Why Israel’s Days Are Numbered
Uncategorized
WHY ISRAEL’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED
By Brother Nathanael Kapner, Copyright 2008-2011
Articles May Be Reproduced Only With Authorship of Br Nathanael Kapner
& Link To Real Zionist News (SM)
Please Help Support This Site!
Or Send Your Contribution To:
Brother Nathanael Kapner; PO Box 547; Priest River ID 83856
E-mail: bronathanael@yahoo.com
Sources: The Brzezinski/Obama Axis Here
Obama Is Brzezinski’s Puppet @ Rense.com Here
“A DANGEROUS EXEMPTION” is the title of an article by Zbigniew Brzezinski, published in June of 2006.
Because Brzezinski applauded Mearsheimer & Walt’s book, The Israel Lobby, which criticizes the influence of Zionist Jews in shaping US foreign policy, the Jewish-occupied press chose to ignore Brzezinski’s article.
Washington insider, Webster Tarpley of Rense.com, has pointed out & confirmed that Brzezinski is indeed Obama’s foreign policy advisor. And many now believe that Obama will be elected as the next US president.
The substantive content of Brzezinski’s, A Dangerous Exemption, gives us a clue as to what will be in store for Israel with Obama & Brzezinski in the White House:
“Given that the Middle East is the central challenge facing America, Mearsheimer and Walt have rendered a public service by initiating a much-needed public debate on the role of the ‘Israel lobby’ in shaping US foreign policy.
Mearsheimer and Walt are also generally critical of Israel’s policy. Thus they could be labeled as being anti-Israel. But an anti-Israel bias is not the same as anti-Semitism. To argue as much is to claim an untouchable immunity for Israel.
Mearsheimer and Walt adduce a great deal of evidence that Israel has been the beneficiary of highly preferential financial assistance. This massive aid to Israel enriches the prosperous Israelis at the cost of the American taxpayer.
Whether all of this produces the best definition of the American national interest in the Middle East is worthy of serious debate.”
View Entire Story Here.
ZIONIST JEW ALAN DERSHOWITZ called upon Obama in September of 2007 to repudiate Brzezinski as his foreign policy advisor. Here’s what Dershowitz had to say about Obama being influenced by Brzezinski:
“Obama has made a terrible mistake by bringing on Mr Brzezinski as his foreign policy advisor. In recent years, Mr Brzezinski has expressed a broader form of anti-Israel rhetoric.
Now Mr Brzezinski endorses Mearsheimer & Walt’s book, The Israel Lobby, which is a bigoted attack on the American Jewish community. I am glad that Obama has stated that the book’s arguments ‘are just wrong.’ But now Obama must disassociate himself from Mr Brzezinski.” View Entire Story Here.
Obviously, Obama did not “disassociate” himself from Brzezinski regardless of him paying lip service to the Jewish agenda. Testifying to Obama’s continued reliance on Brzezinski, the Jewish political analyst, Paul Eiderberg, wrote a scathing censure in August of 2008 of Obama’s pick of Brzezinski as his advisor:
“It behooves us to understand the mentality of Brzezinski who is Obama’s Middle East advisor. In past years, Brzezinski served as Carter’s national security advisor. One does not have to read Carter’s Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid to know that Carter is an anti-Semite. Brzezinski has earned the same reputation.
“Not only has Brzezinski defended the anti-Semitic canard that the relationship between America and Israel is the result of Jewish pressure, but he also signed a letter demanding dialog with Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel’s destruction.” View Entire Story Here.
Obama is a weak & unprincipled man. With a domineering Brzezinski advising Obama, an Obama presidency could translate into bad times ahead for Israel.
Israel’s Days Are Numbered…
___________________________________
For More See: “Brzezinski, Obama, & Their Zionist Bankers” Click Here
And: “Obama & The Coming Military State” Click Here
And: “Putin’s Move Into The Middle East” Click Here
And: “Will Israel Survive?” Click Here
CLICK: Brother Nathanael! Street Evangelist!
Please Help Support This Site!
Or Send Your Contribution To:
Brother Nathanael Kapner; PO Box 547; Priest River ID 83856
E-mail: bronathanael@yahoo.com
Brother Nathanael @ October 15, 2008
SPECIAL APPEAL BY BROTHER NATHANAEL:
This past Saturday afternoon, without any warning, my 3rd Web Hosting Co, “APOLLO,” shut REAL JEW NEWS down due to pressure once again by the wicked Haters of Freedom of Speech, the “Anti Defamation League.”
The ADL is run by the Jew, Abraham Foxman, who calls the New Testament “Anti Semitic.” Foxman, the wicked Anti Christ Jew ,has called for the New Testament to be banned, this wicked Anti Christ Jew. Where was Foxman when the New Testament was burned by the hundreds in Israel 6 months ago? Not a peep out of his wicked Anti Christ mouth!
The ADL is a very powerful “Israel Lobby” which has a branch in Jerusalem. Thus they are lying that their mission is to ‘combat’ Anti Semitism. No, the ADL’s mission is to STOP all criticism of Israel and promote this racist, murderous, rogue state.
Here is what the ADL, those wicked Haters of our freedom of speech, did to me: (They are Anti American my friends)
After 12 hours of grueling work and fighting with Apollo Web Hosting to gain access to the Control Panel, and probably another $1200 to pay a Web Master expert, Real Jew News is back up with a 4th Web Hosting Co. Hopefully this one will stick as they promised. They host the peppery Web Site, Jew Watch.com.
BUT – I am out of much money and will be forced to borrow money from some Credit Cards if I cannot raise some funds.
Recently I asked for help for an upcoming Washington DC trip. Not too many were willing to help out. It looks like I will have to cancel the trip due to this surprize hit from the ADL and the high costs incurred to switchover once again.
REAL JEW NEWS averages 180,000 visits, not including page visits per month. But VERY FEW are willing to help out with appeals and to keep this site running which COSTS MUCH MONEY. The band width required to carry the multiple picures incurs much monthly expense. Research and purchasing books also incurs much expense.
I need help to keep this site going and to pay for yet another switchover. Please consider helping as I will have to cancel the DC trip and borrow money to pay for everything that has hit me on Saturday – not to mention the $1200 dollars that half is still due from last month’s banning by the ADL.
Checks/Money Orders/Etc can be sent to:
Brother Nathanael Kapner; PO Box 547; Priest River ID; 83856
“obviously, Obama did NOT disassociate himself from Brzezinski – regardless of him paying lip service to the jewish agenda.” … ~~ … So, he’s not TOTALLY bowing to their demands… perhaps they will kill him, and Mr. Biden will resume the status quo again – before the “anti-semetic” Brzezinski has a chance to advise Obama in any undesirable directions ? … ~~ … I’m sure they wont go down without a fight !
Prof.Shlomo Sand,Tel Aviv Unv. new book, When and How Was The Jewish People Invented?
Culture/religion of the jew pure hoax based on lies. No legitimate claim to Palestine. Current Palestinians are the descendants of the original hebrews. Israeli/jew leadership have known this forever.
Traces genesis of current jew to Khazars. Other Israeli academics reluctantly agree.
Says only solution to jew/palestinian problem is to do away with the state of Israel and reinstitute Palestine as the official state.
The Jewish people have added much oomph in the building of North America. But sadly the entity known as Israel has added much oomph in the the troubles of North America.
Mearsheimer & Walt’s book stands as testimony of the trouble North America has endured and still endures. The time has come for the Jews of North America to chose North America or Israel.
We can not have both. As it undermines the fabric of freedom and humanity to favour Israel over the plight of palestine.
Apartheid systems do not mesh with freedom
Israel must face this and they must also choose freedom over it. The days of confrontations in the middle east are over , as continued confrontations will lead to the demise of Israel – Somthing the west will not allow to happen.
Thus confrontation in the middle east will lead to a continued degradation of Israel in the middle east. This is something not even Rothchilds money can change .
We in North America face our own plight. As the North American Union is fast appraoching it will , has already started to dismantle the USA.
The turmoil caused by this will render the USA incapacitated for awhile ,as many will fight the appraoching loss of The acceptance of Canadian laws to standard ize laws is inevitable .What most people miss is the need to join with Canada not the desire but the need.
As going forward, no nation poor in natural resources will survive. The Usa is like a 1000 watt bulb burns bright but uses alot of resources is all but burnt out. Inflation now threatens the existence of the people around the world.
The golden 1 billion people who live in countries with massive natural resources will be the chosen people to survive.
Russia and Canada are the richest nations on this earth.
Both have reserves that will carry them for another 1000 years. The USA citizens must understand this equation , only 1 billion people will survive the flood. The rest will live in caves or perish. The coming inflation will wipe out all the savings of country and personal.
This infaltion will render natural resources a commodity of dwindling proportions with a spiraling of costs that most nations will be prohibited from acquiring them. I’ve looked it from both sides now from up and down .there is no alternative for the USA but to join in union with Canada.
I have heard some Americans say that America can just come and take from Canada, but this is nonsense as Canada is not an entity it is a vassel state of the throne of England. Like the USA itself it is not a real country.
American leaders know this ,but sadly the American people have been left in the dark, they rummage around in the shadows and have no clue as to what their country is and what their place in the world is, or who is the real powers on this earth.
I know most Americans will not like what I have said ,unfortunately Americans must grow up and realize what reality is. It is time to shed all of the propaganda that has been placed in your heads by your govt., it is time for an awakening to the truth of history and not the fairy tale written by apologists.
Join with Canada the true north strong and free — or perish .
If Obama is killed the cities will explode, martial law will be declaredand thats it , the powers to be know that the juice that runs this world is running out everything is automated and they don’t need us stinking peons anymore
Bravo David, glad to see you came back ! …you are a quick study, for sure. What are the chances that all of your fellow American Jewry will see things as clearly as you ?… And what of the ones that KNOW exactly what’s going on, and think it’s a great idea ? They’re out there – I’ve met them; they told me there was nothing I could do ! … ~~~ …And good luck talking the Talmudic Rabbis in Israel into ANY of the things you mentioned !… Those guys are NOT messing around !!
GOOD!
It’s always brought the bile up from my stomach when I see how the nasty little nation murders us,spys on us, steals from us, buys our whores in office, slaughters Palestinians, leads us into wars for THEM…I cannot express the acute JOY I feel at the thought of the U.S. Sheeple ending their term as attack dog for the murdering swine. I WAS hoping they’d make a move on Iran and Russia would simply create a blackened pit where the nasty little nation is now, but I guess just pulling the “leech” off of this country will be enough…THen they can cry about a REAL holocaust commited against them in retaliation for the REAL holocaust they executed on Russia, Palestine etc..
Folks we must help Brother Nathanael as much as we can in this crisis of so little cash that he has right now. What he is doing is a life line of truth that you can’t get anywhere else. God has raised him up these last days to spaek the truth against these satanic forces, and if ADL can shut him down that would be the devil’s joy.
Pllease get out your debit cards and donate what ever you can! If you don’t pay tithe at a church or give offerings, at least give here and help him keep spreading the truth. He has swong a blow against evil that nobody will understand until they get to the hereafter. Act now and help all you can even if it’s only $5. If we all chip in we can help him over this rough spot.
To David : I’m from Canada, and NOBODY that I know wants to join with the U.S. ! ~ You speak of natural resources… Russia’s ‘Super Deep’ oil wells PROVE that oil isn’t the issue – I think they want to take the Constitution, & the Charter away from us… then we’ll be easier to control ~ slaves !
Dear Brother Nathanael,
I read your website, but I never decided to post until today. The comments I have are not too extensive, but, I hope, they are pertinent.
In my view, the problem is not Israel or this or that, but rather the problem is within each and every individual human being of every nation, including the Jewish people, that was ever or will ever be born. That problem is hubris, the thought that we, created beings, can supercede the Perfect and Holy Will of our Creator, despite the fact that when we do, we create imperfection and chaos in our own lives and the lives of everyone else. Despite the fact that when we do, we walk away from God and recede from the Kingdom of Heaven and walk toward eternal separation from God and, therefore, eternal suffering – 100% because of our own thoughts and actions.
Was the purely voluntary sacrifice of Jesus Christ in vain for the people of our generation? Did He make possible the reconnection between God and men in vain? I do not think so, but the problem is that most people in today’s world no longer care!
Our individual and collective hubris is our one and only moral failure, and all the problems and failures of mankind can be shown to derive from it. The weakening of Christiandom to outside influences can be shown to derive from it.
In particular, one cannot but recoil at the state of the present-day Chrisiandom. What were once Christian empires and Christian nations now live in, at most, a lukewarm indifference to the good and evil in their lives.
It is no wonder that the world is distressed, that wars and strife are slowly but surely encroaching upon us as our wholesome Christian heritage is being left for other but very imperfect and destructive ways of life.
It is not about the Jews in the core problem, Brother Nathanael, but about us. Whatever machinations are conducted by the Jews are not the illness, but one of the numerous symptoms of the disease. It is about humanity in general and its unfortunate rejection of God, especially in the last several generations of people.
Think about it. The hearts of men are not made of stone, they see goodness and recognize its fruits. If we Christians strove to live up to the high standards of our Faith, our Faith would already liberate the whole of humanity, including the Jews, for the fruits of our Faith are always good if – and only if – we, the bearers of the Faith, live truthfully in accord to its teachings.
And so the solution to the problem of anti-Christian agendas is not a goal to itself, but a corollary of a vastly more important goal, for all people of the entire world: to come back into the Kingdom of Heaven, to Communion with God our Creator, into a life of eternal joy and immortality.
Once people rejuvenate their zeal for that, the only real Goal of our lives, the life on earth will surely change for the better as a corollary of this main Goal being again the centerpiece of our lives.
That Goal is the Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One who chose to to follow His Father’s Will toward bridging the divide between God and men that was created after Adam and Eve had rejected God.
It is in walking toward that Goal that the only hope of humanity, including the Jews, isfound.
I’m a bit confused here. The first thing Obama did when he “won” the Democratic nomination was go to AIPAC. (the second thing he did was go to La Raza, which is Spanish for “AIPAC”.)
He has always struck me as willing to play ball with his Zionist masters. The same people who choreographed his “win.” Speaking of which, I haven’t seen choreography that wooden, and obvious, since the Lee Harvey Oswald assassination.
So my question is, Is Obama on the same page with the American-Israeli Zionists or not?
I have always been averse to Mr. Brezinzski’s tactics….arming the Mujahadine forces against the Russians….Tri-Lateral Commission….
Without a doubt, this Polish Aristocrat wants Russia!!! I expect with an Obama Victory…more troops into Pakistan to protect the former, now independent Republics… Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, etc., etc.
He might speak the truth about the Israeli Lobby PAC Groups, but underneath all that talk, lies a One World Government, New World Order Man!
Brezinzski just doesn’t care for it being the Knesset in Jerusalem that sits on top of it all…
However, in all fairness to Mr. B., at least he speaks with conviction…unlike Obama…
Damned if we do….
and Damned if we don’t….
But don’t discount the Republicans out!!! ….Karl Rove has perfected the art of “rigging elections”….he’s had more than 8 years of experience!!!
McCain and Palin look like a couple of idiots….but I remember saying that about Bush in 1998/99….
“Who in their right mind, would vote for George Bush Jr.???”
Well, I don’t see how this relates to Brzezinsky’s and Obama’s drive to see us engage in war in the sovereign territory of nuclear armed Pakistan. I could start liking Zbig better if his reign meant a limit to Israel’s hubris, but not at the expense of general World War.
What about Zbig’s alleged anti-Russian bias, and alleged desire to see Russia balkanized. Brother Nathanael, you are a friend to Russia, and Zbig is allegedly quite anti-Russian. This poses a dilemma. Yet it does nothing to diminish the content of your article regarding his views against Israel.
I will be very interested to hear from someone who has a view that reconciles this, or maybe adds a dimension of understanding to how we could expect a Brzezinsky foreign policy function positively toward Russia.
Also, Anton is philosophically correct that the real battleground is not the Mid-East, or Israel, but our individual souls. That is a higher truth, without which the study of political power has no meaningful context.
It is as Joshua said. You can forget about your North American union, it’s not going to happen.
First it’s being implemented by the globalists so it’s only a tool to undermine and destroy our race, lands and nationality. One more step toward their ‘one nation utopia’, wich would in fact be nothing more than a totalitarian regime, a boot stamping on our face.
Second why would we want to burden ourselves with the US problems??? Canada has everything to lose from such a union whether it’s financially, culturally or ethnically. And there are quite a lot of anti-American sentiments here since the Iraq/Afghanistan charade.
Third, Mexico will also be part of the union and will drive our money down and population waaay up.
If they want their union they’ll have to invade our country because no matter how much referendum they hold the answer will always be no. And if they implement it without the people’s consent there’s going to be civil war.
I’ve been thinking about this, and here is my take : The ADL has their feelers out, and they see that a LOT of people know what’s going on now… and that number grows exponentially each day. ~ So, they start little whispers (Jesse Jackson said Obama would rid America of it’s Zionist influence…, Brzezinski being anti-semetic, etc.) ~~ People trust Obama & he becomes president, then the REAL fun begins !
@ Anton
The problem is Americans don’t know and actually can’t see their enemy, which is what Bro Nathanael is trying to show people with lots of patience. I remember that Rev. Ted Pike who does some good ministry on Jews said the same.
The Jews on side with Jesus that post here have been raised in Jewry and know what is otherwise largely hidden from the non-Jew, unless the non-Jew goes out of the way to find it out by persistent and patient research.
It’s a progressive revelation to us raised as Christians, and as the truth about a Jew unfolds, many of us get a real shock to find out that many of these people have actually deliberately plotted all the time about how to make the lives of all non-Jews a complete mess, so they can have all good things for themselves. These thoughts the Jews have don’t actually occur to most non-Jews at any time – most of us just wanted to get on with our lives.
The thing that got me most was the way the Jews focus on climbing the social ladder, attaining social esteem, so they just sit back living sumpuously, while they know their co-religionists are devising the destruction of non-Jews. No doubt Jews often put people in an early hell, not just an early grave, when they kill them. I wonder how many of the 9/11 victims went down that way?
The other thing is that Jews deliberately plot the destruction of non-Jews out of pure spite, and even mock them after they’ve ruined them. This is because Jews know Christians have the blessings of the gospel Jews forfeited, or because they themselves know they’ve forfeited the redemption in Christ, and so don’t want anyone else to have it.
This is Lucifer’s philosophy, I’m damned so now let’s see how many I can burn in hell with me!
Jews jumping up and down after the fall of the Twin Towers in New York is but one of many examples of this. A vindictive post by a Jew a few threads back about the 58,000 Americans that died in Vietnam (only about 230 of them were Jews) is another example that comes to mind – he said “Jews aren’t so stupid”!
Don’t tell me all Jews in Jewry don’t know this – they all know what the rest are up to, so they’re all culpable. There are sins of ommission in the Bible, and silence about the sin of killing a man is one of them; and no Jew will stand up and spout off that he knows Jews have killed God’s Son Jesus Christ, at least not without taking his life in his hands.
You have to know the history of the Jews from the time of Christ’s presentation of himself to them as the messiah through to the present day to understand them. These people have not been ignorant of who Jesus was – they saw his miracles and heard his gracious words for three-and-a-half years, before they were inspired by their religious leaders to reject and crucify him.
The Jews as a nation generally despised and rejected Jesus, and hated him without a cause; but the leaders of the Jews delivered him to Pilate for envy, and who can stand before envy?
When rejecting Jesus, the Jews cursed themselves; but God still gave them time to repent; but they had forfeited that gracious provision by the end of the Acts of the Apostles, when Paul had done with preaching to them, and said they were reprobate, and that he would go to the Gentiles who would hear.
Jews have effectively had no way back to God since Paul was finished with them; except by direct intervention from God who has given light to an elect who have been very few in number.
Rebrobate Jews have mostly with time only hardened themselves in and multiplied their sins, so that they’re now easily the most wicked people on the planet, and this is so that the wrath of God will come upon them to the uttermost in the last great social cataclysm.
Are Jews more wicked than others? Even the rank pagan? Yes, because they’ve had the light of Christ but have gone hard against it, which is worse than having that light and ‘only’ neglecting or rejecting it. Apart from rank Satanists, and wicked rulers (especially communists) inspired by Jews, non-Jews don’t generally go hard out against Jesus like the Jews do.
In a crisis, when the table is turned on them, Jews run together like the quicksilver used to refine the Jews’ gold that’s used for world control; and they’ve all generally lent their hand to most of the violent opposition of Jews to Jesus, because they all feel some guilt about having a hand in killing him.
Do Jews really know about Jesus? Well Jesus said “Ye know me and ye know from whence I am”. No Jew can read the life of Christ in the New Testament and in the writings of Jews like Josephus and not know who they had as a visitor among them at the time – a man who did wonders – “no man ever spake like this man”.
Therefore America needs to know that all Jews have to be taken up as one unit and as guilty together in what’s going on; unless of course that Jew is a convert to Christ, and thus no longer a Jew but a Christian, which is even what Jews officially say they are.
Dear Michael K –
I just report the facts. I make no judgements just observations in this article on Israel’s Numbered Days.
Please read very carefully Tarpley’s Power Shift @ http://www.rense.com/general82/uspol.htm
This is the best explanation of Brzezinski’s current chessboard agenda. +bn
OFF TOPIC
A lesson in genocide from Russia, hummm.
Genocide Amercain style?
Story here…
http://www.russiatoday.com/features/news/31913
@ jewsribsinbearjaw
If you permit me, I would like to sidestep the debate of who exactly did what. I do not see Jews as a single unit. My understanding is that since childhood each and every child of Jewish descent is simply taught that each and every Gentile, particularly a Christian Gentile, is a vicious anti-semite worth fearing and hating.
Brother Nathanael may wish to either confirm or disprove this understanding of mine as he is better qualified to do so.
However most Jews may show tacit approval of certain things that this site talks about, they nonetheless do not take part in them. Most Jews are more concerned with living their life and feeding their family than with global or national issues – this is not unlike most Americans.
So if we clump the Jewish people together as one unit, what hope do we have of showing at least those of them who will be willing to listen what our Faith is about? If we simply expect them to behave a certain way and tell them about it, we will simply reinforce in these people what they were taught: that every non-Jew hates them and must be hated and mistrusted back.
I think that on a personal level we must do no more than what we must do toward every other human being: treat them with respect and dignity. Maybe then some of them will see the true, Christian path to live.
We have a lot of personal change to undergo if we expect to go back to a Christian life, and we must start first and foremost with ourselves. Then the Lord will hear our prayer and make things better for all.
Well I don’t like Obama’s policy towards Afghanistan & Pakistan, of which he said he wants to bring tens of thousands more troop, maybe even reinstating the draft. Another thing which does not bode well for Obama is Mr. Berg vs. Obama, he still had not provided real proof of his American citizenship.
But, if Mr. Brezinski is anti-Israel and he’s backing Obama, that is the only good thing about them. I’m tired of the pro-zionist bias of the USA. The AIPAC and the Neocons have done so much harm to the USA.
I know it sounds like: “Hey, let’s vote for Obama cause he’s going to change the pro-zionist bias”, of which McCain is part of. But I doubt Obama is a better solution. America’s choice for the next election is pretty bad.
You know what? I think America is doomed one way or the other.
Anyone know what happened to….
http://judicial-inc.biz/
Did they get shut down by the thought hit squad?
A few years ago I wrote an essay about the fusion of Mainstream Evangelical Christianity,Zionism and politics from a prophetic, historical, enlightened christian, point of view.
I predicted that Americans would soon tire of having their pocket books ransacked by Israel. Those misguided Evangelical Christian Zionists who have supported Israel by allowing the poor indigenous people, the Palestinians, would see the error of their ways.
Brother Nate. I agree that Israel’s days are numbered. America is only a few years away from devastation as well. A few years ago I contributed to blogs hosted by the journalist/photographer/programmer, Kurt Nimmo. He is the author of a book called, Another Day In The Empire. In one of those blogs I speculated that America has maybe, about 20 years left, as a nation.
Mr. Nimmo’s website has been shut down periodically just like yours. He has been offline for about a year, and like yourself, he too, has been on the receiving end of job losses and death threats for telling the truth.
I wish I knew about your website earlier because I would have supported you. I am currently unemployed like so many others and just barely making it. I hope you understand and ask for prayer for myself and others.
Thank you.
The end of Israel is coming soon. As the United States defaults on its financial obligations, this two-faced parasite will be forced to steal workers tax money, pensions, and savings from someone else.
Unfortunately for them, no other country is willing to give out the free pass, and free ride that they are currently enjoying. Seeing that the only thing Israel does is export assasinations, knock down towers, and kick off wars by proxy there will be no takers.
The current generation is just now starting to wake up as to who has been causing this mess on and off “in or time”. It seems everytime the United States fights a war for Israel, the poplace is economically thrown into a tail spin. Unemployment soars, Foreclosures soar, the domestics live in cars and work three jobs.
Speaking of employment and stability, did it ever occur to anyone who came up with the concept of outsourcing? who would be shrewd enough to destroy local tax bases and communities?
Who would encourage illegal immigration to further squeeze already shrinking labor markets? Sounds like the work of a Jew.
Unfortunately, these boobs haven’t figured out that you can’t run a civilization on Usury and Gambling, that debt model never worked.
Brzezinski is a traditional NWO globalist and far more dangerous than the Neocons agenda of fighting wars for Israel as there strategy is so in your face and obviously Jewish which inevitably turns out to be disastrous fitting a global agenda to suit a theocratic state.
This is what Brezinski opposes and targets the most powerful states that could oppose a NWO as described in his Grand Chessboard strategy Russia, China and India.
Especially Russia as that is a country that could be self sustaining and has huge oil and gas reserves and doesn’t have over population problems of China and India.
All three countries are facing a western backed Islamic insurgency and terrorism.
Islam is not against the NWO its a part of it the real enemy of the NWO is orthodox Christianity which they have tried to eradicate before 1917.
I think we have been distracted in the Mid East and missed what has been happening in Eastern Europe.
NATO expansion, missile shield, Litveneko plutonium smuggling, dioxin farce, George Soros coloured revolutions, Kosovo, etc.
Brzezinski is most likely the author of the failed Georgian assault in August and planning something in the Crimea and Ukraine so I would pay more attention to what is going on there than the Persian Gulf.
Brother Nathanael Kapner
What’s the difference between Orthodox Christianity and Protestant and Catholic Christianity?
@ james1 Hi There,
I am willing to answer yout question:
“What’s the difference between Orthodox Christianity and Protestant and Catholic Christianity?”
This question has been asked many times. Most Orthodox, in attempting to distinguish between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, usually mention the Pope or Purgatory, sometimes the filioque. Historically, the differences, however, are far more numerous and quite profound.
Also, in modern times, since Vatican II of thirty years ago, that major, if not tragic attempt, to “update” Roman Catholicism (e.g., the revision of canon law), the differences between Orthodoxy and the followers of the Pope have widened.
In our present discussion, however, the concern will be those differences, which have grown since Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism separated almost a thousand years ago.
1. Faith and Reason
Following the Holy Fathers, Orthodoxy uses science and philosophy to defend and explain her Faith. Unlike Roman Catholicism, she does not build on the results of philosophy and science. The Church does not seek to reconcile faith and reason. She makes no effort to prove by logic or science what Christ gave His followers to believe. If physics or biology or chemistry or philosophy lends support to the teachings of the Church, she does not refuse them. However, Orthodoxy is not intimidated by man’s intellectual accomplishments. She does not bow to them and change the Christian Faith to make it consistent with the results of human thought and science.
St. Basil the Great advised young monks to use Greek philosophy as a bee uses the flower. Take only the “honey,” —- the truth — which God has planted in the world to prepare men for the Coming of the Lord.
For example, the Greeks had a doctrine of the Logos. The Gospel of John opens, “In the beginning was the Word (Logos, in Greek). For the pagans, the Logos was not God, as He is for Christians; rather he is a principle, a power or force by which “God: formed and governs the world. The Fathers pointed to the similarity between the Logos or Word of the Bible and the Logos of Greek philosophy as a sign of Providence. The difference between them, they attributed to the sinfulness of men and the weakness of the human intellect. They remembered the words of the Apostle Paul, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2: 8).
Roman Catholicism, on the other hand, places a high value on human reason. Its history shows the consequence of that trust. For example, in the Latin Middle Ages, the 13th century, the theologian-philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, joined “Christianity” with the philosophy of Aristotle. From that period till now, the Latins have never wavered in their respect for human wisdom; and it has radically altered the theology, mysteries and institutions of the Christian religion.
2. The Development of Doctrine
The Orthodox Church does not endorse the view that the teachings of Christ have changed from time to time; rather that Christianity has remained unaltered from the moment that the Lord delivered the Faith to the Apostles (Matt. 28: 18-20). She affirms that “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) is now what it was in the beginning. Orthodox of the twentieth century believe precisely what was believed by Orthodox of the first, the fifth, the tenth, the fifteenth centuries.
To be sure, Orthodoxy recognizes external changes (e.g., vestments of clergy, monastic habits, new feasts, canons of ecumenical and regional councils, etc.), but nothing has been added or subtracted from her Faith. The external changes have a single purpose: To express that Faith under new circumstances. For example, the Bible and divine Services were translated from Hebrew and Greek into the language of new lands; or new religious customs arose to express the ethnic sensibilities of the converted peoples, etc.; nevertheless, their has always been “one faith, one Lord, one baptism” (Eph. 4: 4).
The fundamental witness to the Christian Tradition is the holy Scriptures; and the supreme expositors of the Scriptures are the divinely inspired Fathers of the Church, whether the Greek Fathers or Latin Fathers, Syriac Fathers or Slavic Fathers. Their place in the Orthodox religion cannot be challenged. Their authority cannot be superseded, altered or ignored.
On the other hand, Roman Catholicism, unable to show a continuity of faith and in order to justify new doctrine, erected in the last century, a theory of “doctrinal development.”
Following the philosophical spirit of the time (and the lead of Cardinal Henry Newman), Roman Catholic theologians began to define and teach the idea that Christ only gave us an “original deposit” of faith, a “seed,” which grew and matured through the centuries. The Holy Spirit, they said, amplified the Christian Faith as the Church moved into new circumstances and acquired other needs.
Consequently, Roman Catholicism, pictures its theology as growing in stages, to higher and more clearly defined levels of knowledge. The teachings of the Fathers, as important as they are, belong to a stage or level below the theology of the Latin Middle Ages (Scholasticism), and that theology lower than the new ideas which have come after it, such as Vatican II.
All the stages are useful, all are resources; and the theologian may appeal to the Fathers, for example, but they may also be contradicted by something else, something higher or newer.
On this basis, theories such as the dogmas of “papal infallibility” and “the immaculate conception” of the Virgin Mary (about which we will say more) are justifiably presented to the Faithful as necessary to their salvation.
In any case, the truth of these dogmas have always belonged to the Christian Tradition. They have been present from the beginning of that Tradition as “hints,” seeds that only waited for the right time to bloom.
3. God
Roman Catholicism teaches that human reason can prove that God is; and, even infer that He is eternal, infinite, good, bodiless, almighty, all-knowing, etc. He is “most real being,” “true being.” Humans are like Him (analogous), but we are imperfect being. The 17th century writer, Blaise Pascal, said it best, the God of Roman Catholicism is “the God of philosophers and savants, not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Following the Holy Fathers, Orthodoxy teaches that the knowledge of God is planted in human nature and that is how we know Him to exist. Otherwise, unless God speaks to us, human reason cannot know more. The saving knowledge of God comes by the Savior. Speaking to His Father, He said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou has sent” (John 17: 3).
Roman Catholicism teaches, also, that, in the Age to Come, man will, with his intellect and with the assistance of grace, behold the Essence of God. The Fathers declare that it is impossible to behold God in Himself. Not even divine grace, will give us such power. The saved will see, however, God as the glorified flesh of Christ.
Historically, the Roman Catholic theology never made the distinction between God’s Essence (what He is) and His Uncreated Energies (by what means He acts). St. Gregory Palamas tried to explain this distinction through a comparison between God and the Sun. The sun has its rays, God has His Energies (among them, Grace and Light). By His Energies, God created, sustains and governs the universe. By His Energies, He will transform the creation and deify it, that is, He will fill the new creation with His Energies as water fills a sponge.
Finally, Roman Catholicism teaches that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son” (filioque). In so doing, it spurned the Apostolic Tradition which always taught that God the Father is the single Source (“monarchy”) of the Son and the Spirit. Thus, the Latins added words to the Nicean Creed
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son . . .
They made this change on the authority of the Pope, in the 11th century, not any Council of the whole Church (Ecumenical Council).
4. Christ
Why did God become man? The Roman Catholic answer to this question differs from the teachings of the Holy Orthodox Church.
Following the holy Fathers, Orthodoxy teaches that Christ, on the Cross, gave “His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). “For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The “ransom” is paid to the grave. As the Lord revealed to the Prophet Hosea (Hosea 13:14), “I will ransom them (us) from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death.” In a sense, He pays the ransom to the devil who has the keeper of the grave and holds the power of death (Heb. 2:14).
The man Christ voluntarily gave Himself on the Cross. He died for all (“a ransom for many” or “the many”). But He rose from the dead in His crucified body. Death had no power to hold Him. It has no power over anyone. The human race is redeemed from the grave, from the devil. Free of the devil is to be free of death and sin. To be free of these, we become like God (deification) and may live with Him forever.
According to Roman Catholic theology, God became man in order to satisfy the divine Justice which was offended by the sin of Adam. In other words, by his sin Adam offended the infinite God and, therefore, his sin had infinite consequences. It was not within the power of sinful and finite man to make amends, for the sin of Adam (“original sin”) passed to us; but it is our obligation to do so. Only Christ, Who was God and man, could pay this “debt of honor.”
He pays the debt by dying on the Cross. His death makes up for what Adam had done; the offense is removed. God is no longer angry with man. Christ rises from the dead, the promise or “earnest” of the believing man’s future. For a long time, the Latins, whether among ordinary Catholics or intellectuals, little attention was given to the idea of deification. Not much attention was devoted to the concepts necessary to understanding this doctrine.
Roman Catholic theology is customarily legalistic and philosophical. For example, a “valid” (legal term) baptism into Christ is the result of the right intention (having the same understanding of baptism as the Church) and using the correct formula or words during the ceremony or rite. Thus, even an atheist, under certain conditions, could baptize a person. “Sprinkling” of water (effusion) over the head of the baptized is reasonable and sufficient.
Lately, some Latin theologians are rethinking the Christian teaching of salvation (soteriology). They are beginning to take the idea of deification (baptism as the first step) very seriously. They rightly insist that it belongs to Christian tradition, including “St. Augustine” and other Latin Fathers. In point of fact, a revolution in its theology is necessary if it is to become Scriptural and patristic; if it ever hopes to achieve the right understanding of Christ and His salvation.
5. The Church
The Roman Catholic view of the Church (ecclesiology) differs from the Orthodox teaching on this subject in several ways.
The Latins teach that the visible head of the Church is the Pope, the successor to St. Peter, who was appointed to that sacred position by the Lord Himself with the words, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I shall build my Church . . . ” (Matt. 16:18).
The Pope is, then, “the Bishop of the Catholic Church,” her teacher, the vicar (agent, deputy) of Christ on earth. He is the interpreter of the Christian Tradition. When he speaks for the whole Church (ex cathedra), the Holy Spirit does not permit him to err. He is, therefore, infallible on matters of morals and doctrine. Other bishops are his lieutenants. He is the symbol of the episcopate’s unity.
The Orthodox Church teaches that all bishops are equal. To be sure, there are different ranks of bishops (patriarch, archbishop, metropolitan, bishop); nevertheless, a bishop is a bishop. Such differences apply to the administration of a church or group of churches, not to the nature of the bishop. The president of a synod of bishops is called archbishop (Greek custom) or metropolitan (Russian custom).
According to Latin ecclesiology, each local parish is part of the universal or whole Church. The totality of Catholic parishes form the Body of Christ on earth. This visible Body has a visible head, the Pope. This idea of the Church implies that the local parish has two heads: the Pope and the local bishop. But a body with two visible heads is a monster. Also, the local bishop seems stripped of his apostolic authority if the Pope may contradict his orders. Indeed, he cannot become a bishop unless the Pope allows it.
Orthodoxy teaches that every bishop, “the living icon of Christ,” and his flock constitute the Church in a certain place; or, as St. Ignatius the God-bearer says, the Church of Christ is in the bishop, his priests and deacons, with the people, surrounding the Eucharist in the true faith. All bishops and their flocks so constituted, together composing the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
In other words, there can be no Church without a bishop, no bishop without the Eucharist, and no bishop or Eucharist without the true faith, the Apostolic Faith, “the faith once delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3) “The Church is in the bishop and the bishop in the Church,” wrote St. Cyprian of Carthage.
Put another way, there is no Church where there is no bishop, and there is no bishop where there is no succession of bishops from the Apostles (apostolic succession); and there can be no succession from the bishops without the faith of the Apostles.
Also, there can be no Church without the Eucharist, the Sacrament of unity, because the Church is formed through it. The Body and Blood of Christ unites the Faithful to God: This fellowship or koinonia is the whole purpose of Christianity. At the same time, there can be no Eucharist – and no other Mysteries – without a bishop who teaches the true faith to the baptized.
6. The Holy Canons
A canon is a “rule” or “guide” for governing The Church. Canons were composed by the Apostles, the Fathers, the local or regional and general or ecumenical Councils (in Latin) or Synods (in Greek). Only the bishop, as head of the church, applies them. He may use them “strictly” (akreveia) or “leniently” (economia). “Strictness” is the norm.
Unlike the Latins, the Orthodox Church does not think of canons as laws, that is, as regulating human relationships or securing human rights; rather, Orthodoxy views canons as the means of forging the “new man” or “new creature” through obedience. They are training in virtue. They are meant to produce holiness.
The Latins continue to change their canons, ignoring the old for the new. Not more than two decades ago, Rome revised its Canon Law. It composes new canons to keep up with the times. On the other hand, Orthodoxy, albeit adding canons from time to time and place to place, never discards the old ones, for they, too, are inspired by the Holy Spirit. In any case, human problems and spiritual needs do not really change. New canons are generally simple refinements of old canons.
Differences Between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism?
PART II
7. The Mysteries
Both the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics recognize at least seven Sacraments or Mysteries: The Eucharist, Baptism, Chrismation, Ordination, Penance, Marriage and Holy Oil for the sick (which the Latins have traditionally called “Extreme Unction” and reserved for the dying).
Concerning the Sacraments in general, the Orthodox teach that their material elements (bread, wine, water, chrism, etc.) become grace-filled by the calling of the Holy Spirit (epiklesis). Roman Catholicism believes that the Sacraments are effective on account of the priest who acts “in the person of Christ.”
At the same time, the Latins interpret the Sacraments in a legal and philosophical way. Hence, in the Eucharist, using the right material things (bread and wine) and pronouncing the correct formula, changes their substance (transubstantiation) into the Body and Blood of Christ. The visible elements or this and all Sacraments are merely “signs” of the presence of God.
The Orthodox call the Eucharist “the mystical Supper.” What the priest and the faithful consume is mysteriously the Body and Blood of Christ. We receive Him under the forms of bread and wine, because it would be wholly repugnant to eat “real” human flesh and drink “real” human blood.
According to Roman Catholic teachings about the Sacraments (mystagogy), a person becomes a member of the Church through Baptism. “Original sin” is washed away. Orthodoxy teaches the same, but the idea of an “original sin” or “inherited guilt” (from Adam) has no part in her thinking. More will be said later on this matter.
Roman Catholics speak of “Confirmation” and the Orthodox of “Chrismation.” “Confirmation” is separated from the Baptism and is performed by the bishop and not the priest; but “Chrismation” is performed with Baptism by a priest who has received “chrism” from the bishop. The Sacrament of “Confirmation” and “Chrismation” both mean the giving of the Holy Spirit. The Latins delay “confirming” (with “first communion”) baptized infants not more than seven years, that is, until the time they have some appreciation of the gift of God.
The Orthodox Church links Baptism, Chrismation and Holy Communion, first the threefold immersion into sanctified water, the “new Christian” rising from the water into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit which leads to union with God. Such is the purpose of membership in the Church.
Ordination is the ceremony which, by the grace and calling of God, elevates a man to the priesthood. The sacerdotal priesthood has three orders: Bishop, presbyter (elder) and deacon. All Christians are priests by virtue of the baptism into Christ Who is priest, prophet and king – for which reason St. Peter refers to the Church as a “royal priesthood” (I Pet. 2:9). The bishop is the “high priest,” the “president of the Eucharist and all the Mysteries. Presbyters and deacons are his assistants. The Latins hold that the presbyter acts “in the person of Christ” when, in fact, he does no more than represent the bishop who is “the living icon of Christ.”
Strictly speaking, Penance – sometimes called “Confession” – should only be received by the believer as a means of re-admission to the Church. For a long time, Penance, or confession of sins, prayer and fasting was employed only for those who had been expelled from the Church (“excommunication”) or who had voluntarily departed (apostasy). The present practice is to receive Penance from a bishop or presbyter for some serious sin before receiving Holy Communion.
Both the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics consider Penance as a Sacrament. Each has different customs surrounding it, such as the confessional booth so common among the latter.
For Roman Catholics, Holy Matrimony is a binding, ostensibly an unbreakable, contract. The man and the woman marry each other with the “church” (bishop or priest) standing as a witness to it. Hence, no divorce under any conditions – no divorce but annulment of the marriage contract if some canonical defect in it may be found which renders it null and void (as if it never took place).
In Orthodoxy, Holy Matrimony is not a contract; it is the mysterious or mystical union of a man and woman – in imitation of Christ and the Church – in the presence of “the whole People of God” through her bishop or his presbyter. Divorce is likewise forbidden, but, as a concession to human weakness, it is allowed for adultery. Second and third marriages are permitted – not as a legal matter – out of mercy, a further concession to human weakness (e.g., after the death of a spouse). This Sacrament, as all Sacraments or Mysteries, is completed by the Eucharist, as St. Dionysius the Areopagite says.
As already mentioned, the Latins conceive Extreme Unction as the final Sacrament, the Sacrament which prepares the believer for death, purgatory and the Age to Come. In Orthodoxy, Holy Oil is received for healing. Often sickness is caused by sin; therefore, Holy Oil or Unction involved Confession of sins. At the end of the rite, the anointed receives Holy Communion.
The Orthodox Church also recognizes kingship, monasticism, blessings of the water, etc. as Mysteries.
8. The Nature of Man
Human nature was created good, even in communion with the blessed Trinity which made “him.” Male and female were created “in the likeness and image of God” (Gen. 1:26): “likeness” in virtue; “image” meaning to rule the earth rationally, to act wisely and freely. The woman was made as a “help-meet” to the man (Gen. 2:18; I Cor. 11:8-9). They were to live together in harmony and mutual respect.
So far Roman Catholicism agrees with the Church; it differs with Orthodoxy on the nature of man’s fall and the human condition. Following Augustine of Hippo, the Latins teach that Adam and Eve sinned against God. The guilt of their sin has been inherited by every man, woman and child after them. All humanity is liable for their “original sin.”
Following the Holy Fathers, the Orthodox Church holds that when Adam sinned against God, he introduced death to the world. Since all men are born of the same human stock as Adam, all men inherit death. Death means that the life of every human being comes to an end (mortality); but also that death generates in us the passions (anger, hate, lust, greed, etc.), disease and aging.
Roman Catholicism has ordinarily paid little attention to the Orthodox conception of man as slave to death through his passions as manipulated by the devil. In fact, the devil has been pushed to the background. Thus, the Crucifixion has been understood by the Latins as Christ suffering punishment for the human race (“vicarious atonement”), when, in truth, Christ suffered and died on the Cross to conquer the devil and destroy his power, death.
In any case, Orthodoxy has always put great stress on “mastery of the passions” through prayer (public worship and private devotions), fasting (self-denial) and voluntary obedience and regular participation in the Eucharist (sometimes called “the Mysteries”). Thus, the highest form of Christian living (“the supreme philosophy”) is monasticism. Here all human energy is devoted to struggle for perfection.
Monasticism, in this sense, among Roman Catholics has all but disappeared. As a “supernatural religion” so-called, it has become increasingly “this-worldly.” Therefore, it has abandoned its medieval heritage, and its understanding of man, his nature and destiny has become increasingly secular.
9. The Mother of God
The doctrine of the place and person of the Virgin Mary in the Church is called “mariology.” Both Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism believe she is “Mother of God” (Theotokos, Deipare) and “the Ever-Virgin Mary.”
However, the Orthodox reject the Roman Catholic “dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary,” which was defined as “of the faith” by Pope Pius IX, on the 8th of December 1854. This dogma holds that from the first instant of her conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary was, by a most singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the human race, preserved from all stain of Original Sin. It is a doctrine revealed by God, and therefore to be firmly and steadfastly believed by all the faithful (from the Bull Ineffabilis Deus).
Such a theory has no basis in the Scriptures nor the Fathers. It contains many ideas (such as “the merits of Christ”) likewise without apostolic foundation. The idea that the Lord and His Saints produced more grace than necessary. This excess may be applied to others, even those in purgatory (see below).
But to return: the Church does not accept the idea that the Mother of God was born with the (inherited) guilt of Adam; no one is. She did, however, inherit the mortality which comes to all on account of Adam’s Fall.
Therefore, there is no need to do what Latin theologians have done. There is no reason to invent a theory to support the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. There is no need to teach that, on account of “the merits of Christ,” the Holy Spirit was able to prevent her from inheriting the guilt of Adam.
In fact, she was born like every other human being. The Holy Spirit prepared the Virgin Mary for her role as the Mother of God. She was filled with the Uncreated Energy of the Holy Spirit of God in order that she might be a worthy vessel for the birth of Christ. Nevertheless, several of the Fathers observed that before the Resurrection of her Son, she had sinned. St. John Chrysostom mentions the Wedding at Cana where she presumed to instruct Him (John 2:3-4). Here was proof of her mortality.
Receiving the Holy Spirit once more at Pentecost, she was able to die without sin. Because of her special role in the Divine Plan (“economy” or “dispensation”), she was taken into the heavens, body and soul. She now sits at the foot of her Son, making intercession for all those who implore her mercy. The Orthodox Church honors the miracle of her “assumption” with a feast on 15 August; likewise, the followers of the Pope.
Both also believe in the intercessions of the Virgin Mary and all the Saints. Such intercessions reflect the unity of the Church in heaven and the Church on earth.
Both also believe that there is a sense in which the Mother of God is the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ. Those who belong to the Church are identified with Him. But He is also our “brother” (Rom. 8:29). If Christ is our brother, then, the Virgin Mary is our mother. But the Church is our mother through Baptism. Therefore, the Virgin Mary is the Church.
10. Icons
The icon is an artistic depiction of Christ, the Mother of God and the Saints. God the Father cannot be painted, because He has never been seen. God the Holy Spirit has appeared as a dove and as “tongues of fire.” He may be shown in this way. God the Son became a man, and He may be painted in His human form.
Icons are more than sacred pictures. Everything about them is theological. For example, they are always flat, flat so that we who inhabit the physical world will understand that the world of the spirit where Christ, His Mother, the angels, the saints, and the departed dwell, is a world of mystery which cannot be penetrated by our five senses.
Customarily, Roman Catholicism has historically employed statues in its worship. The statues are life-like and three-dimensional. They seem to imitate the art of ancient Greece. Both arts are naturalistic. The Latins portray Christ, the Mother of God, the saints, even the angels, as if they were in a state of nature. This “naturalism” stems from the medieval idea that “grace perfects nature.”
The person or persons are represented on the icon as deified. He or she is not a perfect human being, but much more: They are transfigured and glorified. They have a new and grace-filled humanity.
Important to remember is the Latin theory of grace: It is created by God for man. Orthodoxy teaches, as we recall, that grace is uncreated, and impacts all creation. It is a mysterious extension of the Divine Nature. Orthodox iconography reflects this truth, even as Roman Catholic statues reflect its idea of grace.
Again, icons are a necessary part of Orthodox piety. The Orthodox honor and kiss icons, a devotion which passes from the icon to the person or persons represented in them. Icons are not idols and the Orthodox do not worship them. Worship is reserved for God alone. The statues set up in Roman Catholic temples are not commonly venerated; they are visual aids and decorations.
11. Purgatory
Purgatory is a condition of the departed before the final judgment. According to Roman Catholic theology, those souls destined for heaven (with a few exceptions) must endure a state of purgation, or purification. They must be cleansed of the sins committed on earth. The rest go to hell for eternal punishment.
Moreover, from a “treasury” of merits or extra grace accumulated by the virtue of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints, “indulgences” may be granted. The grace is applied to those in purgatory in order to shorten their time there.
Orthodoxy teaches that, after the soul leaves the body, it journeys to the abode of the dead (Hades). There are exceptions, such as the Theotokos, who was borne by the angels directly into heaven. As for the rest, we must remain in this condition of waiting. Because some have a prevision of the glory to come and others foretaste their suffering, the state of waiting is called “Particular Judgment.”
When Christ returns, the soul rejoins its risen body to be judged by Him. The “good and faithful servant” will inherit eternal life, the unfaithful with the unbeliever will spend eternity in hell. Their sins and their unbelief will torture them as fire.
12. Other Differences
There are other minor differences between the Orthodox Church and Roman Catholicism.
The Orthodox do not fast on Saturday (except Holy Saturday) or Sunday. Roman Catholics experience no such restriction.
Orthodox do not kneel on Sunday; Roman Catholics do. Orthodox have no “Stations of The Cross;” Roman Catholics do.
Orthodox presbyters and deacons may marry before ordination; Roman Catholic clergy are celibate.
Orthodox worship towards the East; Roman Catholics, not necessarily.
In the Orthodox Liturgy, the “bread” of the Eucharist is “leavened” (zyme); in the Roman Catholic Mass it is “unleavened” (azyme).
The Orthodox faithful receive both the “body” and “blood of Christ” in Holy Communion; Roman Catholics receive only the “bread,” a wafer.
There are no orders of Orthodox monks (male and female) as there is among Roman Catholics (Jesuits, Dominicans, Benedictines, Cistericans, etc.). More recently, many Roman Catholic monks and nuns have put away their traditional habits.
Orthodox clergy wear beards; Papist clergy are generally beardless.
There are many other differences, often the product of culture. Also, it is noteworthy that many of these differences, whether profound or not, do not apply to the contemporary religious situation. Ecumenism has brought great confusion, so that it is not always easy to say with any precision what Roman Catholics believe, while so-called Orthodox have abandoned the traditional teachings of the Church.
@james1
Take these videos in to consideration, watch them when you have time.
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpYjh1JzNLo
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsZWJ46IOs&mode=related&search=
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVvEPzBuTYk&mode=related&search=
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=323d2P18v0c&mode=related&search=
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-2owQErjQc&mode=related&search=
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIjNmgN4R1k
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve5uNBkcEgU&mode=related&search=
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRn1UVxTw0&mode=related&search=
History of the Orthodox Church – Part 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ5QDJMeihQ&mode=related&search=
@Nick – Soldier in the Army of Christ
Thanks for the info I will print it of and read it.
The video has been removed from youtube.
Did it have a bit about the Bolshevik revolution maybe even that it was Jewish?
Videos that are critical of Jews not just Zionist Jews are being removed from Google.
This gives the impression that only Zionists are the problem and that it originated with the creation of Israel.
@ james1
The pleasure is mine, thanks fot asking that question.
About the videos:
-are not removed, please go to youtube and type the title one by one(History of the Orthodox Church – Part 1) and is there, I checked now. For some reason when you click the link below the title does not work,..
just do not give up.
That’s orthodoxy all about DO NOT GIVE UP to let the satan win.
A great movie on Google video:
The Money Masters – How International Bankers Gained Control of America
@ james1 The video has been removed from youtube.
It is not possible. Somebody else will put the movie back.
History of the Orthodox Church
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hikdcW7d-Ws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL726QucaJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpWY1FhkALk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF8ehWzygh8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnJx2lt8mRM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKqnxziVCSQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVmRrb0V–o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpxtW8g7bs4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2lWbElk7QM&feature=related
“If you permit me, I would like to sidestep the debate of who exactly did what. I do not see Jews as a single unit. My understanding is that since childhood each and every child of Jewish descent is simply taught that each and every Gentile, particularly a Christian Gentile, is a vicious anti-semite worth fearing and hating.”
While many have tried to find a way to absolve the Jews AS A RACE from their guilt, truly the ONLY way is for them to ABANDON their Racial Supremacist position, become Orthodox Christians, abjure the Talmud, and renounce their false ‘Chosen People’ status. This is what Br. Nathanael has done, which is why his witness and willingness to stand up for the Church is so vital.
Moreover, as long as a Jew REMAINS a jew, the curse of Good Friday, ‘His blood be on us, and ON OUR CHILDREN’ remains.
I have written in my blog, as well as in other places that this racial condemnation is not removed, abrogated or minimized even in the face of false Roman attempts to ‘absolve the Jews’.
As they are no true Church, they cannot lift the Anathemas the Church Orthodox has laid on them, nor can they lift the anathemas the Jews themselves have laid on.
Br. Nathanael’s example is the ONLY way for a Jew to be ‘saved’ (renunciation, abjuration, batism/chrismation, and adaptation to the Israel of God [ Gal. 6:16] and the Dispensational heresy that many protestants hold to, is a grave THEOLOGICAL HERESY that did not exist before 1830. This, too is a re-hash of the theological differences between Orthodoxy and all the rest.
The Orthodox fathers clearly state that there is an INCARNATIONAL aspect to the Jews’ perfidy that will eventually result in the ‘seed’ of Satan [John 8:44] being incarnated in a blasphemous manner by a ‘Jewish’ whore, precisely to mock the real Incarnation by the Second Eve, Mary, the Theotokos.
There is much more than just theological abstractions to be pondered in the brain. There is a race of God and a race of Satan, and the Church has long noted it.
Hey! What about an Orthodox Christian music break?
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7tKexc4wSM&feature=related
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=EcpUnZ_ghdA&feature=related
Dear Fr. John –
Welcome back to the Comments section of Real Jew News.
Your comments combine a pious, Christian orientation with a grasp of the social issues facing Christian folk today.
I encourage you to please be a regular poster here on the Comments section. +bn
@ Fr. John.
I am a little bit confused, and maybe you could clarify my confusion. Are you an Orthodox priest? I have great difficulty thinking so based on the material i found on your website.
My view on the issues you raise on your website are as follows:
1) God made it more difficult for humanity to go astray, by differentiating the languages of people. This causes formation of many peoples and nations and the general propensity of human beings as a whole toward going away from God was thus greatly slowed down.
2) God does not favor one over another based on the color of one’s skin. Never. Color of one’s skin is merely an adaptability trait due to life in different climate conditions. There are 5 million Orthodox Christians in Africa. However, God does favor each nation and each people to live in their own country and not re-create the conditions of the Tower of Babel.
3) Races of men seem to descend from the sons of Noah: Sim, Japeth and Ham, with some variation.
3) There is no determination in the genetic makeup of any human being toward or away from God. Any decisions are made by the free will of people: some people accept God and some people reject him, alas.
Anything else – any claims of a genetic component to Christianity – is a horrible, dangerous, impossible and unacceptable delusion!!!
Brzezinsky disapproved of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in 1999. His anti-Russian bent is concerning, especially as Russia is beginning to place itself on sound footing.
@ Fr. John
I would go largely with what you said of the Jews, but I don’t believe the “nation” of the international Jewry (i.e., as a nation-within-a-nation or as a nation state in Palestine) is a “race” of people. That is, if, in fact, you mean they’re “the descendants of a common racial ancestor”, which obviously doesn’t have Adam in mind, as the first of the “human race” of which all have part.
I’m aware that the Jews have argued over this; and from what I can gather the only thing they can find “racial” unity in is their “nationhood”, as globally a nation-within-a-nation and a nation state in Palestine – their “cultural” unity as co-religionists, is, of course, entirely another matter.
I’m also aware that some of the Jews’ claim they have a common DNA in some sort of weird and wonderful way; but I would imagine that you would reject this, like I do, as either a patent falsehood or as an attempt to give credence to something without providing the evidence.
A race is also defined as “a breed or variety” of something, and perhaps that’s what you had in mind; because the Jews are certainly a “breed or variety” of humanity, which is, as you probably know, now divided by God three ways, according to scripture, as into “Jews, Gentiles, and the church of God”.
Jews are, of course, quite rightly defined as racial supremacists as you say; but just which “race” among the Jews has been and is today supreme has been a bone of contention, not only among non-Jews, but among the Jews themselves.
You say there’s “a race of God and a race of Satan”; but again I imagine you mean “race” in terms of a moral breed or variety of persons, or those reconciled to God though faith and those not; and perhaps you have the descendants of Seth and Cain, as the first branch of humanity, in view as a sort of prototype in a figurative or allegorical way.
You also speak of “the dispensational heresy of some Protestants as a grave theological heresy that did not exist before 1830”; the date of 1830 apparently refering to a hermeneutical model provided by John Nelson Darby.
I am aware that you have an eschatology that differs from that of the followers of Darby and dispensationalists in the contemporary sense. However if you are condemning the idea of dispensations in general, as heresy, I would draw your attention to the apostle Paul who introduces us to the word “dispensation” four times in his epistles, and exhorted his young son in the faith, Timothy, to “rightly divide the word of truth”.
The fact is Orthodox Christians do recognize “dispensations” or distinct “economies” (i.e., systems of rules or ceremonies) in the way God has dealt with man since the creation and the fall into sin; even if their “dispensations” differ from those of Protestants, Roman Catholics, and other Christians.
This is not just semantics, it is something Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and other Christians, bear witness to in their lives on a day to day basis, in terms of their beliefs, dress code, and other various institutions of religion.
Criminalising dissent
US states are spying on political activists and classifying them as terrorists in order to stifle protest
Sinister terroristic nuns must be stopped.
Story here………
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/oct/15/terrorism-civil-liberties-surveillance
The Peace of Christ be with you.
@ Br.N. – Thanks, I will read in depth again the quoted article. Interestingly, I found Tarpley aligned with Larouche in the context of the big political game. I find many reasons to take exception to Larouche, the number one which is that he is a probable Grand Orient (Paris) Freemason, thus his invective against Grand Lodge (London) Freemasonry is quite shrill, but is not balanced by the many things unsaid about the French position. Finding Tarpley in association with him makes it likely that both have a Grand Orient agenda. However, all sucessful propaganda is nearly 90% true, it’s just spotting the non-sequitors which are inserted at the psychic pauses in the text which is so vital to understanding what is fact and what is a lie.
@ Nick-Soldier.. – Thanks for the education. I am an ecumenical non-Roman Catholic, and I respect and agree with much of the Orthodox teachings, more so than with Rome. It is interesting to note that Bill Schnoebelein, the self styled ex-Vampire of some slight Internet fame identified certain Orthodox monks as initiators in the Vampire cult. Perhaps there are some strange Orthodox believers in Chicago, but that doesn’t in my mind make a difference as far as the whole Church is concerned.
@ Fr. John/Jewsinbear..- The “dispensational” heresy referred to here signifies to me the British Israel complex. Namely the introduction of the Scofield Reference Bible, with its intentionally leading marginal footnotes which have given rise to a generation of “Bible Believers” who believe that the English speaking people are the direct lineage of the nothern kingdom of Israel, as distinct from Judah. They believe that the Saxon, Celt, and so on are partakers of the racial privileges and immunities explicitly ‘promised’ to Israel in the Old Testament. This racial conceit makes a philosophical alliance between London and the Jews of Amsterdam. What I see is a union of the human sacrificing Druid Cult that has oppressed the ancient West for millennia with the human sacrificing Baal-Moloch Cult of the Chaldeans/Caananites, the very scourge of the Old Testament, and perennial temptation of “Jews.”
The London based Masonic observance is Deistic/Luciferic. It teaches the British Israel race heresy through paid “Evangelism,” throughout the English speaking world. The NWO message behind all of this is that we may expect a future worldly “Kingdom of God,” a fleshy paradise on earth to come, which is no different than extremist Judaism’s teaching of an immanent Jewish Messiah who will unite the earth under Jewish rule.
The Parisian Grand Orient teaches an atheistic, humanistic version of the same prophesy, with its attempts at engineering a synthetic future Utopia through ‘Ordo ab Chaos.” Either version takes the believer straight to his destruction, both physically and spiritually.
Beware these traps, Christian brothers.
Peace.
I, greatly, fear for America and Americans.
Democrats and republicans do not offer a candidate who cares about the people.
Remember, these are the people who elected George Bush II, twice. It appears they’re going to elect someone, worse (either one), this November.
Things are so bad I’m joining survivalist groups and storing food..
@ Michael K. Hi!
You said: “ecumenical non-Roman Catholic”?
Do you know what that means? that you agree with Ecumenism, right? Please correct me if I am wrong.
Please watch this video about ecumenism and let me know if you still want to be an ecumenical and not ORTHODOX.
http://www.ortodoxtv.com/filme-video/orthodox-awareness-film.php
If you change your mind and want guidance towards Orthodoxy please let me know, I am willing to help you out.
May Christ help you and guide you towards the road of SALVATION in the Orthodox Church. Amen!
@ James1
More answers on your question:
“What’s the difference between Orthodox Christianity and Protestant?”
Orthodox Teaching on Salvation as Compared to That of Protestants
Protestants and particularly evangelicals take a “minimalist” approach to salvation. They focus on salvation as justification, “I can go to heaven rather than hell.” Plenty of people recognize that being a Christian is more than just a matter of “fire insurance,” but it is easy to be fooled by one’s own sales pitch–Just accept Jesus as your savior. Plenty of people think that is all there is to it.
Furthermore, the “saved by faith” emphasis is a strong filter on one’s Bible reading. In Romans 10, St. Paul writes: if you will confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (v 9). My evangelical training led me automatically to think in terms of a “punctilious” confession. It is not good to argue whether this particular passage refers to a one-time action or a recurring one.
But in his sermon the Orthodox priest in Orthodox fashion, of “confessing with our mouth” each time we receive Holy Communion. The Orthodox approach to salvation is “maximalist”: “How can I be most saved?” . One gets a sense of this teaching from St. John Chrysostom’s “Baptismal Instructions,” Talking to the newly baptized, he says (3d Instruction)
Let us say again: Blessed be God, who alone does wonderful things, who does all things and transforms them. Before yesterday you were captives, but now you are free and citizens of the Church; lately you lived in the shame of your sins, but now you live in freedom and justice. You are not only free, but also holy; not only holy, but also just; not only just, but also sons; not only sons, but also heirs; not only heirs, but also brothers of Christ; not only brothers of Christ, but also joint heirs; not only joint heirs, but also members; not only members, but also the temple; not only the temple, but also instruments of the Spirit.
Blessed be God, who alone does wonderful things!. You have seen how numerous are the gifts of baptism. Although many men think that the only gift it confers is the remission of sins, we have counted its honors to the number of ten. It is on this account that we baptize even infants, although they are sinless, that they may be given the further gifts of sanctification, justice, filial adoption, and inheritance, that they may be brothers and members of Christ, and become dwelling places for the Spirit.”[Ancient Christian Writers, p. 57]
St. John uses other descriptions of baptism: marriage, enrollment in the army, putting [on] a white robe (which they literally did). He goes on to urge his listeners to keep their robes spotless:
Knowing, therefore, that after the grace of God everything depends on us and on our zeal, let us be grateful gifts which have already been given, so that we may make ourselves worthy of still greater gifts. [24]
Therefore, I exhort you who have just deserved the divine gift to keep careful watch and to guard the spiritual garment bestowed on you, keeping it clean and spotless. Let those of us who received this gift in the past show a far-reaching change in our lives. It is possible, if we are willing, it is possible for us to return and go back to our former beauty and luster, if only we will do our fair share . . . . The soul which was once sullied and became disfigured and disgraced by the multitude of its sins can quickly return to its former beauty, if we give evidence of ample and exact repentance.” (circa ad 390) [pp. 90-91]
I think one can construct from the Church Fathers a “normal” Christian life: instruction, baptism, on-going participation in the life of the Church: repentance, confession, receiving the Eucharist. But it is rare that you will find them attempting to answer the question “What can I get by with and still be saved?” or “How far can one be from this ‘norm’ and still be saved?”
They did have to deal with the question of “how necessary is baptism?” during the persecutions. What of the catechumens who were martyred before baptism? It was in this context that the belief in ‘martyrs being baptized with their own blood’ arose.
At the other end of the Christian life, many saints (as recognized later by the Church) died with a profound sense of their own sinfulness and unworthiness before a Holy God. I have found the Orthodox approach to Scriptures, especially on matters of salvation, to be very “integrative.” Christ’s incarnation, ministry, death, descent into hades, resurrection, ascension; our sinfulness, repentance, baptism, carrying our cross, ‘doing to the least of these’, running the race, confidence in God’s love and mercy, fear of falling away, putting on the new nature, . . . . There is no tendency to pick one aspect of salvation “to reinterpret everything else to fit.” The parable of the goats and the sheep is taken as seriously as Ephesians 2:8-9.
Orthodoxy often insists that the whole truth lies in holding on to two (or more) apparently contradictory concepts: God is both One God, and Three Persons; Christ is one person, two natures. The same applies to our salvation. On many points where a Protestant wants and either/or answer, an Orthodox will insist on both/and.
Prayer
My most merciful and all-merciful God, O Lord Jesus Christ! In Thy great love, Thou didst come down and become flesh in order to save all. Again, I pray Thee, save me by Grace! If Thou shouldst save me because of my deeds, it would not be a gift, but merely a duty. Truly, Thou aboundest in graciousness and art inexpressibly merciful! Thou hast said, O my Christ: “He who believes in me shall live and never see death”. If faith in Thee saves the desperate, behold: I believe! Save me, for Thou art my God and my Maker. May my faith replace my deeds, O my God, for Thou wilt find no deeds to justify me. May my faith be sufficient for all. May it answer for me; may it justify me; may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory; and may Satan not seize me, O Word, and boast that He has torn me from Thy hand and fold. O Christ my Savior: save me whether I want it or not! Come quickly, hurry, for I perish! Thou art my God from my mother’s womb. Grant, O Lord, that I may now love Thee as once I loved sin, and that I may labor for Thee without laziness as once I labored for Satan the deceiver. Even more, I will labor for Thee, my Lord and God Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
@ Nick-Soldier-
I watched the recommended film about the Orthodox Ecumenists and the World Council of Churches. Let me first say that when I refer to myself as an ecumenical Non-Roman Catholic, I am using a standard dictionary definition of ecumenical, meaning-relating to the whole Christian Church. The Ecumenists with a capitol “E” are a definite group which I am not part of, per se.
Regarding the World Council of Churches, the notion of putting people of different religions together to meet each other in good faith and open-mindedness is not a bad idea. The problem with it seems to be an agenda to try to make one religion out of all of them. Not only doesn’t this respect the explicit differences of meaning in different faiths, but it really just creates something entirely new and vaguely defined. It seems more like NWO activity than some earnest attempt to promote religious understanding free from an overarching prejudice.
Perhaps the criticism of your Orthodox church leaders is quite valid. What do they say?
Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ from No Cal US of Talmudistan
BN+ God bless you. I found what the blind dog couldn’t see. Brzeznksi is a crypto-Marxist, which means he is opposed to all nation/states, and not “anti-Israel”. As a crypto-Marxist, Brzezinski deplores the nation-state. The CPUSA and just about every leftist, Marxist, and red diapers PAC is lining up behind Obama. The rightist Establishment Jews and Z-Bits have been arguing for about thirty years over his lack of Zionist zeal. That’s because
His book Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era, declares that “With the splitting and eclipse of Christianity man began to worship a new deity: the nation. The nation became a mystical object claiming man’s love and loyalty. The nation-state along with the doctrine of national sovereignty fragmented humanity. It could not provide a rational framework within which the relations between nations could develop.” Brzezinski sees the nation-state as having only partly increased man’s social consciousness and only partially alleviated the human condition.
“That is why Marxism,” he contends, “represents a further vital and creative stage in the maturing and man’s universal vision.” Marxism, he says, “was the most powerful doctrine for generating a universal and secular human consciousness.” [So much for Z-Bit “being a Pole first, a Catholic second, and an American third.”] Embodied in the Soviet Union, however, Communism became the dogma of a party and, under Stalin, “was wedded to Russian nationalism. ”
Although Brzezinski poses as a humanist, he makes a most inhumane statement by saying that: “although Stalinism may have been a needless tragedy, for both the Russian people and Communism as an ideal, there is the intellectually tantalizing possibility that for the world at large it was … a blessing in disguise.” Ponder this shocking statement about Islam or of Islamic imperialism. Yes, it slaughtered more than 200 million people, but Islam brought hundreds of Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Buddhist communities under a single universal vision, that of the Quran. [He hasn’t been building “Islamo-fascism, he’s been building Islamo-communism in Central Asia with his NGO’s. Those corrupted Korans are still being recycled through the madrassas in Pakistan and elsewhere. Behind Z-bits is also Soros, a crypto-Marxist]
Brzezinski, a self-professed secularist, is a globalist whose moral relativism contradicts the moral law or natural rights doctrine of America’s Declaration of Independence. His relativism and internationalism contradict the teachings of the America’s Founding Fathers, who endowed the United States with a national identity and character, the same that animated Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. To put it more bluntly: Brzezinski’s mode of thought or political mentality — like that of countless other American academics — is anti-American. An Obama-Brzezinski axis has revolutionary significance. It might accelerate the de-Americanization and decline of the United States.
Look at who Obama’s advisers are. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mark Brzezinski, Ian Brzezinski. All admitted Russia haters. With Obama, we are looking at a bought and paid for candidate by the Rockefeller CFR/Trilateralists regime. 1981-1983 Obama attend Columbia University in NY. He studies politics with a specialty in international relations with a thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament. At the same time, Zbigniew Brzezinski was the director of the Communist Affairs Institute at Columbia. Obama has been indoctrinated with Brzezinski Russian hating for nearly three decades. We are headed for World War III with Obama. Throw Russia in with our impending battle with Iran and we are looking into very very scary times. Vote Ron Paul.
Brzeznksi bits: the boaster congratulates himself on setting up “Al Qaeda” to sucker a response into Afghanistan from the old Soviet Union to create a Nam-style quagmire. Z-Bits seems mildly annoyed that the French interviewer was not entirely impressed with his brilliant maneuver, however. What does one do with a Polish aristocrat in America, anyway?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html
According to this 1998 interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the CIA’s intervention in Afghanistan preceded the 1979 Soviet invasion. This decision of the Carter Administration in 1979 to intervene and destabilise Afghanistan is the root cause of Afghanistan’s destruction as a nation.
M.C.
The CIA’s Intervention in Afghanistan
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski,
President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser
Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, 15-21 January 1998
Posted at globalresearch.ca 15 October 2001
——————————————————————————–
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs [“From the Shadows”], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?
B: It isn’t quite that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn’t believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don’t regret anything today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.
Translated from the French by Bill Blum
——————————————————————————–
The URL of this article is:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html
Copyright, Le Nouvel Observateur and Bill Blum. For fair use only.
——————————————–
To be strictly accurate, just like “the artist formerly known as ‘Prince'”, “Al-Qaida” or “Al-Qaeda” was formerly known as the generic “mujahidden”, but it’s the same people doing the same thing — as a matter of fact, it was NY prosecutors who came up with the name “Al-Qaida” from a database on Osama’s computer file of Jihadists-for-Hire – the same computers CIA supplied him, right?
And then, and then… WE, THE TAXPAYERS, SENT THE MUJAHIDDEN ALTERED EXTREMIST KORANS AND TEXTS TO THE MADRASAS!!!! “Thanks to the CIA’s 51 million US dollar grant to the University of Nebraska [Omaha-Dept of Afghan Studies] to produce pictorial textbooks glorifying jihad, killing, maiming and bombing other human beings was made sufficiently entertaining. Sadism could now be cultivated as a virtue.”
http://www.icrd.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105&Itemid=104
What were the reasons for the post-1980 radicalisation of the madrasas?
Firstly, the Afghan jihad against the Soviet troops. The intelligence agencies of the US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan used the madrasas for radicalising the Muslim youth and motivating them to join the Afghan Mujahideen in their jihad against the Soviet troops. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) got a number of text books prepared with the help of Wahhabi clerics of Saudi Arabia projecting Communism as anti-Islam and calling for jihad against the Communist evil in Afghanistan, had them printed in printing presses in the US and distributed to the madrasas. According to Mr. Ishtiaq Ahmed, Associate Professor of political science at the Stockholm University:
“The joint CIA-Saudi initiative resulted in a proliferation of madrasas, regardless of the genuine need for maulvis. Thanks to the CIA’s 51 million US dollar grant to the University of Nebraska to produce pictorial textbooks glorifying jihad, killing, maiming and bombing other human beings was made sufficiently entertaining. Sadism could now be cultivated as a virtue. That was when madrasa doors were opened to the mass of the poor. The new “education” they received was to hate the Russians, later generalised to include any non-Muslim. Jews, Hindus and Christians figured prominently and out of it came the expression of a Yahud-Hunud-Nasara conspiracy against Islam. The phrase had never existed previously, but because of its Arabic sounds, it went readily to the hearts and minds of the Islamists. The Buddhists did not fit into the Yahud-Hunud-Nasara formula. But the Taliban by destroying the Buddha statues at Bamiyan indicated that even Buddhists were against Islam and therefore their symbolic presence in Islamic Afghanistan had to be annihilated.”
The textbooks prepared at the instance of the CIA taught the students that it was their religious obligation to wage a jihad against the Soviets and their stooges. The same textbooks are now being used after appropriate revisions to tell the students of their preligious obligation to kill the Americans and their stooges.
Secondly, Zia’s concerns over the impact of the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 on the loyalty of the Shias of Pakistan. He encouraged the madrasas controlled by the Sunnis to include in their teachings the need to counter the Shia assertiveness.
Brzezinksi Doctrines on US Hegemony Mongolian style, on NATO Expansion, “Arc of Violence” and Manipulating Global-Zone of Percolating Violence to keep Russia, China and Iran down:
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/1999/thompson_brzezinski_2615.html
“According to a map of this region in The Grand Chessboard, this zone of “percolating violence” includes all of Central Asia, extending westward to include Turkey, northward to include southern Russia, and eastward to touch upon the western borders of China. It includes the entire Middle East, where Brzezinski claims it is imperative for the United States to retain control, especially in the critical Persian Gulf. And, the zone extends eastward to include Afghanistan and Pakistan, up to the latter’s border with India.
Consonant with the British imperial “Great Game,” Brzezinski argues that skillful manipulation of this “global-zone of percolating violence” can be used to halt Russia from becoming an imperial power once again: “To what extent should Russia be helped economically–which inevitably strengthens Russia politically and militarily. . . ?” writes Brzezinski. “Can Russia be both powerful and a democracy at the same time? . . . If it becomes powerful again, . . . will it not seek to regain its lost imperial domain, and can it then be both an empire and a democracy? . . .”
Looking for a model in the first part of his book for the sort of “hegemony” that the United States currently projects over Eurasia, Brzezinski eschews Pax Romana and Rule Britannia for a goofy model: “To find a somewhat closer analogy to today’s definition of a global power, we must turn to the remarkable phenomenon of the Mongol Empire. Its emergence was achieved through an intense struggle with major and well-organized opponents. Among those defeated were the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary, the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, several Russian and Rus’ principalities, the Caliphate of Baghdad, and later, even the Sung dynasty of China.”
According to a map of this region in The Grand Chessboard, this zone of “percolating violence” includes all of Central Asia, extending westward to include Turkey, northward to include southern Russia, and eastward to touch upon the western borders of China. It includes the entire Middle East, where Brzezinski claims it is imperative for the United States to retain control, especially in the critical Persian Gulf. And, the zone extends eastward to include Afghanistan and Pakistan, up to the latter’s border with India.
http://www.truthinmedia.org/truthinmedia/Bulletins/tim97-12-4c.html
PHOENIX – On Oct. 24, 1997, a Moscow newspaper, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, published some excerpts from Zbigniew Brzezinski’s article, “Geostrategy for Europe,” in which the former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter openly advocated aggression against, and dismemberment of, Russia. Here is what Dr. Sergey Yuriyevich Glazyev, a Russian economist, said about the Brzezenski’s ideas in a Nov. 18 commentary published by the same paper:
“Brzezinski’s arguments leave no doubt that Russia has turned out to be the main expendable card of U.S. geopolitics,” Glazyev writes. “It is obvious from his book that the Cold War against us is not only continuing, but has, in fact, switched from being a Cold War against the USSR, to an aggression against Russia, with a view to destroying it.”
“The balance of forces in the New World Order should be achieved at Russia’s expense,” Glazyev notes. “Russia’s division into three parts, Brzezinski believes, will be the basis for achieving a balance of forces in U.S. interests in Eurasia: ‘Each of these confederative formations will be able successfully to develop local creative potential, for centuries slowed down by Moscow’s heavy bureaucratic hand.’ The development of the ‘creative potential’ of the pieces of a divided Russia will, according to this scheme, take place under the leading influence of the United States and its partners. It is planned to carry out the American colonization of Ukraine, together with Germany and France, and the colonization of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, together with Turkey and Iran, and of Siberia and the Far East, together with Japan and China.”
Commentary, same website:
Wrong! Brzezinski has been a communist sympathizer all along. It’s just that people like himself were forced to be “closet communists” during the FDR, Truman and McCarthy years. But now, given the radical shift toward totalitarian rule which the Clinton administration had brought to America, these “closet communists” and red diaper babies are brazenly strutting their stuff out in the open.
How do we know that? Because Brzezinski himself said so. “Marxism is simultaneously a victory of the external, active man, over the inner, passive man, and a victory of reason over belief,” he wrote in his 1970 book, “Between Two Ages.”
In other words, Brzezinski sees Marxism a victory over materialism over spirituality. So much for the establishment media-created distinction between the NWO and the Soviet elites.
As if that weren’t devastating enough for free spirited Americans Homo Sapiens worldwide, Brzezinski also added, “Marxism, disseminated on the popular level as Communism, represented a major advance in man’s ability to conceptualize his relationship to his world.”
And just think – a man like that was put in a position of handling America’s inner-most secrets as the National Security Advisor to President Carter!
Now that the West Side gang has prevailed over its East Side rivals, and has installed its own vassals to run the show there, similarities between the Soviet and the NWO elite is becoming a little more obvious. The fact for several decades they happened to be two rival gangs helped confuse matters in the eyes of the world.
Which, in turn, also contributed to hundreds of thousands of American casualties in, what was essentially, gang warfare.
All this was evidently not obvious to Glazyev, who regards the Brzezinski as some sort of a Polish nationalist with an ax to grind against the Russians. Brzezinski may well be of Polish descent. And he may well be nominally a Catholic Christian. But he is no Polish nationalist, as Glazyev also suggests. Certainly less than Leonid Brezhnev was a Russian patriot. People like Brzezinski, Clinton et. al. are loyal only to one religion – the Almighty Dollar and the power which it can wrest for them.
“Not so long ago Adolf Hitler wanted the same thing (to rule the world),” Glazyev warned. “Today Mr. Brzezinski wants it. We know well how this ends. Perhaps the U.S. establishment does not know – perhaps they have been reading different history textbooks.”
“The makers of U.S. cultural and information policy obviously think the same. At any rate those who “call the tune in Hollywood” are doing so with a powerful Russophobic bias. The new wave of American cinematography is imbued with anti-Russian hysteria, depicting Russians almost exclusively as terrorists, bandits, rapists, and monsters who should be feared and against whom ‘everything is permitted’ for the protection of the ‘civilized world.'”
Welcome to Serbia, Dr. Glazyev!
Serbia?
Yes. The kind of demonization you’ve just noticed about Russia has been carried out by the NWO media against the Serbs ever since the end of the Cold War, Hollywood included. And with a far greater venom and intensity than against the Russians (so far). Notice how the Serb lands were dismembered, just as Brzezinski is advocating for Russia?
Why pick on Serbs? A TiM reader asked us that in August of this year. Here is how we answered the question in the TiM GW Bulletin 97/8-3, (8/10/97):
“The Serbs were the easiest to kill or enslave among the Eastern Orthodox Christians. They are isolated and surrounded by enemies. There are only 10 million of them. Plus, the Serbs are fierce freedom fighters. Beating them to a pulp would discourage rebellion against the New World Order (NWO) by others later on.
Also, the Serbs are the most ‘Western’ of all Orthodox Christians. The Greeks may be next. They are also isolated and surrounded by enemies. Plus, a smaller nation than even the Serbs. Notice that Bill Clinton has appointed Richard Holbrooke a special envoy to Cyprus? What Holbrooke did to the Serbs in Bosnia, he is likely to do to the Greeks on Cyprus.
Killing, enslaving the Orthodox Christian Russia will take longer. But the process is already under way. The methods are the same. NATO is an ‘Iron Ring’ around Russia’s European neck. Islam will shackle her soft southern underbelly. China will finish the job from the east.
After the 250 million or so of Orthodox Christians are killed or enslaved, the Protestant Christians will become the next target of the NWO. They will be easier to kill or enslave than the Catholics.
There are only 500 million Protestant adherents vs. over a billion Catholics.
Finally, the ‘NWO cabal,’ as you put it, will turn against the Catholics, too.
See a pattern? Like a pack of hungry wolves converging on unsuspecting animals, the NWO hyenas attack the weakest one first.
Among the Christians, that was the Serbs. That’s why the Serbs were the first victims. That’s why they need/deserve help from other Christians around the world NOW – before the others become too weak to help.
(Of course, in reality, things are not going to be happening serially, as described above, but in parallel – with the above order of targets determining the NWO priorities. So the actual process may be faster than it seems).
Thank you for flying Air Talmud. I hope you have a nice day.
I thought that Mearsheimer and Walt’s Book was some already widely disseminated information which was sprinkled with plenty of very subjective and rationalizing misinformation concerning the “Holocaust” and the overall rightness of Israel’s intentions. The book just skips the entirety of the problem of Israeli spies, Israel’s duplicity and hypocricy, their abject racism, PROMIS, The Franklin (pedophile) Coverup, or the probable blackmailing of our politicians which guarantees this continued support for Israel contrary to the interests of the rest of this Nation.
For Dershowitz and Foxman to whine about THAT book (and also about Brzezinski advising Obama!) appears to me to be more of their “Brer Rabbit and the Briar-Patch” misinformation which, in my opinion, is just pure fertilizer for this upcoming (s)election. Of course they never get around to mentioning the enormous bribes to our politicians which are just “Houdini-ed” out of the now Bankrupt Hat of our Jewish owned-and-controlled Federal Reserve Bank.
To be honest, I couldn’t quite finish “THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY” because it just seemed to be more Pro-Israeli Propaganda being spoon-fed to us Goyim and this is only the second time in my life that I’ve refused to finish a Book that I’ve started; maybe I missed something important by not wasting more of my time by finishing it… but I’ve stopped caring and I’ll get over it!
@ Michael K.
Ecumenism or Ecumenical means a gathering of the Universal Church i.e. at the Great seven Ecumenical Councils that the Church had, but that was when the whole of Christendom was One Holy Catholic (Universal) and Apostolic Church today known as Orthodox before the Great Schism in 1054.
After the Schism when the west broke away from the east: West becoming the Roman Catholic Church and the East remaining Orthodox keeping the unchanged truth for 2000 years.
The West went further and further away from the TRUTH going from one heresy into another and then with the Reformation who went even further away from the TRUTH.
Today’s Ecumenism is that all of these christian denominations claim to have the TRUTH, but there can only be ONE TRUTH.
The Orthodox Church can not accept and acknowledge heresies as truth therefore does not agree with ecumenism but rather that these lost Christians repent and come back to the truth which is the Orthodox Faith, for ” this is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Holy Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox and this is the Faith that has established the Universe” like we read at the Vesper service on Sunday of Orthodoxy which falls on the first Sunday of the Great Lent every year
@ Nick-Soldier
Sadly, in a world of deception and rife with misleading ideas and sects, I am too skeptical to declare allegiance to one Christian body against another. The main exception is egregious heresy, paraded as Christianity. In this case I try to speak out against the heresy itself. I agree with the general understanding of the Orthodox Church as to what is heresy. Still, I am not educated enough to make a decision whether I am “Orthodox,” per se. Look, I live in a world of Protestants, and I am not about to reject them as heretics, when so many exemplify Love and Charity. I am ecumenical with a small “e” because I look at the whole body of people who have Christ in their hearts as the Church, even though there are all kinds of errors. I just love everyone that loves HIM.
@ Michael K.
I live in the same world like you Michael and I do not reject the Protestants but when you carry the TRUTH you must share it in order to help. The change it is up to the person, we orthodox faithful we do not force any one to fallow us, yet the Protestants disturb you everywhere they find you to feed you with their man made religion. We Orthodox faithful just invite you to “come and see” the rest is up to you.
We have the answer to all the questions and we are the same all over the world, yet the Protestants they contradict themselves even locally (feel free to search).
I am not against that there is not pure gold among the yellow shining jewelry in the Kmart stores around the USA but GOLD is what I am looking for, same thing with the Protestants today, yes you find a lot of lovely people but they do not know the level of their corrupt Christianity unless they study the History of the Church & also I suggest you a good book : The Plot against the Church by Elizabeth Dilling (http://www.iamthewitness.com/books/index.php?dir=Elizabeth.Dilling%2F).
The devil himself believes in GOD, he is present in the Church and fallows people everywhere, what he does not do is obedience in the Lord, he does not humble, does not pray, the rest is perfect he keeps fast better than anyone, he can appear in people vision as Jesus, as an Angel as Light etc. You can find good loving people even among satanists (they believe in God too) but SALVATION is ONE WAY not over thousands of denominations of Christians we have today.
Michael, I will post here an exemplary work of a person that was interested in TRUTH and the way he fond it:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Dear Nick – Please cut down on your post length. This is way too long for readability. +BN
@ Michael K.
I was trying to put the long text in three parts, I guess it was to long and I had to cut down like Br. N suggested.
So, here I figured that there is a link where you can print out & read an interesting jurney of a jewish guy which is today an Orthodox Priest thrying to help others to see the light.
Which Came First: The Church or the New Testament?
http://www.protomartyr.org/first.html
Greetings in the Lord from No Cal in US of Talmudistan
@Nick-Soldier May the Lord bless you for your zeal. I hope you find this profitable:
An interview with Archbishop Anastasios of Albania (On Orthodoxy Today)
Q: How can we distinguish true mission from proselytism?
A: Proselytism uses all possible means (gifts, food, money and other privileges) to achieve an aim, to bring followers into a concrete religious community. This contravenes the dignity of the human person and of the Gospel, and I believe it is really not sincere. And what is not sincere, sincere both in purpose and sincere in ways of acting, cannot be Orthodox. For me proselytism starts when other means are used, instead of the Gospel, in order to gain followers.
We do not have anxiety about statistics and followers. The Orthodox martyria must be a free witness of what we believe and what we have. A sharing of the gift that we have received. If the others accept it, fine. If they do not accept it, it is their own responsibility.
Q: Is our mission to convert someone to Orthodoxy?
A: Orthodox mission consists in giving the treasure we have, and leaving the other to decide whether he will take it or not. If the other wants to join the Orthodox Church, you will never say “No.” Our aim is to transmit the tradition of the Gospel in all its fullness, remaining free from any anxiety to convert anyone. You cannot impose on anyone’s freedom. You are there, you give your witness; you are a candle, lighted by paschal joy, and if the other wishes to take from your flame, then of course, you will not refuse him.
@Michael K
God bless you on your Christian labors defending the Faith. Having been in your shoes most of my life, I know what it feels like being a “unchurched” spiritual mountain guerilla and “Christian patriot of heaven” and by all means, keep your healthy skepticism and caution about misplacing allegiences. “Be wise as [natural] serpents [which taste the air with their tongues] and meek as doves”.
The Orthodox Church doesn’t do instant “altar calls” nor are we “peddlars of the Gospel”. How is that for an answer?
For a person exploring conversion into the Church herself, there are a couple of stages. The first is the inquirer, who is always welcome, and who for whatever reasons informally becomes attached to the parish community and enters its life, begins attending liturgies, reading books (virtually all Orthodox Churches have bookstores or libraries).
At some point, the inquirer decides they truly would like to be baptized into Orthodoxy, and tells the priest. Does baptism happen yet? No. Now the inquirer is given a sponsor, or “God-parent” and is formally and liturgically “made a catechumen” by the community, coming under the grace of the Church. The rite of “making of a catechumen” is an interesting and spiritually energetic liturgic all of its own, which is essentially an exorcism. We love making catechumens. Part of the rite is the renunciation by the catechumen of “the devil and all his works”, and then the catechumen goes to the door of the church and spits on Satan.
And Satan gets very annoyed at this.
It is a voluntary commitment and submission to discipleship and study, to more fully learn and experience Orthodox life by coming into formal obedience [attentive listening] and ecclesiastical discipline [teaching, beginning to follow the liturgical life, the cycles of prayer,
spiritual readings, fasting and liturgy of the Church calendar] under the spiritual guidance of the priest as pastor and counselor.
Generally, baptism and chrismation follows after at least a year as a cathechumen but there is no set schedule. Either the catechumen or the priest may feel that they are not spiritually ready to be baptized into the Church, because it is a very serious step. For whatever reasons, catechumens voluntarily wait for years. Once baptized in the Church, there is no place else an authentic Orthodox can go.
C S Lewis in his ~Screwtape Letters~has the Devil saying that his best delusion so far was to convince people that he didn’t exist in this Humanistic Age. Nothing proves the existence of the bitch Lucifer as an intelligent, if highly demented angelic creature and the demonic realm, than a catechumen.
Satan hates any changes in his status quo, and a catechumen entering the spiritual discipline of the Church often suffers a spiritual, mental, emotional and sometimes material and physical flogging by the demonic like nothing else in his life. “Cradle Orthodox” born into the Faith don’t experience this to the same degree, unless they have completely fallen away, but the invisible warfare is on-going, and there are always temptations to pull one out of Christian faith.
It’s not Hollywood Exorcist style stuff, although the Church, who serenely acknowledges both science and the supernatural as two distinct realms of reality, is capable of dealing with occassional demonic manifestations.
On the other hand, the Fathers say that if there is no suffering, then there is no ascetic struggle for spiritual life and growth in Christ, either. When life is too serene, the Fathers say we should pray for more suffering and receive it with joy, or ask a spiritual father for more obediences added to the prayer rule and discipline over self in order to subdue such works of the flesh as complacency and self-satisfaction.
In reading both your posts and Nick-Soldier’s, I fully understand each of your contexts coming from different directions, and wound up at cross-purposes talking about two different things. So, to act as something of a nosy referee, Michael’s context of “ecumenical”, “catholic”, “orthodox” is proper and in keeping with general patristic Orthodox dogmatic theology and definitions, what the Fathers describe as the “catholic consciousness” of the Church. In the theology of the great Synods, it is this “catholic consciousness” of the Church and its approval which gave the “Amen” and titled the great Synods as Ecumenical.
As for Nick-Soldier, he is speaking in the specific context of the false religion, “NWO Ecumencalism”, well and good, but semantically mixes up the ideologies of Ecumenism and Catholicism with the patristic definitions of “catholic” and “ecumenical”[The clue to a doctrinal ideology being the suffix “-ism”].
In St. Gregory’s renowned homilies on the Holy Trinity, after setting forth the profoundly contemplative teaching of Triunity, he thus remarks of himself “Thus, as briefly as possible I have set forth for you our love of [Christian] wisdom, which is dogmatical and not dialectical, in the manner of the fishermen and not of Aristotle, spiritually and not cleverly woven, according to the rules of the Church and not of the marketplace” [the agora, where philosophers often taught and debated] (Homily 22). So, in the spirit of St. Gregory’s words, I offer these suggestions to you.
One suggestion would be to acquire the Orthodox Study Bible from Concillar Press, sample pages can be found at http://www.conciliarpress.com/the-orthodox-study-bible-hardcover.html published just last year. The hardcover is $50.00 [ouch] but well worth the outlay as it will give you not just of Scripture through the “patristic and catholic consciousness” of the Church of Christ, but an organic and comprehensive overview of the many aspects of the Orthodox Church and our life in the “Five Pillars” of Apostolic Holy Tradition including prints of the major icons of the Church related to Christ and His Gospel.
The OSB is the fruit of over twenty years of labor by many of the best Orthodox Christian theologians of our time. In Orthdoxy, Bible translations have never been of individual “private interpretation”, an error that the Latin Catholics early made with its uncritical acceptance of St. Jerome’s singular translation labors which became the authoritative Latin Vulgate. There are also historical “transmission” issues concerning Jerome’s well intended, but unconsciously mistaken use of Hebrew Scripture instead of the far more ancient Greek Septuagint, which is the pre-Christian translation of the Temple Hebrew canon that our Lord Jesus and the Apostles taught from, and found in every Greek-speaking synagogue.
This long-awaited single volume of the OSB brings together an original translation of the Old Testament from the Septuagint with the classic Orthodox Study Bible: New Testament and Psalms. Here, by the grace of God, you will find the living water of His Word with extensive articles and comprehensive study guides and teachings about the Church and Holy Tradition that bring to our modern world the mind of the ancient Christian Church. It is the first ever full-length Orthodox Study Bible in English.
The Vulgate was derived from the Rabbinic Jewish canon (Masoretic) of Scripture which had undergone considerable modifications and alterations in the early Christian era to refute Christian evangelizing. St. Jerome’s translation, done without peer review at the behest of the Pope in the 4th century CE, contained a number of serious translation errors. Established in the Latin West as Holy Writ, the errors of the Vulgate then go on to form the basis of the erroneous and innovative, deeply entrenched Catholic doctrines and theologies concerning Original Sin and Marionology. For example, the Douay-Reims Bible translated from the Vulgate, still prints Genesis 3:15 as reading: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt watch against her heel.”
@Michael Part 2
Another recommendation for you (or anyone) is ~Orthodox Dogmatic Theology~ by Fr. Michael Pomazansky. It is available on Amazon, or from St. Herman of Alaska Press, and there is an electronic version at http://www.intratext.com/X/ENG0824.HTM if you wish to review it first. It is a concise exposition and excellent primer for understanding the basics of Eastern Orthodox theology, and should be a useful “rule” or measure to guide your own Christian sense of orthodoxy in inner critical reflection as well as thoroughly weaves a harmonius tapestry around the decretal statements of our “Symbol of Faith”–the Nicene-Constaninoplean Creed, for both are root and branch sprung from the Holy Ecumenical Fathers of the first two synods.
Theology cannot build faith, Fr. Michael’s book is written for Christians who already have faith, and he presents his work with the “simplicity of a fisherman and not the complexity of a philosopher.”
Don’t let the title throw you off, it was intended for the use of Orthodox pastors as a practical approach for basic teachings, especially for converts and not written for academic theologians. Fr. Michael’s approach was always with special delicacy and the love inherent in him, and his style is irenic even while comparing the errors of Catholicism and Protestantism to Orthodox Tradition. His desire was to help the newly converted to “see the Light”, to pierce through the mist of our terrible, confused times. His book was written for one purpose: to inspire, to warm the heart, to lift one above the petty preoccupations of earth in order to glimpse the divine beginning and end of all things.
His explanation of the Orthodox teachings on the sin nature (which is different from Catholic and Protestant views) has to be one of the simplest and clearest I have found.
This has always been the purpose and intent of theology; to give one the energy and encouragement to struggle towards God and our heavenly homeland. We Orthodox know we are sojourners in a strange world and have that sense of spiritual motion and direction like on a great ship, as the Church never lost her compass and rudder of Apostolic Faith, and through our Spirit-filled Fathers, our Lord Jesus is the Steersman, and the Holy Cross the mast for the great sails that catch the Breath that moves the ship. We know where we came from in terms of our ancient origins and we know where we are going-what is our destiny. Even the word “Synod”, [sunodia] usually translated as “Council”, literally means “caravan”—”companionship on a journey.” I hope you find Fr. Michael a consoling companion to walk with.
Fr. Michael was one of the last living graduates of a pre-Revolutionary Russian theological academy who came to live in America. As such, his book is a clear transmission of the patristic and catholic consciousness of Orthodoxy in the ancient Russian tradition and Byzantine theological roots.
After completing his degree at the Kiev academy in 1912, a staunch academic defender of the Faith in Western Russia, he labored as a missionary priest both in his homeland and abroad, while at the same time editing and writing for numerous Orthodox journals. From 1950, he taught at Holy Trinity Seminary and wrote the original Russian version of this major work. The late translator and editor of the English edition, Hieromonk Seraphim Rose, co-founder of St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood and Monastery in the mountains of northern California, and Fr. Michael became very close while each was still in the world.
Fr. Michael wrote many precious letters to the monastery elucidating his thoughts. Fr. Seraphim, an American convert to the Russian tradition, a priest-monk, and spiritual son of St. John Maximovich, Bishop of Shanghai and San Francisco, as translator of ~Orthodox Dogmatic Theology~, took every care to explore the nuances of Fr. Michael’s thought. Fr. Seraphim, who spiritually labored endlessly over himself to humble his own well-attested gift of genius to acquire “the patristic mind” of the Church, opposed in every way in bringing forward nothing more and nothing less than the fundamental basis and chief source of basic theology, the teaching of which, in our confused age, is frequently overshadowed by various quasi-renovationist, one-sided or “ultra-spiritual” layers of all sorts of theories and academic fashions. He believed that to “play with” basic theology, or “to jangle it” (cf 1Tim 1:6) with originality and “knowing better”, is dangerous.
Fr. Seraphim reposed in 1982 and Fr. Michael in 1988 just three days shy of his 100th birthday. Fr. Michael’s book in Russian was his magnum opus; Fr. Seraphim’s last years of his own life were devoted to his own great work of translating this Orthodox treasure. Neither lived to see the Communist Yoke lifted off their treasured Orthodox Church in the east. Since then Fr. Michael’s warm and inspiring text has been translated again through the labors of the St. Herman Monastery and many friends, and is being used in academies of Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, and Serbia, as well as Orthodox academies in the West.
@ KathJuliane,
May Christ hold you in the Palm of His Hand!
I strongly believe in St. Seraphim of Sarov’s saying : ” save yourself and a thousand shall be saved around you” and I agree with Archbishop Anastasios of Albania’s interview.
Thank you for joining our dialog, it seems to me that you have a lot of teological upbringing.
Are you a teologian?
Thanks also for the books recomandation, I have the OT & NT Orthodox Study Bible hard cover, it is awesome.
Here I share with you and all of you that might read our comments here, on orthodox radio station : http://www.ancientfaith.com
Best Regards, Nick