Christians in the Middle East are becoming rare and this is due to the oppression put upon them and the outright murder of them by the Islamic majority. Christians are being forced to either give up their Christianity and convert to Islam or they are killed and in some cases they are not even given that option as radical Muslim terrorists simply attack churches and summarily kill all Christians inside as they worship God. The story is the same all across the Middle East and in nations where Muslims are the majority. Yes, Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered like sheep and this is no more apparent than in Muslim nations around the world.
Ironically, the Middle East is the very birthplace of Christendom and prior to the Muslim conquest of the region out of Saudi Arabia after the Muslim Prophet Mohammad founded Islam this region was predominately Christian in faith. As Islam expanded our of the Arabian desert and into other areas of the Middle East Muslims faced strong opposition. Some of Mohammad’s followers fled to Ethiopia where they sought the protection of the Christian king of Ethiopia. The king gave them that protection despite the fact that the Muslims had a different faith other than his own. He gave them sanctuary and protection and there some of them remained seeking to make converts to this newly found religion.
In Syria when the first Muslims arrived they had no place to worship. There was a church in Damascus that was shared by the Christians and Jews there. Seeing that the Muslims had no place to worship the Christians and the Jews invited them to use the church as well. And so, for a time, the three faiths shared the same center of worship with Christians worshiping on Sundays, Jews on Saturdays, and the Muslims on Fridays. And the Muslims there would often attend Christian festivals and participate! Eventually, the Jews built their own synagogue and the Christians built a new church and sold the old church to the Muslims. The Muslims then turned it into the first mosque in Syria and today it is known as the Grand Mosque in Damascus.
I point this bit if history out to show you that there was a time when the three faiths tolerated and respected each other and there was a time when Christian kings protected the Muslims and gave them refuge from their many enemies and yet today it seems that the Muslims have forgotten this time ever existed. And now they see Christians and Jews as their mortal enemies and seek to slaughter them like sheep. How sad our modern times have become. But that’s not all because as Muslims are reducing Christians to near zero in the Middle East the larger world of Christians seem oblivious to it all. Where is the outrage? Where is the demands that Muslim nations stop the slaughter? Why do modern Christians sit by doing and saying nothing as their brethren die in mass in this historic land? The silence is not only deafening but beyond tragic and somehow I don’t think sitting by silently as the brethren are slaughtered is what Jesus would do!!
Although the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury have spoken our minimally about this their statements of opposition and calling for peace between the three major faiths of the world are not strong statements but, instead, are watered down statements overflowing with politically correct bullshit! Both of these Christian leaders should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for not standing up stronger for their Christian brethren living in these Muslim dominated countries! Their two voices are like mice crying out in the midst of the darkness when their voices SHOULD BE like ROARING LIONS!! But I consider this weak opposition from the Christian world as no real surprise because something has happened to Christendom in the Western World. We’ve surrendered the Gospel and transplanted it with the “feel good” and “personal prosperity” FALSE DOCTRINES! We’ve allowed FALSE teachers (preachers) to occupy our pulpits and to lead us blindly towards the abyss! And that’s not all. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that we are living in the Days of the Great Apostasy as foretold by Timothy! Otherwise known as the Days of the Great Turning Away from GOD! Most of us wear our Christianity on our shirtsleeves. Most of us are far more concerned about what we can GET instead of what we can GIVE! Many have turned to appeasing their own egos (sinful selves) rather than doing the work of the Lord and part of that WORK is standing up for our Christian brethren around the world who are being persecuted and slaughtered in our modern times!! Oh how far have we turned away!? How far have WE fallen?
I pause now and ponder because now I must point out that all this is so save for one people, one nation who ARE speaking out and who ARE trying to help their Christian brethren in these Muslim countries. And that people, that nation is RUSSIA!! Yes! I said RUSSIA! And specifically it is the Russian Orthodox Church that is currently under the leadership of the Patriarch Kirill I, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. He also known as “Cyril.”
The Patriarch along with Russian President Vladimir Putin have spoken out consistently and strongly against the slaughter and persecution of their fellow Christians in Muslim dominated countries especially those in the Mid East. And neither of their statements have been laced with all of the PC bullshit we hear from the West! In fact, their statements have been straightforward and blunt even containing warnings of what Russia will do if Muslim terrorists don’t lay off Christians in the Mid East.
Kirill is a hardliner when it comes to his Christian faith. He has spoken out bluntly against homosexuality and same-sex marriage likening it to “Nazism” and calling it a “threat to family values.” In terms of human rights, in March of 2016 Kirill said, “Orthodoxy MUST DEFEND itself” and fight against the “heresy” of human rights which he says contradicts the Bible. He strongly opposes the actions of Muslims against Christians living in Muslim dominated nations and President Putin has even threatened Russian military action against these nations if they don’t stop slaughtering Christians there.
In other matters the Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill’s leadership has noted that Orthodox and Evangelical Christians share the same positions on issues like abortion, family, and marriage and the church encourages a “vigorous grassroots engagement” between the various churches on these issues. The Metropolitan Patriarch Kirill has expressed that there is a possibility for the peaceful coexistence between Islam and Christianity noting that the two faiths have never fought each other inside Russia but have peacefully coexisted. The church also has a powerful presence in Jerusalem.
Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestinian areas have become the most dangerous places on Earth for Christians even though historically these have been strongholds for Christians. This has become especially so in the past 15 years and today Christians make up less than 3-4% of the population although in the past Christians constituted 20% less than a century ago. Christian genocide is spurred on thanks to increasingly hard-line Muslim views and state sanctioned religio-ethnic cleansing! In Egypt, Christians are especially persecuted with great pressure being put upon them to convert to Islam, severe restrictions and laws enacted that make it hard to build new churches and to meet for worship, and outright violence and murder. Coptic Christian churches in Egypt have been the targets of terror attacks carried out by Muslim suicide bombers such as this past April’s attack which killed 49 Egyptian Christians that also left more than 100 people injured on Palm Sunday. And, as if that were not bad enough, some of the radical Muslims have crucified Christians alive!! Crucifixion is a horrendous way to die! I’m not going into the details of that here. You can do a search and find out all of the gory details of that yourself.
Christians in the Middle East are quickly becoming an “extinct species” and the sad thing is MOST of the Christian world has been silent the whole time! And it’s the SAME story in Armenia, Croatia, and many of the Caucasus nations as well. Slaughter and Silence!!
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Metropolitan Patriarch Kirill have not been completely alone in their fight and outspokenness for Mid East Christians. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also joined them in their outrage. He has repeatedly urged the EU leaders to PROTECT Christians and Christianity in the Middle East. He has said that Hungary is taking the lead in extending aid to Christian minorities in the Middle East and in supporting programs to help them return to their homelands in safety (referring to the Mid Eastern immigrants flooding into Europe).
Putin, Kirill, Orban……THREE men out of 7 billion people expressing outrage over this GREAT injustice joined by the watered down and PC slanted “support” of the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury (if that’s what you want to call their weak responses). That in itself speaks VOLUMES about Western Christians who, frankly, seem content with sitting by quietly as their brethren are slaughtered in the Middle East the homeland of Christendom ITSELF!!
I would end this report here except there is one other thing I want to mention and that pertains to the CHRISTIANS Sunday School teacher, now deceased, named Edgar Cayce aka “the Sleeping Prophet.” Most people don’t know or don’t acknowledge that Cayce was a devout CHRISTIANS and Sunday School teacher. He was!!
In two of his readings Cayce said that Russia would become the hope of the world. This “Hope” is NOT tied to one specific person, contrary to what some are claiming to the contrary. What they are referring to is the SPIRIT of the nation, Russia! The first reading or statement was given by Cayce in 1932 in which he specifically mentioned Russia’s gradual religious development and the second was given in 1944 in which Cayce seemed to suggest that it is the concern of the Russian PEOPLE for their FELLOW MAN that is the basis for this HOPE. He seems to have also suggested that there would be a chance for an equitable partnership between Russia and the US which would be beneficial for both nations. This, he noted, involved Russia having more raw natural resources than any other nation on the planet and the US having better abilities to develop those resources. You can find more on these Cayce readings at the Edgar Cayce/A.R.E. link below.
And, finally, there is this………….. Nostradamus predicted the demise of the Roman Catholic Church and he spoke of much turmoil within the RC church. In one of his prophecies he also spoke of the coming of a “Christian king of the world.” I would not be surprised of that person comes out of Russia with the mission to make Christians BRAVE again and put their faith BACK on fire!! And that person will likely be the worst nightmare for those radical Muslims slaughtering Christians in the Middle East!!
And so where to we look for leadership? It appears that the REAL Christian leadership is coming from Russia! Not the Vatican in Rome! Not from Canterbury, that is, unless you subscribe to the weak PC line of absolute CRAP! Wherever you look for leadership one thing is clear and that is Christians MUST stand up for their brethren in these Muslim lands who right now are little less than sheep for the slaughter.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Kirill_of_Moscow#Foreign_relations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church#Overview
https://www.edgarcayce.org/about-us/blog/blog-posts/out-of-russia-will-come-hope/
Reblogged this on Brittius.
Thank you Brittius for the reblog
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