The Birth of a New Religion, Part 4 by Archpriest John Whiteford For Part 1 see: The Pro-Abortion “Orthodox” (The Birth of a New Religion, Part…
Posts tagged as “Ukraine”
OR WAS IT FULFILLED “SHORTLY” IN THE EVENTS OF AD 67 – AD 70?
PART 1 – THE WAR OF ISAIAH 2-4 AND DANIEL 9; 12
Well, here we go again – the 1970’s and early 1980’s TV “prophecy experts” are calling and they want their “Russia,” “Russia,” “Russia” newspaper eschatology back front and center because Russia is invading Ukraine and since Russia kind of sort of sounds like the “Rosh” of the Gog and Magog war in Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 19-20 – there you have it! Even though John tells his first-century audience that Christ’s coming and this war were events that would “shortly” take place or “about to be” fulfilled (Rev. 1:1, 19YLT — 22:7, 10, 20) in the imminent war of the Romans and Jews, the religious con-artists can’t resist running the same scam again!
It is always a challenge to get accurate information during wartime. You can also be sure that an avalanche of propaganda and disinformation are coming in the wake of such events in the world. It is said that propaganda is the most important front in a war. We can look back on conflicts from the beginning of the 20th century until now and see that this method has played a major role in every one of them. War propaganda has existed since ancient times but in the modern era of high-speed mass communication, it plays a bigger part than ever in manipulating civilian populations. Public support is necessary for a successful war effort, and governments throughout history have lied, deceived, and used manipulation tactics to achieve it.
How can we discern false information and propaganda from the truth as we watch events unfold in Ukraine? I will share what I have noticed over many years of studying propaganda in hopes that you’ll be able to spot patterns and understand when you’re being manipulated.
“The Ukrainian and Russian peoples came out of the Dnieper baptismal font, and the war between these peoples is a repetition of the sin of Cain, who, out of envy, killed his own brother”
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Onuphry of All Ukraine.
In the past I have written a number of articles that touch upon ecclesiastical issues in Ukraine, those articles may be found here.
Many are worried now that some “hot war” actions have begun in Ukraine, understandably and rightly so. Yet, speaking first to my Orthodox brethren, most of all I assume in America, I would say, the current issues have spiritual roots. Have we as Orthodox not been at best fairly passive with regard to what has been a type of spiritual fratricide in Ukraine? The spiritual fabric of Orthodoxy has been rent through the actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (EP) in recognizing unrepentant schismatics. As I’ve noted before, for years now violence has been used by these false Christians against the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Met. Onuphry (Many Years!). At best flaccid support has been given by some here to the faithful there, mostly because those in America do not want to rock the boat. The representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America, Archbp. Elpidophoros is an avid supporter of the schismatics in Ukraine. He openly communes and supports them. Yet he remains as head of the “Assembly of Canonical Bishops” in America. How can such a thing be? Few it seems have cared, up until now, that the faithful of Ukraine are being subjected to spiritual violence (which has manifested physically). Few it seems have cared that the EP is in open and full communion with unrepentant schismatics. So spiritual violence has been ravaging Ukraine, and few have said much. We value a nominal “peace” above true peace, for true peace cannot be had in communion with false brethren. Now major physical violence is taking place, but what is worse for the soul, spiritual or material violence?
Before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Russia was a bastion for Orthodox Christian traditionalism. Orthodoxy thrived as the divine unifying force that united the various peoples of the Russian Empire. Towards the end of the empire, elites flirted with Western European ideas which had abandoned God in favor of occultism & humanism. Eventually, the ideals of Liberal Democracy and the “enlightened West” would open the door for the bloody Bolshevik revolution, which dethroned the Tsars, slaughtered faithful Orthodox Clergy & monastics, and suppressed the Orthodox Church as Russia turned towards roughly 70 years of Atheism under the USSR.