Lech Walesa and Solidarity in Poland

Judgement Day

The talk by St Ephrem (4th century desert hermit)

...St. Gregory of Nyssa asserts that it was impossible to read his sermon on the Last Judgment, and still more so to hear it, without tears. My dear brethren; he said, you are listening to the words which I am going to speak concerning the fearful coming of the Lord. But who can relate such terrible things ? If I think of that dreadful moment I am entranced with fear. The King of kings will descend from heaven, from the throne of glory, to take His seat  as Judge, and will call all the inhabitants of earth before His judgment-seat. Alas ! a clap of thunder makes us tremble now; how then shall we bear the clang of those trumpets which shall wake the dead ? As soon as the sleeping bodies in the bosom of the grave shall hear this sound, life will animate them once more.

All will rise again in one and the same moment, without a single hair being wanting to them ; they will collect together and stream towards the place of judgment ; for the heavenly King issues His commands, and the stricken earth and the agitated depths of ocean give back their dead; Then he described the fire which enkindles the whole world ; the angels who separate the sheep from the goats ; the sign of the Cross shining with light, which is carried before the King ; man kind in fear and confusion ; the just overflowing with joy, and the wicked a prey to despair ; the heavenly hosts glorifying the thrice holy God with their songs of praise ; heaven opened, and the Lord surrounded by such glory that neither heaven nor earth can support it. Ephrem was so affected that his voice melted into tears, and he was unable to proceed. 

But the congregation cried aloud to him, Continue to instruct us in these fearful things, say further, thou servant of God, what will happen after that/ Ephrem then unfolded before their eyes the Book of Life in which all our thoughts, words, and works are written. Then each man will be called up to undergo a severe examination, and will not dare to lift up his eyes to the Eternal Judge, whose divinely just decree awards to each one life or death, heaven or hell. my dearest brethren ! how many tears ought we not to shed day and night in expectation of this fearful judgment. At the mere thought of such things my limbs stiffen.

We conjure thee, exclaimed his hearers,  continue to speak to us for our welfare and the salvation of our souls; my dearest brethren !continued Ephrem, then will each Christian be examined whether he has the seal of holy baptism and the treasure of the faith ; each Christian will be asked whether he has lived according to his renunciation of Satan and his works, not only one or two of his works, but all in general. Oh, blessed is he who has faithfully kept his promise ! Then is announced that woeful sentence which parts men for ever from one another : bishops from bishops, priests from priests, deacons and lectors from their companions in orders; children from their parents, brothers from their sisters, friends from their friends. After the separation has taken place, the reprobate will call upon the elect with unspeakable lamentation, and will say :

Farewell ye saints and servants of God ! farewell ye prophets, apostles, and martyrs ! farewell ye parents, children, and friends ! farewell for ever thou most Blessed Virgin, Mother of God ! All ye have prayed for the salvation of our souls but we would not be saved. Farewell saving Cross ! farewell Paradise, thou field of delights, thou ever lasting kingdom, thou heavenly Jerusalem ! Fare well ye blessed ! Farewell to bliss ! We shall see you no more ! We are sinking into an abyss of pain and torments, we have no more hope of salvation for ever Ephrem continued to speak in this way for a long time to the breathlessly attentive congregation, and wept and sobbed, and struck his breast in penitence. He did not do this with the motive of affecting his hearers, but the sinfulness of men, and the justice of God, represented themselves so forcibly to his mind, that his interior agitation made him lose his self-command.

An amazing healing of a blind lady

Jacque has been on more than one trip to the Philippines. On a previous trip Jacque saw God perform a truly amazing miracle. She was preaching one Sunday morning when she noticed an elderly man escorting his wife toward the platform. (They were both in their 70s or 80s). Now she had not made an alter call and so she was wondering what was going on.

It soon became apparent why the man was escorting his wife since she was not only blind in one eye but the other eye wasn’t even there at all, it was just an empty eye socket. The lady had been blind since birth. Jacque asked them what they wanted and the man said “I want my wife to see me before I go to be with the Lord.” Jacque felt that the Lord wanted her to pray for the lady so she said, “let it be done for you as you have believed.” Jacque then went to lay her hand on the one eye that was left but the Lord told her “Not that eye.”

Jacque felt the power of God as she laid hands on the lady. She soon felt something moving under her hand. She looked and she saw an eyeball roll around. The Lord then told her to remove the membrane. The lady could see but her vision was blurry so Jacque prayed for the blurriness. She said that she prayed more fervently for the blurriness than she did for the missing eye.

The lady looked at her husband and said, “You’re beautiful.” The whole church was screaming and the Lord started healing people all over the church, including people with goiters.

On the day that I spoke to Jacque she was able to tell me that just the night before a musical director from Brisbane was healed of a sore shoulder. So miracles are still happening and they are happening all over the world. 

July 2 Medjugorje Message

 

Today, July 02, 2012, Our Lady appeared to the visionary Mirjana and delivered the following message: 

"My children; "Again, in a motherly way, I implore you to stop for a moment and to reflect on yourselves and on the transience of this your earthly life. Then reflect on eternity and the eternal beatitude. What do you want? Which way do you want to set out on? The Father`s love sends me to be a mediatrix for you, to show you with motherly love the way which leads to the purity of soul; a soul unburdened by sin; a soul that will come to know eternity. I am praying that the light of the love of my Son may illuminate you, so that you may triumph over weaknesses and come out of misery. You are my children and I desire for all of you to be on the way of salvation. Therefore, my children, gather around me that I may have you come to know the love of my Son and thus open the door of eternal beatitude. Pray as I do for your shepherds. Again I caution you: do not judge them, because my Son chose them. Thank you."

"Out of Bondage"

Beneath a solitary tree in the sun-scorched village of Mulual Baai, more than 400 Dinka women and children sit passively in the 110-degree heat. Their clothes are filthy and tattered, and only a few wear shoes. Swarms of green flies cluster around their nostrils and eyes, but they are too exhausted to swat them away. Some of them have just walked hundred of kilometers from the north of Sudan, where they were slaves to Muslims. Their "retriever," a Muslim named Ahmed, has led them to their home region, the desolate southern province of Bahr el Ghazal, to sell them into freedom.As they rest in the shade, John Eibner of the human-rights group Christian Solidarity International (CSI) counts out the cash for their release $50 a head, paid in stacks of Sudanese pounds. Ahmed wearing sunglasses and flip-flops, gathers the bundles of bills in the lap of his white djellaba;  more than he can cram into his knapsack. Then Eibner walks over to the slaves and declares: "You are all free.."

Video below of some footage from Darfur and some from a slave redemption mission.

Biker Church

Blessed with Cancer

By: Scott Giuliani

I grew up in a Christian home with loving parents that allowed me the freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted. Being the youngest of three, I was “a little spoiled”. At the age of 10 I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. At that time I didn’t fully understand the meaning behind it all, but knew the importance of having Jesus in my life. As I got older my family grew apart from the church. My teen years had almost no spiritual influence at all. At the age of 14 I was introduced to something that would become a life long addiction…pornography.

After graduating high school I attended college. Unlike most college students, I didn’t get into the party scene. With my high school sweetheart 6 hours away at a different college, my addiction grew. I have never cheated on a girlfriend or my wife with a physical person, but have done so thousands of times with pictures and movies. Mathew 5:28 says “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” After 2 years of college I dropped out to join the Air Force.

I joined the Air Force in 1997. That same year I married my high school sweetheart and love of my life, Lori. Unfortunately, like our college years, we saw very little of each other. My job in the military kept me away from home much of the time. Again, being separated from my beautiful wife fueled my addiction and it all started to take a toll on our marriage. I never communicated well in the first place, but now my addiction was more attractive to me than my own wife. Like any other addiction, it began to control my life.

During these years in the Air Force Lori and I made a couple attempts at getting back to church and restarting our relationship with Jesus. Needless to say, we never stuck with it. One thing I did realize in all this was that those times I began to get closer to Jesus; I would start to get away from my addiction. As soon as I would start to lose my faith, my addiction would come roaring back. Then at the young age of thirty, I had a life changing experience.

In July of 2006 I was diagnosed with stage 3C metastatic melanoma. I had Cancer…? Just when I thought everything was great. At least in my worldly mind I thought everything was great. I had a beautiful wife, great job, big house, cars, motorcycles and money. But none of those worldly, material possessions could fill that emptiness I had inside me. This diagnosis created a chain of events that would change my life and little did I know it would be the greatest blessing I could ever receive.

The next 16 months would be the hardest of my life. After the diagnosis I had surgery in August. After recovering from surgery I was lucky enough to receive 7 weeks of radiation to the back of my head, right jaw and neck. After recovering from the radiation I started a 12 month biotherapy treatment. After 5 months of treatment I noticed a spot in my vision that probably shouldn’t be there, but didn’t see a doctor for it until a couple months later. After seeing the doctor I was told I had Cotton Wool Spots, which were being caused by the biotherapy. The doctors were afraid if I stayed on treatment I would start to lose my vision. So in month 8 my treatment was stopped.

How could cancer be a blessing? Throughout those 16 months, the Lord placed people in our path to help turn us around and start us walking towards Him instead of away from Him. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I believe God used cancer as a tool to put me on the path He wants me on. I began to realize this a few months into my battle with cancer. The first few months I was so angry with God for doing this to me, I couldn’t even pray. Every time I tried, I couldn’t get myself to talk to Him. I was ready to give up when God placed two people in our lives that changed it all and after about 6 months of knowing them, we became best of friends.

Those two friends brought us back to church and started our journey back to Jesus. After trying one small church the four of us decided to try Freedom Biker Church. Lori and I haven’t been anywhere else since. We have been taken in by the Freedom family and have finally found our spiritual home. Through my personal relationship with Jesus, He has helped me take control of my addiction to pornography and win my battle with cancer. Jesus is the ultimate counselor and healer. Also, Lori and I spent more time together in those 16 months than we had in 5 years combined. During that time our relationship grew more than ever. We were baptized on October 28, 2007 to recommit our lives to Jesus. I give all the glory to God!

Psalms 18:6 “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” God heard my cry for help and He saved me!

God is faithful…. A story from France (1800’s)
A lady sat at the back of a church weeping; not entirely sure if she was praying, grieving, or worrying. The day before her husband had thrown himself off a bridge over a river and had died from his injuries.

She had prayed for him their whole married life. He was a mean drunk, a womaniser, gambler, but somehow she still loved him, saw the good in him and had kept up her prayers for him for decades, despite seeing no sign or apparent change in him. Now it seemed too late, had her prayers been in vain ?

Even though it was still early morning, the church started to fill up and a long line of penitents formed a queue along the aisle outside the confessional box.

A few moments later the PP came out of the confessional and walked down the isle towards her, stopping at her row. He sat down next to her. (She had never met him before). After a few seconds he said “He turned to God in his heart, just before his face hit the water, your prayer was answered”

He walked back up the aisle to continue his daily 18 hour stint in the confessional. (He was the Cure of Ars).

Her sorrow turned to joy, God had saved her husband after all. God’s mercy had pursued him to the very end.

There is no such thing as a lost cause this side of death.

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