“The Holy Spirit Is Not On Sale!”

“The Holy Spirit Is Not On Sale!”(Acts 8:4-25).
Simon the sorcerer is a microcosm of converts who come to Christ with hidden motives. He amazed the people in the city with his sorcery and the people held him in high esteem and exclaimed: “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.”
Philip preached in that Samarian city and Simon joined the rest to be baptized in the name of Jesus.
The apostles in Jerusalem who had assumed the role of headquarter administrators heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God. They sent Peter and John. Peter and John arrived and “prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, they had simply been baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus…Peter and John placed their hands on them,and they received the Holy Spirit.”
The Trinitarian formula for baptism was not in regular use even though in the Great Commission Jesus had asked the disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit “(Mt,28:19).
This is one of the passages from which inspiration is drawn for the laying on of hands on candidates for the rite of Confirmation, and also for the rite of Ordination whereby the laying on of hands on the ordinand enhaces the continuation of Apostolic succession and empowerment.
Back to Simon the sorcerer: When Simon believed and was baptised, “he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.” And when he “saw that the Spirit was given at the laying of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. ‘”
This begs the questions, “Since he Simon had believed and was baptised, is it that the apostles did not lay hands on him? If they did, why did he not receive the Holy Spirit? Was he intending to use the Holy Spirit in practicing sorcery so that he could continue to boast that he was someone great?”
A unique feature of the Aladura churches of Nigeria is that when men first converted to Christianity they discarded all their mystical objects that made them men in an African sense of being a real man. They became laughingstock to nonconverts. But when these men started reading the psalms, they realised that the psalms were as potent as the objects of power in African understanding. That’s how they started using psalms and some names of God to serve the same purposes as their former objects of power. The differnce between them and Simon is that they didn’t ask to buy the Holy Spirit. They read the scriptures on their own and discovered that the Holy Spirit exceeded all the powers they ever had before conversion.
If Simon had not harboured nefarious intentions, the Holy Spirit would have come on him and he too would have been blessed to do extraordinary feats to the glory of God.
Here and there within the fold we have those who buy and sell the Holy Spirit, prayers and the word of God. To all such Peter answers: “May your money perish with you, because you think you can buy the gift of God with money. You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.”
Indeed; the gift of God is not bought with money! It is given for free when your heart if right before God!
Whoever harbours such thoughts like Simon should be remorseful and repentant as he was when he answered Peter, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
We are not told whether Peter prayed for him or not, but it wasn’t necessary. There are somethings that you should do for yourself, rather than expecting someone else to do it for you. Earlier on Peter had told him, “Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord…”
Prayer: Holy Spirit descend on me anew for a revival. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.