russian-faith.com

How Globalists Manipulated Christians to Push Secularism, Abandon Ultimate Truth

Fr. Zechariah LynchFeb 27, 2020 | 2610 words 757 3

15-19 minutes

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What do underground homosexual communities and Protestant Evangelicals have to do with each other?

That was the question I asked while pursuing the back cover of a book called “Putin's Russia.” Reading that the author, Anne Garrels, was an NPR correspondent, I knew that the book would have one once of reality for every pound of propaganda. NPR has such a clearly liberal agenda.
The phrase on the back cover that got my attention was this:

“We discover surprising subcultures, like a vibrant underground gay community and a circle of determined Protestant Evangelicals ….”
This is a curious combination.

In America, for what is called the “liberal left,” Protestant Evangelicals are generally treated like bad guys. They are portrayed as narrow-minded "bigots" who oppose abortions and “sexual rights” (homosexualism). Yet, in the above phrase the reader is clearly intended to pity two conflicting groups.
So why would a liberal reporter want me to pity Protestant Evangelicals?

Rather than simply trusting the small phrase quoted on the back of the book, I decided to read more. In the book, I read a chapter titled, "The Believers". Presently, my goal not to refute the chapter itself. Rather, I want to point out a very important principle.

The chapter promoted a typical Western view. Evil forces of government and religion — in this case the Orthodox Church — are banding together to oppress small groups of various Protestants. The author's view of Orthodoxy is painfully superficial.

My principle point is reflected in the paradox that, from the liberal view, Protestant Evangelicals are bad in America, and yet in Russia they are victimized groups to be pitied. The reader will understand by the end, I hope, that this is indeed not a paradox.

Protestantism is one of the beginning stages of relativism. (Once relativism morphs out of its beginning stages it no longer needs Protestantism, and then it turns upon it as an enemy.)
Before I proceed, I will first say: I was a Protestant. I spent time in the 90's in the former Soviet Union as a “missionary.” I have some personal experience to draw upon. Second, I recognize that there are numerous good and warmhearted Protestant persons, some who work very zealously. Third, clearly Protestants get some things right. Yet as St. Ignatius of Antioch points out, even just a drop of poison in honey will kill you.

I am seeking to address a system, one that claims to be Christian, but in reality it is simply the early stages of Western European “rationalism,” “emotionalism,” “relativism,” and such, dressed up in Christian clothing. This is why a majority of Protestants are resistant to the True manifestation of Christianity in the Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy is not a product of “late-medieval” to present Western European worldviews, as is Protestantism.

Relativism is basically a rejection of ultimate objective Truth. My Protestant friends will say, “Wait! We do not reject Truth! We believe in Jesus and the Bible!” Let's see what that belief is founded upon.

To clear the way for relativism, first must come subjective individualism, which may be called Subjectivism. Subjectivism is soft relativism. Moreso than its mother Rome, Protestantism subjectivized the Truths of Christianity. (I believe the argument could be made that Rome first “individualized” truth in the person of the Pope, and thus Protestantism is simply a multiplication of this original error of Rome, but that is beyond the scope of this article at this point.)

In a very interesting book called “The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society,” the author, Brad S. Gregory, observes,

Christian truth claims vary greatly across different individuals, congregations, churches, and traditions. In countless ways they conflict with one another. As the doctrine analogue to the institutional variety apparent under the entry “Churches” in the yellow pages of American telephone books, Christian truth claims exhibit an extremely wide, open-ended range in terms of their content and status and importance among their respective proponents. What Christians believe about Bible, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, church(es), collective worship, prayer, morality, social justice, ecumenism, the importance of theological doctrines, the significance of scholarships of faith, or believers' relationship to the wider society, for example varies enormously. Somewhere, at some time, by some congregation or individual, almost anything has gone or still goes under the adjective “Christian.” Combined with this vast pluralism is the widespread (but not unanimous) view that whatever its particular content, religious conviction is a highly personal, individual matter, such that only each person can determine what is right and best for him or her. In matters of religious truth claims, each person is widely thought to be his or her own sovereign authority; this is in effect what freedom of religion means. Certainly it is what the laws of Western states protect.

Above, Mr. Gregory sums up the visible fruit of the ethos of Protestantism today. What he describes in basic is subjectivism, for when “truth” is predicated on limited and fallible individual feelings and experiences it becomes completely subjective (it also becomes something completely sourced from mere men). In fact, truth itself becomes obsolete and the subjective individual becomes the real standard and foundation of supposed “truth claims.” Ultimately in such a paradigm truth becomes meaningless. Ultimately, there is no objective (outside of the individual) Truth. The standard of Revealed Christian Truth is swept away in the tyranny of the individual. Protestantism is the quintessential religion of the individual.

How many times have I heard from Protestants, “No one has a corner on truth!” Well, then why Christianity?! If there is no corner on truth and whatever an individual believes is “true” to him, then religions are just man-made structures, all of them — including Christianity itself! This is the clear and right conclusion that the modern world has come to based upon Protestantism's relativizing of truth.

Or, mostly in Charismatic Evangelical circles, one may hear the phrase, “Well, that's not what the Spirit is saying to me!” Again the point of reference is the subjective individual – individualism – not actual Spirit or Truth. The “Spirit” or “Bible” is simply used to shore up the individual's own self-chosen and desired subjective “truth-claim.”
Orthodoxy does not claim that one individual has a corner on Truth. It claims that the Body of Christ — the Church — does (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15). It also clearly claims and substantiates that this Revelation is directly from God. Thus, it is never predicated on “mere men.” This is an objective, real, and actual standard by which all persons, in all times, may equally and clearly gauge their “Christian-ness”.
Protestantism stripped Christianity of its objectivity.

A very interesting philosopher of the 20^th century by the name of Rene Guenon in his book “The Crises of the Modern World,” critiques Protestantism's role in crises in these terms:

It is therefore in the realm of religion that we shall have to consider the revolt against the traditional outlook, a revolt which, when it had acquired a definite form, became known as Protestantism; it is not difficult to see that this is a manifestation of individualism; indeed one could call it individualism as applied to religion. Protestantism, like the modern world, is built upon a mere negation, the same negation of principles that is the essence of individualism … Consequently the modern outlook was bound to reject all spiritual authority in the true sense of the word, namely authority that is based upon the supra-human order, as well as any traditional organization … Protestantism denied the authority of organization … and in its place claimed to set up 'free criticism', that is to say any interpretations resulting from private judgment, even that of the ignorant and incompetent, and based exclusively on the exercise of human reason … the door was left open to all manner of discussions, divergencies, and deviations; and the result could not but be dispersion in an ever-growing multitude of sects, each of which represents no more than the private opinion of certain individuals.

Guenon continues with these strong but pertinent words:

Nothing and nobody is any longer in the right place; men no longer recognize any effective authority in the spiritual order or any legitimate power in the temporal; the 'profane' presume to discuss what is sacred, and to contest its character and even its existence; the inferior judges the superior, ignorance sets the bounds of its own wisdom, error prevails over truth, the human is substituted for the Divine, earth has priority over Heaven, the individual sets the measure for all things and claims to dictate to the universe laws drawn entirely from his own relative and fallible reason. 'Woe unto you, ye blind guides,' the Gospel says; and indeed everywhere today one sees nothing but blind leaders of the blind, who, unless, restrained by some timely check, will inevitably lead them into the abyss, there to perish with them.

Mr. Geunon rightly deduces that Protestantism is the spiritual foundation of the modern secular world.

Protestantism birthed a “new christianity” one that is firmly based in anthropocentricity rather than theocentricity. Elucidating points about the development of the Western mind, Alexander Solzhenitsyn makes these point which are also equally applicable to Protestantism:

Rationalistic humanism or humanistic autonomy: the proclaimed and enforced autonomy of man from any higher force above him. It could be called anthropocentricity, with man seen as the center of everything that exists.

To justify its own fragmented, individualized, and divided existence Protestantism rather than repenting of its un-Christian ethos, adds insult to injury by rejecting any Christian claim to full and ultimate Truth. This is the basis of the bad ecclesiology of Protestantism manifested in ideas such as “the invisible church” or “the branch theory.” Since no one group, it claims, has the “fullness” (again absurd in the view of True Christianity), all of the countervailing opinions are brought together and mixed into an unintelligible cocktail, which will unite all (?!). Anti-unity becomes its basis of unity.
Thus, in history Protestantism is one of the first great attacks against Ultimate Christian Truth and Revelation.

If Christianity cannot give a person full and complete ultimate Truth it is worthless.
The whole claim of true Christianity is that it is the full Revelation of ultimate Truth, in as much as we can bear it.

Picture a bunch of people all claiming to believe in mathematics but simultaneously claiming that no one can ever really get the right answers and that all answers have equal value! For some 2+2 equals 6, for others 8, for some 1,338,245; and for others it equals -10. The nominal claim to believe in mathematics is refuted by the refusal to apply the objective standards thereof.

As objective standards are vital to true math working properly, so they are to true Christianity. If wrong mathematical equations in the engineering field could result in the physical death of people (thus the great importance of doing math correctly according to the proven objective standards), how much more will the misuse of Christian truth result in the spiritual death of people?
Subjective individualism is a vital foundation of secularism. It is the ground upon which it grows. Protestantism is religious subjective individualism.

There is an old saying, “Boil the frog slowly.” The move of the “Western” world from its clearly ancient Christian roots to its current “secular” state is a process that has taken hundreds of years. Anti-Christian secularism could not just be born in a flash. First, its “new” mindset and ideas had to have a religious context (for the world of that time was inevitably religious), and Protestantism provided that context. It is nascent secularism.

One example of the kindred relationship between Protestantism and Secularism, which I've pointed out before, is found in Elite American families such as the Rockefellers. They understood that Protestant mission work orientated nations toward America and “Western values.” Once this happened it became easier for Western influence to take hold. The Rockefellers therefore supported various Protestant missions because they were the ice breakers, so to speak. They broke a path in which the Western secular market and influences could more easily follow (all this is spoken about in the official biography, The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty. Peter Collier & David Horowitz).
I noticed this very principle a bit when I was a Protestant missionary. As we “turned people to Christ” we inevitably turned them to American authority and influence (needless to say most of the “leaders” were Americans). The center of influence for them inevitably became “Western” and fragmented.
I hope it is clear now why the liberal left in the first-mentioned book is so concerned with Protestant Evangelicals in Russia.

They know that Protestantism will dutifully and zealously fulfill its role as a disintegrator of Ultimate Truth, albeit possibly unwittingly. Once Christianity can be relativized it stands no chance against the aggressive force of final secular and godless relativism. Protestantism is relativism with Christian clothing, thus it is easier to sell to more “traditional” cultures. Thus, Protestant missions play a vital role in the initial preparation of a culture to receive a full dose of “Western values.”
This is why the West at first fights zealously for “religious rights”, which it will later seek to revoke, as it is doing in America and elsewhere.

This is why the West always sees true Orthodoxy as the enemy — because the Orthodox Church refuses to recant her God-given gift of Ultimate Revealed Truth. This is also why both the liberals and Protestants think that Orthodox are arrogant. — "You think you are the only right ones!" — See how the Protestant and liberal mindsets coincide to a certain extent. This is why, in the first quote provided above, the liberal author is so sympathetic to Protestants and hostile toward the Orthodox. Orthodoxy has nothing of secularism, whereas Protestantism is of the same cloth.
On one stage (in “non-western” cultures) Protestantism must be cultivated so that it may fragment and deconstruct Christian Revelation and Truth and local culture, and then on another stage (such as in America), once it has served its purpose, it will be turned upon to be destroyed because it refuses (mostly) to progress and extend the theory of relativism past the boundaries of “Jesus.” And by this point, this compromised version of Christianity is too fragmented to successfully resist.
For the end result of “freedom from Truth” and the festivity of amorality and immorality, Secularism patiently endures and even nurtures its beginning stage, which is Protestantism.

Without any intention of doing so, my dear Protestant friends are paving the way for those underground homosexual clubs to come out into broad daylight, to be celebrated and lauded. And any who oppose will be told, “How dare you think you have a corner on truth!” That's why two seemingly contrary groups can sometimes be lumped together in the same sentence, and it makes complete sense.

Why hold on to the errors which men such as Luther and Calvin set into motion? Why continue in a system limited by paradigms born in an already-falling West? There is a home for all in true Christianity — the Orthodox Church. I think the devil fears what would happen if all who claimed to be Christian truly repented and came home to the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you desire to save the West, there is no way to do it without the Orthodox Church. A reset to Protestantism will only restart the inevitable process of godless secularization.

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Fr. Zechariah Lynch is an Orthodox priest in Pueblo, Colorado, at the Archangel Michael Orthodox Church. He blogs at The Inkless Pen, and is a regular contributor at Russian Faith.

Fr. Zechariah Lynch & his wife Natalia

Trump Vs Q

Where Are the Indictments, Bill Barr?

I have a feeling that there are no indictments and will be no indictments of the obvious coup plotters, Brennan, Comey, Clapper, Lynch, and gang, because, the big secret is that they were operating under the color of law, LEGALLY, not Illegally. It seems obvious to me, and I have been teaching my audience for years about the extreme latitude of operations available to a puppet president operating under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which has only been strengthened by subsequent legislation. Acts like The Patriot Act - and its extension, The U.S.A. Freedom Act ("free-doom") extended frightening power to various high ranking Federal Officials beside the President. They had the effect of embedding in the Deep State, powers that were envisioned to be in the hands of the President ALONE. Even as the 2012 NDAA stated, giving power to several federal officials to order the assassination of American Citizens, under specific circumstances.  Not making it up, it is law. 

You see, on the one hand, Obama's people operating still, with impunity and committing acts that by normal legal standards are CRIMES and not one coup plotter has been charged. Yet, on the other hand, they attempted to remove President Trump from office, for nothing more than a phone call. If you fail to realize that what you see operating here is a two-tier Justice System, you are simply blind. Still, you have to think further and ask: How can this be? (1) It cannot be by some sort of left/right prejudice as the politician state, nor (2) can it be because of well-placed people in positions of authority acting ILLEGALLY. (3) What is left is that people are acting under the cover of LAW, LEGALLY.

If my assessment is right: (1) they do not want you to know about the Legal Structure upon which the Deep State is Operating, so (2) they are playing Kabuki theatre as if real Indictments are coming. (3) This isn't just politics, this is a decades-long subversion of our Republic, placing nearly all authority in the Deep State, leaving us, Trump and the Patriot to fight back by sheer and raw POLITICAL Power. Even if my worst-case scenario is correct, that does not leave us without power. By exercising our political power and screaming unceasingly FOR indictments we will force their hand to admit that the two-tier legal system is codified law, and must be changed, or they will try to cover it up by producing "some" indictments. Either way, we cannot just stand by quietly, nothing will happen if we do not force their hand and make them choose.

George Papadopoulos has been very active pushing the meme that the Durham Investigation is REAL and is going to "change history."  He tweeted yesterday:




You see, I don't give a flying fart about some Deep State Bureaucrat producing "FINDINGS," that is meaningless.

I tried to respond but was blocked by Twitter from commenting on George's thread.  Why? Because I'm questioning the present psyop, questioning if the present investigations are REAL. Investigations into criminal activity, IF THE LAW IS REAL, should have ALREADY produced numerous indictments. I list series after series of KNOWN crimes in the video below.  We all have some understanding of the nature of the Coup Plotter's crimes, who did what, when and with what intent. It has been spelled out in open-source media, through Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA) via researchers and lawsuits by the likes of Judicial Watch (trove after trove) and Jay Sekulow's group, the American Center for Law and Justice. Not to mention the scab pulled off of the Hillary Clinton-John Podesta corruption-emails secured (most likely) by Seth Rich, the coverup-non-investigation of Seth Rich's murder, and the release of a small portion of that material by Wiki-leaks and Julian Assange. We have witnessed the persecution of Julian Assange and as the last video stated the assassination of others.  Now, we have Rudy Giuliani openly sharing the information he secured in his Ukrainian investigation, creating the foundation upon which was built the Russia HOAX, to coverup massive Democrat and probably also Republican corruption.  Without a single bit of information from the Q Psyop, merely what Trump has affirmed by his Tweets on the various subjects we KNOW, as I say, the Crimes Committed, who did what, when and with what intent. So it is not cynicism when I respond to George Papadopoulos saying:

And indeed that has to be the question we all ask; it should be chanted at Trump Rallies, WHERE ARE THE INDICTMENTS, BILL BARR! WHERE ARE THE INDICTMENTS, BILL BARR!

In response to my last video (below), I received some of the saddest and strangest comments. People mistake my comment section for their place to vent passions, spew hatred, frustration and silver-tongued devils try to use it for misdirection.  The reason that that the Q LARP has been so successful is that the population has been dumbed down, and people want their information fed to them in terms of Patriot and Traitors, White Hats and Black Hats so that actors are all good or all evil.  It really exposes the stunted emotional and intellectual development of the Cultural Marxist Education System which Charlotte Iserbyt DOCUMENTED in her massive work, beginning with "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of the American People."   We are all dealing with that aftermath, the majority of the population actually dumbed-down and each person thinks they are "well informed" because Fox News or MSNBC or The Q LARP tells them they are special. The view of it is terribly grief engendering, but it is not without hope, because people really are beginning to awaken, and even though the majority of those who have been "Red Pilled" are merely Q clones, or Rush clones, or the Blaze clones, or Breitbart clones, and so on, we have succeeded in breaking the monopoly of the GOVERNMENT/CIA/Globalist Judeo-Luciferian Mind Control Mechanism that has been "The Press" "The Media" for the last 70 years.  That is a huge step forward. Having taken this step, we cannot settle for a new control mechanism, like Q, an anonymous source with a secret plan no one knows and no one sees.  Without the last forty years of Marxist Conditioning having replaced education few in society would have been so stupid as to buy that ridiculous proposition.

Now, taking into account the emotional and intellectual stunting of Cultural Marxism, the insane responses I received to this last video, with people painting Q as all good or all evil, Trump as absolutely real, or absolute fraud,  Trust the Plan to Utopia, or Nothing is real and there have been no real and positive changes.  We have faith, or we are without hope; We will win! vs The powers of evil are too strong and we can't win.  I could go on and on giving examples. BOTH sides of this dialectic is a LIE.

One lady boldly told me that Trump was a total fraud because he is pressing ahead with the 5G rollout as if Trump is all-powerful and could stop the 5G rollout if he wanted to.  That would subsume to him absolute power over the Chinese Communist Party's Government of China, its military and its giant state-owned media monster named Huawei (pronounced Wah-way). 5G is coming because the Chinese have been working on it for years, building its infrastructure while American Politicians SOLD US OUT.  If 5G has a weaponized capability, can we allow it to be a Chinese monopoly?  I wonder if she has considered that the anti-5G fear-mongering in the U.S., might actually be a CCP - Chinese Communist Party psyop?  Could it be?  I don't know it is, but it could be.  It is also totally amazing to me that people who seem to reason in simple moralistic black and white terms like, where the only option is Trump is a Messianic figure, with a secret plan and society named Q to usher in Utopia, or he is all FAKE, just another puppet of ________ and you fill in the blank.  These people really suffering arrested emotional and intellectual development, they are stuck in perpetual adolescence, the result of brainwashing and like all adolescents, they are cocksure of everything, no matter what cognitive dissonance it exposes, or fantasies they have to accept as absolutely REAL.

I think by his own Testimony that Donald Trump entered the White House hoping to assume the levers of Governance and do some good things for this country.  I think he is a driven personality, totally goal-oriented and has a natural and good love for ordinary people. I think that he did not manage to become president without some powerful people, having become frightened at the course of history, decided they had to break from the Luciferian Cabal, maybe not even understanding that it is a Luciferian Cabal. Heroes in the Intelligence Community and other centers of power HELPED push back the forces that thought they would easily defeat him. He didn't' enter the White House with a master plan, but rather some concrete goals, and has been working at a pace unknown to me (the pace of a soon to be, 74-year-old man!) I have never witnessed in my life a human being of any age, with the intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual stamina of this man, living in a literal sea of assault, the Luciferians attacking him from every angle and every possible way.  Seeing the immediate good that Trump accomplished, which the Silver Tongued Devils seem to forget, just to name a few, attacking the inhuman V.A. system, removing us from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and the U.N. Paris Climate Dictatorship.  The same Silver Tongued Devil told me that Trump was a fraud because of the passage of the US, Mexico, Canada Trade Agreement, that it would lead to Sovereignty destroying commissions - I wonder what the hell she thought the North American Free Trade Agreement was?  Memories the size of a gnat.

Now, let us go back to the beginning.  IF Barrack Obama issued a National Security Letter, naming Trump and the Trump Campaign a "threat to national security" and Clapper and Brennan both have stated that Obama ordered the "investigation" that the CIA and FBI supposedly carried out. If he issued that secret directive, abusing the power of the Presidency, not one of the Coup Plotters will go to prison for their actions in the Coup, however, some may go to prison for process crimes.  Just like Roger Stone is caught in a process crime, that of lying to congress, myriad process crimes have been committed in the coverup of Obama's action, (if I am correct that he issued that directive). His action may very well be and IS grossly immoral abuse of power, but technically legal, leaving the whole Russia HOAX under the legal protection of National Security Immunity.

Time will tell. What do we know now?  Barr is stalling; if you can't admit that you have lost touch with reality. Two, Q is a pacification mechanism, and as a pacification mechanism, like Fox News, is a brainwashing psyop.  We live in a sea of it.  We have to develop "a whole new way of thinking here." Quoting President Donald Trump. 




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Did You Watch The Academy Awards?

 

Here are two reactions that are none manipulative.

Above, Mr. Wollery is remarking about having never heard of the film that won the "best picture." And Dana Loesch expresses her interest in the outcome. Both express interest or non-interest in the process and/or result.

Here is a Hegelian Dialectical reaction.

Now, honestly, if you thought it was suicide it would require only a lack of interest, but if it is Hegelian Dialectical, it requires a reaction.  So, at this moment, only a few hours after the Academy Awards ended,  the movie that won Best Picture is not trending on Twitter, no one really cares. Or if they do, they know which movie. But Brad Pitt and his snark are trending. That's how it works.  The Echo Chamber IS the social manipulation.

The Artificial Intelligence Algorithm monitoring my Tweets and nudging me toward "Politically Correct Reality" i.e., Cultural Marxist Deconstructionism, is so POWERFUL that having written negatively about Trans Mythology, when I posted this very article, the very next Tweet appearing is below.  They have me "reacting," they think, so time to teach. This is powerfull mind manipulation.

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied Bill Barr Coup Plot Indictments NOW!

Rebuke of Necromancy in American Christianism

orthodoxinfo.com

On Occultism and Magic: Ch. 19 from The Truth of Our Faith

by Elder Cleopa of Romania

20-26 minutes

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Inquirer: I know that many people, in pain caused by the death of their beloved relatives, take recourse to spiritualism, fortune-telling, occultism, or even aim at conversing with their dead relatives. Why doesnt the Church allow this?

Elder Cleopa: In both Holy Scripture and throughout the writings of the Holy Fathers there are a host of testimonies clearly showing that God punishes those that become involved with occultism and necromancy (seeking to speak with the dead). Our Saviour teaches us that blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed (Jn. 20:29). The Apostle Paul shows us who believe in Christ that we must seek after the power of faith and not the perception of our material eyes, saying we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). The prowling demons, however, instruct certain men not to be satisfied with the teaching of the Saviour and of His Apostle - to walk with trust in the faith of Christ - but rather to seek by every means to view with their sensible eyes that which is accessible only to the eyes of faith. The man who resorts to black magic and necromancy is an enemy of God, disobedient to His commandments, not content with the salvatory lessons God teaches him through the Scriptures, but rather, prompted by the demons in this illegitimate work, he seeks to investigate things rationally. And so, believing in these fantasies, he withdraws from God and the teaching of our Church.

Those who concern themselves with this and call upon the spirits of the dead, bring in as support the example of Saul who sought from the sorceress the invocation of the soul of Samuel (1 Sam. 28). Those who have fallen into this delusion of Saul should know from his punishment that they are culpable before God. For, because of this very transgression, Saul lost his kingdom and his life and was punished by God to be killed with his own sword. The punishment of Saul for his unlawful conversing with the dead is related in Holy Scripture thus: So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; and inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse (1 Chr. 10:13-14).

In the Old Testament the Lord commands the following: Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God (Lev. 19:31). And elsewhere: A man or also woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them (Lev. 20:27). The invocation of the spirits of the dead is hateful before God Who has never given it sanction among His people: ... there shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD (Deut. 18:9-14). God considers this abomination one of man's greatest revolts against His Will.

We have no need to communicate with the dead since God has revealed to us everything He knows to be necessary and beneficial for our salvation. For example, conversing with the dead is not able to prove to us that the souls of the dead live as they once lived in this present life. This reality of the next life is not news to us since we know it from Divine Revelation and it is a matter of faith, without there being the need for research and examination with our bodily senses. Divine Revelation offers us every assurance of truth. If someone wants to inspect and feel this with their visible senses it means placing in doubt the truths which were revealed by God. Furthermore, in these spiritual discourses there is no assurance that the spirit of the dead that was called for will appear and speak, for the evil spirits, the demons, mimic the righteous spirits, as Saint Paul teaches us: Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (1 Cor. 11:14). And the Evangelist John tells us the following: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God (1 Jn. 4:1-3).

In addition to all of this, the Holy Fathers tells us that in the case of Saul and the witch, it was not the spirit of Samuel that appeared, but a demonic spirit that had supplanted the spirit of Samuel. Saint Gregory of Nyssa says that the spirit was so dreadful and hideous, that the sorceress was frightened by it. Likewise, we see in the case of Adam whom God had called to the height of theosis, that he was deluded by the Devil and, falling from the grace of God, hid himself with Eve. There are many examples in Scripture from which we know that by the delusion of the devil death is inherited instead of life, the lie instead of the truth, and evil instead of good.

Due to the danger of deception from visions and dreams, some of the Holy Fathers didnt accept any kind of dream before performing a very careful examination. Saint John of the Ladder [Abbot of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai (6th c.) & author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent] says Whoever does not believe in visions and dreams is a spiritual philosopher, and also that when the demons of vainglory and pride tempt the weaker brothers with visions and dreams, they make them into prophets.


Inq.: The fortune-tellers and enchanters say that Holy Scripture relates cases of the appearances of dead men and angels. They also say that since Scripture attests to our inability to communicate directly with the dead, it follows that conjuring of spirits is not foreign to Christianity, and, above all, is not something anti-Christian.

EC: It is true, indeed, that Holy Scripture relates to us the appearance of Moses and Elias during the transfiguration of the Saviour (Mat. 17:3), and also that after the crucifixion of Christ many dead were raised from the tombs (Mat. 27:52-53). Scripture also attests to the appearance of angels, such as at the news of the birth of Saint John the Baptist, and birth of the Saviour Christ (Lk. 1:11-20), at the Resurrection of the Lord (Lk. 2:9-15), and also to their intervention in the service of certain of the righteous and the saints of the Old and New Testaments (Mat. 28:2-7). They communicated with men either face to face or through dreams (Mat. 1:20, 2:13). However, these appearances did not happen by the will and invocation of men, but by the command of God. These appearances certify the immortality of their souls and their power to be revealed to men in exceptional ways, however, it does not support the prerogative of man to seek out contact with the dead.


Inq.: In the Old Testament necromancy was practiced, as is clear in the case of Saul and the sorceress and elsewhere. In the Christian Church, likewise, that which we call the supplication of saints and angels is practiced. At its base, this is nothing else but an invocation of righteous souls or a communication with the dead, with the aim of helping the living with their particular needs. On account of this, it is claimed that occultism or fortune-telling represents a scriptural teaching that in practice is recognized by the Church.

EC: The truth regarding Saul and the sorceress was clarified earlier. Concerning the entreaty of saints and angels, in no way is it the same as necromancy. In calling upon the saints and angels, we do not have the intention or pretension of speaking sensibly with them, of seeing them, hearing their voice, or of having them appear before us perceptibly in order to reveal to us mysteries which God has determined should remain hidden from man. We speak to the saints and angels in our prayer, by means of our mental (νοερός) eyes and our faith, without the need to see or hear them sensibly.
The conjurors have the aim and the need to call upon the spirits of the dead (I believe, however, that in fact they are spirits of demons which appear in the form of the spirits of the dead) in order that they may reveal to them certain secrets that relate to the future of the dead or other curiosities forbidden by the law of God. Listen to what Holy Scripture has to say: And when they shall say unto you, seek unto the necromancers and unto the soothsayers, who chirp and who mutter, Shall not a people seek unto their God? On behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, for them there is no daybreak (Is. 8:19-20).

When the unmerciful rich man called upon Abraham to send Lazarus to the house of his father and to make known the situation in which he was found in order to bring his brothers to repentance, Abraham answered him that for the living the revelation of the Law (Moses and the Prophets) was sufficient. Indeed, in the Divine Revelation that was given to us with Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition we lack nothing in the way of knowing about our salvation, nor do we have need to seek from the dead - or better, the demons - something favourable to our salvation.

When God sends us a prophet and it is not revealed to us immediately, this means that he does not want to make other disclosures, knowing that they wont be profitable for us. When someone who prophesies is not from God, without a doubt he is from the Devil, as were the false-prophets referred to in Scripture. They announced false visions, vanities, and preposterous prophecies relative to the condition of their heart. When they actually do tell us the truth, we should not believe it, since they dont say it with the aim of benefiting anyone, but rather, from deceptiveness they seek to lead us into delusion. Look at the girl with the unclean spirit of divination in the city of Philippi of Macedonia. Everything that the evil spirit said through her mouth was true, and yet the Apostle Paul admonished it to keep silent, casting out the demonic spirit. (Acts 16:16-18)
As was suggested earlier, with the supplication of the saints and angels we are not curious as to what we will see or what we will hear from them (materially speaking), as are the magicians and fortune-tellers with their invocation of spirits. We seek from God, through the saints, that which He deigns to give us for our salvation, while the psychics and shamans seek, from the demons that appear in the semblance of dead men, that which they themselves want, and even this out of base curiosity.

If, however, by the command of God, one of the saints or angels wanted to appear to us in a material way, there is no transgression in this, for we didnt desire this or seek after this. Yet, even in such cases, it is necessary for us to be very careful, humble, prudent and full of the fear of God, for knowing that Satan also assumes the guise of an angel, it may well be a fantasy of the Devil (2 Cor. 11:14-15). Of course, even when the vision is from God it is better for us not to receive it. For if we do this with humility God will not be sorrowful because He knows that we are taking heed not to accept within us the wolf instead of the shepherd. We dont, indeed, have need of seeing the saints and angels, but only to pray with faith and internal vision. Saint Neilos the Ascetic says Blessed is that intellect which arrives at the point of worshipping God without giving shape to His form within itself.


Inq.: The occultists and necromancers allege that, according to the teaching of Scripture, being born again or returning to life is accepted by the Scriptures, as in the case recorded of the return of Elias in the person of Saint John the Baptist. The angel said about John: And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias (Lk. 1:17). And the Saviour says similar words about John: And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, who was to come, (Mat. 11:14) in other words, he concerning whom it was revealed by the prophets must come (Mal. 4:4). Another time the disciples asked the Lord, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist (Jn. 17:10-13). Consequently, John the Baptist is Elias who is to come again into the world. Therefore, Jesus Christ taught that there is a re-awakening or retrieval of life. Isnt this the case?

EC: Truly, the Prophet Malachi did prophesy the appearance of Elias, however, this was not fulfilled prior to the birth of the Messiah. Rather, Elias will appear just before the coming of the great and illustrious day of the Lord and thereby signify the beginning of the end of the world (Mal. 3:23).
We should understand the angels words, that John will come in the spirit and power of Elias, to mean that he will have the force of Elias in his mission to the world and in his preaching of repentance, with his zeal, deeds, toils and raiment.  (2 Kg. 1:8)

The words of the Saviour would seem, indeed, to support the return of Elias in the person of John (Mat. 11:14,17:10-13), and that it would happen then and not at the end of the world. Nevertheless, based on the spirit of the teaching of the Saviour it is not possible for John to be identified with Elias, but only to resemble him. Lucid and unmistakable proof of this is the fact that to the question of the Jews of Jerusalem, addressed to John through the priests and Levites, as to whether he was or was not Elias, he answered them categorically I am not (Jn. 1:21). It is impossible that John would contradict the Saviour and deny his identification with Elias. Furthermore, if Elias was to come in the person of John the Baptist, how was it that he appeared together with Moses on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration of the Lord? (Mt. 17:3)

The regeneration which the Saviour speaks of to Nicodemos (Jn. 3:3-7) is not a bodily restoration but a spiritual rebirth from above through water and the spirit, that is, through Holy Baptism. The text itself rules out any possibility of a bodily rebirth, as Nicodemos had mistakenly understood, when it stresses that it is not speaking of a second bodily or natural birth.

And yet, neither can the prudent mind accept the possibility of identifying John with that prophet who is to come, Elias. Likewise, disagreeable is that which the spiritualists teach, namely that his return happens for the purpose of moral purification and perfection, since Elias has no need of purification and moral perfecting. According to the Christian teaching there does exist a return of the soul to the body, but only once, and that at the end of the world when all will be raised and the material body will be transfigured in order to participate in eternal life.


Inq.: In relation to this, I found a passage in Holy Scripture difficult to understand. It is the passage which tells the story of the man born blind who washed and was healed in the pool of Siloam. The Apostles asked the Lord, saying, Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? (Jn. 9:2) It seems to follow from this that apparently the blind man was in a position to pay off those personal sins committed before his birth. This is what certain occultists and those who believe in reincarnation maintain.

EC: As we said earlier, at the end of the world there will be one re-establishment of soul and body before the final judgement. This forgiveness of personal sins or of the sins of the parents of the blind man is something else entirely. The case of the man born blind is not concerned with who sinned and punished the blind man, as the Apostles mistakenly supposed. Rather, the Saviour brushed aside this opinion of theirs, saying that the man was not blind on account of his sins, but so that the works of God should be made manifest in him, (Jn. 9:3) or, so that His therapeutic power may be made manifest. In the teachings of Christ, nowhere does there exist, even in this life, punishment as the fruit of a just reward. The loosing and forgiveness of sins occur in this life as well. However, the definitive loosing from the shackles of sin happens after the Future Judgement, when it will be not for purification but as recompense. Redemption came from the Lord alone for the sake of all mankind and no one, by any means whatsoever, is able to forgive his own sins.

As for the other teachings of the spiritualists, like those presented earlier they are all anti-Christian and their mask has been removed under the scrutiny of the teaching of our Orthodox Church. Our Church teaches us that:

1) Souls have been created directly by God.
2) According to the teaching of our Church, under no circumstances can one speak of the pre-existence of souls.
3) Bodies are creations of God and not of the angels.
4) The place of punishment is Hades, in which the conditions are immutable - something certified by the words of Divine Revelation.
5) The demons cannot be saved.
7) [sicWebmaster] There exists only one resurrection and return of the soul to the resurrected body, which will happen at the end of the world for the final judgement.

No one among the race of men can compel a soul to leave paradise and go to hell, or vice versa, as the deluded spiritualists believe. How can such a thing happen when we know very well that the souls of the just are in the hands of God? Likewise, we also know that between the living and the dead a great gulf is fixed and no one from there is able to come to us here (Lk. 16:26). Do you think it possible for one among men to take a soul from the hand of God, against His Will and to request it to engage in a conversation? Can someone cross that impassable chasm referred to in the Gospel and through its invocation bring a soul from the other world to earth? And if we assume that we are benefited by such a medium how can we accept it knowing that it is hateful and an abhorrence to God? (Dt. 18:9-13)

Someone might say that, indeed, the souls of the just are in the hands of God, however, the spiritualists in their meetings dont call upon souls of the righteous, but of the wicked, who are not in the hands of God, but in Hades.

Are the souls of the branded and accursed found beyond the supervision of God? Listen to what the Lord says in the Revelation of Saint John with reference to this: Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Rev. 1:17-18)

Consequently, just as the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, so too, those of the wicked in the kingdom of Hades are also under the infinite and indescribable authority of God. They are not to be found at the disposal of certain spiritualists who would like to call upon them to serve them in their lawless work. If, through the medium, spirits appear which they have called, let them know that these are not the spirits of relatives or friends. On the contrary, they are the unclean spirits of darkness which, until the last judgement, God has left free to harass men, and who reside in - according to the witness of Holy Scripture - the uppermost stratum of the atmosphere, or high places. (Eph. 6:12) Against these powers and principalities battle the Christians with the weapons God has given them. (Eph. 6:11, 13-17)


Inq.: Could you give us a brief summary of the teaching of those who occupy themselves with the occult, who are called variously: spiritualists, fortune-tellers, sorcerers, necromancers etc.?

EC: The teaching of the spiritualists takes many forms, according to the testimonies of the vanguard of occultism. Here it is in general terms:

1) They deny the dogma of the Holy Trinity, replacing it with one supreme god and other solar-gods considered his sons or with other planets that they compare with the Holy Spirit, and all of it is organized hierarchically.
2) Some speculate that God is not the creator of the cosmos, only its organizer.
3) They say that Jesus is a higher spirit and our suns god who guides man but doesnt save him. They believe that the true revelation comes from the spirits that appear to man by means of the medium.
4) They believe that man is made of flesh and encircled with the spirit; that the soul of man has a casing or husk, can leave the visible world and after death communicate with those of the living that are worthy and believing.
5) They say that salvation is accomplished with the evolution toward the good and with reincarnation. They accept an infinite god having under his authority other, lesser, gods which govern particular planets and areas of heaven, assisted by the angels. Spirits of planets, animals and sentient beings inhabit the universe. The body of man is destroyed, but the shell and spirit is immortal. Human beings that are good have within them the good spirit, while the evil pass over into another body until they also, themselves, become good and so on.

Ch. 19 from The Truth of Our Faith: A Discourse from Holy Scripture on the Teachings of True Christianity, by Elder Cleopa of Romania (Greece: Uncut Mountain Press, 2000). Order from Uncut Mountain Supply.