Beyond Islam: Pausing to Reflect

Dear Readers,

Effective this week I will be taking an extended sabbatical from writing, blogging and addressing the heresy and threat of Islam.  I hope this blog will thrive during my absence as an online resource for many, and perhaps the pause in regular postings will provide an opportunity for many of you to explore the various resources contained here. 

There are indeed many resources here. In spite of its shortcomings, my book, Facing Islam, strives to present an Orthodox Christian Approach to Islam. There are also several other essential titles listed on the right hand column which are very helpful. Read and share widely!

Use the search feature also, and if you find an article which helps, explore others similar by clicking on the topical labels. 

There are also the separate, stand-alone pages listed in the horizontal bars at the top. Much good info here if you haven't had a chance to explore. Highly recommended is the page on New Martyr Fr. Daniil Sysoev, the anniversary of whose repose is coming up on November 19.

On the left hand column are links to resources on many Orthodox Christian saints, martyrs and confessors, including an important article on St Gregory Palamas as Confessor and Defender of Orthodoxy against Islam. The Church celebrates the memory of St Gregory on the Second Sunday of Great Lent, and on November 14, so very timely reading just now.

Also on the left hand column are direct links to other counter-jihad blogs and websites which often have extremely insightful articles and news on the global threat of Islam.

For those with "eyes to see and ears to hear," the true nature of Islam is becoming increasingly obvious. At the same time, those who wish to deny the obvious are often in positions of authority, even within the Orthodox Church. This requires us all to be informed and vigilant, and to be faithful.

At the risk of sounding alarmist or apocalyptic I wish to encourage us all to "hold fast to the faith," to labor tirelessly, to stand for the truth, and to not accept the lie. At the same time, we must do so with a warm, loving heart which refuses to be poisoned by the toxic atmosphere which surrounds us. We live in dire times, when "the love of many has grown cold," and we should tremble when we remember the Lord's words, "When the Son of Man comes, will He even find faith upon the earth?"  

Some have warned that a time of crisis, or rather of multiple, multi-layered crises, such as ours, has been coming for some time. It is here now, and we are forced to confront its effects, but in ourselves first, and then in those around us. Let us therefore "encourage one another daily, and all the more as we see the Day approaching," for "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."  This is "Christ in you, the hope of glory."  

"THIS is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." (John 17:3)

If we persevere in faith, then we will reap the harvest, and we will be ready to make the good confession of faith in Jesus Christ when we are called to do so. 

Having this awareness alive within us is to live in Christ here and now, and this is to be truly beyond Islam or any heresy, evil or threat, to live beyond the assaults of the enemy of mankind.

I can think of no better words to close with than these from Righteous Hieromonk Seraphim Rose:

Christian compromise in thought and word and negligence in deed have opened the way to the triumph of the forces of the absurd, of Satan, of Antichrist. The present age of absurdity is the just reward of Christians who have failed to be Christians...

Now one cannot be a half-hearted Christian, but only entirely or not at all.

God's blessings on you...