Acts 8: Bad News/Good News part 2

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed

all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,

Acts 8:9 New International Version

Acts chapter 8 begins with the bad news of Stephen’s murder and the persecution of

the church. This is huge and terrible news. But in verse 9 we get more typical bad

news. A man is deceiving others and is full of pride for doing so. He is also making a

living at it.

We see this kind of bad news every day. A psychic advice business advertises on the

radio station where I listen to baseball. It claims to offer “the power of certainty” – for a

fee of course. It’s a modern-day version of Simon the Magician. Then there are all the

internet scams, deceiving people into clicking on bogus emails and swindling people out

of their wealth or personal information. These scammers boast about how cleaver and

rich they are. And they are both, but they are bad news.

Simon appears to be one in a long line of people who are bad news. But when Philip

arrives in town “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of

Jesus Christ”, Simon doesn’t oppose Christianity. He is not worried about losing his

business like the idol makers in Ephesus. In fact, Simon becomes a Christian and is

baptized (Acts 8:13).

Who in your life have you considered simply bad news? Have you prayed that they

might come to know Jesus Christ? Do you believe that they too might be saved by the

good news? God hasn’t given up on them. Have you?

Mark Miller