Eternal faith and beliefs: Christian Belief 2 Section One through Five
Section One
RATHER THAN CREATION IN 6 DAYS
These, then, are the particulars which have reached us respecting ( gnostic ) “redemption.” But since they differ so widely among themselves both as respects doctrine and tradition, and since those of them who are recognised as being most modern make it their effort daily to invent some new opinion, and to bring out what no one ever before thought of, it is a difficult matter to describe all their opinions.
..eternal things He ( God ) did not make by angels, or by any powers separated from His Ennoea { Gnostic term taken from the springing forth of the Greek goddess Athena from the head of Zeus }. For God needs none of all these things, but is He who, by His Word and Spirit, makes, and disposes, and governs all things, and commands all things into existence, He who formed the world (for the world is of all), - He who fashioned man, - He [who] is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, above whom there is no other God, nor initial principle, nor power, nor pleroma, - He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall prove. Holding, therefore, this rule, we shall easily show, notwithstanding the great variety and multitude of their opinions, that these men have deviated from the truth; for almost all the different sects of heretics admit that there is one God; but then, by their pernicious doctrines, they change [this truth into error], even as the Gentiles do through idolatry, - thus proving themselves ungrateful to Him that created them. { this is from St. Irenaeus’ rule of faith and doctrine for the Church which he learned from St. Polycarp who learned it from the Apostles }
Moreover, they despise the workmanship of God, speaking against their own salvation, becoming their own bitterest accusers, and being false witnesses [against themselves]. Yet, reluctant as they may be, these men shall one day rise again in the flesh, to confess the power of Him who raises them from the dead; but they shall not be numbered among the righteous on account of their unbelief. { emphasis here of St. Irenaeus’ condemnation of evolutionary gnostics to where they will certainly be - the left hand of Christ at the general resurrection and damned forever }
RATHER THAN ADAM FORMED BY GOD FROM THE MOIST EARTH
Macrobius says that the Pythagoreans learnt their doctrine from the Egyptians, whereas the latter was the view of the Chaldaeans – (Omina). From The Perseus Project
I. Simon the Samaritan was that magician of whom Luke, the disciple and follower of the apostles, says, “But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who beforetime used magical arts in that city, and led astray the people of Samaria, declaring that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This is the power of God, which is called great. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had driven them mad by his sorceries.” This Simon, then - who feigned faith, supposing that the apostles themselves performed their cures by the art of magic, and not by the power of God; and with respect to their filling with the Holy Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that believed in God through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ Jesus - suspecting that even this was done through a kind of greater knowledge of magic, and offering money to the apostles, thought he, too, might receive this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit on whomsoever he would, - was addressed in these words by Peter: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God can be purchased with money: thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God; for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” 8 He, then, not putting faith in God a whit the more, set himself eagerly to contend against the apostles, in order that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and applied himself with still greater zeal to the study of the whole magic art, that he might the better bewilder and overpower multitudes of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of Claudius Caesar, by whom also he is said to have been honoured with a statue, on account of his magical power. This man, then, was glorified by many as if he were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jews as the Son; but descended in Samaria as the Father, while he came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself, in a word, as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the Father over all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased to address him. For ( according to Simon ) men are saved through his grace, and not on account of their own righteous actions
the human soul passed from one body to another--that is, from one charnel-house to another (sôma, sêma)--till the ingrained taint was washed out and the purified soul was translated to the stars. We can hardly help feeling a connexion between this doctrine and the Buddhist passage from Sansara to Nirvana. ...only speak of the Unity of the Gods of the winds, or the winds themselves, are called Tritopatores, whatever be the true interpretation of that word, perhaps that they are our ancestors (tritoi pateres, in the general sense of ancestors ): The fragments of the work (ib. 731, 735). (3) Phusika, attributed to both Brontinus and Onomacritus, treats of how the individual soul is breathed into or inhaled by the body, after having been carried thereto by the winds (cf. tên psuchên ek tou holou eisienai anapneontôn, pheromenên hupo tôn anemôn, Aristot. de Anim. i. 5, 13). The guardians for further, see Lobeck, 753-773, especially 763. Here, too, may have come in the wide-spread theory of the transmigration of souls, of the circle of births which it should be our aim to get free from: kuklou t' au lêxai kai anapneusai kakotêtos (ib. 800). (4) Hieroi logoi--besides the…From The Perseus Project
3. Since, therefore, there exist among them error and misleading influences, and magical illusions are impiously wrought in the sight of men; but in the Church, sympathy, and compassion, and stedfastness, and truth, for the aid and encouragement of mankind, are not only displayed without fee or reward, but we ourselves lay out for the benefit of others our own means; and inasmuch as those who are cured very frequently do not possess the things which they require, they receive them from us; [since such is the case,] these men are in this way undoubtedly proved to be utter aliens from the divine nature, the beneficence of God, and all spiritual excellence. But they are altogether full of deceit of every kind, apostate inspiration, demoniacal working, and the phantasms of idolatry, and are in reality the predecessors of that dragon who, by means of a deception of the same kind, will with his tail cause a third part of the stars to fall from their place, and will cast them down to the earth. It behoves us to flee from them as we would-from him; and the greater the display with which they are said to perform [their marvels], the more carefully should we watch them, as having been endowed with a greater spirit of wickedness. If anyone will consider the prophecy referred to, and the daily practices of these men, he will find that their manner of acting is one and the same with the demons. To whom, then, is there the savour of death unto death those men, doubtless, who do not believe, nor submit themselves to God.
And again, who are they that have been saved, and received the inheritance? Those, doubtless, who do believe God, and who have continued in His love; as did Caleb [the son of Jephunneh and Joshua [the son] of Nun, and innocent children, who have had no sense of evil. But who are they that are saved now, and receive life eternal? Is it not those who love God, and who believe His promises, and who “in malice have become as little children?"
I. "But," say they, "God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants." Those, then, who allege such difficulties, do not read in the Gospel that passage where the Lord replied to the disciples, when they asked Him, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?" - "Because it is given unto you to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven; but to them I speak in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear, understanding they may not understand; in order that the prophecy of Isaiah regarding them may be fulfilled, saying, Make the heart of this people gross, and make their ears dull, and blind their eyes. But blessed are your eyes, which see the things that ye see; and your ears, which hear what ye do hear." For one and the same God [that blesses others] inflicts blindness upon those who do not believe, but who set Him at naught; just as the sun, which is a creature of His, [acts with regard] to those who, by reason of any weakness of the eyes, cannot behold his light; but to those who believe in Him and follow Him, He grants a fuller and greater illumination of mind. In accordance with this word, therefore, does the apostle say, in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians: "In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not (this is important; St. Irenaeus elsewhere tells us he specifically means that St. Paul is telling us that the true God is meant, that He blinds by His light the minds of those who turn away from Him, because they choose the darkness because their works are of the darkness. St. Irenaeus points us in this respect to the Gospel of St. John third chapter, verses 19 and 20), lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine [unto them]." And again, in that to the Romans: "And as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things that are not convenient." Speaking of antichrist, too, he says clearly in the Second to the Thessalonians: "And for this cause God shall send them the working of error (energian planes), that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but consented to iniquity."
If, therefore, in the present time also, God, knowing the number of those who will not believe, since He foreknows all things, has given them over to unbelief, and turned away His face from men of this stamp, leaving them in the darkness which they have themselves chosen for themselves, what is there wonderful if He did also at that time give over to their unbelief, Pharaoh, who never would have believed, along with those who were with him? As the Word spake to Moses from the bush: "And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, unless by a mighty hand." And for the reason that the Lord spake in parables, and brought blindness upon Israel, that seeing they might not see, since He knew the [spirit of] unbelief in them, for the same reason did He harden Pharaoh's heart; in order that, while seeing that it was the finger of God which led forth the people, he might not believe, but be precipitated into a sea of unbelief, resting in the notion that the exit of these [Israelites] was accomplished by magical power, and that it was not by the operation of God that the Red Sea afforded a passage to the people, but that this occurred by merely natural causes (sed naturaliter sic se habere). Those, again, who cavil and find fault because the people did, by God's command, upon the eve of their departure, take vessels of all kinds and raiment from the Egyptians, and so went away, from which [spoils], too, the tabernacle was constructed in the wilderness, prove themselves ignorant of the righteous dealings of God, and of His dispensations; as also the presbyter (St. John the Apostle and Evangelist) remarked: For if God had not accorded this in the typical exodus, no one could now be saved in our true exodus; that is, in the faith in which we have been established, and by which we have been brought forth from among the number of the Gentiles.
(St. Irenaeus, in no way here is allowing greed for money, only condemning the idea that to be a Christian one must endure forced poverty by those false teachers of false gospels who would take their possessions from them.)
Thanks to Tufts University Perseus Project for quotes available on line from the pagans (for the modern pagans, by the way, to whom we witness that they might be saved, the greatest act of love we know of!)
Section One
IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES. (Pg. 378 – 8.)
…the [successive] emanations of the Deity. The views, again, which they propound, without either plausibility or parade, are simply lies from beginning to end.
…the [successive] emanations of the Deity. The views, again, which they propound, without either plausibility or parade, are simply lies from beginning to end.
…and Paul well says …words of false knowledge.
I Tim. vi. 20.
I Tim. vi. 20.
TODAY, THIS IDEA OF SUCCESSIVE EMANATIONS OF THE DEITY IS ECHOED BY FALSE TEACHERS LIKE benedict groeschel, ONE OF THE RESIDENT HERETICS OF EWTN, WHEN HE CLAIMS THAT PAGANS CAN COME DIRECTLY TO GOD THE FATHER BY THEIR PAGAN RELIGIONS BUT THAT JESUS IS THE ONE THROUGH WHOM CHRISTIANS COME. JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY ONE THROUGH WHOM ANYONE CAN COME TO GOD THE FATHER, AND NEVER BY PAGAN RELIGIONS.
1 PANTHEISM MONISM
RATHER THAN CREATION IN 6 DAYS
WHICH IS THE SAME AS THE PAGAN ELEMENT OF THE AETHER
Aether including in it the Sun and Moon, then the fixed stars in the fiery region Ouranos, then the Earth, then the Antichthon. Taken from The Perseus Project
Aether including in it the Sun and Moon, then the fixed stars in the fiery region Ouranos, then the Earth, then the Antichthon. Taken from The Perseus Project
“weak and beggarly elements” Gal. 4:9 “elements of the world” Col. 2:8
Section Two
ST. IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES
These, then, are the particulars which have reached us respecting ( gnostic ) “redemption.” But since they differ so widely among themselves both as respects doctrine and tradition, and since those of them who are recognised as being most modern make it their effort daily to invent some new opinion, and to bring out what no one ever before thought of, it is a difficult matter to describe all their opinions.
..eternal things He ( God ) did not make by angels, or by any powers separated from His Ennoea { Gnostic term taken from the springing forth of the Greek goddess Athena from the head of Zeus }. For God needs none of all these things, but is He who, by His Word and Spirit, makes, and disposes, and governs all things, and commands all things into existence, He who formed the world (for the world is of all), - He who fashioned man, - He [who] is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, above whom there is no other God, nor initial principle, nor power, nor pleroma, - He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall prove. Holding, therefore, this rule, we shall easily show, notwithstanding the great variety and multitude of their opinions, that these men have deviated from the truth; for almost all the different sects of heretics admit that there is one God; but then, by their pernicious doctrines, they change [this truth into error], even as the Gentiles do through idolatry, - thus proving themselves ungrateful to Him that created them. { this is from St. Irenaeus’ rule of faith and doctrine for the Church which he learned from St. Polycarp who learned it from the Apostles }
Moreover, they despise the workmanship of God, speaking against their own salvation, becoming their own bitterest accusers, and being false witnesses [against themselves]. Yet, reluctant as they may be, these men shall one day rise again in the flesh, to confess the power of Him who raises them from the dead; but they shall not be numbered among the righteous on account of their unbelief. { emphasis here of St. Irenaeus’ condemnation of evolutionary gnostics to where they will certainly be - the left hand of Christ at the general resurrection and damned forever }
2 SOUL APART FROM CREATION
RATHER THAN ADAM FORMED BY GOD FROM THE MOIST EARTH
THE WORSHIP AND MANIPULATION OF THE ELEMENTS BOTH PLANETARY AND CONSTITUTIVE, CAME FROM THE OMINA OF THE CHALDAEANS TO THE EGYPTIANS TO THE GREEKS TO THE ROMANS; AND FROM THE CHALDAEANS ON, WAS THE ROOT OF ALL THE WORLD’S PAGAN RELIGIONS WITH THEIR PRACTICE OF MAGIC AND SORCERY WHICH PASSED TO THE GNOSTICS WHO HELD WITH THE PAGANS THAT THERE WAS NO RESURRECTION IN THE FLESH BUT ONLY A SPIRITUALISED SOUL TRAVEL.
Macrobius says that the Pythagoreans learnt their doctrine from the Egyptians, whereas the latter was the view of the Chaldaeans – (Omina). From The Perseus Project
Rev. 17:8-11 throughout history
Tower of Babel (tell el Obeid) and 6 others in ancient Mesopotamia Shinar ancient Chaldaea
Egypt, Pyramids of Cheops and 6 others
Mt. Dicte and 6 others, Crete
Persian Iran, Alburz range Mt. Demavand and 6 others
Jerusalem, seven mountains there
Seven hills of Rome
Mt. Tai and 6 others, China
The eighth worldwide
Section Three
ST. IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES BOOK I CHAP. XXIII.-DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES OF SIMON MAGUS AND MENANDER.
I. Simon the Samaritan was that magician of whom Luke, the disciple and follower of the apostles, says, “But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who beforetime used magical arts in that city, and led astray the people of Samaria, declaring that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This is the power of God, which is called great. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had driven them mad by his sorceries.” This Simon, then - who feigned faith, supposing that the apostles themselves performed their cures by the art of magic, and not by the power of God; and with respect to their filling with the Holy Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that believed in God through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ Jesus - suspecting that even this was done through a kind of greater knowledge of magic, and offering money to the apostles, thought he, too, might receive this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit on whomsoever he would, - was addressed in these words by Peter: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God can be purchased with money: thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God; for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” 8 He, then, not putting faith in God a whit the more, set himself eagerly to contend against the apostles, in order that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and applied himself with still greater zeal to the study of the whole magic art, that he might the better bewilder and overpower multitudes of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of Claudius Caesar, by whom also he is said to have been honoured with a statue, on account of his magical power. This man, then, was glorified by many as if he were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared among the Jews as the Son; but descended in Samaria as the Father, while he came to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself, in a word, as being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the Father over all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased to address him. For ( according to Simon ) men are saved through his grace, and not on account of their own righteous actions
2. Now this Simon of Samaria, from whom all sorts of heresies derive their origin, formed his sect….
The successor of this man was Menander, also a Samaritan by birth, and he, too, was a perfect adept in the practice of magic.
The successor of this man was Menander, also a Samaritan by birth, and he, too, was a perfect adept in the practice of magic.
3 DUADIST UNIVERSALISM
RATHER THAN THE QUICKENING SPIRIT OF CHRIST
THE ORIGINATOR OF ALL OF THIS IN THE PAGAN SYSTEMS IS THE SERPENT/DRAGON FROM THE COSMIC EGG – THE COSMOCRATORAS OF THE PAGANS AND THE GNOSTICS
a dragon with the heads of a bull and a lion, and between the two the visage of a god, and he had upon his shoulders wings, and his name was Never-Aging Time (Chronos agêraos) abroad throughout all space and reacheth to the ends of the world, and she is both male and female. Then did Time generate a gigantic egg (…long-suffering. Zoega, from Egyptian roots eri and keb, and that it means the multiplier), and filled by the might of its generator it burst in twain, and its top was Heaven and its bottom Earth (Lobeck, 487). a mighty dragon, like unto the manifold forms of beasts, and his name was Protogonos or Zeus or Pan, for he arranged the whole world. Not different to this is- From The Perseus Project
a dragon with the heads of a bull and a lion, and between the two the visage of a god, and he had upon his shoulders wings, and his name was Never-Aging Time (Chronos agêraos) abroad throughout all space and reacheth to the ends of the world, and she is both male and female. Then did Time generate a gigantic egg (…long-suffering. Zoega, from Egyptian roots eri and keb, and that it means the multiplier), and filled by the might of its generator it burst in twain, and its top was Heaven and its bottom Earth (Lobeck, 487). a mighty dragon, like unto the manifold forms of beasts, and his name was Protogonos or Zeus or Pan, for he arranged the whole world. Not different to this is- From The Perseus Project
“cosmocratoras of this darkness” Ephesians 6:12
Section Four
ST. IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES
We may subvert their doctrine as to transmigration from body to body by this fact, that souls remember nothing whatever of the events which took place in their previous states of existence. For if they were sent forth with this object, that they should have experience of every kind of action, they must of necessity retain a remembrance of those things which have been previously accomplished, that they might fill up those in which they were still deficient, and not by always hovering, without intermission, round the same pursuits, spend their labour wretchedly in vain (for the mere union of a body [with a soul] could not altogether extinguish the memory and contemplation of those things which had formerly been experienced and especially as they came [into the world] for this very purpose. For as, when the body is asleep and at rest, whatever things the soul sees by herself, and does in a vision, recollecting
We may subvert their doctrine as to transmigration from body to body by this fact, that souls remember nothing whatever of the events which took place in their previous states of existence. For if they were sent forth with this object, that they should have experience of every kind of action, they must of necessity retain a remembrance of those things which have been previously accomplished, that they might fill up those in which they were still deficient, and not by always hovering, without intermission, round the same pursuits, spend their labour wretchedly in vain (for the mere union of a body [with a soul] could not altogether extinguish the memory and contemplation of those things which had formerly been experienced and especially as they came [into the world] for this very purpose. For as, when the body is asleep and at rest, whatever things the soul sees by herself, and does in a vision, recollecting
4 POLYTHEIST EVOLUTION
RATHER THAN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AND THE SAINTS
THE DOCTRINE DERIVED FROM THIS OF PANTHEISTIC MONIST REINCARNATION SPREAD FROM THE GREEKS TO THE FAR EAST
the human soul passed from one body to another--that is, from one charnel-house to another (sôma, sêma)--till the ingrained taint was washed out and the purified soul was translated to the stars. We can hardly help feeling a connexion between this doctrine and the Buddhist passage from Sansara to Nirvana. ...only speak of the Unity of the Gods of the winds, or the winds themselves, are called Tritopatores, whatever be the true interpretation of that word, perhaps that they are our ancestors (tritoi pateres, in the general sense of ancestors ): The fragments of the work (ib. 731, 735). (3) Phusika, attributed to both Brontinus and Onomacritus, treats of how the individual soul is breathed into or inhaled by the body, after having been carried thereto by the winds (cf. tên psuchên ek tou holou eisienai anapneontôn, pheromenên hupo tôn anemôn, Aristot. de Anim. i. 5, 13). The guardians for further, see Lobeck, 753-773, especially 763. Here, too, may have come in the wide-spread theory of the transmigration of souls, of the circle of births which it should be our aim to get free from: kuklou t' au lêxai kai anapneusai kakotêtos (ib. 800). (4) Hieroi logoi--besides the…From The Perseus Project
1Cor. 15:1-28 St. Paul on the Gospel of the Resurrection
Section Five
Selected and conflated passages from St. Irenaeus’ Against Heresies ( from
Books II and IV )
Books II and IV )
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." And as it was not to those who are without that he said these things, but to us, lest we should be cast forth from the kingdom of God, by doing any such thing, he proceeds to say, "And such indeed were ye; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God." And just as then, those who led vicious lives, and put other people astray, were condemned and cast out, so also even now the offending eye is plucked out, and the foot and the hand, lest the rest of the body perish in like manner. … the fierce, and terrible, and irrational thou wilt drive far from thee, that you may no longer have to endure their idle loquaciousness and if there be any others who are said to perform miracles - who do not perform what they do either through the power of God, or in connection with the truth, nor for the well-being of men, but for the sake of destroying and misleading mankind, by means of magical deceptions, and with universal deceit, thus entailing greater harm than good on those who believe them, with respect to the point on which they lead them astray. For they can neither confer sight on the blind, nor hearing on the deaf, nor chase away all sorts of demons - [none, indeed,] except those that are sent into others by themselves, if they can even do so much as this. Nor can they cure the weak, or the lame, or the paralytic, or those who are distressed in any other part of the body, as has often been done in regard to bodily infirmity. Nor can they furnish effective remedies for those external accidents which may occur. And so far are they from being able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them, and the apostles did by means of prayer, and as has been frequently done in the brotherhood on account of some necessity - the entire Church in that particular locality entreating [the favor] with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead man has returned, and he has been bestowed in answer to the prayers of the saints - that they do not even believe this can be possibly be done, [and hold] that the resurrection from the dead is simply an acquaintance with that ‘so-called truth’ of theirs which they proclaim - their so-called super spiritual “resurrection”,{note - i.e. the “secret rapture”}.
3. Since, therefore, there exist among them error and misleading influences, and magical illusions are impiously wrought in the sight of men; but in the Church, sympathy, and compassion, and stedfastness, and truth, for the aid and encouragement of mankind, are not only displayed without fee or reward, but we ourselves lay out for the benefit of others our own means; and inasmuch as those who are cured very frequently do not possess the things which they require, they receive them from us; [since such is the case,] these men are in this way undoubtedly proved to be utter aliens from the divine nature, the beneficence of God, and all spiritual excellence. But they are altogether full of deceit of every kind, apostate inspiration, demoniacal working, and the phantasms of idolatry, and are in reality the predecessors of that dragon who, by means of a deception of the same kind, will with his tail cause a third part of the stars to fall from their place, and will cast them down to the earth. It behoves us to flee from them as we would-from him; and the greater the display with which they are said to perform [their marvels], the more carefully should we watch them, as having been endowed with a greater spirit of wickedness. If anyone will consider the prophecy referred to, and the daily practices of these men, he will find that their manner of acting is one and the same with the demons. To whom, then, is there the savour of death unto death those men, doubtless, who do not believe, nor submit themselves to God.
And again, who are they that have been saved, and received the inheritance? Those, doubtless, who do believe God, and who have continued in His love; as did Caleb [the son of Jephunneh and Joshua [the son] of Nun, and innocent children, who have had no sense of evil. But who are they that are saved now, and receive life eternal? Is it not those who love God, and who believe His promises, and who “in malice have become as little children?"
I. "But," say they, "God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants." Those, then, who allege such difficulties, do not read in the Gospel that passage where the Lord replied to the disciples, when they asked Him, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?" - "Because it is given unto you to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven; but to them I speak in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear, understanding they may not understand; in order that the prophecy of Isaiah regarding them may be fulfilled, saying, Make the heart of this people gross, and make their ears dull, and blind their eyes. But blessed are your eyes, which see the things that ye see; and your ears, which hear what ye do hear." For one and the same God [that blesses others] inflicts blindness upon those who do not believe, but who set Him at naught; just as the sun, which is a creature of His, [acts with regard] to those who, by reason of any weakness of the eyes, cannot behold his light; but to those who believe in Him and follow Him, He grants a fuller and greater illumination of mind. In accordance with this word, therefore, does the apostle say, in the Second [Epistle] to the Corinthians: "In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not (this is important; St. Irenaeus elsewhere tells us he specifically means that St. Paul is telling us that the true God is meant, that He blinds by His light the minds of those who turn away from Him, because they choose the darkness because their works are of the darkness. St. Irenaeus points us in this respect to the Gospel of St. John third chapter, verses 19 and 20), lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine [unto them]." And again, in that to the Romans: "And as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things that are not convenient." Speaking of antichrist, too, he says clearly in the Second to the Thessalonians: "And for this cause God shall send them the working of error (energian planes), that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but consented to iniquity."
If, therefore, in the present time also, God, knowing the number of those who will not believe, since He foreknows all things, has given them over to unbelief, and turned away His face from men of this stamp, leaving them in the darkness which they have themselves chosen for themselves, what is there wonderful if He did also at that time give over to their unbelief, Pharaoh, who never would have believed, along with those who were with him? As the Word spake to Moses from the bush: "And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, unless by a mighty hand." And for the reason that the Lord spake in parables, and brought blindness upon Israel, that seeing they might not see, since He knew the [spirit of] unbelief in them, for the same reason did He harden Pharaoh's heart; in order that, while seeing that it was the finger of God which led forth the people, he might not believe, but be precipitated into a sea of unbelief, resting in the notion that the exit of these [Israelites] was accomplished by magical power, and that it was not by the operation of God that the Red Sea afforded a passage to the people, but that this occurred by merely natural causes (sed naturaliter sic se habere). Those, again, who cavil and find fault because the people did, by God's command, upon the eve of their departure, take vessels of all kinds and raiment from the Egyptians, and so went away, from which [spoils], too, the tabernacle was constructed in the wilderness, prove themselves ignorant of the righteous dealings of God, and of His dispensations; as also the presbyter (St. John the Apostle and Evangelist) remarked: For if God had not accorded this in the typical exodus, no one could now be saved in our true exodus; that is, in the faith in which we have been established, and by which we have been brought forth from among the number of the Gentiles.
(St. Irenaeus, in no way here is allowing greed for money, only condemning the idea that to be a Christian one must endure forced poverty by those false teachers of false gospels who would take their possessions from them.)
5 Christ the Creator Redeemer and coming Judge at His parousia
God’s omnipresence must never be confused with pantheism where god and his creation are combined and God becomes in such systems many gods subsumed in a chief god (henotheism), rather than God creating and remaining distinct from His creation and yet being present sustaining it always-
THE NATURALISTIC PANTHEISTIC PATTERN OF ALL THE POLYTHEISTIC AND HENOTHEISTIC AND MONIST SYSTEMS PERMEATED FROM THE EARLIER TO THE LATER SYSTEMS
numerous pantheistic hymns in the Orphic collection (cf. Lobeck, 519 ff.). – From The
numerous pantheistic hymns in the Orphic collection (cf. Lobeck, 519 ff.). – From The
Perseus Project
Epi ouranos in 1Cor. 15:40 and the third heaven 2Cor. 12:2 are the same, the throne room of God – the scientists’ pictures of light at the limit of the universe published in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s journal Science in the 1980’s and their findings of a finite universe with an up and down reflect this. 1Jn. 1:5 “that God is light” and verse 7 “as He is in the light” (uncreated); the physical light is a reflection of His glory for He is above all and uncontained and yet containing all He has created.
Thanks to Tufts University Perseus Project for quotes available on line from the pagans (for the modern pagans, by the way, to whom we witness that they might be saved, the greatest act of love we know of!)
Note Number One: Enlil (Chaldea, Sumer Assyro-Babylonian) Enlil was the most important deity of the Sumerian pantheon. The center of his cult was in Babylon. Enlil himself the air god, earth god, and storm god (particularly hurricanes) is the son of heaven, personified as the god An, and earth, personified as the goddess Ki. In Sumerian cosmogony, Nammu is the eternal primeval sea (this should be understood as the primal void); the mother of all the gods and the one who gave birth to heaven personified as the god An, and earth, who is personified as the goddess Ki (this should be understood as an emanation or simultaneous procession from the void in a moment of time. This is not the same as God creating, ex nihilo, including time itself as part of His creation). Their union (An and Ki) created the air god Enlil separated from An and Ki (heaven and earth) and the universe was created as heaven and earth separated by Enlil, air (See Section Three: THE ORIGINATOR OF ALL OF THIS IN THE PAGAN SYSTEMS IS THE SERPENT/DRAGON FROM THE COSMIC EGG – THE COSMOCRATORAS OF THE PAGANS AND THE GNOSTICS “cosmocratoras of this darkness” Ephesians 6:12). Enlil was known as lord of the storm, lord of the spirits on earth and in the air, and ghosts. He was the patron god of the city of Nippur, where his temple was called E- Kur (the mountain house). The name Enlil means "lord of the ghost-world." All of this refers to his being Satan - the Devil, the arches or archon of the “spiritual wickednesses” condemned by St. Irenaeus (quoting St. Paul, Ephesians 6:12) in Irenaeus’ creed at the beginning where St. Irenaeus says “…that He (Jesus Christ) may (will) send ‘spiritual wickednesses’, and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire…”.
Take especial note of the highly sophisticated Pantheist/Monist system of ancient Chaldaea (extremely like the Mahayana Buddhist perception [both totally wrong of course!] of how existence came into being of the action of an immanent demiurge, or principle from the void). This fulfills completely all the requirements raised by Theistic Evolution and it’s most recent variation, Intelligent Design, and yet does not draw one logically to belief in the True God Who is ABOVE all and a Personal being of infinite Majesty (for instance, His glory reflected in His angels: doxas). This points out the diabolic trap that Intelligent Design really is. We must stay with a rock basic confession of Who God is. He created us, not the other way around! The true God is the God of REVELATION, not theory!
Keeping The Faith
The Twelve Prophecies
From the:
CATHOLIC DICTIONARY
The Catholic Press, Inc.
CHICAGO: ILLINOIS
The Catholic Press, Inc.
CHICAGO: ILLINOIS
Imprimatur
+ Samuel Cardinal Stritch
Archbishop of Chicago
+ Samuel Cardinal Stritch
Archbishop of Chicago
Chicago, August 5, 1950
Prophecies, The. The 12 lessons taken from the Old Testament which are chanted before the blessing of the Baptismal Font on Holy Saturday morning. The Prophecies treat of Old Testament history and the prophecies. They were read in the early Church to instruct those about to be baptized.
Catholic Dictionary 1950
They are the following:
The First Prophesy: Genesis 1: 1-31; 2: 1-2
The Second Prophesy: Genesis 5: 32; 6; 7: 6: 11-14, 18-21, 23-24; 8: 1-3, 6-12, 15-21
The Third Prophesy: Genesis 22: 1-19
The Fourth Prophesy: Exodus 14: 24-31; 15: 1
The Fifth Prophesy: Isaias 54: 17; 55: 1-11
The Sixth Prophesy: Baruch 3: 9-38
The Seventh Prophesy: Ezechiel 37: 1-14
The Eighth Prophesy: Isaias 4: 1-6
The Ninth Prophesy: Exodus 1-11
The Tenth Prophesy: Jonas 3: 1-10
The Eleventh Prophesy: Deuteronomy 31: 22-30
The Twelfth Prophesy: Daniel 3: 1-24
The Second Prophesy: Genesis 5: 32; 6; 7: 6: 11-14, 18-21, 23-24; 8: 1-3, 6-12, 15-21
The Third Prophesy: Genesis 22: 1-19
The Fourth Prophesy: Exodus 14: 24-31; 15: 1
The Fifth Prophesy: Isaias 54: 17; 55: 1-11
The Sixth Prophesy: Baruch 3: 9-38
The Seventh Prophesy: Ezechiel 37: 1-14
The Eighth Prophesy: Isaias 4: 1-6
The Ninth Prophesy: Exodus 1-11
The Tenth Prophesy: Jonas 3: 1-10
The Eleventh Prophesy: Deuteronomy 31: 22-30
The Twelfth Prophesy: Daniel 3: 1-24
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