Tenacity

            Tenacity is a wonderful thing when guided by wisdom and truth. Tenacity can be extremely negative when driven by selfish motives. History has many examples to choose from. When I think of selfish, destructive tenacity I think of Hitler, Stalin. On the other hand tenacity guided by Wisdom and truth: Lincoln, Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr., just to name a few. There is another type of tenacity; when a person has the right heart but has been indoctrinated with poor programming. The greatest example I can think of is the Apostle Paul when the Christian church started, and people were going around talking about this Jesus. The Apostle Paul caught, beat, imprisoned and consented to the death of every member of the new doctrine that he could. Paul was very well educated in the religions of his day. He had the best teachers and mentors that religion had to offer. He had to protect his truth that was now under attack by these followers of Jesus. Paul’s education was unmatched by the people of his day. Based on his educational preparation and his zeal he would have most certainly been the high persist of the Sanhedrin one day (equivalent to the Pope of today). Paul was an expert in religion and was willing to kill anyone or anything in opposition of his truth. Paul was a living picture of tenacity. After the Christians had been dispersed. Paul got word that they were preaching this new doctrine in Damascus, so he went to the religious leaders for extradition papers to go to Damascus and bring these criminals back for teaching this new doctrine. He was going to bring them back dead or alive. Once he had the approval of the high court he left for Damascus. He was prepared to rip the hearts out of anyone preaching this Jesus doctrine.  Paul was blinded by his religious beliefs and there was no one on earth that would be able to change his mind. So, on His way to Damascus he had a visit from the Lord Himself. This encounter changed the course of history for the church and the world. Paul saw the light and was transformed by a power much greater than his religious beliefs. He went from taking life to preaching life, from killing for his religious beliefs to dying for his faith. Heaven knew that Paul was the right man with the wrong programming and that the only way to transform this chosen leader was a personal encounter with the Lord Himself. The rest is History past, present and future.