[ImmimiFruff]

Dear all,

Yes, as you pointed out, God in the past also allowed heresies and unfaithfullness the thrive but, as your examples also demonstrated, when the true faith started losing big God intervened in history to turn things around, because God is not indifferent to truth. In the case of Noah, Herman, God sent the flood the killed everybody else!! So God didn't say "Gee, why, indeed everybody but Noah is evil let's just sit and watch". God took very drastic action, out of His love for mankind.

In the case of Arianism, Michael, God sent Athanasius and the other early Fathers, to fight it and in the end the Truth prevailed. So Yes the Truth is not a popularity contest and people use their free will to reject God many times, but when things get really bad God intervenes and God and His truth prevail. To sit back and say "Gee, truth is not popular, so what" is not His answer.

So coming to our times, the percentage of people following God's Truth (as defined by the Orthodox Church anyway) is shrinking. Between 600-1000, Muslims were able ("allowed") to practically eradicate the Orthodox Churches in North Africa and the Middle East. In 1054, the Western and the Eastern Churches split...In 1514, Luther came and we now have 500 Protestant sects. So either God thinks that this is fine, that maybe the "Truth" is also beyond the Orthodox Church or God will soon intervene again. I don't see a third alternative