Ex-Facebook employee accuses Meta of 'betraying US values' and collaborating with China

Business

Former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams, who wrote a scathing memoir about parent company Meta, has accused the social media giant of "betraying US values" and undermining national security by collaborating with the Chinese government on US artificial intelligence projects.

Issued on: 10/04/2025 - 10:07

Modified: 10/04/2025 - 10:17

2 min

By:

FRANCE 24

Former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, accusing the social media company of undermining national security and briefing China on US artificial intelligence (AI) efforts in order to grow its business there.

“We are engaged in a high-stakes AI arms race against China. And during my time at Meta, company executives lied about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party to employees, shareholders, Congress, and the American public,” Wynn-Williams said in her prepared testimony.

Her book “Careless People”, an explosive insider account of her time at the social media giant, sold 60,000 copies in its first week and reached the top 10 on Amazon’s best-seller list amid efforts by Meta to discredit the work and stop her from talking about her experiences at the company. Meta used a “campaign of threats and intimidation” to silence the former executive, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, during the hearing.

Wynn-Williams served as director of global public policy at Facebook, now Meta, from 2011 until she was fired in 2017.

“Throughout those seven years, I saw Meta executives repeatedly undermine US national security and betray American values. They did these things in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion business in China,” she said in her prepared remarks.

Wynn-Williams also said Meta deleted the Facebook account of a prominent Chinese dissident living in the US, bowing to pressure from China to do so. Meta says that account, belonging to billionaire Guo Wengui, shared personally identifiable information such as people's passport numbers, social security numbers, national ID numbers and home addresses and was removed because this violated Facebook's rules.

And she said Meta “ignored warnings” that building a “physical pipeline” between the US and China would provide China with backdoor access to US user data. These plans – called the Pacific Light Cable Network – never materialised, but Wynn-Williams said that was only because lawmakers stepped in.

In a statement, Meta said Wynn-Williams’ testimony "is divorced from reality and riddled with false claims. While Mark Zuckerberg himself was public about our interest in offering our services in China and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago, the fact is this: we do not operate our services in China today.”

Zuckerberg, along with other Big Tech executives, have been trying to improve their standing with US President Donald Trump's administration in recent months – through visits to Mar-a-Lago and the White House, as well as monetary donations – it's not yet clear if the efforts are paying off.

“This is a man who wears many different costumes,” Wynn-Williams said of Zuckerberg. “When I was there, he wanted the president of China to name his first child, he was learning Mandarin, he was censoring to his heart's content. Now his new costume is MMA fighting or ... free speech. We don't know what the next costume is gonna be, but it will be something different. It's whatever gets him closest to power.”

The hearing comes just days before Meta’s massive antitrust trial is scheduled to begin. The Federal Trade Commission’s case against the tech giant could force the company to divest Instagram and WhatsApp.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

https://www.france24.com/en/economy/20250410-ex-facebook-employee-accuses-meta-of-betraying-us-values

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

§3. In no way detracting from the general formation to be given to all, according to no. 96, §2, in order that we may more efficaciously use the socialcommunications media in a way that is adapted to the needs and opportunities of our apostolate in fulfilling our mission, major superiors should in good time choose and assign some men endowed with a religious spirit and other gifts, so that after they have become expert at various levels of specialization and have acquired academic degrees, they may become competent in practicing these skills and in directing others.[141]

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

Mark Zuckerberg says he’s no longer an atheist, believes ‘religion is very important’

December 30, 2016

By Julie Zauzmer

The founder of Facebook has found religion, it seems, according to a cheery holiday message he posted on the social network he created.

On Christmas Day, Zuckerberg indicated in a Facebook status that he was “celebrating Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Priscilla, Max, Beast and me,” he wrote, naming his wife, daughter and dog. Then a commenter asked him: Aren’t you an atheist?

Zuckerberg identified himself as an atheist for years, but on Facebook on Christmas he wrote back: “No. I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important.”

He didn’t answer further questions about what he does believe in. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have publicly discussed their moral values frequently — including in a lengthy letter when their daughter was born a year ago, in which they pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook stock, which at about $45 billion at the time was one of the largest philanthropic commitments ever. And they’ve already met one of the world’s most important religious figures: Pope Francis, with whom they discussed bringing communication technology to the world’s poor.

Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of Faith on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

The man billed as the first atheist bound for Congress isn’t actually an atheist at all

Study: Religion contributes more to the U.S. economy than Facebook, Google and Apple combined

How a Facebook comment turned into a nightmare for the ‘evangelical Harvard’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/12/30/mark-zuckerberg-says-hes-no-longer-an-atheist-believes-religion-is-very-important/

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

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

We Fucking Love Atheism | For Atheists, By Atheists

We Fucking Love Atheism

https://wflatheism.com

We Fucking Love Atheism For Atheists, By Atheists

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

page 221

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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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

Priscilla Chan (born February 24, 1985)[2] is an American pediatrician and philanthropist.[3] She and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015 with a pledge to transfer 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion. She attended Harvard University and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.

Early life and education

Chan was born in Braintree, Massachusetts,[4] and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. Her parents were Chinese refugees who fled Vietnam in boats.[5][6] Chan grew up speaking Cantonese and interpreted for her grandparents who raised her and her two younger sisters, Michelle and Elaine, while her parents worked.[7][8] Chan's father owned a restaurant in Massachusetts, which he later sold to run a wholesale fish company in 2006. Chan graduated valedictorian of her class from Quincy High School,[7] where she was involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition team #69 HYPER[9][10] and where she was the captain of the tennis team.[10] Her classmates voted her "Class Genius."[8]

Although her parents were supportive of college education, they were unfamiliar with the process, including the SAT exam.[8] Chan is the first college graduate in her family and has said that "education is an incredibly personal issue" for her, noting that "[i]f you're the first generation to go to college...sometimes you don't realize your potential until others point it out."[7][11] She credits her public school teachers with recognizing hers and for "getting me excited about learning."[11] Chan received a full scholarship to attend Harvard University.[12] Feeling out of place at the school, Chan planned to transfer to another institution; however, her involvement with the Franklin Afterschool Enrichment program, specifically an encounter with a young girl who had broken teeth, inspired Chan to stay and to become a pediatrician.[13][12] Chan once reflected: “I was devastated. I thought, ‘What happened? What did I do wrong? I thought at the time, ‘I am not enough yet. … I need more skills. I need more power to be able to solve this.’ And so, when you’re 20 years old and a type-A Harvard student, the answer is medical school.”[12]

After graduating in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in biology, she taught 4th and 5th grade science at the private Harker School in San Jose, California, for a year before entering medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, in 2008,[14][15] where she graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 2012 and then completed residency training in pediatrics in 2015.[16][7] Chan was a pediatrician at San Francisco General Hospital.[7]

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

Mark Zuckerberg

August 29, 2016 ·

Priscilla and I had the honor of meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican. We told him how much we admire his message of mercy and tenderness, and how he's found new ways to communicate with people of every faith around the world.

We also discussed the importance of connecting people, especially in parts of the world without internet access. We gave him a model of Aquila, our solar-powered aircraft that will beam internet connectivity to places that don't have it. And we shared … See more

— with Priscilla Chan in Vatican City, Italy.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10103066185217041&id=4&set=a.612287952871

Priscilla, also known as Prisca, is a prominent figure in the New Testament, recognized for her significant role in the early Christian church. She is often mentioned alongside her husband, Aquila, and is noted for her dedication to the ministry and her partnership with the Apostle Paul.

https://biblehub.com/topical/p/prisca_or_priscilla.htm

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Classical Latin: [tarˈkʷɪniʊs ˈpriːskʊs]), or Tarquin the Elder, was the legendary fifth king of Rome and first of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned for thirty-eight years.[1] Tarquinius expanded Roman power through military conquest and grand architectural constructions. His wife was the prophetess Tanaquil.[2]

Not much is known about the early life of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. According to Livy, Tarquin came from Etruria. Livy claims that his original Etruscan name was Lucumo, but since lucumo is the latinized form of the Etruscan word lauchume "king", there is reason to believe that his name and title have been confused in the official tradition. After inheriting his father's entire fortune, Lucius attempted to gain a political office. However, he was prohibited from obtaining political office in Tarquinii because of the ethnicity of his father, Demaratus, who came from the Greek city of Corinth. As a result, his wife Tanaquil advised him to relocate to Rome. Legend has it that on his arrival in Rome in a chariot, an eagle took his cap, flew away and then returned it back upon his head. Tanaquil, who was skilled in prophecy, interpreted this as an omen of his future greatness. In Rome, he attained respect through his courtesy. King Ancus Marcius noticed Tarquinius and, by his will, appointed Tarquinius guardian of his own sons.[3]

King of Rome

Rise to power

Although Ancus Marcius was the grandson of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, the principle of hereditary monarchy was not yet established at Rome; none of the first three kings had been succeeded by their sons, and each subsequent king had been acclaimed by the people. Upon the death of Marcius, Tarquin addressed the Comitia Curiata and convinced them that he should be elected king over his predecessor's natural sons, who were still only youths,[4] making him the first Roman king to ever actively succeed at lobbying for the throne.[5] In one tradition, the sons were away on a hunting expedition at the time of their father's death, and were thus unable to affect the assembly's choice.[6]

Political reform

According to Livy, Tarquin increased the number of the Senate to 300 by adding one hundred men from the leading minor families.[6] Among these was the family of the Octavii, from whom the first emperor, Augustus, was descended.[7] He did so with the hope that those added to the Senate would be grateful for their position and thus loyal to him, strengthening his rule as king.[8]

Tarquin and the Eagle

Military conquest

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus is accredited with expanding Rome's borders. He did so through conquest of the surrounding tribes. Those tribes were the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans.

War with the Latins

Tarquin's first war was waged against the Latins. Tarquinius took the Latin town of Apiolae by storm and took great booty from there back to Rome.[6] According to the Fasti Triumphales, this war must have occurred prior to 588 BC. The Latins claimed that peace treaties developed by Romulus and the other Roman kings no longer applied and as such, launched the first set of attacks. Seeing the opportunity to incorporate the Latins into Rome's ranks, Tarquin quickly responded by conquering multiple Latin cities. As a result, the Latins requested help from the Sabines and Etruscans. Choosing not to split up his military power, Tarquin chose to keep the attack on the Latins, leading to a Roman victory.[9]

War with the Sabines

After conquering the Latins Tarquin began his assault on the Sabines. Having their basecamp at the corner of two rivers, the Sabines were able to move their troops quickly and efficiently. Using his military cunning Tarquin chose to launch a surprise attack on the base at night. He did this by setting a fleet of small boats aflame and then sending them down the river to set the Sabine camp on fire. While the Sabines were focused on dousing the flames, Tarquin and his troops moved in to dismantle the camp.[10]

Later, his military ability was then tested by an attack from the Sabines. Tarquin doubled the numbers of equites to help the war effort.[3] The Sabines were defeated after difficult street fighting in the city of Rome.[11] In the peace negotiations that followed, Tarquin received the town of Collatia, and appointed his nephew, Arruns Tarquinius, better known as Egerius, as commander of the garrison there. Tarquin returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph on September 13, 585 BC.[12]

Subsequently, the Latin cities of Corniculum, old Ficulea, Cameria, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia, and Nomentum were subdued and became Roman.[13]

War with the Etruscans

Tarquin also wished to seek peace with the Etruscans, but they refused. Since Tarquin had kept the captured Etruscan auxiliaries prisoners for meddling in the war with the Sabines, the five Etruscan cities who had taken part declared war on Rome.[9] Seven other Etruscan cities joined forces with them. The Etruscans soon captured the Roman colony at Fidenae, which thereupon became the focal point of the war. After several bloody battles, Tarquin was once again victorious, and he subjugated the Etruscan cities who had taken part in the war. At the successful conclusion of each of his wars, Rome was enriched by Tarquin's plunder.[14]

Construction

Tarquin the Elder consulting Attus Nevius the Augur

Tarquin is said to have built the Circus Maximus, the first and largest stadium at Rome, for chariot racing.[15] The Circus Maximus started out as an underwhelming piece of land, but was built into a grand and beautiful stadium. Raised seating was erected privately by the senators and equites, and other areas were marked out for private citizens. There the king established a series of annual games; according to Livy, the first horses and boxers to participate were brought from Etruria.[6] It received the name Circus Maximus as a way to set it apart from the other stadiums built at this time in a similar fashion.[16]

After a great flood, Tarquin drained the damp lowlands of Rome by constructing the Cloaca Maxima, Rome's great sewer.[15] The arch was constructed in 578 BC and took inspiration from Etruscan structures of the earlier period.[17] He also constructed a stone wall around the city, and began the construction of a temple in honour of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. The latter is said to have been funded in part by the plunder seized from the Sabines.[13]

Shows of triumph

Tarquinius was the first Roman ruler to ever celebrate a Roman triumph. According to Florus, Tarquin celebrated his triumphs in the Etruscan fashion, riding a golden chariot drawn by four horses,[15] while wearing a gold-embroidered toga and the tunica palmata, a tunic upon which palm-leaves were embroidered. He also introduced other Etruscan insignia of civilian authority and military distinction: the sceptre of the king; the trabea, a purple garment that varied in form, but was perhaps most often used as a mantle; the fasces carried by the lictors; the curule chair; the toga praetexta, later worn by various magistrates and officials; the rings worn by senators; the paludamentum, a cloak associated with military command; and the phalera, a disc of metal worn on a soldier's breastplate during parades, or displayed on the standards of various military units.[18] Strabo reports that Tarquin introduced Etruscan sacrificial and divinatory rites, as well as the tuba, a straight horn used chiefly for military purposes.[19] As a result, most classical Roman symbols for war harken back to his time as king.

Death and succession

Tarquin is said to have reigned for thirty-eight years. According to legend, the sons of his predecessor, Ancus Marcius, believed that the throne should have been theirs. They arranged the king's assassination, disguised as a riot, during which Tarquin received a fatal blow to the head by an ax. However, the queen, Tanaquil, gave out that the king was merely wounded, and took advantage of the confusion to establish Servius Tullius as regent; when the death of Tarquin was confirmed, Tullius became king, in place of Tarquin's sons, or those of Ancus Marcius.

Tullius, said to have been the son of Servius Tullius, a prince of Corniculum who had fallen in battle against Tarquin, was brought to the palace as a child with his mother, Ocreisia. According to legend, Tanaquil discovered his potential for greatness by means of various omens, and therefore preferred him to her own sons.[20] Tullius married Tarquinia, one of the daughters of Priscus, thus providing a vital link between the families. His own daughters were subsequently married to Tarquin's sons (or, in some traditions, grandsons), Lucius and Arruns.[21]

Most ancient writers regarded Tarquin as the father of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, but some stated that the younger Tarquin was his grandson. As the younger Tarquin died about 496 BC, more than eighty years after Tarquinius Priscus, the chronology seems to support the latter tradition. An Etruscan legend related by the emperor Claudius equates Servius Tullius with Macstarna (apparently the Etruscan equivalent of the Latin magister), a companion of the Etruscan heroes Aulus and Caelius Vibenna, who helped free the brothers from captivity, slaying their captors, including a Roman named Gnaeus Tarquinius. This episode is depicted in a fresco at the tomb of the Etruscan Saties family at Vulci, now known as the François Tomb. This tradition suggests that perhaps the sons of the elder Tarquin attempted to seize power, but were defeated by the regent, Servius Tullius, and his companions; Tullius would then have attempted to end the dynastic struggle by marrying his daughters to the grandsons of Tarquinius Priscus. However, this plan ultimately failed, as Tullius was himself assassinated at the instigation of his son-in-law, who succeeded him.

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

Montanists, Mormons, and Early Christian Doctrines

Posted by Mormon Heretic on June 18, 2008 in Catholic, Christian, Early Christian History, Gnosticism, Intellectualism, Mormon, Multi-Faith, Theology

This is part 3 of Heresy and Orthodoxy. I’ve been listening to class 5 from the Covenant Theological Seminary on Ancient and Medieval Church History. They have talked about Gnosticism and Marcionism. I’d like to talk about a little known movement in early church history called Montanism and compare this to Mormonism.

Montanism began in Phrygia, Turkey around 170 AD. It was quite different from Gnosticism and Marcionism. It had a huge emphasis on the Holy Spirit. By this time the miracles and prophecies that are so familiar in the NT period had disappeared . A man by the name of Montanus said miracles had ceased because of the worldliness of the church. He said the ‘Dispensation of the Fulness of the Son’ had been replaced by the ‘Dispensation of the Holy Spirit.’

Now, doesn’t this sound very similar to Joseph Smith and his ideas? Joseph referred to the ‘Dispensation of the Fulness of Times’. Joseph said that miracles were occurring once again through him, as evidenced by all the visions, miracles, and the golden plates.

Montanus claimed that the Holy Spirit still speaks, just as it did to Paul; that it’s speaking through Montanus, and that it also speaks to a couple of his associates; female prophetesses, Prisca (or Priscilla), and Maximilla.

Montanus is said to have been quoted to say, ‘I am the Lord God Omnipotent’ but in reality, he wasn’t claiming to be God, but rather speaking for God. Joseph Smith would have prefaced similar remarks with ‘thus saith the Lord.’

Montanus also believed that Christ was imminently returning, similar to Joseph Smith. Montanus also believed that the New Jerusalem was going to be in Phrygia. Joseph Smith made similar claims about the New Jerusalem being on the American continent. Montanus also stressed holiness and asceticism.

In Turkey, many congregations entirely converted to Montanism, and the movement spread to North Africa. It lasted through at least through at least the 7th century AD. His most famous convert was Tertullian, who coined the term trinity. It is interesting to note that both men were later termed heretics. Bible scholar FF Bruce referred to a conversation with a dominican scholar who remarks that it was amazing that such an intelligent man as Tertullian would allow himself to be led astray be Montanus. The instructor notes that there must have been something of more solid worth to Montanism than has generally been supposed to have attracted such an intelligent man as Tertullian.

Additionally, the pope in Rome endorsed Montanus for a time, but later recanted. Of course, the pope was much more of a pastor than head of the entire church at this time.

Ok, now you see some differences. Of course mormons don’t support women having the priesthood, but there is some evidence that women were teachers in the early church. The PBS series called The First Christians talks about women in the early church. It appears that there were many influential women in the early church, punctuated by Mary Magdalene, who was known as ‘the apostle of the apostles’, and holds the distinction of being the first person to see the resurrected Lord. There is a book called ‘the Gospel of Mary Magdalene which venerates Mary Magdalene.

The church was just beginning to embrace the concept of the trinity, though it was far from universal at the early period, especially when one considers the strange views of the Gnostics. It is unclear if Montanus shared Tertullian’s views on this concept.

Speaking of Gnostics, one author has compared the New Age movement to the Gnostics belief in self-deification. While this is not perfectly compatible with mormons beliefs of eternal progression, there are obvious similarities.

Montanus also claimed that his revelations superceded the apostles and that his words should be considered scripture. Of course mormons have the D&C, and hold similar views about Joseph Smith. This all leads to the question, should mormons be called non-Christians or rather Christian heretics? I’m not sure which term is better, but obviously the term heretic has some appeal to me.

https://mormonheretic.org/2008/06/18/montanists-mormons-and-early-christian-doctrines/

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

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Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the San Francisco 49ers. He was drafted by and played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Prior to his NFL career, Young was a member of the Los Angeles Express in the United States Football League (USFL) for two seasons. He played college football for the BYU Cougars, setting school and NCAA records en route to being runner-up for the 1983 Heisman Trophy.

Amidst a contract dispute with the Express, Young left the fledgling USFL midway through the 1985 season to join the Buccaneers. Two seasons of underwhelming play led Tampa Bay to trade him to the 49ers in 1987. A quarterback controversy ensued as he spent several seasons backing up starting quarterback Joe Montana, who had previously led San Francisco to four Super Bowl championships. Young became the 49ers' full-time starting quarterback in 1991. He was named the AP's NFL Most Valuable Player in 1992 and 1994, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX where he led the 49ers to a victory over the San Diego Chargers with a record six touchdown passes. During his 1994 MVP campaign, Young set a new NFL record for passer rating at 112.8.[1] He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Young was an extremely efficient passer, leading the league in passer rating a record six times and completion percentage and yards per attempt five times.[2] At the time of his retirement, Young had the highest passer rating among NFL quarterbacks with at least 1,500 passing attempts (96.8). Currently, he is ranked fourteenth all time in passer rating, and is ranked fourth-highest amongst retired players, behind only Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Tony Romo.[3] Young's 43 career rushing touchdowns are fourth among quarterbacks,[4] while his 4,239 rushing yards ranks sixth all time.[5]

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

Ultramontanism

Article by

Nive Voisine

Updated by

Clayton Ma

Published Online

February 7, 2006

Last Edited

October 26, 2020

Ultramontanism was a school of thought of the Catholic Church which promoted supreme papal authority in matters of spirituality and governance. Ultramontanism rejected modern ideals in favour of the supremacy of Catholicism and the Catholic Church in public life. This school of thought was particularly influent in the French-Canadian society during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

Origins

In Canada and in Europe — mainly in France, where ultramontanism appeared during the Middle Ages and grew rapidly during the French Revolution —, its supporters criticized the separation of Church and state, as well as what they considered manifestations of modern liberalism. They pushed for the supremacy of the Catholic Church in both civil and religious matters. This school of thought was mainly characterized by its attachment to the Holy See’s authority and, as of 1870, by its faith in the Pope’s infallibility. The term “ultramontane” meant, literally, “beyond the mountains,” because the French Ultramontanes believed in the supremacy of the Vatican — which is located beyond the mountains of the Alps — over the local clergy.

Ultramontanism was adopted in Canada in the 1820s, first in the Saint-Hyacinthe seminary under the strong influence of French priest Félicité de Lamennais, then in Montreal under that of its first Catholic bishop, Jean-Jacques Lartigue. The latter opposed the Gallican ideas and fought for the freedom of the Church and for religious supremacy in matters of education. His successor, Monseigneur Ignace Bourget, led the triumph of ultramontane ideas in all fields (theology, education, relations between Church and state, etc.) in Montreal and made them a major, albeit contested, part of the Catholic world in Canada.

Ideological Split

Ultramontanism grew strong in Canada, but faced a split at the end of the 1860s, following the Guibord Affair. Monseigneur Bourget, followed by Monseigneur Louis-François Laflèche, represented a group of extreme Ultramontanes who were more active within political institutions. This group fought for the immediate application of ultramontane principles, namely the Church’s supreme power over education matters, the reform of laws under canon law and the introduction of episcopate monitoring of civil legislation. Moderate Ultramontanes, like Joseph-Sabin Raymond, to whom the extremists referred as liberals, wished for a more prudent application of the Ultramontane principles and for compromise where necessary.

The extremists engaged conservative journalists and politicians, who advocated for a Catholic election platform as early as 1871 with the goal of guaranteeing the supremacy of the Church over politics. Over the following years, the extremists and supporters of the election platform led an anti-liberal crusade, which resulted in the creation of the Castors (“Beavers”) in 1882.

Influence

Ultramontanism dominated philosophy and theology teachings in small and large seminaries, the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada and several bishop directives from the second half of the 19th century until the 1950s.

Ultramontanist thought guided the ideals of important French Canadian nationalists who desired a self-sufficient society governed by the Church. The movement had a significant influence over the French-Canadian society and Maurice Duplessis’ reign as premier of Quebec. Ultramontanism fed traditional and conservative tendencies within the French-Canadian society, until the Quiet Revolution and the Second Vatican Council put an end to this influence.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ultramontanism

Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", Montana is widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.[1][2][3][4][5][6] After winning a national championship with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Montana began his NFL career in 1979 at San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons.[7] With the 49ers, Montana started and won four Super Bowls and was the first player to be named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times. He also holds Super Bowl career records for most passes without an interception (122 in four games) and the all-time highest passer rating of 127.8. In 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played for his last two seasons and led the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game. Montana was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.[8]

In 1986, Montana won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award, after suffering a severe back injury during week one.[9] In 1989 and again in 1990, Montana was named the NFL Most Valuable Player.[10] Montana was elected to eight Pro Bowls as well as being voted first-team All-Pro in 1987, 1989, and 1990. Montana had the highest passer rating in the National Football Conference (NFC) five times (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989), and in both 1987 and 1989, Montana had the highest passer rating in the NFL.[11]

Among his career highlights, "the Catch" (the game-winning touchdown pass to Dwight Clark vs. Dallas in the 1981 NFC Championship Game) and a Super Bowl-winning 92-yard drive against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII are staples of NFL highlight films.

The 49ers retired Montana's No. 16 jersey number after the conclusion of his playing career. In 1994, Montana earned a spot on the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team; he is also a member of the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Montana third on their list of Football's 100 Greatest Players. Also in 1999, ESPN named Montana the 25th greatest athlete of the 20th century. In 2006, Sports Illustrated rated him the number-one clutch quarterback of all time.[12]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Numerology and The Power of Nothing

The power of the zero reflects the power of nothing in numerology

The only way a 0 (zero) can be found in a chart is through deduction

The nine single-digit numbers, 1 through 9, each have very specific, easy to recognize attributes. The 0 (zero), however, has no attributes, no character traits, no description whatsoever. It's a blank page but with a twist.

The zero is the chameleon, the great enhancer, the multiplier and the gateway to infinity and immortality.

Whenever numbers are deducted, it's done in order to find a shortcoming, a weakness or a missing link. The zero then takes on the attributes of the 9: global awareness, compassion, tolerance, love and sacrifice, hence its nickname of "The Mother Theresa number." This makes sense in the usual elegant way of Numerology, since the number 9 can never be found as the result of deducting any single-digit number from another single digit.

The zero also has the ability to fine-tune and enhance the qualities of any other single-digit number. The 10 becomes a higher octave 1, the 20 raises the qualities of the 2, and so forth.

All of this is relatively mundane. It gets much more interesting when you pull the zero out of the environment of personal Numerology charts and look at it from a different perspective.

-Ω-

For as long as we can remember, a dialog has been going on between those who think everything started from nothing and those who believe that in the beginning there was something. And you and I, as children and young adults, found ourselves standing in between and getting an earful from both sides. Most of us chose a side early on and went on with our lives.

Then there are some of us who just can't make up our minds. I have to admit, for a long time I was one of those. My parents never propagated one side or the other, so I was left hanging, free to make up my own mind, which I did eventually.

Here's my two pennies worth: both sides are correct and both sides are wrong. I.e.: zero is something, and the something we refer to as the origin of everything is nothing.

I know, this sounds plain ludicrous. But as a useful analogy, let's look at the most important numerology development since -- well, since forever; the application of the 0 and 1 as the basis for everything digital. The symbolism here is beautiful. In what is, without a doubt, a time of exponential growth, we come up with this fantastic concept that, when it comes to finding answers for everything, only the 0 and 1 matter. Enter the digital age.

The question is this: Could the 1 exist without the 0, and vice versa? (The answer, of course, is no. Remove either the 0 or the 1, and the digital age is a goner.)

But let's get creative and put it another way: Can consciousness exist without unconsciousness?

Or: Can immortality exist without mortality?

-Ω-

Life without death?

Oh boy, this is really tricky. Because eventually it gets you to the final question: Could there be nothing at the beginning of everything without there being something? Or could there be something without there being nothing?

I will refrain from answering these crazy questions. I am just dropping them at your feet to do with as you please. As for me, I am happy to know that asking these kind of questions is extremely satisfying and enjoyable, even as I am convinced that the answer is worth absolutely nothing. At least if the answer is a product of the mind and subsequently accepted or rejected by said mind.

All the brain power in the world can't produce the answer because it doesn't exist in the world of zeroes and ones, or any other number. It never will. This is one question to which the answer cannot be spoken or thought or expressed or judged or touched or even imagined. That's not where the answer exists.

What you can do though, is look around. See the way a father holds his child, watch a teenager risk his life to save a dog from drowning, recognize the depth and sacred consciousness in the eyes of a horse, smell the smells of a wet forest, look at the oon and the stars on a clear night, sit on a terrace with a double espresso and feel the sun on your shoulders. You can let your heart be touched by the generosity of strangers or the bravery of a soldier.

You don't have to judge any of these things. You can just let it happen, and it always, and I mean always, feels good. And when you feel good, "IT" feels good, and it no longer matters whether the origin of everything was nothing or some "thing". All that matters is what exists now, you, me, everything else, and "IT." Whether that "IT" is something or nothing doesn't make one iota of a difference.

-Ω-

From Numerology Questions - a Dear Hans column:

Two people who ask a similar question about what the 0 (zero) in a chart means and how they can result from a calculation.

-Ω-

Vikas, from Bangalore, India, asks:

What does a chart indicate of a person with no challenges (all zero) in a chart?

And Semih, from the Netherlands, asks:

Why is the number 0 (zero) not actively being used in numerology and are no qualities and attributes given to it? For it is always there even if it is not visible.

Dear Vikas and Semih,

Since your questions overlap, I will answer both here.

In chart calculations, the 0 (zero) can be found only as the result of deducting numbers.

There are a few places where we deduct, most prominently with Challenges, but also Bridge numbers and a few more obscure aspects. The largest difference between two single digit numbers is 8 (9 minus 1). Therefore, it is impossible to arrive at a 9 as the result of deducting single digit numbers; however, you can arrive at 0 (9 minus 9, 8 minus 8, etc.).

When that happens, the zero takes on the qualities of the 9.

Vikas, when you say all your Challenges are zeroes, it means your Challenges are aligned with the qualities of the 9. In other words, you’re not off the hook. You can learn more about a 0 Challenge here.

Semih, the zero either has the qualities of the 9 when found through deduction, or it enhances the qualities of any double-digit number that ends with 0.

For example, 10 is a high-octave 1. 20 is a sharper defined version of 2, while 30 is a more defined 3, and so forth. This is why 3 based on 30 is different from a 3 based on 12, or 21. You can learn more about double-digit numbers here.

Hans Decoz

https://www.worldnumerology.com/blog/numerology-power-of-nothing.htm#gsc.tab=0

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

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

6. The delegates commit to working with the schools to enhance the way parents and families are invited into our education and formation.

The Rio Papers International Congress for Jesuit Education Delegates Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 2017

The Rio Papers (googleusercontent.com)

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ce18dDJhSfoJ:https://jesuitinstitute.org/Resources/Rio%2520Papers.pdf&cd=51&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

What does the Bible say about family?

Answer

The concept of family is extremely important in the Bible, both in a physical sense and in a theological sense. The concept of family was introduced in the very beginning, as we see in Genesis 1:28, "God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'" God’s plan for creation was for men and women to marry and have children. A man and a woman would form a "one-flesh" union through marriage (Genesis 2:24), and they with their children become a family, the essential building block of human society.

We also see early on that family members were to look after and care for one another. When God asks Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" Cain’s response is the flippant "Am I my brother’s keeper?" The implication is that, yes, Cain was expected to be Abel’s keeper and vice versa. Not only was Cain’s murder of his brother an offense against humanity in general, but it was especially egregious because it was the first recorded case of fratricide (murder of one’s sibling).

The Bible has a more communal sense of people and family than is generally held in Western cultures today, where citizens are more individualized than people in the Middle East and definitely more so than the people of the ancient near East. When God saved Noah from the flood, it wasn’t an individual case salvation, but a salvation for him, his wife, his sons and his sons’ wives. In other words, his family was saved (Genesis 6:18). When God called Abraham out of Haran, He called him and his family (Genesis 12:4-5). The sign of the Abrahamic covenant (circumcision) was to be applied to all males within one’s household, whether they were born into the family or are part of the household servant staff (Genesis 17:12-13). In other words, God’s covenant with Abraham was familial, not individual.

The importance of family can be seen in the provisions of the Mosaic covenant. For example, two of the Ten Commandments deal with maintaining the cohesiveness of the family. The fifth commandment regarding honoring parents is meant to preserve the authority of parents in family matters, and the seventh commandment prohibiting adultery protects the sanctity of marriage. From these two commandments flow all of the various other stipulations in the Mosaic Law which seek to protect marriage and the family. The health of the family was so important to God that it was codified in the national covenant of Israel.

This is not solely an Old Testament phenomenon. The New Testament makes many of the same commands and prohibitions. Jesus speaks on the sanctity of marriage and against frivolous divorce in Matthew 19. The apostle Paul talks about what Christian homes should look like when he gives the twin commands of “children, obey your parents” and “parents, don’t provoke your children” in Ephesians 6:1–4 and Colossians 3:20–21. In 1 Corinthians 7, the unbelieving spouse is “sanctified” through the believing spouse, meaning, among other things, that the unbelieving spouse is in a position to be saved through the witness of the believing spouse.

Let’s now turn our attention to the theological concept of family. During His three-year ministry, Jesus shattered some prevailing notions of what it meant to be part of a family: "While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.’ He replied to him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (Matthew 12:46-50). Now we must clear up some misconceptions with this passage. Jesus is not saying that biological family isn’t important; He is not dismissing His mother and brothers. What He is doing is making the clear theological point that in the Kingdom of Heaven, the most important family connection is spiritual, not physical. This is a truth made explicitly clear in John’s Gospel, when the evangelist says, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13).

The parallels are quite clear. When we are born physically, we’re born into a physical family, but when we are "born again," we are born into a spiritual family. To use Pauline language, we are adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15). When we are adopted into God’s spiritual family, the Church, God becomes our Father and Jesus our Brother. This spiritual family is not bound by ethnicity, gender or social standing. As Paul says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:26-29).

So what does the Bible say about family? The physical family is the most important building block to human society, and as such, it should be nurtured and protected. But more important than that is the new creation that God is making in Christ, which is comprised of a spiritual family, the Church, made up of all people who call upon the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. This is a family drawn "from every nation, tribe, people and language" (Revelation 7:9), and the defining characteristic of this spiritual family is love for one another: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).

https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-family.html

Colossians 3

1599 Geneva Bible

3 1 Against earthly exercises, which the false apostles urged, 2 he setteth heavenly: 5 and beginneth with the mortifying of the flesh, 8 whence he draweth particular exhortations, 18 and particular duties which depend on each man’s calling.

1 If [a]ye then [b]be [c]risen with Christ, [d]seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.

2 Set your affections on things which are above, and not on things which are on the [e]earth.

3 [f]For ye are dead, [g]and your life is hid with Christ in God.

4 When Christ which is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

5 [h] Mortify therefore your [i]members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, the inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry.

6 For the which things’ sake the wrath of God [j]cometh on the children of disobedience.

7 Wherein ye also walked once, when ye lived in them.

8 But now put ye away even all these things, wrath, anger, maliciousness, cursed speaking, filthy speaking, out of your mouth.

9 Lie not one to another: [k]seeing that ye have put off the old man with his works,

10 And have put on the new, [l]which is renewed in [m]knowledge after the image of him that created him,

11 [n]Where is neither Grecian nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, free: But Christ is all, and in all things.

12 Now therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, [o]put on the [p]bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering:

13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel to another: even as Christ forgave, even so do ye.

14 And above all these things put on love, which is the [q]bond of perfectness.

15 And let the peace of God [r]rule in your hearts, to the which ye are called in [s]one body, and be ye thankful:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you plenteously in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing your own selves, in [t]Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with a grace in your hearts to the Lord,

17 And whatsoever ye shall do, in word or deed, do all in the [u]Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God even the Father by him.

18 ¶ [v]Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as it is [w]comely in the Lord.

19 [x]Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter unto them.

20 ¶ [y]Children, obey your parents in [z]all things: for that is well pleasing unto the Lord.

21 [aa]Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

22 ¶ [ab] Servants, be obedient unto them that are your masters according to the flesh, in all things, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men,

24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the [ac]reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

25 [ad]But he that doeth wrong, shall receive for the wrong that he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

Footnotes

Colossians 3:1 Another part of this Epistle, wherein he taketh occasion by the reason of those vain exercises, to show the duty of a Christian life: which is an ordinary thing with him after he hath once set down the doctrine itself.

Colossians 3:1 Our renewing or new birth, which is wrought in us by being partakers of the resurrection of Christ, is the fountain of all holiness, out of which sundry arms or rivers do afterwards flow.

Colossians 3:1 For if we be partakers of Christ, we are carried as it were into another life, where we shall need neither meat nor drink, for we shall be like unto the Angels.

Colossians 3:1 The end and mark which all the duties of Christian life shoot at, is to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and to give ourselves to those things which lead us thither, that is to true godliness, and not to those outward and corporal things.

Colossians 3:2 So he calleth that show of religion, which he spake of in the former Chapter.

Colossians 3:3 A reason taken of the efficient causes and others: you are dead as touching the flesh, that is, touching the old nature which seeketh after all transitory things, and on the other side, you have begun to live according to the Spirit, therefore give yourselves to spiritual and heavenly, and not to carnal and earthly things.

Colossians 3:3 The taking away of an objection: while we are yet in this world, we are subject to many miseries of this life, so that the life that is in us, is as it were hidden: yet notwithstanding we have the beginnings of life and glory, the accomplishment whereof which lieth now in Christ’s and in God’s hand, shall be assuredly and manifestly performed in that glorious coming of the Lord.

Colossians 3:5 Let not your dead nature be any more effectual in you, but let your living nature be effectual. Now the force of nature is known by the motions. Therefore let the affections of the flesh die in you, and let the contrary motions which are spiritual, live. And he reckoneth up a great long scroll of vices, and their contrary virtues.

Colossians 3:5 The motions and lusts that are in us, are in this place very properly called members, because that the reason and will of man corrupted, doth use them as the body doth his members.

Colossians 3:6 Useth to come.

Colossians 3:9 A definition of our new birth taken of the parts thereof, which are the putting off of the old man, that is to say, of the wickedness which is in us by nature, and the restoring, and repairing of the new man, that is to say, of pureness which is given us by grace: but both of them are but begun in us in this present life, and by certain degrees finished: the one dying in us by little and little, and the other coming to the perfection of another life, by little and little.

Colossians 3:10 Newness of life consisteth in knowledge, which transformeth man to the image of God his maker, that is to say, to the sincerity and pureness of the whole soul.

Colossians 3:10 He speaketh of an effectual knowledge.

Colossians 3:11 He telleth them again, that the Gospel doth not respect those external things, but true justification and sanctification in Christ only, which have many fruits, as he reckoneth them up here: But commendeth two things especially, to wit, godly concord, and continual study of God’s word.

Colossians 3:12 So put on, that you never put off.

Colossians 3:12 Those most tender affections of exceeding compassion.

Colossians 3:14 Which bindeth and knitteth together all the duties that pass from man to man.

Colossians 3:15 Rule and govern all things.

Colossians 3:15 You are joined together into one body through God’s goodness, that you might help one another as fellow members.

Colossians 3:16 By Psalms he meaneth all godly songs, which were written upon divers occasions, and by hymns, all such as contain the praise of God, and by spiritual songs, other more peculiar and artificious songs which were also in praise of God, but they were made fuller of music.

Colossians 3:17 Call upon the name of Christ, when you do it, or, do it to Christ’s praise and glory.

Colossians 3:18 He goeth from precepts which concern the whole civil life of man, to precepts pertaining to every man’s family, and requireth of wives, subjection in the Lord.

Colossians 3:18 For those wives do not well, that do not set God in Christ before them in their love, but this Philosophy knoweth not.

Colossians 3:19 He requireth of husbands, that they love their wives, and use them gently.

Colossians 3:20 He requireth of children, that according to God’s Commandment they be obedient to their parents.

Colossians 3:20 In the Lord, and so is it expounded, Eph. 5:19.

Colossians 3:21 Of parents, that they be gentle towards their children.

Colossians 3:22 Of servants that fearing God himself to whom their obedience is acceptable, they reverently, faithfully, and from the heart, obey their masters.

Colossians 3:24 For that that you shall have duly obeyed your masters, the time shall come, that you shall be made sons of servants, and then shall you know this of a surety, which shall be when you are made partakers of the heavenly inheritance.

Colossians 3:25 He requireth of masters that being mindful how that they themselves also shall render an account before that heavenly Lord and Master, which will revenge wrongful doings without any respect of masters or servants, they show themselves just and upright with equity, unto their servants.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203&version=GNV

Filippo Sega (22 August 1537 – 29 May 1596) was a Catholic bishop from 1575 to 1596 and a cardinal from 1591 to 1596. He served as a papal diplomat in several important and sensitive posts, in Flanders, Spain, Vienna, Prague, and France.

Biography

Sega was born in Bologna on August 22, 1537,[1] the son of a noble family originally from Ravenna.[2] His sister, born Isabella Sega, was the mother of Cardinal Girolamo Agucchi and the diplomat Bishop Giovanni Battista Agucchi,[2] who worked under Sega at the start of his career.

He was educated at the University of Bologna, where he became a doctor of both laws on September 26, 1560.[3][2]

After completing his doctorate, he became a protonotary apostolic.[2] He was named governor of Cesena on September 20, 1566; governor of Forlì on January 24, 1569; governor of Imola on March 3, 1571; of Romagna on December 15, 1572; and of the March of Ancona on January 1, 1575.[2]

Bishop

On May 20, 1575, Sega was "elected" (provided) as the second Bishop of Ripatransone by Pope Gregory XIII.[4] He was consecrated a bishop by Gabriele del Monte, Bishop of Iesi, in Osimo Cathedral on June 29, 1575.[2] On Oct. 3, 1578, while he was still in Spain, he was appointed Bishop of Piacenza.[5]

Diplomat

In 1577, Sega was sent as a special envoy to John of Austria in the County of Flanders.[6] His mission was to aid Don Juan in the pacification of the Spanish Netherlands, which was the property of the Crown of Spain, to stop the advance of Protestantism, and to prepare in secret the expedition for the conquest of England.[7] He was only in Flanders a few months when the papal Nuncio to Spain, Niccolò Ormaneto, became gravely ill and died on 23 February 1577.[8] On 1 July 1577 a dispatch from the papal Secretary, Cardinal Filippo Guastavillani, the Pope's nephew, ordered Sega to Spain as the new Nuncio, and on 8 July Pope Gregory signed the necessary documents. There were numerous matters pending between the Papacy and the King of Spain, not the least of which was the choice of new bishops for the dioceses of Toledo and Cuenca.[9] Sega was Nuncio in Spain until 30 April 1581.[10] He took his leave of King Philip at Lisbon in December 1581.[11]

In Spring 1582, Bishop Sega was back in his diocese, but on 20 September 1583, he received a letter from Cardinal Guastavillani, appointing him to another mission to Spain. He sailed from Genoa on the 25th, and was in Madrid on 11 October. He was to attempt to get King Philip II to revive the league with Venice and the Papacy against the Turks; he was to revive Gregory XIII's enterprise against England; he was to persuade the King to support Prince Ernest of Bavaria, who had been chosen Archbishop of Cologne but who was being resisted by the schismatic heretic Otto von Truchses and Prince Casimir.[12] On 24 November 1583 the Spanish response was given by Cardinal de Granvelle: the league was refused; the King was committed to the English expedition, but circumstance were unfavorable at the time; the Catholics of Cologne were being supported by the Prince of Parma, to the extent that his commitments in the Netherlands made it possible, but in any case, the Elector Ernest would have to pay the expenses, since the King could not. Bishop Sega left the Spanish court at the end of January 1584, but fell ill at Barcelona, and did not arrive in Italy until June.[13] He was dispensed from the necessity of traveling directly to Rome to make his report to the Pope.[14]

A new pope, Sixtus V (Felice Peretti) was elected on 24 April 1585. His program for his papacy included the reform of the clergy of the city of Rome, and, for that purpose, on 29 July 1585 he chose two bishops with a reputation for reform in their own dioceses, Giulio Ottinelli of Castro and Filippo Sega of Piacenza. The assignment of the "Monsignori Riformatori" was to carry out an official visitation of all the churches and colleges in Rome; each member of the clergy who held a benefice of any kind was summoned to give an account of himself. The English,[15] German, Greek, and the Maronite Colleges were visited, as well as the Roman Seminary and the Lateran Basilica. Unfortunately, Sega's work was interrupted when he was again pressed into diplomatic service.[16]

He served as Nuncio to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in Vienna from January 18, 1586 until May 28, 1587.[17] Back in his diocese, he organized and presided over a diocesan synod, held on 3 May 1589.[18]

After the assassination of Henry III of France on 2 August 1589 by a fanatical monk, Pope Sixtus acted with lightning speed and appointed an embassy to the new Catholic king of France, the Cardinal Charles de Bourbon (Charles X), and his League. The new papal legate a latere was Cardinal Enrico Caetani, and he was accompanied by Bishop Filippo Sega with the title of Nuncio. The embassy of more than 200 persons left Rome on 2 October 1589. Sega was promoted to Legate on 15 April 1592 on the withdrawal of Caetani, and continued to serve until 12 March 1594.[19]

Cardinal

In the consistory of December 18, 1591, Pope Innocent IX named Bishop Sega a cardinal priest. Sega had been given the endorsement of William V, Duke of Bavaria.[20] Due to his service in France, he was not assigned a titular church until his return, when, on 5 December 1594, he received the red hat and became the Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Onofrio.[21] He did not participate in the papal conclave of 1592 that elected Pope Clement VIII.

He became president of the Congregatio Germanica (the German affairs committee) in the Papal Curia in 1595.[22][2] Worn out by work and importunities, however, he retired to a villa outside the Porta Pinciana above Trastevere, where he died.[23]

Cardinal Filippo Sega died in Rome on 29 May 1596 and is buried in his titular church of Sant' Onofrio.[24]

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

Sega Corporation[a][b] is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several multi-million-selling game franchises for arcades and consoles, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Angry Birds, Phantasy Star, Puyo Puyo, Super Monkey Ball, Total War, Virtua Fighter, Megami Tensei, Sakura Wars, Persona, and Yakuza. From 1983 until 2001, Sega also developed its own consoles.

Sega was founded by Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart in Hawaii as Nihon Goraku Bussan[c] on June 3, 1960. Shortly after, it acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan. In 1965, it became known as Sega Enterprises, Ltd., after acquiring Rosen Enterprises, an importer of coin-operated games. Sega developed its first coin-operated game, Periscope, in 1966. Sega was sold to Gulf and Western Industries in 1969. Following a downturn in the arcade business in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles, starting with the SG-1000 and Master System, but struggled against competitors such as the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1984, Sega executives David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama led a management buyout, with backing from CSK Corporation.

In 1988, Sega released the Mega Drive, or the Genesis in North America. The Mega Drive struggled against competition in Japan, but the Genesis found success overseas after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and briefly outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, in the US. In 2001, after several commercial failures such as the 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast, Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher, and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004. Sega Holdings Co., Ltd. was established in 2015; Sega Corporation was renamed to Sega Games Co., Ltd., and its arcade division was split into Sega Interactive. In 2020, Sega Games and Sega Interactive merged to become Sega Corporation.

Sega of America, Inc.

Company type Subsidiary

Industry Video games

Founded 1986

Headquarters 140 Progress, Suite 100, Irvine, California, United States

Number of employees 425 ~ 430

Parent

Sega Corporation

Website sega.com

Sega's international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California, and London. Its development studios include their internal research and development divisions (which utilize the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sonic Team brands for several core franchise entries), Sega Sapporo Studio which mainly provides support for the Tokyo-based development teams as well as handling partial game development,[4] and Atlus (including their R&D divisions) and five development studios in the UK and Europe: Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive, Sega Hardlight, Two Point Studios, and Rovio Entertainment (including Ruby Games). Sega is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers and its mascot, Sonic, is internationally recognized. Sega is recognized for its video game consoles, creativity and innovations. In more recent years, it has been criticized for its business decisions and the quality of its creative output.

Being the entertainment contents division of Sega Sammy Holdings, forming one half of the Sega Sammy Group,[5] Sega also owns a toy and amusement machine company, Sega Fave, which comprises their arcade development and manufacturing divisions and two animation studios: TMS Entertainment, which animates, produces, and distributes anime, and Marza Animation Planet, which specializes in CG animation.

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

Joe Montana Football is an American football video game published by Sega. While the game does feature Joe Montana as a playable character, Sega did not obtain licenses from either the National Football League or the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), meaning no other players, nor any official team names, are used. It was the first of many Sega published football games across the 1990s prior to moving into the NFL 2K branding in the 2000s.

Gameplay

Similar to other football games of the time, the gameplay follows a slightly simplified version of standard American Football rules. Players have the option to play as different teams, as well as select number of players. Players also have the option to turn penalties on or off. Players may also play a normal game, a mode with a two-minute drill, and the Sega Bowl mode.

Though Joe Montana Football and John Madden Football were made by the same company, Madden had realistic plays and a full roster of 28 teams, while Montana was a more arcade-style game with only 16 teams and a simplified, passing-intensive offense.[4]

Development

Following the launch of the Genesis in the United States, Sega of America president and CEO Michael Katz planned to create a library of instantly-recognizable titles for the console by contracting with celebrities and athletes to produce games using their names and likenesses. As part of this, Sega signed a $1.7 million five-year contract with Joe Montana, despite concerns among the Japanese executives that the game would not earn enough to cover this cost.[4]

Sega had previously developed two American football games for the Master System console, Great Football in 1987[5] and American Pro Football (Walter Payton Football) in 1989, the latter very well-received by critics at the time.[6][7] Joe Montana Football was originally intended to be an update of Great Football.[5]

Since Sega of America did not at the time have a large game production facility, they contracted with Mediagenic (Activision) to develop the game for November 1989. No one at Sega was aware of the turmoil inside Mediagenic at the time; despite five months of reports that development was proceeding on schedule, Katz discovered in September or October that the game was hardly begun. To have a football game for Christmas release, Sega would have to find an already-completed game that could be converted.[3]

Sega approached Electronic Arts, developer of the Madden NFL series, and president Trip Hawkins, for help, suggesting that he cancel the upcoming Genesis version of Madden in order to work on the game. Hawkins agreed to help Sega but refused to cancel his company's game instead working on both projects. He intentionally made Montana a worse game than Madden, starting with the basic code for the former he removed the 3D field as well as cut down the number of plays from 113 to 13.[8] According to Michael Knox a programmer on the game, most of the deliberate downgrading occurred after the company had already completed the game.[9] Joe Montana Football missed the Christmas deadline and was released in January 1991, shortly after the Genesis version of John Madden Football.[4][3]

Reception

Although not as successful as the Madden series, Joe Montana Football and the sequels helped establish the Genesis' reputation as the top platform for sports simulations and proved to Sega Enterprises that sports games could be worthwhile investments.[4][3] Website Den of Geek would credit both series for helping Sega gain an edge over Nintendo writing " High school and college jocks who would normally be more likely to taunt someone who identified as a video game nerd suddenly found themselves playing for bragging rights on all-night sessions of Madden."[10]

Legacy

Joe Montana Football was followed by four sequels, all developed by BlueSky Software instead of Park Place Productions: Joe Montana Football II: Sports Talk Football, NFL Sports Talk Football '93, NFL Football '94 Starring Joe Montana, and NFL '95. After the contract with Joe Montana ended in 1995, development on the sixth game in Sega's NFL series moved to Farsight Technologies and the franchise was rebranded as Prime Time NFL Starring Deion Sanders. In 2015, Damon Grow, CEO of Superstar Games, tweeted snippets of Joe Montana Football 16. Joe Montana subsequently released a screenshot of the game. At E3, Damon Grow revealed the game as "Joe Montana Football", a mobile game coming to iOS, followed by Android and PC.[11]

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

Francisco de Asís (Francisco de Asís María Fernando de Borbón; 13 May 1822 – 17 April 1902) was King of Spain as the husband of Queen Isabella II from their marriage in 1846 until Isabella's deposition in 1868. Francisco and his wife were double first cousins, as their fathers were brothers and their mothers were sisters. Isabella was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1868, but the monarchy was restored under their son Alfonso XII in 1874.

Family

Francisco de Asís was born at Aranjuez, Spain, the second son (first to survive infancy) of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain, and of his wife (and niece), Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies. He was named after Saint Francis of Assisi.

Marriage and children

Further information: Affair of the Spanish Marriages

Francisco married Queen Isabella II of Spain, his double first cousin, on 10 October 1846. There is evidence that Isabella would rather have married his younger brother, Infante Enrique, Duke of Seville, and complained bitterly about her husband's effeminate habits after their first night together.[1]

Twelve children were born during the marriage:[2][3]

Infante Luis Fernando (20 May 1849), stillbirth.

Infante Fernando Francisco (12 July 1850), died five minutes after birth.

Infanta María Isabel (1851–1931): married her mother's and father's first cousin Prince Gaetan, Count of Girgenti.

Infanta Maria Cristina (5 January 1854 - 7 January).

Infanta Margarita (23 September 1855 - 24 September 1855), born prematurely.

Infante Francisco de Asis Fernando (21 December 1856), stillbirth.

Alfonso XII of Spain (1857–1885) Future King of Spain.

Infanta Maria de la Conception (1859 - 21 October 1861).

Infanta María del Pilar (1861–1879).

Infanta María de la Paz (1862–1946); married her paternal first cousin Prince Louis Ferdinand of Bavaria.

Infanta María Eulalia (1864–1958); married her maternal first cousin Infante Antonio d'Orléans, Duke of Galliera.

Infante Francisco de Asis Leopoldo Maria Enrique (24 January 1866 - 14 February 1866).

There has been considerable speculation that some or all of Isabella's children were not fathered by Francisco de Asís; this has been bolstered by rumours that Francisco de Asís was either homosexual or impotent. Francisco de Asís recognised all of them: he played the offended, proceeding to blackmail the queen to receive money in exchange for keeping his mouth shut.[4] The extortion by her husband would continue and intensify during Isabella's exile.[5]: 217

Later life

Portrait of King Francisco by Vicente López Portaña

Starting in 1864, Francisco de Asís acted as president of the Spanish Privy Council (Consejo del Reino).

In 1868 Francisco went into exile with his wife in France and adopted the incognito title of Count of Moratalla. On 25 June 1870, Isabella abdicated in favour of their son Alfonso XII—whom the 1874 restoration placed on the throne. By then, Francisco de Asís and Isabella had amicably separated and, with time, became good friends.

In 1881 Francisco de Asís took up residence at the château of Épinay-sur-Seine (currently the city hall). He died there in 1902. His wife Isabella and two of his daughters, Isabel and Eulalia, were present at his deathbed.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_As%C3%ADs,_Duke_of_C%C3%A1diz

El Escorial is situated at the foot of Mount Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama.[8][9][6][3] This austere location, hardly an obvious choice for the site of a royal palace, was chosen by King Philip II of Spain, and it was he who ordained the building of a grand edifice here to commemorate the 1557 Spanish victory at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy against King Henry II of France.[10][2][9][12][3] King Phillip II's goal was to have a princely mansion in a wooded countryside, while also being architecturally different from most buildings that were being commissioned at the time.[13] Phillip's decision to do this was inspired by his journeys in Europe exploring architecture, including the Ospedale Maggiore that inspired ideas for the design of the Escorial.[13] One of Phillip II's personal aspirations was to be a monk and a monarch, and this would come to influence the design.[13] The result of all these ideas was an imposing three story tall, orthogonal, stronghold-like structure with a dual function as both a royal residence and monastery.[14] Philip also intended the complex to serve as a necropolis for the interment of the remains of his parents, Charles I and Isabella of Portugal, himself, and his descendants.[12][10] In addition, Philip envisioned El Escorial as a center for studies in aid of the Counter-Reformation cause. The Escorial would come to be so iconic that the design of the building became a new architectural style of Spanish renaissance architecture, known as the Herrerian style.[14]

The building's cornerstone was laid on 23 April 1563.[3] The design and construction were overseen by Juan Bautista de Toledo, who did not live to see the completion of the project.[10][9][6] With Toledo's death in 1567, direction passed to his apprentice, Juan de Herrera,[3] under whom the building was completed in 1584, in slightly less than 21 years.[10][6][4] To this day, la obra de El Escorial ("the work of El Escorial") is a proverbial expression for a thing that takes a long time to finish[15] (comparable English proverb: "Rome wasn't built in a day").

Since then, El Escorial has been the burial site for most of the Spanish kings of the last five centuries, Bourbons as well as Habsburgs.[2][4][8] The Royal Pantheon contains the tombs of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (who ruled Spain as King Charles I), Philip II, Philip III, Philip IV, Charles II, Louis I, Charles III, Charles IV, Ferdinand VII, Isabella II, Alfonso XII, and Alfonso XIII. Two Bourbon kings, Philip V (who reigned from 1700 to 1724 and again from 1724 to 1746) and Ferdinand VI (1746–1759), as well as King Amadeus (1870–1873), are not buried in the monastery.

El Escorial: floor plan, based on that of Solomon's Temple

The floor plan of the building is in the form of a gridiron. The traditional belief is that this design was chosen in honor of Saint Lawrence,[8] who, in the third century AD, was martyred by being roasted to death on a grill.[10][6][16] St. Lawrence's feast day is 10 August, the same date as the 1557 Battle of St. Quentin.[12][10][3]

However, the origin of the building's layout is quite controversial. The grill-like shape, which did not fully emerge until Juan de Herrera eliminated from the original conception the six interior towers of the façade, was not unique to El Escorial. Other buildings had been constructed with churches or chapels fronting on interior courtyards: King's College, Cambridge, dating from 1441, is one such example; the old Ospedale Maggiore, Milan's first hospital, begun in 1456 by Antonio Filarete, is another grid-like building with interior courtyards. In fact, palaces of this approximate design were commonplace in the Byzantine and Arab world. Strikingly similar to El Escorial is the layout of the Alcázar of Seville and the design of the Alhambra at Granada,[2] where, as at El Escorial, two courtyards in succession separate the main portal of the complex from a fully enclosed place of worship.

Courtyard of the Kings and the Basilica.

The most persuasive theory for the origin of the floor plan is that it is based on descriptions of the Temple of Solomon by the Judeo-Roman historian Flavius Josephus: a portico followed by a courtyard open to the sky, followed by a second portico and a second courtyard, all flanked by arcades and enclosed passageways, leading to the "holy of holies". Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true origin of the design. A more personal connection can be drawn between the David-warrior figure, representing Charles V, and his son, the stolid and solomonically prudent Philip II. Echoing the same theme, a fresco in the center of El Escorial's library, a reminder of Solomon's legendary wisdom, affirms Philip's preoccupation with the great Jewish king, his thoughtful and logical character, and his extraordinary, monumental temple.[17]

El Escorial. View from the northwest

The Temple of Solomon design,[18] if indeed it was the basis for El Escorial, was extensively modified to accommodate the additional functions Philip II intended the building to serve. Besides being a monastery, El Escorial is also a pantheon, a basilica, a convent, a school, a library, and a royal palace.[16] All these functional demands resulted in a doubling of the building's size from the time of its original conception.

Built primarily from locally quarried gray granite,[6] square and sparsely ornamented, El Escorial is austere, even forbidding, in its outward appearance, seemingly more like a fortress than a monastery or palace. It takes the form of a gigantic quadrangle, approximately 224 by 153 metres (735 by 502 ft), which encloses a series of intersecting passageways and courtyards. At each of the four corners is a square tower surmounted by a spire, and, near the center of the complex (and taller than the rest), rise the pointed belfries and round dome of the basilica. Philip's instructions to Juan Bautista de Toledo were simple and clear, directing that the architects should produce "simplicity in the construction, severity in the whole, nobility without arrogance, majesty without ostentation."[19][20]

Aside from its explicit purposes, the complex is also an enormous storehouse of art. In it are displayed masterworks by Titian, Tintoretto,[9] Benvenuto Cellini, El Greco, Velázquez, Rogier van der Weyden, Paolo Veronese, Bernini, Alonso Cano, José de Ribera, Claudio Coello, and others.[2][6][21] Giambattista Castello designed the magnificent main staircase. The library contains thousands of priceless manuscripts: for example, the collection of the sultan Zidan Abu Maali, who ruled Morocco from 1603 to 1627, is housed here.

Royal Monastery

Courtyard of the Kings

The main entrance of the El Escorial is the west façade, which has three doors: the middle one leads to the Courtyard of the Kings (Patio de los Reyes) and the side ones lead to a school and to a monastery. Above the center door is a niche where the image of Saint Lawrence has been placed.[22] The Courtyard of the Kings owes its name to the statues of the kings of Judah that adorn the façade of the basilica, located at the east end of the courtyard. Steps of red marble lead to the large, public chapel, past the narthex, which is one of the highlights of the basilica. The basilica has a floor in the shape of a Greek cross and an enormous dome, inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, above the crossing.[23] The naves are covered over by barrel vaults decorated with frescoes by Luca Giordano. The main altarpiece is 30 metres (98 ft) high and divided into compartments of different sizes where are found bronze sculptures, and canvases by Pellegrino Tibaldi, Federico Zuccari, and Leone Leoni. In the sacristy, paintings such as Joseph's Coat by Velázquez, The Last Supper by Titian, and The Adoration of the Sacred Host by Charles II by Claudio Coello are on exhibit.

Detail of the Courtyard of the Kings

Under the royal chapel of the Basilica is the Royal Pantheon crypt.[23] This is the place of burial for the kings of Spain.[6] It is an octagonal Baroque mausoleum made of marble where all of the Spanish monarchs since Charles I have been buried, with the exception of Philip V, Ferdinand VI, and Amadeus of Savoy.[1] The remains of the Count of Barcelona, the father of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, also rest in this pantheon despite the fact that the Count never became king himself. The enclosure is presided over by an altar of veined marble, and the sarcophagi are bronze and marble. There is also the Pantheon of the Princes, where the bodies of the queens who did not have a crowned succession and the princes and princesses were laid to rest. This part was built in the nineteenth century.

Next to the basilica, to the south, is the Courtyard of the Evangelists. This is a gardened patio in whose center rises a magnificent pavilion, by Juan de Herrera, in which one can find sculptures of the Evangelists. Around the courtyard are the galleries of the main cloister, decorated with frescoes by Tibaldi and his workshop, in which scenes from the history of the Redemption are represented. In the East gallery, one finds the splendid main staircase with a fresco-decorated vaulted ceiling depicting The glory of the Spanish monarchy, painted by Luca Giordano in 1692.

The Palace of the Austrians (Palacio de los Austrias), also known as the House of the King (Casa del Rey), is found behind the presbytery of the basilica. The outbuildings of this palace, of Italian style, are distributed around the Courtyard of the Fountainheads (Patio de los Mascarones). Inside the House of the King are the Sala de las Batallas (Hall of Battles), which contains frescoes of the battles of San Quintín and Higueruela, among others. The next building contains the rooms of Philip II and of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia. Another outbuilding is that of Alcoba del Rey, housing the bed in which Philip II died.

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

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02iU8cSSsjfuSF9NTgSp4N1xAv91QTYgMKYHNeRWbf6swjGP5obqHHzTkSnHxaoQeol

The Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, officially the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God (abbreviated as OH), are a Catholic religious order founded in 1572. In Italian they are also known commonly as the Fatebenefratelli, meaning "Do-Good Brothers", and elsewhere as the "Brothers of Mercy", the "Merciful Brothers" and the "John of God Brothers". The order carries out a wide range of health and social service activities in 389 centres and services in 46 countries.

Founder

St. John of God, the founder of the order, was born 8 March 1495 at Montemor-o-Novo in Portugal. Twice he enlisted in the Spanish army against the French and later the Turks.[1] After years of living a highly religious way of life in Spain resulting from a conversion experience, in 1535 he founded his first hospital at Granada, where he served the sick and afflicted. After ten years spent in the exercise of charity, he died 8 March 1550 of pneumonia after he had plunged into a river to save a young man from drowning.[2] He was canonized by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690 and was declared the patron saint of the dying and of all hospitals by Pope Leo XIII in 1898.[3]

History

John of God's first companion, Antón Martín, O.H., was chosen to succeed him as prior general of the order. Thanks to the generosity of King Philip II of Spain, a hospital was founded at Madrid, another at Córdoba and several others in various Spanish towns. Pope Pius V approved the Order of the Brothers Hospitallers in 1572 under the Rule of St. Augustine. The order spread rapidly into the other countries of Europe, and even into the distant colonies. For example, the Order provided staff to the Fortress of Louisbourg in New France (now Canada) during the mid 1700s; one of their roles was the operation of the hospital.[4]

In 1584, Pope Gregory XIII called some of the Brothers to Rome and gave them the Hospital of St. John Calybita, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, located on an island in the Tiber, which then became the motherhouse of the whole order. Brother Sebastiano Arias founded the Hospital of Our Lady at Naples and the famous Hospital of Milan. Another Brother Hospitaller at this time was John Grande, O.H., who was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1852.[3] The first general of Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God was Pedro Soriano.

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

Augustinians and Cistercians | Church and Society in the Medieval West

One newly founded order broke with the rule of Benedict, finding its inspiration in a letter of Augustine is that prescribed simply that monks share all their property, pray together at regular intervals, dress alike, and obey a superior. Some of the “Augustinians,” as they called themselves, interpreted these general rules severely, living in silence, performing manual labor, eating and drinking sparingly, and singing psalms; others ate meat, conversed among themselves, and did not insist on manual labor.

https://bigsiteofhistory.com/augustinians-and-cistercians-church-and-society-in-the-medieval-west

The Teutonic Order, or Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hospital at Jerusalem, grew out of the establishment of a field hospital during the siege of Acre in the winter of 1190-91, by pious merchants of Bremen and Lubeck. When these merchants returned to Germany in 1191 they turned over the hospital to the chaplain Conrad and the chamberlain Burkhard.

With the model of the Hospitallers or Knights of St. John the Baptist, later known as Knights of Malta, before them, these men together with other Germans, formed a brotherhood, adopted the rules of the Hospitallers, and named their hospital “The Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem” “in the hope and confidence that when the Holy City was reconquered they would there establish a house which should become the mother, head and mistress of the entire Order.” The new Order was confirmed by popes Clement III in 1191 and Celestine in 1196; it won as a patron the emperor, Henry VI, who bestowed upon it its first possessions in the West. In 1198 it was changed into a military Order by the adoption of the rules of the Knights Templars in addition to those of the Hospitallers. Unlike both of these older Orders, the Teutonic Knights were a strictly national organization, none but Germans of noble birth being admitted to it. “Like the knights of other orders, the Teutonic Knights lived a semimonastic life under the Augustinian rule, and in the same way they admitted priests and half-brothers (servientes) into their ranks. Like the other two orders, the Teutonic Order began as a charitable society, developed into a military club, and ended as something of a chartered company, exercising rights of sovereignty on the troubled confines of Christianity. Even in its last phase the Order did not forget its original purpose: it maintained several great hospitals in its new home on the southeast shore of the Baltic, in addition to an hotel des invalides at Marienburg for its sick or aged brethren.” F550 Under its fourth grand master, Hermann von Salza, 1210-39, the Order grew rapidly and made the most important advance in its history. After having aided the king of Hungary against the Comans, and receiving from the king the district of Burzenland in Transylvania, which it did not long retain, the Order was invited to assist in subduing the heathen Prussians. A Cistercian monk named Christian had succeeded in establishing the Church among the Prussians, and in 1212 was made bishop of Prussia. When the heathen arose and destroyed his churches, Christian called upon the Teutonic Knights for help and bestowed upon them Kulm, some of the frontier towns and such lands as they should conquer (1228). After driving the enemy out of Kulm and founding the cities of Kulm, Thorn and Marienwerder, the Order began the task of conquering and Christianizing Prussia. In 1235 it absorbed the Order of Dobrzin, which had been founded by bishop Christian, and in 1237 the Knights of the Sword of Livonia, founded by Albert, bishop of Riga, became a province of the Order.

Its successes in Prussia changed the character of the Teutonic Order. It lost all connection with the East, its grand master moved his seat from Acre, first to Venice in 1291, then in 1308 to Marienburg on the Vistula. The Order became a governing aristocracy, its statutes were altered to suit the new conditions. “The Order was at once supreme ecclesiastical and political authority .... The lay subjects of the Order consisted of two classes: on the one hand there were the conquered Prussians, in a position of serfdom, bound in time of war to serve the brethren in foreign expeditions; on the other hand there were the German immigrants, both urban and rural, along with the free Prussians, who had voluntarily submitted and remained faithful.” f551 By the middle of the fourteenth century the Teutonic Knights had become a world power. Their cities belonged to the Hanseatic League and shared in its power; Poland had been deprived of its outlet on the Baltic; the ships of the Order were a power on the sea; Marienburg with its brilliant court was not merely a school of chivalry, but for a time a literary center. Yet the downfall of the Order was close at hand. It alienated its subjects, who allied themselves with Poland; its missionary work was completed when the Lithuanians became Christians and also made common cause with Poland; the Slav reaction made the Germanizing efforts of the Knights still more unpopular. Internally the success of the Order brought with it a secularization which was disastrous. Poland regained a foothold on the Baltic. The Prussian League was formed in 1440 with the real purpose of opposing the Knights, and in 1454 offered Prussia to the Polish king. The peace of Thorn, 1466, left to the Order only East Prussia and made the knights vassals of Poland. But the German master and the Landmeister for Livonia would not serve Poland, and the Order in East Prussia adopted the policy of electing German princes as grand masters in the hope of again regaining independence, without success. The first of these German grand masters was Frederick of Saxony, 1498 to 1511. He was succeeded by Albert of Brandenburg. f552 Albert became involved in a devastating war with Poland, which was provisionally ended by a four years’ truce made in 1521. In September of that year Albert suggested the possibility of a revision of the statutes of the Order by Luther, probably in harmony with the plans outlined in the Open Letter to the German Nobility. So far as known Luther was not consulted at that time. Albert continued to take his place with the Roman Catholic princes. But when in April, 1522, he returned to Germany he came under the influence of Lazarus Spengler and Andreas Osiander and was won for the evangelical party. During the Diet at Nuremberg, 1522- 23, he protested that it was not the proper way to proceed against Luther, “if evident truth be condemned and books burned.”

Pope Hadrian VI urged upon Albert a reformation of the Order. In June, 1523, Albert secretly turned to Luther for advice concerning the reformation of the Order in head and members. On November 29th the two met at Wittenberg, and Luther advised Albert “to throw aside the foolish and absurd rules of the Order, to marry, and to convert the religious state into a secular state, either a principality or a duchy.” Melanchthon, who was present at the interview, gave the same advice. The grand master smiled and said nothing. But “with that evangelical protestant advice Luther laid the foundations for the development of the Prussian state, of the Prussian kingdom, and of the German empire which is inseparable from the development of the Prussian kingdom.” f554 Soon after this meeting Luther prepared the following treatise, intended, as Kawerau suggests, to be a “feeler, which should test the attitude of the knights of the Order as well as of the Prussian bishops, and prepare them for coming events.” The older collected editions of Luther’s works date the treatise March 28, 1523. But, as Kawerau points out, it is improbable that the treatise was written before the last month of 1523, and the date may be a mistake for December 12th. The original prints are undated; the editors may have confused the festivals of the Annunciation and of the Conception of the Virgin Mary, the latter of which may have been the date attached to the manuscript.

After the evangelical principles had been gradually introduced into Prussia by the two bishops, Georg von Polentz and Erhard von Queiss, the grand master returned to Prussia and carried out Luther’s suggestion. Peace was made with Poland, Prussia was converted into a duchy held as fief of the king of Poland and hereditary in the family of Albert. July 1, 1526, Albert was married to Dorothea, the daughter of the Danish king, and thus was founded the evangelical house of the Hohenzollern.

The progress of the Gospel in Prussia gave Luther much joy. In 1525 he wrote to the Bishop of Samland, Georg von Polentz: “Behold the wonder!

In rapid course, with full sails, the Gospel hastens to Prussia, whither it was not called, and where it was not sought after, while in Upper and Lower Germany, whither it came of its own accord, it is blasphemed, repelled and put to flight with all rage and madness.” f556 The Teutonic Order in its German and Livonian branches continued to exist, and laid claim to the rights of the Order in Prussia. It was finally suppressed in 1809, and its lands passed into the hands of the secular princes within whose territories they lay. But in 1840 the Order was resuscitated in Austria, and again engaged in hospital service, in which it is presumably active during the present war. But this Teutonic Order is not the same as that which became secularized at the time of the Reformation.

The Prussian branch passed into the Prussian kingdom, not into the restored Order. A Protestant branch exists in the ancient bailiwick of Utrecht, the members of which must profess the Calvinistic faith, and are dispensed from celibacy. See Catholic Encyclopedia, xiv, 542.

The subject of the monastic vows and of the marriage of monks had been discussed at great length before this treatise was written. For the development of that discussion we must refer here to the introduction to the Treatise on Monastic Vows, which was excluded from this volume because of its size. But the careful student will find that Luther has not merely repeated older arguments nor restated older positions. He has gone farther, his position is more advanced. In fact, upon the advance beyond the position taken in the Formula Missae Kawerau bases an argument for the later date of our treatise. “For the writing of this treatise immediately after the FormuIa Missae we find an argument in the remarkable agreement between the statements in the two concerning those who want to wait for decrees of a council and desire permission to be given them (to use the two kinds in the Lord’s Supper, or, in the later treatise, to marry) by such decrees. He who reads the analogous portions in the two treatises will easily recognize in the Exhortation to the Teutonic Knights the bold heightening of the thought to a paradox, and thus see in the Formula Missae the older form.” f558 The German text is found in Weimar Ed., xii, 232-244; Walch Ed., xix, 2157-76; Erlangen Ed., xxix 16-33; St. Louis Ed., xix, 1730-45; Berlin Ed., iv, 32-47. Literature : Introduction by KAWERAU in Weimar Ed., xii, 228-31; Prot. Realencyklopadie, 3d ed., Arts., Albrecht von Preussen, I, 310-23; Deutschorden, iv, 589-95; Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., Arts., Albert, i, 497, and Teutonic Order, xxvi, 676-9. The literature is given fully in all these articles. Compare also Schaff, Church History, vi, 588-600, and Kostlin-Kawerau, Martin Luther, i, 620-623. W. A. LAMBERT. LEBANON,PA.

WORKS OF MARTIN LUTHER - TO THE KNIGHTS OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER AN EXHORTATION THAT THEY LAY ASIDE FALSE CHASTITY AND TAKE UPON THEM THE TRUE CHASTITY OF WEDLOCK (godrules.net)

https://www.godrules.net/library/luther/NEW1luther_c8.htm

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/

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 equites (/ˈɛkwɪtiːz/; lit. 'horse' or 'cavalrymen', though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques (Latin: [ˈɛ.kʷɛs]).

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

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 Complementary Norms

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

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

In a letter dated May 28, 1784 from Hanau, Prince Charles of Hesse wrote thus to

Willermoz, to whom he had just communicated the death of the famous Count of Saint-

Germain, unexpectedly in Feburary 28 th at his home in Gottorp:

“I asked him: Didyou know a certain Marshall of Bieberstain?

“Reply: Y es, verv well...

Where didyou see him?

“-At Varsovia.

Did he know something?

“-Relata refero... Doyou understand me, my child?

“— Yes, my dear Count, I see that that implies he had papers, and that this

instruction could be given by him to others?

" - Exactly that.

“ - The late Hund would not hâve wanted to lie to us, would he?

“ - No, he was a good man.

“I said to him out of the blue:

“— Who was the Marshall’ s predecessor?

“ The response was prompt, without a moment’ s reflection:

"— Baron Rod, from Kœnigsberg.

“Here, of ail the proofs of our lineage, was the only gift 9 10 that I hâve ever had.

But it might not be as convincing to others ; I thought I would amuse you by

communicating this anecdote. ”

Bord, who gave us this letter drawn from the ancient archives in his book

“ Freemasomy in France ”, also gives us the name of the real founder of the “ Templar

Strict Observance” , without doubt around 1620, according to our personal investigations.

In fact, G. Montchal, Honorary Grand Prior of Switzerland, quotes five important

dates in his work “The Independent Grand Priory of Switzerland, Scottish Rectified Rite”,

also reproduced a more ancient text, drawn from the archives of the Priory, and published

for the fîrst time in 1909, but not for public circulation:

1644 In the entourage of James II, gentlemen affiliated with the Order of Scottish Masters

constituted the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew, which they linked to the

chivalric Order of that name.

1688 H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, founded the Scottish Rectified Rite,

Corning out of the Order of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew.

1730 From this date, we find a Templar Chapter established at Unwurden (Haute-Lusace).

Some historians believe that it was there that the Strict Templar Observance was initiated.

1 741 In 1 741, in Hamburg, a Chapter of Scottish Masters of Saint Andrew was founded in the

Lodge “Judica”. This is a significant fact, since this establishment thus revealed the

existence of a Templar System.

1749 An important date, which marked the official introduction of the Templar Rite, both by

H. -G. de Marschall, hereditary Marshal of Thuringe, and by his friend, Barond von

Hund, in the Lodge of Kittlitz, near Lobau.

9 Bonne - PV.

10 “ Mais elle ne saurait l’être pour d’autresV’ . I’m sure I’ve mistranslated this but I can’t think what else it

might mean.- Pv.

You will note that, geographically speaking, ail these towns are located in the

provinces where the Teutonic Order of olden times had previously flourished. Let us

continue to quote G. de Montchal:

1755 Convent of Dresden, known under the name o/Rectification of Dresden , from which was

created the Rectified Rite of that name, and through which the Templar System was

established in a Masonic Workshop which took the name of Grand Lodge.

1763 Convent of Altenberg, near Iena. There the régime was submitted to a drastic reform,

and ail the Alchemists, Kabbalists and other were chased out. Its administrative

organization, which was that of the old Order of the Temple, was knit even doser still. It

took the name o/’Strict Templar Observance.

How, in a Order which had shown itself so terribly steeped in the aristocratie

morgue (in the words of European Masons), had occultists managed to gain admission?

Montchal tells us that at the Convent of Kohlo in 1742, a fïrst purging had already

occurred. That is a piece of history of secret societies and chivalric Orders which ....

It is very probably by and with the support of the Princes of the House of Hesse-

Cassel...

We know, in fact, from sure historié sources, that William IV of Hesse-Cassel,

called “The Wise ”, was an enlightened sovereign, remarkable for his broad and extended

knowledge, above ail in the realm of occultism.

Born on June 14, 1533, died August 25, 1592, he was the author of Astrological

Tables, and published the resuit of his observations in this area. He possessed an

astronomical observatory where he worked for rnany years with his friends, Christ

Rothmann, the wise Mathematician, and Just Borge, who was the best Physician-Optician

of the âge. He was also the friend and constant protector of Tycho de Brahé.

Now, from the appearance of the heraldry of the House of Hesse-Cassel, we can

note a curious fact. According to the genealogist La Chesnay des Bois, in his

“ Dictionary of Nobility ” (Ed. from 1776), quoting du Buisson, and according to J. B.

Rietstap in his book “General Heraldry”, both famous heraldists, the Princes of Hesse-

Cassel bore shields: “of silver with a red Lating cross with broad ends, with a second

crossbar in red 11 ...”

So the House of Hesse-Cassel bore as the distinctive family emblem the Latin

cross with a second red crossbar, which was the exclusive privilège of the high

dignitaries of the Order of the Temple, of the living Order...

For this red cross was its exclusive privilège, and none other among the knightly

Orders coming from the Crusades was given the right to work under the white mande!

11 “D ’ argent à la Croix pâtée et alésée de gueules, à la double traverse de gueules

This privilège was conceded to the Templars by Pope Eugenius III in 1 146, at the request

of St. Bernard. (Cf. Probst-Biraben, in "The Mystery of the Templars ”, p. 29). As for the

double cross, it was the mark of high dignitaries of the Temple, as John Charpentier tells

us in his work "The Order of the Templars ” (p. 41).

But this is not ail. We hâve mentioned Tycho de Brahé, and here is a still more

surprising fact!

Son of the Grand Bailiff of Scanie, belonging to the oldest Swedish nobility (still

Sweden, or rather already Swedish), Tycho de Brahé had a château constructed which

was devoted to his alchemical and astrological studies, with a splendid library and

observatory, ail narned Uranienborg.

Born in 1 546 in Scanie, Denmark (which State was still a province of Sweden), he

died in Prague in 1601. Note this place, for we will return to it as a meeting place for

Jewish Kabbalists, Alchemists and Rosicrucian Theurgists in the years which follow,

right up to the end of the 18 th Century.

Now, one beautiful day in 1590, which disembarked in Uranienborg? King James

VI of Scotland, (future King of England under the name of James l st ), who had just

legally reinstated the Order of Chardon of Saint Andrew of Scotland, which Order was a

perpétuation of the Templars, as we hâve seen. . . From Uranienborg, the King and Tycho

de Brahé went to Cassel, and stayed near to William IV, the Wise. In 1591, a year later,

James VI published a flrst treatise on pneumatology, in which he treated at length on the

diverse nature of Spirits, developing the théories of his predecessor in this domain,

Reginald Scott, but perhaps also those of his friends: William IV the Wsie and Tycho de

Brahé. This book was “ Daemonologia , hoc est adversus incantationem sive magiam

institutio, auctore serenissimo potentissimioque principe.’’'’

This same sovereign, with the flrst English Rosicrucians, constituted the “ Royal

Rose Croix ”, composed of thirty-two knights (in remembrance of the thirty-two Paths of

Wisdom of the Kabbalah), and who was certainly the point of departure for the Jacobite

Rose-Croix, which became the 18 th Degree of Scottish Masonry of the 19 th Century.

How can one not accept that it was the resurgence of a vast initiatory movement

which perpetuated the Temple, which in one program and towards a coinmon aim was

able to unité these two sovereigns which, being occultists, both at the head of a defunct

Order of the Temple, bearing arms of foreign monks, like those of the high dignitaries of

the Temple for William IV the Wise, and those who took as a collective Symbol of the

Rose-Croix of the 18 th Century, for James VI of Scotland: “silver, with a red St. Andrews

Cross, four red roses in the quarters . . .” ?

“D ’ argent , au sautoir de gueules, cantonné de quatre roses du même”.

13 Which equates, graphically, to a cross of Saint Andrew, with four roses spread across the four angles of

this cross. Valentin Andrea bore this sign on his ring; it figures on a drawing decorating the upper région

of his portrait reproduced in the work by Wittermans: “ History of the Rose-Croix ”, p. 31.

So, according to our own conclusions and to the light which preceded it, this is

the reason for the Alchemists, Kabbalists, Theurgists as well as commoners, entering an

Order as aristocratie as that of the Teutonic Knights or that of the Strict Templar

Observance from which it came.

We note that certain authors, notably Philléas Lebesgue, supported the theory that

Marshall von Ludendorff had been one of the last représentatives of an esoteric Teuronic

kernel, perpetuating certain théories from the Gibelins to exclusively pangennanist ends.

What the famous devise of the Austrian Emperors claimed to affinn with their

“A.E.I.O.U.”, when translated from Latin into English signified something like this:

“Austria is destined to dominate the world”. And it was Ludendorff who made Hitler!

https://archive.org/stream/AmblelainRTemplarsRoseCroix/Amblelain%20R%20Templars%20%26%20Rose%20Croix_djvu.txt

Rosicrucianism is a theosophy advanced by an invisible order of spiritual knights who in spreading Christian Hermeticism, Kabbalah, and Gnosis seek to enliven and to preserve the memory of Divine Wisdom, understood as a feminine flame of love called Sofia or Shekhinah, exoterically given as a fresh unfolded rose, yet, more akin to the BLUE fire of alchemy, the BLUE virgin. Rosicrucians have no organisation and there are no recognizable Rosicrucian individuals, but the order makes its presence known by leaving behind engrammatic writings in the genre of Hermetic-Platonic Christianity.1 The historical roots of Hermeticism is to be located in Ancient Egypt. Long before the rise of Christianity, Hermetic texts were structured around the belief that organisms contain sparks of a Divine mind unto which they each strive to attend. Things easily transform into others, thereby generating certain cyclical patterns, cycles that periodically renew themselves on a cosmic scale. These transformations of life and death were enacted in the Hermetic Mysteries in Ancient Egypt through the gods Isis, Horus, and Osiris. In the Alexandrian period these myths were reshaped into Hermetic discourses on the transformations of the self with Thot, the scribal god. These discourses were introduced in the west in 1474 when Marsilio Ficino translated the Hermetic Pimander from the Greek. The story of Christian Rosencreutz can be seen as a new version of these mysteries, specifically tempered by German Paracelsian philosophy on the Lion of the darkest night, a biblical icon for how the higher self lies slumbering in consciousness.2"

Rose Cross Over The Baltic

by Suzanne Ackerman

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

Around 1530, more than eighty years before the publication of the first manifesto, the association of cross and rose already existed in Portugal in the Convent of the Order of Christ, home of the Knights Templar, later renamed Order of Christ. Three bocetes were, and still are, on the abóboda (vault) of the initiation room. The rose can clearly be seen at the center of the cross.[34][35] At the same time, a minor writing by Paracelsus called Prognosticatio Eximii Doctoris Paracelsi (1530), containing 32 prophecies with allegorical pictures surrounded by enigmatic texts, makes reference to an image of a double cross over an open rose; this is one of the examples used to prove the "Fraternity of the Rose Cross" existed far earlier than 1614.[36]"

Rosicrucianism - Wikipedia

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

“Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to). This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

Rosa jesuitica, oder, Jesuitische Rottgesellen (1620) - Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view

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

Alcaraz’s fervor, which in the past had given him successes in his proselytizing activities, was once again causing trouble. Hamilton opines, “Alcaraz continued to engineer his own downfall. He made no secret of his disapproval of those numerous individuals who had fallen under the spell of Ocaña and Olmilllos or who had been duped by Francisca Hernández.” Visions and trances were a point of contention for Alcaraz as it was for other alumbrados including Isabel de la Cruz. Alcaraz, however, had already had some disagreements for some time with Fray Francisco Ortiz and Francisco de Osuna concerning the value of these mystical endeavors. Alcaraz considered trances, visions and prophecy to be ataduras and thus undesirable. To engage in such activity would hinder one’s dejamiento or abandonment to God by refocusing the mind on prophecies that concerned themselves with the material.22 In his attempts to denounce Ocaña and Olmillos to the Franciscan provincial Alcaraz instead succeeded in calling attention to himself. In May of 1524 Francisco de Quiñones, the general of the Franciscan order, held the Inquisitorial chapter of Toledo in Escalona. On the 22nd of May a decree was issued that condemned the practices and activities of Isabel de la Cruz and Pedro Ruíz de Alcaraz.23

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

by Javier A. Montoya

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/.../85/00001/montoya_j.pdf

Self-love, Progress measured by abandoning

Senses, Application of

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

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

page 463

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://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

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%3A18&version=NIV

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]""

Order of Calatrava - Wikipedia

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

The Oculus was positioned as part of the World Trade Center masterplan by Daniel Libeskind and designed by SANTIAGO CALATRAVA. The structure’s white metal-clad steel ribs reach up and out in a monumental move symbolic of a hand releasing a dove.The structure's orientation serves as a lasting reminder of the attacks of September 11, 2001. It is in alignment with the sun’s solar angles on each September 11, from 8:46 am, when the first plane struck, until 10:28 am, when the second tower collapsed. Its central skylight fits this alignment and washes the Oculus floor with a beam of light."

World Trade Center Oculus

50 Church Street New York, NY 10007

Oculus Transportation Hub | World Trade Center (officialworldtradecenter.com)

https://www.officialworldtradecenter.com/en/local/learn-about-wtc/oculus-transportation-hub.html

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

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

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

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

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

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

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

Jesuit Matteo Ricci, Father of Communist China, 1583/1983 #572

The Order’s 16th Century’s conspiracy was to first conquer Japan and then China. Failing for over 200 years, the Order finally conquered Japan in 1868, Emperor Meiji to build an empire serving as “the Sword of the Church” during WWII. Using its American “Sword of the Church,” Japan was submitted to the rule of the Black Pope in 1945, as was China in 1949. Though Chairman Mao OPENLY expelled the Order in 1949, the Jesuits SECRETLY were Communist China’s masters, using their American Empire to both erect and support the Order’s Inquisition in the Far East. Since the “end of the Cold War,” the US has given high technology to Red China preparing her for America’s Sino invasion. The “Senior Honorary Advisor” for China’s COSCO, is SMOM Alexander Haig. Jesuits: A Multibiography, Jean Lacouture, (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1995).

Vatican Assassins:

“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”

Third Edition

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

Shima Hospital (島病院, Shima byōin) is a Japanese hospital, now clinic, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the exact location where the atomic bombing of Hiroshima took place on August 6, 1945. Shima Hospital is considered to be ground zero.[1]

In 1948, the hospital was rebuilt from the ground up by Dr. Kaoru Shima. The reconstructed Shima Surgery is still in operation to the present day under the name Shima Internist Hospital (島内科医院 Shima naika iin).[1] Specialities of the present Shima Hospital are surgery, orthopaedics, internal medicine, and endoscopic treatment of the digestive organs.[1] Adjacent to the Shima Hospital is a monument marking the hypocenter of the atomic blast, which is located about a five-minute walk away from the city's Atomic Bomb Dome or "A-Dome."[1]

Beginnings

Dr. Shima's family had overseen an established medicine practice in Hiroshima since the late 18th century. Proof of this can be found in a map[2] of Nakanomura dated approximately 1780, in which the residence of the Shima family, birthplace of "Shima Hospital" founder Dr. Kaoru Shima, is noted as a clinic.[3]

Dr. Kaoru Shima (1897–1977) graduated from the Osaka medical school, the present Osaka University medical department, which originated in the "Tekijuku" school.[3] After graduating, he travelled throughout Europe and the United States to further his medical studies.

Following his quest to learn the latest developments in medicine and surgery and with his reputation as an excellent surgeon[citation needed], he became lecturer of medicine at the Osaka Empire University (now the Osaka University), considered a high honor at the time, as the title of "honour lecturer" did not exist and Dr. Shima had a full-time occupation in Hiroshima.[3] On August 31, 1933, Shima Hospital was founded. The Mayo Clinic served as Dr. Shima's model of choice.[3] Shima Hospital was a two-storey building of brick construction with reinforced walls and a modern design.[3] Kaoru Shima applied the rational hospital management concepts he learned in the United States, resulting in Shima Hospital's popularity as an inexpensive clinic with a high standard of treatment.[4] Shima Hospital, following the Mayo Clinic model, is an exception to the usual profile of hospitals found in pre-war Japan that were based on German models and medical procedures.

Atomic bombing

On August 6, 1945, Shima Hospital was completely destroyed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima; the atomic bomb detonated directly above the building and the blast was directed downwards.[3] Because the epicenter of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was over the hospital, the hypocenter, or ground zero, was the hospital itself.[5] All the medical staff and the patients who were in Shima Hospital, about 80, died instantly.[3] At the time of the detonation, Kaoru Shima was away from Hiroshima city, as he had gone to assist a colleague with a difficult operation at a hospital in a nearby town. Thus he and his attending nurse were the only survivors of the Shima Hospital staff.[3]

Dr. Kaoru Shima returned to Hiroshima on the night of August 6 and began treatment of the injured people.[3] On the afternoon of August 7, Shima found an operation tool he had purchased in the U.S. at the site of the destroyed hospital, the only remaining trace of the structure.[3] Kaoru Shima and the nurse found a large quantity of bleached bones at the bottom of the debris, as the corpses had immediately become skeletonized by the blast.[3][dubious – discuss][better source needed]

Shima learned American medical care and practised American medical care at his hospital. Therefore, the war with the U.S. was a considerable shock for him.[3] Shima disagreed with the Pacific War, and risked being killed by special political police.[citation needed]

Shima's son had evacuated on August 6, 1945, and had also survived. He would also become a doctor, and later became director of the hospital in its second incarnation.[4]

In October 1945, a member of Riken who joined the academic investigation team arrived at the site and declared the Shima Hospital to be the hypocenter of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. In 1969, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission published the report The Epicenters of the atomic bombs which announced the coordinates of the hypocenters after reviewing U.S. Army maps.[6]

Rebuilding

Shima rebuilt the hospital at the same site during the difficult post-war period. The new hospital opened for medical treatment in 1948.[3] Shima was quoted as saying, "My new hospital is dedicated to peace and caring for the underprivileged and poverty stricken."[3] The 1990s saw the hospital change into a clinic of surgery and decrease the number of beds.[4] The name was changed to "Shima Geka."

On August 1, 2009, the clinic's name was changed to "Shima Geka Naika". Shima's son Ichishu Shima retired and became the honorary director.[1] In 2017 the clinic was again renamed "Shima Naika Iin". The current director Shuyuki Shima, a grandson of Kaoru Shima, is the third generation of this family to work in the hospital. The specialities of the present Shima Naika Iin are surgery, orthopaedics, internal medicine, and endoscopic treatment of the stomach and intestines.[1] The director of today's hospital focuses on community care and thus maintains the ideals and spirit of his grandfather.[1] The present Shima Naika Iin performs smoking cessation treatment, preventive injection, general medical examinations, cancer screening, and stress consultations. Shima geka naika cooperates with the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital & Atomic-bomb Survivors Hospital.

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

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

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

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

Name

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

The Reichskonkordat ("Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich"[1]) is a treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII, on behalf of Pope Pius XI and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of President Paul von Hindenburg and the German government. It was ratified 10 September 1933 and it remains in force to this day. The treaty guarantees the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. When bishops take office, Article 16 states they are required to take an oath of loyalty to the Governor or President of the German Reich established according to the constitution. The treaty also requires all clergy to abstain from working in and for political parties. Nazi breaches of the agreement began after it had been signed and intensified afterwards. The Church protested, including in the 1937 Mit brennender Sorge encyclical of Pope Pius XI. The Nazis planned to eliminate the Church's influence by restricting its organizations to purely religious activities.[2]

The Reichskonkordat is the most controversial of several concordats that the Vatican negotiated during the pontificate of Pius XI. It is frequently discussed in works that deal with the rise of Hitler in the early 1930s and the Holocaust. The concordat has been described by some as giving moral legitimacy to the Nazi regime after Hitler had acquired quasi-dictatorial powers through the Enabling Act of 1933, an Act itself facilitated through the support of the Catholic Centre Party.

The treaty places constraints on the political activity of German clergy of the Catholic Church. With passage of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, for example, a policy of nonintervention was followed. The majority of the German church hierarchy regarded the treaty as a symbol of peace between church and state.[3] From a Catholic Church perspective, it has been argued that the Concordat prevented even greater evils being unleashed against the Church.[4] Though some German bishops were unenthusiastic, and the Allies at the end of World War II felt it inappropriate, Pope Pius XII successfully argued to keep the concordat in force. It is still in force.

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

March of Time -- outtakes -- Pope Pius XII blessing Allied troops

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 2004.723.1 | RG Number: RG-60.4082 | Film ID: 2732

Overview

Description

Pope Pius XII with an audience of American and British soldiers. The pope is carried in on a chair, preceded by Swiss guard members. He speaks to the troops in English from his chair at the front of the room (the sound is echoey and somewhat hard to hear). Shots of the soldiers listening attentively. Close views of the pope. He stands and bestows his blessings. Scenes of the pope surrounded by and chatting with soldiers. Good views of the Pope, smiling, chatting. 01:06:07 groups begins singing and he is carried out on his chair. Other cuts and camera angles. MOving shot very close through crowd of soldiers. Elevated shot of men.

Film Title

War Coverage -- Official Signal Corps No. 2

Duration

00:07:58

Date

Event: 1944 June

Production: 1944

Locale

Rome, Italy

Italy

Credit

Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives & Records Administration

Contributor

Producer: March of Time, Inc.

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1003494

The ratlines (German: Rattenlinien) were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, though also in Paraguay, Colombia,[1] Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together.[2] The ratlines were supported by rogue elements in the Vatican, particularly an Austrian bishop and four Croatian clergy of the Catholic Church who sympathized with the Ustaše.[3][4][5] Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[6]

While consensus among Western scholars is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died by suicide in 1945, in the late 1940s and 1950s the U.S. investigated claims that he survived and fled to South America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959; several were confirmed to be former members of the Nazi Party, including the SS or the SA.

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

Coat of Arms of Pope John XXIII

In the centre of the pavement is the coat of arms of Pope John XXIII (r. 1958-63), which records his opening of the second Vatican Council on October 11th 1962.

The pavement also sports the coats of arms of Pope Clement (r. 1700-21)and Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903).

walking Tours of Rome

https://www.walksinrome.com/portico-of-st-peters-basilica.html

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

On September 11, 2001, coincidentally the 60th anniversary of the Pentagon's start of construction, five al-Qaeda affiliated hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 77, en route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, and deliberately crashed the Boeing 757 airliner into the western side of the Pentagon at 9:37 am EDT as part of the September 11 attacks. The impact of the plane severely damaged the outer ring of one wing of the building and caused its partial collapse.[69] At the time of the attacks, the Pentagon was under renovation and many offices were unoccupied, resulting in fewer casualties. Due to the renovation work, only 800 people were there, as opposed to the usual 4,500.[70] Furthermore, the area hit, on the side of the Heliport façade,[71] was the section best prepared for such an attack. The renovation there, improvements which resulted from the Oklahoma City bombing, had nearly been completed.[70][72]

It was the only area of the Pentagon with a sprinkler system, and it had been reconstructed with a web of steel columns and bars to withstand bomb blasts. The steel reinforcement, bolted together to form a continuous structure through all of the Pentagon's five floors, kept that section of the building from collapsing for 30 minutes—enough time for hundreds of people to crawl out to safety. The area struck by the plane also had blast-resistant windows—2 inches (5 cm) thick and 2,500 pounds (1,100 kg) each—that stayed intact during the crash and fire. It had fire doors that opened automatically and newly built exits that allowed people to get out.[72]

Contractors already involved with the renovation were given the added task of rebuilding the sections damaged in the attacks. This additional project was named the "Phoenix Project" and was charged with having the outermost offices of the damaged section occupied by 11 September 2002.[74][75][76]

When the damaged section of the Pentagon was repaired, a small indoor memorial and chapel were added at the point of impact. For the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a memorial of 184 beams of light shone up from the center courtyard of the Pentagon, one light for each victim of the attack. In addition, an American flag is hung each year on the side of the Pentagon damaged in the attacks, and the side of the building is illuminated at night with blue lights. After the attacks, plans were developed for an outdoor memorial, with construction underway in 2006. This Pentagon Memorial consists of a park on 2 acres (8,100 m2) of land, containing 184 benches, one dedicated to each victim. The benches are aligned along the line of Flight 77 according to the victims' ages, from 3 to 71. The park opened to the public on 11 September 2008.[77][78][79]

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

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, also called the Varus Disaster or Varian Disaster (Latin: Clades Variana) by Roman historians, was a major battle fought between an alliance of Germanic peoples and the Roman Empire between September 8 and 11, 9 AD, near modern Kalkriese. Fighting began with an ambush by the Germanic alliance on three Roman legions being led by Publius Quinctilius Varus and their auxiliaries; the alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic chieftain and officer of Varus's auxilia. Arminius had received Roman citizenship and a Roman military education, thus allowing him to deceive the Romans methodically and anticipate their tactical responses.

Teutoburg Forest is considered one of the most important defeats in Roman history, bringing the triumphant period of expansion under Augustus to an abrupt end. It dissuaded the Romans from pursuing the conquest of Germania, and so can be considered one of the most important events in European history.[8]

The provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, sometimes collectively referred to as Roman Germania, were established in northeast Roman Gaul, while territories beyond the Rhine remained independent. Retaliatory campaigns were commanded by Tiberius and Germanicus and enjoyed success, but the Rhine became the border between the Roman Empire and the rest of Germania. Rome then made no major incursion into Germania until Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) during the Marcomannic Wars.[9]

Some of the descendants of the vassal kingdoms, like the Suebi (by suzerainty), that Augustus tried to create in Germania to expand the romanitas and the Empire were the ones that invaded Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries.[10][11]

Background

Geopolitical situation

The Roman Republic expanded rapidly in the first century BC, most notably under Julius Caesar, who conquered most of western Europe and parts of the British Isles in the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC). These mostly were against the Gauls, but also included battles with various Germanic tribes.[12] Caesar twice crossed the Rhine river, but the engagements were inconclusive.[13][14] His conquests ended as Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) drew near.[15]

Continental Europe was mostly neglected by Rome for the next two decades, as power struggles wracked the Republic. Troops previously garrisoned in Gaul were pulled out in 31 BC for the showdown between Octavian and Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium. The Gauls promptly rebelled, and Roman control was not regained until 28 BC.[16]

27 BC saw drastic change for both Gaul and Rome as a whole. The Roman Republic reorganized into the Roman Empire, with Octavian the first emperor. Octavian, now styled Augustus, aimed to solidify control of Gaul by dividing the region into three smaller provinces that emphasized the strategic importance of the Rhine valley. Troops were kept near the Rhine,[16] though policy towards the Germanic lands remains unclear. Two main theories exist. The first is that Augustus simply sought to cement the Rhine as the Northern border of the Empire; the second that the border was far more fluid, and that the troops were focused on maintaining order in the Empire more than on preventing Germanic intrusion. The Germans operated with apparent impunity anyway, as exemplified by the crushing defeat in the Lollian disaster in 16 BC.[17]

The Lollian disaster prompted a reorganization of the legions in Gaul, which was completed by 12 BC, when Augustus sought finally to tame the Germanic tribes. He began by making his stepson Drusus I governor of Gaul. Drusus campaigned against the Germans from 11–9 BC, earning a series of victories, despite considerable obstacles, before his untimely death in a riding accident in 9 BC. His elder brother and future emperor Tiberius was given command of Germany in 8 BC. Tiberius continued his brother's campaign against the Sugambri, extending de facto, if not de jure Roman rule, but he fell out of political favor and chose exile in 6 BC. He was, in turn, succeeded by Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who had been consul in 16 BC. Ahenobarbus suppressed a number of local uprisings and then crossed the Elbe river, the first and last Roman general to do so. As the turn of the century approached, the Romans felt secure about Germany, reassured by thriving cross border trade and relative peace.[18]

In early AD 6, Legatus Gaius Sentius Saturninus[19][20] and Consul Legatus Marcus Aemilius Lepidus led a massive army of 13 legions and their entourage, totaling around 100,000 men (65,000 heavy infantry legionaries, 10,000–20,000 cavalrymen, archers, and 10,000–20,000 civilians) against Maroboduus,[21][22] the king of the Marcomanni, who were a tribe of the Suebi.[b]

However, Tiberius was then forced to turn his attention to the Bellum Batonianum, also known as the Great Illyrian Revolt, which broke out in the Balkan province of Illyricum. Led by Bato the Daesitiate,[24] Bato the Breucian,[25] Pinnes of Pannonia,[26] and elements of the Marcomanni, it lasted nearly four years. Tiberius had to stop his campaign against Maroboduus and recognise him as king[27] so that he could then send eight legions (VIII Augusta, XV Apollinaris, XX Valeria Victrix, XXI Rapax, XIII Gemina, XIV Gemina, XVI Gallica and an unknown unit)[28] to crush the rebellion in the Balkans.

After his return from Rome to Gaul, Arminius became a trusted advisor to Varus, the governor of the newly created Roman province of Germania,[29] even as he secretly constructed an alliance of Germanic peoples that had traditionally been enemies. These probably included the Cherusci,[21] Marsi,[21] Chatti,[21] and Bructeri.[21] These were some of the fifty Germanic tribes at the time.[30] Using the collective outrage over Varus' tyranny, insolence and cruelty to the conquered,[31] Arminius was able to unite the disorganized groups who had submitted to Rome, and maintain the alliance until the most opportune moment to strike.[32]

Following Rome's transfer of forces to the Balkans, only three legions faced the Germanic tribesmen.[28] This was the opportunity for Arminius to defeat Varus.[27] While Varus was on his way from his summer camp west of the River Weser to winter quarters near the Rhine, he heard reports of a local rebellion; these had been fabricated by Arminius.[22] Edward Shepherd Creasy writes that "This was represented to Varus as an occasion which required his prompt attendance on the spot; but he was kept in studied ignorance of its being part of a concerted national rising; and he still looked on Arminius as his submissive vassal".[33]

Commanders and their armies

Publius Quinctilius Varus

The Varian disaster takes its name from Publius Quinctilius Varus, the Roman commander. Varus was a promising leader; Emperor Augustus appointed him quaestor in 22 BC as a young man, even though the office usually required the holder to be at least 30. He went on to command the XIX legion in 15 BC, and was elected junior consul. He was appointed governor of Africa in 8 BC and of Syria in 7 BC. The Syrian posting was prestigious, and a very difficult job due to political struggles in the Eastern Empire and its border nations. Varus acted to resolve the succession crisis at the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, but his performance as governor is disputed by contemporary sources. Josephus (writing some decades after the fact) has a positive view of Varus, whereas Velleius Paterculus implicitly accuses him of corruption. Regardless, Varus married the Emperor's great-niece after his term as governor ended, which ensured him a place in the Emperor's inner circle. Varus likely remained with the Emperor in Rome until his appointment to the command in Germania in 7 AD.[34] Historian McNally assesses that Varus was not assigned to Germania for his military abilities, but for his political acumen; this was likely sought by the Emperor to deal with the factionalism among Germanic tribes.[35]

Varus's name and deeds were known beyond the empire because of his ruthlessness, including crucifixion of insurgents[citation needed]. While he was feared by the people, he was highly respected by the Roman Senate. On the Rhine, he was in command of the XVII, XVIII, and XIX legions. These had previously been led by General Gaius Sentius Saturninus, who had been sent back to Rome after being awarded the ornamenta triumphalia.[36] The other two legions in the winter-quarters of the army at castrum Moguntiacum[31] were led by Varus' nephew, Lucius Nonius Asprenas,[28] and perhaps Lucius Arruntius.

Varus initially commanded five legions plus auxiliaries in Germania. In the early imperial period each legion at full strength had 4,800 men supported by 120 light escort/scouting cavalry.[37] Combined usually with a group of engineers and officers, a legion was roughly 5,000 fighting men. This did not include the 1,200 non-combatant servants that were integrated into the legion.[38] Varus's initial command of about 25,000 (not counting auxiliaries) represented some 20% of the Roman frontline army.[37] But it is unclear how many men were truly under his command at the battle of the Teutoburg Forest; estimates generally range from 20,000 to 30,000. Of his five starting legions, only three were under his command at the battle (~15,000 men), supported by nine small auxiliary units (~4,500 men). Winter attrition due to casualties, illness, and other causes would have sapped the legions' strength. The Roman historian Cassius Dio assumed that a large number of civilians were part of the camp following. But historian McNally finds this unlikely. Recent reforms had required that legionaries be unmarried, which meant that families were no longer part of the camp following. McNally puts the likely number of civilians at a few hundred, mostly merchants who followed the army. McNally, assuming 10% winter attrition, and an auxiliary force of about 4,000 after attrition, comes up 17,000 combatants, supported by roughly 3,800 servant non-combatants. Combined with the civilians, the army would have numbered about 21,000 at the start of campaigning, but was probably smaller by the time of the battle, as further attrition combined with the need to detach garrisons along the way would have sapped the army's strength.[39]

The main Roman army was highly professional and outfitted by the state. They were given standardized weapons and armor, consisting of a gladius (shortsword), a large shield, a pilum (javelin), a helmet, a mail shirt, and some segmented armor. The auxiliary units were not outfitted by the Romans, and instead would have represented the equipment and fighting styles of their homelands, which put them much on par with the Germanic troops.[40]

Arminius

The Germanic coalition was led by Arminius, of the Cherusci tribe. Arminius was in a strong position to understand Roman tactics and strategy: though he was born in Germania, he was taken hostage by the Romans after Drusus defeated the tribe in combat in 8 BC, when Arminius would have been about 10 years old. He received an aristocratic education in Rome, as he was the son of a nobleman, even if he was a hostage. When he came of age, he joined the ordo equester (the Roman cavalry), which would later lead to his appointment as a commander of Roman auxiliaries. By 4 AD he was serving in Pannonia (in the northwestern Balkan states). Soon after, he returned to his homeland in Germania, still nominally loyal to Rome.[41]

McNally suggests that two important events shaped Arminius's view of the Romans: an ambush in 11 BC led by the Cherusci against Drusus, and Drusus' victory over the Cherusci in 8 BC. In the ambush in 11 BC, the Cherusci had trapped Drusus' army in unfavorable terrain, and the Romans escaped only with great difficulty. Drusus' victory in 8 BC would have been unforgettable to Arminius, who had been made a hostage because of it. From these events, McNally argues that Arminius surmised a key lesson: "the Romans could be defeated, but only in a situation where their tactical flexibility and discipline could not be brought to bear."[41]

The size of Arminius's forces is a guessing game at best since no written records of the Germanic peoples survive. Estimates thus vary widely based on the starting assumptions. Historian Adrian Murdoch suggests a force of 25,000. Historian Peter Wells suggests that the army may have pulled from a large area, and gives a range of estimates between 17,000 and 100,000, but suggests that 18,000 were probably involved at the final stage of the battle, when the Romans were routed. McNally finds fault with Well's demographic calculation style, finding his upper estimate of 100,000 to be very unlikely. Historian Hans Delbrück suggested that each tribe involved probably had 6,000 to 8,000 fighting men, for a total in the 20,000 to 30,000 range.[42]

Delbrück notes that these troops were not just mere farmers, they were experienced soldiers in their own right, even if not outfitted by the state as the Romans were. But the Germanic army was generally worse outfitted than the Romans. Most had no armor and would have been limited to a simple shield and a hunting spear or axe. There was a gradation in equipment quality according to the wealth and status of the fighter. Those fighters who would have held command roles, or been part of a chief's guard would have carried a heavy spear and a number of javelins, along with various other secondary weapons. Those fighters would also have had high quality shields. Still, armor was very rare and would had to have been acquired as spoils of war from defeated Romans, or perhaps from time serving as a Roman auxiliary.[42]

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

Jacobus Arminius (/ɑːrˈmɪniəs/; Dutch: Jakob Hermanszoon[a] ; 10 October 1560 – 19 October 1609) was a Dutch Reformed minister and theologian during the Protestant Reformation period whose views became the basis of Arminianism and the Dutch Remonstrant movement. He served from 1603 as professor in theology at the University of Leiden and wrote many books and treatises on theology.

Following his death, his challenge to the Reformed standard, the Belgic Confession, provoked ample discussion at the Synod of Dort, which crafted the five points of Calvinism in response to Arminius's teaching.

Early life

Jakob Hermanszoon[a] was born in 1559 or 1560 in Oudewater, Utrecht, Netherlands. He became an orphan while still young. His father Herman, a manufacturer of weapons, died, leaving his wife a widow with small children.[1] He never knew his father, and his mother was killed during the Spanish massacre at Oudewater in 1575.[citation needed]

The child was adopted by Theodorus Aemilius, a priest inclined towards Protestantism. Around 1572 (the year Oudewater was conquered by the rebels), Arminius and Aemilius settled in Utrecht. The young Jacobus studied there, probably at the Hieronymusschool. After the death of Aemilius (1574 or 1575), Arminius became acquainted with the mathematician Rudolph Snellius, also from Oudewater. Snellius brought Arminius to Marburg and enabled him to study at the Leiden University.[2]

Theological studies and ministry

Arminius remained a student at Leiden from 1576 to 1582. Although he enrolled as a student in liberal arts, this allowed him to pursue an education in theology. His teachers in theology included Calvinist Lambertus Danaeus, Hebrew scholar Johannes Drusius, Guillaume Feuguereius (or Feugueires, d. 1613), and Johann Kolmann. Kolmann is now known for teaching that the overemphasis of God's sovereignty in high Calvinism made God "a tyrant and an executioner".[3] Although the university in Leiden was solidly Reformed, it had influences from Lutheran, Zwinglian, and Anabaptist views in addition to Calvinism. One Leiden pastor (Caspar Coolhaes) held—in opposition to John Calvin—that civil authorities did have jurisdiction in some church affairs, that it was wrong to punish and execute heretics, and that Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptists could unite around core tenets.[3] The astronomer and mathematician Willebrord Snellius used Ramist philosophy in an effort to encourage his students to pursue truth without over reliance on Aristotle.[3] Under the influence of these men, Arminius studied with success and may have had seeds planted that would begin to develop into a theology that would later question the dominant Reformed theology of Calvin. The success he showed in his studies motivated the merchants guild of Amsterdam to fund the next three years of his studies.

In 1582 Arminius began studying under Theodore Beza at Geneva. He found himself under pressure for using Ramist philosophical methods, familiar to him from his time at Leiden. Arminius was publicly forbidden to teach Ramean philosophy. After this difficult state of affairs, he moved to Basel to continue his studies.[2] He continued to distinguish himself there as an excellent student. In 1583 Arminius was contemplating a return to Geneva when the theological faculty at Basel spontaneously offered him a doctorate.[4] He declined the honor on account of his youth (he was about 24)[5] and returned to the school in Geneva to finish his schooling under Beza.

Commendations

Upon the conclusion of Arminius' studies and a request for him to pastor in Amsterdam, Beza replied to leaders in Amsterdam with this letter:

"...Let it be known to you that from the time Arminius returned to us from Basel, his life and learning both have so approved themselves to us, that we hope for the best from him in every respect, if he steadily persists in the same course, which, by the blessing of God, we doubt not he will; for, among other endowments, God has given him an intellect well-suited both to the apprehension and to the discrimination of things. If this henceforward be regulated by piety, which he appears assiduously to cultivate, it cannot but happen that this power of intellect, when consolidated by mature age and experience, will be productive of the richest fruits. Such is our opinion of Arminius — a young man, unquestionably, so far as we are able to judge, most worthy of your kindness and liberality" (Letter of 3 June 1585 from Beza to Amsterdam).[5][6]

From this letter it would seem that the earlier tension from Arminius' attraction to Ramist philosophy had dissipated and Arminius was known even to Beza as an excellent though budding theologian. Three months later, John Grynaeus at the University of Basel sent this letter of commendation:

"To pious readers, greeting: 'Inasmuch as a faithful testimonial of learning and piety ought not to be refused to any learned and pious man, so neither to James Arminius, a native of Amsterdam [sic], for his deportment while he attended the University of Basel was marked by piety, moderation, and assiduity in study ; and very often, in the course of our theological discussions, he made his gift of a discerning spirit so manifest to all of us, as to elicit from us well-merited congratulations. More recently, too, in certain extraordinary prelections delivered with the consent, and by the order, of the Theological Faculty, in which he publicly expounded a few chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, he gave us the best ground to hope that he was destined erelong — if, indeed, he goes on to stir up the gift of God that is in him — to undertake and sustain the function of teaching, to which he may be lawfully set apart, with much fruit to the Church. I commend him, accordingly, to all good men, and, in particular, to the Church of God in the famous city of Amsterdam ; and I respectfully entreat that regard may be had to that learned and pious youth, so that he may never be under the necessity of intermitting theological studies which have been thus far so happily prosecuted. Farewell ! 'John James Grynaeus, Professor of Sacred Literature, and Dean of the Theological Faculty. — Written with mine own hand. Basle, 3rd September, 1583."

Beginning of public ministry

Old Church, Amsterdam, where Arminius was pastor from 1587 to 1603.

Arminius answered the call to pastor at Amsterdam in 1587, delivering Sunday and midweek sermons. After being tested by the church leaders, he was ordained in 1588. One of Arminius' first tasks was given to him by Ecclesiastical Court of Amsterdam; namely, to refute the teachings of Dirck Coornhert, who rejected Beza's supralapsarian doctrine of God's absolute and unconditional decree to create men so as to save some and damn others, based on nothing in themselves. The discussion had already begun with two ministers at Delft who had written "An Answer to certain Arguments of Beza and Calvin, from a Treatise on Predestination as taught in the Ninth Chapter of Romans" a document which contradicted both Beza and Coornhert. They proposed that although God's decree to save only some was indeed absolute and unconditional, it had occurred after the fall (proposing infralapsarianism rather than Beza's supralapsarianism). Arminius was tasked with refuting both Coornhert and infralapsarianism theology. He readily agreed to the task, but after greater study he was conflicted over the matter. He determined to spend greater time in study before continuing his refutation.[citation needed]

In 1590 he married Lijsbet Reael, the daughter of Laurens Jacobsz Reael, a prominent merchant and poet in Amsterdam who also helped lead the Protestant Reformation and later helped establish the first Reformed Church in the area.[7] Arminius's marriage to Reael allowed him access to her prestigious connections, and he made many friends in the merchant industry and high society.[7] He was commissioned to organize the educational system of Amsterdam and is said to have done it well.[3] He greatly distinguished himself by faithfulness to his duties in 1602 during a plague that swept through Amsterdam,[3] going into infected houses that others did not dare to enter in order to give them water, and supplying their neighbors with funds to care for them.[8]

Controversy

At Amsterdam, Arminius taught through "a number of sermons on the Epistle of the Romans". In discussing Romans 7 in 1591, he taught that man, through grace and rebirth, did not have to live in bondage to sin, and that Romans 7:14 was speaking of a man living under the law and convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, yet not presently regenerated. This was met with some resistance, and some detractors labeled him Pelagian for teaching that an unregenerate man could feel such conviction and desire for salvation, even with the influence of the Law and the Holy Spirit.[9] In the same year, responding to Arminius' theological positions, his colleague Petrus Plancius began to dispute him openly. During a gathering of ministers, Arminius insisted he was not teaching anything in contradiction to the Heidelberg Confession and other standards of orthodoxy, that early church theologians held similar views, and that he utterly repudiated the heresy of Pelagianism. Further, Arminius expressed some astonishment that he was not to be allowed to interpret this passage according to the dictates of his own conscience and within the pattern of historic orthodoxy. The Amsterdam burgomasters intervened in an effort to keep the peace and tamp down divisions in the populace, urging them to peacefully coexist and for Arminius to teach nothing out of accord with the Reformed thought agreed upon at the time unless he had consulted with the church council or other bodies.[10]

During the following years, controversy emerged as he preached through Romans 9. Although he did not directly contradict Calvinist interpretations, he focused on Paul's theme of "justification by faith" in contradiction to works, rather than focusing on God's eternal decrees. During this time he gradually developed opinions on grace, predestination and free will that were inconsistent with the doctrine of the Reformed teachers Calvin and Beza.[11]

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

The Rose and the Pentagram

Posted by Roger Norling | Jul 17, 2012 | Articles, Fencing Culture, Research articles, Study Articles | 5 |

“Children of the Sun” from the Italian manuscript “De Sphaera”, owned by the Sforza family and dated to ca 1460AD. Heinrich Agrippa served as a captain under Maximilian Sforza in 1513-1515AD

Die Rose (the Rose) is a longsword, dussack, rappier and quarterstaff technique described by fencing masters starting from about 1516AD. This striking sequence, as used by several masters including, Andre Paurnfeindt, Paul Hektor Mair [1] and Joachim Meyer [2], and several later derivative works [3], has confused some of us as we try to understand the relationship between the name and the application of the technique.

To be able to understand Die Rose I believe we need to understand what connotations the renaissance man had to the word rose and with that understanding we can apply it to our interpretations of the technique. The following article might seem like a novel by Dan Brown, but explores some of the ideas the men and women of the Renaissance shared, sometimes in more or less secret societies.

The weak and strong parts of the body for Grappling. From J.A. Schmidt, 1713.

The Tudor Rose, combining the white rose of the House of York and the red rose of the House of Lancaster.

Symbolism regarding the human body and strength & weakness, geometrics, angles and actions all tie together in the various illustrations of many fencing treatises of the Renaissance and we need to examine this topic both broadly and deeply. Here, the relationship between the Rose, the Pentagon and the Pentagram are crucial to our interpretations.

Having studied the topic for some time, I would suggest that the execution of this particular striking sequence should be thought of as following the shape of the open-petaled, wild rose rather than that of the cultivated romantic rose that we generally think of today, as the modern type of cultivated roses weren’t introduced into Europe until the late eighteenth century, and up until the mid 16th century the only two roses cultivated were Rosa Gallica and Rosa Alba [4].

Furthermore, from a symbolical outset, with the word rose the renaissance man would more commonly have thought of the kind of heraldic and symbolical rose that Henry VII combined from the roses of the House of York and the House of Lancaster into the Tudor Rose. Consequently, I would suggest that the symbolism of the five petals and the angles are of great importance for us to understand in our attempts at understanding Die Rose.

But before exploring this more deeply I would briefly like to expand on the symbolism of the rose as it goes much farther back than this, even as far back as to the ancient Greeks and beyond.

From Aurora Consurgens, 1400s.

Kitab al-Mawalid,1300s, based on treatise from 900s.

Kitab al-Bulhan From late 1300s.

St. Vitus from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493.

Frontispice d’un livre d’escrime, 1618.

Date and source unknown.

Pisani-Dossi MS, 16r (1409) Fiore Dei Liberi

Codex.1324, 15r (1482-1487) by Fillippo Vadi, heavily influenced by Fiore Dei Liberi.

Quote about Die Sonne in the Astrological section of Talhoffer’s “Thott” treatise of 1459.

Sol, Leo, Löwe, 1520-1550. Hans Sebald Beham.

“De Sphaera”, 15th century. Biblioteca Estense, Modena, Italy.

Planetenkinder Sonne, 1475

Planetenkinder from the late 1400s.

Die Kinder der Sonne, 1477. From Cod.lat.4394.

From Hausbuch Wolfegg (after 1480).

Planetenkinder Luna, from Hausbuch Wolfegg (after 1480).

Planetenkinder Sol, from Hausbuch Wolfegg (after 1480).

Planetenkinder: Sonne, 1530-1540. Georg Pencz.

Planetenkinder Sol Harmen Jansz Muller (1540-1617)

Splendor Solis, mid 1500s.

“Planetenkinder und die Freien Künst” 1560. Jobst Amman.

Sol und seine Kinder, dated to 1551-1600. Maarten de Vos.

Achille Marozzo writing alchemical symbols. From Opera Nova, 1536.

Tripus Aureus Sonne-Luna, 1618 Michael Meier.

Tripus Aureus, 1618. Michael Meier.

Die Melancholie im Garten des Lebens, 1558. By Matthias Gerung.

The wappen of the Marxbrüder fencing guild. The winged lion is the symbol of St. Mark.

Mater Dolorosa,dated to 1513.

Photo from St. Petri Church in Malmoe, Sweden.

The gallery above shows a glimpse of the early roots and wide connections surrounding Christian symbolism in relation to the early fencing culture. The picture is quite complex as it is constituted of parts that are quite separated both in time and place, as we will see as we continue.

The passage of Venus from James Ferguson’s “Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles”, 1799.

To begin with an interesting astrological and astronomical connection to the Rose is the fact that the passage of Venus over an eight year period, as perceived from Earth, describes the shape of a Rose and a pentagram, a discovery which has been claimed to go as far back as the Akkadians’, with the world’s oldest astrological text, a Venus-tablet from Ninevehand dated to the 17th century BC, and the later Babylonians’, understanding of Ishtar. However, this claim should be taken with a pinch of salt as the Akkadian noting of the eight-year rythm and five synodic periods of Venus do not equate to a proper understanding of the Earth-centric Venus Pentagram. Still, this astronomical curiousity possibly explains her common association with the Rose and the pentagram, but it is difficult to properly trace how early this discovery really was made, despite the numerous theories on the topic.

Regardless, Venus was also called the morning star and the light bringer, in Roman “Lucifer“, and not until ca 200AD was Satan connected to the name Lucifer by Christian thinkers like Tertullianus and Origenes, perhaps partly due to her also being the evening star.

Horus – Egyptian Sun, Moon & Sky God, God of War, Hunting and Secrecy, depicted with a Falcon head.

Furthermore, as early as in ancient Egypt we can trace the roots of the concept of Sub Rosa, as it dates back to the Egyptian Sky God Horus in about 3000BC. Being the Sky God, Horus was also the God of the Sun and the Moon and one of his emblems was the rose. Horus was also the God of War and Hunting and was represented by the falcon.

The Romans and the Greek regarded Horus as the God of Silence, which led to him, and the rose being associated with secrecy. With this in mind Roman banquets often had roses hanging from, or depictions of roses painted, in the ceiling, implying that what was said under the influence of wine, should remain “sub rosa” ie secret. The same custom was used in the medieval councils where a rose hanging from the ceiling pledged all present to secrecy. The same can even be seen on some Catholic Confession Chairs that are adorned with five-petaled roses.

The early teachings of Kunst des Fechten was of course all meant to be kept secret, all the way up until the time of the printing press, where freyfechter Paurnfeindt is one of the first masters to spread his teachings widely in 1516. This was followed quite successfully by freyfechter Meyer with his treatise of 1570 and possibly we can trace a difference in the attitude towards keeping the Art secret between the two guilds, as few Marxbrüdere ever published printed treatises.

Regardless, here we can’t really apply the meaning of secrecy in the same sense for Die Rose. However, The Rose could be considered to be a deceitful technique where you hide your intentions, similar to the Stürtzhauw or the Fehler, something which Meyer was very fond of, as is apparent from his treatises.

Continuing with the shared symbolism between early Euro-Asian religions, their ties to Christian mysticism and symbolism and the fencing guilds, we see the Persian Sun God Mithra, depicted with a Lion ca 1400BC. Mithra was also the God of Justice and War and he was particularly popular with the Roman soldiers in the form of Mithras who was their patron. Mithras is often equated with Phanes, then depicted as a lion-headed man with golden wings.

The symbols of the Four Evangelists, from the Book of Kells (late 6th to 9th cent.)

Greek and Roman mythology continues with the Hellenistic Sun God Apollo Helios, brother of Moon God Artemis, sometimes depicted riding a griffin and Dionysos depicted in a chariot pulled by a panther, a gryp and a bull, quite similar to the symbols of the Four Evangelists; a lion, an eagle, an ox and an angel. Dionysos has also been claimed to be part of the roots for the mythology surrounding Christ [5].

At about 50BC-350AD we see various depictions of the Egyptian Sun God Horus, the Greek/Roman Sun God Helios, and the Roman Sun God Sol Invictus surrounded by the Zodiac, symbolizing the twelve months and the four seasons. These type of depictions are also seen in Persian books on alchemy and astrology in the 1200-1300s and in Europe with Christ in the centre, replacing Helios, at about 1000-1400AD.

It is also interesting to note that Horus’ mother Isis was also associated with the rose and she was often depicted nursing baby Horus, very similar to the imagery of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus who was also strongly associated with the rose [5]. There are numerous more similarities between Christian mythology and the Egyptian, Greek and Roman religions and there is quite obviously a lot of similar content, as was noted already in antiquity [6].

In the early Renaissance we also see the first images of the masculine Sun and the feminine Moon connected to the opposites of the Lion and the Griffin, locked in eternal struggle with each other.

The Sun and the Moon fighting, riding a Lion and a Griffin, the symbols chosen by the Marxbrüder and the Freyfechter. – From a Renaissance Rosicrucian Compendium on Alchemy

Partially due to the Renaissance admiration of the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks, a belief in astrology, alchemy and magic was common in all stratas of society. Referencing to the older pantheons, history and use of symbolism was quite common, as can be seen in the image depicting the Children of the Sun below, a scene that comes in many variants from the mid 1400s to the 1600s, as previously shown.

Planetenkinder der Sonne, by Hans Sebald Beham, ca 1530-40AD.

Not so surprisingly, considering the Renaissance fascination with astrology and alchemy, several fencing masters are known to have included religious, astrological and magical symbols in their treatises, including for instance; Hans Talhoffer who wrote briefly about astrology and the Sun and who showed St. Mark as his patron saint and Achille Marozzo depicted in a circle of magical symbols, as seen below.

Fencing Master Achille Marozzo writing down magical symbols for St. Michael and steel, among other things, in the preface of his fencing treatise Opera Nova of 1536.

A pentagram in a carving from the baptistery of the St. John (Šibenik) Cathedral in Split, Croatia, dated to the 1100s.

Decoration of a pentagram inside a rose, from the Knights Templar church Santa Maria do Olival, built around ca 1150AD in Portugal.

Returning to the pentagram the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, considered five to be the number of man, due to the fivefold division of the body, and the division of the soul. He also considered the five points of the pentagram to each represent one of the five elements that make up man: fire, water, air, earth, and psyche. This symbolism, as with much other symbolism has remained both in use and has acted as a great influence on later thinkers, not least in the Renaissance, when the admiration and celebration of the ancient Romans and Greeks was flourishing in the Arts and Sciences.

Furthermore, going at least as far back as the Templar Knights of the 1100s we see the pentagram associated with the rose, symbolically attached to the five wounds of Christ, as well as the idea of Christ being the Alpha and the Omega, since one can draw a pentagram from beginning to end in one continuous (and perpetuous) movement, thus symbolising both eternity and rebirth. [7]

The English are said to have called the pentagram the Endless Knot which is examplified by the quote below and again we see the notion of a single but complex and potentially endless movement that crosses several lines.

It is a symbol which Solomon conceived once To betoken holy truth, by its intrinsic right, For it is a figure which has five points, And each line overlaps and is locked with another; And it is endless everywhere, and the English call it, In all the land, I hear, the Endless Knot.” [8]

Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Stanzas 27-28 (1380 c.

Through all this the rose and the pentagram have strong ties to Christian Renaissance symbolism, Kabbalism and not least Martin Luther and the early Rosicrucians who were strongly associated with Lutheranism. And perhaps here is where we can understand the Cutting Rose a bit clearer.

Design for a Stained Glass Window for Christoph von Eberstein, by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1522. The rose is part of the Coat of Arms of the Ebersteins. Joachim Meyer dedicated parts of his Ms.82 Rostock-treatise of 1570 to Heinrich von Eberstein.

With Fechtmeister and Freyfechter Joachim Meyer being a prime example, we know that several of the freyfechtere had strong ties to the Protestant Reformation and especially the Calvinist movement, but even the Marxbrüdere (The Brotherhood of Our dear lady and pure Virgin Mary and the Holy and warlike heavenly prince Saint Mark) were members of a deeply religious organization and both fencing guilds carefully chose their respective identifying crests, each with obvious Christian symbolism; the Winged Lion of St. Mark and the Griffin, respectively. Two distinct opposites in earlier symbolical history, as previously shown.

A marxbrüder praying to his patron saint Saint Mark.

A collage of artwork by Virgil Solis and unknown artist, depicting Freyfechtere with their symbol the Griffin. Dated to the mid 1500s.

The seal of Martin Luther in a church in Cobstadt, Thüringen.

With the connections between the Freyfechtere and the Protestant Reformation in mind, it is also interesting to note that the seal of the Protestant reformist Martin Luther was based on a five-petaled Rosa Alba, a heart and a cross, where the various elements and colours have specific symbolical meanings regarding Christian virtues and vice.

Furthermore, a deep interest in mathematics and geometry was common during the Renaissance, as evidenced by daVinci’s Vitruvian Man from ca 1487AD. This drawing was made to visualize the ideal human proportions with geometry as described by the Roman architect Vitruvius in his treatise De Archietectura, where he described the human figure as being the chief source of proportion for architecture. The human body, as created by God was simply seen as the ultimate perfection and a synthesis of Divinity and Humanity.

This has also been connected to the idea of the Golden Ratio as can be seen in Agrippa’s human pentagram below and this concept has been used extensively in various aspects of society.

So, what about the pentagram and sword cuts then? Well, historically the pentagram has been drawn both point up and point down and neither related to Satanism as many believe today. But, what is interesting for when interpreting the fencing treatises, is that when a pentagram is overlaid upon a body, it gives diagonal and horisontal lines that pass outside of the body contour with a starting and ending point at the head and corner points that work with several of the guards and cuts.

A pentagram overlaid over a human body, by Heinrich Agrippa.

A cutting “rose” from Meyer’s von Solms-treatise.

Perhaps this is what we are taught when the Rose technique is described – a movement where the point is moved offline, but still, more or less, follows a geometrical line in the shape of the pentagram rose, a movement that is complex and passes more than one line, ending with a blow to the head where the pentagram starts and ends?

Alternately, it is also possible that the name is meant to cause us to associate our cuts with the shape of the five petals of a rose. Meyer even says this explicitly in his treatise of 1570, when he speaks of the secondary cuts for the dussack, although his notion of the Rose is not necessarily exactly the same as that of his predecessors:

Also some receive their names from the shape they resemble in cutting, like the Rose Cut.” [9]

Meyer, Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen und Adelichen Kunst des Fechtens, 1570

We can keep this in mind when we read the following excerpts from Andre Paurnfeindt, Paul Hektor Mair and Joachim Meyer.

Durch ſchiſſen. Durchſchiſſen magſtu auch nemen anſʒ dem hohenort / hav von oben nider vnden durch die Roſen / mit verkertñ henden vnd kurcʒer ſchneid in ſein geſicht / laſʒ kurcʒ ablauffen / mit der langen ſchneidt nachtretten.

Shooting Through. You may also take the shooting through from the high guard, hew from above downwards through the Rose, with reversed hands and short edge in his face, allow this quickly to run off, work after with the long edge.

– – –

Von Anpindñ. Pind dir eyner obñ an prueff ob er herdt oder waych leyt / ligt er herde ſo wind vndñ durch auſʒ der roſñ gegñ ſeinem gſicht / an daſʒ linck or / ſo windeſtu im ſein ſchwerdt auſʒ vñ pleſt in dar mit / ʒuckt er aber vnd ſclecht / vervar obñ mit der verſacʒung

From Binding-on. When one has bound with you from above, then test if he lays on hard or soft, if he lays hard, thus wind under and through the Rose to his face, to the left ear, thus you have wound out on his sword and opened there with, but if he pulls and strikes, drive above with the displacing.

– – –

Hau von obñ auſʒ dem oxſen gegen ym / vnden durch die roſen vnd leg ym die kurcʒ ſchneid in ſein gſicht / wendt kurcʒ ab vnd ſchlach mit der langen ſchneidt nach

Hew from above in the Ox against him, under, through the Rose, and put the short edge in his face, turn away slightly and strike after with the long edge. [10]

Paurnfeindt, Ergrundung Ritterlicher Kunst der Fechterey, 51V, 1516

And here is how Mair describes the use of the Rose:

…so trit mit deinem lincken fuoss hinnach unnd halt das gehültz für dem haupt, das der ort zuruckh stee, mit gecreitzgiten aremn unnd haw Im zu seinner rechten seiten. Versetzt er dir das, so raiss Im zu seinner linncker seiten mit deinner kurtzen schneid. Indes winnd dich ubersich auf in der Rosen an seinnen schwert und haw dich inn die zwirch mit gecreitzgiten aremn zu seinner rechten seiten seinnes kopffs.

… then step outward with your left foot and hold the hilt in front of your head such that the point stands to the rear with crossed arms, and strike to his right side. If he displaces this, then travel to his left side with your short edge and then immediately wind upward with the Rose on his sword and strike with the Zwirch with crossed arms to the right side of his head. (Stucke 15)

Legt er sich also inn das sprechfenster, so winnd auss der Rosen den ort inn sein gesicht, das dem Rechter fuoss vorstee, unnd winnd Im mit der kurtzen schneide zu seinnem Haupt. Indes haw mit lanngen schneid nach seinem Rechten Arm.

If he lies in the Prechfennster like this, wind the point in his face out of the Rosen (Rose) such that your right foot stands forward, then step outward with your left leg, set your right foot behind his left and wind with the short edge to his head. Then immediately strike with the long edge to his right arm. (Stucke 24)

Item schick dich allso mit dem einwinnden: stannd mit deinnem lincken fuoss vor und halt dit kurtz schneide gögen dem Mann mit creytzweisen hennden, die linnck hannd uber dein rechten arm unnd winnd dich durch Inn der Rosen. Inn dem verfal auf dein linncken seiten, trit mit deinnem Rechten schennckel hinnein und winnd Im zu seinem gesicht.

It happens like this with the Winding In: stand with your left foot forward and hold the short edge opposite the opponent with crossed hands with your left hand over your right arm (as in illustration). Wind through in the Rose and then immediately drop down at your left side, step in with your right leg and wind towards his face. (Stucke 47) [11]

Paul Hektor Mair, Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica, ca 1550

Turning to Meyer here are some of his variations of the Rose:

[Longsword]

And note when an opponent comes before you who holds his sword extended before him in the Longpoint, or else in Straight Parrying, then send your blade in a circle around from the Middle Guard right around his blade, so that your blade comes almost back to your initial Middle Guard; from there swing the foible powerfully from outside over his arms at his head.(1.40v.1)

Or when you have thus gone around his blade with the Rose, if he meanwhile should fall in down from above to your opening, then take his blade out with the short edge, that is when you have come for the second time in the Middle Guard; for he will not come so quickly as if by surprise to your opening, but that you will meanwhile come around with the Rose, such that you will come to take him out in plenty of time. And after you have thus taken him out, then let your weapon run around in the air over your head (in order to deceive him), looping for a Circle to the next opening, etc.(1.40v.2)

Or in the Onset when you have cut into the Middle Guard on your left, and meanwhile your opponent cuts at you from above, then step well out from his cut toward his right side, and cast your short edge over or outside his right arm at his head; and as you cast in, let your blade shoot well in, either at his head or over his arms. Afterwards pull your sword quickly back up, and cut from your left with the long edge strongly upward at his right arm. From there, attack him further as you will, with such techniques as you will find above or below in this treatise. (1.40v.3)

Item, bind him as before, and as soon as the swords connect in the bind, then break through below with the Rose between you and him, and cast the short edge in at his head on the other side.(1.41r.2)

Or after you have broken through below from the bind with the Rose, then wrench his sword sideways from the other side with the short edge, so that your hands cross over one another in the air; strike deep with the short edge over at his head. (1.41r.3)

Item, bind against his incoming cut, and as soon as the blades connect, push your pommel through under your right arm, stepping at the same time well out toward his left side; and go up with crossed hands, and cut with the long edge through the Rose sideways from below behind his arm at his head.(1.41r.4)

Item, when you see that your opponent will bind or cut at you, then send your sword in against him, as if you also intended to bind, and just when the blades are about to connect, push your pommel up quickly, and turn your blade up from below through the Rose, catching his stroke on your long edge, as is shown in the small scene on the right in Image N. After you have thus caught his cut, you can finish this device in two ways. Firstly thus: when the swords have connected, then go right through below with your blade, and wrench his blade toward your right, and let your hands snap around in the air again, or cross over one another, and cut with the short edge strongly at his head.

For the second, when you have caught his sword, then as the swords clash together, step well to his left side, and cut back with the long edge from outside over his left arm at his head.(1.42r.2- 1.42r.3)

[Dussack]

Rose Cut. If you find an opponent waiting in the Bow, then act as if you intended to cut from above at his head; do not let the cut connect, but go outside his right arm and through below, so that you come around in a circle around his dusack, and let it run off again in the air beside his right, and cut at his face. (2.11r.2)

[Rappier]

Deceitful Thrust. In the Onset, send a powerful thrust from the right High Guard of the Ox at his face; but as you thrust in, turn your thrust up from below with a broad step forward on your foot, and thrust under his hilt up at his belly. When you correctly reverse this High Thrust into a Low Thrust through the Rose, then it seems at first as if you were thrusting from above, then before he realizes it, you have hit below.(2.64r.3)

[Quarterstaff]

How you shall take him out upward with the long edge from your left) and thrust through the Rose back up from below from your right at his face: In the Onset, position yourself in the Low Guard on the left as before; if he thrusts in at you, then go up with both arms, and strike out his thrust with the foible of your staff up from your left toward your right with the long edge, so that in striking him out your staff comes right up through; then turn your staff back by your right side up from below, and thrust from that side back up at his face (3.20v.1) [12]

Meyer, Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen und Adelichen Kunst des Fechtens, 1570

Finally, and perhaps not as distinctly relevant to the topic of the Rose and the Pentagram, it is also interesting to compare the images of Heinrich Agrippa to those of Fechtmeister Joachim Meyer, the treatise Codex Wallerstein and the treatises of Fiore dei Liberi, Achille Marozzo and Salvator Fabris, where cutting lines, divisions and weak and strong areas are displayed.

A diagram by Heinrich Agrippa

Cutting lines and the man’s divisions from Codex Wallerstein, from the 1400s. Note the name of Paulus Hector Mair and the 1556 date inbetween the legs

Cutting lines from Meyer’s 1570 treatise.

The similarities between the images in the treatises of Fiore Dei Liberi and Filippo Vadi and the images showing the correlations between the signs of the Zodiac and the organs (called Melothesia, astrological medicine), for instance in Ketcham’s Fasciculus Medecinae from 1495AD is striking, but there are likely no deeper relations involved here other than a common pictographical form of expression, as the idea of dividing a man into different sections and attaching symbolism to the various body parts and organs can be seen in both astrological and medical treatises as well as in illustrations in fencing treatises, going all the way back to the Middle Ages.

It is noteworthy though, that Tobias Stimmer, one of the illustrators of Fechtmeister Joachim Meyer’s 1570 treatise Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen und Adelichen Kunst des Fechtens also made a portrait of the aforementioned Heinrich Agrippa in 1587.

Still, we should also keep in mind that this is a time when mathematics and geometry were highly influential on warfare, artillery, architecture, geometrics, city & fortification planning and not least in the Art of Fencing.

This can also be seen in Meyer’s illustrations where the geometrically decorated floor patterns teach us correct stepping and use of angles in our fencing. This geometrical approach to the Art of Fencing would soon be a very common tool for teaching as can be seen in many treatises of the Verdada Destreza tradition, but also fencing masters like the Dutch Gerard Thibault with his Academie de l’Espée of 1630 and many others.

From the Fiore dei Liberi treatise Pisani-Dossi MS (page 16r,) dated to 1409AD.

Finally, if we are to fully understand the medieval and renaissance fencing treatises and especially the culture of the fencers and the fencing guilds and the mentality of the fencers, then concepts like the four humours & the four temperaments, astrology & the planetenkinder, and many other important Christian, hermetical, mystical and even alchemical symbols are important to understand. And when we understand these we will be better equipped to understand the concepts behind the techniques and their terminology at a more profound level, thus hopefully being more likely to succeed in what we aspire to do; make the Historical European Fighting Arts come alive again.

I would like to thank Chris Vanslambrouck of the Meyer Frei Fechter Guild for the delightful conversations we have had regarding Meyer, the Freyfechtere, alchemy and many other related topics, and for his insightful comments on this article while proofreading it. I owe you.

References

1. See Stucke 15, 23 & 47 in Opus Amplissimum de Arte Athletica.

2. See regarding Mittelhut and Langort in his 1570 treatise Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen und Adelichen Kunst des Fechtens.

3. Jakob Sutor, Christian Egonolph (editor) and Lienhart Sollinger.

4. According to Lars Åke Gustavsson’s Rosor för nordiska trädgårdar, the Medieval/Renaissance roses “came” to Europe in the following order:

??? Rosa Alba

1310 Rosa Gallica Officinalis

1500 Rosa Gallica

1500 Rosa Villosa

1542 Rosa Foetida

1551 Rosa Rubignosa

1581 Rosa (Gallica Officianis) Mundi

1581 Rosa Major

1583 Rosa Frankfurt

1590 Rosa Bicolor

1596 Rosa Tuscany

1597 Rosa Majalis Foecund

Not all of them spread to all of Europe and when they arrived to different countries of course varied greatly.

5. See Jesus Christ in Comparative Mythology, Wikipedia.org <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ_in_comparative_mythology> (retrieved 10 July 2012)

6. See The Christian Symbolism of the Rose, Rev. Theodore A. Koehler, S.M <http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/rosarymarkings36.html> (retrieved 18 July 2012)

7. See for example 12th cent. Church of Santa Maria do Olival built by the Order of the Knights Templar in Portugal. The church was used as a burial place for the Knights Templar of Tomar and 22 Master Templars are buried there. The church has several examples of five-petaled roses and pentagrams used for decoration, both in the architecture itself and on gravestones.

8. See Stone, B. (1974) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (p 45) Penguin Group.

9. From Joachim Meyer’s Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen und Adelichen Kunst des Fechtens of 1570, 2.9R, as translated by Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng.

10. Translated by Kevin Maurer of the Meyer Frei Fechter Guild.

11. Translated by Keith P Myers of the Black Swan Fechtschule.

12. From Joachim Meyer’s Gründtliche Beschreibung der freyen Ritterlichen und Adelichen Kunst des Fechtens of 1570, as translated by Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng.

https://hroarr.com/article/the-rose-and-the-pentagram/

Alexander Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (16 October 1430 – 16 October 1430) was the eldest of a pair of twins. He died in infancy, and his younger twin brother became James II of Scotland. The twins were born in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stewart,_Duke_of_Rothesay

Alan fitz Flaad (c. 1060 – after 1120) was a Breton knight, probably recruited as a mercenary by Henry I of England in his conflicts with his brothers.[1] After Henry became King of England, Alan became an assiduous courtier and obtained large estates in Norfolk, Sussex, Shropshire, and elsewhere in the Midlands, including the feudal barony and castle of Oswestry in Shropshire.[2][3][4] His duties included supervision of the Welsh border.[5] He is now noted as the progenitor of the FitzAlan family, the Earls of Arundel (1267–1580), and the House of Stuart,[6] although his family connections were long a matter of conjecture and controversy.

Arrival in England

Flaad and his son Alan had come to the favourable notice of King Henry I of England who, soon after his accession, brought Flaad and Alan to England. Eyton, consistently following the theory of the Scottish origins of the Stewarts, thought this was because he was part of the entourage of the Queen, Matilda of Scotland,[7] Round pointed out that Henry had been besieged in Mont-Saint-Michel during his struggle with his brothers,[1] an event which probably occurred in 1091. He is known to have recruited Breton troops at that time and, after his surrender, left the scene via the adjoining regions of Brittany, where Dol is situated. This is a likely explanation for the Bretons in the military retinue he brought to England after the death of William Rufus.

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

Stuart's Cape Audio CD – CD, May 1, 2013

Stuart's got problems...It's raining. He's bored.And worst of all, he's new in town.So he's got a lot to worry about.But what does a kid like Stuart need in order to have an adventure? A cape, of course.

https://www.amazon.com/Stuarts-Cape-Sara-Pennypacker/dp/1470886391

Elizabeth died childless. Her successor was her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots' son James VI of Scotland. The thrones of England and Scotland were joined in a dynastic union until 1707. The seven monarchs of this period continued to use the style King/Queen of France, though their claim was merely nominal. None of them was willing to engage in military campaigns for France against the actual Kings of France Henry IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV of France. Indeed, Charles I married a sister of Louis XIII, and his son Charles II spent much of his exile during the Interregnum in France (at which time, even if not formally abandoning his claim for its throne, he certainly did not emphasise it).

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

The Capetians generally enjoyed a harmonious family relationship. By tradition, younger sons and brothers of the king of France were given appanages for them to maintain their rank and to dissuade them from claiming the French crown itself. When Capetian cadets did aspire for kingship, their ambitions were directed not at the French throne, but at foreign thrones. As a result, the Capetians have reigned at different times in the kingdoms of Portugal, Sicily and Naples, Navarre, Hungary and Croatia, Poland, Spain and Sardinia, grand dukedoms of Lithuania and Luxembourg, and in Latin and Brazilian empires.

In modern times, King Felipe VI of Spain is a member of this family, while Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg is related to the family by agnatic kinship; both through the Bourbon branch of the dynasty. Along with the House of Habsburg, arguably its greatest historic rival, it was one of the two oldest European royal dynasties. It was also one of the most powerful royal families in European history, having played a major role in its politics for much of its existence. According to Oxford University, 75% of all royal families in European history are related to the Capetian dynasty.[4][5][6]

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

When were the Jesuits restored?

August 7, 1814

Pressured by the royal courts of Portugal, France and Spain, Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society, causing Jesuits throughout the world to renounce their vows and go into exile. Pope Pius VII, a Benedictine, restored the Society on August 7, 1814."

https://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/video-resources/jesuit-values-videos/suppression-of-the-society-of-jesus

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

https://ia801306.us.archive.org/8/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

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

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

Caput Mundi is a Latin phrase which literally means "Head of the world" whereas Roma Caput Mundi means "Rome capital of the world" and is one of the many nicknames given to the city of Rome throughout its history.[1]

The phrase is related to the enduring power of the city first as the capital of the Republic and the Empire, and later as the centre of the Catholic Church.[2]

Although it is not known for sure when it was first used, Rome was already named in this way by the poet Ovid in 1st century BC.[3]

Along with "Eternal City" and the "City of Seven Hills", Caput Mundi remains as one of the most commonly used names to refer to the city of Rome.[4]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Scott Gardner Shriner[1] (born July 11, 1965) is an American musician best known as a member of the rock band Weezer, with whom he has recorded twelve studio albums. Joining the band in 2001, Shriner is the band's longest serving bass guitarist.

Prior to his musical career, Shriner was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. At the age of twenty-five, he moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in music, attending the Musicians Institute. Shriner subsequently performed with multiple independent acts, and toured as a member of Vanilla Ice's backing band, in support of the rapper's nu metal album Hard to Swallow.

In 2001, Shriner joined Weezer on a provisional basis, following the sudden departure of bass guitarist Mikey Welsh, who had left the band for personal reasons. Upon becoming Welsh's full-time replacement, Shriner made his recording debut on the band's fourth studio album, Maladroit (2002).

During the band's tour in support of its fifth studio album, Make Believe (2005), Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo would at times relinquish his role as lead vocalist to allow Shriner, and his bandmates, Brian Bell and Patrick Wilson, to sing lead vocals on specific songs. This increased vocal responsibility carried over to the band's 2008 self-titled release (aka the "Red Album"), where Shriner co-wrote "Cold Dark World" and performed lead vocals on "Cold Dark World" and "King".

Shriner also performed in his bandmate Patrick Wilson's side-project The Special Goodness for some time.

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

Wife of Weezer bassist shot, arrested in L.A.

Apr 9, 2025

An already bizarre story involving a crash on a Los Angeles freeway, a manhunt, the arrest of a man in his underwear and a police shooting of an uninvolved woman has now taken an even more surreal twist. Sandra Mitchell reports April 9, 2025.

Details: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/weez...

KTLA 5 News - Keeping Southern Californians informed since 1947.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O1A2ytBZWQ

Local News

Victims of Hudson River helicopter crash identified as family visiting from Spain and pilot

newyork

By Christina Fan, Kristie Keleshian

Updated on: April 12, 2025 / 12:03 AM EDT / CBS New York

The identities of the six victims of the deadly helicopter crash in the Hudson River are being revealed, as the aircraft is removed from the waters between New York and New Jersey.

A family of five visiting from Spain was killed when something went catastrophically wrong 18 minutes into their sightseeing tour on Thursday afternoon. They are Agustin Escobar Canadas, 49, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, Victor Escobar Camprubi, 4, Mercedes Escobar Camprubi, 9, and a still unidentified child.

German industrial conglomerate Siemens previously identified Escobar Canadas as a company executive, and said he died with his wife and their three young children.

Moments before they boarded the helicopter, the family posed for a photo on the helipad.

Local News

Victims of Hudson River helicopter crash identified as family visiting from Spain and pilot

newyork

By Christina Fan, Kristie Keleshian

Updated on: April 12, 2025 / 12:03 AM EDT / CBS New York

The identities of the six victims of the deadly helicopter crash in the Hudson River are being revealed, as the aircraft is removed from the waters between New York and New Jersey.

German industrial conglomerate Siemens previously identified Escobar Canadas as a company executive, and said he died with his wife and their three young children.

Moments before they boarded the helicopter, the family posed for a photo on the helipad.

helicopter-crash-family-3.jpg

The victims of the Hudson River helicopter crash in NYC have been identified as Siemens executive Agustin Escobar and his family.

New York Helicopter Tours

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the family was visiting the city to celebrate one of the children's birthdays on Friday.

"So this is probably part of the normal tourist attraction of seeing the city from the skyline," the mayor said in an interview with Fox 5 New York. "But it's just a real unfortunate situation. And our heart goes out to the family members."

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Escobar Canadas was in the area on business and his family flew in to extend the trip.

"Arriving on Sunday, touring some Siemens entities in Pittsburgh is what they told us, and then they extended the trip with the family arriving a couple of days ago for the birthday portion of the trip," Fulop said.

He said the mother was also celebrating her 40th birthday.

"They were here for a birthday trip for the mom. Her birthday is actually, I understand, in June, but it was a trip that they were doing now. It was one of the child's birthdays [Friday]," Fulop said.

According to LinkedIn, Escobar Canadas worked for Siemens for more than 27 years, most recently as global CEO for rail infrastructure. His wife worked in a different division of the same company as a global manager.

Siemens issued a statement overnight saying, "We are deeply saddened by the tragic helicopter crash in which Agustin Escobar and his family lost their lives. Our heartfelt condolences go out to all their loved ones."

On social media, family members posted a message in Spanish that reads in part, "We would like to express our deepest gratitude for the massive outpouring of condolences and support received in recent hours. There are no words to describe what we are experiencing, nor to express our gratitude for the love we have received."

Relatives of the family also shared in their statement that they have begun the process of repatriating the bodies back to Spain and plan to release details about funeral arrangements in the coming days.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also reacted to news of the crash on social media, writing in Spanish, "I share in the grief of the victims' loved ones at this heartbreaking time."

The consulate general of Spain in New York and the hotel where the family was staying both declined comment.

Pilot Sean Johnson killed in Hudson River helicopter crash

Their pilot was identified as 36-year-old Seankese Carrell Johnson, who was also killed. He was a Navy veteran who served from 2006 to 2018.

In a statement, a Navy spokesperson said, "We extend our deepest condolences to those affected by this tragedy, including the loved ones of our former shipmate."

Last summer, he took a job working as a co-pilot for an aerial firefighting operation.

Earl Watters was Johnson's boss and mentor, but also a dear friend.

"He was first off an incredible friend. He had really good pilot skills for his point in his career, where he was, for his experience level, he was above average for sure and most importantly, he would help anybody," Watters said.

Johnson's heartbroken father also posted a simple message on Facebook: "I love you son."

What we know about the Hudson River helicopter crash

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating what went wrong.

"I want to extend on behalf of the entire NTSB our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones in this tragic event," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.

The flight departed from the Wall Street heliport at 3 p.m. and radar data shows it flew north along the Manhattan skyline, then back south toward the Statue of Liberty.

New York City officials say the helicopter went out of control minutes after takeoff before plummeting into the water near the New Jersey side of the river.

"The helicopter reached the George Washington Bridge and then turned again to fly south along the New Jersey shoreline. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft lost control and hit the water just a few feet off the coast of Pier A Park in Hoboken," said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Cellphone video captured the inverted sightseeing helicopter falling into the river. Witnesses said the aircraft's rotor blades were already detached by the time it hit the water.

"We take thousands of tourist flights, there are many flights that are here, and helicopters are safe," Mayor Eric Adams said.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on social media that the helicopter was not getting air traffic support at the time because it was in a special flight rules area, but it did receive support from LaGuardia Airport before the crash.

The Bell 206 helicopter is owned by Louisiana-based Meridian Helicopters, which sells, leases and refurbishes helicopters. It was operated by New York Helicopter, which has been in business for 28 years.

"I don't know anything how this went down. The only thing I can tell you, we are devastated, my wife hasn't stopped crying since this afternoon. We're a small company," said New York Helicopter CEO Michael Roth. "I'm a father and a grandfather, and we're just devastated."

NTSB records show another New York Helicopter-owned aircraft made an emergency landing on the Hudson in 2013. The pilot managed to land safely and the passengers, a family of Swedes, were not injured.

The agency found a maintenance issue and engine lubrication anomaly led to a power cutoff in that incident.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/helicopter-crash-hudson-river-victims/

JILL VS TYRANT HELIPORT-RESIDENT EVIL 1 (PS1) DIRECTOR´S CUT ARRANGE-ADVANCED-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzO1MwjV_MQ

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0qacsKumZiUAbJYXyX9fqWKgES1PuAEA4wctG3G9d1bm15cF9R4EmSgRGT4HiHGvxl

Section II

The Beast from the Sea

The next great enemy introduced to our notice is the Beast from the Sea (Rev 13:1): "I stood," says John, "upon the sand of the sea-shore, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea." The seven heads and ten horns on this beast, as on the great dragon, show that this power is essentially the same beast, but that it has undergone a circumstantial change. In the old Babylonian system, after the worship of the god of fire, there speedily followed the worship of the god of water or the sea. As the world formerly was in danger of being burnt up, so now it was in equal danger of being drowned. In the Mexican story it is said to have actually been so. First, say they, it was destroyed by fire, and then it was destroyed by water. The Druidic mythology gives the same account; for the Bards affirm that the dreadful tempest of fire that split the earth asunder, was rapidly succeeded by the bursting of the Lake Llion, when the waters of the abyss poured forth and "overwhelmed the whole world." In Greece we meet with the very same story. Diodorus Siculus tells us that, in former times, "a monster called Aegides, who vomited flames, appeared in Phrygia; hence spreading along Mount Taurus, the conflagration burnt down all the woods as far as India; then, with a retrograde course, swept the forests of Mount Lebanon, and extended as far as Egypt and Africa; at last a stop was put to it by Minerva. The Phrygians remembered well this CONFLAGRATION and the FLOOD which FOLLOWED it." Ovid, too, has a clear allusion to the same fact of the fire-worship being speedily followed by the worship of water, in his fable of the transformation of Cycnus. He represents King Cycnus, an attached friend of Phaethon, and consequently of fire-worship, as, after his friend's death, hating the fire, and taking to the contrary element that of water, through fear, and so being transformed into a swan. In India, the great deluge, which occupies so conspicuous a place in its mythology, evidently has the same symbolical meaning, although the story of Noah is mixed up with it; for it was during that deluge that "the lost Vedas," or sacred books, were recovered, by means of the great god, under the form of a FISH. The "loss of the Vedas" had evidently taken place at that very time of terrible disaster to the gods, when, according to the Purans, a great enemy of these gods, called Durgu, "abolished all religious ceremonies, the Brahmins, through fear, forsook the reading of the Veda,...fire lost its energy, and the terrified stars retired from sight"; in other words, when idolatry, fire-worship, and the worship of the host of heaven had been suppressed. When we turn to Babylon itself, we find there also substantially the same account. In Berosus, the deluge is represented as coming after the time of Alorus, or the "god of fire," that is, Nimrod, which shows that there, too, this deluge was symbolical. Now, out of this deluge emerged Dagon, the fish-god, or god of the sea. The origin of the worship of Dagon, as shown by Berosus, was founded upon a legend, that, at a remote period of the past, when men were sunk in barbarism, there came up a BEAST CALLED OANNES FROM THE RED SEA, or Persian Gulf--half-man, half-fish--that civilised the Babylonians, taught them arts and sciences, and instructed them in politics and religion. The worship of Dagon was introduced by the very parties--Nimrod, of course, excepted--who had previously seduced the world into the worship of fire. In the secret Mysteries that were then set up, while in the first instance, no doubt, professing the greatest antipathy to the prescribed worship of fire, they sought to regain their influence and power by scenic representations of the awful scenes of the Flood, in which Noah was introduced under the name of Dagon, or the Fish-god--scenes in which the whole family of man, both from the nature of the event and their common connection with the second father of the human race, could not fail to feel a deep interest. The concocters of these Mysteries saw that if they could only bring men back again to idolatry in any shape, they could soon work that idolatry so as substantially to re establish the very system that had been put down. Thus it was, that, as soon as the way was prepared for it, Tammuz was introduced as one who had allowed himself to be slain for the good of mankind. A distinction was made between good serpents and bad serpents, one kind being represented as the serpent of Agathodaemon, or the good divinity, another as the serpent of Cacodaemon, or the evil one. *

* WILKINSON. In Egypt, the Uraeus, or the Cerastes, was the good serpent, the Apophis the evil one.

It was easy, then, to lead men on by degrees to believe that, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, Tammuz, instead of being the patron of serpent-worship in any evil sense, was in reality the grand enemy of the Apophis, or great malignant serpent that envied the happiness of mankind, and that in fact he was the very seed of the woman who was destined to bruise the serpent's head. By means of the metempsychosis, it was just as easy to identify Nimrod and Noah, and to make it appear that the great patriarch, in the person of this his favoured descendant, had graciously condescended to become incarnate anew, as Dagon, that he might bring mankind back again to the blessings they had lost when Nimrod was slain. Certain it is, that Dagon was worshipped in the Chaldean Mysteries, wherever they were established, in a character that represented both the one and the other.

In the previous system, the grand mode of purification had been by fire. Now, it was by water that men were to be purified. Then began the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, connected, as we have seen, with the passing of Noah through the waters of the Flood. Then began the reverence for holy wells, holy lakes, holy rivers, which is to be found wherever these exist on the earth; which is not only to be traced among the Parsees, who, along with the worship of fire, worship also the Zereparankard, or Caspian Sea, and among the Hindoos, who worship the purifying waters of the Ganges, and who count it the grand passport to heaven, to leave their dying relatives to be smothered in its stream; but which is seen in full force at this day in Popish Ireland, in the universal reverence for holy wells, and the annual pilgrimages to Loch Dergh, to wash away sin in its blessed waters; and which manifestly lingers also among ourselves, in the popular superstition about witches which shines out in the well-known line of Burns--

"A running stream they daurna cross."

So much for the worship of water. Along with the water-worship, however, the old worship of fire was soon incorporated again. In the Mysteries, both modes of purification were conjoined. Though water-baptism was held to regenerate, yet purification by fire was still held to be indispensable; * and, long ages after baptismal regeneration had been established, the children were still made "to pass through the fire to Moloch." This double purification both by fire and water was practised in Mexico, among the followers of Wodan. This double purification was also commonly practised among the old Pagan Romans; ** and, in course of time, almost everywhere throughout the Pagan world, both the fire-worship and serpent-worship of Nimrod, which had been put down, was re-established in a new form, with all its old and many additional abominations besides.

* The name Tammuz, as applied to Nimrod or Osiris, was equivalent to Alorus or the "god of fire," and seems to have been given to him as the great purifier by fire. Tammuz is derived from tam, "to make perfect," and muz, "fire," and signifies "Fire the perfecter," or "the perfecting fire." To this meaning of the name, as well as to the character of Nimrod as the Father of the gods, the Zoroastrian verse alludes when it says: "All things are the progeny of ONE FIRE. The Father perfected all things, and delivered them to the second mind, whom all nations of men call the first." (CORY'S Fragments) Here Fire is declared to be the Father of all; for all things are said to be its progeny, and it is also called the "perfecter of all things." The second mind is evidently the child who displaced Nimrod's image as an object of worship; but yet the agency of Nimrod, as the first of the gods, and the fire-god, was held indispensable for "perfecting" men. And hence, too, no doubt, the necessity of the fire of Purgatory to "perfect" men's souls at last, and to purge away all the sins that they have carried with them into the unseen world.

** OVID, Fasti. It was not a little interesting to me, after being led by strict induction from circumstantial evidence to the conclusion that the purgation by fire was derived from the fire-worship of Adon or Tammuz, and that by water had reference to Noah's Flood, to find an express statement in Ovid, that such was the actual belief at Rome in his day. After mentioning, in the passage to which the above citation refers, various fanciful reasons for the twofold purgation by fire and water, he concludes thus: "For my part, I do not believe them; there are some (however) who say that the one is intended to commemorate Phaethon, and the other the flood of Deucalion."

If, however, any one should still think it unlikely that the worship of Noah should be mingled in the ancient world with the worship of the Queen of Heaven and her son, let him open his eyes to what is taking place in Italy at this hour [in 1856] in regard to the worship of that patriarch and the Roman Queen of Heaven. The following, kindly sent me by Lord John Scott, as confirmatory of the views propounded in these pages, appeared in the Morning Herald, October 26, 1855: "AN ARCHBISHOP'S PRAYER TO THE PATRIARCH NOAH.-POPERY IN TURIN.--For several consecutive years the vintage has been almost entirely destroyed in Tuscany, in consequence of the prevalent disease. The Archbishop of Florence has conceived the idea of arresting this plague by directing prayers to be offered, not to God, but to the patriarch Noah; and he has just published a collection, containing eight forms of supplication, addressed to this distinguished personage of the ancient covenant. 'Most holy patriarch Noah!' is the language of one of these prayers, 'who didst employ thyself in thy long career in cultivating the vine, and gratifying the human race with that precious beverage, which allays the thirst, restores the strength, and enlivens the spirits of us all, deign to regard our vines, which, following thine example, we have cultivated hitherto; and, while thou beholdest them languishing and blighted by that disastrous visitation, which, before the vintage, destroys the fruit (in severe punishment for many blasphemies and other enormous sins we have committed), have compassion on us, and, prostrate before the lofty throne of God, who has promised to His children the fruits of the earth, and an abundance of corn and wine, entreat Him on our behalf; promise Him in our name, that, with the aid of Divine grace, we will forsake the ways of vice and sin, that we will no longer abuse His sacred gifts, and will scrupulously observe His holy law, and that of our holy Mother, the Catholic Church,' &c. The collection concludes with a new prayer, addressed to the Virgin Mary, who is invoked in these words: 'O immaculate Mary, behold our fields and vineyards! and, should it seem to thee that we merit so great a favour, stay, we beseech thee, this terrible plague, which, inflicted for our sins, renders our fields unfruitful, and deprives our vines of the honours of the vintage,' &c. The work contains a vignette, representing the patriarch Noah presiding over the operations of the vintage, as well as a notification from the Archbishop, granting an indulgence of forty days to all who shall devoutly recite the prayers in question.- Christian Times" In view of such rank Paganism as this, well may the noble Lord already referred to remark, that surely here is the world turned backwards, and the worship of the old god Bacchus unmistakably restored!

The Two Babylons

by Alexander Hislop

https://ia801702.us.archive.org/13/items/thetwobabylonsor00hisluoft/thetwobabylonsor00hisluoft.pdf

In Greek mythology, Prometheus (/prəˈmiːθiəs/; Ancient Greek: Προμηθεύς, [promɛːtʰéu̯s], possibly meaning "forethought")[1] is a Titan.[2] He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge and, more generally, civilization.

In some versions of the myth, Prometheus is also credited with the creation of humanity from clay.[3] He is known for his intelligence and for being a champion of mankind[4] and is also generally seen as the author of the human arts and sciences.[5] He is sometimes presented as the father of Deucalion, the hero of the flood story.[6][7][8]

The punishment of Prometheus for stealing fire from Olympus and giving it to humans is a subject of both ancient and modern culture. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, condemned Prometheus to eternal torment for his transgression. Prometheus was bound to a rock, and an eagle—the emblem of Zeus—was sent to eat his liver (in ancient Greece, the liver was thought to be the seat of human emotions). His liver would then grow back overnight, only to be eaten again the next day in an ongoing cycle. According to several major versions of the myth, most notably that of Hesiod, Prometheus was eventually freed by the hero Heracles.[9][10] The struggle of Prometheus is located by some at Mount Elbrus or at Mount Kazbek, two volcanic promontories in the Caucasus Mountains beyond which for the ancient Greeks lay the realm of the barbari.[11]

In another myth, Prometheus establishes the form of animal sacrifice practiced in ancient Greek religion.[12] Evidence of a cult to Prometheus himself is not widespread. He was a focus of religious activity mainly at Athens, where he was linked to Athena and Hephaestus, who were the Greek deities of creative skills and technology.[13][14]

In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving (particularly the quest for scientific knowledge) and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences. In particular, he was regarded in the Romantic era as embodying the lone genius whose efforts to improve human existence could also result in tragedy: Mary Shelley, for instance, gave The Modern Prometheus as the subtitle to her novel Frankenstein (1818).

Etymology

The etymology of the theonym prometheus is debated. The usual view is that it signifies "forethought", as that of his brother Epimetheus denotes "afterthought".[1] Hesychius of Alexandria gives Prometheus the variant name of Ithas, and adds "whom others call Ithax", and describes him as the Herald of the Titans.[15] Kerényi remarks that these names are "not transparent", and may be different readings of the same name, while the name "Prometheus" is descriptive.[16]

It has also been theorised that it derives from the Proto-Indo-European root that also produces the Vedic pra math, "to steal", hence pramathyu-s, "thief", cognate with "Prometheus", the thief of fire. The Vedic myth of fire's theft by Mātariśvan is an analogue to the Greek account.[17] Pramant was the fire-drill, the tool used to create fire.[18] The suggestion that Prometheus was in origin the human "inventor of the fire-sticks, from which fire is kindled" goes back to Diodorus Siculus in the first century BC. The reference is again to the "fire-drill", a worldwide primitive method of fire making using a vertical and a horizontal piece of wood to produce fire by friction.[19]

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

Genesis 3:5-24

1599 Geneva Bible

5 But God doth know that when ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, [a]knowing good and evil.

6 So the woman (seeing that the tree was good for meat, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired, to get knowledge) took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her, and he [b]did eat.

7 Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they [c]knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made themselves [d]breeches.

8 ¶ Afterward they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the [e]cool of the day, and the man and his wife [f]hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 Who said, I heard thy voice in the garden and was afraid: because I was [g]naked, therefore I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 Then the man said, The woman which thou [h]gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, Why hast thou done this? And the woman said, [i]The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 ¶ Then the Lord God said to the serpent, [j]Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and [k]dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

15 I will also put enmity between [l]thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall break thine [m]head, and thou shalt [n]bruise his heel.

16 ¶ Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy [o]sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 ¶ Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) [p]cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

18 [q]Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.

20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God [r]make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 ¶ And the Lord God said, [s]Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and [t]take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.

24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Genesis 3:5 As though he should say, God doth not forbid you to eat of the fruit, save that he knoweth that if ye should eat thereof, ye should be like to him.

Genesis 3:6 Not so much to please his wife, as moved by ambition at her persuasion.

Genesis 3:7 They began to feel their misery, but they sought not to God for remedy.

Genesis 3:7 Hebrew, things to gird about them to hide their privities.

Genesis 3:8 Or, wind.

Genesis 3:8 The sinful conscience fleeth God’s presence.

Genesis 3:10 His hypocrisy appeareth in that he hid the cause of his nakedness, which was the transgression of God’s commandment.

Genesis 3:12 His wickedness and lack of true repentance appeareth in this that he burdeneth God with his fault, because he had given him a wife.

Genesis 3:13 Instead of confessing her sin, she increaseth it by accusing the serpent.

Genesis 3:14 He asked the reason of Adam and his wife, because he would bring them to repentance, but he asketh not the serpent, because he would show him no mercy.

Genesis 3:14 As a vile and contemptible beast, Isa. 65:25.

Genesis 3:15 He chiefly meaneth Satan, by whose motion and craft the serpent deceived the woman.

Genesis 3:15 That is, the power of sin and death.

Genesis 3:15 Satan shall sting Christ and his members, but not overcome them.

Genesis 3:16 The Lord comforteth Adam by the promise of the blessed seed, and also punisheth the body for the sin which the soul should have been punished for; that the spirit having conceived hope of forgiveness, might live by faith.

Genesis 3:17 The transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse.

Genesis 3:18 These are not the natural fruits of the earth, but proceed of the corruption of sin.

Genesis 3:21 Or, gave them knowledge to make themselves coats.

Genesis 3:22 By this derision he reproacheth Adam’s misery, whereinto he was fallen by ambition.

Genesis 3:22 Adam deprived of life, lost also the sign thereof.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203%3A5-24&version=GNV

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

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

Hephaestus (UK: /hɪˈfiːstəs/ hif-EE-stəs, US: /hɪˈfɛstəs/ hif-EST-əs; eight spellings; Ancient Greek: Ἥφαιστος, romanized: Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.[1] Hephaestus's Roman counterpart is Vulcan. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Hera, either on her own or by her husband Zeus. He was cast off Mount Olympus by his mother Hera because of his lameness, the result of a congenital impairment; or in another account, by Zeus for protecting Hera from his advances (in which case his lameness would have been the result of his fall rather than the reason for it).[2][3][4]

As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus. He served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centres of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos.[1] Hephaestus's symbols are a smith's hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs.

Etymology

Hephaestus is probably associated with the Linear B (Mycenaean Greek) inscription 𐀀𐀞𐀂𐀴𐀍, A-pa-i-ti-jo, found at Knossos.[5] The inscription indirectly attests his worship at that time because it is believed that it reads the theophoric name (H)āpʰaistios,[5] or Hāphaistion.[6][7] The Greek theonym Hēphaistos is most likely of Pre-Greek origin, as the form without -i- (Attic Hēphastos) shows a typical Pre-Greek variation and points to an original sy.[5]

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

Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting materials are usually metals or various time setting materials that cure after mixing two or more components together; examples are epoxy, concrete, plaster and clay. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. Heavy equipment like machine tool beds, ships' propellers, etc. can be cast easily in the required size, rather than fabricating by joining several small pieces.[1] Casting is a 7,000-year-old process. The oldest surviving casting is a copper frog from 3200 BC.[2]

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

Kastmaster's balance produces wild action without line twist. Because of its aerodynamic design, it's the master distance caster, and catches fish from pan-sized trout to bragging-sized stripers - in fresh and salt water. The Kastmaster is precision machined andit will not break, bend or corrode, and retains its luster even after repeated exposure to salt water.

Features

1/32, 1/24 & 1/12 oz. (2-4 lb. test) for the light tackle specialist - ideal for trout, panfish, shad, and for ice fishing

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3/4 oz., 1 oz. (10-15 lb. test) medium-heavy spinning, baitcasting, trolling, in fresh or salt water - ideal for salmon, steelhead, and many salt water species

https://www.murdochs.com/products/sporting-goods/fishing/fishing-lures-baits/acme-tackle-company-kastmaster/?srsltid=AfmBOoopndRiVn596beY-CSZDrKpWgc4iAwqxPj9V3zBEQAJ4AtQLIPr

casting(n.)

c. 1300, "a throwing," verbal noun from cast (v.). From early 15c. as "the casting of metal, the act or process of founding;" 1788 as "a metal casting, that which has been formed by running molten metal into a mold of a desired form." The theatrical sense is from 1814; casting couch "divan in a Hollywood casting directors office," with suggestion of sexual favors in exchange for a role in a picture is by 1948.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to casting

cast(v.)

c. 1200, "throw, throw violently, fling, hurl," from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse kasta "to throw" (cognate with Swedish kasta, Danish kaste, North Frisian kastin), a word of uncertain origin.

The meaning "to form in a mold" is late 15c. In the sense of "to throw" it replaced Old English weorpan (see warp (v.)), and itself largely has been superseded by throw, though cast still is used of fishing lines (17c.) and glances (13c.).

From c. 1300 as "emit, give out;" also "throw to the ground;" also "shed or throw off;" also "calculate, find by reckoning; chart (a course)." From late 14c. as "to calculate astrologically." From late 15c. as "bring forth abortively or prematurely." From 1711 as "distribute the parts (of a play) among the actors." Of votes, from 1840, American English. To cast up is from 1530s as "compute, reckon" (accounts, etc.), late 15c. as "eject, vomit."

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

The Book of the Dead is the name given to an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC.[1] "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts[2] consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1,000 years. In 1842, the Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius introduced for these texts the German name Todtenbuch (modern spelling Totenbuch), translated to English as 'Book of the Dead'. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw,[3] is translated as Spells of Coming Forth by Day.[4]

The Book of the Dead, which was placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased, was part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, which were painted onto objects, not written on papyrus. Some of the spells included in the book were drawn from these older works and date to the 3rd millennium BC. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (11th to 7th centuries BC). A number of the spells which make up the Book continued to be separately inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as the spells from which they originated always had been.

There was no single or canonical Book of the Dead. The surviving papyri contain a varying selection of religious and magical texts and vary considerably in their illustration. Some people seem to have commissioned their own copies of the Book of the Dead, perhaps choosing the spells they thought most vital in their own progression to the afterlife. The Book of the Dead was most commonly written in hieroglyphic or hieratic script on a papyrus scroll, and often illustrated with vignettes depicting the deceased and their journey into the afterlife.

The finest extant example of the Egyptian in antiquity is the Papyrus of Ani. Ani was an Egyptian scribe. It was discovered in Luxor in 1888 by Egyptians trading in illegal antiquities. It was acquired by E. A. Wallis Budge, as described in his autobiography By Nile and Tigris in 1888 and was taken to the British Museum, where it remains.

Examples in museums

Papyrus of Ani, British Museum

Papyrus of Hunefer, British Museum

Papyrus of Pinedjem II, or "Campbell Papyrus", British Museum

Book of the Dead of Kha, Tomb of Kha and Merit, in Museo egizio, Torino, Italy, (Official site)

Book of the Dead of Nehem-es-Rataui, Museum August Kestner in Hanover, Germany

Book of the Dead of Amen-em-hat, Royal Ontario Museum

Book of the Dead of Qenna, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, Netherlands

Book of the Dead (Art Institute of Chicago)

Joseph Smith Papyri (Books of the Dead of TaSheritMin, Nefer-ir-nebu, and Amenhotep), fragments, many destroyed in modern times

Development

The Book of the Dead developed from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back to the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The first funerary texts were the Pyramid Texts, first used in the Pyramid of King Unas of the 5th Dynasty, around 2400 BC.[5] These texts were written on the walls of the burial chambers within pyramids, and were exclusively for the use of the pharaoh (and, from the 6th Dynasty, the queen). The Pyramid Texts were written in an unusual hieroglyphic style; many of the hieroglyphs representing humans or animals were left incomplete or drawn mutilated, most likely to prevent them causing any harm to the dead pharaoh.[6]

The purpose of the Pyramid Texts was to help the dead king take his place amongst the gods, in particular to reunite him with his divine father Ra; at this period the afterlife was seen as being in the sky, rather than the underworld described in the Book of the Dead.[6] Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts ceased to be an exclusively royal privilege, and were adopted by regional governors and other high-ranking officials.[6]

In the Middle Kingdom, a new funerary text emerged, the Coffin Texts. The Coffin Texts used a newer version of the language, new spells, and included illustrations for the first time. The Coffin Texts were most commonly written on the inner surfaces of coffins, though they are occasionally found on tomb walls or on papyri.[6] The Coffin Texts were available to wealthy private individuals, vastly increasing the number of people who could expect to participate in the afterlife; a process which has been described as the "democratization of the afterlife".[7]

The Book of the Dead first developed in Thebes toward the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period, around 1700 BC. The earliest known occurrence of the spells included in the Book of the Dead is from the coffin of Queen Mentuhotep, of the 16th Dynasty, where the new spells were included amongst older texts known from the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts. Some of the spells introduced at this time claim an older provenance; for instance the rubric to spell 30B states that it was discovered by the Prince Hordjedef in the reign of King Menkaure, many hundreds of years before it is attested in the archaeological record.[8]

By the 17th Dynasty, the Book of the Dead had become widespread not only for members of the royal family, but courtiers and other officials as well. At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrapped around the dead, though occasionally they are found written on coffins or on papyrus.[9]

The New Kingdom saw the Book of the Dead develop and spread further. The famous Spell 125, the 'Weighing of the Heart', is first known from the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, c. 1475 BC. From this period onward the Book of the Dead was typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with vignettes. During the 19th Dynasty in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, sometimes at the expense of the surrounding text.[10]

In the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt, the Book of the Dead started to appear in hieratic script, as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics. The hieratic scrolls were a cheaper version, lacking illustration apart from a single vignette at the beginning, and were produced on smaller papyri. At the same time, many burials used additional funerary texts, for instance the Amduat.[11]

During the 25th and 26th Dynasties, the Book of the Dead was updated, revised and standardized. Spells were ordered and numbered consistently for the first time. This standardized version is known today as the 'Saite recension', after the Saite (26th) Dynasty. In the Late period and Ptolemaic period, the Book of the Dead continued to be based on the Saite recension, though increasingly abbreviated towards the end of the Ptolemaic period. New funerary texts appeared, including the Book of Breathing and Book of Traversing Eternity. The last use of the Book of the Dead was in the 1st century BC, though some artistic motifs drawn from it were still in use in Roman times.[12]

Spells

The Book of the Dead is made up of a number of individual texts and their accompanying illustrations. Most sub-texts begin with the word r(ꜣ), which can mean "mouth", "speech", "spell", "utterance", "incantation", or "chapter of a book". This ambiguity reflects the similarity in Egyptian thought between ritual speech and magical power.[14] In the context of the Book of the Dead, it is typically translated as either chapter or spell. In this article, the word spell is used.

At present, some 192 spells are known,[15] though no single manuscript contains them all. They served a range of purposes. Some are intended to give the deceased mystical knowledge in the afterlife, or perhaps to identify them with the gods: for instance, Spell 17 is an obscure and lengthy description of the god Atum.[16] Others are incantations to ensure the different elements of the dead person's being were preserved and reunited, and to give the deceased control over the world around him. Still others protect the deceased from various hostile forces or guide him through the underworld past various obstacles. Famously, two spells also deal with the judgment of the deceased in the Weighing of the Heart ritual.

Such spells as 26–30, and sometimes spells 6 and 126, relate to the heart and were inscribed on scarabs.[17]

The texts and images of the Book of the Dead were magical as well as religious. Magic was as legitimate an activity as praying to the gods, even when the magic was aimed at controlling the gods themselves.[18] Indeed, there was little distinction for the Ancient Egyptians between magical and religious practice.[19] The concept of magic (heka) was also intimately linked with the spoken and written word. The act of speaking a ritual formula was an act of creation;[20] there is a sense in which action and speech were one and the same thing.[19] The magical power of words extended to the written word. Hieroglyphic script was held to have been invented by the god Thoth, and the hieroglyphs themselves were powerful. Written words conveyed the full force of a spell.[20] This was even true when the text was abbreviated or omitted, as often occurred in later Book of the Dead scrolls, particularly if the accompanying images were present.[21] The Egyptians also believed that knowing the name of something gave power over it; thus, the Book of the Dead equips its owner with the mystical names of many of the entities he would encounter in the afterlife, giving him power over them.[22]

The spells of the Book of the Dead made use of several magical techniques which can also be seen in other areas of Egyptian life. A number of spells are for magical amulets, which would protect the deceased from harm. In addition to being represented on a Book of the Dead papyrus, these spells appeared on amulets wound into the wrappings of a mummy.[18] Everyday magic made use of amulets in huge numbers. Other items in direct contact with the body in the tomb, such as headrests, were also considered to have amuletic value.[23] A number of spells also refer to Egyptian beliefs about the magical healing power of saliva.[18]

Organization

Almost every Book of the Dead was unique, containing a different mixture of spells drawn from the corpus of texts available. For most of the history of the Book of the Dead there was no defined order or structure.[24] In fact, until Paul Barguet's 1967 "pioneering study" of common themes between texts,[25] Egyptologists concluded there was no internal structure at all.[26] It is only from the Saite period (26th Dynasty) onwards that there is a defined order.[27]

The Books of the Dead from the Saite period tend to organize the Chapters into four sections:

Chapters 1–16: The deceased enters the tomb and descends to the underworld, and the body regains its powers of movement and speech.

Chapters 17–63: Explanation of the mythic origin of the gods and places. The deceased is made to live again so that he may arise, reborn, with the morning sun.

Chapters 64–129: The deceased travels across the sky in the sun barque as one of the blessed dead. In the evening, the deceased travels to the underworld to appear before Osiris.

Chapters 130–189: Having been vindicated, the deceased assumes power in the universe as one of the gods. This section also includes assorted chapters on protective amulets, provision of food, and important places.[26]

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

Revelation 20:11-15

1599 Geneva Bible

11 [a]And I saw a great [b]white throne, and one that sat on it, [c]from whose face fled away both the earth and heaven, and their place was no more found.

12 And I saw the dead, both great and small stand before [d]God: and the [e]books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book [f]of life, and the dead were judged of those things, which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 [g]And the sea gave up her dead, which were in her, and death and hell delivered up the dead, which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14 [h]And death, and hell were cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death.

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 20:11 The second part of this Chapter, in which is described the judge, in this verse, and the last judgment in the verse following.

Revelation 20:11 That is, a tribunal seat most Princelike and glorious: for so doth the Greek word also signify.

Revelation 20:11 That is, Christ, before whom when he cometh unto judgment, heaven and earth shall perish for the greatness of his majesty, 2 Pet. 3:7, 10, etc.

Revelation 20:12 That is, Christ the judge, 2 Cor. 5:10.

Revelation 20:12 As it were, our books of reckoning or accompts: that is, the testimony of our conscience, and of our works, which by no means can be avoided. This is spoken after the manner of men.

Revelation 20:12 The book of the eternal decree of God, in which God the Father hath elected in Christ according to the good pleasure of his will, those that shall be heirs of life. This also is spoken according to the manner of men.

Revelation 20:13 This is a prevention or an answer to an objection: for happily some man will say, but they are dead, whom the sea, death and the grave hath consumed, how shall they appear before the judge? S. John answereth by resurrection from death, whereunto all things (however repugnant) shall minister and serve at the commandment of God, as Dan. 12.

Revelation 20:14 The last enemy which is death shall be abolished by Christ (that he may no more make any attempt against us), 1 Cor. 15:16, and death shall feed upon the reprobate in hell for evermore, according to the righteous judgment of God, in the next verse.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2020%3A11-15&version=GNV

Ignatius Loyola, a Catholic Priest, theologian and founder of the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church in the 16th Century, said, among his many inspiring sayings, “Go forth and set the world on fire."

Inferno (Italian: [iɱˈfɛrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno describes Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen".[1] As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)

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

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid0uMfqS4JjAr2GPB2nPdfM1AoXjbLSMXrQJ4j9NmVuRaG7fAqLx9JgrfgeEZwGXrZQl

What is Mithraism?

Answer

Mithras was a pre-Zoroastrian Persian deity, worshiped throughout Persia and the Roman Empire in the 1st through the 4th centuries. He was known as a “soldier’s god.” This religion was very popular with the Roman military in the 1st century, even rivaling Christianity for a time. The Romans put a Platonic spin on Mithraism in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, with Mithras pictured as the patron of loyalty to the emperor. After Constantine accepted Christianity in the early 4th century, the practice of Mithraism declined rapidly.

Mithraic worship was conducted secretly in caves by torchlight, so little is known of its precise rituals. However, this religion arose in the Roman Empire at the same time Christianity did, and church fathers such as Jerome and Origen commented on its parallels with Christianity.

Some teach that Mithras was born of a virgin called “the Mother of God.” He was conceived from the seed of Zoroaster (later called Zarathustra by the Greeks), which had been preserved in a lake. Mithras was considered to be the mediator between heaven and earth and was called “the light of the world.” Following a bloody, ritualistic baptism, celebrants would eat bread and drink wine that was said to have turned into blood. They also worshiped on Sunday and believed Mithras’ birthday to be December 25. Adherents taught that, after Mithras finished the work he was sent to do, he ate a last supper with his followers and ascended into heaven, until such time as he was called upon to separate good from evil on the Day of Judgment.

Because early Christian sources are so well documented, it cannot be suggested that Christianity developed from Mithraism. Further, all of the Mithraic manuscripts that ascribe Christian-like beliefs/practices to Mithraism are dated to long after the rapid spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. It is clear that the parallel tenets of Mithraism were sourced from Christianity and not vice versa. It was well known that Jesus did exist and that He was crucified and resurrected (hundreds of people saw Him, spoke to Him, and even ate with Him after His death). Mithras, of course, is not real and has never lived. The cause of the resemblance between Christianity and Mithraism is none other than Satan, a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Satan has always been a counterfeiter, and Mithraism is simply another in a long string of idolatrous deceptions by Satan, intended to draw people away from the true God of the Bible. “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Scripture clearly states that there is only one God (Isaiah 46:9; Malachi 2:10; Romans 3:30; James 2:19), and anyone who worships another so-called god is an idolater. Revelation 21:8 describes the ultimate fate of idolaters, who will be “consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

https://www.gotquestions.org/Mithraism.html

John 8

1599 Geneva Bible

8 3 The woman taken in adultery, 11 hath her sins forgiven her. 12 Christ the light of the world. 19 The Pharisees ask where his Father is. 39 The sons of Abraham. 42 The sons of God, 44 The devil the father of lying. 56 Abraham saw Christ’s day.

1 And Jesus went unto the mount of Olives,

2 And early in the morning came again into the Temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.

3 [a]Then the Scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and set her in the midst,

4 And said unto him, Master, we found this woman committing adultery even in the very act.

5 Now Moses in our Law commanded, that such should be stoned: what sayest thou therefore?

6 And this they said to tempt him, that they might have, whereof to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground,

7 [b]And while they continued asking him, he lifted himself up, and said unto them, Let him that is among you without sin, cast the first stone at her.

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9 And when they heard it, being accused by their own conscience, they went out, one by one, beginning at the eldest even to the last: so Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 [c]When Jesus had lifted up himself again, and saw no man, but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.

12 [d]Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am that light of the world: he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have that light of life.

13 [e]The Pharisees therefore said unto him, [f]Thou bearest record of thyself: thy record is not true.

14 Jesus answered, and said unto them, [g]Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I come, and whither I go: but ye cannot tell whence I came, and whither I go.

15 Ye judge after the flesh: I [h]judge no man.

16 And if I also judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I, and the Father, that sent me.

17 And it is also written in your Law, that the testimony of two men is true.

18 [i]I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

19 [j]Then said they unto him, Where is that Father of thine? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor the Father of mine. If ye had known me, ye should have known that Father of mine also.

20 These words spake Jesus in the [k]treasury, as he taught in the Temple, and no man laid hands on him: [l]for his hour was not yet come.

21 [m]Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins, Whither I go, can ye not come.

22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself, because he saith, Whither I go, can ye not come?

23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath, I am from above: ye are of this world, I am not of this world.

24 I said therefore unto you, That ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe, that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

25 [n]Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus said unto them, Even [o]the same thing that I said unto you from the beginning.

26 [p]I have many things to say, and to judge of you: but he that sent me, is true, and the things that I have heard of him, those speak I to the world.

27 [q]They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.

28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, so I spake these things.

29 For he that sent me, is with me: the Father hath not left me alone, because I do always those things that please him.

30 ¶ As he spake these things, many believed in him.

31 [r]Then said Jesus to the Jews which believed in him, If ye continue in my word, ye are verily my disciples,

32 And shall know the truth, and the truth shall [s]make you free.

33 [t]They answered him, We be [u]Abraham’s seed, and were never bond to any man: why sayest thou then, Ye shall be made free?

34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, that whosoever commiteth sin, is the servant of sin.

35 And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth forever.

36 If that Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

37 [v]I know that ye are Abraham’s seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your Father.

39 They answered, and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

40 But now ye go about to kill me, a man that have told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

41 Ye do the works of your father. Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication: we have one Father, which is God.

42 Therefore Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, then would ye love me: for I proceeded forth, and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

43 Why do ye not understand my [w]talk? because ye cannot hear my word.

44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he hath been a murderer from the [x]beginning, and [y]abode not in the [z]truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, then speaketh he of his [aa]own: for he is a liar, and the [ab]father thereof.

45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

46 [ac]Which of you can rebuke me of sin? and if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

48 [ad]Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my Father, and ye have dishonored me.

50 And I seek not mine own praise: but there is one that [ae]seeketh it, and judgeth.

51 [af]Verily, verily I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never [ag]see death.

52 [ah]Then said the Jews to him, Now know we that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the Prophets: and thou sayest, If a man keep my word, he shall never taste of death.

53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the Prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

54 [ai]Jesus answered, If I honor myself, mine honor is [aj]nothing worth: it is my Father that honoreth me, whom ye say, that he is your God.

55 [ak]Yet ye have not known him: but I know him, and if I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his word.

56 [al]Your father Abraham [am]rejoiced to see my [an]day, and he [ao]saw it, and was glad.

57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I [ap]am.

59 [aq]Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the Temple: And he passed through the midst of them, and so went his way.

Footnotes

John 8:3 While the wicked go about to make a snare for good men, they make a snare for themselves.

John 8:7 Against hypocrites which are very severe judges against other men, and flatter themselves in their own sins.

John 8:10 Christ would not take upon him the civil Magistrates office: he contented himself to bring sinners to faith and repentance.

John 8:12 The world which is blind in itself cannot come to have ray light but in Christ only.

John 8:13 Christ is without all exception the best witness of the truth, for he was sent by his Father for that purpose, and was by him approved to the world by infinite miracles.

John 8:13 Thou bearest witness of thyself which thing by all men’s opinion, is naught: and for a man to commend himself is very discommendable.

John 8:14 That which he denied afore, John 5:31, must be taken by a manner of granting, for in that place he framed himself somewhat to the humor of his hearers, which acknowledged nothing in Christ but his humanity, and therefore he was content they should set light by his own witness, unless it were otherwise confirmed. But in this place he standeth for the maintenance of his Godhead, and praiseth his Father, who is his witness, and agreeth with him.

John 8:15 I do now only teach you, I condemn no man: but yet if I list to do it, I might lawfully do it, for I am not alone, but my Father is with me.

John 8:18 The Godhead is plainly distinguished from the manhood, else there were not two witnesses: for the party accused is not taken for a witness.

John 8:19 No man can know God, but in Christ only.

John 8:20 This was some place appointed for the gathering of the offerings.

John 8:20 We live and die at the pleasure of God and not of men: Therefore this one thing remaineth that we go forward constantly in our vocation.

John 8:21 Because that men do naturally abhor heavenly things, no man can be a fit disciple of Christ, unless the Spirit of God frame him: in the mean season notwithstanding, the world must of necessity perish, because it refuseth the life that is offered unto it.

John 8:25 He shall at length know who Christ is, which will diligently hear, what he saith.

John 8:25 That is, I am Christ, and the savior, for so I told you from the beginning that I was.

John 8:26 God is the revenger of Christ’s doctrine despised.

John 8:27 Even the contempt of Christ maketh for his glory: which thing his enemies shall feel at length to their great smart.

John 8:31 The true disciples of Christ continue in his doctrine, that profiting more and more in the knowledge of the truth, they may be delivered from the most grievous burden of sin, into the true liberty of righteousness and life.

John 8:32 From the slavery of sin.

John 8:33 Some of the multitude, not they that believed: for this is not the speech of men that consent unto him but of men that are against him.

John 8:33 Born and begotten of Abraham.

John 8:37 Our wicked manners declare, that we are plainly born of a devilish nature, But we are changed, and made of the household of God, according to the covenant which he made with Abraham by Christ only, apprehended and laid hold on by faith: which faith is known by a godly and honest life.

John 8:43 Or, language: as though he said, you do no more understand what I say, than if I spake in a strange and unknown language to you.

John 8:44 From the beginning of the world: for as soon as man was made, the devil cast him headlong into death.

John 8:44 That is, continued not constantly, or remained not.

John 8:44 That is, in faithfulness, and uprightness, that is, kept not his creation.

John 8:44 Even of his own head, and of his own brain or disposition.

John 8:44 The author thereof.

John 8:46 Christ did thoroughly execute the office, that his Father enjoined him.

John 8:48 The enemies of Christ make their bravery for a while, but the Father will appear at his time to revenge the reproach that is done unto him in the person of his son.

John 8:50 That is, that will revenge both your despising of me, and of him.

John 8:51 The only doctrine of the Gospel apprehended by faith, is a sure remedy against death.

John 8:51 That is, he shall not feel it: for even in the midst of death, the faithful see life.

John 8:52 Against them which abuse the glory of the Saints, to darken Christ’s glory.

John 8:54 There is nothing farther off from all ambition than Christ, but his Father hath set him above all things.

John 8:54 This is spoken by manner of [a grant]: as if he had said, Be it so, let this report which I give of myself, be of no force: yet there is another that glorifieth me, that is, that honoreth my Name.

John 8:55 There is no right knowledge of God, without Christ, neither any right knowledge of Christ without his word.

John 8:56 The virtue of Christ showed itself through all former ages in the Fathers, for they saw in the promises, that he should come, and did very joyfully lay hold on him with a lively faith.

John 8:56 Was very desirous.

John 8:56 A day is a space that a man liveth in, or doeth any notable act, or suffereth any great thing.

John 8:56 With the eyes of faith, Heb. 11:13.

John 8:58 Christ as he was God, was before Abraham: and he was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world.

John 8:59 Zeal without knowledge, breaketh out at length into a most open madness: and yet the wicked cannot do what they list.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%208&version=GNV

History of Masonic Intelligence Operations

The Templars and Sion have been spying on each other since 1188. Such spying continues to the

present day. We will briefly examine the history of Masonic intelligence operations below.

John J. Robinson, author of the recent pro-Masonic book, Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of

Freemasonry, informs us that in the 12th and 13th centuries the Knights Templar were the

precursors of our modern intelligence services. He says they "were known to maintain

intelligence agents in the principal cities of the Middle East and the Mediterranean coast, and

they would necessarily have employed covert means of communication. International financial

dealings required total secrecy, naval operations required it to hide shipping information from

Moslem or pirate forces, and military administration over two continents would certainly require

it.

When the Templars founded their form of Freemasonry, intelligence operations naturally

travelled through a chain of their lodges. Likewise, Sion's Rosicrucians penetrated the masonic

working man's guilds a century before Cromwell's revolution. Moreover, Cromwell himself used

the secret halls of an aristocratic Masonic lodge called the "Crown" to organize his insurrection.

A century later Adam Weishaupt turned Continental Freemasonry into an intelligence gathering

machine. He founded the Illuminati to penetrate Templar French Masonry. His assignment was

to ignite the French Revolution and depose the Bourbons on behalf of the Priory of Sion. Instead,

the Illuminati itself was penetrated by the Templars. The Revolution occurred as scheduled, but

not under the command of Weishaupt.

Adversarial lodges penetrating each other's ranks is not as difficult as one may imagine. The

irony is that both Freemasonries employ the same identifying grips and passwords. Entry is

granted readily by a spy using these secret codes. Once inside the lodge brother Masons

fraternize freely with each other. The unsuspecting brothers tell every- thing they know to an

enemy who shakes hands correctly.34

An example of how British Masons used intelligence networks in Cremieux's day is given by

Msgr. George Dillon. During that time the Prime Minister of Great Britain was 33rd degree

Freemason, Lord Palmerston, who was, in a sense, a double agent. Palmerston, a Templar

Scottish Rite Mason, was in command of Rosicrucian English Freemasonry. Dillon states that

Palmerston, after he failed to acquire financial aid from Parliament for Mazzini's Templar Grand

Orient revolution in Italy, successfully tapped the British secret service for funding the Italian

Masons.35

During World War I, we find another example of Masonry's intelligence gathering. This war was

the first global conflict between British and French Freemasonry to determine which political

system would rule the world - monarchies or republics. In future chapters we shall discuss the

Masonic intrigue of that conflict, with one Order penetrating the other to obtain the enemy's

battle plans. A hint of the level of intelligence activity is provided by a German author, Friedrich

Hasselbacher, whose book, High Treason of the Military Lodges, is an unanswerable and

damning document. It reproduces in facsimile a mass of letters and "Field Post Cards" from

Masons to their lodges in Germany. In one letter, a Brother Mason writes to his Grand Master

suggesting that he get in touch with English Masons via the Grand Lodge of Norway, in order to

find out their "war aims. 36

Masonic intelligence services were employed again in World War II. For example, Freemasonry

in France was used as a secret service to help the resistance. The story is revealed by Frenchman

Henri Coston in La Republique du Grand Orient, which de Poncins quotes in Freemasonry and

the Vatican. Coston confirms that during the Nazi occupation of northern France, Pierre Laval, a

French politician, assisted the resistance when he "'attached the services of the secret societies to

the Surete Nationale, the state intelligence service. "'87

In our day the Masonic Lodge is tied directly to state intelligence services. Agents are placed

according to certain requirements and abilities, one of which is the ability to keep a secret.

Therefore, agents who are Masons are given preference for top positions. For example, in the

U.S.A. the heads of both the FBI and the CIA have always been either 33rd degree Masons, or

high initiates in affiliated secret societies. In fact, J. Edgar Hoover (33rd degree) obtained a

charter for the FBI's own Masonic lodge, the Fidelity Lodge. Curt Gentry, in his book J. Edgar

Hoover, informs us that "Membership and attendance at the Monday-night meetings were

'voluntary,' but those who aspired to higher positions soon realized that associating with the

director on this one semi-social occasion was almost a prerequisite to advancement. "38

The weakness in this system of selection is readily apparent, since Masons freely talk to, and

advance brother Masons. If an enemy agent joins a Masonic Lodge frequented by an intelligence

agent whom he wishes to compromise, his task is simple. Many examples of this are presented

by the late Stephen Knight in The Brotherhood. Knight, a British investigative journalist,

documented time and again how the KGB, prior to and after World War II, successfully

penetrated British intelligence by joining Western Freemasonry.

Knight informs us, for example, how after the Bolshevik Revolution, Russian intelligence used

Freemasonry to its own ends. The Soviet intelligence service learned of the art of Freemasonry

while investigating Russian Grand Orient Lodges. When Stalin outlawed the Brotherhood in

1925, he ordered his intelligence service to establish religious centers for training appropriate

agents to be sent to Western and Third World countries. A school for agents bound for Britain

and other English-speaking countries was in Lithuania prior to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. These

agents were trained in the exploitation of English Freemasonry.39 Knight quotes a British

Intelligence officer as saying:

If the KGB had a target in England - somebody they wanted to "turn" or from whom they

wanted to obtain information by one of a number of means - and this person was a

Freemason, I have no doubt that it would instruct an agent to join the same lodge. That would

be an obvious move. If being a Freemason makes a man more likely to bare his soul to

another Freemason than to an outsider, any intelligence service worth its salt would exploit

that.40

One of the most damaging episodes described by Knight was that of a KGB agent turning master

spies Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, and Guy Burgess into double agents for Russia. Knight

suggests this transformation was accomplished through Freemasonry. The intelligence world was

shocked when these three men defected to Russia in 1952 and 1962. It was discovered 30 years

too late that Philby, while head of a division in MIS (initials for Mission Impossible, division

No. 5), was also a high-ranking KGB agent. The irony in this story is that Philby remained on the

British intelligence payroll after defection.41 He died in Moscow, November 5, 1988- taking to

the grave his reason for defecting.42

Stephen Knight revealed that the penetration of Western Free- masonry was a standard KGB

practice:

I can reveal that senior officers of British Intelligence are concerned that the KGB has been

using Freemasonry in England for decades to help place its agents in positions of

responsibility and influence.... According to the evidence now available the undoubted "jobs

for the brethren" aspect of British Freemasonry has been used extensively by the KGB to

penetrate the most sensitive areas of authority, most spectacularly illustrated in the years

since 1945 by its placing of spies at the highest levels of both M15 and M16. Even today,

members of the security services privately admit that they have no idea of the extent of this

penetration.43

The "old boy network," the favoritism and the use of Masonry for professional and social

advancement - all proscribed by the [Masonic] Constitutions but all nevertheless widespread, as

this book has shown - are of obvious value to Englishmen recruited to spy for a foreign power.44

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Kim Jong Un[d] (born 8 January 1982, 1983 or 1984)[b] is a North Korean politician and dictator who has been the third supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012.[e] He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was the second supreme leader of North Korea, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder and first supreme leader of the country.

From late 2010, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in December 2011, state television announced Kim as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause". Kim holds the titles of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs. He is also a member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country. In July 2012, Kim was promoted to the highest rank of marshal in the Korean People's Army, consolidating his positions as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. North Korean state media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un" or "Marshal Kim Jong Un". He has promoted the policy of byungjin, similar to Kim Il Sung's policy from the 1960s, referring to the simultaneous development of both the economy and the country's nuclear weapons program. He has also revived the structures of the WPK, expanding the party's power at the expense of the military leadership.

Kim Jong Un rules North Korea as a totalitarian dictatorship, and his leadership has followed the same cult of personality as his father and grandfather. In 2014, a United Nations Human Rights Council report suggested that Kim could be put on trial for crimes against humanity. According to reports, he has ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials including his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in Malaysia in 2017. He has presided over an expansion of the consumer economy, construction projects and tourist attractions in North Korea.

Kim expanded the country's nuclear weapons program, which led to heightened tensions with the United States and South Korea, as well as China. In 2018 and 2019, Kim took part in summits with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and U.S. president Donald Trump, leading to a brief thaw between North Korea and the two countries, though the negotiations ultimately broke down without progress on reunification of Korea or nuclear disarmament. He has claimed success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea, as the country did not report any confirmed cases until May 2022, although several independent observers have questioned this claim. Under his rule, North Korean soldiers have been deployed under Russian command in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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

Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 1912 – 11 May 1988)[2][3] was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963, he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that had divulged British secrets to the Soviets during World War II and in the early stages of the Cold War. Of the five, Philby is believed to have been the most successful in providing secret information to the Soviets.[4]

Born in British India, Philby was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was recruited by Soviet intelligence in 1934. After leaving Cambridge, Philby worked as a journalist, covering the Spanish Civil War and the Battle of France. In 1940, he began working for the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6). By the end of the Second World War he had become a high-ranking member.

In 1949, Philby was appointed first secretary to the British Embassy in Washington and served as chief British liaison with American intelligence agencies. During his career as an intelligence officer, he passed large amounts of intelligence to the Soviet Union, including the Albanian Subversion, a scheme to overthrow the pro-Soviet government of Communist Albania.

Philby was suspected of tipping off two other spies under suspicion of Soviet espionage, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, both of whom subsequently fled to Moscow in May 1951. Under suspicion himself, Philby resigned from MI6 in July 1951 but was publicly exonerated by then-Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan in 1955. He resumed his career as both a journalist and a spy for MI6 in Beirut, but was forced to defect to Moscow after finally being unmasked as a Soviet agent in 1963. Philby lived in Moscow until his death in 1988.

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

Putin propagandists call for Britain to be sunk beneath a radioactive tsunami with its Poseidon 'superweapon' as the UK agrees to supply Ukraine with another 650 air defence missiles

By WILL STEWART and MIRIAM KUEPPER

Published: 04:01 EDT, 6 September 2024 | Updated: 04:23 EDT, 6 September 2024

Putin propagandists call for Britain to be sunk beneath a radioactive tsunami with its Poseidon 'superweapon'.

Russian hardline MP Andrei Gurulev sneered 'swim, swim, swim' as he demanded the use of Moscow's unique Poseidon high-speed underwater atomic drone on Britain.

Kremlin propaganda TV on Rossiya-1 channel demanded a 'critical threat' from Putin to stop Britain, the US and other Western countries giving permission to Ukraine to use long-range missiles for strikes on Russian territory.

'There is, of course, a more radical option,' said Lt-Gen Gurulev, a former tank commander and military strategist. 'The people of Britain are there, they also want to live a good and happy life at our expense, right?

'But if there is no Britain, there is no problem.'

This comes as the UK agreed to supply Ukraine with another 650 lightweight multi-role missiles worth £162million to help protect the country from Russian drones and bombing.

Russia last week unleashed its largest air attack on Ukraine since the full-scale war began early in 2022. Ukraine has made repeated requests for more air defence support to defend itself from missile and drone attacks.

The new supply of missiles was announced as British defence minister John Healey attended the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an ad-hoc coalition of some 50 nations, at a U.S. air base in Germany.

The Ministry of Defence said, in keeping with the new government's commitment to speed deliveries of aid to Ukraine, the first batch of missiles announced on Friday were expected to arrive by the end of the year.

'This new commitment will give an important boost to Ukraine's air defences,' Healey said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defence said the missiles made by Thales have a range of more than 3.73 miles and can be fired from a variety of platforms on land, sea, and air.

Last Monday, Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide in what Kyiv called the war's 'most massive' attack.

As Ukraine is receiving another delivery of missiles from the UK, British-loathing Gurulev told viewers across Russia's 11 time zones: 'Clearly, without using our strategic nuclear forces, we have enough non-strategic [tactical] nuclear weapons, which will [be launched] and leave nothing of Britain - a normal pre-emptive strike.'

He claimed the US would not respond with strategic missiles because it would be afraid of Russia doing the same.

He asked: 'Do you think we'll get a response? From who? Britain is done. Against the United States [we have our] Strategic Missile Forces, our long-range aviation and our navy…'

And leading Putin propagandist TV host Vladimir Solovyev asked him: 'So you are suggesting that we warn the British that if they supply [long-range missiles to Ukraine] and give the go-ahead to use [them], then we strike?'

But Gurulev said Russia needed a 'different' approach - involving the preemptive use of Poseidon.

The reservist general and military propagandist said: 'We understand what we're talking about, right? And then somewhere they [Britain] will no longer exist.'

Solovyov asked: '[So] there's a tsunami?' Gurulev replied: 'Here we are. Yes, yes, yes.

'[High-speed underwater nuclear drone] Poseidon [hits] with a four-way slam - and that's it.'

Solovyov suggested: 'But first we'll give three days for the British to leave their island.' Gurulev replied, laughing: 'Swim, swim, swim.'

Poseidon - so far not used - is an unmanned nuclear-powered underwater drone with an 'unlimited range'. Putin sees it as part of his new nuclear arsenal and classifies it a 'superweapon'.

It is designed to carry strategic nuclear warheads of up to 100 megatons and could unleash catastrophic destruction. It could also be deployed with lesser firepower as a tactical weapon.

Some reports say its underwater speed is up to 115mph, with a capability to operate at depths below 3,000ft. It is due to be ready soon but details of tests remain classified.

The weapon could be unleashed from Russian submarines such as the Belgorod.

It is seen as a weapon without comparison in the world, a hybrid between a nuclear missile and a submarine.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13820365/Putin-propagandists-call-Britain-sunk-beneath-radioactive-tsunami-Poseidon-superweapon-UK-agrees-supply-Ukraine-650-air-defence-missiles.html

Guy Fawkes Day – The Jesuit Treason and the Gunpowder Plot

A plan was hatched by a joint collaboration of the Pope and the Jesuits to blow up the House of Lords during the state opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605. Robert Catesby was the leader of a group of English Catholics who plotted to assassinate the protestant King James 1 in the failed gunpowder plot.

https://www.secretsunlocked.org/bible/bible-history/guy-fawkes-day-the-jesuit-treason-and-the-gunpowder-plot

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

BULL of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

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

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

As per numerology, 666 when added comes to 9, a tricky number that stands for greediness, and natural disasters. But 9 (6+6+6+18=1+8=90 is also the number of Mars (Mangal) which means extra energy which can either make or break. It is impulsive, restless, stubborn and inflexible,' adds Jumaani."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad-times/666-the-devil-or-cupid/articleshow/1621141.cms#

James I - Peace with Spain

On the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, many hoped that the atmosphere of religious tension would diminish. Her successor was James VI, King of Scotland. James was a Protestant like Elizabeth but he thought of himself as a peacemaker.

As the son of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, he was also expected to treat Catholics better than Elizabeth. Some Catholics even believed that he might stop their persecution, and allow them to worship freely.

Under pressure

The King, however, was under pressure from many members of the House of Commons who were strongly anti-Catholic. He also became less sympathetic towards Catholics following the discovery of a series of minor Catholic plots.

The Bye Plot of 1603 was a conspiracy to kidnap the King and force him to repeal anti-Catholic legislation. The Main Plot was an alleged plan by Catholic nobles to remove the King and replace him with his cousin, the Catholic Arabella Stuart.

Catholic convert

Although she was a Protestant, James's wife, Anne of Denmark, converted to Catholicism. This was one of a number of factors that led many Catholics to hope for toleration under his rule.

With Elizabeth I and Philip II of Spain now dead, both countries were keen to conclude fifteen years of war and signed a peace treaty at the Somerset House Conference in London in 1604.

Catholics hoped that the Spanish would press for toleration of English Catholics in the peace negotiations. In fact they failed to obtain any concessions at all.

https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/the-gunpowder-plot-of-1605/overview/background-to-the-gunpowder-plot/peacemaker---the-new-king

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 13:16-18

New International Version

16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

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%3A16-18&version=NIV

[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 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

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666,[b] gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the wall to the west. The death toll is generally thought to have been relatively small,[1][2] although some historians have challenged this belief.[3]

The fire started in a bakery in Pudding Lane shortly after midnight on Sunday 2 September, and spread rapidly. The use of the major firefighting technique of the time, the creation of firebreaks by means of removing structures in the fire's path, was critically delayed due to the indecisiveness of the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bloodworth. By the time large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm which defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City. Order in the streets broke down as rumours arose of suspicious foreigners setting fires. The fears of the homeless focused on the French and Dutch, England's enemies in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War; these substantial immigrant groups became victims of street violence. On Tuesday, the fire spread over nearly the whole city, destroying St Paul's Cathedral and leaping the River Fleet to threaten Charles II's court at Whitehall Palace. Coordinated firefighting efforts were simultaneously getting underway. The battle to put out the fire is considered to have been won by two key factors: the strong east wind dropped, and the Tower of London garrison used gunpowder to create effective firebreaks, halting further spread eastward.

The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming. Flight from London and settlement elsewhere were strongly encouraged by Charles II, who feared a London rebellion amongst the dispossessed refugees. Various schemes for rebuilding the city were proposed, some of them very radical. After the fire, London was reconstructed on essentially the same medieval street plan, which still exists today.[4]

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

"We shall fight on the beaches" was a speech delivered by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4 June 1940. This was the second of three major speeches given around the period of the Battle of France; the others are the "Blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech of 13 May 1940, and the "This was their finest hour" speech of 18 June 1940. Events developed dramatically over the five-week period, and although broadly similar in themes, each speech addressed a different military and diplomatic context.

In this speech, Churchill had to describe a great military disaster, and warn of a possible invasion attempt by Nazi Germany, without casting doubt on eventual victory. He also had to prepare his domestic audience for France's falling out of the war without in any way releasing France to do so, and wished to reiterate a policy and an aim unchanged – despite the intervening events – from his speech of 13 May, in which he had declared the goal of "victory, however long and hard the road may be".

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

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

Name

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

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

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 Blitz (English: "flash") was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.[4]

The Germans conducted mass air attacks against industrial targets, towns, and cities, beginning with raids on London, towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940 (a battle for daylight air superiority, between the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force, over the United Kingdom). By September 1940, the Luftwaffe had lost the Battle of Britain, and the German air fleets (Luftflotten) were ordered to attack London, to draw RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation.[5][6] Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered the new policy on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights.[7][8] Notable attacks included a large daylight attack against London on 15 September, a large raid on 29 December 1940 against London -- resulting in a firestorm known as the Second Great Fire of London,[9] and a large raid on the night of 10–11 May 1941.

The Luftwaffe gradually decreased daylight operations in favour of night attacks, to evade attacks by the RAF, and the Blitz became a night bombing campaign after October 1940. The Luftwaffe attacked the main Atlantic seaport of Liverpool in the Liverpool Blitz. The North Sea port of Hull, a convenient and easily found target or secondary target for bombers unable to locate their primary targets, suffered the Hull Blitz. The port cities of Bristol, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Southampton, Sunderland, Swansea, Belfast, and Glasgow also were bombed, as were the industrial centres of Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester, and Sheffield. More than 40,000 civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the war, almost half of them in the capital, where more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged.[1]

In early July 1940, the German High Command began planning Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.[10] Bombing failed to demoralise the British into surrender, or to do much damage to the war economy; eight months of bombing never seriously hampered British war production, which continued to increase.[11][12] The greatest effect was to force the British to disperse the production of aircraft and spare parts.[13] British wartime studies concluded that most cities took 10 to 15 days to recover when hit severely, but some, such as Birmingham, took three months.[13]

The German air offensive failed because the Luftwaffe High Command (Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, OKL) did not develop a methodical strategy for destroying British war industry. Poor intelligence about British industry and economic efficiency led to OKL concentrating on tactics, rather than strategy. The bombing effort was diluted, by attacks against several sets of industries, instead of constant pressure on the most vital.[13][14]

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

The Secret Fire, also known as the Flame Imperishable and the Imperishable Flame, was Eru Ilúvatar's mysterious power of creation.

The Secret Fire is that aspect of Eru which is his Power of Creation. Only by means of the Secret Fire can something with substance or life be made from nothing. It was by means of the Secret Fire that Eru gave to the Music of the Ainur real being and existence as Eä.

Eru created all fëar, including those of the Ainur, Elves, Dwarves, and Men, through the Secret Fire, and it is a part of each of them. Only a being animated with the Secret Fire can have its own true life and free will. Without it, creatures lack sentience and independent thought, though they may be puppeteered by a greater will. Aulë's Dwarves were such automata until Eru endowed them with their own fëar born of the Secret Fire.[1]

Even before the Music was sung, Melkor envied this power and sought it in the Void, but the Flame Imperishable was with Eru.[2] After the Music, Eru sent it to burn at the center of the World.[3]

Only Eru as Creator could command the Secret Fire; no created being could claim this power.[4] Given this, it is unclear as to how Melkor could have "made" such creatures as Orcs and Dragons or how these could have acted in the apparently rational and self-directed manner in which they did. See Orcs/Origin for a fuller examination of this thorny issue.

Gandalf the Grey referred to both the Secret Fire and the flame of Anor while facing a Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, saying "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor."[5]

This is an alternate name of the Holy Spirit in Tolkien's mythos, like Eru is the name of God. Clyde S. Kilby mentions a discussion he had with Tolkien: "Professor Tolkien talked to me at some length about the use of the word 'holy' in The Silmarillion. Very specifically he told me that the 'Secret Fire sent to burn at the heart of the World' in the beginning was the Holy Spirit."[6]

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Secret_Fire

"Eternal Flame" is a song by American pop rock group the Bangles for their third studio album, Everything (1988). Released on January 23, 1989, the power ballad was written by group member Susanna Hoffs with the established hit songwriting team of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. Upon its 1989 single release, "Eternal Flame" became a number-one hit in nine countries, including Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Since its release, it has been covered by many musical artists, including Australian boy band Human Nature, who reached the Australian top 10 with their version, and British girl group Atomic Kitten, who topped four national charts with their rendition.

Production

Two of the song's three writers, Tom Kelly and Susanna Hoffs, had met via the Bangles' October 30, 1986, concert at the Avalon Hollywood (then the Palace). Kelly attended the concert and backstage met the group's members. This led to Hoffs writing songs with Kelly and his regular songwriting partner Billy Steinberg, an experience she found interesting in contrast to her usual songwriting habits. Hoffs would develop lyrics based on a melody she worked out while playing around with a guitar, while Kelly and Steinberg would start with a lyrical idea and write music to fit it.[2] The trio's first composition to be recorded was "I Need a Disguise", which Belinda Carlisle recorded for her 1986 solo debut album. The Bangles' 1988 album Everything would feature two Hoffs/Kelly/Steinberg compositions, both with lead vocals by Hoffs: the upbeat lead single "In Your Room" and "Eternal Flame".

The "Eternal Flame" metaphor was suggested by two eternal flames: one at the gravesite of Elvis Presley at Graceland, where the Bangles had been given a private tour.[3] Hoffs said, "we were taken out to the Garden of Memories, and there was this little box which was supposed to have a lit flame in it, an eternal flame. Actually, that day it was raining so the flame was not on"[4]—and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child.[5] Steinberg explained, "Susanna was talking about the Bangles having visited Graceland, and she said there was some type of shrine to Elvis that included some kind of eternal flame. As soon as those words were mentioned, I immediately thought of the synagogue in the town of Palm Springs, California where I grew up. I remember during our Sunday school class they would walk us through the sanctuary. There was one little red light and they told us it was called the eternal flame."[2]

After Steinberg suggested writing a song titled "Eternal Flame", he and Hoffs wrote the song's lyrics at Steinberg's house and then according to Hoffs brought the lyrics to Tom Kelly's studio where Kelly completed the music and the demo was cut. Steinberg recalls Kelly also being at Steinberg's house when the lyrics were written, beginning the music's composition there.[4][6] "'Eternal Flame' was retro in that it has no chorus", Steinberg observed in 2021. The song instead works from an AABA song structure and has a middle eight, the portion beginning "Say my name / Sun shines through the rain", that it repeats twice. "In the 60s, it wasn't that unusual to have songs structured in that way, but, by the 80s, choruses were much more developed and middle eights had started to disappear", Steinberg recalls.[2] While the final recording is a power ballad,[7] the demo was deliberately guitar-oriented, despite sounding more suitable for a keyboard, as the Bangles had no keyboardist. When Hoffs played the demo at a band meeting where members and producer Davitt Sigerson decided what they would record for the upcoming album, it was rejected. Hoffs was "heartbroken" since she had been very enthusiastic about the song, but accepted her bandmates' decision.[2]

During the sessions, Sigerson admitted to Hoffs that he could not get the demo out of his mind.[2] He worked out an arrangement evoking a music box, bringing in keyboardist John Philip Shenale to give the track a chiming effect.[4] According to Hoffs, Sigerson's production of the track was inspired by the vintage recordings of Patsy Cline which he knew Hoffs enjoyed singing along to.[4] Hoffs would also recall that the Bangles' manager, Miles Copeland, overhearing the recording session for "Eternal Flame", had been displeased by the lack of drums[8] and that Hoffs had to resist pressure to re-record it with a stronger beat.[9][4] Hoffs sang the studio recording of the song naked after Sigerson pranked her by telling her Olivia Newton-John recorded unclad (a falsehood Sigerson eventually admitted to).[10] "I imagined it would feel like skinny dipping—vulnerable yet freeing – and I decided to try it. Nobody could see me; there was a baffle in front of me and it was dark." She liked the experience enough to sing all her vocals on the album that way.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Flame_(song)

Ezekiel 28:15

28:15 iniquity. When iniquity was found in this perfect being—evidently the sin of rebellion against God—he who had been Lucifer (“Light-Bearer”) became Satan (“The Adversary”), and has remained God’s greatest foe ever since.

Ezekiel 28:17

28:17 corrupted thy wisdom. Satan’s incomparable wisdom became corrupt when he deceived himself into thinking he could become God. He has attempted to deceive men and women ever since, persuading them (as he did Eve) that they also could be “as gods” (Genesis 3:5), but he had deceived himself most of all. His corrupted wisdom somehow persuaded him that he and God were the same type of being and, therefore, that he could displace God by leading a revolt of the angels under his command. This plan could be rationalized only by his assuming that both he and God had by some unknown process “evolved” out of the primeval waters which had been the environment of his first consciousness, when God created him. This is suggested not only from Genesis 1:2, but in all the most ancient pagan cosmogonies (Sumeria, Egypt, etc.), for which Satan must have been primarily responsible. Thus, Satan’s corrupted wisdom devised the primeval system of pantheistic evolutionism with which he has been corrupting and deceiving the world ever since.

Ezekiel 28:17

28:17 to the ground. When he rebelled against God in the heavenly Eden (sometime after the six days of creation, for everything in heaven and earth was still “very good” at that point in time—Genesis 1:31–2:3), God “cast him to the ground”—that is, “to the earth”—where He allowed him to test Adam and Eve in their earthly Eden, to see whether they also would rebel against God’s Word, and seek to be gods themselves.

https://www.icr.org/bible/Ezekiel/28:15-17/#:~:text=When%20iniquity%20was%20found%20in,God%27s%20greatest%20foe%20ever%20since.

What does the Bible say about predestination vs. free will?

Answer

In discussing predestination vs. free will, many people so strongly prefer one side that they virtually reject the possibility of the other’s having even a hint of truth. Those who strongly emphasize the sovereignty of God in predestining who will be saved sometimes take a position that resembles hard determinism or fatalism. Those who emphasize the free will of humanity come close to denying the sovereignty of God. However, if the terms are understood biblically, the discussion should not be predestination vs. free will, but rather predestination and not-entirely-free will.

Passages such as Romans 8:29–30 and Ephesians 1:5–11 explicitly teach that God predestines some to salvation. God predestining who will be saved is based on His sovereignty, unchanging character (Malachi 3:6), foreknowledge (Romans 8:29, 11:2), love (Ephesians 1:4-5), and plan and pleasure (Ephesians 1:5). God’s desire is that all would be saved and come to repentance (1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9). He offers salvation to everyone (Titus 2:11), yet we know that not everyone will be saved. How this all works together can be debated, but predestination itself is absolutely a biblical teaching. Numerous other New Testament passages also refer to believers’ being chosen or elected to salvation (Matthew 24:22, 31; Mark 13:20, 27; Romans 8:33; 9:11; 11:5–7, 28; Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1–2; 2:9; 2 Peter 1:10).

Yet the Bible also teaches that people are accountable for what they choose (Joshua 24:14-15, Luke 10:42, Hebrews 11:24-25). How does that work with “free” will? The question we must ask is what does it mean to have a “free” will? One difficulty in the discussion of predestination vs. free will is the common understanding of free will being the absolute freedom to do anything we choose. This is not how the Bible presents free will, nor does it match reality. Our freedom is always limited by our circumstances and our nature: e.g., we are limited in our “freedom” to fly because we are not, by nature, birds; and we are subject to physical laws such as gravity and aerodynamics. The Bible teaches that without Christ we are “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). If we are spiritually dead, surely that impacts our decision-making. John 6:44 says that, unless God draws, no one can come to Christ for salvation. If the decision whether to trust in Christ is impossible without God’s “interference,” our will is not totally “free.” Yet God offers salvation to everyone (Titus 2:11) and has made Himself plain to everyone so that everyone is without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).

We have a free will in the sense that we are capable of making moral choices. Our decision-making is impacted by numerous factors, though: e.g., our sin nature, our upbringing, our intellect, our training/education, our biology, our psychology, etc. So human beings do not truly have a free will, as popularly defined. We have a will. We can make decisions. Biblically speaking, we have the responsibility to respond to what God has revealed to us, including His call to believe the gospel (John 1:12; 3:16; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9–10; Revelation 22:17). But, again, our will is not truly “free” because we have constraints that shape our decisions.

Predestination is an explicitly biblical doctrine. God is indeed sovereign over everything, including who is saved. Concurrently, we are genuinely responsible for our decisions related to salvation. These are not mutually exclusive or irreconcilable truths. In the Bible, God repeatedly calls on us to exercise our will and trust in Christ for salvation, and we should pursue obedience to those commands regardless of how well we do or don’t understand predestination.

https://www.gotquestions.org/predestination-vs-free-will.html

What does Daniel 5:27 mean?

Daniel continues the interpretation of the mysterious handwriting on the palace wall (Daniel 5:5, 24–25).

Tekel suggests a weight, such as those used to assess precious metals or money. Quantities of coins not weighing the right amount were suspect—and probably corrupted with counterfeits or impurities. A balance was often used for this purpose. Some dishonest merchants would use false weights to cheat (Proverbs 11:1; 20:23). When the payment didn't match an honest weight, it was rejected. God had weighed Belshazzar's moral and spiritual character and determined that it fell short of the standard of His righteousness. Therefore, God rejected Belshazzar. Very soon, he would lose his kingdom. Belshazzar's sinful character showed in his pride, his drunken feast, his promiscuity, his blasphemy, his desecration of the temple vessels, and his idolatry (Daniel 5:1–4).

While Belshazzar's example was extreme, Romans 3:23 teaches that every person fails to meet God's perfect standard. Everyone falls short of God's glory. A self-righteous person may think his morality parallels God's, but the Bible compares every human's righteous deeds to "a polluted garment" (Isaiah 64:6). Romans 3:10 says, "None is righteous, no, not one." The only remedy is to be cleansed by Jesus' blood (Romans 5:8–9).

https://www.bibleref.com/Daniel/5/Daniel-5-27.html

Why will not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” be saved (Matthew 7:21)?

Answer

In Matthew 5—7 Matthew records Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In that historic message, Jesus challenges His listeners to change their minds about how they can be part of His kingdom, saying at one point that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will be saved (Matthew 7:21). To that point many believed that just by being related to Abraham and Moses and by obeying the Law of Moses they were assured of their place in God’s kingdom. Jesus counters that notion directly.

In Matthew 7:21, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Leading up to this statement, He had explained that His hearers’ righteousness must exceed even the righteousness of those who were most faithfully obeying the outward expressions of the Law of Moses (Matthew 5:20). He added that righteousness does not come from external obedience to laws and that, by their internal thought violations of those laws, they all were guilty (Matthew 5:21–47). In short, Jesus presented them with a standard they hadn’t considered before: they must be perfect like their heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Of course, living up to that standard is impossible. That is why Jesus proclaimed that people need to repent—to change their minds—about how they could be part of God’s kingdom. They thought they simply needed to be of a certain bloodline and obey a set of laws. Jesus smashed those ideas, pointing them to the actual standard: perfection.

Jesus further explains that the only way to achieve this perfection (since no one can do it on his own) is to have it provided. Ultimately, Jesus would go to the cross to pay for the imperfection of all of us (1 Corinthians 15:1–3) so that by believing in Him we can have life in His name (John 20:31). Jesus was clear—and the apostles after Him—that to be declared righteous by God is to receive grace through faith; righteousness does not come by works or human effort (John 3:16; 6:47; Ephesians 2:8–9).

The recipe is so simple, but we still want to do things our own way. People still want to justify themselves by their own efforts. If we could do that, we would have reason to boast, and we all, it seems, want to have reason to boast in ourselves. In Matthew 7:15–20 Jesus warns His audience about false prophets who will teach deceitfully about righteousness and bear the fruits of that falsehood. Jesus explains that these false prophets can be recognized by their fruits, even if their words are deceptive. Their words may come across as words of righteousness, but they aren’t faithful to the recipe that God provided. In fact, Jesus says, many of them will even call Him “Lord,” but their teachings and their deeds do not align with the will of God. Not everyone who says to Him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter His kingdom (Matthew 7:21). That honor is reserved for those who actually do His will. What is the will of God? That people change their minds (i.e., repent) about how they become righteous before God and come to Him with faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

Simply saying the right things doesn’t grant us God’s righteousness. Not everyone who says to Him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter His kingdom (Matthew 7:21). In Genesis 15:6 we discover that belief in the Lord is credited as righteousness. This is a magnificent and liberating truth. We can’t be perfect on our own, but He is perfect and has sacrificed and paid the penalty so that we can have forgiveness of sin and His righteousness. When we receive these by faith in Him, we are at that moment transferred to His kingdom (Colossians 1:13), and we look forward to the arrival of that kingdom on earth (Colossians 3:1–4).

https://www.gotquestions.org/not-everyone-who-says-to-me-Lord-Lord.html

Matthew 7

1599 Geneva Bible

7 1 We may not give judgment of our neighbors, 6 Nor cast that which is holy unto dogs. 13 The broad and strait way. 15 False prophets. 18 The tree and fruit. 24 The house built on a rock, 26 and on the sand.

1 Judge [a]not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again.

3 And why seest thou the mote, that is in thy brother’s eye, and perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how sayest thou to thy brother, Suffer me to cast out the mote out of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Hypocrite, first cast out that beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

6 ¶ [b]Give ye not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast ye your [c]pearls before swine, lest they tread them under their feet, and turning again, all to rent you.

7 ¶ [d]Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

8 For whosoever asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

9 For what man is there among you, which if his son ask him bread, would give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, which are evil, can give to your children good gifts, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?

12 [e]Therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do to you: even so do ye to them: for this is the [f]Law and the Prophets.

13 ¶ [g]Enter in at the strait gate: for it is the wide gate, and broad way that leadeth to destruction: and many there be which go in thereat.

14 Because [h]the gate is strait, and the way narrow that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

15 ¶ [i]Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns? or figs of thistles?

17 So every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 ¶ [j]Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth my Father’s will which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not by thy [k]Name prophesied, and by thy name cast out devils? and by thy name done many [l]great works?

23 And then will I profess to them, [m]I never knew you, depart from me [n]ye that work iniquity.

24 [o]Whosoever then heareth of me these words, and doeth the same, I will liken him to a wise man, which hath builded his house on a rock:

25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not: for it was grounded on a rock,

26 But whosoever heareth these my words, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which hath builded his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and the fall thereof was great.

28 ¶ And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these words, the people were astonished at his doctrine.

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.

Footnotes

Matthew 7:1 We ought to find fault one with another, but we must beware we do it not without cause, or to seem holier than they, or in hatred of them.

Matthew 7:6 The stiffnecked and stubborn enemies of the Gospel are unworthy to have it preached unto them.

Matthew 7:6 A pearl hath his name among the Grecians, for the orient brightness that is in it: and a pearl was in ancient time in great estimation among the Latins: for a pearl that Cleopatra had, was valued at two hundred and fifty thousand crowns, and the word is now borrowed from that, to signify the most precious heavenly doctrine.

Matthew 7:7 Prayers are a sure refuge in all miseries.

Matthew 7:12 A rehearsal of the meaning of the second table.

Matthew 7:12 That is to say, the doctrine of the Law and Prophets.

Matthew 7:13 Example of life must not be taken from a multitude.

Matthew 7:14 The way is straight and narrow we must pass through this rough way, and suffer and endure, and be thronged, and to enter into life.

Matthew 7:15 False teachers must be taken heed of, and they are known by false doctrine and evil living.

Matthew 7:21 Even the best gifts that are, are nothing without godliness.

Matthew 7:22 By Name here, is meant that mighty working power of God, which every man witnesseth that calleth upon him.

Matthew 7:22 Properly powers: Now these excellent works wrought are called Powers, by occasion of these things which they bring to pass, for by them we understand, how mighty the power of God is.

Matthew 7:23 This is not of ignorance, but because he will cast them away.

Matthew 7:23 You that are given to all kind of wickedness, and seem to make an art of sin.

Matthew 7:24 True godliness resteth only upon Christ, and therefore always remaineth invincible.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207&version=GNV

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