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Paul - Part 2 - Cyprus

Elymas the sorceror is blinded.
Contributed by Lars-Goran Ronnberg
Story also available on our translated website: Portuguese
1
After Paul became a Chris-tian, with the help of friends, he escaped from Damascus to avoid those plotting to kill him. – Slide 1
2
But when Paul returned to Jerusalem, many Christians were afraid and ran away from him. <br/>After all, wasn’t this the man who had put many Christians in prison and persecuted them? – Slide 2
3
However, a Christian called Barnabas believed Paul was telling the truth and was a changed man. Paul, the man who had set out to harm Christians, was now a disciple of Jesus. – Slide 3
4
Paul told Barnabas how he had met Jesus on the road to Damascus and had be-come blind. He explained how Ananias had arrived and prayed for him. His sight had returned. Paul declared he was now a Christian and had been baptised. He was now tell-ing people about Jesus and had fled from Damascus as some wanted to stop him preaching. – Slide 4
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Barnabas took Paul with him to meet the other disciples in Jerusalem. Everyone was very happy that Paul now believed in Jesus. – Slide 5
6
In the city of Antioch many people had become Christians and teachers were needed to help the church grow. Barnabas invited Paul to join the leaders of the church. It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. One day, as the leaders were praying and fasting, the Holy Spirit told them to send Barnabas and Paul on a trip to tell others about Jesus. – Slide 6
7
So Barnabas and Paul travelled to the local port of Seleucia and set sail on a ship for the island of Cyprus. (The port of Seleucia had two harbour piers which still exist today and they are now named Barnabas and Paul). The trip to Cyprus took two days. – Slide 7
8
When they reached the eastern side of Cyprus, they went to the synagogue in Salamis and preached. Many more people became Christians. – Slide 8
9
On the western side of Cyprus was the capital city of Paphos. Here there lived a trickster called Elymas. – Slide 9
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The governor of Cyprus called Sergius often summoned Elymas to perform and demonstrate his tricks and evil mystical powers as well as prophecy what would happen in the future. – Slide 10
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… (show for 3 seconds) – Slide 11
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… (show for 3 seconds) – Slide 12
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Elymus was a sorcerer who also used evil powers to trick people into giving him money. Sergius paid a lot of money to hear and see Elymas’ performances. – Slide 13
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Governor Sergius heard about Paul and Barnabas and invited them to see him. – Slide 14
15
Elymas was very angry when he heard that Paul and Barnabas were coming to Sergius to tell him about Jesus. He just wanted to be able to visit Sergius himself and continue to get a lot of money for his performances. – Slide 15
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‘Stop! Where are you going?’ Elymas shouted loudly when Paul and Barnabas arrived. – Slide 16
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Paul replied that they were going to Sergius to tell him about Jesus. – Slide 17
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‘Hahahaha!’ Elymas laughed at Paul and Barnabas and said. ‘So ridiculous! Talk about Jesus! Hahaha! He doesn't need to hear about Jesus. Instead, he needs a new magic trick from me! – Slide 18
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‘Absolutely not!’ Paul answered, ‘move now so that we can tell Sergius the good news of Jesus.’ – Slide 19
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‘I demand that you stop talking about Jesus,’ Elymus insisted. The evil powers that controlled him were determined to stop Paul and Barnabas. – Slide 20
21
Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymus. ‘You are an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. The Lord is against you and you will be made blind for a while.’ – Slide 21
22
Immediately a mist and darkness came over Elymus, and he groped about, looking for someone to lead him by the hand. – Slide 22
23
Governor Sergius who had seen everything ran up to Paul and Barnabas. He was amazed at the power of Jesus. – Slide 23
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He immediately believed in Jesus as his Saviour and Lord and wanted to know about His teaching. – Slide 24
25
Governor Sergius Paulus was delighted that Barnabas and Paul had travelled to Cyprus. After a while Elymus got his sight back, but we don’t know what happened to him after that. Maybe Sergius persuaded him to turn away from his evil sorcery to follow Jesus. <br/>Paul and Barnabas got on a ship and travelled on to Turkey to tell others about Jesus. – Slide 25
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