In order to influence so many people, both the “high and low,” the educated and uneducated (see Acts 8:10), Simon’s magic must have been significantly compelling. He “exercised considerable ability, authority, and influence.”1 He had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. They had become convinced of and used to the effectiveness of his sorcery. To them, his sorcery was becoming the norm. It had become the highest standard of their experience of the supernatural. “The magic power that Simon demonstrated was both real and exceedingly dangerous. He was a vehicle of the powers of the occult and the forces of darkness. In short he was an agent of Satan.”2
11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.