EASTERN ORTHODOX POPE UNHAPPY JERUSALEM RECOGNIZED AS CAPITOL OF ISRAEL

 

 Pope Bartholomew, the Archbishop of Constantinople and leader of the idolatrous cult of Eastern Orthodoxy.

EASTERN ORTHODOX POPE UNHAPPY JERUSALEM RECOGNIZED AS CAPITOL OF ISRAEL 

SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2017/12/11/eastern-orthodox-pope-unhappy-jerusalem-recognized-as-capital-of-israel/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

When 21 Egyptians were beheaded by ISIS, we reminded American evangelical leaders that while their deaths should be mourned, Coptic believers are not Christians. They are, in fact, Eastern Orthodox idolaters who are even further removed from authentic Christianity than Roman Catholics. Rod Dreher, who for some unknown reason has been embraced by evangelicals like Albert Mohler, took great exception with our post and we took a lot of heat for pointing out the obviousness of basic Protestantism; there is not salvation outside of belief in Sola Fide.
Last week, we brought to you news that the Roman Catholic Bishop of Rome was unhappy that President Donald J. Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of Jerusalem. This week, idolaters of the Eastern variety demonstrated that they are equally unpleased.
The Coptic Orthodox Church (which is the Eastern Orthodox church of Egypt) announced that it would not meet with Vice President Mike Pence out of protest that Trump made the move to recognize what is essentially a Biblical position on the Israeli city. A spokesman for those idolaters said that Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem was, “inappropriate and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people.”
Given that Egypt has millennia-old hostilities to Jews and formerly enslaved them for four hundred years, ending in about 1500 B.C., and given that Egypt spearheaded the 6 Day War and the doomed assault against the nation of Israel, it probably should not come as a surprise that its “Christian” citizens are as anti-Semitic as its Muslim citizens. Clearly, there’s some bad blood since the time Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian midwives to murder Hebrew babies. They appear to not have yet let go of the grudge.
Maybe that’s an oversimplification. Nonetheless, the Coptic Church is not happy.
News agencies report, “The Coptic Pope’s refusal to host Pence is largely symbolic but significant, because it demonstrates the Arab solidarity for Palestinians irrespective of religious affiliations.” It followed the lead of Islamic cleric, Ahmed al-Tayeb’s decision to meet with Pence. It seems Islam’s leaders in Egypt are leading the Eastern Orthodox on a leash.
Ironically, the Eastern Orthodox have argued for centuries over the proper seat of the Christian Church, they’re arguing for Instanbul (formerly, Constantinople) and their idolatry counterparts in the West are arguing for Rome. One would think that the Eastern Orthodox church would understand the importance of recognizing the historical significance of a “holy city.”
For more on why Eastern Orthodoxy is not Christianity, click here.

TURKEY: LARGE MUSLIM CROWD PRAYS IN FRONT OF HAGIA SOPHIA, DEMANDING IT BECOME A MOSQUE AGAIN

 

 TIME TO BOYCOTT TURKISH PRODUCTS 

INCLUDING ALL FIREARMS

 

TURKEY: LARGE MUSLIM CROWD PRAYS IN FRONT OF HAGIA SOPHIA, DEMANDING IT BECOME 

A MOSQUE AGAIN 

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/05/turkey-large-muslim-crowd-prays-in-front-of-hagia-sophia-demanding-it-become-a-mosque-again;

 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

In October, Erdogan appointed a full-time imam for the Hagia Sophia, who was to lead the five daily prayers there. So its reconversion into a mosque is essentially already complete. But it is not officially a mosque yet. That will doubtless come soon.
If Erdogan had any actual good will toward Europe, he would give Hagia Sophia back to the Orthodox Church, and allow them to reconvert it into a cathedral. And if Europeans, and the West in general, had any sense of history or any will to stop the program of conquest and Islamization that Erdogan and other Muslims are pursuing, they would make this a condition of Turkey’s entry into the European Union and continued membership in NATO.

“Muslim group prays in front of Hagia Sophia to demand re-conversion into mosque,” Hürriyet Daily News, May 14, 2017 (thanks to Lookmann):

A large group of people, who demand Istanbul’s monumental Hagia Sophia to be turned into a mosque again, gathered in front of the museum in the early hours of May 13, before offering their morning prayer there.
Organized by the Anatolia Youth Association (AGD), the group gathered in front of Hagia Sophia at around 4 a.m. with the motto “Break the chains, Open Hagia Sophia,” and prayed the morning prayer with a call for the reconversion of the museum into a mosque.
From 537, the year it was constructed, until 1453, when the Ottoman Empire conquered the city, Hagia Sophia served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinopole, It was turned into a mosque by the Ottomans before being secularized and converted to a museum in 1935.
The AGD made the call to mark the anniversary of the conquest….

The conquest actually took place on May 29, 1453, not May 13.

PULPIT & PEN'S "APOLOGY" TO THE EASTERN ORTHODOX COMMUNITY~BY THE AUTHOR'S BOSS, SORT OF; BUT NOT BY THE OFFENDER

 

An Apology to the Eastern Orthodox Community

BY J.D. HALL

SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2017/04/21/an-apology-to-the-eastern-orthodoxy-community/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

As the owner and president of Pulpit & Pen, I feel that I need to issue a public apology to the Eastern Orthodox community in regards to my managing editor’s recent words. In a series of posts, Pulpit & Pen editor, Jeff Maples, took it upon himself to essentially anathematize the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaff, and in the process said some hurtful things about an old and revered religious tradition. I would be remiss not to clarify Jeff’s remarks and in the process, make some apologies. I pray that it is received well by all of our friends in the Eastern Orthodox community.
Firstly, we would like to apologize on behalf of Protestants everywhere for overlooking the grave and damning heresies of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, compared to our stalwart protest of Rome. This has been an oversight of Protestants, due mostly to the revival of actual Biblical orthodoxy (you might call it Protestantism) developing primarily in the West, and under the wicked authority of Rome, and not under the Eastern schismatics known by the misleading name of “Orthodox.” While we have rightly called the Bishop of Rome the “antichrist” in our Confessions of Faith, we have overlooked the many antichrists that have gone out into the world and settled in their positions as leaders in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It was not right of us to prejudicially focus on the Western anti-christ church just because they happened to be the ones murdering us for several centuries. In the future, we will strive to explain that anyone who seeks the title of ‘priest,’ (a blasphemous title if ever there were one), lead people into idolatry, claim the sole mediary position between God and man, practice necromantic prayers to the dead, engage in corpse worship, and promote meritorious salvation is an antichrist, every bit as much as the Roman Catholic abomination. We are sorry for leaving out specific condemnations of your religion in our Confessions, as it wasn’t very inclusive of us.
Secondly, we are sorry that many Protestants have stopped protesting, sending the impression that our confessional doctrinal beliefs don’t anathematize you as not only being sub-Christian, but being anti-Christian. We are sorry that men like Albert Mohler, Paige Patterson, Russell Moore and Carl Trueman, all who should certainly know better, seem to have affirmed you in your superstitious and pagan religion. While the Intelligentsia class of evangelicalism are happy to learn about how Rod Dreher’s monasticism fetish might be a valuable tool for fleeing the culture wars, the rest of us failed to speak up loudly enough to challenge them on this, partially because the idol-factory of our hearts are quick to make our own popes out of mere men, and we don’t like to challenge our popes. The fact is, Greek Orthodox men like Rod Dreher have no part in the Kingdom of God on Earth, because they have no part of the Kingdom of God in Heaven, unless they were to recant their idolatry and believe the one, true, catholic doctrine of Sola Fide. There’s no such thing as being “kind of Christian,” and the Trinitarian ontology of the Eastern Orthodox Church doesn’t undo the fact that trusting in your merit for salvation is just as damning as being a Modalist like TD Jakes or believing in 9 divine persons like Benny Hinn. So, therefore, we apologize for our evangelical leaders who have stopped protesting, even though they call themselves Protestants. Much of your outrage (the thousands of angry, F-bomb dropping emails we have received) is due to the fact you’ve never heard a Protestant say you’re not a Christian. It’s not because Protestant doctrine doesn’t say you’re lost (it certainly does), but because we’ve become a bunch of limp-wristed milksops. Forgive our cowardice.
Thirdly, we apologize for making it seem, should you have perceived it that way, that you’re unchristian because your priests wear dresses and you burn incense. While true religion has little patience for pretentious pageantry, the issue for us concerning your doctrinal apostasy is your denial of Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, and Penal Substitution. The fact that you adorn your buildings in gaudy and sacrilegious, bedazzled idols is second to the more blatant soteriological heresies that damn your soul (although idolatry is damning enough). The fact that you believe that superstitious voodoo oil poured over someone’s head fills them with the holy spirit and brings them back from apostasy is secondary to your hope in your own righteousness for salvation. We (still-protesting Protestants) shouldn’t have focused upon your bizarre, extra-biblical rituals that resemble more seance than Biblical service of worship; we should have focused far more upon your doctrinal beliefs that oppose Jesus and the very Gospel itself.

A Greek Orthodox believer sent this to our email, which was going around to great applause in Greek Orthodox social media forums. This is Jeff Maples and his daughter, in hell with the Reformers.

Fourthly, we apologize for letting you get away with asserting your religious superiority by the age of your church. While it is true that you happen to live in a part of the world that was first affected by the Gospel, your geographical proximity to the early church does not mean that you hold to the doctrines or practices of that New Testament Church. The fact is, the heresies of Gnosticism, Antinomianism, and the Judaizers all predate the Greek Orthodox Church. In fact, the sect of the Nicolatians (founded by an Acts 6 deacon) predates your church considerably. Logic, of course, would not deduce that these groups, because they are older, are right. We apologize for not being more forward in pointing out that Jesus specifically wrote to the Ephesians Church (where there is now the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate) that he would remove the lamp stand (IE the Holy Spirit) from their church for forsaking their first love, the Gospel of Jesus. The Scripture contains a very explicit warning, directly from the dictation of Jesus, that the church that would become Eastern Orthodox would have the Holy Spirit depart it should they continue on their path of abandoning true religion. While the Eastern Orthodox church is older than, for example, churches in other parts of the world, that doesn’t make it better. It just means that the Eastern Orthodox Church has been apostate longer than most churches have existed. Big. Stinking. Deal. You don’t get brownie points for the number of centuries since the Holy Spirit left your building.
Fifthly, we apologize for not pointing out, as you rage in anger that we anathematize you, that you anathematized us first. Like the Roman Catholic apostate church, Eastern Orthodoxy has also declared Protestants to be hopelessly damned for trusting in Christ’s accomplished work alone for our salvation. While the Eastern Orthodox community has ranted and railed with lamenting and gnashing of teeth toward Pulpit & Pen in recent weeks, they seem blissfully unaware that, like many cults, official Eastern Orthodox teaching declares that only they are the one true church and more specifically, they teach that actual Christians like ourselves are damned for trusting only in Jesus. We apologize for not pointing out that your man-made tradition similarly anathematizes, only it does it wrongly. There is no moral high ground of tolerance and open-mindedness that you can confess toward outsiders without denying the official teachings of your church, a church you believe infallible based upon nothing but the amount of time it’s held to its heresies.
I pray that you, as the Eastern Orthodox Community, will receive our apologies charitably. There has been much confusion because of the inability or unwillingness to articulate what Protestants actually believe about those who deny Sola Fide and Penal Substitution. We aim to fix all that, and do better in the future.
There is no justification outside faith alone in his accomplished work. Christ’s accomplished work includes his substitionary and vicarious death in our place, being for us our propitiation.
No amount of smells and bells, chanting absurdities, or calling out the gods of Ba’al and Asherah with much incense-burning, bell-ringing pomp and circumstance will change that.
Cordially,
JD Hall
_________________________________________________________

 JUST DOING A JOB FOR CHRIST???
JEFF MAPLES WEARS BANGS:

 

 SEE ALSO: 

 Visiting Hank Hanegraaff’s New 

Greek Orthodox Church

BY JEFF MAPLES

SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2017/04/18/visiting-hank-hanegraaffs-new-greek-orthodox-church/;

 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

One of the biggest complaints against Pulpit & Pen we get consistently is that we somehow don’t “have all our facts,” or are “misrepresenting” someone or something. I received countless emails claiming that I “misrepresented” Greek Orthodoxy in my recent posts regarding Hank Hanegraaff and that I should do more research. Well, what better way to research than to go straight to the source in person? Saturday, April 15, known as Holy Saturday in the Orthodox tradition, I along with a couple of friends went to visit St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, NC–the church that Hanegraaff was recently chrismated in. The service began at 11:30 pm, and was still going strong showing no signs of slowing down when we decided to leave at around 2:00 am. While we hoped to have the opportunity to confront Hanegraaff in person, being that we all had to get up early the next morning to worship the living God on Easter morning, we decided to call it a night early. However, there are quite a few things that we can take away from this experience in this church.

1.) I have sat through many Catholic masses. I was married in a Catholic church, and I can definitely say I’ve “been there done that.” But I’ve never sat through anything so long and tedious as the Greek Orthodox mass. Perhaps being a special Saturday night “resurrection service,” this wasn’t the norm, but it was excruciatingly long. 2 1/2 hours in and no sign of slowing down.

2.) The cliche, “bells and smells” is actually a true reality. The burning of incense and ringing of bells was a noxious combination. It reminded me of being in a college dorm smoking weed and blowing the smoke through toilet paper rolls stuffed with dryer sheets.

3.) The liturgy was vain and repetitious. Literally, the same ritualistic prayers and chanting were sung over and over. Every prayer included an invocation of Mary and the Saints.

4.) While there was actually quite a bit of Scripture reading, there was absolutely no teaching. In fact, the vast majority of Scripture reading was sung in the eerie Byzantine chant. You’d really have to pay attention and try to listen really hard to even understand what they were reading or reciting.

5.) The facility was adorned, literally, wall to wall, floor to ceiling in graven images of the saints. The images were painted in such a way that the expressions on their faces were devoid of any emotion. They looked like lifeless figures just floating around in space.

6.) The enthusiasm of the clergy and participants in the service was extremely low. Those participating in the rituals walked around with lifeless expressions on their faces. The entire ritual was empty and dead.

7.) There is obviously little to no pursuit of holiness in this church. Several times during the service, the ushers and deacons could be seen stepping out to take smoke breaks. Many of the women and even some of the younger girls were dressed less than modestly.

8.) Repeatedly, the chanting and liturgy included a summons to God to perform certain acts. It was clear that they believe that God works through and is dependent upon these rituals to activate the work of the Holy Spirit.

9.) The Greek and Eastern Orthodox church is clearly a lifeless church. There was absolutely no gospel in this service. A lost person could not walk into this church and walk out a changed man. It was literally a Pagan practice. Like a seance. Pure witchcraft was going on in this place. In this religion, salvation doesn’t come through Christ’s imputed righteousness and substitutionary atonement on the cross, it comes through these dead rituals that they believe ontologically changes them into divine beings. It was truly one of the most wicked experiences I’ve ever seen.

This is what Hank Hanegraaff has apostatized to. He knows the Bible, he has taught it his entire life. He now rejects it. The bible clearly teaches against the wickedness and error found within the manmade traditions and doctrines of demons in the Orthodox church. It would have been easy for one to let their guard down and become entranced by the production. While in the West it is likely less common for practitioners of the religion to take it that seriously, it’s easy to see how those who do take it seriously could achieve an altered state of mind which would in effect by a spiritual experience for those truly seeking it. After my experience at this church, not only do I fully stand by what I have written, but it is even more clear now that this religion is not of God and should be avoided.
[Contributed by Jeff Maples]
___________________________________________________

GOSPEL AS LAW??? TREATING OTHERS AS YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED

 LUKE 6:

27But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
28    Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
29    And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
30    Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
31    And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
32    For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
33    And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
34    And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
35    But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
36    Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
37    Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
38    Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

 QUOTE FROM MAPLES BELOW: 
"While we are glad to see her go, we also want to show the love and grace of Jesus Christ."

 

BUT THEN THIS BLOG HAD ISSUES WITH MAPLES TOO!:

(Email chain below is word for word unedited, except for the email addresses being removed):

 "Let's Extend Grace to Those Who Least Deserve It"

Meet Haley Nicole.

 

This is a girl that moved to the Charlotte area a few years ago and started a major "pro-choice" movement at the abortion mill that I minister at. After months and months of relentless attack on us, she is obviously getting burned out with her efforts. She has verbally attacked our children and our families. She has campaigned against our local churches in the area who have tried to offer help. She banged pots and pans in our faces while we try to preach. As a matter of fact, she has even been asked by the abortion clinic itself to stop coming due to her erratic and disruptive behavior. 
This poor woman is so lost. If anyone deserves the wrath of God more than her, I would be surprised.
"...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." --Romans 5:8
We are certainly under no obligation to help her after all she's done to us. But we believe that if the grace of God in His Son Jesus Christ was sufficient to save wretched sinners such as ourselves, then we should extend that grace to others. Christ was certainly under no obligation to take the punishment on the cross for our sins, yet he did so because he loved us.
While we are glad to see her go, we also want to show the love and grace of Jesus Christ. If anyone wants to help this woman and her young son move back to her home state, she has a GoFundMe page here. If you decide to help her, please leave a comment in your donation about the grace of God found in Jesus Christ. She has heard the gospel preached for months, now it's time for her to see it in action.

She may ultimately end up spending the money elsewhere. We have no control over that. The Lord will deal with her if she does. But one of the most humbling things a Christian can do is set aside our pride and extend grace where it is least deserved. I hope that you will prayerfully consider helping her. 

The link to her GoFundMe page is here:
https://www.gofundme.com/pzejda

Jeff
_________________________________________________________

Mr. Maples,

      I read and appreciate the articles on Pulpit & Pen very much. Of all the authors, how is it that you are the only one who has had, and still has, a problem with Donald Trump, expressing your distaste for the man at every opportunity, it seems? Granted, the man is a self-described "professing" Christian, but has shown his worldliness. But why criticize him, when the other choices for President were far worse? In your case, "let's extend grace to those who least deserve it", meaning Trump as well, to avoid appearing hypocritical.

     I would also like to know why the authors, yourself, and the organization have not published any email addresses or phone numbers prior to this missive?

John
________________________________________________________

Not sure why you are lumping me in as the only one who "has had a problem with" Donald Trump. But to answer your question as best as possible, my main point of contention against Trump has always been against those Christian leaders who have held him up on a pedestal as though he is some kind of messianic savior. If you read my articles, I have defended Trump on issues that I believe are defensible and criticized him where appropriate. Further, I would treat Trump the same. First, I would never allow him to think that I believe he is a true Christian... that would be the most unloving and ungraceful thing I could do.

Yes, the alternatives are worse. I've always said that. And I have no problem with those who in good faith voted for Trump from that perspective. Where I have the problem is with men like Robert Jeffress and Dobson who go around proclaiming this man a born again believer, and trying to get people to vote for him because of that. It's a lie, and I'm more concerned with people's eternal state than the state of this nation.

Donald Trump is our president, and to the best of my ability, I will support him in his efforts to do his duty to this nation. I will continue to criticize him where it's due, and I will continue to defend him where it's due.

As far as email addresses, I'm not going to publish my personal email address online for the world and spammers to see. We have always had a contact form on our website that comes directly to the inboxes of all the contributors of the site. Further, every author has a link to their Facebook profile to which many people have reached out to us before. And you could always reply to the weekly emails that go out... the replies come directly to me. We are not hard to contact.

I hope this answers your questions.

Grace & Peace.

Jeff

Jeff Maples, Editor

Pulpit & Pen

http://www.pulpitandpen.org

jeff@pulpitandpen.org

_______________________________________________________

Mr. Maples,

        My name is John, and you omitted same in your response. Likewise, your tone is blunt, defensive and dismissive. Why? Not very courteous, I have to say!
        I don't think I've either missed or misread your articles, so I have a hard time seeing exactly where your self justifications are actually in print. Can you send them to me? Especially the ones where you say you have defended Trump where defensible? I maintain that peoples' "eternal state" directly affects the "state of this nation". For me, it's not an "either/or" as you imply. I have to say also that the "semper reformanda" of the reformed crowd is typically apostate and corrupt, and in practice is a reproach on Christianity. You should change your logo for those reasons.

       I am well educated, yet I have never been able to decipher how to respond to any one author. But that is not my fault. It's purposely that way, isn't it? I hate using impersonal contact forms. Why are you screening for the other authors? I'm not suggesting that personal email addresses be published; you assumed that in error. Do the other authors have email addresses ending in @pulpitandpen.org, like yours? Why can't they be published? Or must you exercise total control?

John

________________________________________________________

 Considering we get hundreds of emails every day, I'm not so sure why you have such a problem with it. I don't screen anyone else's email, sir. And you're the one contacting me making assumptions.

Yes, every contributor has a .pulpitandpen.org email address. The only emails that come directly to me are the responses to the newsletter. Why? Because I'm the one that sends them. Simple as that. Other than that, like I've said, every contributor has a link to their profile at the bottom of every single article. It's not my problem that you don't want to use an "impersonal contact form." We respond to every inquiry that isn't spam, and every time we respond, it's with our own individual .pulpitandpen.org email address.

Below is the author box that you will find at the bottom of every article. Feel free to add me on Facebook or message me if you like.

There is also a link to our facebook group on our website in which all of the contributors are active and participating members. We post all of our articles in there and interact with people on everything. That's under the resources menu. Here is the direct link to it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/638527459548792/

We also have a Facebook page which is open to the public. We do the same there. There is a slide up that advertises this resource on every page on our website. Here is the direct link to it. We respond to ALL messages that aren't spam on that page.

https://www.facebook.com/pulpitandpen/?ref=bookmarks

So with all the ways you could have tried to reach out to us, it doesn't appear you put in too much effort. If anything else, you could have used one of the methods to ask for a specific contributor's email address. Have you tried? Apparently not. So how about less griping about what we should be doing when you're the only one that seems to be walking around aimlessly trying to contact us.

Grace & Peace

Jeff

______________________________________________________

Mr. Maples,

               Looks like you've been triggered like an anti-Trump rioter? So you degenerate into disrespect, rudeness, further assumptions, ridicule, and demeaning sarcasm? How "reformed"! How "Christian"!
              I don't use Facebook because of its tracking and censorship of late. If you don't know about that, look that up! Other than that, no reader should have to put a lot of effort into contacting authors, unless it is designed that way. Which it is, because of your paranoia about constructive criticism which hurts your narcissistic ego. Links to author profiles do not contain email addresses, do they? NO.

             You need to repent about your poor way of relating to subscribers. Such behavior is juvenile and un-Christian to say the least. And you have the hypocritical gall to sign in "Grace & Peace". No wonder you got hit with abuse from Haley Nicole!

In Christ,

John

______________________________________________________

WHY WE CAN'T ASSUME CATHOLICS OR ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS ARE SAVED

WHY WE CAN'T ASSUME CATHOLICS OR ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS ARE SAVED 

BY JEFF MAPLES

SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2016/07/13/why-we-cant-assume-catholics-or-orthodox-christians-are-saved/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Historically, Roman Catholicism has been considered by Protestants and Evangelicals to be an expression of faith that distorts the Biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. While Protestants hold to a soteriological belief of “grace alone through faith alone,” in contrast, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Christians hold to an unbiblical view of salvation by faith plus works. For them, the sacraments are a requirement for grace, and salvation cannot be attained apart from them. For this reason, bible-believing Christians have always held to the belief that Roman Catholics are unsaved, because they trust in their own works, as opposed to the finished work of Christ on the cross, for their salvation.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

Sadly, during this modern time of ecumenical “unity,” many professing bible-believing Christians have compromised on this. For them, it has become a matter of “individual faith,” and regardless of your religious affiliation, anyone who has that “personal relationship” with Christ can be saved. But there are several errors in this line of reasoning, and it is extremely reckless to assume that Catholics or Orthodox Christians are truly saved. Here’s why.

Denominational Affiliation is an Expression of Beliefs

As stated above, Roman Catholics officially hold to unbiblical doctrines that are opposed to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, they are designed in such a manner to forbidyou from believing the true Gospel. One can only assume that a Roman Catholic is a Roman Catholic because he or she believes the Roman Catholic system to be true. While it is possible that a practicing Roman Catholic can be saved, as God can save anybody he pleases, the likelihood of them remaining in the Catholic Church long term is slim. Upon justification, the Holy Spirit begins sanctification in the new believer, and will ultimately lead the believer to truth, and out of the false church. “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace,” (1 Corinthians 14:33). It is of utmost importance for bible-believing Christians to call all who are caught up in this false system to repent and leave the Roman Catholic or Orthodox church.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. – 2 Corinthians 11:4

Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians Practice Idolatry

Through aberrant doctrines such as transubstantiation, Roman Catholics, and many Orthodox sects, believe that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are the true body and blood of Jesus Christ and that it is worthy of worship. This is a regular practice in the daily Mass. Further, prayers and worship are regularly offered to Mary and the canonized saints, and relics of past saints and popes are regularly idolized in the church. In every altar in a Roman Catholic church, there will be placed a relic (i.e. bone, vile of blood, or some body part) of a martyr or canonized saint. This practice of idolatry cannot be overlooked when considering someone to be a brother or sister in Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 clearly states that those who practice idolatry will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians Reject Biblical Authority

Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians do not hold to a belief in the final authority of Scripture, rather, Catholics’ authority is in the hierarchical system of priests with the Roman Pontiff at the head, and the Orthodox Church’s authority comes from the seven ecumenical councils. A rejection of biblical authority is a rejection of Christ himself, for the Scriptures say that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was in the beginning with God….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:1-2,14

We cannot compromise the Gospel by assuming that a Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christian who professes to be saved is truly saved. Counterfeit systems of Christianity are very good at distorting their identity. They often speak the same language as believers, yet mean something completely different. They are often agreeable with the believer and are experts at practicing cunning.

Even if a Catholic is truly born again, if they refuse to leave their false church, we must treat them as though they are not. By their own profession, confession, and expression of faith, they continue in sin by practicing idolatry and rejecting Christ. We must not allow them to speak in our pulpits or join with them in any spiritual enterprise. We are to avoid them, treat them like unbelievers, and call them to repent.

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. – 1 Corinthians 5:11

BEWARE OF CATHOLIC VISUALIZATION "PRAYER"

"SAINT" FRANCIS OF ASSISI ABOVE 

"HELPING JESUS CHRIST DOWN FROM THE CROSS" 

THAT'S NOT A QUOTE FROM THE BIBLE ABOVE BUT ONE BORN OF ANTHONY'S IMAGINATION. ALSO, THAT'S NOT A BIBLE BELOW, BUT IS LIKELY A CATHOLIC "BREVIARY" (MANGLED VERSION OF THE BIBLE WHICH CONTAINS HERESY AND MAN'S "WISDOM")

BEWARE OF VISUALIZATION "PRAYER"

BY DAVID CLOUD

SEE: http://www.wayoflife.org/index_files/beware_of%20_visualization_prayer.html; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Jan/12/16 06:00

See end of report to Print/Share/Send to Kindle

January 12, 2016 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) 

The following is excerpted from CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM: A POWERFUL ECUMENICAL BOND.ISBN 978-1-58318-113-3. Contemplative mysticism, which originated with Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox monasticism, is permeating every branch of Christianity today, including the Southern Baptist Convention. In this book we document the fact that Catholic mysticism leads inevitably to a broadminded ecumenical philosophy and to capitulation to heresies. For many, this path has led to interfaith dialogue, Buddhism, Hinduism, universalism, pantheism, panentheism, even goddess theology. One chapter is dedicated to exposing the heresies of Richard Foster: “Evangelicalism’s Mystical Sparkplug.” We describe major contemplative practices, such as centering prayer, visualizing prayer, the Jesus Prayer, Lectio Divina, and the labyrinth. We look at the history of Roman Catholic monasticism which birthed contemplative prayer, and we examine the errors of contemplative mysticism. In the Biographical Catalog of Contemplative Mystics we look at the lives and beliefs of 60 of the major figures in the contemplative movement, including Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, Brennan Manning, Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, Richard Foster, and Dallas Willard. The book contains an extensive index. 482 pages. Available in print and eBook editions from Way of Life Literature, www.wayoflife.org._______________
Visualization Prayer
By David Cloud
Visualization or imaginative prayer is becoming popular throughout evangelicalism because of spread of Roman Catholic contemplative mysticism.

Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello calls it “fantasy prayer” and says that many of the Catholic saints practiced it (Sadhana: A Way to God, pp. 79, 82, 93). Francis of Assisi imagined taking Jesus down from the cross; Anthony of Padua imagined holding the baby Jesus in his arms and talking with him; Teresa of Avila imagined herself with Jesus in His agony in the garden. 

This type of thing is an integral part of the spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. The practitioner is instructed to walk into biblical and extra-biblical historical scenes through the imagination and bring the scene to life by applying all of the senses: seeing the events, hearing what people are saying, smelling, tasting, and touching things--all within the realm of pure imagination. The visualizing prayer practitioner is even taught to insert himself into the scene, talking to the biblical characters and serving them. Ignatius encourages practitioners, for example, to imagine themselves present at Jesus’ birth and crucifixion.

Consider some excerpts from Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises:
“Imagine Christ our Lord present before you upon the cross, and begin to speak with him ...” (The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Vintage Books edition, First Week, 53).

“Here it will be to see in imagination the length, breadth, and depth of hell. ... to see in imagination the vast fires, and the souls enclosed ... to hear the wailing ... with the sense of smell to perceive the smoke ... to taste the bitterness ... to touch the flames” (First Week, fifth exercise, 65-70).

“I will see and consider the Three Divine Persons, seated on the royal dais or throne of the Divine Majesty ... I will see our Lady and the angels saluting her. ... [I will see] our Lady, St. Joseph, the maid, and the Child Jesus after His birth. I will make myself a poor little unworthy slave, and as though present, look upon them, contemplate them, and serve them...” (Second Week, 106, 114).

“While one is eating, let him imagine he sees Christ our Lord and His disciples at the table, and consider how He eats and drinks, how He looks, how He speaks, and then strive to imitate Him” (Third Week, 214).
Thomas Merton gave an example of visualization prayer in his book Spiritual Direction and Meditation. He suggested that the individual use this technique to communicate with the infant Jesus in His nativity. 
“In simple terms, the nativity of Christ the Lord in Bethlehem is not just something that I make present by fantasy. Since He is the eternal Word of God before whom time is entirely and simultaneously present, the Child born at Bethlehem ‘sees’ me here and now. That is to say, I ‘am’ present to His mind ‘then.’ It follows that I can speak to Him as to one present not only in fantasy but in actual reality. This spiritual contact with the Lord is the real purpose of meditation” (p. 96). 
Merton claims that this type of thing is not “fantasy,” but it is nothing other than fantasy. It is true that Christ is eternal, but nowhere are we taught by the Lord or His apostles and prophets that we should try to imagine such a conversation. What Merton suggests is gross presumption.

Richard Foster recommends visualizing prayer in his popular book Celebration of Discipline:
“Imagination opens the door to faith. If we can ‘see’ in our mind’s eye a shattered marriage whole or a sick person well, it is only a short step to believing that it will be so. ... I was once called to a home to pray for a seriously ill baby girl. Her four-year-old brother was in the room and so I told him I needed his help to pray for his baby sister. ... He climbed up into the chair beside me. ‘Let’s play a little game,’ I said. ‘Since we know that Jesus is always with us, let’s imagine that He is sitting over in the chair across from us. He is waiting patiently for us to center our attention on Him. When we see Him, we start thinking more about His love than how sick Julie is. He smiles, gets up, and comes over to us. Then let’s both put our hands on Julie and when we do, Jesus will put His hands on top of ours. We’ll watch and imagine that the light from Jesus is flowing right into your little sister and making her well. Let’s pretend that the light of Christ fights with the bad germs until they are all gone. Okay!’ Seriously the little one nodded. Together we prayed in this childlike way and then thanked the Lord that what we ‘saw’ was the way it was going to be” (Celebration of Discipline, 1978, p. 37).
This is not biblical prayer; it is occultism. New Thought practitioners and New Agers have practiced this type of thing for a century. Biblical prayer is not the attempt to accomplish something through the power of our minds. It is talking to God and asking Him to accomplish things. There is a vast difference between these two practices, as vast as the difference between God and the Devil.

Visualization prayer has become very popular within the modern contemplative movement, but it is heretical. I have already mentioned some reasons for saying this, but let me summarize them as follows:
First of all, visualization prayer is disobedience. The Bible contains everything we need for faith and practice. It is able to make the man of God “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible contains everything we need in order to learn how to pray correctly, and it says nothing whatsoever about imagination prayer. This is not the type of prayer that Jesus taught us to pray (Matthew 6:9-15). 
Second, visualization prayer is vain and foolish because it is pure fantasy. We can’t imagine Jesus’ birth beyond the simple facts described in Scripture. We don’t know what Mary or Joseph or baby Jesus or the room or the manger or the angels or the shepherds or the wise men looked like. We don’t know what they said to one another. We don’t know the air temperature or the exact smells and tastes. If I try to imagine such things, I am entering into the realm of vain fantasy. 
Third, visualization prayer is not faith. Faith is not based on imagination; it is based on Scripture. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). God has given us everything we need in Scripture and our part is to believe what God says. “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). We have everything we need to know about Christ for the present dispensation in the Scripture, and we accept it by faith. “Whom HAVING NOT SEEN, ye love; in whom, THOUGH NOW YE SEE HIM NOT, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). 
Fourth, visualization prayer is presumptuous because it goes beyond divine revelation. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” By going beyond what the Bible says and trying to delve into history through the imagination, I am leaving the revealed things and entering the secret things. 
Fifth, visualization prayer is dangerous. It is dangerous because it adds to Scripture. If I get in the habit of visualizing Bible scenes, I can easily think that my visualizations are authoritative. I can fall into Rome’s error of accepting extra-biblical revelation. It is also dangerous because demonic entities can involve themselves in my vain imaginings. Satan influenced Peter’s thinking (Mat. 16:22-23), and he can certainly influence mine if I venture into forbidden realms.

Consider an example given by emerging church leader Tony Jones in his book The Sacred Way. His friend Mike King made John 1:37-39 the focus of contemplative practices at a spiritual retreat. While practicing the Ignatian exercise of imaginative prayer, he put himself into the biblical scene. He imagined himself sitting around John’s breakfast fire with the disciples, listening as they carried on an imaginative conversation. He imagined seeing Jesus approach and embrace John. He imagined hearing them tell stories of their childhood. He imagined them laughing. Then he imagined Jesus getting up and leaving, with John’s two disciples following. He imagined them walking into the desert and coming to a clearing, when suddenly the imagined Jesus turned around and began interacting with him. 
“When Jesus turned around, the two disciples of John whom I was following parted like the Red Sea and Jesus came right up to me, face to face. Jesus looked past my eyes into my heart and soul: ‘Mike, what do you want?’ I fell at the feet of Jesus and wept, pouring my heart out” (The Sacred Way, p. 79). 
Notice that the imaginative prayer practitioner feels at liberty to go far beyond the words of Scripture to fantasize about the passage, creating purely fictional scenes. And observe that the Jesus that he imagines (which is certainly not the Jesus of the Bible, because we do not know what that Jesus looks like and nowhere are we instructed to imagine seeing him) takes on a life of its own and interacts with him. This is either pure mental fiction and therefore absolutely meaningless, or it is a demonic visitation akin to a vision of Mary. 

King says that he was powerfully affected by this imagined event. “That day changed me profoundly and is something I will have for the rest of my life, for Jesus said, ‘Come, and you will see...” 

He thus pretends that Jesus actually said this directly to him, when in fact he only imagined it in a purely fictitious sense. What incredible delusion!

Following is an example from Youth Specialties, a large evangelical youth ministry. They encourage young people to imagine a conversation with Jesus along the following line:
It’s a normal day like any other. You’re busy doing what you do. But as you go about your daily routine, you sense someone wanting to spend time with you. He wants you to come to him. He wants you to be with him. You definitely recognize his voice, but it’s been a while since you’ve spent any real time together. Doesn’t he know how busy your life can be? After all, you’ve been busy doing what you do.

He sits there, hunkered down in the corner of your room waiting for you. He’s certainly not pushing himself on you, but you can definitely tell he longs to spend some time with you. You tell him that you don’t think you’ll have time to meet with him today as you head out the door again.
When you get back from your day, he’s there again, waiting for you. He smiles at you as you come in the door and asks you how your day has been. He invites you to sit down and rest for a while. You can tell he wants to hear about your day and everything else you’ve got going on in your life. He seems very proud of who you are becoming. He asks you about what seems to be pressing in on you and weighing you down. You can tell he genuinely cares about you. He wants what’s best for you. So you finally decide to sit down for a few minutes to talk with him.

You start by telling him that you can’t talk long because you still have a lot to do before bedtime. But after a few minutes of talking together, your whole world and all the worries of your day seem to simply melt away. You haven’t felt this relaxed in a long time. You find yourself pouring your heart out to him. And then he looks you right in the eyes and tells you how proud he is of you. He tells you how much he loves you and enjoys spending time together.

At that moment you realize this friend who has been waiting to talk with you day after day is Jesus. He has never made you feel guilty about blowing him off day after day. He looks at you and smiles. It’s at that moment that you can tell for the first time in your life that you have a true friend who cares about you for who you are. The time seems to fly by as you continue talking together late into the night (“Something for Your Heart: Guided Meditation,” Youth Specialties Student Newsletter #330, Feb. 25, 2008). 
This is heretical foolishness. The Lord Jesus Christ is not hunkered down in someone’s bedroom. He is enthroned in heaven at the right hand of the Father. He is not a non-judgmental Big Buddy who exists to build up my self-esteem. He is the Lord of Glory. He is exceedingly kind and compassionate, but He does not exist to pamper me; I exist to glorify Him! 

Observe that this guided meditation mentions nothing about the confession of sin or repentance from sin, nothing about the necessity of obedience and walking in the fear of God and separation from evil in order to maintain fellowship with Christ. The Bible, though, says:
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:6-9). 
Calvin Miller claims that “imagination stands at the front of our relationship with Christ.” 
“I drink the glory [of Christ’s] hazel eyes ... his auburn hair. ... What? Do you disagree? His hair is black? Eyes brown? Then have it your way. ... His image must be real to you as to me, even if our images differ. The key to vitality, however, is the image” (The Table of Inwardness, Inter Varsity Press, 1984, p. 93).
Each individual can therefore have the christ of his own making through the amazing power of imagination!

APOSTATE HYPOCRITICAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS BEMOANING THE SCOURGE OF JIHADISTS & THE INACTION OF CHRISTIANS UNAFFECTED

CARDINAL ANGELO BAGNASCO

PATRIARCH SAKO

The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III 

Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan 

 Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts

RELIGIOUS LEADERS BEMOANING THE SCOURGE OF JIHADISTS & THE INACTION OF CHRISTIANS UNAFFECTED

"Iraqi Christian leader on Muslim persecution of Christians: “Is this not a crime against humanity?”"

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/01/iraqi-christian-leader-on-muslim-persecution-of-christians-is-this-not-a-crime-against-humanity;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes

Of course it is. And others have asked similar questions before: “Why, we ask the western world, why not raise one’s voice over so much ferocity and injustice?” asked Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI). The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III has also said: “I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality.” Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan appealed to the West “not to forget the Christians in the Middle East.”

But why are they forgotten? Why does Sako have to ask his question? Why does Bagnasco have to ask his? Here is why: “Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” — Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, February 8, 2013

That’s right, it’s all for the sake of the spurious and self-defeating “dialogue.” For all too many of Patriarch Sako’s colleagues, especially those in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to speak out about this persecution renders one outside the realm of acceptable discourse. Sako should ask his colleagues in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He should ask bishops like McManus, Kevin Farrell, Jaime Soto and others why they move actively to silence and demonize voices that tell the truth about this persecution. He should ask them why they are so convinced that Islam, at its core, teaches peace, despite the superabundance of evidence to the contrary in Islamic texts and the actions of Muslims who read them. He should ask why the U.S. Catholic bishops tolerated dissent from so many core Catholic dogmas for decades, but move as ruthlessly as any Grand Inquisitor to suppress dissent from the idea that Islam is a Religion of Peace, which isn’t even a dogma of the Church. He should ask them why they are abandoning their Middle Eastern brethren and keeping their own people ignorant and complacent about the jihad threat. He should ask himself why he speaks of this persecution as a problem involving the Islamic State alone, when he must know from his personal experience that it is a much larger issue than that.

Cowards, time-servers, trimmers and self-deluded wishful thinkers dominate the Church hierarchy today, and all too many Catholics believe that to say so makes one disloyal to the Church. Nonsense. Calling these people to account for the damage they have done and are doing is the highest form of loyalty to the Church.



“Patriarch Sako on Christian Persecution: ‘Is This Not a Crime Against Humanity?,’” by Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register, December 30, 2015:


ROME — “In one night, 120,000 Christians left their homes just with their clothes and have been living in camps for one and a half years. Is this not a crime against humanity?”

His Beatitude, Louis Raphael I Sako, Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, spoke of this and other serious hardships and persecutions against Christians, at a recent Rome conference on religious freedom….

So extensive and brutal has the persecution become that calls have been increasing in the U.S., the European Union and the U.K. to classify the atrocities taking place there as genocide.

As well as the humanitarian emergency and forced displacement caused primarily by the brutality of the jihadist group Islamic State (ISIS), Patriarch Sako also mentioned other facts regarding persecution in Iraq not widely known.

These included the approval in October of a law in the Iraqi parliament to forcibly convert to Islam children who are Christian, Yazidi and Sabean if one of the parents proclaims to be Muslim, and the advance of political Islam in which sharia (Islamic law) doesn’t allow non-Muslims to participate in politics and have equal constitutional rights as Muslims in administration.

ISIS leaders, he said, have established three “rules of trade” with non-Muslims: “forcing people to convert to Islam, to pay a tax (jizya) or leave their house, or be beheaded.”


“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor forbid what has been forbidden by Allah and his Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, of the People of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” — Qur’an 9:29


He further pointed out that the numbers of Christians in Iraq has collapsed, falling from 1.4 million before the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime to currently 500,000.

“Today, everything in Iraq has become sectarian,” said Archbishop Sako. “Daesh/ISIS and extremists attack Christians, Yazidis and Sabeans because of their belief. They destroy anything that does not fit into their vision of Islam.”

Moral Responsibility

At the same Dec. 10-12 conference, called “Under Caesar’s Sword” and hosted by the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Civil and Human Rights, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states (commonly referred to as the Vatican’s “foreign minister”), said a number of studies have suggested that Christians are the victims of 80% of all acts of religious discrimination in the world. “What’s more, for various reasons, it seems to go largely unreported.”


Why does it go largely unreported, even in the Church? Because of the prevailing attitude that McManus enunciated, quoted above. Gallagher and his colleagues should have addressed that.


But the archbishop noted “a much more important reason” why the Church should focus on Christian persecution: As Christians, he said, “we have a special duty in charity to our fellow Christians” to show them “solidarity” and come to their aid.

It’s true, said Bishop Anba Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the U.K., that as Christians we are called to “embrace and accept out persecution thankfully,” but all Christians also have a “moral responsibility to be advocates, speaking for those who cannot speak, to be a voice in the wilderness.”

Noting a gradual “pushing of boundaries” leading to what now amounts ethnic cleansing of Christians in the region, he warned that “our silence is a contributing factor” that “must be changed.”

“There is a growing disregard for the sanctity of life, and that must be what offends us,” he told the conference. “It is not about Christians or Muslims being killed, but about life and humanity as God’s creation, and that disregard is a violation that we cannot be silent about. In response we must realize that we have to respond together, collaboratively.”

Bishop Angaelos warned against Christians becoming “desensitized” to the suffering. “It’s not enough to empathize with them,” he said. “We must act. [We] should never let our conscience say: ‘It’s okay, they’re not dying.’ The sanctity of life is not a statistic but reality for each and every person.”

Remembering the ransacking of dozens of churches in Egypt in August 2013, which he believes was a coordinated attack, he resented the fact that in response Christians around the world “did absolutely nothing.” He recalled someone commenting at the time: “There was no memo from head office to say ‘don’t react.’”


Really? Are you sure there wasn’t?


What to Do?

So what should be done? Patriarch Sako listed several concrete proposals which included first of all destroying ISIS militarily with “troops on the ground.” ISIS must also be destroyed ideologically, he said, “drying up the funding, weaponry” of the jihadists and “condemning and eliminating” sectarianism and “all other forms of hatred and violence.”

He also advocated political reform underpinned by the principle of “citizenship and equality” that allows Christians and other religious minorities to be full citizens rather than “protected minority status”. He called for a separation of religion from the state, and the criminalizing and punishing contempt for religion and the spread “hatred and division.” Islamic religious authorities, he said, must dismantle jihadist ideology and replace it with promoting “a culture of harmonious social existence,” and the international community should “issue decrees” through the U.N. against those committing injustices against religious minorities….


Who and what is going to compel Islamic religious authorities to “dismantle jihadist ideology”?