rekindling one's marriage

Saturday, December 31, 2011

A Jolly Little Song To Help Cheer Everybody Up For The Holidays !




( You may wish to turn up the volume on your computer ).


Happy New Year, Everyone!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

King Herod Slew 14,000 Babes Once And Is Called 'Inhuman'...

...while pro-choice policies responsible for millions of abortions each year are labeled as 'humanism'...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christ Is Born In The Filthy Stables Of Our Sinful Hearts



When I was in jail I fell very, very ill.

At my right hand was a priest by the name of Iscu. He was abbot of a monastery. This man, perhaps in his forties, had been so tortured he was near to death. But his face was serene. He spoke about his hope of heaven, about his love of Christ, about his faith. He radiated joy.

On my left side was the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest almost to death. He had been arrested by his own comrades. Don’t believe the newspapers when they say that the Communists only hate Christians or Jews—it’s not true. They simply hate. They hate everybody. They hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate anti-Semites, they hate anti-Christians, they hate everybody. One Communist hates the other Communist. They quarrel among themselves, and when they quarrel one Communist with the other, they put the other one in jail and torture him just like a Christian, and they beat him.

And so it happened that the Communist torturer who had tortured this priest nearly to death had been tortured nearly to death by his comrades. And he was dying near me. His soul was in agony.

During the night he would awaken me, saying, “Pastor, please pray for me. I can’t die, I have committed such terrible crimes.”

Then I saw a miracle. I saw the agonized priest calling two other prisoners. And leaning on their shoulders, slowly, slowly he walked past my bed, sat on the bedside of this murderer, and caressed his head—I will never forget this gesture. I watched a murdered man caressing his murderer! That is love—he found a caress for him.

The priest said to the man, “You are young; you did not know what you were doing. I love you with all my heart.” But he did not just say the words. You can say “love,” and it’s just a word of four letters. But he really loved. “I love you with all my heart.”

Then he went on, “If I who am a sinner can love you so much, imagine Christ, who is Love Incarnate, how much He loves you! And all the Christians whom you have tortured, know that they forgive you, they love you, and Christ loves you. He wishes you to be saved much more than you wish to be saved. You wonder if your sins can be forgiven. He wishes to forgive your sins more than you wish your sins to be forgiven. He desires for you to be with Him in heaven much more than you wish to be in heaven with Him. He is Love. You only need to turn to Him and repent.”

In this prison cell in which there was no possibility of privacy, I overheard the confession of the murderer to the murdered. Life is more thrilling than a novel—no novelist has ever written such a thing. The murdered—near to death—received the confession of the murderer. The murdered gave absolution to his murderer.

They prayed together, embraced each other, and the priest went back to his bed. Both men died that same night. It was a Christmas Eve. But it was not a Christmas Eve in which we simply remembered that two thousand years ago Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It was a Christmas Eve during which Jesus was born in the heart of a Communist murderer.

These are things which I have seen with my own eyes.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, With My Own Eyes

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Saturday, December 24, 2011

A Heart-Warming Christmas Post


And it happed this Night that all the sodomites that did sin against nature were dead and extinct: for God hated so much this sin, that He might not suffer that human nature, which He had taken, were delivered to so great shame; whereof Saint Austin said that it lacked but little that God would not become man for that sin.

Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legend,
On the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ

Friday, December 23, 2011

Desperate Orthodox Housewives: On The Unspeakable Ordeal Of Having A Pious Orthodox Christian For A Husband




( You may wish to turn up the volume on your computer ).

More information on this topic can be found here.


Every Orthodox Housewife's Holiday Nightmare...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Where Our Strength Comes From




( You may wish to turn up the volume on your computer ).

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Brief And Pious Advice Now That Fasting Is Drawing To An End




( You may wish to turn up the volume on your computer ).

Monday, December 19, 2011

Saint Peter on Ascetic Struggles

2 Peter 2:19 For by whom a man is overcome, by the same is he also brought in bondage.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Sometimes I Just Don't Know What's Worse...


The fact that I am going to Hell, or the fact that I haven't yet been able to stop anyone from joining me there...

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Virtue Is Fleeting, But Vice Is Forever !




( You may wish to turn up the volume on your computer ).

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

True Abolitionism


Dispassion.

Shattering the chains of passions, and being freed from under the bondage of sin.

The State of Virginia: A Staunch Supporter of Ascetic Struggles Since 1776 AD !



Romans 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if through the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Colossians 3:5  ¶Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

1 Corinthians 9:26  So fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27  But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

On Slavery


Slaves of sin and prisoners of passions,
devoured by desire, lashed by lust, tormented by temptation, and tortured by insatiable cravings:


Prayer of Manasses 1:10

I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot lift up my head, nor have I any release.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Ascesis: The American Thing To Do ! (As I'm Sure Thomas Jefferson Would Agree...)



I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man...
Thomas Jefferson

Goethe on the Necessity of Ascetic Struggle




Have you been set free from under the tyranny of sins and passions ?

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Romans 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Romans 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

What Consumes Us ?

Our zeal for Christ and His Gospel, or the lusts of our flesh ?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Fires Of Hell Are The Flames Of Passions...


...which burn unextinguished in the hearts of sinners, ceaselessly consuming and devouring their souls, without ever being even remotely stilled or quenched...

Your Best Life NOW !




Galatians 5:24

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A Thoughtful And Pertinent Observation From My Reader(s) About The Subtle Irony Of Me Posting Articles On Abstinence




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A Bit of Constructive Criticism and Positive Feedback are Always Appreciated...