Case Against Halloween!

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 Let us discuss these verses first. What is meant by passing your son or daughter through the fire? This is human sacrifice! This was the practice of the Canaanites sacrificing their children to their gods! Modern day sacrifice would be abortion! Divination is divining a sentence on someone! A charmer casts magical spells on people. A witch is basically the same thing casting spells on people. Another word for this is a whisperer. A wizard conjures up familiar spirits. Remember King Saul asking the witch of Ender about his future? She did not tell him he was going to be beheaded? King Manesseh also inquired to witches and fortune tellers! A necromancer is one who raises spirits from the dead! They do this to make predictions about the future or in their ghostly help to make something happen. Kind of like the rabbits foot? How lucky was the rabbit? This occult practice was also called Black Magic and comes from the ancient Greek word for corpse necro or prophecy mancy. Comment: It is interesting I lived in India for 3 years and I saw these practices done in the Hindu Temples! I have a blog post on my experience inside a Hindu Temple. The Hindu Priests collect money from people to cast spells on other people. Say a husband wants to get rid of his old wife for he has found a young girl. Then he hires the Priest to cast spells on his old wife that she might die! This is a big money business in India! Funny thing is the opposing party will come to the same Priest and pay him money to cast a spell on his adversary! The Priest will ask more money from the second party! The Hindu Priest’s told me these spells do not work on Christian believers! They do work on everyone else! You might say it is Halloween everyday in India! Do I want to spoil some kids fun collecting candy? No! Did I trick or treat when I was a kid? Yes! What I want you to understand is the origin of Halloween! In Leviticus 18:3 God warned the Jews not to participate in the ordinances or statutes, decree’s, feasts and customes of the gentiles! Today here in America the orthodox Jews do not participate in Halloween but the secular Jews do! Now to the origin of Halloween. The druids were the members of the ancient Celtic culture! The words druid and Celtic mean magic! Remember the Boston Celtics? In the ancient Celtic culture they had Priests, magicians, soothsayers and fortune tellers! They were a high ranking professional class of people from Ireland, Briton, Scotland and Wales. When Rome invaded these area’s around 60 B.C., Caesar said the Celtic groups were performing human sacrifices! Not that Caesar was the Gold Standard for morality but this is what the Roman soldiers observed. Have you ever heard of the wicker man? The Celtics built large wooden idol’s in the form of a man. On top of the wooden beams they nailed wooden slats to form the image. So the center was hollow! Halloween! Then they put the human sacrifices inside and set it on fire! The hollow of your pumpkin has a fire or candle inside of it! The druid religious culture had no written communications only oral. It was a secret society! What are the rules? Criteria for sacrifice? The Romans pretty much wiped out the druids but their occult spirit lives on in culture! The immigration of the Irish to America during late 1800’s and early 1900’s brought Halloween and some of these cultural traditions even though most were Christians. In the Medieval age the remnants of druids opposed Christianity! Trick or Treat! I will hurt you unless you treat me? God says I love you even though you hate me! Let us close with Ephesians 6:12 “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the Rulers of darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” When children come to our door I put a Gospel Tract into their bags along with the candy! This is one way to wrestle against powers and spirits of darkness! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Who Are They? Revelation 2:6

Who are the Nicolaitians? The word in the Greek means the conqueror of the people! Specifically in the Church of God! They are only referred to twice in the Book of Revelation. Both the church at Ephesus and the Church at Pergamos had the same problem! (Verse 2:15). The Nicolaitians were Bishops and prelates of the church gaining a triumphal victory over the laity! This is the very sin that brought forth the Reformation! It is mostly responsible for all our denominational and non-denominational churches around the world! The Nicolaitians compelled and forced church members to submit to the arbitrary dominion of men who have become the ones which the eternal hates! The Apostle Peter warned us that those who are leaders among God’s people must not dominate the faith of others but rather exhort them to do right! (1 Peter 5:1-3). The Nicolaitians are people in the church who have established a hierarchy of power and dominion under a government of ecclesiastical rulers! Comment: Yes! God hates these folks! Correction is very different from condemnation! We take the word disciple from the word discipline. Jesus used the techniques of correction and commendation very effectively! We as parents either tend to over correct and under commend or over commend and under correct! Everything I do cannot be right and everything I do cannot be wrong! That is why I need a Savior! My experience in ministry over the past 45 years has shown me people do not like to submit to authority! This is the nature of Satan! Most people will submit to authority if commended and corrected in love! However some will never! Hell is reserved for these folks! Why will some never submit? Because they want to replace God! This explains why the world is a war! War on God! Jesus asked the churches at Ephesus and Pergamos to repent! Sunday our Pastor Oscar Cope made an important point to us in his sermon! He said that the beginning of repentance is the end of judgment! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Christian Responsibility!

Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as privilege and in the interest of a Christian nation to select or prefer Christian’s for their rulers! William Penn, Founder, Province of Pennsylvania. Under his direction and leadership the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed in 1681.

Keeping or Polluting the Sabbath? Isaiah 56:2

Comment: What is my attitude about keeping the Sabbath the 4th Commandment of God? If I were to keep the Sabbath I would guard it like a gardener building a hedge around his garden! I would guard it as a shepherd would protect his flock from the wolves! Why is the Sabbath important to God? It is the seventh day of the week! Remember after God finished creating the world for six days he rested from his labor on the seventh day! It was the climax of his creation! On the Sabbath you cease from your work and reflect on the wonderful things God has worked out for you! You rest in his supply! You relax trusting God rather than your own works! So how would I pollute the Sabbath? You would just make it another common work day! It would be violence against God’s established law! I would defile, pollute and desecrate a Holy God! I would ignore him and his Blessings and trust in my own works! Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath! Remember the Jewish religious leaders got on Jesus for healing on the Sabbath! Jesus was raised from the dead on the Sabbath! That is why we worship on Sunday! He rested from his work on the Cross! If God needs rest who are we? Are we greater than God? Remember Lucifer thought he was greater than God! What happened to humanity? Death, destruction, war, disease, sickness and famines! Do you want to worship death or life? Self-worship is worshiping death! Worship life by honoring God and his Sabbath and creator of life who has also promised to raise you from the dead both now and forever! Keep the Sabbath because God is Holy! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Mary’s Song! Luke 1:52

“He hath overthrown with violence the ruler’s from their seats and exalted them of low degree!” Comment: By events in the earth God makes it clear to the Ruler’s on the earth that He is in charge! What happened to Caesar, Herod and Caiaphas the High Priest? Caesar and Herod came to a bad end! Caiaphas the High Priest was deposed! What about Mary? God took her and exalted her to a high degree then and now 2000 years later! Mary’s song expresses the hope we have today through Christ that we are not a forgotten people and God has us in remembrance! What is the Christmas story really about? It is about you! Merry Christmas! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Qualification for Rulers 1 Kings 3:9

King Solomon asked God for wisdom to understand and judge the people. The word understand means to hear intelligently. To hear and obey. Hear O’Israel. Judge means to pronounce sentence to punish or vindicate. Discern means to separate mentally. So what does good mean? In case you have forgotten it means kind, loving, pleasant, precious, valuable, happy, and mentally correct. Evil means wicked, harmful, disagreeable, a negative heavy heart and a terrifying place! Like Dallas this week! Remember in the Book of Genesis God warned Adam and Eve not to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Their rebellion brought death to the human race. In Isaiah 29:14 God says that He gives and conceals understanding! Without God we cannot discern the difference between good and evil. In fact in the last days good will be called evil and evil will be called good! I think we have arrived! There has been an effort by some in our political system to project the idea that police are racist? I want to give you the statistics on Americans killed by police and their race between 2013-2015. These are FBI statistics. White 49% (782), Black 30% 464), Hispanic 19% (302), Asian 2% (26). The facts are needed to debunk the false narratives given out in the 24 hour news cycles. The murder of five white Dallas police officers would be a racist act! President Obama keeps looking back to slavery and Jim Crow? The biggest evidence that people have moved forward from that is that we have elected him over the past two election cycles! Can he not see this? I did not vote for him not because of race but his ideology! Americans want to move forward! Obama’s false narratives are stoking the flames of violence! Are there injustices? We live in a sinful world! We cannot throw the baby out with the bath water! If we or our leaders do not have a relationship with God then we are missing wisdom to govern only God can give! Americans want peace and prosperity and only God living in men can give to us! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Political Advice! 2 Samuel 23:3

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God!” Comment: The Rock used here refers to the God that is a refuge of protection over Israel. God’s shelter over her! A just man is one who lives his life in conformity to law. He lives his life according to legal standards. He lives his life according to God’s standard. He is innocent as opposed to the lawless wicked! Rulers that fear God will respect men! Rulers that fear men will destroy men! History is full of Godless men that destroyed men! Worse yet are those that destroy men in the name of God! Islam comes to mind! The election season is fast approaching! Be sure you know the character of the people you are voting for! Never vote party line but character! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Rulers in Church and Government!

Ruling elders are declared to be the representatives of the people! Charles Hodge (1797-1878)  Comment: Sorry Charles but 137 years later we are far removed for our American Constitution! In the church today the congregation does not elect the elders! Just as in politics today our representatives in Washington no longer represent the people! They represent themselves and the quest for power! So goes the church today! Then we wonder why people are turned off to the church? Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Pray For Our Leaders 1Timothy2:2 2Peter2:17

Did Paul and Peter pray for their leaders? I assume they did yet they were executed by Caesar! Some of their best works were written from prison! The authorities did not like to keep Martin Luther King Jr. in jail too long because he was working on his next speech! During the civil war Pastor’s and their congregations north of the Mason-Dixon line were praying for the north to win while Pastor’s and congregations south of the line were praying for the south to win! They were both praying for their leaders! A famous German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by Hitler but I assume he prayed for Hitler. Some of our famous reformation leaders were burned at the stake by their King! I assume they prayed for them! Jesus called his political leader Herod a fox but prayed for him! He called the religious rulers of his day a generation of vipers but prayed for them! Do we pray for ISIS leaders? What would be your prayers to those who were about to behead you! Father forgive them for they know not what they do! Different from prayers of the west? Father give me a big house, big auto, big money and fame and fortune! Jesus taught us how to pray! I love this prayer because it is not a political prayer! I personally have one leader or ruler and Savior and His name is Jesus Christ! I am loyal to one Kingdom and that is the Kingdom of God and His Christ! It is so funny I have a friend in Colorado Springs who was my military boss back in the 1970’s. We are both retired and meet once a month and tell old war stories! I told Kenny we were praying that our house would sell so we could move back to Georgia. Kenny told me he was praying that our house not sell and we stay in Colorado! I told Kenny you are my friend but not my prayer partner! Our prayers should be in agreement with God! We usually pray for an outcome. Do we always get it? God’s will is often different from our will! To deliver us from evil means not to partake in promoting evil! We pray for our leaders but also knowing it is vanity to trust in man! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Teaching on Book of Romans

Dear Andrew, We enjoy the teachings you do on the Bible! We do have an internal witness from God inside us when we do something wrong. However, we need an external witness to confirm the internal witness! When I did something wrong it was confirmed when my father used the razor strap on us growing up! When my school principal took me over his knee and whipped me for doing wrong I got the external witness! What is missing in American culture today is the external witness because of missing father’s in the home, missing authority figures who would go to jail for the things my generation authority figures did then! The cultural media has also replaced the family authority today! Jesus told the woman at the well that she had 5 husbands and the current guy she was living with was not her husband! Jesus told Herod he was a fox and the religious rulers that they were a generation of vipers! Jesus gave external confirmation! I do not believe the church should make any attempts to diminish the little external confirmation we have left in American culture! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com