To repent is to confess a sin, to regret it, to leave the way of it and to never repeat it.
Many centuries of human and territorial losses should have started concerns in the Armenian clergy long ago, regardless of their church affiliation, and led them to their knees to pray for repentance.
One day, when Jesus was spreading the Good News and performing miracles, the disciples spoke to Him in concern: “‘Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me’” (Mk. 9:38-39).
Instead of having concerns about losses, instead of repenting “in sackcloth and ashes”, the clergy fell into divisions. Instead of fighting the demonic world in unity, they fought one another and continued having losses.
The tragedy is, this is still going on. They say, smart people learn from the mistakes of others, and fools learn from their own mistakes. History and the terrible losses are a proof that we are not smart; but it turns out that we are not fools as well to at least learn from our own mistakes. Who are we then?
“You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.’ But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.” (Jer. 5:3-5).
This is who we are: those who have broken the yoke of the Lord and burst the bonds; we are unbridled people. This is not me speaking, but the Word of God. Let us turn our eyes to the Lord, humble ourselves before His holiness and majesty and repent as a nation. Today we need the Lord more than ever. And let us humble ourselves before the Lord not because of the fear of perishing or national annihilation, but because of the reverent fear of rejecting Him and not honoring Him in a proper way. “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?’ says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name” (Mal. 1:6).
Recently I heard that there are people praying to the Most High, who not only are sure that they have served the Lord in an acceptable way and have no fault at all in the present tragedy of our nation, but also cry out to God on these fateful days: “Lord, make superpowers to militarily and diplomatically intervene into the affairs of our country! Make the world powers who produce weapons help us!” Forgive us, Lord, forgive us! Dear praying people, don’t you think that instead of trusting the miraculous hand of the Lord, you try to direct Him to arm Armenia, and with your actions, you ignite the wrath of the Lord? What if the Lord answers your prayers? What if He equips our army with the latest weapons and allows a new war to start, which in turn will bring new deaths…?
The nation of Israel lived in the wilderness for 40 years; their clothes and shoes did not wear out, and they ate the heavenly manna. However, when they once again disregarded the Lord by asking whether He could give them meat in the wilderness, the Lord again showed His power: “Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea… And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail… But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague” (Num. 11:31-33).
Spiritual blindness does not allow to come to know the GOD OF PEACE AND LOVE, Who does not want anyone to perish. He says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12).
Today we must repent as a nation. In my previous posts, I spoke about restoring the spiritual wall of Armenia, realizing our own sins and repenting. Speaking about the spiritual walls, I noted that according to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the house of the Lord – the church – must be restored first. What have we missed? I will speak about what I have seen myself. And I am sure that there are people led by the Holy Spirit, who can add some other things.
First of all, every church that acknowledges Jesus Christ as God and receives Him as their Lord and Savior must have a vision from the Holy Spirit and be faithful in fulfilling that vision. In the Churches, prayer ministries are to be born in the same way worship, missions, charity and other ministries are born. Prayer ministry shall consist of those who have graduated from a prayer school, are anointed by the Holy Spirit, are humble and have experienced personal victories with the help of Jesus Christ.
Churches shall have schools based on biblical teaching for each of its ministries – missions, worship ministry, social ministry, ministries working on training and education of children and youth, etc. The Lord gives this big vision to pastors, who fulfill it along with faithful assistants. However, pastors must desire this with all their hearts and must found these schools by following the leading of the Holy Spirit. In case of disobedience, they will mislead the people in their churches.
The churches must teach about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Fivefold Ministry Gifts. The Church of the Lord, whose head is Jesus Christ, must fulfill God’s will on the earth as Jesus the Savior did, Who during all His earthly life did nothing of Himself: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (Jn. 5:19).
I am sure that there are church ministers who would think that they have all this, and that they serve God, fulfilling the desires of His heart. Dears, let us pray to the Lord asking Him to open our spiritual eyes, so that we can see everything as the Father sees. I neglect no one’s many years of dedicated service and sacrifices; I just want us to be awakened with the help of the Holy Spirit and try to understand whether we did everything the way the Lord wanted, because today’s state of our country and nation shows the opposite.
A couple of words about the sins which our nation commits and of which we Christians are partly responsible due to our indifference. We have probably prayed against them, but we have not resisted to bloodshed: “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4).
We have widely opened the spiritual gates of Armenia to other gods. In Yerevan, there are even development centers for children, in which they practice yoga. Halloween has become a popular holiday. Supporters of satanism are destroying our country, hiding behind slogans about the preservation of our homeland and national development. Witches see Armenia as a “rich soil.”
A part of those who leave Armenia forever knowingly or unknowingly proclaim curses over our country: “This country will never become an established one”.
Willingly or unwillingly, great number of nation became infanticides; through abortion, they kill baby girls and give birth to baby boys only. They rebel against God, saying: “I want a son…!” there are other parents, for whom the gender of the child does not play a major role, but they abort those children whom they think they are not able to raise.
Sexual perversions try to enlarge their tents; gender reassignment and homosexuality are advancing confidently.
The Lord gave us a holy land and set its borders. He knew who our neighbors are, and that is why He gave us commandments: “If you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments… the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth… The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face… if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you” (Deut. 28:1, 7-8).
Let us stop hardening our hearts and being stubborn. Let us humble ourselves before the Lord, Who by the power of the Cross of Calvary, at the price of His Blood, through His death and resurrection saved us from any curse, misery and loss. “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them” (Ps. 103:17-18).