mother of harlots, and therefore HER SONS DID THE SAME THING IN SAMARIA."

What about the god NERGAL of Cuth? We are informed by McClintock and Strong’s Encyclopedia that the name signifies "the great man," "the great hero" or "the god of the chase," i.e., the Hunter. In other words, as the Encyclopedia further points out, he was a form of NIMROD. This Hunter-god was honored by the people of CUTH for Arabian tradition tells us that CUTH was the special city of NIMROD (vol. VI, p. 950).

The next god was that of Hamath: ASHIMA. Jones shows us that he was the great pagan god of propitiation, i.e., the god who bore the guilt of his worshippers (p. 42). This god was the pagan REDEEMER -- the OSIRIS of Egyptian fame or the dying NIMROD.

The Avites worshipped NIBHAZ (masc. -- the god of HADES) and TAR-TAK, "the mother of the gods". This last-mentioned goddess was supposedly the mother of the Assyrian race, or, as Jones says, she was SEMIRAMIS (see p. 354).

The fifth Babylonian tribe worshiped pre-eminently two gods. ADRAM-MELECH and ANAM-MELECH. The first was the "god of fire," the Sun or the Phoenician Baal (Jones, p. 14); the second was "the god of the flocks" or the Greek HERMES, the Good Shepherd (p. 32).

(It is self-evident that these gods and goddesses were the major Babylonian deities, and at the same time, the very gods and goddesses which the Roman Catholic Church deifies today as Christ, Mary, etc.)

Simon Magus grew up in this mixed-up society. The Samaritans called themselves the people of the True God, but religiously were practicing Babylonians. Simon himself was a priest of these people (the word "Magus" is the Chaldean/Persian word for "priest"). Thus, in the encounter of Peter with Simon Magus, we find the first real connection of true Christianity with the Chaldean priest who was prophesied to bring in its false counterpart.

Next, we will see how Simon Magus managed to startle the Roman world with his plan to bring in one universal religion under the guise of Christianity.

 

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PART 9

Simon Magus Begins UNIVERSAL Church

History comes alive with the startling story of how Simon Magus -- branded a FALSE PROPHET by the book of Acts -- established HIS OWN UNIVERSAL church!

SIMON MAGUS was a Babylonian priest. He was a part of the Babylonian community that had been living in the land of Northern Israel ever since the Northern Ten Tribes were carried away captive by the Assyrians. God tells us that these Samaritans, as they were called, were claiming to be the true people of God while at the same time practicing many heathen rites which came directly from Babylon (II Kings 17:41).

This was the type of religious environment in which Simon Magus was born. This was the environment in which he commenced his own ministry and was finally proclaimed the "great one . . . the great power of God" -- that is, God Himself (Acts 8:9-10).

He so swayed the whole of the Samaritan nation that all gave heed to him -- they did for a very long time (Verses 9-11). But when he saw the potential of Christianity, he endeavored to buy an apostleship in the Church. Peter rebuked him sternly.

Simon Magus and HIS Universal Church

Simon Magus, after his rejection by Peter, began to fashion his own "Christian" church -- a church of which HE was head -- a church designed to completely overthrow the True Church of God. His idea was to blend together Babylonian teaching with some of the teachings of Christ -- especially to take the name of Christ -- and thus create ONE UNIVERSAL CHURCH! But a church with Babylonianism as its basis.

Harnack, a church historian, states that Simon Magus "proclaimed a doctrine in which the Jewish faith was strangely and grotesquely mixed with BABYLONIAN myths, together with some Greek additions. The mysterious worship . . . in consequence of the widened horizon and the deepening religious feeling, finally the wild SYNCRETISM [that is, blending together of religious beliefs], whose aim WAS A UNIVERSAL RELIGION, all contributed to gain adherents for Simon" (Vol. 1, p. 244).

Simon can be classified among the major group of so-called Christians (and Simon called himself such), called by Harnack the: "decidedly anti-Jewish groups . . . . They advance much further in the criticism of the Old Testament and perceived the impossibility of saving it [that is, the Old Testament] for the Christian UNIVERSAL RELIGION. They rather connected this [universal] religion with the cultus-wisdom of BABYLON and SYRIA" (VoI. 1, p. 246).

With this background, we can understand why Peter so strongly rebuked Simon for his Babylonian ideas. Peter prophesied that this was the man who was to be the "gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity" to the True Church. Simon’s attitude was corrupt in the extreme!

The Bible shows he had been working through demons. And yet, he finally called himself a "Christian." Dr. McGiffert, speaking of Simon Magus, says: "His effort to rival and surpass Jesus very likely began after his contact with the Christians that Luke records. His religious system was apparently a SYNCRETISM of Jewish and Oriental elements" (Hasting’s Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Vol. 2, p. 497).

 

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PART 10

Simon’s Later Activities

To read all the material that the writers of the second to the fourth centuries wrote about this man and his followers, would literally take days. He has been called by many of them "the father of HERESY," and, apart from the Bible, the amount of literature devoted to him and his activities, shows he lived up to that title.

Some of the following authorities to be brought forth were eyewitnesses of many of the things mentioned, and they were writing to others who were likewise eyewitnesses. Much of the testimony to be mentioned is conclusive and cannot be set aside.

With this evidence of Simon’s activities after his rejection by Peter, we will clearly be able to see why Luke thought it most important to tell the real condition of this man, proving that he was in actuality NEVER an Apostle of Christ. In this regard, notice the comment of Hasting’s Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Vol. 2, p. 496: "But it need NOT be supposed that when Simon broke with the Christians HE RENOUNCED ALL HE HAD LEARNED. It is more probable that he carried some of the Christian ideas with him, and that he wove these into a system of his own. This system did contain some of the later germs of Gnosticism. Thus he became a leader of a retro-grade sect, perhaps nominally Christian, and certainly using some of the Christian terminology but in reality anti-Christian and exalting Simon himself to the central position which Christianity was giving to Jesus Christ" (Ibid).

Simon Magus Blends Paganism With Christianity!

What Simon did was to bring the Babylonian and Greek religious beliefs into a form of Christianity in order to bring about, as Harnack says, a UNIVERSAL [Catholic] religion.

"The amalgam of paganism and Christianity which was characteristic of Gnosticism, and which was especially obvious in the Simonian system, is readily explicable in the teaching of Simon Magus, who, according to the story in Acts, was brought into intimate contact with Christian teaching without becoming a genuine member" (Ibid., p. 496).

We further find in Schaff’s History of the Church a reference to this Simon Magus. He says: "The author, or first representative of this baptized HEATHENISM, according to the uniform testimony of Christian antiquity, is Simon Magus, who unquestionably adulterated Christianity with pagan ideas and practices, and gave himself out, in a pantheistic style for an emanation of God" Apostolic Christianity, ol. 2, p. 566).

Simon only used the name of Christianity to bring about his own desired ends. The Dictionary of Religion and Ethics says that Simon was "a false Messiah, who practiced magical arts and subsequently attempted, by the aid and with the sanction of Christianity, to set up a rival UNIVERSAL [Catholic] RELIGION" (Vol. 11, p. 514).

Again, what do the histories tell us Simon’s doctrines consisted of primarily?

"Two independent traditions profess to preserve the teaching of Simon, the one betraying the influence of Alexandrian allegory, the other of Syrian and Babylonian religion" Dictionary of Religion and Ethics, Vol. 11, p. 516).

It is no wonder that Luke hits hard at the infamy of Simon -- for Simon claimed to be a Christian -- even an Apostle -- and yet was preaching Babylonian paganism. HE WAS CALLING PAGANISM BY THE NAME OF CHRISTIANITY!

"Evidently the Simonian heresy always had a Christian tinge. This made it more dangerous to Christians than a Gnostic which did not affect any Christian influence. Luke therefore would be anxious to disclose the true circumstances that accounted for the origin of the sect -- circumstances highly discreditable to Simon" Hasting’s Bible Dictionary, p. 498).

The reason Luke recorded this encounter with Simon was its far-reaching effects. As Hasting’s explains, the important reason was that of "Luke’s well-known plan of describing THE FIRST MEETING between Christianity and rival systems" (Ibid., p. 498).

Luke gives in detail the principal character who established the so-called Christian counterpart of the Truth in the Apostles’ days. This is the reason the Apostles in their Church letters many times mention the false system as ALREADY IN EXISTENCE, but fail to describe its origin. They didn’t have to. That was already done RIGHT AT THE FIRST by Luke!

 

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PART 11

Who History Says This Simon Became!

"When Justin Martyr wrote [152 A.D.] his Apology, the sect of the Simonians appears to have been formidable, for he speaks four times of their founder, Simon; and we need not doubt that he identified him with the Simon of the Acts. He states that he was a Samaritan, adding that his birthplace was a village called Gitta; he describes him as a formidable magician, and tells that he came to ROME in the days of Claudius Caesar (45 A.D.), and made such an impression by his magical powers, THAT HE WAS HONORED AS A GOD, a statue being erected to him on the Tiber, between the two bridges, bearing the inscription ‘Simoni deo Sancto’ (i.e., the holy god Simon)" Dictionary of Christian Biography,
Vol. 4, p. 682).

That these things actually happened CANNOT BE DOUBTED! Justin was writing to the Roman people at the time and they could certainly have exposed Justin’s credulity if what he said was not so. And, that a statue of Simon was actually erected is definite, for Justin asks the authorities in Rome to destroy it!

There are many writers, who lived in Rome itself, who afterwards repeated Justin’s account. Those who want to reject these clear statements have nothing in their favor. Justin is clearly giving us fact!

Hasting’s Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Vol 2, p. 496, states that there is "very slight evidence on which to reject so precise a statement as Justin makes; a statement he would scarcely have hazarded in an apology addressed to Rome, where every person had the means of ascertaining its accuracy. If he made a mistake, it must have been at once exposed, and other writers would not have frequently repeated the story as they have done."

At the time of Claudius, it was illegal to erect a statue to any man as a god or greatly honored person unless the permission of the Emperor and the Senate had been secured. The statue was still standing in Justin’s day (152 A.D.), people were still giving regard to it.

There are many other accounts of Simon’s traveling to Rome and becoming one of the great gods to the city and to the people of Rome. There are records which show that Simon "prophesies that Rome will be the scene of his crowning glory, when he will be adored as a god" Dictionary of Religion & Ethics, Vol. 11, p. 522).

 

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PART 12

Simon Peter NOT With Simon Magus in Rome

Later, about the fourth century, a flood of works came out about Peter encountering Simon Magus in Rome and overthrowing him. But these works are clearly fiction. Almost all scholars realize the absurdity of maintaining such a thing. In the first place, it can be Biblically shown that Peter the Apostle was NEVER in Rome when these fictitious writings say he should be.

It was NOT Simon Peter who went to Rome to become Apostle to the Gentiles, but the SIMON in Rome was SIMON MAGUS!

That Peter the Apostle was not with Simon Magus in Rome is made plain by the Encyclopedia Biblica, col. 4554.

"The attempt has been made to meet this by pointing out that church fathers mention the presence of SIMON in Rome while at the same time NOT speaking of controversies between him and PETER. This is indeed true of Justin [one of the earliest witnesses -- 152 A.D. who knows nothing of any presence of Peter in Rome at all, as also of Irenaeus."

Not only did Justin feel that Peter was NOT in Rome at the time, but his deliberate silence shows he didn’t want to perpetrate such fiction. After all, Justin lived very early in the history of the church, and the legend of the Apostle Peter’s being in Rome HADN’T GOT
STARTED YET! Continuing with the Encyclopedia Biblica about Justin’s reference to SIMON MAGUS: "One part of this tradition -- that about Simon’s presence in Rome -- he [Justin] found himself able to accept [in fact he held it to be confirmed by the statue, which he brought into connection with Simon]; the other -- that about Peter’s presence in Rome -- he was unable to accept" (col. 4555).

Of course Justin was unable to accept the latter teaching. The fact is, Simon Peter was NOT in Rome. It was another Simon who went there -- SIMON MAGUS, the one bringing "Christianity" to them in the guise of the old Babylonian mystery religions. Simon came to Rome with the grand idea of e stablishing a UNIVERSAL RELIGION in the NAME of Christianity! And what is remarkable, he did just that!

Next, we will see how Simon Magus became later confused with Simon Peter and how he cleverly brought into "Christianity" the mystery religions of Babylon.

Peter Was NOT The First Pope!