The Problem of Acts...

The book of Acts essentially flies in the face of "modern Christianity."  The reason?  Acts connects the spiritual and physical worlds in a definite way, and lets us know that they are not really separate.  Fast forward to the modern world, where even the idea of "God" is something of a joke amongst "civilized" folk, and you'll see a complete denial of the spiritual world as it's clearly presented to us in the book of Acts. Who ever heard of angels talking to people?  Or a "Spirit" communicating to those who believe in a certain religion?
Modern Christianity is part and parcel of this problem, since most branches (except the Pentecostal/Charismatic) almost completely reject this view of the spiritual world.  Don't believe me?? Then go to church.  Nearly any church.  It's all about what you can do for yourself, or how you have to work really hard to be a good Christian, or some other thing (usually true) that involves your personal effort.  On the other hand, Acts presents a completely different world--a world full of angels, demons, the Spirit, miracles, gifts, visions, tongues, and so on.
"Modern" Christians have pretty much eliminated this view of life from their perspective, since it would conflict so deeply with the rationalistic society in which we live, and because a perspective that allows the free work of the Spirit leaves many things unexplained, like, "Why didn't Uncle Henry get healed? He died of emphysema."  These are things for which the believer in the spiritual world, and the Holy Spirit's present work, have no ready answer, and since we don't, we move away from the plain meaning of Acts, and offer the weak substitute that, "the days of the apostles are over..." so why is that?? How do we know?  When you examine the evidence, it's clear that Acts clearly presents a world that Christians should understand and walk in, but do not.  Why that is, will be the subject of a couple of blog posts.  For now, read Acts, and just ask yourself:  Why not now? Why not here? Why not ME?  I suggest that you will find no real answers to these questions, except made up ones that never satisfy.