In my two earlier studies entitled: Blowing the Third Trumpet and A Great Star Fell from Heaven, I tried to show that the star that fell from heaven was a Jewish spiritual and civil leader, namely, one of the influential high priests at Jerusalem, who stood against the Lord and the Gospel that was then being spread throughout the Roman Empire by Jesus’ disciples. He had planned and executed a great persecution against the Messianic church immediately following Paul’s imprisonment at Caesarea. All of the General Epistles: James, 1 & 2 Peter; 1, 2 & 3 John, and Jude were written, in my opinion, during Paul’s incarceration and in an effort to stem the attack of the Jewish leadership at Jerusalem against the spread of the Gospel. This persecution of believers didn’t go unnoticed by the Lord, and he retaliated against the unbelieving Jewish nation, as I hope to show in this study.
According to John, the star that fell from heaven upon “the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters” (Revelation 8:10) is called Wormwood (verse-11), meaning bitter. In the Old Testament when the Jews judged against righteous behavior, they were said to change justice into wormwood (Amos 5:7; cf. 6:12). When Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon, Jeremiah lamented that the Lord had filled his heart with bitterness and made him drunk with wormwood (Lamentation 3:15), and looking back, he remembered his persecution and misery in terms of wormwood and gall (Lamentations 3:19). So, wormwood seems to be the ‘bitter’ taste of injustice, persecution and judgment of the wicked.
In the context of Revelation 8:11, Wormwood was the judgment of God upon the star that fell from heaven. The bitter fruit of the Jewish leadership brought judgment upon their nation (cf. Deuteronomy 32:29-32), because they had made the lives of the righteous bitter by persecuting them for their obedience to spread the Gospel throughout the empire. Therefore, the Lord fed the Jews with wormwood and caused them to drink the water of gall (cf. Jeremiah 23:13-15). Notice how this was fulfilled during the terms of the last two Roman governors before the Jews went to war with Rome:
Albinus, who succeeded Festus, did not execute his office as the other had done; nor was there any sort of wickedness that could be named but he had a hand in it. Accordingly, he did not only, in his political capacity, steal and plunder every one’s substance, nor did he only burden the whole nation with taxes, but he permitted the relations of such as were in prison for robbery, and had been laid there, either by the senate of every city, or by the former procurators, to redeem them for money; and nobody remained in the prisons as a malefactor but he who gave him nothing.[1]
NOW Gessius Florus, who was sent as successor to Albinus by Nero, filled Judea with abundance of miseries. He was by birth of the city of Clazomene, and brought along with him his wife Cleopatra, (by whose friendship with Poppea, Nero’s wife, he obtained this government,) who was no way different from him in wickedness. This Florus was so wicked, and so violent in the use of his authority, that the Jews took Albinus to have been [comparatively] their benefactor; so excessive was the mischief that he brought upon them.[2]
“Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, But the discipline of fools is folly.” (Proverbs 16:22 NASB). If we apply this logic to Revelation 8:11, the star that had fallen from heaven would be the Jewish leadership who had rejected the instruction of the Lord. This becomes clear as we read Jeremiah 2:13 which compares the Jewish leadership with broken cisterns, unable to hold water, for they had cut themselves off from their Lord, who is the Fountain of Living Water. So, in the context of Revelation 8:11 the nation’s leadership had become a source of wickedness and violence, which polluted the whole nation (Jeremiah 6:7), because they had cut themselves off from the Messiah, who is that Fountain that could have cleansed them from their uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1).
If I had to pick a time for these events, I would have to pick the decade preceding the Jews’ war with Rome (56 AD to 66 AD). This, of course, was the time of Paul’s imprisonment and eventual martyrdom. The governments of Albinus and Forus incorporated the final 3 ½ years before that war or about (62 AD to 66 AD). The Jewish leadership had organized its third and final persecution of the believers, as they sought to stem the spread of the Gospel (Acts 23:12-15; 24:27; 25:1-3, 9). Therefore, they were given wormwood to drink in response to their own godlessness (Jeremiah 23:15), and, in the context of Revelation 8:10, this would mean death to the nation that followed them (i.e. who drank their waters).
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[1] Josephus: Wars of the Jews; 2.14.1
[2] Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews; 20.11.1
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4 responses to “A Star Called Wormwood”
Hi Eddie,
Apologies in advance, because this comment might end up being longer than your own post on this “star” nicknamed “Wormwood”.
To start with, I believe that we can name this one individual “star” called “Wormwood” who caused bitterness among the early church as the sorcerer Simon Magus operating in the city of Samaria, described in Acts 8:9-11. “But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.” Eddie, you have already said above that you believe this “star” had to be a Jewish spiritual leader. I propose that Simon Magus WAS that Jewish spiritual leader that Revelation 8:11 spoke of.
The apostle Peter, with his God-given ability to discern spirits, (as he had done with Ananias and Sapphira), could tell that Simon’s so-called conversion was not genuine. Some of the commentaries giving an interpretation of Peter’s words of rebuke for Simon in Acts 8:20-23 offer a different interpretation than the usual translation. According to the Greek, they indicate that this statement of Peter’s was intended to be a PROPHECY concerning Simon Magus and what he would later become – not just a simple declaration that Simon Magus was then existing in a “gall of bitterness” and a “bond of iniquity” at that moment. In other words, to paraphrase Peter, it was not supposed to be translated “FOR I perceive that thou art (currently) in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity”. Instead, it was meant to be translated, “I perceive that thou art (intended to be) FOR a gall of bitterness and a bond of iniquity” (in the future among the church assemblies, that is).
Peter was predicting that Simon would later become a corrupting influence that would introduce BITTERNESS and the BONDAGE OF INIQUITY among the followers of Christ’s teachings and in the church’s doctrine. Eusebius makes mention of Simon Magus’ history and his influence on the early church according to Justin Martyr and Irenaeus’ writings. Traditionally, Simon Magus was blamed for authoring ALL the heretical doctrines of the church in its early stages. I’m not certain that the blame for ALL heresies could be laid at Simon’s feet, but certainly one of the most notable among the list of heresies was the “doctrine of Balaam” that Simon developed to corrupt many weaker members of the church. The cult he started combined idolatry, sorcery, and the practice of fornication, side by side with nominal Christian beliefs included for a veneer of respectability. It was one of the “doctrines of devils” that Paul warned about in I Timothy 4:1 that would crop up in “the latter times”.
Simon eventually became bold enough to claim the status of a deity. According to Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and others, a certain woman named Helen who originally came from a brothel in Tyre attached herself to Simon’s cult as a devoted follower. Simon soon elevated her status to that of a goddess companion that he himself had created – presenting her as the sensual female counterpart to his own claim of deity. I believe that Helen is the woman referred to in Rev. 2:20, nicknamed “Jezebel”, who taught and seduced the servants of God in the Thyatira church to eat things offered to idols and to commit fornication. This was the same problem in the Pergamos church with its “doctrine of Balaam” that taught eating things offered to idols and committing fornication (Rev. 2:14). That is 2 out of 7 churches with this corrupt teaching – almost ONE THIRD of them mentioned specifically. Remember the fraction. It comes up later in Rev. 8:11.
This corrupt doctrine is mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament. Jude 11 also brings it up, where the followers of the “doctrine of Balaam” are called “wandering STARS” (v. 13), “sensual” (v. 19), “walking after their own lust” (v. 16,18), who “defile the flesh” (v.8), “turning the grace of God into lasciviousness”, by creeping into the churches undetected (v.4). This is the same problem highlighted in II Timothy 3:1-9, where it mentions the “lovers of pleasures” (v.4) who “creep into houses (house churches) and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with divers lusts…” (v.6). These “men of corrupt minds” (v. 8) are directly compared to the sorcerers of Pharaoh’s court in Exodus 7:11, Jannes and Jambres by name, who tried to copy all of Moses’ miraculous signs (similar to Simon the sorcerer wanting to mimic the miraculous works of the apostles in Acts 8).
The “doctrine of Balaam” cult is again brought up in II Peter 2 where these “false teachers among you” (v.1) would bring in “damnable heresies” which included “lascivious ways” that many would follow (v.2). These are called “cursed children” (v.14) who would “walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness” (v.10), “having eyes full of AN ADULTERESS” (v.14). I believe that this particular “adulteress” is none other than Simon’s consort Helen from the brothel in Tyre – the “Jezebel” of Rev. 2:20, whose “children” (members in her church) were going to be “killed with death” if they did not repent (Rev. 2:23). This “adulteress” is compared to a “sow” that would return to her “wallowing in the mire” (II Peter 2:22). A fitting reference to the brothel in Tyre that Helen came from originally before she became a co-leader of Simon’s cult that taught the same perversion of the “doctrine of Balaam” to the members of the early church.
These “cursed children” (II Peter 2:14) are also called “fountains without water”, who used the allure of the “lusts of the flesh” (v.18) to bring others into “bondage” (v.19) – the same “bond of iniquity” that Peter prophesied earlier in Acts 8:23 that Simon would eventually bring into the church. These “FOUNTAINS without water” – the followers of the doctrine of Balaam – were the “ONE THIRD” part of the rivers and fountains of waters that the great star “Wormwood” would make bitter in Rev. 8:11. “Many men died” because of the bitter waters, Rev. 8:11 says – just as the “children” of “Jezebel” (Helen the adulteress) had God’s promise that He would kill them after a period of great tribulation unless they repented (Rev. 2:22-23).
I believe this promised “great tribulation” is the AD 64 Neronian persecution of the Christians that Peter spoke of as ongoing in I Peter 4. The “fiery trial which is happening to you” (v.12) was the blistering pogrom against the Christians which had started after the AD 64 fire at Rome. “The time (season) is come that judgment just begin at the house of God” (the church), Peter said in I Peter 4:17. Under this “season” of persecution for the early church by Nero, the church would be purged of the bitter corruption that had crept into one-third of its “rivers and fountains of waters” by the influence of Simon Magus – the great star named “Wormwood” – the “great power of God” as the deluded Samaritans once called him in Acts 8:10.
Since Simon Magus’ reputation of sorcery in Samaria was originally launched by his collusion with the demonic world as noted in Acts 8, it is not hard to see him pictured as the same “fallen star” of Rev. 9:1 who is given the key to the bottomless pit. From the time Simon Magus had first encountered the miraculous power of the apostles in Acts 8, he had coveted their God-given abilities of conferring the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. Simon Peter had been given the key to the kingdom of heaven by Christ (Matt. 16:19). In direct contrast to this, Simon Magus who wanted to purchase this apostolic power was similarly given the key to the bottomless pit in order to release demonic “locusts” into the land of Israel for a judgment on that nation.
We know that Christ had predicted earlier in Matt. 12:43-45 that the “wicked generation” He had been casting unclean spirits out of would end up being plagued with even worse demonic oppression in 7-fold numbers before His return, making the last state of that nation worse than its first state during Christ’s ministry. Somehow, Simon the sorcerer was instrumental in releasing these demonic forces during that “short time” and the “little season” when Satan was loosed to deceive the nations without restraint (from the literal 1,000-year millennium’s end in AD 33 through the AD 66-70 torments in Jerusalem).
Here is the quote by Justin Martyr, found in Eusebius, where he refers to Simon’s participation with demonic powers at that time.
“After the Lord’s ascension” (in AD 33), “the demons presented men who claimed to be gods, and they not only escaped being persecuted by you, but even became objects of worship. Simon, a Samaritan from a village called Gittho,” (originally established by the idolatrous tribe of Dan), “worked wonders through magic in Claudius’s time, thanks to the demons who possessed him….Nearly all Samaritans and a few in other nations also acknowledge him as their chief deity and worship him. And a woman named Helen, who traveled around with him but had previously lived in a brothel [at Tyre] , they call the First Emanation from him.”
Irenaeus is another, Eusebius says, who repeats this record of Simon’s history of heretical teaching, as does Theodoret, I am told, although I have not read these sources yet.
With the third trumpet judgment, Simon Magus (a.k.a. “Wormwood”) corrupted ONE THIRD of the rivers and fountains of waters (the Christian assemblies) with his bitter “doctrine of Balaam” cult. As Peter said in II Peter 2:13 (Interlinear), these “fountains without water” who followed the way of Balaam were “ABOUT TO RECEIVE the reward of unrighteousness”. If this is speaking of the judgment that had begun “at the house of God” (I Peter 4:17) under Nero’s AD 64-68 persecution, then that aligns with the fourth and fifth trumpet judgments immediately following which darkened the sun, moon and stars of Israel’s spiritual leadership, and released the 5-month “locust” swarm of demonic powers between May-September of AD 66.
All of this above may not be in agreement with your position on this “star” called Wormwood, Eddie, but at least it lets you know that there is an alternative out there to consider.
Greetings Patricia, and thank you for reading my study and for taking the time to comment.
I’m afraid I am unable to support your theory for a number of reasons. First of all, there isn’t any solid evidence that Simon of Acts 8 is Simon Magus of the second century AD. There is a lot of conjecture, and, if told I had to choose one way or another, I probably would say they were the same person. However, that is still conjecture. Let me repeat. There is no solid evidence connecting the two figures.
Secondly, you are putting his terrible deeds during the time of the Apostles. Every critic of ancient Christian history, of whom I am aware, would place his work in the second century AD. He is part of the Gnostic heresies, and their effect upon the church didn’t begin until the second century. You have Christ condemning them in his letters to the seven churches, and then you have both Peter and Paul condemning them in their epistles. How could this be, if we know nothing of their works until the second century? Luke doesn’t mention the gnostics in Acts. Yet, someone was attacking the churches. If it wasn’t Simon, who would that be? I have several studies pointing to the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem. One of those studies is entitled: “The Doctrine of Balaam,” which I wrote when I was studying the Church at Pergamos.
You mention the persecution of Nero and the persecution of the five provinces of Asia. I have studies of 1 & 2 Peter showing Nero’s persecution was inspired by the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem, and the persecution in Asia Minor was conducted by the same Jewish authorities. ALL of the persecutions of the Church prior to 70 AD were begun by the authorities at Jerusalem. Simon had nothing to do with these things, Hollywood notwithstanding.
Simon was a sorcerer. How could he have made any inroads into Christianity, while the Apostles were still alive. On the other hand, ALL Christians were considered Jews prior to 70 AD. One of the bones of contention between believers and the Jewish authorities was that believers embraced gentiles without having them circumcised. The fact that believers were considered Jews permitted the high priest at Jerusalem to have influence in the believing community. It was a struggle for natural Jewish believers to differentiate between Christ’s teaching and Judaism, hence the warnings about Jezebel (Judaism) and the doctrine of Balaam which had such great influence among Jews during Moses’ day. The Jewish authorities were using plans directly out of Balaam’s play-book.
Why would Simon be given the key to the bottomless pit? What is the pit, and what comes out of the pit? Who gave him the key? Jesus seems to have the key in Revelation 1:18. Why would he give it to Simon of Acts 8? You paint with broad strokes, Patricia, but you don’t explain why it should be as you say. It seems odd to me, if Simon had such great spiritual power, as you claim, that he is given only a passing mention by Luke in the book of Acts. Moreover, neither Peter nor Paul nor any of the other writers of the New Covenant Scriptures mention him by name. Such a powerful figure, exerting such great corrupting influence upon the early church should have been identified by every writer. Don’t you think? Yet, Simon has only a nominal mention, and even there he shows great fear of Peter, pleading with him for prayer. Without the distinction he is given by the second century fathers, no one would have taken a second look.
He hasn’t the power needed to do what you claim he has done.
Lord bless you, Patrica. Your heart is in the right place, but what you claim, simply is not true.
Hi again Eddie,
Appreciate your responding to this. I do realize that there is going to be a disconnect between our interpretations, simply because of your stance regarding the former (pre-AD 70) existence of a fallen angel called Satan, and the devils who followed him. It’s my understanding based on what you’ve written in other posts that you do not agree that there ever was a celestial-bodied creature called Satan that existed since creation, and no fallen angels that followed him either, am I correct? If so, it would be impossible for you to agree that anyone (let alone Simon Magus) would have been given a key so that they could release such demonic hordes of deceptive powers during that period leading to the AD 70 fall of Jerusalem.
I’m not arguing against the persecution imposed on the Christians by the Jewish high priesthood and the Sanhedrin that you’ve mentioned. Far from it. They definitely played their part in oppressing – and killing – the faithful followers of Christ. But that persecution and the pressure to return to Judaism was something different and additional to the SENSUAL, sexual corruption of the morals of weaker believers in the church (that “allure through the lusts of the flesh” that II Peter 2:18 talks about.) Sex always sells, and Simon Magus and his consort Helen used this to their own advantage and to the detriment of the early church.
The prophet Balaam used this same sexual temptation back at Baal-peor to cause Israel to sin. It wasn’t just idol-worship going on in that tent that Phinehas halted, with his one javelin thrust taking out the man and the woman at one time. The couple were participating in fornication as part of that idol worship that Israel was led into at that time.
That same sexual temptation was dangled in front of the weaker believers in the early church, and many fell into this trap. Satan and his devils’ main tool against mankind has always been that of “deceiving the nations”. Many immature Christians fell prey to this sensual deception offered by Simon and Helen’s teaching. John scathingly calls Helen “that WOMAN Jezebel”. This is not Judaism under discussion being personified as a woman. This was a single, literal, flesh-and-blood woman offering the sexual freedom of fornication, perversely combined with the worship of Christ. Many of her “children” (members in her assembly) fell under this deception.
It isn’t necessary for Simon Magus, the founder of these heresies, to personally still be alive in order to still have his “doctrines of devils” around in the second century, further deceiving weak-minded believers. However, Helen (Simon’s consort) was definitely still around while John was writing Revelation; still using her sensual persuasion as “an adulteress”, as II Peter 2:14 ( Interlinear) called her, to spread Simon’s deceptive “doctrine of Balaam”. This doctrine would continue to infiltrate the church into the next century by means of those disciples of Simon and Helen who carried this corrupt teaching forward in time.
Those Jews teaching a return to Judaism did not teach this kind of sexual perversion, so these would be two totally separate corrupting influences on the believers in the early church. And Nero’s Roman persecution inspired by the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem (which I agree with you) was yet another plague oppressing the early church.
Corruption from within, and persecution from without: no wonder John’s overriding theme in Revelation for the seven churches was for them to remain faithful and “overcome” all these trials of their faith coming from every direction.
You ask how Simon as a sorcerer could have made any inroads into Christianity while the Apostles were still alive. The books of Jude and II Peter 2 show us a clear condemnation of this having already happened in the church. Those nominal Christians were “spots in your feasts of charity while they feast WITH YOU”. They were called “SENSUAL, having not the Spirit”, who would “walk after their own ungodly lusts”, and who had “run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward”. This is sexually-based sin being spoken of here – not Judaism, which mistakenly desired the Christians to return to serving the Old Covenant Mosaic rituals.
You ask “why would Simon be given the key to the bottomless pit? What is the pit, and what comes out of the pit? Who gave him the key?” and “Why would he (Jesus) give it to Simon of Acts 8?”
Simon desperately wanted power over the realm of the Spirit, and was eager to pay Peter money for this ability (Acts 8:18-19). What he wanted so desperately, in a very real sense, God allowed Simon to have, by granting him the opportunity to release deceptive demonic spirits into the world via his heretical teaching of the “doctrine of Balaam”, or “doctrines of devils”. This was only a just recompense against that “wicked generation” who had rejected Christ, the one who had earlier cast out their unclean spirits. They would later have those same unclean spirits return with seven others more wicked than themselves in those last days (Matt. 12:43-45), when their last state would end up in worse condition than their first state under Christ’s active ministry on earth.
DECEPTION was the method by which those released devils tormented those who weren’t sealed by God in their foreheads. Deception makes people perform suicidal actions and make evil choices that harm themselves and others both physically and spiritually.
One of your objections, Eddie, is that Simon is not mentioned by name by any other NT writer except Luke. Isn’t that one time enough? After all, it was Simon’s “doctrine of BALAAM” that needed to be identified by name – not Simon himself necessarily – because others would then take that same evil doctrine and try to teach it to others, even after Simon had died. And Simon’s repentance was not a genuine, saving repentance, since he asked Peter to pray to God FOR him. Apparently he didn’t have the necessary faith to pray to God himself directly – which a genuine child of God would have instinctively done.
And the “bottomless pit” (abysson) is not a LOCATION per se. It’s a state of being, or we should say, a NON-FUNCTIONING STATUS. (Just as Christ was brought up again from the “abysson” – the abyss in Romans 10:7 after his body had been in the grave in a NON-FUNCTIONING condition.)
The demonic “locusts” rising out of the bottomless pit or “abysson”, along with their angel-king named Apollyon, were switching from a restricted, CHAINED existence where their deception was limited (Rev. 20:1-3) over to a condition in which they were allowed to operate freely without restraint during those last days of the Judaic age. That’s why we have Paul talking about those first-century saints putting on the whole armor of God in order to resist the devil, who was walking about like a roaring lion in those days from AD 33-AD70, seeking those he could devour with his deceptive power. As you remember, we have Christ warning the disciples that deception would be at such a severe level, that, if it were possible, it would deceive even the elect in those days leading up to Jerusalem’s destruction (Matt. 24:24).
Satan’s “little season” and “short time” for deceiving the church and the nations didn’t last any longer than AD 70 when his celestial-body form (I Cor. 15:40) along with that of his angels was reduced to ashes by the end of AD 70 in the Lake of Fire in Jerusalem. His fated destruction is taught in the texts of Romans 16:20, Gen. 3:15, Ezekiel 28:18-19, Zech. 13:2, Dan. 2:35, and Isaiah 24:21-23 and 27:1. These are all examples predicting the destruction, incineration, and extinction of the demonic realm for all time.
And ever since AD 70, the only deception prevailing in this world is strictly due to the human factor alone, which is sufficient explanation for the presence of evil today. “The heart is deceitful above all things…”
Greetings Patricia, and thank you for your interest in this subject. Lord bless you.
You are correct. My worldview does not permit an evil angelic being called Satan (or the Devil). Nor do I believe there ever occurred a literal war in heaven whereby a group of angelic beings rebelled against God. Nor do I believe in a literal hell where folks burn for all eternity. ALL that stuff is straight out of paganism. It has nothing to do with either the Old or New Covenant Scriptures.
Concerning the one who received the “key”, I believe a literal person was given authority over what is referred to in the Apocalypse as the “bottomless pit”, but the “key” wasn’t literal. It can be understood better as “authority”. In about a week I’ll post a study on who that person is.
Concerning Balaam, the sexual temptation was literal and physical under the Old Covenant, but in the New it is more spiritual in nature. Don’t forget the “woman” in Revelation 17. Fornication in the Apocalypse is speaking spiritually, not physically. I agree sex sells, but the New Covenant is not speaking of immoral behavior. That kind of thing would have also been unacceptable under Judaism. Neither the temptation nor the persecution came from the pagan quarter, prior to 70 AD.
You keep on pushing for Simon Magus, he doesn’t come on the scene until after the turn of the century. That’s too late for the writers of the New Testament to be concerned with him. They were concerned with matters at hand that took the attention of believer away from Christ.
Christianity is not was not, nor will it ever be hurt by nominal Christians. Believers simply don’t pay much attention to what those folks say, other than to try to help them see the light. Rather it is the spies, the plants from the Jerusalem authorities, the pretenders that hurt the bodies of believers throughout the empire during the first century AD. Folks are always worried about what they call “nominal” Christianity. Rather, it is the folks who exert too much power or authority on their own that believers should be concerned with. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It brings down churches.
Concerning what came out of the pit, I have two studies on this subject, but it will take about two weeks before I post them (three per week). It has more to do with the Roman military machine than deception. The fallen angel (star) has more to do with deception.
We probably agree on what the “bottomless pit” represents. I’ll be posting a study on it in about a week, but I’ll be posting much more about the bottomless pit when we get to Revelation 20.
We also agree on the “little season” or “little while”, but we don’t agree about Satan, but you already knew that. :-)
Have a blessed day, Patricia, and thank you for reading.