Cardinal Dolan equates Easter with Ramadan in new Pan-Ecumenist statement

“Ramadan is a month in which Muslims are to redouble their efforts to please Allah... The idea that this is a time to seek friendship and cooperation with Muslims is laughably naive and demonstrates abject ignorance of Islam.”

— Robert Spencer, cited in article below

Cardinal Dolan equates Easter with Ramadan, Passover, says all are about ‘triumph of light and life’

LifeSite - Thu Mar 14, 2024 - 2:51 pm EDT

NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Timothy Dolan has equated Easter with the Islamic season of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover, saying that all three are about the “triumph of light and life.”

In a video message posted on X, formerly Twitter, Dolan said, “Does it dawn on you that Lent and Ramadan and Passover always occur close to each other?”

While the Catholic Church [and the Orthodox Church, ed.] commemorates the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ during the Easter Triduum, Judaism and Islam both reject the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and the Redeemer of mankind...

Moreover, the comparison of Islamic Ramadan to Easter is absurd since Islam is diametrically opposed to Christianity.

On March 11, Dolan published a video commemorating the beginning of Ramadan in which he wrongly claimed that Muslims are “a good example” to Catholics “on our Lenten journey.”

As the Islamic scholar Robert Spencer explained, Ramadan is a season in which Islamic attacks against non-Muslims, including Catholics, increase every year.

“[T]he idea of Ramadan providing a possibility of outreach to Muslims is a tragicomic display of the failures and inherent limitations of the ‘dialogue’ imperative,” Spencer said in comments given to the Catholic Herald.

“Ramadan is a month in which Muslims are to redouble their efforts to please Allah,” the author of more than 20 books continued. “The highest form of service to Allah, according to Muhammad, is jihad, which principally involves warfare against unbelievers.”

“Every Ramadan, therefore, we see an increase in jihad attacks. The idea that this is a time to seek friendship and cooperation with Muslims is laughably naive and demonstrates abject ignorance of Islam,” Spencer stated.

[...]

Pope Francis has also made similar remarks and been accused of promoting religious indifferentism during his pontificate, especially through his encyclical on “human fraternity,” Fratelli tutti, and the controversial Abu Dhabi declaration that Francis signed together with Ahmad el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar Mosque. The declaration, officially called “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” states that “pluralism and the diversity of religions… are willed by God in His wisdom.”

Much more in the full article on LifeSiteNews...

William Kilkpatrick: 'See No Islam, Hear No Islam'

New Catholic title on Apologetics omits any consideration of Christian witness to Muslims, or the impact of Islam on Christians.

See No Islam, Hear No Islam

by William Kilkpatrick, Turning Point Project, November 15, 2022

A significant omission in an otherwise good book.

The New Apologetics is a collection of 41 essays by noted Catholic apologists.

It’s a valuable book for those who are interested in spreading the Christian faith in a time of secularism and relativism, as well as for those who merely wish to deepen their own faith.

However, I do have one large caveat. None of the 41 essays deals with Islam. And that, to my mind, is a major omission. Although, The New Apologetics begins with a discussion of threats to Christianity—such as atheism, moral relativism, and scientific materialism—one of the biggest threats is ignored.

For example, the first essay discusses the “nones”—those who claim no religious affiliation. This group is expanding rapidly and it is pulling most of its membership away from Christian Churches. As their numbers increase, the number of those who identify as Christians declines.

I agree that the problem of the “nones” needs to be urgently addressed, but there is another category of “nones” that is equally important, but is absent from the pages of The New Apologetics. I am referring to all those Christians who are “nones” in the sense that none of them is any longer among the living because they have been killed by Muslims in the name of Allah. For example, in Nigeria alone, 18,000 people have been killed by Islamic terrorists in just the last two years (2020-2022). If the rest of Africa is added on, it’s now possible to speak of a Christian genocide in that continent.

Presumably, [Catholic apologists] don’t want to be put in a position where they might have to contradict the notion that Islam is a fellow Abrahamic religion that reveres Jesus and embraces the same values that Christians do.

The spread of Islam is not just a threat to Africans. Many other parts of the world are under the same threat. Because of the rapid increase in the Muslim population, even Europeans are now at risk of violence.

The essay on the “nones” makes much of the fact that in the U.S. between 1970 and the present, the number of “nones” has increased from three percent to twenty-five percent. But during an even shorter time frame, the percentage of Muslims in numerous European cities has increased by approximately the same amount. In Marseille, the second largest city in France, the percentage of Muslims is closer to 40 percent.

The essay points out that almost 40 percent of those under thirty in the U.S. are “nones”. But the same holds true in many of Europe’s major cities in regard to the Muslim population. According to Giulio Meotti, Islam is now the dominant religion among children in Birmingham, Leicester, Bradford, Luton, Slough and the London boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets.

Meanwhile, “Mohamed” has been one of the most popular names for baby boys in Europe for many years. Due to the high birth rate, there are now more Muslims at Friday services than Catholics at Sunday Mass in many cities in France and England.

If Islam really were the religion of peace that Catholic prelates and professors make it out to be, then the discrepancy in birth rates between Muslims and Christians might be no great cause for alarm. But rising crime rates among Muslims in Europe suggest that Islam is not a religion of peace but of aggression.

Ex-Muslims denounce Abu Dhabi ‘Deception', warn against Muslim practice of 'Taqiyya'

Arabic-speaking Muslim converts to Christ warn that Roman Catholic support of the Abu Dhabi Declaration "is not based on the 'Islamic theological implications of the Arabic text', and this reflects an inability to see through the 'deception' and fall for the 'fake human rights rhetoric'."

In short, these brave converts to Christ are warning against the Same God Heresy.

Embracing Deception: Pope Francis signs Abu Dhabi Declaration

Their point is well taken, and fully in keeping with the teaching of the New Testament, which warns against accepting a false gospel, a different Jesus, and a different spirit:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be anathema!” (Gal 1:6-8). 

"As we said before, so say I now again: If any preach any other gospel unto you than that which you have received, let him be anathema" (Gal 1:8-9). 

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the Faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy" (1 Tim 4:1-2). 

The indefatiguable Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch offers this warning in his post on the article:

“The chasm between Islam and Jahiliyyah [the society of unbelievers] is great, and a bridge is not to be built across it so that the people on the two sides may mix with each other, but only so that the people of Jahiliyyah may come over to Islam.” — Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, chapter 10. (Mother Mosque Foundation edition p. 140) 

It is abundantly clear from this report that the Muslim framers of the bu Dhabi declaration were following Qutb’s guidance and crafting a document designed to lead Catholics to Islam. Meanwhile, the Catholic partners in the dialogue had no idea that this was happening, and assumed that their partners were operating in good faith as they were. Their naivete will cost the lives of the Christians murdered in the lands of Islam while no one speaks up for them, for fear of harming the dialogue, much less lifts a finger to defend them.

 “Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)

Related:

• Pope signs pact with Islam declaring ‘diversity of religions’ is ‘willed by God’
• Historic 'Covenant of World Religions' sees Pope Francis openly commit Apostasy, equate Islam with Christianity

Ex-Muslims Unmask Abu Dhabi ‘Deception’

by Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, May 27, 2020:


ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – A network of Muslim converts, who face the death penalty for apostasy from Islam, are denouncing the Abu Dhabi declaration as a “deception” for “subtle but significant differences” in the Arabic text of the document.

The ex-Muslims from the Arab world are also lamenting Cdl. Gerhard Müller’s naïveté after the orthodox prelate defended the covenant on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together in the May-June issue of Communio.

Müller insists that the text focuses on “fundamental human rights” with “God as their originator and guarantor,” because “all people are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and “human rights are based on the dignity that God himself bestowed on every human being.”

In a preliminary analysis of the declaration shown to Church Militant on condition of anonymity, the Arab-speaking converts say that Cdl. Müller’s reading is not based on the “Islamic theological implications of the Arabic text,” and this reflects his inability to see through the “deception” and fall for the “fake human rights rhetoric.”

Historic 'Covenant of World Religions' sees Pope Francis openly commit Apostasy, equate Islam with Christianity

"Historic covenant with leaders of the world’s major faiths, [pushes] us much closer to a one-world religion, one of the major goals of the New World Order. 

"...The signing of this covenant was done 'in front of a global audience of religious leaders from Christianity, Islam, Judaism and other faiths'."

This is a shocking followup report to this story by Leo Hohmann which I posted on 7/26/19. The sources adduced in this news report make it clear that this was a global event, attended and signed by world religious leaders, and kept out of the mainstream media, which makes this far more disturbing than had I had previously thought. This is ominous in the extreme, unleashing demonic forces of apostasy upon Christians around the world. I will try to find more info on the attendees, and especially if there were Orthodox bishops who signed this covenant of apostasy.

We live in dark times indeed. Be forewarned and watchful, as many false prophets and false, hireling shepherds have gone out into the world, deceiving the flock. Time again to re-post what I had warned in my book, Facing Islam (p.87):

Against the Different Gospel — the Same God Heresy we have identified in this chapter — put forth by Islam and promoted by unwitting Christians, the Holy Apostle Paul warns us today most urgently:

"As we said before, so say I now again: If any preach any other gospel unto you than that which you have received, let him be anathema" (Galatians 1:8-9). 

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the Faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy" (1 Timothy 4:1-2 ). 

And the Beloved Disciple and Evangelist, John warns just as severely: 

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:1-3).

Pope Francis Claims Islam And Christianity Are Equal In The Eyes of God

by Baxter Dmitry, NewsPunch, February 25, 2019:

Pope Francis, who has previously called for a “one world government” to “save humanity”, has now signed a historic covenant with leaders of the world’s major faiths, pushing us much closer to a one-world religion, one of the major goals of the New World Order.

According to the document produced by Pope Francis and published on the Vatican’s official website, all religions must be considered equal, and Islam is as acceptable to God as Christianity.

Disturbingly, world religious leaders are also now coming together as one to preach from the same hymn sheet as Pope Francis, instructing their sheep to accept the final components of the New World Order’s one world government.

The historic interfaith covenant was signed by leaders of the world’s major faiths in the Middle East this month, and despite the extraordinarily high-profile nature of the attendants, the mainstream media has entered almost complete blackout mode and is refusing to report on the story.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the most important imam in Sunni Islam, arrived at the signing ceremony in Abu Dhabi with Pope Francis “hand-in-hand in a symbol of interfaith brotherhood”, exactly as foretold in prophecy regarding the rise of the Antichrist.

But this wasn’t just a ceremony for Catholics and Muslims. The reality is much darker than that.

Pope signs pact with Islam declaring ‘diversity of religions’ is ‘willed by God’

"This is just the latest in a line of papal statements on Islam dating back to the 1960s that describe Islam as an 'Abrahamic' faith that will lead its adherents to the same God worshiped by Christians."

Pope Francis is a false teacher, preaching a "different gospel," which is the Same God Heresy, which leads its adherents inevitably to apostasy and openly denying Jesus Christ.

Pope signs pact with Islam declaring ‘diversity of religions’ is ‘willed by God’


by Leo Hohmann, February 10, 2019:

Almost without notice from the global media, Pope Francis held a historic meeting last week in the United Arab Emirates with Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of Egypt’s al-Azhar University, the world’s most authoritative institution on Islamic law.

El-Tayeb, while touted as a “moderate” by some in the West, unapologetically teaches that Muslims who leave Islam for other religions, or no religion at all, are guilty of apostasy and should be killed.

So what is the Pope of Rome, the supposed Vicar of Christ, doing cavorting with such a man?

The two religious leaders released a joint declaration titled On Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.

Among the many lies, half-truths and deceptions in this document is the following:

“The pluralism and the diversity of religions, color, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings.”

The key words here are “diversity of religions.” The pope would have us to believe that all religions have merit, especially that of Islam.

This is just the latest in a line of papal statements on Islam dating back to the 1960s that describe Islam as an “Abrahamic” faith that will lead its adherents to the same God worshiped by Christians.

The new document reaffirms Islam as a religion of peace and says that any violence committed in its name is the result of “an accumulation of incorrect interpretations of religious texts and to policies linked to hunger, poverty, injustice, oppression and pride.”

If this were true it would mean that nearly 1,400 years of scholarship by all four Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence would have to be thrown into a massive bonfire. Until we see the smoke rising from such a fiery spectacle, it’s safe to say that Sheikh al-Tayeb played the pope for a fool. Others are suggesting that Pope Francis is no fool at all, but rather is himself a master deceiver with dark intentions.

William Kilpatrick: 'Sauron Comes to Middle England'

"The Lord of the Rings is set in mythical Middle Earth, but, metaphorically speaking, Sauron now seems to be quite active in Middle England... The spiritual landscape has also changed, and the change has been dramatic... The story of the Islamization of England has also been one of betrayal."

Roman Catholic writer William Kilpatrick does a great service in this article, taking us on a tour of the once Christian and tranquil English landscape, now conquered by minarets and Muslim rape gangs, and cowed into fear by Sharia-zones, stabbings and acid attacks in London and other major cities, and betrayed by the ruling class and Christian hierarchy alike.

It would seem Sauron is winning. And, to quote Elrond, "Our list of allies grows thin."

Still from the film, TOLKIEN, showing an uncowed young J.R.R. Tolkien standing before the rising menace of a dark lord during the battle of the Somme, in France during World War I. 

Sauron Comes to Middle England

by William Kilpatrick, Turning Point Project, June 1, 2019:

"The title 'Sauron comes to Middle England' is not meant to imply that Muslims are an evil people. It’s meant to imply that there is something wrong with their religion as well as with the British authorities who facilitate its spread."

Tolkien, the new biopic about the master storyteller’s life, has come under criticism for giving the impression that Tolkien’s service in World War I was the decisive influence on his work. In fact, Tolkien was far more influenced by other factors—in particular by his love of mythology, and by his strong Catholic faith. Before her untimely death, Tolkien’s widowed mother had appointed Fr. Francis Morgan of the Birmingham Oratory to be the guardian of her two sons. As a result, Tolkien spent many hours during his formative years in the rich Catholic culture of the Oratory. With its deep Catholic themes, The Lord of the Rings owes more to Birmingham than to Tolkien’s brief experience of trench warfare in France.

The Lord of the Rings is set in mythical Middle Earth, but, metaphorically speaking, Sauron now seems to be quite active in Middle England. The Midlands of England and its capital Birmingham have caught the attention of his all-seeing eye. The kind of struggles that are depicted in the trilogy now seem to be playing out in Tolkien’s boyhood home.

What I have in mind is not the struggle to preserve England’s green and pleasant land from environmental despoilers. The Birmingham skyline has changed, of course. It now looks like that of any other large metropolis. And much of the shire lands that surrounded Birmingham in Tolkien’s youth have been eaten up by urban sprawl. But urbanization is the least of the city’s problems.

The spiritual landscape has also changed, and the change has been dramatic. There are now 175 mosques in the Birmingham area, with five in the Edgbaston section where Tolkien spent his teen years. Muslims make up about 22 percent of the population of the city, and, by some estimates, they will be a majority within 20 years. There are already more Muslim children living in Birmingham than Christian children.

Some of the more impatient members of the Birmingham Muslim community aren’t waiting for majority status to roll around before they establish control. An investigation by the London Telegraph in 2014 revealed an extensive plot by Muslim teachers, school governors, and activists to take over 21 city schools and Islamicize them. The plot, which was code-named “Trojan Horse” by the conspirators, involved replacing head teachers with radical Muslim faculty, segregating classrooms by sex, and introducing Islamic prayers.

Birmingham has also been touched by the Muslim rape gang epidemic which has ravaged the English Midlands. A 2017 article in Birmingham Live reported “a worrying escalation of the abuse of young schoolgirls, typically aged around 13 to 14.” According to the report, gang members were filming and sharing the rapes. Another report revealed that gang members were using tasers on their schoolgirl victims.

Apostate Pope advocates for Islam, forces Dhimmitude on Moroccan Christians

Pope Francis has for some time now been openly teaching an explicitly false Gospel, what I have termed the "Same God Heresy". This is one of the greatest heresies and scandals of our age, and many Christians are falling all over themselves to endorse it.

Catholic news site Gloria.tv reports:

On the eve of his visit to Morocco (March 30-31), Pope Francis said in a video message on VaticanNews.va that “as Christians and Muslims we believe in God, the Creator and Merciful”... 

This message repeats Francis heretical Abu Dhabi declaration according to which the diversity of religions that contradict each other and religions which deny the Trinity and Incarnation are willed by God.

Of course, there are also some Orthodox Christian bishops (e.g., Met. Georges Khodr) who preach religious syncretism, pan-ecumenism, dhimmitude and submission to Islam, but when the Pope of Rome does this on the global stage, cue the "Last Pope Prophecies" trailers. The Apostate Pope's heretical teachings are clearly a sign of the age.

Traditional, orthodox-minded Roman Catholics, come to Orthodoxy. We are waiting for you with open arms!

"Come out of her, My people..." (Rev. 18:4)

Pope Francis offers more doves to be attacked by crows.

The Pope to the Christians of Morocco: Please do not need to preach

BBC Middle East, March 31, 2019 (Google Translate from Arabic)
Thanks to Timothy R. Furnish.


The Pope, Francis, told members of the small Catholic community in Morocco that the role of community members in the country is not to try to make their neighbors convert to Christianity, but to live in brotherhood with other religions.

The Pope took the two-day trip to emphasize interreligious dialogue, while supporting King Mohammed VI's efforts to promote religious moderation in order to promote interfaith dialogue and renounce violence in the name of religion.

Roman Catholic Christians in Morocco represent less than one percent of Morocco's 35 million population, while there are 23,000 Christians, mostly immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and those from Europe, particularly France.

"Christians are a small minority in this country, and I see that this is not a problem, although I realize that this may be difficult for some of you," he said during a meeting with community leaders in a Rabat cathedral.

'We are at a Lepanto Moment', says Roman Catholic priest at New Shrine for Persecuted Christians

Fr Benedict Kiely

“We are at a Lepanto moment in Western history,” said Father Benedict Kiely, founder of Nasarean.org... Lepanto refers to the 1571 naval battle that turned the tide for Christian forces resisting the onslaught of the Muslim invaders of the Ottoman Empire in the waters off southwestern Greece.

“We must pray with the same fervor that the Christians prayed then to save Western civilization, not just from the danger of radical Islamist extremism, but from radical, aggressive secular liberalism," added Fr Kiely.
_____________

This is a bold and, for Roman Catholicism in America, unexpected move, which we welcome for its ability to draw attention to persecuted Christians, as as well as to highlight Islam's strident antichrist theology which manifests in its doctrine of violent jihad against Christians.

With fearless Orthodox voices such as Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Fr Josiah Trenham (whose own church has been subjected to jihad threats), and of course New Martyr Fr Daniil Sysoev of Moscow (†2009), and others warning about Islam, we can hope that eventually a significant Orthodox Christian initiative will arise to provide a clear and vigorous theological and pastoral counter to the challenge of the global ascendency of a newly emboldened and muscular Islam.

See also: How the 1571 Battle of Lepanto saved Europe

First Shrine in World for Persecuted Christians Inaugurated in New York

by Thomas D. Williams, PhD, Breitbart News, via AINA.org

Iraqi Christian Icon of Our Lady of Aradin

The Catholic Church in New York has inaugurated the first Shrine in the world dedicated to prayer for persecuted Christians, with the blessing of the icon of Our Lady of Aradin, “Mother of the Persecuted Church,” at St. Michael’s parish Wednesday. 

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said he hopes the shrine will be a place “to pray for all the displaced Christians of the Middle East,” and for the whole world. 

“We are at a Lepanto moment in Western history,” said Father Benedict Kiely, founder of Nasarean.org, an organization dedicated to assisting “Christians suffering under the persecution of militant Islam throughout the world” and particularly in the Middle East. 

William Kilpatrick - 'The Church and Islam: Dangerous Illusions'

"Church leaders... have taken every opportunity to praise Islam, to declare their solidarity with it, and to join in various Islamic initiatives, such as the campaign against 'Islamophobia'. Judging by the Church’s great solicitude for Islam, one would think it was the most persecuted faith on earth, rather than one of the chief persecutors."

The below article by William Kilpatrick, while directed specifically towards Roman Catholic leaders, can be read with profit by Orthodox Christian hierarchs, clergy, and educators as well.

The Church and Islam: Dangerous Illusions

by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine, April 25, 2018:

Pope Francis meets with Dr. Muhammad al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League, on September 20, 2017. (Photo credit: CNA / L’Osservatore Romano)

When I first began writing about the Church and Islam, I devoted a lot of space to describing ways that Church leaders could resist the spread of Islam. It seemed only a matter of time until they would wake up to the need to resist. As it turned out, however, that assessment was overly optimistic.

The immediate task, as I soon learned, was not to find ways to counter Islam, but to convince the Church’s hierarchy that Islam ought to be resisted. There’s no use talking battle strategies to people who won’t admit that they have an ideological enemy.

The enemy is not Muslims per se, but a belief system adhered to by the majority of Muslims, albeit with varying degrees of commitment. Although Islam does not easily lend itself to moderation, many Muslims manage to practice their faith in peaceful ways. Others merely give it lip service, and still others are on fire with a passionate zeal to spread it—by fire and the sword if necessary.

The idea of opposing dangerous ideologies is not foreign to Americans, but the idea of opposing an ideology that is also a religion is more problematic. It has become increasingly problematic now that we live in an era in which merely disagreeing with another’s opinions is tantamount to a hate crime. 

So, just for the record, critiquing Islam does not mean that one hates Muslims. Criticizing Islam is not the same as criticizing Muslims, any more than criticizing communism is equivalent to criticizing Soviet-era Russians. One can acknowledge the humanity and good intentions of others without having to endorse their ideology. And if their ideology or belief system presents a grave danger to others, it would be wrong not to criticize it. Of course, one should employ tact and prudence when offering such criticism.

New Martyr under the Sword of Islam, Arnaud Beltrame of France

By God's providence, even as Europe collapses before the onslaught of Islam, we are given an inspiring example of a believing Christian, in this case a French lieutenant-colonel gendarme who was also a practicing Catholic, who faithfully witnessed to his faith in Jesus Christ, even unto death. 

New Martyr Arnaud Beltrame shines especially through his self-sacrificial act of love, volunteering to take the place of a hostage being held by the murderous Muslim, laying down his life for another, adding Christian martyrdom to valiant heroism for his country.

See also:  Catholic Priest beheaded in France during Mass by Muslims linked to Islamic State

Arnaud Beltrame, Hero-Martyr Of France

Compiled from Rod Dreher's post at The American Conservative and a related article from Familie Chretienne:

France has produced a second martyr — the first was Father Jacques Hamel, slain at the altar while saying mass — in the contemporary battle against radical Islam. From Familie Chretienne, this news about Arnaud Beltrame, the French gendarme who willingly exchanged places with a hostage held by an ISIS militant. (Translated by Google.)

It turns out that the lieutenant-colonel was a practicing Catholic. The fact is that he did not hide his faith, and that he radiated it, he testified. We can say that his act of offering is consistent with what he believed. He went to the end of his service to the country and to the end of his testimony of faith. 

To believe is not only to adhere to a doctrine. It is first to love God and his neighbor, and to testify of his faith concretely in everyday life. In the happy or unhappy, even dramatic circumstances of our lives. The woman, to whom he offered to take his place to save her, took on a particular humanity. Arnaud Beltrame was suddenly close to her to take his place. The anonymous person who, suddenly, becomes close,

William Kilpatrick - 'A Dark-Forces Assault on the Church?'

"The current situation of the Church vis-à-vis Islam is due in part to a dual assault—one aimed at heightening Islam’s traditional aggressiveness, and the other aimed at weakening the Church’s traditional defenses. The result is a kind of dance of death: a ramping up of Islamic militancy matched by an exaggerated emphasis on tolerance, openness, and welcoming on the part of Catholics."

William Kilpatrick's analysis is specifically directed towards the Roman Catholic response to Islam, but his insights may be profitably applied by Orthodox Christians inclined to "think of Muslim migration as no different from other migrations... simply a question of being welcoming or unwelcoming, of being charitable or uncharitable."

As Kilpatrick notes, "Many Muslim leaders view migrations in a different light. For them it is not a question of loving one’s neighbor, it is a question of who is to be master."

A Dark-Forces Assault on the Church?

William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine, October 2, 2017:

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers … against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:12)

It’s not easy to discern the role played by the spiritual hosts of wickedness in world affairs. No one knows with any certainty what is going on in that realm, or what part the principalities and powers play in shaping events. But these are exceedingly strange times—so strange that it is difficult to make sense of some of what is happening from a this-worldly perspective. So it seems worthwhile to try to understand some phenomena from an other-worldly viewpoint.

One of the strangest developments of our times is the Church’s response to Islam and Islamic migration. Since the response runs entirely counter to the Church’s historical response, it seems legitimate to wonder if other-worldly forces are at play. If that’s the case, it should not be unexpected. Christ promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church, but the implication of his words is that hell would surely try.

Sign of the Times: US Catholic Church punishing priests for speaking truth about Islam and jihad

In our age of worldliness and ever-spreading Christian apostasy, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Rome itself is siding with Islam against Catholic priests (and even against Catholic saints!) who speak forthrightly about Islam, Muhammad, and jihad.

Robert Spencer writes:

"The highly dubious proposition that Islam is a religion of peace has become a kind of superdogma that the U.S. bishops enforce with a stringency (and even ruthlessness) that they never display regarding actual Church teaching."

Will this Catholic Apologia for Islam — and its attendant persecution of faithful priests who serve as conscience to Rome's pan-ecumenist dreams — manifest itself in a dogmatic declaration of solidarity with Islam, a doctrinal embrace of the 'Same God Heresy', and a final shameful denial of Jesus Christ by formally affirming Muhammad as a prophet?

Time will tell, but this deeply disturbing trend in Roman Catholicism points only to one end: the Great Apostasy and the Religion of the Future, warned against by Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose some forty years ago.

Our task? Be faithful unto the end, enduring criticism, mocking and persecution, willing to confess Jesus Christ even unto death, as the Lord Himself said:

"He who endures to the end shall be saved." (MT 10:22) 

"Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (MK 8:38)

Another Day, Another Apology to Muslims

by Susan D. Harris, American Thinker, May 2, 2017 (via Creeping Sharia):

“Don’t listen to liberals, because the Muslims will cut your heads off.” That’s the comment that warranted the KRQE headline, “Parents accuse Belen priest of making discriminatory comments against Muslims.”

Apparently no one had a problem with the “don’t listen to liberals” part. Instead, being well trained in political correctness, it was the moment Fr. Jonas Romea, a priest in Belen, New Mexico, told a group of pre-K to eighth grade Catholic kids that there were Muslims terrorists that caused the problem.

Specifically mentioning Muslims cutting “heads off” was when parents became terribly offended on behalf of Islam. The next thing you know, a reporter at KOAT Action News was asking Fr. Romea if he didn’t think his remarks were “Islamophobia?” Fr. Romea said that he denied that label, and strengthened his point by saying:

“Recent reports out of the Middle East show that Catholics around the world are under attack. The news pieces that we get… from there tell us that actually, Christians are being slaughtered.”

KRQE reported that after receiving complaints about Fr. Romea’s remarks (made during a homily to students at Our Lady of Belen Church,) the “Archdiocese of Santa Fe sent out a letter to parents saying the homily didn’t fully embrace the message of Jesus Christ.”

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Pope Francis Tears at History’s Ancient Walls against Islam'

Had it not been for Pope Leo IV in the mid-9th century, building high and massive walls to keep out the Muslim invaders, Rome — and indeed all of Europe — might have been conquered for Islam well before the Crusades were even launched.

We live in a new age of Global Islamic Jihad, being waged on multiple fronts. We live in an age that requires walls, wisdom, faith and strength — not multiculturalism, weakness, apostasy and foolishness.


Pope Francis Tears at History’s Ancient Walls against Islam

by Raymond Ibrahim, February 24, 2017:

Pope Francis continues to argue for two interrelated points that, while seemingly humane, compromise Western nations and expose their citizens to danger.

He reiterated his first point earlier this month when he said, “I appeal not to create walls but to build bridges.” Francis has made this appeal frequently, both figuratively (when imploring Western nations not to close their doors against more incoming Muslim migrants) and literally (for instance by characterizing Donald Trump’s proposal to build a U.S.-Mexico wall as “not Christian”).

Francis reiterated his second point a few days ago when he said, “Muslim terrorism does not exist.” His logic is that, because there are Christians who engage in criminal and violent activities—and yet no one blames Christianity for their behavior—so too should Islam not be blamed when Muslims engage in criminal and violent activities.

In this, the Catholic pope appears unable or unwilling to make the pivotal distinction between violence committed in accordance with Islamic teachings, and violence committed in contradiction of Christian teachings.

But there’s another relevant and often overlooked irony: every morning Francis wakes up in the Vatican and looks out his window he sees a very large and concrete reminder that gives the lie to both his argument against walls and his argument in defense of Islam. I speak of the great walls surrounding Vatican City, more specifically the Leonine Walls.

Islam Wants to Conquer the World, and the West Is Letting It

“The problem is that Muslims aim for expansion... The whole history of the Islamic presence in Europe is an attempt to conquer it.” — Cardinal Raymond Burke

A brave and clear warning from one of the top Roman Catholic prelates, who urges vigorous proclamation of the Christian Faith.

See also: Bishop Mark of Berlin: A Voice in the Wilderness

Top Cardinal: Islam Wants to Conquer the World, and the West Is Letting It

by Nick Hallett, Breitbart London, October 8, 2016:

The ultimate goal of Islam is world conquest and the “supine” West is only helping it achieve that aim, a senior cardinal has said.

Speaking in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Giornale, Cardinal Raymond Burke accused Westerners of being too weak to acknowledge the incompatibility of Christianity and Islam.

“It is clear that Muslims have as their ultimate goal conquest and power over the world,” the American cardinal said. “Islam, through sharia, their law, will rule the world and permit violence against infidels, such as Christians. But we find it hard to recognise this reality and to respond by defending the Christian faith.”

“Many people do not understand what Islam really is,” he added. “They create these slogans: we all believe in the same God, we are all united by love and so on. It’s not true.”

He also said that modern Christians are often unwilling to proclaim their beliefs, and should not be afraid to convert people of other faiths.

“Christians have neglected a fundamental truth: there is only one Saviour of the world: Jesus Christ. We must not proselytize, imposing Christianity, but if we believe in Jesus it is our duty to bear witness.

“I think that this witness is not very strong, even in countries that were called Christian once upon a time, such as the European nations.”

Why Christians and Muslims Worship Different Gods

"While some similarities may exist between the Christian and Muslim conceptions of God, it is certain that the Christian who prays 'Our Father, Who art in Heaven' each day is not praying to the same God as the Muslim who prays 'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.' This is because they are not worshipping the same God." —Fr. Brandon O'Brien

_____

The 'Same God Question' is at the heart of any Christian consideration of Islam and how to respond to it and to our Muslim neighbors. Dr. Mark Durie offers this cautionary instruction on the matter:

"It is quite clear that the Injil, as described by the Koran, is nothing but a ‘different gospel’. The prophet Isa (Jesus) of the Koran is a product of fable, imagination and ignorance. When Muslims venerate this Isa, they are far removed from Yeshua, the Jesus of the Bible and of history... For most faithful Muslims Isa is the only Jesus they know. But if you accept this Muslim ‘Jesus’, and his ‘gospel’, then you also accept the Koran, and you accept Islam... 

"By Islamicising [the true Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of history] and making of him a Muslim prophet who preached the Koran, Islamic orthodoxy would destroy Christianity and take over its history. It does the same to Judaism... 

"The traditional Islamic view is that if you want to know what the God of the Bible is like, then read the Koran. Not only must Muslims believe that ‘we worship the same God’, but this message is always a central component of the presentation of Islam to Christians and Jews. 

[This message] "provides the lynchpin of Muslims’ efforts to convert the ‘People of the Book’ to the faith of Muhammad. In addition, this belief, once accepted, can lead Christians to support Islamic perspectives in ways other than conversion. For example, embracing this Islamic doctrine wins a measure of respect and even support for Islam from Christians."

(Durie, Revelation - Do We Worship the Same God?, pp 50-51, 75-76)

In a landmark article by Fr Lawrence Farley, which I feature here on this blog, we find the following observations:

Islamic worship does not, in fact, connect the Muslim worshipper with the one true God of the Christians... 

Despite their shared theoretical monotheism, Christian and Muslim worship does not focus upon the same God, and (more importantly) the objective and spiritual reality present through their worship is not identical. 

In Christian assemblies, Jesus Christ is present, for He has promised to be present whenever two or three gather together in His Name (Matthew 18:20). In Muslim assemblies, Christ is not present in the same salvific way.  

Rather, just as the early Christians said that the demonic was present in the sacrifices of the pagans, that same terrible reality is present now liturgically in Muslim assemblies...

Which brings us to the below important article, which provides a thorough discussion of dogmatic, scriptural and spiritual differences from a specifically Roman Catholic perspective, pointing out the dangers which stem from Rome's excessively deferential consideration of Islam. By affirming Islam in its Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate, the Papal church stands on the cliff of apostasy.

Here, at least, is one Roman Catholic writer who, along with the rightly respected William Kilpatrick hopes to restore Truth to Rome's discussion of Islam. May Truth prevail in Rome.


Why Christians and Muslims Worship Different Gods
by Fr. Brandon O'Brien, Crisis Magazine, September 5, 2016:

On August 30, Cardinal Raymond Burke sparked a debate about the relationship of Islam and Christianity with regard to their worship of God. It is a debate that has been addressed before, and in an interview he stated: 

“I don’t believe it’s true that we’re all worshipping the same God, because the God of Islam is a governor. In other words, fundamentally Islam is, Sharia is their law, and that law, which comes from Allah, must dominate every man eventually. And it’s not a law that’s founded on love.” 

In addition to remarking on the different conceptions of the nature of God, he also noted a difference in the Divine Will as well: 

“How can the God that we know, a God fundamentally of love, St. John says ‘God is love,’ be the same God that commands and demands of Muslims to slaughter infidels and to establish their rule by violence.”

It would appear that Burke’s view is inconsistent with the Church’s recent teachings on the areas of agreement between Christianity and Islam. According to Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, “[Muslims] adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men.” However, it is obvious that Nostra Aetate is not as clear as it would appear initially.

The brief treatments of Islam in both Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate contain not a single reference or footnote to support them. It is usually the practice that Church documents contain references from Scripture, the Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas, or previous documents to reinforce their teaching and assert its continuity with Divine Revelation and the magisterium. The Second Vatican Council’s analysis of Islam is completely lacking in this regard. In fact, as if making an attempt at circular reasoning, the Church has largely only been able to refer as far back as these two passages from Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate in subsequent documents concerning Islam. 

This shouldn’t be surprising since the dearth of writings on Islam by the saints of the Church in the thirteen centuries between the founding of Islam and the Second Vatican Council would actually contradict what Lumen Gentium and Nostra Aetate proffer. 

William Kilpatrick: 'Blind Violence and Blind Guides'

"The bishops are not guilty of [Islamic jihad] atrocities. But they are guilty of grossly misunderstanding Islam and the threat it poses... They need to seriously consider whether Jesus’ warning about blind guides might apply to some of them. Their hearts, we must assume, are in the right place, but their heads are in the sand."


by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine, July 18, 2016:

(Photo credit: Sasha Goldsmith via AP)

“Pope Francis condemns more ‘blind violence’ after Nice attack,” reads a headline from a Catholic news agency.

On behalf of the Holy Father, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, sent a telegram to the Bishop of Nice expressing the Pope’s sorrow:

As France was celebrating her national holiday, the country was again struck by blind violence, this time in Nice, claiming many victims, including children. Once again condemning such acts, His Holiness Pope Francis expresses his profound sadness and his spiritual closeness to the French people.

With all due respect to the Pope and his Vatican advisers, it is they who are blind. They have shut their eyes to the role that Islam plays in motivating terrorist attacks like the one in Nice that left 84 dead and over 200 injured.

Catholic Priest beheaded in France during Mass by Muslims linked to Islamic State

We are deep into a New Age of Christian Martyrdom under the Sword of Islam. How will we respond? 

My first reaction to this story, after the initial horror and shock, was to imagine it in a personal context.

My dear friend, Fr Thomas, an Orthodox Christian priest in Pennsylvania, recently concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with his beloved uncle, Fr. Igor, at the latter's home parish. Fr. Igor is 91 years old, and has been faithfully serving his parish for 58 years, the Church for much longer.

Pick the most venerable and faithful priest you know, and imagine he is the martyr, beheaded by a Muslim for his faith in Jesus Christ. Imagine Muslims attacking your church during the Divine Liturgy and taking hostages. Imagine them screaming "ALLAHU AKBAR!" and "DAESH!" as they shoot, stab and assault the faithful in your church.

Recall the horrific atrocities Muslims have committed against Christians and people everywhere: Beslan, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Syria, France, Belgium, San Bernardino, Chattanooga, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Moscow, and so on.

Muslim jihad attacks against Christian churches during the divine services can happen anywhere, anytime, including in America and Canada.  God forbid, but they almost certainly will as Islam continues its global advance.

Islam and the Outer Limits of Ecumenism

This is a helpful if alarming survey of Roman Catholic outreach towards Muslims, and some of the perils associated with such interfaith dialogue. I address some of these issues in my book, Facing Islam, and argue strongly against uncritical interfaith dialogue, urging instead that we follow the example of the Apostles, martyrs and saints, sharing the Gospel with Muslims in order to help lead them out of delusion and spiritual deception, that they may come to know Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Some of the Vatican initiatives revealed below are shocking, such as this:

Lumen Gentium (1964) strikingly affirmed that “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Moslems..."

This is the sort of speculative theological apostasy which paves the way for Antichrist and the Religion of the Future. No true Christian would ever make such a statement.


Islam and the Outer Limits of Ecumenism
by Howard Kainz, Crisis Magazine, May 24, 2013:

The 1964 Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio, was quite clear: The newly launched ecumenical movement had as its sole goal, the reunification of Christians.  The appeals for reunification would be directed to baptized Christians, “those who invoke the Triune God, and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, doing this not merely as individuals but as corporate bodies.” The prime interest would be in uniting with those Christian communities that possess the Apostolic Succession and preserve all seven sacraments, such as the Orthodox churches; and also other Christian bodies, such as the Church of England, whose liturgies and other usages are similar to Roman Catholic practices.

Other Vatican II documents, however, envisioned extending the outreach (not strictly ecumenical dialogue, but “interfaith dialogue”) to non-Christian religions. Lumen Gentium (1964) strikingly affirmed that “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Moslems: these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day”; and Nostra aetate (1965), urging “mutual understanding,” emphasized that “The Church has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship  God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to men. They strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of  God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God’s plan, to whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own.”

The wording of the statement that God’s “plan of salvation” also includes Muslims, who worship the same God and “hold the faith of Abraham” seemed to “push the envelope”—as if we Christians shared a common religious heritage with Islam as well as Judaism.

Cardinal Robert Sarah: United States Faces ‘Insidious War’ Against Christians

While other countries face “merciless beheadings,” “bombings of churches” and “torching of orphanages,” in the United States Christians face an “equally damaging, yet more hidden” form of religious persecution, warned Cardinal Robert Sarah...

by Thomas D. Williams, PhD, Breitbart News, May 19, 2016:

In a scathing address at a prayer breakfast in Washington D.C. this week, a high-ranking Vatican cardinal has denounced an “insidious war” against Christians taking place in the United States under the guise of tolerance.

While other countries face “merciless beheadings,” “bombings of churches” and “torching of orphanages,” in the United States Christians face an “equally damaging, yet more hidden” form of religious persecution, warned Cardinal Robert Sarah, the African prelate serving as the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship.

Sarah (whose name is pronounced Sar-AH and not like the English girl’s name) said that in America, “political leaders, lobby groups and mass media seek to neutralize and depersonalize the conscience of Christians so as to dissolve them in a fluid society without religion and without God.”

By doing this, he said, they are carrying out “the will of the Evil One.”

Giving Preference to Christian Migrants

"This is a perfect opportunity for us to open our arms to the many Christian refugees fleeing persecution, often at the hands of Muslims, and to ask serious questions about the compatibility of Islamic values and Western ones."

by Filip Mazurczak, Crisis Magazine, May 11, 2016:

Photo caption: Pope Francis meets migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos on April 16, 2016. (Photo credit: AP)

Since last fall, few political issues have both dominated international newspaper headlines and triggered debate within the Catholic hierarchy as much as the so-called migrant crisis. Recently, many thousands of people, mostly Muslims, have been trying to flee oppressive political regimes, wars, and difficult economies in the Middle East and Africa for the West, especially Europe. 

While political leaders and many prominent churchmen, including the pope himself, have pushed hard for the West to accept large numbers of migrants regardless of their religion, there are many sound reasons to fear a massive influx of Muslims. However, that doesn’t mean that the West should reject migrants altogether. On the contrary, this is a perfect opportunity for us to open our arms to the many Christian refugees fleeing persecution, often at the hands of Muslims, and to ask serious questions about the compatibility of Islamic values and Western ones.