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AHEAD OF 2019, BULGARIA REJECTS SEVERE CHURCH RESTRICTIONS
from: Christianity Today
(26 Dec.) Since October, Bulgarian evangelicals have protested proposed legislation that would hinder preaching, evangelizing, funding, and training by non-Orthodox minority faiths with weekly demonstrations and nationwide calls to prayer. Last Friday, its last working day of 2019, the country’s parliament finally passed the new law, without the restrictions Protestants had feared the most.
"We celebrate the decision by the government of Bulgaria earlier today to allow hundreds of churches, including 130 Baptist churches, to remain open so that people of faith may continue to worship in the free convictions of their conscience," stated the Baptist World Alliance, which opposed the initial proposal along with the Baptist Union of Bulgaria and several other national church councils.
The amendments to the Religious Denominations Act go into effect January 1 and present some additional regulations in the southeastern European country. The two major faith groups, Orthodox (85%) and Muslim (10%), also receive bigger government subsidies under the new law. An earlier version of the amendments, as CT reported last month, put the future of Protestant education and foreign funding for churches in jeopardy.
The original proposal also barred all church activity outside official buildings and kept foreign preachers from leading services; the approved amendments regulate only the use of loudspeakers to amplify outdoor worship and allow non-Bulgarians to preach if they inform the religious affairs office, according to Evangelical Focus, a Christian news site in Europe. [read more...]
(15 Oct.) The European Disability Network (EDN) coordinated a series of workshops in Tallinn about how the Christian community can and should take into account people with disabilities.
Therese Swinters, facilitator of the EDN network and responsible for the Belgian NGO Gemeenten in Gehandicapten (Church and Disability), explained that people with disabilities "need to be more visible." Referring to the networks about disability, she said that "the most desirable would be that [these networks] should not have to exist, but we still need this kind of work to give support and to know each other."
She considers that information and awareness in the churches is needed and explains the example of a blind person who wanted to be an elder in his church: "But you cannot, you are blind," was the answer he received. Swinters reminds that it is estimated that between 10% and 15% of the population have a disability, and that churches should be the first to be open, inclusive and able to take into account the skills of each one.
Baiba Baikovska (from Latvia) has been collaborating with Swinters in the coordination of EDN for some months now. She remembers how, when she was a year and a half old and became ill, the doctors told her parents to "leave me in the hospital, that it was not worth it to take me to school, but my parents were brave." She studied at the University of Riga, where someone told her about God and His ability to love unconditionally. "I understood that God loves me as a person."
Baiba's disability is considered a visible one, but she explains that there are invisible disabilities, often "chronic diseases that hinder daily activities at work, in school and in social life." Baikovska explains that "disability is not part of the person, it is part of how we can develop and manage in society." When invisible disabilities are addressed, "there is fear of being stigmatized." [read more...]
(26 Dec.) Over 20 parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate have agreed to move to the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Vinnytsia region. Ukrinform correspondent was told this by Vladislav Demchenko, Head of the press service of the Vinnytsia diocese of Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
"The process of transition of parishes from the jurisdiction of the UOC-MP to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is gaining momentum. At present, we can say that such church communities are more than twenty. A part of them has already legally arranged their transfer, the rest are still in the process. But every day we receive calls and give advice," said Demchenko. According to him, only in the past weekend, five parishes moved to the OCU.
In particular, in the city of Vinnytsia, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was joined by the parish of the Holy Trinity Church, located in the former command bunker of the Soviet Army, in granite rocks on the shore of the Pivdenyy Buh. The community of the church was almost fully supported by its rector, Archpriest Oleksii Volkov, a prominent missionary in Vinnytsia, as well as a volunteer chaplain, who became the first priest of Vinnytsia in 2014 to travel regularly to the east to support the Ukrainian Army.
The community of the largest and oldest 120-year-old church of Vinnytsia region – that of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow," which is located in the main building of the regional psychoneurology clinic of Vinnytsia, joined the OCU. [read more...]
GEORGIAN PATRIARCH HOPES FOR RESTORATION OF BROTHERLY TIES BETWEEN RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, CONSTANTINOPLE PATRIARCHATE
from: Interfax-Religion
(28 Dec.) Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia deeply regrets the conflict between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Constantinople Patriarchate over the start of the process for granting autocephaly to Ukraine.
"I want to draw attention to what is happening in Ukraine between Constantinople and Moscow. The situation in Ukraine is extremely unpleasant, there is no unity of opinions, no accord. The Russian church stopped remembering the Constantinople patriarch and severed eucharistic communion as Constantinople has started the procedure for granting autocephaly to Ukraine, which aggravates the current crisis even more. This makes us very sad," the patriarch was quoted as saying by the Georgian Patriarchate before the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church on Friday.
Ilia II said the Orthodox Church had gone through many trials and "overcame them all with God's blessing. I hope that the brotherly connections between the Churches will be restored by God's power," the Georgian patriarch said. The top hierarchs at an earlier meeting of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church could not make a coordinated decision on the issue of Ukraine's autocephaly. It was decided to postpone the discussion of the issue until the next session.
On October 11, the Constantinople Patriarchate's Synod in Istanbul abolished its 1686 decree handing the Kiev Metropolitanate over to Moscow, announced the creation of a mission in Kiev, and rehabilitated the leaders of self-proclaimed Orthodox churches in Ukraine. The Moscow Patriarchate's Synod responded by severing ties with Constantinople. [read more...]
AS ITS 150-YEAR CATHEDRAL PROJECT NEARS COMPLETION, ROMANIA'S CHURCH SEEKS TO REBUILD TRUST
from: Euronews
(14 Dec.) On Sunday, November 25, 2019, thousands of Romanian believers flocked to witness the blessing of the Romanian People's Salvation Cathedral by a cohort of Orthodox priests, led by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The date was symbolically chosen close to December 1st, Romania’s national day. It was framed as a commemorative gesture marking the centenary of the 1918 unification when the Romanian kingdom united with Transylvania and Moldova at the end of World War I.
The cathedral project was born at the end of the 19th century after Romania's War of Independence in 1877-1878. It was, however, only following Romania's 1918 unification that the efforts to construct it intensified. In 1920, King Ferdinand I announced that a monumental church was to be built in Bucharest to commemorate the Romanian army's victory during the First World War. However, due to the economic crisis in the interwar period, World War II and decades of communism plans to construct the cathedral were set aside, only to be revived in 2010 by the current patriarch.
The cathedral is expected to be finished in 2024, though the project’s evolution depends on funding available. After the blessing, it was once again to the general public, as its interior remained to be painted and finalized. It is expected to be the largest and tallest Orthodox Church in the world. According to the Romanian patriarch, the cathedral will accommodate up to 8,000 people, with around 3,000 of those seated.
As with almost any large public project, criticism has focused around delays - it will have taken almost 150 years to build on the current schedule - and costs. The Orthodox church leadership told Mediafax that around 110 million euros have been spent so far on the construction, with around 75 percent of that coming from the Romanian state. However, Sa Fie Lumina, an independent journalistic project investigating and reporting on religions in Romania, looked at hundreds of official documents and concluded that the amount of public funding directed to the cathedral is closer to 121 million euros. [read more...]
CHRISTIAN CHURCH LEADERS CALL FOR REDISCOVERING CHRISTMAS’S REAL MEANING
from: Hungary Today
(26 Dec.) At a time when Europe is trying to find its own identity, people with Christian roots need to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas, the head of the Hungarian Evangelical Church said on Monday, ahead of Christmas Eve. "If we want to preserve Europe’s Christian character, we should not accept to have only symbolic celebrations, but should go find their true essence," Bishop Tamas Fabiny told MTI.
The holidays are a good opportunity for churches "to go after people" and "step into society" telling its members that "the door of the church is open," he said. The Reformed church leader advises search for silence during the holiday. The holidays offer people an opportunity to search for silence, the head of the Hungarian Reformed Church's synod said on Monday, ahead of Christmas Eve. People in the 21st century might be frightened of silence and remaining alone, Istvan Szabo Bogardi told the Hungarian wire service. "But silence helps us to listen to what is essentially important," he said.
Christmas is the celebration of a meeting with God who had taken solidarity with people, Cardinal Peter Erdo, the head of the Hungarian Catholic Church, said in an interview on Monday. It is no surprise that people feel like giving presents to each other at this time of the year considering that ever since God took the shape of a human, "we can turn to another person with joy, with the understanding that we can meet Jesus Christ in them," Erdo said. "This joy and this turning towards one another is what makes Christmas so precious," he said. [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
POROSHENKO ASKS MP CHURCH TO MEDIATE IN RELEASE OF UKRAINIAN SAILORS CAPTURED BY RUSSIA
from Unian
LAW ON RENAMING CHURCHES BECOMES EFFECTIVE
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
BIBLES FOR CHINA: BRINGING GOD’S WORD TO CHINA IN 2019
from Mission Network News
PATRIARCH KIRILL DOUBTS PATRIARCH BARTHOLONEW'S "SOUND MIND"
from Interfax-Religion
PASTOR OF OMSK CHURCH RECEIVES SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR "PSEUDO-RELIGIOUS" SERMONS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
from Religia i Pravo
DECR SECRETARY FOR INTER-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS VISITS ST. THOMAS CHURCH IN INDIA
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY IN EARLY EASTERN ENGLAND
from Orthodox Christianity
OVERCOMING OF SCHISMS GOES FURTHER, OR THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE STRIKES BACK – OPED
from Eurasia Review
THE ORDER OF SAINT ANDREW, ARCHONS OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE, DEPLORES RUSSIAN HACKING OF THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
from ChristianPersecution.com
LIVING DIFFERENTLY: ABOUT ONE UNUSUAL PARISH IN THE IVANOVO REGION
from Pravmir
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Christ Sending Out the Twelve
Jesus Christ showed and taught His followers how to heal the sick and care for the poor and brokenhearted. It seems, however, that many Christians think - "I don't have the gift of healing, I'm not a great evangelist or a pastor, so I guess I'll just be an ordinary layperson, sitting in my cushioned pew, singing hymns and listening to sermons." Why do people think that way? And what should we do about it?
We've been conditioned by centuries of social pressure, for example, under the Muslims who conquered North Africa, Spain, parts of France, Italy, Russia, the Balkans and Hungary, and who at best consigned Christians to second-class "dhimmi" status and forbade them to have any social outreach - only Muslims were allowed to do that. Christians were limited to only hold religious observances within four church walls. At worst, Christians were persecuted and killed if they wouldn't convert to Islam.
Then in Western Europe, after driving the Muslims back and after several religious wars that decimated the populations, the various Edicts of Toleration reinforced the notion that people should stop fighting and show "tolerance" to those of other religious convictions, not pushing their religious beliefs on others.
But in the Christian East, shortly after the collapse of the Muslim Turkish Empire, Communism took hold and at best strictly limited the Christian faith to only religious observances within four church walls, they were forbidden to have any kind of social ministry: only communists were allowed to do that. At worst, Christians who wouldn't meekly comply were tortured and killed.
And in the West it's just a bit more subtle: the ever-expanding secular humanism under the guise of "democracy", "freedom" and "tolerance" exerts strong social pressure against living out one's Christian faith in the public square. Nowadays, if any Christian suggests, "We ought to be taking care of 'the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind' like Christ did and taught His followers to do! - the standard reply is - "Oh, that's not our job: let the government do it." But government-managed "healthcare" doesn't care about your health, it's motivated by power and money: if the patient can't pay, shove him out the door. Don't think so? We've seen it happen!
And leftists now push the idea that religious freedom means only the right to attend the worship service of your choice, not "the free exercise of religion" as the First Amendment clearly states. Do you see a pattern developing here? They want to take over the Social Ministry of the Church - see our six short courses that will help you break out of these cultural stereotypes!
How often have you heard, "Don't shove your religion down other people's throats!" and Christians being labeled as "intolerant" or "bigoted" or "haters" if they speak of or live out their beliefs in public? We've internalized these social pressures, accepting them as "normal" and even come to believe in them almost as religious dogma. We must break out of this "psychological box" that we've been shoved into, and reclaim the free exercise of our religion in society, as Christ commanded us to do.
You likely don't have the gifts of healing or exorcism. Perhaps you're not a great evangelist: you get real nervous if asked to speak in public. It's OK if you don't have those spiritual gifts. Remember Christ's parable of the ten talents, five talents and one talent? The person with just one talent buried it, so the Master took it and gave it to the person who had ten.
But actually, you most likely have ten talents already! What are those things attached to your palms? Ten fingers! You have ten spiritual gifts, called the gift of helps! Learn how to start using them, and perhaps the Master will entrust you with some of the greater gifts. Break out of the box!
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I feel a bit of nostalgia about our second news article THE BEAUTY OF GOD'S AIR UNDER OUR WINGS that tells of European Disability Network's conference in Tallinn, Estonia, because almost ten years ago I was the main speaker at their conference, which was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. Also, Tallinn, Estonia is one of our favorite cities in Central Europe. It is shameful that a blind person was considered unfit to serve as an elder due to his disability. I feel that I can identify with the statement at the end of the article: "When invisible disabilities are addressed, 'there is fear of being stigmatized.'" That's because I have a severe hearing disability, which is in many ways a more serious disability than blindness but is an invisible disability: people can't "see" deafness, thus many often think I'm ignoring them or I'm stupid or don't know their language - none of which is correct.
Notice in the photo how many people in wheelchairs there are compared to the total number of people: it's about 25%, or a 1 out of 4 ratio. As the article states, "between 10% and 15% of the population have a disability" ...and for those of retirement age, about 45% have a disability. Many of them can care for themselves but others can't climb stairs or need to use a wheelchair or walker or need part-time or full-time care from others. This is a major reason why we're "Building the ARC."
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Our third news article PROCESS GAINS MOMENTUM: 20 COMMUNITIES IN VINNYTSIA REGION JOINED OCU indicates the growth rate of the new "Orthodox Church of Ukraine." From this We can conclude that fairly soon the new church's number of parishes and total membership will exceed that of the old Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate, which is now required by a new law to change its name to reflect its outside influence, probably to something like "Russian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Exarchate)" - see our second news headline LAW ON RENAMING CHURCHES BECOMES EFFECTIVE.
Our fourth news article GEORGIAN PATRIARCH HOPES FOR RESTORATION OF BROTHERLY TIES BETWEEN RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, CONSTANTINOPLE PATRIARCHATE indicates that the Orthodox Church of Georgia hasn't been able to decide which side to support in the current dispute between Moscow and Constantinople over Ukraine. I'm sure that the church and the government of Georgia are feeling pressure from various parties. Let's pray for peace, that tensions won't boil over into more armed conflict.
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Works of the Law vs. Good Works
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
"...knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law" (Galatians 2:16). It would seem clear from this verse that St. Paul is writing about "the works of the law" - that is, circumcision, following the dietary laws and observing the religious holidays spelled out in the Law of Moses; especially so when we consider these texts in Galatians:
"...when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles [the uncircumcised], and they to the circumcision" (ch. 2:9), and "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith that works through love" ((ch. 5:6).
And yet, many fundamentalist preachers will insist - "Good works cannot save you!" - by which they actually teach you shouldn't do any good works because that might mean you're trying to save yourself by works, not by faith. They will quote Ephesians 2:8-9 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast." But they conveniently ignore the very next verse - "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them."
Such people (including Martin Luther) have big problems with the writings of St. James, brother of our Lord and first Bishop of Jerusalem - "But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected" (James 2:20-22). Faith that does not produce good works is dead faith, not living and saving faith.
These "anti-works" advocates deliberately ignore St. Paul's writings to Titus - "in all things showing yourself an example of good works" (ch. 2:7a), and "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good works" (ch. 2:13b-14), also "being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.... Let our people also learn to maintain good works to provide what is necessary, that they may not be unfruitful" (ch. 3:7-8, 14).
Martin Luther's strong reaction against the selling of indulgences to buy one's way out of purgatory led him to insist on salvation by faith alone ("sola fide"), not by works. But the only Scripture text mentioning "faith alone" is James 2:24 - "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone." No wonder Luther wanted to exclude the Epistle of James from his Bible! Luther hung his hat on Romans 1:17 - "For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, 'But the just shall live by faith.'" This last phrase is quoted from Habakkuk 2:4 in the Old Testament and is one of the most quoted phrases in the New Testament. Faith is more than merely a mental assent to the facts that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins and rose on the third day: faith is a way of life, it is righteous living!
And in ch. 2:6-7 we read - "[God} 'will repay to everyone according to his works': to those who by patience in doing good seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life." God gives eternal life to those who do good works! How could Luther have missed these verses? Remember that Luther was formerly an Augustinian monk: It was because of the Augustinian misinterpretation of Romans 5:12 - "Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, for in him [Adam] all sinned." (The correct translation is - "...death passed to all men, in that all sinned.") From his misunderstanding of this verse, Augustine deduced that all mankind is guilty of Adam's sin and therefore all mankind is totally depraved and incapable of doing any truly good works, unless and until we are justified by God's grace. But this flies in the face of our experience that even non-Christians are capable of doing good deeds for altruistic reasons, not for hidden, devious or evil motives.
So we see here two problems. First, that people have confused "works of the Law" with "good works" - they have conflated these two different ideas to make them mean the same thing; actually, though, they are quite different and almost opposites. Second, fundamentalist preachers would say that St. Paul didn't really mean that people could inherit eternal life by doing good works because that would be impossible due to all people being guilty of original sin and thus are totally depraved and incapable of doing any good works. In reality, our human nature has been weakened by our ancestors' sin and thus we are prone to sin but still capable of doing good works.
The idea that Jews could be righteous by being circumcised, or tithing of all their possessions including their garden spices like mint and cummin, or not walking over the prescribed number of paces on the Sabbath, etc. is very much like the idea that Christians can be pardoned by saying 100 Hail Marys or 40 Lord have Mercys or fasting from four-legged meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. All these things might be valid spiritual disciplines to train us to be led by the Spirit and not by the flesh, but they shouldn't become laws, which if we break them we will be damned. The real laws are to love God with all our being and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
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. We have laws against murder, theft, rape, slavery and child molestation. Who says you can't legislate morality?
29 Dec. 2019