“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life,

and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life;

he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

These things I have written to you who believe

in the name of the Son of God,

that you may know that you have eternal life.”

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.

Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,

but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears,

they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears

away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan,

with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish,

because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

“You were buried with Him in baptism,

in which you also were raised with Him

through faith in the power of God,

who raised Him from the dead.”

“To them God willed to make known what are the riches

of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles:

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

“Put on the whole armour of God,

that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise,

redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets,

some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry,

for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;

it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

These Bible verses need correct interpretation. Mainly: we have not been saved through our works. God has given us the grace of salvation; it is the gift of God, as the Scripture says. So no one can boast. But it does not mean that once we have obtained salvation in Christ we do not need to do good works. We should do them in cooperation with the grace of God and in union with Christ. But the foundation – salvation – has been given us freely. That is why it is necessary to carry out mission of prayer. To obtain the grace of God for the conversion of particular people, and above all to pray for the spiritual resurrection of the nation.

Every nation is in a state of inner struggle which will decide whether we will preserve the treasure of faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ, or the so-called New Age religion promoted by the spirit of the world will deprive us of the living union with Jesus, i.e. the saving faith. Not only Ukraine but all Christians and all Christian nations face this pressure.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,

following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,

following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”

We could entitle this word of life as follows: “We have passed from death into life”. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…” Without Christ people live in their trespasses and sins, and are spiritually dead. There is a kind of power which keeps them in the system of death. The Apostle refers to it as the course, or the system of this world, which prompts people to follow demonic inspiration, i.e. the prince of the power of the air whom the Apostle calls the spirit of evil. Where is this spirit, this prince of the power of the air, at work? He is at work in those who refuse to obey God.

Verse 3 reads: “…among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Verse 4, however, shows the solution: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…”

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,

crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son,

and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,

crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son,

and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

Every man is a slave of sin before he is converted to Christ. He is practically without spiritual light, and owing to his blindness of mind and conscience he considers idolatry to be a form of piety and various superstitions to be faith. The Bible describes it as follows – people who cannot discern between their right hand and their left. They have a false view of God without fully realizing it and are under the sway of false spirits who easily deceive them.

In the hearts of baptized children, though they do not yet use reason and have not yet been consciously converted, dwells the light of Christ and the whole Holy Trinity. Unbaptized children do not have this grace.

As many as believed in God and received in obedience Jesus as their God and Saviour, to them God gave the right to become the sons (children) of God. And because they are sons (children) of God, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son – the Holy Spirit – into their hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

“Not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you

and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven,

should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you,

let him be accursed (anathema)!”

This statement of God’s judgment, given through the Apostle Paul, is extremely important! It is a protection against heresies which destroy the Church of Christ from within. Not only in the distant past but especially since the days of Vatican II, heresies have swept forward like an avalanche. The Council approved the heresy concerning a regard for pagans, and de facto for their demons too! This heresy is contrary to the apostles’ teaching, and contrary to Scripture and the whole 2000-year Tradition.

How could it happen that these heresies were approved and advocated by conciliar and postconciliar Popes? The answer is the Dogmatic Bull of Pope Paul IV. The Bull states that if a priest, bishop or pope preaches heresies, he automatically brings anathema on himself – i.e. excommunication from the Church – and all his deeds, actions and enactments are without force. In fact, heresies are “another”, false gospel!