State of the Church

 

The State of our Church is weak. 

In this opinionated rant I will be using the term "church" loosely, as almost all of America's places of worship have evolved into corporations that merely claim to be spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Obviously our nation has hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian denominations who act separately from each other and believe differently about the teachings + existence of Jesus Christ. The common denominator is the belief that our creator gave us His only son to not only correct our behavior, but to instruct us on how to live better and to receive salvation through His sacrifice. Jesus of Nazareth shared His life and love of our Father in Heaven with all, no matter their denomination, race, social or financial status.

Jesus multiplies and Satan divides. 

But what have we chosen to do here lately?

Can we honestly look at the state of the modern Christian churches who claim to know and share the good news and say with an honest heart that they are leading us towards salvation? That our churches are bringing us together, helping us to be fruitful and to multiply? Or is it obvious yet that these groups of humans in buildings seek to divide + deceive in order to conquer + control?

Our Churches are led by mentally weak and spiritually broken men [and now even women] who have become corrupted by the culture of today:

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We are being led astray by misguided shepherds and false prophets.

Satan constantly seeks to make us believe anything but the truth. Any faith, ideology or philosophy that separates us from the truth of our Lord is beneficial to the great deceiver. Any comfort, pleasure, or satisfaction that is not the love of our creator is useful to the prince of this earth. God is an enemy to the materialists + earth-worshipers, and they seek endlessly to advance themselves through physical progress and build their own utopia here and now. 

When we set our hearts upon the world, the world is going to take us. If we do not have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, the comforts of this temporary place will satisfy us into compliance or scare us into submission. 

The "age of enlightenment," the French Revolution, and the reformation period sought to improve the institutions of this place and advance humans into a state nearing perfection here + now. Has that revolutionary spirit ever resolved? Have the reformers and revolutionaries ever truly solved our problems or saved our souls? 

The result of humans seeking to be their own Gods and make life here in this temporary place better continues to result in destruction, disorder, and widespread death.. When we seek first God's logos and love from within, rejecting the creations, promises, pleasures + comforts of man and choosing for ourselves to follow Jesus Christ into the Kingdom of Heaven, we find true salvation and righteous rewards. But our churches do not preach or teach that, for it would negatively diminish their income and dissolve their power over us..

The last thing that our American churches want is for us to seek God's Kingdom from within. Hesychasm or "silent prayer" is a direct threat to the obvious scam that has become of our churches. [ Matthew 6:1 + Matthew 6:5-8 ] Humans seeking power and dominion over earth will always put themselves between you and the Lord. Do not fall victim to their tricks and plots, be sure to wear the armor of God and stand boldly and courageously in the face of the blasphemers, the heathens, and the children of the lie.

The churches of our age tend to take out monetary loans to build large, impressive buildings and employ many people to spread their own messages out to their communities, promoting their own understandings of the Gospels to any with ears to hear. They make sure to guilt people into entering these buildings at least once a week, where they are reminded to give hard earned wealth over to them in order to keep the lights on, the doors open, and their own wallets fat.. These buildings contain a man, titled as a pope, father, priest, pastor or preacher, whose job it is to tell you how to think and how to act, as well as what and who God is.. 

The LAST thing these people need is for you to realize that you should be spending 10-30 minutes a day and/or night tuning out your earthly, sinful, egotistical thoughts and opening up a direct line of communication within yourself to your Heavenly Father, through the voiceless voice of the Holy Spirit. [ Matthew 6:1 + Matthew 6:5-8 ] That reading the word of God and allowing the voiceless voice of the Holy Spirit to interpret it for you is how a relationship is truly built with our Father in Heaven.. 

These tax shelters and money laundering operations do not lead you to the truth + love of Jesus Christ, as truly doing so would be bad for their earthly schemes and material gains. They can never truly lead you to our creator and His right ways. They will only discourage you from seeking first His Kingdom from within and finding His logos. 

Our churches are materialistic, selfish, money-obsessed, sinful scams. They are preventing the rest of us from truly building a personal relationship with Christ the King, and the inevitable result is a lack of salvation and widespread confusion, depression, anger and evil. Our churches are broken, they are removed from the righteous path, but that doesn't mean you have to be. God is always ready and waiting for you to return to Him, to find salvation, to be redeemed, to receive His blessings and seek His Kingdom. 

Our times here on earth are tough, they will only get worse going forward. But our creator put us here and now for a reason. He made us capable of facing the challenges of the day, to be useful soldiers in this spiritual battle taking place. We must first choose Him, keep Him close, and fight constantly and relentlessly for His glory. 

The State of our Church is weak. But fear not, for the State of God is always strong.  

Fixing Men

The world is facing a shortage of good men.

The war on masculinity has been waged for decades now, and very few strong men are left standing, willing to continue the fight. The culture has pushed degeneracy, pleasure-seeking, materialism, and philosophies of liberation on men for decades, resulting in overly emotional and weak males who are unwilling to stand up for what is right or do the hard-work necessary to earn righteous rewards. We must now fix what is broken. 

The sad state of masculinity in our world today isn't just a theory I hold, it is on full display constantly on our screens.. 

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The males of our current age have become emotional attention seekers. Their behavior is now dictated by the culture, their opinions are currently controlled by a fear of losing their material stuff and/or addictions to pleasurable things. They lack a true or real connection to our Heavenly Father, thus they lack His logos + truth. These currently broken males are indoctrinated by materialists to seek temporary pleasure before securing righteous rewards, and to secure earthly comforts above seeking spiritual treasures.

Our civilization is crumbling before our eyes as a result of physically weak + spiritually broken men. The current political and cultural leaders openly call for hatred, anger, resentment and even violence against any man who dares to be good. The need to fix our men has become not only important, but necessary. Without the strength provided by good men, evil rules. Destruction, disorder, violence and even murder runs rampant when good men do not guide, build, provide and protect. It is important that we speak up for and encourage young men to return to their Heavenly Father, in order to overcome physical weakness and spiritual brokenness. 

The strength I'm speaking of comes from a place of love, not anger. It is the courage to stand up for and speak the truth in all places, at all times, to fight for what is righteous and not just appease the feelings of others. Men cannot be the meaningful + purposeful beings that God created them to be with anger in their hearts. By holding anger inside of them, men are driven to act irrationally. They lose control over themselves, they lack true understanding of reality, they fail to reject the temptations and evils of the world. Anger leads men to repeat and even justify destructive behaviors, preventing them from finding the love they so desperately crave. 

The men of today must find the motivation to be "a man" and not "the man" and it starts by humbling themselves before the creator, asking for forgiveness from God for past transgressions while also learning how to forgive the future transgressions of others. The pride and ego must be eliminated from thoughts, the anger and resentment must be released from hearts, and the strength, truth and love of God will shine through each man in every moment of every day.

The men can be fixed. The lost can still be found. Our future is bright if we choose to seek the light.

I am personally optimistic for the future of men. If young men begin taking simple yet effective steps in their daily lives to improve and correct themselves, it will result in healthier relationships, more successful careers, thriving families, widespread sobriety + health, and true meaning + purpose. It begins with repenting for the sins committed, and forgiving all others for their own sins. Once we make it clear to our Heavenly Father that we are willing to truly forgive others, He truly forgives us.. Putting us on the path towards fully liberating ourselves from the bondage and suffering currently holding us back here and now.

We must encourage our fellow men to commit to daily, thoughtful prayer. Encourage hard work and earning an honest living. Emphasize striving towards functional marriages and rejecting pre-marital sexual relations. Promote fatherhood, as well as discipline, truth and love in all households. And advise that men save money to invest in land, businesses, and providing necessities for their families, as well as giving back to their community in meaningful + productive ways. 

When our men seek first God's Kingdom and all His right ways, they will be fixed. 

Martyr Moment: Mary Magdalene, the Holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal to the Apostles

Saint Mary was from Magdala in Galilee on the Sea of Tiberias, and for this was named Magdalene. When the Lord Jesus cast out seven demons from her, from which she had been suffering, she became His faithful and inseparable disciple, following Him and ministering unto Him even to the time of His crucifixion and burial. Then, returning to Jerusalem together with the rest of the Myrrh-bearers, she prepared the fragrant spices for anointing the body of the Lord. And on the Lord's day they came very early to the tomb, even before the Angels appeared declaring the Resurrection of the Lord. When Mary Magdalene saw the stone taken away from the tomb, she ran and proclaimed it to Peter and John. And returning immediately to the tomb and weeping outside, she was deemed worthy to be the first of the Myrrh-bearers to behold the Lord arisen from the dead, and when she fell at His feet, she heard Him say, "Touch Me not." After the Lord's Ascension, nothing certain is known concerning her. Some accounts say that she went to Rome and later returned to Jerusalem, and from there proceeded to Ephesus, where she ended her life, preaching Christ. Although it is sometimes said that Saint Mary Magdalene was the "sinful woman" of the Gospel, this is nowhere stated in the tradition of the Church, in the sacred hymnology, or in the Holy Gospels themselves, which say only that our Lord cast seven demons out of her, NOT that she was a fallen woman. It is not in Orthodox Tradition that she was a prostitute, this is a great error.