When Peter brought the news of Cornelius' acceptance of Jesus Christ back to Jerusalem, the believers were shocked the Peter had eaten with those nasty old unclean Gentiles. They proceeded to handle something they didn't understand very maturely...they asked questions of Peter and heard him out. This is what God wishes us to do.
The church in Antioch, Syria played a more important role in the early church than any other city according to my study Bible. After Rome and Alexandria, Antioch was the largest city in the Roman world. In Antioch, the first Gentile church was founded, and there the believers were first called Christians.
King Herod arrests Peter to persecute him and other Christians....the church prayed for Peter in prison and he had a miraculous escape with an angel leading the way.
Herod dies a horrible death because he didn't give praise to God....an angel of the Lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died. The word of God continued to spread. Barnabus and Saul had done a mission trip and they returned from Jerusalem and took John Mark (our Gospel of Mark) with them. This is the one who was mentioned fleeing in fear and so that he left his clothes behind.
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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Don't you know this just really aggravates Herod when Peter just (poof) disappeared.....and then yuck....struck dead and eaten by worms!!
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