YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF HOLY SPIRIT

“Do you not know that your body is the temple 

of the Holy Spirit.which is in you, which you have from God

 and you are not your own? For you were bought 

with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and we were purchased  with a huge price! The price paid for us should strike great fear into our souls! For the price paid saves each one of us because the Godman being nailed to the Cross.  His own suffering and crucifixion is the price He paid for our salvation and redemption and He was motivated by His great love for all mankind..

     Western Christianity erroneously has claimed that evil men seized Jesus, tortured Him and nailed Him to the Cross. How could this be possible?   Christ is not an ordinary man but is truly God the Logos and Godman. For He is the source of all power and authority both in heaven and on earth. Just by willing it He could defeat His enemies who would fall down helplessly before Him.  But Jesus had a very different plan. He desired to go to the Cross in order to save the human race. For by suffering crucifixion under the law He would eliminate the devil’s power and authority over the entire race of man. Thus the crucifixion of Christ was accomplished because He willed it to be  a voluntary action on His part. He paid our ransom with His suffering and death, and this was the price for liberating all men from the filthy clutches of the evil one. The devil surrendered his power under the law because he had broken the law when he crucified an innocent man – Jesus Christ the Godman.

     Christ established His Church on earth and promised its endure, saying the gates of hades will not prevail against it. This Church then, necessarily has a history that is traceable which is today known as the holy Orthodox Church. According to Christ’s promise the Church has always prevailed over all attacks by heresies and schisms which seeks to distort the divine truths within her. Outside of the original and orthodox Church there is no church for there is only One Church, but many fabricated churches have been established and prevail by those outside the Church.

         These things being so why doesn’t the Orthodox Church of Christ prevail, while the Papacy and Protestants multiply. The answer is that they have zealous promoters of their doctrine and the Orthodox probably fail to realize their great responsibility, which is to live a genuine spiritual life and spread knowledge of the Church to many others throughout their lives. This is the work of Christ and it is also the work of members of the Church.

     Our lives are not our own and they do not belong to us for we are bought and paid for by Christ’s willing suffering and sacrifice, as it says above: “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. which is in you, which you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price”

     When we were baptized by triune immersion we became temples of Holy Spirit who descends and dwells in us, and we no longer are our own, but fall directly under the authority of our King and Savior Jesus Christ, and so we become the property of God who lives in us His temple. The Holy Spirit enters our soul conditionally for to keep Him dwelling in us we must follow all of Christ’s commandments deny our own will and always do the will of God. But if we become careless or negligent we will cause of the Holy Spirit to depart from us. This is extremely serious and  places us in the greatest danger for we sin He leaves us and our former temple will change to a pigsty. For when the Spirit departs from us Satan returns back and our unfortunate souls and bodies and we become his captives, and when our life is over in this world, in such sad and deplorable condition  will we appear at the dread judgment.

WHAT IS GOD TO EACH OF US?

“They will be put to shame . . . who say to a stick, 

you are my father, and to a stone, you have brought me forth; 

for they have turned their back toward Me and not their face, 

but in the time of their trouble they will say, 

Arise and save us” (Jer. 2:26 -7).

     That God exists is indisputable; that people believe God and that many seek to worship him is a  fact.  It is well known that some will offer false worship to another god or gods, some being fashioned with their own hands including those made out of sticks and stones. Why they do these things is not our present subject. The firm belief that  there is a true God and Creator is well established among men.  The truth is that without the Creator, nothing would exist for could there be a creation, for nothing comes from nothing, and creation could not create itself. In fact the creation that has been established is ample proof the Creator who men refer to as God, and He is good and the source of life being all-knowing and all-powerful.

     As the Prophet says above, “they will be put to shame who say to a stick you are my father,”  and claim in their folly that man is derived from illogical and unfeeling vegetable and mineral matter, ignoring his superb and wonderful characteristics such as freedom and nobility, an amazing intellect and various feelings of joy, sorrow love and hatred, which are bestowed upon man by God. Those who deny God become His enemies, for denial insults God of misrepresenting himself with false claims such as what He says through Holy Scripture wherein God speaks of himself. Also God created man for a purpose, and if man is only vegetable matter and there  is not life and judgment after death, then there is no punishment for good or evil thoughts and deeds.

     When they turn away from the fact that there is a God and Creator, they may end up proclaiming foolishly that creation had created itself, but this is the depth of ignorance unworthy of our intelligence. Or they say that nature without knowledge begot man making man lower than mindless nature, which cannot give a mind to man. yes indeed they will be put to shame. Their crime is not only against God, but against man who is subject to very great harm by their falsehoods which originate from the evil one, who always seeks man’s destruction. When lies replace truth usually they have an ulterior purpose, in this case enemies of God’s existence and purpose do very  great harm to everyone who hears or reads the words of God’s enemies and believes them and then abandons God and His blessings.

     God and His Church offer all the beneficial truths that lead people to salvation and everlasting life. Enemies of both God and man fabricate malicious lies which misleads people leading them to eternal   destruction. But if we turn our backs on God, we also foolishly align ourselves with our enemies. When a person is in need of help, it is natural that he seeks until he find it.  But after we leave this world help is no longer available and we cannot change whatever we acquired while in this life. So it will be too late to call out for help when there is no longer time with the words: “Arise, and save us!”

     One of the worst of man’s actions is to ignore God and  to turn our backs toward Him.  The best thing is to communicate with Him directly with complete sincerity for then He will surely respond.

But there are many wrong opinions s,ong men about God which must distinguisedh from the truths.  All ideas which contradict Holy Orthodoxy should be quickly rejected, for they are dangerous and if we adopt them it will be to us a great loss.

     God is not like man, but man is in His image and He is the source of everything that exists and has created everything for His purpose, nor did He create man to temporarily enjoy earthly pleasures and then just die and no longer exist. Nor is this man’s genuine desire, for deep within his soul is a yearning that he live for ever.

     Christian sects outside of Orthodoxy distort the truths of God, ignoring many and also  introducing erroneous ideas concerning both God and man. They overlook the perfection of His justice and His great mercy. The mercy of God forgives those who sincerely seek Him and His justice condemns those who ignore or misrepresent Him. Men dare to speak of God out of their own heads, establishing their own form of worship causing great harm to befall those who listen to them.  They failed to heed God therefore He will not respond when they they leave this world and appear before the judgment and ask God to arise and save us, but they will be too late.