Jesus said Antipas is my faithful martyr! Antipas was the Bishop of the church at Pergamos during the reign of Roman Emperor Domitian. The Apostle John ordained Antipas as Bishop of the church at Pergamos. Antipas was burned inside an idol which was a bull shaped copper structure. His crime was casting out demons worshipped by the local population! Some of the hero’s of the Faith are listed in Hebrews Chapter eleven! Stephen was a faithful martyr listed in the Book of Acts! Antipas was most likely a Greek who converted to Christianity. Antipas is the shortened name of Antipater. Remember that was the name of one of Alexander the Great successful Generals. (397-319 B.C.). Remember Herod the Great was known by this name! Jesus will avenge the blood of the Saints! Why did Jesus call Pergamum Satan’s Seat? Even Ephesus with all of its advantages with the Great Temple and bustling port, could not match the importance of the once royal seat of the Attalids! Situated on a scenic acropolis Pergamum was embellished with the largest number of Greek and Roman Temples in the whole of Asia Minor! Examples are Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Demetia, Dionysis and Aphrodite. On another site was housed the largest Aesclepium of the Empire. Its library of two hundred thousand volumes rivaled the renowned library in Alexandria! The eminent Doctor Galen was among her favorite sons! Roman Emperors came to seek healing at the famous Aesclelpium! Aesclepium was honored as the god of healing in the classical world. When the cult of “Dominus et Deus”, was initiated at Pergamum, the great Basilica was erected, adding to the rostrum of numerous idol Temples! The visitor today Bergama (Turkish name of the present day city), will see the immense structure at the edge of the bustling center. Basilica became the monument of vice and cruelty! Every citizen was forced to burn a few grains of incense here and worship the Emperor of Deus. Then they would proceed to their preferred practice a common syncetistic act which never lacked its double-faced devotees! For anyone who refused to submit to this profane practice death was imminent! Where as the Temple of Zeus was referred by the early Christians as the “Seat of Satan”, the appellation was later transferred to this center where some Christians felt compelled to pay obeisance! Source: Thomas Cosmades Comment: Remember God’s church was established in the midst of all this evil! The venerable Polycarp followed Antipas in martyrdom! Christ and his Cross was raised up over “Satan’s Seat”, to defeat Satan the eternal enemy of man! This battle rages on today between the One True God and the millions of the gods of men! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: vanity
Love of Money! Ecclesiastes 5:11-17
This is what happens to those who love money more than God! The following are the five characteristics of people who are in love with money; 1. The more they have the more they want. 2. The more they have the more they spend. 3. The more they have the more they worry. 4. The more they have the more they lose. 5. The more they have the more they have to leave behind. Pastor David Jeremiah Comment: Solomon was the richest man that has ever lived on the earth! He had 700 hundred wives and 300 concubines or girl friends! If anyone knew the deception of wealth he knew! Learn from him who had it all but in the end he said it was all vanity! That is to no purpose! Jesus said the love of money is the root of all evil. I admire Pastor Jeremiah for his transparency in taking a Biblical stand on money, sex, Heaven and Hell. He is not a politically correct politician in the pulpit! He has my respect! Jesus offended the rich but had compassion on the poor! Judas lost his soul because of a love for money! Jesus told the rich man after he bragged to him how he keeps the law perfectly that he lacked one thing! Give all you have to the poor and come and follow me! But the rich man went away sad because his possessions had him! They owned him! Do not hang on to what you cannot keep! The way to keep money from owning you is to give it away! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Got Worries? Isaiah 28:16
Thus declares the Lord to the doubters! Behold, I lay in the city of Jerusalem and Israel a tested stone of my Kingdom that you can build your life on! It is a precious corner stone established and founded upon my sure foundation. Stand firm and trust me and be not anxious! Comment: Is it any wonder why the world has and is in an eternal war with the Jews and Israel? Over generations Satan is always trying to prove God wrong! Satan will not win but he is stupid enough to keep trying! Why? If he can find enough doubters to follow him into this losing battle he will sacrifice as many as he can on both sides! This is a battle between Heaven and Hell. Good and evil. Satan although immortal needs company in Hell. He is a created being just like you and me and has a eternal destiny in the Lake of Fire! Do not be a fool enough to follow him! God and His Son Jesus Christ were not created beings but were the source of all creation! They were the first cause of all that has been or every will be! If you want to play the fool place your bets on created beings! Not me my friend! My Bible says it is vanity to trust in man! I am going to trust the God that created Zion as His eternal home and has gone to prepare a place for those who do not doubt Him! I trust Christ with my life and my eternity! Where are you placing your bets? Finding Christ is winning the lottery on earth and in Heaven! Do not invest your money buying tickets for losers! You will lose with them! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Idols! 1 Chronicles 16:26
Hebrew translation: “For all the gods of the people are as shepherds over worthless things! They are as physicians attending corpses! Good for nothing! Vanity! No purpose! But the Lord built the heavens with purpose!” Comment: So what are you a shepherd over in your life? Is in something of eternal value? Will it continue on after you leave the earth? If you cannot take it with you it is an idol. Will the family you leave on earth shepherd over things of value? Anything of eternal value will outlast you! God built the heavens with you as the purpose in mind! Are you supporting His purpose? Your purpose is to mirror His Image! We were not created in our own image but the image of God! God’s purpose from before the beginning was to deliver us from evil. That is why Christ pre-existed creation! Sin will always lead us to worship idols! Why? We would rather trust in ourselves than the work of God! When i came to Christ back in 1973 everything changed! It was no longer about me but about Christ and others! He did for me what i could not do for myself! Deliver me from evil! That is Grace! Men try to build empires, organizations and name them after themselves! Until we find the name and Savior that is above every name we will serve idols! Jesus has promised to raise you from the dead one day! After you are gone from the earth you cannot raise your idols! You have only two options! Believe Jesus or trust in yourself! Serve God or an idol. The worst idol you could ever invent is yourself! Serve God and others! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
You Cannot Live For Yourself! Ecclesiastes 12:7
Some call this suicide! You cannot live for yourself either! Many try! Either way brings emptiness! God’s character is just the opposite! He lives for you and died for you! If you want fulfillment in life follow His example! Solomon had it all. He had riches, women, fame, and wisdom from God that he did not use all the time. In the end he said it was all vanity! That is to no purpose or worthless! Life under the sun means living your life without God! We need the son! Here are some quotes from rich famous American’s! John Rockefeller;”My millions brought me no joy!” Cornelius Vanderbilt;”Two hundred million and i am still empty!” John Astor;”I am the most miserable man on earth!” Henry Ford;”I was a lot happier when i was a car mechanic!” Ralph Barton; Suicide Note: “I have run from woman to woman and country to country to try to escape myself!” King Solomon;”It is all vanity!” Your purpose is to live for God and others and to sacrifice yourself in service to others! Follow Jesus example and be servant of all. Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia
Is “Sware” a Good Word? Deuteronomy 6:13
When I was a small boy my mommy told me not to sware! I always though that to sware was using a bad word. Deuteronomy 6:13 says, “Thou shall fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him and shall sware by His name.” The word serve here means to labor or work. I cannot have a tithe or offering for God unless I work. The word sware here means to repeat something seven times. The number seven in scripture is a number meaning completion. Such as seven days in a week or seven days in Creation of the world. It means to take an oath. The Lord swears by Himself because there is none greater! God swore to Bless Abraham’s descendants! God also swore by His Holiness to lead Israel into captivity. Abraham made his servants sware an oath to get Isaac a wife from Abraham’s own people. In Revelation 10:6 the Angel swares by Him that liveth forever Creator of Heaven and earth and that time shall be no longer. In our Bible the word is used 80 times in different scripture. Here this word is the same meaning for both the Hebrew and Greek word. Do not confuse the word vain with the word sware used in scripture. The word vain used in the 3rd Commandment in Exodus 20:7 is a very different word! This word means to use words to try to ruin His name! To use vanity, deceit and lies to spread a falsehood about God. One example would be in the Koran where it says Jesus did not die on the Cross! Vain means to use words to devalue God! Vanity means to no purpose! When we command and sware in Christ’s name to heal the sick or cast out demons then we are using His name with purpose to establish Heaven on earth! 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