France’s Economy Grew Before Trump Unleashed Trade Tariffs
France’s Economy Grew Before Trump Unleashed Trade Tariffs
By William Horobin
April 8, 2025 at 11:00 AM PDT
The Bank of France raised its first-quarter estimate for economic growth slightly, but cautioned that it has little short-term visibility on how much damage US President Donald Trump’s tariffs will do.
The central bank said its monthly survey of 8,500 businesses and other indicators show output expanded 0.2% between January and March. In its previous publication, it put growth at 0.1% to 0.2%.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/france-s-economy-grew-before-trump-unleashed-trade-tariffs
The Nancy affair (French: Affaire de Nancy), commonly referred to in English as the Nancy Mutiny, was the crushing of a military mutiny in France on 31 August 1790, two years before the final overthrow of the French monarchy. The mutiny was of particular significance in that it illustrated the degree to which the discipline and reliability of the Royal Army had been undermined by thirteen months of revolutionary turmoil.
Background
The Nancy Mutiny occurred at a time when unrest was spreading amongst the regular regiments of the French Army, following the Storming of the Bastille, the mutiny of the gardes-francaises (French Guards) and the forced relocation of the royal family from Versailles to Paris in 1789. While the officers of the army were still predominantly royalist, the rank and file were becoming increasingly influenced by the revolutionary turmoil around them.[1] During the first half of 1790 a number of acts of disobedience and small scale mutinies occurred in various units, and political associations were created with links to the Jacobins and other parties outside the army. Specific military grievances were widespread amongst the soldiers, relating mainly to harsh discipline and conditions of service. Particularly resented was a measure taken in 1781 to reserve officer commissions to members of the nobility. This restriction had alienated many non-commissioned officers who now had no chance of promotion beyond their existing rank.[2]
Mutiny in Nancy
In August 1790, the city garrison of Nancy consisted of three French Royal Army regiments. These were the King's Regiment, Châteauvieux Regiment and Camp-Master General's Dragoon Regiment. The soldiers' committee of the King's Regiment demanded the right to audit the regiment's accounts, arrested its quartermaster, confined the colonel and other officers of the unit to the barracks and seized the regimental pay chest. The Châteauvieux Regiment followed suit in a particularly disturbing development from the perspective of the royal court since the Swiss regiments of the French army were assumed to be the most reliable element within it. The Châteauvieux Regiment's officers were able to temporarily restore order and punish members of the regiment's soldiers' committee in accordance with the Swiss military code by running the gauntlet. This led to renewed disturbances now involving all three regiments of the garrison.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_affair
Nancy Inman
April 8, 2018
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=194265684689839&set=a.194265698023171
Full Name Nancy Joan Inman
Born Feb 1957
Age 67
Current & Past Addresses
5302 S 4200 W, Roy, UT 84067
Weber County
Current Address
5945 Kenneth Ave #10, Carmichael, CA 95608
Sacramento County
(Feb 1985 - Sep 2022)
6001 Natomas Rd, Pleasant Grove, CA 95668
Sutter County
(Apr 1999 - Jun 2018)
260 W Antelope Dr, Layton, UT 84041
Davis County
(Mar 2002 - Jun 2012)
1600 N 1575 W #E108, Layton, UT 84041
Davis County
(Nov 1999 - Dec 1999)
6001 Natomas Rd, Pleasant Grv, CA 95668
Sutter County
(Nov 2019)
Phone Numbers
(801) 525-6722 Landline Last reported Apr 2024
(248) 778-6227 Wireless Last reported Dec 2020
(801) 450-0331 Wireless Last reported Dec 2020
(916) 655-1632 Landline Last reported Jun 2018
(801) 450-3312 Wireless Last reported Jun 2017
(281) 703-4271 Wireless Last reported Jun 2015
(801) 427-4089 Wireless Last reported Jun 2009
Possible Relatives
Name Age Born
Diego E Velasquez 39 Sep 1984
Email Addresses
baran0404@aol.com
nancy.inman@aol.com
baran0404@yahoo.com
https://www.familytreenow.com/search/people/results?first=Nancy&last=Inman&citystatezip=Utah&rid=asa&smck=Og2cDLgyT8ETBclVakYXWw
Saint-Jean d'Écosse de Marseille is a Masonic lodge that recruited in the eighteenth century in the world of great trade. She spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and created many daughter lodges as far away as the French colonies. Often called "Mother Scottish Lodge of Marseille", she had European ambitions and did not hesitate to assert her independence from the national Masonic obedience (Grand Orient de France).
Documentary sources
The study of the Lodge of St. John of Scotland in Marseilles has long been hampered by the lack of primary sources. Indeed, this lodge having always wished to maintain its independence vis-à-vis the first Grand Lodge of France which became in 1783 the Grand Orient of France, they were not depositories of its archives. However, it has been enlightened in recent years by the discovery or rediscovery of numerous documents from other lodges, especially located outside France, with which it was in correspondence. On the other hand, the return of the "Russian archives1 " also helped to relaunch the search2.
Economic and social context
In the eighteenth century, Marseille was one of the world's leading cosmopolitan ports. There were many foreign merchants, competitors of the Genoese, in particular Swiss, German, Danish and Dutch. Marseilles did not participate in the "triangular trade", but played a central role in supplying continental Europe with sugar and coffee3.
Its dynamism gives rise to significant migratory flows. In this context, the integration of foreign merchants, particularly Swiss and German, often involves membership of local Freemasonry, in which the Lodge of St. John of Scotland is both the most prestigious and the most ambitious. It is home to the most important men of the Chamber of Commerce and its temple, located at the corner of Rue Crudère and the current Cours Julien4 was renowned for being one of the most richly decorated in the world at the time5,4.
The Legend of the Scottish Patent
Like other French lodges of the time, Saint John of Scotland claimed the prestige of having been founded not by an English or continental source, but by a patent that was brought directly from Scotland by a Jacobite aristocrat, in this case a certain "Duvalmon", "de Valmont" or "de Valuon", on 17 June 17516 to his first venerable, a certain Alexandre Routier4.
Routier gave his patent to his lodge on 17 May 1762, which enabled him to take the title of "Mother Scottish Lodge of Marseilles" and to set up numerous daughter lodges first in Provence, then in the Levant and in the Colonies4.
However, the lodge was never able to present the original patent, but only copies, the oldest of which dated from 1784. Moreover, it was later shown that the records of the Grand Lodge of Edinburgh contained no trace of this supposed patent. Historians now think that this origin must be regarded as legendary and that it was particularly put forward from 1784 in order to claim an independent origin likely to justify its refusal to submit to the authority of the Grand Orient of France7.
Elitist recruitment open to foreigners
St. John of Scotland is an elite lodge that recruits mainly from the world of large trade. Many foreigners, especially Protestant merchants, were admitted, but the main positions of the lodge were still held by the Marseilles notables of the Chamber of Commerce. Several members of the lodge belonged to the Académie des Belles-lettres and many others were members of the city's academies of architecture, painting or music8. It forbade its members to visit the other lodges in Marseilles9.
On the eve of the French Revolution, it had 207 members, about a third of the total number of masons in Marseilles4.
An autonomous Masonic power
As early as 1763, the list of lodges in correspondence with Saint John of Scotland appears, alongside the French cities (Aix-en-Provence, Lille, Lyon, Metz, Montpellier, Nancy, Nîmes, Reims, Rouen, Sedan, Sète, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Saint-Pierre (Martinique)), correspondence or foundations of daughter lodges located in commercially strategic foreign cities10:
"Saint John of Scotland of the Discreet Imperial" in Aalst,
"The Three Mortars of the Duchy of Savoy" in Chambery,
"Saint John of Scotland of Secrecy and Harmony" in Malta,
"Saint John of Scotland" in Palermo,
"St. John of Scotland of True Friends Reunited" in Genoa,
"St. John of Scotland of Perfect Union" in Constantinople,
"Saint John of Scotland of Friendship" in Salonika,
"St. John of Scotland of the Nations United" in Smyrna.
Subsequently, this movement will only grow, mainly across the Mediterranean basin. Palermo and Malta in particular are major commercial relays in the Mediterranean. In 1784, among the members of "Saint John of Scotland of Malta", we note the presence alongside a fairly large number of Protestants of two eminent Catholics, members of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, in the person of a commander (of Vilhena) and an abbot (Grosson)11. Other lodges were founded, particularly in the Échelles du Levant, weaving a network of close solidarity, including with towns where there was no Masonic lodge but where merchants initiated by the Marseilles lodge resided12.
The High Ranks
The success of the lodge was reinforced by the success of the high Masonic degrees which it transmitted and which it knew how to use to strengthen its influence. Thus, in 1766, the Friendship Lodge of Bordeaux asked him for "Constitutions of Scottish Degrees" and was met with a polite refusal ("We have the power to transmit this sublime degree only to the lodges we constitute")13.
These high degrees, conferred one or two years after the first three, were initially four in number: "perfect master", "elected master", "Scotsman" and "Knight of the East". He was later awarded the rank of "Rosicrucian"4.
Revolutionary period and Empire
The lodge was forced to suspend its work in 1794. Five of its members, including two former venerables, were executed, one drowned at sea while fleeing, and others were forced into exile. It was not until 1801 that it was able to resume its activity. At that time, the situation in Marseille had changed. The port was ruined by the continental blockade. Recruitment turned to the Empire's cadres and reached a record 400 members. The lodge collapsed at the fall of the Empire and never recovered4.
21stcentury
In November 2011, the Grand Lodge of France founded a new lodge called St. John of Scotland14.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Jean_d%27%C3%89cosse_de_Marseille
" In 1748 the Rite de Veilla Bru, or Faithful Scotsman, was established at Toulouse with nine degrees, the first three Symbolic, followed by the Secret Master, four Elu degrees, and the Ninth degree ' Scientific Masonry.^" " In 1750 and 1751, a Lodge styled ' St. Jean de Ecossais ' was established at Marseilles, which afterwards assumed the style of ' Scottish Mother Lodge of France.' Its regime finally consisted of Eighteen degrees, of which the Scottish Mother Lodge of France at Paris afterwards borrowed Eight."
" In 1752 a power of the High degrees was established under the pompous title of * Sovereign Council, Sublime Scotch Mother Lodge of the Grand French Globe.' It afterwards called itself* Sovereign Council, Sublime Mother Lodge of the Excellents of the Grand French Globe.' The ' Council of the Emperors of the East and West ' assumed that title also on the 22d January, 1780. — Ragon."
"In 1754, The Chevalier de Bonneville established a chapter of the High degrees at Paris, styled the ' Chapter of Clermont.' In it the Templar system was revived, and the Baron de Hund received the High degrees, there and thence derived the principles and doctrines of his ' Order of Strict Observance ' —Thory and Leveque—Ragon says, The regime of the Chapter of Clermont at first comprised only three degrees, viz., the three Symbolic, followed by the Knight of the Eagle or Master Elect, Illustrious Knight or Templar, and Illustrious Sublime Knight—but that they soon became more numerous."
" In the same year Martinez Pascalis established his rite of ' Elus C'dens ' with nine degrees. He did not carry it to Paris until 1767, where Martinism in ten degrees grew out of it." — Clavel.
" In 1757 M. de St. Gelaire introduced at Paris the ' Order of Noachites.' ^'
page 50
THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH KITE, IN THIRTY-THREE DEGREES. KNOWN HITHERTO UNDER THE NAMES OF THE " RITE OF PEEPECTION" ^THE " EITE OF HEEEDOM" THE " ANCIENT SCOTTISH rite"—THE " RITE OF KILWINNING" AND LAST, AS THE " SCOTTISH RITE, ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED." A FULL AND COMPLETE HISTORY, WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING NUMEROUS AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS, RELATING TO THE ORIGIN, PKO- OB£SS AND ESTABLISHMENT OP THE EITE—EDICTS, CIRCULARS, PATENTS, REGISTERS, AND THE OPINIONS OF NUMEROUS AUTHORS — ILLUSTRATED WITH "TABLETS," / BY ROBERT B. FOLGER, M. D., Past Master, 33d., iJi-SECRETARY GENERAL, &0. SECOND EDITION. ,c ^ j ;^ NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/The_ancient_and_accepted_Scottish_rite%2C_in_thirty-three_degrees_%28IA_ancientaccepted00folg%29.pdf
One person dead in Citrus Heights house fire caused by 'smoldering cigarettes,' fire officials say
The investigators also discovered that the three smoke alarms in the home were "not operable."
Author: Joseph Daniels (ABC10), Kevin John
Published: 3:08 PM PST December 25, 2019
Updated: 11:36 PM PST December 25, 2019
CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif. — A Christmas Eve house fire apparently started by burning cigarettes in Citrus Heights left one man dead in Citrus Heights, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
Sacramento Metro firefighters were sent to the home in the 6900 block of Brookhaven Way just before midnight. They found the body inside the house as they were combating the flames, according to the fire department.
"It snuck up on us," said one of the man's neighbors, who identified himself as Mark. "I was inside the house watching TV, didn't hear a thing. And next thing you know, I get a text from our next door neighbor saying the house is on fire and the person inside may have not survived."
An arson investigator said the fire began in the same room where the victim was found. The fire was accidental and caused by "smoldering cigarettes" in the same room where the victim was found, according to the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
The investigators also discovered that the three smoke alarms in the home were "not operable."
One of the victim's neighbors, Sandy Inman, told ABC10 that he was a nice man who often kept to himself.
"It's just sad. He was a good man. He was a good decent human being," Inman said. "It just hit hard. It just makes me sad that he was all alone. He passed on Christmas. It's kind of rough all the way around."
The identity of the person will be released once their next of kin is notified, according to Sacramento Metro Fire.
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/citrus-heights/1-person-died-in-citrus-heights-house-fire-caused-by-smoldering-cigarettes/103-49623094-f44a-48b8-9abb-53c65cefddf7
Sandy J. Inman Recognized as a Professional of the Year by Strathmore's Who's Who Worldwide Publication
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Citrus Heights, CA, January 30, 2018 --(PR.com)-- Sandy J. Inman of Citrus Heights, California has been recognized as a Professional of the Year for 2017-2018 by Strathmore’s Who’s Who Worldwide for her outstanding contributions and achievements for over 30 years in the field of healthcare/insurance.
Sandy J. Inman
Sandy Inman is an Administrator specializing in worker’s compensation insurance. She serves as a Human Resource Generalist and is responsible for adjusting claims. She is affiliated with the V.I.C.A.
Sandy was born on June 16, 1968 in Sacramento, California. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, refurbishing furniture and jewelry design.
For further information, please contact www.sutterhealth.org.
About Strathmore’s Who’s Who Worldwide
Strathmore’s Who’s Who Worldwide is an international advertising, networking and publishing company based in Farmingdale, New York. They are proud to be able to satisfy their clients and continue to have repeat clientele due to their longevity and pride in their products and services. The Owners strive to connect business professionals to enhance their contact base and networking capabilities so they can get the acknowledgment and publicity within their industries and beyond. The Strathmore family has been providing these valuable services for over two decades. They target executives and professionals in all industries to be featured in their publication and on-line directory. Industries include business, law, education, healthcare and medicine, fine arts, IT, government, science, real estate, entertainment and many more accomplished fields. Professional profiles are listed in an annual hardcover journal and in a detailed, searchable database on the website www.strww.com.
Contact
Strathmore Worldwide
Susan Perrault
516-677-9696
www.strathmoreworldwide.com
Syndi Reibman
https://www.pr.com/press-release/742460
"The Priory of Sion is an initiatory Order of chivalry, founded on July 15 1099 in Jerusalem, by Godfrey of Bouillon, at the Abbey "Our Lady of Mount Sion" as "Order of our Lady of Mount Sion."The Order, after being registered for the first time in history, in 1956, and then being dissolved in 1993, was newly registered in 2015, perpetuating the legitimate Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair's lineage, through the actual Grand Master, Marco Rigamonti.The Priory of Sion is characterized by a gnostic and rosicrucian influence, who sets himself the task of supporting and nurturing personal growth, moral and spiritual, with respect and in harmony with the personal objectives that each of us, by nature, has to carry through in life experience.It's also our purpose the esoteric research as the study and experience related to the transcendent and mystical in an environment of communion with our Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Order.The Priory of Sion today inherits a tradition of esoteric, philosophical, spiritual and cultural legacy, which favors the cultivation of values and principles that offers the way to live a more aware and noble personal dimension.We work through symbols, ancient rituals, theurgic practice and traditions, in order to live a personal and collective sprirituality in communion with our Brothers and Sisters.The Order is apolitical and forbids its members to be made a place of political debate, or even worse, to be exploited for such purposes."
http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/
The Prieuré was cited by name in references extending from the twelfth to the early seventeenth century. Then, in documents dating from 1619, it was stated to have incurred the displeasure of King Louis XIII of France, who evicted them from their seat at Orléans and turned the premises over to the Jesuits.5 After that, the Prieuré de Sion seemed to vanish from the historical record, at least under that name, until 1956, when it appeared again, registered in the French Journal officiel. And yet the present-day Order had repeatedly cited certain of its activities between 1619 and the twentieth century, certain historical events in which it had played a role, certain historical developments in which it had some sort of vested interest. When we examined the events and developments in question, we found indisputable evidence attesting to the involvement of an organised and coherent cadre working in concert behind the scenes, sometimes using other institutions as a façade. This cadre was not named specifically, but everything indicated that it was indeed the Prieuré de Sion. What was more, it proved to involve precisely the same network of interlinked families claiming Merovingian descent. Whether it was the intrigues and the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, the insurrection known as the Fronde in the seventeenth century or the Masonic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, successive generations of precisely the same families were implicated, operating in accordance with a single consistent pattern."
The Messianic Legacy
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UV7FwghOOhdkp4fdk2SzG7oem2nRleW0/view?usp=sharing
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
Equites
From the reign of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337 AD) onwards, there was an explosive increase in the membership of both aristocratic orders. Under Diocletian, the number of sitting members of the Senate remained at around 600, the level it had retained for the whole duration of the Principate.[80] Constantine established Constantinople as a twin capital of the empire, with its own senate, initially of 300 members. By 387, their number had swollen to 2,000, while the Senate in Rome probably reached a comparable size, so that the upper order reached total numbers similar to the equo publico equites of the early Principate.[81] By this time, even some commanders of military regiments were accorded senatorial status.[82]
At the same time the order of equites was also expanded vastly by the proliferation of public posts in the late empire, most of which were now filled by equestrians. The Principate had been a remarkably slim-line administration, with about 250 senior officials running the vast empire, relying on local government and private contractors to deliver the necessary taxes and services. During the 3rd century the imperial bureaucracy, all officials and ranks expanded. By the time of the Notitia Dignitatum, dated to 395 AD, comparable senior positions had grown to approximately 6,000, a 24-fold increase.[83] The total number enrolled in the imperial civilian service, the militia inermata ('unarmed service') is estimated to have been 30–40,000: the service was professionalized with a staff made up almost entirely of free men on salary, and enrolled in a fictional legion, I Audiutrix.[84]
In addition, large numbers of decuriones (local councillors) were granted equestrian rank, often obtaining it by bribery. Officials of ever lower rank were granted equestrian rank as reward for good service, e.g. in 365, the actuarii (accountants) of military regiments. This inflation in the number of equites inevitably led to the debasement of the order's prestige. By AD 400, equites were no longer an echelon of nobility, but just a title associated with mid-level administrative posts.[56]
Constantine established a third order of nobility, the comites (companions (of the emperor), singular form comes, the origin of the medieval noble rank of count). This overlapped with senators and equites, drawing members from both. Originally, the comites were a highly exclusive group, comprising the most senior administrative and military officers, such as the commanders of the comitatus, or mobile field armies. But comites rapidly followed the same path as equites, being devalued by excessive grants until the title became meaningless by 450.[82]
In the late 4th and in the 5th century, therefore, the senatorial class at Rome and Constantinople became the closest equivalent to the equo publico equestrian class of the early Principate. It contained many ancient and illustrious families, some of whom claimed descent from the aristocracy of the Republic, but had, as described, lost almost all political and military power.[85] Nevertheless, senators retained great influence due to their enormous inherited wealth and their role as the guardians of Roman tradition and culture.[86]
Centuries of capital accumulation, in the form of vast landed estates (latifundia) across many provinces resulted in enormous wealth for most senators. Many received annual rents in cash and in kind of over 5,000 lbs of gold, equivalent to 360,000 solidi (or 5 million Augustan-era denarii), at a time when a miles (common soldier) would earn no more than four solidi a year in cash. Even senators of middling wealth could expect an income 1,000–1,500 lbs of gold.[87]
The 4th-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus, a former high-ranking military staff officer who spent his retirement years in Rome, bitterly attacked the Italian aristocracy, denouncing their extravagant palaces, clothes, games and banquets and above all their lives of total idleness and frivolity.[88] In his words can be heard the contempt for the senatorial class of a career soldier who had spent his lifetime defending the empire, a view clearly shared by Diocletian and his Illyrian successors. But it was the latter who reduced the aristocracy to that state, by displacing them from their traditional role of governing the empire and leading the army.[89]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites
Roses and ancient Roman rituals
During the Roman Empire, Rosalia or Rosaria was a festival of roses celebrated on various dates, primarily in May, but scattered through mid-July. The observance is sometimes called a rosatio (rose-adornment) or the dies rosationis, ‘day of rose-adornment’.
Flowers were traditional symbols of rejuvenation, rebirth, and in Greece and Rome, wreaths and garlands of flowers and greenery were worn by both men and women for festive occasions. They were offered to deities, particularly the goddesses Venus, Persephone and Flora, the goddess of Spring.Venus received roses at her ritual cleansing (lavatio) on April 1st and at the wine festival (Vinalia). And, in Athens, roses and violets could be adornments for Dionysian feasts.
The Roman army celebrated the Rosaliae signorum, rose festivals at which they adorned the military standards with garlands. The rose festivals of ancient times are recorded in at least forty-one inscriptions in Latin and sixteen in Greek, where the observance is often called a rhodismos.
An Imperial-era business letter, written on papyrus, documents that 4,000 narcissus flowers were sent from a florist to a wedding. We know too, that men wore a garland of flowers more than women. First century AD Roman poet Statius describes a groom as wearing a wreath of roses, violets, and lilies.
“When the Emperor made a formal arrival – an adventus- at a city, garlands of flowers might be among the gestures of greeting.”
And then, of course, early Christian writers transferred the imagery of garlands and crowns of roses and violets to the cult of the saints. Blood and flowers are linked in divine metamorphosis in mythology.
And in fact every year, at the Pantheon, a place of Christian worship, which was converted from a pagan temple, to the Basilica of Mary and the Martyrs, celebrate Pentecost by dropping rose petals through the roof. Like many pagan rituals, they were continued in Christian times, but with a different meaning.
https://www.italysbestrome.com/roses-and-ancient-roman-rituals/
The oldest written evidence of rose cultivation comes from a tablet discussing the Akkadian king Sargon I’s military campaign to the west. Sargon brought rosebush saplings with him on the campaign so rose cultivation could begin in these newly acquired territories soon after his conquest. It was an act of supreme confidence and evidence of roses’ importance to Akkadian culture.
https://deathscent.com/2022/02/18/rosalia/
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
A large late 18th c Portuguese Order of Christ sash badge, set with 106 cushion-cut white topazes (approx. 10.3 ctw, tested) and 32 flat-cut red foiled garnets/quartzes, in a gilt silver frame with original fittings preserved. The large bail to reverse is designed to hold a wide sash. 18th c portraits of Portuguese monarchs (e.g. Joseph I, Maria I, Peter III) almost always feature the subject wearing an Order of Christ cross around the neck on a red silk sash, this badge being an indispensable element of royal portraits due to the Portuguese sovereign serving as the order’s Grand Master. Created in 1318 by Dinis I as a continuation of the Knights Templar (a yet older Crusade-era military order with a role in the founding of Portugal), the Order of Christ has long contributed to the country’s coastal defense and maritime strength. During the Renaissance age of sail, it was the Order that commandeered naval explorations by dispatching its own fleets and building overseas commanderies; both Henry the Navigator and Vasco de Gama were members. By the late 18th c, the Order of Christ was indelibly tied to Portuguese national and social identity. Membership, limited to Portuguese Catholics of noble descent, was a marker of social status. Thriving trade with England and Brazil, encouraged by the liberalizing economic policies of the King’s chief minister the Marquis of Pombal, led to the rise of wealthy mercantile bourgeoisie in Lisbon and Porto. Changing distribution of wealth promoted greater social mobility and progressivism. In 1775, the government decreed by law to allow merchants of great wealth to be ennobled, and in 1789, Queen Maria I secularized the Order. The late 18th c therefore witnessed the height of membership expansion and popularity. The present badge’s design type features a cross of Portugal, a unique blend of the cross pattée and cross potent, and long a national symbol. The upper rosette pendant, an initiation symbol, represents the circular sun painted in the vault of the Convent of the Order of Christ.
https://www.hhantiquejewelry.com/shop/late-18th-c-portuguese-order-of-christ-cross/
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]
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."
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing
The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (Latin: Magnum schisma occidentale, Ecclesiae occidentalis schisma), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon both claimed to be the true pope, and were joined by a third line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The schism was driven by personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy being closely associated with the French monarchy.
The papacy had resided in Avignon since 1309, but Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377. The Catholic Church split in 1378 after Gregory XI's death and Urban VI's election. A group of French cardinals declared his election invalid and elected Clement VII as pope. After several attempts at reconciliation, the Council of Pisa (1409) declared that both rivals were illegitimate and elected a third purported pope. The schism was finally resolved when the Pisan claimant Antipope John XXIII called the Council of Constance (1414–1418). The Council arranged the renunciation of both Roman pope Gregory XII and Pisan antipope John XXIII. The Avignon antipope Benedict XIII was excommunicated, while Pope Martin V was elected and reigned from Rome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism
Pope Leo X (r. 1513–1521) decided to complete the construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. As the sale of certificates of indulgences had been a well-established method of papal fund raising, he announced new indulgences in the papal bull Sacrosanctis in 1515. On the advice of the banker Jakob Fugger (d. 1525), he appointed the pluralist prelate Albert of Brandenburg (d. 1545) to supervise the sale campaign in Germany.[note 22] The Dominican friar Johann Tetzel (d. 1519), a leading figure in the campaign, applied unusually aggressive marketing methods. A slogan attributed to him famously claimed that "As soon as the coin into the box rings, a soul from purgatory to heaven springs".[110][111] Frederick the Wise, Prince-elector of Saxony (r. 1486–1525) forbade the campaign because the Sacrosanctis suspended the sale of previous indulgences, depriving him of revenues that he had spent on his collection of relics.[note 23][94]
The campaign's vulgarity shocked many serious-minded believers,[94] among them Martin Luther, a theology professor at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony.[111][113] Born into a middle-class family, Luther entered an Augustinian monastery after a heavy thunderstorm dreadfully reminded him the risk of sudden death and eternal damnation, but his anxiety about his sinfulness did not abate.[114] His studies on the works of the Late Roman theologian Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) convinced him that those whom God chose as his elect received a gift of faith independently of their acts.[115] He first denounced the idea of justification through human efforts in his Disputatio contra scholasticam theologiam ('Disputation against Scholastic Theology') in September 1517.[116]
On 31 October 1517, Luther addressed a letter to Albert of Brandenburg, stating that the clerics preaching the St. Peter's indulgences were deceiving the faithful, and attached his Ninety-five Theses to it. He questioned the efficacy of indulgences for the dead, although also stated "If ... indulgences were preached according to the spirit and intention of the pope, all ... doubts would be readily resolved".[117] Archbishop Albert ordered the theologians at the University of Mainz to examine the document. Tetzel, and the theologians Konrad Wimpina (d. 1531) and Johann Eck (d. 1543) were the first to associate some of Luther's propositions with Hussitism. The case was soon forwarded to the Roman Curia for judgement.[118] Pope Leo remained uninterested, and mentioned the case as "a quarrel among friars".[111][119]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation
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
Teutonic Vatican Order – Starting in 1312 AD, many Templars in Germany or Eastern Europe joined the Order of Teutonic Knights of the Vatican (founded 1190 AD), which was already an official but autonomous branch of the Templar Order [80] [81].
The Teutonic Order continued as such for 739 years, until it was “reformed” in 1929, “re-established” in 1957, and “restructured” in 1965, becoming the “Order of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem”. The modern Order of Mary has about 300 Clergy and 700 secular “Familiares” in a role analogous to Knights [82], but does not grant knighthood or damehood.
Surviving Templars from the Teutonic Order, after 1929, joined the Franciscan Sacred Order in England, Franciscan Vatican Order, Ancient Celtic Churches, or Rosicrucian Mystical Order (all continued to the present day).
Spanish Montesa Order – In 1317 AD, King James II of Spain “obtained from Pope John XXII… the possessions of the Templars in his Kingdom”, to create the “Military Order of Montesa… established… to take the place of the Order of the Temple… [as] the continuation.” The Order of Montesa was placed under the Cistercian Rule, and based upon the Templar Order. [83]
Thus in 1317 AD, Pope John XXII, a Templar revivalist, supported Templar survival through the Order of Montessa by granting it Vatican Patronage.
Starting in 1317 AD, many Templars in Spain or Western Europe joined the Order of Montesa.
The Order of Montesa (from 1317 AD) operated for 270 years, until it was “united with the Crown” in 1587 AD, thereby dissolving it [84].
Surviving Templars from the Order of Montesa, after 1587 AD, joined the German Teutonic Order (until 1929), Portuguese Knights of Christ (until 1789), or joined the Franciscan Sacred Order in England, Franciscan Vatican Order, Ancient Celtic Churches, or Rosicrucian Mystical Order (continued to the present day).
Portugal Knights of Christ – In 1319 AD, in Portugal the Knights Templar were cleared of all charges, and Pope John XXII, a Templar revivalist, supported Templar survival by merely renaming the Portuguese branch of the Order to “Knights of Christ”, allowing to keep their assets.
Starting in 1319 AD, many Templars in Portugal or Western Europe joined the Knights of Christ.
In 1740 AD Pope Benedict XIV, a Templar revivalist, supported Templar survival as the “Knights of Christ” by granting the former headquarters of the Knights Templar to the King of Portugal for the renamed Order.
The Knights of Christ (from 1319 AD) operated for 470 years, until it was dismantled in 1789 AD: It was reduced to an “honourary decoration of merit” by Queen Maria I in 1789 AD, fully “extinguished” with the end of the Portuguese Monarchy in 1910 AD, and later “reformulated” and “reinstated” in 1918 only as an “honorary award” under the President of the modern Republic of Portugal [85] [86].
A doctrine of customary international law holds that a “new government” of a modern secular “Republican State” does not have legal capacity of “rights of Fons Honourum” for the “exercise of heraldic jurisdiction” to maintain, revive nor even recognize Orders of Chivalry [87] [88] [89] [90]. Therefore, the modern Knights of Christ is not an Order of Chivalry, and thus does not grant knighthood or damehood.
Surviving Templars from the Knights of Christ, after 1789 AD, joined the German Teutonic Order (until 1929), or joined the Franciscan Sacred Order in England, Franciscan Vatican Order, Ancient Celtic Churches, or Rosicrucian Mystical Order (continued to the present day).
Rosicrucian Mystical Order – In ca. 1407 AD, the surviving Knights Templar in Portugal (renamed “Order of Christ” since 1319 AD) helped establish the Rosicrucian Order, named after the trademark Templar Red Cross, or “Rose Cross”, thus “Rosa-Cruz” (Portugese) or “Rossi-Croce” (Italian).
This is evidenced by the fact that the Portuguese Templar headquarters, the “Convent of the Order of Christ”, features three artifacts of a Rose at the center of a Cross in the initiation room, dated ca. 1530 AD [91] [92]. This establishes that many surviving Templars helped create and develop the Rosicrucian Order from 1407-1530 AD.
Starting in 1407 AD, and even more after 1530 AD, many Templars throughout Western Europe joined the Rosicrucian Mystical Order.
In 1740 AD Pope Benedict XIV, a Templar revivalist, supported Templar survival through the Rosicrucian Order by restoring “Templar Rosicrucian” lines of Apostolic Succession, “reinstating” those lines in the Vatican [93], and also by establishing the first Vatican “Academy of Antiquities” [94] to continue the Templar mission of exploring ancient origins of Christianity.
The Rosicrucian Order, as an esoteric society, was never established with sovereign authority, and thus by customary international law, it is not an Order of Chivalry [95], and thus does not grant knighthood or damehood.
Results Through Other Orders – In the end result, Templars from the original Order of the Temple of Solomon survived through other Orders, actively continuing Templar missions and living the Templar life of Chivalry, directly into the modern era.
After the other Orders of Chivalry which could grant knighthood and damehood ended, in 1587 AD (Spain), 1789 AD (Portugal) and 1929 AD (Germany), surviving Templars continued Templar missions through the Franciscan Sacred Order, Franciscan Vatican Order, Ancient Celtic Churches, and Rosicrucian Mystical Order.
However, none of these remaining institutions of Templar survival were Orders of Chivalry, and thus could not grant knighthood or damehood.
Also, only the Sacred Order of Saint Francis of Assisi in England (since 1212 AD) preserved and carried the rights of Templar Sovereign Succession, through the rare and unique “Templar Lines” of Apostolic Succession.
Therefore, from 2007-2013, the Franciscan Sacred Order completed the original plan from Saint Bernard, by reunification with surviving cultural and chivalric Templars from Ancient Celtic and Rosicrucian branches of the Old Catholic Churches, to restore and reestablish the Templar Order to full legitimacy.
https://knightstemplarorder.org/templar-order/survival-lineage/
Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.[1][2]
Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars.[3] According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown.[4] He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea.[5] Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates.[6] The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northwards.
The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed.[7] In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.[8]
Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior.[9] During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains.[10] A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.
Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor.[11] Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain
Constantine came to Britain with his father, the emperor Constantius, in 305. Constantius died in July the following year in York.
The system of succession at the time demanded that another Caesar should become emperor but the soldiers in York immediately proclaimed Constantine their leader. It proved to be a pivotal moment in history. He is known as Constantine the Great for very good reasons.
After nearly 80 years, and three generations of political fragmentation, Constantine united the whole of the Roman Empire under one ruler. By 324 he had extended his power and was sole emperor, restoring stability and security to the Roman world.
Constantine also abandoned Rome as the most important city in the empire, building a new capital modestly named Constantinople (now Istanbul). In the next two centuries, Rome and Italy became vulnerable to barbarian invasions. The much more easily defensible Constantinople lasted for another thousand years.
Finally, and perhaps most famously, Constantine’s strong support for Christianity had an incalculable impact on European history. He is said to have been converted to the faith in AD 312, although this has not been corroborated.
At the time only around ten per cent of the Roman empire’s population was Christian. The majority of the ruling elite worshipped the old gods of Rome. Constantine was the first emperor to allow Christians to worship freely, helping to unite and promote the faith. He went on to instigate the celebration of the birth of Christ we call Christmas.
In 314, a year after Constantine’s edict on religious tolerance, Eboracum had its first Bishop. Along with the Bishop’s of Londinium (London) and Lindum (Lincoln), he attended the Christian Council at Arles.
Constantine didn’t stay long in York, establishing Trier as his base for his campaigns against the Germans perhaps a year after his succession. However his place in York's history was already very firmly sealed.
http://www.historyofyork.org.uk/themes/constantine-the-great
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid022MxNPv6st8UW6EUnMgdXU4yppsjQHaDEtjYFhEwzAjVKWrw4br9oZdNPKzgSedP9l
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.
The title Duke of Rothesay is the honour taken by the heir apparent to the Scottish throne, and so it was given to this boy, the fifth child but first son of James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stewart,_Duke_of_Rothesay
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
Valley of Traverse City
ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE
The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins
The Story Unfolds…
Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.
What We Know
n 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.
The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.
Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.
James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.
Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.
To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)"
https://web.archive.org/web/20190615041607/http://www.traversecityscottishrite.com/scottish-rite-history.html
PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY
SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL
143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]
§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us free:
free, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;
free, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;
free, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF
252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the successors of Peter[32]
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
32 Let Christ the king of Israel now come down from the cross, that we may see, and believe. They also that were crucified with him, reviled him.
Mark 15:32
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2015&version=GNV
Hillary Clinton : "We Can Have this Jesuitical Argument about what exactly was meant" (re-upload) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TxtqlWPplQ
MEET THE PRESS - RUSSERT BADGERS HILLARY ON THE IRAQ VOTE P2
MEET THE PRESS JANUARY 6, 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0SL05Sls_U
It was while investigating the Little Rock integration incident in 1957 that I first learned of Pike’s rapid advance in Freemasonry, and knowing that Weishaupt, using Thomas Jefferson and Moses Holbrook, had infiltrated Illuminists into the Masonic Lodges of America, I decided I would find out if the fact that Pike’s mansion in Little Rock had thirteen rooms had any significance. “Thirteen’ figures prominently in Satanic, Luciferian and Cabalistic rituals, codes, and writings, etc. My investigations produced documentary evidence to show that, because of Pike’s exceptional mental ability, he came under the notice of professors in Harvard who were members of the Illuminati, who developed in his mind the ‘idea that a One World Government, a One World Religion and a One World financial and economic system was the ONLY solution to the world’s many and varied problems. I next discovered that his departure from Harvard was not due to lack of finances, or because of a misunderstanding with the faculty over tuition fees, but because of his ‘radical’ ideas and teachings. When he returned home determined that he would ‘fight’ his way to the top despite all opposition, he was in a suitable frame of mind to be recruited as a ‘Minerval’ or ‘apprentice’ into the lower degrees of the Illuminati."
Satan Prince of This World by William Guy Carr
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view?usp=sharing
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, also known as Adams Field, is a joint civil-military airport on the east side of Little Rock, Arkansas. It is operated by the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission.
The largest commercial airport in Arkansas, it served more than 2.1 million passengers in the year spanning from March 2009 through to February 2010.[6] While Clinton National Airport does not have direct international passenger flights, more than 50 flights arrive or depart at Little Rock each day, with nonstop service to 14 cities.[7] The airport is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a small-hub primary commercial service facility.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_National_Airport
The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site is located in HOPE, Arkansas.[2] Built in 1917 by Dr. H. S. Garrett, in this house the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, spent the first four years of his life, having been born on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in HOPE, Arkansas.[3][4] The house was owned by Clinton's maternal grandparents, Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, and they cared for him when his mother, Virginia, was away working as an anesthetist in New Orleans.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_William_Jefferson_Clinton_Birthplace_Home_National_Historic_Site
Tragedy and HOPE: A History of the World in Our Time is a work of history written by former Georgetown University professor and historian Carroll Quigley. The book covers the period of roughly 1880 to 1963 and is multidisciplinary in nature though perhaps focusing on the economic problems brought about by the First World War and the impact these had on subsequent events. While global in scope, the book focuses on Western civilization."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_and_Hope
In his first year (1965) in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, Bill Clinton took Quigley's course, receiving a 'B' as his final grade in both semesters (an excellent grade in a course where nearly half the students received D or lower).[1]: 94, 96 In 1991, Clinton named Quigley as an important influence on his aspirations and political philosophy, when Clinton launched his presidential campaign in a speech at Georgetown.[1]: 96 He said he learned from Quigley that “The future can be better than the past, and that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.” Bill Clinton told his audiences, “that is what the new choice is all about....We are not here to save the Democratic party. We are here to save the United States of America.” It was Clinton's most effective speech, and he repeated variations time and time again as the blueprint for his campaign message in winning the Democratic nomination and the general election for President of the United States in 1992.[21][22]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Quigley
Theorists also cite the inclusion of Bill Clinton at the meetings in 1991 before he was president and Tony Blair’s presence in 1993 before he became the British prime minister as examples of the group’s power. Past attendees have included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (who will also be attending this year), former Chase Manhattan chief executive David Rockefeller, and British Prime Minister David Cameron."
Bilderberg Group: What To Know About the Secretive Meetings
https://time.com/4362872/bilderberg-group-meetings-2016-conspiracy-theories/
"Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner October 20, 2016 Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Henry Kissinger Gayle King Cardinal Dolan Katie Couric Chuck Schumer Mayor Bill de Blasio"
https://www.facebook.com/MariaBartiromo/posts/alfred-e-smith-memorial-foundation-dinner-october-20-2016-donald-trump-hillary-c/1353937201283479/
HOPE: all hope is to be placed in God, and with what degree of perfection [67]; eternal life alone is to be hoped for as a reward [82]; the extent to which this hope should be of assistance [288]; how hope should be shown by the dying | 595]; hope in the preservation and growth of the Society [812]. See also Faithfulness" The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms pg. 464
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
Bill Clinton ‘Encouraged’ Trump to Run
SLICK WILLY
Updated Apr. 14, 2017 10:12AM EDT /
Published Aug. 05, 2015 3:33PM EDT
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/08/05/bill-clinton-encouraged-trump
I began by attending Fordham University in the Bronx, mostly because I wanted to be close to home. I got along very well with the Jesuits who ran the school, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in. At the time, if you were going to make a career in business, Wharton was the place to go. Harvard Business School may produce a lot of CEOs—guys who manage public companies— but the real entrepreneurs all seemed to go to Wharton: Saul Steinberg, Leonard Lauder, Ron Perelman—the list goes on and on."
Donald Trump The Art of the Deal
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLcbnLrl6moQT7nGj1JitG6AiQ6qgK0y/view?usp=sharing
Trump International, Scotland
@TrumpScotland
Donald J Trump, 45th President of the United States, announced today the start of a new golf venture in Scotland: the MacLeod course, to be built at Trump International Scotland in Aberdeenshire in honor of his late mother Mary Anne MacLeod.
10:47 AM · May 1, 2023
https://x.com/TrumpScotland/status/1653093764271857666
James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766) [a] was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until his death in 1766. The only son of James II of England and his second wife, Mary of Modena, he was Prince of Wales and heir until his Catholic father was deposed and exiled in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. His Protestant half-sister Mary II and her husband William III became co-monarchs. As a Catholic, he was subsequently excluded from the succession by the Act of Settlement 1701.
Raised primarily in France and Italy, when his father died in September 1701 James claimed the thrones. As part of the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1708 Louis XIV of France backed a landing in Scotland on his behalf. This failed, as did further attempts in 1715 and 1719. Led by his elder son Charles Edward Stuart, the 1745 Rising was the last serious effort to restore the House of Stuart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart
Joan Beaufort (c. 1404 – 15 July 1445)[2] was Queen of Scots from 1424 to 1437 as the spouse of King James I.[3] During part of the minority of her son James II (from 1437 to 1439), she served as the regent of Scotland, the first dowager Queen of Scotland to do so since the 13th century.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Beaufort,_Queen_of_Scots#Queen_of_Scotland
Joan
fem. proper name, Middle English Joan, Jone, variants of Jean, Jane, from Medieval Latin Joanna, fem. of Late Latin Joannes (see John). Often 17c.-18c. used as a generic name for a female rustic, or with Darby as the characteristic names of an old, happily married couple (1735). Among U.S. births, a top 10 name for girls born between 1930 and 1937.
Entries linking to Joan
John
masc. proper name, Middle English Jon, Jan (mid-12c.), from Old French Jan, Jean, Jehan (Modern French Jean), from Medieval Latin Johannes, an alteration of Late Latin Joannes, from Greek Ioannes, from Hebrew Yohanan (longer form y'hohanan), said to mean literally "Jehovah has favored" or "Jah is gracious," from hanan "he was gracious."
Greek conformed the Hebrew ending to its own customs. The -h- in English was inserted in imitation of the Medieval Latin form. Old English had the Biblical name as Iohannes. As the name of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, it was one of the most frequent Christian given names, and in England by early 14c. it rivaled William in popularity and was used generically (in Middle English especially of priests) and as an appellative (as in John Barleycorn, John Bull, John Q. Public). Somehow it also became the characteristic name of a Chinaman (1818).
The Latin name also is the source of French Jean, Spanish Juan, Italian Giovanni, Portuguese João, also Dutch Jan, Hans, German Johann, Russian Ivan. Welsh form was Ieuan, Efan (see Evan), but Ioan was adopted for the Welsh Authorized Version of the Bible, hence frequency of Jones as a Welsh surname.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Joan
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
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous attempts to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament, but during her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions.
Mary was the only surviving child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. She was declared illegitimate and barred from the line of succession following the annulment of her parents' marriage in 1533, though she would later be restored via the Third Succession Act 1543. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded their father in 1547 at the age of nine. When Edward became terminally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because he supposed, correctly, that she would reverse the Protestant reforms that had taken place during his reign. Upon his death, leading politicians proclaimed Mary's and Edward's Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as queen instead. Mary speedily assembled a force in East Anglia and deposed Jane, who was eventually beheaded. Mary was—excluding the disputed reigns of Jane and the Empress Matilda—the first queen regnant of England. In July 1554, she married Prince Philip of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556.
After Mary's death in 1558, her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism in England was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor, Elizabeth I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart[3] or Mary I of Scotland,[4] was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland, Mary was six days old when her father died and she inherited the throne. During her childhood, Scotland was governed by regents, first by the heir to the throne, James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, and then by her mother, Mary of Guise. In 1548, she was betrothed to Francis, the Dauphin of France, and was sent to be brought up in France, where she would be safe from invading English forces during the Rough Wooing. Mary married Francis in 1558, becoming queen consort of France from his accession in 1559 until his death in December 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland in August 1561. The tense religious and political climate following the Scottish Reformation that Mary encountered on her return to Scotland was further agitated by prominent Scots such as John Knox, who openly questioned whether her subjects had a duty to obey her. The early years of her personal rule were marked by pragmatism, tolerance, and moderation. She issued a proclamation accepting the religious settlement in Scotland as she had found it upon her return, retained advisers such as James Stewart, Earl of Moray (her illegitimate half-brother), and William Maitland of Lethington, and governed as the Catholic monarch of a Protestant kingdom.
Mary married her half-cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, in 1565; in 1566 they had a son, James. However, their marriage soured after Darnley orchestrated the murder of Mary's Italian secretary and close friend David Rizzio. In February 1567, Darnley's residence was destroyed by an explosion, and he was found murdered in the nearby garden. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnley's death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567 and in the following month he married Mary. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle. On 24 July 1567, she was forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son James VI. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southward seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Elizabeth I of England.
As a great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England, Mary had once claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen-and-a-half years in captivity, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586 and was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle. Mary's life and execution established her in popular culture as a romanticised historical character.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Queen_of_Scots
The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), No.1, is a Masonic Lodge in Edinburgh, Scotland.[1]
It is designated number 1 on the Roll (list) of lodges of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and as it possesses the oldest existing minute of any masonic lodge still operating (31 July 1599) and the first historical reference of a non-operative or speculative freemason being initiated as a member (1634), it is reputed to be the oldest Masonic Lodge not only in Scotland, but the world.[2]
It is often styled Mary's Chapel or The Ancient Lodge of Edinburgh Mary's Chapel, the former of which derives from its ancient origins, where it first met within the old chapel of St Mary's on Niddrie's Wynd in Edinburgh, which was demolished to make way for Edinburgh's South Bridge, which were completed in 1788.
The lodge meets at 19 Hill Street, in the New Town, in a building erected in the 1820s.[3]
Designed by architect George Angus, it was built as a "Subscription Baths and Drawing Academy", and was purchased by the lodge in 1893. It is a category A listed building.[4]
The building is used as an arts venue during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August, when it is known as the Hill Street Theatre.[5][6] It is the longest-standing continuously operating Fringe venue, and was operated for over twenty years by Universal Arts, but is now operated by Edinburgh Little Theatre.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodge_of_Edinburgh_(Mary%27s_Chapel)_No._1
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981,[1] to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes.[2] The show chronicles the lives of the Metropolitan Police Department staff of a single police station located on Hill Street in an unnamed large U.S. city. The "blues" are the police officers in their blue uniforms.
The show received critical acclaim, and its production innovations influenced many subsequent dramatic television series produced in the United States and Canada.[3][4][5][6][7] In 1981, the series won eight Emmy Awards, a debut season record surpassed only by The West Wing, in 2000. The show won a total of 26 Emmy Awards (out of 98 Emmy Award nominations) during its run, including four consecutive wins for Outstanding Drama Series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_Street_Blues
MOTHER LODGE
In Great Britain, the term mother lodge is used to identify the particular Lodge where the individual was first “made a Mason” (i.e. received his Entered Apprentice degree). ‘Mother lodge’ may also refer to a lodge which sponsors the creation of a new lodge, the daughter lodge, to be warranted under the jurisdiction of the same grand lodge; specific procedures pertaining to this vary throughout history and in different jurisdictions. Lodge Mother Kilwinning No 0 in the Grand Lodge of Scotland is known as the Mother Lodge of Scotland, having been referred to in the Schaw Statutes of 1598 and 1599, and having itself warranted other lodges at a time when it did not subscribe to a grand lodge.
https://freemasonry.network/masonic-structures/masonic-lodge/different-types-lodges/mother-lodge/
Madonna Della Strada or Santa Maria Della Strada (English: Our Lady of the Wayside or Saint Mary of the Good Road) is a painting of Mary, mother of Jesus at the Church of the Gesù in Rome, mother church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) religious order of the Catholic Church; it is a variation on the basilissa (imperial) type of icon.[1]
The Madonna Della Strada is the patron saint of the Society of Jesus. The society's founder, Ignatius of Loyola, was said to have been protected by the intercession of Mary during battle in his service as a soldier.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Della_Strada
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)
A Look at the Museum’s Memorial Hall
“No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory of Time.”
This quote from Book IX of "The Aeneid" by the Roman poet Virgil suggests the transformative potential of remembrance and is indicative of the museum’s mission to honor and remember the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. Each letter was forged from pieces of recovered World Trade Center steel by New Mexico artist Tom Joyce.These words are part of a larger art installation in the 9/11 Memorial Museum created in 2014 by artist Spencer Finch, titled “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning.” The installation is the focal point for Memorial Hall, the area between the two main exhibitions at bedrock in the museum.Every one of the 2,983 watercolor squares is its own shade of blue – one for each of the 2001 and 1993 attack victims – and the artwork as a whole revolves around the idea of memory. Our own perception of the color blue might not be the same as that of another person. But, just like our perception of color, our memories share a common point of reference.By Jordan Friedman, 9/11 Memorial Research and Digital Projects Associate "
A Look at the Museum’s Memorial Hall | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org)
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/look-museums-memorial-hall
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
"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 TimesIn 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
Eataly NYC Downtown - Italian restaurant
101 Liberty St
New York, NY 10007
Bread-themed branch of the famed Italian market, offering counters, restaurants & cooking demos.
(212) 897-2895
Closed ⋅ Opens 7 AM Sat
Eataly: authentic Italian products, restaurants, cooking classes | Eataly https://www.eataly.com/us_en
Todd Morgan Beamer was an American passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was one of the passengers who attempted to regain control of the aircraft from the hijackers."
"Following this, the passengers and flight crew decided to act.[1] According to accounts of cell phone conversations, Beamer, along with Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick, formed a plan to take the plane back from the hijackers.[10] They were joined by other passengers, including Lou Nacke, Rich Guadagno, Alan Beaven, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, Linda Gronlund, and William Cashman, along with flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles, in discussing their options and voting on a course of action, ultimately deciding to storm the cockpit and take over the plane.[1] Beamer told Jefferson that the group was planning to "jump on" the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground before the hijackers' plan could be followed through.[7][8] Beamer recited the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm with Jefferson, prompting others to join in. Beamer requested of Jefferson, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them." After this, Jefferson heard muffled voices and Beamer clearly answering, "Are you ready? Okay. Let's ROLL." These were the last words spoken by Beamer heard by Lisa Jefferson.[1][8][9]"
Todd Beamer - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Beamer
Jefferson Airplane - House at Pooneil Corners - Manhattan Rooftop Concert (1968) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuwMEiNg3B8
Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" is an assertion made by September 11th, 2001 attack conspiracy theorists that the burning fuel from crashed planes would not have been able to melt the supporting beams of the World Trade Center. The claim is widely mocked online for being based on flawed evidence."
Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams | Know Your Meme
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jet-fuel-cant-melt-steel-beams
Six months after the Twin Towers fell, they returned in the form of two blue beams of light illuminating the Manhattan skyline. Since then, they have lit the sky annually as a Sept. 11 commemoration known as Tribute in Light. The tradition will continue this year to remember the 14th anniversary of the attacks."
A Look at Tribute in Light | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org)
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/look-tribute-light
A Blue Mass is a Mass celebrated annually throughout the United States[1] in the Catholic Church for those employed in the "public safety field" (i.e. police officers, firefighters, correctional officers, 911 operators and EMS personnel).[2] The color blue relates to the blue-colored uniforms predominantly used by these services.[3] Similar to the Red Mass, the service honors those who have died in the line of duty and those currently serving as first responders.[4] The Mass is an opportunity for the community to show gratitude to first responders and their families.[5]"
Blue Mass - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mass
The story behind this image of slain Davis police officer Natalie CORONA
By Lisa Fernandez and KTVU Published January 12, 2019 Updated December 28, 2020 California KTVU FOX 2
DAVIS, Calif. (KTVU) - In the image, she's wearing a royal BLUE gown, carrying a black-striped American flag with a thin blue line streaked across it.
Her heels are high. Her hair is done. Her smile is beaming. And she's standing in the middle of Leesville Grade Road next to a field in Williams, Colusa County, population 21,000, in California's Central Valley, where her father was a sheriff's deputy and now a county supervisor.
It's this compelling photograph of slain Davis police officer Natalie Corona that circulated throughout the country on Friday, hours after the 22-year-old was shot to death by a suspect identified on Saturday as Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, 48. A note found on his bed inside his home, where he later killed himself, stated that he believed Davis police bombarded him with ultrasonic waves."
The story behind this image of slain Davis police officer Natalie Corona (ktvu.com)
https://www.ktvu.com/news/the-story-behind-this-image-of-slain-davis-police-officer-natalie-corona
Serge Monast (1945 – 5 or 6 December 1996[1][2]) was a Canadian investigative journalist, poet, essayist and conspiracy theorist. He is known to English-speaking readers mainly for the originating the conspiracy theory Project BLUE BEAM, which concerns an alleged plot to facilitate a totalitarian world government by destroying traditional religions and replacing them with a new-age belief system using NASA technology.[3][unreliable source?]"
Serge Monast - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Monast
SEPTEMBER 11, 1990 | CLIP OF PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS ON PERSIAN GULF
George H.W. Bush describes the New World Order in his address to the US Congress on the Crisis in the Persian Gulf.
User Clip: George Bush defines the New World Order | C-SPAN.org
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4528359/user-clip-george-bush-defines-world-order
ROLLback of governments hostile to the U.S. took place during World War II (against Fascist Italy in 1943, Nazi Germany in 1945, and Imperial Japan in 1945), Afghanistan (against the Taliban in 2001), and Iraq (against Saddam Hussein in 2003). When directed against an established government, rollback is sometimes called "regime change".[2]"
Rollback - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollback
In 1917, the Virgin appeared in Fatima. "The Mother of God" was a smashing success, playing to overflow crowds. As a result, the Socialists of Portugal suffered a major defeat. "Roman Catholics world-wide began praying for the conversion of Russia and the Jesuits invented the Novenas to Fatima which they could perform throughout North Africa, spreading good public relations to the Muslim world. The Arabs thought they were honoring the daughter of Muhammad, which is what the Jesuits wanted them to believe. "As a result of the vision of Fatima, Pope Pius XII ordered his Nazi army to crush Russia and the Orthodox religion and make Russia Roman Catholic." A few years after he lost World war II, Pope Pius XII startled the world with his phoney dancing sun vision to keep Fatima in the news. It was great religious show biz and the world swallowed it. "Not surprisingly, Pope Pius was the only one to see this vision. As a result, a group of followers has grown into a BLUE Army world-wide, totaling millions of faithful Roman Catholics ready to die for the blessed virgin. "But we haven't seen anything yet. The Jesuits have their Virgin Mary scheduled to appear four or five times in China, Russia, and major appearance in the U.S.
"What has this got to do with Islam?
Note Bishop Sheen's statement: "Our Lady's appearances at Fatima marked the turning point in the history of the world's 350 million Muslims. After the death of his daughter, Muhammad wrote that she "is the most holy of all women in Paradise, next to Mary."
"He believed that the Virgin Mary chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a sign and a pledge that the Muslims who believe in Christ's virgin birth, will come to believe in His divinity.
"Bishop Sheen pointed out that the pilgrim virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima were enthusiastically received by Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere, and that many Muslims are now coming into the Roman Catholic Church."
How the Vatican created Islam (remnantofgod.org)
http://www.remnantofgod.org/books/docs/how-the-vatican-created-islam.pdf
The Shining (1980) - Come Play With Us Scene (2/7) | Movieclips
Movieclips
The Shining movie clips: http://j.mp/1CPAvTw
BUY THE MOVIE: http://bit.ly/2cb9VRg
Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6pr
CLIP DESCRIPTION:
While exploring the hotel, Danny (Danny Lloyd) encounters the ghosts of the murdered Grady twins.
FILM DESCRIPTION:
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" -- or, rather, a homicidal boy in Stanley Kubrick's eerie 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel. With wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd) in tow, frustrated writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as the winter caretaker at the opulently ominous, mountain-locked Overlook Hotel so that he can write in peace. Before the Overlook is vacated for the Torrances, the manager (Barry Nelson) informs Jack that a previous caretaker went crazy and slaughtered his family; Jack thinks it's no problem, but Danny's "shining" hints otherwise. Settling into their routine, Danny cruises through the empty corridors on his Big Wheel and plays in the topiary maze with Wendy, while Jack sets up shop in a cavernous lounge with strict orders not to be disturbed. Danny's alter ego, "Tony," however, starts warning of "redrum" as Danny is plagued by more blood-soaked visions of the past, and a blocked Jack starts visiting the hotel bar for a few visions of his own. Frightened by her husband's behavior and Danny's visit to the forbidding Room 237, Wendy soon discovers what Jack has really been doing in his study all day, and what the hotel has done to Jack.
CREDITS:
TM & © Warner Bros. (1980)
Cast: Danny Lloyd, Lisa Burns, Louise Burns
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Producers: Robert Fryer, Jan Harlan, Mary Lea Johnson, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Richards
Screenwriters: Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0or31TYjqAnA53SUMhvc8JNymVX3xCk2mwePpoSnBiE1igivVp1JbSq5UCxhKwdFSl
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for the first-person shooter video game Half-Life (1998). It was developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra On-Line. Blue Shift was the second expansion for Half-Life, originally intended as part of a Dreamcast port of Half-Life. Although the Dreamcast port was cancelled, the Windows version was released as a standalone product on June 12, 2001. It was released on Steam on August 24, 2005.
As with Gearbox's previous expansion pack, Opposing Force (1999), Blue Shift returns to the setting and events of Half-Life, but portrays the story through the eyes of another character. Players control security guard Barney Calhoun, employed by the Black Mesa Research Facility, who must fight his way to safety during an alien invasion. Blue Shift also includes a graphics pack that upgrades the Half-Life models and textures.
Blue Shift received mixed reviews. Many reviewers were critical of the short length and lack of new content, although the new graphics were praised.
Gameplay
As an expansion pack for Half-Life, Blue Shift is a first-person shooter. The overall gameplay of Blue Shift does not significantly differ from that of Half-Life: players are required to navigate through the game's levels, fight hostile non-player characters and solve a variety of puzzles to advance.[1] The game continues Half-Life's methods of an unbroken narrative. The player sees everything through the first-person perspective of the protagonist, and remains in control of the player character for almost all the game. Story events are conveyed through the use of scripted sequences rather than cut scenes. Progress through the game's world is continuous; although the game is divided up into chapters, the only significant pauses are when the game needs to load the next part of an environment.[1]
The player battles through the game alone, but is occasionally assisted by friendly non-player characters. Security guards and scientists will occasionally help the player in reaching new areas and convey relevant plot information. Blue Shift also includes a substantial section dedicated to keeping a major character in the story safe from enemy characters, and escorting him to a specific location.[2] A selection of enemies from Half-Life populate the game, including alien creatures such as headcrabs and Vortigaunts. The player also encounters human opponents in the form of a detachment of US Marines who have been sent to eliminate the alien threat and silence any witnesses.[3] Blue Shift does not elaborate on the storyline in Opposing Force, the preceding expansion pack, and no enemy characters or weapons introduced in it appear in the game. The player is instead given access to a limited selection of Half-Life's original weaponry.[2]
Synopsis
Setting
Blue Shift is set in the same location and time frame as that of Half-Life, taking place at a remote New Mexico laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility. In Half-Life, the player takes on the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist involved in an accident that opens an interdimensional portal to the borderworld of Xen, allowing the alien creatures of Xen to attack the facility. The player guides Freeman in an attempt to escape the facility and close the portal, ultimately traveling to Xen to do so.[4] As in Opposing Force, Blue Shift shows the events of Half-Life from the perspective of a different protagonist. The player assumes the role of Barney Calhoun, a security guard working near the labs where the accident takes place. Calhoun is responsible for the preservation of equipment and materials and the welfare of research personnel, and after the accident turns Black Mesa into a warzone, he must work with Dr. Rosenberg, a high-ranking scientist involved in the experiment, to evacuate the facility.[5]
Plot
Blue Shift begins similarly to Half-Life, as Barney Calhoun rides a train through the Black Mesa research facility to reach his place of work. After reporting for duty, Calhoun is instructed to assist in maintenance on a malfunctioning elevator.[6] As Calhoun finishes repairs, however, Freeman's experiment takes place and results in a "resonance cascade", causing massive damage to the facility and teleporting alien creatures into the base. The elevator is badly damaged and fails, sending Calhoun plummeting into the depths of Black Mesa.
Calhoun regains consciousness at the bottom of the shaft and begins to fight his way to the surface to escape. Emerging near Black Mesa's classification yards, Calhoun learns that Dr. Rosenberg and his colleagues plan to escape the facility using teleportation technology.[7] After freeing Rosenberg from the captivity of the US Marines detachment sent to silence the facility, Calhoun escorts him to a decommissioned prototype teleportation laboratory, where several Black Mesa employees have already gathered. Rosenberg then teleports Calhoun to the Xen borderworld to calibrate research equipment needed to pinpoint a teleport destination outside of Black Mesa.[8] Upon his return, Rosenberg informs Calhoun that the teleporter's battery power has been exhausted, and contact has been lost with a team sent to acquire a new power cell.
Calhoun travels to the power generators on a lower level to find a fresh power cell while firefights rage between the Marines and the forces of Xen. After returning with a new power cell, Calhoun assists Rosenberg in evacuating the few surviving personnel through the teleporter. Calhoun is the last to enter the portal and as he does so, Marines breach the laboratory and fire on him, causing the teleporter to explode. As a result of the teleporter's destruction, Calhoun enters a "harmonic reflux", causing him to be rapidly teleported to a variety of locations in Xen and Black Mesa. At one location, he witnesses Freeman's capture by Marines midway through Half-Life, before eventually stabilizing at the intended teleport location with Rosenberg at the outskirts of Black Mesa, where they then escape the facility in a company SUV.[9]
Development
Blue Shift was announced in the second quarter of 2000 as part of an upcoming Dreamcast port of Half-Life.[10] While the port was developed by Captivation Digital Laboratories, Blue Shift was developed by Gearbox Software, who also developed the first Half-Life expansion, Opposing Force.[11] The game had the working title Half-Life: Guard Duty; publisher Sierra Entertainment announced the name Blue Shift on August 30, 2000. As with Opposing Force, the title has a double meaning, referring to both the blue shift light phenomenon and the name of Barney's shift.[12] The Dreamcast port would include higher detail models and textures[13] that were double the polygon count of Valve's original Half-Life models.[14]
At the European Computer Trade Show in September 2000, information about Blue Shift's story and development direction was revealed, along with a release date of November 1, 2000, for the Dreamcast version of Half-Life.[14] The port was delayed by Sierra to ensure the "high expectations of consumers" were met, anticipating release by the end of the year.[15]
On March 29, 2001, Sierra announced that Blue Shift would also be released for Windows[16] as a standalone game that would not require the original Half-Life to run.[17] The new models developed for the Dreamcast version would also be included in the PC version as the Half-Life High Definition pack, and could be applied to Half-Life and Opposing Force.[18] At the E3 2001, Gearbox announced that Blue Shift was complete[19] and exhibited a playable version.[20] It was released on June 12, 2001, in North America,[21][22] and on June 15 in Europe.[23][24] On June 16, 2001, Sierra canceled the Dreamcast port of Half-Life, citing "changing market conditions".[25] A late build of the Dreamcast version eventually leaked online, featuring complete versions of Half-Life and Blue Shift.[26]
Blue Shift and the High Definition pack were initially absent from the launch of Valve's content delivery system Steam in September 2003, despite the presence of both Half-Life and Opposing Force on the system.[27] The game was released on Steam on August 29, 2005, along with the High Definition Pack.[28] Blue Shift was also published as part of Sierra's Half-Life: Generation compilation in 2002,[29] and as part of Valve and Electronic Arts' Half Life 1: Anthology on September 26, 2005.[30]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Blue_Shift
RFK Jr.’s HHS cuts include a slap in the face to 9/11 heroes
Recent dismissals leave in doubt the future of a program that administers health care support for those who developed 9/11-related medical issues.
'Bloodbath': Protesters meet Trump at every step as he butchers U.S. government agencies
05:52
April 8, 2025, 11:12 AM PDT
By Frank Figliuzzi, MSNBC Columnist
Given the sheer volume of indiscriminate firings and funding cuts under the Trump administration, it’s understandable that one such outrage would slip by us with little media attention. Yet, if the number of messages I’ve received from members of the first responder community are any indication, one particularly callous cut last week did not escape the attention of police officers, firefighters and federal agents who worked the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack sites in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.
The Trump administration recently fired the head of the World Trade Center Health Program, and dismissed two-thirds of the entire staff at the program’s parent agency, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The dismissals leave in doubt the future of the initiative that administers health care support for those who developed 9/11-related cancers, respiratory ailments and other medical issues.
First responders and investigators continue to die because of their exposure to the toxic air and materials of the 9/11 sites.
Under the direction of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. John Howard, administrator of the WTC Health Program, was let go. So too were more than 800 doctors, epidemiologists and staffers throughout NIOSH whom the WTC team relies on to research, identify and address the myriad health issues related to the rescue, recovery and evidence collection efforts at the toxic 9/11 sites. When law enforcement and rescue workers develop cancers that may stem from those efforts, the WTC unit must first certify that the illness is 9/11-related before those patients can start to receive care under the program. While the 86 members of the WTC unit appear to remain employed, their essential support network at NIOSH is mostly gone, and officials and advocates assert these cuts will cripple the program.
John Feal, a 9/11 first responder who helped lobby for passage of the James Zadroga Act that created the WTC Health Program, blasted the gutting of the program. He told the New York Daily News the cuts were “the most reckless, careless, unconscionable, disgusting, and vile act against those in the 9/11 community that has been committed since Sept. 11, 2001.”
Benjamin Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, who successfully fought for renewal of the act, was similarly scalding in his assessment. “These cuts to NIOSH will be devastating to the World Trade Center Health Program and must be stopped. The first step must be restoring Dr. Howard as NIOSH Director immediately,” Chevat said in a statement. He called the move “another example of chainsaw incompetence.”
Trump fired the man who likely saved his life: Former medical official
10:36
The potential loss or minimization of the WTC Health Program is no small thing. As I wrote in 2023, first responders and investigators continue to die because of their exposure to the toxic air and materials of the 9/11 sites. At least 10 times as many New York police officers (241) have died of 9/11-related illnesses than the number of officers (23) who were killed the day of the attack. Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro, whose union represents FDNY rank-and-file firefighters, said in 2022 that he expected the number of firefighters dying of illnesses related to 9/11 to soon surpass the 343 FDNY personnel killed that day.
A similar phenomenon holds true for those who were deployed to the other crash sites. A 2021 report from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund said “more people are now believed to have died of 9/11-related illnesses than were lost on September 11, 2001.”
The impact of the HHS cuts on the health of first responders is not limited to the WTC Health Program.
The impact of the HHS cuts on the health of first responders is not limited to the WTC Health Program. NIOSH also runs a larger Center for Firefighter Safety, Health, and Well-being, which examines issues such as cancers developed by firefighters and whether firefighters’ personal protective equipment adequately safeguards them. Beyond the first responder community, NIOSH’s mission is to help protect the safety of the working public, particularly those at greatest risk such as coal miners.
The potentially devastating hit to the WTC Health Program is particularly shocking, though, not just for its lack of compassion, but also because it will most impact a voting block believed to strongly support Trump. Police unions and organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police, publicly announced their backing for Trump in the last election. The international Association of Fire Fighters, for its part, declined to endorse a candidate after backing Joe Biden in 2020, and some individual local firefighter unions have supported Trump.
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The president and his axe-wielding Cabinet members seem either blind to the impact of the WTC health program cuts on their own voters or they don’t care. Either way, it’s likely that many 9/11 heroes and their families will never forget that Trump abandoned them.
Frank Figliuzzi is an MSNBC columnist and Senior National Security and Intelligence Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He was the assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, where he served 25 years as a special agent and directed all espionage investigations across the government. He is the author of "The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence."
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/rfk-jr-trump-hhs-cuts-9-11-wtc-trump-newsletter-rcna200067
A generation's lullaby: JROTC cadets reflect on 9/11
Published Sept. 11, 2014
By Staff Sgt. Jarad A. Denton
501st Combat Support Wing
RAF ALCONBURY, United Kingdom -- With his blue, button-down shirt, black slacks and matching carry-on satchel, Mohammed Atta looked like a stereotypical businessman trying to catch a commuter flight at Portland International Jetport, Maine. He, and his travelling companion, Abdulaziz al-Omari, passed through security and boarded a short flight to Boston's Logan Airport, Sept. 11, 2001.
There, they connected with American Airlines Flight 11, bound for Los Angeles. It was a destination they had no intention of ever seeing.
"We have some planes," Atta said, during an accidental communication with air traffic control after he and al-Omari hijacked Flight 11. "Just stay quiet and you will be OK."
Twenty-two minutes later, at 8:46 a.m., Atta slammed the airplane into the North Tower of New York City's World Trade Center - killing himself and hundreds of people instantly, while showering the streets below with a rain of steel and concrete.
Nearly 5,000 miles away, the pandemonium in New York was playing out live on television as 3-year-old Reigha Barone, and her mother, watched.
"I was sitting in my living room as my mom and I watched the TV," said Barone, now a U.S. Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet and senior at Alconbury High School, United Kingdom. "I remember seeing lots of smoke and these little flashes of orange and yellow light going off - I think they were explosions."
Barone said her mother, who was originally from New York, began panicking and calling friends and family to make sure they were safe. Now, 13 years later, Barone reflects on her memories of 9/11 during a remembrance ceremony at Alconbury Middle-High School.
"When I pair what I remember with what I know now, it's almost like filling in the puzzle pieces," Barone said. "I know now that all the smoke and flames was the Twin Towers, and that a terrorist group was responsible. I also know about the bravery of people who sacrificed their lives. It's really hard to think about how many people who died as a result of terrorism."
As part of a generation who primarily learned about 9/11 from school or family members, Barone and her classmates agreed that the courage of those at Ground Zero has not faded from memory.
"It's great how this whole country came together for one cause, and how we honor and respect what people did to help others that day," said James Wood, a senior and Air Force JROTC cadet at Alconbury High School. "I would like to think that if I had been at Ground Zero I would have helped where and how I could."
Wood stood in formation, along with his fellow JROTC cadets, as a student read the names of firefighters who fell that day, along with a single call to action: "remember." As a small child, Wood said his memory of that day is surprisingly vivid.
"That same day my dad was getting deployed," Wood said, speaking about his father, U.S. Navy Lt. Cdr. Jonathan Wood. "That's what I remember. We dropped him off at the harbor and my mom took me to preschool. Everybody was crying. I didn't know what had happened; I was too young to understand. But, I understand now."
As with many of his classmates, Wood said the bravery of members from the New York Police Department and Fire Department of New York is what helps sustain his memory. The students at Alconbury High School are part of a generation raised on the lullaby of heroism and gallantry that began mere seconds after Flight 11 struck the North Tower, with emergency responders rushing to the scene.
"It must have been incredibly scary," Wood said. "It was just a normal day for them until this happened. It's really incredible to look back and see that so many people came together to help one another."
Today, all that remains of the once magnificent twin towers is a memory of the heroic men and women who set aside fear and personal safety to rescue and protect others; a memory so great that it reaches higher than the monolith build overtop the ruins. Standing 1,776-feet tall, the One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. To the students at Alconbury, it and the events of that tragic day, serve as a constant reminder of the American spirit to overcome great tragedy and adversity.
"More than anything, I wish I could tell the people who sacrificed everything that day 'thank you,'" said Barone. "They saved lives that day and I have the utmost respect for each and every one of them."
Editor's Note: Excerpts from the 9/11 Memorial Timeline were used in this story. For more information, visit: http://timeline.national911memorial.org/
https://www.501csw.usafe.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/727341/a-generations-lullaby-jrotc-cadets-reflect-on-911/
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 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.
10
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
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
il
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
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.
12
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
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!
Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005
https://archive.org/stream/AmblelainRTemplarsRoseCroix/Amblelain%20R%20Templars%20%26%20Rose%20Croix_djvu.txt
The Templars and the Hospitallers
Mar 12, 2021
Even after seven centuries since their ending, the Knights Templar still inspires and fascinates historians and Christians worldwide.
They were the first military order and perhaps the most powerful and wealthy. With their unique white mantles, The Templars had a huge success in the Crusades.
They were for almost two hundred years, during which they grew in members, power, and richness in Europe and in the Middle East.
However, The Knights Templar was not the only monastic order in the medieval games. However, it seems strange for the 21st-century mind to grasp the ideas that they were once monks who fought for the word of God.
One order, in particular, known as the Knights Hospitaller was to the Templars. The Hospitallers was founded by Blessed Gerard, a member of the Benedictine order. They started in a hospital in Jerusalem, hence the name, to provide care for the sick and the unfortunate.
In response to the Holy Land being taken by the Crusaders and the Knights Templar's appearance, the Hospitallers went through a massive transformation. They expanded their activities from medical to the military also.
The order had many similarities. First, they were governed and regulated by monastic rules based on absolute obedience and taking chastity vows. The Knights Templars fought alongside the Hospitallers in the Crusades. The first was distinguished by their white mantles with red crosses in battle, while the latter had black mantles with white eight-pointed crosses.
In 1307, the Knights Templar came to an end by the King of France and the Pope. They were accused of heresy and the practice of magic. Many of their lands, assets, and properties were transformed to the Knights Hospitaller.
Unlike the Templars, these knights kept fighting in the Crusades. However, when knighthood went out of fashion, it became a charitable institution once again.
https://bricksmasons.com/blogs/masonic-education/the-templars-and-the-hospitallers?srsltid=AfmBOooUojxbq-Dy3TbxNmFglgQVNpsthvZov_TV2R35DZrcDPAZgYjo
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
Copyright © David Lown 2001-2025 All Rights Reserved.
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
Pope Paul V (Latin: Paulus V; Italian: Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries.[2] In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_V
Borghese
Recorded in many forms including Bourges, Bourgaize, Bourgeois, (France), Burgess, Burges and Burgis (England and Scotland), Borghese, Borgesio and Burgisi (Italy), and others, this interesting surname is of pre 8th century Old French origins. It derives from the word "burgeis", meaning inhabitant and FREEMAN of a fortified town, one which could apply municipal rates, taxes, and duties. A burgeis generally had tenure of land or buildings from a landlord by "burgage", which involved the payment of a fixed money rent. In Scotland, the position of burgess required not only the making of payments, but to be availble to take part in guarding the town. The surname is one of the earliest recorded anywhere in the world. These recordings are from England because this country was the first to adopt both hereditary surnames and to make the necessary registers in which to record them. France was several centuries later, and Italy, not until the 19th century in most areas. Early recordings showing the influence of the Norman-French in England after the Invasion of 1066 include: Ralph le Burgeis, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Sussex in 1195, and Philip Bourges in the cartulary of Oseney Abbey, Oxford in 1197. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey Burgeis, which was dated 1115, in the "Winton Rolls" of Hampshire. This was during the reign of King Henry 1st, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Over the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Borghese
Facade of St. Peter's
On February 10, 1608 the first stone was laid and on July 21, 1612 most of the work was completed. It took another two years for the ornamentattion.
The inscription (1m high) states: "Paul V Borghese, Roman, Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate, [erected] in honour of the Prince of Apostles".
From the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings, the new pope is announced with "Habemus Papum", and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing. The relief under the balcony, by Buonvicino, represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter.
https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm
Pope John XXIII (Latin: Ioannes XXIII; Italian: Giovanni XXIII [dʒoˈvanni ventitreˈɛːzimo]; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Italian: [ˈandʒelo dʒuˈzɛppe roŋˈkalli];[a] 25 November 1881 – 3 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 1963.
Roncalli was among 13 children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.[8] He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after Pope Pius XII's death. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the first session opening on 11 October 1962, which is now his feast.
John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate. His views on equality were summed up in his statement, "We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike."[9][10] He made a major impact on the Catholic Church, opening it up to dramatic unexpected changes promulgated at the Second Vatican Council and by his own dealings with other churches and nations. In Italian politics, he prohibited bishops from interfering with local elections, and he helped the Christian Democracy party to cooperate with the Italian Socialist Party. In international affairs, his Ostpolitik engaged in dialogue with the communist countries of Eastern Europe. He especially reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches.
His overall goal was to modernize the Church by emphasizing its pastoral role, and its necessary involvement with affairs of state. He dropped the traditional rule of 70 cardinals, increasing the size to 85. He used the opportunity to name the first cardinals from Africa, Japan, and the Philippines. He promoted ecumenical movements in cooperation with other Christian faiths. In doctrinal matters, he was a traditionalist, but he ended the practice of automatically formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.[11]
He did not live to see the Second Vatican Council to completion. In September 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died eight months later on June 3, 1963. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, and because of the good which had come from his opening of the Second Vatican Council. He was canonized alongside Pope John Paul II himself on 27 April 2014.[12][13] John XXIII today is affectionately known as "the Good Pope" (Italian: il papa buono).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XXIII
Pope John XXIII's coat of arms.
Of gules, a silver sash, a silver tower mazonada and clarified with sable especially, accompanied chiefly by two fleurs-de-lis of the same, a silver chief with a winged leopard lion, holding a gospel with the front right leg open with the text "PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS", all in gold and saber letters.
https://br.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restr:C_o_a_John_XXIII.svg
Borja (Borgia)
Spanish: habitational name from a place in Zaragoza province named from Arabic burj ‘tower’. See also Borgia .
https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=borja
Pope Alexander VI[Note 2] (born Rodrigo de Borja[Note 3]; 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) (epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian")[6] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.
Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]
Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI
Francis Borgia SJ (Valencian: Francesc de Borja; Spanish: Francisco de Borja; 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his wife, Borgia renounced his titles and became a priest in the Society of Jesus, later serving as its third superior general. He was canonized on 20 June 1670 by Pope Clement X.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Borgia
The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious till the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
Name
The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'FREEMAN'.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty
PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY
SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL
143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]
§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us FREE:
FREE, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;
FREE, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;
FREE, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
295 In the elaboration and expression of our theogical views and in our choice of pastoral options, we must always actively seek to understand the mind of the hierarchical Church, having as our goal the Society s objective to help souls. At the same time we must try to articulate the sensus fidelium and help the magisterium discern in it the movements of the Spirit in accord with the teaching of Vatican II.[125]
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts
THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES
SAINT LOUIS, 1996
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
The King of the Jews will be the real Pope of the Universe, the patriarch of an international Church. But, in the meantime, while we are re-educating youth in new traditional religions and afterwards in ours, we shall not overtly lay a finger on existing churches, but we shall fight against them by criticism calculated to produce schism. . . . In general, then, our contemporary press will continue to convict State affairs, religions, incapacities of the goyim, always using the most unprincipled expressions in order by every means to lower their prestige in the manner which can only be practised by the genius of our gifted tribe. . . . Our kingdom will be an apologia of the divinity Vishnu, in whom is found its personification—in our hundred hands will be, one in each, the springs of the machinery of social life. We shall see everything without the aid of official police which, in that scope of its rights which we elaborated for the use of the goyim, hinders governments from seeing. In our programme one-third of our subjects will keep the rest under observation from a sense of duty, on the principle of volunteer service to the State. It will then be no disgrace to be a spy and informer, but a merit: unfounded denunciations, however, will be cruelly punished that there may be no development of abuses of this right. Our agents will be taken from the higher as well as the lower ranks of society, from among the administrative class who spend their time in amusements, editors, printers and publishers, booksellers, clerks, and salesmen, workmen, coachmen, lackeys, etcetera. This body, having no rights and not being empowered to take any action on their own account, and consequently a police without any power, will only witness and report: verification of their reports and arrests will depend upon a responsible group of controllers of police affairs, while the actual act of arrest will be performed by the gendarmerie and the municipal police. Any person not denouncing anything seen or heard concerning questions of polity will also be charged with and made responsible for concealment, if it be proved that he is guilty of this crime. Just as nowadays our brethren are obliged at their own risk to denounce to the kabal apostates of their own family or members who have been noticed doing anything in opposition to the kabal, so in our kingdom over all the world it will be obligatory for all our subjects to observe the duty of service to the State in this direction. Such an organisation will extirpate abuses of authority, of force, of bribery, everything in fact which we by our counsels, by our theories of the superhuman rights of man, have introduced into the customs of the goyim. . . . But how else were we to procure that increase of causes predisposing to disorders in the midst of their administration? . . . Among the number of those methods one of the most important is—agents for the restoration of order, so placed as to have the opportunity in their disintegrating activity of developing and displaying their evil inclinations—obstinate self-conceit, irresponsible exercise of authority, and, first and foremost, venality."
THE PROTOCOLS OF THE LEARNED ELDERS OF ZION
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Kidd/thesis/pdf/protocols.pdf
The Deutsche Bank Building (formerly Bankers Trust Plaza) was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the September 11 attacks in 2001, due to contamination that spread from the collapse of the South Tower. The structure was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which also designed the Empire State Building.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank_BuildinG
Rosicrucianism and the Bohemian War
If one wants to understand how the group around Simon Studion gained in influence, the political context of the 1590s must be carefully calibrated with the hopes set out at Tubingen in 1610. The Rosicrucian ideas were published in a period when political activities were set in motion to form an evangelical union in Germany, a union that (according to Studion in 1604) sought support in France, Britain, and Denmark. The rise of Johannes Bureus in Sweden, on
the other hand, confirms Frances Yates’ hypothesis that political initiatives in the Thirty Years’ War were influenced by Rosicrucian types of eschatology both before 1610 and after 1620. This notwithstanding that the year of the defeat at Prague in most of the recent literature has been transformed into a Rosicrucian anno non post quern,
underlined by such writings as Paul Nagel’s Cursus Quinqumali Mundi oder Wundergeheime Offenbarung (Halle, Saxonia, 1620) stating that the whole course of history would repeat itself within the course of four years before the bitter end: “ 1624 nec plus ultra.” Of course, Nagel was immediately attacked by a Jesuit author claiming that his doctrine of compressed repetition was a mere stage-play, falsely transposed to the scene of reality."
Rose Cross Cross Over The Baltic The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe
by Susanna Akerman
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing
Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to).
This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing
The Cave of Saint Ignatius is a sanctuary declared as a Local Cultural Heritage that includes a baroque church and a neoclassical building in Manresa (Catalonia), which was created to honor the place where, according to tradition, Saint Ignatius of Loyola shut himself in a cave to pray and do penance during his sojourn in the city from March 1522 to February 1523, where he wrote the Spiritual Exercises[1] returning from his pilgrimage to Montserrat.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Saint_Ignatius
The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from November 30 – December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora (Pashto: تورا بورا; Black Cave) is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.
Background
In Operation Cyclone during the early 1980s, CIA officers had assisted the mujahideen fighters in extending and shoring up the caves to use for resistance during the Soviet–Afghan War.[8] The U.S. then supported their effort. Several years later, the Taliban formed and took control of most of the country, enforcing Islamic fundamentalist rule. Several cave areas were used in much earlier periods, as the difficult terrain formed a natural defensive position and had been used by tribal warriors fighting foreign invaders.
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom to dismantle the Taliban regime that had sheltered Osama bin Laden. To achieve this goal, the U.S. military joined forces with the Northern Alliance, a group of rebels who had long been waging a guerrilla war against the Taliban. Through a combination of air strikes and ground operations, the U.S. and its allies quickly gained the upper hand, seizing control of key Taliban strongholds and toppling the regime's grip on power. By November 13, 2001, the Northern Alliance had captured the capital city of Kabul.
The CIA was closely tracking Osama bin Laden's movements, hoping to locate and catch him. On November 10, 2001, he had been spotted near Jalalabad traveling in a convoy of 200 pick-up trucks heading in the direction of his training camp in Tora Bora mountain.[12] The U.S. had expected bin Laden to make a last stand at Tora Bora, hoping to repeat his success against the Soviets in the Battle of Jaji in 1987. Vice President Dick Cheney revealed in a November 29, 2001 television interview that bin Laden was believed to be in the general area of Tora Bora, surrounded by a sizable force of loyal fighters.[4] The CIA lead in the Panjshir, Gary Berntsen, sent a detachment to team up with Afghan tribal militias around Jalalabad who opposed the Taliban.[12] The Americans climbed the mountains guided by the locals who knew the terrain. After a few days of climbing, they arrived at the training camp in Tora Bora where hundreds of Al-Qaeda fighters could be spotted.[13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora
Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]
Ancestry
Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]
Early life
A portrait of Martin Luther in 1526 by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Her father sent then five-year-old von Bora to a Benedictine convent in Brehna in 1504 to be educated, according to a letter Laurentius Zoch sent to Martin Luther in 1531.[10] At the age of nine, she was moved to Nimbschen Abbey, Cistercian community named Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma, where her maternal aunt was a nun.[11] Von Bora's presence is in the financial accounts of 1509/10.[12]
Plaque on the ruins of Nimbschen Abbey, commemorating von Bora's time there and her escape.
After years of being a nun, von Bora became interested in the growing reform movement and grew dissatisfied with cloistered life. Conspiring with several other sisters, she contacted Luther and begged for his assistance.[13] On 4 April 1523, Holy Saturday, Luther sent Leonhard Köppe, a merchant and councillor of Torgau who regularly delivered herring to the convent. The nuns escaped by hiding in his covered wagon among the fish barrels, and fled to Wittenberg.[14]
Luther asked the family of the nuns to admit them into their houses, but they declined, possibly because this would have made them accomplices to a crime under canon law.[15]
Within two years, Luther was able to arrange marriages or find employment for all of the escaped nuns except von Bora. She was first housed with the family of Philipp Reichenbach, the municipal clerk of Wittenberg, then with Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife, Barbara. Von Bora had a number of suitors, including Hieronymus Baumgartner from Nuremberg, and a pastor, Kaspar Glatz from Orlamünde, but none of the proposals resulted in marriage. She told Luther's friend and fellow reformer, Nicolaus von Amsdorf, that she would be willing to marry only Luther or von Amsdorf.[16]
Marriage to Luther
Three depictions of Katharina von Bora
Martin Luther, as well as many of his friends, was at first unsure of whether he should marry. Philip Melanchthon thought that this would hurt the Reformation by causing scandal. Luther eventually decided that his marriage would 'please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep'.[16] 26-year-old Von Bora and 41-year-old Luther married on 13 June 1525, before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Barbara and Lucas Cranach.[17] A small wedding breakfast was held the next morning, and a more formal, public ceremony on 27 June, presided over by Bugenhagen.[18]
The couple took up residence in the former dormitory and educational institution of Augustinian friars studying in Wittenberg (known as the 'Black Monastery'), a wedding gift from John, Elector of Saxony, brother of Luther's protector Frederick III, Elector of Saxony.[19] Katharina immediately took on the task of managing the monastery's vast holdings. She bred and sold cattle and ran a brewery to provide for their family, the numerous students who boarded with them, and her husband's visitors. In times of epidemics, she operated a hospital with nurses, working alongside them. Luther called her the 'boss of Zulsdorf', after the farm they owned, and the 'morning star of Wittenberg' for her habit of rising at 4 a.m.[2]
Based on Luther's descriptions, his wife, whom he nicknamed 'Herr Käthe', exerted much control over his life. She might have even influenced his decisions to a degree; Luther said that his wife 'convince[d] [him] of whatever' she pleased', and explicitly afforded her 'complete control' over the household, as long as 'his rights' were 'preserved', since '[f]emale government has never done any good'.[20] She thus assisted her husband with running their estate and directed renovations when necessary.[21] Anecdotal evidence suggests that Katharina Luther played a wife's role as taught by her husband's movement: she depended on him financially (although she also increased their estate's profits), and respected him as a 'higher vessel', always calling him 'Herr Doktor'. He reciprocated by occasionally consulting her on church matters.[22]
Katharina bore six children: Hans (1526–1575), Elisabeth (1527–1528), Magdalena (1529–1542), Martin (1531–1565), Paul (1533–1593), and Margarete (1534–1570). She also suffered a miscarriage on 1 November 1539. The Luthers raised four orphaned children, including Katharina's nephew, Fabian.[23]
Significance of the marriage
The marriage of von Bora to Luther is very important in the history of Protestantism, specifically in regard to the development of its views on marriage and gender roles. While Luther was not the first cleric to marry because of Reformation ideas, he was one of the most prominent. As he argued publicly for clerical marriage and produced much anti-Catholic propaganda, his marriage became a natural target for his enemies.[24]
After Luther's death
von Bora in 1546
von Bora's gravestone engraving at Saint Mary's Church in Torgau, Germany
When Martin Luther died in 1546, Katharina was left in difficult financial straits without Luther's salary as professor and pastor, even though she owned land, properties, and the Black Cloister. She had been counselled by Martin Luther to move out of the old abbey and sell it after his death, and move into much more modest quarters with the children who remained at home, but she refused.[25] Luther had named her his sole heir in his last will. His will could not be executed, however, because it did not conform with Saxon law.[26]
Almost immediately after, Katharina had to leave the Black Cloister, now called Lutherhaus, by herself, at the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, fleeing to Magdeburg. After she returned, the approaching war forced another flight in 1547, this time to Braunschweig. In July 1547, at the close of the war, she was able to return to Wittenberg.[citation needed]
After the war, the buildings and lands of the monastery had been torn apart and laid waste. Cattle and other farm animals had been stolen or killed. If she had sold the land and the buildings, she could have had a good financial situation. Financially, they could not remain there. Katharina was able to support herself thanks to the generosity of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, and the princes of Anhalt.[27]
She remained in Wittenberg in poverty until 1552, when an outbreak of the Black Plague and a harvest failure forced her to leave the city once again. She fled to Torgau, where she was thrown from her cart into a watery ditch near the city gates. For three months, she went in and out of consciousness, before dying in Torgau on 20 December 1552, at the age of 53. She was buried at Torgau's Saint Mary's Church, far from her husband's grave in Wittenberg. She is reported to have said on her deathbed, 'I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.'[28]
By the time of Katharina's death, the surviving Luther children were adults. After Katharina's death, the Black Cloister was sold back to the university in 1564 by his heirs.[citation needed]
Margareta Luther, born in Wittenberg on 27 December 1534, married into a noble, wealthy Prussian family, to Georg von Kunheim (Wehlau, 1 July 1523 – Mühlhausen [now Gvardeyskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast], 18 October 1611, the son of Georg von Kunheim [1480–1543] and wife Margarethe, Truchsessin von Wetzhausen [1490–1527]) but died in Mühlhausen in 1570 at the age of thirty-six.[29]
Commemoration
Katharina von Bora is commemorated on 20 December in the Calendar of Saints of some Lutheran churches in the United States.[30] In 2022, she was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 20 December.[31]
In addition to a statue in Wittenberg and several biographies, an opera of her life now keeps her memory alive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora
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.
Often beginning as small informal foundations, the Augustinians attracted modest donations from relatively modest donors. Unlike Cluny, with its vast collections of buildings crowned by a great and splendid church, the Augustinian foundations were simple and humble. The Augustinians preached, baptized, heard confessions, and helped the poor unobtrusively. They multiplied rapidly, and in the thirteenth century there were thousands of Augustinian houses in England and on the Continent.
Founded only a little later, the Cistercians abandoned the world instead of living in it. Their original house, Citeaux (Cistercium) in Burgundy, lay in a dismal wasteland far from the distractions of the world. There they pioneered land reclamation and launched a period of agricultural expansion. By the twelfth century the Cistercians were looked to for their knowledge of how to make previously uncultivated lands, often swamps, productive. They considered themselves the only true Benedictines, vet the self-denial, poverty, and wholly spiritual life that the Cistercians adopted was often seen by their contemporaries as arrogant, worldly, and even greedy.
Perhaps the best-known Cistercian leader was Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1091-1153), who in 1115 led a band of Cistercians to a new and remote site from which he influenced worldly affairs to a remarkable degree, preaching for a Second Crusade and attacking the scholastic method of teaching. As he wrote, “There are many who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that is curiosity. There are others who desire to know in order that they themselves be known: that is vanity. Others seek knowledge in order to sell it: that is dishonorable. But there are also some who seek knowledge in order to edify others. That is love.” He launched significant reforms in teaching, the observance of church rules, and attitudes toward worship.
In the end, the Cistercians, too, changed. Display conquered austerity, and aristocratic traditions quenched humility. By the thirteenth century, great Cistercian monasteries were wealthy centers of production. The expensive arts of architecture and sculpture were lavished on their buildings. These Cistercian monasteries had become great corporations, thoroughly tied into the increasingly complex web of medieval economic life.
https://bigsiteofhistory.com/augustinians-and-cistercians-church-and-society-in-the-medieval-west
The Master Drone (Italian: Il Pa-Drone), popularly referred to as God Emperor Trump, was a 65-foot (20-metre) papier-mâché sculpture and float depicting Donald Trump, the president of the United States, dressed as the fictional God Emperor of Mankind from the Warhammer 40,000 miniature war game franchise. It was created by the Italian artist Fabrizio Galli for the Carnival of Viareggio in 2019.
Design
The sculpture depicted Donald Trump wearing golden armour based on that of the God Emperor of Mankind from Warhammer 40,000. The knee and shoulder pads of the armour depicted the heads of various political figures.[1] In his right hand, Trump held a sword with four blue birds, representing Twitter, the platform from which he criticized his perceived enemies and promoted his positions.[2][3] Engraved on the blade of the sword was the Italian phrase dazi vostri, which translates to 'your taxes' or 'your duties',[1][2] but is also a pun on cazzi vostri, meaning 'you're in trouble'.[4][5] According to Fabrizio, the phrase could mean 'here's your fucking tariffs'.[6] The sculpture included multiple moving parts.[2]
Symbolism
The artist of the sculpture, Fabrizio Galli, stated that the sculpture was intended to mock the Trump presidency, and that Trump shares parallels with the fictional dictator from Warhammer 40,000.[2] Pointing out Trump's goals of Mars colonisation and the creation of the United States Space Force, Galli stated that politics had abandoned intellectualism in favour of "fantasy" and "virtual life".[4][7] The sword was intended as symbolic of Trump "trying to destroy nations with the economy instead of nuclear missiles".[8][6] This has been interpreted as a reference to the Warhammer 40,000 concept of Exterminatus, or the destruction of an entire planet.[7]
Images of Donald Trump photoshopped into the armour of the God Emperor of Mankind, as well as the title of "God Emperor Trump", had been Internet memes used by Trump supporters prior to the float's debut.[9][10]
Reception
Although the sculpture was intended to criticise Trump, many of his supporters embraced it, with Emerald Robinson, the White House correspondent for One America News Network, stating that the Italian carnival looked "more fun" than the American Thanksgiving Day Parade because of the float.[1][11] Several conservative commentators interpreted the float to be a tribute to Trump, claiming that the carnival was a parade in his honour.[5]
The Huffington Post described the sculpture as "terrifying".[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Emperor_Trump
PALM BEACH, FL - JANUARY 04: Prince Lorenzo Borghese attends Trump Invitational Grand Prix Mar-a-Lago Club at The Mar-a-Largo Club on January 4, 2015 in Palm Beach, Florida. People: Prince Lorenzo Borghese
Image details
Contributor:Storms Media Group / Alamy Stock Photo
File size:17.1 MB (612.2 KB Compressed download)
Releases:Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?
Dimensions:1996 x 3000 px | 16.9 x 25.4 cm | 6.7 x 10 inches | 300dpi
Date taken:4 January 2015
Photographer:Hoo-Me / SMG
More information:
This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-image-palm-beach-fl-january-04-prince-lorenzo-borghese-attends-trump-invitational-169422725.html
Facade of St. Peter's
Designed by Carlo Maderno, 1608-1614
116m wide, 53m high
On February 10, 1608 the first stone was laid and on July 21, 1612 most of the work was completed. It took another two years for the ornamentattion.
The inscription (1m high) states: "Paul V Borghese, Roman, Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate, [erected] in honour of the Prince of Apostles".
From the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings, the new pope is announced with "Habemus Papum", and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing. The relief under the balcony, by Buonvicino, represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter.
Above the basic structure is an attic, with eight square windows decorated with small pilasters, surmounted by a balustrade and 13 statues in travertine. The statues on the balustrade represent Christ the Redeemer (19 feet high), St. John the Baptist and 11 Apostles. St. Mathias is included because he is associated with the other "Eleven" in bearing witness to Christ's Resurrection
When Carlo Maderno started to build the facade, he was bound to the already existing Michelangelo's wings. He just put the attic all around the building, as planned by Michelangelo. That creation looks mighty and dynamic along the west side of the Basilica but is disharmonious in the facade. For this reason, at the far sides of the facade, Maderno planned two bell towers which lightened and soared the building. In 1621, at the death of Paul V, the ground subsided and the building of the two bell towers had to be stopped.
In 1646, Bernini tried to erect the bell towers again, but had to demolish the left-hand side bell tower because of cracks in the facade. Only the bases of the bell towers remain, two archways at the sides of the facade that seem to form part of it while they should have been separated. This was remedied in 1790 by the installation of two clocks designed by Giuseppe Valadier.
The eight gigantic columns of the facade are almost 10ft wide and 90 feet high.
The restoration of the facade and the 13 statues, begun in April 1985, was concluded on November 30, 1986. The original copper cross (1613) in the arms of the statue of the Redeemer, which was replaced by a new one during the work, was given to the Knights of Columbus in recognition of their support for the restoration.
https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm.imhbak.2010-02-05
Dragons and eagles of the Borghese family
With Pope Paul V (Camillo Borghese, pope from 1605 to 1621) and his nephew Cardinal Scipione Caffarelli Borghese, this family of Siena became one of the most important in the history of Rome. The family survives to these days.
Their heraldic symbol is based on the dragon (similar to that of Pope Gregory XIII of the Boncompagni family) and on the eagle with the latter above the former.
Villa Borghese
This large villa is situated immediately outside the walls of Rome, from Porta del Popolo to Porta Pinciana. Dragons and eagles are everywhere in the palace, some minor buildings and the gardens.
The Borghese however normally lived in their city palace. Here they had hanging gardens overlooking the river and large offices for their staff and the administration of the numerous possessions the family had around Rome. Several other nearby buildings also belonged to the family and were used for ancillary purposes. Because of its shape this palace is called "Il Cembalo" (the Harpsichord). A winter garden overlooked Porto di Ripetta. See the coat of arms on the façade of the palace in the plate by Filippo Juvarra.
S. Pietro
Pope Paul V inherited the Basilica almost completed, but hidden by part of the old Basilica. New S. Pietro in addition was based on a Greek cross, which was not in line with Catholic liturgical needs.
He decided therefore to lengthen the eastern wing to give the church the traditional Latin cross shape. In doing so he destroyed the façade of the old Basilica and built a new one.
The ceiling of the portico at the entrance reminds the visitor that this part of the church was built by him.
S. Maria Maggiore
Pope Paul V's tomb is in S. Maria Maggiore in Cappella Paolina, but also the doors of the sacristy and a well in the courtyard pay homage to the heraldic symbols of the pope.
Acqua Paola
Heraldic symbols of Pope Paul V are very often not immediately noticeable. The fountain of Acqua Paola is surrounded by small piers with dragons and eagles. By bringing to the western side of Rome water from the Lake of Bracciano (building upon a previous Roman aqueduct) Paul V brought water to the Vatican and because of the high level of the aqueduct many fountains with his heraldic symbols were built near S. Pietro and in Giardini Vaticani.
The Churches of Cardinal Scipione
Many churches were built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese and in general one can say that under the Borghese Rome became the artistic center of Italy.
One of the favourite architects of Cardinal Scipione was Giovan Battista Soria who designed for the Cardinal the façades of three churches: his masterpiece is S. Gregorio al Celio. The Celio hill was almost abandoned in the XVIIth century, although it had been flourishing in Roman times. The symbols of the Borghese were very apt to be artistically interpreted to decorate the façade of a church.
S. Grisogono is in Trastevere, again an area then of little interest, which the Borghese developed by the construction of Acqua Paola. Eagles and Dragons are not only on the façade, but also inserted in a XIIIth century Cosmatesque pavement. A third façade by Soria for Cardinal Borghese is that of S. Maria della Vittoria.
In the Castelli Romani
South of Rome lies an area of vulcanic hills, the Colli Albani. With the Borghese this area became the preferred countryside of Rome, replacing the area to the north of Rome towards the lakes of Bracciano and Bolsena. Twelve little towns rapidly developed and were called I Castelli Romani (the Roman Castles).
Two of these, Monte Porzio Catone and Monte Compatri retain on their coats of arms the symbols of the Borghese family. The entrance to Monte Porzio Catone is the entrance to yet another palace of the Borghese and below the balcony the eagle and the dragon keep an eye on who is coming in.
https://www.romeartlover.it/Aed.html
Revelation 16:13-21
1599 Geneva Bible
13 And I saw [a]three unclean spirits [b]like frogs come out of the mouth of that [c]dragon, and out of the mouth of that [d]beast, and out of the mouth of that [e]false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, to go unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 [f](Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and men see his filthiness.)
16 [g]And they gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew, [h]Armageddon.
17 [i]And the seventh Angel poured out his vial into the [j]air: and there came a loud voice out of the Temple of heaven from [k]the throne, saying, [l]It is done.
18 [m]And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, even so mighty an earthquake.
19 [n]And the great city was divided into three parts: and the cities of the nations [o]fell: and that great [p]Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every isle fled away, and the mountains [q]were not [r]found.
21 [s]And there fell a great hail, like [t]talents out of heaven upon the men, and men blasphemed God, because of the plague of the hail: for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Read full chapter
Footnotes
Revelation 16:13 That is, every of them bent their whole force, and conspired that by wonders, word and work, they might bring into the same destruction all Kings, Princes and Potentates of the world, cursedly bewitched of them by their spirits, and teachers of the vanity and impurity of the beast that committed fornication with the kings of the earth. And this is a right description of our times.
Revelation 16:13 Croaking with all importunity, and continually day and night provoking and calling forth to arms, as the trumpets, and furies of wars: as is declared in the next verse.
Revelation 16:13 That is, the devil, as Rev. 11:3
Revelation 16:13 Whereof Rev. 13:1.
Revelation 16:13 That is, of that other beast, of which Rev. 13:11, for so he is called also Rev. 19:20 and 20:10.
Revelation 16:15 A parenthesis for admonition in which God warneth his holy servants who rest in the expectation of Christ, always to address their minds unto his coming, and to look unto themselves, that they be not shamefully made naked and circumvented of these unclean spirits, and so they be miserable unprepared at the coming of their Lord.
Revelation 16:16 Namely the Angel, who holily according to the commandment of God was to do sacrifice: notwithstanding that those impure spirits do the same wickedly as servants not unto God, but unto that beast that hath seven heads.
Revelation 16:16 That is, (to say nothing of other expositions) the mountain itself, or mountain places of Megiddo. Now it is certain by the holy Scripture, that Megiddo is a city and territory in the tribe of Manasseh, bordering upon Issachar and Asher, and was made famous by that lamentable overthrow of king Josiah, whereof 2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chron. 37:22; Zech. 12:11. In this mountain country God saith by figure and type, that the kings of the peoples which serve the beast shall meet together: because the Gentiles did always cast that lamentable overthrow in the teeth of the Church of the Jews unto their great reproach: and therefore were persuaded that that place should be most fortunate unto them (as they speak) and unfortunate unto the godly: but God here pronounceth, that that reproach of the Church, and confidence of the ungodly shall by himself be taken away, in the selfsame places where the nations persuaded themselves, they should mightily exult and triumph against God and his Church.
Revelation 16:17 The story of the seventh Angel unto the end of the chapter, in which first is showed by figure and speech, the argument of this plague, in this verse: and then is declared the execution thereof in the verses following.
Revelation 16:17 From whence he might move the heaven above and the earth beneath.
Revelation 16:17 That is, from him that sitteth on the throne, by the figure called Metonymy.
Revelation 16:17 That is, Babylon is undone, as is showed verse 16 and in the Chapters following. For the first onset (as I might say) of this denunciation, is described in this Chapter: and the last containing a perfect victory is described in those that follow.
Revelation 16:18 Now is declared the execution (as is said in verse 27) and the things that shall last come to pass in heaven and in earth, before the overthrow of the beast of Babylon: both generally, verse 18, and particularly in the cursed city, and such as have any familiarity therewith, in the 3 last verses.
Revelation 16:19 That seat or standing place of Antichrist.
Revelation 16:19 Of all such as cleave unto Antichrist, and fight against Christ.
Revelation 16:19 That harlot, of whom in the Chapter next following. Now this phrase to come into remembrance is after the common use of the Hebrew speech, but borrowed from men, attributed unto God.
Revelation 16:20 That is, were seen no more, or were no more extant. A borrowed Hebraism.
Revelation 16:20 Appeared not, which the Hebrews utter after this sort, were not, Gen. 5:24.
Revelation 16:21 The manner of the particular execution, most evidently testifying the wrath of God by the original and greatness thereof: the event whereof is the same with that which is, Rev. 9:12, and that which hath been mentioned in this Chapter, from the execution of the fourth Angel hitherto, that is to say, an incorrigible pertinency of the world in their rebellion, and an heart that cannot repent, verses 9 and 11.
Revelation 16:21 As it were about the weight of a talent was threescore pound, that is, six hundred groats, whereby is signified a marvelous and strange kind of weight.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2016&version=GNV
AFA-27 [recorded 03/15/87] | The CIA, the Military & Drugs Part IV
Developing a line of inquiry presented in the preceding broadcast, this program focuses on narco-terrorism in Latin America. Particular emphasis is on intelligence-related elements that figured in the Iran-Contra scandal, anti-Castro Cubans in particular. Much of the discussion centers on activities that took place when George Bush was in charge of the CIA.
After reviewing the Latin American narcotics network of Corsican gangster and Third Reich collaborator Auguste Ricord, the broadcast focuses on the role of Ricord associate Klaus Barbie in the 1980 “Cocaine Coup” in Bolivia. The Gestapo chief of Lyons (France) during the war, Barbie found post-war employment with American intelligence, first with the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, and later with the CIA.
With the aid of elements of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, Barbie and a group of fascist terrorists associated with the narcotics trade overthrew the Bolivian government and established a dictatorship under General Garcia-Meza. Under this regime, the business of cocaine kingpin Roberto Suarez thrived, aided by Barbie and his “bridegrooms of death.” Doubling as para-fascist terrorists and enforcers for the government, Barbie and his cutthroats aided the bloody suppression of trade unions and the political left in the coup’s aftermath.
Barbie’s cocaine mercenaries included some interesting individuals. German-born Joachim Fiebelkorn (a neo-Nazi and informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency) was joined with Italian fascists, such as Pierluigi Pagliai (a member of the infamous P‑2 lodge discussed in AFAs 18,19) and the notorious fascist Stefano Delle Chiaie, a principal architect of the “strategy of tension.”
The strategy of tension (a major focal point of AFA-19) was an out-cropping of what Danish journalist Henrik Kruger termed “the International Fascista.” (Kruger is the author of The Great Heroin Coup: Drugs, Intelligence and International Fascism, published in softcover by the South End Press of Boston, copyright 1980. Mr. Emory views the work as the best individual volume ever written on the subject of the intelligence community and the narcotics trade.) A consortium of fascists in Europe and Latin America, International Fascista included numerous Latin death squad elements, elements of U.S. intelligence and the Paladin mercenary group (funded by Libyan dictator Khadafy, as well as the weapons empire of SS officer and sometime CIA operative Otto Skorzeny.) A principal figure in the postwar ODESSA organization, Skorzeny is discussed at considerable length in AFA-22.
One of the major cogs of the International Fascista was CORU, arguably the most militant and deadly of the anti-Castro Cuban organizations. CORU was involved in a string of bombings, assassinations and terrorist attacks in the mid 1970’s, including the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C. CORU’s reign of terror took place when George Bush was director of the CIA, and an element of the agency appears to have been involved with it.
Program Highlights Include: “Operation Condor” (an international assassination consortium of Latin American dictatorships); a number of assassinations and attempted assassinations conducted under “Condor;” Argentine fascist and P‑2 lodge member Jose Lopez Rega; Italian fascist and Skorzeny associate Prince Justo Valerio Borghese; former Goebbels Propaganda Ministry official Gerhard Hartmut Von Schubert (the operating manager of the Paladin group); Paladin’s overlap with Spanish intelligence and the CIA; Operation Condor’s attempts at disguising its acts as left-wing terror; the position of the World Anti-Communist League in the milieu set forth in this broadcast
For more related content, please visit:
http://ourhiddenhistory.org/
https://archive.org/details/@altviewstv-fanclub
https://rumble.com/v4e2vto-dave-emory-anti-fascist-archives-27-the-cia-the-military-and-drugs-part-4-o.html
Since Fulcanelli informs us that the argotique of the green language is based on a cabalistic pattern of meaning, it should be obvious that this pattern is the Tree of Life of his fellow adepts. That it is not obvious is the result of misdirection, conscious or unconscious, on the part of Fulcanelli’s student, Eugène Canseliet. In the “Preface to the Second Edition” of Mystery of the Cathedrals, Canseliet, while displaying his knowledge of the importance of stellar imagery in his master’s work, ends with a major piece of misinformation. He states that the justification for the republication of the book lies in the fact “that this book has restored to light the phonetic cabala, whose principles and applications had been completely lost.” While this is somewhat true, Canseliet goes on to conclude that after his and Fulcanelli’s work, “this mother tongue need never be confused with the Jewish Kabbalah.”24 He continues by asserting that “the Jewish Kabbalah is full of transpositions, inversions, substitutions and calculations, as arbitrary as they are abstruse.” Again this is true for many explications of the kabbalistic mystery, but it does not address the issue of the universality of the Tree of Life itself. Canseliet further muddies the water by suggesting that cabala and Kabbalah are derived from different roots. Cabala, he declares, is derived from the Latin caballus, or “horse,” while Kabbalah is derived from the Hebrew word for tradition. On the surface, this is indeed correct, but Canseliet is skillfully avoiding the deeper meanings of both these words, which leads us ultimately to their common root—kaba, the stone. Fulcanelli never voiced such opinions in the body of the book. In Mystery of the Cathedrals, he obliquely refers to the cabala as the “language of the gods” and scorns the “would-be cabalists . . . whether they be Jewish or Christian,” and “the would-be experts, whose illusory combinations lead to nothing concrete.”25 He goes on to say: “Let us leave these doctors of the Kabbalah to their ignorance,” implying those who claimed to be authorities on the Hebrew Kabbalah. He says nothing against the Kabbalah itself but merely notes that it is misunderstood by almost everyone. By implication, Fulcanelli is also saying that he does understand it properly. As we saw in chapter 2, “Isis the Prophetess” points to a Tree of Life motif for its source of wisdom. The Hebrew spelling of Amnael’s name gives us a clue to its nature. Using Hebrew gematria, the letters in the name add up to 123, the number of the three-part name of God, AHH YHVH ELOHIM, associated with the top three sefirot on the Tree of Life, Kether, Chokmah, and Binah (see fig. 2.9). As noted already, if we break the name into Amn and ael, we get the numbers 91 and 32. These are both references to the Tree of Life, 32 being the total number of paths and sefirot and 91 being the number of the Hebrew word amen, AMN, and the word for “tree,” AYLN. Stirling, in his rediscovery of the ancient canon, concludes that the Tree of Life is the pattern that underlies the secret language of symbolism, which is the language expressed by the liberal arts that accompany Alchemy/Philosophy on the base of the middle pillar of the Porch of Judgment. Fulcanelli himself points to the Tree of Life as the key secret in his description of the dragon’s plinth, going so far as to paraphrase the Sefer Yetzirah. Therefore, why should we, on the basis of Canseliet’s prejudice, associate anything else with Fulcanelli’s kabbalistic image pattern? Fulcanelli also instructs us that language is a reflection of the universal Idea, a clear reference to the Word/World Tree. The kabbalistic origins of the art of light, Fulcanelli reminds us, are but a reflection of the divine light. Fulcanelli is not only making use of this kabbalistic Tree of Life pattern, but he is a master of its symbolic subtleties as well. As he unfolds his array of images and concepts, we see the guiding matrix of the ancient Word, the verbum dismissum or lost word of Western esotericism, revealed as the divine World/Word Tree."
The Mysteries of The Great Cross of Hendaye
Alchemy and The End of Time
Jay Weidner and Vincent Bridges
https://dn790009.ca.archive.org/0/items/the-mysteries-of-the-great-cros-jay-weidner/The%20Mysteries%20of%20the%20Great%20Cros%20-%20Jay%20Weidner.pdf
$500 million Perelman Arts Center opens at World Trade Center site
BY DAVE CARLIN
UPDATED ON: SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 / 6:43 PM / CBS NEW YORK
NEW YORK -- There's a new beacon of light for Lower Manhattan. Added to the World Trade Center site is a $500 million center for performance and creative expression.
CBS New York's Dave Carlin was at the grand opening of Perelman Arts Center (PAC NYC).
The giant cube is dazzling and drawing crowds to a shapeshifting arts space.
The grand opening had VIPs, song and dance. Tony Award winner Gavin Creel was joined by ballet students from the Joffrey School.
The chairman of the board for Perelman Arts Center is former mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"Today, we inaugurate the last major piece of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site," he said.
The center at 251 Fulton St. is the work of REX architecture firm.
"In the core of the building, the heart of the building, are these really dynamic theaters. There's three, and they are extremely reconfigurable," REX founding principal Joshua Ramos said.
The interior space is by the Rockwell Group.
"The combination of elements -- the memorial, the museum. In the performing arts center, you have to come up the stairs, and you're entering a place that's about creativity and art and possibilities," David Rockwell said.
"We need places like this to give us that sense of hope again," Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
"It renews our spirit," Mayor Eric Adams said.
There is a dazzling difference between day and night -- the thin marble panels and a glowing from within this place full of life.
"Being part of the World Trade Center site is so important to our mission," PAC NYC Executive Director Khady Kamara said. "You can walk in anytime we're open."
"We're going to have Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We're going to have free performances on the lobby stage. So I do think just a place to come and hang out," PAC NYC Artistic Director Bill Rausch said.
The theaters are buzzing with activity, setting the stages for the start of performances Sept. 19."
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/perelman-arts-center-world-trade-center/
"Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core." Jude 1:11
Note 281.—"CUBE. The cube is a symbol of truth, of wisdom, of moral perfection The New Jerusalem promised by the Apocalypse is equal in length, breadth, and height,"—Mackey's Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Freemasonry, Article Cube."
Twenty-Fourth Degree; or Prince of the Tabernacle.
INITIATION.
Scotch Rite Masonry Illustrated Volume 2 -The complete Ritual of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite profusely illustrated 1905.pdf - Google Drive
CAABA or KAABA
Arabic word Ka'abah for CUBIC building. The square building or temple in Mecca. More especially the small cubical oratory. within, held in adoration by the Mohammedans, as containing the black stone said to have been given by an angel to Abraham. The inner as well as the outer structure receives its name from Ka'ab, meaning cube (see Allah)."
Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (phoenixmasonry.org)
When Attalus, the Pontiff and King of Pergamos, died in 133BC, he bequested the Headship of the "Babylonian Priesthood" to Rome. William B. Barker in his book "Lares and Penates cracks open the codeword Pergamos as used by St. John in Revelation 2:13. He writes: "The Chaldean Magi enjoyed a long period of prosperity at Babylon. A pontiff appointed by the sovereign ruled over a college of seventy-two hierophants.... [just as the popes have 70 Cardinals] the defeated Chaldeans fled to Asia Minor, and fixed their central college at Pergamos, and too the Palladium of Babylon, the CUBIC stone [believed to represent Cybele or Kybele, the mother goddess] with them. Here, independent of state control, they carried on the rites of their religion, and plotted against the peace of the Persian Empire, caballing with the Greeks for that purpose."
Thus we see that the Chaldeans continued to wield political and religious influence, injecting thier presence into the next world empire. When the city was later given to Rome (Rome acquired the city of Pergamos by decree of Attalus III, bequething his kingdom to the Roman Caesar), the priesthood of Pergamos moved to the new power center on the Italian peninsula."
page 504-505
"Kingdom of God or Masterpiece of Satan?-The Secret Doctrine"
Codeword Barbelon book One
by P.D. Stuart
Pope Francis at 9/11 memorial: ‘We can never forget them’
Catherine E. Shoichet
By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 7:42 PM EDT, Fri September 25, 2015
New York
CNN
—
He calls his church a field hospital for the spiritually wounded. And on Friday, Pope Francis spoke to hundreds who are still trying to heal.
Praying with families of victims of the September 11 attacks at a ground zero memorial and speaking at an interfaith service, Francis offered a message of hope at a place of horror.
“The name of so many loved ones are written around the towers’ footprints. We can see them, we can touch them, and we can never forget them,” Francis said.
“Here, amid pain and grief, we also have a palpable sense of the heroic goodness which people are capable of. … Hands reached out, lives were given.
“This place of death became a place of life, too, a place of saved lives, a hymn to the triumph of life over the prophets of destruction and death, to goodness over evil, to reconciliation and unity over hatred and division,” Francis said.
On Friday, his first full day in New York and his fourth day in the United States, Francis spoke at the UN General Assembly, sang with children at a school in Harlem, rumbled through Central Park in his Popemobile and celebrated a Mass with thousands of Catholics at Madison Square Garden.
His visit to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum was billed as a moment to pause and reflect in a day packed with large events in the public eye.
‘This really is the beginning’
At a place that’s often the site of somber memorials, the arrival of Pope Francis brought a chorus of cheers and chants.
Outside the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, about 1,000 family members of victims of the 2001 terror attack greeted the Pope.
Standing steps away from where their relatives perished, they lined up along guard railings to catch a glimpse of Francis.
Some got the chance to talk with him one-on-one. Others watched from behind barriers, trying to catch his attention.
A man shouted: “Francisco! Our whole family’s here! A blessing, please!”
It wasn’t long before the crowd joined him: “Our blessing, please! Francisco! Francisco! Francisco!”
Nixia Mena-Alexis held a bouquet of yellow roses in one hand and wore a photograph of her sister pinned to her shirt.
The flowers, she said, symbolize the Catholic Church – and hope. She said she hoped to give some to the Pope and place some beside her sister’s name – one of thousands surrounding the reflecting pools at the memorial.
Diarelia Mena worked in IT for Cantor Fitzgerald. She had just turned 30 and had a 2-year-old daughter when she was killed on September 11.
“She was full of life and her laughter was contagious,” her sister said as her eyes filled with tears.
The lifelong Catholic said coming here fills her with a mix of emotions. But Mena-Alexis knew she wanted to be here when the Pope came.
“To me, he symbolizes peace, and that’s part of what we’re striving for after what happened here,” she said. “This is sacred ground, so I wanted to be present when he came.”
Jean Colaio, 50, lost her two brothers on 9/11. Both worked at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Being in the Pope’s presence, she said, will help heal her family.
“We were here on that day and witnessed everything and evacuated. We had our horrible experience here,” Colaio said. “And this really is the beginning. We’ve been working on our healing. But I think this really has propelled it.
“I feel close and connected to my brothers because he’s here.”
Marjorie Kane, whose father was killed on 9/11, said she felt differently after seeing the Pope than she ever had at the site.
“It’s honestly the first time I can recall being on this ground and feeling this peace and calm,” she said. “I’m usually full of such sorrow and such sadness coming here.”
Papal power
It wasn’t just Catholics who said they were inspired by the Pope’s message.
Dr. Gunisha Kaur, who offered a Sikh prayer onstage at the ceremony, is pregnant and asked the Pope to bless her baby.
Onstage, before the crowd, he placed his hand on her belly.
“That is the power of this pope, that he means something to all religions,” her husband, Simran Jeet Singh, said after the service.
Kaur said she was moved by Francis – and all the faiths that were part of the program.
“During prayers that were in languages that I don’t know, I I found myself singing along,” she said. “It really felt like we were all there praying together.”
https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/25/us/pope-francis-united-nations-friday/index.html
Happy National Bird Day - Koko B. Ware sings "Bird Bird Bird": Prime Time Wrestling, Sept. 11, 1989
WWE
98.6M subscribers
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvBEvG8XShY
Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].
It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]
The Latin form Georgius had been rarely given in Western Christendom since at least the 6th century. The popularity of the name however develops from around the 12th century, in Occitan in the form Jordi, and it becomes popular at European courts after the publication of the Golden Legend in the 1260s.
The West Iberian form Jorge is on record in Portugal as the name of Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (1481–1550).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge
Pope Francis[b] (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[c] 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969; from 1973 to 1979, he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina; the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
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.
Guy Fawkes, a key member of the group was chosen to bomb the parliament owing to his experience as a soldier in the Spanish army. He smuggled 36 barrels of gun powder into a cellar directly below the Parliament which was enough to obliterate the entire building thereby killing all the key members of the state including the king and high ranking officials.
However, through Divine providence, an anonymous letter was sent to a Catholic called William Parker who was a member of the Parliament. The letter warned him to stay away from the opening of the Parliament. Alarmed by this, he brought this to the attention of King James who then ordered a search of the basement of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was found hiding in one of the cellars guarding a stash of gunpowder and explosives. After being tortured, Guy Fawkes revealed that this was a preplanned Jesuit led Catholic conspiracy to annihilate England’s Protestant government and replace it with a Catholic one.
https://www.secretsunlocked.org/bible/bible-history/guy-fawkes-day-the-jesuit-treason-and-the-gunpowder-plot
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024.[a] The Republican Party's ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and JD Vance, the junior U.S. senator from Ohio—defeated the Democratic Party's ticket—Kamala Harris, the incumbent vice president, and Tim Walz, the 41st governor of Minnesota.[6][7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election
Pope Addresses Congress
Blesses crowd outside the Capitol
Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 24.
The Pope, who became the first pontiff to address Congress, thanked lawmakers for their warm welcome.
"I am most grateful for your invitation to address this joint session of Congress," he said.
"Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives."
Before the speech, House Speaker John Boehner met with Pope Francis in a room outside the House chamber, where the Pope complimented the Speaker's green tie, saying it was the "color of hope."
After his remarks, Pope Francis stopped in Statuary Hall, where he blessed a statue of Junipero Serra, an 18th century Spanish missionary, whom the Pope had canonized the previous evening. Serra is the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil and his statue is one of two California has in the Capitol collection.
Pope Francis, Speaker Boehner, Vice President Joe Biden, and other Congressional leaders then stepped out onto the Speaker's balcony, where the Pope blessed a crowd who cheered "papa, papa."
Speaking in Spanish, he greeted the crowd with "Buenos Dias."
"I am so grateful for your presence," he told the crowd via a translator.
http://www.speaker.gov/pope [ Link changed in new Congress, content kept for historical reasons. ] Speaker Boehner's behind-the-scenes photos and video on his website of the Pope's visit.
https://www.house.gov/feature-stories/2015-9-24-pope-addresses-congress
How to Speak Ignatian: Common words and phrases of the Society of Jesus
Adapted from “How to Speak Loyola,” a glossary developed by the Office of Mission &
Identity, Loyola University, Chicago.
Microsoft Word - How to Speak Ignatian.doc (jesuithighschool.org)
https://www.jesuithighschool.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/how_to_speak_ignatian_0.pdf
1236
June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]
July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]
Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.
May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236
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 Complementary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.
Rulers of Evil
by F. Tupper Saussy
https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf
Al-Andalus[a] (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس) was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain, Portugal[1] and France. The name describes the different Muslim[2][3] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[4][5][6] and part of present-day southern France (Septimania) under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed constantly through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[2][3][7][8][9] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.
As a political domain, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); the first taifa kingdoms (1009–1110); the Almoravid Empire (1085–1145); the second taifa period (1140–1203); the Almohad Caliphate (1147–1238); the third taifa period (1232–1287); and ultimately the Nasrid Emirate of Granada (1238–1492). Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Islamic world. Achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus, including major advances in trigonometry (Jabir ibn Aflah), astronomy (Al-Zarqali), surgery (Al-Zahrawi), pharmacology (Ibn Zuhr),[10] and agronomy (Ibn Bassal and Abū l-Khayr al-Ishbīlī). Al-Andalus became a conduit for cultural and scientific exchange between the Islamic and Christian worlds.[10]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1
The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.
of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."
EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS
AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA
By
JAVIER A. MONTOYA
http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf
Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."
https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha
Gautama
surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."
https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha
Unam Sanctam
One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority
Pope Boniface VIII - 1302
Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302
Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.
We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.
However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.
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
All historians acknowledge the ascendancy of the popes began in 308 A.D., when King Clovis of the Salian or Merovingian Franks (later France), won the decisive battle in the Catholic and Arian religious war, thereby settling the dispute in favor of the Catholics. But the popes' temporal reign officially began in the year 538 A.D. when Roman Emperor Justinian subdued the last of the three kingdoms, or "horns," that opposed the rise of the Papacy."
-page 137
Chapter 19 "Exposed (Again): 1260 Years of World DominatioN
Codeword Barbelon book 2 by P.D. Stuart
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid035xnEp3Ly2wiUwdPzYuyuedPDSdcSEVe8gzHxCZfovqX8epcgRL4v7RbqwVsjavD3l
[In the year 1110, a mysterious order called the Prieuré de Sion appeared upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This mysterious secret order, the Prieuré de Sion, was eventually to crown the first king, the first Christian king of Jerusalem. When they appeared in the Temple Mount in 1110, they recruited nine knights to comb, to scour the Temple Mount, the passages and caverns and tunnels beneath for the ancient remains of the relics of their religion.]
Later in A.D. 1118, nine knights, [supposedly] concerned for the welfare of pilgrims to the Holy Land, bound themselves together in the creation of a knightly Order. [This order, again existing of nine knights, just like the original nine knights, were commissioned by the Prieuré de Sion.] In under two hundred years [folks] this organization had become one of the most powerful single entities—if not the greatest—[power ever to exist] in Europe. [They were the first international bankers. The first that ever existed in the world.] A few years later it was utterly destroyed. [They say, however, as you're going to find out, they were not destroyed at all, but merely driven underground.] The zeal of religion, the conditioning which made men support a dedicated cause with all of their might, was likewise the instrument of their destruction. Nothing less than religious fervor could have smashed the Order: as nothing less could have created it.
[And folks, you're going to find it difficult to believe, but the rise of this order and destruction, at least publically, of this order has such a great bearing on events today that you could say that everything that has happened since has been brought about by this one series of acts.]
Were the Knights Templar devil-worshippers, secret Saracens indulging in obscene orgies? Did they adore a head, spit on the Cross, use the word, 'Yallah' [which means literally in Arabic,] (O Allah!) in their rituals? Did they learn their ways from the terrible sect of the Assassins?
[Well, yes folks, they did. And they are the link—at least, in that day, would have been considered the modern link—between the ancient Mystery Religion of Babylon and Europe. For the religion had come to Europe long, long before the Templars ever emerged, and made their appearance in the ancient worship of the sun by the Druids and the Celts, and the tribes, the Germanic tribes who had made their way thousands of years ago from the Middle East up through Asia, and across Russia and into Europe. They brought Mystery Babylon with them, and practiced it as what we now know of today as the pagan religion. And Stonehenge is actually an ancient Babylonian temple of the sun. And you will find how all this connects later.]
[But the origin of this was lost, and the ability to control large numbers of people, by the use of the hidden knowledge of the ages, was lost. It wasn't until the Knights Templar bought [sic] and brought the Mystery Religion of Babylon to Europe, that the ancient, ancient worship of the sun again took hold. Amongst the Christian countries, in the guise of Christianity, which was itself at that time—I'm not talking about the teachings of Christ now, I'm talking about the perversion of the teachings of Christ—the melding of the teachings of Christ with the ancient worship of the sun, the Mystery Religion of Babylon which became the Catholic church was indeed another branch of the ancient Mystery Religion of Babylon. And some of you out there may be confused from all of this.]
[If you've been listening from the beginning of this series, then you're right on target; you're not confused, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you picked up this series somewhere in the middle, then you need to call Stan and order the studio quality tapes. They're in stereo, they're on TDK tapes, first-quality tapes and crystal clear. You need to order this series from the first tape, the very first, and that was broadcast on February the 12th, I believe, a Friday. But anyway, Stan will know. Give him a call at (602) 567-6109. That's (602) 567-6109 or write to Stan and ask him for an information packet at P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322. That's P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322.]
[Now, folks,] the original objective of the Order [of the Temple—Knights Templar], which immediately because the subject of applause throughout Christendom, was to combine the two functions of monk and knight, to live chastely and fight the Saracents with the sword and spirit. The Sweet Mother of God [at least outwardly they say] was chosen as their patroness; and they bound themselves to live in accordance with the rules of St. Augustine, electing as the their first leader Hugh de Payens. [Now] King Baldwin II granted him a part of his palace to live in and gave them a grant toward its upkeep. [Now the part of the palace they lived in was an ancient mosque, which was built upon the actual location of the old Temple of Solomon, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.]
[The Knights Templar] vowed to consecrate their swords, arms, strength and lives to the defense of the mysteries of the Christian faith; to pay complete and utter obedience to the orders of the Grand Master; to fight whenever commanded, regardless of perils, for the faith of Christ as they understood it. Among the vows taken which were forbade their yielding even a foot of land to the enemy [whoever the enemy was] and not to retreat, even if attacked in the proportion of three to one. They choose the name militia temple—Soldiers of the Temple—after the temple supposedly built by Solomon in Jerusalem, near which they had been assigned quarters by the King. [But in reality had nothing to do with the Temple of Solomon.]
Some say that the Templars derived their idea of their Order from that of the Hospitallars, who looked after Catholic pilgrims to Palestine; for there was little hospitality to be had from the native Orthodox Christians of those parts. Others hold that there was an even older Order from which they received their inspiration. No reliable evidence is, at this point however, available. [According to the "establishment" historians, although for those who really, really research the true history of the secret orders, and specifically the Knights Templars, there's a direct connection to the Assassins and the Roshaniya.]
Although the Templars were so poor than two men had to share a horse [they say, but that is not true at all] (and their Seal commemorated this decades after they became one of the richest communities of their time), they soon attracted favorable notice and support. [Now, the two knights riding a horse was a symbol of sacrifice. It denoted their vows of poverty. In truth, each knight now only had a horse, but he had what they called a yeoman. He had a spare horse, he had a pack horse, and he had several horses in reserve, and a whole train of servants. But the Knights Templar were the first true—as we know it in modern times, in modern times there were others before, but they were the first true in modern times—and by modern, 112 I'd say, from the time that Europe escaped from the old tribal of paganism. In other words in 1110, I consider that to be beginning of the modern age. Although historians may disagree with me, it's the beginning of everything that has happened since, and everything that's happening today can be traced right to the door of the Knights Templar, and that's why I say that. They were the first modern order to practice what we now know as true Communism. They were the ones who brought international Socialism into Europe, which has always been the tenet and the creed of the Mystery Religion of Babylon.] Only one year after their establishment, Fulk, Count of Anjou, who had come to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage, joined as a married member and gave them an annual grant of thirty pounds of silver. This example was soon followed by other devout Western princes.
For the first nine years of their existence, the knights continued to live a life of chastity and poverty in accordance with their vows. They adopted a striped black and white banner, called the Beauséant, after their original piebald horse; and this word also became their battle-cry. Special raiment they had none, and they wore whatever clothes were given to them by the pious. But little by little, as one writer puts it, they were to become “haughty and insolent”.
[And the black and white banner, the translation of the meaning of which was for the, again, exoteric, for the real meaning of the black and white banner was the meaning of the androgynous god, the positive and the negative, the black and the white, the yin and the yang, the male and the female combined into one, and that was the real meaning of the black and white banner. And it's carried forth today on the floor of many of the temples of Freemasonry where the black and white checkered pattern exists, and in one famous cathedral in Europe built by the Knights Templar. They disguised their esoteric religion in an exoteric manner that would be accepted by Christianity.]
Baldwin of Jerusalem, who had been a prisoner in the hands of the Saracens and knew of their disunity, realized at about this time that Islam must eventually unite against the Christian invasion, and the decided that the Templars who prove ideal allies in the battles which were to come. In 1127, therefore, he sent two Templars with his strong recommendation to the Pope, applying for official recognition of the Order by the Holy See. [And this is the first time that the Templars even were considered to be close to the center of religion, the Christian religion in that day, the Catholic church, the Pope. For they were not commissioned as a Christian order; they were not commissioned by the Pope or by the church, and this is a big myth that the Knights Templar started out to protect the church and to protect the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. They were established first, primarily, and foremost as a branch of the ancient order of the Religion of Mystery Babylon. And it's indicative of the strategies that they've used since to endear themselves to whatever the established power, or the beliefs of the majority of the people might be.]
[When they went to see the Pope,] they had an introduction to St. Bernard himself, the Abbot of Clairvaux, who was known to be admirer of theirs, and who was a nephew of one of their envoys. Then the Grand Master himself arrived in Europe, and received the eulogistic opinion of the Abbot: “They go not headlong into battle, but with care and foresight, peacefully, as true children of Israel. But as soon as the fight had begun, they rush without delay upon the foe . . . and know no fear . . . one has often put to flight a thousand; two, ten thousand . . . gentler than lambs and grimmer than lions; theirs is the mildness of monks and the valor of the knight.” [Now folks, this was a strong recommendation, and this testimonial was part of the campaign of the Templars in their efforts at recognition of the Pope. All of you who have thought that they began as a religious order in the first place are so way off base that it's pathetic. And neither were the Jesuits a religious order in the first place, but we'll get that together in another broadcast.] [But] on the 31st [of] January [in the year] 1128, the Master appeared before the Council of Troyes. This formidable body consisted of the Archbishops of Rheims and Sens, ten bishops and a number of abbots—including St. Bernard himself - presided over by the Cardinal of Albano, the Papal legate. They were approved; and Pope Honorius chose for them a white mantle, completely plain. The red cross was added by order of Pope Eugenius III in 1146. [And see, you thought the Templars thought of this. Nope not at all. This was mandated by two Popes: first, the white mantle, completely plain; and then later the red cross was added by Pope Eugenius III in 1146.]
Hugh de Payens now took his delegation through France and England, and collected a number of recruits. Gifts and grants were showered upon the Order; lands, rents and arms were forthcoming from all quarters. Richard I of England was enthusiastic about them. By 1133, King Alfonso of Aragon and Naverre, who had fought the Spanish Moors in twenty-nine 113 battles, had willed his country to them; although when the Moors finally laid him low his nobles prevented the Templars from claiming their rights. [Nevertheless, this was of great honor. In fact, to my knowledge and to our research into history, it never had before been done.]
In 1129 the Master, accompanied by three hundred knights, recruited from the noblest houses of Europe, led a huge train of pilgrims to the Holy Land. It was at this time that the Templars formed part of the Christian contingent which, allied with the Assassins, tried to take Damascus. [And it wasn't the first time nor the last that the Christian Knights Templar, or supposedly Christian Knights Templar (they really weren't Christian at all) were allied with the Assassins.] Were they (as the Orientalist von Hammer alleges)109 connected in some secret way with the Assassins? [Yes, our research shows that it is a historical fact. And it is also a historical fact that the Assassins were prepared to adopt Christianity if they could gain greater power thereby (Christianity, that is, on the surface, just as the Knights Templar had done)]. Hammer points to the similarities of the two organizations. The followers of Hasan Ibn Sabah were in contact with the Templars, and had a similar method of organization. They were in existence before the Templars were formed: “The Ismailians ([or] Assassins) was the original, and [folks] the Order of the Templars, [was] the copy.”
The balance of Western opinion is against this contention; more particularly because, one feels from wide reading of historians, great sympathy is felt for the cruelly treated and a arbitrarily dispossessed Templars. Thus Keightley, who made a close study of the Order those who would claim that the Templars were an Assassin branch [but, when you do research into the (laughs) associations and memberships of Keightley, you'll find that Keightley was himself a Knight Templar. And he said:]
“When, nearly thirty years after their institution, the Pope gave them permission to wear a cross on their mantle, like the rival Hospitaller Order, no color could present itself to well suited to those who daily and hourly exposed themselves to martyrdom as that of blood, in which there was so much of what was symbolical. With respect to internal organization it will, we apprehend, be always found that this is for the most part of the growth of time and the product of circumstances; and it always nearly the same where these last are similar.”110
[And you find this kind of rhetoric, semantics, all throughout the writings of those who wish to cover the true origin and the true meaning of Mystery Babylon.]
The famous question of the three thousand gold pieces paid by the Syrian branch of the Assassins to the Templars is another matter which has [of course] never been settled. One opinion holds that this money was given as a tribute to the Christians; the other, that it was a secret allowance from the larger to the small organization. [Which it really was as the Assassins wished to expand their control and remember their original goal was to take over the entire world by the systematic infiltration and control of each individual country.] Those who think that the Assassins were fanatical Moslems, and therefore would not form any alliance with those who to them were infidels, should be reminded that to the followers of the Old Man of the Mountains only he was right, and the Saracens who were fighting the Holy War for Allah against the Crusaders were as bad as anyone else who did not accept the Assassin doctrine.
[And it is true today: “If you are not one of us, you are nothing.” “The ends justify the means.” “The strength of our Order exists in the fact that we manifest ourselves under many different names and many different occupations, and sometimes even seem to oppose ourselves. But at the highest level, we are of one mind."
And I could go on, and on (laughs), and on, and you all know that I could go on and on and on. For I have studied this for so many years that I eat, drink and sleep it. Oh yes.]
[Well, eventually] grave charges against the Templars during the Crusades included the allegation that they were fighting for themselves alone. More than one historical incident bears this out. The Christians had besieged the town of Ascalon in 1153, and were engaged upon burning down the walls with large piles of inflammable materials. Part of the wall fell after a whole night of this burning. The Christian army was about to enter, when the Master of the Temple (Bernard de Tremelai)
109 Chevalier Joseph von Hammer, The History of the Assassins: Derived from Oriental sources, 1835
110 Thomas Keightley, Secret Societies of the Middle Ages, 1837
claimed the right to take the town himself. This was because the first contingent into a conquered town had the whole spoils. As it happened, the garrison rallied and killed the Templars, closing the breach. There seem good grounds for believing that the power which they had gained caused the Templars to devote their efforts as much to their own Order's welfare as to the cause of the Cross, in spite of their tremendous sacrifices for that cause. Having no loyalty to any territorial chief, they obeyed their Master alone, and hence no softening political pressure could be put upon them. [Well,] this might well have led to an idea that they were an invisible super-state [and that is exactly the fact]; and this does show some similarity with the invisible empire of the Assassins. If none can deny their bravery, their high-handedness and exclusivity, in less than a hundred and fifty years after their founding gave them the reputation of considering themselves almost a law unto themselves.
[No longer reading] And now, dear listeners, we get into the meat, the direct connection between the historical events and the events that are happening today. Don't miss even one episode of this series. Good night, and may God bless each and every one of you.
(Outro music: Stardust)111
The Templars and the Assassins (aired March 2nd, 1993)
https://viefag.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/transcripts-of-william-cooper-s-mystery-babylon-series.pdf
Hajj Amin al-Husayni meets Hitler
In this German propaganda newsreel, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist and prominent Muslim religious leader, meets Hitler for the first time. During the meeting, held in in the Reich chancellery, Hitler declined to grant al-Husayni’s request for a public statement—or a secret but formal treaty—in which Germany would: 1) pledge not to occupy Arab land, 2) recognize Arab striving for independence, and 3) support the “removal” of the proposed Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Führer confirmed that the “struggle against a Jewish homeland in Palestine” would be part of the struggle against the Jews. Hitler stated that: he would “continue the struggle until the complete destruction of Jewish-Communist European empire”; and when the German army was in proximity to the Arab world, Germany would issue “an assurance to the Arab world” that “the hour of liberation was at hand.” It would then be al-Husayni’s “responsibility to unleash the Arab action that he has secretly prepared.” The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/hajj-amin-al-husayni-meets-hitler
CHAPTER SEVEN – SHABTAI, SHIMON AND SHARON – DESTROYING THE JEWS ALM 1 - THE DEUTSCH DEVILS
Rabbi Marvin Antelman was right all along. Way back in 1974, he identified the source of all the evil against Jews and humanity but his message and style were too unaccessible to get through to anyone but the most advanced students of antisemitism. What he lacked most was simplicity, a common enough failure of thinkers decades in advance of their contemporaries. What he needed was someone to put out a Cliff's Notes simplified explanation of his thesis...and someone, without intention, just did. The name of the book is, 50 Jewish Messiahs by Jerry Rabow (Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem). It is an informative but shallow overview of just what the title says, but in its shallowness lies vital depth. We begin with Chapter 17, about the "most damaging messiah to the Jewish people," Shabbatai Zvi. First we'll read Rabow and then add commentary opening Rabbi Antelman's work to the wide world. Recall that there are various accepted English spellings for Shabtai Tzvi, and the Sabbataians. The spelling presented depends on the writer:
pp 91 - Shabbatai Zvi was born in Smyrna, Turkey on the ninth of Av, 1626. The ninth day of Av is the day of a triple tragedy for the Jewish nation. According to tradition, the First Temple, the Second Temple and Bar Kokhba's Betar fortress all fell on this day.
pp 93 - He changed the holiday celebrations and violated the dietary prohibitions. All of this followed from his declaration that the usual rules were inapplicable to messianic times.
pp 95 - He declared that the coming of the messianic era meant that the biblical commandments were no longer binding. He proclaimed that God now permitted everything. ** This is Rabbi Antelman's central assertion; that Shabbataism was the polar opposite of Judaism. That Shabbatai Zvi's program was to destroy all the tenets of the Torah and replace them with their opposites. Incredibly, more than half the Jews of the world at the time, believed he would be revealed as their promised messiah: **
pp 101 - Then he finally made the announcement for which the Jewish community had been waiting for 1600 years - he would begin the Redemption on the 15th day of the month of Sivan, June 18, 1666. ** There are many who will recognize the significance of the date. June is the sixth month, 18 divided by three is 6+6+6 and 1666 is clear enough. Either he knew what he was doing or the prophesies of the emergence of an evil false messiah or anti-Christ are right, and Shabbatai Zvi was him. **
pp 110 - Through all of this, Shabbatai continued to issue proclamations of the theological changes wrought by the coming of the messianic age. Shabbatai's new prayer was, "Praised be He who permits the forbidden." Since all things would be permitted in the age of the messiah, Shabbatai declared many of the old restrictions of the Torah no longer applicable. He abolished the laws concerning sexual relationships. He eventually declared that all of the thirty six major biblical sins were now permitted and instructed some of his followers that it was their duty to perform such sins in order to hasten the Redemption. ** Shabbatai's fall from grace among the great masses of Jews came in September 1666, when the Sultan of Turkey threatened him with torture unless he converted to Islam. He relented and most of Jewry abandoned him. But not all. A core of his followers kept their messiah alive and kicking hard. **
pp 112 - In order to bring on the Reformation, Shabbatai had descended into the darkness of the Muslim world to gather the scattered fragments of the light of creation hidden there. There was an outward reality and an inner reality. Nathan transformed Shabbatainism into a theology of paradox. Once the followers accepted the concept of paradox, they would be able to keep on believing in Shabbatai Zvi...An inner circle of his followers accepted the explanations of Nathan and continued to believe in Shabbatai the Messiah. ** The Shabbatai followers continued their hidden life in the Turkish sect of the Donmeh, whose activities continue to this day, as reported extensively this year, even by the staid Jerusalem Post. One of the Donmeh followers was Jacob Frank, who would transform Europe and the world into a Shabbataian hell barely a century later. **
pp 121 - The Donmeh now converted the Shabbataian Purim into an annual orgy, when members exchanged spouses for a ceremony called "extinguishing the lights." The Donmeh justified their Purim orgies, and their regular practise of sharing wives and engaging in other sexual activities, by citing biblical precedents.
pp 123 - Although Jacob Frank (1726-1791) was born fifty years after the death Shabbatai Zvi, he deserves to be regarded as Shabbatai's true successor.
pp 125 - Frank's followers requested ecclesiastic protection on the grounds that their own beliefs were not Jewish but rather, "anti-Talmudist."..The bishop declared that the "anti-Talmudists", Frank's followers, were entitled to practise their religion, and ordered that all copies of the Talmud within his diocese be seized and burned. Now under the protection of the crown, adoring followers gave Frank huge donations to his movement.
pp 127 - He extended the paradoxical teachings of Shabbatai Zvi that the coming of the messianic age had transformed sexual prohibitions of the bible into permissions and even obligations. According to Frank, engaging in sexual orgies now became the means to purify the soul from its sins. Debauchery became therapy...Frank convinced his followers that the only way for their special form of Judaism to survive was for them to outwardly become Christians, just as the Donmeh had descended into the world of Islam...In February, 1759, the Frankists told the Church they were ready to be baptized...The Frankists promised to deliver 5000 new Christians from Poland, Moravia, Hungary and Turkey.
pp 130 - The Frankists also became involved in international political intrigue, and sent secret emissaries to the Russian government and the Eastern Orthodox Church offering to help in the overthrow of Poland and the Catholic Church...By 1786, Frank suffered temporary financial problems, and moved his court to Offenbach, near Frankfurt. There Frank's money problems were somehow solved. The source of Frank's immense wealth is not clear. He may have used his movement's system of secret messengers and clandestine cells to engage in the constant political turmoil involving Austria-Hungary, Turkey and the Balkans.
** And now we reach the final depth of Rabow's understanding and let Rabbi Antelman take over. **
Frankfurt at the time was the headquarters of the Jesuit, Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Illuminati, as well as Rothschild Brothers' financial empire. This is worth repeating: Frankfurt was the birthplace of both the Illuminati and the Rothschild empire. When Jacob Frank entered the city, the alliance between the two had already begun. Weishaupt provided the conspiratorial resources of the Jesuit Order, while the Rothschilds contributed the money. What was missing was a means to spread the agenda of the Illuminati and that the Frankists added with their network of agents throughout the Christian and Islamic worlds. Jacob Frank became instantly wealthy because he was given a nice handout by Mayer Amshel Rothschild of Frankfurt. There is no other explanation. And from this starting point, Rabbi Antelman gave us a blueprint for the war against Judaism and all its good, and indeed against humanity and all its moral treasures. A movement of complete evil now took hold. The Jesuits' goal was the destruction of the Protestant Reformation leading to a return of one pope sitting in judgement on all mankind. The Rothschilds goal was to control the wealth of the planet. And the Frankist vision was the destruction of Jewish ethics to be replaced by a religion based on the exact opposite of God's intentions. When these factions blended, a bloody war against humanity, with the Jews on the front lines, erupted and it is reaching its very pinnacle at this moment. Rabbi Antelman traces the means of the worldwide reach of this ugliness. By the 1770s, the Illuminati was exposed and banned in Germany and then throughout Europe. Weishaupt made a strategic change that worked miracles for the international spread of his goals. He infiltrated agents into the Freemasonic lodges of England and Scotland, changing their highest tenets to his own, until every lodge in every nation accepted them. Thus, the Illuminati now had two centers of activity, Germany and Britain. It was from Germany to London that the apostate Jews Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were sent to devise the rot of communism. Shortly after that task was done, the Rothschilds sent their agents John Jacob Astor and Jacob Schiff from Germany to America. They financed the robber barons like Rockefeller and Morgan, who in 1922, founded the Council On Foreign Relations, to overthrow the American constitution and switch the nation's diplomacy to Illuminatiism.
THE REAL WAR AGAINST THE JEWS AND HUMANITY
In 1932, how many organizations in Germany represented German Jewry? Over 250. In 1933, how many? One, and one only; Labour Zionism. We will return to the significance shortly. First, Rabbi Antelman's account continues. To corrupt the Jews, the Frankists adopted, at first, a humane policy of sorts. With Rothschild money and Jesuit power, the so-called Enlightenment was initiated by the German Jewish apostate Moses Mendelsohn. Napoleon was financed to liberate the Jews wherever he conquered and from Germany, the Reform and Conservative movements were financed to further dilute the faith and introduce totally foreign concepts to their congregations. But the pace wasn't fast enough. The ornery Jews just weren't cooperating with evil, so those stubbornly accepting Torah morality would have to be removed permanently and only those practising Shabbatainism would be permitted to survive. Yes, in the 2000 years of European Jewish history there were pogroms, Crusades and Inquisitions, the latter aided and abetted by the Jesuits. But compared to what happened from the 1880s on, life was a tolerable picnic. The turning point in the final war against the Jews was the founding of Zionism by the Shabbataians. The final aim of the movement was to establish a Shabbataian state in the historical land of the Jews, thus taking over Judaism for good. To foment the idea, life had to made so intolerable for Europe's Jews, that escape to Palestine would appear to be the best option. The Cossack pogroms were the first shot in this campaign and for them, the Frankists turned to the Jesuits and their influence over the Catholic Church. The Jesuits had done more to spread communism, beginning with their feudal communes in South America, and now they wanted to punish the anti-papists of Europe by imprisoning them behind communal bars. The deal was simple: The Jesuits provided the Cossacks, the Frankists, the communists. And naturally, the Rothschilds would provide the moolah. Once the situation turned foreboding, the German-writing intellectuals took over. In Vienna in 1885, the journalist Natan Birnbaum fired the opening salvo which successfully planted the fast-growing seeds of Zionism. He was followed by another Vienna writer, Peretz Smoleskin, who provided more intellectual justification for returning to a safe home in Israel. However, neither man had the charisma of still another Vienna writer, Theodore Herzl. He could rally the masses as neither of them could and he was chosen to be the spokesman and symbol of the movement. Read any honest biography of Herzl and the same quandary appears. Herzl claimed he wrote the Judenstaat one summer in Paris. But Herzl wasn't in Paris when he said he wrote the most influential book of Zionism. It had to have been written for him. Anyone who reads Herzl's dreadful plays, has to doubt his sudden departure from literary mediocrity.
In 1901, Herzl appeared in Britain where he was not well received. We are told he backed another option, creating a Jewish sanctuary in British - controlled East Africa. If the idea caught on, it would neutralize the Shabbataians' game plan. Herzl died not long after and not one biography of him tells us how. He entered a Paris sanatorium for a not known condition and never emerged. This was highly fortunate for the British Freemasons doing the Shabbataians' bidding, for they replaced Herzl with one of their own, a German-educated Jew named Chaim Weizmann. In time, a cockamamie legend was fabricated involving the Balfour declaration creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine as a reward for Weizmann finding a way to make acetone for explosives from dried up paint. Not one explosion in World War One came from this magic process. But the British took great pains to capture Palestine from the Turks and appoint the leaders of the upcoming Shabbataian state. Meeting in London during the War, Weizmann and Balfour had to deal with the problem of the people already living in Palestine, most of whom were religious Jews, who were the majority in such major centers as Jerusalem, Sfat and Tiberius. The myth of an ancient Palestinian Arab indigenous population is belied by any number of reports by visitors as talented as Twain and Balzac, who accurately noted the paucity of Arabs in the land during the 19th century. The later economic success of the new enterprise drew hundreds of thousands of Arabs from as far away as Iraq to the region with consequences the Illuminati were possibly well aware of. To neutralize the religious Jews, many of whom had been living in the land since antiquity, Balfour and Weizmann inducted Rabbi Avraham Kook into the fold and after the war, he was appointed the first Chief Rabbi of the enterprise, while Weizmann was made the first head of the Jewish Agency. Kook proceeded to strip the landed Orthodox Jews of their real estate and political rights, while introducing a new concept into Judaism; the purity of land redemption. His philosophy was based on profound historical truth, nonetheless, his followers don't understand how he and they are playing out the Shabbataian nightmare. Stage one was complete. Now the real business at hand was revved up. Rabbi Antelman proves that the American President Woodrow Wilson was thoroughly corrupted by the Frankists through their agent Colonel House. It was Wilson who put an end to America's open immigration policy. Until then, despite all their despair, most Eastern European Jews rejected Palestine as an escape route, the majority choosing America as their destination. From now on very few would enjoy that option. It would have to be Palestine or nowhere. We now jump to 1933. Less than 1% of the German Jews support Zionism. Many tried to escape from Naziism by boat to Latin and North American ports but the international diplomatic order was to turn them back. Any German Jew who rejected Palestine as his shelter would be shipped back to his death. By 1934, the majority of German Jews got the message and turned to the only Jewish organization allowed by the Nazis, the Labour Zionists. For confirmation of the conspiracy between them and Hitler's thugs read The Transfer Agreement by Edwin Black, Perfidy by Ben Hecht or The Scared And The Doomed by Jacob Nurenberger. The deal cut worked like this. The German Jews would first be indoctrinated into Bolshevism in Labour Zionism camps and then, with British approval, transferred to Palestine. Most were there by the time the British issued the White Paper banning further Jewish immigration. The Labour Zionists got the Jews they wanted, and let the millions of religious Jews and other non-Frankists perish in Europe without any struggle for their survival. But not all Jews fell for the plan. A noble alternative Zionism arose led by Zeev Jabotinsky. He led the Jews in demanding free passage to Palestine and a worldwide economic boycott of the Nazi regime. The Labour Zionists did all in their power to short-circuit the opposition. First, they forced all the German Jews in Palestine to use their assets to buy only goods from Nazi Germany. This kept the regime afloat. Then Chaim Weizmann and his Jewish Agency employed their appointed agents in the US to neutralize Jabotinsky and his followers using any means at their disposal. This culminated in Jabotinsky's suspicious death in New York in 1941. Later, Jabotinsky's most literate advocate, Ben Hecht, was run over by a truck on a Manhattan sidewalk. His crime was being the first to widely expose the Jewish Agency-Nazi plot. Into this plot against the Jews we add the Jesuits, who wished with all their hearts, to wreck the land that produced Luther, but the Vatican's role in the Holocaust is not the focus of this overview. We now return to America where the Jewish leadership used all their contacts and resources to make good and certain that the unwanted non-Shabbataian Jews of Europe never again saw the light of day. We return to a quote from Jerry Rabow: pp 132 - Frankist families, both those living as Christians and those living as Jews, tried to marry only among themselves. In the summers, the German groups regularly held secret meetings in the resort of Carlsbad...It is said by the middle of the nineteenth century, the majority of the lawyers in Prague and Warsaw were from Frankist families. United States Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter is reported to have received a copy of Eva Frank's portrait from his mother, a descendent of the Prague Frankist family. Here is a quote from Frankfurter: "The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise their power from behind the scenes."-- Justice Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court.
The difference between Rabow and Rabbi Antelman is the latter proves that literally all of FDR's court Jews were German-descended Sabbataians, determined to purge Jewry of its unnecessary European, non-Sabbataian morality-believing cohorts. Here is a short list of these Jewish community leaders:
Felix Brandeis - Received Secondary School education in Germany. There, Englishman Jacob de Haas introduced him to Zionism.
Here is a telling quote from the latter Frankist family:
Henry Morgenthau Jr., Stephen Wise, Bernard Baruch, Judah Magnes, Felix Warburg - All descended from German Jews.
"We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent." -- Statement made before the United States Senate on Feb. 7, 1950 by James Paul Warburg ("Angel" to and active in the United World Federalists), son of Paul Moritz Warburg, nephew of Felix Warburg and of Jacob Schiff, both of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. which poured millions into the Russian Revolution through James' brother Max, banker to the German government.
When World War II ended, barely 100,000 European Jews survived and when they arrived in Palestine they had to obey Bolshevik edicts or starve to death. However, they weren't enough to stave off the number one threat to the Frankist state, the Arabs. The wrath of the savage tribes threatened the whole enterprise and only the infusion of large numbers of soldiers could stave off their invasion. To that end, European-controlled Arab dictators were persuaded to go against their national interests, stir up bloody anti-semitism and get the Sephardic Jews to Israel. Their first reward was wealth through seizure of Jews' assets. Before the Sabbataians introduced it, there was no such thing as Jewish selfhatred. Their religion and heritage came as naturally as breathing. This was the state the Eastern Jews were in when they were driven to Israel. There, the Frankists had to apply all the lessons they learned turning German Jews into their image to change the newcomers. Every effort was made to divest these peoples of their faith and the results were often shattering. This is one reason, for instance, why Moroccan Jews who fled to France are so much better off than their families in Israel. Initially, the American Frankists supported the new nation, believing it would soon spread darkness to the nations. But the Jews didn't cooperate and held on to their decency. That is when the CFR unleashed its evilest Frankists on the Jews once again. The most prominent of this lot is the German-born Henry Kissinger but the list is long and includes the Austrian-educated Madeleine Albright, and German descendents such as Joe Lieberman and Sandy Berger. Today, the Frankist agenda is being promoted through the thinking of the German-born American philosopher, Leo Strauss. To show you all is not what it
seems, here are a few words about him from a Jewish writer for the Executive Intelligence Report, run by the Germacentric, Lyndon LaRouche:
"If Strauss' influence on politics in the capital of the most powerful nation on Earth was awesome in 1996, it is even more so today. The leading "Straussian" in the Bush Administration is Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who was trained by Strauss' alter-ego and fellow University of Chicago professor Allan Bloom. Wolfowitz leads the "war party" within the civilian bureaucracy at the Pentagon, and his own protege I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and chief national security aide, directing a super-hawkish "shadow national security council" out of the Old Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House. According to Bloom biographer Saul Bellow, the day that President George H.W. Bush rejected Wolfowitz and Cheney's demand that U.S. troops continue on to Baghdad, during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Wolfowitz called Bloom on his private phone line to bitterly complain. It seems that "Bush 41" was not enough of a Nietzschean "superman" for Wolfowitz's taste."
Compare that report with this one recently published by the Jerusalem Post.
LONDON- A British coroner has rejected a German police claim that a 22 year old Jewish man from London, Jeremiah Duggan, committed suicide in March after attending a meeting of the far-right Schiller Institute in the German town of Wiesbaden. The Schiller Institute draws its inspiration from American conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, who was among the speakers at the meeting... He said, "Mum, I am in deep trouble. I am frightened." As he attempted to give his location, the line went dead."
Duggan made the fatal mistake of getting too close to the true connection between LaRouche and the Frankists. Their program calls for the brainwashing of Jews to hate themselves and they don't cotton to rebels. Here is how that is accomplished through the Israeli higher education system, as reported by Caroline Glick this week in the Jerusalem Post:
"Students speak of a regime of fear and intimidation in the classroom. Ofra Gracier, a doctoral student in Tel-Aviv University's humanities faculty explains the process as follows: 'It starts with the course syllabus. In a class on introduction to political theory for instance, you will never see the likes of Leo Strauss or Friedrich Hayek or Milton Friedman. You will only get Marx and Rousseau and people like that. So, if you want to argue with Marx, you are on your own. You don't know anything else.'"
The fatal error of Israeli Jews was rejecting the Frankists and their Labour Party. The Shabbataians would rather see the Arabs overrun Israel than witness the revival of a state run by true Judaism. They have thoroughly financed and infiltrated the high leadership and especially, far left groups, to prepare the ground for defeat. And if utter demoralization doesn't do the trick, read another local report issued this week:
PREPARATIONS TO USE FIREPOWER AGAINST JEWS.
Our contacts have reported that the following has been introduced by the people preparing MEGA YAMIT. IBA "B" reported, in three consecutive reports following the Geha Junction islamic mass murder assault that GERMAN EXTREME RIGHT WING Jews were those that performed the bombing. (Refer to the IBA "B" records) .
Rabbi Antelman was right. He looked at the enemy and saw the mirror opposite of real Judaism. A war to the finish is on in Israel and it is being spread to the rest of the planet. Our salvation can only arise when the Arabs realize the Jews of Israel are fighting the same battle they are and against the same enemies. If they can't overcome the brainwashing and hatred, they'll go down along with Israel. And then the rest of the planet might just follow.
FRIDAY January 9th 2004
Dear Mr Chamish,
I read with particular interest your analysis of the problems related to the Donmeh and the Shabbataians, in particular your concluding remarks in which you state that: "Our salvation can only arise when the Arabs realize the Jews of Israel are fighting the same battle (that) they are (fighting) and against the same enemies." It will perhaps come as something of a surprise to learn that there are some Muslims who agree with much contained in your assessment. As a convert to Islam (from a somewhat ecumenical family - predominantly Christian but with two converts to Judaism my sister and cousin) so yes, in the words of David Dimbleby, we now do have a long weekend. I believe that the only way out of the present state of affairs is to seek out the facts, publish, or be damned. Your piece filled in a number of important gaps which, unless you have the sort of inside information, that you obviously have, would have taken a lot more time than I currently have available to spend on this very important subject. My own observations are included in a book we published back in 1991 entitled Satanic Voices - Ancient & Modern this was a reply to Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. I am in the process of extracting the relevant passages to send to you, which relate to the Donmeh and the Islamic prophecies which precisely predict the events which led to the disastrous state of affairs you describe so well, and with which we largely agree.
With best regards
Shabbat Shalom
Yours sincerely
David M Pidcock
The Islamic Party of Britain "
Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust by Barry Chamish
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66Pc9x2hkIrV2Y3QWxPbkpKYWc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-5ak831cRNQohyyjZYfFKvw
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02touqdKgV5XaJnUVkQmS9yqFQVzHN8Sd7jzT49piKo2Xv6SCAGzcGBVW32LxsJtWnl
XXXI
JEWISH MASONRY: B'NAI B'RITH AND THE MODERN STATE OF ISRAEL
Masonry is a Jewish institution whose history, degrees, charges, passwords and explanations are Jewish from beginning to end."
Dr. Isaac Wise, a Jewish scholar.
שלום על ישראל
IT HAS LONG BEEN OPINED BY SOME THAT Freemasonry, as we know it, has a Jewish origin. Whether that be true or nay, I cannot say. This view proffers that the basis of "Speculative" Masonry, its symbolism and code of thics, is Jewish Gnosticism, as seen in the Rite of Mizraim (Hebrew for ypo), which Rite is said to have been founded by Mitzraim (Mizraim), The second son of Ham (Genesis 10:13, 14).
What I do know as fact is that in 1843, the Jewish lodge B'nai B'rith meaning Sons of the Covenant)-the international Jewish Masonic Society-was founded in New York by several Jews from Germany, and raised into Lodges, to form a Jewish Branch of Freemasonry. This the International Order of B'nai B'rith officially established as a Jewish equivalent to Masonic organisations such as the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.
Domenico Margiotta (a ceding 33rd Degree Mason), in his book made in 1874 between the greatest and most well-know Freemason Adriano Lemmi, page 225, purports to give the full text of a secret treaty Albert Pike, then the representative of the Supreme Dogmatic Directory of the Scottish Rites (Headquarters at Charleston, U.S.A)
Cornelia Wilhelm, Proceedings of the.
General Convention of the
Constitution Grand Lodge B'nai B'rith, The Independent Orders of B'nai Brith and True Sisters:... (Stuttgard, Germany: Steiner Verlag, 1964).
243
SHALL I BE A MASON?
and the Jew Armand Levi representative of the B'nai B'rith lodges of America, Germany and England. The following is an extract:
The Supreme Dogmatic Directory of Universal Freemasonry recognises the Jewish Lodges, such as they already exist in the principal countries. The secret of the existence of the Confederation (of B'nai B'rith lodges) will rigorously be kept by those members of High Grade Masonry to whom the Supreme Dogmatic Directory will JUDGE IT ADVISABLE TO MAKE IT KNOWN.
The central headquarters of the B'nai B'rith will be at Hamburg, and the sovereign body will take the title of Sovereign Patriarchal Council. Neither the Sovereign Patriarchal Council of Hamburg, nor any lodges under its obedience, will figure on the annual reports of the Sovereign Administrative Directory; but the Sovereign Patriarchal Council will send direct to the Sovereign Dogmatic Directory a contribution representing 10 per cent of the personal subscriptions of members of the Jewish Lodges.
The reader will note that the treaty states the "secret of the existence of the Confederation [between B'nai B'rith, or the Jewish Lodges will be kept rigorously by those members of the masonry of high grade" "to whom Supreme Dogmatic Directory... judgels] it advisable to make it known," or reveal.
Quoting de la Rive's Les Juifs dans la Franc-Maçonnerie, author Edith Starr Miller states: "Under the terms of this document (given in full on p, 225 of Adriano Lemmi by D. Margiotta), Jewish Masonry. unlike Gentile Masonry, was not to be graded, its members were exempt from belonging to any other official rite and 'the secret of its existence' was to be most secretly kept by those members of High Masonry who had been informed by the Supreme Dogmatic Directory of its existence." There is some doubt as to the accuracy of the above last-quoted statement, as Jewish Masonry does seem to have degrees. In the agreement signed between Armand Levy and Albert Pike, the Jewish Lodges were recognized and welcomed into the organization of Freemasonry practically on their own terms. Under its terms, the only
2 Edith Starr Miller (Queenborough), Occult Theocracy, op cit., p. 289.
244
Jewish Masonry: B'nai B'rith and the Modern State of Israel on-Jews who can enter the B'nai B'rith Lodges are visitors of the ighest degree Inspectors General of the PALLADIUM RITE. Jews on e other hand have free access to the ordinary Masonic Lodges. The following is from Finkelstein's American Jewish History:
The Founding of
the B'nai B'rith
The 12 men who gathered in the Sinsheimer cafe in New York City on the October 13. 1843, were Jewish immigrants from Germany. Tired of the heavy-handed dogma that surrounded synagogue life, they founded an organization based on Jewish ideals that could unite all Jews in a fraternal setting.
The Independent Order of B'nai Brith, in the preamble to its constitution, stated its dedica- tion to "uniting Israelites in the work of pro- moting their highest interests and those of humanity, of developing and elevating the mental and moral character of the people of our faith; of inculcating the purest principles of philanthropy, honor, and patriotism of supporting science and art, of alleviating the wants of the victims of persecution; providing for protecting and assisting the widow and orphan on the broadest principles of humani- ty" They formed themselves as a secret organization with regalia, degrees, and pass- words, adopting rituals commonly used by other fraternal organizations such as Masons and Odd Fellows By 1880 there were over 300 B'nai B'rith lodges throughout the country with thousands of members
Confirmation
TH
ed in the United States in 1846 at New York's Temple Emanu-El and was quickly adopted by other femation ceremony took place in Germany in 1830 as a Reform alternative to bar mitzva Mum congregation While the centuries-old bar mitzvah ceremony focused on boys at the age of 13 and ther
To confirmation included both boys and girls at age 16 or 17 when they were nature ses the pving of the Torah Today it has been widely adopted by the various branches of Adam as an the tenets of Andanum The confirmation ceremony is held on the holiday of Shawut, which the Bar or Bat Mitzvah (Enenberg and Scolnic 2001 201
See, Norman Finkelstein's American Jewish History (Philadelphia,
PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 2007).
245
SHALL I BE A MASON?
How do the Jews explain their involvement in Freemasonry, which the Bible so clearly condemns? In 1855, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) justified Jewish participation in fraternal orders by asserting that "Masonry is a Jewish institution whose history, degrees, charges, passwords, and explanations are Jewish from the are Jewish from the beginning to end, with the exception of only one by-degree and a few words in the obligations....
It is by this rationale that B'nai B'rith (said to be a "Philanthrophic and Humanitarian" organization, and a "Confederation... not bound by the frontiers of any land") is able to justify having both men and women chapters, or lodges. The female chapters include B'nai B'rith Women's Auxiliary, and Business and Professional Women of Hadassah."
Historian James Webb observes, "the chief debt of the ritual magician is to Jewish mysticism [viz., Kabballah, or Cabala]... The
3 The nineteenth century leader of the American Reform Judaism movement and a Mason himself.
4 Dr. Isaac Wise, Scottish Rite Mason, The Israelite (1855), see Journal of Jewish Art (Spertus College of Judaica Press, 1984), p. 95; Jacob Katz, Jews and Freemasons in Europe 1723-1939 (Harvard University Press, 1970), Norman Finkelstein, American Jewish History
(Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 2007), p. 63; Journal of Jewish Art, Volumes 10-11 (Center for Jewish Art of the Hebrew University, 1984), p. 95; The Jewish People in America: A time for gathering: the second migration, 1820-1880 (American Jewish Historical Society/The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 162.
5 Proceedings of The...general Convention Front Cover B'nai B'rith. Supreme Lodge 1930.
6
Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the... Congress, Volume 99, Part 9 Front Cover United States. Congress U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1953.
Definition: "Kabalah (Heb.) The hidden wisdom of the Hebrew Rabbis of the middle ages derived from the older secret doctrines concerning divine things and cosmogony, which were combined into a theology after the time of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. All the works that fall under the esoteric category are termed Kabalistic." (Blavatsky Theosophical Glossary, p. 168). The roots of the Kabbalah are in ancient Babylon (preserved and taught by the Magis and Chaldees) where the southern kingdom of Judah was exiled in 586 B.C. Many of the Jews who eventually returned from Babylon to Israel brought with them the Babylonian mystery tradition, which was to become an oral tradition taught to succeeding generations of Jews. According to one writer, "After the destruction of the Temple, the center of Jewish religion shifted to Rabbinic authority. It was during the Middle Ages that the rabbis
246
Jewish Masonry: B'nai B'rith and the Modern State of Israel
wish genius for complicated metaphysics and occult speculation has rovided occultists with some of their most erudite Traditional sources
INSPIRATION.
In her book, Jewish Immigrant Associations and American Identity New York, 1880-1939, Daniel Soyer writes':
Jews, many of them German-speaking, also participated in the nine- teenth-century boom of fraternal orders. Some joined the general or ders, including Masonry, which, despite its Protestant overtones, at- tracted many Jews with its universalistic and liberal religious ideal. The Masons' use of Old-Testament imagery and Hebrew words helped Jews to feel at home in the order, even as many Jewish businessmen identified strongly with the craft's middle-class constituency. Individual Jews joined general lodges, while others joined all-Jewish or mostly Jewish branches of the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Harugari, and Hermanns Soehne.
Other Jews found the fraternal idea appealing but preferred to im- plement it within the confines of their own religious and ethnic group. By the 1880s Jewish fraternal societies enrolled more members than any other Jewish organizations in America. B'nai B'rith (Sons of the Cove- nant) was the first and largest, with 25,000 members in 1880, followed by Independent Order Free Sons of Israel with 11,000, Kesher shel Barzel (Bond of Iron) with 9,000, and Improved Order Free Sons of Israel with 3,300. Other orders established in the nineteenth century included the Independent Order of True Sisters (closely allied with B'nai B'rith), Order Brith Abraham, Independent Order Sons of Benjamin, American Star Order, Improved Order of B'nai B'rith, Independent Order Brith Abraham, Order Ahavas Israel, Independent Order Free Sons of Judah, Independent Order Sons of Abraham, Independent Order of American Israelites, Independent Western Star Order, and Knights of Zion.
mous Talmudists and Kabbalists."
1974), p. 216, 217.
ompiled the oral traditions of Babylon in various books which became he Kabbalah.... the dispersed Jews came under the baleful influence of James Webb, The Occult Underground (La Salle, Ill.: Open Court Press, New York, 1880-1939, citing Tony Fels, "Religious Assimilation in a Daniel Soyer, Jewish Immigrant Associations and American Identity in Praternal Organization: Jews and Freemasonry..." American Jewish History 74 (June 1985): 369-403; Edward E. Grusd, B'nai B'rith: The ory of a Covenant (New York: Appleton-Century, 1966), p. 97,
247
SHALL I BE A MASON?
was founded
It is also a noteworthy fact that the Rotary International by three Jews Paul Harris, Hiram Shorey, and Gustavus Lochr (members of B'nai B'rith) in Chicago on February 23, 1905. The Lions Club, another group with Masonic connections, was also founded in Chicago in 1917 by the Jew Melvin Jones, a Freemason and member of B'nai B'rith. Are these mere coincidences? Both the Rotary Club and Lions Club can be found in large numbers all over the world.
In 1908, B'nai B'rith's membership was 35,870, with 481 lodges and 10 grand lodges distributed over the United States, Germany..." But today, it has grown to be a countrywide (and now worldwide) federation of multistate districts and local lodges, and Hadassah, women's lodges.
Some years ago, The General Jewish Council's booklet described the American chapter of B'nai B'rith as "a national fraternal society with over 75,000 members." This includes the so-called Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
It is said by many that B'nai B'rith is probably the most powerful Masonic organisation in the whole Masonic confederation. In fact, contrary to what many Evangelical Christians teach and believe, the evidence seem to suggest that it was B'nai B'rith!, not the providence of God, nor even the efforts of Western European powers alone that secured the 'restoration' of the Jewish State. It seems that it was Freemasonry that aided the Jewish restoration to Israel. Proof?
On January 29, 2014, B'nai B'rith World Center director Alan Schneider addressed the monthly dinner meeting of the Jerusalem Rotary Club on the topic "B'nai B'rith in Israel Laying the Foundations for the Jewish State". Schneider presented to the club members a detailed account of B'nai B'rith's activities in pre-State Israel beginning in 1888 with the establishment of the Jewish Lodge that pioneered settlement, community cohesiveness, the Hebrew language. Jewish culture, medicine, youth and adult education, and COUNTER- MISSIONARY activity in Jerusalem, Jaffa and outlying Jewish
communities.
Schneider further informed the attendees of the dinner that the lodge (viz. B'nai B'rith) also conducted dangerous clandestine missions in the 1890 to establish B'nai B'rith lodges in Jewish communities in the Levant including Beirut, Izmir, Alexandria and Sofia. Schneider also addressed Israeli diplomats preparing for new foreign appointments
10 The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information (University Press, 1910).
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Jewish Masonry: B'nai B'rith and the Modern State of Israel
they were soon to take up in the summer (2014). In that talk, Schneider gave an overview of B'nai B'rith's scope of members and activities around the world and about B'nai B'rith's cooperation with Jewish organizations and Israeli diplomatic legations."
WIT
There, reader, the real, but hidden power that secured the restoration of the nation of Israel as a Jewish State in the Middle East.
44
http://www.bnaibrith.org/center-stage/schneider-addresses-rotary-
stry-of-foreign-affairs
249
Shall I be a Mason: Life or Death
by P.D. Stuart
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid02uBvd6PmtG389h7CGzSkqdcry9BYwL6Ni5WWHUD4421e139ZqFu9YS3ZowW7xU9Zal
APPENDIX
What Year Is It?
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and
seal the book, even to the time of the end:
many shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4)
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What Year Is It?
In the pages of this booklet you will find every
biblical reference needed to verify what this
summary chart reveals. What you do with this
information is between you and the Almighty.
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What Year Is It?
Prologue
I have been studying and teaching the whole bible on
my radio broadcast, now titled Cross The Border, since
1996. This has afforded me a circumspect view which
eludes many who focus upon one topic or another from
a “bible perspective.” Over the last ten years I have set
about to understand the prophetic portions of the
scripture, seeking the Spirit of God by prayer that I not
be ensnared by any private interpretation. I believe God
has honored that prayer. Unfortunately I have found the
revelation, what God has shown me is contrary to what
is accepted by the visible church at large, if not utterly
unpopular, and made so by the Jesuit domination of
theological study coupled with the corporate
domination of Christian media.
Before I began my research into the calendar I of
course looked at The Usher Chronology, the Jewish
Calendar, and the work of other men. The Usher
Chronology already has us into the seventh millennium,
as does the Rood calendar. When Bishop Usher wrote
his chronology, accuracy was not so critical with
hundreds of years to go before the millennium would
occur. But we are getting down to the wire now, and the
Millennial Reign of Christ certainly has not begun. We
also have additional hindsight which demands re
inspection and an update to our conclusions. The Usher
Chronology does have its value as an exhaustive work,
but is not a focus upon the one object question: What
year is it?
In this exhaustive study I have set about to find a
purely biblical derived time line in order to determine
about what year it is from the creation. This has not
93
been done on a whim, but is a ten year culmination on
this topic, the first five years simmering on the back
burner as details were revealed through my regular
chapter and verse bible studies. Having published
earlier versions on my blog at CrossTheBorder.org
beginning about 2009. With the help of my readers and
listeners it has been refined to what I now believe can
only be found incontrovertible by those who are willing
to follow the study as revealed here.
You may find that the revelation uncovered here
negates many of the popularly held perspectives on the
subject of prophecy. But this is not about what is
popular, rather it is about what the Bible reveals on this
topic. I have included every bible reference so that
anyone with even elementary bible study skills will be
without excuse to verify or challenge what I have
exposed here. If you thereafter find it a compelling
thesis I hope it will encourage you to re-examine all the
popular prophecy of the day. If you discover that you
don’t mind having the popular views challenged, you
may find my book The Rapture Will Be Canceled just
as compelling, this booklet is adapted from one of the
chapters therein.
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What Year Is It?
What Year Is It?
Did You Know that God told National Israel exactly
what year the Messiah would come the first time?
Through the Prophet Daniel he gave them a 483 year
countdown to the year that He would show up on the
scene. A total of 69 weeks of years (69x7) from the
going forth of the decree to rebuild and restore the city
Jerusalem.
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not
the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father. (Mark 13:32)
Many will argue that we cannot know the day and
hour of His return, and I would agree, but the scripture
does not say that we cannot know the year: I have found
God's Word to be very exacting. God has hidden a time
line in His Word in plain sight and now reveals it to His
saints, Daniel says, knowledge will be increased and the
wise will understand. Just as He warned National Israel,
I believe He has revealed to His Spiritual Israel the year
of His return, and I'm going to expose it here so that
anyone with elementary Bible study skills can follow
and verify the findings for themselves.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. Genesis 1:1
The very term, “In the beginning” declares that Time
was also part of the creation, it was the beginning of
time as we know it.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was
light. Genesis 1:2-3
Likewise when He created Light, He created the
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night-day time cycle. When God said “Let there be
light” there was only one thing to see in the vast expanse
of the Time Space Continuum: That was the face of the
deep, the Earth, void of form, a beautiful water blue
marble, alone in an immense universe. Many have a
hard time imagining light without the sun, but God is
able, and I believe He did it just as He said in His Word.
What year is it? Few would ponder such a question,
but rather quickly answer the question with the
Common Era or Roman date without a second thought.
The question presupposes a beginning which must be
ascertained before there can be an answer. This work is
composed from the perspective that God created our
universe in a literal six days just as The Bible recounts
and that The Bible has veiled in it a time line from
which we can discover the approximate year from the
date of creation.
Why is this question important? Because we believe
that The Bible is God’s Word and there is
incontrovertible evidence that its prophetic utterance is
unparalleled in accuracy, it reveals to mankind exactly
what is hidden from view beyond the horizon of time.
This future is not hidden from the Almighty Creator
Who holds all things including all history, past, present
and future within His view. He has revealed these future
things to authenticate this very Bible as His Word to
mankind. This author is not alone in the belief that the
scripture indicates an allotted time for the era in which
we live that parallels the days of creation, except that the
era is made up of thousand year days with a fast
approaching seventh day or Sabbath Millennium also
known as the Thousand Year Reign of Christ which is
immediately preceded by His coming.
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What Year Is It?
Is it the year of the Lord Pontifix Maximus 2015 C.E.
(Common Era) according to the ROMAN Gregorian
Calendar? Or is it the year 5960 S.C. (Since Creation)
according to God's Word the Bible? For two thousand
years, since the introduction of the Julian Calendar,
Rome has ruled the worlds dating chronicle of history
by its calendar as foretold by the prophet Daniel. And
he shall ... think to change times and laws: (Daniel
7:25) Of course the “he” is the final world dominating
authority depicted by the iron legs to the broken iron
mixed with clay in the toes of the Daniel Two Image and
the seven headed ten horned first beast of Revelation
chapter thirteen. I believe the Creator receives more
glory when we use His date of creation, and I have this
confidence: That we will not be using the Roman
calendar during the Millennial Reign of Christ.
It is widely accepted that the Millennial Reign of
Christ will be the Sabbath or Seventh Millennium from
the Creation. Is the Seventh Millennium imminent?
With all of the “end of the world, Left Behind, and
Great Tribulation–Rapture” fervor of the last hundred or
so years it would be wise to find a contiguous linage of
time from the Bible itself that we can synchronize with
the Common Era Calendar. This clear Biblical
chronology indicates that we have less than 40 years left
before the seventh millennium begins.
The Genealogies
97
The first column of our chart below of course starts
with the creation of Adam on day six, and when Adam
was in his 130th year he had a son named Seth who had
the next son to join this exclusive lineage in his 105th
year. The totals are simply added until we get to the
bottom of chart one and the man who was saved from
the world wide deluge, Noah, because he was perfect in
his generations, meaning that he was a product of the
seed line of faith from Adam which would lead to the
promised Messiah.
Noah was 600 years old when the flood came upon
the earth in the Creation Year 1656. Our next chart
picks up the genealogy of faith two years after the flood
waters abated when Noah's grandson is born to Shem,
for whom the Semitic peoples are named. The
genealogy is continued to the Messiah in the beginning
of the book of Matthew. The Matthew Genealogy
however is not dated therefore not helpful for our
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What Year Is It?
purposes here.
The second chart ends with the birth of Isaac to
Abraham at 100 years of age and the year 2049 from the
Genesis One Creation. This Genealogy Era of bible
chronology is probably the least disputed in its
conclusion beyond 1 or 2 years and the debate over
averaging. It is my belief the Bible Genealogies were
counted inclusively, meaning that if Adam was 129
years and six months old when he begat Seth it was
recorded as 130 years.
Unlike the modern practice of counting ages
exclusively, with inclusive counting the totals are self
averaging. I have been asked about this and even
thought it a concern when I began this project. Perhaps
to better wrap your mind around this concept we would
say that Seth was born in the 130th year of Adams life.
But finally, or first of all we are handling the Word of
God and maybe should accept the total as presented.
There are a few other debates such as the Genesis Gap
99
theory and whether the genealogy starts after sin entered
etc., but these spring primarily from conjecture rather
the plain reading of the text so would only render an
inconclusive result, therefore are not worthy of the
serious bible students time.
Birth of Isaac to Exodus Riddle
This era is where I got stumped early on in my
investigation so many years ago and put the research on
the back burner. But in my continued Bible teaching
ministry I kept coming across clues that I had to
bookmark in my mind which seemed to be pieces of a
puzzle that when taken all together would yield a
complete picture of the era between Isaac and the
Exodus from Egypt. I believe that if I show you all of
the pieces you will also agree that God perhaps
concealed this era in a riddle, but provided more than
enough evidence to yield a sure conclusion. So let’s
individually examine all of the pieces and see what
happens when we put them all together.
Piece #1 Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many;
but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this
I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and
thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make
the promise of none effect. Gal 3:16-17
Here Paul dates the time from the promises, recorded
at Genesis 12:1-3 until the Law in the Exodus as 430
years. Paul seems to state this as it were common
knowledge among the Pharisees, of which he was one.
Piece #2 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety
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What Year Is It?
that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land [that is] not
theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them
four hundred years; Gen 15:13
This period seems to contradict the first clue, but take
notice that this prophecy concerns Abraham's seed. His
seed starting with Isaac, would be strangers and
captives, cannot mean that the total captivity in Egypt
was 400 years, for both Isaac and Jacob were strangers
in land that was not theirs, then Jacob's family finally
entered Egypt and served Egypt as free men, but when
you add affliction to service it is called slavery. So we
see revealed a progression here. Because I don’t believe
that God's word contradicts itself I must consider a more
exact reading of the text, and thereby conclude that all
of the circumstances listed would happen to Abraham's
seed and culminate with a period of affliction over the
total four hundred year term.
Was the period of time that Israel dwelt in Egypt
actually 430 or even 400 years as commonly believed?
No! Was the period of their affliction 400 years? No!
Piece #3 They were not forced into slavery until a
Pharaoh “which knew not Joseph” arose. The Bible
confirms the Egyptian sojourn could not have even
approached 350 years: Gen 46:8 …And these [are] the
names of the children of Israel, which came into
Egypt, …(v.11) And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath,...
So after arriving in Egypt, Kohath had a son named
Amram and lived 133 years (Exo. 6:18). In turn, Amram
had a son named Moses and lived 137 years (Exo. 6:20).
And Moses was 80 years old when the Exodus took
place (Exo. 7:7)
Moses grandfather, Kohath was born before Jacob's
101
family entered Egypt, and he died there at 133. His son
and Moses father, Amram was born in Egypt, begat
Moses, and later died at 137 before the Exodus which
took place when Moses was 80. When simply added
these total 350 years. Because we are not given exact
details we know there are undetermined overlaps,
therefore we know the actual years spent in Egypt would
be much less than the 350 year total.
Piece #4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had
spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram
was seventy and five years old when he departed out of
Haran. (Genesis 12:4)
Another seemingly contradictory piece. How does
the fact that Abram departed Haran at 75, had Isaac at
age 100 reconcile the difference between the 400 and
430 year periods given? It does not!
Again, more exact reading is required as I found in
my search for more clues. I remembered that God
called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees, so while he left
Haran at seventy-five, he must have left Ur before that.
Consider the following search for Ur in the book of
Genesis:
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What Year Is It?
Haran, Abraham's brother, who was Lot's father died
in Ur. Abram left Ur of the Chaldees with his father,
Terah and their households including his nephew Lot
and moved to Canaan where they named their new
hometown after the dearly departed Haran. Abraham
left his Father and family in Haran five years later with
his nephew Lot. “So Abram departed” Ur five years
before he departed Haran, and thirty years before Isaac
was born. So he would have been seventy when he
received the promises in Ur, and departed Haran five
years later at age seventy-five.
.
103
Piece #5 One more piece: Isaac is born to Abraham
at age one-hundred; Jacob is born to Isaac at age sixty
(Gen 25.26); Jacob enters Egypt at age one-hundred
thirty (Gen 47.9). At Genesis 47.9 Jacob said unto
Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an
hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of
the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the
days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of
their pilgrimage.
I believe that Jacob was actually bragging about his
longevity as the Egyptians were not living that long, but
God had another purpose for including this boast in His
Word! When we take these clues and graph them out we
come up with an incontrovertible conclusion: The time
period from the Birth of Isaac to the Egyptian Exodus
totaled four hundred years.
Exodus to Solomon's 4th Year & the Kings of
Israel – Judah
This is one of the simplest eras of our chronology as it
is all given to us in one verse, 480 years:
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth
year after the children of Israel were come out of the
land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over
Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that
he began to build the house of the LORD. (1Kings 6:1)
So we have come to the fourth year of the reign of
Solomon where he begins to build the Temple and the
year 2929 SC (Since Creation). The chronicle records
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What Year Is It?
that Solomon reigned forty years, subtracting the four
prior counted years we start by adding his remaining
thirty-six. Thereafter we simply add the reigns of the
successive kings which are also counted inclusively, so
they too are self-averaging as we previously concluded
for the genealogies.
One only needs to be careful when going through the
books of the Kings not to include the Northern
Kingdom, but to exclusively follow the reigns of the
Kings of Judah to come to an accurate count at the
Babylonian desolation.
105
The Babylonian Desolation of Jerusalem and the
Temple occur about BCE 586 and the year 3359 Since
Creation. From this point we begin to synchronize with
our Common Era Roman Calendar. The more points
that we can synchronize together the more sure will be
our result.
Before we move on I would like to take a little time to
discuss the Common Era Calendars.
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What Year Is It?
The Roman Julian Calendar
The Roman Calendar introduced by Julius Caesar was
the prototype of the Roman Calendar used by the
nations today.
“The then existing calendar was a lunar one with
extra months slipped in from time to time in an
attempt to adjust it. In Caesar's time this calendar is
three months out in relation to the seasons. On the
advice of Sosigenes, a learned astronomer from
Alexandria, Caesar adds ninety days to the year 46
[BCE] and starts a new calendar on 1 January 45 BC.
Sosigenes advises Caesar that the length of the solar
year is 365 days and six hours. The natural solution is
to add a day every fourth year, introducing the
concept of the leap year. The extra day is added to
February, the shortest of the Roman months.”
historyworld.net
We note two points from this bit of history:
1. Rome separated the months from the moon cycles.
2. The establishment of the Roman Common Era
calendar had nothing to do with the birth of Christ.
The annual dating that we continue to use today was
introduced at Rome about 525 by the monk Dionysius
Exiguus as Anno Domini (A.D.) while working on his
“Easter Tables to date from the incarnation of Christ”.
However, modern scholars and even the Roman
Catholic Church acknowledge that the birth of Jesus was
a few years earlier than the date he determined to be 1
AD. No correction was ever attempted.
The Roman Gregorian Calendar
107
“By the 16th century the seemingly minor error in
the Julian calendar (estimating the solar year to be 11
minutes and 14 seconds shorter than it actually is) has
accumulated to a ten day discrepancy between the
calendar and reality.
...Pope Gregory XIII employs a German Jesuit and
astronomer, Christopher Clavius, to find a solution.
Calculating that the error amounts to three days in
400 years, Clavius suggests an ingenious adjustment.
...Gregory puts the proposal into immediate effect
in the papal states, announcing that the day after
October 4 in 1582 will be October 15 - thus saving
the lost ten days.” (historyworld.net)
Another leap day formula is added on a hundred year
scale to correct this error. Happily, this minor ten day
error and correction does verify the accuracy of the year
count of the Julian Calendar to that date.
An additional and arbitrary change introduced with
the Vatican's Gregorian Calendar was the change from
the biblically established New Year in the Spring to the
present New Year of Janus. This is self evident by the
numbered names of the months, September, October,
November, and December which are respectively
defined seventh-month, eighth- month, ninth-month and
tenth-month, meaning that the eleventh and twelfth
month used to follow December, the tenth-month.
And he shall ... think to change times and laws: (Dan
7:25)
As to the flap over the AD vs. CE terminology, I do
not consider the Vatican's Gregorian Calendar to be the
denomination of the years of Jesus the Messiah. The
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What Year Is It?
calendar and sabbath given to the Hebrew Nation at the
Exodus has been phased out with the two Roman
Calendar introductions. My Jesus is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, and John's Gospel
records that all things were made by Him and through
Him. Of this we may be assured, that when Jesus
returns we will not be using the Vatican's Roman
Gregorian Calendar.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. All things were made by him; and
without him was not any thing made that was made.
(John 1:1-3)
The Jewish Calendar
109
The Jewish Calendar has the date 5775 AM (anno
mundi: Latin, the year of the earth) for the CE. year
2014-2015. One of the problems with the Jewish
Calendar is how Daniels Seventy Weeks are calculated.
They do agree that Daniels 70 Weeks total 490 years, so
that’s not the problem. The problem is where they fix
the starting and ending point of those 490 years.
The wise Rabbi’s fix the starting point with the
Babylonian Desolation of the First Temple, they then fix
the ending point with the Roman Desolation of the
Second Temple. “Desolation to Desolation.” But in the
real world that time period was actually about 165 years
longer than the 490 years of Daniel's seventy weeks.
The red (dark) areas mark the Jewish Calendar
omissions which include the seventy years from the
Babylonian desolation of the Temple until its rebuilding
and the fifty-eight years until the decree of Artaxerxes to
restore and rebuild the city Jerusalem, the prophesied
beginning of the final seventy weeks determined upon
the Jewish people and upon the holy city. Also omitted
are the 36.5 years from the end of the 70 weeks until the
Roman Desolation. Simply adding the 165 year
omissions charted above puts a corrected Jewish
Calendar within several years of my calculation for the
current year Since Creation. I did not feel compelled to
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What Year Is It?
further investigate the Jewish Calendar due to this
seemingly intentional error, but that is another story.
The Creation-Roman Calendar Synchrony
At the first row below we have followed an explicit
Bible Chronology to the year 3359 and the Babylonian
Desolation of the city and the Temple which are also
historically dated BCE-586. At the time of this writing I
have already completed and published my WHAT
YEAR IS IT Video on my CrossTheBorder.org website,
and for the first time simply entered the above three
BCE Roman dates in an internet search.
It is that easy for anyone to verify the dates that we
are using to synchronize the ancient biblical chronology
with the present Roman dating system. BCE dating is a
recent invention created only for the purpose of
historical dating to the Roman Calendar. There was
never in reality any such year as a BCE year before
about 525 AD when the Common Era numerical year
dating system was invented.
Countdown to the Messiah
111
Daniel 9:24 gives the Hebrew Nation a 483 year
countdown to the year that the Messiah would arrive on
the scene (column 2 row 3 of our next table). Luke
records that Jesus began to be about 30 years old when
he was revealed as the Messiah at the Jordan River
baptism.
Three and a half years later the Messiah is crucified,
by no coincidence it is forty years before the total
Desolation of the Temple and the Nation by the Roman
army, the people of the prince that shall come, as
foretold by Daniel and Jesus. If any period of time
deserves the title, “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” it would be
this forty years. And if those days had not been
shortened no flesh (Jacob) would have been saved, but
for the Elect's sake (those obedient Hebrew's who would
spread the gospel) those days of persecution were
shortened to prevent the annihilation of even the elect.
Many try to apply this verse to the days preceding the
return of Messiah but this is not logical because the elect
will all be resurrected at that time so those days will not
need to be shortened for their sake. Because first
century Christians were a sect of the Jews it was
necessary for the Elect to survive the desolation of the
112
What Year Is It?
Hebrew Nation at the end of that century.
Summary Charts
Putting all of these points of synchrony together with
the former bible eras yields our summary charts
bringing us to a conclusion of the present year Since
Creation: CE-2015 equals SC-5960 (since creation).
We have approximately until the year 2055 before the
present era is completed.
Are You Ready?
113
Are you prepared to endure almost 40 years until
Christ returns?
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of
many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the
end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew
24:11-14)
I have named my ministry Cross The Border as a
reference to the Gospel of the Kingdom which Jesus
preached. The Kingdom of God or Heaven is a Holy
Nation that transcends all of the borders of the kingdoms
of this world, transcends mortality and time, it is the
only Kingdom that will last forever. I am not greater
than my Master, “From that time Jesus began to preach,
and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.” So I preach and I bid all to cross the border into
the Kingdom of God and live forever, there is nothing,
absolutely nothing more important in this life. Repent
and be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and the
Holy Spirit.
How should we as believers respond to these things?
We should continue to walk in the Spirit and be led by
the Spirit. Our Creator calls His Elect to obey to His
commandments, allow His Holy Spirit to bring forth the
fruit of repentance in your life, “the good works which
God has before ordained that we might walk in them.” If
you cannot obey Him now, how do you think He will
lead you when the time is critical? Learn to trust and
obey Him now and you will be able to hear and obey
114
What Year Is It?
Him through this Global Great Depression, coming
world conflicts and Mark of the Beast Inquisition.
Cross the Border into His Kingdom, obey the King and
live forever, nothing is more important!
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men: for ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
(Mat 23:13)
When The Third Temple Is Built The Rapture Play Will Begin
by Nicklas Arthur
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1boO2ulbBIjzHJuyum1pMN-1x4HcinV4j/view?usp=sharing
I Love Monster Movies
February 2 at 8:11 AM ·
Tales from the Crypt 💀
A horror anthology series that originally ran on HBO from 1989 - 1996. The show’s title is based on the old EC Comics series of the same name, which ran back in the 1950’s. A good number of the shows 93 episodes are based off stories that first appeared in different EC comics from the time. Those comic book titles include, Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories, and Two-Fisted Tales.
The HBO series is hosted by the Cryptkeeper, an undead corpse with a wicked sense of humor. The Cryptkeeper was voiced by John Kassir.
⚰️
Original run on HBO.
June 10, 1989 –
July 19, 1996
💀
If you are interested in checking out some horror anthologies from television history, Tales from the Crypt is one of the best shows to start with. - John
https://www.facebook.com/ilovemonstermovies/posts/pfbid02EKQMDsJCfU7pedU7wGZQD7TFWtvqunYt7uH3Upep2pfaNAWSh1KFNoCc1aEzZhLjl
Tales from the Crypt is a 1972 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis.[3] It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on short stories from the EC Comics series Tales from the Crypt by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, and Bill Gaines. The film was produced by Amicus Productions and filmed at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England.
In the film, five strangers (Joan Collins, Ian Hendry, Robin Phillips, Richard Greene and Nigel Patrick) in a crypt encounter the mysterious Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson), who makes each person in turn foresee the manner of their death. It is one of several Amicus horror anthologies produced during the 1970s.
Plot
Intro
While viewing old catacombs in the English countryside, five strangers stumble into a room with a mysterious Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson), who details how each of them will die.
...And All Through the House
Taken from The Vault of Horror #35 (February–March 1954).
The beautiful and glamorous Joanne Clayton kills her much older husband Richard on Christmas Eve to collect his insurance. She prepares to hide his body, but is interrupted by a radio announcement of a homicidal maniac lurking in the night. She sees the killer (who is dressed in a Santa Claus costume) outside her home, but cannot call the police without exposing her own crime. She locks up the doors and windows, before dragging her husband’s body and plummeting it down the basement.
After cleaning up the murder scene, Joanne attempts to phone the police (with the intention of making them believe the maniac killed her husband). However, her young daughter Carol — believing the maniac to be Santa — unlocks the door and lets him into the house, whereupon he strangles Joanne to death by the fire.
Reflection of Death
Taken from Tales from the Crypt #23 (April–May 1951).
Carl Maitland abandons his wife and children to be with his secretary, Susan Blake. After they drive off together, they are involved in a car accident. He wakes up, having been thrown clear of the wrecked and burned car, and attempts to hitchhike home, but everyone he meets reacts with horror upon seeing him.
Arriving at his house, he sees his wife with another man. He knocks on the door, but she screams and slams the door. He then goes to see Susan, only to find that she is blind from the accident. She says that Carl died two years ago in the crash. Glancing at a reflective tabletop, he sees he has the face of a rotting corpse and screams in horror. Carl then wakes up and finds out that it was a dream, but the moment he does, the crash occurs as previously seen.
Poetic Justice
Taken from The Haunt of Fear #12 (March–April 1952).
James Elliot lives with his father Edward across from the home of elderly dustman Arthur Edward Grimsdyke, who owns a number of dogs and entertains children in his house with stories and toys. While both the Elliots are snobs who resent Grimsdyke as a blight on their neighbourhood, James strongly detests the old man enough to conduct a smear campaign against him: first having his beloved dogs taken by animal control (although one of them returns to him), then persuading a member of the council to have him removed from his job, and later exploiting parents' paranoid fears about child molestation. Unbeknownst to James, Grimsdyke dabbles in the occult and holds a seance by himself to confer with his late wife.
On Valentine's Day, James sends Grimsdyke a number of poison-pen valentines, supposedly from the neighbours, driving the old man to suicide. Exactly one year later, on Valentine's Day, Grimsdyke rises from the grave and takes revenge on James. The next morning, Edward finds his son, bloodied and dead, with a note that reads, "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY..YOU WERE MEAN AND CRUEL..RIGHT FROM THE START..NOW YOU REALLY HAVE NO.." The final word is revealed by James' still-beating heart inside the folded end of the paper, horrifying Edward.
Wish You Were Here
Taken from The Haunt of Fear #22 (November–December 1953). A variation on W. W. Jacobs's short story "The Monkey's Paw".
Ineffective, ruthless businessman Ralph Jason is close to financial ruin. His wife Enid notices, for the first time, the inscription on a Chinese figurine in the couple's collection, which grants three wishes to the owner. Enid decides to wish for a fortune and, surprisingly, the wish comes true, but Ralph is killed, seemingly in a car crash, on the way to his lawyer's office to collect the money. The lawyer, Charles Gregory, then advises Enid she will inherit a fortune from her deceased husband's life insurance plan; however, when he learns of the manner of the wish granted that she made, he warns her not to wish Ralph back since he remembered the consequences of a similar story in which a mother wished her dead son back, only to be horrified by his gruesome appearance and forced to use the last wish to send him back to the grave. Against Gregory's explicit advice, Enid uses her second wish to bring him back to the way he was just before the accident, but he is returned in his coffin, still dead, as his death was due to a heart attack immediately before the crash and caused by fright upon seeing the figure of "death" following him on a motorcycle.
Once more, Gregory warns Enid not to make a final wish and just let Ralph rest in peace. As Gregory goes outside to get some fresh air, she uses her final wish to bring Ralph back to life and to live forever. When Gregory comes back inside, he discovers too late that Enid again went against his warning. Gregory points out to her that Ralph was embalmed and he is suffering from the effects of the embalming liquid. Enid tries to kill Ralph to end his pain but, because she wished for him to live forever, he cannot be killed. As a result, she has now trapped him in eternal agony and thus making her regret those last two wishes.
Blind Alleys
Taken from Tales from the Crypt #46 (February–March 1955).
Major William Rogers becomes the new director of a home for the blind, and exploits his position to live in luxury with his German Shepherd Shane, while his drastic financial cuts to food and heating reduce the residents' quality of life. Rogers gets his comeuppance after he ignores the pleas of resident George Carter to both make the living conditions more bearable and later to get medical treatment for fellow resident Greenwood, who then dies from hypothermia. Carter leads a revolt to subdue the staff before locking Rogers and Shane in separate rooms in the basement, and they then construct a small maze of narrow corridors between the two rooms. After going over two days without food, Rogers is released and forced to find his way through the maze for his freedom, getting past one corridor lined with razor blades once Carter turns the lights on; but Rogers finds his last obstacle to be a ravenous Shane who does not seem to recognise him. He flees back towards the razors, only for Carter to turn the lights off. Rogers is heard screaming as the hungry dog catches up with him and kills him.
Finale
After completing the final tale, the Crypt Keeper reveals that he was not warning them of what would happen, but instead telling them what has already happened: that they have all "died without repentance". There is one clue to this twist in that Joan Collins' character is wearing the brooch her husband had given her for Christmas just before she killed him. The door to Hell opens and Joanne, Carl, James, Ralph, and Major Rogers all enter (Ralph enters first and is seen falling down into a fiery abyss). "And now, who's next?" asks the Crypt Keeper, turning to face the camera as he says "Perhaps...YOU?" The scene pulls away as the entrance to the Crypt Keeper's lair is in flames.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Crypt_(film)
Holyrood or
Hollywood?
Myself and my mother entered the new parliament building through a revolving door. Before leaving our concrete seat opposite the Queen’s Gallery, we took one last glance at the immense broad and thick rock that reached for the sky called Arthur’s Seat. Adjacent the parliament are a few triangular and oddly shaped pools. They call them ‘ponds’ but there is no life in them, no greenery, and not a frog in sight. Architect, Enric Miralles, wrote that ‘the building should originate from the sloping base of Arthur’s Seat and arrive into the city almost out of the rock.’
However, reflecting back and looking across glittering pools up towards the immeasurable beauty of that mountain it was apparent that somehow Miralles intention had not worked. Surely, if the intention of Miralles’ design was modern ‘out of the rock’, then why was the mountain more modern and monumental than the £414m crusade beside me?
There is, I must agree, a certain element of calmness on a hot day in the design of his external landscape. But this is Scotland, not Spain. There is no serious connection between the natural landscape and the so-called modern parliament building. Wildflowers instead of spreading across the earth look suffocated waving about unnaturally. Everything is out of place. Tourists are everywhere but nowhere.
At the revolving doors, we are not greeted but welcomed with security. Bags, belts and coats all must go into a single tray. We pass security. Disturbingly, I felt as though we were taken hostage. Think about it: like prisoners before we entered. We were now at the centre of not the universe but the building itself. Your eyes don’t know where to look. Glass, metal and wood is criss-crossing you everywhere. You immediately yearn to find a different space than the one you’re stepping into.
We felt insecure and caved in. Are we in the rock that has rolled away from Arthur’s seat? Or, are we in the mountain itself? I don’t know. I felt less of the desire to explore rather escape. At reception there is a long line of ushers. Popcorn, anyone?
Beside me, a photograph exhibition by Harry Benson called ‘Seeing America’. The photos reveal everything about the horror of American tyranny. Yet we are inside a building that is almost like a bunker – a bomb proof one – and a building that is difficult to get in and out of. I ask a security guard where the debating chamber is. Everywhere are slabs of concrete. Was our environment seriously considered?
Finally, we entered the chamber. It wasn’t what I expected, being a lot smaller. On TV, the chamber appeared larger with more space in-between the politicians. Our perspective, when seated of secular props (chairs, speakers and tables) became miniature. There is a long distance between you and politics.
There are lights everywhere and cameras, being equipped rather than prepared for the modern world. Like a movie-set maybe. It was finally time to watch. The Presiding Officer commenced with FMQs; a hammer was hit and immediately politicians stood up and sat down in their seats. It was a case of ‘Lights. Camera. Action!’ I noticed immediately that you can’t really see the MSPs’ facial or body expressions. The politics of politics, it appears, is being played down. Politics is now action-packed. Nothing from the ‘visitors’ perspective felt live or real.scot-parl
A question is asked, the First Minister stands up abruptly, shouting at the opposition, whilst their party leader quickly leans back on her chair, holding up a look of terror. It is a pathetic and sad sight. Was I watching a rehearsal? If I was directing, I would be shouting: ‘Cut, cut cut!’
Politics is not in the space we are sitting. We are projected out and separated. Men, women and teenagers arch their bodies over the rails, shockingly, I realised, being treated as animals. And so we behave like one. Monkey, not the man, was obedient and sat back in his seat. Everywhere there are now security guards, Press with their ridiculously long cameras lenses, taking a hundred shots. An awful lot of hysteria for just a thirty minute rehearsal!
Honestly, the whole experience and the space itself was – and still – is in my memory a surreal one. When we consider the importance of politics, such an element of surrealism is not essential to life or humanity. We must think harder about the principle of not just politics but parliament itself – we must approach democracy with serious intelligence and more attention to human essence than architectural drawings.
Today, we are forced to accept the extreme distance between humanity and politics. The appearance of progress has become more important than the actual progress. Democracy which is a power in itself has been removed from us, owned instead by capitalists shelved and packaged through branded parties. Words ‘my party’ must be excluded one day if we are to climb any mountain. I turned to the film director – sorry the security guard – and asked for the way out.
Patrick Phillips is a revolutionary writer, lyricist, humanist and artist based in Perthshire. He successfully wrote in 2015 the lyrics for the song, ‘Man of the Mountains’, for a new musical, ‘Out Of Place’, at the York New Musical Festival. His first non-fiction is about a lawyer, who started his own circus more than thirty years ago, it will be published in 2018. On Twitter @PatrickWriter
https://scottishleftreview.scot/holyrood-or-hollywood/
is hbo part of hollywood?
AI Overview
Learn more
Yes, Home Box Office (HBO) is part of Hollywood and is operated by Warner Bros. Discovery, a major Hollywood company. HBO is a pay television network that offers movies, original programming, and other content. HBO also has a production and distribution company called HBO Films that makes movies and miniseries.
Explanation
HBO is based in New York City and is part of Warner Bros. Discovery, a Hollywood company that also owns Discovery+.
HBO is a leading premium cable station that offers a mix of movies and original programming.
HBO Films is a division of HBO that produces movies and miniseries.
HBO and Discovery+ content was combined into a streaming service called Max in May 2023.
HBO is still available as a standalone option on cable.
HBO and HBO Max have a long-term lease for production space at The Lot at Formosa, an entertainment production hub in West Hollywood.
Generative AI is experimental.
https://www.google.com/search?q=is+hbo+part+of+hollywood%3F&sca_esv=c5f38a029e9e2371&sxsrf=AHTn8zpNFOxDHRhMluJ0SQt9wH8p7Vw1KA%3A1738833427033&ei=E36kZ8zoAdCxur8PpsbO0Ak&ved=0ahUKEwiMvvel266LAxXQmO4BHSajE5oQ4dUDCBI&uact=5&oq=is+hbo+part+of+hollywood%3F&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGWlzIGhibyBwYXJ0IG9mIGhvbGx5d29vZD8yBhAAGBYYHjILEAAYgAQYhgMYigUyCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFSIchUMgGWP8ecAF4AZABAJgBXqABoAOqAQE1uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIGoAKuA8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAgcQIxiwAhgnwgIGEAAYBxgewgIEEAAYHpgDAIgGAZAGCJIHATagB9QN&sclient=gws-wiz-serp
The Holyrood or Holy Rood is a Christian relic alleged to be part of the True Cross on which Jesus died. The word derives from the Old English rood, meaning a pole and the cross, via Middle English, or the Scots haly ruid ("holy cross"). Several relics venerated as part of the True Cross are known by this name, in England, Ireland and Scotland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyrood_(cross)
To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute."
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
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
Pope meets Jimmy Fallon and 105 other comics at Vatican
By Malu Cursino, BBC News
Pope Francis has met with more than 100 comedians from across the world, including Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock and Whoopi Goldberg, at the Vatican in Rome.
The Pope said comedians have the "power to spread serenity and smiles" in a world where people are immersed in "many social and personal emergencies".
"You unite people because laughter is contagious," he added.
The entertainers were hosted in the Vatican hours before the pontiff was expected in Puglia for the G7 summit.
During the audience with 107 comedians from 15 countries, the Pope praised their ability to make people smile.
"You can also laugh at God, of course, and that's not blasphemy," the pontiff told comedians, adding that "it can be done without offending the religious feelings of believers".
According to reports on US media, comedian Jimmy Fallon was seen larking around the front of the audience hall before proceedings got under way - he was reportedly quickly told take his seat as the pope was due to walk through the door.
Fallon was joined by other big names in the entertainment industry, including US comedian Chris Rock, Italy's Silvio Orlando, and British actor and comedian Stephen Merchant.
Comedian Whoopi Goldberg, well known for Sister Act, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, from hit-show Veep, were also in attendance.
The cultural event preceded the pope's appearance at the G7 in the southern Italian region of Puglia - the first time a leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics attends the summit of the world's seven largest advanced economies.
The 87-year-old pontiff has called for global regulation of AI, warning of its danger to ethics and human rights.
In reference to current global events, the pope told comedians that while communication today "often generates conflict," the entertainers are able to bring together diverse realities.
"How much we need to learn from you," he added.
After the audience the Pope met briefly with each comedian, exchanging a few words with each - though some interactions were somewhat one-way.
"Well it was brief, he spoke in Italian, so I'm not quite sure what was said," quipped late-night host Conan O'Brien.
"It was quick... I had a wonderful time," he added.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722vd9274yo
The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia [diˈviːna komˈmɛːdja]) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature[1] and one of the greatest works of Western literature.[2] The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language.[3] It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
The poem discusses "the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward",[4] and describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.[5] Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's journey towards God,[6] beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul's ascent to God (Paradiso). Dante draws on medieval Catholic theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy derived from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.[7] Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse".[8]
In the poem, the pilgrim Dante is accompanied by three guides:[9][4] Virgil, who represents human reason, and who guides him for all of Inferno and most of Purgatorio;[10] Beatrice, who represents divine revelation[10] in addition to theology, grace, and faith;[11] and guides him from the end of Purgatorio onwards; and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who represents contemplative mysticism and devotion to Mary the Mother, guiding him in the final cantos of Paradiso.[12]
The work was originally simply titled Comedìa (pronounced [komeˈdiːa], Tuscan for "Comedy") – so also in the first printed edition, published in 1472 – later adjusted to the modern Italian Commedia. The adjective Divina was added by Giovanni Boccaccio,[13] owing to its subject matter and lofty style,[14] and the first edition to name the poem Divina Comedia in the title was that of the Venetian humanist Lodovico Dolce,[15] published in 1555 by Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari.
Erich Auerbach said Dante was the first writer to depict human beings as the products of a specific time, place and circumstance, as opposed to mythic archetypes or a collection of vices and virtues, concluding that this, along with the fully imagined world of the Divine Comedy, suggests that the Divine Comedy inaugurated realism and self-portraiture in modern fiction.[16]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy
During the War of the Rough Wooing, the invading English armies of the Earl of Hertford inflicted structural damage on Holyrood Abbey in 1544 and 1547. Lead was stripped from the roof, the bells were removed, and the contents of the abbey were plundered. In 1559, during the Scottish Reformation, the abbey suffered further damage when a mob destroyed the altars and looted the rest of the church.[12] With the reformation and the end of monastic services, the east end of the abbey church became redundant. In 1569, Adam Bothwell, the commendator of Holyrood, informed the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland that the east end was in such a state of disrepair that the choir and transept should be demolished. This was done the following year, retaining only the nave, which by then was serving as the parish church of the burgh of Canongate. Between 1570 and 1573 an east GABLE was erected, closing the east end of the former nave, all but two of the windows in the nave were blocked up, the royal tombs were removed to a new royal burial vault in the south aisle and the old east end was demolished.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyrood_Abbey
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American film actor. Often referred to as the "King of Hollywood",[2] he had roles in more than 60 films in a variety of genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades of which was as a leading man. He was named the seventh greatest male movie star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute.[3]
Gable won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the romantic comedy, It Happened One Night (1934). He was further Oscar-nominated for his roles as Fletcher Christian in the drama Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and Rhett Butler in the historical romance drama Gone with the Wind (1939). He received Golden Globe Award nominations for his comedic roles in Teacher's Pet (1958), and But Not for Me (1959). He also starred in Call of the Wild (1935), Key to the City (1950), and Mogambo (1953). His final on-screen role was as an aging cowboy in The Misfits (1961).
Gable was one of the most consistent box-office performers in the history of Hollywood, appearing on Quigley Publishing's annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll sixteen times. He appeared opposite many of the most popular actresses of their time. He frequently acted alongside Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner. Gable died of a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 59.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Gable
Clark
also Clarke, surname, from common Middle English alternative spelling of clerk (n.). In many early cases it is used of men who had taken minor orders.
Entries linking to Clark
clerk (n.)
c. 1200, "man ordained in the ministry, a priest, an ecclesiastic," from Old English cleric and Old French clerc "clergyman, priest; scholar, student," both from Church Latin clericus "a priest," noun use of adjective meaning "priestly, belonging to the clerus" (see cleric).
Modern bureaucratic usage is a reminder of the time when clergy alone could read and write and were employed as scribes and account-keepers by secular authorities. In late Old English the word also can mean "king's scribe; keeper of accounts." And by c. 1200 clerk took on a secondary sense in Middle English (as the cognate word did in Old French) of "man of letters, anyone who can read or write."
This led to the senses "assistant in a public or private business" (c. 1500), originally a keeper of accounts, also "officer of a court, municipality, etc. whose duty it is to keep its records and perform its routine business" (1520s), and later, especially in American English, "a retail salesman" (1790). Meaning "an employee who registers guests in a hotel" is by 1879.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Clark
The Ric Flair Woo - What is the origin of this signature catchphrase?
By
Danny Wolstanholme
Modified Jul 07, 2021 08:39 GMT
No matter what arena or stadium you step into to watch a WWE show, you're going to hear many fans doing the Ric Flair Woo at the top of their lungs. You will notice many other fans join in, and the 'WOOOOO's' start to circulate around the venue to a full orchestra of 'WOOOOO's'.
For anyone attending their first WWE event, especially in today's modern era, you're probably a little confused as to what this all means. Many wrestlers past and present have their own catchphrases, or items that make them stand out amongst the rest.
For example, you have Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson with his signature catchphrase 'If you smell.. what The Rock Is Cookin'!' or you have Jake 'The Snake' Roberts carrying a snake in the ring.
Now, not to be confused with Zack Ryder's 'Woo Woo Woo' catchphrase, the origins of the Ric Flair Woo go back all the way to the 70's. Yes, it has been around 50 years since Ric Flair Woo started!
How and when did the Ric Flair Woo originate?
According to Ric Flair's memoir 'To Be The Man' released in 2015, the Ric Flair Woo originated in the 1970's thanks to the Jerry Lee Lewis classic 'Great Balls of Fire'.
Part of the song ended with 'Woo' and Ric Flair decided to use it day-to-day, and even on-screen cutting promos. Flair also later confirmed on his The Ric Flair Show that he put a much greater emphasis on his 'Woo' than on the hit song.
The famous Nature Boy catchphrase also extended into popular culture, and has been used by many celebrities in honor of the sixteen-time World Champion.
Ric Flair and Jay Lethal had a Woo-off in IMPACT Wrestling
Back during the TNA heydays, during the Hogan-Bischoff-Carter era, there was a particular segment that amused many fans around the world.
Jay Lethal was performing his Black Machismo character, which was a take on 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, who he made impressions of.
So when Lethal crossed paths with 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair in the then-named TNA, a huge impromptu Ric Flair woo-off ensued. All credit to Jay Lethal, who delivered the PERFECT impression of Ric Flair, rattled the Limosine rider and Jet flyer, and they continued to exchange words.
The segment became one of TNA's funniest and most memorable moments in the history of the company, and is talked about to this very day.
It is safe to say that Ric Flair Woo will live on forever.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/the-ric-flair-woo-what-origin-signature-catchphrase
Mr. Wu is a supporting character in HBO's Deadwood as well as in Deadwood: The Movie.
He is the leader of Deadwood's substantial but mostly unseen Chinese ("Celestials") population, the Asian counterpart to Al Swearengen. He routinely interacts with Swearengen and other Caucasians over a few matters of business, such as the opium trade, and the seemingly daily efficient disposal of numerous human remains, through the route of his pigs. He knows almost no English beyond the words "San Francisco" and "cocksucker". He, however, communicates effectively with Swearengen (to whom he refers as "Swedgin!") with the aid of charcoal drawings and hand signals.
He is portrayed by Keone Young.
https://deadwood.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._Wu
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
Mount Hollywood Congregational Church is a United Church of Christ congregation in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Mount Hollywood was founded in 1905.[1] John Raitt was once a soloist in the choir, Judge Lance Ito was enrolled in its Sunday School, and Los Angeles County Supervisor John Anson Ford was a member.[1]
Membership had been as high as 600 in the 1920s, when it built its sanctuary, but is around 50 today.[1] In 2012 the church sold its sanctuary, citing high maintenance costs, and moved into a converted storage shed behind Hollywood Lutheran Church.[1]
The congregation has long been an advocate for social justice. In 1941 it came to the aid of Hollywood Independent Church, a Japanese-American congregation, by safeguarding the church's property and homes of its members after they were sent to internment camps.[1] All of the ministers in Mount Hollywood's history have been pacifists.[1]
The church's altar has a wooden cross made from camphor wood off of a tree in the yard of a church that had been bombed in Hiroshima. The cross is inscribed with "He is our peace."[1]
The Rev. Anne Cohen was installed as the church's pastor on Nov. 3, 2013.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hollywood_Congregational_Church
Arthur's Seat (Scottish Gaelic: Suidhe Artair, pronounced [ˈs̪ɯi.əˈaɾt̪ʰəɾʲ]) is an ancient extinct volcano that is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design".[1] It is situated just to the east of the city centre, about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250.5 m (822 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city and beyond, is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest ascent is from the east, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch. At a spur of the hill, Salisbury Crags has historically been a rock climbing venue with routes of various degrees of difficulty. Rock climbing was restricted to the South Quarry, but access was banned altogether in 2019 by Historic Environment Scotland.[2]
Name
It is sometimes said that its name is derived from legends pertaining to King Arthur, such as the reference in Y Gododdin. Some support for this may be provided by several other hilltop and mountaintop features in Britain which bear the same or similar names, such as the peak of Ben Arthur (The Cobbler) in the western highlands, sometimes known as Arthur's Seat,[3] and Arthur's Chair on the ridge called Stone Arthur in the English Lake District.
Geology
Arthur's Seat is the largest of the three parts of the Arthur's Seat Volcano site of special scientific interest (the other parts being Calton Hill and the Castle Rock) which is designated to protect its important geology (see below), grassland habitats and uncommon plant and animal species.
Like the rock on which Edinburgh Castle is built, it was formed by a volcanic system of early Carboniferous age (lava samples have been dated at 341 to 335 million years old),[4] which was eroded by a glacier moving from west to east during the Quaternary (approximately the last two million years), exposing rocky crags to the west and leaving a tail of material swept to the east.[5] This is how the Salisbury Crags formed and became basalt cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the city centre. From some angles, Arthur's Seat resembles a lion couchant.[6][7] Two of the several extinct vents make up the 'Lion's Head' and the 'Lion's Haunch'.
Duration: 2 minutes and 19 seconds.2:19
Aerial footage of Arthur's Seat and the George Square area of Edinburgh
Arthur's Seat and the Salisbury Crags adjoining it helped form the ideas of modern geology as it is currently understood. It was in these areas that James Hutton observed that the deposition of the sedimentary and formation of the igneous rocks must have occurred at different ages and in different ways than the thinking of that time said they did. It is possible to see a particular area known as Hutton's Section in the Salisbury Crags where the magma forced its way through the sedimentary rocks above it to form the dolerite sills that can be seen in the Section.
The hill bears a strong resemblance to the Cavehill in Belfast in terms of its geology and proximity to a major urban site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Seat
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,800[1] five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. The stars, the first of which were permanently installed in 1960, are monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, producers, directors, theatrical/musical groups, fictional characters, and others.
The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who hold a trademark right to the combined star & movie camera symbol only, and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. The Hollywood Chamber collects fees from celebrities (or their sponsors) that wish to have a star (currently $75K)[2] which pays for the creation and installation of the star, as well as maintenance of the Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce does not own trademark rights to the star with other symbols (i.e. television, microphone, record disc), so those symbols are free to use for commercial purposes.[3] It is a popular tourist attraction, receiving an estimated 10 million annual visitors in 2010.[4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame
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 Complementary Norms
https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv vɔjˈtɨwa];[b] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
As May 18 dawned, Mount St. Helens's activity did not show any change from the pattern of the preceding month. The rates of bulge movement and sulfur dioxide emission, and ground temperature readings did not reveal any changes indicating a catastrophic eruption. USGS volcanologist David A. Johnston was on duty at an observation post around 6 mi (10 km) north of the volcano: as of 6:00 am, Johnston's measurements did not indicate any unusual activity.[9]
At 8:32 am, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake centered directly below the north slope triggered that part of the volcano to slide,[31] approximately 7–20 seconds after the shock,[9] followed a few seconds later by the main volcanic blast. The landslide, the largest subaerial landslide in recorded history, traveled at 110 to 155 mph (177 to 249 km/h) and moved across Spirit Lake's west arm. Part of it hit a 1,150 ft-high (350 m) ridge about 6 mi (10 km) north.[9] Some of the slide spilled over the ridge, but most of it moved 13 mi (21 km) down the North Fork Toutle River, filling its valley up to 600 feet (180 m) deep with avalanche debris.[31] An area of about 24 sq mi (62 km2) was covered, and the total volume of the deposit was about 0.7 cu mi (2.9 km3).[9]
Scientists were able to reconstruct the motion of the landslide from a series of rapid photographs by Gary Rosenquist, who was camping 11 mi (18 km) away from the blast 46°18′49″N 122°02′12″W.[9] Rosenquist, his party, and his photographs survived because the blast was deflected by local topography 1 mi (1.6 km) short of his location.[32]
Sound of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, as heard from 140 miles away
Duration: 44 seconds.0:44
Amateur recording of a series of booms produced by the eruption, as heard from the town of Newport, Oregon (audio filtered and amplified).
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Most of St. Helens's former north side became a rubble deposit 17 mi (27 km) long, averaging 150 ft (46 m) thick; the slide was thickest at 1 mi (1.6 km) below Spirit Lake and thinnest at its western margin.[9] The landslide temporarily displaced the waters of Spirit Lake to the ridge north of the lake, in a giant wave about 600 ft (180 m) high.[33] This, in turn, created a 295 ft (90 m) avalanche of debris consisting of the returning waters and thousands of uprooted trees and stumps. Some of these remained intact with roots, but most had been sheared off at the stump seconds earlier by the blast of superheated volcanic gas and ash that had immediately followed and overtaken the initial landslide. The debris was transported along with the water as it returned to its basin, raising the surface level of Spirit Lake by about 200 ft (61 m).[9]
Four decades after the eruption, floating log mats persist on Spirit Lake and nearby St. Helens Lake, changing position with the wind. The rest of the trees, especially those that were not completely detached from their roots, were turned upright by their own weight and became waterlogged, sinking into the muddy sediments at the bottom where they are in the process of becoming petrified in the anaerobic and mineral-rich waters. This provides insight into other sites with a similar fossil record.[34]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens
Updated May 18, 2023 Defense Primer: Directed-Energy Weapons Both the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the House Armed Services Committee’s bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force Report have identified directed energy as a technology that could have a significant impact on U.S. national security in the years to come. As the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to invest in directed-energy (DE) weapons, Congress may consider implications for defense authorizations, appropriations, and oversight. Overview DOD defines DE weapons as those using concentrated electromagnetic energy, rather than kinetic energy, to “incapacitate, damage, disable, or destroy enemy equipment, facilities, and/or personnel.” DE weapons include high-energy lasers (HEL) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons; other DE weapons, such as particle beam weapons, are outside the scope of this In Focus. HELs might be used by ground forces in short-range air defense (SHORAD), counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), or counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missions. The weapons might be used to “dazzle” (i.e., temporarily disable) or damage satellites and sensors. This could in turn interfere with intelligence-gathering operations; military cmmunications; and positioning, navigation, and timing systems used for weapons targeting. In addition, HELs could theoretically provide options for boost-phase missile intercept, given their speed-of-light travel time; however, experts disagree on the affordability, technological feasibility, and utility of this application. In general, HELs might offer lower costs per shot and— assuming access to a sufficient power supply—deeper magazines compared with traditional munitions. (Although a number of different types of HELs exist, many of the United States’ current programs are solid state lasers, which are fueled by electrical power. As a result, the cost per shot is equivalent to the cost of the electrical power required to fire the shot.) This could in turn produce a favorable costexchange ratio for the defender, whose marginal costs would be significantly lower than those of the aggressor.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11882
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid02QQKPJ8GadPDUKRL2nJhrpyZxr1TvbtT9JFzyyoZdfYPiXRDPuq8AbM513HXEkfhwl
Published: 10 October 1996
Russian documents Set out 'tectonic weapon' research
Carl Levitin
Moscow. The first official details have emerged in Moscow of ambitious research into 'tectonic warfare' carried out by the former Soviet Union and subsequently by the government of Russia, and involving atte mpts to stimulate 'artificial' earthquakes as weapons of destruction. According to documents obtained by the newspaper Moscow News, two research programmes, the first known as ' Mercury ' and the second as ' Volcano', were aimed at creating new earthquake epicentres by using underground nuclear explosions . Geophysicists are aware that impending earthquakes may be triggered by underground nuclear explosions . But Western geophysicists remain sceptical about tectonic warfare and have all but abandoned research after two unsuccessful phases of activity in the 1960s and 1980s, says Roger Clark, a lecturer in geophysics at the University of Leeds. Clark is not at all surprised that th e Russians tried to create earthquakes and control their location electromagnetically, however. "This sort of science is very much part of their heritage. We don't think it is impossible, or wrong , but past experience suggests it is very, very unlikely. "
The programme , which was secretly launched by the Communist rulers of the former Soviet Union in 1987, and has been unofficially known to Western geophysicists for several years, is now believed to have been abandoned. It would certainly contravene the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Russia signe d at the United Nations in Geneva last month . The Mercury project was launched in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, but came to a halt when the republic became independent. It was superseded by the Volcano project. Three underground nuclear tests are believed to have taken place at sites in Kyrgyzstan.
According to the documents, the Mercury project was launched by a secret decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. The objective was to "develop a methodology for remote operation on an earthquake epicentre by using weak seismic fields and research possibilities of transferring the seismic energy of an explosion ".
The documents say that the Mercury project involved 22 scientific and industrial organizations, including the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences in Baku. The remit extended to developing the electronic equipment to be installed aboard space satellites that would control the tectonic weapon. The scientists were given three years to complete research, with testing planned for 1990.
During the research phase, Azerbaijani scientists grew increasingly confident and, according to the documents, were sure that " after [a] nuclear explosion, subterranean energy may accumulate at huge distances from the epicentre and reach massive capacity, after which the next directed explosion can release it all ".
Underground testing began at the town of Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and was directed by lkram Ke rimov , of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. The documents say that scientists detonated an underground nuclear charge and tried to control the direction of seismic energy release d using British-built equipment known as 'system 9690 ' .
A report prepared by the Mozhaisky Military Engineering Institute concluded that the test had been a success. But progress slowed considerably following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. At about this time , Russia embarked on a more comprehensive tectonic warfare programme known as the Volcano project. The Earth Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) became the project headquarters .
Research was scheduled to be completed in 1992, with underground testing beginning the following year. The final test was carried out at a place code-named S36NZ-0Kh; Moscow News believes the letters 'NZ' refer to Novaya Zemlya, where Soviet nuclear testing began in the 1950s."
https://www.nature.com/articles/383471a0
Earthquake Promo [1991-01-26]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtKtRrOfEhk
Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025
In 2025, US aerospace forces can own the weather by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war fighting applications. Such a capability offers the war fighter tools to shape the battlespace in ways never before possible. It provides opportunities to impact operations across the full spectrum of conflict and is pertinent to all possible futures. The purpose of this paper is to outline a strategy for the use of a future weather modification system to achieve military objectives rather than to provide a detailed technical road map. A high risk, high reward endeavor, weather modification offers a dilemma not unlike the splitting of the atom While some segments of society will always be reluctant to examine controversial issues such as weather modification, the tremendous military capabilities that could result from this field are ignored at our own peril. From enhancing friendly operations or disrupting those of the enemy via small scale tailoring of natural weather patterns to complete dominance of global communications and counterspace control, weather modification offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary. Some of the potential capabilities a weather modification system could provide to a war fighting commander in chief CINC are listed in table 1. Technology advancements in five major areas are necessary for an integrated weather modification capability 1 advanced nonlinear modeling techniques, 2 computational capability, 3 information gathering and transmission, 4 a global sensor array, and 5 weather intervention techniques. Some intervention tools exist today and others may be developed and refined in the future."
Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025 (dtic.mil)
As early as 1990, weather force specialists at the U.S. Air Force Academy were hard at work studying how to chemically mix and lay “aerial obscuration” they called “chemtrails.” Project Cloverleaf began quietly enough (as all classified projects do) with the 1994 Hughes Aircraft patent for Welsbach Seeding For Reduction of Global Warming. Welsbach seeding called for spreading highly reflective materials in the atmosphere to reflect back into space 1–2 percent of incoming sunlight and thus slow down “global warming.” However, it was also about beginning to create a more conductive atmosphere in preparation for Bernard Eastlund’s High-frequency Active Auroral Research Project (HAARP) already under construction in Alaska. The reflective material (~10 microns) to be added to jet auxiliary fuel tanks was the highly conductive compound aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The jet’s main tanks would be reserved for takeoff and landing, and the auxiliary loaded with Al2O3 for cruising altitude. Lawrence Livermore National Labs priced the program at US$1 billion per annum (in 1994 dollars). By the late 1990s, aerial grids were being laid over chosen regions and cities of the U.S. and other NATO nations. In 1996, the military went public with two documents that obliquely referenced what Cloverleaf was up to: the Pentagon paper “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” in Air Force 2025,1 which called the chemical whitening effect “cirrus shielding”; and U.S. Space Command’s Vision for 2020 calling for full spectrum dominance of space, land, sea, and air.2 Air traffic controllers (ATC) at major airports were coached to re-route commercial air traffic around military craft engaged in “classified aerial operations” at 37,000–40,000 feet. ATC radar revealed a haze of aluminum and barium—Al2O3 for solar radiation management (SRM) geoengineering, barium stearate Ba(C18H35O2)2 for lubrication, radar imaging, and highpowered RF-microwave beam weapons.
A wide range of particles could be released into the stratosphere to achieve the SRM objective of scattering sunlight back to space. Sulfates and nanoparticles currently favored for SRM include sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide, black carbon, and specially engineered discs composed of metallic aluminum, aluminum oxide and barium titanate. In particular, engineered nanoparticles are considered very promising. The particles would utilize photophoretic and electromagnetic forces to self-levitate above the stratosphere. These nanoparticles would remain suspended longer than sulfate particles, would not interfere with stratospheric chemistry, and would not produce acid rain. However, while promising, the self-levitating nanodisc has not been tested to verify efficacy, may increase ocean acidification due to atmospheric CO2 entrapment, has uncharacterized human health and environmental impacts, and may be prohibitively expensive.3
The truth is that the 10 billion SRM discs 10 micrometers across and 50 nanometers thick are engineered with a core of aluminum, a top layer of aluminum oxide, and a bottom layer of barium titanate—aluminum to reflect heat up, heavier barium purportedly to push the discs up (photophoresis). Introduce a magnetic component, then spray, and the nanoparticles will follow the Earth’s magnetic field into the upper atmosphere. By 1998, the Ontario Ministry of Environment (Canada) found 7X the safe limit for aluminum in rainwater samples. More and more citizens complained of sudden headaches, joint pains, dizziness, fatigue, acute asthma, gastrointestinal pain, coughs, and feverless flu symptoms. In 2000, Cloverleaf went public in an offhand way with a comment from an anonymous airline executive to independent scientist Clifford Carnicom, then the most visible scientist collecting data on the aerosol fallout over northern New Mexico. According to this “Deep Throat,” the purpose of Cloverleaf was “to allow commercial airlines to assist in releasing these chemicals into the atmosphere.”4 Military jets simply could not keep up with the “global dimming” now called solar radiation management (SRM), so the entire airline industry was being drafted in the name of national security."
Under An Ionized Sky: From Chemtrails To Space Fence Lockdown
by Elana Freeland
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oneu_kEMMH5AeAffiWOR_7NJ0HptHJrC/view?usp=sharing
"As above, so below" is a popular modern paraphrase of the second verse of the Emerald Tablet, a short Hermetic text which first appeared in an Arabic source from the late eighth or early ninth century.[1] The paraphrase is based on one of several existing Latin translations of the Emerald Tablet, in which the second verse appears as follows:[2]
Quod est superius est sicut quod inferius, et quod inferius est sicut quod est superius.
That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above.
The paraphrase is peculiar to this Latin version, and differs from the original Arabic, which reads "from" rather than "like to".
Following its use by prominent modern occultists such as Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–1891, co-founder of the Theosophical Society) and the anonymous author of the Kybalion (often taken to be William W. Atkinson, 1862–1932, a pioneer of the New Thought movement), the paraphrase started to take on a life of its own, becoming an often cited motto in New Age circles.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_above,_so_below
AI Overview
Learn more
When someone says "2000 years of age," it means a period of time spanning 2,000 years, often used in historical or astrological contexts to refer to a specific era or "age" like the "Age of Pisces" which is considered to have lasted for 2,000 years in some interpretations.
Key points about "2000 years of age":
Astrological usage:
In astrology, different "ages" are associated with different zodiac signs, and each age is often calculated as lasting around 2,000 years based on the Earth's axial precession.
Example:
Currently, many astrologers consider the "Age of Aquarius" to be starting around the year 2000, signifying a new era.
Not perfectly accurate:
While 2,000 years is often used for simplicity, the actual length of an astrological age based on precession is closer to 2,160 years.
Generative AI is experimental.
"God is dead" (German: Gott ist tot [ɡɔt ɪst toːt] ⓘ; also known as the death of God) is a statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The first instance of this statement in Nietzsche's writings is in his 1882 The Gay Science, where it appears three times.[note 1] The phrase also appears at the beginning of Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
The meaning of this statement is that since, as Nietzsche says, "the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable", everything that was "built upon this faith, propped up by it, grown into it", including "the whole [...] European morality", is bound to "collapse".[1] The time of the Enlightenment had transformed collective human knowledge to the point where many would question their beliefs. The framing of the construct suggests that God could exist, from an atheistic perspective, in the minds of men rather than in reality, and so widespread disbelief would equate to God's death.
Other philosophers had previously discussed the concept, including Philipp Mainländer and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. The phrase is also discussed in the Death of God theology.
Early usage
Discourses of a "death of God" in German culture appear as early as the 17th century and originally referred to Lutheran theories of atonement. The phrase "God is dead" appears in the hymn "Ein Trauriger Grabgesang" ("A mournful dirge") by Johann von Rist.[2]
Before Nietzsche, the phrase 'Dieu est mort!' ('God is dead') was written in Gérard de Nerval's 1854 poem "Le Christ aux oliviers" ("Christ at the olive trees").[3] The poem is an adaptation into a verse of a dream-vision that appears in Jean Paul's 1797 novel Siebenkäs under the chapter title of 'The Dead Christ Proclaims That There Is No God'.[4] In an address he gave in 1987 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the literary scholar George Steiner claims that Nietzsche's formulation 'God is dead' is indebted to the aforementioned 'Dead Christ' dream-vision of Jean Paul, but he offers no concrete evidence that Nietzsche ever read Jean Paul.[5]
The phrase is also found in a passage expressed by a narrator in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables:[6][7]
"God is dead, perhaps," said Gerard de Nerval one day to the writer of these lines, confounding progress with God, and taking the interruption of movement for the death of Being.
Buddhist philosopher K. Satchidananda Murty wrote in 1973 that, coming across in a hymn of Martin Luther what Hegel described as "the cruel words", "the harsh utterance", namely, "God is dead", developed the theme of God's death according to whom, to one form of experience, God is dead. Murty continued that commenting on Kant's first Critique, Heinrich Heine who had purportedly influenced Nietzsche spoke of a dying God. Since Heine and Nietzsche the phrase Death of God became popular.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead
CHAPTER SEVEN – SHABTAI, SHIMON AND SHARON – DESTROYING THE JEWS
ALM 1 - THE DEUTSCH DEVILS
Rabbi Marvin Antelman was right all along. Way back in 1974, he identified the source of all the evil against Jews and humanity but his message and style were too unaccessible to get through to anyone but the most advanced students of antisemitism. What he lacked most was simplicity, a common enough failure of thinkers decades in advance of their contemporaries. What he needed was someone to put out a Cliff's Notes simplified explanation of his thesis...and someone, without intention, just did. The name of the book is, 50 Jewish Messiahs by Jerry Rabow (Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem). It is an informative but shallow overview of just what the title says, but in its shallowness lies vital depth. We begin with Chapter 17, about the "most damaging messiah to the Jewish people," Shabbatai Zvi. First we'll read Rabow and then add commentary opening Rabbi Antelman's work to the wide world. Recall that there are various accepted English spellings for Shabtai Tzvi, and the Sabbataians. The spelling presented depends on the writer:
pp 91 - Shabbatai Zvi was born in Smyrna, Turkey on the ninth of Av, 1626. The ninth day of Av is the day of a triple tragedy for the Jewish nation. According to tradition, the First Temple, the Second Temple and Bar Kokhba's Betar fortress all fell on this day.
pp 93 - He changed the holiday celebrations and violated the dietary prohibitions. All of this followed from his declaration that the usual rules were inapplicable to messianic times.
pp 95 - He declared that the coming of the messianic era meant that the biblical commandments were no longer binding. He proclaimed that God now permitted everything. ** This is Rabbi Antelman's central assertion; that Shabbataism was the polar opposite of Judaism. That Shabbatai Zvi's program was to destroy all the tenets of the Torah and replace them with their opposites. Incredibly, more than half the Jews of the world at the time, believed he would be revealed as their promised messiah: **
pp 101 - Then he finally made the announcement for which the Jewish community had been waiting for 1600 years - he would begin the Redemption on the 15th day of the month of Sivan, June 18, 1666. ** There are many who will recognize the significance of the date. June is the sixth month, 18 divided by three is 6+6+6 and 1666 is clear enough. Either he knew what he was doing or the prophesies of the emergence of an evil false messiah or anti-Christ are right, and Shabbatai Zvi was him. **
pp 110 - Through all of this, Shabbatai continued to issue proclamations of the theological changes wrought by the coming of the messianic age. Shabbatai's new prayer was, "Praised be He who permits the forbidden." Since all things would be permitted in the age of the messiah, Shabbatai declared many of the old restrictions of the Torah no longer applicable. He abolished the laws concerning sexual relationships. He eventually declared that all of the thirty six major biblical sins were now permitted and instructed some of his followers that it was their duty to perform such sins in order to hasten the Redemption.
Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust
by Barry Chamish
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66Pc9x2hkIrV2Y3QWxPbkpKYWc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-5ak831cRNQohyyjZYfFKvw
Nova music festival massacre
On 7 October 2023, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist organization Hamas, initiated a sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 364 individuals, mostly civilians, were killed and many more wounded at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re'im. Hamas also took 40 people hostage, and men and women were reportedly subject to sexual and gender-based violence.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_music_festival_massacre
A nova (pl. novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white dwarfs in close binary systems, but causes of the dramatic appearance of a nova vary, depending on the circumstances of the two progenitor stars. The main sub-classes of novae are classical novae, recurrent novae (RNe), and dwarf novae. They are all considered to be cataclysmic variable stars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova
Revelation 16:8
1599 Geneva Bible
8 [a]And the fourth Angel poured out his vial on the sun, and it was given to him to torment men with heat of fire,
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A8-10&version=GNV
SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat. The name "Roadster" refers to the type of car that is used as the payload for the Falcon Heavy, while "SpaceX" is the name of the private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in 2002.
https://theskylive.com/roadster-info
416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]
L. D. S. "
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses (M☉)) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around 5,000 K [K] (4,700 °C; 8,500 °F) or lower. The appearance of the red giant is from yellow-white to reddish-orange, including the spectral types K and M, sometimes G, but also class S stars and most carbon stars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant
Solar flares are not directly related to the Earth's mantle, but they can have a significant impact on Earth if they are directed towards it:
Explanation
Solar flares are explosions on the Sun that release magnetic energy and cause a burst of radiation. They can occur in active regions of the Sun, often around sunspots.
Classification
Solar flares are classified by their peak brightness in X-ray wavelengths, with X-class flares being the most intense and A-class flares being the least intense.
Effects on Earth
When a solar flare is directed at Earth, it can cause a geomagnetic storm that can interfere with power grids, communications, and navigation systems. The severity of the interference depends on the intensity of the storm.
Monitoring
NASA, NOAA, and the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) monitor the Sun for solar flares and their associated magnetic storms
https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+flares+mantle&oq=solar+flares+mantle&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDsyBggAEEUYOzIKCAEQABiABBiiBDIKCAIQABiABBiiBNIBCDM3ODNqMGoxqAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Revelation 16:8
1599 Geneva Bible
8 [a]And the fourth Angel poured out his vial on the sun, and it was given to him to torment men with heat of fire,
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A8-10&version=GNV
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
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
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
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
Civil Twilight:
Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. Therefore morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise. Evening civil twilight begins at sunset, and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. Under these conditions absent fog or other restrictions, the brightest stars and planets can be seen, the horizon and terrestrial objects can be discerned, and in many cases, artificial lighting is not needed. Civil Twilight is also known as Civil Dawn and Civil Dusk.
Nautical Twilight:
Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon. In general, the term nautical twilight refers to sailors being able to take reliable readings via well known stars because the horizon is still visible, even under moonless conditions. Absent fog or other restrictions, outlines of terrestrial objects may still be discernible, but detailed outdoor activities are likely curtailed without artificial illumination. Nautical Twilight is also known as Nautical Dawn and Nautical Dusk.
Astronomical Twilight:
Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon. In astronomical twilight, sky illumination is so faint that most casual observers would regard the sky as fully dark, especially under urban or suburban light pollution. Under astronomical twilight, the horizon is not discernible and moderately faint stars or planets can be observed with the naked eye under a non light polluted sky. But to test the limits of naked eye observations, the sun needs to be more than 18 degrees below the horizon. Point light sources such as stars and planets can be readily studied by astronomers under astronomical twilight. But diffuse light sources such as galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters need to be observed under a totally dark sky, again when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.
https://www.weather.gov/fsd/twilight
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
AI Overview
Astronomers estimate that there are about 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. That's 200 sextillion stars, or 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Explanation
To estimate the number of stars in the universe, astronomers:
Measure the color and brightness of starlight from our galaxy, the Milky Way
Use that information to estimate how many stars are in the Milky Way
Multiply the number of stars in the Milky Way by the number of galaxies in the universe
However, this is only a rough estimate because not all galaxies are the same. For example, spiral galaxies can have over a trillion stars, while giant elliptical galaxies can have 100 trillion stars.
Other ways to put it
The number of stars in the universe is so large that it's hard to imagine. It's about 10 times the number of cups of water in all the oceans of Earth.
Missions to learn more
The European Space Agency's Gaia mission is mapping about 1 billion stars in the Milky Way. The mission's data will help astronomers better understand the structure and evolution of our galaxy.
Generative AI is experimental.
In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string acts like a particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries the gravitational force. Thus, string theory is a theory of quantum gravity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction
2 Peter 3:10
1599 Geneva Bible
10 [a]But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a [b]noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A10&version=GNV
https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid02pZjzLsA4PRW9ph5GMWFVhCWisN73Av74Qon3r7z6mYUAjeYq1Vr4ks74eHJvraxMl
2030-2031 APPARITION CHARACTERISTICS
Another general rule for predicting oppositions of Mars is from the following: the planet has an approximate 15.8-year periodic opposition cycle, which consists of three or four Aphelic oppositions and three consecutive Perihelic oppositions. Perihelic oppositions are also called "favorable" because the Earth and Mars come closest to each other on those occasions. We sometimes refer to this as the seven Martian synodic periods. This cycle is repeated every 79 years (± 4 to 5 days) and, if one were to live long enough, one would see this cycle nearly replicated in approximately 284 years. The 2031 Mars apparition is considered Transitional (between Aphelic and Perihelic) because the orbital longitude at opposition will be 68.4° from the aphelion longitude of 70° Ls and 111.6° Ls from perihelion (250° Ls).
NOTE: Ls is the planetocentric longitude of the Sun along the ecliptic of Mars’ sky. 0° Ls is defined as that point where the Sun crosses the Martian celestial equator from south to north, that is the planet’s northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The other Ls values that define the beginnings of Martian northern hemisphere seasons are: summer, 90° Ls; autumn, 180° Ls; and winter, 270° Ls. For Mars’ southern hemisphere these values represent the opposite seasons. Distance (A.U.) - Distance from Earth to Mars in astronomical units, where one (1) A.U. equals 92,955,807.267 miles or 149,597,870.691 km.
Opposition occurs 11 months after conjunction when Mars is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At that time, the two planets will lie nearly in a straight line with respect to the Sun, or five weeks after retrogression begins. Opposition will occur at 1157 UT on May 04, 2031 (138.4° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.7 arcsec. Mars will remain visible for more than twelve months after opposition and then become lost in the glare of the Sun around May 31, 2032 as it approaches the next conjunction (July 11, 2032). The cycle is complete in 780 Earth days.
Closest approach occurs at 0350 UT on May 12, 2031 (142.1° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.9 at a distance of 0.5533578 astronomical units (AU) or 51,437,823 miles (82,781,152 km). During closest approach in 2031 the apparent diameter of Mars will be 2.4 arcsec larger than it was at the same period in 2029; however, it will be 17.1 degrees lower in the sky - not quite as good for observing the Red Planet for observers in the northern hemisphere. It should also be noted that closest approach between Earth and Mars is not necessarily coincident with the time of opposition but varies by as much as two weeks.
https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2031_MARS.htm
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They were created with the aim of "peace and prosperity for people and the planet..."[1][2][3] – while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests. The SDGs highlight the connections between the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development. Sustainability is at the center of the SDGs.[4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals
The Arab Spring (Arabic: الربيع العربي, romanized: ar-rabīʻ al-ʻarabī) or the First Arab Spring (to distinguish from the Second Arab Spring) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and economic stagnation.[1][2] From Tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain. Rulers were deposed (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia in 2011, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya in 2011, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 2011, and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen in 2012) or major uprisings and social violence occurred including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations took place in Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Sudan. Minor protests took place in Djibouti, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.[3] A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world is ash-shaʻb yurīd isqāṭ an-niẓām! (Arabic: الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام, lit. 'the people want to bring down the regime').[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring
Shanksville garnered global attention during the September 11 attacks when United Airlines Flight 93, bound from Newark, New Jersey, for San Francisco, crashed in adjacent Stonycreek Township after its passengers rebelled against the flight's al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers. It was the only one of the four hijacked planes that failed to reach the terrorists' intended target.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanksville,_Pennsylvania
A shiv, also chiv, schiv, shivvie or shank,[1][2] is a handcrafted bladed weapon resembling a knife that is commonly associated with prison inmates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_(weapon)
There are multiple matches for Shiva, including a Hindu god and a Jewish mourning period.
Shiva (Hindu god)
Shiva is a major god in Hinduism, known as the god of destruction.
His name means "auspicious one".
He is also known as Mahadeva, which means "the great god".
Shiva is part of the Hindu trinity, the Trimurti, along with Brahma and Vishnu.
He is worshipped at many shrines in India and around the world.
Shiva is said to live in the Himalayas with his wife, Parvati.
Shiva (Jewish mourning period)
Shiva is a seven-day period of mourning that begins after the burial of a loved one.
The word "shiva" comes from the Hebrew word sheva, which means "seven".
During shiva, mourners traditionally stay home or at the home of the deceased.
They also wear torn clothing or a black ribbon pinned to their clothes.
Shiva is a time to remember, accept death, and return to life.
Generative AI is experimental.
AI Overview
Shiva Shakti | Jai Maa Vaishno Devi
In Hinduism, Devi (the Mother Goddess) is the Shakti (energy) and creative power of Shiva, and her various forms, including Parvati, Sati, and Durga, are often depicted as his consort and the embodiment of the divine feminine.
Here's a more detailed look at the relationship between Devi and Shiva:
Devi as Shiva's Shakti:
In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord, while Devi is regarded as his energy and creative power, the Shakti, and an equal complementary partner.
Parvati as a Form of Devi:
Parvati is a well-known form of Devi and is considered Shiva's eternal wife.
Sati and her Significance:
Sati was the first wife of Shiva, and her story, including her self-immolation, is significant in shaping the traditions of Shaivism and Shaktism.
Durga as a Fierce Aspect of Devi:
Durga is a prominent female deity in Hindu mythology, often depicted as a warrior goddess, and is considered an avatar of Devi.
The Cosmic Union:
The union of Shiva and Devi, or Shiva and his various forms of Devi, represents the intertwining of feminine and masculine energies, the dance of creation and destruction.
Symbolism:
Parvati and Shiva are often symbolized by a yoni and a linga, respectively, representing origin, source, and regenerative power.
Devi's Many Roles:
Devi is portrayed as the ideal wife, mother, and householder, and her statues and iconography grace ancient and medieval era Hindu temples.
Ardhanarishvara:
In Indian art, the vision of the ideal couple is derived from Shiva and Parvati as being half of the other, represented as Ardhanarishvara.
Generative AI is experimental.
Kamala Devi Harris (/ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ KAH-mə-lə DAY-vee,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served from 2021 to 2025 as the 49th vice president of the United States. She was the first female, first African American, and first Asian American U.S. vice president, and the highest-ranking female and Asian American official in U.S. history. She represented California in the U.S. senate from 2017 to 2021 and was attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. Harris was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014.
Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021 after winning the 2016 Senate election. She was the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile while asking pointed questions of officials in the first administration of Republican president Donald Trump during Senate hearings, including Trump's second U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate; their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 presidential election. When her vice presidency began, Harris presided over an evenly split U.S. Senate. She cast 33 tie-breaking votes, more than any other vice president, including votes to pass the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act.
In July 2024, after Biden withdrew his candidacy from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her own presidential campaign with his endorsement. She later became the nominee and selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. She ultimately lost the election to the Republican nominees, former president Trump and Ohio senator JD Vance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris
Kamala Harris moves the dial on Gaza after 'frank' talks with Netanyahu
Americas
Speaking to the press on Thursday, Kamala Harris insisted she would "not be silent" on the ongoing suffering in the Gaza Strip after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Her remarks signal a major shift in US policy on the war in Gaza. While outgoing President Joe Biden has for the most part maintained an amiable relationship with Netanyahu, Harris said she pressed the Israeli premier to end the “dire humanitarian situation” and “finalise” a peace deal.
Issued on: 26/07/2024 - 08:23
3 min
By:
NEWS WIRES
Kamala Harris signaled a major shift on US Gaza policy Thursday, with the presidential hopeful telling Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to seal a peace deal and insisting she would not be "silent" on the suffering in the Palestinian enclave.
Ripping up outgoing President Joe Biden's playbook of mostly behind-the-scenes pressure on Israel, the vice president said after meeting Netanyahu that it was time to end the "devastating" war.
"What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time," Harris told reporters.
"We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent."
The 59-year-old – now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee after Biden said over the weekend he would not stand in November's election – said she pressed Netanyahu on the dire situation in the "frank" meeting.
She said she "expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians."
"And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there."
Biden, for his part, held Oval Office talks with Netanyahu and called on him to swiftly "finalize" a deal on a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, and "reach a durable end to the war in Gaza," according to a White House readout of the meeting.
'Get this deal done'
Harris also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state and, similar to Biden, urged both Netanyahu and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal to end the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
"As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done," she said.
Harris's outspoken comments were a stark contrast to the largely amiable greetings between Biden and Netanyahu earlier in the day, even if it masked months of tensions between the two men as well as questions over the US president's relevance.
"From a proud Zionist Jew to a proud Zionist Irish American, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the State of Israel," Netanyahu said in tribute to Biden at the start of the Oval Office meeting.
Harris has been more outspoken on Gaza in the past than Biden and there had been speculation that she could adopt a tougher approach on Israel. Officials earlier denied there is any "daylight" between her and the president.
The White House meetings come a day after the Israeli premier gave a fiery speech to the US Congress in which he vowed "total victory" against Hamas.
'More optimistic'
Biden and Netanyahu later met the families of US hostages held in Gaza, who said they hoped for a possible new ceasefire proposal in coming days.
"We feel probably more optimistic than we have since the first round of releases in late November," Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, told reporters after the meeting.
Protesters chanted slogans outside a ring of metal barriers erected around the White House, following rowdy protests during Netanyahu's speech to lawmakers.
While Biden has kept military aid flowing to Israel since Hamas's October 7 attacks, relations with Netanyahu have been deeply strained by Israel's conduct during the war and suspicions that he may be stalling on a deal.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 111 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 39 who the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240726-kamala-harris-moves-the-dial-on-gaza-after-frank-talks-with-netanyahu
Elon Musk replies to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s photo making a 'Tesla statement'
TOI Tech Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Updated: Mar 16, 2025, 10:46 IST
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a photo with Elon Musk in front of the yet-to-be-released Tesla Cybertruck. Israel has invited Tesla to bid for electric vehicles for senior officials. Netanyahu also defended Musk against allegations of making a Nazi salute, asserting Musk's consistent support for Israel.
Elon Musk replies to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s photo making a 'Tesla statement'
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (AP Image)
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a 'Tesla statement'. Netanyahu shared a picture of himself and his wife with Elon Musk in front of a Tesla Cybertruck on his Twitter account. The photo which has Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, was clicked in September 2023 in front of the then yet-to-be released Tesla Cybertruck during a tour of a Tesla factory in Fremont, California. Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied thanked Netanyahu for his Tesla post. "Much appreciated," he wrote.
— elonmusk (@elonmusk)
Netanyahu shared a news report from JNS.org stating that Israel has invited Tesla Inc. to bid on a government tender for electric vehicles intended for senior officials. A high-ranking Israeli official informed JNS that Israel has extended an invitation to Tesla to participate in the tender. The decision reflects Jerusalem’s focus on securing top-tier, high-performance vehicles, disregarding ideological debates. The official reportedly remarked, “A great car is a great car, plain and simple.”
Rejecting pressure to conform to progressive ideologies, the senior official told JNS, “We won’t bend to woke trends. “Teslas are great cars and we look forward to studying their bid,” the official added, as per the report.
What Benjamin Netanyahu said on Elon Musk's alleged Nazi salute
Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped in to defend the Tesla CEO's alleged Nazi salute. Dismissing accusations tied to Musk’s alleged gesture resembling a Nazi salute at a January 20, 2025, presidential inauguration event in Washington, DC. Netanyahu took to Twitter on January 23, saying that Musk was "being falsely smeared." The Prime Minister highlighted Musk’s visit to Israel following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack—the deadliest against Jews since the Holocaust—and his consistent support for Israel’s self-defense against threats from “genocidal terrorists and regimes.” "Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7, [2023]massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” tweeted Netanyahu.
Elon Musk joined Netanyahu as his personal invitation during his joint address to the US Congress in January 2024.
Recently, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney supported Elon Musk's claim that protests against Tesla are backed by billionaire donors, including George Soros and Reid Hoffman. Responding to Musk’s post on X, Sweeney called the situation "disgusting," seemingly agreeing with Musk's characterization.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/social/elon-musk-replies-to-israel-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahus-photo-making-a-tesla-statement/articleshow/119007349.cms
Elon Musk breaks silence on Twitter, posts a picture with the pope
By Reuters
July 2, 20226:13 AM PDT Updated 2 years ago
July 2 (Reuters) - Elon Musk on Friday night broke his nine-day silence on Twitter, the social media platform he is trying to buy for $44 billion, posting a picture of him meeting Pope Francis on Thursday.
The world's richest person tweeted a picture where he can be seen standing next to the pope, captioning it: "Honored to meet @pontifex yesterday."
Musk's four teenage boys are also pictured, but not his 18-year-old transgender daughter who, on June 20 sought to change her name and sever ties with him. Musk has a total of eight children. read more
The purpose and location of Musk's meeting with the pope were not immediately clear.
Last month, Musk said there were "still a few unresolved matters" on the deal to buy Twitter, including the number of spam users on the system and the coming together of the debt portion of the deal.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-breaks-silence-twitter-posts-picture-with-pope-2022-07-02/
Elon Musk: “We’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”
Eric Berger – Jan 3, 2025 9:28 AM | 1.1k
Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site X, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to US space policy in recent years.
For example, he has rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis Program. Rather, Musk, who has long preferred Mars as a destination for humans, has more or less been a team player when it comes to the space agency's lunar-focused plans.
This is understandable from a financial perspective, as SpaceX has contracts worth billions of dollars to not only build a Human Landing System as part of NASA's Artemis Program but also to supply food, cargo, and other logistics services to a planned Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon.
But privately, Musk has been critical of NASA's plans, suggesting that the Artemis Program has been moving too slowly and is too reliant on contractors who seek cost-plus government contracts and are less interested in delivering results.
Silent on policy no longer
During the last 10 days, Musk has begun airing some of these private thoughts publicly. On Christmas Day, for example, Musk wrote on X, "The Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient, as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something entirely new is needed."
Then, on Thursday evening, he added this: "No, we’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction."
These are definitive statements that directly contradict NASA's plans to send a series of human missions to the lunar south pole later this decade and establish a sustainable base of operations there with the Artemis Program.
It would be one thing if Musk was just expressing his opinion as a private citizen. But since playing a significant part in the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States last year, Musk has assumed an important advisory role for the incoming administration. He was also partly responsible for the expected nomination of private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become the next administrator of NASA. Although Musk is not directing US space policy, he certainly has a meaningful say in what happens.
So what does this mean for Artemis?
The fate of Artemis is an important question not just for NASA but for the US commercial space industry, the European Space Agency, and other international partners who have aligned with the return of humans to the Moon. With Artemis, the United States is in competition with China to establish a meaningful presence on the surface of the Moon.
Based upon conversations with people involved in developing space policy for the Trump administration, I can make some educated guesses about how to interpret Musk's comments. None of these people, for example, would disagree with Musk's assertion that "the Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient" and that some changes are warranted.
With that said, the Artemis Program is probably not going away. After all, it was the first Trump administration that created the program about five years ago. However, it may be less well-remembered that the first Trump White House pushed for more significant changes, including a "major course correction" at NASA.
"I call on NASA to adopt new policies and embrace a new mindset," then-Vice President Mike Pence said in May 2019. "If our current contractors can't meet this objective, then we'll find ones that will." (Speaking of the vice president, it's unlikely that the National Space Council will be reconstituted under JD Vance).
To a large extent, NASA resisted this change during the remainder of the Trump administration, keeping its core group of major contractors, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, in place. It had help from key US Senators, including Richard Shelby, the now-retired Republican from Alabama. But this time, the push for change is likely to be more concerted, especially with key elements of NASA's architecture, including the Space Launch System rocket, being bypassed by privately developed rockets such as SpaceX's Starship vehicle and Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.
Not one, but both
In all likelihood, NASA will adopt a new "Artemis" plan that involves initiatives to both the Moon and Mars. When Musk said "we're going straight to Mars," he may have meant that this will be the thrust of SpaceX, with support from NASA. That does not preclude a separate initiative, possibly led by Blue Origin with help from NASA, to develop lunar return plans.
Isaacman, who is keeping a fairly low profile ahead of his nomination, has not weighed in on Musk's comments. However, when his nomination was announced one month ago, he did make a germane comment on X.
"I was born after the Moon landings; my children were born after the final space shuttle launch," he wrote. "With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to journey to the stars and never settle for second place. We will inspire children, yours and mine, to look up and dream of what is possible. Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth."
In short, NASA is likely to adopt a two-lane strategy of reaching for both the Moon and Mars. Whether the space agency is successful with either one will be a major question asked of the new administration.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/elon-musk-were-going-straight-to-mars-the-moon-is-a-distraction/
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Mars (Latin: Mārs, pronounced [maːrs])[4] is the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome.[5] He is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him (Latin Martius), and in October, the months which traditionally began and ended the season for both military campaigning and farming.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(mythology)
Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].
It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]
The Latin form Georgius had been rarely given in Western Christendom since at least the 6th century. The popularity of the name however develops from around the 12th century, in Occitan in the form Jordi, and it becomes popular at European courts after the publication of the Golden Legend in the 1260s.
The West Iberian form Jorge is on record in Portugal as the name of Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (1481–1550).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge
Pope Francis[b] (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[c] 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969; from 1973 to 1979, he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina; the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.
Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors by, for instance, choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guest house rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.[2]
Francis has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.[3][4] He maintains that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBTQ community, and has stated that while blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals can be blessed as long as blessings are not given in a liturgical context.[5] Francis is a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment;[6] he has made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy.[7] He is widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil,[8] stating that the Catholic Church is committed to its abolition.[9] In international diplomacy, Francis has criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality,[10] helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and has supported the cause of refugees. He has called on the Western world to increase immigration levels significantly.[11][12] In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian Indigenous peoples.[13] Francis convened the Synod on Synodality which was described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.[4][14][15]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
Protocol 17: The King of the Jews will be the real Pope of the Universe, the patriarch of an international Church.
But, in the meantime, while we are re-educating youth in new traditional religions and afterwards in ours, we shall not overtly lay a finger on existing churches, but we shall fight them by criticism calculated to produce schism....
Notice that "The King of the Jews" will replace the Pope. Jews would not be concerned with replacing the Pope. They do not even recognize the Church. On the other hand, the Priory of Sion used the Catholic Church to build its empire. It was subject to the Roman Church for centuries, but withdrew during the Reformation, and through Free-masonry became adversarial to the Church. Naturally, the Priory would want to call their king "the real Pope of the Universe."
Also, notice the reference to New Age religion. Before the New Age can be perfected, the Protocol states that "criticism" must first divide the Church. This "criticism" is likely the new "Biblical criticism," the sources of which Orthodox Rabbi Marvin Antelman has revealed to us. In his book, To Eliminate The Opiate, he devotes a whole chapter entitled "The Birth of Biblical Criticism" to the subject. He lays Biblical Criticism at the feet of the Frankist-Reform Jews who were protected by illuminated Masonic lodges in Germany. Rabbi Antelman confirms that Biblical criticism did not originate with Orthodox Jews, but rather; was orchestrated by apostate Jews bent on the destruction of Jude~ Christian religion.
Scarlet and the Beast
by John Daniel
https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf
Lucky 17, Q and the 'tippy top' White House: How conspiracy theories are being turbo-charged in Donald Trump's America
Donald Trump
World
Thursday 22 November 2018 at 12:01am
Robert Moore
https://www.itv.com/news/2018-11-22/lucky-17-q-and-the-tippy-top-president-how-conspiracy-theories-are-being-turbo-charged-into-donald-trumps-america
The Prieuré was cited by name in references extending from the twelfth to the early seventeenth century. Then, in documents dating from 1619, it was stated to have incurred the displeasure of King Louis XIII of France, who evicted them from their seat at Orléans and turned the premises over to the Jesuits.5 After that, the Prieuré de Sion seemed to vanish from the historical record, at least under that name, until 1956, when it appeared again, registered in the French Journal officiel. And yet the present-day Order had repeatedly cited certain of its activities between 1619 and the twentieth century, certain historical events in which it had played a role, certain historical developments in which it had some sort of vested interest. When we examined the events and developments in question, we found indisputable evidence attesting to the involvement of an organised and coherent cadre working in concert behind the scenes, sometimes using other institutions as a façade. This cadre was not named specifically, but everything indicated that it was indeed the Prieuré de Sion. What was more, it proved to involve precisely the same network of interlinked families claiming Merovingian descent. Whether it was the intrigues and the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, the insurrection known as the Fronde in the seventeenth century or the Masonic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, successive generations of precisely the same families were implicated, operating in accordance with a single consistent pattern."
The Messianic Legacy
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UV7FwghOOhdkp4fdk2SzG7oem2nRleW0/view?usp=sharing
The 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 origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valor and dedication; they vowed to obey Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically, under the command of the King of Jerusalem, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places.Very soon after the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands. This led to the creation of priories all over Europe, which were part of the Order as they came under the jurisdiction of the noble knights or prelates who had been invested on the Holy Sepulchre itself and who, although they were no longer in the direct service of the King of Jerusalem, continued to belong to the Order of Canons.The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.In the 14th century, the Holy See made an extremely high payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.In 1847 the Patriarchate was restored and Pope Pius IX modernized the Order, issuing a new Constitution, which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also defined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Paul VI reorganized and revitalized the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-coordinated and more effective.In February 1996, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II enhanced the Order’s status. Today it is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See under Canon Law 312, paragraph 1:1.
https://eohsjeastern.org/a-brief-history/
Horses: the extent to which they can be possessed in our houses [575, 576]; the extent to which they can be used on missions [574, 625]"
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf
The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (Latin: Magnum schisma occidentale, Ecclesiae occidentalis schisma), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon both claimed to be the true pope, and were joined by a third line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The schism was driven by personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy being closely associated with the French monarchy.
The papacy had resided in Avignon since 1309, but Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377. The Catholic Church split in 1378 after Gregory XI's death and Urban VI's election. A group of French cardinals declared his election invalid and elected Clement VII as pope. After several attempts at reconciliation, the Council of Pisa (1409) declared that both rivals were illegitimate and elected a third purported pope. The schism was finally resolved when the Pisan claimant Antipope John XXIII called the Council of Constance (1414–1418). The Council arranged the renunciation of both Roman pope Gregory XII and Pisan antipope John XXIII. The Avignon antipope Benedict XIII was excommunicated, while Pope Martin V was elected and reigned from Rome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism
On October 31, 1517, legend has it that the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.
In his theses, Luther condemned the excesses and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the papal practice of asking payment—called “indulgences”—for the forgiveness of sins. At the time, a Dominican priest named Johann Tetzel, commissioned by the Archbishop of Mainz and Pope Leo X, was in the midst of a major fundraising campaign in Germany to finance the renovation of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Though Prince Frederick III the Wise had banned the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg, many church members traveled to purchase them. When they returned, they showed the pardons they had bought to Luther, claiming they no longer had to repent for their sins.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/martin-luther-posts-95-theses
Martin Luther OSA (/ˈluːθər/ LOO-thər;[1] German: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈlʊtɐ] ⓘ; 10 November 1483[2] – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar.[3] Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history.[4]
Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. He came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the view on indulgences. Luther attempted to resolve these differences amicably, first proposing an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in Ninety-five Theses, which he authored in 1517. In 1520, Pope Leo X demanded that Luther renounce all of his writings, and when Luther refused to do so, excommunicated him in January 1521. Later that year, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V condemned Luther as an outlaw at the Diet of Worms. When Luther died in 1546, Pope Leo X's excommunication was still in effect.
Luther taught that salvation and, consequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds; rather, they are received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus Christ. Luther's theology challenged the authority and office of the pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge,[5] and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.[6] Luther's translation of the Bible into German from Latin made the Bible vastly more accessible to the laity, which had a tremendous impact on both the church and German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,[7] and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible.[8] His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches.[9] His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.[10]
In two later works, Luther expressed anti-Judaistic views, calling for the expulsion of Jews and the burning of synagogues.[11] These works also targeted Roman Catholics, Anabaptists, and nontrinitarian Christians.[12] Based upon his teachings, despite the fact that Luther did not directly advocate the murder of Jews,[13][14][15] some historians contend that his rhetoric contributed to the development of antisemitism in Germany and the emergence, centuries later, of the Nazi Party.[16][17][18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther
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
Pope Adrian IV (Latin: Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear);[1] c. 1100[note 1] – 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV)[3] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman to have been pope.
Adrian was born in Hertfordshire, England, but little is known of his early life. Although he does not appear to have received a great degree of schooling, while still a youth he travelled to the south of France where he was schooled in Arles, studying law. He then travelled to Avignon, where he joined the Abbey of Saint-Ruf. There he became a canon regular and was eventually appointed abbot. He travelled to Rome several times, where he appears to have caught the attention of Pope Eugene III, and was sent on a mission to Catalonia where the Reconquista was attempting to reclaim land from the Muslim Al-Andalus. Around this time his abbey complained to Eugene that Breakspear was too heavy a disciplinarian, and in order to make use of him as a papal legate as well as to pacify his monks, he was appointed Bishop of Albano some time around 1149.
As bishop, Breakspear was soon sent on another diplomatic mission, this time to Scandinavia. In the middle of a civil war, Breakspear reorganised the Church in Norway and then moved on to Sweden. Here, he was very much acclaimed by the people, and when he left, chroniclers called him a saint. Breakspear returned to Rome in 1154; Eugene's successor Pope Anastasius IV had died only a few weeks previously.
For reasons now unknown, but possibly at his predecessor's request, Breakspear was elected next pope by the cardinals. He was unable to complete his coronation service, however, because of the parlous state of politics in Rome, which at the time was a den of 'heresy' and republicanism. Adrian decisively restored the papal authority there, but his other major policy issue—relations with the newly crowned Holy Roman emperor, Frederick I—started off badly and got progressively worse. Each party, as a result of a particular aggravating incident, found something to condemn the other for. As a result, Adrian entered into an alliance with the Byzantine emperor, Manuel I Komnenos who was keen to re-assert his authority in the south of Italy, but was unable to do so due to the Norman kings' occupation of the region, now under William I of Sicily.
Adrian's alliance with the Byzantine emperor came to nothing, as William decisively defeated Manuel and forced Adrian to come to terms at the Treaty of Benevento. This alienated Emperor Frederick even more, as he saw it as a repudiation of their existing treaty. Relations soured further when Frederick laid claim to a large swathe of territory in northern Italy. Adrian's relations with his country of birth, however, seem to have remained generally good. Certainly, he showered St Albans Abbey with privileges, and he appears to have forwarded King Henry II's policies where he could. Most famously, in 1158 Adrian is supposed to have granted Henry the papal bull Laudabiliter, which is thought to have authorised Henry to invade Ireland. Henry did not do so, however, for another 14 years, and scholars are uncertain whether the bull ever existed.
Following Adrian's death at Anagni, there was uncertainty as to who to succeed him, with both pro- and anti-imperial cardinals voting for different candidates. Although Pope Alexander III officially took over, the subsequent election of an antipope led to a 22-year-long schism. Scholars have debated Adrian's pontificate widely. Much of a positive nature—his building programme and reorganisation of papal finances, for example—has been identified, particularly in the context of such a short reign. He was also up against powerful forces out of his control, which, while he never overcame them, he managed effectively.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Adrian_IV
Domesday Book (/ˈduːmzdeɪ/ DOOMZ-day; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William the Conqueror.[1] The manuscript was originally known by the Latin name Liber de Wintonia, meaning "Book of Winchester", where it was originally kept in the royal treasury.[2] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and dues owed to him.[3]
Written in Medieval Latin, it was highly abbreviated[a] and included some vernacular native terms without Latin equivalents. The survey's main purpose was to record the annual value of every piece of landed property to its lord, and the resources in land, labour force, and livestock from which the value derived.
The name "Domesday Book" came into use in the 12th century.[4] Richard FitzNeal wrote in the Dialogus de Scaccario (c. 1179) that the book was so called because its decisions were unalterable, like those of the Last Judgment, and its sentence could not be quashed.[5]
The manuscript is held at the National Archives at Kew, London. Domesday was first printed in full in 1783, and in 2011 the Open Domesday site made the manuscript available online.[6]
The book is an invaluable primary source for modern historians and historical economists. No survey approaching the scope and extent of Domesday Book was attempted again in Britain until the 1873 Return of Owners of Land (sometimes termed the "Modern Domesday")[7] which presented the first complete, post-Domesday picture of the distribution of landed property in the United Kingdom.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book
AI Overview
The surname Breakspear comes from the Middle English words breken meaning "to break" and spere meaning "spear". It may have been used to describe someone who was successful in a battle or tournament.
Examples of the name in use:
Stephen Bruselaunce: In 1308 in Ramsey Abbey Court Rolls (Suffolk)
Martin Briselaunce: In 1312 in London Letter Books D
Richard Brekeswerd: In 1195 in Pipe Rolls (Lincs)
Similar surnames:
Creaser, Brashear, Greaser, Treaster, Reasner, Breaker, and Reaser.
Related information:
You can learn more about the Breakspear family history at Ancestry.com.
You can learn more about the Breakspear name meaning and family history at FamilySearch.
You can learn more about the Breakspear surname origin, meaning, and family tree at Findmypast.
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THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.
In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'"
Scarlet and the Beast
by John Daniel
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charlie Day, Howerton, McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito. The series follows the exploits of a group of narcissistic and sociopathic friends who run the Irish dive bar Paddy's Pub in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but spend most of their free time drinking, scheming, arguing among themselves, and plotting elaborate cons against others, and at times each other, for personal benefit, financial gain, revenge, or simply due to boredom or inebriation.
The series has run for more seasons than any other American live-action sitcom, surpassing The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet's 14 seasons.[6][7] In December 2020, the series was renewed for a total of four additional seasons, bringing it to 18 seasons.[8] The sixteenth season premiered on June 7, 2023.[9] The show has received critical acclaim, with many lauding the cast performances and dark humor. It has amassed a large cult following.[10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Always_Sunny_in_Philadelphia
AI Overview
Learn more
Pope Francis visited Philadelphia in September 2015 as part of his apostolic journey to the United States, including a stop at the World Meeting of Families, and celebrated a large Holy Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Here's a more detailed look at his visit:
Purpose of the Visit:
Pope Francis's visit to Philadelphia was part of a larger apostolic journey to the United States, including stops in Washington, D.C., and New York City, and was also in connection with the World Meeting of Families.
Events in Philadelphia:
He celebrated a Holy Mass with hundreds of thousands of people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which is believed to be the largest Mass ever held in the United States.
He also visited the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul to celebrate Mass.
He met with prisoners at a Philadelphia correctional facility.
He met privately with victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, expressing shame and promising justice.
He spoke on the matter of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
He urged America's bishops to focus more on helping their flock through life's ups and downs rather than spending all their energy on culture wars.
He also visited a Philadelphia jail to give hope of redemption to about 100 inmates.
Other notable events:
Nine special, papal-themed beers were released by Philadelphia breweries in anticipation of the visit.
The city spent roughly $17 million on welcoming Pope Francis.
The theme of the World Meeting of Families was "Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive".
Pope John Paul II's Visit:
Before Pope Francis, only Pope John Paul II had made an official visit to Philadelphia, in 1979.
Generative AI is experimental.
https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02xoSHjk5bPD8DdWS81yesnaiMNNYMfkY9h7KRyK4MjusNj7GHoCZsyXTiVW1jt9VFl
Ben Carson dispels rumors about joining White House in specific role, says he will meet with Trump soon
Carson writes that he is 'excited' to speak with president-elect in near future
Andrea Margolis By Andrea Margolis Fox News
Published November 17, 2024 8:04pm EST
Ben Carson broke his silence around rumors of him joining the second Trump administration as the U.S. surgeon general on Sunday, but noted that he plans to speak with President-elect Donald Trump soon.
Carson, who served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 2017 to 2021 during the first Trump administration, dispelled the false reports in an X post on Sunday.
"I am excited to speak with President Trump about how I will continue to advance the America First agenda, and I am meeting with him in the near future," the retired neurosurgeon wrote.
"However, contrary to reports, I will not be serving as the Surgeon General."
Carson has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration and a staunch supporter of Trump. After the Republican leader won the Nov. 5 election in a landslide victory, Carson shared his congratulations.
"Congratulations to my good friend and the next President of the United States, @realdonaldtrump!!" Carson's post reads. "As I said earlier today, God is not done with our country. Let’s get to work."
The U.S. surgeon general is not a Cabinet-level position but is still a high-ranking role that serves as the head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. The position is within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
"The U.S. Surgeon General is the Nation’s Doctor, providing Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury," the HHS's website explains. "The Surgeon General oversees the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, an elite group of over 6,000 uniformed officers who are public health professionals."
Carson's comments come as several positions in Trump's incoming Cabinet are still up for grabs, including secretary of transportation, secretary of commerce and secretary of the treasury.
Trump also has yet to announce his picks for HUD secretary, secretary of agriculture and secretary of education.
Trump most recently announced on Saturday that Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright will join his Cabinet as secretary of energy. He called Wright "a leading technologist and entrepreneur in energy."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ben-carson-dispels-rumors-about-joining-white-house-specific-role-says-he-meet-trump-soon
Carson opens up about his membership in Seventh-day Adventist Church
Politics Oct 31, 2015 5:05 PM EST
BROOMFIELD, Colo. — As his surge in heavily evangelical Iowa puts a spotlight on his faith, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is opening up about his membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He embraces it as right for him while also framing his beliefs in broad terms that aim to transcend divisions among Christians.
In an interview with The Associated Press, days after GOP rival Donald Trump criticized Carson’s church, the retired neurosurgeon said his relationship with God was “the most important aspect. It’s not really denomination specific.”
Carson discussed a brief period as a college student when he questioned whether to stay in the church. And in his own criticism, he said it was a “huge mistake” that the top Adventist policymaking body recently voted against ordaining women. “I don’t see any reason why women can’t be ordained,” he said.
The remarks from the Republican presidential candidate were his most expansive about his church since he joined the 2016 contest. Voters have come to know him for his faith-infused policy stands, including his opposition to abortion and gay marriage, without hearing much from him about his Adventism.
The church, formed in 1863 in Battle Creek, Michigan, has a spiritual focus on healthy living and an extensive network of hospitals and medical clinics. Carson expressed pride in the denomination, while also trying to reach beyond it.
“There are a lot of people who have a close relationship with God, and you can generally tell who they are by the way they act, the way they treat other people,” he said Wednesday a few hours before the GOP debate. “The reason that there are like 4,000 denominations is that people have looked at this and said, ‘Let’s interpret it this way. Let’s interpret it this way.’
“Sometimes they get caught up in that and forget about the real purpose of Christian faith,” he said.
Trump has appeared to be trying to paint Carson as part of a faith outside the mainstream, not a religious conservative who shares the values of Iowa’s evangelicals. During a rally last Saturday in Florida, Trump noted he was a Presbyterian, calling his own church “middle of the road.” Then he added, “I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don’t know about.”
A possible impetus for Trump’s new approach was a series of preference polls showing Carson overtaking him in Iowa, the lead-off caucus state where evangelical voters are crucial to success for Republicans.
In 2012, Mitt Romney, a Mormon, won just 14 percent of Iowans who described themselves as born again or evangelical Christian, according to Iowa caucus exit polls, amid deep skepticism about his church and his politics.
Carson told the AP he had “totally anticipated” that Trump and his supporters would try to stir doubts about his church in the primary contests.
“Donald Trump is Donald Trump. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s doing that. I would only be surprised if he didn’t,” Carson said. “There’s a lot of things that are done in politics that are not fair, but when you get into the fray you have to expect those things.”
The Seventh-day Adventist Church was born from what is known as the “Great Disappointment,” when Jesus failed to arrive in 1844 as expected by thousands of Christians in a moment of widespread religious fervor known as the Second Great Awakening. Many of these disheartened faithful, called Adventists for their belief in Christ’s imminent return, continued studying the Bible together and set Saturday as their Sabbath day of worship.
Ellen White and her husband James were leaders in that movement and founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The denomination says it now has 18.7 million members worldwide, with 1.2 million in North America.
For the small number of evangelicals who pay close attention to the church, their unease is focused in part on Ellen White, a prolific writer considered a prophet by Adventists, whose views continue to shape the denomination.
Some pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention protested this year when Carson was invited to address their annual meeting. While the reasons for the objections were mixed, some cited the religious weight given to White’s opinions, even though Adventists, like other conservative Christians, consider only the Bible authoritative.
“We caught wind of the controversy and just gracefully bowed out,” Carson said, shrugging off the episode.
Carson is accustomed to misunderstandings about his church.
“A lot of people would ascribe any weird thing they heard about anybody – they’d say, ‘That’s the Adventists,'” he said.
His mother was an Adventist, and he was baptized into the church twice at his own request, because he felt he was too young the first time to grasp the significance. He has served as an elder, a religious teacher and as a star representative of the denomination around the world. Videos are plentiful online of Carson debating atheists, upholding Adventist teaching that God created the Earth in six days, and giving personal testimonies at churches.
A twice-daily Bible reader, Carson said he still belongs to his longtime church in Spencerville, Maryland, and to another in Florida. If he’s on the road campaigning on a Saturday, he and his wife will try to find a local Adventist church or watch services online.
In the interview, Carson revealed he went through a brief period of questioning as a Yale University student about whether Adventism was right for him. He said he was upset by segregation in the church.
After trying out services at Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and Lutheran churches, he ended up staying.
“I concluded it was the right church, just the wrong people. The church was very segregated. You know, if you have the love of God in your heart, it seems like you wouldn’t do that. That has changed fairly significantly since that time,” Carson said.
Traces of the anti-Catholic prejudice White expressed in her writings can still be found in Adventism. Carson rejects that bias.
“I love Catholics. My best friend is Catholic. I have several honorary degrees from Catholic universities,” he said.
Carson also addressed White’s end-of-the world prophecy about Jesus’ return. She predicted that the government, with the help of Christians who celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, will persecute Seventh-day Adventists for their Saturday worship.
“I think there’s a wide variety of interpretations of that. There’s a lot of persecution of Christians going on already in other parts of world. And some people assume that’s going to happen every place. I’m not sure that’s an appropriate assumption,” he said. “If you look at what’s going on today with persecution of Christians, particularly in the Middle East, I believe that’s really more what’s being talked about.”
Adventists today place a heavy emphasis on protecting religious liberty, a position with roots in White’s prophecy, although their efforts extend beyond their own to church to help protect all faiths. The denomination filed a brief in support of the Muslim woman who won a Supreme Court case this year against Abercrombie & Fitch, which refused to hire her because she wore a headscarf.
Given the denomination’s traditional concern for religious freedom, some Adventists have been upset by Carson’s recent comments that the U.S. should not elect a Muslim president. He stood by that position in the interview, and said those who object probably don’t understand Islamic law, which he said “is not consistent with” the U.S. understanding of religious liberty.
Last May, Seventh-day Adventist officials issued a statement taking note of Carson’s candidacy. It emphasized the church’s longstanding support for the separation of church and state and said it was crucial for Adventists to continue keeping politics out of the pulpit during this election season.
Still, given the extra attention, the denomination is rolling out a new website, whoareadventists.org, to educate the public about the church.
“I think this is a great opportunity for us,” said Daniel Weber, an Adventist spokesman. “Donald Trump did a great thing when he said, ‘Who are Adventists?’ Now we’re answering that question.”
Darrell Scott, an Ohio pastor who has been helping to introduce Trump to Christian leaders from across the country, is among those pushing Trump or his surrogates to spend more time talking about Carson’s church.
“If they’re crediting the rise in the polls to the evangelical community and are saying the evangelical community is embracing Carson then they need to re-examine their position,” he said, “because he’s not a Christian in the evangelical sense of the word.”
Bob Vander Plaats, the president of the Iowa-based social conservative organization The Family Leader, said Trump has likely spurred evangelicals to ask more questions about Carson’s faith, but he doesn’t expect Carson’s denomination to hurt him.
“I do believe there is probably more people today in Iowa and across the country trying to learn about Seventh-day Adventists,” Vander Plaats said. “But I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of people getting into the theological weeds.”
Carson said he could easily handle whatever criticisms of his faith arise during the campaign.
“The things that I hear every day – are you kidding?” he said. “I fully expect people to come after me from every possible perspective because you know what I represent is a threat to the established regimes in this country on both sides of the aisle.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/carson-opens-membership-seventh-day-adventist-church
The Advent Rite
Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry
The following disclosure takes place in future chapters of the fictional novel Bipolar WINTER. It is presented here for those readers who have asked for coming plot elements. This document is lengthy, but you are encouraged to read to the end, as the information contained here explains foundational elements of Bipolar WINTER.
Like many other restrictive religious communities, the Seventh-day Adventist Church throws a cloak of secrecy over many of its practices and much of its history. One such example is that its founders were part of a newly-founded fraternity called The Shmita (Hebrew: שמיטה) Advent Rite of Freemasonry, a lodge that broke from regular lines of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, whose aim was to guide the formation and direction of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. One of those founders was William Miller, who was credited with starting the Advent movement and who served his lodge as Worshipful Master.
There are many indications that men who were previously members of a regular line of Freemasonry were responsible for establishing the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but their secrecy has concealed any specific information tying them to those events.
This corrupted, irregular line of Freemasonry (which had taken on the formal name The Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry) not only excluded women, but also permitted only a handful of men to join every year – making their invitation to Ellen White highly unusual. Ellen White, prophetess and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was asked to join the Advent Rite after she overheard a long conversation between a Noble Brother of the lodge and her husband. Because the Noble Brother and James White had unknowingly disclosed secrets (and they were under a blood oath to keep their secrets from being revealed), Ellen White was forced to join the covert society—herself under a blood oath to maintain the secrets of the Advent Rite. In their private conversation, the men discussed secret teachings, plans, and passwords, all of which Ellen White overheard.
One of the Advent order’s teachings held that members who passed on were to be buried on the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath (Saturday), and the number seven was to be extremely significant in the ceremony. (The secret meanings of “sevens within sevens”—the rituals, vestments, proper passwords, signs and tokens—will be explained in future volumes of Bipolar WINTER.)
The Advent Rite made clear that once the solemn formalities of the burial ceremony had begun, the service had to be completed without any interruption whatsoever.
The deceased was to be carried by seven men who, after setting the casket down near the grave, would walk around it seven times, stopping after each circuit to bow. They would then each turn around in a complete circle before walking around the casket again.
Seven other men would stand in a row near the head of the casket and recite Psalms 91 in its entirety, precisely 19 times (19 is the reverse of 91). That process would begin before and continue during the other parts of the service. Additionally, before beginning to read, the seven men would each be sprinkled with sacred oil seven times by the presiding Worshipful Master.
Ellen White, for reasons explained later, underwent four funeral ceremonies. Three were open to the public, but the fourth—performed in secret—was kept hidden from the non-Advent Rite Freemasons. The occurrence of a fourth secret ceremony begs the question: If the SDA church can bend the truth about Ellen White’s interment, is there anything they won’t do to keep their members in the dark, no matter what the subject? That’s certainly a question to ponder.
In Ellen White’s fourth funeral, seven pallbearers carried her casket to the gravesite, where seven Seventh-day Adventist ministers, who had all been initiated as Noble Brothers into the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry, acted as guards. Each of the seven men who walked around her casket bowed to the east seven times and wore a black band around their left arm, on which the seventh letter of the alphabet had been embossed in gold. The seventh letter, G, represented the words ‘Grand Geometrician’, also known as ‘The Great (or Grand) Architect of the Universe’. Why the left arm? The presence of the band on the left arm indicates the sinister nature of the men was being controlled by the higher nature of God.
Each of the sevens from the funeral ceremony represented one of the sevens mentioned in the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy depicted on the 1850 prophetic chart, which Ellen White had asked her husband to print. At the time it was printed, she stated that it was perfect in every way: “I saw that God was in the publishment of the chart by Brother Nichols. I saw that there was a prophecy of this chart in the Bible, and if this chart is designed for God’s people, if it [is] sufficient for one it is for another, and if one needed a new chart painted on a larger scale, all need it just as much.” (Manuscript Releases, volume 13, 359). The chart Ellen White mentioned included a few errors that were corrected with a second chart. Both were to be used by Adventists evangelists in explaining the message until the very month and year of Christ’s return in clouds of glory.
Exactly 33 days passed from the time of Ellen White’s mock burial—her third memorial, in which a casket weighted with rocks was lowered into the ground—attended by hundreds of people, until she was actually interred on Thursday, August 26, 1915. On each intervening day, members of the Advent Rite held a ceremony, and during each ceremony, a different member of the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry read one of the 32 degrees near the room in which her body was held in a vault.
On the 33rd day, Ellen White had the 33rd honorary degree of the Advent Rite (Sovereign Grand Advent Inspector General) conferred upon her. It was read from an 1880 manuscript which had been slightly modified by her husband, James White.
During that period of 33 days, seven younger ministers were initiated into the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry, each of them receiving the baptism of the 32nd degree. They had been closely observed and found to be perfect candidates for initiation, a process called being “stepped up to” in the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. The seven men were taught through rituals and read one level of initiation every day (from small books called ‘monitors’) in the presence of Ellen White’s body during the 33 days until her interment.
The initiations the Advent masons underwent had been altered from the original teachings of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, with the new initiates being taught the secrets of how and why the Catholic Church would be infiltrated in the years to come, how Masonic teachings would take over the Catholic Church hierarchy, and how the Catholic Church would one day be controlled by masons, with the top administrators, leaders, and the Pope himself all having been initiated into the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry.
The seven men were also told how Ellen White had been visited by 19 angels during her lifetime, and they learned the secrets of the number 19. Since then, SDA teachings have revealed additional insights into the number 19. The distinct orders of each of the 19 angels is explained here. Additionally, the seven men were coached in different aspects of the Qur’an, studying Islam in secret (which is still done to this day), and were instructed to greet each other with the words ‘As-Salaam-Alaikum’ when they met in secret. They were also schooled as to the reasons why the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy had to continue to be taught in secret and why the SDA church was to fade out any mention of The Third Woe or its connections to Islam. The church has also eliminated teachings on the second prophetic chart, which depicts Islam as bringing three levels of woes on the earth.
After having had the 32nd (highest) degree conferred upon them, the seven men were henceforth known as Masters of the Advent Royal Secret. At another meeting, they were given a second title of Advent Muslim, after which others present in the large chamber stood and in unison gave the secret sign and recited the Advent Obligation. The Masters of the Advent Royal Secret were informed that even though the main branches of the Seventh-day Adventist Church would begin to teach the Trinity doctrine, they, as the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry, would revert back to Ellen White’s original teachings concerning the nature of One God, which she had never abandoned, never intending her church to embrace the Trinity doctrine. The Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry now secretly follows Ellen White’s original doctrine.
Years later, John Harvey Kellogg (founder of the cereal giant Kellogg’s), who knew that certain leaders were, like him, ready to adopt the Catholic teachings on the Trinity, pushed for this new teaching to be surreptitiously introduced into the SDA church over time. He did this despite knowing the new Trinitarian belief would erode any respect devout of Muslims for the Seventh-day Adventist Church (because Muslims would see it as a challenge to the reasons Abraham was taught about one God). Kellogg, who was like a son to Ellen White, understood how harshly Islam would one day judge the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church if it abandoned the beliefs of its founder, but Kellogg still pushed for the church to embrace what Jews and Muslims consider idolatry – that idea of more than one God. Ellen White saw the Son as an expansion of the Father. She believed in One God—Jesus is both the Creator of the universe and the Creation. According to White, Jesus is the begotten creative force that is the expanded energy of God. The Holy Spirit is the energy field of God that is in touch with the creative expansion of Himself. White believed The One expands itself without a triune existence.
Ellen White died on July 16, 1915 at her home in Elmshaven, St Helena, California, where her first funeral service was held on July 18.
A camp meeting concerning White’s Conflict of the Ages series was being held in Richmond, California, at the time, so her body was taken there by train and a second funeral service was presided over by the president of the Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. White’s body was then taken to Battle Creek, Michigan, where on Saturday, July 24 (the Sabbath) it lay in state in the Battle Creek Tabernacle so that church members and well-wishers could pay their respects.
Between the hours of 8:00 am and 10:00 am, around 2,000 people passed by her body. Six—not seven, as there were in the closed order’s service—Seventh-day Adventist ministers acted as honor guards, rotating in 19-minute shifts. Every 19 minutes, another group of six ministers took their place. One of the ministers stood at the head of the casket, another stood at the foot, and two ministers guarded each side, keeping those paying their respects from getting too close. The six guards represented the 6th millennium in which we now live.
A third funeral service was held in the Battle Creek Tabernacle later that same day. With many of the surrounding Seventh-day Adventist churches canceling their Sabbath services so their members could travel to the funeral, around 4,600 people attended, but since the Battle Creek Tabernacle could hold just over 3,000 people, not even standing room was available for all who attended.
The sermon was preached by Elder Stephen Haskell, who had asked Ellen White to marry him after both of their spouses had passed. (She declined his proposal.)
After the service, Ellen White’s body appeared to be taken to the Oak Hill Cemetery to be buried next to her husband, James White, but the casket was empty—except for the rocks bound in cloth intended to duplicate her weight—something those in attendance didn’t know, leaving them to assume that she had finally been laid to rest on the Sabbath, July 24th.
Very few church members know of the role John Harvey Kellogg played in all of this. The vertical headstone (obelisk) set in the White’s family grave site was purchased by Kellogg sometime after the death of James White, some 34 years earlier. Ellen White had seen the obelisk and wanted to purchase it for her family’s gravesite, so Kellogg gave the money to a family friend, asking them to pay for the obelisk and give it as a gift, making it appear to have come from them.
I have been asked if it is true that a symbol associated with the Order of the Eastern Star is engraved on the obelisk. (The Order of the Eastern Star is a Freemasonic appendant and concordant body which both men and women can join. It was started in 1850 by an attorney named Rob Morris, who shared many friends with James and Ellen White and William Miller.) That answer will be given in a later volume of Bipolar WINTER.
Kellogg was also responsible for creating a story designed to be told to anyone who might one day discover that Ellen White’s body was kept out of the grave until August 26. According to the story, leaders of the SDA church were afraid Kellogg might want to exhume White’s body to have an autopsy performed to determine if her brain had been affected by a childhood accident. (At the age of nine, she was struck in the face by a rock.)
There is, though, another explanation—one which I am reluctant to mention, as it might make some question their beliefs. However, after much consideration, I feel it’s important enough to share and allow you to decide for yourselves.
Those closest to Ellen White in the Advent Rite strongly believed that the most senior angel who had come to her throughout her life was going to return to resurrect her. In files kept at her home, Ellen White had written about others being translated, meaning being taken up to Heaven without seeing death.
Only a few people throughout history have been considered pure enough to be visited by an angel of the Lord. Because Ellen White had been visited by 19 angels, her fellow members of the Advent Rite believed that she was certain to be resurrected, and then later, as Christ, be translated into Heaven. As a result, they kept her body out of the grave to allow that to happen. They fervently wished it would happen, as having their prophetess resurrected right from the room in which they’d conferred the 33rd degree upon her would bring awareness of the church and its teachings to the wider world.
But as time went by and nothing happened, members of the Advent Rite made the decision to lay Ellen White’s body to rest after the 33-day period had passed.
It’s important to mention these events because the belief that the angel would come to resurrect White directly conflicts with the SDA church’s teaching that all resurrection will happen only at the second coming of Christ. The church teaching on the State of the Dead is that all who have died are still sleeping, unaware of the passage of time, and waiting for Christ to come again.
As a side note, it’s said that Ellen White was approached by many leaders of the church after her husband died, asking her to contact the Lord and request that her husband be raised from the dead, as the church might not be able to continue without his help. She told them to keep their request private and explained to them that she’d been inspired to allow her husband to remain in his slumber. She told them her husband was tired, having been over-burdened with work and needed to rest until the Lord came, and that her husband’s work was to be carried on by her and the other leaders of the church.
Kellogg was also influential in retaining one aspect of the text in Ellen White’s book The Desire of Ages. He asked one of her assistants to tell her that if she left the wording concerning the Holy Spirit within the text, it would ensure that the SDA church would not come under attack until the Time of Trouble began.
Ellen White never changed her teaching that both God the Father and His Only Begotten Son radiated an all-pervading, self-effulgent and fully conscious blue light outward from Their bodies. God, being one, had a material expansion indicated through His begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. Unlike the Catholic Church’s doctrine of the Trinity, White’s teachings held that a shared light or spirit radiated from the bodies of God the Father and His material expansion expressed as His Only Begotten Son, bringing healing to those who would accept this holy, healing, and comforting Spirit.
Many people have asked why the bodies of Ellen White, her husband, her son, and other Adventists, such as Samuele R. Bacchiocchi (29 January 1938 – 20 December 2008), John Nevins Andrews (July 22, 1829 – October 21, 1883) and Le Roy Edwin Froom (October 16, 1890 – February 20, 1974), were all buried on the Holy Sabbath.
There is an answer, half of which will be shared on the Bipolar WINTER blog. The rest will be disclosed in future volumes of Bipolar WINTER.
For those of you who are unaware of the significance of interments being made on the Sabbath, it’s important to know that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has made it a custom to refuse funeral services on the Sabbath. But the reason for that is probably not what you think. The real reason is to reserve the Sabbath for the secret funeral services (which still go on to this day) of the few members of the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. Being buried on the Sabbath sets those Noble Brothers of the Advent Rite and their wives aside as being special when compared to other members of the SDA church.
Even though Ellen White’s assistants were allowed to become 32nd degree Masons, and Ellen White was herself a 33rd degree Mason (an honorary degree), she didn’t support the regular lines of Freemasons. In secret, she supported the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. However, she still believed in what she preached because she had been forced to take a secret oath to preserve her life. Following her death, the only places to continue teaching about such things as the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy were the few secret lodges of the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. At the same time, certain initiated leaders within the Seventh-day Adventist Church were being directed to begin fading out the 2520 teaching and to develop different – and controversial – teachings concerning the ‘Daily’ in Daniel.
Early Adventists didn’t consider their new order—the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry—to be like other Freemason societies. To early Adventists, the Advent Rite was like an extension of their church. Members of the Advent Rite even became known among themselves as ‘Excellent Masters of the Chart’ (a reference to the prophetic chart of 1850). According to the Shmita Advent Rite’s teaching, this can only be spoken of now that we live in the time of the coming of the Messiah heralded by a global pandemic—the plague of sores.
While Ellen White had not wanted her church members to join the traditional Freemason order, her fellow founders of the SDA church considered the Advent Rite’s secret and closed order to be a much higher and purer example of the ancient and accepted mysteries. She was forced to become a member when she overheard the secrets the Rite—because of this she warned SDA members to avoid any contact with secret societies lest they suffer the fate she did in being forced to join under the penalty of death.
The reasons Ellen White disapproved of the Freemasons while being a member herself are explained in later volumes of Bipolar WINTER.
Ellen White didn’t want the 2520 prophecy faded out of the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was not given any indication that it would happen. She watched as her husband became confused as to whether he should continue to support the 2520 teachings in public or go along with the other leaders of the Advent Rite and appear as if he no longer believed in it. Ellen White had already indicated that she would not openly continue to speak of the 2520 prophecy, but she did leave hidden references to it in her writings. Uriah Smith, along with others, would later agree with the leaders of the Advent Rite to keep their support of the 2520 prophecy private. That begs the question: Why did Sister White never publicly tell church members that the Seven Times Time Prophecy was an erroneous teaching?
Today, many (so-called) conservative Seventh-day Adventist ministers question why anyone would still give any importance to White’s prophetic charts. If you are one who disbelieves the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy, ask yourself the following questions:
1) Why would a prophecy which claims Christ began His judgement in the year 1844, and which the Spirit of Prophecy endorsed, be mocked by me and many of today’s Bible students and ministers? Leaders of the SDA church believe Christ entered the Most Holy Place in October 1844 and began to judge the living and the dead. This is one of two prophecies of Ellen White upon which the Seventh-day Adventist Church was founded and, indeed, on which its continued existence depends. Ellen White insisted that two witnesses attest to each prophecy. She further asserted that the 2300 Day Prophecy pointed to the Investigative Judgement and thus served as the second basis for the founding of the Adventist church. Many who scrutinize the 1844 prophecy and its proof spend hours each day in personal prayer, contemplation, meditation, and studying of sacred texts (such as the oral and written Torah) and the Spirit of Prophecy in its fullness. Adventist church leaders are now trying to disconnect 2300 Day Prophecy from Adventism. Leaders of the Adventist church removed the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy as an official teaching because it was hard to understand, and in so doing, removed the second witness to the Investigative Judgement.
2) Why would I want to appear to be an expert and then scorn a prophecy which Ellen White asked to be left on the 1850 chart before she had it printed by her husband, especially at a time in history when the Spirit of Prophecy is already being questioned by forces around the world who want to see it discredited and abandoned? Many leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church want to eliminate these prophecies from church doctrine because they are being mocked by the world (Daniel 8:14). The Adventist church’s foundational prophecies are easily mocked by others, but leaders and scholars who have tried to get rid of 2300 Day Prophecy have not been allowed to do so because without it (and the scripture to which it allegedly points), the very existence of the SDA church is rendered invalid. Adventist leaders now feel a sense of urgency because they believe Jesus has completed His judgement of the dead and is now judging the living.
Why also does one of the wealthiest organizations on earth allow its ordained ministers to disparage the 2520 teachings? What spirit leads those ordained men and women to want to deny the 2520 prophecy? Why is it important for those men and women to appear on video and lead people around the world to doubt the Seven Times Time Prophecy? What are these men and women trying to accomplish?
Finally, another problem facing the SDA church stems from Ellen White’s frequent use of Freemasonic and occult terms. I have no answer as to why she used those terms in her writings, other than to note that while Freemasons and occultists do at times use Biblical terms, texts, and expressions, the Bible doesn’t use Masonic and occult terminology, and neither would a prophet of God. Make of that what you will.
Today, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is seeking new ways to keep its members from asking questions about its Masonic origins, the Trinity, and any continuations of a closed society or hidden hand active within the SDA church.
I encourage you to consider all of this – including the information linked in the preceding paragraphs – and ask yourself what is behind the actions of SDA church leadership. I also invite you to follow me as I consider these and many other questions.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230320223618/http://adventrite.com/
David Koresh (/kəˈrɛʃ/[citation needed]; born Vernon Wayne Howell; August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was an American cult leader[2] who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993.[3][4] As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect, Koresh claimed to be its final prophet. His apocalyptic Biblical teachings, including interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the Seven Seals, attracted various followers.[5]
Coming from a dysfunctional background, Koresh was a member and later a leader of the Branch Davidians, a movement originally led by Benjamin Roden, based at the Mount Carmel Center outside Waco, Texas. There, Koresh competed for dominance with another leader, Benjamin Roden's son George, until Koresh and his followers took over Mount Carmel in 1987. In the early 1990s, he became subject to allegations about polygamy and child sexual abuse by former Branch Davidian associates.
Further allegations related to the Branch Davidians' stockpiling of weapons led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and later the FBI to launch a raid on the group's Mount Carmel compound in February 1993. During the 51-day siege and violence that ensued, Koresh was wounded by ATF forces and later died of a gunshot wound in unclear circumstances as the compound was destroyed in a fire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh
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."
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
Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian: 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš; c. 600 – 530 BC),[b] commonly known as Cyrus the Great,[7] was the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.[8] Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Median Empire and embracing all of the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East,[8] expanding vastly and eventually conquering most of West Asia and much of Central Asia to create what would soon become the largest polity in human history at the time.[8] The Achaemenid Empire's largest territorial extent was achieved under Darius the Great, whose rule stretched from Southeast Europe in the west to the Indus River valley in the east.
After conquering the Median Empire, Cyrus led the Achaemenids to conquer Lydia and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire. He also led an expedition into Central Asia, which resulted in major military campaigns that were described as having brought "into subjection every nation without exception";[9] Cyrus allegedly died in battle with the Massagetae, a nomadic Eastern Iranian tribal confederation, along the Syr Darya in December 530 BC.[10][c] However, Xenophon of Athens claimed that Cyrus did not die fighting and had instead returned to the city of Pasargadae, which served as the Achaemenid ceremonial capital.[11] He was succeeded by his son Cambyses II, whose campaigns into North Africa led to the conquests of Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica during his short rule.
To the Greeks, he was known as Cyrus the Elder (Κῦρος ὁ Πρεσβύτερος Kŷros ho Presbýteros). Cyrus was particularly renowned among contemporary scholars because of his habitual policy of respecting peoples' customs and religions in the lands that he conquered.[12] He was influential in developing the system of a central administration at Pasargadae to govern the Achaemenid Empire's satraps, which worked for the profit of both rulers and subjects.[8][13]
Following the Persian conquest of Babylon, Cyrus issued the Edict of Restoration, in which he authorized and encouraged the return of the Jewish people to what had been the Kingdom of Judah, officially ending the Babylonian captivity. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and left a lasting legacy on Judaism due to his role in facilitating the return to Zion, a migratory event in which the Jews returned to the Land of Israel following Cyrus's establishment of Yehud Medinata and subsequently rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. According to Isaiah 45:1,[14] Cyrus was anointed by Yahweh for this task as a biblical messiah; he is the only non-Jewish figure to be revered in this capacity.[15]
In addition to his influence on traditions in both the Eastern and Western worlds, Cyrus is also recognized for his achievements in human rights, politics, and military strategy. The Achaemenid Empire's prestige in the ancient world would eventually extend as far west as Athens, where upper-class Greeks adopted aspects of the culture of the ruling Persian class as their own.[16] As the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Cyrus played a crucial role in defining the national identity of the Iranian nation; the Achaemenid Empire was instrumental in spreading the ideals of Zoroastrianism as far east as China.[17][18][19] He remains a cult figure in Iran, with the Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae serving as a spot of reverence for millions of the country's citizens.[20]
Etymology
Further information: Cyrus
The name Cyrus is a Latinized form derived from the Greek-language name Κῦρος (Kỹros), which itself was derived from the Old Persian name Kūruš.[21][22] The name and its meaning have been recorded within ancient inscriptions in different languages. The ancient Greek historians Ctesias and Plutarch stated that Cyrus was named from the Sun (Kuros), a concept which has been interpreted as meaning "like the Sun" (Khurvash) by noting its relation to the Persian noun for Sun, khor, while using -vash as a suffix of likeness.[23] Karl Hoffmann has suggested a translation based on the meaning of an Indo-European root "to humiliate", and accordingly, the name "Cyrus" means "humiliator of the enemy in verbal contest".[22] Another possible Iranian derivation would mean "the young one, child", similar to Kurdish kur ("son, little boy") or Ossetian i-gur-un ("to be born") and kur (young bull).[24] In the Persian language and especially in Iran, Cyrus's name is spelled as کوروش (Kūroš, [kuːˈɾoʃ]).[25] In the Bible, he is referred to in the Hebrew language as Koresh (כורש).[26] Some pieces of evidence suggest that Cyrus is Kay Khosrow, a legendary Persian king of the Kayanian dynasty and a character in Shahnameh, a Persian epic.[27]
Some scholars, however, believe that neither Cyrus nor Cambyses were Iranian names, proposing that Cyrus was Elamite[28] in origin and that the name meant "he who bestows care" in the extinct Elamite language.[29] One reason is that, while Elamite names may end in -uš, no Elamite texts spell the name this way – only Kuraš.[24] Meanwhile, Old Persian did not allow names to end in -aš, so it would make sense for Persian speakers to change an original Kuraš into the more grammatically correct form Kuruš.[24] Elamite scribes, on the other hand, would not have had a reason to change an original Kuraš into Kuruš, since both forms were acceptable.[24] Therefore, Kuraš probably represents the original form.[24] Another scholarly opinion is that Kuruš was a name of Indo-Aryan origin, in honour of the Indo-Aryan Kuru and Kamboja mercenaries from eastern Afghanistan and Northwest India that helped in the conquest of the Middle East.[30][31] [d]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
U.S. and Iran Will Hold Nuclear Talks on Saturday
President Trump pulled out of the last Iran nuclear accord in 2018, and negotiators from the two nations have not met face-to-face since. Now he faces the challenge of dismantling the Iranian program.
By David E. Sanger and Farnaz Fassihi
David E. Sanger has covered the Iranian nuclear program for more than two decades. He reported from Washington. Farnaz Fassihi covers a range of Iranian political and social issues, and reported from New York.
April 7, 2025
President Trump said on Monday that the United States would engage in “direct” negotiations with Iran next Saturday in a last-ditch effort to rein in the country’s nuclear program, saying Tehran would be “in great danger” if it failed to reach an accord.
If direct talks take place, they would be the first official face-to-face negotiations between the two countries since Mr. Trump abandoned the Obama-era nuclear accord seven years ago. They would also come at a perilous moment, as Iran has lost the air defenses around its key nuclear sites because of precise Israeli strikes last October. And Iran can no longer rely on its proxy forces in the Middle East — Hamas, Hezbollah and the now-ousted Assad government in Syria — to threaten Israel with retaliation.
In a social media post, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, confirmed that talks would take place on Saturday in Oman, but he said that they would be indirect, meaning intermediaries would work with the two sides. “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court,” Mr. Araghchi said.
On the order of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has refused to sit down with American officials in direct nuclear negotiations since Mr. Trump pulled out of the last accord. After Mr. Trump spoke on Monday, however, three Iranian officials said Ayatollah Khamenei had shifted his position to potentially allow direct talks.
The officials said that if Saturday’s indirect talks are respectful and productive, then direct talks may happen. The officials asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Still, Iran is almost certain to resist dismantling its entire nuclear infrastructure, which has given it a “threshold” capability to make the fuel for a bomb in a matter of weeks — and perhaps a full weapon in months. Many Iranians have begun to talk openly about the need for the country to build a weapon since it has proved fairly defenseless in a series of missile exchanges with Israel last year.
Sitting beside Mr. Trump on Monday during a visit to the United States, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted that any resulting deal must follow what he called the “Libya model,” meaning that Iran would have to dismantle and ship out of the country its entire nuclear infrastructure. But much of Libya’s nuclear enrichment equipment had never been uncrated before it was turned over to the United States in 2003; Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has been operating for decades and is spread around the country, much of it deep underground.
Mr. Netanyahu was strangely quiet during a lengthy question-and-answer session with reporters, a sharp contrast with his last visit to Washington, two months ago. After a few introductory remarks, he was largely a spectator as Mr. Trump railed against European nations he said had “screwed” the United States and threatened even more punishing tariffs against China unless it reversed its threat of retaliatory tariffs by Tuesday. He further muddied the waters about whether his tariff structure was intended to be a permanent source of U.S. revenue or just leverage for negotiations.
Mr. Netanyahu left the Oval Office without a public commitment from Mr. Trump to wipe out the 17 percent tariff he had placed on Israel, one of America’s closest allies. Getting such a commitment had been one of the key objectives of his trip, along with securing even more weapons for the war against Hamas in Gaza and for Israeli military action in the West Bank. If the two men discussed Israeli or joint Israel-American military options against the main Iranian nuclear sites, they gave no indication of having done so during their public comments.
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The closest Mr. Trump came was to say: “I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it.” Again, Mr. Netanyahu said nothing, as Mr. Trump, voluble and dominating, barely let him get a word in.
Mr. Trump added: “So we are going to see if we can avoid it, but it’s getting to be very dangerous territory, and hopefully those talks will be successful.”
Mr. Trump is, to some degree, solving a problem of his own making. The 2015 nuclear accord resulted in Iran shipping out of the country 97 percent of its enriched uranium, leaving small amounts in the country, and the equipment needed to produce nuclear fuel. President Barack Obama and his top aides said at the time that the deal was the best they could extract. But it left Iran with the equipment and the know-how to rebuild after Mr. Trump pulled out of the accord, and today it has enough fuel to produce upward of six nuclear weapons in relatively short order.
How long that would take is a matter of dispute: The New York Times reported in early February that new intelligence indicated a secret team of Iranian scientists was exploring a faster, if cruder approach to developing an atomic weapon. Mr. Trump has presumably since been briefed on those findings, which came at the end of the Biden administration, and they have added urgency to the talks. Administration officials say they will not engage in a prolonged negotiation with Tehran.
Mr. Trump’s surprise announcement of what he called a “top level” meeting on Monday exploded in Iranian media. Some Iranians reacted with enthusiasm, saying on social media that they hoped the negotiations would resolve their economic woes and avert the threat of war, which has become acute in recent months.
“The way we see it, Trump’s comments about negotiations were a clear and strong signal to both Israel and Iran,” Mehdi Rahmati, a conservative political analyst close to the government, said in a telephone interview from Tehran. “He is putting the brakes on Israel’s plan for military strikes, and he is openly sending a positive pulse to Iran that he favors diplomacy and wants to resolve our problems.”
Earlier in the day, the foreign ministry spokesman Esmeil Bagheri told Iranian media, “Iran’s offer for indirect negotiations was a generous and wise offer, considering the history of the issue and the trends related to nuclear negotiations in the past decade. We are focused on what we offer.”
Mr. Araghchi and Steven Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, will head the talks on Saturday, according to two senior Iranian diplomats and Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and part of the nuclear negotiating team in 2015.
That Iran is coming to the table at all seems to be a recognition of its vastly weakened state. Its nuclear facilities have never been this vulnerable. And in addition to striking Iran’s air defenses in October, Israel also destroyed the missile-production facilities where Iran mixes rocket fuel. So Iran’s ability to produce new missiles has been temporarily limited.
But it is entirely possible, nuclear experts say, that the maximum Iran feels it can give will come nowhere near the demand that Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, has talked about: the full dismantlement of its nuclear facilities.
That would mean an end to the Natanz nuclear enrichment site, which the United States and Israel attacked with the Stuxnet cyber weapon 15 years ago, and which Israel has episodically sabotaged since. It would mean destroying the Fordow enrichment site, deep under a mountain on a military base. And it would mean taking apart a range of other facilities, spread across the country, under the eye of international negotiators.
If Mr. Trump does not achieve full dismantlement, he will be forced to confront questions about whether he got anything more than the Obama administration got a decade ago. Mr. Trump dismissed that accord as a “disaster” and an embarrassment, noting it would lift all restrictions on Iran’s nuclear production by 2030.
Now his challenge, experts say, will be accomplishing more than Mr. Obama did.
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
Farnaz Fassihi is the United Nations bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the organization, and also covers Iran and the shadow war between Iran and Israel. She is based in New York.
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The Trump Administration’s First 100 Days
Framing the Past by Erasing Parts of It: As the Trump administration pulls government websites and data offline, it is selectively stripping away the public record, letting President Trump declare his own version of history, archivists and historians said.
Weakened Cyberdefenses, Rising Danger: The firing of the head of the National Security Agency was only the latest move that has eroded the country’s fortifications against cyberattacks, especially those targeting elections.
Loomer’s Role in Firings: The firing of national security officials on the advice of Laura Loomer, a far-right agitator and conspiracy theorist, unsettled even some veteran Trump officials. In his second term, the president has fewer people around him who try to keep dubious sources away.
Anti-Trump Protests: Demonstrators packed the streets in several cities to bemoan what they considered a lack of strong opposition to the president and his policies.
Department of Homeland Publicity: A cabinet member’s social feed is one example of the administration’s turn to reality-TV tactics — slick, showy, sometimes cruel — as a means of government.
Lab Tracking Rising S.T.I.s Shuttered: Drug-resistant gonorrhea, a form of the widespread sexually transmitted infection, is considered an urgent health threat worldwide. The United States has just lost its ability to detect it.
Law Firms Back Perkins Coie in Fight: More than 500 law firms signed a so-called friend of the court brief that was filed on behalf of Perkins Coie, the first firm to receive an executive order restricting its business.
Medical Research Funding: A federal judge permanently barred the Trump administration from limiting funding from the National Institutes of Health that supports research at universities and academic medical centers, but it set up an almost certain appeal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/us/politics/iran-nuclear-talks-trump.html
Comparing Trump to biblical kings troubles some people of faith
January 20, 20255:33 PM ET
Jason DeRose
For years, the question 'What would Jesus do?' was on the lips of some Christians. The rhetorical question was meant to help believers think about their actions toward others, a kind of ethical shorthand.
However, since the advent of Donald Trump onto the political scene, a number of religious leaders have turned to more obscure biblical figures for models of leadership.
Lance Wallnau is a conservative evangelical Christian preacher in Dallas. He refers to Trump in sermons and at rallies as a modern version of the 6th Century BCE Persian king Cyrus.
"Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, whom I've anointed," says Wallnau in a video posted online. "Donald Trump has an anointing upon him. The hand of God is on him. Oh, I know a bunch of people say, 'Well, how can you say that he does this and he does that?' Cyrus wasn't even a Jew. He was a Persian."
The idea is that even if Trump does not embody Christian values such as humility, some of his actions have brought results that many evangelicals support. They often point to his U.S. Supreme Court appointments that led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade as a prime example.
Another biblical figure commonly likened to Trump is the 9th Century BCE Israelite king Jehu.
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jewish leader, gave a fiery speech at a National Faith Advisory Board meeting last year making the comparison.
"President Trump, you were born into the world to be a trumpet of God, a vessel of the Lord in the hands of God," said Cahn. "God called you to walk according to the template. He called you according to the template of Jehu, the warrior king. He called Jehu to make his nation great again."
These comparisons to the ancient Persian king Cyrus and the ancient Israelite king Jehu may have swayed some conservative Christians to vote for Trump. But the analogies have those who study biblical texts concerned about what evangelicals expect from a second Trump administration.
Cyrus, though not Jewish, allowed for local religious practice
Likening Trump to Cyrus makes sense from a certain point of view, says biblical scholar Kristine Henriksen Garroway, who teaches at the Reform rabbinical seminary Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.
"He's seen as a foreign king who was very kind to the Jews and allowed them to return to their homeland," she says.
Cyrus was known for not forcing the peoples he conquered to adopt his religion but rather allowing them to continue practicing their own. And he allowed Jews to return to their homeland after the Babylonian exile.
In the same way that President Harry Truman was called a Cyrus figure during the founding of Israel, Garroway points out Trump has been likened to Cyrus for moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"Trump and Cyrus does not surprise me in the least and makes way more sense than the Trump Jehu comparison, which is a little bit more almost insidious," says Garroway, because of how Jehu came to power. "He's the king who's known for having a bloody coup and initiating a new era."
Jehu's rise to power was marked by violence
Jehu's coup was waged against the line of the Israelite king Ahab and his foreign wife Jezebel. It's worth noting that evangelicals have compared both Trump's presidential opponents — Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris — to Jezebel.
Jehu and his followers murdered not just Ahab (who allowed foreign religions to be practiced) and Jezebel but also all their descendants.
Bible scholar Peter Altmann of the evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., says comparing a president to any biblical figure involved in such a slaughter raises concerns for him. "The big question with Jehu is just the incredible violence," he says.
The story of Jehu, Ahab and Jezebel can be also read as demonstrating a lack of tolerance for religious difference since Jezebel was not an Israelite and Ahab allowed the worship non-Israelite deities.
"How does that relate to a modern liberal democracy where there is some sense of religious plurality?" asks Altmann.
He cautions that those using these analogies are misrepresenting the current political reality.
"Americans don't live under some type of imperial regime," he says. "Nor are Christians or evangelical Christians, a tiny minority living in a far-flung diaspora across a huge empire."
Altmann says these figures are misused when they are applied as strict analogies and without humility. "The problem that I see is that it becomes so easy to use these texts in a way that calls them in some ways as a support for our own side," he says.
Biblical monarchy is not a model for American democracy
In the introduction to biblical interpretation class that Professor Wil Gafney teaches at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas, she asks her students this question about likening any current leader to an ancient king: "What does it mean to read scriptures that are set in the context of monarchy as inspirational and authoritative in conversation with our system of government?"
Gafney points out that the U.S. is a democracy, not a biblical theocracy and that biblical texts are too complex for easy analogies. "My concern is the taking of the text out of its multiple contexts," she says.
Gafney teaches her students that these stories are not a manual for how to run a nation or a people. Rather, she says, they should perhaps be viewed as ethical texts on how not to run a nation or a people, how not to behave, and how not to conduct oneself.
Gafney says it's telling that some evangelical Christian leaders have chosen as their models for the president of the United States two biblical kings who waged bloody wars, but avoid comparing him to a more obvious biblical figure.
"Jesus's social policies have come out of favor," she says. "So Jesus is not in favor as a model for a national leader."
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5247691/some-religious-leaders-liken-trump-to-biblical-figures-the-comparison-concerns-others
What happened at Mars Hill in the Bible?
Answer
Mars Hill is the Roman name for a hill in Athens, Greece, called the Hill of Ares or the Areopagus (Acts 17:19, 22). Ares was the Greek god of war and according to Greek mythology this hill was the place where Ares stood trial before the other gods for the murder of Poseidon’s son Alirrothios. Rising some 377 feet above the land below and not far from the Acropolis and Agora (marketplace), Mars Hill served as the meeting place for the Areopagus Court, the highest court in Greece for civil, criminal, and religious matters. Even under Roman rule in the time of the New Testament, Mars Hill remained an important meeting place where philosophy, religion, and law were discussed.
The biblical significance of Mars Hill is that it is the location of one of Paul’s most important gospel presentations at the time of his visit to Athens during his second missionary journey (Acts 17:16–34). It was where he addressed the religious idolatry of the Greeks who even had an altar to the “Unknown God.” It was this altar and their religious idolatry that Paul used as a starting point in proclaiming to them the one true God and how they could be reconciled to Him. Paul’s sermon is a classic example of a gospel presentation that begins where the listeners are and then presents the gospel message in a logical and biblical fashion. In many ways it is a classic example of apologetics in action. Paul started his message by addressing the false beliefs of those gathered there that day and then used those beliefs as a way of presenting the gospel message to them.
We know that when Paul arrived in Athens he found a city “given over to idols” (Acts 17:16). In his usual manner, Paul began presenting the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. He started by “reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers” (Acts 17:17) and then also proclaimed the gospel “in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there” (Acts 17:17). While at the marketplace he encountered some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (Acts 17:18) who, having heard Paul proclaim the resurrected Jesus Christ, wanted to learn about “this new doctrine” he was teaching, so they “brought him to the Areopagus” to hear more from him (Acts 17:19–20).
We know from history that the Epicurean philosophers generally believed that God existed but that He was not interested or involved with humanity and that the main purpose of life was pleasure. On the other hand, the Stoic philosophers had the worldview that “God was the world’s soul” and that the goal of life was “to rise above all things” so that one showed no emotional response to either pain or pleasure. These groups and others with their dramatically opposing worldviews loved to discuss and debate philosophy and religion. Intrigued by what they considered Paul’s “babblings” about the resurrection of Christ, they brought him to the Areopagus where the Athenians and foreigners “spent their time in nothing else but to tell or hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21).
As mentioned earlier, Paul’s presentation of the gospel is a great example for us, both as a pattern for how Paul identified with his audience and as an example of apologetics in action. His connection with his audience is seen in how he begins addressing those gathered at the Areopagus. He begins with the observation that they were “very religious,” based on the fact that they had many altars and “objects of worship” (Acts 17:23) including an altar to “the Unknown God.” Paul uses that altar to introduce them to the one true God and the only way of salvation, Jesus Christ.
His apologetic method and his knowledge that they did not even know what God is really like leads him to go back to Genesis and to the beginning of creation. Having a completely wrong view of God, those gathered that day needed to hear what God really was like before they would understand the message of the gospel. Paul begins explaining to them the sovereign God who created all things and gives life and breath to all things. He continues to explain that it was God who created from one individual all men and nations and even appointed the time and boundaries of their dwelling (Acts 17:26). His message continues as he explains the closeness of God and their need to repent of their rebellion against Him. Paul completes his message by introducing them to the One before whom they would all stand one day and be judged—Jesus Christ, whom God had raised from the dead.
Of course, many in the audience scoffed at the idea that Christ was crucified and rose from the dead on the third day because the idea of the resurrection to the Greeks was foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:23). Yet a few believed what Paul said and joined him.
What happened on Mars Hill is important because of the many lessons that can be learned, not only from how Paul presented the gospel and presented a biblical worldview, but also in the varied responses he received. Some of those there that day believed and were saved, others mocked Paul and rejected his message, and still others were open-minded and desired to hear more. We can only hope that those who were open-minded were later convinced of the truth and also repented and believed.
As with all men, those who were confronted with the truth of the gospel and did not respond in faith had no guarantee of a second chance. As Hebrews 3:15 says, “Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in rebellion.” Paul’s message to the philosophers on Mars Hill that day ended with a call to repentance and acceptance of the two fundamental truths of Scripture that Paul was committed to preaching—the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul preached Christ crucified to them as he always did wherever he went (1 Corinthians 2:2).
https://www.gotquestions.org/Mars-Hill.html
Acts 17
1599 Geneva Bible
17 1 Paul at Thessalonica 3 preaching Christ, 6, 7 is entertained of Jason: 10 He is sent to Berea: 15 from thence coming to Athens, 19 in Mars’ street 23 he preacheth the living God to them unknown, 34 and so many are converted unto Christ.
1 Now [a]as they passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a Synagogue of the Jews.
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days disputed with them by the Scriptures,
3 [b]Opening, and alleging that Christ must have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and this is Jesus Christ, whom said he, I preach to you.
4 And some of them believed, and joined in company with Paul and Silas: also of the Grecians that feared God a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
5 [c]But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain [d]vagabonds and wicked fellows, and when they had assembled the multitude, they made a tumult in the city, and made assault against the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 But when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the heads of the city, crying, These are they which have subverted the state of the [e]world, and here they are,
7 Whom Jason hath received, and these all do against the decrees of Caesar, saying, that there is another King one Jesus.
8 Then they troubled the people, and the heads of the city, when they heard these things.
9 Notwithstanding when they had received sufficient [f]assurance of Jason and of the others, they let them go.
10 [g]And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, which when they were come thither, entered into the Synagogue of the Jews.
11 [h]These were also more [i]noble men than they which were at Thessalonica, which received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
12 Therefore many of them believed, and of honest women, which were Grecians, and men not a few.
13 ¶ [j]But when the Jews of Thessalonica knew, that the word of God was also preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and moved the people.
14 [k]But by and by the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timothy abode there still.
15 [l]And they that did conduct Paul, [m]brought him unto Athens: and when they had received a commandment unto Silas and Timothy that they should come to him at once, they departed.
16 ¶ [n]Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was [o]stirred in him, when he saw the city subject to [p]idolatry.
17 Therefore he disputeth in the Synagogue with the Jews, and with them that were religious, and in the market daily with [q]whomsoever he met.
18 [r]Then certain Philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, disputed with him, and some said, What will this [s]babbler say? Others said, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods (because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.)
19 And they took him, and brought him into [t]Mars’ street, saying, May we not know, what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
20 For thou bringest certain strange things unto our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
21 [u]For all the Athenians and strangers which dwelt there, gave themselves to nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some news.
22 [v]Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ street, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too [w]superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your [x]devotions, I found an altar wherein was written, UNTO THE [y]UNKNOWN GOD. Whom ye then ignorantly worship, him show I unto you.
24 [z]God that made the world, and all things that are therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things,
26 [aa]And hath made of [ab]one blood all mankind, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath assigned the seasons which were ordained before, and the bounds of their habitation,
27 That they should seek the Lord, if so be they might have [ac]groped after him, and found him, though doubtless he be not far from every one of us.
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being, as also certain of your own Poets have said: For we are also his generation.
29 Forasmuch then, as we are the generation of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone [ad]graven by art and the invention of man.
30 [ae]And the time of this ignorance God regarded not: but now he admonisheth all men everywhere to repent.
31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath appointed, whereof he hath given an [af]assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
32 [ag]Now when they had heard of the resurrection from the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this thing.
33 And so Paul departed from among them.
34 Howbeit certain men clave unto Paul, and believed: among whom was also Dionysius Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Footnotes
Acts 17:1 The casting out of Silas and Paul, was the saving of many others.
Acts 17:3 Christ is therefore the Mediator, because he was crucified and rose again: much less is he to be rejected, because the cross is ignominious.
Acts 17:5 Although the zeal of the unfaithful seems never so goodly, yet at length it is found to have neither truth nor equity: But yet the wicked cannot do what they list, for even among themselves God stirreth up some, whose help he useth to the deliverance of his.
Acts 17:5 Certain companions which do nothing but walk the streets, wicked men, to be hired for every man’s money, to do any mischief, such as we commonly call the rascals and very sinks and dunghill knaves of all towns and cities.
Acts 17:6 Into what country and place soever they come, they cause sedition and tumult.
Acts 17:9 When Jason had put them in good assurance that they should appear.
Acts 17:10 That is indeed the wisdom of the Spirit, which always setteth the glory of God before itself as a mark whereunto it directeth itself, and never swerveth from it.
Acts 17:11 The Lord setteth out in one moment, and in one people, divers examples of his unsearchable wisdom, to cause them to fear him.
Acts 17:11 He compareth the Jews, with the Jews.
Acts 17:13 Satan hath his, who are zealous for him, and that even such, as least of all ought.
Acts 17:14 There is neither counsel, nor fury, nor madness, against the Lord.
Acts 17:15 The sheep of Christ do also watch for their pastor’s health and safety, but yet in the Lord.
Acts 17:15 It is not for nought that the Jews of Berea were so commended, for they brought Paul safe from Macedonia to Athens, and there is in distance betwixt those two, all Thessalia, and Boeotia, and Attica.
Acts 17:16 In comparing the wisdom of God with man’s wisdom, men scoff and mock at that which they understand not: And God useth the curiosity of fools to gather together his elect.
Acts 17:16 He could not forbear.
Acts 17:16 Slavishly given to Idolatry: Pausanias writeth that there were more Idols in Athens, than in all Greece, yea they had altars dedicated to Shame, and Fame, and Lust, whom they made goddesses.
Acts 17:17 Whomsoever Paul met with, that would suffer him to talk with him, he reasoned with him, so thoroughly did he burn with the zeal of God’s glory.
Acts 17:18 Two sects especially of the Philosophers do set themselves against Christ: the Epicureans, which make a mock and scoff at all religions, and the Stoics, which determine upon matters of religion according to their own brains.
Acts 17:18 Word for word, seed gatherer: a borrowed kind of speech taken of birds which spoil corn, and is applied to them which without all art bluster out such knowledge as they have gotten by hearing this man and that man.
Acts 17:19 This was a place called as you would say, Mars hill, where the judges sat which were called Areopagus, upon weighty affairs, which in old time arraigned Socrates, and afterward condemned him of impiety.
Acts 17:21 The wisdom of man is vanity.
Acts 17:22 The idolaters themselves minister most strong and forcible arguments against their own superstition.
Acts 17:22 To stand in too peevish and servile a fear of your gods.
Acts 17:23 Whatsoever men worship for religion’s sake, that we call devotion.
Acts 17:23 Pausanias in his Atticis, maketh mention of the altar which the Athenians had dedicated to unknown gods: and Laertius in his Epimenides maketh mention of an altar that had no name entitled.
Acts 17:24 It is a most foolish and vain thing to compare the Creator with the creature, to limit him within a place, which can be comprehended in no place, and to think to allure him with gifts, of whom all men have received all things whatsoever they have: And these are the fountains of all idolatry.
Acts 17:26 God is wonderful in all his works, but especially in the work of man: not that we should stand amazed at his works, but that we should lift up our eyes to the workman.
Acts 17:26 Of one stock and one beginning.
Acts 17:27 For as blind men we could not seek out God, but only by groping wise, before the true light came and lightened the world.
Acts 17:29 Which stuff, as gold, silver, stones, are customably graven as a man’s wit can devise, for men will not worship that gross stuff as it is, unless by some art it have gotten some shape upon it.
Acts 17:30 The oldness of the error doth not excuse them that err, but it commendeth and setteth forth the patience of God: who notwithstanding will be a just judge to such as contemn him.
Acts 17:31 By declaring Christ to be the judge of the world through the resurrection from the dead.
Acts 17:32 Men, to show forth their vanity, are diversely affected and moved with one selfsame Gospel, which notwithstanding ceaseth not to be effectual in the elect.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2017&version=GNV
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