What Happened To Paul?
Barnabas was
a true believer. I have no doubt that he lived and died in faith. He sacrificed
much and did much in the service of Christ and his church. But Barnabas was a
man with weaknesses which satan used against him to
destroy his ministry and his usefulness in the
Paul was not like Barnabas, though they
had been friends and fellow laborers for a long time. After Barnabas forsook
him, Paul chose Silas and went on his way preaching the gospel. The departure
of his friend must have given him great pain, but it did not interfere with his
work in the least. After passing through
In the end, Paul was imprisoned and at
last put to death as a common criminal. Forsaken by his friends, in the face of
death Paul was alone. No man stood with him. But the Lord stood with him! In
the face of immediate martyrdom, that faithful man wrote what Barnabas could
never have written, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my
departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at
that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing" (II Tim. 4:6-8).
Don Fortner