Written by Greg Pantelidis BSc(Hons)
gregpantelidis@gmail.com
Beware of the idols, that is, the passions. Beware of the weeds, that is, wrong practices.
Weapons for us are faith, self-denial, humility, obedience, and prayer.
Have all you hope in Lord Jesus. It is His grace, power, help, and economy, which is guiding you, and leading you to salvation.
Abstain from everything that is forbidden: another person’s food, another person’s possessions, another person’s glory, another person’s romance.
The Lord has come in the flesh. The Lord revealed to us that He is a Trinity of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The second person of the Lord, the Son of God, has come in the flesh. The Lord in the flesh is Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Lord God, the second person of the Holy Trinitarian Lord God.
Beware of temptation related to food. Beware of temptation related to possessions. Beware of temptation related to glory. Beware of temptation related to romance.
The top three issues in life are: spiritual health, physical health, and economics.
Practice the ethical life. Practice the ethical life and you will increase in grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
Study ethics. Practice ethics. Teach ethics.
Keep the ethics of your way of life. Are you married? Then keep married ethics. Are you unmarried? Then keep unmarried ethics. Are you a coenobitic monk? Then keep coenobitic ethics. Are you a hesychastic monk? Then keep hesychastic ethics.
Grace came through Lord Jesus. (See John 1:17).
There is nothing more dangerous in the Orthodox Christian life than to be self-guided. Do not be self-guided. Be guided by your spiritual father.
From obedience to Lord Jesus arises every blessing.
The first fear of God is fear of hell. The second fear of God is fear of sin and fear of the Judgment of God. The third fear of God is fear of separation from God.
Beware of disturbances which separate you from God and from your brethren. The disturbances are the transgressions incited by temptation.
The Trinitarian Lord is God, there is no other God. (See Deut. 4:35).
Lord Jesus saves us from our sins. (See Matt. 1:21).
If you are just in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance, justice will be returned to you. (See Gal. 6:7).
(Deut. 16:20): “Justly justice you shall pursue.”
Beware of the five vices: pride, lust, greed, gluttony, envy. These five are the major temptations.
Keep the precepts of scripture, of Holy Tradition, of the Church fathers, and of your spiritual father.
Live a lawful life. Be lawful in thought, feeling, word, and practice.
Beware of temptation of thought. Beware of temptation of feeling. Beware of temptation of word. Beware of temptation of eyes. Beware of temptation of ears. Beware of temptation of practice.
All illnesses are allowed by God for our salvation.
Protect your soul from injury. Protect your body from injury. Injury to the soul occurs from wrong thoughts, wrong feelings, wrong words, or wrong practices. Injury to the body occurs from overeating, underpractice or overpractice, harmful nutrition, and misuse.
Beware of the economy of temptations. Remember that you will be judged for every temptation you yield to.
Study and practice secular justice. Study and practice religious justice.
Speak or write a word of salvation to those who need it.
The Lord works for the salvation of all. The dragon works for the destruction of all.
Words of salvation are received differently by the four groups: non-practicers, first-practicers, second-practicers, and third-practicers. The four groups are the non-virtuous, beginners, intermediates, and advanced.
The work of a gospel teacher is to sow the word of salvation. How the word of salvation is received is beyond his control.
Turn away from the rejectors of the word of salvation. Such people reject their salvation.
The secular life is eating and drinking, gathering possessions (including knowledge), seeking glory, and seeking romance. The Orthodox Christian life is fasting, giving charity, practicing humility and non-glory, and practicing chastity.
The secular church is the weeds and the Orthodox Christian Church is the wheat. (See Matt. 13:24).
We fast for our salvation. We give charity for our salvation. We practice humility and non-glory for our salvation. We practice chastity for our salvation.
The secular church practices overeating, stealing and overpossessing, pride, vanity, and lust. The secular church is held by the five horns of the dragon: pride, lust, greed, gluttony, and vanity.
The secular church rejects fasting. The secular church rejects frugality. The secular church rejects humility and non-glory. The secular church rejects chastity.
Fast and pray in secret. Give charity in secret. Practice humility and non-glory in secret. Keep chastity in secret. The secular church does not need to know of your religious practice.
The secular church does not want to give its heart to its Creator. The Orthodox Christian Church has devoted its heart to its Creator.
The Orthodox Christian Church offers its mind, heart, soul, and body, to its Creator. The Orthodox Christian Church practices the law of God in mind, heart, soul, and body.
The secular church rejects its Creator. The secular church offers its mind, heart, soul, and body to unlawfulness.
The Orthodox Christian Church seeks salvation from its Creator. The secular church rejects the salvation from its Creator.
The secular church rejects the love of God and the love of neighbor. The secular church practices self-love. The Orthodox Christian Church practices love of God and love of neighbor. The Orthodox Christian Church rejects unvirtuous self-love.
The rejectors of their salvation are the weeds. The acceptors of their salvation are the wheat. (See Matt. 13:24).
The secular church is attached to wealth, glory, and pleasure. The Orthodox Christian Church is detached from wealth, glory, and pleasure.
The secular church practices love of wealth, love of glory, and love of pleasure. The secular church hates non-wealth, non-glory, and non-pleasure. The Orthodox Christian Church practices economy, humility, and continence. The Orthodox Christian Church is free of love of wealth, love of glory, and love of pleasure.
The secular church is staunchly anti-Christian. Beware of trying to help the secular church. Only the potential members of the Orthodox Christian Church can come out of the secular church. The secular church works for the dragon through unbelief, wealth, glory, and pleasure.
The secular church is a slave to pride, lust, greed, gluttony, vanity, and envy. Only Lord Jesus can deliver the secular church from this slavery. (See John 8: 34-36).
The secular church is a slave to the primary vices: gluttony, love of possessions, vanity, and lust. The secular church is a slave to the secondary vices: pride, wrath, sorrow, lethargy, envy, (despair and suicide). The secular church is a slave to the tertiary vices: blasphemy, reviling, lying, judging, magic, rancor, enmity, hatred, hypocrisy, phobia, revenge, non-forgiving.
The secular church is a slave to the major temptations: pride, lust, wrath, greed, gluttony, envy, sorrow.
What sort of heart do you have? A closed heart, a stony heart, a thorny heart, or a good heart? (See Matt. 13:4-8).
Associate with the members of the Orthodox Christian Church. Avoid associating with the members of the secular church. From the members of the secular church you will hear reviling, judging, pride, lust, greed, gluttony, envy, wrath, sorrow, vanity. The members of the Orthodox Christian Church are our true kin.
The secular church is in decay. The decay of increasing unbelief, pride, lawlessness, and despair.
Practice the Jesus Prayer always. Practice guarding of the mind and heart always.
Can you fathom the great fear we will have before Lord Jesus on Judgment Day? Lord Jesus will judge all our thoughts, all our feelings, all our words, and all our works. Do you see the greatness and completeness of this judgment? Repent, Confess, and correct yourself, before you stand at this great judgment.
O Lord Jesus! Grant us complete repentance, confession, and correction, before death comes and we stand in judgment.
The secular church does not want to be devoted to its Creator. The secular church chooses death instead of life.
Always have recourse to humility. Resolve problems and disputes by humility and self-reproach.
Always teach repentance, confession, and correction.
Remember that there are four kinds of hearts: closed hearts that do not accept the word of salvation, stony hearts that accept the word of salvation for a little while but in the end reject it, thorny hearts that cause the word of salvation to be choked and so reject it, and good hearts that accept the word of salvation and bear fruit. (See Matt. 13:4-8).
The secular church is the rebels. (See 2 Thess. 2:3). Do not have the rebels as your friends, only love them as enemies. (See Matt. 5:44).
The secular church is the community of the proud, wrathful, non-merciful, and hating. The Orthodox Christian Church is the community of the humble, meek, merciful, and loving.
Chiefly, the secular church is the community of the proud. Chiefly, the Orthodox Christian Church is the community of the humble.
Pride causes a person to become unclean. (See Prov. 16:5). From pride arises every impiety. The impious become dogs and swine. (See Matt. 7:6).
Let us weep brethren. Let us weep for every brother or sister who yields to temptation. Let us weep for the secular church. Let us weep for the unrepentant.
The secular church consists of materialists who only eat, drink, gather possessions (including knowledge), seek glory, and seek romance. The Orthodox Christian Church consists of non-materialists who fast, give charity, seek humility and non-glory, and practice chastity.
Defuse a disturbance immediately through humility.
As physical soldiers fall to the ground when they encounter a disturbance, so spiritual soldiers must fall to the ground of humility when they encounter a spiritual disturbance.
The secular church is a slave to overeating, stealing and overpossessing, vanity, pride, lying and reviling, and lust. The Orthodox Christian Church fasts, gives charity, seeks non-glory, has humility, truth-speaks and blesses, and practices chastity.
Lord Jesus seeks to cure the illnesses of the soul. The unwilling do not allow Lord Jesus to cure their illnesses. We should weep for such persons.
The secular church constitutes the Egyptians. The Orthodox Christian Church constitutes the New Israelites.
(Prov. 9:8): “Do not rebuke evil persons so that they do not hate you, rebuke the wise and they will love you.”
Free will means that the guilt of accepting evil thoughts, evil feelings, evil words, and evil works is ours. The dragon and his angels only tempt us. We are free to accept or reject his temptations. Therefore take full responsibility for your evil thoughts, evil feelings, evil words, and evil works. Repent, confess, and correct yourself today.
Turn away from the unrepentant. They choose to cling to evil thoughts, evil feelings, evil words, and evil works. Those who are unwilling to repent, confess, and correct themselves are enemies of God and His Orthodox Christian Church.
Heed the call to repent, confess, and correct yourself. We must repent, confess, and correct ourselves always.
(1 Cor. 1:24): “But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
Brethren let us fast and pray, give charity, seek humility and non-glory, and keep chastity. The secular church will not join us, for the secular church overeats and does not pray, overpossesses, has pride and vanity, and practices lust.
Do you want to be resurrected from a life of sin? Then turn to Lord Jesus in repentance, confession, and correction.
When you commit a crime you go to jail. When you commit a sin and do not repent, confess, and correct yourself, you are heading for the eternal jail of hell.
The secular church does not want to live forever. The secular church only wants to overeat, steal and overpossess, lie and revile, be proud and vain, and practice lust. Such is not eternal life. Such is not eternal blessedness. Fasting, giving charity, truth-speaking and blessing, humility and non-glory, and chastity, are the way of eternal life.
Have you devoted your free will to God? Do you obey Lord Jesus? Do you seek the guidance of your elder in Christ? Remember that from obedience to Lord Jesus you will increase in grace, virtue, wisdom, and spiritual gifts.
The secular church does not believe in Lord Jesus. The secular church does not love Lord Jesus. The secular church is not a part of the kingdom of Lord Jesus. The secular church cannot live eternally in the eternal kingdom of Lord Jesus. Only the members of Lord Jesus will live eternally in the eternal kingdom of Lord Jesus.
Devote you mind to Lord Jesus. Devote your heart to Lord Jesus. Devote your speech to Lord Jesus. Devote your eyes to Lord Jesus. Devote your ears to Lord Jesus. Devote your hands to Lord Jesus. Devote your legs to Lord Jesus. Devote your body to Lord Jesus.
The secular church has devoted mind, speech, and body to lawlessness. The Orthodox Christian Church has devoted mind, speech, and body to Lord Jesus and His law.
The word of salvation is salvation to believers but judgment to unbelievers. (See John 12:48).
The passions and sin are a psychological slavery. (See John 8:34). The word of salvation calls persons to Lord Jesus and to deliverance from psychological slavery. (See John 8:36).
Study and practice the branches of philosophy: logic, ethics, contemplation, dogmatics, and spiritual gifts.
Teach your children logic. Teach your children ethics.
Be logical, correct yourself if you are illogical. Be ethical, correct yourself if you are unethical.
A true parent is a parent who practices and teaches logic. A true parent is a parent who practices and teaches ethics. A parent who practices and teaches illogicality and unethicality is a false parent.
Be just in food, possessions (including knowledge), glory, and romance. If you are just you will reap justice. (See Gal. 6:7).
A true parent wants their son or daughter to be devoted to their Creator. A false parent does not want their son or daughter to be devoted to their Creator.
Defuse every problem with humility. Defuse every disturbance with humility.
Everything passes. Wealth passes. Glory passes. Pleasure passes. What remains is charity. What remains is humility. What remains is continence.
Have all you hope in Lord Jesus. Only Lord Jesus can save you. (See Is. 43:11).
Wealth, glory, and pleasure pass. Charity, humility, and continence remain. Who has true wealth but the charitable? Who has true glory but the humble? Who has true pleasure but the continent?
Be devoted to Lord Jesus. Trust in His grace and power. Trust in His help and providence.
Bear your cross. Trust in the wisdom and economy of God.
Do not give you heart to things that pass. Seek lasting things.
Do not cling to passing things. Cling to what lasts.
