The Apostle Paul's Twin = Alma?

The apostle Paul was a zealot for the Jewish faith and its practices by persecuting the Christians of his time. That all ended when God abruptly stopped Paul dead in his tracks. God humbled him, forgave him, and redeemed Paul from his sins. Just like Paul of the Bible, Joseph Smith penned about a man in his book, the Book of Mormon, whom he named Alma. This fictitious person had very similar characteristics that had a parallel life like the Apostle Paul.
In Mosiah of the Book on Mormon, Joseph puts his story this way: "Now the sons of Mosiah were numbered among the unbelievers; and also one of the sons of Alma was numbered among them, he being called Alma, after his father; nevertheless, he became very wicked and an idolatrous man. And he was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people; therefore he led many of the people to do after the manner of his iniquities. And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people....as they were going about rebelling against God, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake....Alma, arise and stand forth, for why persecute thou the church of God?....And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more....And now the astonishment of Alma was so great that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands; therefore he was taken by those that were with him....And it came to pass after they had fasted and prayed for the space of two days and two nights, the limbs of Alma received their strength, and he stood up and began to speak unto them....For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the spirit....And now it came to pass that Alma began from this time forward to teach the people, and those who were with Alma at the time the angel appeared unto them, traveling round about through all the land, publishing to all the people the things which they had heard and seen, and preaching the word of God in much tribulation, being greatly persecuted by those who were unbelievers, being smitten by many of them." (Mosiah 27:8&9, 11, 16, 19, 23&24, 32, The Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1981)
Strange how this character Alma follows almost the exact same path as the Apostle Paul. The big difference here; Paul was visited by the Lord, not an angel. We need to be careful when it comes to angels; even Satan himself masquerades as an angel (2 Cor 11:14)
Just a few thoughts here: If Alma was affected by the angel in the cloud, why wasn't the others that were with him affected too? If Alma was born of the spirit, why wasn't he baptized first by the priesthood? If Alma did some publishing, where is the evidence?