GREATLY FORBEARING JOB

“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; 

blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

     The righteous (or just) have no fear except the fear of God, and they are aware that no matter whatever happens all will change and again go well with them. Here are a few excerpts from the Book of Job the forbearing and enduring one.

     Job, a and righteous man worshiped God faithfully and abstained from all evil and God’s many blessings made him quite prosperous. He had seven sons and three daughters. He also had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, a very great household and a huge husbandry and was ranked among the most noble of men. His sons visited one another preparing banquets frequently bringing along with them their sisters. Job frequently offered up purifying sacrifices for his children in case any of them had sinned or done anything improper or thought evil in their minds. 

     The devil appeared before God, and God told about the beauty of Job. The devil attempted to attribute God’s gifts as the reason for Job’s pure and holy lifestyle. God gave the devil permission to use his wiles to pursue and change Job piety and began the  attack which God gave him against Job. Through the devil’s work messengers came to Job one after the other, telling of very many losses including his servants who had been slain.  While one servant was still reporting, additional servants came with even worse news; they came one after the other. They told of fire coming down from heaven which burnt up his many sheep. This continued until  he lost everything. All his children were killed when a great wind came from the desert and blew their house down upon them all.  

     But Job never hesitated his faithful worship of God, saying about the many evils that came upon him: “I came forth naked from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gives the Lord takes away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has happened; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Then the devil went after Job’s body; he inflicted sore boils from his feet to his head and Job sat on a dung heap and scraped them. In all the events that fell upon him “Job did not sin before the Lord, nor did he impute foolishness to the Lord.” The Lord God blessed Job again even more than at the beginning. Then after he had suffered affliction for a total of 170 years, he died peacefully fully restored at 240 years.  Job never neglected his frequent and faithful loving prayers to the Lord even under the most difficult circumstances, His love for the Lord was His life, and by this he set the example for all of us at all times.

                                 

     The very moving story of Job in its entirety is well known and is especially taken to heart by those who are faithful to God in all their works. It is the Lord who we should love with all our hearts, and not just love the material possessions which He has bestowed upon us. Although they deserve our continuous gratitude and thankfulness. God loves us completely even if we oppose or deny Him, for His love is directed toward each one of us. Job prayerful and most faithful life which stemmed from his wonderful patience, endurance, and with great confidence and love for the Lord. He loved the Lord for Himself and there was nothing that could alter his great love. We must all love God for  everything we have is God’s free gift, but the greatest gift of all is that  He gives us our life and existence, our intellect and our love and good feelings, and the noble and joyous goal of being His own image, and there is nothing more He could have done than making us like God like himself, truly a noble destination!

   We must remember that the Lord gives us everything enthusiastically and generously regardless and He continues this whether or not we return His love, and He helps everyone who seeks truth rejecting no one. He gives freely to all for He is good and the only Lover of man. The goodness of God and His many beautiful attributes are beyond our ability to even try to understand and describe..

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed is His holy name.

THE GLASSBLOWER'S SON

     During the reign of Patriarch Menas (536-600) an extraordinary miracle occurred. A young Jewish boy, the son of a glassworker, went with some of his Orthodox companions and received Holy Communion with them. When he went home he told his father, who in a fury and great indignation he placed the boy in the furnace which he used for molding glass.

     The boy’s mother had no knowledge of what the father had done to the boy. She unsuccessively searched seeking her missing child for three days as she went throughout the city weeping and wailing for her son. On the third day by the door of her husband’s workshop, she was crying out her son’s name. Recognizing his mother’s voice he answered her from within the coals and showed her that he was totally untouched by the fire. When asked how he remained unharmed, he told her. A woman in a purple robe had frequently come and visited me. She offered me water and supplied food the coals nearest me kept him cool.


     The Emperor Justinian when hearing of this occurrence, placed the boy and his mother in the orders of the church and they were illumined and baptized, and the Emperor sentenced the glassblower to death for the murder of his son.

IN THE BEGINNING . . .

“In the beginning God created heaven and earth . . .”

(Gen 1:1)

     Before the beginning there existed only eternity for that which exists outside of eternity exists in time and all that exists in time has both a beginning and an ending. Outside of time in eternity there is God the Creator who alone is the eternal one.  “In the beginning” refers to the beginning of creation. God, alone is eternal, all-knowing,  all-powerful and is a perfect Mind. A man has to choose between believing this only possibility or the impossibility that the world created itself, because the world is a creation not a creator. If we accept creation as being existent we must also recognize the Creator who in the beginning created heaven and earth.

     The world could not create itself, is not the creation of many creators and was not created by evil powers. The world comes from God therefore we should rejoice and be gladdened, because we know that God is good and the Lover of man. The world is divine in its origin and for this reason its end will be in God. This realization causes us to realize that God is a great intelligence possessing all knowledge, this we know because He endowed each of us with such a supreme  intellect and memory.

     We know that God called forth the existence of the heavens and the earth with the land and sea, lakes and rivers, the sun, moon and stars, and so many other things that he formed for our sake.     It is astounding to our minds knowing that all that exists in heaven and earth were called forth by God/ But when He created man, He did call Him but He personally form man in His own image. So the greatest creature of God which is man was created above all being as the highest of creatures. Even higher than this is man’s unique destination, which is to become the image and likeness of God. With this in mind, we must act accordingly and struggle to become God’s image and likeness and thus be found worthy to live with Him in eternal life.  Failing to understand our destination to become His image and likeness can be detrimental to our souls.                   

     “In the beginning . . .”  This establishes the starting point and there is a necessary ending point. We all have a starting point of infancy, unable to speak or to walk. and we slowly grow into toddlers and eventually into full grown men and woman. If we are not at this present time living a double life then its time to awaken and start living a genuine spiritual life. Usually our lives last for about fifty to a hundred years generallywithout foreknowledge of the day of our final demise, where we will face judgment. 

     I believe that there are only a small number of people who realize what we are writing here and that they have the most important thing there is to live for, to become the image and likeness of God. This is the highest of all calling that exists. There is no one greater and higher than God, and the highest calling of mankind is to become His image and likeness. As for those who have not yet begun, today is always a good time to start and when you do your whole life will change for the better.

     The Orthodox Church is the central point of the means of our reaching our destination. The Church’s most important book, the New Testament,called also the Bible, is the source of much teaching that we need, the Gospels and Epistles contained therin ought to be read and re-read over and over for they are rich in content of necessary things.

     God is good, kind, sweet, full of compassion, merciful and greatly forbearing. He abounds with great love for all mankind. How much he loves us can be seen by creation. His love for us is far beyond the brilliance of the sun. His kindness is brighter tha the brightest moon. His compassions are more munerous than the stars of the heavens. How much He loves us is also seen by the wonderful fact, that He bestowed the greatest honor possible on the human race – forming man in His own image! 

SOME HE GAVE AS APOSTLES

“And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets; 

 some as evangelists; and some as pastors and teachers”

 (Eph.” 4:11) 

   The original Church of Christ was very well organized and until this day this statement remains true. The above quotation is continued in the Bible and shows this to be factual as you will now see:

     “And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets; and some as evangelists; and some as pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints; for the work of the ministry; for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4.11-13).

    The Church is a divinely organized body and has been wonderfully functioning for almost two-thousand years! And herein its entire purpose is firmly declared: “for the perfecting of the saints”, “for the work of the ministry”, “for the edifying of the body of Christ”; “till we come to the unity of the faith.” The purpose is very well defined and its various members are declared as, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers catechists and catechumens. Each group has its particular function, for the apostles spread the Faith, the prophets declare and interpret prophesies, the evangelists preach the holy Gospel. The pastors watch over the flock and the teachers instruct the faithful. This process forms men and women into Orthodox Christians and this arrangement has been shown to be successful for twenty centuries. It clearly shows that there can only be one Church, the Orthodox and others are not divine but are human institutions. The Church cannot be simply human for its Head Jesus Christ the Godman, is both divine and human. The Church is His body and is therefore also divine and human  which has been demonstrated over the years. Miracles are divine and frequently occur in Orthodox Churches throughout the world.

     In our own bodies different organs have different functions but all act and contribute to the common good of the whole body, and the Lord instituted this system in His Church, His Body, with its various organs and functions. Among them were established the apostles, evangelists, pastors, prophets and teachers etc. for Christ established them in His Church.

     The organization of the Church as described is in need of standardization in every Orthodox Church in the world and there should be no deviations. This ought be done by the bishops but many of whom are too taken up by the modern extreme heresy of ecumenism which denies the exclusivity of the Orthodox Church, and seeks unity with non-churches. For there can never be a church outside the Church, as we all believe and declare in our sacred Creed: I believe “in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church.” The word “one” excludes every other  “church;”  “and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life” So “holy” includes the spirit of God and there is only one Holy Spirit. Catholic means it is the only Church for the human race; nor can there can be another. Apostolic means it is the Church whose teaching is that of the apostles – the original Catholic and Apostolic Church – Holy Orthodoxy.

     The divine human perfection of Holy Orthodoxy which is almost two-thousand years old is seen in its preservation of truth and firmness, having embattled with many heretical attacks over the years, and always preserving the truth, for it is headed by the Truth, the Logos who came down from heaven and became man.

 PASS THE TIME IN FEAR

“Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” (! Pet.1:17).

     There are many things in the world that bring fear to men, but to those who seek the good life in Christ, a single mild fear will do awaywith all other fears. This is the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom, and is a noble and productive fear.  Let us ask what is the difference in these fears? Usually the fear of things in the world are unknown or threatening, while the fear of God is a delightful fear greatly rewarding to those who have it. But once the fear of God is acquired, it  will become transformed into a sweet and loving fear. Fear of God is a great defense against sinful temptations which frequently attack us. Fear of God and eternal punishment should be kept in our minds together with the frequent question: shall I be saved?

     Lightning flashes and thunder noisily rumbles and causing fear to accost the souls of foolish man who have no fear of God. But a prudent man stands without any other fear except the comforting and saving fear of God. The farmer remains patient and working he awaits in trepidation every day, for he does not know for certain that he will reap the result of his labor. So too we must patiently await in the same way not knowing if we will be deemed worthy to recei                                                 Hh;//////”“”“ve the greatest gift from the Lord, which is life eternal.

     This world imspires us to join it in merrymaking, dancing and good times but these cannot come until the end of this life, for that is when we will celebrate with joy. If we gain eternal life the accompanying happiness will fill our souls to overflowing thankfulness and gratitude to God for His mercy and compassion.

     Peter recorded the words: “Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” acknowledged that all his strength and wisdom were from God, and he had the fear of God deep within his soul, but he had no ther fear. Rather than toeel the fear of God at various times, it is better that this fear should be present at all times. That is why we must frequently ask if we shall be saved, for our salvation is not of our decision but the Lord’s. 

     Let us labor for the Lord during the days of our lives and strive in faith and fear to do His will and keep all His commandments, for our entire lifetime is a time for work and preparation for the judgment that is to come.  Again, though the world makes merry and celebrates during this present life, but we must not do the same for these are days are for better used with much labor and we look to the celebrations in the kingdom of God which is our greatest hope.

     Fear of God is easy to bear and most essential to accomplish our goal of eternal life. Fear of God is always good and rouses a good attitude and zeal within us. Passing the time of our sojourning with fear  and devotion leads us on the right path. Fear of God should penetrate our souls and guide us to good thinking and produces good actions. Peter who wrote this passage, had almost perfect fear of God guiding his soul inspiring good thinking actions.

     Fear of God begins when we have full realization that He is to be our only judge who will determine to save or punish us in the coming judgment. We may lose the fear God when we fail to keep his commandments, but when we struggle and apply ourselves to keeping them, changes in graceful fear will take place and gradually this fear will be accompanied by love and dedication. But because we are sinners and can easily fall into sin, so we must be on guard to preserve the fear of God that it may  never leave us for it a most beneficial saving fear. The phrase “pass the time sojourning. . . means that every day of our lives must be filled this saving and pious fear.

WORST ILLNESS – BEST REMEDY

     We all suffer from various ailments from time to time, but there is one illness that is the worst illness  of all and which also becomes the cause of other illnesses of  soul and body. Man is body soul and spirit and we are all somewhat familiar with bodily illnesses and perhaps with  their treatment, but the most severe illness of all is the illness of the soul, sometimes severe but always curable but it should be the first thing needing cure. Belief in God is most essential to treatment of the soul and belief and trust is found only in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Some ailments of the soul are more severe but all ailments respond to the same treatment, humbling ourselves, sincere repentance, confession and receiving Holy Communion.

      God created us endowing us with freedom of decision and action, and His divine law for us to respect and obey but iy drrmd that we all have all disobeyed the law of God which introduces suffering and misery into our souls and bodies. The best and only remedy is prescribed by Jesus Christ, which is, sincere repentance from the depths of our souls with thorough confession to an Orthodox Priest who is authorized to forgive our sins through the mercy and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the partaking of Holy Communion. 

     We may not be familiar with the ailments of our souls, but they are brought about by the things we do against the law of God and our conscience. There are times when they often cause us much unhappiness and  misery  preventing lasting joy in our souls. 

     If any unconfessed sins remain in our souls doing their evil work this must be rooted out.  After sincere repentance and complete confession and Holy Communion,  joy will immediately arrive and delight  our souls for the cure is in now taking effect. We will not be judged by God for illnesses of the body, but we will be judged for unconfessed sins and iniquities which afflict our souls.  But thank our Lord Jesus Christ, who through His sacrifice on the Cross made it cure possible. He is worthy of all praise and adoration for He is good and the only Lover of man.

    Sickness of the soul, due to wrong choices are always our responsibility being more severe and in need of treatment more than ailments of the body. Among theses sins are lying, stealing, cheating, swearing, arrogance, unreasonable anger, fornication, adultery, gluttony and drunkenness. These are just a few of our soul’s many sins and we need to rid ourselves of all of  them through repentance and confession, followed by receiving  the Body and Blood of Christ. Lasting joy and jubilation will come into our hearts and fill us with continual thanks and love for God, overflowing our souls with happiness each day of our life. The former burden of our souls will be lifted and realizing Christ’s forgiveness will remain imprinted in our souls forever. Things that used to bring us unhappiness will now be the cause of much joy. Misery will be gone never to return. The soul’s cure is always treated and cyured by  repentance, confession and holy Communion.

     A new life awaits all who are sick and sinful  in their souls when they respond to Christ’s treatment and are cured. Experiencing the joyous effect of the miraculous cure in our souls we will have a strong desire to share this with as many others as possible, for the delight cannot be adequately  described, so it takes our action toward others.

     With humility and kindness we will enter into communication with those who have not been cured, many of them have never repented and confessed. Some people will  claim that they are Orthodox Christians and go to Church and even to Holy Communion, but they may never have repented. To commune without sincere repentance and confession can become extremely serious, for the Lord makes it clear that whoever eats His Body and drinks His blood must examine himself first and not go without proper preparation. 

     It is important that the virtue of sincerity and humility arise in a person’s inner being, for genuine repentance requires a humble, sincere and contrite soul. One of the important aspects of our Holy Faith is that everyone, bishop, priest, or layman all seek to spread this knowledge of salvation  to many others for this leads to happiness and eternal life. We who have the true Orthodox faith must be always be true to that Faith  by always remembering that there is nothing more important in our lives than our pure Faith.

     As we progress in spiritual life we must always remember that we are repentant sinners, and though we may have stopped sinning, and though we have repented we remain as the worst of sinners, for we are not superior to anyone. This is declared in A Prayer before receiving Holy Communion which begins: “I believe O Lord and I confess, that you are the Christ, Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the first!”

TRUST IN THE LORD AND

NOT IN ONES OWN UNDERSTANDING

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and not unto your own understanding”   (Prov.3:5).

     We must place our trust in the Lord with all our hearts and this should be ahead of everything else, continually remembering Him as our one and only great Benefactor He is the  pure and only Source of all our ability to think, to love and to have  correct understanding.  All material things of this world will one day be gone and only God and our personal relationship with Him will remain. God must be the most important focus of our entire lives for He alone is our bountiful Creator and most glorious Benefactor. 

     If we indulge in our own understanding more than likely we will find ourselves in the depths of illusion, delusion and falsehood. If our understanding of God’s teaching is minimum and if we place our hope and trust in our own understanding will endanger our entire well being, but if we trust in God it will firmly establish us on the proper course of life. If we fail to recognize this at the present time we may  realize it when it is too late, and this life passes by quickly.  The days rapidly pass by  and the years keep sliding by. There are limits already set for the end of our lives, and  we have little or no idea when that day will come. Where are witnesses to this truth which is so important to our well being? That is found in the Orthodox Church and in the New Testament. Everyone of us had a beginning or starting point in this life when we came from our mothers’ wombs, and all that has a beginning necessarily has an end. The end of our lives as we all know are unpredictable and there are many who are shy away from any discussion involving the subject of death. But when we see our deaths with the light of divine understanding we will give more attention to Holy Scripture, which says in the Psalms: “Man’s days are as grass as a flower of the field so shall he flourish . . .  For a spirit passes in him and no longer will he recognize his region.” When we begin to fully understand God’s wonderful and glorious purpose for our lives then our souls will jump with great joy and delight and thanksgiving, knowing that He has a great desire to grant us eternal life, for He is good and the Lover of man.

     Our understanding needs to be rid of all that polluted it from being filled with worldly knowledge especially much of what wwhat was taught in schools, the public press and in entertainment. The apirit of the world teaches us to just enjoy life, accumulate goods and money for old age and then just die and disappear. But the truth from God elevates man to a very high destination. It tells us to prepare our lives here for the judgment of God that will confront us at the end in the end of this life. Radio and television has brought the world’s ideas into our minds which is designed to rouse our many desires. Though TV may seem innocent because we watch only “good” programs, it is not benign for it is among the greatest distractions by taking our minds and hearts away from the majesty and greatness of God.

     From history we learn that before the advent of mass communication, years ago among western Christians in Europe, there were many discussions on the streets and a major subject was death and dying, which shows that at that time this was on minds of many people. Death would be followed by judgment and man did not come from some animal. God created man in His own image and all life comes from God and thus is sacred. 

     “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and not in your own understanding.” We must read the New Testament frequently as it is filled with what our souls really need to understand, for example, Christ says: “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them from one another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His right hand but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say to them on His right hand, Come you blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thristy and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying< Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and gave you drink?  Or when did we see you a stranger and took you in? Or naked and clothed you or when did we see you sick and in prison and come unto you? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Amen, I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of my brethren, you have done it unto me” (Mat. 25:31-40). This divine teaching is so formed that it may remain in our souls preserved in memories.

     We Orthodox Christians will do well to repeatedly study these and similar words of Christ in Holy Scriptures so that the laws and commandments of Christ will be imprinted into our intellects and our hearts, for they are alive and filled with divine grace. Then by trusting in the Lord’s words and with a clearer understanding, we will gradually transform our relatively poor comprehension,  replacing it with a rich and divine understanding. We will find that when we live the life that God has established for us that our souls will be filled with a deep longing for the goodness and  beauty of having His life within us.

KNOWLEDGE  VS  WISDOM

“The fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 1:7)

    Knowledge is plentiful and is practically unlimited and continues to increase in quantity, but wisdom and knowledge are not the same. Many people confuse the two and some think that much knowledge indicates wisdom. Some count and tell us the quantity of fish in the sea and the number of animals on dry land, others count the types and numbers of trees in the forest and how many stars are in the sky, and although this is much knowledge it is not wisdom.

     That is why the Prophets delivers God’s message about genuine wisdom: “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” We must not lightly dismiss these words for they are divine and most precious. We should not say different for they are from God. If we seek wisdom, God and His representatives are the only ones we need to heed for those who desire and love life, must realize that without a soul filled with fear and love for God, the genuine desire for real and everlasting life will not be present.

     Those who deny that there is a God also do not realize their own purpose for existence and they lack wisdom, because, as God instructs, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Why must man have fear of God?   Simply stated because fear is the source of wisdom. Following the fear of God, the love of God also arises in our souls and as our love grows wisdom increases in proportion. Some say that they do not fear God but that they love Him.  But this is not reasonable for the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.  Fear is the beginning and the most important first step. For whenever we take a wrong path, we must return to the beginning to get onto the right path, then start all over.

    Why must we fear God?  Because He is our Master and the Source of our existence and is the Creator of heaven and earth and all that exists. Because He is our lawmaker and  our judge for which reason we ought to humble ourselves and offer Him our gratitude for everything. 

.   Why do we need humility? Because nothing we have is our own and humility opens our souls to reception of His wisdom which enables us to keep the law of God. It is interesting to note that men bow down and obey earthly kings and then are reluctant to bow down before God, the heavenly King. Bowing to Him shows our recognition of His majesty and glory. Man is superior to every other creature, not because he deserves it but because God has placed him in that  high position, and has given men the potential to transform and grow into the image and likeness of God. 

     These divine truths cannot be grasped and understood except by those who have willingly humbled themselves and so escape the insidious trap of the evil one who snares men by planting in them a spirit of pride, rendering them unable to accept the simple truths  revealed by God. God’s truths are indeed plain and simple truths but they describe the wonderful revelation concerning man which brings great joy and delight to the souls all the faithful.

     As long as men continue to ignore God and His commandments, there will always be wars and rumors of wars, and revolutions on earth; crime will continue to plague us, nations will dispute and go to war against each other, these and many other evils will prevail, not that man is evil, but by ignoring God he attracts the evil spirit who becomes his mentor and deceptive guide.

     Knowledge has an important place in our lives but wisdom and peace from God completely transforms us being the source of happiness and joy. For then our hearts experience the comfort of truth which comes from heaven and this brings peace into the our souls. If we already enjoy this divine experience we ought to share it with others. If at any time we find ourselves without divine joy and peace, we must turn to God and ask, for when we ask He will respond and comunicate with us,  but we  must keep the door of your heart wide open to His guidance. God loves and helps those who seek to do His will especially by prayer, fasting and almsgiving the basic foundation upon which spiritual life is constructed.

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.

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE COMFORTER

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE COMFORTER

“But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance,  whatever I have said to you” (John 14:26).

     We need to pray many times each day and a  particular prayer is that the Holy Spirit will be sent to dwell within us, so as to continually remind us of the words and teachings of the Lord, with the hope that upon our sincere request He will respond to our prayer. In the frequent gatherings of the Church, our first prayer is to the Holy Spirit as follows: “Heavenly King Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who are everywhere present and fills all things; treasury of Good things and Giver of life: come and abide in us, cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls O Good One.”

     Our Lord will certainly respond to our sincere request seeking His Comforter and Spirit of Truth, for it is His good will to bestow every blessing upon us, for He s good and the Lover of man. But words alone will not attract His grace. It is when  when we put his words into the actions of our lives we will attract the Spirit. In the Lord’s prayer we ask the Lord to give us this day are essential bread, but we need the Holy Spirit to prepare our souls thst we may partake of yjr holy mystery.

     The Holy Spirit reminds and teaches us all things. But the teaching of the world is of temporal things of lesser importance and not of everlasting life. The Holy Spirit teaching vital and important things helps us to understand valuable things regarding our present lives and the acquisition of eternal life.

     There are many things to remember about the kingdom of God and our general and individual salvation, and the spirit teaches us everything including old and new things causing our knowledge and love to continue to increase. We can be forgetful but the presence of the spirit in our souls will remind us of many things otherwise forgotten.

“He shall teach you all things necessary.” The Holy Spirit being the source of knowledge knows everything that the Godhead knows. When He dwells within us He reminds us of everything that comes from God who is an infinite source.

     “He shall bring all things to your remembrance which I have spoken to you.  The words from Christ are countless in number for we only have words that were preserved and published.

Sometimes we estrange ourselves from God due to sin and thus fall into spiritual weakness. The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in an unclean vessel, and so will depart from our hearts. When the Holy Spirit leaves us gladness and strength peace and tranquility depart at the same time and this renders us sad and miserable.

When we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we must establish Him as the center and focus of our lives, and we must keep watch over our souls guarding against every attack of the evil one who desires to steal our attention and affections that he might cause us to perish.  Every thought we have of Christ becomes food for our souls and and  gives strength to our bodies, therefore Christ is the best food and drink for our souls and bodies.

MEN WHO LIVE IN PROSPERITY 

DO NOT LISTEN

“I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen”

(Jer. 22;21).

    The Lord addressed King  Jehoiakim and the Jews as He chastized the Jewish people, saying: “I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen.”  Concerning these words God still speaks today to express the same thoughts against His own people, that is the Orthodox Christians. When we feel ourselves, content doing very well and living prosperously, then we forget or are ignorant of God and focus our full attention on everything else. God says the same thing  to all of us today: “I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen.” What will be our response to God? This is very important: to completely ignore God our Creator is certain death for our souls

     The Lord created us from matter and created matter from nothing, and every human being is very special and extremely precious, for to no other creature did He bestow such precious gifts as upon man. He bestowed on man life, intelligence, freedom, conscience and the ability to love in his heart. He breathed His own divine spirit into man thereby elevated him to the heights, destined to progreess and become His own image and likeness. No higher destiny could be bestowed upon man or any other creature. Therefore, man is the ruler of all creation and has the highest and most noble destiny of any creature.

     “I spoke to you in your prosperity and you would not listen.” Today God continues to speak to man and says “ ”I am the light of the world; he follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” Man was created by God as a free and moral creature. He is able to distinguish choose good and reject evil. He has a conscience which reminds him of the differences so that he may always make proper moral decisions. Christ the Light of the world is the Savior and only Lover of man.

     Good and evil is been clearly distinguished by both God’s law and man’s conscience Man must choose only good and avoid every form of evil. Both the Old and New Testaments confirm these things, the Commandments are a perfect example, for they forbid every evil deed. The law also commands us to “do to others as we would have others do to us.” The commands of Jesus Christ and His Church exist not to control evil deeds but to guide man, leading him to become the image and likeness of God which is his proper destination.

    

J     esus Christ is our mediator, our rabbi and teacher, our ruler and our king. He is our savior,  redeemer and mediator. He is the only Godman and our great high priest. This is the most important  truth about the Church of Christ, Holy Orthodoxy. God speaks these things to you in your prosperity.

Will you listen? 

     We cannot depend on our bishops to teach us these things, although it is their sacred duty as rulers and teachers of the Church. Thr Church is much motr than the collection of money topay for  the institution of the Church. The Church is the living Body of its only Head Jesus Christ. Its function is to preach the Gospel and baptize everyone outside the Church, and spread knowledge of salvation everywhere. Conducting the the many religious aspects of the Church is extremely important and is among the many functions of the clergy, and for this reason we bestow honor on our Orthodox clergymen at all times. The Church however is led but not headed by various bishops but Jesus Christ is its only Head. And it is His will that must always be done in the Church. Every Orthodox Christian is obligated to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling for we are all destined by the Lord to everlasting life. But we are also obliged and expected to spread this important knowledge among men.

 IDOLATRY AND ADULTERY

“Judah and Israel have defiled the land, and

have committed adultery with stone and with wood.”

(Jer. 3:9)

     The adultery committed by Judah and Israel accomplished by using stone and wood is the  idolatry or worshiping of God by use of man made idols.  But before turning away from God in order to worship idols they first turned away from worshiping the true God the Creator of heaven and earth who is the only living God. Why is idolatry called adultery? Because they worshiped idols were first linked in love of the true and living God whom they abandoned in their adultery, for they indulged in the worship of man-made gods or idols made of stone and wood.

     Sadly today there is persistent adultery and the unfaithfulness persists and abounds among men, for the true God is either recognized and ignored or His very existence is denied.  Many of the reigning gods of today are man himself, followed by money and other material things.

     Idolatry of our days exalts man above God and the world, for man is now hailed as the greatest of all. There are many other forms of idolatry but man is the focus, for men are superiorly exalted with much knowledge which they have accumulated, yet they lack any knowledge of God.

     They cast the laws of God aside as useless and meaningless and the result is that this society kills its own babies, and impure and sodomic sins they now recognized as being marriage. Thus they greatly insult the nature of the sacramental institution of marriage established by God to be between one man and one woman. But this is the terrible sin of Sodom and Gomorah which God completely destroyed with the rain of fire and brimstone. The killing of infants and and of homoesexual marriage will be the cause of the great punishment. They also brazenly commit every form of adultery, nor do they believe or accept any of the divine laws, nor of their originator, who is the Lawmaker; they also ignore the dire consequences of their violation.

     In earlier times the idolaters formed their idols out of stone and wood and worshiped them offering worship as though they were gods. It didn.t bother them that there were many different gods among them, for they replaced true worship of God with false worship. What type of god is worshiped today in this country? Many do not make believe and form gods of stone and wood, but, among other things they proclaim that they recognize true God but fail to recognize His divine laws. 

     Although among men there is this lone voice loudly  crying out the warning– danger! For God is true to Himself and will severely punish all those who deny Him and who ignore His commandments, and by their actions they invite the greatest of evils upon themselves. To escape these evils men must turn from following the wayward ideas of other men and return to the living and true God, the God of Orthodoxy who will joyously embrace them upon their repentance accepting them as His own children as He saves them from the terrible evils which are scheduled to come. Those who respond will quickly feel the benefit of all those who choose to live under God’s authority for they will experience true happiness and the joy of the angels. 

     God’s reproach was very strong in days of old,  but today even after the appearance and divine teaching of the Son of God Jesus Christ, God’s reproach will be even more severe and much stronger, for after Christ’s coming and divine teaching man still continues in every form of fornication and adultery. These have spread over the entire earth and continues  increasing in darkness and few are those who respond and turn away. So we must all unite against the many who surround us, and devote our lives to the glory of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

CURSED BE THE MAN WHO 

                       TRUSTS IN MAN                                                              

“Thus says the Lord; cursed be the man 

who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, 

and whose heart departs from the Lord” 

(Jer. 17:5).       

     If a man turns away from God after placing all his trust in Him, as he turns away he will then place his trust in himself or in some other persons, for whom else can he go or to whom shall he turn? For when he fails to turn to God or turns away from him, he places himself in a very dangerous and hazardous position and he has few choices after abandoning his trust in the Lord.   He brings curses upon himself and confuses his stability and his whole purpose in life. So he turns to neighbors and friends who only lead him further astray from his goal into their own sickness. Previously he was under the protection of God’s benevolent care which he abandoned and he suffered a great loss.

     Faith in God and putting our trust in Him is one of the greatest blessings, but placing our trust in man separates us from God and leads us far astray. We ought to love the Lord our God, worship Him and keep all His commandments.  For when we lose our faith in God and only hope in ourselves or in some other men, we will be far away from our entire purpose in life.

     But why do we turn away from the Lord and fail to follow His commandments?  It is because the desires of our hearts are not firmly established in love for Him. Above it is written: “Cursed be the man . . . whose heart departs from the Lord.” It is the desire of our  hearts which diminishes resulting  in our turning from the Lord. We do not love Him completely with all our minds and hearts. There are only two ways to go  in this present life; we either love the Lord and follow Him or we submit to the world and its desires and follow after them. When we have chosen to follow the Lord we enter the good path and abandon all evil thoughts, desires and deeds.                     .   

     In Holy Scripture the Lord commands that we love the Lord our God with all our minds and hearts and with all our souls and this love will grow increasingly stronger. Let us not love anyone as much as we love God for in His love we also partake of His divinity which leads to the perfection of man.

For we are all images of God and with His grace will also become His likeness. The first man in the image and likeness of God is Jesus Christ and He is the perfect example of what we must become, as it is written: Let us create man in our own image and likeness.”

     There are many that reject the teaching of the Lord in Scriptures and fail to accept that we are created  to become like God. They go far away from their noble destination and become the opposite causing evil to dwell among men. They take on the nature of evil one and doing evil they become his image and are being led by him into eternal perdition. It is our most fervent desire that many will change their ways and become the image and likeness of God which is the most noble destination. 

     The man wh trusts in man is called cursed, but the man who trusts in God is indeed most blessed, for he spreads joy, exultation  and gladness throughout the world. Knowledge of God and of His plans for us is most valuable and brings joy to all heed His call to eternal life.

     Jesus Christ, being the first man in the image and likeness of God, by His own example of life and teaching shows us the way to salvation and everlasting life.  Blessed is he who puts His confidence and faith in the Lord and who spreads knowledge of salvation to all.                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

UNDERSTANDING BY DOING

“If any man will do His will, he will understand 

whether the teaching is from God” (John 7:17).

     It does little good to attempt to prove by human reasoning and words that the teachings of Christ are derived from God. The way to prove this is by each of us to actually do the will of God by putting His words into action. Christ speaks of this saying: “Whoever does His will he will also understand.” When we offer our assistance to the poor, we will begin to understand God’s great generosity. When we show compassion to others we will understand God’s compassion toward us all. When we help others with gifts of food we will understand God’s care for the foods we need. If we make peace between others we will know how to become a son of God. We will learn of God’s forgiveness when we forgive others.

     No man can ever understand that Christ’s teaching is from God unless he himself does the will of God. Doing God’s will is more difficult than reading about it in Scripture, but putting His words into our actions will bring about our understanding and it will become less difficult.

     When we forgive other’s their offenses we will know God’s forgiveness of our offenses. The way into Paradise is accomplished by performance of the will of God and by keeping His commandments. When reading we should recognize the good and the evil, adopting the former and ridding ourselves of the latter. When we put God’s will into action we will see that it is the most important thing and leads to our understanding.

     St. Basil the Great says: 

“Purity of life is necessary in order to recognize what is hidden from us in Holy Scripture.”  We lose a lot when we fail to put God’s commandments into action in our lives, and in failing to do this many things will remain hidden from us in Holy Scripture. If we weep for the sake of God we will know that God is consolation. God desires that we are convinced of His divine teaching by our actions.

     Those of us who seek to understand Holy Scripture by reading and contemplation will better reach our objective by the putting what we read into action which will increase our comprehension. Doing the will of God will not only lead to a better understanding but will also lead to the salvation of our souls in everlasting life. The Lord does not desire to convince us by the easiest means, but by the most difficult, that we may be convinced by placing what we read into action.

     In order to accomplish anything good requires first our reading and understanding and then our putting it into action. We have this choice and although it is the best way it is more difficult and involved than just reading about it. However taking action is the best method of understanding as we can see in everyday life. For example, we can read in a book concerning the  repair of a lawnmower and then put what we read into action by doing the actual repair. Having done this we will better comprehend a clearer meaning of the text in the book.

     As you need to read about the lawn mower to fix it, it is even more necessary to read about and understand God’s will by reading and absorbing what He commands. God speaks through Holy Scripture and we should read them each day of our lives. For we cannot properly do the will of God without  thorough understanding. 

     As we comprehend the will of God we will better understand who God is and the wondrous things He has prepared for those who know Him and love Him. For this is beautiful knowledge and elevates us to the realm of joy and happiness. We must learn and put into action his commandments for this should be what our lives are  about. Our lives ought to demonstrate that we are different than others. For when we keep God’s commandments our lives change and the darkness that surrounds us becomes a brilliant light which our soul radiates to those around us filling them with light.

                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                            

VICTORY OVER THE WORLD

“In the world you shall have tribulation, 

but be of good cheer. 

I have conquered the world” (John 16:330).

     Christ is the only author of life and the Victor over the world and death and declares: “I have conquered the world,” and He teaches us not to fear the world which He has conquered for the former tyrant of the world has been displaced. This world can still lead to disaster those who do not have Jesus Christ as their   Savior, Deliverer and Guide. Tribulation and difficulties make it difficult for all, not only for the acquisition of necessities but even more important, for the preparation of our immortal souls for the ultimate end of our lives. Then we will face the fearful day of judgment, where we will each be judged according to our faith and deeds.

    Our lives in this world appears to many to be of little consequence, for we are all born, reach adulthood and finally we die, but the litle known main purpose of our lives is of great importance.  For the day of our death is the end of time and trial and every one of us must submit to the fearful judgment of God the Creator.  God has established the whole existing world, given laws, with promises of eternal life, and threats of unhappiness, sickness and eternal death. 

   However rulers of this country who officially declare God to be dethroned and no longer the Ruler and Guide of people. They established a new and godless society where people foolishly say: “You are born, you live and enjoy yourself,  and then you die, and that the end for you go out of existence.”  But our consciences say something quite different. We are all born from parents and we are all aware that we are completely free to make our own decisions. We know we are under written and unwritten laws and that we are free to obey or disobey all laws of both God and man. Among men are many laws promising good to those who obey and punishments or even  death to those who disobey. We have laws, lawyers, and judges who deal with these laws.  Laws can only be given to those who are free and man being an image of God enjoys complete freedom, and is subject to legislation. In America we frequently speak of our freedom and liberty and extol its wonderful benefits. In this country we praise our great God-given freedom as we sing: “from every mountainside, let freedom ring!” “My country ’tis of thee sweet land of liberty, of you we sing.” “Give me liberty or give me death!” Liberty and freedom are so extremely important that they become cries when in battle.

   It is impossible to understand our freedom and then deny the ultimate accounting of the actions of our our lives while on earth. Considering this, together with man’s laws are proof enough of God’s ultimate judgment concerning what we did with our lives.  He sent His son Jesus Christ to teach the world, by words and example. Christ called to all men: “Learn from me for I am meek and humble in my heart.” 

     Christ established His Church which is today known as the holy Orthodox Church, wherein all that men need to know is available, for the Church, headed by Christ is His living Body. Through the Church we obtain victory and reward, but without the Church there is only defeat and punishment. There is much tribulation in the world but in the Church there is found peace and tranquility.

     Let us Orthodox Christians rejoice in our blessed inheritance and bear witness to these truths before all men, a task which we must assign to ourselves. Saving ourselves is good, but bringing others to salvation is a blessing with an extremely generous reward.

     But if we keep our faith only to ourselves we will derive little or no benefit, for  It is an attribute of the freedom we enjoy to inform as many as possible about our treasure, the wonderful and glorious holy Orthodox Church wherein alone is victory possible.

     Victory is not our own achievement but is granted to us due to our faith in Jesus Christ the Conqueror. He is both God and man who came to save the souls of all those who in faith follow Him and keep His commandments. His commandments are not grievous or a burden but they relieve us from the heavy burden of pernicious sin. This is the victory that we must always seek, to rid ourselves of all sin.

     With Christ the tribulations of this world will not afflict us for He has conquered the world and made it useful tfor the salvation of our souls. That is why it is written, that we must not love the world and the spirit of the world. Our love must be totally directed to Christ who embraces us with His perfect love. Christ gained victory over the world and we must do the same. The world is not evil, but the spirit of the world is harmful to our souls. Victory is ours if we keep His commandments and love Christ with all our hearts and minds, for He alone is good and the only Lover of man.

VISION OF THE UNSEEN WORLD

“We look not at the things which are seen 

but at the things which are not seen” (2 Cor. 4:18)

   Our physical vision is limited to certain portions of the visible world we live in, which we observe everyday having no doubts concerning its reality. Not only do weh have a fairly clear vision of the material world, but we also have a clear vision of the spiritual world. Though we see many sad things and failures in this present world, we can also see with our spiritual vision, the spiritual gladness on earth and in heaven among the angels and saints which fill our souls with delight. We see many apparent successes and the great honor poured out upon them but we also clearly see the eternal punishment and torment that awaits the unjust. We see the suffering which many  righteous ones willingly endure and we clearly see their great reward in heaven. They willingly underwent much torment and punishment and were awarded with everlasting delight in the heavenly kingdom. 

     We see wicked tyrants and unjust leaders mocking and tormenting those who choose to follow Christ with love and devotion. By every means possible, they repeatedly sought to force these martyrs to deny Christ. But we see these tyrants failing in their wickedness and are now are undergoing severe punishment for their deeds. This physical world which we can see is clearly visible to our physical eyes, but the spiritual world which is  not visible to our physical eyes is also clearly visible to healthy spiritual eyes. Spiritual vision is far superior and more refined and efficient than physical vision. This spiritual vision which may enable us to see God and the angelic powers with whom we rejoice together with a plentitude of saints.  Generally many people see only what their physical eyes observe and if they remain spiritually blind and they will be unable to see the existence of the entire spiritual world, nevertheless man remains both physical and spiritual and his two visions are both most useful to him. 

     If someone were to close his physical eyes and so fails to see the visible world, the world of course will continue to exist even though his vision was cut off by his deliberately closed eyes..   Also if someone willingly deliberately shuts his spiritual eyes he will fail to see the spiritual world. We must ask the Lord to open our spiritual eyes, so that we may clearly behold the treasures that lie before us. When we do observe the things which our spiritual eyes reveal the entire kingdom of heaven will  also will be seen.  We will see the saints standing before us in a delightful vision; we will see Christ, the Theotokos and the angels with all the saints, which are clearly depicted on the holy icons both in Church and in our homes. 

THE WONDERFUL AND PRECIOUS STONE IN SION

“Behold I lay in Sion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, 

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; 

he that believes in it shall not be ashamed” (Is. 28:16).

     This stone, as described, is .precious and wonderful for it is a prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, the most precious cornerstone of the Church. The Prophet speaks not of any ordinary stone but of the foundation stone which is the Lord himself. Daniel the Prophet says:  “You saw a stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and it smote the image upon its feet of iron . . .”                                                                                                                                                                

     “The foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation” refers to Jesus Christ and He is the one and only rock and cornerstone  of the Church. It is Jesus Christ and not Peter contrary to what the popes of Rome claim, who invented false claims regarding the rock. For Scripture  adds: “He who believes in him shall not be ashamed.”  It is only in the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we believe that we will never be ashamed for it is only Him in whom we believe in as the Godman and our eternal Savior and Redeemer. It is important to remember that the popes of Rome are extremely fraudulent, for they falsely claim that Peter is the rock upon which Christ’s Church is built, and that popes of Rome are Peter’s only successors. Then they foolishly proclaimed the popes to be infallible and unable to err!  But we see that Christ alone can be the  precious stone, and He is the main cornerstone of the Church.

     Christ is the precious cornerstone and foundation for He is the only Godman and the mightiest person who exists. He is precious and there can be no other like Him for He alone is the Savior. The second person of the Holy Trinity came down from heaven and became a man.  This wonderful and precious Stone introduced His Gospel to His disciples and through them it spread to the entire world.

     The Lord showed himself to be the most beautiful and wonderful of men, and He is the only sinless one. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and snatched the dead from the jaws of death. The paralytics were given all their functions by the Lord, rejoicing and giving thanks to the Almighty One.

     Christ appeared before us as a man but He is the almighty Logos of God, and the Lord of all creation; He is glorified, and will be glorified unto the ages of ages. We believe that Christ eternally comes forth, begotten, of the Father while always remaining within Him. Christ is God united with man and is one person having two natures, the divine from His Father and the human from His Mother, therefore He is the Godman. He is one and the same Christ, one person with two natures, unconfused, indivisible and inseparable.’

                                                                                                               Christ did the works of God, giving sight to the blind and bestowing life on the dead. He also did  the works of man for He suffered and was crucified dying on the Cross, showing Him to be one man, Then on the third day He arose in His glorious Resurrection, having destroyed the power of death by His death.