Does God Do Everything?

In our last issue we considered the question, "Faith Alone, or Faith + Works?" In other words, do we attain salvation, sanctification and eternal life totally and completely by grace - a free gift from God, or do we contribute to the process by our "works" - our efforts? In a recent article Puritan Sacramentalism at the First Things website, Peter J. Leithart described the "high church" preparatory prayers that the priest says before sacramental acts such as baptism and the eucharist as not really necessary and even a form of "magic." Leithart writes that the natural elements - water, bread and wine - are already sanctified by God's creation, so they don't need any more special prayers to sanctify them. "Low church" pastors just read some Scriptures and say a prayer of thanks, sometimes even they even skip the readings and prayers, just do the acts without a word.

That prompted a response by Gabe Martini on the Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy blog, stating that all those prayers actually do something, they bring us (our old rationalistic nature kicking and screaming) into the eternal spiritual reality of the heavenly temple where we join with the cherubim and seraphim in worship, and we are joined to the Body of Christ. The water of baptism is transformed by these prayers to be a spiritually cleansing and saving bath. The bread and wine are transformed by these prayers to be the Body and Blood of Christ, and we are joined to His Body by partaking - that is why the Scriptures call it "communion."

But there is more to this question than the need for preparatory prayers. Once they begin to strip away "all that ritual," there's really no reason to stop. In his reply to Gabe Martini, Fr. Andrew Damick correctly identifies this as a "reductio ad absurdam" argument: reducing and reducing, trimming away first this and then that, as Protestants tend to do, is actually sliding down a slippery slope that reduces to absurdity. "Why say preparatory prayers?" leads to: Why even observe baptism or the eucharist? Why belong to a church? Why even believe, if God has already done everything? Fr. Andrew points out that this is nothing less than the Monergist heresy - "one energy" - God's energy alone does it all, there is no need for us to do anything.

As Fr. Andrew wrote, to tell another person what that person believes when it is not what he actually believes is simply a scarecrow argument, insulting that person's intelligence. But to say that a person believes in "magic" when that person believes in the spiritual reality taking place in baptism and the eucharist is insulting God! The truth is, however, that "we are co-workers together with God" (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1). This is "synergy" - our working with God, not "monergy." Yes, God works, and we also work with Him. Christ said: "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), but that doesn't mean that we should do nothing! We are given His power to do His will: "God is at work in you, to will and to do His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). Grace is not merely a free gift, it is God's energy that transforms us into the image of Christ, Who always did the Father's will. This transformation only happens with our willing, active participation.

And to claim that all creation is sanctified and and we are all holy, so nothing and nobody should be set apart as specially holy is to fall into the same disastrous error as did Miriam and Korah et al, as described in Numbers chapters 12 and 16: "Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. They said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn't he spoken also with us?" (Num. 12:1-2). The Lord struck Miriam with leprosy for her presumtion upon the special ordination that Moses held, as well as his being married to a black African woman.

But the revolt against Moses led by Korah, Dathan and Abiram along with 250 leading Israelites was a greater threat to the divinely-revealed religion of Israel, which earned them a far greater punishment: "Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, 'You take too much on you, seeing all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and the Lord is among them: why then lift yourselves up above the assembly of the Lord?'" (Num. 16:1-3). The Lord caused the earth to open up and swallow Korah, Dathan and Abiram along with their families and possessions, and sent fire from heaven that consumed the other 250 Israelite co-conspirators.

It is a dangerous thing to rebel against God's ordained leaders and against our divinely-revealed Christian faith, the fulfilment of the Jewish religion. Western society has gone too far down this slippery slope, promoting the ordination of women and homosexuals, abortion, pornography, sexual immorality and homosexual marriage as the new normal. No society can long endure when its people care only about self-gratification, to the detriment of their spiritual well-being, their families and the birth rate of the nation as a whole. Western Europe's superficial prosperity and self-gratification has brought on a disastrous birth rate that is bringing those countries to the brink of extinction, to be only partially resolved by the influx of foreign workers - mostly Muslims - which has brought on its own set of problems: ethnic riots and terrorist attacks. And the U.S. is not far behind. May the Lord not punish us for believing that "God Does Everything" so that we don't need to do anything but gratify our own fleshly desires. Lord have mercy!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 15 Feb. 2015.)

A Christian Ending

Here is a series of podcasts that I've just recently discovered: A Christian Ending. I listened to all 12 podcasts on my smartphone while working out at the gym when the pool was closed so I couldn't swim. (You should change the "Display 10 entries" at the bottom of the screen to "Display 25 entries" so you can see all of the podcasts.)

As you'll see, they deal with subjects such as Cremation (why the Orthodox don't advocate it), The Problem of Suffering, Caregiving for the Sick and the Suffering and As Death Approaches. These are issues that we all struggle with: "Why does God allow innocent people to suffer?" "How am I going to care for my elderly parents?" - or - "How are my children going to care for me when I'm unable to care for myself?" and "How do I prepare for 'A Christian Ending to My Life'?" - the words in an oft-repeated Orthodox prayer. These topics tie in closely with the work with disabled people that we did in Russia and our Social Ministries courses that we've been teaching over the Internet since we returned to the U.S. in 2007.

In September I begin teaching the course "Ministry to Handicapped and Poor." Deadline to enroll: Aug. 31! The English-language version of these "Social Ministries" courses are now converted to HTML5 and our new "slider" menu system. You can read the lessons online with any browser. Take a few minutes to look at these lessons, and consider how you can be a part of the answers to the above questions!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 28 Feb. 2015.)

Preach, Hear, Believe and Obey

How important is it that Christians learn to communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ in a language and medium that people are familiar with? We have the greatest treasure, the light of the world, but if it's hidden under a bushel basket or tucked away in a dark, dank cathedral, how will the world hear, believe and obey the Gospel? Showing the sequence of preaching, hearing and believing, St. Paul wrote in Rom. 10:14-15 -

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!'"

The blog How Are They to Believe in Him of Whom They Have Never Heard? illustrates beautifully this principle of communicating the Gospel in the language and medium that people in today's world understand and can relate to. We need to use the communication tools such as the Internet that the young generation is tuned into, and in language they understand!

Not only should we preach in word and demonstrate in action the Gospel of the Kingdom, we must also ask for commitment. The word "hear" in the N.T. actually includes the idea of obeying. In fact, in Mat. 10:7-15 that word in Russian literally means "obey" -

"As you go, preach, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give. Don’t take any gold, silver, or brass in your money belts. Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. Into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy; and stay there until you go on. As you enter into the household, greet it. If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn't worthy, let your peace return to you. Whoever doesn't receive you, nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Most certainly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city."

Note above that the judgment for not hearing/obeying this preaching and demonstrating the Kingdom of Heaven will be more severe for those rejecting it, than for those practicing the abominations of Sodom and Gomorrah - homosexuality. It is convenient for many Christians to scapegoat such sinners, while at the same time these "comfortable middle-class Christians" don't lift a finger to heal the sick or cleanse the lepers. And in Heb. 3:15-4:2 we see the connection between not hearing and disobeying -

"It is said, 'Today if you will hear his voice, Don't harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.' For who, when they heard, rebelled? No, didn't all those who came out of Egypt by Moses? With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn't it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? To whom did he swear that they wouldn't enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps a promise being left of entering into his rest, anyone of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn't profit them, because it wasn't mixed with faith [belief] by those who heard."

James, the step-brother of Jesus, also tells us of the vital connection between hearing and obeying/doing, in James 1:22-27 -

"But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the word, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

Thus it ought to be abundantly clear that it isn't sufficient to simply nod our heads in agreement to the preacher and thank him for a good sermon. No, we also need to believe-and-obey the Good News!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 10 May 2015.)

Social Ministry of the Church

The new name of our "Practical Ministries" series of six online courses in English is now "Social Ministry of the Church." Why the name change? Because for several years that has been the name of these courses in Russian. It emphasizes the idea that the Church ought to be involved in society, not withdrawn into its shell, afraid to speak out and act in the name of Christ. First the Muslims, then the Marxists, and now the Secular-Humanists try to shut the Church out of having any role in society - Christians were/are allowed to "worship" only within the four walls of their building, but not to reach out and help those in the world who are suffering. To recover from this "ghetto mentality," the leadership of churches should encourage the formation of diakonia-ministry teams under the guidance of the pastor or a deacon. As we state in our Introduction: St. Paul taught that the bishops (apostles), pastors and deacons should equip the saints to do the work of diakonia-ministry "to the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-12).

Please check out our newly-revised courses: now they work with any web browser - you can login as "guest" and browse the lessons right here: Social Ministry of the Church. The three-bar "slider" menu button gives an overview of all six courses and also lets you navigate to our "Teach All Nations" courseware, Daily Prayers, World English Bible, and our home page. Along the top of the screen you'll see a drop-down menu that shows how to enroll, lists each lesson in each course and our worksheets.

These courses focus on "the maimed, the lame, the blind, widows and orphans", but what about the poor? Our current work in Pittsburgh emphasizes this aspect of diakonia-ministry: see our FOCUS+Pittsburgh Homes and Jobs web page. We've just recently added a column called Hot Tips For Jobs that we update each week. The way to cure poverty isn't to just throw money at it, it's to help people get jobs and own their own home!

Also, check out our "Teach All Nations" course development software: it explains how to set up and lead a discussion group in your church. Our newly-revised system doesn't require you to download anything or build a website - just reply to emails from your church's discussion group and record your students' answers - we'll do the "heavy lifting" of adding your students to our login file and your online discussion group. But if you want to set up your copy of our courses or create your own courses, the Teach All Nations courseware shows you how. I've customized a login system and created ten "pop-up" windows (over 12,000 lines of code) for interactive questions, making it easier for you to write lessons and manage a course than with Moodle, the distance education system I've been using for teaching our courses in Russian over the past seven years. Take a look!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 15 Mar. 2015.)

Build Up the Body of Christ

For many years, Saint Paul's writings in Ephesians have made a deep impression on my life, and became the centerpiece of my doctoral thesis. Chapter four is the climax of that epistle, describing the ideal structure and function of the Church, the Body of Christ. Please bear with me as I go over a few points in this chapter: in verses 1-6 St. Paul begs the saints-in-training to "walk worthy of the calling with which they were called," in patience and humility bearing with each other in love, "preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Paul mentions all three Persons of the Trinity: Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit, stressing the importance of our faith in the Holy Trinity as the glue that binds us together.

Next, St. Paul mentions the various gifts that Christians have: "But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Therefore he says, 'When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men'" (verses 7-8). Grace is not just a gift, it is the power emanating from God to transform us into the likeness of Christ: this is "the gift of Christ" - God gives us Christ to live in us. Christ, Who "ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things" (v. 10), is the One that God the Father gave "to be head over all things for the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all" (ch.1:22-23). How does Christ fill all things? Through the Church, His body! That's us, folks! St. Paul states clearly that the Church is the fullness of Christ Who fills all in all.

So then, how does this "fullness of Christ in the Church" happen? St. Paul goes on to explain:

"He [Christ] gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for equipping the saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (ch. 4:11-13).

Today we have bishops as the successors to the apostles, then prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers... to do what? - To equip the saints (that's us, the rest of the church) to do the work of diakonia-ministering to Build Up of the Body of Christ. Too often the bishops, pastors, priests and deacons think and feel like they have to do all the work in the church, and that the parishoners just give their tithes and offerings to support these "religious professionals." But St. Paul makes very clear here that these leaders are to train and equip the rest of us to do diakonia-ministry, which will result in building up the Body of Christ, the Church, in both quantity and in quality, in numbers as well as in Christ-likeness.

Further, the Apostle Paul tells us what will happen when we start doing this: "speaking truth in love, we will grow up in all things into Him Who is the Head, Christ; from Whom all the Body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the Body increase to the building up of itself in love" (ch. 4:15-16). Every member of the Church, "each individual part," will contribute to the building up of the Church! What a vision and goal for us as Christians!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 29 Mar. 2015.)

CHRIST IS RISEN!

(Click on this thumbnail photo to see it full-size, which you can save as your Desktop wallpaper or screensaver!) This painting illustrates what the Scriptures tell us of those who were present at the Resurrection of Christ: the soldiers standing guard were blinded by the explosion of light when Christ our God revealed Himself in all His resurrected glory. Only when the angel appeared in somewhat lesser brightness did the soldiers' vision return. In Matthew 28:1-7 we read:

"Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. The angel answered the women, 'Don't be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, Who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just like He said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples, 'He has risen from the dead, and behold, He goes before you into Galilee; there you will see Him.' Behold, I have told you.'"

So, what did Mary Magdalene, the other Mary and the soldiers actually see? When the light faded, Mary Magdalene saw the angels and the risen Christ, but she thought at first that He was the gardener before she recognized Him. She complained to the "gardener" that someone had taken His Body: "When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn't know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?' She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.' Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned and said to him, 'Rhabbouni!' which is to say, 'Teacher!'" (John 20:14-16). Next, the risen Christ appeared to Peter and John at the tomb, and then to two men walking to Emmaus and to the other disciples.

Mark 16:1-13 and Luke 24:1-12 provide similar descriptions of Christ's Resurrection, the women at the tomb, the angels, etc. Thus, there is abundant Scriptural evidence for Christ's Resurrection in the four Gospels, in the Book of Acts and sprinkled all throughout the rest of the New Testament. Let us not be swayed by some who even call themselves Christians but cast doubt on this amazing, world-changing and miraculous historical event. CHRIST IS RISEN!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 12 Apr 2015.)

Private Parts' Public Purpose

Private Parts' Public Purpose

As King David was on his deathbed, he charged his son Solomon: "I am going the way of all the earth: be you strong therefore, and show yourself a man; and keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself" (1 Kings 2:2-3).

But not long after David died, "Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places" (1 Kings 3:1-3): he married a pagan princess and began introducing pagan rituals in Israel, contrary to the Lord's commandments.

When King Solomon finished building and consecrating the Temple in Jerusalem, the Lord God said to him: "As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances; then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel. But if you shall turn away from following Me, you or your children, and not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for My name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples" (1 Kings 9:4-7). The Lord warned Solomon to keep His commandments and not serve other gods, or else the Lord would break His covenant with Israel. So what did Solomon do?

"Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said to the children of Israel, You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon joined to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it happened, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and didn't go fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon. So did he for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods. ...Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, Because this is done of you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant" (1 Kings 11:1-8 and 11).

God had blessed Solomon with great wisdom, riches and power... but all that went to his head and he began to think he was above the Law of God. This is what happens when even a very intelligent person allows his passions and emotions to take control of his thoughts and actions. Ashtoreth (Astarte) was the sex goddess of the Sidonians; Milcom, Chemosh and Molech were pagan gods whose worship included temple prostitution and sodomy, and demanded the sacrifice of babies, the result of this ritual fornication. What was the result? Gradual dissolution of the kingdom of Israel and invasion by foreign armies. Today, 50 years after the "Sexual Revolution" and "the Pill" we have fornication and sodomy being glorified on TV, streaming video and social media, and the results of unwanted pregnancies being murdered, - sacrificed to the goddess Ashtoreth - or farmed out to homosexual couples. What is this if not neo-paganism?

In Lev. 20:10-16 the Lord gave to Moses the list of sexual practices that were forbidden for God's people: adultery, incest, homosexuality (called "an abomination") and bestiality. In the New Testament these sexual sins are all included in the Greek words "porneia" (noun) and "porneuo" (verb), which Jesus Christ Himself mentioned in Mt. 5:32; 15:19; 19:9 and Mk. 7:21. So it is incorrect to say Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. Now Christians are even being forced to celebrate these abominations, fulfilling the prophecy in Rev. 14:8 - "Another, a second angel, followed, saying, 'Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality [porneia].'"

The statement that it's nobody else's business what adults do in bed is absurd, although today's liberal politicians love to trot out that phrase. It should be quite obvious that private sexual relations have a profound effect on the public: keeping sex within the bonds of marriage promotes strong and healthy families, while letting it loose destroys families, spreads disease, and lowers the birth rate. The radical separation of sexual intercourse from procreation has led to population decline and collapse of society in cultures where "sexual freedom" has been adopted: several European countries are on the way to becoming Muslim-majority societies due to Muslims' higher birth rate. The U.S. is not far behind.

Lowering the birth rate by just 25% will cause a population implosion in less than two generations, leaving any country open to foreign invasion, not to mention the inability of far fewer young people to support the millions of retired people. I've lived in the USSR and Russia for many years, and have seen with my own eyes sick elderly people being left to die without food or water in the hallways of hospitals, or ambulance services asking the age of a sick person and refusing to come if that person is over 65. Why? Because there aren't enough young people paying taxes to support the public services.

The private nature of "private parts" is based on the intimate psychological bonding that takes place when two people come together sexually. God created this bonding so that a man and woman would remain husband and wife in order to provide a loving environment for their children. No other person should disturb this relationship, it should remain exclusively and permanently between husband and wife. When this private aspect of sexual relations, however, is used as an excuse to rationalize promiscuity and homosexual perversion, then such private acts begin to have a very negative public impact.

Fornicators, adulterers, lesbians and homosexuals may well be contributing to society in their work lives, but in their "private" lives they are in fact undermining society. They ignore the fact that every society is made up of people, and when the population drops the society begins to dissolve into nothing. A country with abundant natural resources but a dwindling population loses its greatest riches: its people. Thus, Private Parts Possess a Public Purpose!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 25 Apr. 2015.)