Introduction to Acts
We are now through with the History of Suffering and Life of Jesus Christ on Earth and have learned that it is necessary to Trust and have Faith in Him (John 3:18). If we fail, He'll slay us (Luke 19:27) and cast us into Hell (Matthew 8:12). Now it's time to see how the True Christian™ Church formed after the Ascension of Jesus. We are gradually making the transition from what to believe (Christ) to how to believe (in Christ) in a correct manner in order to gain Salvation. Acts is a wonderful document of eyewitness testimony by the same person who wrote Luke. We know this because by the end of Acts, the author has referred to himself with the perpendicular pronoun (plural form).
Vocabulary note: We no longer talk about disciplines but we refer to these people as apostles from now on.
Here we go.
Acts 1. Jesus is
still with us during the first paragraph but
not for long. Once again we marvel at the miraculous nature of the Bible. As God (John 1), Jesus could maintain
several parallel realities simultaneously and they are
all documented in the Bible. We met one timeline in Luke 24:51, when Jesus was taken into Heaven
very soon after His resurrection. Now we see a glimpse of
another timeline, as True™ and as perfect and as factual, where He stayed for
40 days with His disciples soon to be apostles.
Acts 1:3
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Then
Jesus is gone but He has given a promise: "I'll be back"!
Acts 1:11
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
In order to fulfill a prophecy, the former disciples, now called apostles, have to choose
a new member into the gang as Judas is gone and it is
Matthias who receives the honor, while Barsabas receives nothing.
Acts 1:26
And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Now it's time to
organize the Jesus Movement.
Priority one: to
spread the Gospel everywhere. This is a
good plan but there are complications. Not the
infrastructure, it is OK with the
Roman roads and taverns and relatively safe travel (sea is more treacherous as we shall see). Not the actual
merchandise, as they now have the iron-clad proof of
eyewitness testimonials to take with them. They can also supplement this with
appropriate miracles (as we shall see). Nevertheless,
picture this: An apostle enters Britain and starts to explain them enthusiastically about the
Real God® as follows:
Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets. The
Bareshit alone would drive off potential supporters!
Won't do. No problem! The
Holy Spirit has taken this into consideration. It's the
Miracle of the Pentecost! Glory!
Acts 2:2-4
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Communication problem solved.
THIS is the place where the
Pentecostal Heresy was born and it still continues to consume the sanity of
Jesus. These were
real languages,
not gibberish. Let us look at the
selection of tongues in more detail.
Acts 2:9-11
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Now this is extremely interesting. Cappadocia - OK, probably
Greek, very useful, Egyptian or
Coptic - that went well until Catholic Muslims ruined everything several centuries later.
Elamites? Now this was an
unfortunate choice. The
Elamite language was the vernacular of the Persian regions until 550 BC and the written language until 330 BC but by the time of the apostles it was totally forgotten. Due to the
timelessness of God (2 Peter 3:8) the Holy Spirit probably messed up the timelines. We don't actually know which one of the apostles received Elamite, but his
fate must have been
terrible. He went into Persia with
fluent Elamite and started to preach as follows:
Quote:
dna-ap ir-šá-ir-ra du-ra-mas-da ak-ka4 AŠmu-ru-un hi pè-iš-tá ak-ka4 dki-ik hu-ip-pè pè-iš-tá ak-ka4 DIŠ LÚ.MEŠ-ir-ra ir pè-iš-tá ak-ka4 ši-ia-ti-iš pè-iš-tá DIŠ LÚ.MEŠ-ra-na ak-ka4 DIŠik-še-ir-iš-šá DIŠEŠŠANA ir hu-ut-taš-tá ki-ir ir-še-ki-ip-in-na DIŠEŠŠANA ki-ir ir-še-ki-ip-in-na pír-ra-ma-ut-tá-ra-na-um
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A
nice language, we have to admit: the beautiful cuneiform script, interesting suffixes that agglutinate personal suffixes to nouns as if they were verbs. Still, the effect must have been similar to the one of having one of us negotiating the new jet airplane for pastor Ezekiel by using fluent
Etruscan. The poor apostle was probably deemed
insane or a Pentecostal usurper and cast into an
asyluym. The apostles with
Parthian or
Medean tongues
should have fared better, as these are Indo-Iranic Babelian languages that were actually spoken at the time, but as these regions never really embraced Jesus but continued with the
Zoroastrian and
Catholic/Muslim heresies, we must conclude that these apostles were
useless.
However, many apostles gained
useful skills. It's time to start using them.
Peter wastes no time but gives a
rousing speech to the Jews. He uses the
great tools of ancient rhetoric to get his point through. He
appeals to an authority.
Acts 2:16
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
He uses his
personal testimony.
Acts 2:22
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
He refers to
another authority.
Acts 2:25
For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
He refers to
eyewitness testimonials.
Acts 2:32
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
He
appeals to the fear of becoming part of the furniture in case the masses fail to obey.
Acts 2:34-35
For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
AND he presents
one of the most important lines in all Bible!
Acts 2:38
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Repent first! Get a Baptism only thereafter! This is one of the core verses of all
True Christianity™.
With these arguments, they're off to a good start!
Acts 2:46-47
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
We also need empirism as hinted at in Acts 2:43.
Peter knows this, too. Time to do some magic in
Acts 3. In concert with Jesus's commands in Matthew 19:8 and Luke 9:2, Peter does not hesitate but springs into action as he realizes that it is the right thing to do considering the Title of this very Biblical Book he's the protagonist of.
He heals a lame man.
Acts 3:7-8
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
People are
amazed. Peter could seize all power but he tells the people that it is
Sweet Jesus who is the entity behind the healing power.
Acts 3:16
And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
Peter gives
another of his rousing speeches and we start to enter the part of the Bible with
instructions on
how to believe in the right manner.
Acts 3:19
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
And if you don't...
Acts 3:23
And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
This verse includes the poor Elamites. With this perfect balance of
promises and threats the message of
Jesus begins its journey among the heathens, the journey that is still going on and being realized with the same rhetorical toolbox that was developed by Peter during the formation of our Faith!
Next Time: Persecution!!!