Ember Saturday In Advent 2014: The Coming Restoration Of The Divinely Ordained Authority Of The Holy Roman Emperor (VI)

GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints
c. 1483

EPISTLE SATURDAY IN EMBER WEEK OF ADVENT
2nd Epistle Of Saint Paul To The Thessalonians 1-8

And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together unto him: That you be not easily moved from your sense, nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, Who opposeth, and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God. Remember you not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Tertullian in Apologetico Chp 32 saith, that Christians do pray for the continuance of the Roman Empire because they know, that when that Empire is overthrown, there shall a great calamity fall upon the world.

Roman Catholics have always prayed for the well being of the Roman Emperor and the Empire - even in its pagan form. The Church has countless Roman martyrs testifying to the Roman Catholic practice of praying for the good of the Roman Emperor. The pagan Roman Empire eventually converted to the Roman Catholic faith after 300 years of faithful prayers made by the Roman martyrs. The blood of the Roman martyrs converted the pagan Roman Emperor and Empire.

Now-a-days men have the government of their choice. Modern men have thrown off the yoke of the Divinely Ordained Authority of the Holy Roman Emperor and have created modern democracy to fill its place. Even with this man made form of government - modern democracy - modern men are still not satisfied. Last year a protestant heretic made the news by publicly announcing that he is praying for the death of President Obama. Conservatives have nothing but disdain for President Obama. Conservatives claim that Obama is not worthy of the Office. But is Obama really that contemptible? Look at the morals and lives of the past presidents. Are these men any better than Obama? No. All men chosen for the highest office in the land are cut from the same cloth. The same protestant background with the same heretical beliefs and perverse morals. Obama is what America wants. The man-made Office of the U.S. Presidency gurantees that we have such men to fill its seat. These office holders do not cooperate with Divine Grace - they war against it - this is evident in the laws that are passed in this country and the bad customs that are protected and promoted by these men. Obama is the perfect candidate - he best exemplifies all that is found in a man-made governmental system that was created to reject Divine Providence. A better discription of the modern America political way of life can not be found than what Lady Wisdom has already proclaimed:

‘For they have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right: The time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is no remedy, and no man hath been known to have returned from hell: For we are born of nothing, and after this we shall be as if we had not been: for the breath in our nostrils is smoke: and speech a spark to move our heart, Which being put out, our body shall be ashes, and our spirit shall be poured abroad as soft air, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, which is driven away by the beams of the sun, and overpowered with the heat thereof: And our name in time shall be forgotten, and no man shall have any remembrance of our works. For our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth. Come therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine, and ointments: and let not the flower of the time pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with roses, before they be withered: let no meadow escape our riot. Let none of us go without his part in luxury: let us everywhere leave tokens of joy: for this is our portion, and this our lot. Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor honour the ancient grey hairs of the aged. But let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble, is found to be nothing worth.' Wisdom 2:1-11

Obama should not be held in comtempt as conservatives do hold but rather it is the man-made office of President itself that should be held in comtempt. Conservatives do not understand this so they will continue to cast ballot after ballot hoping for change that never comes - no one alive today will ever see any improvement in this country's morals and customs. Conservative don't get it.

Tertullian Apologetico Chp 31-34 Christians pray for the Roman Emperor

Chapter 31
But we merely, you say, flatter the emperor, and feign these prayers of ours to escape persecution. Thank you for your mistake, for you give us the opportunity of proving our allegations. Do you, then, who think that we care nothing for the welfare of Cæsar, look into God's revelations, examine our sacred books, which we do not keep in hiding, and which many accidents put into the hands of those who are not of us. Learn from them that a large benevolence is enjoined upon us, even so far as to supplicate God for our enemies, and to beseech blessings on our persecutors. Matthew 5:44 Who, then, are greater enemies and persecutors of Christians, than the very parties with treason against whom we are charged? Nay, even in terms, and most clearly, the Scripture says, Pray for kings, and rulers, and powers, that all may be peace with you. 1 Timothy 2:2 For when there is disturbance in the empire, if the commotion is felt by its other members, surely we too, though we are not thought to be given to disorder, are to be found in some place or other which the calamity affects.

Chapter 32
There is also another and a greater necessity for our offering prayer in behalf of the emperors, nay, for the complete stability of the empire, and for Roman interests in general. For we know that a mighty shock impending over the whole earth— in fact, the very end of all things threatening dreadful woes— is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman empire. We have no desire, then, to be overtaken by these dire events; and in praying that their coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome's duration. More than this, though we decline to swear by the genii of the Cæsars, we swear by their safety, which is worth far more than all your genii. Are you ignorant that these genii are called Dæmones, and thence the diminutive name Dæmonia is applied to them? We respect in the emperors the ordinance of God, who has set them over the nations. We know that there is that in them which God has willed; and to what God has willed we desire all safety, and we count an oath by it a great oath. But as for demons, that is, your genii, we have been in the habit of exorcising them, not of swearing by them, and thereby conferring on them divine honour.

Chapter 33
But why dwell longer on the reverence and sacred respect of Christians to the emperor, whom we cannot but look up to as called by our Lord to his office? So that on valid grounds I might say Cæsar is more ours than yours, for our God has appointed him. Therefore, as having this propriety in him, I do more than you for his welfare, not merely because I ask it of Him who can give it, or because I ask it as one who deserves to get it, but also because, in keeping the majesty of Cæsar within due limits, and putting it under the Most High, and making it less than divine, I commend him the more to the favour of Deity, to whom I make him alone inferior. But I place him in subjection to one I regard as more glorious than himself. Never will I call the emperor God, and that either because it is not in me to be guilty of falsehood; or that I dare not turn him into ridicule; or that not even himself will desire to have that high name applied to him. If he is but a man, it is his interest as man to give God His higher place. Let him think it enough to bear the name of emperor. That, too, is a great name of God's giving. To call him God, is to rob him of his title. If he is not a man, emperor he cannot be. Even when, amid the honours of a triumph, he sits on that lofty chariot, he is reminded that he is only human. A voice at his back keeps whispering in his ear, Look behind you; remember you are but a man. And it only adds to his exultation, that he shines with a glory so surpassing as to require an admonitory reference to his condition. It adds to his greatness that he needs such a reminiscence, lest he should think himself divine.

Chapter 34
Augustus, the founder of the empire, would not even have the title Lord; for that, too, is a name of Deity. For my part, I am willing to give the emperor this designation, but in the common acceptation of the word, and when I am not forced to call him Lord as in God's place. But my relation to him is one of freedom; for I have but one true Lord, the God omnipotent and eternal, who is Lord of the emperor as well. How can he, who is truly father of his country, be its lord? The name of piety is more grateful than the name of power; so the heads of families are called fathers rather than lords. Far less should the emperor have the name of God. We can only profess our belief that he is that by the most unworthy, nay, a fatal flattery; it is just as if, having an emperor, you call another by the name, in which case will you not give great and unappeasable offense to him who actually reigns?— an offense he, too, needs to fear on whom you have bestowed the title. Give all reverence to God, if you wish Him to be propitious to the emperor. Give up all worship of, and belief in, any other being as divine. Cease also to give the sacred name to him who has need of God himself. If such adulation is not ashamed of its lie, in addressing a man as divine, let it have some dread at least of the evil omen which it bears. It is the invocation of a curse, to give Cæsar the name of god before his apotheosis.

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