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This book, originally written by Father Seraphim Rose of Platina, CA, has been updated. It's a powerful look at the New Age and other pagan influences that have cropped up in contemporary America. I am finding it to be a splash of cold water that has awakened me to some things I have become comfortable overlooking.

There is a story included in Father Seraphim's book that I have read elsewhere. It tells of a group of Christians meeting a pagan "holy man" in India who is able to show them how he had foreseen their arrival by boat. The man who tells it is an Orthodox priest who becomes uneasy about the experience and begins to recite the Jesus Prayer. As soon as he does, the vision the "holy man" has brought disappears. As the group leaves, the priest turns to look back and he meets the "holy man's" glare that he describes as satanic.

I think this points to the fact that we have forgotten that the Enemy is still active but we have forgotten that there is are malevolent spiritual beings who are still actively trying to turn us away from God. We fail to remember this because the world has given up on the idea of sin--and even a spiritual world beyond our present world--and idea that there are malevolent forces in the spiritual world.

We can't YOU be Pope, Theophan?

Christ is in our midst!!

Alex,

The Holy Spirit has worked overtime to prevent that.

Perhaps this does not belong here, yet this story is part of a struggle which I have with the plans/purposes of God regarding mankind. I can't understand why our Lord, whose will it is that all should come to salvation and the knowledge of Christ (1 Tim. 2:4) allows a defeated enemy the leeway to entice, deceive, and lie to human beings. Certainly we have, in our corrupted natures, more than enough deceit to take us away from God without having the influence of other such human beings who give themselves over to the enemy of our souls.

Has anyone else wrestled with these thoughts? Or would I be better just to ignore them as best I can and say the Jesus Prayer when they come around to bother me?

Christ is in our midst!!

Edward H,

I wrestle with these and many other such issues. The answer, IMHO, is that these issues cause us to turn to the Lord time and time and time again. Without them, we might be tempted to think we were doing okay and drift away.

The challenge is, I think, to remember that God is GOOD! and that we are very limited in our understanding of just how good He is and that all things will work out for us in love. There are days that the accusatory thoughts are very strong, and all I can do is to repeat, both to myself and the accusing spirit, "God is love. God is good." until the thoughts are chased away and some semblance of sanity returns to me.

I read the Kindle version about 3 years ago, and got a hard copy of it last year, so I wonder if that's the updated one?

I think Fr. Rose had a lot of genuine warnings in that book, if not prophecies. When I first read it, I thought the section on UFOs went on too long, but after last year's "aliens were here" news cycle, I think he had a point.

Of course, I don't agree with a lot of his thoughts on the Catholic Church, and to be fair, he calls out a lot of Orthodox prelates in the book, too. But overall, I think it's probably the most relevant book discussing the coming dangers of secular society that he foresaw in the 1970s.