I Advent

                         

I Advent

Sunday November 18, 2018

     

I follow a 40 day Advent. Today, Sunday, November 18, 2018 is the first Sunday in Advent for me using the Western Calendar.

Readings;

Malachi 3: 1-6

1 Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he comes, says the Lord of hosts. 2 And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller's herb: 3 And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice. 4 And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years. 5 And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, says the Lord of hosts. 6 For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are not consumed.

James 5: 7-12, 19, 20

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth: patiently bearing till he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be you therefore also patient, and strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Grudge not, brethren, one against another, that you may not be judged. Behold the judge stands before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, for an example of suffering evil, of labor and patience, the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we account them blessed who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is merciful and compassionate.

 12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath. But let your speech be, yea, yea: no, no: that you fall not under judgment. 19 My brethren, if any of you err from the truth, and one convert him: 20 He must know that he who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. 2 But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper. 4 Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind drives from the face of the earth. 5 Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just. 6 For the Lord knows the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

Hebrews 1

1 God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, 2 In these days has spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sits on the right hand of the majesty on high. 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they. 5 For to which of the angels has he said at any time, You are my Son, today have I begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6 And again, when he brings in the first begotten into the world, he says: And let all the angels of God adore him. 7 And to the angels indeed he says: He that makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8 But to the Son: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of justice is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. 10 And: You in the beginning, O Lord, did found the earth: and the works of your hands are the heavens. 11 They shall perish, but you shall continue: and they shall all grow old as a garment. 12 And as a vesture shall you change them, and they shall be changed: but you are the selfsame, and your years shall not fail. 13 But to which of the angels said he at any time: Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?

Gospel of St. John 1: 35-51

35 The next day again John stood, and two of his disciples. 36 And beholding Jesus walking, he says: Behold the Lamb of God. 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turning, and seeing them following him, says to them: What seek you? Who said to him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where do you dwell? 39 He says to them: Come and see. They came, and saw where he abode, and they stayed with him that day: now it was about the tenth hour. 40 And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John, and followed him. 41 He found first his brother Simon, and said to him: We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: You are Simon the son of Jona: you shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter. 43 On the following day, he would go forth into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him: Follow me. 44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael, and said to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth. 46 And Nathanael said to him: Can anything of good come from Nazareth? Philip says to him: Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him: and he said of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. 48 Nathanael says to him: Where do you know me? Jesus answered, and said to him: Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. 49 Nathanael answered him, and said: Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. 50 Jesus answered, and said to him: Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree, you believe: greater things than these shall you see. 51 And he said to him: Amen, amen I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Be blessed and be a blessing, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Continue to praise and worship Jesus the Christ and the Father through Him. Never cease to pray and live according to the gospel. Allow the Holy Ghost to guide you. Love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength; love your neighbor as yourself. You never know whose life you will change because of this love of God in you.

The light has entered the world and the times; are changing. If one does not have love for the soul of mankind and the desire that all come to the truth than one does not have Christ in them fully.

Little children, love one another; because this is our Lord’s command and if you fulfill this, nothing else is needed. Through love and because of love we will follow all of the commandments that we have been given. They are written on our hearts by the hand of Almighty God. We simply need to see them within us and follow.

Remember; if we confess our sins and repent, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus the Christ be with you throughout this day and the rest of your life. May the Holy Spirit fill us all to overflowing so that everyone in whose path we cross may receive a blessing from our Lord Jesus the Christ.

In Christ.

   

Member of the Autocephalous Orthodox Catholic Churches of the Americas

St. Michael’s Monastery and the New Warrior Ministries Videos:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW8XyPtkmtu6a1vVg6MEiNg/videos

Many Blessings!

+William

                     

SW4 The Blessed Virgin chapter 3 Conclusion

                                   

 

                                               

Spiritual Warfare

SW 4 The Blessed Virgin chapter 3 Conclusion

         Hello, yes you are in the right place. What you are looking at is a fresco of the Blessed Virgin Mary feeding the infant baby Jesus on her lap. This fresco was found in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome and is dated to approximately 150 A.D. This is centuries before Constantine came along and supposedly destroyed the church. The Christians worshiped often in the catacombs. You need to understand the early Christian Church. Please continue to listen or read.

Hello, I am Bishop William, this is chapter 3 of our fourth title in the Spiritual Warfare series, this title is; The Blessed Virgin chapter 3, the Conclusion. You saw the fresco, Christians were honoring this woman; the Blessed Virgin, from the beginning of the church. The idea that Constantine came along and took over the Roman Church and instituted worship of the saints is a lie, plain and simple. To start with; the saints were honored from the beginning and no one worshiped them, there is a difference between asking someone to pray for you and worshiping them.

However, I still get crazy things sent to me so I will again start this video with answers that will begin with a question to you first. Tell me; who is Jesus? Is He the Christ? The Messiah? The Savior of mankind? Is He God in the flesh? The Word of God came to earth and was born in the flesh through a young woman who was a virgin named Mary, in English. This is the miracle, a virgin birth and the uniting of the Spirit or God to man or the flesh. Flesh and spirit are united in Jesus the Christ. Christians call Him; Jesus, God.

Therefore, the virgin who gave birth was blessed, she was the Blessed Virgin, and anything that may have happened later is meaningless to the fact that she was the Blessed Virgin at the time of the birth of the Savior of mankind. So she maintains that title. Another question, who is the final judge of the earth? Is it Jesus? Will Jesus come back to judge the quick or the living and the dead? This is the Christian belief. So Jesus was with God in the beginning, the Word of God created all things, then came to earth and was born in the flesh to re-unite mankind back to the Father. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law of God, He also was the author. The Law says to honor your mother and your father so that you may be long lived on the earth. My question then is; did Jesus as the fulfiller of the law honor His mother? You should be at least shaking your head yes at the moment.

If Jesus is the fulfiller of the Law and Jesus is coming to judge all of mankind, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, what do you think His opinion will be of everyone who dishonors His mother? Another question; who is Satan? Is he the Accuser? How is it that someone gets the name of; the Accuser? Is it just a nifty nickname? I don’t think so. He is the Accuser because that is what he does, that is who he is. He will accuse all of us of every last little thing we have ever done or spoken, or not done and left unspoken. This is his role.

So while Satan is accusing someone before the judge for dishonoring the mother of the judge, tell me please, whose knee that is bent is going to straighten up and stand to that one’s defense before the judge when that one is accused of dishonoring the mother of the judge of mankind? I dare to tell you that no knee will unbend. Think about what you believe and the words that come out of your mouth. Let’s continue now with our series.

We are in the gospel of John chapter 19 starting with verse 25: Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. 26 When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he said to his mother: Woman, behold your son.

Note that the word Woman that Jesus says to His mother from the cross, is the same word used at the wedding in Cana when He said: woman what has this to do with you and me? Is there disrespect in the word? No. It is respectful and almost a title.

Continuing in verse 27: After that, he said to the disciple: Behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. 28 Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. 29 Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, put it to his mouth. 30 Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated (completed). And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.

           

What did Jesus do from the cross just now? Did He not give His mother to his disciple? So many Christians cry and scream about Mary having other children, so many cry and scream that she was a perpetual virgin, I do not give a rats tail about the nonsensical arguing and bickering. The Holy Scriptures say that the Virgin was with child. This was the miracle, there is no miracle if a young maid gets pregnant and gives birth. The miracle is in the virgin birth and in the end the woman was given to a disciple. This means in a spiritual understanding that she was given to the church, the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the Mother of God is also the Mother of the Church. This is the spiritual understanding of what took place. It matters nothing if there were actually other children at this moment because the Blessed Virgin was given to a disciple. Because of this, if you call yourself Christian then she is your mother as well. Whatever happened or did not happen in between these events has no bearing on the final outcome. I can only warn you, it is up to you to understand.

This is spiritual warfare, what I have given you is spiritual understanding of the Blessed Virgin. What you do with this information is totally up to you. It is your eternity. Spiritual warfare, the heavenly host, the Great Cloud of Witnesses, and the Blessed Virgin are there to help in this battle. They are soldiers for Christ. In the body or out of the body, we are still alive. There is no law of God that says that we need to call on anyone who has passed on from here, but there is no law of God that says that we cannot ask for their help either. Do you not know that from the very beginning Christians set up table altars over the grave of a martyred Christian and offered praise and sacrifice to God and asked the martyr to pray for them? Read about it , learn your history if you call yourself Christian.

So let me relate another story to you, a true event from my life, one that has helped to develop me into what I am today.

All of the things that has happened to me or have been done to me and the attacks that I have witnessed and that have occurred in my life have been my guide, answers to prayer, signs, learning experiences, and things whose timing in my life were altogether perfect and because of the number of them they cannot be considered as coincidences.  One of these events was a hit and run automobile accident. So if it was simply only one incident it may not be such a statement but in my lifetime I have had six vehicles slam into me and one attempt that was a complete failure because the one who attempted missed me three times, yes, he made three attempts and each time calling to me out of his window as he attempted to strike me with his vehicle.

         

The others actually made contact, some worse than others. Two of them almost killed me, a third was damaging but not near death. One of these I will relate now. It happened many years ago. Here are the highlights: a driver struck me in my vehicle and put me into a hospital, the driver was never seen by anyone, hence a hit and run. I was in and out of consciousness until I reached the hospital.

                    

While driving my car after the incident I could not hold my head up and see above the steering wheel, the pain in my head was insane. It was so bad that it was also blinding. There was a voice speaking to me and guiding me. I was told that that this was only pain, ignore the pain and live, give in to the pain and die. I kept driving, going into and out of consciousness. I was given direction on when to turn the wheel of my vehicle as when I saw the line in the road break one way or the other and when the break was the exit that I was to take.

         

Eventually I ended up in a hospital where I was put on watch. I learned later that I was not expected to survive the night. This is how I learned that part of the story: I became conscious when a light appeared in the room where I was lying, a bright and beautiful light. I stood up but yet I could see myself lying in the bed. Then the light was within reach of me and I could clearly see that it was an incredibly beautiful woman, I cannot tell you hair color or eye color, just beautiful light but I saw her with more than my physical eye. I could see her with my soul; I could feel her presence, feel the complete love that was permeating me, filling me up. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to drop to my knees, I also wanted to grab her and kiss her, I was in awe so I reached out to hold her and give her a kiss but she gently prevented me and said; this is not for us.

         

She said that she was sent to me to tell me that she has always been with me and would always be with me. That I was going to live and that I had a job to do. I asked her; what job am I supposed to do? She responded that I had much to learn and that I would know my job when the time came to be. Then she said that she had to go and began to leave so I asked her; wait, who are you? What is your name? She told me that I would know her as Mary.

Suddenly the light came on in my room, Mary was gone, and I was awake lying on a bed in a hospital room with a nurse charging into the room yelling; what is going on in here, who are you talking to? You are not even supposed to be awake, you’re on watch to see if you live through the night and you’re in here talking to a woman? Who is the woman that you are talking to, where is she? Now while she is yelling these things at me she is searching the room high and low, under the bed, behind curtains, looking for the woman that she heard speaking to me. This of course was my personal proof that it was not a dream but someone alive had come to me. The nurse left the room saying that she was not crazy and that she would get to the bottom of this. Do not ask me why it was the Blessed Virgin who came to me instead of Jesus or an angel, I have no idea; I was also shocked by the answer myself. I contemplated this for many years.

Friends, we have choices in this life, we can; not believe and face a very terrifying fate later of an age long chastisement, we can believe to a point where we are comfortable and happy and live in prejudice and hate of all who do not worship the Christ in the same exact manner in which we do and either stagnate or we can choose to continue to learn, if we choose to learn and grow then we must understand this, if we truly want to learn at any cost, then we will suffer. This is where far too many decide to stop and simply remain comfortable.

Spiritual growth and understanding does not come easy. It cannot be learned from a book or books. Experience in life is a great teacher. It is not always pleasant. Lessons learned are exactly as those two words state; lessons learned. We learn, some by reading, some by hearing the teaching from another and then also by experience. I have stood in places in the spirit that I never asked to be taken to. I have ministered to some while in the spirit that I never thought to go to but was taken. There were times when I was not even sure why I was there and what it was that I was to do. The unknown always exists.

In this spiritual warfare I can only say a few things; the first is that we must love the human soul, period. If we do not care for the soul of others than our battle will be fruitless. We are not good soldiers for Christ without the love of Christ in us. He gave His life for all of humanity. We can do no less but to pray always as the Apostle Paul said. Prayer for others through love carries much weight. Even if someone is vicious, we must pray for them. Remember that a murderer became a saint and Jesus also said to pray for our enemies.

         

The second thing is that God’s will is to be done. We can ask in love but God is the decider not us. We must accept His will in all things, do not be anxious, do not be fearful. God determines the outcome of all things even the ones that we will not like. It is God’s decision, in all things. We are His or we are not. We pray, we worship, we make our own effort towards things, God determines the outcome.

The third thing: death, the soul separating from the body does not mean that the deceased no longer exists. I will say again that those who are in Christ are still alive in Christ after leaving the body. The dead are still alive. There is a Litany of the Saints before the Liturgy; prayer to the saints in asking for help is as old as Christianity itself. You can refuse the helpful prayers if you choose, you can refuse to ask those who have gone on before for the help in prayer if you choose and ask only Jesus for the help. As stated before, there is no law either way.

The fourth thing to understand is that; spiritual warfare is exactly that, warfare that is done in the spirit. Those in spirit can help with prayer. The Blessed Virgin is a major advocate because she said yes to God and gave birth to the Savior of mankind. She is the mother of our Lord. She does nothing outside of love because if you are Christian then she is your mother as well. The fight is not easy.

To do battle in the spirit will cause pain in the flesh, scarring to our senses, our heart will grow strong as well as sink to the bottom in despair. It is no easy fight. We must be prepared. Prayer is our great weapon, prayer in spirit, out of love and in worship of our God for the benefit of others as well as for us. This will end the teaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary. I’ll see you in our next video. The Priests.

Be blessed and be a blessing, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Continue to praise and worship Jesus the Christ and the Father through Him. Never cease to pray and live according to the gospel. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you. Love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength; love your neighbor as yourself. You never know whose life you will change because of this love of God in you.

The light has entered the world and the times; are changing. If one does not have love for the soul of mankind and the desire that all come to the truth than one does not have Christ in them fully.

Little children, love one another; because this is our Lord’s command and if you fulfill this, nothing else is needed. Through love and because of love we will follow all of the commandments that we have been given. They are written on our hearts by the hand of Almighty God. We simply need to see them within us and follow.

Remember; if we confess our sins and repent, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus the Christ be with you throughout this day and the rest of your life. May the Holy Spirit fill us all to overflowing so that everyone in whose path we cross may receive a blessing from our Lord Jesus the Christ.

In Christ.

   

Member of the Autocephalous Orthodox Catholic Churches of the Americas

St. Michael’s Monastery and the New Warrior Ministries Videos:  https://youtu.be/n-tOcDnVOGo

Many Blessings!

+William