Dickinson author compiles words of Jesus into study guide

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Apprentice electrician and author Roy W. Hauser of Dickinson was inspired to take the words of Jesus from the Bible and create a study guide.

This is a one-of-a-kind book that contains every word that Jesus ever spoke in the New Testament, he said.

“The other words are important too, but the ones that stick are where Jesus speaks — to have faith and to believe,” Hauser said.

He started the 285-page study guide in 2009 while living in southern Oregon. He completed it after moving to Dickinson with his wife, Veronica, a year ago.

Titled “The Words of Jesus,” the guide opens with an autobiographical introduction of pain and brokenness after his divorce and loss of custody of his four children.

“I’d say I fell from grace and hit rock bottom,” Hauser said.

“I found my life was in total darkness and I did not care,” he wrote. “I was alone, and the people around me were also lost souls. Their direction in life was a path of destruction, leading into darkness — a downward spiral.”

He found a passage from Acts 26:18 that applied to the situation.

“To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to the light, and from the power of Satan until God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

After the divorce, Hauser’s parents suggested he contact his old Scoutmaster, Tom, and wife, Alice, in southern California for spiritual renewal. While staying with his friends, he noticed Alice clipping verses from the Bible and putting them in a notebook.

Hauser asked why she didn’t use a book and she said she couldn’t find one. Then Alice told him, “You are an Eagle Scout, why don’t you make one?”

The suggestion stuck with him. He came across Thomas Jefferson’s project to present the story of Jesus in his own words.

“The Words of Jesus” takes Jefferson’s work on the gospels and extends it by including sayings from the Acts of the Apostles, Corinthians and Revelation.

When Hauser started the research, he described his typing as a chicken pecking grain.

“All of a sudden a ray of light hit me and I started to understand what Jesus was saying — of his laws and how to be a good person,” he said “My typing became better.”

He believes the book is a code that can change anyone who is having a difficult time in their life.

Chapters are condensed to simple labels — “Parable of the lighted candle” or “Christ warns about hypocrisy.” The words of Jesus are then inserted as the text.

“He was spiritually lifted by the Words of Jesus,” said Veronica, who was his editor.

Her favorite section of the book is the introduction.

“I like the very beginning — to me a lot of people have been through a bad part in their lives,” she said.

Since the book has been published, Hauser said its been No. 9 out of 900 books dealing with Jesus on a Barnes and Nobel list.

“It’s taken a great leap and that’s amazing — I’ve done no marketing,” he said.

The Hausers are immersing themselves into the Dickinson community, and hope to become active in the Scouting program. He earned his Eagle Scout award at age 15 and his High Adventure Troop climbed every major mountain in America by the time he was age 14.

Hauser also is a timber faller by profession. With his knowledge of the trade, he wrote a 250-page guide titled “The Art of Falling Timber.” It’s designed for people, such as Forest Service personnel, who need to cut trees safety. It’s in the process of being published.

He hopes “The Words of Jesus” will help everyone on their spiritual journey in life.

The couple is preparing to launch a web page of the work: www.thewordsofjesusbyroy

whauser.com. The book also is available at Faith Expressions Christian store in Dickinson. Hauser would like to find an investor to take the book to the next level.

Tags: lifestyle, dickinson, author, hauser