First world problems.
To all you Foot soldiers on the outer limits… What’s your Rush?????

*Please* Dont mistake this post as an endorsement of the Jihad on drugs.

September is a quiet month in the Church.  Technically it is the start of the new liturgical year, and the two prominent feasts are the Nativity of the Theotokos, and the Elevation of the Holy Cross (in commemoration of the discovery of Christ’s Cross by Saint Helena).  But the following Saints are celebrated this month:

SYMEON the Stylite (1st September, 350-459AD)
Symeon was badass and hardcore.  Tonsured a monk in modern day Syria, it soon became apparent that he could outfast and outasceticize anyone.  He was literally not meant for this world, and it soon became apparent that he could not live in a community of monks for fear of showing them up.  He withdrew and lived in a well.

Crowds soon flocked to him, lured by his extreme holiness and lifestyle.  Symeon would have none of it.  He decided to escape them, and climbed up a ruined pillar to live.  Here he remained for many years, a man of humility, and yet one whose advice was sought by Emperors and Kings.

After going to such extremes for Christ for 37 years, he reposed, and was removed from his pillar and buried nearby.

SOPHIA, and her daughters, FAITH, HOPE and LOVE (d.137AD, 17th September)
The martyrdom of Sophia and her daughters is one of the most heartwrenching in the whole Church.  The Emperor Hadrian sought the recantation of Sophia, and devised that her three daughters, named for the virtues of the Apostle Paul, should sacrifice to Artemis or be killed so that she might recant.  Her daughters, one by one, were tortured and killed. Sophia herself was not killed, but died of heartache three days later.  It is unimaginable to think what she suffered for Christ.  But now she is glorified, and reigns with Him.

Tim Wikiriwi Engineer …Follow the evidence.

When the scales fell from my eyes

Once upon a time….
I was an Ignorant Atheist Evolutionist Nihilist Bogan West Aucklander who worshipped Jim Morrison.
I was Militantly Atheistic, and believed that people who believed in ‘The Big Man up in the Clouds’ were Bat shit Crazy (like my Mom!)
I would rip into them!
I would Mock them!
I would roll around on the ground in a fit of hysterics at the very thought that People could be so stupid as to really believe in Miracles, Heaven, etc.
Didn’t they Know that Science had proven that We came from Monkeys????
Didn’t they know that only Children, and Primitive Savages believed in Ghosts, Boogie Men, Angels, Fairies, God, Santa, etc ????
This clearly meant that the Bible was complete Bullshit!
It was written by Ignorant superstitious savages…before the Advent of science.
And The fact that there were many Bibles also further proved that it had been altered with the process of Time.
Everybody knew the Bible was full of Superstition, and contradictions (though I had never read it).
And Like our society, It was filled with Man made customs and rules which in reality were not binding upon anyone… *only Chumps believed morality was real!*
I ‘Knew’ reality was Materialistic, and that there was no Heaven for the Good, no hell for the wicked, and that all the rules of society were simply ‘Made up’…. and believed by slaves and Idiots.
I was Free!
I ‘knew’ There was no ‘Right or wrong’ in Atoms or the Periodic Table.
I ‘knew’ there was no Divine judge… no Divine Lawgiver….nothing out there but empty space… and a lot of fear ridden Idiots whom wasted their lives worshipping Fake Gods.

This was the Package Deal I called my Atheist/ scientific/ worldview.
And it was this entire Package which had to be confronted and overthrown if I was to become an honest believer In Jesus Christ.

It was quite amazing that circumstances arose that I actually gave one particular Christian opportunity to present his case for belief in God, and a vital part of his case was that Mankind had been ‘Visited’ by God and that he had given us his word, and preserved it, and that it was trustworthy, and ought to be believed.

Had he not presented his faith as standing upon such an absolutely trustworthy foundation I would have immediately said to myself that even the Christians themselves know the Bible is full of errors.
Ie That they admit the Atheist position is Valid, and I would have rejected Christianity upon that basis alone. Ie The Bible can not be relied upon. End of story.

Amazing enough… though the belief that the Bible is ‘untrustworthy’ is held by the Majority of so-called Christians today… God instead sent a Bible believer across my path, and It was via a systematic process of convincing me the Bible was indeed trustworthy, and that the Christian cosmology, and explanation of what Humanity really is, is vastly superior and more scientifically and historically accurate than my previous Naturalistic Materialist cosmology, that one day I saw the light!
‘One evening… after many months of Conversations, etc… in my mind it was like a whole cascade of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle all simply fell into place, and I could see what this Christian had been saying made perfect sense!
I began to be able to feed scenarios into this new cosmology and it would spit out ‘answers which added up perfectly with reality!
It’s explanitory power was immense!
And so I decided I would ask Jesus Christ to be my savior… and I was so convinced of his reality that I was kinda surprised no Angel turned up and shook my hand and gave me a Job from God to do! 🙂

I was a changed Man.
I became a religious fanatic… much to the surprise of my Family and friends…esp to my Mother, brother, and sister whom I had always mocked for believing in God!
It was a *real Miracle*!

To this day I believe it was in answer to my mothers prayers, and God’s plan for my life, that he sent his Bible believing servants to preach to me the gosple, with a powerful enough foundation to undo my Infidelity.
I have spent the last 30 years of my life…through Highs and Lows… putting the King James Bible to the test.
I have subjected it to every criticism that the doubters have been able to throw at it… and like a house built upon the Rock…. though the Tempest rages… It standeth sure!
I simply cannot understand how someone can claim to be a Christian yet doubt the trustworthiness of the Bible!…. yet Millions do just that!
And they stand with the atheists attacking my faith in the King James Bible!

Let me say that when I preach the gospel to others, I preach it from full conviction that It is *the Gospel truth*.
That it really is what God says a man must believe to be saved.
And when I call unbelievers to ‘wake up’ that I really have something far superior to show them.
And when I go about my Libertarian activism, it is based upon an absolute conviction that Morality is Objective… that God did create Man equal, and endowed him with certain inalienable rights, and that to secure those rights Governments are instituted among men…

I believe that when an English speaking person stands before God, that he will be judged in accordance with the KJV (1611 king James Authorised version) . Ie God will hold us accountable by It, and our access to it.
We have no excuse.
Those whom are planning to tell God that they didn’t believe the gospel because the Bible was untrustworthy and full of errors will be in for a shock!
They will be found naked, and guilty, and shall be judged… because they chose to reject Christ and the love and Grace of God.

You are not Robots…. not Monkeys.
You have Freewill and as such you must bear the responsibility for your own choices and beliefs.

Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian, 1611 King James Bible believer, Dispensationalist.

More from Tim….

Do you believe you have the Perfect Word of God? Theism vs Humanistic Rationalism. Seeing The Light! My Testimony.

Rapturous Amazement! The Advance of Science Converts The High Priest of Atheism to Deism. A Flew.

Honest Ex Atheist Anthony Flew… Fan of St Paul, and Christ.

That moment when they begin to explain that Abiogenesis is not Spontanious Generation.

Evolution in action. Dr Richard Nixon.

Knowledge Filters: All solid evidence against the Theory of Evolution is automatically rejected .

The Ludicrous Claims of Evolution! Why not ESP?

Monism: Evolutionary Psychology and the Death of Morality, Reason and Freewill.

The False Deity Called Evolution.

Defunct / Archaic Western Dogma blindly insists : ‘Whatever does not fit the Naturalistic Materialist Paradigm is Illusory’. Entity Attacks

The Zombie God Of Atheist Evolution. Re: Math Magic and Ultimate Mythical Power…..Infinite Probability.

Atheist Priest$ lobby Government for Tax dollar$ to fund their Religious Pseudo-$cience

Mankind is on the verge of creating Sentient artificial intelligence? BULLSHIT!

The Walls are closing in on Atheism… not Theism.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

The myth making processes of Pseudo Science. The Epic Tale of the Simple cell. (Part 1)

David Berlinski—Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions

Evolutionary ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ of the the Week. “Why Do Humans Cry?”

Multiplying Absurdities Equals Certainty… The Math Magic of Modern Atheist Astrologers!

Dingbat Atheist Pseudo-science. Instant Life… just add water!

Science goes Ga Ga! The Spirit Temple-Material Interface. The Human Brain.

Russell’s Teapot really refutes Atheism not Theism!

The Ludicrous Claims of Evolution! Why not ESP?

Faith, Science, and Reason. The Pomposity of Atheism.

The Rusty Cage: Scientism.

Pasteur’s Law, Creation Science vs Nose Bone Atheism.

Square Circles. When Continuity is claimed as Evolution

The Lies of Atheist Pseudo Science.

Atheism has no basis for Rights… or Morals.

Materialism renders Man Nought. Meaning-less, Value-less, Right-less

An Atheist’s Amoral Manifesto. Joel Marks.

We are not Robots Ayn Rand. We are Moral Agents.

How can a Good God exist when there is so much evil in the world? (part1) Atheist Nihilism.

How can a Good God exist when there is so much evil in the world? (part 2) The Thirst for Blood.

Horror stories. How can a Good God exist when there is so much Evil in the world? (Part 3)

How can a Good God exist when there is so much Evil in the world? (Part 4) Interlude.

Seether: Know Thyself. How can a Good God exist when there is so much evil in the world? Part 5.

‘Good Atheists’ and the seriousness of sin. Good God/Evil world. 6

In a nutshell, if the State asks you to lie, the State is in the wrong.

This is not about bigotry, or denying anyone’s rights.  This is about telling the truth about reality, when the State legislates a lie.

Unfortunately, that makes Kim Davis a criminal, and she is subject to censure by the State.  And I’d never suggest that the State not do its job in that regard.  But nor can I see how Kim Davis could do anything other than what she has done.  I would do exactly the same thing.

Sadly, I’ve seen many good Christians say things like “why doesn’t she just resign?”  I’m afraid I vehemently disagree with that option.  You might have some case to say that had Davis been elected after Obergefell, and not been honest about her stance, that holding her position is untenable.  And certainly in the private sector, I’d argue that if you are someone who doesn’t want, say, gay sex occurring on your property, then maybe you shouldn’t be running a bed and breakfast!  But that argument doesn’t hold when it comes to the government.  I’ve always said that gay “marriage” in itself is something that is none of our business.  There’s no question that a gay couple should have the right to find a church willing to perform a ceremony for them, invite a hundred of their closest friends and make some vows to each other.  But when you start asking the government, an institution that I participate in as part of a democratic society, to positively sanction something and certify it, and furthermore, to misrepresent the truth about it against the beliefs of a significant part of the population;  that discriminates against the truth, and against me personally, as someone who holds to that truth.  You exclude me, and others like me, from even participating.  That violates our rights. Why should anyone have to resign over that?

Of course, as a Christian, I don’t have rights.  I don’t say that ironically or sarcastically, I really mean it.  I should have no expectation of fair treatment from the world at all.  Christ certainly never got it.  But when you are elected to do a job, and the State quite literally makes the honest and faithful exercise of that job illegal, the correct response is not to let the State get away with it, but stand your ground.  In the Book of Acts, the Sanhedrin told the Apostles not to speak about Christ, but none of them resigned.  Instead, they said “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”  Kim Davis, faced with being told not to speak the truth, can do no less.

I’m sure many will take issue with my view of “the truth” and see it as subjective.  I’m afraid I do indeed believe in such a thing as objective truth, and moreover, that there are few things in life more basic than the truth of what marriage is.  It’s a union between a man and a woman, sure as penises and vaginas fit each other like a jigsaw puzzle.  To quote an obscure first century philosopher…

…from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Marriage only exists because we have two different sexes.  The State wants us to believe and act otherwise.  The State is wrong.  We cannot say otherwise, because that way lies madness.  And we will take whatever punishment the State deems appropriate for this infraction with gladness.

PIMEN the Great (27th August 340-450AD)
The word pimen is Greek for shepherd, and Pimen the Great was indeed a great shepherd to the Roman Christians of the 4th and 5th centuries.  He is one of the more famous of what are called the Desert Fathers – those ascetics who lived in the Egyptian desert around that period, and whose sayings were collected into a book originally published in Coptic, but later translated into Greek.

Less strict than other ascetics of the time, he is more noted for being a teacher and spiritual father.  He refused to meet with the Governor when his counsel was sought, out of his own humility, and was very concerned with forgiving the sins of others.  “If you see a brother sinning, do not believe your eyes. Know that your own sin is like a beam of wood, but the sin of your brother is like a splinter (Mt. 7:3-5), and then you will not enter into distress or temptation.”

A monk once said to the saint, “I have sinned grievously and I want to spend three years at repentance. Is that enough time?” The Elder replied, “That is a long time.” The monk continued to ask how long the saint wished him to repent. Perhaps only a year?  Pimen said, “That is a long time.” The other brethren asked, “Should he repent for forty days?” The Elder answered, “I think that if a man repents from the depths of his heart and has a firm intention not to return to the sin, then God will accept three days of repentance.”

He was strict in his fasting and sometimes would not partake of food for a week or more. He advised others to eat every day, but without eating their fill.  Pimen heard of a certain monk who went for a week without eating, but had lost his temper. The saint lamented that the monk was able to fast for an entire week, but was unable to abstain from anger for even a single day.

Pimen had copious amounts of wisdom to dispense, and is worth reading even in the 21st Century as the most quoted Saint in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.  He reposed in peace in 450AD aged 110.

MOSES the Black (28th August, 330-405AD)
In the fourth century, there was nobody more gangsta than Moses.  Originally an Abyssinian slave in a pagan household, he broke free of his master and lived a life of murder, robbery and loose women, terrorising the Nile Valley with his gang of bandits.  He would egotistically challenge God to show his existence, since he felt that nobody could challenge or better him.

One day this bragging elicited a response – “The monks of Wadi El-Natroun know the real God. Go to them and they will tell you.”  Having thus been dared, and looking for sanctuary from a robbery that had gone awry, he took refuge in the monastery, and was eventually converted to faith in Christ and baptised by Saint Macarius.

Moses spent many years struggling against his old passions and temptations, but finally overcame them through ascesis.  He became one of the great Desert Fathers, leading a monastery of 500 men.  One story attributed to him relates to a monk who had greatly sinned, and Moses was invited to a meeting to discuss an appropriate penance, Moses refused to attend. When he was again called to the meeting, Moses took a leaking basket filled with sand. When he arrived at the meeting place, the others asked why he was carrying the basket. He replied, “My sins run out behind me and I do not see them, but today I am coming to judge the errors of another.” On hearing this, the assembled brothers forgave the erring monk.

Eventually he was ordained a Priest.  The story goes that when he was put forward, the Patriarch feigned racism, expressing shock at his black skin and ordering him to be cast out.  Moses simply obeyed with humility, at which the Patriarch called him back and declared him worthy of ordination!

Moses retained some of his prior fearlessness.  On one occasion, when bandits attacked the monastery, he overpowered them and dragged them all into the chapel, at which they converted!  But he also took to heart Christ’s admonition that those who live by the sword, die by it, and when the monastery was attacked again, he stood his ground, accepting martyrdom from the assailants as the completion of his salvation.

Moses is well beloved by many African American converts to Orthodoxy, as well as many others for his wisdom and transformation in Christ.

JOHN the Baptist (29th August, 1BC-30AD)
The Glorious Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist was the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets, a wild, desert-dwelling man who urged the Jews of his day to repent in preparation for the coming Messiah.  He preached repentance through baptism, ceremonial Jewish washing which cleansed the penitent of his sins.  When Christ was revealed to him, he baptised Him also, though Christ was sinless, showing baptism as an act that transforms the material world and the individuals in it through the finally-revealed Messiah.  This act was the culmination of all the work of the Patriarchs, Prophets and Moses the bringer of the Law, and John was revealed as the greatest of these, who passed the baton from the Jews to The Jew.

His eventual beheading at the hands of Herod, traditionally held to be on 29th August, is well known from the Gospels.  He is often depicted in iconography as holding his own head on a platter!  He is also traditionally depicted in the resurrection icon in Hades with Christ, acting as a forerunner there also.  In Orthodox churches, his icon is always placed to the right of Christ (that is, on His left hand side) on the front wall dividing the altar from the nave, and he is often given wings to reflect his exalted status in the Church.  He is also the only Saint of the Church whose “feast” day is actually a day of fasting!

IRENAEUS of Lyons (130-202AD, 23rd August)

Irenaeus is the most pre-eminent scholar of the 2nd Century Christian Church.  Born in Smyrna as a disciple of the famous Polycarp (and therefore a spiritual grandson of the Apostle John), he travelled west to become Bishop of Lyons in what is now France.

His definitive text, Against Heresies, does exactly what it says on the tin – it is a voluminous work that rebukes, rebuts and corrects the various heresies of his time, including Gnosticism and Marcionism.  He does this by several means, including quoting from the Old Testament, confirming the validity of only four Gospels, quoting Paul’s epistles, as well as works like the Didache, 1 Clement and the Shepherd of Hermas.  But most crucially, Irenaeus cites Apostolic succession – that his teachings are the same as those handed down to him by the Bishops from the Apostles, and especially from Rome – the See of Peter and Paul.  He places great stock in his claim that what he advocates is unchanged from the Apostles, whereas the heretics have altered teachings.

It is in Irenaeus that we also see a developed Mariology, where she is cited as the New Eve, who restores with her obedience what the old Eve corrupted by her disobedience.  His writings show that, even a mere century after the repose of the Apostles, Church dogma was clearly defined and guarded, and that there was an established Orthodox Church.  It is also as revealing to note what is not discussed as well as what is disputed between Christian sects.

Irenaeus is thought to have been martyred, though details of his death are unknown, in 202AD.

MARY the Most Holy Theotokos (15th August, 16BC-48AD)

Mary is the greatest mortal being who has ever lived, a model of human perfection that will remain unsurpassed.  To quote the prayer of Saint John Chrysostom, “It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, who art ever blessed and all blameless, and the mother of our God.  More honourable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, thou who without corruption barest God the Word and art truly Theotokos, we magnify thee!”

Why is Mary worthy of such accolades?  Because she was found worthy to bear the Son of God, and freely agreed to the task.  Because her virtue never faltered.  Because she carried God inside her body, and was united with Him in communion her whole life without failing.  Because she is the bridge by which God travels to us to save us, the Ark of the New Covenant, the new Mercy Seat, and the new Eve, who restores the communion broken by the old Eve.  She is the greatest of all the Saints, the first of the Christians, the mystical embodiment of Christ’s Church, and through becoming the Mother of God, she becomes our Mother in Christ also.  Giving props to Mary is essential to our Christian walk, and our proclamation and worship of who Christ is, since her role in His incarnation is indispensable.  And with that, as she leads us to her Son, she intercedes for us as a protectress to us all.

For more Mariological reading, here’s a good article on the subject by Fr Peter Gilquist, and here is my own garbled effort.

While there is some detail of Mary in the Gospels (as well as prophecies in the Old Testament, and references in Revelation if you are prepared to look), much of what we know of her life is based on oral Tradition, some of which is detailed in the Apocryphal book The Protoevangelion of James, which, while it is falsely attributed to the first Bishop of Jerusalem, still dates to around 140AD, and is regarded as fairly accurately reflecting the traditional narratives around her.  This narrative tells us that Mary was born in Bethlehem as the only child of two righteous Jews, the elderly Joachim and Anna (though this conception and birth, while miraculous because of their age, was not “immaculate” in the sense promoted by the Latin church).  At the age of three, she was dedicated to serve God in the Temple in Jerusalem, where, to the horror of Zachariah, the High Priest and her uncle, she is supposed to have run into the Most Holy Place and sat on the Mercy Seat!

Having served in the Temple beyond the death of her parents, she reached puberty and thereby became unable to remain in the Temple.  Therefore, someone was required to look after her, and the widower Joseph was chosen by lot to keep her in troth.

The story of the Nativity should be familiar to most readers.  Despite her marriage, she remained a virgin (as Saint Jerome compellingly argues), and continued to support Christ even in His ministry.  When Christ charged the Apostle John with her care on the Cross, she remained with John as he traveled, living with him in Ephesus for a time.  However, Tradition holds that she later returned to Jerusalem, where the Archangel Gabriel forewarned her of her repose, and the Apostles were all miraculously translated (in the same manner as Phillip the Deacon was in the book of Acts) to her side.  She fell asleep on 15th August, around 48AD, and was entombed next to her parents at Gethsemane.  To this day, the Dormition of the Theotokos is the third most important feast day of the Church, after Pascha (Easter) and the Nativity.

As the story goes, the Apostle Thomas is supposed to have been translated to Jerusalem three days later than the others, and requested to be able to venerate the body.  However, when the tomb was opened, Mary’s body was not there.  The Church believes that her body was assumed to Heaven to be with Christ, as the firstfruits of our own bodily resurrection in Christ.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us!