BIBLE.....

After I checked into my motel room in Pennsylvania this past weekend, I opened the drawer of the bedside stand in hopes of finding some coupons for local eateries. I didn't find any coupons, but was saddened to observe that the Yellow Pages were laid atop the Gideon's Bible. There was plenty of space for both to lie side by side in the drawer, but someone had-- without thinking, or perhaps deliberately to make a statement-- hidden the Bible under the phone book. 

As an Orthodox priest that grieved me, as we treat the Scriptures with great reverence. Then the Lord opened to me how we are living in the post-Christian era of history. The Gospel has already been preached throughout the world and the Church has already been established; the nations have already submitted to Christ, and Satan has already been bound a thousand years by the enactment of righteous laws by pious kings and right-believing queens which kept the spread of wickedness in check. But that is all history now, for that which hindered the spirit of antichrist has been taken away, and Satan has been loosed to deceive the nations once again. Therefore the last vestiges of Christendom are being dismantled and trampled in the dust before our eyes. The bright day of the reign of Christ is now past. The clouds of antichrist's deception are quickly obscuring the last glimmerings of Light.  Darkness descends, as the storm clouds gather and the lightnings of God's judgments flash on the horizon and the thunderings of his wrath are heard in the distance. Now we wait expectantly, silently, in awe, holding fast to our holy Orthodox faith delivered unto us by our fathers and sealed with the blood of martyrs and saints, having our lamps trimmed and our vessels full of oil, watching, waiting listening for the Bridegroom to descend from heaven with a shout accompanied by the hosts of his angels and saints.

In our post-Christian world, there is a definite prejudice in the minds of the masses against Christianity.  That is amplified here in the West due to the prevalence of a distorted Gospel which many well-meaning but deceived preachers have beat people over the head with or shoved down their throats. Now that the law has become slack and wickedness abounds, they are using their new-found "freedom" to strike back. The very mention of Christ or Biblical moral values puts them in a rage. God could just suddenly return and put an end to this wicked world as he did in the days of Noah. But, like as in those days, his longsuffering  and mercy desires that none perish. There are many people who have open hearts, and others whose hearts the Lord might touch, even though their minds have been prejudiced against "Christianity". And so, even though the end of the Christian age has come, the Lord "reaps where he hath not sown and gathers where he hath not strawed". The Lord will not be outdone by the devil. He has ways to reach to the hearts even of those whose minds have been darkened.

Therefore we who remain in these latter times must become "living epistles, known and read of all men" so that the world might see our good works and glorify our heavenly Father. And so, without preaching to their deaf ears, we might without a word win them over as they observe our chaste lives.

We must become "God-bearers", full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, diffusing the sweet savour of Christ everywhere we go. In order to do so we must "lay aside all earthly care" and purify our hearts and minds, keeping ourselves unspotted by the world and all that is unseemly (e.g., TV, movies, "music" so-called, newspapers, books, magazines, etc.,  which defile our minds),  and by practicing unceasing prayer and meditation on the Scriptures and reading edifying books and only listening to music that ministers to the spirit and does not glorify the flesh and arouse its passions.

So we will shine as lights in this re-darkened world. By spending time with Christ, we will absorb and reflect his light into the hearts of men.  And being God-bearers like Mary, we will awaken the witness of God in the hearts of God's elect, even as John leaped in his mother's womb at but the sound of Mary's voice. And so having their hearts awakened, they will be moved to ask us the reason for our hope. Then with the ground of their hearts being prepared by the Holy Ghost and an effectual door being opened, we can preach Christ unto them. Amen.