joypeacehope: Man Doesn't Know What He Doesn't Know!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Man Doesn't Know What He Doesn't Know!

Man cannot attain correct knowledge, undistorted observation or clear discernment without the illumination of the Holy Spirit of God. All men are created in the image of God but not all men live in the reflection of that image. There are two classes of men who reside on this earth; those who live their lives as friends of God and those who don't and within each of these two camps reside subjects who suffer from sundry delusional, deceptive and distorted thoughts of varying degrees. " All have sinned, all are broken, all fall short of living in the fullness of what God intended for us. There is none who do good, no, not even one. God looked to and fro upon the earth and found none who truly sought after Him." As mind boggling as it is, this is a universal principle unaffected by time save for the redemptive work of Christ upon the cross and had it not been for this awesome and incomprehendible act, none, absolutely none of us would be good for anything but the dung heap of eternity.

So, how can it be that man made in the image of God, made to live forever in the fellowship and joy of the Lord could fall into such darkness away from the sweet communion of the Holy Trinity? The answer is simple and it is clear. It was triggered by a collective effort of the cunningness of the devil and the free will of man which God bestowed on us so that we could experience what love is, which is what God is, always has been and always will be.

The question which comes to mind after contemplating this truth is this; "How can God who is love allow for such suffering that has come upon the earth since our fall?" I will tell you the answer. It is because God created us to commune with Him and in so doing He gave us the freedom to choose, otherwise we couldn't know what true love is and there is nothing greater in the universe than true love. This love can be defined simply as, "Giving up all that one has for the sake of another". If this one simple principle were to be applied by all men everywhere, we would be living in a perfect world. The good news is that all who truly seek to know and experience this love will one day actually get to live in it, in a perfect world with a perfect body in perfect union with the Holy Trinity and all mankind and those who don't desire this love will live in a place of perpetual existence experiencing whatever else it is that their heart may have desired. The only problem is that they will be living in this new habitation of their own choosing without the fleshly bodies that they once knew on the earth thus creating quite a dilemma in their quest for sex, riches and power which could only be available to them in their old bodies, thus they will experience great torment for the desires will be present in their mind but the ability to carry out those desires will be non-existent. This frustrating experience has been described most accurately as a perpetual "weeping and gnashing of teeth".

Why would anyone to whom life has been bequeathed not turn to the living and almighty God to escape such a torment? There is no logical answer to this question. Man is a broken creature and in his brokenness, nothing makes sense and as a consequence of man's fall, all his reasoning has been enslaved to his master, the devil and his servants, the demons.

Thus is the condition of mankind up to the present day and it will continue to be so until the day life as we know it ends on this earth. This end will come, not because God has caused it but because mankind has quickened it having brought ruin and havoc upon the entire earth and it will be as an act of mercy towards His beloved chosen ones that God will bring it all to a close so that those who seek after life may forever be with Him and those who seek after life apart from God may forever be with the devil and his demons who share in their corrupt desires.

So you may be thinking to yourself, "I know this, it is simple theology" and my response would be, "Yes it is simple theology but how do you know what you know and how much of what you think you know do you not know?" Here is where it gets downright scary. Think about this; the one enthroned over this world, is not Jesus Christ, it is the prince of the power of the air. So, if the prince of the power of the air is in charge, what does that mean for the human race? It means that he and his invisible demons who have great powers to deceive, delude, distort and mislead are actively working in all places everywhere on this earth to bring all men into servitude to him and it matters not to him if you do it in ignorance or in knowledge. Here is a mystery though. Jesus is the Lord of all, yet not all acknowledge Him as Lord. So then if He is lord of all, why does He not lord it over all? It all goes back to free choice, free will and the basic premise that God in mercy, kindness and love, gave mankind the ability to make his own choices. So, in the midst of this seeming chaos, God has provided an escape from enslavement to the devil and the path to deliverance lies within the holy Eastern Orthodox Church.

It is in the Eastern Orthodox Church that you will receive illumination, power and protection so that you may escape the schemes and plans of the devil. Those who reside outside this holy, catholic and apostolic church can only hope for God's mercy as they clamor about as blind and deaf men seeking for meaning, truth and salvation. The devil will play with you as cat plays with a mouse and you know the end of that story.

No comments:

"Anathema To Him Who Divides And To Him Who Confounds"

This statement was made by the most reverend bishops of the
Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. As the mind of God was, so the seven holy councils of the first 800 years of the church spoke, establishing and confirming the great doctrines of the Christian church universal which stand firm and solid to this day and will for all eternity. In ignorance most Protestants and Romanists today aren't even aware of Byzantine history and the glorious reign of the church during the first thousand years of history after the coming of the Blessed One. If you knew that to not embrace the decrees and canons of these councils put you in an anathematized condition, would you not repent and return to the 'true faith' of your fathers? "Do not move the ancient boundary stone", so it states in the Proverbs and what happens when we do? We will be prosecuted and thus shall it be for us who violate these ancient decrees and canons of the Holy Ecumenical Councils.

Icon Of The Descent Into Hades

Jesus Christ stands on the doors of Hades and breaks them open. The doors are in the form of a Cross to remind us that Jesus shattered these doors through the power of the Cross. Christ is pulling Adam and Eve out of Hades or Sheol, the place of death. Notice the limp hand of both Adam and Eve. The limp hand symbolizes that it is through Jesus' power that they are taken to heaven out of this place of death. It is Jesus' death and that alone that has conquered death. Left of Jesus we see John the Baptist preaching about the one who is to come to Hades to save them. John the Baptist is Jesus' forerunner even in Hades. Next to John the Baptist is King David and King Solomon. Right of Jesus we find Abel, the first saint of the Old Testament. This icon is also called the Icon of the Resurrection.

Biography of Saint Basil, Fool for Christ

Saint Basil the Blessed, was born in December 1468 on the portico of the Elokhov church outside Moscow. His parents were commoners and sent their son to be trained as a cobbler. During Basil's apprenticeship, the master cobbler happened to witness an occurrence, which showed him that his apprentice was not an ordinary young man. A merchant had brought grain to Moscow on a barge and came in to order boots, specifying that they be made in a particular way, since he would not pick them up for a year. After taking the order, Saint Basil began to weep and said, "I wish you would cancel the order, since you will never wear them." Confused, the master cobbler questioned his apprentice, and he explained that the man would not wear the boots, for he would soon die. After several days the prediction came true.

When he was sixteen, the saint arrived in Moscow and began to display what is called "Yurodivy" or foolishness for Christ. In the burning summer heat and in the freezing Russian winters, he walked barefoot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange, for instance, he would topple kalachi and kvas stands in the marketplace. Angry merchants would throttle and beat Saint Basil, but he welcomed the abuse with joy and he thanked God for it. Soon after it would be discovered that the kalachi was poorly cooked, and the kvas was badly prepared. The reputation of St Basil quickly grew. People saw him as a holy fool, a man of God, and a denouncer of wrong.

Another story tells of a merchant who wanted to build a stone church in Moscow, but its arches collapsed three times. The merchant turned to the saint for advice, and he pointed him toward Kiev. "Find John the Cripple," he said. "He will advise you how to construct the church." Traveling to Kiev, the merchant sought out John, who sat in a poor hut and rocked an empty cradle. "Whom do you rock?" asked the merchant. "I weep for my mother, who was made poor by my birth and upbringing." Only then did the merchant remember his own mother, whom he had thrown out of the house. Then it became clear to him why he was not able to build the church. Returning to Moscow, he brought his mother home, begged her forgiveness, and built the church.

Preaching mercy, Saint Basil helped those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but who were more in need of help than others. Once, he gave away a rich imperial present to a foreign merchant who had been left destitute. Although the man had eaten nothing for three days, he was not able to beg for food, since he wore fine clothing. The saint harshly condemned those who gave to the poor for selfish reasons, not out of compassion, but hoping for an easy way to attract God's blessings. St Basil also visited the taverns, where he tried to see goodness, even in people who others had given up as lost, and to strengthen and encourage them by kindness.
Once Saint Basil even reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible, saying that during the divine services the Tsar was preoccupied with thoughts of building a palace in the Vorobiev hills.

St Basil died on August 2, 1557. His body was buried in the cemetery of Trinity church, where in 1554, In an early icon, St Basil is portrayed as old, with white hair curling at his ears, and a short, curly white beard. He is completely naked, and holds a handkerchief in his hand. The veneration of St Basil the Blessed was always so strong that the Trinity temple and the attached Protection church were renamed for him as the famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. The saint's chains, his relics, are preserved at the Moscow Spiritual Academy.

RUSSIAN ICON "GUARDIAN ANGEL"

"Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven." Matt. 18:10 " Although we can not see them with our bodily eyes, we can see them clearly with the eyes of faith. Are we really so poverty stricken in sensitivity and spiritual awareness that we do not wish to believe anything except the easily visible world? Are our hearts so occupied with worldly vainglory that they love nothing which does not pertain to wealth and temporary pleasure?" The Guardian Angel pg. 10

Icon of the Holy Archangel Michael, Captain Of The Angelic Host.

Saint John Chrysostom The Golden Mouthed

St. Gregory The Theologian

St. Gregory the Theologian, when barely thirty years old, won acclaim throughout the region as a mighty warrior in the fight against paganism and heresy. He headed the reorganisation of the Orthodox Church which had been torn asunder by the heresy of Arianism from within and by the harassment of pagans without. In the course of this holy work, he achieved distinction as an orator, traditionalist, and a crusader that earned him the title of "Theologian" despite the opposition of Maximos the Cynic, who had been set up against him by the bishop of Alexandria. He was the instrument of God in unifying the Church into a cohesive unit that could withstand any internal or external pressure.

St. Basil the Great

St. Basil set Christian perfectionism as the goal of monastic life. The monks were to practice Christian virtues together, especially love; to practice obedience to a spiritual father; to practice chastity and poverty, and share the common goods of the monastery. After they achieved Christian perfection, they were allowed to come back to the world and help others to achieve Christian perfection. Thus, the monks had the mission of "social workers" as well. St. Basil's institutions, especially his Basileias, which was at the same time an orphanage, a "kitchen for the poor," and a school for the illiterate was in practice run by monks. This was St. Basil's way of utilizing the monastic movement to benefit the mission of the Church in the world.

Prayer of St. Ephram The Syrian 306-373

O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, lust of power, meddling and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chasity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and to judge not my brother; For thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen. (The church historian, Sozomen credits Ephrem with having written over three million lines of hymns, poems, homilies and biblical commentary). His works are known only within Orthodoxy. "The greatest poet of the patristic age and, perhaps, the only theologian-poet to rank beside Dante." — Robert Murray.