Episode 95: Forgiveness of Sins

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. Nowadays, forgiveness of sins is

at times seen to be understood, perceived and proclaimed in many

different ways, and the one most disappointing yet factual reason

for the various views on this topic is that there are more

than 45,000 denominations of. Christianity worldwide did.

That knock you off your chair. That's the truth. 45,000

denominations of. Christianity worldwide all.

Claiming that the Holy Spirit is.

Revealing to them. And the Holy Spirit is working

through them. Now these denominations are

divided into 6 main groups, that is Eastern and Western theology,

the Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodoxy, the Eastern

Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and

Restorationism. Now the understanding the

mystery of the forgiveness of sins is understood to be common

and equal amongst two of the six groups, namely Orthodoxy and

Catholicism, that is, the Apostolic denominations.

But let's take a look at the Holy Scriptures and ascertain

who alone can forgive sins. I can already hear, I can feel,

I can sense the answer and the obviously remarks that who is

able to forgive sins except God alone.

You know that's what some of the Pharisees and scribes thought in

their hearts and in their minds in Mark chapter 2 verse seven,

Mark 2 · chapter mention

when Jesus said to the paralytic who was lowered from the rooftop

by his friends, he said, my son, your sins are forgiven.

You see, they should have listened to what he said and

not, you know, be poised and ready to argue and to attack my

son. You know, they turn around and

say who can forgive sins except God?

But they didn't pay any attention or take notice that

Jesus is calling this paralytic boy son.

Notice he says my son, but hang on, he is not the Father.

Jesus is not the Father, is he? And also in Daniel Chapter 9

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

verse nine, we read that mercies and forgiveness of sins are of

the Lord God, for we have rebelled against Him.

That is God the Father. So what is Jesus doing?

Forgiving sins? Rightly so beloved, rightly so.

Praise me to His name, because He is the Lord God who came down

from heaven and was Incarnate, that is taking on our flesh of

the Holy Spirit. He, God the Son, possessed the

same Omni characteristics as did God the Father.

By the power of God the Holy Spirit, He knew what was in man.

The scriptures say Jesus knew what was in man, that is in the

mind, the heart and the thoughts of man.

Hence He did not entrust Himself to any man because He knew all

men. Listen to this.

These words have not been said to any other person on earth.

Jesus Christ is the only true Son of God, the Messiah, He is

God. The scriptures tell us that He

did not entrust himself to any man because he knew all men and

he did not need a man to testify to him about anyone, for He

Himself knew what was in a man. John chapter 2, verse 24 to 25.

John 2:24–25

This is the Gospel reading for the sacrament of baptism.

Jesus had power over nature because He created nature.

Luke chapter 8 verse 24 rebuked the wind and the waves of the

Luke 8:24

Seas. He rebuked them and they were

still. Why?

Because everything was in His hand and without Him not even

one thing existed of the things that existed.

John chapter one verse 3 He will judge beloved, He will judge.

According to Matthew 25, He will judge the world.

He will judge mankind according to their deeds, whether good or

evil. You see in ecclesiastics chapter

3 verse 17, the righteous and the wicked God judges.

And in Matthew chapter 25 we read that Jesus will judge.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

He is God praise His name in Isaiah chapter 3333 verse 22,

because the Lord God is the judge.

So Jesus Christ being the Lord in the Aramaic language, Maria,

Lord God, Jesus Christ is Lord God the God praise his name.

You see, he that is Jesus may not be who the Father is.

Jesus is not the Father, the Son is not the Father, but He most

certainly and assuredly is what the Father is, and that is God

by nature, and we become divine through Him by grace.

He is our Lord, our King, our Savior, our life Giver, and the

forgiver of our sins. Now this Jesus, praise be to His

name, the Forgiver of sins, is no longer with us, is He?

He's no longer with us on earth, right?

So how do we receive this gracious and merciful act of

forgiveness of sins? How, where, through whom?

By whom? Jesus may have left us

physically, but He has left us His gracious gifts and

provisions readily available with His apostles within the

Apostolic Church. Let us not forget that on the

eve of the day of His resurrection, beloved, He

visited his disciples in the upper room where the doors and

the windows were closed, and he entered through the walls and

gave them the Peace of Mind. When He said peace be with you,

He gave them a Peace of Mind and heart.

But look at what He did next. He breathed on them the Holy

Spirit, not in its fullness, no. Not the Spirit in His fullness,

no, though He said something interesting and encouraging to

His disciples. In John chapter 20, verse 23,

John 20:23

we're talking about forgiveness of sins.

If you, O disciples and apostles, will forgive a man's

sins, they will be forgiven him. And if you hold a man's sins,

they will be held. You know, this coincides,

coincides with what he said previously in verse 21.

Again, peace be with you. Just as my Father has sent me, I

also, with the same exact power and authority and intention and

plan, am sending you. The Father sent me for the

forgiveness of sins. I have the same authority as the

Father, because I am God by my nature.

I now send you, O Apostles, who will be the foundation of the

Church. According to Saint Paul's letter

to the Thessalonians, we have been built upon the foundations

of the apostles. You will do the exact same work,

plan, signs, powers as I have. So forgiveness of sins began

with God, was fulfilled through Jesus Christ, and continues in

the one Holy Apostolic Catholic with a lowercase C denoting then

universal character of the Church, not denoting the Roman

Catholic Church, no one holy Apostolic universal church.

So what is the process of the forgiveness of sins?

Again, let's have a look at the Prodigal Son as an example, as a

model #1 finding one's self in life and in particular in

relation with God, admitting to sins and transgressions which

have been committed through foolishness and frailty and evil

desires, admission, repentance. That means to return to the

Father, to come back to the Father, to come back to the

care, the authority, the will, the plans, the most importantly

calling of the Father, which is to holiness and sanctity, which

we all have been called to confessing of one's sins and

transgressions to the Church through her priesthood, which is

the reflector of the light of the world that is Jesus Christ.

Now I can hear, I can hear, I can feel again.

Why do I need to confess to man when I have Jesus Christ?

I can go straight to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, Amen. Amen to that.

Did you notice I didn't say confessed to men, but rather to

the priesthood, the light of Jesus Christ, to the world, the

authority, the office of the priesthood.

After all, beloved St. James encourages us in chapter 5

verse 16, two, be confessing your offenses or sins to one

another and pray one for another to be healed.

So why don't we pose the same questions to Saint James?

St. James, why do I need to confess

my sins to another person? I have the Lord Jesus Christ and

he goes on to say that through prayers, sins may be forgiven.

Now again, you may be saying, see we don't need a specific

priest. Let me read the previous verses,

beloved James chapter 5 verses 13 to 16.

James 5:13–16

And if any of you is suffering, let him pray, and if rejoicing,

let him sing songs. And if one is ill physically or

spiritually, let him call the elders, today known as the

presbyters or the priest. The priest is not a bad word.

Priest is not a dirty word, right?

Call the elders or the presbyters or the priest of the

church and let them pray over him and anoint him with the oil

in the name of our Lord. And the prayer of faith heals

the one who is ill this healing, and our Lord raises him up.

And if sins were done, listen to this.

If sins were done by him, they are forgiven him because John

John 20:23

chapter 20 verse 23, if you forgive the sins of men, they

are forgiven and if you don't they are not forgiven through

Jesus Christ, not by the priest, but by the power vested in the

priest through Jesus Christ. Jesus forgives sins, they are

forgiven him, but he can be confessing your offenses 1 to

another and pray one for another to be healed, not forgiveness to

be healed. For the power of the prayer

which a righteous person prays is great.

One of the Church Fathers comments on this and take heed,

Shilia O Shlao, stop everything, stop the cooking, stop the

cleaning, stop the vacuuming, pull over to one side.

Very important, he comments. We must use our common sense,

which is not common obviously, in applying this commandment.

As far as a small everyday sins are concerned, we ought to admit

them to one another and believe that we are saved from them by

praying for each other. But if we have sinned in a more

serious way, adultery, fornication, homosexuality,

abortion, denouncing Jesus Christ, murder, then we ought to

follow the principles of showing our leprosy to the priest and do

penance for it as much and for as long as he thinks is right.

Why? Why is the Church Father

commenting? Because he is going back to his

reference to Christ's precious and and gracious gift of

forgiveness, John chapter 20 verse 23 to his disciples.

John 20:23

So we must keep in mind, beloved, forgiveness of sins

didn't come at the click of a hand and instantaneous.

It took for one innocent, holy, perfect man to be hanging on the

cross crying out. Father, forgive them for they do

not know what they are doing. We too must be mourning in

sorrow, remorse and deprivation when we ask, Father, forgive me

for what I for I have sinned, when we cry out, Lord, absolve

the sins and transgressions of your servant, when we beseech

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a Sinner.

We must be bold and courageous, yet in humility to admit and

confess our sins. We must be willing with a

contrite spirit, to confess our sins to the renowned physicians.

Let me quote to you and share with you one of the prayers that

the priest recites during the preparation of the host, the

Qurbana while he is cooking the bread.

And bear with me because in my mind I'm singing it in Aramaic

and trying to translate it in English.

Let me say it in an in Aramaic. Samadatyahwutayawa Maran.

The message the the medicine of repentance the Lord gave

Shamasha Alan will be singing this along with me.

Samadatyahwutayawa Maran El Asawata Mahira he gave to the

renowned physicians the Tehun Kahnet Ayeta, who are the priest

of the Church. Aina dum hai satana prepared

Ola. He who has been stricken by the

wounds of Satan, let him come and show his wounds.

That is repentance, that is confession to the wise

physicians, which are the priest, and they will give him

the spiritual medicine, Samaru Haniah, which is the Holy

Eucharist. See, forgiveness again, beloved,

is not at the click of the finger.

Lord God, I've seen forgive me. It's not repeating a prayer.

Let me tell you a little bit about the the liturgy, the

Divine Liturgy of Absolution that the faithful can request

that the Church will provide. And think about this.

I think we've spoken about it, but just a refresher, if you

feel that you want to be absolved according to the

liturgy, the tradition and the commands of the Church, you need

to consult your spiritual counselor, your priest, and

confess. Yes, don't be shy.

You know, if Saint James is telling you that you can confess

your sins to your BBF, is it BBF or BFF?

Steven? BBF, BFF.

See getting old to your BFF, your bestest, bestest friend to

a childhood friend, How much more to your spiritual father

who's your priest, and confess. And the priest will go to the

grave with that confession, must go to the grave with that

confession. And if the priest takes

advantage of that confession, then he will go to the grave and

face his Maker and has to be held accountable.

And the priest will then, according to what the Father was

commenting on, James chapter 5, verses 13 to 16 will then

James 5:13–16

examine and he will then prescribe that medicine, that

that treatment, usually it's fasting, refraining from

partaking in the Holy Eucharist and continuing to read your

scriptures, reading the lives of the holy Saints and consulting

with you continuously to that day, that point where the priest

will feel comfortable along with you that you are ready to

receive them up the absolution. And you will have to come to the

priest, to the altar at the altar of Christ, and kneel with

your hands crossed on your chest.

It denounced death. You know, people who die, their

hands are folded against their chest.

And the Deacon will be standing behind you, and the priest will

be standing in front of you by the power vested in the priest

through Jesus Christ, not man Jesus Christ.

The liturgy will be said over you, beseeching the Lord that

you get forgave the Republicans, you forgave the sinners, the

prostitutes, the harlest, the extortionists, the sinners, the

Republicans, the Zacchaeus. So to have mercy on this soul, O

Lord Jesus Christ, while at at that time you are beating your

chest and constantly crying out, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,

have mercy on me. And when that is concluded, you

stand up, the priest will kiss you on your forehead and he will

say your sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ.

And then he will remit or he will commune you.

He will, he will have you partake in the holy body and

blood of Christ, the Holy Eucharist.

Qurbana, Qadisha, don't be afraid if you haven't heard

this. You know when I say, when I

speak about the, the literature of the absolution, people say

I've never heard this. Well, it is, it's in the, it's

in the liturgical books. We do have that.

We have it in English and we have it in Syrian as well.

So contemplate and think about it.

Forgiveness of sins, beloved, didn't come at the click of the

finger. Instantaneous.

There was one holy sinless man hanging on the cross with his

blood being shed. Cried out Father, forgive them,

for they do not know what they are doing.

And this is what we need to cry out to the Lord while being

absolved by the authority of the Church, which is the priesthood

of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise and glory between 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.