One item mostly missing from the mainstream media today is the persecution of Christians around the world. Although the persecution comes from various groups – including the Chinese government, Hindus in India, and the Left in the Western world – much of it also comes from radical Muslim groups.
When the liberal media does report on violent attacks against Christians, the “radical” nature of the Muslim groups is emphasized and anyone identified as right-wing is lumped together with them. Never mind that the Quran itself has various verses justifying violence against non-Muslims, or even against Muslims who are not radical enough.
The Vatican even seems to turn a blind eye to Muslim attacks on Catholics. Obviously, it does not fit in with their desire to see Muslims as ‘brothers in the faith of Abraham,’ along with the Jews. The Abrahamic House in Abu Dhabi, scheduled to be completed next year and decried by Archbishop Viganò, is the latest initiative to bring these groups together.
However, the Muslims who actually read the Quran understand that their religion is all about world conquest, and the use of violence to spread Islam is justified. Where Muslims are in the majority, or even just a significant minority, Sharia Law is frequently enacted. There are even Sharia Law courts in the United Kingdom. Women usually turn out to be the losers in those courts.
Not very long ago, Islam almost seemed to be dead. Hilaire Belloc wrote The Great Heresies in 1938 with a chapter entitled “The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed.” Although Islam exploded onto the scene in the Middle East in the AD 600’s, after the Battle of Vienna on September 11, 1683, it went into a decline so that by 1938, Belloc could write: “And for my part I cannot but believe that a main unexpected thing of the future is the return of Islam.”
Today Islam seems as strong as ever. The most popular boy’s name in Britain is Mohammed, or a variation of it. Although Saddam Hussein was defeated in the Gulf Wars, Islam has surged in Iraq and has held steady in Iran. It also has great influence in Africa and much of Asia. Even in the US, anyone who criticizes Islam is identified as “Islamophobic.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sees to that.
Our Lady of Fatima said that Russia would be the chosen instrument of God to punish the world if it did not convert. The errors of Russia, which are related to its break with Rome and also its Communism, would spread. The leaders of the Russian Bolsheviks were mostly cultural Jews. Even Hilaire Belloc said in that same chapter on Islam: “… the forces which are making for the destruction of our culture, notably the Jewish Communist propaganda from Moscow …” So how does Islam fit into that picture?
It is known that Russia uses its radical Islamic affiliates to weaken the West. Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan have been problem areas for the US for decades. All of them have been supported by Moscow. Iran in turn supports Islamic groups in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen. The US has spent trillions of dollars on wars in the Middle East, none of which has made it popular or helped the Christians in that area.
The two greatest Marian apparitions in modern times – Fatima and Lourdes – both have connections to Islam. The Portuguese town of Fatima is named after a Muslim princess who married her captor, Gonçalo Hermigues, and converted to Catholicism.
In 778 A.D., Lourdes was the site of battles between Mirat, the local Muslim leader, and Charlemagne. According to legend, an eagle dropped a trout at the feet of Mirat. It was seen as such a bad omen that he surrendered to the Queen of the Sky. He visited the statue of the Black Virgin of Puy to offer gifts and, astounded by Her beauty, decided to convert to Christianity. Mirat took the baptismal name of Lorus, which was given to the town, now known as Lourdes.
Our Lady of Lourdes appeared in 1858, just ten years after Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto and just one year before Darwin published his evolutionary work, On the Origin of Species, which is used by Communists to drive out the idea of a creator God from the minds of men. Our Lady of Fatima appeared in 1917, the year of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. So there is a distinct connection between Islam and Communism in regards to the time and locations of both those apparitions.
In 2019 a book was published, entitled: The Red-Green Axis 2.0: An Existential Threat to America and the World, which describes the collusion between the Communist (Red) and the Islamic (Green) organizations to overthrow America and the West. Recently, Liz Yore picked up on that theme in describing what has been going on in the Vatican, with Pope Francis aligning himself with China and the Muslims. Thus, the connection between Islam and Communism is no illusion.
Various prophecies speak of a force from the East invading the West. Our Lady of Fatima spoke of Russia causing wars. Sister Lucia of Fatima, as quoted in A Path under the Gaze of Mary (2014), stated: “Hatred and ambition provoke the destructive war.” You would think that describing a war as “destructive” would be redundant, but the upcoming war is supposed to be especially violent. The Third Secret of Fatima even mentions a pope being killed by bullets and arrows, along with many other religious and lay people. It sounds like an all-out war against faithful Catholics.
That appears to be where Islam comes to an end. Many prophecies speak of a French Monarch who will save France in a civil war, and then go on to defeat a large force of Muslims and others, thereby putting an end to Islam. History has a way of repeating itself, and such an event seems foreshadowed by the battles of Charles Martel and Charlemagne which first halted Islam’s conquest of Christendom. Surely this remains a fitting role of France, the Eldest Daughter of the Church.
The final battle appears to almost coincide with the Three Days of Darkness, after which the promised Era of Peace starts. The French Monarch and a holy Pope will rule the world during the Era of Peace, which according to Melanie of La Salette will be relatively short: “This peace among men will not be long; 25 years of abundant harvests will make them forget that the sins of men are the cause of all the pains which come upon the earth.”
According to a prophecy of Saint Hildegard,[1] after that time the Antichrist, who will be accepted as the Messiah by the Jews, and the False Prophet – a former Muslim – will come:
“When the great ruler [French Monarch] exterminates the Turks almost entirely, one of the remaining Mohammedans will be converted, become a priest, bishop, and cardinal, and when the new pope is elected [immediately before Antichrist] this cardinal will kill the pope before he is crowned, through jealousy, wishing to be pope himself; then when the other cardinals elect the next pope, this cardinal will proclaim himself Anti-pope, and two-thirds of the Christians will go with him. He, as well as Antichrist, are descendants of the tribe of Dan.”
The books of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John, together with other prophecies, make it clear that the Antichrist is only allowed a three-and-a-half-year reign. After he is killed by St. Michael, there is a very short period of time left before the return of Jesus Christ for the General Resurrection and Final Judgment at the end of the world.
In His infinite mercy, God is so very good to us. Forewarned is forearmed. Let us therefore urgently heed Our Lady of Fatima’s requests and live according to Her “five-point plan” and fervently strive to help save the souls of our loved ones through Her Immaculate Heart. The time is short.
[1] Interestingly, and perhaps by a particular act of Divine Providence, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of St. Hildegard to the entire Catholic Church on May 10, 2012. Then on October 7, 2012, he named her a Doctor of the Church. While it is contrary to centuries of Catholic tradition for women to be named “Doctors” (i.e., formal Church teachers of doctrine), perhaps Pope Benedict was trying to attract greater attention to some of this great saint’s prophecies.