On the other hand, one of the Evil One's nastiest deceptions may very well be to lead people into heterodox confessions while letting them think they've found the true Faith. Granted, God will save whomsoever He chooses, but salvation for those outside the Church is not guaranteed. The work of high-profile evangelicals makes our task of proclaiming Orthodoxy to the world more difficult, rather than aiding it. In that sense, he really is working against us.
or, quite possibly, the Deceiver's tactic is to allow us to become so prideful and full of pomp that we lose sight of Christ and we forget about LOVE!
What are the fruits of our Church in recent years? Laughable, that's what they are.
The Church became so accustomed to using the state as a crutch that when the state fell, our Church fell too. But we were leaning heavily on that crutch, really. Is this the vision of the Kingdom?
Look at Greece! While the faith is alive in many, there are also many who lack faith. If all of Greece had anything close to a True Christian faith, then the world around them would be changed. But it's not.
And Russia. The Church became so ill and lost it's vision. It's no surprise that the Communists found plenty of supporters. The Church in Russia had lost it's moral authority. Why? We can't blame this on others, as no excuse is great enough. In the Early Church, a nascent organization of people (with little funding an no government support) showed great fruit...charity, love, and peace.
Look at the Ecumenical Patriarch! Once the capital of the empire, all of the earthly glory is gone yet for some reason this Earthly kingdom must be preserved. Oh yeah, and Greek culture. Because that's obviously so important. Same thing in Jerusalem, too.
No, our Church has been winding down, not due to heterodox, but due to ourselves! We think that some parts of the Gospel, such as Christ's condemnations to the Pharisees, were just for that time period. But they are meant for us, too.
And so as our Church was winding down, and as love was waning, as unity was breaking, and as people dying, we clutched to our little bit-o-truth and whispered to ourselves "we have the truth!"
clutching it close to our chest so that no one could see it, we forget about the parable of the talents. That was about money, right? Not about our Christian faith.
This is our fruit. While we are at all times to lead the world in generousity and love, we spend more time on festival preparations than on charity. I've been to several different Orthodox Churches, each for a few years. Not once was there a clear message or general impetus put on me by my fellow brothers and sisters, or by the clergy, to really do something for other people. It was always "attend more services" since that will make me holy. Somehow.
Yet something did happen...Christ, always being with us as he promised, helped to pique the interest of the heterodox. People who themselves had not split from our church, but who descended from those who had (many generations ago). And so with their zeal and love for Christ, their zeal began to wake up "cradles" too.
Mission. They helped us with mission. And do you know how many of those heterodox gained their zeal? By preachers like Billy Graham. In fact, my dad (now Orthodox) had his Christian faith awakened by Billy Graham. It was this zeal for Christ that led my dad to the Church, which in turned help me.
So while I don't think that an Orthodox Christian should necessarily listen to a preacher like Billy Graham for lessons on theology, I do think people (and there are many of these in our Church) who's faith is waning or out of focus should be jolted awake by him or another Christian with his same Charisma.
