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 the Golden 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 9 and 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 Priest²and 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. ³As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He 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 completely free! 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 the answer to every issue or problem.” And humanity is getting that message. A New Age has truly dawned!

John: Dear Saul thank you for that.