Acts 8:20

Plain English Version

But Peter said to him, “You think you can buy God’s power with money, but you are wrong. No way. Only God can give people that power. And God can see that you are not thinking the right way, so he will not give you that power, and he will not let you work with us. Look out. God can finish you up, and finish up your money too.

Cross References

Acts 1:18

After that, the Jewish leaders used that same money to buy some farm land. And Judas died in that place. His belly split open, and all his guts fell out.

Acts 10:45

The Christians that went there with Peter, they were Jews, and they were surprised to see God give his Holy Spirit freely to people that were not Jews.

Acts 11:17

You know, we believed in our leader Jesus Christ, and God gave us the Holy Spirit. And now those people that are not Jews, they believe in Jesus too, and God gave them the Holy Spirit too, just like he gave him to us. So, you see, I couldn’t try to stop God. No way.”

Acts 2:38

Peter told them, “You have to turn around and follow Jesus. Then let us baptise you, to show that you turned away from the wrong things you are doing, and now you follow Jesus Christ. Then God will not do payback to you for those bad things. And he will give you the Holy Spirit to live in you, just like he promised. You see, God promised to give the Holy Spirit to everyone that he picks to be his own people. That promise is for you, and for your kids, and even for people in other countries a long way away.”

Acts 8:22

Stop thinking in that really bad way. Turn around and think God’s way. Pray to him and ask him not to punish you for thinking like that.

1 Timothy 6:9

But people that try to get lots of money, they let the devil trick them. The devil is the boss over the bad spirits. He gets those people to want things so much that they will do anything to get them. That’s how they fall into the devil’s trap. They do silly things, and bad things too. The devil really wrecks them.