Paul delivered to Governor Felix as a prisoner.

Acts 23:31-35

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks. When they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also have come.” And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.” Acts 23:31-35

As seen on the map below, Antipatris is between Jerusalem and Caesarea. Paul was being transported [as a prisoner] from Jerusalem to Caesarea and stayed at Antipatris overnight. The territory between Jerusalem and Antipatris was considered to be very hostile territory against the Romans, and anyone passing through. The Roman soldiers [about 130 soldiers on foot and 70 on horseback, Acts 23:23-24] brought Paul, by the cover of night, to Antipatris, a place of relative safety.

Antipatris means “for, or against the father” and can be thought of as being a city whose people were either for the Roman Empire, or Anti-patriots against the Roman Empire. In today’s world, “Antipatris” would be like the cities across the globe that are divided between fighting for the cultural heritage of their country or living for the changes bringing the world to the one world government and creating the global culture.

In today’s culture, there is a lot of violence in the world, riots, protests, and clashes between those who despise the formation of the new world order and those who embrace their belonging within the community culture. There are those violent rebels who despise the entity that intertwines within their thoughts, feelings, words and behaviors. They do what they can to aggress and make life difficult for the “woke” society of the new world order. In this environment, Christianity is kept under guard by the governing authorities and those living for the community culture. They want to ensure that the followers of Jesus Christ are not free to spread the born-again message to the outcasts and rebels of today’s social network. They also want to ensure that violent aggression is not successful when directed towards what the governing authorities set out to do.

After staying in Antipatris overnight, Paul was transported to Caesarea and delivered to Governor Felix. There, Paul would be imprisoned for a little over two years [Acts 24:27]. Paul would spend another two years in prison in Rome and then executed [Acts 28:30-31]. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are led to a place that keeps imprisoned the belief in God, the spread of the Gospel of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. From this point of time in today’s atheistic world, Christianity is imprisoned and will be kept that way until the return of Jesus Christ.

With the imprisonment of Christianity, there is a letter that describes why the Gospel of Christ is being detained. This letter is filled with twisted truths, omitted truths, and flat out lies to make Christianity look like disturbers of the peace while the governing authorities are made to look righteous and Godly [as described in the post on Acts 23:25-30]. The documentation basically says that Christianity is 1) Incompatible with today’s atheistic culture and the source of turbulence within society. 2) Baselessly not supported by the congress of the United States or any other national congress around the world. 3) Subject to the charges that the accusers of the community culture bring forth.

In today’s culture, truth is thrown to the ground to give place to the will of the masses of people. These people are living for the entity that replaces the conscience and spirit to give people what to think, feel, say, and do. In essence, this describes why the governing authorities want to know which “province” we are from when it comes to hearing witnesses against us. It gives a whole new meaning to a trial by a jury of our peers. For example, as a Christian, I am automatically found guilty by my peers because I do not conform to the biker culture with drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll. This is the same as Paul being automatically found guilty by his peers of the Jewish culture for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The followers of Jesus Christ are “imprisoned” because there is no “province” for us, except in the family of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Daniel speaks of truth being trampled to the ground as the will of the masses of people dominate, “Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.” Daniel 8:12 The transgression is the denial of the Living God, rejection of Jesus Christ, and the oppression of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Because of that transgression, the army of the global culture is given to the “horn”. The “horn” is the entity that gives people what to think, feel, do and say as it gives life to the image of the beast to speak and live through people everywhere. The army of people are conformed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do. By what they say and do, they oppose the daily devotion given to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Truth is thrown to the ground through them and prosperity arises from that.

On the image below, Cilicia is seen in the top yellow circle, which is modern-day Turkey [also known as Tarsus]. That is the province where Paul is originally from, as quoted, “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia…” Acts 22:3 In the yellow circle at the bottom is seen Caesarea, where Paul was sent to Governor Felix.

---

“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1