My eyes welled up with tears...

Often my fathers eyes were welled up with tears while he was watching tv


here a story from fb




A man from Norfolk , VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003, TWO YEARS AFTER THE TRAGEDIES OF 9/11/2001.

His name was Robert Matthews. These are his words:

A few weeks before Sept. 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen,' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. We had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset we drove home.

I received a call from my father who was retired NYFD. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but I explained that we missed the flight.

My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak. My father also had more news for me; he was going to help. 'This is not something I can't just sit by for; I have to do something.'

I was concerned for his safety, of course, but more because he had never given his life to Christ. After a brief debate, I knew his mind was made up. Before he got off of the phone, he said, 'take good care of my grandchild.' Those were the last words I ever heard my father say; he died while helping in the rescue effort.

My joy that my prayer of safety for my wife had been answered quickly became anger. I was angry at God, at my father, and at myself. I had gone for nearly two years blaming God for taking my father away. My son would never know his grandfather, my father had never accepted Christ, and I never got to say good-bye.

Then something happened. About two months ago, I was sitting at home with my wife and my son, when there was a knock on the door. I looked at my wife, but I could tell she wasn't expecting anyone. I opened the door to a couple with a small child.

The man looked at me and asked if my father's name was Jake Matthews. I told him it was. He quickly grabbed my hand and said, 'I never got the chance to meet your father, but it is an honor to meet his son.'

He explained to me that his wife had worked in the WorldTrade Center and had been caught inside after the attack. She was pregnant and had been caught under debris. He then explained that my father had been the one to find his wife and free her. My eyes welled up with tears as I thought of my father giving his life for people like this. He then said, 'there is something else you need to know.'

His wife then told me that as my father worked to free her, she talked to him and led him to Christ. I began sobbing at the news.

Now I know that when I get to Heaven, my father will be standing beside Jesus to welcome me, and that this family would be able to thank him themselves ..

When their baby boy was born, they named him Jacob Matthew, in honor of the man who gave his life so that a mother and baby could live.

Please take time to share this amazing story. You may never know the impact it may have on someone. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

14 6 16
Fr John Kronshtadtski commemoration day


another article, not mine wich make me ...

В Нью;Йорке православный священник спасает бывших советских граждан
В Нью;Йорке православный священник спасает бывших советских граждан
Спасение бездомных жителей Нью-Йорка стало главным делом священника Русской православной церкви. В Брайтоне – районе, населенном в основном выходцами из бывшего СССР – отец Вадим выполняет роль не только духовного пастыря, но и сотрудника социальных служб. Благодаря ему обитатели городского дна в буквальном смысле возвращаются к жизни.

Знаменитый брайтонский бордвок – деревянный настил, протянувшийся вдоль океана на несколько километров. Не многие гуляющие здесь граждане знают о том, что у них под ногами обитают люди, опустившиеся в прямом и переносном смысле. Когда-то это место под досками принадлежало афро-американцам, но уже давно их вытеснили отсюда выходцы из бывшего Советского Союза, оставив только за собой право умереть здесь от алкогольного отравления, передозировки наркотиков или просто от холода.

7 лет подряд настоятель небольшой православной церкви на Брайтон Бич выходит по вторникам в рейд. Его цель – молитвой и словом божьим вернуть к нормальной жизни тех, кто месяцами не выходит из запоя или наркотического опьянения. Сопровождают его братья из Дома трудолюбия – те, к душам которых батюшка когда-то подобрал ключик и впустил Бога. Большинство из тех, кого по вторникам призывают к молитве на берегу океана, хорошо знакомы отцу Вадиму – они уже пытались бросить пить, но сорвались.

Свое миссионерство в неблагополучной среде батюшка начинал с раскладного иконостаса. Теперь, как он говорит, с божьей помощью, на Брайтоне есть двор с двумя домами, в одном из которых – церковь, в другом – приют для принявших бога братьев. Один из них, Сергей, бросал пить несколько раз. Теперь, он уверен, это навсегда.

Сергей: "Без Господа - никуда. Он все видит и все знает. Ну, слава богу, что это хоть сейчас до меня дошло".

Год назад, на Пасху, Сергей буквально приполз под двери Дома трудолюбия, даже не осознавая, что умирает. После осмотра врачи его приговорили: полный цирроз печени плюс внутреннее кровотечение, и рекомендовали отцу Вадиму готовиться к отпеванию уходящего в мир иной алкоголика. Однако настоятель Брайтонской церкви вместо этого всю праздничную пасхальную ночь молился вместе с прихожанами, в том числе и за здравие брата Сергея. Через несколько дней больной очнулся и смог причаститься. А спустя всего 4 месяца батюшке позвонил лечащий врач Сергея.

Отец Вадим: "Вы знаете, батюшка, такого не было не только в моей медицинской практике, но я даже не читал об этом в учебниках медицинских. Полный цирроз печени, терминальная стадия, человек умирал, полностью исчез. У него абсолютно здоровая печень. То есть, по сути, выросла вторая печень, новая, заново, понимаете?" Я говорю: "Простите, доктор, вы хотите сказать, что произошло чудо божие?" - "Вы, батюшка, можете это сказать, а я, доктор, я – нет. Но я с вами полностью согласен".

Церковного старосту Александра тоже привезли сюда в бессознательном состоянии. Теперь он не только уважаемый член общины, но и держатель кассы приюта. Под крышей церкви бывший правозащитник из Белоруссии нашел себе новый смысл жизни – спасать блуждающих под досками обитателей Брайтона.

Староста Александр: "Не так давно мы посчитали умерших в этом районе и просто прослезились – 50 человек".

Если говорить о выживших, то отец Вадим доволен статистикой. Примерно треть обитателей Дома трудолюбия не возвращается к пьянству. При этом в американских реабилитационных центрах успехом считается 6% бросивших пить. Правда, не все местные прихожане приветствуют соседство с бывшими алкоголиками. Но отца Вадима это не смущает, православие – религия любви, уверен он.

Отец Вадим: "Я прохожу и вижу – вот, человек. Он в каких-то нечистотах своих валяется и матерится как извозчик и готов поубивать всех, но за ним стоит Христос! У него же бессмертная душа! Это для меня как икона, понимаете? Икона, втоптанная в грязь. У меня, конечно, желание подбежать, эту иконочку поднять, вымыть ее, поцеловать и внести в храм. Понимаете?"

Еще одного обитателя океанского побережья здесь зовут просто Комбат. У нас он действительно командовал батальоном, а выйдя на пенсию, приехал на пару месяцев в Америку, и уже лет 10 живет здесь нелегально. Каждый вторник он целует крест и божится, что скоро бросит пить, а отец Вадим искренне верит, что рано или поздно это произойдет.

and here religious questiions, not mine also

Letter Five “The Prophets Speak of the Church”

 
This article is an excerpt from the author's book entitled "Letters To My Children On Apostolic Kingdom Theology."
Mar David Ignatius: To my children, concerning the validity of the Old Testament Prophet’s knowledge of the Church, the Bride of the Messiah.

“Surely the Lord God does nothing,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”
(The Prophet Amos, Amos 3:7)


Dear Beloved Children,


 The peace of our Savior Jesus Christ be yours to the salvation of your souls. I trust that this letter will find you well and enjoying the good things of God. My prayer is also for your children whom the Lord has given you, both physical, and spiritual. Give them my love and peace, for truly my affection is toward them as I have begotten them through you.
In continuing my correspondence on the subject of Kingdom Theology it is needful to establish firmly in your hearts and minds just what the Kingdom is.
Dispensationalism sees the Church as only a parenthesis within God’s program of redemption; therefore, it does not accept the Church as the prophesied Messianic Kingdom of the Hebrew Scriptures. According to these teachers of fables, God will establish His Kingdom upon the earth only with the physical nation of Israel—after the Church has been removed from the equation. In this view, God’s primary program is exclusively with physical Israel. According to them the Church is nowhere seen in the promises of the Hebrew Scripture (the Old Testament), nor in the book of Revelation after 4:1. In this view the Bride of Christ is but an afterthought of God; an, “Oh, by the way...” event. Something for God to do while the Jews come to their collective senses: repent and return to Him. At that time, according to Dispensationalism, God will dispatch of the Church (i.e. the rapture) and turn again to be Israel’s loving husband. At that time, resuming the kingdom program that He suspended when He divorced her, at the time she had murdered Him. (Never mind that the law of God forbids a husband to take back a defiled wife once divorced – Deuteronomy 24:1-4.)





It seems to me that such a doctrine borders on blasphemy. It relegates the Bride of Christ to second class, plan B, status. Because Dispensationalism sees all Israel as temporarily rejected and cast away, it sees the Church as the afterbirth of the Holy Spirit’s miscarried pregnancy with Jewry. Of course the disciple of Christ must feel the affront this teaching presents to the Church. God is omniscient, knowing the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10), there is no plan B with Him!
These teachers make two assumptions that are both false: assumption number one is that the church is never spoken of in the Old Testament; assumption number two is that all kingdom promises of the Hebrew Scriptures can only be fulfilled in, and by, the physical nation of Israel. These assumptions constitute the Wall of Defense that encloses Dispensationalism’s teachings of: pre-tribulation rapture; seven year tribulation; first and second resurrection – former for the saints, latter for the wicked; and a literal thousand year reign of Christ upon the earth. It is to this wall that I intend to marshal the machinery of war, and set the battering rams to work.
 First, that the Seers of the Hebrew Scriptures did not see the Lord’s Church is a thought unthinkable. For the prophet Amos tells us that the Lord will do nothing unless He reveals it first to His prophets (Amos 3:7
). Now, since the Church has maintained a presence in the earth for 2000 years, one of two things is true, if Dispensationalism is valid, namely:
Amos was wrong and is therefore disqualified as a true prophet—in which case the veracity of the entire Bible is brought into question. Or, 
Amos is a true prophet and the Church is not a work of God in the earth—in which case it is a work of the devil.
But since all concerned do, in truth, accept Amos as a true prophet, consequently the wall enclosing Dispensationalism begins to shake.
 If the Church is the work of God in the earth, the prophets must have seen it, and written concerning it. So, we turn our attention to the ancient Seers. What did they see!?
 No less than four of the premier prophets stand forth and man the engines that slam against the defenses of Fable Town. Each of the four prophets addresses both components of the wall: namely,
That the Church is never spoken of in the Old Testament, and,
That all Kingdom promises of the Old Testament can only be fulfilled in, and by, the physical nation of Israel.
 Both of the above assumptions are founded upon a misconceived premise, i.e. that all of Israel rejected Christ and was, therefore, rejected by Him; and that, consequently, the Church was established with the Gentiles; in which case the Kingdom promises made to Israel are yet to be fulfilled. This is not true. A sharp distinction must be made between the Israel of Promise (Romans 9:6-8; Galatians 4:22-31) – also called the elect (Romans 11:2-5, 7)—and the Israel of Unbelief (Romans 11:7-10, 23). The Church was, indeed, established with the Israel of Promise (the elect) as the passages above show; therefore, the Kingdom promises of the Old Testament are either fulfilled, or being fulfilled in the Church—the true “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16).
Prophet One: Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 the prophet foretold of a “New Covenant” that the LORD would make with the “House of Israel” and with the “House of Judah”. According to the author of the New Testament book of Hebrews, this prophecy was fulfilled by Christ’s work on the cross of Calvary (Hebrews 8:6-12 cf. Matthew 26:28) and realized in the Church; which is the “House of Israel” and the “House of Judah.” That is to say: the covenant of Calvary was, indeed, made with Israel. Thus, the Israel of Promise was not rejected—only the Israel of Unbelief. The Church, therefore, is the covenanted Israel; the Gentiles have access only through a grafting process (Romans 11), or one could say: “adoption” (see Romans 8:15, 23; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5).
Prophet Two: Joel. In Joel 2:28-32 the prophet tells of a time when Israel would be restored in a Messianic Age. According to Joel this would happen after the time of judgment. In this time of restoration the Spirit of God would be poured out upon “all flesh,” namely the Jews and Gentiles alike (see verses 28 and 32). According to the Apostle Peter this prophecy began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost A.D. 30. It was established with the Israel of Promise, called by Joel “the remnant.” Compare this to Romans 11:1-5 where Paul writes; “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Thus, the birthday of the Church was in fact the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. According to the prophet Joel, and the apostle Peter, the restoration of Israel (and, the establishing of the Messianic Kingdom) began on the day of Pentecost A.D. 30 as recorded in Acts 2.
Prophet Three: Amos. In Amos 9:11-12 the prophet foretold of a golden Messianic Age when the “tabernacle of David” would be rebuilt. At such a time the Gentiles would come to know the LORD. James, the half brother of our Lord, recognized the Church as the fulfillment of this prophecy (see Acts 15:14-17). According to the Prophet Amos and the Apostle James (the brother of Christ) the Church is, in point of fact, the “tabernacle of David,” i.e. the Messianic Kingdom.
Prophet Four: Malachi. In Malachi 1:11-12 the prophet foretells of a time in the Messianic Kingdom when “in every place incense shall be offered” in the name of the LORD, “and a pure offering” would be offered. In verse 12 Malachi calls this pure offering the “table of the LORD”. According to the Apostle Paul this Messianic Promise is fulfilled each time members of the Lord’s Church observe the Lord’s Supper (see 1 Corinthians 10:16-2). For a deeper look (beyond the veil) of Malachi’s prophecy and how it relates to the Christian Eucharist, compare Romans 15:16 to 1 Corinthians 10:17-18 (see foot note #26). According to the Prophet Malachi and the Apostle Paul the church is the Messianic Kingdom establishing the name of the LORD among the heathen (Gentiles) by offering a “pure offering” (namely, Jesus Christ) “in every place” (throughout the earth).

  Having unleashed the force of the prophets and apostles against the walls of Dispensationalism, it is evident (to even the casual student) that said walls have been breached.  Future  letters  will proceed through the breach and clear the ground ahead, for the truth of Apostolic Kingdom Theology.

Apostolically  Speaking
; David Ignatius