Frank Gaffney proving he is still a Neo-Con Trotskyite Globalist.

Frank Gaffney proving that despite his rhetoric about Islam, he is STILL a Neo-Con, willing to lie like a dog about Modern Russia equating it with the Old Soviet Union. Any Russian will tell you this is lunacy. Who does Gaffney have on to prove his point but Professor J. Michael Waller who is CIA Psyops. Waller boldly pronounces that "the Gulag is back in Russia" a DAMNABLE LIE. Yes, according to the dear professor Putin is the real threat to the world - the subtext is Putin is the real threat to Globalist Domination. Trump is being so successful with his International Speeches and ACTIONS, they have to give lip service to Trump's Riyadh and Warsaw speeches, and even admit that Trump destroyed the effectiveness of the G20 psyop, where Trump was to be painted as a danger to the Free World, but by his Warsaw Speech and support of "Western Civilization" Trump upstaged them making the G20 anti-climactic. It is as Rex Christi pointed out on last evening's LibertysThunder Broadcast, these squishy Neo-Con Globalists are way more dangerous than the LEFT. Why? Because they claim to agree with America First Sovereignty when in fact they do all they can to destroy it. Gaffney proves he is a Neo-Con Trotskyite Globalist and NOT a conservative as most of you believe he is, by giving this Deep State CIA Slug a platform.


Waller further presses the Russian Hacking myth, and claims that Putin thus isolated himself forcing the only possible reaction to be "get tough on Russia." He knows full well that the Russian Hacking is a myth created by HIS Deep State Cronies in the CIA.

Listen to this CIA wonk accuse Russia of EVERYTHING that is common practice with the Deep State/CIA. He actually says that Putin exposes his opponents to "mental treatment" so they can be deemed mentally ill. Sound familiar. How many times has the Deep State FRAUD Media called Trump a Malignant Narcissist? Nearly all the major FRAUD Media outlets have run stories declaring Trump mentally ill. What a hoot!
https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/?powerpress_pinw=206748-podcast

Two paragraphs to say Waller is a Psyops Agent.
Prof. J. Michael Waller

Managing Director of Oceanic Advisors
Professor J. Michael Waller is a scholar-practitioner in strategic communication, public diplomacy, information operations, psychological operations, and director of the only accredited graduate study program devoted to public diplomacy and political warfare.

Biography
Professor J. Michael Waller has been a scholar-practitioner in public diplomacy, political warfare, psychological operations and information operations in support of US foreign and military policy for more than 25 years. He was a member of the staff of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, served on the White House Task Force on Central America, was an operative for members of the White House Active Measures Working Group, and has been a consultant to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the US Information Agency, the US Agency for International Development, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the US Army, and the US Special Operations Command. In 2006 he received a citation from the Director of the FBI for “exceptional service in the public interest.” He has designed and conducted specialized training courses for the US military and civilian agencies.
Prof. Waller can think like an insurgent, having received military training as an insurgent with the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Resistance in the 1980s. He successfully trained scores of U.S.-backed insurgent commanders (Nicaraguan) in political warfare and psychological operations and aided their demobilization and transition into a democratic society. He worked with Afghan resistance fighters against Soviet Army. He also successfully trained U.S.-backed foreign military counterinsurgency forces to defeat guerrillas and terrorists through non-kinetic means; and designed and implemented ideological warfare operations to infiltrate and disrupt adversary political front organizations and hostile foreign security and intelligence services.
Currently he is the director of the only graduate studies program in the United States on the integration of public diplomacy and political warfare as low-cost/high-impact solutions to leverage, avoid or prevent lethal kinetic force. He is also the Founder and President of Strategic Information Services, LLC, an education, training, publishing and information strategy company.

Professor Waller is a Senior Analyst in Wikistrat’s Analytic Community

Academic Qualifications:
PhD, International Security Affairs, Boston University
MA, International Relations and Communication, Boston University
BA, International Affairs, George Washington University
Areas of Expertise:
Propaganda
Political warfare
Psychological warfare
Public diplomacy
Information operations
Strategic communication
Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/scott-massey/12/355/130
Contact:
To contact Prof. Waller, click here.

FAKE NEWS HAS LOST, Left Mumbling Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia

FOX, NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, now like fish out of water, flopping on the bank, flailing, injuring itself as it screams, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia.

The Deep State Press is LOSING. It has been a hell of a battle since Benghazi when they lost control of the dialectic, or at least the common dialectic began to be questioned by the masses. They have battled with every weaponized LIE they could invent, create, manufacture, feign to exist, and THEY ARE LOSING.

Despite the FAKE RUSSIA narrative being TOTALLY exposed as FRAUD NEWS, they keep hammering it, because it is all they have. Everywhere we look, WE THE PEOPLE are winning and they dare not, cannot, must not report that.
*GONE is the TPP,
*GONE is the slavery to Agenda 21 and Agenda 30
*GONE is the Paris Marxist Control Climate Agreement,
*Diminished is the Power of the Globalist/Marxist European Union.
*Empowered is Central Europe's Three Seas Initiative.
*ISIS is being EXTERMINATED
*Illegal Immigration is cut by two-thirds, and Trump is continuing to press the issue.
*NAFTA renegotiations scheduled and a good outcome or NAFTA is history - either way, it is
*the END of the Marxist/Globalist North American Union
*Slugs, Sadists, Drug Abusers, and other sickos at Veterans Hospitals and in the Veterans Administration can now be FIRED and are being fired and replaced with competent caring people.
*American is now energy INDEPENDENT, a goal 70 years stated, with no intention of happening, until TRUMP.
*The Chains of Cultural Marxist Speech Slavery (You know as Political Correctness) have been SMASHED, CHATTERED not just broken.
*The Possibility of America surviving AS A NATION and not as a state in a Globalist One World Government is close to 100 percent now, and two years ago the chances were nearly 0 percent. THIS IS HUGE!
*The Muzzle of the Johnson Amendment has been removed from America's Clergy, together with the CONSTANT I.R.S. Harassment.
*Gas Prices are at a 16 year LOW.
*Construction is cranking up.
*We have a real chance of truly rebuilding out crumbling infrastructure.
*Our country is no longer BOWING to ISLAM!
*WE have thrown off the Dhimmi status the Obama Muslims laid upon us.
*We are Rallying with the Christians of the World to fight Islamic Terror and to save Western Civilization - Trump stated it CLEARLY in his Warsaw Speech.
*We have Averted World War Three, and a year ago we knew it would take a miracle to do that. THAT MIRACLE has happened in the FORCE of Donald Trump and the America FIRST Truth and Liberty Movement.


What is the Globalist Deep State Psyops Media left with? Nothing, except Russia on an endless loop, because they don't want you to know how GREAT is our present WIN, and the WINNING that is to come.

Trump: The Human Trojan Horse in a Post-Human System

Vladimir Putin spoke of T.V. Trump vs the real person, President Trump, he said, “As I see it, Television Trump is very different from the real person,” Putin said at a press conference at the end of the G20 meetings, continuing, “He is absolutely concrete, absolutely adequately perceives the interlocutor, quite quickly analyzes, answers questions or draws from the discussions some new elements."

I submit to you that T.V. Playboy Trump, the image cultivated for three decades was a Human Trojan Horse inside a Post-Human, Luciferian, Cultural Marxist System, where all success was governed by your ability to bow to "the agenda."

I wrote almost six years ago:

"What is more pernicious is that in every area of business, education, and culture, those who conform are rewarded, those who resist are ignored. If resisters gain any popularity while being ignored then they are actively suppressed, and still, if this does not work they are attacked, exposed to character assassination (private sins exposed) and/or a false narrative is constructed to supplant the truth."

In the last two years, we have seen the Luciferian psyops machine go through these stages with Trump, firstly attacking everything about him, every word he uttered, dredging up the sins and failing of his life, and when that didn't work they started writing "false

"We have seen this suppression happen on the political level with Ross Perot, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and a host of others. We have seen the promotion of those following the agenda in the promotion of George Bush as "Patriot" as he was taking the final steps to dismantle the Republic and in the two Obama Campaigns, devoid of substance and history of even the candidate himself. And also in the last Republican Primary and election where all words were removed from meaning, all facts of history ignored as meaningless.

"So at this point anyone with a 'national platform' especially some of the people who pretend to tell this story are, most likely, provocateurs, and disinformation agents, herders as it were, dividing the herd and moving their opinions and actions as needed. Four of the five people I have just named are not truthful voices, rather professional deception agents.

"One sees this disinformation campaign in the mass confusion of conspiracy theories in pop-culture. The competing stories are mere disinformation, offered so that when the truth is told and even well documented, it will be immediately rejected as 'conspiracy theory.' For those who have retained sanity, there is a PUBLIC RECORD that still may be viewed and understood. But the reading of the record requires sanity, because the history and political science publishing industry are, for the most part, part of the agenda machine. If you think this isn't real, that in the last 40 years education has not turned militant, anti-American, post-human secularist and anti-liberty and that it cannot be documented in public record, think again. Ms Charlotte Iserbyt documented it, but it requires READING and CONFIRMING by research, and this self-satisfied and lazy population, for the most part, is not up to the task."

I was up to the task, I am blessed to have a number of friends who were up to the task, but what is most important to realize is that the T.V. Personality, the "You're Fired Guy" the superficial beauty pageant fellow, while playing these roles to the "T" was up to the task, and rather acted as a Trojan Horse, infiltrating the carefully protected "public arena" readying to take DOWN the Luciferian, Cultural Marxists who were in complete control. All that time Trump was "reading the PUBLIC RECORD" and learning. The horse is unmasked now, and today, even the psyops press is having to report what they do not want to report, with phrases like, "Trump leaves the G20 as an 'International Disrupter.'" No joke. The Globalist world was shaken to the core when Trump stated, "We will no longer bow to the false song of Globalism" and when, on his first day in office he KILLED 50 years of the Trilateral Commission's Globalist work by backing out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. That was just the first day; week after week has produced more assaults on the Luciferian Globalist System, (not to mention the arrests of nearly 40 thousand pedophiles world wide, more than 20 thousand of those in the U.S., and including the Pope's right hand man) and the Globalists seem limited to "character attacks" and "False Narrative" after "False Narrative."

A friend reminded me besides the over the top personal attacks, (which included the size of his penis, his orange and funny hair, etc., etc.) the first Fake Narrative was that his candidacy was a publicity stunt; the second was he was friends with and was a puppet of Hillary Clinton, his candidacy was to insure HER win; the third was he was friends with and was the puppet of Vladimir Putin, that he was being blackmailed by Putin because of some Russian Dossier, which proved to be and was exposed as TOTAL FABRICATION; the forth was he was mentally unstable and so on and so on, on an endless loop. All the while Trump the Human Trojan Horse inside a Post-Human Luciferian System, is not just disrupting, but vaporizing their greatest enslaving tools, the TPP, the Paris Climate Accords, the North American Union, Open Borders, Politically Correct Speech Slavery, the Great Edifice of Classical American Journalism exposed for the Deep State controlled FAKE, FRAUDULENT system of brainwashing it is . . . the list of masks having been removed from the INHUMAN SYSTEM are encyclopedic. The last was the G20 left shell shocked.   

Encroaching Apostasy Veiled in the Language of Modern Psycho-Babel.

OR, Sister Vassa's Take on Christianity and Homosexuality, OR, Coffee and Poison with Sister Vassa, OR, When the Ancient Faith is just recycled Pop-Culture.  


I watched several of this woman's videos some years back. May have posted a couple on this FB Page, but "discernment" got the best of me and I backed off and stopped listening to her teaching. What "offended me"? better stated "what cautioned me" was the way she tried to make the religious life, her life "cutesy." Do you know the word; almost as if she was subliminally mocking the seriousness of the choice to be a Nun, "Oh gosh, I'm just regular folks" all too sweet and that deadly word, "NICE" and constant references to pop culture. I never uttered a word of my opinion but backed away, saying to myself, "not my battle."


Father John Whiteford is one of my favorite people on earth. We have only met in person once that I recall, but it was a memorable meeting that left me with an impression of a firebrand for truth, who was far too wise for his years. I remember thinking, "I wish I had his wisdom and heart at his age." I'm too wild and disreputable to assume that he would ever call me friend, but I've counted him not just a friend, but a solid voice of Truth in Jesus Christ, ever ready to correct himself when any error is discovered. He would poo-poo the kind things I'm saying about him, but that would not make them any less true. We exchanged ideas via the internet, at times on opposite sides of some "issues" (Canonical-Jurisdictional - the true anatomy of the visible church etc) for close to two decades. But at the core, what the Church is and how it rightly functions, what the Christian life is, how it is expressed, I never noticed any daylight between our "opinions."

I want to thank Fr John for this thoughtful response to the errors of this "teaching" Nun. He might find it strange for me to say, but I always was and have remained very proud of him, though in absolute fact he owes nothing to me, and I have over the years learned much from him. If any of you have watched my intellectual-spiritual jousting with Rex Christi over the last five years on FB, you may have some inkling of my relationship to Fr John. Rex is just as much a stranger to me as Fr John, yet no stranger at all.

Again, Fr John, Thank you very much for this exercise in Truth and Love.

Fr. John Whiteford's News, Comments, & Reflections

Friday, July 07, 2017

Sister Vassa on Homosexuality

Sister Vassa Larin recently sparked a controversy by posting her advice to a mother who has a 14 year old son who "came out" as a homosexual. She has been a popular figure in the English speaking Orthodox world, and is a highly regarded liturgical scholar. She is a very bright and articulate person, and has often been invited to speak at Church conferences around the world --  and in fact was the featured speaker at a youth event in my own diocese, and my parish spent the money to send some of our children to that event, one of my own daughters included. So it is with genuine sorrow and great disappointment that I must take issue with her publicly, because she has publicly endorsed views that are in serious error, at a time when pro-homosexual propaganda is inundating our children from virtually every direction in society. Our children should be able to count on those within the Church to encourage them in the Faith once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3)... and to not be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2).

In the course of the discussions that followed the original post, I came across a sincere Orthodox Christian who has struggled with homosexuality, recognizes that homosexual sex is incompatible with the Christian life, and is striving to live a life in accordance with the Gospel -- and he interpreted much of the criticism of Sister Vassa's post as a failure to appreciate the difficulty of his struggle -- though he recognized that her post was problematic. Let me just say up front to him, and to anyone else who is sincerely struggling against this sin that the problem is not with them and their struggle, nor would I minimize their struggle. I would, however, suggest that while heterosexuals have different struggles, it is not as if we cannot relate and appreciate their plight. We all have crosses to bear. My wife's godmother grew up in the Soviet Union, faced near starvation, was separated from her husband who had been drafted into the Soviet Army, and had to flee for safety when the Nazis invaded with three small children, ending up in a displaced persons camp at the end of the war. She then had to come to a foreign land, and start from scratch. She never saw her husband again, and never knew whether he was alive or dead. On top of all of that, her son was killed during the Vietnam war. Despite all of these hardships, she lived a pious celibate life and was an inspiration to all who knew her. Being a Christian is usually difficult, and it is difficult for different people in different ways, but that it is difficult is something we all share.. and if we don't, it's because we aren't trying very hard. So God bless you in your struggles, and know that we all love and support you.

Now, to the specifics of Sister Vassa's post:

Sister Vassa began by trying to inoculate the rest of her answer with a disclaimer:

"Dear N., Thanks for writing. I can't reply to your question officially, but will reply to it personally. Because my personal opinion is not in line with some official pronouncements of my Church. So please just accept it as my personal opinion, no more and no less than that."

I'm not sure how she could give an "official" response, but presumably she means that this answer is sort of off the record... except that she posted it on Facebook for all the world to see, and it has since gone viral, and has been shared on pro-homosexual "Orthodox" groups. She has taken it down, but the horses are already out of the barn, at this point. She has not (at least as of yet) posted a retraction.

She acknowledges up front that she is disagreeing with the Church, but confines that disagreement to "some official pronouncements". The problem is these pronouncements include the Scriptures and canons of the Church which are clear and unambiguous on this subject.

Following some other introductory comments, she then, after giving quick lip-service to the idea that an active homosexual lifestyle was sinful, proceeded to undermine that belief by minimizing the seriousness of the sin:

"But here’s the thing about homosexuality. And please read this to the end, if you could. I must say, and cannot say otherwise, that actively living it out is a sin. It’s a no-no. But so are many other things, which we tolerate in ourselves as “only human.” Like, our consistent disregard for God’s word, which is worse than the sins of “Sodom and Gomorrah,“ as our Lord points out in Matthew 10: 14: “…And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable (ἀνεκτότερον) on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” (Mt 10: 14-15) [Emphasis added]"

It is simply twisting this text of the Gospel to attempt to equate someone who maybe doesn't read their Bible as often as they should with rejecting the Gospel, which is what Christ is talking about in that passage. I don't take the sin of ignoring Scripture reading lightly, mind you. I generally ask three questions when hearing someone's confession (aside from questions raised by the specifics of their confession), unless they bring these subjects up first:

1). How's your prayer life?
2). Are you reading the Scriptures regularly?
3). Do you forgive those who have offended you?

But not reading the Scriptures regularly is not the same as rejecting the Gospel. Both are sins, but there are degrees of sin. There is, for example, a big difference between having an unkind thought and engaging in mass murder. It would be insane to say that there was no difference between those two sins. Unkind thoughts can lead to the act of murder, and so should not be ignored, but they are not the same. And the canons of the Church show this clearly. There is no canon that suggests a lengthy penance for having an unkind thought. The penances for murder, however, are lengthy -- some suggest excommunication until the person is on their deathbed, other, more lenient canons call for 20 years.

There is no canon that calls for a period of excommunication for failure to read the Scriptures. The stricter canons against homosexual sex call for a 15 year penance, while St. John the Faster allowed for it to be lessened to 3 years, if the person was truly penitent and took their penance seriously. Both sins are sins; however, the sin of sodomy is far more serious. The sin of rejecting the Gospel is even more serious, because there can be no possibility of restoration for someone who has chosen to cut themselves off entirely from the source of healing, but that does not make the sin of sodomy a light matter.

Not a single Church Father could be cited to support the idea that Christ's point in this passage was to suggest that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah weren't so bad after all. His point was to cite one of the most wicked examples found in all of Scripture, and to say that rejecting the Gospel is even worse than that.

Then Sister Vassa minimizes the sin even further by suggesting that the sin is really beyond the level of choice (which if true, would mean that it was not really a sin at all, in any usual sense of the term):

And here’s the other thing about homosexuality. We do know today, according to reliable scientific studies, that this sexual orientation is formed in most (not all) cases, by the early age of 3-4. Importantly, it is before the “age of reason,” which is traditionally considered the age of 7, so it is not a “choice.” You mention that you knew this about your son well before he came out to you now, at the age of 14. I have heard this from several mothers of homosexual children, including one wife of an Orthodox priest, that they “knew” it from their child’s early childhood.

There is actually little in the way of hard evidence that homosexuality is somehow innate (see for example: "Born gay or transgender: Little evidence to support innate trait"). Furthermore, while there are "scientific studies" that argue for homosexuality being rooted in genetics or other innate factors, they come in a highly politicized context, in which the pressure to produce certain results in this area is very great (just consider the firestorm a University of Texas Study received which shows that children of gay couples have more problems on average than those raised by both a mother and a father). And if you don't think political pressure can influence academic research, I suggest you read up on how Nazi politics influenced some of the most respected academic institutions in the world, and resulted in the kind of pseudo-scholarship produced by the Ahnenerbe to promote Hitler's theories of racial superiority. Academicians are human, and they are often motivated by a desire to be noticed and recognized, to make a good living at their work, and to be advanced. Unfortunately, the desire to find and present the truth for its own sake is all too often subordinated to those more selfish motivations. And so a healthy amount of skepticism is also in order here on issues that are currently driven by political agendas.

We do not accept the idea that we are slaves to our genetics, or to the environmental factors of our upbringing, and so effectively have no free will or ability to make moral choices. Such a view is contrary to the Orthodox understanding of what it means to be a human being. We reject determinism, in all of its forms. However, even if, for the sake of argument, we granted that there was some genetic predisposition to homosexuality, this would still not justify the conclusions that Sister Vassa suggests. There actually is a proven genetic predisposition for alcoholism, but this does not make being a drunk acceptable, nor does it remove choice from the equation. If you get pulled over from driving drunk, saying "I was born this way" is not likely to get you off the hook. It is certainly a lot harder for some people to not abuse alcohol than others, but we know that they have a choice, and in fact all of our laws assume that people who are not legally insane or mentally incompetent are responsible before the law for the choices that they make, no matter how disadvantaged they may or may not be.

The Church does teach that we are all born with an inclination to sin. And yet we are taught that we are to overcome that inclination, by God's grace.

What do you mean "we", Paleface!?

"Hence we come to the question of “culpability” for this state of affairs, in one’s gift-and-cross of (homo)sexuality. We can and do separate the question of “culpability” for the sin, and the sin itself, - so let me point out that God must also. In most cases, homosexuality is not one’s own choice. So, “crossing the line” in this area, and not committing to total celibacy, as one “must” do according to traditional, scriptural law, is “more tolerable” in God’s eyes (as Christ says in the above-quoted passage), than our other kinds of trespasses. Among our “other” trespasses let me mention heterosexual adultery, masturbation, premarital sex, and just “looking lustfully at a woman” (Mt 5: 28), - all “sins,” although we tend to “live and let live” with them, as they are only human. But we have a double standard when it comes to homosexual “sins,” for the plain reason, I think, that most of us feel free-and-clean of this particular thing."

I do not wish to be included in the "we" that Sister Vassa invokes here, and I suspect few Orthodox clergy would either. If someone confesses that they have engaged in heterosexual adultery or premarital sex, and they are not talking about a sin in the distant past, or before baptism, I treat them as very serious sins, that would call for some kind of a penance. The penance would would depend on a lot of other factors, but there would certainly be one.

The Lone Ranger, Tonto, and the presumptuous "we".

And again we have the problem of equating things that are not comparable. Generally speaking, sins that involve other people are more serious than sins that a person commits alone. Also, sins against nature are more serious than sins that are not against nature. And so if you take the sin of masturbation -- this is a sin one commits alone, and so, while still a sin that cannot be excused or ignored, it is not as serious as having sex with another person that you are not married to. Looking on another person to lust is, as Christ said in the Gospels, committing adultery in the heart. However, neither Christ Himself, nor the Church since, ever suggested that there is no difference between committing adultery in the heart, and committing adultery in deed.

Imagine for example two scenarios. In one case, you have a man who looks on his neighbor's wife with lust, and then later repents and goes to confession. At the same vigil service there is another man who actually had an affair with his neighbor's wife, which resulted in two broken homes, great harm to their children, and countless extended relationships being broken. Would it make any sense for the priest to treat these two cases as if there were no difference between them? Of course not. This does not mean it is OK for a man to look on women to lust, or that such a sin should be ignored -- adultery in deed always begins with adultery in the heart. But it is obviously better for a man to be struggling against the sin of adultery in the heart before it gets to adultery in deed, then it is for him to say "what difference does it make?" and fall into the act of adultery with another person.

If we take the teachings of Scripture seriously here, we also have to acknowledge that homosexuality is a sin against nature (παρὰ φύσιν), and so for that reason is worse in some respects than sins that are in many other respects, similar, but which are not contrary to nature (for example, heterosexual sex outside of marriage). First off, this is clearly what St. Paul says about it in Romans 1:26-27, and St. John Chrysostom, in his homily on this passage, elaborates on it further (see his 4th Homily on Romans). Now, in our time, when we say that homosexuality is against nature, those who argue that it is an innate and immutable characteristic for some people, object and say that it must be natural, since it happens naturally. One need only study human anatomy to see that the anus was not designed with the penis in mind. Furthermore, one need only study the serious health and psychological problems, the propensity for drug and alcohol abuse, and  the domestic violence that all go along with living an active homosexual lifestyle, to see that this is in fact contrary to the natural order (see: "Immoralism, Homosexual Unhealth, and Scripture," by Robert Gagnon). Cancer occurs in nature too, but cancer is not something that makes for healthy human living.

Heterosexual sex outside of marriage is still a sin, and as such, will (if not repented of) exclude one from the Kingdom of God too, but life can come from such immoral relationships. Also, such a couple can repent, get married, and their relationship can develop into something that God can restore and even bless. A homosexual relationship can only damage both parties, and cannot be restored into something good (at least not as a homosexual relationship), because it is against God's created order.

When we say that sins against nature are, as a rule, worse than sins that are not against nature, this does not mean that those who commit these sins are to be despised more, it means they are to be more pitied, because the consequences of such sins are greater because of this fact. It is not loving to enable or encourage an alcoholic to kill himself with alcohol, and it is not loving to enable or encourage a person struggling with homosexuality to live a lifestyle that is destructive in so many respects -- and most importantly, a lifestyle that St. Paul assures us will prevent them from inheriting the kingdom of God, unless they sincerely repent and turn away from that sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) nevetherless requires that we actually speak the truth.

Pastoral Discretion and Non-negotiable Principles of the Faith

Sister Vassa gets into the practical implications of what she is saying:

So what am I saying practically, about what you should do when your son “wants to date”? I think you won’t be able to change the fact that he will “date,” unless he wants to commit himself to celibacy. But I am going to go ahead and presume he doesn’t want to, and isn’t going to, do that, since he’s “come out” to you, and I don’t think you can change that in him, at age 14. So I would say, let him “date” in the daylight, with your knowledge, so he’s not chased into some kind of underground, of illicit hook-ups in certain kinds of pubs or bars. You aren’t “encouraging” him by saying, bring the guy here. Just like other parents, of heterosexual children, say, bring that girl (even the one of whom we disapprove) home, so we can meet her, aren’t saying, go ahead and do whatever you want. But what you are doing is bringing your child’s relationship into the daylight of your home, where your love, values, and mutual commitment, as family, can lend stability and light to your child’s behaviour in his/her relationships. You know, the whole gay-culture of previous decades led many homosexuals (as I know from a dear Roman-Catholic gay friend aged 60 at this point) to get into irresponsible sexual encounters, inspired by the whole aura of illicitness, in hook-ups in public bathrooms and that sort of thing.

If a mother with a 14 year old boy had written, asking for advice, and her son had informed her that he was a heterosexual, and was intent on having sex with his girlfriend, the proper response for a Christian parent would not be to provide them with a room and a condom. A responsible Christian parent teaches their children that they are not to have sex outside of marriage, and particularly when they are 14, they would generally tell them that they are too young to be dating anyway.

One can debate how best to handle a penitent sinner. The canons often lay out very strict penances, however, in our time we drastically reduce the severity of the penances, and  under some circumstances, we might not impose a penance at all... all depending on the circumstances, and the individual. You could argue that one priest or bishop is too lenient on such things, or that others are too strict. All good shepherds of Christ's flock are motivated by a common desire to see their people grow closer to Christ and to be saved. Practical applications of Church discipline are questions of wisdom, and spiritual insight. What is not open to debate, however, are matters of principle. A person who is engaged in a sin (any sin) and who refuses to repent of that sin cannot be given absolution by the Church, because sincere repentance is a necessary ingredient for absolution to be given. I have had people, who, when I ask if they have forgiven those who have offended them, will respond "No." I then explain why we need to forgive, and what that means and does not mean. However, if all of my efforts to get them to choose to forgive those who have offended fail, I cannot give them absolution. It is just not possible, and that is not a question that reasonable priests might disagree on. The same thing is also true of a heterosexual who is actively engaging in fornication with his girlfriend, and it is true of a person who is engaging in homosexual sex.

Options

As far as your other practical question goes, of finding a faith-community for your son, I think he has two choices: 1. He can “suck it up” in your present community, like the woman wearing a scarlet letter. It’s not the worst thing in the world, because I can tell you from personal experience that it is liberating in many ways, to be the odd man out and OK with that, even if (and this might shock you) you are denied Holy Communion. (I am not homosexual, but I have been “the odd man out” in other ways). Your son’s humble presence in your parish could benefit both him and others, in unexpected ways. Just like the story of Mary of Egypt has been beneficial to all of us, even though she had no Holy Communion for over 40 years. 

St. Mary of Egypt did not have Communion for 40 years because she was living a life of repentance, which is not quite the same thing as being excommunicated because you are living an active homosexual lifestyle without any intention of repenting of that.

An Orthodox Christian Biblical Scholar commented on Sister Vassa's post, and asked why it would be better for a 14 year old to abstain from communion and to continue having homosexual sex, rather than for him to abstain from having sex and continuing to receive communion. Sister Vassa responded, "Have you ever met a 14 year old boy?" The woman she was responding to is a mother and a grandmother, and she pointed out that she was once 14 years old too. When did it become acceptable to assume that a 14 year old boy cannot control himself, and must have sex (either heterosexual or homosexual)?

Also, even heterosexual couples can be separated for lengthy periods of time. A husband might go to war, and be gone for many years. Should we just accept that he cannot control himself, and will have sex with whoever happens to be available? The Christian answer to that question would be "no."

The other choice is 2. Find a parish that is acceptive of your son’s particular gift-and-cross. There are parishes like that, here and there, but I don’t know where you live and whether you have one nearby. (Archpriest Symeon Note: This is the so-called "Welcoming movement" local congregations, starting in mainline Protestant Churches, willing to play a GAME, welcoming practicing homosexual into parishes reserved for them, where the sin of homosexuality is NEVER mentioned, or if mentioned is minimized as this Nun is suggesting.  Historically, this was the outgrowth of the "Community Church" movement that was a charismatic homosexual movement of the 1960s.  It conquered the Mainline Protestant Churches in a few decades, from Anglican/Episcopal to Southern Baptist, and is now a real challenge in the Roman Catholic Church and is beginning in the Orthodox Church.  Vatican II and the so-called Pan Orthodox Council of 2016 were designed to give this homosexual faux church movement "cover."  This is Cultural Marxism at work, and WORKING. )

Encouraging someone to go to a parish that will ignore their sin, and commune them anyway is a shocking piece of advice from an Orthodox nun. There is absolutely no justification for taking such a position. You could not find a single example in the lives of the saints of such a thing, nor could you find anything in Scripture or the writings of the Holy Fathers that would support it.

St. Paul in fact warns against this very thing:

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth..." (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

And in case anyone thinks St. Paul does not consider homosexuality to be contrary to sound doctrine, they need only look at his First Epistle to St. Timothy to see that the opposite is true:

"knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites [i.e. homosexuals, Greek "αρσενοκοιταις"], for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust" (1 Timothy 1:9-11).

Then Sister Vassa concludes:

Frankly I find the first option the better one, as shocking and insensitive as that may sound. But here’s what I would NOT suggest: to leave the Church. Our church is our family, and as a family, we are called to learn from one another, to love one another, and, as a result, to suffer to a certain degree, from one another, that we may grow. I don’t know if that makes sense to you, but I don’t believe in jumping ship when it comes to church-belonging. I think we don’t grow that way, I mean by jumping ship, but rather stunt or (best-case scenario) delay our growth. Please forgive me if this wasn’t helpful, but it’s all I’ve got. Love to you and your family from all of us in Vienna, SV

It is good that she encourages the mother to try to keep her son in Church, and even if a person is struggling without much success against their sins, the Church is the best place for them to be, because it is the place where they should be best able encounter God's grace, truth, and love. However, going to a parish that actively suppresses the truth, is another story entirely (Romans 1:18-32). Going to Church can help if the person hears the truth there, and God opens their heart to receive it. That is why we have to ensure that it is actualy the Truth that they hear in Church, and not the lies of this world.

For more information:

The Bible the Church and Homosexuality: Obscurantegesis vs the Truth

Stump the Priest: Shrimp and Homosexuality

Robert Gagnon: The Bible and Homosexual Practice (7 Video Lectures)

Same-Sex Marriage: Separation of Church-State Issue, or a Moral Problem We Must Oppose? (a Live discussion on Ancient Faith Radio)

Statement on the Comments of Fr. Robert Arida on Homosexuality, by the Orthodox Clergy Association of Houston and Southeast Texas

Sexuality and Gender: Finding from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences

Robert Gagnon had an informative debate with a Lesbian Anglican on Homosexuality which you can watch below (if you only listen to 15 minutes, go to the 49:00 mark):



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Hat tip to the Russian Orthodox Bishops in America responding to this Orthodox nun's erroneous teaching so quickly and in such a clear fashion.

Circular Communique from the Chancery of the Synod of Bishops




| NEW YORK: July 19, 2017
Circular Communique from the Chancery of the Synod of BishopsThe Holy Synod, having received the recent text of a publicly-posted e-mail exchange, dated 2nd July 2017, between the Nun Vassa (Larin) and a correspondent, entitled “EMAIL OF THE WEEK: (from a mother, on MY SON IS HOMOSEXUAL),” together with follow-up correspondence, also posted publicly on 8th July 2017, is compelled to confirm to its flock and to all Orthodox Christians that the counsel contained therein is in contradiction to the Church’s teaching on sexuality, repentance and family life. It does not represent an Orthodox understanding of anthropology or theology, and in the counsel it purports to offer presents a grave spiritual danger to those who might follow it, in terms of their own understanding of sexuality, as well as in the rearing of children.While it is not the norm to reply from the Office of the Holy Synod to materials posted on the internet, in this instance the wide readership of the various resources published by this author, who is an Orthodox monastic, has the potential to lead readers astray and we therefore feel compelled to issue a brief word to the faithful. It should be clear to men and women of faith that mere verbal acknowledgement, with regards to homosexuality, that “actively living it out is a sin,” is not sufficient to establish a text’s keeping with Orthodox teaching in the light of the Gospel, when the same text nevertheless equates homosexuality in numerous places to a “God-given gift, and cross,” or “one’s gift-and-cross of (homo)sexuality” — suggesting, in utter departure from all Christian teaching, that this or any means of behaviour which God identifies as sinful may be His deliberate bestowal upon some (thereby falling into the social trap of suggesting that “God made me that way”); further, that such an entrance into sin is “not a ‘choice’”; and moreover, rather than encouraging that a parent of a child identifying as homosexual should help him, with the Church’s loving care, to repent and seek healing unto redemption of soul and body and the fulness of life, instead suggest either that the child be encouraged to remain in his sin as a “humble presence in [his] parish,” falsely equating a consequent withdrawal of approach to the Holy Mysteries to the example St. Mary of Egypt, whose long struggle without Holy Communion was not due to her steadfastness in sin but to the extreme conviction of her utter repentance; or yet worse, that the parents of a child should seek out a parish that deliberately and knowingly “is acceptive of your son’s particular gift-and-cross,” once more ascribing homosexuality as a bestowal of God, encouraging at the same time the departure from ascetic transformation and the seeking out of a community that might wilfully abandon the Gospel teaching towards repentance, knowingly permitting the faithful to languish in their sin rather than be healed.In these spiritually confused times, when many are being led astray by social norms that employ the pretensions of compassion to abandon the creation order and the teachings of Christ, which are the only true source of authentic compassion and genuine spiritual healing, there can be no room for ambiguity or false witness on such critical matters. Only the Gospel, which Christ proclaims in His Church, provides true spiritual medicine; all deviations from its life-creating message only contribute to the wounds and illness of an already-beleaguered society.We instruct therefore that the contents of these publicly-posted materials be disregarded by the faithful as contrary to the teachings of the Gospel and pastorally harmful; that they be withdrawn and removed from any web sites or publications that seek authentically to represent Orthodox theological and pastoral teaching; and that in the future such materials be treated with most extreme reticence and caution. |

Second Warning: Pay Attention to Kamala Harris

This is my second warning - pay attention. Kamala Harris, the Junior Senator is the next "totally Deep State Invented Puppet" which they always introduce as "The Rising Star." That is how they introduced Rubio, Obama, and a few others. They first used the term for her about three months ago. (that I noticed) Today, the NYTimes called this radical rabid leftist Slug, "the latest iteration of a bipartisan archetype: The Great Freshman HOPE." 

If that doesn't throw a caution down your spine, maybe you have forgotten the last empty suit they offered us, who was "the Great Freshman HOPE and Rising Star."


Wow! If you are wondering who they will run against Trump in 2020, look no further. It would take an act of God for her NOT to be on the ticket as the "new face" of the Democrat Party. (She could implode - but I doubt it.)

This is how the Deep State foists their unknown puppets upon the political stage, and this woman is SERIOUSLY evil. I watched her grill Jeff Sessions and every question was couched in a lie, and every lie was as arrogant as her representation of it, and it was DEMONIC at its core. 

Sessions humiliated her; that is what happened in REALITY, but in the FRAUD media, it was reported that she had "shaken" and "rattled" Sessions. What happened is that he recognized the lying spirit and responded accordingly. HE shut her down. However, if you had not actually witnessed the exchange, you would never know, and even though you don't trust the media, you KEEP accepting their narrative, you believe that around their lies, they manage to report some "straight news" like that Kamala Harris "rattled" Jeff Sessions.

When are you going to come to realize that the FRAUD MEDIA is a tool of THE LIAR, Lucifer, Himself. I wish this were hyperbole, but it is not; they function as a powerful tool of THE Liar, himself.

It is far past the time we realize the great evil we face; this is not a parlor game, but LIFE or DEATH for hundreds of millions and DEATH walks with this woman.

You need to note her name and her image, pay close attention to her, rebuke the spirit she represents, the spirit that controls her because she is an immerging dangerous enemy.

Returning Humanity to Americans - It is a Trump Trick.

Five years ago in the darkest days of American History, I wrote this article that is prophetic. I taught the lesson of "hopeful skepticism" in fact, Holy Spirit powered hope and skepticism, as opposed to the false choice of the true believer or the total cynic, that is, being a dupe and useful idiot of the Deep State, vs being a bitter cynic, rejecting all that is false without hope.  In 2012, when the political election was totally false, people were insulted when you asked them to step out of the fantasy, to throw off the psychological conditioning and recognize the truth. The only choice they perceived as real to them was to (1) accept the fantasy that the election was real, falsely believe that Romney wasn't Obama light, wasn't just a different form of the same Globalist Puppet or (2) Abandon all hope, sink into bitter cynicism and defeat.

There was a third choice and many of us took it, and that was "hopeful skepticism"; writing the politics off for the fictitious theater it was, and pressing ahead to discover the TRUTH about everything, including how the FAKE SYSTEM worked.  We understood the processes of Congress were FAKE, the News Media was FAKE, even the office of the President was FAKE since it was occupied by Globalist Puppets.  We stood solidly in this fact, that only TRUTH has the power to create LIBERTY. That is the message of "hopeful skepticism."  NEVER be a "true believer" in ANYTHING but Truth who is a person, God in Christ, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.

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June 29, 2012


Well on the morning of June 29th, 2012 I awakened to discover that my Government recognizes me as a post-human beast only, whose body and physical health is at the mercy of the State, in the persons of the keepers of all human "livestock" Obama's Medical Czars. I'm post-human because these people do not recognize my humanity, cannot recognize any higher aspect of me than the fact - according to their religion of Scientism (extreme materialism) - that I am one of the higher primates, a member of the Great Ape family of the "species" called homo-sapien:

the species of bipedal primates to which modern humans belong, characterized by a brain capacity averaging1400 cc (85 cubic in.) and by dependence upon language and the creation and utilization of complex tools.

Isn't the family cute!

I'm post-American, also, as Obama has repeatedly stated, and since Justice Roberts falling in lock step, defecated on the Constitution, and destroyed any meaning that piece of parchment ever had; this following 50 years of assaults upon the same by the utopian planners who have to destroy it to succeed with their Luciferian goals. Their goal is to mark humanity with "The Mark of The Beast" and control humanity like livestock in a pen. Anyone who buys into the "biology only" paradigm of Extreme Materialism of the Evolutionists has accepted "The Mark of the Beast." Those agreeing to become or be "beast only" will be approved of and promoted by the establishment. You know the scientistic truths, for instance, that a homosexual is born predisposed to his proclivity, and there is nothing to be done since as a beast he is material only and a slave to his genes.   

But I have news for them. I will never accept The Mark of the Beast.  Just as no one could destroy my Christianity by destroying every Bible on the planet and every Christian word ever written by any Christian writer, and just as no hedonistic destruction of morality and mocking of things sacred by pagans, muslims and atheists can destroy my Christianity, so the destruction of the Constitution and the mocking of its principles cannot destroy my LIBERTY.

My Christianity doesn't come from books, it comes to me "fleshly heart to fleshly heart" from the witness of precious Christians I have known all my life who have lovingly shared the stories of their journeys and their experience of Almighty God, where a spark of that Divinity that rested in their hearts, like a contagion took abode in my heart and burned me, and challenged the stone that was my heart and turned it day by day from stone to flesh, flowing with the blood of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Only then was I capable of finding the True Light in the Sacred Writings, till then the words were dust and death. It was that spark of uncreated energy Christ shared with me that progressively illumined everything. Where lie became as apparent as a dark shadow in the room and the demonic world was pushed back, where in time Truth was grasped and spoken. 

One such heart of flesh, so sweetly filled with both frightening strength and gentle humility was Corrie Ten Boom whose stories told to me when I was a boy, almost in a whisper sometimes with eyes welled with tears as she observed my bitter heart. She would say in her deep Dutch accent, "The shell is hard and brittle, but you are not fooling me. That shell hides a heart wounded and in need of healing. But don't worry one day that shell will turn as soft and strong as subtle leather, and your heart will constantly bleed." She was right. Faith comes by hearing - sharing - experience, and I too became a witness, speaking most effectively in almost a whisper, sharing the spark in my heart that had turned to fire. This is the Liberty that is Inalienable - no book or parchment can create it or contain it, neither Constitution nor Bible.

Just as my Christianity does not come from a document, neither does my Liberty come from a government; it is NOT the result of ink on parchment.  My Christianity exists in my being, and so does my liberty, and no assault can change that. My Christianity is a blessed and undeserved gift of a benevolent God, who in the Person of Jesus Christ suffered and conquered death by death so that I might share in his glorified nature and have LIFE, and that same God has endowed me with inalienable rights, the rights proper to the dignity of the human and these rights include the right to say - Nice try, utopian seeking, pagan New World Order Post-Humans - but no Cigar, I'm the same person I was yesterday, before you conquered the Constitution, just a little wiser, and tomorrow I'll be the same person by God's mercy and grace just a little wiser still, and I am your worst nightmare, a HUMAN alive, angry, joyful and un-hypnotized. 

Chances are if you are reading this, you probably are not hypnotized either, or you would not give my thoughts the time of day. They would be just foolishness to you, some ignorant throwback to the pre-scientistic era.  OR you may be partly hypnotized, but awakening. Saints of God we have to awaken. We cannot live in the spiritual darkness of this culture and create anything but suffering, death, and hell for our children and grandchildren. If we do not awaken, we cannot awaken them and tens of millions of them are hypnotized and victims of the deadly conditioning of the culture. 

They are not bad people, but they are neo-pagans and don't even realize it, having accepted the odd combination of "spirituality" that is the new paganism - the material-gnosticism that is the religion of the Beast. If you know theology and evolution you have to know what an unlikely combination those two words are, "material-gnosticism" but that is the truth of it. The spirituality is physical and is composed of mythology that is material-rationalism and emotionalism. What is positive and good in this sick system has no moral context. It simply means what feels good and seems on the surface ego satisfying. These poor young people have become such "sheep" of the Luciferian fold that Lucifer is using them as living Ikons of the gnostic and pagan theology he is teaching them. They turn themselves over to be canvases of Satan's theology, and the further into the darkness they sink, the uglier the symbols become. 


Many find themselves "shell shocked" viewing where this evil day has taken them, swept into it, unawares and they are unprepared. You have to be the sons and daughters of the Light, the sons, and daughters of the Day. If you are here reading this you can't remain sons and daughters of the darkness. "For those who sleep, sleep in the darkness and those who get drunk are drunk at night."  For the healing of ourselves, our families and communities, we have to awaken and sober-up. We have to take to our hearts the vitality, the LIFE, the protection of Faith and LOVE - the God who IS LOVE, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we have to "in hope" begin the process of healing our minds, ridding ourselves of every lying illusion and delusion of this pagan culture of death. We have to TURN THE T.V. off! We have to stop allowing the corporate manipulators and controllers to hypnotize us as we stare blankly at the screen - allowing our emotions to dance and be conditioned by lies and death.  

A precious friend who was a wonderful Christian Science "practitioner" (yes I know Christian Science is gnosticism - but that doesn't mean that everything said by a Christian Scientist is a lie)  - that precious lady said to me, "There is nothing more evil than calling what is evil, good. Discovering what is evil and death engendering and what is good and life engendering is the highest wisdom." And she is absolutely right. We cannot be set free by the illusion contained in demonic-lying uplifting sounding words, and "inspiration" that reaches merely to our emotional response and not to the bottom of our heart with the power to CHANGE us for the Good. Such uplifting speech merely adds layer upon layer of delusion upon our hearts and minds. Nothing but Truth may set us free and start the process of our healing; healing where our mind becomes continually conscious of God, and our hearts turn from stone to flesh. This is the hope - - the ἐλπίς
elpis = el-pece' = From ἔλπω elpō which is a primary word "to anticipate, usually with pleasure; to hold expectation, abstract or concrete and confidence" - -  this is the hope of salvation, which Saint Paul called, a helmet of protection. Why a "helmet" because it is this hope that is the protection of the MIND.

We have witnessed in this last political year thousands of people whose core psyche is anger, disappointment, frustration and some expressing defeat and hopelessness. Their infant egos are insulted because things haven't automatically gone like they thought it should. They have been tricked and they are pissed. Most conservatives, and Libertarian, Ron Paul supporters have to fit this category. They can grump and grouse but are clueless what has to come next to restore to Americans, their HUMANITY.

IF we are to be Truly Human and a source of LIGHT, to share the FIRE that should inhabit our heart, that FIRE of LOVE, LIGHT, HOPE, and TRUTH, we cannot fall victim to "anger only."  We are not called to anger. Certainly, there are times when if we are not angry we are not right. Anger is not a sin. But when anger hangs on and torments us, well that is a sinful nature expressing itself. We are not purposely sinning, we rather have become the victim of sin. Saint Paul said it rather graphically, "God did not appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of healing through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us."  Did not appoint us to wrath - - we think that means simply anger, when we read it in English. But the word in the original Greek is Orgay - you don't have to be very creative to imagine the etymology of the word, "orgy" do you, and that is exactly the meaning of this word, "violent passions." We are not appointed to "violent passions."

One of the Holy Father/Saints - I can't recall which and it doesn't matter, said, "The proof of an insane man is one who is still flailing his fists in the air, boxing at shadows long after the conflict is over." By the way, this is where the term "shadow boxing" comes from. Anyway, he is depicting a man full of wrath - full of orgay - full of violent passions. Violent passions cannot change a single mind, in fact, cannot do anything but spread the disease.

I'm the least religious person you will ever meet. I HATE the persona and pretension of "holiness" and "piety" and "humility."  Wait now, I didn't say that I hate holiness, or piety, or humility, I said I hate the persona and pretension of the same. When it is real it is buried in the perfectly appropriate and full range of human emotions, ever ready for expression "INSTANT in season and out of season" as Saint Paul taught. From the conflict to being finished with it, is one-tenth second in length. The anger of the conflict cannot hang on and have sway with our day like an orgay, that is coloring our day with violent passions.  Appropriate Anger and Violent Passions expressed in the political arena are not synonymous. Appropriate Anger is expressed against the lie and the Father of Lies, and any means to expose him is appropriate, and healing. It lances the wound in the victim who holds the lie festering like an infection and MAY provide a healing therapy. That is what the holy scripture means when it says that "the word of God is living and effectual, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

When you speak truth it punctures the festering passions of those caught in lies and you have to be careful because, if they are not ready for it, they will simply hate you. And I say don't be too careful, we cannot let the threat of violent hatred hamper us. Properly used only Truth may lance the festering passions and start the healing process.  This holds nothing in common with the battle of "ego vs ego" "pride vs pride" "orgay vs orgay." NOTHING good can be gained of such exercise.  Now at times, it may appear "passionate" when two people are speaking "contaminated" or Truth that is not "sharp." When that communication is in love and it is iron sharpening iron. 

Do you think Jesus came to make the pagan cultures peaceful - to create a utopia upon the earth by masking over the horrors of human neglect and abuse? No, he said, "Do not suppose that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." He wasn't speaking of a weapon of iron or steel. He was speaking of the "sword of the Spirit of Truth" that has to be used judiciously, that is capable of creating "wounds that are therapeutic." 

In this mix of all the "battling" for what is true and right, there is food and drink for the sacred warriors. It is a food and drink that is inexhaustible, capable of sustaining an army of the righteous for decades and centuries if need be. That food is HIS real presence - and if you know about it already you understand what I'm saying is true - and if you don't believe in HIS real presence, there is nothing I can do to change your mind except to invite you and say, "Come, Taste and See how sweet is the real presence of the Lord." And accompany that presence is prayer, not often, but constant, where every motion is taken as unto the Lord. So that even a sinner like me may say, "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, Have Mercy on me, a sinner." My friend Fr Paul always reminds me, "With St Paul's challenge to pray unceasingly, the Orthodox tradition offers the Jesus Prayer, which is sometimes called the prayer of the heart. It is first and foremost a prayer of the Spirit because the prayer addresses Jesus as Lord, Christ, and Son of God; and St. Paul tells us, 'no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit."  Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on us. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me. 




Archpriest Symeon Elias - Here I Stand.




Sacred spaces are very, very important. Your prayer corner ought to be at least a big as your bar. <smile>