PEACE and LIFE

+ "It is impossible to take up arms when your arms have taken up the Cross." -GMK-

+ "There can be no peace in the world if there is no peace in the womb." -GMK-

+ "There is only one victor in war: Death."

-GMK-

+ "I believe in peace, tolerance, and human rights; and abortion is one of the most violent, intolerant, and inhumane practices ever devised by man."  -GMK-

+ "Violence and weapons of violence have demonic origins. For a detailed account of this, read the The Book of Enoch.* It was the demon Gadreel who '...showed the children of men all the blows of death and showed the weapons of death to the sons of men; the shield and the coat of armor, the sword for battle, and all the weapons of death to the children of men. And from his hand they have proceeded against those who dwell on the earth from that day.' [69: 6-7] It is therefore clear that any acts which involve the intentional destruction of human life are purely demonic acts."

*The Book of Enoch is included in the biblical canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It is one of the most important books in early Christianity, used widely by the early Christians. It predates everything in the New Testament, having been written in the second century B.C. One of the primary influences of the book is its explanation of evil entering into the world through the arrival of the fallen angels. Scholars attest that the influence of The Book of Enoch on the New Testament is greater than that of all other apocryphal and pseudo-epigraphic books combined. This sacred text discloses the reality of the supernatural realm, as well as the reality of metaphysical visions and visitations.

-GMK-

+ "They asked me, 'Do you really believe in vampires?'

       I answered:

       'I know they exist. They walk amongst us every day. They disguise themselves as human, but in reality they are houses of demons ensconced in bodies of flesh. But their deeds reveal their true nature. And I observe their evil deeds and recognize them for what they are.'
       So, beware of those that thirst for blood. Beware of those who love war and execution, abortion and euthanasia, and "scientific research" involving the destruction of human life. Beware of those who devise sophisticated weapons of mass destruction and invent modern methods of cruelty and torture. Beware of those who seek financial profit at the expense of the poor, the needy, and the weak. They may appear human, but they are in actuality 'soulless vampires'."  -GMK-





+   "The evil of abortion is as ancient as the fifth fallen angel (i.e. demon), whose name is Kasdeja. It is this filthy demon who '…showed the children of men the smitings of the embryo in the womb, that it might pass away.' [Enoch 69:12]
       Thus the act, promotion, encouragement, rationalization, or justification for abortion is an open invitation for this evil demon to enter into your mind and soul. So, beware!" -GMK-





+ "Satan is the hater of good. He is the hater of truth. The devil hates faith, love, innocence, purity, hope, joy, grace, and everything that makes life worth living. And he hates whatever and whoever manifests these positive spiritual things. This is why he hates children and babies, and why he wages full-scale warfare against them.
       Therefore, the Christian must fight to preserve these precious members of the human race. For children and babies are the best reflections of God's holy image. Our Lord loved the little ones in a special way; and unrepentant child abusers and murderers of the unborn shall not escape a harsh and severe judgment. In the three synoptic Gospels, Christ stated:
       'Whosoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' [St. Matthew 18:6; St. Mark 9:42; St. Luke 17:2]
       And in the Didascalia* we read:
       'Thou shall not slay thy child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten; for everything that is shaped and has received a soul from God, if it be slain, shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed.' [Didascalia, book VII 3:15]

       *The Didascalia (also known as The Didascalia Apostolorum) appears to have been written by the Apostles at the time of the Council of Jerusalem (see Acts 15:1-29); however, some scholars conclude that it was composed in the third century. The Didascalia is in part a detailed elaboration on the earlier Church work, The Didache. Originally written in Greek, the work appears to be based upon an original Jewish work intended for Christian converts from paganism. It is a document of great authority for Christians and for the Church.
 -GMK-

+ "Throughout history, the innocent have often been slaughtered in the name of peace, justice, and human rights. From Pharaoh to Herod to Planned Parenthood, innocent babies and children have been targeted for destruction. And the infanticide is always executed under the guise of nationalistic interest or personal freedom.

       But the purest litmus test for discerning the moral value of an individual or a society is their treatment of the most vulnerable members of the human race: babies, children, and the unborn. So beware of those who speak about peace, justice, and human rights while they rationalize, defend, and promote abortion; for not only are they hollow voices of hypocrisy, but they are also serpentine voices of Satan." -GMK-

A CHRISTIAN EVALUATION of VIOLENCE

When evaluating the appropriateness of violence, we must examine Our Lord’s teaching about love for our neighbor. Jesus never tells us to esteem one individual more highly than another, and the Bible is clear that we must be as aware of our own sins as we are of the sins of others. It is a dangerous presumption to decide to harm or kill one neighbor in the attempt to rescue another. The Lord has not given us the authority to make a distinction between who is our neighbor and who isn’t. We are to love all our fellow men equally; and that love entails speaking for the voiceless, giving hope to the desperate, and warning the wicked. But nowhere in the New Testament do we see a divine command to kill.
          Evildoers, in spite of their nefarious deeds, are still our neighbors. And we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is admittedly difficult, but nevertheless it is what God commands. While they were nailing Our Lord to the Cross (and let us not forget that "they" are actually "we," for the nails that pierced His hands and feet were formed by our very own sins), He asked His Father to forgive them. [St. Luke 23:34] Certainly, the omniscient Christ knew the suffering and martyrdom that His followers would thereafter face, yet He did not slay His enemies in order to defend the Jewish victims of Roman tyranny. Instead, by sacrificing His life for His enemies, by meeting hate with unconditional love, by returning evil with good, and by forgiving those who persecuted Him, our Lord provided atonement, salvation, and hope for a sinful world.
          We are called to be ambassadors of Christ [II Corinthians 5:20], and we misrepresent and blaspheme His message, His Gospel, and His name when we rely on the violent weapons of human fallibility rather than on the spiritual weapons of an infallible God.

Selam,

-GMK-

THE IMPOTENCE and ARROGANCE of VIOLENCE

When we begin to grasp the essence of our Lord’s commands, the option of violence is abrogated. Violence may bring about temporary change, but it can never establish abiding justice and it will never usher in the peace of God. Violence also negates the possibility for redemption. Those who use violence to correct an injustice make two grave errors: 1) they usurp the authority of God; and 2) they presume that the evildoer is beyond the hope of divine redemption.
          When the wicked man is killed, hope dies with him and the Gospel is nullified; for the essence of the Christian Gospel is that hope exists for sinners. The evil oppressor is a slave to this materialistic and godless world, and he is a slave to his own sin. Yet there is still hope for him. And we must never take it upon ourselves to cancel that hope. God alone retains the authority to remove hope and bring recompense; and His divine timing is always perfect.
          Violence cannot establish peace, for by their very definitions these terms are mutually exclusive. All violence is contaminated with the motives of punishment, retribution, or vindication. But the Bible is clear that vengeance belongs to God. [Leviticus 19:18; Romans 12:19] And in order for violence to be just, it must be neither retaliatory nor vindictive. Yet regardless of the nobility of the intention, the violence of man is never devoid of retaliation or vindictiveness, and therefore it never truly establishes justice.
          However, we must never confuse violence with confrontation or fighting for a righteous cause. Prophetic voices proclaiming the truth of God will always disturb and disrupt the superficial peace of society. The world will always hate God’s prophets and reject God’s message. Those who come in the name of the Lord will be ridiculed, beaten, and imprisoned; and often, they will be killed. Those who refuse to cooperate with unjust systems or condone unjust laws will not long be tolerated.
          Christians must always confront injustice and fight against evil. But the methods we use must be those of the Lord in whose name we fight. So, let us boldly and aggressively strive to end the abominations of injustice and inhumanity, wherever they may be found. But let us do so in the manner of Christ. Let us fight vigilantly, but let us do so with the weapons of Scripture, the Spirit, and Christian love.
          Let us reject the impotence and arrogance of violence. Let us renounce violence as a solution to the evils we seek to conquer and prepare instead to renounce our own lives if need be. Let us move and act in the true way of Our Lord, trusting that God will work through us to bring peace to mankind and justice to the world.
[St. Matthew 11:12, 28-29; 5:9; I Corinthians 10:32; Romans 12:17-21; Colossians 3:15-17; James 3:18; Galatians 5:22-23]

Selam,

-GMK-

 

CULTIVATING a CONSISTENT PRO-LIFE ETHIC

People of pro-life conviction are always disturbed by the euphemistic misnomer, "pro-choice," and rightly so. The advocates of abortion are no more pro-choice than were the proponents of slavery. The tortured logic of the "pro-choice’" propagandists is: “If you’re against abortion, then don’t have one.” I imagine slave owners felt the same way: “If you’re against slavery, then don’t own any slaves.” It’s all just a matter of personal choice after all. Or at least that's what they want us to believe.
          But I am afraid that the "pro-life" moniker might also be a misnomer at times. Many professed pro-life people are more accurately "anti-abortion" rather than "pro-life." I, for one, will gladly concede that I am anti-abortion (just as I am anti-slavery). But, I am more accurately pro-life. It is time for the people of God to affirm the value and purpose of human life in all areas. We must not only defend the sanctity of human life, but we must also work in those areas that will preserve and enhance the quality of human life. And, it is time for the Christian community to oppose any and every endeavor that involves the deliberate destruction of human beings.
          We must understand that war always victimizes the blameless in its effort to defeat the guilty. The military endeavors of man always leave pools of innocent blood in their wake. And, sadly, we have learned that capital punishment has extinguished the lives of many individuals that were innocent of the crimes for which they were wrongly convicted and executed. Whenever man misappropriates the sword of the God, regardless of how noble the cause, then he always ends up perpetuating cruelty and impeding justice.
          Thus, in order to be authentically “pro-life,” we must not only labor to abolish abortion but we must also oppose war, capital punishment, and all other acts that involve the deliberate killing of human life.
          In cultivating a consistent pro-life ethic, we must also focus on eradicating the desire for abortion rather than only on trying to overturn the law. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery, but the Civil Rights Movement reconstructed the consciousness of the nation, eroding racist hearts and changing prejudiced minds.
          I will certainly rejoice if Roe vs. Wade is overturned, but that is not the ultimate victory we should seek. We must labor to reconstruct the consciousness of America so that people will value human life more than money and material possessions. We must labor to reconstruct the consciousness of America so that abortion will not be seen as a solution but instead viewed for what it really is: a destructive, dangerous, inhumane, and soul-scarring act of hopelessness and despair. We must labor to reconstruct the consciousness of America so that motherhood is recognized as the great and valuable achievement that it is, and so that every woman with child will be uplifted with hope rather than dragged down to the depths of despondency, darkness, and destruction.
          It is also important that we stop the stigmatization of unwed mothers. The religious community in particular must be the first to embrace and affirm unwed mothers, offering them unconditional love and providing them an authentic community of Christian faith that will assist them with their economic and spiritual needs. If we are to reshape the consciousness of America, we must begin with our own Christian community. As Christians, we must offer ourselves as an authentically compassionate community that people in dire straits will seek out for comfort and assistance. Also, we must never accept the term "illegitimate child." Every baby that is conceived is a gift from Almighty God, and to view a child as anything less is a blasphemous insult to the Lord of LIFE.
          So, if we really want to stop abortion, we must first cultivate a consistent pro-life ethic. We must seek to revolutionize the collective conscience of our nation, and we must begin by sharpening our own individual and religious consciousness. Let us oppose everything that destroys human life. Let us work to make abortion not merely illegal, but undesirable. And let us embrace unwed mothers and help them to know that there is no greater honor, privilege, or blessing than to conceive, birth, and nurture human life.

Selam,

-GMK-

A MESSAGE ON THE KILLING OF ABORTIONIST GEORGE TILLER

I was saddened to learn of the killing of George Tiller today (May 31, 2009), the abortionist in Wichita, Kansas who specialized in performing late-term abortions. My sorrow does not stem from any admiration for this despicable man, but rather from the fact that as a Christian I am unconditionally wedded to peace and nonviolence. All human life is sacred, because all human life reflects the very image of the God Who created us. And therefore even if our enemies do not respect our life or the lives of the innocent, we must nevertheless respect theirs.
          Already the media is galvanizing their propaganda efforts and utilizing this tragedy to elicit sympathy for the pro-abortion cause. So the killing of Mr. Tiller is not only morally questionable, it is also strategically erroneous. This regrettable act of violence in no way conformed to the teachings and example of Our Lord, and its repercussions will quite possibly do more to promote abortion than to stop it.
          As an Orthodox Christian I will pray for George Tiller even in his death. And I will most certainly pray for his friends and family. At the same time, I will most vigilantly pray for "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men." And peace on earth and goodwill toward men will never be achieved until the rights of the most innocent members of humanity are honored, preserved, and protected. If human life is not safe in the womb, then human life is not safe anywhere.
          None of us can evade the immutable spiritual law of reaping what we sow. And as long as men sow violence, then they will inevitably reap the same. Today Mr. Tiller experienced the reality of this harsh truth before he repented of his evil acts; and his killer is no less immune from this reciprocal law than he.
          Any news of human death brings sorrow to my soul; and when human life perishes from acts of violence then the sorrow I feel is greatly multiplied. Feelings of anger, frustration, and helplessness well up within me; perhaps because so much death is so unnecessary. Peace is not unattainable, in fact it is so very simple to achieve. All we have to do is NOT KILL! Do not wage war, do not murder the baby in the womb, do not practice execution, DO NOT KILL. Period.
          But men do not want to heed this simple rule of respect for life. They perpetuate bloodshed and cruelty, and then act horrified when the seeds of their evil sprout to bear bitter fruit in their own backyards.
          So I pray that this unfortunate act of killing that occurred today will teach us all a lesson. For God's sake, let's stop all the killing! The reality is that if babies were not being murdered, then Mr. Tiller would not have been killed today; and likewise, if those few misguided individuals who professed to be "Pro-Life" would have not killed the three or four abortionists that they did, then perhaps abortion would have been outlawed a long time ago.
          George Tiller obviously had no respect for human life, but I nevertheless had respect for his life. Thus I will mourn his death, and I will mourn for the countless lives of the babies and women he destroyed while he was on this earth.
O race of man, put away thy sword!

Selam,

-GMK-

 

 

Abba Moses the Ethiopian was a repentant murderer and thief who renounced the world and embraced the ascetic struggle of Christian monasticism. His genuine repentance was demonstrated by his total commitment to peace and nonviolence. He was murdered in his monastery cell by a band of marauders that he refused to violently resist. His martyrdom proved his true change of heart. 

     "A truly great nation is a compassionate nation. And no nation can be truly great unless it has a concern for 'the least of these.'" 

 -DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.-

"Is there any greater injustice in the world today than the legalized slaughter of the most innocent and helpless members of the human race?" -GMK-

"Our Lord was once a little babe in His mother's womb. The glorious Mystery of the Incarnation reveals many Truths, and the value of unborn human life is one of the holiest Truths we must heed." -GMK-

"POLITRICKS IS THE DEVIL'S BUSINESS! DON'T BE DECEIVED!"

"We are profoundly opposed to the un-Christian use of force, and we are attached to the pacific settlement of disputes." -H.I.M. Haile Selassie I-

"My people, do not repay evil with evil. Do not stain your souls by avenging yourselves on your enemies."-H.I.M. Haile Selassie I-

"Surely, until there is enough food for all, the infant and the young have first claim to what there is." -H.I.M. Haile Selassie I-

"There is no peace without cooperation." -H.I.M. Haile Selassie I-

"As we do not practice or permit discimination within our own nation, so we oppose it wherever it is found."-H.I.M. Haile Selassie I-

"If man is to survive on this planet, the arms race which today clutches mankind in its inexorable grip must be halted."  -H.I.M. Haile Selassie I-

 

"As Our Lady the Virgin St. Mariyam carried Christ in her womb, so may we carry Him in our hearts and honor Him by loving all unborn children as well as their mothers." -GMK-

The War Prayer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yruRt7mQWgg&feature=related

The War Prayer

by

Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came -- next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams -- visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation

*God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!*

Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory --

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside -- which the startled minister did -- and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

"I come from the Throne -- bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import -- that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of -- except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer -- the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the *whole* of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory--*must* follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(*After a pause.*) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

THE CRUCIAL ISSUES
By
Howard Thurman

Teach me to affirm life this day!

Teach me to affirm life. Always I am making decisions. There are some decisions that are deliberately negative. They cut across everything in me that is positive and affirming. They may involve much or little as far as my immediate destiny is concerned.

It is a crucial thing to come to a point of decision, to weigh courses of action, to sense the meaning of directions. It is in such a moment that a man knows whether he is on the side of life or death, and the choice is his to make. To affirm life is to accept growth, to accept challenge, to move with all of one’s full-orbed intent in response to the deepest that stirs within. Then the miracle takes place; the deepest thing in a man somehow makes contact with the deepest thing in life, and he knows that the decision is right – that the decision is on the side of life and not death. Of course, it may be difficult, it may cause much headache and disturbance of a kind, even upheaval; but the issue is never in doubt. It is a terrible thing to make a decision which a man knows, somewhere in the profound recesses of his spirit, is against life. Something dies within; and from that death where can rebirth be found?

Our Father, in whose hands abides the ultimate destiny of Thy children, be with us, stir actively within us, when we are face to face with the crucial issues of our spirits. Teach us to overcome our fear of life; and in that freedom may we learn tounderstand life and, in our understanding of life, to love life. Steady us that we may cast our vote for and not against life. Teach us to affirm life- this moment!