If I were to pursue a scholarly paper purely for the sake of research, one of them might be how various Bible commentators interpret what came from this incident. There are those who assert that this is the source of Paul's very difficult second missionary journey, implying that he suffered ill consequences for his actions. Others point to the fact that future references to Barnabas and Mark by Paul would indicate that some kind of reconciliation took place and all that such might imply. And of course there are a myriad of variations in between. What fascinates me is the way people interpret "a sharp disagreement", particularly how so many take it to at least mean something very negative if not downright rooted in sin.

I think what matters is the issue at stake. They did not have "a sharp disagreement" about doctrine or theology, but a difference of opinion about a person's readiness. To be sure there are matters of doctrine and theology which cannot accommodate even the slightest compromise, but such issues so rarely come up in the normal course of a Bible-believing congregation. No, it is much more likely that it is all the issues pertaining to gray areas having multiple interpretations which will most often present themselves.

I will grant that problems can arise when we debate gray area issues of opinion as if they are black-and-white matters of doctrine. But I will also confess that I am one of those strange individuals who read these verses and actually find comfort in them. It is possible to have a differing opinion and still continue in the Lord's work; it is possible to disagree and still remain in ministry. I might even offer the argument that because of a healthy disagreement that Paul and Barnabas subsequently covered twice as much ground apart than they would have if they had continued together on a single course.

Ultimately I do not believe either party engaged in sin because no consequences are subsequently recorded. They both continued in ministry, their paths ultimately crossed again, and it would appear that they were spiritually faithful both in their mission and their person. I think the lesson for us is the need to take stock of the nature of internal disagreements and grant that they are not always black-and-white, with-me-or-against-me lines in the sand. Sometimes they are simply honest disagreements of opinion. _††_†

When looking at the book of Acts as some kind of guide for the church it is a healthy exercise to make note of the specific activities which took place. The Apostles were faithful to the Great Commission in that we can take notice that everywhere they went they never merely made converts, but took the necessary time to make disciples. And it was not always taking place under ideal conditions. Previously they had to flee this region, made disciples in the course of their new encounters, but were faithful to come back and finish the process of discipleship even in a place where it was made the most difficult. They were not just preaching the theoreticaly but providing a living example that "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God".

Just because things were difficult even to the point of open persecution, the Apostles did not automatically interpret this to mean that the ministry is not effective and must come to an end. In our current corporate-type culture we tend to measure success by numbers and percentages and therefore make determinations as to when efforts or programs are no longer worth pursuing. The very nature of discipleship chafes against this in almost every way. Modern-day metrics would advise against going back into a region with historically high persecution just to strengthen and encourage a few; biblical discipleship actually demands it.

I think I have been guilty of this as much as anybody, basing an assumption on when a church effort should begin or end on the degree of participation or percentage of involvement by the rest of the congregation. In reality we are to recognize the pattern of the Parable of the Sower that three of the four types of ground upon which the Word of God fell did not realize the best of results. But look how the one-in-four fertile ground yielded multiplied results! The time invested in the qualified few eventually produces in the long term what we might unduly desire to come in the short term.

Regardless, it does not come easy. I would offer that if it came "through many tribulations" for the Apostles, the most qualified purveyors of discipleship in church history, it most certainly will hold true for the rest of us. Perhaps we need to readjust our expectations from those of a 21st Century sales and marketing department which measures everything according to market share to God's standard of hearts fully and exclusively devoted to Him. _††_†

It is important to note that in verse 6, this self-proclaimed "magician" is first identified as "a Jewish false prophet". It seems that most if not all false prophets come in the character of Jannes and Jambres, Pharaoh's court magicians who, to a point, imitated Moses and Aaron the true prophets of God. Here we are provided with the ultimate goal of false prophets, to turn others "away from the faith". Just like a magician who uses misdirection to redirect the audience's attention from what they are really doing, false prophets are intent on getting believers to look away from the true faith toward a counterfeit one.

It may not be apparent to the majority at first glance, but eventually it always comes out where false prophets are concerned. Ultimately their basic character which is "full of all deceit and fraud" comes to light. But in the mean time, their inward character which can remain disguised for a time is actually betrayed by their teaching. Paul reveals the way he knows is dealing with a false prophet by stating, "Will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?" Like Pharaoh's magicians a false prophet might effect some impressive signs and wonders, but they are always betrayed by their false teaching. A miracle, however real it might be, never brings with it the authority to override the Word of God.

Notice Paul does not accuse the false prophet of "replacing" the "ways of the Lord" but making them "crooked". They know they do not need to invent something new but only need to successfully twist, corrupt, or dilute what has already been established. An obvious one which I have seen many of our present day contemporary false prophets do which immediately betrays them is how they twist portions of Scripture to make the listeners feel good about themselves instead of being convicted by sin and driven to repentance. It is not that those who immediately identify false prophets are so much smarter than everyone else, they just happen to be the ones who steadfastly remain in God's Word so that attempts to make it "crooked" are readily apparent.

Ultimately the false prophet is the "enemy of all righteousness". Their ultimate goal is to foster unfaithfulness by what begins as subtle corruption of God's Word and ways, eventually leading further and further away. We should not be surprised when we encounter the followers of such who although still claiming to be "Christian" are in fact so far from it that they take positions completely contrary to those of a true, Bible-believing Christian. It is not the faith in the false prophet's miracles or prophecies as to whether they are real or not — that is the magician's gift of misdirection; it is buying into the accompanying twisted message leading from true faith to faithlessness. _††_†

Why were the Apostles and the early Jewish Christians so slow when it came to taking Jesus' commands literally such as the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20) to "make disciples of all nations" or His final instruction just moments before His ascension that "you shall be My witnesses…even to the remotest part of the earth"? (Acts 1:8) In spite of the clear teaching and commandment of Jesus to the contrary, why do they continue to cling to incorrect notions about the working of the Gospel, the most important of all biblical doctrine? Because they have a wrong eschatology. People who have a false notion about God's entire prophetic plan are most often characterized as having doctrinal issues with the fundamental teachings of the Christian faith.

• What did Peter do at what call the Transfiguration? (Mt. 17:1-13) Believing that he was seeing the inauguration of the Millennial Reign (the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom on earth), Peter wanted to build the booths associated with the Feast of Booths, the celebration which is most closely associated with and symbolic of the Millennial Reign.
   
• Why did all the people temporarily hail Jesus as King at what we call the Triumphal Entry? They thought the Messiah of the Millennial Reign had come to establish His kingdom in Jerusalem and rule the world from Israel. (How quickly they turned against Him when it was realized that was not what He was going to do at His first coming.)
   
• What caused Jesus to give the Olivet Discourse to clarify the events which will characterize the Last Days? Peter and the disciples asked Jesus, "When will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" (Mt. 24:3) They have seen the work of the Messiah the Suffering Servant and want to know when they will see the work of the Messiah the Conquering King of the Millennial Kingdom.
   
• What was their final question of Christ just prior to His ascension? "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6) Again they return to their belief, which Christ never refutes as being wrong, that He will at some point fulfill all that Scripture points to as what we know as His Second Coming when He will establish a thousand year kingdom on earth.

When Jesus gave His commandment that they would be His witnesses "both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth", (Acts 1:8) it all seemed to follow the eschatology which they had grown up with that the Messiah would eventually reign over the whole earth not just from Israel, but especially from His capital Jerusalem. As Israel and the Jews were called to be a light to the Gentiles, Jewish thinking had always embraced the concept that God's plan for the world would be fulfilled through them. So it seemed logical to the Apostles and the early Jewish believers that they should be commanded to first win everyone in Jerusalem, then every member of the nation of Israel ("Judea"), then all of their closest relatives ("Samaria"), so that they could be used to eventually reach all the Gentile nations. Their eschatology was that God would use them to conquer the world spiritually in order to usher in the earthly kingdom of the Messiah.

I have gone to the trouble of explaining this because at this present hour we have the exact, same false doctrine pervading the mostly Gentile Church today. It owns various labels such as Kingdom-Now Theology, Dominionism, Triumphalism, Replacementism and others, but it is the false notion that it is the Church's role to win the whole world to Christ as a prerequisite for Christ to return and establish His earthly kingdom. Both Old Testament Jewish believers and New Testament Christian believers alike have for centuries perpetuated a wrong eschatology which deceives them both as to the fundamental doctrines of God's will and work.

The moral of the story is this: If we cannot get the most basic, fundamental theology right, it is difficult if not impossible to understand the greater and more intricate elements of God's plan. We need to know algebra before we can jump into calculus, but we cannot even attempt algebra until we have mastered the fundamentals of math. The reason so many are in error when it comes to understanding the End Times is because they are in error when it comes to the fundamentals of the faith. No one forsaking the basic math of Christianity will be able to engage in the calculus of such things as decoding the number of the Beast. _††_†

One of the things I look back on with a little bit of regret is how many years I carried around nothing but a New Testament. Sadly, this was a normal occurrence during my formative years when there were virtually no Bible studies, sermons, nor any other cause to need the Old Testament. Although I later enjoyed the revelation of seeing Christ in the whole of the Bible, I still wish they were seriously taught to me much earlier. And so I now quiz others as to how well they see Christ conveyed through each book of the Old Testament so they won't miss out on what I've come to believe is the ultimate reference source, without which the New Testament cannot be fully understood.

There is a lot of information in the Old Testament, even a lot of specific data where the Messiah is concerned. Any overview of Jesus provided by a Bible dictionary will cite the fact that over 300 Old Testament Scriptures were fulfilled during Christ's First Coming. I don't doubt that it's true, but put it all together like Peter is doing here. Peter isn't saying, "He did 'such-and-such' and 'this-and-that' so therefore He's the Messiah", but rather summarizing the greater message behind all of the individual signs: "through His name everyone who believes receives forgiveness of sins".

This is a kind of challenge to our entire Bible study approach. Can you honestly say you were reading, say, Ezekiel and you easily and obviously came to this very same conclusion? The methods of Bible exegesis with which I was raised rarely dug deep enough to reveal such truth because, I believe, they were rooted in assumptions and techniques that the original Believers to whom these books were addressed did not employ. Over time we lost sight of how the Apostles handled Scripture in favor of newer approaches. I found it interesting that the one thing Paul attributed as an advantage to being a Jew is when it comes to handling Scripture.

So the challenge here is simple, but the implementation is difficult: If the whole Word of God is true, and here states that "all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins", then how can you prove this true in your study of each of the Old Testament books? Jesus Himself says, "…all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled". :"(Luke 24:44)": The New Testament will never be fully grasped until we commit to understanding the WHOLE Word of God end-to-end._††_†

One of the most common recurring human behaviors which has been prolific in every age of the church and probably even more so this present hour, is the desire to purchase a gift of God in one form or another. I am not strictly referring to the Roman Catholic practice of selling indulgences, but what I call the "Send me a check and I'll send you a table cloth dipped in the Jordan River" syndrome. Peter was an honest shepherd who set the record straight; there are far too many false shepherds who are more than willing to fleece the flock. (Pun intended.)

I cannot decide which is my "favorite": the Benny Hinn olive oil or the Morris Cerrullo "debt-free" hanky. I could easily start a website dedicated to such products. But the bottom line to all these things is the notion that someone will give financially if there is some kind of spiritually guaranteed return on that investment. It truly shows the depth of an individual's deception when they cannot see that no transaction of cash is going to override a heart that is not completely committed and yielded to Christ in the first place, and that such a heart would never expect such a response in the second.

This behavior is actually a very telling testimony of a life less than fully committed to God's Word and ways. Even more than that, it speaks of someone who not only does not want to do the work necessary to build a life that can be quantified as biblically faithful, but they want an additional escalation of their stature before others without the requisite work of a biblical servant. I suppose it should be no surprise that this phenomena is at its historical worst in a consumerist culture with a consumerist mentality. _††_†

Believe me when I sincerely state that it is not my intention to purposely incite or offend anyone, but I cannot read these verses without thinking about more recent church history. Specifically I have come to realize that what most Christians know about the Reformation and its most prominent personalities is at best bite-sized and far from comprehensive, and most often not even reflecting the truth. Many claiming the title "Christian" at present see the Reformers as their current church fathers, and I believe anyone who has the courage to read the whole and complete truth of their history would not claim such a heritage.

For instance, before Luther died he revealed a streak of anti-Semitism that has rarely been matched. When Adolph Hitler wrote Mein Kampf and shared his own anti-Semitic intentions, he had to quote Nietzsche out of all reasonable context; when it came to Luther however, he did not have change or embellish a single syllable. When you look through the historical record at the number of Christians killed by Calvinists, it does not take tremendous effort to produce a less than flattering report card based on its spiritual fruit.

I realize it is controversial to say it, but from my vantage point the proud claims of a heritage founded in such men is not so far afield from what Stephen was talking about. Just as they really did not understand the true role model their so-called spiritual fathers were, neither do I believe many of the present generation comprehend what it really means to claim the Reformers as their be-all, end-all model of spirituality. _††_†

You have either just awaken from a coma or not paid any kind of attention to the news for a long while if you do not know that the place Christians in America are presently being persecuted the most is within the judicial system. On the one hand there are many "woe is me" Christians who see this as a sign to implement a political action committee and join the TEA Party. If that is what God is telling you to do, please do not allow me to in any way hinder you. I just want to offer that we need to consider  what a tremendous opportunity this is to frankly preach the Gospel in truth.

"'But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.'"
— Mark 13:9 (NASB)

It is no coincidence that Jesus warns that one of the earliest venues of persecution leading into the Last Days will be the courts. And there is no mistaking that what Jesus immediately follows this up with is directly on point both for the Apostles in their time and for us today…

"'The gospel must first be preached to all the nations.'"
— Mark 13:10 (NASB)

We can find many New Testament trials by which to derive how we in turn should handle this situation. What they all have in common is a no-nonsense approach to sharing the Person and work of Christ, of making sure that the focus is on the Gospel and not on themselves. We may not "enjoy" persecution, but we need to recognize that we are being presented with the opportunity that is not designed to restore Christian American rights to free speech, assembly, and all that a constitutional republic holds dearest, but the opportunity to share the unadulterated Gospel with those who need it most. Restoration of our personal rights is never as important as refusing to withdraw from the plain and open teaching of Jesus and the cross. _††_†

It is important to bear in mind that the actions of Ananias and Sapphira come from people accepted as full members of the church. Up until now Satan has tried to bring pressure on the church from sources distinctly outside of it. So we should pay particular attention to the fact that God actually demonstrates His extreme displeasure by executing immediate judgment on this behavior as an object lesson for the rest of us. They are representative of the worst brand of deception that corrupts the church in the worst way: they take what is normally a good and loving thing and twist it so that it no longer glorifies God but self.

For the record, giving to God is established by Scripture to be one of the ways we engage in worship of God. What we have here is not simply someone trying to stroke their own ego, but is being used by the enemy to corrupt worship. The repeated biblical pattern is that this is always where Satan loves to start, by corrupting worship and getting God's people to redirect it away from God. Satan is always about pride and wanting to be worshiped in God's place himself.

Yes, deception often comes in the form of false teaching and false doctrine, but I would submit that the most common attack is to get us to take what normally is good and nice and misuse it. There are a host of what I call "peripheral" issues which many Christians magnify into alledged super-issues. My parents, for instance, would think anyone wearing more than a wedding ring and a butteryfly stick pin on their lapel had been lost to an obsession with material wealth. I have seen this with make-up, dancing, and an extraordinarly long list of things which in and of themselves really are not evil. But as with all things in life, it is what we do with them.

There is another side of this, however, which I have seen growing up in church. There are those who derive their reputation and self-worth by what they contribute to the church. The church I grew up in is dominated to this day by tiny little plaques all over the facility announcing that "this" stain glassed window was donated by so-and-so, "this" wing of the facility was funded by so-and-so, or that today's beautiful on-stage floral arrangement was made possible by so-and-so. Most of these things are needed, but I have seen those who get caught up wanting to give for the greater reason that they will get another plaque and the requisite recognition that comes with it.

We live in an age where there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of websites and ministries dedicated to "discernment" in order to sound the alarm about false teaching taking residence in the church. In Acts 5 we see Peter actually using the gift of discernment and it does not expose a false doctrine, but a false heart. I would offer that the worst kind of deception we face is the lack of personal faithfulness as exhibited by those accepted and comfortable in our midst who take good and undisputed things and twist them for their selves. _††_†

Even to this present time one of the reasons most often given by unregenerate Jews as to why they ultimately reject Jesus as the Messiah is because He did not fulfill the prophecies associated with HaMashiach Ben David — "the Messiah the Son of David" also known as "the Conquering King". These are all the prophecies we associate with Christ's Second Coming when He will literally establish His kingdom on earth, elevate Israel's place in the world, and rule for a thousand years from Jerusalem. In one of his earliest recorded sermons, Peter is actually explaining that those things are yet to come, that He first had to come and fulfill the prophecies associated with HaMashiah Ben Joseph — "the Messiah the Son of Joseph" also known as "the Suffering Servant", who must first undertake the work of the cross before engaging in the work of the Millennial Kingdom.

It would appear that the human urge to simply "jump past" the early stages and cut a shortcut to the end is nothing new. But I would offer that this basic behavior is once again very prevalent among us. "Why focus on sin?" "Why obsess about the cross?" "Why wait for the Suffering Servant when what we really want is the Conquering King?" This is exactly what happened at what we call "The Triumphal Entry", when they cheered Him thinking when He entered Jerusalem He would turn right and overthrow the Fortress Antonio and the earthly government ruling over them, but instead rejected and killed Him when He turned left and cleaned out the Temple in a teaching that judgment always comes to God's House first. To be sure this is a hallmark of the Last Days, when even those laying claim to the label "Christian" want everything their way.

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
— 2 Timothy 4:3-5 (NASB)

Yes, "fulfill your ministry" in order to participate in what Peter identifies as "the period of restoration of all things". Just as John the Baptist's ministry prepared hearts for the first arrival of the Messiah, so our preaching of the cross prepares and restores hearts for His return. _††_†