He came to destroy SIN, not the SINNERS

Early morning Acharye Yeeshudasji was taking care of the goats in his Ashram compound, feeding them with fresh leaves of trees. Some of the ashramites were busy cleaning the animal sheds. There were pilgrims descending on mules from the mountains and heading towards the village in the valley. Some of the pilgrims came into the Ashram and sat near the well to take some rest.

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Acharye Yeeshudas ji went over to them and started serving them cold water from the well.

Ishwaranand Sevadasji from Varanasi had a question, he said Acharye Yeeshudasji why did it happen? Is God angry with us? Is God unhappy with our religious works, giving of alms or penance? Thousands of devotees have perished.  Human lives have been lost along with money and material and caused damage to the environment and landscape.

What do you think of this?

Acharye Yeeshudas ji expressing his sympathies said, Ishwaranand sevadasji you have been going for pilgrimage for years, whereas I have served the Lepers in the leper’s village here. And in fellowship with them I have been seeing God in our midst. I will explain to you some related issues with this topic.

The truth is, when we deal with death and destruction, our feelings of pain, sorrow, anger, hate and violence is aroused. Every human born in this world whether a king or a so called saint or a beggar has to face death one day or the other.

The question is not that death has come, but where death is taking us. Taking us to salvation or eternal hell.

Is God our Enemy

The last enemy of man is death.

God does not resort to violence; he does not use lethal weapons or believe in shedding human blood. Whereas we are cruel, angry and violent, and we create our Gods according to our taste and give them our nature, shape and form.

On the other hand the living God likes to give us his nature and his life, and give us holiness.

If in the religious place is a storehouse of weapons and initiator of violence then it is not a place of God but a place of evil. God is creator of the universe and all that is in it. God is not limited to a people group, geographical location or language group. The eternal living God is one who wants to bring salvation to every human on the planet.

It is written in the word of God that everyone who seeks is able to know God. Even in the creation, we can see him through his great creativity, wisdom and power, at the same time the creation itself is not God.

In the same way if we see the conscience of man, then we see a righteous and Holy God behind it, but at the same time man is not God.

Now the question is can we reach God or know him through our Pilgrimages.

Let us understand the meaning of Sin

  • It is sin, when we make a lifeless form or image with our hands and worship it as God.
  • It is sin, when we worship Animals as God. Animal even have no moral life.
  • It is sin, when we remove the Truth of God, and accept the lies of living human beings, Gurus, and so called holy men, and satanic forces.
  • It is sin, when we remove God altogether from our lives and depend on our own will, wisdom and strength.
  • It is also sin, when we know the Truth of god and still not obey him.

Just like we do not see the germs of decease with our naked eye, we may also not be able to see the sin through our external works.  Though it resides hidden in our thoughts, in our heart and in our attitudes and goals.

This means all human beings are sinners.

Therefore what is needed is not destruction of sinners, but a solution of salvation from sin.

God is giver of Life

Eternal God is giver of life. He is eternal and he is in existence before the creation itself and also before the birth of religions. We cannot locate him in Religions, nor search him out in the creation. He neither needs our help for his own security nor is he in need of our money and material.

God is Truth

God is Truth, and by knowing this truth our lives should conform to this or assimilate this truth as our experience. If this does not happen then it is not the truth of God. Truth is not seen but experienced.

Fear

The fear in the heart of man is brought by Satan and its evil spiritual beings, and our show of religious activity and giving of money and material to a deity is an attempt to free ourselves from fear by pleasing the evil forces.

Holy God is not an extortionist. Therefore we should not connect the powers of darkness, witchcraft and black magic to God.

Acharye ji continued and said, Ishwaranand ji, Lord Jesus said a Doctor is needed for a sick person so also he himself has come for the sinners so that they can be saved. [Mathew 9:12, 13]

God is Love

It is written that God is love. He has created man in his own image. He is not our enemy.

The enemy of man is sin. It spreads like the venom of snake and destroys or body, soul and spirit.

Sin is not just in our actions but is in our thoughts and heart and in our attitudes hidden as seeds. Sin has to be dealt in its totality.

God has not come to ask a sacrifice but to become a sacrifice

Eternal God takes up the form of man, and goes through the death on the cross by shedding his own holy blood and thereby takes the penalty and punishment of sin on himself. All those who believe in this provision of salvation by God receive salvation through forgiveness of sin. This is by grace of God and is a free gift.

When Lord Jesus came to this world he healed the sick people, he healed the lepers, the paralyzed, and delivered the oppressed. He delivered people from Demon possession, and he even raised the dead to life. Lord Jesus brought the good news of an Eternal God who loves us. Who calls himself as our Father. He calls all those who are tired and heavy burdened to come to Him so that He could give them rest, and peace.

Lord Jesus said I have come to preach the good news to the poor to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and bring back sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised [Luke 4:18]

Pilgrimage

Suryaprakashji said Acharyeji what do you make of the Pilgrimages and the Holy cities of the Christians.

Acharyeji replied, Christian religion was not founded by Lord Jesus, it is people who made it into a religion, and it is true that there are Pilgrimage places of the religious Christians. Some churches are famous, and many go for pilgrimage to the city of Jerusalem. But there, neither they find Lord Jesus nor do they find salvation. The eternal God is on his throne is in heaven. He is omniscient and almighty.

He does not live on a mountain or a religious building, in rivers or a city. These pilgrims go to pilgrimages and waste their time and money. The eternal God is neither lost nor hiding. God is in his abode in heaven and is ruling from there. We do not have to go anywhere in search of God. Eternal God has come down here to meet us.

Now imagine, our planet earth is like a speck of dust in this vast universe, and the creator God is sitting in some remote unreachable location. Is this possible?

Lord Jesus came to the earth some 2000 years ago; we saw the glory of God in him. He was full of love. He gave us a command ‘love your enemies’ and himself showed us the characters of God.

Money, material violence and immorality cannot be attributed to God in anyway. The Holy God is full of kindness, forgiveness and justice.

After his death on the cross for the salvation of mankind Lord Jesus Christ becomes alive. This is the greatest event ever, which proves the divinity of Lord Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ shows that our limited Physical existence that is full of challenges does not end with Physical death, grave or pyre. Our spirit is eternal and the salvation is necessary.

The group was refreshed hearing this and sevadasji interrupted and said acharyji, we would like to see Lord Jesus. Acharyeje said we do not have to go anywhere. If we have faith then we can see him now with our eyes of faith with a prayer.

Come let us all pray to Lord Jesus.

Oh Lord Jesus, son of eternal God, one who took the form of man, and shed your holy blood for my salvation. I come to you as a sinner. I believe that you paid the price for my sin by your holy blood. Please forgive my sin. Give me your Holy Spirit and change my life.

Everyone repeated the prayer. Acharye Yeeshudasji said it is not the power of our good works, but the faith in Lord Jesus that gives us salvation. Acharye Yeeshudas ji ended the meeting, took his bicycle and went away to the leper village.