The word resurrection literally means to quit one’s previous position and to rise up! We need a spiritual resurrection and a physical resurrection! Jesus said we must be born again! We had no control over our physical birth and no control over our physical death unless we chose suicide! Without Christ we wake up everyday in our previous position of sin! Nothing seems to change except things get worse! Through Christ we quit this position and move into righteousness! That is we are made right with God! We wake up with a spiritually resurrected body and the promise of a physically resurrected body! It is interesting that when Jesus died on the Cross the graves were opened up by an earthquake and many of the saints arose! Notice in verse 53, they came out of the graves after the resurrection! When sin has been paid for people get free! I spent a few years in India and learned some of the aspects of the Hindu religion! The Hindus suffer from many bondages and superstitions based upon their Theology of God! One particular destructive belief about God is the Doctrine of reincarnation! Not the incarnation but reincarnation! They believe if you sin or are a bad person in your next life you could be a bug, rat or a snake or something awful. There is no remedy and you are locked into this condition due to your sin! They have respect for bugs and rats because they could have been a former family member! If fact in the Hindu Temples they feed rats and snakes milk and give them respect! Lucky critters! So they believe their sin is punished forever into the next generations whom could be a bug, snake, cow or a human never to come up in life! They make no effort to improve their life because their lot is permanent! It was very hard to improve their life under these beliefs! The incarnation is very different from the reincarnation! God taking on our sin who was without sin to deliver us from evil. God becomes man to take the very sin that separates us from God! If reincarnation were true and Jesus was just another human and took on the sin of the whole world he would have been resurrected as Satan! But Jesus was God and only that sacrifice would have been acceptable to God the Father! His son was the key to redemption! When Jesus was raised from the dead the saints were raised with Him! The resurrection is probably the most important aspect of our Faith! It is also based on historical facts! The next time you see a bug crawling across your floor you have my permission to step on it! What we believe about God determines our outlook and attitude about life here on earth and after! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: rats
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
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