O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stones them which are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

The Holy Gospels and the Scriptures are all true and all come true. There was a garden. There was a planet wide flood[1]. There was a Jonah and a big fish and he was in the belly of that fish for three days. Moses did all the things written in the book, and he taught the truth, not cleverly posed fables.

That may seem ridiculous to modern “scientific” people, but there is plenty of evidence of the truth of the things of Scripture if one seeks. If one truly rigorously seeks, one will in fact find. Jesus promised, and He keeps His promises, even to the most wicked of sinners of whom this author is chief.

Jesus said the Church would be divided. He said how it would be divided. He also indicated how it would come together. It is very sad that people do not believe the Holy Scriptures. It is very sad that modern clergy believe in “science” and all the lying wonders of the world.

The divisions of Christianity which have occurred, follow a pattern of three against two, two against three as Jesus taught:

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, No; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in- law against her daughter in law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And He said also to the people, When you see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway you say, There comes a shower; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, There will be heat; and it comes to pass. You hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that you do not discern this time?[3]

These divisions occurred in the Holy Scriptures both Old and New Testament. The men against their fathers were the twice named. For example, Abram who became Abraham was against his father who did not enter the land, Terra. Jacob, who became Israel, took the inheritance by stealth from his father Isaac. Simon-Peter, son of Jonah like the biblical Jonah, would go to a city he despised and call it to repent. In that way Simon-Peter, crucified upside down, was not against his earthly father but rather in being called Rock and having taken Christ and wrested with Him, actually became a man against his spiritual Father – the model of the Prodigal Church. Saul-Paul left his pharisaical fathers for true faith. 

The divisions of Christianity are readily apparent in the Holy Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles. This is one of the great proofs of the truth of the testimony of the Holy Apostles who will one day judge us as part of twelve tribes. They are far above us, and we should not imagine them as less than us nor should we see ourselves above them, yet in their humility they put themselves in as poor a light as possible.

How could they have put themselves in a lesser light in the Scriptures? They argued which one of them was the greatest![4] And they knew Jesus knew what they were thinking. Can you imagine employees arguing who would be first with the boss/owner around? Or even who would take over the bosses’ business when he died? They knew Jesus read minds and knew hearts and was truly the Son of the Living God! This condition of paranoia and egoism infects all – even Saints.

There is perhaps no greater confession of sin than that which the disciples make of themselves in the Holy Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles. Truly they told the blunt ugly truth. Do we imagine we are less delusional? Do we imagine we are in some way more knowledgeable or called or informed? They showed us their human failings precisely so we, who admire them and follow them, would come to see our own.

The Apostles were divided and yet united in love. They argued vigorously like brothers yet were still bound in love as brothers. Their honesty proves the truth of their testimony, and divisions were among them even as they walked with Christ. It is essential however, that one understand that the divisions today reflect real heresies[5] that must be overcome to have any sort of real theological unity. Otherwise all we could do is nothing! For if we are in error, if we hold heresy, we cannot be fully united in Christ.

The major divisions in Christianity correspond to a psalm useful to understand the Icon of the Incarnation of the Logos. These major divisions occur on specific lines as Christ Himself is the Division and divider in love and truth to foster love and truth, and with His Incarnation the divisions become manifest and apparent to heal our diseases as a skilled surgeon uses a scalpel:

His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count, when He writes up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.[6]

Let us now look at the Holy Icon of the Incarnation of the Logos, and view it in terms of the Psalm:

Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

“His foundation is in the holy mountains.”  The earth offered our Lord and Savior a cave. There was no room in the Inn, and the manger was actually a cave where they laid Him. And we are as the Earth, dead, a cave of sin and muck and He comes into us just as He came into Egypt and into a cave.

The Holy Mountains pertains to the raised steps leading to the Altar in the Church. The Orthodox Church altar replicates exactly what Zechariah foresaw[7]:

And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, And said to me, What do you see? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:

[This is the menorah, the seven candles on the Altar of Orthodox Churches]

And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

[There are two Exapteriga or rapidia. They are fans which represent the six winged Seraphim according to Isaiah’s vision of the throne of God. They appear beside the tabernacle on the altar and are at the end  of staffs so they look like trees.]

 So I answered and spoke to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said to me, Know thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me to you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

Then answered I, and said to him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said to him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

And he answered me and said, Know thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.

Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.

[The liturgical movements and the Ezekiel’s wheel will be later explained in detail speaking of this roll.]

The foundation therefore is in the Holy Mountain. It is to the mountains where we lift up our eyes to receive our help, even from the lord.[8] We receive the living God into the cave of our bodies and are born there in Zion with Him, in Him, in the unity of faith.

“The Lord loves the gates of Zion, more than the dwelling places of Jacob, glorious things of thee are spoken oh City of God” Jacob is before the consummation of Israel. Jacob precedes Zion and these dwelling places are the nations. The gates of Zion are the twelve tribal entrances by which a person comes to receive the Lord in his own gates. Entering into the believer by the Scriptures that make us clean in hearing and doing, by the organic Real Presence in receiving the Lord, and by the presence of the Holy Spirit to listen to the Lord and do His will, so that any actions or good comes from God through us and are not of ourselves, glorious things of God are spoken in the person who receives and does the works of the Lord, like God. But we are ourselves nothing but dead matter without Him who is Life.

The Icon of the Incarnation of the Logos shows the cave wherein in each believer God seeks to dwell. Against Christ in-dwelling, the devil seeks rational entrance by tempting Joseph who represents the believer’s type who receives by faith. The gaze of the Mother of God towards Joseph indicates the prayer of the Righteous that avails much.

“I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know me, behold Oh Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia, this man was born there.”

In the nations are born the Herod of Paranoia[9]. These are the improper divisions that are exploited through and in the proper divisions that follow along the same lines. For what Christ divides is to draw one to love. What the devil divides is to draw one to judgment of the other. Love heals the wounds while judgment seals the wounds and severs in schism.

Rahab is the woman pouring water into the bowl, and she is Protestant – like Egyptian Rahab, constantly divided by the Lord. There were plenty of Protestants throughout Church history well before the “reformation.” People held contrarian and heretical views and went to establish “churches.” And while that sounds like a dark condemnation, there is a huge silver lining. The water poured is the Holy Scriptures and it was the Holy Scriptures that drew the Protestant away from the Catholic and Apostolic fold as ‘other sheep not of the pasture.’ Jesus knows how to save souls;

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.[10]

Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.[11]

And

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken to you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.

Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.

These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.

These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they know not Him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

He that hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this comes to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of me:

And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.[12]

Now please be clear, I would not recommend anyone become a Protestant but rather to follow exactly the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Faith. One should not form opinions (heresies) on ones’ own, and once in the Church and abiding in the fulness of truth of the Gospels including admonitions against disobeying authority, one should stay where one is.

There are differences of opinion within the Church and sharp disagreements exist within the framework of Orthodoxy. Many times those who lead people out of the Church are themselves damned. But Saints within the Orthodox Church condemned Saint John Chrysostom! There is no one more Orthodox than he. And people also condemned Saint Maximos the Confessor, and at that time and I dare say since, there was no more Orthodox than he.

The present author believes in the truth of the Holy Orthodox Church because of Holy Scripture, because he has read Saints, and because being logical and protestant in approach, that is to say loving Scripture, the most ravenous and sinful person has found the true faith which is Orthodox. Still, one loves the Protestant method because the Protestant method leads one away from Protestant constant division and intrinsic error.

Babylon is the woman holding Jesus being bathed, for spiritual Babylon, the western Roman Catholics of the seven hilled city, hold the inheritance whom they have taken. As foretold the stone of Herod’s temple was actually carted off to Rome with the Jewish prisons[13]. As marble it adorned the façade of the Colosseum. After being splattered with martyr’s blood, it was placed on the Churches of Rome.

Orthodox Christians will perhaps chaff at the present author for speaking well of western Catholics in that, and this will later be shown, they have all the earmarks of the prodigal son that went into the world with the inheritance, Christ Himself, just as Peter wrested with Christ and Jacob wrestled with God. Rahab and Babylon are together – West. He makes mention of them who know Christ, and who know Christ as Protestant and Catholic as the present author has known Him.

One knows Him where one encounters Him. One encounters Him in the Holy Scriptures, and one encounters Him even in the western Eucharist. Orthodox Christians can dismiss such an admission, but how do they know Him? If you know Him one place, and know Him another place, it is still the same One you know. Now certainly there are many Orthodox who will say the present author is delusional, but where have they been? What is their experience? What is their confession? How do they dress? Who butters their bread? The present author makes nothing from religion – never has – likely never will except to find Christ.

The present author may be dismissed by the Protestants for not being Protestant. And he will be dismissed by many western Catholics for not remaining Catholic or proclaiming western Catholicism as the Way the Truth and the Life. And he will be discarded by many Orthodox for saying that he has seen Christ both in the Catholic and the Protestant. What a sweet spot – crucifixion.

And the Orthodox will say that Ecumenism is the heresy of heresies, but might be surprised that the present author vigorously agrees that the Ecumenism as has been proposed in the 20^th century is a horrible path.

And Orthodox will rightly say there is no salvation outside of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and might be surprised to find the present author heartily agrees. As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Without Christ we cannot come to the Father who is Love. For in Christ is love revealed. Yet where one sees love manifest, one sees the work of the Father who is Love. And where the Father is also is the Son. Seeing true love, sacrificial love in the west one knows Christ is there and He brings His sheep who hear His voice, and there is no salvation outside of the Catholic God-man, Jesus Christ. Where Jesus Christ is, there is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and where He is not is elsewhere.

The safe boundary is to refrain from judgment where one doesn’t see Him. One witnesses to what one sees, not to what one fails to see. If one fails to see that is of them, not of the other whom they do not see.

The West are two, and the East are three and the wise men who came late to see the Lord Incarnate. They are pictured on horseback as though riding to war. And in the history of the Church, it was the West in the first thousand years that maintained strict Orthodoxy while the East went on a rather wild journey. The three wise men went through Herod, through the paranoid national head before returning another way.[14] Anyone who has lived near government or capitols knows that is where paranoia lurks.

Notice in the Icon the three wisemen on horseback, on their way to the manger following a star. Yet as they peer towards the star they are surrounded by rocky outcrops. There is a shadow cast by the figure of Satan who is seen speaking to Joseph. The shadow of Satan, the prince of the air is paranoia, it is what infests Herod and the Herodian mindset.

Jesus makes this clear and Saint Luke the Physician shows the paranoia of the division by recalling:

But, behold, the hand of him that betrays me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goes, as it was determined: but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!

And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

Paranoia leads to grandiosity. It leads to those who are in charge actually believing they are in of themselves great. Do you imagine that you would do better than the disciples? It is Paranoia that improperly divides the East from the West, and this will be better explained later. But specifically with respect to the wise men from the East, there are two together with a third. Behold Oh Phylistia and Tyre with Ethiopia.

Phylistia and Tyre represent the Eastern Orthodox Church that has two major aspects; Greek Phylistia and Slavonic/Arabic Tyre. The Greek Alexander the Great, at one time blessed by the Hebrew high Priest, built a bridge to conquer Tyre. The truth of Holy Orthodoxy as the Greeks proclaimed it, conquered and converted the peoples of the Middle East as well as the Slavs.

Ethiopia represents the Oriental Churches which were divided by the Monophysite heresy that will soon be explained in terms of the Holy Gospels. The non-Chalcedonian Churches, along with the Eastern Orthodox, are those who are Oriented to Christ as truly and actually present in the Holy Eucharist and Synods with the Holy Spirit, requiring no vicarious temporal authority as in the West. In the West the temporal authorities are the Papacy for the Catholics, and Scripture for the Protestants. The Eastern conservative appearing three are not temporally bound, but rather are in Communion in time, while the Western have taken the inheritance to a far country, even the world, and so look at Ecclesiology from a temporal perspective they tend to see Jesus and the Saints as past, rather than ever present.

“And out of Zion this one and that one were born in her, and the Most High Himself shall establish her…” This is shown in the Icon “The Sign” where the Divine NAME appears in mostly Eastern Orthodox Churches, so that the Most High Himself establishes the Mother of God. In Zion this one and that one were born in her, which is to say that Zion is the Catholic unity of all in true Christ born in her, that is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

“The Lord shall record when He registers the peoples, this one was born in her.” While Caesar had his census[15], Christ has His census and He registers who will be in the book of Life and who was born in her, which is to say Zion the city of our God. This one and that one, East and West are born in her, and the Lord shall record those who are born in her apart from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, that they are registered in the consummation of Zion.

“Both the singers and players on instruments will say, all our springs are in thee.” This refers to the two types of shepherds pictured in the Icon. There are those disciples who pray and sing to the Lord a new song in deep self-emptying; “we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.”[16] These who sing are as the Greeks, the singing language, and those who come to Christ through and in repentance, in self-emptying, prayer and fasting being the way of the East. The players on instruments are those who come to Christ through works; “We have piped to you, and you have not danced”²². Works are joyful in Christ, and these are players on the instruments of 10 strings as the Catholic West in the Holy Rosary and for Protestants who keep the 10 commandments. The dancing is the joy in prayer and charity, the fulness of conversion being in prayer, fasting and charity even as theology is manifest in faith, hope and love.

John the Baptist comes in the Holy Spirit, the emphasis of the East in the authority of Holy Ecumenical Councils that are born of the Holy Spirit. Jesus comes Himself in His authority and is wrested by the West in their taking of the inheritance to their prodigal and temporal journey.

But before discussing that, having summarized the apparent divisions, let us look at how the Ethiopians were divided as Monophysites and perhaps recently re-united as Miaphysites, and how this was exactly foretold by Holy Scripture in the Gospel of Saint Mark. Saint John-Mark is associated with the See of Alexandria, and he was accused by Saint Paul of putting off the work, so that how he is divided and united is fascinating.  

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[1] There is an amazing amount of evidence for a world wide deluge. And for that deluge to have occurred only a few thousand years ago. The lies people were taught by the lawyer Charles Lyell and Darwin are off scale.

[2] Nuclear Engineering requires skepticism and knowledge of the limitations of science which are huge. The study of these limits are essential for safety. The present author automated nuclear reactor core safety analysis and design US 6,243,860 and understands that it is essential to study the limits of science to safely apply it.

[3] Luke 12:51-56

[4] Luke 9:46-50, 22:22-40

[5] A heresy is a belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine.

[6] Psalm 86/87

[7] Zech chapter 4

[8] Psalm 120/121 which describes the Holy Mountain within the Orthodox Church, while Psalm 121/122 describes the appearance of the Iconostas with the thrones on the left of the royal doors of the Theotokos and throne on the right of the doors where Jesus sits in judgment. For the oaths are given to the bridegroom on the right as with the Baptist (Zech 5) and the laity appeal as good thieves in forgiveness to the left to the Mother of God.

[9] Luke 22:21-27, the definitive study of Paranoia from evil suspicion to grandiosity to its cure in Christ’s service.

[10] Jesus is the One Shepherd – not the Pope, or Patriarchs or Bishops or Councils – Jesus Christ is Lord

[11] ‘Away with the Judaizers’ – those who insist on following the law of Moses, the law they control having long flowing robes, the first place in the feasts and who love being called “father”, “master” and “Rabbi.” Matt. Ch 23

[12] John Ch 15

[13] In 70 AD Roman forces overwhelmed the defenders and set fire to the Temple in Jerusalem. They enslaved the entire population. This was as the Lord Foretold, for the Holy Gospels truly record His actual words.

[14] Matthew Ch 2

[15] Luke 2:1-15

[16] Luke 7:32, 7:31-35 “And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say, He has a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children.”