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 A Monk's Wisdom!
Monastic Library † Teachings of the Fathers, Monks, and
Saints
St. Michael's Monastery
The Time is Now!
Well some things never
change, some things never stop changing. The Christian church is one of these things that never stops changing.
This month’s Monk’s Wisdom isn’t going to be so much about wisdom; it’s going
to be about correction which is in a round about way, wisdom.
We preach the apostolic
succession; this is the handing down of teaching from one generation to another
from the apostles through the bishops of the church. There are two concepts
involved in this, one is the laying on of hands from apostle to bishop to
bishop to bishop and so on down through the centuries in an unbroken line of
succession, this is lineal succession,
the idea is the imparting of the grace from one bishop to another that was
initially imparted to the apostles and then to their appointed bishops;
The other apostolic succession concept is the idea that the teachings of the apostles have been handed down from generation to generation unchanged
and regardless of the lack of the laying on of hands so that the succession is
purely spiritual, this would be spiritual
succession, obviously it is hoped that the church is full of people who
have come down with the physical laying on of hands as well as the true
spiritual teachings.
Mark 9: 37 John answered him, saying: Master, we
saw one casting out devils in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade
him. 38 But Jesus said: Do not forbid him.
For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name, and
can soon speak ill of me. 39 For he that is not against you, is for you. 40 For whosoever shall
give you to drink a cup of water in my name, because you belong to Christ: amen
I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.
This is my understanding; lineal succession is a great thing and a great claim to make; being able to trace the line
of a specific church back to Christ through an apostle,
However, the fault in this concept is that there are a great many bishops
throughout the ages of the church who literally have no grace to impart,
the Holy Spirit left them through their own actions. This statement is
of course considered to be a heresy because the grace is given to the station
and not to the person according to church teaching, however this is not
according to biblical teaching.
Immoral lifestyle without true repentance is invalidation of holy orders
as well as salvation, 1 John 2: 19 They went out from us,
but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have
remained with us; but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us.
This is true for all of the church, period.
For spiritual succession to be truly present, one must be preaching the same doctrine that Jesus
Christ taught to His apostles who in turn taught others and who in turn
taught others and the same unchanged teaching has been handed down,
One cannot re-interpret holy scripture according to one's personal mindset,
the idea of personal interpretation is wrong as well, this is also a fallacy
in a large portion of today's denominations,
2 Peter 1: 20 Understanding this first, that no prophecy of
scripture is made by private interpretation. 21 For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men
of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Everyone knows that there are others who are preaching a lie but most people
will not study to determine what is the truth and therefore accept blindly
whatever teaching their group hands down without knowing. There is no new interpretation of the holy words, we must continue to
teach what has already been taught from the beginning, you need to only
look around you and see the results of private or re-interpretation of
the holy teachings to understand the lie in this way.
Are your knees callused from constant praying and seeking of the truth?
We are still in the season of Lent, this is the perfect time to meditate
and think about as well as pray about where we need work and help spiritually.
So many so-called
Christians actually speak out against this practice because it is Catholic, I say that you will explain to
Jesus Christ why it was too much to ask of you to spend this time in prayer and
contemplation on the spiritual life and to grow in the spirit and grow your
relationship with Him while claiming His name.
My personal relationship with my Savior has developed through much heartache
and pain, trial and tribulation, I know from practical experience the reality
of a saving God and of His angels that watch over us.
You who refuse to make an effort to study and pray to learn the truth will
answer for that.
You who use calendar dates to cause strife in Christ’s church will
answer for that, the calendar was invented by a pagan society and although it
has changed over time for church use and serves an excellent purpose, it has
always been a pagan invention and to split the church over a calendar date is
unquestionably wrong.
You who deny the aid and the help of God’s holy messengers, His
angels, will not receive the help that you pray for because you deny the very
helpers that will come to your aid.
You who have changed the face of the church through same sex union
and homosexual leaders, who have taken the pedophile and have hidden him away,
will pay a terrible price unless you repent of this sin.
You in the church who support abortion; may Almighty God have mercy
on your soul.
You, in the travelling gospel group or the Christian singing sensation who spends the night in a hotel room
with someone other than your spouse or with a member of the same sex, repent
now or be lost forever.
You who preach the gospel and yet do not even believe what you are
preaching, or deny the existence of Satan and preach because it is a way to
earn a paycheck without bending your back and getting your hands dirty, you
will suffer, repent, now is the
time.
You who attack others over their race, and especially you who scream
hatred of race from a pulpit, you will never find the love of God, love cannot
abound where there is hatred.
You, Pastors who intentionally mislead your flock, and Pastors, Elders,
and Deacons who use your positions to gain sexual favors, you are being weighed
and the scales are not showing you to be just and holy. You must, repent now or be lost forever.
The time is now for all to repent!
Do not allow this time to pass
without looking at yourself and making changes, Jesus Christ is there to help;
He will give you strength where you lack if you ask and if you make the effort.
You and you alone must do this.
Jesus
Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man goes unto the father except
by Him.
What does the above statement even mean?
Important Dates in March
According to the New Calendar dates!
March 1, Kalends of March, St. David of Wales
March 7, Nones of March
March 9, St. Gregory of Nyssa
March 15, Ides of March
March 17, St. Patrick’s Day
March 19, St.
Joseph, Confessor, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
March 20, St. Cuthbert
March 24, Forefeast of the Annunciation, Gabriel the
Archangel
March 25, Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
March 26, St. Theophan of America, Bishop and Confessor
March 27, Lazarus Saturday
March 28, Palm Sunday
March 29, East; Passion Week, Great Monday
Remember;
Wednesdays and Fridays are fast days, especially during the Lenten season.
Obviously all
of the fasts and feasts are not listed in the table above, with the eastern and
western saints and holy days it would be far too many. You must on your own
practice what your specific group states or write to me if you choose to follow
with us.
The dates
given above are the most important for the month between all of the groups I
believe. You can always write to me if in fact I have misrepresented your
group.
Let us help you in understanding.
In Christ,
+Monk Michael.
Early Church
Fathers
The Seven Oecumenical
Councils.
Important
Links:
Daily Scripture
Reading
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Some personal thoughts from the heart
of Monk Michael.
Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you
the truth? Galatians 4:16
Catechism! A basic understanding of the Christian Church! A Synopsis from
the Creation to the Flood!
To all the saints who read these words;
There is one Father; creator of all
that is seen and unseen.
There is one Lord Jesus Christ; the Only-Begotten
Son of God, the very Word of God who became flesh.
There is only one Holy
Spirit of God; the Lord, the Giver of Life, who has spoken through the prophets.
It is our job as created beings to worship the creator in truth, not as
we see fit. This series will take us through the scriptures and tell us why this
is so and how to do it. This is not a Bible study in the sense that we
will receive instruction on the holy scriptures alone. This is a study to show
us why we are Christian and how to be so in the manner that was given to us by
Almighty God through His Son Jesus Christ and with the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit.
What have we learned so far in our
study, we have seen
the creation, the fall and the flood, much has taken place during this time,
the beginning talks about the creation and man being placed into the Garden of
Eden where man is given a choice and chooses to do wrong. In making the choice
to do wrong, Eve listened to the beguiling serpent and partook of the fruit of
the knowledge of good and evil in spite of God’s warning to not do this.
Why is man even given the choice? Let me make the answer another question;
why would a loving and merciful creator want robots, love is God, God is
love, love given would also like to see love returned, this can only happen
when it is a choice, freely given..
Why was Satan in the Garden of Eden and how did he get there, the creation
story did not tell us about this, he only appeared out of nowhere to beguile
Eve without warning, what is his story? Well, Satan was not always Satan,
Satan was created by Lucifer, the bright and morning star, (Lucifer became
Satan by choice) let’s jump ahead for a moment to gain an understanding
of what came before this creation story;
"You
were the model of perfection; full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in
Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and
emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your
settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were
prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You
were on the Holy Mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were
blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was
found in you." (Ezekiel 28:12-15)
Lucifer
was created perfect and full of wisdom and beauty, but then something happened;
"How
you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! [or Lucifer,
which means light-bringer] You have been cast down to the earth, you who
once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to
heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on
the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will
ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like The Most
High." (Isaiah 14:12-14)
When Lucifer rebelled, he was defeated and cast down from the heavens back
to the earth:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground" (Isaiah 14:12
KJV).
Jesus Christ also described the fall, as He witnessed it in His pre-human
form.
"I saw Satan fall like lightning from
heaven." (Luke 10:18 RSV).
Although he may not be absolutely confined to earth (e.g. Job 1:6), the
earth is where Satan now resides and has his throne:
"And to the angel of the church in Pergamum
write: 'The words of Him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 'I know where you
dwell, where Satan's throne is; you hold fast My Name and you did not deny My
faith even in the days of Antipas My witness, My faithful one, who was killed
among you, where Satan dwells." (Revelation 2:12-13 RSV)
"The Lord said to Satan, "Whence have you
come?" Satan answered The Lord, "From going to and fro on the earth,
and from walking up and down on it." (Job 1:7 RSV)
The "god of this world"
Incredibly, The Bible refers to Satan as "the god of this world."
"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled
only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has
blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God." (2 Corinthians
4:3-4 RSV)
Satan's Greatest Fear
Despite the horrendous evil that he is still inflicting upon humanity,
Satan has already been defeated; he just hasn't been removed yet. Christ's
coming again will mark the end of Satan's rule and influence on earth.
He will soon get all that's coming to him, and he knows it.
"But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil
has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is
short!" (Revelation 12:12 RSV)
We all have a choice
Just as Lucifer had a choice so did Adam and Eve have a choice, as Lucifer
did they did as well, they chose to go against their creator, it is commonly
taught that because of this we have no choice but to sin, this is merely
an excuse to sin and has become widely accepted throughout the church for
centuries but take a look again at the beginning of man.
If we take the scriptures literally as many people do, when Cain killed
Able, there were only four people alive on the planet, the sin of three
of then is described in detail however there is no sin related to the fourth,
Able has no sin attached to him, if anyone chooses to say that Able must
have had sin because of the fall when the scriptures do not call out any
sin then you are adding to holy writ something that is not already stated,
by your own assumption, especially when the opposite is stated regarding
Able;
Genesis 4: 3 And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits
of the earth, gifts to the Lord. 4 Abel also offered of the firstlings of
his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his
offerings. 5 But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain
was exceedingly angry, and his countenance fell.
6 And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry? and why is thy
countenance fallen? 7 If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith
be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou
shalt have dominion over it.
The question begs to be asked; is Almighty God in the habit of telling
us to do something that He will not give us the strength to do? I would
say not, to say otherwise is to call Almighty God a liar, which has been
going on for generations now. Heed the scripture, all of creation is given
a choice, God's Word is our strength even before the Word became flesh.
There have been those who have chosen not to sin, granted there are few,
but they have existed, so just to remind you of those who made this choice
up until the flood, here is the short list;
Abel we have just seen, Genesis 5: 23 And all the days of Henoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And he walked with God, and was seen no more: because God took him.
Genesis 6: 8 But Noe found grace before the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noe: Noe was a just and perfect man in his generations, he walked with God. 10 And he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.
The idea that we cannot walk with God and do that which is right is not
true, it is a false understanding and is shown clearly from Holy Scripture,
how did these people do it, on their own of their own power? Of course
not, it is clearly written that they walked with God, they listened to God, they drew their strength from Him, He was their help
because they walked with Him.
James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners: and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Holy Scripture lies or it does not, you decide for yourself but I will
tell you, there will be no excuse for sin on that day of judgement, you
will be tried and your works will burn up or you will be rewarded, there
is no excuse, repent now and do not stop, it is not a once in a lifetime
deal, even an evil thought for the blink of an eye is a sin and you must
recognize it and push it out of your mind and ask forgiveness, you will
be forgiven if you are sincere.
We have
seen that God is merciful and in spite of the grossest of sins we are allowed
time to repent until such time as even the patience of Almighty God Himself runs
out.
We have seen that it is actually possible to walk with God, if you deny
that then you deny the very scripture that you call holy. To walk with
God requires a fierce determination in the face of temptation and the constant
prayer to God for strength and communication. If or when we do sin, we
have an advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ who can forgive us our sins. You
can also see that there is much about humanity that is not written and
I do not even have to say that there is an incredibly small amount of information
given us so far regarding Almighty God save the fact that He is a forgiving
God, a God of mercy but also a God who can run out of patience with us.
When was the last time that you
were that sorry for your sins? If you want forgiveness you had better truly be
repentant and sorrowful for your sins, if you are not, then you cannot expect
forgiveness.
Are you hiding sin in your own heart? You can contact me or another priest
that you trust and confess this sin, take it to God through Christ, do
not delay in this, hiding a sin is adding more sin to it, that of deception
and lying.
In our next issue we will continue our walk with Almighty God and each
other.
The Lord Bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face to shine upon you
and be gracious unto you, the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, bring
you peace: today, tomorrow and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Important
Links:
Daily Scripture
Reading
Write to us if you want to know more at;
monkmichael@newwarriorministries.com
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