Episode 19. "The Life and Death of Paul."

The incredible story of Paul, possibly the most Spiritual apostle.  Reveals the source of his Spiritual power, and how a rabbi named "Saul" from Turkey became the apostle Paul.  Tells how he escaped the Great Fire of Rome, and how he was beheaded in a meadow beside an Italian road.

Episode Transcript

Owen Allen (00:00):
Owen Allen opens the episode by saying:

Owen (00:14):
Well,"hello," friends.
As they used to say when I was achild,"And all the ships at
sea!" This is Episode 19 in ourb i-weekly series of"Saving
Christianity," coming to youevery-other-Tuesday from
Christian Family Online.
I'm Owen Allen, your host fortoday.

(00:34):
John S hields, my co-host is outof town today.
And but, in many of our previousepisodes, we've briefly
mentioned two*very important*people in First Century
Christianity.
You'll recognize them.
Their names are Paul and Peter.
They're usually called"apostles." We'll talk about

(00:55):
that in a moment.
And most Christians have heardtheir names mentioned by their
pastor from the pulpit.
But you know, many of us--starting with me--(inaudible)
didn't know who Paul and Peterwere.
Or more importantly, what theirsignificance is in Early
Christian history.
So, my co-host J ohn Shields,and I, decided that we'd devote

(01:20):
two of our podcast episodes totelling you who these two Early
Christian people were, and whythey're so important in C
hristian history.
I think you're going to enjoydiscovering these two-- quotes--
"apostles." And discoveringtheir miraculous lives in First

(01:41):
Century Christianity.
Now we've decided to tell youabout*Paul first.
So the title of this episode is-- Episode 19, here-- is:"The
Life a nd Death of Paul."(Repeats.) Unless I'm badly
mistaken, you're about to hearsome unusual facts that you've

(02:04):
probably never heard before.
But, let's get started! Thefirst thing you should know
about Paul is that he's truly,absolutely, a Spiritual"giant"
in Christian history.
Now he's not a giant because hehad any political power.
Or any military power.

(02:25):
Or any financial power.
Because he didn't.
He's a"giant" solely because hehad*Spiritual power.
And more importantly-- and thisis a biggie-- because he taught
that*all of us,*all otherChristians, are supposed to have
that level of Spiritual power, too.

(02:48):
So in today's episode, we havetwo missions.
Our first mission is to give youthese facts about Paul that you
may not know.
But more importantly, our secondmission is to tell you some
facts about Spiritual poweritself that you may not have
thought about.

(03:09):
Now, starting with Paul,originally he was known as"Saul
of Tarsus."("TAR'-suss")*Thatwas his Jewish name in Bible
times.
He*was Jewish.
And he was named after Israel'sfirst king.

You may have heard of him (03:23):
King Saul.
But Paul was born in 1 AD inTarsus, a seaport town in
Southern Turkey.
And that's*important to th e story.
We shouldn't even maybe mentionthat.
But it's important to rememberbecause Turkey was a Roman
province at the time.

(03:45):
And what that meant was thateverybody born there was
automatically a Roman citizen bybirth-- a birthright Roman
citizen.
And so Paul*was.
And this saved his life manytimes during his travels, as
we'll talk about.
Because Roman citizens could notbe arrested, and could not be

(04:09):
tried, without due process and afair trial.
And most importantly, theycouldn't be executed without an
absolutely complete and fairtrial.
And these laws played a*big rolein Paul's life as we're about to
see.
But to continue, it was becausePaul was a Roman citizen that he

(04:33):
eventually became known by hisLatin-- a Roman name--"Paul."
And interestingly enough, theword Paul in Latin--*Paulus in
Latin-- means"small" or"little."And we'll see that Paul was a
short man, a little petite man.
But Paul's father, back inTurkey, was a Pharisee.

(04:57):
That was a strict group, as youprobably know, in the Jewish
religion that believed in strictobedience to the Ten
Commandments, as well as over600 other Jewish laws.
So at the tender age of 13, ifyou can imagine, Paul's father
shipped him off to Jerusalem inIsrael to start his training to

(05:21):
become a Pharisee, too.
And so he did, and the yearspassed.
And after graduating as aPharisee, Paul had the
equivalent of what we would calltoday a doctor's degree.
He was fluent, too, in three ofthe main First Century

languages (05:39):
Latin, Greek, and Aramaic.
And after graduation, though, heboarded a ship, left Jerusalem,
thinking probably that he wouldnever go back.
And he sailed home to Tarsus,where he became a rabbi in a
local synagogue.
And he stayed there until age31, thinking, I guess, that he

(06:01):
would be there the rest of hislife.
But at age 31, Paul's lifechanged dramatically and was
never the same.
Well,*why was that?
Well, because while he was stillserving every day as a rabbi in
the local synagogue, he began tohear very strange rumors that

(06:24):
back in Jerusalem, where he hadgone to school, there was a
strange new group of people.
And these people hadmysteriously appeared.
Nobody's exactly sure how orwhy.
And they called them- selves,"Followers of The Way." And they
were so strange that people backin Jerusalem were calling them"a

(06:47):
new race of humans." Imagine!But, as a loyal Pharisee, this
enraged Paul.
He decided these new"Followers"were committing blasphemy--
blasphemy!-- because they openlyused the*Name of God, which Jews
did not do.

(07:08):
And they openly said that Jesuswas the*Son of God which,
totally, Jews did not do.
So, completely enraged, Paulleft home-- left the synagogue,
left his duties as a rabbi,boarded a ship, and set sail for
Jerusalem, determined to helpthe Pharisees in Jerusalem wipe

(07:31):
out-- wipe out!-- theseblasphemous"Followers of The
Way." And so it comes to passthat this is when we see our
first mention of Paul in theBible.
He was present at the executionof the first Follow of The Way
to be publicly executed.

(07:52):
His name was Steven.
He was a Spirit-filled Followerwho performed miracles every day
in the city.
And so the Pharisees charged*himwith blasphemy because he was
doing that.
And sentenced him to death bystoning.
And the record of that event--the record of Steven's death--

(08:15):
says that Paul was present.
Of course, they called him"Saul," in his Jewish name.
But Paul was present at thatstoning.
And he not only approved of it,but he actually helped by
holding the coats of the peoplewho were throwing the stones.

(08:35):
Apparently, for whatever reason,he didn't throw a stone.
But he held their coats.
Now, we can see two importantthings in this story.
First, we need to noticeSteven's incredible
Spirituality.

(08:55):
He had the kind of Spirit-filledSpiritual power that was common
among*all Early Christians.
Think about that for a minute.
And the second thing to notice,though, is the word"approved" in
the record.
Remember, it said that Paul"approved" of the stoning.
Well, that's actually a weaktranslation of the original
Greek word in the record.

(09:16):
Because that word really means...
check this out...
that Paul took*pleasure in thestoning.
It*gratified him.
He*liked it.
And he had an*appetite for more.
Can you imagine?
He was a bloodthirsty character.
So, the Pharisees in Jerusalemgot excited.
And they appointed Paul, theChief Prosecutor of this

(09:39):
Christian group.
And they gave him a commissionto arrest...
torture...
and execute as many of theseweird Followers as he could
catch.
You remember, of course, fromearlier episodes, that we
Christians were originallycalled"Followers of The Way."
And so these were the people,the Early Christians, that Paul

(10:01):
was trying to catch.
Well, finally, after dealingwith all the Christians in the
city of Jerusalem that he couldlocate, Paul's thirst for
vengeance still was notsatisfied.
(Chuckles.) He decided to form aposse, and to travel to the city
of Damascus in Syria, to see ifhe could catch any Christians

(10:26):
there.
See, Damascus was a major citylike Jerusalem.
And there were a lot of thesestrange Followers there.
But Paul had a problem, becausetravel was dangerous in those
days.
There were deep rivers to fordwith no bridges.
There were gangs of bandits tofight.
And facilities for sleeping andeating were rare, or even

(10:51):
non-existent on most roads.
They didn't have Holiday Innslike we do today.
But anyway, in 33 AD, Paulstarted out for Damascus, riding
a strong horse, and being led bya posse of armed men on horses
who were surrounding him forprotection.

(11:13):
And so it was there, on theDamascus Road, that Paul's life
changed forever.
Because-- it's weird-- just ashe and his posse came within
sight of the city, somethingincredible happened.
*Jesus suddenly appeared to Paulin a vision, right there on the

(11:34):
road, with such*power that Paulfell off of his horse and went
blind.
A blinding Light surrounded him.
And he heard Jesus say to him,"*Why are you persecuting me?"
Imagine that.
"*Why are you persecuting me?"And Paul's lying on the road

(11:57):
blind.
But, he had enough wits abouthim to ask,"*Who are you Lord?"
Imagine that.
"*Who are you Lord?" And Jesussaid,"I'm*Jesus, whom you're
persecuting.
Now get up.
Go into the city.
And you'll be told what to donext." Well, the members of

(12:20):
Paul's posse had actually heardthe voice and witnessed this
whole event.
So they helped Paul get up, andthey took him into the city, and
they found a house for him tostay while he recovered.
And to make a long story short,Paul fasted and prayed in that

(12:40):
house for three days.
And then suddenly, a localChristian of the city was sent
by the Holy Spirit to pray forPaul.
Now, if you read the record, hewas afraid to go.
(Chuckles.) Because he knew howbloodthirsty Paul was.
But the Holy Spirit said,"You'llbe safe, go anyway." And that's

(13:01):
actually how Paul himself becamea Spirit-filled Christian.
So here we have Paul-- who hadbeen the Chief Prosecutor of
Christians-- was now a Christianhimself.
Now*he was the one who was goingto be persecuted.
But before we talk about howPaul was persecuted, let's first

(13:23):
talk about his*call to service*in the Christian community.
This is known in Sunday schoolclasses and sermons as Paul's
famous"Damascus RoadExperience."(Repeats.) But that
was only the beginning of Paul'sincredible supernatural

(13:46):
servanthood, or servantship, inChristianity.
You know, we don't have the timehere to tell that full story of
his amazing journey.
But instead, let's just pick upPaul's story 10 years after the
"Damascus Road experience." He'snow living...

(14:08):
he went back to Turkey...
he's now living in Antioch,Turkey.
Where he was serving theChristian community there-- get
this now-- as a*teacher, and asa*prophet.
So here this bloodthirstytorturer of Christians 10 years

(14:29):
earlier, was now a belovedteacher and prophet in the
Christian community at Antioch.
Now notice, Paul had a double*call to Christian service
already, as we pick up thestory.
But then...
and this is what we want to seehere...
another incredible supernaturalmiracle occurred.

(14:51):
And here's what it was.
Right there in Antioch, one daywhile the group was praying, the
Holy Spirit appeared again toPaul, and this time the Spirit
gave him his third*call.
This time, his call was as an*apostle.
And that's why we call him"theapostle Paul." Imagine.

(15:15):
Can you see this?
As far as I know, Paul is onlyNew Testament character that had
a*triple call.
Numbers of them had doublecalls.
Like Peter, we'll talk inanother episode.
But Paul had a triple call as ateacher, as a prophet, as an

(15:36):
apostle.
And that, I believe, is thefirst reason why he was what we
call a Spiritual"giant." He hadthis triple supernatural call to
service on his life, with allthat that would imply.
And by the way, it's importantto know that a Spiritual*call

(15:57):
from the Spirit is differentfrom Spiritual Fruit, and from
Spiritual Gifts of the Spirit.
Think about it.
All Christians don't have a*callfrom the Spirit like Paul did.
But all Christians do haveSpiritual*Fruit and Spiritual
*Gifts from the Spirit.
But having said that, let'spause just a second to talk

(16:19):
about this word,"apostle." Isaid earlier, most Christians
have heard this word used bytheir pastor in the pulpit.
But many don't know exactly whatit means.
The word"apostle" in the(inaudible) Bible comes from the
Greek noun,*apostolos("uh-PAH'-stuh-lahss"), meaning
a person sent out from somegroup as an ambassador with an

(16:42):
important message for otherpeople.
Think about that.
That's an"apostle." And sothat's why Paul, and Peter, and
John, and Luke, and so many moreof the best known Bible
characters were all"apostles"--*apostolos.
They were called by the HolySpirit to go out to other cities

(17:06):
as ambassadors with thewonderful message of
Christianity.
But check this out now.
This is important.
More than all that-- theseapostles were also recognized
for their strong expression, ormanifestation, of the Fruit and
the Gifts of the Spirit.

(17:27):
And that's the second reason whyPaul was a Spiritual"giant" in
Christian history.
He expressed so many SpiritualGifts from the indwelling Holy
Spirit within him.
The Bible says clearly, andhere's the statement:"God did
extraordinary miracles throughPaul." Let's read that again.

(17:51):
Think about that.
We should be seeing that today,shouldn't we!"God did
extraordinary miracles throughPaul." Can you imagine?
Well, just to be clear, let'sname a few of those.
What were some of the Gifts ofthe Spirit that the Holy Spirit
expressed through Paul?
We see a number of them in theBible.

(18:13):
We won't list them all.
But of course, he had incredible*healings.
He*recognized evil spirits.
All kinds of miracles were donein his presence.
He had evangelism.
He had resurrection power.
The Bible says he had visions.
He had many other supernaturalabilities.

(18:36):
We think of the angels appearingand guiding him and telling him
what to do.
And all of that brings us to thethird reason why Paul was a
Spiritual"giant"-- I don'treally like that term, but it's
one that everybody uses.
It was because he had so manySpiritual Experiences.

(18:56):
So let's add that to the Giftsand the Fruit and the Call.
Had four of these bigsupernatural experiences.
We saw earlier, he was knockedoff of his horse on Damascus
Road.
That's not a Gift.
That's not Fruit.
That's a Spiritual Experience.
Later in life, he had what todaywe call a Near Death Experience,

(19:17):
in which he went to heaven andreturned.
That's not a Fruit and that'snot a Gift.
That's a Spiritual Experience.
And then, as I mentioned, angelsappeared to him constantly with
messages, with guidance.
And those are SpiritualExperiences, when an angel
appears to you.

(19:37):
Poor Paul was in severalshipwrecks.
But he was unharmed.
If that wasn't enough, rememberin one case, a deadly snake-- a
fatal snake-- bit him.
But he was unharmed.
And the list of incrediblemiracles and events goes on and
on.
And all of these were SpiritualExperiences.
So, the fourth reason...

(20:00):
I know I've already mentioned it...
that I call Paul a Spiritual"giant" is that he had such deep
and profound Spiritual Behavior-- Spiritual Behavior, or
Spiritual Emotions.
This is what the Bible calls the"Fruit of the Spirit." In the
original Greek, that noun"fruit"means*behavior that the Holy

(20:23):
Spirit produces in us*.
There are about 20 of thesesupernatural behaviors, or
emotions, inside us that theindwelling Holy Spirit produces.
And the record of Paul's lifelists many of them.
And they include, of course,supernatural-- hold it a second
-- these are*supernatural, now.

(20:45):
These cannot be produced byhuman nature.
So let's start again.
They include supernatural, love,joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self control.
Paul had all of these.
The important thing is, all ofus--*all Christians-- should

(21:05):
have them too.
And are supposed to.
Imagine if all the world hadsupernatural love and joy and
peace and patience, what a placeit would be.
Well, let's slow down just asecond.
We've been talking aboutSpiritual power since the top of
the show.
So now let's define it.

(21:28):
The word for"power" in the Bibleis the Greek noun*dunamis
("DO'-nuh-miss").

And briefly,*dunamis means (21:35):
xThe supernatural ability, or
supernatural potential.
It means us allowing God to workthrough us supernaturally with
the Spiritual Calls...
Fruit...
Gifts...
and Experiences that we've beentalking about.x So, old Paul,

(21:58):
God worked through him all fourways, with Calls, Fruit, Gifts,
and Experiences.
And that can happen to all ofus.
If we'll just let the HolySpirit do it.
Well, so now as we come towardthe end of the episode, let's
return to the life of Paul, andlet's pick up the thread of his

(22:20):
story.
And since our time is limited,let's jump ahead again.
And now let's pick up the storywhere Paul was 58 years of age.
Because this is the age at whichhe himself was finally arrested
and imprisoned by the Sanhedrin-- that was the ruling Council

(22:41):
of Jerusalem.
And this happened in 58 AD.
Now, this council of Jewishelders held Paul in prison for
two years in the capital ofIsrael, which at that time was
the seaport city of CaesareaMaritima in Northern Israel.

(23:05):
And they did that, mind you,without due process, without a
trial, and as we said earlier,that was totally illegal because
Paul was a Roman citizen.
But they did it with armedsoldiers, and what chance or
hope did Paul have?
So here he is, he's in prison inCaesarea.

(23:28):
And interestingly enough, therecord shows that he was
questioned by two differentRoman governors-- Felix and
Festus-- because they changedgovernorship while he was in
prison.
And even...
even a year later in 59 AD...
he was even questioned by theking of Israel.

(23:48):
At that time, Agrippa.
And Agrippa said that Paul wasinnocent and should be released.
And at that point, he would havebeen, except for one problem.
He had appealed, he had filed aformal appeal to Rome, that as a
Roman citizen he wanted a formaltrial.

(24:10):
So they couldn't release him.
They had to put him on a shipand send him to Rome.
And of course that's what theydid.
And by the way, let me just sayhere that the good thing about
the Bible is that it's*true.
If you've ever thought aboutthat, we know the Bible is true
because so much of it has beenverified by scientific research.

(24:33):
For example, we know that KingAgrippa was a real person.
Why?
Because a statue of him stillstands in Rome today.
I've studied it, and I'mincluding a picture of Agrippa
here in the script.
I hope you'll open the script onour website at: goSCpod.com, and

(24:55):
look at King Agrippa, a pictureof the man who questioned Paul
and found Paul innocent.
But Paul still wasn't released,of course.
And so to continue, Paul arrivedby ship in Rome in 61 AD.
And what did they do?
They held him in prison*therefor another two years.

(25:16):
Finally, his appeal was heard bythe emperor of Rome, who that at
that time was Nero.
And he also declared Paulinnocent, and he*did release him
in 63 AD.
And Paul immediately left townto continue his apostleship to
worldwide Christians.

(25:37):
And by the way, the fact that heleft town so quickly temporarily
saved his life.
Why?
Because a few months after Paulleft town, the First Great
Persecution of Christians in theRoman Empire broke out and,
among other things, it causedthe apostle Peter to be

(25:59):
executed, as we'll see in alater episode.
But this persecution ofChristians is called in the
history books,"The Great Fire ofRome." Here's what happened.
One night, and it was actuallyJuly the 18th, 64 AD, a small
accidental fire broke out in ashop in downtown Rome.

(26:23):
Everybody was asleep and didn'tnotice it.
And the fire quickly spread.
Now, mind you, the emperor,Nero, was on vacation at the
time.
(Chuckles.) He was at the beachand had nothing to do with this
fire.
But this fire got away fromthem.
They had an excellent firedepartment, by the way, in Rome.
But the fire got away from them,and it burned for six days and

(26:47):
six nights.
And it destroyed half of thecity of Rome.
Imagine.
And that left 200,000 citizenshomeless.
Well, Nero obviously came backfrom vacation.
He opened emergency shelters.
He distributed emergency food.
But there was nothing else hecould do.

(27:09):
And then he made a big mistake.
Nero had been planning formonths, maybe years, to build
himself a new palace.
But he had never started it.
And so after the fire, hedecided now he would start his
new palace.
And he would put it on some ofthese flat, burned-out lots in

(27:29):
the city.
And he called his new palace,"The Golden House."(Repeats.)
But Nero had political enemies,and they wanted to stop him.
So they spread the lie that Nero*himself(chuckles) had started
The Great Fire of Rome, and hehad done it on purpose so he

(27:51):
would have room for his crummynew palace.
(Chuckles.) Imagine.
And so citywide protest marchesbroke out.
And this scared Nero.
And to protect himself, hestarted a counter-lie.
He spread the counter-lie thatit was the*Christians-- it was

(28:12):
the Christian community in Rome-- who had started The Great
Fire.
And nobody ever said*why theChristians would want to do
that, or what they would gainfrom that.
But that's the way with alllies, isn't it.
When you look at them, theydon't make any real sense.
But in October 64 AD, Nero'scounter-lie triggered the first

(28:37):
great Christian persecution ofthe empire, as I've already
mentioned.
A nd thousands of Christianswere rounded up like sheep, and
tortured to death in horribleways, men, women, and children.
We won't even talk here aboutwhat was done to them.
But since Paul had left townearlier to continue what we call

(29:00):
h is"Missionary Journeys," hewas safe.
And he escaped this greatpersecution-- at least for a
while.
So this great persecution thatstarted in 64 AD, lasted for
three to four long years, untillate 67 AD.
And here's one of history'sgreat mysteries.

(29:23):
Nobody knows why this happened.
But for some reason, the apostlePaul*returned to Rome*, if you
can imagine, in 67 AD, while thegreat persecution was still
going on.
He must have known the danger.
But he came back anyway.

(29:45):
Why?
There are a lot of theories.
Maybe it was to encourage someof the persecuted Christians.
Maybe it was to try to find outwhat had happened to Peter.
We don't know.
But of course, Nero's soldierssoon recognized Paul on the
street.
He was very recognizable, aswe'll see in a moment.

(30:05):
And they arrested him and theythrew him in prison again.
Now it's interesting that thechains that these soldiers used
to bind Paul, and the cell thatthey put Paul in, still exist in
Rome today.
I've studied them, and I'mincluding pictures of Paul's

(30:27):
chains and his prison cell herein the script.
But this is where the amazinglife of the apostle Paul and his
incredible Christian servicecame to an end.
The emperor Nero proclaimed Paulguilty this time, and sentenced
him to death.

(30:48):
Now remember, Paul was a Romancitizen.
So the soldiers couldn't torturehim, or crucify him, or subject
him to any kind of a shamefuldeath.
Under Roman law, the only thingthey could do to him was behead
him in a clean, sharp way.

(31:09):
And so on a b right and sunnymorning in June-- it was on June
the 29th, in fact, in 67 AD,Paul was marched out of the city
by a troop of soldiers.
And marched out to the thirdmilestone on the Ostian Highway.

(31:30):
Now it's interesting, a group ofloyal Christians followed t he p
rocession at a safe distance towatch and see what was going to
happen.
And Paul was led off the roadinto a grassy area and beheaded
there with a sword.
And today, the place where hewas beheaded is the site of a

(31:52):
monastery i n Italy, outside ofRome there.
And a picture of that place--that monastery-- is included
here in the script.
And you can see, in the centerof the picture, a stone column
is visible in the courtyard.
And this is the exact placewhere Paul was beheaded.

(32:14):
Now, as it happened, there was asmall private family cemetery
right near that place where Paulwas beheaded.
And it was on the land of awealthy, politically connected,
loyal Christian woman namedPatrona Lucilla
("loo-CHEE'-lah").

(32:36):
Her husband was an influentialperson in the Roman government,
and so she was safe frompersecution, and wasn't hunted
down like the other Christians.
And she had in fact used herhusband to get permission to
take Paul's body after he wasbeheaded.
And she did.

(32:57):
And she had him buried in herprivate family cemetery on her
estate.
And Paul's grave has been thereever since, as a pilgrimage site
for pilgrims-- Christianpilgrims.
Now, this is important.
Under Roman law, graves couldnot be moved or disturbed in any

(33:22):
way.
So today, Paul's body is stillthere, in Lucilla's family
cemetery.
But to protect it from any kindof vandalism or grave robbers or
anything that might h appen, inthe Four Century, the Roman
emperor, Constantine,*boughtthat cemetery.

(33:44):
And he placed a heavy marbleslab over Paul's grave.
And he built a huge Basilica-- aso-called"church" building--
over the grave, with the a ltardirectly over Paul's grave, and
that's where Paul lies today.
And I'm including pictures ofthat marble slab and the altar

(34:08):
here in the script.
So, as we come to the close ofthis episode on the life of
death of the apostle Paul, let'sask ourselves one last question:
What did Paul*look like?
(Repeats.) People didn't havecameras in those days, right?

(34:31):
So all they could do is p aintpictures of people, or c arve
statues of them.
And that was only done for therich and powerful.
So we don't know what very many-- if any-- of the First Century
Christians looked like.
But we do know from the EarlyChristian letters that Paul was

(34:51):
67 when he was beheaded.
We know that he was a small man.
We know that he was terriblyscarred from his many tortures
and beatings.
So we know more about Paul-- theway he would have looked-- than
any of the other Biblecharacters.
But here's the kicker.

(35:13):
We're also very fortunate that a*carving was made of Paul, and
that still exists today.
It's in a vault in Rome.
It's guarded by armed guardsbecause it's priceless.
And very few people are allowedto even see it.
But I've studied it, and I'mincluding a picture of it here

(35:37):
in the episode.
And you can see, in this carvingof Paul, the terrible scarring
from his many beatings.
It even appears that his righteye has been put out.
And you can see that he had abeard.
That he was short and stocky.
And that he was actuallydeformed.
And so, we do know a lot aboutthis wonderful man.

(36:06):
In closing, what message can wedraw from Paul's dramatic life?
What principles from his lifecould still apply to us today?
Well, Paul taught that thesupernatural Fruit, and Gifts,
and Experiences that flow out ofus-- all of us Christians-- from
the indwelling Holy Spirit, arevalid, and are needed in every

(36:27):
generation.
He taught that they're*TheNormal Christian Life*.
And that all of us should beexpressing them in our lives
daily.
He taught that we can't live a*successful Christian Spiritual
life without them.

(36:48):
And personally, I've found thatto be absolutely, factually,
true.
And I'm praying that*you, outthere in Podcast Land, will find
it factually true in your life,too.
But for now, I can see from thebig clock on the wall that my

(37:10):
time is up in this episode.
I hope you've enjoyed learningabout the life and death of the
apostle Paul, and that his storyhas inspired you to do*what?
To go deeper in your ownChristian walk! Remember, this
is Episode 19, and a script andrecording of it are on our

website at (37:32):
goSCpod.com.
And that's especially importantwith this episode because of the
rare and interesting pictures ofPaul's life and death.
Now, in an upcoming episode, I'mgoing to tell you about the life
o f death of another famousapostle, the apostle Peter.

(37:55):
His story is every bit asinteresting and fascinating as
Paul's story.
So I'm looking forward tosharing that with you.
But for now...
this is Owen Allen, speaking formyself, and for our Intrepid
producer, Shannon Wolfe...
...

saying (38:09):
May the God of our fathers bless you, and keep you,
and guide you, and protect you,until we meet again.
Owen ends the episode.