Why Trump can’t build iPhones in the US

The administration wants the iPhone to be manufactured in America. The components that power it show why that is highly impractical

FT reporters April 27, 2025

The last time a smartphone factory opened in the US, it closed within a year.

In 2013, Motorola announced it wanted to challenge the conventional wisdom that manufacturing in the US was too expensive. But 12 months later, the facility in Fort Worth, Texas, was shut down because of disappointing sales and high costs.

If Donald Trump has his way, Apple will be the next tech company to test the theory. The Trump administration wants the smartphone giant to have the iPhone manufactured in America instead of China, where most of them are currently made.

“Remember the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones?” commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said in early April. “That kind of thing is going to come to America.”

Supply chain experts believe that the Trump project would face the same problems as Motorola — indeed, some predict an iPhone could cost as much as $3,500 if fully assembled in the US.

But the reason it is so hard to shift Apple’s manufacturing to America is not solely down to the armies of workers that Lutnick referenced. The bigger issue is moving the sophisticated global supply chains built up over decades that sustain Apple’s operations in China.

“In the beginning it was about low labour costs — companies went to China because it was cheap,” says Andy Tsay, professor of information systems at Santa Clara University’s Leavey Business School. “But they stayed in China, and now they are stuck with China for better, or for worse. China is fast, flexible and world class, so it’s about much more than low labour costs now.”

Apple is planning to scale back in China but the main beneficiary will be India, where they have been developing an alternative supply chain for nearly a decade and now plan to assemble all US-sold iPhones.

A look inside the world’s most popular smartphone neatly illustrates how complex Apple’s supply chain has become — and why analysts have dismissed Trump’s vision as unrealistic.

Apple’s global supply chain is a textbook example of the elaborate networks which now dominate the global economy — and which will not be easily dislodged by tariffs.

Twenty years ago China’s main attraction for tech companies such as Apple might have been the endless supplies of cheap labour, which is still a relative advantage over the US.

But today’s iPhone supply chain utilises specific expertise for individual components built up in almost a dozen countries in Asia, which is then anchored around clusters of suppliers in China.

Experts say uprooting this mixture of organisation, scale and skills would be impractical within the span of Trump’s presidency.

Apple is “highly unlikely to move iPhone assembly to the US”, according to a report shared with the FT by research company TechInsights. “The smartphone supply chain is deeply entrenched in China, supported by skilled engineers and vast numbers of assembly workers.”

Apple ships more than 230mn iPhones each year — the equivalent of producing 438 every minute.

The company’s ability to produce at scale while squeezing costs means it earns about $400 — approximately 36 per cent net margin — on each iPhone 16 Pro (256GB). TechInsights estimates that final assembly and testing costs just $10; batteries $4; the display and touchscreen $38.

Crucial to this intricate supply chain are companies providing electronics manufacturing services, like Taiwan’s Foxconn, which assemble the majority of iPhones sold globally. Over time, Foxconn has expanded and moved production lines according to Apple’s needs: first in a factory complex in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, then diversifying to dozens of other locations in China, further into south-east Asia and now to India.

In 2010, with subsidies, tax breaks and other perks, it cost Foxconn $1.5bn to build the iPhone city in Zhengzhou that produces about 50 per cent of the world’s iPhones, says Erik Woodring at Morgan Stanley. “That’s just the cost of setting up the facility, not to run it — and at peak it has 350,000 employed there.”

But Foxconn and smaller assembly partners like Taiwan’s Pegatron and China’s Luxshare only integrate components made by hundreds of other companies. Everything from camera lenses and coatings to the various printed circuit boards and substrates that hold the iPhone together are manufactured all over China and south-east Asia.

The bulk of iPhones (around 85 per cent) are still assembled in China, with the rest made in India.

https://ig.ft.com/us-iphone/

Safari is a web browser developed by Apple. It is built into several of Apple's operating systems, including macOS, iOS, iPadOS and visionOS, and uses Apple's open-source browser engine WebKit, which was derived from KHTML.

Safari was introduced in Mac OS X Panther in January 2003. It has been included with the iPhone since the first-generation iPhone in 2007. At that time, Safari was the fastest browser on the Mac. Between 2007 and 2012, Apple maintained a Windows version,[7][8] but abandoned it due to low market share. In 2010, Safari 5 introduced a reader mode, extensions, and developer tools. Safari 11, released in 2017, added Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which uses artificial intelligence to block web tracking. Safari 13 added support for Apple Pay, and authentication with FIDO2 security keys. Its interface was redesigned in Safari 15.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari_(web_browser)

Victory of the Allies in the North African Campaign as the Afrika Korps and Italian troops surrender

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Neil White

The North African Campaign of the Second World War began from the 10th June 1940 and continued for 2 years, 11 months and 3 days, as Axis and Allied forces pushed each other back and forth across the desert. At the beginning of the war, Libya had been an Italian colony for several decades and Benito Mussolini already had over 200,000+ men in the Italian Army based there. British forces had been in neighbouring Egypt since 1882 and had only 36,000 men guarding the Suez Canal and the Arabian oil fields. The two armies began skirmishing almost as soon as Italy declared war on the Allied Nations in 1940. Italy invaded Egypt in September 1940, and in a December counterattack, British and Indian forces captured some 130,000 Italians. Adolf Hitler was shocked by the defeats being suffered by the Italian Army in January 1941. Hitler’s response to this loss was to send in the newly formed German expeditionary force the “Afrika Korps” or German Africa Corps (German: Deutsches Afrikakorps, DAK) led by General Erwin Rommel who later became known as “The Desert Fox“. Several long, brutal pushes back and forth across Libya and Egypt reached a turning point in the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942 when Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery’s British Eighth Army broke out and drove Axis forces all the way from Egypt to Tunisia.

In the Second Battle of El Alamein 50,000 Axis troops were killed or captured of the Allies’ 13,500, and Rommel’s force of tanks was virtually wiped out. There could be no doubting who had won the fight, and Churchill was so delighted that he ordered the church bells of England, silent since 1940 in case they should be needed to signal an invasion, to ring out in triumph all over Britain. As he said later:

“Before Alamein, we never had a victory, after Alamein we never had a defeat.”

In November, Operation Torch brought in thousands of British and American forces. The landings occurred early on 8th November 1942, in three separate locations. 102 ships, carrying 35,000 US soldiers, set off from Virginia and crossed the Atlantic to Casablanca, Morocco. 39,000 British soldiers, escorted by the Royal Navy, left the Clyde on 26th October and headed towards Oran, Algeria. Meanwhile, a third mixed task force, carrying 23,000 British soldiers and 10,000 Americans and escorted by 160 Royal Navy ships, travelled from the Clyde to Algiers, capital of Algeria. All three forces landed together on 8th November, 1942. They landed across western North Africa, and joined the attack, eventually helping force the surrender of all remaining Axis troops in Tunisia on the 13th May 1943 and ending the Campaign for North Africa.

From isolated pockets among the last to surrender came the military commanders – commanders in name only, since they no longer possessed the means to communicate with their broken troops, even to tell them to stop fighting. First to Major-General Keightley of 6th Armoured Division, who passed him to Lieutenant-General Freberg, came the commander of 90th Light Division, Freyberg’s old rival. Almost simultaneously, an officer of 4th Indian Division stumbled across General von Arnim and his staff and brought them to Major – General Tucker. Last of all, on the 13th, there came Field-Marshal Messe (promoted to the rank 24 hours before) to surrender in person, and as unconditionally as the rest, to Freyberg.

In all the Allies captured 275,000 prisoners in Tunisia, a mix of combat and non-combat troops. Hitler had refused to allow any evacuation until it was too late, and then only for specific lists of specialist troops. As a result, large numbers of support troops and specialists were captured along with the fighting troops.

The last signal from the Afrikakorps was sent by its final commander, General Cramer. ‘Ammunition shot off. Arms and equipment destroyed. In accordance with orders received the Afrikakorps has fought itself into the condition where it can fight no more. The Deutsches Afrikakorps must rise again. Heia SAFARI!’

In contrast, Alexander sent a shorter signal to Churchill:

‘Sir, it is my duty to report that the Tunisian campaign is over. All enemy resistance has ceased. We are masters of North African shores.’ (Signed) H. R. Alexander.

After victory by the Allies in the North African Campaign, the stage was set for the Italian Campaign to begin. The invasion of Sicily followed two months later.

During the entire North African campaign, the Germans and Italians suffered 620,000 casualties, while the British Commonwealth lost 220,000 men. The Allied victory in North Africa destroyed or neutralized nearly 900,000 German and Italian troops, opened a second front against the Axis, permitted the invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland in the summer of 1943, and removed the Axis threat to the oilfields of the Middle East and to British supply lines to Asia and Africa. It was critically important to the course of World War II.

It must be noted that the treatment of prisoners by both sides was on the whole very good, captured prisoners on both sides who required medical attention were given the best treatment as the situation permitted. Many British and Commonwealth prisoners were surprised at the fair treatment they received from the Afrika Korps when captured. The same can be said for the German prisoners.

https://blog.forceswarrecords.com/75th-anniversary-victory-of-the-allies-in-the-north-african-campaign-as-the-afrika-korps-and-italian-troops-surrender/

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)

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

In 1973, a document referred to as the "Family Jewels"[2] was published by the CIA containing a reference to "Project Mockingbird", which was the name of an operation in 1963 which wiretapped two journalists who had published articles based on classified material.[3] The document does not contain references to "Operation Mockingbird".[4]

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

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which President Truman signed on July 26, 1947. The CIA officially came into existence on September 18th that same year, which is when we celebrate our birthday.

With the passage of the 1947 Act, Truman achieved his goals of modernizing and unifying America’s armed services, and, by creating a centralized intelligence agency, reformed our intelligence capabilities. To protect American’s civil liberties, he made sure to clearly divide intelligence roles between domestic and foreign: FBI would handle anything domestic, while CIA was limited to foreign intelligence only. Furthermore, the Act specified that CIA would have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers.

President Truman appointed Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter as the first CIA director, known as the Director of Central Intelligence. He had been the Director of one of our immediate “ancestors,” called the Central Intelligence Group. The CIG was a bureaucratic anomaly with no independent budget, no statutory mandate, and staffers assigned from other departments of the government. America needed a peacetime, centralized intelligence agency with its own budget and mandate. That’s why Truman replaced the CIG and created the CIA.

The 1947 Act loosely defined CIA’s mission into four broad tasks:

The 1947 Act was relatively unchanged until 2004. President Bush, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, made major updates to the 1947 act, including the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about what is called “the National Security Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of December 2004” on the DNI’s website.

The importance of the 1947 National Security Act cannot be overstated. It created our Nation’s first peacetime intelligence agency, reflected America’s acceptance of its position as a world leader, and it remained a cornerstone of our national security policy for 75 years… and counting.

~ Molly

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/ask-molly-the-national-security-act-of-1947/

Molly

fem. proper name, a diminutive of Moll, which is a familiar form of Mary.

molly (n.1)

a common 18c. colloquial term for "homosexual man" or "man who is deemed effeminate, a sissy," by 1707, perhaps 1690s. The fem. proper name Molly or Moll served as a type-name of a low-class girl or prostitute in old songs and ballads (perhaps in part for the sake of the easy rhymes).

But the colloquial word also resembles Latin mollis "soft," which also had been used classically in a specific pejorative sense in reference to men, "soft, effeminate, unmanly, weak," in Cicero, Livy, etc. A 1629 publication from the Catholic-Protestant theological disputes, "Truth's triumph ouer Trent," written in English with swerves into Latin, at one point describes the denizens of Hell as fideles fornicarios, adulteros, molles, and so forth, and molles is translated parenthetically in the text as "effeminate." Molly House as a term for a brothel frequented by gay men is attested in a court case from 1726.

also from 18c.

molly (n.2)

seabird, 1857, short for mollymawk, mallemuck, from Dutch mallemok, from mal "foolish" + mok "gull."

also from 1857

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

Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

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

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

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

1599 Geneva Bible

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

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

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

Lunar Day

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

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

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

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

The Bible and Numerology (limited use)

When we read the Bible, we encounter both words and numbers. It is easy and natural to focus on the meaning of words, but numbers (as in this genealogical record) can appear unimportant to us. Many people do not realize that in ancient Hebrew numbers are represented by the alphabet letters and they spell things! Imagine that A = 1 and B = 2 and C = 3 and so on, but only in Hebrew.

Matthew (Matt. 1:17) highlights three spans of 14 (fourteen) generations between Abraham and David, then the same between David and Babylon, and then Babylon and Messiah (Matt.1:17). The triple repetition is the author’s clue to the symbolism of the number! The value of David’s name in Hebrew (דוד; David) is 14. Dalet (ד) is 4 + Vav (ו) is 6 + Dalet (ד) is 4 = 14. The gospel summarizes history in three sets of 14 (fourteen) generations all leading up to Messiah, saying “David, David, David”.

Although Gematria, as it is now used in some Jewish circles, was certainly not implemented at the time of gospel composition, we have clear evidence that some of its principles were already in use. Matthew’s theological point that he wants his readers to see in the Gematria he uses is that Yeshua (Jesus) is the “son of David” (בן דוד) the long-awaited King of Israel. He says this plainly in Matthew 1:1 and then demonstrates it through the Gematria of the genealogy that follows. When numbers are letters they begin to speak quite literally!

https://www.amazon.com/Days-Hebrew-Devotions-Eli-Lizorkin-Eyzenberg-ebook/dp/B089P2G8F6

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

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

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

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

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

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

Revelation 18:2

1599 Geneva Bible

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

Read full chapter

Footnotes

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+18%3A2&version=GNV

In quantum computing, a qubit (/ˈkjuːbɪt/) or quantum bit is a basic unit of quantum information—the quantum version of the classic binary bit physically realized with a two-state device. A qubit is a two-state (or two-level) quantum-mechanical system, one of the simplest quantum systems displaying the peculiarity of quantum mechanics. Examples include the spin of the electron in which the two levels can be taken as spin up and spin down; or the polarization of a single photon in which the two spin states (left-handed and the right-handed circular polarization) can also be measured as horizontal and vertical linear polarization. In a classical system, a bit would have to be in one state or the other. However, quantum mechanics allows the qubit to be in a coherent superposition of multiple states simultaneously, a property that is fundamental to quantum mechanics and quantum computing.

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

The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger.[1] It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term cubit is found in the Bible regarding Noah's Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and Solomon's Temple. The common cubit was divided into 6 palms × 4 fingers = 24 digits.[2] Royal cubits added a palm for 7 palms × 4 fingers = 28 digits.[3] These lengths typically ranged from 44.4 to 52.92 cm (1 ft 5+1⁄2 in to 1 ft 8+13⁄16 in), with an ancient Roman cubit being as long as 120 cm (3 ft 11 in).

Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in antiquity, during the Middle Ages and as recently as early modern times. The term is still used in hedgelaying, the length of the forearm being frequently used to determine the interval between stakes placed within the hedge.[4]

Etymology

The English word "cubit" comes from the Latin noun cubitum "elbow", from the verb cubo, cubare, cubui, cubitum "to lie down",[5] from which also comes the adjective "recumbent".[6]

Ancient Egyptian royal cubit

Main article: Ancient Egyptian units of measurement

The ancient Egyptian royal cubit (meh niswt) is the earliest attested standard measure. Cubit rods were used for the measurement of length. A number of these rods have survived: two are known from the tomb of Maya, the treasurer of the 18th dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun, in Saqqara; another was found in the tomb of Kha (TT8) in Thebes. Fourteen such rods, including one double cubit rod, were described and compared by Lepsius in 1865.[7] These cubit rods range from 523.5 to 529.2 mm (20+5⁄8 to 20+27⁄32 in) in length and are divided into seven palms; each palm is divided into four fingers, and the fingers are further subdivided.[8][7][9]

Early evidence for the use of this royal cubit comes from the Early Dynastic Period: on the Palermo Stone, the flood level of the Nile river during the reign of the Pharaoh Djer is given as measuring 6 cubits and 1 palm.[8] Use of the royal cubit is also known from Old Kingdom architecture, from at least as early as the construction of the Step Pyramid of Djoser designed by Imhotep in around 2700 BC.[10]

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

The Seed of the Fourfold Black Cube

Updated: Dec 28, 2020

Continuing the journey through the 13 Fold Black Flower we explored the Five Greats as the first Five Petals or the major spheres or the Circle. And we saw how the Minor Three Petals or the minor spheres have the higher honor due to their position in making the higher spheres accessible and representing the Triangle. Together both the major and the minor spheres form the 8 pointed morning Star.

The subjacent Four Petals on the Black Flower, as the Square, come in pairs: AL Heu’ely (الهيولي) and Al Ka'yal (الخيال) opens first then Al Na’fas (النَفَسْ) and Al Zi’LL (الظل) follow.

the coupling between the first pair (الهيولي) the chaos un-manifest yearning as femaleness yearns to maleness, the shadow cosmic substance of Al Ka'yal (الخيال) to or as polarity: electric and magnetic: interpret despite any social confusion or indulging sensitivities surrounding cosmic forces and their misinterpretations.

the second couple: Na’fas (النَفَسْ) the divine breath, the vapor steam by which all spirit made conscious and the power by which man have dominion over other. And Zi’LL (الظل) is the living separate independent consciousness Double matter made realized in substance and animated.

The first of these four also correlates to the third by polar opposition

while the fourth and the second correlates through optimum evolutionary state. If the first is the opposite point at the end of a line then the second set is the evolution and optimum expression of the point extended along its spreading direction.

the crisscrossing of the four: the cosmic matter substance, image, shadow and the vapor steam circulating the body spins the cosmic Cube; realized.

So far we mentioned twelve of the thirteen petals of the Black Flower, leaving Al AQ’ul (العقل), the universe mental mind, to be discussed. After which actual applications of Sufic Craft will be introduced. The nature of disclosure will be built on what has been introduced, and our brief narrative of the thirteen petaled flowering darkness would prove very helpful in familiarizing any interested party with Sufic Sorcery and Dark Sufic Lore."

https://www.alhashashin.com/post/the-seed-of-the-fourfold-black-cube

$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."

$500 million Perelman Arts Center opens at World Trade Center site - CBS New York (cbsnews.com)

"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

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."

Chapter 47 "Kingdom of God or Masterpiece of Satan?-The Secret Doctrine"

page 504-505 Codeword Barbelon book One

by P.D. Stuart

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)

Standing as a shining beacon for the new Downtown, and a bold addition to the skyline, One World Trade Center is safe, sustainable, and artistically dynamic. Soaring to a symbolic 1,776 feet — it is the Western Hemisphere’s tallest building, and already an iconic New York landmark.

Building Facts

Opened October 2014

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (David M. Childs)

Tallest of new WTC Complex

104 Stories / 1776 feet high

3 million rentable square feet of space

55 foot high office lobby

54 High-speed destination dispatch passenger elevators

Life-safety systems far exceed NYC building code

Bound by West, Fulton, Washington and Vesey Streets

55% leased to tenants including Condé Nast

DESIGN

With entrances on all 4 sides of the building, One WTC has been designed to smoothly integrate traffic of visitors & office tenants. The CUBIC base has a footprint identical to the original Twin Towers. The surface of the base is clad in more than 2,000 pieces of shimmering prismatic glass. The tower ascends 69 stories — its edges chamfered back to form 8 isosceles triangles, a perfect octagon at center. It culminates in a square, glass parapet at the crown, its crystalline form creating a vibrant effect, as light refracts like a kaleidoscope, changing throughout the day. The “One World Observatory” — opening 2015 — is an enclosed observation deck rising 1,250 ft. above street level. The crown of One WTC is a 408-foot spire — consisting of a mast and a communication platform ring. At night, a beacon at the top sends out a horizontal light beam, which can be seen from miles away."

Office Buildings - Skyscrapers || World Trade Center (wtc.com)

The Pyramid and the All-Seeing Eye The founding of the Illuminati in the year 1776 has significant esoteric and numeric implications. Likewise, the Seal of the Illuminati is esoterically important in that it symbolically communicates to the initiated the assignment given this Luciferian order. The Seal is pictured as a 13-layered unfinished pyramid with its capstone missing. Hovering above is a sun-rayed triangle, as if waiting to be lowered to complete the structure. In mystery religions the triangle symbolizes power, such as a throne or kingdom, and is sometimes pictured as a horn. The triangle is also a symbol of the dwelling place of the pagan higher power, representing a mountain top in hilly country, a pyramid in Egypt, or a ziggurat in Mesopotamia. The ancients called the ziggurat Hill of Heaven, or Mountain of God.26 Numbers 22:41 and Deuteronomy 12:2 refer to these pagan shrines as "high places." When Weishaupt designed the sun-rayed triangle, he placed in it an eye like the eye of man - known to Masons as the All-Seeing Eye. This symbol is a rendition of the Egyptian eye of Osiris.27 Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry explains how Masonry adopted this symbol from ancient pagan religion:

All-Seeing eye: An important symbol of the Supreme Being, borrowed by the Freemasons from the nations of antiquity.... [T]he Egyptians represented Osiris, their chief deity, by the symbol of an open eye, and placed this hieroglyphic of him in all their temples. His symbolic name, on the monuments, was represented by the eye accompanying a throne, to which was sometimes added an abbreviated figure of the god, and sometimes what has been called a hatchet, but which may as correctly be supposed to be a representation of a square [the symbol of a Masonic Lodge]" 28

That the eye is positioned in a triangle hovering above an unfinished pyramid has symbolic significance to the Illuminist conspiracy. First, the eye represents Weishaupt. Salem Kirban in Satan's Angels Exposed explains that "Weishaupt's mutual spying system was an integral part of his program to keep his associates in line. The eye symbolized a Big Brother controlling his domain. "29 Second, the eye represents the Priory of Sion (Sion had taken the same symbol from the Egyptians), and the triangle the power of the European Merovingian thrones. The thirteenstepped unfinished pyramid commemorates the work assigned the Knights Templar. In Masonic symbology, the Seal of the Illuminati simply means the Templars have been given the task of building a world government under the watchful eye of the Priory of Sion. When Sion, protector of the Merovingian thrones, lowers the sun-rayed Merovingian capstone in place, the world government will be complete. Strangely, the Seal of the Illuminati was adopted by American Freemasonry two months after it was created. Stranger still - it became part of the Great Seal of the United States. The Illuminati was founded in 1776 apparently to coincide with the American Revolution. Equally apparent, Weishaupt was instructed to design the Seal of the Illuminati as part of the Great Seal of the United States. Since 1934 the Illuminati Seal has adorned the left-reverse side of our one dollar bill. Above the pyramid are the Latin words (with a count of 13 letters) Annuit Coeptis, meaning Announcing the Birth. Below is Novus Ordo Seclorum, meaning New Secular Order, also translated New World Order. Superimposed in Roman numerals on the bottom layer of bricks is the year 1776, the year the Illuminati was founded, as well as the year the American colonies declared independence.

The thirteen layers of brick in the pyramid are obviously symbolic of the 13 American colonies. Thirteen is also the most sacred number of the Knights Templar, representing its 13 degrees of initiation and commemorating the day Templar persecution began - Friday the 13th, 1307. The Masonic symbology in the Seal of the Illuminati, when incorporated as part of the Great Seal of the United States, put the world of secret societies on notice that the Templars were beginning to build in America the base of Sion's long desired New World Order.30"

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

Microsoft Word - SCARLET AND THE BEAST (archive.org)

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

Luxor Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The resort is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. The Luxor features an ancient Egyptian theme, and includes a 65,214-square-foot (6,058.6 m2) casino and 4,407 hotel rooms. The resort's pyramid is 30 stories and contains the world's largest atrium by volume, measuring 29 million cu ft (0.82 million m3). The tip of the pyramid features a light beam, which shines into the night sky and is the most powerful man-made light in the world.

The Luxor was developed by Circus Circus Enterprises at a cost of $375 million. Construction began on April 21, 1992, and the resort opened on October 15, 1993, with 2,526 rooms. A renovation and expansion project, costing $300 million, took place from 1996 to 1997. The project included the addition of two 22-story hotel towers, as well as Nevada's first 3D IMAX theater. The Egyptian theme was scaled back as well, including the removal of an indoor Nile River ride.

MGM acquired the Luxor in 2005. The company launched a $300 million renovation two years later, further scaling back on the Egyptian theme while adding new restaurants and clubs. An esports arena was added in 2018, the first to open on the Strip. The Luxor has hosted various entertainers, including comedian Carrot Top, the Blue Man Group, and magician Criss Angel.

History

Construction and opening

The Luxor during construction, April 1993

The resort was announced by Circus Circus Enterprises on November 14, 1991. Known temporarily as "Project X", the pyramid-shaped resort would be built on the Las Vegas Strip.[1] Groundbreaking took place on April 21, 1992, with the project by then known as "Luxor", after the Egyptian city of the same name.[2][3][4]

Veldon Simpson was the architect,[5] while Yates-Silverman, Inc served as interior designer.[6][7] President and owner Charles L. Silverman traveled to Egypt three times to study the country's atmosphere.[8] Of all the casino resorts that his firm had designed, Silverman called the Luxor "the most interesting and difficult".[9] Before the ancient Egyptian theme was chosen, Yates-Silverman had suggested developing the land with a moat and a real riverboat casino to traverse it.[10] Egyptologists were hired to create and oversee the Luxor's theme, which was prevalent throughout the resort.[11][12][13] The interior included replicas of various Egyptian artifacts, made of fiberglass and plaster.[9]

Perini Building Company served as general contractor.[14] The project employed more than 150 contractors and 3,500 construction workers,[15] several of whom died while building the resort.[16] Waltek, a Cincinnati-based company, provided the metal-and-glass exterior for the pyramid. Standing 30 stories high, it was one of the largest metal-and-glass projects ever.[5] The pyramid was topped off on July 9, 1993.[14]

The Luxor cost $375 million to build.[11] The resort was financed using internal cash flow from other Circus Circus properties and did not include any outside financial investors.[1][17] Circus Circus chairman William Bennett said the most challenging aspect of construction was dealing with Clark County officials, who he felt were overly critical of the resort due to its pyramid shape. He claimed county regulations, including improved fire precautions, added unnecessary costs to construction.[11]

The Luxor hosted a pre-opening event for hundreds of invited guests on the night of October 14, 1993.[6] It opened to the public the following day at 4 a.m., welcoming thousands of people.[11] It would compete against two other upcoming resorts, MGM Grand and Treasure Island. All three resorts had a family-oriented focus.[1][14][18] The Luxor employed 4,500 workers.[15]

Tupac Shakur, who was fatally shot in Las Vegas in 1996, had been staying at the Luxor during his visit to the city, although his injuries sustained from the drive by shooting occurred four miles from the resort.[19]

Renovations and ownership changes

The additional hotel towers added in 1996

Within a few years of the Luxor's opening, resort executives concluded that it needed to be improved and enlarged.[20] A $300 million renovation and expansion was launched in January 1996, and was mostly finished a year later.[21] The changes included two additional hotel towers.[21][22] The casino interior, which was redesigned,[23] had initially included sections dedicated to space travel and the skyline of New York City, both of which were removed.[21][24][25] The Egyptian theme was also scaled back.[26] The changes improved revenue, and the Luxor was a consistently profitable resort as of 2003.[24] It was reported four years later that more people visited the resort than the actual city of Luxor.[27]

Circus Circus Enterprises was renamed Mandalay Resort Group in 1999,[28] and was acquired by MGM Mirage (later MGM Resorts International) in 2005.[29] Two years after the acquisition, MGM announced plans for a $300 million renovation of the Luxor that would remove much of the Egyptian theme.[30] Luxor president and chief operating officer Felix Rappaport said, "We're not a British museum with ancient artifacts, we're a casino-resort. This was a brilliantly conceived building from the outside. The pyramid always created a sense of wow and wonder, but the inside never delivered on that promise."[31] He further said: "We are trying to be approachable. We want to be a cooler and hipper middle-market property. We want to be less themed but still a middle-market property." Despite the interior changes, the exterior Egypt theme remained in place.[32] The resort added more adult-oriented and modern lounges, restaurants and clubs.[31][33]

The hotel rooms were renovated in 2021.[34] Vici Properties purchased MGM Growth Properties a year later, thereby acquiring numerous Strip properties, including the Luxor. MGM continues to operate the resort.[35]

2007 bombing

On May 7, 2007, a homemade pipe bomb exploded in a vehicle in the Luxor parking garage, killing one man in his 20s.[36][37][38] The victim, an employee at Nathan's Famous hot dog restaurant in the Luxor food court, was the intended target.[37] The resort was not evacuated, operations continued uninterrupted, and the parking structure as well as the casino were undamaged.[36]

Two men were found guilty of the bombing, with the motive being the victim's relationship with an ex-girlfriend of one of the perpetrators. In 2010, each was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.[37][39][38]

Property overview

Outlines of various pyramids overlaid on top of on another to show relative height

Comparison of approximate profiles of the Luxor Las Vegas with some notable pyramidal or near-pyramidal buildings. Dotted lines indicate original heights, where data is available. In its SVG file, hover over a pyramid to highlight and click for its article.

The Luxor is at the southern end of the Strip,[40] and is located between two other resorts developed by Circus Circus Enterprises: Excalibur to the north (opened in 1990) and Mandalay Bay to the south (opened in 1999). The Mandalay Bay Tram travels between the three properties.[41]

The Luxor's pyramid is 30 stories,[5] standing 357 ft (109 m).[42][43] Its exterior sides are sometimes used for advertising.[44] The pyramid includes the largest atrium in the world by volume, measuring 29 million cu ft (0.82 million m3).[45] The resort's exterior features a recreation of the Great Sphinx of Giza, located in front of the pyramid and facing the Strip.[46] The recreation is 106 feet high, 80 feet wide, and 262 feet long (32 m × 24 m × 80 m).[6] Within the body of the sphinx is the resort's porte-cochère.[46] An obelisk stands in front of the sphinx.[46]

The hotel includes 4,407 rooms.[47] It originally opened with 2,526 rooms, all of them located in the pyramid.[48] The rooms line the pyramid's interior walls, and walkways outside the rooms overlook the atrium.[49] The interior of the pyramid uses inclined elevators, traveling at a 39-degree angle, to bring guests to their rooms.[11][7] The structure features eight elevators, with two at each corner of the pyramid.[6] The two additional hotel towers added in 1996 are located just north of the pyramid.[21][23] The ziggurat-shaped towers,[23] designed by Klai Juba Architects,[50] are 22 stories and added nearly 2,000 additional rooms.[21][23] The exterior of the hotel structures, including the pyramid, is made up of BLACK glass panels.[46]

The Luxor includes a 65,214 sq ft (6,058.6 m2) casino.[51] Upon opening, it featured 2,500 slot machines, many of them Egyptian-themed. The casino also included 82 table games, a poker room, and race and sports books.[11] A high-end gaming pit was added in the 1996–97 renovation.[21] Giza Galleria, a small retail mall with 18 tenants, was also opened.[23][52][26] In addition, the Mandalay Place mall is located on a skybridge that connects Mandalay Bay with the Luxor.[53]

Gallery of various areas

Gallery of the atrium

Luxor Sky Beam

The light beam in 2011

The tip of the pyramid is three stories,[45] and features a beam of light known as the Luxor Sky Beam.[54][55] It is the most powerful man-made light in the world,[56] using curved mirrors to collect the light from 39 xenon lamps and focus them into one intense, narrow beam.[57][58] G-Force International Entertainment Corporation was hired to design, build and install the lighting system.[59] Each lamp is 7,000 watts and cost approximately $1,200 as of 2001; at full power, the system costs $51 an hour to operate, with $20 of that going toward electricity.[60]

The beam was activated on the night of October 14, 1993,[15] and has operated reliably since then.[59] On a clear night, it is visible up to 275 miles (443 km) away by aircraft at cruising altitude, such as over Los Angeles.[59][61] Moths are also attracted to the light,[56][54][62] which in turn attracts bats and owls.[55][63]

The lamp room, located about 50 feet (15 m) below the top of the building, can reach temperatures of 300 °F (150 °C) while the lights are operating. Because of the heat, the room is serviced by a staff of two workers during the day. Temperatures of 500 °F (260 °C) have been recorded five inches (13 cm) above the pyramid tip.[55] The beam originally measured 42.3 billion candela,[54] and shone seven miles (11 km) high.[64] Since 2008, only half the lamps have been lit as a cost- and energy-saving measure. The resort later surveyed tourists about the possibility of turning off the beam completely, an idea that was largely rejected.[55]

Other lighting

Aside from the sky beam, the pyramid would blend in with the darkness of nightfall, as it initially lacked any other exterior lighting. In 1997, Bee Construction fitted the four outer edges of the pyramid with computer-guided strobe lighting. Four years had been spent researching and developing the $1 million project, and another two months were spent installing it. The project was accompanied by an outdoor sound system, allowing for synchronized light-and-sound shows.[65][66]

The Luxor sued Bee in 2003, alleging that the lighting system contained design and construction flaws which resulted in frequent power shutdowns. The suit further alleged that Bee had failed to honor contracts to repair or replace the system components.[67][68] New LED lighting was added along the pyramid's exterior edges in 2019. The lights are programmable and feature a variety of colors.[69][70]

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

Is the Catholic church ready for its first African Pope?

As world leaders gather in Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, many Catholics are wondering if the church could soon elect its first black pope. With Africa home to one in five Catholics, the idea of a pope from the continent is gaining ground.

Issued on: 26/04/2025 - 09:01

By:

RFI

Since Francis’s death over Easter, one name gaining attention in the Vatican is Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson.

In 2010, Turkson said he wasn’t ready to become pope and that the church might not be ready either. "I wouldn't want to be that first black pope. I think he'll have a rough time," he said.

But Africa’s share of the Catholic population is growing. The continent is now home to 20 percent of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, as the church struggles to hold on to followers in increasingly secular Europe.

Some now believe the time could be right for the first black pope.

A spiritual leader

Cardinal Peter Turkson, 76, grew up in a small town in what was then the Gold Coast, under British rule. He was the fourth of 10 children. His father worked in a mine and as a carpenter, while his mother sold vegetables at the market.

Turkson studied in seminaries in Ghana and New York, was ordained in 1975, then taught in Ghana. He later completed advanced Biblical studies in Rome.

Pope John Paul II made him archbishop of Cape Coast in 1992 and, in 2003, the first cardinal in Ghana’s history.

His rise continued under John Paul’s successor, Benedict XVI, who brought him to the Vatican in 2009 and made him head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

There, he became one of the pope’s closest advisors, working on issues like climate change and economic justice.

Turkson is seen as having both a strong connection to local congregations in Ghana and experience leading Vatican offices. His communication skills have also been praised.

Other African contenders

Turkson is not the only African name being mentioned as the church prepares for a conclave to choose its next leader. He would also not be the first African pontiff – Pope Victor I, from North Africa, led the church from 189 to 199.

"There has been this sense which has built up that the pope, if he is going to be a global authority, needs to come from the global church," said Miles Pattenden, a historian of Catholicism at Oxford University.

But Pattenden also said there is no reason to believe the next pope will follow Francis’s more liberal approach.

Francis often called for reform but didn’t always deliver. That middle ground might appeal to African candidates, some of whom have been called too conservative by critics, said Cristina Traina, a religious studies professor at Fordham University in New York.

One example is Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, a traditionalist who compared abortion, "Islamic fanaticism" and homosexuality to Nazi ideology. He could attract support from more conservative cardinals.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo has been mentioned. He led efforts to oppose the blessing of same-sex couples in Africa after Francis encouraged acceptance of such unions elsewhere.

A long time coming

Francis, who was from Argentina, worked to make the Vatican reflect the diversity of its members. African cardinals now make up 12 percent of those eligible to vote in the conclave, up from eight percent at the last papal election.

"It would be almost impossible to imagine the world accepting an African pope without this transition of Pope Francis having been from Argentina," said Traina.

Africa still has fewer voting cardinals than some think it should.

Some African Catholics also feel left out. A Congolese priest, who did not want to be named, told the French news agency AFP: "Even if it isn't obvious among our European brothers, discrimination is still a reality that we often don't talk about."

He said the church has made progress, but there is a reason no African has been pope in 1,500 years.

An African pope could bring new ideas to the church’s current challenges, including the ban on married priests, said Traina.

"It has always been on our lips how we wish to have an African pope," said Father Paul Maji, a priest in Abuja, Nigeria. But he added that Africans should not be "sentimental" about where the next pope comes from.

Sylvain Badibanga, dean of the theology faculty at the Catholic University of Congo, told AFP: "We shouldn't think 'it's our turn'. It's God's turn."

Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui, made a cardinal in 2016 after Francis visited the Central African Republic, will vote in a conclave for the first time.

"This is not about regional, continental, or even personal interests," he told RFI, adding that cardinals must think about the broader interests of the Catholic church.

As his name came up again before the 2013 conclave that chose Francis, Turkson said he could become pope "if it's the will of God".

(with newswires)

https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20250426-is-the-catholic-church-ready-for-an-african-pope

Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (born 11 October 1948) is a Ghanaian Catholic prelate who has served as chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences since 2022.[1] He was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2009 to 2017 and the inaugural prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development from 2017 to 2021.[2]

Turkson was previously Archbishop of Cape Coast from 1992 to 2009, and was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003. He has been viewed as papabile, a candidate for election to the papacy, both during the 2013 papal conclave which elected Pope Francis, as well as during the events leading up to the upcoming 2025 papal conclave.

Early life and priesthood

Turkson is an ethnic Fante and was born in Wassa Nsuta in Western Ghana to a Methodist mother and a Catholic father.[3] He is the fourth child of ten children. His mother sold vegetables in the open market while his father worked as a carpenter. He had a paternal uncle who was a Muslim.[4] He studied at St. Teresa's Minor Seminary in Amisano and St. Peter's Regional Seminary in Pedu, Cape Coast, before attending St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, where he graduated with an M.A. in Theology and a Master of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Amissah on 20 July 1975. Additionally, he earned a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1980. He returned to St Teresa's for a year, 1980–81, and became vice-rector at St Peter's Seminary in 1981. He also did pastoral work in a parish annexed to the seminary. From 1987 to 1992, he pursued doctoral studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute but his work on his thesis was interrupted by his appointment as archbishop of Cape Coast.

Episcopal career

On 6 October 1992, Turkson was appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on 27 March 1993 from Archbishop Dominic Kodwo Andoh, with Archbishops Peter Poreku Dery and Peter Kwasi Sarpong serving as co-consecrators. He served as President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference from 1997 to 2005, and as Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana beginning in 2003.[citation needed]

John Paul II created Turkson Cardinal-Priest of San Liborio in his final consistory of 21 October 2003. Turkson is the first Ghanaian cardinal and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the papal conclave of 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI and the papal conclave of 2013 that elected Pope Francis.[citation needed]

Roman Curia

On 24 October 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Turkson president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.[5] Turkson is also a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and, since 4 March 2010, the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.[6] On 12 June 2012, Turkson was appointed a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education.[7]

On 16 October 2010, Pope Benedict named him to a five-year renewable term as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.[8][9] Since 2009, Turkson had been president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In the spring of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI sent Cardinal Turkson as a mediator to contribute to a diplomatic, non-military solution to the civil conflict in Ivory Coast, where Laurent Gbagbo had refused, in spite of international condemnation and local protests and resistance, to step aside and hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, the certified winner of the presidential election. Atrocities have been committed by both sides.[10]

In October 2011, Turkson called for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. His text was very specific, calling for taxation measures on financial transactions.[11] It said that "The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence". The document condemned "the idolatry of the market" as well as "neo-liberal thinking" that looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems. "In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviours like selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale." It added that world economics needed an "ethic of solidarity" among both rich and poor nations.[12][13]

On 13 October 2012, at a Vatican conference of bishops meant to address evangelizing lapsed Catholics, Turkson showed a YouTube video called "Muslim Demographics" that makes alarmist predictions about the growth of Islam in Europe, a video Reuters called "spurious".[14] Vatican Radio described it as a "fear-mongering presentation".[15] It resulted in "the most raucous back-and-forth most synod veterans have ever witnessed."[16] On 15 October, he apologized and said he had only hoped to focus discussion on more practical issues.[15]

Cardinal Turkson pictured in Helsinki, Finland, in 2016

In 2016, Pope Francis sent Turkson as his special envoy to pursue peace in South Sudan: to urge an end to violence in the country, and to help establish dialogue and trust between the warring parties. Turkson traveled to Juba to support the archbishop and to meet with the country's leaders. He also carried with him a letter from Francis for President Salva Kiir and one for Vice President Riek Machar who are historic enemies and represent different ethnic groups.[17]

On 31 August 2016, Pope Francis created the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, naming Turkson as its first prefect, effective 1 January 2017.[18]

Ahead of the World Meeting of Families 2018 in Dublin, Turkson was announced as homilist at the opening ceremony at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow.[19]

On 23 December 2021, Pope Francis ended Turkson's service as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the conclusion of his five-year term, appointing Cardinal Michael Czerny as his temporary replacement.[2]

On 4 April 2022, Pope Francis named him chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.[1]

Turkson speaks English, Fante, French, Italian, German, and Hebrew, in addition to understanding Latin and Greek.[20]

Papabile status

Following the announcement on 11 February 2013 of the planned resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Turkson was identified by the media as a possible candidate for the papacy.[20][21][22][23][24][25] Bookmakers Paddy Power and Ladbrokes made Turkson the favourite to be elected pope,[26] with Paddy Power giving 2/1 odds.[27] Odds variously of 4/1,[28] 11/4 against (by Paddy Power), and 5/4 against (by Ladbrokes) were given.[29] Parties unknown placed fake election posters in Rome with the caption "At the conclave, vote Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson!"[30]

After the death of Pope Francis and with the 2025 papal conclave due to begin in May 2025, Turkson was again seen as papabile, although as of 23 April 2025, Turkson's papabile status is mixed, with The Guardian and BBC News seeing him as the next pope,[31][32] though being omitted from CNN and CBS News' speculation stories.[33][34]

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

Latium is a 1669 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was dedicated to Pope Clement X and a 1671 edition was published in Amsterdam by Johannes van Waesbergen.[1] The work was the first to discuss the topography, archeology and history of the Lazio region.[2] It was based partly on Kircher's extensive walks in the countryside around Rome, although it included sites that he had probably not visited in person.[3] The work included many illustrations of the contemporary countryside, as well as reconstructions of ancient buildings.[4]: 92 It also included an account of his discovery of the ruined sanctuary at Mentorella, which he had already recounted in his 1665 work Historia Eustachio Mariana.[4]: 94

Contents

Kircher’s stated purpose in Latium was to use the physical remains of ancient Latium as illustrations of human mutability and transience.[5] It was divided into five books. The first covered the origins and ancient history of the Latins. The second contained chapters describing (I) the region of Monte Cavo, Lake Albano and the ancient town of Alba Longa; (II) Tusculum; (III) the ancient Praeneste and the modern town of Palestrina, and (IV) the region of Labici and the ancient Hernici tribe. The third book examined the ancient history of Tivoli and the fourth, the countryside and ancient remains around it. The fifth book was devoted to the Pontine marshes.[1][6] The Pontine Marshes to the southeast of Rome had been discussed by Kircher in his 1658 work Scrutinium Physico-Medicum because they were a source of malaria that prevented the agricultural development of the neighbouring region and imposed a heavy burden of disease on its population. Kircher was probably one of the first people to recommend the taking of quinine in Rome to counter malaria. Pope Urban VIII had brought in the Dutch engineer De Wit to begin draining the marshes and in Latium Kircher noted these efforts approvingly, illustrating the devices used to pump out the water.[7]

Ancient history of Latium

In Book I, Kircher advanced the theory that Latium had been populated after the time of the Tower of Babel, or possibly before. Indeed he held that it had originally been settled by Noah, and that this was supported by local legends about Saturn and Janus, who he believed were in fact Noah himself.[5] Thus, he held, the mythological account of the castration of Saturn was a variant of the Biblical story of the discovery of Noah's nakedness by Ham. Such speculative theories were to be developed in his later works Turris Babel and Arca Noë.[8]: 44

During his countryside walks, Kircher was searching for evidence that would allow him to reconstruct the history of the region from its earliest times right up to the pontificate of Pope Alexander VII. Although the timeline he constructed was highly inaccurate, the evidence he gathered was the first attempt at a complete chronological reconstruction of the region’s history.[9]

The Nile mosaic

Around 1600 a Roman mosaic was discovered at the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste. It is known to modern scholarship as "the Nile mosaic" because it is understood to represent the course of the River Nile from the mountains of Ethiopia through Sudan and Egypt to the sea. However in Book III of Latium Kircher offered a completely different interpretation of the piece, based on the idea that it depicted ceremonies in honour of the goddess of fortune. The upper part, he said, depicted wild animals, representing fortune's dangers. He noted that the people of ancient Praeneste were devotees of Hercules, who was famous for having destroyed monsters and overcome ill fortune. Beneath this, he said, was depicted the veneration of the goddess and consultation of her oracle. He correctly identified the temple of Serapis but this did not serve as a clue of the mosaic's real subject. At the bottom there are festivals and processions in honour of the goddess.[4]: 87–88

Illustrations

Latium was published in folio with 27 engraved plates. These included illustrations, maps, and plans, including 15 double-page foldouts.[10] The illustrations included views of the countryside, sculptures, mosaics, coins and mechanical devices such as watermills.[6]

The frontispiece was by Romeyn de Hooghe. It depicted a seated figure of the genius loci Latia. On one side of her stands a mountain on which Atlas hold up the world, and on the other figures a volcano. These emblems represent, perhaps, the temporal and spiritual power of Rome respectively. Above her hang both ancient and contemporary arms. Romulus and Remus and their she-wolf adopted mother play behind her back while a putto presents her with the papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter. She is wearing regalia that show that her presence and her power are intimately connected with the Catholic Church.[3] Her crown identifies her as the protector of a city, and the star above it is the symbols of the Chigi family to which Pope Alexander VII belonged. She holds a long sceptre topped with the hand of justice and her eyes fall on a mitre, a cardinal's hat, and other Catholic religious objects. Her robe covers the imperial eagle and her foot rests on the orb of temporal power, indicating her primacy over the Holy Roman Emperor. Beneath Latia is inscribed the Latin motto 'Latium cui par nihil est, nihil Secundu' ('Latium, to which none is equal, and second to none'). At the bottom of the illustration the male figures are the gods of the river Tiber and its Tivoli tributary the Aniene. The female figure with butterfly wings is the goddess of the Aniene, otherwise Ino, resting on symbols of her mythological shipwreck.[4]: 39

The imagery of the frontispiece was intended to emphasise the purpose of Kircher’s claim that his contemporary Rome was connected not just to the ancient city that preceded it, but to a both the ancient classical and biblical worlds. The figure of Latia was Etruscan, the sceptre she hold resembled the regalia of ancient Egypt, while Greece was represented by the winged figure of Ino.[9]

The illustration depicting the apotheosis of Homer was signed by Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi. The aerial view of Palestrina and the plate of the Nile mosaic were signed by Agapito de Bernardini.[6]: 178 [4]: 51 The maps in the book were the work of Innocenzo Mattei.[11] The book also reused a number of earlier illustrations from previously published works, by Étienne Dupérac, Daniele Stoopendahl and Matteo Greuter. The image of the reconstruction of Hadrian’s villa was a replica of the illustration by Francesco Contini and the image of the temple of Fortune was a replica of a piece by Domenico Castelli.[6]: 182

Critical reception

The work was criticised by many scholars of Kircher’s time for its inaccuracies and speculations about ancient history. Raffaello Fabretti pointed out that Kircher’s text was full of mistakes,[5] his images of aqueducts were inaccurate and his map wrongly located the source of the Aqua Virgo near Colonna.[12] Kircher intended to write a similar work on Etruria, entitled Iter Etruscum, but this was never published, because the Jesuit censors would not approve it.[3][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latium_(1669)

THE American Capitol abounds with clues of its Roman origins. “Freedom,” the Roman goddess whose statue crowns the dome, was created in Rome at the studio of American sculptor Thomas Crawford. We find a whole pantheon of Roman deities in the great fresco covering the dome’s interior rotunda: Persephone, Ceres, Freedom, Vulcan, Mercury, even a deified George Washington. These figures were the creation of Vatican artist Constantino Brumidi. The fact that the national Statehouse evolved as a “capitol” bespeaks Roman influence. No building can rightly be called a capitol unless it’s a temple of Jupiter, the great father-god of Rome who ruled heaven with his thunderbolts and nourished the earth with his fertilizing rains. If it was a capitolium, it belonged to Jupiter and his priests. Jupiter’s mascot was the eagle, which the founding fathers made their mascot as well. A Roman eagle tops the governing idol of the House of Representatives, a forty-six-inch sterling silverand- ebony wand called a “mace.” The mace is “the symbol of authority in the House.”4 W h e n the Sergeant-at-arms displays it before an unruly member of Congress, the mace restores order. Its position at the rostrum tells whether the House is in “committee” or in “session.” America’s national motto “Annuit Coeptis” came from a prayer to Jupiter. It appears in Book IX of Virgil’s epic propaganda, the Aeneid, a poem commissioned just before the birth of Christ by Caius Maecenas, the multi-billionaire power behind Augustus Caesar. The poem’s objective was to fashion Rome into an imperial monarchy for which its citizens would gladly sacrifice their lives. Fascism may be an ugly word to many, but its stately emblem is apparently offensive to no one. T h e emblem of fascism, a pair of them, commands the wall above and behind the speaker’s rostrum in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. They’re called fasces, and I can think of no reason for them to be there other than to declare the fascistic nature of American republican democracy. 6 A fasces is a Roman device. Actually, it originated with the ancient Etruscans, from whom the earliest Romans derived their religious jurisprudence nearly three thousand years ago. It’s an axe-head whose handle is a bundle of rods tightly strapped together by a red sinew. It symbolizes the ordering of priestly functions into a single infallible sovereign, an autocrat who could require life and limb of his subjects. If the fasces is entwined with laurel, like the pair on the House wall, it signifies Caesarean military power. The Romans called this infallible sovereign Pontifex Maximus, “Supreme Bridgebuilder.” No Roman was called Pontifex Maximus until the title was given to Julius Caesar in 48 BC. Today’s Pontifex Maximus is Pope John Paul II. As we shall discover in a forthcoming chapter, John Paul does not hold that title alone. He shares it with a mysterious partner, a military man, a man holding an office that has been known for more than four centuries as “Papa Nero,” the Black Pope. I shall present evidence that the House fasces represent the Black Pope, who indeed rules the world. Later, I will develop what is sure to become a controversial hypothesis: that the Black Pope rules by divine appointment, and for the ultimate good of mankind.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://archive.org/details/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy_202201/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy/

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

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.

In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]

Background

See also: 2024 United States elections

The Republican Party returned to power in the United States with a government trifecta in January 2025 following the 2024 election. Trump, who was elected president in 2016 but lost a re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden, and JD Vance, a then-senator from Ohio defeated vice president Kamala Harris, who began her campaign following Biden's exit from the 2024 election, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Trump's victory was credited to a post-pandemic surge in inflation,[a] a migrant crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border,[b] and a global anti-incumbent backlash.[8][9][10] In addition, Republicans secured control of the Senate, flipping four seats and earning a three seat majority, while also retaining a House majority, though the party's majority narrowed to three seats after losing two seats.[11]

Electoral system

Main article: United States Electoral College

See also: United States presidential primary and Primary elections in the United States

The president and vice president of the United States are elected through the Electoral College, determined by the number of senators and representatives with an additional three representatives for Washington, D.C. A majority of 270 votes is needed to win the election. Forty-eight states use a winner-take-all system, in which states award all of their electors to the winner of the popular vote. In Maine and Nebraska, two votes are allocated to the winner of the popular vote, while each of the individual congressional districts have one vote. Electoral votes are certified by state electors in December and by Congress on January 6.[12] Presidential candidates are selected in a presidential primary, conducted through primary elections run by state governments or caucuses run by state parties which bind convention delegates to candidates.[13] A brokered convention occurs when a candidate does not receive a majority of votes on the first round of voting,[14] or when a candidate withdraws.[15]

Election Day in the United States has been held on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday in November.[16] Previously, states could determine their own Election Day prior to the first Wednesday in December. The 2028 presidential election will occur on November 7, 2028.[17]

Eligibility

The United States Constitution limits occupancy of the presidency to individuals who are at least thirty-five, who have been a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years, and who are a natural-born citizen.[18] Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents current and former federal, state, and military officials from holding office—including the presidency—if they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States;[19] in March 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Trump v. Anderson that former president Donald Trump could seek office after challenges to his ballot eligibility were raised by several state attorneys general.[20] A convicted felon may serve as president.[21] Elon Musk, who emerged as a political influencer in the 2024 presidential election, is ineligible to serve as president as he was born in South Africa and is a naturalized citizen.[22]

Trump is ineligible to be elected to a third term, as the Twenty-Second Amendment forbids any person from being elected president more than twice.[23] Nonetheless, he has repeatedly suggested running for a third term, an idea supported by several of his allies, including Steve Bannon.[24] In January 2025, Tennessee representative Andy Ogles proposed a resolution to amend the Twenty-Second Amendment, allowing for presidents who have served two non-consecutive terms to seek a third term. The verbiage of the amendment would prevent living presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, all currently ineligible under the 22nd Amendment, from running for a third term.[25] At CPAC 2025, conservative groups, such as the Third Term Project, supported the Ogles resolution and promoted the idea of Trump running for an as-yet unconstitutional third term.[26][27] In response, New York Democratic representative Dan Goldman planned to introduce a resolution affirming the Twenty-Second Amendment.[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election

Kamala Devi Harris (English: /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th and current vice president of the United States since 2021, serving under President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in the United States Senate. Before that, she was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.

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. She 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. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.

Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming 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 for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second 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, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.

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

Kali (/ˈkɑːliː/; Sanskrit: काली, IAST: Kālī), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. The origins of Kali can be traced to the pre-Vedic and Vedic era Goddess worship traditions in Ancient India.[1] Kali is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition and is the supreme deity in the Kalikula worship tradition.[2]

The first major appearance of Kali in the Sanskrit literature was in the sixth-century CE text Devi Mahatmya.[1] Kali appears in numerous stories, with her most famous being when she sprang from the goddess Durga's fury to defeat the demon Raktabija. She is stated to destroy evil and defend the innocent. Kali is worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy.[3][4][5]

Shakta and Tantric sects additionally worship Kali as the ultimate reality or Brahman.[5] She is also seen as the divine protector and bestower of moksha (liberation).[3] Worshipped throughout South Asia but particularly in Nepal, Southern India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is a central figure in the goddess-centric traditions of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism.[1][6]

Etymology

The term Kali is derived from Kala, which is mentioned quite differently in Sanskrit.[7] The homonym kālá (time) is distinct from kāla (black), but these became associated through popular etymology.[8] Kali is then understood as "she who is the ruler of time", or "she who is black".[7] Kālī is the goddess of time or death and the consort of Shiva.[9] She is called Kali Mata ("the dark mother") and also kālī, which can be read here either as a proper name or as a description: "the dark (or black) one".[8]

Origins

Although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7).[10] Kali originated as a tantric and non-Vedic goddess. Her roots are most probably connected to the Pre-Aryan period.[11] According to Indologist Wendy Doniger, Kali's origins can be traced to the deities of the Pre-Vedic village, tribal, and mountain cultures of South Asia who were gradually appropriated and transformed by the Sanskritic traditions.[1]

Legends

Her most well-known appearance is on the battlefield in the sixth century text Devi Mahatmyam. The deity of the first chapter of Devi Mahatmyam is Mahakali, who appears from the body of sleeping Vishnu as goddess Yoga Nidra to wake him up in order to protect Brahma and the world from two asuras (demons), Madhu-Kaitabha. When Vishnu woke up he started a war against the two asuras. After a long battle with Vishnu, the two demons were undefeated and Mahakali took the form of Mahamaya to enchant the two asuras. When Madhu and Kaitabha were enchanted by Mahakali, Vishnu killed them.[12]

In later chapters, the story of two asuras who were destroyed by Kali can be found. Chanda and Munda attack the goddess Kaushiki. Kaushiki responds with such anger that it causes her face to turn dark, resulting in Kali appearing out of her forehead. Kali's appearance is dark blue, gaunt with sunken eyes, wearing a tiger skin sari and a garland of human heads. She immediately defeats the two asuras. Later in the same battle, the asura Raktabija is undefeated because of his ability to reproduce himself from every drop of his blood that reaches the ground. Countless Raktabija clones appear on the battlefield. Kali eventually defeats him by sucking his blood before it can reach the ground, and eating the numerous clones. Kinsley writes that Kali represents "Durga's personified wrath, her embodied fury".[12]

Other origin stories involve Parvati and Shiva. Parvati is typically portrayed as a benign and friendly goddess. The Linga Purana describes Shiva asking Parvati to defeat the asura Daruka, who received a boon that would only allow a female to kill him. Parvati merges with Shiva's body, reappearing as Kali to defeat Daruka and his armies. Her bloodlust gets out of control, only calming when Shiva intervenes. The Vamana Purana has a different version of Kali's relationship with Parvati. When Shiva addresses Parvati as Kali, "the dark blue one", she is greatly offended. Parvati performs austerities to lose her dark complexion and becomes Gauri, the golden one. Her dark sheath becomes Kaushiki, who while enraged, creates Kali.[12]

In the Devi Bhagavata Purana, Kali turns black out of rage, while battling the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha.[7]: 221

Slayer of Raktabīja

In Kāli's most famous legend, Durga and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabīja, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that drips from Raktabīja, he reproduces a duplicate of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates.[12] Durga summons Kāli to combat the demons. This episode is described in the Devi Mahatmyam, Kali is depicted as being fierce, clad in a tiger's skin and armed with a sword and noose. She has deep, red eyes with tongue lolling out as she catches drops of Raktabīja's blood before they fall to the ground and create duplicates.[13]

Kali consumes Raktabīja and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain.[12] In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda.[13]: 72 Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.[12]: 241 Footnotes

Iconography and forms

The goddess has two depictions: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali avatar. In both, she is described as being black in colour, though she is often seen as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and rage. Her hair is disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. Sometimes she dons a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. Other times, she is seen wearing a tiger skin. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on the calm and prostrate Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular dakṣiṇācāra ("right-hand path"), as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive vamachara ("left-hand path").[14] These serpents and jackals are shown to drink Raktabīja's blood as it drips out of his head while the goddess carries the head in her hand, preventing it from falling on the ground.

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali, she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.[15]

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as "possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotus, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful".[16]

Popular form

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a Khadga (crescent-shaped sword or a giant sickle), a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapāla) collecting the blood of the severed head.

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The sword signifies divine knowledge and the human head signifies human ego which must be slain by divine knowledge in order to attain moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.[16]: 477

She wears a garland of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a japa mala or rosary for repetition of mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.[16]: 475

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above Prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is Brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities—she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, and bad do not apply to her.[16]: 463–488

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

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

Devī (/ˈdeɪvi/;[1] Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is deva. Devi and deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism.

The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed around the 2nd millennium BCE. However, they did not play a vital role in that era.[2] Goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radha, Saraswati and Sita have continued to be revered in the modern era.[2] The medieval era Puranas witness a major expansion in mythology and literature associated with Devi, with texts such as the Devi Mahatmya, wherein she manifests as the ultimate truth and supreme power. She has inspired the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. Further, Devi is viewed as central in the Hindu traditions of Shaktism and Shaivism.[2][3]

Etymology

Devi and deva are Sanskrit terms found in Vedic literature around the 3rd millennium BCE. Deva is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi.[4] Monier-Williams translates it as 'heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones'.[5][6] Etymologically, a cognate of devi is Latin dea.[7] When capitalised, Devi maata refers to the mother goddess in Hinduism.[8] Deva is short for devatā and devi for devika.[5]

According to Douglas Harper, the etymological root dev- means "a shining one", from *div-, "to shine", it is an Indo-European cognate of the Greek dios, Gothic divine and Latin deus (Old Latin deivos); see also *Dyēus.[9]

A synonym for the word Devi in the Vedas is Bhagavati. Bhagavatī (Devanagari: भगवती, IAST: Bhagavatī), is an Indian epithet of Sanskrit origin, used as an honorific title for goddesses in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, it is primarily used to address the goddesses Lakshmi and Durga. In Buddhism, it is used to refer to several Mahayana Buddhist female deities, like Cundā.[10]

History

The worship of Devi-like deities dates back to period of Indus Valley civilisation.[11][12]

The Devīsūkta of the Rigveda (10.125.1 to 10.125.8) is among the most studied hymns declaring that the ultimate reality is a goddess:[13][14]

I have created all worlds at my will without being urged by any higher Being, and dwell within them. I permeate the earth and heaven, and all created entities with my greatness and dwell in them as eternal and infinite consciousness.

— Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.8, Translated by June McDaniel[15][16]

The Vedas name numerous cosmic goddesses such as Devi (power), Prithvi (earth), Aditi (cosmic moral order), Vāc (sound), Nirṛti (destruction), Ratri (night) and Aranyani (forest); bounty goddesses such as Dinsana, Raka, Puramdhi, Parendi, Bharati and Mahi are among others are mentioned in the Rigveda.[2]: 6–17, 55–64 However, the goddesses are not discussed as frequently as gods (devas).[2] Devi appears in late Vedic texts dated to be pre-Buddhist, but verses dedicated to her do not suggest that her characteristics were fully developed in the Vedic era.[2]: 18–19 All gods and goddesses are distinguished in Vedic times,[2]: 18 but in post-Vedic texts, particularly in the early medieval era literature, they are ultimately seen as aspects or manifestations of one Devi, the Supreme Power.[17]

Devi is the supreme being in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism; in the Smarta tradition, she is one of the five primary forms of Brahman that is revered.[18][19] In other Hindu traditions, Devi embodies the active energy and power of Deva, and they always appear together complementing each other. Examples of this are Parvati with Shiva in Shaivism, Saraswati with Brahma in Brahmanism and Lakshmi with Vishnu, Sita with Rama and Radha with Krishna in Vaishnavism.[20][21][22]

Devi-inspired philosophy is propounded in many Hindu texts such as the Devi Upanishad, which teaches that Shakti is essentially Brahman (ultimate metaphysical Reality) and that from her arises prakṛti (matter) and purusha (consciousness) and that she is bliss and non-bliss, the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the unborn and all of the universe. Shakti is Parvati, Shiva’s wife. [23] She is also mentioned as the creative power of Shiva in Tripura Upanishad, Bahvricha Upanishad and Guhyakali Upanishad.[13]

Devi identifies herself in the Devi Upanishad as Brahman in her reply to the gods stating that she rules the world, blesses devotees with riches, that she is the supreme deity to whom all worship is to be offered and that she infuses Ātman in every soul.[23] Devi asserts that she is the creator of earth and heaven and resides there.[13] Her creation of the sky as father and the seas as the mother is reflected as the 'Inner Supreme Self'.[13] Her creations are not prompted by any higher being and she resides in all her creations. She is, states Devi, the eternal and infinite consciousness engulfing earth and heaven, and 'all forms of bliss and non-bliss, knowledge and ignorance, Brahman and Non-Brahman'. The tantric aspect in Devi Upanishad, says June McDaniel, is the usage of the terms yantra, bindu, bija, mantra, shakti and chakra.[13]

Among the major world religions, the concept of Goddess in Hinduism as the divine feminine has had the strongest presence since ancient times.[24]

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

The name Monita has its roots in India and is derived from the Sanskrit word manita, which means 'honored' or 'respected.' This ancient name reflects the cultural traditions and values of Indian society, where respect and honor hold great significance. Monita has been prominent in Indian history since ancient times, often given to those who were esteemed for their noble character and high social standing. In historical texts and scriptures, the name Monita is often associated with individuals who were recognized for their wisdom, integrity, and leadership qualities.

In modern-day usage, the name Monita continues to evoke a sense of honor and respect. It is a popular name choice among families who value tradition and wish to bestow upon their child a name that reflects these virtues. Monita is often given to female children, symbolizing the strength and dignity they possess. In some cases, the name Monita is also used as a name, further emphasizing the family's heritage and the importance they place on respect and honor.

Overall, the name Monita has a rich history rooted in Indian culture and embodies the values of honor and respect. From ancient times to the present day, this name has stood as a testament to the qualities that society holds in high regard and continues to be cherished by families who wish to pass on these values to future generations.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/monita

Monita

A Latin word meaning "instructions":

Monita, work by Abbot Porcarius I of Lérins (c. 500)

Monita Secreta, an alleged code of instructions of the Jesuits

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

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

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

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

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

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

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

History and development

Floor and table designs

In the eighteenth century Masonic lodges met chiefly in private rooms above taverns, and the symbolic designs used in catechesis were chalked on the table or floor in the centre of the hired room, usually by the Tyler or the Worshipful Master.[2] Evidence suggests that a simple boundary was drawn (usually a square or rectangle, or sometimes a cross) within which various Masonic symbols were added, often of a geometric type (such as a circle or pentagram). In many lodges the boundary shape may have been drawn by the Tyler, with the Master adding the symbolic detail. Later various symbolic objects were incorporated, examples including a ladder, a beehive, and an hourglass, and sometimes drawings were interchangeable with physical objects.[3] At the end of the work a new member was often required to erase the drawing with a mop, as a practical demonstration of his obligation of secrecy.

Though the various Grand Lodges were then generally hostile to the creation of any physical representations of the ritual and symbols of the Craft, the time-consuming business of redrawing the symbols at every meeting was gradually replaced by keeping a removable "floor cloth" on which the various symbols were painted. Different portions might be exposed according to the work being executed.[4] By the second half of the eighteenth century the Masonic symbols were being painted on a variety of removable materials ranging from small marble slabs to canvas, to give a more decorative and elaborate symbolic display.

Painted boards

During the nineteenth century there was a rapid expansion of the use of permanent painted tracing boards, usually painted on canvas and framed in wood. Many artists produced competing designs, and most lodges commissioned sets of bespoke boards which were therefore of a unique design, despite following common themes. Some designs became particularly popular, leading to some repetition of favoured design features. Boards by John Cole and Josiah Bowring were examples of popularly recurring designs.[5]

The English artist John Harris was initiated in 1818 and produced many different series of tracing boards, including a miniature set of 1823 which became popular after Harris dedicated the design to Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE).[6] Eventually the Emulation Lodge of Improvement sought to bring a measure of standardisation in tracing board design, and organised a competition in 1845, to which many different designs were submitted. Harris himself submitted at least two different sets to the competition, but one of his designs was the winner. Harris revised the designs in 1849, and these "Emulation" tracing boards are today considered a definitive design within British and Commonwealth Freemasonry.[7]

Contemporary use

In lodges under the UGLE, and many jurisdictions derived from English Freemasonry, tracing boards are an essential part of lodge furniture, sometimes displayed flat on the floor, and sometimes vertically against a pedestal or on the wall. Sets of three boards, usually of older designs, may often be found in special cases for storage and display within lodge rooms. There are sometimes tracing boards in other degrees.[8] The Royal Arch tracing board has fallen into disuse in most places, and examples are now rare. In the Mark Master Mason and Royal Ark Mariner degrees as administered from London, the tracing boards have experienced a great revival in popularity from the end of the twentieth century, and official rituals for the explanations of these tracing boards are again in regular use in English lodges.

As different Masonic jurisdictions established official, or standard, degree rituals the creation of new tracing boards by artists waned, and has since largely disappeared in favour of standard designs. Nonetheless, some masonic artists have experimented with very modern designs for the twenty-first century.[9]

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

Mallotus philippensis is a plant in the spurge family. It is known as the kamala tree or red kamala or kumkum tree, due to the fruit covering, which produces a red dye. However, it must be distinguished from kamala meaning "lotus" in many Indian languages, an unrelated plant, flower, and sometimes metonymic spiritual or artistic concept. Mallotus philippensis has many other local names. This kamala often appears in rainforest margins. Or in disturbed areas free from fire, in moderate to high rainfall areas.

It occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as Afghanistan and Australia. The southernmost limit of natural distribution is Mount Keira, south of Sydney. The species name refers to the type specimen being collected in the Philippines, where it is known as banato.

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

Revelation 22:2

1599 Geneva Bible

2 In the midst of the street of it, and of either side of the river was the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and gave fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree served to heal the nations with.

Read full chapter

Revelation 22:2 in all English translations

Revelation 22:14

1599 Geneva Bible

14 Blessed are they, that do his Commandments, [a]that their right may be in the tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 22:14 The blessedness of the godly set down by their title and interest thereunto: and their fruit in the same.

Revelation 22:14 in all English translations

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2022%3A2%3B14&version=GNV

Peter Kodwo APPIAH Turkson (born 11 October 1948) is a Ghanaian Catholic prelate who has served as chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences since 2022.[1] He was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2009 to 2017 and the inaugural prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development from 2017 to 2021.[2]

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

The APPIAN Way (Latin and Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy.[1] Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius,[2][3] of Appia longarum... regina viarum ('the Appian Way, the queen of the long roads'). The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus,[4] the Roman censor who, during the Samnite Wars, began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC.[5]

In July 2024, the Appian Way entered the UNESCO World Heritage List.[6]

Origins

Porta San Sebastiano is the gate of the Appia in the Aurelian Walls.

Development

The Appian Way was a Roman road which the republic used as a main route for military supplies for its conquest of southern Italy in 312 BC and for improvements in communication.[7][8]

The Appian Way was the first long road built specifically to transport troops outside the smaller region of greater Rome (this was essential to the Romans). The few roads outside the early city were Etruscan and went mainly to Etruria. By the late Republic, the Romans had expanded over most of Italy and were masters of road construction. Their roads began at Rome, where the master itinerarium, or list of destinations along the roads, was located, and extended to the borders of their domain – hence the expression, "All roads lead to Rome".

The Samnite Wars

Near Rome

Romans had an affinity for the people of Campania, who, like themselves, traced their backgrounds to the Etruscans. The Samnite Wars were instigated by the Samnites when Rome attempted to ally itself with the city of Capua in Campania. The Italic speakers in Latium had long ago been subdued and incorporated into the Roman state. They were responsible for changing Rome from a primarily Etruscan to a primarily Italic state.

Dense populations of sovereign Samnites remained in the mountains north of Capua, which is just north of the Greek city of Neapolis. Around 343 BC, Rome and Capua attempted to form an alliance. The Samnites reacted with military force.[9]

The barrier of the Pontine Marshes

Tomb of Priscilla

Grave monument of Caius Rabirius Postumus Hermodorus, Lucia Rabiria Demaris and Usia Prima, priestess of Isis along the Via Appia, near Quarto Miglio

San Sebastiano fuori le Mura, located on the catacombs of San Sebastiano

Between Capua and Rome lay the Pontine Marshes (Pomptinae paludes), a swamp infested with malaria. A tortuous coastal road wound between Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber and Neapolis. The Via Latina followed its ancient and scarcely more accessible path along the foothills of Monti Laziali and Monti Lepini, which are visible towering over the former marsh.

In the First Samnite War (343–341 BC) the Romans found they could not support or resupply troops in the field against the Samnites across the marsh. A revolt of the Latin League drained their resources further. They gave up the attempted alliance and settled with Samnium.

Colonization to the southeast

The Romans were only biding their time while they looked for a solution. The first answer was the colonia, a "cultivation" of settlers from Rome, who would maintain a permanent base of operations. The Second Samnite War (327–304 BC) erupted when Rome attempted to place a colony at Cales in 334 BC and again at Fregellae in 328 BC on the other side of the marshes. The Samnites, now a major power after defeating the Greeks of Tarentum, occupied Neapolis to try to ensure its loyalty. The Neapolitans appealed to Rome, which sent an army and expelled the Samnites from Neapolis.

Appius Claudius' beginning of the works

In 312 BC, Appius Claudius Caecus became censor at Rome. He was of the gens Claudia, who were patricians descended from the Sabines taken into the early Roman state. He had been given the name of the founding ancestor of the gens, Appius Claudius (Attus Clausus in Sabine). He was a populist, i.e., an advocate of the common people. A man of discernment and perception, in the years of success he was said to have lost his outer vision[clarification needed] and thus acquired the name caecus, 'blind'.

Without waiting to be told what to do by the Senate, Appius Claudius began bold public works to address the supply problem. An aqueduct (the Aqua Appia) secured the water supply of the city of Rome. By far the best known project was the road, which ran across the Pontine Marshes to the coast northwest of Naples, where it turned north to Capua. On it, any number of fresh troops could be sped to the theatre of operations, and supplies could be moved en masse to Roman bases without hindrance by either enemy or terrain. It is no surprise that, after his term as censor, Appius Claudius became consul twice, subsequently held other offices, and was a respected consultant to the state even during his later years.

Success of the road

The road achieved its purpose. The outcome of the Second Samnite War was at last favorable to Rome. In a series of blows the Romans reversed their fortunes, bringing Etruria to the table in 311 BC, the very year of their revolt, and Samnium in 304 BC. The road was the main factor that allowed them to concentrate their forces with sufficient rapidity and to keep them adequately supplied, whereafter they became a formidable opponent.

Construction

The path of the Via Appia and of the Via Appia Traiana

The main part of the Appian Way was started and finished in 312 BC.

The road began as a leveled dirt road upon which small stones and mortar were laid. Gravel was laid upon this, which was finally topped with tight fitting, interlocking stones to provide a flat surface. The historian Procopius said that the stones fit together so securely and closely that they appeared to have grown together rather than to have been fitted together.[10] The road was cambered in the middle (for water runoff) and had ditches on either side of the road which were protected by retaining walls.

Between Rome and Lake Albano

The Circus of Maxentius

The road began in the Forum Romanum, passed through the Servian Wall at the porta Capena, went through a cutting in the clivus Martis, and left the city. For this stretch of the road, the builders used the Via Latina. The building of the Aurelian Wall centuries later required the placing of another gate, the Porta Appia. Outside of Rome the new Via Appia went through well-to-do suburbs along the Via Norba, the ancient track to the Alban hills, where Norba was situated. The road at the time was a via glarea, a gravel road. The Romans built a high-quality road, with layers of cemented stone over a layer of small stones, cambered, drainage ditches on either side, low retaining walls on sunken portions, and dirt pathways for sidewalks. The Via Appia is believed to have been the first Roman road to feature the use of lime cement. The materials were volcanic rock. The surface was said to have been so smooth that you could not distinguish the joints. The Roman section still exists and is lined with monuments of all periods, although the cement has eroded out of the joints, leaving a very rough surface.

Across the marsh

The road concedes nothing to the Alban hills, but goes straight through them over cuts and fills. The gradients are steep. Then it enters the former Pontine Marshes. A stone causeway of about 31 kilometers (19 mi) led across stagnant and foul-smelling pools blocked from the sea by sand dunes. Appius Claudius planned to drain the marsh, taking up earlier attempts, but he failed. The causeway and its bridges subsequently needed constant repair. In 162 BC, Marcus Cornelius Cathegus had a canal constructed along the road to relieve the traffic and provide an alternative when the road was being repaired. Romans preferred using the canal.[citation needed]

Tomb of Caecilia Metella and the castrum Caetani

Along the coast

The Via Appia picked up the coastal road at Tarracina (Terracina). However, the Romans straightened it somewhat with cuttings, which form cliffs today. From there the road swerved north to Capua, where, for the time being, it ended. The Caudine Forks were not far to the north. The itinerary was Aricia (Ariccia), Tres Tabernae, Forum Appii, Tarracina, Fundi (Fondi), Formiae (Formia), Minturnae (Minturno), Suessa, Casilinum and Capua, but some of these were colonies added after the Samnite Wars. The distance was 212 kilometers (132 mi). The original road had no milestones, as they were not yet in use. A few survive from later times, including a first milestone near the Porta Appia.

Extension to Beneventum

Via Appia within the ancient Minturno

The Third Samnite War (298–290 BC) is perhaps misnamed. It was an all-out attempt by all the neighbors of Rome: Italics, Etruscans and Gauls, to check the power of Rome. The Samnites were the leading people of the conspiracy. Rome dealt the northerners a crushing blow at the Battle of Sentinum in Umbria in 295. The Samnites fought on alone. Rome now placed 13 colonies in Campania and Samnium. It must have been during this time that they extended the Via Appia 35 miles beyond Capua past the Caudine Forks to a place the Samnites called Maloenton, "passage of the flocks". The itinerary added Calatia, Caudium and Beneventum (not yet called that).[11] Here also ended the Via Latina.[12]

Extension to Apulia and Calabria

By 290 BC, the sovereignty of the Samnites had ended. The heel of Italy lay open to the Romans. The dates are somewhat uncertain and there is considerable variation in the sources, but during the Third Samnite War the Romans seem to have extended the road to Venusia, where they placed a colony of 20,000 men. After that they were at Tarentum.

Roman expansion alarmed Tarentum, the leading city of the Greek presence (Magna Graecia) in southern Italy. They hired the mercenary King Pyrrhus of Epirus in neighboring Greece to fight the Romans on their behalf. In 280 BC the Romans suffered a defeat at the hands of Pyrrhus at the Battle of Heraclea on the coast west of Tarentum. The battle was costly for both sides, prompting Pyrrhus to remark "One more such victory and I am lost." Making the best of it, the Roman army turned on Greek Rhegium and effected a massacre of Pyrrhian partisans there.

Rather than pursue them, Pyrrhus went straight for Rome along the Via Appia and then the Via Latina. He knew that if he continued on the Via Appia he could be trapped in the marsh. Wary of such entrapment on the Via Latina also, he withdrew without fighting after encountering opposition at Anagni. Wintering in Campania, he withdrew to Apulia in 279 BC, where, pursued by the Romans, he won a second costly victory at the Battle of Asculum. Withdrawing from Apulia for a Sicilian interlude, he returned to Apulia in 275 BC and started for Campania up the Roman road.

Supplied by that same road, the Romans successfully defended the region against Pyrrhus, crushing his army in a two-day fight at the Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC. The Romans renamed the town from "Maleventum" ("site of bad events") to Beneventum ("site of good events") as a result. Pyrrhus withdrew to Greece, where he died in a street fight in Argos in 272 BC. Tarentum fell to the Romans that same year, who proceeded to consolidate their rule over all of Italy.[13]

The Romans pushed the Via Appia to the port of Brundisium in 264 BC. The itinerary from Beneventum was now Aeculanum, Forum Aemilii [it], Venusia, Silvium, Tarentum, Uria and Brundisium. The Roman Republic was the government of Italy, for the time being. Appius Claudius died in 273, but in extending the road a number of times, no one has tried to displace his name upon it.

Rediscovery

The Appian Way's path across today's regions Lazio and Campania has always been well known, but the exact position of the part located in Apulia (the original one, not the extension by Trajan) was long unknown, since there were no visible remains of the Appian Way in that region.[14][15]

In the first half of the 20th century, the professor of ancient Roman topography Giuseppe Lugli managed to discover, with the then-innovative technique of photogrammetry, what probably was the route of the Appian Way from Gravina in Puglia (Silvium) up to Taranto. When analysing aerophotogrammetric shots of the area, Lugli noticed a path (Italian: tratturo) named la Tarantina, whose direction was still largely influenced by the centuriation; this, according to Lugli, was the path of the Appian Way. This path, as well as the part located in today's Apulia region, was still in use in the Middle Ages. A further piece of evidence for Lugli's proposed path is the presence of a number of archaeological remains in that region, among them the ancient settlement of Jesce.[16][17]

By studying the distances given in the Antonine Itinerary, Lugli also assigned the Appian Way stations Blera and Sublupatia (which also occurs on the Tabula Peutingeriana) respectively to the areas Murgia Catena and Taverna (between masseria (estate farmhouse) S. Filippo and masseria S. Pietro). However, the toponym Murgia Catena defined too large an area, not allowing a clear localization of the Appian Way station. More recently Luciano Piepoli, based on the distances given in the Antonine Itinerary and on newer archeological findings, has suggested that Silvium should be Santo Staso, an area very close to Gravina in Puglia, Blera should be masseria Castello, and Sublupatia should be masseria Caione.[18][19]

Main branches

Since the latter stretch of the Appian Way turned out to be very impervious, some branches were created: first the Via Aemilia [it], then the Via Minucia [it], finally the emperor Trajan built the Via Traiana, a branch of the Via Appia from Beneventum, reaching Brundisium via Canusium and Barium rather than via Tarentum. This was commemorated by an arch at Beneventum.

Travellers could cross the Adriatic Sea through the Otranto Strait towards Albania either by landing at present day Durrës through the Via Egnatia or near the ancient town of Apollonia and continue towards present day Rrogozhinë in central Albania.[20]

Notable historical events along the road

Crucifixion of Spartacus's army

Further information: Third Servile War

Emperor Trajan built a deviation of Via Appia. This is a tract of Via Appia Traiana near Egnatia.

The column in Brindisi, marking the end of the Via Appia

In 73 BC, a slave revolt (known as the Third Servile War) under the ex-gladiator of Capua, Spartacus, began against the Romans. Slaves accounted for roughly every third person in Italy.

Spartacus defeated many Roman armies in a conflict that lasted for over two years. While trying to escape from Italy at Brundisium he unwittingly moved his forces into the historic trap at Apulia in Calabria.[clarification needed] The Romans were well acquainted with the region. Legions were brought home from abroad and Spartacus was pinned between armies. The ex-slave army was defeated at the Siler River by Marcus Licinius Crassus. Pompey's armies captured and killed several thousand rebels that escaped from the battle and Crassus captured several thousand more. The Romans judged that the slaves had forfeited their right to live. In 71 BC, 6,000 slaves were crucified along the 200-kilometer (120 mi) Via Appia from Rome to Capua.[21]

World War II, Battle of Anzio

Main article: Battle of Anzio

In 1943, during World War II, the Allies fell into the same trap Pyrrhus had retreated to avoid, in the Pomptine fields, the successor to the Pontine Marshes. The marsh remained, despite many efforts to drain it, until engineers working for Benito Mussolini finally succeeded (even so, the fields were infested with malarial mosquitos until the advent of DDT in the 1950s).

Hoping to break a stalemate at Monte Cassino, the Allies landed on the coast of Italy at the Anzio-Nettuno area – ancient Antium – which was midway between Ostia and Terracina. They found that the place was undefended. They intended to move along the line of the Via Appia to take Rome, outflanking Monte Cassino, but they did not do so quickly enough. The Germans occupied Mounts Laziali and Lepini along the track of the old Via Latina, from which they rained down shells on Anzio. Even though the Allies expanded into all the Pomptine region, they gained no ground. The Germans counterattacked down the via Appia from the Alban hills in a front four miles wide, but could not retake Anzio. The battle lasted for four months, one side being supplied by sea, the other by land through Rome. In May 1944, the Allies broke out of Anzio and took Rome. The German forces escaped to the north of Florence.

1960 Summer Olympics

During the 1960 Summer Olympics, the Via Appia was part of the course of the men's marathon. The event was won by Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia.[22][23]

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

VIA Technologies, Inc. (Chinese: 威盛電子; pinyin: Wēishèng Diànzǐ) is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory. It was the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets.[citation needed] As a fabless semiconductor company, VIA conducts research and development of its chipsets in-house, then subcontracts the actual (silicon) manufacturing to third-party merchant foundries such as TSMC.

VIA is also the parent company of VIA Labs Inc. (VLI, Chinese: 威鋒電子). As an independently traded subsidiary,[3] VLI develops and markets USB 3, USB 4, USB Type-C, and USB PD controllers for computer peripherals and mobile devices.[4]

History

The company was founded in 1987, in Fremont, California, USA by Cher Wang. In 1992, it was decided to move the headquarters to Taipei, Taiwan in order to establish closer partnerships with the substantial and growing IT manufacturing base in Taiwan and neighbouring China.[5]

In 1999, VIA acquired most of Cyrix, then a division of National Semiconductor. That same year, VIA acquired Centaur Technology from Integrated Device Technology, marking its entry into the x86 microprocessor market. VIA is the maker of the VIA C3, VIA C7 & VIA Nano processors, and the EPIA platform. The Cyrix MediaGX platform remained with National Semiconductor.

In 2001, VIA established the S3 Graphics joint venture.

In January 2005, VIA began the VIA pc-1 Initiative, to develop information and communication technology systems to benefit those with no access to computers or Internet. In February 2005, VIA celebrated production of the 100 millionth VIA AMD chipset.

On 29 August 2008, VIA announced that they would release official 2D accelerated Linux drivers for their chipsets, and would also release 3D accelerated drivers.[6]

In July 2008, VIA Labs, Inc. (VLI) was founded as a wholly-owned subsidiary of VIA Technologies Inc. (VIA) to develop and market integrated circuits primarily for USB 3.0. VLI was intended to be a "smaller and thus more agile" company that can quickly respond to the changing market.[4] It would later become an independently traded subsidiary in 2020.[7][3]

In 2013, VIA entered into an agreement with the Shanghai Municipal Government to create a fabless semiconductor company called Zhaoxin.[8] The joint venture is producing x86 compatible CPUs for the Chinese market.[9]

In November 2021, Intel recruited some of the employees of the Centaur Technology division from VIA, a deal worth $125 million, and effectively acquiring the talent and know-how of the x86 division.[10][11] VIA retained the x86 licence and associated patents, and its Zhaoxin CPU joint-venture continues.[12]

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

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI or B&R),[1] known in China as the One Belt One Road[a] and sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road,[2] is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the government of China in 2013 to invest in more than 150 countries and international organizations.[3] The BRI is composed of six urban development land corridors linked by road, rail, energy, and digital infrastructure and the Maritime Silk Road linked by the development of ports. BRI is both a geopolitical and a geoeconomic project.[4] Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Xi Jinping originally announced the strategy as the "Silk Road Economic Belt" during an official visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013. "Belt" refers to the proposed overland routes for road and rail transportation through landlocked Central Asia along the famed historical trade routes of the Western Regions; "road" is short for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which refers to the Indo-Pacific sea routes through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.[5]

It is considered a centerpiece of Xi Jinping's foreign policy.[6] The BRI forms a central component of Xi's "major-country diplomacy"[b] strategy, which calls for China to assume a greater leadership role in global affairs in accordance with its rising power and status.[7] As of early 2024, more than 140 countries were part of the BRI.[8]: 20 The participating countries include almost 75% of the world's population and account for more than half of the world's GDP.[clarification needed][9]: 192

The initiative was incorporated into the constitution of the Chinese Communist Party in 2017.[6] The general secretaryship describes the initiative as "a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future."[10] The project has a target completion date of 2049,[11] which will coincide with the centennial of the People's Republic of China (PRC)'s founding.

Numerous studies conducted by the World Bank have estimated that BRI can boost trade flows in 155 participating countries by 4.1 percent, as well as cutting the cost of global trade by 1.1 percent to 2.2 percent, and grow the GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by an average of 2.6 to 3.9 percent.[12][13] According to London-based consultants Centre for Economics and Business Research, BRI is likely to increase the world GDP by $7.1 trillion per annum by 2040, and that benefits will be "widespread" as improved infrastructure reduces "frictions that hold back world trade". CEBR also concludes that the project will be likely to attract further countries to join, if the global infrastructure initiative progresses and gains momentum.[14][15][16]

Supporters praise the BRI for its potential to boost the global GDP, particularly in developing countries. However, there has also been criticism over human rights violations and environmental impact, as well as concerns of debt-trap diplomacy resulting in neocolonialism and economic imperialism. These differing perspectives are the subject of active debate.[17]

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

Catholic Church in China: The Strange Case of Bishop Ji Weizhong

02/05/2025 He Yuyan

Once again, the CCP announced it had “elected” a bishop three months before the Pope appointed him. The Papal mandate was not mentioned in the consecration ceremony.

by He Yuyan

According to the Vatican-China deal of 2018, renewed for another four years in 2024, the CCP and the Holy See should agree on the appointment of new Catholic bishops, although details of the deals are secret.

In several cases, we see the following scheme at work, which is unlikely to correspond to the deal. First, the CCP “elects” a bishop and publicly announces the news. Second, for several months there is no reaction from the Holy See, which strongly suggests it had not previously been informed of the election. Third, after a hiatus of months the Pope “appoints” the bishop—whose election the CCP had already announced months earlier. Fourth, a consecration ceremony is held where the Papal mandate is not mentioned at all as if it were irrelevant, while a letter of approval is read by the “Bishops’ Conference” of the Patriotic Catholic Church, which is nor recognized as such by Rome.

The last such case concerns Bishop Ji Weizhong. The CCP informed that on July 19, 2024, Ji has been elected as bishop of the Diocese of Lüliang. Interestingly, at that date the Diocese of Lüliang did not exist. It was a desire of the CCP that such a diocese was created as part of the CCP’s plan to reduce the number of Catholic Chinese dioceses and adapt them to China’s administrative divisions. On July 19, 2024, for the Vatican Lüliang was still part of the Diocese of Fenyang. No bishop of Lüliang could be validly elected because there was no Diocese of Lüliang.

As in other previous cases, most notably the one involving the new bishop of Shanghai, some under-the-table negotiations should have followed and on January 20, 2025, the official Bulletin of the Holy See announced that “on October 28, 2024,” Pope Francis had suppressed the ancient Diocese of Fenyang, erected the new Diocese of Lüliang, and appointed Father Ji Weizhong as Bishop of Lüliang.

Another interesting question is why, if the Pope had taken the decisions of “ratifying” the CCP decisions on the dioceses and the bishop on October 28, 2024, the corresponding press release was issued only on January 20, 2025.

The answer is that it was urgent to “legitimize” the public consecration of Bishop Ji Weizhong, which happened precisely on January 20. As usual, at the consecration ceremony no Papal approval or mandate was mentioned, while a letter of the Chinese Bishops’ Conference was read, as if this non-Vatican-recognized body were the source of the bishop’s legitimacy rather than the Pope.

The Vatican-China deal of 2018 on the appointment of bishops continues to function in a rather curious way.

https://bitterwinter.org/catholic-church-in-china-the-strange-case-of-bishop-ji-weizhong/

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

The meaning "container made of tin," especially "can for preserving meats, fruits, etc." is by 1795; U.S. use tended to favor can (n.) for this. Tin-can is attested from 1770 as "can made of tin;" as naval slang for "destroyer," by 1937.

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

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

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709)

CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/.../cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

Tián (田), or T'ien in Wade-Giles is a Chinese surname.[1] An alternative transliteration of "田" from Cantonese is Tin, from Hokkien is Thinn. It appeared in the Hundred Family Surnames text from the early Song dynasty. It also means "field". In 2019 it was the 34th most common surname in mainland China.[2]

The same character is Jeon in Korean hanja.

Origins

perhaps from a fief called Tian (田), which in Old Chinese is pronounced similar to (陳) in Qi state. Assuming pronunciation of Tian in Old Chinese remains identical to today, the closest pronunciation of 陳 should be 'Tan', the Hokkien form. This surname was granted to Chen Wan (陳完), a prince in the State of Chen, who fled to Qi to escape persecution. The Qi clan also went on to rule Qi for many generations.[1]

possibly dates even further back to the post name of an official in charge of the management of farmlands who served the Shang dynasty

adopted in place of the Chinese surname Huang (黃) by the son of the official Huang Zicheng during the Ming dynasty, in order to avoid persecution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_(surname)

Tin Cup is a 1996 American romantic comedy and sports film co-written and directed by Ron Shelton,[3] and starring Kevin Costner and Rene Russo with Cheech Marin and Don Johnson in major supporting roles.[2] The film received generally positive reviews from critics and performed moderately at the box office, grossing $75.8 million against its $45 million budget. Costner received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Plot

Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy is a former golf prodigy who lost his chance to become a professional golfer when he attempted a risky shot for the final round of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament rather than taking a safer shot. He owns a ramshackle driving range in West Texas, where he drinks and hangs out with his pal Romeo Posar and their friends.

One day Dr. Molly Griswold, a clinical psychologist, arrives looking for a golf lesson. She has been dating David Simms, a top professional golfer who played with Roy at the University of Houston. Roy is attracted to Molly.

The next day, Simms shows up at Roy's trailer ahead of a local benefit tournament. Roy thinks he is being invited to play, but Simms actually wants to hire him as a caddie. During the round, Roy needles Simms about laying up instead of having the nerve to take a 230-yard shot over a water hazard. A bet among the other players is made, and Simms fires Roy after he makes the long shot.

To get even with Simms and prove his worth to Molly, Roy decides to try to qualify for the U.S. Open. He makes a play for Molly. She turns him down but offers to be his sports psychologist in exchange for golf lessons.

In the first qualifying round, with Romeo as his caddie, Roy's game is excellent, but he insists on playing recklessly. They fight, and Romeo quits. Despite breaking most of his clubs in a tantrum, Roy advances to the final qualifying round. Without Romeo, he barely succeeds at the sectional qualifying round, earning a spot in the U.S. Open. Romeo returns and helps Roy with some swing problems.

On the first day of the U.S. Open, Roy, playing hungover, shoots a horrendous 83. Meanwhile, Molly sees Simms' unpleasant side and decides she wants to be with Roy. With renewed confidence, he shocks the golf world by making the cut with a round record at 10 under par. Roy's third round is also excellent and moves him into contention.

On the last day of the tournament, Roy is in a three-way battle to win. For the fourth day in a row, he takes a shot that repeatedly fails to keep the ball out of the water hazard. On his twelfth and final shot, facing disqualification, he reaches the green and gets the ball into the hole. Roy has blown a shot at winning the U.S. Open, but Molly reassures him that people will always remember his amazing shot.

Back in Texas, Molly tells Roy that he automatically qualified for next year's Open. They kiss passionately as the movie ends.

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

Race cup

a cup given as a prize to the victor in a race.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Race+cup

Jimmy Carter in 1980: ‘Moon looks like a golf course’ compared to Mount St. Helens

Dec 29, 2024, 2:46 PM | Updated: 2:47 pm

BY FELIKS BANEL

Local historian

After Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared all of Washington a federal disaster area and then paid a visit to see the devastation for himself.

Carter, who served just one term in office, died after a long illness on Dec. 29, 2024. He was 100 years old.

While the 39th Commander-in-Chief first entered hospice in 2023, it seemed like a good reason to look back to when Carter visited Washington and Oregon a few days after the 1980 eruption and a great excuse to listen to vintage audio clips from the somewhat unusual presidential visit to the Pacific Northwest.

Air Force One landed at the Air National Guard Base at Portland International Airport on the evening of Wednesday, May 21, 1980. The entourage traveled by motorcade to a briefing at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest headquarters in Vancouver, Washington, and then to the Marriott Hotel in Portland, Oregon, for the night.

The next morning, Carter, Washington Gov. Dixy Lee Ray, and other officials (and the news media) took off from the air base in a fleet of seven helicopters. For the next hour or so, they viewed mud and debris from the eruption clogging the Columbia River (near the mouth of the Cowlitz, which was also clogged) and blocking freight traffic in the busy corridor; flooding near Longview; homes in the Toutle Valley and other areas damaged by mudflows coming down the Toutle River; and the unimaginable devastation in the immediate vicinity of the volcano.

After the tour, the helicopters landed at Kelso Airport and then went by motorcade a few miles to Cascade Middle School in Longview (home since 1961, as everyone knows, to the mighty Cavaliers.)

School in the Longview/Kelso area had been canceled all week because of the eruption, but the gymnasium at Cascade had been converted into a Red Cross shelter for people who lost their homes or whose homes were now threatened. Carter met many of the 40 or so people staying at the shelter, listened to their stories, and offered words of support.

Longtime Sen. Warren Magnuson of Washington was also on the tour with Carter that day, and at one point, newspaper accounts say, he and Governor Ray tussled verbally over state versus federal funding required to aid in disaster recovery – Ray wanted federal dollars, Magnuson said the feds were broke.

This was 1980, after all, and the country was deep in an economic downturn, mired in the ongoing Iran hostage crisis, and on the brink of the United States’ boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow (in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan).

As it turned out, three of the highest-ranking elected officials who toured the volcano that day – Carter, Gov. Ray, and Sen. Magnuson – would lose their reelection bids later that year as the “Reagan landslide” radically changed Evergreen State politics (though Ray would lose earlier in the primary to Jim McDermott.)

But, those elections were still months away when, at the Kelso Airport, Carter made one of his most memorable comments about the devastation he’d witnessed from the helicopter.

“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before,” Carter told the gathered members of the media. “Somebody said it looked like a moonscape. The moon looks like a golf course compared to what’s out there.

“It is a horrible-looking sight.” Carter said.

More from Feliks Banel: How Seattle observed VE Day in 1945

Leaving Kelso, the entourage then headed back to Portland and the Marriott Hotel for a news conference. The president’s remarks made it very clear that what he had seen with his own eyes had made a deep impression.

“The absolute and total devastation of a region . . . encompasses about 150 (square) miles,” Carter said. “It’s the worst thing I have ever seen. It is literally indescribable, and it’s devastating.

“There is no way to prepare oneself for the sight that we beheld this morning,” the president continued. “I don’t know that … in recorded history in our nation, there has ever been a more formidable explosion.”

And even just four days after the deadly disaster which took the lives of 57 people, Carter was already looking ahead somewhat presciently, if sheepishly, to what would eventually become the reality of Mount St. Helens once the eruptive activity subsided.

“When safe places are fixed for tourists and others and scientists to come in and observe it,” the president said, “I would say there would be, if you’ll excuse the expression, a tourist attraction that would equal the Grand Canyon or something.”

“It’s an unbelievable sight,” he said.

Air Force One departed from Portland and headed back east. The jet touched down briefly in Spokane so the president could see the ash damage in Eastern Washington and meet with officials there before getting back on the plane and returning to Washington, D.C.

Editors’ note: This piece originally was published on May 18, 2023. It has been updated and republished since then.

Feliks Banel has served as KIRO Newsradio’s Resident Historian since 2015, and was originally hired by the radio station in 1991. Read more from Feliks here; subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast here; and subscribe to Feliks’ Unsolved Histories podcast here. Feliks frequently posts about Northwest history on his Facebook page; follow him there for previews and updates. If you have a story idea or a question about Northwest history, please email Feliks.

https://mynorthwest.com/history/president-carter-moon-golf-course-compared-mt-st-helens/3888183

Updated Nov. 22, 2023

Why Ivana Trump Was Buried at Bedminster Golf Course: 3 Theories

Portrait of Margaret Hartmann

By Margaret Hartmann, senior editor for Intelligencer who has worked at New York since 2012

Ivana Trump, former president Donald Trump’s first wife, died on July 14, 2022 at the age of 73, owing to injuries she suffered in an accidental fall on the “grand curving staircase” at her Upper East Side townhouse. Her funeral drew about 400 people and featured a gold-hued coffin, Secret Service agents, and loving remembrances from her three adult children as well as several friends. Then this icon of ’80s glamour and New York tabloid drama was laid to rest … at a New Jersey golf course?

Many found the decision to bury Ivana at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster puzzling. She is the first person to be buried at the former president’s New Jersey property, and the ground had to be consecrated so she could have a traditional Catholic burial.

A New York Post photographer scoped out the site shortly after Ivana was laid to rest and found that while her grave isn’t literally on the golf course, the whole vibe is surprisingly understated:

Photos taken by The Post Thursday show Trump’s grave alone against a bucolic scenery of trees and shrubbery. The grave looks upon a sprawling green space upon the country club’s vast estate.

The plot where Ivana was buried has a bouquet of more than two dozen white flowers and a plaque that reads in all capital letters Ivana Trump with the dates she was born and died.

The grave is in a place where golfers would not see it as they tee off for a round of golf. The small section of the club is below the backside of the first tee.

A little over a year later, the mystery persists. Photographs published by The Daily Mail on August 12, 2023 show that Ivana’s grave is marked with a small headstone, which “has become overgrown with grass and is barely visible.”

So what exactly is going on here? I have a few theories.

Theory 1: Trump really loves northern New Jersey.

If Trump National Golf Club Bedminster held a special place in Ivana’s heart, there’s no record of it. Donald bought the property in 2002, a full decade after their divorce was finalized. While Ivana maintained a friendship with her ex-husband through her final days, and her daughter, Ivanka, was married at the club, it does not appear that Ivana ever publicly praised the property.

There is, however, ample evidence that Donald Trump thinks Bedminster is a phenomenal place to be laid to rest. “Wouldn’t you want to be buried here?” he mused to The Wall Street Journal in 2015. The idea has been on his mind for at least 15 years. Back in 2007, Trump filed paperwork to build a windowless wedding chapel at Bedminster that would later be converted into a mausoleum for himself and his family.

Drawings filed with the Somerset County township called for what NJ.com described as a “19-foot-high, classical-style stone structure” with “four imposing obelisks surrounding its exterior and a small altar and six vaults inside. Locals balked at the proposal, which they deemed gaudy, and Trump withdrew the plan. Five years later, he came back with a new idea: Instead of a mausoleum, he would be buried at a large cemetery with more than 1,000 graves. “The idea, apparently, was that Trump’s golf-club members would buy the other plots, seizing the chance at eternal membership,” the Washington Post reported.

Facing continued opposition to his ghoulish ambitions, Trump revised his plans once again. In 2014, the Trump Organization filed paperwork to build two graveyards at Bedminster. One would have 284 lots for sale to the public, while the other would consist of just ten plots for Trump and his family near the first tee. The company’s filing with the state said Trump “specifically chose this property for his final resting place as it is his favorite property.”

In an October 2023 interview, Eric Trump revealed it was his father’s idea to have his mother laid to rest at the “family funeral plot.” “He was the one to say, you know, ‘I want her with us,’” Eric said. “It was pretty amazing again, you know, kind of a wife long removed — ex-wife long removed. He’s an incredible man. He’s got a heart of gold.”

Theory 2: Trump is running an elaborate tax scheme.

Some remain skeptical that Trump actually considers this the most fabulous piece of property he owns:

The Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 31. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/LIV via Getty Images

The average person might say Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s seaside Florida resort, is more spectacular, but they’re not looking at Bedminister through the eyes of a person with an alleged passion for tax avoidance. This tweet from Brooke Harrington, a professor of sociology at Dartmouth, sparked speculation that Bedminster’s real appeal as a graveyard lies in New Jersey tax law.

As a tax researcher, I was skeptical of rumors Trump buried his ex-wife in that sad little plot of dirt on his Bedminster, NJ golf course just for tax breaks.

So I checked the NJ tax code & folks...it's a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated. pic.twitter.com/VDZBlDyuhQ

— Brooke Harrington (@EBHarrington) July 31, 2022

Indeed, as Insider reported, there are some surprising perks to being the proprietor of a New Jersey graveyard:

Under New Jersey state tax code, any land that is dedicated to cemetery purposes is exempt from all taxes, rates, and assessments. Cemetery companies are also specifically exempt from paying any real estate taxes, rates, and assessments or personal property taxes on their lands, as well as business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes.

And the Trump family has definitely been pursuing the tax advantages of cemetery ownership. A document published by ProPublica shows that the Trump Family Trust sought to designate a property in Hackettstown, New Jersey, about 20 miles from Bedminster, as a nonprofit cemetery company back in 2016.

But there is reason to question this too-Trumpy-to-be-true allegation. First, all this cemetery business is unnecessary because he has already found a way to drastically reduce his Bedminster tax burden. When the Post’s David Farenthold looked into Trump’s cemetery obsession in 2017, he concluded it wouldn’t be very profitable as a business venture or a tax-avoidance scheme:

… the savings would hardly be worth the trouble. That’s because Trump had already found a way to lower his taxes on that wooded, largely unused parcel. He had persuaded the township to declare it a farm, because some trees on the site are turned into mulch. Because of pro-farmer tax policies, Trump’s company pays just $16.31 per year in taxes on the parcel, which he bought for $461,000.

According to a 2019 HuffPost analysis, Trump slashed his Bedminster tax bill by about $88,000 a year by keeping eight goats and farming 113 acres of hay on the property.

Is is possible that the cemetery business is some kind of backup tax- avoidance scheme? I suppose, but it doesn’t make a ton of sense to this humble TurboTax user.

Theory 3: Trump is just keeping it weird.

“It’s always been my suspicion that there’s something we don’t know” about Trump’s cemetery plan, Bedminster land-use board member Nick Strakhov told Farenthold in 2017.

It does seem we’re missing a key piece of the boneyard puzzle. But there is one thing we know about Trump now that wasn’t quite as apparent back then: He is a super-weird guy. He has managed to be weird with various kinds of paper, toilet bowls, aircraft carriers, and “dangerous fruit,” to name just a few of his proclivities. The thought of our inevitable demise brings out strange feelings and behavior in most people. Some of the rich plan to freeze themselves or shoot their remains into space; is it any surprise that Trump has some grandiose idea about how he and his family should be laid to rest?

“It’s never something you like to think about, but it makes sense,” Trump told the New York Post during his first attempt to make Bedminster a cemetery in 2007. “This is such beautiful land, and Bedminster is one of the richest places in the country.”

Trumpy commentary on the wealth of northern New Jersey aside, that sounds astonishingly well adjusted.

This piece was updated to include Eric Trump’s comments on his mother’s gravesite.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ivana-trump-buried-bedminster-3-theories.html

Operation Warp Speed (OWS) was a public–private partnership initiated by the United States government to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.[1][2] The first news report of Operation Warp Speed was on April 29, 2020,[3][4][5] and the program was officially announced on May 15, 2020.[1] It was headed by Moncef Slaoui from May 2020 to January 2021 and by David A. Kessler from January to February 2021.[6] At the end of February 2021, Operation Warp Speed was transferred into the responsibilities of the White House COVID-19 Response Team.[7]

The program promoted mass production of multiple vaccines, and different types of vaccine technologies, based on preliminary evidence. Then there were clinical trials. The plan anticipated that some of these vaccines would not prove safe or effective, making the program more costly than typical vaccine development, but potentially leading to the availability of a viable vaccine several months earlier than typical timelines.[8]

Operation Warp Speed, initially funded with about $10 billion from the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) passed by the United States Congress on March 27, 2020,[1] was an interagency program that includes components of the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA); the Department of Defense; private firms; and other federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.[1]

History

President Donald Trump formally announced Operation Warp Speed on May 15, 2020, in the White House Rose Garden.

On May 15, 2020, President Donald Trump officially announced the public-private partnership.[4][1] The purpose of Operation Warp Speed was to coordinate Health and Human Services-wide efforts, including the NIH ACTIV[9] partnership for vaccine and therapeutic development, the NIH RADx[10] initiative for diagnostic development, and work by BARDA.[1]

Operation Warp Speed was formed to encourage private and public partnerships to enable faster approval and production of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The name was inspired by terminology for faster-than-light travel used in the Star Trek fictional universe, evoking a sense of rapid progress.[11][12]

The Food and Drug Administration announced on June 30, 2020, that a vaccine would need to be at least 50% effective for diminishing the severity of COVID-19 symptoms to obtain regulatory and marketing approval.[13]

In January 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that the program was expected to undergo a restructure and renaming under the Biden administration.[14][15] Also in January 2021, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, former Operation Warp Speed lead, was told not to use the name Operation Warp Speed anymore.[16] At the end of February 2021, responsibilities of Operation Warp Speed were transferred into the White House COVID-19 Response Team.[7][17]

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

The Visions and Circles of Power

Transcript of audio tape from Betty J. Mills

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/bettymillsvisonsandcirclesofpowerjan1991.shtml

January 1991

The Visions and Circles of Power by Betty Mills (Jan. 1991)

http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/hoax/circlesofpower.htm

This is a transcript of a tape made by Betty J. Mills in January, 1991. Also see the transcript of Betty’s tape, that illustrates the influence wielded by leaders of the Conservative - Christian/Conservative "New Right" which, Betty asserts, has held the door open for the liberal agenda. An Open Letter to Members of Eagle Forum and Serge Monast's transcript on Project BlueBeam

The Visions and Circles of Power

by Betty J. Mills

My name is Betty J. Mills . It is January 1991. The title of this tape is The Vision and Circles of Power. This tape is undoubtedly the most difficult tape I have ever made and some of you may say it is also the most unbelievable. First, let me say, as I have said in my tape and booklets, when I discuss the Catholic Church, the Vatican, the Pope and the all-Catholic SMOM (Sovereign Military Order of Malta). I am not condemning Catholics and their faith. The Catholics' faith is their business. I only enter when it is political and a threat to the freedom of my grandchildren and all other children - and also when it is a threat to the restoration of the sovereignty of the United States of America and its Constitutional Republic.

Also, when I discuss the world policy makers or President George Bush [Sr.] and his administration and the war in the Gulf, I am in no way in opposition to our service men and service women. I honor and respect them. However, I am not behind the policy of president George Bush and his administration. I am not behind their policy which is the policy of the World Policymakers, whose dream was - and is - the New World Order.... and the war in the Gulf is a vitally important part of this plan.

Here is a question as part of a scenario. What would you believe or think?... what would you say and what would you do if ?... tomorrow your children came into the house screaming, "Mommy! Daddy! Come look at the sky!" You run outside and looking up at the sky you see a VISION. THE VISION could be the Virgin Mary. It could be Christ. It could be both or it could be some other [religious figure]. At this time you also hear a voice telling you that you will be receiving a message and that you must carry out the instructions you are given. Then other members of the family come out of the house and they inform you that they have seen the same VISION on television. You listen to the radio and you hear the message about THE VISION and other instructions that you are to follow. You try to call relatives and friends but you find that the phone lines are busy. Perhaps a recording will be giving some information. You learn from television and radio that THE VISION is being seen all over the world and the messages are being heard in the language of their country or area

The Struggle for World Dominion Between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Capitalist West

Now... let us return to the present and reality. It will lead us to a book written by Malachi Martin considered by many as the voice for Pope John Paul II. As I discuss Malachi Martin's book, it will lead us back to THE VISION. From August the 2nd, 1990 until the present ... January 1991 - it is less than a six-month period of time, but it certainly is a most historical time. During this short period of time, president George Bush implemented a vital part of the U.S. State Department plan 7277.

This is one of the final steps leading into the New World Order. President George Bush accomplished this when he placed the U.S. military into an International Military Force under the United Nations. We have nearly one-half million service men and women over in the sand, and they are functioning under United Nations' resolutions. President George Bush then announced the NEW WORLD ORDER. Following this came a startling book by Malachi Martin entitled Keys of This Blood. The jacket of this book tells us what the book is about. It says it is the "struggle for world dominion between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev and the Capitalist West". I challenge that statement and will detail it later.

Simon & Schuster, the publishers of this book, call it "explosive" - and indeed it is. If the book had been written by just somebody, it would not have meant too much. However, the author of this book is Malachi Martin who is an eminent theologian and expert on the Catholic Church. He is a former Jesuit and a former professor at the Vatican Pontifical Biblical Institute. He served in Rome from 1958 to 1964.... and one thing to remember is that Malachi Martin made it very clear that Pope John Paul II has offered no objection to what he, Malachi Martin, has written. This fact certainly makes the book, Keys of This Blood "explosive" - as it was called by its publishers.

Following are my remarks and highlights of the book review of Simon & Schuster. If there is any doubt as to the New World Order meaning a One World Government, I would say that Malachi Martin's book and the book review verify the statement that the New World Order and a One World Government are one and the same. The book review states that before the end of the 1990's we will see the first One World Government that has ever existed in the society of nations. The Simon & Schuster book review shows that Malachi Martin's statements are startling and that he, Malachi Martin - for the first time - reveals the ongoing plans and policies of a reigning pope who is of course, at this time, Pope John Paul II. Malachi Martin exposes coveted Vatican intelligence data concerning the competition among these three major powers - as stated... the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Capitalist West and Pope John Paul II with his world-wide Roman Catholic church. It is with the intent to set up and maintain the New World Order which Pope John Paul II expects to be in place before the end of the 1990's

"...Pope John Paul II as the Servant of Heaven's Grand Design"

Malachi Martin says the battle between the pope, Mikhail Gorbachev and the Capitalist West will be a "winner-take-all" battle. He says that it:

"will end in a global government being a New Economic and Political World Order that is so vast that it will have to be presided over by a super bureaucracy superior to all individual nations".

We must surely understand from those statements that this would mean the absolute end of any attempt of restoring the sovereignty of the United States of America and its Constitutional Republic with its freedom and independence - a freedom never before enjoyed by any country. Malachi Martin says that, outside of his rivals, few people see Pope John Paul II as he sees himself. He said that the Pope sees himself as a contender with the power and the determination to establish and maintain the New World Order. Malachi Martin says that Mikhail Gorbachev and the Capitalist West do not have what it takes to make them the winners. Malachi Martin says:

"the world at large must reckon with Pope John Paul II as the servant of Heaven's Grand Design."

I would say that sounds very "New Age". And... throughout the book Malachi Martin makes it a point to tell us that Pope John Paul II is a slave to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Also, after Pope John Paul II was shot he said he had a personal communication from heaven. After this communication from heaven, Pope John Paul II concluded that the Fatima message linked with his One World Government plans. I would agree with that statement. In fact, that is what I feared and wrote about five years ago. Malachi Martin says the other two contenders feel that their present moves are in the last stages on the road to a New World Order which is already in view. AND... he said that Pope John Paul II is waiting for an event that will separate human history and that the event is THE VISION. I believe he is absolutely correct in his thinking, although I do not believe that "the vision" comes from whence Malachi Martin says.

The Message of Fatima

At the time the people view THE VISION in the sky it is very possible that they will receive the third message of Fatima. For those of you who are not familiar with this third message of Fatima, I will give just a small sketch of the story. Space does not allow the telling of the story in detail. I would suggest that any who are not familiar with the story of Fatima... get the booklet and read the story. It should be available in most Catholic book stores.The third message of Fatima could well be one of the most important messages ever heard by the people on this earth because it can be used by the world policymakers to their advantage in implementing the New World Order. It was nearly five years ago that I became very concerned about the third message of Fatima being used by the world policy-makers. I wrote a bit on it. Yes... with the Pope being totally committed to the Virgin Mary (who is the lady of Fatima), with the Pope being the powerful religious partner of the world policy-makers and with the third message - being what the world policy-makers want it to be - the third message of Fatima could be absolutely overwhelming in their New World Order plan.

I labeled the Pope as a partner of the other two that Malachi Martin calls "adversaries" of the Pope. The Capitalist West, Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union and the Pope may be one another's adversaries at times. In a sense, while they may be adverse to one another at times, they are also at times one and the same. Now I will go back to the story of the Lady of Fatima. Fatima is a village in the center of the country of Portugal. It was near Fatima that three children saw "an angel" and later said they saw the blessed mother - the Virgin Mary. She gave them messages. Two of the messages were published. During this period of time when she was appearing before the children it was said that thousands of people viewed the sun zig-zagging in the sky. The one child, Lucia, grew to adulthood and became a nun. Lucia scribed a third message from the Virgin Mary which was eventually given to the Pope. It was to be revealed in 1960. It has not yet been revealed

When the Vision appears the Pope..."will control the Will and minds of men"

https://educate-yourself.org/cn/bettymillsvisonsandcirclesofpowerjan1991.shtml

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

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

page 463

The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

Revelation 13:18

New International Version

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

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

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved." page 333

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

Jeremiah 17:9

1599 Geneva Bible

9 [a]The heart is deceitful and wicked above all things, who can know it?

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Jeremiah 17:9 Because the wicked have ever some excuse to defend their doings, he showeth that their own lewd imaginations deceive them, and bring them to these inconveniences: but God will examine their deeds by the malice of their hearts, 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chron. 28:9; Ps. 7:10; Jer. 11:20 and 20:12; Rev. 2:13.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2017%3A9&version=GNV

The union of minds and hearts: with respect to: performing the task of the head on behalf of the entire Society [666]; governing subjects well [667-69]; exempting Ours from obedience [663]; preparing for, summoning, and directing congregations [681, 682, 686, 689, 690, 691, 712, 716, 718, 755], 332. See also Formulas of congregations " page 512

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 17:9-13

1599 Geneva Bible

9 [a]Here is the mind that hath wisdom, The [b]seven heads [c]are seven mountains, whereon the woman sitteth: [d]they are also seven Kings.

10 [e]Five are fallen, [f]and one is, [g]and another is not yet come: and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 [h]And the beast that was, and is not, is even [i]the eighth, and is [j]one of the seven, and [k]all go into destruction.

12 [l]And the ten horns which thou sawest, are [m]ten kings, which yet have not received a kingdom, but shall receive power, as Kings [n]at one hour with the beast.

13 [o]These have one mind, and shall give their power and authority unto the beast.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 17:9 An exhortation preparing unto audience, by the same argument, with that of Christ: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Wherefore, for mine own part, I had rather read in this place, Let there be here a mind, etc. So the Angel passeth fully unto the second place of this description.

Revelation 17:9 Very children know what that seven hilled city is, which is so much spoken of, and whereof Virgil thus reporteth, And compasseth seven towers in one wall: that city it is, which when John wrote these things had rule over the kings of the earth: It was and is not, and yet it remaineth this day, but it is declining to destruction.

Revelation 17:9 This is the painting out of the beast by things present (as I said before) whereby S. John endeavored to describe the same, that he might both be known of the godly in that age, and be further observed and marked of posterity afterwards. This delineation hath one type, that is, his heads, but a double description or application of the type: one permanent from the nature of itself, the other changeable, by the working of men. The description permanent, is by the seven hills, in this verse, the other that fleeteth, is from the seven kings, verses 10, 11. And here it is worthy to be observed, that one type hath sometimes two or more applications, as seemeth good unto the holy Ghost to express either one thing by divers types, or divers things by one type. So I noted before, of the seven spirits, Rev. 1:4. Now this woman that sitteth upon seven hills, is the city of Rome, called in times past of the Greeks, … i. of seven tops or crests, and of Varro, septiceps, i. of her seven heads (as here) of seven heads, and of others, septicollis, i. standing upon seven hills.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2017%3A9-13&version=GNV

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND. OMINOUS CHARACTER OF THE COLOUR “WHITE” TO ENGLISH ROYALTY.

WE beg to premise that the following fears are not our belief, but that they are educed from old traditions—old as England. It is a very ancient idea, derived from the highest antiquity, that the colour “white”—which, considered in the mystic and occult sense, is feminine in its origin—is fateful in its effects sometimes; and that, as a particular instance of its unfortunate character, it is an unlucky colour for the royal house of England—at all events, for the king or queen of England personally— singular as the notion would appear to be. We are not aware whether this sinister effct of the ominous colour white is supposed to extend to the nation generally. It is limited, we believe, to the prince or sovereign of England, and to his immediate belongings. The name John, which comes from Iona, a remote feminine root, has also been reckoned unfortunate from the king’s name both in England and in France. The reason of this does not appear to be anywhere stated. The origin of the prophecy, also, as to the formidable character of the colour white to England is unknown; but it is imaginged to be at least as old as the time of Merlin. Thomas de Quincey, who takes notice of the prophecy of the “White King,” says of King Charles the First, that the foreboding of the misfortunes of this “White King” were supposed to have been fulfilled in his instance, because he was by accident clothed in white at his coronation; it being remembered afterwards that white was the ancient colour for a victim. This, in itself, was sufficiently formidable an omen. De Quincey’s particular expressions are, “That when King Charles the First came to be crowned, it was found that, by some oversight, all the store in London was insufficient to furnish the purple velvet necessary for the robes of the king and for the furniture of the throne. It was too late to send to Genoa for a supply; and through this accidental deficiency it happened that the king was attired in white velvet at the solemnity of his coronation, and not in red or purple robes, as consisted with the proper usage.” As an earlier instance of this singular superstition, the story of that ill-fated royal White Ship occurs to memory, as the vessel was called wherein Prince William, the son of King Henry the First, the heir-apparent, with his natural sister, the Countess of Perche, and a large company of the young nobility, embarked on their return to England from Normandy. It might be supposed that the misfortunes of King Charles the First, which were accepted, at that time of monarchical dismay, as the reading (and the exhaustion) of this evil-boding prophecy, were enough; but there are some reasons for imagining that the effects are not—even in our day—altogether expended. The fatalities of the colour “white” to English royalty certainly found their consummation, or seemed so to do, in the execution of King Charles the First, who was brought out to suffer before his own palace of “Whitehall”—where, again, we find “white” introduced in connection with royalty and tragical events. Whitehall is the Royal “White” Palace of England. The “White Rose” was the unfortunate rose (and the conquered one) of the contending two Roses in this country. This is again a singular fact, little as it has been remarked. We will pursue this strange inquiry just a little further, and see if the lights of Rosicrucianism will not afford us a measure of help; for it is one of the doctrines of the Rosicrucians that the signatures, as they call them, of objects have a magical marking-up and a preternatural effect, through hidden spiritual reasons, of which we have no idea in this mortal state,—in other words, that magic and charming, through talismans, is possible; common sense being not all sense. The colour white is esteemed both of good and of bad augury, according to the circumstances and the periods of its presentation. However (to speak a few strange words), in relation to the use of the name “Albert Edward,” in a possible future time, which every loyal subject will hope to be remote enough, we would advise (supposing so humble a voice as ours should reach, or could attain, to the quarters where such a change might be effected) a variation of our future king’s name, and an avoidance of this supposedly unfortunate prefix “Albert” in favour of “Edward” only. This name of Edward is an historical, triumphant, and auspicious name; for all our Edwards, except the weak King Edward the Second, have been powerful or noteworthy men. Now, very few people have had occasion to remark, or have recalled the fact as significant and ominous in the way we mean, that the word “Albert” itself means “White.” The root of “Albert” is, in most languages, to be found in “white:” albus, white; alp, white; Albania, the “white” country. We here recall the “snowy camese,” to which Byron makes reference as worn in Albania. “Albion” (of the “white” cliffs), Alb, Al, El, Æl, all mean “white.” Examples might be multiplied. Alfoj, alsi, albus, “white,” are derived from the Celtic alp; and from thence came the word “Alps,” which are mountains always white, as being covered with snow. “Albus,” white, certainly comes from the Celtic alp, or alb,” says the historian Pezron; “for in that language, as well as in many others, the b and the p frequently interchange; from whence the ancient Latins, and the Sabines themselves, said Alpus for white. I consider it therefore as certain,” continues Pezron, “that from Alpus the word Alps came, because the mountains are always white, as being covered with snow; the words ‘Alp’ or ‘Alb,’ and their compounds, meaning white everywhere. I conclude, also, that from the Pen of the Celtæ, Umbrians, and Sabines, which signifies a ‘head,’ ‘top,’ or ‘high place,’ they made Penninus Mons, the Apennines, vast mountains in Italy. Thus these celebrated words proceed certainly from the Gaulish tongue, and are older by several ages than the city of Rome.” The following are all Teutonic or German words: alb, alf (Qy. Alfred?), and alp,—which all signify “white,” as their original root. Thus much for white. White is also a colour not auspicious to the Prussian royal family, although, again, in a contradictory way, the ensigns of Prussia (Borussia, or “of the Borussi”) are, as armorists well know, the original “white and black” of the Egyptians, which were adopted by the Teutons and the Templars. These white and black tinctures are heraldically argent and sable: Luna, or pearl, for “tears;” Saturn, or diamond, for “sadness, penance, and ashes.” In these strange senses, the Rosicrucians accepted colours as in themselves talismanic, powerfully operative through their planetary “efficients,” or “signatures,” as the astrologers call them. These ideas, more or less pronounced, have prevailed in all ages and in all countries, and they lurk largely in suspicion through our own land. We are all aware, in England, of the objection to the colour “green” in certain cases. It is the spirit-colour, a magic colour, the colour of the “fairies,” as the cabalistic, tutelary, miniature spirits are called, who are supposed to be very jealous of its use. In Ireland, green is universally regarded with distrust; but with veneration, in the spiritual sense. It is the national colour; for the Patroness of Ireland is the female deity, the Mother of Nature, known in the classic mythology as Venus,—equally Venus the graceful and Venus the terrible, as the Goddess of Life and of Death. The various verts, or greens, are the “colour-rulers” in the emblazonry of the Emerald Isle. The presiding deity of the Land of Ierna, or of Ireland, is the mythic “Woman” born out of the fecundity of nature, or out of the “Great Deep.” This is the genius (with certain sinister, terrible aspects, marked out grandly in the oldforms) who is “impaled” or “crucified”—in its real, hidden meaning-upon the stock, or “Tree of Life,” indicated by the Irish Harp. Her hair, in the moment of agony, streams Daphne-like, as “when about to be transformed into the tree,” behind her in the wind, and twines, in the mortal, mythical stress, into the seven strings of the magic Irish Harp, whose music is the music of the spheres, or of the Rosicrucian, assumed penitential, visible world. These seven strings stand for the seven vowels, by means of which came speech to man, when the “new being,” man (this is cabalistic again, and therefore difficult of comprehension), “opened his mouth and spake.” The seven strings of the Irish Harp, it will be remembered, are blazoned “Luna,” or the “Moon”—the feminine moon—according to the practice of the old heralds, in regard to all royal or ruling achievements, which are blazoned by the names of the planets. The seven strings of the Irish harp mean also the seven pure tones in music; these, again, stand for the seven prismatic colours; which, again, describe the seven vowels; and these, again, represent their seven rulers, or the seven planets, which have their seven spirits, or “Celestial Flames,” which are the seven Angels or Spirits of God, who keep the way round about “the Throne of the Ancient of Days.” There is in most countries an objection to Friday, although it is the Mohammedan sacred day or Sabbath. Friday is the day of the “Green.” Emeralds, or smaragds, are proper to be worn on Friday, and bring good fortune, as exercising occult influences on this particular day.* This is the day on which all green gems, and the colour green, should be universally used. Friday is the “woman's day” of the sevenfold weekly period; and therefore, as some illnatured people might say, it is the unlucky day. Certain it is, however, that although it presents the exact contradiction of being especially the woman's day, few or no marriages would be celebrated on this day, as popularly bearing the mark of ill-luck, which supposition few would like openly to defy, or, according to the familiar expression, “fly in the face of.” May is also forbidden for marriages, although it is the “woman's month,” or month in which “May-day” occurs, and in which “May-poles” used to be set up everywhere. (See figures of May-poles later in our book.) But to return to the ill-omened colour to England, white, and to the important (in this sense, formidable) shape in which we find it to appear in the name borne by our Prince of Wales—“Albert Edward;” inheriting his name “Albert” from perhaps the most lovable prince whom this country has ever known as casting in his destinies, by marriage, with it, but whose end—in the prime of life, and in the fulness of his influence—was surely unfortunate enough, when the eyes of hope of all Europe, in various respects, were fixed upon him! Let us, then, suggest that the name “Albert” be passed over in the person of the Heir to the Throne as a name laid aside; and let us hope that by and by (in distant days we trust) he will be known as king by the name—the propitious name—of Edward only, “Edward the Seventh,”—a period whose oncome, because of the royal disappearance which it will imply, we most earnestly and religiously deprecate. But the time must come; and we may be forgiven the thought sometimes obtruding. For it is of England and of her destinies we speak,—fanciful and strange as our unexpected allusions, and remote, legendary speculations, may appear; far off the beaten tracks of this hard, common-sense, mechanical, every-day world, in which the lot of thinkers, if of unusual bent, really seems most injuriously cast, and even cruelly cast. But men are men, and thoughts are thoughts: whether the thoughts of the “Conquest,” or of those of the reign of Victoria, all are alike in their reality at the time that they arise in the mind. The “White Lady of Berlin,” and her mysterious appearances from time to time, are well known to the writers of modern romantic biographical story. Whom she is supposed to represent seems to be unknown to all. Those who have recorded her fitful revelations of herself venture no surmise; but she is considered in some way the evil genius of the Hohenzollern family, much in the same manner as the unaccounted-for figure might have been regarded who revealed himself to Brutus on the Plains of Philippi, and who announced the crowning misfortunes of the next day. The Irish have a name for this supernatural appearance in the “banshee,” or the speaker, or exponent, of fate. The “White Lady of Berlin” is supposed to be seen by some person in the palace before any pre-eminent disaster supervenes, occurring to a member of the royal house. The glimpses of this White Lady are only momentary and delusive,—so vague, indeed, as to be readily contradicted or explained away (perhaps willingly) even by the supposed seers themselves. It is also a fact not a little curious, when we come to consider it by the side-glance, as it were, that the colour white (the English unfortunate colour), besides being that of the “White Rose” and of “Whitehall,” is that white of the unlucky Stuarts, whose history through centuries, both in Scotland and in England, was but one long catalogue of mishaps, woes, and disasters. Prince Charles Edward and his famous “white cockade,” and the evil fortunes of all his followers and of the Jacobite cause in general in 1715 and 1745, emblemed in the virgin, holy colour white, supply a touching—nay, tragical—page in public and in private history. Lastly, we may adduce as a supposed exemplification of the terrible general effects.of this evil-boding name albus, and colour white, in France, the history of all the Bourbons, whose colour is white in particular, from the first of that name who displayed his snowy banner, and who fell by the dagger of an assassin, to the last Bourbon in modern history, whose fate we will not attempt to forecast, nor in any manner to seem to bespeak. Merlin, whose prophecy of the dangers, at some time, of “white” to the kingdom of England was supposed to refer to the invasion of this country by the pale Saxons, whose device or token was the “white horse,” until further associations of white and misfortune in England came to dispel the idea, may even still have his original prophetic forecast unfulfilled. The colour white, or some strange, at present unimagined, associations of “white,” may yet lie, like a dream, perdu in the future (of the chances of which no man can speak), to justify Merlin at once, and to astonish and bewilder, by the long-delayed evolvement of the centuries in which at last the realisation and the misfortune become simultaneously apparent: for which, and for the possibilities of which, we will terminate in the adjuration of the sublime Romans, those masters in the art of augury and of divination, “Absit omen!” But thus much we have chosen to explain about the colour white, in justification of the ideas of the Rosicrucians as to the supernatural power of colours; and as to the magical qualities of those occult influences which they determined, in their philosophical vocabularies, strangely and mysteriously to call the “signatures of things.""

The Rosicrucians Their Rites and Mysteries

by Hargrave Jennings

https://ia800904.us.archive.org/31/items/rosicruciansthei00jenn/rosicruciansthei00jenn.pdf

"I of Newton" is an episode of the second series of The Twilight Zone.

Plot

A brilliant scientist named Sam labors tirelessly over an enigmatic equation that has confounded him for an extended period. Frustrated and at his wit's end, he exclaims that he would trade his soul to solve the equation. To his astonishment, a demon materializes before him. The demon reveals that the equation's utterance serves as a summoning ritual for demons and asserts that he has come to negotiate for Sam's soul. Unfazed, Sam rebuffs the demon, explaining that he was merely venting and has no intention of parting with his soul. The demon insists that it is too late, as Sam's soul is already claimed. Nonetheless, the demon offers Sam a deal: he can pose three questions about the demon's powers and limitations, and if Sam can then ask a question the demon cannot answer or assign him a task he cannot complete, the demon will release Sam's soul. Sam skeptically asks, "Really?" The demon confirms and announces that Sam has used his first question.

Annoyed, Sam inquires about any physical boundaries to the demon's powers. The demon responds that he can defy the laws of physics and manipulate time at will. For his final question, Sam asks if there exists a place where the demon cannot find his way back. The demon asserts that he can traverse anywhere in space, time, and the multiverse. Disappointed, the demon challenges Sam to pose the question or assign the task. With a sly smile, Sam instructs the demon to "get lost". Realizing he has been outsmarted, the demon vanishes, wailing "NOOOOO!" Freed from the demon's clutches, Sam resumes his work, grumbling that the demon "wasn't any help at all."

https://twilightzone.fandom.com/wiki/I_of_Newton

I, of Newton

A classic story of math and damnation

Declan Finn

Apr 16, 2024

I, of Newton is truly a classic piece of Science Fiction / Fantasy. I’ve shared it every so often on my social media feeds…

It only just occurred to me that I could have just shared it on substack.

Premise: Through an equation, a math professor accidentally summons a demon. Now, he must outwit the Devil, or face damnation.

Originally based off of a short story by Joe Haldeman, this is a sliver of an episode of The New Twilight Zone (Which sometimes put in two short stories per episode).

Stars Ron Glass (Firefly) and Sherman Hemsley (The Jacksons). And I must admit, you could play this just to listen to Ron Glass reading from the script in such a smooth, easy voice.

It was one of two episodes my father remembered from the entire series run. (The other featured Richard Kiley as Lancelot, and I believe Jenny Agutter as Morgana).

https://declanfinn.substack.com/p/i-of-newton

The Prophecy of the Popes (Latin: Prophetia Sancti Malachiae Archiepiscopi, de Summis Pontificibus, "Prophecy of Saint-Archbishop Malachy, concerning the Supreme Pontiffs") is a series of 112 short, cryptic phrases in Latin which purport to predict the Catholic popes (along with a few antipopes), beginning with Celestine II. It was first published in 1595 by Benedictine monk Arnold Wion, who attributed the prophecy to Saint Malachy, a 12th-century Archbishop of Armagh.

Given the accurate description of popes up to around 1590 and lack of accuracy for the popes that follow, historians generally conclude that the alleged prophecy is a pseudepigraphic fabrication written shortly before publication. The Catholic Church has no official stance, although some Catholic theologians have dismissed it as forgery.[1][2] The prophecy concludes with a pope identified as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will allegedly precede the destruction of the city of Rome.[3]

History

Publication and content

The alleged prophecy was first published in 1595 by a Benedictine named Arnold Wion in his Lignum Vitæ, a history of the Benedictine order. He attributed it to Saint Malachy, the 12th‑century Archbishop of Armagh. He explained that the prophecy had not, to his knowledge, ever been printed before but that many were eager to see it. Wion includes both the alleged original prophecy, consisting of short, cryptic Latin phrases, as well as an interpretation applying the statements to historical popes up to Urban VII (pope for thirteen days in 1590), which Wion attributes to historian Alphonsus Ciacconius.[4]

Origin theories

According to an account put forward in 1871 by Abbé Cucherat, Malachy was summoned to Rome in 1139 by Pope Innocent II to receive two wool palliums for the metropolitan sees of Armagh and Cashel. While in Rome, Malachy purportedly experienced a vision of future popes, which he recorded as a sequence of cryptic phrases. This manuscript was then allegedly deposited in the Vatican Secret Archives, and forgotten about until its rediscovery in 1590, supposedly just in time for a papal conclave occurring at the time.[5]

Several historians have concluded that the prophecy is a late 16th‑century forgery.[5][6][7] Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a contemporary biographer of Malachy who recorded the saint's alleged miracles, makes no mention of the prophecy.[5] The earliest known reference to them dates to 1587.[8] Spanish monk and scholar Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro wrote in his Teatro Crítico Universal (1724–1739), in an entry called Purported prophecies, that the high level of accuracy of the verses up until the date they were published, compared with their high level of inaccuracy after that date, is evidence that they were created around the time of publication.[9] The verses and explanations given by Wion correspond very closely to a 1557 history of the popes by Onofrio Panvinio (including replication of errors made by Panvinio), which may indicate that the prophecy was written based on that source.[10] In 1694, Claude-François Menestrier argued the additional interpretive statements were not written by Ciacconius, as the prophecy was not mentioned in any of Ciacconius' works, nor were the interpretive statements listed among his works.[11]

One theory to explain the prophecy's creation, put forward by 17th-century French priest and encyclopaedist Louis Moréri, among others, is that it was spread by supporters of Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli in support of his bid to become pope during the 1590 conclave to replace Urban VII. In the prophecy, the pope following Urban VII is given the description "Ex antiquitate Urbis" ("from the old city"), and Simoncelli was from Orvieto, which in Latin is Urbevetanum, old city. Moréri and others proposed the prophecy was created in an unsuccessful attempt to demonstrate that Simoncelli was destined to be pope.[12] However, the discovery of a reference to the prophecy in a 1587 letter has cast doubt on this theory. In this document the entourage of the Cardinal Giovanni Girolamo Albani interprets the motto De rore coeli ("From the dew of the sky") as a reference to their master, on the base of the link between alba ("dawn") and Albani, and the dew, as a typical morning atmospheric phenomenon.[13]

Interpretation

The interpretation of the entries for pre-publication popes provided by Wion involves close correspondences between the mottos and the popes' birthplaces, family names, personal arms, and pre-papal titles. For example, the first motto, Ex castro Tiberis (from a castle on the Tiber), fits Celestine II's birthplace in Città di Castello, on the Tiber. Efforts to connect the prophecy to historical popes who were elected after its publication have been more strained.[5][6][14] For example, Clement XIII is referred to as Rosa Umbriae (the rose of Umbria) but was not from Umbria nor had he any but the most marginal connection with the region, having been briefly pontifical governor of Rieti, at the time part of Umbria. One writer notes that among the post-publication (post-1595) popes there remain "some surprisingly appropriate phrases", while adding that "it is of course easy to exaggerate the list's accuracy by simply citing its successes", and that "other tags do not fit so neatly".[15]

Among the reported "successes" are "Light in the sky" for Leo XIII (1878–1903), with a comet in his coat of arms; "Religion depopulated" for Benedict XV (1914–22) whose papacy included World War I and the Russian Revolution; and "Flower of flowers" for Paul VI (1963–78), with fleur-de-lys in his coat of arms.[15] Peter Bander, then Head of Religious Education at Wall Hall teacher training college, wrote in 1969:

If we were to place the works of those who have repudiated the Prophecies of Malachy on scales and balance them against those who have accepted them, we would probably reach a fair equilibrium; however, the most important factor, namely the popularity of the prophecies, particularly among the ordinary people (as distinct from scholars), makes them as relevant to the second half of the twentieth century as they have ever been.

— Bander (1969), p. 10.

M. J. O'Brien, a Catholic priest who authored an 1880 monograph on the prophecy, provided a more scathing assessment:

These prophecies have served no purpose. They are absolutely meaningless. The Latin is bad. It is impossible to attribute such absurd triflings ... to any holy source. Those who have written in defence of the prophecy ... have brought forward scarcely an argument in their favour. Their attempts at explaining the prophecies after 1590 are, I say with all respect, the sorriest trifling.

— O'Brien (1880), p. 110.

Petrus Romanus

In recent times, some interpreters of prophetic literature have drawn attention to the prophecy due to its imminent conclusion; if the list of descriptions is matched on a one-to-one basis to the list of historic popes since publication, Benedict XVI (2005–13) would correspond to the second to last of the papal descriptions, Gloria olivae (the glory of the olive).[15] The longest and final verse predicts the Apocalypse:[16]

In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit. Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus, quibus transactis civitas septicollis diruetur, & judex tremendus judicabit populum suum. Finis.

This may be translated into English thus:

In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit [i.e., as bishop]. Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills [i.e. Rome] will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge[a] will judge his people. The End.[17]

Several historians and interpreters note the prophecy leaves open the possibility of unlisted popes between "the glory of the olive" and the final pope, "Peter the Roman".[5][18] In the Lignum Vitae, the line In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit. forms a separate sentence and paragraph of its own. While often read as part of the "Peter the Roman" entry, other interpreters view it as a separate, incomplete sentence explicitly referring to one or more popes between "the glory of the olive" and "Peter the Roman".[1]

Popes and corresponding mottos

The list can be divided into two groups; one of the popes and antipopes who reigned prior to the appearance of the prophecy c. 1590, for whom the connection between the motto and the pope is consistently clear. The other is of mottos attributed to popes who have reigned since its appearance, for whom the connection between the motto and the pope is often strained or totally absent and could be viewed as shoehorning or postdiction. The list has most commonly been divided between mottos 74 and 75, based on the mottos that were explained by Wion and those that were not. Lorenzo Comensoli Antonini divides the list between mottos 73 and 74, based on the loose connection between Urban VII and the motto "From the dew of the sky", and the reference to the prophecy in a 1587 letter, prior to Urban VII's papacy.[13]

René Thibaut divides the table at a different point, between the 71st and 72nd motto, asserting that there is a change in style at this point. He uses this distinction to put forward the view that the first 71 mottos are post-dated forgeries, while the remainder are genuine.[19] Hildebrand Troll echoes this view, noting that mottos 72–112 use a symbolic language related to the character of the pope and his papacy, in contrast to the more literal mottos for earlier popes.[20]

Pre-publication popes and antipopes (1143–1590)

The text on the silver lines below reproduces the original text (including punctuation and orthography) of the 1595 Lignum Vitae, which consisted of three parallel columns for the popes before 1590. The first column contained the motto, the second the name of the pope or antipope to whom it was attached (with occasional errors), and the third an explanation of the motto. There are some indications that both the mottos and explanations were the work of a single 16th-century person.[21] The original list was unnumbered.

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

Ignatius of Antioch (/ɪɡˈneɪʃəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, romanized: Ignátios Antiokheías; died c. 108/140),[2][3][7][8][9] also known as Ignatius Theophorus (Ἰγνάτιος ὁ Θεοφόρος, Ignátios ho Theophóros, 'the God-bearing'), was an early Christian writer and Patriarch of Antioch. While en route to Rome, where he met his martyrdom, Ignatius wrote a series of letters. This correspondence forms a central part of a later collection of works by the Apostolic Fathers. He is considered one of the three most important of these, together with Clement of Rome and Polycarp. His letters also serve as an example of early Christian theology, and address important topics including ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops.

Life

Nothing is known of Ignatius' life apart from the words of his letters and later traditions. It is said Ignatius converted to Christianity[10] at a young age. Tradition identifies him and his friend Polycarp as disciples of John the Apostle.[11] Later, Ignatius was chosen to serve as Bishop of Antioch; the fourth-century Church historian Eusebius writes that Ignatius succeeded Evodius.[12] Theodoret of Cyrrhus claimed that St. Peter himself left directions that Ignatius be appointed to this episcopal see.[13] Ignatius was called Theophorus (God Bearer). A tradition exists that he was one of the children whom Jesus Christ took in his arms and blessed.[14]

Veneration

Ignatius' feast day was kept in his own Antioch on 17 October, the day on which he is now celebrated in the Catholic Church and generally in western Christianity, although from the 12th century until 1969 it was put at 1 February in the General Roman Calendar.[15][16]

In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is observed on 20 December.[17] The Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria places it on the 24th of the Coptic Month of Koiak (which is also the 24th day of the fourth month of Tahisas in the Synaxarium of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church), corresponding in three years out of every four to 20 December in the Julian Calendar, which currently falls on 2 January of the Gregorian Calendar.

Ignatius is honored in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church on 17 October.[18][19] Likewise, Lutheran Churches honor Ignatius on 17 October.[20]

Martyrdom

Circumstances of martyrdom

Ignatius was condemned to death for his faith, but instead of being executed in his home town of Antioch, the bishop was taken to Rome by a company of ten soldiers:

'From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts, both by land and sea, both by night and day, being bound to ten leopards, I mean a band of soldiers...'

— Ignatius to the Romans Chapter 5

Scholars consider Ignatius' transport to Rome unusual since those persecuted as Christians would be expected to be punished locally. Stevan Davies has pointed out that "no other examples exist from the Flavian age of any prisoners except citizens or prisoners of war being brought to Rome for execution".[21]

If Ignatius had been a Roman citizen, he could have appealed to the emperor, with the common result of execution by beheading rather than torture.[22] However, Ignatius's letters state that he was put in chains during the journey, but it was against Roman law for a citizen to be put in bonds during an appeal to the emperor.[21]: 175–176

Allen Brent argues that Ignatius was transferred to Rome for the emperor to provide a spectacle as a victim in the Colosseum. Brent insists, contrary to some, that "it was normal practice to transport condemned criminals from the provinces in order to offer spectator sport in the Colosseum at Rome."[23]: 15

Stevan Davies rejects this idea, reasoning that: "If Ignatius was in some way a donation by the Imperial Governor of Syria to the games at Rome, a single prisoner seems a rather miserly gift."[21]: 176 Instead, Davies proposes that Ignatius may have been indicted by a legate, or representative, of the governor of Syria while the governor was away temporarily, and sent to Rome for trial and execution. Under Roman law, only the governor of a province or the emperor himself could impose capital punishment, so the legate would have faced the choice of imprisoning Ignatius in Antioch or sending him to Rome. Transporting the bishop might have avoided further agitation by the Antiochian Christians.[21]: 177–178

Christine Trevett calls Davies' suggestion "entirely hypothetical" and concludes that no fully satisfactory solution to the problem can be found: "I tend to take the bishop at his word when he says he is a condemned man. But the question remains, why is he going to Rome? The truth is that we do not know."[24]

Route of travel to Rome

During the journey to Rome, Ignatius and his entourage of soldiers made a number of lengthy stops in Asia Minor, deviating from the most direct land route from Antioch to Rome.[21]: 176 Scholars generally agree on the following reconstruction of Ignatius' route of travel:

Ignatius first traveled from Antioch, in the province of Syria, to Asia Minor. It is uncertain whether he traveled by sea or by land;

He was then taken to Smyrna, via a route that bypassed the cities of Magnesia, Tralles, and Ephesus, but likely passed through Philadelphia; (cf. Ign. Phil. 7)

Ignatius then traveled to Troas, where he boarded a ship bound for Neapolis in Macedonia; (cf. Ign. Pol. 8)

He then passed through the city of Philippi; (cf. Pol. Phil. 9)

After this, he took some land or sea route to Rome.[25]

During the journey, the soldiers seem to have allowed the chained Ignatius to meet with entire congregations of Christians, at least at Philadelphia (cf. Ign. Phil. 7), and numerous Christian visitors and messengers were allowed to meet with him individually. These messengers allowed Ignatius to send six letters to nearby churches, and one to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna.[21]: 176

These aspects of Ignatius' martyrdom are also unusual, in that a prisoner would normally be transported on the most direct route to his destination. Travel by land in the Roman Empire was far more expensive than by sea,[26] especially since Antioch was a major sea port. Davies argues that Ignatius' circuitous route can only be explained by positing that he was not the main purpose of the soldiers' trip and that the various stops in Asia Minor were for other state business. He suggests that such a scenario would also explain the relative freedom that Ignatius was given to meet with other Christians during the journey.[21]: 177

Date of martyrdom

Tradition places Ignatius's martyrdom in the reign of Trajan (c. 98–117). The earliest source for this is the 4th-century church historian Eusebius of Caesarea. Richard Pervo argues that Eusebius may have had an ideological interest in dating church leaders as early as possible, and asserting a continuous succession between the original apostles of Jesus and the leaders of the church in his day.[2] However, Jonathon Lookadoo argues that John Malalas and the Acts of Martyrdom's accounts of Ignatius are independent from Eusebius and they still place his death under Trajan.[27]: 6

While many scholars accept this traditional dating, others have argued for a somewhat later date. Richard Pervo dated Ignatius' death to 135–140.[2] British classicist Timothy Barnes has argued for a date in the 140s, on the grounds that Ignatius seems to have quoted a work of the Gnostic Ptolemy, who became active only in the 130s.[3] Étienne Decrept has argued from the testimony of John Malalas and the Acts of Drosis that Ignatius was martyred under the reign of Trajan during Apollo's festival in July 116, and in response to the earthquake at Antioch in late 115.[28]

Death and aftermath

Ignatius wrote that he would be thrown to the beasts; in the fourth century, Eusebius reports a tradition that this did happen,[29] while Jerome is the first to explicitly mention lions.[22] John Chrysostom is the first to place of Ignatius' martyrdom at the Colosseum.[30] Modern scholars are uncertain whether any of these authors had sources other than Ignatius' own writings.[22][29]

According to a medieval Christian text titled Martyrium Ignatii, Ignatius' remains were carried back to Antioch by his companions after his martyrdom.[31] The sixth-century writings of Evagrius Scholasticus state that the reputed remains of Ignatius were moved by the Emperor Theodosius II to the Tychaeum, or Temple of Tyche, and converted it into a church dedicated to Ignatius.[32] In 637, when Antioch was captured by the Rashidun Caliphate, the relics were transferred to the Basilica di San Clemente in Rome.[33]

The Martyrium Ignatii

Main article: Martyrium Ignatii

The Martyrium Ignatii is an account of the saint's martyrdom.[31] It is presented as an eye-witness account for the church of Antioch, attributed to Ignatius' companions, Philō of Cilicia, deacon at Tarsus, and Rheus Agathopus, a Syrian.[25]

Its most reliable manuscript is the 10th-century collection Codex Colbertinus (Paris), in which it is the final item. The Martyrium presents the confrontation of Bishop Ignatius with Emperor Trajan at Antioch, a familiar trope of Acta of the martyrs, and many details of the long journey to Rome. The Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria says that he was thrown to the wild beasts that devoured him.[34]

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

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

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

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

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

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

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

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, activist, and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination.

A Black church leader, King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other civil rights.[1] He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and later became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of the SCLC, he led the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize some of the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and helped organize two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches during the 1965 Selma voting rights movement. The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. There were several dramatic standoffs with segregationist authorities, who often responded violently.[2]

King was jailed several times. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an object of the FBI's COINTELPRO from 1963 forward. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, spied on his personal life, and secretly recorded him. In 1964, the FBI mailed King a threatening anonymous letter, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.[3] On October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War.

In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was convicted of the assassination, though the King family believes he was a scapegoat. After a 1999 wrongful death lawsuit ruling named unspecified "government agencies" among the co-conspirators,[4] a Department of Justice investigation found no evidence of a conspiracy.[5] The assassination remains the subject of conspiracy theories. King's death was followed by national mourning, as well as anger leading to riots in many U.S. cities. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2003. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the federal holiday was first observed in 1986. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.

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

Malachi Brendan Martin (23 July 1921 – 27 July 1999), also known under the pseudonym of Michael Serafian, was an Irish-born American Traditionalist Catholic priest, biblical archaeologist, exorcist, palaeographer, professor, and writer on the Catholic Church.

Ordained as a Jesuit, Martin became Professor of Palaeography at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. From 1958, he served as secretary to Cardinal Augustin Bea during preparations for the Second Vatican Council. Disillusioned by the council, Martin asked to be released from certain aspects of his Jesuit vows in 1964 and moved to New York City.

Martin's 17 novels and non-fiction books were frequently critical of the Catholic hierarchy, who he believed had failed to act on what he called "the Third Prophecy" revealed by the Virgin Mary at Fátima.[1] His works included The Scribal Character of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1958) and Hostage to the Devil (1976), which dealt with Satanism, demonic possession, and exorcism. The Final Conclave (1978) was a warning against Soviet espionage in the Vatican.

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

Am I my brother's keeper? Yes I am.

New Jack City • 1991

Quote

Nino Brown:

Am I my brother's keeper? Yes I am.

Transcript

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.838

Am I my brother's keeper Yes I am

Clip duration: 8 seconds

Timestamp in movie: 00h 34m 50s

Uploaded: 03 December, 2022

Genres: action, crime, drama

Summary: A crime lord ascends to power and becomes megalomaniacal while a maverick police detective vows to stop him.

Production: Jacmac Films,Jackson-McHenry Entertainment,Warner Bros. Pictures

https://clip.cafe/new-jack-city-1991/am-i-brothers-keeper-yes-i-am/

3. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

This is probably one of the most famous quotes in Black cinematic history. I have literally zero science to back that up, but it feels right. Anywho, G-Money says this to Nino Brown RIGHT before Nino kills him. By this point in the movie, everything has fallen apart for CMB, and Nino is trying to clean house.

28 Days of Black Movies: 5 quotes from ‘New Jack City’ that I use on my parenting journey

OPINION: The 1991 murder-crime-drug-family drama really is the gift that keeps on giving, especially in my life as a father.

Panama Jackson

Feb 27, 2022

https://thegrio.com/2022/02/27/28-days-of-black-movies-new-jack-city/

Keith David Williams June 4, 1956)[1] is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence[2] in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media.

He has starred in such films as The Thing (1982), Platoon (1986), They Live (1988), Men at Work (1990), Final Analysis (1992), Larger than Life (1996), Armageddon (1998), Where the Heart Is (2000), and American Fiction (2023). He starred as Elroy Patashnik in the sixth season of the NBC series Community (2015)[3] and starred as Bishop James Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama Greenleaf (2016–2020).

His Emmy-winning voice-over career includes work as the narrator of Ken Burns films such as Jazz (2001), The War (2007), and Muhammad Ali (2021). In film, characters that he has voiced include Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog (2009) and the Cat in Coraline (2009). On television, he portrayed Goliath in Gargoyles (1994–1997), Al Simmons / Spawn in Todd McFarlane's Spawn (1997–1999), The Flame King in Adventure Time (2012–2017), Andre Curtis / The President in Rick and Morty (2015–present), King Andrias in Amphibia (2020–2022), Grimlock in Transformers: EarthSpark (2022-present), Dr. Tenma in Pluto (2023), Husk in Hazbin Hotel (2024–present), and Mephisto in Hit-Monkey (2024–present). Video game roles include the Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee in the Halo franchise (2004–2015), Julius Little and himself in the Saints Row series (2006–2017), Admiral Anderson in the Mass Effect series (2007–2013), Chaos in Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008), Sergeant Foley in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), and Commander Zavala in Destiny 2: The Final Shape.

Early life and education

David was born June 4, 1956, in Harlem and raised in Corona, Queens, New York City. His mother, Dolores (née Dickenson), was a manager at New York Telephone, and his father, Lester Williams, worked as a director of payroll operations.[4]

He initially intended to become an actor after playing the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz and went on to study at Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. He attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division (1975–1979, Group 8)[5] where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1979.[6]

Career

Film and television

In 1980–81, David toured the country with John Houseman's The Acting Company in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Less than two years later, he went on to star as Childs, opposite Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's The Thing, starting his lengthy on-screen career. In the 1980s run of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, he portrayed Keith the Southwood Carpenter in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe segments. He also played Keith, the game coin collector in an episode where Rogers and a small child learn to play the arcade game Donkey Kong.

He went on to appear in films such as Platoon, They Live, Men at Work, Marked for Death, and Stars and Bars. He played Kirby in the 1995 film Dead Presidents, and he appeared in the 1995 Spike Lee film Clockers. Roles in other films followed, in Volcano,There's Something About Mary, Requiem for a Dream, Pitch Black, Barbershop, Agent Cody Banks, Head of State, Hollywood Homicide, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, The Chronicles of Riddick, Crash, ATL, Delta Farce and First Sunday.

He portrayed "Father" in the romantic comedy action film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. At the same time, he has appeared in numerous independent films including the critically acclaimed Requiem for a Dream, playing the role of Big Tim. He has also appeared extensively in television productions since the 1980s and as a regular character Lieutenant Williams on the short-lived television series The Job. He was a regular on another shoot, The Big House, made for ABC in 2004. David portrayed Detective Jim Crenshaw in the 2010 horror film Chain Letter.[7]

In 2010, David was cast as Max Malini for the NBC television series The Cape.[8] On April 18, 2011, Keith appeared in the 21st episode of season one of Hawaii Five-0 as criminal tycoon Jimmy Cannon. In 2012, he appeared in the horror film Smiley and the science-fiction drama Cloud Atlas. In 2013, David appeared in the controversial drama Boiling Pot which is based on true events of racism. In 2014, David portrayed Command Sergeant Major Donald Cody in the Fox comedy series Enlisted.[9] Later in 2014, David was cast as Elroy Patashnik in the sixth season of the sitcom Community.[3]

In 2015, David was cast in the leading role alongside Lynn Whitfield in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Greenleaf.[10]

Voice acting

David also works extensively as a voice actor. He was the voice of the Flame King in Adventure Time, King Andrias from Amphibia, Goliath from Gargoyles, the title character in the Spawn animated series, and Lemuel Kane in Archer. In the English dub of Princess Mononoke, David played the narrator and Okkoto. He played the role of Mama in the English dub of 3×3 Eyes. He provided the voice for the character Decker in the role-playing video game Fallout and the voice for the character Vhailor in Planescape: Torment. He provided the voice of the Arbiter for the video game Halo 2, released in 2004; later, he reprised that role in the Xbox 360 follow-up Halo 3. He portrayed the character again in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and also in Halo 5: Guardians, released in 2014 and 2015 respectively. He played the role of Captain David Anderson in BioWare's Mass Effect series.

David did voice work in the video game Saints Row and its sequel Saints Row II, playing gang leader of the 3rd Street Saints Julius Little, as well as voicing himself in Saints Row IV. He is also heard on the intro of several Ice Cube projects, including Westside Connection's 2003 release Terrorist Threats, Cube's 2008 solo album Raw Footage, Cube's 2010 solo album I Am the West, and he narrated the documentary Beef II, which also featured Ice Cube.[citation needed]

He provides the voice for the UPS "What Can Brown Do for You" commercials. He did the voice of Despero in the two part episode "Hearts and Minds" of Justice League. He has done voice work for early Adult Swim commercials for Inuyasha.[11]

He has worked with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns numerous times, narrating Burns' Jazz, Mark Twain, The War, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Leonardo da Vinci. David won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work in The War and Unforgivable Blackness. He performs the narration duties in the BBC documentary, World War II: Behind Closed Doors.[12]

The 2004 PBS documentary Ancient Refuge in the Holy Land[13] and the 2005 History Channel documentary Crusades: Crescent & the Cross focusing on the medieval Crusades were both narrated by him, as well as the 2003 National Geographic documentary Inside Mecca. He later parodied his documentary work by narrating the 2012 episode of Community, "Pillows and Blankets", a mockumentary revolving around a pillow fight between rival blanket forts.[citation needed]

David has done voice-over work for many other documentaries including several for National Geographic and the documentary Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked for the History Channel. He replaced Paul Winfield as narrator for the A&E show City Confidential, taking over after Winfield's death in 2004. He voiced the trailer for the film Primeval, which was released in the United States on January 12, 2007.

David provided the voice of police detective Alex Cross for the audiobook versions of three novels by James Patterson: Cat and Mouse (1997), Pop Goes the Weasel (1999), and Roses are Red (2000). Other voice roles include Bebe Proud Clone from The Proud Family Movie, Atlas from Teen Titans, the lone renegade male gorilla Tublat in The Legend of Tarzan, and the Decepticon Barricade in Transformers: The Game.

He voiced Apollo the Sun God in Hercules, Council Member in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the Black Cat in Coraline, Sergeant Foley in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog, and Big Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man episode "Survival of the Fittest".

David in 2010

On May 25, 2008, he narrated Kansas City's Celebration at the Station, a Memorial Day service held annually at the World War I Memorial. During the ceremony, he announced the attendance of Frank W. Buckles, the last living veteran of World War I. He was the voice of Frederick Douglass in the third episode of the PBS documentary God in America: How Religious Liberty Shaped America in 2010.[14]

David returned to the Saints Row series in Saints Row IV, voicing a fictionalized version of himself as well as reprising Julius Little. He is the narrator of the History Channel series The Bible which premiered on March 3, 2013.[15]

David voiced the superhero gorilla Solovar in the two-part Gorilla City episode of The Flash.[16] Keith David also has a recurring role as the President of the United States in the adult animated series Rick and Morty.

David was the narrator of the MLB Network special Mr. Padre, the video biography of San Diego Padres Hall-of-Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn.

David has also narrated several WWE documentaries including The True Story of Wrestlemania and the 20 episodes of The Monday Night War, documenting the battle between WWE Raw and WCW Nitro.

David later recurred in Stargirl as the voice of Mister Bones.

David began voicing Commander Zavala in the Destiny franchise beginning in Destiny 2: The Final Shape, replacing Lance Reddick following his death.[17]

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

They Live is a 1988 American science fiction action horror film[b] written and directed by John Carpenter, based on the 1963 short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson. Starring Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster, the film follows a drifter[c] who discovers through special sunglasses that the ruling class are aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to consume, breed, and conform to the status quo via subliminal messages in mass media.

Having acquired the film rights to the Nelson-penned short story prior to the production of They Live, Carpenter used the story as the basis for the screenplay's structure, which he wrote under the pseudonym "Frank Armitage". Carpenter has stated that the themes of They Live stemmed from his dissatisfaction with the economic policies of then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan, as well as what Carpenter saw as increasing commercialization in both popular culture and politics.[8]

They Live was a minor success upon release, debuting at number 1 at the North American box office. It initially received negative reviews from critics, who lambasted its social commentary, writing, and acting; however, it later gained a cult following and experienced a significantly more favorable critical reception. It is now regarded by many as one of Carpenter's best films.[9][2] The film has also entered the pop culture lexicon, notably having a lasting effect on street art (particularly that of Shepard Fairey).

Plot

Nada, a homeless man, comes to Los Angeles, California in pursuit of a job, where he spots a preacher warning that "they" have recruited the rich and powerful to control humanity. He finds employment at a construction site and befriends his coworker Frank, who invites him to live in a shantytown near a church and meets their community leader Gilbert.

A hacker takes over TV broadcasts, alerting that humanity is "their cattle" and the only way to unfold the truth is to shut off the signal at its source. Those watching the broadcast complain of headaches. Nada follows Gilbert and the preacher into the church, discovering a recording of gospel music playing that unbeknownst to Nada obscures a meeting with a group including the hacker. Nada also uncovers equipment and boxes inside, but escapes when he bumps into the preacher. The shantytown and church are destroyed in a police raid, and the hacker and preacher are brutalized by law enforcement officers.

Nada retrieves one of the boxes from the church and takes a pair of sunglasses from it, concealing the box in a trash pile. He finds out they make the world appear monochrome, but also reveal subliminal messages in the media to consume and conform. The most puzzling reveal, however, is they also disclose that many people are actually ghoulish, bug-eyed aliens hiding under human facades. Additionally, the creatures have wristwatch communicators that allow them to teleport, along with surveillance drones. When a group of aliens at a supermarket realize Nada can detect them, he is confronted by two alien police officers. He kills them, steals their guns, and enters a bank, where he sees that multiple employees and customers are aliens. He kills several and escapes by taking a human, Holly Thompson, hostage. Nada attempts to persuade her to put on the glasses, but she throws him out of a window and down a hill.

While Nada retrieves another pair of sunglasses from the trash pile, Frank comes to give Nada his paycheck and orders him to stay away following Nada's killing spree becoming widespread news. When Nada tries to put the glasses on him, Frank resists and a lengthy brawl ensues. After subduing him, Nada places the glasses on Frank, who sees the aliens for himself and goes into hiding with Nada. The two run into Gilbert, who introduces them to the human resistance. They are given contact lenses to replace the sunglasses, and learn about the aliens using global warming to make Earth's atmosphere similar to their homeworld, while depleting its resources for their own gain. They also learn that the aliens have been bribing human collaborators in exchange for wealth. Holly joins the meeting, bringing information about where the signal may be coming from. She apologizes to Nada for striking him, claiming she hadn't known what was occurring. Soon afterwards, the meeting is raided by police, with the majority of those present killed and the survivors scattered. Nada and Frank are cornered in an alley, but Frank activates an alien wristwatch, opening a portal to the alien's spaceport on Earth under Cable 54, an alien-run news network.

Coming across a meeting of aliens and collaborators celebrating the defeat of the human resistance, they are approached by a drifter from the shantytown, now a collaborator. Mistaking them for new recruits, he gives the pair a tour of the facility, where the aliens broadcast a signal that prevents humans from identifying them and their hidden messages. Nada and Frank locate Holly and fight their way to the transmitter on the roof, but Holly, herself a collaborator responsible for the raid, murders Frank. Nada kills Holly and destroys the transmitter, but is mortally wounded by a police helicopter. With the signal shut down, Nada gives them the middle finger as he dies.

Meanwhile, humans all over the world discover aliens hiding among them.

Cast

Roddy Piper as Nada

Keith David as Frank Armitage

Meg Foster as Holly Thompson

Raymond St. Jacques as Street Preacher

George Buck Flower as Drifter / Collaborator

Peter Jason as Gilbert

Sy Richardson as Black Revolutionary

Susan Blanchard as Ingenue

Norman Alden as Construction Foreman

Kerry Rossall as 2nd Unit Guard

Themes

Carpenter has said that the film's political commentary derives from his dissatisfaction with then–U.S. President Ronald Reagan's economic policies—also known as Reaganomics—and what Carpenter viewed as increasing commercialization in both the popular culture and politics of the era.[8]

Upon the film's release, Carpenter remarked, "The picture's premise is that the 'Reagan Revolution' is run by aliens from another galaxy. Free enterprisers from outer space have taken over the world, and are exploiting Earth as if it's a third world planet. As soon as they exhaust all our resources, they'll move on to another world... I began watching TV again. I quickly realized that everything we see is designed to sell us something. ... It's all about wanting us to buy something. The only thing they want to do is take our money." To this end, Carpenter thought of sunglasses as being the tool to seeing the truth, which "is seen in black and white. It's as if the aliens have colonized us. That means, of course, that Ted Turner is really a monster from outer space."[d] The director commented on the alien threat in an interview: "They want to own all our businesses. A Universal executive asked me, 'Where's the threat in that? We all sell out every day.' I ended up using that line in the film." The aliens were deliberately made to look like ghouls, according to Carpenter, who said "The creatures are corrupting us, so they, themselves, are corruptions of human beings."[10]

In 2017, in response to neo-Nazi interpretations of the film's themes, Carpenter further clarified that the film "is about yuppies and unrestrained capitalism" and "has nothing to do with Jewish control of the world".[e]

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Reply: Y es, verv well...

Where didyou see him?

“-At Varsovia.

Did he know something?

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

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

instruction could be given by him to others?

" - Exactly that.

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

“ - No, he was a good man.

“I said to him out of the blue:

“— Who was the Marshall’ s predecessor?

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

"— Baron Rod, from Kœnigsberg.

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

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

communicating this anecdote. ”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

chivalric Order of that name.

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

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

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

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

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

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

existence of a Templar System.

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

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

Hund, in the Lodge of Kittlitz, near Lobau.

9 Bonne - PV.

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

might mean.- Pv.

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

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

continue to quote G. de Montchal:

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

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

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

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

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

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

took the name o/’Strict Templar Observance.

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

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

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

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

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

Cassel...

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

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

knowledge, above ail in the realm of occultism.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

crossbar in red 11 ...”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

surprising fact!

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

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

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

observatory, ail narned Uranienborg.

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

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

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

right up to the end of the 18 th Century.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

institutio, auctore serenissimo potentissimioque principe.’’'’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Observance from which it came.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ancestry

Early life

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]

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

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

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

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

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."

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://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

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

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

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

Inferno (Italian: [iɱˈfɛrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno describes Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen".[1] As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)

Fire as the agent of Truth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Scientists Predicted Corona’s Appearance During Aug. 21, 2017, Total Solar Eclipse

The headshot image of Miles Hatfield

Miles Hatfield

Aug 27, 2018

Article

It was Aug. 14, 2017, just one week before the Moon would cross paths with the Sun and Earth, casting its shadow across the United States. The entire country buzzed with anticipation for the fleeting chance to see the corona, the Sun’s tenuous outer atmosphere.

But the wait was uniquely nerve-wracking for a group of scientists at Predictive Science Inc., a private research company in San Diego: They had just published a prediction of what the corona would look like on Aug. 21, the day of the total solar eclipse. How would their prediction — the result of a complex numerical model and tens of hours of computing — compare to the real thing?

“Waiting for totality, you know exactly what you’ve predicted and what you’re expecting,” Predictive Science researcher Zoran Mikić said. “Because you work with the model so much and see the prediction so many times, it’s burned into your brain. There’s a lot of anxiety because if you’re totally wrong, it’s a bit embarrassing.”

The Predictive Science researchers used data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, to develop a model that simulates the corona. Their model uses measurements of magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface to predict how the magnetic field shapes the corona. Their work was supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Mikić is the lead author of a paper summarizing their work and published in Nature Astronomy on Aug. 27, 2018.

Coronal science is deeply rooted in the history of total eclipses; even with state-of-the-art technology, it’s only during a total eclipse that scientists can resolve the lowest region of the corona, just above the Sun’s surface. This dynamic part of the solar atmosphere is threaded with complex magnetic fields that supply the energy for tremendous eruptions like flares and coronal mass ejections.

As particles and radiation from solar explosions travel out from the Sun, they can manifest as disturbances in near-Earth space, known as space weather. Just as variable as the weather we experience on Earth, space weather can disrupt communications signals, astronauts and satellites in orbit, or even power grids.

The ability to forecast and predict space weather — much like we do terrestrial weather — is critical to mitigating these impacts, and models such as Predictive Science’s are key tools in the effort.

Eclipses offer a unique opportunity for researchers to test their models. By comparing the model’s corona prediction to observations during the eclipse itself, they could assess and improve the performance of their models.

The model the Predictive Science team used for the August 2017 eclipse was their most complex yet in two decades of eclipse-predicting.

Greater complexity demands more computing hours, and each simulation required thousands of processers and took about two days of real time to complete. The research group ran their model on several supercomputers including facilities at the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computer Center; the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California San Diego; and the Pleiades supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.

In addition to SDO’s maps of the Sun’s magnetic field, the model used SDO observations of prominences — snakelike structures made of cool, dense solar material that protrude from the Sun’s surface. Prominences form in stressed parts of the magnetic field, where it’s twisted into a rope and capable of erupting if overwound.

The researchers also included new calculations for coronal heating. We don’t yet understand how the corona blazes upwards of 2 million degrees Fahrenheit, while just 1,000 miles below, the underlying surface simmers at a balmy 10,000 F. One theory proposes electromagnetic waves — called Alfvén waves — launched from the Sun’s churning surface rush out into the corona, heating particles as they propagate outwards, a bit like how ocean waves push and accelerate surfers toward the shore.

By accounting for prominences and these tiny — but numerous — waves, the scientists hoped to paint an increasingly detailed portrait of the corona’s complex behavior.

After the eclipse, the group found their prediction bore a striking resemblance to the Aug. 21, 2017, corona, although the model lacks many finer structures. Both the prediction and photos from the ground taken on the day of the eclipse show three helmet streamers — immense, petal-shaped structures that form over a network of magnetic loops. The strength of the comparison supports advances in the new model.

Scientists have always known the twisted magnetic fields underlying prominences are an important part of the Sun, but the team’s earlier models weren’t sophisticated enough to reflect it. The same is true for the waves heating the corona. “In some sense, the model’s performance tells us the new heating model is headed in the right direction,” Mikić said. “It’s certainly showing improved results. We should pursue and refine it further.”

In the business of eclipse predictions, it helps when the Sun is quiet, or less active. In August 2017, the Sun was in one such quiet phase, moving steadily toward a period of low solar activity in its approximately 11-year cycle.

The scientists fed their model with magnetic field data collected from the Sun’s Earth-facing side over the preceding 27 days — the time it takes the Sun to complete one full rotation — since they currently don’t have a way to observe the entire spherical solar surface all at once. With that approach, measurements taken at the beginning of the 27-day period — from parts of the Sun’s surface that have subsequently rotated toward the back where they can no longer be seen — are more likely to grow outdated than those taken at the end. But in times of diminished solar activity, the magnetic field isn’t quick to change, so even 27-day-old data is useful.

One discrepancy between the prediction and the observations is a skinnier feature, called a pseudostreamer, that jets out from the Sun’s upper-right. The researchers determined their model missed the pseudostreamer because the magnetic field changed in that specific region during the data collection. A different model’s prediction successfully captured this pseudostreamer, Mikić said, because it appears to have estimated the magnetic field more accurately there.

“The biggest thing I take away from this is they’ve got a sophisticated model that looks good, but they’re limited by their observations,” said Alex Young, a solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who wasn’t involved with the study. “What the model misses is a matter of the Sun changing, and that’s something they can’t handle without enough observations from the right places.”

Testing a model like this so thoroughly supports the idea that, with more data and diverse vantage points, scientists can better calculate the Sun’s finer dynamics — and ultimately improve their ability to forecast space weather events that can interfere with technology and astronauts in space.

Just under a year after millions glimpsed the corona themselves during the total eclipse, on Aug. 12, 2018, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe on its way to actually fly through the corona, going closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before.

Parker Solar Probe will send back to Earth observations from inside the corona itself, which researchers can add to their models, filling crucial knowledge gaps in the corona’s complicated physics.

Mikić said models like theirs can complement the mission by contextualizing the spacecraft’s journey through the corona. Scientists have never worked with data collected so close to the Sun. By modeling the entire corona — the bigger picture — researchers will provide crucial perspective on Parker’s surroundings as it ventures into entirely unexplored territory.

“This is amazing science for Parker Solar Probe and from the eclipse, that shares one key purpose,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Beyond the science, this is about really advancing our understanding of and ability to predict space weather, a major impact we can have at NASA.”

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/ames/how-scientists-predicted-coronas-appearance-during-aug-21-2017-total-solar-eclipse/

La tiara papal fue una triple corona usada por los papas, líderes de la Iglesia católica, desde el siglo VIII hasta el XX. Fue utilizada por última vez por el papa Pablo VI.

El término tiara se refiere a la totalidad de la pieza, sin importar cuántas coronas o diademas la hubieran adornado a través de los siglos,[1][2] mientras que su forma de tres niveles, que fue ideada en el siglo XIV, es también llamada triregnum[3][4] ‘triple tiara’[5][6][7] o ‘triple corona’.[8]

De 1143 a 1963, la tiara papal se colocó solemnemente en la cabeza del papa durante su ceremonia de coronación. Las tiaras papales supervivientes poseen todas el triregnum, siendo la más antigua la de 1572, y el resto no anteriores al año 1800.

Una representación del triregnum, combinada con las dos llaves cruzadas de San Pedro, continúa siendo utilizada como un símbolo del papado y aparece en sus documentos, edificios e insignias.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiara_papal

Pope Francis urges people to get vaccinated against Covid-19

Pope Francis launches a powerful appeal for people to get vaccinated with approved Covid-19 vaccines, calling it “an act of love.”

By Devin Watkins

August 18 2021

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-08/pope-francis-appeal-covid-19-vaccines-act-of-love.html

A TRULY MYSTIC SEAL

THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES AND ITS MYSTIC SIGNIFICANCE

Most Americans have a dim idea that the Great Seal of their country shows an eagle, a constellation of stars, an olive branch signifying peace, and a set of thirteen arrows which probably means war in case of necessity, but few have ever seen the reverse side of the seal or even suspected its existence. Nor has the reverse side ever been cut, a strangely restraining hand having seemingly been laid upon every attempt to bring it before the public. When the large painting of the reverse side which was ordered made together with the familiar obverse, for the government display at the Chicago World's Fair, was to be hung, those in charge exclaimed: "What a peculiar design: Why were we given this inartistic symbol?" and once more the white stone was rejected, the painting was turned face to the wall and only the obverse side displayed. But the time has now come when the full knowledge of her seal shall be made known to her people, for America must henceforth stand before the world as its teacher, leader and the promulgator of a new and perfect system of ethics, religious leadership, a citizenship that is efficient and free, a just industrial democracy, and a justice and generosity to other nations that shall emphasize the brotherhood of man and the Fatherland of God. Late in the afternoon of July 4th, 1776, the new Continental Congress "Resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to prepare a device for the Seal of the United States of America." That committee was identical save for the omission of Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman with that which had drawn up the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration had been signed about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and Congress desired to at once complete the evidences of the independence of the United States by formally adopting an official sign of sovereignty and a national coat of arms.

The arms of England, the mother country, expressed the union of Judah's lion, with the unicorn of "Lost Israel" in accordance with the Science of Heraldry, but the young republic had finished with thrones and crowns and must blaze a new path through the forest of liberty, which should express her descent from all christian nations and hold open a door for all other races which should seek help and shelter upon her shores. A knowledge of heraldy was considered a part of an education in the early colonial days, and it was through William Barton son of the rector of St. James Episcopal church of Philadelphia, learned in heraldry, and through Baron Prestwich, of England, that the designs expressive of American destiny were given and drawn. Yet other dabblers in heraldry failed utterly to understand the mystic meaning of the seals. Professor Charles Elliott Norton, of Harvard, regretted its lack of art, and complained it could never be other than a dull masonic emblem, while a Mr. Wilson, considered a great historical scholar, declared the reverse side "in very bad taste, unintelligent and commonplace, and if it can be laid away and kept in the dark why not keep it so!" Even the constellation of thirteen stars came in for criticism, as "very bad heraldically." Again and again the pyramid with the white cope stone and the glory, were rejected, until in 1916 members of the Rose Cross Order, Illuminati, and others of the six pointed star of the seal, hung it officially in their class rooms and declared it as expressive of their philosophy-religion; the Bible wisdom of the common people rather than of the collegian. In the two sides of our seal are expressed in heraldry countless ages of the evolution of man, from the time of his socalled fall, through his progress in Egypt (eagleland), where for a time a wondrous race incarnated to build astounding monuments, receding, but returning again as the Hebraic Confederation to receive the knowledge of ancient Atlantis in the shade of its ancient altar, the Great Pyramid, uniting in a blaze of glory in the building of Solomon's Temple, parting, the northern tribes to leaven, though lost to history, all Europe, Judah and part of Benjamen and Levi, returning to hold Jerusalem until the Master Jesus should be born, journey down into 'Egypt to the ancient altar and receive light yet left in that land of darkness. "In that day shalt there be an altar to the Lord a pillar in the midst of Egypt, upon the borders thereof, and it shall be for a sign and a witness unto the Lord," said Isaiah. It is needless for learned historians to tell us, who hold the records, that the Great Pyramid is but six thousand years old, for we know it to have been built when the morning stars sang together and the "Sons of God" shouted for joy, in that far Edenic period, when Atlantis the mighty stood in her purity, where in part America now stands. Built at the center of the earth, as a temple of the highest initiation, symbolic of a perfect man, foursquare in body, mind, soul and spirit, with its white copestone, symbol of complete immortality, it represents the measure of the earth, as well as that of the universe, and the evolution of man through those countless ages of reincarnation now drawing to a close. Thither the Atlantians went for instruction in its galleries and rooms at the hands of mighty priests of the Priests of Melchisidek'''' and Osirian Brotherhoods, and throughout the succeeding ages those who would attain self mastery have turned their footsteps toward the ancient centers. "The last Cumaen Song now comes," wrote Virgil, who prophesied that a race should arise which would be offspring of all races and bring to an end the ages of iron (war) and usher in the Golden Age. Hence it was fitting that the mottos upon the reverse side of our seal above and below the pyramid should be taken from Virgil, "Annuit Coeptis," "Prosper us in our daring," and "Novus ordo seclorum," "a new and select order," which many of us have now the honor to have entered, and whose door we hold open to all who will accomplish the spiritual work necessary. "The day of freedom dawned upon the earth."

FUNDAMENTAL LAWS

A Report of the 68th Convocation of the Rosa Cross Order

https://ia601309.us.archive.org/15/items/fundamentallawsr00rose/fundamentallawsr00rose.pdf

The Dayton Scene Radio Show

Show Info

Hosted by:

Produced by: DJ Dartagnan

Language: English (Canada) (English (Canada))

Show Times

Timezone: CDT [UTC-5]

Thu:

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

[2:00 pm - 4:00 pm]

← Full Station Schedule

About the Show

“The Dayton Scene Radio Show” radio program is the brainchild of David R. Webb, Sr., founder and CEO of The Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center in Dayton. It officially started airing in Nov. 2020 as a syndicated radio show in Toronto, Canada on “Jackie Vibes Radio.”

“Dayton is called the ‘Gem City’’ (and) one of its brightest treasures is funk music,” Webb said. “The heartbeat of this unique show is to ensure future generations are exposed to this wonderful music art form. At the same time, we emphasize funk’s rippling effect and influence upon contemporary musicians.”

Explore

Ohio Players original drummer and leader Greg Webster dies

Today, nationally syndicated from its flagship station, 88.9 FM WCSU in Wilberforce, the two-hour radio program is heard in more than 30 markets. Locally, listeners can find the program in the following places:

-Saturday nights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on 88.9FM WCSU

-Sundays on WSWO/Oldies 97.3 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Huber Heights

-Wednesday afternoons from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on 106.9FM WWSU/ Fairborn, Ohio

“In 2021, Webb added the talents of Trent Darby and Jasmine Summers to create a vibrant on-air trio,” according to a release from The Funk Center.

Darby and Summers, also known as “Super Soul Sister,” have combined radio careers of more than 40 years. Darby’s segment called “Sample It” dives deep into the history of funk music and connects the dots to contemporary artists and hip-hop artists.

Summer’s segment, “Black Exploitation Theatre,” looks back on the history of Black movies that many people in the African American community grew up on and laughed through, Webb said.

“At the same time, we illuminate the stereotypes mainstream media created about African Americans in order to increase their profits,” Webb added.

“Other segments include ‘Billboard Magazine Trivia and Tidbits’ spotlighting interesting facts about groups from decades past, ‘Live at Concert Series’ gives you a front row seat at some of the hottest funk concerts, ‘8-Track Flash Back’ looks back at songs, TV shows, cartoons and movies that were hits in the ‘70s, The ‘Funk Chronicles Spotlight Artist’ courtesy of the Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center, and ‘Bell Bottoms & Roller Skates,’ which brings back memories of spinning around the wooden floor, showing off dance skills and your hottest fashion,” stated the release.

The Dayton Scene Radio Show has its roots going back to 2012. Webb created a TV show and podcast titled “The Funk Chronicles,” which spotlights the history of funk music and its intricate connection to Dayton.

Webb is still producing “The Funk Chronicles,” which ultimately led to the birth of The Dayton Scene Radio Show and can be found on The Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center’s official YouTube page.

“Musicians from back in the day wanted to share their stories and connection to our city,” Webb said. “We cut-up during the interviews and had great, down-to-earth conversations… Listeners liked hearing the behind-the-scenes stories connected to their favorite songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s.”

https://wfnkwefunk.com/show/the-dayton-scene/

THE DAYTON SCENE RADIO SHOW

Description

"The Dayton Funk Dynasty Group," preserves not only the history of FUNK music but Dayton's special place in the history of the genre. The heartbeat of the radio show is to ensure that future generations are exposed to the wonderful music artform with an emphasis on the history of the contributions of the FUNK music in Dayton, Ohio.

Remember Let's Keep it Funky!!!

More info

www.youtube.com/@thedaytonsceneradioshow.1582

Joined May 19, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyQAGdz9epJaNipeCl5v0CQ

The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords (Serbo-Croatian: Dejtonski mirovni sporazum, Дејтонски мировни споразум), and colloquially known as the Dayton (Croatian: Dayton, Bosnian: Dejton, Serbian: Дејтон) in ex-Yugoslav parlance, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States, finalised on 21 November 1995,[4] and formally signed in Paris, on 14 December 1995. These accords put an end to the three-and-a-half-year-long Bosnian War, which was part of the much larger Yugoslav Wars.

The warring parties agreed to peace and to a single sovereign state known as Bosnia and Herzegovina composed of two parts, the largely Serb-populated Republika Srpska and mainly Croat-Bosniak-populated Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The agreement has been criticized for creating ineffective and unwieldy political structures and entrenching the ethnic cleansing of the previous war.[5][6]

Negotiation and signature

Duration: 1 hour, 22 minutes and 5 seconds.1:22:05

Video of the signing of the Dayton Agreement

Though basic elements of the Dayton Agreement were proposed in international talks as early as 1992,[7] these negotiations were initiated following the unsuccessful previous peace efforts and arrangements, the August 1995 Croatian military Operation Storm and its aftermath, the government military offensive against the Republika Srpska, conducted in parallel with NATO's Operation Deliberate Force. During September and October 1995, world powers (especially the United States and Russia), gathered in the Contact Group, pressured the leaders of the three sides to attend settlement negotiations; Dayton, Ohio was eventually chosen as the venue.[8]

Talks began with an outline of key points presented by the US in a team led by National Security Adviser Anthony Lake in visits to London, Bonn, Paris and other European stops 10 – 14 August 1995. These included Sochi, to consult Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev. Lake's team handed off to a separate US inter-agency group led by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, who went on to negotiate with Balkan leaders in their capitals.[9] The Holbrooke crew conducted five rounds of intense shuttle diplomacy from August to October,[10] including short conferences in Geneva and New York that resulted in the parties' adoption of principles for a settlement on 8 and 26 September respectively.[11]

The Dayton conference took place from 1–21 November 1995. The main participants from the region were the President of the Republic of Serbia Slobodan Milošević (whom the Bosnian Serbs had previously empowered to represent their interests), President of Croatia Franjo Tuđman, and President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Alija Izetbegović with his Foreign Minister Muhamed Šaćirbeg.[12]

The peace conference was led by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, and negotiator Richard Holbrooke with two co-chairmen in the form of EU Special Representative Carl Bildt and the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Igor Ivanov. A key participant in the US delegation was General Wesley Clark. The head of the UK's team was Pauline Neville-Jones, political director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The UK military representative was Col Arundell David Leakey. Paul Williams, through the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) served as legal counsel to the Bosnian Government delegation during the negotiations.

Holbrooke spoke of the "immense difficulty of engaging the Bosnian government in a serious negotiation".[13]

The secure site was chosen in order to remove all the parties from their comfort zone, without which they would have little incentive to negotiate; to reduce their ability to negotiate through the media; and to securely house over 800 staff and attendants. Curbing the participants' ability to negotiate via the media was a particularly important consideration. Holbrooke wanted to prevent posturing through early leaks to the press.

The signing of the full and formal agreement in Paris.

After having been initialed in Dayton, Ohio, on 21 November 1995,[4] the full and formal agreement was signed in Paris on 14 December 1995[14] and witnessed by Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González, French President Jacques Chirac, US President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister John Major, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.

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

The Cold War was a period of global geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

After the end of World War II in 1945, during which the US and USSR had been allies, the USSR installed satellite governments in its occupied territories in Eastern Europe and North Korea by 1949, resulting in the political division of Europe (and Germany) by an "Iron Curtain". The USSR tested its first nuclear weapon in 1949, four years after their use by the US at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and allied with the People's Republic of China, founded in 1949. The US declared the Truman Doctrine of "containment" of communism in 1947, launched the Marshall Plan in 1948 to assist Western Europe's economic recovery, and founded the NATO military alliance in 1949 (matched by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact in 1955). The Berlin Blockade of 1948 to 1949 was an early confrontation, as was the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, which ended in a stalemate.

US involvement in regime change during the Cold War included support for anti-communist and right-wing dictatorships and uprisings, while Soviet involvement included the funding of left-wing parties, wars of independence, and dictatorships. As nearly all the colonial states underwent decolonization, many became Third World battlefields of the Cold War. Both powers used economic aid in an attempt to win the loyalty of non-aligned countries. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 installed the first communist regime in the Western Hemisphere, and in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis began after deployments of US missiles in Europe and Soviet missiles in Cuba; it is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war. Another major proxy conflict was the Vietnam War of 1955 to 1975, which ended in defeat for the US.

The USSR solidified its domination of Eastern Europe with its crushing of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Relations between the USSR and China broke down by 1961, with the Sino-Soviet split bringing the two states to the brink of war amid a border conflict in 1969. In 1972, the US initiated diplomatic contacts with China and the US and USSR signed a series of treaties limiting their nuclear arsenals during a period known as détente. In 1979, the toppling of US-allied governments in Iran and Nicaragua and the outbreak of the Soviet–Afghan War again raised tensions. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR and expanded political freedoms, which contributed to the revolutions of 1989 in the Eastern Bloc and the collapse of the USSR in 1991, ending the Cold War.

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

Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake specialty shops owned by Inspire Brands. Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California.[1] Its headquarters are in Canton, Massachusetts, and shared with sibling brand Dunkin' Donuts. It is the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty stores,[2][3] with more than 7,800 locations.

The company is known for its "31 flavors" slogan, with the idea that a customer could have a different flavor every day of any month. The logo includes a stylized "31" formed from the letters "B" and "R". The slogan came from the Carson-Roberts advertising agency (which later merged into Ogilvy & Mather) in 1953. The company has introduced more than 1,400 flavors since 1945,[4][5] including the addition of vegan and non-dairy flavors in 2019.[6][7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baskin-Robbins

An ice cream van (Commonwealth English) or ice cream truck (North American English) is a commercial vehicle that ice cream is sold from, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near parks, beaches, or other areas where people congregate. Ice cream vans often travel near where children play – outside schools, in residential areas, or in other locations. They usually stop briefly before moving on to the next street. Ice cream vans often feature brightly coloured decorations, and along the sides, a large sliding window acts as a serving hatch, with the display of available products and their prices. Ice cream vans typically sell soft serve from a machine, served in a cone, and often with a chocolate flake (in Britain), a sugary syrup, or toppings such as sprinkles. Soft serve ice cream trucks are also found in North America, where ice cream trucks that only sell pre-packaged novelty products such as ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, and popsicles are more common. Most ice cream vans are independently owned and operated. However, there are ice cream van franchises such as Mister Softee.

A distinctive feature of ice cream vans is their sound devices, used to attract attention. Some use a bell or a set of bells that is rung[1] while many use a horn loudspeaker which amplified music is played from. Some ice cream vans use both of these sound devices.[2] The amplified music played by ice cream vans is typically an instrumental children's, classical, folk, or traditional pop song that is played repeatedly and sounds like a music box or electronic music. Early ice cream vans utilize electro-mechanical music boxes, with digital music boxes becoming more common in the late 20th century.[3] Traditional ice cream truck songs in the US and Canada are "The Band Played On", "Camptown Races", "Cradle Song", "The Entertainer", "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man", "It's a Small World", "La Cucaracha", "Little Brown Jug", the Mister Softee Jingle ("Jingles and Chimes"), "Music Box Dancer", "Picnic" (a Japanese children's song usually played with a voice saying, "hello" at the beginning of the song), "Pop Goes the Weasel", "Red Wing", "Sailing, Sailing", "Turkey in the Straw", and "Yankee Doodle".[4][5] In the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, ice cream vans traditionally play "Greensleeves".[6]

History

Vintage ice cream truck in Pinehurst, North Carolina, United States

Early ice cream vans carried simple ice cream, during a time when most families did not own a freezer. As freezers became more commonplace, ice cream vans moved towards selling novelty ice cream items, such as bars and ice pops.[7]

In the United Kingdom

Red van decorated with pictures of different types of ice lolly which says "Mr Whippy" on the front of the roof

A Wall's Mr. Whippy van parked in Clacton, England

Yellow-and-white van decorated with pictures of Mickey Mouse and illustrations of the types of ice cream it sells; text on the van reads "Super Whippy" while packets of crisps and cans of fizzy drinks are visible in the window

A Ford Transit-based ice cream van in Colchester, England

There are mainly two types of ice cream vans in the United Kingdom:

a hard van, which sells scoop ice cream and is only equipped with a freezer;

a soft van, which has a freezer and also a soft serve "whippy" machine for serving ice cream cones and screwballs.

They are usually converted from factory standard vans with the rear cut away and replaced with a fibre glass body (to reduce the weight).

Because of the British climate, not only is running an ice cream van profitably very difficult outside summer, but it is also an unpredictable business. A summer heatwave can provoke a massive upturn in fortunes for a few days, but after the weather has cooled sales drop off dramatically. The need to take advantage of rare and short-lived opportunities can result in the fierce rivalry between ice cream vans in coterminous areas[clarification needed][What is coterminous with what?], with the main disputes being over who is entitled to sell ice cream in a particular 'patch'. This has also led to some ice cream van vendors diversifying and selling other products such as crisps, chips, burgers, or hot dogs from their vehicles at other times of the year.

In several local authority areas, particularly in London Boroughs with existing street markets, street trading regulations prohibit ice cream vans from remaining in one static location. The legislation also contains powers to ban ice-cream vans from specific streets. Proposals in the current[when?] London Local Authorities Bill would allow only 15 minutes of trading per vehicle per street each day.[8] There is also a nationwide code of practice[9] for the use of chimes, which limits the volume to 80 dB and the duration to twelve seconds, but these rules are rarely observed and rarely enforced. Chimes must not be played more often than every three minutes near hospitals, schools, and churches when they are in use.

In Scotland, ice cream vans have been used to sell smuggled cigarettes[10] and, in the 1980s Glasgow ice cream wars, as front organizations to sell illicit drugs.[11]

Ice cream van manufacturer

Main article: Whitby Morrison

Whitby Morrison, based in Crewe, Cheshire, was founded by Bryan Whitby, who filed a UK patent in 1965 for mobile ice cream-producing equipment through which soft serve units were powered off the van's drive mechanism. Today, the company is the UK's biggest ice cream van manufacturer, producing around 100 vans a year; its products have been exported to over 60 countries.[12] The company has also been developing a fully electric on-board battery system to power the soft-scoop machines it fits; the first all-electric van was expected to be delivered in the summer of 2019.[needs update][13]

In the United States

A van which says "watch children" on the front

Jack and Jill ice cream truck in Kentlands, Maryland, United States

In the United States, ice cream trucks are mostly built from multi-stop trucks, such as the Chevrolet Step-Van.

Apart from ice cream, ice cream trucks may also sell snow cones, Italian ice or water ice, snacks, soft drinks, and candy. Many trucks have a yellow or red triangular sign with lights, similar to a school bus stop sign that is extended to warn other drivers to slow down because children could be crossing the street to buy ice cream. With the advent of social media networking, many ice cream truck operators are redefining the traditional business model. Not satisfied with the traditional approach of cruising for customers, some operators such as gourmet ice cream sandwich maker Coolhaus[14] are developing followings on social media sites and "announcing" the location of their trucks.

Professionally built ice cream trucks that sell prepackaged foods are called "novelty trucks". They use commercial cold plate freezers that plug in overnight and, when unplugged, maintain their temperature for at least 12 hours. Historically, the chimes are mechanical, such as using an amplified music box or a tape. In recent times, the chimes commonly use digital sound chips that have no moving parts. Such systems may be able to play multiple tunes and have adjustable volume.[15]

In Scandinavia

Norway

Norway has two leading ice-cream van companies; Isbilen (lit. ice-car) by Fråst, and Diplom-isbilen by Diplom-Is. Diplom-Isbilen sells ice cream made by Diplom-Is, and isbilen sells ice cream made by Isbjørn-Is; they also sell fish. The ice cream vans can be heard from afar and attract customers to the street by playing the iconic tune "Norge rundt", symbolizing their presence all over the country.

Sweden

Hemglass is the Swedish brand of the ice cream manufacturer Hjem-IS Europa A/S and was launched in Sweden in 1968. The company distributes its products in ice cream trucks in Sweden Hemglass and Denmark (Hjem-IS).

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

Het Circus van Nero was een antiek stadion voor wagenrennen in Rome. Het staat ook bekend als het Circus van Caligula, naar de keizer die het liet bouwen, en als Circus Vaticanus, naar de Vaticaanse Heuvel waarop het was gebouwd.

Geschiedenis

Het Circus van Nero is gebouwd in opdracht van keizer Caligula. Het stadion was ongeveer 560 meter lang en 80 breed en stond aan de Via Cornelia.

Caligula was een groot liefhebber van wagenrennen en wilde een eigen circus hebben waar hij zelf rustig kon oefenen. Het werd gebouwd in tuinen op de Vaticaanse heuvel, een stuk grond dat aan zijn moeder toebehoorde. Het Circus van Caligula was maar nauwelijks kleiner dan het Circus Maximus en om de grootsheid van zijn eigen renbaan te benadrukken liet hij een enorme obelisk uit Egypte halen en op de spina, de middenafscheiding van de renbaan, plaatsen.

Caligula werd vermoord voordat de bouw klaar was en het circus werd voltooid onder zijn opvolger, keizer Claudius. Zowel Claudius als zijn opvolger Nero, lieten hier regelmatig spelen organiseren. Door de wreedheden die Nero hier liet uitvoeren op de eerste christenen, staat het circus nu bekend onder zijn naam.

Vespasianus, de uiteindelijke opvolger van Nero na het vierkeizerjaar, wilde de herinnering aan zijn voorganger doen vergeten en sloot het circus. Hierna verviel het tot een ruïne, totdat Constantijn de Grote de laatste resten liet afbreken om op deze plaats zijn Oude Sint-Pietersbasiliek te bouwen.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_van_Nero

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.

§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The Keys of This Blood is a 1990 non-fiction geopolitical book by former Catholic Jesuit priest Malachi Martin.

Content

Martin wrote this book as a geopolitical and georeligious analysis of the last decades of the 20th century. He identifies this period as the millennium end-game for a new world order, which has three main contenders. It will establish the first ever one-world government. Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, and international business leaders are in competition to establish this one world government and that this competition will intensify around the turn of the 21st century (around 2000). The book further claims to be an inside account of what the pope is doing to win this geopolitical struggle and how he played an instrumental role in the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

Martin identifies the three main players vying for world domination in the world today and thus lays the ground for his historical analysis: materialism with the East and West in their communism or socialism and capitalism or liberalism, which he places on one side together, and the Roman Catholic Church, the only truly geopolitical spiritual organization in existence today. One of the two sides must win, for they cannot coexist.

Martin introduces the concept of superforce in the book. Superforce is the unofficial name given by Martin for a more or less formal group of people within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church (82). Martin claimed that this superforce is a sort of ecclesiastical version of a hostile corporate takeover team and that it was made up of churchmen of such rank and power within the Vatican and at key points of the hierarchic structure that they controlled the most vital organs and sinews of that structure, worldwide. The goal of this organisation consist in a fundamental shift in church teachings.[1]

The book was translated into Spanish, Polish and German.

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

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (/ˈmɛɡən/; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family, media personality and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III.

Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her acting career began at Northwestern University. She played the part of Rachel Zane for seven seasons (2011–2018) in the legal drama series Suits. She also developed a social media presence, which included The Tig (2014–2017), a lifestyle blog. During The Tig period, Meghan became involved in charity work focused primarily on women's issues and social justice. She was married to the film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 until their divorce in 2014.

Meghan retired from acting upon her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. The couple stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit (charitable) business organizations. In March 2021, she and her husband participated in Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicized American television interview by Oprah Winfrey. She has written the children's book The Bench, hosted a podcast Archetypes (2022), and has starred in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan (2022) and With Love, Meghan (2025). Her lifestyle and cooking brand As Ever, was officially launched in April 2025.

Early life and education

Further information: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, at West Park Hospital in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. She identifies as mixed race; "My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I'm half black and half white."[1] Her parents – the former makeup artist Doria Ragland (born 1956) and Thomas Markle Sr. (born 1944), a television lighting director and director of photography[2] – separated when she was two years old and divorced four years later.[3][4][5]

Markle reportedly has a close relationship with her mother.[6][7] Until the age of nine, both parents contributed to raising her; then, her father was left in charge of caring for her (while her mother pursued a career) so Meghan lived with him full-time before commencing university at age eighteen.[8][9] Markle Sr. worked as a director of photography and lighting for General Hospital and Married... with Children, and Meghan occasionally visited the set of Married... with Children as a child.[10][11] In later life, she became estranged from her father and paternal half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr.[12][13]

Growing up in View Park–Windsor Hills, Los Angeles,[14] Markle attended Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse.[15][16] At age eleven, she and her classmates wrote to Procter & Gamble to gender-neutralize a dishwashing soap commercial on national television.[17] She was raised as a Christian, though conflicting reports indicate she was raised either Catholic or Protestant.[18][19][20] She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School (Los Angeles), a fee-charging all-girls Catholic school.[21] Markle took part in plays and musicals at the school, where her father helped with lighting.[22] During her teenage years, she worked at a local frozen yogurt shop and a donut shop and later as a nanny and waitress.[23][24][25] She also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles.[26][27]

In 1999, she was admitted to Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois, where she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.[28][29] With other members of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Markle did volunteer work with the Glass Slipper Project. After her junior year, her uncle Michael Markle helped secure her an internship as a junior press officer at the American embassy in Buenos Aires,[30] and she considered a political career.[31][32] However, she did not score high enough in the Foreign Service Officer test to proceed further with the US State Department[33] and returned to NU. She also attended a study abroad program in Madrid.[29] In 2003, Markle earned her bachelor's degree with a double major in theater and international studies from Northwestern's School of Communication.[31][33]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meghan,_Duchess_of_Sussex

Meghan Markle Addresses Why She Renamed Lifestyle Brand As Ever, Calls American Riviera Orchard 'Word Salad'

The Duchess of Sussex first named her company American Riviera Orchard in 2024 and has since changed the brand to As ever

By Rachel McRady Published on April 22, 2025 09:28AM EDT

Meghan Markle is getting candid about the twists and turns of launching her company, As ever — originally called American Riviera Orchard.

“I had secured ‘As ever’ as a name in 2022,” the Duchess of Sussex shared on the Tuesday, April 22 episode of her Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan podcast. “And then as everything started to evolve last year and bringing in a partner the size that it was," she said of partnering with Netflix on both her TV show, With Love, Meghan and her lifestyle brand.

"It was just so interesting because you remember, I said, ‘I like American Riviera as an umbrella," she continued. "And then to be able to have verticals beneath it, and maybe have the ‘Orchard’ really small.’ “

Meghan first announced American Riviera Orchard in March 2024, but added that it “became this word salad,” adding, “I don't love that so much.”

So the mother of two pivoted to a different approach, noting, “I said, ‘Okay, well, let's go back to the thing that I've always loved. Let's use the name that I had protected for a reason, that had been sort of under wraps.’ “

Choosing to rebrand her company, Meghan said she was able to work on As ever privately.

“We were able to focus in the quiet,” the duchess explained. “And put our heads down and build on something that no one was sniffing around to even see about. It was just really, really helpful to have that quiet period.”

The former Suits star previously opened up to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview about her switching her company's name, sharing, “There are tons of twists and turns — even with the name. I was figuring it out in real time.”

Princess Lilibet's Red Hair Makes an Appearance in New Video as Meghan Markle Shares 'Special Gift' Prince Harry Got Them

Meghan added, “I appreciate everyone who gave me the grace to make mistakes and figure it out and also to be forgiving with myself through that. It’s a learning curve."

Though she began As ever in the kitchen, Meghan plans to expand the brand to home decor, telling Inc, "I hope that people see that reflected in whatever it is that I’m creating and putting out there. It’s just an extension of me."

As ever plans to unveil new items seasonally, expanding beyond culinary products into hospitality and home offerings.

And her biggest fan remains her proud husband, Prince Harry, who told PEOPLE in an exclusive cover story last week, "I am so happy for my wife and fully support absolutely everything she’s done and continues to do. I'm incredibly proud.”

https://people.com/meghan-markle-rebranded-her-company-after-first-name-was-word-salad-11719537?utm_campaign=peopleroyals&utm_content=new&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwY2xjawJ2MTFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFTaTJvRU9naW84Q05sMnZqAR74tFATubI7QYzxUHZtG1DmZ_JhWKJsZxLTb_9UAT78O7x1KUyp63OszDvVgw_aem_KDFDYO8JrhKG9o9Th0l6Hg

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub[a] (c. 1137 – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin,[b] was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, he spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, the Ayyubid realm spanned Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, and Nubia.

Alongside his uncle Shirkuh, a Kurdish mercenary commander in service of the Zengid dynasty,[6] Saladin was sent to Fatimid Egypt in 1164, on the orders of the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din. With their original purpose being to help restore Shawar as the vizier to the teenage Fatimid caliph al-Adid, a power struggle ensued between Shirkuh and Shawar after the latter was reinstated. Saladin, meanwhile, climbed the ranks of the Fatimid government by virtue of his military successes against Crusader assaults and his personal closeness to al-Adid. After Shawar was assassinated and Shirkuh died in 1169, al-Adid appointed Saladin as vizier. During his tenure, Saladin, a Sunni Muslim, began to undermine the Fatimid establishment; following al-Adid's death in 1171, he abolished the Cairo-based Isma'ili Shia Muslim Fatimid Caliphate and realigned Egypt with the Baghdad-based Sunni Abbasid Caliphate.

In the following years, Saladin led forays against the Crusaders in Palestine, commissioned the successful conquest of Yemen, and staved off pro-Fatimid rebellions in Egypt. Not long after Nur ad-Din died in 1174, Saladin launched his conquest of Syria, peacefully entering Damascus at the request of its governor. By mid-1175, Saladin had conquered Hama and Homs, inviting the animosity of other Zengid lords, who were the official rulers of Syria's principalities; he subsequently defeated the Zengids at the Battle of the Horns of Hama in 1175 and was thereafter proclaimed the 'Sultan of Egypt and Syria' by the Abbasid caliph al-Mustadi. Saladin launched further conquests in northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia, escaping two attempts on his life by the Assassins before returning to Egypt in 1177 to address local issues there. By 1182, Saladin had completed the conquest of Islamic Syria after capturing Aleppo but failed to take over the Zengid stronghold of Mosul.

Under Saladin's command, the Ayyubid army defeated the Crusaders at the decisive Battle of Hattin in 1187, capturing Jerusalem and re-establishing Muslim military dominance in the Levant. Although the Crusaders' Kingdom of Jerusalem persisted until the late 13th century, the defeat in 1187 marked a turning point in the Christian military effort against Muslim powers in the region. Saladin died in Damascus in 1193, having given away much of his personal wealth to his subjects; he is buried in a mausoleum adjacent to the Umayyad Mosque. Alongside his significance to Muslim culture, Saladin is revered prominently in Kurdish, Turkic, and Arab culture. He has frequently been described as the most famous Kurdish figure in history.

Early life

Saladin was born in Tikrit in present-day Iraq. His personal name was "Yusuf"; "Salah ad-Din" is a laqab, an honorific epithet, meaning "Righteousness of the Faith".[7] His family was of Kurdish ancestry,[8][9][10][11][12] and had originated from the village of Ajdanakan[9] near the city of Dvin in central Armenia.[13][14] He was the son of a Kurdish mercenary, Najm ad-Din Ayyub.[6] The Rawadiya tribe he hailed from had been partially assimilated into the Arabic-speaking world by this time.[15]

In Saladin's era, no scholar had more influence than sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, and Saladin was strongly influenced and aided by him and his pupils.[16][17] In 1132, the defeated army of Zengi, Atabeg of Mosul, found their retreat blocked by the Tigris River opposite the fortress of Tikrit, where Saladin's father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub served as the warden. Ayyub provided ferries for the army and gave them refuge in Tikrit. Mujahid ad-Din Bihruz, a former Greek slave who had been appointed as the military governor of northern Mesopotamia for his service to the Seljuks, reprimanded Ayyub for giving Zengi refuge and in 1137 banished Ayyub from Tikrit after his brother Asad ad-Din Shirkuh killed a friend of Bihruz. According to Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Saladin was born the same night his family left Tikrit. In 1139, Ayyub and his family moved to Mosul, where Imad ad-Din Zengi acknowledged his debt and appointed Ayyub commander of his fortress in Baalbek. After the death of Zengi in 1146, his son, Nur ad-Din, became the regent of Aleppo and the leader of the Zengids.[18]

Saladin, who now lived in Damascus, was reportedly fond of the city, but information on his early childhood is scarce.[18] About education, Saladin wrote, "Children are brought up in the way in which their elders were brought up". According to his biographers, Anne-Marie Eddé[19] and al-Wahrani, Saladin was able to answer questions on Euclid, the Almagest, arithmetic, and law, but this was an academic ideal. It was his knowledge of the Qur'an and the "sciences of religion" that linked him to his contemporaries;[20] several sources claim that during his studies, he was more interested in religious studies than joining the military.[21] Another factor which may have affected his interest in religion was that, during the First Crusade, Jerusalem was taken by the Christians.[21] In addition to Islam, Saladin knew the genealogies, biographies, and histories of the Arabs, as well as the bloodlines of Arabian horses. More significantly, he knew the Hamasah of Abu Tammam by heart.[20] He spoke Kurdish and Arabic and knew Turkish and Persian.[22][23]

Personality and religious leanings

Coin of Saladin, wearing Sasanian-style merlon crown,[24] dated AH 578 (AD 1182/3).[25]

According to Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad (one of Saladin's contemporary biographers), Saladin was a pious Muslim—he loved hearing Quran recitals, prayed punctually, and "hated the philosophers, those that denied God's attributes, the materialists and those who stubbornly rejected the Holy Law."[26] He was also a supporter of Sufism and a patron of khanqahs (Sufi hostels) in Egypt and Syria, in addition to madrasas that provided orthodox Sunni teachings.[27][26] Above all else he was a devotee of jihad:[28]

The sacred works [Koran, hadith, etc.] are full of passages referring to the jihad. Saladin was more assiduous and zealous in this than in anything else.... Jihad and the suffering involved in it weighed heavily on his heart and his whole being in every limb; he spoke of nothing else, thought only about equipment for the fight, was interested only in those who had taken up arms, had little sympathy with anyone who spoke of anything else or encouraged any other activity.

In 1174, Saladin ordered the arrest of a Sufi mystic, Qadid al-Qaffas (Arabic: قديد القفاص), in Alexandria.[26] In 1191, he ordered his son to execute the Sufi philosopher Yahya al-Suhrawardi, the founder of the Illuminationist current in Islamic philosophy, in Aleppo. Ibn Shaddad, who describes this event as part of his chapter on the sultan's piety, states that Al-Suhrawardi was said to have "rejected the Holy Law and declared it invalid." After consulting with some of the ulama (religious scholars), Saladin ordered al-Suhrawardi's execution.[26] Saladin also opposed the Order of Assassins, an extremist Isma'ili Shi'i sect in Iran and Syria, seeing them as heretics and as being too close with the Crusaders.[26]

Saladin welcomed Asiatic Sufis to Egypt and he and his followers founded and endowed many khanqahs and zawiyas of which al-Maqrizi gives a long list.[29] But it is not yet clear what Saladin's interests in the khanqah actually were and why he specifically wanted Sufis from outside Egypt. The answers to these questions lie in the kinds of Sufis he wished to attract. In addition to requiring that the Sufis come from outside Egypt, the waqfiyya seems to have specified that they be of a very particular type:[30]

The inhabitants of the khanqah were known for religious knowledge and piety and their baraka (blessings) was sought after... The founder stipulated that the khanqah be endowed for the Sufis as a group, those coming from abroad and settling in Cairo and Fustat. If those could not be found, then it would be for the poor jurists, either Shafi'i or Maliki, and Ash'ari in their creed.

Early expeditions

Ayyubid or Zengid soldiers in Seljuk-type clothes[31] and sharbush hats[32][33] on the Palmer Cup (1200–1215)[34]

Saladin's military career began under the tutelage of his paternal uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, a prominent military commander under Nur ad-Din, the Zengid emir of Damascus and Aleppo and the most influential teacher of Saladin. In 1163, the vizier to the Fatimid caliph al-Adid, Shawar, had been driven out of Egypt by his rival Dirgham, a member of the powerful Banu Ruzzaik tribe. He asked for military backing from Nur ad-Din, who complied and, in 1164, sent Shirkuh to aid Shawar in his expedition against Dirgham. Saladin, at age 26, went along with them.[35] After Shawar was successfully reinstated as vizier, he demanded that Shirkuh withdraw his army from Egypt for a sum of 30,000 gold dinars, but he refused, insisting it was Nur ad-Din's will that he remain. Saladin's role in this expedition was minor, and it is known that he was ordered by Shirkuh to collect stores from Bilbais prior to its siege by a combined force of Crusaders and Shawar's troops.[36]

After the sacking of Bilbais, the Crusader–Egyptian force and Shirkuh's army were to engage in the Battle of al-Babein on the desert border of the Nile, just west of Giza. Saladin played a major role, commanding the right-wing of the Zengid army, while a force of Kurds commanded the left, and Shirkuh was stationed in the centre. Muslim sources at the time, however, put Saladin in the "baggage of the centre" with orders to lure the enemy into a trap by staging a feigned retreat. The Crusader force enjoyed early success against Shirkuh's troops, but the terrain was too steep and sandy for their horses, and commander Hugh of Caesarea was captured while attacking Saladin's unit. After scattered fighting in little valleys to the south of the main position, the Zengid central force returned to the offensive; Saladin joined in from the rear.[37]

The battle ended in a Zengid victory, and Saladin is credited with having helped Shirkuh in one of the "most remarkable victories in recorded history", according to Ibn al-Athir, although more of Shirkuh's men were killed and the battle is considered by most sources as not a total victory. Saladin and Shirkuh moved towards Alexandria where they were welcomed, given money and arms, and provided a base.[38] Faced by a superior Crusader–Egyptian force attempting to besiege the city, Shirkuh split his army. He and the bulk of his force withdrew from Alexandria, while Saladin was left with the task of guarding the city, where he was besieged.[39]

In Egypt

Main article: Saladin in Egypt

Vizier of Egypt

Saladin's battles in Egypt

Experimental crossbow mounted inside a shield, in the Tabṣira by Murḍi Ibn cālī Ibn Murḍi al-Ṭarsūsī written for Saladin, late Fāṭimid or early Ayyūbid Egypt, c. 1170 CE (Ms. Hunt.264, f.117, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK).[40]

Shirkuh was in a power struggle over Egypt with Shawar and Amalric I of Jerusalem in which Shawar requested Amalric's assistance. In 1169, Shawar was reportedly assassinated by Saladin, and Shirkuh died later that year.[41] Following his death, a number of candidates were considered for the role of vizier to al-Adid, most of whom were ethnic Kurds. Their ethnic solidarity came to shape the Ayyubid family's actions in their political career. Saladin and his close associates were wary of Turkish influence. On one occasion Isa al-Hakkari, a Kurdish lieutenant of Saladin, urged a candidate for the viziership, Emir Qutb ad-Din al-Hadhbani, to step aside by arguing that "both you and Saladin are Kurds and you will not let the power pass into the hands of the Turks".[42] Nur ad-Din chose a successor for Shirkuh, but al-Adid appointed Saladin to replace Shawar as vizier.[43]

The reasoning behind the Shia caliph al-Adid's selection of Saladin, a Sunni, varies. Ibn al-Athir claims that the caliph chose him after being told by his advisers that "there is no one weaker or younger" than Saladin, and "not one of the emirs [commanders] obeyed him or served him". However, according to this version, after some bargaining, he was eventually accepted by the majority of the emirs. Al-Adid's advisers were also suspected of promoting Saladin in an attempt to split the Syria-based Zengids. Al-Wahrani wrote that Saladin was selected because of the reputation of his family in their "generosity and military prowess". Imad ad-Din wrote that after the brief mourning period for Shirkuh, during which "opinions differed", the Zengid emirs decided upon Saladin and forced the caliph to "invest him as vizier". Although positions were complicated by rival Muslim leaders, the bulk of the Syrian commanders supported Saladin because of his role in the Egyptian expedition, in which he gained a record of military qualifications.[44]

Inaugurated as vizier on 26 March, Saladin repented "wine-drinking and turned from frivolity to assume the dress of religion", according to Arabic sources of the time.[45] Having gained more power and independence than ever before in his career, he still faced the issue of ultimate loyalty between al-Adid and Nur ad-Din. Later in the year, a group of Egyptian soldiers and emirs attempted to assassinate Saladin, but having already known of their intentions thanks to his intelligence chief Ali ibn Safyan, he had the chief conspirator, Naji, Mu'tamin al-Khilafa—the civilian controller of the Fatimid Palace—arrested and killed. The day after, 50,000 Black African soldiers from the regiments of the Fatimid army opposed to Saladin's rule, along with Egyptian emirs and commoners, staged a revolt. By 23 August, Saladin had decisively quelled the uprising, and never again had to face a military challenge from Cairo.[46]

Towards the end of 1169, Saladin, with reinforcements from Nur ad-Din, defeated a massive Crusader-Byzantine force near Damietta. Afterwards, in the spring of 1170, Nur ad-Din sent Saladin's father to Egypt in compliance with Saladin's request, as well as encouragement from the Baghdad-based Abbasid caliph, al-Mustanjid, who aimed to pressure Saladin in deposing his rival caliph, al-Ad.[47] Saladin himself had been strengthening his hold on Egypt and widening his support base there. He began granting his family members high-ranking positions in the region; he ordered the construction of a college for the Maliki branch of Sunni Islam in the city, as well as one for the Shafi'i denomination to which he belonged in al-Fustat.[48]

After establishing himself in Egypt, Saladin launched a campaign against the Crusaders, besieging Darum in 1170.[49] Amalric withdrew his Templar garrison from Gaza to assist him in defending Darum, but Saladin evaded their force and captured Gaza in 1187. In 1191 Saladin destroyed the fortifications in Gaza built by King Baldwin III for the Knights Templar.[50] It is unclear exactly when, but during that same year, he attacked and captured the Crusader castle of Eilat, built on an island off the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. It did not pose a threat to the passage of the Muslim navy but could harass smaller parties of Muslim ships, and Saladin decided to clear it from his path.[49]

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

[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

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

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

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

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

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

British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a pseudo-historical[1][2] belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel.[3] With roots in the 16th century, British Israelism was inspired by several 19th century English writings such as John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin.[4] From the 1870s onward, numerous independent British Israelite organizations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in the United States; as of the early 21st century, a number of these organizations are still active. In the United States, the idea gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.

The central tenets of British Israelism have been refuted by archaeological,[5] ethnological,[6] genetic,[7]: 181 and linguistic research.[8][9]: 33–34

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

The Masonic King of England

Edward VIII was crowned both king and Grand Master of English Freemasonry on January20, 1936. Edward, however, married a divorced commoner from the United States and was forced to abdicate eleven months later on December 10th. His younger brother ascended the throne the next day and downgraded Edward's title to the Duke of Windsor. In July1940 the Duke assumed the governorship of the Bahamas.127 Edward VIII not only supported Hitler, he did so loudly. From the time of Hitler's rise to power, the Windsors were fascinated by the Fuehrer and his New Order in Europe. Speaking in Masonic 480 terms, the King expressed the views of the Brotherhood concerning Hitler: "What-ever happens, he said, "whatever the outcome, a New Order is going to come into the world.... It will be buttressed with police power.. ..When peace comes this time, there is going to be a New Order of Social Justice. It cannot be another Versailles." 128 During his short reign, King Edward VIII made every effort to promote Nazism. As a result some of the most prominent aristocrats in England joined the Nazi Party.129

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.[a]

Edward was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, seven weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, Edward served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. The Prince of Wales gained popularity due to his charm and charisma, and his fashion sense became a hallmark of the era. After the war, his conduct began to give cause for concern; he engaged in a series of sexual affairs that worried both his father and the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin.

Upon his father's death in 1936, Edward became the second monarch of the House of Windsor. The new king showed impatience with court protocol, and caused consternation among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, a constitutional crisis was caused by his proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort. Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as titular head of the Church of England, which, at the time, disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive. Edward knew the Baldwin government would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would have ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. When it became apparent he could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning British monarchs to date.

After his abdication, Edward was created Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany, which fed rumours that he was a Nazi sympathiser. During the Second World War, Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France. After the fall of France, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, Edward spent the rest of his life in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972; they had no children.

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

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

ASSASSINS (σικάριος, G4974, Lat. sicarius, meaning dagger men, murderers). A name given to and borne by fanatical Jewish nationalists who stood in the Maccabean tradition. Members of the band carried, hidden in their cloak, a dagger about the size of a Pers. scimitar and curved like a Rom. sica. Bold, courageous, and unscrupulous, bitterly opposed to the Rom. overlords and to all collaborators with them, they mingled in the crowds (esp. on feast days), watched for an opportunity to wield their concealed weapons, and did not hesitate to kill even in open daylight. Roman rulers in Pal. had a healthy respect for them, and their bodyguards had to be on the constant alert against them. The very name, Sicarii, inspired terror in the countryside.

It is not known at what precise point in history they originated. Josephus traces their origin as far back as the onerous census levied in the governorship of Quirinius (Luke 2:2). He wrote: “In those days the Sicarii banded together against those who consented to submit to Rome and in every way treated them as enemies, plundering their property, rounding up their cattle, and setting fire to their habitations, protesting that such persons differed not at all from Gentiles, by betraying in so cowardly a manner the hard-won liberty of the Jews and admitting their preference for the Roman yoke” (Wars VII. 8. 1).

There are occasional references to them in the historical record. A quisling, Jonathan, the son of the high priest Annas, was killed by them in cold blood. It appears that in the year a.d. 7 Judas the Galilean collected a band of the Sicarii and laid plans for an organized rebellion at Sepphoris, four m. distant from Jesus’ boyhood home at Nazareth. The uprising was ruthlessly suppressed, and 2000 of the rebels were crucified. It may be that the Lord had some early knowledge of them. During the governorship of Felix they were active, and he took strong measures against them. The Book of Acts records that when Paul stood trial for his life, Captain Lysias sought to identify him with an Egyp. leader who led 4000 of these Sicarii into the wilderness (Acts 21:38). These men who took the law into their own hands played a leading role in the Jewish Wars. They held Masada for a time and from that vantage point plundered the area. They eventually shifted their operations to Egypt and Cyrene and there continued their tactics of terror.

Bibliography A. C. Headlam, “Assassins,” HDB, I (1908), 174; S. F. Hunter, “Assassins,” ISBE, I (1929), 288; C. Roth, History of the Jews (1954), 103-108; W. R. Farmer, “Assassins,” IDB, I (1962), 261; L. Hartman, “Assassins,” EDB (1963), 155.

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

Horus (/hɔːrəs/),[c] also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor (/hɔːr/)[d][6] in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history, and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists.[7] These various forms may be different manifestations of the same multi-layered deity in which certain attributes or syncretic relationships are emphasized, not necessarily in opposition but complementary to one another, consistent with how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the multiple facets of reality.[8] He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as a man with a falcon head.[9]

The earliest recorded form of Horus is the tutelary deity of Nekhen in Upper Egypt, who is the first known national god, specifically related to the ruling pharaoh who in time came to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death.[7] The most commonly encountered family relationship describes Horus as the son of Isis and Osiris, and he plays a key role in the Osiris myth as Osiris's heir and the rival to Set, the murderer and brother of Osiris. In another tradition, Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife.[7]

Claudius Aelianus wrote that Egyptians called the god Apollo "Horus" in their own language.[10] However, Plutarch, elaborating further on the same tradition reported by the Greeks, specified that the one "Horus" whom the Egyptians equated with the Greek Apollo was in fact "Horus the Elder", a primordial form of Horus whom Plutarch distinguishes from both Horus and Harpocrates.[11]

Etymology

Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr.w "Falcon", 𓅃; the original pronunciation has been reconstructed as /ˈħaːɾuw/ in Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian, /ˈħaːɾəʔ/ in later Middle Egyptian, and /ˈħoːɾ(ə)/ in Late Egyptian. Additional meanings are thought to have been "the distant one" or "one who is above, over".[12] As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic varieties variously as /hɔr/ or /ħoːɾ/ (Ϩⲱⲣ) and was adopted into ancient Greek as Ὧρος Hō̂ros (pronounced at the time as /hɔ̂ːros/). It also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric name forms such as Siese "son of Isis" and Harsiese "Horus, Son of Isis".

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

Colonel[a] Harland David Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) was an American businessman and founder of fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (also known as KFC). He later acted as the company's brand ambassador and symbol. His name and image are still symbols of the company.

Sanders held a number of jobs in his early life, such as steam engine stoker, insurance salesman, and filling station operator. He began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in North Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. During that time, Sanders developed his "secret recipe" and his patented method of cooking chicken in a pressure fryer. Sanders recognized the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, and the first KFC franchise opened in South Salt Lake, Utah, in 1952. When his original restaurant closed, he devoted himself full-time to franchising his fried chicken throughout the country.

The company's rapid expansion across the United States and overseas became overwhelming for Sanders. In 1964, then 73 years old, he sold the company to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey for $2 million ($20.3 million today). However, he retained control of operations in Canada, and he became a salaried brand ambassador for Kentucky Fried Chicken. In his later years, he became highly critical of the food served at KFC restaurants, and cost-cutting measures that he said reduced its quality, referring to the food as "God-damned slop" with a "wall-paper taste".

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

Revelation 18:2

1599 Geneva Bible

Read full chapter

Footnotes

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

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

The Mysteries of The Great Cross of Hendaye

Alchemy and The End of Time

Jay Weidner and Vincent Bridges

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

The 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

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

The Mysteries of the Great Cross

by Jay Weidner

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

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

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

Identity, Loyola University, Chicago.

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

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

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

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

Revelation 17

1599 Geneva Bible

17 1 That great whore is described, 2 with whom the Kings of the earth committed fornication. 6 She is drunken with the blood of Saints. 7 The mystery of the woman, and the beast that carried her, expounded. 11 Their destruction. 14 The Lamb’s victory.

1 Then [a]there came one of the seven Angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come: I will show [b]thee the [c]damnation of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters,

2 With whom have committed fornication the kings of the earth, and the inhabitants of the earth are drunken with the wine of her fornication.

3 [d]So he carried me away into the wilderness in the Spirit, and I saw a woman sit upon a [e]scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, which had seven heads, and ten horns.

4 And [f]the woman was arrayed [g]in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, [h]and had a cup of gold in her hand full of abomination, and filthiness of her fornication.

5 [i]And in her forehead was a name written, A mystery, [j]that great Babylon that mother of whoredoms, and abominations of the earth.

6 [k]And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of JESUS: and when I saw her, [l]I wondered with great marvel.

7 [m]Then the Angel said unto me, Wherefore marvelest thou? I will show thee the mystery of that woman, and of that beast that beareth her, which hath seven heads and ten horns.

8 [n]The beast that thou hast seen, [o]was and is not, and [p]shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and shall go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth, shall wonder (whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) [q]when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 [r]Here is the mind that hath wisdom, The [s]seven heads [t]are seven mountains, whereon the woman sitteth: [u]they are also seven Kings.

10 [v]Five are fallen, [w]and one is, [x]and another is not yet come: and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 [y]And the beast that was, and is not, is even [z]the eighth, and is [aa]one of the seven, and [ab]all go into destruction.

12 [ac]And the ten horns which thou sawest, are [ad]ten kings, which yet have not received a kingdom, but shall receive power, as Kings [ae]at one hour with the beast.

13 [af]These have one mind, and shall give their power and authority unto the beast.

14 These shall fight with the [ag]Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and they that are on his side, called, and chosen, and faithful.

15 [ah]And he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, [ai]are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the ten [aj]horns which thou sawest upon the beast, are they that shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 [ak]For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to do with one consent for to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God be fulfilled.

18 And that woman which thou sawest, is that [al]great city which reigned over the kings of the earth.

Footnotes

Revelation 17:1 The state of the Church militant being declared, now followeth the state of the Church overcoming and getting victory, as I showed before in the beginning of chapter 10. The state is set forth in 4 chapters. As in the place beforegoing I noted, that in that history the order of time was not always exactly observed, so the same is to be understood in this history, that it is distinguished according to the persons of which it treateth, and that in the several stories of the persons is severly observed in the time thereof. For first is delivered the story of Babylon destroyed, in this and the next chap. (for this Babylon out of all doubt shall perish before the 2 beasts and the Dragon). Secondly is delivered the destruction of both the two beasts, chap. 19. And lastly of the Dragon, chap. 20, in the story of the spiritual Babylon are distinctly set forth the state thereof in this chap. and the overthrow done from God, chap. 18. In this verse and that which followeth is a transition or passage unto the first argument, consisting of a particular calling of the Prophet (as often heretofore) and a general proposition.

Revelation 17:1 That is the damnable harlot, by a figure of speech called hypallage. For S. John as yet had not seen her. Although another interpretation may be borne, yet I like this better.

Revelation 17:1 The sentence that is pronounced against this harlot.

Revelation 17:3 Henceforth is propounded the type of Babylon, and the state thereof in 4 verses. After a declaration of the type, in the rest of this chap., in the type are described two things, the beast (of whom chap. 13), in verse 3, and the woman that sitteth upon the beast, verses 4, 5, 6. The beast in process of time hath gotten somewhat more than was expressed in the former vision. First in that it is not read before that he was appareled in scarlet, a robe imperial and of triumph. Secondly, in that this is full of names of blasphemy: the other carried the name of blasphemy only in his head. So God did teach that this beast is much increased in impiety and injustice and doth in this last age, triumph in both these more insolently and proudly than ever before.

Revelation 17:3 A scarlet color, that is, with a red and purple garment: and surely it was not without cause that the Romish clergy were so much delighted with this color.

Revelation 17:4 That harlot, the spiritual Babylon, which is Rome. She is described by her attire, profession and deeds.

Revelation 17:4 In attire most glorious, triumphant, most rich, and most gorgeous.

Revelation 17:4 In profession, the nourisher of all, in this verse, and teaching her mysteries unto all, verse 5, setting forth all things most magnificently: but indeed most pernicious besotting miserable men with her cup, and bringing upon them a deadly giddiness.

Revelation 17:5 Deceiving with the title of religion, and public inscription of mystery: which the beast in times past did not bear.

Revelation 17:5 An exposition: in which S. John declareth what manner of woman this is.

Revelation 17:6 In manner of deeds: She is red with blood, and sheddeth it most licentiously, and therefore is colored with the blood of the Saints, as on the contrary part. Christ is set forth imbrued with the blood of his enemies; Isa. 3:1.

Revelation 17:6 A passage unto the second part of this chapter, by occasion given of S. John, as the words of the Angel do show, in the next verse.

Revelation 17:7 The second part or place, as I said, verse 1. The narration of the vision, promised in this verse, and delivered in the verse following. Now there is delivered first a narration of the beast and his story, unto verse 14. After, of the harlot, unto the end of the chap.

Revelation 17:8 The story of the beast hath a triple description of him. The first is a distinction of this beast from all that ever hath been at any time: which distinction is contained in this verse: The second is a delineation or painting out of the beast by things present, by which he might even at that time be known of the godly, and this delineation is according to his heads, verses 2, 10, 11. The third is an historical foretelling of things to come, and to be done by him: and these are ascribed unto his horns, verses 12, 13, 14. This beast is that Empire of Rome, of which I spake, chap. 13:11, according to the mutations and changes whereof which then had already happened, the holy Ghost hath distinguished and set out the same. The Apostle distinguisheth this beast from all others in these words. The beast which thou sawest, was and is not. For so I expound the words of the Apostle for evidence’s sake as I will further declare in the notes following.

Revelation 17:8 The meaning is, that beast which thou sawest before (Rev. 13:1) and which yet thou hast now seen, was, (I say was) even from Julius Caesar in respect of beginning, rising up, station, glory, dominion, manner and stock, from the house of Julius: and yet is not now the same, if thou look unto the house and stock for the dominion of this family was translated unto another, after the death of Nero from the other unto a third, from a third unto a fourth, and so forth was varied and altered by innumerable changes. Finally, the Empire is one, as it were one beast: but exceedingly varied by kindreds, families, and persons. It was therefore (saith S. John) in the kindred or house of Julius: and now it is not in that kindred, but translated unto another.

Revelation 17:8 As if he should say, Also the same that is, shall shortly not be: but shall ascend out of the depth, or out of the sea (as was said, Rev. 13:1) that is, shall be a new stock from amongst the nations without difference, and shall in the same state go unto destruction or ruin, and perish: and so shall successively new Princes or Emperors come and go, arise and fall, the body of the beast remaining still, but tossed with so many and often alterations, as no man can but marvel that this beast was able to stand and hold out, in so many mutations. Verily no Empire that ever was tossed with so many changes, and as it were with so many tempests of the sea, ever continued so long.

Revelation 17:8 That is as many as have not learned the providence of God, according to the faith of the Saints, shall marvel at these grievous and often changes when they shall consider, the selfsame beast, which is the Roman Empire, to have been, not to be, and to be and still molested with perpetual mutation, and yet in the same to stand and continue. This in mine opinion is the most simple exposition of this place, and confirmed by the event of the things themselves. Although by the last change also, by which the Empire, that before was civil became Ecclesiastical, is not obscurely signified by these words: of which two, the first exercised cruelty upon the bodies of the saints: the other also upon their souls: the first by human order and policy, the other under the color of the law of God, and of Religion, raged and imbrued itself with the blood of the godly.

Revelation 17:9 The beginning of these Kings or Emperors is almost the same with the beginning of the Church of Christ, which I showed before, Rev. 11:1. Namely from the year 35, after the passion of Christ, what time the Temple and Church of the Jews was overthrown. In which year it came to pass by the providence of God that that saying The beast was and is not, was fulfilled before that the destruction of the Jews immediately following came to pass. That was the year from the building of the city of Rome, 109, from which year S. John both numbered the Emperors which hitherto hath been, when he wrote these things, and foretelleth two others next to come: and that with this purpose, that when this particular prediction of foretelling of things to come, should take effect the truth of all other predictions in the Church might be the more confirmed. Which sign God of old mentioned this in the Law, Deut. 18, and Jeremiah confirmeth, Jer. 28:8.

Revelation 17:10 Whose names are these: the first, Servius Sulpicius Galba, who was the seventh Emperor of the people of Rome, the second Marcus Salvius Otho, the third Aulus Vitellius, the fourth, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the fifth, Titus Vespasianus his son of his own name.

Revelation 17:10 Flavius Domitian son of the first Vespasian. For in the latter end of his days S. John wrote these things, as witnesseth Irenaus, Lib. 5 adversus hareses.

Revelation 17:10 Nerua. The Empire being now translated from the family of Flavius. This man reigned only one year, four months, and nine days, as the history writers do tell.

Revelation 17:11 This is spoken by the figure synecdoche, as much to say as that head of the beast which was and is not, because it is cut off, and Nerua in so short time extinguished. How many heads there were, so many beasts there seemed to be in one. See the like speech in Rev. 13.3

Revelation 17:11 Nerua Traianus, who himself in divers respects is called here the seventh and the eighth.

Revelation 17:11 Though in number and order of succession he be the eighth, yet he is reckoned together with one of these heads, because Nerua and he were one head. For this man obtained authority together with Nerua, and was Consul with him, when Nerua left his life.

Revelation 17:11 Namely, to molest with persecutions the Churches of Christ, as the histories do accord, and I have briefly noted, Rev. 2:10.

Revelation 17:12 The third place of this description as I said, verse 18, is a prophetical prediction of things to come which the beast should do, as in the words following S. John doth not obscurely signify, saying, which have not yet received the kingdom, etc. For there is an Antithesis or opposition between these kings, and those that went before. And first the persons are described, in this verse, then their deeds in the two verses following.

Revelation 17:12 That is, arising with their kingdoms out of the Roman beast: at such time as that political Empire began by the craft of the Popes greatly to fall.

Revelation 17:12 Namely, with the second beast whom we called before a false prophet, which beast, ascending out of the earth got unto himself all the authority and power of the first beast, and exerciseth the same before his face, as was said, Rev. 14:11, 12. For when the political Empire of the West began to bow downwards, there both arose those ten kings, and the second beast took the opportunity offered to usurp unto himself all the power of the former beast. These kings long ago, many have numbered and described to be ten and a great part of the events plainly testifieth the same in this our age.

Revelation 17:13 That is, by consent and agreement, that they may conspire with the beast, and depend upon his beck. Their story is divided into three parts, counsels, acts, and events. The counselors some of them consist in communicating of judgments and affections: and some in communicating of power, which they are said to have given unto this beast in this verse.

Revelation 17:14 With Christ and his Church, as the reason following doth declare, and here are mentioned the facts and the events which followed for Christ’s sake, and for the grace of God the Father towards those that are called, elected, and are his faithful ones in Christ.

Revelation 17:15 This is the other member of the narration as I said verse 7, belonging unto the harlot, showed in the vision, verse 3. In this history of the harlot, these 3 things are distinctly propounded, what is her magnificence in this verse, what is her fall, and by whom it shall happen unto her, in the two verses following: and lastly, who that harlot is, in the last verse. This place which by order of nature should have been the first, is therefore made the last, because it was more fit to be joined with the next Chap.

Revelation 17:15 That is, as unconstant and variable as the waters. Upon this foundation sitteth this harlot as Queen, a vain person upon that which is vain.

Revelation 17:16 The ten Kings as verse 12. The accomplishment of this fact and event, is daily increased in this our age by the singular providence and most mighty government of God. Wherefore the facts are propounded in this verse, and the cause of them in the verses following.

Revelation 17:17 A reason rendered from the chief efficient cause, which is the providence of God, by which alone S. John by inversion of order affirmeth to have come to pass, both that the Kings should execute upon the harlot, that which pleased God, and which he declared in the verse next beforegoing: and also that by one consent and counsel, they should give their kingdom unto the beast, etc., verses 13, 14. For as these being blinded have before depended upon the beck of the beast that lifteth up the harlot, so it is said that afterward it shall come to pass, that they shall turn back, and shall fall away from her when their hearts shall be turned into better state by the grace and mercy of God.

Revelation 17:18 That is, Rome that great City, or only City (as Justinian calleth it) the King and head whereof was then the Emperor, but now the Pope, since that the condition of the beast was changed.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+17&version=GNV

Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball and football player. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in two major North American sports.[1] Jackson's achievements at the elite levels of multiple sports have given him a reputation as one of the greatest athletes of all time.[2]

Jackson played college baseball as an outfielder and college football as a running back for the Auburn Tigers, and won the Heisman Trophy in 1985. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Raiders and in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, and California Angels. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

In 1989 and 1990, Jackson's name became known beyond just sports through the "Bo Knows" advertising campaign, a series of advertisements by Nike, starring Jackson alongside musician Bo Diddley, promoting a cross-training athletic shoe named for Jackson.[1]

A 1991 hip injury ended his football career, and his baseball career ended in 1994. Jackson expanded into other pursuits, including the completion of his Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Child Development at Auburn. Jackson still holds the NFL record for most runs for 90+ yards from scrimmage with two.[1] In addition, Jackson appeared in small roles as an actor in television shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air[3] and Married... with Children,[4] as well as films such as The Chamber.

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

Bruce Lee[b] (born Lee Jun-fan;[c] November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from Lee's experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought.[2][3] With a film career spanning Hong Kong and the United States,[4][5][6] Lee is regarded as the first global Chinese film star and one of the most influential martial artists in the history of cinema.[7] Known for his roles in five feature-length martial arts films, Lee is credited with helping to popularize martial arts films in the 1970s and promoting Hong Kong action cinema.[8][9]

Born in San Francisco and raised in British Hong Kong, Lee was introduced to the Hong Kong film industry as a child actor by his father.[10] His early martial arts experience included Wing Chun (trained under Ip Man), tai chi, boxing (winning a Hong Kong boxing tournament), and frequent street fighting (neighborhood and rooftop fights). In 1959, Lee moved to Seattle, where he enrolled at the University of Washington in 1961.[11] It was during this time in the United States that he began considering making money by teaching martial arts, even though he aspired to have a career in acting. He opened his first martial arts school, operated out of his home in Seattle. After later adding a second school in Oakland, California, he once drew significant attention at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships of California by making demonstrations and speaking. He subsequently moved to Los Angeles to teach, where his students included Chuck Norris, Sharon Tate, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

His roles in America, including playing Kato in The Green Hornet introduced him to American audiences, but the cultural frictions that existed did not allow Lee to fully express himself. After returning to Hong Kong in 1971, Lee landed his first leading role in The Big Boss, directed by Lo Wei. A year later he starred in Fist of Fury, in which he portrayed Chen Zhen, and The Way of the Dragon, directed and written by Lee. He went on to star in the US-Hong Kong co-production Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978).[12] His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films, all of which were commercially successful, elevated Hong Kong martial arts films to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of Western interest in Chinese martial arts. The direction and tone of his films, including their fight choreography and diversification,[13] dramatically influenced and changed martial arts and martial arts films worldwide.[14] With his influence, kung fu films began to displace the wuxia film genre—fights were choreographed more realistically, fantasy elements were discarded for real-world conflicts, and the characterisation of the male lead went from simply being a chivalrous hero to one that embodied the notion of masculinity.[15]

Lee's career was cut short by his sudden death at age 32 from a brain edema, the causes of which remain a matter of dispute.[16] Nevertheless, his films remained popular, gained a large cult following,[8] and became widely imitated and exploited. He became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, based upon his portrayal of Cantonese culture in his films,[17][page needed] and among Asian Americans for defying Asian stereotypes in the United States.[18] Since his death, Lee has continued to be a prominent influence on modern combat sports, including judo, karate, mixed martial arts, and boxing, as well as modern popular culture, including film, television, comics, animation, and video games. Time named Lee one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

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

The Li Family In writing about the Li family and Chinese secret societies, I am like the man who wakes up in the middle of the night while everyone else sleeps and then gropes around in the darkness trying to feel his way. I can share with you what I’ve learned, but undoubtedly there is a great deal more that can be learned. When the year started I knew only a little about the Li family, and that only from what I had heard. I didn’t even know how to spell their name right. I was spelling it Lee (Actually the Li family name is spelled Lee in some areas such as Hokkien, Teochew, Singapore and by some chinese Americans.) Because I knew so little about the family, it was one of my primary areas of focus when doing UNDERSTANDING HOW CHINESE NAMES ARE JOINED A Chinese is name is made up of a family name (surname), which is written first, and then comes the personal name. In the chinese way of things my name would be Springmeier Fritz. Family names are usually of one character each, although there are exceptions like Ouyong and Situ. There are over 6,000 Chinese surnames for about I billion Chinese. The more frequent chinese surnames in English speaking countries such as the U.S., U.K., & Aust. are Chan, Lin, Li, Wong, Huang, Mei, Yang, Chin, and Fong. In mainland China the 5 top families are Chen, Li, Zhang, He, and Huang. FAMILY NAMES ARE MORE MEANINGFUL FOR CHINESE (IN CHINA) THAN FOR AMERICANS The chinese surname Li is a very popular name in China, perhaps not as widespread as Smith in this country, but certainly used as much as the name Brown is in America. Chinese who have the same surname have much more loyalty to someone else who has the same surname. For instance, two chinese with the Li name would consider themselves relatives even if they were total strangers. Even if two people knew no blood ties, if they had the same surname it has generally been considered incestuous to marry each other in China. In the U.S. if two Browns without any apparent blood ties met each other, they would not feel as if they were close relatives which two Chinese with the same surname would. The Li surname has a long history which goes back to a specific person named Emperor Zhuanzu who was the first Li and lived before 2000 B.C. This is according to the Xing Zuan, the chinese dictionary of surnames. The Li family has a long history in China with many stories. During the Tang Dynasty about 15 different surnames were given the honor of having the Li surname. Li Yuan was the founder of the Tang Dynasty which lasted from 618 to 906 A.D. His son who ruled after him was Li Shimin. In their dynasty, printing and paper money were introduced to China. (It’s interesting that the Li’s are connected the introduction of paper money.) 2

ARE THE DIFFERENT IMPORTANT LI’S RELATED? In recent history three Li’s stand out as giants. · The billionaire and de facto ruler of Hong Kong Li Ka-shing. · Li Peng the ruler of Red China. · Lee Kuan Yew President (& dictator) of Singapore I don’t know which of the Li’s are closely related and which are not. I do know that Li’s control Red China, Hong Kong, and Singapore and have important positions in Taiwan. If the various Li’s which control these various nations are related, then we are certainly looking at one of the most powerful families in the world. In terms of power, they would be just as powerful as the Rockefellers. They also connect to secret occult societies, but the secret societies which the Li’s are major players in are the Chinese secret societies. Those will be covered elsewhere in this newsletter. WHICH ONES ARE PART OF THE ILLUMINATI? I have learned from a source that Li Ka-shing and the powerful Hong Kong Li’s are definitely part of the Satanic llluminati Li’s. in terms of whether the Li’s who run Red China are part of the Illuminati, I know nothing that directly connects them. However, there are clues that make one wonder. For instance, why do the Rockefellers and Rothschilds have such a cosy relationship with these Red Chinese Li’s. Why does the Premier (or Prime Minister) of the People’s Republic of China Li Peng visit with the Rockefellers and other capitalists when he comes to New York City, if he is such a hard-line communist? Haven’t the Communists named the CapitalIsts their major enemy? And then when we watch men who are In the Illuminati such as Skull & Bones George Bush treat the Chinese Li’s with such closeness, even when it was Li Peng that crushed innocent people at Tiennamen Square, it makes us wonder still. In fact, with other pieces of the puzzle that I have in place, I do know that Red China is already cooperating with and part of the New World Order. The only way that China could already be secretly part of the New World Order Is for it’s leaders who are the Li family to be in favor of the New World Order. This strongly suggests that the Li family In China is also part of the Illuminati. From what I know the range of possibilIties range from them being only sympathizers with the NWO elite to them being outright members of the Illuminati. I lean toward the latter view. Then there is Singapore. Singapore is lock stock and barrel in the New World Order. They went to a cashless Society before anyone else. One of the Li family who spells his name Lee, Lee Kuan Yew, a Cambridge-educated lawryer, was dictator of Singapore for decades. He has ties to the British elite. As an example of his dictatorship, Lee didn’t like long hair on men, and so men coming into Singapore with long hair would have their passports taken away and either got a haircut or went to jail. In 1959, when Brittain gave Singapore its Independence the Li family (In this case also spelled Lee) controlled the People’s Action Party which ruled the country. In 1976, the People’s Action Party monopolized politics so much that they won all 69 seats for Parliament. Lee Kuan Yew was placed into the all-powerful position of President in 1965, where he remained I belIeve until 1991. Singapore’s leaders made Singapore very anti-communist during the cold war, and when Nixon began his trips to woo China., Singapore began making goodwill political mission to China. In 1975, Lee’s henchman Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam went to China and met with Chou En-lai. Chou Enlai was the mentor and friend of U Peng. U Peng’s early life.

Actually, to be more specific after Li Peng’s father, who was a leading communist, was shot by the nationalists In 1931, Chou Enlal more or less adopted Li Peng and raised him. Chou Enlal got U Peng into Moscow’s school system, where, when the Russians finally realized his brilliance wanted to keep Li Peng and train him for their own purposes, and U had to escape to back to China. For whatever reasons Li Peng was an advocate of the Soviet style of economics. Before being placed into his prominent position that he holds today, Li Peng managed China’s economy for many years. Lee met Mao In 1976, Lee Kuan Yew himself met with Mao Tse-Tung (then the leader of Red China). Mao Tsetuag himself is closely tied to the Li family. Li Ta-chao was the head of the communist party in Northern China during the fighting with the Nationalists. Mao’s bodyguard was a Li family member Li Yinqiao. Mao’s mentor was Li Ta-chao, who had ties to the Red Spears Secret Society. Other early high ranking communists such as Chu Teh, Ho Lung, and Liu Chib-tan had memberships in the Red Spears Secret Society and Li Ch’l-han an early communist leader was a member of the Green Gang Secret Society. We will cover more about the Li family and Its relationship to Chinese Secret Societies later, as weil as explaining some about the various powerful secret fraternities. It may well have been Li Ta-chao’s guidance that lead to Mao Tse-tung writing the first systematic attempt by a Chinese Marxist to characterize the class basis of secret societies, and emphasizing their importance for revolution. Mao cooperated with the Ko-Ino Hui, a secret society, that helped his revolution, but strangely the official collection of Mao’s works neglects to include Mao’s appeal to them for help. (This neglect is noted on pg. 4 of Popular Movements & Secret Societies in China. 1840-1950) Mao Tse-Tung is also a product of the Harlot Christian church. Mao as a boy had wanted to learn of Christ and attend a Missionary school, but when he went to it, they threw him rudely out because he was Chinese. Mao never forgot the bad treatment he received at the hands of Christians. That explains in part his hatred of Christianity. A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LI ILLUMINATI FAMILY IN HONG KONG The Rothschild, and the Rockefeller families have a very high respect for the Chinese and Japanese people in relation to some of the other peoples in the world. That is one reason why China and Japan are being given the chance to be important players in the New World Order. The powerful Li family in Hong Kong is part of the Illuminati This family maintains a good public reladons. They are philanthropists. Billionaire Li Ka-shing donated money to create a University in Shantou in South China. The cost of the University & its teaching hospital were reported at 85 million U.S. dollars In Fortune Magazine 7/13/92, p. 107. The following chart shows Li Kashing’s financial empire, which extends worldwide. 60 Broad Street New York City Li's share (with Olympia & York) Estimated value of building $100 million Star TV, countries in Asia and MidEast) Star’s capitalization: $300 million HUSKY OIL, Calgary Husky Oil, Calgary value: $1.3 billion CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE Toronto Bank’s market value $4,3 billion - PACIFIC PLACE, Vancouver $2 billion property development SUNTEC CITY Singapore $1 billion property developmnent with partners According to Fortune Magazine, 7/13/92, p. 106, Li Ka-shing is worth 4 Billion Us. dollars. Another article motes that he made HK$13.4 billion from real estate sales in 1991 alone. Li Ka-shing has lived in the same house on a hill Hong Kong for 30 years. Li Ka-shing had little to no formal schooling. He is self-taught. His sons have been weil educated at Stanford. Victor became an engineer, and his other son Richard majored in computer science and is running Star TV In Hong Kong. Other wealthy friends of Li Kashing get together with him regularly to play poker games. U Ka-shing is chairman or chief executive of his four big companies in Hong Kong. He hires both chinese and western executives for day-to-day management. Simon Murray, a Dalton who served in the French Foreign Legion, is one of Li’s trusted managers. Murray had worked for Jardine Matheson, a business owned by one of the Committee of 300. U has built global alliances with British companies, and has part ol Pearson, a British holding company which in turn as interest in Lazard banking Arms In N.Y., London, and Parts. As one can see Li Ka-shing is doing business with the big boys of International Banking. Li also has Joint ventures with MTV, AT&T, Motorola, and Time- Warner. Li’s Star TV broadcast 5 channels to viewers all the way from Israel to Indonesia. The programming comes from the BBC news, and MTV, and some minor pardners. Li is giving Madonna and the rest of Hollywood to the Asians. Li also invested in Vancouver, B.C. He bought the Expo 86 site which Is 1/6th of downtown Vancouver. 27% of Vancouver’s 560000 citizens are of Chinese descent. Vancouver is a Triad stronghold. This will discuss elsewhere.

Bloodlines of Illuminati

by:

Fritz Springmeier, 1995

https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/FC/FC2F5371043C48FDD95AEDE7B8A49624_Springmeier.-.Bloodlines.of.the.Illuminati.R.pdf

Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.

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

The Robertians (sometimes called the Robertines in modern scholarship) are the proposed Frankish family which was ancestral to the Capetian dynasty, and thus to the royal families of France and of many other countries (currently Spain and Luxembourg). The Capetians appear first in the records as powerful nobles serving under the Carolingian dynasty of Charlemagne in West Francia, which later became France. As their power increased, they came into conflict with the older royal family and attained the crown several times before the eventual start of the continuous rule of the descendants of Hugh Capet (ruled 987–996).

Hugh's paternal ancestral family, the Robertians, appear in documents that trace the family back to his great-grandfather Robert the Strong (d. 866). His origins remain unclear, but medieval records hint at an origin in East Francia, in present-day Germany, an area then still also ruled by the Carolingians. In particular, Regino of Prüm (died 915) states that Robert the Strong's son Odo was said to be a relative (nepos) of a Count Meingaud, count of an area near Worms, who died in 892, and there are indications that Maingaud's family used the names Robert and Odo.

Modern proposals about their ancestry further back are based on the idea that there was one family which frequently named its sons Robert, including Robert III of Worms (800–834), Robert the Strong (d. 866), and Robert I of France (866–923). For example, one proposed ancestor is Robert of Hesbaye (c. 800), about whom there are almost no records.

The Robertian family figured prominently amongst the Carolingian nobility and married into this royal family. Eventually, the Robertians themselves produced Frankish kings such as the brothers Odo (reigned 888–898) and Robert I (r. 922–923), then Hugh Capet (r. 987–996), who ruled from his seat in Paris as the first Capetian king of France.

Although Philip II Augustus (r. 1180–1223) was officially the last monarch of France with the title "King of the Franks" (rex Francorum) and the first to style himself "King of France" (roi de France), in (systematic application of) historiography, Hugh Capet holds this distinction. He founded the Capetians, the royal dynasty that ruled France until the revolution of the Second French Republic in 1848—save during the interregnum of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Members of the family still reign in Europe today : both King Felipe VI of Spain and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg descend from this family through the Bourbon cadet branch of the dynasty.

Origin

The oldest known Robertians probably originated in the county of Hesbaye, around Tongeren in modern-day Belgium. The first certain ancestor is Robert the Strong count of Paris,[1] probably the son of Robert III of Worms, grandson of Robert of Hesbaye, and nephew of Ermengarde of Hesbaye, who was the daughter of Ingram, and wife of Louis the Pious. Other related family includes Cancor, founder of the Lorsch Abbey, his sister Landrada and her son Saint Chrodogang, archbishop of Metz.

History

Robert the Strong

The sons of Robert the Strong were Odo and Robert, who were both king of Western Francia and ruled during the Carolingian era. His daughter Richildis married a count of Troyes. The family became Counts of Paris under Odo and "Dukes of the Franks" under Robert, possessing large parts of the ancient Neustria. Although quarrels continued between Robert's son Hugh the Great and Louis IV of France, they were mended upon the ascension of Lothair I of France (954–986). Lothair greatly expanded the Robertian dominions when he granted Hugh Aquitaine as well as much of Burgundy,[2] both rich and influential territories, arguably two of the richest in France.

The Carolingian dynasty ceased to rule France upon the death of Louis V (d. 987). After the death of Louis, the son of Hugh the Great, Hugh Capet was chosen as king of the Franks, nominally the last ruler of West Francia. Given the resurgence of the Holy Roman Empire title and dignities in the West Francian kingdom, Europe was later believed to have entered a new age, so Hugh came to be known in historiography as the first king of France, as western civilization was perceived to have entered the High Middle Ages period. Hugh was crowned at Noyon on July 3, 987 with the full support of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. With Hugh's coronation, a new era began for France, and his descendants came to be named, after him, the Capetians. They ruled France as the Capetians, Valois, and Bourbons until the French Revolution. They returned after 1815 and ruled until Louis Philippe was deposed in 1848.

However, they have continued to rule Spain, with two republican interruptions, through the Bourbon Dynasty right down to the current king Felipe VI.

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

When were the Jesuits restored?

August 7, 1814

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

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

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

Name origins and usage

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

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

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.

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

Friday the 13th

"Friday-the-13th" has since entered the culture as a "bad omen" day. The Priory of Sion did not in ignorance choose Friday-the-13th for their attack upon the Templars. Well aware of the significance the Templars placed on the esoteric value of this number (its Order contained 13 degrees), the Priory must have realized the debilitating effect an attack on this day would have. King Philip, on the other hand, was probably less discerning. All he wanted was the Templars' immense wealth, which eluded him. It was never found, which is strange indeed, for in Paris was the Templars' central bank for all Europe. The preceptory there would have stored the largest cache of gold, second only to that which was allegedly hidden at Rennes-le-Chateau.

Another Double-Cross?

Had the Priory of Sion double-crossed King Philip, too? Circumstantial evidence supports this conclusion. For instance, throughout the period of this intrigue, Guillaume Pidoye - one of the king's men and guardian and administrator of the Templar goods at the Paris preceptory after the arrest of the Templars - was also a colleague of Guillaume de Gisors, the Grand Master of Sion. If Pidoye was himself a Sionist, which seems to have been the case, he would certainly have been more loyal to his Grand Master than to the King. The Holy Blood authors also suggest that Pidoye acted as a "double agent," warning the Templars of their impending arrest at the Paris preceptory. This would appear to have been an act of treason against both the king and Sion. According to legend, sometime before Friday the- 13th, the treasury in the preceptory, together with almost all its documents and records, was transported to the Templar naval base at LaRochelle, and loaded into eighteen galleys, which were never heard of again. Why would Pidoye warn the Templars? It is unlikely he would warn the enemy of his Sionist Grand Master. He would more likely inform Guillaume de Gisors of the King's impending move against the Templars. 77 The authors of Holy Blood hint at another explanation when they suggest that the Grand Master of Sion "might have been partially responsible for.. .the unexplained disappearance of its treasure."57 Alerting the Templars would then be part of an intricately woven plan. Pidoye may not have been a "double agent" as has been suggested, but a "triple agent." Pidoye knew Sion had no means of transporting Templar gold to the coast. Nor had they any ships. Only the Knights Templar had means of transport, with a fleet at La Rochelle. If tipped off in advance, the Knights could reach the port city in time. Pidoye, as representative of the king, would feign sympathy toward the Templars, warning them of impending danger, suggesting they transport their wealth out of the country before Friday-the-13th. As a triple agent, he would then inform the Grand Master of Sion of the gold transport. The Priory in turn would instruct its protector, the English navy, to intercept and scuttle the ships after confiscating the gold. The gold would then be taken to England.

English Complicity and New Power

Although this hypothesis can never be proved, it is interesting to note that England, over the next century, rapidly became the dominant power in the old world. The wealth of the Templars could most certainly lie at the heart of what was eventually to become the British Empire. Another indication that the English may have assisted the Priory of Sion is the fact that the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, or the Hospitallers as they came to be known, acquired the holdings of the Templars after their 1314 persecution. The Hospitallers were the 12th century English competitors of the Knights Templars during the Crusades.58Mter the Saracens regained Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, one group of Hospitallers landed on the island of Rhodes, changing its name to the Temple of St. John of Jerusalem, and the other landed on the island of Malta, changing its name to the Knights of Malta. British journalist Stephen Knight, author of The Brotherhood (1984), states that both orders are today English Masonic Military Orders.59 Moreover, the authors of The Messianic Legacy state that the Knights of Malta are also today viewed as an ideal conduit for English Masonic intelligence gathering.60 A third indication that the British may have assisted the Priory of Sion at La Rochelle is the fact that the Templars fled to Scotland soon after their suppression and there fought alongside King Robert Bruce, who was at war with England. Why would the Templars travel to such a remote place and take arms against England, unless it was related to the disappearance of their galleys at La Rochelle and the confiscation of all their holdings by the English controlled Hospitallers?

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

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

George was a monthly magazine centered on the theme of politics-as-lifestyle founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. and Michael J. Berman with publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in New York City in September 1995. Its tagline was "Not Just Politics As Usual." It was published from 1995 to 2001.

Overview

For the debut issue, creative director Matt Berman (no relation to co-founder Michael Berman) conceived a cover which received a great deal of attention[citation needed] for its image of Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington photographed by Herb Ritts.

George departed from the format of traditional political publications, whose audience primarily comprised people in or around the political world. The general template for George was similar to magazines such as Rolling Stone, Esquire or Vanity Fair. The consistent underlying theme was to marry the themes of celebrity and media with the subject of politics in such a way that the general public would find political news and discourse about politics more interesting to read.

Notable contributors

Paul Begala

Roger Black

George Clooney

Kellyanne Conway[1]

Ann Coulter

Al D'Amato

Lisa DePaulo

Al Franken

Stephen Glass

Rush Limbaugh

Norman Mailer

Chris Matthews

Steve Miller

Cathy Scott

W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Jackie Stallone

Naomi Wolf

Reception

External videos

video icon Washington Journal interview with George executive editor Elizabeth Mitchell, August 18, 1997, C-SPAN

video icon Washington Journal discussion of the George media issue with George editor Gary Ginsberg, Matt Drudge, and Hanna Rosin, April 25, 1998, C-SPAN

When it first appeared, George attracted great interest, and for a brief period had the largest circulation of any political magazine in the nation, partly due to the celebrity status of Kennedy, but it soon began losing money. Kennedy and George occasionally courted controversy to boost sales, one notable example being the 1997 issue wherein Kennedy in his editorial lambasted his cousins Michael Kennedy and Joe Kennedy II, whose marital scandals had recently made news, as "poster boys for bad behavior".[2]

Kennedy later complained that the magazine was not taken seriously in the publishing world.

Critics called George "the political magazine for people who don't understand politics," assailing it for "stripping any and all discussion of political issues from its coverage of politics".[citation needed] In a feature in its final issue, Spy magazine asserted that the magazine's premise was flawed because, "Politics overlapped with Pop Culture in such a limited number of ways".[3] That fairly critical profile in Spy described George as "scrambling for celebrities 'with tits' as often as possible to put on the cover and then trying to figure out what that person had to do with politics".

Decline

After Kennedy died in a plane crash in 1999, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines purchased Kennedy's portion of the magazine from his estate and continued for over a year, with Frank Lalli as editor-in-chief.[4] With falling advertising sales,[4] the magazine ceased publication in 2001, two years after Kennedy's death.[5]

External videos

video icon Tenth anniversary discussion at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, C-SPAN

In 2005, Harvard Kennedy School held a panel discussion titled "Not Just Politics as Usual", which commemorated the 10th anniversary of the magazine's launch. The panel was moderated by Tom Brokaw and featured appearances by other journalists.[6]

Back-issue popularity

A February 1997 edition of George with the tagline "Survival Guide to the Future", wherein Kennedy interviews Bill Gates, has become well sought-after by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, with one copy online being listed at $3,499.99.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_(magazine)

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]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully, the Jesuit Order, in control of the Archbishop with his Network of

Vatican Assassins, will be brought to justice for the cold-blooded murder of

President Kennedy and for continuing the Great Jesuit Cover-up of his death. This

includes the most recent murder of John F. Kennedy, Jr. along with his beautiful

wife, Carolyn Bessette and her sister, Lauren. Justice will only be done when the

Jesuit presence has been purged from the Justice Department in control of the FBI

—Rome’s political Holy Office of the Inquisition within the American Empire.

And why was John F. Kennedy, Jr., along with his innocent passengers,

murdered? According to the late Tom Kuncl in the August 31, 1999 issue of the

National Examiner, JFK, Jr. (having promised in his George magazine (October,

1998, Volume 3, Issue 10, page 136) that if elected President he would abolish the

Federal Reserve System and warned that America’s most pressing foreign issue was

a “dangerous, nuclear armed Russia that is economically unstable”) had

“. . . recently launched an all-out investigation, to find his father’s real

killer . . .

[For John had said in his own words:]

‘I want to know who killed my father. I want there to be absolutely no

doubt.’ ” {59}

G. B. Nicolini, in his History of the Jesuits published in 1889, gives us further light,

declaring on page 269:

“We insist upon that point [that the Jesuits vindictively persecuted the

Roman Catholic Jansenists for exposing the Society in using Jacques

Clement to murder King Henry III of France] one of the most

prominent characteristics of Jesuitism, [is] never to forgive an injury,

and to persecute the remotest descendants for the offences they may

have received from their ancestors.” {60}

Therefore, the following chart contained in Vatican Assassins: “Wounded In

The House Of My Friends” is humbly given on behalf of the Kennedy and Bessette

families. They must know the same savage Jesuit power that killed President

Kennedy, mercilessly murdered their three darlings in the prime of their young lives.

The same has been done to Princess Diana; for the Jesuits would never

permit the Moslem offspring of her union with an Arab prince to be an heir to the

British throne. That throne may only be occupied by a monarch loyal to the Jesuits’

“infallible” Pope of Rome—a loyalty that has been unbroken from the wicked and

tyrannical King George III, whose Prime Minister was the Jesuit Lord Shelburne,

to the present Queen Elizabeth II. For uniting with Dodi Fayed, the “Moslem dog”

or “Moslem wog” as the English nobles would call him, Princess Diana was buried

Web Page 59

out of public view at Althrop Park in Northamptonshire, on a small island in the

middle of a pond, where only pet dogs had previously been buried!

As you examine the chart dear reader, picture in your mind’s eye the faces of

President Kennedy, Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Carolyn and Lauren

Bessette. Then may your heart be strengthened to do your duty in exposing the

criminal Papal Knights manning that great Sword of the Jesuit General—the

Vatican’s International Intelligence Community,

“. . . whose points are everywhere and whose hilt is in Rome.” {61}

Dear fellow soldier in the Lord Jesus Christ, having been born-again by the

will of God, remember the Words of God spoken by the Spirit of God through the

great Hebrew Kings of Israel, David and Solomon:

“The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?”

– Psalm 27:1

“The wicked flee when no man pursueth:

but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

– Proverbs 28:1

“The fear of man bringeth a snare:

but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

– Proverbs 29:25

Vatican Assassins:

“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”

Third Edition

by Eric Jon Phelps

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

Francis died at the age of 88 in the early morning of 21 April 2025. He had made his last public appearance the day before, Easter Sunday.[15][16]

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

Trump and Zelenskiy meet one-on-one in Vatican basilica to seek Ukraine peace

By Steve Holland and Angelo Amante

April 26, 20252:47 PM PDTUpdated 11 hours ago

Summary

Meeting was before the funeral of Pope Francis

Zelenskiy says discussion could prove historic

It was their first encounter since Oval Office shouting match

After meeting, Trump takes tough tone in post about Putin

Ceasefire talks in the Russian war in Ukraine at critical phase

VATICAN CITY, April 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met one-on-one in a marble-lined Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia's war with Ukraine.

Zelenskiy said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesperson called it "very productive."

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The two leaders, leaning in close to each other with no aides around them while seated in St. Peter's Basilica, spoke for about 15 minutes, according to Zelenskiy's office, and images of the meeting released by Kyiv and Washington.

The meeting at the Vatican, their first since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia.

After Pope Francis's funeral service, Trump boarded Air Force One and departed Rome. While in the air, he published a social media post in which he took a tough tone on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump posted on Truth Social. Twelve people were killed on Thursday when a missile fired by Russia hit a Kyiv apartment block.

"It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!" Trump wrote.

Following Trump's remarks, Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said the Senate is poised to move forward on bipartisan legislation that would impose trade sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other products.

"The Senate stands ready to move in this direction and will do so overwhelmingly if Russia does not embrace an honorable, just and enduring peace," Graham posted on X.

Trump's post was a departure from his usual rhetoric that has seen the toughest criticism directed at Zelenskiy, while he has spoken positively about Putin.

In a post on social media platform Telegram, Zelenskiy wrote: "Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about."

He said those topics included: "The protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war."

Zelenskiy added: "It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!"

NO AIDES IN SIGHT

In one photograph released by Zelenskiy's office, the Ukrainian and U.S. leaders sat opposite each other in a hall of the basilica, around two feet apart, and were leaning in towards each other in conversation. No aides could be seen in the image.

In a second photograph, from the same location, Zelenskiy, Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were shown standing in a tight huddle. Macron had his hand on Zelenskiy's shoulder.

After Trump and Zelenskiy met in the basilica, the two men joined other world leaders outside in Saint Peter's Square at the funeral service for Pope Francis, who made the pursuit of peace, including in Ukraine, a motif of his papacy.

Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who gave the sermon at the funeral service, recalled how Pope Francis did not stop raising his voice to call for negotiations to end conflicts.

"War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone," the cardinal said.

DIFFERENCES OVER TERRITORY

Trump has been pressing both Moscow and Kyiv to agree on a ceasefire and peace deal. He had previously warned his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree on a deal soon.

After a round of shuttle diplomacy this week, differences have emerged between the position of the Trump White House on peace talks and the stance of Ukraine and its European allies, according to documents from the talks obtained by Reuters.

Washington is proposing a legal recognition that Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, is Russian territory, something that Kyiv and its allies in Europe say is a red line they will not cross.

There are also differences on how quickly sanctions on Russia would be lifted if a peace deal was signed, what kind of security guarantees Ukraine would have, and how Ukraine would be financially compensated.

Trump and Zelenskiy have had a rocky personal relationship. At their Oval Office meeting, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of "gambling with World War Three."

Since then, Kyiv has tried to repair relations, but the barbs have continued. Zelenskiy has said Trump was trapped in a "disinformation bubble" that favoured Moscow, while the U.S. leader accused Zelenskiy of foot-dragging on a peace deal and making "inflammatory" statements.

But the two men need each other. Trump requires Zelenskiy's buy-in to achieve his stated ambition of bringing a swift peace between Russia and Ukraine, while Kyiv needs Trump to pressure Moscow into diluting some of the more onerous conditions it has set for a truce.

At the Oval Office meeting in February, a reporter who was present from a conservative U.S. news network accused Zelenskiy of disrespecting the occasion by not wearing a suit.

Zelenskiy, since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, has eschewed suits in favour of military-style attire, saying it is his way of showing solidarity with his countrymen fighting to defend Ukraine.

In Rome on Saturday, Zelenskiy again decided against a suit, and instead wore a dark shirt, buttoned up to the neck with no tie, and wore a dark military-style jacket over the top of that.

Reporting by Steve Holland and Angelo Amante; Additional reporting by Christian Lowe and Andrii Pryimachenko in Kyiv and Alistair Smout in London; Writing by Christian Lowe and James Oliphant; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Rod Nickel

https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraines-zelenskiy-met-trump-rome-zelenskiys-office-says-2025-04-26/

Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project)[3] is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in April 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank, in anticipation of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election.[4][5]

The ninth iteration of the Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership series, Project 2025 is based on a controversial interpretation of the unitary executive theory that states that the entire executive branch is under the complete control of the president.[6][7] The project's proponents say it would dismantle a government bureaucracy they say is unaccountable and mostly liberal.[8] Critics have called it an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan[9][10][11] that would steer the U.S. toward autocracy.[12] Some legal experts say it would undermine the rule of law,[13] separation of powers,[5] separation of church and state,[12][14] and civil liberties.[5][13][15]

The project calls for merit-based federal civil service workers to be replaced by people loyal to Trump and to take partisan control of key government agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Commerce (DOC), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).[16] Other agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Education (ED), would be dismantled.[17] It calls for reducing environmental regulations to favor fossil fuels and proposes making the National Institutes of Health (NIH) less independent while defunding its stem cell research.[18] The blueprint seeks to reduce taxes on corporations, institute a flat income tax on individuals,[19] cut Medicare and Medicaid,[20][21] and reverse as many of President Joe Biden's policies as possible.[22][23] It proposes criminalizing pornography,[24] removing legal protections against anti-LGBT discrimination,[25][26] and ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs[5][26] while having the DOJ prosecute anti-white racism instead.[27] The project recommends the arrest, detention, and mass deportation of illegal immigrants,[28][29] and deploying the U.S. Armed Forces for domestic law enforcement.[30] The plan also proposes enacting laws supported by the Christian right,[9][31] such as criminalizing those who send and receive abortion and birth control medications[32][33][34] and eliminating coverage of emergency contraception.[20]

Most of Project 2025's writers and contributors worked in either Trump's first administration (2017−2021) or his 2024 election campaign.[a] Several Trump campaign officials maintained contact with Project 2025, seeing its goals as aligned with their Agenda 47 program.[8][40][41][42] Trump later attempted to distance himself from the plan.[b] After he won the 2024 election, he nominated several of the plan's architects and supporters to positions in his second administration.[50][51] Four days into his second term, analysis by Time found that nearly two-thirds of Trump's executive actions "mirror or partially mirror" proposals from Project 2025.[52]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025

Politics

Vance says it was "pretty crazy" that he met Pope Francis in his last 24 hours

By Kaia Hubbard

April 23, 2025 / 9:58 AM EDT / CBS News

Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that it was "pretty crazy" that he was among the last officials to meet with Pope Francis before his death earlier this week.

"When I saw him, I didn't know that he had less than 24 hours still on this earth," Vance told reporters in Agra, India. "I think it was a great blessing."

The vice president is on a four-day trip in India with his wife Usha, the first Hindu American second lady, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from India. Vance's visit with his family comes after they traveled to Italy last week to participate in Holy Week events. Vance noted that plans remain in flux about whether he will attend the pope's funeral in the coming days.

The vice president outlined his brief visit with Francis on Easter Sunday, saying he knew the pope was "very ill," but he "didn't realize how sick he was."

"The thing that I will always remember Pope Francis for is that he was a great pastor," Vance said. "People on the margins, poor people, people suffering from diseases, they saw in Pope Francis an advocate and I think, a true expression of Christian love."

Vance added that the pontiff "affected a lot of lives," saying that he tries to remember "that I was lucky that I got to shake his hand and tell him that I pray for him every day, because I did and I do."

Vance and Francis' meeting came after the two men had sharp disagreements on immigration as the pontiff had long condemned the Trump administration's approach. Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, told reporters Wednesday that he's aware of the disagreements the pope had with some of the Trump administration's policies, while noting that he would not "soil the man's legacy by talking about politics."

On the selection of the next pope, the vice president said he would "say a prayer for wisdom" for the Cardinals, saying that "I want them to pick somebody who will be good for the world's Catholics."

"But I'll let them make that decision, and obviously they're entitled to do so," he added.

The vice president's trip to India comes amid President Trump's recent actions on tariffs. Vance arrived in India on Monday and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after which the leaders touted progress on trade talks.

The vice president told reporters Wednesday that "we're making progress across the board," though he said of the trade discussions more broadly that it's "a little bit too early to prejudge, to say what any of these deals is going to look like."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-death-jd-vance-meeting/

James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman;[a] August 2, 1984) is an American politician, author, attorney, and Marine Corps veteran who is the 50th vice president of the United States serving under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate from 2023 to 2025.

Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio. After high school, Vance joined the Marine Corps, where he served as a military journalist from 2003 to 2007, and was deployed to the Iraq War for six months in 2005. He graduated from Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in 2009 and Yale Law School with a law degree in 2013. He practiced briefly as a corporate lawyer before embarking on a career in the tech industry as a venture capitalist. His memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, was published in 2016[2] and adapted into a film in 2020.

Vance won the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio, defeating Democratic nominee Tim Ryan. After initially opposing Donald Trump's candidacy in the 2016 election, Vance became a strong Trump supporter during Trump's first presidency. In July 2024, Trump selected Vance as his running mate before the Republican National Convention. He served as Ohio's senator until his resignation in preparation to assume the vice presidency in January 2025. Vance is the third-youngest vice president in U.S. history, as well as the first millennial to hold the office.

Vance has been characterized as a national conservative and right-wing populist, and he describes himself as a member of the postliberal right. His political positions include opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and gun control. Vance is an outspoken critic of childlessness and has credited the influence of Catholic theology on his sociopolitical positions.

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

The Holy See[7][8] (Latin: Sancta Sedes, lit. 'Holy Chair[9]', Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈsaŋkta ˈsedes]; Italian: Santa Sede [ˈsanta ˈsɛːde]), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See,[10] is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and the Vatican City State.[11] It encompasses the office of the pope as the bishop of the apostolic episcopal see of Rome, and serves as the spiritual and administrative authority of the worldwide Catholic Church and Vatican City.[12] Under international law, the Holy See holds the status of a sovereign juridical entity.[13]

According to Catholic tradition and historical records, the Holy See was founded in the first century by Saint Peter and Saint Paul. By virtue of the doctrines of Petrine and papal primacy, it is the focal point of full communion for Catholics around the world.[14] The Holy See is headquartered in, operates from, and exercises "exclusive dominion" over Vatican City, an independent city-state enclaved in Rome, and of which the pope is the head of state.[15]

The Holy See is administered by the Roman Curia, which is composed of central institutions assisting the pope and through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted.[16][17] The Roman Curia includes various dicasteries, comparable to ministries and executive departments, with the Cardinal Secretary of State as its chief administrator. Papal elections are carried out by members of the College of Cardinals.

Although the Holy See is often metonymically referred to as the "Vatican", the Vatican City State was distinctively established with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, agreed between the Holy See and Italy, to ensure the temporal, diplomatic, and spiritual independence of the papacy.[18] As such, papal nuncios, who are papal diplomats to states and international organizations, are recognized as representing the Holy See and not the Vatican City State, as prescribed in the Canon law of the Catholic Church. The Holy See is thus viewed as the central government of the Catholic Church and Vatican City.[17] The Catholic Church, in turn, is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world.[19]

The Holy See maintains bilateral diplomatic relations with 180 sovereign states, signs concordats and treaties, and performs multilateral diplomacy with multiple intergovernmental organizations, including the United Nations and its agencies, the Council of Europe, the European Communities, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Organization of American States.[20][21][22]

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

The Greeks had colonized coasts of Sicily and southern Italy, and the fertile land had made many new cities wealthy, with splendid temples and richly furnished houses. These Greeks colonies eventually came under Roman control, but brought with them their art, literature and learning.

page 6

"City-state to superpower"

Ancient Rome

by Eyewitness Books

The period from the death of Alexander until about 30 B.C. is known as the Hellenistic Age, from the word "Hellene," meaning Greek. The Hellenistic kingdoms preserved many aspect of Greek life but were eventually overcome by by the rising power of Rome."

page 62

"Alexander and the Hellenistic age"

Ancient Greece

by Eyewitness Books

Revelation 13:1-2

1599 Geneva Bible

13 1 The beast with many heads is described 12 which draweth the most part of the world to idolatry. 13 The other beast rising out of the earth, 15 giveth power unto him.

1 And I [a]saw a beast rise [b]out of the sea, having seven heads, and [c]ten horns, and upon his horns were ten crowns, and [d]upon his head [e]the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was [f]like a leopard, and his feet like a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion: [g]and the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:1 The Apostle having declared the springing up of the Christian Church and the state of the Church from which ours taketh her beginning, doth now pass unto the story of the progress thereof, as I showed in the entrance of the former Chapter. And this history of the progress of the Church, and the battles thereof, is set down in this Chapter, but distinctly in two parts, one is of the civil Roman Empire, unto the tenth verse. Another of the body Ecclesiastical or prophetical, thence unto the end of the chapter. In the former part are showed these things: First the state of that Empire, in four verses: then the acts thereof in three verses: after the effect, which is exceeding great glory, verse 8. And last of all is commended the use: and the instruction of the godly against the evils that shall come from the same, verses 9, 10. The history of the state containeth a most ample description of the beast, first entire, verses 1, 2, and then restored after hurt, verses 3, 4.

Revelation 13:1 On the sand whereof stood the devil practicing new tempests against the Church, in the verse next beforegoing: what time the Empire of Rome was endangered by domestical dissensions, and was mightily tossed, having ever and anon new heads, and new Emperors. See in the seventeenth chapter and the eighth verse.

Revelation 13:1 Having the same instruments of power, providence, and most expert government which the Dragon is said to have had in Rev. 12:3.

Revelation 13:1 We read in chapter 12 and third verse, that the Dragon had seven crowns set upon seven heads: because the thief announceth himself to be proper Lord and Prince of the world: but this beast is said to have ten crowns set upon several, not heads, but horns: because the beast is beholden for all unto the Dragon, verse 2, and doth not otherwise reign them by law of subjection given by him, namely that he employ his horns against the Church of God. The speech is taken from the ancient custom and form of dealing in such case: by which they that were absolute kings did wear the diadem upon their heads: but their vassals and such as reigned by grace from them, wore the same upon their hoods: for so they might commodiously lay down their diadems when they came into the presence of their Sovereigns: as also their Elders are said, when they adored God which sat upon the throne, to have cast down their crowns before him, chap. 4, verse 10.

Revelation 13:1

Contrary to that which God of old commanded should be written in the head piece of the high Priest, that is, Sanctitas Jehova, Holiness unto the Lord. The name of blasphemy imposed by the Dragon, is (as I think) that which S. Paul saith in chapter 2 of his 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians, verse 4. He sitteth as God, and boasteth himself to be God. For this name of blasphemy both the Roman Emperors did then challenge unto themselves, as Suetonius and Dion do report of Caligula and Domitian: and after them the Popes of Rome did with full mouth profess the same of themselves, when they challenged unto themselves sovereignty in holy things: of which kind of sayings the sixth book of the Decretals, the Clementines, and the Extravagants, are very full. For these men were not content with that which Anglicus wrote in his Poetria (the beginning whereof is, Papa stupor mundi. The Pope is the wonder of the world. Nec Deus es, nec homo, sed neuter es inter utrunque. Thou art not God, nay art thou man, but neuter mixed of both: as the gloss witnesseth upon the sixth book: but they were bold to take unto themselves the very name of God, and to accept it given of other: according as almost an hundred and twenty years since, there was made for Sixtus the fourth, when he should first enter into Rome in his dignity Papal, a Pageant of triumph, and cunningly fixed upon the gate of the city he should enter at, having written upon it this blasphemous verse:

Oraclo vocis mundi moderaris habenas,

Et merito in terris crederis esse deus.

By oracle of thine own voice the world thou governest all,

And worthily a God on earth, men think, and do thee call.

These and six hundred the like who can impute unto that modesty whereby good men of old would have themselves called the servants of the servants of God, verily either this is a name of blasphemy, or there is none at all.

Revelation 13:2 Swift as the Leopard, easily clasping all things, as the bear doth with his foot, and tearing and devouring all things with the mouth as doth the Lion.

Revelation 13:2 That is, he lent the same unto the beast to use, when he perceived that himself could not escape, but must needs be taken by the hand of the Angel, and cast into the bottomless pit, Rev. 20, yet did not he abandon the same utterly from himself, but that he might use it as long as he could.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A1-2&version=GNV

The Jade Helm 15 conspiracy theories were based on the Jade Helm 15 United States military training exercise, which took place in multiple U.S. states between July 15 and September 15, 2015. The exercise, which involved 1,200 personnel from four of the five branches of the U.S. military, was designed to train soldiers in skills needed to operate in overseas combat environments, including maneuvering through civilian populations.[1] The announcements of these training exercises raised concerns and generated conspiracy theories, mostly from Alex Jones,[2] that the exercise was a hostile military takeover.[3]

Exercise details

The joint exercise in realistic military training (RMT) known as Jade Helm 15[4] was sponsored by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM)[5] and involved the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) with other U.S. military units in multiple states, including Texas, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Utah. Its stated purpose was "to improve the Special Operations Forces' capability as part of the National Security Strategy".[5] It was coordinated and led from Eglin Air Force Base, an Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) base in northwest Florida.[6]

Approximately 1,200 troops were engaged over the course of the exercise.[6] They were "mainly Army Green Berets, but also a small group of Navy SEALs and Air Force special operations troops as well as conventional Army infantry",[7] although the initial request to state officials from USSOCOM listed elements of the United States Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), Marine expeditionary units, the 82nd Airborne Division, and "interagency partners" as participants.[5] Troops engaging in the exercise assumed the roles of either occupying or resistance forces.[8] Most locations were in sparsely populated arid regions near small towns. Some participants wore civilian attire and drove civilian vehicles.[9] Maps of the exercise included areas of the United States such as Colorado and California where no actual operations were planned.[10] The locations in Texas include Bastrop, Smithville, Big Spring, Caddo Lake, Caldwell, Christoval, College Station, Dell City, Eldorado, Goliad, Junction, Leakey, Menard, Mountain Home, San Angelo, San Antonio, and Victoria.[11]

USSOCOM claimed that "the size and scope of Jade Helm sets this one apart" from previous training exercises,[12] such as Derna Bridge or Robin Sage.[10] In Bastrop, 60 soldiers took part, including the presence of two Humvee vehicles and a "water buffalo" water tank. Private land offered by residents would be used for the exercise, though he noted that they would not be paid for the land or receive a tax break of any kind.[13] Lastoria also claimed that $150,000 in revenue would be brought to the area because of food, fuel, and shopping.

Journalists were not allowed to embed in the operation, due to the "scope and scale" of the training exercise.[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Helm_15_conspiracy_theories

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

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

Jady

By Doireann Mangan Content Writer

Updated January 18, 2024

US Popularity:

27700

Origin:

British

Meaning:

Precious stone

Jady is a girl’s name of British origin. It’s a variant of Jade, which refers to the precious stone of the same name. A fitting choice for your little gem! Known for its beautiful green color, jade has a variety of positive connotations, including wealth, nobility, protection and healing. It was highly prized in the ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Aztec cultures. Jady can be used as an affectionate nickname for Jade, or as a name on its own.

https://www.thebump.com/b/jady-baby-name

AI Overview

In Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, is described as having walls made of jasper and foundations adorned with all manner of precious stones. These stones include jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst. While the Bible does not explicitly mention jade, the descriptions of the New Jerusalem focus on a variety of precious stones, including those with green hues like emerald and chrysoprase.

Generative AI is experimental.

https://www.facebook.com/HisHolyChurchofAnonymous/posts/pfbid0puy5xRtDuZ4mAdBPTyHKXGxF6JBHqyhxF4zEzmDtRpDuKjMnrCuUFSaowYFsCDBCl

John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994)[1] was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedy films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990) and Nothing but Trouble (1991).

In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his ownership. He died in 1994 at the age of 43. His final two film appearances, Wagons East (1994) and Canadian Bacon (1995), are dedicated to his memory.

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

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

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.

It is hypothesized that the name comes either from Latin caput, meaning "head", and means "chief" or "head of state".

https://homework.study.com/explanation/how-did-hugh-capet-get-his-name.html

The House of Capet (French: Maison capétienne) ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians and the Karlings.

The direct line of the House of Capet came to an end in 1328, when the three sons of Philip IV (reigned 1285–1314) all failed to produce surviving male heirs to the French throne. With the death of Charles IV (reigned 1322–1328), the throne passed to the House of Valois, descended from a younger brother of Philip IV.

Royal power would pass on, in 1589, to another Capetian branch, the House of Bourbon, descended from the youngest son of Louis IX (reigned 1226–1270). From 1830 on it would go to a Bourbon cadet branch, the House of Orléans, always remaining in the hands of agnatic descendants of Hugh Capet himself a descendant of Charlemagne, except for the 10-year reign of Emperor Napoleon.

Names

The House of Capet (French: Maison capétienne) were also called the Direct Capetians (Capétiens directs), the House of France (la maison de France), or simply the Capets. Historians in the 19th century came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet (c. 939 – 996). Contemporaries did not use the name "Capetian" (see House of France). The Capets were sometimes called "the Third Race of Kings" (following the Merovingians and the Carolingians). The name "Capet" derives from the nickname (of uncertain meaning) given to Hugh, the first Capetian king.[1]

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

Sri Dalada Maligawa[a], commonly known in English as the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, is a Buddhist temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the Royal Palace Complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, which houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. The relic was historically held by Sinhalese kings. The Temple of the Tooth is a World Heritage Site mainly due to the temple and the relic.

Bhikkhus of the two particular chapters, the Malwathu chapters and Asgiri chapters, conduct daily worship in the inner chamber of the temple. Rituals are performed three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the evenings. On Wednesdays, there is a symbolic bathing of the relic with a herbal preparation made from scented water and fragrant flowers called Nanumura Mangallaya; this holy water is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed to those present. The Kandy Esala Perahera, is conducted annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic.

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

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Starburst (originally known as Opal Fruits) is the brand name of a box-shaped, fruit-flavoured soft taffy candy manufactured by The Wrigley Company, which is a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Starburst has many different varieties, such as Tropical, Sour, FaveREDs, Watermelon, Very Berry, Superfruit, Summer Blast and Original.

Introduced in the United Kingdom in 1959, the regular flavours are blackcurrant, lemon and lime, orange and strawberry.[1][2]

History

The brand was introduced by Mars in the United Kingdom in the autumn of 1959, named Opal Fruits by Peter Phillips (known as Peter Pfeffer at the time), the winner of a competition that won him £5.[3][4] Produced at their factory in Slough, Berkshire, the four original flavours were strawberry, lemon, orange and lime. Opal Fruits were introduced in the United States in 1967[4] as M&M's Fruit Chewies. By 1968, they were renamed Starburst under the suggestion of Mars food scientist Aaron L. Brody, who noted M&M's connotation to chocolate. Brody's team originally wanted to use fruit on the packaging but this was rejected as real fruit was not used.[5][6] While the etymology of the name Starburst is not certain, it was probably an attempt to express the burst of flavour at each bite, and draw attention while space interest was at its peak during the Space Race.[7] Originally, Starburst came in the same flavours as Opal Fruits, though the lime flavour was replaced by cherry in the US in the early 1980s.[8] Subsequently, its first variant, "Sunshine Flavors", was released, and was later renamed "Tropical Opal Fruits". In Europe, the lemon and lime flavours were combined to become a singular "lemon and lime" flavour to make room for a blackcurrant flavour.

The UK 'Twenty-one Fruits' limited edition original Opal Fruits branding

The brand name Opal Fruits was phased out in the UK, followed by Ireland in 1998 in order to standardise the product in a globalised marketplace.[9] In 2008, however, Mars revived the original Opal Fruits in the UK in conjunction with the supermarket chain Asda for a period of 12 weeks starting on 10 May 2008.[10] On 6 October 2008, Mars acquired Wrigley[11] and it transferred Mars' non-chocolate candy brands, including Starburst, to the Wrigley subsidiary.[12] The original flavours are now branded "Original Fruits", and Starburst now comes in several assortments: FaveREDs, Limited Edition Retro Fruits, Tropical, Baja California, Sour, Strawberry Mix, Berries and Creme, Very Berry and Fruity Slushies. Among the additional flavours are Strawberry Lemonade, Strawberry-Banana, Blue Raspberry, Blue Raspberry Rush, Cherry Splash, Citrus Slush, Kiwi, Banana, Plum, Passion Fruit, Mango, Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Melon, Watermelon, Tropical Punch, Green Apple, Orange Cream, Mixed Berries and Cream, Peaches and Cream and Strawberry and Cream. Europe and the United States also has the "Sour" assortment, which includes Apple, Cherry, Pineapple and Raspberry, as well as Strawberry Mix.

Starburst in the UK is vegetarian, its packaging and website clearly stating "Suitable for Vegetarians", and also does not contain any artificial colours or flavours.[13] In the US, Starburst contains non-vegan gelatin in its ingredients.

Lime Starburst made a comeback in 2007 as a limited-edition "retro" flavour in packages of the "Baja" version, while the range in the UK was further extended with a version named Starburst Choozers. These lozenge shaped chews have a liquid fruit juice centre, and come packaged with the tag line "The chews that ooze." Each packet contains three flavours; Orange & Mango, Raspberry & Orange and Pineapple & Orange.

Unwrapped original Opal Fruits (strawberry, orange, lemon and lime from left to right) brought back in 2021 as a limited edition

As of August 2016, the advertising slogan for Starburst is "Unexplainably Juicy".[4]

During March 2020, the Opal Fruits name was revived again for a limited period in the UK with a 152g bag available in Poundland and Dealz stores initially, which included the four original flavours (lemon, strawberry, orange, lime).[14]

Starburst products were entirely discontinued in New Zealand in April 2021,[15] and in Australia in June 2022.[16] Starburst-branded products had been sold in Australia since 1996.[17]

The European Union's top food regulators found in 2021 that titanium dioxide, an additive found in Starbursts, could damage DNA, which in turn could lead to cancer.[18] This resulted in the EU phasing out sale of Starbursts and other foods containing titanium dioxide starting February 7, 2022, with a full ban enacted August 7, 2022.[19]

As of November 2022, the Duos and Tropical flavors have been discontinued by Mars Inc.

In March 2023, Democratic California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel introduced the California Food Safety Act to the California Assembly which intended to ban production, sales, and consumption of all foods and drinks (including Starburst, Skittles, Pez, Sour Patch Kids, Campbell Soup, etc.) that contain titanium dioxide and 4 other harmful additives (propylparaben, red dye 3, brominated vegetable oil, and potassium bromate) across the state. All five of additives had been linked to causing cancer and other health problems and at least three were already banned by the European Union from being used in food and drink products. If passed, California will become the first US state to adopt the European Union's ban on titanium dioxide and other cancer-causing chemical additives from being used in food and drink products.[citation needed] Although the legislation was signed into law in October 2023, a last-minute amendment removed titanium dioxide from the banned ingredients.[20]

Marketing

In the 1970s, Opal Fruits were well known in the UK for their advertising tag line "Opal Fruits—made to make your mouth water!" (slogan coined by Murray Walker[21]). The full advertising jingle was "Opal Fruits—made to make your mouth water/Fresh with the tang of citrus/four refreshing fruit flavours/orange, lemon, strawberry, lime/Opal Fruits—made to make your mouth water!"

Starburst has been marketed in several ways, including a marketing tie-in for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest where they replaced Kiwi Banana and Tropical Punch with Royal Berry Punch.

In 2002, Starburst created a song for the Australian market called "Get Your Juices Going". It was released as a CD single and attributed to a fictional pop group also called Starburst.[22]

In 2007, a commercial for Starburst's Berries and Creme flavour went viral.[23] The commercial, referred to as "Berries and Creme" or as "The Little Lad Dance", stars a man dressed in Victorian/Georgian clothing expressing his excitement for the candy's flavour by performing an impromptu song and dance routine.[24] The commercial received praise for its style from Advertising Age.[25][26] In an interview with Adweek the actor of the character (Jack Ferver) commented that the commercial took over 12 hours to film and that they had to wear the full costume in 80 °F (27 °C) weather.[27]

In the second half of 2021, the Berries and Creme commercial went viral for a second time, with a number of videos on TikTok using the audio and the "Little Lad Dance".[28]

Other varieties

Starburst also exists or has existed in the form of vines "fruit twists",[29] ropes, candy corn, popsicles, gum, candy canes, jelly beans, fruit roll ups, gelatin,[30] energy drinks (in partnership with C4 Energy),[31] lip gloss (in a partnership with Lip Smackers)[32] and yogurt (by Yoplait in 2019 as a flavour).[33] Until 2021, the company also produced 'heart-shaped' jelly beans for Valentine's Day.[34] In 2021, Starburst released their first vegan gummy candy in the US.[35]

A range of non-taffy Starburst products for the Australian and New Zealand markets were produced from 1997 to 2020; products included 'Snakes' gummies and 'Sucks' lollipops.[17][36]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starburst_(candy)

With regard to self-immolation, it should be pointed out that, unlike Jainism, Buddhism is generally against religious suicide350 and self-mutilation (Sheth, 2012: 73-74), but there are exceptions both in Theravada as well as in Mahāyāna. The Theravāda Jātaka tales relate several instances of religious suicide in some of the previous lives of Gautama Buddha. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the most important and well-known Mahāyāna Scriptural text and often referred to briefly as the Lotus Sutra, extols the case of the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja, who previously, as the Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, burnt his own body as an act of honor (pūjā) accorded to the Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśri and to the Lotus Sutra. It also mentions that youth who burn some part of their body at the relic chambers of the Buddhas gain immense merit (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, ch. 22, pp. 237, 240). Such examples are adduced in order to justify exceptional cases of heroic, altruistic and sublime self-sacrifice of one’s life. For Thich Nhat Hahn self-immolation is neither good nor bad. It transcends the question whether self-immolation is good strategy in peace activism. But we must make an effort to put ourselves in the shoes of the immolators and try to see things with their eyes. They intend to enkindle the awareness of people and awaken them (Nhat Hahn 1975: 62). We had begun our social justice trip in India. Even though we now move on to Tibet, yet, in consonance with the cyclic worldview of Buddhism, we actually return to India: the reason is that the Dalai Lama has established a Tibetan Government in Exile in India.

The Buddha & Jesus

An Anthology of Articles by Jesuits engaged in

Buddhist Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue

Edited by

Cyril Veliath, SJ

Faculty of Global Studies

Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

https://web.archive.org/web/20220929093250/https://jcapsj.org/the-buddha-jesus/

On 11 June 1963, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated outside the Cambodian embassy in the city of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalists were notified in advance to show up, but had not been told what would happen. The US journalist Malcolm Browne photographed the scene. His photograph became an enduring worldwide image of Buddhist protest.

Many in the US assume that the self-immolation was a protest against the war in Vietnam, paralleling anti-war protestors at home. This idea fits nicely into the popular association of Buddhism with peace. It is, however, wrong. Quang Duc’s self-immolation and the others that followed were a protest against the South Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem administration and its allies in the West. Vietnamese Buddhists felt persecuted by the Vietnamese administration’s pro-Catholic stance. Their self-immolations were acts to defend Buddhism.

Buddhists have always been involved in civil disobedience movements and peace-making agendas, such as the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. Further, Buddhist meditations have proven incredibly helpful in the rehabilitation of criminals. In short, Buddhism, to its practitioners, is not an ‘accoutrement’ to life or ‘just’ a philosophy – it is a full-bodied religion whose adherents are eager to protect. The myth of Buddhism as a wholly peaceful religion ignores Buddhists’ agency and diversity – and the fact that they will go to great lengths to defend their religion, whether by way of pistol-bearing monks or self-immolating protesters.

Recently, Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also called for violence. In 2013, Time magazine placed the Burmese Buddhist monk U Wirathu on their cover with the headline ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror’. U Wirathu has been a fiery critic of Burmese Muslims, particularly those who identify as Rohingya. The 2014 Myanmar census found that Buddhists make up 89 per cent of the population, compared with Muslims at 4.3 per cent. Nevertheless, U Wirathu and his counterparts argue that both Burmese Buddhism and Myanmar itself are threatened by the ‘Islamification of Asia’. In well-attended sermons, U Wirathu has repeatedly derided Muslims and Islam, accusing them of seeking to destroy Burmese culture and the future of Buddhism. In one sermon, he likened Muslims to the African carp, explaining that they are inherently violent, prone to breed quickly, and want to eat their own kind.

U Wirathu is a member of the 969 movement. This movement and the Ma Ba Tha (the Patriotic Association of Myanmar) retain significant influence over the Buddhists of Myanmar. They distribute pamphlets and taped sermons that warn about the threat of Islam. Their work to foment fear of Muslims helps to propel Burmese Buddhists toward violence, as in the murderous anti-Muslim riots in the central city of Meiktila in 2013, where at least 40 people died. Before these, there were powerful precursors from the western Rakhine state. Since 2012, nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Most of these Rohingya have been deported from homes into special internment camps. Due to the terrible conditions in these camps, journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times argue that the Buddhist treatment of the Rohingya constitutes genocide.

In 2015, the two Burmese Buddhist organisations successfully lobbied for the passage of pro-Buddhist legislation. Many international human-rights groups argue that these new laws are discriminatory against minority groups, particularly Muslims. U Wirathu continues to develop connections not only with Thailand’s Buddhist monks, but also with Sri Lankan Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist organisation ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott on stores selling halal-certified meat

From 1983, Sri Lanka was engaged in a civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought to separate and form their own independent state of Tamil Eelam. The Sri Lankan government opposed this, both through secular language and Buddhist rhetoric. Buddhist monks fiercely argued against negotiations, and for fighting to keep Sri Lanka ‘whole’. For these monks, Sri Lanka is the true land of Buddhism and it was under attack. Monks were straightforward political players, delivering incendiary speeches, joining political parties (such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), and taking part in violent clashes.

The civil war ended in 2009, but Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have continued to push their political agendas. Since 2011, there have been further escalations in violent rhetoric by Sri Lankan Buddhist nationalist organisations such as the Sinhala Ravaya (The Roar of the Sinhalese), the Ravana Balaya (Ravana’s Force) and the Bodu Bala Sena (The Army of Buddhist Power). Often, the rhetoric is directed at businesses, for example against halal provision for Muslims. In early 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott against stores that provided halal-certified meat. The Buddhist organisation falsely alleged that Muslims were slaughtering young calves (an illegal practice), and accused the governing body for halal-certification, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, of taking steps to bring about Sharia law in Sri Lanka.

Similar to their counterparts in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have incited anti-Muslim riots, as in Aluthgama in 2014. Buddhist groups have been implicated in the assassination of politicians and peace activists. The growing influence of these hyper-nationalist Buddhist organisations, together with the Sri Lankan government’s tacit support (through a lack of response) has spurred NGOs and local communities to protest. In November 2016, 367 Sri Lankan citizens submitted a collective complaint about the inaction of the police to protect minorities from the persistence of Buddhist monk-led attacks.

No religion has a monopoly on ‘violent people’, nor does any one religion have a greater propensity for violence. Rather, social conditions such as poverty and societal upheavals generate violent behaviour, regardless of religion. It is no coincidence that poorer regions and neighbourhoods suffer higher crime rates. When people find the world changing around them, they turn to their religion to make sense of things. Some look to religion as a means to preserve what they have, and religion provides a way of understanding one’s place in the world and, more importantly, one’s duty.

In order to comprehend such people’s justifications for violence, it is important to explore their worldview, namely, the way in which Buddhists understand and protect what is sacred to them. Although Buddhism is incredibly diverse, all Buddhists venerate the Triple Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (doctrine) and Sangha (monastic community). As long as these jewels remain in the world, humanity still has a way of escaping the vicious cycle of rebirth. Buddhists, along with Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, believe that time is cyclical, and that there is a decline before the end of each great cycle.

According to Buddhists, their doctrine provides rulers with justice, societies with equilibrium, and individuals with a path to salvation. Its attenuation, therefore, is one sign of the decline. Another is the absence, or dwindling numbers, of the sangha. When there are no more monks, Buddhist End Times will begin.

Buddhist scriptures measure internal time by how many breaths you take, and external (cosmic) time through the rotation of four kalpas, or aeons. Unlike in Abrahamic religions, time in Buddhism has no beginning. It is a constant cycle. There is no definitive amount of time given for each kalpa, but Buddhist scriptures provide suggestive analogies. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one kalpa lasts longer than the time required to wear away an 18,000-square-metre rock by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every 100 years.

The first kalpa is a formative and chaotic period. In the second kalpa, the chaos continues to unfold. It is only in the third kalpa in which the chaos declines, and the world enters into a rapid stage of evolution. The fourth and final kalpa is called the Age of Destruction. It ends with an apocalyptic rainfall that destroys all life and sparks the beginning of the first kalpa. Buddhists believe that we are living in the fourth and final section of the last kalpa. The end of the kalpa will inevitably come and, when it does, a new Buddha will emerge: Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be. But Buddhists can forestall the end. The longer the Buddhist monks and their doctrine remain strong, then the slower the pace toward the end of the kalpa.

Buddhist traditions have different ways of identifying the signs of deterioration. According to legend, on the eve of the Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) becoming awakened, he was tempted by Mara, the embodiment of desire, death and rebirth. Although he conquered his desires and vanquished Mara, many Buddhists have believed that the re-appearance of Mara is a sign that the End Times have arrived. Others think that the erosion of their sacred Three Jewels signals the beginning of the end. In order to forestall the quickening of the End Times, Buddhists have fought against the manifestations of Mara and to preserve the integrity of their practices and doctrine.

For instance, in sixth-century China, the Buddhist monk Faqing led a revolt and declared the arrival of a new Buddha. He marshalled 50,000 men to fight, promising them that, with each kill, they would reach a higher stage in the bodhisattva path. In ninth-century Tibet, Emperor Langdarma was assassinated by a Tibetan lama. According to Tibetan sources, Langdarma had become possessed by demonic forces (gdon). He destroyed monasteries and began to attack the Buddhist establishment. Things were changing and not in the right direction. The murder of Langdarma ‘saved’ Buddhism in Tibet. It has become such an important event that the Tibetans commemorate the murder in their Cham dance, which offers moral instructions through performance.

Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese emperor strengthened support for Shintoism, and began to dismantle Buddhist institutions that were not favourable to the state. Buddhist monks had a choice of either complying with the state, or leaving the monkhood. Many remained and supported the onset of Japanese imperialism. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, Rinzai Buddhist monks spoke out in favour of the military campaign. For them, the war was a fight for the preservation of civilisation and the Buddhist doctrine – a fight for the world.

The Buddhist call-to-arms reoccurred throughout the Second World War. Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Zen and Pure Land Buddhist monks argued that the Second World War was justified in order to preserve ‘true’ Buddhism. The Buddhist traditions in places such as China, Korea and Singapore had become corrupt and faulty. It was a sign of decay.

As humanity moves closer to the Buddhist End Times, the Buddhist doctrine explains that it will become harder for a person to become enlightened. In recent years, many Buddhists have turned to Pure Land Buddhism. These Buddhists believe that our world is now fraught with a multitude of obstacles to becoming fully awakened. To avoid this, a follower practices uttering Amitabh’s name (nianfo) and visualizing him. In this way, the follower ensures a rebirth in Pure Land, where he can receive the teachings from the Bodhisattva Amitabha to reach enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism is one of the largest populated traditions in East Asia, and is quickly expanding its numbers globally. While some Buddhists turn to traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, others fight to preserve what they believe is true Buddhism, such as in southern Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Over the centuries, there have been tremendous changes to Buddhism. Indeed, change is one of the foundational principles in Buddhism: all is impermanent. Some changes are in concert with modernity, others are in reaction. Each Buddhist tradition has transformed with the times – and the times are always changing. But there are persistent patterns that keep pace with these changes. Buddhist monks in the early sixth-century China led revolts to defend Buddhism. Today, monks in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka continue to fight – violently – for their religion and to call their followers to action. The cycle of violence continues in this final stage of the cycle of time: the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction.

Monks with guns

Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam?

https://aeon.co/essays/buddhism-can-be-as-violent-as-any-other-religion

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

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

Etymology

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

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

2030-2031 APPARITION CHARACTERISTICS

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

ANNO LUCIS - The Year of Light

Email from a Mason concerning Anno Lucis

"During my ascension through the ranks of Freemasonry (I will be exhalted in the Royal Arch in a few weeks), one of the things that I am researching vigorously is the origins of the Mason Calendar of Light, or "Anno Lucis" timetable.

I came across an interesting book in the Masonic library last month, refuting the claim (often made by non-Masons or uninformed brethren) that the start of the AL dating, 4000 BC, is due to the Bishop Usher calculation of Genesis.

Usher, you might know, counted backwards using the alleged ages of people in the Old Testament, and came up with the year 4004 BC for the date of creation. Just because the Usher date is close to the AL start date- 4004 instead of 4000 - many people just assume (due to Freemasonry's connections to Christianity) that the Masonic calendar is based on Usher.

However this old book, written in the 1700s, instead asserts that the A.L. date is based on a calendar created by an Isis cult from ancient Egypt. In the year 4000 the star Vela went supernova, and for months, if you were located near in the lattitudes of Egypt, you would have seen two suns.

The Vela explosion effectively created a "year of Light" by blazing away and preventing any night for most of the year 4000. The Isis priests apparently took this as a sign for a new era being born and started their calendar accordingly."

This quote, from Bill Cooper's writings on the subject, refers to this theory:

"According to many, the great pyramids were built to commemorate and observe a supernova explosion that occurred in the year 4000 B.C. Dr. Anthony Hewish, 1974 Nobel Prize winner in physics, discovered a rhythmic series of radio pulses which he proved were emissions from a star that had exploded around 4000 B.C.

The Freemasons begin their calendar from A.L., "In the Year of Light," found by adding 4000 to the modern year. Thus 1990 + 4000 = 5990 A.L.

George Michanowsky wrote in The Once and Future Star that;

"The ancient Sumerian cuneiform...described a giant star exploding within a triangle formed by...Zeta Puppis, Gamma Velorum, and Lambda Velorum...located in the southern sky....[An] accurate star catalogue now stated that the blazing star that had exploded within the triangle would again be seen by man in 6000 years."

According to the Freemason's calendar it will occur in the year 2000, and indeed it will."

http://illuminati-news.com/secret-societies-nwo.htm

Cooper seems to be generally "right on", however his last bit, claiming that the star would appear again, obviously turned out to not be true. I have looked (extensively) and not found anything in any official Masonic writings on the subject referring to this prophecy, or the Calendar supposedly being oriented to the year 2000 for this purpose, so maybe he made that up or got it from a spurious conspiracy source.

What seems beyond question is that the Masonic calendar is in fact based on the Egyptian source, and not Usher. You just can't explain away those missing four years, or the fact that both Egyptians and Masons call 4000 BC the "year of Light", the capper being that it actually WAS a "year of Light" if you were in Egypt.

Another website offers more on the Vela stellar explosion, and also contains stuff from Sitchin about how it impacted the Sumerian culture:

"The Vela supernova most likely occurred 6,000 years ago (although estimates range from 5,000 to 11,000 years). At a distance of 1,300 light years from earth the Vela X pulsar is three to four times closer than the Crab Nebula. The supernova would have hung low on the horizon over the Mediterranean, a brilliant star shining as bright as the moon (-12.5 losing brightness at 4.5% per day). Due to defects in the cornea of the eye, a person viewing the supernova would see spikes a quarter to a third the diameter of the full moon (7.5 to 9 minutes of arc).

It would appear as an endlessly dancing, varying mass of fire, shooting spears of intense color every way like a fountain. The landscape and the observer would be flooded with pulsing illumination. Tossed flocks of shadow bands would animate the landscape, moving eerily through forest and town."

- Sources include Science Digest, Mar '81

http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/vela/vela.html

https://reality101blog.blogspot.com/2010/11/anno-lucis-year-of-light.html

Prince of Darkness is a 1987 American supernatural horror film, written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter, and starring Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong, Jameson Parker, and Lisa Blount. The second installment in what Carpenter calls his "Apocalypse Trilogy"—which began with The Thing (1982) and concludes with In the Mouth of Madness (1994)[2]—the film follows a group of quantum physics students in Los Angeles who are asked to assist a Catholic priest in investigating an ancient cylinder of liquid discovered in a monastery, which they come to find is a sentient, liquid embodiment of Satan.

Plot

Centuries ago, in the Middle East, The Brotherhood of Sleep—a secret order of the Catholic church—discovered a large cylinder of swirling green liquid. Kept secret from even the Vatican, the cylinder was eventually moved to Los Angeles, where it has since been guarded by the Brotherhood. In the present day, the orders' last member dies before he can warn the cardinal that "the sleeper awakens." A Catholic priest recovers a key from his possessions, which leads him to the cylinder’s hiding place beneath Saint Goddard monastery.

The priest invites quantum physicist, Professor Howard Birack, to analyze the cylinder. Birack invites his best students to assist—wise-cracking Walter Fong, demure Kelly, the highly-strung Susan Cabot, laid-back Mullins, and lovers Brian Marsh and Catherine Danforth—and fellow scientists Calder, Lisa, Etchinson, Lomax, Wyndham, and Dr. Paul Leahy. The priest tells Birack that he can sense the growing influence of the liquid, and needs him to scientifically evidence its true nature to the wider populace as he fears it will soon escape. After the team arrives at the monastery, the local homeless population begins surrounding the building. The team analyses the cylinder, discovering that it can only be opened from inside, and is at least seven million years old. Brian realizes that the liquid is prebiotic, but is evolving with purpose instead of decaying.

Translating the Brotherhood's ancient textbooks, Catherine identifies differential equations from before their known invention. Lisa's translations, meanwhile, claim that the cylinder contains Satan, who was buried by his father, an ancient god who was banished to the dark side. Jesus Christ was an extraterrestrial humanoid who warned humanity about the cylinder. Though he was killed by those who deemed him insane and too powerful, his disciples passed on his warning. Birack hypothesizes that Satan's father may be the Anti-God, an even more powerful force of evil bound to the realm of anti-matter.

The liquid begins to exert its influence beyond its container, possessing Susan, who spreads the possession to or kills several other team members. Those who leave the building are brutally murdered by the increasingly enthralled homeless people. The survivors realize that, since their arrival, they have experienced a shared dream of a dark figure emerging from the monastery. Brian surmises that the dreams are a warning sent from the future using tachyons. The possessed bring the cylinder to a sleeping Kelly, where the remaining liquid forces itself into her body, transforming her into the physical vessel of Satan: a gruesomely disfigured being, with powers of telekinesis and regeneration. Satan attempts to summon the Anti-God by reaching through a handheld mirror, but it is too small and the effort fails.

The possessed attack the survivors, while Satan locates a larger mirror and reaches through, grasping the Anti-God's large, clawed hand. The priest cuts off Satan's arm and head with an axe, but it instantly regenerates and again reaches for the Anti-God. Seeing this, Catherine charges at Satan and they both fall through the portal. The priest shatters the mirror, trapping Satan, the Anti-God, and, to Brian's horror, Catherine in the other realm. The possessed immediately die as the liquid evaporates from their bodies, while the homeless people wander away. The survivors, Brian, Walter, Birack, and the priest, are rescued as emergency services arrive to investigate.

Sometime later, Brian experiences the dream again, now seeing a seemingly possessed Catherine as the figure emerging from the church. He awakens and finds Catherine lying next to him, disfigured as Kelly was by Satan's possession. Startled awake, he realizes it was a nightmare. He approaches his bedroom mirror, reaching his hand out towards it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Darkness_(film)

In the religion of Thelema, it is believed that the history of humanity can be divided into a series of aeons, each of which was accompanied by its own forms of "magical and religious expression".[1]

The first of these was the Aeon of Isis, which Thelemites believed occurred during prehistory and which saw mankind worshipping a Great Goddess, symbolised by the ancient Egyptian deity Isis. In Thelemite beliefs, this was followed by the Aeon of Osiris, a period that took place in the classical and mediaeval centuries, when humanity worshipped a singular male god, symbolised by the Egyptian god Osiris, and was therefore dominated by patriarchal values.[2] The third aeon is the Aeon of Horus, controlled by the child god, symbolised by Horus.[2]

In the New Aeon, prophesied by Aleister Crowley during his lifetime throughout his esoteric and occult writings, Thelemites believe that humanity shall leave behind the tyranny of Abrahamic religions and enter a time of greater consciousness and self-actualization.[2] Within the Thelemite religion, each of these aeons is believed to be "characterized by their [own specific] magical formula", the use of which "is very important and fundamental to the understanding of Thelemic Magick".[3]"

Aeon (Thelema) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeon_(Thelema)

XLI

THE GODDESS OF FREEMASONRY-THE

WIDOW

PAGAN RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT TIMES HAD NO god without a goddess. If as we have seen Masonry is a modern 'caricature' of the ancient Barbêlônian and Eqyptian rites, then we should expect to find a goddess in Masonry.

Masons describe themselves in their literature as sons of the Widow'. Who is this Widow? And who is the Son?" The following question and answer explanation from Duane Washum, a Past

for the whole history of Manes rests on legends-, was born in The son of the Widow, a man called Manes, according to the legend- Babylonia about the year A.D. 216, and a slave who was redeemed from slavery by a rich Persian widow who freed and adopted him, thus making him the "son of the widow" a name which after him passed to the nich old woman the books of a Saracen named Scythianus (a all his followers and is still used in Masonic Lodges. He inherited from Combining the doctrines these books contained" [Nesta H. Webster, student of an Aristotle's teachings) on the wisdom of the Egyptians.

295

SHALL I BE A MASON?

concerning her, Isis is said to have conjured the invincible God of Eternities, Ra, to tell her his secret and sacred name, which he did. This name is equivalent to the Lost Word of Masonry." Thus Hall links Iss worship to Masonry. He intimates that Isis is the holder of the sacred name of Ra, the "ineffable name" of the god of Masonry (Abaddon, Apollyon, or Jahbulon).

Who as Isis? Isis was the Venus of Cyprus, the Minerva of Athens, the Cybele of the Phrygians, the Ceres of Eleusis, the Proserpine of Sicily, the Diana of Crete, the Bellona of the Romans, etc. And like the worhsippers of Isis, Freemasons in their ceremonies and initiations perform "the most abominable impurities," and those "initiated into them" are "obliged to take an oath of secrecy."

Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, p. 108.] Manicheism is the religion of the followers of Manes.

Edith Starr Miller Paget Queenborough (Baroness), Occult Theocrasy. Volumes 1-2. According to the Greek accounts, the immediate author of the new doctrines was not Manes, but Scythianus, a Saracen merchant, who in his distant journeys became acquainted with the Oriental and Greek philosophies. His heir and disciple was Terebinthus, who named himself Buddha, and boasted that he had been born of a virgin. The widow of Terebinthus appointed, as her heir, her slave Cubricus, acquainted with Christianity, he infused many ideas borrowed from it into his own system, that he might make it more acceptable to the Christians. These innovations in religion drew upon him a persecution in his native land, and he, therefore, retired to countries more to the east, to Hindostan, Turkestan, and Rhatai, the north of China. He returned to Persia; and he was executed by command of the schach, in 277: see, Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger, A history of the church Volume 1 (London: Published By C. Dolman, 61, New Bond Street, And By T. Jones, 63, Paternoster Row. 1840), p. 155.

Nesta H. Webster, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements. (Boswell: Palmdale, Calif., 1824).

Duane Washum may be reached at the following address: In Search of Light Ministries, Box 28702 Las Vegas, Nevada 89126, USA

Lectures on Ancient Philosophy, Companion to The Secret Teachings All Ages (New York Tarcher/Penguin Group, 2005), originally published

1929

Only at the level, or degree of The Royal Arch is where the Masonic "true ineffable name of god-Jahbulon, is conveyed.

Encyclopaedia Perthesis, or, Universal dictionary of Knowledge (With Supp. nd edition (EDINBURGH: John Brown, Anchor Close, 1816), p

364

1. Ibid, p. 363.

296

The Goddess of Freemasonry-The Widow'

Be of Secrecy and Goddess Fides

"Masonry," writes Freemason Robert Freke Gould, "is... the direct scendant, or as a survival of the mysteries... of ISIS AND OSIRIS in Sp.... Hence in the Master Mason degree, the All-seeing Eye is a ost important symbolism, representing the false Egyptian trinity of sins, Isis and Horus.

And Albert Pike confirms: "Masonry still retains among its emblems e of a woman [Isis] weeping over a broken column, holding in her d a branch of acacia, myrtle, or tamarisk... We need not repeat the pid and trivial explanation... given, of THIS REPRESENTATION OF IS, weeping at Byblos, over the column torn from the palace of the that contained the body of Osiris...."

The conclusion of the matter? The goddess of Freemasonry is Isis. ovanously called by the ancient Romans: Minerva, Venus (or Al zza in Islam), Aurora (the goddess who rode on a car drawn by four s), Diana (Artemis), or Diana Lucifera-being the feminine of ader (a statue of her is still housed, to this day, in the Vatican"). In

Robert Freke Gould (Past Senior Grand Deacon of England, Master of tuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076), History of Freemasonry, Its etiquities, Symbols, Constitutions, Customs, Vol. 1 (New York: John C.

forston & Co., Publishers, 1884) p. 13.

Morals and Dogma, op. cit., p. 379.

ol 4, op. cit., p. 74,

3.0. Heck, Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature, and Art, Camera di San Paolo (London: The Warburg Institute, Uni. of London, See, Erwin Panofsky, E. H. Gombrich, The Iconography of Correggio's 1961), H.H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic London: Thames and Hudson, 1981), pp. 97, 107.

297

SHALL I BE A MASON?

other cultures this same goddess was called Astarte, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Ishtar, Venus, Artemis, Lilith, Minerva, ISIS, Kwan-yin, Demeter, Gaia, Luna, Hectate, Aphrodite, Shing Moo, HOLY MOTHER, Shakti, Hera, Innanna, Kali (Dark Mother), Juno, Sophia, Ceres, Cybele, Persephone, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother, THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and Mary-It is for this reason that in ancient Egypt, Isis (Virgo, the Queen of Heaven) was known as the "goddess of a thousand names," and the Initiator into the Sexual Mysteries.

But by whatever name she is termed, she is the same still: Diana Lucifera! A female demon!

The venerated historian Mosheim confirms that 'Mary,' is the same as the Masonic Isis: "they transferred to the Virgin Mary the worship and offerings they had been accustomed to pay to the "Queen of Heaven"-the... Mother of the Babylonian false Messiah, worshipped throughout the ancient heathen world under the various names of Venus, Astarte or Ashtoreth, Juno, Diana, Vesta, Ceres, Cybele, Rhea..." (Mosheim, Ecel. Hist., vol. i, p. 410, quoting Schlegel).

And Alexander Hislop's The Two Babylons adds these facts And Alexander Hislop's The Two Babylons adds these facts:

The Babylonians, in their popular religion, supremely worshipped a Goddess Mother and a Son.... Beltis, therefore, as the title of the female divinity, was equivalent to "Baalti," which, in English, is "My Lady," in Latin, "Mea Domina,"... in Italian... corrupted into the well-known "[Black, or Dark] Madonna.

13 A. Hislop, The Two Babylons, or The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife (London: Houlston & Wright, 1862 edn.), p. 29. You can download the book from our site: www.luxverb.org.uk/arch/e-books_on_romanism vs protestantism.htm

298

Reader, after all of the revelations found in this book, who but a.... or will be a Mason?

Shall I Be A Mason? Life or Death...

by P.D. Stuart

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

Fire as the agent of Truth

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.

See more on: U.S. Politics, Donald Trump

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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

Curious case of M. Bison in 'Street Fighter'

Jon Robinson

Dec 14, 2012, 09:00 AM ET

I used to play a football video game that didn’t have the licensing rights for Jerry Rice, but you could throw the ball to a superstar named Jerry Pilaf all day.

So when I started playing “Street Fighter II” back in high school, and saw a boxer named Balrog and a menacing boss (who doesn’t bite ears) named M. Bison, it immediately made me wonder if there was a connection to menacing boxer Mike Tyson.

Then I learned that in the Japanese version of the game, the boxer character was originally dubbed Mike Bison, making me curious to find out the real story behind the characters.

Was it simply a matter of Capcom not wanting to be sued when they localized the game for the U.S. markets, or was there more to the legend?

This past weekend, I finally got the chance to find out straight from the source.

Mike Tyson was atop the sports world when "Street Fighter II" was released in 1991. AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Capcom celebrated the 25th anniversary of the “Street Fighter” franchise with a tournament and convention in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday, with winners taking home more than $500,000 in cash and prizes, including a customized “Street Fighter”-themed Scion FR-S Sports Coupe. And as I walked through the convention and watched the best of the best battle it out on screen for the cash and the car, I was fortunate enough to meet up with famed “Street Fighter” executive producer Yoshinori Ono. So I asked him about the similarities between Mike Tyson and M. Bison and the reason for the eventual name change.

“At the time of the development of ‘Street Fighter II,’ Mike Tyson was a worldwide phenomenon,” Ono said through a translator. “The creators wanted a character like him, but it was risky to use his name, so Mike Tyson became Bison, and then outside of Japan, he became Balrog.”

I then asked why the names of M. Bison, Balrog and Vega were all switched for the U.S. versions, and if there’s any more meaning behind the names, and Ono immediately started to laugh.

“Balrog, Vega and Bison, all three switched [from the Japanese version to the U.S.], but there’s no reason," he said. "We went with the easiest way, and the easiest way was just to switch the programming number. When you switch the programming number, it changes the names, but there was no reason behind it.”

Crazy how the input of three programming numbers ended up changing the face of pop and gaming culture.

But just think, it could’ve been a lot worse. Would you want to lose to a boss named Evander Jollyfield or George Boreman?

https://www.espn.com/blog/playbook/tech/post/_/id/3348/curious-case-of-m-bison-in-street-fighter

Buffalo Soldiers were United States Army regiments composed exclusively of African American soldiers, formed during the 19th century to serve on the American frontier. On September 21, 1866, the 10th Cavalry Regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The nickname "Buffalo Soldiers" was purportedly given to the regiments by the American Indian tribes who fought against them during the American Indian Wars, and the term eventually became synonymous with all of the African American regiments that were established in 1866, including the 9th Cavalry Regiment, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Regiment and 38th Infantry Regiment.[1][2]

Although numerous African American Union Army regiments were raised during the Civil War (referred to collectively as the United States Colored Troops), "Buffalo Soldiers" were established by the U.S Congress as the first all-black Army regiments in peacetime.[3] The regiments were racially segregated, as the U.S. military would not desegregate until 1948. On November 15, 2024, Robert Dixon, the last surviving Buffalo Soldier, died aged 103.[4] The oldest Buffalo Soldier, Mark Matthews, died in 2005 at the age of 111 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[5]

Etymology

Sources disagree on how the nickname "Buffalo Soldiers" began. According to the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum the name originated with the Cheyenne warriors in the winter of 1877, the actual Cheyenne translation being "Wild Buffalo". However, writer Walter Hill documented the account of Colonel Benjamin Grierson, who founded the 10th Cavalry regiment, recalling an 1871 campaign against Comanches. Hill attributed the origin of the name to the Comanche, due to Grierson's assertions. The Apache used the same term ("We called them 'buffalo soldiers,' because they had curly, kinky hair ... like bison") a claim supported by other sources.[6][7][8][9][10] Another possible origin credits the Plains Indians who gave them that name because of the bison coats they wore in winter.[11] The phrase "Buffalo Soldiers" became a generic term for all black soldiers. It is now used for U.S. Army units that trace their direct lineage back to any of the African-American regiments formed in 1866.

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

President Obama Makes the American Bison the Official National Mammal

May 9, 2016

President Barack Obama has signed the National Bison Legacy Act to make the American bison our official National Mammal. The bill was approved by Congress at the end of April.

What a great milestone for an animal that has played a central role in America's history and culture.

"The adoption of bison as our National Mammal represents a validation of the many meaningful ways this animal represents America," said John Calvelli, WCS Executive Vice President for Public Affairs. "As an ecological keystone, cultural bedrock and economic driver, the bison conveys values such as unity, resilience and commitment to healthy landscapes and communities."

Join us in thanking our leaders for delivering this important victory for an iconic species.

https://www.wcs.org/get-involved/updates/president-obama-makes-the-american-bison-the-official-national-mammal

The USA in Bible Prophecy

The Mark of the Beast

The Other Woman

Click here to listen to the audio version of The USA in Bible Prophecy

The USA in Bible ProphecyLesson 21

Can it really be true—the United States in Bible prophecy? Absolutely! When you think about it, it makes sense that the most powerful and influential nation on earth will play a vital role in the final stunning events of the world’s closing history. But even more surprises await you as the Bible reveals how the leading nation of the world came to exist and why! Please read Revelation 13:11–18 before beginning this guide, because these eight verses give a prophetic picture of the United States in the days ahead.

The beast of Revelation 13:1-10 symbolizes the papacy.

1. Two world powers are symbolized in Revelation chapter 13. What is the first power?

Answer: The beast with seven heads (Revelation 13:1–10) is the Roman papacy.

(See Study Guide 15 for a complete study on this topic.)

Remember that beasts in Bible prophecy symbolize nations or world powers (Daniel 7:17, 23).

In 1798, General Berthier inflicted a deadly wound upon the papacy when he took the pope captive.

2. In what year was the papacy predicted to lose its world influence and power?

“He was given authority to continue for forty-two months” (Revelation 13:5).

Answer: The Bible predicted that the papacy would lose its world influence and power at the end of the 42 months. This prophecy was fulfilled in 1798, when Napoleon’s General Berthier took the pope captive and the papal power received its deadly wound.

(For the full details, see Study Guide 15.)

The beast of Revelation 13:11-18 symbolizes America.

3. Which nation was predicted to arise around the time the papacy was receiving its deadly wound?

“I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon” (Revelation 13:11).

Prophecy predicted that America would arise from a sparsely settled area.

Answer: The papal captivity mentioned in verse 10 took place in 1798, and the new power (verse 11) was seen emerging at that time. The United States declared its independence in 1776, voted the Constitution in 1787, adopted the Bill of Rights in 1791, and was clearly recognized as a world power by 1798. The timing obviously fits America. No other power could possibly qualify.

4. What is the significance of the beast “coming up out of the earth”?

Answer

Answer: This nation arises "out of the earth" instead of out of the water as did the other nations mentioned in Daniel and Revelation. We know from Revelation that water symbolizes areas of the world that have a large population. "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Revelation 17:15. Therefore, the earth represents the opposite. It means that this new nation would arise in an area of the world that had been virtually unpopulated before the late 1700s. It could not arise among the crowded and struggling nations of the Old World. It had to come up in a sparsely populated continent.

5. What is symbolized by its two lamb-like horns and absence of crowns?

Answer

Answer: Horns represent kings and kingdoms or governments (Daniel 7:24; 8:21). In this case, they represent the United States’ two governing principles: civil and religious liberty. These two principles have also been labeled “republicanism” (a government without a king) and “Protestantism” (a church without a pope). Other nations since ancient times had taxed people to support a state religion. Most had also oppressed religious dissidents. But the United States established something entirely new: freedom to worship without government interference. Absence of crowns signifies a republican form of government, rather than a monarchy. Lamb-like horns denote an innocent, young, non-oppressive, peace-loving, and spiritual nation. (Jesus is referred to as a lamb 28 times in Revelation.)

Special Note: How we wish we could stop right here in Jesus’ description of the United States—but we can’t, because He didn’t stop. What comes next might be jolting. The United States is a great country, with its freedom of conscience, press, speech, and enterprise; its opportunities; its sense of fair play; its sympathy for the underdog; and its Christian orientation. It is not perfect, but even still, a host of people from around the world seek to become its citizens every year. Sadly, this richly blessed country will change drastically.

6. What does Revelation 13:11 mean when it says the United States will speak “like a dragon”?

Answer: As you learned in Study Guide 20, the dragon is Satan, who works through various earthly powers to establish his own kingdom and to crush God’s church by persecuting and destroying God’s people. Satan’s aim always has been to usurp God’s throne and to force people to worship and obey him. (See Study Guide 2 for details.) So, speaking as a dragon means the United States (under the influence of Satan) will, in the end time, force people to worship contrary to conscience or be punished.

7. What specifically will the United States do that will cause it to speak as a dragon?

Answer: Notice these four crucial points:

A. “Exercises all the authority of the first beast” (Revelation 13:12) The United States will become a persecuting power that will force people to go against their conscience, as did papal Rome—which is portrayed in the first half of Revelation chapter 13.

B. “Causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed” (Revelation 13:12). The United States will lead the nations of the world in forcing allegiance to the papal antichrist. The issue is always worship. Who will you worship and obey? Will it be Christ, your Creator and Redeemer, or antichrist? Every soul on earth will finally worship one or the other. Satan’s approach will appear to be deeply spiritual, and incredible miracles will be seen (Revelation 13:13, 14)—which will deceive billions (Revelation 13:3). Those who refuse to join this movement will be considered divisive, stubborn, radical, and unpatriotic. Jesus labeled Protestant America of the end time a “false prophet” (Revelation 19:20; 20:10), because it will appear spiritual and trustworthy but instead will be satanic in its conduct. All this may seem impossible, but Jesus’ words are always reliable and true (Titus 1:2). He foretold the rise and fall of the four world empires and the antichrist (Daniel chapters 2 and 7) at a time when such predictions seemed outlandish and incredible. But all came to pass precisely as predicted. His warning to us today regarding prophecy is, “I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe” (John 14:29).

C. “Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived” (Revelation 13:14). The United States will make an image to the beast by legislating religious practice. It will pass laws requiring worship and force people to either obey them or face death. This action is a copy—or “image”—of the church-state form of government the papacy ruled with at the height of her power during the Middle Ages, when millions were slain for their faith. The United States will combine civil government and apostate Protestantism in a “marriage” that will support the papacy. It will then influence all the nations of the world to follow her example. Thus, the papacy will gain worldwide support.

D. “And cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:15). The United States, as head of this international movement, will next influence the nations of the world to impose a death sentence upon all who refuse to worship the beast or his image. Another name for this worldwide coalition is “Babylon the Great.” (See Study Guide 22 for more information.) This worldwide alliance will, in the name of Christ, substitute the policeman’s power for the Holy Spirit’s gentle persuasion—and it will force worship.

8. Over what specific issues will force be utilized and the death sentence passed?

“He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:15–17).

Answer: The final points of contention will be worshiping and obeying the beast and receiving his mark—honoring Sunday as a false holy day versus worshiping and obeying Christ and receiving His mark by honoring the holy seventh-day Sabbath. (For details, see Study Guide 20.) When the issues become clear and people are forced to break the Sabbath or be killed, those who then choose Sunday will be, in essence, worshiping the beast. They will have chosen to obey the word of a creature, a man, instead of the word of their Creator, Jesus Christ. Here is the papacy’s own statement: “The church changed Sabbath to Sunday and all the world bows down and worships upon that day in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church” (Hartford Weekly Call, February 22, 1884).

9. Could a government really control buying and selling?

Answer: : During World War II, buying was controlled by requiring ration stamps for such items as sugar, tires, and fuel. Without these stamps, money was worthless. In this computerized age, a similar system would be easy to set up. For instance, unless you agreed to cooperate with the worldwide coalition, your Social Security Number could be entered into a database, showing that you are disqualified to make a purchase. No one knows precisely how all this will come about, but you can

be positive it will happen—because in Revelation 13:16, 17, God says it will.

Two Emerging Powers

Revelation chapter 13 is clear. Two superpowers will emerge in the end time: the United States of America and the papacy. The United States will support the papacy by leading a drive to force the people of the world to worship the beast power (papacy) and receive his mark or else face death.

The next two questions will evaluate the strength of these two superpowers.

The papacy is the strongest religio-political power on earth.

10. How strong and influential is the papacy today?

Answer

Answer: It is arguably the strongest religio-political power in the world. Virtually every leading country has an official ambassador or state representative at the Vatican. Notice the following facts:

A. Pope Francis’ visit to the United States in 2015 carried both pastoral and political implications. Cardinal Timothy Dolan said, “The more he tries to de-emphasize the prestige and the power of the papacy, the more people pay attention to him.” —CBS This Morning, September 22, 2015

B. The aim of the pope is to unify the Christian world. In January 2014, Francis presided over an ecumenical worship service at the Basilica of St. Paul with Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and other Christian representatives and emphasized the need for Christian unity. Francis said, “It is unacceptable to consider ‘divisions in the Church as something natural, inevitable,’ because ‘divisions wound Christ’s body [and] impair the witness that we are called to give to him before the world.’ ” —Catholic Herald, January 27, 2014

C. The worldwide response has been overwhelming as leaders turn to him for peace. Francis hosted a prayer summit at the Vatican with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Then, the pope, who as a Latin American had a lot of credibility in Havana, helped pave the way to the U.S.-Cuba thaw. —Sylvia Poggioli, National Public Radio, April 14, 2016

D. Francis’ 2015 visit to America elicited an unprecedented response from American officials: President Obama personally greeted Pope Francis as he arrived at a U.S. airbase, a decision the White House said was a symbol of the high level of respect Americans have for the Pontiff. Francis’ visit also included the first address by any pope to a joint session of the Congress in American history. —Irish Daily Mail, September 23, 2015

11. How strong and influential is the United States today?

Answer: The United States is regarded as the world’s most powerful military force and the world’s center of influence. Note the following:

A. “In the key categories of power, the U.S. will remain dominant for the foreseeable future.” —Ian Bremmer, Time magazine, May 28, 2015

B. “What ultimately makes the difference between war and peace ... is not good intentions, or strong words, or a grand coalition. It is the capability, credibility, and global reach of American hard power.” —Senator John McCain, November 15, 2014

C. “The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation. That has been true for the century passed and it will be true for the century to come.” —President Barack Obama, May 28, 2014

D. France’s then-foreign minister, Hubert Vérdine, told a Paris audience that he defined

“the United States as a ‘hyperpower’ ... a country that is dominant or predominant in

all categories.” —The New York Times, February 5, 1999

Though certainly facing challenges to its power from nations such as China and Russia, America’s overwhelming ability to stand down aggressors and rapidly deploy when needed continue to dominate the world. A future president of the United States might not hesitate to use the country’s influence to enforce new global standards, especially if promoted in the guise of world peace and stability after a difficult global event.

12. What other factors could help set the stage for a worldwide law to execute those who refuse to violate conscience?

Answer: We cannot name them with certainty, but a few looming possibilities include:

A. The activity of terrorists

B. Riots and escalating crime and evil

C. Drug wars

D. A major economic crash

E. Epidemics

F. Nuclear threats from radical nations

G. Political corruption

H. Gross miscarriage of justice by the courts

I. Social and political issues

J. Increasing taxes

K. Pornography and other immorality

L. Global disasters

M. Radical “special interest” groups

A backlash against terrorism, lawlessness, immorality, permissiveness, injustice, poverty, ineffective political leaders, and many similar woes could easily precipitate a demand for strong, specific laws to be rigidly enforced.

13. As world conditions worsen, what will Satan do to deceive the masses?

“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived” (Revelation 13:13, 14).

Answer: The United States will experience a counterfeit revival and will insist that religious

laws be passed to force every person to participate (represented by “an image to the beast” in Revelation 13:14). People will be forced to disregard God’s holy seventh-day Sabbath and worship instead on the beast’s “holy” day—Sunday. Some will comply merely for social or economic reasons. World conditions will become so intolerable that a worldwide “back to God” movement, with all joining in worship and prayer on Sunday, will be presented as the only solution. Satan will deceive the world into believing that they must compromise Bible truth and keep Sunday holy. But in reality, obedience to and worship of the beast will indicate the refusal of most people to enter God’s kingdom. No wonder Jesus makes such an issue in Revelation over worshiping the beast and receiving his mark!

14. While interest in the counterfeit revival heightens, what will be happening to the genuine worldwide revival sponsored by God’s end-time people?

Answer: The Bible says the entire world will be “illuminated” with glory (Revelation 18:1). Every person on earth will be reached (Mark 16:15) with God’s end-time, three-point message of Revelation 14:6–14. God’s last-day church will grow with amazing speed as millions join God’s people and accept His offer of salvation by grace and faith in Jesus, which transforms them into His obedient servants. Many people and leaders from all countries of the world will refuse to worship the beast nor embrace his false teachings. Instead, they will worship and obey Jesus. They will then receive His holy Sabbath sign, or mark, in their foreheads (Revelation 7:2, 3), thus sealing them for eternity. (See Study Guide 20 for additional information on God’s seal.)

Spiraling Growth Infuriates the Counterfeit Movement

This spiraling growth among God’s people will infuriate the counterfeit movement. Its leaders will become fully convinced that those who refuse to cooperate with the worldwide counterfeit revival are the cause of all the world’s woes (Daniel 11:44). They will disqualify them from buying and selling (Revelation 13:16, 17), but the Bible promises that food, water, and protection for God’s people will be sure (Isaiah 33:16; Psalm 34:7).

As his crowning miracle, Satan will impersonate Jesus.

15. In desperation, the U.S.-led coalition will decide to impose the death sentence on its enemies (Revelation 13:15). What does Revelation 13:13, 14, say its leaders will do to convince people that God is with them?

Answer: They will work miracles—so convincing that everyone except God’s faithful end-time people will be persuaded (Matthew 24:24). Utilizing the spirits (fallen angels) of Satan (Revelation 16:13, 14), they will impersonate dead loved ones (Revelation 18:23) and probably

even pose as Bible prophets and apostles. These lying (John 8:44) demonic spirits will doubtless

claim that God has sent them to urge all to cooperate.

Satan Appears as Christ; His Angels Pose as Christian Ministers

Satan’s angels will also appear as godly clergymen, and Satan will appear as an angel of light

(2 Corinthians 11:13–15). As his crowning miracle, Satan will claim to be Jesus (Matthew 24:23, 24). While impersonating Christ, he could easily claim that he changed Sabbath to Sunday and urge his followers to proceed with their worldwide revival and uphold his “holy” day—Sunday.

Billions Are Deceived

Billions, believing that Satan is Jesus, will bow at his feet and join the counterfeit movement. “All the world marveled and followed the beast” (Revelation 13:3). The deception will be overwhelmingly effective. But God’s people will not be deceived, because they test everything by the Bible (Isaiah 8:19, 20; 2 Timothy 2:15). The Bible says God’s law cannot be changed (Matthew 5:18). It also says that when Jesus returns, every eye will see Him (Revelation1:7) and that He will not touch the earth but will remain in the clouds and call His people to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).

16. How can we be safe from powerful end-time deceptions?

Answer: A. Test every teaching by the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11; Isaiah 8:20).

B. Follow truth as Jesus reveals it. Jesus promised that those who genuinely want to obey Him will never end up in error (John 7:17).

C. Stay close to Jesus daily (John 15:5).

Reminder: This is the sixth Study Guide in our series of nine on the three angels’ messages. The next Study Guide will reveal how Christian churches and other religions worldwide will relate to the events of the end time.

17. Are you willing to worship and obey Jesus even if it means ridicule, persecution, and finally the death sentence?

Answer:

Request your free downloadable copy of America in Bible Prophecy

Thought Questions

1. It doesn’t seem fair that, in the final crisis, people who have never heard God’s truth will innocently choose a counterfeit and thus be lost.

No one will face the final crisis without first having heard (Mark 16:15) and understood (John 1:9) God’s vital three-point message for today (Revelation 14:6–12). People will choose to receive the mark of the beast only because they do not wish to pay the price for following Christ.

2. What is the battle of Armageddon spoken of in Revelation 16:12–16? When and where will it be fought?

The battle of Armageddon is the final battle between Christ and Satan. It will be fought on the earth and will begin just before the end of time. The battle will be interrupted by Jesus’ second coming. It will begin again after the 1,000 years, when the wicked surround the holy city with hopes of capturing it. The battle will close when fire rains down from heaven upon the wicked and destroys them (Revelation 20:9). (Study Guide 12 explains the 1,000 years in detail.)

What Does the Word “Armageddon” Mean?

Armageddon is a name for the “battle of that great day of God Almighty” between Christ and Satan in which all the nations of the world will be involved (Revelation 16:12–16, 19). The “kings from the east” are God the Father and God the Son. “East” in the Bible symbolizes God’s heavenly kingdom (Revelation 7:2; Ezekiel 43:2; Matthew 24:27). In this final battle, virtually the entire world will unite (Revelation 16:14) to fight against Jesus, the Lamb, and His people (Revelation 17:14; 19:19). Their aim will be to wipe out all who refuse to worship the beast (Revelation 13:15–17).

Delusion Follows Rejection

People who refuse to accept God’s message even though they know it is true will become strongly deluded so as to believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:10–12). They will begin to believe they are upholding God’s kingdom when they endeavor to destroy His people. They will perceive the saints to be hopelessly deceived fanatics who are dooming the entire world by their refusal to cooperate in the counterfeit revival.

Jesus’ Second Coming Halts the Battle

The battle itself will be worldwide. Governments will try to destroy God’s people, but God will intervene. The symbolic river Euphrates will be dried up (Revelation 16:12). Water represents people (Revelation 17:15). The drying up of the river Euphrates means that the people who have been supporting the beast (Satan’s kingdom) will suddenly withdraw their support. The beast’s support will thus dry up. Its coalition of allies (Revelation 16:13, 14) will fall apart (Revelation 16:19). Jesus’ second coming will halt this battle and save His people (Revelation 6:14–17; 16:18–21; 19:11–20).

The Battle Resumes After 1,000 Years

After the 1,000 years, Satan will come right out in the open as the leader of the forces against God and His people. He will resume the battle and try to capture the holy city. Then he and his followers will be destroyed by fire from heaven (see Study Guides 11 and 12). However, every follower of Jesus will be safe in His eternal kingdom.

3. The Bible says, “The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service” (John 16:2). Is it possible that this will be literally fulfilled in our time?

Yes. The end-time coalition of world governments and religions will finally lose all sympathy for God’s people, those who refuse to join the counterfeit revival or adopt Sunday worship. They will feel that the miracles accompanying their revival prove its validity—miracles such as the sick being healed or notorious God-haters, immoral celebrities, and well-known criminals being converted. The coalition will insist that no one be permitted to ruin this worldwide revival. Everyone will be urged to lay aside personal feelings and “fanatical teachings” (the Sabbath, for example) and join with the rest of the world in its revival for peace and brotherhood. Those who do not agree to cooperate will be considered disloyal, unpatriotic, anarchists and, finally, dangerous fanatics who must not be tolerated. In that day, those who kill God’s people will feel they are doing God a favor.

4. As we study the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, it seems apparent that the real enemy is always the devil. Is this true?

Absolutely! Satan is always the real enemy. Satan works through earth’s leaders and nations

to hurt God’s people and thus bring heartache to Jesus and the Father. Satan is the one responsible for all evil. Let’s blame him and be careful how we judge people or organizations who hurt God’s people and church. They are sometimes totally unaware that they are harming anyone. But that is never true of Satan. He is always fully aware. He hurts God and His people intentionally.

5. How would the death of the pope or the election of a new president affect the prophecy of the United States in Revelation 13:11–18?

The prophecy will be fulfilled no matter who is pope or president. A new president or pope may temporarily speed up or slow down fulfillment, but the final outcome is assured by Bible prophecy.

6. Are the lamb-horned beast of Revelation 13:11–18 and the false prophet of Revelation 16:13 the same power?

Yes. In Revelation 19:20, where God mentions the destruction of the antichrist beast, He

also refers to the destruction of the false prophet. In this passage, God identifies the false prophet as the power that “worked signs” before the beast and “deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.” This is a clear reference to the activities of the lamb-horned beast, which are described in Revelation 13:11–18. In this Study Guide we have identified the lamb-horned beast as the United States of America. So the lamb-horned beast and the false prophet are indeed the same power.

Quiz Questions

1. The United States is symbolized in Bible prophecy by (1)

_____ A man with red, white, and blue clothing.

_____ An eagle with a computer on its back.

_____ A beast with two lamb-like horns.

2. What do the two horns represent? (1)

_____ Wealth and military might.

_____ Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

_____ Civil and religious freedom.

3. What does "coming up out of the earth" signify? (1)

_____ That Americans would love country living.

_____ That this new country would arise in an area with a small population.

_____ That some early Americans would be cave dwellers.

4. In this prophecy, lamb-like horns mean that America would (1)

_____ Be shy and inhibited.

_____ Be a sheep-raising country.

_____ Arise as a peace-loving, spiritual nation.

5. At about what time does the prophecy of Revelation chapter 13 indicate America would arise? (1)

_____ 1492.

_____ 1798.

_____ 1620.

6. Revelation chapter 13 indicates that America would eventually speak "as a dragon." What does this mean? (1)

_____ Her people would be angry and hard to understand.

_____ She would use fire-shooting weapons of destruction.

_____ She will force people to worship contrary to conscience or face death.

7. God's mark, sign, or symbol of power is (1)

_____ A lamb.

_____ A two-horned beast.

_____ The Sabbath, God's holy day.

8. How will America make an "image to the beast"? (1)

_____ By making and selling many pictures of the beast.

_____ By making a statue of the beast to display in Washington, D.C.

_____ By creating a church-state combination (patterned after the papacy at the height of her power) that will legislate religious practice.

9. What punishments does Revelation 13:15-17 say will be inflicted upon those who refuse the mark of the beast? (2)

_____ Not allowed to buy or sell.

_____ Banished to outer space.

_____ Put to death.

_____ Forced to make a personal apology to the beast.

10. Which two earthly powers will have the most influence in the end time? (2)

_____ Revitalized Europe.

_____ Japan.

_____ China.

_____ United States.

_____ The papacy.

11. Which items tell the truth about the battle of Armageddon? (6)

_____ It is earth's last battle.

_____ The 'kings of the east' are Japan and China.

_____ The beast's aim in the battle is to destroy God's people.

_____ It will be worldwide.

_____ It begins before Jesus' second coming and ends after the wicked surround the holy city at the close of the 1,000 years.

_____ Armageddon is the symbolic name for the final battle between Christ and antichrist/Satan.

_____ Drying up the Euphrates means the beast, or Antichrist, will finally lose the support of most of its followers.

_____ It will be fought in Palestine only.

12. How successful will God's true, end-time revival be? (2)

_____ The whole world will be converted.

_____ Every person on earth will hear the message.

_____ Millions will accept it.

_____ It will not succeed. The devil will stop it.

13. How successful will the end-time counterfeit movement be? (1)

_____ Many countries will not support it.

_____ It will be successful in America and Europe only.

_____ Every person on earth—except God’s end-time people—will join and support it.

14. Are you willing to follow where Jesus leads, even though it may be painful? (1)

_____ Yes.

_____ No.

https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/study-guide/e/4998/t/the-usa-in-bible-prophecy

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The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

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

America and the Image to the Beast

Aug 13, 2024

•

13 min read

What can history tell us about the future of America? Will America have a part to play in the acceptance of the mark of the beast?

Revelation 13 tells the story of a blasphemous beast power that rose from the sea. Protestant Christians have historically identified this beast as the Papacy. Though the dragon (Satan) gave him his power, seat, and great authority (vs. 2), this kingdom, the Papacy, receives a wound that appears to be deadly (vs. 3). Then a new player is introduced upon the scene.

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. Rev 13:11

The rise of a powerful new nation comes near the time of the wounding of the first beast. The Pope was taken captive in 1798 by France’s General Berthier. At that time, the papal states were also confiscated, stripping the Vatican of its head and territory. This deadly wound also marked the end of the forty-two months of the reign of this persecuting power.

The second beast was to come up out of the earth, unlike the first beast which came up out of the sea of “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev 17:15) of populated Europe. Its coming up out of the earth identifies a kingdom that develops in a sparsely populated land. In 1754, Charles Wesley, referring to the second beast, wrote, "He is not yet come, though he cannot be far off; for he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast."1

The United States of America was a young nation in 1798. It was founded upon the Christ-like principles of Republicanism which upholds the right of self-government, and Protestantism which champions the freedom of religious faith. These principles were the strong horns of this new nation, depicted as a two-horned beast.

But the prophecy reveals that a drastic change would come and this nation would speak as a dragon. A nation “speaks” through its laws. The dragon symbol ultimately represents Satan (Rev 12:9) whose goal is to persecute Christ’s followers. To speak like a dragon is to institute laws that legalize the persecution of God’s people, as Imperial Rome did when it outlawed Christianity until the Edict of Milan (313 AD) which granted Christians toleration. Papal Rome spoke like a dragon through its policy of persecuting heretics. Likewise, America will speak with the voice of the dragon when it institutes laws that are intolerant of personal freedoms but are favorable to its state religion.

The prophecy also says that the lamb-like beast (America) will exercise “all the power of the first beast,” even forcing the earth and the people who live on it to worship the first beast, papal Rome. What does “all the power of the first beast” mean? And how will the earth and its inhabitants be forced to worship?

Papal Rome used the power of the state to coerce and control the population through its 1260 years of domination. The second beast (America) will do the same, bringing the whole world into subjection to papal Rome.

How will this happen? A look at history can give us some insight.

During the Dark Ages, the nations of Europe were subject to the Roman Catholic Church. The Papacy taught that rulers were to yield to the Pope because he was their spiritual father and Christ’s vicar. As a consequence, apart from the approval of the Pope, kings and emperors were not free to rule their estates as they determined was best for their subjects. In addition, the church’s teachings were enforced by the armies and magistrates of the nations. To exercise all the power of the first beast is to govern by these principles. The prophecy tells us that the government of the United States will submit to the dictates of the church and will use force against dissenters.

The history of the Dark Ages, a period of church domination in Europe, is marred by the sordid details of church-led, state-enforced persecution. True followers of Christ who would not bend their conscience to practice the form of paganized Christianity of the state church lost their goods and their lives. Torture machines were invented to coerce and punish those labeled as “heretics.” Some, like the Waldenses, fled to remote locations, fulfilling the prophecy of the church in the wilderness (Rev 12).

Kings who would not submit to the demands of the church were punished with excommunication and whole nations were put under interdict, which was banishment from participation in the ceremonies of the church. This dreaded sentence was considered to be a curse from God Himself because it was believed that salvation could only come through the church.

The prophecy states that those who will not submit to the authority of the beast and worship him, will not be able to buy or sell and will have the death sentence passed on them.

Before implementing the death sentence, miracles will be performed to deceive people into thinking that the beast is speaking for God. Many will be deceived by these miracles because they don’t know what the Bible says about false prophets and miracle-working demons (Mt 7:15, Jer 14:14, Rev 16:14). The time will come when we will not be able to trust our senses. It is essential to diligently study the Scriptures (2 Tim 2:15) now and learn to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).

By deceptive miracles, the land beast (US) will convince people to make an image to the sea beast (Rev 13:14). In other words, people will be manipulated into calling for a form of civil government that is under religious control. The “image to the beast” is the union of church and state, the merging of church-craft with state-craft.

Evidence of the formation of the image to the beast

When America was still a young nation, few would have believed that the union of church and state could ever be possible. Nevertheless, it was in the 1800s that public movements arose which began working toward this union. The National Reform Association, the International Reform Bureau, the Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States, and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America were formed by professed Protestants with this goal in mind—to break down the wall separating church and state.

While the forms of the organizations working to unite church and state have changed over the years, what hasn’t changed is the fact that there are people who believe America was founded as a Christian nation and that the constitution must be changed to officially make America a Christian nation, governed by Christian principles. What is overlooked by those who hold these beliefs is the fact that there is nothing Christian about forcing people to believe in Christ or to practice Christianity.

And while ecumenism has successfully blurred the distinctions between Christian denominations and even between Christianity and non-Christian religions, the type of Christianity that is adopted by the nation will matter to some. It is impossible that any form of state religion will be acceptable to all.

But what form of Christianity is America likely to adopt for its norm? The prophecy tells us that America will set up an “image of the beast” (Rev 13:14-15), that is a likeness to papal Rome. The death of Protestantism and the catholicization of America show us that is exactly what is happening right now. And tellingly, Paul Weyrich, the founder of the Heritage Foundation and the one credited with influencing Jerry Falwell to launch the Moral Majority, is a Roman Catholic traditionalist. Catholicism is the founding force of Christian nationalism in America, though many believe Protestant evangelicalism is.

Project 2025 is a policy playbook that was put together for the 2024 presidential election. It is a manual of religiously-based policies prepared for a conservative president to implement immediately upon coming into office. And Roman Catholic social teaching—not Biblical Christianity, not Protestantism—is behind it.

Pope Leo XIII said it was the duty of all Catholics to work toward bringing all civil society under the jurisdiction of the church. This is the aim of the Papacy because it is believed to be its right. According to the Papacy, the Pope is the vicar of Christ, and therefore, the rightful ruler of the world.

The Catholic Catechism states:

The Pope enjoys, by divine institution, "supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls."2

The prophecy tells us the whole world will worship the beast and wonder, saying “Who is like unto the beast?” (Rev 13:3-4). All the world will soon be united in worship of this power. Since Vatican 2 (1962-1965), the Catholic church has worked through the ecumenical movement and behind the scenes to unite all the churches again under the Papacy. Much progress has been made since Vatican 2, but visible unity remains out of reach, at least for now. Nevertheless, ecumenical bodies continue to push toward this goal.

In an address to the Fourth World Gathering of the Global Christian Forum in 2024, Pope Francis said, “To all of you, I invoke the blessings of Almighty God, and pray that the gathering will advance the visible unity among all Christians.”3 It’s hard to imagine how visible unity could exist without forced conformity, though. In fact, the Bible says it’s impossible. (See Amos 3:3 and Mt 10:32-38.)

Nonetheless, gatherings such as these have steadily advanced toward visible unity. The World Council of Churches (WCC) has played an important role in promoting unity. The WCC planned a World Conference on Faith and Order in 2025 “to reaffirm the goal of visible unity for churches.”4 It’s interesting that the conference was planned to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 325.

The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council and was convened by Emperor Constantine I. Important outcomes of the council were that the emperor exiled Arius because the council ruled that he was teaching heresy; and he ordered the persecution of the Quartodecimans because the council had ruled that Christ’s resurrection should be commemorated always on a Sunday, aligned with the spring equinox, rather than on Nisan 14, the Passover.

The date of the Passover, a symbolic festival that pointed toward the sacrifice of Christ, was Nisan 14. John the Baptist likened Christ to the Passover lamb when he referred to Him as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and Paul called Christ “our passover” (1 Cor 5:7). Christ’s disciples commemorated Christ as our Passover on Nisan 14, the date of Passover, not on Easter, a pagan holiday.

History tells us that the apostle John’s disciple Polycarp traveled to Rome to try to persuade Anicetus, the bishop of Rome, of the rightness of commemorating Christ’s resurrection on Nisan 14, instead of on Sunday, but Anicetus clung to Sunday. By the time of the Council of Nicaea, commemorating Christ’s resurrection on a Sunday in conjunction with the pagan Easter had become common and the council majority ruled in favor of Sunday over Nisan 14. The emperor required all Christian’s to fall in line.

Commemorating the Council of Nicaea memorializes the meddling of the emperor in church questions, the exaltation of Sunday, and the persecution of conscientious Christians. Celebrating this event is an indication that today’s ecumenical Christians share common ground with those who joined the emperor at Nicaea in 325. Persecution cannot be far off.

Mark of the beast vs. seal of God

The prophecy tells us that the second beast (America) will make an image to the first beast (the Papacy) and then the mark of the beast will be forced upon the whole world. In other words, when America repudiates the principles of its constitution that make it a Protestant republic, it will soon afterward require all nations to come in line and show their allegiance to the first beast by forcing all nations into Sunday worship.

In the 19th century, the movement that called for Sunday laws focused on the keeping of Sunday for religious reasons. Today, though for some Sunday “sacredness” is still an issue, other reasons are being given for needing Sunday rest laws. Pope Francis’ Laudato Si calls for Sunday legislation to save the environment. The European Sunday Alliance and other similar groups claim legislation is needed to require rest on Sundays for the good of the family. Regardless of the rationale, the result will be the same, a universal Sunday law and the persecution of dissenters.

While many Christians feel that which day they worship on is irrelevant, this is a mistake. The Roman Catholic Church has set itself up as the world’s spiritual authority in direct opposition to God and refers to its success in the change of worship days from Sabbath to Sunday as the sign of this authority.

God, in His Word, commands, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” When He marked the Sabbath commandment with His royal seal, He declared Himself to be the authority behind the seventh-day Sabbath.

The Roman Catholic Church, on the other hand, says, “No! By my divine power, I abolish the Sabbath day, and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.”5

To obey one, is to oppose the other. If you choose to obey God, you will keep the seventh-day Sabbath. If you choose to keep Sunday, you choose the Catholic Church as your authority. The Sabbath is clearly to be the battleground for the end-time power struggle between Christ and Satan. The day is coming, according to the prophecy, that all will be forced to choose one or the other. And America, the second beast, will be the power that will force people to choose between the two authorities by introducing a law that will force Sunday worship first on a national level, then internationally.

Christian nationalism

Major changes will need to take place in America, however, for the prophecy to be fulfilled because the Constitution prohibits the making of religious laws. The Constitution will need to be changed. And that is just what American Christian nationalism is aiming at.

A particularly amazing detail given in the prophecy is that the second beast, America, will do “great wonders” and even make “fire come down from heaven” to deceive people into believing that the reforms have God’s support (verses 13-14). The second beast will claim that the miracles are signs of God’s approval, when really, they are manifestations of satanic power meant to deceive.

The prophecy is clear that when America “speaks like a dragon” by making harsh religious laws, it will then act like the dragon by unleashing satanic persecution on those who choose to honor God by keeping His commandments. This persecution will include economic restrictions and eventually a law will be passed making capital punishment the penalty for those who refuse to submit.

But there is good news. God will give His people “victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name” (15:2). Those who refuse to participate in false worship, though they are persecuted (2 Tim 3:12) will stand upon the sea of glass because they followed the Lamb wherever He led them (14:4) and kept the commandments of God (12:17). God will own them as His own and they will have His name written in their foreheads (14:1).

https://amazingdiscoveries.org/read/articles/america-and-the-image-to-the-beast