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FIRST, THE NEWS: |
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(3 Nov.) In Istanbul, President Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew signed an agreement on cooperation between Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This is the final step towards the completion of the process of granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
Once the historic document was signed, Petro Poroshenko said: "Today is a historical day, which roots in the first days of the restoration of independent Ukraine, when Ukrainians sought and prayed for an independent autocephalous united Orthodox Church.
"Ukrainians have waited for this over 1030 years. On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I am grateful to His Holiness, the Synod and the hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the important and wise decision to open the way for the Ukrainians to God. The agreement we signed today ensures that the process of preparing to the All-Ukrainian Council, the process of granting the Tomos were brought in line with the canons of the Orthodox Church."
The President congratulated the Ukrainians on signing the historic agreement and called for the peace and unity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. [read more...]
MOSCOW REWARDS LOYAL ORTHODOX LEADER IN MOLDOVA
from: Balkan Insight
(30 Oct.) After the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople agreed to recognise the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence from Moscow, Russia is seeking to strengthen ties with canonically subordinate allies. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday awarding the head of the Moldovan Church, Metropolitan Vladimir, Russia's Order of Friendship.
"For a special contribution to the preservation of Russian cultural and spiritual heritage in Moldova and fruitful activity in consolidating Russian-Moldovan cooperation, the Order of Friendship is given to Cantarean Nicolai Vasilievich (Metropolitan of Chisinau and All Moldavia), a citizen of the Russian Federation," said the decree.
The honour comes not long after the Patriarchate of Kiev obtained autocephaly (self-rule) from the Patriarchate of Constinopole. "It is a kind of reward for his loyalty and, implicitly, a way to remind him once again of the support he has from the Russian Patriarchate and the Kremlin itself," theological expert Victor Gotisan told BIRN.
Gotisan said the Kremlin was offering incentives for continued obedience. "[If] you are obedient and you keep everything under control, then you deserve some honour," he claimed. [read more...]
HUNGARY PLANS TO ENCOURAGE, SUPPORT 'LARGE, STABLE FAMILIES'
from: LifeSite News
(31 Oct.) The Hungarian government wants to reverse its own demographic decline the old fashioned way: by making it easier for the nation’s own citizens to have bigger families.
To this end, Prime Minister Victor Orban's government is launching a formal consultation with Hungarians to elicit their ideas on how the state can give more effective support to families. Survey forms will be sent to an estimated 8 million households over the next month. Parliamentary State Secretary Csaba Dömötör says that subjects to be discussed will include support for young married couples, ways to encourage couples to have more children, and flexible employment hours for working mothers.
According to the pro-Orbán "About Hungary" website, Hungary’s demographic policy – which eschews mass migration in favour of homegrown babies – has already had a strengthening effect on the nation’s families:
"Since 2010, when Prime Minister Orbán’s government took office, Hungary’s demographic policy has shown real results: by 2017, abortion numbers had dropped by more than a third, from 40,449 to 28,500, divorces saw a marked decline (from 23,873 in 2010 to 18,600 in 2017), and the number of marriages had risen by some 42 percent." There were 35,520 Hungarian marriages in 2010 and 50,600 in 2017. [read more...]
RUSSIAN PATRIARCH KIRILL PREDICTS 'HISTORICAL DEFEAT' OF THOSE WHO TRYING TO CREATE NEW CHURCH IN UKRAINE
from: Interfax-Religion
(1 Nov.) Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia believes that the plans of politicians to establish an autocephalous church in Ukraine are doomed to fail.
"Those who want to make various peoples forget their spiritual kinship by force and sever millennium-old spiritual ties will achieve only the opposite effect. Politicians who incite hatred, enmity, and splits will have to recognize their historical defeat," the patriarch said at the opening of the World Russian People's Assembly in the Kremlin on Thursday.
He discussed the protection of religious freedom in the former Soviet space, primarily in Ukraine, where, in Patriarch Kirill's opinion, this issue is particularly pressing today due to "the interference of authorities in the most sacred issues of the spiritual life of citizens."
The history has already seen many attempts at this sort of interference, "but persecutors of the church passed into historical oblivion, and all of the attempts to eradicate the Christian identity failed," the patriarch said. [read more...]
ROMANIAN CHURCH URGES UNITY FOR ORTHODOX CHURCHES
from: PA HomePage
(26 Oct.) Romania's Orthodox Church has called for unity among Orthodox churches after a meeting to discuss a rupture between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
On Oct. 15, the Russian Orthodox Church announced it was severing links to the Constantinople patriarchy after the Istanbul-based patriarch Bartholomew I, considered the "first among equals" of Orthodox church leaders, said he was removing its condemnation of leaders of schismatic Orthodox churches in Ukraine.
That was considered a major step toward granting full recognition to a Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been formally under the Russian Orthodox Church since the 1600s.
In a statement Friday, Romania's Orthodox Church urged the Patriarchies of Moscow and Constantinople to promote "a unity of faith" that would also allow churches pastoral and administrative freedom. [read more...]
DONBAS: LUHANSK: RE-REGISTRATION DENIALS, RAIDS, RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES CLOSED
by Felix Corley: Forum 18 News Service
(23 Oct.) No Baptist or Seventh-day Adventist communities gained the compulsory re-registration the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic demanded by 15 October. Adventists received registration denial "with great pain" and reluctantly halted all their activities, trying to avoid church property seizure. Catholics are still awaiting an answer.
Following the re-registration deadline of 15 October imposed by the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic, an unrecognised entity in eastern Ukraine, the authorities regard many religious communities as illegal. All Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist communities are among those denied re-registration.
Adventist churches received the registration denial "with great pain", an Adventist told Forum 18 from the Ukrainian capital Kiev. They reluctantly decided to halt all their activities to avoid "provoking unpleasantness" and to try to avoid the seizure of church property, including musical instruments and communion vessels.
Andrei Litsoev, head of the Religious Organisations and Spirituality Department of the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry in Luhansk, refused to explain why many communities' registration applications were rejected and what action officials will take against those meeting for worship without permission. Officials of the rebels' Justice Ministry, Interior Ministry and General Prosecutor's Office also refused to speak to Forum 18.
Armed men raided a Baptist church in Brianka on 26 September. Following the 30 September raid on a Krasny Luch Baptist church's Sunday morning meeting for worship, the pastor is facing possible punishment. A Baptist Pastor in Krasnodon was summarily handed a 20-hour community service order after refusing to pay an earlier fine to punish him for leading unapproved worship raided by the police. [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE SAYS WHAT NAME NEW UNIFIED LOCAL CHURCH IN UKRAINE SHOULD HAVE
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
"HORIZONS INTERNATIONAL" HELPS CHRISTIANS LOVE THEIR MUSLIM NEIGHBORS
from Mission Network News
ARCHBISHOP JOB: MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE NO LONGER EXISTS IN UKRAINE
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
DANGEROUS TO POLITICIZE SENSITIVE THINGS LIKE INTER-RELIGIOUS RELATIONS - PUTIN
from Interfax-Religion
MOSCOW PATRIARCH COMPARES UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES TO COMMUNISTS
from RIA Novosti
SITUATION IN UKRAINE IS DISCUSSED AT "FAITH AND WORD" FESTIVAL
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
THE WONDERFUL GIFT OF MOBILITY
from Mission Eurasia
ISTANBUL: THE VIEW OF A BULGARIAN THEOLOGIAN
from Orthodox Christianity
MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE MOVING IN REGIONS TO MAKE STUDY OF ORTHODOXY COMPULSORY IN SCHOOLS
from Eurasia Review
AHEAD OF ELECTIONS, ARMENIA'S CHRISTIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS OPPOSE LGBT RIGHTS
from EurasiaNet.org
THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS TRYING TO WITHDRAW FROM MOSCOW’S CONTROL. THE KREMLIN IS NOT HAPPY.
from The Washington Post
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Building Agape Restoration Communities
In 1957 when I was 14, I committed my life to serve Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. The next summer, 60 years ago, while taking care of lawns at an apartment complex, the Lord gave me a vision: I saw a map of the Soviet Union in the sky and a voice said: "Remember this apartment complex plan - you'll build it when you're an old man." And I remember that there was something special about the stairs, but I didn't understand what it was. Now at age 75 I guess I'm old enough to start this new project!
The next year, I preached my first sermon at an inner-city mission, then I was elected president of our high school's Youth for Christ club, led and won the Bible quiz team contest on St. Paul's letter to the Galatians (I memorized all six chapters so I knew the answers), I won the "preacher boy" contest for Denver YFC, and led our high school debate team to the state championship. I also memorized lots of Shakespeare - big chunks of MacBeth, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet - for English class.
Right after high school I went into the Army and learned Russian - we had to memorize 4-6 pages of conversational Russian every day. Realizing I was good at memorizing, I started memorizing Scripture: by now I've memorized most of the New Testament, many selections from the Old Testament, and now I'm finishing up the Book of Psalms, rotating between four languages.
After active duty in the Army, I enrolled in university and studied more languages, history and political science of Central and Eastern Europe,. In my first two semesters I took 41 credit hours and got a 4.0 GPA. But then in my second year, while serving as president of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter on campus, I became acquainted with a wonderful, amazing young lady who was the IVCF chapter secretary and as they say, "the rest is history!" I graduated in three years with a 3.4 GPA.
After working a couple years to pay off college loans, my wife Cheryl and I served as missionaries to Central and Eastern Europe for 3.5 years, preaching, translating, proofreading, editing and printing Christian literature in many languages, taking Bibles, New Testaments and other Christian literature to Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians behind the Iron Curtain. Both of our children were born abroad. [read more...]
The process of granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been completed, as our first news article AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION BETWEEN UKRAINE AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH SIGNED explains. This new body will likely be named "The Orthodox Church in Ukraine" according to Archbishop Job, Constantinople's representative in Ukraine - see our first news headline ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE SAYS WHAT NAME NEW UNIFIED LOCAL CHURCH IN UKRAINE SHOULD HAVE. He also stated that all Orthodox bishops, metropolitans and archbishops in Ukraine - including former UOC(MP) hierarchs - now come under the Ecumenical Throne in Constantinople, as described in our third news headline ARCHBISHOP JOB: MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE NO LONGER EXISTS IN UKRAINE.
Our second news article MOSCOW REWARDS LOYAL ORTHODOX LEADER IN MOLDOVA illustrates the loyalty of Moldova's leadership to its former capital, Moscow. Before WWII, Moldova was part of Romania, but after the war, it was incorporated into the USSR. Many Molodvans including the head of the Moldovan Church, Metropolitan Vladimir, have both Moldovan and Russian citizenship. In contrast, Romania leans toward supporting Ukraine and the Ecumenical Patriarch: see our fifth news article ROMANIAN CHURCH URGES UNITY FOR ORTHODOX CHURCHES.
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While this inter-Orthodox squabbling is taking place, we mustn't overlook the main tasks of Christ's Body, the Church: caring for the poor, the disabled, the elderly, widows and orphans, as well as preaching the Gospel. News such as HUNGARY PLANS TO ENCOURAGE, SUPPORT 'LARGE, STABLE FAMILIES' - our third news article, as well as our seventh news headline THE WONDERFUL GIFT OF MOBILITY remind us what the main focus of our faith ought to be.
On a personal note, about our friend Don whom we've been driving to church, shopping, doctor's office, etc. since he lost his driver's license four years ago: he's back in ICU from the nursing home with a serious infection. Also, many of you already know that from late August to early October I was diagnosed and took medication treatment for atrial fibrillation. Then on 3 October, I had an outpatient "cardio version" - a defibrillator applied an electric shock to my heart - it was successful in reverting my heart to normal sinus rhythm.
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But just a week later I went to my doctor to have a lump on my left forearm examined and he sent me right away to a dermatologist who removed it. I got a phone call Friday saying the biopsy indicates it is malignant - a "basal cell carcinoma," so I have an appointment on 29 October to have a larger plug of flesh removed in order to be sure they've gotten all of the malignant cells. Carcinoma isn't very dangerous if detected and taken out early, but these health concerns are taking time and energy away from our "Agape Restoration Community" project and my studies for the deaconate.
You've doubtless heard about the horrible, tragic killing of eleven Jewish people at the Tree of Life Synagogue here in Pittsburgh last Saturday. Our dentist and my doctor are Jewish and have their offices in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood just a few blocks from this synagogue. Also, three of the victims lived in our condo-townhouse complex (many residents here are Jewish) and next Tuesday evening is a special prayer service here for the Tree of Life Synagogue victims, so this tragedy is very close to home. My heart mourns, groans and aches for them. We would appreciate your prayers for all of these personal concerns.
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Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just Right?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
No doubt you remember the nursery story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" about the bears' porridge Goldilocks tasted. Well, I'd like to tell you the revised story of "Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just Right?" Ready?
Once upon a time there were different bunches of people who fought and had heated arguments with each other over which is the best way to imagine the Unimaginable, to comprehend the Incomprehensible. Some would insist that the Incomprehensible is so utterly, absolutely sovereign that anything and everything He decides is automatically what will happen: if He chooses for me to go to heaven when I die, there's nothing I have to do about it - indeed, there's nothing I can do about it: I've been chosen and elected even against my will to spend all eternity walking the streets of gold. But if the Incomprehensible in His sovereign will chooses to throw you into the burning garbage heap of Gehenna for all eternity, that's just your tough luck: it's awfully hot down there. Sorry! Well, actually, I'm not sorry because that's simply the way things are predestined to be so there's no use feeling sorry, we must simply accept our fate, our predestined destiny.
Other people replied that such an Incomprehensible Being is just too, too... well, incomprehensible. They would rather imagine the Unimaginable to be all love, love, love... no harsh, hard, rough edges, no judgmental attitudes, just all mercy and kindness and fluffy niceness. The Incomprehensible wants everybody to go to heaven. You know the saying, "All dogs go to heaven"? Well, that applies to people too. In the Final Judgment, all bad thoughts, mean feelings and nasty actions will be purged away by a refining fire. That's all hell/Gehenna is, just a purging, refining fire for a short while - no eternal lake of fire, please. Let's be reasonable and rational about this; after all, the Incomprehensible must fit into our rational minds; we must be sensible, tolerant and inclusive, you know.
What's the problem with each of these scenarios? In the first, such an Absolute, such a totally sovereign Being leaves no room for human freedom to choose between right and wrong, good and evil. If there is no real freedom, no choice, then there is no basis for morality. Those who are chosen and elect will go to heaven no matter what they do, so they can do whatever they want: "A little drunkenness, a string of homosexual acts, how about embezzling that widow's savings? It's all OK - I'm chosen! Nothing can stop me from getting into heaven!" And those who aren't among the chosen and elect can also do whatever their passions and lusts dictate because doing good wouldn't do them any good - they're damned anyway, so they might as well have a good time while they can.
In the second scenario, there are no unelect, no damned. Everyone gets a green card, all go to heaven. There's no Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates; in fact, there are no gates at all - it's Open Borders, folks! Come one, come all! You were "Born That Way"? Doesn't matter, come on in! You peddled heroin and fentanyl to grade schoolers? Here's your free pass to heaven! You see, the second scenario is simply the first part of the first scenario but applied to all: God chooses everybody, His love extends to all. But again, it leaves no room for real freedom and no moral responsibility. This is called "hard universalism."
A fundamental problem with hard universalism is that it offers mankind a false hope, a "whitewash" - "Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord God. My hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions, and who prophesy lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, behold, they daub it with whitewash... Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not repent from his wicked way, and be saved alive" (Ezekiel 13:8-10 & 22).
But perhaps the most important failure of both viewpoints is that they render meaningless all of the commands in Scripture to evangelize and make disciples of all nations: why preach the Gospel of salvation if everyone will be saved anyway? The first scenario is too hot, the second scenario is too cold. What's just right?
In January 2016, I wrote "DOES GOD GIVE US A SECOND CHANCE?" It explores the Biblical idea of Christ descending into hell and preaching to the departed. These Scriptural texts are neglected and not very well understood in western theology. But in Eastern Orthodoxy, these passages form the basis for a "soft universalism" that leaves room for our human freedom and moral responsibility for our choices. Good and evil, right and wrong still exist; people are rewarded for good acts and punished for evil acts. It still makes sense to preach the Gospel of forgiveness. When Christ descended into hell and preached to those who lived before He came to earth and to those who died later without ever hearing a clear presentation of the Gospel, they all had or will have the opportunity to choose whether to accept the grace of God, salvation through faith in Christ, or not.
But even with the clearest presentation of the Gospel from the lips of Christ Himself, some simply will not repent:
"The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they would not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. They did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts" (Revelation 9:20-21).
Also, "People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory. The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They did not repent of their works" (Revelation 16:9-11).
The Incomprehensible God is not limited to what we humans can comprehend by our finite rational ability: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9). God is infinite and absolute, we're not. Our little brains are like an old Commodore 64 computer with a cassette tape for storage compared to His racks upon racks of multi-threaded, multi-core processors and terabytes upon terabytes of solid-state drives. If you think you can comprehend God with your puny rationality, you either have a very small god, or a very big head.
What must we do? "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:6-7). If you have heard the Gospel during your lifetime on this earth and rejected it or simply procrastinated: "Not now, I'm too busy with my career making money, or fooling around having fun; no time to repent right now," you won't get a second chance in the afterlife. Do you think you can tell God on Judgment Day that you never had an opportunity to really hear the Gospel? Now that you've heard, you can't use that excuse. Don't even begin to think you can "work the system" and outsmart God! He's way smarter than you!
This is your "Goldilocks moment" when things are "Just Right." Don't put it off 'til tomorrow, for tomorrow may never come.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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Please remember to pray for Christians in socialist countries, and for...
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. The majority of the mob outvotes the prudence of the wise.
, 3 Nov. 2018