|
Chapter 6
Witness in Samaria
Acts
8:4-40
The
death of Stephen signaled the close of one stage
in the development of the Christian church and set
into motion two others. In Acts 1:8 Jesus had
said, "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and
in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the
earth." After Stephen's death, the believers were
scattered, driven by persecutors who pursued them.
One of the most active of these persecutors was
Saul. The disciples had lost much of the popular
favor that had restrained the Jewish leaders.
Stephen was not the only Christian killed; many
suffered acts of cruelty.
The
believers, however, were not driven by persecution
alone. They went also to preach the Word (8:4).
Philip (not the apostle, but one of the seven
chosen earlier) went to Samaria to preach Christ.
The Word and Christ were used interchangeably, a
fact which calls to mind John 1, written later.
In
Samaria the crowds listened to Philip, saw the
healings being performed, and responded to his
message with joy. There in Samaria both physical
and spiritual healing resulted.
Philip
preached the good news of the kingdom of God and
the name of Jesus Christ. In his preaching and
healing he upstaged the local magician, a man
named Simon. Simon, who had proclaimed himself to
be someone great, was overwhelmed by Philip's
ministry. There were many persons like Simon in
the ancient world, persons who made their living
reading the stars, telling fortunes, or performing
feats of magic. One might say that society hasn't
changed much in this regard in twenty centuries.
Some
of these magicians were deluded enough to believe
in their own powers. This could have been Simon's
case, but Luke implies that he genuinely believed
Philip's message. When he saw the healings by the
laying on of hands, he wanted this kind of power.
Obviously, Simon was interested in personal power
that would bring him glory. How different he was
from the apostles, who gave God all the glory for
miracles! Peter, who had joined Philip, responded
to Simon's offer of money by denouncing him and
calling for his repentance. A thoroughly shaken
Simon begged for mercy. Poor Simon was
overimpressed by the spectacular! He is
reminiscent of the seed that fell on rocky soil in
Jesus' parable. Lacking root, he quickly fell to
the temptation to impress with magic rather than
recognize the simple yet profound truth the
Apostles preached-that God is a loving Father
seeking to redeem his estranged children. He is
symbolic of those whose faith is built upon
manifestations of the extraordinary-indeed a
shallow foundation for belief.
"The
Jews Have No Dealings with Samaritans"
Consider the meaning of
Jews' preaching to Samaritans. This act had far
more than mere geographical significance. To
understand it well, one must be aware of the
nature of prejudice as it invades human thinking.
Prejudice is a cancer of the spirit that eats away
at one's ability to love or to accept others
different from oneself. Prejudice acts in
ignorance of the facts.
The
city of Samaria was some forty-two miles north of
Jerusalem on the road leading to the Valley of
Esdraelon. Located near the twin peaks of Mount
Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it was the capital of the
area by the same name.
When
the united kingdom was divided into two, Samaria
was made the capital of the north by Omri, father
of the infamous Ahab. As capital of the north,
Samaria experienced great enmity with Jerusalem,
capital of the south. Thus began the hatred and
prejudice that existed between the Jews and the
Samaritans.
To the
Jews, the Samaritans were impure descendants of
foreigners brought in when the Assyrians overran
the northern kingdom. The Jews saw them as an
unrecognizable mixture, whitewashed heathens. They
were unwanted cousins.
The
Jews called them "lion converts," only one step
better than Gentiles. When Jews traveled north,
they would cross the Jordan and bypass Samaria.
Jesus,
too, took this circuitous route occasionally. He,
however, did not avoid Samaria. His long dialogue
with the Samaritan woman of Sychar was at Jacob's
well in Samaria. Luke 17:11-19 tells that when
Jesus healed the lepers, the one grateful one was
a Samaritan. When a Samaritan village refused to
receive Jesus, he did not rebuke them, but rather
He rebuked his disciples for suggesting a harsh
attitude toward the Samaritans (Luke 9:51-56). Of
course, one of Jesus' most beautiful parables
(Luke 10:25-37) was of the good Samaritan who
displayed great compassion.
The
Samaritans proclaimed themselves legitimate
descendants of ancient Israel. The true "chosen
place" in the law of Moses, according to them, was
Mount Gerizim. They believed that when Ezra
returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, he "falsified"
the text to encourage the people to rebuild the
temple in Jerusalem.
In
actuality, the Jewish-Samaritan conflict was the
continuation of the long-standing feud between
Israel, the northern kingdom, and Judah, the
southern kingdom. The truth lay somewhere between
the two extreme views.
Both
were partly right, but neither was willing to
concede anything to the other.
Thus,
prejudice ruled, one of the greatest "demons" of
the human mind. Prejudice is judgment based on
partial truths. It is being willing to believe the
worst without trying to discover the truth. It is
categorizing people in any way into "we" and
"they," allowing a lack of knowledge to lead to
lack of understanding, fear, hostility, and
enmity. It is a bitter divisiveness arrived at
step by step, so subtly that the truth has been
blurred in the process.
To
whom does the Church witness? Does it legitimately
eliminate those who are different? Can we afford
to isolate ourselves into religious
ghettos-ghettos of the mind and of the sprit?
This
chapter in Acts is of great significance to the
history of the Church. It demonstrates that the
Church was not merely a Jewish sect; it was
becoming a world-wide community of faith. No one
was to be excluded from eligibility. Acts 9:31 and
15:3 speak of the growth of the early church in
Samaria.
"Do
You Understand?"
It is
difficult to know whether Philip understood the
worldwide mission of the Church. He was simply
obedient to God's imperative to be a witness-to
share the message of Christ wherever he found
himself. It fell his lot to be in Samaria. He did
not shrink from the task.
Having
returned to Jerusalem, Philip was next assigned to
take the road that leads to Gaza. He obeyed,
setting out over the desert. He came upon an
Ethiopian, a eunuch serving the queen of Ethiopia.
The meaning of eunuch is not clear here; it may or
may not refer to the castration practiced on those
selected to be close attendants to a ruler. It may
mean that the man was simply a "court officer." A
proselyte to Judaism, the eunuch had been to
Jerusalem to worship and was returning home. He
had his scroll open to Isaiah 53:7-8.
Philip
was prompted to join him and ask, "Do you
understand what you are reading?" The eunuch was
eager for someone to explain the meaning of the
scroll. He was ready for Philip, and Philip was
ready with the gospel.
Philip
told him of the Suffering Servant, Jesus, who
suffered and died for the sins of the world.
Philip
must have stayed long enough to explain the
meaning of faith for repentance and the importance
of baptism. When by chance they came near water,
the eunuch was eager to be baptized. There were no
crowds, there was no fanfare, but there in the
middle of the desert the miracle of the new birth
took place. The ordinance of baptism, which is a
witness to the world of one's new life, took place
simply and without ritual, but it was a witness to
the man's heart of his new relationship to God.
When
they came up out of the water, Philip was caught
away to Azotus, north of Gaza. He traveled on
north along the coast of Caesarea, preaching the
gospel as he went. The record shows that he
settled in Caesarea where he subsequently had a
house, a wife, and four daughters (Acts 21:8-9).
The eunuch went on his way, the possessor of new
insights about God, a new sense of purpose, and a
radiant joy.
Chapter 7
The Conversion of Paul
Acts 9:1-31; 22:4-16; 26:9-18
The
writer Luke is not so concerned with the man Paul
as he is in the dramatic rise of Christianity. He
is not interested in preserving the religion of
Paulinism but, rather, he wants to show that here
is a man who gives his allegiance to and finds
power in Jesus Christ.
In
Acts the reader is first introduced to Paul as
young Saul (7:58; 8:1). A persecutor of
Christians, he was participating in the killing of
Stephen, an event that was to influence his life
profoundly. It had fallen Saul's lot to hold the
coats of those who were stoning Stephen, and he
did this willingly.
Chapter 9 begins with Saul's
continuing his dedicated persecution of those of
the Way (one of the earliest names for this new
teaching), men or women.
In
Paul's own words (1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians
1:13-14), he had advanced beyond Jews of his own
age because of his eagerness, and he had become a
leader of those persecuting the Christians. To him
it was a mission, and he was dedicated to it. He
testifies that he went at his mission with a
passion.
As a
zealous Jew, he persecuted in order to guard the
integrity of the ancient Jewish law, the Torah. He
saw those belonging to the Way as ones who were
destroying the sacred tradition of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and Moses. Reared in Tarsus, a great
East-West trade center, Saul was educated at the
feet of the eminent Gamaliel in Jerusalem (Acts
22:3). This provided him first with a generous
education of the world and its ways, and second,
with a concentration in the Jewish law that was
unsurpassed. The school of Gamaliel was the finest
of its day.
In
this "assembly of the wise," young Saul was molded
into a strict and religious keeper of the Law. To
him "the holy people" were the students of the
Law. To his fellow students, no doubt, he was held
in high esteem as a rising star in Israel. He gave
himself feverishly to the persecution of those who
dared teach anything but the Law. It must be said
that he was a sincere religious man in his
persecution of the Christian believers.
Saul
came face to face with the spirit of Jesus in the
face of Stephen. No doubt that face and those
words, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them,"
stayed with him. Could this spirit be so wrong? We
know that Stephen's witness was profoundly
influential upon Paul's thinking because he
himself mentions Stephen later (Acts 22:19-20). It
was Jesus in Stephen that haunted him. And it was
Jesus who confronted him in a dramatic way as he
traveled to Damascus, planning to capture
Christian believers and bring them to Jerusalem
for punishment. It was one assignment he was never
to carry out.
The
record indicates that Paul never saw Jesus in the
flesh. When he wrote, "Have I not seen Jesus our
Lord?" (1 Corinthians 9:1) he was speaking of that
great Damascus Road experience. When he wrote
regarding Christ from a human point of view (2
Corinthians 5:16), he was speaking of thinking
about Christ through human understanding. Had he
ever seen Jesus, he would surely have written of
it. There would have been no question of his
qualifying as an apostle, as in the conflict
alluded to in Galatians and Corinthians. (One of
the prerequisites for apostleship was firsthand
acquaintance with Jesus during his earthly life.)
The
paths of the two men, however, certainly had
crossed many times. Saul was probably just a
little younger than Jesus. They both went to the
Temple at the time of the festivals. Their eyes
rested on the same sights in and around
Jerusalem-the same crowds, the same fruit trees.
But they were strangers-until that day on the
Damascus Road.
The
journey of Saul from Jerusalem to Damascus is one
of the most studied in history. What actually
happened on that road to turn the chief persecutor
of Christians into the most able and committed
defender of the faith? One day he was the angry,
self-righteous spokesman for the establishment;
the next, he was a new man, a religious outlaw
himself and a babe in an exhilarating experience
that became his life passion.
The
190-mile journey from Jerusalem to Damascus by
camel would normally have taken about twelve days.
It could have been shortened a little by Saul's
eagerness to accomplish his mission. Perhaps, as
he passed through Galilee, he was aware that it
was the area in which Jesus had taught. As he made
his way up the long road, which finally
straightened toward Damascus, he could look back
at the beautiful clear view of the Sea of Galilee
and perhaps beyond Capernaum and Tiberias, or he
could look to his left to Mount Hermon with its
magnificent grandeur and snow-white summit. What
was in Paul's mind as he traveled?
As he
neared Damascus, perhaps within half a mile, the
event happened suddenly and quickly. In Acts 9
Luke says that suddenly a great light flashed in
the sky, and Saul fell to the ground. A voice
spoke, identifying itself as Jesus. Saul was told
to rise and to enter the city for instructions. We
are told the men with Saul were struck speechless;
they heard the voice but saw no one. They led the
blinded man into Damascus, where for three days he
could not see; nor did he eat or drink.
In two
other accounts in Acts, Paul redescribes what
happened. In chapter 22 he tells the mob at
Jerusalem how at noontime a great light came and a
voice said it was Jesus. In this account those
with him saw the light but did not hear the voice.
Again,
in chapter 26, in his speech before Agrippa, Paul
pictures a great light that drove them all to the
ground. This time the voice is identified as
speaking Hebrew. As before, it is Jesus. This time
Jesus delivers a much longer speech, telling Paul
that he has been appointed to serve, to bear
witness to what he has seen, to lead people from
darkness to light and from the power of Satan to
God, to experience forgiveness from their sins,
and to stand with the sanctified of God.
In a
few places in his letters Paul refers to his
conversion experience. In 1 Corinthians 9:1 he
writes, "Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" In
Galatians 1:15-16 he says that God was pleased to
reveal his Son to him. He emphasizes the change
that had occurred in his life because of that
encounter. In 2 Corinthians 4:6 he refers to the
light of "the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Christ."
In 2
Corinthians Paul speaks of his mystical
experience. He was caught up to the third heaven,
a description of the ultimate degree of ecstasy,
not knowing whether he was in the body or out of
it. This was a rare experience, given to only a
few. But God forbid that he should boast of
himself. God permitted this dramatic experience in
order to prepare Paul for his unique ministry to
the Gentiles. It established his credentials.
And
perhaps Paul was benefited by not seeing Jesus in
the flesh. If he had known Jesus as Peter did, he
might possibly have had the same problem as Peter
in coming to the acceptance of Gentile
Christianity.
The
confusion surrounding the conversion descriptions
can be accounted for by its ecstatic nature. We
cannot describe the event in detail, but we do
know that something eternal and real took place.
Paul's tremendous change illustrates that fact. On
that day Paul was confronted by Jesus, whom he had
been fighting. In that meeting Paul surrendered to
Jesus and was dramatically changed.
In
Damascus, God had already prepared a man to be a
bridge for Paul from the old life to the new.
Although Ananias had heard of his ferocious
activities, he willingly obeyed God's command to
find Paul and pray for him. Paul regained his
sight, and, staying with Ananias, he began to
visit the synagogue and witness to his new faith.
Under the ministry of Ananias, a layman, he was
baptized and received the Holy Spirit. Ananias had
said to him, "The Lord Jesus . has sent me that
you might regain your sight and be filled with the
Holy Spirit" (Acts 9:17).
It
soon became evident that this incident was living
proof of the truth of the Christian message. Soon
the Jews plotted to kill him, for their great
asset had become a liability.
Escaping over the Damascus
city wall during the night in a basket, Paul
returned to Jerusalem to meet with the disciples.
They, however, were suspicious of him. God then
provided another bridge. Barnabas convinced the
disciples of Paul's experience and real
commitment. Paul then entered into his witnessing
around Jerusalem with so much vigor that he had to
escape secretly to Caesarea and then Tarsus for
safety. He had now embarked on the same mission of
witnessing that had been Stephen's, and it would
ultimately cost him his own life.
What a
boost for the believers Paul's conversion was! The
early church continued to grow and prosper. It is
impossible to read the Acts from this point on
without realizing Paul's integral role of
leadership for the church.
Acts
9:31, which closes this portion of the book, may
be seen as a summary statement and a transition to
the next segment. With Paul's having gone to
Tarsus we hear no more of him until chapter 11.
Luke turns now to the activities of Peter.
Chapter 8
The First Witness to
the Gentiles
Jerusalem remained the
center of strategy in the movement of
Christianity, but soon strong communities of the
faithful were emerging in other towns and cities.
The message had spread rapidly beyond Judea into
Samaria, south into Ethiopia, north to Caesarea
and Damascus. Soon Jerusalem was not the only
chief center for the Christians. Antioch, a city
filled with Greeks and Romans, joined it. Antioch
was to share the attention with Jerusalem until
Rome passed them both. Other key cities to follow
were Alexandria and, later, Constantinople.
"God
Shows No Partiality"
It is
ironic that the first great thrust of Christianity
to the Gentiles came not from Paul, the apostle to
the Gentiles, but from Peter, the apostle of the
circumcision. Tremendous changes were taking place
in the mind of this man who had already undergone
a metamorphosis since being Simon the fisherman.
Peter had already taken the gospel into Samaria.
Now we find him stretching out even further. Let
us notice the progressive steps he takes toward
recognizing the universality of gospel.
Acts 9
has given us Paul's journey from Jerusalem to
Damascus to Jerusalem to Tarsus. Now we join Peter
on his journey from Jerusalem to Lydda to Joppa to
Caesarea, also very important to the outreach of
the church. It began with the healing of Aeneas at
Lydda. Peter's crisp statement, "Jesus Christ
heals you," rescued Aeneas from eight years of
bedridden paralysis. Many turned to the Lord in
that town.
Knowing that Peter was
nearby, believers in Joppa called for him. A kind
and generous seamstress, a disciple named Tabitha
(or Dorcas), had died. She was greatly mourned by
the widows to whom she had been so kind. Peter
came into the room where the body of Dorcas lay.
It reminds us of Jesus in the house of Jairus
(Mark 5:35-43), a scene that Peter had witnessed.
The miracle of life occurred again, simply and
quietly, but with reverberations throughout the
area. Many believed.
The
scene was now set for Peter's encounter with
Cornelius, who represented a major breakthrough
for the gospel's journey to the end of the earth.
This event set the stage for Paul and others to
establish strong Gentile congregations. Its
significance is such that Luke gives nearly two
chapters to its description.
In
Caesarea there was a Roman officer named
Cornelius. In Rome the name of the Cornelian house
was held in honor. Probably educated in Rome, he
had joined the army and had set out to seek the
military glory others had found. At some point he
had been introduced to the Jewish idea of God and
he had become a "God-fearer," though not a full
proselyte. He was a generous and devout man.
One
day while he was observing the three o'clock
prayer, a messenger from God appeared before him.
Cornelius stared in terror. His prayers were being
answered, said the messenger. He was directed to
call for Simon Peter, who at that very time was
staying in Joppa with Simon, a tanner who lived by
the sea.
The
words of verse 43 are deceptively simple. Peter
was indeed at Simon the tanner's home. For him to
be in such a home is interesting. The Jews had
strong feelings against persons of the tanning
trade, who regularly handled skins from
ceremonially unclean animals. Although Simon was a
Jew, he was a Jew of low order. Peter's presence
there indicates a broadening of his attitude. The
old Peter would not have defiled himself by
staying in the home of a tanner.
On the
following day Peter felt hunger during his
noontime prayer. While the food was being fixed,
he fell into a trance. There followed a vision of
a great sheet coming out of heaven, filled with
all kinds of animals, some unacceptable to Jews.
Peter was told to prepare and eat the meat. The
message was that whatever God has made is clean.
Jewish dietary laws were no longer applicable.
The
story provides many contrasts. The Roman Cornelius
was in Caesarea, the modern city, built and named
in the Emperor's honor. It was a splendid city
filled with sailors from all over the known world,
encircling the Temple of Rome and the Emperor. The
Jewish apostle Peter was in Joppa, the ancient
seaport associated with early Hebrew history,
including the voyage of Jonah. Peter was a
fisherman from Galilee, reared simply in an
obscure province, and uneducated.
God
was dealing with both men, preparing each of them
for a meeting that was to change the world.
As
Peter was trying to discover the meaning of the
vision, the messengers of Cornelius arrived. As he
had been directed by the Spirit, Peter agreed to
accompany them the next day.
As
Peter and his Jewish companies entered the room,
Cornelius had such reverence for Peter that he
fell down before him. A sense of religious
devotion alters the customary routines of society.
Here was a man esteemed by the secular crowd
giving homage to a simple fisherman.
But
Peter reached out and pulled Cornelius to his
feet. "I, too, am a man," he said. It was a
momentous meeting, each responding to the call of
God, each reaching through cultural barriers to
meet spiritually. They shared with each other
their experiences that had brought them together.
The meeting was not something that either had
planned; they were operating on God's agenda.
Let us
think for a moment of the barriers that faced
Peter. The strictest Jews could have nothing to do
with Gentiles or even with another Jew who did not
keep the Law. He would never go into a Gentile
home; nor would he entertain the Gentile in his.
Peter faced not only the inherent barriers of
habit and tradition, but also the contempt of his
peers. Do not forget that these Christians were
Jewish; they had not thrown away wholesale their
former life. They saw the gospel to be fulfilling
the Law, not abolishing it. But the meaning of
Peter's vision was becoming clear.
With
the crowd assembled, Cornelius asked Peter to
preach. This sermon by Peter deserves close
attention because it is a high-water mark in the
Book of Acts. This written record must be simply a
summation of all that Peter said.
"The
Holy Spirit Fell"
Peter
began by asserting God's impartiality. He accepts
all persons alike and has provided the way of
salvation for everyone, which is the good news
found in Jesus Christ. Then again, Peter, as in
his other sermons, pointed out the core of the
good news, called the kerygma, or preaching, about
Christ.
The
Good News is this: (1) Jesus came from God and was
filled with power. (2) Jesus' life was a ministry
of healing and helping. (3) He was undeservedly
killed on the cross. (4) God raised him and gave
him life again even so that he ate and drank with
his followers. (5) The disciples were appointed to
be witnesses of those facts to all persons. (6)
The meaning of all this is that anyone who
believes in Jesus will receive forgiveness of
sins, the promise of the Holy Spirit, and new
radiant life.
Peter's message found a home
in the hearts of his listeners. As they accepted
the Good News, the Holy Spirit fell on them all.
The Jewish believers accepted this fact with
joyous surprise. Old prejudices melted as Jews and
Greeks worshiped together.
In the
midst of the celebration, Peter suggested a
baptismal service. Christian baptismal services
offer some of the warmest feelings human beings
can experience. The spontaneity of this one added
an additional element of joy. Peter was asked to
stay for several days, which he did.
"Who...Could Withstand God?"
Peter
must have expected a negative response from his
brethren in Jerusalem. And he got it. True to
form, they challenged him. Some of the followers
of Jesus believed that he had come to rescue the
lost sheep of Israel. To accept a few God-fearing
Greeks was one thing, perhaps, but to allow
Gentiles wholesale into the communion was quite
another. Luke alludes to the "circumcision party,"
from whom we will hear more later. These people
believed that Gentile followers of Jesus must
first become Jews, the men undergoing the ritual
of circumcision.
Peter,
however, was ready for the investigation. How
could any of them refuse to accept the miracle of
God? Peter and his traveling companions told the
story. Peter's emotion must have grown as he
spoke, for he came to his final climactic
sentence: "If then God gave the same gift to them
as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand
God?" (11:17). Powerful words, indeed! Their fears
were silenced and they praised God. A pivotal
point in Acts had been passed. The early church
was ready now to take the message to the Gentiles.
"For
the First Time Called Christians"
Disciples scattered at the
time of Stephen's death visited synagogues in
Phoenicia, Cypress, and Antioch, preaching still
primarily to Jews. In Antioch, which was Syria,
non-Jews began to show interest in their
preaching, and many Greeks became believers.
Now
willing to accept these new brothers and sisters,
the disciples in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to
Antioch. Barnabas, being from Cyprus himself, was
apparently considered well-suited to help these
new believers, many of whom were from Cyprus.
Earlier, Barnabas had bridged the gap between Saul
and the skeptical Jerusalem believers. Once again,
he was called to be a bridge builder.
Now
Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul. Was he sent,
or did he himself decide that it was time for Saul
to come back? How long had Saul been in Tarsus?
Evidence elsewhere in Acts and the epistles
suggests that some years had passed. The early
church was now ready for Saul, and Saul was ready
to serve. Paul worked with Barnabas in the Antioch
church for a year.
The
growing church was losing the appearance of a
Jewish sect. When Gentiles were being added in
large numbers, it became apparent to the
surrounding society that this new group was unlike
the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Essenes, or
any other of the many Jewish parties. How to
identify this new group? The title "Christian" was
given them, first as an expression of ridicule and
derision. Unbelievers would not have applied the
title "Christ" or "Messiah" to Jesus and his
followers. It did not begin with the believers
themselves. They spoke of themselves as "brethren,
disciples, believers, and saints."
Though
the title was originally one of derision, the
"Christians" wore it well. It came to mean
something very dear to them; they were being
associated with Jesus.
It is
interesting and significant that it is Antioch and
not Jerusalem in which this naming first took
place. It occurred in a secular Roman city, and it
occurred when the Gentiles were coming into the
church in great numbers. From Antioch the term
thrust out into the wider world.
About
this time the unconverted Jews began to enjoy
greater support from the Romans. In turn, the
Christians were suffering greater persecution from
the Jews. James, John's brother, was killed by
Herod. With the Jews' approval, Herod also
arrested Peter and put him in prison again. During
the night an angel rescued him, past four teams of
four soldiers each One of the humorous scenes in
Acts finds Peter knocking on the door of John
Mark's mother's house, where the believers had
been praying for him, only to have the young Rhoda
run from the door when she recognized Peter's
voice, failing to let him in. Peter's life was in
great danger until Herod Agrippa's death in A.D.
44 brought a
reprieve.
This material has a
copyright. For further information, contact us at:
"omifren@zoominternet.net"
NOTE: ALSO AVAILABLE IN BOOK
FORM FROM:
Reformation Publishers
222
University Drive
P.O. Box 276
Prestonsburg, KY 41653-0276
Reformation
Publishers
Orders... 1-800-765-2464
Information... 1-606-886-7222
Fax...
1-606-886-8222
Email... rpublisher@aol.com
| 
