The Hundred-Thousand Holy Martyrs of Tbilisi, Georgia

"The invaders goaded the people to the bridge, ordering them to cross it and spit on the holy icons. Those who betrayed the Christian Faith and mocked the icons were spared their lives, while the Orthodox confessors were beheaded."

_______

This is one of the most compelling mass-martyrdom accounts in Christian history. Of course, the "Turkmen" referred to are the Muslim Turks, who during the thirteenth century were waging jihad to expand the dar al-Islam.

Notice the practice of beheading by the Muslims, used by the Islamic State today, following the example of Muhammad, who personally beheaded between 600 and 900 Jewish men and boys from the Quraiza tribe at Medina. (See The Life of Muhammad, by Ibn Ishaq, trans. A. Guillaume, New York, 1980, pp 463-464).


See also: Metropolitan Tikhon concelebrates Liturgy with Georgian Patriarch in Tbilisi Cathedral . . .

_______

The Hundred Thousand Holy Martyrs of Tbilisi  (+1227)

from Lives of the Georgian Saints, by Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze

St Herman of Alaska Press, Platina CA, 2006, pp 403-404.

In 1227 Sultan Jalal al-Din of Khwarazm and his army of Turkmen attacked Georgia. On the first day of the battle the Georgian army valorously warded off the invaders as they were approaching Tbilisi. That night, however, a group of Persians who were living in Tbilisi secretly opened the gates and summoned the enemy army into the city.

According to one manuscript in which this most terrible day in Georgian history was described: "Words are powerless to convey the destruction that the enemy wrought: tearing infants from their mothers' breasts, they beat their heads against the bridge, watching as their eyes dropped from their skulls...."

A river of blood flowed through the city. The Turkmen castrated young children, raped women, and stabbed mothers to death over their children's lifeless bodies. The whole city shuddered at the sound of wailing and lamentation. The river and streets of the city were filled with death.

The sultan ordered that the cupola of Sioni Cathedral be taken down and replaced by his vile throne. And at his command the icons of the Theotokos and our Savior were carried out of Sioni Cathedral and placed at the center of the bridge across the Mtkvari River. The invaders goaded the people to the bridge, ordering them to cross it and spit on the holy icons. Those who betrayed the Christian Faith and mocked the icons were spared their lives, while the Orthodox confessors were beheaded.

One hundred thousand Georgians sacrificed their lives to venerate the holy icons. One hundred thousand severed heads and headless bodies were carried by the bloody current down the Mtkvari River.

0 ye thousands of stars, the chosen people guarding the Georgian Church with your golden wings, intercede/or us always before the face of God!

The Photo that should SHOCK the World - More evidence of Islam's Corrupting of Muslim Children and the Killing of their Conscience

7-year-old son of Australian jihadist proudly displays "decapitated head of a slain Syrian soldier." IS member declares: "For us we believe that this generation of children is the generation of the caliphate."

[Here's another post from last year worthy of being revisited because of what it reveals about the children of Islam. Originally posted August 12, 2014.]

The photo below represents by no means an aberrant, random incident. See my article 'Do the Muslims Love Their Children Too?' � Reapplying Sting�s 1984 Cold War anthem, Russians, to a new war,' for an in depth look at how pure Islam raises its youngest adherents, and how such ghoulish behavior is commanded in the Quran and Islam's other source texts.

See also, SHOCK VIDEO: Children Swear Allegiance to Islamic State's Caliphate. 

Ponder the future, when the children of 1.6 billion Muslims are inspired by the success of the new Islamic State Caliphate and all the YouTube videos of 7-15 year olds hacking the heads off Christians and other 'infidels' while shouting "Allahu Akbar," and holding them up as trophies.  It will be hell on earth.

"The time [has now come] that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me." (JN 16:2)

Not the same God.

The photo that will shock the world: jihadist Khaled Sharrouf�s son, 7, holds severed head

by Kelmeny Fraser, The Daily Telegraph, August 11, 2014 (h/t Jihad Watch)

Raising them wrong: This is what Islam teaches: 
'When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks'

(Qur�an 47:4).

THIS is a photo that will shock the world.

Sydney jihadist Khaled Sharrouf�s son � a child, 7, raised in the suburbs of Sydney � struggles with both arms to hold up the decapitated head of a slain Syrian soldier.

According to a report in The Australian newspaper, the horrifying image was posted on Twitter by a proud father with the words �That�s my boy� and is set to reverberate around the world as a savage example of the brutality of the Islamic State.

Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist who fled to Syria last year and is now an Islamic fighter, is believed to be travelling with his family.

According to the report, Sharrouf�s son is pictured holding the severed head while wearing a pair of checked pants and a blue shirt with the insignia Polo Golf Kids.

In the photographs featuring Sharrouf and his son the heads are blackened and bloated having been dead for a week.

Grooming children for Jihad

Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist, is wanted by the AFP over his crimes in Syria and Iraq. In another image he is posing in his battle-fatigues with his three children, aged four, six and seven and all armed with machineguns.

The horrific images come after revelations that kids are being coached to kill in the name of religion as Islamic State prepares a generation of fighters to rid the world of �infidels�.

Chilling footage from inside the newly founded �state� shows children as young as nine being prepared to pick up arms to continue the brutal onslaught against infidels worldwide.

Young Abdullah is one of the so-called generation of the caliphate, an ancient term used to describe a new Islamic state built on bloodshed in northern Iraq and Syria.

As tens of thousands of Christians and minority group members flee certain death at the hands of the militants, an alarming new documentary by US media group Vice News reveals a new generation are being trained by Islamist terrorists in sharia camps to destroy infidels, including America and her allies.

Encouraged by his father, young Abdullah tells filmmaker Medyan Dairieh how he plans to kill the infidels.

�What do you want to be, a jihadist or to execute a martyrdom (suicide) operation?� Abdullah�s father, Abdullah Al-Belgian, an Islamic State (IS) leader who operates a preaching van, asks.

�A jihadist,� Abdullah replies.

Father: �Why do we kill the infidels? What have the infidels done?�

Abdullah: �They kill Muslims.�

His father tells Dairieh he left his home in Belgium to join fighters from the formerly al-Qaeda-linked IS terrorist group, originally named ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), which has captured territory in Iraq and Syria.

Asked whether people had responded to his message, he replies: �Yes, many, many, many people are responding, especially the young men.�

Another IS member explains: �For us we believe that this generation of children is the generation of the caliphate.

�God willing, this generation will fight infidels and apostates, the Americans and their allies,� he continues.

�The right doctrine has been implanted in these children. All of them love to fight for the sake of building the Islamic State and for the sake of God.�

Those aged 15 years and under are sent to sharia camp to be taught about �their creed and religion�.

Boko Haram Beheads 23 People in Kano, Nigeria - Time for an 'Open, Honest Discussion about Islam'?

David Wood over at AnsweringMuslims asks what seems to be the most obvious first question about this latest Muslim atrocity:

"How many more people have to be beheaded before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?"

We might adapt this question for any number of Islamic phenomena:

• How many more thousands of Christians have to be persecuted, killed or displaced by Muslims before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?

• How many more thousands of Muslims have to leave the West to join ISIS before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?

• How many more Muslim jihadi groups (such as Boko Haram) have to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State Caliphate (ISIS) before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?

• How many more Muslims in the West have to be convicted of jihad terrorist activities, plots and funding before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?

• How many more girls and women have to be abducted by Muslims before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?

• How many more churches have to be destroyed by Muslims before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?

• How many more Muslim jihadists have to justify their acts of violent extremism using specific citations from the Quran, the hadiths and the Sira (Life of Muhammad) before we can have an open, honest discussion about Islam?

Boko Haram Beheads 23 People in Kano, Nigeria

h/t David Wood at AnsweringMuslims, April 1, 2015

Kano, Nigeria (CNN)�Suspected Boko Haram gunmen decapitated 23 people in a raid on Buratai village in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, residents and a politician said Saturday. 

Scores of attackers invaded the village at 11 p.m. Friday when residents were mostly asleep and set homes on fire, hacking residents who tried to flee. 

"?The gunmen slaughtered their 23 victims like rams and decapitated them. They injured several people," said Ibrahim Adamu, a local politician who fled. 

"They burned a large part of the village and we are afraid some residents were burnt in the homes because most people had gone to bed when the gunmen struck," said Adamu, a ward councilor in the village. 

A paramedic ?at a government hospital in the nearby town of Biu said 32 people from Buratai were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds and burns. 

"The injured victims said a lot of people were beheaded by the attackers," the paramedic said. (Continue Reading.)

Mark Durie: 'Killing Infidels the Key to Paradise: the Islamic State�s Hacking Division'

"Fighting to kill non-Muslims can be a ticket to glory, win or lose: either you kill and gain a get-out-of-hell free card, or you are killed and gain a get-into-paradise-free card. This is a win-win proposition for the jihadi."

by Mark Durie, March 23, 2015

Last week the Islamic State's �Hacking Division� released the names and addresses of one hundred US military personnel.  It urged the �brothers residing in America� � i.e. Muslims in America � to �deal with� them, which is to say, it wants them killed.

It is worth giving careful consideration to the Islamic legal reasoning given by IS in support of their call to kill non-Muslims.

The Hacking Division quoted two verses of the Qur�an:

• Sura 9:123 �fight believers who are near to you� and 
• Sura 9:14 �Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them, and satisfy [actually yashfi �heal�] the breasts of a believing people�.

These two verses include the word qatilu, translated here as �fight�, although the Arabic actually means �fight to kill� (see discussion here).  The verbal root q-t-l from which qatilu is formed means �kill�.

[According to the Qur'an] "if Muslims feel anger against non-Muslims, their emotional pain will subside and be �healed� as they kill, humiliate and triumph over non-believers. Strange therapy indeed for the human soul!"

The second quotation, from Sura 9:14, puts forward a view about what Muslims should do with the emotional pain they experience because of unbelievers.  �Allah�, the verse says, �will heal the breasts� of Muslims, � and the sentence continues into the next verse � �and remove the rage of their hearts�.

The concept being stated here is that if Muslims feel anger against non-Muslims, their emotional pain will subside and be �healed� as they kill, humiliate and triumph over non-believers. Strange therapy indeed for the human soul!  In order to secure the much-vaunted Islamic �peace�, the pacification of the Muslim soul must, at least according to the Qur�an, be secured by shedding non-Muslim blood.  

These are stock-standard verses used to urge Muslims to go for jihad against disbelievers.

However what most caught my eye in the Hacking Division�s call to arms was not these two verses, but the citation of a saying attributed by Islamic tradition to Muhammad. This saying is hadith 4661 in a published English version of the Sahih Muslim (translated by Abdul Hamid Sidiqqi). The Sahih Muslim is one of the most revered and authoritative sources for the teaching and example of Muhammad. On page 1263 of Volume 3 of this work the hadith can be found:

Chapter 789 (DCCLXXXIX)  

About a man who killed a disbeliever and embraced Islam. 

(4661) It has been narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: A disbeliever and a believer who killed him will never be gathered together in Hell. [See here.]

This is a most significant verse. It is saying that if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, then the Muslim will not end up in hell together with the non-Muslim.  In other words, killing a non-Muslim who is destined for hell due to their unbelief can provide a sure ticket to paradise for a Muslim.

"To be deradicalized, a Muslim needs to repudiate the teachings of Muhammad and the Qur�an. This is a hard call for pious Muslims, because it means rejecting the foundational authorities of Islam itself."   

This tradition is the authority for a view widely put about by jihadis, that if a Muslim personally gets to kill a disbeliever, the Muslim will gain paradise.  Combined with the more famous belief, based on the Qur�an, that dying in jihad opens the gates of paradise to Islamic �martyrs� (see Sura 3:169-170; 9:111; and 22:58), fighting to kill non-Muslims can be a ticket to glory, win or lose: either you kill and gain a get-out-of-hell free card, or you are killed and gain a get-into-paradise-free card. This is a win-win proposition for the jihadi. 

Persuading Muslims to take the words of Muhammad seriously is the core strategy of radicalization.  This tactic works because it appeals to a plain reading of Islam�s holy texts.

To be deradicalized, a Muslim needs to repudiate the theological authority of the  teachings of Muhammad and the Qur�an. This is a hard call for pious Muslims, because it means rejecting the foundational authorities of Islam itself.    

Ayan Hirsi Ali was surely correct when she wrote that �the fundamental problem is that the majority of otherwise peaceful and law-abiding Muslims are unwilling to acknowledge, much less to repudiate, the theological warrant for intolerance and violence embedded in their own religious texts.�

Hirsi Ali also declared: �we in the West need to challenge and debate the very substance of Islamic thought and practice. We need to hold Islam accountable for the acts of its most violent adherents and to demand that it reform or disavow the key beliefs that are used to justify those acts.�

Such a challenge must engage with and repudiate the Islamic dogmas that killing or being killed in attacks against non-Mulims is the key which unlocks the gates of paradise.   Until these beliefs are repudiated, the lives of non-Muslims will continue to be thrown away as a �ticket to paradise� for Muslim belligerents.

Hadiths such as 4661 from Sahih Muslim are not made-up fictions. They are a real part of the Islamic canon, which remains unrenounced and unrepudiated by a great many Muslims and Islamic institutions.  As long as such texts are not repudiated, the theological winds of Islam will all too often continue to blow pious hearts and minds towards radicalization and death to infidels.

New Martyrs of Libya added to the Coptic Synaxarium

COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH of ALEXANDRIA
Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California and Hawaii
February 21, 2015 � h/t John

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II announced the inclusion of the 21 Coptic New Martyrs of Libya in the Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church today. Every year, they will be commemorated on 8 Amshir in the Coptic calendar, which corresponds to 15 February in the Gregorian calendar, the same day as the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple.

Axios, Axios, Axios!

This beautiful icon, which is also featured on the diocese front page, was drawn by Tony Rezk. May the Lord reward his talents.

See also:

• Metropolitan Tikhon speaks at NY memorial for 21 Coptic martyrs
• Names of the Martyrs and Statement on the Martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya
• Coptic Martyrs Call on �Lord Jesus Christ� Before Slaughter

Remember these Holy New Martyrs in your prayers, and ask them to intercede for us! 

The Martyrs� Names

1. Milad Makeen Zaky

2. Abanub Ayad Atiya

3. Maged Solaiman Shehata

4. Yusuf Shukry Yunan

5. Kirollos Shokry Fawzy

6. Bishoy Astafanus Kamel

7. Somaily Astafanus Kamel

8. Malak Ibrahim Sinweet

9. Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros

10. Girgis Milad Sinweet

11. Mina Fayez Aziz

12. Hany Abdelmesih Salib

13. Bishoy Adel Khalaf

14. Samuel Alham Wilson

15. Worker from Awr village

16. Ezat Bishri Naseef

17. Loqa Nagaty

18. Gaber Munir Adly

19. Esam Badir Samir

20. Malak Farag Abram

21. Sameh Salah Faruq

ISIS Beheadings: Hotwiring the Apocalypse One Christian Martyr At A Time

What the mass beheading of 21 Copts in Libya tells us about the Islamic State

by Timothy R. Furnish
Mahdi Watch, February 15, 2015

The Coptic Christians immediately before being martyred for Christ.

Major news outlets are reporting, today, the mass beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians by the Islamic State affiliate in Libya.

The Ottomans beheaded tens of thousands of Georgian

Christians who stubbornly, and heroically,

clung to their Christian faith.

In my 2005 Middle East Quarterly article, �Beheading in the Name of Islam,� I wrote that �the purpose of terrorism is to strike fear into the hearts of opponents in order to win political concession[s].�  Then I went on to spend much of the article explicating the legitimately Islamic roots (Qur�anic rubrics, precedents by Muhammad, examples from Islamic history, exegesis by Muslim scholars) of decapitating  �non-believers��especially Christians, the primary political and military adversaries of Islamic expansion over the last 14 centuries.

The Islamic State has upped the ante with its regular beheadings of Christians by IS central and, now, its far-flung branches.  Seen in light of incessant calls for recruits, and even more vociferous citations of apocalyptic hadiths�both of which are clearly explained in the many issues of �Dabiq� magazine�I now think that ISIS cares not one whit about political concessions.  Rather, it chops off Christians� heads for three primary reasons: 1) to reinforce its literalist Islamic credentials;  2) to win over young Muslims, particularly men, and persuade them of Islamic State�s power and dedication; and 3) to provoke the �Christian� West, particularly the United States (the world�s most populous Christian nation), into deploying ground troops�which ISIS is certain it will defeat, based on the group�s adherence to this eschatological hadith.

Metrics indicate that Christians, despite being the world�s largest religious group, are the most-persecuted�and particularly in majority-Muslim areas.  This should come as no surprise to anyone who had read the Qur�an, the biographies of Muhammad, or studied much Islamic history, because all three are rife with bitter condemnations  of Christianity, as well as examples of deadly attacks upon Christians.   

(Stylized) Ottomans (again!) beheading 800

Catholics in Otranto (Italy) who refused to convert. 

And Islamic civilization is unique today in that it is the only one on the planet in which violence against non- adherents (or, sometimes, even differing brands of its own devotees) is justified by both state (Sunni and Shi`i)  and non-state actors (ISIS, al-Qa`idah, Boko Haram, TTP, Kata�ib Hizbullah, etc.).   Beheading, which seemed so horrifically novel 13 years ago when AQ used it to kill Daniel Pearl, is now a rather routine instrument in the Islamic terrorist toolbox against such.  Muslim authorities, for all their condemnations thereof, will find it difficult to lock this dreadful chest, considering its hallowed tradition in Islamic thought and praxis.   That leaves the option of sending beheaders to meet Allah�or, much more likely, Iblis.  President Obama seems content to simply, gradually �degrade� the Islamic State.  At least we might take some solace in thinking that this minimalist approach will allow Islamic beheadings to create more Christian martyrs.   But they, and we, would probably be better off if the most powerful man in the world were less loathe to wield the sword of punishment. 

Raymond Ibrahim: The Islamic State and Islam

Using traditional Islamic criteria to determine if the Islamic State is truly Islamic.

by Raymond Ibrahim � October 17, 2014

What relationship does the Islamic State have to Islam?

�Absolutely nothing� is the answer almost every Western politician gives.   For example, U.S. President Obama adamantly stated in a televised speech that the Islamic State �is not Islamic.�

This begs the question: How does one determine what is�and is not�Islamic?

The traditional answer, the Islamic answer, has been as follows:

What do the core texts and scriptures of Islam say about the thing in question, call it �X�?  Does the Koran, believed by Muslims to contain the literal commands of Allah, call for or justify X?  Do the hadith and sira texts�which purport to record the sayings and deeds of Allah�s prophet, whom the Koran (e.g., 33:21) exhorts Muslims to emulate in all ways�call for or justify X?

If any ambiguity still remains concerning X, the next question becomes: what is the consensus (ijma�) of the Islamic world�s leading authorities concerning X?   Here one must often turn to the tafsirs, or exegeses of Islam�s most learned men�the ulema�and consider their conclusions.   Muhammad himself reportedly said that �My umma [Islamic nation] will never be in agreement over an error.�

For example, the Koran commands believers to uphold prayers; accordingly, all are agreed that Muslims need to pray.  Yet the Koran does not specify how many times.  In the hadith and sira, however, Muhammad makes clear believers should pray five times.  And the ulema, having considered all these texts, are agreed that Muslims are to pray five times a day.

Thus, it is most certainly Islamic for Muslims to pray five times a day.

But while both Western politicians and Islamic apologists readily accept such methodology to determining what is Islamic�prayer is in the Koran, Muhammad clarified its implementation in the hadith, and the ulema are agreed to it�whenever the thing in question deals with anything that makes Islam �look bad,� then the aforementioned standard approach to ascertaining what is Islamic is wholly ignored.

Let us consider some of the most extreme acts committed by the Islamic State�beheadings, crucifixions, enslavements, sexual predations, massacres, and the persecution of religious minorities�and put them to the test, see if they fill the same criteria, see if they are Islamic or not, especially in the context of jihad, which has its own set of rules.

Beheadings

The Islamic State beheads �infidels,� including women and children.  This aspect of the Islamic State has provoked horror around the world.

Is it Islamic?

The Koran calls for the beheading of Islam�s enemies, especially in the context of war, or jihad: �When you encounter infidels on the battlefield, strike off their heads until you have crushed them completely� (47:4).  Another verse states: �I will cast terror into the hearts of infidels�so strike off their heads and strike off all of their fingertips [i.e., mutilate them]� (8:12).

As for the other criteria�the example or Sunna of the prophet and the consensus of the umma�Timothy Furnish, author of the 2005 essay, �Beheading in the Name of Islam,� writes:

The practice of beheading non-Muslim captives extends back to the Prophet himself. Ibn Ishaq (d. 768 C.E.), the earliest biographer of Muhammad, is recorded as saying that the Prophet ordered the execution by decapitation of 700 men of the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina for allegedly plotting against him.  Islamic leaders from Muhammad�s time until today have followed his model. Examples of decapitation, of both the living and the dead, in Islamic history are myriad�.  For centuries, leading Islamic scholars have interpreted this verse [decapitation verse, 47:4] literally�. Many recent interpretations remain consistent with those of a millennium ago.

Crucifixions

As for crucifying people, which the Islamic State has been doing regularly, Koran 5:33 asserts that �the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land.�

Accordingly, crucifixions are common throughout Islamic history.  After Islam�s prophet died in 632, many Arabs were accused of apostasy.  The first caliph, Abu Bakr, launched a jihad campaign on them, and many �apostates� were crucified as an example to the rest.    In the book Witnesses For Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period 1437-1860,  crucifixion is listed as one of the many forms thousands of Christians were executed by the Muslim Turks.

More dramatically, in her memoir, Ravished Armenia, Aurora Mardiganian described how in the early twentieth century she saw 16 girls crucified, vultures eating their corpses: �Each girl had been nailed alive upon her cross, spikes through her feet and hands,� wrote the Armenian survivor. �Only their hair blown by the wind covered their bodies.�

More recently, people (including children) have been crucified by self-proclaimed jihadis in the name of Islam in countries as diverse as the Ivory Coast and Yemen.

Slavery and Rape

What of slavery�especially the enslavement of non-Muslim women for sexual purposes�which the Islamic State has been engaged in?

Again, from the highest scriptural authority in Islam�the Koran�to the greatest role model for Muslims�Muhammad; from Islamic history to current events, the sexual enslavement of �infidel� women is a canonical aspect of Islamic civilization.

Koran 4:3 permits men to have sex with �what your right hands possess,� a term categorically defined by the ulema as �infidel� women captured during the jihad.

The prophet of Islam himself kept and copulated with concubines conquered during the jihad.    One captured Jewish woman, Safiya bint Huyay, was �married� to Muhammad right after the prophet had tortured her husband to death to reveal hidden treasure.

And before this, Muhammad�s jihadis had slaughtered Safiya�s father and brothers.

Unsurprisingly, she later confessed that �Of all men, I hated the prophet the most�for he killed my husband, my brother, and my father,� right before marrying (or, less euphemistically, raping) her.

Khalid bin Walid�the �Sword of Allah� and hero for aspiring jihadis around the world�raped another woman renowned for her beauty, Layla, on the battlefield�right after he severed her �apostate� husband�s head, lit it on fire, and cooked his dinner on it.

Massacres

What of wide-scale massacres?  In this video, for example, the Islamic State appears herding, humiliating, and marching off hundreds of male hostages (the number often given is 1,400) to their trenches, where Islamic State members proceed to shoot them in the head�all while the black flag of Islam waves.

In fact, the prophet himself ordered merciless massacres of �infidels.�  After the battle of Badr, where Muhammad and the first Muslims prevailed over their enemies, Muhammad ordered the execution of a number of hostages. When one of the hostages, �Uqba, implored the prophet to spare him, saying �But who will look after my children, O Muhammad?� the latter responded, �Hell.�

More famously, Muhammad ordered the execution of approximately 700 Jewish men from the Banu Qurayza tribe. According to the sira account, after the Jewish tribe surrendered to his siege, Muhammad had all the men marched off to where ditches were dug and promptly executed by beheading�just like the Islamic State marched off and executed its victims near trenches in the video.

 Dhimmitude

The Islamic State is even responsible for resurrecting a distinctly Islamic institution that was banned in the 19th century thanks to the intervention of colonial powers: �dhimmitude,� that is, exacting tribute (jizya) from conquered Christians and Jews and subjecting them to live as third-class citizens who must embrace a host of debilitating and humiliating measures, including not to build or repair churches, not to ring church bells or worship loudly, not to display crosses, not to bury their dead near Muslims, etc.

These measures are also derived from the core texts of Islam.  Koran 9:29 calls on Muslims to fight the �People of the Book� (interpreted as Christians and Jews) �until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.�  And the Conditions of Omar�named after one of the �righteous caliphs��explains how they are to �feel themselves subdued,� that is, the exact way the Islamic State decreed.

Past and present ulema are confirmed that Koran 9:29 and the Conditions of Omar mean what they plainly say.  Thus, according to Saudi Sheikh Marzouk Salem al-Ghamdi speaking during a Friday mosque sermon:

If the infidels live among the Muslims, in accordance with the conditions set out by the Prophet�there is nothing wrong with it provided they pay Jizya to the Islamic treasury. Other conditions [reference to Conditions of Omar] are � that they do not renovate a church or a monastery, do not rebuild ones that were destroyed � that they rise when a Muslim wishes to sit�  do not show the cross, do not ring church bells, do not raise their voices during prayer �.  If they violate these conditions, they have no protection.

��

Based on the above exposition, it is false to say, as President Obama does, that the Islamic State �is not Islamic.�  Indeed, even in the most savage of details�including triumphing over the mutilated corpses of �infidels� and laughing while posing with their decapitated heads�the Islamic State finds support in the Koran and stories of the prophet.

It is dishonest to accept the methodology of Islamic jurisprudence�is X part of the Koran, hadith, sira, and does it have consensus among the ulema?�but then to reject this same methodology whenever X is something that makes Islam look �bad.�

In the context of jihad, all that the Islamic State is doing�beheadings, crucifixions, massacres, sexual enslavements, and the subjugation of religious minorities�is Islamic.

Inside Oklahoma Beheading Suspect's Mosque (VIDEO)

This interview rings true, and perfectly echoes the interview I recently conducted with a former Muslim, which you can read here.

Both these interviews corroborate, in their anecdotal manner, four separate studies over the last 10-15 years, which report that upwards of 80% of mosques in the United States teach/preach offensive jihad warfare and call for the institution of sharia and the overthrow of the U.S. Constitution.

I know there are many good-hearted readers out there who find all this very hard to believe. I wish that it weren't so, but sadly, we are seeing the fruits of Islam in these Quran-inspired crimes, in the steady stream of Western Muslims traveling to Syria/Iraq to join the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and wage jihad, and in the many jihad terror attacks and thwarted plots here in the U.S.

The Lord Jesus Christ warned us about false prophets: "By their fruits you shall know them." 1400 years of Islam provides ample fruit.

Leaked Video of Imam Teaching Muslims How To Cut Off Heads

While we're posting about mosques, here is another shocker about another of the 80%-ers. Mosques are "synagogues of satan" (Rev. 3:9).

Leaked Video of Imam Teaching Muslims How To Cut Off Heads

Creeping Sharia � October 1, 2014

How many U.S. mosques, storefronts and backrooms is this being taught in? via Shoebat.com.

What we stated from the Manifest was the term Ihsan and �Ihsinu Al-Qatla� (Perfect Your Killing).

?? ????? ?? ????? ???????:
??? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ??? ???: ??? ???? ???? ???

???? ???? ????: (?? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ????? ????? ????? ????? ??????).

In English:

�It was shown in Sahih � the Prophet said �Allah wrote everything we need to know about Ihsan (kindness) so if you kill perfect your killing and if you slaughter, perfect your slaughter and sharpen your blade and comfort your sacrifice� (also see Hadith Muslim 107/13)

It�s being taught in Canada too, Toronto Mosque teaches 4-5 year olds beheading.

Oklahoma beheader�s mosque taught caliphate, destruction of US and Israel

Apparently the Oklahoma mosque which catechized and nurtured Oklahoma beheader Jah�Keem Yisrael was one of the 80% of mosques in the United States which support jihad and call for the institution of sharia law and the overthrow of the US Constitution, as documented in four separate studies over the last 10-15 years. 

Related: 

• Oklahoma beheader�s mosque once led by imam of Boston jihadis� mosque
• Islamic State (ISIL) propagandist was regular worshiper at Islamic Society of Boston
• Islamic State tie to Boston mosque: massive FBI failure

Time for Muslims who sincerely wish to know the truth and be pleasing to God to repent and turn to Jesus Christ in the Orthodox Church.  Mosques are "synagogues of satan" (Rev. 3:9).

Oklahoma beheader�s mosque taught caliphate, destruction of US and Israel

by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch � September 27, 2014

The Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City is in full damage-control and victimhood mode, saying they hardly knew Oklahoma beheader Jah�Keem Yisrael, and asking for protection against �backlash.� But here is a look inside that mosque, courtesy an ex-Muslim who attended there and still lives nearby, and who sent me this information directly:

I went to the same mosque the Oklahoma Muslim who beheaded his co-worker today.  I live ten minutes away! 

The Imam was Imad Enchassi the last I heard. He was a friend of mine. He is a Lebanese-born Sunni who hates Israel. He once gave a sermon that the Israelis were trying to collapse al-Aqsa mosque by digging tunnels underneath it. They have no issue with Palestinian suicide bombings because, as it was explained to me, that is the only weapon the Palestinians have. 

They sold Milestones in the book shop while I was there, which as you know calls for replacing all non-Islamic governments with Islamic ones. I remember listening to a tape a friend of mine, Yahya Graff, another white convert to Islam, had that prayed for the destruction of Israel and America. 

The imam when I first converted, Suhaib Webb, is hailed as a moderate by liberals in the United States but he was the one that explicitly told me that according to Islam, three choices are to be given to non-Muslims: convert, pay the jizyah tax and live under Islamic rule, or jihad. They try very hard to whitewash Islam when the media is around, but they believe in their religion and the ultimate goal of an Islamic caliphate.

Muslim Beheads Woman in Oklahoma: A Sign for Muslims as well as Christians

Islam's mask is slipping. And in spite of absurd denials by presidents and prime ministers, bishops and priests, more and more Christians are waking up to the truth about the "religion of peace":

• Islam is a false religion, and Muhammad was a false prophet;
• Islam is innately violent and supremacist, and has been so from its creation fourteen hundred years ago, as evidenced by the Quran, the Sira, and hadiths about Muhammad;
• Islam is dangerous, and has become a global threat to all non-Muslims;
• Islam especially targets Christians and Jews, as evidenced in the Quran, etc.
• The Islamic State is drawing large numbers of Muslims to its ranks from all around the globe, including from Europe and North America, due to its adherence to pure,  orthodox Islam, and especially due to its apocalyptic, eschatological orientation. (See articles by Timothy Furnish.)

While it is perhaps easy for Christians to see the resurgence of pure Islam as a sign of the dark times we have entered into, I believe it is also a sign for those Muslims who are shocked and fearful to discover through such horrific headlines just what their religion and prophet really teach.

Here are just a few current headlines:

• Oklahoma: Muslim Beheads Co-Worker, had tried to convert colleagues to Islam
• Italy: Imam gets prison for jihad terror plots
• Spain, UK, Morocco: 11 Muslims arrested for jihad terror plots

That such pure evil is unleashed upon the world is indeed a sign of the end times. But what are we to do? What does this sign mean?

Clearly it is a call to repentance, for Christians first but also for Muslims.

Christians, and especially Orthodox Christians who have received the fullness of the apostolic faith, are being called to repent and live an authentic Christian life in Christ and His Church. If we are friends with the world, then we are at enmity with God. In the words of Fr Seraphim Rose:

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

Put in its apocalyptic context, the beheading of Christians by the Islamic State is a sign and a warning to us to strive to be faithful witnesses and confessors of Jesus Christ, in all our deeds, words and thoughts, that we may be found worthy of Him at His Return. 

But the meaning of this sign for Muslims is also a call to repent. 

Just as we Christians must repent of our lukewarmness and our easy friendship with the world, so Muslims who in their heart of hearts long to know the truth and honor God must repent of their false religion and false prophet, and turn to the True God, who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to restore us to the Father, granting us to be co-heirs with Him, even co-reigning with Him, even unto becoming partakers of the divine nature. Muhammad and Allah lower you to the level of mere slave. But in Christ we are no longer enslaved,  but are set free, becoming children of God. This is the high calling that is offered to everyone who turns to Jesus Christ.

To Muslims and Christians alike, the Lord calls us to Himself, that He may save us and strengthen us for the horrific tribulations yet to come, and grant us eternal life.

Let us all run to an Orthodox Christian church, turn to the priest, confess our sins, and prepare for trials, for it is coming quickly...

Raymond Ibrahim � Beheading Infidels: How Allah �Heals the Hearts of Believers�

Essential article on the Muslim jihadi mind. As gruesome as the below pictures are, this article is ultimately about Islamic and Koranic spirituality. It reveals starkly how Muslim jihadis are avidly following pure Islam. Read and share widely.

"When young Muslims express their anger and frustration at the state of affairs of the Islamic world, their clerics council them to go to the jihad in Iraq and Syria and decapitate themselves an infidel�which, according to the Koran, should �heal their hearts.� [...] 

"Such Muslims join the jihad, and not only do they decapitate, but they mutilate, humiliate, and laugh at the disgraced enemies of Allah�in perfect emulation of the Islamic glory/gory stories they grew up on. 

"This is the true cult of jihad which few non-Muslims can begin to comprehend..."

by Raymond Ibrahim � September 11, 2014

What will �heal� and �remove the rage� from �the hearts of the believers�? Infidel carnage, says the Koran.

To understand why the Islamic State not only decapitates its �infidel� captives, but also mutilates and mocks their corpses�and all to sadistic laughter�one need only turn to the Koran and deeds of Islamic prophet Muhammad.

The Koran exhorts believers to �Fight them [those who oppose Islam], Allah will torment them with your hands, humiliate them, empower you over them, and heal the hearts of the believers, removing the rage from their hearts� (Koran 9:14-15).

As usual, to understand the significance of any Koran verse, one must turn to the sira and hadith�the biography and anecdotes of Muhammad, respectively�for context.

Thus we come to the following account concerning the slaughter of �Amr bin Hisham, a pagan Arab chieftain originally  known as �Abu Hakim� (Father of Wisdom) until Muhammad dubbed him �Abu Jahl� (Father of Stupidity) for his staunch opposition to Islam.

After �Amr was mortally wounded by a new convert to Islam during the Battle of Badr, Abdullah ibn Mas�ud, a close companion of Muhammad, saw the �infidel� chieftain collapsed on the ground.  So he went to him and started abusing him.  Among other things, Abdullah grabbed and pulled �Amr�s beard and stood in triumph on the dying man�s chest.

According to Al-Bidaya wa Al-Nihaya (�The Beginning and the End�), Ibn Kathir�s authoritiative history of Islam, �After that, he [Abdullah] slit his [�Amr�s] head off and bore it till he placed it between the hands of the Prophet. Thus did Allah heal the hearts of the believers with it.�

This, then, is the true significance of Koran 9:14-15: �Fight them, Allah will torment them with your hands [mortally wounding and eventually decapitating �Amr], humiliate them [pulling his beard], empower you over them [standing atop him], and heal the hearts of the believers, removing the rage from their hearts [at the sight of his decapitated head].�

The logic here is that, pious Muslims are so full of zeal for Allah�s cause that the only way their inflamed hearts can be at rest is to see those who oppose Allah and his prophet utterly crushed�humiliated, mutilated, decapitated.  Then the hearts of the believers can be at ease and �healed.�

This is surely one of the reasons behind the Islamic State�s dissemination of gory videos and pictures of its victims: the new �caliphate� is trying to heal the hearts of every believer inflamed for the cause of Allah.

If this sounds too farfetched, consider the following picture of a decapitated �infidel� from the Islamic State�s websites.  The Arabic caption to the left says �healing for hearts��a clear reference to the aforementioned Koran verse:

Koran 96:15-16 also alludes to the fate of �Amr and offers more context applicable to the Islamic State: �No! If he does not desist, we will surely drag him by the forelock�a lying, sinning forelock.�

According to al-Alusi�s tafsir, or exegesis, after Abdullah placed his foot on the dying foe of Islam, �Amr opened his eyes and recognized him.  The once proud chieftain lamented that he was being killed by a common �goat herder,� to which Abdullah replied, �Islam elevates and nothing is elevated above it.�  He then sheared his head off.  �But he could not carry it, so he made holes in the ears and put thread through them and dragged the head to the prophet.  Then Gabriel, peace be upon him, came laughing and saying, �O prophet, you got an ear and an ear�and the head between for a bonus!�

Based, then, on the treatment of �Amr bin Hisham (AKA �Abu Jahl�) as recorded in Islam�s core texts�Koran, hadith, sira, and tafsirs�all sadistic acts being carried out by the Islamic State were in fact committed by the earliest Muslims and all to the complete approval of Muhammad (and apparently the �angel� Gabriel, too).  They include:

• Beheadings and mutilations (e.g., holes in ears of �Amr)
• Humiliation and gestures of triumph (feet on chest of fallen victim, dragging his body, or head, on the ground)
• Laughter, mockery, and celebration (for the hearts of the believers are now �healed�)

Indeed, along with the �healing for hearts� image above, consider some other pictures taken from the Islamic State�s websites and how well they conform to the above accounts describing the slaughter of �Amr[*]:

Note how in the following four pictures, to demonstrate that the enemies of Islam have been brought low, as Koran 9:14-15 promised, Islamic State members make it a point to place their feet atop their fallen corpses, most of which were first decapitated.  Note also how the ubiquitous black flag of Islam is always raised above the fallen �infidels��a reminder that �Islam elevates and nothing is elevated above it,� as Abdullah told �Amr, with his foot on his chest, before beheading him.

Note the jocularity in the following picture�reminiscent of the �angel� Gabriel laughing and joking about the mutilated head of �Amr.  (If Allah�s angel finds such human carnage amusing, shouldn�t Allah�s jihadi servants as well?)

The following picture is reminiscent of how �Amr�s head was treated: mutilated and dragged on the ground.  In this case, it is a decapitated body that is being degraded:

The next two pictures are of especial interest because they actually use the relatively arcane Arabic word haz (bottom left-hand corner), which means to �slice� off, to describe the beheading of Islam�s enemies.  The standard Arabic word for �cut� generally used to describe a beheading is qata�.  That the word used (haz) is the same word found in the early jihad literature is no coincidence and indicative of the source of inspiration: Islam�s scriptures.   (Also watch this video with English subtitles of an Islamic cleric explaining to his followers how one must �slice� (haz) heads off � and do it slowly to enjoy it more � as opposed to merely chopping it off.)

In short, not only are the members of the Islamic State closely patterning themselves after Muhammad�whom Koran 33:21 exhorts believers to emulate in all ways�but even in the most sadistic of details are they finding support in their prophet.

Nor should it come as any surprise that Muslims are aware of these accounts from early Islamic history.  After all, the near hagiographic Battle of Badr, including the story of �Amr�s slaughter, is routinely glorified worldwide in mosque sermons, on Islamic satellite stations, and in Islamic texts.  It is a source of great pride.

Thus when young Muslims express their anger and frustration at the state of affairs of the Islamic world, their clerics council them to go to the jihad in Iraq and Syria and decapitate themselves an infidel�which, according to the Koran, should �heal their hearts.�

(Perhaps that�s why a British female convert to Islam is so eager to �behead Christians with a blunt knife�?  Perhaps that�s why a jihadi savagely pulled out and bit into the heart of a fallen Syrian soldier�to heal his own heart by sating his rage against Allah�s �enemies�?)

Such Muslims join the jihad, and not only do they decapitate, but they mutilate, humiliate, and laugh at the disgraced enemies of Allah�in perfect emulation of the Islamic glory/gory stories they grew up on.

This is the true cult of jihad which few non-Muslims can begin to comprehend�and little wonder, considering that their political leaders, professors, and media continue to babble foolishly about how Islam is the �religion of peace.�

[*] Thanks to Rachid for compiling and presenting the above pictures and accounts.

An Orthodox Christian Response to Beheading by Muslims

"Will we bear witness to the truth in both our way of life and our way of death?"

by Fr. John Parker, Orthodox Christian Network � September 1, 2014

I am an unworthy man, unworthy to be called an Orthodox Christian, not to speak of the priesthood, and I write, admittedly, from the comfort of my Mount Pleasant, SC, home.  There is no Mount nearby, but it is, indeed, a pleasant seaside community on the East Coast of the United States.

As such, I ask myself: how to deal with ruthless, pitiless, pitiful souls who are so darkened that their life is spent taking the life of others�and worse, thinking that they are doing this at the direction of and with the blessing of God himself, with eternal reward?

Perhaps I will be criticized for my suggestion, sitting in my pleasant, mountless town, but we read recently that we must receive the Gospel as a child; and even a child will ask how could murder be returned by murder.  Is violence�individual or large-scale�a possible Orthodox response?

What were the apostolic and post-apostolic, and later saint�s reactions to such vicious, vile, demonic actions?

How did the disciples respond to the beheading of John the Baptist, which we commemorated on August 29?

On the precipice of martyrdom, St Stephen, the Proto-martyr begged God to forgive his killers. Was there an apostolic uprising following that?

Hieromartyr Eutychius, disciple of St John the Theologian, was beheaded after starvation in prison, an attempt to burn him alive, and cruel beatings with iron rods�which were made to cease by his prayers.  There is no account of retribution.

St Ignatius of Antioch instructed his loyal sons-and-daughters in Christ not to impede his march to martyrdom.  �Do not hold me back from life!� was his essential command.

St Lawrence, the Hieromartyr, whose memory we kept in early August, commanded his captors, who had lit him on fire while encaged, to turn him over, since he was �done on that side�.  There is not a record of retaliation.

The Hieromartyr Cyprian of Carthage, whom we remembered in the Church on August 31 was martyred by the sword as well�he, by pagans.  Among his greatest contributions to the Christian faith was the acceptance of repentance of those who had apostatized, abandoned their one true love, Jesus Christ.  He himself, though defending the true repentance of those who did commit apostasy under threat of death, did not betray Christ.

In his Life, we read,

At the trial, St Cyprian calmly and firmly refused to offer sacrifice to idols and was sentenced to beheading with a sword. Hearing the sentence, St Cyprian said, �Thanks be to God!� All the people cried out with one voice, �Let us also be beheaded with him!� 

Coming to the place of execution, the saint again gave his blessing to all and arranged to give twenty-five gold coins to the executioner. He then tied a handkerchief over his eyes, and gave his hands to be bound to the presbyter and archdeacon standing near him and lowered his head. Christians put their cloths and napkins in front of him so as to collect the martyr�s blood. St Cyprian was executed in the year 258. The body of the saint was taken by night and given burial in a private crypt of the procurator Macrobius Candidianus.

There is no record of retribution.

Commemorated on August 16, is St Constantine Brancoveanu, the 18th century ruler of Wallachia�the Romanian lands.  St Constantine was held captive on the feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, March 25, 1714, by Sultan Ahmet III, in Istanbul.  Having been issued a �convert or die� ultimatum, St Constantine Brancoveanu was forced to watch his sons be decapitated (including the youngest, 11 years old, named Matei), prior to his own decapitation by the sword.   Their heads were paraded on pikes, and the bodies (though later recovered by Christians) were thrown into the Bosphorus.  This took place on August 15, 1714, the Dormition of the Theotokos. Among the saint�s last words were these:

�Your majesty, you have taken my fortune, but I don�t abandon my Christian law.  I was born and lived in it and I want to die in it (i.e., as a Christian). I filled the earth of my country with Christian churches and, now, attaining an old age, should I bow to your Turkish mosques? No, your Highness! I defended my land, I kept my faith, I want to close my eyes in my faith and my sons together with me.� After that, he encouraged his sons, My children, have courage! I lost everything I had on this earthly world. We have left only our souls, we shall not lose them too, but we shall get them clean before our Savior Jesus Christ. Let�s wash our sins with our blood!�

The saints prayed for their torturers, and relentlessly clung to Christ.  To my knowledge, there are no recorded acts of violence returned for violence. It is the case, however, that with Ss Adrian and Natalia (August 26), one of their captors converted by their stalwart faith.  Was this also not the case with the 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste?

�Vengeance is mine,� saith the Lord.

We stand proudly with the martyrs, whose blood is the foundation of the Church.  And we beg God to grant us equal strength when we have to face what they did.

In the meantime, could it be that Western Europe and North America are facing �Islamization� not simply because of the sword, but also because:

They have many children, while we abort ours, or simply have few?

While they are spreading their diabolical teachings, we appear unconvicted by the True Faith?

Rather than bolstering a unified voice and front, Orthodox Christians are re-trenching into ethnic enclaves?

Rather than giving generously to further the work of the church, and to forgive as remarkably as we have been forgiven, Orthodox Christians remain tight fisted and petty?

Every single field is white for the harvest.  Will we bear witness to the truth in both our way of life and our way of death?

The Sign of The Forerunner

The prophetic significance of Muslim beheadings of Christians.

The Beheading of St John the Forerunner, commemorated August 29 in the Orthodox Church.

John the Baptist�s rich and descriptive title in the Orthodox Church is, �The Holy, Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John.� He is much more than �John the Baptist.�  He is a sign, a mystery. 

As �The Forerunner� he is a clear sign of the First Coming of Christ, but also of the Second Coming; he is a mystery of the fulfillment of this age, and of its trials and woes.

Jesus Himself called John �the greatest born of woman� and �more than a prophet.� The Church considers him to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets, just as the Virgin Mary  � the Mother of God � is the fulfillment of righteousness through the Old Testament lineage in preparation for the Messiah. 

As the Messiah Himself spoke to the crowds after John�s disciples came and saw the signs He was doing:

Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John� �What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: 

�Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,Who will prepare Your way before You.� [Malachi 3:1]

�Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.�  (Matthew 11:7-12)

John is the Forerunner of Christ, fulfilling the prophecy of Elijah coming to restore all things:

�Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophetBefore the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord��(Malachi 4:5-6)

�For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.�  (Matthew 11:13-15)

John the Forerunner was beheaded �for righteousness sake,� for warning and calling the corrupt and dissipated King Herod to repentance. Yet this is not some dark and dire event, but a radiant, joyous, shining witness (Greek: martyria) for us to emulate.

St. Justin Popovich teaches that St. John "had become the first of all the Holy Martyrs of the New Testament":

See how he suffered for God's truth in this world! He suffered joyously! In today's principal hymn and prayer to him it is said that he went to his death rejoicing, and that he suffered rejoicing. [See John 3:29.]  Thus he became the first example and inspiration to all the Holy Martyrs in the New Testament, beginning with St. Stephen the Protomartyr and through today. 

All of the Holy Martyrs go to their death rejoicing...

As the first one beheaded for righteousness sake � that is, for his witness to Christ, for Christ is our righteousness � John is shown to be the Forerunner of the last great wave of martyrs for Jesus:

�Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God�� (Apocalypse 20:4)

The Holy, Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John, is revealed in our time precisely as the Forerunner �of those who are being beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God.�

Today, faithful Christians by the thousands, throughout the Middle East, Africa, and the Islamic world, are being beheaded by Muslims for their witness to Jesus Christ. And an exiled archbishop from Mosul warns, �I have lost my diocese to Islam; you in the West will also become victims of Muslims.�

�It�s later than you think... 

The apocalypse is now!�

~ Hieromonk Seraphim Rose (�1982)

We are already in the Great Persecution. 

We who slumber in deceitful comfort, wondering what will happen next, yet shopping and entertaining ourselves in our fools' paradise in the West, have not discerned the signs of the times, and are in for for a brutal awakening.  We all are infected to some degree by the spirit of this age of apostasy. The lukewarm deny Christ with their faint and vague affirmations, and the Lord Himself warns them that He "will vomit them out of His mouth" (Apocalypse 3:16).

But the Lord has not abandoned us! He sends us signs, trials, reminders, to rekindle in us the fire of faith, calling us to repentance:

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (Apocalypse 3:19-21)

And as he did before the Lord�s First Coming, the Holy, Glorious Prophet John the Baptist � the Forerunner of those beheaded for their witness to Jesus � calls us to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

If we will not heed his voice, let us at least be shocked into soberness and repentance by the sign of those beheaded for their witness to Jesus Christ. 

Let us fall on our faces and beg the Lord to waken us, to prepare us for the times now close at hand. And let us promise and vow to never deny our Lord Jesus Christ, but to be faithful witnesses to Him unto the end, and even that we may do so as all the Holy Martyrs have done... joyously!

Amen!