Xianshan Botanical Garden in China Tackles Poverty

 Xianshan Botanical Garden in China Tackles Poverty

By The Borgen Project on November 15, 2024Tech and Solutions

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — In rural China, The Borgen Project interviewed representatives from the Xianshan Botanical Garden. The garden is a sanctuary for native plants that doubles as an essential community center. Beyond its colorful blossoms and lush greenery suggesting beauty and tranquility, the garden has a deeper mission to combat poverty and foster economic empowerment. It achieves this by establishing a native plant garden, engaging residents and hosting citizen science initiatives. The garden is sowing the seeds for economic and social resilience, one plant at a time.

A Green Beginning with a Bold Vision

The garden, which opened in 2023 after two years of careful planning and planting, is more than just an educational facility. Its founders designed it as a repository of local plant species to preserve biodiversity and generate opportunities for local communities. With a mission to make nature accessible and beneficial for everyone, the garden has quickly become a place where residents can connect with native plants and explore their potential uses.

The Xianshan Botanical Garden is divided into sections that display various terrains and natural features, allowing visitors to explore plants suited to each landscape type. These areas offer stunning visual displays and also serve as living examples of sustainable planting, demonstrating how native species can thrive with minimal human intervention. These sections highlight a blend of natural beauty with practical applications, showing how native plants can support both ecological and economic well-being.

Cultivating Knowledge Through Native Gardens

The garden highlights its food forest demonstration prominently, employing native plants and traditional farming methods to cultivate food sustainably. This type of agricultural system mimics the natural layers of a forest by integrating trees, shrubs, herbs and ground covers, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem. This approach produces food, supports soil health and conserves water—essential practices in regions where resources can be scarce.

By showcasing a food forest in action, the garden invites residents to observe firsthand how these systems work and to consider adopting similar methods in their own spaces. This approach could decrease reliance on costly or invasive farming techniques, leading to lower expenses and more resilient crops. As the garden founder explained, “native plants have evolved to thrive in this environment, so they require fewer resources and are more resistant to local pests and diseases. This means that farmers can spend less on fertilizers and pesticides and still achieve healthy, productive crops.”

In rural areas where poverty is pervasive, reducing input costs for agriculture can translate directly into improved livelihoods. By creating a model that farmers can replicate, the garden aims to promote a form of agriculture that is both ecologically and economically sustainable. It is a slow-growing but deeply rooted solution to the issues of poverty and food insecurity that have long affected the area.

Bridging Communities Through Shared Knowledge

The garden emphasizes knowledge-sharing, actively engaging residents through workshops and events rather than presenting information. During traditional festivals, for example, villagers share their knowledge of seasonal agricultural practices, integrating their wisdom with the garden’s mission. This method preserves traditional knowledge and fosters community ownership and pride. By valuing local expertise, the garden promotes a community-based approach to conservation and poverty alleviation.

Workshops are interactive. Visitors are taught about the uses of various plants, from medicinal herbs to edible greens, integral to the region’s natural heritage. Furthermore, organizers view these gatherings as reciprocal exchanges where the garden’s staff learn as much from the villagers as the villagers learn from them. These events strengthen community bonds and create a sense of shared purpose, bridging past and future and revealing how local knowledge can inspire new economic self-sufficiency.

Citizen Science: A New Frontier in Community Empowerment

Beyond workshops and festivals, the garden utilizes citizen science as a powerful tool for community engagement. Residents participate in scientific studies of native plants and their ecological benefits, turning the garden into a living laboratory where science intersects with tradition. Studies cover monitoring plant health and soil quality and observing how different environmental conditions affect native species. This active involvement enables community members to engage in scientific work that impacts their lives directly. Citizen science also equips locals with knowledge about the scientific value of native plants, which they can apply to their agricultural or horticultural activities.

Participants acquire practical skills that enhance their decision-making about land management and crop selection. A regular participant shared, “Being part of these studies has changed the way I think about the plants I see every day. I see now that they aren’t just wild plants but resources with a purpose.” The garden shares the data from these studies openly with the community and encourages residents to try similar practices at home. Indeed, by fostering an active, participatory form of science, the garden is expanding local knowledge and laying the groundwork for sustainable change led by the community.

A Pathway to Economic Empowerment

Through its integrated strategies of native planting, community engagement and citizen science, the garden aims for long-term economic self-sufficiency. While workshops, a food forest and community science projects might seem simple, they rely on sophisticated, evidence-based strategies to build resilience. Native plants reconnect people with their cultural roots and provide an economically viable alternative to resource-intensive agriculture.

As the garden’s impact expands, it fosters a broader cultural shift toward sustainability. The goal is to inspire local farmers to embrace sustainable practices, helping break cycles of poverty and dependency.  With the right tools to generate their livelihoods, communities can reduce reliance on external aid and take control of their futures. Indeed, the garden’s organizers view it as a catalyst for change, potentially serving as a model for community-led poverty alleviation throughout the region.

Looking to the Future

Xianshan Botanical Garden in China aims to deepen its impact on community development. Leaders plan to expand the food forest, integrate more native species and increase the frequency of workshops and citizen science initiatives. The aim is to foster both ecological knowledge and economic resilience. Furthermore, educational partnerships with local schools could introduce younger generations to sustainable practices, emphasizing the value of native plants. Indeed, the Xianshan Botanical Garden in China, through its dedication to community and environmental stewardship, serves as a model for harnessing local resources to address complex challenges, revealing how simple, community-driven solutions can create lasting and meaningful change.

– Yuhan Ji

https://www.borgenmagazine.com/xianshan-botanical-garden/

The Hebrew noun גן (gan) means "garden." The word גן (gan) is first used in Genesis for the garden of Eden in Genesis 2:8: "And the LORD God planted a garden (גן) in Eden." The prophet Jeremiah harkens back to the image of a lush and peaceful garden to describe the future restoration of Israel, as seen in Jeremiah 31:12: "They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden (כגן), and they shall never languish again." Another type of garden described in the Hebrew Bible is the royal garden, a symbol of luxury and power. The story of King Ahab's desire for the vineyard of Naboth in 1 Kings 21:2 is an example of the royal desire for gardens: "And Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden (לגן), because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money." While 2 Kings 21:18 shows the desire of some to be associated with their garden even after death as when Manasseh dies, he is "buried in the garden (בגן) of his house, in the garden of Uzza" as is his son Amon after him.

https://bam.sites.uiowa.edu/RTL/gan

Gan, Gann[2] or Kan is a group of Sinitic languages spoken natively by many people in the Jiangxi province of China, as well as significant populations in surrounding regions such as Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian. Gan is a member of the Sinitic languages of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and Hakka is the closest Chinese variety to Gan in terms of phonetics.

There are different dialects of Gan; the Nanchang dialect is the prestige dialect.

Classification[edit]

See also: Varieties of Chinese

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Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is a large amount of mutual unintelligibility between Gan Chinese and other varieties. Within the variation of Chinese dialects, Gan has more similarities with Mandarin than with Yue or Min. However, Gan clusters more with Xiang than Mandarin.

Gan and other Southern Chinese languages can be distinguished from Northern Chinese by their placement of direct objects before indirect objects. Gan's ditransitive verbs introduce the theme right after the verb, while Mandarin's introduce the recipient. So the difference in tritransitive verbs may occur because they evolved from different types of ditransitive verbs. [3]

Name[edit]

Gan: the most common name. Also spelled Gann to reflect the falling tone of the name in Mandarin. Scholars in mainland China use Gan or Gan dialect.

Jiāngxīhuà ("Jiangxi language") is commonly used in Chinese, but since the borders of the language do not follow the borders of the province, this name is not geographically exact.

Xi ("right-river language"): an ancient name, now seldom used, arising from the fact that most Gan speakers live south of the Yangtze River, beyond the right-hand bank when traveling downstream.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gan_Chinese

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is an organization established and owned by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan with an investment of 99 percent of the couple's wealth from their Facebook shares over their lifetime.[1][2][3] The CZI is legally set up as a limited liability company (LLC) that can be seen as a for-profit charity and is an example of philanthrocapitalism. CZI has been deemed likely to be "one of the most well-funded Philanthropies in human history".[4] Chan and Zuckerberg announced its creation on 1 December 2015, to coincide with the birth of their first child.[1] Priscilla Chan has said that her background as a child of immigrant refugees and experience as a teacher and pediatrician for vulnerable children influences how she approaches the philanthropy's work in science, education, immigration reform, housing, criminal justice, and other local issues.[4]

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's main areas of work include Science, Education, and Justice and Opportunity, which focuses on promoting housing affordability, criminal justice reform, and immigration reform. The mission of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is to "build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone"[5] and to "advance human potential and promote equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research and energy".[1]

In 2017, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative pre-leased a 102,079 square foot portion of the new Broadway Station development in downtown Redwood City, California where it is headquartered.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Zuckerberg_Initiative

§2. We must cooperate with the media, so that the Church s true face can appear and the Gospel can be inculturated in this new mass culture as well. Though we remain always loyal to the truth, our Ignatian sense of sentire cum ecclesia will lead us to present what is praiseworthy in the Church.[140]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf 

What Would the Pope and Mark Zuckerberg Even Talk About?

The bishop of Rome and the CEO of Facebook met at the Vatican on Monday.

By Emma Green 

Pope Francis hosted a special guest at the Vatican on Monday: Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, spoke with Francis about “how to use communications technology to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter, and to communicate a message of hope, especially to the most disadvantaged,” according to the Vatican.

It’s difficult to imagine two more different world leaders hanging out together. Zuckerberg was raised in a Jewish home, identifies as an atheist, and professes a profound respect for Buddhism. His social-media company claims to have a mission oriented toward creating social good, but in practice, it often leverages its immense influence over the way people use the internet for profit and political power. By his own description, the Facebook founder is interested in saving the world through technology: its use, its development, its spread.

Pope Francis, on the other hand, is aggressively anti-technology and anti-modern, in the sense that he actively warns against the belief that technological tools can be used to redeem or fix the world. The predominantly Catholic magazine First Things called his 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, “the most anti-modern encyclical since the Syllabus of Errors, Pius IX’s haughty 1864 dismissal of the conceits of the modern era.”

There’s a lot of evidence in that piece of writing, along with many of Francis’s homilies and speeches, to suggest that he sees technological progress as a dangerous goal. “Technology, which, linked to business interests, is presented as the only way of solving ... problems, in fact proves incapable of seeing the mysterious network of relations between things and so sometimes solves one problem only to create others,” the pope wrote. Francis sees the development of technological tools as directly connected to the search for profit; and this, he says, always damages human relationships. And the orientation toward profit, rather than relationships, “has made it easy to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers, and experts in technology.”

This indictment seems directed exactly at people like Zuckerberg, who drive and promote the total takeover of a socially networked world to extreme financial benefit. But Francis’s critique is not just about the moneymaking; he believes that “media,” including the digital networks that dominate communication in many parts of the world, “stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously.” When this happens, he wrote in Laudato Si, “the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload.” Ultimately, Francis—who was famous for spending time in the slums in Argentina during his time as a priest there, and who has called on the leaders of the Catholic Church to “smell like the sheep” they tend— has critiqued what he sees as the abstraction of digital culture. Media can “shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences,” he wrote in Laudato Si. “For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/08/pope-francis-meets-with-mark-zuckberg/497819/

The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center[1] (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I trauma center for the 1.5 million residents of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County.[2] It is the largest acute inpatient and rehabilitation hospital for psychiatric patients in the city. Additionally, it is the only acute hospital in San Francisco that provides 24-hour psychiatric emergency services.

In addition to the approximately 3,500 San Francisco municipal employees, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) provides approximately 1,500 employees (including physicians, nurses and ancillary personnel), and the SFGH serves as one of the teaching hospitals for the UCSF School of Medicine. The hospital, especially its Ward 86,[3] was instrumental in treating and identifying early cases of AIDS. A new San Francisco General Hospital acute care building was completed in 2016 for a total approximate cost of $1.02 billion. A $75 million donation by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan[4] covered approximately 7.35% of the overall cost. In recognition, the hospital was renamed after the couple.[5]

The hospital is a safety net hospital additionally serving poor, elderly people, uninsured working families, and immigrants. As of 2014, 92 percent of the patient population at SFGH either receives publicly funded health insurance (Medicare or Medi-Cal) or is uninsured.[6]

SFGH is rare in that its emergency rooms do not have agreements in place with private health care insurance providers. Until 2019, privately insured patients were often billed the balance of their care, which could be sizable. This practice was changed after media attention regarding the hospital's billing practices.[7]

SFGH provided $74,620,877 of services with unrecovered payments in year ending 2020-06-30.[8]

History

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In 1850, a California state bill appropriated $50,000 to build a State Marine Hospital in San Francisco.[9]

In 1851, the United States Congress established the U.S. Marine Hospital, San Francisco at Rincon Point[10] and relocated to the Presidio of San Francisco in 1875.[11][12][13][14][15]

In 1855, the State Marine Hospital building was transitioned to the City and County Hospital of San Francisco, funded by every vessel that entered the port, paying inspection fees, to a public health officer.[16][17]

By 1857, the City and County Hospital had located to the former North Beach School, at the southwest corner of Francisco and Stockton Streets.[16] San Francisco opened its first permanent hospital in 1857.[18]

A hospital has been at Potrero Avenue since 1872,[19] when the city of San Francisco built a 400-bed hospital on Potrero, an all wood hospital, one of four emergency hospitals eventually built by 1904, Central, Harbor, Park and Potrero.[20]

Expansions to the site have been made in 1909 (Mission Emergency Hospital),[20] 1915 (four main, distanced, ward buildings),[20] 1924 (psychiatric ward),[21] 1976 (Acute Care Hospital),[20] and 2016.[22]

"SFGH and the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF) have been partners in public health since 1872..."[23][24]

In 1966, SFGH was designated as the city's trauma center,[20] the second trauma center established in the U.S. after Cook County Hospital.[25]

In 1977, a new inpatient facility consisting of clinic space, rooms for patients, a new born unit, and surgery facilities was established.[26]

Chan Zuckerberg building

In November 2008, San Francisco voters approved an $887.4 million general obligation bond for the General Hospital rebuild, work began in 2009, and was expected to be finished in 2015.[23][27][28][29][30][31][32]

In 2015, Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife Priscilla Chan gave $75 million[33][34] to help fund equipment and technology for the new hospital.[35] In 2016, the new hospital building was completed. It is the first hospital building in San Francisco to be constructed with a base-isolated foundation, 30 inches in any direction[36][37] for protection against earthquakes. Publicised improvements included expanding the Emergency Department from 27 to 58 beds, and Operating Rooms from 10 to 13.[28][38] The number of general admission beds, the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds increased.[citation needed] The previously separate surgical and medical units were combined into one ICU.[citation needed]

Billing practices

Through early 2019, SFGH did not participate in any private health insurance networks and practiced balance billing. A Vox analysis (derived from a database of more than a thousand emergency room bills) characterized the hospital's billing practices as "aggressive" and "surprising": one privately insured patient arriving at the hospital after a bicycle accident was billed more than $20,000 for diagnostic scans and treatment for a broken arm;[39] the bill was 12 times the Medicare billing rate.[40] After media attention, SFGH changed its billing policy so that privately insured patients would be billed at rates consistent with their insurers' network rates, with an income-based maximum.[41]

Artwork

The hospital owns and displays two paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, donated to the hospital by Dr. Leo Eloesser. Eloesser interned at SFGH and was Kahlo's physician.[42][43]

Notable deaths

Diane Whipple, American lacrosse player and coach, dog mauling victim.[44]

Kate Steinle, died from gunshot wounds.

Ed Lee, attorney, politician and mayor of San Francisco, died from coronary artery disease, with hypertensive heart disease.[45]

Jack Palladino, investigator and attorney, died from a head injury.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_General_Hospital

Patient Safety

At Dignity Health – St. Rose Dominican, our staff is committed to the health and safety of all patients.

To ensure your hospital stay is as pleasant and safe as possible, please follow the guidelines below.

Be Involved

Take part in decisions about your treatment.

Ask the doctor or your care provider to explain anything you don’t understand.

Voice any concerns you have about your health care or condition.

Ask a trusted family member or friend to be with you when the doctor or care provider is explaining your treatment or condition.

Complete an Advance Directive and bring it with you to the hospital. If you are having surgery, make sure you, your doctor and your surgeon all agree on what will be done.

Ask the doctor to mark the area to be operated on before you are anesthetized.

Keep a written record of your medical history.

https://www.dignityhealth.org/las-vegas/patients-and-visitors/for-patients/patient-safety

The first Inquisition was temporarily established in Languedoc (south of France) in 1184. The murder of Pope Innocent III's papal legate Pierre de Castelnau by Cathars in 1208 sparked the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229). The Inquisition was permanently established in 1229 (Council of Toulouse), run largely by the Dominicans[28] in Rome and later at Carcassonne in Languedoc.

In 1252, the Papal Bull Ad extirpanda, following another assassination by Cathars, charged the head of state with funding and selecting inquisitors from monastic orders; this caused friction by establishing a competitive court to the Bishop's courts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

Paragraph 2267 (capital punishment)

Main article: Catholic Church and capital punishment § Modification to the Catechism (2018)

One of the changes in the 1997 update consisted of the inclusion of the position on the death penalty that is defended in John Paul II's encyclical Evangelium vitae of 1995.[28][better source needed]

The paragraph dealing with the death penalty (2267) was revised again by Pope Francis in 2018.

The text previously stated (1997):[29]

Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the DIGNITY of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm – without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself – the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."

The 2018 change to the Catechism reads:[30][29]

Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good.

Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.

Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that "the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", and the Catholic Church works with determination for its abolition worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechism_of_the_Catholic_Church

FitzHenry's Funeral Home

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 775-882-2644

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At Dignity Memorial, we strive to get every detail right the first time, every time. That's why we offer every family we serve a 100% service guarantee. Should any detail of our service not meet the expectations as promised in our agreement, we’ll do everything we can to make it right, up to refunding that portion of the service.

Learn more about The Dignity Difference benefits.

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/nevada/carson-city/fitzhenrys-funeral-home/6761

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS 

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

Name

The archbasilica's Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace 

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss 

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf 

Pope Pius XII (born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, Italian pronunciation: [euˈdʒɛːnjo maˈriːa dʒuˈzɛppe dʒoˈvanni paˈtʃɛlli]; 2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his election to the papacy, he served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio to Germany, and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with various European and Latin American nations, including the Reichskonkordat treaty with the German Reich.[1]

While the Vatican was officially neutral during World War II, the Reichskonkordat and his leadership of the Catholic Church during the war remain the subject of controversy—including allegations of public silence and inaction concerning the fate of the Jews.[2] Pius employed diplomacy to aid the victims of the Nazis during the war and, through directing the church to provide discreet aid to Jews and others, saved hundreds of thousands of lives.[3][4] Pius maintained links to the German resistance, and shared intelligence with the Allies. His strongest public condemnation of genocide was considered inadequate by the Allied Powers, while the Nazis viewed him as an Allied sympathizer who had dishonoured his policy of Vatican neutrality.[5] 

During his papacy, the Catholic Church issued the Decree against Communism, declaring that Catholics who profess communist doctrine are to be excommunicated as apostates from the Christian faith. The church experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Bloc. He explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus.[6] His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis Christi, on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; and Humani generis, in which he instructed theologians to adhere to episcopal teaching and allowed that the human body might have evolved from earlier forms. He eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in 1946.

After he died in 1958, Pope Pius XII was succeeded by John XXIII. In the process toward sainthood, his cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by Paul VI during the final session of the Second Vatican Council. He was made a Servant of God by John Paul II in 1990 and Benedict XVI declared Pius XII Venerable on 19 December 2009.[7]

Early life

Main article: Early life of Pope Pius XII

Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli was born on the second day of Lent, 2 March 1876, in Rome into a family of intense Catholic piety with a history of ties to the papacy (the "Black Nobility"). His parents were Filippo Pacelli [it] (1837–1916) and Virginia (née Graziosi) Pacelli (1844–1920). His grandfather Marcantonio Pacelli [it] had been Under-Secretary in the Papal Ministry of Finances[8] and then Secretary of the Interior under Pope Pius IX from 1851 to 1870 and helped found the Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano in 1861.[9][10] His cousin, Ernesto Pacelli, was a key financial advisor to Pope Leo XIII; his father, Filippo Pacelli, a Franciscan tertiary,[11] was the dean of the Roman Rota; and his brother, Francesco Pacelli, became a lay canon lawyer and the legal advisor to Pope Pius XI, in which role he negotiated the Lateran Treaty in 1929 with Benito Mussolini, bringing an end to the Roman Question.

Together with his brother Francesco (1872–1935) and his two sisters, Giuseppina (1874–1955) and Elisabetta (1880–1970),[12] he grew up in the Parione district in the centre of Rome. Soon after the family had moved to Via Vetrina in 1880, he began school at the convent of the French Sisters of Divine Providence in the Piazza Fiammetta. The family worshipped at Chiesa Nuova. Eugenio and the other children made their First Communion at this church and Eugenio served there as an altar boy from 1886. In 1886 too he was sent to the private school of Professor Giuseppe Marchi, close to the Piazza Venezia.[13] In 1891 Pacelli's father sent Eugenio to the Ennio Quirino Visconti Liceo Ginnasio, a state school situated in what had been the Collegio Romano, the premier Jesuit university in Rome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII

Meals: a signal for them should be sounded in the colleges [436]; what should be said regarding grace, thanksgiving, and maintaining temperance and modesty [251]; the extent to which externs can be invited to them, 327 §3 

Means of social communication: see Social communication (media) 

Media: see Social communication (media) 

Medicine: whether it can be taught by Ours [452]; the extent to which medicine should be used [304]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf 

Overview

Food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, is a sickness people get from something they ate or drank. The causes are germs or other harmful things in the food or beverage.

Symptoms of food poisoning often include upset stomach, diarrhea and vomiting. Symptoms usually start within hours or several days of eating the food. Most people have mild illness and get better without treatment.

Sometimes food poisoning causes severe illness or complications.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes/syc-20356230 

Pope John Paul I (Latin: Ioannes Paulus I; Italian: Giovanni Paolo I; born Albino Luciani [alˈbiːno luˈtʃaːni]; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 until his death 33 days later. His reign is among the shortest in papal history, resulting in the most recent year of three popes and the first to occur since 1605. John Paul I remains the most recent Italian-born pope, the last in a succession of such popes that started with Clement VII in 1523.

Before the August 1978 papal conclave that elected him, he expressed his desire not to be elected, telling those close to him that he would decline the papacy if elected; upon the cardinals' electing him, he felt an obligation to say yes.[4] He was the first pontiff to have a double name, choosing "John Paul" in honour of his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. He explained that he was indebted to John XXIII and to Paul VI for naming him a bishop and a cardinal, respectively. Furthermore, he was the first pope to add the regnal number "I", designating himself "the First".

His two immediate successors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, later recalled the warm qualities of the late pontiff in several addresses. In Italy, he is remembered with the appellatives of Il Papa del Sorriso (transl. The Smiling Pope)[5] and Il Sorriso di Dio (transl. The Smile of God).[6] Time magazine and other publications referred to him as "The September Pope".[7] He is also known in Italy as "Papa Luciani". In his hometown of Canale d'Agordo a museum built and named in his honour is dedicated to his life and brief papacy.

He was declared a servant of God by his successor, John Paul II, on 23 November 2003, the first step on the road to sainthood. Pope Francis confirmed his heroic virtue on 8 November 2017 and named him as Venerable. Pope Francis presided over the beatification on 4 September 2022.[8][9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_I

The Vatican Pharmacy (Latin and Italian: Farmacia Vaticana) is the only pharmacy in the Vatican City, founded in 1874 by Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli religious.[1] According to Vatican sources, it is the busiest pharmacy in the world, with 2,000 customers per day.[1] Half of those customers come from outside the Vatican for medicines that are not available in Italy or are difficult to find.[2]

The current director of the pharmacy is Binish Thomas Mulackal, a Fatebenefratelli monk.[1] Although the director of the pharmacy has always been a monk of that order, the staff pharmacists have been lay people for the past 30 years (7 religious and 53 laypeople in 2014).[3] The pharmacy is organized under the Directorate of Health Services, one of eight Vatican City directorates.[4]

Due to deeply relaxed or lack of regulations (self-regulation), the Vatican Pharmacy has one of the largest and most extensive stocks in Europe, carrying many American medicines considered experimental in Europe and vice versa. The pharmacy does not stock sexual health-related products nor Chinese traditional medicine.[1] It is popular among the citizens of Rome as it has more stock and prices up to 25% cheaper due to lack of taxes.

History

The pharmacy was founded in 1874, at the height of the "Roman Question", when Cardinal Secretary of State Giacomo Antonelli asked Eusebio Ludvig Fronmen, a Fatebenefratelli monk, who ran a nearby pharmacy, to take charge of supplying medicines for the pope and cardinals residing in the Vatican.[1] Popes had been confined to the Vatican since an 1870 dispute with the Italian government, when Rome was annexed into the Kingdom of Italy.[1]

The pharmacy remained only a storeroom until 1892, when a permanent office was established to offer healthcare services to the pope, cardinals, and bishops of the Vatican.[1] In 1917, the pharmacy was moved to St. Anne's Gate, closer to the main entrance of the Vatican.[1] At the time, the Vatican pharmacy was immensely popular for offering medicines which were otherwise unobtainable within Rome.[1] Even today, due to the complicated bureaucratic drug approval process of the Italian government, the pharmacy often has medicines months to years before Italian pharmacies.[1]

After the Lateran treaties of 1929, the pharmacy was moved to its current location in Palazzo Belvedere, behind the Vatican central post office and across from the Vatican supermarket.[1] Unlike Italian pharmacies, the Vatican Pharmacy will fill foreign prescriptions.[5]

Eligibility

Non-Vatican employees must obtain a temporary pass from a special registry office, and have a prescription and ID to use the pharmacy.[1] The 10,000 members of the Vatican's private health care plan possess a permanent pass to use the pharmacy.[1]

As Vatican City has no taxes, the pharmacy is duty-free.[1]

Stock

The pharmacy carries 42,000 products,[2] but it does not carry products which are contrary to Catholic social teaching, such as contraceptives or abortifacients.[1] Nor does the pharmacy carry sildenafil (Viagra)[6] or medical marijuana.[7] However, the pharmacy does carry "top-brand beauty-care products" and perfume.[1] Its prices for many items are between 12 and 25 percent lower than the prices of the same products in nearby Italian drug stores.[1] The pharmacy also produces some of the ointments and potions it sells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Pharmacy

Magisterium of the Church: its norms are to be observed in the doctrine that is to be taught by Ours, 100; due reverence should be shown to it, 101; what is to be said if a given professor in his teaching departs from doctrine that is in accord with it, 104; we must collaborate with it in order to discern the movements of the Spirit in the sense of the faithful, 295 

Magistrates: see Important persons, princes 

Magnanimity: it should shine forth in the superior general [728]; in all superiors, 349 §2; and in novices, 51, 52 Magnates: see Important persons, princes

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf 

Word of the Week

September 23, 2023

Pharmakeia:  It’s Magic!

 

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery . . . .

Galatians 5:19-20 NASB

 

“I’m talking to someone who says it’s OK to practice witchcraft, even though the Old Testament condemned it, because things have changed.  Contemporary practices are not the same as the practices outlawed in the laws of Israel.“  My friend raised this issue recently, gathering information to answer this position.

The Old Testament unmistakably outlawed witchcraft in any form.   Manipulating spirit forces to unlock the future or to produce good crops was a blatant slap in God’s face, ignoring Him and turning to alternate deities.  It was so serious that the Law prescribed death as the penalty for it (Exodus 22:18).

The occult is too broad a topic to handle in one article, but we can contribute one small slice of truth by examining one of the primary Greek words for such practices.

In reality, we will look at a small cluster of words built on the same base:

Pharmakeia – “sorcery, magic”

Pharmakon – “magic potion, drug, enchantment”

Pharmakos – “sorcerer, magician”

It is no surprise that these words, which form the base of our English “pharmacy,” originally described someone who mixed herbs and other substances to make potions for medical purposes.  Anyone who can mix a drink to cure your asthma can easily concoct a dose of poison, so the word took on that meaning as well.

Ancient medicine was often tangled with spirit practices, and practitioners of sorcery would also use potions to attract the gods with a pleasing smell, to satisfy the demands of the spirits, or to put a person in a stupor that would make them receptive to spiritual influences.

New Testament references to pharmakeia all refer to sorcery or witchcraft, not mere medicine.  Every mention of the words condemns the practice.

It appears in a list of the “works of the flesh” which are incompatible with the kingdom of God.

“. . . idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy . . . (Galatians 5:20)

The book of Revelation spotlights the sin of sorcery several times.

“And they [the people of earth] did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality or of their thefts” (Revelation 9:21).

Regarding end-time Babylon:  “. . . all the nations were deceived by your sorcery” (Revelation 18:23).

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable . . . and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

“Outside [of the New Jerusalem] are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying” (Revelation 22:15).

Dabbling in magic with or without drugs is rejected in the New Testament just as strongly as in the Old.  Pharmakeia and the other words in this group appear in several of the references to witchcraft in the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7, 18; Isaiah 47:9, 12).   God made His position clear in the Old Testament; He had not changed His mind in the New.

Modern enthusiasts sometimes claim that they engage only in “white magic,” used to help people, not harm them.  But that misses the point.  Anything that seeks help from an alternate spiritual realm, rather than from God Himself, is a violation of the First Commandment:  “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

Study Hint:

To study this topic further, you can look up these additional Greek words:

Mageuō – to practice magic

Magos – magician, Magi

Goēs – sorcerer

Baskainō – to bewitch, cast a spell with the evil eye (Galatians 3:1)

 

Q/A:

Q – What do we know about the spirit that enabled a slave girl to tell fortunes in Acts 16:16?

A – Paul had arrived in Philippi with his companion Silas.  As they were walking along, a slave girls followed them, shouting that they represented the most high God.  Paul recognized that a demonic spirit was behind her behavior, so he cast out the demon.  It is identified as a “spirit of divination,” but the Greek literally says “a spirit puthōna” or Python spirit.  According to Greek mythology, a huge serpent named Python was guarding the sacred site at Delphi.  The god Apollo slew the serpent, and Delphi became the site where people would go to receive messages from the gods.  The word was later used to describe a spirit in the belly which enabled priestesses to pass on the supernatural messages.  The slave girl evidently possessed similar powers.

 

Coming Up

Jesus once announced that He was gentle, and He has often been portrayed as a mild-mannered softy.  Next week we will examine the word He used to describe Himself to get a more accurate appraisal of His character.

https://ezraproject.com/pharmakeia-its-magic/

"A famous Jesuit General Michael Angelo Tambourini once boasted, in 1720, to the Duke of Brissac: " See, My Grace  [my Lord], from this room, I govern not only Paris, but China; not only China, but the whole world, without anyone knowing how it is managed."

"Andrew Steinmetz, History of the Jesuits, Vol. 1 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lea and Blanchard Publ.,/New York: Richard Bentley, 1848), pp.107, 168-169; see also, Constitution of the Jesuits, edited by Paris Paulin (1843); Eugene Sue (Marie Joseph), The Wandering Jew, (London: Chapman and Hall, 1844/ New York; Harper & Brothers,, 1845), Bk I, Chap. XV, P. 183; see also, p. 618, and Bk. II, p. 21; Abrige de I'Hist. Eccles. de Racine, Chap. xii. P. 77." page 129 Chapter XII "Unhesitating Obedience: The General And The Holy Office" Codeword Barbelon book One by P.D. Stuart

"Steinmetz was fourteen years a Jesuit; see also, Constitutions of the Jesuits, ed. by P. Paulin (1843); Morale Pratique Des Jesuites: Histoire De La Persecution De deux Saints, Vol. I (Cologne, 1669), pp. 50 and 51." "Epilogue-For Such A Time As This" 

Pope Francis Lord of the World by P.D. Stuart

SUB-SECTION II. THE CHILD IN EGYPT. 

When we turn to Egypt we find remarkable evidence of the same thing there also. Justin, as we have already seen, says that " Ninus subdued all nations, as far as Lybia," and consequently Egypt. The statement of Diodorus Siculus is to the same effect, Egypt being one of the countries that, according to him, Ninus brought into subjection to himself,)) In exact accordance with these historical statements, we find that the name of the third person in the primeval triad of Egypt was Khons. But Khons, in Egyptian, comes from a word that signifies " to chase."U Therefore, the name of Khons, the son of Maut, the goddess-mother, who was adorned in such a way as to identify her with Rhea, the great goddess-mother of Chaldea,* properly signifies " The Huntsman," or god of the chase. As Khons stands in the very same relation to the Egyptian Maut as Ninus does to Rhea, how does this title of " The Huntsman " identify the Egyptian god with Nimrod ? Now this very name Khons, brought into contact with the Roman mythology, not only explains the mean ing of a name in the Pantheon there, that hitherto has stood greatly in need of explanation, but causes that name, when explained, to reflect light back again on this Egyptian divinity, and to strengthen the conclusion already arrived at. The name to which I refer is the name of the Latin god Consus, who was in one aspect identified with Neptune,! hut who was also regarded as "the god of hidden coun sels," or " the concealer of secrets," who was looked up to as the patron of horsemanship, and was said to have produced the horse.; Who could be the "god of hidden counsels," or the "concealer of secrets," but Saturn, the god of the "mysteries," and whose name as used at Rome, signified "The hidden one"? The father of Khons, or Khonso (as he was also called), that is, Amoun, was, as we are told by Plutarch, known as "The hidden God;"|| and as father and son in the same triad have ordinarily a correspondence of character, this shows that Khons also must have been known in the very same character of Saturn, The hidden one." If the Latin Consus, then, thus exactly agreed with the Egyptian Khons, as the god of "mysteries," or "hidden counsels," can there be a doubt that Khons, the Huntsman, also agreed with the same Roman divinity as the supposed producer of the horse 1 ? Who so likely to get the credit of producing the horse as the great huntsman of Babel, who no doubt enlisted it in the toils of the chase, and by this means must have been signally aided in his conflicts with the wild beasts of the forest 1 In this connection, let the reader call to mind that fabulous creature, the Centaur, half-man, half-horse, that figures so much in the myth ology of Greece. That imaginary creation, as is generally admitted, was intended to commemorate the man who first taught the art of horsemanship. IF But that creation was not the offspring of Greek fancy. Here, as in many other things, the Greeks have only borrowed from an earlier source. The Centaur is found on coins struck in Babylonia (Fig. 16),* showing that the idea must have originally come from that quarter. The Centaur is found in the Zodiac (Fig. 17),f the antiquity of which goes up to a high period, and which had its origin in Babylon. The Centaur was represented, as we are expressly assured by Berosus, the Babylonian historian, in the temple of Babylon,! and his language would seem to show that so also it had been in primeval times. The Greeks did themselves admit this antiquity and derivation of the Centaur ; for though Ixion was commonly represented as the father of the Centaurs, yet they also acknowledged that the primitive Centaurus was the same as Kronos, or Saturn, the father of the gods. But we have seen that Kronos was the first King of Babylon, or Nimrod ; consequently, the first Centaur was the same. Now, the way in which the Centaur was represented on the Babylonian coins, and in the Zodiac, viewed in this light, is very striking. The Centaur was the same as the sign Sagittarius, or " The Archer." || If the founder of Babylon s glory was "The mighty Hunter," whose name, even in the days of Moses, was a proverb (Gen. x. 9, "Wherefore, it is said, Even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord ") when we find the " Archer," with his bow and arrow, in the symbol of the supreme Babylonian divinity, H and the "Archer," among the signs of the Zodiac that originated in Babylon, I think we may safely conclude that this Man-horse or Horse-man Archer primarily referred to him, and was intended to perpetuate the memory at once of his fame as a huntsman and his skill as a horsebreaker. Now, when we thus compare the Egyptian Khons, the " Hunts man," with the Latin Consus, the god of horse-races, who " produced the horse," and the Centaur of Babylon, to whom was attributed the honour of being the author of horsemanship, while we see how all the lines converge in Babylon, it will be very clear, I think, whence the primitive Egyptian god Khons has been derived.

The Two Babylons

by Alexander Hislop

https://ia904709.us.archive.org/14/items/thetwobabylonsor00hisluoft/thetwobabylonsor00hisluoft.pdf

From the reign of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337 AD) onwards, there was an explosive increase in the membership of both aristocratic orders. Under Diocletian, the number of sitting members of the Senate remained at around 600, the level it had retained for the whole duration of the Principate.[80] Constantine established Constantinople as a twin capital of the empire, with its own senate, initially of 300 members. By 387, their number had swollen to 2,000, while the Senate in Rome probably reached a comparable size, so that the upper order reached total numbers similar to the equo publico equites of the early Principate.[81] By this time, even some commanders of military regiments were accorded senatorial status.[82]

At the same time the order of equites was also expanded vastly by the proliferation of public posts in the late empire, most of which were now filled by equestrians. The Principate had been a remarkably slim-line administration, with about 250 senior officials running the vast empire, relying on local government and private contractors to deliver the necessary taxes and services. During the 3rd century the imperial bureaucracy, all officials and ranks expanded. By the time of the Notitia Dignitatum, dated to 395 AD, comparable senior positions had grown to approximately 6,000, a 24-fold increase.[83] The total number enrolled in the imperial civilian service, the militia inermata ('unarmed service') is estimated to have been 30–40,000: the service was professionalized with a staff made up almost entirely of free men on salary, and enrolled in a fictional legion, I Audiutrix.[84]

In addition, large numbers of decuriones (local councillors) were granted equestrian rank, often obtaining it by bribery. Officials of ever lower rank were granted equestrian rank as reward for good service, e.g. in 365, the actuarii (accountants) of military regiments. This inflation in the number of equites inevitably led to the debasement of the order's prestige. By AD 400, equites were no longer an echelon of nobility, but just a title associated with mid-level administrative posts.[56]

Constantine established a third order of nobility, the comites (companions (of the emperor), singular form comes, the origin of the medieval noble rank of count). This overlapped with senators and equites, drawing members from both. Originally, the comites were a highly exclusive group, comprising the most senior administrative and military officers, such as the commanders of the comitatus, or mobile field armies. But comites rapidly followed the same path as equites, being devalued by excessive grants until the title became meaningless by 450.[82]

In the late 4th and in the 5th century, therefore, the senatorial class at Rome and Constantinople became the closest equivalent to the equo publico equestrian class of the early Principate. It contained many ancient and illustrious families, some of whom claimed descent from the aristocracy of the Republic, but had, as described, lost almost all political and military power.[85] Nevertheless, senators retained great influence due to their enormous inherited wealth and their role as the guardians of Roman tradition and culture.[86]

Centuries of capital accumulation, in the form of vast landed estates (latifundia) across many provinces resulted in enormous wealth for most senators. Many received annual rents in cash and in kind of over 5,000 lbs of gold, equivalent to 360,000 solidi (or 5 million Augustan-era denarii), at a time when a miles (common soldier) would earn no more than four solidi a year in cash. Even senators of middling wealth could expect an income 1,000–1,500 lbs of gold.[87]

The 4th-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus, a former high-ranking military staff officer who spent his retirement years in Rome, bitterly attacked the Italian aristocracy, denouncing their extravagant palaces, clothes, games and banquets and above all their lives of total idleness and frivolity.[88] In his words can be heard the contempt for the senatorial class of a career soldier who had spent his lifetime defending the empire, a view clearly shared by Diocletian and his Illyrian successors. But it was the latter who reduced the aristocracy to that state, by displacing them from their traditional role of governing the empire and leading the army.[89]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites

The Domus Laterani came into the possession of the emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Around 312, Constantine had razed the imperial horse-guards barracks adjoining the palace, which was known as Domus Faustae or "House of Fausta" by this time; the equites singulares Augusti had supported Maxentius against Constantine. He commissioned the construction of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano on the site.[2]

The Domus Laterani was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine I.[3] It is believed that this happened during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades,[4] in time to host a synod of bishops in 313 that was convened to challenge the Donatists.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Palace

The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valor and dedication; they vowed to obey Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically, under the command of the King of Jerusalem, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places.Very soon after the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands. This led to the creation of priories all over Europe, which were part of the Order as they came under the jurisdiction of the noble knights or prelates who had been invested on the Holy Sepulchre itself and who, although they were no longer in the direct service of the King of Jerusalem, continued to belong to the Order of Canons.The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.In the 14th century, the Holy See made an extremely high payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.In 1847 the Patriarchate was restored and Pope Pius IX modernized the Order, issuing a new Constitution, which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also defined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Paul VI reorganized and revitalized the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-coordinated and more effective.In February 1996, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II enhanced the Order’s status. Today it is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See under Canon Law 312, paragraph 1:1.

https://eohsjeastern.org/a-brief-history/ 

Horses: the extent to which they can be possessed in our houses [575, 576]; the extent to which they can be used on missions [574, 625]"

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Quirinal Dioscuri (also known as the Quirinal Horse Tamers) is a colossal marble sculpture group (5.6 m high) in Rome that consists of two nude male figures reining in two horses. It is likely that the colossal Dioscuri on the Quirinal formed part of the decoration of the Baths of Constantine, although they too may have been salvaged from the adjacent temple precinct. Unlike their counterparts, the Capitoline Dioscuri, the horsemen of Quirinal Dioscuri have a dynamic pose and their horses are in motion. 

They remained on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, and gave rise to its medieval name Monte Cavallo. In the late 16th century, Sixtus V had the statues restored, setting them on pedestals with the fountain between them. Under Pius VI the statues were rearranged in the late 18th century, and the one of the obelisks from the Mausoleum of Augustus was set up with them. 

Since the Horse Tamers were among the monuments of ancient Rome never buried, they were immensely influential. Although they have been traditionally identified by their inscriptions as the works of Pheidias and Praxiteles, they are not Greek originals, but date to the Imperial era. The present inscriptions are later additions dating to the time of Sixtus V, perhaps based on Late Antique inscriptions. There have been various interpretations of the two figures and their horses over the course of time. A typically medieval explanation labeled them as two naked philosophers named Pheidias and Praxiteles. In the Renaissance a popular identification for one of the horsemen was Alexander and later the interpretation was expanded to include Philip of Macedon. Since about 1800, they have generally been associated with the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux.

As the divine saviors and protectors of the city, the Dioscuri were prominently featured on the coins of Maxentius who originally began constructing the Baths of Constantine. There was a long imperial tradition of associating the Dioscuri with imperial heirs. They have been associated with the two sons of Maxentius, which could have been continued under Constantine as his own sons. The statues have also been dating to Severan period.

https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/quirinal-dioscuri

Behold a Pale Horse

In 1991, Cooper wrote and published Behold a Pale Horse.[5] The book has been influential among "UFO and militia circles".[10] Just prior to the trial of Terry Nichols in 1997, The Guardian described it as "the manifesto of the militia movement".[11]

According to sociologist Paul Gilroy, Cooper claimed "an elaborate conspiracy theory that encompasses the Kennedy assassination, the doings of the secret world government, the coming ice age, and a variety of other covert activities associated with the Illuminati's declaration of war upon the people of America".[5] Political scientist Michael Barkun characterized it as "among the most complex superconspiracy theories", and also among the most influential due to its popularity in militia circles as well as mainstream bookstores.[6] Historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke described the book as a "chaotic farrago of conspiracy myths interspersed with reprints of executive laws, official papers, reports and other extraneous materials designed to show the looming prospect of a world government imposed on the American people against their wishes and in flagrant contempt of the Constitution."[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_William_Cooper#Behold_a_Pale_Horse

Books: 1. In general: the extent to which they are to be allowed for the private use of Ours [372, 373]; specifically, in the colleges of Ours [372]. See also Library; Publishing books and other scholarly works 2. Administrative: in which are to be recorded: possessions brought by novices and certain of their declarations [57, 200]; the names of those who pronounce vows [530, 545] 3. To be read in the schools: see Authors 4. The writing thereof: see Writing of books;Writers 5. Publication thereof: see Publishing books and other scholarly works

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Word play or wordplay[1] (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonetic mix-ups such as spoonerisms, obscure words and meanings, clever rhetorical excursions, oddly formed sentences, double entendres, and telling character names (such as in the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Ernest being a given name that sounds exactly like the adjective earnest)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_play

Since Fulcanelli informs us that the argotique of the green language is based on a cabalistic pattern of meaning, it should be obvious that this pattern is the Tree of Life of his fellow adepts. That it is not obvious is the result of misdirection, conscious or unconscious, on the part of Fulcanelli’s student, Eugène Canseliet. In the “Preface to the Second Edition” of Mystery of the Cathedrals, Canseliet, while displaying his knowledge of the importance of stellar imagery in his master’s work, ends with a major piece of misinformation. He states that the justification for the republication of the book lies in the fact “that this book has restored to light the phonetic cabala, whose principles and applications had been completely lost.” While this is somewhat true, Canseliet goes on to conclude that after his and Fulcanelli’s work, “this mother tongue need never be confused with the Jewish Kabbalah.”24 He continues by asserting that “the Jewish Kabbalah is full of transpositions, inversions, substitutions and calculations, as arbitrary as they are abstruse.” Again this is true for many explications of the kabbalistic mystery, but it does not address the issue of the universality of the Tree of Life itself. Canseliet further muddies the water by suggesting that cabala and Kabbalah are derived from different roots. Cabala, he declares, is derived from the Latin caballus, or “horse,” while Kabbalah is derived from the Hebrew word for tradition. On the surface, this is indeed correct, but Canseliet is skillfully avoiding the deeper meanings of both these words, which leads us ultimately to their common root—kaba, the stone. Fulcanelli never voiced such opinions in the body of the book. In Mystery of the Cathedrals, he obliquely refers to the cabala as the “language of the gods” and scorns the “would-be cabalists . . . whether they be Jewish or Christian,” and “the would-be experts, whose illusory combinations lead to nothing concrete.”25 He goes on to say: “Let us leave these doctors of the Kabbalah to their ignorance,” implying those who claimed to be authorities on the Hebrew Kabbalah. He says nothing against the Kabbalah itself but merely notes that it is misunderstood by almost everyone. By implication, Fulcanelli is also saying that he does understand it properly. As we saw in chapter 2, “Isis the Prophetess” points to a Tree of Life motif for its source of wisdom. The Hebrew spelling of Amnael’s name gives us a clue to its nature. Using Hebrew gematria, the letters in the name add up to 123, the number of the three-part name of God, AHH YHVH ELOHIM, associated with the top three sefirot on the Tree of Life, Kether, Chokmah, and Binah (see fig. 2.9). As noted already, if we break the name into Amn and ael, we get the numbers 91 and 32. These are both references to the Tree of Life, 32 being the total number of paths and sefirot and 91 being the number of the Hebrew word amen, AMN, and the word for “tree,” AYLN. Stirling, in his rediscovery of the ancient canon, concludes that the Tree of Life is the pattern that underlies the secret language of symbolism, which is the language expressed by the liberal arts that accompany Alchemy/Philosophy on the base of the middle pillar of the Porch of Judgment. Fulcanelli himself points to the Tree of Life as the key secret in his description of the dragon’s plinth, going so far as to paraphrase the Sefer Yetzirah. Therefore, why should we, on the basis of Canseliet’s prejudice, associate anything else with Fulcanelli’s kabbalistic image pattern? Fulcanelli also instructs us that language is a reflection of the universal Idea, a clear reference to the Word/World Tree. The kabbalistic origins of the art of light, Fulcanelli reminds us, are but a reflection of the divine light. Fulcanelli is not only making use of this kabbalistic Tree of Life pattern, but he is a master of its symbolic subtleties as well. As he unfolds his array of images and concepts, we see the guiding matrix of the ancient Word, the verbum dismissum or lost word of Western esotericism, revealed as the divine World/Word Tree."

The Mysteries of The Great Cross of Hendaye

Alchemy and The End of Time

Jay Weidner and Vincent Bridges

https://dn790009.ca.archive.org/0/items/the-mysteries-of-the-great-cros-jay-weidner/The%20Mysteries%20of%20the%20Great%20Cros%20-%20Jay%20Weidner.pdf

The crucifixion darkness is an event described in the synoptic gospels in which the sky becomes dark in daytime during the crucifixion of Jesus for roughly three hours.[1][2][3] Most ancient and medieval Christian writers treated this as a miracle, and believed it to be one of the few episodes from the New Testament which were confirmed by non-Christian sources. Modern scholars have found no contemporary references to it outside the New Testament.[4]

In his Apologeticus, Christian apologist Tertullian in AD 197 considered this not an eclipse but an omen, which is recorded in Roman archives. In his apologetic work Contra Celsum, the third-century Christian scholar Origen offered two natural explanations for the darkness: that it might have been the eclipse described by Phlegon of Tralles in his Chronicle or that it might have been clouds. In his Chronicle of Theophanes the fifth-century chronicler George Syncellus quotes the History of the World of Sextus Julius Africanus as stating that a world eclipse and an earthquake in Judea had been reported by the Greek 1st century historian Thallus in his Histories.

Modern scholarship, noting the way in which similar accounts were associated in ancient times with the deaths of notable figures, sees the phenomenon as a sign of God's displeasure with the Jewish people, or a literary invention that attempts to convey a sense of the power of Jesus in the face of death. Scholars have also noted the ways in which this episode appears to draw on accounts of darkness from the Old Testament.

Biblical accounts

The oldest extant references to the crucifixion darkness are found in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). The majority view among scholars is that Matthew was a product of the last quarter of the 1st century.[5][Notes 1] The majority also believe that Mark was the first gospel to be composed and that Matthew (who includes some 600 of Mark's 661 verses) and Luke both drew upon it as a major source for their works.[6][7] Matthew did not simply copy Mark, but used it as a base, emphasizing Jesus' place in the Jewish tradition and including other details not covered in Mark.[8]

Composition of the Gospel of Mark is usually dated through the eschatological discourse in Mark 13. Most scholars interpret this as pointing to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–74 AD) that would lead to the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, with the composition of Mark taking place either immediately after the destruction (the majority position) or during the years immediately prior.[9] Earlier dates in the range AD 35–45 are sometimes proposed,[10] but are usually dismissed.[11]

The text of the Gospel of Matthew reads: "From noon on, darkness came over the whole land [or, earth] until three in the afternoon."[12] The author includes dramatic details following the death of Jesus, including an earthquake and the raising of the dead, which were also common motifs in Jewish apocalyptic literature:[13][14] "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised."[15]

The Gospel of Mark concurs with the timing of events, stating that, on preparation day (the eve of the Sabbath), Jesus was crucified at "the sixth hour", or around noon, and darkness fell over all the land, or all the world (‹See Tfd›Greek: γῆν, translit. gēn can mean either) from around noon ("the sixth hour") until 3 o'clock ("the ninth hour").[16] It adds, immediately after the death of Jesus, "The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom",[17] but does not mention an earthquake or the opening of tombs.

The Gospel of Luke concurs with the length and timing of the darkness but also does not mention an earthquake or the opening of tombs. Contrary to Matthew and Mark, however, the text mentions the tearing of the Temple veil prior to the death of Jesus,[18] and provides the obscuring of the Sun as the cause of the darkness:[19][20]

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land [or, earth] until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed [or, the sun was eclipsed]; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.[21]

It appears that Luke may have originally explained the event as a miraculous solar eclipse. The majority of manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke have the Greek phrase eskotisthe ho helios ("the sun was darkened"), but the earliest manuscripts say tou heliou eklipontos ("the sun's light failed" or "the sun was in eclipse").[22] This earlier version may have been amended by later scribes to correct what they assumed was an error, since Passover occurs during a full moon but a solar eclipse occurs during a new moon.[23][24] Furthermore, a total eclipse provides darkness at one location during totality for a maximum of seven and a half minutes,[25] whereas the gospel texts state that the darkness covered the land for roughly three hours. For these reasons, one early Christian commentator suggested that the early text attributing the event to an eclipse had been deliberately corrupted by opponents of the Church to make it easier to attack on naturalist grounds.[26]

In the account of the crucifixion given in the Gospel of John,[27] which is generally accepted to have been written much later and which focuses on different themes, events, and sayings than the synoptic gospels, there is no mention of darkness, the tearing of the veil, the earthquake, or the raising of the dead.[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_darkness

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute."

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS 

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss 

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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20. It is better and safer to make alliance and amity with [Moslem] Turks, [Communist] Infidels, or [Talmudic and anti-Torah, Zionist] Jews, than with [Reformation Bible-believing] Heretic Protestants [and Baptists], because they may draw us into the errors of their novelties. {1}

Absolutist Papal Maxims of the Jesuits

World, the: 1. It is proper to our vocation: to go to diverse places and live in whatever part of the world and to be sent wherever the greater service of God and the help of souls can be hoped for [82, 92, 304, 308, 588, 603, 605, 626, 749]; to this purpose is directed the vow of special obedience to the supreme pontiff regarding missions, FI no. 3 [603, 605], 2 §1; consequently a complete availability, mobility, and universality are necessary, 110, 121 4°, 242 §3, 246 7°, 248, 259, 411; at the service of which is chastity, 144 §2; consequently our community is a community for dispersion, 255 §1, 312, 314 §2, 315, 317; thus also the need for communicating with different cultures of the world and for insertion into them, 99 §2, 106 §2, 110, 111, 246 2°; and for promoting that perfect and open cooperation among the members of the entire Society, of whatever province or region they may be, 396 §2. See also Cooperation, interprovincial and supraprovincial; Culture(s); Insertion 2. God is present in the world: exercising the ministry of healing and reconciliation, 246 4°; thus he is there to be sought and found, 223 §§3-4; the world, in great part afflicted with atheism and injustice and increasingly divided by diverse economic, social, and ethnic systems and by other sources of division and opposition, 59 §2, 223 §3, 246 4° 3. The world, as distinguished from religious life: is to be left behind, trampled underfoot, and renounced [30, 50, 53, 61, 66, 297]; it is to be despised because of the love for and imitation of Christ [101]; contempt for it assists in the union of minds and hearts [671]: customs which smack of the world are not to be introduced, 322. 

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms 

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts 

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES SAINT LOUIS, 1996 

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Luke 21:24

1599 Geneva Bible

24 And they shall fall on the [a]edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden under foot of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Luke 21:24 Word for word, mouth, for the Hebrews call the edge of a sword the mouth, because the edge biteth.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2021%3A24&version=GNV

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed." 

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing 

Fire as the agent of Truth

Asha Vahishta is closely associated with fire. Fire is "grandly conceived as a force informing all the other Amesha Spentas, giving them warmth and the spark of life."[27] In Yasht 17.20, Angra Mainyu clamours that Zoroaster burns him with Asha Vahishta. In Vendidad 4.54-55, speaking against the truth and violating the sanctity of promise is detected by the consumption of "water, blazing, of golden color, having the power to detect guilt."

This analogy of truth that burns and detecting truth through fire is already attested in the very earliest texts, that is, in the Gathas and in the Yasna Haptanghaiti. In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda dispenses justice through radiance of His fire and the strength of aṣ̌a. Fire "detects" sinners "by hand-grasping" (Yasna 34.4). An individual who has passed the fiery test (garmo-varah, ordeal by heat), has attained physical and spiritual strength, wisdom, truth and love with serenity (Yasna 30.7). Altogether, "there are said to have been some 30 kinds of fiery tests in all."[28] According to the post-Sassanid Dadestan i denig (I.31.10), at the final judgement a river of molten metal will cover the earth. The righteous, as they wade through this river, will perceive the molten metal as a bath of warm milk. The wicked will be scorched. For details on aṣ̌a's role in personal and final judgement, see aṣ̌a in eschatology, below.

Fire is moreover the "auxiliary of the truth," "and not only, as in the ordeal, of justice and of truth at the same time."[11] In Yasna 31.19, "the man who thinks of aṣ̌a, [...] who uses his tongue in order to speak correctly, [does so] with the aid of brilliant fire". In Yasna 34-44 devotees "ardently desire [Mazda's] mighty fire, through aṣ̌a." In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda "shall come to [Zoroaster] through the splendour of [Mazda's] fire, possessing the strength of (through) aṣ̌a and good mind (=Vohu Manah)." That fire "possesses strength through aṣ̌a" is repeated again in Yasna 43.4. In Yasna 43.9, Zoroaster, wishing to serve fire, gives his attention to aṣ̌a. In Yasna 37.1, in a list of what are otherwise all physical creations, aṣ̌a takes the place of fire.

Asha Vahishta's association with atar is carried forward in the post-Gathic texts, and they are often mentioned together. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, each of the Amesha Spentas represents one aspect of creation and one of seven primordial elements that in Zoroastrian tradition are the basis of that creation. In this matrix, aṣ̌a/arta is the origin of fire, Avestan atar, which permeates through all Creation. The correspondence then is that aṣ̌a/arta "penetrates all ethical life, as fire penetrates all physical being."[12]

In the liturgy Asha Vahishta is frequently invoked together with fire. (Yasna l.4, 2.4, 3.6, 4.9, 6.3, 7.6, 17.3, 22.6, 59.3, 62.3 etc.). In one passage, fire is a protector of aṣ̌a: "when the Evil Spirit assailed the creation of Good Truth, Good Thought and Fire intervened" (Yasht 13.77)

In later Zoroastrian tradition, Asha Vahishta is still at times identified with the fire of the household hearth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha

Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904, incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 108,445 residents in the city.[4] It is the fifth most populous city in Nevada. It is named after John Sparks, Nevada governor (1903–1908), and a member of the Silver Party.

Sparks is located within the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparks,_Nevada

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things. 

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing 

King James Version (KJV)

22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

Daniel 2:22

Novaya Zemlya (/ˌnoʊvəjə ˈzɛmliə/, also UK: /ˌnɒv-, -aɪ.ə -/, US: /- zɛmˈl(j)ɑː/;[1][2] Russian: Новая Земля, IPA: [ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa]; lit. 'New Land'), also spelled Novaja Zemlja, is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the easternmost point of Europe. To Novaya Zemlya's west lies the Barents Sea and to the east is the Kara Sea.

Novaya Zemlya consists of two main islands, the northern Severny Island and the southern Yuzhny Island, which are separated by the Matochkin Strait. Administratively, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya District, one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.[3] Municipally, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya Urban Okrug.[4]

Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War, and parts of it are still used for airfields today. The Soviet Air Force maintained a presence at Rogachevo on the southern part of the southern island, on the westernmost peninsula (71.61787°N 52.47884°E). It was used primarily for interceptor aircraft operations, but also provided logistical support for the nearby nuclear test area. Novaya Zemlya was one of the two major nuclear test sites managed by the USSR along with the Semipalatinsk Test Site; it was used for air drops and underground testing of the largest of Soviet nuclear bombs, in particular the October 30, 1961, air burst explosion of Tsar Bomba, the largest, most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novaya_Zemlya

Revelation 13:13

King James Version

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome 304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them. §2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142] 

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms 

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts 

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES SAINT LOUIS, 1996 

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

A supernova (pl.: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original object, called the progenitor, either collapses to a neutron star or black hole, or is completely destroyed to form a diffuse nebula. The peak optical luminosity of a supernova can be comparable to that of an entire galaxy before fading over several weeks or months.

The last supernova directly observed in the Milky Way was Kepler's Supernova in 1604, appearing not long after Tycho's Supernova in 1572, both of which were visible to the naked eye. The remnants of more recent supernovae have been found, and observations of supernovae in other galaxies suggest they occur in the Milky Way on average about three times every century. A supernova in the Milky Way would almost certainly be observable through modern astronomical telescopes. The most recent naked-eye supernova was SN 1987A, which was the explosion of a blue supergiant star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

Theoretical studies indicate that most supernovae are triggered by one of two basic mechanisms: the sudden re-ignition of nuclear fusion in a white dwarf, or the sudden gravitational collapse of a massive star's core.

In the re-ignition of a white dwarf, the object's temperature is raised enough to trigger runaway nuclear fusion, completely disrupting the star. Possible causes are an accumulation of material from a binary companion through accretion, or by a stellar merger.

In the case of a massive star's sudden implosion, the core of a massive star will undergo sudden collapse once it is unable to produce sufficient energy from fusion to counteract the star's own gravity, which must happen once the star begins fusing iron, but may happen during an earlier stage of metal fusion.

Supernovae can expel several solar masses of material at speeds up to several percent of the speed of light. This drives an expanding shock wave into the surrounding interstellar medium, sweeping up an expanding shell of gas and dust observed as a supernova remnant. Supernovae are a major source of elements in the interstellar medium from oxygen to rubidium. The expanding shock waves of supernovae can trigger the formation of new stars. Supernovae are a major source of cosmic rays. They might also produce gravitational waves.

Etymology

The word supernova has the plural form supernovae (/-viː/) or supernovas and is often abbreviated as SN or SNe. It is derived from the Latin word nova, meaning 'new', which refers to what appears to be a temporary new bright star. Adding the prefix "super-" distinguishes supernovae from ordinary novae, which are far less luminous. The word supernova was coined by Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky, who began using it in astrophysics lectures in 1931.[1][2] Its first use in a journal article came the following year in a publication by Knut Lundmark, who may have coined it independently.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova

Revelation 16:8-9

King James Version

8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. 

[529] C. 1The entire purport of this fourth vow of obedience to the pope was and is with regard to missions; 2and this is how the bulls should be understood where they speak of this obedience in all that the sovereign pontiff may command and wherever he may send one, and so on."

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

pp 91 - Shabbatai Zvi was born in Smyrna, Turkey on the ninth of Av, 1626. The ninth day of Av is the day of a triple tragedy for the Jewish nation. According to tradition, the First Temple, the Second Temple and Bar Kokhba's Betar fortress all fell on this day. pp 93 - He changed the holiday celebrations and violated the dietary prohibitions. All of this followed from his declaration that the usual rules were inapplicable to messianic times. pp 95 - He declared that the coming of the messianic era meant that the biblical commandments were no longer binding. He proclaimed that God now permitted everything. ** This is Rabbi Antelman's central assertion; that Shabbataism was the polar opposite of Judaism. That Shabbatai Zvi's program was to destroy all the tenets of the Torah and replace them with their opposites. Incredibly, more than half the Jews of the world at the time, believed he would be revealed as their promised messiah: ** pp 101 - Then he finally made the announcement for which the Jewish community had been waiting for 1600 years - he would begin the Redemption on the 15th day of the month of Sivan, June 18, 1666. ** There are many who will recognize the significance of the date. June is the sixth month, 18 divided by three is 6+6+6 and 1666 is clear enough. Either he knew what he was doing or the prophesies of the emergence of an evil false messiah or anti-Christ are right, and Shabbatai Zvi was him. ** pp 110 - Through all of this, Shabbatai continued to issue proclamations of the theological changes wrought by the coming of the messianic age. Shabbatai's new prayer was, "Praised be He who permits the forbidden." Since all things would be permitted in the age of the messiah, Shabbatai declared many of the old restrictions of the Torah no longer applicable. He abolished the laws concerning sexual relationships. He eventually declared that all of the thirty six major biblical sins were now permitted and instructed some of his followers that it was their duty to perform such sins in order to hasten the Redemption. ** Shabbatai's fall from grace among the great masses of Jews came in September 1666, when the Sultan of Turkey threatened him with torture unless he converted to Islam. He relented and most of Jewry abandoned him. But not all. A core of his followers kept their messiah alive and kicking hard. ** pp 112 - In order to bring on the Reformation, Shabbatai had descended into the darkness of the Muslim world to gather the scattered fragments of the light of creation hidden there. There was an outward reality and an inner reality. Nathan transformed Shabbatainism into a theology of paradox. Once the followers accepted the concept of paradox, they would be able to keep on believing in Shabbatai Zvi...An inner circle of his followers accepted the explanations of Nathan and continued to believe in Shabbatai the Messiah. ** The Shabbatai followers continued their hidden life in the Turkish sect of the Donmeh, whose activities continue to this day, as reported extensively this year, even by the staid Jerusalem Post. One of the Donmeh followers was Jacob Frank, who would transform Europe and the world into a Shabbataian hell barely a century later. ** pp 121 - The Donmeh now converted the Shabbataian Purim into an annual orgy, when members exchanged spouses for a ceremony called "extinguishing the lights." The Donmeh justified their Purim orgies, and their regular practise of sharing wives and engaging in other sexual activities, by citing biblical precedents. pp 123 - Although Jacob Frank (1726-1791) was born fifty years after the death Shabbatai Zvi, he deserves to be regarded as Shabbatai's true successor. pp 125 - Frank's followers requested ecclesiastic protection on the grounds that their own beliefs were not Jewish but rather, "anti-Talmudist."..The bishop declared that the "anti-Talmudists", Frank's followers, were entitled to practise their religion, and ordered that all copies of the Talmud within his diocese be seized and burned. Now under the protection of the crown, adoring followers gave Frank huge donations to his movement. pp 127 - He extended the paradoxical teachings of Shabbatai Zvi that the coming of the messianic age had transformed sexual prohibitions of the bible into permissions and even obligations. According to Frank, engaging in sexual orgies now became the means to purify the soul from its sins. Debauchery became therapy...Frank convinced his followers that the only way for their special form of Judaism to survive was for them to outwardly become Christians, just as the Donmeh had descended into the world of Islam...In February, 1759, the Frankists told the Church they were ready to be baptized...The Frankists promised to deliver 5000 new Christians from Poland, Moravia, Hungary and Turkey. pp 130 - The Frankists also became involved in international political intrigue, and sent secret emissaries to the Russian government and the Eastern Orthodox Church offering to help in the overthrow of Poland and the Catholic Church...By 1786, Frank suffered temporary financial problems, and moved his court to Offenbach, near Frankfurt. There Frank's money problems were somehow solved. The source of Frank's immense wealth is not clear. He may have used his movement's system of secret messengers and clandestine cells to engage in the constant political turmoil involving Austria-Hungary, Turkey and the Balkans. ** And now we reach the final depth of Rabow's understanding and let Rabbi Antelman take over. ** Frankfurt at the time was the headquarters of the Jesuit, Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Illuminati, as well as Rothschild Brothers' financial empire. This is worth repeating: Frankfurt was the birthplace of both the Illuminati and the Rothschild empire. When Jacob Frank entered the city, the alliance between the two had already begun. Weishaupt provided the conspiratorial resources of the Jesuit Order, while the Rothschilds contributed the money. What was missing was a means to spread the agenda of the Illuminati and that the Frankists added with their network of agents throughout the Christian and Islamic worlds. Jacob Frank became instantly wealthy because he was given a nice handout by Mayer Amshel Rothschild of Frankfurt. There is no other explanation. And from this starting point, Rabbi Antelman gave us a blueprint for the war against Judaism and all its good, and indeed against humanity and all its moral treasures. A movement of complete evil now took hold. The Jesuits' goal was the destruction of the Protestant Reformation leading to a return of one pope sitting in judgement on all mankind. The Rothschilds goal was to control the wealth of the planet. And the Frankist vision was the destruction of Jewish ethics to be replaced by a religion based on the exact opposite of God's intentions. When these factions blended, a bloody war against humanity, with the Jews on the front lines, erupted and it is reaching its very pinnacle at this moment. Rabbi Antelman traces the means of the worldwide reach of this ugliness. By the 1770s, the Illuminati was exposed and banned in Germany and then throughout Europe. Weishaupt made a strategic change that worked miracles for the international spread of his goals. He infiltrated agents into the Freemasonic lodges of England and Scotland, changing their highest tenets to his own, until every lodge in every nation accepted them. Thus, the Illuminati now had two centers of activity, Germany and Britain. It was from Germany to London that the apostate Jews Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were sent to devise the rot of communism. Shortly after that task was done, the Rothschilds sent their agents John Jacob Astor and Jacob Schiff from Germany to America. They financed the robber barons like Rockefeller and Morgan, who in 1922, founded the Council On Foreign Relations, to overthrow the American constitution and switch the nation's diplomacy to Illuminatiism.

SHABTAI TZVI, LABOR 

ZIONISM AND THE 

HOLOCAUST 

by Barry Chamish

https://rapeutation.com/shabtaitzvibarrychamish.pdf

A solar-terrestrial effect strongly influences volcanism

Duma, Gerald

Abstract

The presentation focuses on a strong influence of solar wind on seismic and volcanic activity. The activity rates correlate with the solar wind speed and with the geomagnetic indices which reflect the solar induced disturbances of the Earth's magnetic field, Dst and Kp. The data bases of the Global Volcanism Program (Washington), of ISGI (Paris), the USGS, the Osservatorio Vesuviano INGV (Naples) and the OMNIweb (NASA) were accessed. In an early paper (Duma & Vilardo, 1997) it was shown already that seismic activity in the area Mt.Vesuvius varies parallel to the three solar cycles no. 20, 21, 22 (maxima 1969, 1980, 1989). The data set comprises thousands of weak earthquakes M ≤ 3.4. Such a solar effect appears not only in the long term but distinctly in the diurnal range, too, in dependence of the 24 hour cycle of the ionospheric Sq current system. The results of the present study reveal that the seismic activity at Mt.Vesuvius still reacted to this solar impact in the recent period 1999 - 2013. In additon, numerous studies in the past two decades show that this geodynamic influence acts not only on volcanic regions but on many of the main earthquake zones on the globe, causing fluctuations in seismic activity even for events M>6 (e.g. Duma & Ruzhin, 2003; Lipovics, 2005; Duma, 2010). Statistic analyses of time series of seismic strain release and Kp over decades indicated an average significance level of 97% for 9 main earthquake zones. Examples are given which illustrate the effect in seismic regions in N-Italy (fromUmbria to Emilia-Romagna) and S-Italy (Calabria to l'Abruzzo). As to the activity of volcanic eruptions, there is a strong indication that the same solar effect enhances the frequency of eruptions in periods of high solar flare activity of the solar cycles. This is shown not only for Mt. Etna but also for other main volcanoes on the globe, the Mt. St. Helens (USA), Mt. Unzen (Japan), Pinatubo (Philippines) and El Chichon (Mexico). Since the effect can be verified in so many regions, it seems to be a very general and powerful effect with far reaching mechanic implications for seismic as well as volcanic activity.

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018EGUGA..20..114D/abstract

What does Psalm 18:8 mean?

David continues his description of God's anger against his enemies (Psalm 18:7). The prior verse compared God's powerful response to an earthquake. Volcanic activity is often connected to quakes, and here David suggests imagery related to an erupting volcano. David poetically describes the scene as smoke rising from the Lord's nostrils, with all-consuming flames shooting out of His mouth. The "glowing coals" are probably a description of lava. Just as an erupting volcano's lava flow destroys everything in its path, so the Lord's erupting anger engulfs and destroys the wicked.

About 500 years before David wrote Psalm 18, Moses and the people of Israel sang praises to God for destroying the Egyptian cavalry in the Red Sea. They gave a poetic description of God much like David's description in this verse. They sang: "At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap" (Exodus 15:8). Near the end of his life, Moses warned the Israelites about the consequences of rebelling against the Lord. He quoted the Lord as saying, "For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains" (Deuteronomy 32:22).

It is frightful to rebel against the Lord as Saul did by seeking to kill David, the Lord's anointed king.

https://www.bibleref.com/Psalms/18/Psalm-18-8.html

"This is part of a Roman pavement found 18' below the floor of the Church of St Matthew, Friday Street (demolished 1886)." City of London.

La Cadena: acera (pavimiento)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mamamia65/6323425934 

Porphyry Paving – Overlapping Arcs

Porphyry paving cubes for use in a pattern of overlapping arcs is one of the oldest designs for stone pavement.  It has continued in use for centuries due to its stability, beauty and pleasing intricacy.

In Europe, one of the more popular layouts is the bogen also known as an overlapping arc, which is often mistaken for a fan but is actually a series of stacked arcs.  The bogen layout is complex and requires the skills of an experienced artisan as the setts at the ends of the arcs, where one arc meets its neighbor, need to be somewhat smaller than those in the center of each arc.

Traditionally, bogens are incredibly strong layouts as the arcs work to dissipate forces over a much larger area. Their development and use reached a peak when horse-drawn traffic dominated the streets, but since the advent of modern vehicles, their use has been increasingly one of aesthetics. They remain popular in continental Europe, Britain and Ireland as the availability of porphyry cubes and granite setts has increased.

This video was posted by Stephen Murray-Cook showing the Original Stone Paving Company laying a courtyard in the overlapping arc pattern.  They are using some very efficient aids in their laying.  Please watch this 3 minute video to see this in time lapse.

Click Below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mYAahqczOA

The Original Stone Paving Company

Street mason Stephen Cook (known as Cookie) understands stone, the 52 year old has been working with it since he was 15 years old.

As a craftsmen whose reputation depends on the quality of his workmanship, he refuses to use inferior materials. Stone looks good for decades. “That’s why we use it” says Cookie. We source a wide range of high qualify stone from around the world to offer the discerning customer a wide variety of choice.

We offer a complete package from supply to completion, our service includes all associated groundwork drainage and brickwork.

Cookie has more than 35 years experience in quality workmanship working with both new and reclaimed materials and has completed projects at the Houses Of Parliament, Clarance House and Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.

Porphyry’s composition determines its high compression strength, resistance to stains, slip resistance, and high freeze/thaw ratings.  The stone is the most popular paver in Europe, and is favored for its flexibility in design, beauty, durability and low maintenance requirements. ADA Compliant Porphyry pavers are also adaptable to a permeable paving set. The stone is by far one of the most durable pavers in the world.  These beautiful materials are available from Milestone Imports.   Milestone supports the creativity of architects, planners and designers. Porphyry offers surfaces of various finishes and mixed colorings, tending towards tones of grey, gold, violet and red, depending on where it is extracted.  The products are available in North America from Milestone Imports.  –  www.milestoneimports.com

https://milestoneimports.com/2013/06/03/porphyry-cubes-used-in-modern-roman-paving/

"Walkin' on the Sun" is a song by American rock band Smash Mouth from their first album, Fush Yu Mang (1997). Released as their debut single in June 1997, the song was Smash Mouth's first major single, reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. It was also a success abroad, peaking at No. 3 in Canada and Iceland, No. 5 in Italy and Spain, and No. 7 in Australia, where it is certified platinum for shipments exceeding 70,000 units.

Background

Smash Mouth guitarist Greg Camp said about "Walkin' on the Sun":

It was written during the whole Rodney King thing. The song was basically a social and racial battle cry. It was a sort of "Can't we all get along?" song for the time when I wrote it. It was just about all the things that were going on around me as a young person. And I'm, like, God, what is going on? I don't understand why this is happening. It's like we might as well be walking around a planet on fire. And that's how it came about.[4]

Paul De Lisle, the band's bassist, stated the original version of "Walkin' on the Sun" was more of a rap song.[5] The band decided to record the song for Fush Yu Mang after drummer Kevin Coleman discovered a demo on one of Camp's tapes; it was the last song to be added to the album.[5]

The guitar riff present throughout the song has been compared to a riff from "Swan's Splashdown" by Perrey & Kingsley, from their 1966 album The In Sound from Way Out, as well as the Hohner Pianet riff from The Zombies' "She's Not There".[6][7][8]

Critical reception

Pan-European magazine Music & Media described it as a "punchy and highly infectious track." They noted that it "deftly fuses punk and ska—and that's a feat which it manages while avoiding sounding stereotypical of either genre."[9] Music Week rated the song five out of five, adding, "This fun-loving US quartet have managed to fuse The Doors with the Stereo MCs to create a deliciously frug-inducing slice of slacker pop. A cracker."[10] A reviewer from NME wrote, "'Walkin' On The Sun' is a classic, straight out of the groovy, secret agent world of Austin Powers. Although it was written in the aftermath of the Rodney King beatings, it has an organ hook that's a deadringer for The Zombies' 'She's Not There' and growling staccato vocal that make it the perfect soundtrack for a strut down Carnaby Street circa 1967."[8] Ian Hyland from Sunday Mirror gave the song nine out of ten. He commented, "It's jingly jangly American guitar music and Radio One are playing it to death. It'll be massive, then they'll disappear."[11]

Music video

The song's accompanying music video, directed by McG, begins with each band member, one at a time, walking down a dark alley. Then, the band performs in a room while scenes of Steve Harwell pushing a remote control makes two girls appear under a glass dome. Afterwards, the band performs on a beach while beachgoers dance around them. The scene then changes to the band performing in front of the two same girls in an area full of flashing bright lights. A drag race is then shown in the street where a yellow hot rod races against an orange hot rod which the band is in. However, in the middle of the race, the orange hot rod implicitly crashes, and the race attendees and female race judge rush over to the scene. The band still performs while lying on the ground despite the crash. The video ends with them leaning close to the camera.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkin%27_on_the_Sun 

ARCANE-TRUTH

A system of beliefs for the coming centuries

Arcane Truth is a website where religion and science merge into a single body of knowledge about the meaning of reality. The main objective is to develop a less geocentric interpretation of Sacred Scripture compatible with the coming space age. The spatial ascension to the heavens, fulfilled by leading religious characters, reveals an overwhelming urge of humankind to leave Earth behind.

   Regarding Religion, Arcane Truth deals with the four major ones from the Fertile Crescent (Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianism, and Islam). These religions provide a vast array of vital information, which, with the aid of a natural exegesis of their Scriptures, would become acceptable to beings of any sort—free will endowed biological and nonbiological, either terrestrial or extraterrestrial. Concerning science, it follows the latest advances in most fields up to the point where they remain accessible to the lay reader.

    Somewhere in the middle is the European occult sciences lore, which sprang after the Dark Ages and before the Enlightenment. Besides some outstanding Catholic clerics well acquainted with the deep secrets of occult sciences and alchemy—like Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II) and the Dominican Albert the Great—there was a large number of savants sometimes protected under the umbrella of secret societies.

    Although Arcane Truth doesn't cover the occult sciences in general, the ancient doctrine of the four elements, namely air, earth, water, and fire, needs to be dealt with due to its overwhelming presence in Sacred Scriptures. As a consequence, some aspects of alchemy also need to be treated in some detail.

    As the reader might be aware, the subject is fraught with difficulties all along. However, the guiding principle here is to stick to the essentials to keep things as simple as possible. The posted essays in Arcane Truth avoid sterile discussion about beliefs in the transcendent God and unprovable scientific theories (which abound).

    This site offers the lay reader a scientifically minded interpretation of the most relevant archaeological findings and the Sacred Scriptures symbols. Explaining why things are the way they are, with the ultimate goal of laying new foundations for the innermost belief systems of the future based on arcane truths.

The main topics covered by Arcane Truth are brought gradually to the reader’s attention, combining text with external links and 2D or 3D stereo illustrations. Choose your preferred format, 2D or 3D stereo, by clicking the buttons on the menus, at the top or below. 

The posted essays on Arcane Truth under the headings: Number 7, Alchemy, Angel Wings, Cubic Shrines, and Physics of Free Will are a small sample of what you will find in Fundamentals of the Creation. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the origins and meanings of the mysteries and symbols of religion and esotericism.

    Some of the topics covered in this book have been considered unsuitable for the masses and reserved for the study and consideration of some privileged groups within religious circles and secret societies. However, the universality and degree of maturity reached by scientific knowledge are eroding the foundations of sectarian secrecy and revealing an underlying truth that this book aims to expose.   

    Surprisingly, the mysteries and symbols of the major religions and esoteric groups turn out to be closely correlated with objects studied in modern physics with profound implications for the belief systems of the future. It is not then about abstractions—away from realism and the urgencies of daily tasks—but about the internalization of knowledge centered on the substance we are made of. 

    Certainly, this book will help many to radically change their way of appreciating reality, which will inevitably lead to a reconsideration of their ethical values. For others, it will represent the end of religious abstractions disconnected from the material substance. It is not about materializing religious content but exposing matter’s spiritual dimension.  

    Following some introductory remarks to provide the necessary background knowledge, the book immerses the reader gradually into the greatest of all enigmas, namely, the origin of human nature—well beyond its biological expression. The primary purpose is to help the reader realize, through as many details as possible, the way in which human nature interconnects with other entities and realities and the roles of each of them.

    The departing point is a new exegesis of the sacred writings of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam, putting emphasis on the congruencies between their contents and the basic postulates of modern physics. On the way to achieving a better understanding of the ultimate truth, the reader will be able to form his own opinions about issues rarely addressed but with great religious significance.

    Some will raise intriguing questions, of which a small sample follows: Can one speak of the exile of Israel in matter? Where would it happen? Who would participate? What physical meaning could it have?

On the Christian side, some will want to inquire about issues related to the presence of Christ in the cosmos. Is Christ really crucified in matter? Where and how exactly? Do his death and resurrection also have a physical meaning? What is the physicality of the redeemed sins?

Muslims, on the other hand, will be able to explore ways to discuss where and how the greatest of all jihads against Satan is being waged. How are we involved in that confrontation? Where does Satan reside in matter?

    Some readers may be more interested in elucidating how the components of the physical atom were formed and work from an exclusively religious point of view. Others would like to know: Where do the forces to which matter is subjected come from? What dictates them, and who embodies them? Do religious mysteries and dogmas have a scientific justification? Is it possible for a lay reader to deduce the general solution to E. Schrödinger’s wave equation from a rotating Star of David?

    Concrete answers to the above questions are expounded in the simplest terms, to reach the greatest number of readers with an average level of instruction. However, despite the effort made to simplify things, the reader will immediately recognize the complexity and depth of the issues addressed. In any case, the objective of Fundamentals of the Creation is not to innovate in religious matters or to explore new physics but to establish correspondences between the current versions of both.

     If this post stirred your curiosity, don't miss... 

https://arcane-truth.com/ 

ark (n.)

Middle English arke, from Old English earc, Old Northumbrian arc, mainly meaning Noah's, but also the Ark of the Covenant (the coffer holding the tables of the law in the sanctum sanctorum), from Latin arca "large box, chest" (see arcane), the word used in the Vulgate. It also was borrowed in Old High German (arahha, Modern German Arche).

In general as "a coffer, a box" by late 12c. Also sometimes in Middle English "the breast or chest as the seat of emotions." From the Noachian sense comes the extended meaning "place of refuge" (17c.). As the name of a type of ship or boat, from late 15c. In 19c. U.S., especially a large, flat-bottomed river boat to move produce, livestock, etc. to market.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/ark 

Genesis 7

1599 Geneva Bible

7 1 Noah and his enter into the Ark. 20 The flood destroyeth all the rest upon the earth.

1 And the Lord said unto Noah, Enter thou and all thine house into the Ark: for thee have I seen [a]righteous before me in this [b]age.

2 Of every [c]clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: but of unclean beasts by couples, the male and his female.

3 Of the fowls also of the heaven by sevens, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the whole earth.

4 For seven days hence I will cause it rain upon the earth forty days, and forty nights, and all the substance that I have made, will I destroy from off the earth.

5 Noah therefore did according to all that the Lord commanded him.

6 And Noah was six hundred years old, when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

7 ¶ So Noah entered and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him into the Ark, because of the waters of the flood.

8 Of the clean beasts, and of the unclean beasts, and of the fowls, and of all that creepeth upon the earth,

9 There [d]came two and two unto Noah into the Ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.

10 And so after seven days, the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

11 ¶ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the [e]second month, the seventeenth day of the month, in the same day were all the [f]fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,

12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 In the selfsame day entered Noah with Shem, and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them into the Ark.

14 They and every beast after his kind, and all cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth and moveth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, even every bird of every feather.

15 For they came to Noah into the Ark, two and two, [g]of all flesh wherein is the breath of life.

16 And they entering in, came male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord [h][i]shut him in.

17 Then the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters were increased, and bare up the Ark, which was lifted up above the earth.

18 The waters also waxed strong, and were increased exceedingly upon the earth, and the Ark went upon the waters.

19 The waters [j]prevailed so exceedingly upon the earth, that all the high mountains, that are under the whole heaven, were covered.

20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, when the mountains were covered.

21 Then all flesh perished that moved upon the earth, both fowl and cattle and beast, and everything that creepeth and moveth upon the earth, and every man.

22 Everything in whose nostrils the spirit of life did breathe, whatsoever they were in the dry land, they died.

23 So [k]he destroyed everything that was upon the earth, from man to beast, to the creeping thing, and to the fowl of the heaven: they were even destroyed from the earth. And Noah only [l]remained, and they that were with him in the Ark.

24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

Footnotes

Genesis 7:1 In respect of the rest of the world, and because he had a desire to serve God and live uprightly.

Genesis 7:1 Or, generation.

Genesis 7:2 Which might be offered in sacrifice, whereof six were for breed, and the seventh for sacrifice.

Genesis 7:9 God compelled them to present themselves to Noah, as they did before to Adam, when he gave them names, Gen. 2:19.

Genesis 7:11 Which was about the beginning of May, when all things did most flourish.

Genesis 7:11 Both the waters in the earth did overflow, and also the clouds poured down.

Genesis 7:15 Every living thing that God would have to be preserved on earth, came into the Ark to Noah.

Genesis 7:16 So that God’s secret power defended him against the rage of the mighty waters.

Genesis 7:16 Or, shut it upon him.

Genesis 7:19 Hebrew, waxed very mighty.

Genesis 7:23 That is, God.

Genesis 7:23 Learn what it is to obey God only, and to forsake the multitude, 1 Pet. 3:20.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015&version=GNV 

The palm tree was not only an emblem of virtue ^d truth, but it was also consecrated to the celestial movements, and above all, the annual revolutions of the Sun. Among the Hebrews, it will be remembered, the lion was borne on the crimson standard of the tribe of Judah. The Ox, on the green standard of Ephraim. The Eagle on the green standard of Dan, and the ship on the purple standard of Zebulon. Perhaps the Ark of the Covenant is really the Ark of the Deluge, or the ship of Zebulon.

Thirty-Second Degree, or Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated volume 2

https://ia801803.us.archive.org/2/items/scotchritemasonr02blan/scotchritemasonr02blan.pdf

archaeology (n.)

c. 1600, "ancient history," from French archéologie (16c.) or directly from Greek arkhaiologia "the study of ancient things;" see archaeo- + -ology. The meaning "scientific study of ancient peoples and past civilizations" is recorded by 1825.

also from c. 1600

https://www.etymonline.com/word/archaeology

archaic (adj.)

1810, from or by influence of French archaique (1776), ultimately from Greek arkhaikos "old-fashioned," from arkhaios "ancient, old-fashioned, antiquated, primitive," from arkhē "beginning, origin," verbal noun of arkhein "to be the first," hence "to begin" and "to rule" (see archon). Not merely crude, the archaic has "a rudeness and imperfection implying the promise of future advance" [Century Dictionary]. Archaical is attested from 1799.

also from 1810

https://www.etymonline.com/word/archaic 

Note 375.—"The Ark of the Covenant or of the Testimony was a chest originally constructed by Moses at God's command. (Exod. xxv, 16,) in which were kept the two tables of stone, on which were engraved the ten commandments. It contains, likewise, a golden pot filled with manna, Aaron's rod, and the tables of the covenant. It was at first deposited in the most sacred place of the tabernacle, and afterwards placed by Solomon in the Sanctum Srinrtori ni < f the Temple, and wls lost upon the destructi( u of that building by the Chaldeans. The later history of this ark is, buried in obscurity," — Mackey's Encyclopedia of Treemasonry Article  Ark of the Covenant.

Note 385.—"Phoenix. The old mythological legend of the Phoenix is a familiar one. The bird was described as of the size of an eagle, with a head finely crested, a body covered with beautiful plumage, and eyes sparkling like stars. She was said to live six hundred years in the wilderness, when she built for herself a funeral pile of aromatic woods, which she ignited with the fanning of her wings, and emerged from the flames with a new life. Hence the phoenix has been adopted universally as a symbol of immortality. ITiggins (Anacalypsis, ii. 441,) says that the phoenix is the symbol of an ever-revolving solar circle of six hundred and eight years, and refers to the Phenician word phen, which signifies a cycle. Aumont, the first Grand Master of the Templars after the martyrdom of De Molay, and called the 'Restorer of the Order.' took, it is said, for his seal, a phoenix brooding on the flames, with the motto, 'Ardet ut vivat' — She burns that she may live."—Mackey's Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, Article Phoenix.

Note 387.—"In the Arkite rites, which arose after the di«;persion of Babel, the dove was always considered as a sacred bird, in commeuiuration of its having been the first discoverer of land. Its name, which in Hebrew is ionah, was given to one of the earliest nations of the earth; and, as the emblem of peace and good fortune it became the I bird of Venus. Modern Masons have commemorated the messenger of ' Noah in the honorary degree of *Ark and Dove,' which Is sometimes conferred on Royal Arch Masons." — Mackey's Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, Article Noah. 

Note 388.—**The double-headed eagle was probably first introduced as a symbol into Masonry in the year 1758. In that year the body calling itself the Council of Emperors of the East and West was established in Paris, The double-headed eagle was likely to have been assumed by this Council in reference to the double jurisdiction which it claimed, and which is represented so distinctly in its title. Its ritual, which consisted of twenty-tive degrees, all of which are now contained in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, was subsequently established In the city of Berlin, and adopted by the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes. Frederick II., king of Prussia, who was the head of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, is said to have merged this body into his own Rite, adding to Its twenty-five degrees eight more, so as to make the thirty-three degrees of which that Rite is now composed. The double-headed eagle was then adopted as the symbol of the thirtythird and ultimate degree. The whole Rite being considered as a representative of the Holy Empire, as is indicated by the titles of two of Its ofl3cers, who are still called the Secretary and the Treasurer of the Holy Empire, the double-headed eagle, which was the ensign, as it has been seen, of that empire, was appropriately adopted as the symbol of the governing degree of the Rite." Mackey's Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, Article Eagle, Double-Headed.

In some lodges the President is styled Grand Commander^ in others Great Sovereign. The East is hung with black velvet, embroidered with silver and strewed with death's heads transpierced with a poniard. The throne is hung with black velvet, with large white stripes and silver fringe. Over the throne is a double-headed eagle crowned, with his wings open but not spread. He holds a sword in his claws. A death's head transpierced with a poniard, is sometimes used instead of an eagle.

Thirtieth Degree ; Grand Elect Knight Kadosh,

OR Knight oe the White and Black Eagle.

https://www.stichtingargus.nl/vrijmetselarij/ovoo_r30e.html

The Keys of Heaven, also called Saint Peter's keys, refers to the metaphorical keys of the office of Saint Peter, the keys of Heaven, or the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. It is explicitly referenced in the Bible in Matthew 16:19.

In Catholicism

According to Catholic teaching,[1] Jesus promised the keys to heaven to Saint Peter, empowering him to take binding actions.[2] In the Gospel of Matthew 16:19,[3] Jesus says to Peter, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven." Saint Peter is often depicted in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox paintings and other artwork as holding a key or a set of keys.

The keys of heaven or keys of Saint Peter are seen as a symbol of papal authority and are seen on papal coats of arms (those of individual popes) and those of the Holy See and Vatican City State: "Behold he [Peter] received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the power of binding and loosing is committed to him, the care of the whole Church and its government is given to him".[4]

Biblical sources

Bible verses associated with Peter[5][6] and his position of authority include:

Isaiah 22:20–23;

Matthew 10:2;

Matthew 16:18–19;

Luke 22:32;

John 21:17;

Acts 2:14;

Acts 10:46; and

Galatians 1:18.

Bible verses associated with the transfer of powers from pope to pope include:

Acts 1:20; 6:6; 13:3; 8:18; 9:17;

1 Timothy 4:14; 5:22;

2 Timothy 1:6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keys_of_Heaven

Jupiter, the chief ancient Roman and Italian god. Like Zeus, the Greek god with whom he is etymologically identical (root diu, “bright”), Jupiter was a sky god. One of his most ancient epithets is Lucetius (“Light-Bringer”); and later literature has preserved the same idea in such phrases as sub Iove, “under the open sky.” As Jupiter Elicius he was propitiated with a peculiar ritual to send rain in time of drought; as Jupiter Fulgur he had an altar in the Campus Martius, and all places struck by lightning were made his property and were guarded from the profane by a circular wall.

Throughout Italy he was worshiped on the summits of hills; thus, on the Alban Hill south of Rome was an ancient seat of his worship as Jupiter Latiaris, which was the centre of the league of 30 Latin cities of which Rome was originally an ordinary member. At Rome itself on the Capitoline Hill was his oldest temple; here there was a tradition of his sacred tree, the oak, common to the worship both of Zeus and of Jupiter, and here, too, were kept the lapides silices, pebbles or flint stones, which were used in symbolic ceremonies by the fetiales, the Roman priests who officially declared war or made treaties on behalf of the Roman state.

Jupiter was not only the great protecting deity of the race but also one whose worship embodied a distinct moral conception. He is especially concerned with oaths, treaties, and leagues, and it was in the presence of his priest that the most ancient and sacred form of marriage (confarreatio) took place. The lesser deities Dius Fidius and Fides were, perhaps, originally identical and certainly were connected with him. This connection with the conscience, with the sense of obligation and right dealing, was never quite lost throughout Roman history. In Virgil’s Aeneid, though Jupiter is in many ways as much Greek as Roman, he is still the great protecting deity who keeps the hero in the path of duty (pietas) toward gods, state, and family.

But this aspect of Jupiter gained a new force and meaning at the close of the early Roman monarchy with the building of the famous temple on the Capitol, of which the foundations are still to be seen. It was dedicated to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus (i.e., the best and greatest of all the Jupiters), and with him were associated Juno and Minerva, in a fashion that clearly indicates a Greco-Etruscan origin, since the combination of three deities in one temple was foreign to the ancient Roman religion, while it is found in both Greece and Etruria. The temple’s dedication festival fell on September 13, on which day the consuls originally succeeded to office, accompanied by the Senate and other magistrates and priests. In fulfillment of a vow made by their predecessors, the consuls offered to Jupiter a white ox, his favourite sacrifice, and, after rendering thanks for the preservation of the state during the past year, they made the same vow as that by which their predecessors had been bound. Then followed the feast of Jupiter. In later times this day became the central point of the great Roman games. When a victorious army returned home the triumphal procession passed to this temple.

Throughout the Roman Republic this remained the central Roman cult; and, although Augustus’ new foundations (Apollo Palatinus and Mars Ultor) were in some sense its rivals, that emperor was far too shrewd to attempt to oust Iuppiter Optimus Maximus from his paramount position; he became the protecting deity of the reigning emperor as representing the state, as he had been the protecting deity of the free republic. His worship spread over the whole empire.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jupiter-Roman-god

1 Corinthians 15:52-58

1599 Geneva Bible

52 In [be]a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall blow, and the dead shall be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption: and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible hath put on incorruption, and this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, that is written, Death is swallowed up into victory.

55 O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the Law.

57 But thanks be unto God, which hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 [bf]Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, abundant always in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the [bg]Lord.

Footnotes

1 Corinthians 15:52 He showeth us that the time shall be very short.

1 Corinthians 15:58 An exhortation taken from the profit that ensueth, that seeing they understand that the glory of the other life is laid up for faithful workmen, they continue and stand fast in the truth of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Through the Lord’s help and goodness working in us.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015&version=GNV

The Royal Arch is a degree of Freemasonry. The Royal Arch is present in all main masonic systems, though in some it is worked as part of Craft ('mainstream') Freemasonry, and in others in an appendant ('additional') order. Royal Arch Masons meet as a Chapter; in the Supreme Order of the Royal Arch as practised in the British Isles, much of Europe and the Commonwealth, Chapters confer the single degree of Royal Arch Mason.

Membership

In the British Isles, most of continental Europe (including the masonically expanding states of eastern Europe),[1] and most nations of the Commonwealth (with the notable exception of Canada), the teachings of Royal Arch Masonry are contained in the "Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch" – a stand-alone degree of Freemasonry which is open to those who have completed the three Craft degrees. Until 1823, only freemasons who had previously passed through the chair of a Craft lodge were allowed to join. Today, candidates for an English Royal Arch Chapter are required to have been a Master Mason for four weeks or more.[2]

In Freemasonry in Scotland, the candidate for the Royal Arch must also be a Mark Master Mason, a degree which is part of the Royal Arch series. It can be worked in the Chapter, or more often has been worked in a Scottish Lodge. After the Mark degree, a candidate must receive the Excellent Master degree, before being exalted to the Royal Arch degree. In Ireland a candidate must be a Master Mason for one year before being admitted as a member of a Royal Arch Chapter. The Degree of Mark Master Mason is taken separately first and only then can the Royal Arch Degree be taken.

In the United States, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, Paraguay and the Philippines, the Royal Arch is not worked as a stand-alone degree as described above, but forms part of the York Rite system of additional Masonic degrees. Royal Arch Masons in the York Rite also meet as a Chapter, but the Royal Arch Chapter of the York Rite confers four different degrees: 'Mark Master Mason', 'Virtual Past Master', 'Most Excellent Master', and 'Royal Arch Mason'. While the York Rite degree of 'Royal Arch Mason' is roughly comparable to the Supreme Order of the Royal Arch as practised in England and Wales, the other degrees may have equivalents in other appendant orders.

The Royal Arch is also the subject of the 13th and 14th degrees of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (called "Ancient and Accepted Rite" in England and Wales).

Purpose and teaching

Similarly to Craft Freemasonry, the Royal Arch conveys moral and ethical lessons. In the three degrees of the Craft, the candidate is presented with a series of practical principles of service to his fellow man and begins journey of self discovery. The Royal Arch completes this journey by developing this latter aspect. In the Chapter, the teachings of the Royal Arch are conveyed using a ritualised allegory based on the Old Testament telling of the return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the City and Temple. In clearing the ground of Solomon's Temple for the foundations of a new temple, the candidate makes important discoveries.[3] By adding a further explanation to the practical lessons of Craft Freemasonry, the Royal Arch is seen as an extension of the preceding degrees[4] and the philosophical lessons conveyed are appropriate to that stage in a candidate's Masonic development. The symbol or Grand Emblem of Royal Arch Masonry is the Triple Tau.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Royal_Arch 

The John B. Wells Program

Ark Midnight

Hosted by legendary former Coast to Coast AM host, John B. Wells, Ark Midnight is John B’s weekly syndicated terrestrial radio program. Every Saturday night, Ark Midnight reaches millions of listeners via many platforms including terrestrial radio, digital satellite, live stream and podcast.

Ark Midnight with John B. Wells delivers the very best in classic late night talk radio with the best guests and the most fascinating spectrum of topics covering today’s hottest breaking news & politics, unexplained mysteries & paranormal, science & religion, health, music & pop culture.

https://arkmidnight.com/ 

Numerology (known prior to the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in words and names. When numerology is applied to a person's name, it is a form of onomancy. It is often associated with the paranormal, alongside astrology, and is similar to divinatory arts.[2]The term numerologist can be used for those who place faith in numerical patterns and draw inferences from them, even if those people do not practice traditional numerology. For example, in his 1997 book Numerology: Or What Pythagoras Wrought (DUDLEY 1997), mathematician Underwood Dudley uses the term to discuss practitioners of the Elliott wave principle of stock market analysis."

Numerology - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerology 

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

+(PLUS) 

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms 

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

EQUALS

ON 27 SEPTEMBER 1540, THE SOCIETY OF JESUS RECEIVED PAPAL APPROVAL

https://www.jesuits.global/2021/09/26/on-27-september-1540-the-society-of-jesus-received-papal-approval/ 

Captain Planet and the Planeteers, commonly referred to as simply Captain Planet, is an American animated environmentalist superhero television series created by Barbara Pyle and Ted Turner[1] and developed by Pyle, Nicholas Boxer, Thom Beers, Andy Heyward, Robby London, Bob Forward, and Cassandra Schafausen. The series was produced by Turner Program Services and DIC Enterprises and broadcast on TBS and in syndication from September 15, 1990, to December 5, 1992.[2]

A sequel series, The New Adventures of Captain Planet, was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., distributed by Turner Program Services and broadcast from September 11, 1993, to May 11, 1996.[3] The series was later rerun on Kids' WB!, Cartoon Network and Boomerang.[4] It is currently on the MeTV Toons schedule.[5] The series is a form of edutainment that advocates for environmentalism and is known for having several famous actors voice the villains.[6][7] It spawned a franchise consisting of eco-friendly toys, comic books, video games, and a public charity to further promote its work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planeteers 

"In the second prelude, for Chief- Gene ral read highest Leader, and for captain read leader. For the first Leader the Spanish Autograph has Captain General, and for the second (leader), caudillo ; the former title expressing, as Father Rothaan remarks, a Commander-in-Chief of lawful warfare, the latter designating rather the leader of a faction, and being often used in a bad sense, as of a captain of robbers or malefactors. In order to express in some measure this distinction, he has made use of the terms Dux Generalis (LeaderGeneral) and CAPUT (head) in his literal Version. The Common Version makes no distinction ; and hence, in order to render this Version with strict faithfulness, must read, both here and in the next two paragraphs, leader instead of captain, although (as the reader will already have perceived) this latter is the term which erceived) this latter is the term which corresponds the more nearly with the Spanish original. In all three places Father Rothaan has caput : in the third prelude he has again Dux instead of Imperator : see above. In the first point, in order to be strictly with the Common Version, readier?/ and smoky chair in stead of chair offire and smoke ; although this latter is what the Autograph has, a certain great chair of fire and smoke, &quot; in which&quot;, observes Father Rothaan, there is no solidity, no true glory, but mere agitation and perpetual disturbance joined with thick darkness"; And this image&quot;, he adds, &quot; exhibits the evil spirit such as he is, but not such as he offers himself to men's minds."

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

https://ia600303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf 

The Capetian dynasty (/kəˈpiːʃən/; French: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty, and his male-line descendants, who ruled in France without interruption from 987 to 1792, and again from 1814 to 1848. The senior line ruled in France as the House of Capet from the election of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328. That line was succeeded by cadet branches, the Houses of Valois and then Bourbon, which ruled without interruption until the French Revolution abolished the monarchy in 1792. The Bourbons were restored in 1814 in the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat, but had to vacate the throne again in 1830 in favor of the last Capetian monarch of France, Louis Philippe I, who belonged to the House of Orléans. Cadet branches of the Capetian House of Bourbon house are still ruling over Spain and Luxembourg."

Name origins and usage

The name of the dynasty derives from its founder, Hugh, who was known as "Hugh Capet".[4] The meaning of "Capet" (a nickname rather than a surname of the modern sort) is unknown. While folk etymology identifies it with "cape", other suggestions indicate it might be connected to the Latin word caput ("head"), and explain it as meaning "chief" or "head".[citation needed]

Historians in the 19th century (see House of France) came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet. It was not a contemporary practice. The name "Capet" has also been used as a surname for French royalty, particularly but not exclusively those of the House of Capet. One notable use was during the French Revolution, when the dethroned King Louis XVI (a member of the House of Bourbon and a direct male-line descendant of Hugh Capet) and Queen Marie Antoinette (a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine) were referred to as "Louis and Antoinette Capet" (the queen being addressed as "the Widow Capet" after the execution of her husband).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capetian_dynasty

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all the Catholic churches in the Western world; inscribed on the church facade for all to see are the Latin words “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et CAPUT,” meaning, “The mother and HEAD of all the churches of the city and of the world.”

https://www.simplycatholic.com/st-john-lateran-basilica/

"Head:

1. See Illness, mental

2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]"

page 463

The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf 

"Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person." 

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html 

Revelation 13:18

New International Version

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number"

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013 

Throughout Zoroastrian history, shrines and temples have been the focus of worship and pilgrimage for adherents of the religion. Early Zoroastrians were recorded as worshiping in the 5th century BCE on mounds and hills where fires were lit below the open skies.[58] In the wake of Achaemenid expansion, shrines were constructed throughout the empire and particularly influenced the role of Mithra, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Verethragna and Tishtrya, alongside other traditional Yazata who all have hymns within the Avesta and also local deities and culture-heroes. Today, enclosed and covered fire temples tend to be the focus of community worship where fires of varying grades are maintained by the clergy assigned to the temples.[59]

The incorporation of cultural and local rituals is quite common and traditions have been passed down in historically Zoroastrian communities such as herbal healing practices, wedding ceremonies, and the like.[60][61][31] Traditionally, Zoroastrian rituals have also included shamanic elements involving mystical methods such as spirit travel to the invisible realm and involving the consumption of fortified wine, Haoma, mang, and other ritual aids.[62][33][63][64][65]

In Zoroastrianism, water (aban) and fire (atar) are agents of ritual purity, and the associated purification ceremonies are considered the basis of ritual life. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, water and fire are respectively the second and last primordial elements to have been created, and scripture considers fire to have its origin in the waters (re. which conception see Apam Napat). Both water and fire are considered life-sustaining, and both water and fire are represented within the precinct of a fire temple. Zoroastrians usually pray in the presence of some form of fire (which can be considered evident in any source of light), and the culminating rite of the principal act of worship constitutes a "strengthening of the waters". Fire is considered a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom are gained, and water is considered the source of that wisdom. Both fire and water are also hypostasized as the Yazatas Atar and Anahita, with worship hymns and litanies dedicated to them.[citation needed]

A corpse is considered a host for decay, i.e., of druj. Consequently, scripture enjoins the safe disposal of the dead in a manner such that a corpse does not pollute the good creation. These injunctions are the doctrinal basis of the fast-fading traditional practice of ritual exposure, most commonly identified with the so-called Towers of Silence for which there is no standard technical term in either scripture or tradition. Ritual exposure is currently mainly practiced by Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent, in locations where it is not illegal and diclofenac poisoning has not led to the virtual extinction of scavenger birds. Other Zoroastrian communities either cremate their dead, or bury them in graves that are cased with lime mortar.[citation needed]

The central ritual of Zoroastrianism is the Yasna, which is a recitation of the eponymous book of the Avesta and sacrificial ritual ceremony involving Haoma.[67] Extensions to the Yasna ritual are possible through use of the Visperad and Vendidad, but such an extended ritual is rare in modern Zoroastrianism.[68][69] The Yasna itself descended from Indo-Iranian sacrificial ceremonies and animal sacrifice of varying degrees are mentioned in the Avesta and are still practiced in Zoroastrianism albeit through reduced forms such as the sacrifice of fat before meals.[70] High rituals such as the Yasna are considered to be the purview of the Mobads with a corpus of individual and communal rituals and prayers included in the Khordeh Avesta.[67][71]

A Zoroastrian is welcomed into the faith through the Navjote/Sedreh Pushi ceremony, which is traditionally conducted during the later childhood or pre-teen years of the aspirant, though there is no defined age limit for the ritual.[31][72] After the ceremony, Zoroastrians are encouraged to wear their sedreh (ritual shirt) and kusti (ritual girdle) daily as a spiritual reminder and for mystical protection, though reformist Zoroastrians tend to only wear them during festivals, ceremonies, and prayers.[73][31][72]

Historically, Zoroastrians are encouraged to pray the five daily Gāhs and to maintain and celebrate the various holy festivals of the Zoroastrian calendar, which can differ from community to community.[74][75] Zoroastrian prayers, called manthras, are conducted usually with hands outstretched in imitation of Zoroaster's prayer style described in the Gathas and are of a reflectionary and supplicant nature believed to be endowed with the ability to banish evil.[76][77][52] Devout Zoroastrians are known to cover their heads during prayer, either with traditional topi, scarves, other headwear, or even just their hands. However, full coverage and veiling which is traditional in Islamic practice is not a part of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian women in Iran wear their head coverings displaying hair and their faces to defy mandates by the Islamic Republic of Iran.[78]

Late antiquity

As late as the Parthian period, a form of Zoroastrianism was without a doubt the dominant religion in the Armenian lands.[115] The Sassanids aggressively promoted the Zurvanite form of Zoroastrianism, often building fire temples in captured territories to promote the religion. During the period of their centuries-long suzerainty over the Caucasus, the Sassanids made attempts to promote Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes, and it was prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus (especially modern-day Azerbaijan).[citation needed]

Due to its ties to the Christian Roman Empire, Persia's arch-rival since Parthian times, the Sassanids were suspicious of Roman Christianity, and after the reign of Constantine the Great, sometimes persecuted it.[116] In 451 CE, The Sassanid authority clashed with their Armenian subjects in the Battle of Avarayr, making them officially break with the Roman Church. But the Sassanids tolerated or even sometimes favored the Christianity of the Church of the East. The acceptance of Christianity in Georgia (Caucasian Iberia) saw the Zoroastrian religion there slowly but surely decline,[117] but as late the 5th century CE, it was still widely practised as something like a second established religion.[118][119]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing 

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing 

Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[b] 17 December 1936) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian pope Gregory III.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness of pneumonia and cysts, he was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina. The administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is credited with having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, for instance choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis 

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who serves as the 31st and present superior general of the Society of Jesus. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation on 14 October 2016, succeeding Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

Early life and education

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on 12 November 1948,[1] the son of Arturo Sosa, Sr. a prestigious businessman who served twice as finance minister in 1958 and 1982.[2] He entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.[1] He earned a licentiate in philosophy from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in 1972, and a doctorate in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1990.[3][4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf 

PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN It contains in it three times, and two to examine oneself. The first time is in the morning, immediately on rising, when one ought to propose to guard himself with diligence against that particular sin or defect which he wants to correct and amend. The second time is after dinner, when one is to ask of God our Lord what one wants, namely, grace to remember how many times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect, and to amend himself in the future. Then let him make the first Examen, asking account of his soul of that particular thing proposed, which he wants to correct and amend. Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make in the first line of the G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make. The third time: After supper, the second Examen will be made, in the same way, hour by hour, commencing at the first Examen and continuing up to the present (second) one, and let him make in the second line of the same G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. FOUR ADDITIONS FOLLOW TO RID ONESELF SOONER OF THAT PARTICULAR SIN OR DEFECT First Addition. The first Addition is that each time one falls into that particular sin or defect, let him put his hand on his breast, grieving for having fallen: which can be done even in the presence of many, without their perceiving what he is doing. Second Addition. The second: As the first line of the G------- means the first Examen, and the second line the second Examen, let him look at night if there is amendment from the first line to the second, that is, from the first Examen to the second. Third Addition. The third: To compare the second day with the first; that is, the two Examens of the present day with the other two Examens of the previous day, and see if he has amended himself from one day to the other. Fourth Addition. The fourth Addition: To compare one week with another, and see if he has amended himself in the present week over the week past. Note. It is to be noted that the first (large) G------- which follows means the Sunday: the second (smaller), the Monday: the third, the Tuesday, and so on.

GGGGGG

"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

TRANSLATED FROM

THE AUTOGRAPH

BY

FATHER ELDER MULLAN, S.J.

I.H.S.

NEW YORK

P.J. KENEDY & SONS

PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

THE FOURTH, or iron, kingdom symbolised the great EMPIRE OF ROME, which was to exist in two different stages : the first united with a strength like that of iron, which would devour the whole earth and break it in pieces ; the second divided into ten, the iron sharing the weakness of clay. The first or unbroken stage covers a period of about six centuries, from the conquests of Scipio, Sylla, and Pompey to the fall of the last emperor of Rome, Romulus Augustulus, A.D. 476. Jerome at the beginning of the fifth century clearly perceived, not only the fulfilment of the first part of the pre diction, but the commencement of the second, which was observable even in his day, though abundantly more clear afterwards. He says : &quot; But the fourth kingdom, which clearly relates to the Ro-mans, is iron, which breaks in pieces and subdues all things. But its feet and toes are in part iron and in part clay ; which is proved very plainly at this time (A.D. 400). For as in the beginning nothing was harder and stronger than the Roman empire, so in the end of things nothing is weaker.&quot; Marvellous was the announcement in the days when it was given, betore even Greece had risen into notice, and when Italy was the home of only a few feeble and constantly warring tribes, that an empire born among those barbarians was to extend its sway over the East, and be endued with a firmness of which oriental monarchs knew nothing. So little known was Rome even two hundred years later that Herodotus, in describing the earth with all its towns and cities, rivers and mountains, etc., never once mentions either the city of Rome or the Tiber on which it stands. For five centuries from its foundation there was very little indication that the Roman power would ever become a great one. Even when the empire of Alexander was falling into decay, Rome was nearly brought to destruction by the Punic wars ; and not till just before the end of the Macedonian monarchy were the Romans sufficiently free from domestic enemies to enter on a career of conquest. But then indeed it fulfilled to the letter the remarkable predictions in the prophecy, carried its victorious arms throughout the world by conquest, and by its singular power of governing subdued all nations and attained dimensions that had never before been equalled, and a degree of power which has never been paralleled since. When the victories of Trajan carried the power of Rome to its height, all nations were merely vassals to the mistress of the world. Gibbon s description of the might and majesty of the Roman empire should be read in the light of the pro phecy in order to a real appreciation of the wonderful fulfil ment of the latter. After reviewing in detail the different countries subjected to its sway, he says : &quot; This long enumeration of provinces, whose broken frag-ments have formed so many powerful kingdoms, might almost induce us to forgive the vanity or ignorance of the ancients. Dazzled with the extensive sway, the irresistible strength, and the real or affected moderation of the emperors, they permitted themselves to despise, and sometimes to forget, the outlying countries which had been left in the enjoyment of a barbarous independence ; and they gradually usurped the licence of confounding the Roman monarchy with the globe of the earth. . . . That empire was above two thousand miles in breadth, from the wall of Antoninus and the nor thern limits of Dacia to Mount Atlas, and the Tropic of Cancer. It extended, in length, more than three thousand miles from the Western Ocean to the Euphrates. It was supposed to contain above sixteen hundred thousand square miles, for the most part of fertile and well-cultivated land. The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the ocean ; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to repre sent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome. &quot; The empire of the Romans filled the world ; and when that empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. The slave of imperial despotism, whether condemned to drag his gilded chain in Rome and the senate, or to wear out a life of exile on the barren rock of Seriphus, or the frozen banks of the Danube, expected his fate in silent despair. To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly. On every side he was encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master. Beyond the frontiers his anxious view could discover nothing except the ocean, inhospitable deserts, and hostile tribes of barbarians of fierce manners and unknown language, or dependent who would gladly purchase the Emperor s protection by the sacrifice of an obnoxious fugitive.&quot; l We have seen that Daniel s fourfold image and the vision of the four beasts both represent the Roman power as con tinuing in existence up to the time of the second advent, and as being destroyed and succeeded only by it. They represent the fourth, or Roman empire, as rising on the fall of the Grecian, and as occupying the whole interval between that date and the close of the times of the Gentiles. There is no break or gap in the image, and the fourth beast it is distinctly said continues //// the establishment of the kingdom of the Son of man and of the saints.2 Now the old empire of Rome ended in the fifth century ; has any other form of power exercised from Rome arisen, and is it now in existence, and has this revived power of Rome been exercised over a commonwealth of ten king doms ? This is evidently an exceedingly interesting and most important part of our inquiry into the fulfilment of this Daniel programme, because if history has realized this part of the foreview as exactly as the former portion, the fulfil ment must embrace our own times, since the tenfold condition of the Roman world is to continue to the end of the age. Now it is one thing to read of a fulfilment in the past, and another to see it with our own eyes in the present. The Canon of Ptolemy and Gibbon s history of the Decline and Fall are doubtless good and trustworthy evidence ; but, after all, &quot;seeing is believing,&quot; and there is nothing like experience for producing conviction. Present phenomena must needs impress the mind more than past ; hence the importance of the inquiry, Was the Roman world divided into ten kingdoms on the fall of the empire ? Has this division continued from that day to this clearly traceable ? Is it evident even now ? What were the ten kingdoms at first ? What have they been ever since ? and what are they at present ? The answer to these inquiries is profoundly interesting, because among other reasons it must needs afford an indication of our pre sent position in the stream of time with regard to the second advent. That indication may be to some extent indefinite, but it must be there, and it is the clearest information on the all-important subject which is attainable. The programme presents five episodes the four empires and the tenfold commonwealth and then follows the second advent. The four empires are past. When we have examined history on the subject of the tenfold commonwealth, we shall see how much of that is also past, and be able to judge to some extent how much remains ; and this, though not the main object of our investigation, is a deeply interesting incidental result. To trace the fulfilment of the prophecy as an evi dence of the inspiration of Scripture is our object ; but who can fail to welcome any light on the subject of our Lord s return ? The first question that arises for consideration is, In what sphere are we to look for the ten kingdoms ? Shall we seek for them in the whole extent of the Roman empire at the time of its widest dominion ? or in that part of its territory which was properly Roman as distinguished from the countries belonging to previous empires subjugated by Rome ? A very little consideration will show that prophecy regards the four empires as being as distinct in territory as in time ; as distinct in geographical boundaries as in chronological limits. They rise in a definite sequence; the supreme dominion of one does not in point of time overlap the supreme dominion of the following one, nor is the territory of a former &quot;beast&quot; or empire ever regarded as belonging to a later one, though it may have been actually conquered. Each has its own proper theatre or body, and the bodies continue to exist after the dominion is taken away. This is distinctly stated, both in connection with the fourfold image and with the four beasts. In the first case the stone falls upon the clay and iron feet only, but the iron legs, the brazen body, the silver breast, and the golden head, are all by it &quot; broken to pieces togetJier&quot; Now the empires repre sented by these have long since passed away. They cannot therefore be &quot; broken to pieces &quot; by the second advent. But the territory once occupied by them is still existing and still populous, and exposed to the judgments of the day of Christ just as much as Rome itself. Similarly we read that the three earlier beasts did not cease to exist when the fourth arose. &quot; Their dominion was taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.&quot; 1 That is to say, the first three empires are re garded as co-existing with the fourth after their dominion has ended. This proves that they are regarded as distinct in place as well as in time. They continue to be recognised as territorial divisions of the earth after the disappearance of their political supremacy. Now the eastern empire of Rome which it acquired by conquest occupied precisely the same territory as the Grecian empire had done, and its conquests in Asia occupied the territories which originally formed the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires. None of this territory belongs to &quot; the legs of iron.&quot; It constitutes the golden, silver, and brazen portions of the image. It can not be regarded as forming any part of the empire proper and peculiar to Rome. The ten horns or kingdoms of the fourth empire must none of them be sought in the realms of the third, second, or first, but exclusively in the realm of the fourth, or in the territory PECULIAR to ROME, and which had never formed part either of the Grecian, Medo-Persian, or Babylonian empires. Sir Isaac Newton says on this point : &quot; Seeing body of the third beast is confined to the nations on this side the Euphrates, and the body of the fourth beast is con fined to the nations on this side of Greece, we are to look for all the four heads of the third beast among the nations on this side the Euphrates, and for all the eleven horns of the fourth beast among the nations on this side of Greece. Therefore we do not reckon the Greek empire seated at Constantinople among the horns of the fourth beast, because it belonged to the body of the third.&quot; Our question then becomes more definite and takes this form Was the territory peculiar to Route, the territory which is sometimes spoken of as the Western Empire, and of which Rome itself was the capital, divided on the fall of the old empire into ten kingdoms? It is notorious that such was the case. From the rise of the Roman empire to its fall in the fifth century it was one and undivided ; since its decline and fall as an empire, the territory peculiar to Rome has been broken up into many independent sovereignties, bound to gether into the one family of Latin Christendom by a common submission to the popes of Rome. The number of distinct kingdoms has always been about ten at times exactly ten, sinking at intervals to eight or nine, rising occasionally to twelve or thirteen, but averaging on the whole ten. The prophecy distinctly predicted that the number would not be constantly or invariably ten. It represents a little horn springing up among the ten, then there must have been eleven. It represents that three of the horns were plucked up before this little horn, then there could have been for a time ei^ht o only. Fresh horns must however have taken the place of the uprooted ones, for at the close of the beast s history the number is represented as still ten. Hence the number of the kingdoms was to be generally, but not rigidly or unvaryingly, ten ; there would as a rule throughout the whole period be ten kingdoms, occupying the sphere of the western empire of Rome ; but the number would be elastic, sometimes less, sometimes more, but always about ten, so that no other number of horns would as correctly represent the facts of the case. Alexander s empire was re presented by one notable horn, the dynasties that arose amidst its broken fragments by four horns ; but Rome was to break up into a larger number, and ten different kingdoms would appear upon the scene, and occupy even till the end, the territory belonging to the fourth beast, still having Rome as in some sort their centre and bond of union, for they were to be horns of the Roman beast. Such are the symbols, and they are the more remarkable because they foretell a state of things which had never existed in the world at the time when the prophecy was given, and which never did exist till a thousand years after wards. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome in its first phase, all sought and obtained unii crsal dominion, and could brook no rival power. The prophecy foretold that in the distant future another state of things should arise, and that co-exist ing side by side, a family of ten kingdoms should divide the heritage of Rome, and while no longer in subjection to it as provinces, should yet, as independent kingdoms, continue to have a common connection with Rome. The fact that the portion of the prophecy devoted to the detailed history of these horns is two or three times as long as that devoted to the history of the undivided empire, suggests that their actual history might probably extend over a much longer period than that of the undivided empire ; and there is no question that they continue in existence until the coming of Christ, and the establishment of His millennial kingdom. They rise on the fall of tlie empire, for there is no gap in the image, and no break in the continuity of the history of the fourth beast, no indication whatever that any interval is to exist between the united and the dismembered con ditions of the Roman world. The iron legs run right on the ten toes, and the story of the beast is continued without a break in the story of the ten horns. What now have been the facts of history ? Was the Roman empire on its fall divided into a number of separate kingdoms, and has it continued to be so ever since ? Has the number of such kingdoms averaged ten ? Have they retained a common connection with Rome ? And how many such kingdoms now occupy the scene ? The ten kingdoms must first of course be sought among the Gothic dynasties of the fifth and sixth centuries by which the empire of the West was overthrown ; and then at intervals ever since. Should we find that Europe has for ages been united under one monarch, or should we on the other hand find that it has been divided as a rule into thirty or forty kingdoms, we shall be driven to conclude that the prophecy has failed of fulfilment. But should we on the contrary find that amid incessant changes the number of the kingdoms of the European commonwealth has, as a rule, averaged ten, we must surely admit tuat this portion of the prophecy is as much fulfilled as the earlier portion of the four undivided empires. What further evidence of fulfilment can be desired, than that the thing predicted has come to pass ? As it would be impossible to note the exact number o f kingdoms for each year of the thirteen or fourteen centuries which have since elapsed, we must content ourselves with taking a census each century. The historian Machiavel, without the slightest reference to t/iis prophecy, gives the following list of the nations whid* occupied the territory of the Western Empire at the timf. of the fall of Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of Rome. The Lombards, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Ostro goths, the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Heruli, the Sueves, the Huns, and the Saxons ; ten in all.

After a time the Huns disappeared, but other powers arose and obtained a home in the domains of old Rome. The changes were incessant, as horde after horde of barbarian invaders pressed in on every side to share the spoils ; but still the number of established kingdoms was again and again ten. It never rose to twenty or thirty, it never fell to two or three. Charlemagne in his day reduced it for a time, and attempted, like Napoleon in a later age, to restore unity; both utterly failed, and after a very few years the normal ten kingdoms reappeared. The following list gives the contemporary kingdoms ex isting in Western Europe at intervals of a hundred years apart, from the Qth to the iQth centuries. It is extracted from a much longer series in &quot; The Four Prophetic Empires,&quot; by the Rev. T. R. Birks, and is introduced by the remark that a measure of uncertainty must exist as to whether some of the States should be included, as &quot; it is sometimes doubt ful whether a kingdom can claim an independent sovereignty on account of the complex and varying nature of its political relations.&quot; But as exactly as it can be estimated from the records of history, the following lists present the members of the family of kingdoms as they appeared from century to century. Where a note of interrogation follows a name, it implies that there are some elements of doubt as to whether it should be included or not. A.D. 860. Italy, Provence, Lorraine, East France, West France, Exarchate, Venice, Navarre, England, Scotland. Total, 10. A.D. 950. Germany, Burgundy, Lombardy, Exarchate, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Navarre, Leon. Total, 10. A.D. 1050. Germany, Exarchate, Venice, Norman Italy, France, England, Scot land, Arragon, Castile, Normandy (?), Hungary (?). Total, 9 to 11.

A.D. 1150. Germany, Naples, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Cas tile, Portugal, Hungary, Lombardy (?). Total, 10, or perhaps n. A.D. 1250. Germany and Naples, Venice, Lombardy, France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Castile, Portugal, Hungary. Total, 10. A.D. 1350. Germany, Naples, Venice, Switzerland (?), Milan (?), Tuscany (?), France, England and Scotland, Arragon, Castile, Portugal, Hungary. Total, 9 to 12. A.D. 1453. Austria, Naples, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Arragon, Cas tile, Portugal, Hungary, Switzerland (?), Savoy (?), Milan (?), Tus cany (?). Total, 1 1 to 14. A.D. 1552. Austria, Venice, France, England, Scotland, Spain, Naples, Portugal, Hungary, Switzerland (?), Lombardy (?). Total, 9 to 11. A.D. 1648. Austria, Venice, France, Britain (?), Spain and Naples, Portugal,. Hungary, Switzerland (?), Savoy, Tuscany, Holland. Total, 8 to 11. A.D. 1750. Austria and Hungary, France, Savoy and Sardinia, Venice, Tuscany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland (?), Naples (?), Britain (?), Holland. Total, 8 to ii. A.D. 1816. Austria, Bavaria, Wurtemburg (?), Naples, Tuscany, Sardinia, Lom bardy (?), France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Britain (?), Switzer land (?). Total, 9 to 13.

An examination of this list reveals the surprising fact, which would only become more apparent were the list lengthened ten times, so as to present a census of each de cade instead of each century, that, amidst unceasing and al most countless fluctuations, the kingdoms of modern Europe have from their birth to the present day averaged ten in number. They have never since the break-up of old Rome been united into one single empire; they have never formed one ivhole even like the United States. No scheme of proud ambition seeking- to reunite the broken fragments has ever succeeded ; when such have arisen, they have been invariably dashed to pieces. Witness the legions of Napoleon buried beneath the snows of Russia, the armadas of Spain wrecked by Atlantic storms, and all the futile royal marriage arrange ments by which monarchs vainly sought to create a revived empire. In spite of all human effort, in defiance of every attempt at reunion, the European commonwealth for thirteen or fourteen centuries lias numbered on an average ten king doms. And the division is as apparent now as ever ! Plainly and palpably inscribed on the map of Europe this day, it confronts the sceptic with its silent but conclusive testimony to the fulfilment of this great prophecy. Who can alter or add to this tenfold list of the kingdoms now occupying the sphere ol old Rome ? ITALY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, ENGLAND, HOLLAND, BELGIUM, SPAIN, and PORTUGAL. Ten, and no more ; ten, and no less ! The Franco-Prus sian war and the unification of Italy have once more developed distinctly the normal number of the kingdoms of Europe. Nor is this all. The most marked feature of this prophecy is neither the four beasts nor the ten horns of the fourth, but the little horn with eyes and mouth that came up amongthem ; it is neither the four empires nor the ten kingdoms, but the one supremely influential and singularly wicked dynasty that rises with, and rules over, the latter ; exalts itself, blasphemes God, wears out His saints, and ultimately brings down Divine judgment on the beast and all his horns, itself included ; i.e., on apostate Latin Christendom, and its centre ROME. What was this little horn ? To answer this question we ask another. What was the central ruling power in the European commonwealth of nations throughout the thousand years of the dark ages from the sixth to the sixteenth cen turies ? It was a power that ruled from Rome as did the Caesars. It was the succession of Roman pontiffs, the line of tiara-crowned monarchs who for more than twelve cen turies governed papal Rome; who ranked as temporal sove reigns as well as high priests in the Church, and who united under their sway the separate kingdoms of Latin Christen dom. Every feature of the prophecy was fulfilled in their dynasty, and in no other. Those features are six in number. The prophecy lays its finger on the place where we are to. find the great enemy Rome ; on the point of time in the course of history at which we may expect to see him rise the fall of the empire and the division of the Roman territory into a commonwealth of kingdoms ; it specifies the nature of the power politico-ecclesiastical, a horn, and yet an over seer or bishop ; its character blasphemously self-exalting, lawless, and persecuting; it measures its duration 1 a time, and times, and the dividing of time &quot; (or 1,260 years) ; and it specifies its doojii to have its dominion gradually consumed and taken away, and then be suddenly destroyed for ever by the glorious epiphany of Christ and the introduction of the kingdom of God on earth. The proof that the Papacy is the power intended is strictly cumulative. If it answered to one of these indications, there would be a slight presumption against it ; if to several, a strong one ; if to the majority, an overwhelming one ; while if it answer to all, then the proof that it is the power in tended becomes irresistible. There is not a single clause in the prophecy that cannot be proved to fit the Roman Papacy exactly, except the last, which is not yet fulfilled. Rome, which in her pagan phase defiled and destroyed the literal temple of God at Jerusalem, in her papal days defiled and destroyed the anti-typical spiritual temple of God the Christian Church. Was it not worthy of God to warn that Church beforehand of the coming of this dreadful anti-Chris-tian power, and to cheer her in all the sufferings she would have to endure from its tyranny by a knowledge of the issue of the great and terrible drama ? Was it. not right that the Roman power, pagan and papal, should occupy as paramount a place on the page of Scripture as it has actually done on the page of history ? The eighteen Christian centuries lay open before the eye of the omniscient God, and no figure stood out so prominently in all their long course as that of the great antichrist. The pen of inspiration sketched him in a few bold, masterly strokes; and there is no mistaking the por trait. The prophecy identifies the greatest power of evil that has ever arisen in the earth, and unmasks the most treacherous and deceptive foe which the Church has ever had to meet ; for if the ten horns be the kingdoms of modern Europe, there can be no question as to what the little horn is. Throughout Wes tern Europe and throughout the dark ages all men reverenced, served, and obeyed the popes of Rome, whose dominion was exceeding evil, and whose pretension was the blasphemous one to be quasi Dens as God on earth. The idolatry of ancient Babylon was revived under this modern Babylon in another form, and the judgment that descended on the former will ere long descend on the latter according to this prophecy. We must, however, refer to another work for the full expo sition of the subject, as space forbids our going further into it here. 1 

The Divine Programme of The World's History 

H. Grattan Guinness

https://neohistoricism.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/1892-the-divine-programme-of-the-worlds-history-h-gratton-guinness.pdf  

[529] C. 1The entire purport of this fourth vow of obedience to the pope was and is with regard to missions; 2and this is how the bulls should be understood where they speak of this obedience in all that the sovereign pontiff may command and wherever he may send one, and so on."

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

"Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a ROMAN work of the entire Society, 304 §2"

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms 

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts 

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES SAINT LOUIS, 1996 

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas.[2] He is the son of William Jefferson Blythe Jr., a traveling salesman who died in an automobile accident three months before his birth, and Virginia Dell Cassidy (later Virginia Kelley).[3] Blythe had initially survived the crash, but drowned in a drainage ditch. His parents had married on September 4, 1943, but this union later proved to be bigamous, as Blythe was still married to his fourth wife.[4] Virginia traveled to New Orleans to study nursing soon after Bill was born, leaving him in Hope with her parents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and ran a small grocery store.[5] At a time when the southern United States was racially segregated, Clinton's grandparents sold goods on credit to people of all races.[5][6][7][8][9] In 1950, Bill's mother returned from nursing school and married Roger Clinton Sr., who co-owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas, with his brother and Earl T. Ricks.[5] The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton

Camp Loman is a minor antagonist in Stephen King's 1986 film Maximum Overdrive. He is a middle-aged bible salesman.

He was portrayed by Christopher Murney.  

Biography

Loman is first seen in the scene where he is riding with Brett Graham, who later becomes the love interest for the protagonist Bill Robinson. While at the car, Loman keeps annoying Brett by touching her legs and upper thighs while listening to an emergency announcement that calls humans to get off the highways.

Brett immediately steers the car to the Dixie Boy truck stop, and Loman argues against her purpose to exit the highway. With the argument going on, the truck starts to move and attempts to hit the two, who ran to the truck stop building. Sometime later, Loman contacts with Wanda June and a trucker to sell a copy of the Bible. As he explains the benefits of the Bible, a truck hits and dumps junk to the car Loman rode earlier in the film, making him angry. He tries to stop the "driver" of that truck outside, with Bill and others asking Loman to return inside.

Loman continues to express anger to the truck, but the Green Goblin truck reverses towards Loman, hitting him out of his shoes down to a ditch. Loman lies unconscious in the ditch.

One night, the human survivors hear Loman calling for help from the ditch. Bill and another survivor, Curtis, are dispatched to the ditch via a sewer passage. Deke Keller, a young traveling survivor, went to the same ditch Loman ends up and encounters his body. Deke waves his hand and checks Loman's breathing, but doesn't immediately receive a response from him.  

When Deke tries to leave, Loman wakes up and grabs Deke's leg. Loman demands that Deke pull him out of the ditch, or else he'll kill him. He then dies of his injuries, his hand remaining locked around Deke's leg.

Bill and Curtis discover Deke calling for help from the dead Loman's grasp. As they release Deke, one of the trucks detects the humans and steers toward them to the ditch. The surviving humans quickly escape to the sewer from this truck, which runs over Loman's body.

https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Camp_Loman

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

Marla Maples: 2nd Woman

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091499/characters/nm0005185

Marla Ann Maples (born October 27, 1963)[1] is an American actress, television personality, model, singer and presenter. She was the second wife of former U.S. president Donald Trump. They married in 1993, two months after the birth of their daughter Tiffany, and divorced in 1999.[2][3]

Early life

Maples was born on October 27, 1963, in Cohutta, Georgia. Her mother, Ann Locklear Maples, was a homemaker and model, and her father, Stanley Edward Maples, a real estate developer, county commissioner, singer, and songwriter.[4][5] She has one half-sister from her father's previous marriage.[6]

Maples attended Northwest Whitfield High School in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, where she played basketball, served as class secretary and was crowned the 1980–1981 homecoming queen during her senior year (she returned for the 1991 homecoming to crown the school's new queen).[7]

After graduating from high school in 1981, Maples competed in beauty contests and pageants. In 1983, she won the Miss Resaca Beach Poster Girl Contest, in 1984 she was the runner-up to Miss Georgia USA, and in 1985 she won the Miss Hawaiian Tropic.[8][9]

She entered the University of Georgia in 1981 but left college before graduating.[4]

Career

Film, television, and theater

In 1991, Maples appeared as a celebrity guest at WWF WrestleMania VII, serving as special guest timekeeper in the main event match between Hulk Hogan and defending WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter. In that year, Maples also made a special appearance in the hit television series Designing Women as herself. In August 1992, Maples joined the cast of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical The Will Rogers Follies as "Ziegfeld's Favorite", a role originated by Cady Huffman when the show opened in May 1991.[10][11]

In 1994, Maples appeared alongside then-husband Donald Trump in a cameo appearance in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air[12] and the television series Something Wilder in 1994.

Maples co-hosted the 1996 and 1997 Miss Universe Pageant and the 1997 Miss USA Pageant, both of which were owned by her then-husband.[13]

Maples appeared in the films Maximum Overdrive (1986), Executive Decision (1996), For Richer or Poorer (1997), Happiness (1998), Richie Rich's Christmas Wish (1998), Black and White (1999), Two of Hearts (1999), Loving Annabelle (2006), A Christmas Too Many (2007), and A Nanny for Christmas (2010).[citation needed]

In 2011, she returned to New York for Love, Loss and What I Wore, an off-Broadway production.[14] In 2013, Maples was featured on Oprah: Where Are They Now?[15]

Since then, she appeared in Switching Lanes, directed by Thomas Mikal Ford.[16][17]

On March 8, 2016, Maples was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars alongside her Switching Lanes co-star, Kim Fields.[18] She was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani.[19] Maples and Dovolani were eliminated on Week 4 of competition and finished in 10th place. Maples also joined the women of ABC's morning talk show, The View, as a guest co-host on March 11, 2016.[20]

Maples is a keynote speaker with the London Speakers Bureau, focusing on inspiring women, wellness, spirituality, and motivation.[21]

Maples was featured in the Summer of Peace Summit 2018 with the opportunity to discuss topics of peace and finding common ground.[22]

Maples spoke at the 2018 Global Summit on Science, Spirituality, and Environment in India; the event brought together speakers from around the world to discuss the integration of science and spirituality, as well as self-transformation and world-transformation.[23]

Maples was a guest speaker on the Journeys of Faith podcast with Paula Faris in 2018.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marla_Maples

Bill Clinton ‘Encouraged’ Trump to Run

SLICK WILLY

Updated Apr. 14, 2017 10:12AM EDT / 

Published Aug. 05, 2015 3:33PM EDT 

Bill Clinton called Donald Trump this spring and “encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party,” The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing five people familiar with the exchange. Clinton’s personal office confirmed the call occurred. Trump aides claim their boss was “candid about his political ambitions and his potential interest in seeking the White House during the talk....” Clinton “analyzed Trump’s prospects and his desire to rouse the GOP base,” according to Trump allies.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/08/05/bill-clinton-encouraged-trump

In 1966, the Harris family began moving around various locations in the MIDWEST, with both parents working at multiple universities in succession over a brief period.[20][21][22] Kamala, along with her mother and sister, moved back to California in 1970.[23][24][21] African-American intellectuals and rights advocates constituted Harris's formative surroundings.[25] Harris's parents divorced when she was seven. When she was twelve, Harris and her sister moved with their mother to Montreal, Quebec.[26][27] Harris graduated from Westmount High School[b] in 1981.[29]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

"It was while investigating the Little Rock integration incident in 1957 that I first learned of Pike’s rapid advance in Freemasonry, and knowing that Weishaupt, using Thomas Jefferson and Moses Holbrook, had infiltrated Illuminists into the Masonic Lodges of America, I decided I would find out if the fact that Pike’s mansion in Little Rock had thirteen rooms had any significance. “Thirteen’ figures prominently in Satanic, Luciferian and Cabalistic rituals, codes, and writings, etc. My investigations produced documentary evidence to show that, because of Pike’s exceptional mental ability, he came under the notice of professors in Harvard who were members of the Illuminati, who developed in his mind the ‘idea that a One World Government, a One World Religion and a One World financial and economic system was the ONLY solution to the world’s many and varied problems. I next discovered that his departure from Harvard was not due to lack of finances, or because of a misunderstanding with the faculty over tuition fees, but because of his ‘radical’ ideas and teachings. When he returned home determined that he would ‘fight’ his way to the top despite all opposition, he was in a suitable frame of mind to be recruited as a ‘Minerval’ or ‘apprentice’ into the lower degrees of the Illuminati."

Satan Prince of This World by William Guy Carr

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view?usp=sharing

Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, also known as Adams Field, is a joint civil-military airport on the east side of Little Rock, Arkansas. It is operated by the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission. 

The largest commercial airport in Arkansas, it served more than 2.1 million passengers in the year spanning from March 2009 through to February 2010.[6] While Clinton National Airport does not have direct international passenger flights, more than 50 flights arrive or depart at Little Rock each day, with nonstop service to 14 cities.[7] The airport is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a small-hub primary commercial service facility.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_National_Airport

"The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site is located in HOPE, Arkansas.[2] Built in 1917 by Dr. H. S. Garrett, in this house the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, spent the first four years of his life, having been born on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in HOPE, Arkansas.[3][4] The house was owned by Clinton's maternal grandparents, Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, and they cared for him when his mother, Virginia, was away working as an anesthetist in New Orleans.[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_William_Jefferson_Clinton_Birthplace_Home_National_Historic_Site

"Tragedy and HOPE: A History of the World in Our Time is a work of history written by former Georgetown University professor and historian Carroll Quigley. The book covers the period of roughly 1880 to 1963 and is multidisciplinary in nature though perhaps focusing on the economic problems brought about by the First World War and the impact these had on subsequent events. While global in scope, the book focuses on Western civilization."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_and_Hope

"In his first year (1965) in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, Bill Clinton took Quigley's course, receiving a 'B' as his final grade in both semesters (an excellent grade in a course where nearly half the students received D or lower).[1]: 94, 96 In 1991, Clinton named Quigley as an important influence on his aspirations and political philosophy, when Clinton launched his presidential campaign in a speech at Georgetown.[1]: 96 He said he learned from Quigley that “The future can be better than the past, and that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.” Bill Clinton told his audiences, “that is what the new choice is all about....We are not here to save the Democratic party. We are here to save the United States of America.” It was Clinton's most effective speech, and he repeated variations time and time again as the blueprint for his campaign message in winning the Democratic nomination and the general election for President of the United States in 1992.[21][22]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Quigley

"Theorists also cite the inclusion of Bill Clinton at the meetings in 1991 before he was president and Tony Blair’s presence in 1993 before he became the British prime minister as examples of the group’s power. Past attendees have included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (who will also be attending this year), former Chase Manhattan chief executive David Rockefeller, and British Prime Minister David Cameron." 

Bilderberg Group: What To Know About the Secretive Meetings

https://time.com/4362872/bilderberg-group-meetings-2016-conspiracy-theories/

"Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner October 20, 2016 Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Henry Kissinger Gayle King Cardinal Dolan Katie Couric Chuck Schumer Mayor Bill de Blasio"

https://www.facebook.com/MariaBartiromo/posts/alfred-e-smith-memorial-foundation-dinner-october-20-2016-donald-trump-hillary-c/1353937201283479/

"HOPE: all hope is to be placed in God, and with what degree of perfection [67]; eternal life alone is to be hoped for as a reward [82]; the extent to which this hope should be of assistance [288]; how hope should be shown by the dying | 595]; hope in the preservation and growth of the Society [812]. See also Faithfulness" The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms pg. 464 

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf 

Bill Clinton ‘Encouraged’ Trump to Run

SLICK WILLY

Updated Apr. 14, 2017 10:12AM EDT / 

Published Aug. 05, 2015 3:33PM EDT 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/08/05/bill-clinton-encouraged-trump

Trump and Harris neck-and-neck as she prepares to announce VP pick after meeting candidates Sunday: Live

Harris met with top running mate contenders Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro at her Washington DC residence

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kamala-harris-vp-pick-trump-polls-news-b2591106.html

Kamala Devi Harris[a] was born in Oakland, California,[15] on October 20, 1964.[16] Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan was a biologist who moved to the United States from India as a 19-year-old graduate student in 1958, and whose work on the progesterone receptor gene stimulated advances in breast cancer research.[17] Kamala Harris's father, DONALD J. Harris,[18] is a Stanford University professor of economics (emeritus) who arrived in the United States from Jamaica in 1961.[19]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris 

DONALD JOHN Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

Just before the War of 1812, the British clandestinely organized several Scottish Rite Lodges in the northeast with headquarters at Boston. After the War they were discovered by Charleston, and following some negotiations, were permitted to operate under the English Masonic obedience (obedience meaning "constitution"). The Boston headquarters became known as the Northern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Freemasonry and has since been nicknamed the "Eastern Establishment." The Charleston headquarters became known as the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Freemasonry. As stated earlier, the Southern Jurisdiction followed the French Masonic obedience. 

The Southern Jurisdiction Supreme Council operates its "Grand East" or spiritual headquarters from Charleston. In 1870 it moved its "Secretariat" (political office) to Washington, D.C.68 An indication of Masonry's influence is the fact that of the two parades permitted to march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., one is the Inaugural Parade and the other the Shriner's Parade. 

Shriners are sometimes referred to as thirty-second and a half degree Masons. The Shriners operate children's hospitals. (See Appendix 7 for their history). 

All Masons in America must travel through the first three "Blue Lodge" degrees before choosing York or Scottish Rites, both of which are Templar Rites. The 13th degree York Mason and 32 degree Scottish Mason unite in the Shrine. (See Appendix 2, Fig. 3.) 

We can make some general observations regarding the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of American Freemasonry. The Northern Jurisdiction, which we can identify in American politics with the Eastern Establishment, is right-wing or moderate. It is the headquarters of America's aristocracy and is primarily Republican. The Southern Jurisdiction is left-wing or liberal, more or less comprised of the working middle class and common laborer, and usually Democrat. There are crossovers in both Jurisdictions, and when voters in America take sides on issues, we are caught up in this Masonic struggle of conservative versus liberal, right-wing versus left-wing, big business versus labor, free enterprise versus socialism, etc.

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel 

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

Artaxerxes I (/ˌɑːrtəˈzɜːrksiːz/, Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 Artaxšaçāʰ;[2][3] Greek: Ἀρταξέρξης)[4] was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC.[5][6] He was the third son of Xerxes I.

In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" (Ancient Greek: μακρόχειρ Makrókheir; Latin: Longimanus), allegedly because his right hand was longer than his left.[7]

Succession to the throne

Artaxerxes was probably born in the reign of his grandfather Darius I, to the emperor's son and heir, Xerxes I. In 465 BC, Xerxes I was murdered by Hazarapat ("commander of thousand") Artabanus, the commander of the royal bodyguard and the most powerful official in the Persian court, with the help of a eunuch, Aspamitres.[8] Greek historians give contradicting accounts of events. According to Ctesias (in Persica 20), Artabanus then accused Crown Prince Darius, Xerxes's eldest son, of the murder, and persuaded Artaxerxes to avenge the patricide by killing Darius. But according to Aristotle (in Politics 5.1311b), Artabanus killed Darius first and then killed Xerxes. After Artaxerxes discovered the murder, he killed Artabanus and his sons.[9][10]

Egyptian revolt

The ancient Egyptian god Amun-Min in front of Artaxerxes' cartouche.

Artaxerxes had to face a revolt in Egypt in 460–454 BC led by Inaros II, who was the son of a Libyan prince named Psamtik, presumably descended from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. In 460 BC, Inaros II revolted against the Persians with the help of his Athenian allies, and defeated the Persian army commanded by satrap Achaemenes. The Persians retreated to Memphis, and the Athenians were finally defeated in 454 BC, by the Persian army led by Megabyzus, after a two-year siege. Inaros was captured and carried away to Susa.

Relations with Greece

After the Achaemenid Empire had been defeated at the Battle of the Eurymedon (c. 469 BC), military action between Greece and Persia was at a standstill. When Artaxerxes I took power, he introduced a new Persian strategy of weakening the Athenians by funding their enemies in Greece. This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of the Delian League from the island of Delos to the Athenian acropolis. This funding practice inevitably prompted renewed fighting in 450 BC, where the Greeks attacked at the Battle of Cyprus. After Cimon's failure to attain much in this expedition, hostilities ceased. Later sources argue that the purported Peace of Callias was agreed among Athens, Argos and Persia in 449 BC; however, the existence of a formal treaty between the Greek States and Persia is disputed.

Artaxerxes I offered asylum to Themistocles, who was probably his father Xerxes's greatest enemy for his victory at the Battle of Salamis, after Themistocles was ostracized from Athens. Also, Artaxerxes I gave him Magnesia, Myus, and Lampsacus to maintain him in bread, meat, and wine. In addition, Artaxerxes I gave him Skepsis to provide him with clothes, and he also gave him Percote with bedding for his house.[12] Themistocles would go on to learn and adopt Persian customs, Persian language, and traditions.[13][14]

Portrayal in the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah

A King Artaxerxes (Hebrew: אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתְּא, אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא, pronounced [artaχʃast(ǝ)], or אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתָּא pronounced [artaχʃasta]) is described in the Bible (Ezra 7) as having commissioned Ezra, a kohen and scribe, by means of a letter of decree to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation.

Ezra thereby left Babylon in the first month of the seventh year[15] of Artaxerxes' reign, at the head of a company of Jews that included priests and Levites. They arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month of the seventh year according to the Hebrew calendar. The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465–424 BC) or to Artaxerxes II (404–359 BC).[16][17] Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption:[18] Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their missions do not overlap", however, in Nehemiah 12, both are leading processions on the wall as part of the wall dedication ceremony. So, they clearly were contemporaries working together in Jerusalem at the time the wall and the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt in contrast to the previously stated viewpoint.[19] These difficulties have led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in the seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II, i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that the biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries.[18][20] However, Ezra appears for the first time in Nehemiah 8, having probably been at the court for twelve years.[21]

The rebuilding of the Jewish community in Jerusalem had begun under Cyrus the Great, who had permitted Jews held captive in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild Solomon's Temple. Consequently, a number of Jews returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, and the foundation of this "Second Temple" was laid in 536 BC, in the second year of their return (Ezra 3:8). After a period of strife, the temple was finally completed in the sixth year of Darius, 516 BC (Ezra 6:15).

In Artaxerxes' twentieth year, Nehemiah, the king's cup-bearer, apparently was also a friend of the king as in that year Artaxerxes inquired after Nehemiah's sadness. Nehemiah related to him the plight of the Jewish people and that the city of Jerusalem was undefended. The king sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem with letters of safe passage to the governors in Trans-Euphrates, and to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, to make beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the city walls.[22]

Interpretations of actions

Roger Williams, a 17th-century Christian minister and founder of Rhode Island, interpreted several passages in the Old and New Testament to support limiting government interference in religious matters. Williams published The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience, arguing for a separation of church and state based on biblical reasoning. Williams believed that Israel was a unique covenant kingdom and not an appropriate model for New Testament Christians who believed that the Old Testament covenant had been fulfilled. Therefore, the more informative Old Testament examples of civil government were "good" non-covenant kings such as Artaxerxes, who tolerated the Jews and did not insist that they follow his state religion.[23]

Medical analysis

According to a paper published in 2011,[24] the discrepancy in Artaxerxes’ limb lengths may have arisen as a result of the inherited disease neurofibromatosis.

Children

Quadrilingual inscription of Artaxerxes on an Egyptian alabaster vase (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian and Egyptian).[25][26]

By queen Damaspia

Xerxes II

By Alogyne of Babylon

Sogdianus

By Cosmartidene of Babylon

Darius II

Arsites

By Andia of Babylon

Bogapaeus

Parysatis, wife of Darius II Ochus

By another(?) unknown wife

An unnamed daughter, wife of Hieramenes, mother of Autoboesaces and Mitraeus[27]

By various wives

Eleven other children

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artaxerxes_I

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years, it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080. The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare,[1] has influenced both East Asian and Western military theory and thinking, and has found a variety of applications in myriad competitive non-military endeavors across the modern world including espionage,[2] culture, politics, business, and sports.[3][4][5][6]

The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training throughout the world.

The book was translated into French and published in 1772 by the French priest Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot; it was re-published in 1782. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title The Book of War. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910.[7] Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen, Vietnamese general Võ Nguyên Giáp, is cited along with American military generals Douglas MacArthur and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. as having drawn inspiration from the book.[8]

Outside of military use, The Art of War has also become a source of inspiration in business, politics, sports and esports, and its usage has extended to film and television.

History

Text and commentaries

The Art of War is traditionally attributed to an ancient Chinese military general known as Sun Tzu (pinyin: Sūnzǐ), meaning 'Master Sun'. Sun Tzu is said to have lived in the 6th century BC, but the earliest parts of The Art of War probably date to at least 100 years later.[9]

Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, records an early Chinese tradition that a text on military matters was written by one "Sun Wu" (孫武) from the State of Qi, and that this text had been read and studied by King Helü of Wu (r. 514–495 BC).[10] This text was traditionally identified with the received Master Sun's Art of War. The conventional view was that Sun Wu was a military theorist from the end of the Spring and Autumn period (776–471 BC) who fled his home state of Qi to the southeastern Kingdom of Wu, where he is said to have impressed the king with his ability to quickly train even court women in military discipline and to have made Wu's armies powerful enough to challenge their western rivals in the state of Chu. This view is still widely held in China.[11]

The strategist, poet, and warlord Cao Cao in the early 3rd century AD authored the earliest known commentary to the Art of War.[10] Cao's preface makes clear that he edited the text and removed certain passages, but the extent of his changes were unclear historically.[10] The Art of War appears throughout the bibliographical catalogs of the Chinese dynastic histories, but listings of its divisions and size varied widely.[10]

Authorship

Fragments of The Art of War discovered as a part of the Yinqueshan Han Slips, showing the version of The Art of War that was popular in Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)

Beginning around the 12th century, Sun Tzu's historical existence began to be questioned by Chinese scholars, primarily on the grounds that he is not mentioned in the historical classic Zuo Zhuan, which mentions most of the notable figures from the Spring and Autumn period.[10] The name "Sun Wu" (孫武) does not appear in any text prior to the Records of the Grand Historian,[12] and has been suspected to be a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior", glossing the surname "Sun" as the related term "fugitive" (xùn 遜), while "Wu" (wǔ 武) is (1) the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" and (2) a Jianghuai dialectal synonym of 士; shì "knight",[13][14] which corresponds to Sunzi's role as the hero's doppelgänger in the story of Wu Zixu.[15] In the early 20th century, the Chinese writer and reformer Liang Qichao theorized that the text was actually written in the 4th century BC by Sun Tzu's purported descendant Sun Bin, as a number of historical sources mention a military treatise he wrote.[10] Unlike Sun Wu, Sun Bin appears to have been an actual person who was a genuine authority on military matters, and may have been the inspiration for the creation of the historical figure "Sun Tzu" through a form of euhemerism.[15]

In 1972, the Yinqueshan Han slips were discovered in two Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) tombs near the city of Linyi in Shandong.[16] Among the many bamboo slip writings contained in the tombs, which had been sealed between 134 and 118 BC, respectively were two separate texts, one attributed to "Sun Tzu", corresponding to the received text, and another attributed to Sun Bin, which explains and expands upon the earlier The Art of War by Sunzi.[17] The Sun Bin text's material overlaps with much of the "Sun Tzu" text, and the two may be "a single, continuously developing intellectual tradition united under the Sun name".[18] This discovery showed that much of the historical confusion was due to the fact that there were two texts that could have been referred to as "Master Sun's Art of War", not one.[17] The content of the earlier text is about one-third of the chapters of the modern The Art of War, and their text matches very closely.[16] It is now generally accepted that the earlier The Art of War was completed sometime between 500 and 430 BC.[17]

The 13 chapters

The Art of War is divided into 13 chapters (or piān); the collection is referred to as being one zhuàn ("whole" or alternatively "chronicle").

The Art of War chapter names and contents

Chapter Lionel Giles (1910)[19] R. L. Wing (1988) Ralph D. Sawyer (1996) Chow-Hou Wee (2003) Michael Nylan (2020) Contents

I Laying Plans The Calculations Initial Estimations Detail Assessment and Planning

(Chinese: 始計; pinyin: shîjì) First Calculations Explores the five fundamental factors (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management) and seven elements (which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the way or moral law, which side’s general is more capable, which side has superior in right time and right place, which side's laws and regulations can be enforced more strictly, which side has more resources, better equipment and stronger army, which side's officers and men are more well-trained and more capable of fighting, which side's rewards and punishments are more fair and clear) that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action. The text stresses that war is a very grave matter for the state and must not be commenced without due consideration.

II Waging War The Challenge Waging War Waging War

(Chinese: 作戰; pinyin: zuòzhàn) Initiating Battle Explains how to understand the economy of warfare and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict.

III Attack by Stratagem The Plan of Attack Planning Offensives Strategic Attack

(Chinese: 謀攻) Planning an Attack Defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the five factors that are needed to succeed in any war. In order of importance, these critical factors are: Attack, Strategy, Alliances, Army and Cities.

IV Tactical Dispositions Positioning Military Disposition Disposition of the Army

(Chinese: 軍形) Forms to Perceive Explains the importance of defending existing positions until a commander is capable of advancing from those positions in safety. It teaches commanders the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy.

V Use of Energy Directing Strategic Military Power Forces

(Chinese: 兵勢) The Disposition of Power Explains the use of creativity and timing in building an army's momentum.

VI Weak Points and Strong Illusion and Reality Vacuity and Substance Weaknesses and Strengths

(Chinese: 虛實) Weak and Strong Explains how an army's opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of the enemy and how to respond to changes in the fluid battlefield over a given area.

VII Maneuvering an Army Engaging The Force Military Combat Military Maneuvers

(Chinese: 軍爭) Contending Armies Explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon the commander.

VIII Variation of Tactics The Nine Variations Nine Changes Variations and Adaptability

(Chinese: 九變) Nine Contingencies Focuses on the need for flexibility in an army's responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully.

IX The Army on the March Moving The Force Maneuvering the Army Movement and Development of Troops

(Chinese: 行軍) Fielding the Army Describes the different situations in which an army finds itself as it moves through new enemy territories, and how to respond to these situations. Much of this section focuses on evaluating the intentions of others.

X Classification of Terrain Situational Positioning Configurations of Terrain Terrain

(Chinese: 地形) Conformations of the Lands Looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offers certain advantages and disadvantages.

XI The Nine Situations The Nine Situations Nine Terrains The Nine Battlegrounds

(Chinese: 九地) Nine Kinds of Ground Describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus that a commander will need in order to successfully navigate them.

XII Attack by Fire The Fiery Attack Incendiary Attacks Attacking with Fire

(Chinese: 火攻) Attacks with Fire Explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon. This section examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack and the appropriate responses to such attacks.

XIII Use of Spies The Use of Intelligence Employing Spies Intelligence and Espionage

(Chinese: 用間) Using Spies Focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, and specifies the five types of intelligence sources and how to best manage each of them.

Cultural influence

Military and intelligence applications

See also: Wen and wu

Across East Asia, The Art of War was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations.

During the Sengoku period (c. 1467–1568), the Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) is said to have become almost invincible in all battles without relying on guns, because he studied The Art of War.[20] The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard "Fūrinkazan" (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain), meaning fast as the wind, silent as a forest, ferocious as fire and immovable as a mountain.

The translator Samuel B. Griffith offers a chapter on "Sun Tzu and Mao Tse-Tung" where The Art of War is cited as influencing Mao's On Guerrilla Warfare, On the Protracted War and Strategic Problems of China's Revolutionary War, and includes Mao's quote: "We must not belittle the saying in the book of Sun Wu Tzu, the great military expert of ancient China, 'Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster.'"[20]

During the Vietnam War, some Viet Cong officers extensively studied The Art of War and reportedly could recite entire passages from memory. General Võ Nguyên Giáp successfully implemented tactics described in The Art of War during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ending major French involvement in Indochina and leading to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into North and South. General Giáp, later the main PVA military commander in the Vietnam War, was an avid student and practitioner of Sun Tzu's ideas.[21]

Outside East Asia

The United States' defeat in the Vietnam War, more than any other event, brought Sun Tzu to the attention of leaders of U.S. military theory.[21][22][23] The Department of the Army in the United States, through its Command and General Staff College, lists The Art of War as one example of a book that may be kept at a military unit's library.[24] The Art of War is listed on the US Marine Corps Professional Reading Program (formerly known as the Commandant's Reading List). It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel.[25] The Art of War is also used as instructional material at the United States Military Academy (commonly known as West Point), in the course Military Strategy (470).[26] It is also recommended reading for Officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Some notable military leaders have stated the following about Sun Tzu and The Art of War:

"I always kept a copy of The Art of War on my desk."[27] – General Douglas MacArthur, 5 Star General and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.

"I have read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. He continues to influence both soldiers & politicians."[28] – General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State.

According to some authors, the strategy of deception from The Art of War was studied and widely used by the KGB: "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness".[29]

Application outside the military

The Art of War has been applied to many fields outside of the military. Much of the text is about how to outsmart one's opponent without actually having to engage in physical battle. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat.

The Art of War is mentioned as an influence in the earliest known Chinese collection of stories about fraud (mostly in the realm of commerce), Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles (Du pian xin shu, 杜騙新書, c. 1617), which dates to the late Ming dynasty.[30]

Many business books have applied the lessons taken from the book to office politics and corporate business strategy.[31][32][33] Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives.[34] The book is also popular among Western business circles citing its utilitarian values regarding management practices. Many entrepreneurs and corporate executives have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. The book has also been applied to the field of education.[35]

The Art of War has been the subject of legal books[36] and legal articles on the trial process, including negotiation tactics and trial strategy.[37][38][39][40]

The book The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene employs philosophies covered in The Art of War.[41]

The Art of War has also been applied in sports. National Football League coach Bill Belichick, record holder of the most Super Bowl wins in history, has stated on multiple occasions his admiration for The Art of War.[42][43] Brazilian association football coach Luiz Felipe Scolari actively used The Art of War for Brazil's successful 2002 World Cup campaign. During the tournament Scolari put passages of The Art of War underneath his players' doors at night.[44][45]

The book Sun Tzu Soccer by Liam Shannon is a direct translation of The Art of War into soccer language and scenarios.[46]

Playing To Win by David Sirlin analyses applications of the ideas from The Art of War in modern esports.[47] The Art of War was released in 2014 as an e-book companion alongside the Art of War DLC for Europa Universalis IV, a PC strategy game by Paradox Development Studios, with a foreword by Thomas Johansson.

Film and television

The Art of War and Sun Tzu have been referenced and quoted in many movies and television shows, including in the 1987 movie Wall Street, in which Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) frequently references it.[48] The 20th James Bond film, Die Another Day (2002) also references The Art of War as the spiritual guide shared by Colonel Moon and his father.[49] In The Sopranos, season 3, episode 8 ("He Is Risen"), Dr. Melfi suggests to Tony Soprano that he read the book.[50]

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation first-season episode "The Last Outpost", first officer William Riker quotes The Art of War: "Fear is the true enemy, the only enemy". Captain Picard expressed pleasure that Sun Tzu was still taught at Starfleet Academy. Later in the episode, a survivor from a long-dead nonhuman empire noted common aspects between his own people's wisdom and The Art of War with regard to knowing when and when not to fight.[51]

The Art of War is a 2000 action spy film directed by Christian Duguay and starring Wesley Snipes, Michael Biehn, Anne Archer and Donald Sutherland.[52]

Notable translations

Sun Tzu on the Art of War. Translated by Lionel Giles. London: Luzac and Company. 1910.

The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1963. ISBN 978-0-19-501476-1. Part of the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Translated by Thomas Cleary. Boston: Shambhala Dragon Editions. 1988. ISBN 978-0877734529.

The Art of Warfare. Translated by Roger Ames. Random House. 1993. ISBN 978-0-345-36239-1.

The Art of War. Translated by John Minford. New York: Viking. 2002. ISBN 978-0-670-03156-6.

The Art of War: Sunzi's Military Methods. Translated by Victor H. Mair. New York: Columbia University Press. 2007. ISBN 978-0-231-13382-1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War

A famous Jesuit General Michael Angelo Tambourini once boasted, in 1720, to the Duke of Brissac: " See, My Grace  [my Lord], from this room, I govern not only Paris, but China; not only China, but the whole world, without anyone knowing how it is managed."

"Andrew Steinmetz, History of the Jesuits, Vol. 1 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lea and Blanchard Publ.,/New York: Richard Bentley, 1848), pp.107, 168-169; see also, Constitution of the Jesuits, edited by Paris Paulin (1843); Eugene Sue (Marie Joseph), The Wandering Jew, (London: Chapman and Hall, 1844/ New York; Harper & Brothers,, 1845), Bk I, Chap. XV, P. 183; see also, p. 618, and Bk. II, p. 21; Abrige de I'Hist. Eccles. de Racine, Chap. xii. P. 77." page 129 Chapter XII "Unhesitating Obedience: The General And The Holy Office" Codeword Barbelon book One by P.D. Stuart

"Steinmetz was fourteen years a Jesuit; see also, Constitutions of the Jesuits, ed. by P. Paulin (1843); Morale Pratique Des Jesuites: Histoire De La Persecution De deux Saints, Vol. I (Cologne, 1669), pp. 50 and 51." "Epilogue-For Such A Time As This" 

Pope Francis Lord of the World by P.D. Stuart

Jean Joseph Marie Amiot (Chinese: 錢德明; pinyin: Qián Démíng; February 8, 1718 – October 8, 1793) was a French Jesuit priest who worked in Qing China, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.

Born in Toulon, Amiot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at the age of 19. After he was ordained in 1746, he aspired to serve in an overseas mission. Eventually, he was assigned a mission in China and left France in 1749. He arrived at Beijing in 1751 and remained there for the rest of his life.

Amiot served as an intermediary between the academics of Europe and China. His correspondence provided insight on the culture of China to the Europeans. He translated Chinese works into French. Most notably, his translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War is the first rendition of the work into a Western language.

Early life

Amiot was born in Toulon on February 8, 1718 to Louis Amiot, the royal notary of Toulon, and Marie-Anne Serre.[1] He was the eldest of ten children: five boys and five girls.[2] His brother Pierre-Jules-Roch Amiot would go on to become the lieutenant-general of the admiralty of Toulon[3] and his sister, Marguerite-Claire was an Ursuline nun.[4] Amiot maintained contact with both.[5]

After finishing his studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit seminary in Toulon, Amiot entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Avignon on September 27, 1737;[5] he remained a novice for two years.[5] Afterwards, he taught at the Jesuit colleges of Besançon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence and finally at Nîmes, where he was professor of rhetoric in the academic year of 1744–1745. He completed his theological studies at Dôle from 1745 to 1748[6] and was ordained as a priest on December 22, 1746.[6]

Arrival at China

Amiot requested Franz Retz, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus at that time, to serve in an overseas mission, and was eventually given a mission to China.[7] Earlier, in a letter to his brother, he had expressed his desire to serve in a delegation to this particular country.[8] He left France in 1749, accompanied by Chinese Jesuits Paul Liu and Stanislas Kang,[7] who had been sent to study in France and were returning to their home country. Kang died at sea, before the party could reach China.[9]

They arrived at Macau on July 27, 1750.[7] The Jesuits of Beijing announced Amiot's arrival, along with that of the Portuguese Jesuits José d'Espinha and Emmanuel de Mattos,[7][10] to Emperor Qianlong, who ordered that they be taken to the capital.[11] On March 28, 1751, they left Macau for Guangzhou and arrived there five days later.[12] They left Canton on June 2, and reached Beijing on August 22.[13]

After his arrival in Beijing, he was put in charge of the children's congregation of the Holy Guardian Angels. Alongside this, he studied the Chinese language.[11] He adopted the Chinese name Qian Deming (錢德明)[14] and wore Chinese clothing in order to adapt himself to the culture of China.[15] In 1754, Amiot made a young Chinese man by the name of Yang Ya-Ko-Pe his assistant[15] and instructed him in the European manner. Yang died in 1784, after working with Amiot for over thirty years.[11]

Suppression of the Jesuits

In 1762 the Parlement of Paris ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus and the confiscation of its property.[16] The society was abolished in France two years later, by the order of King Louis XV.[17] The Jesuit mission in China survived for a while after their suppression, being protected by the Qianlong Emperor himself.[18] The final blow, however, would be Pope Clement XIV's brief, Dominus ac Redemptor, issued on July 21, 1773, with which the Bishop of Rome officially ordered the suppression of the Society of Jesus. The brief reached the French Jesuits in China on September 22, 1775[19] via a German Carmelite named Joseph de Sainte-Thérèse.[20] The Jesuits of Beijing surrendered to it, resigned from the Society of Jesus and became secular priests.[18][21] Wishing to keep the French mission alive, King Louis XVI sent them financial aid and appointed François Bourgeois as their administrator.[22][23] Amiot was named as Bourgeois' replacement in the event of his absence.[24]

Subsequently, Amiot turned his attention to writing. He maintained contact with Henri Bertin, the foreign minister of France. His correspondences were published from 1776 to 1791 in the Mémoires concernant l’histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mœurs et les usages des Chinois.[25] He also corresponded with other European Academies, including brief contacts with the Imperial Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society.[26]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Joseph_Marie_Amiot 

In 1748 the Rite de Veilla Bru, or Faithful Scotsman, was established at Toulouse with nine degrees, the first three Symbolic, followed by the Secret Master, four Elu degrees, and the Ninth degree ' Scientific Masonry.^" " In 1750 and 1751, a Lodge styled ' St. Jean de Ecossais ' was established at Marseilles, which afterwards assumed the style of ' Scottish Mother Lodge of France.' Its regime finally consisted of Eighteen degrees, of which the Scottish Mother Lodge of France at Paris afterwards borrowed Eight."

" In 1752 a power of the High degrees was established under the pompous title of * Sovereign Council, Sublime Scotch Mother Lodge of the Grand French Globe.' It afterwards called itself* Sovereign Council, Sublime Mother Lodge of the Excellents of the Grand French Globe.' The ' Council of the Emperors of the East and West ' assumed that title also on the 22d January, 1780. — Ragon."

"In 1754, The Chevalier de Bonneville established a chapter of the High degrees at Paris, styled the ' Chapter of Clermont.' In it the Templar system was revived, and the Baron de Hund received the High degrees, there and thence derived the principles and doctrines of his ' Order of Strict Observance ' —Thory and Leveque—Ragon says, The regime of the Chapter of Clermont at first comprised only three degrees, viz., the three Symbolic, followed by the Knight of the Eagle or Master Elect, Illustrious Knight or Templar, and Illustrious Sublime Knight—but that they soon became more numerous."

" In the same year Martinez Pascalis established his rite of ' Elus C'dens ' with nine degrees. He did not carry it to Paris until 1767, where Martinism in ten degrees grew out of it." — Clavel.

" In 1757 M. de St. Gelaire introduced at Paris the ' Order of Noachites.' ^'

page 50

THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH KITE, IN THIRTY-THREE DEGREES. KNOWN HITHERTO UNDER THE NAMES OF THE " RITE OF PEEPECTION" ^THE " EITE OF HEEEDOM" THE " ANCIENT SCOTTISH rite"—THE " RITE OF KILWINNING" AND LAST, AS THE " SCOTTISH RITE, ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED." A FULL AND COMPLETE HISTORY, WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING NUMEROUS AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS, RELATING TO THE ORIGIN, PKO- OB£SS AND ESTABLISHMENT OP THE EITE—EDICTS, CIRCULARS, PATENTS, REGISTERS, AND THE OPINIONS OF NUMEROUS AUTHORS — ILLUSTRATED WITH "TABLETS," / BY ROBERT B. FOLGER, M. D., Past Master, 33d., iJi-SECRETARY GENERAL, &0. SECOND EDITION. ,c ^ j ;^ NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/The_ancient_and_accepted_Scottish_rite%2C_in_thirty-three_degrees_%28IA_ancientaccepted00folg%29.pdf 

PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]

§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us FREE:

FREE, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

FREE, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

FREE, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

n 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)"

https://web.archive.org/.../scottish-rite-history.html

The Collège de Clermont was one of the earliest schools established by the Jesuits, who were incredibly influential in shaping education in Europe. The Jesuits were a rigid and hierarchical Catholic sect that followed the teachings of Ignatius Loyola. 

https://earlymoderneurope.hist.sites.carleton.edu/exhibits/show/development-of-education-in-ea/item/249#:~:text=The%20Coll%C3%A8ge%20de%20Clermont%20was,the%20teachings%20of%20Ignatius%20Loyola.

Note 348,—« 'Knight Kadosh, or Knight of the White and Black Eagle. he 30th degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite. There are several decrees known as Kadoshes. The French rituals mention seven: 1. That f the Hebrews. 2. That of the first Christians. 3. That of the Crusades. 4. That of the Templars^ 5. That of Cromwell, or the Puritans. 6. That of the Jesuits. 7. The Grand Veritable Kadosh, 'apart from every sect, free of all ambition, which opens its arms to all men, and has no enemies other than vice, crime, fanaticism, and superstititlon.' Its ritual furnishes the history of the destruction of the Templars by the united efforts of Philip of France and Pope Clement V. In this degree, when there is a reception, four apartments are used. In the first and second apartments, the Lodge is termed Council; in the third. Areopagus; in the fourth, the Senate. The presiding officer is styled Most Illustrious Grand Commander. The jewel is a Teutonic cross, and is thus described, in heraldic language: 'A cross potent sable, charged ivith another cross double potent, or, surcharged with an escutcheon, rearing the letters J. B. M.; the principal cross surmounted by a chief, izure seme of France.* On the reverse, a skull transpierced by a poniard. The stated meetings of all councils of Kadosh are held January 6; on jood Friday; on Ascension day, and on November the 2. in each year. So one of these is ever, on any account, to be omitted."—Macoy's E,ncyclopedia and Dictionary of Freemasonry, Article Knight Kadosh.

Note 370.—"Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The 32nd degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite, and for many years, or until the institution of the 33d degree, this was the highest degree, or ne plus ultra of Masonry. The body is styled a Consistory, and should be held in a building of two stories. The officers are, a Thrice Illustrious Commander, First and Second Lieutenants, a Minister of State, a Grand Chancellor, a Grand Treasurer, a Grand Secretary, and a Grand Captain of the Guard. In the East a throne, elevated on seven steps, which is the seat of the Thrice Illustrious Commander, who wears a robe of royal purple, and he and the Lieutenants, wear swords. The collar of this degree is black, lined with scarlet, and in the center, at the point, a double-headed eagle, of silver or gold, on a red Teutonic cross. The apron is of white satin, with a border of gold lace, one inch wide, lined with scarlet; on the flap is a double-headed eagle, on each side of which is the flag of the country in which the body is located, the flag of Prussia and the Beause- -ant of the Kadosh degree; on the apron is the camp of the Crusaders, , which is thus explained; it is composed of an enneagon, within which is ' inscribed a heptagon, within that a pentagon, and in the center an equilateral triangle, within which is a circle. Between the heptagon and pentagon are placed five standards, in the designs of whigjl are five letters, which form a particular word. The first standard is purple, on which is emblazoned the ark of the covenant, with a palm, tree on each side; the ark has the motto Laus Deo. The second is blue, on which is a lion, of gold, couchant, holding in his mouth a golden key, with a collar of the same metal on his neck, and on it is the device, Ad majorem Dei gloriam. The third is white, and displays a heart in flames, with two wings; it is surmounted by a crown of laurels. The fourth is green, and bears a double-headed black eagle, crowned, holding a sword in his right claw, and a bleeding heart in his left. The fifth bears a black ox. on a field of gold. On the sides of the enneagon are nine tents, with flags, representing the divisions of the Masonic army; on the angles are nine pinions, of the same color as the flag of the tent that precedes it. The hall of the Consistory is hung with black, strewed with tears of silver. The jewel is a double-headed white and black eagle, resting on a Teutonic cross, of gold, worn attached to the collar or ribbon. ^The members are called Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. The moral of the degree teaches opposition to bigotry, superstition, and all the passions and vices which disgrace human nature."—Macoy's Encyclopaedia and Pictionary of Freemasonry, Article Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret 

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the SUCCESSORS OF PETER[32]

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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Vatican confirms ban on Catholics becoming Freemasons

By Reuters

November 15, 20235:16 PM PSTUpdated 10 months ago

The department, known as the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, issued its opinion, dated Nov. 13 and countersigned by Pope Francis, in response to a bishop from the Philippines alarmed by the growing number of Freemasons in his country.

The same office said last week that transgender people can be baptized, serve as godparents and act as witnesses at Catholic weddings.

The letter on Freemasons cited a 1983 declaration, signed by the late Pope Benedict XVI, at the time the Vatican's doctrine chief, stating that Catholics "in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion".

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/vatican-confirms-ban-catholics-becoming-freemasons-2023-11-15/

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who serves as the 31st and present superior general of the Society of Jesus. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation on 14 October 2016, succeeding Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

Early life and education

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on 12 November 1948,[1] the son of Arturo Sosa, Sr. a prestigious businessman who served twice as finance minister in 1958 and 1982.[2] He entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.[1] He earned a licentiate in philosophy from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in 1972, and a doctorate in political science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1990.[3][4]

Priestly ministry

Sosa has held a number of positions in various universities. He was a professor and member of the Council of the foundation for the Andrés Bello Catholic University, and rector of the Catholic University of Tachira, both Jesuit universities.[4] He was also the Chair of Contemporary Political Theory and the Department of Social Change at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Venezuela.[4] He published a number of works, mainly about the history and politics of Venezuela. He was also coordinator of the social apostolate and director of Centro Gumilla in Venezuela, a centre of research and social action for the Jesuits in Venezuela,[4] as well as editor-in-chief of Revista SIC magazine for Catholic social ethics and politics from 1976 to 1996.[5] In 2004, he was professor of Venezuelan political thinking at the Catholic University of Tachira and was invited to Georgetown University Center for Latin American Studies as a visiting professor to give a lecture.[6]

Between 1996 and 2004, Sosa was Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Venezuela.[4] During the 35th General Congregation in 2008, he was appointed Counselor General by then-Superior General Adolfo Nicolás.[4] In 2014, he joined the General Curia of the Society of Jesus in Rome as Delegate for Interprovincial Roman Houses of the Society of Jesus in Rome, which include institutions such as the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the Vatican Observatory, and La Civiltà Cattolica.[4][7]

Sosa speaks Spanish, Italian and English, and understands French.[4]

Superior General of the Society of Jesus 

On 14 October 2016, during the thirty-sixth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, the assembly elected Sosa as the Order's thirty-first Superior General to succeed Adolfo Nicolás.[6] He became the first Latin American to head the Jesuits.[8] In his first address as Superior General, he said that Jesuits should look for "alternatives to overcome poverty, inequality and oppression" and also to collaborate with others "inside and outside the Church".[9]

In 2017, in a visit to the Jesuit mission in Cambodia, Sosa met with a group of Buddhist monks in the Buddhist-majority country.[10] In 2018, commenting on the Fifteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Sosa spoke of secularization, saying "What if we try, instead, to look at secularization as a sign of the times, in the theological sense that the Second Vatican Council gave to this expression? It means looking at secularization, and the secular world that arises from it, as one of the ways the Spirit is speaking to us and guiding us in this time."[11]

In February 2019, after guiding Jesuits and their lay collaborators through two years of discernment, Sosa announced four priorities that would guide the Society's decisions for the next decade. These were: teaching discernment through use of the Spiritual Exercises, walking with the poor in their quest for dignity and justice, accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future, and collaborating in the care of our Common Home. Pope Francis declared these priorities to be very much in line with those of his pontificate.[12]

Criticism

The Catholic Herald criticised Sosa for being one of over 1,000 signatories of a 1989 letter welcoming Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to Venezuela in 1989, Castro having repressed the Catholic Church in Cuba during his time in power.[13] George Neumayr of the conservative American Spectator described Sosa as a "Marxist", "a Venezuelan communist, and modernist".[14]

In February 2017, in response to Cardinal Müller's argument that permitting the reception of Communion by the remarried contradicts Jesus's words in the Bible that marriage is indissoluble and Müller's insistence that those words are unchangeable, Sosa argued for a "reflection on what Jesus really said", and described the Gospel as "relative", being "written by human beings" and "accepted by [...] human beings". Sosa also argued that the doctrine of the Church is in "continuous development", and "never in white and black".[15] Sosa's remarks drew criticism in the Italian media.[16]

The English priest and consulting editor of The Catholic Herald Alexander Lucie-Smith disagreed with Sosa, arguing that the Church's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage has been historically consistent, and that there was no precedent set in the Bible to interpret these words otherwise.[17] Theologian Chad Pecknold criticised Sosa's views as "reflect[ing] a profound skepticism about Holy Scripture", countering that although a variety of interpretations are allowed, they must "fit with the established doctrine of the Church and do not contradict the deposit of the Faith". Contradicting Sosa's own claim that his views were "not relativism",[15] Pecknold characterised Sosa's remarks as "historicist relativizing".[18]

Catholic author Vittorio Messori accused Sosa of "'liquefying' the Gospel itself" by suggesting that the Gospel should be adapted according to the times on the basis that Jesus's words were not recorded verbatim or "on tape".[19]

In June 2017, in an interview with El Mundo, Sosa said, "We have formed symbolic figures such as the devil to express evil. Social conditioning can also represent this figure, since there are people who act [in an evil way] because they are in an environment where it is difficult to act to the contrary". This was criticised as contradicting the Catechism of the Catholic Church which teaches that the Devil is a real creature.[20] A spokesman for Sosa later argued that Sosa was not denying church teaching, saying, "to say the devil symbolizes evil is not to deny the existence of the devil."[21] On 21 August 2019, Sosa declared in an interview that the Devil "exists as the personification of evil in different structures, but not in persons, because [he] is not a person, [he] is a way of acting evil. He is not a person like a human person. It is a way of evil to be present in human life. [...] Good and evil are in a permanent war in the human conscience and we have ways to point them out. We recognize God as good, fully good. Symbols are part of reality, and the devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality." The Catholic World Report criticized these declarations, saying they were contrary to the catechism, and reminded of the controversy of the June 2017 statement of Sosa concerning the Devil.[22]

In October 2018, in an interview with Eternal Word Television Network, Sosa argued that "the pope is not the chief of the Church, he's the Bishop of Rome". This was opposed by Chad Pecknold, Associate Professor of Theology at the Catholic University of America, who argued that it would be wrong to believe that Pope was "merely 'first among equals' ", and insisted that the pope has "supreme authority" over all bishops and the faithful.[23]

Publications

Sosa has authored about a dozen books on politics and on the history of Venezuela, including:

Arturo Sosa, La filosofía política del gomecismo: Estudio del pensamiento by Laureano Vallenilla Lanz, Barquisimeto, Centro Gumilla,1974, 130 p. (ISBN 8439920830)

Arturo Sosa and Eloi Lengrand, Del garibaldismo student to the izquierda criolla: Los orígenes marxistas del proyecto de AD (1928-1935), Caracas, Centauro, 1981, 517 ppp. (OCLC 30449576)

Arturo Sosa, Ensayos sobre el pensamiento político positivista venezolano, Caracas, Centauro,1985, 269 pp. (ISBN 9802630217)

Arturo Sosa, Rómulo Betancourt y el Partido del Pueblo, 1937-1941, Caracas, Fundación Rómulo Betancourt, coll. "Vigente Tiempo" (No. 9) 1995, 617 pp. (ISBN 9806191293)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

Books: 1. In general: the extent to which they are to be allowed for the private use of Ours [372, 373]; specifically, in the colleges of Ours [372]. See also Library; Publishing books and other scholarly works 2. Administrative: in which are to be recorded: possessions brought by novices and certain of their declarations [57, 200]; the names of those who pronounce vows [530, 545] 3. To be read in the schools: see Authors 4. The writing thereof: see Writing of books;Writers 5. Publication thereof: see Publishing books and other scholarly works

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms 

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts 

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES SAINT LOUIS, 1996 

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Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”

That is the law of God as laid down in the beginning; that if a man shall shed blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Why? Because the blood is the life of the flesh, and is the only atonement a man can make for killing another. A murderer, by the shedding of his blood, may make some atonement for his sin; but he cannot come forth and inherit an exaltation in eternal life, he must be content with a less degree of glory. Still, as Brother Brigham taught, there is a chance for some men who have committed this great transgression if their blood be shed, and there are others who, even if they were willing to have their blood shed, could not obtain forgiveness for their transgressions. You can read about this in the revelation on celestial marriage. (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. cxxxii,par. 26-7.) They are those who have not only been baptized into the Church of Christ, received the power of the Holy Spirit and been enlightened from on high, but have been in the most sacred places on the earth, ordained of God by His holy law, and have made special covenants in relation to that and other sins; they have been specially enlightened ; they have gone from step to step, from grace to grace, from knowledge to knowledge, and have had keys of power placed in their hands whereby, if they are faithful, they may climb to the highest pinnacle of honor and glory in the presence of our Heavenly Father, and then they turn round and commit this great transgression, the shedding of innocent blood. For them there is no forgiveness. They will be banished from the presence of God; they cannot inherit the glory which was sealed upon them, however repentant they may be; they cannot come up in the first resurrection and enter into their exaltation; but they must be cast out from the presence of God and have the everlasting penalty pronounced,

“Depart from me ye workers of iniquity.”

They will be banished from the presence of God,, which is spiritual destruction, that spiritual death which is called the “second death.”

But, there are other persons who by making thisitonement may obtain redemption—persons that have not advanced to this degree of knowledge in understanding, and whose sins are not of so* heinous a nature. Because sin is guaged by the light of the individual. The depth of man’s infamy is guaged by the degree of his light and is opportunity. He that knows much is expected to do much. Of him that knows but little, only little is expected. If a man has great light and he sins he is the greater sinner. I have heard people argue that all sin is the result of ignorance. Well, it is just the other way. Sin is rather the result of knowledge ; because a man cannot sin without some light. An idiot cannot sin, because he is responsible. It takes a responsible being to do responsible wrong. The more responsible a man is, the greater wrong he does if he commits transgression.

The greater a man’s light is, the greater is sin. The greater the light, the greater the condemnation for doing wrong. That is based upon the eternal principle of justice. From this, then, it would seem that if a man commits a sin unto death there is no redemption : if not unto death, and he pays the penalty, there is for him a chance of salvation.

This divine law for shedding the blood of a murderer has never been repealed. It is a law given by the Almighty and not abrogated in the Christian faith. It stands on record for all time that a murderer shall have his blood shed. He that commits murder must be slain. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” I know there are some benevolent and I philanthropic people in these times who think that capital punishment ought to be abolished.

Yet I think the Lord knows better than they. Their law He has ordained will have the best results to mankind in general.

Well, is there any other sin that a man may commit which is worthy of death? I think there is. I will refer you to one in the Book of Leviticus, 20th chapter and 10th verse:

“And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and; the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

That was the law of God in the days of Moses. It was the law of God previous to the days of Moses, as you will find by reference to the Book of 1 Genesis. It has been a law of God from the beginning. Some people have an idea that Jesus.

Christ did away with that law, and they bring up the case of the woman that had been taken in transgression. The object of the Pharisees in bringing the woman to the Savior was that they might catch Him in some way. You will find by a reading the history of Jesus Christ’s ministry on the earth that it was then as it is to-day—snares are all the time being laid to catch the servants of God. They tried to entrap Him in many ways but He was able to meet them with the wisdom of the Great God ; for the Spirit of God was given to Him without measure. The woman they brought to Him was taken in this great transgression. The Pharisees knew the law -of Moses was that she should be put to death. They inquired what Jesus had to say. He stooped down and thought a little while, then wrote with His finger on the ground and exclaimed, “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone !

”The Pharisees looked at each other and finally they slipped away. Why ? Because that was “an evil and adulterous generation.’’

Those self-righteous hypocrites were guilty of the transgression themselves, and the person to inflict the penalty justly, had to be one who was not guilty; for how could one such sinner rightly inflict the penalty upon another? Jesus Christ’s words smote them to the heart, and they slunk off and left the woman standing there. Did the sinner go free? Did Jesus say the law ought not to be inflicted? No. He asked: “Woman, where are thine accusers ?” They were gone. “Neither do I accuse thee.” It must be remembered that there must be accusers as well as judges. Jesus set a pattern which judges in these times would do well to follow. He did not act as an attorney for the prosecution or as a witness against the accused as well as a judge to pronounce the sentence. “Woman, where are those thine accusers ? * * *

Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” pages 26-27

Blood atonement, as taught by leading elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints : an address delivered in the Twelfth Ward assembly hall, Salt Lake City, October 12, 1884 (archive.org)

https://ia600408.us.archive.org/11/items/bloodatonementas00penr/bloodatonementas00penr.pdf

"The friendliness of the Mormons towards Catholics is attributed to their appreciation that their settlement in the great Salt Lake Valley is due to having been directed to it by Fr. Pierre Jean de Smet, the great Jesuit missionary and explorer, who met and was entertained by Brigham Young in Council Bluffs, while the Mormons were on their trek West. Writing to his nephew, Fr. de Smet said: "They asked me a thousand questions about the regions I had explored, and the valley I have just described to you, pleased them greatly from the account I gave of it. Was that what determined them to settle there? I would not dare affirm it. They are there!"

https://web.archive.org/web/20151020074727/http://www.catholictradition.org:80/Tradition/goldstein70.htm

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls. [11]

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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"[593] 8. 1For the same reason, and to avoid occasions of unrest foreign to our profession, and also the better to preserve the peace and benevolent relations with all unto the greater glory of God, 2no professed or coadjutor or scholastic of the Society will consent to be interrogated in criminal trials or even in civil trials [E] (unless he is compelled to do so by someone who can oblige him under sin), without permission of the superior. 3The superior will not give the permission except in the trials which touch upon the Catholic religion, or in other pious cases which are favorable to one party in such a way that they do not do damage to another. [27] 4For it is proper to our Institute to serve all in our Lord without offense to anyone, as far as this is possible."

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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The Mountain Meadows Massacre (September 7–11, 1857) was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train.[1][a] The massacre occurred in the southern Utah Territory at Mountain Meadows, and was perpetrated by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) involved with the Utah Territorial Militia (officially called the Nauvoo Legion) who recruited and were aided by some Southern Paiute Native Americans.[2] The wagon train, made up mostly of families from Arkansas, was bound for California, traveling on the Old Spanish Trail that passed through the Territory.

After arriving in Salt Lake City, the Baker–Fancher party made their way south along the Mormon Road, eventually stopping to rest at Mountain Meadows. As the party was traveling west there were rumors about the party's behavior towards Mormon settlers and war hysteria towards outsiders was rampant as a result of a military expedition dispatched by President Buchanan, and Territorial Governor Brigham Young's declaration of martial law in response.[3][4][5] While the emigrants were camped at the meadow, local militia leaders, including Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee, made plans to attack the wagon train. The leaders of the militia, wanting to give the impression of tribal hostilities, persuaded Southern Paiutes to join with a larger party of militiamen disguised as Native Americans in an attack. During the militia's first assault on the wagon train, the emigrants fought back, and a five-day siege ensued. Eventually, fear spread among the militia's leaders that some emigrants had caught sight of the white men, likely discerning the actual identity of a majority of the attackers. As a result, militia commander William H. Dame ordered his forces to kill the emigrants. By this time, the emigrants were running low on water and provisions, and allowed some members of the militia – who approached under a white flag – to enter their camp. The militia members assured the emigrants they were protected, and after handing over their weapons, the emigrants were escorted away from their defensive position. After walking a distance from the camp, the militiamen, with the help of auxiliary forces hiding nearby, attacked the emigrants. The perpetrators killed all the adults and older children in the group, in the end sparing only seventeen young children under the age of seven.[a]

Following the massacre, the perpetrators buried some of the remains but ultimately left most of the bodies exposed to wild animals and the climate. Local families took in the surviving children, with many of the victims' possessions and remaining livestock being auctioned off. Investigations, which were interrupted by the American Civil War, resulted in nine indictments in 1874. Of the men who were indicted, only John D. Lee was tried in a court of law. After two trials in the Utah Territory, Lee was convicted by a jury, sentenced to death, and executed by firing squad on March 23, 1877.

Historians attribute the massacre to a combination of factors, including war hysteria about a possible invasion of Mormon territory and Mormon teachings against outsiders, which were part of the Mormon Reformation period. Scholars debate whether senior leadership in Mormonism, including Brigham Young, directly instigated the massacre or if responsibility for it lay only with the local leaders in southern Utah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre 

Mormon President and Pope Francis meet for the first time, after decades of hidden diplomacy

The two leaders met for 33 minutes at the Vatican and exchanged gifts, the day before Russell M. Nelson was due to dedicate the first Mormon temple in Rome

Michelle Boorstein Sunday 10 March 2019 20:38 GMT

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-mormon-leader-meeting-rome-vatican-lds-church-latterday-saints-a8816421.html 

5 children among 8 dead in Utah murder-suicide after wife sought divorce, officials say

Updated on: January 5, 2023 / 5:26 PM EST / CBS/AP 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/enoch-utah-eight-family-members-five-kids-shot-dead-at-home/

How the Murder of a Utah Family Sparked Another Online Battle Over Mormonism

“So many men knew about this … I’m so f—ing furious.”

By Haley Swenson

Jan 20, 2023 5:21 PM 

https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/01/michael-haight-murders-mormon-obituary-gofundme.html

"14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

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"The choice made by General Congregation 32 concerning the mission of the Society in today s world as the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement, must give new vigor to our formation, so that it may respond to the requirements of evangelization in a world that is often infected by atheism and injustices,[5] and may equip our members for entering into dialogue with people and meeting the cultural problems of our times.[6]" The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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"§2. This solidarity with the body of the Society ought to take precedence over any other loyalties (those binding a man to any type of institution, within or outside the Society). I t ought to mark any other commitment, transforming it thereby into a mission. For a mission as such is bestowed by the Society through the superior and is always subject to its review. The Society can confirm or modify it as the greater service of God may require.[40]"

The CONstitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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"Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus: a ROMAN work of the entire Society, 304 §2" 

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms 

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Jahbulon or Jabulon or Jahbuhlun[1] (supposedly from Hebrew: יָהּ‎ בַּעַל אוֹן, romanized: Yāh baʿal ʾōn, "Jah-Baal-strength") is a word which is allegedly used in some rituals of Royal Arch Masonry and derivations thereof.

Background

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Non-Masonic authors have alleged that "Jahbulon" is a Masonic name for God, and even the name of a unique "Masonic god",[citation needed] despite Freemasonry's official claim that "There is no separate Masonic God," nor a separate proper name for a deity in any branch of Freemasonry.[2][3] In England, no ritual containing the name has been in official Masonic use since February 1989.[4]

Usages

Masonic

According to Masonic historian Arturo de Hoyos, the word Jahbulon was first used in the 18th century in early French versions of the Royal Arch degree. It relates a Masonic allegory in which Jabulon was the name of an explorer living during the time of Solomon who discovered the ruins of an ancient temple. Within the ruins he found a gold plate upon which the name of God (YHWH) was engraved.[5]

In Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor, published in the mid-19th century, Malcolm Duncan uses the word as a recognition password in his rendition of the Royal Arch degree,[note 1] and in a footnote states that the word is a combination of sacred names.[note 2] However, there has been controversy regarding Duncan's ritual. According to Turnbull, Everett and Denslow, Duncan has the candidate swear, "I furthermore promise and swear, that I will support the Constitution of the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the United States of America..." whereas the General Grand Chapter at the time styled itself General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the United States, a subtle but significant difference.[6] Some Masonic authors state that even if Duncan's ritual is authentic, it is either an outdated exposure[7] or that it had been superseded by another explanation.[8]

Ordo Templi Orientis

According to Francis X. King in The Secret Rituals of the O.T.O., the word is used in two rituals of Ordo Templi Orientis: the Lodge of Perfection, in which the candidate receives the Fourth Degree (which is called Perfect Magician and Companion of the Holy Royal Arch of Enoch); and the Perfect Initiate (or Prince of Jerusalem) degree, which falls between the fourth and fifth degrees. King prints in his book the lyrics of a song that mentions the word "Jahbulon."[9]

Interpretations

According to The Rev. Canon Richard Tydeman, in an address to the Supreme Grand Chapter of England on 13 November 1985, the word is a compound of three Hebrew terms:[10]

יהּ (Yah, I AM, which indicates eternal existence),

בּעל (b'el, owner, husband, lord) and

און (on, strength); pronouncing three aspects or qualities of Deity, namely Eternal Existence, Ownership, and Omnipotence and equating to "The Eternal God - Master - Almighty".

According to Walton Hannah, the word is a compound of the names of three gods worshipped in the ancient Middle East:[11]

Jah (= Yahweh)

Baal

On

According to Stephen Knight, each syllable of the 'ineffable name' represents one person of this trinity:[12]

JAH = Jahweh, the God of the Hebrews

BUL = Baal, the ancient Canaanite fertility god associated with 'licentious rites of imitative magic'

ON = Osiris, the Ancient Egyptian god of the underworld.

Criticism

Much of the available material that discusses the word Jahbulon does not address the administrative and jurisdictional distinctions amongst the appendant bodies of Freemasonry. Royal Arch Masonry is an appendant body to Freemasonry. In some areas it forms part of the York Rite, and in others it is an independent body. To be eligible to join one must first be a Master Mason. The administration of the Royal Arch is entirely separate from the administration of Craft Freemasonry. Every Masonic organization is sovereign only in its own jurisdiction, and has no authority in any other jurisdiction. This means that there is no standardization whatsoever with regards to words, signs, grips, or any other Masonic secrets.[13]

Walton Hannah stated in his book Darkness Visible that the interpretation that Jabulon was a name for God reportedly disturbed Albert Pike, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite, who, when he first heard the name, called it a "mongrel word" partly composed of an "appellation of the Devil".[14]

Certain Christian ministries take the position that Jahbulon is the name of a Masonic Pagan god, and therefore violates the Biblical commandment "You shall have no other gods before me".[15] A Church of England report into compatibility of Freemasonry and the Church reached conclusions of objection based on six points. One of these points was Knight's interpretation of Jahbulon; "JAHBULON, the name of description of God which appears in all the rituals is blasphemous because it is an amalgam of pagan deities. In effect, use of the term is taking God's name in vain."[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahbulon 

What happened at Mars Hill in the Bible?

Mars Hill is the Roman name for a hill in Athens, Greece, called the Hill of Ares or the Areopagus (Acts 17:19, 22). Ares was the Greek god of war and according to Greek mythology this hill was the place where Ares stood trial before the other gods for the murder of Poseidon’s son Alirrothios. Rising some 377 feet above the land below and not far from the Acropolis and Agora (marketplace), Mars Hill served as the meeting place for the Areopagus Court, the highest court in Greece for civil, criminal, and religious matters. Even under Roman rule in the time of the New Testament, Mars Hill remained an important meeting place where philosophy, religion, and law were discussed.

The biblical significance of Mars Hill is that it is the location of one of Paul’s most important gospel presentations at the time of his visit to Athens during his second missionary journey (Acts 17:16–34). It was where he addressed the religious idolatry of the Greeks who even had an altar to the “Unknown God.” It was this altar and their religious idolatry that Paul used as a starting point in proclaiming to them the one true God and how they could be reconciled to Him. Paul’s sermon is a classic example of a gospel presentation that begins where the listeners are and then presents the gospel message in a logical and biblical fashion. In many ways it is a classic example of apologetics in action. Paul started his message by addressing the false beliefs of those gathered there that day and then used those beliefs as a way of presenting the gospel message to them.

We know that when Paul arrived in Athens he found a city “given over to idols” (Acts 17:16). In his usual manner, Paul began presenting the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. He started by “reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers” (Acts 17:17) and then also proclaimed the gospel “in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:17). While at the marketplace he encountered some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (Acts 17:18) who, having heard Paul proclaim the resurrected Jesus Christ, wanted to learn about “this new doctrine” he was teaching, so they “brought him to the Areopagus” to hear more from him (Acts 17:19–20).

We know from history that the Epicurean philosophers generally believed that God existed but that He was not interested or involved with humanity and that the main purpose of life was pleasure. On the other hand, the Stoic philosophers had the worldview that “God was the world’s soul” and that the goal of life was “to rise above all things” so that one showed no emotional response to either pain or pleasure. These groups and others with their dramatically opposing worldviews loved to discuss and debate philosophy and religion. Intrigued by what they considered Paul’s “babblings” about the resurrection of Christ, they brought him to the Areopagus where the Athenians and foreigners “spent their time in nothing else but to tell or hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21).

As mentioned earlier, Paul’s presentation of the gospel is a great example for us, both as a pattern for how Paul identified with his audience and as an example of apologetics in action. His connection with his audience is seen in how he begins addressing those gathered at the Areopagus. He begins with the observation that they were “very religious,” based on the fact that they had many altars and “objects of worship” (Acts 17:23) including an altar to “the Unknown God.” Paul uses that altar to introduce them to the one true God and the only way of salvation, Jesus Christ.

His apologetic method and his knowledge that they did not even know what God is really like leads him to go back to Genesis and to the beginning of creation. Having a completely wrong view of God, those gathered that day needed to hear what God really was like before they would understand the message of the gospel. Paul begins explaining to them the sovereign God who created all things and gives life and breath to all things. He continues to explain that it was God who created from one individual all men and nations and even appointed the time and boundaries of their dwelling (Acts 17:26). His message continues as he explains the closeness of God and their need to repent of their rebellion against Him. Paul completes his message by introducing them to the One before whom they would all stand one day and be judged—Jesus Christ, whom God had raised from the dead.

Of course, many in the audience scoffed at the idea that Christ was crucified and rose from the dead on the third day because the idea of the resurrection to the Greeks was foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:23). Yet a few believed what Paul said and joined him.

What happened on Mars Hill is important because of the many lessons that can be learned, not only from how Paul presented the gospel and presented a biblical worldview, but also in the varied responses he received. Some of those there that day believed and were saved, others mocked Paul and rejected his message, and still others were open-minded and desired to hear more. We can only hope that those who were open-minded were later convinced of the truth and also repented and believed.

As with all men, those who were confronted with the truth of the gospel and did not respond in faith had no guarantee of a second chance. As Hebrews 3:15 says, “Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in rebellion.” Paul’s message to the philosophers on Mars Hill that day ended with a call to repentance and acceptance of the two fundamental truths of Scripture that Paul was committed to preaching—the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul preached Christ crucified to them as he always did wherever he went (1 Corinthians 2:2).

https://www.gotquestions.org/Mars-Hill.html

MAGA Goes to Mars

Elon Musk wants to give Donald Trump the presidency. Trump wants to give Musk the universe.

By Marina Koren

November 5, 2024

If NASA’s current schedule sticks, the next American president will oversee the first moon landing since the Apollo era and preside over the agency’s plans for sending astronauts deeper into the solar system. Elon Musk, the CEO of the world’s most successful private-spaceflight company, has made clear who he thinks that president should be. This fall, he declared that Kamala Harris would doom humankind to an earthbound existence, whereas Donald Trump would fulfill SpaceX’s founding dream of putting people on Mars. Trump seems equally enthusiastic about Musk’s space plans. “Elon, get those rocket ships going, because we want to reach Mars before the end of my term,” he said on the campaign trail.

A Trump presidency could push America toward a new era of space travel, and Trump has demonstrated his enthusiasm for space exploration—as president, he created the Space Force. Otherworldly ambitions, though, can come with earthly costs.

The American government is already relying on SpaceX to fly astronauts to space, provide satellite internet for operations across the U.S. military, and help realize its plans to return to the moon. A Trump administration could increase that codependence, further embedding SpaceX—and its CEO—in the framework of American governance. NASA has always used private companies to fulfill its greatest ambitions, but Trump could essentially outsource the imagination driving the future of American spaceflight to Musk.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/11/musk-trump-mars-spacex/680529/

Acts 17

1599 Geneva Bible

17 1 Paul at Thessalonica 3 preaching Christ, 6, 7 is entertained of Jason: 10 He is sent to Berea: 15 from thence coming to Athens, 19 in Mars’ street 23 he preacheth the living God to them unknown, 34 and so many are converted unto Christ.

1 Now [a]as they passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a Synagogue of the Jews.

2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days disputed with them by the Scriptures,

3 [b]Opening, and alleging that Christ must have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and this is Jesus Christ, whom said he, I preach to you.

4 And some of them believed, and joined in company with Paul and Silas: also of the Grecians that feared God a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.

5 [c]But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain [d]vagabonds and wicked fellows, and when they had assembled the multitude, they made a tumult in the city, and made assault against the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

6 But when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the heads of the city, crying, These are they which have subverted the state of the [e]world, and here they are,

7 Whom Jason hath received, and these all do against the decrees of Caesar, saying, that there is another King one Jesus.

8 Then they troubled the people, and the heads of the city, when they heard these things.

9 Notwithstanding when they had received sufficient [f]assurance of Jason and of the others, they let them go.

10 [g]And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, which when they were come thither, entered into the Synagogue of the Jews.

11 [h]These were also more [i]noble men than they which were at Thessalonica, which received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

12 Therefore many of them believed, and of honest women, which were Grecians, and men not a few.

13 ¶ [j]But when the Jews of Thessalonica knew, that the word of God was also preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and moved the people.

14 [k]But by and by the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timothy abode there still.

15 [l]And they that did conduct Paul, [m]brought him unto Athens: and when they had received a commandment unto Silas and Timothy that they should come to him at once, they departed.

16 ¶ [n]Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was [o]stirred in him, when he saw the city subject to [p]idolatry.

17 Therefore he disputeth in the Synagogue with the Jews, and with them that were religious, and in the market daily with [q]whomsoever he met.

18 [r]Then certain Philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, disputed with him, and some said, What will this [s]babbler say? Others said, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods (because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.)

19 And they took him, and brought him into [t]Mars’ street, saying, May we not know, what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

20 For thou bringest certain strange things unto our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.

21 [u]For all the Athenians and strangers which dwelt there, gave themselves to nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some news.

22 [v]Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ street, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too [w]superstitious.

23 For as I passed by, and beheld your [x]devotions, I found an altar wherein was written, UNTO THE [y]UNKNOWN GOD. Whom ye then ignorantly worship, him show I unto you.

24 [z]God that made the world, and all things that are therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things,

26 [aa]And hath made of [ab]one blood all mankind, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath assigned the seasons which were ordained before, and the bounds of their habitation,

27 That they should seek the Lord, if so be they might have [ac]groped after him, and found him, though doubtless he be not far from every one of us.

28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being, as also certain of your own Poets have said: For we are also his generation.

29 Forasmuch then, as we are the generation of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone [ad]graven by art and the invention of man.

30 [ae]And the time of this ignorance God regarded not: but now he admonisheth all men everywhere to repent.

31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath appointed, whereof he hath given an [af]assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

32 [ag]Now when they had heard of the resurrection from the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this thing.

33 And so Paul departed from among them.

34 Howbeit certain men clave unto Paul, and believed: among whom was also Dionysius Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Footnotes

Acts 17:1 The casting out of Silas and Paul, was the saving of many others.

Acts 17:3 Christ is therefore the Mediator, because he was crucified and rose again: much less is he to be rejected, because the cross is ignominious.

Acts 17:5 Although the zeal of the unfaithful seems never so goodly, yet at length it is found to have neither truth nor equity: But yet the wicked cannot do what they list, for even among themselves God stirreth up some, whose help he useth to the deliverance of his.

Acts 17:5 Certain companions which do nothing but walk the streets, wicked men, to be hired for every man’s money, to do any mischief, such as we commonly call the rascals and very sinks and dunghill knaves of all towns and cities.

Acts 17:6 Into what country and place soever they come, they cause sedition and tumult.

Acts 17:9 When Jason had put them in good assurance that they should appear.

Acts 17:10 That is indeed the wisdom of the Spirit, which always setteth the glory of God before itself as a mark whereunto it directeth itself, and never swerveth from it.

Acts 17:11 The Lord setteth out in one moment, and in one people, divers examples of his unsearchable wisdom, to cause them to fear him.

Acts 17:11 He compareth the Jews, with the Jews.

Acts 17:13 Satan hath his, who are zealous for him, and that even such, as least of all ought.

Acts 17:14 There is neither counsel, nor fury, nor madness, against the Lord.

Acts 17:15 The sheep of Christ do also watch for their pastor’s health and safety, but yet in the Lord.

Acts 17:15 It is not for nought that the Jews of Berea were so commended, for they brought Paul safe from Macedonia to Athens, and there is in distance betwixt those two, all Thessalia, and Boeotia, and Attica.

Acts 17:16 In comparing the wisdom of God with man’s wisdom, men scoff and mock at that which they understand not: And God useth the curiosity of fools to gather together his elect.

Acts 17:16 He could not forbear.

Acts 17:16 Slavishly given to Idolatry: Pausanias writeth that there were more Idols in Athens, than in all Greece, yea they had altars dedicated to Shame, and Fame, and Lust, whom they made goddesses.

Acts 17:17 Whomsoever Paul met with, that would suffer him to talk with him, he reasoned with him, so thoroughly did he burn with the zeal of God’s glory.

Acts 17:18 Two sects especially of the Philosophers do set themselves against Christ: the Epicureans, which make a mock and scoff at all religions, and the Stoics, which determine upon matters of religion according to their own brains.

Acts 17:18 Word for word, seed gatherer: a borrowed kind of speech taken of birds which spoil corn, and is applied to them which without all art bluster out such knowledge as they have gotten by hearing this man and that man.

Acts 17:19 This was a place called as you would say, Mars hill, where the judges sat which were called Areopagus, upon weighty affairs, which in old time arraigned Socrates, and afterward condemned him of impiety.

Acts 17:21 The wisdom of man is vanity.

Acts 17:22 The idolaters themselves minister most strong and forcible arguments against their own superstition.

Acts 17:22 To stand in too peevish and servile a fear of your gods.

Acts 17:23 Whatsoever men worship for religion’s sake, that we call devotion.

Acts 17:23 Pausanias in his Atticis, maketh mention of the altar which the Athenians had dedicated to unknown gods: and Laertius in his Epimenides maketh mention of an altar that had no name entitled.

Acts 17:24 It is a most foolish and vain thing to compare the Creator with the creature, to limit him within a place, which can be comprehended in no place, and to think to allure him with gifts, of whom all men have received all things whatsoever they have: And these are the fountains of all idolatry.

Acts 17:26 God is wonderful in all his works, but especially in the work of man: not that we should stand amazed at his works, but that we should lift up our eyes to the workman.

Acts 17:26 Of one stock and one beginning.

Acts 17:27 For as blind men we could not seek out God, but only by groping wise, before the true light came and lightened the world.

Acts 17:29 Which stuff, as gold, silver, stones, are customably graven as a man’s wit can devise, for men will not worship that gross stuff as it is, unless by some art it have gotten some shape upon it.

Acts 17:30 The oldness of the error doth not excuse them that err, but it commendeth and setteth forth the patience of God: who notwithstanding will be a just judge to such as contemn him.

Acts 17:31 By declaring Christ to be the judge of the world through the resurrection from the dead.

Acts 17:32 Men, to show forth their vanity, are diversely affected and moved with one selfsame Gospel, which notwithstanding ceaseth not to be effectual in the elect.

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