Justin Martyr concludes this section of The First Apology by arguing that spiritual deception did not end with pagan myths before Christ but continued afterward through false teachers, persecution, and distorted philosophy. He describes how figures like Simon Magus and Menander used magical works to deceive many, and how the demons stir hatred against Christians in order to suppress the truth. Yet Justin insists that the Christian message remains fearless because death itself cannot harm those who belong to Christ. He also makes a striking claim about intellectual history: even philosophers such as Plato, he argues, unknowingly borrowed ideas from the writings of Moses, including the doctrine of creation and symbolic references to the cross. Augustine then gives us a deeply personal moment from The Confessions, revealing a soul  ...