There are some troubling signs coming out of Oklahoma. First is her enthusiastic embrace of marijuana:
Via the Drudge Report.
Next is the ‘historic’ election of the first non-binary and Muslim to be elected to the Oklahoma State Legislature:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/05/politics/first-nonbinary-and-muslim-oklahoma-lawmaker/index.html
How can such things be happening in bright ‘red’ Oklahoma, which landed in the top ten States for highest church attendance just five years ago?
https://news.gallup.com/poll/181601/frequent-church-attendance-highest-utah-lowest-vermont.aspx
The answer lies in those very church demographics. By far most of Oklahoma’s Christians are Protestants, and Protestantism, for all its talk of fidelity to the Bible, is in its essence individualistic and relativistic (each individual is the final judge of what is or is not right doctrine), both of which characteristics are a deadly bane to community and tradition. Thus, whether it happens quickly or slowly, Oklahoma will go the way of Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Scotland, and the rest of the West into various forms of apostasy.
Sadly, this is the fate awaiting the rest of the South as well, for the same reasons. One recent way-marker - 56 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes approved sports betting within their boundaries on the Nov. 3rd, 2020, election day:
https://www.wafb.com/2020/11/04/results-out-parishes-approve-sports-betting/
This, again, in a State that ranked in the top 4 for weekly church attendance (see the Gallup poll linked above).
There is only one thing that will save Oklahoma, the South, and the rest of the West, and that is a return to the Orthodox Faith of their forefathers of the first 1,000 years of European church history, before the woeful Schism sundered the West from the Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles. Mighty Orthodox Saints of the West like St Samson of Dol (+565) must be our inspiration and guides:
https://orthochristian.com/105687.html
Self-destruction, as with Roman Catholicism (the first-fruits of the Great Schism), awaits us if we do not:
https://orthochristian.com/135350.html
But great unity and strength lie in store for us if we will humble ourselves and return to the Orthodox Church:
—Mother, but in times of trials, the Orthodox people are mobilized, illustrating unity and readiness to defend their holy sites. This is how it’s been for the whole thirty years of our independence.
—It’s enough to recall the All-Ukrainian cross procession in 2016, when Ukraine was burning with the fire of confrontations between east and west, and people were dying in the eastern part of the country. The cross procession demonstrated the true united faith of the inhabitants of eastern and western Ukraine, when the faithful from various regions of the country simultaneously left the Syvatogorsk Lavra in Donetsk and the Pochaev Lavra in Ternopil, with wonderworking icons, going out to meet each other.
I remember the rabid verbal obstruction that crashed down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, its primate, and the participants in the procession. Our opponents had such hatred for our Church that they were ready to spill blood.
When the column reached Borsypil, the Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov said grenades were found on the roadside—someone was planning a terrorist act. I saw footage of people from radical organizations throwing rocks at icons and crosses, throwing eggs, water bottles, and tearing icons from the hands of the processers. One of them seized a cross, and the people could barely get it back as the man raved and raged.
. . .
And these two cross processions, as well as many other processions from various dioceses of Ukraine, united into one grand procession on July 27, 2016, the eve of the feast of Prince Vladimir, the Baptizer of ancient Rus’.
I still have this picture before my eyes: a sea of people, with His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry standing in the center with his brothers, the archpastors, monastics, and dozens of wonderworking icons from all Ukrainian dioceses floating above the people along the central Kievan streets.
I would call this procession the pinnacle of the thirty years of the UOC. It was a great national prayer by believers from every province, every corner of Ukraine in its golden-domed capital, Kiev.
—There are testimonies of miraculous healings for people who risked everything to walk in the procession.
—We believe that the entire host of saints of ancient Rus’ and modern saints of our Church to whom we pray were present. Our Church is strong in its inextricable connection with the Heavenly Church. We see this by the miraculous events that have accompanied our flock over the course of the last three decades. Recall the 1990s: poverty, devastation, a lack of everything, and complete bewilderment for the majority of our citizens. And, in spite of this, how many beautiful churches were built and rebuilt? About 7,000 parishes were created!
. . .
And, of course, the Church’s greatest and most important wealth is its people—every person, and those who have served and are serving for the good of the Church by their firmness in defending Orthodoxy, their wisdom in Church building, and their apostolic preaching. This includes hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and the numerous representatives of the people of God.
Remembering the past, contemplating the present, you understand that the strength of Ukraine is its Orthodox faith!
--Father Deacon Sergei speaking with Abbess Seraphima, https://orthochristian.com/135381.html
Once again, the choice of death or life is set before the South and all the West. Once again, the Saints and Angels of the heavenly realm watch and pray for our salvation. May it not be in vain because of our stiff necks!
***
A ray of hope: A new Orthodox monastery has begun its life in Oklahoma, a little north of Oklahoma City:
https://orthochristian.com/135726.html
We hope many will find salvation through it, something which has been prophesied by holy men:
According to the witness of the great elders of our days, what is needed to counterbalance secularism is monasteries, where prayer is offered up and the timeless Glad Tidings of Christianity can become a reality. I believe that monasteries are the only hope for the spiritual remediation of our secularized society, amidst a Protestantism that has lost its ideals. We received true inspiration and consolation last year during our pilgrimage to Greece, where we visited a large convent and talked to its abbess. She told us that as a spiritual daughter of St. Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite, she would often hear the following amazing words from him, “Monasteries will appear in Finland, too. People in Finland will be saved.” May God grant this to us and may monasteries in other countries become spiritually stronger. They will be the keepers of the faith in the difficult times to come, as was predicted by many clairvoyant ascetics, such as St. Paisios the Hagiorite.
--Hannu Pöyhönen, Doctor of Theology in Finland, https://orthochristian.com/135415.html
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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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