We live in an age of sensationalism and fantasy which
often passes, among the naïve and spiritually gullible, for reality. On today’s
charts there are books and DVDs claiming their authors to have made visits to
either Heaven or Hell, and then returned to tell us of the fabulous experience
they enjoyed there. Unlike the writings of CS Lewis such as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,
which derive from higher Gospel truth, these fables have no authority in
biblical truth and openly violate that truth.
The modern apostate
churches have ventured into like error and open defiance of Gospel truth. Is
there nothing sacred to the spiritual scoundrels of our day – not even Heaven
itself? Reflecting on that great Creed of the Church, whose every claim is profoundly
biblical, we aver Sunday after Sunday that Christ is the Son of the Father who
came down to us by assuming a carnal body through the agency of the Holy Spirit
and the Virgin, lived a sinless life marked by miracles and holiness, died a
substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose the third
day according to the scriptures. He ascended into Heaven and sitteth on the
right hand of God the Father. Do we believe this? Do we believe that Christ is
uniquely the Son of the Father. Do we believe that his descent and ascension
distinguish Him from all us mortals? Or was Christ wrong in His description of
Himself as the Bread that came down from Heaven? If we believe Christ (and our
mortal souls depend on that belief), He is the only Man who descended from
Heaven and ascended again. If we believe, then all the popular claims of the
sensationalists are egregious lies from the pits of Hell.
Christ is distinct and
different in His Office as Son of God and, even Himself, very God. He descended
for us mortals, and ascended on High where He intercedes for us with the
Father. And He will come again in like manner of his ascent to receive His
Bride, the Church. Where will we own our estate if we have not believed in the
immutable Word of God for He it is who bought and paid for us.
At this Ascensiontide, let
us reaffirm that biblical faith once delivered to the saints and reject the
fables and myths of ungodly men.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Most Rev. Jerry L. Ogles
Presiding Bishop
Anglican Orthodox
Church
