My buddy Destin and I do this other podcast called No Dumb Questions. We've been doing it for a really long time. This is a two dudes talking podcast. He's a science and engineering guy, and I'm a whatever the heck I am guy. And then we pick a topic and we think about it together and we friend it and together and we laugh about things. And I don't know. I think it's pretty fun. I like doing it. And Destin is super talented. He's been working on a YouTube channel for a really long time called Smarter Every Day. And it's genuinely very good. And he is trying so hard. And it's the kind of thing that I think has a real chance of working out if he stays with it and is willing to keep putting in the time. And so if you have a chance to stop by, Smarter Everyday is the name of his channel. Pick a video, give it a like. I know it would be a big encouragement to him. I really want him to stick with it because I think it has a ton of potential. But on No Dem Questions, we just pick topic that seems like fun and we workshop it together. And we did an episode a while back where we invited in a pro wrestler. That actually happened. We found out that a waiter at a restaurant we were eating at together was a pro wrestler. Well, you'd come in and explain pro wrestling to us. And it was so enlightening and so much fun. But one of the things that he talked about was the two types of characters that you have in pro wrestling, your good guys and bad guys. It turns out that they have a name. And the name is the heel and the babyface. And the heel, of course, you know, it's the heel, it's the bad guy. And the babyfa is the young, brave hero. That's the good guy. And that over the course of a career, you're going to see people move in one direction or the other. And he told us that there's nothing fans love more than seeing the heel get reformed, have a change of heart, and become the baby face. I sat and thought about that for a minute. I'm like, you know what? Dang it, you're right. I love it when the bad guy becomes the good guy. I love it when they develop a conscience and something changes. And all of that energy and fervor and tenacity and talent that was directed at destruction gets flipped around and pointed towards something good. It's like one of my very favorite motifs or types in all of storytelling. Well, likewise, that is exactly what we are going to get in Acts chapter 9. And not just an example of the heel turning baby face. We're talking about maybe the example in all of history, in all of storytelling, in all of religion, everything. This is maybe the most dramatic, well-known, transformational story of maybe anybody ever in global history. And it involves that shady character who was lurking in the shadows of the space saloon, taking a long drag on his evil cigarette. Is there another kind of cigarette anyway? Lightly illuminating his face and then stepping out all cold, calculated, and talented to do evil. It's that Saul guy who wasn't content to just hold the coats while everybody threw rocks at a Christian and killed him back in chapter seven of the book of Acts. No, he wanted to get in the action himself, so he launched his own inquisition, his own persecution to go and find the Christians around Jerusalem and round them up and harm them physically and put them in prison. And then all of the Christians will recall, except for the core disciples, they scatter to the countryside of Judea and Samaria. And for most of chapter eight, we follow that action, that dispersion, if you will, and step away from Saul, but we don't forget about him. I mean, that guy made a mark. Look how he's dressed. Look what he does. He's a new villain, a new level of threat, a new big bad, a new final boss. He's maybe the most dangerous character we've seen yet. And he's not content to just see one guy killed or harmed to stop the Jesus thing. He's willing to go as far as he has to go to do it. He's the most dangerous type of bad guy. Ideologically committed, cold, calculating, brilliant, undistracted by relational encumbrances and singularly targeted on carrying out his objectives. Look out for that guy. Well, in Acts chapter 9, he is back on screen. And for the first time reader of the Bible who has no idea what's coming, but who is becoming very invested in the Jesus thing and the followers of Jesus and the message and they're rooting for the good guys, seeing Saul come back on screen would send chills down their spine, especially when we find out what he's up to next. Acts 9 1. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. Oh, hey, it's Bobby Duke. Hey buddy, how's it going? That's totally me. How are you? I have fun updates. I've been working on some stuff. Sorry. No, dude. Don't worry about a thing. I got a microphone running. I'm talking about act chapter nine right now. So if you're gonna knock it out, I'll call you right back. Sounds good. All right, so you tell. All right, if you're hearing this phone call, that means that my buddy Bobby signed off on leaving it in here because I wanted to leave it in. I thought it'd be fun because I don't know. I like Bobby and he's cool. And now you've met Bobby, who's great. He does YouTube stuff also. He's an artist and comedian. Is that too strong a word? I don't know. He just makes really funny videos with great art that are not like any other videos you've ever seen before. And he's a great dude and a great friend, and that's Bobby. Anyways, the villain, the heel, Saul, he's not happy to have purged Jerusalem. He wants to take the show on the road. So it says he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus. That's in Syria. I don't know how far that would be modern day. It's not even a very long drive if there weren't political turmoil and there was an American interstate highway system there. Maybe an hour or two. It's really not very far from Jerusalem up to Damascus. But but you know, first century travel, I suppose, is a pretty long ways, and probably the Christians felt like they had fled far enough that they would be left alone. But nope, we discover right here that this is going to follow you. You can't just believe in Jesus and think you can leave. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. We will find you, we will hurt you if necessary, and we will stop you from believing that. Saul views belief in Jesus as the promised Messiah, as a cancer that must be tracked down to every far corner of the body and cut out. Part of the reason he's such an imposing bad guy is because he's sure he's right. So he asks for the letters of support to go up to Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, capital W, W-A-Y, that is in the early days what they called belief in Christ. Whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Oh no, you're not leaving. We will bring you back here. You will face a tribunal, you will face a trial, you will be punished, you may receive the same treatment as Stephen. What he wants to do is use the Stephen thing as a beacon, not something to be apologized for, but as a beacon to be held aloft to say, it doesn't matter where you go, we will come find you, and we will hit you with rocks until you are dead if necessary. It's an intimidation campaign, it's a terror campaign. So he loads up with his retinue and he heads north on the road to Damascus, and then everything changes. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 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'm Jesus, whom you're persecuting, he replied. Now get up and go into the city, and you'll be told what you must do. Well that obviously isn't normal. What would you do? What if you were sure you were committed to a righteous, albeit violent and fundamentalist cause, to do what it takes, to have the courage to crush something that will rip apart the fabric of society, and you're the only one who's willing to roll up your sleeves and get a little bit dirty and a little bit bloody to get it done? What if you believed you were on a righteous crusade like that, and then a voice from heaven blinded you and knocked you to the ground, and then you asked who it was that was talking, and it turned out it was exactly the one you were trying to destroy, and then that voice from heaven gave you a command as though just assuming that you were now servant to that voice from heaven. What would you do? Well, I already teased that we're gonna get a heel to babyface pivot here, so I don't really know that there's any way for me to backpedal that now. But I guess the tension will just have to be in how he responds and how it plays out. This is an amazing story of one guy getting flipped from heel to babyface, and that flip sending echoes through the millennia of history. The implications of this story, not just for our season on the book of Galatians, but for all of human history, really can't be overstated. More on that tomorrow. Also, I wasn't joking, Smarter Everyday. It's a lovely YouTube channel that my friend does. I'm sure that he would feel very encouraged to have you swing by and take a look. Also, Bobby Duke Arts on YouTube. It's eccentric, goofy, fun, funny humor with excellent art, and you'll be amazed at what that guy can do. Okie dokie, that's plenty. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.