To destroy images is something every revolution has been able to do! Alfred Rosenburg, Sentenced to death by hanging at the Nuremberg Trials for war crimes. Known for his rejection and hatred of Christianity! Comment: Those in America promoting the tearing down of our historical images and defacing Jewish Synagogues and removing Crosses across our land have one motive! Revolution! To destroy our existing system of government and replace it with a revolutionary government! Rebellion is in the heart of man and only Christ can heal a wounded soul! We were created in the Image of God! Our image can only be perfected to be God like in Christ! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: images
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
Goliath Attends Rock Concert! 1 Samuel 17:
The name Goliath is a verb meaning to uncover, remove or go into exile! It means to expose. The name does not mean giant so don’t name your kid Goliath! Whether to expose Israel’s weakness or Goliath’s false gods? Goliath cursed David in the name of his gods. Notice gods is plural. He was an idol worshiper! How can I please all the gods? If I please one will I offend the others? Will I anger some of my gods? Superstition follows this belief system! Idol’s are usually made of stone or wood. They are man made carved images. They represent the gods men make! They are made in the image of men! Man making God! David replied to Goliath by saying, “The battle belongs to the Lord!” The name is singular! The name Lord means the self-existent one! It is the name Jehovah the God of Israel. Notice David took five smooth stones out of the brook. Why five? Goliath had four brothers who were also giants! They were later slain in battles but not by David. No images were carved on these stones by men! You might say Goliath’s name was on one of these five stones! These stones in the brook were formed by water and the creator God! The stones Goliath carved his image on were defeated by the stone God created! Sin is an image breaker! Islam is founded on Idol worship! Mecca is known as the place of the black stone. There were 360 idol’s in Mecca so they chose their best idol and named him Allah! The Jews were not Idol worshipers however when they did fall into this practice they were exiled by God! They were not exiled by a physical Goliath but were exiled by the spiritual Goliath! God made man in His own Image! Christ expressed God’s Image perfectly because He was God! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Treeless Worship Deuteronomy 16:21-22
“Thou shalt not plant a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shall thy set up any image, which the Lord thy God hateth.” We first need to look at the Hebrew root word for the English word “groves.” The Hebrew root word translates to the word “Asherah.” Astarte is a Phoenician goddess of fertility. She was the Canaan fertility goddess believed to be the consort of Baal. The noun is most often used for the carved wooden images of the goddess. The image was associated with high places and fresh green trees. The Israelites were commanded to cut them down and burn them! False worship was a problem even to the extent that Asherah’s image was erected in God’s Temple itself! There were no trees around the temple in Jerusalem! I witnessed idol worship during the three years we spent in India. These idol’s were everywhere! Often these huge wooden images were parked along tree lines. In the Hindu Temples prostitution was a regular business! I was offered a teenage girl in one of these temples! If you are going to worship the goddess of sex then prostitutes come with the package! To look deeper into the root of idol worship we need to go back to the Book of Genesis. If God took a rib from the man and created a woman then when they are united in marriage there is a completeness. However if you are going to make an image of a woman and worship her through sex then this is self-worship because the woman was taken from the man! Let us look at Genesis 2:9. “And out of the ground made the Lord to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God warned them that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die! Why? God understood that they could not handle it! God knew that created beings with the knowledge of evil would sin! Let us look at Genesis 3:22. “And the Lord said, Behold the man is become one of us, to know good and evil, now lest he put his hand and take also the Tree of Life, and eat and live forever.” God had to block them from the Garden of Eden because to enter Heaven with the knowledge of evil for eternity would doom them forever! This was an act of Mercy by God! So what about the Tree of Life? This Tree represents Christ, redemption for man and eternity with God! So what did man do with Christ? They cut down a tree and crucified Him on it! This is what happens to all that eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! You commit evil and then try to do good? However God’s plan was engaged by the evil of men and brought redemption to the world! Without Christ whatever God has given to man as a gift turns to evil! All the religions of the world whether Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, ect, try to find God through their own efforts! Eating from the wrong tree! We all have access to the Tree of Life through Christ and our knowledge of evil is atoned for by His blood sacrifice on Calvary and we can live forever not separated from God but joined with Him in peace and love forever! We cannot save ourselves even though the world religions since creation have and still try! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com