American Roman Catholic SHAME.

This happened on April Fools Day -Would that it were just that!

I can't think of anything I have witnessed that more clearly shows the degradation and shame of American Roman Catholicism than this vulgar display of celebrating a Divine Liturgy as PURE Political Theatre! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! 

If this Cardinal and these Bishops really believe they are helping the case for humane immigration policy by the DESECRATION OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, turning the most sacred moment of Christian Worship into political show, they are false priests who have abandoned the Love of Jesus Christ and have adopted the way of the world, using the tools of The New World Order, turning the Divine Liturgy into a Psy-Opts "event." They shame themselves, they shame the immigrants they proclaim to champion, they shame the Church, they sully The Most Sacred Mystery - for a POLITICAL comment, and SIDE SHOW. God is not mocked, and this was MOCKERY.
http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Watch-Live-Catholic-Bishops-Hold-Mass-on-the-Border-Highlighting-Humanitarian-Crisis-from-Failure-to-Act-on-Immigration-Reform

The Zeitgeist Movement - Luciferian Deception

The philosophical mechanism designed to create utopia after the coming chaos has announced itself making quite a splash in the last few years.  It is known as the Zeitgeist Movement. IF you love liberty, IF you hold faith in Jesus Christ, IF you love your children and grand children, if you know and declare by the Holy Spirit of God, that your basic human rights and theirs are by the will of God and HIS natural law "unalienable" to the human being, created in God's Image, you have to learn all you can about this "movement," its goals, and its deceptive methodology.

What Are Unalienable Rights? These are rights not secured by any Constitution but given by God.Let us not mince words, this is a Movement of The Liar, The Murderer from the beginning and The Father of lies. The original Zeitgeist Movie, actually begins with blaming the present economic and social chaos on RELIGION and those who believe their rights are "unalienable" and they make a convincing case for it, on the surface.  Friends if your understanding is merely surface, you are unarmed. 

Beloved, now is a time that lazy ignorance can lead only to slavery and death.  We must expend the energy to become wise as serpents, so that we may, in every way we can, confront the lying Zeitgeist NAZIS with TRUTH. So that we may teach the coming generation the means and evil of slavery to the Liar, and the Liberty of Fidelity to Jesus Christ.    


Here is the part of the Religious portion of the Zeitgeist Movie.

Here is one of the "consulting experts" - the anti-christ hatchet-woman, as it were, trying to shore up her shoddy academic lies.


Zeitgeist REFUTED & DEBUNKED! (Religious Portion)

This critic is an Evangelical Christian and so lacks the expertise to answer the Zeitgeist Lies with a full-spectrum rebuttal.  But he is brilliant despite his lack of knowledge of the Catholic Origins of all Christianity, and adequately, succinctly and in some cases brilliantly refutes the majority of the lies, using the lying author's own voice, where she refutes herself.  He does this using only Scripture and Secular History.  I hope in times to come he will add to his arsenal the Sacred History of the Church as well. I have much admiration for this young man's brilliants and efforts for Truth.  

 




THINK!  What is the purpose of this Movie?

Part One:  To undermined the one obstacle that stands between the New World Order Nazis and their World Domination goals. That obstacle, according to NWO Warrior, Ted Turner, is "Christianity." He stated this at the NWO/U.N. Peace Conference in Beijing in the early 1990s. "Christianity is the single most dangerous obstacle to World Peace."  At the time I rolled my eyes and thought, "What a nut!  Who would believe that?"  Now the who is being revealed.

Part Two:  They blame Christians for both the 911 attack - make no mistake that is what this movie is saying; Christians are responsible for the attack, which was a sophisticated demolition (IMPLOSION) of the buildings, and Christians are responsible for the ham-handed and silly cover-up of the TRUTH as well.  "Now you smart young people who overcame the myth of 911 by diligently seeking the TRUTH, did so because you are not blinded by the myth of Jesus Christ.  (wink, wink) YOU know Christianity is a Fraud." 

Part one is 90% lies.
Part two is 100% Truth - together they create an amazingly strong propaganda, brainwashing tool, a HATE DOCUMENT, meant to create sympathy for the elimination of Christians from the Public Square, and ultimately from the Society ALTOGETHER.  
PART THREE SHOWS THAT THE NEW WORLD ORDER IS TELLING THE TRUTH OF THE HELL THEY HAVE CREATED AND THE FRAUDS THEY USED TO CREATE THAT HELL, BUT ARE BLAMING THAT HELL ON CHRISTIANS JUST LIKE IN THE 1930S THEY BLAMED IT ON JEWS, SETTING US UP FOR A MASSIVE GENOCIDE. 


EVERYTHING REPORTED IN THE FIRST PART OF THIS VIDEO ABOUT THE ABUSES OF THE "CORPORATOCRACY" IS JUST SIMPLY TRUE.   But is the answer really Technology as GOD and Technicians as the High Priests of our Culture?  My questions to such Luciferian plans is, "Who regulates the Experts"?  As sophisticated as this video presentation is, it does not state anything other than Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis" his homage to a Scientistic Dictatorship/New World Order, complete with an unelected, despotic-enlightened ruling elite, and high priests that were "experts and scientists."  I properly identified Francis' Burkes' Dystopia as Luciferian and the videos on this page and those linked PROVE IT. 







Ask yourself this question. Why would a more equatable society require the abandonment of the Christian Faith?  That is the overarching message of the Zeitgeist Movement, that all religion has to be abandoned, ESPECIALLY Christianity for the creation of a "more just society."  Why? They cannot give a single philosophical answer through which you cannot drive an express train through.  It is totally illogical how, Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, is detrimental to a just society.  Common sense as to dictate and say, their motive is not "a more just society" but the conquest of God and God's people.  When you see the likes of Jordan Maxwell as a major voice on the original movie, and hear his vicious attack on Christianity and the glint in his eye when discussing Luciferianism, the case is clear.

Jordan Maxwell and Luciferianism Page link.

David Icke Debunked

If you do not grasp that the New World Order is an expression and goal of Luciferianism, you need to watch this video ten times. This young man Chris White is brilliant, a convert from New Ageism, an investigator in the Truth Movement, who was converted to (Evangelical) Christianity. In this presentation his only blind spot is the limitation of his Christian theology where he equates Idols and Ikons. But considering his analytic mind, this error won't stay with him long. This presentation is "in the weeds" and many people will not understand it, so if you do not understand the context, don't worry about it. But if you understand that the New World Order, New Ageism, Satanism, the Illuminati, The Masonic Structure, The Ecumenicism of Christianity, The U.N., the World Bank, The IMF, all hold the same "spirituality" . . .  Lots of true Christians and some few Jews I've met, who hold Jesus Christ in their hearts, and are informed by the Holy Spirit, by spiritual discernment know this, but do know this "rationally" so that they are able to present the history and explain the ties. This young makes those connections, he connects the demonic dots, as it were. Truthfully, if I had not read the lion's share of Theosophical and Kabbalistic writings of the last few centuries, I might not "get it." But in this, I think spiritual discernment will fill the gaps of knowledge. We need to understand what it is that Oprah is offering, and Rick Warren and Joel Osteen, and Hollywood, and Marianne Williamson, (Touched by an Angel fame) and this latest Noah movie, a host of others. Why? So that we may expose the satanic lies in context and teach the Truth who is Jesus Christ. It is a drudge - this video - but very informative and brilliantly produced.

Jordan Maxwell and Luciferianism

This is a lecture given in 2002 by Jordan Maxwell, a.k.a., Russell Pine. It is the most sophisticated Luciferian presentation I have ever seen delivered, couched as a mere presentation of his 42 year rational study of ancient mystery religions. I gather from his display in his presentation that Maxwell is a very bitter man who hates Christianity and Judaism.  When he gets to his real aim, he cannot help but curse both Christianity and Judaism. His presentation of the massive data he has collected over 42 years (as of 2002) some of it real, some of it imagined, is presented through a PRISM designed to destroy the foundation of what he hates; Christianity and Judaism.

For the most part of this three hour presentation his eyes remain nearly expressionless, except those passages where he speaks of Lucifer (in the positive) and then his eyes un-mistakenly twinkle with glee. His audience is primarily New Age Egoists, of several disciplines, ready to lap up his every lie.

A philosopher once said, "The best answer, is that answer which explains the most about the most data" and Maxwell claims to be presenting from that foundation, and wants you to believe that each of his presumptions and opinions are the result of "dispassionate and unbiased" research of the data. When in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

I can't say he is a "Luciferian" without getting sued, since he makes no claim of such. But I can say, that were I Lucifer, Maxwell and his sophisticated deception is EXACTLY what I would use to seduce (a) the isolated "spirit only Christians, who exist in egoistic religion, without intellectual and doctrinal foundation, more akin to New Spirituality than historic Christianity" (b) the "ignorant and wounded Romans" who hate the Church already, (c) the "ignorant Protestants, Independent Church Movement and Evangelicals whose gut yearns for Catholicism to be evil" (d) the "agnostic who believes all religion is a confidence game." The only audience he challenges are the Atheists, who he challenges to believe in the real and true "mystery" that being "the master" "the bringer of light" Lucifer. 



(Notice that when I expose these Luciferians, their videos suddenly get scrubbed.)

What is Written in Stone

Words are movable, shaded and nuanced. Have you ever heard the expression, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? God was proclaimed by the Holy Spirit in words by Moses and the Prophets of all ages, actually since time began. Remember the old sayings, "It's not written in stone" "This IS written in stone" and "This is yet to be written in stone."  More certainly than the stone tablets of Moses, God's Incarnation into the womb of Mary, him taking on HER humanity, was a writing in Stone.  What before had been symbolized by the Holy Spirit, clouded, seen in myriad symbols and signs, became written in Stone in the Divine/Human Man, Jesus Christ. What had not and could not be depicted, except in abstract symbolism, took concrete form and became "depictable." So that what had been spoken in words, and depicted in abstract symbolism became an Living Human Being, with personality and features, countenance, expression, emotion. 

Those who chose to bow to the heresy of the Muslims and condemn the depiction of Jesus Christ in holy imagery (Ikons) attacked HIM, tried to remove him to non-incarnational status, tried to ROB his likeness from the consciousness of future generations of Christians, tried to take his humanity away and make of him "spirit only" and remove his Divine/Humanity from the vision and thoughts of the believer.  The Incarnation of Jesus Christ wasn't so that he could teach, but that he could be the LIVING IKON of God the Father. 

The great theosophist Thomas Jefferson said, "I believe in Jesus Christ in every way he would have wanted me to believe in him.  I believe in what he taught."  You cannot be saved and find eternal life depending exclusively on what Jesus taught. Shocking words I know. Much less could Jefferson find salvation in the teachings he excluded in the same manner as the "Jesus Seminar" centuries later.  Because both believed in a false Jesus, in a Jesus of their own creation, a product of their pride and imagination, they could not believe that "their" Jesus would say, this thing or that thing.  But even when the words are clearly placed on a page, and all of them are included, as the myriad Protestant versions of the Gospel prove, words are movable, shaded and nuanced. Healing/salvation lies rather in who Jesus was and what he did and people HEARING about it, and learning about it in written word, spoken word and ART.  He was God incarnate, Truly Human, Truly Divine, depictable in human reality, yet containing the fullness of the Godhead.  The core Christian statement of faith, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed says nothing about Jesus' teaching, but says WHO he WAS and WHAT he DID.  Every aspect of each of his actions contains the mystery of the Gospel, and every action is depictable. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Truths of the Gospel are depictable.   

What do you think was the motivation of Satan, when he tried through the demonic influence of Islam, the use of the Roman Emperor and apostate Churchmen, to stamp out physical depictions of Jesus Christ, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, Angels and Saint and . . . the stories, the parables, the events of the Gospel?  It was to rob the Church of the new means of spreading the message of the Gospel, to block the Church from creating those very IKONS that today even iconoclast cults have burned in their memory: 

the Annunciation - when God became man, 

the Visitation, when John the Baptist in the womb recognized Jesus in his mother's womb.

The Nativity


 



the Presentation when the infant Jesus first shed blood for us, 

His Baptism by John the Baptist 

His temptation by Satan in the Wilderness

His healings. Here healing the lepers. 

His Transfiguration, 

His feeding the masses, 

 His Teaching the Eucharistic Familiar Covenant at the Last Supper, also called the New Covenant and the New Testament.

 His Betrayal by Judas,  

His Agony in the Garden before his arrest, 

His Arrest, 

His trial before Pilate.

 His Scourging and Humiliation, and His Suffering Trek to Golgatha
His Torture on a Cross, 
His Shedding of Blood and Water, 
His removal from the Cross, 
The Preparation of his body for the Tomb, 
His Tomb, 
His sojourn in hell, where he lead captivity captive, 
His Resurrection where he conquered death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowed LIFE,  
His Meetings with his faithful after the Resurrection, 
His revelation to Doubting Thomas, 
His cooking and eating with his apostles, 
His Ascension into Heaven, 
His Kingship, 
His Revelation to Saul on the Damascus Road 
- these are just a few of the Depictions possible of the Story of the Gospel, the incarnation, the Message of the Cross. They are immanently and naturally DEPICTABLE.

What wealth Satan tried to seal through the arrogance and self-righteousness of prideful men!  Everyone of these IKONS taught myriad generations of illiterate and simple people, and burned these scenes and the MEANING of these scenes into the hearts of Centuries of Faithful.  In this, the Church is seen NOT as trying to "hide the Bible" from ordinary people, as is the common and ignorant anti-catholic accusation, but rather though massive book publishing called "codices" (starting in the 1st century) the forerunner of modern book publishing, spread these very expensive hand-produced works, the Books of Holy Scripture into several languages and to multiple continents. AND MORE, they created the universal language of ICONOGRAPHY, so that even the unlearned could view the picture, hear the story and have two means of retaining the message of God's Living Word, who is the person, Jesus Christ.  

And what about that NAME, Jesus the Christ? In his condescension He created  NAMES, The Messiah, Jesus Son of David, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Son of God, Emmanuel (and others). These given to him FOR man's sake, so that we would be able to SPEAK HIS NAME, as Friend and Brother; he also gave us the name of the Great unspeakable I AM, that name being Abba, (Father - most closely related to the English word, Daddy) something that before the Incarnation would have been unthinkable blasphemy. When we pray we say collectively, "Our Father" - what a wonder is that. Who else has a family, whose Father is GOD?   Instantly these names were reduced to Iconography, that is given symbols to "picture" and remember. 


Alpha And Omega: These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, signifying that Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of all things (Rev. 22:13).

Chi Rho: This is a monogram of the first two letters X and P of the Greek word for Christ.

Chi Rho with Alpha and Omega: This symbol for the Lord comes from the catacombs and indicates that he is the beginning, continuation and end of all things.

Chi Rho with Alpha and Omega in a Circle: The symbol for Christ is within the symbol for eternity (the circle), thus signifying the eternal existence of the Savior.

I X: This symbol for the Lord consists of the initial letters of the Greek words for Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ The Victor: This is a Greek Cross with the abbreviated Greek words for Jesus Christ, the lines above the letters indicating that the words are abbreviated. The letters NIKA are translated victor or conqueror.

I.N.R.I.: These are the initial letters for the Latin inscription on the Cross of the Crucified Christ. Iesus Nazaremus Rex Indaeorum: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (John 19:19).

I.H.B.I [Greek]

[Slavonic]

Sun and Chi Rho: The sun is the source of light and Jesus is referred to as the Light (John 1:4). The sun is combined with the CHI RHO, another symbol for Christ (Mai. 4:2).



Accuse the Orthodox of "worshiping idols" and you attack the person of Jesus Christ, depicted in those IKONS, The Christ, the Living Word of God, The Way, The Truth, and The LIFE, given us to DEPICT in IKONS to share and teach, not just by words but VISUALLY. "1Jn 1 ff  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full."   

Accuse the Orthodox of "worshiping idols" because we venerate the Saints depicted in ICONOGRAPHY and you attack the Sanctity of Christ himself.   
Do you not know that what has been witnessed may be depicted in Sacred Icon? That not only can we "tell you" we can "draw you a sacred picture"?  And when you attack it, do you not know you attack the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, "Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren". Families and family members can be depicted, and even the Son of God may have his likeness depicted, and in the hands of the worshiping Eucharistic Society that IS his family, IT IS SACRED ICONOGRAPHY and NOT Idol. Using VISUAL AID to draw to mind and heart THROUGH the SACRED OBJECT depicted, showing that ICON reverence, is the least respect it deserves. Both to Jesus Christ, but also to ALL the Saints because, HE who sanctifies and those he sanctifies are ONE.  

Since Satan was defeated in his attempt to destroy Sacred Iconography he had to choose another tact. That happened in Western Art, where depraved artists began to create images that were "anti-christ" vulgar, demeaning and even lewd.  With the advent of photography and moving pictures he greatly increased his anti-christ depicting enterprises.  We see a constant diet of it on the History Channel, Net/Geo the National Geographical Channel, on all the major networks and in movies like The Last Temptation of Christ and The Divinci Code, to name only two of many.  Sadly in this culture that anti-christ depiction is all many know.

This anti-christ depiction of Jesus Christ and his Church is prevalent in this Western Society, financed by a who's who list of Jesus Haters. It has herded mindless quasi-Christians into a conditioned state, where the mere mention of The Church brings from their gut an immediate attack as if the Church of Jesus Christ is evil.  I remember seeing a lecture about early Church History by a former "evangelical believer" turned Agnostic, who in all honesty gave a fair verbal depiction of the formation of the Church. At the end of the presentation, a young man stood to ask a question and asked some absolutely ridiculous question about some conspiracy of the Roman Church. The former Evangelical, a PhD professor in Roman History looked stunned and said, "You are making reference to the Divinci Code, correct."  
The young man acknowledged that was his point of reference. 
The professor returned, "It never happened."  
Then the young man was stunned. He responded, "Who are you to say? What proof do you have?"  
The professor said, "I know the difference between fact and fiction. It is that simple. The Divinci Code is entertainment, and totally fictional." 
The young man said, "How can you say that?  How can you know?"
"Well, after all, I have a PhD in both early Church History and Secular Roman History. I have the witness of historians of the contemporary period, the Roman and Jewish historians, not to mention the record of the Church itself. I'm not even a Christian, but I've spent decades studying these sources and I'm telling you, it never happened."
In total incredulity the young man asked, "How can I know that what you are saying is true?"
The professor said the logical thing. "I invite you to spend the years I've spent studying the extant material and see if you can come to another conclusion."
Still the young man was not convinced.

The anti-Christ depiction of Christ in the 20th and 21st Century is a massive brainwashing tool.  I looked at that clean-cut well dressed articulate college student, caught in the sorcery of the New Babylon.  I heard the words of the prophet Isaiah speaking to those who are the image of nice people without God, comfortable and prosperous on the outside yet filled with great poverty and tragic but laughable foolishness.  As affluent and educated as he was, he had been "suckered" played the fool by sorcery. "Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, which you learned with much labor from your youth; see if you will be able to profit from this.  You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. (He was truly frustrated and angry and I'm sure he had spent much energy imbibing every anti-Christ, anti-Church message, book, blog, movie etc., available to him.) Let the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that will surely come upon you. Behold all these shall be burned like sticks in a fire, and they shall not deliver their soul from the flame."  Isaiah 47:12ff

Those who attack the Church, who believe the lies of the sorcerers, who watch the daily prognosticators, the fear mongering "free-church-prophet class", who abuse the Sacred Scriptures and paint Christ's Body the Church as pagan and "idolatrous," the whore of Babylon, the Bishop of Rome as the Anti-Christ . . . they are JUST AS much victim of sorcery, just as deeply brainwashed and deluded as this college secularist.

Orthodox Sunday

Orthodox Sunday - The first Sunday in Great Lent:
 
Fr Alexander - “This is the Apostolic faith, this is the Orthodox faith, this is the faith of the Fathers, this is the faith that is the foundation of the world.”  

This is our Faith, called Christian, direct from the Apostles. This is the faith that shines the True Light of the Cross of Christ to every generation without admixture of error, that True Light is Orthodox, Catholic, Apostolic.  Why? Because, in the collective saints of every age, we are the Body of Truth. HE, the Person who IS Truth is our head and we saints and sinners are HIS Body.  Having this wonderful treasure, let us live it, let us preserve it, let us keep it, and let us also use it in such a way that this treasure becomes the victory of Christ in us and in His Church and ultimately in the world as the Holy Prophets and Apostles foretell.  Let us not be caught in the mere form of the visible church, becoming "sacramentalized" instead of sanctified,  but rather let us be caught in the sanctifying LIFE of it, who is Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, present to all that truly seek Him.

Our Heavenly Father
Let us not be caught in the fear of servile religion; keeping Tradition out of ignorance and offering our "correctness" as sign of righteous enlightenment.

Let us not be caught in the tyranny of our rational minds, which creates "innovations" upon the faith, which leads us to hold prideful "theologies" that diminish God to the level of our understanding, or worse, which deny Him altogether.

Let us not be caught by the tyranny of our emotions, mistaking our soul's phantasy producing powers for the working of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.

Let us not be caught in the mere form of the visible church, but in the LIFE of it, who is Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, present to all that truly seek Him. Let our keeping of Tradition spring from the warmth of your Love, from a heart that seeks continual repentance, from a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart you will not despise. Amen. Amen. Amen.  - Archpriest Symeon Elias.

I AM a Power Spiritual Being!

Here is Elizabeth Gilbert and Oprah Winfrey pushing what the Holy Fathers call, "the happiness seeking sickness."  Some Christian Traditions also falters in their witness of the Gospel for reason of this very philosophy creeping into their theology, where one is taught that Christian Faith is about seeking and finding "happiness" in this life.  No, rather Christian Faith is about seeking and finding Eternal LIFE, regardless of the pain and pleasure of the journey. It is about abandoning everything that is death engendering, no matter how pleasant and pleasurable it may seem and embracing everything that is "eternal life" engendering, even if it is great suffering and struggle.  The life engendering grace of God may come to us via many experiences. Many LIFE LESSONS may engender great happiness and joy, but the most profound lessons are those that challenge this sort of "surface emotional living."  All REAL Life Lessons have ONE common source. For Elizabeth, the power of her happiness is "photosynthesis." She would reel in deep depression in the Winters in my neck of the woods where the Sun does not shine sometimes for many weeks. She would be suicidal in Alaska.  



The weakness of the various "spiritualisms" (New Age, the Mind Sciences, Motivational Enthusiasm Movements, the cults of every ilk) is that they "make something special of the devotee."  You are a "powerful spiritual being" is an oft stated mantra of these groups, a statement that is not devoid of Truth. Or that we should act only upon those things that make us experience surface "happiness."  Who could deny that Genghis Khan, Mao, Stalin, Hitler were powerful spiritual beings? Who could doubt that they experienced great moments of happiness, victory, even elation at pressing their hellish will upon the earth.  A great many people use their natural innate human spirituality to align with dark forces that destroy their own "person" as they attempt to destroy the "personhood" of others. This is the modus operandi of every Utopian fantasy, every atheist/secularist "empire," every "re-education" and indoctrination program, every secular philosophy, science and psychology devoid of the Cross of Christ, every attempt at the recreation of the Towel of Babel, that is Wisdom and Order devoid of the Cross of Christ.  

AS an individual, coming to realize that we are more than flesh and bone, that our consciousness is more than the physical aspect of the human brain, that cognition is beyond the scope of science and is "spiritual" is a step toward wisdom, a step out of the extreme materialist mentality of our age, but may or may not be a step toward our own healing/salvation. 

On his lenten blog, Fr Robert Barron stated, "Something I have noticed over the years is that the holiest people in our tradition are those who are most aware of their sinfulness. Whether it is Paul, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, Thérèse of Lisieux, or Mother Teresa, the saints are those who are convinced of their inadequacy. (I wish he had used the word, sinfulness instead of "inadequacy" which lends itself to the delusions of secular psychology and away from the absolute Truth.) 

"When Isaiah encounters the Lord he says, "I am a man of unclean lips!" When Peter is in the presence of the Messiah he says, "Lord, leave me, for I am a sinful man." G.K. Chesterton once said, "A saint is someone who knows he's a sinner."  I could state further than Chesterton and say that one who does not recognize his own sinful nature, is not a Christian, not a true follower of Christ, but is rather a deluded "religionist."  i.e., sickened by religion. The human spirit is naturally religious and absent the true spiritual comprehension of the Cross of Christ constructs theologies proclaiming the primacy of its own reason and emotions, and the kingship of its own carnal mind, via the delusion of its own religious (spiritual) constructs or those it has adopted. No human philosophy is constructed of benign and antiseptic reason alone, but rather each springs from a spiritual base, which is drawn to, or repelled by TRUTH, who is a person.   

Two things expose the sinfulness of even the greatest saint, and thus all us lesser "saints."  (1) The Glorious Luminosity of God, who is wholly OTHER. (2) The true spiritual comprehension of the Cross (and I don't mean the ability to expertly explicate every aspect of it, but rather to be truly submitted to communion in Christ's Blood, which is participation in its healing power.) 

Every saint in the presence of an "angel of God" or a "theophany" (an appearance of God's Word) is first overwhelmed by the difference in their "state of being" and that of God's.  Instantly they recognize their inferiority, that is their sinfulness. Ultimately, from this view, at the foot of the Cross, one comes to comprehend the true meaning of the Cross, how that Sacrifice defines EVERYTHING.  The first comprehension is the total, absolute and unreasonable condescension it is, that was prepared for us. Yet comprehension is meaningless if we do not "participate in that sacrifice." So the second comprehension is that we, with unclean lips may share in the sacrifice of the Life Producing Cross. We participate in the Divine Liturgy where Jesus Christ shares His Body and Blood in a spiritual sacrifice, because Jesus, as they were eating, took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, (New Covenant) which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  - Matthew 26:26-28 (King James Version) That Body and Blood IS Jesus Christ. HE is the New Covenant, HE the Divine Human Person. The Covenant is not a legal agreement, but a FAMILY TIE, Sharing in the same Divine/Human flesh and blood. It is the Covenant Family, that gathers together, presenting their own bodies in the "unbloody" sacrifice, their "rational liturgizing" their proper worship that is Holy and Acceptable, so that they may experience the transforming of their mind, so that they may come to know the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.  I said it is a FAMILY BOND, of the same Divine/Human Flesh and Blood. It is a bond of those who through The WAY of the Cross, gain the Holy Spirit within, and HE turns to us and says, "Behold my mother and my brethren!  For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." 12:48-50 (King James Version) It has nothing to do with a legal contract! It is a FAMILY BOND.     

 Anyone with this comprehension never participates in an egotistical spiritual evaluation of themselves, but rather say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."  No Holy Roller, self-righteous ACT, no prattling about the pristine condition of our "salvation" and our "mature spirituality" has any place in the vicinity of the Cross of Christ.  How else can we with unclean lips touch the cup of this sacrifice and not say, "Lord, I am unworthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word and I will be healed." 

Abject spiritual prostration at the Cross of Christ is our ONLY true Spiritual strength.  All else is darkness and death, though it may seem for a period, "great enlightenment."  "Nothing is more common than Satan teaching theology to those he fears may slip from his grasp."

Think about the "Family of God."  After the fall, it was Adam and Eve, grieving in extreme remorse, then by promise it was Abel.  Yet in that first chaotic period after many centuries, alive on this planet, that Family of God was only Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives.  By the time of Abraham it was a tribe of kinsmen. Then by the time of Moses twelve tribes. Then it became a nation of people and through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is has become a family of many nations.  Yet it is a family, who participate in the same Sacrifice, who spiritually prostrate themselves at the foot of The Cross, and hold FAITH in nothing else.