5. The Enemies of Christ
Lord Jesus Christ, had and still has many enemies. His Father said to Him : “Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool” (Luke, 20:42-43). The main enemies of Christ, within which all others are included, are three. It is the beast, together with the false prophet (the Antichrist), the devil and the death. All these three enemies of Christ, we see them to be thrown one after the other into the lake of fire that is in hell (Revelation 19:20, 20:10 and 20:14). Paul the apostle witnesses writing : “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (Corinthians A’, 15-26).
Jesus is: “The way, the truth and the life” (John, 14:6). Everyone of his three enemies fights one of his three characteristics. To start with the last, death, death fights the life, the devil the father of lie, hates and contradicts the truth and the beast together with the false prophet, that is the Antichrist constitute the obstacle to the way of salvation which Jesus offers free with His shedded blood onto the cross.
Jesus said to the scribes and the Pharisees, the theologists of his time: “Nor you enter but the others obstruct to enter into the kingdom of heaven”. The theologists and priests when Jesus Christ came on earth, were the main obstacle to the way of salvation. The priests and the theologists are still the obstacles of Christ to save people, directing people to other persons (to Virgin Mary – ” Panagia ” for Orthodox – and various other Saints), rather than to the side of Jesus.
The kiss of the hand, this type of greeting that the priests accept today in the Orthodox Church, was something that flattered the scribes and the Pharisees, something that drew the conviction of Christ (Luke, 20:46).
Another characteristic sign of the scribes and the Pharisees was that they liked the top ranks or honor seats – (Luke, 20:46). As it was written in the press, during the visit in 1987, the first after 933 years, of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople to Rome, where he met the Pope, the main obstacle to the unification of the two Churches is the honor seat or first place of the Pope which the Orthodox Church disputes.
The worst enemy, dear reader, is that one you consider to be your friend while he is your enemy. In this case the enemies of your soul are the people who constitute the beast – Antichrist and who as supposed to be the representatives of God on earth, they invite you to go with them to Paradise, while they can take you nowhere but only to the place where they themselves with mathematical accuracy they will end up : To Hell.