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 A Monk's Wisdom!
Monastic Library † Teachings of the Fathers, Monks, and Saints
St. Michael's Monastery
My dear friends,
Often times in this world we can get caught up in the legalism of things,
this includes the church. There are many who feel as if they alone and
to the exclusion of others, hold all truth and they have no difficulty
in calling out names and writing nasty things about those who they claim
are in error. In many seminaries this is also taught as the normal method
of preaching behind the pulpit.
Is this truly according to Jesus Christ? Make no mistake as to what I am
saying here; there are many who are in error, these we pray for and hope
that they see the error through education and themselves begin to pray
for the complete truth.
Again, there are many in error by choice, it is their purpose to mislead others in order to line their pockets. Now, simply because a congregation passes a basket does not put them into this group automatically so do not accuse me of making this statement.
There are cultural differences that are perceived as error because one
culture does not accept another culture. This is wrong, finally there are
those who consider error that has no bearing in any way on the salvation
of one's soul and yet the accusers are quick to condemn them to hell.
No one in the church has the authority to condemn anyone to hell, that
is God's judgement, we can only live our own life and grow in Christ Jesus
as an example to others and teach those who are willing to listen, we cannot
force anyone to hear much less obey. All must pray for one another. Teach
proper doctrine and worship, live one's life to grow closer to communion
with the Father through His Only-Begotten Son; Jesus Christ, by the power
of the Holy Spirit.
Christ came to restore us to our Creator and Father, that is our job, to
regain our own unity and to be an example to those who are willing. All
have sinned, all may be forgiven. It is our job to be sure that those who
are listening, understand this message and guide them along the way
One of the biggest errors of today's Christian is putting the 'self' first, there is a question asked by many in the church as well as those outside of the church to condemn God, the question usually takes some form of this; "How could a loving God allow this to happen?" The this could be any thing that is construed as a disaster in someone's personal
life or to a nation or the planet or any number of things.
The problem with this question is that we as humans refuse to put God first,
this is of paramount importance, this question comes from humanity that
places Almighty God within their perspective and wants to make God some
bendable thing with all power that will conform to our will, do you remember the Gumby
doll? People are looking for a Gumby god, sorry to say, that just ain't
going to happen. We need to look at ourselves from God's perspective, when
you begin to do that, your whole outlook will begin to change, from God's
perspective we have changed the whole law of God into what we choose, we
are not allowed to worship him in school or in any other public place,
we are now beginning to make laws that will not allow private Bible meetings
in private homes, we kill unborn children as well as create them, place
them into a frozen state and use them for scientific research.
The parents of those who sell them are just as guilty. This is serious
and until the morals are returned to any nation that is reading this now,
there is no hope for you. There is hope for those people of the nation
who worship God through Jesus Christ, they will be spared in the day of
judgment, but the nation as a whole will suffer greatly. There is much
to do, we must change our perspective if we are going to think that God
will help us do anything.
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! The Pentateuch:
CREATION
We're going to take a look at the Christian Church. This Catechism may
be called an Orthodox catechism except that it is not simply about the
Orthodox Church, if, as some see it, you think of it as simply another
denomination. It is about Orthodoxy, or the right worship of God the Father,
the Creator of all that is seen and unseen. This will also include the
role of Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit and why we even have a church
militant or a church on the earth to start with.
This is not going to be simply an instructional series on what you have
to believe in according to me, but a series designed to make you ask questions
and think, it will hopefully make you research the things that you believe,
we were commanded to search diligently, many people today do not do this,
they simply look around and find a group that teaches the things in the
way that they believe and where they feel comfortable and that becomes
their church, and everything that comes out of the pulpit there is gospel
because the Pastor went to a seminary college and received a degree and
you feel good when you are there. That is today's Christian mentality, I was a part of this as well, sadly, there is much that is in
error in this method.
I have a catechism that is based on the choice that all people have to
make regarding the path that we take while on this earth, it is in the
basic catechism form and is called 'The Two Paths', I wrote it over ten years ago. However, this catechism that we are going
to begin here, will be something to make you examine your personal beliefs
if you choose to follow the Christ and come into all knowledge, each subject
will start with a question or a statement and then there will be a whole
article devoted to that question or statement. Some articles may be short
and some may span two letters, another interesting way that I like to write
these is to have you, write questions to me and as the time frame of the
church that fits your question comes up, your question will be added to
the catechism and answered. I have stated many times, if you have a question,
most likely one thousand other people also have the question and never
ask it.
A caveat here, I do not care what form of Christianity you profess or what
form of Christianity that you believe I profess, this will not be about
who has superior anything, I will speak only of creation, God and the reason
for the church and what was taught and believed from the beginning, this
will include oral as well as written tradition, like it or not, oral tradition
is the oldest of the two and is equally as important and still taught and
believed. I will not attack any form of Christianity in any negative way
as in calling out a name of any particular group or persuasion, I will
simply, by the grace of Almighty God start at the beginning and go through
the truth of the church, you will fit or not fit in any particular area,
where ever you fit or do not fit will not be any issue of mine, the Holy
Scriptures will be used as well as early writings and patristic fathers
including some history on them. It will be your job to verify anything
that you do not believe, in spite of the scripture references that will
be given, there will be some who will want to argue a point anyway.
I am telling you now, you are responsible for the working out of your own
salvation, Philippians 2: 12 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my
presence only, but much more now in my absence,) with fear
and trembling work out your salvation, like it or not, this is required, you alone must do the research and the prayer to verify or find error for
the sake of your own relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen!?
So in order to get started, we cannot look at the church and determine
what is true or not true unless we first look at creation and the reason
why there is a church in the first place and why the church ultimately
came into existence. In order to understand it's function and the complete
truth of Jesus Christ, the church and our salvation, we must examine things
from the beginning. Let's go;
In the Beginning God Created heaven and earth;
Most people are aware of this opening line in what we refer to as the Old Testament, our Father created heaven and earth out of nothing, this is actually quite astonishing, if there was nothing how could something come from that? 2 And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the
deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. This second verse somehow becomes forgotten or ignored by many, the SPIRIT of GOD moved over the waters. Here in the second verse of the opening chapter of the Christian Bible we see that the Spirit of God moved over the waters, this Spirit of God is called out separately from Almighty God the Father, it is His
spirit and is already defined as part of or belonging to God the Father
because it is defined as HIS Spirit but it is also stated that it was His SPIRIT that moved over the waters, separately from Himself.
But does the fact that heaven and earth was created out of nothing mean that nothing else existed at that moment?
What in the world am I talking about? Nowhere in the creation story do
we read about the creation of angels and yet we know that they exist and
were created, from reading the book of Job we can gather this;
God created the angels before he created the heavens and the earth. The book of Job describes the angels worshipping God as He was creating the world: Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring
line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone
- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” Job 38:4-7.
If we consider the function of angels, we might conclude that God created the angels just prior to the creation of mankind because one of their duties is to be ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation Hebrews 1:14. We also know they existed prior to the Garden of Eden, because Satan, who was formerly the angel Lucifer, was already present in the Garden in his fallen state. However, because another function of angels is to worship God around His throne, Revelation 5:11-14, they may have been in existence millions of years as we reckon time before God created the world, worshipping Him and serving Him.
So, although the Bible does not specifically say when God created the angels,
it was sometime before the world was created. Whether this was a day before,
or billions of years before, again, as we reckon time, we cannot be sure. So here is a simple meditation; where did God and the Angels live while
He was creating? Read your Bible from cover to cover and find the answer
and then tell me what you found.
Time is seemingly unimportant to God but yet all things will happen in
God's time so in fact there is a time, it is simply not something that
we can understand, another example of this is the days of creation; 3 And God said: Be light made. And light was made. 4 And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the
darkness. 5 And he called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening
and morning one day.
8 And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day.
12 And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according
to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according
to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
We now have three evenings and mornings of creation, we have seen light
and dark created but no sun or moon. So the question is asked; by our marking
of time, how long was each of the evenings and mornings? We only know time
because we have a sun and a moon to mark it for us, if not for those things
how could we possibly know time? We couldn't because there would be no
marking of it.
Almighty God exists outside of time as we understand it, He existed before
He created the sun and the moon when there was no time that we can compute,
there is simply existence and eternal life, it would seem as if this concept
of time and the sun and the moon is nothing more than a creation for us
as we live in the flesh, when our Lord returns there will be no need for
a sun and a moon because we will become a part of eternity and time will
matter nothing and then we will see as we should but not until then. Apocalypse
22: 5 And night shall be no more: and they shall not need the light of the lamp,
nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall enlighten them, and
they shall reign for ever and ever.
Gen. 1:16 And God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day; and a lesser light to rule the night: and the stars. 17 And he set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth. 18 And to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness.
And God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and morning were the fourth day.
So on the fourth day we finally begin to see time as we know it in the flesh. The earth is now ready for life in the flesh as we know it, vegetation already here on the third day, creatures of the sea and land, and finally man, on the sixth day God created man out of the dust of the earth. 27 And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him:
male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, (how does this work with same sex unions or with the idea as some would
have it that within the marriage there is something still wrong with sex?
How does the prudish notion become formed with this command and how does
one blaspheme Almighty God by having the audacity to sit in a church and sing praises to Jesus Christ and go home to someone of the same sex?)and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the
air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.
Man's job is to increase and multiply, to fill the earth and to subdue
it and to have dominion over all that was created. This is a grave responsibility,
one not to be taken lightly, how does abortion, pollution and waste fit
into this plan? Will God say 'job well done to me or to you in that last
day? It is your job as an individual to live according to God's order.
Genesis 2: 6 But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth. 7 And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into
his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. 8 And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. 9 And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2: 16 And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: 17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death. (Man has now been given a choice to make, he will participate with Almighty God and do as told or he will not, it is clearly a choice.) 18 And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.
21 Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep,
he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it. 22 And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and
brought her to Adam. 23 And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she
shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. 24 Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.
God created man in His image, what does that mean? God is spirit and not flesh so what could this mean; in His image? The flesh obviously is not in God's image, so this could not possibly be what He was saying. No, our soul, our intellect, our free will, that is what was given us that is in God's image, so why would God create us in His image but give us a body of flesh that we have to dwell in? We have been told we are to take care of the earth and to multiply, why
is this?
God created the woman out of the man, flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone.
What does this mean? Is the woman property? Or is the woman an intimate
part of the man and is to be cherished as a part of him and a gift from
God? Another thing, the man and woman were just created, they had no earthly
parents, there was no such thing if we are to believe the Adam and Eve
story, so where did this line;'Therefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his
wife: and they shall be two in one flesh' come from? The concept of mother
and father did not exist so how did this line become part of this creation
story? Meditate on this.
God created this universe because He chose to do so, everything that God created and saw, He saw that it was good; Genesis 1:31 And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And
the evening and morning were the sixth day
God created and saw that it was good, no where in the creation story do
we see God creating something bad, man was created in His image; a soul
that never dies, intellect (obviously not on any par with God's intellect
but an intellect nonetheless), Genesis 2: 19 And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the
earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he
would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same
is its name. 20 And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: and the great gift that would prove to be man's downfall; FREEWILL. We have been given the right to choose our own destiny, whether to serve God in the light of His love for eternity or to live in utter darkness for that eternity, man has the choice. If you would like you may review how to make that choice right here in my catechism on the 'Two Paths'.
Man has been given everything; food, shelter, a place in the garden created
by Almighty God personally, just for him, man has free will, intelligence
and ownership of all, granted to him by the Creator of all.
So if we are created in God's own image and man was given free will along with this great life and intelligence, what in the world happened and why? Meditate on these things in this letter
and determine within yourself to seek and find answers where answers may
possibly be found. I'll see you next time and we shall continue to walk
this path.
May the Lord Bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face to shine
upon you and be gracious unto you, may the Lord make His face to look upon
you and 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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