Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: Three reasons the next President — and his/her advisors (and you) — should carefully study the latest issue of the ISIS magazine, Dabiq.

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

Three reasons the next President — and his/her advisors (and you) — should carefully study the latest issue of the ISIS magazine, Dabiq. by joelcrosenberg The next President of the United States -- and his or her advisors -- need to carefully study and analyze the latest issue of Dabiq, the full-color propaganda magazine of the Islamic State. So do other world leaders, Members of Congress and Middle East policy-makers. So do you. Three reasons -- in this edition of Dabiq: ISIS leaders make clear they want to bring about the End of Days. ISIS leaders vow to "break the cross" -- that is, to slaughter Christians in the Middle East, in the West, and around the world, and to annihilate Christianity from the Earth. ISIS leaders lay out the six reasons they hate us, they state their ultimate objective, and they explain why they will never stop killing until they achieve total victory. Far too many leaders in Washington believe the West is winning the war against ISIS. That is a dangerous fallacy. The sober truth is that we are not winning. ISIS is winning. Yes, ISIS is losing large tracts of territory in Iraq. They are also losing ground in Syria. But their forces are growing. The global reach of their attacks is spreading. Their blood-thirsty version of Apocalyptic Islam is metastasizing. At the same time, far too few leaders in Washington and other capitals truly understand the theology, eschatology and objectives motivating the men and women running ISIS. This is not Al Qaeda 2.0. The Islamic State and their pursuit of the caliphate is something far, far more dangerous. Those who misunderstand the nature and threat of this especially pernicious form of evil are at risk of allowing the country to be repeatedly blindsided by it with catastrophic results. Consider.... ISIS LEADERS WANT TO BRING ABOUT THE END OF DAYS Throughout the entire issue is the genocidal End Times language of Apocalyptic Islam. ISIS wants readers to understand their plan to create a global caliphate where everyone submits to Islam comes from the Qur'an and other Islamic scriptures. Regardless of what their critics say, they are emphatic that they are following the true path and that there is a great sense of urgency to obey Allah because the end is very near. To be clear, it is not wrong necessarily to hold to an eschatology that says the messiah is coming to establish peace and justice on the Earth. Jews and Christians have their own versions of End Times theology, based on the Biblical teachings of the Old and New Testaments. That said, the Bible never calls on Jews and/or Christians to annihilate their enemies to bring about the Kingdom of the Messiah. However, Apocalyptic Islam teaches exactly this -- and this is one of the reasons it is both evil and dangerous. For policy-makers unfamiliar with the concepts of Apocalyptic Islam, this issue of Dabiqprovides some clear and thus useful language about what ISIS leaders believe: "It is Allah who prepared the Earth for the bloodiest battle before the Hour, to see His slaves sweat in spilling their blood and that of His enemies." (p. 13) "When the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, returns in the end days to battle the Antichrist -- the false messiah -- and his army, of the myths he will debunk once and for all are those of his crucifixion and divinity. This will be when he [Jesus] breaks the cross...." (p. 48) "When he [Jesus] returns in the final days, the Messiah will adhere to the Law of Muhammad and wage jihad for the cause of Allah...." (p. 49) ISIS LEADERS WANT TO ACHIEVE THE ANNIHILATION OF CHRISTIANITY Having studied and read through many previous editions of Dabiq, what strikes me about this edition is how directly ISIS leaders are aiming at the theology and eschatology of Biblical Christianity. There are articles that attempt to "debunk" the "myths" that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and was divine. The authors try to blame modern Christianity on the Apostle Paul whom they claim was a liar that perverted the real teachings of Jesus. The magazine is full of quotes from the Old and New Testaments, the Qur'an, and other sayings of Muhammad, pitting the ISIS brand of Islam against Judaism and Christianity. There are interview with ISIS jihadists who claim to have been raised as Christians but later converted to Islam -- the ISIS brand of Islam -- and now are waging jihad, killing with abandon. The article targets Protestants as well as Catholics and includes an article specifically attacking the current Pope as the "enemy" of Islam. What emerges over eighty-some pages is this: ISIS leaders are calling on Christians around the world to renounce the Gospel and embrace their version of Islam or face slaughter at the hands of jihadists today, and ultimate annihilation by Jesustomorrow, followed by a sentence to eternal damnation in the fires of Hell. ISIS LEADERS WON'T STOP KILLING UNTIL THEY ACHIEVE TOTAL VICTORY Finally, I commend to your attention an article titled, "Why We Hate You & Why We Fight You." (p. 30) Consider a few excerpts: "We hate you, first and foremost, because you are disbelievers; you reject the Oneness of Allah -- whether you realize it or not -- by making partners for Him in worship, you blaspheme Him, claiming that He has a son, you fabricate lies against his prophets and messengers, and you indulge in all manner of devilish practices.... "We hate you because of your secular, liberal, societies permit the very things that Allah has prohibited.... "In the case of the atheist fringe, we hate you and wage war against you because you disbelieve the existence of your Lord and Creator.... "We hate you for your crimes against Islam and wage war against you to punish you for your transgressions against our religion.... "We hate you for the crimes against the Muslims.... "We hate you for invading our lands and fight you to repel you and drive you out...." (p. 31-32) The article concludes by stating clearly and unequivocally that ISIS will not stop killing until every person on earth is a Muslim they way they define Islam. "[E]ven if you [infidels] were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us and usurping our lands," note the authors, "we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease until you embrace Islam." (p. 33) "The fact is we wage -- and continue to escalate -- a calculated war that the West thought it had ended several years ago. We continue dragging you further into a swamp you thought you had escaped only to realize that you're stuck in its murky waters." The ISIS leaders explain that, at best, the world of infidels can obtain a "temporary truce" by surrendering to the caliphate and paying the slave tax known as the "jizyah." But in the end, they are explicit in their objectives: they won't be deterred from conquering and slaughtering until every man, woman on child is a Muslim of the ISIS brand. CONCLUSION As I have been arguing repeatedly again in recent years (see here, here, here, here,here, and here), it is critically important that leaders in Washington and in capitals around the world read and study carefully what the leaders of ISIS are saying. ISIS leaders are not hiding their genocidal End Times objectives. Nor are they hiding their hatred of the world's two billion Christians, plus all other "infidels" who don't see God and the world and the future the way they do. Rather, they are being as explicit as they can. They want to be heard. They want to be understood. They do not fear being "found out." To the contrary, they are absolutely certain they are on the winning side of history. Admittedly, eschatology is not the language of the West's historic enemies. Most world leaders and their advisor have interest in -- and certainly little if any desire to talk about -- varying interpretations of Jewish, Christian and/or Islamic End Times theology. But we are living in very different times. These are the cards we've been dealt. This enemy is unlike most others we have ever faced. Their motivations are different. Their strategies are different. So are their tactics. We'd better understand the game, and how its stakes really are, before it's too late. NOTE: Be advised that the magazine includes some graphic and gruesome color photographs of ISIS atrocities. I do not recommend children study this issue. Parents and educators should only proceed with caution. To read the actual article from the latest issue of Dabiq, please click here. To read a Breitbart article about the latest issue of Dabiq, please click here: —————————– Order The First Hostage today — the new political thriller about genocidal ISIS leaders plotting a terrorist attacks against Israel, Jordan and the United States — available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats. ———————-—- Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. Order THE THIRD TARGET today , the first in this new series — now out in paperback — the New York Times best-selling novel about ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks on the U.S. and our Mideast allies. Make an investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.net), our non-profit organization to help Christians care for Syrian refugees, educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. Read our latest Donor Report, and prayerfully consider making a tax deductible, secure, on-line contribution. Thanks so much! Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg joelcrosenberg | August 11, 2016 at 2:49 pm | Categories: Epicenter | URL: http://wp.me/piWZ7-5mC

Russia and the West Have Swapped Spiritual and Cultural Roles - Israel, Islam & End Times

Russia and the West Have Swapped Spiritual and Cultural Roles 

Dec. 7, 2015 Israel, Islam & End Times

THEY are familiar with the bitter fruit of atheism and have no appetite for the bleak and barren wasteland it produced”

Russians are returning to Christianity in a modern and contemporary context”

“in Russia, Christianity is associated with being modern and progressive”

“the young, the hip, the wise and the wealthy, express their Christianity as a completely natural and straightforward thing”

“Today, the spirit of communism shows itself in western worship of human rights, freedom of speech and the elite’s utopian notions of so-called open societies. We are headed for the very wasteland that the Russians were relieved to leave behind.”

“Russians perceive activists like Pussy Riot as latter-day Bolsheviks”

The subject of this interview is a Danish journalist and theologian  who hosted a series of five programmes, entitled “From Russia with Love” on Danish national public service radio,Radio24syv, with the sub-heading “An Unbiased Look at Putin’s Russia.”

Inspired by Emperor Constantine, she believes Christianity in the West can be rejuvenated by looking to the East. Iben is aware of the sheer enormity of this task. “Such, alas, is the depth to which Western hatred for Christianity has sunk,” says the theologian, who does not hesitate to defend President Putin, on whom the Western media delights in heaping derision and scorn.

“The Pussy Riot case opened the door to Russia for me,” she explains.

“I understood that Russia is a country that refuses to compromise on Christian values. Russia is not just a country or a nation, Russia is a spiritual concept, a state of mind. Criticism of President Putin was not the crime for which the activists were tried and convicted. Their crime was the invasion of the Christ-The-Saviour Cathedral, the holiest of places, and engaging in a blasphemous act in front of the iconostases.

In the West, freedom of speech is widely deployed for the purpose of desecrating religion, but Russia does not permit crossing the line into blasphemy. That really fascinated me, and so I travelled to Moscow to learn more and this eventually resulted in a series of radio programmes trying to help Danes move beyond the tedious and unhelpful caricature-like clichés and provide them with a nuanced view of Russia.”

What was your impression of Russia?

“I experienced a fantastic energy, a moral energy similar to America in the ’50s with the old moral values. I met helpful, poetic and cultured people with a spirit of self-sacrifice I have not seen before. The atmosphere in Moscow is completely different from that of any capital in Europe, and unlike here in the West, I feel much more spiritually free in the East.

While the West is deriding and disowning Christianity and Europe revels in self-loathing, Russians are returning to Christianity in a modern and contemporary context. Bear in mind that Christianity was suppressed under Communism, which was atheistic. Russians are familiar with the bitter fruit of atheism and have no appetite for the bleak and barren wasteland it produced.

The interesting thing is, that in Russia, Christianity is associated with being modern and progressive. It is the spirit of the young, the hip, the wise and the wealthy, who express their Christianity as a completely natural and straightforward way of life. Christianity is simply fashionable, but not in the superficial Western pop manner. Christianity’s roots grow deep in the soil of Russian life, and they look with amazement at how we guard, or rather, disregard, our spiritual heritage.

Not only that: They discern in our obsession with political correctness, and the social liberal opinion policing of the general media and academia, a new manifestation of the terror of totalitarianism they counted themselves blessed to escape after 75 terrible years.

After the Cold War, East and West swapped roles spiritually, culturally and morally. Cultural Marxism now holds unrestrained sway in the West.

But Communism and Social Democracy are probably not the same?

“Let me put it a different way. During the rule of Communism, Russia found itself in the grip of a culture of death, but she is returning to life, in the sense of Christian culture with a strong awareness of the historical roots and continuity.”

The situation in the West is the complete opposite. We celebrate death and have surrendered to the satanic view of man in a self-righteous rage and rant against God. We can divorce with ease on-line. We prioritise work and career above family responsibilities especially raising children. We favour euthanasia, abortion on demand, homosexual rights and same-sex marriage while our cities are submerged in Islam and growing segregation.

Russia has chosen a completely different direction, and it is one of the reasons that many Russians perceive activists like Pussy Riot as latter-day Bolsheviks. They invade and desecrate the sanctity of the church, a holy place. The West celebrates this as progress and prosperity. Russians are reminded that the spirit of communism is still alive. It merely assumes new forms and takes up residence in the West, where liberals and progressiveslove and adore Pussy Riot.

Today, the spirit of communism shows itself in western worship of human rights, freedom of speech and the elite’s utopian notions of so-called open societies. We are headed for the very wasteland that the Russians were relieved to leave behind. Patriarch Kirill has warned the West: “Do not take the path we took. We tried it and it leads to destruction!”

Recently the Russian military held an exercise based on the scenario of an attack on northern Norway, Aaland, Gotland and Bornholm. Do we just turn the other cheek?

“Well, that’s not the true way to look at it. The Russians hold such an exercise because of the geopolitical pressure that NATO creates by deploying hostile military forces along the Ukrainian border and in the old Warsaw Pact countries.

Russian foreign policy has long been demonized. Russia is compelled to respond to a situation it did not create, which is not the same as aggression. Why should Russia accept being cut off from access to the sea, from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok? Such a thing is unthinkable. With bald-faced hypocrisy, the West makes it look like Russia is our new enemy. The truth is exactly the opposite. The West is its own worst enemy.

Why Russia Succeeds Where the West Can't in Syria - Elizabeth Blade ISRAEL TODAY

Why Russia Succeeds Where the West Can't in Syria

Monday, November 09, 2015 |  Elizabeth Blade  ISRAEL TODAY

"TheWest claims that Russia is hitting moderates, but there is no such thing as a moderate Syrian opposition," the Syrian analyst tells Israel Today.

The full article appears in the November 2015 issue of Israel Today Magazine.
CLICK HERE to read it all

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Franklin Graham: Islamic Storm Coming against West - CBN News

Franklin Graham: Islamic Storm Coming against West

CBNNews.com

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

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Franklin Graham is warning that a storm of Islamic persecution is coming against Christians in the West.

The founder of Samaritan's Purse wrote a message on Facebook after ISIS terrorists beheaded 21 Christians in Libya.

Graham asks why there hasn't been global condemnation from Muslim leaders.

"Can you imagine the outcry if 21 Muslims had been beheaded by Christians?" he wrote.

The Islamic terrorists released a video of their atrocity against the Christians, with a headline that read: "A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross."

Graham says, "We'd better take this warning seriously as these acts of terror will only spread throughout Europe and the United States.... the storm is coming."

Other Christian leaders are also speaking out, saying the world must stand up to repudiate the ISIS massacre and the terrorist targeting of Christians.

Dr. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is specifically calling out President Barack Obama to do more.

"We call upon the president of the United States of America and Congress to specifically address the persecution of Christians by ISIS, Islamic totalitarianism and regimes in the Middle East, and call upon the United Nations to convene a summit on Christian persecution around the world," Rodriguez stated in a press release.

He's also calling for a moment of silence Sunday to honor the beheaded Egyptian Christians and their grieving families.

**For more information visit the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference website.

ISIS is slaughtering Arab Christians - churches in the West so quiet. Joel Rosenberg

ISIS is slaughtering Arab Christians. Why are churches in the West so quiet? Here’s one way you can help. by joelcrosenberg

Are you praying for the persecuted Christians in the Mideast? Is there more you can do?

(Central Israel) -- When my family and I moved to Israel in mid-August, we did so amidst a jihadist onslaught against the Jewish State. The third Gaza war was underway. Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza were firing more than 4,000 rockets, missiles and mortars at Israeli civilians, including Jews, Muslims and Christians.

That said, Israel was (and remains) one of the safest places to be in the Middle East this year, and not just for Jews but for Christians, as well.

Christians are being persecuted and even slaughtered throughout the epicenter. Israel and Jordan are safe havens. But from Syria to Iraq to Iran and beyond, the Radical Islamic jihadist offensive against followers of Jesus Christ is fierce and unrelenting. Indeed, as I've written about in recent months, we are seeing genocidal conditions emerging in this region against the Christians.

Why then are so few pastors and Christians leaders in the West coming to the defense of our brothers and sisters in this region who are in such grave danger? Why aren't pastors rallying their congregations to pray for the persecuted Church in the Mideast? Why are so few Christian lay people giving financially to ministries that are making a difference in the region in the name of Christ in the midst of the chaos and carnage?

The epicenter is on fire. Yet I'm stunned by how few Christians are paying attention, or trying to help. Some are, and may God deeply bless this wonderful, heroic remnant. But so much of the Church is asleep.

How about you? Are you moved by the suffering of our brethren? Are you and your congregation looking for a way to help in a practical way?

The Joshua Fund team is working hard to provide prayer, encouragement, funds, and other resources to Arab Christians fleeing from the ISIS rampage. We are doing this even as we continue to provide humanitarian relief and other help in Israel. The Bible certainly commands believers to love and bless Israel and the Jewish people, and this is more important than ever. But the Scriptures also command us to love and bless Israel's neighbors, and even her enemies. Is it easy? No. Is it safe? Not always. But the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to love everyone in this region and He set the example for us.

Would you like to join us? We need your prayers. We also need your financial support, especially at this time. You can learn more about what The Joshua Fund is doing by clicking here.

You can also learn more about what is happening to the Christians in the epicenter by listening to this podcast -- "I have just interviewed an Iraqi pastor on the terrible persecution Christians in Iraq are facing. Please listen & share with others" --  and by reading this excellent article by columnist Kirsten Powers. I cite it here in full.

A Global Slaughter of Christians, but America’s Churches Stay Silent

By Kirsten Powers, The Daily Beast, September 27, 2014

Christians in the Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of Christianity. One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of American churches. Not so. The silence has been nearly deafening.

As Egypt’s Copts have battled the worst attacks on the Christian minority since the 14th century, the bad news for Christians in the region keeps coming. On Sunday, Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 85 worshippers at All Saints’ church, which has stood since 1883 in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. Christians were also the target of Islamic fanatics in the attack on a shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya, this week that killed more than 70 people. The Associated Press reported that the Somali Islamic militant group al-Shabab “confirmed witness accounts that gunmen separated Muslims from other people and let the Muslims go free.” The captives were asked questions about Islam. If they couldn’t answer, they were shot.

In Syria, Christians are under attack by Islamist rebels and fear extinction if Bashar al-Assad falls. This month, rebels overran the historic Christian town of Maalula, where many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The AFP reported that aresident of Maalula called her fiancé’s cell and was told by member of the Free Syrian Army that they gave him a chance to convert to Islam and he refused. So they slit his throat.

Nina Shea, an international human-rights lawyer and expert on religious persecution,testified in 2011 before Congress regarding the fate of Iraqi Christians, two-thirds of whom have vanished from the country. They have either been murdered or fled in fear for their lives. Said Shea: “[I]n August 2004 … five churches were bombed in Baghdad and Mosul. On a single day in July 2009, seven churches were bombed in Baghdad … The archbishop of Mosul, was kidnapped and killed in early 2008. A bus convoy of Christian students were violently assaulted. Christians … have been raped, tortured, kidnapped, beheaded, and evicted from their homes …”

Lela Gilbert is the author of Saturday People, Sunday People, which details the expulsion of 850,000 Jews who fled or were forced to leave Muslim countries in the mid-20th century. The title of her book comes from an Islamist slogan, “First the SaturdayPeople, then the Sunday People,” which means “first we kill the Jews, then we kill the Christians.” Gilbert wrote recently that her Jewish friends and neighbors in Israel “are shocked but not entirely surprised” by the attacks on Christians in the Middle East. “They are rather puzzled, however, by what appears to be a lack of anxiety, action, or advocacy on the part of Western Christians.”

As they should be. It is inexplicable. American Christians are quite able to organize around issues that concern them. Yet religious persecution appears not to have grabbed their attention, despite worldwide media coverage of the atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.

It’s no surprise that Jews seem to understand the gravity of the situation the best. In December 2011, Britain’s chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, addressed Parliament saying, “I have followed the fate of Christians in the Middle East for years, appalled at what is happening, surprised and distressed … that it is not more widely known.”

“It was Martin Luther King who said, ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’ That is why I felt I could not be silent today.”

Yet so many Western Christians are silent.

In January, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) penned a letter to 300 Catholic and Protestant leaders complaining about their lack of engagement. “Can you, as a leader in the church, help?” he wrote. “Are you pained by these accounts of persecution? Will you use your sphere of influence to raise the profile of this issue—be it through a sermon, writing or media interview?”

There have been far too few takers.

Wolf and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) sponsored legislation last year to create a special envoy at the State Department to advocate for religious minorities in the Middle East and South-Central Asia. It passed in the House overwhelmingly, but died in the Senate. Imagine the difference an outcry from constituents might have made. The legislation was reintroduced in January and again passed the House easily. It now sits in the Senate. According to the office of Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the sponsor of the bill there, there is no date set for it to be taken up.

Wolf has complained loudly of the State Department’s lack of attention to religious persecution, but is anybody listening? When American leaders meet with the Saudi government, where is the public outcry demanding they confront the Saudis for fomenting hatred of Christians, Jews, and even Muslim minorities through their propagandistic tracts and textbooks? In the debate on Syria, why has the fate of Christians and other religious minorities been almost completely ignored?

In his letter challenging U.S. religious leaders, Wolf quoted Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed for his efforts in the Nazi resistance:  “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

That pretty well sums it up.

joelcrosenberg | October 16, 2014 at 3:17 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-38W