Biblical Submission To Authority - What is the real story?

From a friend:

I believe as you do that this so called election is a sham. I am one of those waking up out of a deep sleep and seeing for the first time what has been there all along. I respect your wisdom and ask for your help. I am most likely missing the obvious but Romans 13: v1-7 escapes me as it applies to our elections. Could you shed some light on this for me? I would greatly appreciate it.

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Rom 13:1  Let every soul submit to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. 

Rom 13:2  Consequently the one resisting the authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and those opposing shall receive judgment to themselves. 

Rom 13:3  For rulers are not a fear to good works, but to evil. And do you wish not to fear the authority? Do what is good, and you shall have praise from the same. 

Rom 13:4  For he is God's servant to you for good. But if you do evil, fear; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's servant, an avenger for wrath to the one practicing evil. 

Rom 13:5  Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only on account of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. 

Rom 13:6  For on account of this you also pay taxes, for they are ministers of God, always giving attention to this very thing. 

Rom 13:7  Render therefore to all their dues: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. 

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Father Symeon: There is no mystery in it. The key is the framework Saint Paul himself gives it. He is not speaking of all authority, but only a certain kind of authority that fits the parameter he gave it, "For rulers are not a fear to good works, but to evil." What happens when they have become a fear to good works, as certainly they have in this country? None of the rest governs then. Saint Paul would argue against Holy Writ, if he argued that we are not supposed to resist evil and actively do so. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? . . .And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday . . " This is the language of Liberty and Justice and NOT of servitude, to evil and injustice. Nothing St Paul could say could contradict it.

This passage is talking about what is true and acceptable religious service, so that Liberty is our Bounded Duty and apathy and compliance to and with evil is participation in the evil. When we take the cornerstone of basic Christian theology and understand how we may participate in another's sin, we may also participate in a group's sin, in a community's sin, in a state's sins, in a nation's sins and hundreds of millions have and do. So how can that happen? Christianity 101, we can participate in the sin of another by counsel, by command, by consent, by provocation, by praise or flattery, by concealment, by partaking, by silence, by defense of the sin committed. Where does that leave us?

One degradation of Orthodox Christianity, not part of her Big T Traditions but part of her small t tradition - the rationalism for capitulation to evil rulers, and institutionalized injustice and oppression, Czars, Caliphs, Atheist Dictators, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been this perversion of the very text of scripture you site and ignoring Saint Paul's own words in the text and the understanding of the whole. The Judeo/Christian scriptural Tradition is the record of LIBERTY and not servitude, across centuries of time and multi-cultures. It is the record of the recognition of the dignity and Liberty of the individual. That recognition is firmly held in the words of the Declaration of Independence, which at this moment is our Countrymen's ONLY legitimate rule of law.

A Message To A Special Catechumen.

Dawn, I want to offer you a special gift for your Chrismation, something that will effect your thinking and hopefully, your heart every time you step into an Orthodox Church to worship. I hope that you will be reminded that all life is “liturgy” that what we seek is the “liturgy of living” continually in his presence. What happens in the Divine Liturgy is indeed special where if we become open to it we experience the “eternal moment” the realization of the actual presence of The Eternal Word of the Father, with us physically in the Body and Blood and spiritually in the work of the Holy Spirit. All the air becomes luminous in his presence and angels accompany our worship and sometimes we are blessed to hear it, see it.

Years ago, during the reign of a bad warden I was celebrating Divine Liturgy and your father was serving as my “helper” at the altar, taking the roll of “deacon” reading the liturgy. We were meeting in a temporary chapel set up in a very large room next to the Gym. Our liturgy took one and a half “periods” to complete. The warden stopped letting some inmates attend both periods. So during the liturgy about the time of the dismissal of the catecumens, the loud bell would ring and half the inmates present would have to walk out. This particular morning, shortly after the liturgy began, I found myself looking around at the bunch of inmates, about 40 or 50 present . . . The musician in me I guess was trying to identify the especially beautiful voices. The sound was to this day the most beautiful singing I've heard anywhere in a Divine Liturgy except in a large and grand church and then only on a special occasion. It came time and the bell rang, I paused and dismissed at least half of the men who had to leave with a blessing. When the door was closed and the noise of the gym at least reduced, I turned and we continued our chant. I looked over at your father and he was looking back at the men with a joyful shock on his face. He started to speak and I motioned for him to remain silent. In a moment I managed to whisper to him, “Don't say a word. At the end of the service write down what you have experienced so that later you will not be tempted to dismiss it.” You see, after half the men left, the volume and the beauty of the chant was not reduced one whit. We were going through a particularly tough patch and the angels let all of us know that we were not on our own.

At the end of the service I wrote on a piece of paper. “Wonderful blessing . . more voices than men present” and I handed it to your father. Three inmates handed me slips of paper, including your Dad and they said, in one way or another, “Angels worshiping with us.” Regardless of what the fleshly perceptions are, in the Divine Liturgy the Gates of Heaven open and we worship with the standing witness of the saints and angels. Remember this when the chant is out of tune, and the choir is terrible. <smile> I have to.

Now here is the part I want you to burn into your memory – that wonder of the Divine Liturgy where we join worship with the angels and the saints of all ages, carries through to every moment of our lives, if we practice continual prayer. “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit.”

Saint Paul wrote about the reason for Divine Liturgy and it is quite an amazing text and I've always been amazed that most do not see the imprint of the liturgy upon the verses. Being raise in a home where scriptures were given an arbitrary interpretation, often times devoid of their truth (just as you were raised) the first verse of the 12^th Chapter of Romans was used as a sledge hammer upon me.

I'm sure you are very familiar with it, and I know it is likely that your Dad used it like a straight jacket so that to “LIVE” you had to live in rebellion, just to have a life. Been there, done that.

This text is amazing – and I want you to hear it for the first time:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

When studying the Greek text I discovered that the word “present” “present you bodies” was a military term. It holds an echo in English where the military color guard commands, “Present Arms!” It means standing at attention, for a collective purpose. It is talking about the gathering in Liturgical worship. How do we learn to do it? By God's mercy. Only those drawn to Christ's Body, by the Father, Through the Holy Spirit have received the mercy to stand in the presents of the Saints and Angels, before the opened Gates of Heaven, joining in the FORCE of the Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal. It is HERE in the Divine Liturgy that be begin to learn the discipline of “presenting our bodies” standing together giving full attention, to the best of our ability having no passion or sin to mar our effort. Since we cannot be sinless we stand in the Mercy of He who is sinless, in an intimacy unimaginable communing in his very body and blood. And for what purpose? “which is your reasonable service” is translated literally from the Greek to the English as, “this is your rational liturgizing” - I kid you not this is the literal translation, “rational liturgizing.” Those people stuck with just the KJV, miss so much. That Greek word, “liturgizing” latreia

1) service rendered for hire

1a) any service or ministration: the service of God

2) the service and worship of God according to the requirements of the Levitical law

3) to perform sacred services

We present our whole selves not just our bodies, but our rational mind into the “work” of liturgizing. That is what “reasonable service means.” And why do we do it? So that we can learn by practice the heavenly way, the way filled with REAL life, so that we can give up our conformity to the worldly way of thinking, seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, all those thing associated with the first and second paths, and become transformed upon the third path . . . How? By the “renewing for our minds.” And it is powerful language here, “Be ye transformed” the closes literal translation would be, “metamorphisized” - - Like a caterpillar out of the cocoon, like the tadpole to the frog, like mortal clay to immortality. And how does this metamorphisizing happen – by the “restoration of the NOUS”

by the anakainōsis of the mind = NOUS.

1) a renewal, renovation, complete change for the better
of the NOUS

1) the mind, comprising alike the faculties of perceiving and understanding and those of feeling, judging, determining

1a) the intellectual faculty, the understanding


1b) reason in the narrower sense, as the capacity for spiritual truth, the higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognising goodness and of hating evil

1c) the power of considering and judging soberly, calmly and impartially

NOUS is best understood as the intelligent spiritual connection with God, the facility that the Holy Spirit uses to communicate with us – a capacity of comprehending what is incomprehensible, not to conquer or reduce to our understanding but to “experience the reality of HIS eternal presence.”

And when we begin the Liturgizing it is a good thing and instantly we know that we have turned from the bad to the good. And God accepts that state where we have turned to the good and it is His will for us. And even if we are very, very damaged by the ravages of sin, we still stand solidly in God, in this GOOD will. And as we grow we grow into his acceptable will, where the major part of our effort is healed and finally we grow into his perfect will, where our deepest thoughts and actions are always healing.

So what happens in this microcosm of the Divine Liturgy, becomes the reality of our state in the macrocosm of our every day.

Dawn, this old priest, hopes something that I've said, catches fire in you.




Your special friend, Archpriest Symeon Elias - aka Father Rob.

Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) of All America and Canada

Greek Orthodox History

Stephen Hawking's New Book - The Grand Design

From Unquestioned Genius To Unquestioned Fool  

I should have known something was up when the Scientistic Dictatorship Elite insisted on calling the Higgs Boson Particle, "The God Particle."  Little did I know that it was a set-up for Stephen Hawking to become the latest Scientistic Dictator to announce the Death of God.  Sadly as his new book proves, Hawking's disease has robbed him of his one functioning asset, a rational mind. Hawking's book commits the most basic philosophical fraud and fails to be Science.  What can you say when an unquestioned Scientific Genius publishes a work that is philosophically unsound and non-science and does so with serious intent? There is no other conclusion one can draw than an Unquestioned Genius has become an Unquestioned Fool.

I started to write an article the night before the Higgs Boson confirmation was announced. I was familiar with the premise of the particle and knew from the beginning that naming it "The God Particle" was merely another false Ikon of the Scientistic establishment. As very interesting as the Higgs Boson is (if that is really what they have discovered and not some variation upon that theory they do not yet understand - which is my educated guess) its being called the God Particle is simply insulting to a transcendent God. If we were to rightly name the Higgs Boson - the God Particle, then by the exact same assumptions we would have to name the entire cosmos - the God Cosmos . . . oh wait . . . damn . . . that would be correct and right!  But for the Scientistic Dictatorship Establishment (SDE) there is no such humility and the hubris of calling the Higgs Boson the "God Particle" is  . . . well just that hubris.  But it is cunning hubris meant to (as is the case in most cases) make it appear that the SDE hold more knowledge than they actually do.  

Well, I wrote part of the article and then deleted it and I'm glad I did. Here is a better article by Dr David Goldberg  - a member of the Astrophysics Group in the Physics Department at Drexel University. I would suggest that you read that excellent article entitled Stop Calling It The God Particle! linked here and a previous article entitled Scientists Still Chasing The Force, Getting Closer linked here. Both are very interesting much better in several ways that what I would have written.   

I have published a second edition of this article to include Dr. Ravi Zacharias' excellent analysis of Hawking's False Claims. 

I have written about the false Iconography that SDE uses for propaganda purposes and in other articles exposed in some detail the frauds of "iconography" that have been part of the SDE's Evolutionary paradigm scam. Since the SDE is losing the argument about the "spontaneous generation" of biological life, and so many steps of classical Darwinism and later brands of Evolution have been thoroughly refuted by real science, proving the concept of "irreducible complexity" the old guard is in a tizzy to create the next fraudulent Icon. On this link skip down to the middle of the article about Bacterial Flagellar Motor. For another short picturing of "irreducible complexity" this link is excellent.  Here is a page of graphics, some animated, each of which clearly demonstrated the reality of "Irreducible Complexity" any one of which would completely refute Darwin/Huxley/SDE's claim of "gradualism."  









My only point not covered by these linked articles is to remind you of the serial iconographic frauds by which the SDE has perpetrated its one hundred and fifty-year campaign to control the conversation in all walks of life as it has marched forward to Mark each human as Beast ONLY.  Now it is making pretensions of knowledge of something it is calling the "God Particle."  The Higgs Boson or some version of it is real, but the Name God Particle is a fraud.

The latest SDE Ikons for your viewing and brainwashing pleasure - they are mild compared to some of the frauds of the past and other frauds of the present - like the textbook mantra - "Evolution is a fact, not a theory."  

Here is a short history of the iconographic frauds of the SDE. 

The non-living gypsum rock Huxley claimed was
the missing Monera in Ernst Haeckel's Phylogenetic Tree

Con Man Thomas Huxley

The Bathybius haeckelii - a non-cell protoplasm or cytoplasm claimed to be discovered by Thomas Huxley - for which he claimed status as the missing link between non-living and living matter. In other words, he claimed for this gypsum rock the status as the "God Particle" of biology capable of creating "spontaneous generation."  This was soon discovered to be a fraud and in a private letter to the British Royal Academy of Science Huxley admitted his "mistake" but they collectively engaged in a conspiracy to keep the "mistake" secret, because it was the ONLY thing that gave any weight to Darwin's Theory of the Origin of Species. This fraud was part of the academic literature for more than a hundred years!  I read an article about it (as being true) in the New England Journal of Medicine in the 1970s. 

Ernst Haeckel the great Iconographer of Darwinist fantasies.

For an overview of some of the major iconographic and pseudo-scientific claims of the SDE - take the time to view the videos LINKED HERE.

Here is the great human/animal embryo hoax that pervaded(s) official biological and evolutionary science even to this day in one way or another.  Ernst Haeckel gave us the fake iconography of the SDE - something we are faced with - a lying encyclopedia of mythical pseudo science offering lying icons as fact. A mere compendium of which would fill a good sized book. And it has filled the book Icons of Evolution, Science or Myth?


 

Then there's Piltdown Man 



 


Just a reminder to remember the difference between Science - which is a good thing, and Scientism - the Luciferian World Religion that has killed now hundreds of million of people in the last century and has given us 1.6 BILLION abortions in the last 30 years alone.

Is Our Nation Suffering The Judgement Of God?

The lamestream media, secular humanists and liberal Christians scream when some Fundamentalist Christian talks about our nation suffering judgement at the hands of an angry God.  But ARE we suffering judgement? Is God Angry?

Truthfully, neither the secular humanists or the fundamentalist Christians are right and their opposite opinions represent a polarized ignorance. However, it is a fact that humanity devolves (the opposite of evolving) in the grips of evil. The only humans who have been seen to evolve are the Saints, who in their sanctity at times become very powerful for the good, and change history for the better.  

Civilization itself moves into greater levels of insanity, where the care of nature and the value of humans become questionable. Devolve enough and death and chaos reign. Where there is human devolution there is massive suffering and death. Yes, western civilization IS devolving, and it is happening very quickly under the guidance of the new international religion of Scientism, which is administered by the Scientistic Dictatorship Elite, (SDE). The fact is, at its core, it is not a new religion at all. It is the old paganism merely wrapped in pseudo-science to give it the appearance of "reason" and not the perennial "spiritual emotionalism and insanity" it is. 



Here is the situation with which we are dealing and it is an apt description of the means of Human Devolution. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 

What does that mean? Does it mean that God is petty and has a bad temper? No it does not. It is anthropomorphic language, because what we are experiencing now in this country and others are experiencing around the world "feels" like God is angry. The Scientistic Dictatorship Elite (SDE) have been on a century and a half campaign inside the cultures all around the Globe to suppress the Truth of God and replace it with something that is ungodly and unrighteous - that is, to create a civilization that is absent God and NOT right with God. The apostle Paul wasn't lying when he said, "because of this, God will send them strong delusion, in order for them to believe the lie, so that they all might be damned who did not believe the truth, but delighted in unrighteousness. That is, they delighted in a way of life and a culture that was absent God and NOT right with God. It represents the devolution of Humanity, an overarching insanity of mankind.  

Two permanent refugee camps in Sudan -
no sanitation - no chance of escape. 

Horrible things are happening that have been well documented, increased earthquakes, horrible and huge fires, wars, seditions, threat from meteors, strains of super-bacteria, new deadly viruses, massive and sudden death of fish and birds, the sudden collapse of the honey bee population, horrible human displacement (now in the tens of millions) where people live in permanent camps, that are not "cities for the displaced" but mere concentrations camps by another name.  Worldwide, the list of chaos is very long and is the history of the last decades. Our answer has been to party a little more hardy, get one more tattoo, play Angry Birds, and Words With Friends, etc. 

We cannot pretend these things are not happening. But does this represent God's anger, or is it rather a fact that we as a culture have drifted so far removed from the Grace of God that we collectively cannot receive his blessings? What is his blessing? Jesus said, "I've come that you may have abundant LIFE." Certainly, officially, now codified in our laws mostly by the acts of unjust judges, we have removed God from our vision, from our laws, from our thoughts, from our reasoning, from our science, from our philosophy, from our conversations, from our hearts, from our town squares, from our memorials, but most damaging of all from our actions. It isn't just that we "ignore him" and he is petty and does not like to be ignored. It is rather that in our rebellion we remove ourselves from his blessings which are LIFE engendering and as we devolve into evil, we move further and further into a Culture of Death and Chaos. What else can happen when you purposely remove yourself from the "source of ALL LIFE"?  

We are merely repeating what the pagans of old did. The increasing barbarity of our society is not new. It is the exact same paganism, but this time wrapped in the language of the SDE.

Here is the story and it is absolutely true TODAY.  What can be known of God is not absent to the natural Human heart. God has shown us Himself in the majesty and awesomeness of the Universe. This is a witness of the reality of God available to every breathing human psyche. It is so much a part of the human psyche that in the hours and days post 9/11 in the U.S., all around the country, people pressed prayers to God from their gut, from the deepest part of them, people who had never uttered a prayer in their lives were sincerely bowing their heads and pressing their minds and hearts to God's saving power and God's mercy. But then they quickly turned to Idols the SDE erected for their salvation. George Bush, The Patriot Act, The National Defense Authorizations, the Creation of the Golden Calf called "The Department of Homeland Security" to which if we would just bow, surrender liberties as sacrifice, we would all be saved. We had a real chance for "national salvation" for a renewal of everything that was good in our culture and we blew it big time. 

Now we are without excuse. For that brief moment, we recognized God and his providential care for us, then quickly we fell back into the old patterns of devolution, accepted the Idols created for us by the SDE. We stopped honoring God, we stopped as a nation giving him thanks. We devolved into the abyss of death and evil even further in 2008. Being totally blinded by yet another Idol, we elected a man with NO respect for God, a man who has proved himself to be an enemy of Good People, a man who openly mocked the Bible, and tradition and patriotism, and he has been walking through our country with powers of destruction of Biblical proportions, destroying incomes, destroying businesses, mocking Christianity, disrespecting Jews, and now openly attacking the Church.

Let's use Saint Paul's words: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which is known of God is manifest among them, for God has shown it to them.  For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things made, both His eternal power and Divinity, so that they are without excuse. Because, having known God, they did not glorify Him as God, or give thanks, but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. 
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for a likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and reptiles. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of the own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 

For this reason God gave them up to passions of dishonor; for even their females exchanged the natural use for that which is contrary to nature, and likewise also the males, having left the natural use of the female, were inflamed by their lust for one another, males with males, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error. And just as they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do the things which are not fitting; having been filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, greed, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness; they are whisperers, slanderers, hateful to God, insolent men, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, having known the righteous judgment of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but also approve of those who practice them. 
  
What more accurate picture could one paint of our leaders . . . and wait, our leader merely reflect US.  In that horrible slave engendering ruling of the Roberts' Court, on June 28th, 2012 (a day that will live in infamy) Roberts said one thing that is absolutely true. He said in effect that it is not the job of the Supreme Court to protect stupid Godless people from themselves, who elect stupid Godless congresses and presidents who enact stupid and Godless laws. 

I rarely read the Church father and commentator Origen because it is most times repackaged Platonism but something caught my eye. He said,  "Things which have come to the wise of this world concerning the knowledge of truth, have come to them by divine revelation. But when they chase after vain glory, or are praised for ancient errors, or are silenced by fear of rulers, they become judges of their own damnation. The truth, which they had learned by divine revelation, is either hidden from them by their loss of freedom or else is denied by their wicked behavior."  

The Electorate in this newly minted Pagan Nation, are losing their sanity by both means Origen mentioned, they are losing the knowledge of right and wrong by BOTH the sacrifice of their freedom to the Idol of Pagan Safety, and to their increasingly wicked behavior. The Church father Pelagius said, "Even people who did not agree with these thing, these 'doings' nevertheless seem to have accepted them, because they agreed to idolatry, which is the source and cause of them all."

Saint Basil the Great said, "Perverted human tradition is the source of great evil for us, in that some sins are denounced while others are viewed with indifference. Crimes like homicide and adultery are the object of a violent but feigned indignation while others, like anger, reviling, drunkenness or avarice, are not considered deserving of even a simple admonition"  We live in a worse culture than St Basil, since in our culture adultery is celebrated! Anger is a way of life! Reviling, drunkenness and avarice are our motivations and pastimes.  Yet, many don't participate in the paganism of our culture, but like Clement of Rome said, "Those who do such things are hateful to God . . . and not only those who do them but those who take pleasure in those who do them."  Did you see the last episode of Jersey Shore? Did you enjoy it? Did you see the last episode of Two and A Half Men? Did you enjoy it?

That phrase Saint Basil uses, "Perverted human tradition"  what could be more perverted than the destruction of the family, the adoration of homosexuality, the tolerance of pornography, the willingness to sacrifice Liberty for faux-Security.  The choice is freedom or slavery. G.K. Chesterton said, "Only Christianity is capable of creating a society where both the Christian and the Pagan may play."  He wasn't talking about some "theocracy" but a society founded upon consciousness and thankfulness to God. A society that enslaves no one to an ideology, Christian or otherwise, but does not suppress God in the public square, in the community events, or in academia.  

Academia in the Scientistic Dictatorship's New World Order holds at its core "perverted human traditions" all founded upon an orchestrated attack upon God and all things related to him. And we wonder why our society spins deeper and deeper into insanity, and less ability to perceive truth . . . And just as they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do the things which are not fitting; having been filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, greed, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness; they are whisperers, slanderers, hateful to God, insolent men, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, having known the righteous judgment of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but also approve of those who practice them. 

Are we experiencing the Judgement of God?  God's judgement is not movable. It is not capricious. It is not temporary. It is tempered ONLY by his Mercy and Grace, which at this point in time is the only thing staving off Armageddon. The more unnatural our culture becomes the more judgement we will experience. To go against God is to go against nature.  Ungodly humans, create ungodly science, ungodly governance, ungodly therapy that is sickness producing, ungodly 'health care' a cover for eugenics and genocide, ungodly education that increases darkness in the minds of the next generation, so that our ungodly communities grow more warped and dangerous.  In the presence of ungodly humans our very nature and the nature of the creatures and the planet suffers; terrible things happen, atrocities against humanity and nature happen. 

The entire Scientistic edifice is unnatural. It is a world wide Tower of Babel, claiming the power of and knowledge for human eschatology (ultimate salvation). Just like Nimrod, they think they are about to improve humanity, by human's own efforts absent consciousness of God, they are overseeing the next step in human evolution. Human pride has made the wisest fools. Apollinaris of Laodicea said, "This means that although the visible creation was sufficient to reveal the invisible God, they nevertheless abandoned God and deified creatures instead, 'suppressing the truth of God in unrighteousness.'"  - He just described the extreme materialism of our modern mindset. A cardinal truth of the SDE paradigm is that humans are mere Beasts, mere biology, incapable of knowledge of what is invisible by means of what may be observed, so that the consciousness of God is seen as "cultural hypnosis, and the superstition of the pre-scientific era." That is the core Godlessness we face. And as long as, as a society, we accept that paradigm - which is the denial of God, we have nothing more than judgement ahead. We will spiral into greater levels of darkness and pain, because you cannot be thankful to God and at the same time deny him, or make heroes of the people who do deny him. 

God's judgement hasn't varied one iota, we simply keep moving into greater areas of unrighteousness, where God's judgement is constant. He judges both righteousness and unrighteousness. In the flow of Life that is righteousness (being right with God and acting inside the paradigm of everything that is LIFE producing) we experience that LIFE as blessing, as abundance. In the flow of death and chaos that is the permanent characteristic of life lived in unrighteousness, we cannot escape the reality, the judgement permanently in place in that territory. In this as a society we WEAR our sin and sin is death.  

Listen to a High Priest of the new religion called Scientism - he uses the style of a southern revivalist as he preaches his culture of death. Yes, brothers and sisters, we are all called. - Remember the description of the new Paganism I offered above, "Spiritual emotionalism and insanity."

Repentance, just like the people of Nineveh, is the only answer we have before us. Politics isn't the answer - the Beast has taken control of the system. 






Then next is needed, real and sincere prayer to renew the mind, which has been damaged by human pride and sin. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us! 


Archpriest Symeon Elias

Stop Calling It The God Particle!

I started to write an article the night before the Higgs Boson confirmation was announced. I was familiar with the premise of the particle and knew from the beginning that naming it "The God Particle" was merely another false Ikon of the Scientistic establishment. As very interesting as the Higgs Boson is (if that is really what they have discovered and not some variation upon that theory they do not yet understand - which is my educated guess) its being called the God Particle is simply insulting to a transcendent God. If we were to rightly name the Higgs Boson - the God Particle, then by the exact same assumptions we would have to name the entire cosmos - the God Cosmos . . . oh wait . . . damn . . . that would be correct and right!  But for the Scientistic Dictatorship Establishment (SDE) there is no such humility and the hubris of calling the Higgs Boson the "God Particle" is  . . . well just that hubris.  But it is cunning hubris meant to (as is the case in most cases) make it appear that the SDE hold more knowledge than they actually do.  

Well, I wrote part of the article and then deleted it and I'm glad I did. Here is a better article by Dr David Goldberg  - a member of the Astrophysics Group in the Physics Department at Drexel University. I would suggest that you read that excellent article entitled Stop Calling It The God Particle! linked here and a previous article entitled Scientists Still Chasing The Force, Getting Closer linked here. Both are very interesting much better in several ways that what I would have written.   

I have written about the false Iconography that SDE uses for propaganda purposes and in other articles exposed in some detail the frauds of "iconography" that have been part of the SDE's Evolutionary paradigm scam. Since the SDE is losing the argument about the "spontaneous generation" of biological life, and so many steps of classical Darwinism and later brands of Evolution have been thoroughly refuted by real science, proving the concept of "irreducible complexity" the old guard is in a tizzy to create the next fraudulent Icon. On this link skip down to the middle of the article about Bacterial Flagellar Motor. For another short picturing of "irreducible complexity" this link is excellent.  Here is a page of graphics, some animated, each of which clearly demonstrated the reality of "Irreducible Complexity" any one of which would completely refute Darwin/Huxley/SDE's claim of "gradualism."  










My only point not covered by these linked articles is to remind you of the serial iconographic frauds by which the SDE has perpetrated its one hundred and fifty-year campaign to control the conversation in all walks of life as it has marched forward to Mark each human as Beast ONLY.  Now it is making pretensions of knowledge of something it is calling the "God Particle."  The Higgs Boson or some version of it is real, but the Name God Particle is a fraud.

The latest SDE Ikons for your viewing and brainwashing pleasure - they are mild compared to some of the frauds of the past and other frauds of the present - like the textbook mantra - "Evolution is a fact, not a theory."  

Here is a short history of the iconographic frauds of the SDE. 

The non-living gypsum rock Huxley claimed was
the missing Monera in Ernst Haeckel's Phylogenetic Tree

Con Man Thomas Huxley

The Bathybius haeckelii - a non-cell protoplasm or cytoplasm claimed to be discovered by Thomas Huxley - for which he claimed status as the missing link between non-living and living matter. In other words, he claimed for this gypsum rock the status as the "God Particle" of biology capable of creating "spontaneous generation."  This was soon discovered to be a fraud and in a private letter to the British Royal Academy of Science Huxley admitted his "mistake" but they collectively engaged in a conspiracy to keep the "mistake" secret, because it was the ONLY thing that gave any weight to Darwin's Theory of the Origin of Species. This fraud was part of the academic literature for more than a hundred years!  I read an article about it (as being true) in the New England Journal of Medicine in the 1970s. 

Ernst Haeckel the great Iconographer of Darwinist fantasies.

For an overview of some of the major iconographic and pseudo-scientific claims of the SDE - take the time to view the videos LINKED HERE.

Here is the great human/animal embryo hoax that pervaded(s) official biological and evolutionary science even to this day in one way or another.  Ernst Haeckel gave us the fake iconography of the SDE - something we are faced with - a lying encyclopedia of mythical pseudo science offering lying icons as fact. A mere compendium of which would fill a good sized book. And Of has in the book Icons of Evolution, Science or Myth?

Then there's Piltdown Man 






Just a reminder to remember the difference between Science - which is a good thing, and Scientism - the Luciferian World Religion that has killed now hundreds of million of people in the last century and has given us 1.6 BILLION abortions in the last 30 years alone.

Tour of a Beautiful Orthodox Christian Temple

Mormonism Exposed - Jesus Christ Witnessed.

It is not enough for those who hold the Foundational and Ancient Apostolic Christianity to refute cults and heresies to their own satisfaction. They also have a biblical mandate, which is a mandate of truth and love, to reach to the people in error, not just with "the witness of Jesus Christ" but with the wisdom that can expose to the deluded the difference between the True Jesus Christ of History, and the false "christs" of the many heresies and cults.

How confusing it is for Muslims who hear the name Jesus Christ and assume from their fake bible, 'The Holy Koran' and the fake history of Islam that they know who and what Jesus Christ is. It is like placing a mote between the person and truth. But at least the atmosphere is clear across the mote, the Gospel may be heard. How much more confusing it is for the Mormons who hear the name Jesus Christ and assume from their fake bible, "The Book of Mormon" and other fake holy books, that they know who and what Jesus Christ is. For the Mormons it is like placing a mote between the Mormon person and truth, covering the area with a deep, dense fog, and blasting loud music into the atmosphere, so sophisticated the illusion created by Joseph Smith and gang and the delusion accepted by the birth Mormons.  The fog is the fact that the name of the Mormon's cult is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and that that cult does not "reject" the Bible.  Why, they have to know Jesus Christ, his name is in the title of their "church" and they don't reject the Bible.  The dense fog is the illusion that the "cultic corporation" that is Mormonism is a Church. The word "church" has history and etymology, the concept the word denotes has meaning, and the cult of mormonism meets none of the criteria, definition, history, recognition and agreement needed to call it, A Church.  Just as surely as you can't have a Hindu "Church" or a Buddhist "Church" or a Satanist "Church" you can't have a mormon Church. But the name Church is in the title of the Cult's official organization, it must be a Church!

Mormons and Muslims have been taught not just to reject the truth, but to reject the framework through which Truth may be spoken. They have been taught that the sects of Christianity all hold a false framework for the comprehension of Church, Christ and God, and it is only through the self-constructed framework, created by these cults whereby truth may be comprehended.

It is our job to explain the difference between the so-called "channelled texts" of single prophets, teachers, and cult leaders, like Mohammed and Joseph Smith and the rich history of  the "the writtings" as God revealed himself to man across thousands of years, as man was capable of understanding what God was saying. The revelation of God over time to humanity is very important to grasp. Why? The many books composing the Bible are that witness of God revealing himself over time, in the history of man as man became more capable of understanding. Those many sacred writings are not the witness of a single person's imagination or cunning, but true history (though not in the western-modern model of history) that is contained in the Christian "scriptures." These "writings - scriptures" are the many books of Jewish and Christian tradition composed by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, from many different "traditions" that we know under one cover as "The Bible."

Sadly many biblical fundamentalists and biblical literalist do not grasp the nature, the reality and meaning of The Bible and enter the debate with cultists, Mormons and Muslims, only partially armed, holding only an aspect of the revelation and the healing contained in the complete and whole Apostolic Tradition.  So what is the Bible? And Why is it different than the Koran or the Book of Mormon? Here is a short and wonderful survey of the Holy Scriptures, offered by Father Thomas Hopko, the former head of Saint Vladimir's Seminary. Father Tom is explaining the importance of understanding what the "scriptures" are, in connection to the debate with Doctrine of Darwinism, but what he relates fits as well, or better in the debate with "sola scripturist", Biblical Literalists and Christian Fundamentalist, Mormons and Muslims. It is a wonderful "survey" of the tradition of holy scripture, a romp through the history of the Bible. If you are not an Orthodox Christian here is much to be learned in this hour video.



Here is a audio of the same lecture - you can down load to Ipod.
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hopko/darwin_and_christianity_-_part_6

So do not mistake this; this is not an anti-mormon page, it is a mormon expose' and a witness of the REAL and TRUE Jesus Christ and his Church, his Body that has real presence in the world. It is a challenge to the false dehumanizing, family destroying, enslaving disciplines and worship provided by cults, and the true, human creating worship and LIFE in Christ.  It is an expose' of false traditions of men, and the witness of the Tradition of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, a witness that remains upon the earth unaltered to this very day. It is an expose' of fake holy books that have required massive re-editing and changes in the short history of Mormonism, and the witness of the Tradition of the many books of true scripture, which collectively tell but one story in Jesus Christ, composed and formed over thousands of years, from the oldest oral traditions, which became written traditions, which became lived traditions IN Christ.  It is the examination of Mormonism via the facts of their own history, linked to  a short lesson about foundational, ancient apostolic Christianity, the Christianity that gave the world The Bible. It is foremost a witness of the True and Living Jesus Christ, available to all who sincerely call upon His name.

If we grasped the true story from Father Hopko's romp through the history and meaning of "the writings" "the Holy Scriptures" "The Bible" then we must now look at how the sacred books of Mormonism came to be, and compare the two.

The following video tells the story of Joseph Smith's forgery known as "The Lost Book of Abraham" which today is still claimed as "real scripture" part of the "sacred revelation of the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."  It exposes the fraud in Joseph Smith's false claim of knowledge of Egyptian language.

Testimony of a recovering Mormon, the great-great grand daughter of Brigham Young. Co-founder of Lighthouse Ministries of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Church is not an idea it is a place. The part of the Church that exists upon the earth is not a paradise but a battlefield. To find the True Christ one must step upon the battlefield. This video Father Thomas Hopko gives a short, direct way to come to know God in Jesus Christ, how to know that the God you have discovered isn't just a figment of your imagination or a religious sickness or delusion.  I recommend listening to this short lecture several times and then trying the method he explains. If you doubt God's existence, or that the Jesus Christ of the New Testament and Apostolic Tradition is real, I suggest beginning by praying, "To Whom it may concern. If anything in this video is false do not let it harm me. If anything in this video is true, let me understand it. If a REAL Christ exists, let me discover where he may be found." 

A Personal Testimony On Orthodox Easter

Our Dog, Sammy Lee, and the Brumby Rocker set in our library room, in which I spent weeks
recovering from a 120 MPH head-on collision. 

What is the nature of testimony? It says, here is where I was, here is what I saw, here is what I experienced. Of the very nature of testimony is ego.  How can one relate a personal story without the incessant "I" that make stories boring. Trust me, this story is not boring.

I'm a coward. For most of my life miracles have accompanied my prayers and for all my life, except for a few close confidants, and an occasional person trusted for the purpose of witness of Jesus Christ's actual presence with us, for the purpose of "SOZO" moments, healing/saving moments, I haven't "testified" to miracles.  So some friends, some family, some friends I have lead to the Lord, or counseled may know this story, but most of my friends, most of my family and most of those I lead to the Lord, or counseled do not know this story.

I say I'm a coward because in the world of extreme materialism that holds sway over the minds and understanding of the nature of reality in the "modern world" stories like the one I've lived are discounted as the realm of the "wishful thinkers" the "fiction writers" the "charismatic charlatans" who populate the so-called "revivalist circuit."

My eldest brother, and for many years my best friend and confessor witnessed many miracles in my presence. He would remind me of something I continually remind myself.  That being Jesus' words saying, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." I have never mistaken my Faith for my salvation. I've always been and continue to be aware of my sinfulness, and that as the Holy Father's clearly teach it has dimensions I have not yet measured, understood, or conquered. So the coward that I am, never wanted the burden of asserting the reality of any sign or any miracle. Those in my prison ministry will attest that I greeted miracles with cautions and a lot of reserve. Why? Because I have witnessed the carnival shows, the fake healers, the falsely weeping Ikons, and shame that some have called "pious deceptions."  But at this old age, I've come to the point that I could really care less what most people think of me. I would as soon be viewed the genius or the fool, the saint or the sinner, if the Holy Spirit makes use of that image of me in the life of others. So, I am to some a genius, to others a fool, to some a valued minister and priest and to others a horrible fraud and sinner. That is LIBERTY. And in LIBERTY I want to share the most amazing experience of my life. +++


November of 1991 I was in a headon collision 120mph combined impact. My car was tossed 85 feet in the air and landed on another car, the young lady who hit me wasn't wearing a seat belt and bounced down the road on the yellow line. I was pronounced dead on the scene when the first EMT's arrived. I can't relate much of that experience except to say there is little true I can say about it, little that will fit the human tongue. Saint Paul said, "Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the imagination of man what God has in store for those who Love Him and are called according to his purpose." I can say that I lived lifetimes in those moments without a heartbeat. But all the time I was present, yet . . . My corpse lay for 22 minutes and when the second EMTs arrived, the cop who was standing by my door to keep people from gawking at my body said to the EMT crew. "Don't bother, this one's gone." I summoned painful breath and said, "I'm here." The cop about jumped out of his skin. I was lucid and joked with them as they extricated me from the car and loaded me in the Ambulance. I even instructed the cop to secure my gun, because I didn't want it stolen or to fall into unsafe hands, etc.

When they got me into the ambulance I asked if I had a choice what hospital they would take me. I did, so I told them to take me to where my wife worked so she would not have to drive in fear and apprehension 20 miles to their preferred hospital. Also the only doctor I had seen in many years practiced there and his office was across the parking lot. After that was settled they contacted Parkway Hospital and the emergency physician radioed he was ready to see an EKG. When the little female EMT put the EKG paddles on my chest and turned the machine on, the machine whined and I was flat-lined. She beat on the machine thinking it wasn't working, and she was talking to the doctor on the radio who was looking at the machine readout at the emergency room. After she tried twice I said, "Why don't you put them on your chest to make sure it is working." Without thinking she did and it bleep-bleeped like a healthy heart.

The radio immediately crackled with the doctor telling her what he was seeing. She had to say, "No that was me. Now this is him," and of course, whether you can believe it or not, I didn't have a heart beat.

About 25 minutes in the car, and another 22 minutes to the hospital and all the time I'm joking with the crew, completely lucid. When they opened the ambulance door at the emergency bay, a group of people were there looking at me like I was a ghost. My doctor had quickly rushed over. As they were rolling me off the ambulance he asked me a series of questions to verify that I was not mentally impaired or altered, date, name, wife's name, where I was, who had brought me, what had happened. I answered everything correctly including the type of car I was driving and the type of car and oddly the correct age of the girl that hit me and also the fact that he was pregnant. (She had just discovered that she was pregnant, her husband did not yet know.) My doctor said, "Butch, we don't understand anything we are seeing here. These young doctors will want to immediately crack your chest and I'm not going to let them, since you are lucid and seem stable, but the fact is you don't have a detectable heartbeat. But, if you lose consciousness, that instant we will crack your chest.” They wheeled me into a space closed the curtains around me because people were gawking, mostly hospital staff not believing what they were hearing and seeing. The tech hooked me up to another EKG and had to turn the alarm off. The doctor turned white as a sheet and repeated, “I'm not going to let these interns crack your chest. You don't have a detectable heartbeat and you ought not be talking - hell man you ought not be breathing, you ought not be alive. He made me wiggle my toes and fingers. I assured him (which is backwards) that I didn't have a spinal injury. My chest was caved in and sternum broken into three pieced, sheared by the shoulder harness that had held me in the car. (Pre-airbag, 1987 Pontiac).

Impact put the left front wheel under the driver's seat and my knees through the dash.

The police officer who I had frightened by speaking, (dead man talking) came to my bed. And while I had no heartbeat I made my statement concerning how the accident happened, read the transcript of my statement and signed it. Knowing how accident information can be confused after an accident I asked if there were witnesses and he confirmed that three different people independently confirmed my story. I instructed my wife to go with him to his car to recover my gun. It was more than an hour before the EKG began to wiggle - then slowly rise and slowly descend. The first hundreds of heartbeats took about a minute on the EKG to rise and fall. All the time I had perfect autonomic nerve responses, speech, rational mind etc. I know what LIFE is and it isn't housed in the body. It is not truly according to the model of extreme materialism which holds our modern mindset hostage. If one is truly alive it animates the body, it informs the body, is it not a product of the body. Life isn't truly housed in the body rather it animates the body, is larger than the body, functions in life in harmony with the body, but not dependent upon it.

What is on the other side is impossible to put into human language, and NO picturing of it (like all the near death stories) have any reality to me, except Saint Paul's words, “to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ.” No seventy-two virgin mythology, no Mormon human/gods. However when reading some passages of the Bible there are true shadows or "icons" of it. I can tell you that for years afterward when I closed my eyes I saw glory and not darkness and I could walk anywhere in the dark for a very long time. And now there is a consciousness that never fades and makes a clear distinction between religion and LIFE.

I had contused my heart so badly that they immediately put me on the heart transplant list. My breastplate was in three pieces, as I said and multiple broken ribs. They told me that I would have to have surgery to remove the pressure from my heart. In reality pulling my ribcage out and back into place, wiring things in place. They told me that my heart might explode in the process. They assured me that my heart muscle would rot where it was so terribly contused and that I had mere days to live without a new heart. On top of that they doubted that my heart was strong enough to handle the anesthesia needed for the surgery. Pretty dire news, right? But I was perfectly at peace. Relatives phoned and I insisted on speaking to any who phoned and I assured them that I was alright and not to worry. Out my window I could see I-20, traffic barely crawling in the extreme rain, long after sunset. I didn't want anyone to drive an extra mile in those conditions, to sit in a waiting room and obsess about my condition.

I could see the angels surrounding my bed, they had been there from the first moment. They stood around me as I stood over the young woman who was lying in the middle of the road. I saw with a new dimension the sweet spirit that inhabited my wife and the love and faith that upheld my children. I found myself instead silently, joyfully worshiping our creator and marveling at the things I learned in a moment that seemed a life time of knowledge. I cannot explain to you how wonderful was that time of suffering.

In the middle of the night about 18 hours after the accident, my wife stood at the foot of my bed, her back turned to me, her soul literally glowing, as she prayed silently. An angel stepped to my bed, reached to my chest, set my bones in place with a loud pop. It felt like electric shock, like the BAM of D.C. Currant. As I drew my first deep breath in 18 hours or so, my wife literally jump in fear, turned to me and said, “What was that sound?” I literally chuckled at her and said, “The Lord just pulled my bones in place. She watched me closely and in a very short time I was for the first time dizzy. They had me on 100% oxygen; I was suffering oxygen intoxication. The nurse turned the percentage of oxygen down and drew blood to blood gas test. In a short while she came rushing into the room and almost jerked the oxygen tube off my face.

In the morning the doctors did a series of tests, xrays and a C.A.T. Scan. He could not understand what he was seeing. I heard him say to my wife as he entered the room, we are looking at a totally different situation this morning, a different man. He told me, "It would take hours of surgery to accomplish what seemed to have happen on its own." He showed me the xrays and said, "This tiny spot is the only place not set perfectly. And if we wired you together it would not be this perfect. But, still if we don't get you a heart soon yours will explode, the walls have taken too much damage. All we can do is keep you perfectly still and hope for a heart." I said, "I'm going home, sign my release papers." He mocked me and said, "Butch if you can sit up, I'll sign the papers." I not only sat up, I stood up, on broken bones they had yet to discover. He turned to my wife and said, "He's a stubborn SOB, take him home he can die there as easily here." I wanted to walk out of the hospital, but they would not let me. I insisted and they said “No way” that their insurance forbade it. So after about an hour of me standing by my bed they managed to complete all the paper work and wheeled me to the car.

Now understand, My bones were not healed, merely moved into place to mend. My heart was not healed. I knew there was the possibility that I would suddenly collapse and die and that would be that. However I had absolutely no fear of it, because in those moments following the accident the Lord had assured me that I was in his will, that I would have the strength to do whatever I was supposed to do.

It took six weeks before I could lift my elbows, and for two months I sat my pulse at an extremely slow rate, I could feel every heartbeat, like a gently rocking boat. For a very long time I did not have the strength to stand and talk. I could stand for a very long time, I could talk all day, but try doing both at once and I would fade fast. I recovered those first weeks sitting in my Brumby Rocker, (pictured above) which my wife had padded every way possible. It has a removable desk attachment, custom fitted to rest on the arms of the chair. I discovered quickly that I had to find other “fulcrums” to act instead of my broken-up chest. By propping my elbows on the desk, I could feed myself, drink coffee. I would have been able to turn the page of a book, if only I could have seen the print. But now the glory of the lord was so bright, so luminous, there was a fog of glory surrounding everything. Print on a page just held no attraction, nor did T.V.  I sat next to a 6 foot window and the movement of the air, the birds, the fall colors, the ever changing light was my entertainment for many silent weeks.

About three months prior to the accident the Lord started awakening me with a dream. It was the image of me being run down in the street, a blow so hard it left me unable to move and by all appearances, dead. I dismissed the dream at first but it persisted and about six weeks before the accident I said to the Lord. “Okay, if this is it, I understand. I'm willing to be run down in the street. If you are going to hit me, hit me.” That morning when the headon collision happened I instantly thought, “so there it is.” Then the next as I was flying through the air was, “I can't imagine taking a lick harder than that and surviving it.” Immediately the Holy Spirit asked, “Who said you are going to survive it”? And as all the books relate in an instant I saw my life passing before me. I realized there wasn't a single person that I truly loved that I had not recently told, “I love you.” And just as fast I saw an image of my then grown children without me, my wife without me and I was at peace.

All the time that was happening I was following the young woman who hit me through the air. I watched her literally bounce down the road, two or three times. I remember thinking that the motion looked impossible. The second her body came to rest, I was standing over her, praying sincerely for her. The Lord placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “Butch, look what you are doing?” I said, “You see her condition, I'm praying for her.” I continued to press her case to the Father's throne and the Lord said again, “Butch, Look what you are doing?” I said, “Lord, I'm praying for her.” He said, “No, look what you are doing?” I admitted that I didn't understand. He said, “Here at the moment of your death, you are unconcerned that you are dying and your heart drew you to this suffering child. While you have been holding her up, you haven't taken a thought about your survival.” For some time, I had really been emotionally beating myself up for my failures, for my sinfulness. I turned and saw my car down the road and my corpse slumped in the driver's seat. The Lord said, “This is who you have become because you belong to me.” Hours went by that I cannot relate. At the end he said, “Choose, do you want to return or stay with me?” I didn't want to return, but I would not say. He pressed and I said stubbornly, “Lord you know, I will not choose. I only ask that you don't send me back if I am going to be a burden.” He said, “Only where needed. You will have the strength to do everything you are supposed to do.” Instantly I saw a host of things that I would do that were way outside of my personal vision range. Things that frankly were very foreign to me. I could write a book about all I saw in that instant that was shocking and unbelievable to me, a great portion of which has already happened in these 21 years since. Just that quickly with the feeling of being sucked through a tube, I was in my chest and I heard the policeman say, “Don't bother with this one, he is gone.” I said, “I'm here.”

I exchange my weariness for His strength,
I exchange my weakness for His power,
I exchange my darkness for His light,
I exchange my problems for His solutions,
I exchange my burdens for His freedom,
I exchange my frustrations for His peace,
I exchange my turmoil for His calm,
I exchange my hopes for His promises,
I exchange my afflictions for His balm of comfort,
I exchange my questions for His answers,
I exchange my confusion for His knowledge,
I exchange my doubt for His assurance,
I exchange my nothingness for His awesomeness,
I exchange the temporal for the eternal,
I exchange the impossible for the possible,
I exchange my fear for His love. - unattributed. 

I can add, "I exchange my body of death for his life."