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appearance of Christianity to his
insidious dogmas.
Simon was thc fi rst Gnost ic teach–
er of Christian times. His efforts led
to the spread of gnosticism over wide
areas, seducing congregations from
the true fai th. Gnostics were rel i–
gious dualists who often thought of
themselves as a new kind of Chris–
tian. They taught that matter was
evil and spirit good and that salva–
tion was attained through secret
knowledge.
By the time of his death, Simon
had not fully succeeded. But there
were those who were attracted to
certain of his compromising syn–
crct istic ideas. S lipping unobtru–
sively into the Church of God, they
s ubtly introduce clements o f
Simon's teachings.
Many fall victim to these false
teachings. Luke, writing the book of
Acts in A.D. 62, exposes Simon in an
attempt to stem his growing
inAuence. Luke explains that Simon
was nevera converted member of the
true Church of God, relating how he
had tried unsuccessfull y to purchase
an apostleship.
With Simon now exposed, those
who had crept into Church fellow–
ship, and who thought in part as he
did, disassociate themselves from
his name yet continue to promote
his errors. They are no longer rec–
ognized as Simonites- bu t they
hold the same doctrine! They
assume the outward appearance of
being Christians- preaching about
the
person
of C hrist-yet deny
Chris t 's message, the gospel of the
coming kingdom of God. (Write
for our free booklets,
What l s the
True Cospel?
and
Just What Do
You Mean. Kingdom of God?
for
full details.)
A few years after Luke exposes
Simon Magus, Jude writes of these
Simonians as "certain men crept in
unawares" (Jude, verse 4) and
ex horts Christians to "earnestly
contend for the faith which was
once delivered" (verse 3).
Als~as
Paul had earlier proph–
esied (Acts 20:29-30)-some even
within the Church of God depart
from the original faith and because
of personal vanity, a !ove of moncy
or because of personal hurts, begin
to draw disciples away after them–
selves.
Heres ies are rife! Sometimes
14
they are recognized , but often they
are disguised and go undetected .
Error creeps in slowly and imper–
ceptibly, gradually undermining
the very truths of the Church of
God that J esus founded!
Ano the r Shock!
There remains one last obstacle to
the complete t riumph of heresy–
the apost le J ohn. J ohn is the last
survivor of the original twelve apos–
tlcs. He works tire lessly to stem the
tide of error and apostasy.
Writing early in the last quarter
of the first century, Jobn declares
that "many deceivers are entered
into the world" (11 John 7). He
writes of the many wh o have
already left the fellowship of the
Church of God ("They went out
from us, but they were not of us"-
1
J ohn
2:
19). He reveals that sorne
apostate church leaders are even
casting true Christians out of the
church!
( 111
J ohn 9- 10.)
During the persecutions of the
Roman emperor Domitian, J ohn is
banished to the Aegean island of
Patmos . The re he receives an
astounding revelation.
In a series of visions, John is car–
ried forward into the future, to the
" day of the Lord"- a time whcn
God will supernaturally intervene
in world affairs, sending plagues
upon the unrighteous and sinning
nations of the earth. And a time
that will clímax in the glorious Sec–
ond Coming of Jesus Cbrist!
The picture laid out in vision to
J ohn represcnts a nother major
shock for the first-century Church.
Here are
astounding,
almost unbe–
lievable revelations! Images of mul–
tiheaded beasts, of g reat armies, of
strange new weapons, of devastat–
ing plagues and natural disasters!
What does it all mean?
After publication of the Revela–
tion, those with unders t anding
begin to g rasp the message.
lt
becomes clear to them that Jesus'
coming is
not
as imminent as once
believed. Whole sections of the
book of Daniel, previously obscure,
now become clearer. These great
events revealed to John by J esus
Christ will not occur overnight.
Great periods of time appear to be
implied-cent uries, possibly two
millennia!
(Write for
The Book of
Revelation Unveiled at Last!
for an
in-deptb look at these prophecies.)
Sorne few begin to see the teach–
ing of J esus in new light. He had
stated in his Olivet prophecy
(Matt. 24:22) that "except those
[last] days be shortened, there
should
NO FLESH
be saved.... "
Many had wondered about t his
statement. They could not under–
s tand
how
there could ever be
enough swords, spears, ar rows–
and men to use them-to ever
threaten the
GLOBAL
annihilation
of all mankind.
Now, John 's visions provide an
answer. Therc would
one day
come a
time when never-before-heard-of
superweapons-described by John
in s tra nge symbolic la nguage–
wou/d
make total annihilation possi–
ble!
One day
...
but not
now.
There
will yet come a
future
crisis over
J erusalem, many also realize. There
will come a time when Jerusalem
will
again
be compassed with armies
(Luke 21 :20), triggering a crisis
even greater
than that of A.D. 66-
70!
Sorne also begi n to real ize that
J esus' commission to bis disciples
to take the gospel "to the utter–
most parts of the earth" might be
meant
literal/y!
J esus had proph–
esied that "this gospel of the king–
dom shall be preached
in al/ the
world
for a witness unto
al/
nations;
a nd
THEN
shall the end
come" (Matt. 24:14). And that
worldwide under taking would re–
q uire
time- a great deal
of
time!
Sorne few begin to see clearly.
But many cannot handle this new
truth. Sorne even begin to teach
that the kingdom is
already
here–
that it is the Church itself, or in the
hearts of Chr istians.
John is released from imprison–
ment in A.D. 96. In his remaining
days he and faithful disciples strive
to keep the Church true to the faith
as he was personally instructed in it
by Jesus himself.
The First Century closes with
the death of the aged apost le John
in the city of Ephesus.
Jesus has not yet come. Sorne
continue to wait. Others within and
without the fellowship of the true
Church of God begin to take mat–
ters into thei r own hands.
(NEXT MONTH:
" The f a t eful
Union.")
The PLAIN TRUTH