Friday, December 25, 2015

A BLESSED AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Merry Christmas to all and thank you for your patience.  I'm also behind in reading comments.  I had several rough days with the "cold" or whatever it was last weekend and beyond.  I'm still coughing up part of it.  We plan a quiet Christmas with Church, family and close friends.  Clearly our world is in a real mess.  Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!  This day reminds us all of the Hope we have!

Constance

Thursday, December 03, 2015

Disturbing New Issues in the Wake of the San Bernadino Shootings

Disturbing Issues in the Wake of the San Bernadino Shootings

Names have been released of the dead shooters yesterday in the San Bernadino massacre of 14 and wouding of many more.  The names are that of an Illinois born Moslem named Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik.  They are undoubtedly Islamic names.  Syed was 28 and his wife was 27.  They had a 6 month old baby.  They were reportedly, per CNN accounts this morning, "religious."

It has not been characterized so far as "terrorism," but San Bernadino police, also per CNN reports, "have not ruled terrorism out."  Per an article by Michele Hickford Farook had recently taken a month long trip to Saudi Arabia and came back with Tashfeen as his wife.

They left their baby with grandparents, Farook went to his employer's Christmas party and then appeared to be enraged at a co-worker.  He and Tashfeen returned and the rest is very tragic history.

Now, I'm not an Islamic basher, per se.  We have many Moslems in the Detroit metropolitan area and so far the relations between Jews, Christians, and Moslems has been mostly peaceful.  While there have been arguments over Christian presence at Moslem street festivals, there is also peaceful business interaction and even social friendships.  From SE Michigan's large Arabic community, there are large groups of both Christians and Moslems.  The Chaldean community is primarily Catholic, but I've met Chaldean Baptists.  Probably the most agitated of Arabic communities in the Detroit area to my observation are the Palestinians.  I do recall seeing reports of post-911 celebrations in the Dearborn area.  As I recall the celebrants were Palestinian.

Now, the interesting part from my observation -- not of the shooters -- but of the planned "dialogue and reconciliation".  A pleasant appearing fellow appeared on CNN's morning programming within the past half hour of my writing.  He said that he represented the Ahmahdiyya Mosque and they were holding a large prayer service at their San Bernadino mosque this evening (Thursday, December 3, 2015).  He urged everybody to come and pray with them.  I somewhat blinked as I thought I heard him say it was a movement founded by "the Messiah."

I've heard of Sunni Moslems and Shia Moslems.  This was the first I had heard of the Ahmadiyya movement of Moslems.  I decided to do a little research and found much of concern that like other phases of the New Age Movement (a Movement dedicated to eliminating Jews, Christians, and Moslems) was acting in a way that could subtly channel folk into the bottom line of the New Age Movement -- acceptance of  a new "Messiah" who was neither Jesus nor Jewish.

What was the Ahmadiyya Movement about?  The following significant and disturbing material is found in the Wikipedia article on the subject and I quote it here:


Ahmadiyya . . . officially, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community[2] or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at; . . .  is an Islamic religious movement founded in British India near the end of the 19th century.[3][4] It originated with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies of the world's reformer during the end times, who was to herald the eschaton as predicted in the traditions of variousworld religions and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam as per Islamic prophecy. He claimed that he was the Mujaddid (divine reformer) of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah and Mahdi awaited by Muslims.[5][6][7][8] The adherents of the Ahmadiyya movement are referred to as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.
Ahmadi thought emphasizes the belief that Islam is the final dispensation for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring to it its true essence and pristine form, which had been lost through the centuries.[9] Ahmadiyya adherents believe that Ahmad appeared in the likeness of Jesus, to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice, and peace. They believe that upon divine guidance he divested Islam of fanatical and innovative beliefs and practices by championing what is, in their view, Islam’s true and essential teachings as practised by Muhammad and the early Islamic community.[10] Thus, Ahmadis view themselves as leading the revival and peaceful propagation of Islam.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the movement on 23 March 1889 and termed it the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, sometimes translated as Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Since his death, the community has been led by a number of Caliphs and has expanded to over 200 countries and territories of the world. The Ahmadis were among the earliest Muslim communities to arrive inBritain and other Western countries.[9] Currently, the community is led by its Caliph, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, and is officially estimated to number between 10 and 20 million worldwide.[11][12][13] 

So, the Ahmadiyya Movement stands for a "Messiah," clearly neither Jesus nor Jewish.  It is very interesting to me that it was founded in India at just about the same time that the Theosophists were promulgating very, very similar philosophies and preparing the world to receive a new messiah, although the Theosophical Society originally passed itself off as merely studying comparative religion.

My impressions?  That the California killings could well have been part of a Isis or radicalized equivalent "sleeper cell" and that the New Age slogan of "crisis = opportunity" is also at work.  I'm still researching this, but as Californians were urged to flock to the Mosque for the communal prayer service I suspect it is another diabolical move towards their long awaited "New World Religion" where all say "blessed be thy God" rather than "blessed be My God."

My research in this area will continue and your comments are invited.

Stay tuned!

Constance