LAZARUS (d.33AD & 63AD) Just the one Saint this week. The day before Palm Sunday is the Saturday of Lazarus, when Christ raised His friend from the dead. In doing so, He forshadowed His own resurrection, and showed that He has power over all death, including our own.
After his revival, Lazarus, as living proof of Christ’s works, was forced to flee Jerusalem, and he travelled to Cyprus where he preached Christ and established the Church there. Paul and Barnabas ordained him the first Bishop of Cyprus, where he led the Church and is regarded as their patron Saint.
He is famously reputed never to have smiled in the thirty years after his revival, except for one occasion where he saw a pot being stolen, smirking that “the clay steals the clay”
I missed the deadline for an Easter Sunday blog post, partly because, unlike Jesus, I’m not an early riser, and partly because I got a bit carried away studying scripture. I might have to lay off the Bible study for a while, because I’m starting to see things that aren’t really there. Or are they? Incipient psychosis or hidden meanings in scripture?
So I was listening to my favourite metal band, Slayer. In particular I was listening to my favourite track on their Christ Illusion album, Skeleton Christ. And reading the lyrics. And I got to wondering, is Slayer, in fact, a crypto-Christian band and their lyrics also the product of supernatural engineering?
Psychosis. That’s what you’re thinking. But bear with me. The idea is not as crazy as it might at first seem. A strong case can be made that the band who gave birth to the entire heavy metal genre, Black Sabbath, was the first Christian rock band. If Black Sabbath is a crypto-Christian band, then why not too the undisputed (by me) masters of the genre, Slayer?
Here’s a verse from the Second Epistle of John.
many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. (NIV)
And here’s an excerpt from the lyrics to Skeleton Christ.
You’ll never touch God’s hand
You’ll never taste God’s breath
Because you’ll never see the Second Coming
It’s all a fuckin’ mockery
No grasp upon reality
It’s mind control for compulsory religion
And the Skeleton Christ
What if this song is not the attack on Christianity it superficially appears to be, but an attack on corrupt organised religion (“mind control for compulsory religion”) and the false gospel of the antichrist and those he’s deceived into worshipping a false Skeleton Christ? A skeleton, you see, is not “coming in the flesh”, it’s all dead bones, such as you might find in a whited sepulchre. It’s worth a thought, don’t you think? Feel free to take it cum grano salis.
Speaking of sepulchres, back to the main story.
I got to pondering the symbolism of stone in the Bible, and found this verse.
Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ (NIV)
You see where I’m going with this? Jesus is the stone. It’s no wonder the women couldn’t find Jesus in the tomb. He’d been rolled away! But by whom?
As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. (NIV)
Please understand that I do not deny that it was “an angel of the Lord came down from heaven” who rolled away the stone. That is the plain meaning of this passage from the Gospel of Matthew.
But please do consider the possible hidden meaning in the possible alternative scenario I’m sketching.
Who would roll Jesus out of the way, so that his own disciples couldn’t find him, finding instead a decaying soon-to-be-Skeleton Christ? One of the Devil’s angels, for sure, if not the Devil himself.
Here are a couple of clues.
[Jesus] replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (NIV)
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. (NIV)
The angel’s appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow … like an angel of light or, indeed, Jesus himself transfigured. And, in a final coup de disgrâce, the angel then sits on the stone, making the Devil’s most feared enemy a buttstool for his sulfurous butt.
It’s a complete inversion of Bible truth. Which is, of course, the Devil’s calling card.
Beware of false prophets and false messiahs. And the Skeleton Christ.
Today Eternal Vigilance is honoured to feature a guest post by Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).
The world is at a crossroads in the fight against drugs. We can stay put—or we can, as the American poet Robert Frost said, “take the road less travelled”. It is time for a step forward along the path of international cooperation, writes our guest blogger. It is his belief and ours that the future is now. The price of a Drug-Free World is Eternal Vigilance!
Sometimes large events mark the end of social movements. Other times they signal a beginning. The Special Session of the General Assembly on Countering the World Drug Problem is a point in between. It is a kind of light house – or a beacon – in the world’s fight to eliminate the abuse and production of illegal drugs. It is a guiding step.
When the nations of the world come together in New York in June, it is important to pause and think about how far we have come in controlling and understanding illegal drugs since the first international conference on the issue almost 90 years ago.
Delegates from a handful of countries met in Shanghai, China in 1909 to discuss an outbreak in the use of opium, but they had no authority to sign an agreement. Now, nearly 90 years later, in New York, Heads of State and Government from many countries will be in attendance. The 185 Members of the United Nations will examine a wide variety of subjects directly related to controlling illegal drugs and hopefully adopt the most innovative strategies to decrease their supply and demand.
Together, they will decide upon adopting a series of action plans, including: stemming the flow of stimulants and their precursors; judicial cooperation; countering money laundering; and cooperation on eradication and alternative development. It will be a time for Governments to look back on the successes of the past and look forward to future goals.
However, the power of positive thinking must play a role. If the international community can come away from the meetings in New York with a sense that this was the turning point – the place where the world went forward with a renewed sense of energy in the fight to control illegal drugs – then we will have accomplished a great deal. It is not the end of a process; it is the next step ahead.
There are naysayers who believe a global fight against illegal drugs is unwinnable. I say emphatically they are wrong. Our slogan for the Special Session is “A Drug Free World – We Can Do It!” The United Nations and the International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) will help lead the way.
More than 21 million people around the world use cocaine and heroin, over 30 million abuse amphetamine-type stimulants, and an estimated 140 million uses cannabis. Up until now, the world has done its best to combat the drug control problem at the national and regional levels, and the frontlines remain at the grass-roots level. But it’s clear that something more must be done.
The time is now to take the challenge to the next stage. The adoption of UNDCP’s concept of a global strategy is pivotal if we are to meet the challenges of eliminating or significantly reducing the use and production of illegal drugs by 2008.
For the first time, we have concrete requirements based on lessons learned at the local, national and regional levels. They are factored into our vision: a unique global system to monitor illicit cultivation and prevent the “balloon effect” (this would make sure drugs eradicated from one area would not reappear in another nearby), a participatory approach involving local communities, and a balance between law enforcement, alternative development and demand reduction. Each is critical to our ultimate success.
The international community is committed to the elimination of all illegal drugs. However, the drug control landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. The ground rules of the past no longer exist and that’s why, now more than ever, we need to learn from each other. Countries which used to have problems with the production of illegal drugs today have to face the dilemmas of abuse. Other countries which used to only deal with demand for drugs now must cope with the problems of illicit cultivation.
Supply and demand are two equal sides of the drug menace. Demand reduction is a flail partner in our strategy UNDCP’s country-level projects are almost evenly divided between demand, supply and law enforcement.
Delegates to the Special Session will have the chance to adopt the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction. It would be a dynamic step, establishing for the first time a common denominator of measures. The standards that have been set for drug-producing countries for years would now be mirrored in places where there is a demand for illegal drugs. We must look into the future and set realistic goals, both as individual nations and for the world.
President Bill Clinton has set a target for 50 per cent demand reduction in the United States during the next ten years. Many political leaders at the highest level are planning to come to New York in June. The leaders who gather there and make similar pledges will have the eyes of the world upon them, and their words will carry an even greater significance. However, there are times when words get lost in the translation to actions. How then do we know that the international community is moving in the fight direction?
UNDCP supports the call for the establishment or strengthening of regional mechanisms to share experiences and results of national strategies. We will continue to take an active role in supporting the work of these regional mechanisms, ensuring thereby a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of drug control policies.
The fight must be taken to the next stage – the global level. We must adopt a universal plan of action. The perfect place to show our commitment to the international fight against illegal drugs is at the Special Session of the General Assembly.
MARY of EGYPT (445-522AD) This past Sunday in the Orthodox Church is not Palm Sunday (which is next week), but the Sunday of Mary of Egypt. Mary’s life story is fascinating. At the age of 12, she ran away to Alexandria and proceeded to live the life of a sex addict, not even accepting money from the men she slept with so as to sleep with as many men as possible.
Around 475AD, she learned of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast of the Holy Cross, and the thought of all those men in one place became all too enticing. Paying for her passage in sexual favours, she sailed to Jerusalem, continued her dissolute behaviour while there. However, on the day of the feast, she was miraculously barred entry to the Church of the Resurrection. After her third attempt to enter, she saw an icon of the Theotokos on the wall and began seeking her intercession to enter and forgiveness from God of her sins. It was only after this that she was able to enter, venerate the Cross, and receive the Eucharist.
Leaving her former life behind, Mary took three loaves of bread and wandered out into the Jordanian desert away from other human beings and all external temptation. By her own account, it took her seventeen years of struggle before she was able to overcome her lusts and desires, after which she continued to remain in the desert another thirty years. When she was finally discovered – by Zosima of Palestine not long before her repose – she had reached levels of holiness such that she had the spiritual gift of foreknowledge and was able to levitate and walk on water. She had gone from being the basest of whores, to a virginal and holy being – an example of what great humility, prayer and struggle can accomplish by God’s grace.
TIKHON of MOSCOW (1865-1925AD, 25th March) Tikhon, born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin, is remembered as a great Bishop and martyr of the Church. Consecrated at a young age, he was quickly appointed Archbishop of Alaska, and by extension, all North America. Becoming an American citizen, he oversaw a period of great growth in the Orthodox Church in the United States, and translated many of the Church’s services into English for the first time. He also approved what is now known as the Liturgy of Saint Tikhon, an Orthodox adaption of the Anglican Mass used to this day in many Western Rite Orthodox churches and former Anglican parishes.
Recalled to Russia in 1907, he continued to impress as Archbishop of Yaroslav and of Vilnius, such that, following the abdication of the Czar, the Russian Church revived the position of Patriarch of Moscow (which Peter the Great had abolished) and elected Tikhon to serve. He wasted no time in being a vocal critic of the new Bolshevik regime, for which he was placed under arrest and officially “deposed” by the Soviets (though this is not recognised by the Church). He is widely regarded to have been poisoned by them as the cause of his death in 1925.
Here you go all you Anti-synthetic cannabis wowzers!
Read the TV1 article below!!!
When will you learn that Banning things does not remove the hazzards but drives them underground and makes them profitable to unscrupulous criminals who are *more likely* to sell them to minors… than when you have a legal market which has a self interest to self impose an R 18 restrictions?
And also it is funny that all your hysteria disappeared when you got your tyrannical laws… and all the reports about chaos and deaths in hospitals evaporated…. yet the reality is that the drugs themselves never went anywhere… but have been quietly consumed…. without fuss.
This Proves that all the so called ‘dangers of synthetics’ were nothing more than a ‘witch craze’ hysteria….
Just as they are with Regards to Cannabis, BZP, and even P.
That’s how prohibition works!
Upon Lies which generate panic amongst the Masses of Morons whom are governed by fear and terrified of anything novel… or fun… etc.
The reality is Prohibitions actually increase the dangers of drugs on society both directly by putting them into the hands of criminals, and indirectly because of the massive injustice the war on drugs imposes… the wrongful imprisonments, the social alienation, etc etc.
Wasting Police resources on an unjust war that cant be won.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
“Police raiding a Christchurch property for drugs were approached by a member of the public asking to buy synthetic cannabis.
Police say they executed a search warrant at a rented residential address in Linwood at about 7am today after information was received relating to synthetic cannabis being sold from the address.
A cordon was established in the vicinity while the armed offenders squad cleared the address as the information suggested there may have been firearms at the property. The cordon was removed around 8am.
While Police Specialist Search and a police dog and handler searched the property, a member of the public arrived at the address and told plain-clothed officers they wanted to buy synthetic cannabis, Detective Sergeant Richard Quested says.
The property is divided into two flats and there were seven people at the property including a small child, he says. Some of the occupants are members of a local gang, Mr Quested says.
A quantity of methamphetamine worth $2,000 was seized by police along with a number of bags of synthetic cannabis which appeared to be packaged for sale and over $2,000 cash.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
“Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many believed in him. (NIV)
Does Jesus contradict himself?
Very well, then, he contradicts himself. (He has loaves and fishes, he feeds multitudes.)
Several things today have stimulated me to write this post, the second being that Meme above which was posted to my Facebook page by an Atheist friend.
She commented that she actually likes ‘this Pope’, and from this meme it is easy to see why he has impressed unbelievers, and Heretics/Protestants.
On face value…. in the ordinary sense as a Protestant Libertarian I’m impressed too by the simple fact that it is a far cry from the sort of Tyrannical dogma the world has come to expect from Pontiffs, and thus it appears such moderation is a good thing for peace and harmony between The Catholic church, and the rest of us.
Yet on another very important level these Liberal sentiments which appeal to my atheist friend betray some of the most important spiritual truths which are fundamental to understanding The Lord, which leads onto the central topic of my post… The seriousness of Sin.
This Meme is true…. using a yardstick of ‘comparative goodness’.
There are/have been…. comparatively speaking…. many Good atheists, and many Evil doers whom have called themselves followers of Christ.
Eg Dawkins may say with confidence to me “I’m holier than thou!”… and indeed this may be completely true.
I have done many wicked deeds to which Dawkins may have not even come close… I know not his secrets.
Yet ultimately this rationale is a deadly trap!
Why?
Because it is using *the wrong measure*.
The true measure of Goodness in this Universe is not out shining our peers… but is Absolute Holiness… of which we all fall short.
This True measure means *We all* need the Salvation of God which is in Christ.
By God’s perfect standard… “There is none righteous… no not one…”
“For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God”.
Thankfully God is Rich in mercy and has made away for us to be saved from the righteous judgement of our wicked deeds, yet which still satisfies the demands of Justice, and allows us ourselves the liberty to choose redemption or reject it.
“For God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
“…whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved…”
I have written on this train of thought before and you can read a more expanded veiw here>>> Hell is for the Self Righteous, Heaven is for Sinners.<<<
Of course it is a very peculiar thing for atheists to claim to be 'Good' given their world view denies the veracity of ethics!
This is a testament to the fact that many many atheists have not the Steel to countenance the depressing 'reality' of their own Amoral Cosmology.
The hardest, most real of them look at the chaos and misery which befalls humanity and say it is a testament to the truth of their assertions... "there can be no God in such a world"... there is no right or wrong... either in Earthquakes, or Rape, or genocide.... any such feelings of injustice have no objective reality... they are merely the pathetic wimpers of Soul-less machines who have no more intrinsic value... or rights... than the stardust of which they are composed.
Many simply believe you may as well Kill yourself... return to the painless meaningless nothing that you are.
These ideas are the subject of my first blog post in this series ‘How can a Good God exist when there is so much evil in the world? (part1) Atheist Nihilism.’… Click >>>Here<<< to read more.
Yet it is the less consistent portion of the Atheists whom I seek to call out tonight.
The ones who think their own moral virtues exonerate them from any possibility that even if they are wrong.... and it turns out that there is a god... that it is morally unthinkable that they might face damnation for their sins.
As mentioned earlier via the Self righteous Rationale that comparatively speaking, they deem themselves to be not morally inferior beings, but in fact far more moral, and enlightened, and tolerant, than the great horde of savages whom have flocked into churches over the millennia.
Having already pointed out the grievous error of such comparisons (first 1/2 doz paragraphs above), I would like to progress further into these disastrous rationalisms, and lay out some more Objective facts about sin, and atheist inconsistency.
Setting aside the fact that Atheism is fundamentally an Amoral world view, and that therefore atheists have no 'higher ground' upon which to stand to pass down condemnation upon God and his followers... we all know that this does not faze the bulk of them from proceeding to do precisely that!
Their hypocrisy goes much deeper.
With one breath they will play down the seriousness of their own moral short comings as 'trivial', yet with the next shake their fists at Heaven decrying the weightiness of the manifold evils of everyone else... and curse God for his inaction!
While they think nothing of their own blotches on creation, They boldly declare that no Good God would allow Hitler to rampage across Europe... as if their own existence could not be an affront to morality... yet Hitler's evils... they are God's fault!
God is a Bastard on Hitler's account... but not on theirs... they are better than God, they have the right to Judge God, they conciser themselves the innocent victims of God's Amoral inaction.
It matters not that all Hitler's actions stemmed from his atheistic world view.
They busy themselves trying to make out Hitler was a Christian!...(a topic for another time and an interesting psychological behaviour in itself).
Having said all that I may now get down to my main points…. Our personal culpability, and the seriousness of sin.
You see the reality of things is quite different from what these atheists assert… esp the idea that God does not give a toss about the evils of humanity.
God takes sin very very very seriously!
Way more seriously than all these self-righteous God hating atheists do!
Just because God has set up the world in such a way that we human beings have moral responsibility for our own actions… which means he has left us free to act with extreme goodness or extreme Evil *does not mean* he does not care, or intends evil doers to escape Scott free.
God has declared that in his time he will balance the scales and reward everyone their due.
Hitler has not escaped judgement by fleeing to Argentina!
So these notions that God does not care, are simply false.
He has good, valid, righteous reasons, for allowing Humanity to ‘act out their own vain imaginations.
That we are freewill moral agents living in a moral universe, means that our deeds have *moral weight*…. both for good, or ill… and when we do evil… innocent people suffer… that is what it means to live in a moral universe… It is in fact impossible to claim any goodness in a reality in which evil is impossible.
That is why Robots are amoral beings… whether they perform surgeries which save lives or slaughter thousands… they have no choice in their deeds.
The moral responsibility for the actions of Robots falls back on their free-will creators who made them, and so too would God be responsible for all Hitler’s evils… if Hitler was a robot… yet he was not a robot.
In all his deeds Hitler exercised his own freewill.
Thus it is absurd to blame God for Hitler’s deeds.
I have written more on this topic… ‘We are not Robots Ayn Rand. We are Moral Agents.’ Click >>Here<<
and another... 'Monism: Evolutionary Psychology and the Death of Morality, Reason and Freewill.' click >>>here<<<
So it is folly to suggest that Human evils are evidence against the existence or goodness of God.
When Adam sinned, God took that with such seriousness that he separated himself from Mankind, and condemned us all to death!
You see Adam's sin... had great moral weight.... affecting countless billions... though many will not be able to appreciate the mechanics of it... how what they see as a small act of disobedience by one man could bring such calamity upon posterity.
Yet that is how serious the consequences of Sin are!
They upset the entire hierarchy of reality... When Adam disobeyed God, not only did he loose faith in God's Good Character, he was dethroning God and establishing himself and his will above Gods!
a little leven leveneth the whole lump!
Humanity has been doing that ever since.
This is part of the reason why... the pragmatic portion... of why The Standard for Goodness is 100% Holiness... not comparative goodness... not a 'statistical mean/ scale of goodness'
The other portion is simply because God himself is Holy.
He sets the *Ideal Goodness*.
Yet God has sworn eternal Judgement upon sin!
Despite what the liberal Bible doubters say... there is a hell!
There is eternal damnation.
Yet everyone who ends up Damned, will be damned by their own Hatred of God, their pride, and rejection of God's mercy.
God has seen every act of evil we all have committed and is reserving his judgement.
Yet still God is loving, compassionate, and merciful.
We may say “It’s not fair that I was born into this cursed world!”… and indeed if we were born without hope… then this may in fact be a legitimate accusation against God’s character… yet he has not utterly abandoned us to Damnation, but instead immediately set in motion his plan to redeem us… and his modus opperandi reflects his absolute justice, The seriousness with which he condemns sin, and his love and mercy…. all displayed in the crucifixion of his sinless son Jesus Christ.
In Christ’s crucifixion we see God himself suffering a grotesque fate at the hands of evil men… he is not, nor has ever been completely insulated from the sufferings of evil himself.
That God deemed such a grotesque means was necessary for the payment for sin shows just how extremely seriously he takes sin to be, and how he will not allow his love to violate the principle of Justice… an eye for an eye… tooth for tooth…. The wages of sin is Death… Jesus took the full penalty of our sins upon himself.
He was not guilty of any sin himself and thus he was not subject to the penalty of death… for his own sins.
When Christ rose from the Dead, this was a testament to his victory over sin and death, and his resurrection altered the course of human history!
To receive Christ a person must appreciate the gravity of their own sins.
By it’s very nature the proud will reject the crucifixion as un-necessarily barbarous.
And the greatest sin anyone can commit is to *reject the sacrifice of Christ!*
For all their fuming against God, they prove they themselves dont take sin seriously… deeming themselves to be not guilty before God.
It is a hypocritical folly of the highest order.
Yes folks it is appointed unto us once to die and after this, the judgement!
At an appointed time the dead will stand before his judgement seat, and all whose names are not found
written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire… with their Father Satan… to spend eternity where they chose to be…. separated from God.
The reality of hell is a clear demonstration of how weighty a matter God considers sin to be.
In the light of these facts we see the tables turned on the atheist… the reality is *they dont consider sin to be anywhere near as serious a matter as God does….for all their accusations… it is they themselves whom are found wanting in ‘the righteous indignation department’.
Yet millions of sinners like myself will enter paradise… not because we are more righteous than our atheist friends and family, but because we simply received the Gift of God… he placed our sin upon Christ, and clothed us in Christ’s holiness.
And we will see God face to face and sing God’s praises for eternity.
Amen.
Ditch your foolish pride my neighbours, my friends… my family!
get a grip that you are a creation of God… a Moral agent.
Choose Christ and join us in the love of our Holy Heavenly Father!
End note: I decided to tag this post onto the end of a series I started several years ago entitled ‘How can a Good God exist when there is so much evil in the world?’
I wrote those in fairly quick succession, so that there is to my mind a progression of thought.
I always meant to carry on with the series as there is no way that they can be considered to have exhausted such an important subject, yet because of procrastination I have fumbled the ball somewhat, and so this post may not fit very tidily.
That being said I think it is a topic worthy of inclusion and hopefully I shall not be so long in adding the next one.
Just the one Saint this week. The day before Palm Sunday is the Saturday of Lazarus, when Christ raised His friend from the dead. In doing so, He forshadowed His own resurrection, and showed that He has power over all death, including our own.
