Selfies are not wrong or bad! Hey, look at me! They could be called the poster child of selfishness! Selfish seems to dominate American culture! Every group wants attention! They all get up on their soap box! Sin is about selfishness! No sacrifice required! Satan, Adam and Eve thought they could rise above God! Do not be denied God is holding out on you! Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God! Would you lose your life for Jesus? Take up your Cross and follow Him! Deny yourself! When you do that you are following Him! Ditch your selfie! His words seem as foreign to our culture as they did back in the 1st Century! To take up your Cross is to live in self-denial and lay your life down and take up His life! You will be exposed to death! For the first time in American history Christians are being executed for their Faith on our home soil. The executed had to carry their own Cross to the execution site after scourging! When you carry your own cross the popular culture will look at you as a criminal. You will undergo suffering, trial, punishment, disapproval and death! The only way to deny self is die to self! Others are more important! No wonder Jesus had so few disciples! Very few sign up and stay on! It is easier to live for you and not for Him because you have to trust your outcome to Him! Faith is taking your destiny out of your control! To follow Jesus means to walk in the same path! It means to be in union on the same road like military soldiers marching down the same path! To lose your life means to destroy it completely with a new identity! Save my life or lose it. The word life used in this scripture means the Spirit or eternal soul. It is more than just the here and now! Self is about the here and now! Gain the whole world and lose your soul? The word soul used here is the same Greek root word used for life! The world will never be able to save your soul. You were purchased with a price! His blood for your soul! Matthew 6:33 To seek first means in time, place and order of importance! Seek His righteousness! That means to seek His innocence and justification! Can we do the math? Then all these things will be added unto you! II Corinthians 5:15 Do you live for yourself? Live for Him! As He was raised He has promised to raise you up from the dead! Live like it! Look for Him and live for Him! Pastor Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.
Tag: die
STOP—NO LEFT TURN!
The Chief Modern Rival of Christianity is ‘Liberalism’…at every point, the two movements are in direct opposition! John Gresham Machen (1881-1937) John was a seminary professor at Princeton, founder of Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. His text book on New Testament Greek is still used in seminaries today! Comment: Who was the founder of liberalism? John Locke (1634-1704) However let us dig deeper! Let us hear what Satan told the first inhabitants of earth found in the Book of Genesis! “Has God said? Surely He has not said? You will not die if you partake of this fruit! God is a liar” How are we to live our lives as Christians? By every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God! Where do we find these words? In your Bible! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
No Compulsion in Religion? Quran 2:256
If the Quran is true then why do Muslim’s kill those who convert to another religion? Is it a one way street? If you abandon Islam you will have to go to a court where Muslim Clerics will pronounce judgment on you! Do they not follow their own Holy Book? Many contradictions in the Quran! The Quran says Jesus was born of a virgin. It also says Jesus did not die on a Cross! It also confirms the validity of the scripture and the Bible yet contradicts the Bible with many other verses in the Quran? There are about 1.4 Billion Muslim’s in the world. Yet only about 20 percent of them have ever read the Quran! So the followers listen to these Imam’s in the Mosque’s for directions! So the followers get instructions without any reference to any written guide? I remember during the 3 years we spent in India we had an incident where a Hindu man was giving us a lot of troubles in the ministry. This young Muslim man came to me and told me he would take care of this Hindu man for me and kill him? I explained to him that our Bible says vengeance belongs to God alone! I believe that if every Muslim in the world would read the Quran they would abandon the religion overnight! Ignorance is not bliss but hell when it comes to the Quran! What is really challenging witnessing to a Muslim is that 8 out of 10 have never read the Quran so even if you are familiar with it as a Christian they will not have a clue! Show them God’s love and they will respond as we have to Christ’s love! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Roman Colosseum 80 A.D.
The largest amphitheater in the world was built in Rome in 80 A.D. The average attendance was 65000 people! Nice but few Christians know how it was funded and who really built it? Emperor Vespasian funded the project from the spoils taken from the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. Remember Jesus prophesized the destruction of the Jewish Temple! Also the Colosseum was constructed by 100000 Jewish prisoners taken to Rome from Jerusalem! So what happens in this Colosseum? Over the next 300 years millions of Christians are martyred including Jesus Disciples who wrote our Holy Bible! Buried under the catacombs of Rome are an estimated 8 million Christians! So what can we conclude from history? Many things but importantly when Jews die Christians die! Whether it be WWII and the Nazi’s or other history. God promises that if we Bless the Jews He will Bless us! If we curse the Jews we will be cursed! Let us keep this in mind as President Obama pushes the Iran Nuke deal that the consequences to Israel and the Jews will have consequences to the Christians here in America and around the world! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
History Speaks!
The Christian faith can never be separated from the soil of sacred events, from the choice made by God, who wanted to speak to us, to become man, to die and rise again, in a particular place and at a particular time! Pope Benedict XVI
The Most Important Thing! Ben Carson
The most important thing for me is having a relationship with God! To know that the owner, the Creator of the universe loves you, sent His Son to die for your sins; that is empowering! Knowing Him and knowing that He loves me gives me encouragement and confidence to move forward! Benjamin carson
Why Did Jesus Say Buy a Sword? Luke 22:36
I have probably read every commentary on this scripture! The words Jesus told His disciples probably have more meaning now that America is becoming more lawless ! The American Christian would have a different interpretation on this scripture than a Christian living in Iraq or Syria today! Ask the Kurdish Christian about this passage! Jesus also said those who live by the sword will die by the sword! Meaning those who use weapons for violence rather than self-defense! Peter has a knife and used it well but Jesus rebuked Peter? Why? Peter was trying to keep Jesus off the Cross! Some commentators say it is just an allegory? Like ObamaCare? The law does not really mean what it says so goes the Supreme Court! Jesus was preparing His disciples for their journey after His resurrection and ascension! They would be traveling into dangerous areas to take the Gospel! Interesting that earlier Jesus told them to take nothing on their journey? However, Jesus was with them! Now he is leaving but did promise them the Holy Spirit! Was Jesus for gun control? What would Jesus do? Question is what did Jesus say? We have that! Interesting that the cities and states in America that have the toughest strictest gun control laws have the highest crime rates! We have to interpret scripture within context and in context of other scriptures! The Bible interprets itself! Every Christian has to decide for themselves what Jesus meant when He said go buy a sword! Get provisions? Be prepared? I know what the scriptures mean for me and my house and you have to decide for your house! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Muslim Conquests in India Create New Religion!
Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 12th to 16th centuries. There was a limited incursion by Muslims in the 8th century. The slaughter of Hindu’s and Buddhists was severe and the Indian culture was looking for a way to accommodate the convert and die demands of Islam! The beautiful thing about Christianity is it is not convert or die but convert and live! Guru Nanak (1469-1549), founded a religion that included Islam, Hinduism and some Sufi mysticism. He began teaching in 1515 A.D. and today has a following of about 30 million Sikhs! Sikhism combines these as a way of reconciliation with the Muslims. What I did find with boots on the ground 3 years in India that they are the most challenging people to witness the Gospel of Jesus Christ too! They are a very bold people but yet respectful! When Britain and the United States were fighting the Japanese in Burma during World War II were quoted as saying, “We do not fear the Brits or Americans but we do fear the Sikhs!” Sometimes they get upset with our Gospel Tract, Who is God? This is because we address both elements of their religion. I do not want any people group to miss out on Christ so I proceed at any cost! In Christ’s Love. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Story Behind 21 Coptic Christian Beheadings!
Our church supports Pastor’s in the Middle East. Our Pastor in Egypt gave us some details about these executions. ISIS rounded up a group of Christian’s then one by one asked them to deny Christ or die! Out of this group these 21 men would not deny Christ! Notice there were no women executed? Muslim’s will keep the women for sex slaves either for themselves or sell them to other Muslim countries! A lot of young girl’s have been sold to the surrounding area’s such as to Saudi Arabia and others! Under the current political situation here in America some of us may have to make this choice also! You need to decide now what decision you would make if asked to deny Christ or die? In Christ’s Love. James and Hamsa Sasse GodWhoisGod.com
Christmas Vietnam 1967
We have been ordered to take Hill 875. The hill has been bombarded by air power and artillery for the past three days! The ground shakes under our feet and our ears ring from the deafening sounds of battle. We are at the base line of this hill yet the Vietnamese continue to come down off this mountain at night and attack our positions! If we do not take this hill then we will all die! As a leader I know the only way we will take this hill is to send our best men up this hill. This means our best men will die! This is the way life works! God gave His best shall we then do less? I have tried in a thousand ways to take this hill without loss of life but the longer we wait the more American’s die! The only solution is to charge up this mountain and take it for America. We should put a U.S. consulate on this hill after we finish our job! It is difficult to maintain morale here with all those radical liberal college professors and their students fighting against us back home! They have joined Ho Chi Minh and his ideology of murder! It is better they stay back in America than be here with us where they would get us all killed! No Monday morning quarterbacks out here! You make a mistake out here and you do not see Monday! I wish our politicians understood this? I have to leave enough troops behind to recover our bodies and remove our wounded off this mountain to our helicopters to take them back to base camp. If I lead the charge the good men will follow! Freedom is cheap to those who have never paid the price! Those who lead the rebel’s back in America against this war can only do so by the freedoms obtained by those that went before them and paid the sacrifices to win victory over our enemies! Another officer got fragged yesterday? We must wait until daylight before the charge to allow the enemy to return to their positions on top of the mountain. The sun has now broken the dawn and now I must lead the charge up this mountain! The first one hundred yards was uneventful? I figure they figured we were not stupid enough to do this! They were wrong! Then they opened up with all they had! Machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, mortars! It was rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air! We just kept running forward up the mountain! I kept getting hit with tree bark in the face from bullets cutting up the trees! The other problem was dirt hitting me in the face from bullets dancing around my feet! We would run right past gun positions and then break off behind them and clean them out! We got to the top of Hill 875 and planted the American flag on the top of the hill. We claimed this hill for America and Liberty! It is Christmas now and we count our Blessings we have obtained through our sacrifices and God’s sacrifice! We do not serve a bloodless Christ and we will never win a bloodless war! Squad Leader, Screaming Eagles, United States Marines, Christmas, Vietnam, 1967