St. John Chrysostom lived from 347 A.D. to 407 A.D. He was born in Antioch, was Bishop of Constantinople and is one of the Theological Doctors of The Church. One of his prominent sermons still applies to today. The sermon is on The Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 10, verse 16. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Being a Christian in today’s society is difficult on a whole other level-cyberspace. There are so many social media platforms, websites, and sources that are of questionable morality. The myth that we must all “go along to get along” is yet another of the multitude of lies that comes from The Father of Lies-Satan. The word “Satanas” from where we get “Satan” is Latin and it means “the divider”. If you look at the current state of things, you will not have to dig very deep to find examples of division. Politics, families, immigration, land use code. The list goes on, or you can fill in your division example here:_____________. St. John goes on: “Then, that they might learn that this system of war is new, and the manner of the array unwonted.” I can only speak for myself, but, how many of you really enjoy this new type of division and cyber warfare. I grew up in the late 1960’s-1970’s. Some of you youngsters will laugh as you immediately think of orange shag carpet and avocado green appliances and roll your eyes. What we did have back then is more of a trust of public officials, medicine, and there was a kindness that was more prevalent in society. Now some naysayers will cite race riots, war, and civil conflict to “try to prove me wrong”, but those of us who lived during that time will remember. The “new system of war” that St. John is referring to is the persecution of Christians by all the crazy Roman emperors back then, who were often born out of incest. They didn’t know anything about genetics back then, as Drs. Watson and Crick didn’t find out about genetics until the late 1930’s. Today’s new system of war is all the electronic media. You can attempt to say that Artificial Intelligence is an innovation for the betterment of the world, but, I would have to disagree, as it can be manipulated easily from computer algorithms. If one has good morals and a solid foundation in fact, perhaps. If one uses A.I. for nefarious reasons to push an adgenda, the misinformation, disinformation, and lies are spread at an exponentially higher speed than ever before. The one thing that has remained constant is faith in Jesus Christ. He is unchanging. So many folks try to fill a “God sized hole” in their lives with something other than God. Well, that just dosen’t work as God is the only thing that will fill the void. Money, drugs, power, prestige, or whatever will not fill the void. We have all had hardships in our lives. Emotions run high and logic goes out the window. It is just another way that Satan divides us. It is really that simple. St. John closes with “But do thou consider, I pray thee, who they are that hear these injunctions, so hard and laborious: the timid and ignorant; the unlettered and uninstructed; such as are in every respect obscure, who have never been trained up in the Gentile laws, who do not readily present themselves in the public places; the fishermen, the publicans, men full of innumerable deficiencies. For if these things were enough to confound even the lofty and great, how were they not enough to cast down and dismay them that were in all respects untried, and had never entertained any noble imagination? But they did not cast them down. ‘And very naturally,’ some one may perhaps say; ‘because He gave them power to cleanse lepers, to drive out devils.’ I would answer as follows: Nay, this very thing was enough especially to perplex them, that for all their raising the dead, they were to undergo these intolerable evils, both judgments, and executions, and the wars which all would wage on them, and the common hatred of the world; and that such terrors await them, while themselves are working miracles.” Life during this time is especially complicated with all the crazy things that exist in today’s world. You all know what they are, so I won’t list them here. My advice is that you cling to the Christian faith, pray as often as you can, and do good for your community. Sometimes that will make you uncomfortable, but, if you don’t, the state of the state and country will only get worse. These injunctions may be laborious, but, that is why this country is one of the better ones in the world. It was founded by Christians with determination and dedication to God. We have turned our collective back on Him, we are in this mess because of that, and, now, we must revert back to Him, lest we become a smoking crater and cannot reclaim what was founded in 1776.
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