This star is not an astronomical object! The star appeared at the moment of Jesus birth. It was visible to the wise men of Babylon. If they saw the star over Israel, it would indicate it was not astronomical because stars do not rise in the west! They rise in the east. If it rose in the east it was very special because star gazers like these wise men would not have difficulty recognizing the planet Venus! Traditional images show the wise men traveling over the desert following a star. However Matthew 2 does not say they followed a star to Israel. In fact, it would appear, from their reaction, that the star newly reappeared in Matthew 2:9. How could a star go before the wise men? Bethlehem is to the south of Jerusalem! Stars do not move south. They move west. Stars do not settle over houses. The Greek word for star (Aster), implies something strewn! What could it be? What could it be that moves easily from west to east appearing as strewn light? A pillar of fire would be a good example! Remember the Shechinah Glory of light that moved with the Tabernacle representing the presence of God? This light could have been interpreted as a star! It is believed the wise men reached Bethlehem about 2 years after Jesus birth. That is why Herod ordered the murder of the children 2 years and younger! Source: CreationToday.org Comment: Point here is you cannot explain this star or light naturally! It was supernatural. Very seldom does God oppose his creation! Only to deliver his people! He turned the sun and time back for Joshua to win the battle! He opened the Red Sea for Moses and drowned the pursuing army with the same sea! Mary bore Jesus yet being a virgin! Jesus raised the dead and has promised to raise those who believe and trust him! Jesus himself was raised from the dead! Peter at midnight was delivered from the prison! Do I believe in miracles! Absolutely! Jesus delivered me off my death bed some 45 years ago! Is it a stretch to believe God at his word? It is a stretch not to! God who created all this can change anything or everything at his will! He transformed me from sin to righteousness with his atoning blood! Was it a star? All things are possible with God! He can create anyone he wants to! He can create anything he wants to at anytime at any place! He came to Bethlehem so he could prepare a place for you in Heaven! Why not follow Jesus to Heaven! He will return one day soon to earth with his church! If you wait until then to follow him it will be too late! Wise men still seek him! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: glory
Holy Smoke! 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,” Comment: I do not know about you but I would not want to be wood for the fire! Jesus was placed on a wooden Cross and took the fire of hell to save you from the flames! Think about this! God took your hell and gave you heaven! He took your judgment upon himself! He took your sin and gave you forgiveness! What a deal! What fool would turn this down? Sadly most of the world will recognize their error at Christ’s second coming! They will wail and beat their bodies when they witness his second coming! Christ’s body was beaten for you! To reject this is serious! No one will miss Jesus second coming but many have missed his first coming! No one will be able to hide behind their sin anymore! Jesus second coming is not only to rule and reign over the earth for a thousand years but to judge those who have rejected him while living on earth! Christ’s judgment will be socialism on steroids! All those that rejected him will get equal treatment with the same outcome! Hell! Why? Because they rejected the only God who took their judgment upon himself for their sin! The church is not on the earth at this time they are in heaven! Those following Christ at his second coming are the believers following him back to earth! No army can stand against him! Jesus came as a lamb for the sacrifice but his second coming he comes as a lion! You will not be able to vote him out of office! You will not be able to vote another sinner into office to cover your sin! He is King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s! You will stand at the judgment seat of Christ naked with no covering to hide behind! No ideology that opposes him will stand the test of fire! Fire forever! If you have rejected Christ now is the time for you to stop playing the fool! Eternity is forever and this life is very short! If I were playing the lottery game I would buy the forever ticket that keeps me out of hell! If I were wrong about this it would not hurt me one bit! In fact it would help me live a clean life! But if you are wrong and Christ is true and all that he has written you will not be able to purchase enough fire extinguishers to put out the flames of hell! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Give Glory to Another? Isaiah 42:8
“I am the Lord; that is my name: and my Glory will I not give to another; neither my praise to graven images.” Comment: His name is Jehovah and he has distinguished himself from idol’s! He will not allow his name to be ascribed to another! No one will take the honor that belongs to me! God’s glory, honor, abundance and all that he is be given to another? No praise to graven images that belong to God? God has distinguished himself from his creation! In the earth throughout history we have one God but many gods created and worshipped by men! Idol worshippers have made gods unto themselves! Earth worshippers, environmentalists, sun worshippers, worship of money, sex, fame, fortune are the gods of men! Satan has always tried to get mortal man to worship him! To steal worship from God! Any ideology that replaces God is self-worship! Atheism and evolution are two good examples! Self-worship is exalting men above God! So how do we reconcile this with the Gifts of the Spirit? The indwelling Holy Spirit? How can God share his nature with mortal men? We were created in the image of God! How can God live in mortal men who are sinners? God became man through his Son Jesus Christ! God is a Trinity! Father, Son and Holy Spirit! One God but yet three distinctions! Each with a specific purpose! The Holy Spirit was the first active agent involved in the creation of the heavens and the earth! Even today the Holy Spirit delivers Israel from her enemies! God’s Son Jesus Christ sacrificed his sinless body as a substitute for our sinful body! So after Salvation we ascribe glory to God through his Son! Now the benefits from God are available to us because Jesus is God! When we give Jesus glory we are giving God glory! God gives his glory to us through his Son! So now we have communion both ways! God to men and men to God! God see’s his Son living in us and it pleases him! He see’s his atoning blood over our lives! The Father gives his glory to the Son and the Son gives his glory to believers! The Holy Spirit see’s God through his Son living in you and he is attracted to dwell in you! The Gift’s of the Spirit such as love, peace and joy are ours! His power is available to us to give victory to believer’s and defeat Satan! Without Christ man can only give God graven images and human sacrifices! God sacrificing himself for you is the only acceptable sacrifice! He was sinless! The praise of men that they give idol’s belong to God! If God saved your life and stepped out in front of a vehicle and took your death who would you be thankful to? The reckless drunk driver? No but yet this is what idol worshippers do! They thank Satan who wants to destroy them and reject God who has saved them! This is the unpardonable sin against God! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
School & Police Shootings! James 1:2
“My brethren of the same womb count it all joy, that is rejoice with gladness of heart when you fall into various types of temptations.” Comment: James had a primary ministry to the Jews. He was referring to the Jews when he spoke of the same womb! However we as Gentile Christian’s that are “born again” are of the same family! So we to are to rejoice when temptation comes! Why? Remember Jesus prayer he taught us? Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Temptation is authored by Satan and God will deliver us from his evil. What we do with the temptation will prove us either good or evil. Remember Job? Satan was the author of all his loses of family and wealth! However God gave him back twice as much! Jesus himself was tempted many times by Satan to try to keep him off the Cross! If you are God turn these stones into bread! Jump from the Temple Mount one of your angel’s will save you! Temptation will either condemn you or exonerate you! The evidence that we are all sinner’s and need salvation tells us we all have had moral failings! God has given us a way of escape through the one that defeated Satan at the Cross! We can choose to repent and change! Satan will solicit us to sin! God will empower you to resist! Resist the Devil and he will flee from you! Jesus cast out Devil’s but he did not destroy them! They moved on finding a herd of swine to dwell in! Satan was a deceiver from the beginning even before creation! He was cast out of Heaven and was waiting in the Garden of Eden! One day he will be cast into the Lake of Fire with his followers! So why did James say count it all joy? James goes on to explain in the following verses! To develop your faith with patience! A Crown of Life waits those who endure temptation! Endure means to resist Satan! How? God can empower you to resist Satan! Without the power of Christ no mortal can resist Satan! How did Jesus do it? He constantly said , “It is written! It is written!” Do you know the Words God wrote? Jesus resisted the Devil with the Word of God! The liar of all lies when he hears the Word of God will flee! Satan thrives on ignorance! Ignorance is not Bliss! It is Hell. Why is the Bible the most banned Book on earth? Try to get a Bible into any public funded University or High School. Our youth are taught Darwinism or Evolution where the strong should get rid of the weak! The stronger species will destroy the weak! The same conclusion that Darwinism teaches to our children is the same ideology that drove Hitler to do what he did! This ideology leads to racial pride and violence against each other! No knowledge of the Word of God leads to school violence and attacks on legal authorities! The vacuum left by removing every trace of God is filled with anarchy! They cannot hear the voice of God so they listen to the voice of Satan! It is back to the Garden of Eden all over again! You can take away guns but they will be replaced with knives, swords and clubs! Violence is not done by the weapon but by the evil heart of man living without the knowledge of God! The political left is behind all this Godless ideology! We need to return education to the American family and privatize our public institutions! Solicit President Trump to give school vouchers to every American family instead of sending these hundreds of billions of dollars from your tax money to public institutions! If this would be done the failing public schools would vanish overnight with competition in education! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Loving God! 1 Timothy 6:10
O’ wretched slave of Mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ while you trust in treasures laid up on earth; you cannot taste and see how gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for gold. If you have not rejoiced at the thought of His coming, that day will indeed be a day of wrath for you! Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153 A.D.), French Theologian
A Miracle! Isaiah 7:14
King Ahaz was a wise King! When the Lord told him He would give him a sign he did not want to tempt the Lord! He did not want to put God to a foolish test! Ahaz was really telling God I do not question you! Mortal men do need to be questioned! Jesus will do that at the judgment! Men and women asked Jesus a lot of questions! Are you really the Son of God? Prove it! Come down from the Cross if you are God! The word sign means a miracle in the Hebrew! Jesus virgin birth is a miracle! After Peter witnessed the miracles he told Jesus you are the Christ the Son of the living God! The Lord gave Peter signs! The star over Bethlehem was a miracle! Christ’s resurrection from the dead was a miracle! Salvation is a miracle! Being born again is a miracle! These acts of God are beyond the natural and are supernatural. They are God’s Grace in that God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves! Miracles are the love of God towards men! Faith in God is living from miracle to miracle! It cannot be explained outside of God! Your life is a miracle! If you were not here you could not experience the love of God! No miracles! That is why abortion is so cruel. You kill a miracle! We need life to make choices! Could not wonder and awe about God? Could not see the slender of His creation! Could not experience His Power and Glory! Could not know His peace! Without Him no purpose! Only loneliness and emptiness! No hope! But surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life! Lord give me another miracle today! Not to prove who you are but prove I cannot live without you! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Jesus Return with Signs! Luke 21:25-27
Verse 25: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.” Comment: What are signs? Are they like signs along the road giving us directions? The word translated from the Greek means miracles! Like the star over Bethlehem! Signs are miracles which lead to something out of and beyond themselves! They are miracles which have a ethical and moral purpose! These miracles are not so much for what they are but for what they point too! These miracles indicate the Grace and Power of God in the higher Spiritual world. The word earth used here by Jesus means the part of creation that is man’s domain and the history transacted between God and man. What about perplexity? Is it Washington D.C.? It really means a quandary where there is no way out! So we have miracles, distress of nations and perplexity. Jesus wants us to focus on looking up to Him for the evidence of His signs and wonders! God is really saying through the solar eclipse coming that He is in control of all events and confirms those things to us with his miracles! Jesus is saying I will do the miracles in your life that are needed to sustain you and give you the victory over this fallen world! He wants us to look up not down! Look ahead not back! I conclude with Jesus words in verse 27: “And then they shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Looking Forward! Matthew 25:31-34
When the Son of man shall come in His Image and Character with Splendor And Brilliance with His Holy Angles then He shall sit upon the Throne of His Glory! And before Him shall be gathered all the races of mankind and He shall cast out the wicked and abominable as the Spiritual Leader of the flock. He will divide the sheep from the goats! He shall set the Sheep on the right hand giving them equal honor as to Himself! He will set the goats on His left hand! Then shall the King of the people say unto them on His right hand, Come, my Father shall dwell upon you and you will be heir of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world! Comment: So where is His Throne of Glory located on earth with His return? Jerusalem! The same place where He was Crucified! 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
Separation of Church and State?
The highest Glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity! President John Adams. President Adams was also vice president, signer of the Declaration of Independence, signer of the Bill of Rights and signer of the First Amendment of the United States. Comment; No one knows best than our Founding Father’s the intent of our Constitution since they wrote it, signed it knowing it could men execution by British forces.