Trump Divides Arizona’s Crucial Mormon Vote

Trump Divides Arizona’s Crucial Mormon Vote

Traditionally Republican members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints balked at Donald Trump in 2020, helping Joe Biden win a key swing state. Will they do so with Kamala Harris?


Around 50 voters, including many Mormons, gathered at a home in Gilbert, Ariz., on Thursday to hear from Ruben Gallego, the Democratic candidate for Senate. In 2020, a significant portion of Mormon voters in the state supported President Biden, helping him flip the state blue.Credit...Ash Ponders for The New York Times

Kellen Browning

By Kellen Browning

Reporting from Mesa, Ariz.


Published Sept. 13, 2024

Updated Nov. 6, 2024

A group of Mormon men sat around a coffee table at a house in Mesa, Ariz., on one recent September evening, debating a scenario that would have felt implausible just a decade ago: Could thousands of Mormon voters, disillusioned and disgusted by former President Donald J. Trump, help deliver a key battleground state to Democrats in November?


It’s already happened once. President Biden won 18 percent of Arizona’s Mormon voters in 2020, according to exit polls, a small but significant defection from a reliably Republican voting bloc that helped Mr. Biden flip the state blue by just 10,457 votes. Seeking their support for the third time, Mr. Trump appears to be dividing the state’s Mormons more than ever, according to interviews with more than a dozen Mormon voters and state political analysts — which could give Vice President Kamala Harris an edge.


“People in my moderate circle of friends are watching and saying, ‘I can no longer do this,’” said Mike Badgett, one of the men in Mesa who was speculating about a greater shift toward Democrats. “I think the wheels are coming off of this agreement.”


Mr. Badgett was referring to the uneasy alliance between Mr. Trump and deeply religious voters. For years, many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supported Mr. Trump, often reluctantly. They were turned off by his vulgarity, his disdain for women and his attacks on immigrants, anathema to the church’s pro-immigrant, pro-refugee message.


But they had been Republicans for generations, driven by a shared belief in traditional family values and Christian conservatism, and they were encouraged by his pledge to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices who they hoped would overturn Roe v. Wade and end the constitutional right to abortion.


It was one segment of a tacit understanding between Christian voters and Mr. Trump: They would ignore his character defects, and he would advance their policy priorities.


For years, many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supported Donald J. Trump, often reluctantly. Since 2020, Mormons have grown even more skeptical of the former president.Credit...Ash Ponders for The New York Times

Since 2020, though, Mormons say members of their religion have grown even more skeptical of the former president, an idea supported by surveys and other data.


They were disturbed by Mr. Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and his criminal indictments and felony conviction, which seemed to validate their longstanding concerns about his character. And traditional Mormon attitudes are changing, spurred by a younger and more diverse generation of millennial and Generation Z churchgoers who are more open-minded about issues like L.G.B.T.Q. rights and divorce.


“There’s new ideas coming into the house,” said Brittany Romanello, a faculty associate of anthropology at Arizona State University who studies Mormon culture and politics. “I think that is a huge reason older Mormons are changing their voting patterns.”


Even on abortion, long a bedrock issue for churchgoers, there are signs that some Mormon women are having second thoughts. The church officially opposes abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, but some Mormon women said the new abortion restrictions that some states passed after the overturning of Roe v. Wade ran contrary to their religious principles that emphasize autonomy and agency. (Earlier this year, Arizona’s Supreme Court reinstated a near-total ban on abortion, before the State Legislature repealed it, reverting to a 15-week restriction.)


Allison Jones, a photographer who lives in Gilbert, east of Phoenix, said she thought a wave of Mormon women would cast their votes for Ms. Harris this November — silently — while their husbands would continue to support Mr. Trump.


“It’s on the D.L.,” Ms. Jones, 59, said, meaning on the down-low. “There are going to be a lot of women that are going to get their mail-in ballots, they’re going to walk into that booth, and their husbands are never going to know what they did.”


Sherry Macnab, 47, a Mesa resident and corporate event manager, said she knew of women who had placed Post-it notes in women’s restrooms in churches, reminding them that their husbands would not know whom they voted for.


“There’s a big discrepancy between male and female voters right now,” Ms. Macnab said.


To be sure, many Mormons remain firmly anti-abortion, and a majority will most likely stick with Mr. Trump in November.


Mr. Trump at a campaign rally in Glendale, Ariz., last month. Many Mormons remain firmly anti-abortion, and a majority will most likely vote for Mr. Trump this fall.Credit...Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

Jared Taylor, the chief executive of Heritage Academy schools, which are public charter schools, said he knew of fellow Mormons who voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 and were sheepishly returning to Mr. Trump’s side, fueled by Republican advocacy for religious liberty.


“President Trump has been very vocal, very supportive,” Mr. Taylor, 52, said. “Biden and Harris have been mute” and haven’t spoken out on what he sees as the persecution of Christians.


Halee Dobbins, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign in Arizona, offered a long list of examples of Mr. Trump siding with Christian groups during his presidency, and expressed confidence that the Mormon community was behind him.


Tara Fischbeck, 44, of Mesa, said she supported Mr. Trump because he was strong on the border, would protect the freedom of speech and “believes in the nuclear family.”


“His family is stalwart; they’re amazing,” she said. “I think that tells a lot about him as a person.”


Still, Democrats believe that many Mormons are persuadable. There are nearly 500,000 Mormons in Arizona — or about 7 percent of the population — according to the church, though that number includes children.


A grass-roots group called Latter-day Saints for Harris-Walz that works with the campaign held a video call in August to generate enthusiasm, and plans to begin in-person events this fall, according to Rob Taber, an organizer.


And on Thursday, about 50 people, many of them Mormon, met at a home in a neighborhood in Gilbert to listen to a campaign speech from Representative Ruben Gallego, the Democrat running for U.S. Senate against Kari Lake. Such a gathering might have been unlikely not long ago, but Republican attendees said they felt some of their party’s candidates were no longer people they could support.


Image


Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who is running against Kari Lake for Senate, spoke to about 50 people at a home in Gilbert on Thursday. Republicans who attended the gathering said they felt they could not support some of their party’s candidates anymore.Credit...Ash Ponders for The New York Times

“My religion helps to guide my moral compass,” said Hillary Webster, 51, a preschool teacher. She said she wrote in her husband’s name for president in 2016, and then supported Mr. Biden. She now supports Ms. Harris. “Being raised Mormon, I know that the power’s within myself to make good choices.”


Arizona’s most prominent pro-Harris Mormon is John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa. Mr. Giles spoke at the Democratic convention in Chicago last month, and he shared a slide show of photos from his trip at the meeting of the Mormon men in Mesa.


Mr. Trump presented an “interesting dilemma” for Mormons, Mr. Giles said.


“His lifestyle is so abhorrent to ours,” he said. “Yes, he’s a Republican, but he’s not like us in any other way.”


After, Mr. Giles and the others debated whether Latter-day Saints voters would feel the church had given them the permission they felt they needed to potentially flip to Ms. Harris.


Advertisement


SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

A letter from the church’s top leaders last year warned against blindly voting down the ballot for one party without carefully considering candidates and issues, calling such an act a “threat to democracy.” Some interpreted this as a nudge not to reflexively vote for Mr. Trump.


Brian Dille, of Gilbert, said he thought the notice might make a difference for Mormons who had grown sick of Mr. Trump but were struggling to break free of a tradition of Republican support.


“It provides an exit door,” he said. “Being a Mormon Democrat in the Intermountain West is lonely — people won’t talk to me. But that’s changed.”


John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Ariz., spoke in support of Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month.Credit...Ash Ponders for The New York Times

Democrats may not succeed in turning an enormous number of Mormons into outright supporters of Ms. Harris, with whom they still have substantial policy differences. Even Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a prominent Mormon critic of Mr. Trump, has not said whether he voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 — only that he did not vote for Mr. Trump. On Wednesday, he declined to tell reporters in Washington if he would back Ms. Harris.


But there is a sense that a growing number may at least choose not to vote for Mr. Trump, instead selecting a third-party candidate or abstaining.


Walking to a church in Mesa on a recent afternoon, Braeden and Amanda Lee said they had traditionally voted for Republicans, but remained undecided this year.


“I’m not super enthused about either party,” Mr. Lee said.


Others remain loyal to Mr. Trump.


David Filbrun, who owns a trampoline store in Mesa, said that under President Biden, he had to raise the price of his largest trampoline to $2,400 from $1,600 over the last four years, because the cost of materials had increased so much. Homelessness near his store is on the rise, he added, and he believed Mr. Trump’s policies would improve the country.


“To me, it’s really whatever or whoever is pro-America,” Mr. Filbrun said.


But he admitted not everyone shared his view.


“The L.D.S. community is divided,” Mr. Filbrun said, “which is the first time I’ve ever really thought that.”


Image


David Filbrun at his trampoline manufactory in Mesa, Ariz., on Thursday. Mr. Filbrun continues to support Mr. Trump. “The L.D.S. community is divided,” Mr. Filbrun said, “which is the first time I’ve ever really thought that.”Credit...Ash Ponders for The New York Times

Nicole Ludden contributed reporting from Gilbert, Ariz.


A correction was made on Sept. 13, 2024: An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to Heritage Academy schools. They are public charter schools, not private Christian schools.

A correction was made on Sept. 16, 2024: An earlier version of this article also referred incorrectly to a geographical region of the western United States. It is the Intermountain West, not the inner Mountain West.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.Learn more


Kellen Browning is a Times reporter covering the 2024 election, with a focus on the swing states of Nevada and Arizona. More about Kellen Browning


A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 14, 2024, Section A, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Mormons in Arizona Rethink Ties to Trump. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

See more on: Republican Party, Donald Trump, 2024 Elections: News, Polls and Analysis, U.S. Politics, Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/us/politics/trump-divides-arizonas-crucial-mormon-vote.html


Are Jesus and Satan brothers?

Answer


No, Jesus and Satan are not brothers. Jesus is God, and Satan is one of His creations. Not only are Jesus and Satan not brothers, they are as different as night is from day. Jesus is God incarnate—eternal, all-knowing, and all-powerful, while Satan is a fallen angel that was created by God for God’s purposes. The teaching that Jesus and Satan are “spirit brothers” is one of the many false teachings of the Mormons (Latter-Day Saints) and, to some degree, also the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Both of these groups are properly labeled as cults because they deny essential Christian doctrine. While they use Christian terms such as Jesus, God, and salvation, they have heretical views and teachings on the most basic and essential Christian doctrines. (Please note that most Mormons today will vehemently deny that they believe Jesus and Satan are brothers. However, this teaching was most definitely a belief of the early Mormons.)


The teaching that Jesus and Satan are “spirit brothers” is born out of the Mormons’ misunderstanding and distortion of Scripture as well as some of the extra-biblical teachings they consider to be authoritative. Simply put, there is no way you can read the Bible using any type of sound hermeneutical principles and come away with the idea that Jesus and Satan are “spiritual brothers.” The Scriptures are very clear that Jesus is fully God, not some type of lesser god as the Mormons and other cults believe. The Scriptures are also very clear that God is transcendent above His creation, which simply means that there is no comparison between Christ the Creator and Satan His creation.


Mormons believe that Jesus Christ was the first “spirit child” born to God the Heavenly Father with one of his many wives. Instead of acknowledging Jesus as the one true God, they believe He became God, just as they will one day become gods. According to Mormon doctrine, as the first of the “spirit children” of God, Jesus had preeminence over Satan or Lucifer, who was the second “son of God” and the “spirit brother” of Jesus. It is ironic that they will use Colossians 1:15 as one of their “proof texts,” because it says that “[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Yet they ignore verse 16, where we see that “By [Christ] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth. Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. ALL THINGS were created through Him and for Him.” All things—thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers—includes Satan and his demons.


In order to believe that Satan and Jesus are “spiritual brothers,” one must deny the clear teaching of Scripture. Scripture says that it was Jesus Christ who created all things and that, as the second Person of the triune Godhead, Christ is fully and uniquely God. Jesus claimed to be God in many passages of Scripture. In John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” Jesus was not claiming to be another, lesser god. He was declaring that He was fully God. In John 1:1–5 it is clear that Jesus was not a created being and that He Himself created all things. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3). How much clearer can it get? “All things” means what it says, and it includes Satan, who as an angel was himself a created being just like the other angels and demons are. Scripture reveals Satan to be a fallen angel who rebelled against God and Jesus to be God. The only relationship that exists between Satan and Jesus is that of creation and Creator; of the sinful created being, Satan, and the righteous Judge, Jesus Christ.


Like the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses also teach that Jesus and Satan are spiritual brothers. While some Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses might sometimes try to sidestep this teaching because it is so antithetical to what the Bible actually says, it is nevertheless what these organizations believe and is part of their official doctrine.


Mormons believe that, not only were Jesus and Lucifer “spirit children of Elohim,” but that humans are spiritual children, as well. In other words, they believe that “God, angels, and men are all of the same species, one race, one great family.” This is why they believe that they themselves will one day become as much of a god as Jesus or even God the Father. Rather than seeing the clear distinction in Scripture between God and His creation, they believe that one day they will be gods themselves. Of course, this is the same old lie Satan has been telling us since the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). Apparently, the desire to usurp the throne of God is endemic in the hearts of men.


In Matthew 16:15 Jesus asked the important question: “But who do you say that I am?” This is a question that is essential to salvation and one that the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses get wrong. Their answer that Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan is the wrong one. Jesus is God the Son, and in Him the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily (Colossians 2:9). He created Satan, and one day He will cast Satan into the lake of fire as the just punishment for his rebellion against God. Sadly, on that Day of Judgment those who fall for Satan’s lies will also be cast into the lake of fire with Satan and His demons. The god of the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses is not the God who revealed Himself in Scripture. Unless these groups repent and come to understand and worship the one true God, they have no hope of salvation.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Satan-brothers.html


How Did Lucifer Fall and Become Satan?

Lucifer became so impressed with his own beauty, intelligence, power, and position that he began to desire for himself the honor and glory that belonged to God alone. This pride represents the actual beginning of sin in the universe—preceding the fall of the human Adam by an indeterminate time.

Ron Rhodes | President of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries

Updated

Sep 25, 2024

How Did Lucifer Fall and Become Satan?


The story of Lucifer’s fall is described in two key Old Testament chapters—Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. Let’s briefly look at both of these.


It would seem from the context of Ezekiel 28 that the first ten verses of this chapter are dealing with a human leader. Then, starting in verse 11 and on through verse 19, Lucifer is the focus of the discussion:


Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: "You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 


Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever." (Ezekiel 28:11-19)


The Fall of Lucifer in the Bible

What is the rationale for the conclusion that these latter verses refer to the fall of Lucifer? Whereas the first ten verses in this chapter speak about the ruler of Tyre (who was condemned for claiming to be a god though he was just a man), the discussion moves to the king of Tyre starting in verse 11. Many scholars believe that though there was a human “ruler” of Tyre, the real “king” of Tyre was Satan, for it was he who was ultimately at work in this anti-God city and it was he who worked through the human ruler of the city.


Some have suggested that these verses may actually be dealing with a human king of Tyre who was empowered by Satan. Perhaps the historic king of Tyre was a tool of Satan, possibly even indwelt by him. In describing this king, Ezekiel also gives us glimpses of the superhuman creature, Satan, who was using, if not indwelling, him.


Now, there are things that are true of this “king” that—at least ultimately—can not be said to be true of human beings. For example, the king is portrayed as having a different nature from man (he is a cherub, verse 14); he had a different position from man (he was blameless and sinless, verse 15); he was in a different realm from man (the holy mount of God, verses 13,14); he received a different judgment from man (he was cast out of the mountain of God and thrown to the earth, verse 16); and the superlatives used to describe him don’t seem to fit that of a normal human being (“full of wisdom,” “perfect in beauty,” and having “the seal of perfection,” verse 12 NASB).


Who Is Lucifer and Why Did He Rebel?

Our text tells us that this king was a created being and left the creative hand of God in a perfect state (Ezekiel 28:12-15). And he remained perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15b). What was this iniquity? We read in Ezekiel 28:17, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” Lucifer apparently became so impressed with his own beauty, intelligence, power, and position that he began to desire for himself the honor and glory that belonged to God alone. The sin that corrupted Lucifer was self-generated pride.


Apparently, this represents the actual beginning of sin in the universe—preceding the fall of the human Adam by an indeterminate time. Sin originated in the free will of Lucifer in which—with a full understanding of the issues involved—he chose to rebel against the Creator.


This mighty angelic being was rightfully judged by God: “I threw you to the earth” (Ezekiel 28:18). This doesn’t mean that Satan had no further access to heaven, for other Scripture verses clearly indicate that Satan maintained this access even after his fall (Job 1:6-12; Zechariah 3:1,2). However, Ezekiel 28:18 indicates that Satan was absolutely and completely cast out of God’s heavenly government and his place of authority (Luke 10:18).


Isaiah 14, verses 12 through 17, is another Old Testament passage that may refer to the fall of Lucifer. We must be frank in admitting that some Bible scholars see no reference whatsoever to Lucifer in this passage. It is argued that the being mentioned in this verse is referred to as a man (Isaiah 14:16); is compared with other kings on the earth (verse 18); and the words, “How you have fallen from heaven” (verse 12), is alleged to refer to a fall from great political heights.


"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?' (Isaiah 14:12-17)


There are other scholars who interpret this passage as referring only to the fall of Lucifer, with no reference whatsoever to a human king. The argument here is that the description of this being is beyond humanness and hence could not refer to a mere mortal man.


There is a third view that I think is preferable to the two views above. This view sees Isaiah 14:12-17 as having a dual reference. It may be that verses 4 through 11 deal with an actual king of Babylon. Then, in verses 12 through 17, we find a dual reference that includes not just the king of Babylon but a typological description of Lucifer as well.


If this passage contains a reference to the fall of Lucifer, then the pattern of this passage would seem to fit that of the Ezekiel 28 reference—that is, first a human leader is described, and then the dual reference is made to a human leader and Satan.


It is significant that the language used to describe this fits other passages in the Bible that speak about Satan. For example, the five “I wills” in Isaiah 14 indicate an element of pride, which was also evidenced in Ezekiel 28:17 (cf. 1 Timothy 3:6 which makes reference to Satan’s conceit).


As a result of this heinous sin against God, Lucifer was banished from living in heaven (Isaiah 14:12). He became corrupt, and his name changed from Lucifer (“morning star”) to Satan (“adversary”). His power became completely perverted (Isaiah 14:12,16,17). And his destiny, following the second coming of Christ, is to be bound in a pit during the 1000-year millennial kingdom over which Christ will rule (Revelation 20:3), and eventually will be thrown into the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41). 


Find inspiration with 15 Bible Verses Every Christian Should Know By Heart HERE for you to download or share with loved ones!


Ron Rhodes, president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, is heard regularly on nationwide radio and is the author of  Christianity According to the Bible and The 10 Things You Need to Know About Islam. He holds Th.M. and Th.D. degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary. Visit his website at ronrhodes.org.


What Does the Name Lucifer Mean?

Lucifer [N] [B] [E] [H] (light-bearer ), found in ( Isaiah 14:12 ) coupled with the epithet "son of the morning," clearly signifies a "bright star," and probably what we call the morning star. In this passage it is a symbolical representation of the king of Babylon in his splendor and in his fall. Its application, from St. Jerome downward, to Satan in his fall from heaven arises probably from the fact that the Babylonian empire is in Scripture represented as the type of tyrannical and self idolizing power, and especially connected with the empire of the Evil One in the Apocalypse.


(Excerpted from Lucifer - Smith's Bible Dictionary)


What Does Satan Mean and Tell Us about Lucifer's Rebellion?

The Hebrew word satan [f'f] means "an adversary, one who resists." It is translated as "Satan" eighteen times in the Old Testament, fourteen of those occurrences being in Job 1-2, the others in 1 Chronicles 21:1 and Zechariah 3:1-2. There is some dispute as to whether it should be taken as a proper name or a title. In Job and Zechariah the definite article precedes the noun (lit., "the satan" or "the accuser").


(Excerpted from Satan - Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology)


Photo credit: Wikipedia/Public Domain

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/angels-and-demons/how-did-lucifer-fall-and-become-satan-11557519.html


Identity Crisis is a seven-issue comic book limited series published by DC Comics from June to December in 2004. It was created by writer Brad Meltzer and the artistic team of penciler Rags Morales and inker Michael Bair.


Publication history

One of DC's top-selling series, the first issue was released in June 2004 and was ranked first in comic book sales for that period with pre-order sales of 163,111.[1] The second issue saw a decline in sales and ranked third in comic book sales in July period with pre-order sales of 129,852.[2] The story also adheres to the continuity changes introduced by Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, as heroine Wonder Woman was retconned out of the pre-Crisis JLA. In all further references to the JLA's pre-Crisis adventures, including its origin story and the Secret Society incident, Wonder Woman is replaced by Black Canary. Following Infinite Crisis, however, Wonder Woman is restored as a founding member.


One of the major plot threads — the breakdown of relationships within the Justice League of America — is examined in the storyline "Crisis of Conscience" in JLA #115-119 (August–December 2005). The mini-series is followed by the crossover event Infinite Crisis.


Plot summary

Following the death of Elongated Man's wife Sue Dibny, the superhero community rallies to find the murderer, with recurring villain Doctor Light being the prime suspect. Green Arrow reveals to the Flash (Wally West) and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) that Light previously raped Sue, with Zatanna wiping his memories in response.


Further discussion reveals that a mind wipe was also done on at least one other occasion to prevent the Secret Society of Super Villains (the Wizard, Floronic Man, Star Sapphire, Reverse-Flash, and Blockbuster) from retaining their knowledge of League members Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Zatanna, and Black Canary.[3] Green Arrow's words also imply that they have done this on other occasions when their secret identities were threatened by magic or other means.


The heroes locate Light, who has hired the mercenary Deathstroke to protect him. During the ensuing battle, Light regains his memory and escapes. Although questioned by Superman, Wally West continues to protect the heroes and their secrets, but Superman has learned them after eavesdropping on the conversations between him and Green Arrow. Atom finds his estranged ex-wife Jean Loring hanging from a door, blindfolded and gagged, and revives her just in time, but she is unable to describe her attacker. During the interrogation, Shadow Thief kills Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) with Shining Knight's sword. Meanwhile, the Calculator hires Captain Boomerang to assassinate Jack Drake, Tim Drake's father, who kills him before dying.


Wally West questions Green Arrow again after accidentally seeing a snapshot of the battle on the Satellite in Light's mind, which reveals that Batman was also present. Green Arrow confesses that Batman had left immediately after the battle, but unexpectedly returned just as the mind wipe was taking place. He disapproved of this and nearly attacked the other heroes; he was magically restrained and his memory of the incident was repressed. Batman locates the Calculator's hideout, but discovers the villain anticipated this and abandoned it. The autopsy of Sue Dibny's body by Doctor Mid-Nite and Mister Terrific, members of the Justice Society, reveals that she was killed by an infarction in her brain caused by an unidentified microscopic person.


Batman, Mid-Nite, and Terrific realize that Sue was murdered by someone who has access to Ray Palmer's technology, which as the Atom, he uses to shrink himself to subatomic size. Almost simultaneously, Palmer learns that Jean is aware of the note sent to Jack Drake (which had been kept secret) and realizes she is the killer. Loring claims she did not mean to kill Sue, and it was not her intention for Jack Drake to be killed, arguing that she sent the note and gun so he could protect himself. Loring states that she undertook the plan to bring Ray back into her life. Realizing that Loring is insane, he has her committed to Arkham Asylum before being wracked by guilt over his former wife's actions then disappeared. In the final scene with the Justice League, Wally West is awkward in the presence of Batman, who is suspicious of his behavior.


Aftermath

The ramifications of Identity Crisis are depicted in the title Flash, as his Rogues Gallery villains band together at the funeral of Boomerang;[4] the one-shot Countdown to Infinite Crisis, as well as one of its tie-ins, The OMAC Project; and the title JLA, which reveals that Batman remembered the events in question at some point afterwards, which explains his paranoia against both heroes and villains that led him to create the Brother MK I satellite to monitor superhumans, which is an important factor in the 2005–2006 crossover storyline Infinite Crisis.[5] It is revealed in that storyline that the Justice League's mind manipulation, Jean Loring's turn to villainy, and Sue Dibny's rape by Dr. Light were three of the many indirect changes effected by Alexander Luthor Jr. and Superboy-Prime when they caused overlaps of parallel timelines (Hypertime) from their pocket universe since after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_Crisis_(DC_Comics)


CERTIFICATE OF FOSTER PARENTHOOD

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT SUE DUNN

HAS BECOME A FOSTER PARENT ON THIS DAY DEC. 25, 1986 OF A BOWLSIE CREATION OF LITTLE PEOPLE.

Frances & Bowles

FRANCES A. BOWLES

A SPECIAL CREATION FOR A SPECIAL FRIEND SUSAN GEANI LITTLE SU SU)

HAS BEEN CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR YOU BY

FRANCE A. BOWLES


Susan Jean Lohrey Dunn's original name was Louvinia and Susan's adopted mother's name is Louesa. Susan is having an identity crisis implying neighbor's gender isn't what they say but Susan's gender and identity is genuine!


REGISTRATION DISTRICT NO

PART 1:

610

REGISTRAR'S NUMBER

69

CERTIFICATE OF ADOPTION

The information in this section must be given as it was before adoption. It is needed to locate and seal the original certificate of birth. Without this data it may be impossible to file an amended certificate of birth for this child.

1A. NAME OF CHILD-FIRST NAME

CHILD'S PERSONAL DATA

Susan

2. SEX

3. DATE OF BIRTH

Female

5/25/51

5A. NAME OF FATHER-FIRST NAME

NATURAL PARENTS DATA

Orville

6A. MAIDEN NAME OF MOTHER-FIRST NAME

Dorothy

118. MIDDLE NAME

Louvinia

4. PLACE OF BIRTH-CITY OR TOWN. COUNTY

Greensburg

158. MIDDLE NAME

-

Rural

Gerald

168. MIDDLE NAME

11c. LAST NAME

Emery

Kentucky

15c. LAST NAME

Emery

16c. LAST NAME

PART II:

Crouch

Adopting parents must furnish the following information concerning themselves as it was at the time of birth of the above child. This information is used in preparation of the amended certifi- cate of birth.

7A. NAME OF FATHER-FIRST NAME

178. MIDDLE NAME

17c. LAST NAME

Melvin

FOSTER OR NATURAL FATHER

8. DATE OF BIRTH

11. OCCUPATION

8/25/24

Warehouseman

9. PLACE OF BIRTH

Rocky Ford, Colorado

12. INDUSTRY

Lohrey

10. COLOR OR RACE

White

13A. MAIDEN NAME OF MOTHER-FIRST NAME

1138. MIDDLE NAME

Thompson Diggs Company

13c. LAST NAME

Louesa

FOSTER OR NATURAL MOTHER

Jane

Manier

14. DATE OF BIRTH

15. PLACE OF BIRTH

16. COLOR OR RACE

9/12/27

Three Rivers, Michigan

White

VERIFICATION OF PART II AGENCY OR DEPARTMENT HANDLING CASE

17. USUAL RESIDENCE-STREET ADDRESS. CITY OR TOWN. AND STATE

2200 S Street, Sacramento, California

18. SIGNATURE OF PARENT VERIFYING DATA IN PART II

Melvin Loures

20. NAME OF AGENCY OR DEPARTMENT WHICH INVESTIGATED OR HANDLED CASE

State Department of Social Welfare

19. PRESENT ADDRESS OF VERIFYING PARENT

Same

21. ADDRESS OF AGENCY OR DEPARTMENT WHICH INVESTIGATED OR HANDLED CASE

1530 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento 1

The County Clerk should require that as much of the information as is available in Part I and II, above, be furnished before he completes Part III and forwards the certificate to the State Registrar of Vital PART III: Statistics. (The County Clerk may complete or verify any of Items 1 through 21 from the court record of adoption.)

COUNTY CLERK

22. I hereby certify that the child described above was adopted by the above named foster parent(s) on the. and is now to bear the name of SUSAN JEAN LONREY

23. SIGNATURE AND SEAL OF COUNTY CLERK

C. C. La RUE

CLERK IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF

STATE OF CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

SACRAMENTO

BY:

29th

day of

June

Las set forth in the decree of adoption made on that date, in Case No. DATE SIGNED

Conga

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

19

53

34984

DATE REPORT SENT TO STATE REGISTRAR

June 29, 1953

June 29, 1953

(REV. 7-1-49)

FORM RAS-44 


Depart

Mean, Franki

No.

82497

CERTIFIED PHOTOSTATIC COPY OF

RECORD of BIRTH

orm V. S. No. 2-A

HS-796 (VS)

EV. 4-48

EDERAL SECURITY AGENCY

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

PLACE OF BIRTH

a. COUNTY

Green

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY

Registration District No.

Department of Health

BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS

FILE NO. 116 28364

CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH REGISTRAR'S NO. 610

b. CITY (If outside corporate limits, write RURAL and give township)

OR

TOWN

c. FULL NAME OF (If NOT in hospital or institution, give street address or HOSPITAL OR location)

INSTITUTION

CHILD'S NAME

(Type or Print)

a. (First)

4. SEX

Female

5a. THIS BIRTH SINGLE X

TWIN

TRIPLET

7. FULL NAME

a. (First)

SUSAN

Primary Registration District No.

5561

69

2. USUAL RESIDENCE OF MOTHER (Where does mother live?) a. STATE b. COUNTY

c. CITY (If outside corporate limits, write RURAL and give township) OR TOWN

d. STREET ADDRESS

b. (Middle) JEAN

(If rural, give location)

c. (Last)

LOHREY

6. DATE

Melvin

2ND

3RD

5b. IF TWIN OR TRIPLET (This child born) 1ST FATHER OF CHILD b. (Middle)

OF BIRTH

HOUR OF BIRTH c. (Last) Lohrey

9. AGE (At time of this birth) 10. BIRTHPLACE (State or foreign country) 11a. USUAL OCCUPATION

29

YEARS

Colorado

Warehouseman

MOTHER OF CHILD b. (Middle)

Louesa

Jane

12. FULL MAIDEN NAME a. (First)

14. AGE (At time of this birth) 15. BIRTHPLACE (State or foreign country)

25

17. INFORMANT

YEARS

I hereby certify that his child was born alive n the date stated above.

19. DATE REC'D BY LOCAL

6-15-1951

REG.

Michigan Mother

18a. ATTENDANT AT BIRTH

M. D. X 18c. ADDRESS

MIDWIFE

20. REGISTRAR'S SIGNATURE

M.M.Lingle

FAR ME

c. (Last) Manier

(Month) (Day) (Year)

May 25 1951 7:20 AMM

8. COLOR OR RACE White

11b. KIND OF BUSINESS OR INDUSTRY

Thompson Diggs Co.

13. COLOR OR RACE White

16. CHILDREN. PREVIOUSLY BORN TO THIS MOTHER (Do NOT include this child)

a. How many

OTHER children

are now living?

b. How many OTHER children were born alive but are now dead?

18b. SIGNATURE

OTHER (Specify)

c. How many children, were stillborn (born dead after 20 week of pregnancy?)

R. M. Dishmane

18d. DATE SIGNED

44347-50

7-N-53

21. DATE ON WHICH GIVEN NAME ADDED BY

(Registrar)

I, Lewis C. Bush, State Registrar, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct photostatic copy of the certificate of birth of the person therein named, and that the original certificate is registered under the above file number.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and caused the official seal of the State Department of Health to be affixed at Frankfort, Kentucky, day of

this

TATE

1969

9

ENT

Lewis C. Bush

Lewis C. Bush, State Registrar


AI Overview

Learn more

Both "Evan" and "Jean" are variations of the name "John" and ultimately derive from the Hebrew name "Yochanan," meaning "God is gracious"; "Evan" is a Welsh variation while "Jean" is the French version, essentially sharing the same core meaning of "God is gracious.". 

Breakdown:

Evan: A Welsh form of "John," meaning "God is gracious". 

Jean: The French version of "John," also signifying "God is gracious". 

Key points:

Origin: Both names stem from the Hebrew name "Yochanan".

Language variations: "Evan" is Welsh, while "Jean" is French.

Meaning: Both names essentially mean "God is gracious". 

Generative AI is experimental. 


Evan Wyman

in Dayton, NV (Nevada)

Age 27

Current Address (Since January 2020)

2033 Lonnie Ln

Dayton NV 89403


Jean Rae Malone's Nevada Voter Registration

Dayton, Nevada


Jean Rae Malone (age 66) is listed at 2030 Lonnie Ln Dayton, Nv 89403 and is affiliated with the Non-Partisan Party. Jean is registered to vote in Lyon County, Nevada.


  

Overview of Jean Rae Malone

Lives in:  Dayton, Nevada

Phone: View phone number Ad

Age:  66

Jean Malone's Voter Registration

Party Affiliation: Non-Partisan

Registered to Vote In:  Lyon County, Nevada 

Registration Date:  12/18/2023

Voter Status: ActivePrecinct: 13.00

Congressional District: Cd2

House District: Ad39

Senate District: Sd17

School Board District: Ed2

https://voterrecords.com/voter/129532222/jean-malone 


9:14

2

JM

Jean>

Hi how you doing I have a favor to ask you could you tell Billy to take my info off his wall it really upset me that my kids names were all there even Shay no one cares who I am but I do l cried when I saw my boys name on there I haven't done anything to him I am only asking once if he won't take it off I will file a police report on him I don't think he will want that they can come and go thru his phone and computer so can you at least ask him thanks we tried to help you but you just ignored us so you are on your own to deal with him we're all done trying to help anymore so please see what you can do

+

iMessage


CERTIFICATE OF FOSTER PARENTHOOD

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT SUE DUNN

HAS BECOME A FOSTER PARENT ON THIS DAY DEC. 25, 1986 OF A BOWLSIE CREATION OF LITTLE PEOPLE.

Frances & Bowles

FRANCES A. BOWLES

A SPECIAL CREATION FOR A SPECIAL FRIEND SUSAN JEANI LITTLE SU SU)

HAS BEEN CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR YOU


Susan Lohrey Dunn's Nevada Voter Registration

Dayton, Nevada


Susan Lohrey Dunn (age 73) is listed at 2031 Lonnie Ln Dayton, Nv 89403 and is affiliated with the Republican Party. Susan is registered to vote in Lyon County, Nevada.


Overview of Susan Lohrey Dunn

Lives in:  Dayton, Nevada

Phone: View phone number Ad

Age:  73

Susan Dunn's Voter Registration

Party Affiliation: Republican Party

Registered to Vote In:  Lyon County, Nevada 

Registration Date:  05/28/2015

Voter Status: ActivePrecinct: 13.00

Congressional District: Cd2

House District: Ad39

Senate District: Sd17

School Board District: Ed2

https://voterrecords.com/voter/124466056/susan-dunn 


2030-2031 APPARITION CHARACTERISTICS

Another general rule for predicting oppositions of Mars is from the following: the planet has an approximate 15.8-year periodic opposition cycle, which consists of three or four Aphelic oppositions and three consecutive Perihelic oppositions. Perihelic oppositions are also called "favorable" because the Earth and Mars come closest to each other on those occasions. We sometimes refer to this as the seven Martian synodic periods. This cycle is repeated every 79 years (± 4 to 5 days) and, if one were to live long enough, one would see this cycle nearly replicated in approximately 284 years. The 2031 Mars apparition is considered Transitional (between Aphelic and Perihelic) because the orbital longitude at opposition will be 68.4° from the aphelion longitude of 70° Ls and 111.6° Ls from perihelion (250° Ls).


NOTE: Ls is the planetocentric longitude of the Sun along the ecliptic of Mars’ sky. 0° Ls is defined as that point where the Sun crosses the Martian celestial equator from south to north, that is the planet’s northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The other Ls values that define the beginnings of Martian northern hemisphere seasons are: summer, 90° Ls; autumn, 180° Ls; and winter, 270° Ls. For Mars’ southern hemisphere these values represent the opposite seasons. Distance (A.U.) - Distance from Earth to Mars in astronomical units, where one (1) A.U. equals 92,955,807.267 miles or 149,597,870.691 km.

Opposition occurs 11 months after conjunction when Mars is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At that time, the two planets will lie nearly in a straight line with respect to the Sun, or five weeks after retrogression begins. Opposition will occur at 1157 UT on May 04, 2031 (138.4° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.7 arcsec. Mars will remain visible for more than twelve months after opposition and then become lost in the glare of the Sun around May 31, 2032 as it approaches the next conjunction (July 11, 2032). The cycle is complete in 780 Earth days.

Closest approach occurs at 0350 UT on May 12, 2031 (142.1° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.9 at a distance of 0.5533578 astronomical units (AU) or 51,437,823 miles (82,781,152 km). During closest approach in 2031 the apparent diameter of Mars will be 2.4 arcsec larger than it was at the same period in 2029; however, it will be 17.1 degrees lower in the sky - not quite as good for observing the Red Planet for observers in the northern hemisphere. It should also be noted that closest approach between Earth and Mars is not necessarily coincident with the time of opposition but varies by as much as two weeks.

https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2031_MARS.htm 


Grammar - Conjunction Junction - Schoolhouse Rock

With lyrics by Bob Dorough, Jack Sheldon providing lead vocal and Terry Morrell backing vocal, "Conjunction Junction" is another great "Schoolhouse Rock!" short animated musical that entertains while educating about the importance of "hooking up words and phrases and clauses" with and, but, or. The leading character is a train conductor who has those words printed on the side of the train cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjdCFat9rjI


Philalethes, who in his Entrke ouverte au Palais ferd du Roi has dealt at greatest length on the practice of the Work, mentions the hermetic star and infers the cosmic magic of its appearance. 

'It is the miracle of the world, the assembly of superior virtues in the inferior ones. That is why the Almighty has marked it with an extraordinary sign. The Wise Men saw it in the east, were struck with amazement and knew at once that a King most pure had been born into the the world. 

'As for you, as soon as you see his star, follow it to the Cradle, where you will see the lovely Child." Then the Adept reveals the manner of operating : 

'Let four parts be taken of our fiery dragon, which hides our Preface to the Second Edition 15 magic steel in its belly, and nine parts of our lodestone; mix them together, by burning Vulcan, in the form of mineral water, on which a scum will float which must be removed. Throw away th crust, take the inner part, purge three times, by fire and by salt, which will be done easily if Saturn has seen his image in the mirror of Mars.' 

Finally Philalethes adds : 

'And the Almighty sets his royal seal on the Work and adorns it specially therewith.'

Fulcanelli

Mystery of the Cathedrals

http://www.mtanthony13.org/library/Fulcanelli%20-%20The%20Mystery%20of%20the%20Cathedrals.pdf  


Fire as the agent of Truth

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


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


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


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


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


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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha 


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


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


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


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


History

Text and commentaries

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


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


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


Authorship


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

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


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


The 13 chapters

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


The Art of War chapter names and contents

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

I Laying Plans The Calculations Initial Estimations Detail Assessment and Planning

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

II Waging War The Challenge Waging War Waging War

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

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

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

IV Tactical Dispositions Positioning Military Disposition Disposition of the Army

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

V Use of Energy Directing Strategic Military Power Forces

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

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

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

VII Maneuvering an Army Engaging The Force Military Combat Military Maneuvers

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

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

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

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

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

X Classification of Terrain Situational Positioning Configurations of Terrain Terrain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Cultural influence

Military and intelligence applications

See also: Wen and wu

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


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


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


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


Outside East Asia

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


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


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


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


Application outside the military

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Film and television

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


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


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


Notable translations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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


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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

page 50

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

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


On June 24, 1717, six months after the exile of the Stuarts, four lodges in London (names not given) met at Apple-Tree Tavern and united English Freemasonry under the name "United Grand Lodge," which has been nicknamed the Mother Grand Lodge, or Grand Mother Lodge.

The first French Templar Lodge was founded in 1725 by a contingent of exiled Stuart sympathizers. In 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, attempted to regain

his Scottish throne and was soundly defeated in less than a year. Upon returning to France, the Scottish Templars founded the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, quickly

developing it to 32 degrees by 1755. In 1801 all French lodges accepted the Templar Scottish Rite degrees. That same year the Scottish Rite of Charleston, S.C., created the 33rd and final

degree in Templar Freemasonry.

On the continent of Europe, French Freemasonry is known as Scottish Rite, Grand Orient, French Grand Lodge, Continental, or Latin Freemasonry. The Templar York Rite in England was

transported to America, where it remains to this day. English Freemasonry continued with the three Craft Degrees UNTIL 1860, WHEN IT ADOPTED THE THIRTY ADDITIONAL DEGREES OF THE SCOTTISH RITE, but for competitive reasons refused to call it "Scottish."' 

Scarlet and the Beast 

by John Daniel

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


What does it mean that Christians are adopted by God?

translate

Christian adoption

audio

Answer


To adopt someone is to make that person a legal son or daughter. Adoption is one of the metaphors used in the Bible to explain how Christians are brought into the family of God. Jesus came “that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:5), and He was successful: “You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children” (Romans 8:15, NLT).


The Bible also uses the metaphor of being “born again” into God’s family (John 3:3), which seems to be at odds with the concept of adoption because, normally, either a person is born into a family or adopted, not both. We shouldn’t make too much of the difference, however, because both of these concepts are metaphors and should not be played against each other.


Adoption was not common in the Jewish world. A person’s standing was based on his birth. This is the reason that, if a man died, his brother was supposed to marry the widow. The first son to be born of the new marriage would be legally considered the son of the dead brother so that his family line would continue. There was never any thought of the widow adopting a son to carry on the family name. In John 3, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, and He uses the Jewish concept of being born again (or born from above) to explain how one is brought into God’s family.


In the Roman world, adoption was a significant and common practice. Today, we can write a will and leave our wealth and property to anyone we want, male or female. In the Roman world, with few exceptions, a man had to pass his wealth on to his son(s). If a man had no sons or if he felt that his sons were incapable of managing his wealth or were unworthy of it, he would have to adopt someone who would make a worthy son. These adoptions were not infant adoptions as is common today. Older boys and adult men were normally adopted. In some cases, the adoptee might even be older than the man who was adopting him. When the adoption was legally approved, the adoptee would have all his debts cancelled and he would receive a new name. He would be the legal son of his adoptive father and entitled to all the rights and benefits of a son. A father could disown his natural-born son, but an adoption was irreversible.


In the book Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and the movie starring Charleton Heston, we see a vivid portrayal of Roman adoption. In the movie, Judah Ben-Hur (a Jew) has been imprisoned on a Roman galley ship as a rower. When the ship sinks in battle, Judah escapes and saves the life of a Roman commander, Arrius. Arrius’s only son has been killed, and he ultimately adopts Judah, who is pardoned for his supposed crimes. He is also given a new name, “young Arrius,” and has all the rights of inheritance. In the scene where the adoption is announced, Arrius takes off his ancestral signet ring and gives it to young Arrius. Young Arrius says that he has received “a new life, a new home, a new father.”


Paul, writing to Roman audiences, uses the metaphor of adoption, which a Roman audience would have understood. Galatians 4:3–7 says, “So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under the Law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.” In this passage, Christians are born enslaved, but Jesus buys them out of slavery and they are adopted by the Father and given the Spirit, so now they are heirs.


When we come to faith in Christ, our debts are cancelled, we are given a new name, and we are given all the rights that heirs of God possess. One difference from Roman adoption is that Christians are not adopted because God thinks they will make worthy heirs. God adopts people who are completely unworthy, because He adopts on the basis of His grace.


So, Christians have been born into God’s family (using a Jewish metaphor) and adopted into God’s family (using a Roman metaphor). The end result is the same; Christians are forever part of God’s family.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-adoption.html


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)

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 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


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 


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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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


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


"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 


P waves, or Primary waves, are the first waves to arrive at a seismograph. P waves are the fastest seismic waves and can move through solid, liquid, or gas. They leave behind a trail of compressions and rarefactions on the medium they move through. P waves are also called pressure waves for this reason.

https://byjus.com/physics/p-wave/


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


[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


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.

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


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

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

Michelle Boorstein

Sunday 10 March 2019 20:38 GMT


The head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met with a pope for the first time on Saturday, an event that reportedly followed decades of behind-the-scenes relationship building between denominations whose leaders share a concern over secularism.


Pope Francis and President Russell. M Nelson – both men who hold offices of profound spiritual significance for their faiths – met for 33 minutes at the Vatican to discuss the shared priorities of protecting religious rights, traditional family values and young people and opposing secularism, according to the Mormon Church-affiliated Deseret News.


The visit comes a day before Nelson was to dedicate the first Mormon temple in Rome.


There are about 16 million Mormons in the world, compared with more than 1.1 billion Catholics.


However, in a chaotic era when many people are leaving organised religion, leaders of the two denominations share goals, including responding together to disasters and poverty and promoting traditional families and involvement with Christian institutions.


“We talked about our mutual concern for the people who suffer throughout the world and want to relieve human suffering,” Mr Nelson told his church’s news website.


“We talked about the importance of religious liberty, the importance of the family, our mutual concern for the youth of the Church, for the secularisation of the world and the need for people to come to God and worship Him, pray to Him and have the stability that faith in Jesus Christ will bring in their lives.”


The two groups work together on relief efforts in 43 countries.


“What a sweet, wonderful man he is,” Mr Nelson said of Francis, the Mormon Church news site reported. “And how fortunate the Catholic people are to have such a gracious, concerned, loving and capable leader.”


The Vatican put out no detailed statement about the meeting Saturday, except to include it on the list of people and groups who had audiences with the Pope that day.


The meeting and the existence of the new temple are especially significant for Mormons, said Kathleen Flake, a historian of American religion and an expert on the Latter-day Saints.


The church teaches that it isn’t just generically “Christian” but is the authentic restoration of Jesus’s church.


Establishing the temple in Rome, a centre of global Christianity, and the meeting with the pope give credibility to the Mormon Church as fully Christian, Ms Flake said. That’s important for a group still fighting for acceptance.


In the United States, for example, 97 percent of Mormons consider themselves Christian, compared with just more than half of US adults who recognise Mormonism as a Christian faith, according to a 2016 analysis by the Pew Research Centre.


Asked to volunteer one word that best describes the group, Pew found, the most commonly offered response by non-Mormons was “cult”.


Ms Flake said it was significant that the visitors’ centre of the new temple in Rome features a dramatic Christus sculpture along with sculptures of the 12 apostles.


“There’s a resonance there. It’s a claim...to replicate those statutes, in that place, there’s nothing else it can be. It’s symbolically an assertion of their claim to be the restored Church of Jesus Christ with its apostolic authority,” she said.


Mr Nelson and Pope Francis, she said, are unique. “Are there any other men but those two who believe they stand in the shoes of St. Peter?”


According to the Deseret News, Francis gave Nelson two gifts: some of his writings on the family and on the Islamic faith.


Nelson gave the pope a Christus statue – an image common in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – and a copy of a core 1995 church document on the family.


Other high-ranking Mormon Church leaders have met with top Catholic leaders in the past, including Henry B Eyring, whose title was the first counselor in the First Presidency. That happened in 2014 when he and Francis spoke at a Vatican conference about marriage, the Deseret News wrote Saturday.


The news site noted that a meeting between men in these positions “would have been unimaginable to leaders and members in both churches” until at least the 1960s, when followers officially were told to limit interactions with other faiths, including weddings and funerals.


But behind-the-scenes connections were happening, the Deseret News reported, and have intensified in the past decade.


The Mormon president, the news site reported, would go in the 1950s to Salt Lake City’s Holy Cross Hospital – which is Catholic-run – “under the guise of visiting a Latter-day Saint patient, then slip into the office of Bishop Duane G Hunt.


They used their private sessions to talk about community issues and the tensions between their members in Utah,” said Monsignor J Terrence Fitzgerald, a Salt Lake City priest interviewed by the site.


“The Catholics were trying to get the Latter-day Saints not to bad-mouth the Catholics at every conference,” Mr Fitzgerald said. “And the Latter-day Saints were trying to get the Catholics to put in a good word for them on the national level.”


Interfaith relations opened significantly with the Second Vatican Council, a major meeting of the Catholic Church in the 1960s.


Both sides have become more open and, in the United States especially, have shared the cause of protecting traditional religious values in public life, such as government-affiliated faith groups’ choice not to offer health benefits to same-sex couples or to place foster or adopted children in their homes.


Leaders of both faith groups have warned about liberalising changes in sexuality, reproductive technology and gender norms and about a decrease in people’s firm belief in God.


“Secularism is prevalent in many Western countries, and many people have lost their faith in Jesus Christ,” Latter-day Saint presiding bishop Gérald Caussé told the Deseret News. “And to have all Christian faiths join together and defend our values is important.”


In Utah, the two communities have developed strong relations in recent decades, the church’s news release said on Saturday.


Washington Post

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

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


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

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

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


Revelation 13:18

New International Version

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


Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number"

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


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

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


Crime

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

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


A Utah man fatally shot his five children, his mother-in-law and his wife, then killed himself two weeks after the woman had filed for divorce, according to authorities and public records.


Enoch Police Chief Jackson Ames said during a Thursday press conference that officers had been involved in investigations involving the 42-year-old man and his family a "couple of years prior." He did not elaborate.


The crime rocked Enoch, a small town in southern Utah about halfway between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.


It's one of the fastest-growing areas of the country and communities of new homes are made up of large families that belong, like most of Utah, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church.


Enoch City Manager Rob Dotson said the deceased were well-known in the town.


"Many of us have served with them in church, in the community and gone to school with these individuals," Dotson said Wednesday night. "This community at this time is hurting. They're feeling loss, they're feeling pain and they have a lot of questions."


Officials said that they believed that Michael Haight had killed his wife, his mother-in-law and the couple's five children, and that each of the victims had gunshot wounds.


Court records show that Tausha Haight, 40, filed for divorce from her husband on Dec. 21. Her lawyer said Thursday that Haight had been served with the divorce papers on Dec. 27.


Tausha Haight and other members of the family were seen the night before the killings at a church group for young women, Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut said.


Police were dispatched to the family's home Wednesday afternoon for a welfare check after someone reported that Tausha Height had missed an appointment earlier in the week, city officials said.


The victims were found inside the house. The children ranged in age from 4 to 17 and included three girls and two boys, authorities said. The other victim was Tausha Haight's 78-year-old mother, Gail Earl.


The five children attended schools in the Iron County School District, officials said in a letter sent to parents.


According to CBS Salt Lake City affiliate KUTV, the letter said, "It is with deep regret that we inform you about a tragic loss to our school community. This afternoon, on Jan. 4, eight members of a family residing in Enoch with five students in our schools tragically passed away. This loss is sure to raise many emotions, concerns, and questions for our entire school district, especially our students."


James Park, who represented Tausha Haight in the divorce case, said she had not expressed any fear that her husband would physically hurt her but he declined to elaborate, citing the investigation into the killings. Park said he only met with her twice, mostly recently on Tuesday, and said she "was an incredibly nice lady."


The home where the victims were found was decorated with Christmas lights and located in a neighborhood of newly built single-family houses on a ridge overlooking the farming community of Enoch. It has a view of houses with snow-covered roofs and mountains in the distance. Half the surrounding block was cordoned off by police tape.


Enoch is on the outskirts of Cedar City, one of the fastest growing cities in Utah, which is one of the U.S.'s fastest-growing states. Cattle and sheep line the highway that runs through the town, along with signs that advertise "Custom New Homes," and recreation in southern Utah's famous national parks and recreation areas.


Sharon Hunstman of Cedar City came to the neighborhood with a bouquet of white flowers Thursday morning. She said the deaths had deeply rattled Iron County and cried as she arranged the bouquet.


"It's just one big community," she said. "We all have one heavenly father."


Archives from the local newspaper show that Haight's first birthday was commemorated with an announcement in the local newspaper in 1981 alongside a baby picture of him laughing.


He was in Boy Scouts as a young boy and earned the "Faith in God" award as a fourth grader. Two years later in 1992, another newspaper article showed that he had won a "Gospel in Action" award from his church.


His picture appeared again in the newspaper in 1998 when he was finalist for an academic award in high school for business and marketing. After high school, he served a church mission in Brazil and then married Tuasha at a church temple in St. George, in 2003. She was from Overton, Nevada, located just two hours south of Cedar City, where he grew up.


As an adult, Haight worked as an insurance agent and Allstate gave him an award for customer satisfaction. His wife's Facebook page showed pictures of the family looking happy in picturesque settings of Utah, and in front of a large statue of Jesus. Haight would have turned 43 on Jan. 7.

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


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

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

By Haley Swenson

Jan 20, 20235:21 PM


On Jan. 4, Enoch, Utah, police arrived at the home of Michael and Tausha Haight to perform a welfare check after a friend of Tausha’s had become alarmed when she hadn’t shown up for an appointment. In the home, police found eight bodies—those of Tausha, her five children, ranging in age from 4 to 17, and her mother, Gail Earl, who had all been shot to death, as well as the body of Michael Haight, who had apparently died by suicide after murdering the family.


In the following weeks, the case has drawn public attention from far beyond southern Utah. According to gun-violence research organization Everytown, an average of 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner every month in the U.S. We’ve already had several other mass murders in 2023 that could be characterized as “family annihilation,” whether attempted or accomplished. None of these have attracted the online attention the Haight case has. The family were active and seemingly devout members of the Mormon Church—or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it prefers to be called—and well-known members of their community, a small, rural, mostly Mormon town outside Cedar City, Utah, approximately 215 miles south of Salt Lake City and 60 miles north of St. George. And after the deaths, both the Haight and Earl families released statements drawing on their religious faith that confounded onlookers inside and outside of Mormonism.


As often happens when an event involving members of the LDS church rises to the level of national scrutiny, the public has divided into various camps on just what parts of this horrible story are the religion’s “fault.” Here we have horrific domestic violence committed by a member of a church that promises a surefire plan for family peace and togetherness. Outside the church, the response has been one of both horror and disbelief at the quickness to forgive that has been demonstrated publicly by the families and by the Enoch community. Within the church, the case has stoked calls for reform and acknowledgement of the danger of patriarchal authority to women and children in the faith, but also defensiveness—a feeling that the church had nothing to do with the crime, and that to blame Mormonism is an act of anti-Mormon prejudice.


As of this week, the following facts in the case have been verified:


Michael and Tausha Haight had been married for 19 years, and had five children: 17-year-old Macie; 12-year-old Briley; 7-year old twins, Ammon and Sienna; and 4-year old Gavin. About two weeks prior to the murders, on Dec. 21, Tausha Haight filed for divorce. Gail Earl was staying with the family to help Tausha with the children in the midst of the divorce. According to Tausha Haight’s sister, Jennie Earl, Michael Haight had removed all firearms from the Haight home in the days leading up to the murders.


Local police confirmed early on that the family had previously been known to them due to a prior investigation. On Wednesday, reporters from the Associated Press published a piece drawn from the files associated with that investigation of Michael Haight for alleged child abuse against the couple’s eldest daughter, Macie. The case had apparently been opened in 2020 after a friend of the family raised concerns with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.


Macie told police her father had choked her until she thought she might die, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pushed her into the sofa. Michael told police he had not intended his actions to be violent, but that Macie had been “mouthy,” and that he had been having a tough year due to his father’s death. A police officer warned Michael his behavior was “close to assaultive.” The investigation also uncovered that Michael was controlling and demeaning toward Tausha, including monitoring her text messages and surveilling her email. Tausha told police that she preferred charges not be filed against Michael, hoping the investigation would be a “wake-up call.” Police decided not to press charges. When questioned following the investigation about why charges had not been pressed, they told reporters there was insufficient evidence. The Enoch city manager has defended the police’s decision.


Those are the facts, and they are, sadly, familiar to anyone who follows how these crimes of family annihilation unfold. (Unconfirmed stories about the abuse that were posted by friends of the family members on Facebook—friends I tried to contact, and who have since taken down their accounts or did not reply—added upsetting corroborating details.) But it’s been the public response of the community that surrounded the Haights that’s drawn the biggest reaction.


On Jan. 6, Tausha’s family released a statement on the tragedy to the media and public, acknowledging the hurt they and the community were feeling and expressing their faith in God and the “plan of salvation that extends far beyond the mortal loss of those most precious to us.” They cautioned the media and public against politicizing the family’s story, particularly in order to motivate gun control or reform. Instead, they noted that all the adults in the household were trained in using firearms to protect themselves, and blamed the removal of those guns for the tragedy. They also called on the media to “turn their attention to the weightier matters surrounding this event,” which include the value of life, God’s ability to “render a forgiving heart,” and religion’s power to heal and promote love.


Arguably a political statement in its own right, the family’s advice to the media in this press release drew early scrutiny about the community’s and the family’s culture and politics. Here was a family with ample access to “protective arms,” unfettered by local authorities (despite, as it would later become clear, a prior complaint of child abuse), and with a clear history of devout religiosity, and their surviving relatives were arguing that the weightiest matters to cover following the tragedy were the need for expanded access to guns and the following of Christian religious principles. If one religious man could simply remove his family’s guns and their ability to defend themselves, despite both of the adults involved having gun rights under local law, and then murder his entire family, exactly how useful are guns and faith in preventing such tragedies?


Then came the obituary, which has now been removed from both the Spectator, the local news outlet that originally published it, and the local mortuary’s memorial page for Michael Haight. The obituary went viral after Shannon Watts, an activist with the gun control advocacy organization Moms Demand Action, tweeted it along with her own commentary on the family’s reactions:


Obituary for the Utah man who fatally shot his five children, mother-in-law and estranged wife: “Michael made it a point to spend quality time with each and every one of his children. Michael enjoyed making memories with the family.” https://t.co/p412A5qZSC


— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) January 14, 2023

The obituary, which Watts posted screenshots of after it was taken down, and whose authors have not been named, entirely omitted the facts of the end of Michael Haight’s life and the ends of his family’s lives, most significantly the fact that everyone concerned died by his hand. It painted instead a picture of a flawless family man, a service-minded father and churchgoer, detailing Haight’s time as a missionary for the church as a young man as well as his leadership in the church’s lay ministry. As a Boy Scout, the anonymous author or authors wrote, Michael “achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.” In fact, the obituary claimed, “He excelled at everything he did.”


His obituary noted the births, but not the deaths, of each of his children. “Each of these children were truly a cherished miracle” to Tausha and Michael, the authors wrote, adding: “Michael made it a point to spend quality time with each and every one of his children. Michael enjoyed making memories with the family,” and had recently sold his insurance business “to allow more flexibility to spend time with his family.” The remembrance went on to list the family members he is survived by, but not those who preceded him in death.


The obituary post on the mortuary’s memorial page included an open comment section, which had gathered about 30 comments from members of the Haights’ church community before it was deleted. Some comments praised Haight as a joy to work with in positions of church authority, while other community members expressed their appreciation for his work as an insurance agent. “Michael was our insurance agent,” wrote one. “We drove all the way from St. George to have him help us,” wrote another. “He was always good to us and always willing to lend a helping hand. We don’t know the whys and how’s but I do know it’s not our right to judge. And the Lord loves Michael very much.”


A self-identified family member of Michael’s wrote, “Michael was funny. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the time we visited the cowboy/ghost town and Michael decided to be the wife in the cut outs. I’m grateful for his example of Christlike love and service, his life and his friendship. I pray that peace and comfort will come to his family left behind, with the reassurance that you will be together again one day.”


No one in the comments mentioned his murdered children, wife, or mother-in-law directly.


Among some progressive Mormons, the case has prompted conversations about the role of the religion’s unique beliefs about the afterlife in producing this oddly calm response. Was the idea that righteous Mormons will be connected to their families of origin for eternity perhaps making people’s efforts to cope with the murders a bit too easy?


Mormon LGBT advocate Calvin Burke tweeted, “My fellow Latter-day Saints, if you believe that it ‘isn’t your place to judge’ the actions of a member of our church who murdered his entire family—including his five children—Repent now. Or you will go to hell. And you will deserve it.” Others replied asking for a more nuanced view of Michael: “I’m for condemning the actions, but my theology requires waterfalls of grace for him as much as for his family. There is no room for wrath in my faith. It’s just too large a burden to bear.”


Progressive Mormon writer Meg Conley drew attention to the religion’s elevation of men’s testimony and the downplaying of women’s, as well as double standards around morality and sin.


Two years ago, his then 14 year old daughter told the police he was going to kill her.


And the police did nothing. How many of them were LDS? How many of them were taught the witness of women isn’t as powerful as the witness of men?


He did kill her. And everyone else. https://t.co/c6Kn6VoU6e


— Meg Conley🕸homeculture.substack.com (@_megconley) January 18, 2023

Writer Gabrielle Blair, who grew up in a small Mormon town in southern Utah, cast blame on the men in charge of the town for not raising flags about Haight’s behavior. In addition to blaming the police, Blair wrote that she suspected that church leaders—who are all men, due to the church’s beliefs that only men can be priests, and who interview all active members regularly about their lives, faith, and general well-being—were likewise alerted to complaints, either from Haight’s children or his wife, prior to the divorce: “I’m no prophet, but as details have come to light, it turns out my assumptions were exactly right. I’m so fucking furious,” Blair wrote. “So many men knew about this … Specific men, who had specifically agreed to care for vulnerable people in their community, and who had authority to do something about it, knew how shitty this guy was. And they did fucking nothing.”


How might things have gone differently if someone in the Haights’ religious circles, those who claim to have admired Michael so greatly, even after he committed such heinous crimes, had instead confronted him about his behavior or his attitude toward his family? And if, on the other hand, no men in the Haights’ church community suspected anything was wrong with Michael’s behavior, and never heard a complaint from his wife or children, despite the leadership structures Blair mentions, then truly—just what are they good for?


Others have criticized the Earl family’s GoFundMe page for the victims, which had raised just over $100,000 at the time of writing, for “any funeral expenses if needed, legal fees, and a memorial fund in honor of Tausha’s children.” The page features a family photo of the Haights that originally included Michael, Tausha, and all five of the Haight children, but Michael has been edited out of the photo and replaced with an illustration of Jesus Christ that’s commonly circulated in Mormon media. Christians and non-Christians alike took issue with the photo, including some who made small-dollar-amount contributions to the GoFundMe for the pleasure of arguing about the tastefulness of the edited photo in the donor comments section. Wrote one $5 donor: “This man murdered his five children, his wife, and his mother-in-law instead of accepting an impending divorce and seeking therapy. How dare you replace his face with that of Jesus Christ, your lord and savior. How dare you.”


Another donor wrote back, “For everyone who is angry that they replaced that horrible man with Jesus, consider that Jesus is the one who is with them now. Not the man responsible for taking their lives. You are all misinterpreting the meaning behind it. They wanted him out of the photo. This family is grieving and your insults are making it worse.”


As a former Mormon myself, this latter reading of the photo seems to me to be the right one. To remove Michael from the photo and replace him with Jesus indicates a belief on the part of the family that Michael is not with the children any longer, and that instead, the Haight family is under the protection of Jesus Christ in the afterlife. Despite their politicized early statement against gun control and in favor of greater religiosity as the answer to tragedies like this one, reports from the funeral last week for the children, Tausha, and her mother Gail indicate that even with the family’s belief that all of these lost loved ones are reunited with Christ, they miss them dearly and are just beginning to reckon with their loss. Belonging to the LDS church doesn’t mean you don’t feel grief, and things people say online in the aftermath of a tragedy can’t represent the entirety of their feelings and reactions.


Generally, the public and media have an unspoken commitment to not criticizing or questioning the families of the deceased as they mourn and make sense of the tragedy in their own ways. Who are we, some might say, to quibble with how a family facing this tragedy mourns their loss and comforts themselves? To many, casting blame on a grieving community and family feels uncharitable. After all, what do you say when something so horrific, something that so defies our understanding of family, of parenting, of humanity itself, happens in your community or in your family? And if faith is bringing them peace, who are we to judge?


There is a world in which an entirely secular reading of the case could suffice to explain Michael Haight’s apparent crimes. Domestic violence and gun violence are in no ways unique to conservative religions. In fact, intimate-partner mass killings like this one are more common in the United States than the more high-profile public mass shootings most of us hear about. “A guy who kills his wife and children and sometimes kills himself is the most common type of mass killing,” criminologist James Alan Fox told USA Today as part of a study on mass killings last year.


Perhaps much of the public controversy around the killings and the family and community response could be quelled if the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were to wade in and offer some clarity. According to their beliefs, just what is the likely eternal fate of a man who kills his whole family? What kind of grace, if any, does the church believe Michael deserves, and what can it say to dissuade any further crimes like this among its believers? What resources do they offer families facing an abusive and controlling patriarch, and where might they have done more in the case of the Haight family?


So far, church leadership has been silent regarding the case. Its last statements on child abuse came last year, regarding a lawsuit from three children who were sexually abused by their father over the course of many years, and whose Mormon bishop had heard a confession about the abuse from the father himself and had been encouraged by church legal representatives not to report it to law enforcement. That statement began, “For generations, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have spoken in the strongest of terms about the evils of abuse and the need to care for those who are victims or survivors of abuse …We echo those sentiments and teachings today. Our hearts are broken as we learn of any abuse. It cannot be tolerated. It cannot be excused. The Savior Jesus Christ wants us all to do better and be better.”


Perhaps the statement that “Good dads, good men, do not hurt, do not shoot, and do not kill their families” feels so obvious and uncontroversial it shouldn’t need to be made. The Haight case suggests it may be worth saying out loud after all.

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


In a standard year, there are 52 full weeks and 1 additional day, totaling 365 days. This calculation comes from dividing the total number of days in a year by the number of days in a week: Regular Year: 365 days / 7 days per week = 52 weeks + 1 day.

https://www.hirequotient.com/blog/how-many-weeks-in-a-year


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


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 


Skull and Bones, The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut."


"There is a secret that binds the two men who would be the next leader of the free world. President George W Bush and Senator John Kerry both spent a portion of their youth laying bare their sex lives in Gothic rituals presided over by a human skull and the skeletal remains of various other animal species in a windowless building known as the Tomb. They also formed an unusual attachment to the number 322, which holds a special resonance for the club's members." Skeletons in the closet

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/20/usa.internationaleducationnews

"It is perhaps worth noting, in light of George W.'s controversial episode at Bob Jones University and the specter of anti-Catholicism, that at one point in the proceedings every initiate kisses the slippered toe of the "Pope." At last the initiate is formally dubbed a Knight of Eulogia. Amid more raucous ritual he is cast from the room into the waiting arms of the patriarchs."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/05/george-w-knight-of-eulogia/304686/


A Hurrian ritual calendar is attested in documents from Nuzi.[141] In the earliest sources from the third millennium BCE, when the city was known as Gasur, the local calendar was similar to these from Ebla, Mari, Abu Salabikh and Eshnunna, and the month names used at the time originate in Semitic languages.[142] However, after Hurrians settled in the city, they started to use one of their own, which in some cases could be combined with the old calendar, as evidenced by a document combining month names from both into a sequence.[141] The Hurrian month names in Nuzi were Impurtanni, Arkuzzi, Kurilli, Šeḫali ša dIM (the logogram stands for the name of the god Teššub, while šeḫali might mean "festival"), Šeḫali ša Nergal, Attanašwe, Šeḫlu (followed by a month whose name is not preserved), Ḫuru, Mitirunni (mitirunnu was a festival involving a parade of divine statues) and Ḫutalši.[143] Only the names of a few of the etymologically non-Hurrian months are preserved: Ḫiaru (second; the name refers to a festival also known from northern and western Mesopotamia), Ḫinzuru (third), Tamūzu (fourth), Ulūlu (sixth), Sabūtu (seventh, as indicated by the name), Kinūnu (ninth; the name refers to a festival focused on a ritual brazier), Ḫegalla, Qarrāti and Ḫamannu (position in the calendar unknown).[144] Some Hurrian month names, including a possible cognate of Attanašwe, Atanatim, are also known from Alalakh.[145]


It is possible that Attanašwe, "month of the fathers," was connected to the cult of deceased ancestors, which is well documented in Nuzi.[34] Families apparently owned figurines representing their spirits.[34] In the west, references to "gods of the fathers," enna attanewena, can be found,[146] but it is not clear if they refer to similar customs,[34] and it is possible this term instead referred to nebulously defined ancestors of deities.[147] Funerary rites and other burial practices are poorly represented in known sources.[148] It possible that the term karašk-, known from one of Tushratta's letters to the Egyptian pharaoh referred to a type of mausoleum meant to honor a deceased relative.[148] A single text from Ugarit alludes to the dead being led to their destination by Nupatik, seemingly acting as a psychopomp in this case.[149]


Ritual texts are commonly accompanied by instructions pertaining to music which was supposed to be performed during celebrations, both choral and instrumental.[150] While some contain what is most likely the oldest instance of written musical notation, its decipherment is difficult.[151] One well known example of such a Hurrian hymn comes from Ugarit and is dedicated to Nikkal.[152] A genre of Hurrian songs whose name, zinzabuššiya, is derived from that of an unidentified bird, was associated with the worship of Šauška according to Hittite documents.[96]


Divination is well attested as an element of Hurrian religious practice.[153] Its most commonly employed method combined an inquiry aimed at a specific deity with extispicy, the examination of an animal's entrails.[64] Hepatoscopy, or examination of the liver, is mentioned particularly often.[154] A similar practice is known from Mesopotamia, where the examination of a sheep's liver was commonly understood as a way to gain answers to questions directed as the gods Shamash and Adad.[64] A method of divination involving a specific type of bird, the mušen hurri (Akkadian: "the cave bird" or perhaps "the Hurrian bird," possibly a shelduck or rock partridge) is also known, but it remains uncertain what this procedure entailed.[154]


Hurrian incantations are also well known, though they are often difficult to interpret, and many known examples are unprovenanced.[155] They were imported into Mari and Babylonia as early as in the Old Babylonian period.[155] A well-preserved corpus of such texts is also known from Hattusa.[155] Kizzuwatna was most likely the source of many incantations and other similar formulas.[155] Two examples are the itkalzi ("mouth-washing"[156]) and itkahi series of purification rituals.[155] It has been argued that the former most likely reflect a Mitanni tradition.[157]

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


Are you looking for a gift before the TRUMP INAUGURATION?

We’re very pleased to announce the release of the Official 2025 Trump Calendar!

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. >

CONFIRM ORDER

Just let us know where we should ship them, and our team will get them to you ASAP!

Since it’s November, let’s give you a sneak peek at what we’ve got inside…

https://secure.winred.com/trump-national-committee-jfc/lp-hf-email-2025-trump-calendar-v2?utm_medium=email&utm_source=lp_lp_hf&utm_campaign=20241107_tnc_trumpcalendar-v2_hf_dtrump_lp&utm_content=donate&_nlid=VSsY9unVth&_nhids=dl0kiYzAZb


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


The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. Although the term is primarily used for Rome's pre-Julian calendars, it is often used inclusively of the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the Dictator Julius Caesar and Emperor Augustus in the late 1st century BC.[a]


According to most Roman accounts, their original calendar was established by their legendary first king Romulus. It consisted of ten months, beginning in spring with March and leaving winter as an unassigned span of days before the next year. These months each had 30 or 31 days and ran for 38 nundinal cycles, each forming a kind of eight-day week—nine days counted inclusively in the Roman manner—and ending with religious rituals and a public market. This fixed calendar bore traces of its origin as an observational lunar one. In particular, the most important days of each month—its kalends, nones, and ides—seem to have derived from the new moon, the first-quarter moon, and the full moon respectively. To a late date, the College of Pontiffs formally proclaimed each of these days on the Capitoline Hill and Roman dating counted down inclusively towards the next such day in any month. (For example, the year-end festival of Terminalia on 23 February was called VII. Kal. Mart., the 6th day before the March kalends.)


Romulus's successor Numa Pompilius was then usually credited with a revised calendar that divided winter between the two months of January and February, shortened most other months accordingly, and brought everything into rough alignment with the solar year by some system of intercalation. This is a typical element of lunisolar calendars and was necessary to keep the Roman religious festivals and other activities in their proper seasons.


Modern historians dispute various points of this account. It is possible the original calendar was agriculturally based, observational of the seasons and stars rather the moon, with ten months of varying length filling the entire year. If this ever existed, it would have changed to the lunisolar system later credited to Numa during the kingdom or early Republic under the influence of the Etruscans and of Pythagorean Southern Italian Greeks. After the establishment of the Republic, years began to be dated by consulships but the calendar and its rituals were otherwise very conservatively maintained until the Late Republic. Even when the nundinal cycles had completely departed from correlation with the moon's phases, a pontiff was obliged to meet the sacred king, to claim that he had observed the new moon, and to offer a sacrifice to Juno to solemnize each kalends.


It is clear that, for a variety of reasons, the intercalation necessary for the system's accuracy was not always observed. Astronomical events recorded in Livy show the civil calendar had varied from the solar year by an entire season in 190 BC and was still two months off in 168 BC. By the 191 BC Lex Acilia or before, control of intercalation was given to the pontifex maximus but—as these were often active political leaders like Caesar—political considerations continued to interfere with its regular application. Notably, intercalation had to be personally announced by the chief pontiff in Rome so, when his war in Gaul and civil war against Pompey kept Caesar out of the city for years at a time, the calendar was repeatedly left unadjusted.


Victorious in civil war, Caesar reformed the calendar in 46 BC, coincidentally making the year of his third consulship last for 446 days. This new Julian calendar was an entirely solar one, influenced by Egypt's. In order to avoid interfering with Rome's religious ceremonies, the reform distributed the unassigned days among the months (towards their ends) and did not adjust any nones or ides, even in months which came to have 31 days. The Julian calendar was designed to have a single leap day every fourth year by repeating February 24[b] (a doubled VI. Kal. Mart. or ante diem bis sextum Kalendas Martias) but, following Caesar's assassination, the priests mistakenly added the bissextile (bis sextum) leap day every three years due to their inclusive counting. In order to bring the calendar back to its proper place, Augustus was obliged to suspend intercalation for one or two decades.


At 365.25 days, the Julian calendar remained slightly longer than the solar year (365.24 days). By the 16th century, the date of Easter had shifted so far away from the vernal equinox that Pope Gregory XIII ordered a further correction to the calendar method, resulting in the establishment of the modern Gregorian calendar.

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


Pontifex Maximus

Introduction

The head priest of the Roman state religion was the Pontifex Maximus, or the greatest of the college of pontifices. While an obviously important and prominent position within the ranks of the Roman system, the Pontifex Maximus was not considered a magistrate comparable to a Consul, Praetor, etc.


During the Republic, the Pontifex was elected by the Comitia Tributa and served for life, while during the Empire, the position was generally held by the Emperor himself.


Originally, the Ponifices were Patrician only, but the social conditions and changes during the late Republic allowed for Plebeian election as well. These men were responsible for the oversight of the state religious cult as a whole and didn't really oversee particular godly cults, though they could if necessary.


By the Imperial period there were 16 pontifices under the high priest, 15 flamines, who were special priests of the main deities, and the Rex Sacrorum (king of the sacrifices) who performed the religious acts that the king had usually done. Perhaps most importantly, he was he was also responsible for the 18 Vestal Virgins.


The main duty of the pontifices was to provide the pax deorum, or the 'peace with the gods'. Interpreting omens, sometimes through augures, controlling and keeping the official calendar, and the oversight of funerals all fell under the domain of the Pontifex Maximus.


He was responsible for an enormous collection of omens (annales maximi); that would be recorded and collected on a nearly constant basis. These heavenly signs would be written down along with accompanying events, and used to determine the divine favor of the gods. Doing so allowed following generations of priests and magistrates to understand the historic will of the gods and interpret future events against past patterns.


Today, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, is still called the Pontifex Maximus. It's a political or governing office that has been in existence and in perpetual use for nearly 3,000 years.


Pontifex Maximus List


Roman Office of the Pontifex Maximus


Year


Pontifex


Notes


712 BC


Numa Pompilius


The office was said to begin during the tenure of the Kings of Rome. However, very little recorded evidence exists. This name has been recorded as Numa Marcius and it is difficult to determine if it was a different person, or the actual second king of Rome.


509 BC


Papirius


Complete dates in office unknown.


449 BC


Furius


Complete dates in office unknown.


431 BC


Cornelius Cossas


Complete dates in office unknown.


420 BC


Minucius


Complete dates in office unknown.


390 BC


Follius Flaccinator


Complete dates in office unknown.


332 - 304 BC


Cornelius Callissa


 


304 - ? BC


Cornelius Scipio Barbatus


Complete dates in office unknown.


254 - 243 BC


Tib. Coruncanius


First Plebeian Pontifex Maximus


243 - 221 BC


Caecilius Metellus


 


217 - 213 BC


Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus


 


212 - 183 BC


Licinius Crassus Dives


 


183 - 180 BC


Servilius Geminus


 


180 - 152 BC


Aemilius Lepidus


 


152 -150 BC


No Pontifex Maximus


 


150 - 141 BC


Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum


 


141 - 132 BC


Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio


Described by Plutarch as the first Pontifex to break the religious law not allowing him to leave Italy.


132 - 130 BC


Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus


Also noted as the first to leave Italy, during the social disorder of the Gracchi Brothers. After which, it became increasingly common and certainly not against the law for the Pontifex to leave Italy.


? - 115 BC


P. Mucius Scaevola


Complete dates in office unknown, but assumedly shortly after his predecessor.


114 - 103 BC


Caecilius Metellus Delmaticus


 


103 - 89 BC


Domitius Ahenobarbus


 


89 - 82 BC


Q. Mucius Scaevola


 


81 - 63 BC


Caecilius Metellus Pius


 


63 - 44 BC


Gaius Julius Caesar


 


44 - 13 BC


Aemilius Lepidus


 


12 BC


Augustus


With the accession of Augustus, the election of the Pontifex Maximus ceased as each successive emperor held the office. In 382 AD, when the Eastern emperor Theodosius established Christianity as the official religion of the empire, the Western Emperor Gratian relinquished the office to the Christian Popes of Rome, who have held it since that time.


Did you know...

Julius Caesar was elected pontifex maximus in 63 BCE and kept the office until his death. The house where he spent the night before he was killed, was the domus publica.

https://www.unrv.com/culture/pontifex-maximus.php 


Priests of Babylon move to today's Turkey. They became the kings of Pergamum

"Nebuchadnezzar’s successor, Awil-Marduk, set the stage for the submission of the empire to the Medo-Persians. Weakened over the next few decades by internal divisions, the strongly fortified Babylon  fell without a fight in 539 BCE to Cyrus the Great’s forces. The Persians were generally tolerant toward the nations they defeated, allowing them to retain their culture and religion. An example of their permissive attitude came soon after the fall of Babylon. Cyrus issued a proclamation returning the Jewish captives in Babylon to Jerusalem with instructions to rebuild the temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.


Though the Persians did not initially interfere in Babylon’s religious practices, the political power of the Babylonian priesthood (who were Chaldean magi) eventually became a problem. The temple had always been central to Babylonian life, with an entire culture and economy surrounding the Ziggurat of Marduk. As a result, the Chaldean priests were a powerful elite. They were often more powerful than the Babylonian king himself: the monarch had to acknowledge the priests’ intermediary role and “take the hands of Marduk” before assuming the throne. The king thus became the son of the god and was obliged to protect the religious hierarchy."

Priests of Babylon move to today's Turkey. They became the kings of Pergamum

https://www.project6000.com/english-home-page/2000-a-abraham-daniel-and-the-persians/480-133-p-the-babylonian-priests-come-to-pergamon/


The priests frustrated the Persians’ tolerance when, in an attempt to retain their behind-the-scenes political power, they installed one of their own, a priest posing as the king’s brother Smerdis, as ruler of Babylon. The imposter was discovered and killed by the Persians. Following a subsequent revolt when the priests again set up their own Babylonian ruler, the Persian king Xerxes came and destroyed Babylon in 487 BCE. In the process, he tore down the temples and removed the statue of Marduk.


At this point, around 480 BCE, the Babylonian priests are thought to have left the city and reestablished their base elsewhere. According to one source, “the defeated Chaldeans fled to Asia Minor, and fixed their central college at Pergamos, and took the palladium of Babylon, the cubic stone, with them. Here, independent of state control, they carried on the rites of their religion” (William B. Barker, Lares and Penates: or, Cilicia and Its Governors, Ingram, Cooke and Co., London, 1853, pp. 232–233).

https://www.vision.org/through-ancient-looking-glass-809


The Attalid Dynasty ruled an empire from their capital at Pergamon during the 3rd and 2nd century BCE. Fighting for their place in the turbulent world following the death of Alexander the Great, the Attalids briefly flourished with Pergamon becoming a great Hellenistic city famed for its culture, library, and Great Altar.  

https://www.ancient.eu/Attalid_Dynasty/


For in the year 133 B.C. the young King of Pergamon, Attalus III, died, leaving his territory and his treasure to the city and people of Rome. While Attalus’ bequest had some precedent, it was nevertheless unusual and was the first to be accepted by Rome. Its acceptance had consequences that affected the subsequent course of Roman history.  

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/legacy-attalus


Bible scholars further indicate that the Chaldean priesthood did not make Pergamos their final home. When the city was given to Rome, the priesthood sought out the new power center and moved to the Italian peninsula. Within the pagan Roman Empire they were able to continue their ancient Chaldean practices. This influence gradually extended into Roman Christianity. According to John Walvoord, chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary, “when the teachers of the Babylonian mystery religions later moved from Pergamum to Rome, they were influential in paganism Christianity and were the source of many so-called religious rites which have crept into ritualistic churches” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Revelation).

https://www.vision.org/through-ancient-looking-glass-809


Rev. 2: 12-13 

“Here is what I command you to write to the church in Pergamum. Here are the words of Jesus, who has the sharp sword with two edges. He says, 13 ‘I know that you live where Satan has his throne. But you remain faithful to me. You did not give up your faith in me. You didn’t give it up even in the days of Antipas. Antipas, my faithful witness, was put to death in your city, where Satan lives.   NIRV

https://www.project6000.com/english-home-page/2000-a-abraham-daniel-and-the-persians/480-133-p-the-babylonian-priests-come-to-pergamon/


Peter was called Simon when he was born and he was a fisherman. He met Jesus near the Sea of Galilee. He decided to give up everything so that he could follow Jesus and listen to him talk about God. Simon became one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Jesus changed his name to Peter which means “rock”.

https://www.mtcarmelcoorparoo.qld.edu.au/resource-centre/student-links/Documents/Saints%20Research.pdf 


As far as Simon Magus goes, even those now considered to be early supporters of the Roman Catholic Church condemned him. Yet, those who claim Christ really should look into whether or not they have adopted the non-biblical heresies that Simon Magus and his later followers adopted. Those wanting to learn more should also consider studying the articles at the The History of Early Christianity page.


We do not know how or when Simon Magus died (there are various legends). Some early reports indicate he was buried in Samaria or in Rome. Some suspect that burial was in Vatican hill.


Notice the following:


Elevating his personal teachings above the Bible, and preaching a "no-works" doctrine of salvation, Simon Magus soon had a universal, popular following. Deified by the Romans, he was buried on Vatican Hill. ...

The records regarding Simon's death vary widely. Many of the stories try to incorporate some fiction from the Greek and Egyptian myths to enhance the reader's interest in this fascinating character. But the earliest records say that he was buried in Rome after a long period of great honour and deification.


It is not clearly known where Simon Magus alias Simon Pater or Simon Jupiter was buried. But this much is known. The place of burial for ALL prophets and holy men of the Romans was in the sacred cemetery on Vatican Hill. This much is certain.

Notice what Werner Keller in his The Bible as History says about the so-called burial of the Catholics' Peter. (Before reading Keller's statement, let us remember that he is a thorough-going Catholic and firmly, himself, believed that the Apostle Peter was buried in Rome.


However, the Bible shows nothing of the kind. Now, let's read Keller's comment — the official comment of the Roman Catholic Church):


"On the night of his death on the cross Peter's followers BURIED his body. As in the case of Jesus on the hill of Calvary it was wrapped in linen and secretly taken to a PAGAN BURIAL GROUND on the Via Cornelia, behind the stone structure of the arena. This PAGAN CEMETERY lay on a knoll called VATICANUS: the Latin word 'vatis' means a 'prophet' or 'SOOTHSAYER'. In days gone by there had been an Etruscan oracle on this spot" (p. 368).


What an admission!


Keller ought to have better sense to know that this Peter buried in this cemetery, of all places, could NOT be the Apostle Peter. In the first place, Peter was a Jew, and they had to be buried in their own cemeteries. And even if by a happen-chance a Jew could be buried in a Roman cemetery, it is most unlikely that a Jew — especially one who attacked the Roman religion as the Apostle Peter did — would ever have been allowed into the most holy of pagan cemeteries! This cemetery was reserved for prophets, soothsayers and the great ones of pagan Rome. (Martin E. SIMON MAGUS SERIES - Simonites Establish UNIVERSAL Church. Good News, August 1964)


When Vatican hill has been excavated, they have found pagan graves and one or more in costly apparel. Perhaps, one in costly apparel was Simon Magus."

https://www.cogwriter.com/simonmagus.htm


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

Magistrates: see Important persons, princes 

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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 


104 If any of our professors in his teaching departs from doctrine in accord with the magisterium of the Church, superiors ought to speak with him in order to understand well both him and his thinking; and, if occasion warrants, they should admonish him. If he does not change, superiors should not hesitate even to remove him from his teaching position, if it eventually proves necessary, observing as far as possible the statutes of the institution or faculty.[74] 

105 During their course of studies, scholastics should be taught, under the direction of their professors, to read critically and use prudently the works of those authors who have greater influence on present-day cultures. Thus they should learn how to retain what is good and to correct what is unacceptable.[75]

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 


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

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 


What does the Bible say about white magic?

White magic is described as “good” magic, as opposed to black magic, which draws upon the powers of evil beings. Opinions vary as to the differences between black and white magic, ranging from the idea that they are two names for exactly the same thing, to the belief that they are completely different, especially in goals and intent. The Bible does not differentiate between “good” and “bad” magic. Magic is magic as far as the Bible is concerned. Scripture doesn’t distinguish whether the magic is supposed to be used for good or for bad; it’s all forbidden because it appeals to a source of power other than God.


Those who practice white magic, also often called Wicca, worship the creation rather than the Creator, and, while they may not call on the devil or evil spirits, they often appeal to “mother earth,” angels, and/or the elements. The central Wiccan theme is, “if it does no harm, do your own will.” Many who dabble in white magic call themselves Wiccans, whether they actually are or not. Although Wicca is fairly open-ended and there are various “denominations” and theological positions within the belief, there are certain beliefs, practices, and traditions that connect adherents of white magic to Wicca.


Whether the intent is to venerate “mother earth,” the elements, or the angels, and even if one intends to do only good, the reality is that, ultimately, there is no distinction between white and black magic because they both worship something other than God. It’s frightening to think that the adherents of white magic are unknowingly praying to and beseeching the same god that adherents of black magic are—Satan.


Throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, all forms of witchcraft are in violation of God’s law and are condemned. (Deuteronomy 18:10–16; Leviticus 19:26, 31; 20:27; Acts 13:8–10). Pharaoh’s magicians used their “secret arts” to try to duplicate the miracles done by Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7:11; 8:7)—secret arts are the ceremonies or rituals sorcerers use to accomplish their magic, involving incantations, spells, magic words, charms, amulets, etc. The apostle Paul condemned Elymas the sorcerer, proclaiming him a “child of the devil” who was full of “all kinds of deceit and trickery” and was “perverting the right ways of the Lord” (Acts 13:10). The apostle Peter likewise condemned Simon the magician in Acts 8:20–23. Nowhere in the Bible is a practicing sorcerer or magician portrayed in a positive light. A possible exception are the magi who brought gifts to Jesus; however, in the East the title magi was frequently given to philosophers or learned men who studied the secrets of nature, astronomy, and medicine. Jesus’ visitors were “wise men,” but not necessarily sorcerers. The Bible shows them worshiping the Lord (Matthew 2:11), not casting spells.


Scripture says that God hates all magic, whether it is white magic or some other kind. Why? Because it doesn’t come from God. Satan deceives people by making them think white magic is beneficial. Satan pretends to be an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), but his desire is to ensnare the souls of as many as he can. The Bible warns against him and his evil tricks. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).


“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Real spiritual power only comes from God, from a right relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ, and from the Holy Spirit who lives in the hearts of believers.

https://www.gotquestions.org/white-magic.html


THE definition of magic, as used in this book, is: "The change in situations or events in accordance with one's will, which would, using normally accepted methods, be unchangable." This admittedly leaves a large area for personal interpretation. It will be said, by some, that these instructions and procedures are nothing more than applied psychology, or scientific fact, called by "magical" terminology - until they arrive at a passage in the text that is "based on no known scientific finding". It is for this reason that no attempt has been made to limit the explanations set forth to a set nomenclature. Magic is never totally scientifically explainable, but science has always been, at one time or another, considered magic.


There is no difference between "White" and "Black" magic, except in the smug hypocrisy, guilt-ridden righteousness, and self-deceit of the "White" magician himself. In the classical religious tradition, "White" magic is performed for altruistic, benevolent, and "good" purposes; while "Black" magic is used for self-aggrandizement, personal power, and "evil" purposes. No one on earth ever pursued occult studies, metaphysics, yoga, or any other "white light" concept, without ego gratification and personal power as a goal. It just so happens that some people enjoy wearing hair shirts, and others prefer velvet or silk. What is pleasure to one, is pain to another, and the same applies to "good" and "evil". Every practitioner of witchcraft is convinced that he or she is doing the "right" thing.

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE

OF

SATANIC MAGIC

(Definition and Purpose)

https://cparker15.tripod.com/tsb/earthI.html


The Temple of Set is an occult initiatory order founded in 1975. A new religious movement and form of Western esotericism, the Temple espouses a religion known as Setianism, whose practitioners are called Setians. This is sometimes identified as a form of Satanism, although this term is not often embraced by Setians and is contested by some academics.


The Temple was established in the United States in 1975 by Michael Aquino, an American political scientist, military officer, and a high-ranking member of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan. Dissatisfied with the direction in which LaVey was taking the Church, Aquino resigned and – according to his own claim – embarked on a ritual to invoke Satan, who revealed to him a sacred text called The Book of Coming Forth by Night. According to Aquino, in this work Satan revealed his true name to be that of Set, which had been the name used by his followers in ancient Egypt. Aquino was joined in establishing the Temple by a number of other dissatisfied members of LaVey's Church, and soon various Setian groups were established across the United States.


Setians believe that Set is the one real god and that he has aided humanity by giving them a questioning intellect, the "Black Flame", which distinguishes them from other animal species. Set is held in high esteem as a teacher whose example is to be emulated but he is not worshipped as a deity. Highly individualistic in basis, the Temple promotes the idea that practitioners should seek self-deification and thus attain an immortality of consciousness. Setians believe in the existence of magic as a force which can be manipulated through ritual, however the nature of these rituals is not prescribed by the Temple. Specifically, Aquino described Setian practices as "black magic", a term which he defines idiosyncratically.


Following initiation into the Temple, a Setian can proceed along a series of six degrees, each of which requires greater responsibilities to the group; as a result, most members remain in the first two degrees. Governed by a high priest or high priestess and a wider Council of Nine, the Temple is also divided into groups known as pylons, through which Setians can meet or correspond in order to advance their magical work in a particular area. Pylons of the Temple are now present in the United States, Australia, and Europe, with estimates placing the Temple's membership between 200 and 500.


Definition

The Temple of Set is a new religious movement,[1] and draws upon earlier forms of Western esotericism.[2] Among academic scholars of religious studies, there has been some debate as to whether the Temple of Set can be characterized as "Satanism" or not. The religious studies scholars Asbjorn Dyrendal, Massimo Introvigne, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Aa. Petersen describes the Temple of Set as a Satanic group, despite its reluctance to use the term "Satanism", because it is an offshoot of the Church of Satan which continues to use satanic mythology.[3][4] Conversely, the scholar Kennet Granholm argued that it should not be considered a form of Satanism because it does not place an emphasis on the figure of Satan. Granholm acknowledged that it was an "actor in the Satanic milieu" and part of the wider left-hand path group of esoteric traditions.[5] He suggested that it could also be seen as a form of "Post-Satanism", thereby continuing to reflect its historical origins within religious Satanism.[6]


The Temple of Set is far more rooted in esoteric ideas than the Church of Satan had been.[7] It has thus been termed "Esoteric Satanism", a term used to contrast it with the "Rational Satanism" found in LaVeyan Satanism.[8] Accordingly, it has been labelled the "intellectual wing of esoteric Satanism",[9] with the Temple presenting itself as an intellectual religion.[10] Aquino possessed a P.h.D. in political science and this formal education was reflected in the way that he presented his arguments, in which he draws broadly upon Western philosophy and science.[11]


History

Foundation 

Born in 1946, Michael Angelo Aquino was a military intelligence officer specializing in psychological warfare.[12] In 1969 he joined Anton LaVey's Church of Satan and rose rapidly through the group's ranks.[13] In 1970, while he was serving with the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, Aquino was stationed in Bến Cát in South Vietnam when he wrote a tract titled "Diabolicon" in which he reflected upon his growing divergence from the Church of Satan's doctrines.[14] In this tract, teachings about the creation of the world, God, and humanity are presented, as is the dualistic idea that Satan complements God.[15] The character of Lucifer is presented as bringing insight to human society,[16] a depiction of Lucifer that was inherited from John Milton's seventeenth-century epic poem Paradise Lost.[17]


By 1971 Aquino was ranked as a Magister Caverns of the IV° within the Church's hierarchy, was editor of its publication The Cloven Hoof, and sat on its governing Council of Nine.[12] In 1973 he rose to the previously unattained rank of Magister Templi of IV°.[12] According to the scholars of Satanism Per Faxneld and Jesper Petersen, Aquino had become LaVey's "right-hand man".[18] There were nonetheless things that Aquino disliked about the Church of Satan; he thought that it had attracted many "fad-followers, egomaniacs, and assorted oddballs, whose primary interest in becoming Satanists was to flash their membership cards for cocktail-party notoriety".[19] When, in 1975, LaVey abolished the system of regional groups, or grottos, and declared that in the future all degrees would be given in exchange for financial or other contributions to the Church, Aquino became increasingly disaffected; he resigned from the organization on June 10, 1975.[20] While LaVey seems to have held a pragmatic and practical view of the degrees and of the Satanic priesthood, intending them to reflect the social role of the degree holder within the organization, Aquino and his supporters viewed the priesthood as being spiritual, sacred and irrevocable.[21] Dyrendal, Lewis, and Petersen describe Aquino as, in effect, accusing LaVey of the sacrilege of simony.[21]


Aquino then provided what has been described as a "foundation myth" for his Setian religion.[22] Having departed the Church, he embarked on a ritual intent on asking Satan for advice on what to do next.[23] According to his account, at Midsummer 1975, Satan appeared and revealed that he wanted to be known by his true name, Set, which had been the name used by his worshippers in ancient Egypt.[24] Aquino produced a religious text, The Book of Coming Forth by Night, which he alleged had been revealed to him by Set through a process of automatic writing.[25] According to Aquino, "there was nothing overtly sensational, supernatural, or melodramatic about The Book of Coming Forth By Night working. I simply sat down and wrote it."[26] The book proclaimed Aquino to be the Magus of the new Aeon of Set and the heir to LaVey's "infernal mandate".[27] Aquino later stated that the revelation that Satan was Set necessitated his own exploration of Egyptology, a subject about which he had previously known comparatively little.[28]


Aquino's Book of Coming Forth by Night makes reference to The Book of the Law, a similarly revealed text produced by the occultist Aleister Crowley in 1904 which provided the basis for Crowley's religion of Thelema. In Aquino's book, The Book of the Law was presented as a genuine spiritual text given to Crowley by preternatural sources, but it was also declared that Crowley had misunderstood both its origin and message.[29] In making reference to The Book of the Law, Aquino presented himself as being as much Crowley's heir as LaVey's,[30] and Aquino's work would engage with Crowley's writings and beliefs to a far greater extent than LaVey ever did.[7]


In establishing the Temple, Aquino was joined by other ex-members of LaVey's Church,[12] and soon Setian groups, or pylons, were established in various parts of the United States.[12] The structure of the Temple was based largely on those of the ceremonial magical orders of the late nineteenth century, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis.[31] Aquino has stated that he believed LaVey not to be merely a charismatic leader but to have been actually appointed by Satan himself (referring to this charismatic authority as the "Infernal Mandate") to found the Church.[32] After the split of 1975, Aquino believed LaVey had lost the mandate, which the "Prince of Darkness" then transferred to Aquino and a new organization, the Temple of Set.[32] According to both the historian of religion Mattias Gardell and journalist Gavin Baddeley, Aquino displayed an "obsession" with LaVey after his departure from the Church, for instance by publicly releasing court documents that reflected negatively on his former mentor, among them restraining orders, divorce proceedings, and a bankruptcy filing.[33] In turn, LaVey lampooned the new Temple as "Laurel and Hardy's Sons of the Desert".[34] In 1975, the Temple incorporated as a non-profit Church in California, and later that year secured state and federal recognition and tax-exempted status.[35]


Later development

Many members of the Temple had voiced their opposition to Aquino's position of power within it.[36] Aquino relinquished his office of High Priest in 1979 to Ronald Keith Barrett,[37] who produced an inspired text of his own, titled The Book of Opening the Way.[38] Barrett's approach was later criticized as "more mystical than magical" by Temple members.[39] Barrett's leadership was also criticized as authoritarian,[40] resulting in a decline in the Temple's membership.[38] Barrett resigned his office and severed ties with the organization in May 1982.[37] He subsequently established his own Temple of Anubis, which he led until his 1998 death; it survived until the early 2010s.[36] After Barrett's departure, Aquino retook leadership of the Temple of Set.[36] During this period, the sociologist Gini Graham Scott clandestinely participated in the Temple, using her observations as the basis for her 1983 book The Magicians: A Study of the Use of Power in a Black Magic Group.[41]


After receiving his PhD in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1980, Aquino worked as an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University until 1986 while continuing to serve in the United States Army as an Active Guard Reserve officer at the Presidio of San Francisco.[42] He was fascinated with the connections between occultism and Nazism,[43] resulting in some accusations that he was sympathetic to Nazi ideology.[44] In 1983, he performed a solitary rite at Walhalla, the subterranean section of the Wewelsburg castle in Germany that was utilized as a ceremonial space by the Schutzstaffel's Ahnenerbe group during the Nazi period. This resulted in his formation of the Order of the Trapezoid, a Setian group whose members understood themselves as a chivalric order of knights.[45] From 1987 through to 1995, the Grand Master of the Order of the Trapezoid was Edred Thorsson, who had joined the Temple of Set in 1984 and risen to the Fifth Degree in 1990.[46] Thorsson exerted a "discernible influence" over the Setian community through his books, in which he combined aspects of Satanic philosophy with the modern Pagan religion of Heathenry.[47] In 1980, he founded the Texas-based Rune-Gild which shared many of the Temple's key philosophical tenets but with a focus on the study of runes and their applications in magical practice.[48]


In the 1980s, Aquino attracted greater publicity for his Temple through appearances on television talk shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show and Geraldo.[18] In 1987, during the Satanic ritual abuse hysteria, the three-year-old daughter of a Christian clergyman accused Aquino of sexually abusing her during Satanic rites held at his Russian Hill home. Responding to the allegations, police raided Aquino's home, however—after no evidence was found to substantiate the allegation and it was revealed that Aquino was living in Washington D.C. at the time of the alleged abuse—the police decided not to charge him with any felony.[49] Aquino attempted to bring formal charges against the chaplain and psychiatrist who had encouraged the girl's claims, although he was more successful in bringing legal action against two books—Carl A. Raschke's Painted Black and Linda Blood's The New Satanists—that had suggested that he was guilty.[50] cause” in the case of alleged child sexual abuse. Aquino. however, he was not convicted.[51] He then left the Presidio and was transferred to St. Louis.[52] In 1994, Aquino retired from active service in the Army, being honourably transferred to the Retired Reserve and awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.[53]


While the Satanic ritual abuse hysteria declined, Aquino continued to be a figure of prominence in "mind control" conspiracy theories because of his career as a psychological warfare officer in the US Army.[54] In the United Kingdom during this same period, tabloids like the News of the World and Sunday Mirror published sensationalist articles about the Temple.[55] In the mid-1990s, a group of British Setians approached the religious studies scholar Graham Harvey and encouraged him to conduct research into the group so as to combat misconceptions about them.[56] The Temple first registered a website in 1997, the same year as the Church of Satan.[57] It would also establish its own intranet, allowing for communication between Setians in different parts of the world.[5]


One member of the Temple was the New Zealander Kerry Bolton, who split to form his own Order of The Left Hand Path in 1990.[58] In 1995, another couple who joined were LaVey's daughter Zeena Schreck and her husband Nikolas Schreck, both of whom were vocal critics of Zeena's father.[59]


In 1996, Don Webb became the high priest of the Temple, a position that he held until 2002.[60] He was replaced by Zeena Schreck, but she resigned after six weeks and was replaced by Aquino, who took charge once more.[60] In that year, Zeena led a schism within the organization[9] establishing her own Berlin-based group, The Storm, which she later renamed the Sethian Liberation Movement.[61]


Aquino stood down as Supreme Priest again in 2004, to be replaced by Patricia Hardy who was elected to the position of Supreme Priestess.[61] Although no longer in charge of the organization, he nevertheless remained its most visible spokesperson.[61]


Aquino died in July 2020 at the age of 73.[62]


Ideology

Writings

In addition to the Book of Coming Forth by Night, in which Set himself is purported to speak, the Temple's philosophy and teachings are revealed in a series of occult writings titled the Jeweled Tablets of Set.[63] Each tablet is keyed to a specific degree in the Temple hierarchy.[63] Only the introduction to the first tablet (Crystal Tablet of Set), titled "Black Magic", is available for non-members.[63] The Ruby Tablet, which is available for second-degree members, is the lengthiest and most diverse of the tablets.[64]


The private Temple literature is not regarded as secret per se, but is kept restricted because it contains materials which, according to the Temple, may be dangerous to the non-initiated.[63]


Self-deification and Xeper

The human individual is at the centre of Setian philosophy.[22] The Temple places great emphasis on the development of the individual,[65] postulating self-deification as the ultimate goal.[18] The realization of the true nature of the Setian is termed "becoming" or "coming into being" and is represented by the Egyptian hieroglyphic term kheper, or "Xeper" (a phonetic of _Xpr_), as the Temple of Set prefers to write it.[66] This term is described in The Book of Coming Forth by Night as "the Word of the Aeon of Set".[67] Members attempt "to preserve and strengthen" their "isolate, psyche-centric existence" through adherence to the left-hand path.[9] This idea is in opposition to the traditional goal of Hermetic and Western mystical practices, which is the surrendering of the ego into a union with either God or the universe.[68]


The Temple teaches that the true self, or essence, is immortal, and Xeper is the ability to align consciousness with this essence.[9][69] Aquino taught that there is an afterlife for those who have reached the necessary level of individual development.[70] This afterlife could occur in the individual's subjective universe.[70] Those unable to reach this level dissolve into non-existence when the physical body dies.[70] Self-initiation is knowledge understood as a conjunction of intellect and intuition.[9] In keeping with its emphasis on the individual, the Temple encourages their members to celebrate their own birthday, and does not prescribe any other calendar of religious festivities.[71]


Barrett presented Xem as his Aeonic Word to the Setians,[39] presenting it as a natural and necessary further development of Aquino's Xeper.[38] Aquino later acknowledged Xem as a worthwhile magical concept for Setians to explore, but found Barrett's insistence on its exclusivity as incompatible with the Temple's individualistic philosophy.[38]


Set

Aquino's understanding of Satan differed from the atheistic interpretation promoted by LaVey,[22] and the Temple's theology differs from that of the Church of Satan.[72] The Temple states that the name Satan was originally a corruption of the name Set.[73] The Temple of Set promotes the idea that Set is a real entity,[74] and accordingly has been described as being "openly theistic".[18] It further argues that Set is ageless and is the only real god in existence, with all others having been created by the human imagination.[75] Set is described as having given humanity—through the means of non-natural evolution—the "Black Flame" or the "Gift of Set". This refers to humanity's questioning intellect which sets the species apart from other animals and gives it an "isolate self-consciousness" and the possibility to attain divinity.[76] Aquino argued that the idea of the Gift of Set was inadvertently promoted to a wider audience in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. According to Aquino, the black monolith which imparts human-level intelligence onto prehistoric apes in the film was a symbol of Set.[77]


While Setians are expected to revere Set, they do not worship him, instead regarding him as a teacher and a guide.[78] He is portrayed as a role model on which Setians can base their own deification.[79] According to Webb, "we do not worship Set - only our own potential. Set was and is the patron of the magician who seeks to increase his existence through expansion."[80]


Embracing the idea of aeons from Crowley's Thelema, Aquino adopted the Crowleyan tripartite division between the Aeon of Isis, Aeon of Osiris, and Aeon of Horus, but added to that the Aeon of Satan, which he dates from 1966 to 1975, and then the Aeon of Set, which he dated from 1975 onward.[81] Despite presenting these chronological parameters, Aquino also portrayed the aeons less as time periods and more as mind-sets that can co-exist alongside one another.[81] Thus, he stated that "A Jew, Christian or Muslim exists in the Æon of Osiris, a Wiccan in that of Isis, and a Thelemite in that of Horus".[81]


Magic

Aquino placed an emphasis on what he deemed to be the division between the objective and subjective universes.[82] In the Setian religion, the objective world is understood as representing the natural world and humanity's collective meaning systems, while the subjective universe is understood as the individually experienced world and individual meaning systems.[48] Following earlier esotericists like Crowley, Aquino characterized magic as "causing change in accordance with will".[83] Unlike LaVey, Aquino expressed belief in the division between black magic and white magic.[84] He described white magic as "a highly-concentrated form of conventional religious ritual", characterizing it as being "more versatile", "less difficult", and "less dangerous" than black magic.[85] However, he criticized white magic as "fraud and/or self-delusion" which deceives the consciousness into thinking that it has been accepted in the objective universe.[86]


Aquino divided black magic into two forms: lesser black magic and greater black magic.[87] He stated that lesser black magic entails "impelling" things that exist in the "objective universe" into doing a desired act by using "obscure physical or behavioral laws" and into this category he placed stage magic, psychodramas, politics, and propaganda.[88] Conversely, he used the term greater black magic in reference to changes in the subjective universe of the magician, allowing them to realize their self in accordance with the principle of Xeper.[89] Among Setians it is accepted that there may be changes in the objective universe as a result of greater black magic, but such effects are considered secondary to the impact that they have upon the subjective universe.[89]


Within the Temple, rituals are typically known as "workings",[90] and are most often carried out alone.[91] Stressing the religion's individualist nature, there are no rituals that are specifically prescribed by the Temple.[92] Aquino also emphasized that in order to achieve a desired aim, the Setian should carry out physical actions alongside magical ones.[83] There are no regular occasions which are marked by fixed rituals, and the Temple has no calendar of festivals.[91]


Insignia

The Temple uses an inverted pentagram as its insignia, known as the "Pentagram of Set" to Setians.[93][94] The use of the geometric shape is derived from the Sigil of Baphomet used by the Church of Satan, although stripped of its overtly Satanic add-ons.[93] The Temple explains the meaning and significance of the pentagram by referring to Pythagorean ideas and "mathematical perfection".[93] At Setian gatherings, members wear the pentagram as a medallion.[94] The medallion is colored according to the initiation degree of the Setian.[94]


Both the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set also use the trapezoid symbol.[93] The version used by the Church includes flames, a pitchfork and the number 666, while the trapezoid of the Temple has a left-facing Egyptian sceptre, and the number 666 stylized in geometric shapes rather than as clear numbers.[93]


Structure

The internal structure of the Temple of Set is closely reminiscent of that of the Church of Satan as it existed in the 1970s.[95]


Degrees

All members of the Temple must be affiliated with a pylon, and thus membership is by application, requiring contact with a Setian priestess or priest followed by an evaluation period.[9] The participation of non-initiated in the Temple's rituals are forbidden, due to the belief that their rituals would be dangerous in the wrong hands.[96]


The Temple of Set recognizes several stages or degrees of initiation. The degrees indicate the individual Setian's development and skill in magic.[97] The degree structure is based on that of the Church of Satan, which in turn was based on the degrees of a nineteenth-century occult group, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.[98] The Temple terms the progression through degrees as "recognitions", because the organization's philosophy sees that the individual member initiates themselves and that the Temple merely acknowledges this by granting the degree.[99] These degrees are:[100]


Setian (First Degree)

Adept (Second Degree)

Priest / Priestess of Set (Third Degree)

Magister / Magistra Templi (Fourth Degree)

Magus / Maga (Fifth Degree)

Ipsissimus / Ipsissima (Sixth Degree)

The priesthood of the Temple of Set consists of members holding the third degree or higher; those in the first and second degrees are considered "lay members" of the Temple.[101] The first degree serves as a space for mutual evaluation, in which the Temple assesses whether the individual is appropriate for the group, and the individual decides whether they wish to further their involvement with it.[102] Full membership comes with recognition to the second degree.[99] Many members do not advance beyond the second degree, nor is this expected of them, as while the first and second degree members use the organization's teachings and tools for their own development, the priesthood involves greater responsibilities towards the organization, such as being its official representatives.[103]


Recognition is performed by members of the priesthood.[99] The fourth degree, which is acknowledged by the high priest/priestess, entails that the individual is so advanced in their magical skills that they are able to found their own school of magic, represented in the different orders of the Temple.[99] The fifth degree can only be awarded by the unanimous decision of the Council of Nine and by the approval of the Temple's high priest/priestess.[99] A fifth degree member has the power to utter and define a concept which somehow affects the philosophy of the organization, such as the concept of Xeper defined by Aquino in 1975.[99] Only a handful of members have attained this degree and most "fifth-degree" concepts defined in such a manner are no longer studied in the organization.[99] The final sixth degree represents a Magus "whose Task is complete".[99] This degree is held by a very select few in the Temple, although any fifth-degree member can assume the sixth degree based on their own assessment.[99]


Leadership

The organization is led by a high priest/priestess, who is also the public face of the Temple.[90] The high priest is chosen among fourth or higher degree members by the chairman of the Council of Nine.[90] This ruling council has nine members chosen from the priesthood (third degree or higher), whose mandate lasts for nine years with a new member being elected every year.[90] The chairman of the council is chosen from among the council members each year.[90] The council has the ultimate ruling power in the Temple and even the high priest is responsible to it.[90] The Temple also has an executive director, whose task is to deal with administrative issues.[90]


Since its founding in 1975, the temple has had the following high priests/priestesses:[90]


Michael A. Aquino (1975–1979, 1982–1996, 2002–2004)

Ronald K. Barrett (1979–1982)

Don Webb (1996–2002)

Zeena Schreck (2002)

Patricia Hardy (2004–2013)

James Fitzsimmons (2013–present)


Pylons, elements, and orders

In addition to the international organization, the Temple sponsors initiatory Orders and Elements and local groups called Pylons. Pylons are intended to facilitate the initiatory work of the Temple's members by conducting meetings where discussions and magical works take place.[98] The purpose of a pylon is to provide a space in which the Setian can focus on their religion, aided by like-minded individuals.[104] Pylons typically meet in a member's home.[104] Members usually join the Pylon located geographically closest to them.[98] Correspondence- or Internet-based Pylons also exist,[98] with Harvey noting that this online networking is more common than in-person interaction.[72] A Pylon is led by a second-degree (or higher) member who is called a Sentinel.[98][104] The term pylon derives from the architectural features which served as fortified gateways to ancient Egyptian temples.[105] One Finnish Setian informed Granholm that the relationship between the orders and the temple was like that of different departments in a university.[98]


Elements are loosely structured interest groups, where specific themes and issues are addressed.[98] They can be open for non-members and are commonly in operation only for short periods.[98] Topics of interest include, for example, animal rights, which was the subject of the Arkte element operated by Aquino's wife Lilith.[98]


There are sections of the Temple known as Orders, each of which focus on a particular theme, for instance ancient Egypt, Norse culture, Tantric Hinduism, or vampirism.[106] Others focus on a particular skill, for instance the Order of Uart focuses on the visual arts and the Order of Taliesin on music.[107] Orders can be understood as schools of different aspects of magic providing different paths of initiation.[98] Orders are led by grand masters, who will usually be the founder of the order.[98] In longer-lived orders the founder may have a successive grand master.[98] Orders are founded by members of the fourth degree.[99] When members reaches the second degree of initiation, they are expected to join an order of their own choosing.[98] In normal circumstances, a Setian is only permitted to join one order, however special dispensation can be obtained for a practitioner to join two.[5]


Setians also hold annual International Conclaves. First Degree Initiates who obtain sponsorship by a member of the Priesthood are permitted to attend the International Conclave and Regional Gatherings.[108]


Demographics

In 2000, the Temple had thirteen pylons, which were operating in the United States, Australia, Germany, and across Sweden and Finland.[73] The extent of the Temple's membership has not been publicly revealed by the group;[104] however, in 2005 Petersen noted that academic estimates for the Temple's membership varied from between 300 and 500,[9] and Granholm suggested that in 2007 the Temple contained circa 200 members.[109] The Temple's members come from a variety of racial backgrounds.[110]


In 1999, the anthropologist Jean La Fontaine suggested that in Britain there were 100 members of the Temple at most, and possibly "considerably fewer".[111] In 2001 the scholar Gareth Medway posited that the group had 70 to 80 members in the United Kingdom, adding that it was the largest Satanic group then active in the country.[112] In 2009, Harvey concurred with La Fontaine's assessment, although still believed that it was the largest Satanic group in the United Kingdom.[113] He noted that most members were male, between the ages of twenty and fifty, and that—despite his expectation that they might be political extremists—they endorsed mainstream political positions, with all those whom he communicated with stating that they had voted for either the Conservative Party, Labour Party, or Liberal Democrats.[72]

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


MAGA Make America Great Again: a presidential campaign slogan used by Donald J. Trump.'

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/maga 

"These are the individuals who act as spokespersons for the philosophy of the Church of Satan, which include the titles of “Priest”/“Priestess,” “Magister”/“Magistra,” “Magus”/“MAGA.” Members of the Priesthood make up the Council of Nine, which is the ruling body of the organization, appointed by and responsible to the High Priest/Priestess. The Order of the Trapezoid consists of the individuals who assist in the administration of the Church of Satan. Members of our Priesthood are people of accomplishment in the real world—they have mastered skills and have won peer recognition, which is how they have attained their position—“as above, so below.” They are “movers and shakers” who are the core of our movement. While expected to be experts in communicating our philosophy, they are not required to speak on our behalf and they may even choose to keep their affiliation and rank secret, in order to better serve their personal goals, as well as those of our organization. Thus, you may (even as a member), encounter members of our Priesthood and never know it." Hierarchy in the Church of Satan 

Hierarchy in the Church of Satan - Church of Satan

https://www.churchofsatan.com/hierarchy/ 


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

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


On March 17, 1970, a curious article appeared in the Oakland Tribune. It was a report of an interview with Anton Szandor LaVey, Founder and "High PRIEST" of the "Church of Satan" in San Francisco, and the author of the Satanic Bible. Members of the Church of Satan wear an inverted pentagram, or pentacle (a well-known 'Satanic' symbol) with a a goathead on the inside of the circle. The cover of The Satanic Bible also bears an inverted pentagram, or satanic pentacle.

The Oakland Tribune article reported that LaVey had become " a favorite speaker at the University of San Francisco." When asked about his engagements at that university, LaVey proudly replied, "the Jesuits are my greatest audience." In case the reader was not already aware, the University of San Francisco is a renowned Jesuit institution of higher learning.

The statement by Satanist Anton LaVey about his work at this Jesuit University is no mystery. We invite the reader to give attention to this most audacious passage found in the writings of the Jesuit scholar Anthony Escobar. In his Secret Instructions, Escobar treats to what is perhaps the most innovative principle of Jesuitism (Roma Catholicism): "IT IS LAWFUL... TO MAKE USE OF THE SCIENCE ACQUIRED THROUGH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE DEVIL., PROVIDED THE PRESERVATION AND USE OF THAT KNOWLEDGE DO NOT DEPEND UPON THE DEVIL, FOR THE KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD IN ITSELF, AND THE SIN BY WHICH IT WAS ACQUIRED HAS GONE BY." Such is the effrontery of the Jesuits; such are their nostrums-my, my, what intriguing doctrines these Jesuits have-these men will sell their souls on eBay." 

pages 73-74

"SCIENCE ACQUIRED THROUGH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE DEVIL" 

Codeword Barbelon book One 

by P.D. Stuart 

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid0zXyY4xML5q4ufHEdoQBUkJV4SPHD83iXcSBkXsVSNh6YJP4T7kooksyKLdtLbW2Ll


Enjoy Les Bains de Lavey Hot Springs Thermal Baths Spa near Lake Geneva

31 August 2024 by Henk Bekker

Relax and enjoy the warmest thermal waters in Switzerland at the day spa and hot springs mineral water swimming pools of Lavey in the Rhone Valley of Valais near Montreux and Lake Geneva. https://www.lake-geneva-switzerland.com/valais-wallis/enjoy-bains-de-lavey-hot-water-day-spa-near-lake-geneva/ 


Anton Szandor LaVey[1] (born Howard Stanton Levey; April 11, 1930 – October 29, 1997) was an American author, musician, and LaVeyan Satanist.[2] He was the founder of the Church of Satan, the philosophy of LaVeyan Satanism, and the concept of Satanism. He authored several books, including The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook, and Satan Speaks! In addition, he released three albums, including The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music. He played a minor on-screen role and served as technical advisor for the 1975 film The Devil's Rain[3] and served as host and narrator for Nick Bougas' 1989 mondo film Death Scenes.[4]


Historian of Satanism Gareth J. Medway described LaVey as a "born showman",[5] with anthropologist Jean La Fontaine describing him as a "colourful figure of considerable personal magnetism".[6] The academic scholars of Satanism Per Faxneld and Jesper Aagaard Petersen described LaVey as "the most iconic figure in the Satanic milieu".[7] LaVey was labeled many things by journalists, religious detractors, and Satanists alike, including "The Father of Satanism",[8] the "St. Paul of Satanism",[9] "The Black Pope",[10] and the "evilest man in the world".[11]

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


The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) uses nickel oxide-based superconductors. The LHC is a particle accelerator that smashes protons together at high energies to create new particles:

What it is

The LHC is a 27-kilometer ring of superconducting magnets that accelerates particles to near light speed. The particles collide at four points around the ring, creating new particles that physicists study. 

How it works

The LHC sends two beams of protons in opposite directions around the ring. Superconducting magnets control the beams' trajectory. The beams collide with each other, releasing enormous amounts of energy. 

What it's used for

The LHC has led to some of the most important discoveries in modern physics, including the Higgs boson in 2012. The data collected from the collisions may help answer questions about the origins of the universe, dark matter, and why particles have mass. 

Nickel oxide-based superconductors

The LHC uses nickel oxide-based superconductors. 

Upgrades

The LHC was shut down and upgraded between 2013 and 2015, and again in 2018 for further maintenance and upgrades. It reopened in April 2022. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=hedron+collider+nickel&sca_esv=1b00af410e4b6f2d&sxsrf=ADLYWIIA7aeXZafh0k-oaQVNqA_h1XkseQ%3A1734400479480&ei=39lgZ975HP7OkPIP-PjH8Qc&ved=0ahUKEwie5eij2a2KAxV-J0QIHXj8MX4Q4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=hedron+collider+nickel&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiFmhlZHJvbiBjb2xsaWRlciBuaWNrZWwyBxAhGKABGAoyBxAhGKABGAoyBxAhGKABGAoyBxAhGKABGAoyBxAhGKABGApI6RBQtARYgg5wAXgBkAEAmAGSAaAB6AWqAQM0LjO4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgigAoQGwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICDRAAGIAEGLADGEMYigXCAgcQABiABBgNwgIIEAAYBRgNGB7CAgsQABiABBiGAxiKBZgDAOIDBRIBMSBAiAYBkAYKkgcDNS4zoAeLLA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp 


Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 km (760 mi), which is about 20% of Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius.[1][2]


There are no samples of the core accessible for direct measurement, as there are for Earth's mantle.[3] The characteristics of the core have been deduced mostly from measurements of seismic waves and Earth's magnetic field.[4] The inner core is believed to be composed of an iron–nickel alloy with some other elements. The temperature at its surface is estimated to be approximately 5,700 K (5,430 °C; 9,800 °F), about the temperature at the surface of the Sun.[5]


The inner core is solid at high temperature because of its high pressure, in accordance with the Simon-Glatzel equation.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_inner_core 


In Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," the phrase "stop the engine of the world" refers to the idea that the protagonist, John Galt, will withdraw himself and other highly productive individuals from society, essentially halting the progress and functioning of the world by taking away their essential contributions, as a protest against a system that unjustly burdens them; effectively "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing their talents and innovations. 

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


The deepest borehole in the world is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, which is located in Murmansk, Russia: 

Depth: 12,262 meters (40,230 ft) 

Location: Pechengsky District of the Kola Peninsula, near the Russian border with Norway 

Purpose: Scientific research 

Drilling: Began in 1970 and was abandoned in 1989 

Discovery: Hot mineralized water, new species of microfossils, unexpected rock formations, and an array of gases 

Why Did the Russians Seal Up the Deepest Hole in the World ...

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is so deep that it's deeper than the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean. It's also the combined height of Mount Everest and Mount Fuji.

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is so deep that it's deeper than the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean. It's also the combined height of Mount Everest and Mount Fuji. 

Here are some other details about the Kola Superdeep Borehole:

The Soviets drilled the hole using a modified version of a rig used to drill oil wells. 

The hole was originally intended to be around 9 miles (14,500 meters) deep, but drilling was stopped when scientists and engineers hit unexpectedly high temperatures. 

The rocks at those depths behaved more like plastic than rock. 

The drill became stuck in rock at a little over 12km (almost 40,000ft or 8 miles) deep. 

The project was abandoned in the chaos of post-Soviet Russia. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=deepest+borehole&oq=deepest+bore&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKhAIABAAGJECGIAEGIoFGPkHMhAIABAAGJECGIAEGIoFGPkHMg0IARAAGJECGIAEGIoFMgcIAhAAGIAEMgcIAxAAGIAEMgcIBBAAGIAEMgwIBRAAGBQYhwIYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgATSAQgxOTI3ajBqMagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


President, Pastor Stephen Bohr, MA, MDiv. has spent his life in mission service, has dedicated decades in ministry, and his deep theological research is ongoing. His love for the Lord is the driving force behind his commitment to spreading the cutting-edge gospel message for these last days with clarity and power. Pastor Bohr is also a faithful member of the Fresno Central Seventh-day Adventist Church supporting it through regular attendance, tithe, and offerings.

https://secretsunsealed.org/about/


A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, with an orbital period the same as the Earth's rotation period. Such a satellite returns to the same position in the sky after each sidereal day, and over the course of a day traces out a path in the sky that is typically some form of analemma. A special case of geosynchronous satellite is the geostationary satellite, which has a geostationary orbit – a circular geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator. Another type of geosynchronous orbit used by satellites is the Tundra elliptical orbit.

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


Solar flares are not directly related to the Earth's mantle, but they can have a significant impact on Earth if they are directed towards it: 

Explanation

Solar flares are explosions on the Sun that release magnetic energy and cause a burst of radiation. They can occur in active regions of the Sun, often around sunspots. 

Classification

Solar flares are classified by their peak brightness in X-ray wavelengths, with X-class flares being the most intense and A-class flares being the least intense. 

Effects on Earth

When a solar flare is directed at Earth, it can cause a geomagnetic storm that can interfere with power grids, communications, and navigation systems. The severity of the interference depends on the intensity of the storm. 

Monitoring

NASA, NOAA, and the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) monitor the Sun for solar flares and their associated magnetic storms

https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+flares+mantle&oq=solar+flares+mantle&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDsyBggAEEUYOzIKCAEQABiABBiiBDIKCAIQABiABBiiBNIBCDM3ODNqMGoxqAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 


A new order of the ages (is born)," is the meaning of the Latin phrase "novus ardo seclorum" which can be found on the back of a U.S. dollar bill. U.S. citizens are concerned with the passage of time, the near future, acting in a timely manner, and accomplishing tasks efficiently. These traits have become part of the national character. Efficiency is the U.S. cultural value that most explains the characteristic approach to business, allowing a desire for short-term profits to eclipse concern for long-term competitiveness. The reasons for this preoccupation with time and efficiency result from the birth and development of the United States as a nation. When the new world was first colonized, hard work and efficiency were essential for survival. One of the most influential faiths was Calvinism, which held that worldly prosperity was an outward sign of salvation. An influential later period in U.S. history was the time of frontier settlement, during which survival depended on getting necessary tasks done in an efficient and effective manner. Basic cultural values and attitudes change at a glacial pace, and the outlook of many U.S. citizens in the late 1980s continues to be that individual worldly success is morally desirable and there is no reason why a person should not attain it with maximum efficiency. (SM)

Novus Ordo Seclorum: Or Why Americans Handle Time in Peculiar Ways.

Grove, Cornelius Lee

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED291653 


Why is the corona so dim?


The corona reaches extremely high temperatures. However, the corona is very dim. Why? The corona is about 10 million times less dense than the Sun’s surface. This low density makes the corona much less bright than the surface of the Sun.


Why is the corona so hot?


The corona’s high temperatures are a bit of a mystery. Imagine that you’re sitting next to a campfire. It’s nice and warm. But when you walk away from the fire, you feel cooler. This is the opposite of what seems to happen on the Sun.


Astronomers have been trying to solve this mystery for a long time. The corona is in the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere—far from its surface. Yet the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun’s surface.


A NASA mission called IRIS may have provided one possible answer. The mission discovered packets of very hot material called "heat bombs" that travel from the Sun into the corona. In the corona, the heat bombs explode and release their energy as heat. But astronomers think that this is only one of many ways in which the corona is heated.


Coronal loops and streamers


The surface of the Sun is covered in magnetic fields. This is the force that makes magnets stick to metal, like the door of your refrigerator.


The Sun's magnetic fields affect charged particles in the corona to form beautiful features. These include streamers, loops, and plumes. We can view these features in detail with special telescopes.


How does the corona cause solar winds?


The corona extends far out into space. From it comes the solar wind that travels through our solar system. The corona's temperature causes its particles to move at very high speeds. These speeds are so high that the particles can escape the Sun's gravity.

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-corona/en/


La tiara papal es una corona que usan los papas de la Iglesia católica desde el siglo VIII hasta mediados del siglo XX. Fue utilizado por última vez por el Papa Pablo VI en 1963, y sólo al comienzo de su reinado.


El nombre tiara se refiere a todo el tocado, incluidas las diversas coronas, aros y diademas que lo han adornado a través de los tiempos,[1][2] mientras que la forma de tres niveles que adoptó en el siglo XIV también se llama triregno. [3][4] o la triple corona,[5] y en ocasiones como la triple tiara.[6][7][8]


De 1143 a 1963, la tiara papal se coloca solemnemente sobre la cabeza del Papa durante la coronación papal. Las tiaras papales supervivientes son todas de forma triple, la más antigua data de 1572. Una representación del triregno combinada con dos llaves cruzadas de San Pedro se utiliza como símbolo del papado y aparece en documentos, edificios e insignias papales, y en el Bandera de la Ciudad del Vaticano.

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


Église St-Pierre de Montmartre 

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris


All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.


Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests."

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre | Montmartre & Northern Paris, Paris | Attractions - Lonely Planet 

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143


5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.


6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Revelation 17:5-6 


Elon Musk breaks silence on Twitter, posts a picture with the pope

By Reuters

July 2, 20226:13 AM PDT Updated 2 years ago

July 2 (Reuters) - Elon Musk on Friday night broke his nine-day silence on Twitter, the social media platform he is trying to buy for $44 billion, posting a picture of him meeting Pope Francis on Thursday.

The world's richest person tweeted a picture where he can be seen standing next to the pope, captioning it: "Honored to meet @pontifex yesterday."

Musk's four teenage boys are also pictured, but not his 18-year-old transgender daughter who, on June 20 sought to change her name and sever ties with him. Musk has a total of eight children. read more

The purpose and location of Musk's meeting with the pope were not immediately clear.

Last month, Musk said there were "still a few unresolved matters" on the deal to buy Twitter, including the number of spam users on the system and the coming together of the debt portion of the deal.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-breaks-silence-twitter-posts-picture-with-pope-2022-07-02/


Pontifex Maximus

Introduction

The head priest of the Roman state religion was the Pontifex Maximus, or the greatest of the college of pontifices. While an obviously important and prominent position within the ranks of the Roman system, the Pontifex Maximus was not considered a magistrate comparable to a Consul, Praetor, etc.


During the Republic, the Pontifex was elected by the Comitia Tributa and served for life, while during the Empire, the position was generally held by the Emperor himself.


Originally, the Ponifices were Patrician only, but the social conditions and changes during the late Republic allowed for Plebeian election as well. These men were responsible for the oversight of the state religious cult as a whole and didn't really oversee particular godly cults, though they could if necessary.


By the Imperial period there were 16 pontifices under the high priest, 15 flamines, who were special priests of the main deities, and the Rex Sacrorum (king of the sacrifices) who performed the religious acts that the king had usually done. Perhaps most importantly, he was he was also responsible for the 18 Vestal Virgins.


The main duty of the pontifices was to provide the pax deorum, or the 'peace with the gods'. Interpreting omens, sometimes through augures, controlling and keeping the official calendar, and the oversight of funerals all fell under the domain of the Pontifex Maximus.


He was responsible for an enormous collection of omens (annales maximi); that would be recorded and collected on a nearly constant basis. These heavenly signs would be written down along with accompanying events, and used to determine the divine favor of the gods. Doing so allowed following generations of priests and magistrates to understand the historic will of the gods and interpret future events against past patterns.


Today, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, is still called the Pontifex Maximus. It's a political or governing office that has been in existence and in perpetual use for nearly 3,000 years.


Did you know...

Julius Caesar was elected pontifex maximus in 63 BCE and kept the office until his death. The house where he spent the night before he was killed, was the domus publica.

https://www.unrv.com/culture/pontifex-maximus.php 


Elon Musk's praises 'incredible' Burning Man despite death of festivalgoer

Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be widely classed as a genius but he made an embarrassing mistake when chaos broke out during last year's Burning Man Festival.

By Ayeesha Walsh

11:35 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024 | UPDATED: 11:40 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024

Celebrity NewsTVMoviesMusic

HomeEntertainmentCelebrity News

Elon Musk's praises 'incredible' Burning Man despite death of festivalgoer

Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be widely classed as a genius but he made an embarrassing mistake when chaos broke out during last year's Burning Man Festival.

By Ayeesha Walsh

11:35 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024 | UPDATED: 11:40 ET, Fri, Aug 30, 2024

Bookmark


Elon Musk shares video of Cybertruck of attempted break in

The Burning Man festival last year caused an embarrassing mistake for Elon Musk when he raved about the event on X only to discover the video he was commenting on was from Paris Fashion Week.


To make matters worse the tech billionaire totally missed the mark as festivalgoers at the time were braving horriffc conditions that saw one 32-year-old attendee die. Sharing a post on X believing it was footage from the festival he wrote: “Burning Man is unique in the world. Hard to describe how incredible it is for those who have never been. Best art on Earth.”


His response featured a quoted post from someone who was claiming to be stuck at the festival at the time.


They wrote: “I’m currently stranded at Burning Man, along with thousands of others. Despite the unexpected challenges, some artists managed to put together an impromptu catwalk show.


"The ‘I’m in the mud’ show is a metaphor for trying stuff and always learning. I’m deeply inspired by the ingenuity and resourcefulness of this community.” The video that accompanied the tweet saw someone wearing a long black dress, black gloves and boots as they trudged through mud.


However, a note added to the post by the social media app later clarified: “This is not burning man. It is from Balenciaga fashion show in Paris,” including a link to the luxury fashion house's “mud bath” show. Unprecedented storms left 70,000 attendees struggling to leave Burning Man in 2023 as they were confined to their camps after muddy conditions brought on by prolonged rain showers halted movement in and out of Nevada's Black Rock City.


The event's organizers urged participants to remain in place and conserve food and water as cooler-than-usual temperatures reached highs of the mid-70s before dropping to the mid-50s by night, with some people claiming they developed hypothermia. Meanwhile, festivalgoers are facing significant losses as they scramble to offload unwanted tickets for this year's festival.


In a surprising turn of events, tickets for the annual desert festival, which usually sell out rapidly, have not done so this year - a first since 2011. For the first time in over ten years, ticket prices for the Nevada-based festival have been halved, with some attendees eager to dispose of their extra passes.


As participants rush to sell their surplus tickets, some have incurred losses amounting to hundreds of dollars.

https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/146523/elon-musk-mistake-burning-man-festival


Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the western United States.[1][2] The event's name comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, that occurs on the penultimate night, the Saturday evening before Labor Day.[3] Since 1990, the event has been at Black Rock City in northwestern Nevada, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles (160 km) north-northeast of Reno. According to Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, the event is guided by ten stated principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.[4]


Burning Man features no headliners or scheduled performers; instead, participants create all the art, activities, and events.[5] Artwork includes experimental and interactive sculptures, buildings, performances, and art cars, among other media. These contributions are inspired by a theme chosen annually by the Burning Man Project.[6] The event has been called "countercultural revelry" and described by its organizers as an "excuse to party in the desert".[7] However, NPR said of Burning Man in 2019, "Once considered an underground gathering for bohemians and free spirits of all stripes, Burning Man has since evolved into a destination for social media influencers, celebrities and the Silicon Valley elite."[8]


Black Rock City is located in NevadaBlack Rock CityBlack Rock City

Location in Nevada

Burning Man originated on June 22, 1986, on Baker Beach in San Francisco as a small function organized by Larry Harvey and Jerry James, the builders of the first Man. It has since been held annually, spanning the nine days leading up to and including Labor Day. Over the event's history, attendance has generally increased. In 2019, 78,850 people participated.[9]


Burning Man is organized by the Burning Man Project, a nonprofit organization that, in 2013, succeeded Black Rock City LLC, a for-profit limited liability company. Black Rock City LLC was formed in 1999 to represent the event's organizers and is now considered a subsidiary of the nonprofit organization. The Burning Man Project endorses multiple smaller regional events guided by the Burning Man principles, in the United States and internationally.


The film Stalker by Tarkovsky heavily influenced the Cacophony Society, which began in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area and which organized "Zone Trips" for participants.[10]


The first burning of a wooden, symbolic man at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, occurred on "Zone Trip Number 4" in 1990. This occasion evolved into an enormous annual festival of arts, music, culture called Burning Man.[10][11]


History

1980s

Burning Man began as a bonfire ritual on the summer solstice. Sculptor Mary Grauberger, a friend of Larry Harvey's girlfriend, Janet Lohr, held solstice bonfire gatherings on Baker Beach for several years before 1986, some of which Harvey attended. When Grauberger stopped organizing it, Harvey "picked up the torch", with Grauberger's permission, and ran with it.[12] He and Jerry James built the first wooden effigy on June 21, 1986, cobbled together using scrap wood, to be torched that evening. On June 22, Harvey, James, and a few friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco[13][14] and burned an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) wooden man and a smaller wooden dog. Harvey later described his inspiration for burning these effigies as a spontaneous act of "radical self-expression".[12] In 1987, the Man grew to 15 feet (5 m) tall, and by 1988, it had grown to 30 feet (9 m).[15][16]


By 1988, Harvey formally named the summer solstice ritual "Burning Man" by titling flyers for the happening as such. This was apparently done to ward off references to "wicker man", the reputed Celtic pagan practice of burning live sacrifices in human-shaped wicker cages. Harvey has said that he had not seen the 1973 cult film The Wicker Man until many years after and that it did not inspire the action.[15][17]


1990 to 1996

In 1990, a separate event was planned by Kevin Evans and John Law on the remote and largely unknown playa, known as the Black Rock Desert, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Reno, Nevada.[18] Evans conceived it as a dadaist temporary autonomous zone with sculptures to be burned and situationist performance art. He asked John Law, who also had experience on the dry lake and was a defining founder of the Cacophony Society, to take on central organizing functions of the events. In the Cacophony Society's newsletter, it was announced as Zone Trip No. 4, A Bad Day at Black Rock (inspired by the 1955 film of the same name).


Meanwhile, the solstice burn at Baker Beach was interrupted by the park police for not having a permit. After striking a deal to raise the Man but not to burn it, event organizers disassembled it and returned it to the vacant lot where it had been built. Shortly thereafter, the legs and torso of the Man were chain-sawed and the pieces removed when the space was unexpectedly leased as a parking lot. The Man was reconstructed, led by Dan Miller, Harvey's then-housemate of many years, just in time to take it to Zone Trip No. 4.[19]


Michael Mikel, another active Cacophonist, realized that participants unfamiliar with the environment of the dry lake would benefit from knowledgeable persons helping to ensure they did not get lost in the deep dry lake and risk dehydration and death. He took the name Danger Ranger and created the Black Rock Rangers to assist them. Thus, Black Rock City began as a fellowship, organized by Law and Mikel, based on Evans's and Grauberger's ideas, along with Harvey's and James's symbolic man. Drawing on experience in the sign business and with light sculpture, Law prepared custom neon tubes for the Man starting in 1991 so it could be seen as a beacon to aid navigation at night long before there were any planned roads.


In its early years, the community grew by word of mouth alone, all were considered (and generally not invited until they could be expected to be) participants under their contribution to the cacophonous situationist vibe. There were no paid or scheduled performers or artists, no separation between art and life nor art-space and living-space, no rules other than "Don't interfere with anyone else's immediate experience" and "no guns in central camp".


1991 marked the first year that the event had a legal permit through the BLM (the Bureau of Land Management).[20] It was also the year that art model and fire dancer (and later Burning Man's first art director) Crimson Rose attended the event.[21] 1992 saw the birth of a smaller, intensive, nearby event named "Desert Siteworks", conceived and directed by William Binzen and co-produced (in 1993 and '94) with Judy West.[22] There were about 20 participants the first year, and approximately 100 in the second and third year. The annual, several weeks-long event, was held over summer Solstice at various fertile hot springs surrounding the desert. Participants built art and participated in self-directed performances.[23]


Some key organizers of Burning Man were also part of Desert Siteworks (Law, Mikel) and Binzen was a friend of Harvey. Hence, the two events saw much cross-pollination of ideas and participants.[23] The Desert Siteworks project ran for three years (1992–1994). 1996 was the first year a formal partnership was created to own the name "Burning Man" and was also the last year that the event was held in the middle of the Black Rock Desert with no fence around it.


Before the event opened to the public in 1996, a worker named Michael Furey was killed in a motorcycle crash[24] while riding from Gerlach, Nevada, to the Burning Man camp in the Black Rock Desert. Harvey insisted that the death had not occurred at Burning Man, since the gates were not yet open. Another couple were run over in their tent by an art car driving to the "rave camp", which was at that time distant from the main camp. After the 1996 event, Law broke with Burning Man and publicly said the event should not continue.


1997 to 2013

1997 marked another major pivotal year for the event. It had to be moved because the permit for Black Rock was denied for the 1997 event. A team conducting land speed trials had a conflicting permit that took precedence. Fly Ranch, with the smaller adjoining Hualapai dry lakebed, just west of the Black Rock desert, was chosen as the alternate location. This moved Burning Man from Pershing County/federal BLM land into the jurisdiction of Washoe County, which brought a protracted list of permit requirements.[25]


In 1999 to comply with the new requirements and manage the increased liability load, Harvey and five organizers formed Black Rock City LLC with the assistance of "Biz Babe" Dana Harrison. The LLC founders consisted of Larry Harvey (chief philosophy officer), Harley K. DuBois (chief transition officer), Marian Goodell (CEO), Crimson Rose (art transition officer), Will Roger Peterson (Nevada relations director), and Michael Mikel (historian and archivist).[26]


Will Roger Peterson and Flynn Mauthe created the Black Rock City Department of Public Works (DPW) to build the "city" grid layout (a requirement so that emergency vehicles could be directed to an "address"), designed by Rod Garrett, an architect. Garrett continued as the city designer until his death in 2011, at age 76. He is also credited with the design of all of the Man bases from 2001 through 2012, the center camp café and first camp.[27] 1998 saw a return to the Black Rock desert, although not to the deep playa, along with a temporary perimeter fence. The event has remained there since.


As the population of Black Rock City grew, more restrictions were added by the BLM, and changes were made in how people were invited to the event, notably the addition of publicized online ticket sales to all comers, further rules were established concerning its survival. Some critics of the later phase of the event cite these rules as impinging on the original freedoms and principles, diminishing the scope of the experience unacceptably, while many newer attendees find the increased level of activity more than balances out the changes:


A grid street structure.[28]

A speed limit of 5 mph (8 km/h).[29]

A ban on driving, except for approved "mutant vehicles" and service vehicles.[30]

Safety standards on mutant vehicles.[29]

Burning of any art must be done on an approved burn platform.[31]

A ban on fireworks.[32]

A ban on animals.[33]

Another notable restriction to attendees is the 9.2-mile- (14.8 km) long[34] temporary plastic fence that surrounds the event and defines the pentagon of land used by the event on the southern edge of the Black Rock dry lake.[35] This 4-foot- (1.2-meter) high barrier is known as the "trash fence" because its initial use was to catch wind-blown debris that might escape from campsites during the event. Since 2002, the area beyond this fence has not been accessible to Burning Man participants during the event.[36]


One visitor who was accidentally burned at the 2005 event unsuccessfully sued Black Rock City LLC in San Francisco County Superior Court. On June 30, 2009, the California Court of Appeal for the First District upheld the trial court's grant of summary judgment to Black Rock City LLC on the basis that people who deliberately walk toward The Man after it is ignited assume the risk of getting burned by such a hazardous object.[37]


2013 to 2019

In December 2013, following negotiations between founders,[38] Black Rock City LLC was made a subsidiary of a new nonprofit entity known as the Burning Man Project.[39][40][41]


On September 3, 2017,[42] a 41-year-old man, Aaron Joel Mitchell, fought his way past a safety cordon of volunteers and firefighters and threw himself into the flames of the Man. Mitchell died the next day due to cardiac arrest, bodily shock, and third-degree burns to 97% of his body. His death was ruled a suicide.[43][44][45]


2020 to 2021

On April 10, 2020, the Burning Man Project announced that Burning Man was canceled for 2020[46] due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making 2020 the first year Burning Man did not happen since its inception. They then decided to offer ticket refunds despite the tickets being sold explicitly as non-refundable.[47]


On September 7, 2020, an estimated 1,000 Burners celebrated on San Francisco's Ocean Beach. San Francisco Mayor London Breed tweeted about the event, "This was reckless and selfish. You aren't celebrating, but are putting people's lives and our progress at risk. No one is immune from spreading the virus."[48] Several thousand also showed up in the Black Rock desert for an unofficial event and some described it as a return to the "old days".[49][50]


The 2021 event was canceled on April 27, 2021, due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite progress on vaccination, organizers said that "uncertainties that need to be resolved are impossible to resolve in the time we have".[51] On May 14, 2021, the Burning Man Project released tickets on their website for online events slated between August 22 and September 7, 2021.[52]


The unofficial event was larger than 2020 with an estimated 20,000 attending. It was loosely coordinated by a variety of groups including Black Rock Plan B and Rogue Burn. The Bureau of Land Management implemented restrictions including no structures other than shade structures and no fires other than campfires. There was a massive illuminated drone display outlining the Man instead of the burning of a Man effigy.[53]


2023

Main article: Burning Man 2023

The 2023 Burning Man had rains and subsequent flooding on Labor Day weekend, with a lockdown preventing vehicle movement throughout the site.[54][55] Organizers arranged for some cellular service and shared a 2023 Wet Playa Survival Guide: "no driving is permitted until the playa surface dries up, with the exception of emergency services… Participants are encouraged to conserve food, water, and fuel, and shelter in a warm, safe space" and told attendees about Burning Man Information Radio (BMIR) 94.5 FM and Gate Information Radio Station (GARS) 95.1.[56] One person died following the flooding, with thousands more stranded.[57]


2024

On August 25, 2024, the first day of the 2024 Burning Man festival, a female participant died.[58][59] On August 26, it was reported that tickets remained unsold for the festival for the first time since 2011.[60]


An epic dust storm was reported on the final day of event, snarling departure traffic with lines lasting more than four hours.

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


The Black Arts adepts who wear police badges, occupy judge's seats and media editor's desks are not simply "crazed" nor are such intensely publicized ritual murders merely superstitious sacrifices to some kooky devil-god. The Son of Sam murders were a brilliantly orchestrated ritual whose ceremonial aspects were as precise and detailed as the internal workings of a clock. This theater of death began as a ritual for the cult-members themselves and ended as a giant magical ceremony for the processing of the entire nation, because in the worldwide broadcast of the Son of Sam murders was also broadcast the magical symbols of the "Wicker Man" and of Eliphas Levy (see for example Newsweek, Aug. 22, 1977, p. 19). This is the alchemical psychodrama for the transformation of humanity. We are processed just by reading or watching "the news," associating death and terror, power and potency, with an old demonic symbol by a 19th century adept of Black magic whose illustration of the hermaphroditic demon of the Knights Templars, Baphomet, is perhaps the most widely recognized occult symbol in modern history. Readers of the New York Daily News learned to associate "The Wicked King of Wicker" with murder and terror. At the thought of King Wicker, millions felt fear. This fear was imprinted on their minds. This is the same control process hundreds of peasants were put through a thousand years ago while standing in front of a giant wicker effigy, inside of which was caged a doomed human sacrifice destined for burning. The only difference is that the peasants knew that their leaders wanted them to fear an occult image. Modern people imbibe occult fear-technology while imagining that there is no such thing. The imprint's impact is doubled when veiled under such ignorance."

Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare by Michael A. Hoffman II

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YbfOrEm17Ufz4hihXALlINVkjZUbLiJY/view?usp=sharing

Happy National Bird Day - Koko B. Ware sings "Bird Bird Bird": Prime Time Wrestling, Sept. 11, 1989

WWE

98.6M subscribers

78,363 views Jan 5, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvBEvG8XShY 


"Fulcanelli’s main strategy, the key to unraveling the mystery, lies in an understanding of what he calls the “phonetic law” of the “spoken cabala,” or the “language of the birds.” This punning, multilingual wordplay can be used to reveal unusual and, according to Fulcanelli, meaningful associations between ideas. “What unsuspected marvels we should find, if we knew how to dissect words, to strip them of their bark and liberate the spirit, the divine light which is within,” Fulcanelli writes. He claims that in our day this is the natural language of the outsiders, the outlaws and heretics at the fringes of society. (See appendix A, “Fulcanelli on the Green Language,” for the complete text of this chapter.) 6 This spoken cabala was also the “green language” of the Freemasons (“All the Initiates expressed themselves in cant,” Fulcanelli reminds us) who built the art gothique of the cathedrals. “Gothic art is in fact the art got or art cot —χοτ—the art of light or of the spirit,” Fulcanelli informs us. Ultimately the “art got,” or the “art of light,” is derived from the language of the birds, which seems to be a sort of Ur-language taught by both Jesus and the ancients." The Mysteries of the Great Cross by Jay Weidner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vrxcBcn4h7RRM2SA3X1SS1DsooSxfitI/view?usp=sharing 


How to Speak Ignatian: Common words and phrases of the Society of Jesus 

Adapted from “How to Speak Loyola,” a glossary developed by the Office of Mission & 

Identity, Loyola University, Chicago.

Microsoft Word - How to Speak Ignatian.doc (jesuithighschool.org)

https://www.jesuithighschool.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/how_to_speak_ignatian_0.pdf


IF WE LOOK AGAIN TO THE BOOK OF DANIEL, this time to chapter 8, verse 25, the prophet foretold that Anti-Christ would cause "craft" to prosper: "And through his policy also he shall cause 'craft" to prosper in his hand: and he shall magnify himself..." What is "kraft"? Strong's Concordance defines the word craft (#4820) as meaning "fraud, deceit, and treachery." Thus, Anti-Christ "through" craft, deceit and treachery (viz., deception) would advance  its position, influence and agenda.

But how do we know that this entity (referred to by Daniel) is indeed the dreaded Anti-Christ? We know this entity is Anti-Christ because it opposes and magnifies itself against Jesus Christ: "he shall magnify in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes" (latter part of Dan. 8: 25).

Earlier in verse 23 of Daniel 8 it says "he" shall also understand dark sentences." Strong's Concordance tells us that the word for dark is the same word for sentences (#2420). Both words mean "a puzzle," or "trick" saying. The expression "dark  sentences" comes from the root word meaning "to put forth (#2330)." Thus, Antichrist would put forth, or utter dark sentences-language not readily understood by the unintiated, which language will have a double meaning designed to trick or mislead the hearer. The "puzzle, or trick" in these "dark sentence" will be the issuing of double meaning in the same statements. In other words, reader, Anti-Christ would have a double rule-"one for its private and particular use, and another to flaunt with before the world."

The agents, or spokesmen of Anti-Christ will speak with mental reservation and amphibologies. That is to say, with double sensed or ambigous words, or to use the words of Constantine Labarum "justification of the means by the end, and many other maxims,

+I say agents of Anti-Christ, because no sensible individual could really believe that Anti-Christ is a single man, for Paul says Anti-Christ (its early manifestation) was already in existence in his day and would continue till the end of time.+

subversive of honesty and morality." In short, Anti-Christ would be a system of unscrupulous duplicity, of impostors, of wolves in sheep's clothing!

Have we any example in the long anals of history of such a duplicitous system using "craft" "deceit" "fraud" and "treachery" as it crept into power over the world? William Tyndale, the great English Reformer, in his Practice of Prelates, speaks of the rise of this phenomenon by the following graphic parable:-


"To see how the holy father came up, mark the ensample of the ivy. First it springeth up out of the earth, and then awhile CREEPETH ALONG BY THE GROUND, till it finds a great tree, and creepeth up a little and a little, fair, and softly. At the begininning, while it is yet thin and small, the burden is not perceived; it seemeth glorious to garnish the tree in the winter. BUT IT HOLDETH FAST WITHAL, AND CEASETH NOT TO CLIMB UP TILL IT BE AT THE TOP, AND EVEN ABOVE ALL. And then it sendeth its branches along by the branches of the tree, and overgroweth all, and waxeth great, heavy, and thich : and sucketh the moisture so sore out of the tree and his branches that choaketh and stifleth them. And then THE FOUL, STINKING IVY waxeth MIGHTY in the stump of the tree, and becometh a seat and a nest for all unclean birds, and for blind owls, which hawk in the dark, and dare not come to the light. EVEN SO THE BISHOP OF ROME, NOW CALLED THE POPE, AT THE BEGINNING CROPE ALONG UPON THE EARTH...."

How accurate is William Tyndale's description of the rise of the pope and the popedome as predicted by prophet Daniel: "in the latter time... a king.. understanding dark sentences, shall stan up... and shall he cause craft to prosper" "and shall prosper, practice, and shall destroy..." (Dan. 8:23,24,25).

Yeah, with what clearness and boldness, and considerable amount of historical learning, does Tyndale trace the way by which the supremacy of the pope arose. It has been said of this passage by one learned author that there is "probably nowhere in the English language any passage superior in force and graphic skill o the well-known description of the rise of the Pope." And we may add here that like the stinking ivy-which plant is almost impossible to entirely kill-it is also very difficult to rid our world of popery: this requires a lot of hard work, courage and persistence, and still the dead stump may yet shoot up again.

Said historian Henry Grattan Guinness, "In the fourth century, with the the fall of paganism, began a worldly, imperial Christianity, wholly unlike primitive apostolic Christianity, a sort of Christianized  heathenism: and in the fifth and sixth centuries sprang up the Papacy, in those career the apostasy culminated later on. The mighty Caesars had fallen; Augustus, Domitian, Hadrian, Diocletian were gone; even the Constantines and Julians had passed away. The seat of sovereignty had been removed from Rome to Constantinople. Goths and Vandals' had overthrown the western empire; the once mighty political structure lay delivered into broken fragments. The imperial government was slain by the Gothic sword. The Czesars were no more, and Rome was an actual desolation Then slowly on the ruins of old imperial Rome an actual desolation. Then slowly on the ruins of an old imperial Rome rose another power and another monarchy-a monarchy of loftier aspirations and more resistless might, claiming dominion, not only within the omits of the fallen empire, but throughout the entire world. Higher and higher [like the stinking ivy] rose the Papacy, till in the dark ages all Christendom was subject to its sway...."

The 'craft' of Rome, both in medieval times and today, is the art of fabrication and daring falsehoods: "Like the successive strata of the earth covering one another, SO LAYER AFTER LAYER OF FORGERIES AND FABRICATIONS HAS BEEN PILED UP IN THE CHURCH |OF ROME|," bolstered by a Jesuitical "literaryand academic flexibility and elastic versatality of pen hitherto confined to journalism." 

"Anti-Christ Would Use "Craft" And Deceit To Prosper" 

Codeword Barbelon book Two 

by P.D. Stuart

Billy Dunn - "Anti-Christ Would Use "Craft" And Deceit To Prosper"... | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid02jDqwhcuosGxKf9kJx7ACfTVWy5efnMJHY3Jba2kumGupry5rb3g3WcaZQgLgTyPxl


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


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


Pope Adrian IV (Latin: Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear);[1] c. 1100[note 1] – 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV)[3] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman to have been pope.


Adrian was born in Hertfordshire, England, but little is known of his early life. Although he does not appear to have received a great degree of schooling, while still a youth he travelled to the south of France where he was schooled in Arles, studying law. He then travelled to Avignon, where he joined the Abbey of Saint-Ruf [fr]. There he became a canon regular and was eventually appointed abbot. He travelled to Rome several times, where he appears to have caught the attention of Pope Eugene III, and was sent on a mission to Catalonia where the Reconquista was attempting to reclaim land from the Muslim Al-Andalus. Around this time his abbey complained to Eugene that Breakspear was too heavy a disciplinarian, and in order to make use of him as a papal legate as well as to pacify his monks, he was appointed Bishop of Albano some time around 1149.


As bishop, Breakspear was soon sent on another diplomatic mission, this time to Scandinavia. In the middle of a civil war, Breakspear reorganised the Church in Norway and then moved on to Sweden. Here, he was very much acclaimed by the people, and when he left, chroniclers called him a saint. Breakspear returned to Rome in 1154; Eugene's successor Pope Anastasius IV had died only a few weeks previously. For reasons now unknown, but possibly at his predecessor's request, Breakspear was elected next pope by the cardinals. He was unable to complete his coronation service, however, because of the parlous state of politics in Rome, which at the time was a den of 'heresy' and republicanism. Adrian decisively restored the papal authority there, but his other major policy issue—relations with the newly crowned Holy Roman emperor, Frederick I—started off badly and got progressively worse. Each party, as a result of a particular aggravating incident, found something to condemn the other for. As a result, Adrian entered into an alliance with the Byzantine emperor, Manuel I Komnenos who was keen to re-assert his authority in the south of Italy, but was unable to do so due to the Norman kings' occupation of the region, now under William I of Sicily.


Adrian's alliance with the Byzantine emperor came to nothing, as William decisively defeated Manuel and forced Adrian to come to terms at the Treaty of Benevento. This alienated Emperor Frederick even more, as he saw it as a repudiation of their existing treaty. Relations soured further when Frederick laid claim to a large swathe of territory in northern Italy. Adrian's relations with his country of birth, however, seem to have remained generally good. Certainly, he showered St Albans Abbey with privileges, and he appears to have forwarded King Henry II's policies where he could. Most famously, in 1158 Adrian is supposed to have granted Henry the papal bull Laudabiliter, which is thought to have authorised Henry to invade Ireland. Henry did not do so, however, for another 14 years, and scholars are uncertain whether the bull ever existed.


Following Adrian's death at Anagni, there was uncertainty as to who to succeed him, with both pro- and anti-imperial cardinals voting for different candidates. Although Pope Alexander III officially took over, the subsequent election of an antipope led to a 22-year-long schism. Scholars have debated Adrian's pontificate widely. Much of a positive nature—his building programme and reorganisation of papal finances, for example—has been identified, particularly in the context of such a short reign. He was also up against powerful forces out of his control, which, while he never overcame them, he managed effectively.

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


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/


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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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


Encyclopedia of The Bible – Horse

Resources  Encyclopedia of The Bible  H  Horse

Horse

HORSE (סוּס֒, H6061, [masc.], סוּסָה, H6063, [fem.]; ἵππος, G2691, horse, all Eng. VSS; פָּרָשׁ֒, H7304, horsemen). Applied equally to mounted horse or horse without rider. Male is “stallion” and female, “mare.” Young, usually born singly, is “colt” or “foal.” RSV tr. “stallion” four times in Jeremiah where KJV tr. “horse” (5:8; 8:16; 47:3) and “bull” (50:11). “Mare” is found once only (Song of Solomon 1:9); company of horses KJV; “steed” ASV; “a mare of Pharaoh’s chariot” RSV. This last is correct (from Heb. סוּסָה, H6063).


1. Introduction. The horse was the latest and strongest transport animal to be developed; it spread rapidly, first over Eurasia and N Africa, later to the Americas and Australasia, escaping and becoming feral in suitable areas. Everywhere it has become the most important beast of burden and an intimate associate of man, next only to the dog. This factor may have helped to fix a prejudice against eating horsemeat in Eng.-speaking lands. This was forbidden to the Heb. for, like its close relative the ass, the horse is single-hoofed and does not ruminate; there is no obvious hygienic basis for this ban.


2. Origin. Zeuner sets out in detail the archeological and zoological evidence of the horse’s early history and this section owes much to his research. The equines once formed four groups, fairly distinct geographically. a. The zebras in E and S Africa; sporadic attempts to use them had only temporary success. b. The true asses of N and NE Africa, from which the donkey is derived (see Ass). c. The half-asses from the dry belt running from Pal. eastward to the Gobi Desert (see [http://biblegateway/wiki/Ass WILD ASS]). d. The horses of the grassy lowlands of Eurasia N of the great mountain ranges. All four groups were divided into local species or races. Of the true horses, only Przewalski’s, the E race, survives precariously in Mongolia and some zoo parks. It stands about forty inches at the shoulder and is reddish brown, the hair becoming longer and paler in winter; the mane is dark brown. Like all equines it runs in herds. The W race was the tarpan, of which the last known specimen died in 1851 in the Ukraine. It was a small gray-brown horse with upright mane and the chief ancestor of the many breeds of domestic horses today, with the Plains of Turkestan a likely center of domestication, though not the only one.


3. Domestication. Undoubtedly this occurred later than with the sheep, goat, ox and ass but nothing is known of its early pattern. Oxen had long been used for pulling wheeled carts, and with the fertile patches of plains country becoming exhausted and dried out (as happened after a few centuries of primitive agriculture) the need for faster draught animals might have prompted the farmers to catch and tame these wild horses. The actual means remains a mystery; modern man has achieved nothing like it, other than the catching and training of a few zebras. Regarding its original domestication, this must have been during the 3rd millennium b.c. but evidence prior to 2000 b.c. is not reliable. The Sumerians mention the horse in proverbs from c. 2100 b.c. but apparently did not use it. The horse first found regular mention about 1,800 b.c., though it was not yet important, for Hammurabi’s law (c. 1750 b.c.) does not list it. Within the next fifty years it spread rapidly to the SW including Asia, Palestine, and Egypt, where it arrived in the Hyksos era not many decades before Joseph came to power. This spread, which took it as far as Troy, resulted from its use in war chariots. Whatever its purpose when first brought into service, the horse added a new dimension to invading armies.


4. The horse in Biblical narrative. The first Biblical mention is Genesis 47:17, “Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses....” At this time, and for some centuries, the horse was used mainly for draught purposes, mostly drawing chariots, and the first clear evidence of one being ridden is a figurine of the 18th dynasty (c. 1580 b.c.). An individual rider appeared first in 1 Kings 20:20, “Benhadad king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen,” but Genesis 50:9 records that both horsemen and chariots accompanied the great cortege that took Jacob’s body for burial in Canaan, and the Egyp. armies used both chariots and cavalry to pursue the escaping Hebrews. It is unlikely that they had owned horses in Goshen or taken any with them to the desert. Later, Egypt was an important source of horses, some of which Solomon’s Traders handled as agents (1 Kings 10:28, 29), when Solomon had control of the two main routes parallel to the coast along which horses could be brought safely. The amassing of horses had been specifically forbidden by God (Deut 17:16); the context of this ban is notable; it follows the statement that the Hebrews would one day demand a king. When the people made this request some two centuries later (1 Sam 8:11) Samuel warned them that the ban would be ignored, to their detriment; however, it may have been observed through Saul’s and most of David’s reign when the main reference is to horses in the enemy armies. It appears from 2 Samuel 8:4 that David kept some for his own use; he killed most, but “left enough for 100 chariots.” This turned out to be a tragic mistake, for they were available for two of his sons to use. Absalom plotted against him and “got himself a chariot and horses” (2 Sam 15:1). Some twelve years later, when David was on his death bed, a younger son, Adonijah, in an effort to take over the kingdom, “prepared for himself chariots and horsemen” (1 Kings 1:5).


Solomon made no attempt to obey God on this point and within a year or so of becoming king he had built stables for 4,000 horses (2 Chron 9:25). The figure of 40,000 in the corresponding passage in 1 Kings 4:26 is a scribal error. He imported horses from Egypt, with which he had profitable connections through marrying the daughter of the pharaoh, paying 150 shekels of silver (60 ounces) per horse. Horses also formed part of the regular tribute paid him (1 Kings 10:25). From then on both Judah and Israel regarded horses and chariots as essential for fighting the frequent wars with neighboring nations. Early in its history the horse sometimes had sacred connections. The only Biblical instance is in 2 Kings 23:11, where Josiah, in his sweeping reforms, removed horses that earlier kings had dedicated to the sun.


5. Biblical significance. There is nothing about the horse’s biology or habits in the many Biblical contexts, in contrast to other major animals. Psalm 32:9 lists it with the mule as “without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle else it will not keep with you” RSV (cf. KJV “lest they come near unto thee”). Many carvings illustrate the early use of the bit. Job’s description (Job 39:19-25) is of a war horse and speaks merely of its strength and fearlessness in battle. 1 Kings 18:5 concerns the famine foretold by Elijah “perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive.” Asses were much more numerous but could manage on poorer forage and were owned in ones and twos.


The horse’s place in the Scriptures contrasts markedly with the ass. Of over 140 occurrences only about 50 are truly literal; the rest, with all the fifteen NT references (except horsemen, Acts 23:23, 32) are fig. or prophetic. In a small minority of cases a single horse is mentioned: notably 1 Kings 10:29—the price of a horse from Egypt; Esther 6:8ff.—the Persian king’s horse; and nine quasiproverbial expressions in Job, Psalms and Proverbs. Otherwise the word is always pl. There is no record of a horse being owned by the common people; throughout OT times the horse was a monopoly of kings and their nobles in both Pal. and nearby countries and, thus, in effect, a symbol of human power. This confirms its metaphorical significance. Some of the prophetic passages of Zechariah and Revelation are highly symbolic and beyond the scope of comment here, but the tenor of all the many fig. passages may be summed up in two vv.—Psalm 33:17, “The war horse is a vain hope for victory”; and Hosea 1:7, “I will not deliver them by...horses, nor by horsemen.”


Bibliography G. S. Cansdale, Animals and Man (1952); F. E. Zeuner, A History of Domesticated Animals (1963).

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


The Order of Alcántara (Leonese: Orde de Alcántara, Spanish: Orden de Alcántara), also called the Knights of St. Julian,[1] was originally a military order of León, founded in 1166[2] and confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1177.[3]


Alcántara

Alcántara is a town on the Tagus (which is here crossed by a bridge – cantara in Arabic, hence the name). The town is situated on the plain of Extremadura, a great field of conflict for the Muslims and Christians of Iberian Peninsula in the 12th century. Alcántara was first taken in 1167 by King Ferdinand II of León; In 1174 it fell again into the hands of Abu Yaqub Yusuf;[4] and was not recovered until 1214, when it was taken by King Alfonso IX of León.[5] The Order of Trujillo was the Castilian branch of the order until 1195.


To defend this conquest, on a border exposed to many assaults, the king resorted to military orders. The Middle Ages knew neither standing armies nor garrisons, a deficiency that the military orders supplied, combining as they did military training with monastic stability. In 1214 Alcántara was first committed to the care of the Castilian Knights of Calatrava, who had lately received great support after their performance in 1212 at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa against the Almohades. Alonzo of León wished to found at Alcántara a special branch of this celebrated order for his realm. However, four years later the Order decided that the post was too far from its Castilian headquarters. They gave up the scheme and transferred the castle, with the permission of the king, to a peculiar Leonese order still in a formative stage, known as the Knights of St Julian de Pereiro.


History

Origins of the Order

This order's genesis is obscure, but according to a somewhat questionable tradition, St. Julian de Pereiro was a hermit of the country of Salamanca, where by his counsel, some knights built a castle on the river Tagus to oppose the Muslims. They are mentioned in 1176, in a grant of King Fernando of León, but without allusion to their military character. They are first acknowledged as a military order by a papal bull in 1177 by Pope Alexander III. Through their compact with the Knights of Calatrava, they accepted the Cistercian rule and costume, (a white mantle with the scarlet overcross), and they submitted to the right of inspection and correction from the Master of Calatrava. This union did not last long.


Internal dissensions

The Knights of Alcántara, under their new name, acquired many castles and estates, for the most part at the expense of the Muslims. They amassed great wealth from booty during the war and from pious donations. It was a turning point in their career. However, ambitions and dissensions increased among them. The post of grand master became the aim of rival aspirants. In 1318, the Grand Master, Ruy Vaz, was besieged by his own Knights, sustained in this by the Grand Master of Calatrava. This rent in their body produced no less than three grand masters in contention, supported severally by the Knights, by the Cistercians, and by the king. The rise of such dissensions could be attributed to the fact that military orders had lost the chief object of their vocation when the Moors were driven from their last foothold in the Iberian Peninsula. Some authors assign as causes of their disintegration the decimation of the cloisters by the Black Death in the fourteenth century, and the laxity which allowed recruitment from the most poorly qualified subjects. Lastly, there was the revolution in warfare, when the growth of modern artillery and infantry overpowered the armed cavalry of feudal times, while the orders still held to their obsolete mode of fighting. The orders, nevertheless, by their wealth and numerous vassals, remained a tremendous power in the kingdom, and before long were involved deeply in political agitations. During the fatal schism between Pedro of Castile and his brother, Henry the Bastard, which divided half Europe, the Knights of Alcántara were also split into two factions which warred upon each other.


Royal involvement

The kings, on their side, did not fail to take an active part in the election of the grand master, who could bring such valuable support to the royal authority. In 1409, the regent of Castile succeeded in having his son, Sancho, a boy of eight years, made Grand Master of Alcántara. These intrigues went on until 1492, when Pope Alexander VI invested the Catholic King, Ferdinand of Aragon, with the grand mastership of Alcántara for life. Adrian VI went farther, in favour of his pupil, Charles V, for in 1522 he bestowed the three masterships of Spain upon the Crown, even permitting their inheritance through the female line. The Knights of Alcántara were released from the vow of celibacy by the Holy See in 1540, and the ties of common life were sundered. The order was reduced to a system of endowments at the disposal of the king, of which he availed to himself to reward his nobles. There were no less than thirty-seven "Commanderies", with fifty-three castles or villages. Under the French domination the revenues of Alcántara were confiscated, in 1808, and they were only partly given back in 1814, after the restoration of Ferdinand VII.


The Liberal monarchy seized much of the Order's properties in the 1830s, but by royal decree of 7 April 1848 the majority of the benefices of the four Orders were restored. In the Concordat of 1851 the four Military Orders were allowed continued ecclesiastical jurisdiction over their territories, while the titular of the jurisdiction remained the King (or Queen), as administrator of the four Orders by Apostolic Delegation. Certain of the confiscated properties were restored and concentrated together near Ciudad Real, while others distributed more distantly were integrated into the dioceses in which they lay, and were removed from the Order's jurisdiction. The territories now concentrated around the city of Ciudad Real were designated as the new Priory, a Prelature nullius dioeceseos called the "Priory of the four reunited Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara and Montesa", with the Prior holding the titular diocese of Dora and given as his Priory Church, or Cathedral, the former Parish Church of Santa María del Prado in Ciudad Real. The 1st Spanish Republic proclaimed on 12 February 1873 made as one of its first provisions the abolition of all Military Orders, by decree of 9 March following; the Pope, Pius IX, considering that the Orders' ecclesiastical jurisdiction was thereby rendered ineffective, transferred the administration of their benefices to the closest dioceses, in the Bull Quo graviu of 14 July 1873. The President of the Republic, the Duke of La Torre, seeing this as a concession by the Pope, re-established the Military Orders and their governing body, the Tribunal.


The Bull Ad Apostolicam published on 18 November 1875 re-established the Orders' ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the priory based at Ciudad Real. The solemn inauguration of the Priory followed, on 6 June 1876 and the first Prior appointed on the 29 September next. The administration was now re-titled once again by royal decree of 1 August 1876, as the Tribunal Metropolitano y Consejo de las Órdenes Militares, with the responsibility for regulating the proofs of nobility and the admission and investiture of the knights, the appointment of charges and officers, the creation or suppression of parishes, the construction or repair of churches and chapels, the direction of the benefices and hospitals and modification of regulations or statutes; the government thus formally recognised the continued legal existence of the four Orders.


Alfonso XIII obtained de facto papal approval of his new title of Grand Master and Perpetual Administrator when the Holy See confirmed certain regulations in 1916. A royal decree of 18 February 1906 introduced some modifications to the regulations governing the Metropolitan Tribunal and Council that were the last formal regulations introduced before the fall of the monarchy in 1931. The 2nd Republic purported to suppress the Orders in a decree of 29 April 1931, just two weeks after the proclamation of the Republic, and dissolve the Tribunal but did not mention the Consejo de las Órdenes Militares, leaving the juridical situation of this body intact. The suppression provoked an immediate protest by the Cardinal Primate since the religious character of these Orders was regulated by the Concordat. In a modification of the earlier act, the Ministry of War by a decree of 5 August 1931 declared the four Orders subject to the Spanish law on Associations, to which status it had also converted the five Maestranzas and named a "Junta, or Provisional Commission", to which it gave juridical personality in place of the Consejo.


The Count of Barcelona, father of King Juan Carlos I, was formally nominated by the King "Dean President of the Royal Council of the Orders of Chivalry of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara and Montesa" in 1978. Following his death the Grand Commander of the Order of Alcantara, the Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria, was appointed his successor and upon his death in 2015 his Son Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria[6] became the head of the Order.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Alc%C3%A1ntara


Defining Locura: The Inquisitors’ Interpretive Problems Loosely translated the word loca means “crazy” or “mad.” In general Spanish use, loca is the feminine form of the adjective locura, a noun that signifies “MADNESS”, “craziness” or “insanity”. Loca was likely used in the sixteenth century Castile, as it is today, when referring to a person who has lost reason or rationality.27 According to the 23rd edition of the Diccionario de la Lengua Española the word loca also signifies someone who is possessed of “poor or little judgment, [who is] foolish/ridiculous and imprudent”.28 Likewise, the Diccionario Crítico Etimológico Castellano e Hispánico similarly asserts “Loco is a word in general use throughout all literary periods of the Middle Ages”.29 The Diccionario Crítico notes that loco has also been taken to mean “insane” or “unhealthy” (insano).30 27 Sara T. Nalle, Mad for God: Bartolomé Sánchez, the secret Messiah of Cardenete. (Charlottesville, VA: The University of Virginia Press, 2001), 151. Thus, for the purposes of this thesis locura and its adjective loca are considered to imply loss of reason or judgment and, depending on the context, imprudent or foolish behavior i.e. “craziness” or “madness”."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/uf/e0/04/13/85/00001/montoya_j.pdf


Father Sosa invited everyone to “fix our eyes on him, so that his eyes may reflect to us the poor and humble Jesus who seduced him to the point of MADNESS. St. Ignatius was a madman for Christ, as the monk of Montserrat called him.”"

Ahead of World Youth Day, the head of the Jesuits had a candid Q&A with six young pilgrims

Ricardo da Silva, S.J.

August 02, 2023

Ahead of World Youth Day, the head of the Jesuits had a candid Q&A with six young pilgrims | America Magazine

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/08/02/father-arturo-sosa-magis-world-youth-day-questions-245777


The Knight’s Templar was expelled from the Papacy in 1312 by Pope Clement V and Philip IV of France. The few Templars who escaped went to the powerful kingdom of Aragon and became known as the Order of the Calatrava, who would later align with the the Montessa. In 1534, a Spanish nobleman by the name of Ignatius Loyola would revive the Templars and call them the "Society of Jesus." Loyola was a Templar, and a member of a secret society called the "Alumbrados."  The third Superior General and co-founder of the order was Francis Borgia. The Borgia bloodline is part of the notorious "Black Nobility" which dates back to the ancient Ptolemaic period in history."

Exposing the Jesuits and the Papacy: The Jesuits are the revived Knights Templar (jesuitinquisition.blogspot.com)

http://jesuitinquisition.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-jesuits-are-revived-knights-templar.html


"The Order of Calatrava (Spanish: Orden de Calatrava, Portuguese: Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164. Most of the political and military power of the order had dissipated by the end of the 15th century, but the last dissolution of the order's property did not occur until 1838.'


Modern Times

In 1931, once again unilaterally, the Second Spanish Republic suppressed the Spanish Orders. To survive, they had to resort to the Ley de Asociaciones Civiles ("Law of Civil Associations"), leading a precarious existence until the Concordat of 1953 recognized the Priory. Afterward, by the papal bull Constat militarium, the Priory was reduced to a mere title of the Bishop of Ciudad Real.In 1980, upon request by his august father, who was appointed Dean President of the Council, King Juan Carlos I by royal initiative caused the rebirth of the Orders. Under the Apostolic Pastoral Tertio millennio adveniente, the Spanish Orders began their renewal in 1996.Today, the aim of the Spanish Orders is basically the same as they had when founded: the defense of the Catholic faith. The sword has been put aside, but their doctrine, example, self-sanctification, and divine worship remain active, aside from their cultural and social activities.Their two hundred and fifty members guard the spirit and life of the Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa under their Grand Master, King Felipe VI, and the Real Consejo de las Órdenes (Royal Council of the Orders) presided over by his Royal Highness Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria.[4]The Swiss luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe took the cross of the order in 1887 and established it as its company logo as a tribute to the knights, which remains until today.[5][6]

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


“The third of the great chivalric bodies, taking its rise in the time of the Crusades was the [exclusively White German] TEUTONIC KNIGHTS or KNIGHTS OF SAINT MARY OF JERUSALEM. Like its two predecessors [the KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS and the KNIGHTS TEMPLARS] the new Order was based on a unison of monastic and military service. . . . Several distinguished Germans contributed their property to the support of the work begun by their countrymen. A service and ritual were established, and in the year 1119, only one year after the founding of the Templars, the new Order received sanction of Pope Calixtus II. Religious and martial vows were taken by the brothers. In the choice of a dress and regalia, the Teutonic Knights distinguished themselves as much as possible from the Hospitallers and the Templars. The gown was black with a white mantle, and on this was a black cross with a silver edging [very similar to the design of Himmler’s SS uniform]. The Order soon achieved an invincible fame [as did Himmler’s Waffen SS], and its members became the recipients of the same favors and honors which were showered upon the other two brotherhoods. The second establishment of the Teutonic Knights was founded in 1189 by the burghers of Bremen and Lubeck . . . The two chapters were presently combined into one Order by Duke Frederick of Suabia, who in 1192 obtained for the union the sanction of Pope Celestine III. [According to Walter Schellenberg, one of Himmler’s most trusted SS/SD Generals was known as “the Duke of Suabia.”] The rule of the body was amplified and the discipline of the Augustinians adopted for its government. [The discipline of the Jesuits was adopted for the government of Himmler’s SS.] At the origin of the Teutonic Order none but Germans of noble birth were admitted to membership [as only racially “Aryan” Germans were first admitted to Himmler’s Order of the SS]. . . . priests [were later] added to the fraternity [as were certain Jesuits and other priests secretly admitted into the SS]. The chief officer was called the Grand Master [as Himmler was also called “the Grand Master”]. A papal edict followed, putting the new brotherhood on the same level with the Hospitallers [Knights of Malta] and Templars [Scottish Rite Freemasons], under the sanction and encouragement of the Church [as the SS was also under the sanction of the Papacy; Pope Pius XII, as “Archbishop Pacelli” serving as Pope Pius XI’s Nuncio in both Munich and Berlin (1917-1929), oversaw its creation during his twelve-year reign as “the German Pope”]. . . . The Order . . . after a precarious existence of three centuries, was finally abolished by Napoleon in 1809 [on the order of his master, the Black Pope, who had also commanded his Masonic Avenger to destroy Pope Pius VII’s Holy Roman Empire—the Roman Catholic First German Reich (962-1806AD)].


[A] belligerent and angry Europe [was] preparing her armor and mustering her warriors for the THIRD CRUSADE [uniting Roman Catholic Europe to the task of liberating Jerusalem as a result of the anti-Moslem agitation preached by the Pope’s priests for decades]. . . . First of all in the work was the aged but still fiery and warlike [Roman Catholic] FREDERICK BARBAROSSA, Emperor of Germany [who, as the national hero of Germany, would serve in being Roman Catholic Adolf Hitler’s model as “the Fuehrer,” in uniting the peoples of Europe into a massive Crusade called “Operation Barbarossa,” deceptively intended to liberate Moscow as a result of the anti-Jew/anti-Communist agitation preached by the Pope’s Jesuits for decades]. . . . Of all who had preceded him, not one was Barbarossa’s equal in genius and generalship [as Hitler would also appear to be a genius in generalship during the pre-war and early war years]. . . . His army in the aggregate, exclusive of unarmed pilgrims, numbered over a hundred thousand. Of these, sixty thousand were cavalry, and of these fifteen thousand were Knights, the flower of the Teutonic Order [corresponding to Hitler’s three million-man Wehrmacht; 160,000 were Waffen SS, the flower of Himmler’s Teutonic Order of the SS]. . . . He overcame every obstacle, fought his way through every peril, and came without serious disaster to Iconium. . . . By this time the name of Frederick had become a terror, and the Moslems began to stand aloof from the invincible German army [as Hitler’s army for a time became a terror and was invincible to the Russian Orthodox Slavs]. . . . Evil was the day when Frederick died. . . . The command devolved upon the son of Barbarossa [the Duke of Suabia] . . . In a short time the gallant Duke of Suabia died . . . At this juncture a new figure rose on the horizon . . . a Crusader of the Crusaders, greatest of all the medieval heroes—young Richard Plantagenet the Lion Heart, King of England. . . . Here in the valley of Hebron, with the towers of Jerusalem in view, the Lion Heart called a council! . . . It was decided that the present prosecution of the enterprise was inexpedient and should be given up. Great was the chagrin of the army when this decision was promulgated . . . and Jerusalem was left to the perpetual profanation of the Turks.” [The failure of the Pope’s Third Crusade rested on one decision not to take Jerusalem from the Moslems; the failure of the Pope’s Operation Barbarossa rested on one decision not to take Moscow from the Communists—as decreed by the Black Pope, conveyed by Bormann and commanded by Hitler!] {24} [Emphasis added]

John Clark Ridpath,

1901 American Historian

Ridpath’s Universal History

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


Scientology Recruits for the O.T.O. 

In 1967, the O.T.O. in England founded the Process Church of the Final Judgement soon after the rise of The Beatles rock group. In the late sixties and early seventies, the Process set up cells in a number of U.S. cities. Maury Terry says that the Process Church took over the O.T.O. in the United States. The Church of Scientology reverted to the position of Blavatsky's Theosophical Society a century earlier - that of a recruiting agency for the O.T.O. Terry said of Michael Carr, who, before his violent death was one of the leaders in the Process Church and a ranking Scientologist: If he's counselling lost souls for Scientology, allegedly helping them discover themselves, he could certainly be working both sides of the street and plucking a few out for recruitment in the Satan stuff. That Scientology movement is fertile ground for latching onto confused people. He'd have his pick of candidates.41


The O.T.O. and Psychological Warfare 

The counterculture, which today has permeated our whole society, provided and still provides recruits to the Church of Scientology which spots and selects the confused and drug addicted candidates for the homicidal O.T.O.-Process Church. One such candidate was found in Charlie Manson, who was first recruited by Scientology before he joined the Process Church. At that time the Process Church in America was led by Robert Moore (alias Robert DeGrimston), who, like Manson, was first a Scientologist. Process members worship both Satan and Christ, as did the Priory of Sion and the Templars in medieval days.42

Charlie Manson taught his "family" that he was Jesus Christ returned to bring judgement on America through a race war. "Helter Skelter" was his plan. He believed his instructions were concealed in the lyrics of songs sung by The Beatles.43 What Manson taught his "family" about hidden messages in rock music may well be true. Aleister Crowley himself taught such a technique to his initiates - that of writing messages backwards as a means of secret communication. William Sutton, in The New Age Movement and The Illuminati 666. states that Manson was also a Freemason. In support of this he writes that "[d]uring the Tate-LaBianca trials - with Susan Atkins testifying to how good it felt when the knife went into Sharon Tate – Manson was flashing Masonic hand signals to the Judge."44 Sutton not only links Manson to Freemasonry, but to Scientology, the Process Church, the O.T.O. and the New Age Movement.45 

Likewise, Maury Terry documents that the Charlie Manson murders in California and the David Berkowitz - Son of Sam - murders in New York, were both ordered by the same organization, the O.T.O.- Process Church.46 One of Terry's first clues of this connection was the use of common terms by Berkowitz's "Sam" cult and the O.TO.-Process Church. For example, the term "German shepherds" was used by both as an allusion to their Nazi heritage. Both killers wore the same Nazi symbols - HT and HH for Hitler, the German SS lighting bolts for Satan and 666 for the mark of the beast. Both were white Aryan, anti. Christian, anti-black, and anti-Semitic.47 Berkowitz, whose murders followed some six years after Manson's, often mentioned Manson in his notes. 

Berkowitz himself admitted to joining the Process Church in New York in 1975, just six years after Manson's arrest. Process members openly mingling with existing O.T.O. factions were seen in New York City as late as 1973. People such as Berkowitz, Man son and members of the Process Church, and its cells around the United States, make up the current O.T.O. network. All are sub-Masonic and linked as part of an underground web of murder. The "Sam" cult, according to Terry, is headquartered near Los Angeles and has branches in Bismarck, Minot, Houston and New York. These branches shuttle killers and "contracts" back and forth.48

From evidence presented by both Terry and Sutton, there is sufficient documentation to convince the reader that the Ordo Templi Orientis was carried to the United States by English Freemason Aleister Crowley for the express purpose of preparing Christian America for destruction through mass and serial murder, drugs, licentious living, witchcraft, and the psychological terror and social chaos caused by the same. The O.T.O. continues its assault on our society to this day. The O.T.O. is English Freemasonry's psychological warfare unit targeted against Christian America."

Scarlet and the Beast by John Daniel 

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


1 Samuel 28

1599 Geneva Bible

28 1 David hath the chief charge promised about Achish. 8 Saul consulteth with a witch, and she causeth him to speak with Samuel, 18 Who declareth his ruin.


1 Now at that time the Philistines assembled their bands and army to fight with Israel: therefore Achish said to David, [a]Be sure, thou shalt go out with me to the battle, thou, and thy men.


2 And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Surely I will make thee keeper of mine head forever.


3 (Samuel was then dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah his own city: and Saul had [b]put away the sorcerers, and the Soothsayers out of the land.)


4 Then the Philistines assembled themselves, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul assembled all Israel, and they pitched in Gilboa.


5 And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart was sore astonied.


6 Therefore Saul asked counsel of the Lord, and the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by [c]Urim, nor yet by Prophets.


7 ¶ Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and ask of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman at En Dor that hath a familiar spirit.


8 Then Saul [d]changed himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, conjecture unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee.


9 And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath destroyed the sorcerers, and the soothsayers out of the land: wherefore then seekest thou to take me in a snare to cause me to die?


10 And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth, no [e]harm shall come to thee for this thing.


11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he answered, Bring me up [f]Samuel.


12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.


13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw [g]gods ascending up out of the earth.


14 Then he said unto her, What fashion is he of? And she answered, An old man cometh up lapped in a mantel: and Saul knew that it was [h]Samuel, and he inclined his face to the ground, and bowed himself.


15 ¶ And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? Then Saul answered, I am in great distress: for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither [i]by Prophets, neither by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest tell me, what I shall do.


16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing, the Lord is gone from thee, and is thine enemy?


17 Even the Lord hath done to [j]him, as he spake by mine [k]hand: for the Lord will rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and give it thy neighbor David.


18 Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites, therefore hath the Lord done this unto thee this day.


19 Moreover the Lord will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines: [l]and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me, and the Lord shall give the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.


20 Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore [m]afraid because of the words of Samuel, so that there was no strength in him: for he had eaten no bread all the day nor all the night.


21 Then the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, See, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I [n]have put my soul in mine hand, and have obeyed thy words which thou saidest unto me.


22 Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, that thou mayest eat and get thee strength, and go on thy journey.


23 But he refused and said, I will not eat: but his servants and the woman together compelled him, and he obeyed their voice: so he arose from the earth, and sat on the bed.


24 Now the woman had a fat calf in the house, and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and baked of it [o]unleavened bread.


25 Then she brought them before Saul, and before his servants: and when they had eaten, they stood up, and went away the same night.


Footnotes

1 Samuel 28:1 Albeit it was a great grief to David to fight against the people of God, yet such was his infirmity, he durst not deny him.

1 Samuel 28:3 According to the commandment of God, Exod. 22:18 and Deut. 18:10, 11.

1 Samuel 28:6 Meaning, the high Priest, Exod. 28:30.

1 Samuel 28:8 He seeketh not to God in his misery, but is let by Satan to unlawful means, which in his conscience he condemneth.

1 Samuel 28:10 Or, punishment.

1 Samuel 28:11 He speaketh according to his gross ignorance, not considering the state of the Saints after this life, and how Satan hath no power over them.

1 Samuel 28:13 Or, an excellent person.

1 Samuel 28:14 To his imagination, albeit it was Satan, who to blind his eyes took upon him the form of Samuel, as he can do of an Angel of light.

1 Samuel 28:15 Hebrew, by the hand of Prophets.

1 Samuel 28:17 That is, to David.

1 Samuel 28:17 Or, ministry.

1 Samuel 28:19 Ye shall be dead, 1 Sam. 31:6.

1 Samuel 28:20 The wicked when they hear God’s judgments, tremble and despair, but cannot seek for mercy by repentance.

1 Samuel 28:21 I have ventured my life.

1 Samuel 28:24 Because it required haste.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2028&version=GNV

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fox News Host Faults 'The Native Americans' for California Fires

Raoul and The Kings of Spain

Why Trump can’t build iPhones in the US