<Section #53A> Clay Douglas states: “Imagine Paul living today, and put yourself in the shoes of the people who were victimized by him. Imagine yourself genuinely obeying Jesus, striving to ‘be Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect,’ and ‘be like their Teacher,’ so that you can do ‘greater works than these’ thus, living your life for God. Suddenly, a Bolshevik breaks into your home and assaults you. He gags and binds you, your spouse, and your children, he says he is going to imprison you because you follow a man preaching ‘the Kingdom of Heaven’ - on Earth, here and now, as soon as we stand up against the forces of physical and spiritual oppression and take hold of the reigns of our Destiny.

“While holding you hostage - on behalf of the Antichrist state, and their other infiltrators in your religious community - he proceeds to ransack your house, and steals everything of material value that he and his henchmen can haul off. Then he takes you and your family outside so you can watch while he burns down your home. Thereafter he hauls you and your family off to prison. Many of your closest friends are imprisoned there under the same conditions and by the same Adversary. In addition, you have no idea of the whereabouts and condition of your children. Your spouse and some of your friends and neighbors are executed. You, however, miraculously escape from prison.”

In reply to section  <#53A>: Here Douglas further develops the plot to his novel, and this part of it was already addressed in section <#14> of this response, on p. 54, and also in section <#39> on p. 94. Paul’s initial persecution of Christians, before he himself “saw the light” and was converted, is discussed in the Bible at Acts 8:1-4; 9:1-4, 13-14, 21, 26; 22:4-5; 26:9-11 and Gal. 1:13 and 1:23. These Biblical accounts make no mention of children being bound or gagged, no mention of burning houses, ransacking and pillaging, or any other brutal injustices. Clayton Douglas sounds just like a jewish storyteller, make a little Zyklon B to kill the lice and suddenly you’re blamed for gassing 6 million people to death! Like the jews, Douglas is quite adept at rewriting and embellishing history to fit his own agenda. Yet also like the jews, Douglas cannot substantiate any of his claims here with solid evidence. Douglas continues his novel:

<Section #53B> Clay Douglas states: “Many years later that terrorist comes back claiming to be a new man and the greatest ‘apostle.’ This Satan does not ask for your forgiveness for what he did to you, your wife, children, property, and friends, and expresses no remorse whatsoever for having murdered people. Instead, he brags about how bad he was. He boasts about his acts of terrorism, and exalts himself for having become so rich from stealing all your possessions. Would you trust that man to be the greatest of God’s ‘apostles’ or Messengers? Would you trust that he had become an apostle at all?”

In reply to section <#53B>: Now I wonder if Douglas has ever read any of the New Testament for himself, because none of these accusations can be substantiated. Rather, everything here is either a misrepresentation of Scripture or something that Douglas made up! We have seen in section <#39> of this response, on p. 94, that Paul is no murderer. Nowhere did Paul brag, as Douglas said he did. Nowhere did Paul enrich himself by stealing the property of others, as Douglas claims. Why doesn’t Douglas make citations? Because novelists don’t need such things! Douglas makes himself a liar as well as a patsy for the jews and miscreants.

<Section #54> Clay Douglas states: “How does Jesus Christ interrupting Paul’s trip to go massacre Immanuel’s followers make Paul/Saul a Super-Prophet? ... Let’s get down to brass tacks. Paul/ Saul is NOT disguising the fact that he’s a Predator. Let’s return to our opening Scriptural Passage: ‘But granting that myself did not burden you I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.’ (Saul of Tarsus 2 Corinthians 12:16 ) ... Okay. Okay. Many of you are prepared to counter that the translation is wrong and that’s not what Paul/Saul meant. So, let’s move on.”

In reply to section <#54>: First, Paul himself never claimed to be a “Super-Prophet”, yet a study of his epistles reveals that he surely was a prophet. Secondly, after Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus, a much longer phase in his conversion began, which included the reading and revelation of Scripture (i.e. Gal. 1:17), which took three years to complete. Douglas’ version of these events omits many facts, to which he adds many of his own fictions! Now here again Douglas quotes some version or other of 2 Cor. 12:16, admits that the translation of that verse may be questioned, but instead of addressing those concerns he urges “So, let’s move on”. What suddenly happened to “let us reason together” and his appeals for “more dialogue on this important topic”? Douglas is a fraud, for he has used a bad translation to get his point across, and when its veracity is questioned he quickly wants to “move on” rather than defend his position, or consider a differing opinion! Some dialogue! I suppose that he operates his radio program in that same manner. Yet here 2 Corinthians 12:16 shall be addressed, because it surely is a bad translation.

The A.V. rendering of 2 Cor. 12:16: “But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile”, and neither is this a good translation of the verse. The word “nevertheless” is an adverb. Here it was translated from the Greek word ἀλλά (235, for which one may check Strong’s Concordance). ἀλλά (alla) is, according to Liddell & Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon, a “Conjunction ... otherwise, but ... I. to oppose single clauses, but ... the preceding clause being negative”. When I did my own translation of 2 Corinthians, in early 2001, I translated this verse: “But it is that I have not imposed on you, otherwise being villainous I have taken you with guile.” Today, as I look at the Greek of the NA27, I stand by that translation as a perfectly literal, word-for-word rendering of the Greek. In context (that means reading from the beginning of the paragraph, and interpreting that against all that precedes in Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians) Paul is telling the Corinthians that he never imposed on them for anything (read all of 2 Corinthians 11!), and if he had done so, then he would have been as a villain, taking the Corinthians with guile. Paul is not, as Douglas suggests, inferring that he has deceived anyone, nor was he predacious in any way: he is stating just the opposite! Douglas continues:

Clay Douglas states: “Paul claims that HE, not Christ had ‘begotten you.’ He ‘beseeches you’ to be HIS followers, HIS imitators.”  Yet neither is there any fault with Paul in this statement, for Douglas leaves out half of what Paul said! “Become imitators of me, just as also I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1, my translation). Paul lived piously and justly among the Corinthians, being there to act as an example, where Yahshua Christ was not there personally. The only predator here who would corrupt Christians with “guile” is Clayton Douglas. Attempting to slander Paul, he will stop at nothing, and is willing to pervert everything. Yet all of his wicked deeds shall be proven to be vanity. Where Paul makes such a statement is found at 1 Cor. 4:15, here from my own translation, along with vv. 14 and 16: 14 I do not write these things regarding you, but as I would advise my beloved children. 15 Although you may have a myriad of tutors among the Anointed, certainly not many fathers; indeed in Christ Yahshua through the good message I have begotten you. 16 Therefore I encourage you, become imitators of me. Regarding verse 16 here, it must first be noted that later Paul more fully tells the Corinthians: 1 Become imitators of me, just as also I am of Christ. (1 Cor. 11:1).  Now regarding Paul’s consideration of those to whom he brought the gospel as his “children”, let us compare the epistles of John, in particular 1 John 2:1: “1 My children, I write these things to you in order that you do not do wrong.”  Throughout this epistle, John addresses his readers as both children and brethren, so we see that this attitude of Paul’s existed also among the other apostles.  Douglas, for criticizing Paul on this account, again betrays himself to be nothing but a hypocrite!