Saul of Tarsus – A First-Hand Account of Saul’s Conversion on the Road to Damascus

I recently took over from Stephen Cook the task of posting John Smallman’s twice-weekly messages from Jesus, and my colleague and fellow editor, Janice Collins, took on John’s messages from Saul which were previously posted by Anthony Morrison.

I’ve been an avid reader of John’s messages from Jesus and Saul since I discovered theGolden Age of Gaia website, formerly The 2012 Scenario, following my initial awakening early in 2011, over two years ago now.

I’ve often wondered if Saul, as channelled through John, was Saul of Tarsus – subsequently Paul, following his conversion on the road to Damascus – and had assumed this to be so.

About a month ago I emailed John by way of introducing myself, having just taken on his Jesus postings, and this led to an email exchange where we got to know each other. This was followed on Monday last, June 17, by a Skype chat lasting nearly an hour where we discussed many things and got to know more about each other.

It had been my intention then, during the conversation, to ask John if he could confirm Saul’s identity as Saul of Tarsus, subsequently Paul (St Paul of the New Testament). However, at the time I forgot!

I therefore sent John a brief Skype message on Wednesday of this week and asked him: “I have a question that I forgot to ask you when we were chatting on Monday. Saul – is he ‘St Paul’ as in ‘Saul on the road to Damascus’ or am I way out in assuming that?”

John’s reply came in an email to me a couple of days later, on Friday June 21. During his regular channelling session with Saul on Wednesday, June 19, he put this question to Saul.

Interestingly, although John has been channelling Saul since 1995 – some eighteen years – he had not, for the reasons he mentioned when putting the question to Saul, ever before asked Saul this direct question about his identity (see channelling below). Hardly surprising then that Saul’s initial statement in his reply was: “I thought that you would never ask!”

My own recollection of the New Testament account of Saul’s conversion was distinctly ‘hazy’ – being a ‘lapsed (very!) Catholic’ and so I did a bit of quick research on the internet to refresh my memory. (1) (2)

The main account of Saul’s conversion experience is given in the New Testament in Acts 9and is a ‘third person’ narrative – ie by an individual who was not present at the event. I include this version of the event as recorded in the New International Version of the New Testament, Acts 9, vs 1 – 9 now, for readers to compare with Saul’s own account in the channelling below:

Acts 9, New International Version (NIV)

Saul’s Conversion

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the High Priest² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.

Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. (2)

Saul himself did refer briefly to his conversion experience on a number of subsequent occasions, including in his First Epistle to the Corinthians (9:1, 15:3-8) and his Epistle to the Galatians (1:11-16).

Further brief accounts of his conversion are given later in Acts when he was arrested in Jerusalem (Acts 22:6-21) and during his trial when he addresses King Agrippa defending himself against the accusations made against him (Acts 26:12-19 and 26:26).

However, nowhere in the Biblical accounts does Saul (Paul) give a personal account of his conversion, and thus his detailed description of this in John’s channelling is of great significance. He also mentions in some detail his beliefs before his conversion – as a Pharisee – which led to his persecution of the early Christians.

Put into perspective, this is the first new account of Saul’s conversion in nearly 2,000 years, and directly ‘from the horse’s mouth’ so to speak.

Personally, I found Saul’s account of his conversion experience very moving and inspiring, and his description of his beliefs as a zealous Pharisee who ‘intensely persecuted’ the early followers of Jesus is disarmingly honest and is indeed a ‘baring of the soul’.

With grateful thanks to Saul who provided us with this account, and to John who channelled Saul and who graciously gave his permission to share Saul’s message freely.

Saul Channeled through John Smallman, Wednesday June 19th 2013 11.00.

John: Good morning dear Saul. Thank you for the message that I posted on our blog earlier this morning. Can we now start one for this coming Sunday.

And, every now and then someone asks me if you are the Saul that changed your name to Paul after the Damascus experience, and then travelled spreading Christianity and writing many letters. I have always been loathe to ask you about that because I have been afraid that my ego would come rushing in loudly with suggestions, and I would not be able to differentiate between what it said and what was truly coming from you.

So, now, after all these years of communication with you, can you please answer that question? Please help me to relax totally, still my mind, and receive your answer clearly, then proceed.

Saul: Well good morning John. I thought that you would never ask! Of course I can give you an answer, so let go of any expectations or preconceptions, relax, and we can chat about it.

I did not know Jesus during his teaching life in Palestine. I did attempt to stamp out his message by persecuting his followers after his death on the cross.

The incident on the road to Damascus was absolutely amazing! I was blinded by an intense bright light and fell from my horse, then I experienced the most profound sense of Love, of being utterly and completely loved by God our Father. The experience is beyond description, even now in your time of 2013. I was overwhelmed with Love, something far beyond anything I had ever felt before or could possibly have conceived of.

It was total, utter, complete, there was nothing else and there could be nothing else. All my human feelings of guilt, sinfulness, and unworthiness were obliterated. I felt completelyfree! Before that moment I had never realized how unfree I believed myself to be because I was driven by a burning and egoic zeal to do God’s Will – as I interpreted It!

I had believed it was my task while on Earth, and my duty, to persecute those who were spreading false beliefs about God. Beliefs that I knew were false because I had studied what you now refer to as The Old Testament, and I consequently believed in an Angry Father God who had been insulted and offended far too many times by mankind. And because I had studied so deeply I knew what was true and what was false. I was very proud and arrogant, as you might imagine a Pharisee to have been.

So, the overwhelming experience of Love in that moment was quite shattering. I was overcome with remorse for what I had been doing, and resolved never again to judge or harm anyone. My letters, as passed down to you, do say some rather harsh things on occasion, but you have to remember that at that time Jesus’ message of offering Unconditional Love indiscriminately to all of humanity was very strange, utterly different from the Jewish belief in a distant and severe God who wanted sinners and idolaters punished very harshly for their sins.

Jesus’ message was so different that for most people it had to be “watered down” or rather, “toughened up.” We believed that forgiveness was something that could only be earned through hard lives of intense suffering, and so we focused on Jesus’ passion and crucifixion, thinking that we were called to follow that example of his.

We were not yet ready for Unconditional Love and forgiveness that he demonstrated. And even today many people still believe in a harsh and judgemental God. However the Power of his Love is now bringing about enormous and rapid change because over the last three hundred years or so people have finally been questioning the old beliefs and recognizing that they just did not align with Jesus’ constantly demonstrated message of Unconditional Love.

The sense of personal unworthiness that various cultures and religions encouraged and which people had embraced, along with guilt, for so long could not be dissolved overnight. However they are dissolving, and as they do so Love floods into people’s hearts.

As I, Jesus, and many others from the spiritual realms have been telling you “Love is theanswer to every issue or problem.” And humanity is getting that message. A New Age has truly dawned!

John: Dear Saul thank you for that.

Footnotes:

(1) Conversion of Paul the Apostle at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_Paul_the_Apostle

(2) Saul’s Conversion at: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9&version=NIV

John Smallman

Saul: Your Guilt-Ridden Beliefs Never Made Any Sense, But You Chose to Believe in Them Anyhow, channeled by John Smallman, June 23, 2013 at: http://johnsmallman.wordpress.com/

John’s reading of today’s message can be heard here: http://johnsmallman.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/2013-06-23-saul-audio-blog-for-sunday-june-23rd.mp3

Humanity’s forthcoming awakening can be likened to an enormous wave cresting and breaking – a tremendous power (the ocean of Love) peaking and then spreading out in all directions encompassing all, and leaving no one feeling unloved, unaffected, or unchanged. It will be a moment of unimaginable exhilaration as awareness dawns, through the directly felt experience, of being infinitely and eternally loved by God, our Father, and of the impossibility of being anything less than a perfect child of God, an essential and inseparable part or aspect of God in Whom the whole of creation has its eternal existence.

All sense of a separate form of individuality that is not one with God will be gone, and all the fear, the anxiety, and any sense of not being good enough or deserving enough will also be gone as you fully grasp and see, seemingly for the very first time, the wonder and the magnificence of the being that God created as You!

Let go of your fears and allow Love to fill you to overflowing. It surrounds you in every moment just waiting for you to accept It and invite It in. You are not, and never can be, alone, lost, or abandoned because you exist permanently within the field of God’s unfailing and eternal Love. Within the illusion it is extremely difficult for you to maintain your belief in that unalterable truth for more than a moment or two at a time before all your doubts and fears come rolling in, wrapped in a cloak of skepticism as you once more begin to doubt the existence of God.

You have done a very good job of hiding Reality from your view, and you have great difficulty in acknowledging and believing in what you cannot see. That is all to change because the power of God’s Love for you is insisting that you open your eyes to the brilliant Light in which It is bathing you, and thus awaken. You will be unable to resist Its loving calls to you for very much longer because It is everything that your hearts desire.

To live consciously in the Presence of God is all that a heart desires, but the illusion that you built, because of its less-than-totally friendly nature, has encouraged you to see yourselves as small, insignificant beings with a very limited life span adrift in a vast and dangerous universe – a universe that could bring catastrophic disaster on you at any moment, snuffing out your lives forever. Consequently, apprehension and fear provide a background sense of insecurity which you attempted to alleviate in eras past by inventing powerful gods (super-human-type heroes) to whom you paid obeisance and offered sacrifices.

In recent times you have studied science and attempted to come to terms with and take precautions against any physical harm that the Earth environment might deliver. Whenever your scientific knowledge provides a means of combating one threat, a new one seems instantly to replace it. And you have earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, hurricanes, forest fires, and a multitude of illnesses and accidents which keep that background sense of insecurity justifiably alive and well.

The divine Flame of Love burning eternally within each one of you has kept you from accepting and maintaining a sense of utter hopelessness as you observe the seemingly impossible odds against humanity’s continuing survival on Earth. It is an inextinguishable spark of hope placed within you for your safety and protection so that you could not fall into a sleep of despair from which you might refuse to awaken. While you have hope, you continue to seek out resolutions to humanity’s problems and therefore you keep your minds open enough to let the divine Love field flow through you, keeping your own personal Flame constantly burning.

Falling in love even for a very short time stimulates It, reminding you that there must be much more to life than the constant and unending struggle just to stay alive. You seek meaning of a spiritual nature, and It burns brighter. You have discovered that there is a meaningful way forward, but have difficulty choosing a meaningful path. There appear to be so many, and most demand a belief in some kind of dogma or set of rules – religious, political, cultural – or just total loyalty to one who has set himself up as an intermediary between his followers and God.

The time for those kinds of guilt-ridden beliefs and their resultant paths of suffering and sacrifice are now well and truly over. They never made any sense, but you chose to believe in them anyhow. Now the power of Love enveloping you and the planet is dissolving the belief that you need a more holy, spiritual, or advanced human to intercede for you and to mediate between you and your Father, God. You have collectively realized that your Father wants each one of you to speak to Him directly and experience the Love in which He holds you at all times.

Here in the spiritual realms we are always offering our support and attempting to remind you how dearly your Father loves each one of you. The Love that envelops you is irresistible and you are becoming aware of that and turning towards It in ever greater numbers. Know, as we know, and as you do deep within your hearts, that God’s Love for you is unending, as is His patience as He awaits your awakening which you cannot avoid for very much longer.

With so very much love, Saul.

Governor Raimundo Colombo

sage: Over the past couple of days we’ve received several communiques from Brazilian readers living both at home and abroad. They give a more personal perspective to what we see on the news and describe the true breadth of issues. Reader ‘A’ even kindly supplied translations of two articles that appeared in Brazilian papers which show that support for the protests is also coming from unexpected quarters: a Brazilian State Governor and an ex-football hero turned parliamentarian.

‘A’ writes: “As a Brazilian living abroad I am watching what is going on there and talking to relatives. I’m urging everyone to use the violet flame of transmutation. From what I heard from relatives, the ones looting are infiltrators from opposition parties. Most people I spoke to totally support the protests. I particularly like an interview by the Governor of Santa Catarina State, Raimundo Colombo. In his interview, he supports the protests and says that the people of Brazil have lost credibility in the government, not only at presidential level but also at regional levels. Sections of the media, as well as unions (have) lost credibility, too. The Brazilian state is too expensive and gives back very little. He talks about the importance of this moment: ”

Story 1 – Brazil Protests – Governor of Santa Catarina Supporting Protests

http://diariocatarinense.clicrbs.com.br/sc/geral/noticia/2013/06/raimundo-colombo-apontou-mobilizacao-como-parte-do-processo-democratico-em-depoimento-desta-quinta-feira

Translation: Raimundo Colombo said that protests are part of the democratic process, in an interview this Thursday Governor emphasized yesterday afternoon that “Brazilian State is too expensive and gives back little”

The Governor of the State of Santa Catarina, Raimundo Colombo said: “All of us know that the Brazilian democratic model is limited, I mean, democracy exists because there is freedom but it is unjust because not all can access it. This is fact.

Too often the Brazilian State has its back to the people and don’t mean Government I mean State because I am including here all powers. Then, political parties lost credibility. The unions and various media channels did too. All that is being questioned, I find it very good.

I believe that a democratic process allows for mobilization, organization and awareness, which is the most import. Even when it is not clear what you are protesting against, there is a feeling of change, of a desire to evolve, upgrade, because the Brazilian State is too expensive and give little back. Now, this is a diagnosis, there are all the consequences.

It is important that the movement is authentic, that it is independent and that it is policed. It shouldn’t contaminate, it shouldn’t contain radicalism, it shouldn’t be used by those who want to cause destruction or anarchism. But it is a beautiful example of democracy.

I don’t know but I don’t remember Brazil having a moment like this before, because the direct elections (people took to the streets to demand a direct voting system), the search for it is a symptomatic thing, clear, it is a goal, a target.

The second moment, for exempla [sic], the impeachment of Collor (Fernando Collor, ex-president), was a specific thing, it targeted a structure, of a person practically. Today it is not like that. It is more open, more widespread and more authentic.

The people are mobilizing through the new social media phenomenon, so we have to follow it. It will, certainly, leave various teachings. It (the movement) brings many worries, a strong wish to understand this phenomenon. I think that it is a huge challenge but, honestly, I receive it with joy. I think that it is an opportunity. I hope that the Brazilian society knows how to benefit from this moment, learn from it and changes what needs to be changed.

Story 2 – Brazil Protests – Romario, Ex-Footballer Turned Parliamentarian Supports Protests

http://br.esporteinterativo.yahoo.com/noticias/em-v%C3%ADdeo-na-internet–rom%C3%A1rio-apoia-protestos-e-manda-recado

Translation: “I congratulate the Brazilian people for these protests and I believe that the protests will continue. I also believe, that from yesterday, with that protest, with those attitudes from the people, our rulers will have to understand, definitely, from now, that the days of ruses, mockeries, robberies, dishonesty, and, specially, lack of respect toward our people is over.

“When Brazil accepted to host the World Cup, in 2007, the forecast for expenditure was of around R$ 23 billion. We are in 2013, the forecast is now R$ 28 billion and we should not forget we still have a few months away from the World Cup event. So you can imagine how much the figure can increase still. Only in stadia, Brazil has invested R$ 7.1 billion.”

“The World Cup in South Africa cost R$ 7.7 billion, in Japan it was R$ 10.1 billion, in Germany 10.7 billion and Brazil has already spent R$ 28 billion plus. Imagine how many people are becoming rich in the process.”

“I am not against the World Cup. I am very much in favor of it. I was there when the country received the news that Brazil was to host the event. I said that Brazil was going to have the best World Cup of all times. But after so many years things took a negative turn.”

Stephen: Governments everywhere take heed. Another ‘wake up call’ is heard – this time in Italy. “We can’t accept these continuous promises that aren’t translated into decisions that give a change of direction,” said Susanna Camusso, the leader of Italy’s largest union.

Italy’s Workforce March on Rome to Demand End to High Unemployment

Union chiefs address an 100,000-strong crowd, criticising Prime Minster Enrico Letta for a lack of tangible economic policy

By Reuters, The Guardian – June 22, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/22/italy-unemployment-workforce-march-rome

Thousands of workers and unemployed people marched in Rome on Saturday to protest against record unemployment and call on Enrico Letta’s two-month-old government to deliver more than empty rhetoric on the issue.

The rally, organised by the country’s three largest unions was the first major protest since Letta’s broad, left-right coalition took office following an inconclusive election in February.

Italian unemployment rose to 12% in April, the highest level on record, and joblessness among people under 24 is at an all-time high above 40%.

Union chiefs, speaking before a flag-waving crowd estimated at more than 100,000 by the organisers, criticised Letta for what they called a lack of action on an urgent problem.

“We can’t accept these continuous promises that aren’t translated into decisions that give a change of direction,” said Susanna Camusso, leader of the country’s largest union CGIL.

Luigi Angeletti, head of the UIL, said the country could not afford the piecemeal approach to policy adopted so far, especially when the ruling coalition is so fragile.

“In a country where the main concern is betting on how long the government will last, the message is that there is no more time for promises and announcements,” he said in Piazza San Giovanni, the traditional venue of leftwing protests.

Letta’s cabinet is due to unveil a package aimed at tackling youth unemployment next week, but Angeletti said the measures being mooted, such as tax breaks for firms hiring young people, were useless.

Italy’s economy has contracted in every quarter since mid-2011 – its longest post-war recession – and companies are steadily shedding staff.

The unionists called on the government to intervene to prevent plans by white-goods manufacturer Indesit to lay off 1,400 workers in one of the most recent labour disputes.

“Indesit isn’t in crisis, it just wants to use its profits to make investments in Turkey and Poland,” Camusso said.

One marcher, Lorenzo Giuseppe, said he had turned out “to send a message to the government that jobs have to be the top issue on the agenda. If we have work we can move ahead.”

Statement by Julian Assange After One Year in Ecuadorian Embassy, London

Saturday June 22, 2013

http://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Julian-Assange-after,249.html

It has now been a year since I entered this embassy and sought refuge from persecution.

As a result of that decision, I have been able to work in relative safety from a US espionage investigation.

But today, Edward Snowden’s ordeal is just beginning.

Two dangerous runaway processes have taken root in the last decade, with fatal consequences for democracy.

Government secrecy has been expanding on a terrific scale.

Simultaneously, human privacy has been secretly eradicated.

A few weeks ago, Edward Snowden blew the whistle on an ongoing program – involving the Obama administration, the intelligence community and the internet services giants – to spy on everyone in the world.

As if by clockwork, he has been charged with espionage by the Obama administration.

The US government is spying on each and every one of us, but it is Edward Snowden who is charged with espionage for tipping us off.

It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize, but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice.

Edward Snowden is the eighth leaker to be charged with espionage under this president.

Bradley Manning’s show trial enters its fourth week on Monday.

After a litany of wrongs done to him, the US government is trying to convict him of “aiding the enemy.”

The word “traitor” has been thrown around a lot in recent days.

But who is really the traitor here?

Who was it who promised a generation “hope” and “change,” only to betray those promises with dismal misery and stagnation?

Who took an oath to defend the US constitution, only to feed the invisible beast of secret law devouring it alive from the inside out?

Who is it that promised to preside over The Most Transparent Administration in history, only to crush whistleblower after whistleblower with the bootheel of espionage charges?

Who combined in his executive the powers of judge, jury and executioner, and claimed the jurisdiction of the entire earth on which to exercise those powers?

Who arrogates the power to spy on the entire earth – every single one of us – and when he is caught red handed, explains to us that “we’re going to have to make a choice.”

Who is that person?

Let’s be very careful about who we call “traitor”.

Edward Snowden is one of us.

Bradley Manning is one of us.

They are young, technically minded people from the generation that Barack Obama betrayed.

They are the generation that grew up on the internet, and were shaped by it.

The US government is always going to need intelligence analysts and systems administrators, and they are going to have to hire them from this generation and the ones that follow it.

One day, their generation will run the NSA, the CIA and the FBI.

This isn’t a phenomenon that is going away.

This is inevitable.

And by trying to crush these young whistleblowers with espionage charges, the US government is taking on a generation, and that is a battle it is going to lose.

This isn’t how to fix things.

The only way to fix things is this:

Change the policies.

Stop spying on the world.

Eradicate secret law.

Cease indefinite detention without trial.

Stop assassinating people.

Stop invading other countries and sending young Americans off to kill and be killed.

Stop the occupations, and discontinue the secret wars.

Stop eating the young: Edward Snowden, Barrett Brown, Jeremy Hammond, Aaron Swartz, Gottfrid Svartholm, Jacob Appelbaum, and Bradley Manning.

The charging of Edward Snowden is intended to intimidate any country that might be considering standing up for his rights.

That tactic must not be allowed to work.

The effort to find asylum for Edward Snowden must be intensified.

What brave country will stand up for him, and recognize his service to humanity?

Tell your governments to step forward.

Step forward and stand with Snowden.