September 4, 2009 BIG MISTAKE by Cornelius R. Stam Printer Friendly Version Several times in the last few weeks commentators over radio, TV and in the newspapers have made a big mistake. This was in connection with the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr. Frank Sr., as we know, had to pay the kidnappers $240,000.00 for the ransom of his son. One after another the news commentators declared that this amount was by no means the highest amount ever paid for a ransom. In the Bobby Greenlease case, they said, the Kansas City auto dealer had to pay $600,000.00 to ransom his son -- the highest price ever paid for the ransom of a human being. Here they are wrong. $600,000.00 is by no means the highest price ever paid for the ransom of a human being. St. Paul, by divine inspiration, wrote in I Tim. 2:4-6: "God will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. "Who gave HIMSELF a ransom for all..." Did you get that? Christ gave Himself a ransom for all. All mankind had been taken captive by Satan and sin, but Christ paid the price of our ransom. That price was Himself -- His own life, which He gave on Calvary's cross to pay for our redemption. All that was accomplished at Calvary was not revealed, however, until God raised up the Apostle Paul, who goes on to say in Verses 6 and 7 of the above passage that this mes- sage was "testified in due time," by him. When sin had risen to its height in the world's rejection of Christ, God reached down from heaven to save Saul, the chief of sinners, and sent him forth as the Apostle Paul to proclaim salvation by grace through faith in the Christ who had died for sin. This is why the Apostle declares in I Tim. 1:15,16: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering..." To the Reader: Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface: "It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles." We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.