Cults: Part 2

Simonism, then, is endeavoring to sell what belongs to God. Actually, Simon was trying to buy but his reason was to make a profit at the expense of God. That sin - buying and selling for undue profit, is usury. Simon was trying to take advantage of the church. There are many modern churches whose leaders do just that. They peddle the Holy Gospel, but have found that it is profitable, although it is at the expense of the less fortunate. Most often, cult leaders become rich off the gullibility of those with less. The drive for people to be included in a family makes people more receptive to deception. Indeed, a manner of proselytizing by cults is concern, friendship, and feigned love.

Paul was the pre-eminent apostle who spread the word to the gentiles. Let's see what he had to say:

2 Corinthians 12:7 "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure."

What was Paul's "thorn in the flesh"? What goaded Paul? Some say it was his poor vision, lust, etc., and others have assigned to him  various types of "thorns". I don't believe physical things would goad Paul enough to complain about because he withstood much persecution. I believe that his goad was spiritual in nature. In fact, Paul named his thorn - "a messenger of Satan". It was either a dark angel (messenger) or a preacher (another messenger).  My contention is that Simon Magus was Paul's thorn in the flesh. 

"The flesh" is man's intermediary to the world. Everything in or of the world interfaces with mankind through the "antennae" of the flesh. Of course, "flesh" is not the skin, but human desires - the nature of man. We are all born with the flesh plaguing us. That is original sin dating back to Adam's fall. The things which appease the flesh come from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As such knowledge was what goaded Paul, not his own but the knowledge of others.

Arising concurrently with Christianity was Gnosticism. The main premise is that it takes esoteric knowledge (gnosis) for the human spirit to be redeemed. "Esoteric" is hidden knowledge which only a few had obtained. Simon Magus had watched Philip, and witnessed the imbuing of the Holy Spirit into Christians. He sought to possess that knowledge. He witnessed divine "magic" - a miracle, and he offered to pay to have that "knowledge". From scripture, he didn't get it. He was castigated for his heresy! In Scripture, that is the end of Simon the Sorcerer but did he leave the Church in peace? I think not, and Paul knew not!

Simon's sin was the same as Adam's. It was the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge which he ate. However, knowledge is both good and evil. He understood the goodness of Christ but he also knew evil fruits as well. Cunning was the fruit the serpent used. Simon ingested the fruit of cunningness as he communed with Satan. Thus, Gnosticism was born!

Gnosticism seems to be of little consequence today, but that is an illusion. Christianity did win out as the Church grew, but all the while the Church was growing, the anti-church was as well. Gnosticism almost superseded Christianity as the apostolic era's religion. Christianity and Gnosticism both propagated Jesus as the Savior of mankind - some with gnosis that he was a man, and to others he was a phantasm.  Two opposing doctrines struggling for their own "versions" of truth, fought spiritual battles in the apostolic age. Will the real Jesus please stand out? Because of God's power it was the scriptural Jesus that the world came to love and worship. However, the "thorn" still goads much of the world. We only thought that Gnosticism was dead, but in the last days, it becomes the religion of the world. We are nearing that point right now!

Simon sought secret knowledge. He desired to be privy to the mystery of God. He didn't get it, so he apparently devised his own! Simonism, is the sin of Adam. He became as a god just as the serpent informed mankind. Did Simon walk on water? We don't know that, but he did float on air. He ascended through levitation. Surely, Simon had the knowledge of God, or at least the people thought so!

The Apostolic Constitutions refer to Simon as "lawless", in that because of sola gratia (grace alone) the Law of Moses was no longer binding. That heresy is called antinomianism, and is still alive today in Calvinism.  Many Baptists accept that notion. That seems strange but if one considers that faith is considered a gift without utility, that makes sense to them. (Faith is a gift from God [Ephes 2:8], but it's lifelong practice is a work [1 Thes 1:3]). 

First century writings were full of mention of Simon Magus in the writings of the church fathers - Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius. Simon left Philip but he certainly didn't go away! Irenaeus wrote that Simon of Getta was one of the founders of the doctrine of Gnosticism and his sect was Simonism. He "preached" - actually practiced Christian sorcery in Samaria. The apocryphal writings mention Simon in the  Acts of Peter, Pseudo-Clementines, and the Epistle of the Apostles, Simon also appears as a formidable sorcerer with the ability to levitate and fly at will. (Wikipedia; "Simon Magus").

Let's look at the contest: In ring one is Paul. He preaches the gospel, but his evidence is gone. Paul knew only the spiritual Jesus.  Simon used that to propagate his own doctrine - that only a phantasm died on the cross. Paul merely preached. Simon could fly. It was a contest between the spiritual and the real. Why believe the unseen things of Paul and the apostles, such as the invisible works of the Holy Spirit, when Simon can fly? Whereas, an invisible spirit came down on Paul's followers, the real deal came down with Simon. People believed that Simon could fly. Perhaps he could, just as Pharaoh's magicians could do real things! However, those who know Jesus realize it was demons who made him fly, if it was any more than a deception!

According to Wikipedia, and ascribed to Justin Martyr and Irenaeus:

Justin Martyr(in his Apologies, and in a lost work against heresies, which Irenaeus used as his main source) and Irenaeus (Adversus Haereses) record that after being cast out by the Apostles, Simon Magus came to Rome where, having joined to himself a profligate woman of the name of Helen, he gave out that it was he who appeared among the Jews as the Son, in Samaria as the Father and among other nations as the Holy Spirit. He performed such signs by magic acts during the reign of Claudius that he was regarded as a god and honored with a statue on the island in the Tiber which the two bridges cross, with the inscription Simoni Deo Sancto, "To Simon the Holy God" (Apologia, XXVI).

Simon was honored as a god, and appeared to the Jews as the Son. It appears that Simon Magus was known as Jesus, hence the Son of Man wasn't crucified but only His Spirit was! The serpent warned that mankind would become "as gods" and here it was happening. People could see the "Jesus" Simon but the real Jesus had already ascended. Who are you going to believe - the "scientists" or  the "preachers" in today's parlance! 

Gnostics grew in number in opposition to the apostles that Paul spent much of his time preaching against Gnosticism. The "false religion" of which he spoke was the Simonian sect of Gnosticism:

Here is one example of Peter's warnings (Paul warned many times as well):

2 Peter 2 "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber."

The false teachers were the Gnostics. I believe that even the Jews which scripture acknowledges, always needs miracles, to believe:

1 Corinthians 1:22 "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom..."

Indeed, "Pearson, Birger 1990 Gnosticism, Judaism and Egyptian Christianity" points toward Gnosticism being of Jewish origin!  You can see that since Paul preached to the Jews, and they rejected his doctrine, that he had to turn to the Gentiles. It would seem that Simon's magic was almost more convincing than Paul's preaching! Of course, although I believe the doctrine of Simon is the origin of Gnosticism, it was not organized as a doctrine until after his death, as many cults seem to do!

We end Part 2 with my contention that Simon the Sorcerer was Paul's "thorn in the flesh", and it was his thorn of which Paul spoke. In practice, this was the first signs that a cult was in the making - from a biblical standpoint. Simon's magic surely goaded Paul, and all the apostles, as they preached divine truth against physical reality. Simon was surely Paul's "thorn in the flesh" and the originator of the Gnostic doctrine in opposition to Christian truth.