'Twas the Night Before Elections...
You all know that I normally don't post on politics, but the other day I received this incredibly beautiful (not to mention truthful) group email from a priest that I highly respect. I truly feel we are at a moral crossroad right now and am praying that Americans place values and God at the top of their priorities.
Some people say that religion has no place in politics but I say politics have no place in religion. A person's faith should not be threatened by laws and politics, and like it or not, it is. You can choose to ignore it or pretend like it isn't happening, but the reality is Christianity is being pushed out of society and labeled as "politically incorrect". I hope all of you who call themselves followers of Christ, takes courage and defends Him and His law tomorrow at the polls.
Regardless of who you're voting for, I think as Christians we can all agree that we need to pray for God to make His presence known and acceptable once again in our great country and to help our leaders, whoever they end up being, in obeying the commandments of God and respecting the sanctity of life and marriage.
I wanted to share the email with you tonight before you cast your vote in the morning.
Part 4 - "Who shall find a virtuous woman? For such a one is
more valuable than precious stones" [Proverbs 31:10]
The most effective way for those in power to enslave the citizens of any Nation under their absolute authority is to strive to undermine - even, if possible, replace - the God-given characteristics of women. After God, what is the keystone in the building of any productive society? The Family Unit. And, after God, who is the cohesive presence that is essential for a family to have order and growth? The mother.
My beloved sojourners in this temporal sea of life, St. Peter reminds of some of the innate characteristics of all women. He teaches all women, with timeless instructions, not allow their "adorning" to become centered upon "the outward one of braiding of hair, and the placing around of gold, or putting on of apparel, but the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adorning of a meek and quite spirit, which is of great value before God" [I Peter 3:3-4]. That is why women were first to see our risen Lord Jesus. They did not get sidetracked by fallen human reason and remain behind locked doors, as the Apostles did, "for fear of the Jews." Within the "hidden person" of their hearts, they desired to anoint the Body of their Saviour --- in spite of the fact that a squadron of armed soldiers guarded the tomb, in spite of the fact that there was a huge, sealed stone covering the tomb's opening. And the Lord Jesus anointed them with His risen presence, and the words: "Rejoice ... do not fear!"
Unfortunately, that heart-centered approach to life seems to be lacking in many of the women in our Nation today --- including the teenage girls. They have been influenced by one of the most prominent, inherent components of this ego-worshipping, entitlement -obsessed, politically-correct, secular-humanistic society: the Feminist Movement --- whose leadership look upon motherhood as an obstruction to having a successful career, and whose ungodly "sacrament" is abortion-on-demand.
It is my firm belief that at least 90% of the women, who either partially - or completely - accept that feminist philosophy, can return to being the women that God created them to be --- someone who "puts on strength and honor" [Proverbs 31:25], and is "a wise woman who is blessed" [Proverbs 31:30]. That is because every woman - young and old, educated and uneducated, career oriented and family oriented, physically beautiful and externally less attractive - has two innate and God given characteristics: the strong desire to nurture and protect her young.
Permit me to provide you with two examples: (1) Two years ago, a beautiful 30-year old young mother - married, with one toddler - Jessica Council of South Carolina, chose to deny treatment for her cancer, so that the baby within her would have a chance to live; and a tiny girl was born at 23 weeks --- and survived! This personification of true motherhood died minutes after the baby was delivered by C-section. Think of the deep mother's love that is in the very blood of little Jessi! And this is what her husband, Clint, had to say about his wife's decision:
"God is to be praised, my friends. Do not doubt God; do not be angry with Him for me. I am privileged to have had a wife who was so full of the love of the Father. Rejoice with me, brothers and sisters. God has blessed Jessica in taking her to a place of perfect peace and no pain. I must be thankful for the time I had with her, rather than ungrateful for all the things we never got to do together. We must give thanks in all things, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus."
(2) The second example was provided for me by my little 3-year old granddaughter, Eleousa. "Ellie" is in speech therapy at the present time. During one of the sessions, the counselor brought in several dolls, and also several smaller dolls, and put them in front of her. Ellie proceeded to put a small doll in the arms of each larger one, and then said: "A baby needs to be with her mommy!" When my daughter, Juliana, related this story to me, I instantly wept. My tears were two-fold in nature: On the one hand, they were tears of joy --- as I marveled that the heavenly desire to nurture and protect their young is present even in a toddler! They were also tears of great sadness, however, as I realized that - somewhere in our Nation, every 20 seconds - a woman is choosing to deny what is inherent to her nature, by killing what she has been created by God to nurture and protect!
There is so much more to say, and - if God so wills - it will be my honor to proclaim it at another time. I simply hope that what I have presented in this four-part essay has indicated why this election on November 6th is of paramount importance to our Nation's future. I speak NOT of political parties, but of ideologies. And those currently in power, especially at the National level, are promoting an ideology that is both ungodly and family-destroying. It is my prayer that they are doing this unknowingly --- that the evil one has tricked them into believing that adamantly promoting such things as abortion-on-demand and same sex marriages is beneficial --- that they do not see the inherent evil in their ideology. That is why I pray that God will grant them - and those who support them - copious tears of repentance, so that they can return to Him for forgiveness and healing before they depart this life.
If these poor delusional souls are to have any chance to repent, it is our duty to provide them that opportunity by voting them out of office --- on national, state, and local levels. For as long as they remain in their respective positions of authority, they will continue to support/pass laws that perpetuate this satanic ideology, which seeks to destroy the traditional family by changing its keystone - the mother - into an anti-woman, who defies her very nature by killing that which she was created to nurture and protect: her baby growing within her womb.
My beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, how can an Orthodox Christian, whose Faith - time and again - was freed from oppression by the blood of millions of Martyrs, vote for someone whose words and actions defy religious freedom? My precious sojourners on the sea of life, how can an Orthodox Christian, whose Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ began His miracles at a traditional wedding in Cana, vote for individuals who seek the legalization of same-sex unions, as well as promote the teaching of their unnatural lifestyles in all grades of the public school system? My very dear companions on the narrow path to Paradise, how can an Orthodox Christian, whose Lord - the Logos, Who created the entire Universe out of nothing - took upon Himself our flesh in the womb of the Virgin (thereby sanctifying the entire pre-born state of all children), vote for a politician who believes it is alright to murder the most innocent of God's children --- both inside AND outside the womb of their mothers? As many have already proclaimed, our vote on November 6, 2012 will indeed be recorded in eternity, and we will have to answer for it on that fearful Day.
Finally, in addition to our casting our vote, it is absolutely imperative that we continue to beg our Lord Jesus Christ to intervene in this election. As St. Paul exclaims, "for us, the wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of evil on account of heavenly things' [Ephesians 6:12]. The evil one knows what is at stake in this election, and he will do all that he can to insure that the current unChristian ideology remains in tact on November 7th and beyond.
By the time you receive this, it will be less than 80 hours before the polls open in the Eastern time zone. I entreat all Orthodox Christians ( and any other Christians ) to offer at least 300 Jesus Prayers (Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me) during each of the next three days to our Lord --- entreating Him: to send His Holy Spirit to every person whose heart is open to His Truth, so they will have the courage to vote in harmony with His will; and to send His Holy Angels to every voting place, in order to guard against all attempts of violence, intimidation and fraud. Those of you who can, please say The Jesus Prayer continuously during that time, or as often as possible. We need to saturate the heavens with the Holy Name of Jesus , Who is our ONLY Hope!
In addition, I entreat those of you who are physically healthy, to offer a total fast from all food and drink on Monday, November 5th for as long as you can --- if possible, until the polls close in your time zone; and to be in prayer as much as possible. My Brothers and Sisters, BOTH prayer and fasting are essential in this circumstance!
Finally, I entreat us all to beg our Most Sweet Lord Jesus to grant each of us blessed tears of repentance, so that we too can change from our evil ways . Let us make a firm commitment to Christ that we will - from this very moment - seek forgiveness for our sins against Him and against others, and that we will struggle to change our evil ways, so that we can love Him with all of our hearts --- always seeking to do His will in all things,
In closing, I leave you with the biblical account of Nineveh's salvation from destruction. At present, our Nation's actions against God are far worse than those of Nineveh; for they did not have the blood of 55 million innocent souls on their hands. However the mercy of our Lord Jesus is immeasurable and boundless; so I pray that these words will also be found to apply to us and our Nation. Grant this, O Lord!
"And the men of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on
sackcloths, from the greatest of them to the least of them. And the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from off his throne, and took off his raiment from
him, and put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. And proclamation was made, and it was commanded by the King and his great men, saying, 'Let not men, or cattle, or
oxen, or sheep, taste anything, nor feed, nor drink water.' So men and cattle were clothed
with sackcloths, and cried earnestly to God; and they turned everyone from
their evil way, and from the iniquity that was in their hands, saying, 'Who knows if God will repent, and turn from His fierce anger, and so we shall not perish?'
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways; and God repented of the evil which He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it."
[Jonah 4:5-10]
It is time, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, to "Go and take a stand!"