Proclaiming the Faith vs Committing Apostasy

The past week saw two widely divergent events which make it abundantly clear how far from authentic Christianity some churches in the United States have drifted, and at the same time how visionary and timely is the pastoral and prophetic voice of our beloved hierarch of the OCA, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah.


First, the apostasy. From an article on wnd.com:

Dozens of Christian churches, from Park Hill Congregational in Denver to Hillview United Methodist in Boise, Idaho, and First United Lutheran in San Francisco to St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Honolulu, are planning to send "a message both here at home and to the Arab and Muslim world about our respect for Islam" with a time to read the Quran during worship this Sunday...

The aim of the program, which is promoted by social activists behind the Faith Shared website, is to counter the message from Islamic activists who say opposition to their religion is the product of what they call a cottage industry of hate.So the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First is calling on Christian clergy to read portions of the Quran during their services Sunday.

The readings, supporters say, will "counter the anti-Muslim bigotry and negative stereotypes that have erupted throughout the country in the past year and led to misconceptions, distrust and in some cases, violence."

And from the Faith Shared website itself:

Tensions around Islam in America have erupted throughout the country in the past year, leading to misconceptions, distrust and in some cases violence. News stories on the rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry and violence abound, with graphic and often searing images of the antagonists, the protagonists and the battlegrounds where they meet. All too often, media coverage simplistically pits Muslims against would-be Qur’an burners, neglecting any substantive representation of where the majority of Americans actually stand: a shared commitment to tolerance and freedom. We are committed to ensuring that the storyline changes dramatically in 2011 by helping to create an environment of mutual understanding and respect for each other’s faith traditions...

Faith Shared asks houses of worship across the country to organize events involving clergy reading from each other’s sacred texts. An example would be a Christian Minister, Jewish Rabbi and Muslim Imam participating in a worship service or other event. Suggested readings will be provided from the Torah, the Gospels, and the Qur’an, but communities are encouraged to choose readings that will resonate with their congregations. Involvement of members from the Muslim community is key. We will also provide suggestions on how to incorporate this program into your regular worship services. And we will assist local congregations in their media and communications efforts.

The "Faith Shared" website subtitle reads, "United in Prayer and Understanding."  Yet everything about this horribly misguided effort reveals that its organizers and supporters are lacking in any sort of understanding of the issues at hand. They appear to know nothing of either Christian or Muslim doctrine.


Firstly, there is absolutely no "faith shared" between Christians and Muslims. Islam is a pseudo-monotheistic pagan religion completely at odds with Christianity, and its teachings on Christ are an amalgam of ancient heresies, similar to Arianism (it denies the divinity of Jesus Christ), and with a strong Docetist component (it denies that Christ was crucified; the Koran states that another was crucified in his place). Islam also strongly denies the Triune Nature of the Godhead, and through its relentless, supremacist theological jihad seeks to sway Christians into agreeing with its extreme monotheism. When a Christian assents to the Muslim teaching that we worship the same god, he has implicitly denied Christ and committed apostasy, for in Islam, Jesus is merely a prophet, not the Only Begotten Son of God.  Islam openly claims to properly understand and venerate Jesus, seeking to co-opt Christ as a prophet of Islam. This blasphemous teaching subverts every aspect of authentic Christian dogma, seen most shockingly in Islamic eschatology, where Jesus is expected to return again, but to "break the crosses and kill the swine" — in other words, to destroy Christianity — before taking a subservient position behind the Muslim messiah, the Mahdi.


Thus, to allow or assent to any Islamic doctrine is to deny Christ and commit apostasy. 


Not only is there no "faith shared" between Christians and Muslims, but there can be no "uniting in prayer" either.  Since Muslims pray to a false god, a Christian is forbidden to join with them in prayer. How could one who has been baptized into Christ say "Amen" to a prayer offered to a false, pagan deity? 


Furthermore, the Islamic opening prayer includes a specific petition which explicitly invokes Allah's condemnation on "those who have incurred his wrath, and on those who have gone astray." Muslim commentators have always understood this to refer to Jews and Christians.  From Mark Durie's website:

The best-known chapter of the Quran is al-Fatihah ‘The Opening’. This sura is recited as part of all the mandatory daily prayers – the salat –and repeated within each prayer. A faithful Muslim who said all their prayers would recite this sura at least seventeen times a day, and over five thousand times a year.

Al-Fatihah is a prayer for guidance:

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all Being,
the All-merciful, the All-compassionate,
the Master of the Day of Doom.
Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for succor.
Guide us in the straight path,
the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,
not of those against whom Thou art wrathful,
nor of those who are astray.

This is a prayer asking Allah’s help to lead the believer along the ‘straight path’. As such it is true to the heart of Islam’s message of guidance. 

But who are those who are said to have earned Allah’s wrath, or gone astray from the straight path? Who are these people who deserve to be stigmatized in every Muslim’s prayers, each day, hundreds of thousands of times in many Muslims’ lifetimes. 

Ibn Kathir’s commentary explains the meaning of this verse as follows:

These two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them. … the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why ‘anger’ descended upon the Jews, while being described as ‘led astray’ is more appropriate of the Christians. … We should also mention that both the Christians and the Jews have earned the anger and are led astray, but the anger is one of the attributes more particular of the Jews. Allah said about the Jews, ‘Those (Jews) who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath’ (Sura 5:60). The attribute that the Christians deserve most is that of being led astray, just as Allah said about them, ‘Who went astray before and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the right path’ (Sura 5:77).

 Ibn Kathir goes on to cite a hadith in which Muhammad clarified the meaning of this sura:

Imam Ahmad recorded that ‘Adi bin Hatim said, … he [Muhammad] said: ‘Those who have earned the anger are the Jews and those who are led astray are the Christians.’ 

The verse from Sura 5 which Ibn Kathir refers to concerning Jews is: 

Shall I tell you of a recompense with Allah, worse than that? Whomsoever Allah has cursed, and with whom He is wroth, and made some of them apes and swine, and worshippers of idols – they are worse situated, and have gone further astray from the right way. (Sura 5:60)

And the verse concerning Christians:

People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, other than the truth, and follow not the caprices of a people who went astray before, and led astray many, and now again have gone astray from the right way. (Sura 5:77)

It is remarkable that the daily prayers of every Muslim, part of the core of Islam, include a rejection of Christians and Jews as misguided and objects of Allah’s wrath.

Sadly, tragically, the Faith Shared effort is united in apostasy and misunderstanding, and is the offspring of the centuries of anti-Christian drifting which has occurred in the West, coupled with the ascendancy of the secular mindset, which has been gathering strength for the last century. The extent to which more and more "Christians" adopt the beliefs and attitudes of the Faith Shared effort, is the extent to which the great falling away can be seen to have progressed. 

The address given by Metropolitan Jonah (Asceticism and the Consumer Society) to a diverse audience from over seventy countries — including many Muslims — at Acton University last week, was a pattern for proclaiming the Orthodox Gospel, even while building bridges and reaching out to non-Christians where we may genuinely do so, as is evidenced in this excerpt:

The solution we are looking for is the Cross of Jesus Christ. It is His Cross that heals a fallen creation, a fallen humanity, and me as a sinner. Reflecting on the appropriateness of Christ’s death on the Cross as a public proclamation of God’s love for humanity, St Athanasius the Great writes: "[I]f the Lord’s death is the ransom of all, and by his death 'the middle wall of partition' is broken down, and the calling of the nations is brought about, how would he have called us to him, had he not been crucified? for it is only on a cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Whence it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people, and with the other those from the Gentiles, and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself has said to all: 'I, when I am lifted up,' he says, 'shall draw all men to me.'"

The Christian ascetical life, that is the life of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, the works of mercy and obedience, is the application and the appropriation of the Cross to my life. It is the means by which I both enter into a life of communion with God and become myself a sacrament of that communion for others. This is possible because at its most basic level, asceticism “is the struggle of the person against rebellious nature, against the nature which seeks to achieve on its own what it could bring about only in personal unity and communion with God.” Our “restoration” to a life of personal communion with God and so our personal “resistance” to the powers of sin and death, “presuppose a struggle” within each human heart that is often lacking in contemporary society and even our churches.

This struggle IS the ascetical life and as an Orthodox Christian I believe that I cannot effectively preach the Gospel if I neglect my own person podvig, my own personal ascetical struggle to live a life in conformity to Christ. So clearly I am not referring here to “just any kind of asceticism.” Fasting, for example, simply to make ourselves more attractive to others is also a type of asceticism; it is the false asceticism of consumerism that encourages rather than mortifies our egoism. Likewise we can work longer hours so that we can simply own more things. This too is a false form of asceticism because it too is grounded in egoism.

The asceticism that is needed to preach the Gospel, and so offer hope and healing to those gripped by the materialism and despair of secularism and the false idol of consumerism, is the kind of asceticism by which we “resist death in our own bodies.” This happens I believe only by our “conformity to the example of Christ, who willingly accepted death so as to destroy death.” As with worship, we may disagree among ourselves as Jews, Christians and Muslim as to the source, content and form of the ascetical life. But is it so daring to say that, on anthropological grounds at least, we agree among ourselves that “Every voluntary mortification of the egocentricity which is ‘contrary to nature’ is a dynamic destruction of death and a triumph for the life of the person” and so society?

Can we not as religious believers and as men and women of good will, in our own lives, in the lives of our respective communities and in our society at the very least foster a renewed appreciation and practice of asceticism?

Metropolitan Jonah leads us as a pastor, showing how to achieve the essential balance between being a confessing Christian who fearlessly proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and at the same time appeals to "men and women of good will" with a message of healing. It remains to be seen whether the followers of Muhammad will follow their conscience, which may lead them to faith in Jesus Christ, or whether they will concentrate on the way (the sunnah) of their prophet and the Koran, and all the dark forces contained in orthodox Islam.

More on Muslim Persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt

While preparing a post on Muslim persecution of Iraqi Christians (Part 2 of the series 'Canaries in the Coalmine'), I came upon this extremely helpful article, which serves as a vivid reminder of the suffering of our Coptic brothers and sisters in Egypt. 

Keep the Persecution of Egypt's Christians in Correct Perspective

By Michael Terheyden
6/5/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The Copts have real reasons to fear rising Islamic fundamentalism. And the harsh reality of life for the Copts is important for us to keep in correct perspective. Perhaps one reason it is important is so that we will continue to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters around the world and help build up the Body of Christ.


KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - On May 26, 2011, Reuters published an article, "Christians Worry Egypt Being Hijacked by Islamists." The article begins by informing us about Coptic fears of rising Islamist fundamentalism since Mubarak stepped down as President of Egypt in February of this year, but then it seems to downplay those fears. Consequently, I am reminded how important it is for us keep the harsh reality which the Copts are experiencing in proper perspective. With this thought in mind, I will review four points mentioned in the Reuters article.

First, the article seems to associate the Copts' fear of rising Islamist fundamentalism with a group called the Salafists. Of course, such fears have other roots too, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, but the Salafists appear to be responsible for much of the increased violence and tensions in Egypt of late.

The Salafis are followers of a movement that models itself on Islam's patristic period. The Salafis believe that this time period, which lasted for the first three generations, reflects the pure and authoritative teaching and practice of Islam. Contemporary Salafism is seen as a literal and puritanical approach to Islam, and a minority of Salafis espouse violent jihad against the civilian population. Members of this violent minority are referred to as Salafists.

Second, the article suggests other explanations for the recent wave of attacks against the Copts. It floats the idea that the protests in January and February somehow weakened law and order. This idea does not make much sense to me as it stands. However, forcing Mubarak out so fast did risk creating a power vacuum, and Egypt could be struggling with this problem. Some reports appear to corroborate this idea. They indicate that the military may be having difficulty keeping order among certain groups of fundamentalists such as the Salafists.

The article also suggests that the increased lawlessness may be due to the mass breakout of convicts from jail during the historic demonstrations in January and February. But the attacks against the Copts are overwhelmingly sectarian. Reports indicate that the attacks are being carried out by local Muslim communities and their leaders, not escaped convicts. For instance, the article mentions an incident last week in Ain Shams, an eastern district of Cairo, where local Muslims and Salafists reportedly blocked Christians from going to church and threw cinder blocks at them.

Third, according to the article, some Egyptians think the alarm over the recent sectarian violence is being overdone, and some blame Coptic leaders for stoking fears and making the Christian community more defensive. It even quotes a Christian thinker, Milad Hanna: "If there are events which could lead to clashes every now and then, this may happen. They (Muslims) are normal people, not angels." Then the article says that "The sectarian clashes have prompted many Christians to vent pent-up grievances at perceived discrimination since the 1970s. "

The Copts are hardly venting pent-up grievances at perceived discrimination, though I have no doubt that their grievances are pent up. After all, they have been suffering discrimination for well over a thousand years, ever since Muslim armies conquered Egypt in the seventh century. Discrimination against the Copts is real, not perceived or imagined. They do not have to go looking for it to try to find it. It is in their face every day.

Furthermore, significant clashes between Copts and Muslims since Mubarak stepped down have  not been "every now and then." And there is good reason to believe that these clashes are increasing in intensity and frequency. I have written about some of them in previous articles. In February, at least three monasteries were attacked by the military: the Makarios Monastery of Alexandria, the Saint Bishoy Monastery, and the fourth century monastary of Saint Boula. In March, the Coptic community of Soul was attacked by a mob of 4000 Muslims? Then there was the protest in Cairo that turned violent. And in May there was the conflict at the Saint Mina Church. Not far away, the Virgin Mary Church was set on fire that same evening in Imbaba, Cairo.

Nor are Coptic leaders stoking fears or overreacting. That is what some people do in America. We are not talking about someone threatening to burn the Koran or people protesting the building of an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero, which caused mass hysteria among some people in this country; we are talking about Coptic churches, businesses and homes being destroyed and people being attacked, wounded and killed because they are Christian. These are acts of real hatred, violence and destruction.

The fourth and final point I will review concerns the rights which Copts want. The article mentions a few. For instance, Copts are severely restricted when it comes to employment opportunities for government jobs. They want equal opportunity. The history of the Copts is not included in school textbooks, and they want it included in the curriculum. In addition, Copts are not allowed to build or repair their churches unless they get special permits which are not required for mosques, so they want these restrictions eased.

Although this list is far from complete, it gives us some idea how restricted the Copts are in present-day Egyptian society. The Copts are not asking for fictitious rights, as is happening in America over such contentious issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. They are asking for fundamental rights that all people need in order to live. They are asking not to be driven from their land or killed, which is happening to Christians throughout the Muslim world.

Thus, the Copts have real reasons to fear rising Islamic fundamentalism. This is the harsh reality of life for the Copts, and it is important for us to keep it in proper perspective. Perhaps one reason it is important is so that we will continue to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters around the world and help build up the Body of Christ. 

Source

The Holy Georgian Martyrs of Persia (+1616)

As you read this account, consider how similar it is in so many respects to the Armenian Golgotha and the Orthodox Genocide following World War I, when the Muslim Turks slaughtered 4.5 million Christians from Armenia, Greece, Pontus, Thrace and elsewhere. This is the legacy of Islam: wherever it goes, death, destruction, blood and misery go with it.  


St Gregory Palamas noted this about Muhammad, which may certainly be applied to his followers:

"[Muhammad] came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil."

Throughout history Georgia has frequently been forced to defend what St. Ilia the Righteous called its “threefold treasure” — language, fatherland, and Faith. In this regard, the events of the 17th century are some of the most tragic in all of Georgian history.

In 1616 the bloodthirsty Persian ruler Shah Abbas I invaded Georgia with a massive army. His goal was to level the country completely, to leave not a single building standing. The shah’s army kidnapped hundreds of thousands of Kakhetian Georgians and then sent them to Persia to be sold as slaves. They settled Turkmen in the newly depopulated Georgian regions. In collaboration with the shah, many Lezgin peoples from the mountainous North Caucasus moved south to occupy the homes of the exiled Georgians.

The 17th-century Italian traveler Pietro della Valle described the Georgian exile in Persia: “It would be too long to narrate all that has passed in this miserable migration, how many murders, how many deaths caused by privation, how many seductions, rapes, and acts of violence, how many children drowned by their own parents or cast into rivers through despair, some snatched by force from their mother’s breasts because they seemed too weak to live and thrown down by the wayside and abandoned there to be food for wild beasts or trampled underfoot by the horses and camels of the army, which marched for a whole day on top of dead bodies; how many sons separated from their fathers, wives from their husbands, sisters from their brothers, and carried off to distant countries without hope of ever meeting again. Throughout the camp, men and women were sold on this occasion much cheaper than beasts, because of the great number of them.” (Quoted in David Marshall Lang, Lives and Legends of the Georgian Church (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1956), p. 170.)

The Georgian exiles in Persia included a large number of clergy. Many of them celebrated the divine services in secret and inspired the people to remain faithful to God. Those discovered were punished severely. Many Georgians were martyred for the Christian Faith during the Persian exile. Not only Georgian researchers, but historians and travelers of other nationalities attest to the truth of this. Furthermore, ethnic Georgians currently residing in formerly Persian territories continue to commemorate their fallen ancestors to this day. They make pilgrimages to the sites where their ancestors were martyred and prepare feasts there in honor of their memory. One of these sites has been called “Ascension.”

Of language, fatherland, and Faith, only language remains alive among Georgians in the formerly Persian territories. Most have lost touch with both their fatherland and the Christian Faith. Those fortunate enough to be able to return to Georgia often convert to Orthodox Christianity. In 2001, when Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II visited the ethnic Georgians in Iran, he presented them with a mound of Georgian soil. With great emotion the Georgians scattered the soil over the ground where their ancestors were martyred.

On September 18, 2003, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church prayerfully considered the martyric contest of the Georgians in Persia. The Synod declared all those martyred at the hands of Muslims in the 17th and 18th centuries worthy to be numbered among the saints. Their commemoration day was set on the feast of Holy Ascension, in honor of the place where many of them were martyred.

Source

Blasphemy Laws Protect Islam, Persecute Christians in Algeria, and in the United States

Christ is Risen!

The below story, of an Algerian Christian being convicted on blasphemy charges and sentenced to five years in prison, is yet another example of why Facing Islam is so urgent.  More and more even here in America, sharing our Christian faith is portrayed as criminal, as hate speech, as by our very nature we are presenting Truth against the sea of falsehood which surrounds us.

But are we sharing our faith and presenting the Truth enough? We have become quite soft here in the United States and Canada, so reluctant to express our concerns about Islam for fear of offending anyone, of appearing intolerant, that we place ourselves under virtual house arrest, and enable, by our silence, the spread of that which is truly intolerant, the supremacist, totalitarian belief system of Islam, which has as its aim in the U.S. and Canada a "'Civilizational-Jihad Process', with all the word means".  To continue this quote from a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood in America internal memorandum:

"The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is kind of a grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house."

The Muslim Brotherhood, swiftly rising to power in Egypt and elsewhere, does not openly operate in the U.S., using instead front groups like CAIR (council on American-Islamic Relations), ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America), MSA (Muslim Student Association), and others.  All these MB front groups share this common goal, of using our very civil liberties against us, through stealth jihad, legal jihad ("lawfare"), immigration, etc., so as to further an Islamic takeover of the United States and Canada. In the words of CAIR chairman and co-founder,  Omar Ahmad, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran... should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth."

We are already seeing street evangelists unlawfully arrested for preaching the Gospel to Muslims in places like Dearbornistan MI. Another recent case in Philadelphia involved unlawful arrest and intimidation of Christians sharing the Gospel with Muslims. To the extent Islam and the Left advance their agendas, stories like the following will be seen more and more right here in America, as our right to freedom of speech is stripped away:

Washington -- International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that an Algerian Christian was sentenced to five years imprisonment for blasphemy in Oran on Wednesday after sharing his Christian faith with a neighbor. The verdict came days after authorities forced the permanent closure of seven Protestant churches in Algeria's Béjaia province.

Siagh Krimo was charged by the Criminal Court of the Djamel District in Oran, who based their decision on Article 144 bis 2 of the Penal Code which criminalizes acts that "insult the prophet and any of the messengers of God, or denigrate the creed and precepts of Islam, whether by writing, drawing, declaration, or any other means." Krimo has ten days to appeal the sentence.

Krimo, who is married with a nine month old child, was arrested on April 14, along with another Christian, Sofiane, after sharing his Christian faith with a neighbor. Sofiane was released soon after the arrest, while Krimo was detained for three days. Krimo was known to hold weekly prayer services at his home, which Algerian Christians suspect were being closely monitored by the police.

The prosecutor at Krimo's trial, held on May 4, failed to present as a witness the neighbor who accused Krimo of proselytizing and making defamatory statements against the Muslim prophet Mohammad. Algerian Christians were hopeful that Krimo would be acquitted of all charges. "Good news, the judge, after having invited Krimo to use wisdom and return to Islam, has ended the affair," an Algerian church leader in Tizi Ouzou told ICC on May 4. "We hope this will end well."

The prosecutor, doubtful he would win the case on so little evidence, reportedly asked the judge to have Krimo's sentence reduced to a two year imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 Algerian dinar. However, some believe that higher authorities in the Algerian government were involved in reaching the final decision. "The judge would have normally acquitted Krimo of all charges, but I think he received an order from his superiors to strike hard," said an Algerian representative of the Association of Protestant Churches (EPA).

Krimo's sentence follows an order received by the EPA on May 22 to close seven Protestant churches in the province of Béjaia. The notice stated the churches are to be closed in accordance with Ordinance 06-03, which requires churches to obtain government permission to hold services. Though the EPA has made efforts to comply with the ordinance, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Religious Affairs have refused to register churches or to approve permits quickly.

Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, "Algerian Christians have been under attack in recent weeks as laws have been increasingly enforced to discriminate against them. Earlier this week, seven churches in Béjaia were ordered to close. Now, an Algerian Christian is on the verge of being unjustly imprisoned for accusations of criticizing Islam. While Algeria professes that it upholds religious freedom, it also embraces a blasphemy law that, by its very nature, can be used to prosecute anyone who does not adhere to the religion of Islam. We urge Algeria to acquit Siagh of all charges and repeal Article 144 bis 2 of the Penal Code."

AINA News Agency

A Malaysian Journey from Darkness

by the Anti Jihadist

For most Americans and those reading this, the nation of Malaysia--the country I call home--is likely nothing more but a mysterious, distant, small and relatively unimportant land. Some of you might be familiar with Malaysia's carefully cultivated public image of being some sort of harmonious multicultural tropical paradise, which is recycled endlessly in 30-second-long television spots both here and overseas.

But for anyone who may be trying to come to grips with the grim reality that is Islam, Malaysia may be one of the most important places on the planet. That's because anyone who still, despite all the evidence, feels that there really is a moderate, progressive, tolerant and peaceful Islam, need look no further than Malaysia. Once you do, you'll be thoroughly disabused of this notion.

My own awakening to Islam is mostly a tale of ignorance and more than whiff of denial, punctuated by sudden, shattering and irreversible epiphanies. I say 'shattering' because the ideas that I embraced as I grew up--that Islam is just one religion of many, and doesn't particularly pose a threat to anyone--does not withstand anything more than a cursory examination of the facts. And as the evidence piled up and my doubts grew, those old notions I had held previously, like a sheet of plate glass, came apart under the hammer blows of truth.

The first blow to my complacency was that dark day in Lower Manhattan nearly ten years ago. Like so many others reading this, I was horrified at the televised scenes of destruction and carnage in New York and Washington. How could any rational human feel otherwise? But as the days and months passed after September 11th, I starting hearing Malaysians say, over and over, that the US Government was lying about 9-11, that it was a 'set up' and a plot against Islam. And that the Jews were really behind it, of course. As I realised how sincere these Malaysians were in these outlandish ideas, I thought, "What makes so many people in this country prone to this nonsense?" At the time, the exact answers eluded me, but my budding doubts about Islam festered.

Another devastating blow came when Doctor Azahari Husin, a well educated Malaysian who had willingly and savagely butchered hundreds, maybe thousands of innocents, both Muslim and 'infidel' alike, became the most notorious terrorist in Southeast Asia, When he was buried in his hometown here in Malaysia in 2005. I read about it in the Malaysian newspapers. The local media did their best to humanise the man, and his funeral was like a hero's sendoff, well attended by hundreds of Malays who screamed 'Allahu akbar' as his coffin was lowered into the ground. The Malaysian government said nothing about Azahari's passing, not even a perfunctory condemnation of his wanton deeds. In addition, Azahari's own family has, to this day, steadfastly refused to apologise for any of Azahari's long list of crimes. I remembered thinking at the time, "What kind of government and what kind of family could refuse to condemn a mass murderer?' My doubts grew apace.

It was about this time when I began my own private investigation into Islam, to go beyond apologetic Malaysian government textbooks and misleading press accounts. Finding nothing credible in the local, heavily censored bookshops, I searched online. Soon I discovered the carefully-researched work of Robert Spencer. His words online, and in his book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam reeked and shouted of the truth, a truth I had sensed for some time but which I had long failed to see its full dimensions.

The last and final blow that destroyed my impressions once and for all about Islam actually began for me before the late Dr. Azahari's demise. That final nail in the coffin, the most damning evidence, came to my attention because I had had the audacity to fall in love with a Muslima, a Malay 'born' into Islam solely by accident of birth. And as our relationship blossomed, I discovered to my chagrin many more Malaysian lies, ones that are never to be heard in those 30-second 'Tourism Malaysia' TV spots. This wonderful woman that I have now in my life, I learned, must apply in a Muslim court if she wants permission to leave Islam. Of course such permission has never been granted to any Malay. And anyone that is foolhardy enough to ask for that permission is promptly shunted away for a lengthy sentence inside a government-operated religious prison, which the government here disingenuously calls 'religious rehabilitation centres'. And of course, the punishment does not stop there--there's the loss of one's livelihood, fines, loss of social standing, and more. Does this sound 'moderate' or 'tolerant' to you? This fascistic system is real and is not condemned let alone questioned by any Malaysian.

Consequently, Malaysia is only 'moderate' in the sense that its apostates 'only' face detention, not death as is the law in many other Muslim countries. And such a draconian system is completely in line with Islamic ideology and teachings. Why else would no Muslim dare oppose, or not be able to oppose such a totalitarian system on Islamic grounds? They can't, lest they be deemed apostates themselves.

Faced with a system such as this, I've turned to blogging at Infidel Bloggers Alliance and at my own site Pedestrian Infidel  as an outlet for my thoughts and frustrations. Of course, if I ever dare utter the truth a bit too openly, or anything else that does not fit the Official Line, I am quickly warned by my friends. "Quiet! Do you want to get in trouble?" Fear is never too far away in this country.

In fact, being a counterjihad blogger in Malaysia is, to be honest, like being the only sane person in an insane asylum. Everyone around you is either unwilling or unable to see reality in its true form--they can only perceive a distorted misshapen sort of reality. But this 'alternate' reality is the one that everyone accepts as natural and true. Any thoughts otherwise are not only unthinkable, they are inconceivable. Such is life with the inmates of Islam.

To risk using a borderline hoary cliche, my circumstances here are a bit like the plot from the first Matrix movie (the one good Matrix movie, I mean). In that movie, the main character stumbles onto the truth, but it's such a dangerous truth that it totally undercuts not only the authority, but the very reality of society itself--its assumptions, its norms, its very foundations. It is exactly the same here in this corner of Planet Islam, knowing as I know, that there can never be peace and freedom as long as there is Islam in the world.

I go about my life everyday in Malaysia with this incredibly dangerous knowledge in my mind. No amount of propaganda from the brain-dead media or government spin can erase what I know. So, it's best to keep it sealed carefully away, and this is what I do, although it has grown increasingly difficult over the years. Were it not for the net, I would have no outlet at all. So for that, I am grateful, especially to Mr. Spencer for granting me this opportunity to write for his site.

Let those in the world who value their freedom remember this. As I have learned in my own life, once a totalitarian entity like Islam takes your freedom from you, you'll have a massive fight on your hands to get it back. If freedom-loving people can take heed of this warning, then that makes all the risks I face worthwhile.

Source: Jihad Watch

On the Rewriting of Greek History

By Monk Moses the Athonite

March 26, 2011

Recently there have been attempts at a shameful rewriting of our history. Neither few nor many connoisseurs agonizingly are trying to convince us that four centuries of Ottoman domination, the great Ottoman Empire, was an ideal period of cooperation, association and communication with our enslaved ancestors, our hapless serfs. The study of Ottoman archives brought to light strong evidence, they say, that the Turks were noble, casual, generous and very polite. Many Modern Greeks are wondering, worried and seriously troubled about the aim of the authors and exponents of these original and unsubstantiated views. 190 years after the Greek Revolution in 1821, they are rewriting our history.

How can it be seriously shown that the Greeks acquired a national consciousness just before the Greek Revolution of 1821? The common origin, the same language, the same religion, similar ethics and customs, do they not show a national consciousness from Greek antiquity? During the Hellenistic and so-called Byzantine era does there not continue a culture lived and created after the famous ancient Greek race? Are clergy, scholars, writers and travelers in error when they speak loudly about how before and after the fall of Constantinople there was a brilliant continuation of Hellenism? Are there not documents that speak of exorbitant taxes for the enslaved, the martyrdoms of the Orthodox, violent Islamization, kidnapping and the making of janissaries? Were the bold fighters, Kleftes and Armatoloi, guerrillas and fugitives as we heard recently? Was the cause of the uprising of 1821 of a purely economic nature? Didn't Marxists theorize in a congress of theirs thirty years ago these monolithic theories?

We do not shout in vain because we have settled and established views that are affected, because this is how we grew up, because it suits us, because we fear being contradicted, because we do not have strong arguments. We are not accustomed to yelling, and not afraid to diverge from non-established new views. In 1821, they say, the Greek nation was established. What existed before? Who dwelled here? Who were those who inhabited here? Do they want to say that in 1821 there was founded the Modern Greek state? Should historians confuse the terms nation and state? Greek history is not given to controversy, ratings and speculation. Our history should not be dramatized and casually humiliated. Let us not insult the spilled blood of heroes for our freedom today. Anyone can submit their personal interpretations of history. But there should be acceptance by all, discussed quite seriously and openly. Will we remove the foustanella and kariophili from the militants and put on them "blue jeans" and automatic weapons? Did not the heroes of 1821 fight "for the holy faith of Christ and the freedom of the country?" Did they shed their blood for economic recovery and the establishment of a nation-state? Did it not start from the Monastery of Agia Lavra? From where did it start? From a tavern? Are the Secret Schools a myth, and the involvement of clergy in the Greek Revolution a fairytale? For 190 years our historians told us such serious lies? Why? So many years we were immature and now suddenly matured to accept the great truth hidden by Mr. Veremis? The truth comes in the deletion of myths? Truth means forgetfulness of oblivion. A vigilant, correct, fair memory of historical events. Why invent and hold on to so many myths? Perhaps it is not a myth and in this lies much truth? Should not the study of the Ottoman archives be extended to the Russian, Austrian, English and even in other Greek anecdotes?

A historian cannot by personal ideology and a strong bias delete without question by a stroke of the pen the offerings of the clergy and Church in the Greek Revolution, throughout the course of the country. This is not a simple debate, defending the honest and blood-stained raso, but an intense and wholehearted protest. The leaders of the newly-formed history have a joyless role, known and ordinary, one without shame, an unnecessary and unwaged war against the sanctified, the righteous and the beautiful. They strike at the Church, Orthodoxy, religion, the clergy, and monasticism. They say in a mature enough time it will level. But the last word of history, the dot and dash, others will surely provide. The Revolution began with the blessing of the Church on 3/25/1821, the day of the Annunciation. The Annunciation brought the resurrection of our doleful and sweet homeland.

Source: Mystagogy 

"I am warning you... Take the situation seriously!"

The 'Charter of Privileges': Proof of a Peaceful, Tolerant Islam?

Christ is Risen!

There is a document kept at St Catherine Monastery at Mt Sinai which, it is claimed, was written by Muhammad, and which is significant for the protections it offers for Christians under Islamic rule, not only those of the Monastery, and not only in the seventh century, but, it is claimed by some, for all Christians for all time.  This is acknowledged to not be the original document, but a copy, and is significant for the religious tolerance, protection for non-Muslims, and pluralistic cachet it presents. Supposedly written by Muhammad himself in 628 A.D., this document, if authentic, would be an enormously important artifact, and could cause a tectonic shift in the battle for the soul of Islam supposedly being waged between the zealous and extremely motivated radical Islamists (the Egyptian Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, etc.), and the apparently not so zealous or motivated 'Moderate' Muslims, who seem unwilling or unable to refute the Islamists.

This document, the 'Charter of Privileges', is pointed to by those with little background in the subject of Islam as the definitive statement on Islam's true nature as the 'Religion of Peace' (and Tolerance!). From time to time a Muslim spokesman presents it, it goes viral, and well-intentioned non-Muslims post it, share it, and hold it up as a rebuttal to those who dare criticize or ask legitimate questions about Islam.

For the record, below is the English translation of the 'Charter', as provided by Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq, with their prefatory comments and concluding statement:

In 628 C.E. Prophet Muhammad (s) granted a Charter of Privileges to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt. Sinai. It consisted of several clauses covering all aspects of human rights including such topics as the protection of Christians, freedom of worship and movement, freedom to appoint their own judges and to own and maintain their property, exemption from military service, and the right to protection in war.   An English translation of that document is presented below.

This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.No compulsion is to be on them.Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight.The Muslims are to fight for them.If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).

This charter of privileges has been honored and faithfully applied by Muslims throughout the centuries in all lands they ruled.

Sadly, the 'Charter of Privileges' is not any sort of definitive statement on Islam, and has never been taken to be such by any Islamic authority or school of Islamic jurisprudence for the nearly fourteen centuries since Muhammad founded the religion.

The New Martyrs of Batak, Bulgaria - Faithful Witnesses for Christ to Strengthen Us in Our Trials

Excerpted below is a key paragraph from the full story of the martyrdom of the Orthodox faithful of Batak, Bulgaria at the hands of the Muslim Turks. This horrific, genocidal slaughter of nearly a whole people was a violent spasm of Islamic hatred and desperation before Bulgaria was liberated in 1878 from the Muslims by the Russians and Romanians, with help from the Bulgarian militia (the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878).  Let us keep in mind that this is an example of how Islam, when it finally gains ascendancy, treats non-Muslims who refuse to submit. The Batak Golgotha is the same phenomenon as the Armenian Genocide, in which 4.5 million Orthodox Christians (and other non-Muslims) were martyred — as at Batak — by the Muslim Turks.  May we follow the heroic example of the Bulgarians' unswerving faith in Christ, and may we be aided by their heavenly intercessions!

Australia Gets it Right - Says 'No' to Sharia

Dr Mark Durie, Australian pastor and author of two highly recommended books on Islam, discusses the recent decisive negative response of the Australian Attorney General to Islamic requests for implementation of Sharia law.  Dr. Durie's clear, concise article can help us in the United States who are working to prevent and expel any Sharia encroachment in our country.

In a related news story, America's leading expert on Sharia and how it relates to U.S. law, David Yerushalmi, reveals the results of an extensive study conducted by the Center for Security Policy, which concludes that Sharia is already being used in 23 states, even when it goes explicitly against the Constitution or state law:

New Study Finds Shariah Law Involved in Court Cases in 23 States CSP

Washington, DC, May 17, 2011 - The Center for Security Policy today released an in-depth study-- Shariah Law and American State Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases. The study evaluates 50 appellate court cases from 23 states that involve conflicts between Shariah (Islamic law) and American state law.  The analysis finds that Shariah has been applied or formally recognized in state court decisions, in conflict with the Constitution and state public policy.