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
