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| Volume 25 Number 4 April 2023 |
Page 8 |
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| Volume 25 Number 4 April 2023 |
Page 8 |
Mark McWhorter
Saul was on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). He was going there to arrest Christians and take them back to Jerusalem for punishment. Jesus appeared to Saul and blinded him. Saul was told to go to Damascus; it was there that Saul was to be told what Jesus required him to do.
Jesus also appeared to Ananias in a vision. He was a Christian who lived in Damascus. Jesus told him to go to a house on Straight Street. This was one of the main roads in Damascus. He was told that Saul was in that house. The house was owned by a man named Judas. It is highly likely that Judas was not a Christian. The men who had been with Saul would have probably taken him to their contact in Damascus. The fact that the Lord did not appear to Judas is a good indication that Judas was not a Christian. We are not told anything else about Judas. We have no idea if Saul’s conversion had an impact on Judas. Yet, the healing of Saul’s blindness and his baptism into Jesus must have made some kind of impression on him.
We hope that Judas was converted. Jesus wants all people to be Christians. It is truly sad if Judas did not become a Christian. He would have seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears what Jesus was doing with and through Ananias and Saul.
Study your Bible. Learn all you can about our Lord Jesus Christ. Obey Him. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
Women
Cecil May, Jr.
Women do much of the work in most congregations. Jesus was served by a number of women who followed Him during His earthly ministry. As is often noted, women were “last at the cross and first at the tomb.” Mary Magdalene out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons, Mary the mother of John Mark, and Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus, were among them. Jesus gave honor and respect to women in an age in which they were largely thought of as property or chattel.
In an age in which Rabbis were forbidden by Jewish tradition to teach women, Jesus commended Mary as having “chosen the better part” as she listened and learned from Jesus (Luke 10:42).
[Editor’s Note: Women. What would we do without them in the home or in the church? ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]