Here's something that should make you chuckle:Historian Says Apostle Paul May Have Been Roman Spy
Updated: Nov 26, 2008 09:58 AM EST
Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Va. -- The head of the history department at Virginia Military Institute suggests that the Apostle Paul may have been spying for the Romans.
Rose Mary Sheldon, the co-author of "Operation Messiah: St. Paul, Roman Intelligence and the Birth of Christianity," presented her thesis last week at the International Spy Museum in Washington.
She suggests that Paul may have faked his conversion on the road to Damascus so he could infiltrate Christian congregations and report to Rome on suspicious elements in synagogues across the empire.
Sheldon says Paul's interaction with Roman officials seems to have been remarkably friendly, and she notes that in his letter to the Romans, he urges Christians to obey them.
I don't think that this will end up in the revised version of my book.
People work so hard at finding reasons to avoid the conviction brought on by the truth.
ReplyDeleteI cracked a smile, before I had a reality check and reminded myself of the eternal consequences of such deception.
Since slander was nothing new to St Paul, he might have a fitting response to this!
...if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just. (Romans 3:7-8 nkjv)
Yes, I know it's terrible exegesis and plucked out of context, but it just seemed to fit! Perhaps in a perverse way that makes it a fitting response to Ms Sheldon. :-)
Oh yes, they were "remarkably friendly", right up to the point that they killed (marytred) Paul.
ReplyDeleteThe enemy tries and tries and the of deception of(world) intelligence is such a trap for those who stumble into it!