Barnabus and Saul, having taken food to the famine-affected church people in Jerusalem, have returned to Antioch.

Verses one through five: Back together again, the disciples, prophets and apostles set out to find the will of the Lord relative to His ministry. They sought His will by “ministering” unto Him through fasting and prayer. This prompted Him to speak to them through His Holy Spirit, telling the group to lay hands on Barnabus and Saul and to send them to the “work” unto which He had called them. See The Trinity. Note that it is the Lord, through His Spirit, that sends men out to do His work. Note also in verse 5 that they were sent to preach in the Jewish synagogues. This would prove to be His modus operandi throughout the lives of the apostles. For this reason the New Covenant Church was and continues to be primarily an Israelite institution. See White Fields. It was on this missionary trip that John Mark joined Barnabus and Saul.

The Jews, having been scattered throughout the known world many years earlier, found themselves unable to worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. For this reason they established synagogues–local places of worship. An area could have one or several synagogues depending upon the size of the Jewish population and their placement in an area. Travel was by foot, therefore their had to be a synagogue within walking distances of their homes. A large city such as Damascus would support several synagogues. Note that it was to the synagogues that the Lord initially sent His apostles. Gentiles were not allowed inside Jewish synagogues. Therefore the apostles’ ministry was to Jews and proselytes–Gentiles who had converted to the Jewish religion. These people became “spiritual Israelites.” The same holds true today.

Verses six through twelve: On one part of their journey the apostles came to the Isle of Cyprus where they had an interesting and eye-opening encounter with a false prophet named Elymus the sorcerer. Of special note is the fact that the Lord calls him a “false prophet.” This means that he tried to draw people to his form of religion. Elymus had joined himself to a high official of the island named Sergius Paulus who, having heard of the new religion, called for Barnabus and Saul in order to “hear the Word of the Lord.” Elymus, fearing that he would lose his standing with the official, withstood the apostles by trying to prevent him from hearing about “the faith.” Note that in the early church there were no versions of the Word/the faith. There was and continues to be only one version–the Holy Bible. The division of the Word/faith into denominational doctrines is the result of Satan’s “divide and conquer” strategy which has worked to perfection. See What is Truth? The denominational structure of his church system (Catholicism/Protestantism) is proof of his absolute control over that which calls itself Christendom.

Having heard all he cared to from Elymus, Saul, also called Paul (Italian-small), used the power of the Holy Spirit to blind him for three days because he tried to “pervert the right ways of the Lord.” Elymus and others of his ilk would later become very effective in doing the devil’s work as is evidenced in Paul’s letter to the Galatians some years later (1:6-9). Sergius Paulus, seeing the power of Paul’s God, believed “the doctrine (singular) of the Lord.” God’s doctrine/gospel/Truth/Word is one indivisible entity which must not be altered in any way. Not one word, jot or tittle is to be changed, added to or removed from it. But Elymus and his fellow “false prophets” have swayed the masses of church people to follow Satan by providing them with denominations (divisions-1 Cor. 1:10) of “Christianity” designed to scratch religious man’s itching ears. The result is the confusing, conflicting, contradicting quagmire known today as “the church,” which the Lord rejects outright. L.J.