 |
| The Coptic New Martyrs of Egypt and Libya who died at the hand of the evil Islamist ISIS. |
Parousia is a Greek word in the New Testament that (at the least) refers to the Second Coming of Christ and at the most refers to everything from the Sunday of the Resurrection of Christ to His Return called the Day of the Lord or the Day of Christ.
+
This morning I had some time to reread parts of Lidzbarski, Mandaische Liturgien, Berlin (1920). I tried to explain what I was reading to a friend recently who said, "Please stop. Stop! You are hurting my brain!" And so we laughed and talked of puppies and posies and pretty things.
If I had the academic portion of my life to do over again, I would have studied the communities that have connexions to the cult of the First Temple, the Temple of Solomon. My list of those that must be considered may have included the Ebionites, Mandaeans, Knanya Christians, and Nasrani. And, were I to feel more daring, I would have ventured to include the Knights Templar and the communities that claim descent from them.
I shared this thought with an old friend who laughed and having a bit of fun said, 'You have always been looking at the heretics asking the question 'What have we lost?" He reminded me of a t-shirt that friends had made for me when I once made a rather passionate defence of Tertullian and the Montanists in a debate. The t-shirt said "Future Montanists of America".
I used to enjoy such joking and having a little bit of fun with each other. There was an understanding of satire as well that has been completely lost. And now everyone everywhere is 'offended' and throws fire-bombs of various forms at each other.
Such is the way of the world anticipating as it does a world consumed in fire. I find myself praying very deeply that the Pope's upcoming "Year of Mercy" is indeed a Jubilee of Mercy rather than the Falling of Judgement. But at the moment things seem to be lining up on the Judgement side rather quickly.
Dr. Werner von Braun
Dr. Werner von Braun is a name I have discovered that people under 30 years of age in most English speaking countries know nothing about. This is incomprehensible to me, but the 'dumbing down' of children not in the upper echelon of society is a thing that has been going on for at least the last fifty years from New Zealand to the USA, from Canada to the UK, and on... But I digress...
Dr. Werner von Braun, before dying, conveyed to his assistant Dr. Carol Rosin the plans of the upper echelon of society for the rest of humanity via a project to seize total control over the people of the world. In his list of actions and events to come there would be terrorists, real or manufactured, to put terror into the hearts of ordinary folk so that they would be willing to surrender their freedoms for security promised by the Government with a capital "G".
Next there would come "asteroids' either real, imagined, or "created" by the nameless and faceless behind the scenes at the top of world power. Many have followed from his comments to show how easy it would be to fake an asteroid impact using nuclear weaponry in the waters of various oceans and seas. A bit of space junk falling through the sky and then BOOM with mega-tsunamis to follow.
Dr. von Braun then told Dr. Rosin that the final plan of these wretched monsters was to simulate a fake alien invasion from space in order to force the union of all the nations of the world and the complete surrender of rights guaranteed to individual human beings and their families. As was once said of the television programme featuring the Bionic Man, in order to fake such an invasion "We have the technology."
In light of such cheerful thoughts I contemplate the message and faith of the First Temple which so informs Christian origins and the very teaching of Jesus himself. God is real. This world and what we do here matters. But the world to which we belong is above, and the Way of Wisdom given by God will lead us home. When we belong to God, God will not forsake us. But if we forsake God and what the Lord has taught us, the Lord will allow us to receive what we have chosen i.e., a nation or a world without divine presence or divine protection.
However, for the faithful there is holy protection in the Way of Jesus Christ which is an articulation and expansion of the Way of Wisdom embraced by that First Temple. If we follow where Jesus and Mary walked, we will learn what we need to know from this life.
For some terribly wrong reason today we need to see our enemies and strangers as convenient scapegoats for everything. Should we not go along with the scapegoating, then we must not love our country. This is a lie, but it is a convenient lie for those who try to steer nations and societies by their will to power.
As for us, it is a lie we must confront and powerfully deny. We must see God at work in and through our enemies asking for eyes of faith to see the Lord Jesus when we encounter him in the guise of the enemy or the stranger. Instead of asking God, "Why are we here at this point of confrontation, Lord?", our nations are simply willing to power on through till those that oppose them are dead or destroyed.
We who love Jesus know that all of life will lead to the Garden of Gethsemane and a Cross for all of us at some point, but the promise we have from the Lord is that like His life for those of us who are in Him this life like His will lead on through death to rising from the dead, ascension, and entrance into the fulness of the Kingdom of Heaven in the presence of Christ Jesus our Living Lord and Saviour.
So, when all we hear is bad news — of wars and rumours of wars — let us remember that our eternal security is in the Rock which is Christ Jesus and cling to him when tempests rage and days of darkness are upon us. Be at peace and remember this:
Jesus says to you and to me,
"Behold, I make all things new."
COME, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created; And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
Cardinal Manning's Prayer
O GOD the Holy Spirit, Whom I have ignored, grieved and resisted from my childhood until the present day, reveal to me Thy personality, Thy presence, Thy power. Let me recognise Thy Sevenfold Gifts-----the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, of Counsel and Fortitude, of Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.
O Thou Who art the Spirit of the Father and the Son, O Thou Who dost baptise with fire and infuse Thy love into our hearts ——one thing, O Lord, have I asked of Thee, one thing will I seek: not riches, rank, power, earthly home and happiness, but one ray of that holy light, one spark of that holy fire which will inflame me and plunge me into the fire of Divine Love!
Let this sacred fire flame up in me and destroy in me every remnant of sin which defiles my body or soul. Cleanse me in a sevenfold manner with Thy Gifts. Transform me into a sacrifice consumed by fire, holy and entirely pleasing to Thee. Inflame me with zeal so that I may live the life and die the death of a repentant sinner, deeply penetrated by Thy Divine Love. Amen.
 |
| "The Righteous Judge is Coming" |
+
