Author: theodore_phillips

Appalachian Native and convert to Orthodox Christianity

Take heart ye heavy laden

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in.” Matthew 11:28-29

The struggle of addiction is becoming more commonplace than it was in our granddaddies day. We all do things we wish he hadn’t. Most of us get off with a slap on the wrist or an awkward/embarrassing moment and then we either correct our actions or fumble right back into our sins.  Some can’t kick the habit of gossiping, lying, pride, boasting, stirring up mischief (all of which are things God hates Proverbs 6:16-19), and we should be in terror that these passions are commonplace in most near all of us! Either way we’re all bound by some kind of wickedness in our lives that we either struggle against in repentance and confession or we simply continue headlong into our own damnation. Just look around and see the greed, sexual immorality, unrestrained and encouraged vice of every sort, and glorification of all manner of evil accepted in our media and billboards. We tolerate all manner of wickedness, even when we know it’s evil, and don’t even attempt to struggle against it in our own lives.  

Now I don’t want to make light of illegal narcotics, but they are just one of many forms of evil plaguing our communities. I do want to commend, however, the people that are truly struggling against chemical addiction. Christ said, “the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Anyone that knows an addict knows the act of violence they undertake anytime they turn down or go more than a few days in sobriety. These folks struggle against their passions unlike any other person I’ve met. They wake up in the middle of the night sweating in constant want. They dream about sticking the needle in their vein or inhaling the toxic fumes into their lungs. Even in their sleep the evil one comes for them and moves his forces to surround and seize their soul. The only people who truly understand them are others who share in this particular pleasure, yet some of them have no desire at all to ever attempt the violent struggle to stop using. Their families sometimes shun them and their friends will shun them even quicker. The friends that don’t use won’t want them around, yet the friends that do use will treat them like a discarded cigarette butt if they ever stop using. 

Christ gives us all a cross to bear. This cross is necessary for the threshing out of our sins and our salvation. Some are heavier than others, but they all must be bore if we ever hope to seize the Kingdom of Heaven. A lot of us, I feel, have very light crosses and do not know the sheer weight of a chemical dependency. We can’t even keep a simple fast or diet, we can’t shut our mouths for one day and dam up that torrent of sin that pours forth from our mouths, people avoid the truth like it is a hornet’s nest, and yet, since these are “acceptable” sins in our society we expect to go on without interruption. Sure we can get a divorce, sleep around, do whatever, and still be invited to Christmas dinner. Not so easy for someone burdened with the cross of addiction, however. 

I think we could all learn a lesson of perseverance and true Godly struggle from our neighbors battling with these particular sins. Just imagine if we could put forth the same effort to stop gossiping that the heroin user puts forth in staying clean just one week! What could someone accomplish if they put the exact same level of violence into controlling their pride or sexual lusts that a meth user does every time he turns down the needle? If we could all imitate this same struggle our towns would look like Mayberry by tomorrow! No doubt!

I don’t envy a meth/coke/heroin/alcoholics cross. I know it has a different pull on different people and our real enemy has been studying humans for over six thousand years. He knows when and what temptations to employ, and on who, to attempt to steal our souls. This is the real warfare with eternal consequences. If we read history we sometimes hear about those who stood to the end in the face of insurmountable odds. Some like King Leonidas or the 189 Swiss Guards fought to the bitter end and were completely obliterated. Others like Count Von Stahlberg at Vienna were prepared to be destroyed, but were saved at the last moment. These are all stories worth retelling. People who fight to the bitter end, and never accept defeat, are always remembered. Those who give up, give in and/or surrender are forgotten. Let us not be like the coward who gives himself up in order to escape the battle and heartache before us. Do not be over judgmental of the people around who are fighting much harder than most of us against vices. If a soldier in a battlefield sees his fellow warrior wounded and pinned down he goes to his aide suppressing the enemy and helping his fallen comrade. When we see someone in agony and suffering and being brought to their knees we should go and help them lift their cross. Especially we should not laugh at them or mock them for that is literally what the demons do. Christ warns us, ”For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:2-3)

All of our sins are conquerable if we abide in Christ. Attempting to overcome any passion or evil without Christ is like taking up a wooden stick and assaulting an iron clad warrior. The great enemy of mankind is a formidable opponent. Victory may not come overnight and we may literally fight to the death against our sins, but God rewards those finish strong even to the very end. 

There is a true story about a drunk monk. He was always stumbling, always reeked of alcohol, a very mockery to other monastics who lived in complete sobriety. After his death the Abbot (the head of the Monastery), informed the other brothers that he saw an angel come and whisk away the soul of the drunken monk straight through the clouds. The other monks were in disbelief. How could this be? The Abbot then informed them that when his monk came to the monastery he was consuming multiple bottles of liquor every day. The Abbot told him to stop, but he simply couldn’t kick the addiction; so the Abbot then told him to cut down his consumption to one bottle a day. This the drunken monk did after some time with a great struggle. After this the Abbot told him to cut down his drinking to just half a bottle a day. This the monk eventually succeeded in achieving. After years and years the monk was down to just drinking a few glasses a day when he died. He struggled hard and intensely. He always got back up after each fall and in the end the Good Lord, who sees the true heart of man, rewarded him for his perseverance. 

Take heart for God is with us! He wants us to overcome the evil in our lives and He will help us both in this age and the age to come to attain unto the ultimate victory! Whether you’re having trouble bridling your tongue, controlling your sexual lusts, putting down the spoon and needle, humbling your out of control ego; no sin is beyond Christ! He trampled down death, hell and the grave and has attained the ultimate victory over all evil! He showed us the way to salvation, by carrying the cross and conquering Golgotha by humiliation. Come home to the Church to be restored and renewed and armored so that we can withstand and defeat our great enemy. For it is the devil that roameth about like a hungry lion seeking whom he may devour. It is the devil that will never rest until he may swallow up and thieve away a great many souls into his deception. And it is the devil that was brought to bondage and cast down when Christ sacked the depths of hell. Satan is powerless against the blood of Christ. We must receive the blood of Christ at Eucharist and confess our sins and continue the fight that we might attain the Kingdom of Heaven! This is the path, the struggle, the only battle worth really fighting. Nothing else matters if we lose our souls.              

The South’s Salvation

Appalachian Orthodoxy

You know the story, Grandma had a truck load of kids, mom had two and those two have maybe one, if you’re lucky. So the story of most modern Western communities goes and the Southern Appalachias are no different.

When I was growing up every year we had a huge gathering at a local park. My granny and all her siblings would come, along with their kids, and their kids and so on. The last gathering was held when my oldest son, now an adult, was just a few months old.

My generation of cousins was small and when we got down to having younin’s, with my immediate family in exception, it grew even smaller. None of the adult children of my children’s generation have any babies at all. Just careers and rock n’ roll bands.

Consequently, my children who are still little don’t know the world I grew up…

View original post 602 more words

Easter: The Legend of the Dogwood

Remember that “the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof”

anniesthoughts

90671791_689730791796172_8620176096681263104_nIn Jesus’ time, the Dogwood tree had grown to a great size, like that of an Oak tree! They used it to build the cross that Jesus was hung on. This made the Dogwood tree sad. Jesus, sensing this sadness, promised the Dogwood tree that it would never again grow large enough to build a cross. It’s branches would be narrow and crooked-not good for building at all.

And now the Dogwood tree has many traits to remember this promise:

1) The Dogwood flower has 4 petals, shaped like a cross

2) The middle of the Dogwood flower, a crown of thorns

3) At the edge of each petals, a nail dent

4) The nail dents are stained with the color of Jesus’ blood

Whether this legend is true or not does NOT take away from what our Lord and Savior did for us upon that cross. The miracle of…

View original post 755 more words

Lent

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Psalms 24:1

For months now we’ve been in the winter. Everything is lifeless. No leaves on the trees. No flowers in the fields. Short days with limited sunlight. There are a few days of warmth, of sunlight, a few birds puttering about, but for the most part the woods just seem lifeless. Go outside now and look across the field and you’ll likely see a purple hue. Look out into the woods and you’ll see the first buds of dogwoods and redbuds. Everything is still dead and yet something is happening. This is the final push before the spring time. The earth is preparing for Easter.

Even if the people of the world are ignorant of this great environmental upheaval or want to stop it somehow it doesn’t matter. It’s coming one way or the other. If the people of earth don’t participate in Lent, the earth itself still will. As we enter into Lent we’ll experience the ups and downs of the spiritual struggle, much like the bipolar temperatures and weather of springtime. Violent storms will shake our windows and bring possible damage, but they will prune the dead limbs and saturate with the water it needs to fuel it’s glorious reawakening. It’s the war before the Resurrection, the deluge needed for the cleansing, the wilderness and temptation every Christian should endure. This time of year always reminds me of in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus was confronted, “

“And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.“—Luke 19:37-40

Even during Corona when certain elected officials and other groups were vowing everything to be shut down for Easter Sunday it didn’t matter. There were the good and faithful Churches that celebrated Pascha and participated in the divine rhythm of the very universe and there were those who hid away by and powerlessly denied it. Even the rabbits came out of their holes on that Easter morning.

Take a moment and lets all stop for this season and do a little something to prepare for the coming of the Christ our King and our God. Skip a meal, abstain from fleshly desires and pursuits and go to Church, go into the woods, go into the wilderness and seek to purify the deadness from our own lives. As the trees and flowers bloom, so let our souls blossom and reflect the glory of God. The entire earth is experiencing a life and it’s very easy and natural for us to go with the flow. Not with the flow of the sinful world, but with the flow of nature and the King of Heaven and Earth. Even if nuclear bombs drop, if Churches are dynamited, if people are fired from their jobs the Bright Resurrection of Jesus Christ will still come. Holy Fire will descend in Jerusalem. Purple flowers will line the fields in anticipation and the trees will grow leaves so that they may wave in the breeze as we wave the palm leaves on Palm Sunday.

By the time Pashca gets here the days will be longer. The sun will shine brighter and longer. Deer, rabbits, opossums, skunks, birds, racoons will all have a nest/hole full of babies. There will be color and life more abundantly in the woods. All of creation will sing with us, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

WE ARE NOT RUSSIANS (BUT LOVE HOLY RUSSIA):


A Southern Orthodox Rant

By: “Bellator Dei”
Contributor to Orthodox Appalachia

“Americans ruin Orthodoxy – especially those backwards white Southern redneck ones!” Such are the cries of the critics within and without the Church. Oddly enough, this criticism comes from two distinct and disparate camps. The first and most insidious one are the Progressive/Leftist oriented “cradle” believers , as well as converts, who are trying to change the dogmatic teachings of the Holy Orthodox
Church and conform it to the World. They manage somehow to perform mental gymnastics to justify their secularized “woke” worldview with Holy Tradition. They use a weaponized false sense of compassion and a very worldly carnal definition of “love” to do this. Let us not forget, Progressivism is its own religion, complete with its own set of sacraments (abortion, birth control), Saints (George Floyd, Harvey Milk, etc), and, of course, its own heretics (us, traditionally minded people, actual Patristic believing Orthodox Christians, Southrons). At the forefront this liberal progressive assault are the ivory tower folks who fancy themselves “scholars” (Lord save us from these smug intellectual modernist academics!). Particularly odious of these dens of serpents are the dishonest leftists at the Jesuit-run Fordham University known as “Public Orthodoxy” (so-called). Another particularly subversive entity is led by a defrocked former OCA priest, defrocked for leaving his wife and children to have a homosexual relationship with another man, known as “Orthodoxy in Dialogue”. These subversive renovationists, in direct opposition to Holy Scripture, Patristic teachings, canonical precepts, and the very Mind of the Church (phronema) and Consensus of the Saints, which has been guided throughout the millennia by the Holy Spirit, wish to renovate, subvert, pervert, and destroy all the immutable moral laws and doctrines of the Church. They are a virtual cornucopia of heresies. Liberation theology, “Social Gospel” promotion, Sodomy apologetics, feminism, and Babel-like globalist agendas are the antichrist mantras and ideologies these poor deluded creatures peddle to unsuspecting inquirers to Orthodoxy and others unfortunate enough to run across their poisonous screeds online. Enough about these people, however. I would link to the manure I am addressing, but others far more capable than I, like Fr John Whiteford and Dissident Mama, have done an excellent job refuting them and their very heterodox insane ideas. May the Lord deal with them and their ilk.

On the flipside to that madness is the second camp I wish to address: the LARPers. For those who may not know this term, it stands for Live Action Role Playing. In other words, pretending to be something you are not. These folks pose a unique problem as well, as they believe that you, as an American or Western
convert, have to pretend to be Greek or Russian ( or what have you) to “truly” become Orthodox. Just for the record, I belong to the Russian Church Abroad. I am quite fond of the Russians I know and love the history of the Rus and what became know prior to the evil Bolshevik Revolution as “Holy Russia”. That said, I read an article recently from a site I frequent often and often enjoy, that, in my opinion, basically bashed being Orthodox and able to love America. Now, for the record, I have no love for the U.S. Establishment, our System, nor for liberal democracy in general. My particular worldview is rooted firmly in pre-“Enlightenment” traditional concepts informed by my Faith and Holy Tradition. As someone in the American South, and who happens to be ethnically very Western in descent, this idea that I have to hate my ancestors and despise my homeland, despise Dixie, and despise my spiritually astray countrymen, kith and kin, to rather pretend to be Russian or Greek, is preposterous. It is also not the Orthodox approach as well. There are many Saints who speak of loving their nations, and loving their people. Often times these people weren’t Orthodox yet, but were being evangelize to. One cannot evangelize one’s people if one hates them! And one does not need to be Eastern European or from the Balkans to become a sincere Orthodox Christian.

St John of ShangHai and San Francisco made this clear as well the great witness of legions of pre-Schism Western Saints that we have knowledge of, with more being known of them each day; thanks, in part, to the Russian Orthodox Church actually. Local Orthodox Churches are described by ethnic and geographical descriptives for a good reason; for She enculturated all these peoples and lands and never asked them to become something they are NOT, but to embrace Holy Orthodoxy and let Her bring that “ethnos”/nation to its full potential as a nation baptized unto Christ. The First Century Jewish
Christians didn’t ask the Greeks to pretend to be ethnic Jews ..in fact St Paul settled that firmly in Acts 15. Sts Cyril and Methodius never told the Slavs to pretend that they are Greeks. Romanians are distinctly Romanians, Bulgarians are Bulgarian, and Serbs are Serbs. Yet, we are all Orthodox, and share ourselves with each other as all members of the Body of Christ – the Orthodox Church. Our unique identities are maintained while still being united by the Chalice. Those things that were good in those cultures and edifying were baptized; those things incompatible to the Faith were discarded. Such it has always been, today it is no different. The Classical West was Orthodox for a thousand years or better, and when the West fell to Schism, the East kept the traditional Faith lit and it is with us to this day. It has gone back and forth like this throughout the centuries and history of the Church. No matter what, the Church remains and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against Her. So what if we praise Robert E. Lee as a hero? So what if we love good barbecue, and bluegrass, as well as the Divine Liturgy? This is who we are. We are not bringing, nor wish to bring, heterodox theology into the Church. We understand the sacrosanct nature of tradition, and do not wish to tamper with the ultimate tradition – Holy Tradition! We are bringing our CULTURE and ETHNOS into the Church to baptize them! Yes, people do bring their baggage into the Church at times, but solid Patristic catechesis (which is sadly lacking in many American parishes) can remedy that.

As a final thought, I just wish to say, Orthodoxy in Dixie is on the rise; and it is organic, Patristic, traditional, and gives honor to our ancestors for the Good that was in so many of them, not for their theologies. They were as pious as many of them knew how to be with what they had. Unlike Col. Philip Ludwell III, those men weren’t blessed with having or knowing the fullness of Holy Orthodoxy. Most of us are not even a fraction of the heroic men and women these valiant people of the Antebellum South were. I don’t care what the likes of these Progressive fraudulent “Orthodox” say, or the LARPers. Orthodoxy works and grows best when it grows organically. This is what we pray for. May the Lord bless it!

Bellator Dei

The Last Holy Day

Psalms 42:4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

The colors of nativity (red and green) are covering our churches, houses and places of work. Icons of our beloved Saint Nicholas adorned in his distinct red, Orthodox Bishop’s vestments are everywhere. The great mystery of Santa Claus and his nighttime journey, perfect in its Orthodox theology, is being told from West Virginia to Alabama. Protestants and Atheists alike, who share little love for the saints and bishops of the Church, are teaching their children; to venerate Saint Nicholas, to go to confession to the bishop and tell him have they been “naughty or nice”, to erect and adorn a Tree at the foot of which is a free gift that comes from the Man at the top of the world. Even the mighty, corporate, giant Walmart closes its doors to observe the Nativity of the God-Man Jesus Christ. Schools are closed for two weeks. More businesses are closed December 25th than any other day in the American year. Christmas is the last holyday of America. A day that draws all people together in a pious expression of joy and happiness.

Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath. Which are a shadow of things to come;

And what really drives and propagates this holyday? The children. The innocents among us. Jesus himself said in Matthew 18:4-5 “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” or in Luke 18:17 “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”

Don’t buy into these new founded and new age arguments that “Christmas is pagan”, “Santa Claus is taking away from baby Jesus”, “Coca Cola invented St Nick” or “Jesus wasn’t born on Dec 25th!” All of these statements are completely unfounded and untrue. They are post modern attacks on the spirit of Christmas. The ancient pagans did celebrate festivals around about the same time of year, but the Nativity of Christ eclipsed them all. Santa Claus (St Nicholas)(Sinter Klaas)(Kris Kringle) is a bishop of the Orthodox Church. As every bishop does, he stands in the office of Christ and points all men towards our God and King. He goes by the name Kris Kringle (Christ Child). He’s pointing us to something very specific. If one is looking at a bishop and not seeing Christ through him then either their eyes are darkened or perhaps he’s a bad bishop. Clearly though, St Nick is no bad bishop! Bad bishops don’t become Saints, after all. Another absurd innovation is that, “Saint Nicholas was a real person, but he’s dead now.” Hogwash! If the Saint’s die then what hope have any of us in a hereafter? Saint’s don’t die. Saint’s have eternal life and it is a gift we should all attain at whatever cost. Thank God we still have Saint Nicholas with us battling for the last Holyday of Western Civilization.

This is the last Holyday of our modern culture and that is fitting as it was Jesus Christ who founded Western Civilization. However, as much of a joy as it is to celebrate the Nativity of the God-Man Jesus Christ, we should recognize that this is our last fortress. If we lose this day then very rapidly the last vestiges of Christendom will be scrubbed completely from our post modern society. We live in a Christ Haunted South. The shadows and traces of old Christendom scattered about leave us physical landmarks and waypoints to find our way back home. The Badman is gone about attempting to knock down, whitewash and burn up any of these treasures that could point people back to Christ or to a restoration of old Christendom. Take up the Christmas tree, the icons of Santa Claus and the Nativity Scenes as spiritual weapons in this holy war. Build the walls with peppermint candy canes and lash them tightly with Christmas lights. Let “Merry Christmas” sound from your lips as a battle cry as we rally the last remnants from every holler and town in Appalachia to defend our last Holyday from the godless enemies of all Tradition! Go to the Church, celebrate the Birthday of Christ who came finish the reign of Death, Hell and the Grave, love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you. This is the Christmas message “good will towards men” and this is our calling now and for the rest of the year!

“Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere!”

Rigging it

There’s a lot of areas we learn to make do for less. For instance, if you’re noticing a small leak in the plumbing, maybe you’ll just use a piece of bubble gum to plug the hole until you get the materials to replace the pipe. If you can’t get the job you want, then you take the job that you can. Even if it pays less. If your boots are talking to you but you can’t afford another pair, then perhaps you’ll find a cobbler or utilize some duct tape. There’s a lot of things we do without or stretch, pull and bend to make work. Garbage bags to cover broken windows, patches for clothing, using a chainsaw instead of skillsaw or vice versa, moving a piece of furniture in front of a hole in the wall; the examples can go on and on. I’ve often heard it called “rigging it”.

Of everything we rig to make work there is one thing we’ve rigged that we ought not to and that’s the Church. When I drive from one end of my town to the other it takes about fifteen minutes and I’ll pass by more than twice as many churches. The first is a Freewill Baptist, second is an Apostolic, then a General Baptist, a Methodist, a non-denominational, a Church of God, Christian denomination, a Missionary Baptist, an Independent Baptist, a Southern Baptist, a Presbyterian PCA, another Independent Baptist, a Lutheran, an Episcopalian, another General Baptist, a Presbyterian PCUSA, a Pentecostal, a Jehovah Witness; the list goes on and on. A lot of folks rightly point out that this is a good sign of the religious nature of the area. People are out there seeking God and to be fair this is the culture we were raised in. In modern America we pick and choose what we want. Its very individualistic, very self serving. very egocentric. Often we’ll hear folks saying, “Just go to the church that you like”, or “that feeds you”, and “find a church that’s right for you”. Following after our own likes, passions, and wants often leads to sin and we must be wary to not fall into this trap.

In absence of what was needed, the One True Holy Church, people have rigged their religion. People look at the Ancient Church and they can see the Eucharist, water baptism, Apostolic succession, seal of the Holy Spirit, vestments, incense, candles, fire, crosses, iconography, the Holy Scriptures, the presence of the Saints, the early Church Fathers, the Jesus prayer, and literature spanning back to the beginning of time. The Orthodox Church possesses the fullness of the Truth. So naturally when someone starts another church they take something from this treasure laden vault and run with it. Then stretching and rigging this one thing they make it to be a foundational block of their new church. They say to themselves, “We have baptism”, “We have the Eucharist”, or (most common in the Bible Belt) “You have to say the Jesus prayer to become a member at this church” and “We have the Holy Bible. They then proceed to build an entire denomination or body of believers. Most of these folks are in a right spirit. They have found some spiritual validity in an age of confusion and they are clinging to it. They are attempting to cling to Jesus because they know He is their only hope for salvation. This is a noble undertaking. A noble rigging.

However, the Church is the Bride of Christ and was established by Jesus Christ. All of the sacraments and treasures of the Church are helpful and necessary for our salvation or else Christ wouldn’t have instituted them. It pains me to hear someone say, “Yeah, but you don’t have to be baptized/receive communion/go to Church/confess/etc”. Then for what reason did Christ Himself, God in human flesh, institute these things and why has the Church practiced all of them since Pentecost?

Why make do with less when we all have access to all of these things in the Orthodox Church? We are blessed now to have Orthodox Churches dotting the Appalachian mountains. God is with us! We now all have access to the treasury, the full armory, the entire hardware shop. We don’t have to rig it anymore. We can experience the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth. We can see the harmonious blend of the Gospel, the incense, Baptism, Apostolic Succession, the Jesus Prayer all within the ageless Traditions of the Holy Orthodox Church. The Liturgy is so ancient that it is almost strange and even those of us who had thought we had something old timey realize this is the True “Ole Time Religion.”

The Church isn’t anything we need to rig. This isn’t a house, a tool, a pair of clothes or an automobile that moths and rust will destroy. This is an institution founded by Jesus Christ and it pertains to our eternal salvation. We should accept it in its entirety and thank God that He is stretching out His loving arms around our region.




Be ye separate

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you”—2 Corinthians 6:17

“Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:”—Ephesians 5:6-8

In this post modern society we see all manner of evil and temptations on every billboard, tv commercial, internet ad, on the street around us and in our workplaces. Some folks are asking, “How did it get this bad and what is the solution?” This triumphant display of sin in America causes misguided anger, depression, hopelessness and desperation in good hearted people. We are called to secede from the Kingdom of this world. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”—1 John 2:15 This is the great challenge to believers. We must secede not only for our temporal, but more importantly for our eternal needs. Every day as the forces of darkness, disguised in vice and sugar coated, choke the life out of our beloved communities, followers of Christ understand the more, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”—Amos 3:3.

In order to secede from the neo-Babel culture that has risen from the ashes of Western Civilization we must learn to be true Christians again. Fasting is one of the tools given us by the Church in order to break ourselves from being caught up in this disastrous, demonic whirlwind. Prayer and true repentance is the means by which we can implore God and seek his mercy and compassion on our land and ourselves. “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”—2 Chronicles 7:14

We are plagued and ensnared with the material desires and wants of this world. We can spend hours at the golf course, the lake, theaters, the bonfires, the parties, ball games, the video games, or bars and blow through a hundred dollars, give or take, at one instant. However, on Sunday we go to the Church to celebrate the Resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ and His Victory over death, hell and the grave, to receive His life saving Body and Blood into our cores, to be spiritually armed, to regroup with our compatriots in this struggle against good and evil, and we want the shortest, cheapest, easiest service in town and heaven-forbid it goes past noon! Most folks treat the Church like their least favorite hobby. They produce arguments like ‘Jesus is with me wherever I go’, ‘Wherever two or more are gathered’, ‘Nature is my church’, or ‘I’m saved so I don’t have to go church’. All of these are excuses to forsake the assembling together of the believers and to excuse impiety and spiritual laziness. This is the fruit of what the protestant movement has produced here in the Bible Belt and everywhere it has taken root. Every day another “new” church springs up in the strip mall and now people have become so exasperated with denominations that they’re claiming to be non-denominational where people can come and believe whatever they want as long as they believe in some form of Jesus. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”—James 2:19 This is what protestantism has led us to. This is why we need to secede from this reconstructed society and go back to Holy Orthodoxy.

When the flood came Noah built an Ark. Nothing and nobody that wasn’t on that Ark was saved when the wrath of God came. Noah and his family where separated from the earth by being enclosed in that Ark. Likewise when Jesus came down to earth He built something for the sake of the salvation of the world.

Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

There are many who come not of the Apostolic Tradition and claim to offer eternal security. “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”—Matthew 24:11 ” Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”—1 John 4:1 It is a very confusing time. “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”—1 Corinthians 14:32-33

The Orthodox Church has survived the Roman Empire’s persecutions, Muslim yoke, Roman Catholic Crusades, Mongol enslavement and the Communist Soviet oppression. No matter the extent of the violence, the longevity of the persecution, the amount of churches leveled to the ground, nor the numbers of martyrs brutally murdered; when the smoke clears the Church remains. The gates of Hades have not prevailed. When the waters recede we see the Ark has weathered the storm and delivered it’s passengers to a greener country; whether this side of the grave or the other. No other institution could have survived the entire weight of the world crushing down upon it like the Orthodox Church has.

The Flood of the wrath of God is coming. The invitation onto the Ark of Salvation is open. The time for all of us to confess our sins and repent is now. I’ll close this with the Apostle Paul’s instruction to the Church in Colosse, and if this ain’t a call to secede from this world then I don’t know what is,

“1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

6For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

12Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

13Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

14And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

18Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

19Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

20Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

21Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

22Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:

23And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

24Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

25But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.”