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<td valign="top" >"You hear the cry of my heart. Only Jesus! Lord I am tired of all the rest when my heart knows you are best. Only Jesus." Big Daddy <em>Only Jesus </em>(song 2006)</td>
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<h1><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Was Paul Deceived by Impostor as Christ Warned In Matthew 24?</span></strong></h1>
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Question Presented</span> [<a href="/images/stories/AudioJWO/who_identified_himself_as_Jesus_to_Paul_on_road_to_damascus.mp3"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">MP3 Version</span></a>] -<a href="/topicindex/306-que-se-identifico-como-jesus-a-pablo.html"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Spanish</span></a> <a href="/topicindex/542-2013-09-22-04-02-38.html"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Italian</span></a> [in process]</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></h1>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Was Paul deceived by someone in the wilderness saying "I am Jesus" -- coming in "Christ's name" -- implying He was the Messiah-Jesus? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Does Paul's experience fit Jesus' warning that we should not believe those coming in the wilderness or privately "in my name" saying "I am the Christ" after He ascended? Jesus explained that when He returns and appears next from heaven on earth He will be visible from every point "east and west," so don't be fooled by an impostor Jesus who only appears on earth in a private way or in a wilderness. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:4-6,%2026-27&version=KJV">Matt. 24 vv. 4-6, vv. 26-27</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Paul's experience with several companions on the wilderness road to Damascus was such that Paul says Jesus "<strong>appeared</strong>" to Paul just as Jesus "<strong>appeared</strong>" to the twelve (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A1%3B+15%3A4-11&version=NKJV">1 Cor. 9:1; 1 Cor. 15:4-11</a> NKJV ("seen"); <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A1%3B+15%3A4-11&version=NIV">NIV</a> ("appeared").) The companions' perception was, however, limited --- they "<strong>heard the voice</strong> but saw no one" (<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/9-7.htm">Acts 9:7</a>, heard from akouo). However, <span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">in another account in Paul’s court testimony, they </span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong style="font-style: italic;">saw the </strong><strong>ligh</strong></span><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>t</strong> but did </span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><strong>not hear the voice which some translate as “did not understand the voice</strong></em><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">.“ (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/22-9.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">Acts 22:9</a><span style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"> ekousin, hear, from akouo.) So others with Paul shared the experience in both their hearing and sight, although apparently not seeing a person and not understanding the voice. Paul’s experience was thus not solely a mental one, but an appearance of Jesus in Paul’s physical presence.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isn't this physical appearance to Paul after Christ's Ascension of one saying he was Jesus fit the warning of an impostor in a private place or wilderness that every eye on earth does not see after Jesus already ascended to heaven? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now Paul says he saw Jesus' physically in a bright light, which staring into the light is apparently why Paul ended up blinded but this did not happen to the companions. Yet, the companions saw the light and heard the voice -- so it was <strong>a physical event, and not a vision.</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Isn't this quite plain that anyone can see the problem? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of course.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then how come Paul did not see the problem when he learned of Matthew 24?</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because immediately after this Damascus-road encounter, Paul raced to Jerusalem to tell the twelve of the event, but <strong>Paul's Jesus</strong> from the wilderness returned to Paul to <strong>intervene just before that happened</strong>. After a two week journey from Syria to Jerusalem, Paul's Jesus appears this time in a vision and tells Paul while he was praying at the Temple -- within feet of the apostles' daily worship: "<strong>Get quickly out of Jerusalem for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A14-21&version=KJV">Acts 22:18 KJV</a>.) See our article on this <a href="/recommendedreading/499-odd-message-from-jesus-to-paul-about-apostles.html">Odd action of Paul's "Jesus."</a> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why couldn't Paul's Jesus just appear to the 12 and calm all doubts which Paul's Jesus said the 12 would have about whether Paul met the true Jesus Christ outside Damascus? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Moreover, what harm would the true Jesus be unable to cope with had Paul spoken to the twelve? How could the true Jesus <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>fear Paul checking in with the apostles</strong></span> about the validity of this appearance to Paul? <strong>The true Jesus could have no risk</strong>. </span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, an impostor Jesus would be exposed because the true Jesus said in Matthew 24 that He would not appear physically on earth after the Ascension until an event that "every eye" on earth could see. <strong>ONLY A FALSE JESUS HAD A RISK.</strong> For the apostles could have warned Paul that this was an imposter Jesus had this event ever been described to them. Incidentally, Luke never records in Acts that Paul recounted this Damascus Road event to the apostles. He recounted it only twice in Roman courts.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then notice the result for Paul was he ADMITS that he deliberately <strong>persisted for decades in such darkness from Jesus' words</strong> held by the apostles. Paul boasted in <a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/2-6.htm">Galatians 2:6</a> that the 12 "<strong>taught him nothing</strong>" over the last 17 years since the Damascus Road experience. Paul boasted in that period he had very little interchange with the Apostles - mentioning there was only one brief visit with Peter and James in a two week period three years after the event outside Damascus. See <a href="/topicindex/436-paul-knew-the-12-taught-another-jesus.html">Paul Acknowledges the 12 Taught A Different Gospel</a>. Paul said this to elevate his "revelation" from Jesus as<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> untainted by the 12 apostles</span></strong>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How problematical! Doesn't this explain why Paul did not do the self-examination against what Jesus taught the 12 in Matthew 24? Otherwise, Paul would have known enough to doubt whom was giving him these revelations.</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We will do here the exam that Paul, an honest dupe apparently, did not do.</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul Defender Unwittingly Indicts Paul's Experience Outside Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Ironically, a defender of Paul correctly construes this passage in Matthew, but does not realize that it indicts Paul's encounter in the wildnerness outside Damascus. In an article at Bible.info.com entitled <a href="http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/how-can-one-recognize-false-christ">How Can One Recognize a False Christ</a>, we read:</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.242em 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.8400001525879px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">He warned, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He <strong>is in the desert!</strong>’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the <strong>inner rooms</strong>!’ <strong>do not believe it</strong>’ ” (Matthew 24:23-26, NKJV).</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.242em 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.8400001525879px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Jesus emphasized that these false christs will perform great signs and miracles and deceive many. <strong>Many Christians think that as long as they believe in Jesus, they will be shielded from the deceptions of the last days</strong>. However, these will <strong>not be crude deceptions</strong> that will be <strong>easy to identify</strong>. Jesus says that the deceptions of these false christs are <strong>so carefully planned and so skillfully carried ou</strong><strong>t</strong>, that even God’s chosen ones would be deceived—if that were possible. And the only reason it is not possible <strong>is if we keep our focus on the real Jesus through study of His Word </strong>and through prayer.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.242em 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.8400001525879px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Unfortunately, many will be deceived into following <strong>the wrong Jesus</strong>.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How tragic is the result? The same article puts it well:</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Tragically, those who are deceived ... by these false christs will sincerely regard themselves to be <strong>genuine believers, actively doing the work of Christ</strong>. They will even prophesy in the name of Jesus, cast out demons in the name of Jesus, and work miracles in His name. But they are serving a false Christ—<strong>not the real Jesus</strong>. “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers’ ” (Matthew 7:22, 23, NIV). The followers of the <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>false Christ disregard the commandments of Jesus</strong></span>. In contrast, Jesus declares, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him” (John 14:21, NIV).</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Do these criteria so unwittingly well-explained at Bible.info.com disqualify Paul as an apostle of the same Jesus whom you and I love? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Remember, Paul's epistles have not a single unique quote from Jesus except one highly problematical refusal of the "Lord" to release Paul from an "<strong>angel of Satan.</strong>" See <a href="/topicindex/666-how-many-times-do-episltes-of-paul-uniquely-quote-jesus.html">link</a>. So if we disqualify Paul, we lose nothing from the words of Jesus. At least nothing anyone would want to remember as truly from Jesus. </span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As to the single unique quote of Jesus in Paul's epistles by revelation in a vision, Christian commentators agree it is impossible to believe that the true Jesus would not release Paul from a demonic influence in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+corinthians+12%3A7-9&version=DLNT">2 Cor. 12:7-9</a>. Paul defenders contend that Paul's depiction of the "Lord's" refusal to give such a release to Paul came out totally in an unintended manner. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Yet, bear it in mind again, this one quote of the Damascus Road Jesus in all of Paul’s epistles actually proves again we are on the right track that Paul met an imposter Jesus. Our thesis is up front confirmed by 2 Cor. 12:7-9 because Paul's Jesus refuses to release Paul from a torment in the flesh by an "Angel of Satan." We all know the true Jesus would cast out the demon afflicting Paul. So who was Paul's Jesus? It does not take much to deduce who it was, but let's be Bereans and carefully examine all the facts.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is high time that Christians consider whether an impostor Jesus Christ guided Paul. Is it a coincidence that nowadays, most mainstream pastors teach us to follow Paul's Gospel, and disregard as part of a prior dispensation <strong><em>all the commandments from Jesus?</em></strong> This is called the doctrine of Dispensationalism - a heresy brought forth by Clarence Larkin in 1918.</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Dominant dispensationalists do not hide they are abandoning Jesus' lessons in the flesh. They in fact prove dispensationalism is necessary because they admit the numerous contradictions of Jesus by Paul such as Paul saying the Law is abolished but Jesus says it would never be so until heaven and earth pass. (See <a href="/topicindex/175-pauls-contradictions-of-jesus.html">Contradictions by Paul of Jesus</a>). Based upon such contradictions, they teach us that we need no longer follow the Jesus who walked the earth, but only the Jesus who revealed himself to Paul. See the article <a href="/topicindex/200-paulinism-examples.html">Examples of Paulinism.</a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, most mainstream pastors teach this contradiction and insist that Paul is the only apostle to follow in the New Testament. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Dispensationalism teaches that Jesus' doctrine was meant solely for a prior dispensation. This dispensational teaching solidified in this century, beginning with Bultmann as his response to the many contradictions he could not refute between Jesus and Paul. See <a href="/topicindex/176-bultmann-on-paul.html">Bultmann on Dispensationalism</a>. Bultmann chose Paul over Jesus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But what did the Bible.info page -- pro-Paul no less -- unwittingly say is the hint someone who claims to have heard from Jesus in a private vision or wilderness place did not actually meet the true Jesus? </span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The followers of the false Christ disregard the commandments of Christ....</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What would Bible.info think if they realized there is an entire dominant</span> <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">view in Evangelical Christianity that began around 1918 that says we can disregard all the commands of Jesus before the Ascension in favor of a Jesus who appeared solely to Paul whose doctrine contradicted the Jesus the twelve knew? That this view also holds we must assume Paul is transmitting the words of an Ascended Jesus even though Paul in his epistles only quotes uniquely once Paul's Damascus-Road Jesus saying that he refuses to release Paul from an "Angel of Satan"? </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(We also contend elsewhere that we faultily assume Paul is inspired without Paul attributing anything revealed by Jesus or Yahweh to himself. See the article <a href="/topicindex/721-paul-never-served-the-role-of-a-messenger-of-jesus.html">Paul Never Quotes Jesus in A Revelation to Support New Doctrines</a>.)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Wouldn't Bible.info be willing to reconsider the validity of Paul? The price of not doing so has turned out to be that most mainstream pastors believe Paul's words alone should dominate in any Sunday sermon.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Question</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So are we judging correctly the weight to give Paul's words? Remember Jesus taught us that "appearances" can be deceiving: "</span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Stop judging by mere appearance</strong>, but instead judge correctly." (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/7-24.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">John 7:24</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.) As </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+14%3A12&version=NIV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Proverbs 14:2</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> similarly teaches: "There is a way that appears</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> to be right, but in the end it leads to death."</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, are we on the path to life or death by trying to follow Paul's words besides those of Jesus delivered pre-Ascension?</span> </span><br /><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An Obvious Question That Is Routinely Overlooked</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This is an obvious question about Paul's encounter, given the clear import of the words of Jesus. Even commentators summarize the clear meaning of Jesus in a way that one must wonder how commentators' minds never questioned whether Jesus' warning might apply to Paul. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For example, </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Henry Alford (1810-1871), D.D., Dean of Canterbury (see bio at this </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/A/ALF/henry-alford.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">link</a></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">)</span>, in his <strong>The New Testament for English Readers</strong></span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; color: #494a44; line-height: 20px;"> </em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(Rivingtons 1868) at </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&pg=PA162#v=onepage&q=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&f=false" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 1.3em;">page 162</a> </em>commented on Matthew 24 verses 4-5:</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">[vv. 4-5] 'For many' ...This was the first danger awaiting them: not of being drawn away from Christ, but of <strong>imagining that these persons were Himself</strong>." [Emphasis in original.] </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&pg=PA162&ci=552%2C653%2C403%2C79&source=bookclip" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA162&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U2QvUuE478O6Dsabmnr7xoYDWNCfw&ci=552,653,403,79&edge=0" alt="" width="232" height="46" style="float: right;" /></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford then explains the reference to "in my Name" means the false Jesuses say they are Jesus as "the <strong>ground for their pretences</strong>."</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford did not address the clear import of what he was saying as applying to Paul's encounter. It involved Paul claiming an appearance of the risen Christ to himself, making himself a <strong>witness</strong> to the Resurrection along with the men with Paul who hear the voice saying "I am Jesus" (<a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/9-7.htm">Acts 9:7</a>). </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul in fact later testifies in court that Ananias, a devout man and well-regarded person (not a prophet) told him at Damascus a short while after Paul's experience outside Damascus that the "Holy One has chosen thee ... for thou shalt be his <strong>witness</strong> to all men of what you have <strong>seen and heard</strong>." (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A12-15&version=KJV">Acts 22:15</a>.) (Please note Ananias did not quote God's words telling him this; Ananias just affirmed it.)</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is clear Paul claims, and Ananias understood the same, that Paul saw and heard the Lord Jesus outside of Damascus. And so too his companions had a shared sensory experience of this "Jesus."</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But what Alford never applied to Paul's experience, we will do so here. </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford's Further Proper Summary of Matthew 24</span></span></span></strong></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford then discusses the warning in Matthew 24: 24-27 as about someone coming in the wilderness saying he is Jesus. </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&pg=PA166&ci=530%2C1250%2C378%2C93&source=bookclip" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA166&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1c9a_eNacbWoYuK6zQlYo3SWlFWQ&ci=530,1250,378,93&edge=0" alt="" width="218" height="53" style="border-style: none; float: right;" /></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alford explains that Jesus said this to "guard them against the<strong> impostors</strong> who led people out into <strong>the wilderness</strong> (see <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2021:38&version=KJV">Acts 21:38</a>) or invited them to consult privately...." </span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Id.</em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, at </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&pg=PA166#v=onepage&q=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&f=false" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">168</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. More precisely, Jesus said the appearance to be warned about was in the wilderness. Thus, even though Alford did not address whether this "impostor" scenario out in the wilderness applies to Paul's encounter in the same book of Acts where Alford saw at least one parallel in history (<em>i.e.</em>, an Egyptian who led people into the wilderness), we will examine the Paul-parallel here.</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Finally, Alford says the fact Jesus' next appearance on earth after ascending to heaven would instead be seen like "lightning" <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&pg=PA167&ci=60%2C498%2C401%2C266&source=bookclip"><img src="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA167&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3-76j3rQ9tNJvqa_D1lGrvrSaZ1Q&ci=60%2C498%2C401%2C266&edge=0" alt="" style="float: right;" /></a> from east to west, and not privately or in the wilderness, meant it "shall be a plain <strong>unmistakeable fact</strong>, understood of all, ...sudden and all pervading." Furthermore, because the lightning is from "<strong>both ends of heaven at once</strong>," Alford says this is like Rev. 1:7 which says at Christ's return "every eye will see him." <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>Id.</em>, at page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5mFCAAAAIAAJ&dq=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&pg=PA167#v=onepage&q=The%20New%20Testament%20for%20English%20Readers%20Matthew%20Commentary%20alford&f=false">168</a>. The stress is on the "universality" of this event as the <strong>discriminating factor</strong> between an impostor Jesus and the true Jesus. </span></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So, again, likewise, we will apply this final criteria to the experience of Paul where he sees a light and hears a voice saying "I am Jesus" but this event is neither unmistakeable nor universal, but instead is in the wilderness and private. We will ask the question that no reputable commentator has asked even though it appears painfully obvious.</span></span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"> </p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong>Nature of Christ's Return Expected Prior To Paul's Experience</strong></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #008080;"><strong style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%201:9-11&version=KJV">Acts 1: 9-11</a>, the resurrected Jesus was "taken up into the sky while" the apostles were watching. An angel clearly explained to the twelve "just as you saw him go, he will return." Jesus had a physical departure. So the angel promised a physical return. Jesus spoke of this return: "they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:30-35&version=KJV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">Matt. 24: 30</a>. John refers to the same event as "every eye will see him." John wrote of a vision of the return of Christ from heaven: "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him." <a href="http://biblehub.com/revelation/1-7.htm">Rev. 1: 7</a> (NIV.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong>Jesus' Prophetic Warning</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus was asked about His Second Coming by his apostles. In reply, He warned them that prior to His return an impostor or impostors will come in His name saying "I am Jesus." Then Jesus said if anyone comes claiming to be Himself in the "wilderness" or a "private place," you know that this is not the true Jesus because this is not universally seen: </span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:5-6&version=KJV">Matt. 24: 5</a>)</span></p>
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<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">23 </sup>Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">24 </sup>For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">25 </sup>Behold, I have told you beforehand.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">26 </sup>If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the <em><strong>wilderness;</strong></em> go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;">27 </sup>For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:23-27&version=ASV">Matt. 24 : 23-27 ASV.</a>) </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus is telling us that when He returns to earth from heaven it will be clear and unmistakable to everyone. We are thus not to believe any other accounts of people who claim to have seen the Christ-Jesus on earth prior to such a universally-visible event. Even if the event is accompanied by signs and wonders. Thus, any private appearances we know must represent an impostor Jesus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus elsewhere calls this impostor a "thief." This impostor will try to steal the hearts of true Christians. As Jesus said elsewhere, "the thief comes only to <strong>steal</strong>, and kill and destroy." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010:10&version=ESV">John 10:10</a> ESV.) What better way to steal Christians than by deceiving those who are attracted already by the figure of Jesus by giving them a counterfeit version? </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Jesus' warning in Matthew chapter 24 is the most important defense to prevent us from becoming dupes of the message from any impostor Jesus.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul's Encounter Outside Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Several years after Jesus ascended, Saul of Tarsus -- also known as Paul -- was walking with two companions on a road outside Damascus. Just previously, Paul was involved in the murder of Stephen, and was uttering "murderous threats" upon Christians. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:1&version=NIV">Acts 9: 1</a>.) Paul confessed at that time he was a "blasphemer and violent man." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20timothy%201:13&version=NIV">1 Tim. 1:13</a>.) Paul was thus a lawless man as he walked to Damascus -- a man whom God says He will not listen to his prayers absent repentance: "<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an </span><em style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify; background-color: #fdfeff;"> </em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">abomination." (<a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/28-9.htm">Prov. 28:9, KJV</a>.)</span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><br /></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this spiritual state, Paul then saw a great light and heard a voice which said to him: "I am Jesus," "why are you persecuting me?" Acts </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:3-7&version=NIV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">9:3-7</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. However, those with Paul "saw no one" </span><em></em></span><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span>although they "heard the voice." </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A7&version=NASB" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">Acts 9:7</a><span>. In another version, his companions "saw the light" but did not "hear" or "understand" the voice. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+22%3A9&version=KJV">Acts 22:9</a>. This certainly is an extra-mental experience of Paul, and not a mere vision, as it was shared with 2 or more others, both in sight and hearing to some extent. In fact, the presence of at least the 2 other persons suggests Paul intended to convey to us that a physical experience on earth was being verified by at least 2 witnesses.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In fact, Paul elsewhere describes this as a<strong> physical appearance</strong> of Jesus to himself in the same sense Jesus appeared to the twelve apostles first: "He <strong>appeared</strong> to Cephas [<em>i.e.</em>, Peter], then the twelve...and he also<strong> appeared</strong> to me." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A5-8&version=NIV">1 Cor. 15:5 & 8</a>. See also <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+9%3A1%3B+15%3A4-11&version=KJV">1 Cor. 9:1</a> ("seen" Lord.) Philip Schaff, the famous evangelical scholar and historian, agrees. He says Paul "put" his experience outside Damascus "on a level with the former <strong>appearances</strong> to the older apostles (1 Cor. 15:8)." (Philip Schaff, <strong>History of the Christian Church</strong> (C.Scribner, 1888) Vol. 1 at <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lrhJAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA163&dq=the%20same%20day%20Jesus%20saw%20a%20man%20working%20at%20his%20craft%20on%20the%20Sabbath-day%2C%20and%20He%20said%20unto%20him%2C%20'O%20man%2C%20if%20thou%20knowest%20what%20thou%20doest%2C%20then%20art%20thou%20blessed%3B%20but%20if%20thou%20knowest%20not%2C%20then%20art%20thou%20accursed%2C%20and%20art%20a%20transgressor%20of%20the%20Law.'&pg=PA180#v=onepage&q">180</a>.) </span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">On this score, Charles Quarles, trying to prove Paul's authenticity as one of the "most important witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus" <strong>unwittingly</strong> unravels Paul's validity in his article <a href="https://hbu.edu/news-and-events/2016/07/01/paul-witness-r-esurrection-jesus/"><strong>Paul as</strong> <strong>A Witness to the Resurrection</strong></a> (July 2016). </span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Quarles is Professor of New Testament Studies and Biblical Theology and Director of Ph.D. Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the author of several books on Paul and Jesus and the New Testament. </span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Quarles proves Paul claimed to be a witness to a physical appearance of the resurrected Jesus in a manner no different than any other apostle: </span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">Even if the use of <strong>en</strong> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 18pt; color: black;">to mark an internal and <strong>subjective</strong> experience were a legitimate syntactical option [i.e., the Gal. 1:16, God revealed his Son "in me"], clear statements elsewhere in Pauline literature would <strong>preclude</strong> such a view. For example, Paul argued that he was as surely an apostle as were the Twelve and the Lord’s brothers : “Am I not an apostle ? Have <strong>I not seen Jesus our Lord</strong> ?” (1 Cor 9:1). The Greek grammar of both questions implies a positive response. The logic of Paul’s argument is that Paul’s status is equivalent to that of the Twelve and the Lord’s brothers <strong>because the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to Paul was equivalent to that which the other apostles witnessed.</strong> This is also implied by Paul <strong>placing himself</strong> along with Cephas, the Twelve, the five hundred, James, and the rest of the apostles <strong>on the list of those to whom the resurrected Jesus appeared</strong>. Paul’s statement that “He also appeared to me” (1 Cor 15:8) offers a more robust description of the nature of the Damascus Road experience than the casual reader may realize. “<strong>Appeared</strong>” is the same verb used in <strong>15:5,6, and 7</strong> to describe those who discovered <strong>the empty tomb</strong>, saw the resurrected Jesus <strong> in the upper room</strong>, and <strong>ate with him</strong> on the shores of the sea of Galilee. The adjunctive “also” closely links Paul’s experience with the previously listed experiences and further suggests that Paul’s experience was very similar to theirs. It is important to note that both of these statements are contained in one of the letters of Paul that is most widely regarded as authentic even by skeptical critical scholars and is quite early (probably mid-50s).</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul was thus <strong>not claiming he saw Jesus merely in a dream or vision</strong>. Others <strong>shared physical sight and sounds of this Jesus</strong> on the same road at the same time. This is why Paul could say Jesus was <strong>as physically present on the Road outside Damascus as Jesus was present in the resurrection encounters</strong> with the twelve where Jesus told Thomas to feel the nail holes.</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, what's the key difference between the appearance to the 12 versus Paul's experience? The true apostles' experience was <strong>before the Ascension</strong>. Paul's experience was <strong>after the Ascension</strong> and thus falls under the warning of Jesus in Matthew 24 about impostors saying "I am He (Jesus)" coming after the Ascension.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, most certainly Paul claimed a true experience that could be shared with others where Jesus post-Ascension returned physically to earth to speak and appear to Paul. In fact, Paul describes it as a presence of Jesus in that wilderness in a resurrected state which made Paul a witness to a post-Ascension return that showed Jesus in a true "resurrected" state. This is how Paul counted himself among those who could be a witness to the physical resurrection of Jesus rather than claiming he had a vision of a deceased in heaven.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><img src="http://rodiagnusdei.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/bible_places_rivers_of_damascus.jpg?w=535" alt="" /></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">[Damascus at the time of Paul with surrounding wilderness. Philip Schaff & Miss E. Rodgers, <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Damascus</span>.]</span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Paulinists Concede Paul's Encounter Was In The Wilderness</span></span></strong></span></h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Acts 9: 3, Luke relates that Paul was outside Damascus when this event happened. The KJV says Paul "came near Damascus" (KJV). The pertinent Greek word is <em>engizein</em>, meaning "draw near." Thus, Paul was unquestionably <strong><em>outside</em></strong> Damascus when he had his encounter with the light and voice wh</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">ich said "I am Jesus." See</span><a href="http://bible.cc/acts/9-3.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;"> Biblios versions for Acts 9: 3</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">. Yet, to repeat, the two companions "hearing the voice, <em><strong>saw no one</strong></em>." <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:7&version=KJV">Acts 9:7</a>.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">As a result of this event having taken place outside Damascus, this area is thereby within a <strong>wilderness </strong>as that term is used in the Bible. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why is this important? Because Jesus specifically commanded that we, his followers, were not to listen to anyone who appeared in the wilderness who claimed to be Jesus. Our Lord explained He will not appear on earth again<em><strong> until an event when every eye sees Him</strong></em> from eastern to western sky. These criteria are how we know today that the person who met Paul was not the true Jesus. This was the litmus test Jesus gave his disciples: 'if someone appears in the wilderness claiming to be me, you can be sure it is not me,' in effect. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024&version=NIV">Matt. 24: 5 & 6; & 27-29</a>. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">While I do not doubt Paul believed he met the true Jesus, it does not matter at this point. Rather, the facts described in Acts clearly exclude the possibility that Paul had an encounter with the true Jesus found in the gospels, as we will now further elaborate upon.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Biblical Meaning of "Wilderness</span></strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"</span></strong></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Satan was known to occupy wilderness areas. This is why Jesus Himself went to the wilderness -- so he could be tested by Satan. "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit<em><strong> into the wilderness</strong></em> to be tested by the devil." (Matt. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A1-11&version=NIV">4:1</a>.) Jesus identifies in verse 10 that His encounter was with "Satan" himself.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The word "wilderness" as used in the Bible means any area outside a city. Gill in his <em><a href="http://bible.cc/2_corinthians/11-26.htm">Exposition of the Bible</a></em> explains the term "wilderness" as Paul used it in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2011:26&version=KJV">2 Cor.11: 26</a>. The term "may be understood not strictly of desert places, but of the <strong><em>country </em></strong>in distinction from the city."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Christian scholars <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Hengel">Hengel</a> & Schwemer refer to Paul's experience as taking place in the "<em><strong>semi-wilderness</strong></em> of the great city territory immediately bordering on the city of <em>Damascus</em>." (Martin Hengel, Anna Maria Schwemer,<em> Paul Between Damascus and Antioch: The Unknown Years </em>(1997) at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=PRIKVslqctkC&lpg=PA109&ots=GFlmkIGYWM&dq=paul%20wilderness%20damascus&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q=paul%20wilderness%20damascus&f=false">109</a>.)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Next, besides "outside Damascus" as being equivalent to a wilderness, there is one time in the Bible this very same area is described as a "wilderness" -- in 1 Kings 19:15, as discussed next. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Elijah Told To Take Wildnerness Road to Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20kings%2019:15&version=KJV">1 Kings 19:15</a>, God speaks to Elijah while Elijah is at "Horeb, the mountain of God." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2019:7&version=NIV">1 Kings 19:7</a>.) God tells Elijah to take the road to Damascus. God specifically calls this the "wilderness."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This passage reads:</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">15 </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on <em><strong>your way to the wilderness of Damascus</strong></em>. Go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram; (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2019:15&version=LEB">1 Kings 19:15 Lexham</a>.)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Some scholars suggest Paul thought this was significant. Paul may have equated the call Paul received on that Wilderness Road to Damascus to the call Elijah received at Horeb to take that same Road to Damascus. See N.T. Wright, "PAUL, ARABIA, AND ELIJAH (GALATIANS 1:17)," in <strong>Journal of Biblical Literature</strong> </span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;"></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> vol. 115, 683–692 (available at this </span><a href="http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Paul_Arabia_Elijah.pdf" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">online link</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Elijah received his call at Horeb at the Mountain of God while Paul's encounter was itself on that wilderness Road to Damascus. That is a difference that in God's planning can be very significant.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now the contention of Wright is important in a way he did not intend. What he admitted proves that <strong>God placed in the Bible a clear reference that Paul's encounter was in a location which</strong> the Bible called<em><strong> </strong></em>the "<strong>wilderness of Damascus.</strong>" This way, there would be no doubt in anyone's mind once we recognized the issue from Matthew chapter 24 that the same is true for Paul. Hence, this road to Damascus where Paul heard "I am Jesus" from the voice and light was indeed in the wilderness. God personally said so!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: #0000ff;"><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Paul Was Certainly Lost At the Moment of This Appearance of "Jesus."</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul could be duped at the point of the appearance of "Jesus" outside Damascus because Paul was certainly a lost soul at that point. Jesus warned us that the signs and wonders of an imposter Christ would be so "great" that it could dupe even a believer if that were possible. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/24-24.htm">Matt 24:24</a>.) How much more so would a lost soul be helpless against the great signs and wonders of an imposter Jesus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Was Paul a lost soul when he walked that road to Damascus and met someone saying "I am Jesus?"</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Luke tells us that just prior to this event Paul was involved in the murder of Stephen, and was breathing "murderous threats." (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/9-1.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Acts 9:1</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.) Apostle John tells us no murderer has eternal life. (</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_john/3-15.htm" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">1 John 3:15</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Finally, on that wilderness road, Paul was still in the midst of a mission of persecution. Paul later explained what his persecution efforts often entailed. </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Paul in</span><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-11.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;"> <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Acts 26:11</span></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> testifies in Court about his life as a persecutor as follows:</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and<strong> compelled them</strong><strong> to blaspheme</strong>; and being <strong>exceedingly<em> </em>mad</strong> against them, I persecuted <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">them</span> even unto strange cities. KJV.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul obviously made Christians say Jesus did his miracles by the power of Bezelbub, a demon. Jesus said such a statement insults / blasphemes the Holy Spirit, and is thus blasphemy of Yahweh....an unpardonable sin. See Matt 12:38. The Pharisees made this claim about Jesus' miracles, and evidently Paul followed the party-line, forcing Christians "to blaspheme," as Paul put it.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul acknowledged the obvious implication of such coercions on Christians: the one forcing another to blaspheme as a means of persecution must admit as Paul did in </span><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_timothy/1-13.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; line-height: 21px; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large;">1 Timothy 1:13</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> that he too was "once a blasphemer."</span> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">An admission of blasphemy should signify that one has violated the Third Commandment (Exodus 20:7) - the prohibition on blasphemy of God's name. One could never obtain justification under the Law given Moses for this sin. It was known among Jews and by Jesus as the unpardonable sin. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For while Exodus 20:6 says God's "mercy" extends to all "who love him and obey my commandments," then God in Exodus 20:7 says there is an exception -- a sin God "will not hold guiltless" anyone from -- the sin of blasphemy of God's name. A sin for which there is no "mercy" -- the unpardonable sin -- under the Law.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Dennis Praeger, a </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">scholar of Judaism, in his new book, <strong>The Ten Commandments: Still The Best Moral Code</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> (Regnery: 2015) explains blasphemy against God is unforgiveable, according to God.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">So then what is the worst sin? The worst sin is [violating]... the Third Commandment of the Ten Commandments. This is the only one of the Ten Commandments that states that <strong>God will not forgive who violates the commandment</strong>. What does this commandment say? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is most commonly translated as, 'Do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold guiltless' --<strong> meaning 'will not forgive</strong>,' -- whoever takes his name in vain. (Prager, <em>The Ten Commandments</em> (2015) at pages 20-21.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus says likewise when Jesus restates the Third Commandment in <a href="http://biblehub.com/mark/3-29.htm">Mark 3:29</a>: "but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> never has forgiveness</span></strong>, but is subject to <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">eternal condemnation.</span></strong>" </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(The term "Holy Spirit" is a common replacement for Yahweh when verses like Exodus 20:7 are being quoted in the NT and use Yahweh's name. Jesus often is depicted using similar replacements, e.g. "Spirit of the Lord" for "Spirit of Yahweh" in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%204:17-21">Luke 4:17:21</a>; "Mighty One" in <a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/26-64.htm">Matt 26:64</a>; etc.)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, please note that Paul contradicts Jesus and claims in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2013:39">Acts 13:39</a> that "<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">everyone who believes is justified from all </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">things from which you <strong>could not be justified by the law of Moses</strong>." </span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 21px;"><strong> </strong></em></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What sin(s)<strong> could one not be justified by the Law? </strong>The only sin under the Law for which one could never receive justification was blasphemy in Exodus 20:7. Likewise, Jesus says it is unpardonable, and there is "never...forgiveness." But Paul says contrarily that faith can even give you justification for a sin which one could "not receive justification by the Law" (Acts 13:19). In fact, Paul claimed in <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_timothy/1-13.htm">1 Tim. 1:13</a> he already has been justified of blasphemy: "Even though I was <strong>once a blasphemer,</strong> and a persecutor and a violent man I was shown <strong>mercy</strong>....." Yet, both Jesus in Mark 3:29 and God-Yahweh in Exodus 20:7 says that is not possible. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, at the very moment that counts, Paul must have been a lost man, easily capable of being duped by a false Christ claiming to be "Jesus." Paul was not among the believers at that time. Jesus told us Paul's chances to avoid being duped were slim to none. Jesus said the effort of an imposter Jesus to dupe someone would be virtually impossible for anyone but a believer not to be fooled:</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect</strong></span>. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/24-24.htm">Matt 24:24 Bible Hub - NIV</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Satan Can Even Dupe Prophets of God!</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Even if Paul prior to encountering this "light" and "voice" had the Holy Spirit already (which Luke does not imply and is unlikely for reasons just stated), Paul would not be immune from the wiles of Satan. </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">David, who had such Holy Spirit, was not above Satan planting ideas in his head:</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Now <strong>Satan</strong>, designing evil against Israel, <strong>put into David's mind<em> </em></strong>the impulse to take the number of Israel. (1 Chron. <a href="http://bible.cc/1_chronicles/21-1.htm" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">21:1</a>.)</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Furthermore, in 1 Kings 1:13-32, God tells us that <strong>a true prophet duped </strong>another <strong>true but young prophet by lying to him</strong> about a prophecy supposedly being from God. The true prophet lied that God had said that the young prophet could go home by another route. (See <a href="/JWO/false-prophecy-deceived-young-prophet.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline;">our article</a>.) Thus, if even a true immature prophet can be duped, so much more can a lost man as was Paul.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Paul, whether you think he did or did not have the Holy Spirit at his encounter, could be fooled. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus's Prophecies About An impostor-Jesus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Of course, Jesus warned repeatedly about false prophets to come<strong><em> in His name</em></strong> who would "<strong>have signs and wonders</strong>" so that they could deceive even the elect. Matthew 7:15-23; 24:11,24; Mark 13:22-23. See Study Notes below.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Jesus did more than that. In Matthew 24:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt.%2024:4-5&version=ASV">4-5</a>, Jesus gives a series of warnings of events that must precede the end. The very first one in church history--and chronologically far earlier than events that would take a long time, such as wars, etc, Jesus says this will happen:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>5</sup> For many shall come <strong><em>in my name</em></strong>, saying, <em><strong>I am the Christ</strong></em>; and shall lead many astray. (NIV)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Luke, Jesus warns this one coming in "<strong><em>my name</em></strong>" says "<strong><em>I am He</em></strong>...." (<a href="http://bible.cc/luke/21-8.htm">Luke 21:8</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In Matthew </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:24-27&version=ASV" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">24:24-27</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, Jesus warns about just such an earthly encounter one may have with one coming in His Name (Jesus) claiming to be He (Jesus) but you know it is not Him because when Jesus returns, every eye will see Him. Jesus said:</span></span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>24</sup> For there shall arise <em>false Christs</em>, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>25</sup> Behold, I have told you beforehand.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>26</sup> If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold,<em><strong> he is in the wilderness; go not forth</strong></em>: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>27</sup> For<strong><em> as the lightning [Greek, astraphe] cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming [parousia = presence] of the Son of man.</em></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus is recorded similarly in<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+17%3A24&version=ESV"> Luke 17:24</a> (ESV): "For <strong><em>as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other</em></strong>, so will the Son of Man be in his day."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Apostle John in Revelation foresees this same event, and similarly speaks of it: "Look, he is coming with the <strong><em>clouds</em></strong>, and <strong><em>every eye will see him</em></strong>...." (<a href="http://bible.cc/revelation/1-7.htm">Rev. 1:7</a>.) Jesus identifies what the true coming (parousia) event looks like in the immediately following verses 28-30, especially v. 30 in Matthew 24. It is<em><strong> identical</strong></em> to Revelation 1:7:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&version=NIV#fen-NIV-23988c" title="See footnote c">c</a>]</sup> will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the <strong><em>clouds</em></strong> of heaven, with power and great glory.<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&version=NIV#fen-NIV-23988d" title="See footnote d">d</a>]</sup></span></span> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&version=NIV">Matt 24:30</a> NIV.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Jesus says in the context of Matthew 24's prophecy against wilderness encounters that you know it is not Jesus because His coming on the "clouds" of glory will be "from eastern to western sky." Apostle John in Rev. 1:7 says of this same "coming with the clouds" that it is an event which "every eye will see him." (Modern television coverage makes such an event possible even without God using the miraculous to do so.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Clearly, the discerning quality of whether an encounter like Paul's was valid is whether every one on earth simultaneously saw Jesus on the clouds of glory before He arrived on earth. That did not happen in Paul's earthly encounter. Paul's two companions in Acts 9 hear the voice but see no one.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Also further confirming the universality of seeing Jesus as necessary, be aware "east" and "west" in Matthew 24:27 is plural in the Greek, implying a world-wide event. That is, the lightning must flash from every point east or west on the earth so that every eye on earth will see it. Origen in the 200s noted these plurals of <em>east</em> and <em>west</em> signified a world-wide event. Scholars concur that this language "from east to west" bespeaks the "universaility" of the event. (Allan J. McNicol, <strong>Jesus' Directions for the Future</strong> (Mercer Press, 1996) at page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=YHr5iaT4AYMC&lpg=PA87&dq=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&f=false">87</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus the Matthean passage clearly implies to beware someone in a wilderness or private room who will claim not only to be Messiah / Christ, but also to be Jesus. For Jesus says you know it is not Himself by the very obscurity of the location it takes place. "Every eye" will see Jesus on clouds of brilliant glory-light which will extend from one end of heaven to the other over the entire earth when He returns to communicate directly with men on earth. This appearance by one claiming to be Jesus and Messiah whom Paul met in a wilderness and private encounter is false if only one or at most three men see Him, our Lord implicitly says.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 24pt;"> <strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Why Paul Did Not Realize His Error</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul never realized that he met the wrong Jesus. Why? Because the impostor Jesus told him that when the true Jesus returns, <strong><em>not every eye will actually see Jesus. </em></strong> Paul tells us -- in obvious reliance upon the impostor -- that instead only the spiritually discerning will realize Christ returned and 'see' Christ in a spiritual sense. These verses from Paul that negate the visual-universality of Jesus's appearance on the clouds of glory are credulously explained by Herbert Lockyer in<strong> All the Parables of the Bible Explained </strong>(Zondervan: 1988) at page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4ncUVL4h2LsC&lpg=PA236&dq=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&pg=PA236#v=onepage&q=lightning%20from%20east%20to%20west%20paul&f=false">255</a>:</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"'Every eye shall see Him.' His return for His church, however, as indicated by Paul will likewise be sudden <strong>but not universally discerned</strong>. He will<strong> appear for those who look for Him</strong>, and who love such an appearing." [Alluding to 2 Tim. 4: 8, love appearing; 1 Thess. 4:17, 5:23, rapture into the clouds; 1 Thess. 2:9 even says we are <strong>with Jesus</strong> at His parousia, thus preceding the universal event, precluding us from <strong>first seeing</strong> Jesus' presence on earth. See also 1 Thess. 3:13. Cf. <a href="/topicindex/272-authorship-of-hebrews.html">Barnabas' </a>Epistle to the <a href="https://biblehub.com/hebrews/9-28.htm">Hebrews 9:28</a> those who eagerly await Jesus will see him. Barnabas was companion of Paul in Acts.]</span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">At the same time, Paul said he declined to listen to the twelve apostles, preferring instead his direct revelations from the Lord Jesus whom he met during that first experience. In <a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/1-12.htm">Galatians 1:12</a>, Paul explained: "I did<span style="color: #000000;"> </span><strong><span style="color: #000000;">not receive it from any man</span></strong><em><strong><span style="color: #000000;">,</span></strong></em> nor was I taught it; rather, I received it <strong>by revelation from Jesus Chris</strong><em><strong>t</strong></em>." In Galatians 2:6, talking expressly of the <strong>twelve apostle</strong><em><strong>s</strong></em>, Paul says:</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But from <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">those who were reputed to be somewhat</span></strong> (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth not man's person)-- they, I say, who were of repute <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">imparted nothing to me</span></strong>: (<a href="http://biblehub.com/galatians/2-6.htm">Galatians 2:6</a> ASV.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul thus was helpless against the Jesus of his revelation. Paul did not have the criteria of the true Jesus' words on how to test the encounter which Paul had with the "Jesus" of the wilderness. Paul refused to hear them, or ask their spiritual input on whether his experience matched the Jesus' they all knew.</span></p>
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<p><span id="en-KJV-23432" class="text Matt-10-14" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul thereby mistakenly accepted an impostor Jesus whom the true Jesus intended Paul to reject. Sadly, it is Paul's own fault for he boasted that those in repute -- the true twelve -- "imparted nothing to me." Paul preferred the "revelation from Jesus Christ" -- the Jesus of that very first encounter -- the clear impostor. Paul will have to bear the consequences of that flagrant rejection of any words from Jesus that the 12 could have shared with Paul. For Jesus told the 12 (including Matthias who was present and later replaced Judas, according to Acts ch. 1) what are the consequences to Paul for Paul's admission he refused to learn anything from the 12 about the true Jesus: <br /></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-KJV-23432" class="text Matt-10-14" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">14 And whosoever shall not receive you, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>nor hear your words</strong></span>, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span id="en-KJV-23433" class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span id="en-KJV-23433" class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">15 </span>Verily I say unto you, It shall be<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><span id="en-KJV-23433" class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city</span></strong></span>. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010&version=KJV">Matt 10:14-15 KJV</a>)</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #000000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Matt-10-15" style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">John's Experience in Heaven Differs From Paul's Encounter Outside Damascus</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus's warning does not extend to the experience John described in Revelation. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, John in Revelation 1 and 22 identifies that an "angel"is whom He meets initially, and through whom all the visions of Jesus and communications with Jesus take place. See "<a href="/topicindex/694-then-angel-of-the-book-of-revelation.html">Angel of Revelation.</a>"</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, when John says he actually sees Jesus it is after Apostle </span></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">John says that he was taken up into heaven where he saw Christ seated at the right hand of the Father. </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%204:1&version=NIV">Rev. 4:1</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2021:10-27&version=NIV">Rev. 21:1-27</a>; cf. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%201:10-18&version=NIV">1:10-18</a>. </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">This can be compared with Elijah who was caught up into heaven, taken up in a whirlwind; and who never tasted death, per <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2%3A1-12&version=NIV">2 Kings 2:1-12</a>. Prior to John's rapture into heaven, the angel revealed a fantastical Jesus with a sword in His mouth -- a fantastic vision which is not intended to be received as a true appearance of Jesus physically manifested on earth.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, because John's vision of Jesus in Revelation 1 prior to that time was relayed through an angel (Rev. 1:1), and was not intended to convey Jesus physically present on earth visible in any way other than by means of this angel solely to John, it has no parallel to Paul's Damascus experience. In chapter one, Jesus was seen in a fantastic vision with a sword in His mouth. Thus, the first time John sees Jesus physically is only after John is taken into heaven in chapter 4 of Revelation, and then sees Jesus as He actually is - seated at the right hand of the Father.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus' Warning Was Aimed To Prevent An Impostor-Jesus</span></span></span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Christian commentators -- unaware how this operates to invalidate Paul -- admit that Jesus in Matthew chapter 24 intended to protect us from a counterfeit Jesus:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason He constantly talks about returning in the clouds is because He wants us to look up into Heaven in anticipation of His return, so keep your eyes on Him. <strong>He told us to be ready, to watch for His return! </strong>This also <strong>prevents us from believing in those who claim to be Jesus Christ</strong>, since we are told that He will come in the clouds and every eye will see Him when He comes back. (Frank Gonzalez, <a href="http://www.revelationofthechrist.com/JESUS%20TELLS%20JOHN%20TO%20WRITE%20PG-11.pdf"> Jesus Tells John to Write (2009)(PDF) at 11</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, Gonzalez concedes Jesus admonished us in chapter 24 not to accept anyone who says he is Jesus Christ in an encounter on earth after the Ascension unless every eye sees the same event. Otherwise, it is not the true Jesus. It is an impostor. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.3em;">Review of the Proofs: This Was A Prophecy About Paul</strong></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Then, let's ask: does the foregoing prove Jesus was warning us away from whatever person spoke to Paul saying "I am Jesus, the one you persecute"?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The proof above shows indeed Jesus did so warn us. There are several important reasons.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, what Paul experienced fits someone coming<strong> in the name</strong> of Jesus. Paul records the voice said: "I am Jesus." Jesus said many false Christs would come "in my name." (Matt 24:5-7.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, we should remember that Jesus was a common name at this time. -- in fact, the third most popular name used among males. The 'voice' distinguished itself from any other Jesus, and claimed to be Jesus the Messiah / Christ with the words that he was "the one you persecute." This fit Jesus' warning that those coming "in my name" (Jesus) would also claim to be the Christ. Also, Paul repeatedly claims the Jesus he follows is "Jesus Christ." Gal. 1:12.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Third, Jesus says in Matthew 24:24-27 that some will try to deceive us while confirming that "Jesus is the Christ" in scenarios such as in the wilderness and private rooms. As already stated, it is in the wilderness that Paul had his experience. Jesus obviously used such a term of "wilderness" as a means to more readily help the true flock identify the falsity of the Jesus whom Paul met.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Fourth, the false Jesus would be accompanied by "signs and wonders" (Matt 24:24), but do not let our judgment be clouded by such experience. It is a false Jesus. Paul obviously understood his blindness as a sign that this was the true Jesus, even though God never imposes blindness on someone who supposedly has been converted already.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, Paul's experience precisely fits Matthew 24:5-7, 24-27's warning not to believe someone coming in His name claiming to be Christ in such a setting when the only validation comes from signs and wonders.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But Didn't Paul Cast Out Demons in Jesus' Name?</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Some have written me saying it is impossible that Paul did not know the true Christ because Paul cast out demons in Jesus' name. </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is true Paul did so. In Acts 16:18, we read: </span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the <strong>name of Jesus Christ</strong> to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."</span></p>
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<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">However, Matthew 7:21-23 informs us this does not prove Paul knew the true Jesus.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">There Jesus teaches us about those who "prophesy <strong>by the name</strong> [of Jesus]," and who can "cast out demons <strong>by the name</strong> [of Jesus]," but whom Jesus will say "I<strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> never knew</span></strong> you." </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why? Because they are workers of ANOMIA. This word ANOMIA is a Greek word that can mean either "lawlessness" or "<a href="http://greekconcordance.blogspot.com/2008/02/iniquity.html">negation of the Mosaic Law</a>." (Torah is NOMOS in Greek; the prefix "A" means <strong>negation</strong>, like 'anti' in English.) Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>21</sup> Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>22</sup> Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">thy name cast out demons</span></strong>, and by thy name do many mighty works?</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><sup>23</sup> And then will I profess unto them, <em><strong>I never knew you</strong></em>: depart from me, ye that work <strong>ANOMIA</strong> -- either "iniquity" or "negation of the Law of Moses."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Can Paul be said to "do iniquity"? Or did Paul "negate the Mosaic law"? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">On multiple scores, both meanings of ANOMIA are satisfied. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, Paul repeatedly contradicts the Law in letter and spirit. For example, Paul goes so far as to claim that meat sacrificed to idols is ok to eat. But Jesus reasserts the Law's prohibition three times on such meat in the Book of Revelation. Another example is that Paul teaches us to not be charitable to all widows as a class, and instead Paul arbitrarily prohibited charity to widows under sixty. This contradicts God's Law to aid widows without any age-restriction. (See our article <a href="/topicindex/318-pauls-command-not-to-help-young-widows.html">Paul's Command Not To Help Widows</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Second, Paul also teaches that the Law given Moses has been done away with when Jesus said that it would not end until the "heaven and earth pass away." (See <a href="/topicindex/106-chapter-five-jwo.html">Chapter Five of JWO</a>.) It is hard to imagine any greater working of iniquity than for someone to declare God's Law is terminated before its appointed time when the "heaven and earth pass away." </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Alternatively, Paul's ANOMIA exists also in his behavior. For example, Paul numerous times utters blasphemies. Blasphemy is a sin even if one lacked the intention to insult God. The Pharisees did not mean to insult God when Jesus told them that their ascribing His miracles to Satan was an insult upon God - an unpardonable one at that. (Matt 12: 31-32.) Thus, an unwitting insult still has eternal consequences. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These insults on God by Paul include Paul's claims: 1. that only through God's Law did Paul learn to sin -- its prohibitions arousing in him the desire to sin which otherwise did not exist (<a href="http://bible.cc/romans/7-7.htm" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">Romans 7:7</a>-13); 2. that <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God will send a "delusion" on all people to believe a lie so they are damned </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A10-13&version=KJ21" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal;">2 Thess. 2:10-13</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">); 3. that <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Jesus's brightness at His coming will be "according to the working of Satan," with "all power, signs and delusions" </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Thessalonians+2&version=KJ21" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal;">2 Thess 2:8-9</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">) -- to accomplish the delusions God will bring which are spoken about in the next verses 10-13 identified in #2 above; 4. that <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">God does not live in temples made of human hands, implying inadvertently that the God in the Temple at Jerusalem which still stood at that time was as invalid a god as a pagan god </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:24&version=NIV" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 16.363636016845703px; line-height: 20px;">Acts 17:24</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">); and on and on it goes. See our article <a href="/topicindex/188-blasphemy-a-paul.html">Paul & Blasphemy</a> for a long list.<br /></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hence, when people cite that Paul cast out demons in Jesus' name, Jesus already told us in Matthew 7:21-23 that this is not sufficient proof Paul ever met Jesus. </span><em></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Instead, Jesus said to test them -- do they work ANOMIA? Do they work the negation of the Law given Moses? Do they teach contrary to the Law, leading others into law-breaking? Or are they workers / laborers looking regularly to sin in violation of the Law? If so, then they "never knew" the true Jesus.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul qualifies on either score to be said by Jesus that "I never knew you." To those who respond in wonderment how then did Paul cast out demons in Jesus' name, Jesus said it can happen. (Matt 7:21-23.) Jesus' name is powerful. Jesus can even answer the prayer of a man who does not know Him. A lost soul can effectively call upon Jesus' powerful name. For Jesus elsewhere explains Satan cannot cast out Satan, for that would represent a house divided. (<a href="http://biblehub.com/matthew/12-26.htm">Matt .12:26</a>.) Thus, only Jesus is casting out a demon at the request of someone to whom Jesus says "I do not know you." Who says so? Jesus!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul Contradicts Jesus On This Very Issue On How To Test The Encounter</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul speaks differently. But then contradicting the teachings of Jesus -- the one whom Paul claims to follow and speak for -- further explains why Paul did not properly test the encounter's characteristics.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul contradicts Matthew 7:21-23 by Paul's claims in 2 Cor. 12:12 and Romans 15:19 that his doing signs and wonders in Jesus' name <strong>proves Paul did meet Jesus</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">, and was commissioned as an apostle. But <strong>Jesus emphatically says NO! </strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">in Matthew 7:21-23 as well as in Matthew 24:24-27, as we just proved above.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Here are Paul's two contradictions of Jesus where Paul says such signs are proof Paul not only knew Jesus but also was commissioned as an apostle:</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">First, Paul expressly said his validity turned on "signs and wonders." (2 Cor. 12:<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%2012:12&version=ASV">12.</a>) He said:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"The things that mark an apostle—<strong><em>signs, wonders</em></strong> and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance." <em>Id.</em></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Lastly, Paul in Romans <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2015:19&version=ASV">15:19</a> likewise said:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Through mighty <strong><em>signs and wonders</em></strong>, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The Greek roots for 'signs and wonders' in Paul's two statements were "<strong>semeion</strong>" and "<strong>teraton</strong>."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In a similar passage to Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus told us to be on guard about those who could lead us astray. Jesus said they would use '<strong>semeion</strong>' and '<strong>teraton</strong>' -- signs and wonders --- the very same roots of the<em><strong> </strong></em><strong>Greek words as Paul used</strong> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2024:24&version=KJV">Matthew 24:24</a>) -- to seduce us to follow them. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">These passages of Matthew 7:21-23 and 24:24 prove clearly that signs and wonders are<strong> no proof that one coming in His name was from God</strong>. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 18pt;"><strong style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">Paul Closed His Mind About Who Was This Blinding Light</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In the three versions of the appearance account recorded in Acts, the blinding light goes from a "light" (Acts 9:1-9), to a "great light" (Acts 22:3-11) to a "light brighter than the Sun." (Acts <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2026:9-20&version=KJV">26:9-20</a>.) This light blinded Paul. The question arises: what could be the source of this light? After all, the Bible says Lucifer is an <strong>angel of light</strong>. (See this <a href="/topicindex/223-who-is-the-blinding-angel-of-light.html">link</a> for more discussion.) Could it be Lucifer then?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Based upon Paul's writings, we find that this obvious association did not ever cross Paul's mind. Paul asks the voice who it is. The voice said in version 1 in Acts 9 and in version 3 in Acts 26: "I am Jesus whom you persecute." Beyond that, Luke gives us no other reason to prove this is Jesus. Should Paul be taking a <strong>blinding light's</strong> word for anything? Some commentators suggest not:</span></p>
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Apparently all it took to convince Paul that he was hearing the voice of Jesus was for the voice to say so." (Delos B. McKown,<em> </em><strong>Behold the Antichrist: Bentham on Religion</strong> (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2004) at page 122.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">McKown comments that "taken at face value, this <strong>reveals credulity (or gullibility) of a high order</strong>." <em>Id. </em>at <a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=TOTOTIyKD8SCngfG9vjeCQ&ct=result&id=qh3XAAAAMAAJ&dq=(Delos+B.+McKown+Behold+the+Antichrist:+Bentham+on+Religion&q=gullibility#search_anchor">122</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Paul is aware that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor.%2011:14&version=NIV">2 Cor. 11:14</a>. Yet Paul did not choose to apply this knowledge of this fact to his experience. Luke gives us no sign of any effort by Paul to verify the light and voice was truly from Jesus.</span> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Conclusion: Analogy To The Mormon "Jesus" As An Impostor</span></span></strong></span></h2>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">We have long been trying to take the speck out of Mormons' eyes without looking at the beam in our own eye. (Matt 7:3.) For remarkably, the same fault we can find in Mormonism for teaching a Jesus Christ who appeared in a wilderness that not everyone had seen is the same fault afflicting Pauline Christianity. <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons claim to follow a Jesus Christ who their hero (<em>i.e</em>., Joseph Smith) first learned about through "a pillar of light" that came down from heaven. (See our page on <a href="/recommendedreading/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="color: #517291; text-decoration: underline; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons follow a Jesus who their hero (<em>i.e</em>., Smith) saw in his very first appearance in the "woods" and "wilderness." Those are Joseph Smith's terms. (See our page on <a href="/recommendedreading/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a>.)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons follow a Jesus who identifies himself with the Jesus of Galilee. "Jesus" from the pillar of light tells Smith in the wilderness that he was the "crucified one." <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(See our page on </span><a href="/recommendedreading/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="color: #517291; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 20px;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.) (Mormonism has no crucifixion happening to their "Jesus" in America so Smith's Jesus claims to be the Galilean Jesus.)</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Like Pauline Christians, Mormons follow a hero (<em>i.e.</em>, Joseph Smith) whose followers insisted that he used Christ's name to cast out demons. (<a href="http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/DWillers.html">Diedrich Willers Letter (1830) at 1</a>.) <br /><a href="/images/stories/Lessons/bom.jpg"><br /></a></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, Willers, a good Christian who knew scripture, said that Smith's ability to cast out demons did not prove Smith knew Christ, citing Matthew 7:21-23, just as we do above about Paul. <em>Id.</em></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Further, like Pauline Christians, Mormons do away with the Gospel-Jesus. They are like Pauline Christians who teach that Paul in 2 Cor. 5:16 tells us to no longer follow the gospel message of Jesus given in the flesh in Israel. Paul supposedly tells us that message is a superceded message. Now we must allegedly follow only the Jesus whom Paul experienced. (See<a href="/topicindex/176-bultmann-on-paul.html"> Bultmann on Paul</a>). Like Pauline Christians, Mormons claim in their pre-Christ history, the Law given was now replaced by grace, and was now to be abandoned. See <a href="/topicindex/798-mormonism-has-uncanny-pauline-view-of-law.html">Mormons Have Uncannily Similar Doctrines to Paul about the Law</a>. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Mormons similarly believe </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">God told Smith we must listen to only the Jesus of Smith's vision. The "God" of this vision tells Smith that all Christian sects are wrong, implying our gospels accounts of Jesus are all wrong. The plates delivered later by the Angel Moroni which Smith translated into the Book of Mormon clearly imply our gospels are all altered and entirely untrustworthy, including all the words of Jesus. See 1 Nephi 13:26. (See our page on </span><a href="/topicindex/523-joseph-smiths-first-vision-account.html" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;">Joseph Smith's First Vision</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">.) </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Did you know that? Did you know there is <strong>virtually no distinction between what Paul experienced and what Smith experienced</strong>? With the same consequence? <strong>Both times, the intention is we abandon the Jesus of the Gospels! And we abandon all God's law beforehand!!!</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Why did the vision of Smith's experience get recorded in such a way that any Christian familiar with Matthew 24:4-5 and 26-27 could not get duped? That passage so obviously applies to Joseph Smith -- just as it obviously applies to Paul!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The reason? </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Just as God restricted what Satan could do with Job (<a href="http://biblehub.com/job/1-12.htm">Job 1:12</a>), God obviously restricted the false "Jesus." This counterfeit could appear only in a wilderness. The false Jesus had to say "I am Jesus" or an equivalent. By these restrictions, all accounts of the false Jesus-es (whether Mormon or Pauline) reveal details by which we can know to apply Matthew 24:4-5, 26-27. The accounts are not permitted to omit details that they saw Jesus in the wilderness -- and that Jesus was not seen universally. This way God can put us to the test: <strong>will we be duped or not?</strong> Are we listening intently to Jesus or not?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, making such a test about who spoke to Smith in the wilderness is not unkind. <strong>It is Biblical to make such a test</strong>. </span><em style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3em;"><strong> </strong></em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is obedient to Christ! It is thus likewise equally obedient to Christ to test Paul by the same criteria.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">But to this, a foul is called. W</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">asn't Paul miraculously converted? Luke does not say that. That is an assumption we Christians erroneously have long made.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Instead, Luke tells us just before the vision that Paul was a notorious unrepentant sinner. A murderer. And Paul admits he was a blasphemer. Surely, such a person would be unable to discern the spiritual invalidity of this exciting experience. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Just prior to the encounter, Paul confesses he was "blasphemer and violent man." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20tim.%201:13&version=KJV">1 Tim. 1:13</a>). Luke depicts Paul in the prior verse to the encounter as uttering "<strong>murderous threats</strong>." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%209:1&version=KJV">Acts 9:1</a>.) In this horrific spiritual state, Paul easily became a dupe of the impostor voice-and-light Jesus who revealed himself on the Road to Damascus. All those who follow a Pauline Jesus are equally sincere and zealous, as was Paul, but all are dupes of <strong>a cunning fraud perpetrated upon Paul</strong>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">For Jesus specifically prophesied that persons will come in His name -- the name of Jesus -- and claim to be Jesus the Messiah. These false Jesus-es will lead many astray. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&version=KJV">Matt. 24:4-5</a>.) These figures will use "signs and wonders" to lead astray even the elect, if that were possible. (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+24&version=KJV">Matt. 24:24</a>.) </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">How great is our Lord to leave us prophecies for those who have 'ears to hear' which would protect His flock who closely listen to Him, our sole Teacher. And this proves the truth of the following statement:</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"Whatever the devil cannot be or do as it relates to God in Jesus Christ, he will either <strong>counterfeit</strong></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> or wipe out." Gary Flannigan, <strong>111: The Media War</strong></span><em style="color: #494a44; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20px;"> </em><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">(2008) at 131.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, with the same vigor that we as Christians reject Mormonism, we must come to reject Pauline Christianity. They both equally reflect impostor versions of Jesus. We need to restore Christianity to its founder: the true Jesus. We need to return to the Jesus we read about in the four gospels, in particular the gospels of Matthew, Luke and John. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Once we repent of Paulinism, then (but only then) can we credibly find fault with Mormonism's claim. We can prove that Joseph Smith's appointment of 12 more apostles is invalid under Acts 1:21-22. The apostles ruled that Judas' replacement had to be one from the beginning of Jesus' Galilean ministry. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">Until we abandon Paul, we are hamstrung by our allegiance to Paul to criticize Mormonism for the same blatant flaw from which Mormonism suffers. For Mormons mock Christians who try to invalidate the 12 new Mormon "Apostles of Jesus Christ" by this Acts 1:21-22 test. They argue if applied, <strong>it would equally apply to Paul</strong>, and evangelicals will retract the argument when they realize the consequence means they have to give up on Paul as an apostle. Mormon apologists note in <a href="http://www.fairlds.org/authors/misc/ask-the-apologist-must-all-apostles-literally-see-christ">Must All Apostles Literally See Christ</a>:</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Many of our Christian brothers and sisters use this supposed requirement to eliminate the LDS apostles as real apostles, and they attempt to use the Bible as the basis for their rejection. How do we respond? Let us take a look at what the Bible says regarding the matter. Most of the critics will use Acts 1:21-26 [i.e., replacement of Judas had to be disciple from beginning of Galilean ministry until Ascension.]</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The problem here is Acts 1 does not lay down this criterion for all future apostles. <em><strong>Paul, of course, would not meet this requirement, yet I’ve never met a Christian that didn’t view Paul as an apostle</strong></em>. ****</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Most LDS critics will admit that Paul was an exception. And while doing so, declare <em><strong>the requirements stated in Acts 1 null and void for future apostles</strong></em>. Paul did not accompany the original apostles from the baptism by John to the day He ascended into heaven....<em><strong>For some reason</strong></em>, however, the critics claim that this is<strong><em> the lone exception</em></strong> and thus, the Lord would not allow any others. Certainly, one is free to make such a claim, but the Bible contains<strong><em> no foundation for it</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Because we make an unfounded exception for Paul, Mormons persist in teaching their Jesus can add a whole set of numerous more apostles.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Thus, with Paul esconced in our camp, we become the blind trying to lead the blind. We are crippled in any effort to correct Mormons. <strong>They point out that we will not apply the same test to Paul because it would disqualify him</strong>. Hence, they don't have to listen to our critique of what are the qualifications of a true apostle in Acts 1, <em>i.e.</em>, one who was with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry until the Ascension. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">In this way, we lose the decisive points that </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">would end the claims of Mormonism. Our failure is due to our affection and adherence to Paul. <strong>Because we will not relent, another heresy worse than the first (Paulinism) now afflicts the name of Jesus</strong><em><strong>.</strong></em> We do nothing to defend Jesus on the strongest grounds because to do so will damage Paul. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">What is at stake for our beligerant defiance of Jesus' words? <strong>The loss of Jesus' gospel by a completely different gospe</strong>l -- <strong>Paulinism, Mormonism</strong>, and whatever ism that will claim a non-gospel Jesus is its inspiration.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">What do you think Jesus thinks about all this? That we let the Mormon deception run rampant for to properly expose it will also expose Paul as equally unable to pass the very tests which destroy Mormonism? Our silence was deliberate: we let Mormonism continue for otherwise we will expose Paul as invalid. Our silence is deafening and damning at the same time. It proves we are protecting Paul even when it means <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>we as a Christian community are letting the true Jesus be thrown under the bus</strong></span>. Our Lord's final judgment for this behavior is obvious. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">I will let Anthony Buzzard, a reputable pastor, have the last word. In his article "<a href="http://focusonthekingdom.org/articles/luther.htm">The Amazing Shift Away from Jesus in the Popular Gospel</a>," he analyzes the Paulinism of Luther who taught it proper to ignore the Jesus of Matthew, Mark and Luke to find the Gospel of Jesus primarily in Paul's writings. The consequence of focusing on Paul's teachings to define the gospel, Buzzard says, has had the <span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><em>effect</em> of giving us a <strong>counterfeit Christ</strong> -- which is what <strong>I say is actually what happened</strong> on the road to Damascus. It was Satan indeed who provided a counterfeit on the Road to Damascus. Thus, Pastor Buzzard <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">unwittingly</span></strong> proves our point when he writes:</span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">It seems to me clear that Satan could well play on the weakness of the religious spirit of man by <strong>presenting a Jesus who is only vaguely and superficially the Jesus of the Bible</strong>. The <strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">counterfeit</span> </strong>could, however, be most subtle. <strong>Satanic strategy would work hard to separate Jesus from His own teachings</strong> (laid out in their clearest form in Matthew, Mark and Luke). “Jesus” might then be only a religious symbol offered as a spiritual panacea for the world’s and individuals’ ills.<strong> The Jewish, apocalyptic Jesus</strong>, preacher of a coming just society on earth — the Kingdom of God — might then <strong>fall into disrepute and obscurity</strong>. His reappearance in preaching would probably appear strange and unwanted even to churchgoers who have been fed a diet missing the New Testament Hebrew ingredients.</span></span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">The End.</span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></p>
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<hr />
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">YouTube version of this article -- see this </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjnMdjLde0&feature=related" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: large; line-height: 1.3em;">link</a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.</span></span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<hr />
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<h1><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;"><a href="/topicindex/508-study-notes-to-article-on-damascus-account.html"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #0000ff;">Study Notes & Email</span></a></span></strong></span></h1>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Correct English on 'Impostor.'</span></span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Incidentally, 'impostor' is considered the more correct English word derived from borrowing from the French word 'imposteur,' just as we change 'docteur' in French to 'doctor.' See <a href="http://grammarist.com/spelling/imposter-impostor/">Grammarist</a>. However, the word "imposter" is actually used more often in English than "impostor." So "impostor" is the preferred word by linquists, although in normal usage 'imposter' is preferred. I chose to change this article to 'impostor' from 'imposter' but either is correct.</span></span></p>
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<h2><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"></span></strong></span></h2>
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