journeying from place to place to seek out the followers of Jesus and persecute them. Now this is the man who is now exalted above the original disciples of Jesus and it is on the strength of this man’s interpretation of the messages of Jesus that today’s Christianity thrives.
Now let us see this scene of fast growing followers of Jesus in the time of Saul in spite of his persecution and think from Paul’s point of view. Here is a religion or doctrine fast growing despite his efforts to destroy it which is contrary to the beliefs of the Jewish people in the very land of the Jews. These people are the followers of the man who claimed he is the son of god and the expected messiah of the Jews, all of which are blasphemy in the eyes of this staunch Jew, Saul. How can he stop the growth of this following of Jesus and save Jewish religion?
The easiest way to destroy any organization is to destroy it from within that organization and what a brilliant idea! Saul becomes Paul and convinces the original Apostle of hsi sincerity which is of course false. The innocent Apostles believe his learned speech and accept him within their circle and even recommend him to the various churches where he goes to preach the gospel of Jesus.
Here is the opportunity to Saul alias Paul to, having infiltrated into the folds of the followers of Jesus, to corrupt the messages of Jesus in such a crafty way using his high scholarly talent to deviate them from the original true messages of Jesus. From the way Christianity has embraced the interpretations of this Paul from his letters to the various churches, it is obvious that he has succeeded in hiding the true messages of Jesus and there by destroying it totally. All the