The year was 1986. The place was Yercaud, India. We had just moved from Madras(Chennai), to this small village located on a mountain in South India. One big problem moving from big city to small village is finding adequate housing for my family. My uncle victor who was an MD. down in Salem had a friend who was a wealthy man. This man owned a mansion on Yercaud mountain that he used as summer cottage during hot season down in Salem Valley. This man was a Hindu who offered his mansion for free! This mansion was surrounded by 1000 acres of coffee estates located on the edge of a cliff! Beautiful panoramic view of Salem Valley below. We were excited! Clouds would hit you in the face as they moved over the mountain! Servants on duty to take care of all house work! I began to feel sorry for Americans back home as they had to go to jobs every day! Then this rich man came by and asked me if I would like to stay in mansion for rest of my life! Also he offered me young girls down in Salem Valley to make me happy! I told him the young girls for sex was out! But to stay in your mansion? Then he offered to pay for all college expenses for my small daughters when they reach college age! He told me to think about it and would be back from visit to U.S. in about two weeks. Well he came back and asked me about the offer? I told him it was a very generous offer! He told me there was only one condition? I must stop preaching about this Jesus Christ to the local villagers in Yercaud and villages above Yercaud! I explained to him that this is the reason we came to India! He then told me I have three days to vacate the mansion! We found a hut complete with scorpions, snakes and rats! I wish I were back in America! We completed our 3 years in India and shared the Gospel of Christ to many people! Scripture; Matthew Chapter 4, verses 8 and 9. Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Month: May 2011
Garage Sale!
The scripture reference for this word study is First Corinthians Chapter 15, Verse 4. The word or phrase we are going to study is “Rose Again”. The Strongs Number is 1453. The Greek Word is Egeiro. This word means to waken, idea of collecting one’s faculties or rouse from sleep. The base word for this word is Strong’s Number 58. This Greek word is Agora.This word means to gather together as in a town square. It means to meet together in a market place where things are exposed for sale! Also where assemblies of people met to conduct public trials. Commentary; Never forget our sin was up for sale! Satan offered Jesus all the Kingdoms of this world if He would bow down and worship him! In America we have garage sales. We take the worthless things off the floor of our homes and raise them up on a table to sell. People actually will come and pay money for these worthless junk! We were worthless in our sin yet Christ purchased our sin with His own Blood! His life for ours! He paid the ransom to redeem us from our sin! In the phrase, “Rose again”, we find the word Rose. A perennial flower that blooms over and over again! Christ’s sweet fragrance in me manifests over and over again! Christ is the Rose of Sharon! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Word Study
I like word studies of the Bible! We can trust our English or other Language Bible translations but a key word study by going back to the Greek(NT) or Hebrew(OT), will give a unique perspective on the word of God! These words are layered much like the earth’s crust is layered wth different kinds of rocks. We have to dig deep to find the Gold and Diamonds! God has spoken to us through His Word! We speak to God through prayer but God primarily speaks to us through His Word! God’s creative power and redemptive power is through His Word! The Holy Bible is the Word of God. God’s Image is expressed and manifested through His Word! There are approximately 700 scriptures alone just on the word-“word”! In our next Blog we will take one word out of one scripture and study it. Thankyou. James Sasse GodWhoisGod.com
Brethren
Paul begins his speech in First Corinthians Chapter 15 with the word brethern. The Greek word used in the text is the word Adelphos. This word means of the same womb. It can mean a brother literal of figurative. I cannot help but to ask do we treat each other like we came from the same womb? We do not expect the world to do this but how about the Church? Paul’s most trouble of all came from the Church at Corinth! More divisions and more immoral behavior than any other Church. Paul was trying to bring unity to a divided Church! So he began in Chapter 15 by using the word brethern. During my three years in India I had a difficult time getting Pastor’s to work together. The biggest issue above denominations was the caste system. If Pastor’s were not of the same caste they did not want to work together? I used to ask them is your caste greater than your God? Jesus said we must be born again! We must and need this second birth that is greater and more important than our natural birth! We have issues in our own Church right now where some people do not want to mix with other races of people? Unless one is born again one cannot get beyond their first earthly birth! Do we see the world through the eyes of God? Are we color blind and only see the creator of all behind the visual images in our mind? Do we have the mind of Christ and accept all people as God has made all people? Does God discriminate? He does in only one area. He descriminates when it comes to right and wrong! He upholds the righteous and condemns the wicked! Paul was trying to get the Church at Corinth to see beyond themselves and seek a purpose greater than themselves! Mary’s womb produced many children but the first born Christ was unique from all other children who have or ever will be born again! Christ’s Father in Heaven looked down to His only begotten Son ever to live on the earth and become the sacrifice for my Sin and yours! Only the womb of God can produce children who recognize other children who have been born from the same womb! Are you born again? I was born again in the year 1973. Do you know your second birth date? If so I can only say, “Happy Birthday!”
Family Feud!
Abraham had two wives. Sarah and Hagar produced a son from Abraham. Sarah produced Isaac and Hagar produced Ishmael. Since then the Jews and Arabs have warred over family position and predominance! God in the Book of Genesis promised to Bless both families. The promised seed(Christ), was to come through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When Islam began in about 650 A.D. a religious system was born to legalize violence against Christians and Jews. On 9-11 Americans got their first real taste of this family feud! Now Bin Laden is gone along with tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars in losses! So where does it end? What is the solution? Do we give up and surrender to evil? Much of the world rejects Christ and His teachings. This includes many Jews, Arabs and gentiles. But it is Christ the only Son of God who is the real answer to this dilemma! Christianity was born out of the womb of Judaism! God promised the Messiah would come through the Jew. This does not mean God has rejected Arabs or anyone else! It was simply God’s plan for giving a Saviour to the world. I am not a Jew but God has given me a sacrifice for my Sin through the Jew. Prophetically Christ was to die on a Cross for all people. God did not leave anyone out of the plan. Until men come to Christ this war will continue. Once we understand that our Sin is forgiven by God then we can forgive others as we have been forgive. Peace comes to our lives when we embrace Christ and His Spirit lives in us! Christ is the solution for this dilemma! If we do not allow Christ’s blood to cleanse us then we will continue to shed our fellow man’s blood in war! Man is at war with God! God’s ways are higher than our ways! Jesus said those who live by the sword will die by the sword! Will it be His way or your way? The wages of Sin is death! The choice is yours! Choose Life today! Give God a chance to change your ways! In Christ’s Love. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com