My Friends,
How much does the Father love us? Look at mankind from the
beginning until now, what a disaster we are and always have been and yet we are
still here, being born every day, living, dying, and of course sinning; doing
everything possible that goes against creation. What did I hear you say? Not
me? I don’t steal, I don’t cheat, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t. Friends, it’s time to look at what we do and
as well as what we do not do and in saying to look at what we do not do I am
not speaking about the sin that we claim we do not commit, I am speaking about
the thing that we should do and do not. Almighty God has had a lot of patience
with us. Our Father will not give us presents in order for us to love Him, we
are to love Him because He gave us life and this life will last for an eternity
and it is up to us where we spend this eternity.
We are all sinners in thought, word, and deed by what we do
and by what we do not do. The Father loves us so much that He gave His Only
Begotten Son to us as a sacrifice. Now remember this; the sacrifice was not a
command, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ gave His life willingly, He did
not have to do this, he could have simply said that mankind was not worth the
price; but He did not.
So what have we done my friends to repay this? Since the
beginning Almighty God has dealt with us with mercy, the ground that we walk
on, the world that we live in is corrupt because of man, it is us who allowed
the deceiver in and it is us who allow him to reign in this world because we
allow him to reign in our heart. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
and it wages war against the spirit. This spiritual struggle, this war, is not
simply an external battle that is waged against us, we ourselves in the flesh
are a universe unto ourselves made up of spirit and flesh and the war rages
inside of us, some fight the good fight and some do not. The Father has placed
His law in our heart so that we have no excuse but since the beginning we fight
against it.
Friends, did not Noah understand the law in his heart and
live accordingly? How could he have known?
Remember Noah’s great grandfather
Enoch; Enoch walked with God, and he was no more; for God took him. The writer
of Hebrews says this about Enoch; "By faith Enoch was translated that he
should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for
before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." How
did Enoch please God without Holy Scripture to read and interpret? The epistle
of Jude says this about Enoch; “Now of these Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied, saying: Behold, the
Lord cometh with thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all,
and to reprove all the ungodly for all the works of their ungodliness, whereby
they have done ungodly, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have
spoken against God”. How could Enoch know this without Holy Scripture?
Friends, the law existed since the beginning, how could
Abraham know to worship Almighty God when the rest of the world was worshiping
other gods? Abraham was also before the Law of Moses, where could he acquire
this knowledge? Was Abraham not the eighth generation from Shem the son of
Noah? If you look at the ages of Shem after the flood and the years of his life
and compare them to the years of Abraham you will find that Shem actually
outlived Abraham by just over 30 years. Shem knew not only Abraham but also his
sons Ishmael and Isaac. The teaching and understanding of God and what He
expected, the law of God has always been known.
This is how Enoch could know
that the Lord would come with thousands of His saints to judge mankind even
before the flood; do you imagine that Enoch taught his descendants these
things? Of course he did because Enoch is quoted in our New Testament saying
just this very thing. Almighty God has
not changed from the beginning. These things were handed down, if Abraham was
the only true man in his day where did Melchizedek come from? Ancient Jewish
understanding says that Melchizedek was Shem, there is at least one other
understanding of Melchizedek but not for this article. Melchizedek blessed
Abraham and Abraham paid him a tithe, Melchizedek was a king and a priest, our
Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ is a priest in the order of Melchizedek and
not in the order of Aaron, why?
So what is my point of these things? The law was lived and
those who lived it and knew Almighty God did so without a written Holy
Scripture. The early church survived and thrived, grew in the face of
persecution long before there was a written Christian Holy Scripture. How could
all of these things be? My friends, God should be in our hearts, not just
simply in our minds and written on paper as a law to abide. “And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as
God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people”. We have the law within us, we have the law
surrounding us, it permeates us if we allow it, we have to listen, so what is this
finally all about?
It is about the love of God for us and the love of God from
us. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law and what did He teach? Love one
another, again “for God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son”.
It is about love, when that last of the apostles, the apostle St. John was near
the end of his life and yet still teaching, he was so sick with age that the
Bishops would bring him out already seated on a chair and he would speak,
everyone was quiet, all of the people, the Bishops ad Deacons, all were silent
waiting for the last of the great ones to speak, St. John’s last homilies were
always the same; “Brothers and Sisters, remember to love one another”. The
Bishops finally asked him; ‘sir, we and all of the people wait to hear words of
wisdom from you and all that you ever say is; “brothers and sisters, remember
to love one another”. Why is that all that you say?
This apostle, the apostle
of love, the one who laid his head on the breast of Jesus listening to His heartbeat,
responded; “if you have pure love, there is nothing else”.
Pure love my friends fulfills all of the law, there is
nothing that is not covered if you have pure love. Pure love comes from the
heart and it does not need to be written on stone or paper, it is a living
love, it is a part of everything that is. So back to an earlier question; why
did Jesus as a king and a priest come in the order of Melchizedek and not a
priest in the order of the established priesthood through Aaron? It is because
of the law of love my friends; Enoch, loved the Father, he walked with the
Father and he was no more, Noah and his sons and families loved the Lord and
walked with the Lord and were saved from the flood. Abraham loved the Lord and
was chosen, Melchizedek; king and priest of Salem which was to become
Jerusalem, worshiped and served out of love, Moses was given a written law
because the law was no longer on the heart of men because of the hardness of
their heart.
The law of love will always be greater than the written law.
It is on our heart, it guides us, the written law is always subject to
interpretation, this is obvious in the manner in which Jesus the Christ
attacked the keepers of the law in His day for their mistreatment of the law,
it is obvious today in the many divisions of the church through private
interpretation of the law and scripture. This twisting is done for the benefit
of the twister, the one who is in power. Pure love, if it is pure, is guided by
the Father because it can come from nowhere or no one else but the Father. It
is imperative that we understand this pure love. How do we acquire it?
We already know the steps, we need only to obey them; love
Jesus, this is covered in the commandment to love God first and then to love
your neighbor as yourself. Worship and pray, if we do not worship and pray to the
Father how will we be His? Jesus said; “Not every one that says to me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that does the will of my
Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven”. “Many
will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and
cast out devils in thy name and done many miracles in thy name? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work
iniquity”.
How can one cast out demons in Jesus name and not be known
by Him? How often did Jesus heal and say to the one healed; go your faith has
made you whole? And Jesus said to him: I will come and heal him. And the
centurion making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter
under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. And Jesus
hearing this, marvelled; and said to them that followed him: Amen I say to you,
I have not found so great faith in Israel. And Jesus said to the centurion: Go,
and as you have believed, so be it done to you.
Faith in the Lord which can only come with love for the Lord
is the key; love is the key to all things. Love is the key to faith. So what
are the steps? Love; love God and love your neighbor as yourself, worship and
praise of Almighty God, these things are necessary; Jesus said: You believe
that there is one God. You do well: the devils also believe and tremble.
Do you understand what this means? Simply believing and
leaving it at that is the same thing that the demons do, they know who He is
but they will not worship, they have fallen. These things are the key; Love God
first, love your neighbor as yourself, contained within these two things is;
worship, we worship Almighty God through our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ,
we pray; this is communion with our Lord, prayer is formal and informal,
without prayer, without communion with the Lord how can we expect Him to know
us?
Is there more? Yes! Confession and repentance, these two
things cannot be left out and they need to be done every day. How often do we
sing praise to God in the morning, confessing our faith and then we go out
during our day and sin? We sin everyday whether in thought, word, or deed. If we truly love our Lord we will worship,
praise, confess, and repent. Love my friends is the key. For God so loved the
world, remember that verse? The Apostle St. John, the apostle of love is known
for preaching the love of Christ.
In his very old age and being very sick, the people still
wanted to hear him speak as he was the last of the Apostles, the Bishops would
carry him out seated on a chair and he would speak; brothers and sisters,
remember to love one another. The Bishops finally asked him; sir, we and all of
the people continually wait to hear words of wisdom from you and when you speak
all that you say is; brothers and sisters remember to love one another. Why is
that all that you say? The great Apostle St. John simply replied; because if
you have pure love there is nothing else.
My friends it is really this simple but unless you have this
love of Almighty God in you then you can never fully grasp the meaning. This is
why confession and repentance is so important. Praise, worship, pray, confess,
and repent and then the last thing; the Body and Blood, partaking of the
Eucharist is very important, in this we receive the Holy Spirit , we receive
grace and by receiving these things we obtain wisdom and understanding. Here it
is simply put; worship, praise, confess, repent, Body and Blood.
So earlier on I asked a question; why in the order of Melchizedek
and not in the order of Aaron and the Levitical Priesthood? It is my humble
opinion that since the teachings were continually handed down from generation
to generation from before the flood to after the flood that this was done out of love for Almighty God
Creator of all that is seen and unseen, this was through the law of love
written on the heart . The Law of Moses was a law written in stone that showed
mankind how that without Almighty God in the heart and leading us we can never
be what we were created to be. The law written in stone is unbending,
unyielding and condemns us in our sins. Such was the Law of Moses and the
Levitical Priesthood making sacrifices for God’s people. Thus did Jesus the Christ condemn those in
His day for judging by the letter of the law and forgetting about the spirit of
the law.
Jesus the Christ came and explained the spirit of the law,
He spoke of the love of the Father and then in a most amazing and utterly
astounding manner; He demonstrated this law of love written on the heart by the
surrendering of His life, voluntarily for the sake of all mankind. This is the
ultimate proof of love.
There will be a day when owning a Bible will be illegal,
what will all of the people do then? How will the people and the church survive
when there is no Bible to read? So I return to Melchizedek, I mentioned that
there was another view of where Melchizedek was from but it was not for this
article. You see, it doesn't matter who Melchizedek was or where he was from,
if it did this would have been revealed to us, Melchizedek was from a time when the law was written on
the heart, Aaron and the Levitical Priesthood was during a time of the law
being written in stone as well as words on parchment because man refused to live
according to what is imprinted within him. In this manner we live the same
today, Holy Scripture is words on paper, the written word that man attempts to
live up to and man has forgot the word written on the heart.
Jesus the Christ came to remind us of this law of the heart,
he admonished those of His day for chasing the letter of the law and not the
spirit of the law, he lived the spirit of the law and he gave His life to
demonstrate this spirit, He defeated death and sin so that we can have eternal
life with Him but just as in the past we have taken the law and removed the
spirit from it. Do you think that this isn’t so? Just look at the church that
has descended from the apostles, different branches yet both claiming apostolic
succession and being spirit led yet having differing theologies and doctrine,
add to them the many protestant denominations and doctrines with all claiming
to be spirit led and what have we? There is not one that is not full of
corruption, is it any wonder that the world spirals down and down?
It is time, now, to begin to learn and live this law of love
in the heart. With all of this am I saying that the written word is of no
consequence? Heaven forbid that I would say this, what I am saying is that
without the law of love in our heart it is impossible to live the written law
or word, again just look at the state of all who call themselves the Christian
church and see, without the pure love there is nothing but division, power
struggles, decisions made regarding subjects that we truly cannot know about
and that cause splits and schisms all for the sake of control.
Think of me what you will, but I tell you a truth, learn the
law of the love of the heart, seek and find wisdom and understanding, become
one with the Christ, you can only do this through; prayer, praise, confession
and repentance, and not forsaking the body and blood. Faith will only grow in
this manner, there is no other way. Without faith there is no hope; not in the
end times and certainly not in that dreaded Day of Judgment. The Law of Love, written on the heart,
without it there is no understanding or discernment.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us. Holy
God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us. Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal have mercy on us.
May Almighty God have mercy on us all.
In Christ,
Monk Michael
