Russian Orthodox Leader Warns of Coming Apocalypse, Calls on Society to Rally in 'Critical Period'

Russian Orthodox Leader Warns of Coming Apocalypse, Calls on Society to Rally in 'Critical Period'
https://www.christianpost.com/news/russian-orthodox-leader-warns-of-coming-apocalypse-calls-on-society-to-rally-in-critical-period-207385/#.Whg0rFCi-yM.facebook 
By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter | Nov 21, 2017 3:23 PM
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(PHOTO: REUTERS/SERGEI GUNYEEV/RIA NOVOSTI)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill arrive for the meeting with Russian Orthodox church bishops in Moscow February 1, 2013.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, warned on Monday that the end of the world is approaching and urged society to rally in this "critical time."

Kirill was speaking after a service at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral when he said that the coming apocalypse "is already visible to the naked eye," The Moscow Times reported when translating an article from the state-run RIA Novosti.

Kirill urged society to unite if it wants to prevent the world from slipping into "the abyss of the end of history."

"Today is not the time to rock the boat of human passions," he added. "Today is the time to rally all healthy forces."

"That's why the church, art, culture, our writers, scientists — all those people who love the Motherland — should come together because we are entering a critical period in human civilization."
Kirill has been outspoken on a variety of issues and made controversial statements in the past, blaming the rise of the Islamic State terror group back in 2016 on the world's "godless" embrace of homosexuality.

"[ISIS] is creating a civilization that is new by comparison to the established one that is godless, secular and even radical in its secularism," the Russian Orthodox Church leader said in January 2016.

"We can have parades for the sexual minorities — that is supported — but a million French Christian protesters defending family values are broken up by police," he added, referring to LGBT marches in Europe at the time.

Kirill positioned that the "godless civilization is reaching maturity," and argued that enforced liberalism is behind some young people joining extremist groups.

"Look how they (the West) build the world — an unholy world — but we invite you to build God's world. ... And they (ISIS supporters) respond to that; it is for this they give their lives," he said.

In February 2016, he agreed to a historic meeting with Pope Francis, the first one between the heads of the two churches following their split over a millennium ago.

Bishop Georges Abou Khazen OFM, apostolic vicar of Aleppo for the Catholics of the Latin rite, said that the meeting, which took place in Cuba, provided comfort and hope to suffering Christians in war-torn Syria.

"The meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill is perceived by Christians as the fruit of the cross they are experiencing. The suffering of all Christians in the Middle East bears the fruit of unity. This for us is a great consolation and helps us to move forward, even if we still have to suffer," Khazed said.

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Newly revealed vision of St. Pope John Paul: Islam will invade Europe
By Pamela Geller - on November 24, 2017
POPE
https://pamelageller.com/2017/11/newly-revealed-vision-st-pope-john-paul-islam-will-invade-europe.html/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
“I see the Church afflicted by a deadly scourge. Deeper, more painful and more deadly than those of this millennium’, referring to … communism and Nazi totalitarianism. It’s called islamism. They will invade Europe. I saw the hordes coming from the West to the East.”

But in public, the Pope was kissing the koran and sucking up to the Muslim world.
Andrew Bostom
@andrewbostom
"I see the Church afflicted by a deadly scourge. Deeper, more painful and more deadly than those of this millennium’, referring to … communism and Nazi totalitarianism. It’s called islamism. They will invade Europe. I saw the hordes coming from the West to the East" https://twitter.com/andrewbostom/status/934041487045734401 …
12:51 PM - Nov 24, 2017
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NEWLY REVEALED VISION OF ST. POPE JOHN PAUL: ISLAM WILL INVADE EUROPE
LifeSite News, Dorothy Cummings McLean, November 22, 2017 (hat tip Dr.Andrew Bostom):
Bienno, Italy, November 23, 2017 (LifeSiteNews): A close friend of Saint John Paul II has affirmed that the late pope, revealed to have been a mystic, told him that Europe would be invaded by Islam.

Speaking to a large group at the hermitage of “Saints Peter and Paul” this past October, Monsignor Mauro Longhi of the Opus Dei prelature recounted a conversation he had with the late pontiff in March of 1993 on one of their many hiking trips in the mountains. Having got ahead of the rest of their companions, Longhi and St. John Paul took a sandwich break.

In video footage of the October talk, Longhi is heard saying that he noticed that the saint’s hands were trembling. (John Paul’s Parkinson’s disease had not yet been revealed in 1993.) The pope noticed the then-young man’s gaze.

“Dear Mauro, it’s old age,” he explained.

Longhi jumped in to say, “But, no, Holiness, you are young.”

“It’s not true,” the pope snapped back. “I say that I am old because I am old.”

Longhi continued: “Then Wojtyla changed tone, and making me privy to one of his night-time visions, told me, ‘Tell this to those whom you will meet in the Church of the third millennium. I see the Church afflicted by a deadly scourge. Deeper, more painful and more deadly than those of this millennium’, referring to … communism and Nazi totalitarianism. ‘It’s called islamism. They will invade Europe. I saw the hordes coming from the West to the East’, and he described to me the countries one by one: from Morocco to Libya to Egypt, and so on to the eastern parts. The Holy Father added, ‘They will invade Europe, Europe will be like a cellar, old relics, shadowy, cobwebs. Family heirlooms. You, the Church of the third millennium, will have to contain the invasion. Not with armies, armies will not suffice, but with your faith, lived with integrity.’ ”

According to La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, which broke the story in Italian, Longhi is a “priest above suspicion,” having “enjoyed the personal esteem not only of John Paul II but also of Benedict XVI, so much so that in 1997 he was called to the Vatican dicastery of the Congregation for Clergy.” Between 1985 and 1995 Longhi, who was ordained in 1995, accompanied John Paul II on his skiing and hiking trips, hosting him at Opus Dei’s summer home in Abruzzo, which at the time was only “a simple house in

PHOTOS: Saudi Islamic Affairs Ministry delegation meets Pope at Vatican
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/11/24/Saudi-Crown-Prince-speaks-on-anti-corruption-drive-Islam-women-s-rights-and-new-Hitler-.html
Pope Francis shakes hands with Abdullah bin Fahd al-Luhaidan during a private audience at the Vatican, November 22, 2017. (Reuters)
Saudi Gazette, RiyadhFriday, 24 November 2017 Text size A A A
A Saudi official delegation headed by Adviser to Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance Dr. Abdullah Bin Fahd al-Luhaidan met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Saudi Press Agency said Thursday.


Pope Francis exchange gifts with Abdullah bin Fahad Allaidan on November 22, 2017. (Reuters)

During the meeting, the delegation conveyed the greetings and appreciation of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, the government and people of Saudi Arabia to the Pope.


This handout picture released by the Vatican press office shows Pope Francis (C) posing with the delegation of Abdullah bin Fahad Allaidan at the Vatican on November 22, 2017. (AFP)

The delegation stressed that this visit was to express the Kingdom’s appreciation to the Pope for his sincere positions and statements calling for peace and coexistence, rejection of linking religions to terrorism and affirming sincere and deep desire to promote a culture of dialogue and peaceful coexistence among all followers of religions and cultures.


This handout picture released by the Vatican press office shows Pope Francis (L) during an audience with Abdullah bin Fahd al-Luhaidan on November 22, 2017 at the Vatican. (AFP)

This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on November 24, 2017.

Last Update: Friday, 24 November 2017 KSA 09:20 - GMT 06:2  
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King Salman and Crown Prince: Saudi Arabia stands with Egypt's security and stability

The King and crown prince sent cables of condolonces to President Sisi. (Reuters)
SPA, RiyadhFriday, 24 November 2017 Text size A A A
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz has sent a cable of condolences to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for the terrorist attack on a mosque in North Sinai on Friday.

"We have received with great pain and sadness the news of the terrorist attack on a mosque in north Sinai and the resulting deaths and injuries,” the cable read.

“We condemn in the strongest terms this criminal and sinful act. We share your pain and the pain of the people of Egypt and the families of the dead and. On behalf of the people and Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we express our deepest condolences and sincere condolences,” the King said.

“We ask God Almighty to grant the deceased the mercy and to protect the wounded and the sick. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands with the Arab Republic of Egypt in the face of everything that targets its security and stability. "

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, also sent a cable of condolences to President al-Sisi.

"I am deeply saddened by the cowardly terrorist act that targeted a mosque in northern Sinai and the resulting deaths and injuries. I condemn this criminal act of terrorism that targeted the lives of innocent people in a house of God,” the Crown Prince said.

I convey to your Excellency, the people of the Republic of Egypt, and the families of the dead, our deepest condolences asking the Almighty to grant the deceased his mercy and to heal the injured with speedy recovery”.

Last Update: Friday, 24 November 2017 KSA 19:42 - GMT 16:42
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Council of Pakistani scholars warns of Iran’s destabilizing activities

Tahir Ashrafi reiterated Pakistani scholars’ support for Saudi call to stand against Iran’s attempts to interfere in the region’s affairs. (Reuters)
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishFriday, 24 November 2017 Text size A A A
The Council of Pakistani scholars warned Muslim countries and the international community of Iran’s continuous attempts, along with its terrorist militias Hezbollah and the Houthis, to destabilize the region and harm its security.

During a meeting held in Lahore, the council called on the international community to realize the Iranian threat and decisively deal with Iran and its terrorist militias to deter them and protect the region and the world from disastrous consequences. 

The meeting was attended by top Muslim clerics, thinkers and political figures and it was held to discuss challenges which Arab and Muslim countries confront, particularly foreign interferences and regional conspiracies which Iran has exported to the region’s countries via terrorist groups.

ALSO READ: Pakistan Ulema Council praises King Salman’s hosting of pilgrims 

The council chief Tahir Ashrafi confirmed the Pakistani scholars’ support of the Saudi kingdom’s call to stand in Iran’s face and prevent it from interfering in the region’s affairs.

He also urged Muslim countries to pressure Iran to prevent it from supporting terrorism via its destructive tools in some Arab countries, such as in Yemen where people have paid a high price due to Iran’s support of its destructive tools, i.e. the Houthis.

He noted that the situation is the same in Syria and Iraq as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the terrorist Hezbollah group are also inflicting pain on innocent civilians.

The council also welcomed the final statement issued by the Arab League’s foreign ministers’ recent meeting in Cairo and its decisive stance towards Iran’s negative interferences and support of rebellious armed militias in Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen and other countries.

Last Update: Friday, 24 November 2017 KSA 12:11 - GMT 09:11
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Mohammad bin Salman: 95 percent of suspected billionaires agreed to settlement

Mohammed bin Salman said that many prominent members of the Ritz crowd had already publicly pledged allegiance to him. (SPA)
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishFriday, 24 November 2017 Text size A A A
What’s happening at the Ritz? And was this his power play to eliminate his family and private sector rivals before his ailing father, King Salman, turns the keys of the kingdom over to him?

It’s “ludicrous,” Mohammed bin Salman said, to suggest that this anticorruption campaign was a power grab. He pointed out that many prominent members of the Ritz crowd had already publicly pledged allegiance to him and his reforms, and that “a majority of the royal family” is already behind him.

This is what happened, he said: “Our country has suffered a lot from corruption from the 1980s until today. The calculation of our experts is that roughly 10 percent of all government spending was siphoned off by corruption each year, from the top levels to the bottom. Over the years the government launched more than one ‘war on corruption’ and they all failed. Why? Because they all started from the bottom up.”

ALSO READ: Saudi Crown Prince speaks on anti-corruption drive, Islam, women’s rights and ‘new Hitler’

So when his father, who has never been tainted by corruption charges during his nearly five decades as governor of Riyadh, ascended to the throne in 2015 (at a time of falling oil prices), he vowed to put a stop to it all, Mohammed bin Salman said: “My father (King Salman) saw that there is no way we can stay in the G-20 and grow with this level of corruption. In early 2015, one of his first orders to his team was to collect all the information about corruption — at the top. This team worked for two years until they collected the most accurate information, and then they came up with about 200 names.”

Two choices
When all the data was ready, the public prosecutor, Saud al-Mojib, took action, Mohammed bin Salman said, explaining that each suspected billionaire or prince was arrested and given two choices: “We show them all the files that we have and as soon as they see those about 95 percent agree to a settlement,” which means signing over cash or shares of their business to the Saudi state treasury.

ANALYSIS: Crown Prince marks new era of social justice in Saudi Arabia

“About 1 percent,” he added, “are able to prove they are clean and their case is dropped right there. About 4 percent say they are not corrupt and with their lawyers want to go to court. Under Saudi law, the public prosecutor is independent. We cannot interfere with his job — the king can dismiss him, but he is driving the process … We have experts making sure no businesses are bankrupted in the process” — to avoid causing unemployment.

“How much money are they recovering?” I asked. The public prosecutor says it could eventually “be around $100 billion in settlements,” said Mohammed bin Salman.

Rooting out corruption
There is no way, he added, to root out all corruption from top to the bottom, “So you have to send a signal, and the signal going forward now is, ‘You will not escape.’ And we are already seeing the impact,” like people writing on social media, “I called my middle man and he doesn’t answer.” Saudi business people who paid bribes to get services done by bureaucrats are not being prosecuted, explained Mohammed bin Salman. “It’s those who shook the money out of the government” — by overcharging and getting kickbacks.

ALSO READ: Saudi central bank says corruption probe not hurting companies, banks

The stakes are high for Mohammed bin Salman in this anticorruption drive. If the public feels that he is truly purging corruption that was sapping the system and doing so in a way that is transparent and makes clear to future Saudi and foreign investors that the rule of law will prevail, it will really instill a lot of new confidence in the system.

But if the process ends up feeling arbitrary, bullying and opaque, aimed more at aggregating power for power’s sake and unchecked by any rule of law, it will end up instilling fear that will unnerve Saudi and foreign investors in ways the country can’t afford.


Last Update: Friday, 24 November 2017 KSA 10:49 - GMT 07:49
  
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Mohammed bin Salman: Not reinterpreting Islam, but restoring it to its origins

One middle-age Saudi banker told Thomas Friedman: “My generation was held hostage by 1979. I know now that my kids will not be hostages.” (Saudi Gazette)
Al Arabiya English, DubaiFriday, 24 November 2017 Text size A A A
Mohammed bin Salman, in his interview to the New York Times, raised explained his position on several issues that have regional and global ramifications.

One of the more fundamental subject he tackled was that of the interpretation of Islam, which has been a matter of debate in recent times.

The article suggests that Mohammed bin Salman is on a mission to bring Saudi Islam back to the center. According to the article, he has not only curbed the authority of the once feared Saudi religious police, he has also taken the hard-liners on ideologically unlike any Saudi leader before him.

READ ALSO: 1979, the year that changed arts and culture in Saudi Arabia

Friedman quotes a 28-year-old US-educated Saudi woman who says that Mohammed bin Salman “uses a different language. He says, ‘We are going to destroy extremism.’ He’s not sugar-coating. That is reassuring to me that the change is real.”

To Friedman himself, Mohammed bin Salman said: “Do not write that we are ‘reinterpreting’ Islam — we are ‘restoring’ Islam to its origins — and our biggest tools are the Prophet’s practices and [daily life in] Saudi Arabia before 1979.”

He said that at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, there were musical theaters, there was mixing between men and women, there was respect for Christians and Jews in Arabia.

“The first commercial judge in Medina was a woman!” So if the Prophet embraced all of this, Mohammed bin Salman asked, “Do you mean the Prophet was not a Muslim?”

OPINION: Saudi Arabia, before 1979 and after 2017

Saudi of the 1950s
Friedman writes that one of his ministers got out his cellphone and shared with him pictures and YouTube videos of Saudi Arabia in the 1950s when it was still a traditional and modest place, but not one where fun had been outlawed, which is what happened after 1979.

“If this virus of an antipluralistic, misogynistic Islam that came out of Saudi Arabia in 1979 can be reversed by Saudi Arabia, it would drive moderation across the Muslim world and surely be welcomed here where 65 percent of the population is under 30,” the article reads.

One middle-age Saudi banker told Friedman: “My generation was held hostage by 1979. I know now that my kids will not be hostages.”

Music in Riyadh
Another 28-year-old Saudi woman social entrepreneur said 10 years ago when they talked about music in Riyadh it meant buying a CD. “Now it is about the concert next month and what ticket are you buying and which of your friends will go with you.”

According to him, this reform push is giving the youth a new pride in their country, almost a new identity, which many of them clearly relish.

Now they have a young leader who is driving religious and economic reform, who talks the language of high tech, and whose biggest sin may be that he wants to go too fast.

Most ministers are now in their 40s — and not 60s. And with the suffocating hand of a puritanical Islam being lifted, it’s giving them a chance to think afresh about their country and their identity as Saudis, says the article.

BBC, Juhayman and the Grand Mosque

Last Update: Friday, 24 November 2017 KSA 12:10 - GMT 09:10
 
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Saudi Crown Prince speaks on anti-corruption drive, Islam, women’s rights and ‘new Hitler’

Mohammed bin Salman said it is “ludicrous,” to suggest that the anticorruption campaign was a power grab. (SPA)
Reuters, Dubai Friday, 24 November 2017 Text size A A A
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has called the Supreme Leader of Iran “the new Hitler of the Middle East”.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday, Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defense minister, suggested the Islamic Republic’s alleged expansion under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei needed to be confronted.

“But we learned from Europe that appeasement doesn’t work. We don’t want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East,” the paper quoted him as saying. Here is Mohammed bin Salman’s take on different issues:

Anti-corruption campaign
It’s “ludicrous,” he said, to suggest that this anticorruption campaign was a power grab. He pointed out that many prominent members of the Ritz crowd had already publicly pledged allegiance to him and his reforms, and that “a majority of the royal family” is already behind him, the New York Times article said.

“Our country has suffered a lot from corruption from the 1980s until today. The calculation of our experts is that roughly 10 percent of all government spending was siphoned off by corruption each year, from the top levels to the bottom. Over the years the government launched more than one ‘war on corruption’ and they all failed. Why? Because they all started from the bottom up,” he is quoted to have said.

“We show them all the files that we have and as soon as they see those about 95 percent agree to a settlement,” which means signing over cash or shares of their business to the Saudi state treasury. According to him, the public prosecutor says it could eventually “be around $100 billion in settlements”.

Yemen conflict
Mohammed bin Salman insisted that the Saudi-backed war in Yemen was tilting in the direction of the legitimate government there, which, he said is now in control of 85 percent of the country.

According to him, given the fact that pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, who hold the rest, launched a missile at Riyadh airport, anything less than 100 percent is still problematic.

Women rights
According to the article, Mohammed bin Salman said: “Do not write that we are ‘reinterpreting’ Islam — we are ‘restoring’ Islam to its origins — and our biggest tools are the Prophet’s practices and [daily life in] Saudi Arabia before 1979.”

At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, he argued, there were musical theaters, there was mixing between men and women, there was respect for Christians and Jews in Arabia. “The first commercial judge in Medina was a woman!” So if the Prophet embraced all of this, Mohammed bin Salman asked, “Do you mean the Prophet was not a Muslim?”

Donald Trump
He praised President Trump as “the right person at the right time” and added that with his support the Saudis and their Arab allies were slowly building a coalition to stand up to Iran.