THE PERPLEXITY OF THOSE DARKENED BY SIN

“Who is this who forgives sins?” (Luke 7:49)

     “Who is this who forgives sins?”  This was asked by unrepentant sinners, for the sinners didn’t ask, instead they realized that He was good and thus confessed their sins. Who is this that forgives sins? It is the only one able to forgive sins; it is the Lord Jesus Christ for all human sins falls upon Him like a blow. Generations ago He created and rejoiced with the sinless man in Paradise, whom He had created in His own image, and now he is to about receive blows on his account due to that original  and destructive sin.     

    Jesus Christ the Son of God, is eternally sinless and came into the world to save His precious creatures. Also Jesus alone can take revenge and He alone can forgive men their sins. There is no anger in the Lord hence alone He can requite or forgive.  He is also perfectly just and can give every person what he deserves, or have mercy upon them by forgiveness. But those who fail to repent and believe in Him will get what they deserve.

     He forgives repentant sinners out of His mercy. This forgiveness opens the eyes of the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, let the  lame and crooked walk straight, and those who were plagued with flow of blood were quickly relieved. Those with a foolish spirit have become wise, those possessed with demons were relieved when they were cast out, and cold dead men are returned to warmth and life. The all powerful Lord fed the hungry, gave the thirsty to drink, and taught all men what He expected from them if they wished to be saved and enter His holy kingdom.

     Nothing darkens man more than pernicious sin which is undesirable and unnatural and was acquired through man’s disobedience to God’s command to fast from a tree, and man instead accepted the  advice of the devil and chose to his will and disobey God. God who is good and kind did not create sin but made man sinless, but he warned him of his potential greatness before all creation and that he avoid the slimy path of the sin of disobedience. He also didn’t threaten Adam the first man but firmly warned him that if he   ate of the forbidden tree he would die. God gave His eternal life to us by breathing His spirit into Adam, thus death does not belong to man but was caused by his disobedience.

     After Adam and Eve sinned they bore two children, named Cain and Abel, whom they taught to offer sacrifices to God. Abel offered his best and Cain’s offer was inferior, resulting in Cane becoming bitter in envy he slayed his brother thus introduced brotherly murder into the world.  Then as the race of man increased, sin was a choice they could choose, and while Abel chose good Cain chose evil and, even after bwing warned by God, he killed his own brother.

     From the beginning God had a plan to save and correct men so the devil’s plan will certainly be  thwarted. Many like Abel chose the good that God had offered and rejected the will of the evil one. His Logos would be incarnated from the Virgin Mary and at the Annunciation He came into her sacred womb. Nine moths later He was born and marking this we celebrate Christmas, the Birth of Christ. He grew to adulthood and there never was and never will be a most beautiful and gracious man whose divinity was masked by His humanity, but shone through in many ways. By His example and teaching He taught us what  we are and what we must become, saying for example: “Be holy for I am holy;” “Be perfect as your Father in heaven;”  “If you love me, keep my commandments.” His original plan was to form man in His image and to become perfect as God’s own image and likeness, His teaching was the way to bring this to fruition, and he prepared food and drink for this enormous task giving man all the help he needed.

     Sin is attractive to the flesh but we have been given a spirit of God within us and the spirit will strongly support us if we make war against all our sinful inclinations; we must despise and avoid all evil then do only the will of God. Life is short and goes by quickly so there is no time to waste. Today is the day of salvation, tomorrow may be too late. If the task seems to be too great, starting ,only starting, will be rewarded, for it is the decision that is most necessary. We must choose life instead of death, eternal life instead of eternal death!

VICTORY OVER THE WORLD

“ In the world you shall have tribulation, 

but be of good cheer; 

I have overcome the world” (John 26:33).

     There is one who has created all that exists and who has established victory by defeating and conquering the devil, who was the evil ruler of the world of men. He is Jesus Christ the Godman who has conquered the deceiver, who had made himself evil ruler of the world. But Jesus Christ proclaimed His victory, for He is the undefeated and almighty God who created and controls everything. There should never be any fear in the hearts of the followers of our God and Savior Jesus Christ who created, established and  dominates the entire world of men. His battle and victory was done because of His great love for man. The world appears to the most faithless ones to be stronger than themselves, but the world is relatively weak and feeble under the dominion and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ,

 

     The physical world is seen at times as being ferocious and terrible to those who choose not to recognize and worship the true God who created them amd they ignore their Master and Creator. They reject without taking into account all that He has done for us. They reject the Virgin birth, the preaching of the Gospel, the countless miracles, the passion, the Cross, and death followed by His most glorious  resurrection. With overflowing evidence of the truth the opposers still choose to accept only their own wild speculation.

     They suffer from many storms, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and frequent and destructive fires and they reject God as being the Creator and Cause. But they fabricated a god whom they called  Mother Nature, who is mindless and  incommunicative and non existent. Truth is that their god is inferior to those men who worship her for God through His spirit has given all men intellect and feelings which are not an attribute of mindless  mother nature. Yet they assert that blind mother nature is the source of all the evils which they suffer, andof the good things which they enjoy.  They refuse to accept the real and eternal Source who is the true God who created heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible. Not too many years ago. when men even a small bit of faith were less impious, a terrible earthquake would cause them to repent  confessing their sins before the God in heaven “who looks at the earth and it trembles.”

    What they cannot understand in their folly is that creation could not possibly have created itself, for without its Creator, nothing created can possibly exist without the intelligence and power of God. And God alone will decide if and when this creation is no longer needed in His plan, and if so He will decide whether to return it to non-being. 

 

     The physical world with its many insecurities may seem very powerful to many faithless ones  causing countless dangers, injuries and deaths. But we recognize the fact that it is totally under the dominion and control of its only Master and Creator. Compared to Christ the world is very weak and has no power that does not come from His decision and will. So tribulation and numerous miseries plague many unbelievers who refuse to turn to God and escape the  tribulation, but more important to escape eternal condemnation.

      When our Lord says: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”, He is speaking of the world of men and angels who from the beginning many of them rejected God and chose to live in sin being obedient to their malignant master the devil.  As their leader he advised them to ignore God’s command and enjoy the attractive forbidden fruit, and the result was terrible sin entered creation. Christ defeated the evil one through His Passion and death on the Cross followed by His glorious Resurrection. Christ tells us: “Be of good cheer: for the evil one has been dominating over you and is now he is left powerless before me, and he knows that his days are numbered and his power is has been transformed into weakness.

     Be of good cheer for by faith your eyes are now wide open and you clearly see me as your God and Creator and Savior, for by the same faith many will come unto me and be saved from eternal condemnation. Believing in me you shall keep all of my commandments which will place you firmly on the path to everlasting life. “Be of good cheer” for you ill have my firm support all through your life, so remain for I traveled that road which is now ready for you.  “Take up your cross daily and be crucified” to all evil thoughts, words and deeds. I will also feed you with eternal food, which is my own body and blood, which I shed for the whole world in order to save you and bring many to perfection and glory.  Come to me in fear, faith and love, with sincere repentance avoiding everything that is evil.

NEW HERESIES 

by Met. Augoustinos Kantiotes of Florina

“We will not deny you beloved Orthodoxy!”

Concerning Philo-papism

     (From the Editor) Many contemporary and influential Orthodox leaders have been traveling on a crooked path of betrayal by kissing, praising, flirting, embracing and glorifying the Pope of Rome, who has usurped the place of Christ as Head of the Church, even to bringing popes into the Orthodox churches. This article by the Metropolitan was translated from original Greek. Also the dogmas of Orthodoxy require that every one outside must enter through denouncing their heresies and must by baptized by triune baptism)

      Lately, certain theologians under the influence of contemporary world wide currents, have begin to savor the words “ecumenicity”, “ecumenical spirit”, and “ecumenical movement”, as if they were hard candy.  Ecumenicity, what a beautiful word!  And yet, behind these words lie a hidden most fearful danger to Orthodoxy.  What is this danger?  We will show you by means of an example.

     Imagine a woman, a woman faithful to her husband, a woman who will show no third party to enter into their relationship, ever mindful of the promises which she has made before God and before men. She is a woman of exceptional beauty, drawing the eyes of many a man. On account of her uprightness, however, anyone who dares to touch, or to proposition her, immediately meets with her anger.  Should such a one persist, this honorable woman will deliver a strong slap to his face in order to bring him to his senses.

     Those men who are learned in such vile business, however, will try another method. These will try too uncover what it is that this woman likes; does she love poetry, or philosophy, or art? By means of these things the secret admirer will trap her.  With great deftness he will begin having innocent conversations with her on those subjects that are beloved to her. “What a wonderful poem!”; “What a beautiful painting!”; “What a wonderful play!”; “How sweet a piece of music!’ And thus begins the dialogue.  Gradually the unsuspecting woman is lured into longer conversations with the deceiver who, while his tongue speaks of philosophy and art, his heart leaps at the hope of taking the woman for himself.  Finally after an air of great familiarity and mutual understanding has been achieved through these conversations, the door is open to the foul deed, the shameful union.  Just as the most-evil serpent succeeded in beguiling Eve by means of a simple conversation, in like manner the seed of shameful union was sown,

     Did you catch what we are trying to say, beloved? We have spoken in a parable.

     The woman concerning which we have spoken is our Orthodox Church. She is the beauty. She is the woman who, according to the book of Revelation is “clothed in the Sun”, who wears “upon her head a crown of twelve stars”, and who has “the moon under her feet”.  It is the Orthodox Church which has remained faithful to the Lord, to the eternal bridegroom. It is she who has kept our the tradition of the Lord and of the Apostles – both written and unwritten – in accordance with the God inspired call to “stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”  It is she, the Orthodox Church, which for nineteen centuries has fought the hard and bloody battle against various deceptions, against the various heresies which have sought to pollute and corrupt her holiness.  One of the worst of these heresies is Papism which, on account of its delusions, its authoritarian spirit, and its atrocities, caused the rise of Protestantism and the fracturing of all of Christendom.  Yes, the Papists are heretics. 

     The enemies of the Orthodox Church, including Papism to be sure, know well that she has persevered in the faith of her Fathers. Yet, having been persuaded through many examples that they cannot conquer that fortress which is Orthodoxy by means of a frontal attack, these enemies have recently begun trying by other means.  They have begun a new war, a war of peace, a war worse than the Crusades. Do you not hear the voice of the serpent, seeking to corrupt the minds of Orthodoxy, leading us away from our simplicity? 

     Here is what the serpent says: I am a sweet angel bearing the message of love. I am not going to hurt you. Keep your dogmas and traditions.  Leave these things to the theologians . . . I invite you into my room to discuss other matters.  Let us make a common stand against hunger, against poverty, against atheism, against communism, against war.  Do these matters not move you? Does not this proposition not excite you?  Come then, let us begin our conversation on high, on the level of ecumenicity, on the level of mutual understanding. You will see how beautiful our coming together can be!

     O Orthodox Church!  Our suffering mother! Will you accept this proposition? Will you enter into dialogue with Papism? Can you not see the danger inherent in this proposition? That those who ineptly and unworthily represent you are creating conditions favorable to your enemies to such a fearful degree that you without even taking notice, will fall into the arms of Papism. And what will follow then? A union, a pseudo-union, spiritual adultery, a most vile act; something which should never to have occurred and which will require centuries of repentance from those Orthodox who played the role of pimp for the Orthodox Church.  The hour will come when these will sigh and say: “Let the language which we spouted concerning “ecumenicity” and “mutual understanding” cease; let these feet which ran to bring together Orthodoxy and wolves in sheep’s clothing become leprous; let these hands which signed ecumenical epistles and documents fall off!” 

     This my beloved, is the famous ‘theory of ecumenicity’ which our leaders savor!

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