Citizens Federal Savings Bank in Birmingham

While I was poking about the Pythian Temple, I also went next door to the Citizens Federal Savings Bank building. Citizens Federal Savings Bank was founded by A.G. Gaston in 1957. In addition to housing the bank, this building was notably home to the Booker T. Washington Insurance Company (founded in 1924) and a Birmingham gospel radio station, WAGG. Though it is no longer headquartered in the basement of the Citizens Federal building, WAGG is a 5000-watt station that can still be heard on AM 610.

This (above) is the front of the Citizens Federal Saving Bank/Booker T. Washington building, after its facade was renovated and "improved" from the archaic style of the early part of the century. Originally, there were no balconies, but the windows were pushed back and balconies added with the renovations of the 1960s.

The top floor still houses thousands upon thousands of insurance policies. Did you know a death policy from the early 1960s might pay out as little as $75? You can't get somebody from the house to the funeral home for that amount now.

On an Easter Morning

So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." He said to them, "I AM." And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, "I AM," they drew back and fell to the ground. John 18:4-6

'YAHWEH comes from the Hebrew verb "to be" and is the special name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM; and He said, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you... this is My eternal name, and this is how I am to be recalled for all generations'" (Exodus 3:14-15). Therefore, YAHWEH declares God's absolute being - the source of everything, without beginning and without end.

The LORD who revealed Himself as YAHWEH in the Old Testament is revealed as Yeshua (Jesus) in the New Testament. Jesus shares the same attributes as YAHWEH and clearly claims to be YAHWEH. In John 8:56-9, Jesus presents himself as the "I AM." When challenged by some Jewish leaders regarding His claim of seeing Abraham (who lived some 2000 years earlier), Jesus replied, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." Those Jewish leaders understood that Jesus was claiming to be YAHWEH.'