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by Fr. Dmitri, New Zealand
Saturday 4 July 2009 (27 Paoni; 27 Baona)
St.Ananias of the 70; St. John of Shanghai & San Fransisco.
Happy Independence Day to all those in the USA.
Live as free men but do not use your freedom as a cloak
for vice...Live as servants of God.
(1 Peter 2:16)
CONSIDER THIS:
Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases
the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God.
(Imitation of Christ)
Do you sin every day? You should repent every day.
(S. John Chrysostom)
Whoever exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance
of the Lord, who keeps strict account of sin.
(Sirach 28:1-2)
Obedience is the burial place of the will and the resurrection
of lowliness.
(John Climacus)
Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and
you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.
(Luke 6:37)
Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies sake!
(Psa.6:4)
REFLECTION:
God has placed good and evil in our power and has given us full freedom of
choice.
He does not keep back the unwilling, but He embraces the willing.
Sovereign Lord, thank You for the great gift of freedom You
have bestowed on us. Grant that we may always use our freedom to serve and
glorify You.
(St. John Chrysostom)
HOMILY:
THE GREAT TRIBULATION (4)
An aside. The Church today is lacking in real leadership. In Britain they
are more concerned about Climate Change than removing the festering sore of
Islam who are
trying to impose Shariah Law from within. All False god worshipers should be
expelled from
God fearing countries and sent back to home lands.
The relatively few Believers who are left will be in hiding. In fact, they
could be without food.
They will be able to do one thing: Pray! They will be praying, and with unity
and fervour with which Believers have not prayed since the day of Pentecost, and
they
will have but one prayer request:
COME, LORD JESUS! COME QUICKLY!
Their prayers will be answered quickly. A sound will be heard throughout the
world such as never been heard in the history of the world. It will sound like a
shofar,
an Israeli ram's horn trumpet. But this a sound that is heard everywhere. It
shakes the earth and
sky. It sends the Beasts and their followers to their knees in terror. It brings
the
Saints to their feet in joy. The sound of the trumpet is quickly followed by
another, equally unique
sound. This is recognizably a shout, the voice of the archangel. It is a
command. A command
that cannot be disobeyed. In the twinkling of an eye, the dead in Christ are
raised. The
surviving Saints light up like the sun.
As the trumpet sounds, a great sign appears in the Heaven. It will be larger than the earth.
No matter where you are, you see it. It is brighter than the sun, but you
can't look away from it. Out of the sign comes something else. At first it just
looks like a
bunch of shining clouds.
But as it gets closer, you can see it is an army of Angels, coming down
through the sky toward Jerusalem, and at its head, The King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. The
resurrected and transformed Saints rise up like eagles to meet Him in the
air. The sinful scream in terror. The Saints shout for joy. Jesus has come. For
the Believers, the Great
Tribulation is over. But not for the Beasts and their followers. The third woe
is not over yet.
When Jesus returns, He will go to Jerusalem, where the blessed event called
the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will take place. But outside of Jerusalem all is
not
well, the Beasts and their followers are still alive and well and muster armies
together to get
rid of the Church by military force. They will gather on the Plain of Esdraelon
near Har
Meggido, or as we say Armageddon. But most of them will never see Jerusalem. God
will Roar such a
noise which will shake the earth and sky. Panic will break out among the armies
of the wicked
and the will start killing each other. He will then cause an explosion to happen
over
Armageddon like the air burst of a hydrogen bomb but without the radio-activity
and the
entire army of the Beasts will be dead.
But that will not be all. There are ten kings who support the Beasts. Their
capitals or military bases will have to go and pieces of the same explosion will
hit them and
wipe them out.
The entire kingdom of the Beasts and the Great False Church will cease to
exist. Finally, the Two Beasts will have what might be called a Rapture of their
own, but it
will not be one that they will like. Angels will grab them and thrown them alive
into the
Lake of Fire where they will die and agonizing death. Satan the power behind the
Beasts
and the Great False Church will be captured and chained and cast into the
bottomless
pit for a 1000 years his final come-upence is yet to come.
When the Tribulation is over, the Millennium begins. There is little that
can be said about this with certainty from the Scriptures. But one thing is sure
. The Believers who
really lived for Jesus in this life, and all the Tribulation Saints, will be
reigning with Him
in a world that will be at peace. After the resurrection of the damned and the
second death with
Satan and all his angels, the next thing on the agenda is that the earth and the
universe will be made new and the New Jerusalem will descend to its allotted
place and there
will be no more crying, gnashing of teeth, death has fled away never more to
return. Think of
the Family Reunions that will take place and those questions that you wished you
had
asked all those years ago of a loved one.
Will you be ready when this happens. It will come like a thief in the night.
I think of the passage
'Be Sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion
seeking whom he may, devour, whom resist Steadfast in the Faith.
To Thee be all Honor and Glory now and ever, unto Ages of Ages.
AMEN!
Today's Readings:
Evening: Psalm 39:11&3; Gospel Mark 6:6-13.
Morning: Psalm 104:1-3; Gospel Mark 10:17-30.
Liturgy: 2 Tim.3:10-4:18; 1 Peter 5:1-14; Acts 15:36-16:5;
Psalm 95:1-2; Gospel Mark 1:1-11.
Copyright DR
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