I am aware you follow a version/genre of Christianity different from most other "Christians" and which I believe you call "orthodox". Is it Russian Orthodox or Greek Orthodox and, if not, what is it?
Yes, it's true that Orthodoxy is completely different than other denominations or sects operating under the guise and banner of Christianity.
Simply put, that's because Christ's holy Church is One.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4.5)
So the sacred Scripture is clear. There can only be one true faith, not thousands of different sects and denominations who oppose one another in certain doctrines.
Christ's One, Holy, Catholic (meaning universal), and Apostolic Church is that which we call Orthodox and Catholic. It is not Roman.
In Christ's One true Church there are no ethnic or national differences.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10.12-13)
and...
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3.28-29)
So you see, all Christians are ONE in Christ Jesus, no matter their nationality or ethnicity. Notice as well that all Christians of faith are Abraham's seed, just as Christ is the seed of Abraham. Christians become joint heirs with Christ and recipients of the promises given to the holy Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
So now let's return to that statement from the article posted in post 12896.
They believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and establishment of Israel are proof of God's promises to biblical patriarchs.
Who are these "biblical patriarchs" these Protestant evangelicals refer to? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made..." (Galatians 3.16)
Obviously the promises these evangelicals refer to are the promises the Lord made to Abraham, which were passed down to Abraham's son Isaac, and then to Jacob, etc.
So if the ingathering of the unbelieving Jewish exiles into Palestine is proof of God's faithfulness to his promises to the patriarch Abraham as the evangelicals would have us believe...
Then it would be necessary to demonstrate that these Zionists are truly children of Abraham.
But simply being generated from Abraham's loins does not make one a child of Abraham, as the holy Scripture testifies.
First let's look at the writing of Moses:
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Genesis 22.1-2)
Notice how God spoke of Isaac as Abraham's ONLY son, even though we know that Ishmael came forth from Abraham's loins long before Isaac.
St. Paul explains how this can be quite beautifully in his epistle to the Roman Christians:
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. (Romans 9.7-8)
So one must be a child of promise to be counted as the seed of Abraham. Ishmael was born after the flesh, and not according to the promise, so that is why he was not accounted as an heir to the promises.
So what does it mean to be the promised seed of Abraham?
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect (Romans 4.13-14)
NOTICE that they which are of the law (the Jews) ARE NOT THE HEIRS.
Therefore Paul says it is of FAITH.
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. (Galatians 4.28)
St. Paul wrote this in his epistle to the Galatians, which is modern-day Turkey. So when he says "brethren", he does not mean brethren in the sense of Jewish blood-relatives of Abraham. He is writing to Christian converts in Galatia.
So he is likening Christians who share the faith of Abraham, as brethren and Isaac, the ONLY son of Abraham. (c.f. Gen 22.2)
If Isaac was Abraham's ONLY son, and the holy Apostle Paul says that his Christian brethren are Isaac, and the children of promise, then he is implicitly showing that ONLY Christians are the true children of Abraham.
This mantra that is so often repeated these days that "all three great so-called 'monotheistic' religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all share Abraham as father is LIES, LIES, LIES.
As I have just demonstrated from the holy Scriptures, both Old Testament and New.
So the dastardly Mohammedans can claim to be recipients of the promises through Ishmael all they want, but Holy Writ explains that the promise must come through the child of promise Isaac, not Ishmael.
The impious Jews (along with their deviant evangelical co-conspirators) can claim that these self-styled Jews are the literal descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, thereby staking the claim that they are the recipients of the promises to the patriarchs, but as I have shown, Christ says you need to do the works of Abraham, and imitate his faith to be accounted for as his children.
They [the Jews] answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. (John 8.39-40)
So you see, the Holy Scripture is Truth and Light and scatters the darkness.
The Mohammedans, the Papists, the Jews and the Protestants ARE ALL ZIONISTS.
Was it not the Mohammedans that conquered Jerusalem and burned down the (Orthodox) Church of the Holy Sepulchre?
What did the Papist Urban the II do (a while later) in response? He preached a "crusade" under the banner of the cross and the Franks acting on behalf of the Pope arrived in Jerusalem in 1099 and slaughtered Mohammedans, Jews, AND Orthodox Christians as well.
So you have Moslems and Roman Papists killing over a piece of dirt in Palestine. They are both examples of Zionist crusaders.
Of course there is a long Jewish crusader history. The Jews crusaded against the Romans in the time of Nero and were exiled, only to launch another crusade under Simeon bar Kochba around 135 a.d. Later you had Jewish Zionist crusades under David Al-Roy and Shabbtai Zevi.
The latest Zionist crusade is carried out by the agents of the house of Red Shield.
However this time the Protestants and Papists are aiding the Jews in this Zionist crusade.
So Jews, Moslems, Papists and Protestants have all stained their hands with blood throughout history with their Zionist crusades.
But not Christ's holy and blameless Orthodox Church. The only true Church of Christ. |
