Act 8:13  And Simon also himself believed: and being baptized, he continued with Philip; and beholding signs and great miracles wrought, he was amazed. ASV

Act 8:13  Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. KJV

Act 8:13  And Simon himself also believed, and being baptized was continuing steadfastly with Philip. And seeing miraculous signs and mighty works happening, he was amazed. LITV

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                                                                       Commentary

OTCers deny this passage and call the Holy Spirit a liar.
It SAYS... Simon Believed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OTCers say... "Oh no! He didn't really believe"  because once they admit that Simon Did believe they are finished. They will have to admit that an Unregenerate person can believe the Gospel. But then... if they do Not admit it then clearly they are in outright Denial of the Word of the Living God and therefore there is no way they can be regenerate!

And that aint all.
Simon was also Baptized and he continued in Fellowship with true Christians!

OTCers  Deny this passage. Therefore there can be only one conclusion... seeing as they flat-out deny the clear testimony of the Holy Spirit they are calling Him a liar. Therefore there is No Way  hozay hoze b hoze c hoze the entire alphabet that a person who denies such a Major Element of the Truth can ever be said to be indwelt by the Spirit of Truth! Therefore OTCers and anyone else who denies this passage must be judged unregenerate. See Luk_8:13.

Did Simon Believe the Gospel? He who says No is Lost.
Was Simon Regenerate? He who says Yes is Lost.

Man shall not live by bread alone... but by.....

                                                    ~Every Word~..  

that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Are the words of this verse... "..Simon himself also believed..." words that proceed out of the mouth of God? Does the word "believed"  mean "not believed" or "not ~really~ believed"? OTCers say it does. Proof;

After citing John 3:18 / John 5:24 / Mark 16:15,16 Mr Jonathan Rogers says; "Does an unregenerate person, based on these passages, ~really~ believe the gospel? I would say no."  
and...
"Those who "believed" but then later ceased to follow Jesus might have believed many things about Jesus or believed in him because he fed them (as in the case of the feeding of the five thousand) but they did NOT believe the gospel, for if they had believed the gospel they would have not fallen away but would have continued to follow Jesus." .

Notice Mr Rogers says that men such as Simon  >did not ~really~ believe / did NOT believe the gospel. Yet the Holy Spirit says he did! Mr Rogers further says; "Notice how in the New Testament NO ONE but Christians are ever referred to as "believers"?".  [His caps]

Mr Rogers obviously either never read this passage or is deliberately contradicting the word of God. If NO ONE [his caps] but Christians are ever referred to as "believers" then he must either believe that Simon was a Christian or else cut Acts 8:13, as well as Luke 8:13 out of his Bible.  Mr Rogers further states;  "Simon did not believe the gospel but may appeared to do so but his motives are seen in Acts 8:9-11".   and... " Simon did NOT believe the gospel nor does the Holy Spirit say he did because the Holy Spirit would not contradict Romans 1:16-17 where it is written that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.".

Mr Rogers says point blank, "Simon did NOT believe the gospel nor does the Holy Spirit say he did..." whereas the Holy Spirit says, point blank, that Simon did here in this verse.  Rogers supports his Scripture-denying false doctrine by quoting Scripture. The trouble is he quotes Scripture in such a way as to end up making Scripture contradict itself. His problem is that of countless professing Christians who take one set of passages that teach a certain truth while ignoring another set that teach a -balanced view-  and end up with a Lopsided approach to the Bible, which results in false doctrine.  This is exactly what the Arminians do with their "All" passages. They quote them profusely while ignoring passages that teach the Atonement for the Elect alone and end up in a False gospel of universalism.

On Luke 8:13 Mr Rogers further states; "I am not contradicting the Son of God in saying that "Rocky" did not really believe since it is clear from the passage that only the "good soil" are those who believed the true gospel while the others did not believe the true gospel."

This saying is particularly damaging as it shows Mr Rogers Changing the word of God! He says, quote, ".. only the "good soil" are those who believed the true gospel while the others did not believe the true gospel."  If only the "good soil" are those who believed the true gospel while the others did not believe the true gospel, what then did the others believe? A false gospel? Yet the passage is clear that the Seed is Exactly the same for all 4 soils. The Seed is the word of the Kingdom, or the Gospel.  Therefore it is evident that "Rocky" believed the Exact Same Thing that the Good ground hearer, who was Regenerate believed.  Mr Rogers denies this by saying in effect that what Rocky believed was =Not= the same thing that the Good ground hearer believed. His claim is that the Seed is one thing for the Good ground hearer and something different for "Rocky" and the others.

Can people who =Change= the Scriptures be saved?

Another man, Mr Chris Duncan says; "Simon was quick to believe but his belief was obviously based on a misunderstanding of the gospel since he thought that the gift of God could be bought with money. Belief is assent to understood propositions. Simon did not understand the gospel. Thus he did not believe the gospel."

Mr Duncan's Irrationality is blaring here. First he gives a false definition of Belief by saying that Belief is assent to =understood=  propositions.  If that's so then everyone who assents to the propositional statement of the Trinity must understand the Trinity!  Belief is assent to propositions whether or not one understands them.  Therefore, if, as he says, Simon did not understand the gospel, something he fails to show from Scripture, it does not follow from that proposition that he did not believe it. For one thing the Holy Spirit says Point Blank that Simon ~Did~ believe the Gospel. But notice how Mr Duncan also contradicts himself by saying, "Simon was quick to believe" and then "he did not believe the gospel." . If Simon did not believe the Gospel what then was it that he was "quick to believe"?  Evolution?  The passage states plainly that it was the Gospel that Simon Believed folks. Yet this man insists on contradicting the testimony of the Holy Spirit and make Scripture contradict itself.

Now... if you read the Context of the passage it says in verse 12...
But when they believed Philip preaching the gospel, the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Clearly Philip was preaching the Gospel and these people Believed it and were Baptized. Now is there a continuity of flow of thought in verse 13? Notice...
And Simon himself also believed, and being baptized was continuing steadfastly with Philip.

Quetion; What  difference was there between the people in verse 12 and Simon in verse 13? Answer; Nothing! They both believed the Exact Same Thing, which was the Gospel and they were both Baptized. So... were the people in verse 12 Believers? Then so was Simon. Simple no? Therefore, Scripture clearly teaches that it is entirely possible to Believe the Gospel and still be Unregenerate.

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