How many christians did saul kill

John Oakes. John Oakes with Douglas Jacoby. Kevin Anderson, Dr. Denis Lamoureux. Eventually Gamaliel convinced the Sanhedrin to let the disciples go. But what did young Saul think of that outcome? Saul is a young man with great ambitions. He is proud, intelligent, driven, and fiercely loyal to his Jewish convictions and heritage. No doubt he is beginning to think that old man Gamaliel is losing his edge. Like most prodigies, Saul begins to believe that he is just that smart…just that right…and his arrogance grows with every compliment and admiring look from the council.

Word around the temple is that Saul is the up and coming superstar…the guy you want to know and befriend if you have any hopes of sitting at the head table in a couple of years. Rest assured that the Chief Priests have taken notice of this young man as well…they see his drive, his charisma, his passion.

They also see that he is ambitious to advance…he has no problem doing what needs to be done to squash this new group of Jesus followers who are causing such a ruckus. So the Chief Priests stir the pot. They include Saul in the trials; they expose Saul to the floggings; they make sure that he is standing by when Stephen gets stoned. How many of you like Star Wars?

I am a big fan of the Star Wars movies. As I was thinking about Saul, I could not help but reflect on the character of young Anikin Skywalker. If you remember your Star Wars movies, you might recall that young Anikin was a prodigy from the beginning. But then something goes terribly wrong with Anikin. Saul has great talent, great religious convictions, great intentions…but somewhere along the way Saul becomes convinced that the Christians are the enemies of God, and with a completely clean conscience, Saul takes on the role of a righteous persecutor…like so many before and since, he unleashes his own jihad against the Christians.

Saul is not alone. Luke writes that Saul was ravaging the church, entering house to house, dragging off men and women and committing them to prison. Luke writes in that Saul was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus, and how his obsession with ravaging the church leads him to pursue those who have escaped Jerusalem into other cities and villages.

In our text this morning we read that Saul is now on his way to Damascus to find whatever Christians might be in that town so that he can drag them back to Jerusalem and throw them into prison. Damascus was miles away from Jerusalem…hardly a threat to the Jewish Temple or the capitol city…yet Saul was obsessed. He would not rest as long as the Christian message was spreading from town to town. Make no mistake: Saul was one scary dude. Saul was ruthless, without mercy, and no doubt his talent, charisma, and zeal led to many men joining him in the persecution of the Christians.

And where was God? As I wrote in the article, Paul did not hesitate to persecute people even though he knew some of them would risk their lives. Like Liked by 1 person. Pingback: Was the apostle Paul, or Saul, a murderer?

You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Menu Skip to content. We can get some more information about Paul: Phil. Paul repented for his past sins and left the old man behind Paul was converted, and when Ananias placed his hands on him and prayed for him, he was healed from his blindness and was filled with the holy Ghost: Acts 9: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

This is how God will judge our hearts: Rom. Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit. Like this: Like Loading Hey Ryan Thanks for your post. Yes, and the Bibles in my own language name him Paulus. Paul is the English variant. God bless Like Like. Regards Like Like. You are so phenomenal!!! Thanks for your hard work and research. Genesis 15 Feb.

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