Do You Know This Person?

He got pneumonia when he was 18 months old and nearly died! He was cut from his high school baseball team for joining a church league violating school rules! He dropped out of high school in the 10th grade! He worked as a ditch digger, delivery boy, railroad track layer and a shoemaker. He was drafted into the Army in 1943 and honorably discharged in 1946. He tried out for the then Fayetteville Cubs professional baseball team and was cut after 3 weeks! His name was Rocky Marciano who reigned as Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the world from 1952-1956! He had a total of 49 fights in his career with a total of 49 victories! Forty three of these victories were by knockout! Never try to shield yourself or others from struggles! Struggles build character! Your character is not built upon success unless you suffer failures first! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Forgiveness! Matthew 27:50

Yielded up here means Christ voluntarily gives up His Spirit in His body! To forgive sin means to remove those sins from oneself! Only God is able to do that for us! To forgive sin is not to disregard them or do nothing about them, but to liberate a person from them! That is to remove the guilt and power of sin over and in a person! We are to ask God to forgive us our sin and remove them from us so we do not stand guilty of them and under their power and control. Christ has forgiven us and He also asks us to forgive others! Remember our forgiving others is a sign of our salvation but only Christ has the power to redeem others! This is why Evangelism is so important! I can forgive a snake for biting me but if I go back to that snake he will bite me again! You can forgive that poor devil but he is still a devil. The sinner must still come to the same Christ we have come to! One sign that you have forgiven a sinner who has offended you is that you regularly pray for them that God will Bless them and that they will find Christ as their Savior! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Earthquakes and Air! Matthew 8:24

“And behold there arose a great tempest in the sea, inasmuch that the ship was covered with the waves; but He was asleep.” The Greek word “seismos”, used for tempest can either mean an earthquake or a gale of wind. Are these events related? Could this have been a tsunami? Regardless Jesus used the air or His breath to command the storm to cease! Let us go back to some other voices from the past! From the lifetime of Greek Philosopher Anaxagoras in the 5th Century B.C. to the 14th Century A.D. believed that earthquakes were attributed to air(vapors) in the cavities of the earth! The Greek Philosopher Democritus (460-371 B.C,) blamed water in the ground for earthquakes! He did not know anything about fracking! Also remember the earth in history was completely flooded in water for months! Noah’s flood! What would that do to the earth’s crust soaking and submerged for months? Perhaps this is why the Greek word became associated with earthquakes, air and water? We know earthquakes can cause floods, fires, volcanos and elevate the earth’s temperature! Jesus predicted an increase of earthquakes before His second coming! Could this increase cause global warming? An earthquake of 8.6 in magnitude releases the same amount of energy as ten thousand atomic bombs the size used in WWII. Remember the earthquake when Jesus died on the Cross? The graves were opened and many other things happened! When Jesus stopped breathing (air) the quake occurred! Let us look at Revelation 16:17-18. Chapter 16 covers the seven vial judgments released upon the earth! Notice the seventh angel poured out his vial out into the air! Then God spoke it is done or finished and then the largest earthquake ever recorded in history took place! Jesus said in Luke 21:11, “there shall be earthquakes in diverse places and great signs from Heaven.” Remember Paul and Silas in prison? Acts 16:25-26. Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God! Your praises and prayers involve breath or air! Suddenly an earthquake came and freed them from prison! God can use a supernatural event to save you or destroy you! Without breath we die! God breathed into man the breath of life! Creation involved air as God spoke it into existence! When a baby is born it is slapped on the bottom to get it to breath! When opposing winds collide they form cyclones or a tornado! Opposing words between nations can cause a war! Words are important because they can either pollute the air or fragrance it! Remember when the Holy Spirit came as Jesus had promised? The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples as a mighty rushing wind! We can repeat Jesus words with our breath or we can speak our own words in destruction! Use the breath God gave you to praise Him! Your life and others will be changed! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Resurrection! Matthew 27:52-53

The word resurrection literally means to quit one’s previous position and to rise up! We need a spiritual resurrection and a physical resurrection! Jesus said we must be born again! We had no control over our physical birth and no control over our physical death unless we chose suicide! Without Christ we wake up everyday in our previous position of sin! Nothing seems to change except things get worse! Through Christ we quit this position and move into righteousness! That is we are made right with God! We wake up with a spiritually resurrected body and the promise of a physically resurrected body! It is interesting that when Jesus died on the Cross the graves were opened up by an earthquake and many of the saints arose! Notice in verse 53, they came out of the graves after the resurrection! When sin has been paid for people get free! I spent a few years in India and learned some of the aspects of the Hindu religion! The Hindus suffer from many bondages and superstitions based upon their Theology of God! One particular destructive belief about God is the Doctrine of reincarnation! Not the incarnation but reincarnation! They believe if you sin or are a bad person in your next life you could be a bug, rat or a snake or something awful. There is no remedy and you are locked into this condition due to your sin! They have respect for bugs and rats because they could have been a former family member! If fact in the Hindu Temples they feed rats and snakes milk and give them respect! Lucky critters! So they believe their sin is punished forever into the next generations whom could be a bug, snake, cow or a human never to come up in life! They make no effort to improve their life because their lot is permanent! It was very hard to improve their life under these beliefs! The incarnation is very different from the reincarnation! God taking on our sin who was without sin to deliver us from evil. God becomes man to take the very sin that separates us from God! If reincarnation were true and Jesus was just another human and took on the sin of the whole world he would have been resurrected as Satan! But Jesus was God and only that sacrifice would have been acceptable to God the Father! His son was the key to redemption! When Jesus was raised from the dead the saints were raised with Him! The resurrection is probably the most important aspect of our Faith! It is also based on historical facts! The next time you see a bug crawling across your floor you have my permission to step on it! What we believe about God determines our outlook and attitude about life here on earth and after! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Crowns! Revelation 4:10

In the Kingdom of Heaven it is His work that will be crowned, not yours! Anything in you that He has not wrought Himself will count for nothing! Johannes Tauler (1300-1361). Comment: This statement might let the hot air out of your balloon? Just a piece of humble pie will help us! Let us look at Revelation 4:10 The events described in Chapter four is the Rapture of the Church! The earthly residence of the Church is moved to Heaven! There are other scriptures that support this like the dead in Christ being raised first! The events found in this chapter are astounding to say the least! People are not falling to sleep in church here! Part of the scene here is the 24 elders clothed in white rainment and having gold crowns on their heads! Old is gold especially in Heaven! Remember the Sanhedrin was made up of 70 elders who many believe the Apostle Paul had been a member. We get our word Presbyterian from this Greek word! The elders were worshiping Christ around the Throne of God! Then they cast down their crowns before the Throne of God! There are different root words used in our Bible for our English word crowns! The word used here is not a King’s crown! Tell me more? It is a crown given to those as would have won a military battle! You might call it the Medal of Honor! The crown was woven of oak or ivory! Wood was used like in the Cross or the crown of thorns. Then it was dipped in gold! You have probably heard of the oak leaf cluster! Given to brave soldiers in battle! The 24 elders had enough sense to know that they conquered in Jesus Name! So this old theologian who lived in the 1300’s got it right! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Are You The One? Mark 14:61-62

I believe every generation born asks this question sooner or later! Caiaphas the High Priest asked Jesus this question! After Judas betrayed Jesus the Jews apprehended Jesus and a mock trial was held! Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders of Israel as He is to the religious system today! The religious leaders raised up false accusers against Jesus to nail Him! However the false witnesses could not agree with their testimonies! Why was Jesus such a threat? They had their long robes and long prayers but Jesus at the snap of His fingers raised the dead, healed the blind and the lame, walked on water and cast out demons! So Caiaphas had to ask the question that he dreaded to ask and inside knew this was probably the guy! Jesus are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed? What was he really asking? Let us break these words down one Greek word at a time! Christ means the anointed one! That is He was covered with the Glory of God! The word son used here, “Hulos”, is a specific word reserved for the Son of God as opposed to the generic word used meaning the offspring of parents! The word Blessed is reserved for God who is worthy of praise! Humans can be favored by circumstances however these circumstances can change and usually will over time! God is the creator of all and we are the recipients of His love! Jesus replied to his question with an affirmative yes and added more as we see in verse 62. Caiaphas then accused Jesus of blasphemy and Jesus persecution and execution followed! Suffering can come because of who you are! Good or bad! Jesus suffering was pre-planned by God! Jesus always referred to “His Father” except at the Cross! At the Cross Jesus said, “My God why have you forsaken me?” Have you ever felt forsaken? There are many benefits for following Jesus such as eternal life, peace, joy, love, long suffering, patience and the list goes on! Also remember many suffer today because of His name! Such as the Christians in the Middle East, Africa and places including America! It is not easy to suffer for who you are however Jesus suffered because of who we are! Sinners saved by Grace! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Sequel to Judas Iscariot

Remember in the previous blog posting I asked you some questions about Judas Iscariot? One of those questions was why did Jesus not cast the devil out of Judas Iscariot? Jesus cast seven devil’s out of Mary Magdalene! Well, you say the plot to betray Jesus would have been spoiled! It says in the Gospel of Luke that Satan entered Judas! The Prince of devil’s entered Judas! The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness have an order of rank! The problem for Jesus is that He will not cast Satan out of Satan! You will still have Satan left! It would also preclude eternal judgment for Satan! Jesus made a way for God to enter us and dwell in us! The Holy Spirit secures us until Christ returns for us! Remember the lunatic that had a legion of devil’s? Jesus cast them out into the pigs! No doubt if any of us had a legion of devil’s in us we would also be a lunatic! However this nut was not beyond redemption yet Judas was? My Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. Not money but the love of it! From the drug dealer to the Ponzi scheme on Wall Street! Judas was in love with money! He loved money to the point of betraying God! Welcome to the ministry! This opened the door for Satan the Chief of all demons to enter Judas! Even thought he repented it did no good! The cries of Hell are not so much about the heat and fire but there is no possibility of redemption from it! We should be reminded of the rich man and Lazarus! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Judas Iscariot Mark 14:10

Judas has gotten some bad press over the centuries! He earned it! Where did he go wrong? Books have been written about him and some even supporting him? The Gnostic writings claim Jesus made a deal with Judas? It says in the Gospel of Luke that Satan entered Judas! How do you get to that point? Jesus cast out demons for people so why not Judas? What we do know about Judas is that he loved money! He was the treasurer for the ministry! He got mad at the woman who spent all her money on Jesus burial perfume! So who was Judas? Did he graduate first in his class? Was he a common criminal? Did he have a record? Jesus recruited him! Was it intentional? Army recruiters end up with Medal of Honor winners and deserters! Has Jesus recruited you? Are you going to switch sides? Jesus said it would have been better if Judas had not been born! Not a five star rating! Put that in your resume! Did his mommy love him? Did the stork deliver him or take him away? Was it providence for Judas? He had a free will. Have you ever made a bad choice? You know like God does not exist and Jesus is a fraud and I will do what I want? Did you vote for Hillary? Trump? Millions voted for Adolf Hitler? Buyers remorse on that one! Do you follow a religion or ideology that endorses killing people? Judas could not see any benefit for following Jesus? No financial gain? No fame only persecution! Don’t take any script or money with you on your journey! Eat what is placed on your plate! No five star hotels! Foxes have holes and birds have nests but me? Sleep out in the desert with scorpions! Judas thought at least I can get 30 pieces of silver out of Jesus! The High Priest and the scribe want him out of the way anyway! I can use religion to make money! What a novel idea! Judas was simply following the crowd! My grandpa told me as a teenager never to follow the crowd! Look what the mob did to Jesus Jimmy! I posted on an earlier blog what happened to those who plotted against Jesus! That is Caiaphus the High Priest, Herod, Pilot and the rest. They all came to a bad end! So what side of history will you and I be on? You will either support Christ’s Kingdom or Satan’s Kingdom! The choice is ours! But choices matter! In this life we will follow only one! There are no refunds on our choices! We could be like the thief on the Cross who at the last minute got into Heaven! Why gamble with eternity? The best time to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior is right now! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com