Jesus said Antipas is my faithful martyr! Antipas was the Bishop of the church at Pergamos during the reign of Roman Emperor Domitian. The Apostle John ordained Antipas as Bishop of the church at Pergamos. Antipas was burned inside an idol which was a bull shaped copper structure. His crime was casting out demons worshipped by the local population! Some of the hero’s of the Faith are listed in Hebrews Chapter eleven! Stephen was a faithful martyr listed in the Book of Acts! Antipas was most likely a Greek who converted to Christianity. Antipas is the shortened name of Antipater. Remember that was the name of one of Alexander the Great successful Generals. (397-319 B.C.). Remember Herod the Great was known by this name! Jesus will avenge the blood of the Saints! Why did Jesus call Pergamum Satan’s Seat? Even Ephesus with all of its advantages with the Great Temple and bustling port, could not match the importance of the once royal seat of the Attalids! Situated on a scenic acropolis Pergamum was embellished with the largest number of Greek and Roman Temples in the whole of Asia Minor! Examples are Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Demetia, Dionysis and Aphrodite. On another site was housed the largest Aesclepium of the Empire. Its library of two hundred thousand volumes rivaled the renowned library in Alexandria! The eminent Doctor Galen was among her favorite sons! Roman Emperors came to seek healing at the famous Aesclelpium! Aesclepium was honored as the god of healing in the classical world. When the cult of “Dominus et Deus”, was initiated at Pergamum, the great Basilica was erected, adding to the rostrum of numerous idol Temples! The visitor today Bergama (Turkish name of the present day city), will see the immense structure at the edge of the bustling center. Basilica became the monument of vice and cruelty! Every citizen was forced to burn a few grains of incense here and worship the Emperor of Deus. Then they would proceed to their preferred practice a common syncetistic act which never lacked its double-faced devotees! For anyone who refused to submit to this profane practice death was imminent! Where as the Temple of Zeus was referred by the early Christians as the “Seat of Satan”, the appellation was later transferred to this center where some Christians felt compelled to pay obeisance! Source: Thomas Cosmades Comment: Remember God’s church was established in the midst of all this evil! The venerable Polycarp followed Antipas in martyrdom! Christ and his Cross was raised up over “Satan’s Seat”, to defeat Satan the eternal enemy of man! This battle rages on today between the One True God and the millions of the gods of men! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: fair
Is Life Fair? Habakkuk 1:5
Habakkuk was puzzled? He wrestled with God! He could not connect the dots? Why would a more wicked nation punish Israel? Why do the righteous suffer with the wicked? Babylon was giving their gods credit for the Jewish captivity when Habakkuk knew better! The best example i could give Habakkuk about the righteous suffering with the wicked happened about 600 years later in history! Jesus God’s only Son went to the Cross on Calvary outside the city gates of Jerusalem to suffer for the sin of the whole world including you and me! He was perfect without sin yet paid the price for our sin? Paul echoed the same exact words Habakkuk did in Acts 13:41. Paul tried to warn the Jews of the danger to their soul and to Israel to reject the Messiah! Remember the Book of Acts was written between 80-90 A.D. This was 10 to 20 years after the Jewish Roman War and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. Also remember Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple! It is in the 13th chapter of the Book of Acts that Paul decides to leave the Jews and go to the Gentiles with the Gospel message! It is interesting that the punishment for sin is built in to sin itself! Sexual immorality leads to deadly diseases like AIDS! How about death itself? No human escapes! Jesus promised to raise us from the dead! However remember everyone gets raised from the dead! Some to everlasting life and some to everlasting punishment! No one could ever promise to raise anyone from the dead unless they themselves could be raised from the dead and also to be able to raise others from the dead! Jesus did that while on earth! Only God our creator has this kind of power! But greater is His love for us as He demonstrated to us in all that He did! The wages of sin is death but God paid our wages and has given us life! Why would anyone reject His love? This is even more puzzling than Habakkuk’s question? James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
2012 Election Year Tax Issue!
President Obama claims that the rich in America are not paying their fair share of taxes? The facts dispute this allegation! 10 percent of the top wage earners in the United States pay 70 percent of all income tax! 50 percent of all Americans pay no income tax! So where is the fair share? It looks to me like us 50 percent are the free riders or the real bums! What did Jesus say all about this? In the Gospel of Mark Chapter 12, Verse 17 Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s” The problem is Caesar needs to go on a diet! That is why many of us in America are going to try Romney as our new Caesar! For those of you who do not tithe your income to your local church you are putting God on a diet! The problem here is you cannot vote God out of office! But God has the power to decide what to do with you! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com