A Treatise on Apostasy

[Crevel 7557]

A TREATISE ON APOSTASY

 

Our faith is not merely a set of beliefs. It is a lifestyle. It is an acknowledgement of our Creator, our Lord, our God, our Father for His role in our being and in the paths He has created for us. His miracles and blessings are everywhere. By our very creation and birth, we are all subject to His miracle. We know of Him and that they belong to Him because He has made it clear to us through His word. It is an obligation that we possess as His creation to live closely to Him, according to the Virtue that He laid out to us, to reach a state of theosis where we make an honest and earnest replication of His grace and mercy that He has offered to us. It is not an endeavour taken selfishly, it is an endeavour journeyed with utmost love for our Father and in reciprocation we are united in the Seven Skies. The true home for all of His creation. However, even as one son can understand his father’s love and return it, so too can another son misunderstand the very same love and reject it– not understanding the nature of his father’s love. It is not that the father does not love the rejectful son, it is that the son has devalued the gifts that he has been given and has perhaps even been deceived by others to be unappreciative of his father. This is what apostasy is. It is the wilful rejection of our Father, the Lord God, even in spite of the continued blessings received. Love is not a transaction to be haggled over. As His creation, He is graceful and merciful to us all even if we reject Him. A son may reject His father, but a father will always know and love His son.

 

Now we must ask ourselves: as one big spiritual family with God as our father, is it not our responsibility as kin to ensure that we are all in a mutual understanding of our father’s love? I would say so, many others would say so, and our Father would too. It’s unfortunately the case that many who reject our Father were never truly given an opportunity to see Him clearly. He has always been in our view to behold, but His miracles and blessings are generationally attributed elsewhere by ignorant naysayers or the temporally downtrodden, and those who work iniquities purposefully misrepresent Him in pursuit of their evils. There is no fault to be placed on those raised in apostasy. After all, when a child is raised to never know God, how can they truly understand Him? In many such instances, these individuals still follow paths that somewhat toe the virtuous path because His virtue is natural to us as His creations. However, they can never truly walk in step with Him because they have not known Him. With proper teaching, they can very easily return to the destined path. The same can be said to those who fell to apostasy later in their lives, though it may require more effort. They will feel that God has forsaken them or that He is malevolent. This is, of course, not true. Many have misappropriated His miracles and blessings to pursue their own worldly goals. As His blessings extend to everyone, it can be easy for those who feel downtrodden to equate His Virtue and Word with malevolence when those working iniquities are parading that they are a vessel of God’s will or are acting in accordance to Him when they are not at all. There is a certain fault in allowing yourself and others to fall to apostasy, but it is a fault that may be overlooked when the damage has been corrected. We all sin and fall short of God, but in His mercy He gives each of us a lifetime of opportunities to redeem ourselves and continue to be in active communion with Him. We all must look for these opportunities to bring ourselves closer to Him, even if we may already consider ourselves in good standing with Him.

 

When it comes to treating apostasy, it is important that it is done with care and finesse. As faithful, we are not God’s arbiters. God is the only true arbiter and judge of Virtue for only He can see into our hearts. However, we are further along in our connection with and understanding of the Lord and it’s from that position that our duty derives to return those fallen from grace to Him. We must be firm yet merciful, acting in accordance to His virtue. Do not punish, reprimand and show them the errors of their ways and in their understanding. We do not want to sully His virtue, His word, and His wisdom. Strive to have them voluntarily give up any objects that may lead them towards apostasy such as idols and symbols to false or lesser deities, but if need be they should be confiscated or dismantled. Do not do so out of anger, but because you wish the best for them. Make it clear that these objects are a constant disruption in their path to redemption. Let it not be a moment where they feel that they have been attacked. Let it be a moment where it is as a teacher teaches his student. It may feel harsh, but remind them that He is the Lord God without peer, and His Word is the holy word, and His path is the virtuous path, and all the blessings of the Virtue shall fall before the righteous who tread it. If a mass effort is being made to return apostates into the fold, encourage those who have finally come to see Him to speak with their friends and family. Let them see firsthand the bliss that comes from being able to trust in His miracles and His blessings, and knowing that through Him we are sustained. I leave below a set of verses that we must keep close in our dealings with the misguided apostates so that we may remind ourselves of our duty.

 

“And so I have placed into your hearts the blessings of abundance: the virtuous wealth of the spirit. And as I have given to you this blessing of My Word, you shall also give unto your fellows. For I have placed into your heart a wealth of virtue, and I have created for you a garden of abundance. And you shall give your fellows the abundance of the spirit, which is My Word. For the abundance of the spirit is never divided, but multiplied. So I am the Most High, and in pursuit of my Virtue, I bid My faithful this: You shall not desire the wealth of this world, nor the wealth of others, but the wealth of the spirit. I am the Lord GOD without peer, and My abundance is the holy abundance, and My wealth is the virtuous wealth, and all the blessings of the Virtue shall fall before the righteous who share it.”

Virtue 2:5-11

Lebe nach Gott,