For Sunni Muslims, there are three great cities of the world. They are Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Rome. Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim armies under Umar Ibn Al-Khattab in 637, and the story goes that it was the Patriarch of Jerusalem, St. Sophronius, who made peace with them by signing the Pact of Umar that guaranteed Christians protection in Islamic nations. The second city to fall was Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1453 that heralded the death of the Byzantine Empire and the formation of the Ottoman Empire. Constantinople was also known as the Second Rome, and many Greeks even referred to Constantinople as Rome, since it was the capitol of the eastern part of the Roman Empire since the 4th century beginning with Constantine.
In Islamic circles, the conquest of Rome, Italy is synonymous with the destruction of not just the Catholic Church, but Christianity worldwide. We have written about this extensively before at Shoebat.com (see here, here, and here for starters). As Jerusalem was the capitol of the place where the Light of the World came to save men, Constantinople was the seat of the Church of the east and Rome is seat of the Universal Church, so the conquest of Jerusalem was meant to begin the process of extinguishing the light from the world, beginning with the east and ending in the west before Islam becomes dominant over the whole world.
ISIS has been warning for a long time that it desires to murder the Pope (see here, here, and here). It sees his death as part of the greater Islamic vision of taking over Rome and specifically, destroying the Catholic Church in order to fulfill Islam’s prophecy and usher in the end times:
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has named Pope Francis as its number one enemy and has criticized the Catholic Church leader for pursuing “dialogue with moderate Islam.”
In its monthly publication Dabiq, ISIS described Pope Francis as a “non-believer” and accused him of defending homosexuals. The terror group previously released a video illustrating the end of the world, which suggests that the group is planning to assassinate the pontiff, The Express reports.
Despite the threats from ISIS, Pope Francis previously refused to heed advice to wear a bulletproof vest because he did not want to lose contact with the people. The threat prompted the Vatican to ramp up security around the city.
Advertisement In the latest rant from ISIS, the militant group slammed the Pope for “seeking dialogue with moderate Islam” including Arab preacher Ahmed al-Tayeb of the Islamic university Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt. The Islamic State accused the imam of apostasy and criticized him for calling Christianity a “faith of love and peace.” (source)
We have been documenting the Muslim takeover of the west by the actions of suicidal, selfish politicians that have allowed millions of unassimilatible Muslims in because it is as eschatological for us as it is for the Muslims. To the Muslim, they see this as Allah’s invitation to fulfill the ancient prophecies of Islam conquering all. For us Christians, it is the fulfillment of our prophecies saying how in the days before Jesus returns, the faith of many will grow cold, the Church will be under severe attack from without as well as within, and just when all seems lost, it is then that Jesus will return. What Muslims see as our weakness we see as our strength, for it is when the Church is weakest is when Christ Himself will return to defend Her, for as it is written:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:18-19)
Pope Francis, as we have reported and as the world is too aware of, has spoken of Islam is ways that are both heretical as well as how no pope has ever spoken before. Yet that said, nothing can change either the dogma of the Faith or Islam- our opinions, however we think of them, are nothing in the light of reality. You may sincerely believe that you can fly, but if you try to test that theory you will end up like a pancake on the street pavement.
Pope St. Pius X
Hearing these words of ISIS reminds me of the end times prophecy that Pope St. Pius X, who died in 1910, had a vision of a Pope in the future fleeing Rome, passing over the dead bodies of his fellow priests and bishops before being executed cruelly himself:
What I have seen is terrifying! Will I be the one, or will it be a successor? What is certain is that the Pope will leave Rome and, in leaving the Vatican, he will have to pass over the dead bodies of his priests!”
“I have seen one of my successors, of the same name who was fleeing over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in some hiding place; but after a brief respite, he will die a cruel death”. (source)
How interesting it is that Muslims, the historical enemies of Christ and His Church, are flooding into Europe and literally surrounding the Vatican, and the current pope could seemingly care less about it while the state of the Church in Europe and around the world is disintegrating
How interesting it is that this is happening in 2016, the year before the 100th anniversary of Fatima, which we have written about here saying how unless the consecration of Russia took place grave evils would happen.
The vision of Jesus that St. Faustina had
How interesting it is that this is the “year of Mercy” in the Church, a first ever, and yet it was St. Faustina, the Apostle of divine mercy, who was told by Jesus Himself in her visions that “You will prepare the way for My final coming.”
Mercy precedes justice in the Bible as in human history, and the events of today will determine the future tomorrow.
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Matthew 25: 1-13)
Are your lamps filled? Do you have extra oil? May I suggest that if you do not, you get some today, because very dark days are quickly descending upon us. Please don’t be caught without oil in your lamps.