Безверие
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Signs of faith extinguished in the human heart:
1. A lawless life, contrary to the Word of God. The faith of the fornicator, the adulterer, and everyone who is unclean has faded away. The thief, rapist and robber have lost their faith. The evil one, the one who hates and breathes vengeance, has lost his faith. The slanderer, the harasser and the scolder have lost their faith. The hypocrite, the deceitful and the flattering, has lost his faith. In a word, every lawless person who does not guard his conscience, but acts against it, has his faith extinguished, and instead of the lamp of faith in them is the darkness of ignorance of God. What does light have in common with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14)? Light is faith, darkness is lawless life. What does faith have in common with the darkness of a lawless life? Although such people pray to God, they pray hypocritically, because their hearts are far from God. The word of God befits them: these people draw near to Me with their lips, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13).
2. Contempt for the Word of God and disgust from It.
4. Removal from communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Without them, faith cannot exist and survive in the human heart.
5. Predilection for temporary things: wealth, honor, fame and luxury. Faith is a heavenly gift, therefore it distracts the human heart from earthly wisdom and moves it towards heavenly wisdom. Such a person sins against the apostolic word: set your mind on things above, and not on earthly things (Col. 3:2).
Christians who have the lamp of faith burning in their hearts and will have it to the end, will go out to meet the Bridegroom Christ, who came to judge the living and the dead, and with Him they will enter the palace of heaven, like wise virgins: be faithful unto death, having this lamp in you, and I will give you the crown of life (Rev. 2:10), says Christ the Lord to you. And those who do not have this lamp in their hearts will not be worthy to meet Christ the King and will not be allowed into that palace, but will remain outside it and hear from Christ the King: I do not know you (Matthew 25:12).
Christian, this is a terrible word for Christians to hear from Christ: I don’t know you! Let us turn to God with all our hearts, and may our lamps be lit by His grace.