” Your reply is very curious, dear Kolokotronis – because instead of receiving the promise as a Spiritual Truth applicable to all of us Christians you have evidently presumed that the promise applies only to me.
Here is the promise again:
Blessed are ye, when [men] shall revile you, and persecute [you], and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great [is] your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. - Matthew 5:11-12”
Curious? Like I said, you are being questioned because of the content of your posts which I believe have a source other than God. Your comments remind me of a convert couple at our parish many years ago who became convinced that any use of the Gregorian calendar by The Church was heretical, not a violation of a disciplinary canon but heresy. When very few people were interested in what they were spouting off about, they sent a mass email to everyone outlining their position and announcing they were leaving for a particularly rigid, almost cult-like group which claims to be Orthodox. When the priest confronted them about their pride, they announced that, “Like
God’s Holy Apostles, we are called to suffer for the Faith.”
They got laughed at. They left and years later came back... minus the pride and are now much cherished members of the community.
Thank you for your reply and for sharing your testimony and concerns!
Really? As we've seen so often, when Alamo-Girl is questioned, she answers with rightly-divided Scripture.
Perhaps the problem lies in whether or not the interrogator has been given ears to hear the answer and a new heart with which to understand the answer.
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." -– Cassius, "Julius Caesar."