That "Low-Level Hum" ? It may be your Conscience.

Suspicion of Islam is not a bad thing. It is a sign of moral, mental and spiritual health. Especially when it comes from among Muslims.

by Ralph Sidway

In the recent story, “Backlash from Brussels terrorism frustrates Muslims in Maine,” by Matt Byrne, Portland Press Herald, one of the Muslims interviewed, Ahmed Abdiraham, described a “low-level hum of suspicion that permeates [Muslims’] everyday lives.” 

Mr. Abdiraham attributes that “low-level hum” to the “anger and hostility displayed nationally during the political campaign season,” which he claims stokes fear and anger against Muslims.

I wonder if that “low-level hum” which Abdiraham hears might not be coming from a different source. 

Here’s why.

Can There Have Been Two Annunciations?

In addition to being Good Friday for Western Christians, last Friday was March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. As the hymn for the Feast says, 

Today is the beginning of our salvation,
The revelation of the eternal mystery!
The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin
As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace...

Islam also begins with an annunciation of sorts, to Muhammad, coincidentally by a spirit being also identified as the angel Jibril (Gabriel). Only the nature and outcome of that annunciation is quite different from the one to the Virgin Mary six centuries earlier.

This article contrasts the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, with that 'second annunciation', to Muhammad. This is one of the most significant and revealing facts about Islam, one which we should always keep in the forefront of our considerations.

If Muslims worship the Same God as Christians, how could that Same God possibly send two such radically opposed revelations and messages? And could it be the Same God if He chose to send His revelation to Muhammad through such a dark and blatantly evil "annunciation"?

Devout Catholics ‘Inevitably Led Toward Being Like Mother Teresa,’ Devout Muslims Led To Jihad

Rebecca Mansour: "The key issue that nobody really wants to address here.  It is about devoutness. That is what causes jihadism.”

Yes — Devoutness for a different god. A false god. And a false prophet.

Rebecca Mansour: Devout Catholics ‘Inevitably Led Toward Being Like Mother Teresa,’ Devout Muslims Led To Jihad

by John Hayward, Breitbart News, March 25, 2016:

Devout Muslim . . .

Breitbart’s Senior West Coast Editor Rebecca Mansour, who is an American of Lebanese Maronite descent, talked about the threat posed to secular Western societies by Islamic extremism in an interview broadcast on Friday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily with host Stephen K. Bannon.

“The real tragedy I see is that the world still doesn’t understand the lessons of what is going on here,” Mansour said.  “We still don’t quite understand that this is about a religion.  It’s not just about social issues in the Middle East.  This is about people believing, fervently, in a specific religion.”

Timothy Furnish, PhD, on Fox News Special: 'War Stories: Fighting ISIS'

Tune in this weekend and set your DVR to catch Islam scholar, historian and author, Dr. Tim Furnish, on a serious, in-depth report on the Islamic State and Islam's War Against the West.

Airs Friday March 25 at 10 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel

Full Info | Promo Clip

Encore presentations: 

Saturday, March 26 at 1 a.m., 5 a.m., 5 p.m. and midnight ET

Sunday, March 27 at 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET

As Europe reels from the coordinated bombing attacks by terrorists in Belgium, the civilized world continues to face the real challenges of fighting Islamic extremism, whether it be on a battlefield or hiding and festering in a family neighborhood.

Here in America, with investigations ongoing into ISIS in all 50 states, this new episode of "War Stories" goes deep inside the confrontation between moderate Muslims and the Islamic State's extremist ideology.

Timothy Furnish, PhD (Photo: Fox News)

Timothy Furnish's position is particularly strong, as you can also tell from his other media appearances, including this recent interview on The Hard Line (NewsMax TV) with Ed Berliner. Dr. Furnish affirms that the Islamic State (ISIS), Jihad and Shariah doctrines ARE mainstream Islam. As he has emphatically written elsewhere:

"The fact remains that in the Qur'an, Hadiths, career of Muhammad, all five schools of fiqh (jurisprudence) and in Islamic history jihad is MAINSTREAM..."

Timothy R. Furnish holds a PhD in Islamic History (Ohio State, 2001), and having studied the Islamic source texts in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, is recognized as an expert authority, working as a consultant on the topics of Islam, Mahdism, Jihadism, Shi`ism, other Islamic sects, the Caliphate and Eschatology in general.  He served in the military as an Arabic linguist in the 101st Airborne Division. He is the author of Sects, Lies and the Caliphate: 10 Years of Observations on Islam, and Ten Years' Captivation with the Mahdi's Camps, and operates the MahdiWatch blog.

Europe’s Long, Dark Future

Lara Logan, UK Rape Gangs, and Europe’s New Year's Muslim Mob Sex Assaults

In enabling the mass molestation of its female citizens by Muslim migrants, and yet insisting on increasing Muslim immigration, Europe and England have condemned their women, their daughters, their culture, and ultimately their future to a long, horrific, gang rape by the sons of Islam.

by Ralph Sidway

Cover of Polish magazine, depicting 'Europa' being raped by Islamic migrants.

Some of us saw this coming.

In the aftermath of the New Year’s Muslim Migrant Mass Sexual Assaults in every major German city, we need only point back to the nightmarish experience CBS reporter Lara Logan was subjected to in Tahrir Square, Cairo at the height of the “Arab Spring” protests, immediately following the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. 

Suddenly cut off from her producer and CBS news team, then stripped and brutally molested and gang raped by a violent mob of Muslim men, Ms. Logan suffered terribly in the moment,  fearing for her very life, and has continued to suffer from the internal injuries and physical trauma of that vicious attack. From Logan’s interview with CBS 60 Minutes colleague Scott Pelley (emphasis added):

In Groundbreaking Move, US declares Christians among victims of ISIS genocide

Thank God for this development. Raymond Ibrahim, and others of us have been writing about this for over a year, urging the Obama administration to formally declare Christians victims of genocide committed by the Islamic State. Last Autumn, it seemed Secretary Kerry was prepared to grant that designation only to the Yezidis, excluding Christians in yet another example of President Obama's tendency to side with Islam against Christianity. (See my article on Obama as the 'anti-Constantine'.)

Regarding the Orthodox Christian position on genocide declaration, I only recall one formal statement by an Orthodox entity in the Americas, that from the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Chicago back in November 2015. Patriarch Kirill and  Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of the Moscow Patriarchate have both openly referred to Islamic persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa as genocide (while covering for Islam, it is true). Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America discussed the genocide issue and its relation to the Way of the Cross, in a compelling address at the Global Forum on Armenian Genocide in April 2015. Forgive me if I have missed any other announcements or news reports.

We hope and pray that this important move by the Obama administration be followed by aid and support for Christians suffering under Muslim persecution, including preferential consideration in refugee processing, immigration, and other means of assistance.

See also my earlier articles on the urgency of declaring Islamic State's persecution of Christians genocide:

• Muslim Persecution of Christians — Call it what it is: GENOCIDE (Dec. 2015)
• Christian Genocide in the Middle East and Public Apathy in America (April 2015)

The Islamic State beheads Coptic Christians on the beach in Libya: two of the thousands of New Martyrs under the sword of Islam in the 21st century. (Source: Islamic State Video)

"In groundbreaking move, US declares Christians among victims of ISIS genocide",  Catholic World Report, March 17, 2016:

Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2016 / 08:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Secretary of State John Kerry declared Thursday that Christians, Yezidis, Shi’a Muslims, and other religious and ethnic minorities are victims of ISIS genocide.

Secretary Kerry announced at a news conference that “in my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.” Daesh is another name for the Islamic State, or ISIS.

The announcement is groundbreaking because the term is rarely used to describe ongoing atrocities committed by a state or non-state actor. It is the “crime of crimes,” according to the United Nations, because it involves the intentional destruction, “in whole or in part,” of an entire people.

Thursday’s announcement came after reports from earlier in the week surfaced that the State Department was expected to miss the March 17 deadline for announcing whether or not it would declare genocide. Congress mandated the deadline in the Omnibus spending bill passed in December.

Significantly, the move followed the European Parliament’s declaration of genocide issued in early February. Advocates for Middle Eastern Christians say that the declarations by both the U.S. and the European Union could put further pressure on the United Nations Security Council to declare genocide and refer the matter to the International Criminal Court where the perpetrators could be tried.

Helen Machankova: Neomartyr († March 15, 2013)

This is a more complete account of the life of Saint and New-Martyr Helen the Accountant, whom I posted about last year. 

Let us be inspired in our darkening times of global jihad, Muslim genocide against Christians, and anti-Christian persecution in America and Western Europe by Helen's stirring example as a confessor and martyr for Christ. Helen's story reminds us of the lives of many Neo-Martyrs under the Ottoman Muslim yoke, and of martyrs throughout the ages, that we may be called upon to fearlessly confess Jesus Christ and our Holy Orthodox Faith in a personal, individual setting, sometimes with little notice. Helen was preparing for Orthodox baptism, and was found worthy of the crown of martyrdom.

We too must be prepared at all times. The perfect lesson with which to begin Great Lent! 

Helen Machankova: A Neomartyr († March 15, 2013)

By Hieromonk Theologos, Monachos.net, March 17, 2015:

New-Martyr Helen (Machankova) the Accountant (†March 15, 2013)

Last July a small group together with the Bishop, having heard the story about Helen, chanted a memorial service for her soul, near the sea, under the pine trees of a ruined ancient Christian church with beautiful mosaics, which we had just swept and were in amazement over.

The entire coast of Asia Minor testifies to the eternal life of our faith and language. There Helen's friend Anna recounted to us her last days. Later the priest added his testimony. Let this brief narration be a Memorial that we dedicate these days to Helen.

The Same God Heresy - Part 4: End of Days & Eschatology

Jesus is coming soon, but which Jesus?  — "The radically opposite end times teachings of Islam and Christianity rest on radically opposite views of Jesus."

End of Days & Eschatology

(Continued from Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)

by Ralph H. Sidway

The “End of Days,” or Eschatology, also referred to as the Apocalypse, reveals much about Islam and Christianity, and the Same God Question. If you want to understand any belief system, look at what it teaches about Origin and Fulfillment, Beginning and End, about Ultimate Things.

Christian Anthropology and the Destiny of Man

Before getting into actual Eschatology, I suggest we look at a critical corollary, the question of Christian anthropology. Who and What is Man (and Woman)? Why were they created? What is their destiny? These are not philosophical or existential questions here, they are ultimate questions about our very existence. 

Significantly, Islam does not share this central view of Man's nature, of his being created in the image and likeness of God. In Islam, man is at best a slave, and is not to question Allah's will, even when Allah orders him to kill:

"Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not." — Koran 2:216 [1]

Christians believe Mankind is created in God's image and according to His likeness, per the creation passages in Genesis (Gen. 1:26-28, 5:1-4), but that Adam and Eve fell through disobedience and believing the serpent, who was trying to convince them to become gods without God. The import of the Creation story is summed up in Genesis 5:

In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. And Adam… begot a son in his own likeness, after his image… (Gen 5:1-3)

William Kilpatrick: 'Was Muhammad a False Prophet?'

by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine, February 17, 2016:

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Mt. 7:15).

Would “false prophets” include Muhammad? It’s an impolitic question to ask in these politically correct times, but, thanks to political correctness these are also highly dangerous times. Since a good deal of the danger emanates from the religion Muhammad founded, it seems reasonable to ask if he was a false prophet. And if he was, does that mean that Islam is a false religion?  And if it is, why are Catholic leaders so keen on declaring their solidarity with Islam?

It’s a case of either/or. Either the New Testament account of Jesus is true or Muhammad’s account is true. Since they contradict each other, they both can’t be true.