Olivet Discourse! Matthew 24:3-14

Jesus disciple’s just before His passion asked Him an important question? What will be the signs of your second coming and the end of the world? I will never forget the man I saw walking in Times Square carrying a sign that said the world is coming to an end! When I got laid off and the steel plant closed back in the 1970’s I thought the world was coming to an end! When Lockheed laid me off with 15000 other people at the plant back in the 1980’s I thought my world was coming to an end! When I got medically separated from the military back in the 1990’s I thought my world was coming to an end! Actually the word “end” in the Greek means the end of an age and the beginning of a new age! Jesus second coming will be the beginning of a new age called the millennium! Jesus said the first sign of the end of the age will be many false Christ’s shall rise up! I will never forget while in India back in the 1980’s of a famous Pastor/Evangelist there who one day in front of thousands of people told them that he was the Christ? His book sales dropped like a rock! Then Jesus talked about wars! Declared and undeclared! Insurrections and seditions! Every generation has not been spared war! However Jesus said do not be troubled with wars for the end is not yet! Then there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places! Jesus said all these things are the beginning of sorrows! Tell me more! The word sorrow here means like a woman with the pains of child birth! Then Jesus goes on to say that they will deliver you up and kill you and be hated of the nations for my name! Is it any wonder some believers will head for the exits? Since the rise of Islam thousands of Jews and Christians have been slaughtered! Remember that the end of the age will be concluded with the 7 year tribulation period! The Anti-Christ and the False Prophet will run the world for 7 years! Destruction like never seen before on earth will come then! The one world political leader and the one world religious leader will co-rule! The Church has been raptured at this point! The Anti-Christ will rule from Jerusalem and the False Prophet from Rome! A Jew and a Muslim will share power! The Anti-Christ will also be gay! He will have no natural affection for women! Now you understand the gay agenda! Now you understand the push for globalism and the war on Nationalism! No borders? Globalism! Sanctuary cities? Globalism! EU? Globalism! UN? Globalism! Democratic party? Globalism! War on cops? Globalism! No voter ID? Globalism! Trump won on Nationalism and how long can the USA fight the globalists? The British left the EU? Nationalism! During the tribulation period many will come to Christ including many Jews! Jesus went on to say iniquity or lawlessness will grow! Record number of policemen killed in America over past two years! Some believers will grow cold! Care and compassion will cool off! Hearts will be frozen in their own self-interest! Jesus said if we endure to the end we will be saved! Shall be saved means the immediate deliverance to Salvation through Christ! Endure means to sustain a load of miseries, adversities, persecutions, provocations with faith and patience! So what event concludes the end of this age and the beginning of the new age? Jesus said the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations; then shall the end come! Did you ever notice that some people who are not interested in Christ’s return including some in the church are not interested in Evangelism of the lost? Some make claims to His name but never invest time and money to reach the lost? No tithes or offerings? Will attend church only if convenient? They will jump around to church after church careful not to leave evidence they are in love with the world! If you want Jesus to return soon then go to work in His harvest fields! The seeds are time and money! Cheap grace is to receive the benefits of the Kingdom and yet invest nothing to seed the fields for a harvest? Plant a harvest not a drought! If you are not really interested in Jesus second coming then you will continue in your sin! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Science and Faith!

It might be interesting that the following scientists believed God had to exist! 1. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) 2. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627) 3. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) 4. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) 5. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) 6. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) 7. Isaac Newton (1642-1727) 8. Robert Boyle (1791-1867) 9. Michael Faraday (1791-1867) 10. Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) 11. William Thomas Kelvin (1824-1907) 12. Max Planck (1858-1955) 12. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Comment: Einstein believed that it was impossible that we live in a non-created universe!

Jesus Words! Matthew 24:13

Greek Translation: “But he that endures a load of miseries, adversities, persecutions, provocations in faith and patience towards people until your goal of perfection is accomplished completely shall have the spiritual and eternal salvation granted immediately by God through Jesus Christ,” Comment: Did you ever notice you do not start off your life with Jesus Christ? You start out by being in love with the world. However after a load of miseries, adversities, persecutions and provocations you figure out something is wrong? Most of our woes are self inflicted but a few done by others! Then Jesus Christ comes into your life with a love you never thought possible? Jesus fills your emptiness with His love! You still have the miseries, adversities, persecutions and provocations however they are no longer internal but external! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Do You Need Intervention? Romans 8:27

Greek Translation: ‘He that searches the thoughts and intentions of the heart knows what is the purpose of the Spirit because He intervenes for the morally blameless (Saints), according to the will of God.” Comment: Mt biggest surprise when translating this passage from the Greek are from the two English words “Maketh intercession.” The two English words used here have nothing to do with prayer! In fact I looked up every Greek word used for prayer in the New Testament and the Strongs#1793 is never used for prayer! I assumed all my life that this scripture was talking about prayer? The Holy Spirit is the active agent of the Trinity! The Holy Spirit is the servant of the Father and the Son! The Holy Spirit will and does intervene for the Saints when required! The word intervene is a more accurate English word for making intercession! The virgin birth is probably the best example of the Holy Spirit intervention into our natural world! The Holy Spirit intervened into the natural biological processes of Mary and Jesus Christ the Son of God was born into the earth to redeem the earth! This is important because Muslims believe according to the Koran that God had sex with Mary! Another example of intervention would be the speaking in Tongues at Pentecost! God knows the thoughts and intensions of our heart! The Holy Spirit knows His purpose and the will of God for you and me! The will of God is expressed in the Word of God! You might want to read your Bible regularly? Based upon the will and Word of God He intervenes as required for us! Are the thoughts and purposes of our heart right with God? We may need intervention! Start by confessing your sin to Jesus and ask Him to clean and sanctify our hearts! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Juvenile Delinquent!

Little Sally was a 7th grader who did well in school and obeyed her parents! She was searching on the internet for dress shoes and she found a pair she fell in love with! She would spend hours dreaming of owning these beautiful shoes! She found a shoe shop in the Mall near her that carried these shoes! So mommy and Sally went shopping for other things in the Mall that day. When they walked by the shoe store Sally told mom she wanted to show a pair of shoes that would be perfect for her! Sally showed mommy the shoes however the price tag was $200 dollars! Mommy told Sally we could not afford the price for these shoes! Sally looked at her mommy through her tears and said, “”Mommy if you could not afford me why did you have me?” Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.

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