Entries Tagged 'Christianity' ↓
February 3rd, 2008 — Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Balkans, SerbianFighter, Balkans For Dummies, counterjihad, Kosovo, history, Europe, Russia, Serbia, Christianity
By SerbianFighter
All of this is backed up with facts…
A lot of people think that Albanian Muslims have a less religious character than the rest of the Islamic world. Which is, of course, not true. The real question is why the Islamic character of Albanian terrorism is concealed. (And I will call it terrorism, because actions where one group of people are trying to seclude a part of tne country in a illegal way is terrorism.) Maybe the answer is that there is a fear that the public will recognize that, in the heart of Europe, a new Islamic state has been formed by taxpaying citizens of the “West”.
Nothing new about the push to Islamize the Balkans
However, the Islamization of the territory around Albania - especially the effort to force Islamization upon Kosovo and Metohia - isn’t a recent process. It has been active for centuries and has gone through a number of phases. In certain phases, Islamization was interlaced with solving a national territorial question; that is, joining all territories with Islamic populations in one state.
At this point, I would like to point out that Kosovo and Metohia (the full name of the region) was Serbian before the first Albanian tribe came down from the mountains and set up there. In 1389 there was a famous Battle of Kosovo, of Serbs and their allies against the Ottoman Turkish empire. The Turks conquered Serbia and stayed there for 500 years before they were forced out, and Serbia was declared an independent state once more. When Turks came and brought Islam on Balkan soil, the Serbs and other people had a choice to join Islam or to become a form of slave to the newly-established and mighty Ottoman Empire.
Icon of Nemanjic Dynasty, medieval rulers of Serbia
An unthinkable surrender for the Serbs
Now we are talking about proud people who had a holy lineage of rulers during the previous couple of centuries, and such thing was unthinkable. When I say holy, I mean holy like saints - they were acknowledged to be saints and they are celebrated even today. It is even said that one of the descendants could perform miracles… so I hope this will shed a little light on what was going through people’s minds.
Oh, and I said a form of slaves - well, the main difference is that Ottomans took the Serbs’ firstborn male children 7-14 years old, and trained them to be an elite army for the empire, never to return home.
Well, unlike Serbs, Albanians were a group of mountain tribes without a significant heritage, so they didn’t have any problem with accepting Islam. Under the Ottoman Empire, this gave them an advantage over other people in this region. They also participated in violence against the Christian people. In spite of this, a great number of Serbs survived to see the fall of Ottoman Empire in this region, and, after the Balkan Wars, the rejoining of Kosovo and Metohia to Serbia. Albanians, of course, were not satisfied with such a solution. They also participated in the liberation from the Turks, but with different ambitions. They wanted to create a “Greater Albania” that would include all territories where Albanians lived, either as a majority or a minority, it didn’t matter.
WWI poster - “Kossovo Day” June 28, 1916
Solidarity with our Serb allies
That was a great source of frustration for a great number of Albanians and their ideology. In the newly created state of Serbia, they were a considerable minority, even in Kosovo (according to the records, in the late 19th century, there were 415.000 residents of Serbia who were Christians, 236.420 who were Muslim, and only 106.270 Albanians). By the end of WWI they became an even smaller minority, but that didn’t stop them from harassing the Serbs of Kosovo, who were beaten up, humiliated and forced out from their homes. Many foreign authorities wrote about it, so that you can be pretty sure that Serbs didn’t imagine it.
Nazi Albania
The most important phase in Islamization of Kosovo and Metohia occurred during WWII. Because of specific relations between Albania and their own interests, Italian occupiers allowed mass persecution of Serbs from these parts, and at the same time allowed a large number of Albanians from Albania to move there. In this way, a significant artificial demographic upheaval was made, which went unpunished and uncorrected. This also was to have a deciding role in the growth of terrorism and separatist ambitions in the region.
In this period around 10.000 Serbs were killed, 70.000 were banished, and 30.000 houses and other structures were demolished and destroyed. At the same time, 300.000 Albanians came from Albania to the territories of Kosovo and western Macedonia.
In battle against Christian Serbs (and later I will return to this, because there are other Christians in these parts beside Serbs), the Albanian leaders mobilized all Albanians - Muslim and Christian. To Christian Albanians, the struggle against Serbs was portrayed as a fight against Serbian oppression, and for the creation of “Great Albania.” But within the inner circles, among the Muslims themselves, they spoke freely of their real goal of creating an Islamic country - a goal that is entirely consistent with Islam as a religion. As an expression of their ambition for creating such a country, along with other things, a Skenderbeg Division was created.
Skenderbeg Albanian Muslim Waffen SS Division
The Skenderbeg Division had in its assembly military imams who worked to promote ideology among the fighters. Of course, the pan-Islamic and jihadist basis for doing battle against unbelievers was constantly highlighted. Among the unbelievers were Partizans, a Slavic (Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bosnian and Slovenian) guerrilla anti-German military in Balkan parts. [In other articles on this blog, we have discussed the Chetniks, led by Draza Mihailovic, a Serbian Orthodox anti-German force loyal to the Kingdom. - 1389] The first action of the Skenderbeg Division, which confirmed their Nazi orientation, was the arrest and execution of 281 of Pristina’s Jews in May of 1944. Pristina is a city in Kosovo.
The pan-Islamic character of the Skenderbeg division was revealed in the fact that it consisted of, among others, almost 150 Tajiks and Turkmen. Probably under their influence, the division was remembered for countless crimes against the Serbian population, even against women and children.
Communist Yugoslavia ratifies Nazi-era theft of Serbs’ property
After WWII, in spite of expectations, life for Serbs of Kosovo and Metohia in the newly-formed, atheist country of Yugoslavia for began as hard and difficult a period as before. After the war came a law that prohibited Serbs who had been exiled from Kosovo and Metohia from returning there. The direct consequence of this law was that a large number of Albanians who had entered Kosovo and Metohia during the war were given legal status. This made it possible for them to stay on property that they had taken from the Serbs. Albanian terrorists got a clear hint that they could run amok. Instead of being punished for their actions and receiving the same status as all other defeated nations, the Albanians got a total legalization of the demographic imbalance that they had created, and the Serbs got the short end of the stick.
“Godless Communists” favored Muslims over Christians
Confirming that Albanians as Muslims were privileged, unlike the Christians, is the fact that polygamy was tolerated because it was in the Islamic tradition. While in other parts of the country, marriages between nationalities were promoted, in Kosovo and Metohia it was possible only in one direction - an Albanian male could take a Serbian female, but not the other way around, because of reasons given in the Kuran.
There are other examples of Islamization of Albanians and Kosovo and Metohia, and of their preparations for the terrorism that never completely stopped, but more or less escalated over the years. From Enver Hodza’s Albania (that also declared itself as atheist) came a number of sheik dervish privates, that were convicted in Prizren in 1956 for aiding a terrorist gang. President of Central Comity of Communist Alliance Muhmut Bakali, as a communist (and communists were officially declared to be atheists) had a mosque built in Pec and further led to breaking Serbs in those parts. Several of his anti-Serb slip-ups were recorded, where he showed his sympathy for Muslims and Albanians, as a supposed communist and atheist.
The West works hand in glove with al Qaeda
Now we come to the year 1999, a year that NATO dumped its surplus of bombs on Serbia, even cluster or “cassette” bombs that are outlawed by international war rules. At various round tables that were organized to resolve the Kosovo and Metohia problem, various pronouncements often denied or negated the Islamization of this region. Those conclusions often came from abroad, from circles that stood to gain political benefit from denying these facts. Only one counter-argument is needed to prove that this Islamization is real: What about the Catholic Albanians, the famous jewelers from Janjevo? Although they were Albanians, they would have had to be Muslims to live a safe and carefree life in Kosovo. As Catholics, they had to seek refuge in Croatia.
At various times, Al Qaeda has announced terrorist acts and declared fatwas against “infidels”: USA, UK, France, Israel, India, Russia and Serbia. Osama bin Laden himself, during 1995, spent some time in Albania where he met with Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj.
Osama bin Laden with Ayman al-Zawahiri
The unconcealed connection between Kosovo Albanian separatists and the Islamist factor was confirmed in 1996 in Skopje (capital of Macedonia), at the 118th annual celebration of the Prizren League. It was attended by representatives of Albanians from Kosovo and Metohia, where they again sworn to fight for the league’s expansionist ideals. This is significant, because in the documents of the league, they appear as Muslims and not as Albanians, clearly showing the desire to create an Islamic country.
In 1998, the American administration even found it necessary to put its ally, the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army, consisted of Muslim Albanians who fought against Serbs for, well you guessed, liberation of Kosovo) on a list of terrorist organizations, for the stated reason that they had found records of funds from Islamic countries that were involved in drug trafficking. At that time, they said that one of the financiers was Osama bin Laden. According to Interpol data, one of the elite KLA units was led by Muhammad al Zawahiri, the brother of al Qaeda ideologist Ayman al Zawahiri, who is considered second in command after Osama bin Laden.
Islamic organizations fund Kosovo terrorism
During 1998. the existence of the “Abu Bekir Sidik” unit was confirmed. This unit operated in the Drenica area, and was financed with funds from the “Balkan Islamic Center” and “Active Islamic Youth”. The unit consisted of around 40 foreign citizens, and its commander was Ekrem Avdia. When the unit was disbanded, almost all of its members were arrested, along with its leader Ekrem. But they all were released because of pressure from the “international community” during 2001. Soon after he was released, Ekrem was put in charge of the organization “Kosovo’s Islamic Biro,” which had a great number of outposts across Kosovo and Metohia. After that, Ekrem reactivated his old unit. They operate and contribute to the instability of this region to this day.
A great number of Islamic organizations even now operate on the territory of Kosovo and Metohia. Believe it or not, even under the cover of humanitarian organizations they smuggle weapons, they do other illegal trading, and they finance extremist and terrorist activities.
The bottom line is that there is nothing more frustrating when a small child is beating you up, and when you try to defend yourself, a bigger child slaps you down. Meanwhile, the other children just silently watch the whole thing and shout but won’t help you. It’s a messed-up world we live in.
More:
January 28th, 2008 — Balkans, sites we like, Orthodox Christianity, moblog, Christianity
Tons of links here for Christians and for medieval history buffs alike!
January 25th, 2008 — smiley, political correctness, ACLU, Islam, Jenn Sierra (author), military, U.S. law, Christianity
By Jenn Sierra
Let’s say you’re attending a meeting of your state legislature, and when it is time to give the opening prayer, a Muslim takes his turn at the lectern. You politely bow your head, and he prays for about four minutes, part of which is in Arabic, and part of which is in English. Since you don’t speak Arabic, this is the part you manage to understand (hat-tip straightarrow, and 1389):
I seek refuge in God against the accursed Satan in the name of God, most gracious, most merciful…master of the day of judgment…[give us] victory over those who disbelieve.
As we begin this new year…in a world with trials and tribulations, we ask you to open the hearts of our legislators and policy makers to make the right decisions….We ask that you guide our legislators and give them the wisdom and knowledge to tackle the difficult problems that face us today in order to eliminate the senseless crimes on humanity. Help them, Lord, to solve the complicated problems…so that we can be a model to the world.
Are you ready to say, “Amen,” and shout “Hallelujah”? Or do you feel like you’ve been slapped in the face as an American? This happened in Des Moines, Iowa, and some of the legislators there did, indeed find this prayer inappropriate.
Yesterday, in Tulsa, Oklahoma City Counselors voted to move from a “generic” prayer format to allowing prayers to be in the name of any organized religion. There were two dissenting votes, one from Councilor Jack Henderson, who warned:
What you are doing is opening a Pandora’s box and you might not like what you see.
Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry Executive Director James Mishler echoed the sentiment:
I think the very people who have been encouraging you to make this change are going to be very uncomfortable when the priest from the Hindu temple is standing here chanting in the name of Krishna or when someone from the Wiccan community offers prayers to the earth mother.
Like, perhaps when a Muslim prays for God to deliver him from the infidels in the United States during his opening prayer? Think that’ll make some folks uncomfortable?
The Hindu part of Mischler’s prophecy is already happening, in five states:
Rajan Zed, prominent Hindu chaplain and Indo-American leader, will recite these history making prayers in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Washington and Arizona, which will reportedly be the first Hindu prayers of these Senates since their formation.
Zed, who lives in Reno (Nevada), will deliver these prayers from ancient Hindu scriptures at Senate halls in State Capitols in Santa Fe (January 28), Denver (January 29), Salt Lake City (February 13), Olympia (February 22), and Phoenix (March 24). After first reciting in Sanskrit, he will then read the English translation of the prayer.
This has also been ruled into law in some places for the wiccans:
Judges have ruled that witches must be allowed to lead prayers at local government meetings, and that Wiccan convicts must be provided with requested “sacred objects” so they can perform spells in their cells. Witches in the armed services have even formed covens and routinely “worship” on U.S. military bases.
Over the past few years, due to unrelenting lawsuits by the ACLU (like this one in Indiana) over Christian prayers at government meetings, the trend has been to use non-sectarian “prayers,” sometimes called “invocations.” It will be interesting, now that the tide is turning back to allowing various religions to pray to their own gods during this time, to see if the ACLU will as vehemntly fight the Hindus, the Muslims, the Wiccans, etc., and if the Christians (who, by the way, are STILL the overwhelming majority of the United States) will now be allowed to pray to their Father in the name of Jesus Christ without fear of being sued…?
One of my childhood preachers used to shout, “Say, ‘Amen!’ or ‘Oh, My!’”
Oh, my!
(also on FHK and Jenn Sierra)
January 4th, 2008 — music, Christmas, Orthodox Christianity, Serbia, Christianity
Andjeli Pevaju
Noć prekrasna i noć tija,
nad pećinom zvezda sija,
u pećini mati spi,
nad Isusom andjel bdi.
Andjeli pevaju,
pastiri sviraju,
andjeli pevaju
mudraci javljaju:
Što narodi čekaše,
što proroci rekoše,
evo sad se u svet javi,
u svet javi i objavi:
Rodi nam se Hristos Spas
za spasenje sviju nas.
Aliluja, aliluja,
Gospodi pomiluj!
Божићна песма, МС Ступови.
Božić, Božić, blagi dan,
Blagog Hrista rođendan,
Božić, Božić, svetli dan,
Sav svetlošću obasjan.
Djeva Hrista rodila,
Pelenama povila,
U pećini Hristos spi,
Sveta Djeva nad Njim bdi.
Slama lepo miriše,
Bogomajka uzdiše,
Utom zvezda zasija,
Pećina se zagrija.
Anđeli se spustiše,
Pastirima javiše:
Vesel’te se svi noćas,
Rodi nam se Hristos Spas!
Kad to čuli pastiri,
Srce im se umiri,
Pa kliknuše svi u glas:
Nek’ se slavi Hristos Spas!
Nek’ mir svuda caruje,
Nek’ se srce raduje,
Nek’ se svako popravlja
I Gospoda proslavlja.
Pa, gle i mi Srbčići,
K’o srebrni zvončići,
Bogomajku hvalimo,
Hrista Boga slavimo.
Božić, Božić, blagi dan,
Blagog Hrista rođendan,
Božić, Božić, svetli dan,
Sav svetlošću obasjan.
Also please visit:
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December 27th, 2007 — Saudi Arabia, women's issues, Sharia, Orthodox Christianity, sex offenses, Islam, Christianity
Mon Dec 17, 2007 5:39pm EST
By Andrew Hammond
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has pardoned the victim of a gang-rape whose sentencing to 200 lashes caused an international outcry, officials said on Monday.
Pardoning a rape victim?
Is there not something inherently wrong in the world view that gave rise to this situation?
A tremendous moral distortion is inherent in Islam.
We saw it also in the recent plight of the British woman in Sudan. Angry mobs had been demanding that she be put to death for having allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear “Mohammed” (h/t TexasFred).
The answer? Confront, challenge, and refute Islam at every turn.
Shari’a law - inherent in the Koran and in Islamic tradition - demands that those who renounce Islam are to be killed. The same penalty applies to those who preach Christianity to Muslims.
Given that reality, I must point out that we can scarcely expect people to abandon Islam unless we offer them a better alternative. Nonetheless, evil must be renounced. Early Christians faced the same penalty in the days of the Roman Empire, and we face it again today in many parts of the world. We must be prepared to explain, both to ourselves and to Muslims, why embracing Christianity is worth the risk.
(H/T: CZ the day)
For comparison:
King James Version: John 8:1-11
1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: Lev. 20.10 · Deut. 22.22-24 but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Further explanation…
Bishop St. Nikolai Velimirovich shows how Church tradition sheds some more light upon the meaning of this story.
December 25th, 2007 — music, Christmas, video, Christianity
Beautiful version of the classic Christmas song by Andrea Bocelli, from his ‘Sacred Arias’ concert.
THE GREAT TENOR, ANDREA BOCELLI’S CHRISTMAS SONG (just in time for the holidays!)
More Christmas Music
Comment by ArrrMaltie :
Hi. Actually, I took clips from 5 films. Jesus of Nazareth, The Jesus Film, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Ten Commandments and The Passion of the Christ. I wanted to put the lyrics in, but did it backwards so they didn’t work. Now I know how to do it right. The lyrics truly are needed for the second verse.
(On Fort Hard Knox and 1389 Blog - Antijihadist Tech)
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December 24th, 2007 — Christmas, music, Orthodox Christianity, Russia, video, Christianity
Many, many videos here!
Be sure to scroll all the way through!
Sung by the psaltic choir of the Romanian Patriarchy
About Orthodox Christianity
Bishop Christodoulos of the Holy Metropolis Greek Orthodox Church discusses the purpose of Orthodox Christian prayer.
“This is a video I made about our awesome Orthodoxy. This video goes through a lot of different Christian Orthodox churches from all around the world. Some pictures of Christian Orthodox churches are from nations like Serbia, Greece, Russia, Syria, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Jordan, India, Japan, Ethiopia and lots more…Also, some famous Christian Orthodox individuals!”
This video presents some sights and sounds of the Orthodox Church.
“Photos that I found of the Orthodox Church in Mexico. The music is chanted by the Choir of St. Georges Cathedral in Mexico.”
When do Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas?
That depends upon the country, or in the US, the archdiocese. There are several different Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States. This is for historical reasons - they were founded here at different times by missionaries and immigrants from Orthodox Christian countries. While each jurisdiction is in communion with the others in terms of doctrine and religious observance, each jurisdiction preserves its own customs inherited from its country of origin. These include traditional celebrations of holidays and saints’ days, liturgy and music in different languages, foods served on feast days, and so forth.
It is important to point out that one need not be a member of any particular ethnic group to attend services or to join. Everyone is welcome, without regard to race, color, or national origin.
One of the major differences is the use of the old (Julian) calendar versus the new (Gregorian) calendar to determine when feast days are to be celebrated. The Orthodox faith is decentralized to the extent that this is a matter for each jurisdiction to decide. For instance, the Serbian Orthodox Church uses the old calendar, so that December 25 in the old calendar falls on January 7 in the new calendar (the calendar that we use every day for secular purposes). The Greek Orthodox Church, the Antiochian Orthodox Church, and the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), all celebrate Christmas according to the new calendar (December 25).
The Icon of the Nativity of Our Lord
Interpretation of the Nativity Icon:
More Websites:
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December 24th, 2007 — music, Christmas, video, Christianity
For 2007 we have upgraded from 80 Channels to 192 Channels of control, Installed 6 more 20 amp circuits (for a total of 17 now), and few other surprises. Come by and check it out!
…Welcome to the Holdman Christmas web site. 2006 was our first year doing a Computer Controlled Christmas display. The display had around 45,000 Lights and consumes 300 amps of power when everything is on. Visitors can listen to the music that is synchronized with the display on our low-power FM transmitter at 99.9 FM.
Questions? You can e-mail Richard Holdman at christmas@holdman.com
More Holdman Christmas videos:
(On Fort Hard Knox and 1389 Blog - Antijihadist Tech)
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