Homily

Will there be faith on the earth?

Novem= ber 28^th ,1999 St. Stephen the New

Fr. J= osiah Trenham, Pastor

St. Andrew Orthodox Christian Church; Riverside, Ca.=

Introduction. In the Name of= the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen. We are fast approaching one of the= most significant moments in world history: the changing of the millennium. Curiosity is rising speedily, and together with it anxiety and pensiveness.&= nbsp; I regularly am hearing questions about what the Church says about the millennium, about the end of the world, about the Return of Christ our Savi= or to the earth. I welcome these questions with enthusiasm for this is a possible way that many individuals who do not take care of their souls might consider doing so and those who are pious can make much spiritual progress. This last month of the 20^th century should be a time of reflection and preparation for all Orthodox Christians. We must understand what is going on around us, what is happening historically, to understand what the Lord is calling His children to at this time. I believe He has a very specific message for us Orthodox Christians today.

A Reflection on the 20^th Century. This century has witnessed an unparalleled rapidity of change. “Change” itself if perhaps the second description of this century that comes to my mind. Think of the radical changes in the political landscape of the world. Monarchy, which has been virtually normative throughout human histor= y, has been all but eradicated from the earth. Regicide has taken place in this c= entury like it has in no other. In t= he place of monarchy a torrential struggle has settled. A struggle bet= ween the political systems of various forms of democracy and communism. This struggle has largely defined = the 20^th century and its wars. Since t= he rise of Bolshevism and the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and the overthrow of other Orthodox monarchs most children of the 20^th century simply have idea what it means to have a King.&nb= sp; When we hear that our Lord Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the King of Peace we really don’t have a fleshed context in which to place such ideas. When we hear St. Paul tell the Church at Rome to pay special reverence to the Ki= ng we don’t exactly know how to keep this command. We have lost a very valuable witne= ss to the kingdom of God on earth, the witness of Orthodox monarchy, and many pio= us fathers have suggested that the removal of the Orthodox Kingdoms from the e= arth which took place in the first half of this century is the “removal of= the restrainer” of Antichrist mentioned by St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, “For the mystery= of lawlessness if already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until = he is taken out of the way. And = then that lawless one will be revealed [the Antichrist] whom the Lord will slay = with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.” This interpret= ation derives tremendous support from the evidence of the radical spread of lawlessness and hedonism in the once civilized world during this century. This century has witnessed unparal= leled political change born from apostasy.

Amongst the more obvious change= s of the 20^th century are not simply political changes but technologi= cal changes. Computers, televisio= ns, automobiles, airplanes, space exploration, scientific advancement, you name= it, technology has transformed modern life so much so that we can in fact not conceive of life without such technology. This technology has been applied to almost every area of life from medicine to national defense and the resulting changes have been massive, even catastrophic. This technologi= cal revolution, however, has been effected at a period when and by a people who have radically deficient ethical and spiritual resources to properly handle such development. The rise of technology in itself is relatively meaningless. What is done with that technology, however, demonstrates a people’s moral and spiritual bearings. In this category we have been weig= hed in the balance with Belshazzar, and we too have be= en found wanting.

We have become very much the children of Tubal-cain. Tubal-cain was the son of Lamech= by his wife Zillah. Lamech himself was a near descendant of Cain. Tubal-cain was the “forger of all implements of bronze and iron” (Gen. 4:22).<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He was in essence the “Fathe= r of technology” in the Holy Scriptures.&= nbsp; But he lived in a context of moral degradation and violence. He was the fruit of the first poly= gamous union in the Bible, and his father Lamech was a violent murderer. He would ma= ke a good American today. A lover = of sex and violence who was a whiz on the computer and up on all the cuttin edge technologies. We find ourselves very much in the= image of Tubal-cain, possessing in our hands incredib= le technological “power” with absolutely no idea why we have it or what its proper use is.

And this leads to my primary description of this century. “Change” is the second thing that comes to my mind while reflecting on this century, not the first.= The first adjective I would use to describe this century is ‘satanic’. St. John the Divi= ne describes in the 20^th chapter of his Revelation what would happen just prior to the end of human history.&nb= sp; “And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of= the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil= and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations a= ny longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must = be released for a short time” (Rev. 20:1-3).

When our Savior came to this ea= rth He established His Kingdom, engaging the evil one and with His almighty pow= er binding Satan. For 1,000 years Satan is bound. This symbolic number represents the entire age of the Church during which Satan is unable= to halt the spread of the Gospel and deceive the nations any longer. Nation after n= ation, and people after people received the glad tidings of our Savior’s resurrection from the dead and found the salvation of their souls. At the end of this period, just pr= ior to our Savior’s return to earth to close human history and to judge all = men, Satan will be released. He wi= ll wreak havoc on the earth and deceive many, even in the Church.

It could be forcibly argued that this “release of Satan” has in fact taken place. I am not certain, but if I were to conceive of such a thing I imagine it would be very much like what we are witnessing presently and have witnessed progressively throughout much of th= is century. In many ways this ce= ntury has been the most horrific of human history. It has witnessed the escalation of violence on a scale humans of previous centuries would not have considered = possible. More humans have slaughtered by ot= her humans using our new technologies in this century’s wars than in all other wars of all other centuries combined. This century has witnessed the most sustained frontal assault on the church that we have ever encountered. More of our brothers and sisters h= ave given their lives in martyrdom in this century than at any other time since= the Church was established as the Light of Christ on the earth. Having grown weary of the costs of= war with humans who defend themselves, Satan has inspired most of the worldR= 17;s leaders to engage in the most hideous and vile war ever witnessed by the angels: the war on the unborn. In just some 30 years millions upon millions of innocent children have been slaughtered in their mothers’ wombs- the very place that children have always been safe, by the very person who has always been the child’s greatest defender- his mother. In fact, this war against the unborn is part of a larger war against God. It is a war against the family, a = war against marriage, a war against virginity, and most importantly a war ag= ainst the Orthodox faith conducted from within the confines of the Church itself. In these last few wee= ks of the 20^th century we will talk more about these fronts and how we should orient ourselves to be faithful to our Lord.

The 20^th century has been full of sorrow for the faithful. I am not sad to see it go. There are very powerful lessons th= at the faithful have derived throughout this century, however. One is simply this: we must prepare ourselves and our children for martyrdom.&= nbsp; Those who love Christ are unwilling to be separated from Him at any time. We do not simply want t= he heavenly joys He grants us, we want Him.&n= bsp; We desire to walk with Him through this life, and He carried a heavy cross here. We too who love h= im must pick up our crosses and not refuse to bear it. Have we prepared ourselves for martyrdom? Are our children prepared? Or are we inordinat= ely attached to this passing life? And seeking pleasures which are really no pleasures at all? The call of= our Savior is for us to pick up our crosses joyfully and follow Him with faith. With faith that the Cr= oss is the most beautiful thing about the earth and to bear it is actually life-giving. What rose has so adorned the earth as the Cross of Christ?&= nbsp; No rose adorns our lives any better than our own crosses. Let us be first and foremost lover= s of Jesus Christ and not ashamed of suffering for His sake. As St. Paul says, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe on Him but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29).

Today in your bulletin I insert= ed a short list of the corporations who are direct abortion funders in this country. Abortion has become a mega-business. The o= rgans and tissue of aborted babies are being openly “harvested” in th= is country and sold.

Mother Teresa was right when she boldly rebuked our President in Washington and told him that no country will ever get a hold of its violent crime problem until it stops supporting (ind= eed promoting!) the most violent act of crime imaginable: the murder of the unb= orn child by its mother.