Killing God - Part 30 For the Love of Things

For the Love of Things:

                Simonism wasn’t a new thing! Simon was in to himself, and he was enough of a Houdini to fool even the elect. Mankind is easy to fool. Our folly is ourselves. (Yes, I included me!) People like easy money, luxurious living, and fame. Everyone seeks importance from their fellow man. Some may take issue on that matter, and that’s okay. However, even the suicidal are only seeking love and recognition, it seems. That is the last cry for attention, forgiveness, or love. Simon was an attention seeker. ⁵³⁵

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.

                This man was as god at least to himself and other people. That is all mankind’s problem. Everyone seeks to be master of their own domain – doing what is right in their own eyes. Simon wanted recognition that he had “great power”. He was so skilled at imitation that, like the serpent who beguiled Eve, Simon bewitched the naïve. Then, as the scripture tells it, he heard Philip preaching, and with the Word, people believed and were baptized. When the sorcerer heard, “Simon himself believed (Greek; pisteuo; “had faith in”; “trusted”) ⁵³⁶ also.” He was a believer in the sense that the demons are. ⁵³⁷ (This story should be a lesson that “belief” is not enough to be born again. Even trusting that Jesus saves is not efficacious. The rebirth is accepting and trusting in Jesus’s blood for one’s own salvation. Simon trusted in God but failed to trust Him for righteousness sake.)

                Then, Simon said: ⁵³⁸

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.

                Saul said that although even he has not received the Holy Ghost! Simon was told to repent but it seemed that he did not. He even asked for prayer but to no avail as far as is known. History does relate that Simon learned Christianity. He surely received an “A” grade in catechism. (In my youth I was “saved” because I received an “A” in catechism but making me only a smart sinner). Simon became a very clever sinner! He worked miracles similar to Jesus – even flying and levitating at will! ⁵³⁹ It is written that Simon claimed to be the Christ, and Irenaeus credited Simon as the founder of Gnosticism with the sect of Simonism. Gnosticism was the competing religion and Simon was Jesus’s competitor for notoriety! Gnosticism was as spread as Christianity, and about killed the Doctrine of Christ!

                Before Gnosticism is discussed as a doctrine which sought to kill God, consider Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”: ⁵⁴⁰

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

                As Paul traveled and preached, so did Simon. Much of Paul’s sermons and letters were about false prophets and false teachings. It appears that Paul preached against Simon, not regaling him by name. Simon was certainly the messenger of Satan who buffeted him. Just as Satan spoke through the mouth of the serpent, he spoke through Simon’s mouth. Even more demonstrative of the confusion over who was Christ, Simon too was crucified and possibly flayed. Simon received fame and glory just as he sought. During the reign of Claudius, he was considered 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’”. ⁵⁴¹

                Thus, early history tells us that Simon, as an instrument of Satan, almost killed God. Indeed, he sought to crucify Christ all over again! Simon was one of the founders of Gnosticism according to Irenaeus. That heresy seemed to die. History later revealed (1945) that the established Church concealed those false writings as they were rediscovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. ⁵⁴² In this view, there was secret knowledge about Christianity, and Jesus’s phantasm was only crucified; not God in the flesh. Thus, this doctrine sought to rob Jesus of his identity, and Simon appeared to have assumed the role of the Christ and him crucified. Simonism nearly killed God but it couldn’t quite accomplish that! Not to be defeated, recently Gnosticism has regained a foot-hold. The popular movie, The De Vinci Code, revived Gnosticism.

                The manuscripts found at Nag Hammadi can be rejected as non-scriptural:

·         Lack of continuity to canon.

·         Questionable authorship.

·         False identities of the writers.

·         Later period of authorship.

·         Denial of Jesus’s substance.

·         Role of Mary Magdalene which is not supported in scripture.

·         Denial of a “good” Creator.

Simon Magus did a good job. Satan always does because Simon knew what Satan knew because he was an antichrist!

                The New Age Movement has supplanted Gnosticism as a competitor to Christianity. Like Gnosticism it too is from the messenger of Satan. Like early Gnosticism of which little was known until recently, the New Age Movement is as covert as Gnosticism was overt. Heresies seek to kill God by killing the Doctrine of Christ. It operates by denying Existence of God, assigning false characteristics to God, or supplanting Christ with other gods, or at least giving them equal authority.

                When some say things as, A good God would never send anyone to Hell, that is deceptive in three ways:

·         Denies God’s Law as just, and Him as Judge.

·         Distorts doctrine: People choose Hell. God only allows them a choice.

·         Implies that Hell is not for real.

·         Denies that Jesus saves from eternal punishment.

·         Questions God’s goodness.

·         Pretends that the person who says that knows more than God. (They pretend to be as God).

That one sentence is heresy in a nut-shell. Gnosticism is a heresy whose adherents pretend to know more than God with their secret knowledge. Ideas such as that silly statement are attempts to undermine God, and effectually from the world’s standpoint, kill God! Gnosticism is still alive, and ironically, Simon is indeed a Christ (sic) – a false one; and antichrist.

                Simon loved things! His desire was to have money. Just as Judas sold out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, Simon sold out Jesus’s Ghost for money. Judas was a Simon before Simon, but both were serpents! Sin, just as God warned, killed them both. In Satan’s quest to kill God, Judas and Simon were the useful idiots! Falling for folly is damning and is just not worth it.

                Paul, surely understanding Simon, said, “the love of money (Greek; philarguria; “avarice”) ⁵⁴³ is the root of all evil”. ⁵⁴⁴ It’s not the money which men love! Avarice is strong desire for gain. It is only measured by money because money buys things! Avarice were the fruits of the Tree of Life: beauty, Epicureanism, and knowledge or power and prestige. Thus the Stoics and the Epicureans who Paul confronted were seeking avarice. ⁵⁴⁵ Simon sought avarice. When he saw the Holy Ghost, he wanted some of “that”; not to be a temple of God but to be God.  Simon traded his soul to the devil in a Faustian manner. It was for the love of money!

                People still crave money – things to be precise. Look at even the Christians’ notion of Christmas – giving and receiving things. Sure, when God was born, he did receive gifts but they were to magnify His Existence. The gold – His Kingship, the incense – His Life, and myrrh – His Death. Christmas steals the glory from God and assigns His merits to ourselves. Indeed, “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” ⁵⁴⁶ However, the context is self-sacrfice, not unneeded things!

                The western world is Epicurean. Many worship an “Unknown God” as Paul concluded. Epicureanism is living for pleasure. Sure, one may have a god, but that “god” is to serve the people things!  The Unknown God gives what one wills. The One True God desires that one give to His will. That is the “better to give than to receive” admonishment! 

                As Seth’s righteous “seed” looked down from the Holy Mountain as recounted previously, they desired what Cain’s seed had. If one reviews that situation, it was pleasure. Mankind’s religion is self-worship, and by being “as gods”, God’s authority is killed. Mankind are all Epicureans, and their god is well-known – they are themselves!

                Knowing that is human nature, Stoics practice asceticism. They gain satisfaction by self-sacrifice. They cherish knowledge, and like all philosophy – “the love of wisdom”, they seek contentment by works. By doing without they perceive that they merit good will. As only God is good, He sees their self-sacrifice as “filthy rags” ⁵⁴⁷ because they sacrfice not to God but to their own piety. They are Epicurean in nature, as hard as they fight it, because sacrificial living – works – is what seemingly makes them happy.

                Epicureanism is somewhat a national religion in the U.S. People live for pleasure and consider pleasure as a right. On the other hand, eastern religions are more Stoic, balancing the forces within themselves – a very Stoic idea. If anything is an inconvenience for the modern-day Epicurean it is disposable. Even unborn life itself is just an inconvenience to even many within the Church! On the other hand, many work hard and sacrifice for others – that is humanism. However, if it is not for God’s purpose, it serves no divine purpose!

                God may be dead to some but for them, their “Unknown God” is alive and well. Paul proclaimed to the philosophers who God Is!  In this book, I proclaim your Unknown God to truly be Jesus Christ, who incidentally, is not dead! He has risen.

⁵³⁵ Holy Bible; Acts 8.

⁵³⁶ Strong’s Dictionary; “pisteuo”.

⁵³⁷ Holy Bible; James 2:19.

⁵³⁸ ibid; Acts 18-19.

⁵³⁹ Wikipedia; “Simon Magus”.

⁵⁴⁰ Holy Bible; 2 Cor 12:7 (parenthesis the author’s).

⁵⁴¹ Apologia; XXVI.

⁵⁴² Wikipedia; “Gnosticism”.

⁵⁴³ Strong’s Dictionary; “philarguria”.

⁵⁴⁴ Holy Bible; 1 Tim 6:10.

⁵⁴⁵ ibid; Acts 17.

⁵⁴⁶ ibid; Acts 20:35.

⁵⁴⁷ ibid; Isa 64:6.