Fear of God and Repentance
The Neglected Essentials

It is a fact that Fear of God has become so rare on this Earth, at least in the Western World, that I cannot remember even the last time I saw it. It seems to me that it disappeared during the ‘5o’s with the coming of antibiotics,miracle drugs, air conditioning, and television, which completely changed the character of life in our society. This idea is confirmed for me because during the ‘60’s I still found it in places which had not yet received electricity or other "benefits" of modern civilization. This is exactly the fulfillment of Prophecy of St. Neilos of Athos, first printed about 1800, that men deluded by science would abandon the worship of God.

Nothing is worse for the soul than bodily comfort!

I cannot believe that anyone can do any good thing except from Fear of God, nor ever truly repent without it. "The Beginning of Wisdom is the Fear of the Lord." If we think that we love God, I always find that we are entirely deluding ourselves, mistaking mere human emotion for Grace and Supernatural Virtues which we do not have. We love God exactly as much as we love that person or persons most obnoxious to us. When all natural affections are stripped away, then we see how much is our Supernatural Love, and what is delusion. In reality, only Fear of God will keep us from sin and evil, and it seems to me that in our Western Culture at this time, it is totally absent, and therefore we Live in a world unsurpassed for Evil, and every kind of debauchery imaginable. If God destroyed Sodom and Gomorra, how can he spare the USA which is corrupt- ing the youth of the world ?

I cannot find anyone born after 1945 who even knows what fear of God is, just as those who have not lived abroad, in cultures totally different from ours, Indonesia, or other Islamic countries, can even imagine what a Theocratic Culture is. I doubt how anyone can be saved without Fear of God and living in a Theo- cratic Culture!

Can no one then be saved in America? I doubt it, because no matter how much one goes to church, or what good works they do (America is big on "good works" ) they are all done for purely natural reasons: to make us proud of ourselves, to win the approbation of others, because it gives us a nice warm glow, and self- satisfaction. Only if one goes to a monastery or some such community, and cuts oneself off completely from contemporary culture, which is intrinsically Godless, being based on Humanism, and completely drenched and brainwashed in hedonism, the search for comfort, rather than self denial, the essence of the Gospel of the Cross.

Try naming the first 20 people in your address Book, and asking, are they devoted to denying them- selves, taking up their crosses daily, doing penance for their sins, and placing God’s Will first in everything they do, every decision they make? This is what it means to be a Christian. This is what the Sermon on the Mount teaches, beginning with "Blessed be ye poor! …Woe to ye rich! Blessed be ye who hunger now!..Woe to ye who are filled! Blessed be ye that mourn!...Woe to ye that laugh now, for you shall mourn hearafter."(Luke VI:21)

America was founded by people who came here because they did NOT believe in the Gospel, but sought "a better (easier ) life. They did NOT want to follow the Way of the Cross, and self sacrifice, but sought always more comforts. We know where this easy way leads. Only by renouncing the mistake we, or our ancestors made, absolutely, can we follow the Cross, in which alone is Salvation.

Recently in Afghanistan, a poor country, there was a government called the Taliban. Americans were taught to ridicule it, but ALL their precepts can be found in the New Testament. It was one of the few governments in the world whose primary concern was the salvation of the souls of its people. No television. No immodesty. No immorality. Wives subject to their husbands. Too bad we destroyed it and are now corrupting the people as fast as we can.

Moslems do not want us to become Moslems, but that we become Christians ! (And turn the other cheek, love our enemies, etc.) And stop perverting the youth of the world. God is on their side. As far as one can see, Moslems seem to Fear God, and care about their eternal lives more than the pleasures of this world. I am NOT recommending that we become Moslem, but that we are at least as God-Fearing as they, for no one can be saved without repentance, and there is no True Repentance without the Fear of God. Our Confessions are Vain and Sacrilegious, because we are not really repentant, but merely going through vain empty forms. We only go to Church if it pleases us. If the priest is nice to us, if the choir sings the kind of music we like, in a language we like, if we meet our kind of people there, and nobody expects us to sacrifice our money , comfort or convenience. Fear of God? " Don’t be silly! Are you suggesting that I am not a good Christian? Well, I certainly won’t come to your church!"

It seems to me that Fear of God which I actually saw a half century ago, and without which NO ONE can be saved , has vanished. Therefore, This must be the Advent of the Antichrist, foretold by so many Orthodox saints and prophets, especially in the last two hundred years.