Yearly Archives: 2020

The Aftermath of the Samaritan Revival – Acts 8:9-25

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

If you’re wondering what kind of “sorcery” (v.9) was available to men in Bible days, that word is first used to describe men who were able to do legitimate miracles (Ex. 7:10,11; 20-22; 8:6,7).  And when Verse 9 says Simon not only did them, he gave out that he himself was “some great one,” that makes him a type of the antichrist (II Thes. 2:3, 4, 9).

Antichrist hadn’t come yet back then, but I John 2:18 said there were “many” antichrists, and Simon was one of them.  The “last times” were interrupted by the dispensation of grace, but Simon is giving us a picture of what the world will look like after the Rapture when God restarts His prophetic clock and guys like Simon start running around again working miracles and claiming to be some great one—just like the Lord predicted (Mt. 24:3-5).  And you know how those false christs will “deceive many” don’t you?  The Lord went on to say he’ll use “great signs and wonders” (Mt. 24:24).  And all those false christs will be types of the antichrist.

When everyone in Samaria “gave heed” to Simon (v. 10), that’s a type of how everyone in the world will wonder after the beast (Rev. 13:3; 17:8).  When Acts 8:11 says Simon be-witched them “long time,” that exact phrase is used to describe the three years the Lord was with the 12 (John 14:8,9)—the same amount of time the Antichrist will bewitch people during the first half of the seven years of Tribulation.

When Acts 8:12 says all the Samaritans believed the gospel, that’s a picture of the “multitudes” that will get saved in the Tribulation (Rev. 7:9, 14) despite being bewitched by the antichrist—just as the Samaritans believed despite being bewitched by Simon!  When it says they believed “the things concerning the kingdom” that Philip preached, that’s even the same gospel they’ll believe in the Tribulation (Mt. 24:14).

Now you know that’s a different gospel than what we preach, for when the Lord sent the 12 into the world to preach it, He told them that people had to be baptized to be saved (Mark 16:15,16).  That was true under the kingdom gospel that was preached at that time.  That’s why “both men and women” were baptized (Acts 8:12).  I say that because Jews were also baptized to make them priests (Ex. 19:6; 29:4) and only men could be priests.  But men and women needed to be saved!

Tribulation Jews will be motivated to go into all the world to preach the gospel because they’ll be running from persecution (Mt. 24:9, 14)—just like Simon was (Acts 8:1-5).  Saul was a type of the antichrist and Philip was a type of the saints who will flee him and go to places like Samaria to preach the gospel.  The Lord told them to flee to the mountains (Mt. 24:15) and Samaria has mountains (Amos 3:9).

But how can Simon be a type of a false christ if he believed and was baptized (Acts 8:13)?  Well, he didn’t believe to the saving of the soul (Heb.10:39), he believed like the men who saw the Lord’s miracles (John 2:23-25).  Simon saw Philip’s miracles and saw they were greater than his, so he wanted to infiltrate the church to learn how to do them.

You see, he was making money doing miracles. That’s a type of how false teachers will infiltrate the church in the Tribulation “having covetous practices” (II Pet. 2:1, 14).  But eventually those false christs will learn to make money as Balaam did (II Pe. 2:14, 15), by turning on Israel (2:3).  Evidently there will be a bounty on the heads of believers in the Tribulation, and those false christs who infiltrate the church will collect it. And we’re seeing all this pictured with Simon.

Jerusalem sent apostles to Samaria (Acts 8:14) because Samaritans in the past had believed on Israel’s God but refused to acknowledge the headquarters of Israel’s God in Jerusalem (John 4:9, 20).  So when these Samaritans in Acts 8 believed they too had to recognize the authority of Jerusalem.  That’s why God sent them apostles.  He wouldn’t give them the Spirit (v.15-17) till they got it from Jerusalem’s apostles.

This was important since Samaria got saved out of order before Jerusalem (Acts 1:8), something that might have tempted them to think God moved His headquarters to Sam-aria.  The 12 had to sanction this change to God’s “Jerusalem first” policy, just as God later had them sanction it when the Gentiles got saved out of order under Paul (Gal. 2:9).

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Aftermath of the Samaritan Revival – Acts 8:9-25

Did Paul Lose His Ability to Heal?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“We say that Paul lost his ability to heal since he didn’t heal anyone in his later ministry. But is this a good proof? If he was in prison during his later ministry, how could he have healed anyone?”

Well, first of all, people in prison need healing just as much as other people! Sometimes even more so, due to the harsh conditions found in prisons in those days, and the “stripes” and other beatings that were often laid on Roman prisoners (Acts 16:23; 18:17).

But Paul was under a sort of house arrest during his first imprisonment, as we see in Acts 28:30:

“And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him.“

Under this house arrest type of incarceration, he was able to receive “all that came in unto him.”  That would have afforded him plenty of opportunity to heal people if he still had that ability.  And he seemed to be in the same kind of bonds during his second imprisonment, with people being able to visit him, and even stay with him (2 Tim. 4:9-13).

We know he lost his power to heal during his first imprisonment, however, when he gave Timothy medical advice (1 Tim. 5:23) instead of sending him a blessed handkerchief as he’d done before (Acts 19:11,12).  And during his second imprisonment, he mentioned having to leave a beloved co-worker behind “sick” in between his two incarcerations (2 Tim. 4:20).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



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A Timeless Testimony

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“Christ died for our sins… and… rose again… and… He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once…” (1 Cor. 15:3-6).

This mass-sighting of our risen Savior reminds me of a story I heard recently regarding the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. There were over 500 people in Ford’s Theater the night in which the president was slain, and one of them later talked about what he saw that day on television. Samuel J. Seymour was 5 years old that night in 1865, and in 1956 he appeared on the television game show “I’ve Got a Secret” That means he testified to what he witnessed that fateful night for 91 years.

And that means that some of the 500 witnesses who saw the risen Christ told their story to the members of their generation for the better part of the next century. Imagine the impact they had in the lives of countless others during those many years.

Now how ‘bout you? Do you testify to the Lord’s resurrection? The testimony of those 500 brethren now lies silent in the grave. If you don’t witness that “Jesus our Lord…was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:24,25), then the story of His saving grace will go unheard among the members of your generation. Imagine how many people you can reach in your life if you just start now.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

What’s the Difference?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“How would you differentiate between God’s instruction to Israel to purge Canaan of the various people groups located there and radical Islam’s jihad to purge the world of infidels?”

Many a Christian has wondered about God’s instructions to Israel to exterminate whole peoples in Canaan (Deut. 20:16,17), but there were reasons for this genocide, reasons that do not exist today.

When fallen angels took wives from among the daughters of men, they produced a race of giants in the early earth (Gen. 6:1-4). The purpose of the Flood was to exterminate that demonic race, Noah’s family being spared because he was “perfect in his generations” (6:9), i.e., not infected with this cursed seed.

Genesis 6:4 then describes another outbreak of giants that appeared “after” the days of the Flood, as Satan tried again to pollute the seed of the woman, frustrate the promise of Genesis 3:15, and prevent the birth of the Messiah. But since God had promised He would never again destroy the world with a flood (Gen. 9:11), it was left to the sword of Israel to wipe out this second eruption of giants, including Goliath, Og (Deut. 3:11) and many others (Num. 13:32,33; 2 Sam. 21:16-22).

This explains the seemingly heartless instruction to Joshua to exterminate the squatter nations that were sent there by Satan to contest the claim of Abraham’s seed to the land including, “all that breathed” (Josh. 10:40), “young and old” (Josh. 6:21), even their “little ones” (Deut. 2:34). But no such conditions exist on earth today, so any program that calls for the deaths of “unbelievers” is foreign to the Word of God rightly divided.

The story is told of a king who vowed to destroy his enemies, then proceeded to invite them all to a lavish feast. After the banquet, the king’s aides asked him what had become of his oath. “I did destroy my enemies,” he replied. “I destroyed my enemies by making them my friends!” Likewise, God’s only authorized method of destroying unbelievers today is by making them believers!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

Man-Following

Posted on by Pastor Kevin Sadler

There is a tendency in our human nature to go to extremes, and some give extreme devotion to a spiritual leader. There can be a belief in the inerrancy of the one they choose to follow. If there is any unsound doctrine in their teaching and beliefs, it is often swept under the rug because of loyalty to a man rather than the Word.

“For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (1 Cor. 3:4).

As the Corinthians did, we still find members of the Body of Christ championing one spiritual leader over another. This produces division and contention in the Church (1 Cor. 1:10-12). It’s important for us to remember that no matter how effective or eloquent a Bible teacher is, he is only human; he makes mistakes, and he has shortcomings and weaknesses. We need always to be Berean in what is taught from God’s Word (Acts 17:11), including what is taught by those we trust.

“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” (1 Cor. 3:5).

Preachers and teachers of the Word are “ministers” or servants to bring people to Christ and establish them in the faith. It’s unwise to raise servants to the rank of master. While we should “esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake” (1 Thes. 5:13), our devotion belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. If we follow a mortal man, we are headed for disappointment. But we will never be disappointed when we keep our eyes on the Lord.

On the other side of the coin, sin, selfishness, and pride can lead some pastors and teachers to desire a following, accept adoration, and set themselves up as the authority on the Scriptures. We should watch for this kind of attitude among spiritual leaders. The true shepherd is someone who points people, not to himself, but to the Lord, “that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18). Godly leaders desire God’s people to follow Christ, His Word, and sound doctrine.

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

Paul shows why we should never glory in a man in the ministry. He teaches that the servant who plants the seeds of the gospel is nothing. Likewise, the servant who waters the seeds of the gospel is nothing. Man does not have the power to bring forth spiritual life or fruit. “But God,” the God Who gives the increase, the life, and the fruit in the ministry, He is everything. Thus, our focus should not be on following this leader or that man. In the Church, we should be one in our desire to follow the Lord and to give the God of the increase the honor and glory He rightly deserves.

“Therefore let no man glory in men” (1 Cor. 3:21a).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.