Thursday, October 18, 2018

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.



   









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

Many Blessings!
+William

SW4 The Blessed Virgin chapter 2


                     
 September, 2018

The Blessed Virgin

This is a transcript of the video SW4 The Blessed Virgin chapter 2


My friends,

Bishop William of St. Michael’s Monastery, member of the Autocephalous Orthodox Catholic Churches of the Americas here, St. Michael’s is the home of the New Warrior Ministries.

This is an outreach ministry seeking to bring all who have left the church back to Christ, back to Jesus, for whatever reason that you have left the church, God’s love will still be never ending. For all who are seeking the truth and do not yet know that Jesus is the truth, this is for you as well because Jesus is the truth.
This series is about spiritual warfare. We are currently filming video number 4 which is titled; SW4 The Blessed Virgin.

This is chapter 2 of that series. There is a link to the video at the bottom of this blog. Also, this particular video, The Blessed Virgin is going to take up several parts. We’ll see how it goes according to the length of each video and how much talking that I do rather than sticking strictly to the facts. Again, I am reading so that I do not go off into one of my preaching rants for the video series.
Before I begin with that I am urged to speak on a few comments that came up after the first video. Please understand this, none of the comments are new, not to the church and not to me. Before I even get started I will say a few things about myself and how I came to be where I am today in this spiritual battle:

My childhood home growing up was not particularly Christian, there was an understanding of Jesus and there was some teaching and grace was said at meals quite often but no real sit down at night and learn about Jesus moments. There were those in the family who were against these things and life could be hard at times. There was someone in my family in my life who did take it upon herself to teach me in this manner of sitting down and learning about Jesus and read to me from the Bible and when I began to learn to read in school I then began to read scripture to this woman and to explain what I had read and then I would be given more information to what I had just read and was understanding ; she was my great grandmother. The first bible that I ever received was from her when I became the age of twelve years. I still have this Bible with me.

When we went to church it was to the local church that was within walking distance of little kids. The local church was a pulpit pounding, Bible slamming down in outrage against sin kind of church. All churches except this one were full of sin. Even those of the same denomination were questionable in their salvation because the Pastor’s went to a different seminary than this one. Only graduates of this one seminary were to be trusted and believed. All others were preaching a false Christianity especially if they were in any form of Catholicism whatsoever. All were hell bound.

Now at the same time in my life I was going to summer camps that actually taught an opposite view of this one that I just mentioned. A different path to salvation, a different picture of Jesus the Savior. I don’t know how many people and especially children pay attention to these differences and become determined to understand but God for reasons known only to Him decided that I was to pay attention and learn. I left home at age 17 to join the United States Marine Corps and was in Vietnam one month after turning 18. While serving I attended worship in Catholic and Protestant churches listening to the preaching and observing the worship.

Later in life I took this learning to a much larger scale much to the exasperation of my loved ones, I was determined to understand Jesus. I don’t care about a denomination or a group; I care about Jesus and the salvation of man’s soul. At the age of 25 I became arrogant, not realizing of course my arrogance and the subtle pride that was in me but I decided that I knew everything and I challenged God. I said; Lord I am ready to serve You. Use me in the way that You choose, test me and purge me of anything that is wrong and give me the wisdom that I need to do Your work. I am ready. Hah. 

That was 41 years ago; let me tell you that 41 years has been an experience. I have been hated and loved, I have been deep into the darkness and back, I have been on my deathbed twice. I have literally seen souls pulled from the clutches of demons through prayer because our God is a merciful God and does not will that anyone should be separated from Him. Prayer and love from the heart my friends, makes all of the difference in the world. Keep in mind however that God’s will shall be done in all circumstances.

So, God has carried me through all of this and I have a couple of answers to some of the questions from the first video that I will give now in the form of a question first.

1. Who does everyone blame all of the so-called wrongs in the church on? Rome of course when Constantine became the Emperor and destroyed the church and now Orthodoxy also as they are becoming more and more known. But how many finger pointers know actually when  Constantine became the Emperor of Rome? I’ll tell you; Roman Emperor Constantine took power in A.D. 306 to 337.
2. After Constantine the fault lies with the Ecumenical Councils of the church but who of all those who scream against these things really knows when the first council was? Again I will tell you; First council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.
3. Talking specifically about the Virgin Mary, she is attacked horribly and especially her title of Mother of God, many blame again Constantine and the councils, when was the Virgin Mary declared officially as the Mother of God? You guessed it already; it was at a council; officially that is because I want to stress this point for a reason; The Virgin Mary was declared to be The Theotokos (God-bearer) by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431 AD. She is also known as the Mother of God because she is the mother of Jesus who is God the Word… so is Jesus God the word or not. Answer that for yourself.

So the evil Romans under Constantine destroyed the church and are leading all Catholics to hell. This is according to most non-Catholics. I heard it yelled from the pulpits for many years and still see it in writing. Is Rome perfect?  Of course not but then neither am I or you or any church that you belong to.

So if the Virgin Mary was declared the title of the Mother of God in 431 when the Romans destroyed the church how is it that we have this prayer? Beneath you compassion we take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one… This is from a papyrus dated to the year A.D.250. Did you hear that date? Can you read that date? What was going on in the church in the year 250? It was under persecution, Christians were being killed. There was no evil Roman Church, only a Roman Empire that wanted to destroy the church.

I’ve said it before, the first Christians asked those who had departed to pray for them in the presence of the Lord. Mary was special, she was the Mother of God to the early church like it or not. If you continue to attack this then you continue to attack the church that you proclaim that you have resorted back to. By attacking the church you attack Christ Himself. Do it at your own peril. So most of you have discovered by now that if you write to me in hateful and foul terms you just get deleted. For those of you who have legitimate concerns or questions I respond. What you cannot do is convince me that what I have learned through very traumatic experiences and the guiding of the Holy Spirit is wrong.  Now to continue with the Blessed Virgin Series.

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.

Continuing in the first chapter of Luke verse 32 we read: He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. 33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? 35 And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the most High shall overshadow you.

And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. 36 And behold your cousin Elizabeth, she also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: 37 Because no word shall be impossible with God. 38 And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.

So tell me all of you who do not show respect, who else in your book of books did Almighty God send one of His angels to and call them; ‘full of grace’? Anyone, in all of time from the beginning to the end who else was given these words of salutation?  Who else did the Holy Spirit of God come upon and implant a child of God into her womb? Who is the Bride of the Holy Spirit but the one who bore the child of God given by the One who overshadowed her, The Holy Spirit. She is the bride of the Spirit, the mother of the one that Christians call God, and the Son of God, and the Savior of mankind. Yet so many refuse to show the respect due to her. Take stock of your faith and understanding.

Continuing in the first chapter of Luke, verse 39: And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. 40 And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit: 42 And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed are you that has believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to you by the Lord.

Notice that Holy Scripture says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit when she uttered the words: Blessed are you among women and continuing from there. Do you still refuse to recognize this woman as the Blessed Virgin? Called by Almighty God Himself to be blessed and to give birth to the Savior of mankind?

In verse 46: And Mary said: My soul does magnify the Lord. 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 Because he has regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 Because he that is mighty, has done great things to me; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him. 51 He has showed might in his arm: he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

          52 He has put down the mighty from their seat, and has exalted the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he has sent empty away. 54 He has  received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: 55 As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.

All generations shall call me blessed. Did you hear those words, can you read them in the transcript, can you read them in your bibles and understand them? These verses starting at verse 46 and ending with verse 55 is called The Magnificat or The Canticle of Mary. Did you notice the words; all generations shall call me blessed? Tell me what they mean, do they mean that she will be compared to a filthy rag? Or do they mean that forever Mary will be blessed? Think about the words that you read and do not blow past the ones that you do not want to see because they do not suit 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.
   















St. Michael’s Monastery and the New Warrior Ministries Videos:  https://youtu.be/DMkT_DcLR8s


Many Blessings!
+William