Author: orthodoxaustralia

One thing Glenn Beck had right was when he kept saying: “watch the other hand” !

In the midst of the whole gold market panic and Boston bombings (which are raising questions already – because FBI did know in advance about it!), billionaires are dumping all their stock holdings – fast! Not only they are dumping stock, they are liquidating JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citibank stocks.

Quotes:

George Soros sold nearly all his bank stocks including JP Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs

Buffett (who has been a cheerleader for US stocks all along) has been drastically cutting back on his exposure to consumer stocks. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson and Johnson. Berkshire has reduced his overall stake in consumer product stocks by 21%, including Kraft and Procter and Gamble. He has also cleared out his entire position in Intel. He has sold 10,000 shares of GM and 597,000 shares of IBM.

Fellow billionaire John Paulson dumped 14 million shares of JP Morgan and dumped his entire position in Family Dollar and consumer goods maker Sara Lee. (please note that Paulson did not sell his gold stock in the market selloff. Why? Does he know something we don’t? Why did he choose to liquidate JP Morgan holdings instead? Hmmmm)

The explanation is quite simple: they know something they are not telling you. They know what the insiders know. They are preparing for the Aftershock.

Quote:

One such person publishing this research is Robert Wiedemer, an esteemed economist and author of the New York Times best-selling book Aftershock. Before you dismiss the possibility of a 90% drop in the stock market as unrealistic, consider Wiedemer’s credentials:

In 2006, Wiedemer and a team of economists accurately predicted the collapse of the U.S. housing market, equity markets, and consumer spending that almost sank the United States. They published their research in the book America’s Bubble Economy.

The book quickly grabbed headlines for its accuracy in predicting what many thought would never happen, and quickly established Wiedemer as a trusted voice.

A columnist at Dow Jones said the book was “one of those rare finds that not only predicted the subprime credit meltdown well in advance, it offered Main Street investors a winning strategy that helped avoid the forty percent losses that followed . . .”

The chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor’s said that Wiedemer’s track record “demands our attention.”

And finally, the former CFO of Goldman Sachs said Wiedemer’s “prescience in (his) first book lends credence to the new warnings. This book deserves our attention.”

An excellent Letter from Archbishop George and the Pastoral Conference of the Chisinau and Bolgrad Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, under the presidency of Metropolitan Agafangel, taken from the Remnant ROCOR blog.

AN APPEAL TO THE FLOCK
by the Pastoral Conference of the Chisinau and Bolgrad dioceses
March 28th / April 10th, 2013

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

Currently a considerable number of Orthodox Christians are concerned about issues related to the use of the newest technical means of monitoring and control in the fields of passport, taxation and other government supervision; and to the formation of electronic databases on citizens; and to the assigning of individual ID numbers.

Some brothers and sisters in Christ see in those actions, on the part of the state, a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Apocalypse associated with the “mark of the beast” or the “seal of the Antichrist”. In this regard, it is now time to remind all who get horrified, restless and who waver – of the words of Apostle Paul:

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Rom. 8:37-39].

Dear brothers and sisters! According to the teaching of the Holy Church, without our direct involvement, neither our salvation nor our spiritual death can be caused, neither on its own nor by some “outward” forces. Only Christ and one’s personal assisting [co-working with] Him may yield us our salvation. And in contrast, only our voluntary, conscious and deliberate denial of God, may lead us to spiritual perdition. Therefore, there is no power either with the Antichrist, or with his servants, or with anyone else, to be able to separate us from Christ in any way whatsoever.

Of course, the rulers of the world are trying to take advantage of technological development with the aim of establishing total control over the individual. It is by no coincidence that there is imposed today, the anti-Christian ideology of globalization, which sets tasks of erecting a “new world order” with a single governing supranational center. According to plan – that world super-state is to have a single religion, a single economic and political basis. But for believers, the surrounding reality – at a time when the modern global community development follows an ungodly course – should not stir up in us, tumultuous [vexed] feelings – fears and concerns. Our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples:

“… In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” [John 16. 33];

“… Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” [John 14. 27].

We can see the concerns of some believers vis-à-vis the introduction of new technologies, but at the same time we want to warn against willful [unwarranted] interpretations and explanations of the places in the book of “Revelation” by St. John the Theologian, which point to the kingdom of the Antichrist and to events associated with his coming. In connection with the above, we wish to recall the teaching of the Holy Church Fathers, that the laying of the stamp of the antichrist by his false prophet shall take place during the three and a half years of the reign of the Antichrist (who will be a real person, and not a “spirit of Antichrist”), which [time-span] shall immediately precede the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, Hieromartyr Hippolytus of Rome teaches,

“For his name [of the Antichrist] we know nothing more than what has been said by blessed John, who has just hinted at it, hiding it under the guise of a number. But when the antichrist himself comes, the time shall reveal his name. The more we shall speculate about it, the more we shall have doubts and err, since many names correspond to this number” (“On Christ and Antichrist”),

and St. Ephraim the Syrian in his homily on the coming of the Lord, wrote:

“If, [he] says, someone shall bow [in worship ] to the beast-like Antichrist and shall cling to one’s wicked life, in words or deeds proclaiming him a god, which is indicated by the acceptance of the mark on the forehead and onto the arm, that one shall [have to] drink together with him the cup of sufferings.” (St. Ephraim of Syria. Homily 92 on the coming of the Lord.)

Archbishop Arethas of Caesarea, wrote:

“To bow [in worship] to the Antichrist and to receive [accept] his seal means to recognize him as God, that is, in actions, in words, and in thoughts to confess him. Placing the stamp on the forehead and on the hand marks a change in thoughts and deeds” (“Interpretation of the Apocalypse”).

St. Theophan the Recluse taught:

“… No matter how big and how varied the effort and techniques of the Antichrist will be in order to seduce and enthrall in his lies, he will have success, however, only within the circle of those who are of one spirit with him – that is, those who have fallen away from the Lord God, who with their hearts despise His commandments, and {sacramentally} knowing that their path leads to perdition, still they do not step off it, surrendering to their fate in NECHAYANIE [despair/bewilderment]. As he himself is the son of perdition, so he shall manage to attract only those who are perishing. And these dying people shall die not by the ruling of God, but because they have come to love a disastrous manner of living and ways…” (Interpretation of 2 Thess. 2:9-13).

So, the receiving of the “seal of Antichrist” is associated with a conscious free denial of Christ, and with such a sinful life, which in itself leads to spiritual perdition.

Showing genuine concern for the salvation of the flock, we do call all the faithful children of the ROCOR dioceses of Chisinau and Bolgrad to show sober thinking and to not put the opinion of individual people higher than the views of the Church. Our church has always been on the middle “royal” path, avoiding any extremes, therefore the existence within the Church of different views, has not violated the canonical arrangement and order in the Church, and has not become the reason for some Orthodox Christians to condemn others. In connection with the above, we the clergy of the Chisinau and Bolgrad dioceses assure our flock that we are carefully observing what is happening around us, so as to be able to warn the flock in time of the dangers.

To end of our epistle we’ll recall the words of Apostle Paul and the words of the Gospel, which are a guide to a sober and correct understanding of the issues raised in this epistle:

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except [until] there come a falling away first, and that the Man of Sin be revealed, the son of Perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called Godly, or that is worshipped; so that he as ‘God’ sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” [2 Thess. 2:1-4].

And so,

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: …” [Matt. 26:41], (because) “for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” [Matt. 25:13].

The recent action in the precious metals markets should remind everybody the dire warnings Lindsey Williams has been issuing for years. Hopefully by now everybody managed to secure their assets in some physical form as the end game seems to have started – because at the end of this, what is written on paper is going to be worth the paper is written on!

Please have in mind that what you are hearing in the news about gold and silver is all related to the paper market which is on its way to complete destruction. There will be a period of great confusion and fear mongering, before the current system eventually collapses and everything people will be left with will be what they physically own, paper will all burn in one day. The prices provided in these fictitious paper markets are increasingly distorted, unreliable and temporary. Reports are surfacing that physical gold is being traded at $2000/ounce mark where the paper market continue to stay at much lower prices, and rumors are going around that a default in COMEX is near.

Also in the same “paper” category falls all fiat currencies around the world and various financial instruments where these “assets” can be found like money in bank accounts, stock investments, government bonds, derivatives (futures, options, mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps etc etc), pension funds managed by various financial institutions (who invest in stocks, bonds, derivatives etc).

There are reports of many bullion dealers being out of stock, and the Perth Mint’s website was out all day displaying an error message:

This is the extent to which the western civilization (once Christian) has far gone off the cliff, and in particular America. It is unfortunate that the people in the West do nothing to renounce their wicked ways but continue unabated down the road of perdition and are quickly approaching the day of reckoning, but still hope in some miraculous political solution to a spiritual illness (have you seen our article on how Hollywood is all about selling one’s soul to the devil?).

Masters of Porn: The Systematic Promotion of Sexual Deviance

The rate at which the US dollar is being discarded from international trade is really alarming. If up until now the move out of the US dollar seemed to be somewhat limited, this seems to have dramatically changed recently.

We highlighted these worrying developments in a recent post titled “It is going to get really bad, really soon”.

We now hear China has opened a direct YUAN currency swap line with France. Where in the past we only used to hear of “US Dollar swap lines” from the FED to Europe and elsewhere, that is rapidly changing.

The big problem with this shift is that all those unwanted US dollars are going to start returning to the US treasury on a massive scale in which scenario any talk of the FED stopping to print money is smoke and mirrors. This shift will bring into the US more dollars that the FED would ever be able to print. This may be the “unforeseen event” that many have been warning about for years (including Lindsey Williams) that will force the Federal Reserve to dramatically raise the interest rates to prevent hyperinflation.

It may appear that we are indeed witnessing the final days of the US dollar as world’s reserve currency.

Unfortunately, many now think that Christianty exists for the sake of bettering this world, for the sake of helping the poor man and promoting kindness….God did not give us the commandments for this reason!

St Ephraim the Syrian, in expecting the second coming of Christ, sang:

“Having called to remembrance that awesome coming, shudder in body and soul, and with heartfelt agony say to yourself: What sort of person will I, a sinner, show myself to be at that terrible hour? How will I stand before the throne of the awesome Judge? How could I who am dissolute have a place among those who are perfect? Or how could I, who am a goat, stand among the sheep at Christ’s right hand? Or how could I, who am fruitless, be numbered among the saints, who have here brought forth the fruits of truth?

The martyrs will show their torments, the ascetics their good works; but what will I have to show but my apathy and my incessant indulgence?

O sinful soul, shameless soul, O soul which has always hated the God-pleasing way of life! How long will you delight in your wretched addiction to evil thoughts? What do you wait for in your apathy?

Do you think that the Judge will be late in coming? He will not tarry; rather, His coming will be like terrible lightning from the heavens.

Try to be prepared for that terrible hour, that you might not then weep unto the ages.”

Comment:
The normal disposition of a Christian, according to Fr Seraphim Rose, as well as according to the Saints of all times, is to expect and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ – every day.

But how? Many people see the signs, but do not know what to do with this information….

The Christian is obligated to expect the end of the world while fulfilling the commandments of Christ conscientiously, and while living in the Body of Christ, that is, His Holy, Orthodox Church.

Without the commandments, and without the Holy Mysteries that the Church only can give, a studying of the signs of the times is fruitless…and will only buy the soul – eternal torment! The Holy Fathers, from every time in history, expected the coming of Christ, and simultaneously, expected that their deeds might not be sufficient, that their sins might require additional repentance….

Christ is not late.

But for the unprepared soul, His coming will always be unexpected.

The situation escalating in North Korea is, without doubt, one of the scenarios Joe Biden warned about when Obama first took office.

As he GUARANTEED, the crisis is to happen sometime during Obama’s administration, so people need to take these threats seriously. The North Korean crisis seems to be carefully timed to coincide with another major crisis that is forming in the banking sector and is about to explode: the ongoing manipulation of Gold and Silver markets by JP Morgan and other banks – could this be coincidence? One must look at the past and understand that banking interest have always been the leading forces behind wars in history.

The truth is COMEX has been reported to have the biggest recent outflow of Precious Metals from their coffers happening in recent times, and generally, the massive outflows of metal from all the paper markets is massive. Peter Schiff, who until yesterday never said the Gold could be manipulated by the FED and only relied on the fundamentals, turned completely around and acknowledged that this in fact may be the case.

This escalation of North Korean tensions may be just a scare tactic to “shake the tree” of gold (and everything else) and create massive panic so investors sell, but if this has been the desired effect it may backfire completely as the Open Interests in silver on COMEX (that is investors actually buying) has hit an all time high of over 166,000 contracts as of last night. How long are they going to be able to control the situation for?

The same kind of war scare tactic was employed by the Rotschilds in the battle of Waterloo which in fact enabled them to buy up the whole of Britain for nothing and force extablish the Bank of England which then later provided the pattern for the creation of the Federal Reserve in america.

North Korean leader is nothing more than an “ace” the powers that be had been keeping in the sleeve to bring out whenever they may need. This kind of politics is nothing new and history clearly shows that everything happens behind the scenes away from the view of the sheeple. Have you seen The Soviet Story documentary that exposes the secret agreements between Hitler and Stalin? Nothing happens by coincidence but everything is carefully planed well in advance.

As the bankers are waging their Final Crusade Against Christianity, let us prepare, be vigilant and pray that God may help and protect us.

There are a few more article in our Apostate West section that may help understand the situation better.

Question and Answer to St Niphon of Constantinople.

“A brother asked: Just as now we have many Saints in the entire world, will there be such people also at the end of the world?”

“The blessed one answered him: My son. Until the very end of this age, there will be prophets of the Lord God, just as there will be servants of Satan. Moreover, in the last times, those who truly are working for God will successfully hide themselves from people, and they will not perform signs and miracles among the people. Instead, they will walk the path of good works, mixed with humility – and in the Heavenly Kingdom they will appear greater than the fathers who are famous for their miracles. Because at that time, no one will do miracles in front of the eyes of people, which might inspire the people to struggle diligently and eagerly.

In the entire world, those who hold the holy cathedras [the Bishops] will be completely inexperienced and will not know the art of virtue. The representatives of the monastics will be just the same, because all of them will be conquered by gluttony and vanity, and will serve rather as a stumbling-block for people than an example. Therefore virtue will be despised even more. Avarice [love of money] will rule everything then. And woe to those monks who are rich in gold, for they will be shamed by the Lord God and will not see the face of the living God.”

“A monk or a layman who gives his gold up to usury, if he does not reject this usury, will be lowered down into the deepest tartarus [a special compartment of hell], because he did not want to bring his gold as a sacrifice to God by giving alms to the poor. Therefore, my son, as I said earlier, many will be possessed by ignorance, and will fall into the abyss, being deceived by the broadness of the broad and wide path”

Comment:

Brothers!
What governs our modern world? The Saint tells us that at the end of time, avarice will rule everything! Where does this quote place our modern society, governed by the financial game?
Where will the all-powerful international bankers find themselves on the day of Judgement?
Where will every small avaricious (that is, gold-loving) soul find itself, if the man has prioritised gain, higher interest rates, small play in stocks for profit, small loans to “friends” for gain – instead of bringing his surplus money to GOD as a sacrifice?
Where will all our Bishops find themselves, who prioritise pompous, glorious meetings with their “brethren” of other religions – rather than defending and suffering with the true Church of Christ?
Where will those monks who allow people to interview them on TV, to write books about them, who allow the people to call them saints rather than walk the path of good works mixed with humility – find themselves?

“When a person is baptized as an adult, as it happens at times these days but was particularly frequent in olden days, then he himself makes promises on his own behalf; but if he is baptized in infancy, these promises are pronounced on his behalf by his godfather or godmother – the “recipients” as the Church calls them. And it is these promises in which the Christian promises God to renounce Satan and all his works and be joined, united with Christ; these promises are not only forgotten by people, but many do not in general know anything about them – that these promises were made on their behalf and they should think about how it is necessary to fulfill these promises.

“And what happens if on the final day of the history of the human race on earth – on the day of the Dread Judgement – it turns out that a person had made promises (or they were made on his behalf by the recipients), and he does not even know what these promises are or what was promised?”

“Think, my brethren, about what it means to renounce Satan and all his works and be united to Christ”.

“Nowadays, the times are such that mankind has been gripped by impious vanity in which reigns the enemy of the human race and, as the old expression went, is forcing almost all the people to “dance to his fiddle”. All of this vanity, of which our entire contemporary life is comprised, is a commotion which is in opposition to God, in which there is no God and in which the enemy of God dictates and commands. If we gave a promise to renounce Satan and all his works, then we must, in fulfilling it, endeavor not to allow our sould to be oppressed by this commotion, but reject it, and remember that of which the Church speaks “one thing needful” – only one thing is necessary – to remember that one must unite unto Christ, that is, not only obey His commandments, but also try to unite oneself to Him”

From a Sermon on the Feast of the Theophany.
St Philaret of New York (+1985)

BITCOIN – THE NEW SENSATION ! The internet is abuzz with news and reports about this new currency. In the IT world as well as in the financial world it is making furors. In the midst of collapsing of all fiat currencies of the world coupled with the suppression of Gold and Silver, BITCOIN seems to the story that comes from the underworld to save the financial system, and significant investors are already embracing the idea.

Chris Dixon, a partner at Andreesen Horowitz and well-known technology investor, recently wrote on a personal Web site: “Commodity based, e.g., gold; politically based, e.g., dollar; and math based, e.g., bitcoin.”, suggesting we are now entering the third era of currencies, having already been through the first 2 (this subject of a “third age” seems to very appealing).

So what is BITCOIN? It is the first entirely electronic form of money and its use seems to be spreading like wildfire. The origins of it seem to be very similar to the origins of the Occupy Wall Street movement – both being born as a “natural response” to the iniquities in the financial world.

Although Occupy Wall Street tried to present itself as a “justice movement”, Glenn Beck clearly exposed this (of course he has his own reasons of which we discussed elsewhere on this site) as a very clever, extremly organized and well financed operation involving the usual suspects like George Soros. One will really understand more about these kind of “revolutionary” movements, and see their true nature and purpose, by reading Fr Seraphim Rose’s Orthodox Survival Course which is available on our site.

The reports about BITCOIN are numerous: BITCOIN ATMs have already started to appear in various locations, the phenomena is reported to have become viral in Spain, property owners in the US are now accepting BITCOINs as form of rent payment, etc etc etc.

Herald Sun has this to say about it: IT’S a currency tied to no country, under the control of no central bank and you won’t find it minted on plastic, paper or metal. Its value has also surged more than 1000 per cent from about $15 to just shy of $170 since the start of the year. They are called bitcoins, a digital currency that has sparked an online trading frenzy in recent weeks, as well as growing warnings of a new asset price bubble. A US citizen reportedly purchased a used Porsche Cayman last month using 300 bitcoins. That’s a far cry from what has been dubbed the most expensive pizza purchase in history when in May 2010 a US programmer swapped 10,000 bitcoins — then worth less than a cent each — for two pizzas. At yesterday’s price the pizzas cost him about $1.7 million. Bitcoins, an online currency now totalling $1.8 billion, was launched by an anonymous computer programmer amid the fallout of the global financial crisis in 2009. The goal was to create a non-fiat currency that could not be devalued by governments or central banks.

Of course, to make the whole BITCOINs story look legitimate, the governments have to adopt a position where they have to look opposing this new idea. The mainstream media has already started to cover stories of how big of a threat BITCOIN is to the current financial order, but this may be just a diversion: just like the Antichrist, BITCOIN will have to be perceived as a natural evolution, coming from the oppressed as a response to all the iniquities of the oppressors – please read our “Mystery of Iniquity” section.

Should we believe that BITCOIN is really a “natural response” to the current economic problems? Not so fast.

The details of this new currency are already extremely revealing: it is completely electronic and the history of each transaction is kept forever. Moreover, the source of all BITCOINs in circulation is fully traceable through the chain of transactions all the way to their current owner. It will make any “illegal” transaction impossible, it will eliminate all corruption etc etc etc. Just imagine what the day would look like when they might come out and say: “let’s back BITCOIN by gold and silver” …

The first candidate for the future global currency is here!