Elon Musk leaving Trump administration after efforts to slash federal budget through DOGE

Elon Musk leaving Trump administration after efforts to slash federal budget through DOGE

Politics May 29, 2025 11:06 AM EDT

By —

Chris Megerian, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk is leaving his government role as a top adviser to President Donald Trump after spearheading efforts to reduce and overhaul the federal bureaucracy.

His departure, announced Wednesday evening, marks the end of a turbulent chapter that included thousands of layoffs, the evisceration of government agencies and reams of litigation. Despite the upheaval, the billionaire entrepreneur struggled in the unfamiliar environment of Washington, and he accomplished far less than he hoped.

WATCH LIVE: White House holds briefing after court blocks many of Trump’s tariffs

He dramatically reduced his target for cutting spending — from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to $150 billion — and increasingly expressed frustration about resistance to his goals. Sometimes he clashed with other top members of Trump’s administration, who chafed at the newcomer’s efforts to reshape their departments, and he faced fierce political blowback for his efforts.

Musk’s role working for Trump was always intended to be temporary, and he had recently signaled that he would be shifting his attention back to running his businesses, such as the electric automaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.

But administration officials were often vague about when Musk would step back from his position spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, and he abruptly revealed that he was leaving in a post on X, his social media website.

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” he wrote. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

A White House official, who requested anonymity to talk about the change, confirmed Musk’s departure.

Musk announced his decision one day after CBS released part of an interview in which he criticized the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda by saying he was “disappointed” by what the president calls his “big beautiful bill.”

The legislation includes a mix of tax cuts and enhanced immigration enforcement. Musk described it as a “massive spending bill” that increases the federal deficit and “undermines the work” of his Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” Musk said. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”

Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, defended his agenda by talking about the delicate politics involved with negotiating the legislation.

“I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it,” he said.

Trump also suggested that more changes could be made.

“We’re going to see what happens,” he said. “It’s got a way to go.”

Republicans recently pushed the measure through the House and are debating it in the Senate.

Musk’s concerns are shared by some Republican lawmakers. “I sympathize with Elon being discouraged,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.

Speaking at a Milwaukee Press Club event on Wednesday, Johnson added that he was “pretty confident” there was enough opposition “to slow this process down until the president, our leadership, gets serious” about reducing spending. He said there was no amount of pressure Trump could put on him to change his position.

Speaker Mike Johnson has asked senators to make as few changes to the legislation as possible, saying that House Republicans reached a “very delicate balance” that could be upended with major changes. The narrowly divided House will have to vote again on final passage once the Senate alters the bill.

On Wednesday, Johnson thanked Musk for his work and promised to pursue more spending cuts in the future, saying “the House is eager and ready to act on DOGE’s findings.”

The White House is sending some proposed rescissions, a mechanism used to cancel previously authorized spending, to Capitol Hill to solidify some of DOGE’s cuts. A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said the package will include $1.1 billion from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS, and $8.3 billion in foreign assistance.

Musk occasionally seemed chastened by his experience working in government.

“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,” he told The Washington Post. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.”

He also recently said that he’ll reduce his political spending, because “I think I’ve done enough.”

Musk had previously been energized by the opportunity to reshape Washington. After putting at least $250 million behind Trump’s candidacy, he wore campaign hats in the White House, held his own campaign rallies, and talked about excessive spending as an existential crisis. He often tended to be effusive in his praise of Trump.

“The more I’ve gotten to know President Trump, the more I like the guy,” Musk said in February. “Frankly, I love him.”

Trump repaid the favor, describing Musk as “a truly great American.” When Tesla faced declining sales, he turned the White House driveway into a makeshift showroom to illustrate his support.

It’s unclear what, if any, impact that Musk’s comments about the bill would have on the legislative debate, especially given his departure from the administration. During the transition period, when his influence was on the rise, he helped whip up opposition to a spending measure as the country stood on the brink of a federal government shutdown.

WATCH: As U.S. pauses student visa interviews, education and immigration advocates share views

His latest criticism could embolden Republicans who want bigger spending cuts. Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee reposted a Fox News story about Musk’s interview while also adding his own take on the measure, saying there was “still time to fix it.”

“The Senate version will be more aggressive,” Lee said. “It can, it must, and it will be. Or it won’t pass.”

Only two Republicans — Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky — voted against the bill when the House took up the measure last week.

Davidson took note of Musk’s comments on social media.

“Hopefully, the Senate will succeed with the Big Beautiful Bill where the House missed the moment,” he wrote. “Don’t hope someone else will cut deficits someday, know it has been done this Congress.”

The Congressional Budget Office, in a preliminary estimate, said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would reduce spending by slightly more than $1 trillion over the same period.

House Republican leaders say increased economic growth would allow the bill to be deficit-neutral or deficit-reducing, but outside watchdogs are skeptical. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the bill would add $3 trillion to the debt, including interest, over the next decade.

Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Milwaukee, and Kevin Freking, Lisa Mascaro and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/elon-musk-leaving-trump-administration-after-efforts-to-slash-federal-budget-through-doge

Countdown to the Messiah 

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

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

The Rapture Will Be Cancelled

by Nicklas Arthur

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

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade.

1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia and the overthrow of the communist dictatorship in Romania in December; the movement ended in December 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Revolutions against communist governments in Eastern Europe mainly succeeded, but the year also saw the suppression by the Chinese government of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

It was the year of the first Brazilian direct presidential election in 29 years, since the end of the military government in 1985 that ruled the country for more than twenty years, and marked the redemocratization process's final point.

F. W. de Klerk was elected as State President of South Africa, and his regime gradually dismantled the apartheid system over the next five years, culminating with the 1994 election that brought jailed African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela to power.

The first commercial Internet service providers surfaced in this year,[1][2] as well as the first written proposal for the World Wide Web and New Zealand, Japan and Australia's first Internet connections. The first babies born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis were conceived in late 1989.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989

Note: Inauguration Day, January 20, 2029, falls on a Saturday.  Federal employees in the Washington, DC, area are entitled to a holiday on the day a President is inaugurated on January 20th for each fourth year after 1965. Only employees scheduled to work on Saturday, January 20th, may be excused from duty and provided with paid holiday time off. In this instance, Inauguration Day is not observed on another day.  There is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees who are not regularly scheduled to work on Inauguration Day (5 U.S.C. 6103(c)).  Employees who are required to perform work on a holiday are entitled to holiday premium pay. 

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/#url=2029

The other 9/11: George H.W. Bush's 1990 New World Order speech 

Out of these troubled times, a new world order can emerge.

By George H.W. Bush|Contributor

12:41 PM on Sep 8, 2017 CDT

Editor's note: The following is an excerpt of George H.W. Bush's speech before a joint session of Congress on Sept. 11, 1990, in which he describes his vision of a new world order amid the Persian Gulf crisis. Read the full speech here. 

We stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective — a new world order — can emerge: a new era — freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony.

A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor. Today that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we've known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak. This is the vision that I shared with President Gorbachev in Helsinki. He and other leaders from Europe, the Gulf, and around the world understand that how we manage this crisis today could shape the future for generations to come.

The test we face is great, and so are the stakes. This is the first assault on the new world that we seek, the first test of our mettle. Had we not responded to this first provocation with clarity of purpose, if we do not continue to demonstrate our determination, it would be a signal to actual and potential despots around the world. America and the world must defend common vital interests — and we will. America and the world must support the rule of law — and we will. America and the world must stand up to aggression — and we will. And one thing more: In the pursuit of these goals, America will not be intimidated.

President George Bush and first lady Barbara Bush welcomed Soviet President Mikhail...

President George Bush and first lady Barbara Bush welcomed Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, for a state dinner at the White House in May 1990. (File Photo/The Associated Press)

Vital issues of principle are at stake. Saddam Hussein is literally trying to wipe a country off the face of the Earth. We do not exaggerate. Nor do we exaggerate when we say Saddam Hussein will fail. Vital economic interests are at risk as well. Iraq itself controls some 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Iraq plus Kuwait controls twice that. An Iraq permitted to swallow Kuwait would have the economic and military power, as well as the arrogance, to intimidate and coerce its neighbors — neighbors who control the lion's share of the world's remaining oil reserves. We cannot permit a resource so vital to be dominated by one so ruthless. And we won't.

Recent events have surely proven that there is no substitute for American leadership. In the face of tyranny, let no one doubt American credibility and reliability. Let no one doubt our staying power. We will stand by our friends. One way or another, the leader of Iraq must learn this fundamental truth. From the outset, acting hand in hand with others, we've sought to fashion the broadest possible international response to Iraq's aggression. The level of world cooperation and condemnation of Iraq is unprecedented. Armed forces from countries spanning four continents are there at the request of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to deter and, if need be, to defend against attack. Moslems and non-Moslems, Arabs and non-Arabs, soldiers from many nations stand shoulder to shoulder, resolute against Saddam Hussein's ambitions. ...

I cannot predict just how long it will take to convince Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. Sanctions will take time to have their full intended effect. We will continue to review all options with our allies, but let it be clear: We will not let this aggression stand.

George H.W. Bush was the 41st president of the United States.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230306211151/https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/09/08/the-other-9-11-george-h-w-bush-s-1990-new-world-order-speech/

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

These goals are ambitious,[according to whom?] and the reports and outcomes to date indicate a challenging path. Most, if not all, of the goals are unlikely to be met by 2030. Rising inequalities, climate change, and biodiversity loss are topics of concerns threatening progress. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to 2023 made these challenges worse, and some regions, such as Asia, have experienced significant setbacks during that time.

There are cross-cutting issues and synergies between the different goals; for example, for SDG 13 on climate action, the IPCC sees robust synergies with SDGs 3 (health), 7 (clean energy), 11 (cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 14 (oceans).[3][4]: 70  On the other hand, critics and observers have also identified trade-offs between the goals,[4]: 67  such as between ending hunger and promoting environmental sustainability.[5]: 26  Furthermore, concerns have arisen over the high number of goals (compared to the eight Millennium Development Goals), leading to compounded trade-offs, a weak emphasis on environmental sustainability, and difficulties tracking qualitative indicators.

The political impact of the SDGs has been rather limited, and the SDGs have struggled to achieve transformative changes in policy and institutional structures.[6] Also, funding remains a critical issue for achieving the SDGs. Significant financial resources would be required worldwide. The role of private investment and a shift towards sustainable financing are also essential for realizing the SDGs. Examples of progress from some countries demonstrate that achieving sustainable development through concerted global action is possible. The global effort for the SDGs calls for prioritizing environmental sustainability, understanding the indivisible nature of the goals, and seeking synergies across sectors.

The short titles of the 17 SDGs are: No poverty (SDG 1), Zero hunger (SDG 2), Good health and well-being (SDG 3), Quality education (SDG 4), Gender equality (SDG 5), Clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), Reduced inequalities (SDG 10), Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), Climate action (SDG 13), Life below water (SDG 14), Life on land (SDG 15), Peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16), and Partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

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

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

Elon Musk: “We’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”

Eric Berger – Jan 3, 2025 9:28 AM |  1.1k

Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site X, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to US space policy in recent years.

For example, he has rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis Program. Rather, Musk, who has long preferred Mars as a destination for humans, has more or less been a team player when it comes to the space agency's lunar-focused plans.

This is understandable from a financial perspective, as SpaceX has contracts worth billions of dollars to not only build a Human Landing System as part of NASA's Artemis Program but also to supply food, cargo, and other logistics services to a planned Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon.

But privately, Musk has been critical of NASA's plans, suggesting that the Artemis Program has been moving too slowly and is too reliant on contractors who seek cost-plus government contracts and are less interested in delivering results.

Silent on policy no longer

During the last 10 days, Musk has begun airing some of these private thoughts publicly. On Christmas Day, for example, Musk wrote on X, "The Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient, as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something entirely new is needed."

Then, on Thursday evening, he added this: "No, we’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction."

These are definitive statements that directly contradict NASA's plans to send a series of human missions to the lunar south pole later this decade and establish a sustainable base of operations there with the Artemis Program.

It would be one thing if Musk was just expressing his opinion as a private citizen. But since playing a significant part in the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States last year, Musk has assumed an important advisory role for the incoming administration. He was also partly responsible for the expected nomination of private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become the next administrator of NASA. Although Musk is not directing US space policy, he certainly has a meaningful say in what happens.

So what does this mean for Artemis?

The fate of Artemis is an important question not just for NASA but for the US commercial space industry, the European Space Agency, and other international partners who have aligned with the return of humans to the Moon. With Artemis, the United States is in competition with China to establish a meaningful presence on the surface of the Moon.

Based upon conversations with people involved in developing space policy for the Trump administration, I can make some educated guesses about how to interpret Musk's comments. None of these people, for example, would disagree with Musk's assertion that "the Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient" and that some changes are warranted.

With that said, the Artemis Program is probably not going away. After all, it was the first Trump administration that created the program about five years ago. However, it may be less well-remembered that the first Trump White House pushed for more significant changes, including a "major course correction" at NASA.

"I call on NASA to adopt new policies and embrace a new mindset," then-Vice President Mike Pence said in May 2019. "If our current contractors can't meet this objective, then we'll find ones that will." (Speaking of the vice president, it's unlikely that the National Space Council will be reconstituted under JD Vance).

To a large extent, NASA resisted this change during the remainder of the Trump administration, keeping its core group of major contractors, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, in place. It had help from key US Senators, including Richard Shelby, the now-retired Republican from Alabama. But this time, the push for change is likely to be more concerted, especially with key elements of NASA's architecture, including the Space Launch System rocket, being bypassed by privately developed rockets such as SpaceX's Starship vehicle and Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

Not one, but both

In all likelihood, NASA will adopt a new "Artemis" plan that involves initiatives to both the Moon and Mars. When Musk said "we're going straight to Mars," he may have meant that this will be the thrust of SpaceX, with support from NASA. That does not preclude a separate initiative, possibly led by Blue Origin with help from NASA, to develop lunar return plans.

Isaacman, who is keeping a fairly low profile ahead of his nomination, has not weighed in on Musk's comments. However, when his nomination was announced one month ago, he did make a germane comment on X.

"I was born after the Moon landings; my children were born after the final space shuttle launch," he wrote. "With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to journey to the stars and never settle for second place. We will inspire children, yours and mine, to look up and dream of what is possible. Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth."

In short, NASA is likely to adopt a two-lane strategy of reaching for both the Moon and Mars. Whether the space agency is successful with either one will be a major question asked of the new administration.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/elon-musk-were-going-straight-to-mars-the-moon-is-a-distraction/

In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Mars (Latin: Mārs, pronounced [maːrs])[4] is the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome.[5] He is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him (Latin Martius), and in October, the months which traditionally began and ended the season for both military campaigning and farming.[6]

Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with the Greek god Ares,[7] whose myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars. The character and dignity of Mars differs in fundamental ways from that of his Greek counterpart, who is often treated with contempt and revulsion in Greek literature.[8] Mars's altar in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome that took its name from him, was supposed to have been dedicated by Numa, the peace-loving semi-legendary second king of Rome; in Republican times it was a focus of electoral activities. Augustus shifted the focus of Mars' cult to within the pomerium (Rome's ritual boundary), and built a temple to Mars Ultor as a key religious feature of his new forum.[9]

Unlike Ares, who was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force, Mars represented military power as a way to secure peace, and was a father (pater) of the Roman people.[10] In Rome's mythic genealogy and founding, Mars fathered Romulus and Remus through his rape of Rhea Silvia. The wolf was the sacred animal of Mars, with the she-wolf nursing the two founders as children. His love affair with Venus symbolically reconciled two different traditions of Rome's founding; Venus was the divine mother of the hero Aeneas, credited by Vergil as an earlier founder of Rome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(mythology)

Elon Musk Breaks Twitter Silence to Post Photo of Himself and 4 of His Sons with Pope Francis

Elon Musk said he was "honored" to meet Pope Francis as he shared a snap featuring four of his sons after 10 days off Twitter

By Nicholas Rice  Published on July 2, 2022 01:24PM EDT

Elon Musk is back on Twitter.

After last sharing a tweet on the social media platform on June 21, the Tesla CEO, 51, returned to the site on Friday, writing in a message, "Feeling … perhaps … a little bored?"

In a follow-up tweet, Musk then shared a photograph of himself with his sons - including Griffin, and triplets Kai, Damian, and Sax – whose mother is his first wife, Justine Wilson, posing beside Pope Francis.

"Honored to meet @Pontifex yesterday," Musk wrote alongside the photograph, which saw each of the Musk men standing beside the Pope in suits.

In a later tweet, Musk shared a throwback image of himself and his ex-wife Talulah Riley in Italy.

"Venice, a site of Great Remembrance," he captioned the shot, which sees him and Riley, 36, posing in black and white attire with face masks covering their eyes.

Musk also shared one other Twitter message on Friday — a tribute to Technoblade, a YouTube gamer who recently died of cancer at 23.

"Popular Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade with 12 Billion subscribers recently passed away at the age of 23 due to cancer, and this made [me] realize that cancer is [an] absurd piece of literal garbage and death, but also try to live your best life with people who know," he wrote, alongside a quote from video game character Sonic the Hedgehog.

Added Musk: "They could die the following day, and you would regret not doing things with them."

Musk's most recent 10-day break from Twitter is the longest one he has taken from the social media platform since October 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The SpaceX CEO previously hadn't gone more than six days without tweeting Since January 2018, the outlet reported.

The WSJ reported that Musk, who is currently looking at a billion-dollar deal to purchase Twitter, has taken shorter days-long breaks from the site, however, including one this past January.

https://people.com/human-interest/elon-musk-poses-with-4-of-his-sons-and-pope-francis/

Gigafactory Texas (also known as Giga Texas, Giga Austin, or Gigafactory 5) is a Tesla, Inc. automotive manufacturing facility in unincorporated Travis County, Texas, just outside of Austin. Construction began in July 2020,[2] limited production of Model Y began before the end of 2021,[3][4] and initial deliveries of vehicles built at the factory took place at an opening party called "Cyber Rodeo" on April 7, 2022.[5]

The factory produces Model Y cars for the Eastern United States and is also the main factory for the Cybertruck and the company's next-generation vehicle.[3][6][7][8] It also serves as the site of Tesla's corporate headquarters.[9] Tesla employs over 20,000 people at the factory and expects to eventually have a staff of 60,000 as production ramps up.[1] It is the country's second biggest factory by size as well as the second-largest building by volume in the world after the Boeing Everett Factory.[10]

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

Austin

surname (also Austen) and masc. proper name, from Old French Aousten, an abbreviated form of Latin Augustine. St. Augustine of Canterbury is Austin in Layamon's "Brut" (c. 1200).

Entries linking to Austin

Augustine(adj.)

c. 1400 in reference to members of the religious order named for St. Augustine the Great (354-430), bishop of Hippo. The name is Latin Augustinus, from augustus "venerable, majestic, magnificent, noble" (see august (adj.)) + name-forming element -inus (see -ine (1)). Related: Augustinian.

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

Pope Leo XIV[a] (born Robert Francis Prevost;[b] September 14, 1955) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected in the 2025 papal conclave as the successor to Pope Francis.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in a nearby suburb, Prevost became a friar of the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977 and was ordained as a priest in 1982. His service includes extensive missionary work in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, where he served as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher, and administrator. Elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013, he returned to Peru as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and made him a cardinal the same year.

As a cardinal, he emphasized synodality, missionary dialogue, and engagement with social and technological challenges. He also engaged with issues such as climate change, global migration, church governance, and human rights, and expressed alignment with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

A United States citizen by birth, Leo XIV is the first pope to have been born in North America, the first to hold Peruvian citizenship (having been naturalized in 2015), the second pope from the Americas (after his predecessor Francis), and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine. His papal name was inspired by Pope Leo XIII, who developed modern Catholic social teaching amid the Second Industrial Revolution. Leo XIV believes the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution, particularly advances in artificial intelligence and robotics, poses "new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor".[4]

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

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

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

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://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

Leo is a given name in several languages. In European languages, it is usually a masculine given name and it comes from the Latin word leo, which in turn comes from the Greek word λέων meaning "lion". It can also be used as a short form of other names that begin with Leo-, such as Leonard, Leonardo, Leonidas or Leopold, and occasionally Llywellyn. In Japanese, Leo or Reo (怜央) is usually a masculine given name.

The name can refer to:

People

Religious figures

Pope Leo (disambiguation), 14 popes

Pope Leo XIV, incumbent pope

List of saints named Leo

Leo of Constantinople (fl. 1134–1143), Patriarch of Constantinople

Leo Rajendram Antony (1927–2012), 4th Bishop of Trincomalee

Leo Baeck (1873–1956), German rabbi, scholar, and theologian

Leo Zhedenov (1883–1959), member of the Russian apostolate

Rulers

Emperor Leo (disambiguation), six Byzantine emperors

King Leo (disambiguation), various kings and monarchs with the ruling name Leo

Leo I, Prince of Armenia (died 1140)

Scientists

Leo Esaki (born 1925), Japanese physicist and Nobel laureate

Leo Kadanoff (1937–2015), American physicist

Leo Stodolsky, physicist

Leó Szilárd (1898–1964), Jewish Hungarian-American physicist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_(given_name)

Lyon Family History

Lyon Surname Meaning

Scottish English and French: from the personal name Middle English Lyon, Old French Leon (from Latin leo ‘lion’ or the cognate Greek leōn; see Leon). Compare Lyall. Scottish and English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Lyons-la-Forêt in Eure, Normandy. It is unlikely to be from the better-known southern French city of Lyon (see 5 below).

English and French: nickname from Middle English lioun ‘lion’ (Old English Latin leo) Old French leon perhaps applied to a brave, fierce, or proud person or one with a shaggy mane of hair. Compare Lion.

Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Laighin (see Lane). French: habitational name from the city of Lyon in south central France (or in some cases from the commune of Lyons-la-Forêt in Eure, Normandy; compare 2 above).

The name of the city of Lyon is recorded in the 1st century BC as Lugdunum and is from the name of a Celtic god Lug (or this as a personal name from a word meaning ‘brightness’) + dunon ‘hill fort’.

Altered form of Dutch De Leeuw.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022

Similar surnames: Leon, Lynn, Low, Lion, Moon, Lydon, Elton, Yon, Luton, Lio

https://www.ancestry.com/last-name-meaning/lyon?geo-lang=en-US

1 Peter 5:8

1599 Geneva Bible

8 [a]Be sober, and watch: for your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Read full chapter

Footnotes

1 Peter 5:8 The cruelty of Satan, who seeketh by all means to devour us, is overcome by watchfulness and faith.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20peter%205%3A8&version=GNV

The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.[1] The centerpiece of the Fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing the voyage that Columbus took to the New World. Chicago won the right to host the fair over several competing cities, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. The exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on American architecture, the arts, American industrial optimism, and Chicago's image.

The layout of the Chicago Columbian Exposition was predominantly designed by John Wellborn Root, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Charles B. Atwood.[2][3] It was the prototype of what Burnham and his colleagues thought a city should be. It was designed to follow Beaux-Arts principles of design, namely neoclassical architecture principles based on symmetry, balance, and splendor. The color of the material generally used to cover the buildings' façades, white staff, gave the fairgrounds its nickname, the White City. Many prominent architects designed its 14 "great buildings". Artists and musicians were featured in exhibits and many also made depictions and works of art inspired by the exposition.

The exposition covered 690 acres (2.8 km2), featuring nearly 200 new but temporary buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture, canals and lagoons, and people and cultures from 46 countries.[1] More than 27 million people attended the exposition during its six-month run. Its scale and grandeur far exceeded the other world's fairs, and it became a symbol of emerging American exceptionalism, much in the same way that the Great Exhibition became a symbol of the Victorian era United Kingdom.

Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on October 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not opened to the public until May 1, 1893. The fair continued until October 30, 1893. In addition to recognizing the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World, the fair served to show the world that Chicago had risen from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire, which had destroyed much of the city in 1871.[1]

On October 9, 1893, the day designated as Chicago Day, the fair set a world record for outdoor event attendance, drawing 751,026 people. The debt for the fair was soon paid off with a check for $1.5 million (equivalent to $52.5 million in 2024).[4] Chicago has commemorated the fair with one of the stars on its municipal flag.[5]

History

Planning and organization

An advertisement for the Exposition, depicting a portrait of Christopher Columbus

Thomas Moran – Chicago World's Fair – Brooklyn Museum painting of the Administration Building

The regional vote breakdown of the eighth World's Fair location selection ballot in the United States House of Representatives

Many prominent civic, professional, and commercial leaders from around the United States helped finance, coordinate, and manage the Fair, including Chicago shoe company owner Charles H. Schwab,[6] Chicago railroad and manufacturing magnate John Whitfield Bunn, and Connecticut banking, insurance, and iron products magnate Milo Barnum Richardson, among many others.[7][8]

The fair was planned in the early 1890s during the Gilded Age of rapid industrial growth, immigration, and class tension. World's fairs, such as London's 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition, had been successful in Europe as a way to bring together societies fragmented along class lines.

The first American attempt at a world's fair in Philadelphia in 1876 drew crowds, but was a financial failure. Nonetheless, ideas about distinguishing the 400th anniversary of Columbus' landing started in the late 1880s. Civic leaders in St. Louis, New York City, Washington DC, and Chicago expressed interest in hosting a fair to generate profits, boost real estate values, and promote their cities. Congress was called on to decide the location. New York financiers J. P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and William Waldorf Astor, among others, pledged $15 million to finance the fair if Congress awarded it to New York, while Chicagoans Charles T. Yerkes, Marshall Field, Philip Armour, Gustavus Swift, and Cyrus McCormick, Jr., offered to finance a Chicago fair. What finally persuaded Congress was Chicago banker Lyman Gage, who raised several million additional dollars in a 24-hour period, over and above New York's final offer.[9]

Chicago representatives not only fought for the world's fair for monetary reasons, but also for reasons of practicality. In a Senate hearing held in January 1890, representative Thomas Barbour Bryan argued that the most important qualities for a world's fair were "abundant supplies of good air and pure water", "ample space, accommodations and transportation for all exhibits and visitors". He argued that New York had too many obstructions, and Chicago would be able to use large amounts of land around the city where there was "not a house to buy and not a rock to blast" and that it would be located so that "the artisan and the farmer and the shopkeeper and the man of humble means" would be able to easily access the fair. Bryan continued to say that the fair was of "vital interest" to the West, and that the West wanted the location to be Chicago. The city spokesmen would continue to stress the essentials of a successful exposition and that only Chicago was fit to fill these exposition requirements.[10]

The location of the fair was decided through several rounds of voting by the United States House of Representatives. The first ballot showed Chicago with a large lead over New York, St. Louis and Washington, D.C., but short of a majority. Chicago broke the 154-vote majority threshold on the eighth ballot, receiving 157 votes to New York's 107.[11]

The exposition corporation and national exposition commission settled on Jackson Park and an area around it as the fair site. Daniel H. Burnham was selected as director of works, and George R. Davis as director-general. Burnham emphasized architecture and sculpture as central to the fair and assembled the period's top talent to design the buildings and grounds including Frederick Law Olmsted for the grounds.[1] The temporary buildings were designed in an ornate neoclassical style and painted white, resulting in the fair site being referred to as the "White City".[9]

The Exposition's offices set up shop in the upper floors of the Rand McNally Building on Adams Street, the world's first all-steel-framed skyscraper. Davis' team organized the exhibits with the help of G. Brown Goode of the Smithsonian. The Midway was inspired by the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, which included ethnological "villages". [12]

Civil rights leaders protested the refusal to include an African American exhibit. Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Irvine Garland Penn, and Ferdinand Lee Barnet co-authored a pamphlet entitled "The Reason Why the Colored American is not in the World's Columbian Exposition – The Afro-American's Contribution to Columbian Literature" addressing the issue. Wells and Douglass argued, "when it is asked why we are excluded from the World's Columbian Exposition, the answer is Slavery."[13] Ten thousand copies of the pamphlet were circulated in the White City from the Haitian Embassy (where Douglass had been selected as its national representative), and the activists received responses from the delegations of England, Germany, France, Russia, and India.[13]

The exhibition did include a limited number of exhibits put on by African Americans, including exhibits by the sculptor Edmonia Lewis, a painting exhibit by scientist George Washington Carver, and a statistical exhibit by Joan Imogen Howard. Black individuals were also featured in white exhibits, such as Nancy Green's portrayal of the character Aunt Jemima for the R. T. Davis Milling Company.[14]

Operation

An aerial view of the exposition at Jackson Park in Brockhaus' encyclopedia

The fair opened in May and ran through October 30, 1893. Forty-six nations participated in the fair, which was the first world's fair to have national pavilions.[15] They constructed exhibits and pavilions and named national "delegates"; for example, Haiti selected Frederick Douglass to be its delegate.[16] The Exposition drew over 27 million visitors.[17] The fair was originally meant to be closed on Sundays, but the Chicago Woman's Club petitioned that it stay open.[18][19] The club felt that if the exposition was closed on Sunday, it would restrict those who could not take off work during the work-week from seeing it.[20]

The exposition was located in Jackson Park and on the Midway Plaisance on 630 acres (2.5 km2) in the neighborhoods of South Shore, Jackson Park Highlands, Hyde Park, and Woodlawn. Charles H. Wacker was the director of the fair. The layout of the fairgrounds was created by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Beaux-Arts architecture of the buildings was under the direction of Daniel Burnham, Director of Works for the fair. Renowned local architect Henry Ives Cobb designed several buildings for the exposition. The director of the American Academy in Rome, Francis Davis Millet, directed the painted mural decorations. Indeed, it was a coming-of-age for the arts and architecture of the "American Renaissance", and it showcased the burgeoning neoclassical and Beaux-Arts styles.

Assassination of mayor and end of fair

Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison III delivers a speech to crowd during "American Cities Day" at the exposition on October 28, 1893. Harrison would be assassinated later that day.

"Columbian Exposition" of 1892 book cover art

The fair ended with the city in shock, as popular mayor Carter Harrison III was assassinated by Patrick Eugene Prendergast two days before the fair's closing.[21] Closing ceremonies were canceled in favor of a public memorial service.

Jackson Park was returned to its status as a public park, in much better shape than its original swampy form. The lagoon was reshaped to give it a more natural appearance, except for the straight-line northern end where it still laps up against the steps on the south side of the Palace of Fine Arts/Museum of Science & Industry building. The Midway Plaisance, a park-like boulevard which extends west from Jackson Park, once formed the southern boundary of the University of Chicago, which was being built as the fair was closing (the university has since developed south of the Midway). The university's football team, the Maroons, were the original "Monsters of the Midway." The exposition is mentioned in the university's alma mater: "The City White hath fled the earth, / But where the azure waters lie, / A nobler city hath its birth, / The City Gray that ne'er shall die."[22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition

What is the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy?

Answer

In October 1978 the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) sponsored a conference in which several hundred Christians representing forty-one churches and thirty-eight Christian denominations met to study, pray, and deliberate over an essential doctrinal issue: the inerrancy of Scripture. The delegates formulated the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Over 300 Evangelicals, including John F. MacArthur, J. I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, and Josh D. McDowell, signed the document.

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was written to address the inerrancy of Scripture, the doctrine that the Bible is free from error. The statement includes a preface, a short statement, and nineteen articles, each affirming a position and denying a falsehood regarding inerrancy. The preface establishes that “the authority of Scripture is essential for the Christian Church in this and every age.” The short statement following the preface outlines five major points regarding the doctrine of inerrancy and the significance of the issue. The articles then detail issues such as divine inspiration through human writers; progressive revelation; manuscripts and translations; infallibility; unity of Scripture; witness of the Holy Spirit to Scripture; interpretation of Scripture; and the centrality of biblical authority, infallibility, and inerrancy to the Christian faith, confession of which should result in a life increasingly transformed to the image of Christ.

Divine inspiration is addressed first. The drafters of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy agreed that the Holy Scripture is the authoritative Word of God because it is inspired by God in order to reveal Himself to humanity. If the Bible did not have divine origins, it could be argued that Scripture receives its authority from the Church, tradition, or any other human source. It is because the Bible is the inspired Word of God that it is free from error. Furthermore, the statement affirms that the Scriptures are God’s communication to us. God made us in His image and chose to relate to us using our language; we do not have to worry that language is inadequate for divine revelation. Neither do we have to be in a heightened state of consciousness to receive or understand the Word.

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy also discusses the reliability of the biblical text. Several of the articles confirm that the Bible is true and reliable in all matters it addresses and that Scripture exhibits unity and internal consistency. As a result, we can use Scripture to interpret Scripture. Scripture should also “be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices.” When we study Scripture, we should keep it in context, understand its original meaning, and not make the truths relative, based on human understanding or lack thereof. God further provides understanding through the Holy Spirit. As believers read the Bible, the Holy Spirit establishes the truth in believers’ hearts and minds and reminds them of what they have read and heard.

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy is a concise and helpful description of the components of the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and its importance to the Christian life. The signatories affirm that belief in biblical inerrancy is not necessary for salvation but warn that there are serious consequences to doubting the veracity of the Bible, both for the individual and the church at large.

The doctrine of biblical inerrancy is foundational for every believer. We can trust what the Bible says. We can allow God’s Word to teach, rebuke, correct, and train us in righteousness so we can be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16–17). If the Bible is God’s inspired Word, then it is true. If it is true, we should follow it. Blessed are those who hear the Word and keep it (Luke 11:28; Proverbs 19:16; Revelation 1:3).

https://www.gotquestions.org/Chicago-Statement-Biblical-Inerrancy.html

Cardinal Dolan describes Pope XIV as 'citizen of the world,' will build bridges with Trump

Pope Leo XIV hails from Chicago and is the first American pontiff

Michael Dorgan By Michael Dorgan Fox News

Published May 9, 2025 1:31pm EDT

Several prominent U.S. Catholic bishops and cardinals recalled the spiritual process of electing Pope Leo XIV this week, with Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York hailing the new pontiff as a "citizen of the world" who will seek to build bridges with President Donald Trump and other global leaders.

The six clergymen gave some insights into how they see the Pope Leo XIV papacy and said the quick conclave showed unity among the cardinals. They were speaking at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Pontifical North American College in Rome on Friday.

"It should not startle us that we would look to Pope Leo as a bridge builder. That's what the Latin word ‘pontiff’ means, he's a bridge builder," Dolan said after being asked by a reporter if the pontiff would be a "counterweight" to Trump.

"Will he want to build bridges to Donald Trump? I suppose, but he would want to build bridges with the leader of every nation. So I don't think at all my brother Cardinals would have thought of him as a counterweight to any one person."

Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost, is the first American pope, and much emphasis has been made of his Chicago roots, with speakers blasting songs including "Born in the U.S.A." and "American Pie" as the cardinal electors gathered on stage. The stage was also decorated with Old Glory and a Vatican flag.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop emeritus of Galveston-Houston, conveyed his pride that they elected an American pope, the first in history.

"[Pope XIV] is really a citizen of the entire world, since he has spent so much of his ministry missionary work and zeal for Christ in South America in life in missionary work and zeal for work," DiNardo said. "Yes, he’s American and yes, he represents the big picture of the church."

Dolan agreed, noting the new pontiff is also a citizen of Peru, having spent three decades there as a missionary.

"He's a citizen of the world. He reminds us that we all have our true citizenship in heaven. As St. Paul taught us, and that is his role as universal pastor, where he comes from is sort of now a thing of the past," he said.

Several bishops likened Pope Leo XIV to a fusion of Popes Francis and Benedict, noting his blend of intellectual rigor and pastoral warmth while highlighting his Augustinian background and canon law expertise.

His choice of the name "Leo" was seen as significant, referencing both Pope Leo the Great and Leo XIII, signaling an intent to emphasize both strong leadership and social teaching.

DiNardo said that Leo the Great was pope in the fifth century when the church was "truly a mess" but he managed to save the city of Rome.

"He preached Christ crucified, and he preached him as truly Son of God," DiNardo said. "I think Pope Leo [XIV] is a wise, wise man, and he picks up one whose name has multiple figures from Leo the Great to Leo the 13th, all of whom can speak to us both on terms of social doctrine and in terms of doctrine of who Jesus is."

The bishops emphasized the spiritual, emotional and symbolic significance of the conclave. They described it as a deeply prayerful and unifying experience. The U.S. had 10 voting cardinals in the conclave, the second-highest number of any country.

Other speakers included: Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark; Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago; Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington; Cardinal Robert McElroy, Archbishop of Washington; and Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S.A.

Asked about the reported simplicity of the meals the cardinals were served during the conclave, Dolan joked: "Let's just say it was a good, good, good impetus to get this over with."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/cardinal-dolan-describes-pope-xiv-citizen-world-build-bridges-trump

Who was Timothy in the Bible?

Answer

Timothy, the recipient of the two New Testament letters bearing his name, was the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother. He joined Paul during one of Paul’s later missionary journeys. Paul addresses Timothy as "my true son in the faith" (1 Timothy 1:2). He was probably no older than late teens/early twenties when he joined Paul but had already distinguished himself as faithful, and the elders noticed him. He probably heard and responded to the gospel when Paul came through the area of Derbe and Lystra on his first missionary journey, but we don’t know for sure. Timothy served as Paul’s representative to several churches (1 Corinthians 4:17; Philippians 2:19), and he was later a pastor in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3). Timothy is also mentioned as being with Paul when Paul wrote several New Testament letters—2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

Paul says Timothy had a “genuine faith,” the same as that which lived in his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:1–5). Eunice and Lois prepared Timothy’s heart to accept Christ by teaching Timothy the Old Testament Scriptures and preparing him “from infancy” to recognize the Messiah when He appeared (2 Timothy 3:15). When Paul came preaching Christ, all three accepted his teaching and committed their lives to the Savior. We, too, must prepare our children to be ready when Christ moves in their hearts. They must know how to recognize that pull on their spirits as coming from the Savior, and the only way to do that is to follow the example of Eunice and Lois and teach our children the Word of God.

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he gave him instructions and advice for leading the church. He also exhorted Timothy not to let others look down upon him due to his youth, but to set an example for other believers "in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). Paul told Timothy to be devoted to reading Scripture, exhorting, and teaching, and to not neglect the gift that he had been given. Paul also counseled Timothy to keep a close watch on himself. These instructions remain pertinent to believers today. We, too, are called to "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:11–12).

It seems that Timothy had a chronic illness that required some attention (1 Timothy 5:23). Paul counseled him on a change of diet to aid the relief of his condition. From this example we learn that it is not always God’s will to heal a person miraculously; sometimes, healing comes through more “natural” means, if it comes at all.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul warned Timothy about the false teachers that he would encounter and tells him to continue in the things he has learned because he knows the character of those he learned them from, namely Paul himself and his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 3:14–15). The truths Timothy was taught from infancy—truths about sin and our need for a Savior—were able to make him “wise for salvation” (2 Timothy 3:15). As parents, we are to prepare our children to distinguish truth from error. And as believers, we are to stand firm in the truth we have learned, not being surprised or swayed by opposition and false teachers.

Paul also told Timothy, to "do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). This advice is crucial for all Christians. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Paul counseled Timothy, his "dear son" (2 Timothy 1:2), from a heart of love, wanting Timothy to stand firm in his own faith and to lead the other believers well. Timothy certainly seems to have been faithful; we should follow his example.

https://www.gotquestions.org/life-Timothy.html

White Sox to mark seat where Pope Leo XIV sat, unveiling artwork honoring longtime fan

A mural of Pope Leo XIV sits atop Section 140, where he sat during Game 1 of the 2005 World Series. “I think now the most famous seat belongs to the pope,” a team official said.

By  Cindy Hernandez   May 19, 2025, 6:49pm PDT

A piece of Rate Field has been permanently dedicated to longtime White Sox fan Pope Leo XIV.

The White Sox unveiled a mural Monday honoring Chicago native Robert Prevost, who became the first Catholic pope from the U.S. when he was elected May 8.

The artwork is plastered on a pillar in Section 140, where he sat during game one of the 2005 World Series. At that game, the White Sox beat the Houston Astros 5-3 on their way to a four-game sweep for the title.

“If there was divine intervention, we accept,” said Brooks Boyer, chief revenue and marketing officer, at a news conference. “It’s great for us to look at someone from North America as the pope and to be able to understand that he took some of his time to spend at the ballpark.”

That day Prevost sat in Section 140, Row 19, Seat 2.

“I think now the most famous seat [at Rate Field] belongs to the pope,” Boyer said. “When people come into the ballpark — it’s an interesting piece of our history — they’re going to want to see it, so we’re going to put something on that seat.”

But though fans may be looking to purchase a ticket to sit where the pope sat, they’ll be hard-pressed to find it available.

That seat, along with several others in that section, belong to the Schmit family, longtime season ticket holders and friends of the pope.

The late Ed Schmit, who was a close friend with Prevost for decades, often went to games with the future Catholic leader, including the one during the 2005 World Series. Schmit died in 2020.

Schmit’s son, Nick, remains the account holder for the pope’s seat.

The graphic installation not only shows Prevost during his election at the Vatican, but it also includes a shot from television footage that shows him sitting in the stands during that Word Series game.

Sitting next to Prevost at the game was Ed Schmit’s son, Eddie Schmit III, and his grandson, Eddie Schmit IV.

“That’s one game that I will never forget,” said Eddie Schmit IV on Monday. “It was pretty surreal to say the least.”

The Schmit family has been season ticket holders since 1976.

While many people will recognize Prevost as the pope, Eddie Schmit IV said he’ll always think of him simply as his grandfather’s friend.

“He’s a very great guy, kind-hearted,” he said. “That’s why he was elected to be the next pope, because of all the good things he’s done around the world, and I’m sure he’s going to continue to do that.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/05/19/white-sox-pope-leo-seat-world-series-robert-prevost

Stelle is an unincorporated community located in Rogers Township in northern Ford County, Illinois, United States. As of 2013, its estimated population is 100.

The community was established as an intentional community in the early 1970s. In 1982, Stelle transitioned to a standard homeowner's association, a structure it maintains today.[2]

Historical overview

Stelle was founded in 1973 by the Stelle Group, a Chicago-based organization established by Richard Kieninger, a writer and teacher who also played a role in founding Adelphi, Texas. In the 1950s, Kieninger was a student of the Lemurian Fellowship in Ramona, California.[citation needed]

Its founders, who belonged to a recently formed group from Chicago, purchased farmland in the northern part of Ford County and developed a suburban-style community. Stelle initially operated as a private community.

In 1982, Stelle transitioned into a homeowner association and opened to the public. Following the transition, Stelle became notable for the incorporation of solar panels on many homes and residents' emphasis on cooperative enterprises.[3] The village has its own telephone company, providing telephone, television, and internet services. Additional community features include a community garden co-op, a tool co-op, and a weekly communal dinner. Stelle also hosts educational events open to the public.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelle,_Illinois

"Mikhail Bakunin, the Russian anarchist, also addressed this question of evil and good gods. He wrote: 'The Evil One is the satanic revolt against divine authority, revolt in which we see the fecund [defined as being fertile] germ of all human emancipations, the revolution.

"'Socialists recognize each other by the words "In the name of the one to whom the great wrong has been done."

"'Satan[, folks, is] the eternal rebel, the first freethinker and the emancipator of worlds. He makes men ashamed of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey and eat of the fruit of knowledge.'

[William Cooper]: You see, I've been telling you all along that Socialists and the Mystery Religion of Babylon are the same, the same, the same, and now in his book A. Ralph Epperson has proven it.

"That thought that Lucifer was a 'good spirit, to whom a great wrong' has been done, is the basic thought that holds the New Age together, according to Texe Marrs, the author of two major books on the subject. [And] he has written: 'Many New Agers commend Lucifer because by tempting Eve he enabled man to evolve toward enlightened knowledge and godhood.'"

[William Cooper]: Remember, I told you that, with the gift of intellect, man will develop technology that will make him God? They're working feverishly in laboratories now to uncover the secret of immortal life.

"Mr. Marrs discusses the thoughts of a leader in a mystical organization called the Stelle Group [William Cooper: How many times have I mentioned that? The Stelle Group.], named Eklal Kueshana. He writes...this New Age leader says that:

"'Lucifer is the head of a secret Brotherhood of Spirits...the Brotherhood is named after Lucifer because the great Angel Lucifer has been responsible for the abolishment of Eden in order that men could begin on the road to spiritual advancement.'"

[William Cooper]: Lars Hanson was reared in The Stelle Group. Lars Hanson was reared in The Stelle Group. Tom Valentine was a member of The Stelle Group. Tom Valentine wrote a book called The Life and Death of Planet Earth. Get it, read it, folks.

[William Cooper]: Tom Valentine was associated with the Communist party. Now he's a member of the Liberty Lobby, which came right out of the old German Nazi Bund. They used to sing the Horst Wessel song at the beginning of their meetings. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Why do you think every time somebody calls Tom Valentine to ask him about Freemasonry and their complicity in the conspiracy? He covers it up and hangs up on the person as quickly as possible and denies that there's any complicity of Freemasonry.

Lucifer Worship (aired May 12th, 1993)

https://viefag.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/transcripts-of-william-cooper-s-mystery-babylon-series.pdf

Stelle Group

The Stelle Group was founded in Chicago in 1963 by Richard Kieninger, a former student of the Lemurian Fellowship. That same year he released an autobiography, The Ultimate Frontier, under the pseudonym Eklal Kueshana. The book described Kieninger's occult accomplishments, beginning with his meetings with a Dr. White on Kieninger's twelfth birthday. Originally Stelle members were also required to join and absorb the teachings of the Lemurian Fellowship, a practice that continued until the disruptions of the mid-1970s.

White taught Kieninger about reincarnation and suggested that he was both King David and Akhnaton. He gave Kieninger his mission: to found a new nation that was to center on an ideal community, Stelle City, near Kankakee, Illinois. By 1970 there were enough members and capital to purchase land, and Stelle City began to rise out of the surrounding corn fields. Some urgency pervaded the creation of Stelle, as The Ultimate Frontier predicted a massive natural catastrophe to be triggered by the alignment of the planets on May 5, 2000. Before that, in 1999, an atomic war would occur, killing 90 percent of the Earth's population.

Stelle grew steadily until 1976, when Kieninger left and formed a second community near Dallas, Texas, called the Adelphi Organization. It later was revealed that Kieninger had been expelled from Stelle for having sexual liaisons with several married women in the community. A leadership struggle ensued among the Illinois members after Kieninger's departure. A number, including the entire board of trustees and Kieninger's ex-wife, left the community. Those remaining reconciled with Kieninger. The headquarters of the Stelle group was moved to Texas in 1982, and Kieninger was named "Chairman of the Board for Life." However, by 1986 new problems had emerged, and Kieninger was forced out again.

He resigned and founded another organization, the Builders of the Nation, in Dallas. A short time later he again assumed control of the Adelphi Organization, and the Texas and Illinois groups separated.

As of the mid-1990s, the members of the Stelle Group are concentrating on applying Lemurian philosophy to their daily lives. The group is currently led by Tim Wilhelm. Address: The Stelle Administration Building, Stelle, IL 60919.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/stelle-group

The Weather Underground was a far-left Marxist militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan.[2][page needed] Originally known as the Weathermen, or simply Weatherman, the group was organized as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) national leadership.[3] Officially known as the Weather Underground Organization (WUO) beginning in 1970, the group's express political goal was to create a revolutionary party to overthrow the United States government, which WUO believed to be imperialist.

The FBI described the WUO as a domestic terrorist group,[4] with revolutionary positions characterized by Black Power and opposition to the Vietnam War.[3] The WUO took part in domestic attacks such as the jailbreak of Timothy Leary in 1970.[5][6] The "Days of Rage" was the WUO's first riot in October 1969 in Chicago, timed to coincide with the trial of the Chicago Seven. In 1970, the group issued a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government under the name "Weather Underground Organization."[7]

In the 1970s, the WUO conducted a bombing campaign targeting government buildings and several banks. Some attacks were preceded by evacuation warnings, along with threats identifying the particular matter that the attack was intended to protest. Three members of the group were killed in an accidental Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, but none were killed in any of the bombings. The WUO communiqué issued in connection with the bombing of the United States Capitol on March 1, 1971, indicated that it was "in protest of the U.S. invasion of Laos". The WUO asserted that its May 19, 1972, bombing of the Pentagon was "in retaliation for the U.S. bombing raid in Hanoi". On September 28, 1973, an ITT Inc building in New York City was bombed for the involvement of this company in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.[8][9] The WUO announced that its January 29, 1975 bombing of the United States Department of State building was "in response to the escalation in Vietnam".[7][10]

The WUO began to disintegrate after the United States reached a peace accord in Vietnam in 1973,[11][page needed] and it was defunct by 1977. Some members of the WUO joined the May 19th Communist Organization and continued their activities until that group disbanded in 1985.

The group took its name from Bob Dylan's lyric "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows", from the song "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (1965).[12] That Dylan line was also the title of a position paper distributed at an SDS convention in Chicago on June 18, 1969. This founding document called for a "White fighting force" to be allied with the "Black Liberation Movement" and other radical movements[13] to achieve "the destruction of U.S. imperialism and form a classless communist world".[14]

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

Obama–Ayers controversy

During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, controversy broke out [1] regarding Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a former leader of the Weather Underground, a radical left organization in the 1970s.[2] Investigations by CNN, The New York Times and other news organizations concluded that Obama did not have a close relationship with Ayers.[3][4][5]

Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, hosted a gathering at their home in 1995,[6] where Alice Palmer introduced Obama as her chosen successor in the Illinois State Senate.[4][7] Obama and Ayers' service on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago overlapped for three years from 1999 to 2002.[4][6][7]

The matter was first raised by the British and American press, then by conservative blogs and talk radio programs,[8][9] and then by moderator George Stephanopoulos during a debate between Hillary Clinton and Obama in April 2008. The Obama–Ayers connection was deemed a major campaign issue by Republican presidential candidate John McCain and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential election campaign. Obama condemned Ayers' past,[10][11] and stated that he did not have a close association with him.[6] Investigations by The New York Times, CNN, and other news organizations concluded that Obama did not have a close relationship with Ayers.[5]

Background

William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn

Ayers was part of the five-member central committee heading the Weathermen starting at its creation in the summer of 1969.[12] By 1969, Dohrn had joined them. Larry Grathwohl, an FBI informant who was with the Weathermen from autumn 1969 through spring 1970, considered Ayers and Dohrn the two top leaders of the organization.[13] In early 1970, the group had begun a series of bombings, primarily of government buildings,[14] that would continue into 1975. The group intentionally chose its targets to avoid human injury;[15] however, a bomb previously being designed in March 1970, for use at an NCO dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey, had claimed the lives of three members of the Weathermen who died during an accidental explosion while assembling it.[15] After the accidental explosion, the remaining members moved and took false identities.

William Ayers in 2008

During their time "underground", Ayers and Dohrn formed a relationship that bore them two sons, born in 1977 and 1980. In a late-1970s split of the group, the couple joined the faction that favored surrendering to authorities. In 1980, they took this step themselves. They were both spared federal prosecution due to government misconduct while investigating the two. Dohrn received three years' probation and was fined $1,500 for the Illinois state charges, but later served seven months in jail for refusal to testify to a grand jury about their former colleagues in the Weathermen.[16]

Ayers and Dohrn are described as fixtures of their Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood, "embraced, by and large, in the liberal circles dominating politics" there, according to Ben Smith, a writer for Politico,[7] and their political and activist colleagues believe their achievements of the recent decades overshadow their Vietnam-era radical activities.[6] Ayers has been described as "very respected and prominent in Chicago [with] a national reputation as an educator."[2]

In conjunction with the approaching September 10, 2001, publication of a personal memoir, Ayers gave an interview to The New York Times in July, which they published on September 11.[16] Ayers then wrote a letter to the editor stating the interview misquoted him and mischaracterized his views, particularly about their reporter's claim that Ayers wished he had set more bombs. "This is not a question of being misunderstood or 'taken out of context,' but of deliberate distortion."[17]

Interaction between Obama and Ayers

Obama and Ayers first met at the first Chicago Annenberg Challenge board of directors meeting at noon on March 15, 1995, at the headquarters of the Spencer Foundation on the 28th floor of the 900 North Michigan building in Chicago.[5][18] Ayers and Anne Hallett,[19] co-authors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge grant proposal and leaders of the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, attended six early board meetings to brief the directors[5][18] and a June 22, 1995 news conference where the members of the board of directors were announced.[20]

On June 27, 1995, state Sen. Alice Palmer announced she was running for the 2nd Congressional District seat held by indicted U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds and would be giving up her state Senate seat instead of running for re-election in 1996.[21] The following week newspapers reported that Palmer-supporter Obama, whose memoir Dreams from My Father would be published on July 18, 1995, would announce he was running and would be a front-runner for Palmer's state Senate seat.[22] On September 19, 1995, Obama announced his candidacy for Palmer's state Senate seat to two hundred supporters at the Ramada Inn Lakeshore, where Palmer introduced and endorsed Obama as her successor.[23] Sometime in the second half of 1995, Ayers and Dohrn hosted a coffee for Obama in their 4th Ward Kenwood townhouse (one mile northwest of the Obamas' 5th Ward Hyde Park condominium)[24] at which Palmer introduced Obama as her choice to succeed her as state Senator to about a dozen guests,[5][7] including prominent Chicago physician Quentin Young, national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates universal, comprehensive single-payer national health insurance.[25]

In his first, two-year term in the Illinois Senate in the 90th General Assembly (1997–1998), Obama served on the Judiciary Committee and was involved in legislating a major overhaul of the Illinois juvenile justice system.[26] On June 30, 1997, Ayers' book, A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court, was published.[27] On November 20, 1997, University of Chicago Associate Dean of Students Michelle Obama's University Community Service Center's monthly discussion series held a six-person panel discussion (that included Ayers and Barack Obama) on the juvenile justice system from 6:00–8:00 pm, free and open to the public in the C-Shop in the Reynolds Club student center at 5706 S. University Avenue.[28]

In November 1993, Obama became one of the five founding directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago when it split off from the Lincoln, Nebraska-incorporated Woods Charitable Fund, and served as a director for nine years until December 2002.[29] Ayers served as a director of the Woods Fund of Chicago for nine years from December 1999 until December 2008, overlapping with Obama for three years from December 1999 until December 2002.[30] Laura S. Washington,[31] chairwoman of the Woods Fund, said the small board had a collegial "friendly but businesslike" atmosphere, and met four times a year for a half-day, mostly to approve grants.[6]

On March 2, 2001, Ayers made a $200 contribution to Obama's third campaign for the Illinois Senate.[7]

On April 20, 2002, the University of Illinois at Chicago spring semester Liberal Arts and Sciences course "LAS 400: The University and the Public Sphere; Public Intellectuals and Their Social Influence" concluded with a conference "Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?" that included a six-person panel discussion (that included Ayers and Obama) on "Intellectuals in Times of Crisis: Experiences and applications of intellectual work in urgent situations" from 2:15–3:45 pm, free and open to the public in the UIC Chicago Illini Union student center at 828 S. Wolcott Avenue.[32]

In June 2005, the Obamas purchased and moved to a 4th Ward Kenwood house on Greenwood Avenue, four blocks from Ayers's townhome.[24]

An August 2008 USA Today article reported "The last time Obama saw Ayers was about a year ago when he crossed paths with him while biking in the neighborhood," says Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman. "The suggestion that Ayers was a political adviser to Obama or someone who shaped his political views is patently false."[33] In October 2008, The New York Times reported that Obama did not have a significant relationship with Ayers.[5] In a November 2008 interview with The Washington Post, Ayers said that he knew Obama only slightly: "I think my relationship with Obama was probably like that of thousands of others in Chicago and, like millions and millions of others, I wished I knew him better."[34]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers_2008_presidential_election_controversy

- LVI-

OBAMA'S JESUIT, SOCIALIST AND NEW WORLD ORDER CONNECTIONS

I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. Charles Dickens (1812-1870).

T IS NOT TOO SURPRISING THAT BARACK OBAMA would be so "profoundly affected" by Catholic teachings, having imbibed these from his Jesuit mentor Gregory Galluzzo.' This fact (Obama's tutelage by a Jesuit priest) is significant for a number of reasons. Here is what Andres Dae Keun Kwon the director and lead organiser of ACTS (the "Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse") had to say on what Jesuit Galluzzo said about the methods and principles he used to train Obama: "Gregory Galluzzo, is a former Jesuit and said that many of the organization's principles are rooted in the kind of social justice supported by Catholicism." No wonder Obama is "PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED BY CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHINGS!" He has been indoctrinated into Catholicism.

Reader, the Jesuits are almost always of a character like that of their founder, the wretch Ignatius de Loyola, afterwards called 'saint'! Says J. Huber, who was professor of Catholic theology, concerning the Jesuits: "A mixture of piety and diplomacy, asceticism and worldly wisdom, mysticism and cold calculation.... the trade-mark of this Order." That is to say, intransigent; obdurate; intrepid; unscrupulous; crafty; insinuating; perverse; contumacious; deceptive; sycophantic; or a combination of any number of these! And Obama was trained by one of these men! How far has this fruit fallen from the tree we will have to see.

Sure, the Jesuits are intelligent, sophisticated men, but as the great Dr. Thomas Chalmers observed from his vast experience, the brightest mind may pour its radiance upon the people, while it still remains, like

the northern ice-field, cold and impassive."

1 seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2004456334_danny04.html

2 Luke Eggleston, "Catholic Sun," June 18-July 15, 2009:

www.syrdio.org/NewsStories.asp?id=1753

3 J. Huber, Les Jesuites (Sandoz & Co., Paris 1875), p. 127. 4 A Selection from the Correspondence of Thomas Chalmers, D. D. (New

York: Harper & Brothers, 1853),

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a "COMMON CAUSE" "on economic and international issues." It is statement that he sees in the Pope "a natural ally" and that the two have There is something in particular that intrigues me about Mr. Obama's important to note that the Pope's views on the "redistribution of wealth" in his Encyclical Caritas in Veritate -and his agenda set forth therein- echo many of the same themes that Obama campaigned for in 2008. So says Mark Linton, the Roman Catholic who prepared the President for his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. "A former employce of Catholic Relief Services, Linton worked as a legislative assistant in Obama's Senate office before moving over to Obama's presidential campaign to head up Catholic outreach in 2008." "Mark has access all the way up the chain of command at the White House and has delivered a great level of access," said a Catholic social justice activist

who requested anonymity."

According to US News, "Many of Linton's phone calls to American Catholic leaders in July 2009] focused on how the president could use an encyclical that Pope Benedict released Tuesday July 7, 2009]. revolving largely around the global economic crisis, to launch a discussion of common goals." What goals could Obama have in common with the Pope? That I shall soon reveal.

As a result, says a Catholic adviser to President Obama, the White House was excited about the meeting of Obama and the Pope, saying: "The encyclical ramped up the level of White House enthusiasm for this meeting because you can't read it without sensing that these two men are SEEING ECONOMIC QUESTIONS the same way.... The Holy Father's emphasis on putting the human person at the center of the economy strongly echoes themes that Obama campaigned on and is WORKING TO IMPLEMENT" [Emphasis supplied). What could these words mean: "seeing economic questions in the same way," which he, Obama, is said to be "working to implement"?

What are these "economic questions"? Pope Benedict XVI has called for a "New World Financial Order.... to end the current

5

and World Report, July 10, 2009: www.usnews.com/mobile/blogs/god-and- "Obama's Most Important Catholic Adviser," by Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News

country/2009/7/10/obamas-most-important-catholic-adviser-.html

6 Ibid.

7 "Obama's Most Important Catholic Adviser," by Dan Gilgoff, U.S. News

and World Report, July 10, 2009, ibid.

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Obama's Jesuit,

worldwide financial crisis." The Pope has also called for a "reforming of the United Nations and establishing a 'true world political authority'... And according to Henry Kissinger, Obama is primed to create this to manage the global economy WITH GOD-CENTERED ETHICS.... "9 New World Order.' I say a great deal more on the NWO in Book I. Kissinger ought to know a thing or two about this New World Order. Nations, Kissinger declared, "So we say to all peoples and governments: In 1975, in his address before the General Assembly of the United Let us fashion together a new world order." Again, in 1994, "Yes, there will be a New World Order, AND IT WILL FORCE THE UNITED STATES to change its perceptions," Kissinger told reporters at the World Affairs Council Press Conference."

THE OBAMA-BRZEKINSKI CONNECTION

There is another interesting connection of Mr. Obama that is worth our exploration. It is his connection to a man called Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski, a Catholic, wrote a book The Grand Chessboard. In this book we read the following: "In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the very last." (p. 209).

Several years ago, Brzezinski visited Pope John Paul II at his summer residence, Castle Gandolfo. "At a small, private mass, the pope asked Brzezinski, a fellow Roman Catholic... to read from the Epistles...."

5911

Eric Barger writes: "Upon reading the 1970 book Between Two Ages, David Rockefeller lured its writer, Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, away from Columbia University to become the Chairman and co- founder of the Trilateral Commission."

8

Cathy Lynn Grossman, "Pope calls for 'God-centered' global economy,

USA TODAY, July 7, 2009.

9 Ibid.

Hotel, April 19, 1994.

10 World Affairs Council Press Conference, Regent Beverly Wilshire International, April, 2005: www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1- 11 "A Pontiff for The Ages; Zbigniew Brzezinski," (Interview), Newsweek 12 "The New World Order Under Clinton: Establishment Insiders and Political Deceit," The Christian World Report, May 1993, p. 7.

131174959/pontiff-ages-zbigniew-brzezinski.html

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Now, reader, would you like to hazard a guess as to who is Mr. Obama's top foreign policy adviser? Yes, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Ap from his religious and personal ties to the Pope, there is another reason why this should be of concern: Brzezinski is also a CFR member and

David Rockefeller's protégé."

M14

Here is what Mr. Rockefeller said in 1994 at a U.N. dinner. "We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major

crisis, and the nations will accept the New World Order."

Rockefeller? Who is he? Way back in 1979, United States Senator and David Rockefeller screened and selected every individual who was Barry Goldwater wrote a book in which he said "Zbigniew Brzezinski invited to participate in shaping and administering the proposed New World Order." Three years earlier, in 1975, another respected United States Congressman, Larry P. McDonald, had warned:

The Rockefeller File is not fiction. It is a compact, powerful and frightening presentation of what may be the most important story of our lifetime-the drive of the Rockefellers and their allies to create a one-world government COMBINING super-capitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control.... not one has dared reveal the most vital part of the Rockefeller story: that the Rockefellers [patrons of the Council on Foreign Relations] and their allies have, for at least fifty years, been carefully following a plan to use their economic power to gain political control of first America and then the rest of the world. Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent."

On September 1, 1983, Congressman McDonald was killed aboard Korean Airline, 747. The flight was allegedly shot down (near Moneron Island just west of Sakhalin island), in very suspicious circumstances, by the Russian airforce over the Sea of Japan. This is no fiction, reader.

The Rockefellers are for real!

14

13 Russell Berman, Staff Reporter, New York Sun, September 13, 2007: www.nysun.com/national/despite-criticism-obama-stands-by-adviser/62534/ Barry Goldwater, With No Apologies, op. cit., pp. 277-278. As was stated earlier in Chapter VI, Mr. Goldwater was a five-term US Senator, and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. Barry Goldwater, With No Apologies, ibid., pp. 280.

15

16 Congressman Larry P. McDonald spearheaded efforts against the New

World Order. He wrote the introduction to The Rockefeller File.

370

Obama's Jesuit, Socialist And New World Order Connections Rockefeller cabal, stated, "The real menace of our Republic is the In 1922, former New York Mayor John F. Hylan, speaking of the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over our city, state and nation.... At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller-Standard Oil interests and a small group... [who] virtually partics...."" How many more leading statesmen do we need to hear run the U.S. government.... They practically control both political from to believe that a conspiracy of gigantic proportions is afoot?

In his book Keys of This Blood, Malachi Martin wrote: "Television commentator Bill Moyers found out [from Rockefeller] during a fifteen- day, globe-spanning trip in the company of David Rockefeller that "just about a dozen or fifteen individuals made day-to-day decisions that regulated the flow of capital and goods throughout the entire world."

18

The real question is, who controls the Rockefellers? John D. Rockefeller III (father of Nelson Rockefeller) was so tight with the Pope Paul VI that on a visit to the Vatican in 1965 he volunteered to help co- write Humane Vitae (the Pope's encyclical on artificial birth control)."

25 20

But the following is even more significant. According to historian William T. Still the "Rothschilds financed John D. Rockefeller.' In other words, the Rothschilds control the Rockefeller dynasty. Ok, so you ask, "Who are the Rothschilds?" You may have heard of the Vatican lawyer Eugenio Pacelli (a.k.a. Pope Pius XII, also known as Hitler's pope). Well Guy de Rothschild (the patriarch of the Rothschild banking dynasty)" was Pacelli's pen pal eight years before he became Pope." Why is this significant? Guy was educated by the Jesuits at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand (known as "The Jesuit College of Paris"), and was

17 John Hylan, The New York Times, March 27, 1922.

18

Keys of This Blood: Pope John Paul II Versus Russia and the West for Control (Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 326; the paperback edition has this telling subtitle "Pope John Paul II Versus Russia and the West for Control of the New World Order". Simon & Schuster is owned by CBS. 19 Chronicles (2001), p. 16; see also, the Catholic book by E. Michael Jones, Libido dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control (St Augustine's Press, 2000), p. 435. 20 William T. Still, New World Order: The Ancient Plan, of Secret Societies (Lafavette, LA: Huntington House Publishers, 1990), p. 136. www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1340323/Baron-Guy-de-

21

Rothschild

22 Herbert R. Lottman, Return of the Rothschilds: The Great Banking Dynasty... (London/New York, I.B. Tauris Publishers, 1995), p. 189.

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tutored privately by Jesuit professors!" As I explained in some detail in Book 1, this "Jesuit College of Paris," Elie de Beaumont wrote, "has for a long time been, A STATE NURSERY, THE MOST FERTILE IN GREAT MEN." In Book 1, the reader will find copious proof that the Lycée Louis-le-Grand has been for many years a Jesuit 'incubator'! But the clue to the real power behind the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds is given by F. Tupper Saussy in his book Rulers of Evil:

Aware that the Rothschilds are an important Jewish family, I looked them up in Encyclopedia Judaica and discovered that they bear the title 'Guardians of the Vatican Treasury'... The appointment of Rothschild gave the black papacy absolute financial privacy and secrecy. Who would ever search a family of orthodox Jews for the key to the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church?" [Emphasis supplied.]

Yes, who would ever have guessed! In 2007, the Encyclopedia Judaica won the prestigious Dartmouth Medal and was lauded as "the standard work on Judaism since first appearing in the early 1970s." In May 2008, the American Libraries Association said of this Encyclopaedia, "Consider this set the definitive source on Jewish life, culture, religion, and history." The Library Journal, 1972, called it: "an indispensable reference tool."

The British journalist and bestselling author Avro Manhattan, in his classic The Vatican Billions confirms Tupper Saussy's testimony:

came once more to the fore with

"...the celebrated Jewish house of the Rothschilds - who, incidentally, had been lending money to the Vatican since 1831 the buying, selling and amalgamating of millions of shares and other investments on behalf of the Vatican. The beginning of this liaison between the Rothschilds and the Vatican was in 1969-70 when the Vatican sold the controlling share of the giant Immobilaire to the Parisbas Transcompany of Luxenburg which was controlled by the mighty Banque de Paris et de Pays Bas. This... was controlled by the French branch of the Rothschilds. Afterwards the Vatican sold hundreds of millions worth of shares and other investments with Hambros Bank and the Continental Bank of Illinois, at the time presided over by David Kennedy, the US Treasury Minister. It is interesting to remember that the President of the French Republic, Mr Pompidou. for many years worked for the private bank of the Rothschilds."

3 www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/baron-guy-de-rothschild-

453616.html

24 F. Tupper Saussy, Rulers of Evil, op. cit., pp. 160, 161. 25 Avro Manhattan, The Vatican Billions, op. cit., p. 202/p. 191.

372

Obama's Jesuit, Socialist And New World Order Connections Avro Manhattan adds on page 137, concerning the Vatican billions:

"As in Italy, the US and other

countries, most of her property, shares and bonds are camouflaged behind the names of individual Catholic laymen or even purely financial or banking or industrial concerns."

The following demonstrate the great influence the Rothschilds exercised over the U.S. financial system, as far back as 1875. The Friend of 1875, Volume 48, p. 200, states, "the Rothschilds and their associates, have concluded with the U.S. Treasury a contract for $25,000,000 new five per cent, bonds, and that with this contract goes the privilege of taking the entire unsold remainder any time within six months. This makes a total of eighty millions [sic] taken by the Rothschilds...." And Emanuel Mann Josephson on page 5 of his 1968 book The Federal Reserve Conspiracy and Rockefellers says: "the Rothschilds have been the fiscal agents of the Vatican." Corrado Pallenberg on page 126 of his 1971 book Vatican Finances, states, "We know that the Vatican has ties with the Rothschilds... with the Morgan Bank and the Bankers Trust.... And Sir Owen Seaman and Mark Lemon on page 104 of their book London Charivari tells us, "... the Vatican is in daily touch with Zurich and Wall Street." Nino Lo Bello, former Rome correspondent, tells us too that "in July of 1870, the Vatican floated a loan of $200000 from the House of Rothschild."

9926

Reader, as masters of finance, the Rothschilds have no superiors; and the world needs to know that the Vatican invests its funds in foreign banks through the Rothschilds-the accumulated wealth of the Rothschilds is still today at Rome's disposal! On April 19, 1982, the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit Court, in a ruling, confirmed that "the Federal Reserve Banks are privately owned..." (see Lewis vs. United States, 680 F.2d 1239 (9th Cir. 1982).

that he has the ear of the world's leaders; the powerful Rothschild and So, when the Pope calls for a New World Order, he does so knowing Rockefeller dynasties on his side; and the Federal Reserve in cahoots! President Obama is connected to the Vatican, not only through his previous Jesuit mentor and by his many years of working for the Catholic Church in Chicago, but also through his foreign policy adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, via the Rockefellers, via the Rothschilds. Indeed, since Obama was mentored by Jesuits, it is not a stretch to say that he may well be one of their agents, for as one ex-pupil of the Jesuits (who

26 Nino Lo Bello, The Vatican Empire (NY: Trident Press, 1968), p. 57.

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had studied under them for eight years) said of his former masters, "The objective of the disciples of Loyola la.k.a. the Jesuits).... IS TO ACQUIRE THE HIGHEST OFFICES OF STATE FOR THE MEN THEY HAVE POISONED WITH THEIR MAXIMS." Here is an even grimmer assessment by another former pupil, Marcet de la Roche-Arnaud, which cannot be too often repeated: "... how can any honest man live among them? Do you wish to excite trouble, to provoke revolutions, to produce the total ruin of your country? Call in the Jesuits"!

OBAMA'S FRIEND DESECRATES THE AMERICAN FLAG!

In the 2008 presidential campaign, William Ayers, a 60-70's version of Timothy McVeigh-and now a 'distinguished' professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago-became a household name when it was disclosed that he had worked closely with Obama for years."

The explosive disclosure was that Ayers had helped launch Obama's political career with a fundraising event in Ayer's home. Further, Obama had served on the board of a Chicago nonprofit oranisation alongside Ayers. What is more, Ayers later hired Obama to serve as chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a job Obama later cited as the experience that helped qualify him to run for public office.

Why is any of this important? Bill Ayers and his girl-friend Bernardine Dohrn" were two of the main founders of a home-grown terrorist organization called "Weather Underground," that bombed the New York City Police headquarters in 1970, the Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. The group was proved to be responsible for some thirty bombings aimed at destroying the defense and security infrastructures of the U.S., including bombing courthouses, banks. police barracks, a National Guard outpost. The organization's campaign of terror only came to an end when a bomb they were constructing in Greenwich Village exploded, killing three of Ayer's fellor

27 Jean Lacouture, Jesuits: A Multibiography, op. cit., p. 340. Mr. Jean Lacouture is himself an ancien élève of the Jesuits-i.e. a former pupil. 28 Shane, Scott, "Obama and '60s bomber: a look into crossed paths" The New York Times, October 3, 2008, p. A1.

29 Larry Grathwohl, a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant i Weatherman group from 1969-1970, states that "Ayers, along with Bernardine Dohrn, probably had the most authority within the Weatherman." Larry Grathwohl, Bringing Down America: An FBI Informant... (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1977), p. 110.

374

the

Obama's Jesuit, Socialist And New World Order Connections Weathermen. The device, which was packed with boxes of carpenter nails (to inflict maximum damage), was meant for a dance hall attended by soldiers and their dates at Fort Dix. David Farber of the Chicago Tribune wrote of this latter incident. "It almost surely was intended to

kill many people."

Yet, Obama announced his candidacy for the Illinois Senate in 1995, AT AYERS HOUSE! Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the U.S. Capitol and is proud of it, and when, according to a report by the U.S. Government, the aim of Ayers and the "Weather Underground," was the violent overthrow of the U.S. government and the establishment of a dictatorship?" Why reader?

While still a U.S. Senator, Obama acknowledged he had been "friendly" with Ayers since the mid-1990s and that he had worked with Ayers on various Chicago anti-poverty and education projects."

TONGUS PEER 27 AUG 68 213710

CHOO P. D BR 246022 26 SEP 69

Mug shots of William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, in Chicago police custody.

But there is more. In the 2001 New York Times interview, mentioned earlier, Ayers is seen posing in a photograph accompanying the article showing him standing on an American flag. He said this of the U.S.: "What a country. It makes me want to puke."

30

The Weather Underground (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1975). pp. 1-2, 11-13: A report by US State Department bombing by Weatherman Underground: hearing before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fourth Congress, first session, January 31, 1975: www.archive.org/details/statedepartmentb00unit; Read the report: www.archive.org/stream/statedepartmentb00unit#page/nl/mode/2up 31 See also, Politico's article by Jeffrey Ressner, 10/6/08: www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14321.html

32 WorldNetDaily, article by Aaron Klein, Thursday, February 4, 2010: www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2006/Sudden-

www.wnd.com/index.php?fa-PAGE.view&pageid=124174#; see too,

375

CODEWORD BARBELON BEZ

Why would Obama, as a U.S. Senator and now the US. Presiden maintain connections with such a vile and nefarious character?

Interestingly, WND columnist Jack Cashill has also produced evidence that he says proves it was William Ayers who ghostwrote Obama's award-winning autobiography, Dreams from My Father."

Only nine years ago, referring to the Weather Underground organization as "an American Red Army," Ayers unashamedly recalled in his 2001 memoir Fugitive Days": "The sky was blue. The birds were singing. And the bastards were finally going to get what was coming to them." Again, in 2001 Ayers gave a notorious interview with the New York Times, published one day after the 9/11 attacks, in which he stated, "I don't regret setting bombs. I FEEL WE DIDN'T DO ENOUGH" [Emphasis supplied). Little wonder that the FBI once called Ayers and his organization, the most dangerous radicals in America. Again, I ask, why would Obama choose to foster and maintain close connections with such a vicious and violent character?

Reader, I have one more question: if the Weatherman Underground and Ayers have expressly admitted to the bombings, why hasn't Ayers as leader of that organization spent a single day in jail?

Well, forgive me, but permit me to ask: "Why would a decent, self- respecting, loyal American like President Barack Obama ever consider being so closely associated with and working for this home-grow

Impact/index.php?cparticle=1&siarticle=0#artanc; and www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97112600 33 WorldNetDaily, February 04, 2010, by Aaron Klein: www.wnd.com/index.php?fa-PAGE.view&pageid=124174; see alleged

proof here: www.wnd.com/index.php?fa-PAGE.view&pageld-75528

34 William Ayers, Fugitive Days: A Memoir (New York: Beacon Press,

2001/ Penguin Group, 2003).

35 www.nytimes.com/2001/09/11/books/no-regrets-for-love-

explosives-memoir-sorts-war-protester-talks-life-with.html

376

Obama's Jesuit, Socialist And New World Order Connections TERRORIST who kills and maims Americans and steps on (desecrates) the American flag?" But I must ask yet another question, as put by freelance journalist Victor Thorn: "Of the 300 million people living in America, why would Obama announce his candidacy for the Illinois Senate in the home of William Ayers, and why would he continue his relationship with him into the future? That might be the biggest Obama bomb of all." A penny for your thoughts, Mr. President. Sir, to remain silent now will show that you agree with us; and by forbearing to speak

to this issue, you shout.

Reader, it is my firm conviction, that Obama, like Bush, is a key actor in a political conspiracy. It would seem that Mr. Obama was installed- jobbed into office-to fulfil a particular agenda: to put Rome back in the ascendancy. Perceptive reader, I believe this to be more than mere conjecture. How this agenda will be carried out, we shall shortly consider. But take note of the term "Rerum Novarum," for its principles will loom large in the very near future. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Indeed, I am reminded of the words of the great Cicero (who like Obama was an orator, statesman and lawyer):

A nation can survive its fools [Bush Jr.).

and... the ambitious [Clinton].

But it cannot survive treason from within.

An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known

and carries his banner openly.

But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys,

heard in the very halls of government itself.

For the traitor appears not a traitor;

he speaks in accents familiar to his victims,

and he wears their face and their arguments,

he appeals to the baseness that lies

deep in the hearts of all men.

He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.

The traitor is the plague.

Marcus Tullius Cicero.

36 See photo of Ayers stepping on the American flag: www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2001/No-Regrets/

37 www.americanfreepress.net/html/obama_connection 148.html

377

Codeword Barbelon book Two 

by P.D. Stuart

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02BYi7ZuViQGLDpnQGtvwvAcGxWt6NxXgCGEEE9TMrxvqJtPqieNDW9U2wJtdkJhZ2l

10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Pentagon

April 16, 2024 | By Claudette Roulo, DOD News |   

1

Why is the Pentagon, you know, a pentagon?

The land the Pentagon was first planned to go on was bordered on five sides by roads, so the architects designed a five-sided building. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was worried putting the building at that location would interfere with the view of Washington from Arlington Cemetery, so he chose to move it to its present location, but he kept the five-sided design.

2

Sept. 11 has a double significance for the Pentagon.

Builders broke ground for the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 1941, exactly 60 years before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

3

The Pentagon is big. Reallllly big.

It's the world's largest low-rise office building. The entire U.S. Capitol building could fit inside any of the building's five wedges. It has 6,500,000 square feet of office space (three times the floor space in the Empire State Building!), 7,754 windows and 17 1/2 miles of corridors. Yet, its spoke-and-ring design means it takes only about 7 minutes to walk between the furthest two points in the building.

4

The builders were frugal with their materials.

During construction, the builders were able to conserve enough steel to build a battleship. And the 689,000 tons of sand and gravel used to make the building's reinforced concrete – including 41,000 concrete pilings – came from the nearby Potomac River. 

5

Until 2011, there was only one passenger elevator in the Pentagon. And it was reserved for the defense secretary.

A 17-year-long renovation project that finished in 2011 saw 70 passenger elevators installed in the building. Until then, people who couldn't use stairs used long ramps to move between floors. The ramps are still there, but the rumors of office chair races are greatly exaggerated.

6

That renovation project? It probably saved thousands of lives.

The Pentagon is divided into five wedges, and the renovation project was going wedge by wedge when terrorists flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, Sept. 11, 2001, killing 189 people. The plane hit in Wedge 3, where renovations had just completed, but only about 800 out of the 4,500 people who normally would have been working there had moved back into their offices. And the new sprinkler system, extra structural support and blast-resistant windows helped to keep the building damage to a minimum, likely saving additional lives.

7

The Pentagon was the first desegregated building in Virginia.

The Pentagon was designed when segregation was the law in Virginia. But Roosevelt had signed an executive order the previous year, which forbade discrimination against government workers on the basis of race, creed, color or national origin. So the Pentagon became the only building in Virginia where segregation was not enforced. Because segregation was state law, the Pentagon was built with twice as many bathrooms as needed for a desegregated building of its size.

8

It was constructed in record time.

More than 15,000 workers were on site around the clock, and wartime office space shortages meant that workers moved in before the Pentagon was fully finished. Construction finished on Jan. 15, 1943, just 16 months after it started. Speed costs money, though: Initially budgeted at $35 million, the final cost was $63 million, more than $900 million in today's money.

9

The same guy oversaw construction of the Pentagon and the atomic bomb.

Col. Leslie Groves, an Army Corps of Engineer officer, took charge of the Pentagon's construction in August 1941. He worked six days a week in his office in Washington. Then on Sundays, he would visit the project he felt most needed his personal attention. Groves later said of his time at the Pentagon that he was "hoping to get to a war theater so I could find a little peace." Instead, he was assigned to direct the Manhattan Project – America's effort to build an atomic bomb.

10

For a while, there was a secret crash pad in the Pentagon.

Grove was widely known as a tough boss. One of his deputies, Army Maj. Robert Furman, had to be at the Pentagon at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes he'd go days without going home at all. In order to get some sleep, Furman had the Pentagon contractors build a secret apartment between the walls of what would become the Army's Ordnance Division. He and some of Grove's other deputies would use the apartment to grab a few z's, shower and get back to work. Furman continued to use the apartment on official trips back to Washington while he served as an intelligence officer on the Manhattan Project, but was forced to hand over the keys in 1943 when he was discovered by ordnance officers while leaving the apartment.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1650913/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-pentagon

The Rose and the Pentagram

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– – –

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

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

– – –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Longsword]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Dussack]

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

[Rappier]

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

[Quarterstaff]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://web.archive.org/web/20220516180953/https://hroarr.com/article/the-rose-and-the-pentagram/

The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from November 30 – December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora (Pashto: تورا بورا; Black Cave) is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.

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

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

Early life

A portrait of Martin Luther in 1526 by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Her father sent then five-year-old von Bora to a Benedictine convent in Brehna in 1504 to be educated, according to a letter Laurentius Zoch sent to Martin Luther in 1531.[10] At the age of nine, she was moved to Nimbschen Abbey, Cistercian community named Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma, where her maternal aunt was a nun.[11] Von Bora's presence is in the financial accounts of 1509/10.[12]

Plaque on the ruins of Nimbschen Abbey, commemorating von Bora's time there and her escape.

After years of being a nun, von Bora became interested in the growing reform movement and grew dissatisfied with cloistered life. Conspiring with several other sisters, she contacted Luther and begged for his assistance.[13] On 4 April 1523, Holy Saturday, Luther sent Leonhard Köppe, a merchant and councillor of Torgau who regularly delivered herring to the convent. The nuns escaped by hiding in his covered wagon among the fish barrels, and fled to Wittenberg.[14]

Luther asked the family of the nuns to admit them into their houses, but they declined, possibly because this would have made them accomplices to a crime under canon law.[15]

Within two years, Luther was able to arrange marriages or find employment for all of the escaped nuns except von Bora. She was first housed with the family of Philipp Reichenbach, the municipal clerk of Wittenberg, then with Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife, Barbara. Von Bora had a number of suitors, including Hieronymus Baumgartner from Nuremberg, and a pastor, Kaspar Glatz from Orlamünde, but none of the proposals resulted in marriage. She told Luther's friend and fellow reformer, Nicolaus von Amsdorf, that she would be willing to marry only Luther or von Amsdorf.[16]

Marriage to Luther

Three depictions of Katharina von Bora

Martin Luther, as well as many of his friends, was at first unsure of whether he should marry. Philip Melanchthon thought that this would hurt the Reformation by causing scandal. Luther eventually decided that his marriage would 'please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep'.[16] 26-year-old Von Bora and 41-year-old Luther married on 13 June 1525, before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Barbara and Lucas Cranach.[17] A small wedding breakfast was held the next morning, and a more formal, public ceremony on 27 June, presided over by Bugenhagen.[18]

The couple took up residence in the former dormitory and educational institution of Augustinian friars studying in Wittenberg (known as the 'Black Monastery'), a wedding gift from John, Elector of Saxony, brother of Luther's protector Frederick III, Elector of Saxony.[19] Katharina immediately took on the task of managing the monastery's vast holdings. She bred and sold cattle and ran a brewery to provide for their family, the numerous students who boarded with them, and her husband's visitors. In times of epidemics, she operated a hospital with nurses, working alongside them. Luther called her the 'boss of Zulsdorf', after the farm they owned, and the 'morning star of Wittenberg' for her habit of rising at 4 a.m.[2]

Based on Luther's descriptions, his wife, whom he nicknamed 'Herr Käthe', exerted much control over his life. She might have even influenced his decisions to a degree; Luther said that his wife 'convince[d] [him] of whatever' she pleased', and explicitly afforded her 'complete control' over the household, as long as 'his rights' were 'preserved', since '[f]emale government has never done any good'.[20] She thus assisted her husband with running their estate and directed renovations when necessary.[21] Anecdotal evidence suggests that Katharina Luther played a wife's role as taught by her husband's movement: she depended on him financially (although she also increased their estate's profits), and respected him as a 'higher vessel', always calling him 'Herr Doktor'. He reciprocated by occasionally consulting her on church matters.[22]

Katharina bore six children: Hans (1526–1575), Elisabeth (1527–1528), Magdalena (1529–1542), Martin (1531–1565), Paul (1533–1593), and Margarete (1534–1570). She also suffered a miscarriage on 1 November 1539. The Luthers raised four orphaned children, including Katharina's nephew, Fabian.[23]

Significance of the marriage

The marriage of von Bora to Luther is very important in the history of Protestantism, specifically in regard to the development of its views on marriage and gender roles. While Luther was not the first cleric to marry because of Reformation ideas, he was one of the most prominent. As he argued publicly for clerical marriage and produced much anti-Catholic propaganda, his marriage became a natural target for his enemies.[24]

After Luther's death

von Bora in 1546

von Bora's gravestone engraving at Saint Mary's Church in Torgau, Germany

When Martin Luther died in 1546, Katharina was left in difficult financial straits without Luther's salary as professor and pastor, even though she owned land, properties, and the Black Cloister. She had been counselled by Martin Luther to move out of the old abbey and sell it after his death, and move into much more modest quarters with the children who remained at home, but she refused.[25] Luther had named her his sole heir in his last will. His will could not be executed, however, because it did not conform with Saxon law.[26]

Almost immediately after, Katharina had to leave the Black Cloister, now called Lutherhaus, by herself, at the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, fleeing to Magdeburg. After she returned, the approaching war forced another flight in 1547, this time to Braunschweig. In July 1547, at the close of the war, she was able to return to Wittenberg.[citation needed]

After the war, the buildings and lands of the monastery had been torn apart and laid waste. Cattle and other farm animals had been stolen or killed. If she had sold the land and the buildings, she could have had a good financial situation. Financially, they could not remain there. Katharina was able to support herself thanks to the generosity of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, and the princes of Anhalt.[27]

She remained in Wittenberg in poverty until 1552, when an outbreak of the Black Plague and a harvest failure forced her to leave the city once again. She fled to Torgau, where she was thrown from her cart into a watery ditch near the city gates. For three months, she went in and out of consciousness, before dying in Torgau on 20 December 1552, at the age of 53. She was buried at Torgau's Saint Mary's Church, far from her husband's grave in Wittenberg. She is reported to have said on her deathbed, 'I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.'[28]

By the time of Katharina's death, the surviving Luther children were adults. After Katharina's death, the Black Cloister was sold back to the university in 1564 by his heirs.[citation needed]

Margareta Luther, born in Wittenberg on 27 December 1534, married into a noble, wealthy Prussian family, to Georg von Kunheim (Wehlau, 1 July 1523 – Mühlhausen [now Gvardeyskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast], 18 October 1611, the son of Georg von Kunheim [1480–1543] and wife Margarethe, Truchsessin von Wetzhausen [1490–1527]) but died in Mühlhausen in 1570 at the age of thirty-six.[29]

Commemoration

Katharina von Bora is commemorated on 20 December in the Calendar of Saints of some Lutheran churches in the United States.[30] In 2022, she was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 20 December.[31]

In addition to a statue in Wittenberg and several biographies, an opera of her life now keeps her memory alive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Reply: Y es, verv well...

Where didyou see him?

“-At Varsovia.

Did he know something?

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

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

instruction could be given by him to others?

" - Exactly that.

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

“ - No, he was a good man.

“I said to him out of the blue:

“— Who was the Marshall’ s predecessor?

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

"— Baron Rod, from Kœnigsberg.

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

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

communicating this anecdote. ”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

chivalric Order of that name.

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

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

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

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

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

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

existence of a Templar System.

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

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

Hund, in the Lodge of Kittlitz, near Lobau.

9 Bonne - PV.

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

might mean.- Pv.

10

Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005

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

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

continue to quote G. de Montchal:

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

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

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

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

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

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

took the name o/’Strict Templar Observance.

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

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

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

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

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

Cassel...

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

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

knowledge, above ail in the realm of occultism.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

crossbar in red 11 ...”

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

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

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

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

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

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

il

Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005

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

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

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

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

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

surprising fact!

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

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

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

observatory, ail narned Uranienborg.

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

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

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

right up to the end of the 18 th Century.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

institutio, auctore serenissimo potentissimioque principe.’’'’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12

Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005

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

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

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

Observance from which it came.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Templars & Rose Croix, Translatée! by Piers A Vaughan © 2005

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

The Hamburg cell (German: Hamburger Zelle) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany, that included students from different Arab countries who eventually came to be key operatives in the September 11 attacks. Important members included Mohamed Atta, who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States; Marwan al-Shehhi, who piloted United Airlines Flight 175; and Ziad Jarrah, who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington, D.C.. Other members included Said Bahaji, Zakariya Essabar, Mounir el-Motassadeq, and Abdelghani Mzoudi.

Background

On November 1, 1998, future-hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh moved into a spacious apartment (two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen) together on Marienstraße. Here they formed the secretive Hamburg cell, which also included other minor participants in the 9/11 plot. They met together three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American and anti-Israeli views and to decide how best to fight for their cause.

As late as 1999, the four core members of the group had intended to wage jihad in Chechnya, where Islamic jihadists were rebelling against Russia. The 9/11 Commission Report notes in Chapter 5 that "according to bin al-Shibh [who is now in U.S. custody], a chance meeting on a train in Germany caused the group to travel to Afghanistan instead. An individual named Khalid al Masri (or Khalid al-Masri) approached bin al-Shibh and Shehhi (because they were Arabs with beards, bin al-Shibh thinks) and struck up a conversation about jihad in Chechnya. When they later called Masri and expressed interest in going to Chechnya, he told them to contact Abu Musab in Duisburg, Germany. Abu Musab turned out to be Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was well known to U.S. and German intelligence.

Bin al-Shibh, Shehhi and Jarrah visited Slahi in Duisburg, where he convinced them that it would be best to train in Afghanistan first, because further experience would be useful, and anyway it was difficult at that time to get into Chechnya. Slahi instructed them to travel to Karachi, Pakistan, then to the Taliban office in Quetta, Pakistan, where they were to contact a man named Umar al-Masri. Atta and Jarrah left Hamburg during the last week of November 1999. Shehhi left by himself around the same time; bin al-Shibh followed two weeks later. Slahi denies any involvement with Al-Qaeda by 1999, having previously fought with the group against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He attests that he hosted the trio as an act of hospitality to fellow muslims.

"Umar al-Masri" turned out to be a nonexistent person. The name was a code word that instructed members of the Taliban office to escort the men to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where they were convinced to join the al-Qaeda network and wage jihad against America. They met with Osama bin Laden himself and swore their loyalty to him. Mohamed Atta was chosen by Bin Laden as the leader of the group that would attack America; Atta would contact Bin Laden several more times before the attacks. The men then returned to Germany to enroll in flight training school, and later moved on to flight training schools in the United States at the recommendation of one of their instructors based in Germany.

The members of the Hamburg Cell were a boon to the 9/11 plot, which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had proposed to Bin Laden in 1996. The Hamburg students were fluent in English, educated, accustomed to the Western lifestyle, radically Islamic, and capable of learning to pilot aircraft. "Bin Laden and Mohammed Atef wasted no time in assigning the Hamburg group to the most ambitious operation yet planned by al-Qaeda," the 9/11 Commission Report says.

Many al-Qaeda members lived in the Hamburg apartment at various times. In all, 29 men listed the apartment as their home address while Mohamed Atta's name was on the lease. Reportedly, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed visited the apartment repeatedly.

German intelligence monitored the apartment, but did not find any evidence against the residents. Both the United States' Central Intelligence Agency and German Intelligence have received criticism for failing to share information on these and other al-Qaida members.

Hamburg Cell film

The film Hamburg Cell is a docudrama on the planning and execution of the attacks. A co-production between Channel 4 in the UK and CBC in Canada, it was shown in the UK during September 2004, amid criticism that this was too close to the anniversary of the attack. Using computer-generated imagery, the film's producers were able to show the twin towers of the World Trade Center, before the attack, in the background. Ziad Jarrah is featured calling his girlfriend, Aysel Sengün, from a public telephone at the airport, repeating the words 'I love you' over and over.

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

The Deutsche Bank Building (formerly Bankers Trust Plaza) was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the September 11 attacks in 2001, due to contamination that spread from the collapse of the South Tower. The structure was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which also designed the Empire State Building.

The building was purchased by Deutsche Bank when it acquired Bankers Trust in 1998. It was part of the skyline of Lower Manhattan, and was demolished between 2007 and 2011. 5 World Trade Center will eventually replace the building, expanding the ground space on which the World Trade Center stands, as this land was not part of the original World Trade Center.

September 11th

The collapse of the South Tower during the September 11 attacks tore a 24-story gash into the facade of the building, knocked out a load-bearing column,[3] and destroyed 158,000 square feet of floor space.[4] Additionally, an elevated plaza[5] that was located at the base of the building was destroyed by the collapse.[6]

One person is known to have died within the building during the attacks.[3]

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

Jacobite Intense Resentment

The true God, the God of love and creation, has provided

for each person on earth, whether the poorest of the poor and

of whatever race, certain unalienable rights; not to be argued,

transferred, or revoked by any other man. But the aristocrat

and his insatiable obsession to rule over others, through his

"divine right" tyrarurical religious and monarchical systems,

demand that these God given rights be denied. To make matters

worse, those he rules over are snubbed and humiliated. By his

wealth and power, and his so called noble birth, a line is drawn

between the noble and ignoble classes, as broad as that which

separates liberty from slavery.

The exclusiveness of the noble aristocratic class is

intolerable. During the Middle Ages, the peasant was doomed

to perpefual insults and scom. There was no redress of injuries.

Noble pride of birth was carried to romantic extr avagances. The

arrogant aristocrat had no pity or compassion for the poor and

miserable. The most beautiful peasant girl could never rise

above her drudgeries, nor did she ever dream of rising; for

members of the baronial family, from a child up she was taught,

were as superior beings. But I believe there is a sublime message

given by the Creator of nature to His downcast people; even

the rnost lowliest worm in the dirt, He can transform into a

gorgeous winged butterfly.

The peasant under the Feudal system belonged to his master

as completely as if he could be bought and sold. Peasants had

no rights - only duties. Simple pleasures, just to shoot with his bow and arrow a pheasant or hare on his own ground were

prohibited, as was picking up the droppings of the nobleman's

horse to put on his garden. To have no feelings or the urge to

react to these degrading injustices, one had to be reduced to the

level of a brute. The marvel in all of this, is how quickly the

world has forgotten the Protestant bloody struggles to raise man

where he is today; ignoring the most obvious and striking

contrast between " true" Christianity and "occult" Christianity

- to race headlong to embrace Rome's deceptive slave system

once again.

Can it be imagined the intense ferociousness and

uncontrollable hatred felt by the aristocratic minds, the Roman

Catholic hierarchy, and their ever schemi.g ]esuits, when

England ran its last Catholic king, ]ames II, off his throne;

declari^g hersel f , for all tirne, to be ProtestanU establishing her

Catholic Maryland colony to be also firmly Protestant?

Adrenaline and anathemas both ran hot. But it did much more

than that. For fifty-eight years followi^g William and Mary's

accession and the Glorious Revolution in L688,the exiled Stuarts

clung tenaciously to their dream of regaini.g the kingdom they

had lost.

The deposed ]ames II at death was succeeded by his son,

]ames III, the 'Old Pretender'. He in turn, was succeeded as

claimant by his son, the 'Young Pretender', Charles Edward,

'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. Under these three monarchs-in-exile,

]acobite circles on the Continent were to remain "hotbeds" of

conspiracy and political intrigue. Dethroned ]ames II fled

England and went again to France, where within several months

his cousin, King Louis XIV assisted him with a fleet and army

for the purpose of occupying Ireland and establishing himself

there as king. But his efforts only met with total failure and

utter defeat. Retu*i.g to France, for the third time in his life,

he died there in L70L.

The humiliation so keenly felt by the Stuart aristocracy and

Catholic hierarchy from the Protestant Glorious Revolution,

imbued contagious feelings of bitter resentment and revenge

throughout all of Catholic Europe. Conspiracies hummed, with

men willing to give their lives and Rome provided the fuel.

The diehard ]acobite dream served as a rallying call to arouse,

recruit, and organize aristocratic Catholic men in their own "brotherhoo d" - a brotherhood that was to flourish and live

on long after the ]acobite cause was dead. What more perfect

vehicle to enable them to conceal and implement their grand

designs than through Protestant Freemasonry itself? The ]esuits,

masters of intrigu€, shrewdly employed the very same system

that Protestants had used successfully in their fight against

"Popery", now they used for a direct opposite purpose. In the

manuscripts of the Prince of Hesse published by Lecouteulx de

Canteleu, it is declared that in 1714 the ]esuits used the

mysteries of the Rose-Croix. Mirabeau also relates that "the

]esuits profited by the internal troubles of the reign of Charles I

to possess themselves of the symbols, the allegories, and the

carpets of the Rose-Croix Masons, who were only the ancient

order of the T"*p1ars secretly p"rpetuate d" .ls

As there were two streams of reformation in England, one

within the English A^glican Church and the other outside of it,

so there were two streams of Freemasonryi the original being

the Iftights Templar who founded and heralded the Protestant

cause, the other, the Rornan Catholic countermeasure. The

Knights Templar were virtually thrust into their situation to be

fugitives on the run and became 'protesters' of their three

enemies: the monarchy, the Hospitallers, and the Church. But

as their cause began to firmly take shape among the common

people and the lower parish priests, producing the Protestant

revolution, Catholicism out of pure necessity to confuse her

opposition, formed its ownbrand of Freemasonry. And to make

the confusion and conspiracy that much more effective

appearing even contradictive, popes issued their decrees of

condemnation and excommunication against anyone who

became a Freemason - not makin g a distinction between the

two.

The Grand Design Exposed

by John Daniel

http://granddesignexposed.com/contents.html

On War Against the Turk (German: Vom Kriege wider die Türken) was a book written by Martin Luther in 1528 and published in 1529.[1] It was one of several pamphlets and sermons by Martin Luther about Islam and resistance to the Ottoman Empire, during the critical period of territorial expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, marked by the capture of Buda in 1526 and the siege of Vienna in 1529.

Content

Initially, in his 1518 Explanation of the Ninety-five Theses, Luther had argued against resisting the Turks, whom he presented as a scourge intentionally sent by God to sinning Christians, and that resisting it would have been equivalent to resisting the will of God.[2] This position had been initially shared by Erasmus as well, but was strongly criticized by authors such as Thomas More:

"It is a gentle holiness to abstain for devotion from resisting the Turk, and in the meanwhile to rise up in routs and fight against Christian men, and destroy as that sect has done, many a good religious house, spoiled, maimed and slain many a good virtuous man, robbed, polluted, and pulled down many a goodly church of Christ."

— Thomas More.[3]

With the Turkish advance becoming ever more threatening, however, in 1528 Luther modified his stance and wrote On War against the Turk and in 1529 Sermon against the Turk, encouraging the German people and Emperor Charles V to resist the invasion.[4]

Compared with his anger over what he perceived as the annoying-but-not-incurable stubbornness of Judaism, Luther's positions against Islam portrayed an attitude of hopelessness and acceptance of failure, resulting in milder condemnation.[5] On the one hand Luther extensively criticized the principles of Islam, but on the other hand he also expressed a view that the practice of the Islamic faith was not worth the effort to combat as strongly:

"Let the Turk believe and live as he will, just as one lets the papacy and other false Christians live."

— Excerpt from On war against the Turk, 1529.[6]

In On War Against the Turk, Luther is less critical of the Turks than he is of the Pope, whom he calls an anti-Christ, or the Jews, whom he describes as "the Devil incarnate".[7] He urges his contemporaries to also see that some Turks, guided by their beliefs, had good intentions. He refers to some who were favorable to the Ottoman Empire "who actually want the Turk to come and rule, because they think that our German people are wild and uncivilized – indeed that they are half-devil and half-man".[8]

He also argued that the fight against the Turks should not be a holy war, but only a secular one, made in self-defense (thus a war not to gain territory but to protect neighbors' lives and property as taught in the Ten Commandments[9]), and led by the secular authorities of the Emperor and the Princes, and strongly warned against leading it as a religious war:

"...as though our people were an army of Christians against the Turks, who were enemies of Christ. This is absolutely contrary to Christ's doctrine and name"

— Excerpt from On war against the Turk, 1529.[10]

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

martin(n.)

kind of swallow-like bird (Chelidon urbica), 1580s (earlier in diminutive form maretinet, mid-15c.), from Old French martin, which is apparently from the masc. proper name Martin in some sense. Writers in 17c. said it was named for St. Martin of Tours (d. 397 C.E.), patron saint of France, whose festival day (Martinmas) is Nov. 11, about the time the birds are said to depart for winter. But OED says the naming "may have been purely arbitrary," and Century Dictionary says "the name has no specific meaning ...." Usually with a qualifying term: the common house-martin is so called because it nests under the eaves of houses. The American purple martin is so called by 1804.

also from 1580s

Martin

masc. proper name, from Latin Martinus, derivative of Mars (genitive Martis), Roman god of war (see Mars). In Elizabethan times, the parish of St. Martin-le-Grand in London was "celebrated as the resort of dealers in imitation jewellery" [OED].

Entries linking to martin

Mars

c. 1300 as the name of the bright reddish-orange planet in the heavens; late 14c. as the name of the Roman god of war, from Latin Mars (stem *Mawort-), the Roman god of war (identified with Greek Ares), a name of unknown origin, apparently from earlier Mavors, related to Oscan Mamers.

According to Watkins the Latin word is from *Mawort- "name of an Italic deity who became the god of war at Rome ...." He also had agricultural attributes, and might ultimately have been a Spring-Dionysus. The planet was so named by the Romans, no doubt for its blood-like color. The Greeks also called the planet Pyroeis "the fiery." Also in medieval alchemy, "iron" (late 14c.). The Mars candy bar was first manufactured in 1932 by Forrest Mars Sr. of the candy-making family.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arminius (/ɑːrˈmɪniəs/; 18/17 BC–AD 21) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, in which three Roman legions under the command of general and governor Publius Quinctilius Varus were destroyed. His victory at Teutoburg Forest precipitated the Roman Empire's permanent strategic withdrawal from Germania Magna,[2] and modern historians regard it as one of Rome's greatest defeats.[3] As it prevented the Romanization of Germanic peoples east of the Rhine, it has also been considered one of the most decisive battles in history[4][5][6][7] and a turning point in human history.[8]

Born a prince of the Cherusci tribe, Arminius was part of the Roman-friendly faction of the tribe. He learned Latin and served in the Roman military, which gained him Roman citizenship, and the rank of eques. After serving with distinction in the Great Illyrian Revolt, he was sent to Germania to aid the local governor Publius Quinctilius Varus in completing the Roman conquest of the Germanic tribes. While in this capacity, Arminius secretly plotted a Germanic revolt against Roman rule, which culminated in the ambush and destruction of three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest.

In the aftermath of the battle, Arminius fought retaliatory invasions by the Roman general Germanicus in the battles of Pontes Longi, Idistaviso, and the Angrivarian Wall, and deposed a rival, the Marcomanni king Maroboduus. Germanic nobles, afraid of Arminius's growing power, assassinated him in 21. He was remembered in Germanic legends for generations afterwards.[9] The Roman historian Tacitus designated Arminius as the liberator of the Germanic tribes and commended him for having fought the Roman Empire to a standstill at the peak of its power.[9]

During the unification of Germany in the 19th century, Arminius was hailed by German nationalists as a symbol of German unity and freedom.[10] Following World War II, however, Arminius' significance diminished in Germany due to his association with militaristic nationalism; the 2,000th anniversary of his victory at the Teutoburg Forest was only lightly commemorated in Germany.[10]

Name

The etymology of the Latin name Arminius is unknown, and confusion is further created by recent scholars who alternately referred to him as Armenus.[11] In his History, Marcus Velleius Paterculus calls him "Arminius, the son of Sigimer, a prince of the nation" and states he "attained the dignity of equestrian rank".[12] Due to Roman naming conventions of the time, it is likely Arminius is an adopted name granted to him upon citizenship or in any case not his Germanic name. The name instead appears to ultimately be of Etruscan origin, appearing as armne and armni on inscriptions found at Volaterrae.[1] According to another theory, that name was given to Arminius for his service in Armenia.[11]

The German translation of Arminius as the name Hermann dates from the 16th century, possibly first by Martin Luther.[13] In German, Arminius was traditionally distinguished as Hermann der Cherusker ("Hermann the Cheruscan") or Hermann der Cheruskerfürst ("Hermann the Cheruscan Prince"). Hermann etymologically means "Man of War", coming from the Old High German heri meaning "war" and man meaning "person" or "man".[14][15] This has also led to his English nickname "Herman the German."

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

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

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

Early life

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

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

Theological studies and ministry

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

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

Commendations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Clark Ridpath, 

1901 American Historian 

Ridpath’s Universal History

Vatican Assassins Wounded In The House of My Friends 

Third Edition

by Eric Jon Phelps

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

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02BqrafizL9yu19EgZXLsWz2tuB7a7f2Y7nepFVLqT6fUyYSo2rgwrrWzBT7ckcoEFl

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

We have seen that Pope Francis admits he still "thinks like a Jesuit." Well, fellow Jesuit, Robert Blair Kaiser (in his book Inside the Jesuits) tell us that Francis not only thinks like a Jesuit, but that his actions are due to his "Jesuit DNA". According to a book review  by the Jesuit journal America, Kaiser's book probes "into what it means to think like a Jesuit in the age of Francis. He argues as the outset that Francis "has been driven by his Jesuit DNA to make changes in the Church that have been UP TO NOW UNTHINKABLE."

In a direct reference to Francis' comments that he still 'thinks like a Jesuit' and still "feel" himself a Jesuit, Robert Blair Kaiser in his book Inside the Jesuits contends that the above statement of Francis is most revealing about where this Jesuit Pope is taking the Catholic Church." page 84

"But the inquiring reader might ask, "If there is indeed such a thing, even metaphorically, as 'Jesuit DNA,' then how would we account for the vast number of 'genetic mutations' that one finds in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)? By 'genetic mutations' I refer to the seemingly maverick and self-willed Jesuits that seem to mutiny from time to time.

The answer is simple. In giving these eight Jesuit profiles, Kaiser not only seeks to demonstrate that there is such a thing as metaphorical "Jesuit DNA," but also that Jesuits can very versatile, and that they are required to be that way in order to act their part in virtually any field of action that they may find themselves, WHETHER LEFT-WING social activist, OR CONSERVATIVE RIGHT demagogue, 'President'. In other words, Kaiser shows that the Jesuits are trained to be "all things to all men," since the "end justifies the means." Hence, the Jesuit will play any fiddle that his superiors demand or his role requires. He can play both the fool or the wise statesman-like role." pages 88-89

"To more fully appreciate the practical evils of the Jesuit DNA we must look to history. The most evil socialist movement of the twentieth century, that of Adolf Hitler, was inspired by Jesuit principles. Here is what Hitler said of the influence of the Jesuits on his Nazi Party (a radical communist movement also known as fascism):

"I have learnt most of all from the Jesuit Order... So far, there has been nothing more imposing on earth than the hierarchical organization of the Catholic Church. A good part of that organization I have transported DIRECT TO MY OWN PARTY... I will tell you a secret. I am founding an Order... In Himmler I see OUR IGNATIUS DE LOYOLA!"

Walther Friedrich Schellenberg (1910-1952), the German SS-Brigadefuhrer who rose through the ranks of Hitler's SS to become the head of foreign intelligence wrote: "The SS had been organized by Himmler ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLES OF THE JESUIT ORDER. The rules of service and SPIRITUAL EXERCISES PRESCRIBED BY IGNATIUS DE LOYOLA constituted a model which Himmler strove CAREFULLY TO COPY. Absolute obedience was the supreme rule; every order had to be executed without comment."

"Exploring Francis' Jesuit DNA"

Pope Francis Lord of the World

by P.D. Stuart

Pope Pius XII blesses the U.S. troops after liberation of Rome, in Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City, Italy, during WWII.

Location: Vatican City Rome Italy

Date: 1944

Duration: 2 min 36 sec

Sound: Yes

Clip: 65675066219

A film on Pope Pius XII blessing the U.S. troops after liberation of Rome during World War II. Visitors strolling in St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro, 00120 Città del Vaticano, Vatican City). View of St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Pius XII seated on ceremonial throne and shaking hands with the soldiers around him. Pope Pius XII is being carried on a sedia gestatoria by sediari. The Pope blesses the soldiers as he passes them. The Pope seated on the throne and the priests standing on either side. Pope Pius XII delivers a speech in English. The soldiers listening to the Pope. The Pope blesses the men. Pope Pius XII seated on the throne being taken through the men gathering around.

https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675066219_Pope-blesses-American-troops_Pope-Pius-XII_Roman-Catholic-Church_Pope-on-throne

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.

Two primary routes developed independently but their operators eventually collaborated.[2] The first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second led to Rome, then Genoa, and finally South America. The ratlines were supported by some clergy of the Catholic Church, such as Austrian bishop Alois Hudal and Croatian priest Krunoslav Draganović. Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[3]

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

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

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

The effort began in earnest in 1945, as the Allies advanced into Germany and discovered a wealth of scientific talent and advanced research that had contributed to Germany's wartime technological advancements. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff officially established Operation Overcast (operations "Overcast" and "Paperclip" were related, and the terms are often used interchangeably) on July 20, 1945, with the dual aims of leveraging German expertise for the ongoing war effort against Japan and to bolster US postwar military research. The operation, conducted by the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), was largely actioned by special agents of the US Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC). Many selected scientists were involved in the Nazi rocket program, aviation, or chemical/biological warfare. The Soviet Union in the following year conducted a similar program, called Operation Osoaviakhim, that emphasized many of the same fields of research.

The operation, characterized by the recruitment of German specialists and their families, relocated more than 1600 experts to the US. It has been valued at US$10 billion in patents and industrial processes. Recruits included such notable figures as Wernher von Braun, a leading rocket-technology scientist. Those recruited were instrumental in the development of the US space program and military technology during the Cold War. Despite its contributions to American scientific advances, Operation Paperclip has been controversial because of the Nazi affiliations of many recruits, and the ethics of assimilating individuals associated with war crimes into American society.

The operation was not solely focused on rocketry; efforts were directed toward synthetic fuels, medicine, and other fields of research. Notable advances in aeronautics fostered rocket and space-flight technologies pivotal in the Space Race. The operation played a crucial role in the establishment of NASA and the success of the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Operation Paperclip was part of a broader strategy by the US to harness German scientific talent in the face of emerging Cold War tensions, and ensuring this expertise did not fall into the hands of the Soviet Union or other nations. The operation's legacy has remained controversial in subsequent decades.

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

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

[529] C. 1The entire purport of this fourth vow of obedience to the pope was and is with regard to missions; 2and this is how the bulls should be understood where they speak of this obedience in all that the sovereign pontiff may command and wherever he may send one, and so on."

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

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

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

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

Modern Times

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

Order of Calatrava - Wikipedia

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

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

World Trade Center Oculus

50 Church Street New York, NY 10007

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

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

Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

In 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)

https://web.archive.org/web/20190615041607/http://www.traversecityscottishrite.com/scottish-rite-history.html

PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]

§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us FREE:

FREE, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

FREE, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

FREE, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

History of the Orange Order

The Loyal Orange Institution was formed on 21st September 1795 shortly after the ‘Battle of the Diamond’ outside Loughgall, Co. Armagh. Three well-known local men of the area, James Wilson, Dan Winter, and James Sloan, established the institution. Whilst much is made of these ‘founding fathers’ within Orange circles; from a spiritual perspective we see no evidence that any of them had evangelical credentials. History, in fact, shows that all three men were dedicated Freemasons and two of the three were actually proprietors of licensed premises.

The Bible addresses such people, saying, “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!” (Habakkuk 2:15). The Rev. Allan Dunlop, addressing this passage of Scripture in his book ‘Where Shadows Fall’ (p. 37), says, “The curse of God is upon the drink trade for what profits it brings are wrung from widows tears, children’s terror, women’s virtue and young men’s strength; and of wives and mothers broken hearts.”

It is true to say that Dan Winter came from a Quaker background, although his ungodly lifestyle shows he was anything but a dedicated Quaker. Firstly, Quakers have always practised strict ‘total abstinence’ and have always opposed the devilish influence of alcohol. Winter was the proprietor of a public house. Secondly, Quakers have always been opposed to the heathenish practices and teachings of Freemasonry. Winter was a zealous Freemason. Thirdly, Quakers have always been pacifists, opposing all type of fighting. Winter was the leader of the local ‘Peep O’ Day Boys’ (an illegal Protestant militia group of the day), and he was also a well-known ‘cock fighter’ in the area.

The ‘Battle of the Diamond’ itself lasted only fifteen minutes and was centred on Dan Winter’s public house, which was located at the Diamond crossroads. This battle (or skirmish) resulted in Winter’s premises being burnt to the ground by the attacking Roman Catholics who were ironically known as ‘the Defenders’. This place was the special focus of the attack as it was the gathering house for the local ‘Peep O’ Day Boys’. Prior to the battle, the authorities had made several arrests and various arms seizures relating to this illegal group.

Winter’s supporters, many of whom were Freemasons, gathered around the debris of the public house and pledged themselves to form a new secret society, made up wholly of Protestant men. Now that they no longer had Winter’s premises as a meeting place the men retired to James Sloan’s public house in the local village of Loughgall. Here the Orange Institution was properly organised.

The founders of the Orange Institution were known as ‘unwarranted masons’, ‘clandestine masons’ or ‘hedge’ Masons. These Masons were a rebellious group who would not accept the existing degree format of the ruling Masonic Grand Lodge of the day. Belinda Loftus, in her book ‘Mirrors’ (p.24) confirms that the clandestine or hedge Masons were “unwarranted by the Grand Lodge in Dublin” because Irish Masonry “refused to recognise any degrees but craft.” Up until the early 1800s the Grand Masonic Lodge of Ireland only accepted three degrees, – Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason, collectively known as the ‘Craft degrees’ or the ‘Blue Lodge’. All other degrees were held to be illegal.

Read a detailed exposure of the Royal Arch Purple by W P Malcomson:

The Unwarranted Masons were the more zealous (or esoteric) Masons who adhered to the many mystical degrees, which today are accepted within the domain of higher degree Freemasonry. These degrees are found under the auspices of the Red Lodge, known as the Chapter and the Chivalry degrees, known as the Preceptory.

The Irish Masonic publication ‘History of Freemasonry in the Province of Antrim’ alludes to these clandestine Masons. It explain how these men would ascend to “the top of some neighbouring hill, and there, towards the close of a summers evening, after the manner of the ancient Druids, perform their rites and ceremonies, the meeting being properly tyled and guarded…They were unwarranted and recognised no authority and no authority recognised them” (p.143&144).

Winter, Sloan and Wilson, accompanied by others, felt the great need to instigate a ceremony of initiation into the new body and not surprisingly Freemasonry was chosen as the model. They used the Masonic template to formulate their degree structure. That is why the Loyal Orders teaching, titles, symbols and rituals so closely resembles that of Freemasonry.

Initially the Orange had one sole degree known simply as the ‘Orange degree’. As the months progressed the founding fathers introduced a further degree somewhere around late 1796. The ‘Orange Marksman’ degree as it was originally designated, became better known as the ‘Purple degree’. It was constructed in Portadown, in the home of prominent Freemason, John Templeton – a location frequently used for Masonic ceremonies. Orange historian (and well known Freemason of his day) Colonel R.H. Wallace outlined in his ‘History of the Orange Order’ (1899) how the founders “were observed going into and out of a house in which a Masonic Lodge held its meetings,” and that, “He [Mr Templeton] invited them into the Masonic room, and there and then satisfactory arrangements were made.” He concluded by saying, “the influence of the place and its associations can be discerned in the results” (p. 50). Another Orange historian R.M. Sibbett in ‘Orangeism in Ireland and Throughout the Empire’ (1938) explained how, “The subject uppermost in their minds was touched upon and discussed, and, at the request of Mr. Templeton, they adjourned to a room which had been used for other ceremonies. Here the warrant was produced, the lodge was reopened, and a higher Order was added.”

A further degree was added as Orangeism consolidated itself. The Royal Arch Purple Chapter book states that, “Probably late in the year 1796 or early 1797 a third degree known as Purple Marksman was added to the ritual. It is likely to have been composed by the same hands, probably in the same room as that of the Orange Marksman or Purpleman” (History of the Royal Arch Purple Order p. 39).

Whilst little is known of the exact content of these three degrees it seems certain that they were highly ritualistic in character, being modelled on the first three degrees of Freemasonry, namely, Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. The Royal Arch Purple Chapter book testifies that these three initial Orange degrees were “elaborate degrees” (p. 59).

Orange degree – Entered Apprentice degree

Orange Marksman degree – Fellowcraft degree

Purple Marksman degree – Master Mason degree

These were the three main degrees that were worked within the Order between 1795 and 1798, although many other ritualistic degrees were finding their way into Orangeism throughout the island of Ireland. Most of these degrees can today be found within the Royal Black Institution.

During this early period each individual Orange lodge administered its own control over the working of degrees, as no controlling authority existed to govern the degree system. A Grand Lodge of Ulster, as it were, was formed on 12th of July 1797, although it seemed to exercise little power over the whole island of Ireland.

The prevailing confusion within the Order, coupled with a large influx of new members, due to the deteriorating political situation in the form of the Republican uprising of the ‘United Irelanders’, resulted in the formation of a Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland on 21st April 1798. This brought much needed stability and leadership to the Order at a strategic period in its history.

Grand Lodge immediately addressed the bewildering amount of unnecessary ritualism that had found its way into Orangeism, and here began a process of reform which purged out all the ritualistic baggage which had settled itself within the Order. This resulted in the disposal of the original three (elaborate) degrees of the Orange. These were replaced with two simplified degrees of ‘Orange’ and ‘Plain Purple’. Out with the old degrees went the old leadership of James Wilson, Dan Winter, and James Sloan.

Wasting little time, Grand Lodge released a strong statement on 13th December 1798 which reflected the hierarchy’s strong desire to separate themselves from former error, stating: “That many persons having introduced various Orders into the Orange Society which will very much tend to injure the regularity of the institution. The Grand Lodge disavows any Order but Orange and Purple and there can be none other regular unless issuing and approved by them.”

From this date forward, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland accepted only two degrees within the Order – ‘Orange’ and ‘Plain Purple’. Between 1798 and 1800 Grand Lodge began a process of implementing this simplification by standardising procedures throughout every lodge in Ireland. That they might eradicate any lingering injurious behaviour by spurious characters, they abolished the old Orange Order in 1800, with its ritualistic connections, obliging every Orangeman to rejoin a now simplified new Orange Institution.

Grand Lodges opposition to Royal Arch Purple and Black degrees

1798-1801

1802-1828

1834-1875

1876-1878

1880-1913

1925

Those ritualistic Orangemen inside the Order who bore allegiance to the former neo-Masonic degrees were far from happy at this radical reform. Some continued to practise these illegal degrees in a clandestine manner, in blatant violation of the rules of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland.

Facing strong persecution from a now powerful Grand Lodge and realising their beleaguered position, they merged the three old degrees into one large ritualistic degree. The Arch Purple Chapter’s book ‘History of the Royal Arch Purple Order’ explains: “Sometime between 1800 and 1811, possibly in 1802, a new degree was devised by the Brethren who valued and loved the old traditions and who were concerned by the turn of events” (p. 58). This degree was ” developed from the three pre 1798 ‘old degrees’ ” (p. 59). This elaborate degree became known as the ‘Royal Arch Purple degree’.

Orange degree

Orange Marksman degree – Royal Arch Purple degree

Purple Marksman degree

The Arch Purple Chapter’s book also confirms its composition, how that it was designed to “include as much as possible of the travel and ritual of the original three.”

The draft to the Arch Purple Chapter’s book diplomatically traces the roots of the Royal Arch Purple degree, stating that, “In light of the evidence available it would appear that the degree given today evolved from certain practices which had their origin in the Masonic Order, together with some innovations which had been introduced by those brethren conferring the degree in different areas being added to the original theme of the pre 1800 degrees to form a new ritual.” Even this guarded statement was omitted from the published book!

Nevertheless, in their book ‘The Orange Order: An Evangelical Perspective’ Grand Chaplain of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland (which owns the Royal Arch Purple as its third degree) Rev. Ian Meredith and Irish Arch Purple man Rev. Brian Kennaway comment on the Arch Purple degree. They state, “It has to be admitted that this is the most ‘Masonic-like’ part of our ceremony.” They later describe it as “a Christianised or ‘Reformed Freemasonry’ ” (pp. 12, 25).

From its inception, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland looked upon this neo-Masonic Royal Arch Purple degree with understandable abhorrence. It was viewed as being incompatible with, and contrary to, both Protestantism and Orangeism. Those ritualistic Orangemen who practised the degree were persecuted by Grand Lodge, forcing them to practise the degree in great secrecy for fear of expulsion from the Order. Grand Lodge maintained this position throughout the whole of the 1800s and into the early 20th century. The hard line assumed by the Orange Institution in Ireland mirrored the resolute stance of Orangeism throughout Great Britain.

The history of the Royal Black Institution

The history of the Royal Black degrees

Royal Black Institution, the Crusades and the Jesuits

https://www.evangelicaltruth.com/royal-black-institution-crusades-the-jesuits/

https://www.evangelicaltruth.com/history-of-the-orange-order/

Agent Orange: This nickname gained traction during Trump's presidency, alluding to his controversial policies and the color of his trademark hair. It has a dual meaning, referencing both his hair color and the herbicide of the same name used during the Vietnam War.

https://abatul.com/

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

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

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

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

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

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

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

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

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

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

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

Codeword Barbelon book One

by P.D. Stuart

Trump International, Scotland

@TrumpScotland

Donald J Trump, 45th President of the United States, announced today the start of a new golf venture in Scotland: the MacLeod course, to be built at Trump International Scotland in Aberdeenshire in honor of his late mother Mary Anne MacLeod.

10:47 AM · May 1, 2023

https://x.com/TrumpScotland/status/1653093764271857666

James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766) [a] was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until his death in 1766. The only son of James II of England and his second wife, Mary of Modena, he was Prince of Wales and heir until his Catholic father was deposed and exiled in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. His Protestant half-sister Mary II and her husband William III became co-monarchs. As a Catholic, he was subsequently excluded from the succession by the Act of Settlement 1701.

Raised primarily in France and Italy, when his father died in September 1701 James claimed the thrones. As part of the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1708 Louis XIV of France backed a landing in Scotland on his behalf. This failed, as did further attempts in 1715 and 1719. Led by his elder son Charles Edward Stuart, the 1745 Rising was the last serious effort to restore the House of Stuart.

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

The Church of Scotland (CoS; Scots: The Kirk o Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais na h-Alba) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While membership in the church has declined significantly in recent decades (in 1982 it had nearly 920,000 members),[6] the government Scottish Household Survey found that 20% of the Scottish population, or over one million people, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity in 2019.[7][8]

In the 2022 census, 20.4% of the Scottish population, or 1,108,796 adherents, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity.[9][10] The Church of Scotland's governing system is presbyterian in its approach, therefore, no one individual or group within the church has more or less influence over church matters. There is no one person who acts as the head of faith, as the church believes that role is the "Lord God's". As a proper noun, the Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland used in the media and by the church itself.[11]

The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox in the Reformation of 1560 when it split from the Catholic Church and established itself as a church in the Reformed tradition. The Presbyterian tradition in ecclesiology (form of the church government) believe that God invited the church's adherents to worship Jesus, with church elders collectively answerable for correct practice and discipline.

The Church of Scotland celebrates two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, as well as five other ordinances, such as Confirmation and Matrimony. The church adheres to the Bible and the Westminster Confession of Faith and is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The annual meeting of the church's general assembly is chaired by the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

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

666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus

THE

WESTMINSTER

LARGER

CATECHISM

https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

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

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

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

Revelation 13:16-18

1599 Geneva Bible

16 [a]And he made all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive [b]a [c]mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.

17 And that no man might [d]buy or sell, save he that had the [e]mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18 [f]Here is wisdom. Let him that hath wit, count the number of the beast: for it is the [g]number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:16 The third place, is a most wicked and most insolent tyrrany as was said before, usurped over the persons of men in this verse: and over their goods and actions, in the next verse. For he is said, both to bring upon all persons a tyrannous servitude, that as bondslaves they might serve the beast: and also to exercise over all their goods and actions, a peddler-like abuse of indulgences and dispensations (as they term them) amongst their friends, and against others to use most violent interdictions, and to shoot out cursings, even in natural and civil, private and public contracts, wherein all good faith ought to have place.

Revelation 13:16 That is, their Chrism, by which in the Sacrament (as they call it) of Confirmation, they make servile unto themselves, the persons and doings of men, signing them in their forehead and hands: and as for the sign left by Christ (of which Rev. 7:3) and the holy Sacrament of Baptism they make as void. For whom Christ hath joined unto himself by Baptism, this beast maketh challenge unto them by her greasy Chrism, which he doubteth not to prefer over Baptism, both in authority and efficacy.

Revelation 13:16 The mark of the name of the beast.

Revelation 13:17 That is, have any traffic or intercourse with men, but they only those which have this anointing and consecration of Clearkely tonsure, as they call it. Read Gratian de Consecratione, distinct. s. c. omnes, cap. Spiritus, etc. of these matters.

Revelation 13:17 Here the false Prophets do require three things, which are set down in the order of their greatness, a character, a name and the number of the name. The meaning is, that man that hath not first their anointing and clerical tonsure or shaving: secondly holy orders, by reserving whereof is communicated the same of the beast: or finally hath not attained that high degree of Pontifical knowledge, and of the Law (as they call it) Canonical, and hath not as it were made up in account and cast the number of the mysteries thereof: for in these things consisteth the number of that name of the beast. And this is excellently set forth in the next verse.

Revelation 13:18 That is in this number of the beast consisteth that Popish wisdom, which unto them seemeth the greatest of all others. In these words S. John expoundeth that saying which went before of the number of the beast, what it hath above his mark or acconisance and his name. These things, saith S. John, the mark and the name of the beast, do easily happen unto any man: but to have the number of the beast, is wisdom: that is, only the wise and such as have understanding, can come by that number for they must be most illuminated doctors that attain thereunto, as the words following do declare.

Revelation 13:18 How great and of what denomination this number of the beast is, by which the beast accounted his wisdom, S. John declareth in these words. Dost thou demand how great it is? it is so great, that it occupieth the whole man: he is always learning, and never cometh to the knowledge thereof: he must be a man indeed that doth attain unto it. Askest thou of what denomination it is? verily it standeth of six throughout and perfectly ariseth of all the parts thereof in their several denominations (as they term them) it standeth of six by units, tens, hundreds, etc. so as there is no one part in the learning and order Pontifical, which is not either referred unto the head, and as it were the top thereof, or contained in the same: so fitly do all things in this hierarchy agree one with another, and with their head. Therefore that cruel beast Boniface the eighth doth commend by the number of six those Decretals which he perfected, in the proem of the sixth book. Which book (saith he) being to be added unto five other books of the same volume of Decretals, we thought good to name Sextum the sixth: that the same volume by addition thereof containing a senary, or the number of six books (which is a number perfect) may yield a perfect form of managing all things, and perfect discipline of behavior. Here therefore is the number of the beast, who poureth from himself all his parts and bringeth them all back again unto himself by his discipline in most wise and cunning manner. If any man desire more of this, let him read the gloss upon that place. I am not ignorant that other interpretations are brought upon this place: but I thought it my duty, with the good favor of all and without the offense of any, to propound mine opinion in this point. And for this cause especially, for that it seemed unto me neither profitable, nor like to be true, that the number of the beast, or of the name of the beast should be taken as the common sort of interpreters do take it. For this number of the beast teacheth, giveth out, imprinteth, as a public mark of such as be his, and esteemeth that mark above all others as the mark of those whom he loveth best. Now those other expositions seem rather to be far removed from this property and condition of that number: whether you respect the name Latinus or Titan, or another. For these the beast doth not teach, nor give forth nor imprint, but most diligently forbiddeth to be taught, and audaciously denieth: he approveth not these, but reproveth them: and hateth them that think so of this number, with an hatred, greater than that of Vatinius.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A16-18&version=GNV

St. Andrew's Church of Scotland

Presbyterian church in Rome, Italy

St Andrew's Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland in Rome, Italy, belonging to the Church's International Presbytery. Services take place every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. in Via XX Settembre, 7 00187 Rome. Wikipedia

Address: Via Venti Settembre, 7, 00184 Roma RM, Italy

Hours: 

Closed ⋅ Opens 11 AM Sun

Phone: +39 06 482 7627

Opened: 1885

Province: Metropolitan City of Rome Capital

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 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.

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.

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