What is law? One possible definition is this: “Law refers to a system of rules that regulate the conduct of a community and is often enforced by a controlling authority through penalties.” Law tells us what we are allowed to do and what we are not allowed to do – like in the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Honour thy father and thy mother.”

Saint Paul was not inclusive in modern terms. On the contrary, he was extremely exclusive. Thus, he says at the beginning of the Epistle to the Galatians: “As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Similarly, in today’s Epistle to the Corinthians, he says: “I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”

Saint Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. His full name is Nathanael Bartholomew – Nathanael, the son of Tolmai. The name Nathanael means "gift of God". How Jesus called him to be one of his disciples is told in the first chapter of the Gospel of Saint John:

“Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”

Lust after evil things…  fornication… murmuring… Sounds like the most common description of everyday life in the so-called post-Christian world. The first thing to clarify here is that there is no post-Christian world. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and this means that everything His, He has all authority in heaven and on earth.

False prophets come in sheep’s clothing. They look like sheep – but inside they are ravenous wolves. They are like trees that look beautiful on the outside – but their fruit shows that they are rotten on the inside.

False prophets usually have no difficulty in deceiving people. That is why there is never a shortage of false prophets, past, present, or future. In the past, they had to wear rough robes, eat black bread and drink plain water, and wander around homeless. Today, they dress in designer suits, live in luxurious mansions, and travel on private jets. But their fruit is still the same: they mislead people, tempting them to abandon the narrow path that leads to life and walk with them on the broad way that ends in hellfire.