Article March 29, 2004 Issue

Paul's great escape

By Clare Turner

Before he was called Paul, which was his Greek name, he was Saul. He really didn't like Christians—the people who followed Jesus. Saul thought Jesus' ideas about God were wrong, and it made him very angry that Jesus had claimed to be the Messiah, or Savior. Saul was a Pharisee, and some Pharisees were so opposed to Jesus' teachings that they punished, or persecuted, the people who followed them. Many Christians were put in prison and, in some cases, killed.

One day, though, when Saul was on his way to Damascus, a city north of Jerusalem, he was shocked to see a very bright light shining right in his eyes. It was so bright that it blinded him, and he fell to the ground. With the light came a voice that said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul asked, "Who are you?" And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting. Stand up and go into the city. There, you'll find out what you have to do."

You can imagine how stunned Saul must have been. But he followed the instructions, and three days later, he was healed of the blindness by a Christian named Ananias. This experience changed Saul's life. Not only did he stop hurting Christians, he actually became a follower of Jesus' teachings himself. He was terribly sorry for the things he'd done. With the same zeal that he'd persecuted Christians, he now devoted himself to spreading Christianity. As he carried out his new mission, Saul—now called Paul—endured many hardships. But he kept doing his work.

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