Being One with Jesus the Christ

Being one with Jesus the Christ

March 10, 2013

Rev. Fr. Michael

My friends, how truly blessed we are to have been called by Jesus the Christ to become one with Him and in turn one with Almighty God through Him. This of course does not mean that we will be God in any way but one as in being spiritually connected to Jesus and living eternally in the Light and energies of Almighty God.

But we must stop and reflect on how we are to achieve this oneness with Jesus Christ and in turn make this our life’s passion.  Many are already aware of how to achieve this but for one reason or another each of us continues to fall short. We can be so easily distracted by life itself in this world and forget who it is we represent at any given moment. Quite often we blame the world itself with its many pleasures and distractions but consider this; “A brother did wrong one time at Scetis and when a council was called about it, they sent for Abba Moses, but he refused to come. So the priest sent someone to him, saying, ‘Come, the community is waiting for you.’  He got up and went and, picking up a large basket with a hole in the bottom, filled it with sand and carried it with him. When he arrived at the meeting, those who came out to meet him said to him, ‘what’s this, father?’ The old man said, ‘My sins trickle out behind me and I do not see them and yet I have come today to judge someone else’s sins.’
When they heard this, they did not say anything to condemn the brother but forgave him.”

Abba Moses lived in the Egyptian desert, a monk in the fourth century, where were the worldly distractions and pleasures which would have made him sin? He had none of these things. Sadly we just simply sin whether it be in thought, word, or deed; we just simply sin. We know that sin separates us from the love of God; we know that we have a mediator between us and God and that is Jesus the Christ but what does this mean? Can we just simply sin, knowing that Jesus intercedes for us? Heaven forbid that this thought even enters into our mind. So if we sin what are we to do, how can we be one with Jesus the Christ when even daily we sin? We all know the answers to this question but yet we all neglect the very things that are necessary for us to do on a daily basis somehow at one time or another. We can sin in doing, speaking, or thinking wrong and/or we sin when we neglect to do something that we should do.

How is it that we become one with Jesus Christ? For one, what did Jesus say? If you love me, keep my commandments, how is it that we can keep the commandments when we sin daily? Being one with Jesus would mean that we are full of the love of God, having the fullness of God’s love in us is the ecstasy of life, in the Psalms we read; Thou annointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over; when we are anointed by God and begin to be filled with the Spirit, the love of God begins to fill us, we could be so filled with God’s love that it would be overflowing. It would not be possible for the flesh to take on the fullness of the love of God because the flesh as it stands currently could never contain it, we would be physically overwhelmed and yet we could contain more than we do now if we would only be complete in other things but again in the flesh we are restricted. In seeking the love of God we must become ever more humble; the greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God. This is a great key to receiving grace and the love of God, humbleness and yet in being humble we find even more difficulty, humbleness has an enemy and that enemy is pride. This is what we must seek out and purge from our heart, pride is the most subtle of sin and it lurks deep in the heart of all of us. Pride is at the root of many sins; because of pride we become angry when someone insults us and we may well carry out some other sin because of our anger, we work to control our anger but never look beyond it to see the pride. We are proud of our knowledge whether it is secular or religious and will mock those who somehow lack our knowledge whether it is in person or private conversation with another; pride in our knowledge also hinders this knowledge from sinking into our heart.

 Pride in our accomplishments causes envy when we see others who have accomplished more which also leads to lust. We know to control envy and lust but we do not look beyond that to the pride. Pride runs to the very depths of our heart, pride prevents the love of God from filling us to the fullness because pride will not allow us to reach the depths of humbleness.

From  pride we find arrogance, strife, and gossip; even if they are only fleeting thoughts because we have learned to control them, their very existence prevents complete humbleness and the complete infilling of the Most Holy Spirit. It is on our knees in humble prayer before God that we can overcome. This can be explained in this way; Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. What spiritual meaning can we find in this scripture?

And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint, saying: There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God, nor regarded man.  And there was a certain widow in that city, and she came to him, saying: avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a long time. But afterwards he said within himself: Although I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest continually coming she weary me.

And in another place; And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying: Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And they that went before, rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out much more: Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him,

Saying: What wilt thou that I do to thee? But he said: Lord that I may see. And Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he saw, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

So what have these to do with one another? We ought always to pray and not faint as the widow finally received her hearing before the judge, as the blind man who refused to cease calling on the Son of David who also received his answer. We are to never stop calling on Almighty God, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened, this is to be done without ceasing, this is the violence spoken of that will bear heaven away, the unceasing cry unto Almighty God in complete humbleness in accordance with God’s will and yet there is another obstacle in the way of humbleness; confession and repentance.

Without confession and repentance we will never rid ourselves of the pride that stands in the way of humbleness which is necessary in order to be filled with the Most Holy Spirit, the love of Almighty God will never be able to infill us without confession and repentance which will lead us to the humbleness which in turn will allow us to be filled, there is no other way.

I pray in tears that in the days that we are facing ahead, these things will become the life of everyone who calls on the name of Jesus the Christ. May all who call on His Most Holy Name be blessed.

May Almighty God have mercy on us all.

In Christ,

Rev. Fr. Michael  

 

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As Rome begins the season of Lent, the Pope; Pope Benedict XVI has already announced that he will be stepping down. Needless to say there has been a flurry of excitement, shock, discussion on the reason and meaning for this resignation and of course the prophets are out and about. This will be a short blog and it relates to the prophets, most of them appear to be languishing at the thought that the Roman church will now become a bastion of liberality, this is of course welcomed by those who want the modernized liberal Catholic church so that they no longer have to be accused of living sinful lives  and can do whatever it is that they choose to do.

Others who are languishing over this idea of a liberal Catholic church are doing so because they have been pointing their fingers at the Popes and accusing them of being the Antichrist and/or the leader of the One World Church. This liberalization of the church will only prove that hey are right. Others are actually predicting the collapse of the Roman church and are looking forward to it. This is coming from those who claim that they are Christian. I find this to be amazing. I have been writing for quite a long time on the role of Rome in Christianity. Although there are differences between Roman and Orthodox understandings, Rome is from the beginning. I am amazed at those who are actually looking forward to the demise of Roman Catholicism.

I would really like to know how it is that if Rome were headed by the Antichrist at a time when the world has completely rejected Jesus Christ in all of the world governments, why are they leading the church against the attacks of governments on abortion, why do they speak out so much against human trafficking? Why are they prepared to become imprisoned rather than obey the civil law that goes against the Law of God?

I am going to say this again; if Rome were to fall, so will the rest of Christianity, all true Christians will become open targets, only those who become churches of the state will survive unscathed by civil authorities. These groups will not be preaching the Christ, the world will be dark and yet it will believe that it is light. Jesus Christ said that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His church, to attack His church is pitting you against Jesus Christ. So many attack me for these words but I tell you the truth, if Rome falls you who attack will be forced into a decision, accept civil law and preach that which is against Jesus or be persecuted, you will then see the truth of my statements.

Also I tell you the truth, when Rome goes, it marks the end. Many predictions about a Black Pope and a Pope who will usher in a new order are running rampant right now. Prophecy regarding the end times and the destruction of the church does not mean that it happens because the Pope is Antichrist, why would the world level the church of the Antichrist? Everyone who is so against the Pope with the hatred that I see and hear from them truly needs to reflect on these things. If the world wants to rid itself of Rome, how could Rome be Antichrist?

Reflect on this because if what you wish were to actually come, it will be the end of you as well and the sad part is that if you have not repented before your personal fall I can only say this; may Almighty God have mercy on your soul. You must stop this prophesying and wait to see the truth, do not pit yourself against Jesus the Christ, have patience and wait on the Lord.

In Christ,
Monk Michael
Rev. Fr. Michael Valentine

Repent, Confess, Repent!

 

Create in me a pure heart; The Great Lent 2013

My Friends, all who truly love Jesus Christ;

Soon we will be participating in Great Lent. There is so much going on that we cannot even pretend that 'all is right in the world'. The Lenten Season is a time of fasting, cleansing and purifying, it is also a time for reflection and meditation and growing in spirit. It is a time to pray for renewal. For many years I have been talking about the purging of the church, so many refuse to listen. So many are waiting for the end and some crazy rapture of Christians, the times are constantly predicted, the Antichrist is named over and over as well as the leader of the 'One World Church'. There is so much division in the church if our Lord Jesus Christ was not truly God I think that he would have abandoned us centuries ago. The persecution of the church has never truly stopped and this occurs from without and from within.

As the world continues to change and more pressure is put onto Christianity to change with it I believe that there will be a great purging within. If the church maintains her Christian roots and continues to uphold the truth, many will protest, fight within, and ultimately leave. As the persecution continues many true Christians will be persecuted, imprisoned and very possibly killed but I believe that much death will not come from just the law but from those who make some claim to Christ who are truly followers of that evil one who will be doing much of the killing. The church will ultimately become one group of believers working together, this of course is fought against and argued about but in the last days this will become so.

Currently we are fighting still against abortion, fighting against the destruction of family and marriage, fighting against the adoption of children to same sex couples, fighting against human trafficking and sex slavery, fighting against the society that would teach our children that which is against Almighty God. All governments of this world are fully aware of all of these fights and ills in the world, they encourage these things, those who fight against them will become outcasts of society, considered to be a cancer to 'humanity', unsocial, unbending, lacking tolerance and intolerable and yet there is hope!

I have seen angels of God intervene at the last moment, during the blink of an eye when death seemed eminent they come and then they disappear just as quickly, I have seen the Holy Mother, I have seen situations turn when there appeared to be no hope. My friends, we must have a pure love in our heart, this is the only way. The Psalmist says; create in me a pure heart and a steadfast spirit. This must be our goal for it is with a pure heart that we must pray, during this Great Lent this is what we must strive for, prayer from a pure heart and a steadfast spirit. Confess, Repent, become one with the Christ. 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.

We must stand in faith.

In Christ,
Monk Michael

May you be blessed in 2013

January 2013, a new year was celebrated world wide. The news media loves to broadcast these things and the people love to watch the different ways in which the new year is celebrated. More people celebrate the new year than who celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior; Jesus the Christ. It seems as though people care less and less for truth and morality and prefer to chase after what they want the truth to be. Morality throughout the world is absolutely disgusting, governments are corrupt regardless of which country they claim to represent. They do not represent anyone except themselves, lust for power and control over the world population is the only thing that they recognize.

I do not apologize for any of the words that I have placed above, there is only one government that is truly for the people and that is the government of the Lord Jesus the Christ. No government of man is willing to lay down it's life for the people but it is more than willing to lay down the people's lives to keep itself alive. I pray that everyone throughout the world will consider this fact and begin to recognize the government of Jesus the Christ who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and who is the only King and Lord that began His government by surrendering His life for the people.

Consider this and be careful not to follow anyone simply because they say 'Lord' and preach 'Jesus' from a stage. Beware of charlatans; prosperity preachers  and faith healers abound and they prey on those who desperately seek the kingdom and healing. Consider that one who can truly heal would be out in the hospitals actually healing the sick. To heal would be truly a gift from Almighty God Himself and would only be granted to one who was truly dwelling within Almighty God and Almighty God truly dwelling within him. This one would not be requiring a donation in order for someone to be healed but would be working from the heart.

Any others are charlatans and are stealing your money while seeking riches. While this message may seem to be a harsh new year's message to many, it is meant to be a warning to seek only the truth and not fall prey to the many who seek a comfortable living from those who are desparately seeking answers.

May Almighty God bless you with truth, peace and grace in this new year. Seek truth, seek wisdom, seek Almighty God first.

In Christ,

Monk Michael

michael.monkmichael@gmail.com