Anglican Orthodox Church
Worldwide Communion
Headquarters
Statesville, North Carolina
United States of America
New Years Day
2016
31 December 2015, Anno Domini (in the Year of our
Lord
The human heart seems obsessed with always newer things. We like to see
new places, meet new friends, have a new car - a new house, a new wardrobe -
etc. We make much ado about each coming New Year as if there was something good
and special about that which is new. In reality, there is nothing 'NEW' under
the sun. The sinful heart seeks the occasion of a New Year's celebration to
conceive of sins and depravities that have lain dormant in his evil and dark
heart for centuries. The wise Solomon summed up the ages well: 9 The thing that
hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which
shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it
hath been already of old time, which was before us. 11 There is no
remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things
that are to come with those that shall come after. (Eccl 1:9-11)
The ancient and sinful heart of man, conceived beneath the indecorous
Tree in Eden, has only grown more and more sinful in its imaginations in ages past;
and so it does today. In 1951, we celebrated a New Year's Day in Tennessee for
a coming year that was devoid of so-called homosexual marriage, abortion,
uncontrolled drug abuse, and a year in which the school day began with a
reading from the Psalms, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a prayer. Please observe
how every succeeding New Year has resulted in an accelerating descent into the
abyss of depravity and perversity. And
GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5) And so it
continues today. Wicked and false religions have emerged that are grown more
brutal and horrific with the advance of years. In the name of Allah, his
adherents are raping five year old girls and beheading others who do not adhere
to his satanic religion.
Why do men place such emphasis on a New Year that, in their mind, will
bring new opportunities for unmentionable sins? Why labor to make resolutions
of your own heart when God has already provided His Moral Law to regulate a
free and peaceful society? How long will your New Year's resolution continue
without violation? How long has God's own Law been abrogated by the heart of
man? Those who need their own laws for New Year have long rejected those of
God. The New Year that men embrace today will only be a sad testimony of the
vanity of man on the successive New Year - without Christ!
The heart of man is OLD - it matters not that the old heart is blessed
to see a New Year. Years are simply a brief interlude compared to Eternity Future.
Why not have a NEW heart and - not a New Year, but a New Forever! Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will
I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you
to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Ezek 36:25-27)
The only thing that is 'new' under the sun is the new life in Christ.
Sin is a characteristic of the human heart across every age; but salvation and
redemption results in a new life and a new heart that is eternal. It will
always, and forever, be new, for what is a year compared to Eternity? This is a
truth that the world cannot comprehend, for the dark world cannot comprehend
the Light of Christ. Nicodemus was an educated, sophisticated, and powerful
member of the Sanhedrin. He failed to grasp how a man could be born anew. But
he had an honest heart and came to the point of that New Birth of which Christ
spoke at that midnight meeting in John 3. Each of us need that new heart. Our
society and nation needs that new heart. And our country, and the world, need that
new heart - instead of a single New Year of greater sin multiplied to us.
God bless all who seek
truth and light, and have a Happy New Life!
Jerry L. Ogles, Presiding Bishop
Anglican Orthodox
Communion Worldwide
