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Saint Paul : The Life Of St. Paul

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St. Paul was originally called Saul. Saul was a Roman Citizen as well as a Jew from Tarsus. He was very highly educated in the Law of Moses and was a student of Gamaliel. Saul hated Christianity and wanted to destroy Christians. When St. Stephen was killed, many Christians in Jerusalem fled to Damascus and other places in order to protect themselves. Because of this, Saul went to Damascus in order to persecute the Christians there. As Saul neared Damascus, a bright light flashed all around him, blinding Saul. Then a voice from the light said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The voice then said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” The guards with Saul saw the bright light, but nobody else other than Saul heard the voice of Jesus. When Saul got up, he was blind from the light so his companions led him into Damascus. He stayed there blind for three days and during those three days, he neither drank or ate anything. There was a disciple of Jesus in Damascus, whose name was Ananias. God told Ananias in a vision to go to Saul and heal him of his blindness. Ananias was astonished that God told him to go and heal the worst enemy of the Church, but the Lord, in turn, said “Go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.” Ananias went to the house where Saul was staying. He placed his hand on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, be filled with the Holy Spirit." Right then, Saul regained his eyesight. After Ananias healed Saul from his blindness, Ananias also baptized Saul. After Saul's baptism, Saul became an earnest follower of Jesus Christ. Later, Saul had changed his name to St. Paul. From that point forward, St. Paul became the great missionary of the early Church. In the New Testament, we can see fourteen letters written by St. Paul to various churches. For St. Paul's first missionary, Barnabas and St. Paul went to Salamis, where they preached the gospel in the synagogues of the Jews. They went to the whole island of Salamis preaching the gospel and then they reached Paphos, where the Lord punished a magician for his devilish acts to turn the Roman officer, Sergius Paulus,

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