Remember Lot's Wife By +Archbishop Haralambos
Sermon - Sept. 26, 1999
Some of this has been pre-empted by words that I spoke to my congregation. However, I remember profoundly the words of the Lord, "Remember Lot's wife." We know that Lot's wife was eliminated and turned to salt because she looked back, and her heart wasn't willing to follow the new paths of the Lord for the salvation of the family.
And, so, it becomes important to me to base and not twist things around but to base what needs to be said today that the church ought to not look back. But should look forward. And the reason why is because the church is finding itself today as a faithless and perverse generation.
I remember God's words, "Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you, bring him hither to me," when He spoke to an individual. Our willingness to forsake all, and our desire versus the desire to want to be in the perfect place, makes us somewhat disillusioned. There is no question in my mind that there is sincerity on the part of apostasies' practicing Christians. They really believe it's true; that what is in proper keeping with doctrine. Otherwise they wouldn't follow it. So, you have to ask yourself, "Where is really the truth?" You have to ask it as sincerely as Pontius Pilate did when he asked the Lord, "What is truth?" Here he was in the presence of Truth, in the manifestation of Truth, looking straight at it and unable to see it.
All of us have that desire. Some of us are blessed and we find ourselves there. Some of us are born into it. Some of us search through life and abandon our family traditions and teachings and join what we believe to be the essence of truth.
There is no question in my mind that in our Orthodox faith, there are moments of perfect truth. I believe one is the consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ, the veneration of the Blessed Mother and the invitation to the Holy Spirit to enter in and lead us to all truth. Did not Christ promise us that? Now, are we to believe that that was established in every form in the first Church? I believe the first Church began the journey.
I believe the presence of the Holy Spirit, when it came as wind on the apostles, began the church, but we also know that the church took an evolutionary changing appearance. It added things, iconostatiants, vestments. And they were acceptable, and the issue always is, What is from the Holy Spirit and what is from man? From the Holy Spirit is truth; and from man is tradition. And, so, really and truly, they should be separate. Certain traditions don't contradict truth. But in many instances, certain truths contradict our inherited traditions.
We know, and today the paramount issue of the Elijah ministry, and the most sought after revelation of truth is the Second Advent of Christ, known in the Church as the Parousia; the presence of Christ. We know that in this precarious time, that the church is in a very dire position. We know that it is NOT without spot or blemish. I don't think anybody would argue that point. But, see how easily theologically you can speak, and say but there is a presence of Christ in the Church that will always prevail, Christ said so.
And, yes, that's His Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said, that it was the Spirit of Truth that will teach you and comfort you in all things. So, it wasn't there automatically because they were human nature-created beings. It became part of them as they accepted the Spirit of Truth and received it and learned from it and were comforted by it.
So, it was a theosis process in the first individuals of the Church. And I personally believe in the life of each and every true doctrine believer that he too goes through a period of theosis. It's not an automatic thing that you are "rubber stamped" because your mother or your father were true doctrine believers, or that you were even necessarily baptized and chrismated as a child.
There comes a time in your life when you can either reject or receive the truth and practice it. Yes, it is there and available for you through your birthright and through your chrismation, but you can abandon it. Jesus said, "Be careful, because once you have received the truth and you leave it, and you come against the action that purified you, what do you have next? You have nothing to rely on. So, it's not as they believe a lead-pipe cinch happening in your life. It is a desire that you need to pray on constantly.
Why is the world so interested in the Second Coming of Christ? Because the world is confused today. There are so many interpretations of what the real truth is and there is a conflict even within Christianity. And yet all of us really want to believe and know the absolutism of God. There is no question in my mind that if you were Lot's wife and you look back, you soon found out that you were not seeking truth, nor did you receive it; because you're gone. That's too sad for me to apply that to any of us today. God gives us much more latitude than that.
I would like to go to Luke and read some scripture to aim at what I believe this message is all about. "Remember Lot's wife, saith the Lord, whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you in that night there shall be two men in one bed, one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together, one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; one shall be taken and the other left. And they answered the Lord, and said, 'Where Lord?' And He said until them, "Wheresoever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
Why is the world in such a turmoil over the Second Coming of Christ or the Y2K issue, and what is Christ and what is it going to be? Why will the world be completely fooled by the ende-christos taking His place within the Church, when God made it clear, He said, "The days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and yet shall not see it." See, it's the desire that's in the world to want to see the return of Christ. That's the spirit working. "And they shall say see here, see there, go not after them or follow them." Those are God's warnings. "For, as the lightning that lighteth out of one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected of His generation.
Later on in Chapter 18, God says something that manifests the return of Christ. It's vengeance. Let me read you something. The Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge saith… when he, the unjust judge wanted to avenge the widow who was troubling him constantly. And Jesus said, "And shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night unto Him though He bear along with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nonetheless. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh shall He find faith on the earth? Will He find His Church? Why does He come to avenge the elect? That's the desire of God. That's not only God's will, it is His desire.
In Luke 5, there's are some strange words. These words are, and relate, I think, to some of the leadership we have in our church today. That when they speak well of you, beware. It probably applies to the conventional acceptance or hand-me-down from prophet to prophet, false prophet to false prophet, or hierarch to hierarch, or leader to leader. I hardly believe it applies to the laity of our faith.
How would we know if Christ returned as lightning from east to west and know that that is His return? I don't believe the Lord solely has left us the legacy of allowing that to be the only means of identification of Christ's true Second Coming. I believe some of the reasons that we read and misread some of the writings that belong to our Church about the application that you can see Elijah and Enoch return prior to Christ. And that's incorrect. If the Church were waiting and looking for that they would miss the Second Coming of Christ. Because they'll not return. Period.
If it's true --and if the world can accept it, then they'll see the Second Coming of Christ. Because it is being held and introduced and why it says in Holy Scripture that Elijah must come first … doesn't even mention Enoch. It says Elijah must come first. The Spirit must come first, as we say it.
Let me try to translate what the Spirit is saying to me. If the world can believe it, and the Spirit comes and introduces the Second Advent or Parousia of Christ, then they wouldn't be fooled by the anti-christ. But because they won't accept that either, in all probability, based on Christ Himself that I'll read you. Jesus knew man's inconsistencies in belief in Truth when He said, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force for all the prophets and the law prophesized until John.
And listen to these words, and I circle the word "if". "And if -- you will receive it, this is Elias which was foretold to come." That completely eliminates the writing of some Church Fathers who mislead the people into believing that they will see Elijah again with a beard, or Enoch, or anyone else who has already gone on in the completed form in theosis, all because he wasn't … or met death. "And if you will receive it, this is Elias which was fore to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear it.
Jesus Himself profoundly was prophesizing because He was using the present tense of John who had the Spirit of Elijah. And in our liturgy, the Bishop and always say, when we refer to the Prophet John in our liturgy, we add the Spirit of Elijah. Because Jesus said, "If you can believe it, this is the Elijah." And we know John met death. But the spirit never died. Because we know in scripture, in Malachi, it says, "Before the great and dreadful day comes, the Spirit of Elijah will come and preach to the hearts of the fathers.
What am I trying to say? I'm not trying to support the Elijah Ministry at this time or define it. What I'm trying to point out, there is one simple point. There's one way that the church can avoid receiving the anti-christ is by believing and seeing the Spirit of Elijah at work and accepting it. Then they know what precludes the Second Coming of Christ. And then there is no doubt. And then the confirmation and the staff will come as you see lightning from east to west. But because they reject the Spirit of Elijah in the last days is why they receive the anti-christos. They will not accept, because they have already written in error. And those were the Church Fathers.
I'm going back right now and telling you where you find that, it's error. No different than today. There's no perfection today that you can see. Jesus said, "The wisdom is justified by her children." Anytime you believe there's perfection and you rely on another man's works and writings, you have opened yourself up and you refuse edification. You would rather accept the perfection of another person's life, who had to go through that edification process as sure as you do. No one is born with all the truth. No saint that we commemorate and venerate was born with perfection, save the Blessed Mother. It's a working theosis of gathering the truth into your spirit. But I speak today as a church whole. That Jesus had something to say that the Church is not hearing today.
Why would the church be talking about Y2K and the Second Coming of Christ without first addressing the prelude. The Disciples asked Him and it's written in the Gospel, "Why then say the scribes that Elijah must come first?" Why isn't the Church looking for an Elijah in the spirit? Ask yourself that question. That's written in the Gospel. And the Disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?" Did Jesus say that was incorrect? Answer me. What did He say? Does anyone know the rest of the words? Does anyone here in the church know the rest of the words that has been well read by the Church Fathers and all the rest? Jesus answered and said to them, "Elias truly shall first come." He confirmed it and verified that that was truth.
And I say to you that Elias, in this instance of today, has come already and they knew him not. Was He prophesizing also for the Second Advent? "But have done unto him whatsoever they liked. Likewise shall I say the Son of Man suffer of them." You know the world should be talking about the Church and the Fathers' hearts. Restoring the children and the children's hearts. Restoring the fathers, "lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." God's words.
Why wasn't the Church in the time of Christ? Why didn't they see that John had the Spirit of Elijah? Had they seen that, they wouldn't have beheaded him. Had they seen that, they would have known the Messiah. Had they seen that and had ears to hear, they would have known that He was the Messiah. Jesus' complaint at the time was, They don't even recognize my first cousin, John, who came before me as a voice in the wilderness fulfilling scripture. Totally led by Holy Spirit. Never drank wine. Kept a perfect Church configuration so they couldn't condemn him. So he could be representative and the enemy couldn't use him and misguide or mislead the people. That's what Jesus is saying. John led an almost perfect life. No wine. Lived in the desert. And yet they say he has a devil. "And me, I do accept wine, and live and work among the sinners and they blame Me.
So, either way, they wouldn't accept it. But had they accepted it and if they would have accept in the last day, the Church would conform and edify itself. They would rid itself of its apostasy and it could redirect itself to the right direction. But no, they really rely on the past and believe that they are the reflection, the perfect reflection, of what happened 2,000 years ago. And they are not. There's no way you can say the Orthodox Church today is the same church as the first century. No way.
Therein lies the danger of what we accept when we read and what we don't accept. It isn't that I want to stand up here and criticize men of great faith who God blessed through miracles even at their death. When I read the Saints, tears come to my eyes for what they went through, for what they gave up, for the blood they let. But that doesn't mean they led perfect lives. They sinned daily also. And if there was sin in their life daily then there was error in their life daily, that they had to fight that and struggle with and overcome.
Is it possible that in the midst of their sin, for however long it lasted during the day, that the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit or the stifling of the Holy Spirit … a better way of saying … caused them to write something that was inaccurate? Or is everything they wrote perfect? So, when we venerate them, we venerate the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We venerate the perfect truth in their lives, not the discarded part of their lives.
One of the most important decisions I made in the pursuit of Truth was that I wasn't going to buy books to read because it was too hard a task to decide the Truth from that 1 percent of untruth. And I knew no writing of any man was perfect, save the Holy Scripture. I'd like to believe that the Holy Traditions were practiced perfectly. And I believe in the beginning they were. But somehow, I believe that we have deviated. And in seafaring terms, deviation in a compass can cause a misdirection of great magnitude over a duration of time and distance. And it's deviation that you must account for either because of the tides and the winds or in the terms of the Church, the tides and the winds of the enemy, you need to compensate for it, in order to meet the perfect destination that God intends for us to be.
Yes, the Spirit of the Church will prevail of Christ on earth and will never depart. And, yes, it will meet its perfect mark as God wants it to meet because it is God's Will that His Church be perfected as a Bride without spot or blemish. But we need to realize today that we are of spots and blemishes. And we didn't just get there or design or do them ourselves, we inherited some of it. And that inheritance we need to challenge and question which part of it is correct and not what we want to choose for our own self-service and fulfillment. It's what God wants to see fulfilled in its perfection.
To accept carte blanche everything we've inherited would have meant a perfect life for me as I was baptized and introduced to my faith at the age or 2 or 3. When I went through a theosis as a young adult, and later in life - is that not parallel to the Church itself? The perfect innocence of a child or an infant in the beginning and then the growth, until finally the adult has to meet the Truth head on and allow God Himself Who will avenge the elect in His Second Coming. Unless you have a formula that you can present to me that says this is the perfect Church of Christ and this is how it really is today. Because, where I go today I do not see perfection in the Orthodox faith. Nor in the Christian faith. I see confusion, many different interpretations to the point that God will have to come and avenge, because satan has polluted the Church, has entered into its hierarchs, has entered into His people.
But the true spirit is there, especially at the moments of veneration and prayers and love for the Blessed Mother. Especially at the moments of the consecration and the receiving of the Body and Blood of Christ. But isn't it true, each and every one of us, we always go back to the same old crapola, even after our communion? How many of us really see a gain from week to week? How many of us really don't realize or don't experience a backsliding? How many of us go forward as our saints did? You see the things that marks the saints' lives is that they always went forward in Christ, even away from prostitution, in some cases some of them were all vile and totally rejected people of society. Few of them were like John, who completely went into the wilderness and got away from the evils of the world; and probably was the first true monk of the Christian era. But even he they accused of having a devil in his time. Many didn't, of course. But Jesus said plainly, if you can receive it, there is your Elijah; and if you receive him, you receive me as your God and Your Messiah. Of course, we know that they rejected that and they will reject it in the Second Coming. And satan has already entered into the Church, and left the message, look for the reincarnation of two that have left the earth. Is that Enoch? And I point to John the Baptist's venerated icon. Is that Elijah? No! He said something. They asked him, Are you Elias? He said, No. Are you the prophet? He said, No. Are you the Messiah? And he said, "No." Read it in the Gospel. He said, "I am that voice in the wilderness that says make way and ready for the Coming of Christ." Is that contradicting Christ, who said, And if you can believe it? But Jesus said, "if you can believe it, he has the Spirit of Elijah." You see then there is no contradiction. John the Baptist said, "I'm not Elijah reincarnated, as the Church Fathers write. I am John the Baptist, son of Zachariah. But Jesus said, Yes, you are, because you have his Spirit that never dies.
You say, well, why do you keep pounding away at that? Are you trying to justify the ministry you are in that has the Spirit of Elijah? No. I'm trying to bring the only absolute physical, tangible, absolute grasp of a truth that will prevent the world from being fooled, deceived, in accepting the anti-christ. Because the true Spirit of Elijah, preceding the Coming of the Lord, will never point towards the anti-christ and say that's the Messiah. The false prophets will, and they will be in the Church. And Brothers and Sisters, they will be in the Orthodox Church. They will be in the Catholic Church. They will be in the Protestant Churches. They will be in all the churches who call themselves Christ that believe in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
You think God just put that there in Scripture to say, well, I like a nice introduction? Therefore, I'm sending, since I'm God, I'd like to have some man manifest a belief that will introduce me as a master of ceremonies to the world, when I return? No, Brothers and Sisters, it's put there as a protective device of truth to prevent the acceptance of lies, deceptions, on the part of the enemy, who tries to confuse the Church so that they won't be able to recognize the time or the hour and see that Christ is about to return and who the true Christ is. That's what's at issue.
In Jesus' time, they knew there was a Messiah coming, but they rejected Him as the Messiah. There's no reason to have warned the world and the Church of accepting an anti-christos - a substitute for Christ. And the Church now believes, and I heard it from out of your mouths in some instances, no, it's them, the other Church that does it. It's the Mohammed religion; it's this religion, it's the Hindu. It's the Christian Church. Don't blame it on those far right and far left apostasies of a monotheistic-believing society. Mohammed is false. Muslim concepts of Christ and God are false -- monotheistic and polytheistic societies. They are false for one reason, they don't believe in Christ as God in the Flesh.
What helps those societies the fastest growing religion today? Muslim. Why? Because it accepted a false prophet in Mohammed. And, by the way, in our own church of Orthodoxy, they have accepted Mohammed as an apostle. See, when you accept the misrepresentation up front, then it becomes real clear and easier for the enemy to sell you on the false one. You accept the forerunner, you accept John the Baptist and you can't go wrong because he pointed at the Lamb of God when he baptized Him. And by the way, nowhere in Scripture could he read that. He didn't even have Scripture to rely on. He had the Holy Spirit tell him that he would be in the Jordan and that the Christ would come. And that a dove. All God gave him as a sign to know the truth was a dove would light on the head of Him who would be the salvation of the world.
I don't believe John even knew until that moment and he declared it and the heavens opened and the voice of God said, "I am well pleased with my Son." St. John the Baptist said, "This is the Lamb of God, which comes forth to be the Savior of the World that I baptized, who I am not worthy to baptize. And Christ said, "Do it.
This whole homily can be summed up: Truth or Tradition. If you read about and accept everything about tradition, the truth might escape you. Somewhere very prayerfully, there would be individuals in the group even who will not recognize not two long-bearded, yamaka-wearing individuals in a hotel lobby claiming they are Elijah. But a spirit that will be truth. There's no question it will cost them their lives. I love the concept of the two holy candlesticks that go before God. They go before God, because there's two ways to know if you are existing today, that Christ in on His way, is if you see two men die in the streets of Jerusalem, "for no prophet dieth, unless he dieth in Jerusalem". And then you see God in three and a half days raise them up. And astounds people who see it. The whole world doesn't see it. Few see that. Because if the whole world saw that, they would have to explain away two people coming back to life and taken to Heaven. Do you know how many times the enemy is going to try to impersonate that action? The enemy is not after Christ today. He's not facing God head-on. But he's trying to dilute, deceive the prelude and the warning signs of Scripture that say if you follow this, you will not be led to the anti-christ; you will be led to Me.
But, if he can attack that, then we're without that correction and guidance system that on a vessel in a stormy sea, you must correct your direction because maybe you've been blown off course somewhat. And God wants that edification of that vessel, His Church, to reach its proper destination. And because He sees it nearly going for the rocks in the last days that He must avenge His elect. He must return in order to save His Holy Remnant, His True Church, the one that survives through the deception. Make no mistake about it, if you accept apostasy in your heart, you lack the desire to be criticized and edified by the Holy Spirit, then you will not make it. There's no way you can make it through this tremendous deluge of false everything being preached in the world. It's no wonder that we reach and grasp back into our roots and try to seek and find some place that we can grab hold of and say, well, this is how it really was then. This is Truth.
I'm not coming against that spirit of wanting that, but you live in the 20th century; soon the 21st century. Are we going to abandon God's Church and go hide as the Elijah Ministry? Or are we going to take what God gives us, and by the way, that's what will make it astounding to the world that when we could represent ourselves even on a device and tool like Internet and go everywhere in the world to where we shake the foundation even of the Patriachate of Alexandria. Did we not do this, Brother Bishop? They got so alarmed and yet their own predecessor, sadly enough, who I communicated with personally, gave me his blessing. And his successor, decided that Mohammed was an apostle. Worse that that, was the president of the World Council of Christian Churches, a device of the anti-christ. Not only did he join it, he was the president of it. Our patriarchs! What does that tell you? That tells you that in spite of their desire to be the True Church, the Orthodox faith, one of the holiest sees, for the See of Alexandria is one of the oldest and most endeared, could fall. That could go into that kind of apostasy?
Here's only one thing that came out of that Patriarchate in this century that I'm happy about, and that is their rejection of us. Because that cements, and I know that their presence in the World Council of Christian Churches, their acceptance of Mohammed as a true apostle of Christ, is accurate. That it wasn't someone who made it up. They really did do that. It wasn't just somebody's writing or criticism. It really happened.
I have heard even amongst our Orthodox faithful, "Oh, I don't like that jurisdiction or that jurisdiction, or that jurisdiction." There is no jurisdiction in the Orthodox Church. There's only one true Church of Christ. There are administration segments to keep order. But there should be One Faith.
In conclusion, there will be some who will be able to accept the forerunner to Christ, or the forerunning ministry of Christ, in the form of two prophets. And blessed are they, for the will see God return. All the rest, and I include all of Christianity, will reject the Truth, as well as reject the Spirit of Elijah ministry.
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