Let's get to know who he was from his own testimony, and that of the other apostles and disciples. We first hear of Saul (Paul) in this passage, at the stoning death of [him] Stephen, Acts 7:58 "And cast [him] out of the city, and stoned [him]: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul." Still speaking of Stephen's stoning the Bible records the following: Acts 8:1 "And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles." Then we read, Acts 8:3 "As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed [them] to prison." And more, Acts 9:1-2 "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem." There are no accusation that Saul (Paul) himself actually murdered anyone, but that he was ultimately responsible in that he was the one that captured and imprisoned believers of Jesus, who were later murdered *by false accusations & trials*. We read more about Saul (Paul) and how he persecuted the church here: Acts 26:9-11 "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against [them]. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled [them] to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted [them] even unto strange cities." He freely admits his former life, and more in Acts 22.

        In the sense of Christianity, Saul (Paul) starts out on a pretty bad foot with us ... those imprisoned and killed could very well be you and I today by another Saul. So I can understand the apprehension people may have of him, but give him due credit please, there is a lot more to his life that is in our favor! Now comes a turn of fate in Saul's life, in the midst of his persecutions of the church, he meets the Lord whom he's been persecuting through the believers: Acts 9:3-9 "And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: [it is] hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord [said] unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought [him] into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink." That's a pretty dramatic start to one's walk with the Lord is it not? Apparently it's what Saul (Paul) needed to *kick start* his ministry :o}

        The word "pricks" above is a link to it's actual greek meaning (from BLB), click it to read. I think what the Lord meant by "kick against the pricks" was that Paul was kicking against the stings of bees in a sense (the gospel of the good news) in which the kicking did nothing in regard to the sting itself (it didn't stop it from happening nor did it stop the effect of it occuring) it was just his reaction to something he had no control over anyway in that he couldn't stop the sting, he couldn't stop the effects of the sting and his kicking was of null effect in the sense of the big picture. In fact, this particular sting (gospel, good news) indeed stung him and the effects of it remained throughout the remainder of his life unto death and into eternity! It took being stung himself for him to stop kicking! Think of the reaction of an ass (donkey) when it is stung by a bee ... how it flails it's hind legs in protest ... kicking up a storm. It's abit too late to react after you've been stung isn't it? But this is, in a sense, the same thing non-believers do before they've understood the words of the good news of salvation ... they kick and scream and fight against God.

        The Lord comes to one named Ananias in a vision telling him to go to Saul (Paul) and lay hands on him so that he may receive his sight back. Interestly enough, the Bible records that Saul is in prayer, Saul also receives a vision, here's how it went down ... Acts 9:10-12 "And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I [am here], Lord. And the Lord [said] unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for [one] called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting [his] hand on him, that he might receive his sight."

        Ananias is apprehensive, Acts 9:13-16 "Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Man, that's powerful stuff! At this time, when Ananias laid hands on him, he also received the Holy Spirit. Notice the Lord says that Saul (Paul) is 1) A chosen vessel to Him; 2) To bear His name to the Gentiles, kings, AND the children of Israel; 3) And that he will suffer for the Lord's name sake. I'm going to break these three down further into what I think they mean in a deeper way ... I'll refer to him as Paul from now on, except where scripture calls him Saul.

        1) A chosen vessel to Him: Consider this, there were 12 apostles, chosen by Jesus Himself. One fell away (as was predetermined by God), that being Judas Iscariot. After Jesus had ascended to heaven in sight of the apostles, they withdrew to the upper room where they prayed and drew lots to pick a replacement for Judas ... the lot fell on one named Matthias ... you can read about it in Acts 1:9-26. I want to point out that this man, Matthias, was picked by the other 11 apostles and was not heard of again after this allotment. Not to take away from the fact that he was picked, and I'm sure he was blessed and had a fruitful minsitry, but ... he was picked by a man-made method. Now consider Paul ... a chosen vessel to Him! There's no mistake from the scriptures quoted so far that Paul was chosen by the Lord Himself, as were the previous 12 apostles! I believe Paul is the one the Lord chose to replace Judas. We hear lots from him in the New Testament!

        2) To bear His name to the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel: Here we see that Paul had much more of a ministry ahead of him than the other 11 apostles, who basically preach to the Jews, although it is recorded in Acts 10 & 11 that Peter was also sent to a Gentile and saw him and his household receive the Holy Spirit. The truth the Lord was trying to say to His chosen, and this includes you and I, is that they (and we) are to go to ALL THE WORLD and preach the gospel, not to just a set nation or peoples but to ALL THE WORLD. Paul is often thought to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, this simply isn't true, he preached to any and all that would hear him ... those were mostly Gentiles. In other words, as even today, it's mostly Gentiles that believe Jesus IS the living Son of God and that all He spoke has or will come to pass ... it is mostly Gentiles that *listen*! We are now seeing a major movement of us Gentiles to bring the gospel to the Jews, and many of those that are now believing in Jesus call themselves Messianic Jews, or Hebrew-Christians, much to the shegrin of non-believing Jews. They are finally beginning to *hear* what the Lord and apostles were trying to say to them two millenia ago!

        3) And that he will suffer for the Lord's name sake. And he did suffer! He was beaten; stoned almost to death; imprisoned; shipwrecked; mocked; chased or thrown out of temples, towns and cities; all for the Lord's sake. I'll leave it to you to do a BLB search for Saul or Paul in the New Testament if you want to read of all his trials & persecutions that he himself suffered. His life was under constant threat of death and only by the will of the Lord was he saved to preach the gospel for some 30 years!

        The following scripture is also important to note as it affirms not only Paul's sight being restored and that he is to serve the Lord, but also that he is to be baptized! Act 22:12-16 "And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt [there], Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

        I want to point out that Paul, was a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin as we see here: Romans 11:1 "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, [of] the tribe of Benjamin." Paul was an apostle, as we see here, Romans 1:1 "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called [to be] an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)". Paul was rejected by the Jews and for the sake of saving his life the Lord sent him to the Gentiles as we read here: Act 22:17-21 "And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." As we see, he also admits to being present at Stephen's stoning.

        Paul was also a Roman citizen (born in Rome, even though he was of Jewish descent), this fact saved him from a scourging (flogging) as we see here: Act 22:24-28 "The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard [that], he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was [free] born."  The chief captain apparently had to pay a heafty price for his Roman citizenship, whereas Paul was born free a citizen of Rome.

        Paul wrote some two-thirds of our New Testament! We owe much to his efforts, let's not forget him and ask the Lord for special blessings for him! What did he do for us? Read on my friend ... Paul attests (to King Aggripa) of his mission from the Lord: Acts 26:17-23 "Delivering thee from the people, and [from] the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and [then] to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill [me]. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, [and] that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles." Notice, he did what the prophets & Moses did before him, which was to witness of Jesus. And in our New Testament, he sure does "continue unto this day"! I am looking forward to meeting Paul someday, but until then ...