Testimony of Dr. Raj Kripalani (11/14/2004)

Park Meadows Church

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November 14, 2004

00:02: In Fr. David's absence, we're honored to have the worldwide special speaker here this morning,
00:14: Raj Kupalani, Dr. Kupalani, and I guess that's enough.
00:45: Good morning. It's very good seeing you all. Never a dull moment at church, even in playing hymns.
00:53: That's very good. It's nice to have such worship, and I thank you all for coming today.
01:03: First of all, I want to also thank my dear brother in the Lord, David Mitchell, and his family.
01:10: I met David a few weeks ago, actually a couple of months ago, and came on a Wednesday night service here.
01:17: On that Wednesday night, I was scheduled for something else, and the first time I popped in here was just a couple of months ago.
01:24: And lo and behold, Brother David speaks about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.
01:30: And then I realized this is where I would like to be. This is where not too many churches teach on such an important topic.
01:38: And that was a blessing, and we just developed a wonderful relationship after that. So I want to thank him for this blessing and opportunity.
01:45: And I also want to thank you for something. You all know that for the past couple of weeks,
01:51: I brought my dad and then my mom. And without me saying anything, my dad told me, these people here are very genuine.
02:00: So that's the word. The next week, my mom came, and without me saying anything, she said, these people are a caring community.
02:08: So praise God for that, and I thank you for being a witness to them. We are working and praying for their salvation.
02:16: My mom is coming along, though. She would surprise me sometimes without me telling her this.
02:23: For example, if I would go home one evening and I would be a little down or discouraged about something, and she would see it on my face, and then she would tell me, don't worry,
02:32: Raj, Jesus is coming soon. Now how does she know that? I did not tell her that. So apparently she's been listening to some
02:41: Christian TV or radio or something, that she has that. So she's coming along, and then suddenly, or we would go shopping one time, and right in the middle, while I'm driving, she would just suddenly stop and say,
02:55: Raj, I need you to tell me, what do I need to do to prepare for Jesus' coming? So just out of the blue, these things, and we know that those are not of human origin.
03:06: So we know that the Lord will fulfill His work, and He's faithful in this regard. So I thank you for this, and appreciate your opportunity just to give a testimony.
03:17: As you all know, each and every one of us have a story. You have a story, and I have a story.
03:22: And if you're here, you have a story. If you're here, Jesus Christ has brought you here, and that is a story already.
03:30: It's a miracle. It's the work of the Lord. And I just want to start off by giving a little background and leading up to a testimony.
03:39: My name is Raj Kripalani, exactly as it is spelled, and Brother Otis, you did a wonderful job in pronouncing it.
03:47: So thank you. But I was born in India, yes, in India, in that far mysterious land.
03:56: And as good Indian parents and families, they tend to travel abroad.
04:01: They always believe in the Indian dream, just as you all have an American dream. The Indians have their dream.
04:09: And what is their dream? Going abroad and establishing a business, making all the money they can, and then going back home and retiring in India.
04:17: That's the Indian dream. So my parents, they did that. They left India in 1970.
04:25: And so first of all, it was my dad. And he went and he traveled in the
04:31: West Indies, the Caribbean, settled in Trinidad for a while, and then finally established in the country of Belize.
04:40: Some of you perhaps have heard of Belize, wonderful place for snorkeling and scuba diving. And sometimes
04:45: I have to ask the Lord, what am I doing here? I would rather be snorkeling. But no, he has his purposes.
04:52: But it's a great place to just take a vacation. Not a very good place to live and to grow up in.
04:59: Not much hope or opportunity. But at that time, it was under the British. It was a British colony.
05:05: And the reason I'm saying all these things is because they do relate to this testimony. So it was a
05:11: British colony, very prosperous, doing wonderful. And in one year, my dad was able to establish two, three businesses, and doing very well.
05:20: And then in one year, he called my mom and my sister and I, just two of us.
05:27: And so we came and I grew up. I was five years old when I arrived in Belize. So I grew up in the country of Belize.
05:33: In Belize, they speak English, they speak a little bit of Spanish, and they speak a dialect called
05:40: Creole. Now there is a French Creole and there is a British Creole.
05:45: There is a difference. The French Creole is in some areas of Louisiana, I believe. But the
05:51: British Creole is almost like what you speak in Jamaica. And in those places, it's a form of broken
05:58: English. But we did that, and I grew up with that. So I went to school there and grew up in school there, and I was a terrible student.
06:10: I did not have much interest in studies. I did not care much about that.
06:16: I barely passed elementary school. Barely. That was a miracle.
06:21: I'm telling you, perhaps out of 20 students, I would be the 18th or the 19th down the line.
06:28: And why? I guess just because, especially my dad, he was more business -focused.
06:34: In his culture, in his time, there was not much of a focus or stress or emphasis on higher education.
06:42: Just a little bit. So that's why he did not put much interest in that regard. I was the only male child, and in the
06:48: Indian community, if you're the only male child, you just inherit all the businesses, and that's it. Whether you know how to add or subtract is irrelevant.
06:56: You just inherit the businesses, and that's what happened. And so we're just continuing there.
07:03: But after elementary school, I was like, okay, I wanted to continue in high school.
07:10: So my dad was saying, well, you really don't need much more. But thankfully, some friends of his, some doctor friends of his in the country, convinced him that I should go to high school.
07:22: How about that? Convinced him for me to go to high school. So I barely made it into high school, and the first couple of years of high school were miserable.
07:30: I just wanted to go back home, but I did not enjoy any minute of it until my sophomore year.
07:37: And then, going into being a junior, just barely passing, just making it with the minimum effort as possible.
07:48: However, please understand, during all this time, I am still a traditional
07:53: Hindu. That was the religion of my parents. That's the religion of India, Hinduism.
07:58: Let me just quickly, a quick background on Hinduism. Several gods, even though they claim to be one, they do believe in several gods.
08:05: There are different manifestations of God for your particular needs.
08:12: If you want wealth, you go to the god of wealth. If you want health, you go to the god of health.
08:20: And so, there is a temple in almost every corner in India. So you can go to that particular temple with that particular god and give some offerings.
08:31: Offerings, what do I mean by offerings? Fruit and vegetables. That would be the offering.
08:37: If you give that and some little bit of money, you may get his blessing or her blessing.
08:43: Yes, there are female deities in Hinduism too. And so, there is no sexism right there.
08:50: They just, every imagination of man, they invent and they claim it to be a god.
08:56: So, I grew up with that environment. We had all our idols, statues, and everything in our home.
09:02: And I would pray to them when I was a teenager. I would pray to them for a bicycle. I would pray to them for anything
09:08: I could think of. And of course, I never got it. So, I did not continue praying to them. It was my form of revenge against them because they did not give me what
09:18: I wanted. So, that's what continued in my teenage years. And so, I could care less about where my parents were going or what they were doing or not doing.
09:27: But the idols were at home. Because in Belize, there was not a
09:32: Hindu temple. So, most Indian families, if you go to their homes, you will see a little temple in their homes.
09:39: And that's what they do, they worship idols. And so, I grew up in this environment. And then, going back as a sophomore, finished my sophomore year, then something interesting happened in high school.
09:51: Being under the British educational system, a very good system, I must add, it was very competitive.
09:57: And so, I started becoming very competitive. And so, we would compete then to get the highest grades.
10:06: We would compete to be the best in certain sports. We would compete to take out the prettiest girl on campus.
10:13: We would compete for everything. And why? Why did that stimulate us? Because they would publicly announce your names in front of the whole student body.
10:22: It was just a proud, it was just an egoistic trip, quote -unquote, that they would put us on.
10:29: And all of us would be striving towards that level. And if I got 98 and my classmate got 97,
10:38: I was better than him. That was the attitude in that system of education. Very, very fierce competition.
10:45: And then, I started studying for a change. I started studying and used to go to bed at 3 or 4 a .m.
10:51: in the morning just to be able to get a half point better than my classmates. And so, then they would announce it on each subject.
10:59: You've got this grade and that grade. And so, of course, that would cause the admiration of all. And it would just puff the ego more and more and more.
11:06: So, that's what continued as a junior and as a senior. And so, we graduated.
11:12: Most of us graduated with flying colors from high school. My feet were just getting wet into education.
11:19: I now wanted to continue with my classmates. Continue not for studying.
11:26: Continue competing. That was my sole desire. So, I told my parents
11:31: I wanted to go to college. Now, where we were was in a small town. If you wanted to go to college, you had to go three hours away to the city of Belize.
11:41: And that means you would have to have housing and everything taken care of over there. Well, my parents said they could not afford it.
11:47: And they really could, but it was just not. It was just too much. It was time for me to run the family business.
11:54: So, here all my friends leave town. Every one of them.
12:01: I have no friends in the town as a senior from high school.
12:07: So excited to continue competing and studying with no friends to talk to. Nobody. They're simply at home.
12:15: That was a miserable experience that really got me discouraged.
12:21: So, you know, I would ask them to continue, but then my dad said, well, if you really want to continue studying, take some correspondence courses.
12:30: Well, correspondence courses, I'm not competing with anyone. So, I just did it just to satisfy him.
12:38: So, I just continued doing so and continued the business education there. Well, this solitude and this frustration led to a major depression in my life.
12:50: I was 17, 18, and very discouraged, very frustrated, very angry.
12:56: Very angry against authority. Very angry against my parents.
13:02: Very angry against quote -unquote God, whoever he was at that time. Very angry against every form of order telling me what to do.
13:12: And that anger would just steam and that frustration and then for one to two years, this was a long depression, frustration, anger.
13:20: And it led me to do some very wrong and bad things. It was very troubling.
13:26: I started dabbling and getting into mysticism, yoga, hypnotism, black magic, black arts, and thankfully though, praise
13:37: God, it wasn't too much in depth. It was just searching for some meaning. How could an 18 -year -old, 19 -year -old, young teenager that should be full of hope not have that?
13:49: And that was very, very trying and frustrating for me at that time. And so,
13:55: I would start reading up into these arts.
14:00: Just give me some power. Just give me some significance. Just give me some meaning.
14:06: And I would go to the library and start reading up on evolution because I was now starting to believe that there was no
14:14: God. He could not allow something like this to happen to me. I was the only victim in the whole world, is what
14:22: I thought, and this is not happening to anyone, and it's just me. So, this is the issue, and I started studying evolution.
14:29: Why did I study evolution? I wanted to prove with all my heart and with all my mind that God did not exist.
14:36: Because if I could prove that God did not exist, then no one can tell me that what
14:41: I'm doing is wrong. And so, that's why, because I did not want to be under any authority.
14:49: And so, I started reading that up because I said, well, you know, I was doing wrong things. My parents would correct me and tell me, but of course,
14:55: I would just go even more rebelling against everything they would tell me as a form of taking out my frustration on them.
15:04: The more I studied evolution, the more frustrated
15:09: I became. The more I realized, ah, this is so full of holes.
15:15: I can't hold on to anything here. I can't hold on to a logical, reasonable argument at all.
15:23: They would say, well, this came from this. Okay, well, where did that come from? From another source. Where did that come from?
15:29: From another source. And you would have to find the first original source, and I would never find it.
15:34: And by the way, they cannot give you an original source. And this is the problem. So, where did that original source come from?
15:41: So, as I would read that, I would find more frustration. So, one of my outlets was the mystical arts.
15:48: And I would be doing yoga, and not just the physical exercises, but the mental and philosophical and spiritual aspects too.
15:57: Keeping your mind blank and communicating with what we know today as demons. So, we would do so, because they encourage you, by the way, to keep your mind blank and never do that.
16:09: It's very dangerous. The scriptures tell us to fill your mind with the word of God.
16:14: And if you keep it blank, guess who's going to fill it in? The demons. So, that's what encourages you.
16:20: So, yoga physically is fine. Spiritually, philosophically, no way. Don't get close to that.
16:26: But I was doing so. I would spend three, four hours a day in that process. And none of this, beloved, would give me any meaning or any purpose.
16:38: I started to get more frustrated, and I contemplated suicide at 19 years old.
16:45: So, I said, you know, there's no purpose here. I'm not getting anywhere. Nothing is helping me. There is no
16:50: God out there, apparently. Or He is. He's not answering me. And I would try many times to go.
16:57: We would live just right across from the beach. And so, I would go swimming and diving and everything.
17:04: And so, one day, I decided we would have these large boats on the shore, for example, on the end of the wall, all the way twice the size of this building lengthwise.
17:15: And so, I said, well, let me dive underwater from one end of the boat to the other. And, you know,
17:21: I'm sure I can hold my breath that long. And so, we did so. So, I would try doing those crazy things. And one day, when
17:27: I did that, my bathing trunk got stuck underwater from the base of the boat.
17:35: So, here I was, could not move left, nor right, nor forward, nor backward. Just totally stuck underwater, losing every ounce of oxygen ever in the body.
17:45: Now, I would struggle. And the more I struggled, the more trapped I would become. I don't know what happened, but now
17:51: I know it was the Lord. But the next moment, I was out on the shore. How did that happen?
17:57: The work of God. So, then the next time, I'll give you a couple of other instances.
18:03: I would love to race in my racer bicycle that I had.
18:09: And so, in Belize, you would have these large cane trucks. They would have sugar cane. And they would have no cover.
18:15: It would just be the box. And so, I would say, you know, I can catch up the speed of this truck if I race my bicycle pretty fast.
18:26: So, I would race behind the truck going and just be like two feet behind the truck and just keep up with the speed of the truck racing all along.
18:37: Now, in the town that we lived, there are no stoplights. You just go. So, I didn't have to worry about stoplights or stop.
18:46: I would just continue racing along. Well, out of the blue, this truck decided to stop.
18:52: Which I did not expect. Two feet away.
18:59: This way. Exactly at the level of the neck to let your neck go bye -bye.
19:05: So, I was just right there going down. And suddenly it decided to stop. And there was no time for me to swerve left or right.
19:14: But once again, by the hand of God, I was on the other side of the road. And so, I started to think, hmm, something is happening here.
19:24: I guess I'm still living for a purpose. And then, you know, there would be other events too.
19:30: Someone would come and we would have a business here and threaten us with a gunpoint right there.
19:35: And then suddenly the person would just decide to leave. And there were other situations like those where the
19:41: Lord miraculously intervened. And so, one evening as I was resting, about 9, 9 .30,
19:47: I was just resting and reading other stuff. And I started shivering. Now, beloved,
19:55: Belize is a very hot and tropical climate. It never gets cold. And here
20:01: I was shivering at 9, 9 .30 at night. And I could not stop. I was continuing for a couple of minutes, 3, 4, 5 minutes shivering.
20:08: I would put blanket after blanket and it would not stop. Now, I don't know what it was, whether it was a voice or whatever.
20:17: I don't think so. But the message was clear in my mind. The message was, one day you will stand before me.
20:26: And then I went to bed. Went to sleep straight away. I never go to bed at 9 .30 p .m.
20:32: I just went straight to sleep. And woke up the next morning. And the next morning
20:38: I woke up. The first place I got up was, I went to look for a Bible.
20:44: Now, let me back up here. In high school, we had to study the class of religion.
20:52: And in religion, we would study the life of Jesus Christ. And so, I had a little information on Jesus Christ, just the gospels, very superficial information.
21:02: So, for me, oh, very interesting guy. Very great man. And he does these things wonderful,
21:08: I thought. Beloved, that was the only reason we had a Bible in our home. Because I had to buy a
21:15: Bible as a religion textbook for our high school class. If not, there would be no
21:20: Bible in our homes. It would just be the Gita, the book of the Hindus.
21:25: And I had read up, when I was in this depression, I read the other religions. I looked into Islam. I looked into Hinduism.
21:32: And for some strange reason, I never looked into Christianity. When I was studying. But all the others,
21:38: Buddhism, and I looked into all those world religions to find, okay, what are they saying? None of that appealed to me.
21:44: But then, lo and behold, the Lord, I guess, led me. Just in that morning, early in the morning,
21:50: I got up. I went straight to my bookshelf and picked up the Bible. Then I lied to my parents.
21:56: I told them I would go to the beach, go swimming. But I took the Bible, hid it under my t -shirt, and spent all day by the beach reading it.
22:03: I did this for nine months, every day. I read from Genesis all the way to Revelation.
22:10: Because if I would tell them I would be reading the Bible, you know, it would be a very, very difficult situation there.
22:16: So I would do that. And by the time, beloved, I finished the Old Testament, I was convinced, beyond a shadow of doubt, that there was a
22:27: God. By the time I finished the Old Testament. This is the beauty of Christianity, beloved.
22:32: God is very personal. I am the Lord, I am Jehovah Jireh, I am your great provider, and I am speaking to you.
22:39: That's how God is. It's not, the Lord says this, and he says that. No, it's very personal.
22:45: As he was speaking to Israel, you know, you shall have no gods before me. You shall serve me alone.
22:51: And I will bless you, and I will do this. And very personal. By the way, that personal aspect is in no other religion.
22:58: It's the beauty of Christianity only. It's that special blessing of having, wanting to have a personal relationship with each one of us.
23:06: And so I knew, wow, he is speaking to me. I knew then it was God. And then, after finishing up the
23:13: Old Testament, just starting to get into the New, I said, well, after reading the Old Testament, I knew
23:18: God would punish and discipline because of not keeping his law. You see that constantly in the
23:25: Old Testament, especially idolatry. And here I was with all these idols in our home.
23:31: And so I decided I need to keep the laws of God. So I started keeping the
23:36: Ten Commandments. My way. The way I thought was best.
23:42: For me, the Sabbath would be Saturday morning to Saturday sunset, so I could go to the movies
23:48: Saturday night. That, for me, was keeping the Sabbath in that regard. Whatever was convenient.
23:54: I would keep those laws just on my own. And I felt, quote -unquote, good.
24:00: Okay, God is here. Okay, I'm doing his will. I'm, quote -unquote, fine. Okay. Then, I was starting to get into the
24:08: New Testament. I had no idea about grace, salvation by grace through faith alone, nothing like that.
24:15: For me, it was law. God will bless you if you obey. God will punish you if you disobey. All of this comes from the
24:21: Hinduism and other world religions' background. That's what all religions tell you. You know, it's never just by grace.
24:28: Grace is offensive to other religions. By the way, if you get up here and speak about prophecy, you'll have a large crowd.
24:34: If you get up here and speak about grace, they will dislike you. That's the nature of man. You cannot tell him that he doesn't need to do anything, but simply trust.
24:44: But I was getting into that, and in high school, I had an enemy.
24:52: This guy and I were constantly fighting in high school. We were always trying to do the worst to each other.
25:02: Well, we graduated, and he had gone to college. Two years later, as I was walking in the park,
25:09: I meet him. I was just finishing up the Old Testament. I meet him at the park. Well, two years later, you forget your childhood differences.
25:16: So this was a Thursday. I said, How are you? How are studies going on?
25:21: Very well. I told him, Hey, let's go to the movies tomorrow. Tomorrow would be
25:26: Friday night. He said, No, I can't go. I said,
25:32: Why not? Because it's the Sabbath. I said,
25:37: No, I have read about the Sabbath. And I thought it was Saturday morning to Saturday sunset.
25:44: So he said, No, no, no. He said, It's from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, as the
25:51: Jews keep it. So I said, Oh, tell me more information. Beloved, my worst enemy in high school was reading the
25:59: Bible when I was reading it at the same time in different locations. And that was just something.
26:05: So he tells me, No, you need to keep the law. I said, Oh, okay.
26:11: I was attracted, beloved, to the law. Not growing up in a very disciplined household with rules and regulations and so forth,
26:22: I needed the law. And teens want the law regardless of how much they resist.
26:28: Just give them the boundary. They want to know that boundary. They want to know the line. And I needed that.
26:34: I always looked back and said, If you talked to me about grace when I was 18, 19, maybe I would have rejected it. But, of course,
26:40: I could not because God is in control. But at that time, God knew what I needed. And it was law.
26:46: It was law to lead me to something else. So he said, You need to obey the Ten Commandments and the law.
26:53: And he gave me a copy. I said, Well, come tomorrow to my place and we'll talk. He brought the copy of the
26:59: Plain Truth magazine. How many of you have heard of the Plain Truth magazine? It was in airports and hotels and everywhere.
27:06: It was from a cult group called the Worldwide Church of God. Herbert Armstrong was its leader.
27:13: And in East Texas, very strong with his son Garner, Ted Armstrong, and others that continued this.
27:21: And they would have a beautiful magazine sizzling with prophecy. Sizzling with Old Testament verses.
27:29: Rarely too many of the New Testament. So he would give me a copy of that. And I would see all this fascinating prophecy.
27:37: Prophecy has been used by the Lord as a tool. And it continues to be used as a tool to bring people to him.
27:43: Because our God predicts the future. No other God can. But this magazine was using verses from the
27:51: Old Testament. And looking back, they were right on many things. The beast coming, the beast's power, the rule of the
27:59: Antichrist, everything. They would talk about those. From Daniel and other scriptures. And so this would fascinate me.
28:06: And I would just eat that information. I loved it. Plus they would tell me, you know, these are the laws you need to keep.
28:13: Ten commandments plus seven Jewish holidays. Just as the
28:19: Jews keep Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and Levant bread.
28:25: Yes, for one week we would go without, we would not eat Levant bread. And we would go and keep the
28:32: Feast of Tabernacles in hotels. Hotels for us today was modern booths as the
28:38: Israelites would keep them. And they would have the feast site around the world. Worldwide Church of God was huge.
28:43: Its base is in Pasadena, California. And East Texas, Big Sandy, Texas was its other base.
28:51: But they would have the feast everywhere. And so the Worldwide Church of God believed that you are saved by grace.
28:58: Yes. But you had to, after being saved, work your way into Heaven.
29:07: You had to now start keeping the laws to be able to enter Heaven. Christ cleaned you. You are now clean.
29:14: Make sure you have no spots now. Make sure you have no spots now. That's the key.
29:19: We had to obey the laws. And that's why we had to obey the Jewish laws and the Old Testament laws.
29:25: Plus whatever was in the New Testament. But it was by your works. So, hey,
29:30: I wanted something to do. The law was appealing. I started keeping all of them. I realized, oh, yeah,
29:37: I have to obey the Ten Commandments. And I changed then from Saturday morning to Saturday sunset, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
29:44: And, beloved, life became then very, very interesting. Very difficult.
29:50: Persecution started. Oh, my parents have two, three businesses. And Saturday is the busiest day of business.
29:58: And I am resting in the room because it was the
30:04: Sabbath. And I would not follow any instruction they would give me because I had to obey the
30:11: Sabbath. And I knew what the Lord did to Israel by just obeying. And so there was no way
30:17: I would do that. And just my friend and I, we would keep the Sabbath together. Because the Worldwide Church of God had no branch in Belize as yet.
30:25: They had it in Mexico City. And we contacted pastors. And the pastor from Mexico City would come down to Belize and visit with us and counsel two, three times a year.
30:35: So that's how it happened. And I would go to Mexico to keep all the feasts of the
30:40: Old Testament. And we did so. And, oh, my parents, it was very frustrating. And then they found out
30:46: I was reading the Bible. And it was very hard. It was very hard to just stay at home.
30:53: The looks, the words, the criticism. Because, beloved, here they were losing their only male child.
31:01: If you take another religion in Hinduism, there you are considered lost. Lost to another group.
31:09: Just lost from the family. And as a father, you can understand that, especially being the only male child.
31:15: You have all the hope there. And me not wanting to work on a Saturday. How will business prosper?
31:21: So that was the whole mentality. And, you know, it was always trials from the devil.
31:27: Because for the first time I would see my dad cry or my mom cry.
31:33: And I had never seen that. And so it was a very emotionally draining experience.
31:39: At that time, just in order to keep the laws. And, well, I decided
31:45: I could not continue at home. One year, two years, it was just getting worse. I decided I cannot continue living in this home.
31:52: I have to leave home. So I left home when I was 19, 20, I believe. And told my pastor from Mexico that I'm going to come to the
32:00: U .S. I have relatives here in the U .S. in different places, different states. So he said, that is fine, but why don't you come to Mexico City?
32:09: I said, why would I want to go to Mexico City? He said, well, we can give you a job in the church office. You won't have any problem keeping the
32:16: Sabbath and all the feasts. And if you like it, stay. If you don't like it, you're welcome to leave. I said, all right.
32:22: You know, I liked him a lot. And I said, just to satisfy him, I'm going to go two, three weeks and then leave. Two, three weeks turned into four years.
32:32: I absolutely loved every moment of it there. I went to Mexico City and got a job teaching
32:39: ESL, English as a second language, and things were wonderful. And started establishing my own business there, teaching.
32:47: And it was going well. And I would visit my parents every six months. And so, you know, they started accepting more or less where I was coming from, realized that they would not be able to change me anymore.
32:59: And so they gave up the pressure and they gave up the persecution. So two years into that, you know, it was going well.
33:08: And I started first just working for a church office that did not continue.
33:13: So I had to find a job working as an English teacher. And then the institution
33:19: I was working for accused me of taking or stealing their cassette tapes for classes.
33:27: So I was like, as if I'm even interested in keeping their tapes. They were horrible anyway. But those tapes, they were not helpful in teaching at all.
33:36: And so they say, you stole them. And they withheld my check for a whole month and did not give it to me. And so, you know, just being there,
33:43: I did not want to take any action as yet. So I told the students. And the students I had, by the way, in Mexico teaching
33:49: ESL, I'm not talking about teens or young people. I'm talking about CEOs, bank managers, business managers who want to learn commercial
33:57: English to be able to come to the U .S. and do business. And so I was teaching them.
34:02: So I told them what happened. And they said, well, we could care less about the institute you work for. Why don't you teach us personally?
34:10: Then I found out how much they were paying to the institute.
34:16: And I said, well, I'd love to do this. And it started off a business. And it was wonderful.
34:21: I mean, it's a huge business over there, especially if you're good at it. You can really, because they have all the money.
34:28: And they can make much more money when they come here. So I remember a student, the wife of a manager, you know,
34:36: I would be teaching. And he just, you know, soared. And he was constantly doing business. And he would ask me all these commercial terms and everything.
34:43: So he said, Raj, will you teach my wife? But I don't want her in any group, just one -on -one.
34:49: I said, okay, we'll do that. I remember she came that morning with three packs of cigarettes.
34:55: In the office that morning, she was a nervous wreck. So she asked me, may
35:01: I smoke? I said, okay, just open the window, though, and then go ahead. And I would just teach her one month, two months.
35:09: After three months, she was just, she was taking trips and soaring and telling me words. I had to look up in the dictionary.
35:15: So she really soared. And so it was wonderful. The pastor came up to me one day and says,
35:21: Raj, would you like to give a sermonette? And a sermonette in the
35:27: Worldwide Church of God was a 15 -minute message. And so I said, wow, I've never done this before.
35:33: And so he said, hey, try it. And he came up with a topic. I did it. And when I did that,
35:38: I knew from that moment that the Lord is calling me for pastoral work, or at least teaching
35:44: His Word. And I loved it. And I continued right there. And then after a year at Pasno, I'm already three years into Mexico, he said, listen, we would like you to be a pastor of a church here in Mexico City, but we need you to go and be trained.
35:58: Go to the U .S. and be trained. We have a college in East Texas, in Big Sandy, called Ambassador University.
36:06: We would send you there. And after four years, you would come back and we would have a pastoral position for you.
36:14: I said, I mean, I'm fine here. I don't want to go and study. Hey, let me just continue. Life was wonderful here.
36:21: He said, if you think life is good now, you wait until you go and study and come back. I said, all right.
36:26: So I tried and got accepted. And in 1991, came to Big Sandy, Texas.
36:34: And the first six months were hard for me. First of all, I could not understand Texan English.
36:41: It was very hard for me to understand the teachers. And the food, college food, did not even have salt in it.
36:51: And I had to add all, you know, coming from Mexico, plus with an Indian background, give me something hot.
36:56: But they were not, it was not there like that. But I got accustomed to it and it worked out well.
37:04: College was just, you know, wonderful days. In fact, they would make us date every week.
37:09: They would make us date every week. And that was the college life, living on campus and everything.
37:15: And of course, a date would simply be accompanying the girl to the dining hall, having a meal and spending the
37:22: Sabbath together. But that was the Sabbath. The whole college was shut down Friday evening to Saturday evening.
37:29: And if they would catch anyone outside or doing anything that would not be, they would expel them from the college.
37:36: It was a strong, firm, legalistic group. And, you know, even though I can speak sometimes badly about it, one thing
37:46: I do respect of the Worldwide Church of God, there was a commitment to the Word of God. They had that.
37:52: Regardless, you know, they were wrong, but the commitment was there. They honestly and sincerely were wrong, but sincerely.
38:01: And that was the issue. And, you know, we continued with that and that was wonderful.
38:06: Herbert Armstrong died when I was a senior at college, 1995.
38:13: And the new leadership came in the Worldwide Church of God, Joseph Tkach. Well, when he came, you know, he was just right on, very firm, keeping up everything, but he was an open -minded individual.
38:26: And he would receive tons of letters from counter -cult ministries, apologetics ministries.
38:33: And that's one of the reasons I went to study apologetics, by the way, but because it's a very needful ministry. And they would write to the
38:40: Worldwide Church of God and say, we have read your magazines, we like your pictures that you use, but now we realize that you all don't know anything about God.
38:49: That's what they would write to the leadership of the Worldwide Church of God. Counter -cult ministries, and I praise God for them.
38:56: Even Roman Catholic priests were writing them. That was amazing. And so Mr. Tkach looked at these letters and said, hmm, we need to prove them wrong.
39:07: He would take it to the Board of Elders, and the Board of Elders would say, well, what do you expect? All these people are daughters of Satan.
39:15: In fact, being in the Worldwide Church of God, we were not allowed to visit or enter a Christian bookstore.
39:21: We were not allowed to dare go to another church. That's how you keep control of people. You prohibit their freedom from going and receiving any other information except the information you give.
39:31: And, of course, from the pulpit would be all the brainwashing, and that's what would happen.
39:37: So as a side note, never underestimate what comes out of the pulpit. And it's good to be under a solid teacher.
39:45: That's very important. Because I know by experience, 13 years, the damage it can do to you spiritually if it's not based on the
39:54: Word of God. And so he came, and they said, well, what do you expect? They are wrong. We are right.
39:59: That's the cultic mentality. We are right. Everyone else is wrong. So he said, well, let's prove them wrong. And they got into a study.
40:06: They got into a study of the doctrine of the Trinity. Because we believed in the deity of Jesus Christ.
40:12: We believed in the deity of the Father. But we did not believe in the deity of the Holy Spirit. We thought it was a force, like Star Wars.
40:20: May the force be with you. That's exactly what we thought it was. It was not
40:25: God. And so they started studying the Trinity. And beloved, if you get your view of God right, everything else falls into place.
40:37: And this is so important to know your God. And the moment the Worldwide Church of God studied on the doctrine of Trinity, like a domino effect, one doctrine after the other started falling.
40:48: Because they got their view of God right. And then they started, Mr. Tkach one year later got up and gave a bombshell sermon.
40:57: And guess what was the title of that sermon? It's okay to play golf on the Sabbath. That caused a stir.
41:06: How dare you tell us to play golf on the Sabbath. Two -thirds of the church left.
41:13: Two -thirds of the entire worldwide body of the Worldwide Church of God. This man is not following the instructions and the teachings of Herbert W.
41:21: Armstrong. That's the problem. You're not following a man. This is the issue.
41:28: And by the way, Worldwide Church of God has had about 213 splinter groups come out of it.
41:35: All because they follow a man. I like the way you do this.
41:40: I don't like the way he does it. Let me go. That's the problem. And they would just be men followers and be miserable.
41:47: And you have these groups everywhere. Well, Mr. Tkach started telling us, the Sabbath is not required.
41:53: If you want to, you can do so. Well, one -third of us stayed. One -third of us realized, this man is right.
42:02: I did not find a single command in the New Testament to keep the Sabbath. Not one. That's another command.
42:09: And we never read the verse in Hebrews that says, we're under the new covenant, the old is passed away.
42:14: We never quoted that. And by the way, when we would study the book at college, one of my professors told me that when he was studying under his professor, they would go to the different books of the
42:27: Bible, they would stop in the book of Galatians, and they would say, the
42:32: Lord has not revealed this book to us as yet. Let us move on to the other book.
42:37: Because if you study Galatians, you are not going to have a favorable impression of the law. And that's the beauty of the book.
42:45: No wonder Martin Luther called the book of Galatians the Magna Carta of the church. And it's a very important book.
42:53: But I will quote something there. We stayed. One -third of us stayed. Two -thirds left.
42:59: Great division. Many churches had to close down. Can you imagine two -thirds of your funding not there anymore? So all the dreams that I had of going back to Mexico and becoming a pastor were shattered.
43:11: Gone. Nowhere to go. Well, thankfully, the
43:16: Worldwide Church of God continued, and thankfully I got a job here in Dallas, when
43:21: I was there, because we were just two hours from Big Sandy, and stayed there, got an opportunity to work there, and continued in the
43:28: Worldwide Church of God. But I became then very discouraged. Well, I wanted to preach.
43:34: I wanted to teach. I guess the Lord does not want that of me. So I continued right there, and we would then gather a small group, but we would still have our branches in Dallas.
43:45: And I want you to turn a very interesting verse. Please turn with me to 2 Corinthians 3. Because this verse then became very meaningful for those who contemplate keeping the law as a means of sanctification, or even going back to the law for anything, to be a better person or whatever.
44:04: Turn to 2 Corinthians 3, and verse 14. This came alive here, because Paul says here,
44:16: But their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the
44:26: Old Testament. Which veil is done away in Christ?
44:32: But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
44:41: Verse 16. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
44:51: For those in legalism, you want the veil to be taken away, turned to the Lord. But if you go back to Moses, a veil remaineth.
45:00: And that's what we had, the veil. That was just blinding us from not looking at Christ.
45:08: It's the analogy of a family going to Disney World.
45:16: And the father has this beautiful map. Detailed map, perfect map, with all the proper roads, the directions, the distances, everything.
45:26: And the father is driving, and they arrive at Disney World. The father is still looking at the map. Ah, what a map.
45:32: What a wonderful map. Look how detailed. And the kids at the back saying, Daddy, we're here. No, but look at this map.
45:39: Look at the detail. Look at where it guides us. Look at where it shows us. That's what we were thinking of the law.
45:47: What a perfect law. What a beautiful law. What a wonderful law. And here we have
45:52: Christ and other Christians telling us, but you already have Jesus Christ in front of you. You're already in Disney World.
45:58: But the father is still looking at the map. And you're already there. And so that was the issue that was taking place with us.
46:06: But then we experienced a beautiful freedom. For the first time, and I would start, well,
46:12: I had to rethink all that I knew of Jesus Christ. I got baptized in the Worldwide Church of God for my past sins, not for present or future.
46:21: You had to do that on your own. So I was like, well, what do I believe anymore? I would visit church after church in Dallas.
46:28: And I was very discouraged, because it was all these mushy, mushy messages. You know, just simply that God loves you, and that's about it.
46:37: No direction, no instruction. I was very discouraged. You know, don't get me wrong. Of course, the love of God is there for His own.
46:44: But I wanted someone to tell me, well, show me the way. This is what the Word of God says. They were not teaching.
46:51: They were simply preaching. And so I was looking back, and, you know, I started to then listen to radio programs.
46:58: Chuck Swindoll, Charles Stanley, you name it. And they blessed my life. Because one year later,
47:05: I recommitted myself to Jesus Christ with a proper and clear and fuller understanding of what it is now.
47:12: Salvation is not just for the past, but for everything. I was walking one evening after hearing the pure and true gospel.
47:20: Well, turn with me to Philippians 1. Because by this time, beloved, my plans to be in the ministry were finished.
47:33: My plans. That's the key word. My plans were finished. Philippians 1, verse 6.
47:41: Being confident of this very thing, that He which had began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
47:52: That is so comforting, beloved. Because I thought that God had given up on me. I thought that, okay,
47:59: I guess, you know, my passion, my desire, I just love to teach. I guess the Lord doesn't want that. Little did
48:05: I know that the Lord says, I'm not just going to let you teach in the Worldwide Church of God. I'm going to let you teach in any
48:13: Christian body that you have an opportunity and a chance to. That's the beauty of the
48:18: Lord's work. It was not just limited. For me, I thought it was only going to be in the Worldwide Church of God. No, the
48:23: Lord had bigger and better plans. And this is His whole encouragement and purpose for it.
48:30: So, as I was continuing reading and studying, I wanted to look for a career direction. And I became more frustrated.
48:37: I got into financial management, and just none of that fulfilled me. The whole was still there.
48:44: The calling of God was still there to preach His word. And then I knew that I needed to go to seminary.
48:51: I needed to unlearn all the garbage, and relearn what is true biblical
48:58: Christianity. So I said, and the only way I can do that, if I do it on my own, it's going to be forever.
49:04: I need to go get trained. And I was calling everywhere. I was looking for a master's in apologetics, coming out from a
49:10: Hinduism background. And you all know what apologetics is. Simply put, a defense of the Christian faith.
49:16: Coming out from Hinduism and cults, I wanted to help people in cults. Because I knew what their situation was, and how it can be so devastating.
49:27: Beloved, I called Dallas Theological. I called almost every seminary in the United States. And no one offered a master's in apologetics.
49:36: They offered one or two courses, but not a master's. So I wanted a master's in that. Except Norman Geisler in South Carolina, I believe.
49:45: And as I was working with him, someone got on the phone and told me, look, I would rather you find a seminary nearby where you are in class.
49:53: So I said, well, let me do some more looking around. I did some research and some study, and I found Tyndale Seminary in Fort Worth.
50:01: I called in. It was three weeks already. Classes had begun. The director picked up the phone and he said, you're interested in studying?
50:08: Why don't you just come along tonight? I went that night without filling out any application form. Nothing. And Dr.
50:14: Couch was the president of the seminary. He was teaching the book of John verse by verse from the
50:21: Greek. Three hours. I came out with tears in my eyes.
50:27: Finally, I found the place where someone knows what he's talking about and is teaching solidly, biblically, knowing what he's saying.
50:37: I knew this is where I was going to be. And I said, well, I just went for my master's. I realized after studying my master's in apologetics,
50:43: I realized I was just touching the tip of the surface. Of what I needed to learn. And so I decided to go for the
50:49: D .M .I .N. after that. But that's been the journey. And after I graduated two years ago, and got a position at Park City's Presbyterian Church in Dallas.
51:04: Their Hispanic pastor was leaving. And so they asked me to come and so I did it part time. Then why am
51:10: I here in Corsicana? Just concluding this morning a fellow seminary friend of mine in class, he is a member of Believer's Bible Church across the road here.
51:23: And he got a position to be the principal of Corsicana Christian Academy. And he got that position.
51:30: He knew me. He said, Raj, we need a Spanish teacher. Would you mind coming? And I had learned Spanish in Belize and living in Mexico City.
51:37: So I said, well, that's fine. Let me try that. I always wanted to teach in a Christian high school or Christian school.
51:43: I wanted to get it out of my system. I just wanted to experience that. And so I went. Unfortunately, the school closed down one year later.
51:51: But it was the experience I needed. Before it closed down, the pastor of the church told me, he said,
51:58: Raj, someone has given funding for us to start a Hispanic ministry in Corsicana. Would you be interested in heading that up?
52:06: I said, hey, wonderful. I would love to do that. And so that's what we started about a year and a half ago.
52:12: And we meet on Sunday evenings here on the grounds of Believer's Bible Church. Because for the
52:17: Hispanics, the evenings work much better for them. So there we teach. And on Tuesday nights, too.
52:23: Because I firmly believe it is only by teaching that people can grow. Not this half an hour once a week thing.
52:29: It won't work like that. And so we have to give them the word. And lots of ups and downs. Very exciting, though.
52:36: But very encouraging in this way. Beloved, turn to Colossians 1.
52:49: Just looking back, here we are. Just looking back, you have to just stop.
52:57: And I want you to take a minute and look at your life. Has the Lord not brought you through to today?
53:03: Yes, he has. And he has brought us through some things. And it's so necessary sometimes to just take a step back and look.
53:11: Look at your life. Where have you been and where are you now? And praise God for it. You know, he has delivered us.
53:18: He has rescued us. And for me, this verse literally means a lot to me. Colossians 1, verse 12.
53:25: Giving thanks. That's what we can do. Especially with the week coming up next week. Giving thanks unto the
53:32: Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
53:39: Look at verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness?
53:46: He really has. And hath translated us, changed us, into the kingdom of his dear
53:53: Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
53:59: It's nothing you and I did. He brought us here and he will continue doing so. He who began a good work in you will fulfill it.
54:07: And that's just not, I believe that's not just about salvation. Your calling. Everything that the Lord has put in your heart, you will not leave this world unless you fulfill it.
54:16: And the Lord is faithful. And the sooner we get in line with the program, the better for all of us. And that's the joy and that's the beauty of the
54:24: Christian walk. So we can give thanks today. And we can praise God that we didn't contribute to this.
54:31: It was all His from the beginning. And we have a hope. And we are children of light. Now, we are no longer submitting to another force.
54:40: We no longer have to. We are dear children of God living in the light. And what a future.
54:46: What a hope. Beloved, two -thirds of the population still do not know Christ. What a why.
54:54: I always have to look back and say, God, why me? Why you? Why not my neighbor? Why did you not call them?
55:01: Well, I do not know that as yet. Right? The world has not finished as yet. He may. And here we are.
55:07: Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much.
55:14: Lord, what can we say as we come before your presence today? Father, thank you for each and every one of our lives.
55:22: Lord, we just bend the knee at the feet of Jesus. We look to him for justification.
55:28: We look to him for sanctification. We look to him for the completion of the beautiful work he has started.
55:35: Father God, we are not worthy, but you are. Lord, we just thank you for the hope we have.
55:41: And we beg you to please put the burning in our hearts to reach out to a sick and dying world that simply needs to know your precious son.
55:50: Direct us and guide us, we pray, and dismiss us in your peace. In Jesus' name.