ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
1 John 4, “It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God; there are many false prophets, now in the world. You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of the Antichrist, whose coming you were warned about. Well, now he is here, in the world.”
From the Gnostics to Arianism to Islam – the devil has deceived people, leading them to deny that God has “come in the flesh” to save us and make us adopted children of the Father.
The Devil wants us to believe God did not become man in Jesus for two reasons:
1. to keep people from knowing God the Father through Jesus Christ 2. to keep them from becoming adopted sons and daughters of God. The devil and his servants seek to destroy the Fatherhood of God in the world and in us (Genesis 3). The Devil seeks to destroy the Father of God by sowing doubt:
He is not a Father you can trust He is a Master who wants to enslave and dominate you by his laws
1. He was the only person ever pre-announced for centuries. Over 700 years before the birth of Christ Isaiah prophesied…
Isaiah 7:14 The Messiah would be born of a virgin Isaiah 9:6-7 The Messiah, though born a child, would be Mighty-God Micah 5:2 He would be born in Bethlehem Daniel 9 He would be appear publically in 28-30 AD Jeremiah 23:5 He would be a descendant of King David Isaiah 35:5-6 He would heal the blind, lame and deaf Psalm 55:12-14 He would be betrayed by a friend Wisdom 2:12-20 He is the just man killed by his enemies Isaiah 53:2-7 He is the Lamb of God who takes away sin of the world by his suffering and death Psalm 22:16 they will cast lots for his clothes Zech 12:10; 13:1 He will be pierced in the heart
1 On that day a fountain will be opened to cleanse us from sin Ps 16:10, 30:3 He would rise from the dead Isaiah 60:3 He would bring all nations the light of the true God
Once Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament, then all prophecy ceased. Once Jesus fulfills the sacrifice that takes away all sin, then all sacrifice ceased and the Temple was destroyed and never rebuilt. Jesus is the fulfillment not simply of the Jewish idea, He fulfills the beliefs and hopes of the Indians, Chinese, Persians, Greeks and Romans.
Salvation, as universally understood, is: Liberation from sin and its consequences – namely, death. This liberation can only come from atonement Atonement is only possible through an infinite and perfect sacrifice Then a way for us to share in that sacrifice – the Eucharist and the Mass This is the thought pattern of human history This is the life pattern of Jesus - If you want to read more about this- see The Christ Connection by Roy Varghese
2. His miracles bear witness that he is God Jesus has power over physical illness; power over the forces of nature; power over the forces of hell; power even over death: Jesus has power over everything. The Miracles are the Signs that tell us who Jesus is: Jesus is God.
Jesus isn’t someone with good ideas or a great moral teacher, He has power over EVERYTHING! Jesus is God.
CCC 548 The miracles bear witness that he is the Son of God.
3. Jesus said he is God. Jesus Said He Was Equal to God when he said He existed before Abraham:
John 8:56-58 "’Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad.’ The Jews then said, ‘You are not fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham!’ Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, before Abraham ever was, I Am!’"
Jesus said He was equal to God the Father
John 14:8-9 “Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’ ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him ‘and you still do not know me? To have seen me is to have seen the Father.’”
John 10:30 “The Father and I are one.” The Jews fetched stones to stone him, so Jesus said to them, ‘I have done many good works for you to see, works from my Father: for which
2 of these are you stoning me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for blasphemy: you are only a man and you claim to be God’.”
Matthew 26:64 “Moreover, I tell you that from this time onward you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
A direct reference to the description of God given by Daniel “At this, the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has blasphemed.’”
4. Jesus rose from the Dead 1 Corinthians 15:3-11 “Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; -then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; -and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it." I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God's grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others;”
The Resurrection of Jesus is the definitive proof that He is God.
Jesus offers us the possibility to share in His own divine life
2 Peter 1:3-4 “By his divine power, he has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, who has called us by his own glory and goodness. In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice.”
We are invited to become Adopted children of God, Partakers of the divine nature Heirs of eternal life, To be like God and to live like God forever! Matthew 13: 43 “The virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father!”
CCC 460 “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man:sothat man, byentering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” (St. Irenaeus c. 180)
3 “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” St Athanasius (c. 330)
“The only begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.” St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
By the mystery of this water and wine
May we come to share in the divinity of Christ Who humbled himself to share in our humanity
Jesus offers us a share in his own divine life – the Living Water. I want this Living Water because nothing is perfect, it’s not lasting and it is never enough. The Living Water flows to us through the Sacraments. I drink of the Living Water through Prayer.
Share the Gospel
God created us to have a personal relationship with him and to share in his own divine life, now and forever.
Our relationship with God was broken by Sin which separates us from God.
Jesus restores our relationship with God by bridging the gap caused by sin.
Jesus invites back into relationship with God the Father as his adopted children and heirs of heaven.
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ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
The devil seeks to abolish the Fatherhood of God by deceiving us and leading us to believe that God is not a loving Father. He is our Master and we are his slaves. He keeps us under his subjection by his moral law. John Paul II brilliantly shows in Crossing the Threshold of Hope how the serpent replaces the Father-Child relationship with the Master-Slave relationship. “God’s not your Father, who yearns for your fulfillment even more than you do… He’s a tyrant who wants to keep you tied to earth, to squash your potential, to make sure you stay in subjection.” Once you replace the Father-Child model with the Master-Slave model, you make the proper relationship with God impossible. Now your reaction to God will either be: Rebellion against God, which comes from the resentment you feel for a tyrant and the desire to celebrate human dignity and freedom.
Submission out of servile fear: you’ll do what God says, not because you love Him or trust Him, but to avoid getting punishment and in the hopes of getting some external reward. The brilliance of John Paul II’s interpretation of the serpent’s lie is that it not only explains how our faith can either die out or become legalistic; it also explains contemporary global politics! What are the two major world ideologies other than Christianity? Secularism and Islam. Secularism is the rebellion against God, against all religion, in the hopes of realizing our full potential on our own. And Islam is (literally!) “Submission,” submission to a dictator, a master who could never be your father, but whom you must obey simply because He says so. Islam and Secularism are often presented as opposites, but the tragic thing is that they both start from the same horrible mistake of conceiving of God as a master. So do you want to save the world? Then spread the message: God is a Father who loves you!!! God did not intend for us to be His servants or slaves. He created us to be His friends and lovers; sharing in His divine life.
God reveals and communicates himself gradually, by stages through the Old Testament history. Jesus is the Fullness of Revelation; Jesus is the Word of God: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Through Jesus God revealed everything we need to know about God, how to live in friendship with Him and the way to perfect everlasting happiness.
John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, * for the servant * does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
Jesus is the Word of God. In Jesus God has said everything. There will be no further Revelation. As St. Paul says in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel
1 other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!” All that God would reveal is complete with Jesus: Islam is a Counterfeit. The full teaching of Jesus which He embodied and handed on to the Apostles is called: The Deposit of Faith; The Gospel; The Good News.
The handing down of the teaching of Jesus is called Tradition. The teaching of Jesus is handed down in two ways: by teachers and in writing.
Jesus gathered twelve Apostles and He gave them His own Teaching Authority: To Peter in Matthew 16:15-19 To the Apostles in Luke 10:16 Matthew 28:18 o All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. o Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… o Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you… o I am with you always to the close of the age.
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The Catholic Church began in the Middle East.
Jerusalem (33 AD); then Antioch and Damascus in Syria (see the Acts of the Apostles). In fact it was in Antioch that the followers of Christ were first called Christians and Catholics. There were 500,000 Catholics in Antioch by 500 A.D.; Turkey; Asia Minor – Armenia – St Matthew; Sythia, southern Russia; Parthia – Iran and Iraq; India – St Thomas; Greece; Italy; Spain; Africa – Ethiopia (Acts chapter 8).
From 33 AD to 600 AD Christianity was embraced by many Arabs, especially by the Ghassanids, a tribe of Arabs who moved to Syria from Yemen and adopted Christianity. Kadijah – Mohammad’s wife was a Christian Ghassanid. The Ghassanid Empire occupied much of Syria and Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and part of Iraq and Saudi Arabia. They spread Christianity throughout the Arabian peninsula.
Islam teaches that Jesus is not God but just a man. This false teaching about Jesus originates with the Gnostics and then arises again in Antioch in Syria in the 200s through Paul of Samosata (Bishop of Antioch 260-268). He taught that Jesus is the son of God by adoption; Jesus is not the Son of God by nature.
Three councils held at Antioch (264-268, or 269) condemned and excommunicated the Paul of Samosata.
Eusebius of Nicomedia, which is near Constantinople (later Bishop of Beirut) adopted the teaching of Paul of Samosata: Jesus is a prophet – but not God.
Arius, a priest from Libya in N. Africa, was a classmate of Eusebius in Antioch. There in Antioch Arius became a heretic: Jesus was a great teacher and prophet; Jesus is not God equal to the Father; God is One and there is NO Trinity.
Recall: The devil wants to destroy the Fatherhood of God. Arius taught that God could not have a son; God is not Father.
The Koran says: "God neither begets, nor is He begotten" Surah 112:3
Both Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia taught: Jesus is NOT God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, Consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father.
The Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicea 325 which corrected these false teachings by stating Jesus is inseparably true God and true man. He is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother.
Eusebius of Nicomedia signed the document at Nicea but later said he "subscribed with hand only, not heart." His defense of Arius angered the emperor, and a few months after the council he was
4 sent into exile due to his continual contacts with Arius and the exiles. Three years later he convinced Constantine that Arius and his views do not conflict with the Nicene Creed.
Eusebius became Patriarch of Constantinople and he was the one who baptized Constantine May 22, 337. After this Eusebius converted Constantine II, son and successor to Constantine, to Arianism. Eusebius then convinced Constantius II and Eudoxus to convert by persuasion or by force the Roman Empire to Arianism – to the doctrine that Jesus is not God’s Son, God is not a Father, there is no Trinity; Jesus is just a prophet.
The Arian Goth Ulfilas was made Bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and sent by Constantius II to evangelize the West = Italy. His success resulted in the Goths and Vandals accepting Arianism until the 700s. In North Africa the Arian Vandals converted the Catholics to Arianism by sword point. The Catholic Church fought against Arianism in the Council of Constantinople 381 and the Council of Chalcedon 451.
When Justinian became Emperor in 534 AD he out-lawed Arianism throughout his empire. The Arian heretics fled to the fringes. But on the fringes, without CNN, internet and email, it was very difficult to control or correct the spread of false doctrines. So Arianism flourished in Syria, Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula - especially Mecca and Medina. Before the year 600 the Arabian Peninsula was a mixture of Polytheism, Zoroastrianism, Judiasm and false teachings about Jesus Christ (Arianism): Jesus was just a prophet; Jesus was not God; Jesus never died on the cross; Jesus never rose from the dead.
The Koran was not revealed by the Angel Gabriel
Sections of the Koran were discovered in Iraq in the 1920’s that pre-date Mohammad, carbondated to a time before the “revelation” to Mohammad in the 620s.
Two Books argue that the Qur'an originated from Syrian Christian texts written in Aramaic:
1. The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran by Christoph Luxenberg 2. The Hidden Origins of Islam by Karl Ohlig
Mohammad used texts and stories that were already in existence and shaped it to fit his agenda rather than receiving an inspiration from heaven.
St John Damascene (670- 749) said, “From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammad has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk (Waraka, relative of Kadija, wife of Mohammad) devised his own heresy.”
Everything written about Jesus and Mary in the Quran is taken from Apocryphal Christian texts and stories that predate Islam: the Protevangelium of James; the History of the Birth of Mary; the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus; Gospel of Thomas; Gospel of Nicodemus; and The Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea
5 Sura 10:94, If you are in doubt about what is in the Koran then go and ask those who read the Book (the Torah and the Gospel) that was revealed to those before you.
Sura 3:45-55 teaches many things about Jesus: Jesus is the Word of God; Jesus created a live bird with mud when he formed it and breathed into it and Jesus brought dead people to life. Therefore Jesus can give life.
According to Islam God created the universe through the Word. Therefore the Word is the Creator. If Jesus is the Word and the Word is the Creator, then Jesus is the Creator, Jesus is God. Muslims say the Word is not the Creator and not creation but something in between – yet not God. This is the doctrine of Arianism: Jesus is the Word but he is not God equal to the Father.
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ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
1. He was pre-announced for centuries 2. His miracles bear witness that he is God 3. He said he was God 4. He rose from the Dead
The Good News (the Gospel) God created us to share in his own divine life and to have an intimate friendship with Him Our relationship with God was broken by Sin which separates us from God Jesus came to save us from the consequences of sin He gives everyone the grace to choose Him But we must choose by the choices we make and the way we live
God is an all good and loving Father. He created you to share in His divine life as His friends, lovers and children.
The Devil seeks to destroy the Fatherhood of God in the world and in you. The Devils tactic: Spread a lie that sows doubt: God is not a loving Father He is a Master and we are his slaves He keeps us under his subjection by his moral law
Secularism rebels against God as a Master from whom we must break free, rather than a loving Father we can trust.
Islam submits to God as a slave to a Master, while it struggles with the rest of the world to force it to submit to Allah.
Catholicism receives the Life of God the Father, through Jesus in the Eucharist. In return we give ourselves completely to God to be divinized by Him, to be like God and live like God forever!
Both Islam and Secularism teach There is no Trinity God is not a Father Jesus is not the Son of God (At most Jesus was just a good moral teacher)
1 This false teaching (heresy) did not begin with Mohammad: It began with the Gnostics in the 1st and 2nd centuries Spread through the world by Arianism 3rd and 4th centuries
Arius taught that God is One and there is NO Trinity God is not Father So God could not have a Son Jesus was a great teacher and prophet, Jesus is not God equal to the Father
The Koran says "God neither begets, nor is He begotten" Surah 112:3
St John Damascene ( 670- 749) said, “From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammad has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk (Waraka, relative of Kadija, wife of Mohammad) devised his own heresy.”
Mohammad was born in 570 AD
Mohammad is of the Quraysh tribe Their main god was Hubal the moon good The sign of Islam is the crescent moon Our Lady of Guadalupe stands over the crescent moon
His father died while his mother was pregnant. His mother died when he was five and he was raised by his uncle Abu Talib.
His uncle took Mohammad on a merchant trip to Syria Syria was Christian but with a strong Arian influence Syrian Christians gave the Arabs their alphabet.
In 595 Mohammad married Khadija (pronounced “Ka dee ja”) a 40 year old business woman from Syria Khadija was of the Christian Ghassanid tribe Ghassanid’s held to the Arian heresy for the most part
Khadija’s uncle Waraka was an Arian monk. He believed in Monotheism, but he fell prey to the Arian heresy that Jesus was a great prophet and Messiah but not God.
In the year 610, when Mohammad was 40 years old he began to have visions and hear voices.
Mohammad said the angel Gabriel came to him with messages written on fabric, which Gabriel commanded him to recite.
2 Paul warned us of this in Galatians 1, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.”
The Foundational Pillar of Mohammad’s message: 1. There is no god but God, 2. And Mohammed is God’s Messenger
The Kaaba – in Mecca The cube shaped place of pilgrimage where hundreds of pagan gods were worshipped There was even an icon of Jesus and Mary in the Kaaba
Mohammad preached the worship of Allah alone For this he was persecuted and had to flee from Mecca to Medina in 622 His flight from persecution is called the hijra (flight)
Half the population of Medina was Jewish The Arabs there were used to the concept of one God There, in Medina in 622, the Muslim community was born
As a preacher Mohammad gained only 150 followers in 13 years. Then he changed his strategy from preaching to violence. In the Battle of Badr in 624 CE (in present-day Saudi Arabia) Mohammad and his men attacked a Meccan Caravan, killed the men and took the spoil
Before the Battle of Badr, Mohammad told his men: “By Allah, every man who is slain this day by fighting with courage and advancing, not retreating, will enter Paradise.”
The Battle of Badr was the turning point. If God would not make them prosper through lives of prayer and virtue, then God would make them prosper through violence.
Here was born the idea of Jihad…struggle through any means, even violence, in the name of Allah.
According to Islam Allah sanctions and sanctifies (makes holy) the use of violence for complete domination
After Mohammad declared himself to be the Prophet of Allah, he advanced the idea that everyone had to submit to his message.
From then on - His entire world was divided into two groups: Those who believed him - Believers Those who did not - Kafirs
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A Kafir is evil, disgusting, and the lowest form of life A Kafir is not a human being with human rights Kafirs can be deceived, lied to, cheated, hated, enslaved, tortured, and killed for the sake of advancing Islam
There are many names for Kafirs: 1. Polytheists 2. Idolaters 3. People of the Book (Christians) 4. Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics and pagans
Those who believe in the Trinity and Jesus as the Son of God equal to the Father are considered polytheists.
This is what the Koran commands Muslims to do to the Kafir:
Koran 33:61 Cursed: wherever they are found they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible) murdering.
Koran 8:12 When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.
Koran 47:4 If you encounter the disbelievers in a battle, strike-off their heads. Take them as captives when they are defeated. Then you may set them free as a favor to them, with or without a ransom, when the battle is over. This is the Law. Had God wanted, He could have granted them (unbelievers) victory, but He wants to test you through each other. The deeds of those who are killed for the cause of God will never be without virtuous results.
In a 9-year period Mohammad personally took part in 65 armed and violent expeditions and battles to steal and kill.
In 630 Mohammad and 10,000 of his men marched to Mecca, cleansed the Kaaba of all its idols and destroyed them. All except for the Icon of Jesus and Mary.
When Mohammad died in 632 he left no successor No central authority No central body of teaching No unified system of beliefs and practices other than the Koran
The True Nature of Islam is not derived from the Koran alone.
4 Islam is comprised of a trilogy of texts: 1. Koran – the private revelations to Mohammad -14% 2. Sunnah – Traditions of the sayings and actions of Mohammad a. Hadith – 60% b. Sira – biography of Mohammad - 26%
Maybe the best synthesis of Islam is found in the Reliance of the Traveller (yes, it is misspelled), a classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law.
The Five Pillars of Islam: 1. Prayer (salat) performed fives time each day a. stolen from the Liturgy of Hours 2. Almsgiving (zakat) a tax to the community which is then distributed to the poor 3. Fasting (sawm) the month long Muslim fast which takes place during Ramadan 4. Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) 5. The profession of faith: (shahada) a. There is no god but God, b. and Muhammad is God’s Messenger
The Koran calls for all Muslims to make war on the People of the Book who do not believe in the religion of truth – Islam.
Koran 9:29 Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (they do not accept Sharia Law) (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah (religious tax) with willing submission, and they are humiliated.
Based on a statistical study of the texts of Islam the true nature of Islam is founded upon 3 principles: 1. God is power 2. Jihad 3. Double Standard of Morality
For Islam the essence of God is power. Islam means “to submit”; submission to God. According to Islam the essence of God is power, not reason, truth, goodness or love. Since God is Power and not love, we must submit to Him.
In order to be like God (God-like) we must make others submit to us, women and all other people. Power and violence are simply one of many means to achieve submission and become god-like.
The goal of Islam is to achieve worldly power. Allah sanctions and sanctifies (makes holy) the use of violence to achieve world domination. Islam seeks a leader (Caliph) who will conquer the world – a world conqueror.
5 Jihad is the effort to bring oneself and all people into submission to Allah and Islam Jihad means to wage warfare against non-Muslims to establish the religion of Islam Allah sanctions and sanctifies (makes holy) the use of violence to achieve world domination
Jihad in the Koran and their tradition
The Reliance of the Traveler: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law: “Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion.” Chapter 9 Reliance outlines the Quranic basis for Jihad 1. Fighting is prescribed for you (Quran 2:216) 2. Slay them wherever you find them (Quran 4:89) 3. Fight the idolaters utterly (Quran 9:36)
According to Islam Allah sanctions and sanctifies violence for complete dominance
Double Standard of Morality (right and wrong) Those who follow Islam according to the Caliph in power (are persons with rights) Islam is a religion of Peace between people who think and act exactly as the Caliph in Power All others are Kafirs: they are not humans with rights Be they Christians, Jews, Shia or moderate Sunni
Islam and Democracy cannot co-exist.
Democracy is founded upon the idea that All men are created equal, They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, Among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.— To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
Islam does not accept these propositions as true.
People who say they are Muslim and don’t follow these three principles are following the Natural Law – expressed in the 10 Commandments and truths revealed by Christ – Golden Rule - more than or rather than Islam
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ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
God is an all good and loving Father. He created you to share in His divine life as His friends, lovers, and children. The devil seeks to destroy the Fatherhood of God in the world and in you. The devils tactic is to spread a lie that sow doubt: God is not a loving Father; He is a master and we are his slaves; He keeps us under his subjection by his moral law.
Three World Views Secularism; which rebels to rid the idea of God from the world. Islam; which submits to God as a slave to a master while it struggles with the rest of the world to force it to submit to Allah. Catholicism; hands on that Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Father, who gives us the way to reach our full potential by sharing in His life as God’s children, friends and lovers!
Luke 15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." 3 So he told them this parable: 4* "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' 7* Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, * if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.' 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 11* And he said, "There was a man who had two sons; 12* and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. 15 So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have fed on * the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' * 22* But the father said to
1 his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; 23 and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; 24* for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry. 25 "Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. 27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, 'Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!' 31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"
The true nature of Islam is founded upon three principles: 1. God is Power 2. Jihad 3. Double standard of morality
1. The essence of God is power: not reason, truth, goodness or love. Since God is power and not love, then we must submit to Him.
In order to be like God (God-like), we must make all others submit to us, including women. Power and violence are simply one of many means to achieve submission and become god-like
The goal of Islam to achieve worldly power. Allah sanctions and sanctifies (makes holy) the use of violence to achieve world domination. Islam seeks a leader (Caliph) who will conquer the world – a world conqueror.
The attraction of Islam is to be part of a team that conquers the world for power, pleasure, wealth and glory
2. Jihad is the struggle or effort to bring oneself and the whole world into submission to Allah and Islam.
3. Double Standard of Morality Muslims who follow the Trilogy of Texts are persons with rights All others are Kafirs who are not human beings with rights You can do to them whatever advances Islam or a Muslim’s self interest (Lie, cheat, steal, enslave, rape, murder) Any action that advances Islam or a Muslim’s self-interest is a good action Anything that resists Islam is evil
Any person who lives by the two principles of Jihad and a Double Standard of Morality cannot be a good person and cannot be a good citizen.
2
Democracy is founded upon the idea that; All men are created equal, They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, Among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.— To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
Islam does not accept these propositions as true.
The Goal of Islam is world domination by means of; 1. Jihad 2. Double Standard of Morality a. Unbelievers are not persons b. Unbelievers do not have rights
People who say they are Muslim and don’t follow these are following the Natural Law more than or rather than Islam. Those who follow these principles and strive to put them into practice are; Not good people Not good citizens Very dangerous to the common good
Abu Bakr was chosen as the successor to the Messenger of God – the Prophet. Abu Bakr was the Caliph, and the Caliph possessed religious and secular authority.
Ali was the cousin and son in law of Mohammad. Some held that Ali was supposed to be the Successor. Supposedly he designated by Mohammad himself as successor.
The Shia are the Party of Ali, maintaining Ali was the sole successor of Mohammad and succession follows his branch.
The Sunni’s follow the succession of; Abu Bakr Umar (Omar) Uthman
Abu Bakr implements Jihad. He violently forced the Arabian tribes to submit to Him. This Campaign was called the Riddah Wars. The unification was gained by force. Anyone disagreeing with their particular interpretation of Islam should die.
3
Timeline
634 Umar defeats the Byzantine army in Syria. 635 Captured Damascus and Syria and Iraq.
Why does Islam spread so quickly?
Both the Byzantine and Persian forces were exhausted and depleted from fighting each other for centuries. Arianism, the foundational beliefs of Islam, are sown throughout the Mediterranean for centuries in advance. Jihad and a Double Standard of Morality are effective in conquest.
638 Palestine 642 Egypt and Libya are conquered 644 Umar died
Uthman succeeds Umar as the 3rd successor of Mohammad. He takes the title “Successor to God”.
648 The Muslims attack Constantinople 656 Uthman is killed by Muslims angered by his unjust rule 656-661 Ali, cousin and son in law of Mohammad becomes the 4th successor to Mohammad. 661 Ali is Assassinated in the Great Mosque of Kufa, Iraq.
Shi’ah - the Party of Ali.
They reject the first three successors of Mohammad. They maintain that Ali is the true successor to Mohammad.
The Shi’ah have a tradition of combining Islam, reason (rational thought), Iran and Syria.
Sunni follow the line of succession beginning with Abu Bakr.
The Sunni are Fundamentalist. Whatever is said in the Trilogy must be practiced literally and reason has nothing to do with this.
Is the most extreme form of Sunni. For more than two centuries, Wahhabism has been Saudi Arabia's dominant faith. It is an ultra-fundamentalist form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran.
4 Strict Wahhabis believe that all those who don't practice their form of Islam are heathens and enemies. Wahhabism's rigidity has led it to misinterpret and distort Islam, pointing to extremists such as Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Wahhabism's explosive growth began in the 1970s when Saudi charities started funding Wahhabi schools (madrassas) and mosques from Islamabad to Culver City, California.
They prefer to be called Salafi or Muwahhid.
The name Wahhabism stems from the eighteenth-century preacher and scholar, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792). He started a revivalist movement in the remote, sparsely populated region of Najd advocating a purging of practices such as the popular "cult of saints", and shrine and tomb visitation, widespread among Muslims, but which he considered idolatry, impurities and innovations in Islam. Eventually he formed a pact with a local leader Muhammad bin Saud offering political obedience and promising that protection and propagation of the Wahhabi movement would mean "power and glory" and rule of "lands and men." The movement centers on the principle of tawhid,or the "uniqueness" and "unity" of God.
1. Sunni: Fundamentalist, anti-reason (Saudi Arabia) 2. Shi’ite: Islam plus Reason or rationality (Iran and Syria)
After the death of Ali, the Umayyad Dynasty rose with its capital in Damascus and lasted until 750.
In 709 all of Christian North Africa falls to Muslim invaders.
St. John Damascene was on man who experienced the maternal help of Mary. John lived in Damascus in Syria in the 8th century. In 730 AD, Leo III, Emperor of Constantinople, issued a decree that all sacred images and icons must be destroyed.
John began to fight against the unjust edicts of the Emperor by writing pamphlets defending the goodness of Sacred Images. Since John lived in Damascus in Syria under Muslim civil rule, the Byzantine emperor had no power to stop him. The Emperor wrote a letter to the Muslim Caliph accusing John of leading a revolution against the Muslim rule, a lie, but effective.
The caliph brought John to the center of the city and had his right hand cut off in public. John took his hand and went to the Church where he lay prostrate in front of an icon of Mary – begging her for help. That night Mary came to him in a dream promising to restore his hand. She also encouraged him to continue to fight for the truth of sacred images and never to quit. When he awoke his hand was restored. With his right hand John went on to defend victoriously the use of sacred images. In gratitude John placed on the icon a hand fashioned out of silver. This Icon of the Mother of God, named "Of Three Hands" ("Tricherousa") resides on Mt. Athos today.
5 Image of this Icon can be found at: http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/June/28-06.htm
About Mohammad John says,
“There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist… These used to be idolaters and worshiped the morning star and Aphrodite, whom in their own language they called Kaaba, which means great. And so down to the time of Heraclius they were very great idolaters. From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy.”
692 Dome of the Rock is completed 711 Conquest of Spain 718 Muslim forces cross the Pyrenees into France 732 Muslims forces reach Tours (126 miles from Paris)
The Battle of Tours (October 732), also called the Battle of Poitiers was fought between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, in north-central France. The battle pitted French forces under the leadership of Charles Martel against an army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by 'Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi.
The Franks were victorious. 'Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi was killed. Charles was given the nickname Martellus ("The Hammer"), recalling Judas Maccabeus ("The Hammerer") of the Maccabean revolt. Charles Martel was the champion of Christianity.
The battle was the decisive turning point in the struggle against Islam, a struggle which preserved Christianity as the religion of Europe.
According to modern military historian Victor Davis Hanson, "most of the 18th and 19th century historians, like Gibbon, saw Poitiers (Tours), as a landmark battle that marked the high tide of the Muslim advance into Europe."
Leopold von Ranke felt that "Poitiers was the turning point of one of the most important epochs in the history of the world."
Repulsed in the West, the Muslims advanced to attack in the East in Turkey and Constantinople.
718 Mary intervenes to save Constantinople from the Muslim siege. This event was similar to the Ark being processed around Jericho. The Mantle of Mary, the New Ark of the Covenant was processed around the inside of the cities walls and the Muslim army fled! This is celebrated annually as the Feast of Pokrov, “Holy Protection”.
6 From 632 to 1000 AD, 548 Jihad battles were initiated by Muslims to conquer Christian lands for Islam.
The Crusades were a defensive response to four centuries of unjust Muslin Jihad and attack. A defense against the destruction of the Holy Sites in Jerusalem.
The true nature of Islam is founded upon three principles: 1. God is Power 2. Jihad 3. Double standard of morality
Radical Islam is not the problem. If taken literally, while ignoring reason and the natural law, Islam is radical by nature and dangerous to all levels of society.
7
ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
The True Nature of Islam is not derived from the Koran alone. We must look at the totality of Koran.
1. The Koran 2. Sunnah, Traditions of the sayings and actions of Mohammad a. Hadith b. Sira – biography of Mohammad
According to a statistical study of the texts of Islam, it becomes clear that the true nature of Islam is founded upon three principles:
1. God is Power 2. Jihad 3. Double standard of morality
God is Power The essence of God is power, not reason, truth, goodness or love. Since God is Power and not love, everyone must submit to Allah and Islam. In order to be like God (God-like) we must make others submit to us. The goal of Islam is to achieve worldly domination. Islam seeks a leader (Caliph) who will conquer the world.
Jihad Jihad is the duty of every Muslim to bring oneself and all people into submission to Allah and Islam. Jihad means to wage warfare against non-Muslims to establish the religion of Islam. Allah sanctions and sanctifies (makes holy) the use of violence to achieve world domination.
Double Standard of Morality Those who follow Islam according to the Caliph in power are persons with rights. Islam is a religion of Peace between people who think and act exactly as the Caliph in Power. All others are Kafirs, they are not humans with rights be they Christians, Jews, Shia or moderate Sunni.
Any person who lives by these principals, to be god-like I must make all others submit to me, use of Jihad, offensive wars and violence to achieve my goal and Double Standard of Morality. Cannot be a good person Cannot be a good citizen Very dangerous to the common good
People who say they are Muslim and don’t follow these three principles are following the Natural Law and truths revealed by Christ more than or rather than Islam.
1
Democracy is founded upon the idea that all men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.
Islam does not accept these propositions as true.
Since the Goal of Islam is world domination by means of Jihad and a Double Standard of Morality (unbelievers are not persons and unbelievers do not have rights), Islam initiated 548 Jihad invasions of Christian lands from 632 to 1000 AD in order to conquer Christian lands for Islam.
Jihad is the religious duty of Muslims to strive, to apply oneself, to struggle, to persevere to advance Islam. A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid, the plural of which is mujahideen.
Jihad has two meanings: 1. an inner spiritual struggle (the "greater jihad"), 2. an outward physical struggle against the enemies of Islam (the "lesser jihad") which may take a violent or non-violent form
The overwhelming majority of classical Muslim theologians, “jurists", and specialists in the hadith understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense. There is consensus among Islamic scholars that the concept of jihad will always include armed struggle against wrong doers.
Jihad is the duty of every Muslim to bring all people into submission to Allah and Islam. Jihad always includes warfare against non-Muslims to establish the religion Islam. Allah sanctions and sanctifies (makes holy) the use of violence to achieve world domination.
What Muslim Scholars say about Jihad
Ibn Taymiyyah, (1263- 1328) one of the most recognized and honored scholars of Islamic law,
“Jihad against the disbeliever is the most noble of actions, and moreover it is the most important action for the sake of mankind.”
The Reliance of the Traveler: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law,
“Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion.” Chapter 9
Reliance outlines the Quranic basis for Jihad 1. Fighting is prescribed for you (Quran 2:216) 2. Slay them wherever you find them (Quran 4:89) 3. Fight the idolaters utterly (Quran 9:36)
2 The two most authoritative Hadith (Bukhari and Sahih Muslim) relate what Mohammad himself said about Jihad,
“I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah.”
Ibn Khaldun, (1332-1406) classical Islam’s most prominent scholar wrote in Muqaddimah,
“In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.”
Hassan al–Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood,
“Islam is concerned with the question of jihad and the drafting and the mobilization of the entire global Muslim community into one body to defend the right cause with all its strength over any other ancient or modern system of living, whether religious or civil. The verses of the Quran and the Sunnah are overflowing with all these noble ideals and they summon people in general to jihad, to warfare, to the armed forces, and all means of land and sea fighting.”
Maulana Waris Mazhari (Muslim Scholar from India),
“The majority of Islamic jurists and Quranic commentators consider war to be the real basis of relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. They regard the infidelity of non-Muslims as the cause of such war. They believe that Muslims must engage in war with non-Muslims continuously till Islam establishes its supremacy over all other religions. Since, in actual fact, this, as Muslims believe, can only happen just before the Day of Judgment, they argue that Muslims must necessarily continue to wage war against non-Muslims till the Day of Judgment arrives.”
Muslim scholars insist that any opposition to the spread of Islam and Islamic law is an act of aggression against Islam, therefore to fight against those who oppose Islam is a defensive struggle.
Yusaf al-Qaradawi – Al Jazeera talk show host with 60 million viewers said in 2011,
“To ensure the freedom to propagate the call to Islam…and to remove the physical obstacles which prevent the call to Islam from reaching the multitudes of people. This was the reason for the conquests of the rightly guided Caliphs and the companions of the Prophet, as well as those who followed them in righteousness…”
This is the call to spread Islam by force and violence. The world is thus divided into two spheres: 1. Dar al-Islam, or House of Islam (True Muslims) 2. Dar al-Harb, or House of War (The place where Islam wage war until they submit) Jihad was waged continuously by sea and by land from 632 to the 18th century. Please refer to they following link for a dynamic battle map of Jihad invasions: https://youtu.be/c7y2LRcf4kc?t=4
3 Finally, in response to 400 years of Muslim Jihad Invasion which had at its goal the destruction of Christianity and the spread of Islam. The Pope and Christian Kings responded with a defensive effort (the Crusades) to regain Christian lands in Turkey, Syria, and Palestine conquered by the Seljuk Orthodox Sunni Muslims.
The Crusades were a response to: 1. Stem the tide of Jihad 2. Save Christians in former Christian Lands 3. Protect Pilgrims in the Holy Land 4. Save the Holy Sites in Jerusalem from Hakiim the Mad There were 8 Crusades in response to nearly 1000 Jihad invasions between 632-1800 AD.
Christianity is not a passive religion
The 5th Commandment “You shall not kill”
CCC 2260 & 2261 define the 5th Commandment more clearly as you shall not murder.
CCC 2320 defines the 5th Commandment as the murder of a human being is gravely contrary to the dignity of the person.
CCC 2321 This does not take away the right to self-defense.
The prohibition of murder does not abrogate (take away) the right to render an unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. In Fact, legitimate defense is a grave duty for whoever is responsible for the lives of others or the common good.
CCC 2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another’s life, the common good of the family or the state.
The protection of a community may require that the aggressors life be forfeited if there is no other feasible means to protect the society.
CCC 2265 Legitimate defense can be…a grave duty for someone responsible for another’s life, the common good of the family or the state.
There may be times in which a country must defend its citizens or rights by deadly military force.
CCC 2309 Four conditions must be met for a war to be justified.
1. The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain. 2. All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective. 3. There must be serious prospects of success. 4. The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
4
Jihad invasions and the Crusades
After 548 Jihad invasions of Christian lands from 632-1000 AD, the Christian world responded in 1096 with a Crusade defensive war to liberate former Christians, Christian lands and Holy Sites. The Crusades slowed the Muslim advance for 400 years. Then Jihad began in earnest from 1400- 1800 [Lepanto (Greece), Belgrade (Serbia), Vienna (Austria)].
The Barbary Wars
Two wars were fought between 1801-1815 between the United States and the Barbary states (the de jure Ottoman Empire possessions of, but de facto independent, Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli) of North Africa. The Barbary pirates' demand payment from American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. If ships of a given country failed to pay, pirates would attack the ship and take their goods, and often enslave crew members or hold them for ransom.
Industrial Revolution
When the Industrial Revolution began in England and then throughout Europe and the United States (1760-1840) the Western Countries jumped ahead of Islamic lands in terms of science, technology and modern weaponry. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution Islamic Jihad diminished.
Currently
Now the tide has changed in three ways: 1. Europe gave up Christianity and the United States is no longer a Christian nation. 2. Muslim countries have oil, oil revenue and are catching up in the areas of science, technology and weaponry. 3. The birthrate of Western countries under replacement level while the Muslim population is forecasted to grow at twice the rate of non-Muslims over the next two decades. This represents an average growth rate of 1.5% compared to .07% for non-Muslims according to The Future of the Global Muslim Population, Pew Center Study. What will happen when Russia, England, France, India and Pakistan have the majority of the nuclear weapons AND they are Muslim States?
5
ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
Muslims hold Mary in high esteem. The Koran speaks of Mary, the Mother of Jesus 33 times. One entire Chapter (19) of the Quran dedicated to Mary.
Muslims believe Mary was Immaculately Conceived; the Ever Virgin Mother of Jesus and Mary remained sinless throughout her entire life.
Behold the Angel said, “O Mary, indeed Allah has chosen you and purified you and chosen you above the women of the world.”
“O Mary, be devoted to your Lord; kneel and bow with those who bow [in prayer].”
And behold the Angel said: "O Mary, Allah announced to you the Good News of a word about Him having the name of Messiah, Isa, Son of Mary, illustrious in this life and in the next, numbered among those closest to God.”
He will speak to human beings from His cradle and as a perfect adult; He is one of the holy ones.
She said, "My Lord, how will I have a child when no man has touched me?" [The angel] said, "It is possible because God creates what He wants. When He has decreed a thing, He says ‘Be,’ and it is.”
Surah 31:91 And she who had remained a virgin…We have breathed our Spirit upon her. We have made of her and her Son a Sign to the world
Surah 66:12 “And Mary, daughter of Imran, who kept her virginity, We have breathed our Spirit upon her; she declared truthfully the Word of her Lord and His Books. She was numbered among those fearing God.”
Chapter 41 of the Koran was clearly taken out of the Gospel of Luke. Mary could not be the most blessed of all the women of heaven if she had not also borne One Who was the Savior of the world.
Mohammad’s daughter was named Fatima.
1
It wasn't until the Ottoman Empire that the crescent moon and star became affiliated with the Muslim world. Legend holds that the founder of the Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire, Osman I, had a dream in which the crescent moon stretched from one end of the earth to the other.
Spain
When Seville, Spain was taken by the Muslims (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors) in 712, a group of priests fled the city and buried a statue of Mary holding the Christ Child, that was Given to Saint Leander, archbishop of Seville, by Pope Gregory I in the hills near the Guadalupe River. Guadalupe is a Muslim word that means “Wolf River.”
In 1326 Mary appeared to a humble cowherd named Gil Cordero who was searching for a missing animal in the mountains. Cordero claimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him and ordered him to ask priests to dig at the site of the apparition. Excavating priests rediscovered the hidden statue and built a small shrine around it which came to be known as Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Mexico
The Spanish missionaries in Mexico faced grave resistance in the "new world" from the mighty Aztec Indians. The Aztecs worshipped demonic forces represented by the "serpent god" that demanded human sacrifice. The sign of the serpent god was the Crescent Moon.
It was extremely difficult to win souls for Christ from these bloodthirsty savages. However, with God all things are possible. Mary appeared to Juan Diego in 1531. When asked her name by Juan Diego, at the request of the local bishop, Our Lady's response, in the Aztec language, included the words "te coatlaxopeuh" (pronounced: "te quatlasupe") and meant "one who crushes the head of the stone serpent." To Juan Diego and his fellow Aztecs, this revelation had great meaning, coupled with the miraculous image of Our Lady standing on top of a "crescent," the symbol of this evil serpent god.
A tidal wave of conversions to Catholicism ensued. However, Bishop Zumarraga, who was from Spain, made what was no doubt a "heavenly mistake" that one day may lead to the mass conversion of Moslems. To the Bishop's Spanish ears, Our Lady's Aztec name of "Te Quatlasupe" sounded just like the name of the revered Madonna from Spain with the Islamic name, "Guadalupe." Hence, the bishop named the Mexican Madonna "Our Lady of Guadalupe." It is interesting that the "crescent" is also the symbol for Islam and that America's Shrine to Our Lady has an Islamic name.
1531 Our Lady of Guadalupe
Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego and 10 million Aztec Indians converted to Catholicism. Our Lady of Guadalupe stands upon a crescent moon, the symbol of Islam.
2
In the 1500s it appeared that Islam would take over the world three decisive battles changed the tide. The Muslim Ottoman Empire was attacking Europe throughout the Mediterranean Sea. In 1571, their fleet of 300 ships was massed in the Gulf of Lepanto poised to invade Europe and wipe out Christianity. Pope St. Pius V saw this danger on the horizon. He asked all Christians to pray the Rosary daily.
In 1571 Don Juan of Austria gathered a fleet of about 200 ships, 100 fewer than the Turkish fleet. Giovanni Andrea, the Genoese admiral, hung a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in his flagship, which had been touched to the original Tilma and given to Don Juan by the King and Queen of Spain.
October 7th, 1571, the Christian and Muslim fleets entered into Battle south of the town of Lepanto (Greece). The battle raged most of the day. At the beginning of the battle, the Muslim fleet, led by Ali Pasha, was arranged in the formation of a massive quarter moon; the Christian fleet was arranged in the shape of a cross, divided into three squadrons: left, center, and right.
The battle started badly for the Christians: the Muslim fleet broke through the left and center squadrons, heading right for Admiral Doria’s ship. Doria slipped off to his cabin, where he had hung the painting of OL Guadalupe, and prayed, begging her intercession. At that moment, the winds shifted against the Islamic fleet and scattered it. The Christian fleet regrouped and destroyed two-thirds of the Ottoman fleet. It is said that the sea was red with blood for miles around by the end of the battle. In Rome, Pope Pius V knew the Christians were victorious before a message could possibly have reached him… During a meeting in the Vatican the pope suddenly rose up and gazed out the window, saying “This is not a moment for business; make haste to thank God, because our fleet this moment has won a victory over the Turks.”
When the official news reached Rome Pope Pius V gave credit to the Virgin Mary, declaring October 7th the Feast of Our Lady of Victory: Now Our Lady of the Rosary.
Everywhere the Muslim forces went, they plundered cities, took slaves, turned churches into mosques, and forced conversions by the sword. Many martyrs came from these episodes of Jihad. Having failed to take Vienna in 1529, (considered the Golden Heart of Europe by the Grand Vizier, Pasha Kara Mustafa, leader of the Turks, because it would open the way to the rich lands of Austria and Germany which lay beyond,) the Turks prepared a second attempt in 1683.
King Leopold fled west with many of his citizens, leaving a small military garrison to hold the city. Mustafa’s army swelled to 140,000, compared to only 11,000 within the city walls. Obviously, the Viennese were no match. Fortunately for the Christian garrison, Mustafa decided to starve them out rather than attempt a frontal assault. This gave time for an appeal to other European rulers. Only Jan Sobieski from Poland answered.
3 Pope Innocent XI appealed to the Polish King Jan Sobieski. He and his army arrived in Vienna on Sept 11, 1683. The battle lasted only 3 hours: the winged Hussars: Polish cavalry who actually used artificial wings that created fearsome sounds as the wind rushed through the feathers, unnerved Muslim horses and drove soldiers into panic. The Viennese attacked from the city walls, driving through Turkish rear flank with devastating effect. Pasha Kara Mustafa would be executed a year later in Belgrade for his failure. He and his army halted the Muslim advance. Then he sent this message to his wife after winning the battle of Vienna: “Veni, Vidi, Deus Vicit”; “I came, I saw, God conquered!”
Once again it was through the intercession of Mary, and the praying of the Rosary that gained the victory!
In gratitude the Pope declared Sept 12 as the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary.
Mohammad had a daughter named Fatima She is considered the role model for all Muslim women. She is the most revered women – next to Mary!
The last Muslim chief in Portugal Had a daughter named Fatima. She fell in love with a Catholic Knight and converted to Catholicism. The Knight renamed the village in Portugal after her.
In 1917 Mary appeared in Fatima Portugal
There she told three shepherd children that God wished to save the world through devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
4
ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
St. Ildephonsus, 603-677, Spain, “I beg you, holy Virgin, that I may have Jesus from the Holy Spirit, by whom you brought Jesus forth. May my soul receive Jesus through the Holy Spirit by whom your flesh conceived Jesus…May I love Jesus in the Holy Spirit in whom you adore Jesus as Lord and gaze upon Him as your Son.” (Marialis Cultus 25)
The Main Point:
The Holy Spirit and Mary formed Jesus in her womb. The Holy Spirit and Mary form Jesus in you. The more I turn to Mary, the more the Holy Spirit will form Jesus in me.
CCC 683 “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3
CCC 683 “This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit.”
Cross-Reference152: “One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit brings Jesus to us and us to Jesus.
Above 689 “The Joint Mission of the Son and the Spirit”
Middle 689 “When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him.”
It is the mission of the Holy Spirit to REVEAL Jesus.
CCC 692 Jesus calls the Spirit the “Paraclete,” Literally, “he who is called to one’s side,” Advocatus (Co-Redeemer).
CCC 702 From the beginning until the “the fullness of time” the joint mission of the Father’s Word and Spirit remain hidden…Both are to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation.
CCC 721 Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the
1 Church’s Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary.
Wisdom 9:17, “Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy Spirit from on high?” (Cf. Wisdom 7:7-12, 21-30).
CCC 721 says, “Mary is acclaimed the “Seat of Wisdom.”
CCC 721 “In her the “wonders of God” that the Spirit was to fulfill in Christ and the Church began to be manifested:”
CCC 722 The Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace so that she would be “full of grace.”
CCC 489-490 Explains the meaning of “full of grace”. Mary is perfectly filled and possessed by the Holy Spirit from the first moment of her existence.
Then at the Annunciation – Luke 1:35 The Holy Spirit came down upon Mary and made her His Permanent dwelling place. Marialus Cultus says “permanent”. The Son becomes visible (Incarnate) in Jesus.
Two steps to salvation: 1. The Holy Spirit will bring Christ into the world 2. The Holy Spirit will bring people into communion with Christ
The Holy Spirit will carry out His mission in and through and with Mary.
CCC 723 “In Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the Father’s loving goodness. With and through the Holy Spirit, the Virgin conceives and gives birth to the Son of God.”
CCC 725 “Through Mary the Holy Spirit begins to bring men…into communion with Christ. And the humble are always the first to accept him: shepherds, magi, Simeon, Anna, the bride and groom at Cana, and the first disciples.”
The Biblical Pattern Annunciation – Spirit and Mary bring Jesus into the world Visitation – Spirit and Mary bring Jesus to Elizabeth and John Birth Presentation Cana - Holy Spirit and Mary reveal Jesus to the world
The Holy Spirit brings Christ into the world and brings people into communion with Christ through Mary.
CCC 726 At the end of this mission of the Spirit, Mary became the Woman, the new Eve (Mother of the living), the mother of the whole Christ.
2
John 19:25-27 Woman behold your son Behold your mother And he took her for his own (mother) “eis ta idia”
CCC 726 As such, she was present with the Twelve, who with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, (Acts 1:14) at the dawn of the end time which the Spirit was to inaugurate on the morning of Pentecost with the manifestation of the Church.
There is a correlation between two events: the Annunciation and Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit carries out His mission to bring Christ into the world and to form Christ in souls through Mary, through her maternal cooperation.
CCC 2617 “Before the incarnation of the Son of God, and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father’s plan of loving kindness: at the Annunciation, for Christ’s conception; at Pentecost, for the formation of the Church, his Body.”
The Annunciation and Pentecost teach us that the Holy Spirit carries out His mission visibly through Mary.
St John Paul writes: “In the redemptive economy of grace brought about by the action of the Holy Spirit there is a unique correspondence between the moment of the Incarnation of the Word and the moment of the birth of the Church. The person who links these two moments is Mary: Mary at Nazareth and Mary in the Upper Room at Jerusalem. In both cases her discreet yet essential presence indicates the path of birth from the Holy Spirit. Thus she who is present in the mystery of Christ as mother becomes – by the will of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit – present in the mystery of the Church. In the Church too she continues to be a maternal presence…” RM 24
The Main Point The Holy Spirit and Mary formed Jesus in her womb. The Holy Spirit and Mary form Jesus in your soul.
CCC 721-726 teach that in the joint mission of the Son and the Spirit the Son makes his mission visible in Jesus the Spirit makes his mission visible in Mary.
Mary is the visible manifestation (theophany) off the Spirit and His mission and activity in the world.
CCC 707 defines a Theophany as a manifestation of God in which the Word of God is revealed by the Holy Spirit.
CCC 724 “In Mary the Holy Spirit manifests the Son of the Father, now become the Son of the Virgin. She is the burning bush of the definitive theophany. Filled with the Holy Spirit she makes the Word visible…she makes him known.”
3 At the Annunciation, the Holy Spirit made Mary His permanent dwelling place. From then on He carries our His mission in her, through her and with her. She is the visible manifestation of the mission of the Spirit. Mary is NOT the Holy Spirit! Mary is the sensible visible manifestation of the Spirit and His mission in the world.
You can go directly to Jesus because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit carries out his mission through Mary. It is the Holy Spirit Who brings Christ to us and us to Christ. Mary is His instrument. It is the Holy Spirit who inspires me strengthens me and brings about transforming union with Jesus in me. How does He do this? Through Mary.
The Holy Spirit carries out His mission to bring Christ into the world and to form Christ in souls through Mary, through her maternal cooperation. The more I give myself to Mary – the more I BELONG to her, the more I fall under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
The Church recommends 3 things:
1. Entrust ourselves to Mary as Jesus did in the Incarnation. 2. Live in union with Mary as a little child with his mother. 3. Sit at the school of Mary each day in the Rosary.
Consecration to Jesus through Mary
In the act of Consecration we receive from Christ, Mary as our Spiritual Mother and we give ourselves to her to live as her little child.
John Paul II said: The maternity of Mary is a gift that Christ makes to each man personally. Each must accept personally. By Entrustment we take Mary for our Spiritual Mother. (RM 45)
Live in Union with Mary
Devotion to Mary is to live in imitation of Jesus’ relationship with Mary as he was a little child growing up under her influence and care. Live in union with Mary. Depend on her as a little child depends upon its mother from moment to moment. Sit and the School of Mary each day in the Rosary
The Goal is transforming union with Jesus: “Christian spirituality is distinguished by the disciple’s commitment to become conformed ever more fully to his Master” (cf. Rom 8:29; Phil 3:10,12)
RVM 26 “The Rosary helps us to be conformed more closely to Christ until we attain true holiness.”
RVM 13 “Mary’s contemplation is above all a remembering, that is a making present of the works brought about by God in the history of salvation…this making present comes about above all in the liturgy: what God accomplished centuries ago did not only affect the direct witnesses of those events; it continues to affect people in every age with its gift of grace…”
4 RVM 13 “If the liturgy, as the activity of Christ and the Church, is a saving action par excellence, the Rosary too, as a ‘meditation’ with Mary on Christ, is a salutary contemplation. By immersing us in the mysteries of the Redeemer’s life, it ensures that what he has done and what the liturgy makes present is profoundly assimilated and shapes our existence.”
RVM 15, “The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary’s side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is fully formed in us (cf. Gal 4:19).”
St John Paul links Lectio with the Rosary with 4 steps: 1. Announce the Mystery of the Rosary 2. Read or Listen to the Word of God 3. Silence: pause and focus one’s attention on the mystery 4. Recite the Decade
RVM 19 “Of the many mysteries of Christ’s life, only a few are indicated by the Rosary…I believe, however, that to bring out fully the Christological depth of the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition to the traditional pattern which, while left of the freedom of individuals and communities, could broaden it to include the mysteries of Christ’s public ministry between his Baptism and his passion.”
RVM 33, In this way, “we set out on a path of assimilation meant to help us enter more deeply into the life of Christ.”
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ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
In the Spring of 1916, the Guardian Angel of Portugal appears three time to the children of Fatima.
1st Apparition of the Angel
“Do not be afraid! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.”
Kneeling on the ground, he bowed down until his forehead touched the ground and made us repeat these words three times:
“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.”
Then rising he said, “Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.”
2nd Apparition of the Angel in the Summer of 1916
While the children were playing around the well near Lucia’s house, suddenly the Angel appeared and asked:
"What are you doing? Pray, pray very much! The Most Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifice constantly to the Most High. The hearts of Jesus and Mary have a mission for you"
Lucy asked the Angel: “How are we to make sacrifices?”
"Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners.”
“In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. I am its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you."
The most spiritually fruitful you can be is the patient acceptance and endurance of the sufferings, which you did not choose yet, which God in His mysterious providence sends you.
1 3rd Apparition of the Angel in the Fall of 1916
The children took their sheep to the same place where the first apparition took place: a grove of Oak Trees called Cabeco.
The Angel was holding a chalice in his left hand, with the Host suspended above it, from which drops of Blood fell from the host into the Chalice. Leaving the Chalice and the Host suspended in the air, he prostrated himself down on the ground beside the children and made them repeat three times this prayer:
“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences with which He, Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg you for the conversion of poor sinners.”
Then, rising, the Angel took the Chalice and Host and he gave Lucia the Eucharistic Host in communion. Then he gave the Precious Blood from the Chalice to Francisco and Jacinta, and he said:
"Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men! Make reparation for their crimes and console your God."
Once again, prostrating himself on the ground he repeated with the children three times the same prayer: Most Holy Trinity… and disappeared.
May 13, 1917
Lucia says: “We beheld a Lady all dressed in white. She was more brilliant than the sun, radiating a light more clear and more intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water, when the rays of the burning sun shine through it."
The children stopped and found themselves bathed in the light that radiated from Her. Then Our Lady spoke to us:
“Do not be afraid. I do you know harm.”
Where are you from?
“I am from Heaven.”
What do you want of me?
“I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return for a seventh time.”
2 Shall I go to Heaven too?
“Yes, you will.”
And Jacinta?
“She will go also.”
And Francisco?
“He will go there too, but he must say many Rosaries.”
Then I remembered to ask about two girls who had died recently. They were friends of mine and used to come to my home to learn weaving with my eldest sister.
“Is Maria das Neves already in Heaven?”
“Yes, she is.”
“And Amelia?”
“She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world.”
Amelia had only been between eighteen and twenty years old Mary continued…
“Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
“Yes, we are willing.”
“Then you are then going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” As she pronounced these last words. “The grace of God will be your comfort…”
Our Lady opened Her hands for the first time, Communicating to us a light so intense that, as it streamed from her hands, its rays penetrated our hearts and the innermost depths of our souls, making us see ourselves in God. Then moved by an interior impulse, we fell on our knees, repeating in our hearts:
“O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the Most Blessed Sacrament.” After a few moments Our Lady spoke again:
“Pray the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.”
Then She began to rise serenely, going up towards the east until She disappeared in the immensity of the sky.
3 June 13, 1917
We saw Our Lady, on the small oak, just as in the month of May.
“What do you want of me” I asked.
“I wish you to come here on the 13th of next month, to pray the Rosary every day, and to learn to read. Later, I will tell you what I want.”
I asked for the cure of a sick person.
“If he is converted, he will be cured during the year.”
“I would like to ask you to take us to heaven.”
“Yes. I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon. But you are to stay here for some time longer. Jesus wishes to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. I promise salvation to those who embrace it, and those souls will be embraced by God like flowers placed by me to adorn his throne.”
“Am I to stay here alone?” I asked softly.
“No, my daughter. Are you suffering a great deal? Do not lose heart. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”
It was at the moment when She pronounced those last words that She opened Her hands and communicated to us, for the second time, the reflection of that immense light. In it we saw ourselves as submerged in God. Jacinta and Francisco appeared to be in the part of that light which elevated itself to Heaven, and I in the part which spread itself on the earth. In the palm of the right hand of Our Lady there was a Heart, surrounded by thorns which seemed to pierce it. We understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity, which demanded reparation.
Then, as Our Lady left them, the crowd heard a sound like a firecracker in the distance. Lucy rose quickly and pointing, cried, "See, She is going, She is going!" The crowd did not see Her, but did note a small cloud that rose from above the tree and, moving toward the east, gradually disappeared. The holm-oak tree, on which Our Lady had stood, had its branches bent slightly toward the east.
July 13, 1917
“What does Your Grace want of me?” I asked.
“I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace through the world and the end of the war, because only She can help you.”
“I would like to ask You to tell us who You are, and to work a miracle so that everyone will believe that Your Grace is appearing to us.”
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“Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe.”
Here I made some requests which I do not remember. What I do remember, is that Our Lady said it was necessary to say the Rosary in order to obtain these graces throughout the year.
Our Lady continued: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make a sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
As Our Lady spoke these last words, She opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision lasted only a moment, thanks to our good Mother of Heaven, Who, at the first apparition, had promised to bring us to Heaven. Without that, I think we would have died of terror and fear.
Terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly:
“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.”
“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc. Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him.”
3rd Part of the July Apparition not revealed until 2000
At the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the
5 earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: “Penance, Penance, Penance!”. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'.
Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.
This can be prevented or mitigated by our response. Then Mary taught them a prayer:
When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls into Heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.
There was a thunderclap and the vision ended
August 19, 1917
“What do you want of me” I asked.
“I want you to continue going to the Cova da Iria on the 13th, and to continue praying the Rosary every day. In the last month, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.”
“What do you want done with the money that the people leave in the Cova da Iria?”
“Have two litters made. One is to be carried by you and Jacinta and two other girls dressed in white; the other one is to be carried by Francisco and three other boys. The money from the litters is for the ‘festa’ of Our Lady of the Rosary, and what is left over will help towards the construction of a chapel that is to be built here.”
“I would like to ask you to cure some sick persons.”
“Yes, I will cure some of them during the year.”
“I would like to ask You to take us to Heaven.”
Then, looking very sad, Our Lady said:
6 “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.”
As usual, Our Lady began to ascend towards the east.
September 13, 1917
Our Lady appeared on the holm-oak.
“Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October, Our Lord will come as well as Our Lady of Dolors and Our Lady of Carmel, and Saint Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus in order to bless the world. God is satisfied with your sacrifices, but He does not want you to sleep with the rope on but to wear it only in day time.”
“I was told to ask you many things, the cure of some sick people, of a deaf-mute…”
“Yes, I will cure some, but not others. In October I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.” Then Our Lady began to rise as usual, and disappeared.
October 13, 1917
‘What does You want of me?’
“I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in My honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary.”
“Continue to always to pray the Rosary every day. The war is going to end and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.”
“I have many things to ask You: the cure of some sick persons, the conversion of sinners and other things…”
“Some yes, but not other. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.”
Looking very sad, Our Lady said:
“Do not offend the Lord Our God any more, for He is already too much offended.” Then, opening her hands, she made them reflect on the sun, and as she ascended, the reflection of her own light continued to be projected on the sun itself…
After Our Lady had disappeared into immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady; it seemed to me that it was Our Lady of Dolor. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel.
7 At the close of this sixth apparition, approximately 70,000 onlookers witnessed the ensuing solar miracle.
December 10, 1925
The Most Holy Virgin appeared to her, and by Her side, elevated on a luminous cloud, was the Child Jesus. The Most Holy Virgin rested Her hand on her shoulder, and as She did so, She showed her a Heart encircled by thorns, which She was holding in Her other hand. At the same time, the Child said:
“Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of Reparation to remove them.”
Then the Most Holy Virgin said:
“Look my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making Reparation to Me.”
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ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
1973 Akita, Japan "If men do not repent and better themselves, God the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son.”
“Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.”
1981-83 Kibeho, Rwanda, Alphonsine, one of the visionaries of Kibeho (1982) said,
“Yes Mother, I will repeat it exactly as you ask me to. To the people on Earth, you say three times: You opened the door and they refused to come in. You opened the door and they refused to come in. You opened the door and they refused to come in… Yes Mother, I’m telling them you say that you saw the world in a bad state and you came to save us, but we refused to listen… Alphonsine continued: Yes I will continue to tell them. You want me to ask them three times: What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for?”
1981 to the Present, Medjugorje, Croatia The Church has not rendered a decision because the apparitions and messages continue to occur.
God is Real – Mary appears as the Witness
Actions have consequences. Sin is self-destructive. The consequence of turning away from God (sin) is Hell on earth and Hell after death. Mary is begging us to turn back to God by means of: Prayer, Conversion, Sacrifice and Reparation. Sin brings the individual and the whole world down. Prayer, conversion, sacrifice and reparation raise it up.
If we respond to the Message of Our Lady we can change world events and save souls.
1 Russia had been a Christian nation for over 900 years King Vladimir was baptized in 987 Yet overnight it became an Atheistic nation. How? Gregor Rasputin
At La Salette, France, 1846, Mary told Maximin Giraud, “Afterwards, this peace will be disturbed by the monster (Communism). The monster shall arrive at the end of the 19th, or at the latest, the commencement of the 20th century.”
WWI June 28, 1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand shot to death at Sarajevo by a Bosnian assassin with the consent of the Serbian Govt.
WWI begins August 1914 Austria, Germany, and Turkey going to War against Russia, France, England and later the United States.
May 5 1917, Pope Benedict XV begged the world to pray that Mary under the specific title of “Queen of Peace” would come to the world’s assistance at this dark moment. Eight days later, Sunday May 13, The Queen of Peace came in person to three children in Fatima Portugal: Lucia (10), Jacinta (7), and Francesco (8).
Mary Appeared 7 times: May 13, June 13, July 13, Aug 19, Sept. 13, October 13, of 1917 and Dec. 10, 1925
What was the message of Mary at Fatima? Prayer, especially the Rosary every day Conversion, stop offending God by sin. Stop destroying ourselves and the world by sin. A vision confirming the reality of Hell (1st Secret) - The tragic consequences of refusing to turn away from sin and turn back to God To save people from hell God wished to establish in the world a devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. If people did not cease offending God, a worse war during the pontificate of Pius XI. God would punish the world for its crimes by means of war, famine and persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father
If the Pope and the faithful respond by means of . Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart . First Saturdays of Reparation, . Daily praying the Rosary
2 o Russia will be converted o In the end, the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph o a period of peace will be granted to the world
The end of Atheistic Communism in Russia and its return to Christ is a sign of God’s desire to save the whole world through the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The 7th Apparition December 10, 1925 The Most Holy Virgin appeared to her, and by Her side, elevated on a luminous cloud, was the Child Jesus. The Most Holy Virgin rested Her hand on her shoulder, and as She did so, She showed her a Heart encircled by thorns, which She was holding in Her other hand. At the same time, the Child said: “Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of Reparation to remove them.”
Then the Most Holy Virgin said: “Look my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making Reparation to Me.”
June 13, 1929, Consecration of Russia Requested In the convent at Tuy, Spain, Mary, holding her Immaculate Heart in her hand, said to Sister Lucia: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father in union with all the bishops of the world to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray.”
January 25-26, 1938 Aurora Borealis The lights predicted at Fatima on July 13, 1917, were seen in the United States and Europe.
Lucia, at the convent in Tuy, Spain, She sent a letter to the bishop stating that: God made use of this sign to make me understand His justice was about to strike the guilty nations.
March 12, 1938, Hitler annexed Austria, effectively beginning WWII. Pope Pius XI (+ Feb 10, 1939)
October 1978, Karol Wojtyla becomes John Paul II, the 1st non-Italian pope in 450 years
May 13, 1981, John Paul II seriously wounded by an assassin’s bullets, fulfilling the 3rd Secret of Fatima. Soviet Bulgarians masterminded the attempt
May 13, 1982
3 Pope John Paul II went to Fatima to thank Mary for saving his life and placed the bullet in her crown. “One hand fired, and another guided the bullet.” “It was a mother’s hand that guided the bullets path.”
December 8, 1983 JPII sent letters to all the Catholic bishops of the world, requesting they join him on March 25, 1984, to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
December 27, 1983 John Paul went to the prison to forgive Ali Agca. Agca knew “the goddess of Fatima had spared JPII”. He thought Our Lady of Fatima was going to kill him in revenge. Agca laid flowers at the tomb of JPIII Christmas 2014.
March 25, 1984 - Feast of the Annunciation: John Paul II was joined by the majority of bishops throughout the world in consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
March 11, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev, Last General Secretary of the USSR.
November 8 1989, Sister Lucia confirmed the Consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady: “has been accomplished” and “God will keep His word.”
November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall falls.
December 1, 1989 Gorbachev went to the Vatican to meet with John Paul II. The Pope said the meeting was prepared by providence.
November 18, 1990 Gorbachev went to the Vatican for the 2nd time.
May 13, 1991, JPII publicly gave thanks to Mary for the liberation of east central Europe from Communism.
August 19, 1991 The Soviet hardliners attempt a coup to reestablish power.
August 22, 1991 - Feast of the Queenship of Mary The Coup fails!
December 8, 1991 - Feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception The formation of the commonwealth of former Soviet republics began, each one to be independent, indicating the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union.
December 25, 1991 The Soviet red flag with the hammer and sickle was lowered for the last time, Gorbachev announced his resignation and the end of Atheistic Communism in Eastern Europe!
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You may say “Russia is not converted,” however, the Russian Government has outlawed many immoral anti-family movements. Russia is the only country coming to the aid of persecuted Christians in the Middle-East
Oct 1981 Mary said at Medjugorje: “Russia is the people where God will be most glorified. The west has advanced civilization but without God as though it were its own creator.”
The fall of the Berlin Wall was not the end of Fatima; it was to be the sign that God wants to save all peoples and all nations, through devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
1993 Sr Lucia told Cardinal Vidal of the Philippines: We are only in the 3rd day of the “Week of Fatima” The 1st day was the apparition period The 2nd day was the post-apparition, pre-consecration (1918-1984) We are in the 3rd day of (7) immediately after the consecration “The Fatima week has not yet ended…People expect things to happen immediately within their own timeframe. But Fatima is still in its third day. The triumph is an on-going process.”
Pope Benedict XVI May 2010 in Fatima stated:
"We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete. Here there takes on new life the plan of God which asks humanity from the beginning: “Where is your brother Abel…? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” Mankind has succeeded in unleashing a cycle of death and terror, but failed in bringing it to an end. In Sacred Scripture we often find that God seeks righteous men and women in order to save the city of man and he does the same here, in Fatima, when Our Lady asks: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which he will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
1. On-going and deepening Conversion: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.”
2. Prayer: “Pray, pray very much!” and “Pray the Rosary every day.” a. Vocal prayer, meditation, contemplation and the prayer of our work
3. Penance: “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of Reparation for the sins by which God is offended and for the conversion of sinners.” a. 5 First Saturdays of Reparation
5 b. Accept and Offer to God i. what you don’t like, ii. what you cannot change c. Offer these for the Love of God, the Conversion of sinners, and in Reparation for sin
4. Consecration to Mary: “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” Consecration to Jesus through Mary is the first step.
There is a cosmic Struggle Between: 1. The Devil, his demons and his servants of darkness. 2. God, Mary, his Angels and His servants of Light.
God is asking us to play our part for the good of the world and the good of souls.
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ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND THE VICTORY OF MARY
He was pre-announced for centuries. His miracles bear witness that he is God. He said he was God. He rose from the Dead.
The Good News (the Gospel) shows us that God created us to share in his own divine life and to have an intimate friendship with Him. Our relationship with God was broken by sin which separates us from God. Jesus came to save us from the consequences of sin. He gives everyone the grace to choose Him. But we must choose by the choices we make and the way we live.
There is no Trinity God is not a Father Jesus is not the Son of God (just a man – a prophet) We must submit to God as a slave to a Master
This false teaching (heresy) did not begin with Mohammad, it began with the Gnostics in the 1st and 2nd centuries and with Arianism in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
Arius taught that God is one and there is NO Trinity. God is not Father so God could not have a Son. Jesus was a great teacher and prophet and Jesus is not God equal to the Father.
The Koran says:
"God neither begets, nor is He begotten" Surah 112:3
St John Damascene ( 670- 749) said,
“From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammad has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk (Waraka, relative of Kadija, wife of Mohammad) devised his own heresy.”
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He created you to share in His divine life as His friends, lovers and children. The Devil seeks to destroy the Fatherhood of God in the world and in you.
The Devils tactic: Spread a lie that sows doubt: God is not a loving Father He is a Master and we are his slaves He keeps us under his subjection by his moral law
Both Islam and secularism teach There is no Trinity God is not a Father Jesus is not the Son of God (at most Jesus was just a good moral teacher)
Secularism rebels against God as a Master from whom we must break free, rather than a loving Father we can trust.
Islam submits to God as a slave to a Master, while it struggles with the rest of the world to force it to submit to Allah.
Catholicism receives the Life of God the Father through Jesus in the Eucharist and in return gives itself completely to God to be divinized by Him – to be like God and live like God forever!
The True Nature of Islam is not derived from the Koran alone. We must look at the totality of:
1. Koran 2. Sunnah – Traditions of the sayings and actions of Mohammad a. Hadith b. Sira – biography of Mohammad
Based on a statistical study of the texts of Islam, it becomes clear that the true nature of Islam is founded upon three principles:
1. God is Power 2. Jihad 3. Double standard of morality
The essence of God is Power - not reason, truth, goodness or love.
Since God is Power and not love, everyone must submit to Allah and Islam In order to be like God (God-like) and we must make others submit to us.
2 The goal of Islam is to achieve worldly domination. Islam seeks a leader (Caliph) who will conquer the world.
Jihad is the effort to bring oneself and all people into submission to Allah and Islam Jihad means to wage warfare against non-Muslims to establish the religion of Islam Allah sanctions and sanctifies (makes holy) the use of violence to achieve world domination
The Reliance of the Traveler: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law: “Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion.” Chapter 9
Reliance outlines the Quranic basis for Jihad Fighting is prescribed for you (Quran 2:216) Slay them wherever you find them (Quran 4:89) Fight the idolaters utterly (Quran 9:36)
Those who follow Islam according to the Caliph in power are persons with rights. Islam is a religion of peace between people who think and act exactly as the Caliph in Power. All others are Kafirs: they are not humans with rights be they Christians, Jews, Shia or moderate Sunni.
A true Muslim may do to a Kafir whatever advances Islam or a Muslim’s self interest including lie, cheat, steal, enslave, rape and murder.
Any person who lives by the following principles…
1. To be god-like, making all others submit to them 2. Use of Jihad, offensive wars and violence to achieve their goal 3. Living a double standard of morality
…cannot be a good person, cannot be a good citizen and is very dangerous to the common good.
People who say they are Muslim and don’t follow these three principles are following the Natural Law – expressed in the 10 Commandments, truths revealed by Christ (the Golden Rule) more than or rather than Islam.
Democracy is founded upon the idea that All men are created equal, They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, Among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.— To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, This truth is revealed by Jesus Christ
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Islam does not accept these propositions as true. The Goal of Islam is world domination by means of:
1. Jihad – violence to spread Islam 2. Double Standard of Morality a. Unbelievers are not persons b. Unbelievers do not have rights
548 Jihad invasions of Christian lands from 632-1000 AD, Killing, raping, enslaving and destroying Christianity
In 1096 the Christian world responded with the Crusades Defensive wars to liberate former Christians and Christian lands and Holy Sites
The Crusades slowed the Muslim advance for 400 years Then Jihad began in earnest from 1400-1800 1456 Belgrade (Serbia), 1571 Lepanto (Greece), 1683 Vienna (Austria)
The Barbary Wars
Two wars fought between 1801-1815 Between the United States and the Barbary states (agents of the Ottoman Empire) Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli of North Africa. The Barbary pirates' demand for tribute from American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. If ships of a given country failed to pay, pirates would attack the ship and take their goods, enslave crew members hold them for ransom. In London, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with the ambassador from Tripoli, Abdul Rahman, to resolve this dispute. The conflict that existed between his people and America, Rahman explained, “was founded on the laws of their Prophet.” In essence, the attack and capture of US ships and the enslaving of its citizens were sanctioned Allah for the advance of Islam.
The Church exists to evangelize Matthew 28: Go, make disciples of all nations…
The nature of a Christian is to be a missionary disciple. If you are not a missionary disciple, then you are not a Christian. Christianity exits to evangelize and convert secularism and Islam one at a time, face to face.
Pope Francis asked Europe to open churches, convents, monasteries and for families to open homes to Refugees. Get to know the Muslim refugees. Take care of them, befriend them and invite them to friendship with Christ.
We win through conversion and martyrdom.
4 Muslims have been impervious to Christianity because the only way we have engaged them is through military force. Now they are coming to us for help. We can engage them with friendship, care, and love. The whole group may convert if we show them friendship, care and love rather than weaponry.
The Koran speaks of Mary, the Mother of Jesus 33 times. One entire Chapter (19) of the Quran dedicated to Mary.
Muslims believe Mary was immaculately conceived, the ever virgin mother of Jesus and that Mary remained sinless.
There is a universal battle raging NOT between ISIS and the West, between the Woman (Mary) and Satan.
Revelation 12 And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars…And another sign appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon,
Revelation 12 is playing out right in front of our eyes. Militant Islam is an instrument of the Devil so what should we do?
The Mother of God has told us exactly what to do at Lourdes, Fatima, Kibeho and Medjugorje.
Is it possible the vison of Pope Leo XIII, referring to100 years of the onslaught of the devil, which led him to compose the Prayer to St Michael is from 1917 – 2017?
The fall of the Berlin Wall was not the end of Fatima, it was to be the sign that God wants to save all peoples and all nations, through Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
1982 Pope John Paul II stated the “message of Fatima is still more relevant than it was…(in 1917) It is still more urgent.”
Pope John Paul II commented to the Archbishop of Slovakia, Pavel Hnilca, Medjugorje is the continuation of Fatima, it is the completion of Fatima. (Why He is a Saint p. 169)
1993 Sr Lucia told Cardinal Vidal of the Philippines: We are only in the 3rd day of the “Week of Fatima” The 1st day was the apparition period The 2nd day was the post-apparition, pre-consecration (1918-1984) We are in the 3rd day of (7) immediately after the consecration “The Fatima week has not yet ended…People expect things to happen immediately within their own timeframe. But Fatima is still in its third day. The triumph is an on-going process.”
5 Pope Benedict XVI May 2010 in Fatima stated:
We would be mistaken to think that Fatima’s prophetic mission is complete. Here there takes on new life the plan of God which asks humanity from the beginning: “Where is your brother Abel…? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” Mankind has succeeded in unleashing a cycle of death and terror, but failed in bringing it to an end. In Sacred Scripture we often find that God seeks righteous men and women in order to save the city of man and he does the same here, in Fatima, when Our Lady asks: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which he will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
1. Consecration to Mary: “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” a. Entrust or Consecrate oneself to Mary in imitation of Jesus b. Live in Union with Mary, moment to moment, day after day, as a little child with the best of all Mothers
2. On-going and deepening Conversion: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended.”
3. Prayer: “Pray, pray very much!”; “Pray the Rosary every day.” a. Vocal prayer, meditation, contemplation and the prayer of our work
4. Sacrifice “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of Reparation for the sins by which God is offended and for the conversion of sinners.” a. Accept and Offer to God i. what you don’t like, ii. what you cannot change b. Offer these for the Conversion of sinners
5. Reparation a. 5 First Saturdays of Reparation
6. Evangelization and Discipleship a. Friendship with Jesus b. Friendship with others
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