Episode 128: Escape Vain Glory

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the Light of the world

and the life of all. Give us wisdom by your law and

enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

Sanctify our souls by Your truth and grant that we may be

obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

every hour. O You who enlightens the

rational with the knowledge of Your greatness, do enlight, O my

Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate upon Your holy and

divine Scriptures at all times. O Lord of all, Father and Son

and Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.

It's been 2 weeks since we last presented a new episode of the

Double Edged Sword Podcast. We've been busy last week.

We're in Canada at the 37th North America Youth Conference,

and the week prior to that we're busy preparing for the 75th

anniversary of the consecration of the altar of the Mother Day

church in Turla. But in any case, we're back

again and we will continue our studies of the Holy Scriptures,

the Acts of the Apostles. We're at chapter 14 and we're

going to begin at verse 11. Another recap going back from

the first, from the beginning of the of the book of the Acts.

We are introduced by Luke to Christ ascension.

Then came the Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit in

Jerusalem, and then the beginning of Christianity in

Antioch. Then we read Philip, St.

Philip preaching the Gospel in Samaria because the church was

persecuted in Jerusalem and they escaped to Samaria and Saint

Philip began to preach there. Then we read of the conversion

of the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading the Old Testament and

needed someone to interpret, wow.

You know, the, the, the Scriptures didn't interpret

themselves to the Ethiopian eunuch.

He needed some. He actually said, how can I

understand if no one interprets and teaches me?

Then we are, you know, confronted with Saint Peter's,

Saint Peter visiting Cornelius in his house and he preaches the

Gospel and he baptizes the house.

Then we are introduced to Seoul, his journey to Damascus to go

and capture the people of the way.

The word Christian or the term the title Christians or

Christianity had not been established then.

And we're talking about the third year or the 4th year after

the ascension of our Lord into heaven.

And then we read of Paul joining the Christian community with

Barnabas. And in chapter 13, verse 2, we

read that the Holy Spirit set apart Paul and Barnabas for the

preaching of the gospel. And they go to Antioch.

And then we left off at 14, chapter 14, verse 10, where they

heal a lame born from mum's womb, a lame person who was born

from his mother's womb. And this affirmed Mark chapter

Mark 16:20

16, verse 20 where he writes. But they went forth and they

preached in every place, and our Lord was helping them and

confirming their words with the signs that they were doing.

So Christ was working through them.

Christ was leading them. The Holy Spirit empowered them

to do these signs for the glory of God.

So we're going to pick it up from verse 11.

And when the people saw that the man was healed, when the people

saw what Paul had done, they lifted their voices, saying in

the language of the country, the gods have come down to us in the

likeness of men. Well, they weren't so wrong, but

we're going to have a look at that.

So they called Barnabas the chief of the gods, and Paul they

called Hermes, that is Zeus, the chief of the God was Zeus and

Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.

Then the priest of Zeus, whose shrine was outside the city,

brought oxen and garlands, wreaths of rope garlands to the

gate of the courtyard where they stayed, and he wanted to offer

sacrifices to them. So Zeus and Hermes, these are

the gods of the ancient Greek religion and mythology.

Now, this was a pretty silly error on the part of the

Gentiles who thought that every time something would happen that

was beyond themselves, that was beyond their own capability,

obviously, because Saint Paul and Barnabas didn't do this

through their own capability and strength.

It was through strength of God. They thought that it was a God.

And you know, back then, this is the first, first decade of

Christianity, you know, they had different understandings of God.

You know, they had the God of love and God of fornication and

they had all these God and goddesses, in particular the

Greek myth, mythology and a religion, St.

Ishudad of Merv, which is the Bishop of Hadithov's Assyria in

the year 1850. He comments on this.

Let me read a little bit of his commentary about these two gods

that they they worship. Basically he called Zeus the son

of Kronos, Lord of gods. Now a prophecy came out to this

Kronos, their God, a son of thine shall push thee from thy

Kingdom and thy godhead. So therefore every son he had,

he swallowed his Kronos like Pluto and Posidon, which was the

God of the sea and the God of the waters, That's how they knew

them. So therefore every son he had,

he swallowed. And when he got his son, Zeus

and his mother Rhea saw that he was beautiful.

She had compassion on the boy and hid him and gave him to the

Caribbeans. And the Caribbeans were the

singers and the timbrel players, the musicians and the curators.

Who was a the the the warriors and armed warriors and armed

priests who strike their Shields.

They stroke their Shields lest when the boy should cry, his

father coronors should hear his voice and swallow him as well.

Methodology and instead of this sorry and swallowing and instead

of the boy his mother gave Kronos a stone rolled up in

swaddling clothes. See they had an understanding.

I must have heard I must have knew that there will be a

Messiah and you know that was the prophecies but they had

these understandings of themselves.

They had their own gods, yours and Hermes, right.

So she, she wrapped him up in swaddling clothes.

And when he had swallowed that stone, he when he had swallowed

that stone, he brought up all the former sons he had

swallowed. But Zeus, when he grew up, bound

his father and cut off his testicles and pushed him from

heaven and threw him into the darkness of Tartars.

But from the severed testicles of Chronos they felt they fell a

drop of seed into the sea. That is a semen, and from it

sprang Aphrodites, or Aphrodite, the mistress of incantations and

fornication. These are all the gods and

goddesses. Many fables, many fables of her

are from that time. But Zeus afterwards went up to

heaven and took the kingship over all the gods, and sometimes

he came down and transforming himself into the shapes, into

all shapes. He he outraged both women and

men. And did the rest of these lie

shivenessness that means he's evil.

They called him Lord of gods, but they called Hermes one of

the gods who was more rational and skillful and intelligent

than all the gods, and they called him Hermes, that is Saint

Paul, Hermes, Trish Magi, Trish Majestis.

That is to say, who knows three things, what is past and what is

present and what will happen. God's characteristics,

omnipresent, Omni, knowing and omniscient.

And he became of all these they called Paul.

And because of all these they called Paul Hermes because he

was speaking the most, he seemed the more intelligent.

Now, if you're astonished by this and you're probably saying,

why should I be reading this? Like, well, it's good to know

why. I mean, there's a reason why

they did this. They just didn't just come out

and out of the blue, they just plucked these two names and

said, Hey, let's worship these people.

Let's let's offer offerings and sacrifices before them because

that was the understanding. And the understanding you see,

goes back to the Old Testament. So there was an understanding

and you're reading in in Romans chapter one that, you know, the

law was written in their hearts. So they had this understanding,

but they had it wrong, basically.

Let's let's not point the finger at them.

If we're astonished by this, probably within the first decade

of Christianity this happened. Let me astonish you even more.

There are people today who still hold on to those, these myths,

superstitions and others. People hold on and believe in

witchcraft. People have hope and faith and

believe in the evil eye where you go into people's houses, the

Christian houses. Let me tell you my dear brother

and sister, if you see a an eye of the evil or is an evil eye at

your house, go and tell my mom I love you, but I got to smash

this in Jesus name. This doesn't do anything for us.

This is nothing. Your cross on the wall is

sufficient, the cross of our Lord, because power was wrought

on the cross. There are people who who

practice even and who strongly believe in these myths and

superstitions. Let me let me, let's bring it

home to our community. Ironing at night times, you

know, we were told don't iron in the evenings because it's a sin.

Don't whistle at night time because you're gathering all the

demons. You know, when I whistle, I

don't see demons dancing before me.

I don't see any demons when Sometimes I whistle at night in

the car. We've all done it.

Have you ever experienced A demonic possession when you're

whistling or do not chew gum on Good Friday or Friday or sorrow,

because that entails chewing the gum or the the bones of the

dead. You're probably laughing and

you're probably such a gagging. Yeah, but these are in within

the the community. What about during wedding

ceremonies? In the House of the Lord, in the

presence of God Almighty, the holy place that we enter in fear

and in trembling and in reverence.

Not with our flip flops and shorts and with a bottle of

water and our Starbucks coffee and sitting there, legs crossed

and arms behind our partners and wives.

And no, that's not a church. That's an assembly.

That's a hall. When we enter the church in the

presence of God, we sit politely in reverence.

So you've seen during wedding ceremonies where you'll hear a,

you'll see, you'll hear a sound and you look around and there's

some a mother of the bride or the groom has a scissors in her

hand and she's constantly clicking the scissors.

You know, clich, clich, clich. And you say, why are you doing

that? So that if there is any curses

that are bound on this couple, I am cutting them loose.

That is blasphemy. Blasphemy because you're telling

me the sacrament of the priesthood, the sacramentality

of the Son of the Holy Cross, the presence of God in his holy

Church, in his holy altar, the prayers, the mentioning of the

name Jesus Christ is insufficient to drive away

demons. But a pair of scissors brought

from Home Depot or what are some of these fabric places?

Joanne's. Yeah, that that and you know

that pair of scissors probably made by a Pagan, by one who

doesn't believe in God, an atheist.

That pair of scissors is going to deter anyone from casting

spells. That's blasphemy.

And and we're in the almost the 21st century, right?

So let's not be too harsh on these people.

That's why the apostles were sent to teach these people to

explain to them that no, that is not how it works.

That is not how God intended. No, no, there are no other gods

but one God. Everything that was seen above

ourselves, we too. Everything that is beyond

rationale and logic has to be questioned.

Was it Saint Augustine who said that, that everything must be

proven by the logic of mankind? No, because God said your

thoughts are not my thoughts, my ways are not your ways.

So don't even go there, OK? And everything that must be a

God. Well, Jesus said in John chapter

one verse 18, no one has ever seen God.

No one has ever seen God. Exodus 3320 God says to Moses,

you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.

Let me read you a commentary of the Blessed Theophilic who

quotes Saint John Chrysostom many times on John chapter one

verse 18. He writes because the evangelist

has stated that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ to confirm

his words. He now adds, I have said nothing

unbelievable. Neither Moses nor any other man

ever saw God. Nor could Moses tell us clearly

and distinctly about God as a servant.

His task was merely to deliver the written Law.

But Christ, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the

Father, not only sees God, but declares and explains God to all

men. No one has seen God.

Maybe Moses saw a glimpse of God.

That's why he had to cover his face because the Israelites

couldn't look at his face because of the glowing of his

face. So let's see what the reaction

of these apostles is. Paul and Barnabas, verse 14.

When Barnabas and Paul heard this look, listen to what they

did. They tore their clothes.

They didn't say no glory to God, it's not us.

No, no, no, no. They tore their clothes and

leaped to their feet and went out to the crowd crying out.

They started screaming. They went out to the crowd

started to scream. Now, now this beloved is in the

first decade of Christianity. But look at their their intense

disapproval of what these people did notice.

You'll notice on every occasion they are free of the lust of

glory. They never want glory, not only

not coveting it, not wanting it, but rejecting it when it

offered, when it was offered to them, just as Peter did in Acts

Acts 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 verses verse 12, when he healed the the crippled

beggar, when he was going to the temple, was it Simon and James

going to the synagogue? Look what he says.

Why do you gaze upon us? Why are you looking at us as

though, wow, look at what they did as though by our own power

or holiness we had made him to be Well, no, they did the same

and Paul and Barbaz did the same.

Joseph did the same in Genesis 40 chapter 8 when he interpreted

the dream. He said do not interpretations

belong to God. Don't glorify me.

No, Daniel did likewise. Daniel chapter 2 verse 30, he

Daniel 2:30

said, and to me also, not through the wisdom that is in me

was it revealed, which is Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

No, it was all God, all ascribing glory to God.

Nothing we can do, There is nothing we can do that we can

claim glory, beloved, because it's glorifying God because it

is God who is doing it. And when people start start

acknowledging and you can sense a a, a glorification because if

you've done something in your Christian walk, whether it's

your preaching, whether it's your good deeds, whatever it is,

run away, Rook, Kristen Rook Borough, run away.

Now, I'm not saying we need to tear our clothes off, but no,

run away doesn't mean just, you know, pace or you know, just nip

it in the butt. No, all glory to God.

A brother, a brother of mine, said Robbie.

When people are acknowledging and they're commanding about

what you do, you always change the topic because I'm not

worthy, because it's not me. Because the minute I start

entertaining for a second, then pride sets in, Satan starts

doing your mind and prides that scene.

So from the get goes, glorify God.

You want to commend someone for something that he or he she has

done for God, Glorify God. Just give glory to God.

Saint Paul always says in Second Corinthians 35 not that we are

sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.

No glory for me, I've done nothing.

I am but an unworthy servant. Jeez, who is who is the only

person in the history of the world that glory is befitting

and right and meet but Jesus Christ in his humanity, the Son.

But look at what he says. I don't seek my glory.

There is one who seeks and judges.

I don't seek my glory. I'm he to glorify the Father.

I am the Son. I will glorify the Father.

And notice too, the Venus, the forcefulness, the intensity with

which. All of this is done by the

apostles. They tore their garments and

rushed out among the multitudes, crying out.

Why? All because their very beings

were turned away in horror from what had happened.

They despised that within their beings, beloved.

It was a grief, truly, it was a a devastating grief.

You know, now some may have said, relax, OK, You know,

sometimes when you glorify God and say no, please don't, OK,

All right, relax. No, no, not relax.

Glorify God and God only. They were about to be called

gods. And through that paganism,

idolatry would have been introduced.

And that is the very thing they came to destroy.

They went to the Gentiles to bring them back from paganism,

from idolatry, to destroy that understanding.

Now this was surely the devil's gadget.

It was the devil's device, but they did not keep quiet.

What did they say in verse 15? And saying, men, what are you

doing? We also are ordinary human

beings like you, who preach to you that you shall turn from

these useless things to the living God who made heaven and

earth and the sea and all things that are therein.

Immediately, from the very outset, they overthrew the evil.

They rebuked evil by what they say now.

They didn't simply say we are just men.

No, no, no, like you. You know when Paul writes his

letters to the Gentiles who have received Christianity, who have

become Christians, who have received the Jesus Christ me

baptized, he always includes himself.

This is what we were in the past.

This is how we walked before being saved by Jesus Christ,

before being saved from our slavery to sin, before being

slave from the repercussion of sin.

This is how we all walked. You know, that's a good example.

When you want to correct someone, include yourself in

what that person is doing. You have done this, you were

doing this. That sometimes turns people off,

and I do it myself. Yes, I stand corrected.

You know, I've always said when you preach, I think the first

person to be convicted is the preacher himself because we're

human beings. No, but you always join in their

grief. Christ commands this.

Mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.

So when we want to talk to someone, say, you know, we're

all that. We used to do this, but now we

need to do this, joining in their grief.

And that's what they did. We are like you.

And then so that they should not be seen to honor their gods, so

that there was no hint that yeah, we're honoring your gods.

They say we bring you good news. We're here to bring you good

news. That you should turn from these

vain things. Vain, empty.

There are no gods apart from one God.

Beloved, who is your God today? Who is it?

There is no gods. There is no other gods but the

one God who was known only through Jesus Christ.

Gods that are known outside of Jesus Christ are vain, vain

things to a living God who made the heavens.

Don't do these vain things to living gods who made the heavens

and the earth and the sea and all that is in them vain.

What is he talking about verse 16 and 18?

Well, they came to offer offer the ox.

They came to slaughter animal before them in the name of the

gods. And he says no, no, no.

So that so that he doesn't, he doesn't even talk about their

gods. He says these things are vain to

God, the true God, that means your gods.

I have no time, I have no interest.

They're idol, they're dead. Zeus and Cornus and Aphrodite,

they're dead. They're dumb gods and these

things you're doing the true one true God doesn't require any

offering or sacrifices of oxen and Garland, which is a reef of

flowers. Turn away from that today,

beloved. Sacrificing something is

offering is, is a foreign thing to us, right?

We Christianity never has never claimed or requested or demands

that we sacrifice animals or we sacrifice our flesh.

You know, sometimes you're seeing some of these Pagan

faiths and you know, the, the, the empty faiths that you know,

they cut off their tongues and they have to, they have to offer

children to a God. You know, they worship the fire,

they worship, you know, cows, they worship monkeys and they're

worshipping cockroaches. Whatever it be, right.

In Christianity, we don't need to offer any sacrifices.

We don't offer any sacrifices, by the way.

And those who tell you that on a Sunday, the Holy Eucharist is a

sacrifice that we offer. Yeah, we do.

The commemoration of the offering of Jesus Christ on the

cross. And he commanded.

He commanded that each time you gather, you must Remember Me

through the Eucharist, through the Holy Eucharist, because my

body is indeed food, but my body is what you believe is indeed

food. You must partake in my body.

So we're not offering any sacrifices.

I had a friend who said, oh, every Sunday you guys are doing,

you guys are offering sacrifices.

No, we're we're commemorating the offering of our Lord Jesus

Christ who was sacrificed once and for all on the cross today

to offer one's very self to God and to be pleased to God, not by

what others are doing, but the what others are the works of

others but our own. To offer ourselves to God and to

be pleasing to God by what I do for God, how I live for God is

more perfect and more renowned than all the offerings that were

done prior to Jesus Christ. And this only makes us imitators

of Christ, who gave us, as Saint Paul says, the earth, the sea,

and all that is in them. And to serve our needs, He gave

us the sky above beloved, and the ground below that we walk on

the moon, the stars, the rains, the winds, and all the world.

He gave to us from the beginning, when God created

heavens and earth, or the essence of the heavens and the

essence. There's a word missing in the

English translation in the Aramaic languages, Brilla alla

yad shmayya yad ara, the essence of the world and the essence of

the earth. But after all of this, beloved,

He gave us everything. He gave His very self.

So when we give ourselves as an offering to God, when we offer

our bodies as a sacrifice holy and pleasing to God, our souls,

our spirit, as a sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, we become

Christ. Like so much did Christ, so much

did God love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.

John 316, John 651. Why did he give his begotten Son

for the life of the world? So even that when we offer, even

when we offer ourselves, beloved, even when we offer what

we have to God, we've done nothing great because God

before, before we made that move, before we had an

understanding of the sacrifice of self, God sacrificed his Son

for our salvation. So let's be very careful,

beloved today, you know, I see these videos of people, you

know, statues moving. I saw a video of, I'm not sure

who, who was behind the camera, he or she, let's say a brother

was filming a service in a church and there was the statue

of the blessed Mary. And, and you know, there's a

window behind the statue and you could see the glare of the sun

coming through the window. So as the cameraman was moving,

obviously the glare got a little bit more shiny and claiming, oh,

Mary appeared. We don't need to see Mary.

May her prayers be a beacon of high wall of protection to us.

Our Blessed Mother, Mary, we Rev. She is the mother of my

Lord. I Revere her, I bless her, I ask

her to intercede for me, I commemorate her, I pray with

her, I ask her to pray with me, Right?

But I don't need to see her. I don't need to see Jesus

Christ. I don't need to see Jesus unless

the Lord is going to deem me the worst sinners of the greatest

sinners that He wants to reveal. Praise and glory be to His name.

And when He does, it's not for my glorification, it's for His

glory, for the salvation of souls.

But I don't need to see Jesus Christ.

Because the minute you see Jesus, because you want to see

him, the minute you want to see a miracle, you ask for a sign

and you believe. Well, you forfeited yourself

from the blessing that Jesus gave.

Blessed are those who do not, who have not seen and yet

believe. And I believe he said that to

the messengers of King Abgar. Blessed are those who have not

seen and yet believe. We don't need to see anything

that is above from our understanding.

Let's not claim a miracle quickly.

This is what these people are doing.

And again, I don't blame them. First decade of Christianity,

but today it's still going on. We got to be very careful.

We have one God and the one Son of Son of God, our Lord Jesus

Christ and the Holy Spirit which we have been entrusted to.

When the Lord ascended, he didn't leave us the Bible.

He didn't leave us a vicar. He left us the Holy Spirit,

beloved. And the Holy Spirit has been

leading the has been empowering the Holy Church of Jesus Christ

for 2025 years to lead it to holy it as to salvation of

souls. For when He returns, praise and

glory be to His name now and at all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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Until next time, God bless you all.