– Cancel Culture, HOSKEN-NEWS, 3 Jan. 2021

FIRST, THE NEWS:      
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COVID'S TOLL ON THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH
from: Comonweal

Metr. Amfilohije's funeral (18 Dec.) Denial and defiance among the clergy have led to deaths. Depending on how you count, the Orthodox Christian Church has fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen autocephalous (i.e. self-governing) jurisdictions. To date, three of its autocephalous leaders—Irinej of Serbia, Ieronymos of Greece, and Anastasios of Albania—have been hospitalized with COVID-19; Irinej of Serbia died from it on November 20. At least a dozen Orthodox bishops have also died from the virus. Among the lower ranks of clergy, the numbers are even more alarming. In Russia, more than one hundred priests or monks have died.

Perhaps we should use these grim statistics to remind ourselves that the clergy often serve as "first responders" to the sick and suffering. In the age of COVID-19, a routine pastoral visit can carry genuine risk. Digging a little deeper into some of these cases, however, suggests that too many Orthodox clerics, bishops included, have acted as though they think they are immune to the virus. Why? Have they wrongly extrapolated what they believe about the Eucharist to extend to their role as sacramental officiants? Do they naively think that God protects the clergy (or perhaps all "true" believers) from illness?

Let's start with the case of the much-loved and respected Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radović) of Montenegro, who succumbed to COVID-19 on October 30. Prior to Patriarch Irinej's death, Amfilohije was the most prominent Orthodox bishop to die from the pandemic. Amfilohije was also one of a dangerously large number of bishops who flouted social-distancing recommendations. Not only was he regularly seen in public without a mask, but he also suggested that large religious gatherings (such as a religious pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Vasilije Ostroski he attended in May) were "God's vaccine."

Patriarch Irinej presided over Amfilohije's funeral on November 1. Thousands of mourners attended the crowded funeral. None of the clergy and few of the attendees wore masks during the long service. Nineteen days later, the patriarch died. Again, there were thousands of mourners, and again most of them ignored guidelines on masks and social distancing. Then, on December 4, the locum tenens of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the man entrusted to steer the Church through the election of a new patriarch, was himself hospitalized with COVID-19. It would be difficult to overstate the extent to which the virus has crippled the leadership of Serbian Orthodox Church.

The situation in Greece is only marginally better. To date, six of the nation's eighty-two bishops have contracted the disease; one has died. Metropolitan Bishop Ioannis of Lagas, sixty-two, an outspoken critic of government efforts to curtail church services during the pandemic, died on November 15. The Episcopal Synod of the Church of Greece has been more willing than their Serbian counterparts in supporting government imposed, social-distancing restrictions. But there are, of course, those who publicly flout the guidelines. One priest in northern Greece urged parishioners to defy government restrictions, irresponsibly proclaiming "you're either with Christ or the coronavirus." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: Orthodox Christians believe that when the bread and wine for the Eucharist are consecrated, they become the mystical but very real Body and Blood of Christ. Because they are sanctified and holy, they cannot contain or carry any bacteria or viruses. This, however, doesn't apply to the clergy who should wear a mask when serving the Eucharist, or to the spoon that is used to serve the holy elements: some Orthodox Churches now are using two spoons; one that is dipped in a glass of antiseptic alcohol solution and then exchanged with the other one that the clergy has just used to commune a person. Other Churches may use a disposable spoon and discard it after each use.

 

 

BELARUS: REGIME ALLOWS ARCHBISHOP'S CHRISTMAS RETURN
by Olga Glace: Forum 18 News Service

Archbishop-Kondrusiewicz (24 Dec.) On 24 December, the regime allowed Belarus' senior Catholic leader, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, to return to his own country after barring him for 16 weeks. He will lead Christmas Masses in Minsk. The return followed a plea from Pope Francis, delivered to Aleksandr Lukashenko by the former Nuncio on 17 December. Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei – who had been present at the meeting – spoke of "a range of negative elements" connected with the Archbishop.

More than 16 weeks after the regime blocked Belarus' senior Catholic leader, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, from returning from Poland, it once more allowed him to enter his own country today (24 December). The Catholic Church confirmed he had arrived back in Minsk and announced that he would lead two Christmas Eve Masses and two Christmas Day Masses in the capital Minsk.

The regime removed obstacles to Archbishop Kondrusiewicz's return following a letter from Pope Francis, handed over on 17 December in a meeting in Minsk between Aleksandr Lukashenko and the former Nuncio to Belarus, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, who had flown in from London. However, five days later, Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei – who had been present at the meeting – criticised the Archbishop, speaking of "a range of negative elements connected with this person."

The 74-year-old Archbishop Kondrusiewicz heads the Minsk-Mogilev diocese and is also chair of the Conference of Catholic Bishops. Belarusian border guards refused Archbishop Kondrusiewicz re-entry to his own country on 31 August, without giving any explanation. He then spent most of the more than 16 weeks since being denied re-entry based in a parish near Bialystok in eastern Poland, trying to find out why he had been barred from his own country and leading his diocese of Minsk-Mogilev remotely.

It remains unclear whether the regime has confirmed that Archbishop Kondrusiewicz has Belarusian citizenship and whether his passport has been returned. It also remains unclear if he remains on the joint entry ban list operated by Belarus and Russia. Political tensions have been high since the falsified August 2020 presidential elections. The regime identified the Catholic Church as playing a leading opposition role, without specifying why it thought so. The General Prosecutor's Office gave official warnings to an Orthodox priest and a Catholic bishop, while several Orthodox and Catholic priests have been among those fined or jailed. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: Background to this story: The archbishop, a citizen of Belarus, had traveled to Poland for a short visit, but received word that he was not allowed to return to Belarus. This amounts to being exiled and/or being stripped of his citizenship, which the Belarus constitution does not permit. Bialystok, the Polish town on the border with Belarus, is a place I've visited in "the bad old days" of the 1970s.

 

 

SEPARATIST AND SUPPORTER OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS THE ORGANIZER OF RALLIES IN KYIV AGAINST PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine

separatist leading rally against Patr. Bartholomew (30 Dec.) Recently, a rally was held in the capital of Ukraine against the visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Users of social networks noticed an interesting person among those who stood with posters. One of the photos shows the face of a pro-Russian figure in Ukraine, Valentyn Lukiyanik. This is reported by Channel 5 with a message to Dukhovny Front Ukrayiny ("Spiritual Front of Ukraine").

As you know, Valentyn Lukiyanik was the head of pro-Russian organizations under the guise of Orthodoxy. Thus, he presided over the "Kyivan Orthodox Brotherhood of St Michael the Archangel" under the omophorion of the UOC-MP, and was also co-chairman of the "Union of Orthodox Fraternities of Ukraine and Russia". Lukiyanik also held rallies against the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew in 2008. After the Synod of the UOC-MP revoked the blessing of his organization, in 2011 the Synod banned Valentyn Lukiyanik from receiving communion.

Also, Valentyn Lukiyanik was one of the organizers of the pro-Russian rallies on November 6, 2015, and March 17, 2016, in Kyiv and one of the organizers of the so-called "anti-Maidan" and "processions" with imperial red and yellow flags and icons of the late Tsar Nicholas II.

In 2016, Lukiyanik, together with the organization "Union of Orthodox Fraternities" headed by him, called for joining the "Immortal Regiment". Immortal Regiment is a Russian propaganda public organization, registered in 2011 in Tomsk (Russia) by three journalists. In 2017, in Simferopol, Donetsk and Moscow, during the rally, participants displayed images of Russian soldiers killed in the Donbas next to portraits of dead Soviet soldiers.

Lukiyanik also was noticed in purely political actions as a member of the "Spiritual and Patriotic Union "Novorossiya", the "Left Opposition". He actively opposed the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church, European integration, NATO, the arrival of Patriarch Bartholomew and the Pope. He called for the revival of the "Second Russia" on the territory of Ukraine.

It is worth noting that it was under the name "Novorossiya," with the support of Russian troops in Ukraine in 2014, that the Union of terrorist groups of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) was formed, which operate in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: It is apparent that Valentyn Lukiyanik is acting as a Russian agent, supporting the rebel forces in eastern Ukraine and opposing the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The question remains: why does the Ukrainian government not arrest this person and try him for treason?

 

 

HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS ALTERED THE LIVES OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
from: Disability Scoop

boy with disability (16 Dec.) Over the summer, Sherri Brady sent out messages to fellow parents of children with disabilities asking for help getting the word out about a virtual picnic she was organizing. The answers she received back made it clear the families needed more than an online get-together.

Pandemic life had become overwhelming stressful, they told Brady, the Southern California representative for the Rett Syndrome Foundation. The parents were having a hard time keeping it together — supervising their kids' online school and therapies, dealing with meltdowns, struggling with financial problems from lost employment, worrying about their medically fragile kids falling ill, and mourning the loss of social activities and the outlet they provided.

"By the time I got to the third (parent), we were all in tears," said Brady, whose daughter, Lauren, 23, has Rett Syndrome, which affects brain development. "The floodgates just opened. My heart broke for them. I felt awful because there really wasn't anything I could do." The pandemic has been especially hard on families caring for children with disabilities. Since March many have had to contend with the loss of in-person support from teachers, aides, therapists, family members and home health workers. Some have gone months with no services at all.

Now, after 10 months of staying home, some of these families have settled into the new reality and are receiving better support. Some have found creative ways to adapt, parents and advocates said. But others, like the parents Brady talked to in July, are still struggling to get their children the help they need.

"We've been busier than ever," said Crystal Smith, program manager at the McClaney Family Resource Center in South Central Los Angeles, which provides guidance and support to families of children with disabilities. "Parents and caregivers are beyond stretched. There needs to be some sort of a reprieve." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: This is a good example of how we as Christians could care for "the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind" as Jesus Christ did and as He taught His disciples to do. We have the free tools such as Skype, Google Meet, and Zoom - not perfect and not as good as in-person meetings - to visit with those in our churches and in the community who need help. DO IT!

 

 

OUTSPOKEN MOSCOW THEOLOGIAN DEFROCKED BY ORTHODOX CHURCH
from: The Moscow Times

Andrei Kuraev (31 Dec.) The Russian Orthodox Church has defrocked one of the country’s most prominent theologians after he was found to have slandered a fellow priest who died from COVID-19. Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, a well-known radio and television personality whose views on homosexuality, blasphemy and Russia’s Orthodox hierarchy have made him one of the country’s best-known religious figures, had described Alexander Ageykin, the head of a Moscow cathedral who died of the coronavirus in April, as a "dumb careerist" on his LiveJournal blog.

The Moscow Episcopal Court on Tuesday found that Kuraev had not "changed his ways" since receiving a warning in 2015 and concluded that his public statements accusing the Church hierarchy of "organizing a schism" were blasphemous. The decision to defrock Kuraev — who described the move to The Insider news website as his "canonical murder" and "a New Year’s present for Patriarch Kirill" — must be approved by the Patriarch, the highest authority in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Kuraev has long been a polarizing figure in Russian Christianity. In 2013 the outspoken theologian alleged the existence of a "gay lobby" at the heart of the Orthodox Church, after which he was dismissed from his teaching position at the Moscow Theological Academy. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: See our news headline below MOSCOW'S MOVES AGAINST ORTHODOX CHURCH DISSIDENTS SEEN BACKFIRING – OPED which explains how this action and the suspension of a popular abbot of an Orthodox monastery might have the opposite of the intended effect, only making these men more popular among the general public.33

 

 

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH POSTPONES CHRISTMAS READINGS TO EASTER DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC
from: Interfax-Religion

Interfax Religion (30 Dec.) The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church moved the traditional Christmas readings from January 2021 to May in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

"The participants in the meeting decided to postpone the events of the 29th International Christmas Educational Readings for the period from May 16 to 19, 2021, renaming the forum as the 29th International Educational Readings," the final document of the Synod, which had an online meeting, said.

Thus, the annual Christmas Readings this time will take place during the Easter period. "It is extremely difficult to hold the plenary session and most of the sectional events of the Christmas Readings in January 2021 in person if the current level of complexity of the epidemic situation remains," the Synod said on December 8.

The topic of the upcoming Christmas Readings is articulated as "Alexander Nevsky: the West and the East, historical memory of the people," since the 800th anniversary of the birth of the holy noble prince will be celebrated in 2021. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: We don't know the exact date of Christ's actual birth, so why not celebrate it in May? But why associate it with a national hero? That seems rather nationalistic.

 

 

OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:

 

COVID-19: 25,526 PEOPLE IN BULGARIA FINED FOR NOT WEARING PROTECTIVE MASKS
from Sophia Globe

TURKEY WILL CONVERT AN ARMENIAN CHURCH INTO A CULTURAL CENTER
from Christian Persecution

UNITED THROUGH SPORTS 2020 WORLD VIRTUAL YOUTH FESTIVAL: INT'L. PARALYMPIC CTTEE.
from Disabled World

SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH HEAD HOSPITALIZED FOR COVID-19 ONE MONTH AFTER PREDECESSOR DIED
from Radio Free Europe

METROPOLITAN ANTHONY (PAKANYCH) FEARS THAT THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH WILL DESTROY THE UOC-MP
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine

CHINESE BELIEVERS ARE STANDING FIRM EVEN IN LIGHT OF PERSECUTION
from Mission Network News

FORMER SCHEMA-HEGUMEN SERGY SUSPECTED OF PERSUADING 10 NUNS TO COMMIT SUICIDE
from Interfax-Religion

METROPOLITAN HILARION CELEBRATES DIVINE LITURGY ON THE RELICS OF ST. NICHOLAS THE WONDERWORKER IN BARI, ITALY
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate

JOHN OF KRONSTADT: SAINT OF COMMUNION, SAINT OF CONFESSION
from Orthodox Christianity

MOSCOW'S MOVES AGAINST ORTHODOX CHURCH DISSIDENTS SEEN BACKFIRING – OPED
from Eurasia Review

HUNGARY AMENDS CONSTITUTION WITH TRADITIONAL DEFINITION OF FAMILY
from Christianity Today33

 

NOW, OUR VIEWS:

 

 

CDC stats 1

Disability Impacts All of Us: CDC

(Maybe you've read this before and you're wondering, "Why am I seeing this again?" But millions of other Christians haven't seen it! So please help us by clicking on the title above, then use the "share" buttons to share it with your social media friends. Thanks!!)

61 Million adults in the United States live with a disability -- that's 26%, or over 1 in every 4 people. (Click on the photo from the Center for Disease Control to see all six parts of this infographic. You can also download it as a PDF.) The second part of the infographic shows us the percentages of adults with functional disability types: 13.7% - mobility, 10.8% - cognition, 6.8% - independent living, 5.9% - hearing, 4.6% - vision, and 3.7% - self-care. These often overlap, but mobility issues make up over half of all disabilities.

Why don't we know about disabilities? It's because we literally don't see most of them: people with mobility or self-care, cognition, and independent living problems can't get out easily to public places like shopping, church, restaurants, etc.: we don't see them because they're not there, so - "Out of sight, out of mind" - we assume they don't exist! Also, we likely have an unconscious bias against disability: it reminds us of our own mortality, so we would rather not think about it.

Then there are the "invisible disabilities": you see the person but you don't see their disability, such as heart, back, or knee problems that limit a person's ability, for example, to carry over 15 pounds or walk more than 50 or 100 feet or a block or two so you think they're lazy; or hearing loss that may make you think the person is ignoring you or is sort of stupid or doesn't understand English. (I have a bad back and shouldn't carry heavy stuff; I also have severe hearing loss - even with hearing aids I often can't understand speech, especially in a noisy environment. . . although I like to meet people, have a doctorate degree, and know several languages.)

This is an urgent issue for Christians to address: we are ignoring 26% of the people in the world! And these are the very people to whom Jesus Christ directed most of His ministry - "the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind." The Gospel teaches us "love your neighbor as yourself," but if we don't see them, we don't have to love them, right?

Wrong! The Russian verb "to hate" literally means "to not look at" or "to not see" -- if we look the other way in the presence of a disabled person or ignore a beggar or a person who can't hear very well and it's hard to hold a conversation, we do not love them -- we "do not look at" them -- we passively hate them. It's not easy to overcome these prejudices that we've built up over a lifetime but we must try. We must change. Change is hard, but change we must.

Yours sincerely,

"Dr. Bob"

Robert D. Hosken, M.Min., D.Min.

 

 

The Fix Is In

registered vs. reported votersCheck out the numbers in https://rickmercier.com/2020/02/20/registered-voters-in-america/. On 6 January 2021, electors from the 50 states of the U.S. are to be recognized by the U.S. Congress. The Republican-controlled legislatures of six "swing states" have chosen and sent alternate electors to Washington D.C. because they claim that the numbers simply don't add up: there were far more votes tallied than the number of registered voters in the U.S. and there were statistically impossible surges of votes, after the polls were legally required to be closed at 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 3, about 98% for the Democrat presidential candidate in the early morning hours of 4 Nov. 2020 and beyond when poll watchers had been ushered out.

In the end, there were approximately 153,000,000 votes tallied. Voter turnout is usually about 50% of registered voters. Is it reasonable that with even a high voter turnout of 60% (which would require 255,000,000 registered voters, or about 122,000,000 more than those registered in February 2020), tens of millions of votes overwhelmingly for the left would turn up in the six swing states after the polls closed? Check the numbers for yourself: do the math. The numbers simply don't add up. The recent election does not appear to have been free and fair, it appears to have been heavily manipulated toward the left.

I've lived in the USSR during its final months and then in Russia for a total of 17 years and have witnessed how the vote counts were often manipulated to produce an overwhelming victory for the "pre-ordained" candidate. I have personal knowledge that the communist cadre were being trained on how to manipulate the vote count there. I write this not because I'm rabidly pro-Trump, it's because I'm pro-fairness and pro-life. If you've known me for the last few years, you know that I actively opposed Trump in 2016 because of his personal morals.

But the behavior and policies of his opponents in the recent election are even more immoral, and both politically and economically disastrous. In spite of Trump's often rude and eccentric behavior, his policies in these years have proven to be more pro-life than any previous U.S. president in the last century, the all-intrusive state was cut back, and the economy flourished. Just as the Lord God used the pagan Emperor Cyrus of Persia to return the exiled Jews to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls, God has used Trump. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theories about the pandemic, but it and the accompanying panic and shutdowns have been disastrous for the American people and the economy. IMHO (in my humble opinion), things could get quite messy in the U.S. around 6 January when Congress decides whether to accept the electoral college votes, so PRAY FOR AMERICA!

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WHY are we NOT doing ministry? HOW can we start doing it again? Go to: Christ Sending Out the Twelve to see WHY & HOW: we've been conditioned over the centuries to think - "It's too hard, too expensive, and anyway, the government should do it." Then ENROLL in our *free* course "A Biblical Theology of Ministry" that starts on Monday, 4 Jan. 2021! (We will accept late enrollments for a few more days.)

Our next free online (click →) Course 300 - "A Biblical Theology of Ministry" - deadline to enroll: 3 Jan. 2021 (← click) starts Monday, 4 Jan.! So enroll today, before you forget!

 

Our news headline above JOHN OF KRONSTADT: SAINT OF COMMUNION, SAINT OF CONFESSION commemorates his repose in the Lord on 2 January 1909 (Gregorian calendar), which is 20 December 1908 according to the old Julian calendar that was being used at that time in Russia. St. John of Kronstadt is known to have performed many miracles during his lifetime, and even after his death miracles happened near his tomb or when people asked him to intercede for them. In January 2007, we had decided to become Orthodox, and while we were still catechumens learning about the Orthodox faith, I had chosen him to be my patron saint.

In August 2008, we visited the monastery in Kronstadt (a suburb of St. Petersburg) where he lies in repose. As I was kneeling at his grave to venerate him, a voice came into my head -"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be chrismated on the centennial of his repose?" But I immediately thought - "That would be too much to ask of our priest!" - so I put the idea out of my mind. But in autumn our priest decided that we were ready to be chrismated, and asked me what date we would like. So my wife and I were chrismated into the Orthodox Church on 20 December 2008, the centennial of his repose.

 

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Cancel Culture

Cancel CultureIn this article on "Cancel Culture," we read - "Politics, religion, equality, race, sexual orientation and even sports, all of the topics you might avoid on a first date or at a family reunion" have the potential to damage or destroy relationships, effectively erasing the "offending" party from our lives.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

As the above article explains, many publicly-owned large corporations have bowed to the leftist "cancel culture" pressure, adopting LGBTQ, gender-neutral, and anti-racist policies for their corporate culture and public policies, caving in to the intimidation, bullying, and outright terrorism of the mobs. If this sounds rather "Orwellian" it's because it is: read Orwell’s 1984 and Today: "The Ministry of Truth" was the state's propaganda arm that continually drummed "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength" into the minds of the proles. But a few brave holdouts in our society have resisted and have made this pressure backfire: one company that produces Latino foods was somehow labeled "racist" - they resisted this pressure and saw their sales shoot up by 1000%! So there are still sizeable numbers of Americans who can see right through this "cancel culture" nonsense.

This "cancel culture" ideology was foretold centuries ago in the Scriptures: "Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" (Luke 12:51-53, which Jesus quoted from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah 13:2-6). It causes parents, children, and other relatives to erase the "offending" party from their lives.

The Good News provokes anger and resentment in those who have been immersed in our post-Christian, neo-pagan culture because it implies that their lifestyle of "Pleasure, Power, and Pride" - the three temptations of Christ, or as the Apostle Paul phrased it - "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" - is ultimately futile and meaningless. Christ came to this earth to die: that was His goal in life. We must realize that our ultimate goal in life is also to die: we brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out when we leave this world. We must die with Christ in baptism in order to put on Christ, to be transformed into His divine, eternal nature: see Theosis Is The True Purpose Of Human Life.

On the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter concluded his sermon to Jews and proselytes from all over the known world with the words - "'Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.' With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this perverted generation!'" (Acts 2:38-40). Homosexual behavior and other forms of perversion had seeped into the culture of the Jewish dispersion because they were living in pagan cultures.

How should we as Christians respond to "cancel culture"? Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount - "Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:9-12). "Blessed" means joyful, not fearful or hateful. And several verses later, He said - You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (vv. 43-45).

 

A while later, He said - "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you. Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles" (Matthew 10:16-18). And at the end of His earthly ministry, in Matthew ch. 24, His disciples asked Him - "Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (v. 3). He replied - "For nation [ethnos] will rise against nation, and kingdom [ruling party] against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginning of birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for My name's sake. Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another" (vv. 7-10). Ethnic and political conflict, hatred and betrayal: sounds familiar, doesn't it?

I'd like to call your attention to v. 12 - "Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold." The word "iniquity" is is "bezzakonie" in Russian - lawlessness, or "Ungerechtigkeit" in German - unrighteousness. The idea here is engaging in wrong or illicit behavior and rationalizing it as justified under the circumstances (situational ethics), or "payback" - retribution for past wrongs (reparations), or doing wrong things for the right reasons. The result: many people's love of family and neighbor will be canceled, normal societal relations will suffer breakdowns, leading to anarchy and revolution.

The Lord's and His Apostles' minds were immersed in the Scriptures: "You shall rise up before the gray head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God. I am the Lord. If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity" (Leviticus 19:32-35). This includes respecting the elderly, treating immigrants fairly (but they were required to forsake paganism and abide by the Law of Moses), and practicing justice - using honest weights and measures which includes not "shaving the shekel" - depreciating the value of money by inflating the amount of currency.

The prophet Zechariah wrote - "Thus has the Lord of Hosts spoken, saying, 'Execute true justice and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. Do not oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.' But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which the Lord of Hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of Hosts. It has come to pass that, as I called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,' said the Lord of Hosts" (ch. 7:9-13). There comes a time when mankind's iniquity will overflow and the Lord must step in and put an end to it.

Later, while the Apostle Paul was awaiting execution in a Roman prison, he wrote - "Do all things without murmurings and disputes, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world" (Philipians 2:14-15).

The Apostle Peter summed up how to respond to evil "cancel culture" and lawlessness - "Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing; knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. For, 'He who would love life, And see good days, Let him keep his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears open to their prayer; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil' [quoting Psalm 33:13-14]. Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. 'Do not fear what they fear, neither be troubled' [quoting Isaiah 8:12]. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:8-15).

We must fight the temptation to pay back evil with evil, to compromise our Christian morality because "everyone's doing it" - both of these attitudes are living according to the flesh. Instead, we should live according to the Spirit of Christ Who lives in us, gently and respectfully giving an answer for our hope. May we choose to do the latter!

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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Prayer and Praise:   For a daily reminder to pray for the items below, go to My Daily Prayer Guide and click on the "H-N pr." link!

Sun. - Pray for an end soon to the current COVID-19 pandemic that has been killing high-ranking clergy at an alarming rate worldwide.
Mon. - Thank the Lord that Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Belarus' senior Catholic leader, has been allowed to return to Belarus.
Tue. - Ask God to cause Ukrainian authorites to take action against Valentyn Lukiyanik, a pro-Russian agitator and disloyal citizen.
Wed. - Intercede for and visit children with disabilities and others who are homebound with serious illnesses during the current pandemic.
Thu. - Pray for Russian Orthodox ex-deacon Andrei Kuraev and for the resolution of the unrest in the Russian Church concerning him.
Fri. - Ask the Lord that believers will understand the circumstances and not become upset about moving Christmas celebrations to May.
Sat. - Pray that Christians will learn to respond to "Cancel Culture" blacklisting and persecution with love and boldness in our witness.

 

Who Are We?   Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for...

  Your fellow-servants,

  Bob & Cheryl

  p.s. The majority of the mob outvotes the prudence of the wise.