Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor.  When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation.  Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.  But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.
“We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world.  He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.  By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

• Acts 24:1-8

Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried.  I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.  If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die.  But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”
After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar.  To Caesar you will go!”

• Acts 25:10-12

In the Scriptures above, Felix did not magically turn into Festus.  Festus took over after Felix moved on.  Felix had kept Paul in prison for political reasons, but over the two years, he often had Paul come into his presence to have discussions.  Festus, and later King Agrippa, can find nothing to hold Paul, but after two years of dealing with Felix, Paul insists, as a Roman citizen, he would appeal to Caesar.  Otherwise, after Agrippa visited with Paul, Festus and Agrippa would have released him if it had not been for the appeal to the emperor.

And please excuse me, but the name of the lawyer sounds like an arch villain, worthy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

This quiz is about the people, places, and events of Paul’s journey to Rome.  As such, it will be three short quizzes.  The first quiz will be a chronological list of the towns/cities/islands that were mentioned in Acts.  The second of these quizzes will be the people quiz, most named and some named by official office, with some answered in the Scripture above.  The third quiz will be about the events.

We will use the same general format as with the third missionary journey.

The Questions:

	To What Cities/Towns/Regions/Islands did they go next?
J	Jerusalem – where the trouble started
A
C	But a bonus if you can mention where the ship had come from, starting with “A” (a town between Troas and Pergamum, and only mentioned this once in the Bible.
S
M in L
C
FH on C
M	But a bonus if you can mention where they wanted to go instead of being shipwrecked here.
S
R
P
R	Rome
	Who are these people in the story?
1	What group of people required Paul to go through a purification ceremony before going to the temple for Pentecost?
2	What group of people decided that the Gentile believers must not eat food sacrificed to idols, blood, and animals that were strangled, and to abstain from sexual immorality?
3	Who was seen with Paul after Paul was purified and allowed to enter the temple?
4	Who was the boy who went to the Romans to tell of a plot to ambush the Roman guards and kill Paul?  A name not given.
5	Who did Ananias, the high priest, and other religious leaders hire to present the charges against Paul?
6	Who was the Roman governor who heard these charges presented?
7	Who was the Jewish wife of the governor, who sat with her husband, as Paul talked about “the Way?”
8	After two years a new governor arrived.  Who was he?
9	While this second governor was in charge, what king and queen visited Caesarea, wanting to hear Paul speak?
10	Besides Luke accompanying Paul (with the use of “us” and “we”) which missionary team member, a fellow from Thessalonica, is mentioned by name as accompanying Paul?
11	Who is the centurion who is “guarding” the prisoner?
12	Who was the chief official on the island where they were shipwrecked, who welcomed the weary travelers into his home?
	Answer these questions about the events during this portion of the book of Acts?
1	What misunderstanding led to the riot and an attempt to kill Paul in Jerusalem?
2	To what group does Paul give his testimony to first?
3	What happens when the Roman guard realizes that Paul is a Roman citizen?
4	What is the second group to which Paul gives his testimony?
5	Why was Paul transferred to Caesarea?
6	What did the Roman centurion allow Paul to do on their first stop after boarding the ship?
7	Why did the ship not land on Cyprus?
8	What was the timing of setting sail from Crete that worried Paul and what did the centurion decide to do instead of following Paul’s advice to winter where they were?
9	During the storm, everyone thought they would be lost, but what did Paul tell them?
10	What happened to Paul, making the locals on the island think that he was a murderer, but then when there was no ill effect, they thought Paul to be a god?

You have heard the expression that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  The Apostle Paul is arrested and placed in chains, partially due to a misunderstanding, partially due to Paul’s stand on circumcision of the Gentiles, and partially due to the “charge” being an assumption that was made with no evidence against Paul in that regard.

First, the Romans thought the crowd was upset because Paul was an Egyptian rumored to be causing trouble.  When they found that Paul was a Roman citizen from Tarsus, born a citizen, they quickly changed their attitude.  Second, James and the elders agreed to what the Gentiles must do, but that does not mean that the congregation agreed with the decision.  There were still those who were against the Gentiles being accepted.  And third, they saw Paul with a Gentile member of his team in the city, not in the temple court.  They simply assumed he had been there, and the accusations led to a riot.

Thus, misinformation led to Paul’s arrest, and then after the first governor enjoyed discussing the religious issues with Paul, he let Paul languish in jail for two years.  Finally, Paul demanded to have his case heard before the emperor.  But in the meantime, Paul gave his testimony several times.  Even in house arrest in Rome, he was constantly spreading the Gospel.

While many would see this as a prisoner being hauled from one courtroom to a higher courtroom, which it was, Paul saw it as an opportunity to spread the Gospel.

Bible References:

All References in the book of Acts.

ACTS	To What Cities/Towns/Regions/Islands did they go next?
J	Jerusalem – where the trouble started
A	23:31
C	23:33, bonus 27:2
S	27:3
M in L	27:5
C	27:7
FH on C	27:8
M	28:1, bonus 27:12
S	28:12
R	28:13
P	28:13
Rome	28:14
	Who are these people in the story?
1	21:17-24
2	21:25 (21:17-25)
3	21:29
4	23:16
5	24:1
6	24:2
7	24:24
8	24:27
9	25:13
10	27:2
11	27:1
12	28:7
	Answer these questions about the events during this portion of the book of Acts?
1	21:27-29
2	21:31-22:21
3	22:22-29
4	23:1-11
5	23:12-24
6	27:3
7	27:4
8	27:9-12
9	27:21-26
10	28:1-6

What the questions do not address is the multiple statements of faith, Paul’s testimonies, that are repeated in these chapters.

We need to be ready to give account to what we believe and by what evidence do we hold to the Truth that God, the Creator of all things, sent His Son to die in our place to pay the sin penalty so that if we believe and trust in God, we will not just be saved, but we will be adopted children of Almighty God.

I accepted Jesus as my Savior over fifty years ago.  I instantly felt a change within me, and when I read Scriptures these days, the words come alive within my soul.  Each time I read the Bible, I can gain more insight and I draw closer to Jesus.  And every time I write about that experience, I seem to say it a little differently each time.  You might notice that with your testimony when you have said it too many times to count.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

	To What Cities/Towns/Regions/Islands did they go next?
J	Jerusalem – where the trouble started
A	Antipatris
C	Caesarea, and two years later, a ship came from Adramyttium
S	Sidon
M in L	Myra in Lycia
C	Cnidus
FH on C	Fair Haven on Crete
M	Shipwrecked in Malta, but they were sailing to another port on Crete with a better harbor, Phoenix.
S	Syracuse
R	Rhegium
P	Puteoli
R	Rome
	Who are these people in the story?
1	The church leaders of the Way in Jerusalem
2	The church leaders of the Way in Jerusalem
3	Trophimus, the Ephesian
4	Paul’s Sister’s Son, or Paul’s nephew
5	A lawyer named Tertullus
6	Felix
7	Drusilla
8	(Porcius) Festus
9	Agrippa and Bernice
10	Aristarchus, the Thessalonian
11	Julius
12	Publius
	Answer these questions about the events during this portion of the book of Acts?
1	Only Paul became purified and allowed to enter the temple court, but the crowd thought that since he was talking to Trophimus, the Ephesian had gone into the temple grounds with Paul.  But was it a case of mistaken information or was the accusation knowingly false?  And by whom, the Jewish non-believers or by the people of the Way that disagreed with Paul regarding the spreading of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and to what extent these converts should be Judaized.
2	The crowd
3	They were afraid, since Roman citizens were not to be treated in such a manner.
4	The Sanhedrin
5	Paul’s nephew reported an attempt to ambush the Romans and kill Paul, so they moved him to Caesarea for safety.
6	When they stopped in Sidon, Julius allowed Paul to stay with friends.
7	The winds were strong and they used the leeward side of the island to navigate around the wind and land in Myra.  If the winds were getting bad already, it was a clear sign that a storm might follow.
8	Paul was worried since the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, had passed.  He wanted to stay in Fair Haven for the winter, but the harbor was not well protected.  The centurion knew that the harbor at Phoenix was protected from storms coming from two directions and it was very near.
9	When the crew thought all was lost, Paul told them he had a vision and an angel told him that none would be lost.  He told them to eat as much as they needed to survive and none would be lost.  Their ship would run aground, but none of the people would be lost.
10	Paul was bitten by a viper.  The Maltans thought him a murderer for having survived the shipwreck just to be bitten by a snake, but his hand did not swell, and he did not die.  When the Maltans thought him a god for not dying, Paul used the opportunity to tell them about Jesus, and to heal their sick.

My mother’s mother, MawMaw, was named Myra, a stop on this journey of Paul.  You do not hear the name much anymore.

Since you did so well, enjoy this 10 minute journey as a review, with the narrator, Dr. Don Fanning, adding a few key details.

Dr. Don Fanning also created a video that pieces comments from the epistles that tie the odd details here and there together.

And here is a song by Clay Crosse, When in Rome. And thinking of “when in Rome,” I was only in Rome, Italy once, transferring from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. All I wanted to do was go home after a hard, hot week near the heel of the boot, working. If I had known that in less than a week, I would fly to Seoul, South Korea, I could have stayed in Rome and actually see the sights. My boss, who I was with in Rome, never gave me straight answers to such questions.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.