by Fr. Dmitri, New Zealand

The Great Tribulation - 3

Saturday 27 June 2009 (20 Paoni; 20 Baona)
Elisha the Prophet.

Do you not see that your bodies are members of Christ.
(1 Cor.7:15)

One who is in love flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free, not bound.
(Imitation of Christ)

There is no impossible in the life with God. There is hope
whatever the sin is, whatever the troubles are and how
difficult the case.
(Pope Shenouda III)

Grace does not act in the scattered minds and the disturbed
hearts, but rather seeks the sober and calm spirit, the meek
and serious heart.
(Mystery of Godliness)

Paradise rejoiced at the coming of The Lamb, The Word, The
Son of the Everlasting Father, who came and redeemed us from our sins.
(The Holy Psalmody)

I have never gone to sleep with a grievance against anyone, and,
as far as I could, I have never let anyone go to sleep with a
grievance against me.
(Abba Agathon)

REFLECTION:

All of us are united with Christ inasmuch as we have received Him Who is one and indivisible in our bodies.
Therefore, we owe the service of our members to Him rather than to ourselves.

Almighty God, help us to put all our faculties at the disposal of
Christ so as to be His link with others and with the world.
Let us give ourselves wholly to Him every day.
(Cyril of Alexandria)

HOMILY:

THE GREAT TRIBULATION: (Part 3)

Out of the chaos two strange men will arise. The identity of them is not known, some say Elijah and Moses. They will be powerful, more powerful in a way, than Jesus was during His life on earth. Like Jesus they will work miracles. But these will not be benevolent miracles of healing and deliverance. These will be miracles of wrath. They may bring down a drought on earth that will last the entire duration of their ministry.

They may also strike the earth, where ever and whenever they wish with plagues like those of Egypt. And if anyone tries to harm them- and some people will - they will breath fire like dragons and kill them.

And they preach a message. It will be final, stern call to repentance. They will principally target the Christians who weren't ready and the unsaved Jews. For the human race, their ministry will be the last chance in this world for salvation and repentance. We know this from Revelation 10:7. The phrase "the mystery of God.. as He declared it.." refer to Salvation, not the end of the Tribulation. We know this from the Greek word translated 'declared'. It is 'euaggelion'. This happens to be the word from which we get our word "evangelism". The phrase would be more completely translated "declared it's good news". The passage says that the mystery would be 'finished', i.e. completed, when the seventh trumpet sounds.

The seventh trumpet will sound right after the deaths of the Two Witnesses (Rev.11:15).

When they are gone, all chance of salvation is over. After that, it will be nothing but wrath. Some people will say that this is in the distant future, no worry to us. How wrong they are. We are in the Last Days and this could be just around the corner, so WAKE UP repent and be prepared.

Some time after the Two Witnesses begin their ministry, two other strange men will rise to power somewhere in the world. These are the men that the Book of Revelation calls the Two Beasts, the King and the False Prophet. They cannot rise to power at the same time as the Witnesses, because both the Witnesses and the Beasts are active for Three and a half year periods.. The two periods overlap as the first Beast (who has the power) kills the Two Witnesses.

The first beast, again is a King, though more likely describe him as a Military Dictator based in possibly in Germany more vicious and powerful than Hitler was and will instigate yet another Holocaust, possibly the Anti-Christ as he will blaspheme the Most High God. The second beast is the False Prophet. He can make fire come down from Heaven his power base is Satan and it is he that makes the people take the dreaded Mark of the Beast,666. The Two Beasts apparently rise to power with the support of something called 'Mystery Babylon' or the 'Great Harlot'. In Rev.17:9 it tells us that Mystery Babylon sits on seven hills and this sounds like a reference to Rome. There is however another city that is surrounded by seven hills and that is Mecca, so the False Prophet could be a Pope or an Iman. Revelation however speaks of the Great False Church so that could rule out an Iman.

After the first Beast kills the the Two Witnesses, they rise from the dead and ascend to Heaven, they will be a local earthquake in Jerusalem that kills 7000 people. After that, there may be another brief period of respite. Then one day people will notice that the sun seems to be getting hotter. Isaiah 30:26 tells us about the Sun will increase in its energy. Scientists will call it a 'helium flash' in the Sun. For the people who go through it, it will be the worst part of the Tribulation, physically. But it is likely that all Christians and anyone else who has not taken the Mark of the Beast will be supernaturally protected. So another reason to Repent and seek God's Protection.. This is the part of the Tribulation that will effect all those left on the earth. People however will survive because the evaporated water will form a Blanket of Water Vapor around the earth which will absorb and reflect much of the heat.

When the 'helium flash' ends, the cloud blanket will mostly collapse, in the greatest thunderstorm of all time. This will also trigger a global earthquake, brought on by the Tectonic stresses on the earth's crust produced by the melting of ice and the evaporation of water. But when it is over, for most of the world, the worst of the Tribulation will be over.

There will come a falling out between the people and the Beasts that they had been serving and we get to the phase of Babylon the Great has fallen. (To be Continued - Next Part)

Today's Readings:

Evening: Psalm 104:14-15; Gospel Luke 11:37-51.
Morning: Psalm 104:26,27 &45; Gospel Matt.17:1-9.
Liturgy: Heb.11:17-27; 2 Peter 1:19-2:8; Acts 15:21-29;
Psalm 98:6-7; Gospel Matt.23:13-36.