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AIN’T 2008 RELIGION GRAND

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DO YOU KNOW WHAT A SYRIAN CHURCH METROPOLITAN IS, OR WHAT HE DOES

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THINGS HAVE CHANGED A TAD SINCE JAMES’ EPISTLE

January 1, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

James 1:27 – Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Ephesians 5:25-27 – Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; [26] That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, [27] That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

I must confess my ignorance, on the ecclesiastical meaning of the word “metropolitan” in the Syrian Church, until I read the article following our heading. As I read it, I could not help but remember what the head of the first New Testament Church taught it on his final days before he was crucified.

Luke 22:21-26 – But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

[22] And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed! [23] And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. [24] And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

[25] And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. [26] But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

I wonder what the First New Testament Church would say about the changes in the “universal church” concept, imbedded in the rules and regulations employed in the ecclesiastical definition of “metropolitan,” which follows the excerpt from the Khaleej Times. More importantly, what would Jesus, the head and foundation of each local New Testament Church, each one representing his local body at that site, think of all the departures from “the faith once delivered to the saints,” which have been placed in it by man since the completion of the New Testament

?

Jude 1:3 – Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Luke 22:25,26 – And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. [26] But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

Begin Khaleej Times on Line Excerpt

Issues of supremacy rock church

By T.K. Devasia (Kerala Newsletter)

31 December 2007

DISPUTES over spiritual and material issues are a permanent feature in the Kerala-based Malankara Syrian Church.

The latest to haunt the Church is the ordination of a German monk as a metropolitan.

The issue has led to an internal feud in the Orthodox faction, which is engaged in a battle with the rival Jacobite faction over issues of supremacy of their heads and ownership of assets for over a decade now.

The faction is in a quandary with a section of the people coming out openly against the alleged secret sanctification of the foreign monk, Saverios Moosa Gurugan, by two bishops, Yuhanon Mar Milithios and Thomas Mar Athanasios at Trichur in November.

Terming the action a violation of the provisions of the 1934 Church constitution and Canon law, the agitated section has demanded action against the two bishops. They have threatened to pursue a legal course if the authorities tried to protect the two bishops.

They have the support of a section of the managing committee of the church. The latter says that the sanctification was done without the approval of the supreme head of the Church, Catholicos, Mar Baselios Didimos.

The two bishops have refuted the charge. Yuhanon Mar Milithios, who is the bishop of Trichur diocese, claimed that the synod had agreed to the consecration in August and had even set up a five member committee to organise the consecration.

However, those opposed to the consecration say that the committee was set up to consider the request of the German monk and the catholicos-designate and the synod secretary had opposed it.

The critics are agitated over the issue since the newly consecrated metropolitan has been leading a dissident group in Germany. Curiously, the two bishops who ordained Gurugan also came from

the Jacobite faction through dissidence.

The issue has also assumed political dimension as the two bishops are close to the state’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front as against the faction leadership, which is pro-United Democratic Front.

The political affiliations of the bishops has been a source of friction in the Church, which has about a million followers spread across not only Kerala but also the Middle East, Europe, the US and other regions. Both the sides have been openly questioning the political stands they have been adopting on various issues.

Realising its potential for further trouble in the church, the leadership is trying to suppress the issue. Senior leaders have already started dialogue for a code of conduct for bishops to prevent such incidents in future.

The managing committee of the Church meeting at Kottayam on January 10 is expected to finalize the code of conduct. However, the observers do not rule out the possibility a show

down since both sections are bitter over the issue.

DEFINITION OF “METROPOLITAN”

THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

New Advent

Metropolitan

Metropolitan, in ecclesiastical language, refers to whatever relates to the metropolis, the principal city, or see, of an ecclesiastical province; thus we spe ak of

a metropolitan church, a metropolitan chapter, a metropolitan official, etc. The word metropolitan, used without any qualificative, means the bishop of the metropolitan see, now usually styled archbishop. The term metropolite (Metropolites, Metropolita) is also employed, especially in the Eastern Churches (see ARCHBISHOP). The entire body of rights and duties which canon law attributes to the metropolitan, or archbishop as such, i.e., not for his own diocese, but for those suffragan to him and forming his ecclesiastical province, is called the metropoliticum.

The effective authority of metropolitans over their provinces has gradually diminished in the course of centuries, and they do not now exercise even so much as was accorded them by the Council of Trent; every bishop being more strongly and more directly bound to Rome is so much the less bound to his province and its metropolitan. The jurisdiction of the latter over his suffragan dioceses is in a sense ordinary, being established by law; but it is mediate and restricted to the objects provided for by the canons. Since the Council of Trent the rights of the metropolitan have been reduced to the following:

He convokes and presides at the provincial council, at which all his suffragans must appear, saving legitimate excuse, and which must be held every three years (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV, c. ii, De ref.). The same holds for other provincial meetings of bishops.

He retains, in theory, the right of canonical visitation of his suffragan dioceses, but on two conditions which make the right practically inoperative: he must first finish the visitation of his own diocese, and the visitation must be authorized by the provincial council. In the course of this visitation, the metropolitan, like the bishop, has the right of “procuration”, i.e., he and his retinue must be received and entertained at the expense of the churches visited. Moreover, he can absolve “in foro conscientiae” (ibid., iii).

He is charged with special vigilance over his suffragans in the matter of residence; he must denounce to the pope those who have been twice absent for six months each time, without due cause or permission (Conc. Trid. Sess., vi, c. i). And similarly for the prescriptions relating to seminaries (Sess. XXIII, c. xviii).

The metropolitan has no judicial authority over his suffragans, major criminal causes of bishops being reserved to the Holy See, and minor ones to the provincial council (Sess. XXIV, c. v.); but he is still the judge of second instance for causes, civil or criminal, adjudicated in the first instance by the officials of his suffragans and appealed to his tribunal. Hence results a certain inequality for matters adjudicated in the first instance in the archdiocese, and to remedy this various concessions have now been provided. But the nomination of two officials by the archbishop, one diocesan, the other metropolitan, with appeal from the one to the other, is not admissible.

This practice was used in France under the old regime, but was not general, and even the Gallicans held it to be at variance with canon law (Héricourt, “Les Lois ecclésiastiques de France”, E.V, 13). On this principle the nullity of Napoleon’s marriage was decided by the diocesan and the metropolitan officials of Paris, 1810 (Schnitzer, “Kathol. Eherecht”, Freiburg, 1898, 660). The metropolitan tribunal may also try as at first instance causes not terminated within two years by a bishop’s tribunal (Sess. XXIV, c. xx).

In regard to devolution, the metropolitan may nominate the vicar capitular of a vacant diocese, if the chapter has failed to nominate within eight days (Sess. xxiv, c. xvi). In like manner he has the right to fill open benefices (i.e., those of free collation) which his suffragans have left unfilled after six months; also to canonically institute candidates presented by patrons if the bishop allows two months to pass without instituting.

Lastly, in the matter of honorific rights and privileges the metropolitan has the pallium as the ensign of his jurisdiction; he takes precedence of all bishops; he may have the archiepiscopal cross (crux gestatoria) borne before him anywhere within his province, except in the presence of a papal legate; he may celebrate pontifically (saving such acts as constitute an exercise of jurisdiction, e.g., ordination), may wear his rochet and mozetta uncovered (not hidden under the mantelletta, like a bishop of another diocese); may bless publicly, and may grant an indulgence of 100 days (S.C. Indulg., 8. Aug., 1903). He ensigns his arms with the double archiepiscopal cross and the hat with ten tassels on either side.

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from which we extracted it.

When Will the Negev Reach a Population of 1.8 Million Plus Jews?

January 1, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Israel began the New Year with just a tad over 5.742 Jewish occupants in residence.

The 2007 population statistics for Israel have now been released. If the prophecy of Zechariah 13:8,9 were to be fulfilled in th

e next few years, it would mean only some 1.8 plus million Jews would made it alive into the Negev Wilderness.

Zechariah 13:8,9 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

[9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Is it possible these prophecies were fulfilled when the Romans overran the city of Jerusalem and leveled Herod’s Temple in 70 A.D.? It is possible it might have been historically fulfilled at an even earlier date? These are questions that should be considered.

The Old Testament Book of Zechariah was written after Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity, so its prophecies could not be referring to the period before their return to Israel.

The prophecy of Zechariah 13:7 was fulfilled quite precisely when Christ was crucified.

Zechariah 13:7 – Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

“AWAKE, O SWORD, AGAINST MY SHEPHERD,”

Simeon, a very old Jerusalem resident, had been promised by the Spirit of God that he would not die until he saw the Shepherd of Israel, God’s Messiah, with his own eyes. Simeon was led by the Spirit to the Temple area when Mary and Joseph brought the Messiah to be circumcised eight days after his birth, according to the law of Moses.

Simeon prophesied what Mary would feel in her heart when the Shepherd of Israel died for our sins at Golgotha, and since his death and resurrection, the thoughts of many hearts have been revealed by profession or non-profession, of the Shepherd as Savior.

Romans 10:9,10 – That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. [10] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Luke 2:34,35 – And Simeon blessed them, and said unto MARY his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; [35] (YEA, A SWORD SHALL PIERCE through thy own soul also,) THAT THE THOUGHTS OF MANY HEARTS MAY BE REVEALED.

John 19,25,30,34 – Now there stood by THE CROSS OF JESUS HIS MOTHER, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. [30] When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. [34] But one of the soldiers with A SPEAR PIERCED his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

And Jesus personally identified himself as the good shepherd of God, his Father.

John 10:11,14-16 – I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for

the sheep. [14] I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. [15] As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

“AND AGAINST THE MAN THAT IS MY FELLOW, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS.”

The Hebrew word used for “fellow” is AMIYTH, and has a root meaning of “companionship,” i.e., a kinsman, in our context the kinship would be as a son. So, in John 10:27-31, when the Jews wanted to stone him for claiming to be God’s Son, this shows him to be the shepherd of Zechariah 13:7. And Philippians 2:6-10 leaves no doubt of this relationship.

John 10:27-31 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: [28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

[29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. [30] I and my Father are one. [31] Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Philippians 2:6-10 – Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. [9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

“SMITE THE SHEPHERD”

There can be no question that this smiting of the shepherd is the same one prophesied some 200 years previously in Isaiah’s writings.

Isaiah 53:4-6 – Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

[5] But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

“AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED”

And, exactly as prophesied, there was an immediate scattering when the Shepherd was arrested, and an eventually scattering of the sheep across the face of the Roman Empire and beyond. The quoting of Zechariah 13:7 by the Shepherd leaves no doubt it refers to what I just stated.

Mark 14:26,28,46,50 – And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. [27] And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. [28] But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. [46] And they laid their hands on him, and took him. [50] And they all forsook him, and fled.

As the little flocks were eventually scattered across the known world by persecution and missionary work, they were strangers to the places in which they found themselves, but many of these local places soon became the recipients of a local, visible church of little ones in their midst.

I Peter 1:1 – Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the STRANGERS scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

I Peter 2:10,11 – Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

[11] Dearly beloved, I beseech you as STRANGERS and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

“I WILL TURN MINE HAND UPON THE LITTLE ONES.”

This is not God using his hand in an unfavorable way to punish the little ones of the flock of Israel. It is God’s hand of favor turned from the main flock of Israel to the very small remnant of “little ones” who were his first church that he organized during his earthly ministry of some 3 and ½ years. Throughout the history of Israel God had consistently held out his hand to Israel, but when they rejected his Shepherd, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and his new flock of little ones was to eventually become many little small flocks of little ones scattered across the earth in individual places, many local, visible, assemblies of those who follow the Shepherd’s New Testament teachings, known today as local, visible churches made not of mortar and stone, but of obedient believers that practice the ordinances of the faith once delivered to the members of the first church, and the New Testament churches that followed it.

Jude 3 – Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

God kept on holding his hand out to his flock of Israel for thousands of years, but they killed his prophets and all those he sent to them.

Isaiah 5:25 – Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets.

For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

This is when God turned his protective hand covering from over his flock of Israel, and placed it on the little ones of the little flock that followed him. That same hand is still over his small flocks of little ones scattered across the earth.

Matthew 23:37,38 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7 to his small flock of little ones just before the first part of it was fulfilled.

Matthew 26:31 – Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

And the kingdom he had preached to Israel, was taken from unbelieving Israel because they that did not believe he was the Messiah, and extended to both Jew and Gentile through the promise he had already made to his first small flock of Israeli little ones, his first New Testament church.

Luke 12:32 – Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

We have been living in the time period between Matthew 23:38 and 39 for almost 2000 years. It is the age of the local church, and many have come out of the first one that Jesus called out and organized during his earthly ministry.

Matthew 23:38 – Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Matthew 23:39 – For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

God has turned his hand favorably upon the little ones of his flock for almost 2000 years. Soon the tribulation that ends this age of many little flocks will begin, and when it ends God will again favorably turn his hand back to the flock of Israel.

Zechariah 13:8,9 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Romans 9:25-29 – As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. [26] And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. [27] Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: [28] For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. [29] And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

Romans 11:24-28 – For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? [25] For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. [26] And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. [28] As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

So, the question naturally arises, did the Romans kill 2/3 of the Jews in Israel in the 70 to 73 A.D. and 132 to 135 A.D. Titus and Hadrian wars, did Israel’s God bring 1/3 through the great wars to restore them to greatness, did the Mount of Olives divide into two parts, and was the Lord then seen to rule as king over all the earth? The answer is no, because that is yet to be fulfilled.

Zechariah 14:9 – And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Israel in 2007 has 7.2 million residents

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

December 30, 2008

As 2008 is set to begin, Israel is a country of 7.241 million residents, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced in its annual demographic report.

Of this figure, 75.6 percent are Jewish (5.472 million), 20% are Arab (1.449 million) and 4.4% (320,000) are ‘others’ – immigrants who are not registered as Jews in the Interior Ministry, non-Arab Christians and residents without religious classification.

During 2007, Israel’s population increased by 1.7%, just one decimal point less than the population increase noted at the end of 2006.

18,000 immigrants arrived this year, and 149,400 babies were born.

Overall, 124,000 residents were added to the country’s population during the year. Eighty-eight percent of this figure were a result of natural growth (births minus deaths), and the remaining 12% from the immigration factor – the gap between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.

Aliya this year maintained the decreasing trend it has seen in recent years, falling below the 19,000 new immigrants in 2006.

The immigration figures do not include Israeli citizens who spent long periods abroad and have returned to Israel in 2007.

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

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