“He that puts his faith or trust in me and is submerged in water as a profession of their faith shall be saved from sickness and death. He that disobeys shall be judged and condemned!” Comment: I substituted faith and trust for belief because it is the same Greek word. Belief is a verb and requires a response or action! Baptism is an act of obedience based upon your faith in Christ! So the old proverbial question is does baptism by itself save you or is it Christ alone who saves you or it is both? Jesus was baptized yet the thief on the Cross who was saved was not baptized? Baptism is an identification with Christ! In the early church baptism was a public identification with Christ! Baptism was not done in a church building but along a stream, river, lake or sea shore for unbelievers to see! Today we could live behind the four walls of a church and unbelievers would never know you were saved! This is where much of the American church is today! To publicly profess Christ outside a church is foreign to much of the church today? If the unbelieving world does not know you are a Christian God probably does not know either? When you enter the cultural war with gays, lesbians, Muslims and abortionist you are a target! Worship has to be more than the Sunday only crowd! Your Pastor cannot save you! You want me to serve Jesus seven days a week, 24-7? I do not have time? Remember that old hymn, “Take Time to be Holy.” The word time means to honor! If you do not worship God in this life then where? Get some Gospel tracts and start there! Distribute them wherever you go! Give them to store clerks at Walmart, McDonald’s, Best Buy, Sears, Burger King, Waffle House, Post office, Government Federal State and County offices or wherever you go! Jesus does not have a denominational name stamped on His forehead! Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved! In the previous verse 15 Jesus said, “Go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to all the world.” The Greek word used for preach means to publically proclaim the Gospel! Although they do that professional ministers was not who Jesus was talking to! Jesus was talking to me and you! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: mark
Religion Versus Grace! Mark 1:1
Jesus did not come to correct behavior! Jesus came to give us a new identity! We are all adopted into a family where we learn a new and better way to live! Religion tries to change us from the outside in! Religious Zealots only reward performance! God said this is my beloved Son who I am well pleased! Remember Jesus had not done any miracles yet! Do you love your son or daughter because they are a gift to you from God or will you only love them based on an expected performance? The Holy Spirit will empower you to live a better way! Real change is an inside job! You must be born again! Jesus said we must repent and believe! This if done will change everything! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. For the complete message go to: NewLifeChurch.org View his Podcast.
Has America Forgotten 9-11?
Misunderstanding of the present grows fatally from the ignorance of the past! Mark Bloch (1886-1944) Mark was a Jewish professor and French resistance fighter captured by the Gestapo and executed during German occupation of France during WWII. Comment: Many of our American leaders seem to have no grasp of history? The war with Islam goes on and under Obama we are losing this war! Obama himself is a Muslim and we will continue to lose this fight when the enemy is in the White House! Obama is a very calculating fighter for Islam! He is planting millions of Muslims into Western Europe and the United States with the very refugees he has created! Muslims do not integrate with other cultures but will fight those cultures until they are overthrown! At least during the Crusades the Christians and Muslims were geographically separated! The day after 9-11 President Bush said Islam is a religion of peace? He either does not know history or is in denial? Obama claims the same? However Obama knows who they are and a very good enemy to overthrow the United States! If we cannot figure out 9-11 and the source then we are headed for future ones! Obama is enabling Islam to win this war! The latest example to give Iran 150 Billion dollars plus a Nuke! Do you notice Russian troops moving into Syria? Remember he told Putin I can do more for you after I am re-elected? Islam will fight as long as it takes to defeat America and they have 1300 years of history to prove their intent! If we do not have the moral courage to fight this war then every American knee will bow to Allah! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
What is Wrong with a Tattoo? Leviticus 19:28
The Bible says not to cut yourself or make a print on your body! Why? Well, just because God says not to do it is not good enough for me! Really? God is not going to tell me what to do! I am going to be my own God and decide what to do! Sound familiar? Are we talking about you again? We live in a world at war with God! There was a popular song back in the 1960’s titled, “I fought the law and the law won!” My mother back in the 1960’s used to ask me and my brother Tommy why we never brought home any homework from school? We told her we were too smart to study! Tommy and I should be grading the teachers! Mom said if that is true then how come your grades are so sick? Mom those teachers are so dumb they could not recognize talent even if it bit them! Me and Tommy had homeless homework! God said my people perish for a lack of knowledge! When Tommy and I got our grade reports the law won! God simply gave us the law so that we recognize that we need a Savior! God has only one who is worthy to carry marks on His body! Those prints and cuttings were placed on His body by all of us at the Cross! Even Jesus disciple Thomas after the Cross said I will not believe unless I see the nail prints in His hands! Unless I see and feel the scars of his pierced side! We only carry our own scars because we reject the marks taken for us by Jesus on the Cross! You can make your own marks but it will never save you! All of the pain and suffering was reserved for only one Jesus Christ the Son of the living God! You may mark your body but it is impossible for you to carry the sin of the world! If you have already marked your body then think of the Cross when you look on your marks of sin! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse GodWhoisGod.com
Failure + Success = Humility
A famous quote by Mark Twain says, “Failure is never permanent and success is never final!” The most challenging part of our life cycle is not dealing with failure but being able to successfully handle success! If success is only a tool to get above others and control others then we misuse God’s Blessings! A Godly Blessing should help us help others to be successful! Who you give the credit to is an indicator of a right or wrong attitude about success. Excuses cannot be our foundation for failure. When we take responsibility for our actions and repent then a door is opened from God for recovery towards success. When we take the Blessings God has given us and give credit to ourselves and not honor Him and the people He has placed in our lives we set ourselves up for failure. God has a plan for you to prosper you and bring good success! However to try this on your own without Him is like walking across a mine field in a combat zone! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Sticks and Stones ! Mark 16:14
The year was 1986. We were living in Yercaud India in our second year of mission work in India. It was a challenge living on this mountain top in South India. Electricity was only on for about 2 hours per day! Scorpions, rats and snakes lived with us in our house! However it was a beautiful place with coffee estates and tropical fruit everywhere! It was truly a village with no gas station and animals roaming the streets. Our house was located on Lady’s Seat Road next to a convent. The slums were all around us with people living in huts with manure dried floors and grass roofs. There are good slums and bad slums so the locals warned us not to go to one particular slum and if you did you may not come out! There was plenty of other work there so we stayed away. One day we took the long way around the village back to our house from the village shops. I do not even remember why? The road went along side this forbidden slum but I thought we were safe in our vehicle. Well a dog ran out in front of our vehicle and got one of his feet under a tire. A mob of people surrounded our car from this village. They picked up rocks and brought bamboo poles from their huts. They swarmed over our vehicle like ants so thick we could not see out any window glass! They were screaming they need to kill us because I drove over their dog and next it will be our children! We offered to pay for the dog and his injury but did not help! Even our daughter Sandra who was 4 years old then says she was so scared because the car was so dark inside with people covering the window glass! In the midst of all this chaos a man comes walking down the road and stops next to our vehicle. This man looked like an escaped criminal with knife scars on his face and arms. I thought it was surely over for us now! My wife Hamsa translated for me what he was telling the mob. In Tamil he told the crowd the following! He said, “You bunch of dogs! This man has a feeding program in your village and is feeding your children everyday! They have rented a building for a day care center and medical clinic! So is this how you return thanks to him? He did not have to come all the way from America to feed you dogs! If any of you touch this man or harm him me and my gang members will take care of you! The mob melted away back into their huts. As I was driving back to our house just over the hill drops of sweat were still dripping off my forehead! Then the most beautiful thought came to me! Now I have a free pass to go into this slum! So the next day at the crack of dawn I entered into this slum with pockets full of candy for the children and Gospel tracts for the adults! So the stones were rolled away and life entered death! I gained a lot of important lessons with my years in India. One important lesson is that you cannot really change a culture! If you do it is like trying to stop a tidal wave with your hands! Our Pastor Brady Boyd in his Sunday message at New Life Church here in Colorado Springs made a very important point! He said, ” Christianity historically is strongest when giving, loving and serving those who live in the margins of the culture!” Why the political and cultural battles rage sow seeds of love to the disenfranchised of our community! The widows, orphans, single moms and homeless! Roll that stone away and bring life to the hopeless! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Good Friday! Mark 8: 27-38
As we reflect on our life we can conclude that many responsible people have paved the way for our success and Blessings! Think of the millions of American’s who have laid down their lives in war to defend our freedom and way of life we benefit from here in America today! The foundations we enjoy have come at a very great price! Think of the church congregation members that took up arms against the British Army at Concord in the Revolutionary War! Think of the 600000 men who died in our civil war to free the slaves! Think of the thousands of men and women in our VA hospitals across America from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Also our Vietnam, Korean and World War II veterans! How about our great science inventors and business people who have made our lives more comfortable here in America. How about our great spiritual leaders that have set an important foundation for our understanding of God over the generations! As important as all these American’s are we have to go back to a greater foundation that has established the true meaning and purpose of life! A price paid by God Himself that would give us a hope in this life and beyond! No one represents humanity better than a disciple of Jesus named Peter. Jesus asked Peter who do men say that I am? Peter replied some say Elias and some say a prophet. Then Jesus asked them who do you say that I am? Peter got it right and seemed to be the smart one when he said you are the Christ! Then Jesus went on and said that he would be rejected, persecuted and would be killed but would rise on the 3rd day! Peter immediately took Jesus off to the side and rebuked him? At this time Peter was in remedial training and Jesus rebuked Peter and called him Satan! Peter at this time could not see from an eternal perspective but from a flesh viewpoint. Jesus went on to explain to them that they must deny themselves take up His Cross and follow Him! Peter eventually got it and became the leader of the Jerusalem Church and later martyred in Rome hung upside down on a cross. Good Friday is not good without the Resurrection on Sunday! We have no future unless we understand God has made a way for us and then accept the eternal foundation that all history has shown us is hopeless without the Cross! Happy Easter! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Can God Forgive Every Sin? Mark 3:28-29
God can do about everything except sin! God can forgive every sin except one! God can forgive murder, adultery, genocide, stealing and some blasphemies. But God cannot forgive blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy means the evil speaking of God Himself! It is slandering and reviling God. It is insulting and reproaching God. When I hear people use the G.D. word I flee from them as quick as possible! I use the God Bless word! Most people do not understand the meaning of blasphemy and the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is not dwelling in them they have no witness! An important Person of the Trinity he goes back all the way to the First Chapter of Genesis and was active in creation. The Holy Spirit pre-existed creation along with Christ and the Father. Remember Jesus told his disciples just before his ascension to wait for the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and birthed Jesus the Son of God into the earth as man and God! The Jewish scribes teachers of the Law accused Jesus success in casting out demons was due to Jesus being Beelzebub the chief of the devils! So the scribes were attributing the work of God to the work of Satan! I may not agree with every ministry and of every interpretation of scripture but I will never attribute any ministries work to the work of Satan! As my Pastor Brady Boyd says,”I am not here to win an argument but to show people the love of God!” Just be aware of the one sin that God will not forgive! Thankyou. 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
Vatican Calls for New World Economic Order!
The Pope calls for creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction beginning with the United Nations! Welcome to our one world government supported by one billion Catholics! The Apostate Church is now moving into position to align with the Anti-Christ and his prophet! The sovereinty of nations is just about over! How will they identify who belongs to this system and who does not? Many Christians do not read the Book of Revelation? This Book is front page news! Suggest you read! I am not going to fill in the blanks for you! If you read and believe your Bible you will know the answers! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com