How the Federal Reserve’s rate policy affects mortgages

Published Sat, Dec 21 20248:00 AM EST

Carlos Waters

@in/carloswaters/

@carlos_waters

The Federal Reserve lowered its interest rate target three times in 2024.

This has many Americans waiting for mortgage rates to fall. But that may not happen for some time.

“I think the best case scenario is we’re going to continue to see mortgage rates hover around six and a half to 7%,” said Jordan Jackson, a global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “So unfortunately for those homeowners who are looking for a bit of a reprieve on the mortgage rate side, that may not come to fruition,” Jordan said in an interview with CNBC.

Mortgage rates can be influenced by Fed policy. But the rates are more closely tied to long-term borrowing rates for government debt. The 10-year Treasury note yield

has been increasing in recent months as investors consider more expansionary fiscal policies that may come from Washington in 2025. This, combined with signals sent from the market for mortgage-backed securities, determine the rates issued within new mortgages.

Economists at Fannie Mae say the Fed’s management of its mortgage-backed securities portfolio may contribute to today’s mortgage rates.

In the pandemic, the Fed bought huge amounts of assets, including mortgage-backed securities, to adjust demand and supply dynamics within the bond market. Economists also refer to the technique as “quantitative easing.“

Quantitative easing can reduce the spread between mortgage rates and Treasury yields, which leads to cheaper loan terms for home buyers. It can also provide opportunities for owners looking to refinance their mortgages. The Fed’s use of this technique in the pandemic brought mortgages rates to record lows in 2021.

“They were extra aggressive in 2021 with buying mortgage-backed securities. So, the [quantitative easing] was probably ill-advised at the time.” said Matthew Graham, COO of Mortgage News Daily.

In 2022, the Federal Reserve kicked off plans to reduce the balance of its holdings, primarily by allowing those assets to mature and “roll-off” of its balance sheet. This process is known as “quantitative tightening,” and it may add upward pressure on the spread between mortgage rates and Treasury yields.

“I think that’s one of the reasons the mortgage rates are still going in the wrong direction from the Federal Reserve’s standpoint,” said George Calhoun, director of the Hanlon Financial Systems Center at Stevens Institute of Technology.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/21/how-the-federal-reserves-rate-policy-affects-mortgages.html

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and covers the 10th District of the Federal Reserve, which includes Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and portions of western Missouri and northern New Mexico. It is second only to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in size of geographic area served. Missouri is the only state with two main Federal Reserve Banks; the other is located in St. Louis.

Federal Reserve Notes issued by the bank are identified by "J" on the face of one and two dollar bills and the J10 on the face of other currency. ⁦

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

Administration/administrators of temporal goods: 1. Of the Society in general: those who are administrators [326, 327, 419-21, 740-745, 759, 815]; the powers they have [743-745]; in what spirit and with what care and dedication the temporal goods of the Society are to be administered [305], 216 §§1, 2-4; social justice is to be safeguarded and fostered in the investment of money, 217; nothing is to be changed in or derogated from norms and instructions without permission, 216 §3; an account of one s administration is to be rendered [326, 741, 759], 167; especially so at the end of the t e rm s o f o f f i c e o f l o c a l superiors and treasurers, 222; negligent or wasteful superiors are to be corrected, 216 §4 2. Of one s own goods: is to be yielded from the beginning of novitiate and after first vows, 57 3. Of the goods of others: not to be undertaken without permission of the general, 166; administration of deposits of money from externs, whether in cash or in negotiable paper, should not be undertaken, 219. See also Buildings; Contracts in general, and in particular: Alienation of goods; Debts; Deposits; Gifts; Investment of money; Legacy; Rentals; Revenues" 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

Some Karaite Jews,[19] as proponents of the rendering Jehovah, state that although the original pronunciation of יהוה has been obscured by disuse of the spoken name according to oral Rabbinic law, well-established English transliterations of other Hebrew personal names are accepted in normal usage, such as Joshua, Jeremiah, Isaiah or Jesus, for which the original pronunciations may be unknown.[19][20] They also point out that "the English form Jehovah is an Anglicized form of Yehovah,"[19] and preserves the four Hebrew consonants "YHVH" (with the introduction of the "J" sound in English).[19][21][22] Some argue that Jehovah is preferable to Yahweh, based on their conclusion that the Tetragrammaton was likely tri-syllabic originally, and that modern forms should therefore also have three syllables.[23]

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

President John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, 1962 ##2*

Here we have the President leaving the Jesuit Order’s St. Francis Xavier Church at Hyannis after attending Mass. The Chief Executive was spending the weekend at the family summer home in nearby Hyannis Port. On the far right is Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman who would be chosen to be the coordinator of the Secret Service’s Assassination Team while it carried out its “Executive Action” in Dallas on November 22, 1963. The President, a Knight of Columbus and son of one of Francis Cardinal Spellman’s most powerful Knights of Malta—Joseph P. Kennedy—was educated at Harvard University, with its strong Jesuit presence, while Jackie gave birth to JFK, Jr., at Georgetown University Hospital. Aided by the Mafia, the Order had installed its first Irish Roman Catholic into the high office of the American Presidency. But John F. Kennedy turned on the Temporal Power of Rome’s Papal Caesar by refusing to enforce the Pope’s claim to rule all the governments of the world. Kennedy sought to break the power of the Black Pope’s continuation of the Order’s Nazi SS—the Central Intelligence Agency; attacked the Order’s Federal Reserve Bank by printing “United States Notes” in lieu of “Federal Reserve Notes;” sought to end Cardinal Spellman’s War in Vietnam; sought to return Cuba to the exiled Cuban people of Miami via a full fledged military invasion of the island on December 1, 1963; and attempted to end Rome’s Cold War by which the Order was creating fascism in the US. For these reasons and more, the Jesuit Order coldly carried out its regicidal “crime of the century.” Boston Record American, Monday, July 16, 1962, p. 26.

Vatican Assassins:

“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”

Third Edition

by Eric Jon Phelps

https://ia802505.us.archive.org/28/items/EricJonPhelpsVaticanAssassins3rdEdition/Eric%20Jon%20Phelps%20-%20Vatican%20Assassins%203rd%20Edition.pdf

Freemasons FDR and Marriner S. Eccles, Fed Chairman, 1935 #363

With the Company using short seller Joseph P. Kennedy and its Federal Reserve Bank to cause the Great Depression of 1929, the Order’s calculated solution was its socialist New Deal. A key player was the son of a rich Utah banker, Mormon Freemason Marriner S. Eccles (far right). Following the socialist rhetoric of the Order’s radio priest, Charles Coughlin, Eccles advocated deficit spending in the form of paternal relief measures, including a minimum wage law, unemployment insurance and old age pensions. Appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1933, ten months later he became Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (1934-1948). He wrote the Banking Act of 1935 (signed into law above) thereby perfecting the Fed by centralizing all power in its Federal Reserve Board and establishing the independence of the Board from the Treasury. Eccles, giving the appearance of saving the Bank, in fact created the monster it is today: its New York Branch and Federal Reserve Board in Washington are now ruled by Georgetown Jesuits through key Bank officers who are notorious CFR members. Eccles went on to become the U.S. delegate to New Hampshire’s 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, which created the Black Pope’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund thus paving the way for world commerce under “that man of sin—the beast.” Like Romanism, the Mormon Empire under the guise of religion is a tentacle of the Order’s “Invisible Empire,” Jesuit Pierre De Smet directing Mason Brigham Young to the Great Salt Lake when they met at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1846.

Know Your Government: The Federal Reserve System, Gary Taylor, (NY: Chelsea House Pubs., 1989) p. 56."

The Eccles Building, Fed Headquarters, Washington, D.C., 1989 #365 As Hawaii’s Laie Mormon Temple was patterned after the ancient Temple of Solomon, even so the Eccles Building resembles the historic Jerusalem Temple. Distinct from the location and function of the Department of the Treasury, this impressive “pagan cathedral” built for the Federal Reserve Board illustrates the power of the Black Pope decreeing the Empire’s economic policies. The Fed is controlled through the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) with offices in both New York City and Washington, D.C. The CFR is overseen and guided by the Jesuits of Georgetown University; the Order’s enforcers, keeping all politicians in line who may be a threat to its Fed, is the FBI/CIA—the co-assassins of JFK! Know Your Government: The Federal Reserve System, Gary Taylor, (NY: Chelsea House Pubs., 1989) p. 56."

Vatican Assassins

by Eric Jon Phelps

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQl1CmWeLL87RWVtzKttGFKm0frSNR8D/view?usp=sharing

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)

Mormon Freemason Brigham Young, 1801 – 1877 “The Prophet” of the Romish-styled Mormon Church, 1844 – 1877 The birth of Masonic Mormonism, and thus the fame of Brigham Young, can only be understood in light of America’s anti-Masonic movement of the 1820s. In August of 1826 Captain William Morgan of the Batavia Lodge of New York made public his Illustrations of Masonry By One of the Fraternity Who Has Devoted Thirty Years to the Subject. For revealing the first three degrees of Blue Lodge Masonry, Morgan was kidnapped; on the 19th of September he was drowned in the Niagara River. The people of western New York, where Morgan had lived, rose in all their might and attempted to find and punish the murderers. But to their surprise, sheriffs, witnesses, jurors and judges hindered the investigation, as they too were secret Masons bound by oaths of loyalty to the brotherhood over all civil oaths of duty to their communities. The outrage led to an anti-Masonic convention in 1828; in 1829 Baptist Preacher David Bernard published his Light On Free Masonry, revealing the first twenty degrees of the Craft. By 1830 tens of thousands of Northern Masons had disbanded their lodges. It was at this time Masonic Mormonism was born! On April 6, 1830, in the very same state out of which arose the anti-Masonic movement, Mason Joseph Smith (boldly calling himself “a Second Mohammed”) privately founded a “New Religious Society” (surnamed after the “Society of Jesus”)—“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” Fully intending to build “the temple of Zion, the center of the earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ,” Zionist Smith fell into disrepute over his polygamy. In 1844 he was murdered in jail by a mob while giving the Masonic “Grand Hailing Sign of Distress,” and Brigham Young became “The Prophet.” In 1846 at Council Bluffs, while moving 10,000 of his followers West, Young met with one of the Order’s most powerful American Jesuits, Pierre-Jean De Smet. The Jesuit directed Young to move his “Saints” to the Great Valley of the Salt Lake; Young obeyed, and upon arrival organized his new nation of “Deseret” along the lines of the Order’s socialist Paraguayan Reductions. In 1857 Masonic President James Buchanan, controlled by the Jesuits since his early 1857 arsenic poisoning, began a political agitation over the governorship of Utah, igniting the bloodless “Utah War.” He dispatched a military force led by Masonic Army Colonel Albert Sydney Johnston to put down Masonic Young’s refusal to submit to Federal jurisdiction. In this, Young’s “Deseret” only benefited, Johnston allowing Mormon raiders to “steal” 800 Army oxen. That same year Young ordered Bishop John D. Lee to lead a force composed of Mormons and Paiute Indians to murder nearly 130 “heretic” Protestant emigrants at Mountain Meadows—pursuant to the Order’s wicked Council of Trent and bloody Jesuit Oath. In the Spring of 1858 Masonic President Buchanan arranged for a free pardon if the Mormons would submit to Federal authority. The chief negotiator between both parties was the Jesuit, Pierre-Jean De Smet! Jesuit Coadjutor Brigham Young died in 1877, and will one day answer to the Lord Jesus Christ!" Vatican Assassins Wounded In The House Of My Friends Third Edition by Eric Jon Phelps https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQl1CmWeLL87RWVtzKttGFKm0frSNR8D/view?usp=sharing

"Figure 18 — Famous Morman/Mason during Anti-Masonic Movement.

3rd degree Joseph Smith (1805-1844)

Founder of the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). Born in a poor family that migrated to Palmyra NY in 1815.

The angel Moroni is said to have revealed the Book of Mormon to Smith, written on golden plates, which he was able to transcribe by the use of "Urim and Thummim," instruments of magical power.

His critics say that the Book of Mormon is based on an imaginative tale written in Biblical style by a former Presbyterian minister, Samuel Spaulding, but never published.

The manuscript was delivered to Smith by Sidney Rigdon, who helped revise it. Shortly afterwards Rigdon became one of the presidents of the church.

Book of Mormon was printed in Palmyra, NY in 1830, during the height of the Anti-Masonic Movement. The church was founded on April 6 of that year at the home of Peter Whitmer in Fayette, NY. Smith's first wife was the widow of former Freemason Capt. William Morgan, who was murdered by three Masons four years earlier. In 1831, Smith, with his new wife and band of Mormons, moved to Kirtland, OH, then to Missouri in 1838.

The Mormons ran into trouble at Independence and Far West, MO, and were removed from the state by the militia and settled at Commerce, IL.

Smith, Rigdon, and others were arrested for "murder, treason, burglary, arson and larceny," but allowed to escape and join the others at Commerce.

Commerce was renamed Nauvoo by the Mormons. Here Smith governed despotically with the aid of a small group of advisors.

In Commerce was a Masonic Lodge to which the leaders of the Mormons attached themselves. When the Mormons renamed the city Nauvoo, so too was the Lodge renamed. In Smith's journal, March 15, 1842, he wrote:

"I officiated as Grand Chaplain at the installation of the Nauvoo Lodge of Freemasons at the Grove near the Temple. Grand Master Jonas, of Columbus, being present, a large number of people assembled for the occasion. The day was exceedingly fine; all things were done in order. In the evening I received the first degree in Freemasonry in Nauvoo Lodge." The following day Smith added, "I was with the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sublime degree." At the same time Sidney Rigdon received his degrees "at sight" with Smith.

Over the next five months, the Nauvoo Lodge initiated (1O) 256 candidates and raised (3rd degree) 243. Consequently, Bodley Lodge No. 1 of Illinois preferred charges against Nauvoo Lodge on July 15, 1842, asking the Grand Lodge of Illinois to "make inquiry into the manner the officers of Nauvoo Lodge were installed by the Grand Master of this State, and by what authority the Grand Master initiated (1O), passed (2nd degree) and raised (3rd degree) Smith and Rigdon to the first three degrees of Freemasonry all at once. A special Masonic committee visited Nauvoo, inspected the records and work and recommended that the lodge be permitted to resume labor. After this inspection by Grand Lodge, the Mormons did so much Masonic work that two more lodges were established; Rising Sun Lodge at Montrose, IA, and a dispensation requested at Keokuk, IA. Again the Grand Lodge ordered an investigation, and this time the Mormons refused the committee access to the minutes. The Grand Lodge then struck all the Mormon Lodges from its rolls. However, Mormon Lodges refused to recognize this, and continued their Masonic work. On Friday, April 5, 1844 the Mormons dedicated the Masonic Hall at Nauvoo.

In the History of the Church, Smith wrote that he attended the ceremonies; that about 550 Masons from various parts of the world were present and took part in a procession that was formed, accompanied by the Nauvoo brass band; that the ceremonies were in charge of Hyrum Smith, Worshipful Master; that the principal address of the occasion was delivered by Apostle Erastus Snow; and that he, Joseph Smith and Dr. Goforth also addressed the assembly; and that all visiting Masons were given dinner in the Masonic Hall at the expense of Nauvoo Lodge.

If the above dedication is the same ceremony and date as the cornerstone laying, there is a discrepancy. In 1954 the Mormon Church purchased the old hall for restoration as an historic shrine. The cornerstone box was removed and sent to Salt Lake City, where in the presence of President David O. McKay and the twelve apostles, it was opened; the original documents were retained in Utah, and photostatic copies returned, to be redeposited in two new boxes in the cornerstone at Nauvoo. This ceremony took place June 24, 1954, being reported in the newspapers as "exactly 111 years after the first ceremony."

Inside the cornerstone a document states that Smith was not present in the procession or ceremony, as he was then being sought on an extradition warrant issued by Governor Ford of Missouri. (Missouri never had a man named Ford as governor; Gov. Reynolds had recently died and Lt. Gov. Marmaduke had taken his place.) Although Smith's signature is among the 50 or more names of the prominent Mormons on the document, it was noted therein that it was added later.

When Smith claimed the revelation of Polygamy in 1843, the church split. On June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother Hyrum were both arrested and jailed at Carthage IL. Before nightfall, both men were shot and killed by a mob. Smith must have recognized the mob as Masons, for he gave the Masonic grand hailing sign of distress just before he was shot.

Many of the symbols and ceremonies used by the Mormon Church today are of Masonic origin. For example, carved in the stone walls of the Mormon Temple in Utah is the Masonic Square & Compass and all seeing eye. On the building which houses the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is the Masonic 6-pointed star. See S&B, Vol. 1, 3rd ed, Introduction and Appendix 18."

3rd degree Hyrum Smith (? - 1844)

Brother of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. Killed with his brother by a mob in the jail at Carthage IL on June 27, 1844. He was first Senior Warden of the Nauvoo Lodge at Nauvoo IL. After the Grand Lodge had ordered the dispensation for this lodge returned, it continued work clandestinely, with Hyrum as Master. In this capacity he officiated at the dedication ceremonies of the Masonic Hall at Nauvoo on April 5, 1844, and his signature is one of those in the cornerstone documents. It has been claimed that both Hyrum and Heber C. Kimball were Masons in Ontario Co. NY, before becoming Mormons.

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Missouri is simply an arm of Freemasonry.

32nd degree Frederick M. Smith

(1874-1946)

Scottish Rite Mason — York Rite Mason — Shriner

Frederick was president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (1915-1946). He was son of Joseph Smith, first president of the reorganized branch, who was the namesake and grandson of Prophet Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism.

Frederick's father established the reorganized branch of the church in opposition to the Brigham Young group in Utah. Frederick was a graduate of Graceland College in 1898 and 1923; at U. of Missouri, 1908 09; A.M. from U. of Kansas in 1911; and Ph.D. from Clark U. in 1916. He was first counselor of the church, 1902-15, and on the death of his father in 1914, succeeded him as the second president. Frederick was associate editor of The Saints' Herald, 1900-04, and editor after 1917. Frederick became a Mason in 1917. On March 16 of that year, he was raised (3rd degree) in Carbondale Lodge No. 70, Carbondale KN. He was affiliated with Orient Lodge No. 546, Kansas City, MO on April 28, 1928, and was Master of the Lodge in 1934; Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Missouri in 1929-30; and Grand Chaplain, Grand Lodge of Missouri, 1940-41.

Frederick was Exalted in Orient Chapter No. 102, R.A.M., Kansas City, June 26, 1928; Greeted in Shekinah Council No. 24, R.&S.M., Kansas City on Sept. 12, 1928; Knighted in Oriental Commandery No. 35, K.T., Kansas City, Dec. 21, 1928; and affiliated with Palestine Commandery No. 17, K.T., of Independence, MO, June 2, 1938. Received 32nd degree AASR (SJ) at Fort Scott KN on April 26, 1927 and affiliated with Western Missouri Consistory in Kansas City, Jan. 25, 1933. He received Shrine in Mirza Temple, Pittsburg KN, May 25, 1927 and affiliated with Ararat in Kansas City, Oct. 8, 1929, and was Potentate in 1941. Served on the board of directors of Shrine Hospital, St. Louis. Was Member of Missouri Lodge of Research."

Two Faces of Freemasonry by John Daniel https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66Pc9x2hkIrOVNqS0tvbnJXZjA/view?usp=share_link&resourcekey=0-DrJ1Wp9h_PjjBWVMiXcTnw

"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

PART X THE PRESERVATION AND INCREASE OF THE SOCIETY

410 §1. As a sign of gratitude and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let that feast be solemnly celebrated; and on that day is to be renewed the consecration by which the Society on January 1, 1872, dedicated and consecrated itself totally and perpetually.

§2. The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be renewed each year on the feast of the Immaculate Heart.[1]

411 The sense of belonging and responsibility that each individual one of Ours has toward the whole Society should be manifested in a knowledge of our spirituality, our history, our saints, our apostolic labors, and our men, especially of those who are suffering difficulties for the sake of Christ; it is to be manifested as well by maintaining Ignatian mobility and flexibility with a view to helping any region of the Society whatsoever.[2]

412 §1. All our members should have at heart a shared concern for attracting new members to the Society, especially by prayer and the example of their lives as individuals and in community.[3]

§2. Therefore, we must do everything possible actively to present the Society in such a way that those whom God calls will know and appreciate who and what we are and what is our distinctive way of proceeding in the following of Christ.[4]

§3. We must also promote vocations as widely as possible, in order to reflect the culture and experience of those we seek to serve, including minority cultures, immigrants, and indigenous people.[5]

413 The Society should always show itself bound to its benefactors in charity and gratitude. Superiors should ensure that prayers are offered for them and other appropriate signs of our gratitude are shown them.[6]

414 In the perfect observance of all the Constitutions and in the particular fulfillment of our Institute, our formed members should excel, setting a good example and spreading the good odor of Christ, keeping before their eyes the serious obligation they have of giving edification especially to our younger members.[ 7]

415 All by earnest reading and meditation (in particular, at the time of the annual Spiritual Exercises, renewal of vows, monthly recollection, beginning of the year, and so forth) should strive ever to know, esteem, and love better our Constitutions and the special nature of our Institute,[ 8] which are to be faithfully observed, and which for each and all of us are the one, true, and safe way that surely leads to the perfection to which our Lord calls and invites all sons of the Society.[9] §2. Major superiors, especially at the time of the annual visitation, should see that this is faithfully observed.

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 Complimentary Norms

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

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

President Nelson About the Church in the Coming Years: "Eat Your Vitamin Pills. Get Some Rest. It's Going to Be Exciting."

By LDS Living October 31, 2018 06:22 PM MDT

"If you think the Church has been fully restored, you're just seeing the beginning," President Russell M. Nelson said about the Church in a video during his South American tour.

While on the nine-day tour, which included the dedication of the Concepción Chile Temple, President Nelson and Elder Gary E. Stevenson shared their thoughts on the Church.

"This is a calling," President Nelson says. "It's a cause. It's the Lord's work and it's a privilege for us to participate in any way. We love it."

Noting the rapid growth in South America over the past 90 years, President Nelson and Elder Stevenson said they were excited to see new converts and families with four-generations of membership among the thousands that greeted them on the tour.

"We go to the venues and the children and others are anxious to be in the room with the prophet," Elder Stevenson shares. "But it's different than a worldly celebrity. . . this is a longing that they have to be with the mouthpiece of a loving Heavenly Father who they have a heartfelt testimony of these plain and precious truths."

And as the gospel continues to reach thousands throughout the world, President Nelson says there is more to come in restoring the gospel to the earth.

"Wait till next year, and then the next year," President Nelson says. "Eat your vitamin pills. Get some rest. It's going to be exciting."

https://www.ldsliving.com/president-nelson-about-the-church-in-the-coming-years-eat-your-vitamin-pills-get-some-rest-its-going-to-be-exciting/s/89632

Dietary Supplements in the Time of COVID-19

Fact Sheet for Health Professionals

Data are insufficient to support recommendations for or against the use of any vitamin, mineral, herb or other botanical, fatty acid, or other dietary supplement ingredient to prevent or treat COVID-19.

Introduction

COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in 2019 and caused a global pandemic [1]. Common initial signs and symptoms include cough, fever, fatigue, headache, muscle aches and pain, and diarrhea [2]. Some individuals with COVID-19 become severely ill, usually starting about 1 week after symptom onset; severe COVID-19 often involves progressive respiratory failure and may also result in life-threatening pneumonia, multiorgan failure, and death [2,3]. In addition, many individuals who have had COVID-19 report symptoms of post-acute sequelae of COVID (including breathlessness, cough, fatigue, muscle aches and weakness, sleep difficulties, and cognitive dysfunction), commonly known as long COVID, for weeks, months, or years after the acute stage of illness has passed [4-8]. The risk of long COVID appears to be higher in people who are hospitalized following SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with those who have less severe disease. It also appears to be higher in those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 compared with those who are vaccinated [4].

Currently, data are insufficient to support recommendations for or against the use of any vitamin, mineral, herb, fatty acid, or other dietary supplement ingredient to prevent or treat COVID-19 [9]. Nevertheless, the sales of dietary supplements marketed to support immune health increased after the emergence of COVID-19 [10,11]. By law, dietary supplements are not allowed to be marketed as a treatment, prevention, or cure for any disease; only drugs can legally make such claims [12].

The immune system defends the body from pathogens that cause disease and is comprised of innate responses, which are the first line of defense, and adaptive responses, which become engaged later [13-15].

The innate immune system includes physical barriers, such as the skin and gut epithelium, that help prevent pathogen entry. It also includes leukocytes (white blood cells)—such as neutrophils, macrophages (which release cytokines), and natural killer cells—that attempt to find and eliminate foreign pathogens. However, these components are nonspecific, meaning that unlike the adaptive immune system, they do not recognize and respond to specific pathogens [13,14].

The adaptive immune system is pathogen specific and consists of B lymphocytes (B cells) that secrete antibodies into the blood and tissues (a process known as humoral immunity) and T lymphocytes (T cells) that destroy infected cells (a process known as cell-mediated immunity) [15]. The adaptive response takes several days or weeks to develop, but it generates immunological memory; as a result, a subsequent exposure to the same pathogen leads to a vigorous and rapid immune response [13,15]. Vaccinations enable the adaptive immune system to protect the body from exposures to the same pathogen in the future [14].

The body’s immune response to pathogens leads to inflammation, causing redness, swelling, heat, pain, and a loss of tissue function [16]. Inflammation helps eliminate the pathogen and initiate the healing process, but it can also cause symptoms and severe pathologies [16,17]. For example, the activation of CD8 T cells as part of the adaptive immune response can increase inflammation and cause pulmonary damage. This process can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, which has occurred in some patients with COVID-19 [17]. Other signs of inflammation that can appear in patients with COVID-19 include elevated levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 [2]. Some patients with COVID-19 experience a cytokine storm, a critical condition caused by the excessive production of inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1 beta, and interleukin-6 [3,18]. This condition increases disease severity and the risk of death, so tempering the body’s inflammatory response is an important component of COVID-19 management.

People require several vitamins and minerals—including vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc—for proper immune function, and clinical deficiencies of these nutrients can increase susceptibility to infections [9,14,19]. Other dietary supplement ingredients, such as botanicals and probiotics, do not have essential roles in the body but might affect immune function.

Some studies have investigated whether dietary supplement ingredients might enhance immune function in people with COVID-19. However, measuring the impact that vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplement ingredients have on the immune system is difficult because the immune system is a complex network of organs, tissues, and cells. Immune function can be assessed indirectly by examining a person’s risk of infectious diseases and the severity of their symptoms, but there is no single method for directly measuring immune system function and resistance to disease [20,21]. This can make it difficult to interpret the results of clinical trials that evaluate the use of supplements in people with COVID-19. In addition, many of these trials were exploratory, had small sample sizes, were not randomized or placebo controlled, and used varying supplement doses and formulations [22-24].

Other studies have examined the associations between serum or plasma concentrations of vitamins or minerals and the risk of COVID-19 or disease severity. However, serum or plasma nutrient concentrations might not reflect body stores [25]. Furthermore, the onset of disease can alter nutrient concentrations [26,27]; it cannot be assumed that the nutrient concentrations observed in these studies contributed to the onset of COVID-19 or its severity.

This fact sheet summarizes the state of the science on the safety and efficacy of several dietary supplements. Ingredients are presented in alphabetical order. In addition, this fact sheet briefly discusses interactions between dietary supplement ingredients and medications. However, especially for botanicals, this information is often based on individual case reports and theoretical interactions derived from animal studies, cellular assays, or other indirect evidence. In most cases, potential interactions have not been adequately evaluated in clinical settings [28,29].

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/COVID19-HealthProfessional/

The CORONA [1] program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force. The CORONA satellites were used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union (USSR), China, and other areas beginning in June 1959 and ending in May 1972."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORONA_(satellite)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.[7] Most scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus entered into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history.[8][9] Social and environmental factors including climate change, natural ecosystem destruction and wildlife trade increased the likelihood of such zoonotic spillover.[10][11][12][13] The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The symptoms of COVID‑19 are variable but often include fever,[14] fatigue, cough, breathing difficulties, loss of smell, and loss of taste.[15][16][17] Symptoms may begin one to fourteen days after exposure to the virus. At least a third of people who are infected do not develop noticeable symptoms.[18][19] Of those who develop symptoms noticeable enough to be classified as patients, most (81%) develop mild to moderate symptoms (up to mild pneumonia), while 14% develop severe symptoms (dyspnea, hypoxia, or more than 50% lung involvement on imaging), and 5% develop critical symptoms (respiratory failure, shock, or multiorgan dysfunction).[20] Older people are at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms. Some complications result in death. Some people continue to experience a range of effects (long COVID) for months or years after infection, and damage to organs has been observed.[21] Multi-year studies are underway to further investigate the long-term effects of the disease.[22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19

Lunar Day

The duration of a single day on the Moon, from sunrise to sunrise, is approximately 29.5 Earth days. However, this is broken down into roughly 14.75 days of daylight followed by 14.75 days of nighttime, due to the Moon's synchronous rotation with Earth.

When we refer to the "life of one lunar day" in the context of a moon mission, it usually pertains to the duration of sunlight (daytime) that the mission equipment can operate within. This is because most moon missions, including rovers and landers, rely on solar panels for power. During the lunar night, temperatures can drop drastically (to below minus 200 degrees Celsius), and without sunlight, there's no power generation from solar panels. This extreme cold can also be damaging to equipment.

So, when a mission states its operational life as "one lunar day," it typically means it is designed to function during the approximately 14 Earth days of sunlight on the Moon, after which it may go into a dormant state during the lunar night, or it might cease operations altogether due to the harsh conditions.

https://www.sriramsias.com/upsc-daily-current-affairs/lunar-day/

Osiris, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The origin of Osiris is obscure; he was a local god of Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may have been a personification of chthonic (underworld) fertility. By about 2400 bce, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn combined with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king’s son, the living king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris. The god Seth was considered the murderer of Osiris and adversary of Horus.

According to the form of the myth reported by the Greek author Plutarch, Osiris was slain or drowned by Seth, who tore the corpse into 14 pieces and flung them over Egypt. Eventually, Isis and her sister Nephthys found and buried all the pieces, except the phallus, thereby giving new life to Osiris, who thenceforth remained in the underworld as ruler and judge. His son Horus successfully fought against Seth, avenging Osiris and becoming the new king of Egypt.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Osiris-Egyptian-god

Isaiah 14

1599 Geneva Bible

14 1 The return of the people from captivity. 4 The derision of the King of Babylon. 11 The death of the king. 29 The destruction of the Philistines.

1 For [a]the Lord will have compassion of Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and cause them to rest in their own land: and the stranger [b]shall join himself unto them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

2 And the people shall receive them and bring them to their own place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord, for [c]servants and handmaids: and they shall take them prisoners, whose captives they were, and have rule over their oppressors.

3 ¶ And in that day when the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the sore bondage, wherein thou didst serve,

4 Then shalt thou take up this proverb against the King of Babel, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased? and the gold thirsty Babel rested?

5 The Lord hath broken the rod of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers:

6 Which smote the people in anger with a continual plague, and ruled the nations in wrath: if any were persecuted, he did [d]not let.

7 The whole world is at [e]rest and is quiet: they sing for joy.

8 Also the fir trees rejoiced of thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no hewer came up against us.

9 Hell beneath is moved for thee to [f]meet thee at thy coming, raising up the dead for thee, even all the princes of the earth, and hath raised from their thrones all the Kings of the nations.

10 All they shall cry and say unto thee, Art thou become weak also as we? art thou become like unto us?

11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the sound of the viols: the worm [g]is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O [h]Lucifer, son of the morning? and cut down to the ground, which didst cast lots upon the nations?

13 Yet thou saidest in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, and exalt my throne above beside the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the [i]North.

14 I will ascend above the height of the clouds, and I will be like the most high.

15 But thou shalt be brought down to the grave, to the side of the pit.

16 They that see thee, shall [j]look upon thee and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and that did shake the kingdoms?

17 He made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, and opened not [k]the house of his prisoners.

18 All the kings of the nations, even they all sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.

19 But thou art [l]cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch: like the raiment of those that are slain, and thrust through with a sword, which go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under feet.

20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in the grave, because thou hast destroyed thine own land, and slain thy people: the seed of the wicked shall not be renowned forever.

21 [m]Prepare a slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers: let them not rise up nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with enemies.

22 ¶ For I will rise up against them (saith the Lord of hosts) and will cut off from Babel the name and the remnant, and the son, and the nephew, saith the Lord:

23 And I will make it a possession to the [n]hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely like as I have purposed, so shall it come to pass, and as I have consulted, it shall stand:

25 [o]That I will break to pieces Assyria in my land, and upon my mountains will I tread him under foot, so that his yoke shall depart from [p]them, and his burden shall be taken from off their shoulder.

26 This is the counsel that is consulted upon the whole world, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations,

27 Because the Lord of hosts hath determined, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it away?

28 ¶ In the year that king Ahaz died, was this [q]burden.

29 Rejoice not, (thou whole [r]Philistia) because the rod of him that did beat thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and the fruit thereof shall be a fiery flying serpent.

30 For the [s]first born of the poor shall be fed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and [t]it shall slay thy remnant.

31 Howl, O gate, cry, O city: thou whole land of Philistia art dissolved, for there shall come from the [u]North a smoke, and none shall be [v]alone, at his time appointed.

32 What shall then one answer the [w]messengers of the Gentiles? that the Lord hath stablished [x]Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Footnotes

Isaiah 14:1 He showeth why God will haste to destroy his enemies, to wit, because he will deliver his Church.

Isaiah 14:1 Meaning, that the Gentiles shalt be joined with the Church, and worship God.

Isaiah 14:2 Signifying, that the Jews should be superiors to the Gentiles, and that they should be brought under the service of Christ by the preaching of the Apostles, whereby all are brought to the subjection of Christ, 2 Cor. 10:5.

Isaiah 14:6 That is, he suffered all violence and injuries to be done.

Isaiah 14:7 Meaning, that when tyrants reign, there can be no rest nor quietness, and also how detestable a thing tyranny is, seeing the insensible creatures have occasion to rejoice at their destruction.

Isaiah 14:9 As though they feared, lest thou shouldest trouble the dead, as thou didst the living: and here he derideth the proud tyranny of the wicked, which know not that all creatures wish their destruction, that they may rejoice.

Isaiah 14:11 Instead of thy costly carpets and coverings.

Isaiah 14:12 Thou that thoughtest thyself most glorious, and as it were placed in the heaven: for the morning star that goeth before the sun, is called Lucifer, to whom Nebuchadnezzar is compared.

Isaiah 14:13 Meaning, Jerusalem, whereof the Temple was of the North side, Ps. 48:2, whereby he meaneth that tyrants fight against God, when they persecute his Church, and would set themselves in his place.

Isaiah 14:16 In marveling at thee.

Isaiah 14:17 To set them at liberty: noting his cruelty.

Isaiah 14:19 Thou wast not buried in the sepulchre of thy fathers, thy tyranny was so abhorred.

Isaiah 14:21 He called to the Medes and Persians, and all those that should execute God’s vengeance.

Isaiah 14:23 Or, tortoise.

Isaiah 14:25 As I have begun to destroy the Assyrians in Sennacherib: so will I continue, and destroy them wholly, when I shall deliver you from Babylon.

Isaiah 14:25 From the Jews.

Isaiah 14:28 Read Isa. 13:1.

Isaiah 14:29 He willeth the Philistines not to rejoice because the Jews are diminished in their power, for their strength shall be greater than ever it was.

Isaiah 14:30 The Israelites, which were brought to most extreme misery.

Isaiah 14:30 To wit, my people.

Isaiah 14:31 That is, from the Jews or Assyrians: for they were brought to most extreme misery.

Isaiah 14:31 But they shall be all ready, and join together.

Isaiah 14:32 Which shall come to inquire of the state of the Church.

Isaiah 14:32 They shall answer that the Lord doth defend his Church, and them that join themselves thereunto.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2014&version=GNV

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

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

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The city of Rome harbours thirteen ancient obelisks, the most in the world. There are eight ancient Egyptian and five ancient Roman obelisks in Rome, together with a number of more modern obelisks; there was also until 2005 an ancient Ethiopian obelisk in Rome.

The Romans used special heavy cargo carriers called obelisk ships to transport the monuments down the Nile[clarification needed] to Alexandria and from there across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome. On site, large Roman cranes were employed to erect the monoliths.

Vaticano Unknown St. Peter's Square

41°54′8.1″N 12°27′26.1″E 25.5 m

(41 m)[A 1]

Old St. Peter's Basilica with the obelisk at the left in its original place.

Originally raised in the Forum Iulium in Alexandriamap by the prefect Cornelius Gallus on Augustus' orders around 30–28 BC. No hieroglyphs. Brought to Rome by Caligula in 40 for the spina of the Vatican Circus.map Relocated by Pope Sixtus V in 1586 using a method devised by Domenico Fontana; the first monumental obelisk raised in the modern period, it is the only obelisk in Rome that has not toppled since Roman times. During the Middle Ages, the gilt ball on top of the obelisk was believed to contain the ashes of Julius Caesar.[3][4] Fontana later removed the ancient metal ball, now in a Rome museum, that stood atop the obelisk and found only dust. Pedro Tafur in his Andanças[4][5] (c. 1440) mentions that many passed between the ground and the "tower" base "thinking it a saintly thing".

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

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

On pope’s tenth anniversary, Italian PM offers challenges, praise

By Elise Ann Allen

Mar 14, 2023

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Jan. 10, 2023. (Credit: Vatican Media.)

ROME – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke at a book presentation on the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’s election Monday, praising the Argentine pope on several fronts and pledging Italy’s support for the Holy See to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine.

However, despite her words of admiration and support, Meloni also stood her ground on the migration issue, defending a strict anti-migrant policy known to be at odds with Pope Francis’s policy of welcome and integration.

In her remarks, Meloni recalled the night of Pope Francis’s election to the papacy on March 13, 2013, when he told faithful that his fellow cardinals had gone to the “ends of the earth” to find their new pope.

With this line, Pope Francis “gave us a preview” of his entire papacy, and “perhaps the most distinct trace of his papacy…his most marked aspect is precisely people and places that are far away, on the physical and existential peripheries,” she said.

Meloni then reflected on Pope Francis’s ten year-pontificate and the role his words and teachings have had on her daily work as a politician and now as Italy’s first woman prime minister.

She spoke alongside Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin at the March 13 presentation of a new book written by Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, a close friend and aide of Pope Francis who has interviewed him several times and travels with the pope on every international trip.

The new book, titled, The Atlas of Francis: Vatican and international politics, explores Francis’s foreign policy amid an increasingly interconnected yet polarized world divided by “a third world war in pieces.”

https://cruxnow.com/10th-anniversary-pope-francis-election/2023/03/on-popes-tenth-anniversary-italian-pm-offers-challenges-praise

The Sun and Moon allegory is used to depict a medieval political theory of hierocracy which submits the secular power to the spiritual power, stating that the Bishop of Rome is like the Sun, the only source of his own light, while the Emperor is like the Moon, which merely reflects lights and has no value without the Sun. It was espoused by the Catholic Church of Innocent III and instantiated to some extent in medieval political practice. It was among the first ambitions of papal domination of Europe.

Description

Finding this imagery in the Book of Genesis, the Allegory images authentic spiritual authority as the Sun and any and all civil, or political or secular, authority as the Moon. By doing so, it illustrates that the Roman Catholic Pope, as "Supreme Pontiff", "Vicar of Christ", et cetera, and therefore the supreme universal spiritual authority on Earth, is like the Sun that is the one source of light for itself and all other celestial bodies orbiting it; while the Holy Roman Emperor, as symbolic and intended supreme civil, political, and secular authority on Earth, and having theoretically received his authority from and at the pleasure of the Pope, is like the Moon – that is, dependent upon the Sun for any illumination, merely reflects solar light, and ultimately has no light without the Sun. This theory dominated European political theory and practice in the 13th century.[1] It is related to the general theory of Papal supremacy and "plenitudo potestatis" as articulated by the Roman Catholic Church.

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

Ezekiel 28

1599 Geneva Bible

28 2 The word of God against the king of Tyre for his pride. 21 The word of the Lord against Sidon. 25 The Lord promises that he will gather together the children of Israel.

1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is exalted, and thou hast said, [a]I am a god, I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the sea, yet thou art but a man and not God, and [b]though thou didst think in thine heart, that thou wast equal with God,

3 Behold, thou art wiser than [c]Daniel: there is no secret that they can hide from thee.

4 With thy wisdom and thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures.

5 By thy great wisdom and by thine occupying hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches.

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because thou didst think in thine heart, that thou wast equal with God,

7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, even the terrible nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

8 They shall cast thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the death of them, that are slain in the midst of the sea.

9 Wilt thou say then before him that slayeth thee, I am a god? but thou shalt be a man, and no god, in the hands of him that slayeth thee.

10 Thou shalt die the death of the [d]uncircumcised by the hands of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

11 ¶ Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God, Thou sealest up the sum, and art full of [e]wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God: every precious stone was in thy garment, the ruby, the topaz, and the [f]diamond, the chrysolite, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, [g]emerald, and the carbuncle and gold: the workmanship of thy timbrels, and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

14 Thou art [h]the anointed Cherub, that covereth, and I have set thee [i]in honor: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God: thou hast walked in the midst of the [j]stones of fire.

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast [k]created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with cruelty, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the [l]mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering Cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, and thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy [m]sanctification by the multitude of thine iniquities, and by the iniquity of thy merchandise: therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, which shall devour thee: and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people, shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be [n]a terror, and never shalt thou be anymore.

20 ¶ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

21 Son of man, set thy face against Sidon, and prophesy against it,

22 And say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I come against thee, O Sidon, and I will be [o]glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets, and the slain shall fall in the midst of her: [p]the enemy shall come against her with the sword on every side, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

24 And they shall be no more a pricking thorn unto the house of Israel, nor any grievous thorn of all that are round about them, and despised them, and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

25 Thus saith the Lord God, When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people where they are scattered, and shall be [q]sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in the land, that I have given to my servant Jacob.

26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards: yea, they shall dwell safely, when I have executed judgments upon all round about them that despise them, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

Footnotes

Ezekiel 28:2 I am safe that none can come to hurt me, as God is in the heaven.

Ezekiel 28:2 Hebrew, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God.

Ezekiel 28:3 Thus he speaketh by derision: for Daniel had declared notable signs of his wisdom in Babylon, when Ezekiel wrote this.

Ezekiel 28:10 Like the rest of the heathen and infidels, which are God’s enemies.

Ezekiel 28:12 He derideth the vain opinion and confidence that the Tyrians had in their riches, strength and pleasures.

Ezekiel 28:13 Or, jasper.

Ezekiel 28:13 Or, carbuncle.

Ezekiel 28:14 He meaneth the royal state of Tyre, which for the excellency and glory thereof he compareth to the Cherubims which covered the Ark: and by this word anointed he signifieth the same.

Ezekiel 28:14 I did thee this honor to make thee one of the builders of my Temple, which was when Hiram sent unto Solomon things necessary for the work.

Ezekiel 28:14 To wit, among my people Israel, which shined as precious stones.

Ezekiel 28:15 Which was when I first called thee to this dignity.

Ezekiel 28:16 Thou shalt have no part among my people.

Ezekiel 28:18 That is, the honor, whereunto I called them.

Ezekiel 28:19 Or, brought to nothing.

Ezekiel 28:22 By executing my judgments against thy wickedness.

Ezekiel 28:23 That is, Nebuchadnezzar.

Ezekiel 28:25 He showeth for what cause God will assemble his Church, and preserve it still, though he destroy his enemies: to wit, that they should praise him, and give thanks for his great mercies.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2028&version=GNV

Bull-slaying scene

See also: Tauroctony

In every mithraeum the centerpiece was a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, an act called the tauroctony.[p][q] The image may be a relief, or free-standing, and side details may be present or omitted. The centre-piece is Mithras clothed in Anatolian costume and wearing a Phrygian cap; who is kneeling on the exhausted bull, holding it by the nostrils[4](p 77) with his left hand, and stabbing it with his right. As he does so, he looks over his shoulder towards the figure of Sol. A dog and a snake reach up towards the blood. A scorpion seizes the bull's genitals. A raven is flying around or is sitting on the bull. One or three ears of wheat are seen coming out from the bull's tail, sometimes from the wound. The bull was often white. The god is sitting on the bull in an unnatural way with his right leg constraining the bull's hoof and the left leg is bent and resting on the bull's back or flank.[r] The two torch-bearers are on either side are dressed like Mithras: Cautes with his torch pointing up, and Cautopates with his torch pointing down.[4](p 98–99)[24] Sometimes Cautes and Cautopates carry shepherds' crooks instead of torches.[25]

The event takes place in a cavern, into which Mithras has carried the bull, after having hunted it, ridden it and overwhelmed its strength.[4](p 74) Sometimes the cavern is surrounded by a circle, on which the twelve signs of the zodiac appear. Outside the cavern, top left, is Sol the sun, with his flaming crown, often driving a quadriga. A ray of light often reaches down to touch Mithras. At the top right is Luna, with her crescent moon, who may be depicted driving a biga.[26]

In some depictions, the central tauroctony is framed by a series of subsidiary scenes to the left, top and right, illustrating events in the Mithras narrative; Mithras being born from the rock, the water miracle, the hunting and riding of the bull, meeting Sol who kneels to him, shaking hands with Sol and sharing a meal of bull-parts with him, and ascending to the heavens in a chariot.[26] In some instances, as is the case in the stucco icon at Santa Prisca Mithraeum in Rome, the god is shown heroically nude.[s] Some of these reliefs were constructed so that they could be turned on an axis. On the back side was another, more elaborate feasting scene. This indicates that the bull killing scene was used in the first part of the celebration, then the relief was turned, and the second scene was used in the second part of the celebration.[28] Besides the main cult icon, a number of mithraea had several secondary tauroctonies, and some small portable versions, probably meant for private devotion, have also been found.[29]

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

Revelation 18

1599 Geneva Bible

18 2 The horrible destruction of Babylon set out. 11, 16, 18 The merchants of the earth, who were enriched with the pomp and luxuriousness of it, weep and wail: 20 but all the elect rejoice for that just vengeance of God.

1 [a]And after these things, I saw another [b]Angel come down from heaven, having great power, so that the earth was lightened with his glory,

2 And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, [c]saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, Babylon that great city, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of all foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

3 For all nations have drunken of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich of the abundance of her pleasures.

4 [d]And I heard another voice from heaven say, [e]Go out of her, my people, that ye be not [f]partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues:

5 For her sins are [g]come up into heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

6 [h]Reward her, even as she hath rewarded you, and give her double according to her works: and in the cup that she hath filled to you, fill her the double.

7 Inasmuch as she glorified herself, and lived in pleasure, so much give ye to her torment and sorrow: for she saith [i]in her heart, I sit being a queen, and am [j]no widow, and shall [k]see no mourning.

8 Therefore shall her plagues come at [l]one day, death, and sorrow, and famine, and she shall be burnt with fire: for that God which condemneth her, is a strong Lord,

9 And the [m]kings of the earth shall bewail her, and lament for her, which have committed fornication, and lived in pleasure with her, when they shall see that smoke of that her burning,

10 And shall stand afar off for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come.

11 [n]And the merchants of the earth shall weep and wail over her: for no man buyeth their ware anymore.

12 The ware of gold, and silver, and of precious stone, and of pearls, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of scarlet, and of all manner of Thynewood, and of all vessels of ivory, and of all vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble,

13 And of cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and servants, and souls of men.

14 ([o]And the [p]apples that thy soul lusted after, are departed from thee, and all things which were fat and excellent, are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more.)

15 The merchants of these things which were waxed rich, shall stand afar off from her, for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing.

16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple, and scarlet, and gilded with gold, and precious stones, and pearls.

17 [q]For in one hour so great riches are come to desolation. And every shipmaster, and all the people that occupy ships and shipmen, and whosoever traffic on the sea, shall stand afar off.

18 And cry, when they see that smoke of that her burning, saying, What city was like unto this great city?

19 And they shall cast dust on their heads, and cry, weeping, and wailing, and say, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships on the sea by her coastlines: for in one hour she is made desolate.

20 [r]O heaven, rejoice of her, and ye holy Apostles and Prophets: for God hath punished her, to be revenged on her for your sakes.

21 [s]Then a mighty Angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, With such violence shall that great city Babylon be cast and shall be found no more.

22 [t]And the voice of harpers, and musicians and of pipers, and trumpeters shall be heard no more in thee, and no craftsman, of whosoever craft he be, shall be found anymore in thee: and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more in thee.

23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more in thee: and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth: and with thine enchantment were deceived all nations.

24 And in her was found the [u]blood of the Prophets [v]and of the Saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Footnotes

Revelation 18:1 The second place (as I said before, 17:1) of the history of Babylon, is of the woeful fall and ruin of that whore of Babylon. This historical prediction concerning her, is threefold. The first a plain and simple foretelling of her ruin in three verses, the second a figurative prediction by the circumstances, thence, unto verse 20. The third, a confirmation of the same by sign or wonder, unto the end of the Chapter.

Revelation 18:1 Either Christ the eternal word of God the Father (as often elsewhere) or a created Angel, and one deputed unto this service: but thoroughly furnished with greatness of power, and with light of glory, as the ensign of power.

Revelation 18:2 The prediction or foretelling of her ruin, containing both the fall of Babylon, in this verse, and the cause thereof uttered by way of allegory concerning her spiritual and carnal wickedness, that is, her most great impiety and injustice, in the next verse: her fall is first simply declared of the Angel: and then the greatness thereof is showed here by the events, when he saith it shall be the seat and habitation of devils, of wild beasts and of cursed souls, as of old, Isa. 13:21, and often elsewhere.

Revelation 18:4 The second prediction, which is of the circumstances of the ruin of Babylon: of these there are two kinds: one going before it: as that beforehand the godly are delivered unto the ninth verse: the other following upon her ruin, namely the lamentation of the wicked and rejoicing of the godly, unto the twentieth verse.

Revelation 18:4 Two circumstances going before the ruin, are commanded in this place: one is, that the godly depart out of Babylon: as I mentioned, chapter 12, to have been done in time past, before the destruction of Jerusalem: this charge is given here, and in the next verse. The other is, that every one of them occupy themselves in their own place, in executing the judgment of God, as it was commanded the Levites of old, Exod. 32:27, and that they sanctify their hands unto the Lord, verses 6, 7, 8.

Revelation 18:4 Of his commandment there are two causes to avoid the contagion of sin, and to shun the participation of those punishments that belong thereunto.

Revelation 18:5 He useth a word which signifieth the following of sins one after another, and rising one another in such sort, that they grew at length to such an heap that they came up even to heaven.

Revelation 18:6 The provocation of the godly, and the commandment of executing the judgments of God, stand upon three causes which are here expressed: the unjust wickedness of the whore of Babylon, in this verse her cursed pride opposing itself against God, which is the fountain of all evil actions, verse 7, and her most just damnation by the sentence of God, verse 8.

Revelation 18:7 With herself.

Revelation 18:7 I am full of people and mighty.

Revelation 18:7 I shall taste of none.

Revelation 18:8 Shortly and at one instant.

Revelation 18:9 The circumstances following the fall of Babylon, or the consequences thereof (as I distinguished them, verse 4) are two. Namely the lamentation of the wicked unto verse 19: and the rejoicing of the godly, verse 20. This most sorrowful lamentation, according to the person of them that lament, hath three members, the first whereof is the mourning of the kings and mighty men of the earth, in two verses. The second is the lamentation of the merchants that traffic by land thence unto verse 16. The third is the wailing of those that merchandise by sea, verses 16, 17, 18. In every [one] of these the cause and manner of their mourning is described in order, according to the condition of those [that] mourn, with observation of that which best agreeth unto them.

Revelation 18:11 The lamentation of those that trade by land, as I distinguished immediately before.

Revelation 18:14 An apostrophe, or turning of the speech by imitation, used for more vehemence, as if those merchants, after the manner of mourners should in passionate speech speak unto Babylon, though now utterly fallen and overthrown. So Isa. 12:9, and in many other places.

Revelation 18:14 By this is meant that season which is next before the fall of the leaf, at what season fruits ripen, and the word signifieth such fruits as are longed for.

Revelation 18:17 The manner of mourning used by them that trade by sea.

Revelation 18:20 The other consequent unto the other ruin of Babylon, is the exultation or rejoicing of the godly in heaven and in earth, as was noted, verse 9.

Revelation 18:21 The third prediction, as I said verse 1, standing of a sign, and the interpretation thereof: the interpretation thereof is in 2 sorts, first by a simple propounding of the thing itself, in this verse, and then by declaration of the events in the verses following.

Revelation 18:22 The events are two, the one of them opposite unto the other for amplification sake. There shall be, saith he, in Babylon no mirth nor joy at all, in this and the next verse, but all heavy and lamentable things from the bloody slaughters of the righteous and the vengeance of God coming upon it for the same.

Revelation 18:24 That is shed by bloody massacres, and calling for vengeance.

Revelation 18:24 That is, proved and found out, as if God had appointed a just inquiry, concerning the impiety, unnaturalness and injustice of those men.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2018&version=GNV

Mithra in Light of Buddhism and Manichaean: Savior Figure

human society

Moein Azimi

Abstract

Throughout the annals of human history, various religious traditions have featured savior figures, divine beings whose purpose is to guide, inspire, and offer salvation to their followers. In Manichaeism, Mithra, sometimes referred to as "Mihr," was considered one of the divine beings who played a significant role in the salvation of souls. Manichaeans believed in a dualistic cosmology with the struggle between light and darkness, and Mithra was associated with the forces of light. On the other hand, in the vast tapestry of Buddhist beliefs and prophecies, one figure stands out as a beacon of hope for the future-Maitreya, the Buddha of loving-kindness and compassion. Revered across various Buddhist traditions, Maitreya is believed to be the fifth and future Buddha who will come to guide humanity toward enlightenment when the teachings of Gautama Buddha have faded into obscurity. The connections and adaptations between figures like Maitreya and Mithra demonstrate the complex nature of religious and cultural exchanges throughout history. This study proposes that Maitreya and Mithra are the same figure, based on historical and linguistic similarities.

https://essopenarchive.org/users/658804/articles/668490-mithra-in-light-of-buddhism-and-manichaean-savior-figure

In the Roman world, the major festival was Saturnalia, held in honour of Saturn, the father of the major gods of the Greeks and Romans. The celebration of the birthday of Mithras, the sun god of the Persians whose mystery religion was popular among soldiers in the Roman army, was also celebrated on 25 December.

https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/12/17/four-things-you-might-not-know-about-christmas.html

The lotus flower symbolizes spiritual enlightenment, purity, self-regeneration, and rebirth. Its emergence from murky waters into beauty and glory has been seen as a metaphor for human life, in which difficult times can be overcome with resilience and dedication.

https://jamescressflorist.com/blogs/flower-meaning/lotus-flower-meaning

The history of the Giglio of Florence

August 16, 2013 9:25 am 27018

Giglio of Florence: The story behind the lily that turned out not be a lily at all.

The city of Florence has proudly carried the Giglio of Florence on her coat of arms for almost a thousand years. The origin of the lily symbol however is even more ancient and can be traced back to the ruling class of the Roman Empire. It is possible that the Florentine version was derived from that symbol, but there are also other legends surrounding the origin.

One of the stories tells that Florence was founded in 59 BC by the Romans in the period of the flower celebrations in honor of the goddess Flora and another that the city was named after its founder Florinus da Cellino: Florentia (Latin for flowering).

The simplest explanation for the symbol of Florence is that it was derived from the flower that traditionally grows in the area around the city: Iris Fiorentina.

One thing is certain: the Giglio of Florence (Florentine lily) is not a lily, but a stylized iris.

This beautiful white flower was first applied to the city’s coat of arms in the 11th century; it was white on a red background. After the bloody battle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, which ended in 1250 with a victory for the Guelphs, they switched the colors as a sign of their power, thus creating the famous symbol of the red giglio on a white background.

In the Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri describes the eve of this event as follows: ‘The lily of the flagpole was not yet reversed and not colored red by division…’

The new arm was so important to Florence that in 1252 it graced the first Florin that was ever created.

In 1811, Napoleon tried to banish the giglio from Florence, but this led to such violent protests that he soon decided to give the Florentines their beloved symbol back.

Il Giglio Fiorentino can be found on countless places in the city. On old coats of arms on historic buildings, but also on the numerous (company) logos like that of the municipality of Florence, the Fiorentina football club and the ice cream parlor around the corner from my home.

Florence and her giglio have been inseparable for 10 centuries and that is not going to change any time soon.

https://www.intoflorence.com/history-giglio-florence/

The oldest written evidence of rose cultivation comes from a tablet discussing the Akkadian king Sargon I’s military campaign to the west. Sargon brought rosebush saplings with him on the campaign so rose cultivation could begin in these newly acquired territories soon after his conquest. It was an act of supreme confidence and evidence of roses’ importance to Akkadian culture.

https://deathscent.com/2022/02/18/rosalia/

Sargon

SARGON sär’ gŏn (סַֽרְגֹ֖ון; Akkad. šarrukēn, “the king is legitimate”).

The name is found only once in the Bible (Isa 20:1) where it refers to Sargon II of Assyria (721-705 b.c.). This Sargon was the son of Tiglath-pileser III, successor to his brother Shalmaneser V, and father of Sennacherib. His reign is amply known from his inscrs. at Khorsabad and from letters and historical texts found at Nineveh and Nimrud. Although he is named only once in the OT, his campaigns are of importance for understanding the historical background of the prophecies of Isaiah.

Sargon II claimed the fall of Samaria (721 b.c.), which had been besieged by his predecessor Shalmaneser V for three years (2 Kings 17:5, 6) until his death in 722 b.c. According to Sargon’s records, he deported 27,290 people from the area of Samaria to Mesopotamia. During the first part of his reign he faced serious domestic problems which were settled only by grant of privileges to the citizens of Assur. In the following year (720 b.c.) Ilu-bihdi of Hamath led Arpad, Damascus, and Pal. into revolt. Sargon defeated this anti-Assyrian coalition near Qarqar in N Syria. In 720 b.c. the kingdom of Judah, under Ahaz, together with Philistia, Edom, and Moab, submitted to vassalage and paid tribute. In the following years, people deported from Babylonia, Hamath, and elsewhere were resettled in Samaria; these, with others brought in later, mingled with the surviving Israelite population, and their descendants years later were known as the Samaritans.

Sargon had scarcely completed the reduction of Samaria when he was greeted by a rebellion in Babylonia in 720 b.c. led by the Chaldean prince Marduk-apal-iddina (Biblical Merodach-baladan who ruled 721-711 b.c.) in Babylonia not simply as a barbarian chieftain but as a great Mesopotamian monarch who left behind traces of his building activities in various cities. Although backed by Humbanigash, king of Elam, an indecisive battle was fought at Der, between the Tigris and the Zagros, making it expedient for Sargon to leave Merodach-baladan as king in Babylonia. Thus Sargon lost control of Babylonia and did not regain it for c. twelve years.

Meanwhile, other campaigns claimed his attention. In Asia Minor, Mita (Midas), king of the Phrygian Mushki, proved a troublesome foe. A rebellion by the vassal state of Carchemish in Syria (717 b.c.) provoked Sargon to destroy that ancient center of Hitt. culture and deport its population, and subsequently to make various campaigns into Asia Minor. Sargon also turned on Urartu, already weakened by Tiglath-pileser III and now gravely threatened by the incursions of an Indo-Aryan barbarian people called the Cimmerians who were moving down from the Caucasus. Seizing the opportunity, Sargon broke the power of Urartu completely, thus removing an ancient rival—and Assyria’s strongest dike against the barbarian tide at the same time.

After 720 b.c. Sargon conducted no major campaign in Pal. This may have encouraged the restless vassals to imagine that he was a man who could be trifled with. By 713 b.c. Ashdod rebelled and other Philistine towns were drawn into the revolt and, as Sargon told it, Judah, Edom, and Moab were invited to join. That Egyp. aid had been promised is clear both from the Assyrian texts and the Bible (Isa 20). In fact, according to Isaiah 18, ambassadors of the Ethiopian king himself waited on Hezekiah, hoping to enlist his cooperation. Opinions were divided in Judah: to go or not. Isaiah was bitterly opposed, both calling on his king to give the Ethiopian envoys a negative answer, and symbolically illustrating (Isa 20) the folly of trusting in Egypt by walking about Jerusalem barefoot and clad only in a loincloth.

Sargon at this time was at the peak of power and preparing to reconquer Babylon. Ashdod, the center of revolt, was quickly taken by storm, and Judah, Moab, and Edom paid homage to the conqueror. The expected Egyp. aid failed completely to materialize and Judah was held in subjection. Later Hezekiah revolted against Sargon’s son, Sennacherib.

At the beginning of 710 b.c., Sargon was everywhere victorious. The whole of Syria-Pal. and most of the Zagros range were firmly in Assyrian hands; Urartu was dressing its wounds; the Egyptians were friendly; the Elamites and Phrygians were hostile but peaceful. Babylon, under Merodach-baladan, remained a thorn in the side of Assyria, and in 710 b.c. Sargon attacked it for the second time in his reign. It was a smashing victory, with Merodach-baladan fleeing to Elam for refuge, and the fame of Sargon continued to grow. The repeated efforts made by its enemies to undermine the Assyrian empire had been of no avail; at the end of Sargon’s reign it was larger and apparently stronger than ever.

As a war chief, Sargon liked to live in Kalḫu (Nimrud), the military capital of the empire, where he occupied, restored, and modified Ashurnasirpal’s palace. Moved by great pride, he soon decided to have his own palace in his own city. In 717 b.c. he laid the foundations of “Sargon’s fortress,” Dur-Sharrukin, a hitherto virgin site twelve m. NE of Nineveh, near the modern village of Khorsabad.

Ten years later the workmen completed a town which was square in plan, each side measuring c. one in. The palace itself stood on a sixty-ft. high platform overriding the city wall and comprised more than 200 rooms and thirty courtyards. The royal abode was richly decorated and the gates of the town were guarded by colossal bull-men. Evidence, however, indicates that the city was scarcely inhabited and almost immediately abandoned at the king’s death. One year after Dur Sharrukin was officially inaugurated, Sargon was killed (705 b.c.). His successors preferred Nineveh, and Khorsabad, deserted, fell slowly to ruins.

Bibliography Malamat, “The Historical Setting of Two Biblical Prophecies on the Nations,” IEJ, 1 (1950/51), 150ff.; G. Roux, Ancient Iraq, 257-262; H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq, 17 (1955), 146-149; H. Tadmor, “The Campaigns of Sargon II of Assyria,” JCS 12 (1958), 22-40; 77-100; W. W. Hallo, “From Qarqar to Carchemish: Assyria and Israel in the Light of New Discoveries,” BA, 23 (1960), 50-56.

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Sargon

Rosicrucianism is a theosophy advanced by an invisible order of spiritual knights who in spreading Christian Hermeticism, Kabbalah,

and Gnosis seek to enliven and to preserve the memory of Divine

Wisdom, understood as a feminine flame of love called Sofia or

Shekhinah, exoterically given as a fresh unfolded rose, yet, more akin to the blue fire of alchemy, the blue virgin. Rosicrucians have no organisation and there are no recognizable Rosicrucian individuals, but the order makes its presence known by leaving behind engrammatic writings in the genre of Hermetic-Platonic Christianity.

The historical roots of Hermeticism is to be located in Ancient

Egypt. Long before the rise of Christianity, Hermetic texts were structured around the belief that organisms contain sparks of a Divine mind unto which they each strive to attend. Things easily transform into others, thereby generating certain cyclical patterns, cycles that periodically renew themselves on a cosmic scale. These transformations of life and death were enacted in the Hermetic Mysteries in Ancient Egypt through the gods Isis, Horus, and Osiris. In the Alexandrian period these myths were reshaped into Hermetic discourses on the transformations of the self with Thot, the scribal god. These discourses were introduced in the west in 1474 when Marsilio Ficino translated the Hermetic Pimander from the Greek. The story of Christian Rosencreutz can be seen as a new version of these mysteries, specifically tempered by German Paracelsian philosophy on the Lion of the darkest night, a biblical icon for how the higher self lies slumbering in consciousness."

Rose Cross Over The Baltic: The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe

by Susanna Akerman

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing

Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to).

This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'"

Scarlet and the Beast by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

Jesuit Superior at a Buddhist temple

On July 15, 2017, Fr. Arturo Sosa, Superior General of the Jesuits, visited Wat Svayromeat, the oldest Buddhist temple in Siem Seap, Cambodia, as shown on this page.

In a tour of the Jesuit missions in Asia, Sosa participated in a common prayer session with Buddhist monks, above. He sat on the floor cross-legged with his hands joined together to look as much as possible like a Buddhist monk.

During the Buddhist ceremony, first row below, we see the Jesuit Superior General being lectured by one of these monks. Soon afterward, Fr. Sosa stated how impressed he was by the deep concentration of the monks during meditation. In the second row, we see him posing with boys and teens who are studying in its monastic school.

Sosa also participated in another inter-religious event with Buddhist monk Ven Sovechea and peace activist Bob Mat. The dialogue included the "blessing of the wheels of reconciliation," fourth row, which are situated along a pond in Meta Karuna that was hollowed by a cluster bomb. While holding hands around the place where the bomb fell, the Buddhist monks chanted blessings for peace and reconciliation and the Catholics sang the beatitudes in the Khmer language. The red arrow in the photo points to Sosa.

So, we have the Commander of the Army of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola to defeat heresies and spread the Reign of Christ, who today is assimilating in his Order all the heresies and is completely heedless of the glory of Our Lord.

The only one worse than him is another son of St. Ignatius who is the present day occupant of the See of Peter.

https://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A739-Sosa.htm

Buddha

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Entries linking to gautama

Buddha (n.)

an epithet applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, 1680s, from Pali, literally "awakened, enlightened," past participle of budh "to awake, know, perceive," which is related to Sanskrit bodhati "is awake, observes, understands," from PIE root *bheudh- "be aware, make aware." Title given by his adherents to the man who taught this path, Siddhartha Gautama, also known to them as Sakyamuni "Sage of the Sakyas" (his family clan), who lived in northern India 5c. B.C.E."

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

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

BULL of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff."

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

secular clarityCreation vs Evolution Debate Group

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The Christian devil wears the faces of its critics, seen only by Christians.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/378789228969685/posts/2722338431281408/

Devil: the enemy of perfection, particularly of poverty [553]; his or her illusions must be guarded against [260]; against his or her attacks those who are dying must be defended [595]

Index

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

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The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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We Fucking Love Atheism | For Atheists, By Atheists

We Fucking Love Atheism

https://wflatheism.com

We Fucking Love Atheism For Atheists, By Atheists

In the end, after a thorough investigation, the French Parliament gave a most thunderous denunciation of the Jesuit Order:

... the aforementioned institute [the Jesuits]... tending to introduce into the Church and the States, under the specious veil of religious institute, [is} not an order which aspires truly and only to evangelic perfection, but rather a body politic, whose GASOLINE consists in a continual activity to arrive by all kinds of ways direct or indirect, deaf [i.e. secret} or public... the usurpation of any authority... to form a widespread immense body in all the States without really forming part of it... can exert its empire on the men of any state and any dignity... so that... it gets members in the various nations... [and] by its... Constitutions has... the execution of the plan that the aforementioned Company had proposed... to acquire immense riches, while preparing in the shade... by veiling nevertheless its intentions... adopting for its doctrines the fatal teaching which makes it possible to calumniate, to persecute, and to even kill... [in] any State where it would be introduced... by its consequent control with its Constitutions... tends to undermine little by little any legitimate authority... any administration, and to destroy the... bond of all the parts of the body politic; all the more alarming that the laws of the aforesaid institute are a true fanaticism reduced [to a] theory.... so dangerous [a] company, nothing could stop since this time the course of the doctrines of regicide."

And what is their ultimate objective in all this intrigue? What is the grand ambition, their avowed aim? Total world domination-at any costs and by any means! So says Fyodor Dostoyevsky in an exquisitely written passage from this book The Brothers Karamazov:

...those are the worst of the Catholics, the Inquisitors, the Jesuits!.... They are simply the Romish army for the earthly sovereignty of the world in the future, with the Pontiff of Rome for Emperor... that's their ideal.... Something like a universal serfdom, with them as master... that's all they stand for. They don't even believe in God perhaps...

"The Constitutions of the Jesuits"

Codeword Barbelon book One

by P.D. Stuart

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

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

"§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

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

"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

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

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

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.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2017&version=GNV

D&G Vegas Adventures

December 20 at 5:16 PM ·

Circus Circus, the first family-oriented casino in Las Vegas, opened on October 18, 1968. Originally owned by Jay Sarno and Stanley Mallin, it was later sold to MGM Mirage in 2005 and Phil Ruffin in 2019. Photo taken in early 2000s.

#LasVegas

#nevada

#dandg

#vegas

#history

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0TjHPB45CBPvhaZs1aQCmja1J3aErVGjtst1D5yHKJgivSPTPbBfs3rhXfQV2MZvUl&id=100088232388188

circus (n.)

late 14c., in reference to the large, oblong, unroofed enclosures used for races, etc., in ancient Rome, from Latin circus "ring, circular line," which was applied by Romans to circular arenas for performances and contests and oval courses for racing (especially the Circus Maximus), from or cognate with Greek kirkos "a circle, a ring," perhaps from PIE *kikro-, reduplicated form of root *sker- (2) "to turn, bend." The adjective form is circensian.

In reference to modern large arenas for performances of feats of horsemanship, acrobatics, etc., from 1791, sense then extended to the performing company itself and the entertainment given, hence "traveling show" (originally traveling circus, 1838). Extended in World War I to squadrons of military aircraft. Meaning "lively uproar, chaotic hubbub" is from 1869.

Sense in Picadilly Circus and other place names is from early 18c. sense "buildings arranged in a ring," also "circular road."

also from late 14c.

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

church (n.)

Origin and meaning of church

Old English cirice, circe "place of assemblage set aside for Christian worship; the body of Christian believers, Christians collectively; ecclesiastical authority or power," from Proto-Germanic *kirika (source also of Old Saxon kirika, Old Norse kirkja, Old Frisian zerke, Middle Dutch kerke, Dutch kerk, Old High German kirihha, German Kirche).

This is probably [see extensive note in OED] borrowed via an unrecorded Gothic word from Greek kyriake (oikia), kyriakon doma "the Lord's (house)," from kyrios "ruler, lord," from PIE root *keue- "to swell" ("swollen," hence "strong, powerful").

Greek kyriakon (adj.) "of the Lord" was used of houses of Christian worship since c. 300, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ekklesia or basilike. An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic transmission of many Christian words, via the Goths; probably it was used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period.

The word also was picked up by the Slavic tongues, probably via Germanic (Old Church Slavonic criky, Russian cerkov). Finnish kirkko, Estonian kirrik are from Scandinavian. Romance and Celtic languages use variants of Latin ecclesia (such as French église, 11c.).

Phonetic spelling from c. 1200, established by 16c. For vowel evolution, see bury. After the Reformation, church was used for any particular Christian denomination agreeing on doctrine and forms of worship.

As an adjective, "pertaining to a church," from 1570s. Church-bell was in late Old English. Church-goer is from 1680s. Church-key "key of a church door" is from early 14c.; slang use for "can or bottle opener" is by 1954, probably originally U.S. college student slang. Church-mouse (1731) "a mouse supposed to live in a church" (where there is nothing for it to eat) is proverbial in many languages for poverty.

https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=church

Cluny's Clowns

A travelling circus comes to Redwall and Cluny uses it to try and infiltrate the Abbey with his lieutenants, dressed as clowns

https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/3010157

clown (n.)

1560s, clowne, also cloyne, "man of rustic or coarse manners, boor, peasant," a word of obscure origin; the original form and pronunciation are uncertain. Perhaps it is from Scandinavian dialect (compare Icelandic klunni "clumsy, boorish fellow;" Swedish kluns "a hard knob; a clumsy fellow," Danish klunt "log, block"), or from Low German (compare North Frisian klönne "clumsy person," Dutch kloen). OED describes it as "a word meaning originally 'clod, clot, lump', which like those words themselves ..., has been applied in various langs. to a clumsy boor, a lout."

The theory that it is from Latin colonus "colonist, farmer" is less likely, but awareness of the Latin word might have influenced the sense development in English.

Meaning "professional fool, professional or habitual jester" is c. 1600. "The pantomime clown represents a blend of the Shakes[pearean] rustic with one of the stock types of the It[alian] comedy" [Weekley]. Meaning "contemptible person" is from 1920s. Fem. form clowness attested from 1801.

also from 1560s

clown (v.)

c. 1600, "to play the clown onstage," from clown (n.); colloquial sense of "to behave inappropriately" (as in clown around, 1932) is attested by 1928, perhaps from the theatrical slang sense of "play a (non-comical) part farcically or comically" (1891). Related: Clowned; clowning.

also from c. 1600

Entries linking to clown

clownage (n.)

1580s, "function or manners of a stage clown or jester," from clown (n.) + -age. From 1630s as "actions or behavior of a rustic."

clownery (n.)

1580s, "condition or character of a clown; ill-breeding, rudeness of manners," from clown (n.) + -ery. From 1823 as "performance of a comic clown."

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

The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform)[1] were a series of changes within medieval monasticism in the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began within the Benedictine order at Cluny Abbey, founded in 910 by William I, Duke of Aquitaine (875–918). The reforms were largely carried out by Saint Odo (c. 878 – 942) and spread throughout France (Burgundy, Provence, Auvergne, Poitou), into England (the English Benedictine Reform), and through much of Italy, northern Portugal and Spain.[2]

Background

In the early 10th century, Western monasticism, which had flourished several centuries earlier with St Benedict of Nursia, was experiencing a severe decline due to unstable political and social conditions resulting from the nearly continuous Viking raids, widespread poverty and, especially, the dependence of abbeys on the local nobles who controlled all that belonged to the territories under their jurisdiction.[3]

The impetus for the reforms lay in abuses thought to be a result of secular interference in the monasteries and of the Church's tight integration with the feudal and manorial systems. Since a Benedictine monastery required land, it needed the patronage of a local lord. However, the lord would often demand rights and assert prerogatives that interfered with the operation of the monastery.[4] Patrons normally retained a proprietary interest and expected to install their kinsmen as abbots. Local aristocrats often established churches, monasteries, and convents that they then considered as family property, taking revenues from them, and leaving the monks that remained subsisting in poverty.[5]

Some monasteries were established by feudal lords with the intention of retiring there at some point. The Benedictine Rule, in these monasteries, was modified to schedule matins at a time when it would not interrupt sleep and to expand the vegetarian diet. Monks in these houses wore richer, warmer clothing and were free to disregard the rules pertaining to fasting.[6]

The Cluny reform was an attempt to remedy these practices in the hope that a more independent abbot would better enforce the Rule of Saint Benedict.

Cluny Abbey

Main article: Cluny Abbey

William I, Duke of Aquitaine (875-918) had acquired a piece of land in Burgundy. In 910 he founded Cluny Abbey and asked Abbot Berno of Baume Abbey to preside. The Abbot of Cluny retained authority over the daughter houses his order founded. By the twelfth century, the Congregation of Cluny included more than a thousand monasteries.[7]

Berno had established St. Peter's monastery at Gigny and Baume Abbey on the rule as interpreted by Benedict of Aniane, who had sought to restore the primitive strictness of the monastic observance wherever it had been relaxed. The rule focused on prayer, silence, and solitude.[5]

Among the most notable supporters of the Cluniac reforms were Pope Urban II,[8] Lambert of Hersfeld, and Richard of Verdun. The reforms encouraged the Church in the West to be more attentive to business and led the papacy to attempt to assert control over the Eastern Church.[8]

Result

During its height (c. 950–c.1130), the Cluniac movement was one of the largest religious forces in Europe.[9] At least as significantly as their political consequences, the reforms demanded greater religious devotion. The Cluniacs supported the Peace of God, and promoted pilgrimages to the Holy Lands.[4] An increasingly rich liturgy stimulated demand for altar vessels of gold, fine tapestries and fabrics, stained glass, and polyphonic choral music to fill the Romanesque churches.[7]

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

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

The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II, was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met in Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and 12 weeks, in the autumn of each of the four years 1962 to 1965, although it had been anticipated initially that the work of the Council would have been complete after three sessions.[2]

Pope John XXIII called the council because he felt the Church needed "updating" (in Italian: aggiornamento). In order to better connect with people in an increasingly secularized world, some of the Church's practices needed to be improved and presented in a more understandable and relevant way. Support for aggiornamento won out over resistance to change, and as a result the sixteen magisterial documents produced by the council proposed significant developments in doctrine and practice, notably

Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church on "the universal call to holiness"

Apostolicam actuositatem, a decree on The Apostolate of the Laity

Orientalium Ecclesiarum, a decree On Eastern Catholic Churches

Dei verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation emphasized the study of scripture as "the soul of theology"

Sacrosanctum concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy to restore "the full and active participation by all the people"

Gaudium et spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, concerned the promotion of peace, the gift of self, and the Church's mission to non-Catholics

Dignitatis humanae, a declaration on religious freedom

Unitatis redintegratio, a decree on Christian ecumenism

Nostra aetate, a declaration about non-Christian religions

The council had a significant impact on the Church due to the scope and variety of issues it addressed.[3] Some of the most notable changes were in performance of the Mass, including that vernacular languages could be authorized as well as Latin.

Background

Biblical movement

Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu[4] gave a renewed impetus to Catholic Bible studies and encouraged the production of new Bible translations from the original languages. This led to a pastoral attempt to get ordinary Catholics to re-discover the Bible, to read it, to make it a source of their spiritual life. This found a response in very limited circles. By 1960, the movement was still progressing slowly.[5][6]

Ressourcement and Nouvelle théologie

Main article: Nouvelle théologie

By the 1930s, mainstream theology based on neo-scholasticism and papal encyclicals was being rejected by some theologians as dry and uninspiring. Thus was the movement, called ressourcement, the return to the sources: basing theology directly on the Bible and the Church Fathers. Some theologians also began to discuss new topics, such as the history of theology, the theology of work, ecumenism, the theology of the laity, and the theology of "earthly realities".[7]

The writings, whose new style came to be called la nouvelle théologie ('the new theology'), attracted Rome's attention, and in 1950 Pius XII published Humani generis, an encyclical "concerning some false opinions threatening to undermine the foundations of Catholic doctrine". Without citing specific individuals, he criticized those who advocated new schools of theology. It was generally understood that the encyclical was directly against the nouvelle théologie as well as developments in ecumenism and Bible studies. Some works were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books, and some of the authors were forbidden to teach or to publish. Those who suffered most were Henri de Lubac SJ and Yves Congar OP, who were unable to teach or publish until the death of Pius XII in 1958. By the early 1960s, other theologians under suspicion included Karl Rahner SJ and the young Hans Küng.[citation needed]

In addition, there was the unfinished business of the First Vatican Council (1869–70). When it had been cut short by the Italian Army's entry into Rome at the end of Italian unification, the only topics that had been completed were the theology of the papacy and the relationship of faith and reason, while the theology of the episcopate and of the laity were left unaddressed.[8][9] The task of the Second Vatican Council in continuing and completing the work of the first was noted by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Ecclesiam Suam (1964).[10]: Paragraph 30

At the same time, the world's bishops were challenged by political, social, economic, and technological change. Some of those bishops[who?] were seeking new ways of addressing those challenges.

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

George Clooney among celebrities honored by Pope Francis

By Ann Schneible

Vatican City, May 30, 2016 / 07:08 am

On Sunday, Pope Francis praised Hollywood actors George Clooney, Salma Hayek, and Richard Gere at a conference promoting a Vatican education initiative that helps poor communities.

Speaking in the Paul VI's Synod Hall, the Pope reminded the celebrities of their responsibility to "help the world recover the language of gestures."

During the gathering, the actors received the "Olive Medal" of peace, which were presented by the Scholas Occurentes initiative, who organized the Vatican conference.

Touching on a separate topic altogether, Francis said he does not intend to step down from the papacy, as Benedict XVI did when he became the first pope to resign in centuries.

"I never thought of quitting being pope, or of leaving because of the many responsibilities," the pontiff said during a Q&A session.

The Argentine-founded Scholas Occurentes is an education initiative which aims to promote "integration of communities" – especially poor communities – through the use of "technology, sports, and artistic proposals," according to its website.

The May 27-29 conference also marks the launch of the Scholas's latest initiative: a new website which allows anyone to ask Pope Francis questions.

Speaking in Spanish, Pope Francis praised the gathering for its climate of communication and encounter, offering a bridge in a world which is at risk of being "fragmented."

The Pope encouraged gestures such as smiling and making eye-contact, and being patient and tolerant. In contrast, "bullying is an aggression that hides a deep cruelty," he said. "The world is cruel."

"To build a new world, a better world, we must banish all kinds of cruelty. And war is cruel. But this kind of war more cruelly still rages because an innocent."

The Pope said that the separation of peoples, families, and friends create animosity and hatred, where as "social friendship" defends "against every kind of throwaway culture."

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/33962/george-clooney-among-celebrities-honored-by-pope-francis

Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].

It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]

The Latin form Georgius had been rarely given in Western Christendom since at least the 6th century. The popularity of the name however develops from around the 12th century, in Occitan in the form Jordi, and it becomes popular at European courts after the publication of the Golden Legend in the 1260s.

The West Iberian form Jorge is on record in Portugal as the name of Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (1481–1550).

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

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 known for 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]

Francis has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.[3][4] He maintains that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBT community, and has stated that while blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals can be blessed, as long as the blessings are not given in a liturgical context.[5] Francis is a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment;[6] he has made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy.[7] Widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil,[8] he has termed it "an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", "inadmissible", and committed the Church to its abolition,[9] saying that there can be "no going back from this position".[10]

In international diplomacy, Francis has criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality (though still considering same-sex acts as sinful),[11] called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and has supported the cause of refugees during the European and Central American migrant crises, calling on the Western World to significantly increase immigration levels.[12][13] In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian indigenous peoples.[14] On 4 October 2023, Francis convened the beginnings of the Synod on Synodality, described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.[4][15][16] In October 2024, it was revealed that Pope Francis would be the first sitting pope to publish a memoir, Hope, which is set to be published in January 2025.[17]

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

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

His Holiness Pope Francis, President Clinton Discuss Climate Change, Importance of Collaboration, and the Work of the Bambino Gesù Hospital at CGI 2023

Today, His Holiness Pope Francis joined President Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 Meeting for a conversation via remote link.

During the conversation, His Holiness Pope Francis and President Clinton discussed the urgent need to act on climate change, our collective responsibility to come together in the face of difficulty, the work of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, and more.

Please find the full transcript of the conversation below.

President Clinton:

The Pope is with us today. Holy Father, we are so honored to have you join us at CGI this year. You’re speaking to a room full of people from all over the world, from all walks of life, who, each in their own way, are trying to follow the admonition of Isaiah, who told us we had to be repairers of the breach.

They know our world is broken in many ways, but also full of many possibilities, and they’re trying to make the most of their ability to make a difference. I thought it would be interesting given our wonderful meeting a few weeks ago, if you could say what you believe about the obligations of ordinary people to make a difference, to deal with these big challenges that are so big that no person, no matter how wealthy or powerful, no person can believe that he or she could do them alone. What are ordinary people supposed to do with their days that will make our societies better or our problems less severe?

Pope Francis:

Thank you, Mr. President, for inviting me to your meeting. Thank you very much. It is important to spread a culture of encounter, a culture of dialogue, a culture of listening and of understanding. It is necessary to share thoughts on how to contribute to the common good and how not to leave behind the most vulnerable people such as children, who through the foundation, the patrons of Bambino Gesù, are at the root of this meeting. We all know it. We are living through a changing epoch. Only together can we emerge from it better. Together. Only together can we heal the world from the globalization of indifference.

You, Mr. President, have listed the many challenges of our time: climate change, humanitarian crises affecting migrants and refugees and childcare and many others. I would add to this, the wind of war that blows around the world fueling with the spirit of war, what I have repeatedly called the Third World War, but peaceful. We are in need of a great and shared assumption of responsibility. No challenge is too great if we meet it, starting with personal conversion, the personal conversion of each of us, the personal contribution that each of us can make to solve it, and from an awareness of what it is that makes us part of one destiny.

No challenge can be overcome alone, not alone, moving together, sisters and brothers, children of God. This is why I always encourage, and I want to do so here as well, all women and men of goodwill not to give up in the face of difficulties. Difficulties are part of life and the best way to deal with them is to always seek the calming good, never alone, always together. Difficulties can bring out the best or the worst in us. Therein lies our challenge, fighting selfishness, narcissism, division with generosity and humility. Better unity than conflict. It is time to find the path of peace, the change for fraternity. It is time for weapons to cease and for us to return to dialogue. Let the designs of conquest and military aggression cease. That is why I repeat, no to war, no to war. It’s time to work together to stop the ecological catastrophe before it’s too late.

That’s why I’ve chosen to write a new document ten years after the publication of the encyclical Laudato si’. Let us stop while there is still time. Please, please let us stop while there is still time. It’s time to face migration emergencies. Remembering that we are not talking about numbers, but about people: men, women, and children. When we talk about migration, let’s think about the eyes of the children we’ve seen in refugee camps. It’s time to think about the youngest, the children, and of their education and to their care. As you know, Mr. President, this meeting of ours stems from a great small project that I care about very much. It is about children and their health. In Italy, in Rome, near the Vatican, there’s a very special hospital: the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital. In the world, it is known as the Pope hospital, but to me, that’s not why it is unique. It is evident that our great little hospital cannot solve the problems of all the children in the world. However, it seeks to be a sign, a testimony that it is possible through many struggles to bring together great scientific research geared toward caring for children and the gratuitous welcoming of people in need, science and hospitality. Rarely are these two things found together.

The hospital welcomes children here in the Vatican. Two or three times, a helicopter has arrived with children who need urgent help from different parts of the world. In these terrible months marked by war, the Bambino Gesù Hospital has treated more than two thousand small, young patients of Ukraine who escaped from their country with various relatives. The healthcare sector today, more than ever, the first and most concrete form of charity is science. The capacity to care, which however must be accessible to all. Bambino Gesù Hospital is a concrete sign of charity and mercy of the church. There are illnesses that cannot be cured, but there are no children who cannot be cared for. Let’s keep this in mind. There are illnesses that cannot be cured, but there are no children who cannot be cared for. This is the distinctive feature of the hospital. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you all and I wish you all a nice day.

President Clinton:

Thank you so much. It’s wonderful to see you again and hear you in such great voice, and thank you for saying something that I hope will mean something to every person because one of the things that we try to do, which is difficult enough in any form of life, but especially in public life, is to convince every person that he or she has a role to play without regard to their age or their standing. And I think you make us all feel empowered. And perhaps that is your greatest power as the Pope that you make everybody, even people who aren’t members of the Roman Catholic Church, feel that they have power and therefore they have responsibility. It’s an extraordinary gift, and I thank you for that. I know you have a busy day, but I wonder if there’s anything else you want to say. I thank you for what you said about the children and what you said about climate change. Do you have any other message for us before you go, anything you want to make sure we take to heart?

Pope Francis:

Both things, children and climate change. Please on climate change, let us take action before it’s too late.

President Clinton:

Thank you very much.

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-and-news/clinton-global-initiative/his-holiness-pope-francis-president-clinton-discuss-climate-change-importance-of-collaboration-and-the-work-of-the-bambino-gesu-hospital-at-cgi-2023/

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

295 In the elaboration and expression of our theogical views and in our choice of pastoral options, we must always actively seek to understand the mind of the hierarchical Church, having as our goal the Society s objective to help souls. At the same time we must try to articulate the sensus fidelium and help the magisterium discern in it the movements of the Spirit in accord with the teaching of Vatican II.[125]"

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

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

I began by attending Fordham University in the Bronx, mostly because I wanted to be close to home. I got along very well with the Jesuits who ran the school, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in. At the time, if you were going to make a career in business, Wharton was the place to go. Harvard Business School may produce a lot of CEOs—guys who manage public companies— but the real entrepreneurs all seemed to go to Wharton: Saul Steinberg, Leonard Lauder, Ron Perelman—the list goes on and on."

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLcbnLrl6moQT7nGj1JitG6AiQ6qgK0y/view?usp=sharing

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

The university has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in red and blue lights.

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

SCRANTON, Pa. — In preparation for President Joe Biden's visit, a university lit up their lights in his honor.

The University of Scranton has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in blue and red with the number 46 prominently displayed to welcome the 46th president."

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/university-of-scranton-welcomes-president-biden-gateway-lights/523-cdba68b1-822b-4747-94be-4cd7e4de9d67

"His son, Hunter Biden, 38, is a longtime federal lobbyist for the Jesuit university located in his father's hometown, Scranton PA. According to federal disclosures, Hunter Biden has been earning about $80,000 a year since 2006 to lobby for this university. Senator Biden himself has lectured at the Jesuit University of Scranton, and received an honorary degree from the same university, in 1976."

Codeword Barbelon by P.D. Stuart

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

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

In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, where she was described as "an able prosecutor on the way up".[37] In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie BROWN, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.[37] In February 1998, San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney.[38] There, she became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases—particularly three-strikes cases. In August 2000, Harris took a job at San Francisco City Hall, working for city attorney Louise Renne.[39] Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division, representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne endorsed Harris during her D.A. campaign.[40]

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

San Francisco, which is Spanish for "Saint Francis," takes its name from Mission San Francisco de Asís, which in turn was named after Saint Francis of Assisi. The mission received its name in 1776, when it was founded by the Spanish under the leadership of Padre Francisco Palóu.

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

Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[1]

He is the father of US Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris and lawyer Maya Harris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._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

A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question.[1] It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. A red herring may be used intentionally, as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies (e.g., in politics), or may be used in argumentation inadvertently.[2]

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

Danney Lee Williams Jr. (born December 7, 1985) is a man from Little Rock, Arkansas who claims to be the biological son of Bill Clinton, the former President of the United States.[1] Blood tests ruled out Clinton as the father.[1][2]

Background

Williams was born in 1985 to Danney Williams Sr. and Bobbie Ann Williams.

The story came to notice in the late 1990s when reporting by Newsmax led by celebrity tabloid magazine Star to commission a paternity test prove whether Williams is actually Clinton's biological son.[3] Time magazine cited Star on July 18, 1999 to say that there was no match.[4]

The story was revived in 2016 before the 2016 presidential election and pushed by a number of media outlets including Newsmax, the Drudge Report,[3] as well as WorldNetDaily,[1] and the New York Daily News.[1]

Due to some uncertainties with the original test by Star, Snopes concluded that the claim was unproven.[3] The Washington Post stated that, while the test could not prove Clinton was the father, it did conclusively rule him out as the father.[1]

On October 19, 2016, Williams' lawyers announced their intentions to file a paternity suit to prove that Clinton's DNA matched Williams'.[5] Williams wrote to Monica Lewinsky asking for her dress in order to obtain a sample of Clinton's DNA. However, Lewinsky never replied to Williams.[6] A partial analysis of Clinton's blood, and thus his DNA, was already part of the public record because of the Lewinsky affair investigation.[1]

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

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

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

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

About the future in store for the Sons of Cain and their followers the temple legend is also most eloquent. It states that from Cain descended Methuselah, who invented writing, Tubal Cain, a cunning worker in metals, and Jubal, who originated music. In short the Sons of Cain are the originators of the arts and crafts. Therefore when Jehovah chose Solomon, the scion of the race of Seth, to build a house for his name, the sublime spirituality of a long line of divinely guided ancestors flowered into conception of the magnificent temple called Solomon’s Temple, though he was only the instrument to carry over the divine plan revealed by Jehovah to David. But he was unable to execute the divine design in a material manner. Therefore it became necessary for him to apply to King Hiram, of Tyre, the descendent of Cain, who selected Hiram Abiff, the son of a widow, (as all Free Masons are called because of the relation of their divine progenitor with Eve). Hiram Abiff became then Grand Master of the army of construction. In him the arts and crafts of all the Sons of Cain who had gone before had flowered. He was skilled beyond all others in the work of the world, without which the plan of Jehovah must have remained a divine dream forever. It could never have become a concrete reality. The worldly acumen of the Sons of Cain was as necessary to the completion of this temple as the spiritual conception of the Sons of Seth, and, therefore, during the period of construction the two classes joined forces, the underlying enmity was hidden under a superficial show of amity. It was, indeed, the first attempt to unite them, and had that been accomplished the world history from then on would have been altered in a very material manner. The Sons of Cain, descended from the fiery Lucifer Spirits, were naturally proficient in the use of fire. By it they melted the metals hoarded by Solomon and his ancestors into altars, lavers and vessels of various kinds. Pillars were fashioned by workmen under his direction and arches to rest upon by them. The great edifice was nearing completion and Hiram Abiff made ready to cast the “molten sea,” which was to be the crowning effort, his masterpiece. It was in the construction of this great work that the treachery of the Sons of Seth became manifest and frustrated the divine plan of reconciliation when they tried to quench his fire with their natural weapon, water, and almost succeeded. The incidents which led up to this catastrophe, their meaning and the sequel will be related in the next chapter.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

The Pope's foreign travel programme for 1994 was suspended due to a fall resulting in hip-replacement surgery. Visits to Belgium, the United States, and Lebanon were cancelled as a result. The visits to Belgium and the United States took place in 1995, while the visit to Lebanon was delayed until 1997.

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

Countdown to the Messiah

Daniel 9:24 gives the Hebrew Nation a 483 year countdown to the year that the Messiah would arrive on the scene (column 2 row 3 of our next table). Luke records that Jesus began to be about 30 years old when he was revealed as the Messiah at the Jordan River baptism.

it is forty years before the total Desolation of the Temple and the Nation by the Roman army, the people of the prince that shall come, as foretold by Daniel and Jesus. If any period of time deserves the title, “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” it would be this forty years. And if those days had not been shortened no flesh (Jacob) would have been saved, but for the Elect's sake (those obedient Hebrew's who would spread the gospel) those days of persecution were shortened to prevent the annihilation of even the elect. Many try to apply this verse to the days preceding the return of Messiah but this is not logical because the elect will all be resurrected at that time so those days will not need to be shortened for their sake. Because first century Christians were a sect of the Jews it was necessary for the Elect to survive the desolation of the Hebrew Nation at the end of that century.

The Rapture Will Be Cancelled

by Nicklas Arthur

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwvsMLXT7Z35KlbSdXw6x5EH0VLHPZsM/view?usp=sharing

The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي, romanized: ar-rabīʻ al-ʻarabī) or the First Arab Spring (to distinguish from the Second Arab Spring) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation.[1][2] From Tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Rulers were deposed (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia in 2011, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya in 2011, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 2011, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen in 2012) or major uprisings and social violence occurred including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations took place in Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Sudan. Minor protests took place in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.[3] A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world is ash-shaʻb yurīd isqāṭ an-niẓām! (Arabic: الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام, lit. 'the people want to bring down the regime').[4]

The wave of initial revolutions and protests faded by mid-2012, as many Arab Spring demonstrations were met with violent responses from authorities,[5][6][7] pro-government militias, counterdemonstrators, and militaries. These attacks were answered with violence from protesters in some cases.[8][9][10] Multiple large-scale conflicts followed: the Syrian civil war;[11][12] the rise of ISIL,[13] insurgency in Iraq and the following civil war;[14] the Egyptian Crisis, election and removal from office of Mohamed Morsi, and subsequent unrest and insurgency;[15] the Libyan Crisis; and the Yemeni crisis and subsequent civil war.[16] Regimes that lacked major oil wealth and hereditary succession arrangements were more likely to undergo regime change.[17]

A power struggle continued after the immediate response to the Arab Spring. While leadership changed and regimes were held accountable, power vacuums opened across the Arab world. Ultimately, it resulted in a contentious battle between a consolidation of power by religious elites and the growing support for democracy in many Muslim-majority states.[18] The early hopes that these popular movements would end corruption, increase political participation, and bring about greater economic equity quickly collapsed in the wake of the counter-revolutionary moves by foreign state actors in Yemen,[19] the regional and international military interventions in Bahrain and Yemen, and the destructive civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen.[20]

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

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They were created with the aim of "peace and prosperity for people and the planet..."[1][2][3] – while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests. The SDGs highlight the connections between the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development. Sustainability is at the center of the SDGs.[4][5]

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

Spring 2030 in United States

Spring Starts: Wednesday, Mar 20 6:51 am PDT

https://www.calendardate.com/spring_2030.htm

Easter in 2030

Date: April 21, 2030

Day: Sunday

Dates of Moon Phases in 2030 Year

New Moon

Apr. 2, Tue 03:04 PM

https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_phases/2030

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (or simply New Moon) is a 2009 American romantic fantasy film directed by Chris Weitz from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2006 novel New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.[2] It is the sequel to Twilight (2008) and the second installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Saga:_New_Moon

The 9th hour is a biblically significant time of day. As Watchmen, we are being alerted to the spiritual import of this hour accentuated in the scriptures. The 9th hour is 3pm, the time Jesus died on the cross and the veil was forever rent offering all access to Him, Mt. 27:46-51. It is the hour Peter and John performed the first miracle after Pentecost, Acts 3:1. It is also the hour the angel appeared to Cornelius and told him his prayers had been heard in heaven and instructions were given as to how to fulfill them, Acts 10:31.

In Jewish tradition, there were regular hours of prayer inferred from the following:

Ps 55:17 "Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress and He hears my voice."

Daniel 6:10 "Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God as he had done before."

The first hour of prayer coincided with the morning sacrifice 9am, the second was the sixth hour, or at noon, the third hour was at 3pm.

https://www.theglobalwatch.com/prayer-focuses-for-9th-hour.html

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.

48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:

56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedees children.

57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:

58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.

65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.

66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

28 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2027%3A46-28%3A6&version=KJV

11. Since Jesus died after three and a half years, how could He “confirm the covenant with many” (KJV) for all of the final seven years, as the prophecy in Daniel 9:27 mandates?

Answer: The covenant is His blessed agreement to save people from their sins (Hebrews 10:16, 17). After His ministry of three and a half years ended, Jesus confirmed the covenant through His disciples (Hebrews 2:3). He sent them first to the Jewish nation (Matthew 10:5, 6) because His chosen people still had three and a half years remaining of their 490-year opportunity to repent as a nation.

12. When the 490-year period of final opportunity for the Jewish nation ended in the fall of ad 34, what did the disciples do?

Answer: They began preaching the gospel to other people and nations of the world (Acts 13:46). Stephen, a righteous deacon, was publicly stoned in ad 34. From that date onward, the Jews, because they collectively rejected Jesus and God’s plan, could no longer be God’s chosen people or nation. Instead, God now counts people of all nationalities who accept and serve Him as spiritual Jews. They have become His chosen people—“heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:27–29). Spiritual Jews, of course, include Jewish people who individually accept and serve Jesus (Romans 2:28, 29).

https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/study-guide/e/4995/t/right-on-time--prophetic-appointments-revealed

Mark 15:34

34 And at the [a]ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama-sabachthani? which is by interpretation, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2015%3A34&version=GNV

DAY JESUS DIED SET AS APRIL 7, 30 A. D.; Biblical Texts Scholar Says Daniel's Prophecy Pointed Out Exact Time of Death

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By Arnaldo Cortesi

special To the New York Times.

April 12, 1952

ROME, April 11 -- Jesus Christ died on the fourteenth day of Nisan, according to the Hebrew calendar, and scholars have been disputing for centuries over the exact date on the Gregorian calendar to which the fourteenth of Nisan corresponds. The claim is now made that Daniel's well-known prophecy of the "seventy weeks" [Daniel, IX, 24] points conclusively to the seventh day of April in the year 30 A. D.

https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/12/archives/day-jesus-died-set-as-april-7-30-a-d-biblical-texts-scholar-says.html

Historic recurrence is the repetition of similar events in history.[a][b] The concept of historic recurrence has variously been applied to overall human history (e.g., to the rises and falls of empires), to repetitive patterns in the history of a given polity, and to any two specific events which bear a striking similarity.[4]

Hypothetically, in the extreme, the concept of historic recurrence assumes the form of the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, which has been written about in various forms since antiquity and was described in the 19th century by Heinrich Heine[c] and Friedrich Nietzsche.[d]

While it is often remarked that "history repeats itself", in cycles of less than cosmological duration this cannot be strictly true.[e] In this interpretation of recurrence, as opposed perhaps to the Nietzschean interpretation, there is no metaphysics. Recurrences take place due to ascertainable circumstances and chains of causality.[f]

An example is the ubiquitous phenomenon of multiple independent discovery in science and technology, described by Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman. Indeed, recurrences, in the form of reproducible findings obtained through experiment or observation, are essential to the natural and social sciences; and, in the form of observations rigorously studied via the comparative method and comparative research, are essential to the humanities.

G.W. Trompf, in his book The Idea of Historical Recurrence in Western Thought, traces historically recurring patterns of political thought and behavior in the west since antiquity.[4] If history has lessons to impart, they are to be found par excellence in such recurring patterns.

Historic recurrences of the "striking-similarity" type can sometimes induce a sense of "convergence", "resonance" or déjà vu.[g]

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

The Last Pope: The Decline and Fall of the Church of Rome : The Prophecies of St. Malachy for the New Millennium Hardcover – January 1, 1998

by John Hogue (Author)

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 51 ratings

See all formats and editions

According to the prophecies of St. Malachy, only two popes remain before the Holy Church will go through an Apocalypse. In this controversial and definitive study Hogue examines St. Malachy and other gifted saints, popes, monks, and nuns who have been responsible for a covert tradition of prophecy that the Vatican has never officially acknowledged. "The Last Pope" is a unique prophetic examination of papal history--past and future.

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Pope-Decline-Prophecies-Millennium/dp/1862042020

A Black Fast, also known as a strict fast, is a form of early Christian fasting.[1] Those undertaking a Black Fast consume no food or water during the day and then break the fast after sunset with prayer, as well as water and a vegetarian meal devoid of meat, eggs, dairy products (lacticinia), and alcohol.[2][3][4][5] Christians normatively fasted in this way during Lent prior to the 6th century.[6]

Description and practice

Traditionally, the Black Fast is undertaken during Lent; it is the early Christian form of fasting consisting of fasting until sunset, and then consuming one vegetarian meal afterwards (with food and water being allowed only at this time).[5][4] This was the normative way of Christian fasting prior to the 6th century A.D. and among certain denominations (such as the Coptic Orthodox Church) and in some localities like India and Pakistan, many Christians continue to observe the Black Fast throughout the whole season of Lent.[6][5][7][8][9] After attending a worship service (often on Wednesday or Friday evenings), it is common for Christians of various denominations to break that day's Lenten fast together through a communal Lenten supper, which is held in the church's parish hall in the public setting; in the home setting Lenten Suppers take place in the context of a family meal every day during Lent (except on the Lord's Day).[10] Throughout the entire Christian year, many Christians keep the Black Fast on Wednesdays (in memory of Jesus' betrayal) and on Fridays (to mourn the crucifixion of Jesus).[11] In Western Christianity, many monastics still retain this practice, though many laypeople voluntarily undertake the Black Fast, especially on Good Friday.[12]

The details of the Black Fast are as follows:[13][3]

No food or liquids are allowed from midnight until sunset.[14][4][9]

One vegetarian meal a day is permitted, only after sunset.[3][14][15][13]

A mealtime prayer is offered at the time the Black Fast is broken.[5]

Flesh meat, eggs, and dairy products (lacticinia: milk, butter, and cheese) are forbidden.[13]

Alcohol is forbidden.[13][16]

During Holy Week (the final week of Lent), the Lenten supper meal consists exclusively of bread, salt, herbs, and water.[3][A]

Oriental Orthodoxy

Coptic Orthodox Church

Further information: Fasting and abstinence of the Coptic Orthodox Church

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Black Fast is the normative way of fasting during Great Lent; Coptic Orthodox Christians go without water and food from midnight to sunset; after that time, the consumption of water and one vegetarian meal is permitted.[9] Married couples abstain from sexual relations during this period "to give themselves time for fasting and prayer (1 Cor. 7: 5)."[9]

Roman Catholicism

The Black Fast was widely practiced by the faithful during the Lenten season by "kings and princes, clergy and laity, rich and poor".[18] In addition, the Black Fast was kept on the days preceding one's ordination.[18] When fasting today, Roman Catholics have the liberty to fast in this manner, or in the modern fashion in which a collation is permitted. Fasting rules were liberalised to avoid accidents due to weakness or lack of concentration in modern industrial jobs. For the same reason some soldiers in military orders like the Hospitallers were historically exempt from the strict rule.

Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism

The Black Fast is observed by the devout Eastern Orthodox laity or monks throughout Great Lent, as well as the three other fasting periods of the year (the Dormition Fast, Nativity Fast, and the Apostles' Fast) and occasionally on the weekly fast days of Wednesday and Friday.[19][20]

Some Eastern Catholics and Eastern Lutherans perform the Black Fast on Fridays during Lent, especially on Good Friday.

Romanian Orthodox Church

The term "Black Fast" has a different connotation within the Romanian Orthodox Church, which defines it somewhat similar to the definition given by those within the realms of the Classical Pentecostal movement (see below).

Anglican Communion

In Anglican Communion, the faithful have observed the Black Fast on "the two great Prayer Book fast days, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday".[12] The Black Fast was especially popular during the 19th century as it sought to imitate "the fasting of the ancient church."[12]

Pentecostalism

The term "Black Fast" has a different connotation with writers within Classical Pentecostalism. A Black Fast is complete abstinence from food or water and nothing is consumed in its duration.[21]

Ward states that the terms "Black Fast," "Hebrew Fast," and "Absolute Fast" are synonymous. British evangelical Arthur Wallis coined the term "Absolute Fast" in his book God's Chosen Fast (1968).[22]

A Normal Fast or "Complete Fast" consists of eating nothing but drinking pure water. A Partial Fast (or Daniel Fast) consists of abstinence, either eliminating all but one type of food or eliminating just one type of food. The Black Fast is observed on rare occasions in Pentecostal circles while the Normal Fast is most usually undertaken.

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

Obsidian (/əbˈsɪdi.ən, ɒb-/ əb-SID-ee-ən ob-)[5] is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock.[6]

Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen, aluminum, sodium, and potassium. It is commonly found within the margins of rhyolitic lava flows known as obsidian flows. These flows have a high content of silica, giving them a high viscosity. The high viscosity inhibits diffusion of atoms through the lava, which inhibits the first step (nucleation) in the formation of mineral crystals. Together with rapid cooling, this results in a natural glass forming from the lava.[7]

Obsidian is hard, brittle, and amorphous; it therefore fractures with sharp edges. In the past, it was used to manufacture cutting and piercing tools, and it has been used experimentally as surgical scalpel blades.[8]

Origin and properties

The Natural History by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder includes a few sentences about a volcanic glass called obsidian (lapis obsidianus), discovered in Ethiopia by Obsidius, a Roman explorer.[9][10][11][12]

Obsidian is formed from quickly cooled lava, which is the parent material.[13][14][15] Extrusive formation of obsidian may occur when felsic lava cools rapidly at the edges of a felsic lava flow or volcanic dome, or when lava cools during sudden contact with water or air. Intrusive formation of obsidian may occur when felsic lava cools along the edges of a dike.[16][17]

Tektites were once thought by many to be obsidian produced by lunar volcanic eruptions,[18] though few scientists now adhere to this hypothesis.[19]

Obsidian is mineral-like, but not a true mineral because, as a glass, it is not crystalline; in addition, its composition is too variable to be classified as a mineral. It is sometimes classified as a mineraloid.[20] Though obsidian is usually dark in color, similar to mafic rocks such as basalt, the composition of obsidian is extremely felsic. Obsidian consists mainly of SiO2 (silicon dioxide), usually 70% by weight or more; the remainder consists of variable amounts of other oxides, mostly oxides of aluminum, iron, potassium, sodium and calcium.[21][22] Crystalline rocks with a similar composition include granite and rhyolite. Because obsidian is metastable at the Earth's surface (over time the glass devitrifies, becoming fine-grained mineral crystals), obsidian older than Miocene in age is rare. Exceptionally old obsidians include a Cretaceous welded tuff and a partially devitrified Ordovician perlite.[23] This transformation of obsidian is accelerated by the presence of water. Although newly formed obsidian has a low water content, typically less than 1% water by weight,[24] it becomes progressively hydrated when exposed to groundwater, forming perlite.

Pure obsidian is usually dark in appearance, though the color varies depending on the impurities present. Iron and other transition elements may give the obsidian a dark brown to black color. Most black obsidians contain nanoinclusions of magnetite, an iron oxide.[25] Very few samples of obsidian are nearly colorless. In some stones, the inclusion of small, white, radially clustered crystals (spherulites) of the mineral cristobalite in the black glass produce a blotchy or snowflake pattern (snowflake obsidian). Obsidian may contain patterns of gas bubbles remaining from the lava flow, aligned along layers created as the molten rock was flowing before being cooled. These bubbles can produce interesting effects such as a golden sheen (sheen obsidian). An iridescent, rainbow-like sheen (fire obsidian) is caused by inclusions of magnetite nanoparticles creating thin-film interference.[26] Colorful, striped obsidian (rainbow obsidian) from Mexico contains oriented nanorods of hedenbergite, which cause the rainbow striping effects by thin-film interference.[25]

Occurrence

Obsidian is found near volcanoes in locations which have undergone rhyolitic eruptions. It can be found in Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Australia,[27] Canada, Chile, Georgia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Scotland, the Canary Islands, Turkey and the United States. Obsidian flows which are so large that they can be hiked on are found within the calderas of Newberry Volcano (Big Obsidian Flow,[28] 700 acres) and Medicine Lake Volcano in the Cascade Range of western North America, and at Inyo Craters east of the Sierra Nevada in California. Yellowstone National Park has a mountainside containing obsidian located between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Norris Geyser Basin, and deposits can be found in many other western U.S. states including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Washington,[29] Oregon[30] and Idaho.

There are only four major deposit areas in the central Mediterranean: Lipari, Pantelleria, Palmarola and Monte Arci (Sardinia).[31]

Ancient sources in the Aegean were Milos and Gyali.[32]

Acıgöl town and the Göllü Dağ volcano were the most important sources in central Anatolia, one of the more important source areas in the prehistoric Near East.[33][34][35]

Prehistoric and historical use

The first known archaeological evidence of usage was in Kariandusi (Kenya) and other sites of the Acheulian age (beginning 1.5 million years BP) dated 700,000 BC, although only very few objects have been found at these sites relative to the Neolithic.[36][37][38][39][40] Manufacture of obsidian bladelets at Lipari had reached a high level of sophistication by the late Neolithic, and was traded as far as Sicily, the southern Po river valley, and Croatia.[41] Obsidian bladelets were used in ritual circumcisions and cutting of umbilical cords of newborns.[42] Anatolian sources of obsidian are known to have been the material used in the Levant and modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan from a time beginning sometime about 12,500 BC.[43] Obsidian artifacts are common at Tell Brak, one of the earliest Mesopotamian urban centers, dating to the late fifth millennium BC.[44] Obsidian was valued in Stone Age cultures because, like flint, it could be fractured to produce sharp blades or arrowheads in a process called knapping. Like all glass and some other naturally occurring rocks, obsidian breaks with a characteristic conchoidal fracture. It was also polished to create early mirrors. Modern archaeologists have developed a relative dating system, obsidian hydration dating, to calculate the age of obsidian artifacts.

Europe

Obsidian artifacts first appeared in the European continent in Central Europe in the Middle Paleolithic and had become common by the Upper Paleolithic, although there are exceptions to this. Obsidian played an important role in the transmission of Neolithic knowledge and experiences. The material was mainly used for production of chipped tools which were very sharp due to its nature. Artifacts made of obsidian can be found in many Neolithic cultures across Europe. The source of obsidian for cultures inhabiting the territory of and around Greece was the island of Milos; the Starčevo–Körös–Criș culture obtained obsidian from sources in Hungary and Slovakia, while the Cardium-Impresso cultural complex acquired obsidian from the island outcrops of the central Mediterranean. Through trade, these artifacts ended up in lands thousands of kilometers away from the original source; this indicates that they were a highly valued commodity.[45] John Dee had a mirror, made of obsidian, which was brought from Mexico to Europe between 1527 and 1530 after Hernando Cortés's conquest of the region.[46]

Middle East and Asia

In the Ubaid in the 5th millennium BC, blades were manufactured from obsidian extracted from outcrops located in modern-day Turkey.[47] Ancient Egyptians used obsidian imported from the eastern Mediterranean and southern Red Sea regions. Obsidian scalpels older than 2100 BC have been found in a Bronze Age settlement in Turkey.[48] In the eastern Mediterranean area the material was used to make tools, mirrors and decorative objects.[49]

The use of obsidian tools was present in Japan near areas of volcanic activity.[50][51] Obsidian was mined during the Jōmon period.

Obsidian has also been found in Gilat, a site in the western Negev in Israel. Eight obsidian artifacts dating to the Chalcolithic Age found at this site were traced to obsidian sources in Anatolia. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) on the obsidian found at this site helped to reveal trade routes and exchange networks previously unknown.[52]

Americas

Lithic analysis helps to understand pre-Hispanic groups in Mesoamerica. A careful analysis of obsidian in a culture or place can be of considerable use to reconstruct commerce, production, and distribution, and thereby understand economic, social and political aspects of a civilization. This is the case in Yaxchilán, a Maya city where even warfare implications have been studied linked with obsidian use and its debris.[53] Another example is the archeological recovery at coastal Chumash sites in California, indicating considerable trade with the distant site of Casa Diablo Hot Springs in the Sierra Nevada.[54]

Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans' use of obsidian was extensive and sophisticated; including carved and worked obsidian for tools and decorative objects. Mesoamericans also made a type of sword with obsidian blades mounted in a wooden body. Called a macuahuitl, the weapon could inflict terrible injuries, combining the sharp cutting edge of an obsidian blade with the ragged cut of a serrated weapon. The polearm version of this weapon was called tepoztopilli.

Obsidian mirrors were used by some Aztec priests to conjure visions and make prophecies. They were connected with Tezcatlipoca, god of obsidian and sorcery, whose name can be translated from the Nahuatl language as 'Smoking Mirror'.[46]

Indigenous people traded obsidian throughout the Americas. Each volcano and in some cases each volcanic eruption produces a distinguishable type of obsidian allowing archaeologists to use methods such as non-destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence to select minor element compositions from both the artifact and geological sample to trace the origins of a particular artifact.[55] Similar tracing techniques have also allowed obsidian in Greece to be identified as coming from Milos, Nisyros or Gyali, islands in the Aegean Sea. Obsidian cores and blades were traded great distances inland from the coast.[56]

In Chile obsidian tools from Chaitén Volcano have been found as far away as in Chan-Chan 400 km (250 mi) north of the volcano, and also in sites 400 km south of it.[57][58]

Oceania

The Lapita culture, active across a large area of the Pacific Ocean around 1000 BC, made widespread use of obsidian tools and engaged in long distance obsidian trading. The complexity of the production technique for these tools, and the care taken in their storage, may indicate that beyond their practical use they were associated with prestige or high status.[59]

Obsidian was also used on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) for edged tools such as Mataia and the pupils of the eyes of their Moai (statues), which were encircled by rings of bird bone.[60] Obsidian was used to inscribe the Rongorongo glyphs.

Current use

Obsidian can be used to make extremely sharp knives, and obsidian blades are a type of glass knife made using naturally occurring obsidian instead of manufactured glass. Obsidian is used by some surgeons for scalpel blades, although this is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use on humans.[61] Well-crafted obsidian blades, like any glass knife, can have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels: the cutting edge of the blade is only about three nanometers thick.[62] All metal knives have a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope; however, obsidian blades are still smooth, even when examined under an electron microscope.[63] One study found that obsidian incisions produced fewer inflammatory cells and less granulation tissue in a group of rats after seven days but the differences disappeared after twenty-one days.[64] Don Crabtree has produced surgical obsidian blades and written articles on the subject.[62] Obsidian scalpels may be purchased for surgical use on research animals.[65]

The major disadvantage of obsidian blades is their brittleness compared to those made of metal,[66] thus limiting the surgical applications for obsidian blades to a variety of specialized uses where this is not a concern.[62]

Obsidian is also used for ornamental purposes and as a gemstone.[67] It presents a different appearance depending on how it is cut: in one direction it is jet black, while in another it is glistening gray. "Apache tears" are small rounded obsidian nuggets often embedded within a grayish-white perlite matrix.

Plinths for audio turntables have been made of obsidian since the 1970s, such as the grayish-black SH-10B3 plinth by Technics.

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

The Black Stone (Arabic: ٱلْحَجَرُ ٱلْأَسْوَد, romanized: al-Ḥajar al-Aswad) is a rock set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve.

The stone was venerated at the Kaaba in pre-Islamic pagan times. According to Islamic tradition, it was set intact into the Kaaba's wall by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 605 CE, five years before his first revelation. Since then, it has been broken into fragments and is now cemented into a silver frame in the side of the Kaaba. Its physical appearance is that of a fragmented dark rock, polished smooth by the hands of pilgrims. It has often been described as a meteorite.[1]

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba as a part of the tawaf ritual during the hajj and many try to stop to kiss the Black Stone, emulating the kiss that Islamic tradition records that it received from Muhammad.[2][3] While the Black Stone is revered, Islamic theologians emphasize that it has no divine significance and that its importance is historical in nature.[4]

Physical description

The Black Stone was originally a single piece of rock but today consists of several pieces that have been cemented together. They are surrounded by a silver frame which is fastened by silver nails to the Kaaba's outer wall.[5] The fragments are themselves made up of smaller pieces which have been combined to form the seven or eight fragments visible today. The Stone's exposed face measures about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) by 16 centimetres (6.3 in). Its original size is unclear and the recorded dimensions have changed considerably over time, as the pieces have been rearranged in their cement matrix on several occasions.[1] In the 10th century, an observer described the Black Stone as being one cubit (46 cm or 18 in) long. By the early 17th century, it was recorded as measuring 140 by 122 cm (4 ft 7 in by 4 ft 0 in). According to Ali Bey in the 18th century, it was described as 110 cm (3 ft 7 in) high, and Muhammad Ali Pasha reported it as being 76 cm (2 ft 6 in) long by 46 cm (1 ft 6 in) wide.[1]

The Black Stone is attached to the east corner of the Kaaba, known as al-Rukn al-Aswad (the 'Corner of the Black Stone').[6] Another stone, known as the Hajar as-Sa’adah ('Stone of Felicity') is set into the Kaaba's opposite corner, al-Rukn al-Yamani (the 'Yemeni Corner'), at a somewhat lower height than the Black Stone.[7] The choice of the east corner may have had ritual significance; it faces the rain-bringing east wind (al-qabul) and the direction from which Canopus rises.[8]

The silver frame around the Black Stone and the black kiswah or cloth enveloping the Kaaba were for centuries maintained by the Ottoman Sultans in their role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The frames wore out over time due to the constant handling by pilgrims and were periodically replaced. Worn-out frames were brought back to Istanbul, where they are still kept as part of the sacred relics in the Topkapı Palace.[9]

Appearance of the Black Stone

The Black Stone was described by European travellers to Arabia in the 19th- and early-20th centuries, who visited the Kaaba disguised as pilgrims. Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited Mecca in 1814, and provided a detailed description in his 1829 book Travels in Arabia:

It is an irregular oval, about seven inches [18 cm] in diameter, with an undulated surface, composed of about a dozen smaller stones of different sizes and shapes, well joined together with a small quantity of cement, and perfectly well smoothed; it looks as if the whole had been broken into as many pieces by a violent blow, and then united again. It is very difficult to determine accurately the quality of this stone which has been worn to its present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received. It appeared to me like a lava, containing several small extraneous particles of a whitish and of a yellow substance. Its colour is now a deep reddish brown approaching to black. It is surrounded on all sides by a border composed of a substance which I took to be a close cement of pitch and gravel of a similar, but not quite the same, brownish colour. This border serves to support its detached pieces; it is two or three inches in breadth, and rises a little above the surface of the stone. Both the border and the stone itself are encircled by a silver band, broader below than above, and on the two sides, with a considerable swelling below, as if a part of the stone were hidden under it. The lower part of the border is studded with silver nails.[10]

Visiting the Kaaba in 1853, Richard Francis Burton noted that:

The colour appeared to me black and metallic, and the centre of the stone was sunk about two inches below the metallic circle. Round the sides was a reddish-brown cement, almost level with the metal, and sloping down to the middle of the stone. The band is now a massive arch of gold or silver gilt. I found the aperture in which the stone is, one span and three fingers broad.[11]

Ritter von Laurin, the Austrian consul-general in Egypt, was able to inspect a fragment of the Stone removed by Muhammad Ali in 1817 and reported that it had a pitch-black exterior and a silver-grey, fine-grained interior in which tiny cubes of a bottle-green material were embedded. There are reportedly a few white or yellow spots on the face of the Stone, and it is officially described as being white with the exception of the face.[1]

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

Niggardly (noun: niggard) is an adjective meaning 'stingy' or 'miserly'. Niggard (14th C) is derived from the Middle English word meaning 'stingy,' nigon, which is probably derived from two other words also meaning 'stingy,' Old Norse hnǫggr and Old English hnēaw.[2] The word niggle, which in modern usage means to give excessive attention to minor details, probably shares an etymology with niggardly.[3]

Nigger, a racial slur widely considered to be offensive, derives from the Spanish word Negro, meaning 'black', and the French word nègre. Both negro and noir (and therefore also nègre and nigger) ultimately come from the Latin adjective niger, 'black' or 'dark'.[4] The first recorded use of nigger dates to 1574, and its first recorded derogatory use to 1775.[5][6] Plays on the similarity of the two words date back at least a century, one example being a piece of sheet music from 1900.[7][original research?]

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

In alchemy, nigredo, or blackness, means putrefaction or decomposition. Many alchemists believed that as a first step in the pathway to the philosopher's stone, all alchemical ingredients had to be cleansed and cooked extensively to a uniform black matter.[1]

In analytical psychology, the term became a metaphor for "the dark night of the soul, when an individual confronts the shadow within."[2]

Jung

For Carl Jung, "the rediscovery of the principles of alchemy came to be an important part of my work as a pioneer of psychology".[3] As a student of alchemy, he (and his followers) "compared the 'black work' of the alchemists (the nigredo) with the often highly critical involvement experienced by the ego, until it accepts the new equilibrium brought about by the creation of the self."[4] Jungians interpreted nigredo in two main psychological senses.

The first sense represented a subject's initial state of undifferentiated unawareness, "the first nigredo, that of the unio naturalis, is an objective state, visible from the outside only ... an unconscious state of non-differentiation between self and object, consciousness and the unconscious."[5] Here the subject is unaware of the unconscious; i.e. the connection with the instincts.[6]

In the second sense, "the nigredo of the process of individuation on the other hand is a subjectively experienced process brought about by the subject's painful, growing awareness of his shadow aspects."[7] It could be described as a moment of maximum despair, that is a prerequisite to personal development.[8] As individuation unfolds, so "confrontation with the shadow produces at first a dead balance, a standstill that hampers moral decisions and makes convictions ineffective or even impossible ... nigredo, tenebrositas, chaos, melancholia."[9] Here is "the darkest time, the time of despair, disillusionment, envious attacks; the time when Eros and Superego are at daggers drawn, and there seems no way forward ... nigredo, the blackening."[10]

Only subsequently would come "an enantiodromia; the nigredo gives way to the albedo ... the ever deepening descent into the unconscious suddenly becomes illumination from above."[11]

Further steps of the alchemical opus include such images as albedo (whiteness), citrinitas (yellowness), and rubedo (redness). Jung also found psychological equivalents for many other alchemical concepts, with "the characterization of analytic work as an opus; the reference to the analytic relationship as a vas, vessel or container; the goal of the analytic process as the coniunctio, or union of conflicting opposites."[12]

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

The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as 50 million people[2] perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population.[3] The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas and through the air.[4][5] One of the most significant events in European history, the Black Death had far-reaching population, economic, and cultural impacts. It was the beginning of the second plague pandemic.[6] The plague created religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history.

The origin of the Black Death is disputed.[7] Genetic analysis suggests Yersinia pestis bacteria evolved approximately 7,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Neolithic,[8] with flea-mediated strains emerging around 3,800 years ago during the late Bronze Age.[9] The immediate territorial origins of the Black Death and its outbreak remain unclear, with some evidence pointing towards Central Asia, China, the Middle East, and Europe.[10][11] The pandemic was reportedly first introduced to Europe during the siege of the Genoese trading port of Kaffa in Crimea by the Golden Horde army of Jani Beg in 1347. From Crimea, it was most likely carried by fleas living on the black rats that travelled on Genoese ships, spreading through the Mediterranean Basin and reaching North Africa, West Asia, and the rest of Europe via Constantinople, Sicily, and the Italian Peninsula.[12] There is evidence that once it came ashore, the Black Death mainly spread from person-to-person as pneumonic plague, thus explaining the quick inland spread of the epidemic, which was faster than would be expected if the primary vector was rat fleas causing bubonic plague.[13][14][15] In 2022, it was discovered that there was a sudden surge of deaths in what is today Kyrgyzstan from the Black Death in the late 1330s; when combined with genetic evidence, this implies that the initial spread may not have been due to Mongol conquests in the 14th century, as previously speculated.[16][17]

The Black Death was the second great natural disaster to strike Europe during the Late Middle Ages (the first one being the Great Famine of 1315–1317) and is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of the European population, as well as approximately 33% of the population of the Middle East.[18][19][20] There were further outbreaks throughout the Late Middle Ages and, also due to other contributing factors (the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages), the European population did not regain its 14th century level until the 16th century.[a][21] Outbreaks of the plague recurred around the world until the early 19th century.

Names

European writers contemporary with the plague described the disease in Latin as pestis or pestilentia, 'pestilence'; epidemia, 'epidemic'; mortalitas, 'mortality'.[22] In English prior to the 18th century, the event was called the "pestilence" or "great pestilence", "the plague" or the "great death".[22][23][24] Subsequent to the pandemic "the furste moreyn" (first murrain) or "first pestilence" was applied, to distinguish the mid-14th century phenomenon from other infectious diseases and epidemics of plague.[22]

The 1347 pandemic plague was not referred to specifically as "black" in the time of occurrence in any European language, though the expression "black death" had occasionally been applied to fatal disease beforehand.[22] "Black death" was not used to describe the plague pandemic in English until the 1750s; the term is first attested in 1755, where it translated Danish: den sorte død, lit. 'the black death'.[22][25] This expression as a proper name for the pandemic had been popularized by Swedish and Danish chroniclers in the 15th and early 16th centuries, and in the 16th and 17th centuries was transferred to other languages as a calque: Icelandic: svarti dauði, German: der schwarze Tod, and French: la mort noire.[26][27] Previously, most European languages had named the pandemic a variant or calque of the Latin: magna mortalitas, lit. 'Great Death'.[22]

The phrase 'black death' – describing Death as black – is very old. Homer used it in the Odyssey to describe the monstrous Scylla, with her mouths "full of black Death" (Ancient Greek: πλεῖοι μέλανος Θανάτοιο, romanized: pleîoi mélanos Thanátoio).[28][26] Seneca the Younger may have been the first to describe an epidemic as 'black death', (Latin: mors atra) but only in reference to the acute lethality and dark prognosis of disease.[29][26][22] The 12th–13th century French physician Gilles de Corbeil had already used atra mors to refer to a "pestilential fever" (febris pestilentialis) in his work On the Signs and Symptoms of Diseases (De signis et symptomatibus aegritudium).[26][30] The phrase mors nigra, 'black death', was used in 1350 by Simon de Covino (or Couvin), a Belgian astronomer, in his poem "On the Judgement of the Sun at a Feast of Saturn" (De judicio Solis in convivio Saturni), which attributes the plague to an astrological conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.[31] His use of the phrase is not connected unambiguously with the plague pandemic of 1347 and appears to refer to the fatal outcome of disease.[22]

The historian Cardinal Francis Aidan Gasquet wrote about the Great Pestilence in 1893[32] and suggested that it had been "some form of the ordinary Eastern or bubonic plague".[33][b] In 1908, Gasquet said use of the name atra mors for the 14th-century epidemic first appeared in a 1631 book on Danish history by J. I. Pontanus: "Commonly and from its effects, they called it the black death" (Vulgo & ab effectu atram mortem vocitabant).[34][35]

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

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season and is the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. Many stores offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices and often open early, sometimes as early as midnight[2] or even on Thanksgiving. Some stores' sales continue to Monday ("Cyber Monday") or for a week ("Cyber Week").

"Black Friday" has evolved in meaning and impact over the years, initially referring to calamitous days, with a notable early instance being Black Friday (1869) in the US. This financial crisis saw a dramatic plunge in gold prices, affecting investors. The term was later used in American retail, starting ambiguously in the 1950s. Initially associated with workforce absenteeism post-Thanksgiving, it was reinterpreted by Philadelphia police to describe the shopping-induced congestion. Attempts at rebranding to "Big Friday" failed, and the term "Black Friday" solidified by the 1980s, referring to the pivotal point where retailers purportedly shifted from loss ("in the red") to profit ("in the black"). This day marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, with promotional sales aiming to draw large crowds. Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States[3][4][5] and retailers prioritize it and Cyber Monday as highly profitable holiday shopping days.[6]

The concept has since globalized, with countries around the world adopting "Black Friday" sales to mimic the U.S. phenomenon, adjusting local customs or creating similar events. The advent of online shopping and events like "Cyber Monday" have expanded the traditional one-day shopping frenzy into a broader holiday shopping season, diluting the singular focus of Black Friday, and expanding its economic impact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Black project is an informal term used to describe a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by government, military personnel, or contractors.

United States and black projects

In the United States, the formal term for a black project is an unacknowledged special access program (SAP). Black projects receive their funding from the black budget.

The US depends on private defense contractors to develop and build military equipment. The two most notable examples are Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The R&D department of Lockheed Martin is commonly referred to as Skunk Works; it is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified R&D programs, and exotic aircraft platforms.

Two well known sites for testing of black projects are the Nevada Test site and Area 51.

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

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

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

This Babylonian clay tablet, called Plimpton 322, was created around 1750 BCE in Sumeria, during the reign of Hammurabi the Great.

While more than 1000 years older than Pythagoras, the rows and columns on this table contain Pythagorean triples: integer solutions for the equation a2+b2=c2. For example, (3, 4, 5) is a Pythagorean triple because 32+42=52.

The exact purpose of the tablet has been debated by archeologists. Some think that it was a “teachers aid”, designed to help generate right-angled triangles. Others think it may be a very early trigonometry table.

https://mathigon.org/timeline/plimpton-322

"A major landslide occurred 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oso, Washington, United States, on March 22, 2014 (3/22/2014), at 10:37 a.m. local time. A portion of an unstable hill collapsed, sending mud and debris to the south across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, engulfing a rural neighborhood, and covering an area of approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2). Forty-three people were killed and 49 homes and other structures destroyed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide

Published: 10 October 1996

Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research

Carl Levitin

Moscow. The first official details have emerged in Moscow of ambitious research into 'tectonic warfare' carried out by the former Soviet Union and subsequently by the government of Russia, and involving atte mpts to stimulate 'artificial' earthquakes as weapons of destruction. According to documents obtained by the newspaper Moscow News, two research programmes, the first known as ' Mercury ' and the second as ' Volcano', were aimed at creating new earthquake epicentres by using underground nuclear explosions . Geophysicists are aware that impending earthquakes may be triggered by underground nuclear explosions . But Western geophysicists remain sceptical about tectonic warfare and have all but abandoned research after two unsuccessful phases of activity in the 1960s and 1980s, says Roger Clark, a lecturer in geophysics at the University of Leeds. Clark is not at all surprised that th e Russians tried to create earthquakes and control their location electromagnetically, however. "This sort of science is very much part of their heritage. We don't think it is impossible, or wrong , but past experience suggests it is very, very unlikely. "

The programme , which was secretly launched by the Communist rulers of the former Soviet Union in 1987, and has been unofficially known to Western geophysicists for several years, is now believed to have been abandoned. It would certainly contravene the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signe d at the United Nations in Geneva last month . The Mercury project was launched in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but came to a halt when the republic became independent. It was superseded by the Volcano project. Three underground nuclear tests are believed to have taken place at sites in Kyrgyzstan.

According to the documents, the Mercury project was launched by a secret decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The objective was to "develop a methodology for remote operation on an earthquake epicentre by using weak seismic fields and research possibilities of transferring the seismic energy of an explosion ".

The documents say that the Mercury project involved 22 scientific and industrial organizations, including the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku. The remit extended to developing the electronic equipment to be installed aboard space satellites that would control the tectonic weapon. The scientists were given three years to complete research, with testing planned for 1990.

During the research phase, Azerbaijani scientists grew increasingly confident and, according to the documents, were sure that " after [a] nuclear explosion, subterranean energy may accumulate at huge distances from the epicentre and reach massive capacity, after which the next directed explosion can release it all ".

Underground testing began at the town of Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and was directed by lkram Ke rimov , of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The documents say that scientists detonated an underground nuclear charge and tried to control the direction of seismic energy release d using British-built equipment known as 'system 9690 ' .

A report prepared by the Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute concluded that the test had been a success. But progress slowed considerably following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. At about this time , Russia embarked on a more comprehensive tectonic warfare programme known as the Volcano project. The Earth Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) became the project headquarters .

Research was scheduled to be completed in 1992, with underground testing beginning the following year. The final test was carried out at a place code-named S36NZ-0Kh; Moscow News believes the letters 'NZ' refer to Novaya Zemlya, where Soviet nuclear testing began in the 1950s."

https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0

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

The National Security Act of 1947 (Pub.L. 80-253, 61 Stat. 495, enacted July 26, 1947) was a law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. The majority of the provisions of the act took effect on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James Forrestal as the first secretary of defense.[1][2]

The act merged the Department of the Army (renamed from the Department of War), the Department of the Navy, and the newly established Department of the Air Force (DAF) into the National Military Establishment (NME).[3] The act also created the position of the secretary of defense as the head of the NME.[3] It established the United States Air Force under the DAF, which worked to separate the Army Air Forces into its own service.[3] It also protected the Marine Corps as an independent service under the Department of the Navy.[3] Aside from the unification of the three military departments, the act established the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency, the latter of which is headed by the Director of Central Intelligence.[3]

The legislation was a result of efforts by Harry S. Truman beginning in 1944.[4] President Truman proposed the legislation to Congress on February 26, 1947.[5] The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 28, 1947, and in the Senate on March 3, 1947.[6] Senator Chan Gurney was the bill's sponsor.[6] Senator Gurney, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, led committee hearings for the bill from mid-March to early May.[7][8][9] The bill passed in the Senate on July 9, 1947, and in the House on July 19, 1947.[10] The Senate agreed to a related House resolution (80 H.Con.Res. 70) on July 16, 1947.[10] The bill received bipartisan support and was passed in both chambers by voice vote.[4][10] The National Security Act of 1947 was signed into law by President Truman on July 26, 1947, while aboard his VC-54C presidential aircraft Sacred Cow.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_of_1947

Harry R. Truman (October 1896 – May 18, 1980) was an American businessman, bootlegger, and prospector. He lived near Mount St. Helens, an active volcano in the state of Washington, and was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake near the base of the mountain. Truman came to fame as a folk hero in the weeks leading up to the volcano's 1980 eruption after refusing to leave his home despite evacuation orders. He was killed by a pyroclastic flow that overtook his lodge and buried the site under 150 ft (46 m) of volcanic debris.

After Truman's death, his family and friends reflected on his love for the mountain. In 1981, Art Carney portrayed Truman in the docudrama film St. Helens. He was commemorated in a book by his niece, and also in various pieces of music, including songs by Headgear, Billy Jonas, and Shawn Wright and the Brothers Band.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_R._Truman

Newly added to Digital Collections: Harry S. Truman Letters

July 14, 2020

Did you know that President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) was in correspondence with Melvin Maynard Johnson (1871-1957), the head of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction's Supreme Council during the 1940s and 1950s? A number of recently digitized letters, written from Truman to Johnson on White House stationery are available through the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives Digital Collections website. They reveal a friendly relationship, with President Truman beginning his letters to Johnson by addressing him "Dear Mel."

Truman became a Freemason in 1909. By 1940, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. In 1945, Truman was created a 33rd degree Sovereign Grand Inspector General in the Scottish Rite's Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction. That same year, the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, awarded Truman its first Gourgas Medal, the Supreme Council's highest honor.

The letters in this collection include both those from Harry Truman as well as one written by his wife, Bess Truman (1885-1982). The majority of the correspondence in this collection consists of letters written by President Harry S. Truman to his friend and fellow Freemason, Melvin Maynard Johnson (1871-1957). Johnson served as the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction's Sovereign Grand Commander from 1933 to 1953.

For more about the friendship between Truman and Johnson, have a look at one of our earlier blog posts, A Mason Answers His Country's Call and Receives the Scottish Rite's Highest Award.

There are now over 750 items in the Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives Digital Collections website. Be sure to visit and check them all out!

Caption:

Letter from President Harry S. Truman to Melvin M. Johnson, 1948 August 3. Collection of Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Lexington, Massachusetts. SC069.

https://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/harry-s-truman/

Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the U.S. and 33rd degree Freemason, in full occult regalia, in an official lodge portrait. Truman ordered the atomic incineration of two Japanese cities, killing at least 150,000 people, mostly women and children. Roosevelt's chief of staff, Admiral Leahy, admitted to Walter Trohan of the Chicago Tribune, that Japan was ready to surrender conditionally without an invasion by U.S. ground forces. It was Truman's insistence upon "unconditional surrender" that set the stage for Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare

by Michael A. Hoffman II

Extrusive (Volcanic) Rock Classification

Volcanic rocks are classified based on their chemical composition as determined by analytical techniques that identify the proportion of major elements found in them. Unlike for plutonic rocks, it is not possible to classify volcanic rocks based on the minerals found in them.

Some volcanic rocks contain some crystals (phenocrysts) that grew in the magma chamber prior to eruption, but others contain no crystals at all or are volcanic glass (obsidian).

In addition to the mafic (low silica) basalt, and the silicic rhyolite, several subdivisions exist between the two compositional end members.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/igneous.htm

THE CONCLAVE OR CELESTIAL CITY

Containing an epitome of the twelve degrees of the Philosophic Chamber of the Ancient and Accepted Rite.

The twelve degrees preceding the Rose Croix are as we have shown, associated with the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

From these fixed signs, the Rite passes to the Sun, Moon and the Planets.

From these the Rite looks to the four elements or four components of man, etc., and from these it considers the spirit and matter, or infinite and finite of the Universe and of man.

In the Rose Croix Degree, we have seen the son of masonry and heard the promise of universal peace and joy. Now let us proceed to seek the methods of realization, and learn how to restore the lost Eden and reedify the Celestial City."

Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated

THE COMPLETE RITUAL OF THE

Ancient AND Accepted Scottish Rite,

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.

Volume 2

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/scotchritemasonr02blan/scotchritemasonr02blan.pdf

"Very soon now, it will no longer be a mystery of 'when' these events will take place; they will have become a terrible reality. Where then, will each of us stand on these issues, when the onslaught actually begins? Quickly it will be seen that the New Ager's counterfeit messiah, Lord #Maitreya, is also the same person as the #Pontifex Maximus pope of Rome, who then will take the reins of the New World Order. The deceptions will mesh wonderfully together, as the "World Harmonic Convergence" accomplishes new values for mankind in the cooperation, collaboration and unification on behalf of the "Spirit of the Earth." For those of you who read this book, be patient, it won't be long and you will know that it revealed to you the truth.

Also, it is only a matter of time when Pope John Paul II, old and tired, will succumb to his great age, and his mantle will then go to a more younger and aggressive pope. By him, a work will now be accomplished, known as the "Era of Reseeding" when major population areas will be 'thinned out' and the human population will be resettled. Finally, will come the "Era of the New Harmony" and the "Crystal Kingdom" of the earth will be set up. This is the glorious version of Rome's final victory and total conquest of humanity. But there is one last crowning act that is needed to make this masterpiece of deception complete.

FALSE MESSIAH OCCUPIES JERUSALEM

The counterfeit surpassing all other counterfeits, Rome has now fulfilled its grandest dreams. The entire world lays in shambles at its feet. "Order out of Chaos" ,was its beloved motto.

Now the 'great pretender' , the Pontifex Maximus pope declares himself to be God over all the earth! Not content with just being ruler of all the earth - but "is worshiped; so that he as God sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

Only a Luciferic mind could think like that.

After usurping the very exalted position of grandeur, magnificence, majesty and sovereignty of God Himself - what other place would he choose to locate his Crystal Kingdom headquarters - other than where the God of creation has placed His own Holy name Jerusalem; where else? Rome has always had its covetous eye set on Jerusalem. The Crusaders were sent there to conquer it, after which, the Knights Templar were named after its temple. And now the Pontifex Maximus pope, dripping in blood of the world's innocents, claims this city as his too; to be the headquarters for ruling his New World Order.

Does all of this sound like some grotesque farcy tale or the terror of some fearsome nightmare? Oh my friend, how I wish that could really be the case; that we could actually wake up and none of this would really be true, and I could be called a liar. What I wouldn't give, if I could make that be so. But for all the sadness and horror it brings, it must be acknowledged that it is the truth. Not because man says so, but because God's Word has declared it. There is only one way to face the onslaught that is just ahead. We must fully trust our life into the hands of God, and then resolve in our minds that we are going to be killed; forgetting entirely the thought that we might be fortunate enough to escape. That is how thoroughly God's people are going to be rooted out. Know for sure in your own mind - they can kill your body ever so dead, but they can never take your life - if it is in Christ Jesus. That belongs to God alone.

Very soon, God's people are going to be confronted with the exact same experience as our Lord and Saviour. To know and look straight into the face of death - and yes, by the very same executioner - Rome. But our Lord loved you, dear reader, and me, and all, that He gave up His own life for ours. We must now respond to that love and be resolved to die also for Him, standing firm for His truth, as He died for us. And Rome can not kill us so dead, that our mighty God can not raise us back up to life. Not the miserable life we know now but incorruptible life for eternity. A quick calculation will tell you, that if one third of the earth's population, or nearly two billion people, are going to be slaughtered, only a minuscule fraction of that amount are fundamentalist Christians . That means a huge amount of people are going to die that are not Christians. Sadly, beyond any comprehension, they will have died for a very lost cause.

From all the horror, misery, and bloodshed, people universally, will become utterly paralyzed from sheer shock.

And to the overwhelming majority of them, sadly, this life is their only world, as they watch it being ripped apart; everywhere, nothing but chaos and devastation. They are terrified. They just do not understand! But there are a people that do understand; as they watch now with solemn awe, events occurring that they had known about and anticipated for many many years. This is what gives to God's people "hope". They know that God does not lie. God has given to His people promises, predictions, and prophecies that have never ever failed. That, dear friend, is wonderful, unselfish, and abiding love! - that builds unswerving trust. And no other promise is so deeply embedded into their hearts, than the one given that

Christ will soon return and redeem His people out of this wretched world. It buoys their spirits, as it assures them precious

'hope'.

Five hundred years before Jesus Christ walked the earth, God revealed to His people that Rome's false messiah, in the very end times, would "plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." In other words, Jerusalem. (Daniel 11:45) What an incredible God we have! But notice how God describes it. He calls Rome setting up its New World Order headquarters in Jerusalem the "abomination that maketh desolate." In fact, Christ Himself prophesied that Rome would invade Jerusalem soon after His departure from earth, which it did in A.D.70. And this first invasion was to become a "type" for when it would occur again, with vengeance, in the very end time."

CHAPTER 17 "TWO OCCULT POWERS UNITED FOR FINAL WORLD

CONTROL"

The Grand Design Exposed

by John Daniel

http://www.granddesignexposed.com/contents.html

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

Galatians 2

1599 Geneva Bible

2 1 That the Apostles did nothing disagree from his Gospel, 3 he declareth by the example of Titus being uncircumcised, 11 and also by his . . . the same against Peter’s dissimulation. 17 And so he passeth to the handling of our free justification by Christ, etc.

1 Then [a]fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took with me Titus also.

2 And I went up by revelation, and declared unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but particularly to them that were the chief, lest by any means I should run, or had run [b]in vain:

3 But neither yet Titus which was with me, though he were a Grecian, was compelled to be circumcised,

4 To wit, for the [c]false brethren which were craftily sent in, and crept in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.

5 To whom we gave not place by [d]subjection for an hour, that the [e]truth of the Gospel might continue with [f]you.

6 But by them which seemed to be great, I was not taught (whatsoever they were in time passed, I am nothing the better: God accepteth no man’s person) for they that are the chief, did add nothing to me above that I had.

7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the Gospel over the [g]uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel over the circumcision was unto Peter:

8 (For he that was mighty by Peter in the Apostleship over the circumcision, was also mighty by me toward the Gentiles.)

9 And when James, and Cephas, and John, knew of the grace that was given unto me, which are [h]counted to be pillars, they gave to me and to Barnabas the right [i]hands of fellowship, that we should preach unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision,

10 Warning only that we should remember the poor: which thing also I was diligent to do.

11 ¶ And when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to his [j]face: for he was to be condemned.

12 [k]For before that certain came from James, he ate with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

13 And the other Jews played the hypocrites likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas was [l]led away with them by that their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw, that they went not the [m]right way to the [n]truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before all men, If thou being a Jew, livest as the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, why [o]constrainest thou the Gentiles to do like the Jews?

15 [p]We which are Jews [q]by nature, and not [r]sinners of the Gentiles,

16 Know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith [s]of Jesus Christ, even we, I say, have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law, because that by the works of the Law, [t]no flesh shall be justified.

17 [u]If then while [v]we seek to be made righteous by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is Christ therefore the minister of sin? God forbid.

18 For if I build again the things that I have destroyed, I make myself a trespasser.

19 For I through the Law am dead to the [w]Law, that I might live unto God.

20 I am crucified with Christ, but I live, yet not [x]I anymore, but Christ liveth in me: and in that I now live in the [y]flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for me.

21 [z]I do not abrogate the grace of God: for if righteousness be by the Law, then Christ died without a [aa]cause.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%202&version=GNV

Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner[4] (born Florence Delorez Griffith;[2] December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete and the fastest woman ever recorded. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late 1980s, she became a popular figure due to both her record-setting athleticism and eclectic personal style.

Griffith Joyner was born and raised in California. She was athletic from a young age and began running at track meets as a child. While attending California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she continued to compete in track and field. While still in college, she qualified for the 100 m 1980 Olympics but did not compete due to the U.S. boycott. She made her Olympic debut four years later, winning a silver medal in the 200 meter distance at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set a new world record in the 100-meter sprint. She won three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics.

In February 1989, Griffith Joyner abruptly retired from athletics. She remained a pop culture figure through endorsement deals, acting, and designing. In 1998, at age 38, she died in her sleep during an epileptic seizure caused by a birth defect. Griffith Joyner is buried at the El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest.

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

Florence

chief city of Tuscany, also a fem. proper name, both from Latin Florentia, fem. of Florentius, literally "blooming," from florens (genitive florentis), present participle of florere "to flower" (see flourish). The city name is from Roman Colonia Florentia, "flowering colony," either literal or figurative, and became Old Italian Fiorenze, modern Italian Firenze.

Florentine (adj.)

1540s, literally "of or pertaining to the Italian city of Florence," from Latin Florentinus, from Florentia, the Roman name of the city (see Florence). Earliest reference in English is to a type of textile fabric. As a noun from 1590s.

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

Flo is a fictional saleswoman character appearing in more than 1,000 advertisements for Progressive Insurance since 2008. Portrayed by actress and comedian Stephanie Courtney, the character has developed a fan base on social networks and has become an iconic advertising mascot.[1][2][3]

Broadcast history

The character debuted in 2008 through several television advertisements and has since appeared in radio, print, and web banners. The fictional upbeat store employee of Progressive Corporation was created by copywriter John Park and art director Steve Reepmeyer,[4] at the Boston-based agency Arnold Worldwide.[5] Flo has appeared in more than 1,000 advertisements.

In 2011, Progressive introduced Flo's Australian counterpart, Kitty,[6] played by Holly Austin.[7] In 2014, other recurring characters were added to the advertisements. Jim Cashman plays Jamie, Flo's sidekick. In 2020, another Progressive employee was added, Mara, portrayed by Natalie Palamides

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flo_(Progressive_Insurance)

AI Overview

Learn more

The name Mara has multiple origins and meanings:

Hebrew: The name Mara comes from the Hebrew word mar, which means "bitter" or "of the sea". In the Bible, Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, took the name Mara after the deaths of her husband and sons to express her grief.

Aramaic: Mara means "Lady" in Aramaic, where Mar means "Lord".

Hindu: In Hindu mythology, Mara is a goddess of destruction, death, winter, and the moon. Mara is also sometimes seen as an aspect of a god whose other aspect is Kama, or erotic desire.

Buddhism: In Buddhism, Mara is Satan, who tried to seduce the Buddha at the time of his Enlightenment. In some accounts of the Buddha's enlightenment, Mara's three daughters, Taṇhā (Thirst), Arati (Aversion, Discontentment), and Rāga (Attachment, Desire, Greed, Passion), came willingly to tempt the Buddha after Mara's setback.

Slavic: In ancient Slav mythology, Mara is a dark spirit who visits men in their dreams, torturing them with desire before killing them.

Latin America and the United States: Mara has been a popular name in the United States since 1950.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mara+etymology&oq=mara+etymology&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgcIABAAGIAEMgcIABAAGIAEMggIARAAGBYYHjIICAIQABgWGB4yCAgDEAAYFhgeMggIBBAAGBYYHjINCAUQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAYQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAcQABiGAxiABBiKBdIBCDI0MjNqMGo0qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Mare Imbrium /ˈɪmbriəm/ (Latin imbrium, the "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains") is a vast lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the collision of a proto-planet during the Late Heavy Bombardment. Basaltic lava later flooded the giant crater to form the flat volcanic plain seen today. The basin's age has been estimated using uranium–lead dating methods to approximately 3.9 billion years ago, and the diameter of the impactor has been estimated to be 250 ± 25 km.[2] The Moon's maria (plural of mare) have fewer features than other areas of the Moon because molten lava pooled in the craters and formed a relatively smooth surface. Mare Imbrium is not as flat as it would have originally been when it first formed as a result of later events that have altered its surface.

Origin

Mare Imbrium formed when a proto-planet from the asteroid belt collided with the Moon during the Late Heavy Bombardment.[3] The impact is dated to approximately 3922 ± 12 million years ago, based on radiometric dating techniques. Ejecta from the impact covers large areas of the near side of the Moon.[4][5]

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

Havana syndrome ’ and the mystery of the microwaves by Gordon Carera

"Doctors, scientists, intelligence agents and government officials have all been trying to find out what causes "Havana syndrome" - a mysterious illness that has struck American diplomats and spies. Some call it an act of war, others wonder if it is some new and secret form of surveillance - and some people believe it could even be all in the mind. So who or what is responsible? It often started with a sound, one that people struggled to describe. "Buzzing", "grinding metal", "piercing squeals", was the best they could manage. One woman described a low hum and intense pressure in her skull; another felt a pulse of pain. Those who did not hear a sound, felt heat or pressure. But for those who heard the sound, covering their ears made no difference. Some of the people who experienced the syndrome were left with dizziness and fatigue for months. Havana syndrome first emerged in Cuba in 2016. The first cases were CIA officers, which meant they were kept secret. But, eventually, word got out and anxiety spread. Twenty-six personnel and family members would report a wide variety of symptoms. There were whispers that some colleagues thought sufferers were crazy and it was "all in the mind". Five years on, reports now number in the hundreds and, the BBC has been told, span every continent, leaving a real impact on the US's ability to operate overseas. Uncovering the truth has now become a top US national security priority - one that an official has described as the most difficult intelligence challenge they have ever faced. Hard evidence has been elusive, making the syndrome a battleground for competing theories. Some see it as a psychological illness, others a secret weapon. But a growing trail of evidence has focused on microwaves as the most likely culprit. In 2015, diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba were restored after decades of hostility. But within two years, Havana syndrome almost shut the embassy down, as staff were withdrawn because of concerns for their welfare. Initially, there was speculation that the Cuban government - or a hard-line faction opposed to improving relations - might be responsible, having deployed some kind of sonic weapon. Cuba's security services, after all, had been nervous about an influx of US personnel and kept a tight grip on the capital. That theory would fade as cases spread around the world. But recently, another possibility has come into the frame - one whose roots lay in the darker recesses of the Cold War, and a place where science, medicine, espionage and geopolitics collide. When James Lin, a professor at the University of Illinois, read the first reports about the mysterious sounds in Havana, he immediately suspected that microwaves were responsible. His belief was based not just on theoretical research, but first-hand experience. Decades earlier, he had heard the sounds himself. Since its emergence around World War Two, there had been reports of people being able to hear something when a nearby radar was switched on and began sending microwaves into the sky. This was even though there was no external noise. In 1961, a paper by Dr Allen Frey argued the sounds were caused by microwaves interacting with the nervous system, leading to the term the "Frey Effect". But the exact causes - and implications - remained unclear. In the 1970s, Prof Lin set to work conducting his experiments at the University of Washington. He sat on a wooden chair in a small room lined with absorbent materials, an antenna aimed at the back of his head. In his hand he held a light switch. Outside, a colleague sent pulses of microwaves through the antenna at random intervals. If Prof Lin heard a sound, he pressed the switch. A single pulse sounded like a zip or a clicking finger. A series of pulses like a bird chirping. They were produced in his head rather than as sound waves coming from outside. Prof Lin believed the energy was absorbed by the soft brain tissue and converted to a pressure wave moving inside the head, which was interpreted by the brain as sound. This occurred when high-power microwaves were delivered as pulses rather than in the low-power continuous form you get from a modern microwave oven or other devices. Prof Lin recalls that he was careful not to dial it up too high. "I did not want to have my brain damaged," he told the BBC. In 1978, he found he was not alone in his interest, and received an unusual invitation to discuss his latest paper from a group of scientists who had been carrying out their own experiments. During the Cold War, science was the focus of intense super-power rivalry. Even areas like mind control were explored, amid fears of the other side getting an edge - and this included microwaves. Prof Lin was shown the Soviet approach at a centre of scientific research in the town of Pushchino, near Moscow. "They had a very elaborate, very well-equipped laboratory," Prof Lin recalls. But their experiment was cruder than his. The subject would sit in a drum of salty seawater with their head sticking out. Then microwaves would be fired at their brain. The scientists thought the microwaves interacted with the nervous system and wanted to question Prof Lin on his alternative view. Curiosity cut both ways, and US spies kept close track on Soviet research. A 1976 report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, unearthed by the BBC, says it could find no proof of Communist-bloc microwave weapons, but says it had learnt of experiments where microwaves were pulsed at the throat of frogs until their hearts stopped. The report also reveals that the US was concerned Soviet microwaves could be used to impair brain function or induce sounds for psychological effect. "Their internal sound perception research has great potential for development into a system for disorienting or disrupting the behaviour patterns of military or diplomatic personnel." American interest was more than just defensive. James Lin would occasionally glimpse references to secret US work on weapons in the same field. And while Prof Lin was in Pushchino, another group of Americans not far away were worried that they were being zapped by microwaves - and that their own government had covered it up. For nearly a quarter of a century, the 10-storey US embassy in Moscow was bathed by a wide, invisible beam of low-level microwaves. It became known as "the Moscow signal". But for many years, most of those working inside knew nothing. The beam came from an antenna on the balcony of a nearby Soviet apartment and hit the upper floors of the embassy where the ambassador's office and more sensitive work was carried out. It had been first spotted in the 1950s and was later monitored from a room on the 10th floor. But its existence was a secret tightly held from all but a few working inside. "We were trying to figure out just what might be its purpose," explains Jack Matlock, number two at the embassy in the mid-70s. But a new ambassador, Walter Stoessel, arrived in 1974 and threatened to resign unless everyone was told. "That caused something like panic," recalls Mr Matlock. Embassy staff whose children were in a basement nursery were especially worried. But the State Department played down any risk. Then Ambassador Stoessel, himself, fell ill - with bleeding of the eyes as one of his symptoms. In a now declassified 1975 phone call to the Soviet ambassador to Washington, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger linked Stoessel's illness to microwaves, admitting "we are trying to keep the thing quiet". Stoessel died of leukaemia at the age of 66. "He decided to play the good soldier", and not make a fuss, his daughter told the BBC. From 1976 screens were installed to protect people. But many diplomats were angry, believing the State Department had first kept quiet, and then resisted acknowledging any possible health impact. This was a claim echoed decades later with Havana syndrome. What was the Moscow signal for? "I'm pretty sure that the Soviets had intentions other than damaging us," says Matlock. They were ahead of the US in surveillance technology and one theory was that they bounced microwaves off windows to pick up conversations, another that they were activating their own listening devices hidden inside the building or capturing information through microwaves hitting US electronic devices (known as "peek and poke"). The Soviets at one point told Matlock that the purpose was actually to jam American equipment on the embassy roof used to intercept Soviet communications in Moscow. This is the world of surveillance and counter-surveillance, one so secret that even within embassies and governments only a few people know the full picture. One theory is that Havana involved a much more targeted method to carry out some kind of surveillance with higher-power, directed microwaves. One former UK intelligence official told the BBC that microwaves could be used to "illuminate" electronic devices to extract signals or identify and track them. Others speculate that a device (even perhaps an American one) might have been poorly engineered or malfunctioned and caused a physical reaction in some people. However, US officials tell the BBC no device has been identified or recovered. After a lull, cases began to spread beyond Cuba. In December 2017, Marc Polymeropolous woke suddenly in a Moscow hotel room. A senior CIA officer, he was in town to meet Russian counterparts. "My ears were ringing, my head was spinning. I felt like I was going to vomit. I couldn't stand up," he told the BBC. "It was terrifying." It was a year after the first Havana cases, but the CIA medical office told him his symptoms didn't match the Cuban cases. A long battle for medical treatment began. The severe headaches never went away and in the summer of 2019 he was forced to retire. Mr Polymreopolous originally thought he had been hit by some kind of technical surveillance tool that had been "turned up too much". But when more cases emerged at the CIA which were all, he says, linked to people working on Russia, he came to believe he had been targeted with a weapon. But then came China, including at the consulate in Guangzhou in early 2018. Some of those affected in China contacted Beatrice Golomb, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who has long researched the health effects of microwaves, as well as other unexplained illnesses. She told the BBC that she wrote to the State Department's medical team in January 2018 with a detailed account of why she thought microwaves were responsible. "This makes for interesting reading," was the non-committal response. Prof Golomb says high levels of radiation were recorded by family members of personnel in Guangzhou using commercially available equipment. "The needle went off the top of the available readings." But she says the State Department told its own employees that the measurements they had taken off their own back were classified. A host of problems plagued early investigations. There was a failure to collect consistent data. The State Department and CIA failed to communicate with each other, and the scepticism of their internal medical teams caused tension. Only one out of the nine cases from China was initially determined by the State Department to match the criteria for the syndrome based on Havana cases. That left others who experienced symptoms angry, and feeling as if they were being accused of making it up. They began a battle for equal treatment, which is still going on today. As frustration grew, some of those affected turned to Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specialises in national security cases. He now acts for around two dozen government personnel, half from the intelligence community. "This is not Havana syndrome. It's a misnomer," argues Mr Zaid, whose clients were affected in many locations. "What's been going on has been known by the United States government probably, based on evidence that I have seen, since the late 1960s." Since 2013, Mr Zaid has represented one employee of the US National Security Agency who believed they were damaged in 1996 in a location which remains classified. Mr Zaid questions why the US government has been so unwilling to acknowledge a longer history. One possibility, he says, is because it might open a Pandora's Box of incidents that have been ignored over the years. Another is because the US, too, has developed and perhaps even deployed microwaves itself and wants to keep it secret. The country's interest in weaponising microwaves extended beyond the end of the Cold War. Reports say from the 1990s, the US Air Force had a project codenamed "Hello" to see if microwaves could create disturbing sounds in people's heads, one called "Goodbye" to test their use for crowd control, and one codenamed "Goodnight" to see if they could be used to kill people. Reports from a decade ago suggested these had not proved successful. But the study of the mind and what can be done to it has been receiving increased focus within the military and security world. "The brain is being seen as the 21st Century battle-scape," argues James Giordano, an adviser to the Pentagon and Professor in Neurology and Biochemistry at Georgetown University, who was asked to look at the initial Havana cases. "Brain sciences are global. It is not just the province of what used to be known as the West." Ways to both augment and damage brain function are being worked on, he told the BBC. But it is a field with little transparency or rules. He says China and Russia have been engaged in microwave research and raises the possibility that tools developed for industrial and commercial uses - for instance to test the impact of microwaves on materials - could have been repurposed. But he also wonders if disruption and spreading fear were also the aim. This kind of technology may have been around for a while - and even have been used selectively. But that would still mean something changed in Cuba to get it noticed. Bill Evanina was a senior intelligence official when the Havana cases emerged, and stepped down as the head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center this year. He has little doubt about what happened in Havana. "Was it an offensive weapon? I believe it was," he told the BBC. He believes microwaves may have been deployed in recent military conflicts, but points to specific circumstances to explain a shift. Cuba, 90 miles off the Florida coast, has long been an ideal site to collect "signals intelligence" by intercepting communications. During the Cold War, it was home to a major Soviet listening station. When Vladimir Putin visited in 2014, reports suggested it was being re-opened. China also opened two sites in recent years, according to one source, while the Russians sent in 30 additional intelligence officers. But from 2015, the US was back in town. With its newly opened embassy and a beefed-up presence, the US was just beginning to establish its footing, collecting intelligence and pushing back against Russian and Chinese spies. "We were in a ground fight," one person recalls. Then the sounds began. "Who had the most to benefit from the closing of the embassy in Havana?" asks Mr Evanina. "If the Russian government was increasing and promulgating their intelligence collection in Cuba, it was probably not good for them to have the US in Cuba." Russia has repeatedly dismissed accusations it is involved, or has "directed microwave weapons". "Such provocative, baseless speculation and fanciful hypotheses can't really be considered a serious matter for comment," its foreign ministry has said. And there have been sceptics about the very existence of Havana syndrome. They argue that the unique situation in Cuba supports their case.

Contagious Stress

Robert W Baloh, a Professor of Neurology at UCLA, has long studied unexplained health symptoms. When he saw the Havana syndrome reports, he concluded they were a mass psychogenic condition. He compares this to the way people feel sick when they are told they have eaten tainted food even if there was nothing wrong with it - the reverse of the placebo effect. "When you see mass psychogenic illness, there's usually some stressful underlying situation," he says. "In the case of Cuba and the mass of the embassy employees - particularly the CIA agents who first were affected - they certainly were in a stressful situation." In his view, every-day symptoms like brain fog and dizziness are reframed - by sufferers, media and health professionals - as the syndrome. "The symptoms are as real as any other symptoms," he says, arguing that individuals became hyper-aware and fearful as reports spread, especially within a closed community. This, he believes, then became contagious among other US officials serving abroad.

There remain many unexplained elements. Why did Canadian diplomats report symptoms in Havana? Were they collateral damage from targeting nearby Americans? And why have no UK officials reported symptoms? "The Russians have literally tried to kill people on British soil in recent years with radioactive materials, yet why are there no reported cases?" asks Mark Zaid. "I would probably put on pause the statement that no-one in the UK has experienced any symptoms," responds Bill Evanina, who says the US is now sharing details with allies to spot cases. Some instances may be unrelated. "We had a bunch of military folk in the Middle East who claimed to have this attack - turned out they had food poisoning," says one former official. "We need to separate the wheat from the chaff," reckons Mark Zaid, who says members of the public, some with mental health issues, approach him claiming to suffer from microwave attacks. One former official reckons around half the cases reported by US officials are possibly linked to attacks by an adversary. Others say the real number could be even smaller. A December 2020 report by the US National Academies of Sciences was a pivotal moment. Experts took evidence from scientists and clinicians as well as eight victims. "It was quite dramatic," recalls Professor David Relman of Stanford, who chaired the panel. "Some of these people literally were in hiding, for fear of further actions against them by whomever. There were actually precautions we had to take to ensure their safety." The panel looked at psychological and other causes, but concluded that directed, high energy, pulsed microwaves were most likely responsible for some of the cases, similar to the view of James Lin, who gave evidence. But even though the State Department sponsored the study, it still considers the conclusion only a plausible hypothesis and officials say they have not found further evidence to support it. The Biden administration has signalled it is taking the issue seriously. CIA and State Department officials are given advice on how to respond to incidents (including 'getting off the X' - meaning physically moving from a spot if they feel they are getting hit). The State Department has set up a task force to support staff over what are now called "unexplained health incidents". Previous attempts to categorise cases as to whether they met specific criteria have been abandoned. But without a definition, it becomes harder to count. This year, a new wave of cases arrived - including Berlin and a larger group in Vienna. In August, a trip by US Vice-President Kamala Harris to Vietnam was delayed three hours because of a reported case at the embassy in Hanoi. Worried diplomats are now asking questions before taking foreign assignments with their families. "This is a major distraction for us if we think that the Russians are doing things to our intelligence officers who are travelling," says former CIA officer Polymreopolous, who finally received the medical treatment he wanted this year. "That's going to put a crimp in our operational footprint." The CIA has taken over the hunt for a cause, with a veteran of the hunt for Osama bin Laden placed in charge.

Markers In The Blood

An accusation that another state has been harming US officials is a consequential one. "That's an act of war," says Mr Polymeropolous. That makes it a high bar to reach. Policymakers will demand hard evidence, which so far, officials say, is still lacking. Five years on, some US officials say little more is known other than when Havana syndrome started. But others disagree. They say the evidence for microwaves is much stronger now, if not yet conclusive. The BBC has learnt that new evidence is arriving as data is collected and analysed more systematically for the first time. Some of the cases this year showed specific markers in the blood, indicating brain injury. These markers fall away after a few days and previously too much time had elapsed to spot them. But now that people are being tested much more quickly after reporting symptoms, they have been seen for the first time. The debate remains divisive and it is possible the answer is complex. There may be a core of real cases, while others have been folded into the syndrome. Officials raise the possibility that the technology and the intent might have changed over time, perhaps shifting to try and unsettle the US. Some even worry one state may have piggy-backed on another's activities. "We like a simple label diagnosis," argues Professor Relman. "But sometimes it is tough to achieve. And when we can't, we have to be very careful not to simply throw up our hands and walk away." The mystery of Havana syndrome could be its real power. The ambiguity and fear it spreads act as a multiplier, making more and more people wonder if they are suffering, and making it harder for spies and diplomats to operate overseas. Even if it began as a tightly defined incident, Havana syndrome may have developed a life of its own."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-58396698

I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on.........

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

Space Fence surveillance radar site declared operational

The $1.5 billion Space Fence can track tiny objects in low Earth orbit as small as a marble.

Sandra Erwin

March 28, 2020

WASHINGTON — The space surveillance radar site known as the Space Fence is ready for use after five years in construction, the U.S. Space Force announced March 27.

The $1.5 billion Space Fence — located on Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands — is a ground-based radar system that tracks satellites and space debris primarily in low Earth orbit. Lockheed Martin was selected as the prime contractor in 2014.

The Space Fence can track tiny objects as small as a marble. It also provides a search capability for objects at higher orbits. Data from the Space Fence will feed into the military’s Space Surveillance Network.

The Space Surveillance Network tracks about 26,000 objects. The addition of the Space Fence will increase the catalog size significantly over time, the Space Force said in a news release.

The Space Fence is operated by the 20th Space Control Squadron based in Huntsville, Alabama. The squadron provides data to the 18th Space Control Squadron located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, the unit responsible for maintaining the space object catalog.

“Space Fence is revolutionizing the way we view space by providing timely, precise orbital data on objects that threaten both manned and unmanned military and commercial space assets,” said Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond.

The solid-state S-band radar will detect closely spaced objects, breakups, maneuvers, launches, conjunction assessments and depleted rocket boosters.

https://spacenews.com/space-fence-surveillance-radar-site-declared-operational/

Lyon County Sheriff's Office - Nevada

February 26, 2020 ·

Sixteen years ago today, the Serenko family lost a loved one and the Lyon County Sheriff's Office lost one of our brothers.

Deputy Mick Serenko was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey but lived most of his life in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The day after he graduated high school Mick joined the Navy and he always said it was the best move he ever made. The Navy gave him stability and focus in his life, it enabled him to see much of the world, and it helped him gain an education (majoring in Criminal Justice).

When Mick talked about retiring from the Navy it was always with the idea of becoming a law enforcement officer. He and his lovely wife, Sharon, checked out several areas around the country (including Texas and Washington State) but ultimately decided on Nevada as the place to plant their roots.

Mick went to work for the Lyon County Sheriff's Office and served there until the night he suffered a major heart attack on the job. He was hospitalized and passed away a couple days later on February 26, 2004.

Deputy Mick Serenko loved being a cop and he is sorely missed.

https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=1234461393427621&id=100064937010102

Alameda County Sheriff's Office

February 14, 2022 ·

DEATH OF ALAMEDA COUNTY DEPUTY SHERIFF AUBREY PHILLIPS

For Immediate Release:

It is with tremendous sadness we report the sudden and unexpected death of Deputy Sheriff Aubrey Phillips.

On Saturday, February 12, 2022, Deputy Phillips was assigned as a patrol officer to the City of Dublin, California a contract police service of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. About 1:46 am, Deputy Phillips conducted a traffic enforcement stop in which she arrested the driver of the vehicle. During the process of that arrest, while seated in her patrol vehicle, Deputy Phillips suffered a severe and acute medical emergency. Another officer noticed Deputy Phillips in distress and immediately began life saving efforts and called for emergency medical services. Deputy Phillips was rushed to Stanford Valley Care Hospital in Pleasanton, California and was listed in critical condition. She was transported to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for life saving intervention. Tragically, medical professionals were unable to save her life and she passed away.

Deputy Phillips was a registered organ donor and she will donate her organs to others as a result of her death. Sheriff Gregory Ahern stated, “This tragic event has touched each member of this agency. Aubrey’s short life will live on even after her passing. Aubrey will continue to serve her community by giving the gift of life to others in need. She was truly a remarkable person and served this agency and Alameda County with dignity and honor.”

Deputy Phillips was 36 years old. She was a five year veteran of the Agency and assigned as a midnight shift patrol officer in the City of Dublin. Deputy Phillips is the daughter of an honorably retired Alameda County Deputy Sheriff and her husband is a current Deputy Sheriff for Alameda County. Deputy Phillips and her husband have three young children.

Our Agency is heartbroken over the sudden death of Deputy Phillips. We are providing counseling and peer support to our members impacted by her loss.

Further information regarding funeral services will be provided at a later date.

*Photographs of Aubrey Phillips are attached for media use.

Lt. Ray Kelly

Chief of Staff

Public Information officer

Alameda County Sheriff’s Office

1401 Lakeside Dr. 12th Floor

Oakland, CA 94612

https://www.facebook.com/ACSOSheriffs/posts/pfbid03FbGAv9eFcNaheypozH59kCLJkzHLwrL7qgUHbStiV9MtbcBU9pUt7KpTPk8Hbngl

Salvador Miranda (October 18, 1939 – June 1, 2024) was an American bibliographer, librarian and church historian.[1][2]

Biography

Miranda was born on October 18, 1939, in Havana, Cuba.[2] In 1958, he graduated from the Jesuit-run Colegio de Belén in Havana after which he attended the law school at the University of Havana.[2] After the Cuban Revolution in 1963, he moved to Puerto Rico to study humanities at the University of Puerto Rico.[2] As a young Cuban exile, he was a member of the Cuban-American expeditionary force in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.[1] He then returned to school graduating with a B.A. in History and Philosophy from Biscayne College; an M.A. in Modern European History in 1974 from Villanova University; and an M.S. in Library and Information Science in 1976 from Florida State University.[2] After graduating from Florida State, he accepted a position as the Latin American and Caribbean Bibliographer at the University of Florida Libraries in Gainesville.[2] In 1986, he served as assistant director for Collection Management at Florida International University Libraries in Miami.[2] On June 30, 2001, he retired.[2]

The title of his 319-page master's thesis in history was The Sacred College of Cardinals in the Twentieth Century (1903-1973): Developments, Documents and Biographies[2] which he expanded to include earlier cardinals and then digitized, making it available as an online resource.[1] In appreciation of his research, Bishop Cipriano Calderón Polo, the founding director of the Spanish edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano and the vice president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, whom he corresponded with for years over the history of the episcopacy, invited him to present at the first continental meeting of bishops from Latin America in 1999.[1][3]

His research and expertise has been used as a resource by various publications including The New York Times,[4] The Cleveland Plain Dealer,[5] Religion News Service,[6] La Stampa,[7] and The Wall Street Journal.[8]

On 28 June 2023, Miranda posted on The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church's main page that he had been hospitalized with cardiac issues.[9] He died on June 1, 2024, at the age of 84.[10][11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Miranda_(historian)

REMOTE CONTROL HEART ATTACK WEAPONS

"The brain is on the verge of becoming the next battlefield with weapons currently being designed to hack directly into your nervous system.

"Controlled Personnel Effects"

(see image, right) is one of the Air Force’s ambitious long-term challenges. It starts with better and more accurate bombs, but moves on to discuss devices that "make selected adversaries think or act according to our needs… By studying and modeling the human brain and nervous system, the ability to mentally influence or confuse personnel is also possible."

The first stage is technology to “remotely create physical sensations.”

They give the example of the Active Denial System "people zapper" which uses a high-frequency radiation similar to microwaves as a non-lethal means of crowd control.

Other weapons can affect the nervous system directly. The Pulsed Energy Projectile fires a short intense pulse of laser energy. This vaporizes the outer layer of the target, creating a rapidly-expanding expanding ball of plasma. At different power levels, those expanding plasmas could deliver a harmless warning, stun the target, or disable them – all with pinpoint laser precision from a mile away.

Early reports on the effects of PEPs mentioned temporary paralysis, then thought to be related to ultrasonic shockwaves. It later became apparent that the electromagnetic pulse caused by the expanding plasma was triggering nerve cells

Details of this emerged in a heavily-censored document released to Ed Hammond of the Sunshine Project under the Freedom if Information Act. Called “Sensory consequence of electromagnetic pulsed emitted by laser induced plasmas,” it described research on activating the nerve cells responsible for sensing unpleasant stimuli: heat, damage, pressure, cold. By selectively stimulating a particular nociceptor, a finely tuned PEP might sensations of say, being burned, frozen or dipped in acid — all without doing the slightest actual harm.

The skin is the easiest target for such stimulation. But, in principle, any sensory nerves could be triggered. The Controlled Effects document suggests “it may be possible to create synthetic images…to confuse an individual’ s visual sense or, in a similar manner, confuse his senses of sound, taste, touch, or smell.”

In other words, it may be possible to use electromagnetic means to create overwhelming ‘sound’ or ‘light’, or indeed ‘intolerable smell’ which would exist only in the brain of the person perceiving them.

There is another side as well. The “sensory consequences” document also notes that the nervous system which controls muscles could be influenced to cause what they call “Taser-like motor effects.” The stun gun’s ability to shock the muscles into malfunction is relatively crude; we might now be looking at are much more targeted effects.

The American military may want to attack the nervous system, with pain rays and laser plasma pulses. But they’re not the only ones.

The Russians have long studied such systems, too — including one weapon that could, in theory, remotely trigger heart attacks.

In 2003, at the 2nd European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons, Anatoly Korolev and his colleagues from Moscow State University presented a paper with the snappy title "Bioelectrodynamic Criterion of the NLW Effectiveness Estimation and the Interaction mechanisms of the multilayer Skin Tissues with electromagnetic Radiation." This is a study of how radio-frequency weapons — like the American Active Denial System — affect the skin. After wading through a mass of technical data showing how complex the interactions are we reach the punch line:

The sensations modality (pricking, touch, pressure, gooseflesh, touch, burning pain etc) depends on the field parameters and individual concrete human being factors. As a matter of fact, we can really choose the non-lethal bioeffect.

The effects include sensations similar to those discussed previously, and more besides. The paper discusses effects on cell membranes and affecting the body’s normal function, including "information transfer to the organs of control."

At the same conference, V Makukhin of the Trymas Engineering Center in Moscow described "Electronic equipment for complex influence on biological objects." And when he says "biological objects," he means you and me.

His laboratory apparatus uses a modulated beam of radio waves to produce what he terms "disorder of autonomic nervous system," put forward as a possible non-lethal weapon. Makhunin notes that there is no general agreement on how EM waves disrupt nerves – he mentions ion channels similar to those in the plasma paper – but he certainly seems to be seeing the same effects as American researchers.

But it need not be a non-lethal weapon. Makhunin also mentions the effects of "change of electrocardiogram" and what he calls "function break of heart muscle."

The vulnerability of the heart to electrical stimulation (including that produced by EM waves) is well documented.

A lethal device would interfere with the electrical potentials that keep the chambers of the heart synchronized, producing fibrillation and rapid death. A death ray doesn’t need to be a truck-sized laser that

reduces the target to smoking heap; a small device that stops the heart will do the job.

Little has been openly published in this area in the public domain, but this may be the tip of the iceberg. We are likely to be hearing more in future – especially if the Russians manage to find funding.

I don’t think we need tinfoil hats just yet. But a layer of conducting mesh built into body armor might save a lot of heartache in years to come."

REMOTE CONTROL HEART ATTACK WEAPONS

https://www.impactlab.com/2006/02/15/remote-control-heart-attack-weapons/

Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa];[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.

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

As May 18 dawned, Mount St. Helens's activity did not show any change from the pattern of the preceding month. The rates of bulge movement and sulfur dioxide emission, and ground temperature readings did not reveal any changes indicating a catastrophic eruption. USGS volcanologist David A. Johnston was on duty at an observation post around 6 mi (10 km) north of the volcano: as of 6:00 am, Johnston's measurements did not indicate any unusual activity.[9]

At 8:32 am, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake centered directly below the north slope triggered that part of the volcano to slide,[31] approximately 7–20 seconds after the shock,[9] followed a few seconds later by the main volcanic blast. The landslide, the largest subaerial landslide in recorded history, traveled at 110 to 155 mph (177 to 249 km/h) and moved across Spirit Lake's west arm. Part of it hit a 1,150 ft-high (350 m) ridge about 6 mi (10 km) north.[9] Some of the slide spilled over the ridge, but most of it moved 13 mi (21 km) down the North Fork Toutle River, filling its valley up to 600 feet (180 m) deep with avalanche debris.[31] An area of about 24 sq mi (62 km2) was covered, and the total volume of the deposit was about 0.7 cu mi (2.9 km3).[9]

Scientists were able to reconstruct the motion of the landslide from a series of rapid photographs by Gary Rosenquist, who was camping 11 mi (18 km) away from the blast 46°18′49″N 122°02′12″W.[9] Rosenquist, his party, and his photographs survived because the blast was deflected by local topography 1 mi (1.6 km) short of his location.[32]

Sound of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, as heard from 140 miles away

Duration: 44 seconds.0:44

Amateur recording of a series of booms produced by the eruption, as heard from the town of Newport, Oregon (audio filtered and amplified).

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Most of St. Helens's former north side became a rubble deposit 17 mi (27 km) long, averaging 150 ft (46 m) thick; the slide was thickest at 1 mi (1.6 km) below Spirit Lake and thinnest at its western margin.[9] The landslide temporarily displaced the waters of Spirit Lake to the ridge north of the lake, in a giant wave about 600 ft (180 m) high.[33] This, in turn, created a 295 ft (90 m) avalanche of debris consisting of the returning waters and thousands of uprooted trees and stumps. Some of these remained intact with roots, but most had been sheared off at the stump seconds earlier by the blast of superheated volcanic gas and ash that had immediately followed and overtaken the initial landslide. The debris was transported along with the water as it returned to its basin, raising the surface level of Spirit Lake by about 200 ft (61 m).[9]

Four decades after the eruption, floating log mats persist on Spirit Lake and nearby St. Helens Lake, changing position with the wind. The rest of the trees, especially those that were not completely detached from their roots, were turned upright by their own weight and became waterlogged, sinking into the muddy sediments at the bottom where they are in the process of becoming petrified in the anaerobic and mineral-rich waters. This provides insight into other sites with a similar fossil record.[34]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens

Updated May 18, 2023 Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons Both the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the House Armed Services Committee’s bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force Report have identified directed energy as a technology that could have a significant impact on U.S. national security in the years to come. As the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to invest in directed-energy (DE) weapons, Congress may consider implications for defense authorizations, appropriations, and oversight. Overview DOD defines DE weapons as those using concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to “incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and/or personnel.” DE weapons include high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons; other DE weapons, such as particle beam weapons, are outside the scope of this In Focus. HELs might be used by ground forces in short-range air defense (SHORAD), counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), or counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missions. The weapons might be used to “dazzle” (i.e., temporarily disable) or damage satellites and sensors. This could in turn interfere with intelligence-gathering operations; military cmmunications; and positioning, navigation, and timing systems used for weapons targeting. In addition, HELs could theoretically provide options for boost-phase missile intercept, given their speed-of-light travel time; however, experts disagree on the affordability, technological feasibility, and utility of this application. In general, HELs might offer lower costs per shot and— assuming access to a sufficient power supply—deeper magazines compared with traditional munitions. (Although a number of different types of HELs exist, many of the United States’ current programs are solid state lasers, which are fueled by electrical power. As a result, the cost per shot is equivalent to the cost of the electrical power required to fire the shot.) This could in turn produce a favorable costexchange ratio for the defender, whose marginal costs would be significantly lower than those of the aggressor.

Similarly, HPM weapons could provide a nonkinetic means of disabling adversary electronics and communications systems. These weapons could potentially generate effects over wider areas than HELs, which emit a narrower beam of energy. As a result, some analysts have noted that HPM weapons might provide more effective area defense against missile salvos and swarms of drones. HPM weapons have also been considered for use as nonlethal “heat ray” systems for crowd control. Directed-Energy Weapons Programs A number of countries are investing in directed-energy weapons programs. This In Focus discusses a selection of unclassified DE weapons programs in three leading military powers: the United States, China, and Russia. United States DOD requested approximately $1 billion for unclassified DE programs in FY2024. (For additional information about specific U.S. DE weapons programs, see CRS Report R44175, Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Gun-Launched Guided Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress, by Ronald O'Rourke, and CRS Report R45098, U.S. Army WeaponsRelated Directed Energy (DE) Programs: Background and Potential Issues for Congress, by Andrew Feickert.) DOD does not currently have any DE programs of record. DOD directed energy programs are coordinated by the Principal Director for Directed Energy within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD[R&E]). The Principal Director for Directed Energy is additionally responsible for development and oversight of the Directed Energy Roadmap. According to OUSD(R&E), DOD’s current DE roadmap outlines DOD’s plan to increase power levels of DE weapons from around 150 kilowatts (kW—a unit of power), as is currently feasible, to 300 kW by FY2023, “with goal milestones to achieve 500 kW class with reduced size and weight by FY2025 and to further reduce size and weight and increase power to MW [megawatt] levels by FY2026.” For reference, although there is no consensus regarding the precise power level that would be needed to neutralize different target sets, some analysts believe that lasers of around 100 kW could engage unmanned aircraft systems, small boats, rockets, artillery, and mortars, whereas lasers of around 300 kW could additionally engage cruise missiles flying in certain profiles (i.e., flying across—rather than at—the laser). Lasers of 1 MW could potentially neutralize ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons. In addition to the DE roadmap, OUSD(R&E) manages the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI), which former Principal Director for Directed Energy Dr. Jim Trebes notes is “to demonstrate laser output power scaling while maintaining or improving beam quality and efficiency.” HELSI is intended to strengthen the defense industrial base for potential future directed energy weapons by providing near-term prototyping opportunities for industry partners. Dr. Trebes additionally notes that OUSD(R&E) has completed a DOD-wide Laser Lethality Analysis Process Review to identify future needs for the Department and best practices for DE development and use. According to OUSD(R&E), DOD is also testing a Directed Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons https://crsreports.congress.gov Energy Lethality Database that is to serve as a searchable repository for the department’s DE analyses. China According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China has been developing DE weapons since at least the 1980s and has made steady progress in developing HPM and increasingly powerful HELs. China has reportedly developed a 30-kilowatt roadmobile HEL, LW-30, designed to engage unmanned aircraft systems and precision-guided weapons. Reports indicate that China is also developing an airborne HEL pod. According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, China is additionally pursuing DE weapons to disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites and their sensors and possibly already has a limited capability to employ laser systems against satellite sensors. China [has likely fielded] a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit spacebased sensors ... and by the mid-to-late 2020s, it may field higher power systems that extend the threat to the structures of non-optical satellites. Russia Russia has been conducting DE weapons research since the 1960s, with a particular emphasis on HELs. Russia has reportedly deployed the Peresvet ground-based HEL with several mobile intercontinental ballistic missile units. Although little is publicly known about Peresvet, including its power level, some analysts assert it is to dazzle satellites and provide point defense against unmanned aircraft systems. Russia’s deputy defense minister Alexei Krivoruchko has stated that efforts are underway to increase Peresvet’s power level and to deploy it on military aircraft. Reports suggest that Russia may also be developing HPMs as well as additional HELs capable of performing antisatellite missions. Potential Issues and Questions for Congress Technological Maturity Directed-energy weapons programs continue to face questions about their technological maturity, including the ability to improve beam quality and control to militarily useful levels and the ability to meet size, weight, and power (SWaP) and cooling requirements for integration into current platforms. Some DE systems are small enough to fit on military vehicles, but many require larger and/or fixed platforms that could potentially limit deployment options and operational utility. In what ways, if any, are DOD technology maturation efforts reducing the SWaP and cooling requirements of DE systems? Weapons Characteristics Although HELs may offer a lower cost per shot than traditional weapons such as missiles, they are also subject to a number of limitations. For example, atmospheric conditions (e.g., rain, fog, obscurants) and SWaP and cooling requirements can limit the range and beam quality of HELs, in turn reducing their effectiveness. Traditional weapons, in contrast, are not affected by these factors. How, if at all, might HEL limitations be mitigated by technological developments, concepts of operation, or other methods? What impact might a failure to mitigate these limitations have on future military operations? Mission Utility Given the strengths and weaknesses of DE weapons, DOD is continuing to examine their role within the military. DOD is additionally conducting multiple utility studies to analyze potential concepts of operation for DE weapons and to assess the scenarios in which they might be militarily useful. How might Congress draw upon the conclusions of these analyses as it conducts oversight of DE weapons programs? What is the appropriate balance between DE weapons and traditional munitions within the military’s portfolio of capabilities? Defense Industrial Base Some analysts have expressed concerns that, in the past, DOD did not provide stable funding for DE weapons programs or sufficient opportunities for the DE workforce. According to OUSD(R&E), HELSI is intended to address these concerns by providing industry with assured prototyping opportunities. In what ways, if any, has HELSI strengthened the defense industrial base for DE weapons? What, if any, challenges does the base continue to face and how might they be mitigated?

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11882

On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Ağca was apprehended immediately and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. The Pope forgave Ağca for the assassination attempt.[1] He was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope's request and was deported to Turkey in June 2000. Ağca converted to Roman Catholicism in 2007.

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

"It's hard to see how the fishing industry will pick itself up again. Takeshi is moving away from the coast as is his neighbor and fellow fisherman. His wife has refused to return here since the tsunami hit. At the age of 77, he is unlikely to be able to start from scratch. But he picks up any remnants of his fishing gear he can find, just in case. What is left intact barely fills one small basket. His neighbor finds his clock. It has stopped at 3:22pm -- the exact moment his life changed and countless others ended." Misplaced trust: 30-foot tsunami wall didn't save Japanese village by Paul Hancocks

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/31/japan.tsunami.village/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide

Published: 10 October 1996

Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research

Carl Levitin

https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

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

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary 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/.../cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

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

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."

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A18&version=NIV

Justia Patents US Patent for Apparatus and method for remotely monitoring and altering brain waves Patent (Patent # 3,951,134)

Apparatus and method for remotely monitoring and altering brain waves

Aug 5, 1974 - Dorne & Margolin Inc.

Apparatus for and method of sensing brain waves at a position remote from a subject whereby electromagnetic signals of different frequencies are simultaneously transmitted to the brain of the subject in which the signals interfere with one another to yield a waveform which is modulated by the subject's brain waves. The interference waveform which is representative of the brain wave activity is re-transmitted by the brain to a receiver where it is demodulated and amplified. The demodulated waveform is then displayed for visual viewing and routed to a computer for further processing and analysis. The demodulated waveform also can be used to produce a compensating signal which is transmitted back to the brain to effect a desired change in electrical activity therein.

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Skip to: Description · Claims · References Cited · Patent History · Patent History

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Medical science has found brain waves to be a useful barometer of organic functions. Measurements of electrical activity in the brain have been instrumental in detecting physical and psychic disorder, measuring stress, determining sleep patterns, and monitoring body metabolism.

The present art for measurement of brain waves employs electroencephalographs including probes with sensors which are attached to the skull of the subject under study at points proximate to the regions of the brain being monitored. Electrical contact between the sensors and apparatus employed to process the detected brain waves is maintained by a plurality of wires extending from the sensors to the apparatus. The necessity for physically attaching the measuring apparatus to the subject imposes several limitations on the measurement process. The subject may experience discomfort, particulary if the measurements are to be made over extended periods of time. His bodily movements are restricted and he is generally confined to the immediate vicinity of the measuring apparatus. Furthermore, measurements cannot be made while the subject is conscious without his awareness. The comprehensiveness of the measurements is also limited since the finite number of probes employed to monitor local regions of brain wave activity do not permit observation of the total brain wave profile in a single test.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to apparatus and a method for monitoring brain waves wherein all components of the apparatus employed are remote from the test subject. More specifically, high frequency transmitters are operated to radiate electromagnetic energy of different frequencies through antennas which are capable of scanning the entire brain of the test subject or any desired region thereof. The signals of different frequencies penetrate the skull of the subject and impinge upon the brain where they mix to yield an interference wave modulated by radiations from the brain's natural electrical activity. The modulated interference wave is re-transmitted by the brain and received by an antenna at a remote station where it is demodulated, and processed to provide a profile of the suject's brain waves. In addition to passively monitoring his brain waves, the subject's neurological processes may be affected by transmitting to his brain, through a transmitter, compensating signals. The latter signals can be derived from the received and processed brain waves.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to remotely monitor electrical activity in the entire brain or selected local regions thereof with a single measurement.

Another object is the monitoring of a subject's brain wave activity through transmission and reception of electromagnetic waves.

Still another object is to monitor brain wave activity from a position remote from the subject.

A further object is to provide a method and apparatus for affecting brain wave activity by transmitting electromagnetic signals thereto.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other and further objects of the invention will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings, which form part of the instant specification and which are to be read in conjunction therewith, and in which like reference numerals are used to indicate like parts in the various views;

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the interconnection of the components of the apparatus of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing signal flow in one embodiment of the apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, specifically FIG. 1, a high frequency transmitter 2 produces and supplies two electromagnetic wave signals through suitable coupling means 14 to an antenna 4. The signals are directed by the antenna 4 to the skull 6 of the subject 8 being examined. The two signals from the antenna 4, which travel independently, penetrate the skull 6 and impinge upon the tissue of the brain 10.

Within the tissue of the brain 10, the signals combine, much in the manner of a conventional mixing process technique, with each section of the brain having a different modulating action. The resulting waveform of the two signals has its greatest amplitude when the two signals are in phase and thus reinforcing one another. When the signals are exactly 180.degree. out of phase the combination produces a resultant waveform of minimum amplitude. If the amplitudes of the two signals transmitted to the subject are maintained at identical levels, the resultant interference waveform, absent influences of external radiation, may be expected to assume zero intensity when maximum interference occurs, the number of such points being equal to the difference in frequencies of the incident signals. However, interference by radiation from electrical activity within the brain 10 causes the waveform resulting from interference of the two transmitted signals to vary from the expected result, i.e., the interference waveform is modulated by the brain waves. It is believed that this is due to the fact that brain waves produce electric charges each of which has a component of electromagnetic radiation associated with it. The electromagnetic radiation produced by the brain waves in turn reacts with the signals transmitted to the brain from the external source.

The modulated interference waveform is re-transmitted from the brain 10, back through the skull 6. A quantity of energy is re-transmitted sufficient to enable it to be picked up by the antenna 4. This can be controlled, within limits, by adjusting the absolute and relative intensities of the signals, originally transmitted to the brain. Of course, the level of the transmitted energy should be kept below that which may be harmful to the subject.

The antenna passes the received signal to a receiver 12 through the antenna electronics 14. Within the receiver the wave is amplified by conventional RF amplifiers 16 and demodulated by conventional detector and modulator electronics 18. The demodulated wave, representing the intra-brain electrical activity, is amplified by amplifiers 20 and the resulting information in electronic form is stored in buffer circuitry 22. From the buffers 22 the information is fed to a suitable visual display 24, for example one employing a cathode ray tube, light emitting diodes, liquid crystals, or a mechanical plotter. The information may also be channeled to a computer 26 for further processing and analysis with the output of the computer displayed by heretofore mentioned suitable means.

In addition to channeling its information to display devices 24, the computer 26 can also produce signals to control an auxiliary transmitter 28. Transmitter 28 is used to produce a compensating signal which is transmitted to the brain 10 of the subject 8 by the antenna 4. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the compensating signal is derived as a function of the received brain wave signals, although it can be produced separately. The compensating signals affect electrical activity within the brain 10.

Various configurations of suitable apparatus and electronic circuitry may be utilized to form the system generally shown in FIG. 1 and one of the many possible configurations is illustrated in FIG. 2. In the example shown therein, two signals, one of 100 MHz and the other of 210 MHz are transmitted simultaneously and combine in the brain 10 to form a resultant wave of frequency equal to the difference in frequencies of the incident signals, i.e., 110 MHz. The sum of the two incident frequencies is also available, but is discarded in subsequent filtering. The 100 MHz signal is obtained at the output 37 of an RF power divider 34 into which a 100 MHz signal generated by an oscillator 30 is injected. The oscillator 30 is of a conventional type employing either crystals for fixed frequency circuits or a tunable circuit set to oscillate at 100 MHz. It can be a pulse generator, square wave generator or sinusoidal wave generator. The RF power divider can be any conventional VHF, UHF or SHF frequency range device constructed to provide, at each of three outputs, a signal identical in frequency to that applied to its input.

The 210 MHz signal is derived from the same 100 MHz oscillator 30 and RF power divider 34 as the 100 MHz signal, operating in concert with a frequency doubler 36 and 10 MHz oscillator 32. The frequency doubler can be any conventional device which provides at its output a signal with frequency equal to twice the frequency of a signal applied at its input. The 10 MHz oscillator can also be of conventional type similar to the 100 MHz oscillator herebefore described. A 100 MHz signal from the output 39 of the RF power divider 34 is fed through the frequency doubler 36 and the resulting 200 MHz signal is applied to a mixer 40. The mixer 40 can be any conventional VHF, UHF or SHF frequency range device capable of accepting two input signals of differing frequencies and providing two output signals with frequencies equal to the sum and difference in frequencies respectively of the input signals. A 10 MHz signal from the oscillator 32 is also applied to the mixer 40. The 200 MHz signal from the doubler 36 and the 10 MHz signal from the oscillator 32 combine in the mixer 40 to form a signal with a frequency of 210 MHz equal to the sum of the frequencies of the 200 MHz and 10 MHz signals.

The 210 MHz signal is one of the signals transmitted to the brain 10 of the subject being monitored. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 2, an antenna 41 is used to transmit the 210 MHz signal and another antenna 43 is used to transmit the 100 MHz signal. Of course, a single antenna capable of operating at 100 MHz and 210 MHz frequencies may be used to transmit both signals. The scan angle, direction and rate may be controlled mechanically, e.g., by a reversing motor, or electronically, e.g., by energizing elements in the antenna in proper synchronization. Thus, the antenna(s) can be of either fixed or rotary conventional types.

A second 100 MHz signal derived from output terminal 37 of the three-way power divider 34 is applied to a circulator 38 and emerges therefrom with a desired phase shift. The circulator 38 can be of any conventional type wherein a signal applied to an input port emerges from an output port with an appropriate phase shift. The 100 MHz signal is then transmitted to the brain 10 of the subject being monitored via the antenna 43 as the second component of the dual signal transmission. The antenna 43 can be of conventional type similar to antenna 41 herebefore described. As previously noted, these two antennas may be combined in a single unit.

The transmitted 100 and 210 MHz signal components mix within the tissue in the brain 10 and interfere with one another yielding a signal of a frequency of 110 MHz, the difference in frequencies of the two incident components, modulated by electromagnetic emissions from the brain, i.e., the brain wave activity being monitored. This modulated 110 MHz signal is radiated into space.

The 110 MHz signal, modulated by brain wave activity, is picked up by an antenna 45 and channeled back through the circulator 38 where it undergoes an appropriate phase shift. The circulator 38 isolates the transmitted signals from the received signal. Any suitable diplexer or duplexer can be used. The antenna 45 can be of conventional type similar to antennas 41 and 43. It can be combined with them in a single unit or it can be separate. The received modulated 110 MHz signal is then applied to a band pass filter 42, to eliminate undesirable harmonics and extraneous noise, and the filtered 110 MHz signal is inserted into a mixer 44 into which has also been introduced a component of the 100 MHz signal from the source 30 distributed by the RF power divider 34. The filter 42 can be any conventional band pass filter. The mixer 44 may also be of conventional type similar to the mixer 40 herebefore described.

The 100 MHz and 110 MHz signals combine in the mixer 44 to yield a signal of frequency equal to the difference in frequencies of the two component signals, i.e., 10 MHz still modulated by the monitored brain wave activity. The 10 MHz signal is amplified in an IF amplifier 46 and channeled to a demodulator 48. The IF amplifier and demodulator 48 can both be of conventional types. The type of demodulator selected will depend on the characteristics of the signals transmitted to and received from the brain, and the information desired to be obtained. The brain may modulate the amplitude, frequency and/or phase of the interference waveform. Certain of these parameters will be more sensitive to corresponding brain wave characteristics than others. Selection of amplitude, frequency or phase demodulation means is governed by the choice of brain wave characteristic to be monitored. If desired, several different types of demodulators can be provided and used alternately or at the same time.

The demodulated signal which is representative of the monitored brain wave activity is passed through audio amplifiers 50 a, b, c which may be of conventional type where it is amplified and routed to displays 58 a, b, c and a computer 60. The displays 58 a, b, c present the raw brain wave signals from the amplifiers 50 a, b, c. The computer 60 processes the amplified brain wave signals to derive information suitable for viewing, e.g., by suppressing, compressing, or expanding elements thereof, or combining them with other information-bearing signals and presents that information on a display 62. The displays can be conventional ones such as the types herebefore mentioned employing electronic visual displays or mechanical plotters 58b. The computer can also be of conventional type, either analog or digital, or a hybrid.

A profile of the entire brain wave emission pattern may be monitored or select areas of the brain may be observed in a single measurement simply by altering the scan angle and direction of the antennas. There is no physical contact between the subject and the monitoring apparatus. The computer 60 also can determine a compensating waveform for transmission to the brain 10 to alter the natural brain waves in a desired fashion. The closed loop compensating system permits instantaneous and continuous modification of the brain wave response pattern.

In performing the brain wave pattern modification function, the computer 60 can be furnished with an external standard signal from a source 70 representative of brain wave activity associated with a desired nuerological response. The region of the brain responsible for the response is monitored and the received signal, indicative of the brain wave activity therein, is compared with the standard signal. The computer 60 is programmed to determine a compensating signal, responsive to the difference between the standard signal and received signal. The compensating signal, when transmitted to the monitored region of the brain, modulates the natural brain wave activity therein toward a reproduction of the standard signal, thereby changing the neurological response of the subject.

The computer 60 controls an auxiliary transmitter 64 which transmits the compensating signal to the brain 10 of the subject via an antenna 66. The transmitter 64 is of the high frequency type commonly used in radar applications. The antenna 66 can be similar to antennas 41, 43 and 45 and can be combined with them. Through these means, brain wave activity may be altered and deviations from a desired norm may be compensated. Brain waves may be monitored and control signals transmitted to the brain from a remote station.

It is to be noted that the configuration described is one of many possibilities which may be formulated without departing from the spirit of my invention. The transmitters can be monostratic or bistatic. They also can be single, dual, or multiple frequency devices. The transmitted signal can be continuous wave, pulse, FM, or any combination of these as well as other transmission forms. Typical operating frequencies for the transmitters range from 1 MHz to 40 GHz but may be altered to suit the particular function being monitored and the characteristics of the specific subject.

The individual components of the system for monitoring and controlling brain wave activity may be of conventional type commonly employed in radar systems.

Various subassemblies of the brain wave monitoring and control apparatus may be added, substituted or combined. Thus, separate antennas or a single multi-mode antenna may be used for transmission and reception. Additional displays and computers may be added to present and analyze select components of the monitored brain waves.

Modulation of the interference signal retransmitted by the brain may be of amplitude, frequency and/or phase. Appropriate demodulators may be used to decipher the subject's brain activity and select components of his brain waves may be analyzed by computer to determine his mental state and monitor his thought processes.

As will be appreciated by those familiar with the art, apparatus and method of the subject invention has numerous uses. Persons in critical positions such as drivers and pilots can be continuously monitored with provision for activation of an emergency device in the event of human failure. Seizures, sleepiness and dreaming can be detected. Bodily functions such as pulse rate, heartbeat reqularity and others also can be monitored and occurrences of hallucinations can be detected. The system also permits medical diagnoses of patients, inaccessible to physicians, from remote stations.

Claims

1. Brain wave monitoring apparatus comprising

means for producing a base frequency signal,

means for producing a first signal having a frequency related to that of the base frequency and at a predetermined phase related thereto,

means for transmitting both said base frequency and said first signals to the brain of the subject being monitored,

means for receiving a second signal transmitted by the brain of the subject being monitored in response to both said base frequency and said first signals,

mixing means for producing from said base frequency signal and said received second signal a response signal having a frequency related to that of the base frequency, and

means for interpreting said response signal.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 where said receiving means comprises

means for isolating the transmitted signals from the received second signals.

3. Apparatus as in claim 2 further comprising a band pass filter with an input connected to said isolating means and an output connected to said mixing means.

4. Apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising means for amplifying said response signal.

5. Apparatus as in claim 4 further comprising means for demodulating said amplified response signal.

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising interpreting means connected to the output of said demodulator means.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising

means for producing an electromagnetic wave control signal dependent on said response signal, and

means for transmitting said control signal to the brain of said subject.

8. Apparatus as in claim 7 wherein said transmitting means comprises means for directing the electromagnetic wave control signal to a predetermined part of the brain.

9. A process for monitoring brain wave activity of a subject comprising the steps of

transmitting at least two electromagnetic energy signals of different frequencies to the brain of the subject being monitored,

receiving an electromagnetic energy signal resulting from the mixing of said two signals in the brain modulated by the brain wave activity and retransmitted by the brain in response to said transmitted energy signals, and,

interpreting said received signal.

10. A process as in claim 9 further comprising the step of transmitting a further electromagnetic wave signal to the brain to vary the brain wave activity.

11. A process as in claim 10 wherein the step of transmitting the further signals comprises

obtaining a standard signal,

comparing said received electromagnetic energy signals with said standard signal,

producing a compensating signal corresponding to the comparison between said received electrogagnetic energy signals and the standard signal, and

transmitting the compensating signals to the brain of the subject being monitored.

Referenced Cited

U.S. Patent Documents

2860627 November 1958 Harden et al.

3096768 July 1963 Griffith, Jr.

3233450 February 1966 Fry

3483860 December 1969 Namerow

3495596 February 1970 Condict

3555529 January 1971 Brown et al.

3773049 November 1973 Rabichev et al.

3796208 March 1974 Bloice

Patent History

Patent number: 3951134

Type: Grant

Filed: Aug 5, 1974

Date of Patent: Apr 20, 1976

Assignee: Dorne & Margolin Inc. (Bohemia, NY)

Inventor: Robert G. Malech (Plainview, NY)

Primary Examiner: William E. Kamm

Law Firm: Darby & Darby

Application Number: 5/494,518

Classifications

Current U.S. Class: 128/21B

International Classification: A61B 504;

https://patents.justia.com/patent/3951134

The Health Benefits Of Universal Basic Income

Euan Lawson 1

Author information

Article notes

PMCID: PMC8249026 PMID: 34319878

See letter "What is needed for Universal Basic Income?" on page 398.

Highlights

The research this month is mostly about when not to prescribe — decisions that are often just as hard and just as important. Two articles focus on the need to avoid potentially inappropriate prescribing and others cover deprescribing and discontinuation of medications.

Life & Times adds depth with viewpoints reflecting on these clinical dilemmas. A longer Analysis piece offers a welcome global primary care perspective on the pandemic and Clinical Practice articles will help manage cardiology challenges.

The Editorials this month merit a sit down with a cup of tea and some time for reflection. The editorial on autistic doctors will blow away some lazy stereotypes and we have informed opinion on the management of negative tests when assessing cancer risk.

The lead editorial from Dame Clare Gerada was penned in response to a deepening crisis in general practice. How do we get through this one? Some of the solutions are radical and, as ever, do write in response.

Abolishing poverty

So how about if we could ‘prescribe’ money? Sarah Blake writes this month in Life & Times and offers a potential policy for us to consider: Universal Basic Income (UBI). There is an important intersection here between politics and health. The simple promise of UBI, though it does come in various guises, is an unconditional and non-withdrawable payment for every citizen as a basic right. In May 2021 the Welsh Government announced their desire to run a UBI pilot. COVID-19 has re-kindled interest with the use of furlough payments but it is worth pointing out that UBI is not a new idea.1 Thomas More made the case in 1516, and Thomas Paine’s essay Agrarian Justice (1795) suggested a capital grant as people came of age and a basic income for older people. There was a further surge of interest amid the social and economic turmoil that followed the First World War. The Labour Party debated and then rejected it at their conference in 1920.2 Nixon’s Republican administration in the 1960s tried to introduce a version of a negative income tax but couldn’t get past the Democrats in the Senate. Martin Luther King Jr talked of it as an approach to abolish poverty and many economist Nobel laureates were supportive, including such doyens of neoliberalism as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. UBI is a policy with advocates from left and right. What could UBI do for health outcomes and inequalities? The results so far are tantalising. One review suggests potential benefits to early child development, with higher birthweights as one tangible improvement.3

The Alaska Permanent Fund has, since the 1970s, provided income to its citizens and is associated with improved neonatal nutrition and improved health outcomes in later life. There are potential gains in mental health as well; the Manitoba Mincome study showed an 8.5% reduction in hospital admissions driven by a reduction in psychiatric conditions.

Financial insecurity and poverty create an all-pervasive chronic psychological stress that is linked to long-term health conditions including cardiovascular disease, upper respiratory tract infections, and depression.4 GPs are too often submerged, even drowning, in the downstream consequences of poverty. UBI is an upstream intervention that may, in the long-term, have a transformative effect on health as well as a host of other areas, not least unpaid care work and education. There are complexities with UBIs, and pilots are needed to establish what works and what doesn’t, but is giving cash to people really that radical? The universality of UBI strips away the stigma of benefit systems and the emerging evidence suggests very real health gains.

REFERENCES

1.Patel SB, Kariel J. Universal basic income and covid-19 pandemic. BMJ. 2021;372:n193. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n193. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

2.Standing G. Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen. London: Pelican; 2017. [Google Scholar]

3.Ruckert A, Huynh C, Labonté R. Reducing health inequities: is universal basic income the way forward? J Public Health (Oxf) 2018;40(1):3–7. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdx006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

4.Gibson M, Hearty W, Craig P. The public health effects of interventions similar to basic income: a scoping review. Lancet Public Health. 2020;5(3):e165–e176. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30005-0. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8249026/

What is mammon?

Answer

The word mammon comes from the Greek word mammonas. Similar root words exist in Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, Chaldean, and Syriac. They all translate to “money, wealth, and material possessions.”

In biblical culture the word mammon often carried a negative connotation. It was sometimes used to describe all lusts and excesses: gluttony, greed, and dishonest worldly gain. Ultimately, mammon described an idol of materialism, which many trusted as a foundation for their world and philosophy. While the King James Version retains the term Mammon in Matthew 6:24, other versions translate the Greek as “money,” “wealth,” or “riches.”

The city of Babylon (Revelation 18), with all its avarice and greed, is a description of a world given over to the spirit of Mammon. Some scholars cite Mammon as the name of a Syrian and Chaldean god, similar to the Greek god of wealth, Plutus.

Just as Wisdom is personified in Proverbs 1:21–33, Mammon is personified in Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13. Jesus’ words here show a powerful contrast between the worship of the material world and the worship of God. Later, writers such as Augustine, Danté (The Divine Comedy), Milton (Paradise Lost), and Spenser (The Faerie Queene) used personifications of Mammon to show the insidious nature of materialism and its seduction of humanity.

Worship of mammon can show up in many ways. It isn’t always through a continual lust for more money. When we envy others’ wealth, are anxious over potentially unmet needs, disobey God’s directives about the use of wealth, or fail to trust God’s love and faithfulness, our thinking is out of balance concerning material wealth.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about our relationship to material goods. He says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. . . . But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . . No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money [mammon]” (Matthew 6:19–24).

The apostle Paul writes of the godly perspective toward mammon: “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6: 6–10).

Solomon writes of the futility of chasing after mammon: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Lust of any kind is insatiable, no matter how much time or effort is poured into the pursuit of the object of lust.

In Luke 16:14–15, Jesus rebukes those who refused to hear His admonition to choose God over mammon: “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.’”

The parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13–21) is the story of a man who lives to increase his wealth yet in the end he loses his soul because he “is not rich toward God” (verse 21). Mark 4:19 warns of the deceitfulness of mammon and its ability to “choke the Word, making it unfruitful.”

Mammon cannot produce peace in us, and it certainly cannot produce righteousness. A love of money shows we are out of balance in our relationship to God. Proverbs 8:18 speaks of true, lasting riches: “With me [Wisdom] are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.” Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:19–34 to not worry about our physical needs, about houses or clothes or food, but to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (verse 33).

https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-mammon.html

Why an Italian banking battle is sowing division in Giorgia Meloni’s government

UniCredit’s bid for BPM threatens to frustrate efforts to create a powerful new player in Italy’s banking market.

December 17, 2024 6:53 pm CET

By Ben Munster, Carlo Martuscelli and Francesca Micheletti

ROME — Call it a multi-bank pileup.

A sequence of takeover bids by UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest bank, has unleashed a financial war in the north of Italy, dividing Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s coalition and prompting it to consider the controversial use of executive powers to get its way.

The events have exposed the enormous influence the country’s biggest banks still wield over competing factions in the heart of government. They also demonstrate just how reluctant European leaders are to tolerate big deals in banking, even as Brussels calls for greater consolidation across Europe to make the sector fit for the future.

The brouhaha began in November, when Andrea Orcel, UniCredit’s ambitious dealmaking chief executive, bid to take over Lombardy-based lender Banco BPM, Italy’s fourth-largest bank, in an all-share deal worth €10.1 billion. If it went through, the deal would create Italy’s first trillion-euro banking group by assets.

The bid came as a surprise because UniCredit — which declined to comment for this story — had appeared preoccupied with a politically contentious move on Germany’s Commerzbank earlier in the year.

But the move on BPM angered major power players in Rome. In public, Matteo Salvini, leader of the hard-right League and Meloni’s junior coalition partner, worried it would lead to layoffs and branch closures and otherwise make UniCredit simply too big.

Behind the scenes, though, sources say the real reason for Salvini’s opposition was his hope of creating a “third pole” in the Italian banking system, built around BPM and incorporating Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS). Together, BPM and MPS would have around €340 billion in assets, while Intesa Sanpaolo has over €900 billion and UniCredit over €800 billion. The League has historic links to BPM, and a merger with MPS, traditionally allied with Italy’s left, would have been a rare coup.

Rome has been under pressure this year to meet an EU deadline for restoring MPS to the private sector after a big injection of state aid. After numerous false starts, it had sold blocks of MPS shares in November last year and then again in March. Last month it sold a tranche of 15 percent, bringing its own stake down to just below 12 percent.

Accordingly, UniCredit’s actions have riled the League badly.

“It took a lot of personal persuasion” to arrange the BPM-MPS deal, said one League lawmaker. The move by UniCredit was “like if someone had taken the Duomo of Milan and dirtied it with squatters and graffiti.”

As a result, people familiar with the matter suggest that the government, at the behest of the League, could exercise rights under its “golden power” — a screening tool typically used to reject foreign investment on national security grounds — to extract concessions from UniCredit. Such concessions might include asking the bank to offer guarantees against layoffs and branch closures, and potentially to sell off some of its smaller branches, the people said.

Traditionally, the golden power is deployed to protect a broadly defined “national interest,” with many EU countries using similar tools to stall or block takeover bids from foreign companies.

The government could, in this case, end up targeting one of Italy’s own banks, something that Michele Carpagnano, a partner at Dentons and head of think tank Osservatorio Golden Power, said would be unprecedented.

But Rome recognizes that blocking the deal outright would be legally difficult and could potentially undermine investor confidence.

“We have a duty of not frightening markets with extravagant choices,” Antonio Tajani, vice president of the council of ministers, told a hearing with lawmakers on Friday. “We are liberals, we are not going to meddle if a bank wants to buy another one, it’s the market that decides.”

Tajani is also national secretary of Forza Italia, the party founded by the late Silvio Berlusconi. Silvio’s heirs enjoy a close business relationship with UniCredit, choosing it, for example, to lead a €3.4 billion financing round that could fund a tie-up between their media empire and German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1.

Supreme arbiters and white knights

The tension between the two junior coalition partners puts Meloni in an ideal position to arbitrate. But her own position remains a mystery.

Publicly, the prime minister has echoed Salvini’s concerns, also hinting at the use of the golden power. But counter-narratives abound: Some Italian media, for instance, have speculated, in extremely veiled terms, that Meloni herself encouraged UniCredit’s move — either to strengthen BPM against a possible foreign takeover, or even to undermine her coalition partner.

A further mystery, so far at least, is the role of construction tycoon Francesco Caltagirone, a canny strategist and ally of the premier, and of Delfin, the holding company controlled by the heirs of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the late founder of eyewear group Luxottica. Those two both took blocks of MPS shares in last month’s placement — a deal on which the government dispensed with its usual international advisers.

And in a crowning irony, for a deal dominated by factionalism within Europe’s most nativist, sovereigntist government, reports suggest Meloni is even willing to allow a foreign bank to act as a ‘white knight’ to derail UniCredit.

Days after UniCredit’s bid, French giant Crédit Agricole secured the rights to raise its own stake in BPM to 15.1 percent from 9.9 percent. It also asked for European Central Bank’s permission to raise it further to 19.99 percent.

Just as Orcel did with Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole has built a stake in BPM that forces any potential buyer to reckon with it. Unlike Orcel with Commerzbank, however, it has ruled out a full takeover, and is widely thought to be more concerned in defending its asset management business in Italy: UniCredit is currently the biggest local distributor for CA’s Amundi business, but that relationship could be threatened if UniCredit buys BPM, which is looking to take control of a rival asset management group, Anima.

German dimension

How the infighting in Rome plays out could also have big consequences for Orcel’s move on Commerzbank. That effort remains tied up with German supervisory authorities, and Commerzbank and Berlin insiders are watching the developments in Italy closely, one person familiar with the matter told POLITICO.

“The German perspective is, ‘If Orcel cannot push through BPM he’ll no longer have a job, so he will no longer be there to complete the job on Commerzbank,’” the person said. “And if he succeeds, BPM might be hard to digest quickly — so BPM is going to be the end of it.”

Paradoxically, anything that stops UniCredit taking over Commerzbank is welcome to some in Rome. The Finance Ministry declined to comment but, according to one well-connected Italian politician, some worry that a more pan-European UniCredit could be less interested in buying Italian government debt — an asset they feel it is UniCredit’s “patriotic duty” to hold.

Whether Orcel — for whom the shareholders have always come first — will be able to summon much patriotic feeling given recent events is another question.

https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-banking-battle-giorgia-meloni-unicredit-takeover-bids-bpm/

Bank of Rome

(Banco di Roma), one of the most important commercial banks of Italy, organized in 1880. It is one of three banks of so-called national significance. During the world economic crisis of 1929–33, it was on the verge of bankruptcy, but the government came to its aid by buying up its stock. Some 97 percent of the stock of the Bank of Rome (1967) belongs to the government monopoly, the Institute for the Reconstruction of Industry (IRI). Members of the board of directors and of the administration of the bank are appointed by the government. For the implementation of longterm and medium-term credit the Bank of Rome together with the Italian Commercial Bank and the Italian Credit Bank created a bank of crediting and financing (Mediobanca). The Bank of Rome is concerned with the crediting of foreign trade. It is connected with the biggest Italian industrial monopolies, such as Montecatini, Pirelli, and CNIA-Viscosa. It enjoys the support of the Vatican. In early 1969 the bank had 250 branches in Italy and 28 abroad, in Libya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Turkey, Lebanon, France, Monaco, Belgium, and Switzerland; it had representatives in New York, Frankfurt am Main, London, and Buenos Aires. In early 1969 the joint-stock capital consisted of 25 billion lire, and the reserves were 9.4 billion lire; the entire balance is 4,558 billion lire. Investments totaled 2,531 billion lire, and discounting and loans, 1,706 billion lire. The balance sum of the Bank of Rome is inflated, since, unlike most capitalist banks, it includes securities which are turned over to the bank for safekeeping and management, a total of 1,484 billion lire.

https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Bank+of+Rome

The Banco di Santo Spirito was an Italian banking institution founded in Rome in 1606 and dissolved in 1992 by merging with the Bank of Rome. Official bank of the Papal States, it became a public bank under the Italian state between the two wars until the sale, which took place in 1989, to the Cassa di Risparmio di Roma group, which was followed by the aforementioned merger between the three Capitoline institutions that gave life to the Bank of Rome.

History

1605–1811

At the end of the sixteenth century, as in other Italian cities, the decline of Mediterranean trade in favor of oceanic trade in Rome had caused the bankruptcy of many private bankers. Therefore, the Papal States, in order to reassure depositors, thought of founding a public bank, like those that had been born at the end of the sixteenth century in many Italian cities, and in particular the seven Neapolitan banks, annexed to as many charitable institutions, were taken as a model. [1]

The Banco di Santo Spirito was founded on 13 December 1605 with a brief of Pope Paul V to manage the properties and guarantee the financing of the Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Saxia,[2] of which it was part and in whose headquarters it began its activity. At the same time, both the Monte di Pietà, which was also considered a public bank, and the private bankers continued to exist in Rome.

The headquarters of the Banco di Santo Spirito, initially located in the Hospital, was soon moved to Via dei Banchi, reusing the building of the "Old Mint" located in the middle of the private banks. [1]

Over time it became the deposit box for religious orders, pious places and some private individuals. The operations allowed to the Bank were to receive sums on deposit and return them; and also to transfer amounts from one deposit account to another. The Bank, on the other hand, could not make loans: the only authorized use of the sums deposited was the purchase of "places" of the "chamber of commerce", i.e. securities of the public debt of the Papal States. And in fact, the Bank was actively working for the placement of the mountain places, in particular for those of the non-vacant Monte di Santo Spirito, established to finance the Acqua Paola aqueduct. [3]. In addition, the Bank also placed the places of the "baronial mountains", that is, the mountains established by the Roman nobles to finance the works in their fiefdoms. Despite the prohibition, however, already during the seventeenth century the Bank was pressured and had to grant loans, first to the Hospital and then also to private individuals[1].

The coupons of the Banco di Santo Spirito circulated widely in the city of Rome as a means of payment: they were credit securities issued by a current account holder within the limits of the sum deposited by him and which were transferred from one borrower to another, after checking the coverage by the officials of the Bank, so that almost no metal money circulated in Rome. In 1724 Pope Benedict XIV decreed that the coupons become bearer securities. [1]

In 1737 it was realized that the loans made to the Arcispedale were bankrupting the Bank, and that the coupons that circulated exceeded the value of the deposits. To avoid collapse, the revenues of the Lotto were allocated to the Arcispedale, and from this to the payment of its debts to the Bank[1].

The excess of paper circulation and the difficulty of recovering credits from the Apostolic Chamber and the Hospital led, at the end of the 1700s, to a new crisis that overlapped with the political events of the French occupation. The French occupiers withdrew the coupons from circulation, replacing them with the assigned, which were also inflated. [1]

The Bank was temporarily closed in 1798 by the newly formed Roman Republic and the dies for printing coupons were destroyed. In 1800 it resumed a stunted activity, until in 1811 Napoleon's French closed the Bank. [1]

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banco_di_Santo_Spirito

Sachs is a German surname, meaning "man from Saxony". Sachs is a common surname among Ashkenazi Jews from Saxony, in the United States sometimes adopted in the variant Zaks, supposedly in reference to the Hebrew phrase Zera Kodesh Shemo (ZaKS), literally "his name is Holy Seed," a quotation from Isaiah 6:13.[1]

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

Bill Clinton is the 42nd President of the United States (1993-2001), husband of Hillary Clinton, and the incumbent President during the 5-year run of Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and other Warner Bros. shows, so he was often featured in them. During his appearances on the show he was voiced by Frank Welker. Clinton is an avid saxophone musician (as one of the Animaniacs theme song references) and made a famous appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show during his first presidential campaign.

https://animaniacs.fandom.com/wiki/Bill_Clinton

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (/sæks/ SAKS) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many international financial centers.[1] Goldman Sachs is the second-largest investment bank in the world by revenue[2] and is ranked 55th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[3] In the Forbes Global 2000 of 2024, Goldman Sachs ranked 23rd.[4] It is considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board.

Goldman Sachs offers services in investment banking (advisory for mergers and acquisitions and restructuring), securities underwriting, prime brokerage, asset management as well as wealth management and investment management via Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. It is a market maker for many types of financial products and provides clearing and custodian bank services. It operates private-equity funds and hedge funds. It structures complex and tailor-made financial products. It also owns Goldman Sachs Bank USA, a direct bank. It trades both on behalf of its clients (flow trading) and for its own account (proprietary trading). The company invests in and arranges financing for startups, and in many cases gets additional business as bookrunner when the companies launch initial public offerings.[5]

History

Founding and establishment

Third Goldman Sachs logo (2020–2024)

In 1869, Goldman Sachs was founded by Marcus Goldman in New York City in a one-room basement office next to a coal chute.[6][7][8] In 1882, Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm.[9][10] In 1885, Goldman's son, Henry Goldman, and his son-in-law, Ludwig Dreyfuss, joined the business and the firm adopted its present name, Goldman Sachs & Co.[11] The company pioneered the use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs and joined the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896.[12] By 1898, the firm's capital stood at $1.6 million.[12] It opened offices in Boston and Chicago in 1900, San Francisco in 1918, and Philadelphia and St. Louis in 1920.[13]

Goldman entered the initial public offering market in 1906 when it took Sears, Roebuck and Company public.[12] The deal was facilitated by Henry Goldman's personal friendship with Julius Rosenwald, an owner of Sears.[12] Other underwriting work for initial public offerings followed, including those of General Cigar Company also in 1906, F. W. Woolworth Company in 1912, and Continental Can.[13][12] The firm was an innovator at establishing the price–earnings ratio, instead of book value, as a method for valuing companies, and was therefore able to raise funds for retailers and companies with few hard assets.[13]

In 1912, Henry S. Bowers became the first non-member of the founding family to become a partner of the company and share in its profits.[12] In 1917, under growing pressure from the other partners in the firm due to his pro-German stance, Henry Goldman resigned.[12] The Sachs family gained full control of the firm until Waddill Catchings joined the company in 1918.[12] By 1928, Catchings was the Goldman partner with the single largest stake in the firm.[12] In 1919, the company acquired a major interest in Merck & Co. and in 1922, it acquired a major interest in General Foods.[13] On December 4, 1928, the firm launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp.Ad, a closed-end fund.[14] The fund failed during the Wall Street Crash of 1929, amid accusations that Goldman had engaged in share price manipulation and insider trading.[12]

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

The Banca di Roma was founded on 1 August 1992 by the merger of the capital's three main banks: the Banco di Santo Spirito, founded in 1605, the Cassa di Risparmio di Roma, founded in 1836 (which in 1937, had incorporated the Monte di Pietà di Roma of 1604, and in 1988 the Santo Spirito itself) and the Banco di Roma, Founded in 1880.

Capitalia phase and change of name to "UniCredit - Banca di Roma"

After being the main bank of the Capitalia group, the Bank of Rome became part of the "UniCredit Banking Group" in 2002, which changed its name to UniCredit - Banca di Roma. The banking activities are transferred to Banco di Sicilia S.p.A., 100% controlled by Capitalia S.p.A.

After the merger of Capitalia with UniCredit became operational in 2007, all the Unicredit Banca, Bipop Carire and Banco di Sicilia branches in Central and Southern Italy have merged into this bank, with the exception of Sicily. In turn, the branches of UniCredit - Banca di Roma in the North have been remarked as UniCredit Banca, while those in Sicily as Banco di Sicilia.

On 1 November 2010, UniCredit - Banca di Roma, as well as "UniCredit Banca" and "Banco di Sicilia", was incorporated into the parent company UniCredit, thus giving rise to the project of the group's single bank.

The President of the Bank of Rome was Paolo Savona, and the General Manager was Alessandro Cataldo.

Main data

(in millions of Euro as at 31-12-2004)

Net Worth 5,599

Direct deposits 28,786

Customer loans 40,867

Employees 14,623

Branches 1,143

Criticism and controversy

Several criticisms have been raised with the wording "Under the bank, the church lives"[1] by the monthly "Xaverian Missionary" by Marcello Storgato against the Bank of Rome (now become UniCredit). During the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne, it was noted that from the Report of the Presidency of the Council on the export of Italian arms, the Bank of Rome in 2004 provided its services for the export of arms from Italy for over 395 million euros.

In addition, the "Annual Report of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on operations authorized and carried out for the control of exports, imports and transit of armament materials" is published annually on the websites of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, where UniCredit in 2013 was awarded 3rd place as the largest financier of exports of military systems. [2]

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicredit_Banca_di_Roma#Banca_di_Roma

"Administration/administrators of temporal goods: 1. Of the Society in general: those who are administrators [326, 327, 419-21, 740-745, 759, 815]; the powers they have [743-745]; in what spirit and with what care and dedication the temporal goods of the Society are to be administered [305], 216 §§1, 2-4; social justice is to be safeguarded and fostered in the investment of money, 217; nothing is to be changed in or derogated from norms and instructions without permission, 216 §3; an account of one s administration is to be rendered [326, 741, 759], 167; especially so at the end of the t e rm s o f o f f i c e o f l o c a l superiors and treasurers, 222; negligent or wasteful superiors are to be corrected, 216 §4 2. Of one s own goods: is to be yielded from the beginning of novitiate and after first vows, 57 3. Of the goods of others: not to be undertaken without permission of the general, 166; administration of deposits of money from externs, whether in cash or in negotiable paper, should not be undertaken, 219. See also Buildings; Contracts in general, and in particular: Alienation of goods; Debts; Deposits; Gifts; Investment of money; Legacy; Rentals; Revenues"

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

Jacob Rothschild, Banker Who Broke From His Fabled Family, Dies at 87

The fourth Baron Rothschild, he left the family banking dynasty to start his own company, becoming a powerful financier, patron of the arts and philanthropist.

Mr. Rothschild retired as head of RIT Capital Partners in 2019. That year, his personal wealth was estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to be more than $1 billion.

Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild was born in Berkshire, England, on April 29, 1936, to Victor Rothschild, the third Baron Rothschild, and his first wife, Barbara Judith (Hutchinson) Rothschild.

Mr. Rothschild studied history at Oxford before joining the family bank. After he resigned to head RIT, he became involved in a series of ventures, including an unsuccessful bid in 1989 with other investors to take over British American Tobacco for $21 billion.

He maintained a wide network of international connections, acting as deputy chairman of Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB Television, and as an adviser to then-Prince Charles. He was a member of the International Advisory Board of the Blackstone Group, a leading private equity group, and co-founded the J. Rothschild Assurance Group in 1991, a wealth management company now known as St. James’s Place.

Not all his maneuvers were free of controversy. In 2003, British media reports said he had struck a trusteeship deal with Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, a Russian oil tycoon and Putin foe, to transfer Mr. Khodorkovsky’s stake in the Yukos oil company to Mr. Rothschild in the event of his arrest. Mr. Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003 and later exiled. Mr. Rothschild did not confirm the reports.

Alongside his career as a high-powered financier, Mr. Rothschild played an energetic if sometimes secretive role in Israel, overseeing his family’s long-running philanthropic activities there as head of the Yad Hanadiv foundation.

Over the decades, the Rothschilds quietly sponsored major projects, including the construction of Israel’s Parliament, Supreme Court and National Library, none of which bear the family’s name. “We’ve tried not to be in the headlines,” Mr. Rothschild told The Jerusalem Report in 2012, adding, “Our tradition has been that we don’t shout from the rooftops what we are doing.”

He took over Yad Hanadiv after the death in 1988 of Dorothy de Rothschild, the foundation’s chairwoman and an aunt of his. She bequeathed him estates in Buckinghamshire, England.

Image

An aerial view of sprawling stone manor house built in the ornate style of a French chateau. A highly manicured garden the length of the house can be seen in the background.

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild built Waddesdon Manor in the 1880s. It is now overseen by Britain’s National Trust, but Mr. Rothschild struck a deal in which the building would house the family’s enormous collection of art.Credit...David Goddard/Getty Images

The ownership of one of the properties, Waddesdon Manor, built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 1880s in the style of a French chateau, had already been transferred to the nonprofit National Trust in 1957. But Mr. Rothschild struck an unusual deal with the trust to administer the manor as a home for the Rothschilds’ collection of an estimated 15,000 works of art and objects, and for his personal collection of Rothschild wines, mainly from the Bordeaux region of France.

Mr. Rothschild was a principal benefactor of the manor’s restoration and played a part in other ambitious projects, including the regeneration of Somerset House, an 18th-century building overlooking the River Thames in London. Among many arts-related positions in Britain and elsewhere, he chaired the trustees of London’s National Gallery from 1985 to 1991.

Mr. Rothschild married Serena Dunn, a racehorse owner, in 1961; she died in 2019. He had four children, Hannah, Beth, Emily and Nathaniel, and a number of grandchildren. Complete information on his survivors was not immediately available.

For all his standing among the world’s wealthy elite, Mr. Rothschild was openly critical of some of his peers in the international financial system. In 2012, four years after the economic crisis of 2008, he told The Jerusalem Report that he had “a lot of sympathy with people who protested about some of the excesses in the world of finance.”

“After all, here are characters who have made great fortunes, who have been in charge of a system which has been very damaging to many interests in the last five to 10 years,” he said. “They have had enormous benefits, but the banking system as a whole has had a crippling effect in a number of areas throughout the world.”

Victor Mather contributed reporting.

After a long career as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times based in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, Alan Cowell became a freelance contributor in 2015, based in London.

More about Alan Cowell

See more on: Rothschild Family

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/business/jacob-rothschild-dead.html

The first member of the family who was known to use the name "Rothschild" was Isaak Elchanan Rothschild, born in 1577. The name is derived from the German zum rothen Schild (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "at the red shield", in reference to the house where the family lived for many generations (in those days, houses were designated not by numbers, but by signs displaying different symbols or colours). A red shield can still be seen at the centre of the Rothschild coat of arms. The family's ascent to international prominence began in 1744, with the birth of Mayer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was the son of Amschel Moses Rothschild (born circa 1710),[13] a money changer who had traded with the Prince of Hesse. Born in the "Judengasse", the ghetto of Frankfurt, Mayer developed a finance house and spread his empire by installing each of his five sons in the five main European financial centres to conduct business. The Rothschild coat of arms contains a clenched fist with five arrows symbolising the five dynasties established by the five sons of Mayer Rothschild, in a reference to Psalm 127: "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth." The family motto appears below the shield: Concordia, Integritas, Industria (Unity, Integrity, Industry).[14]

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

l (/ɛl/ EL; also 'Il, Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎍 ʾīlu; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤋 ʾīl;[6] Hebrew: אֵל ʾēl; Syriac: ܐܺܝܠ ʾīyl; Arabic: إل ʾil or إله ʾilāh[clarification needed]; cognate to Akkadian: 𒀭, romanized: ilu) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning 'god' or 'deity', or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, 'ila, represents the predicate form in the Old Akkadian and Amorite languages.[7] The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-.[8]

Specific deities known as 'El, 'Al or 'Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion[9] and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia.[10] Among the Hittites, El was known as Elkunirsa (Hittite: 𒂖𒆪𒉌𒅕𒊭 Elkunīrša).

Although El gained different appearances and meanings in different languages over time, it continues to exist as -il or -el in compound proper noun phrases such as Ishmael, Israel, Samuel, Daniel, Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel.

Linguistic forms and meanings

Cognate forms of El are found throughout the Semitic languages. They include Ugaritic ʾilu, pl. ʾlm; Phoenician ʾl pl. ʾlm; Hebrew ʾēl, pl. ʾēlîm; Aramaic ʾl; Akkadian ilu, pl. ilānu.

In northwest Semitic use, ʼel was a generic word for any god as well as the special name or title of a particular god who was distinguished from other gods as being "the god".[11] El is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, El played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both.[12]

However, because the word el sometimes refers to a god other than the great god El, it is frequently ambiguous as to whether El followed by another name means the great god El with a particular epithet applied or refers to another god entirely. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean "El the King" but ʾil hd as "the god Hadad".[13]

The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning "gods" is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm "powers". In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for "god" by biblical commentators.[14] However, according to the documentary hypothesis, at least four different authors – the Jahwist (J), Elohist (E), Deuteronomist (D), and Priestly (P) sources – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. These sources were joined together at various points in time by a series of editors or "redactors". Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.[15]

The stem ʾl is found prominently in the earliest strata of east Semitic, northwest Semitic, and south Semitic groups. Personal names including the stem ʾl are found with similar patterns in both the Amorite and Sabaic languages.[16]

Historical development

There is evidence that the Canaanite/Phoenician and Aramaic conception of El is essentially the same as the Amorite conception of El, which was popularized in the 18th century BCE but has origins in the Pre-Sargonic period. Any "changes" in El's status can be explained by the randomness of available data. Tribal organizations in West Semitic culture also influenced El's portrayal as a "treaty partner" in covenants, where the clan is seen as the "kin" of the deity.

Eventually, El’s cult became central to the ethnogenesis of Iron Age Israelites but so far, scholars are unable to determine how much of the population were El worshippers. It is more likely that different locales held different views of El.[17]

Proto-Sinaitic, Phoenician, Aramaic, and Hittite texts

The Egyptian god Ptah is given the title ḏū gitti 'Lord of Gath' in a prism from Tel Lachish which has on its opposite face the name of Amenhotep II (c. 1435 – c. 1420 BCE). The title ḏū gitti is also found in Serābitṭ text 353. Frank Moore Cross (1973, p. 19) points out that Ptah is often called the Lord (or one) of eternity and thinks it may be this identification of El with Ptah that lead to the epithet 'olam 'eternal' being applied to El so early and so consistently.[18] Yet another connection is seen with the Mandaean angel Ptahil, whose name combines both the terms Ptah and Il.[19] Wyatt, however, notes that in Ugaritic texts, Ptah is seemingly identified with the craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis, not El.[20]

In an inscription in the Proto-Sinaitic script, William F. Albright transcribed the phrase ʾL Ḏ ʿLM, which he translated as the appellation "El, (god) of eternity".[21]

The name Raphael or Rapha-El, meaning 'God has healed' in Ugarit, is attested to in approximately 1350 BCE in one of the Amarna Letters EA333, found in Tell-el-Hesi from the ruler of Lachish to 'The Great One'[22]

A Phoenician inscribed amulet of the seventh century BCE from Arslan Tash may refer to El. The text was translated by Rosenthal (1969, p. 658) as follows:

An eternal bond has been established for us.

Ashshur has established (it) for us,

and all the divine beings

and the majority of the group of all the holy ones,

through the bond of heaven and earth for ever, ...[23]

However, Cross (1973, p. 17) translated the text as follows:

The Eternal One ('Olam) has made a covenant oath with us,

Asherah has made (a pact) with us.

And all the sons of El,

And the great council of all the Holy Ones.

With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth.[24]

In some inscriptions, the name 'Ēl qōne 'arṣ (Punic: 𐤀𐤋 𐤒𐤍 𐤀𐤓𐤑 ʾl qn ʾrṣ) meaning "El creator of Earth" appears, even including a late inscription at Leptis Magna in Tripolitania dating to the second century.[25] In Hittite texts, the expression becomes the single name Ilkunirsa, this Ilkunirsa appearing as the husband of Asherdu (Asherah) and father of 77 or 88 sons.[26]

In a Hurrian hymn to El (published in Ugaritica V, text RS 24.278), he is called 'il brt and 'il dn, which Cross (p. 39) takes as 'El of the covenant' and 'El the judge' respectively.[27]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_(deity)

The ancient city of On

Abdel-Rahman Sherief

Last updated: February 12, 2013 2:34 pm

Abdel-Rahman Sherief

On, known today as Heliopolis or Ain-Shams, was considered the first Egyptian capital during the predynastic period and was the birthplace of the first ancient Egyptian mythology.

On was the place where creation itself was believed to take place, the spot where life began, according to Egyptian myths. On was the home of the first and the mightiest Egyptian god of all, Atum, who was believed to have risen from the Benben stone in the great temple of On to light up the dark and empty universe.

Atum was believed to be the source of all other gods, like Shu, the god of air, which he exhaled out of his nose and Tefnut, the god of moisture, which flew from his mouth, to name but a few.

According to the old beliefs people came from Atum’s tears when he cried as a result of his pain and exertions.

On’s priests and astronomers were believed, according to Herodotus and many other historians, to be the inventors of the annual calendar that we use today and the city was the centre of science, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. Students came from all over the world to study with its priests and scholars.

Even after the reunification of Egypt and the establishment of the city of Memphis by King Menes who wanted a new capital for Egypt, On retained its religious prestige and its priests were renowned for their skills in science and magic.

The magnificence of On gradually faded through the ages. The Greek philosopher Strabo mentioned that by the first century BC the temples were deserted and the town became uninhabited. Many of the city’s beautiful obelisks were taken to adorn European cities, including Rome and London.

The city is believed to have been razed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar who attacked Egypt in 591BC and 567 BC but there are other theories; it may have been demolished a century earlier by the Assyrians or decades later by the Persians.

The destruction of the city of On meant the destruction of all traces of the existence of the temple of the sun god Ra, the birthplace of writing, and the centre of mathematics and astronomy where the finest philosopers of Greece studied.

The only thing that remains of On is an obelisk built by the pharaoh Sesostris I.

The obelisk was one of a pair built to commemorate the 13th jubilee of Sesostris in 1940 BC, but sometime in the 12th century its twin fell, leaving the Sesostris obelisk standing alone as the only evidence of On’s magnificence. In modern times the obelisk is a site of annual pilgrimage for Egyptian peasants who gather there to celebrate the spring festival of Sham El-Nesim.

Recent tomb discoveries made on the site of On relate to the priests of the great temple, but many of the city’s treasures and sites are hiding beneath the Al-Matariyya suburb, waiting for large-scale excavations projects that may reveal the secrets of the ancient Egyptian city of On.

https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/02/11/the-ancient-city-of-on/

Elon (אֵילוֹן in Hebrew) is a masculine first name, or Jewish surname, which means "oak tree" in the Hebrew language. Variants of the name include Alon, Eilan, Eilon, and Elan; it can also be a variant spelling of Ilan and Ilon (Hebrew: אילן), of the similar meaning "tree".

The given name became more popular in the 2010s (from No. 3,310 in 2008 to No. 885 in 2018 for baby boys in the United States) due to the rise to fame of entrepreneur Elon Musk, though he is not Jewish.[1][2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_(name)

musk (n.)

odoriferous reddish-brown substance secreted by the male musk deer (dried and used in medicinal preparations and as a perfume), late 14c., from Old French musc (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin muscus, from Late Greek moskhos, from Persian mushk, from Sanskrit muska-s "testicle," from mus "mouse" (so called, presumably, for resemblance; see muscle). The deer gland was thought to resemble a scrotum. German has Moschus, from a Medieval Latin form of the Late Greek word. Spanish has almizcle, from Arabic al misk "the musk," from Persian.

The musk-deer, the small ruminant of central Asia that produces the substance, is so called from 1680s. The name musk was applied to various plants and animals of similar smell, such as the Arctic musk-ox (1744). Musk-melon "the common melon" (1570s) probably originally was an oriental melon with a musky smell, the name transferred by error [OED]. Also compare Muscovy.

also from late 14c.

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

Elon Musk Breaks Twitter Silence to Post Photo of Himself and 4 of His Sons with Pope Francis

Elon Musk said he was "honored" to meet Pope Francis as he shared a snap featuring four of his sons after 10 days off Twitter

By Nicholas Rice Published on July 2, 2022 01:24PM EDT

Elon Musk is back on Twitter.

After last sharing a tweet on the social media platform on June 21, the Tesla CEO, 51, returned to the site on Friday, writing in a message, "Feeling … perhaps … a little bored?"

In a follow-up tweet, Musk then shared a photograph of himself with his sons - including Griffin, and triplets Kai, Damian, and Sax – whose mother is his first wife, Justine Wilson, posing beside Pope Francis.

"Honored to meet @Pontifex yesterday," Musk wrote alongside the photograph, which saw each of the Musk men standing beside the Pope in suits.

In a later tweet, Musk shared a throwback image of himself and his ex-wife Talulah Riley in Italy.

"Venice, a site of Great Remembrance," he captioned the shot, which sees him and Riley, 36, posing in black and white attire with face masks covering their eyes.

Musk also shared one other Twitter message on Friday — a tribute to Technoblade, a YouTube gamer who recently died of cancer at 23.

"Popular Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade with 12 Billion subscribers recently passed away at the age of 23 due to cancer, and this made [me] realize that cancer is [an] absurd piece of literal garbage and death, but also try to live your best life with people who know," he wrote, alongside a quote from video game character Sonic the Hedgehog.

Added Musk: "They could die the following day, and you would regret not doing things with them."

Musk's most recent 10-day break from Twitter is the longest one he has taken from the social media platform since October 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The SpaceX CEO previously hadn't gone more than six days without tweeting Since January 2018, the outlet reported.

The WSJ reported that Musk, who is currently looking at a billion-dollar deal to purchase Twitter, has taken shorter days-long breaks from the site, however, including one this past January.

https://people.com/human-interest/elon-musk-poses-with-4-of-his-sons-and-pope-francis/

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary 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

Elon Musk asks voters to brace for economic 'hardship,' deep spending cuts in potential Trump Cabinet role

Donald Trump wants the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who himself has taken in billions from federal contracts, to oversee “efficiency” efforts for the government.

Oct. 30, 2024, 7:39 AM PDT / Updated Nov. 1, 2024, 7:07 AM PDT

By Rob Wile and Lora Kolodny, CNBC

In the home stretch of the 2024 election, voters who’ve been weighing both campaigns’ proposals to tackle living costs are now hearing a new pitch from the Republican side: accept some short-term economic pain to rein in government spending.

That message has emerged from former President Donald Trump’s wealthiest backer, Elon Musk, who says that the GOP nominee’s plans to put the U.S. on firmer fiscal footing would likely entail “temporary hardship” for ordinary Americans.

At a virtual town hall event Friday held on Musk’s social media platform, X, the multibillionaire Tesla and SpaceX executive said he was “praying for a victory” for Trump, so he could begin working in a high-level Cabinet role to axe federal spending.

“We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” Musk said. “And, you know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”

Many economists agree that Trump’s economic and fiscal proposals could spark an economic calamity, though it is not clear whether they have considered, or given credence, to Musk’s calls for austerity.

In a joint letter released last week, 23 Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economists warned that Trump’s plans for tariffs, tax cuts and an immigration crackdown — including detaining and deporting millions of people — would “lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.” More than anything, they wrote, Trump would undermine the rule of law and political certainty, “the most important determinants of economic success.”

The call for voters to endure some hardships comes as the U.S. economy heads toward Election Day on firm footing, with consumer confidence rising, employers still adding hundreds of thousands of jobs, wages handily outpacing inflation and overall economic output chugging along. But many Americans are still struggling with big-ticket expenses like child and elder care costs, a forbidding housing market, steep insurance and debt payments and more.

While elected officials in both parties have for decades campaigned on addressing America’s debt load — now at 120% of gross domestic product, an all-time high since the pandemic — and spending obligations, neither party has made much of a dent. That includes Trump. During his term, debt grew at a pace similar to that of his predecessors.

One reason for that lack of progress has been grappling with how to persuade long-time recipients of government spending, from Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries to defense contractors, to accept changes.

This time, Trump has promised to appoint Musk as chief government efficiency officer.

That gives Musk’s frankness about reductions — and his track record of making large, painful cuts at his own companies — added weight.

“There is so much government waste that it’s kind of like being in a room full of targets, like you can’t miss — you fire in any direction you’re going to hit a target,” Musk said. He added, “as a country, obviously, we need to live within our means,” and said he envisioned going through all government expenditures “one item at a time, no exceptions, no special cases.”

He said he expected an “antibody response” from “a lot of sides.”

“Everyone’s going to have to take a haircut. … We can’t be a wastrel. … We need to live honestly,” Musk said.

Speaking at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday, Musk said he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, though he didn’t specify where.

And on Tuesday, Musk reiterated the anticipated economic pain from the plan. In response to an X user who wrote that spending cuts would cause a “severe overreaction in the economy” and that “markets will tumble,” before the U.S. emerges on “sounder footing,” Musk responded, “Sounds about right.”

Musk representatives didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Trump campaign didn’t immediately comment but has previously said that the GOP agenda wouldn’t cause short-term economic hardship. “The only pain facing Americans would be four more years of Kamala’s failed economic policies,” a spokesperson told CNBC this week.

Musk himself would likely face a set of conflicts were he to oversee federal cost-cutting. According to research on federal spending and prime contracts by FedScout, Musk’s aerospace venture, SpaceX, has received $19 billion from the federal government since 2008 and is poised to take in several billion per year, for years to come.

That number doesn’t include block grant spending by states for items like SpaceX’s Starlink terminals and satellite internet service often purchased for use after natural disasters or other emergencies, FedScout CEO Geoff Orazem said.

Looking at existing and pending contracts, SpaceX is also likely to score another $20 billion in federal business reaching out into the 2028 time frame (or at least another $5 billion to $6 billion annually).

There’s some skepticism on Wall Street that a new Trump administration could implement spending cuts on the scale Musk has proposed.

Bob Elliott, chief investment officer at Unlimited Funds investment group, said the idea of cutting $2 trillion from the budget in any immediate time frame was “totally implausible,” pointing out that it would equate to almost all discretionary funding — currently at $1.7 trillion — which includes transportation, education, housing and environmental programs.

Instead, he said, investors are scrutinizing both campaigns’ economic proposals broadly. With Trump’s, he said, they fear his plans could prompt a resurgence in inflation.

“They’re both indicating they intend to maintain substantial deficits and elevated government spending, certainly compared with the strength of the economy,” Elliott said.

Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers financial group, said in an email that while neither candidate was preaching fiscal restraint, Trump’s policies “would be highly detrimental to the budget deficit and debt.”

CORRECTION (Oct. 31, 2024, 9:12 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the current U.S. discretionary funding. It is $1.7 trillion, not $1.7 billion.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/economy-if-trump-wins-second-term-could-mean-hardship-for-americans-rcna177807

Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and investor known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. Other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. He is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world; as of August 2024 Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$247 billion.[3]

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

Mazatlán (Spanish pronunciation: [masaˈtlan] ⓘ) is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipio, known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific coast across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California Peninsula.

Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word for "place of deer". The city was colonized in 1531 by the Conquistador where many indigenous people lived. By the mid-19th century, a large group of immigrants arrived from Germany. Over time, Mazatlán developed into a commercial seaport, importing equipment for the nearby gold and silver mines. It served as the capital of Sinaloa from 1859 to 1873. The German settlers also influenced the local music, banda, with some genres being an alteration of Bavarian folk music. The settlers established the Pacifico Brewery on 14 March 1900. Mazatlán has a rich culture and art community. In addition to the Angela Peralta Theater, Mazatlán has many galleries and artist's studios, such as the Mazatlán's art museum, the Museo del Arte, which both have exhibits from Mexican and international artists.

With a population of 438,434 (city) and 489,987 (municipality) as of the 2010 census, Mazatlán is the second-largest city in the state. It is also a tourist destination, with its beaches lined with resort hotels. A car ferry crosses the Gulf of California, from Mazatlán to La Paz, Baja California Sur. The municipality has a land area of 3,068.48 km2 (1,184.75 sq mi) and includes smaller outlying communities such as Villa Unión, La Noria, El Quelite, and El Habal. Mazatlán is served by General Rafael Buelna International Airport.

Mazatlán etymologically comes from the Nahuatl language and means "Land of deer" (mazatl "deer" and tlan referring to a place abundant with something).[1]

Originally, the name Presidio of Mazatlán was used for what is now called Villa Unión. The port of Mazatlán served as a reference to arrive to Presidio by sea, and was called the Islands of Mazatlán. By decree of the Estado de Occidente, on September 11, 1828, Presidio of Mazatlán was renamed Villa of the Union. This freed the name Mazatlán (land of deer), and since the port was known as Islas de Mazatlán, the name was adopted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazatl%C3%A1n

elk (n.)

late Old English elch, from Old Norse elgr or from an alteration of Old English elh, eolh (perhaps via French scribes), or possibly from Middle High German elch (OED's suggestion), all from Proto-Germanic *elkh- (source also of Old High German elaho). The modern word "is not the normal phonetic representative" of the Old English one [OED].

The Germanic words are related to the general word for "deer" in Balto-Slavic (such as Russian losu, Czech los; also see eland), from PIE *olki-, perhaps with reference to the reddish color from root *el- (2) "red, brown" (in animal and tree names); compare Sanskrit harina- "deer," from hari- "reddish-brown." Greek alke and Latin alces probably are Germanic loan-words. Applied to similar-looking but unrelated animals in North America. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks founded N.Y.C. 1868, originally a society of actors and writers.

Entries linking to elk

eland (n.)

Cape elk, large South African antelope, 1786, from Dutch eland "elk," probably from a Baltic source akin to Lithuanian elnias "deer," from PIE *el- (2) "red, brown" (see elk), cognate with first element in Greek Elaphebolion, name of the ninth month of the Attic year (corresponding to late March-early April), literally "deer-hunting (month)." Borrowed earlier in English as ellan (1610s, via French), ellend (from the German form of the word).

alder (n.)

tree related to the birch, Old English alor "alder," from Proto-Germanic *aliso (source also of Old Norse ölr, Danish elle, Swedish al, Dutch els, German erle), from the ancient PIE name of the tree (source also of Russian olicha, Polish olcha, Latin alnus (French aune), Lithuanian alksnis), from root *el- (2) "red, brown," used in forming animal and tree names (see elk).

The unetymological -d- was added 14c.; the historical form aller survived until 18c. in literary English and persists in dialects, such as Lancashire owler, which is partly from Norse.

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

"When his grandson, Naftali Hirz left the "House at the Red Shield" in 1664 and moved to the Hinterpfann (a tenement in the back of a house at the northern end of the Judengasse), he took the name Rothschild with him."

The Family ‹ Rothschild Name & Arms :: The Rothschild Archive

https://www.rothschildarchive.org/family/the_rothschild_name_and_arms/any_questions

"From Middle High German hirz, from Old High German hiruz, from Proto-West Germanic *herut, from Proto-Germanic *herutaz. Compare Dutch hert, English hart."

Hirsch - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Hirsch#:~:text=German-,Etymology,Compare%20Dutch%20hert%2C%20English%20hart.

"The word “Hirz” has its origins in Arabic and is often used to refer to a fortified or protected place. In its broader sense, it represents a location or space that is enclosed and fortified, offering a sense of safety and protection to those inside."

What is Islamic Hirz and Amulet? - MyRings Boutique

https://www.myrings.co/blog/what-is-islamic-hirz-and-amulet/#:~:text=The%20word%20%E2%80%9CHirz%E2%80%9D%20has%20its,and%20protection%20to%20those%20inside.

Theodor Herzl[a] (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904)[3] was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist, lawyer, writer, playwright and political activist who was the father of modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine in an effort to form a Jewish state. Due to his Zionist work, he is known in Hebrew as Chozeh HaMedinah (חוֹזֵה הַמְדִינָה), lit. 'Visionary of the State'.[4][5] He is specifically mentioned in the Israeli Declaration of Independence and is officially referred to as "the spiritual father of the Jewish State".[6]

Herzl was born in Pest, Kingdom of Hungary, to a prosperous Neolog Jewish family. After a brief legal career in Vienna, he became the Paris correspondent for the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse. Confronted with antisemitic events in Vienna, he reached the conclusion that anti-Jewish sentiment would make Jewish assimilation impossible, and that the only solution for Jews was the establishment of a Jewish state. In 1896, Herzl published the pamphlet Der Judenstaat, in which he elaborated his visions of a Jewish homeland. His ideas attracted international attention and rapidly established Herzl as a major figure in the Jewish world.

In 1897, Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, and was elected president of the Zionist Organization. He began a series of diplomatic initiatives to build support for a Jewish state, appealing unsuccessfully to German emperor Wilhelm II and Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II. At the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903, Herzl presented the Uganda Scheme, endorsed by Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain on behalf of the British government. The proposal, which sought to create a temporary refuge for the Jews in British East Africa following the Kishinev pogrom, was met with strong opposition and ultimately rejected. Herzl died of a heart ailment in 1904 at the age of 44, and was buried in Vienna. In 1949, his remains were taken to Israel and reinterred on Mount Herzl.

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

"Herzl is a beautiful boy's name of Yiddish origin. Borrowed from the name Hirsh, Herzl means “deer,” making it a special way to dote on your little one's delicate nature."

Herzl - Baby Name Meaning, Origin and Popularity (thebump.com)

https://www.thebump.com/b/herzl-baby-name

Eleven months in Manresa

On March 25, 1522, Ignatius of Loyola descended from Montserrat to Manresa. He settled and lived here for eleven months. The stay of Saint Ignatius in Manresa -much longer than anticipated- has a great relevance in the life and work of the Saint. Ignatius always considered his stay in Manresa as very important. He said that those months of his life in the city had been for him a kind of novitiate in the things of the spirit. For this reason, the expression "going to Manresa" means for the Jesuits a pilgrimage to the sources of their history, religious vocation and spirituality. They consider Manresa the cradle city of the Jesuit order. There is no other Catalan city or town that has given its name throughout the world to so many works founded by the Jesuits (currently there are 73).

c) Finish with a profound act of reverence to God, as Ignatius did so many times

in this same place. Make an interior (and perhaps even exterior!) reverence.

Maybe you feel like praying an Our Father, meditating on each word, as Ignatius

taught us to do. Or pray a Hail Mary to the Virgin of Montserrat whom Ignatius

could glimpse through the bushes that covered the grotto. Or recite Psalm 42,

represented artistically in the mosaic on the floor of the Cave: “As a DEER longs for

flowing streams.”

– Or it might even be enough to read the Utopia of Ignatius of Loyola, the

Principle and Foundation [SpEx 23], found at the start of his Spiritual

Exercises. You might feel yourself far from what your lips are enunciating,

but enjoy this sense of “utopian freedom

https://www.covamanresa.cat/en/ignatian-manresa

"The ancestral home of the Herzl family is in the German province of Bavaria. Herzl is a German nickname surname. Such names came from eke-names, or added names, that described their initial bearer through reference to a physical characteristic or other attribute. It is a name for a kindhearted or stalwart individual, and is derived from the German word herz, which means heart."

Herzl Name Meaning, Family History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms (houseofnames.com)

https://www.houseofnames.com/herzl-family-crest

"Old English heorte "heart (hollow muscular organ that circulates blood); breast, soul, spirit, will, desire; courage; mind, intellect," from Proto-Germanic *hertan- (source also of Old Saxon herta, Old Frisian herte, Old Norse hjarta, Dutch hart, Old High German herza, German Herz, Gothic hairto), from PIE root *kerd- "heart.""

heart | Etymology, origin and meaning of heart by etymonline

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

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary 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

The Luther rose or Luther seal is a widely recognized symbol for Lutheranism. It was the seal that was designed for Martin Luther at the behest of John Frederick of Saxony in 1530, while Luther was staying at the Coburg Fortress during the Diet of Augsburg. Lazarus Spengler, to whom Luther wrote his interpretation below, sent Luther a drawing of this seal. Luther saw it as a compendium or expression of his theology and faith, which he used to authorize his correspondence. Luther informed Philipp Melanchthon on 15 September 1530, that the Prince had personally visited him in the Coburg fortress and presented him with a signet ring, presumably displaying the seal.[2]

Components of the seal connected to Luther earlier than 1530

A single rose had been known as Luther's emblem since 1520 when Wolfgang Stöckel in Leipzig published one of Luther's sermons with a woodcut of the reformer. This was the first contemporary depiction of Martin Luther.

Luther's doctor's ring displayed a heartlike shield, the symbol of the Holy Trinity.[2]

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

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Jeremiah 17:9-10

6. The delegates commit to working with the schools to enhance the way parents and families are invited into our education and formation." The Rio Papers International Congress for Jesuit Education Delegates Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 2017

The Rio Papers (googleusercontent.com)

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ce18dDJhSfoJ:https://jesuitinstitute.org/Resources/Rio%2520Papers.pdf&cd=51&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

The Union Générale.

Meanwhile the Nationalist and Reactionary parties in France desired to counterbalance the "Semitic" influence of the Rothschilds by establishing a banking concern which should be essentially Catholic. Accordingly in 1876 the Union Générale was founded with a capital of 4,000,000 francs, increased to 25,000, 000 fraces in 1878 under the direction of a certain Bontoux. After various vicissitudes, graphically described by Zola in his novel "L'Argent," the Union failed, and brought many of the Catholic nobility of France to ruin, leaving the Rothschilds still more absolutely the undisputed leaders of French finance, but leaving also a legacy of hatred which had much influence on the growth of the anti-Semitic movement in France. Something analogous occurred in England when the century-long competition of the Barings and the Rothschilds culminated in the failure of the former in 1893; but in this case the Rothschilds came to the rescue of their rivals and prevented a universal financial catastrophe. It is a somewhat curious sequel to the attempt to set up a Catholic competitor to the Roths-childs that at the present time the latter are the guardians of the papal treasure.

Of recent years the Rothschilds have consistently refused to have anything to do with loans to Russia, owing to the anti-Jewish legislation of that empire, though on one occasion the members of the Paris house joined in a loan to demonstrate their patriotism as Frenchmen."

ROTHSCHILD - JewishEncyclopedia.com

https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12909

Crest: The shield is surmounted by a baronial crown, wound round with small pearls and decorated with five large pearls, topped with three crowns which are surrounded with, on the right, black and gold and on the left blue and silver covering, on top of noble "tournament-style" helmets; from the crown positioned above the visor of the helmet in the centre stands the eagle as described above, the helmets on the right and left are turned towards one another, from the crown on the right helmet floats a golden star between two alternately coloured gold and black buffalo horns, from the crown on the left helmet come three ostrich feathers, viz. two blue and one silver."

The Family ‹ Rothschild Name & Arms :: The Rothschild Archive

https://www.rothschildarchive.org/family/the_rothschild_name_and_arms/the_rothschild_coat_of_arms

The family of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 and owner of The Trump Organization, is a prominent American family active in real estate, entertainment, business, and politics. Trump, his wife Melania, and son BARRON were the first family of the United States for the duration of his presidency. Trump's paternal grandparents, Frederick Trump and Elizabeth Christ Trump, had immigrated to the United States from Germany. Donald Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, came from the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland.[1] Trump has five children from three wives, and 10 grandchildren."

Family of Donald Trump - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Donald_Trump#Barron_Trump

Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertfordshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[1] It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family.[2] He was the first Jewish member of the House of Lords not to have previously converted to Christianity. The current holder of the title is Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, who inherited the barony in 1990."

In 1822, the hereditary title of Freiherr (baron) of the Austrian Empire was granted in the Austrian nobility by Emperor Francis I of Austria to the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild.[5] In 1838, Queen Victoria authorized the use of this Austrian baronial title in the United Kingdom by Lionel de Rothschild and certain other members of the Rothschild family.[6][7] However, the use of such foreign titles in the United Kingdom was subsequently limited by a warrant of 27 April 1932.[8]"

Baron Rothschild - Wikipedia

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

The aquila, or eagle, is one the most enduring symbols of Roman civilization. While different animals and mythological creatures served as meaningful signifiers throughout the Republic and Imperial eras, the eagle continuously symbolized power and authority. Subsequent nations, from Poland to the United States to Nazi Germany, have adopted eagles as their national symbols, both for their intrinsic meaning and in an attempt to evoke the Roman Empire."

Roman Eagle (Aquila) | UNRV

https://www.unrv.com/military/roman-eagle-aquila.php

Motto: Beneath the shield are written on a flowing red and white band the Latin words: 'Concordia, Integritas, Industria' (Harmony, Integrity, Industry)."

The Family ‹ Rothschild Name & Arms :: The Rothschild Archive

https://www.rothschildarchive.org/family/the_rothschild_name_and_arms/the_rothschild_coat_of_arms

The Order carries through ancient tradition, the Coat of Arms attributed to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, which is of silver to the Jerusalem Cross of gold and enamelled in the color of blood." "Motto: “Deus lo vult” in capital Roman characters on a forked band under the point of the shield."

Insignia, Decorations and Attire – Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (midatlanticeohs.com)

https://www.midatlanticeohs.com/insignia-decorations-and-attire/

The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Latin Kingdom, was a Crusader state that was established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 until the fall of Acre in 1291. Its history is divided into two periods with a brief interruption in its existence, beginning with its collapse after the siege of Jerusalem in 1187 and its restoration after the Third Crusade in 1192.

The original Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1187 before being almost entirely overrun by the Ayyubid Sultanate under Saladin. Following the Third Crusade, it was re-established in Acre in 1192. The re-established state is commonly known as the "Second Kingdom of Jerusalem" or alternatively as the "Kingdom of Acre" after its new capital city. Acre remained the capital for the rest of its existence excluding the two decades that followed the Crusaders' establishment of partial control over Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade, through the diplomacy of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen vis-à-vis the Ayyubids.

The vast majority of the Crusaders who established and settled the Kingdom of Jerusalem were from the Kingdom of France, as were the knights and soldiers who made up the bulk of the steady flow of reinforcements throughout the two-hundred-year span of its existence; its rulers and elite were therefore predominantly French.[4] French Crusaders also brought their language to the Levant, thus establishing Old French as the lingua franca of the Crusader states, in which Latin served as the official language. While the majority of the population in the countryside comprised Christians and Muslims from local Levantine ethnicities, many Europeans (primarily French and Italian) also arrived to settle in villages across the region.

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

The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantine Empire as the Western-recognized Roman Empire in the east, with a Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox Roman emperors. The main objective of the Latin Empire was planned by Venice, which promoted the creation of this state for their self-benefit.[3]

The Fourth Crusade had originally been called to retake the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, but a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army sacking the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Originally, the plan had been to restore the deposed Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos, who had been usurped by Alexios III Angelos, to the throne. The crusaders had been promised financial and military aid by Isaac's son Alexios IV, with which they had planned to continue to Jerusalem. When the crusaders reached Constantinople, the situation quickly turned volatile, and while Isaac and Alexios briefly ruled, the crusaders did not receive the payment they had hoped for. In April 1204, they captured and plundered the city's enormous wealth.

The crusaders selected their own emperor from among their own ranks, Baldwin of Flanders, and divided the territory of the Byzantine Empire into various new vassal crusader states. The Latin Empire's authority was immediately challenged by Byzantine rump states led by the Laskaris family (connected to the Angelos dynasty of 1185–1204) in Nicaea and the Komnenos family (which had ruled as Byzantine Emperors 1081–1185) in Trebizond. From 1224 to 1242, the Komnenos Doukas family, also connected to the Angeloi, challenged Latin authority from Thessalonica. The Latin Empire failed to attain political or economic dominance over the other Latin powers that had been established in former Byzantine territories in the wake of the Fourth Crusade, especially Venice, and after a short initial period of military successes, it went into a steady decline due to constant war with Bulgaria to the north and the various Byzantine claimants. Eventually, the Nicene Empire recovered Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire under Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went into exile, but the imperial title survived, with several pretenders to it, until the 14th century.

The incontestable Venetian dominance in the region was not limited to the practical respect but was also demonstrated by the new title adopted by the doges, which is 'Dominus quartae partis et dimidie totius Imperii Romaniae', attached to the one of 'Dux Venetiarum, Dalmatiae Croatiaeque'.[4] Beginning with the letters of Innocent III, dated 20 June 1203 and 29 January 1205, the Papacy often used this term too.[5] The term Romania ("Land of the Romans") had been used as a vernacular name for centuries, first by the inhabitants of the entire Late Roman Empire, then by the population of the Byzantine Empire.

Etymology

The term "Latin Empire" was not contemporary, and was first used by historians in the 16th century to distinguish the Crusader state from the classical Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, all of which called themselves "Roman". The term "Latin" was chosen because the crusaders (Franks, Venetians, and other Westerners) were Roman Catholic and used Latin as their liturgical and scholarly language in contrast to the Eastern Orthodox locals who used Greek in both liturgy and common speech. The Byzantines referred to the Latin Empire as the Frankokratia 'rule of the Franks', or the Latinokratia 'rule of the Latins'.[6]

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

The Priory of Sion is an initiatory Order of chivalry, founded on July 15 1099 in Jerusalem, by Godfrey of Bouillon, at the Abbey "Our Lady of Mount Sion" as "Order of our Lady of Mount Sion."The Order, after being registered for the first time in history, in 1956, and then being dissolved in 1993, was newly registered in 2015, perpetuating the legitimate Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair's lineage, through the actual Grand Master, Marco Rigamonti.The Priory of Sion is characterized by a gnostic and rosicrucian influence, who sets himself the task of supporting and nurturing personal growth, moral and spiritual, with respect and in harmony with the personal objectives that each of us, by nature, has to carry through in life experience.It's also our purpose the esoteric research as the study and experience related to the transcendent and mystical in an environment of communion with our Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Order.The Priory of Sion today inherits a tradition of esoteric, philosophical, spiritual and cultural legacy, which favors the cultivation of values and principles that offers the way to live a more aware and noble personal dimension.We work through symbols, ancient rituals, theurgic practice and traditions, in order to live a personal and collective sprirituality in communion with our Brothers and Sisters.The Order is apolitical and forbids its members to be made a place of political debate, or even worse, to be exploited for such purposes."

http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/

The Prieuré was cited by name in references extending from the twelfth to the early seventeenth century. Then, in documents dating from 1619, it was stated to have incurred the displeasure of King Louis XIII of France, who evicted them from their seat at Orléans and turned the premises over to the Jesuits.5 After that, the Prieuré de Sion seemed to vanish from the historical record, at least under that name, until 1956, when it appeared again, registered in the French Journal officiel. And yet the present-day Order had repeatedly cited certain of its activities between 1619 and the twentieth century, certain historical events in which it had played a role, certain historical developments in which it had some sort of vested interest. When we examined the events and developments in question, we found indisputable evidence attesting to the involvement of an organised and coherent cadre working in concert behind the scenes, sometimes using other institutions as a façade. This cadre was not named specifically, but everything indicated that it was indeed the Prieuré de Sion. What was more, it proved to involve precisely the same network of interlinked families claiming Merovingian descent. Whether it was the intrigues and the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, the insurrection known as the Fronde in the seventeenth century or the Masonic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, successive generations of precisely the same families were implicated, operating in accordance with a single consistent pattern."

The Messianic Legacy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UV7FwghOOhdkp4fdk2SzG7oem2nRleW0/view?usp=sharing

"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/

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

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

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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 Complimentary Norms

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With regard to self-immolation, it should be pointed out that, unlike Jainism, Buddhism is generally against religious suicide350 and self-mutilation (Sheth, 2012: 73-74), but there are exceptions both in Theravada as well as in Mahāyāna. The Theravāda Jātaka tales relate several instances of religious suicide in some of the previous lives of Gautama Buddha. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the most important and well-known Mahāyāna Scriptural text and often referred to briefly as the Lotus Sutra, extols the case of the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja, who previously, as the Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, burnt his own body as an act of honor (pūjā) accorded to the Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśri and to the Lotus Sutra. It also mentions that youth who burn some part of their body at the relic chambers of the Buddhas gain immense merit (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, ch. 22, pp. 237, 240). Such examples are adduced in order to justify exceptional cases of heroic, altruistic and sublime self-sacrifice of one’s life. For Thich Nhat Hahn self-immolation is neither good nor bad. It transcends the question whether self-immolation is good strategy in peace activism. But we must make an effort to put ourselves in the shoes of the immolators and try to see things with their eyes. They intend to enkindle the awareness of people and awaken them (Nhat Hahn 1975: 62). We had begun our social justice trip in India. Even though we now move on to Tibet, yet, in consonance with the cyclic worldview of Buddhism, we actually return to India: the reason is that the Dalai Lama has established a Tibetan Government in Exile in India.

The Buddha & Jesus

An Anthology of Articles by Jesuits engaged in

Buddhist Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue

Edited by

Cyril Veliath, SJ

Faculty of Global Studies

Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

https://web.archive.org/web/20220929093250/https://jcapsj.org/the-buddha-jesus/

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary 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

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

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Esoteric Neo-Nazism, also known as Esoteric Nazism, Esoteric Fascism or Esoteric Hitlerism, represents a fusion of Nazi ideology with mystical, occult, and esoteric traditions. This belief system emerged in the aftermath of World War II, as adherents sought to reinterpret and adapt the ideas of the Third Reich within the context of a new religious movement. Esoteric Nazism is characterized by its emphasis on the mythical and spiritual dimensions of Aryan supremacy, drawing from a range of sources including Theosophy, Ariosophy, and Gnostic dualism. These beliefs have evolved into a complex and often contradictory body of thought that seeks to justify and perpetuate racist and supremacist ideologies under the guise of spiritual enlightenment.

The roots of Esoteric Nazism can be traced back to early 20th-century occult movements and figures who sought to combine racial theories with mysticism. Key figures such as Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels played significant roles in this development, with their ideas laying the groundwork for what would later become the esoteric underpinnings of Nazi ideology. These early esotericists promoted the idea of an ancient Aryan race, endowed with divine qualities, which they believed was destined to rule over other races. This notion of Aryan supremacy was further developed by the Thule Society, an occult group that heavily influenced the early Nazi movement, blending nationalism with mystical beliefs in a mythical Aryan homeland known as Hyperborea.

After the fall of the Third Reich, Esoteric Nazism evolved and adapted to new contexts, with figures such as Savitri Devi and Miguel Serrano emerging as prominent proponents of what is now referred to as Esoteric Hitlerism. These post-war esotericists expanded on the idea of Hitler as a messianic figure, often deifying him as an avatar of divine forces. Savitri Devi, for example, integrated Nazi ideology with Hinduism, portraying Hitler as the ninth avatar of Vishnu and aligning Aryan supremacy with Hindu concepts of cosmic order.[1] Similarly, Miguel Serrano introduced extraterrestrial elements into Esoteric Hitlerism, claiming that the Aryan race had divine origins linked to a race of god-like beings from Hyperborea.

Esoteric Nazism has continued to influence various neo-Nazi and far-right groups in the post-war era, often merging with other esoteric and occult traditions. The concept of a "Collective Aryan Unconscious", inspired by Carl Jung's theories, and the symbol of the Black Sun, representing hidden esoteric power, are central to these beliefs. These ideas have been perpetuated through various means, including literature, music, and digital media, contributing to the persistence of Esoteric Nazism in contemporary culture. Despite its fringe status, Esoteric Nazism remains a potent force within certain extremist circles, offering a mystical justification for racial and ideological supremacy.

Historical background

Further information: Occultism in Nazism, Religion in Nazi Germany, Religious aspects of Nazism, and Religious views of Adolf Hitler

The roots of Esoteric Nazism lie in several early 20th-century movements and figures that sought to blend mysticism, racial theories, and nationalism. Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels were pivotal in this development. List, a prominent figure in the völkisch movement, created Ariosophy, combining Germanic paganism with racial theories. Lanz von Liebenfels expanded these ideas through his publication Ostara, promoting Aryan superiority and anti-Semitic views through occultism and mysticism.[2]

The Thule Society, established in 1918, played a significant role in the formation of Nazi ideology. This occultist group believed in Thule, a mythical Aryan homeland. The society's anti-Semitic and nationalist ideas influenced many who would become Nazi leaders, blending occultism, mythology, and political ideology to form the foundation of Esoteric Nazism.[2]

Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, deeply integrated mysticism into Nazi ideology, viewing the SS as a spiritual order. He established the SS's ideological center at Wewelsburg Castle, where various esoteric and occult practices were conducted. Himmler's fascination with the Holy Grail and King Arthur myths aimed to inspire the SS with a higher spiritual purpose.[3] Ariosophy, developed by List and Liebenfels, significantly shaped Nazi racial ideology. Combining Theosophy, Germanic mythology, and racial theories, Ariosophy promoted Aryan superiority by positing Aryans as descendants of a divine, ancient race. This concept was used by the Nazis to justify their racial purity and anti-Semitic policies.[4]

Mythological and mystical beliefs were integral to Nazi ideology. The concept of Hyperborea, a mythical northern Aryan homeland, suggested that Hyperboreans were divine beings who once ruled the earth.[5] The Nazis adopted several symbols with esoteric meanings. The swastika, an ancient symbol found in various cultures, became the Nazi party emblem, symbolizing Aryan identity and cosmic order. Other symbols, such as the Black Sun, signified occult power and the esoteric knowledge of the Aryan race.[6]

Post-war history and notable exponents

Savitri Devi

Main article: Savitri Devi

Greek writer Savitri Devi was the first major post-war exponent of what has since become known as Esoteric Hitlerism.[7] According to that ideology, subsequent to the fall of the Third Reich and Hitler's suicide at the end of the war, Hitler himself could be deified. Devi connected Hitler's Aryanist ideology to that of the pan-Hindu part of the Indian independence movement,[8] and activists such as Subhas Chandra Bose. For her, the swastika was an especially important symbol, as she felt it symbolized Aryan unity of Hindus and Germans.

Savitri Devi, above all, was interested in the Indian caste system, which she regarded as the archetype of racial laws intended to govern the segregation of different races and to maintain the pure blood of the fair-complexioned Aryans. She regarded the survival of the minority of Brahmins among an enormous population of many different Indian races after sixty centuries as a living tribute to the value of the Aryan caste system.[9]

Savitri Devi integrated Nazism into a broader cyclical framework of Hindu history. She considered Hitler to be the ninth Avatar of Vishnu, and called him "the god-like Individual of our times; the Man against Time; the greatest European of all times",[10] having an ideal vision of returning his Aryan people to an earlier, more perfect time, and also having the practical wherewithal to fight the destructive forces "in Time". She saw his defeat—and the forestalling of his vision from coming to fruition—as a result of him being "too magnanimous, too trusting, too good", of not being merciless enough, of having in his "psychological make-up, too much 'sun' [beneficence] and not enough 'lightning.' [practical ruthlessness]",[11] unlike his coming incarnation:

"Kalki" will act with unprecedented ruthlessness. Contrarily to Adolf Hitler, He will spare not a single one of the enemies of the divine Cause: not a single one of its outspoken opponents but also not a single one of the lukewarm, of the opportunists, of the ideologically heretical, of the racially bastardised, of the unhealthy, of the hesitating, of the all-too-human; not a single one of those who, in body or in character or mind, bear the stamp of the fallen Ages.[12]

Robert Charroux

Main article: Robert Charroux

Unlike most ancient astronaut writers, Robert Charroux took a large interest in racialism. According to Charroux, Hyperborea was situated between Iceland and Greenland and was the home of a Nordic white race with blonde hair and blue eyes. Charroux wrote that this race was extraterrestrial in origin and had originally come from a cold planet situated far from the sun.[13] Charroux also wrote that the white race of the Hyperboreans and their descendants, the Celts, had dominated the whole world in the ancient past. Some of these claims of Charroux have influenced the beliefs of Esoteric Nazism such as the work of Miguel Serrano.[14]

Miguel Serrano

Main article: Miguel Serrano

Miguel Serrano, a former Chilean diplomat, is a major figure in Esoteric Nazism. Author of numerous books including The Golden Ribbon: Esoteric Hitlerism (1978) and Adolf Hitler, the Last Avatar (1984), Serrano is one of a number of Nazi esotericists who regard the "Aryan blood" as originally extraterrestrial:

Serrano finds mythological evidence for the extraterrestrial origins of man in the Nephilim [fallen angels] of the Book of Genesis... Serrano suggests that the sudden appearance of Cro-Magnon Man with his high artistic and cultural achievements in prehistoric Europe records the passage of one such divya-descended race alongside the abysmal inferiority of Neanderthal Man, an abomination and manifest creation of the demiurge... Of all the races on earth, the Aryans alone preserve the memory of their divine ancestors in their noble blood, which is still mingled with the light of the Black Sun. All other races are the progeny of the demiurge's beast-men, native to the planet.[15]

Serrano supports this idea from various myths which assign divine ancestry to 'Aryan' peoples, and even the Aztec myth of Quetzalcoatl descending from Venus. He also cites the hypothesis of Bal Gangadhar Tilak on the Arctic homeland of the Indo-Aryans, as his authority for identifying the earthly centre of the Aryan migrations with the 'lost' Arctic continent of Hyperborea. Thus, Serrano's extraterrestrial gods are also identified as Hyperboreans.[a]

In attempting to raise the spiritual development of the earthbound races, the Hyperborean divyas (a Sanskrit term for god-men) suffered a tragic setback. Expanding on a story from the Book of Enoch, Serrano laments that a renegade group among the gods committed miscegenation with the terrestrial races, thus diluting the light-bearing blood of their benefactors and diminishing the level of divine awareness on the planet.[16]

The concept of Hyperborea has a simultaneously racial and mystical meaning for Serrano.[17] He believes that Hitler was in Shambhala, an underground centre in Antarctica (formerly at the North Pole and Tibet), where he was in contact with the Hyperborean gods and whence he would someday emerge with a fleet of UFOs to lead the forces of light (the Hyperboreans, sometimes associated with Vril) over the forces of darkness (inevitably including, for Serrano, those of the Abrahamic religions who worship the Abrahamic god) in a last battle and thus inaugurating a Fourth Reich.

Serrano follows the Gnostic tradition of the Cathars (fl. 1025–1244) by identifying the evil demiurge as Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. As medieval dualists, these eleventh-century heretics had repudiated Jehovah as a false god and mere artificer opposed to the real God far beyond our earthly realm. This Gnostic doctrine clearly carried dangerous implications for the Jews. As Jehovah was the tribal deity of the Jews, it followed that they were devil worshipers. By casting the Jews in the role of the children of Satan, the Cathar heresy can elevate anti-Semitism to the status of a theological doctrine backed by a vast cosmology. If the Hyperborean Aryans are the archetype and blood descendents of Serrano's divyas from the Black Sun, then the archetype of the Lord of Darkness needed a counter-race. The demiurge sought and found the most fitting agent for its archetype in the Jews.

As religious scholars Frederick C. Grant and Hyam Maccoby emphasize, in the view of the dualist Gnostics, "Jews were regarded as the special people of the Demiurge and as having the special historical role of obstructing the redemptive work of the High God's emissaries".[18] Serrano thus considered Hitler as one of the greatest emissaries of this High God, rejected and crucified by the tyranny of the Judaicized rabble like previous revolutionary light-bringers. Serrano had a special place in his ideology for the SS, who, in their quest to recreate the ancient race of Aryan god-men, he thought were above morality and therefore justified.[citation needed]

David Myatt

Main article: David Myatt

In the 1980s and 1990s, David Myatt developed an interpretation—or revisionist version[19]—of Nazism which, although based on Savitri Devi's three principles of "above", "against", and "in time" individuals,[20] did not involve either ancient mythology or extraterrestrial beings.

Instead, Myatt, described as "most commonly associated with the occult wing of the National Socialist movement,[21] focused—in pamphlets such as The Meaning of National Socialism,[22] The Enlightenment of National Socialism[23] and his The Religion of National Socialism[24][25]—on what he described as "the numinous" aspects of Nazism, with Jeffrey Kaplan writing that Myatt described Nazism as "unambiguously a religion while Adolf Hitler is treated unashamedly as the saviour of mankind."[21]

Concepts and themes

Collective Aryan unconscious

The concept of a "Collective Aryan Unconscious" is central to Esoteric Nazism, drawing on Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. However, in Esoteric Nazi thought, this unconscious is specifically linked to the Aryan race, believed to carry a shared racial memory or spiritual heritage. This idea posits that Aryans possess innate, inherited wisdom and knowledge that connect them to their divine origins and the ancient Hyperborean homeland. This collective memory is thought to guide Aryans in their spiritual and racial mission, differentiating them from other races considered spiritually inferior.[26]

In the book Black Sun, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke reports how Carl Gustav Jung described "Hitler as possessed by the archetype of the collective Aryan unconscious and could not help obeying the commands of an inner voice". In a series of interviews between 1936 and 1939, Jung characterized Hitler as an archetype, often manifesting itself to the complete exclusion of his own personality. "'Hitler is a spiritual vessel, a demi-divinity; even better, a myth. Benito Mussolini is a man' ... the messiah of Germany who teaches the virtue of the sword. 'The voice he hears is that of the collective unconscious of his race'".[27]

Jung's suggestion that Hitler personified the collective Aryan unconscious deeply interested and influenced Miguel Serrano, who later concluded that Jung was merely psychologizing the ancient, sacred mystery of archetypal possession by the gods, independent metaphysical powers that rule over their respective races and occasionally possess their members.[28]

Hyperborea and Aryan origins

Hyperborea, a mythical land often associated with the Arctic region, is revered in Esoteric Nazi ideology as the ancestral homeland of the Aryan race. According to this belief, Hyperborea was a paradise inhabited by the original Aryan gods or god-men, who were later exiled or descended to earth. The concept of Hyperborea is tied to the idea of a lost Golden Age, where Aryans lived in harmony with cosmic laws before their decline and corruption by external influences. This mythological narrative supports the Esoteric Nazi view of Aryans as a superior race with a divine destiny, linked to their ancient, mythical origins.[29]

Since 1945, neo-Nazi writers have also proposed Shambhala and the star Aldebaran as the original homeland of the Aryans. The book Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival, by Hypnerotomachia Poliphili scholar Joscelyn Godwin, discusses pseudoscientific theories about surviving Nazi elements in Antarctica. Arktos is noted for its scholarly approach and examination of many sources currently unavailable elsewhere in English-language translations.[30]

Gnostic dualism and the demiurge

Esoteric Nazism incorporates elements of Gnostic dualism, particularly the belief in a cosmic struggle between forces of light and darkness. In this worldview, the material world is seen as the creation of a malevolent demiurge, often identified with the Judeo-Christian God, who seeks to enslave humanity. Aryans, in contrast, are viewed as the children of the divine light, destined to oppose the demiurge and his earthly agents, typically identified with Jews and other non-Aryans. This dualistic belief system reinforces the racial and spiritual hierarchy central to Esoteric Nazism, with Aryans positioned as the rightful rulers of the world, destined to lead the final battle against the forces of darkness.[31]

Black Sun and extraterrestrial theories

The Black Sun is a significant symbol in Esoteric Nazism, representing the hidden, esoteric power believed to guide the Aryan race. Often depicted as a mystical, inner sun, the Black Sun symbolizes the source of Aryan spiritual strength and the cosmic forces that support their racial mission. This concept is closely linked to various extraterrestrial theories within Esoteric Nazism, which suggest that the Aryan race has divine or extraterrestrial origins. Figures like Miguel Serrano have popularized the idea that Aryans are descendants of an ancient extraterrestrial race, who once ruled Hyperborea and will return to lead humanity into a new Golden Age. These beliefs combine occult symbolism with pseudo-historical and mythological narratives to create a mystical foundation for Aryan supremacy.[32]

Godwin and other writers such as Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke have discussed the connections between Esoteric Nazism and Vril energy, the hidden Shambhala and Agartha civilizations, and underground UFO bases, as well as Hitler's and the SS's supposed survival in underground Antarctic bases in New Swabia, or in alliance with Hyperboreans from the subterranean world.[33]

Common beliefs

Esoteric Nazism is built on a foundation of core beliefs that combine mystical, racial, and occult ideologies. These beliefs form the central tenets of the tradition, distinguishing it from other esoteric movements and intertwining it with Nazi ideology.

Racial purity and mystical heritage

At the core of Esoteric Nazism is the belief in the racial purity and superiority of the Aryan race. Adherents of this ideology view Aryans as descendants of a divine or mystical lineage, endowed with unique spiritual and racial qualities that distinguish them from other races. This belief in racial purity is not only seen as a physical attribute but also as a spiritual one, where the purity of the bloodline is linked to the ability to access higher esoteric knowledge and maintain a connection with divine forces. The concept of a "spiritual aristocracy" is often emphasized, with the Aryan race considered the chosen people destined to lead humanity.[26]

The notion of racial purity in Esoteric Nazism is often linked to an idealized past, where Aryans supposedly lived in harmony with cosmic laws before being corrupted by external influences. Maintaining this racial purity is seen as essential for the Aryan race to fulfill its divine mission on earth.[34]

Spiritual hierarchies

Esoteric Nazism incorporates the concept of spiritual hierarchies, wherein different races and beings occupy different levels of spiritual advancement. Aryans are placed at the top of this hierarchy, believed to be closer to divine or cosmic forces that govern the universe. This spiritual hierarchy justifies the supremacist ideology inherent in Esoteric Nazism, asserting that Aryans have a divine right to rule over other races, which are considered spiritually inferior or degenerate.[32]

Within this framework, the leaders and initiates of Esoteric Nazism see themselves as the custodians of hidden knowledge and spiritual power. This belief in a cosmic order reinforces the hierarchical and authoritarian nature of Esoteric Nazi ideology, where only a select few are deemed worthy of accessing and wielding this knowledge.[35]

Esoteric knowledge

A central belief in Esoteric Nazism is the pursuit and preservation of esoteric knowledge, considered key to unlocking the spiritual and racial potential of the Aryan race. This knowledge is believed to be hidden or occult, accessible only to those who are racially pure and spiritually advanced. Esoteric Nazis often claim that this knowledge has been passed down through secret societies or mystical traditions that have preserved it since ancient times.[36]

The content of this esoteric knowledge varies but often includes teachings on the origins of the Aryan race, the nature of the cosmos, and the laws governing spiritual and racial purity. This knowledge is seen as empowering the Aryan race to reclaim its rightful place as the spiritual and temporal leaders of the world, capable of ushering in a new Golden Age.[35]

Detachment from conventional morality

Esoteric Nazism advocates for a detachment from conventional morality, which is viewed as a construct of inferior races or the oppressive forces of the demiurge. Instead, it promotes a code of conduct that aligns with the perceived divine mission of the Aryan race. This includes the justification of violence, domination, and other actions deemed necessary to protect and advance the Aryan race and its spiritual goals.[32]

This belief system promotes a form of "might makes right" ideology, where actions are judged not by conventional ethical standards but by their effectiveness in achieving the goals of Esoteric Nazism. This detachment from traditional morality is used to justify the extremist and often violent actions associated with the movement.[34]

Relationship to neopaganism

Further information: Heathenry (new religious movement), Heathenry in the United States, and Modern paganism in German-speaking Europe

Differences from neopaganism

Esoteric Nazism is fundamentally based on the belief in Aryan racial superiority and purity, incorporating racist doctrines that promote the dominance of the Aryan race. This ideology distorts ancient myths and symbols to support its racist agenda. In stark contrast, mainstream neopaganism generally rejects racial exclusivity, instead, it focuses on spirituality, cultural heritage, and inclusivity. Many neopagan groups explicitly denounce racism and as a result, they strive to create inclusive communities that celebrate diversity.[26]

Esoteric Nazism intertwines its mystical and esoteric beliefs with a fascist and far-right political agenda. It seeks to revive Nazi ideology through an occult framework, advocating the implementation of authoritarian and supremacist policies. Conversely, many neopagan groups are either apolitical or politically diverse, emphasizing spiritual practices and community building rather than political activism. This fundamental difference in political orientation further separates Esoteric Nazism from mainstream neopaganism.[31]

Esoteric Nazism and neopaganism both draw upon ancient symbols and mythologies, but their interpretations and applications of those symbols and mythologies diverge significantly. Esoteric Nazis use symbols like the swastika, runes, and the Black Sun to propagate their racial and mystical beliefs. Neopagans, on the other hand, use these symbols in a cultural or spiritual context, devoid of the racist connotations imposed by Esoteric Nazism. Mainstream neopaganism often reclaims these symbols to highlight their original, non-racist meanings.[26]

Contemporary groups influenced by Esoteric Nazism

Certain fringe elements within the neopagan community have adopted Esoteric Nazi ideologies, blending them with their spiritual practices. These groups emphasize racial purity and draw on the same distorted mythologies as Esoteric Nazism. Examples include specific factions within Odinism and Ásatrú that espouse white supremacist beliefs. These sects often face criticism and rejection from the broader neopagan community.[37]

Esoteric Nazi beliefs have influenced various far-right and neo-Nazi groups that incorporate elements of neopaganism into their ideologies. These groups use neopagan symbols and rituals to support their racial and political agendas, creating a hybrid ideology that merges occultism with white supremacist goals. This confluence of beliefs helps these groups to attract members who are drawn to both the mystical and the political aspects of their ideology.[32]

Counteractions by neopagan communities

Mainstream neopagan organizations actively denounce racism and white supremacy, striving to distance themselves from the ideologies of Esoteric Nazism. For example, groups such as the Asatru Folk Assembly have issued public statements rejecting racial exclusivity and promoting inclusivity within their communities. These actions are crucial in maintaining a clear boundary between neopagan spirituality and racist ideologies.[35]

Many neopagan groups engage in educational initiatives to promote a positive and inclusive image of their traditions. This includes workshops, public statements, and community events that emphasize the spiritual and cultural aspects of neopaganism without the racist overtones of Esoteric Nazism. These efforts aim to educate both their members and the public about the true nature of neopaganism and its rejection of extremist ideologies.[37]

Mainstream neopagan communities often celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity, integrating various traditions and practices into their spiritual framework. This inclusive approach directly counters the exclusivist and supremacist ideologies of Esoteric Nazism, fostering a more open and accepting spiritual environment. By embracing diversity, these communities work to dismantle the harmful narratives propagated by Esoteric Nazi groups.[32]

Scholarly perspectives

The study of Esoteric Nazism has attracted significant attention from scholars, particularly those interested in the intersections of occultism, political extremism, and modern mythology. These scholars have explored the origins, development, and influence of Esoteric Nazism, offering critical analyses of its ideological foundations and the ways in which it has persisted and evolved in post-war contexts.

Origins and historical context

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, one of the most prominent scholars in this field, has extensively studied the roots of Esoteric Nazism. His seminal work, The Occult Roots of Nazism (1985), traces the origins of Nazi occultism to early 20th-century Ariosophy and other Germanic mystical traditions that influenced figures like Guido von List and Lanz von Liebenfels. Goodrick-Clarke argues that these esoteric ideas played a crucial role in shaping the ideological underpinnings of the Nazi Party, particularly through the influence of the Thule Society. He emphasizes that while these ideas were not the sole cause of Nazi ideology, they provided a mystical and racial framework that supported and justified the more extreme aspects of Nazism.

In his later work, Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity (2002), Goodrick-Clarke explores the post-war survival of Esoteric Nazi beliefs and their influence on various neo-Nazi and far-right groups. He discusses how these groups have adapted the mystical and occult elements of Nazism to contemporary contexts, often blending them with other esoteric traditions, conspiracy theories, and pseudo-historical narratives.

Mythology and symbolism

Joscelyn Godwin, a scholar of Western esotericism, has also contributed significantly to the study of Esoteric Nazism, particularly through his book Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival (1996). Godwin examines the mythological and symbolic elements of Esoteric Nazism, focusing on the ideas of Hyperborea, Thule, and the supposed survival of Nazi elements in Antarctica. He explores how these myths have been used to create a mystical narrative that links the Aryan race to ancient, hidden civilizations and supernatural powers.

Godwin, along with Goodrick-Clarke, has also discussed the connections between Esoteric Nazism and other esoteric traditions, such as the belief in Vril energy, the hidden Shambhala and Agartha civilizations, and underground UFO bases. These scholars highlight how these ideas have been integrated into a broader esoteric framework, often merging with conspiracy theories about Nazi survival in underground Antarctic bases and alliances with Hyperboreans from a subterranean world.

Critical analysis and debunking

Scholars have also critically analyzed and debunked many of the myths associated with Esoteric Nazism. Goodrick-Clarke, in particular, has been careful to distinguish between the historical reality of Nazi occultism and the exaggerated or fabricated claims made by later writers and neo-Nazi groups. In Black Sun, he critically examines the so-called "Nazi UFO" myth and the various pseudoscientific theories that have emerged around it, arguing that these ideas are largely modern inventions with little basis in historical fact.

Jeffrey Kaplan, in his book The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right (1998), also explores the role of Esoteric Nazism in the broader context of the radical right. He analyzes how Esoteric Nazi ideas have been co-opted by various white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, often serving as a mystical justification for their racist and extremist ideologies. Kaplan's work provides a broader sociopolitical context for understanding the appeal of Esoteric Nazism, particularly in its ability to offer a sense of spiritual and racial superiority to its adherents.

Influence on modern movements

The influence of Esoteric Nazism on modern occult and far-right movements has been another area of scholarly focus. Scholars like Matthias Gardell have explored how these ideas have permeated various neopagan and white separatist groups, particularly in Europe and North America. Gardell's Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism (2003) examines how Esoteric Nazi beliefs have been integrated into modern pagan practices, often serving as a spiritual justification for racial exclusivity and white supremacy. He highlights the ways in which these beliefs are transmitted through both traditional and digital means, contributing to the persistence of Esoteric Nazism in contemporary culture.

In popular culture

Music

There is a contemporary loose network of small musical groups that combine neo-fascism and satanism. These groups can be found in Britain, France, and New Zealand, under names such as "Black Order" or "Infernal Alliance", and draw their inspiration from the Esoteric Hitlerism of Miguel Serrano.[38] These groups advocate the anti-modern neo-tribalism and Traditionalism found in the pagan mysticist ideals of Alain de Benoist's Nouvelle Droite inspired by Julius Evola.[citation needed]

Esoteric themes, including references to artifacts such as the Holy Lance, are also often alluded to in neo-Nazi music (e.g. Rock Against Communism) and above all in National Socialist black metal.[39]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_Neo-Nazism

On 11 June 1963, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated outside the Cambodian embassy in the city of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalists were notified in advance to show up, but had not been told what would happen. The US journalist Malcolm Browne photographed the scene. His photograph became an enduring worldwide image of Buddhist protest.

Many in the US assume that the self-immolation was a protest against the war in Vietnam, paralleling anti-war protestors at home. This idea fits nicely into the popular association of Buddhism with peace. It is, however, wrong. Quang Duc’s self-immolation and the others that followed were a protest against the South Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem administration and its allies in the West. Vietnamese Buddhists felt persecuted by the Vietnamese administration’s pro-Catholic stance. Their self-immolations were acts to defend Buddhism.

Buddhists have always been involved in civil disobedience movements and peace-making agendas, such as the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. Further, Buddhist meditations have proven incredibly helpful in the rehabilitation of criminals. In short, Buddhism, to its practitioners, is not an ‘accoutrement’ to life or ‘just’ a philosophy – it is a full-bodied religion whose adherents are eager to protect. The myth of Buddhism as a wholly peaceful religion ignores Buddhists’ agency and diversity – and the fact that they will go to great lengths to defend their religion, whether by way of pistol-bearing monks or self-immolating protesters.

Recently, Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also called for violence. In 2013, Time magazine placed the Burmese Buddhist monk U Wirathu on their cover with the headline ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror’. U Wirathu has been a fiery critic of Burmese Muslims, particularly those who identify as Rohingya. The 2014 Myanmar census found that Buddhists make up 89 per cent of the population, compared with Muslims at 4.3 per cent. Nevertheless, U Wirathu and his counterparts argue that both Burmese Buddhism and Myanmar itself are threatened by the ‘Islamification of Asia’. In well-attended sermons, U Wirathu has repeatedly derided Muslims and Islam, accusing them of seeking to destroy Burmese culture and the future of Buddhism. In one sermon, he likened Muslims to the African carp, explaining that they are inherently violent, prone to breed quickly, and want to eat their own kind.

U Wirathu is a member of the 969 movement. This movement and the Ma Ba Tha (the Patriotic Association of Myanmar) retain significant influence over the Buddhists of Myanmar. They distribute pamphlets and taped sermons that warn about the threat of Islam. Their work to foment fear of Muslims helps to propel Burmese Buddhists toward violence, as in the murderous anti-Muslim riots in the central city of Meiktila in 2013, where at least 40 people died. Before these, there were powerful precursors from the western Rakhine state. Since 2012, nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Most of these Rohingya have been deported from homes into special internment camps. Due to the terrible conditions in these camps, journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times argue that the Buddhist treatment of the Rohingya constitutes genocide.

In 2015, the two Burmese Buddhist organisations successfully lobbied for the passage of pro-Buddhist legislation. Many international human-rights groups argue that these new laws are discriminatory against minority groups, particularly Muslims. U Wirathu continues to develop connections not only with Thailand’s Buddhist monks, but also with Sri Lankan Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist organisation ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott on stores selling halal-certified meat

From 1983, Sri Lanka was engaged in a civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought to separate and form their own independent state of Tamil Eelam. The Sri Lankan government opposed this, both through secular language and Buddhist rhetoric. Buddhist monks fiercely argued against negotiations, and for fighting to keep Sri Lanka ‘whole’. For these monks, Sri Lanka is the true land of Buddhism and it was under attack. Monks were straightforward political players, delivering incendiary speeches, joining political parties (such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), and taking part in violent clashes.

The civil war ended in 2009, but Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have continued to push their political agendas. Since 2011, there have been further escalations in violent rhetoric by Sri Lankan Buddhist nationalist organisations such as the Sinhala Ravaya (The Roar of the Sinhalese), the Ravana Balaya (Ravana’s Force) and the Bodu Bala Sena (The Army of Buddhist Power). Often, the rhetoric is directed at businesses, for example against halal provision for Muslims. In early 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott against stores that provided halal-certified meat. The Buddhist organisation falsely alleged that Muslims were slaughtering young calves (an illegal practice), and accused the governing body for halal-certification, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, of taking steps to bring about Sharia law in Sri Lanka.

Similar to their counterparts in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have incited anti-Muslim riots, as in Aluthgama in 2014. Buddhist groups have been implicated in the assassination of politicians and peace activists. The growing influence of these hyper-nationalist Buddhist organisations, together with the Sri Lankan government’s tacit support (through a lack of response) has spurred NGOs and local communities to protest. In November 2016, 367 Sri Lankan citizens submitted a collective complaint about the inaction of the police to protect minorities from the persistence of Buddhist monk-led attacks.

No religion has a monopoly on ‘violent people’, nor does any one religion have a greater propensity for violence. Rather, social conditions such as poverty and societal upheavals generate violent behaviour, regardless of religion. It is no coincidence that poorer regions and neighbourhoods suffer higher crime rates. When people find the world changing around them, they turn to their religion to make sense of things. Some look to religion as a means to preserve what they have, and religion provides a way of understanding one’s place in the world and, more importantly, one’s duty.

In order to comprehend such people’s justifications for violence, it is important to explore their worldview, namely, the way in which Buddhists understand and protect what is sacred to them. Although Buddhism is incredibly diverse, all Buddhists venerate the Triple Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (doctrine) and Sangha (monastic community). As long as these jewels remain in the world, humanity still has a way of escaping the vicious cycle of rebirth. Buddhists, along with Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, believe that time is cyclical, and that there is a decline before the end of each great cycle.

According to Buddhists, their doctrine provides rulers with justice, societies with equilibrium, and individuals with a path to salvation. Its attenuation, therefore, is one sign of the decline. Another is the absence, or dwindling numbers, of the sangha. When there are no more monks, Buddhist End Times will begin.

Buddhist scriptures measure internal time by how many breaths you take, and external (cosmic) time through the rotation of four kalpas, or aeons. Unlike in Abrahamic religions, time in Buddhism has no beginning. It is a constant cycle. There is no definitive amount of time given for each kalpa, but Buddhist scriptures provide suggestive analogies. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one kalpa lasts longer than the time required to wear away an 18,000-square-metre rock by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every 100 years.

The first kalpa is a formative and chaotic period. In the second kalpa, the chaos continues to unfold. It is only in the third kalpa in which the chaos declines, and the world enters into a rapid stage of evolution. The fourth and final kalpa is called the Age of Destruction. It ends with an apocalyptic rainfall that destroys all life and sparks the beginning of the first kalpa. Buddhists believe that we are living in the fourth and final section of the last kalpa. The end of the kalpa will inevitably come and, when it does, a new Buddha will emerge: Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be. But Buddhists can forestall the end. The longer the Buddhist monks and their doctrine remain strong, then the slower the pace toward the end of the kalpa.

Buddhist traditions have different ways of identifying the signs of deterioration. According to legend, on the eve of the Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) becoming awakened, he was tempted by Mara, the embodiment of desire, death and rebirth. Although he conquered his desires and vanquished Mara, many Buddhists have believed that the re-appearance of Mara is a sign that the End Times have arrived. Others think that the erosion of their sacred Three Jewels signals the beginning of the end. In order to forestall the quickening of the End Times, Buddhists have fought against the manifestations of Mara and to preserve the integrity of their practices and doctrine.

For instance, in sixth-century China, the Buddhist monk Faqing led a revolt and declared the arrival of a new Buddha. He marshalled 50,000 men to fight, promising them that, with each kill, they would reach a higher stage in the bodhisattva path. In ninth-century Tibet, Emperor Langdarma was assassinated by a Tibetan lama. According to Tibetan sources, Langdarma had become possessed by demonic forces (gdon). He destroyed monasteries and began to attack the Buddhist establishment. Things were changing and not in the right direction. The murder of Langdarma ‘saved’ Buddhism in Tibet. It has become such an important event that the Tibetans commemorate the murder in their Cham dance, which offers moral instructions through performance.

Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese emperor strengthened support for Shintoism, and began to dismantle Buddhist institutions that were not favourable to the state. Buddhist monks had a choice of either complying with the state, or leaving the monkhood. Many remained and supported the onset of Japanese imperialism. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, Rinzai Buddhist monks spoke out in favour of the military campaign. For them, the war was a fight for the preservation of civilisation and the Buddhist doctrine – a fight for the world.

The Buddhist call-to-arms reoccurred throughout the Second World War. Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Zen and Pure Land Buddhist monks argued that the Second World War was justified in order to preserve ‘true’ Buddhism. The Buddhist traditions in places such as China, Korea and Singapore had become corrupt and faulty. It was a sign of decay.

As humanity moves closer to the Buddhist End Times, the Buddhist doctrine explains that it will become harder for a person to become enlightened. In recent years, many Buddhists have turned to Pure Land Buddhism. These Buddhists believe that our world is now fraught with a multitude of obstacles to becoming fully awakened. To avoid this, a follower practices uttering Amitabh’s name (nianfo) and visualizing him. In this way, the follower ensures a rebirth in Pure Land, where he can receive the teachings from the Bodhisattva Amitabha to reach enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism is one of the largest populated traditions in East Asia, and is quickly expanding its numbers globally. While some Buddhists turn to traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, others fight to preserve what they believe is true Buddhism, such as in southern Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Over the centuries, there have been tremendous changes to Buddhism. Indeed, change is one of the foundational principles in Buddhism: all is impermanent. Some changes are in concert with modernity, others are in reaction. Each Buddhist tradition has transformed with the times – and the times are always changing. But there are persistent patterns that keep pace with these changes. Buddhist monks in the early sixth-century China led revolts to defend Buddhism. Today, monks in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka continue to fight – violently – for their religion and to call their followers to action. The cycle of violence continues in this final stage of the cycle of time: the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction.

Monks with guns

Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam?

https://aeon.co/essays/buddhism-can-be-as-violent-as-any-other-religion

Etymology

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Entries linking to gautama

Buddha (n.)

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

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

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

BULL of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

[474] B. 1If someone has attended the lectures on some part of the arts elsewhere, this can be taken into account, 2But ordinarily, in order to be graduated one must have studied for the three years mentioned. 3This holds true also for the four years of theology, in regard to being admitted to the acts and receiving a degree in it.

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

[770] 4. 1The third pertains to his soul, in the case of some necessity which might arise, even among perfect men, regarding his person or his office. The Society should have a person with the general (and this can also be practiced with subordinate superiors) who will be obliged, after recurring to God in prayer and taking counsel with his Divine Goodness, if he judges it right, 2to admonish the general with due modesty and humility about what in him he thinks would be for the greater service and glory of God. 3This could be the general s confessor, or someone else appointed by the Society[12] who seems fit for this purpose.

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

Mr. Perfect (with The Genius) Promo [1990-02-04]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOoSSKjsBwo

Curtis Michael Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003), better known by the ring name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler. Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by peers, critics, and fans, he performed under his real name for promotions including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and NWA Total Nonstop Action. Hennig was the son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig and the father of wrestler Curtis Axel.

Death

On February 10, 2003, Hennig was found dead in a hotel room in Brandon, Florida at the age of 44, six weeks away from his 45th birthday.[40] The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office declared acute cocaine intoxication to be the cause of his death.[102] It was stated by his father that steroids and painkillers also contributed to his death.[103]

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

Devil: the enemy of perfection, particularly of poverty [553]; his or her illusions must be guarded against [260]; against his or her attacks those who are dying must be defended [595]

Index

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

So You Want to Be Perfect?

Good news. It’s possible—and simpler than you think.

Michael Morgan December 22, 2024

Reading Options

Related Scripture

Matthew 5:48

Jesus’ preaching can be pretty hair-raising sometimes. Just looking at a woman lustfully is adulterous. Simply calling someone a fool is murderous. However, the line that has always spooked me the most is, “Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Good luck with that. I can’t even get to work in heavy traffic without calling someone (or lots of someones) a fool, so perfection ain’t happening. Why does it feel as if Jesus is calling us to do something impossible?

About a year ago, my family and I moved to a new house from the little Cape Cod my wife and I bought as a starter home. The dogs probably got the biggest upgrade, going from a postage-stamp fenced yard to nearly an acre with lots of trees (and attendant squirrels to chase). Our sons finally got separate rooms, and my wife got a bathroom she no longer had to share with the boys. I got a wood-burning fireplace. I tell my friends that this has initiated the lumberjack phase of my midlife crisis. I now own an axe and use it often.

Chopping firewood is hard work. Over time, as you learn which logs are going to take some extra effort, you get used to swinging the axe with ruthless efficiency. But every once in a while, you’ll set a log on the chopping block and the axe flies through it like you’re slicing butter with a hot knife. The difference? That log was rotten. It looked good on the outside, but the inside made the wood useless. You might say the log had no integrity.

The idea of being one thing on the outside and something else on the inside is what caught my attention in Jonathan Pennington’s article “A Biblical Theology of Human Flourishing.” This is how he understands the call to be perfect:

One of the key ideas—if not the key idea—in the Sermon on the Mount is “wholeness,” “completeness,” or “singular devotion.” For Matthew “the disciple is he whose dedication to God is total, single.” This emphasis on singleness or wholehearted dedicatedness … finds its clearest principled version in the paradigmatic statement in Matthew 5:48: “Be teleios as your heavenly Father is teleios.” To say that we must be teleios as God is to say that we must be whole. We must be singular in who we are, not one thing on the outside but another on the inside. The call to telios-ness in Matthew 5:48 and throughout the Sermon is the same call to “holiness” that we see throughout the Old Testament (and the rest of the New Testament)—not moral perfection, but wholehearted orientation toward God.

This is good news for me and every other 21st-century American. We tend to think being “perfect” means we’re blemish-free, straight-A students who constantly execute no-runs-allowed performances. But the command to “be perfect” is more about our orientation toward God. And in our imperfect world, that means being an honest person who takes responsibility for his or her life, including missteps. It’s more about Jesus’ injunction against being whitewashed tombs than about following the law to the last jot and tittle, even in our thoughts. In other words, what’s worse than being a sinner? Being a sinner who acts as if he isn’t.

What’s worse than being a sinner? Being a sinner who acts as if he isn’t.

That’s one reason Jesus reminds us that our Father is perfect—He’s the same through and through. He doesn’t change, and He doesn’t put on a show of goodness to hide some sinister inner workings. God reveals Himself without deception, hiding nothing. Yes, He was and is without sin, and that’s crucial—but what Jesus really wants us to emulate is God’s integrity, because we can’t copy His performance.

For us, striving for perfection is actually (and paradoxically) less about being perfect and more about being honest about our imperfection. This means, for example, acknowledging when we’ve hurt someone, owning what’s our fault, and apologizing. Or it might mean choosing not to serve someone else because we’re interested only in what we’ll gain from the relationship or how it will help us keep up appearances. When we’re one way on the outside and another on the inside, no one benefits.

—

I know we’re probably the only family this happens to, but we occasionally get into arguments when trying to get out of the house on Sunday mornings. Someone doesn’t hop up from the couch to get dressed as fast as someone else would like. Then someone else says something snippy, thinking it will cool things down when their words are actually more like pouring gasoline on a fire. By the time we get into the car, everybody’s feelings are a bit scorched.

Then we get to church, and other families are there in their best clothes, looking as if they didn’t fight an epic battle all the way out the door and halfway across town. We sit down in our pew feeling like the most dysfunctional family on earth. True blue-ribbon winners.

So yeah, sometimes on Sundays I find it extraordinarily difficult to worship.

What Jesus really wants us to emulate is God’s integrity, because we can’t copy His performance.

Maintaining this facade of perfect Sunday-best Christianity is exhausting. There’s no integrity in it, and I for one would feel impossibly lonely if I had to keep it up week in and week out. I’d replay the morning’s arguments in my head, convinced I didn’t belong among the other families who seem to have it together. Thankfully, Jesus calls me to the better way and offers the medicine for my spiritual illness. I need to strive for honesty and to make sure every part of me is in alignment. Just as God reveals who He really is at all times, so should I.

Thankfully, we’re blessed to know other families at church, and when we get together, they talk about how their Sunday mornings (or Saturday evenings, school nights, or evenings after the kids go to bed) really go. Nobody I’ve met has a “perfect” family life. I’ll confess that I don’t always like doing it, but listening to those stories and telling someone else how things really are on the inside is an essential ingredient to integrity. That’s how the light gets in—and light is where healing starts. Whether it’s frightfully loud or deadly quiet, we’re all enduring sin and conflict in our own ways. We’re all relying on the Lord’s grace and mercy to abound, and doing that is so much easier when you’re not waiting alone.

I can report that, to date, confessing that I lost my temper with my kids has not healed me of my anger. I’m still more like that rotting log than I care to admit. On the contrary, sometimes it feels as if all the light does is show just how extensive the decay actually is. I have noticed, though— especially on the evenings when our small group gets together—that being around others who know our family and hear us out in our hurts and frustrations can completely turn a wretched Sunday around.

A true brother or sister doesn’t measure you by who you are on the outside or even on how authentically you reveal who you are on the inside. They don’t measure you at all because they know your integrity comes from the same place theirs does: from God’s mercy poured out through His Son. And each time I’ve received mercy from members of my small group, the weight of failure doesn’t feel so heavy in my heart. On those nights, I go home with far more peace than I showed up with.

https://www.intouch.org/read/articles/so-you-want-to-be-perfect?Source=D000000817&utm_campaign=dec2024-newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--5540yKefx8jDhJZzUP9ATmKLfx52sWoMj5x-OSzfSqU1ByJk771BoBbByiOvK-9xWn5ql2cFPXqtXjOunUxfCCIXoNw&_hsmi=339600845&utm_content=body-text1&utm_source=newsletter

Matthew 5

1599 Geneva Bible

5 1 Who are blessed. 13 The Apostles are the salt and light of the world. 14 The city set on an hill. 15 The candle. 16 Good works. 19 The fulfilling of Christ’s commandments. 21 What killing is. 23 Reconciliation is set before sacrifice. 27 Adultery. 29 The plucking out of the eye. 30 Cutting off of the hand. 31 The bill of divorcement. 33 Not to swear. 44 To love our enemies. 48 Perfectness.

1 And when he saw the multitude, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came to him.

2 [a]And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the [b]poor in [c]spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the [d]pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed shall ye be when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you for my sake, falsely.

12 Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you.

13 Ye [e]are the salt of the [f]earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be [g]salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

14 Ye are the [h]light of the world. A city that is set on an hill, cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.

17 [i]Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy them, but to [j]fulfill them.

18 For truly I say unto you, Till heaven and earth perish, one jot or one tittle of the Law shall not escape, till all things be fulfilled.

19 [k]Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and teach men so, he shall be called the [l]least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall observe and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

21 [m]Ye have heard that it was said unto them of the old time, Thou shalt not kill: for whosoever killeth shall be culpable of judgment.

22 But I say unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother unadvisedly, shall be [n]culpable [o]of judgment. And whosoever saith unto his brother, Raca, shall be worthy to be punished by the [p]Council. And whosoever shall say, Fool, shall be worthy to be punished with [q]hell [r]fire.

23 [s]If then thou bring thy gift to the [t]altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee,

24 Leave there thine offering before the altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

25 [u]Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him, lest thine adversary deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the sergeant, and thou be cast into prison.

26 Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not come out thence, till thou hast [v]paid the utmost farthing.

27 ¶ [w]Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery.

28 But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

29 Wherefore if thy [x]right eye cause thee [y]to offend, pluck it out and cast it from thee: for better it is for thee, that one of thy members perish, than that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

30 Also if thy right hand make thee to offend, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for better it is for thee, that one of thy members perish, than that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

31 It hath been said also, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorcement.

32 But I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife (except it be for fornication) causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery.

33 [z]Again, ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform thine oaths to the Lord.

34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God:

35 Nor yet by the earth, for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem: for it is the city of the great King.

36 Neither shalt thou swear by thine head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

37 But let your communication be [aa]Yea, yea: Nay, nay. For whatsoever is more than these, cometh of [ab]evil.

38 ¶ [ac]Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

39 But I say unto you, Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

41 And whosoever will compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

42 Give to him that asketh, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not away.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies: bless them that curse you: do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which hurt you, and persecute you,

45 [ad]That ye may be the children of your father that is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to arise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust.

46 For if ye love them, which love you, what reward shall you have? Do not the Publicans even the same?

47 And if ye be friendly to your brethren only, what singular thing do ye? do not even the [ae]Publicans likewise?

48 Ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father which is in heaven, is perfect.

Footnotes

Matthew 5:2 Christ teacheth that the greatest joy and felicity is not in the commodities and pleasures of this life, but is laid up in heaven for them that willingly rest in the good will and pleasure of God, and endeavor to profit all men, although they be cruelly vexed, and troubled of the worldlings, because they will not fashion themselves to their manners.

Matthew 5:3 Under the name of poverty are all such miseries meant, as are joined with poverty.

Matthew 5:3 Whose minds and spirits are brought under, and tamed, and obey God.

Matthew 5:8 Fitly is this word Pure, joined with the heart, for as a bright and shining resemblance or image may be seen plainly in a clear and pure looking glass, even so doth the face (as it were) of the everlasting God, shine forth, and clear appears in a pure heart.

Matthew 5:13 The ministers of the word, especially (unless they will be the most caitiff of all) must needs lead others both by word and deed to this greatest joy and felicity.

Matthew 5:13 Your doctrine must be very sound and good, for if it be not so, it shall be naught set by, and cast away as a thing unsavory and vain.

Matthew 5:13 What shall you have to salt withal? And so are fools in the Latin tongue called saltless, as you would say, men that have no salt, or savor and taste in them.

Matthew 5:14 You shine and give light, by being made partakers of the true light.

Matthew 5:17 Christ came not to bring any new way of righteousness and salvation into the world, but to fulfill that in deed which was shadowed by the figures of the Law, by delivering men through grace from the curse of the Law: and moreover to teach the true use of obedience which the Law appointed, and to engrave in our hearts the force of obedience.

Matthew 5:17 That the prophecies may be accomplished.

Matthew 5:19 He beginneth with the true expounding of the Law, and setteth it against the old (but yet false) glosses of the Scribes: So far is he from abolishing the least commandment of his Father.

Matthew 5:19 He shall have no place in the Church.

Matthew 5:21 The true meaning of the first commandment.

Matthew 5:22 He speaketh of the judgment of God, and of the difference of sins, and therefore applieth his words to the form of civil judgments, which were then used.

Matthew 5:22 Of that judgment which was ruled by three men, who had the hearing and deciding of money matters, and such other small causes.

Matthew 5:22 By that judgment which stood of 23 Judges, who had the hearing and deciding of weighty affairs and matters of life and death: as the highest Judges of all, were to the number of 71, which had the hearing of most weighty affairs, as the matter of a whole tribe or of an high Priest, or of a false prophet.

Matthew 5:22 Whereas we read here, Hell, it is in the text itself, Gehenna, which is an Hebrew word made of two, and is as much to say, as the Valley of Hinnom, which otherwise the Hebrews called Tophet: it was a place where the Israelites were wont most cruelly to sacrifice their children to false gods, whereupon it was taken for a place appointed to torment the reprobates in Jer. 7:31.

Matthew 5:22 The Jews used four kinds of punishments, before their government was taken away by Herod, hanging, heading, stoning, and burning: this is it that Christ shot at, because burning was the greatest punishment, therefore in that he maketh mention of a judgment, a council, and a fire, he showeth that some sins are worse than other sins, but yet they are all such that we must give account for them, and will be punished for them.

Matthew 5:23 The covetous Pharisees taught that God was appeased by the sacrifices appointed in the Law, which they themselves devoured. But Christ on the contrary side denieth that God accepteth any man’s offering, unless he maketh satisfaction to his brother whom he hath offended: and saith moreover, that these stubborn and stiffnecked despisers of their brethren, shall never escape the wrath and curse of God, before they have made full satisfaction to their brethren.

Matthew 5:23 He applieth all this speech to the state of his time, when as there was an altar standing in Jerusalem, and therefore they are very foolish, that gather hereupon, that we must build altars, and use sacrifices: but they are more fools, which draw that to purgatory, which is spoken of peacemaking and atonement one with another.

Matthew 5:25 Cut off all cause for enmity.

Matthew 5:26 Thou shalt be dealt withall to the utmost extremity.

Matthew 5:27 He is taken for an adulterer before God, whatsoever he be, that coveteth a woman: and therefore we must keep our eyes chaste, and all the members we have, yea, and we must eschew all occasions which might move us to evil, how dear soever it cost us.

Matthew 5:29 He nameth the right eye and the right hand, because the parts of the right side of our bodies are the chiefest, and the readiest to commit any wickedness.

Matthew 5:29 Word for word, do cause thee to offend: for sins are stumbling blocks as it were, that is to say, rocks which we are cast upon.

Matthew 5:33 The meaning of the third commandment against the froward opinion and judgment of the Scribes, which excused by oaths or indirect forms of swearing.

Matthew 5:37 Whatsoever you vouch, vouch it barely, and whatsoever you deny, deny it barely without any more words.

Matthew 5:37 From an evil conscience, or from the devil.

Matthew 5:38 He showeth clean contrary to the doctrine of the Scribes, that the sum of the second table must be understood, that we may in no wise render evil for evil, but rather suffer double injury, and do well to them that are our deadly enemies.

Matthew 5:45 A double reason: the one is taken of relatives, that children must be like their father: the other is taken of comparison, The children of God must be better, than the children of this world.

Matthew 5:47 They that were the toll masters, and had the oversight of tributes and customs: a kind of men that the Jews hated to death, both because they served the Romans in these offices, (whose yokeful bondage they could hardly away withall) and also because these toll masters are for the most part given to covetousness.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205&version=GNV

What was the meaning and purpose of Jesus’ temptations?

Answer

The three temptations by Satan in the wilderness were not the only temptations our Lord ever suffered on Earth. We read in Luke 4:2 that He was tempted by the devil for forty days, but He was undoubtedly tempted at other times (Luke 4:13; Matthew 16:21–23; Luke 22:42), and yet in all this He was without sin or compromise. Although some have suggested that the Lord’s period of fasting compares with that of both Moses (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:8), the main point is how the Lord deals with temptation in the light of His humanity.

It is because He is human, and made like us in every way, that He could do three vital things: 1) destroy the devil’s power and free those who were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hebrews 2:15); 2) become a merciful and faithful High Priest in service to God and atone for our sins (Hebrews 2:17); and 3) be the One who is able to sympathize with us in all our weaknesses and infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). Our Lord’s human nature enables Him to sympathize with our own weaknesses, because He was subjected to weakness, too. More importantly, we have a High Priest who is able to intercede on our behalf and provide the grace of forgiveness.

Temptation is never as great as when one has made a public declaration of faith as did our Lord when He was baptized in the Jordan (Matthew 3:13–17). However, we also note that, during this time of exhaustive testing, our Lord was also ministered to by angels, a mystery indeed that the omnipotent One should condescend to receive such help from lesser beings! Here is a beautiful description of the ministry that His people also benefit from. During times of testing and trial, we too are aided by angels who are ministering spirits sent to those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14).

Jesus’ temptations follow three patterns that are common to all men. The first temptation concerns the lust of the flesh (Matthew 4:3–4). Our Lord is hungry, and the devil tempts Him to convert stones into bread, but He replies with Scripture, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. The second temptation concerns the pride of life (Matthew 4:5–7), and here the devil uses a verse of Scripture (Psalm 91:11–12), but the Lord replies again with Scripture to the contrary (Deuteronomy 6:16), stating that it is wrong for Him to abuse His own powers. The third temptation concerns the lust of the eyes (Matthew 4:8–10), and if any quick route to the Messiahship could be attained, bypassing the passion and crucifixion for which He had originally come, this was the way. The devil already had control over the kingdoms of the world (Ephesians 2:2) but was now ready to give everything to Christ in return for His allegiance. But the mere thought almost causes the Lord’s divine nature to shudder at such a concept and He replies sharply, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” (Deuteronomy 6:13).

There are many temptations that we sadly fall into because our flesh is naturally weak, but we have a God who will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear; He will provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). We can therefore be victorious and then will thank the Lord for deliverance from temptation. Jesus’ experience in the desert helps us to see these common temptations that keep us from serving God effectively. Furthermore, we learn from Jesus’ response to the temptations exactly how we are to respond—with Scripture. The forces of evil come to us with a myriad of temptations, but all have the same three things at their core: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. We can only recognize and combat these temptations by saturating our hearts and minds with the Truth. The armor of a Christian solider in the spiritual battle of life includes only one offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Knowing the Bible intimately will put the Sword in our hands and enable us to be victorious over temptations.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-temptations.html

Matthew 4

1599 Geneva Bible

4 1 Christ is tempted. 4 He vanquisheth the devil with Scripture. 11 The Angels minister unto him. 12 He preacheth repentance, and that himself is come. 18 The calling of Peter, Andrew. 21 James and John. 24 He preacheth the Gospel, and healeth the diseased.

1 Then was [a]Jesus led aside of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.

2 And when he had fasted [b]forty days, and forty nights, he was afterward hungry.

3 Then came to him the tempter, and said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 But he answering, said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5 Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a [c]pinnacle of the Temple.

6 And said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, that he will give his Angels charge over thee, and with their hands they shall lift thee up, lest at any time thou shouldest dash thy foot against a stone.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not [d]tempt the Lord thy God.

8 Again the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,

9 And said to him, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down, and worship me.

10 Then said Jesus unto him, Avoid Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil left him: and behold, the Angels came, and ministered unto him.

12 ¶ [e]And when Jesus had heard that John was committed to prison, he returned into Galilee,

13 And leaving Nazareth, went and dwelt in [f]Capernaum, which is near the sea in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali,

14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, saying,

15 The land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali by the way of the [g]sea, beyond Jordan, [h]Galilee of the Gentiles:

16 The people which sat in darkness, saw great light: and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is risen up.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Amend your lives: for the kingdom of heaven is at [i]hand.

18 ¶ [j]And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon, which was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers.)

19 And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And they straightway leaving the nets, followed him.

21 And when he was gone forth from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

22 And they without tarrying, leaving the ship and their father, followed him.

23 So [k]Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in [l]their [m]Synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the [n]kingdom, and healing [o]every sickness, and every [p]disease among the people.

24 And his fame spread abroad through all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases, and [q]torments, and them that were possessed with devils, and those which were [r]lunatic, and those that had the [s]palsy: and he healed them.

25 And there followed him great multitudes out of Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond Jordan.

Footnotes

Matthew 4:1 Christ was tempted all manner of ways and still overcometh, that we also through his virtue may overcome.

Matthew 4:2 Full forty days.

Matthew 4:5 The battlement wherewith the flat roof of the temple was compassed about, that no man might fall down: as was appointed by the Law, Deut. 22:8.

Matthew 4:7 Word for word, Thou shalt not go on still in tempting.

Matthew 4:12 When the Herald’s mouth is stopped, the Lord revealeth himself, and bringeth full light into the darkness of this world, preaching free forgiveness of sins to them that repent.

Matthew 4:13 Which was a town a great deal more famous than Nazareth was.

Matthew 4:15 Of Tiberias, or because that country bended toward Tyre, which standeth upon the sea that cutteth the midst of the world.

Matthew 4:15 So called, because it bordered upon Tyre and Sidon, and because Solomon gave the king of Tyre twenty cities in that quarter, 1 Kings 9:11.

Matthew 4:17 Is come to you.

Matthew 4:18 Christ thinking by time, that he should at length depart from us, even at the beginning of his preaching getteth him disciples after an heavenly sort, men indeed poor, and utterly unlearned, and therefore such as might be least suspected witnesses of the truth of those things which they heard and saw.

Matthew 4:23 Christ assureth the hearts of the believers of his spiritual and saving virtue, by healing the diseases of the body.

Matthew 4:23 Their, that is, the Galileans’.

Matthew 4:23 Synagogues, the Jews’ Churches.

Matthew 4:23 Of Messiah.

Matthew 4:23 Diseases of all kinds, but not every one: that is, as we say, some of every one.

Matthew 4:23 The word signifieth properly the weakness of the stomach: but here it is taken for those diseases which make men faint, and wear away, that have them.

Matthew 4:24 The word signifieth properly, the stone wherewith gold is tried: and by a borrowed kind of speech is applied to all kinds of examination by torture, when as by rough dealing and torments, we go about to draw out the truth of men, which otherwise they would not confess: and in this place it is taken for those diseases, which put sick men to great woe.

Matthew 4:24 Which at every full Moon, or other changes of the Moon, are shrewdly troubled and diseased.

Matthew 4:24 Weak and feeble men, who have the parts of their body loosed, and so weakened, that they are neither able to gather them up together, nor put them out as they would.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%204&version=GNV

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