120. Сети, раскинутые на пути

We see that people in those places where birds and animals walk secretly spread nets to catch them. So Satan, Christians, spreads his nets for us and tries to catch us in them. At holy baptism, by the grace of God, we have ascended the path of salvation, and by this path we are trying to come to our heavenly Fatherland, for which we were created by our Creator, and, having fallen, redeemed, and called by the word of God, and renewed by the washing of rebirth. On this path of ours, our enemy is spreading many different nets to catch us to his destruction. This is his business and concern. 1) Various heresies, schisms and superstitions. Oh, how many Christian souls have been caught and are being caught by the cunning and crafty enemy in these nets. The past centuries testify to this, and now we see it with regret and sighing! He only tries to confuse people in the networks of heresy, schism, and superstition and through this to seduce, entrap and cause harm to many others. Heresy is like a pestilence, which, having begun in one person, infects many. Heresy is an opinion and teaching that is contrary to God and His holy word, and comes from ignorance and misunderstanding of the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, in order not to get entangled in these nets of the evil one, we must unswervingly adhere to God’s holy word. God's word is the rule of our faith, as the holy prophet says: Thy law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths (Ps. 119:105). The Holy Scriptures were interpreted and explained by the God-bearing fathers and teachers of the church. It is useful to read his and their books to understand. So, Christian, hold on to God’s word, so as not to get entangled in the networks of heresy, schism, and superstition. And when you hear from a person a word contrary to the word of God, such as one infected with a pestilence, beware. A hostile spirit is recognized by an evil smell. The human word is a witness to the human heart and the spirit living in it. God's word warns us against these snares of the enemy. Beloved! Believe not every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). And one more thing: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will recognize them (Matthew 7:15–16). 2) Extends the nets of love of this world, its pride and vanity. Presents to every Christian soul the honor, glory, wealth and luxury of this world and whispers in the ears how good and pleasant it is to be honored, to have honor and worship from everyone, to be glorified and praised by everyone, to live in wealth, in a rich and beautiful house, to have many servants, to dress in silk and handsome clothes, to ride in a carriage in a train, to know noble and illustrious people, to dress richly every day eating and having fun, and entertaining visiting guests, and so on. Thus, whispering, the evil spirit plots so that the poor man becomes entangled in such vain thoughts, and does not think about his Christian position and title, and forgets that he has been redeemed, and called, and renewed to eternal life. Oh, how many Christians are caught in these snares, especially in these times! Christian, answer the evil spirit this way: We brought nothing into the world; It’s obvious that we can’t take anything out of it. Having food and clothing, let us be content with this (1 Tim. 6:7–8). The word of God warns us against these snares. Do not love the world, nor the things in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love in him. For everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world. And the world passes away, and its lusts, but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15–17). And one more thing: Set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things (Col. 3:2). You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 4:24). Turn away my eyes, O Lord, from seeing vanity; live me in Thy way. Make Thy servant Thy word to fear (Ps. 119:37-38). 3) The enemy spreads his nets for us when he entices us into every sin, and tries to catch and confuse us like a net. Oh, how many people are caught in these destructive nets and become entangled in them! The evildoers and murderers are caught by these nets. Adulterers, fornicators and all lovers of uncleanness are caught by him. Thieves, predators, robbers and covetous people were caught by him; drunkards and sensualists are caught by him. Foul-mouthed people and blasphemers are caught by him. Those who quarrel and bite each other are caught by him. Parents and authorities who resist are caught by him. The slanderers, blasphemers and blasphemers are caught by him. The deceitful, charming and deceivers are caught by him. The sorcerers and those who call them to themselves are caught by him. Those who live in idleness, those who insidiously eat other people's bread for nothing, are caught by him, and other lawless and untruthful people are caught by him. God's word warns us against these snares: Come, children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who loves life and wants to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful words. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it (Ps. 33:12–14). And again: Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord turn away from unrighteousness. The wages of sin is death (2 Tim. 2:19; Rom. 6:23, and in many other places). For our precautions, the Holy Scriptures also write about executions that took place for sins. This is why they were shown to us - but we are afraid to do what the lawless did and were executed. Beware, Christian, of all sins. The devil's network is a sin. Beware of the net, so that you don’t get caught and get stuck in the net. 4) The devil spreads his nets for us when he puts evil thoughts in us: unbelief, all kinds of doubt; blasphemy against the name of God, despair, and so on. This and similar things are felt by pious souls and those who fight against him. God’s word warns us against these snares: Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him with firm faith (1 Peter 5:8–9). Christian! Beware of these enemy networks. How many times do you feel such an evil thought, so many times the enemy spreads his net over you and wants to catch you. We know the vile spirit from the stinking smell. 5) We see that when he himself cannot catch a person, he sends evil people to him, his servants, through whom, as his real instrument, he tries to catch him. From here we see many charmers, cunning people, deceivers who pretend to be kind and try to creep into a pious heart and enter into friendship with it, but inside there are wolves in sheep’s clothing and a secret weapon of the devil. Through such servants of his, the devil tries to catch a pious soul and confuse him in his nets. Such wolves are more dangerous than the devil himself. But they are known by their fruits, for no matter how cunning and how they hide themselves, they still show their poison, hidden inside them. Beware of such people, Christian! Our Savior told us: By their fruits you will know them (Matthew 7:16). 6) The devil spreads his nets over us when he restores persecution, malice, hatred, ridicule and ridicule from people against us. This is why it happens that pious souls suffer a lot from those who love this world and hear slander carried on the tongues and lips of men about sins that they do not know about themselves. This is the intrigue and cunning of the devil, so that a pious person, unable to endure such slander and human hatred, turns away from the good path. Thus, idolaters invented false and grave slander against ancient Christians through the cunning of the devil, so that they, having abandoned Christian piety, would turn to their wickedness. The same evil spirit still operates through false Christians. Christian! Christ the Lord warns us against these snares and strengthens us on His path, saying: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Rev. 2:10). And one more thing: he who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13). 7) His secret and very hidden networks - when, under the guise of goodness, evil and under the guise of virtue, vice, like a poison hidden under honey, presents to us. Thus he teaches a husband to leave his wife and his husband’s wife under the guise of abstinence, but by doing so the evil spirit plots to plunge them into the pit of adultery. There is a lot of this evil in the world. He puts it in a person’s heart to abstain from certain foods, for it is impossible to eat them all, but by doing so he intends for him to discredit God’s creation, and become arrogant, and despise and destroy others for what they eat. There is a lot of this evil in the world. For every creation of God is good, and nothing is reprehensible if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer (1 Tim. 4:4-5). He teaches a person to leave home and visit others under the guise of love, but thereby wants to remove him from prayer, useful reflection and deeds characteristic of his calling, and plunge him into idleness, idle talk, slander and condemnation and other evils. And it happens that the person who returns to the house is not the same one who left the house. There is nothing more beneficial for a person than to stay at home and in solitude. He teaches a person to seek honor, under the guise of serving society: “You will, if you are in honor, serve society,” but with this he plans to corrupt him, and plunge him into countless evils, and harm him with many temptations. It is good to serve society, but it is bad to commit lies and serve mammon (Matthew 6:24). Soon such servants will show themselves. Truly, many would be saints if they were not honored. Honor for the foolish is like a sword with which he kills himself and others. We must first learn to manage ourselves, and then others. The enemy puts it in a person’s heart to collect wealth for the sake of giving alms: “You will supply the poor with this, and from this you will have considerable benefit,” but with this he plans to root the love of money in his heart and lead him to all unrighteousness. Hence it happens that many give generously to others, but take away from others. Many gentlemen are generous to the poor and wretched, but are stingy for their peasants and lead them into poverty and squalor. It is useful to give alms, but it is harmful to offend others. What kind of alms is this - to take from one and give to another! This is not charity, but inhumanity. The first Christian mercy is not to offend. The enemy also does this: under the guise of treats, for the sake of love, he teaches a person to organize dinners and feasts, and to call his friends to them, and treat them. But by doing so he is plotting to bring the owner and others to drunkenness, disorder, luxury and waste of property and other evils. From here we see how many such loving, but harmful treats for souls have multiplied. It is good to open the doors of your house, and to receive guests, and to treat them, but indiscriminately to all, strangers who do not have anything to eat, and, moreover, in a decorous manner and without any disorder. Such strangeness is a Christian virtue. But it is bad to please your own whims, and to get drunk, and to spend your property on your whims, and to do other evil that happens at banquets and feasts. Many spend quite a lot on banquets and feasts, but give nothing to the poor and wretched. Many of the rich and famous invite people to dinner, but the doors are closed to the poor who have no food. The adversary leads a person to this under the guise of a love treat. These and other various networks are spread by the enemy on the path that Christians take to eternal life. 8) No person can get rid of these and other enemy networks on his own. What should we, Christians, do to avoid falling into the enemy’s snare? The Holy Prophet, by his example, points out the means by which we get rid of his snares, and says: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help will come. My help comes from the Lord, who created heaven and earth. But then he says and warns us: Do not let your foot stumble: He who guards you will not sleep. Behold, He who guards Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord will keep you; The Lord is your covering from your right hand. The sun will not burn you during the day, and the moon will not burn you at night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; The Lord will preserve your soul. The Lord will guard your entrance and your exit from now on and forever (Ps. 120:1-8). This is the saving grace – God’s help. All our efforts and labor without God’s help are useless and vain (See John 15:5). We need constant and fervent prayer so that the Lord will help us in such an important matter. He Himself knows that we need His help, but He wants us to ask, seek and knock on the doors of His mercy (See Matt. 7:7). 9) When the Israelites came out of Egypt and passed through the Red Sea, and walked through the desert to the promised land, then although holy Moses was their leader and his successor Joshua, the Lord Himself was invisibly present there, and led them, and defeated their enemies who opposed them, and so brought them into the promised land, as the prophet sang to Him: God, with our ears we have heard and our fathers told us about the deed that You You did in their days, in the days of old: Your hand destroyed the nations, and you planted them; struck down the nations and drove them out; for they did not acquire the land with their sword, nor did their arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance, for You were pleased with them (Ps. 43:2-4). Through Holy Baptism we have been delivered from slavery to the devil, and through this life, like a desert, we go to our heavenly Fatherland, for which we have been redeemed by the Blood of Christ. But the devil with his evil networks, the world with temptations, the flesh with passions and lusts resist us, and put up obstacles for us, and do not allow us to do so. However, let us not abandon our work, but let us go further and further along our path. For the same Lord Jesus Christ is invisibly present with us, according to His false promise: And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen (Matthew 28:20). And He leads us and will lead us to the heavenly Fatherland, if only we follow Him with faith and love, humility and meekness. He who promised is faithful (Heb. 10:23). He gives what he promised. My sheep obey My voice, and I know them; and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand, says the Lord (John 10:27–28). Christians! Let us only be Christ’s sheep and surrender ourselves and our whole lives into Christ’s all-powerful hands. Then we will certainly be in the heavenly fence and in the pasture of eternal life. And although we will endure many temptations, troubles and misfortunes in this world, we will nevertheless be in eternal peace. And the psalm word will be fulfilled on us: You have tested us, O God, you have purified us with fire, as silver is purified by fire, you have brought us into a net, you have placed sorrows on our backs, you have placed a man on our heads. We went through fire and water, and He brought us out to rest (Ps. 65:10–12). Let us also think about what the apostle wrote: The sufferings of this present time are not worth anything in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). 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