GOD SPEAKS TO HIS CHILDREN

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95. Paul – apostle to the nations

Paul was a devout Jew. He was very well versed in Holy Scriptures and was convinced that Jesus was not the Saviour, but had seduced the people. So Paul went from town to town punishing those who were loyal to Jesus and trying to make them abandon their faith in him. As he was riding towards Damascus to track down the Christians there and bring them to Jerusalem as captives, he had an experience which changed his whole life. Blinding light from heaven surrounded him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying: Why are you persecuting me?

Paul did not know what was happening to him. He asked: Who are you, Lord? And he heard the answer: I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me. Get up! Go into the city. There you will find out what you have to do. Paul went to Damascus. There he met Ananias, a disciple. Ananias refused to believe that Paul had encountered the Lord and had become a disciple. But the Lord said to him: I have chosen Paul. He has to see to it that all nations know my name. At that, Ananias accepted Paul into the community.

From then on Paul no longer persecuted Christians but preached about Christ instead. In Damascus and in the other cities he proclaimed Jesus Christ as the Saviour. He became a wandering preacher and spoke in the synagogues of the Jews. He founded Christian communities. He did all he could so that Jews and Greeks, and people of all the nations of the earth might belong to the new people of God.

Paul was persecuted and hunted from one town to the next, even as far as Greece. He wrote letters to the communities which he had founded. In these letter he admonishes and encourages them. He explains what faith in Jesus Christ means to men, and what it is to live as a Christian. In the end Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome as a prisoner. There he was condemned and put to death. He died for Jesus Christ.

(Acts 9 –28)

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