Tag: english

Is God in the Darkness? 1 Kings 8:12

“Then spoke Solomon, the Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness!” Does this scripture sound contradictory? I thought God was light? If it does it is only because of the English word darkness used in this passage! The Hebrew translation is the word cloud! Like a cloud covering the Tabernacle or Temple manifesting God’s presence. Clouds bring rain and life! Now let us take the same English word darkness used in Genesis 1:2. “And darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The Hebrew root word is a completely different word than used in the Book of Kings! The word means destruction, misery, ignorance, sorrow and wickedness! This is just one more example for the case to be made that people who really want to study the Bible need a Hebrew-Greek study Bible! Without this helpful study tool you can miss-interpret the Bible and end up with bad theology! I never want to live or die with the wrong idea about God and His Christ! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Grave Yard Charm! India 1985

Sound appealing? Would any church leader surround his church with a grave yard? Probably would not be a draw for big crowds? Most people here in America today want a grave yard placed out of their sight! In our mission work in India I discovered churches completely surrounded by grave yards? It seemed foolish at first until I spent a few years there and then it made sense! What the British did in India for 200 years was take the Gospel to the people! One of the problems faced there was Hindu’s and Muslim’s taking over a church, desecrating the altar and erecting a temple or mosque over it. This same problem going on in Britain and America today. So the British surrounded the churches with grave yards especially in remote area’s of India! Halloween would have been a big hit there! The Muslim’s and Hindu’s were fearful of grave yards so they left those churches alone! So the British protected their central worship centers while reaching out to the community in evangelism. We discovered this first hand because we rented out an old fellowship hall next to the grave yard and no one would attend our meetings! So we moved our location from the church and Hindu’s and Muslim’s began to attend services! The fear of death is a bondage to men! This is why Easter reminds us and confirms to believer’s in Christ that death has been conquered! He is risen! He who also promises us to raise us from the dead! As I used to walk through the grave yard on my way to worship services I was reminded of my mortality and that Christ who I serve defeated death for me! My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Blood and righteousness! Jesus is more than a man He is God! Only God could achieve the miracle of the resurrection from the dead! O’ death where is thy sting? O’ grave where is thy victory? The opposite of fear is love! For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son! Christ will return to judge the living and the dead! No one escapes! Accept the judgment Christ took for you on Calvary! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Are You a Good Teacher?

To awaken interest and kindle enthusiasm is the sure way to teach easily and successfully!  Tyron Edwards (1809-1894) Tyron was a American Theologian and the great grandson of Jonathan Edwards. Comment: We can always blame our teacher for poor performance but going through elementary and high school I was bored to death! I dreamed in the classroom what I was going to do when school got out! My dog Jigs would be awaiting for me at the end of the lane when I got off the bus along with my pet duck! When I got off the bus Jigs would wag his tail enthusiastically and quaky would shake his tail too! So excited to see me! My rifle was waiting in my room to take Jigs rabbit hunting! How I acquired my pet duck was an unusual story! I shot him out of the sky! He had a broken wing so I feed him every morning before school and every evening after school. I took him to the cattle watering tank everyday for a bath! He loved water! I could not wait for summer vacation! Fishing trips with Jigs and quaky! I remember the red marks all over my school test papers and it reminded me that Christmas was coming! When I was a senior in high school I had an English teacher Mr. Wilson who awoke my interest and kindled my enthusiasm for studies! Then everything changed! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.coml

Dreams! Genesis Chapter 41

The word dreams in the Hebrew means to bind firmly! It can also mean a sense of dumbness! I must dream all the time! The Greek word defines a dream as a vision within a dream. The Bible talks about visions and dreams! The English Webster defines a dream as an image or conception of something. It also can mean to deceive as a ghost. Certainly a dream would have a sense of dumbness unless it were properly interpreted. I am sure we have all had dreams where we were dumbfounded as to the meaning? I remember having a dream about New York City about 6 months prior to 9-11. In this dream I was walking around in the streets of New York and seeing these piles of white powder all over the place? Since I had no one to interpret the dream it did nothing to preclude the attack! I only understood the dream after the attack and then I was not surprised by it! When we were called to the mission field back in the 1980’s we did not know what country we should go too? We thought about Mexico. Then through many visions and dreams God revealed to us He wanted us to go to India! Joseph had the ability to interpret dreams! He interpreted the dreams of the chief butler, the chief baker and then the dreams of Pharaoh of Egypt! Joseph got it right to the saving of the people of Egypt and for his own family from the famine! If you do not get an immediate interpretation of a dream then wait on God and He will find another believer to help you or through events He will show or confirm the dream to you! Joseph’s brothers would mock Joseph about being a dreamer yet by his dreams they were saved from destruction! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Faith in Who? Faith in What? Ephesians Chapter 3 Verses 11-12

I have translated the two verses above by going back to the original Greek and then reinserting the English translation from Greek back into the text. Verse 11 and 12 reads as follows; According to the past, present and future intension by visibly showing forth something which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. In whom we have boldness and admission with reliance by the belief in the truth of salvation by Christ. God has given every man a measure of faith! Faith is a Gift from God! So our Faith is not really my faith or your faith but God’s Faith! This is the Faith Paul is speaking about. Not faith in yourself, wife, husband, bank account, job, father, mother, son, daughter, government, retirment, church, pastor but Faith in God! Faith in Jesus Christ alone secures our Salvation both now and forever and nothing else will! Although our family, jobs, ect, are important to us they must never be idols in worship before God! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Mansions or Mansion? John 14:2

The English rendition of the Greek word (mone), is translated mansions. The problem is the Greek word mone is singular not plural. Is this a big deal? it could be if it renders in your mind a different concept than the original Greek language intended! We have an earthly concept of mansions as individual houses like in our neighborhood block. If we think of one mansion where everyone lives then the concept is changed. Let us think about going to church on Sunday morning and parking your car in the parking lot with all the other cars. Now during the service i call a tow truck and pay to have all the cars towed away! At the end of the service the Pastor says do not go the parking lot because your vehicle is not there? We are now all going to live together in the church in one mansion here forever! Troubling? You are now thinking i cannot even get along with my spouse how can i get along with all these folks? I cannot divorce these people and move into my own mansion! Do we have the capacity to live together forever in the same house? Only God can give us this capacity! It is humanly impossible otherwise! If you go to John 14:23 you can see this from a different perspective. If by pre-conditions laid out by Jesus here then God makes his abode in individual believers. Then Christ dwells in many mansions(believers). He dwells in many mansions while we are on earth but one day we end up in the “Big House” together as we say down here in Georgia! Please do more than just read your Bible! Study it! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Which Kingdom do you want?

The year was 1985. We had been in India one year then. We had just moved from Madras(Chennai), to a hill station named Yercaud. The name Yercaud in the Tamil Language means the village of the lake and the forest. It is a beautiful place with coffee estates, mango trees and assortment of fruits! This village was so remote that there was no gas station there. The problem for us was finding suitable housing for my family. My daughters at that time were 4 and 5 years old. My concern was for their safety. A friend of ours from Salem had been searchin for us and through another friend located this Hindu man who owned coffee estates in Yercaud and also had a English hotel converted for his summer home. Rich people there would escape the summer heat and live in the cool hill stations for the season. This man owned a car manufacturing and boat manufacturing company. He was also an M.D. educated in the United States. Having lived in the U.S. he could not understand why we came to India? This mansion was remote and beautiful! It was nested on the edge of a cliff with a panoramic view of Salem Valley below! Also a clear view of Metur Dam. The clouds would hit you in the face! Yes due to low cloud elevation across south india any mountain would be covered in clouds. Yes I was walking in clouds! As I would sit in this old english chair with extended arms for your legs and view the valley below I used to feel sorry for the folks back in America. They had to get up every morning and go to work everyday! Fight the traffic, bosses and all else! What really bugged me about this Hindu man was he never asked for rent? I offered him but he declined? After we had lived there for about 3 months the owner approached me and told me he would like to make an offer to me. He asked me if I would like to live in his mansion for the rest of my life! He told me he would pay for my daughters tuition and living expenses through college in the United States. To sweeten the deal he told me he would find me alot of young girls for me down in Salem valley! He told me to think it over for about two weeks. He had to go to America on buisness and would get back with me. I thought the girls are out but the rest? What is the motive? I again began to feel sorry for the folks back home! Well, this Hindu man returned to Yercaud and asked me if I would take his offer? However he said there was only one condition? I must stop preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the people on Yercaud mountain! I politely told him this is the reason we came to India! He told me we have 3 days to vacate mansion! The hardest thing I ever had to tell my family was we had to move in 3 days! I did not tell my wife Hamsa the real reason we had to move until 25 years later! Well we ended up in a scorpion, rat and snake infested house for the next two years! I thought about those fortunate people back in America! About two weeks before leaving Yercaud and India for the United States the rich man pulled his Mercedes Benz convertible up along side me while I was walking. He asked me again why I had come to India? I told him for the last time because God has sent me here! Satan will offer you all the Kingdoms of this world if you just bow down and worship him! It gets down to two Kingdom’s! The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan! Everyday for the rest of your life you will have to make a choice what Kingdom you want? Choose this day who you will serve! 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

Who is God?

Web Site; GodWhoisGod.com is a Gospel Tract in over 60 Languages for Evangelism to Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs for Jesus Christ. Thankyou. James and Hams Sasse.