A Word of Encouragement from Fr Paul Truebenbach
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Dear Ones in Christ,
Christ is risen!
As has become quite apparent, many in the parish are experiencing a barrage of spiritual attacks and temptations. I thought it wise, therefore, to send a little message of encouragement for everyone.
We must remember that we are engaged in what the Fathers call spiritual WARFARE. It is not a game or something passive. It is a true battle. In physical battle, when the enemy seems to be going crazy and is attempting to cause us confusion and discouragement, there are two thoughts that keep us from retreating or despairing:
1. The enemy is only maddened and manic when we are WINNING. When we are losing and do not pose a threat, then the enemy can fight methodically... even almost casually. They need not engage too aggressively. The demons are the same. If they seem to be attacking with extra vigor, then they are ENGAGED. And they are actively engaged only because their typical tactic - of causing us to become lazy and indifferent to spiritual things - is not working. Rather than despairing, we ought to know that the enemy is frustrated. Their attacks must mean something good has been happening!
2. We live the spiritual life actively. We don't just let the spiritual life happen to us. We live it. When the demons attack in order to frustrate us, we launch counter attacks. We pray, fast, prostrate, give alms, engage in spiritual reading, confess, and attend services more frequently and more attentively. We teach the demons that, when they attack more vigorously, THEY end up more frustrated, more wounded, more discouraged. Do not live the spiritual life passively, but fight back with courage, steadfastness, and faith. Have the demons caused you difficulties? Cause THEM difficulties through your active spiritual life.
Are the demons attacking? Rejoice! Thank God! Christ allows their attacks for our own benefit. But we only benefit if we are directly engaged.
Be watchful. And watch for the "hidden" attack: that in your own spiritual warfare, you forget your brothers and sisters in Christ who themselves are fighting and could use your prayers. May we be strengthened TOGETHER in times of attack!
May we remember the words of St Anthony the Great: "Expect trials until your last breath. But remember: the greater the struggle, the greater the crown."
Four (easy to understand) books on PDF 📚 below in the folders. I recommend dedicating yourself to reading these four books throughout this Holy Week, leading to Pascha/Easter.
So that the heart & intellect may be lifted beyond mere thought into the light of divine knowing 📿
The first Easter egg was not pastel
Mary Magdalene stood before Emperor Tiberius holding a white egg
She told him Christ had risen
He laughed: A man could no more rise from the dead than that egg could turn red
But according to legend the egg turned red
Eastern Orthodox Christians have dyed their eggs crimson ever since
And this one; By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
@Gainesvillegur1@DaModernPatriot@mandyarthur@grok Who might this verse be directed at? Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
Israel is, for the first time, blocking Orthodox Christians from accessing the Orthodox Church on the tomb of Christ where a yearly miracle occurs on pascha (easter)!!
Something big is coming
Salvation is of the Jews (v. 22): The Lord affirms that true revelation comes from Judaism. “The commonwealth of Israel was the school of the knowledge of God for all the nations” (AthanG). More importantly, Jesus is testifying that the Messiah, who was prophesied among the Jews, has risen from among the Jews. While the gift of salvation in Christ is to all nations, it has come from within Judaism. The hour (v. 21) refers to the death and Resurrection of Christ and to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which inaugurates the worship of the new covenant.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
IL SANTO SEPOLCRO È CHIUSO.
IL LUOGO DELLA RESURREZIONE DI CRISTO. CHIUSO!
Dal 28 febbraio 2026.
Mai successo in 2000 anni di storia.
Non durante le Crociate.
Non durante le guerre mondiali.
Non durante la pandemia.
Oggi è chiuso.
La Settimana Santa si avvicina.
Il Golgota è inaccessibile.
La Tomba Vuota è sbarrata.
Padre Ibrahim Faltas, Custode di Terra Santa, implora le autorità israeliane di riaprire almeno per la Settimana Santa.
Adesso ditemi: chi chiude il luogo più sacro della cristianità durante la Quaresima è amico dei cristiani?
Lo dicevo da decenni e mi deridevano.
Rispondete.
Le porte sono chiuse. E il mondo tace.
https://t.co/aLO1yS0aoc
25–27 The mystery which explains the unbelief of so many Jews is that the Gentiles are now being united to the remnant of the faithful Jews, and thus this body of believers together form the true Israel. (In Gal 6:15, 16, St. Paul calls those “in Christ Jesus” the “Israel of God,” which is the Church.) This true Israel is not based on biological ancestry but on faithfulness to God’s Deliverer, the Messiah. In this understanding, all Israel will be saved (v. 26).
11:30–32 Paul reminds the Gentiles that they have no superiority over the Jews, for both Jew and Gentile were subject to disobedience, and both receive salvation only through God’s mercy.
@GovMikeHuckabee Focus your time on John chapter 8 and Galatians chapter 3, then maybe you’ll understand, or maybe you already understand, and have made your choice. Lord have mercy.
Historian Bill Federer:
“They say that by 2030, there will be a majority Muslim population in Europe, and they'll just flat out vote in Sharia law. It won't just be no go zones where they take over entire neighborhoods in Paris or around Belgium and London. No, they'll take over entire cities.
And people forget, Egypt was completely Christian for six centuries. It's not anymore.
All of North Africa was completely Christian for six centuries. It's not anymore. All of Turkey, all seven churches as mentioned in the book of Revelation, were all in Turkey. And they were all taken over by the Muslim Turks.
Constantinople was the largest Christian city in the world, and the largest Christian church in the world for hundreds of years was the Hagia Sophia. And it got turned into a mosque.
And so they want to do the same thing with the Vatican. And recently they allowed Muslim prayers in the Vatican. So we see that it's headed in that direction.“
🚨BREAKING: BOMBSHELL Minnesota auditor report just dropped and it confirms Tim Walz's Department of Human Services FABRICATED RECORDS and did not verify grant recipients, tried COVERING THEIR TRACKS, enabling massive fraud
It just got 10,000X worse. WALZ MUST RESIGN.
"Perhaps the most EXPLOSIVE revelation is that managers within DHS tried to cover their tracks by backdating and creating NEW DOCUMENTS" 🤯
"Sent millions of dollars out the door in grants without making proper checks into who was receiving them. And that is not even the most jaw-dropping finding!"
"One outrageous example, the auditors found a grantee that was paid $672,000 for one month of work WITHOUT ANY INFO on what they do"
"And the audit says the grant manager who paid it then left DHS a couple days later and became a paid consultant for that company!"
"During the audit multiple DHS managers backdated or created new documents to try to cover their tracks."
What's your response to this...??👀
MAKE THIS GO VIRAL ON 𝕏. LET’S GO 👏
“You can’t really argue that the Goyim are going to be annihilated.
That’s not an option.
We broke down their nationalities.
(laughter).
As individuals, they’re done. Their personalities…. They don’t exist.
They’re gone.
In Modern terminology, they call it cultural Genocide”.