Conversions in the early church: Even Simon believed, and after he was baptized he became devoted to Philip. Acts 8:13

The Book of Acts recounts how the first conversions in the early Church took place, a time when the Christian religion was called the sect of the Nazarene. The Book of Acts relates that immediately after Pentecost, conversions were made in the region of Judea and Samaria, and that the first Christian communities outside the Holy Land were established after the martyrdom of Stephen and the first persecution against the Church.
While most conversions were driven by the fear of God (constancy, firmness, devotion) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there were also conversions to the Christian faith that were not genuine. The signs and wonders performed by the apostles attracted both honest people and people driven by lust and greed, and the Book of Acts relates that the conversion of Simon Magus was not a conversion based on the spiritual gift of fear of God.
The Book of Acts recounts that Simon Magus was a person who practiced magic arts and pretended to be a great person, but seeing the actions of the apostle Philip in Samaria, he too believed and was baptized, as the Book of Acts relates: "Even Simon believed, and after he was baptized he became devoted to Philip" Acts 8:13.
But Simon Magus's conversion was short-lived, because when other disciples like Peter and John arrived, and Simon saw how the Holy Spirit descended through the laying on of hands, he tried to buy that power with money. This heresy on the part of Simon earned him the rebuke of the apostle Peter, who condemned him and his money. The conversion of Simon Magus is a reminder that faith cannot take root without the fear of God, and thus it becomes a mask to hide greed and fierce selfishness. The fear of God, it is true, is first and foremost a grace, but it is also instruction, and when the Church fails in this task, that of making people understand the foundations of the spiritual life, the mission of presenting Christ as savior is reduced to a fable of no importance.

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