This story was written at the prompting of our pastor during Bible study. He thought that the story of Saul’s conversion from a Christian hater to Apostle Paul would make an interesting story. I decided to attempt this and the following is the result. It is written as if Saul, then Paul was the writer. The story is based on the Bible book of Acts.. George Hagen
I am Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee leader in Jerusalem. I am very serious about our religion and was trained under the finest Jewish educators. Because of my training and leadership ability, I became responsible for enforcing the laws that form our great Jewish beliefs. Our laws are fair and just and set up to guide all Jews in how to live according to God’s wishes. These laws were given us by God through Moses. We were taught that we were God appointed to monitor the laws and add new ones when it became necessary.
Whenever someone complained about a law or when one of the laws was broken, our governing body set that person right. We were told often that there were just too many laws. As leaders we felt that we could follow the laws that were in our best interests, but require all others to obey every one. After all, the laws were set up to benefit all our lives. Suddenly though, there arose an upstart group that was trying to wipe out all of our good work and destroy Jewish values. They came to be called Christians, and claimed some power from a person we had eliminated because of his blasphemous teachings. Through false teachings they gathered an expanding group of followers. I knew the Bible and believed that this Christian movement was dangerous to Judaism. So I came to hate the Christians and couldn’t wait to persecute them without mercy.
So I was commissioned to wipe out the threat of these people. With the power given to me by our governing body, I began to arrest everyone I found teaching these terrible things. With an enforcing group from our church, I would hunt and imprison them. It was a tough job but these efforts were paying off. We drove many out of Jerusalem as they fled to avoid prosecution. The worst offender was a man named Stephan. He spoke non-stop about these outlaw ideas and criticized our actions toward this person we had crucified. We aroused the Jews against him and he was sentenced to be stoned. I helped with the process and made sure it was done. While I didn’t cheer when he died, I felt it was good riddance. After that the only ones left hid themselves and largely stopped spreading these messages, or so we thought. Then I found that this heresy had spread to neighboring cities and might eventually endanger Jerusalem. So with proper authority, I walked to Damascus, a city about 175 miles northeast of Jerusalem, six days.
On the road there, I had a life changing experience. The above saga of my life was written in order to give you the reader a perspective on what an amazing change this was.
On the road suddenly I heard a voice out of heaven speaking to me. I asked “Who are you Lord?” I looked up at the sky and saw the risen Christ. “I am Jesus who you are persecuting” He replied. The fiery display of Christ was magnificent, but I was immediately blinded by it. I fell to the ground and then heard His voice again: “Now get up and go to the city and you will be told what to do”. I realized that this indeed was the man we had crucified and felt terribly sad. I realized that we had been blind to the message of this Jesus who really is the Messiah. My companions saw the light but could not understand the voice. I was taken by the hand and led into the city.
II] I heard this story later: In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord told him in a vision to go to the house of Judas and look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. “Lay your hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered “Not him Lord, that is impossible. Lord, I have heard from many about this man and all the evil he has done to your saints.” But the Lord said to him “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and Kings of the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
I found that faith in Christ brings great blessings but often great suffering too. But He promises to always be with us. Ananias found me and greeted me as “Brother Saul”. He laid his hands on my eyes. It felt like something fell off that had been covering my eyes, and I could see again. I got up and was baptized, knowing that this identified me with Christ. The Holy Spirit prompted me that I was a sinner and to confess my sins. I did this gladly. What a transformation for me, being suddenly converted from a Christian hater to a lover of His Word. All I can say is that if you ever meet Jesus, you will be amazed at His power and authority. Also with the Holy Spirit in your life, you will never look back. So for thirty-eight years after Jesus’ ascension, my life was tied to Jesus in one way or another. What a different kind of thrill I had then. Instead of being excited about ridding Jerusalem of Christians, I now found wonderful peace in bringing someone to know Christ. I would never have believed this possible before my conversion.
Even though I was eager to get started converting as many and as quickly as possible to Christ, I knew little about Jesus then. But I took long hours alone to pray and ask for guidance. How different this prayer was from our Jewish prayers! As children we were taught to pray to the God of our father Abraham. The Holy Spirit comforted me and assured me of help in teaching others about Christ. Many days were spent with the disciples in Damascus and I began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. The synagogue rulers readily gave me permission as they thought I was still with them. People were at first afraid of me knowing that I had been a persecutor of Christians. They said to themselves: “Is this not the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem on all those who called upon Jesus’ name?” I have never forgotten the first time I entered a Christian worship service. I could almost feel their scorn. Before long though I was accepted by the people because of my commitment and dedication in teaching the Word. I proclaimed in the synagogue that “He is the son of God”. By then the Holy Spirit had come over me and I was told that my name would be “Paul”.
But some of the Jewish leaders in Damascus conspired to kill me. They hated it as I was confounding the Jews in proving that Jesus was the Christ. They set up a watch day and night at the gates in order to kill me when I was out of the sight of the people. But my new friends got me safely out by letting me down through a break in the wall. While I am ready to die for Christ at any time and consider it gain, He had much more work for me. Many times after with all the suffering for my faith, I had the desire to depart this earth and be with Christ, but realized it is better to remain to help as many as I could. Many times also I was haunted by my former persecution of the Christians. When that thought came to me, I just tried to work that much harder and be more effective, but Christ told me He each time that had forgiven me. I know though that He left me with a partially crippling ailment as a reminder of those horrible days.
From Damascus I journeyed back to Jerusalem. I found that we had not eliminated even half of the believers there, so I tried to join them. Of course they were suspicious of my motives and afraid of me, not believing that I really was a disciple. But Barnabas, a Christian convert, brought me to the apostles. He told them how on my journey I had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to me, and how in Damascus I had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
So I stayed with them and moved about freely, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. I talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill me. When the Holy Spirit made this known to the brothers, they took me down to Caesarea and sent me off to Tarsus. I stayed near my home there preaching for several years until Barnabas brought me to help in Antioch. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Many people were brought to the Lord by him.
I had been the most zealous prosecutor of Christians, but I guess without me in this role the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. Strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit; it grew in numbers. I had recruited and trained others in effective ways to present the message called the “Way”. But before I came to Jesus, others had paved the way.
A disciple of Jesus, a man who denied knowing Jesus during the crucifixion became a strong advocate for His Word. Peter through his firm convictions and charisma attracted followers. Peter was given healing power and later so was I; we used it wisely. Churches were established in many parts of the Roman Empire.
Besides Rome and Alexandria, Antioch was the largest city in the Roman world. This Greek city became a stronghold of non-Jewish Gentiles. At first Peter was reluctant to associate with Gentiles, but he was urged by God to “eat” what the Lord provided and not just traditional Jewish fare. This message came to him in a dream and led him to spreading Jesus’ message to non-Jews. This was unheard of before this, as Jews jealously guarded their privileged position with God. His teachings took hold and others there spread the Word in the city and in the countryside. Missionaries were commissioned for the first time in church history. The Holy Spirit guided these people and helped overcome obstacles not the least of which was money to sustain missionaries.
Philip, another apostle was also effective in spreading the Gospel especially in Samaria. When word got back to Jerusalem of Philip’s successes, Peter and John were sent to evaluate his ministry. They quickly got involved themselves seeing God’s open acceptance of those who were previously considered unfit. Imagine me as Saul, ever conceiving that a Gentile could be accepted by God! But that became my main job. Before Jesus started to bring Gentiles to Himself, they were considered ‘dogs’ by all Jews. They didn’t even want to accord them ‘scraps’ from God’s feast of love.
Barnabas and I “gathered the church together” so that it would become stronger. We set up a Mission Conference to lay out a plan and pattern for mission outreach. We are proud of this work as our humble efforts spawned mighty missions. By then though, God led us to spread Jesus’ Word in outlying areas where “no [missionary] had tread before”. We didn’t want to spend our time in places that were already flourishing, but did return later to nourish and encourage them.
My first missionary journey was with Barnabas. We were set us apart in Christ for this and we set out from Antioch to Cyprus to proclaim the Gospel, with John Mark with us. In Paphos on the Island of Cyprus we encountered a false prophet named Bar Jesus determined to counter our teachings. God didn’t put up with this and told me to proclaim him blind. Filled with the Holy Spirit I looked straight at him and said, “You are a child of the devil, an enemy of everything that is right, and full of trickery. Now the Hand of the Lord is against you and you will be blind.” I could not muster much sympathy for him as he groped about trying to find something to lean on.
From Paphos my companions and I sailed to Perga where John Mark left us to return to Jerusalem. Then we went to Antioch where we were invited to preach in the synagogue. I stood up and said “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me.” I then told them some of their own history starting with their stay in Egypt and their exodus 450 years later. God had led them through the desert for forty years because they didn’t believe God would protect them against great warriors so were afraid to enter the Promised Land. God had overthrown seven nations in Canaan to provide land for them and was ready for them to settle it.
I then stressed that God had brought Israel a Savior as he had promised. God gave Jews the message of salvation, I told them, but the rulers and people of Jerusalem did not recognize Jesus. Our people carried out the crucifixion that had been written hundreds of years before. But God raised Him from the dead and He spent many days with those who had known Him. “Therefore my brothers I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.” As we were leaving the synagogue, we were invited back the next Sabbath. Then almost the whole city turned out to hear. I told them boldly: “We had to speak the Word of God to you first since you rejected it. If you do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” The Gentiles were delighted to hear this and thereafter the Word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the women and men of high standing stirred up persecution of us so we left the city.
We got similar treatment at Iconium where we once more spoke for the Lord in the synagogue. This time again a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against us. But we kept on speaking week after week and the Lord allowed us to perform miraculous signs. The people were divided and there was a plot to stone us. We learned of this and we fled to Lystra. There we encountered a man crippled from birth. I looked directly at him and saw he had faith to be healed. I called to him “Stand on your feet”. He jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw this, they, being Greeks thought that one of their gods had come down in the form of Paul. “We are only men like you but we are bringing you good news. Turn these worthless gods into the living God.” We told them that the real God made Heaven and earth. He will bring crops in season and all your food. We barely prevented them from making a sacrifice to us. But soon some Jews came from Antioch and won the crown over. They stoned me and dragged me outside the city thinking I was dead. The disciples helped me and the next day we left.
We left for Derbe and there I met a disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewess and a believer but his father was Greek. Timothy decided to join us and I “adopted him” as my son. We won a large number of disciples in Derbe. Then we returned to Antioch and other cities strengthening the disciples there. We encouraged them to remain true to their faith. We said that there can be many hardships on the way to the Kingdom of God. Elders were appointed by us for every church. With prayer and fasting we committed them to the Lord.
I was finding that I would face challenges to my mind and body almost beyond endurance. Instead of being able to call on any number of Pharisees for help, I was largely on my own. Of course other believers would help me, but the Lord led me to strike out in many different places to teach His Word. Yes the Lord was always with me and He is a great comforter. Still, it was especially a challenge from there on. The strategy I developed was to preach in the major cities of the world. Many times when I thought I knew where the Lord wanted me to go, He would change my course. Sometimes this meant wasting time and sandal leather in heading in one direction and being called back and pointed to somewhere else. I know now that if I had asked the Lord before heading anywhere, He would lead me effectively.
After visiting many cities, preaching and gathering a following large enough to create a church, it was my wish to go back and visit some of these places. I did this eventually, but often the Lord told me to head to new territory. With Timothy, my son in Christ and our team we finally reached Macedonia from Lystra. We had been headed to the province of Asia [now called Turkey]. I wanted with all my heart to visit some of the churches that Barnabas and I had established. Unfortunately Barnabas and I decided to split up because he wanted John Mark to go with us. I objected as this man had dropped out of our campaign several months before. He took John Mark and I took Silas, Timothy and others. This actually turned out for the best as we were able to cover more area so I believe the Lord caused this breakup. Later John Mark joined us for further work.
Our way to visit the churches we had established was blocked by the Holy Spirit. With this blocked, we headed north toward Bithynia. I learned later that Peter had worked this territory and established churches there. For that reason the Lord directed me elsewhere. I was told to go to Troas on the Aegean Sea and this became part of my second missionary journey. This came to me at night in a vision from the Holy Spirit. Troas was a large city and Christ’s teachings had not yet reached there. This is why the Holy Spirit insisted that we go there next. So Timothy and I and others started out on a 700 mile journey that took many days. Can you imagine how tired we were when we finally arrived there? And along the way we didn’t exactly stay at inns. Even if they could be afforded, they simply didn’t exist. Mostly we found a protected space and lay on the ground. Cooking was primitive at best but we survived. Jesus was always with us to encourage and comfort us.
As some of you know, I have had an affliction for years. This has caused pain and made walking more difficulty. In Troas, I visited a physician named Luke. He not only helped ease the pain but after I talked to him about the Lord and His wonderful teachings, he decided to join us. He told us of the great need to spread the message of Christ in this area. He was a great help for many years thereafter. Luke was also a historian and skilled writer. He meticulously recorded details of our adventures, researched information from others, and ultimately wrote books.
Whenever we encountered Jews who had been scattered by nations in raids of Judea, we met violent opposition. We were able to convert many but when our efforts became a threat to the Jewish leaders, they tried to kill us or at least drive us away. We found no such resistance among the non-Jews. We were welcomed and urged to help them believe. So even with the discouragement of the Jews, we still managed to do great works. Later we were also instrumental in convincing the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem that a Gentile did not have to become a Jew before he/she could be saved. Convincing the Gentiles that they were acceptable to God was a larger challenge, but many believed.
How did we survive on the road? I am a tentmaker by profession. In cities and towns of any size I would buy the materials and make tents to sell. Some were made for families but much larger ones were made for groups who needed shelter outside the city. In bad weather, meetings would be held in these large tents. Many souls were converted before we moved on. It was a tough life but we were sustained by the good News that found a home in the hearts of many. I continued this work for many years after. Sometime I may tell you more of this story but the above is a glimpse of the spirit-filled life that I led after Jesus selected me for His work. What an opportunity He gave me, and what a blessing it is to know Him. The greatest blessing for me is that someday I will be with Him forever. Signed in my own hand -- Paul of Tarsus.
Fast forward to the present. No person apart from Jesus himself shaped the history of Christianity like the apostle Paul. Even today his writings challenge us to meet Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Paul helps us know that the Good News is that forgiveness and eternal life are a gift of God’s grace received through faith in Christ, and that it is available to all people. As Saul he was intense and effective in the persecution of Christians. This actually was beneficial as the fleeing Christians spread Christianity throughout the world. After his conversion he never lost his fierce intensity and carried the gospel to Jews and non-Jews. More that anything else the startling conversion of Paul shows us that God can use anyone, including us, to serve Him mightily.
Today as always, we need to know how God’s Spirit empowers us to witness for Him. We might ask though, why not just enjoy our lives and not worry about whether our neighbor knows Jesus? We simply cannot do that if we believe in Jesus’ teachings. He commanded us to reach out to everyone with the “good news”. When we know about our own salvation, how can we not want others to know what this means? It can become a priority if we realize that unless we tell them, who will? Do we want to have these poor souls on our conscience forever? For me I must do what I can. Others far more versed and skilled have given us a wealth of information to help. So I do what my skills permit, and am aware of some success. No matter what we do though, we won’t know what our part and then God’s has been done for a person until we see them in Heaven, or not.
Everyone can spread the message of Jesus in simple ways. In talking with friends we can weave in information of our faith. We should do this carefully so as not to offend. Most people are willing to talk about their faith, whatever it might be. If the atmosphere of a meeting seems favorable but obvious that they don’t know the Lord, you can say: “I want you to meet my Jesus. I want you to know what He means to me.” We don’t have to be an expert on the Bible, just tell them what the Lord means to us and what He has done in our life.
Our beloved pastor Dr. Paul Eckel has challenged church members. “What emphasis has your church placed on missions, both locally and globally? How can we provide fresh energy to the church’s missionary vision and strategy?“ Remember that we are only temporary residents in this world. Our real home is Heaven where we will spend eternity. We cannot keep this a secret!
Today we don’t have to tramp over hills and valleys as the apostle Paul and his companions did. We can admire Paul, and if I am fortunate to meet him in Heaven, I hope I can give him a big hug and talk to him. But today we can reach millions from our own homes. Electronic messaging is available in many forms. Many use e-mail to keep in touch with others. Use it to spread the Message. Comments on some other electronic tools will follow the next paragraph.
Not everyone is comfortable using these electronic methods for spreading news. If you are not, then use the good old telephone and ordinary mail. These are effective. We know from experience that the best means of bringing people to our church is to invite them! So just invite neighbors and acquaintances. They may just be waiting for someone to talk to them about our Lord.
Many millions of people use email to spread their messages and keep in touch, and today many are using websites such as Facebook. It is accessed by over 500 million people and already has the world’s largest photo collection expanding every day. While a message posted on our own Facebook won’t reach millions, in time it will reach many and can have a dramatic effect. I intend to do others a favor by pointing to the best information I know -- sources with messages about faith and our Lord. Some 70% of Facebook users are outside the USA and may just be waiting to know Jesus.
There are other popular ways of spreading your messages. MySpace.com is one and you can post the same messages about Christ that you would be discussing with others. For some MySpace has become a page of their life, dreams and hopes. Of course as with Facebook, we need to be careful what information we put there, but I believe anything about Christ or our beliefs should be something to be proud of, and not to be shy about revealing to others.
Twitter messages are flying around all over the world. Often now they carry news before the press gets wind of it. In disasters people are using Twitter to spread the news of what is happening in their own area. The Red Cross uses Twitter to exchange moment-by-moment information during disasters and emergencies. In some countries where communication with the outside world is carefully controlled, Twitter comes to the rescue. This included reporting on the riots in Iran. Such reporting has been encouraged by our State Department and other agencies.
Many mature adults frown on the ‘time-wasting’ by teens on these sites, but it can be beneficial. If used for our Lord in spreading His Word, speed and coverage is greatly multiplied. I intend to employ every means I can to be His messenger. While the apostle Paul performed a tremendous service in spreading the gospel, he would probably have welcomed some help from the tools we have today.