The Greatest of Apostles
The Apostle Paul is one of the greatest human beings to ever walk the earth.
That’s my opinion, but I think anyone who believes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ would agree.
One bible teacher and author wrote that the Apostle Paul was the greatest of human teachers. Of course, Christ Himself as the divine Rabbi ranks supreme. But suffice to say, I wouldn’t be typing this right now if it were not for the life and ministry of Paul. Paul’s letters make up about half of the New Testament writings.
I’ve not studied his life in much depth outside of what I’ve learned from reading his letters and hearing sermons from preachers. But what I do know is that God called him for a very specific purpose. The LORD called Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:13, 2 Timothy 2:11)
Sometimes his writings are a bit hard to decipher. Even Peter had trouble with them. So you and I are not alone when we have to read some of Paul’s passages more than once (2 Peter 3:15-16).
But His letters are foundational for the Christian faith and paint a beautiful and cohesive picture of the gospel truth.
So why am I featuring the dear Apostle Paul in the second entry about the M.O. of the Dragon?
Because Paul’s story doesn’t begin with him as a bondservant of Christ but as a tool of the enemy of souls.
If you haven’t read the first installment, The M.O. of the Dragon: Satan & Counterfeit Customer Service, you’ll learn how an incident with a fake customer service number helped me to realize that Satan’s most masterful deception is not just covering minds with darkness, but it’s counterfeiting the light. And it will set the foundation for why we are taking a look back at Paul before Damascus, and perhaps understand why he called himself the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:!5)
Good Paul Vs. Bad Saul
Now, I’ve always believed that before Paul was Paul, he was called Saul of Tarsus. And then once he had his Damascus Road encounter with Jesus, his name was changed to Paul.
So the equation in my mind has always been:
Saul = Bad. Paul = Good.
But recently, I read that Saul was his Hebrew name and Paul was just the Greek version of that name. There’s really no scriptural evidence to support the belief that Saul became Paul. Check out this article if you are at all interested in the topic. So I will use Saul and Paul interchangeably.
However, the truth remains that Saul of Tarsus did some bad things. We see that now with 2024 eyes, having the benefit of the first century writings at our fingertips.
An Interesting Time in Jerusalem
But put yourself back in the time of the first century Jerusalem in 34 A.D. Let’s assume you’re a Jew who has been on the periphery of society and have been away traveling, looking for work. You may have heard about this new Rabbi from Nazareth and the miracles he performed, but you never saw any of them for yourself. You only know what you’ve been told. And a few years ago, everyone was talking about this Jesus of Nazareth. His followers claimed he was the Messiah, the Prophet prophesied by Moses, and the Branch prophesied by Isaiah. Then they claimed that he was crucified by Rome. Well, actually you heard that one of His own disciples, a Judas from Iscariot, defected and turned Jesus over to the Jewish rulers. Then the leaders essentially begged and threatened Pontius Pilate to kill this Nazarene. And so the Jewish leaders used the power of Rome to have Jesus crucified.
His disciples’ main claim was that after He was crucified, Jesus was buried in a tomb, rose from the dead on the third day, and then ascended to heaven 40 days later. And now His followers, mostly Galileans, are going around preaching this so-called good news all over Judea. But these followers are not the learned men of Judaism. They are unlearned fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, and even…women.
The Left and Right Join Forces
It seems to you that the Pharisees and Sadducees, the conservative and liberal sects of Jewish governance who know the law backwards and forwards, would have been able to tell if this Jesus from Nazareth was truly the Messiah from the line of David, or some imposter. And they were all in agreement that Jesus was not the Son of God. And again, these are the Sadducees and Pharisees, who were usually siloed in their respective left and right corners, with each side vying for control. It seemed they agreed on nothing except that Jesus of Nazareth was a blasphemer. And they somehow put aside their differences to eliminate this perceived common threat to the way of religious life.
Surely, the miracle of the Pharisees and Sadducees working together was for a worthy and true cause, right? Freedom from the tyranny of Rome is the main issue of the day. Surely, when the real Messiah comes, he will actually deliver Israel from the oppressive Romans. Of course the Messiah will restore Jerusalem to its previous splendor. No, Messiah will make Jerusalem even greater than it ever was. At least, this seemed to be the opinion of some of the people you’ve spoken with as you’ve traveled around Judea.
A Martyr’s Tale
The climate in Jerusalem in 34 AD, three years after Jesus’ death, is palpably tense. When you arrive home from your travels, you hear that day by day, more and more people are joining the ranks of Jesus’ disciples. Their Rabbi is gone, but they are still preaching that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. They’ve been telling anyone who will listen to repent, be baptized, and have their sins forgiven. And now Jesus’ disciples are supposedly performing miracles too. They even gained 3000 followers in one day, or so your neighbor tells you as you settle back into town.
“But what about the leaders? Are they following the words of the followers of Jesus now? Have they been convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah?” you ask your neighbor.
“Oh no.” he answers. “The more people turn and join Jesus’ followers, the more the Sadducees and Pharisees want to silence them. I’ve even heard there’s a plan to…”
Your neighbor is interrupted mid sentence by a commotion.
“What’s going on?” your neighbor asks someone in the newly formed crowd.
“They’ve got him. They’ve got Stephen, the one who did the miracles,” the man shouts over the bustle.
You and your neighbor instinctively join in the fray and begin running towards the temple. This event is something you know you need to see. When you both arrive, you learn you can’t go inside. Only council members and witnesses are inside questioning Stephen. But you are close enough to hear someone say that Stephen spoke against Moses and the temple. What Israelite worth anything would dare speak against Moses?
Then it gets quiet. And you hear a piercing voice cutting through the midst of the accusers.
“Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you." – Acts 7:2-3
You think to yourself, this must be Stephen.
As Stephen goes on to recount the history of Israel from Father Abraham to Joshua, you sense a burning in your heart. You hear the authority in his voice. This must have been how Jesus spoke, for you heard that no one ever spoke as He spoke. And Stephen’s words cut like a sword because you can hear the truth in them.
Stephen continues.
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” – Acts 7:51-53
As Stephen goes on to recount the history of Israel from Father Abraham to Joshua, you sense a burning in your heart. You hear the authority in his voice. This must have been how Jesus spoke, for you heard that no one ever spoke as He spoke. And Stephen’s words cut like a sword because you can hear the truth in them.
But the council inside does not take Stephen’s rebuke kindly. You hear a great ruckus, and all of the sudden, you see a crowd leaving the temple and pushing a man towards the city gate. You lose your neighbor in the crowd as you run to catch up. The crown is hurling insults at Stephen and threatening to stone him.
Finally, the crowd reaches its destination outside the city. You know Stephen will not survive the onslaught of stones hurled at his body. You catch a glimpse of Stephen’s face and it seems to be reflecting its own light. What’s even stranger, he seems to have a peace sealed on his face as his life hangs in the balance.
And then you hear the unthinkable. Stephen cries out, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”
And then Stephen died. His words sound like the words that people heard when Jesus was on the cross.
“Forgive them, Father…”
Forgive them? These people who stoned him to death?
Out of the corner of your eye, you see a few of the stone throwers picking up their cloaks. They had laid them at the feet of a certain man for safekeeping. And this man’s face has a look of determination and satisfaction. He believes something good has been done here. You wonder, who is the man that seems content with the day’s murderous event?
A Hebrew of Hebrews
Saul of Tarsus was a learned disciple of Gamaliel, a well-respected Doctor in Jewish law. (Acts 5:34). As such, he had likely memorized the Torah, the first five books of the bible. Without a doubt, Saul was the kind of son that a Jewish mother and father would have been proud of. A son of the tribe of Benjamin, Saul was circumcised on the eighth day, as the law of Moses required. He was a Pharisee. And by his own admission, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
To put it simply, Saul would have worn his Hebrew pride t-shirt each day of the week. And he was well on his way to an excellent future as a lawyer in the Sanhedrin. Saul had everything going for him.
But Saul of Tarsus had one problem.
Doing the Work of God Satan
He was blind.
Said another way, Saul was walking by a counterfeit light. And this counterfeit light had him convinced that the best way to serve God was to eliminate the carriers of this gospel message. Again, this was a man who was faultless concerning the righteousness in the law of Moses, but yet he had managed to become an enemy to the true faultless One, the very One Moses foreshadowed. Saul had placed himself on the wrong side of the controversy by persecuting Christ, His gospel message, and His bride. He was working against the God he claimed to serve and whose religion he believed he was protecting.
Saul thought he was seeing perfectly, but he was blind.
But how could this be? How could someone so versed in the word of God have misunderstood the word of God manifested in the flesh? And how he could persecute the messengers of this word?
Counterfeiting the light has been the dragon’s preferred method of deception since before time. It was the strategy he employed in the garden of Eden, and he has worked to perfect it over time. It was in the garden where he convinced humanity that we have the ability to be good on our terms. By calling into question the character of God, he was able to convince Eve that not only was eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil not a bad thing at all, but instead was something that would make her more like God.
You see, Satan knows that can not deceive those who profess to know God with pure evil. So he masquerades evil as righteousness. This plan is an ingenious one. This way, he has a deception for everyone. Those already on his team, the uncircumcised Romans from Paul’s first century Jerusalem perspective, well, they have no desire to worship the God of heaven.
But what about those who profess righteousness? What about those who bear the name of God on their lips?
The greatest deception is to make them believe they are worshiping God when they are really worshiping a counterfeit. And that by persecuting the true worshipers, those who claim to know God are doing the God of heaven a service, when in reality, they are serving the prince of the power of the air.
Paul’s issue was that he knew the law, but he did not yet love the lawgiver.
He was zealous, but for the wrong cause.
Road to Damascus or Road to Perdition
If we can learn anything from Paul’s pre conversion actions, it’s this:
If you have not really come into life changing contact with the Messiah, then you don’t know His character. And if you don’t know His character, you don’t know His methods for establishing His kingdom. That lack of true knowledge will lead you to create your own brand of righteousness, the counterfeit light that Satan is all too ready to take advantage of. And you will adopt Satan’s methods in attempting to do God’s work.
Thankfully, Paul’s story turns around on the road to Damascus…
You can read the account of Paul’s miraculous conversation in Acts 22 and in Acts 26. It’s the story of the great persecutor of the Christian faith who became its most prolific protector. Only a real encounter with the Messiah can do that. And this is a Messiah who loved His church so much, He essentially told Paul:
When you persecute my bride, you are persecuting Me. These are my beloved ones who bear my name on their lips and in their hearts. They know me, Saul of Tarsus, and so they have the Truth. You can fight against me, but you are fighting the wrong fight, and to no avail.
I love the part where Saul says, “LORD, who are you?” And Jesus then takes the time to introduce Himself.
There are many professed Christians who have heard of Jesus of Nazareth. They’ve read the stories about his life and miracles, but they haven’t really been properly introduced to Him. They have what Paul said is a form of godliness, but they don’t believe in the power God has to change them and to change others (2 Timothy 3:5).
Specifically, there are two scriptures that serve as a solemn and serious warning.
The first is:
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” - Matthew 7:22-23
Jesus is warning us that it’s possible to think you are serving the LORD, but not really know Him. And if you don’t really know Him, He doesn’t know you.
The second is:
“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” - John 16:1-3
There is nothing new under the sun. As in the time of the disciples, there will come a time when those who claim to know and serve God will persecute His true believers. They will be misguided in their zeal and will fight against the God they claim to love. They will follow a counterfeit light because they don’t know the True Light.
As we near the end of time, the world will be divided into Stephens and Sauls (pre-conversion Saul of course).
There will be a righteous remnant that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).
There will be a self righteous majority that will persecute the righteous, thinking they are doing the “right” thing, when in fact, they are paving their own road to perdition.
The best way for each of us to ensure that we are a part of the righteous remnant is to be formally introduced to the Messiah. And thankfully, all we have to do is follow Paul’s example and ask, “Lord, who are you?”