Pope Leo prays for Chinese Catholics to be in communion with Rome

Pope Leo prays for Chinese Catholics to be in communion with Rome

Story by Associated Press 525/2025

Pope prayed that Catholics in China 'obtain the grace to be strong and joyful witnesses of the Gospel, even in the midst of trials'

Pope Leo asked on Sunday for prayers for China's Catholics to be in communion with the Holy See, as he made his first public remarks about one of the thorniest foreign policy issues facing his new pontificate.

History's first American pope recalled that on Saturday the Catholic Church marked a special feast day to pray for the church in China.

Pope Benedict XVI had initiated the feast day as part of his efforts to unify China's estimated 12 million Catholics who were divided between an official, state-controlled church that did not recognise papal authority, and an underground church that remained loyal to Rome through decades of persecution.

Leo noted that on the feast day "in the churches and shrines in China and throughout the world, prayers have been raised to God as a sign of the solicitude and affection for Chinese Catholics and their communion with the universal church".

Speaking from his studio window during his noontime blessing, Leo XIV prayed that Catholics in China and elsewhere "obtain the grace to be strong and joyful witnesses of the Gospel, even in the midst of trials, to always promote peace and harmony".

Pope Francis took Benedict's unifying efforts further by approving a controversial deal in 2018 over bishop nominations.

The details of the deal were never released, but it affords the state-controlled church a say in its church leaders, though Francis insisted he retained veto power over the ultimate choice.

The deal has been criticised by some, especially on the Catholic right, for having caved to Beijing's demands and sold out the underground faithful in China. The Vatican has said it was the best deal it could get and it has been renewed periodically since then.

Leo will have to decide whether to continue renewing the accord. There have been some apparent violations on the Beijing side with some unilateral appointments that took place without papal consent.

The issue came to a head just before the conclave that elected Leo pope, when the Chinese church proceeded with the preliminary election of two bishops, a step that comes before official consecration.

Leo told the archbishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Stephen Chow, that he had "visited China several times and got to know the Chinese culture and reality", according to the Fides missionary news agency, citing comments Chow made in his diocesan weekly newsletter after the conclave.

Chow added that he expected Leo would follow Francis' direction for the church in China. He said he had given Leo a small statue of Our Lady of Sheshan, a statue of the Madonna that is particularly venerated by Chinese faithful and is celebrated on the feast day, May 24.

Chow, a Jesuit, said he had implored Leo "to not forget the church in China and the Chinese people", according to the newsletter.

"He nodded his head to indicate that he will not forget," according to Fides.

The Vatican has been working for years to try to improve relations with China that were officially severed more than seven decades ago when the Communists came to power.

Relations had long been stymied over China's insistence on its exclusive right to name bishops as a matter of national sovereignty, while the Vatican insisted on the pope's exclusive right to name the successors of the original Apostles.

The 2018 deal was aimed at uniting the flock, regularising the status of seven bishops who were not recognised by Rome and thawing decades of estrangement between China and the Vatican.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/pope-leo-prays-for-chinese-catholics-to-be-in-communion-with-rome/ar-AA1FsfHX

Trump posts AI-generated photo of himself as pope, drawing internet outrage

By Andrea Shalal

May 3, 2025 2:21 PM PDT Updated 12 hours ago

Summary

Trump and his wife Melania attended funeral of Pope Francis

Image shows Trump in white paper vestments

Former Italian PM blasts 'shameful' post

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, May 2 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated photo showing himself as the pope ahead of this week's gathering of cardinals to choose a new leader of the 1.4-billion-strong Catholic Church, and just days after he joked he would "like to be pope".

Trump, who is not a Catholic and does not attend church regularly, posted the image on his Truth Social platform late on Friday, less than a week after attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who died at 88 last month. The White House then reposted it on its official X account.

The image shows an unsmiling Trump seated in an ornate chair, dressed in white papal vestments and headdress, with right forefinger raised.

The irreverent posting drew instant outrage on X, including from Republicans against Trump, a group that describes itself as "pro-democracy conservative Republicans fighting Trump & Trumpism." The group reposted the image, calling it "a blatant insult to Catholics and a mockery of their faith".

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to comment on the image during a briefing with journalists about the process of electing a new pope, which begins on May 7.

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote on X: “This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the global right enjoys being a clown. In the meantime, the American economy risks recession and the dollar loses value."

Closer to home, the Catholic bishops of New York state also expressed their displeasure on X.

"There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President," they wrote. "We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us."

Trump on Tuesday had jokingly said he would be his own first choice to become pope, before adding that there was a "very good" candidate in New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Dolan, the archbishop of New York, is not on the short list of possible contenders for the top spot, but it does include another American, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, New Jersey. There has never been a pope from the United States.

In mid-February, both Trump and the official White House social media accounts posted a different AI-generated image of the president wearing a crown and captioned "CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"

In West Palm Beach, Debbie Macchia, 60, stood waiting with a dozen other supporters as Trump's motorcade arrived at his golf club on Saturday morning.

"He was clearly joking. Clearly joking," said Macchia, who is Jewish. "But I wouldn't want to see them do anything sacrilegious with the pope, or anything."

Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Joshua McElwee in Vatican City, Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-posts-ai-generated-photo-himself-pope-2025-05-03/

Robert Francis Prevost named first American pope

by The National News Desk Thu, May 8th 2025 at 9:16 AM

Updated Thu, May 8th 2025 at 11:29 AM

Robert Francis Prevost has been named the new pontiff, becoming the first American to hold the position after a two-day conclave. He will go by the name Pope Leo XIV.

His first words greeting his new followers were "Peace be with you" in a speech that shifted from Italian to Spanish and centered on messages of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization. He will now take over a Catholic Church with some 1.4 billion followers around the world facing decisions on how to move the church forward and whether to continue the path of his predecessor.

“We must try together to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges and dialogue,” Pope Leo told his new followers before leading the Hail Mary prayer.

Born in Chicago, Pope Leo XIV spent much of his life outside the United States. He spent two decades in Peru, where he became a bishop and naturalized citizen before being brought to the Vatican by Pope Francis to oversee the office that chooses and manages bishops around the world. His prominence due to his position within the Vatican positioned him as a leading candidate heading into the conclave aside from his nationality.

White smoke rose from the chimney over the Sistine Chapel Thursday evening in Vatican City after just over 24 hours of voting, when Pope Leo XIV earned at least 89 votes from the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, who died last month at the age of 88.

A crowded St. Peter's Square cheered as a top cardinal said the words “Habemus Papam!” or “We have a pope!” from the loggia of the basilica. The new pope made his first public appearance and delivered a blessing. He is the 267th holder of the office in a line of pontiffs dating back to St. Peter. The last pope to take the name Leo was Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878 to 1903.

He is expected to be a unifying figure for the Church after years of ideological divides between its progressive and conservative wings. Leo rarely took outspoken stances on some of the most controversial issues.

President Donald Trump congratulated Pope Leo XIV in a post on Truth Social.

"It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!" Trump wrote.

https://katu.com/news/nation-world/white-smoke-rises-above-sistine-chapel-to-signal-new-pope-has-been-chosen-vatican-conclave-cardinals

Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968, when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like his brothers John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, he was a prominent member of the Democratic Party and is considered an icon of modern American liberalism.[1]

Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy attended Harvard University, and later received his law degree from the University of Virginia. He began his career as a correspondent for The Boston Post and as a lawyer at the Justice Department, but later resigned to manage his brother John's successful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1952. The following year, Kennedy worked as an assistant counsel to the Senate committee chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy. He gained national attention as the chief counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee from 1957 to 1959, where he publicly challenged Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa over the union's corrupt practices. Kennedy resigned from the committee to conduct his brother's successful campaign in the 1960 presidential election. He was appointed United States attorney general at the age of 35, one of the youngest cabinet members in American history.[2] Kennedy served as John's closest advisor until the latter's assassination in 1963.[3]

Kennedy's tenure is known for advocating for the civil rights movement, the fight against organized crime, and involvement in U.S. foreign policy related to Cuba.[4] He authored his account of the Cuban Missile Crisis in a book titled Thirteen Days. As attorney general, Kennedy authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on a limited basis.[5] After his brother's assassination, he remained in office during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson for several months. He left to run for the U.S. Senate from New York in 1964 and defeated Republican incumbent Kenneth Keating, overcoming criticism that he was a "carpetbagger" from Massachusetts.[6][7] In office, Kennedy opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and raised awareness of poverty by sponsoring legislation designed to lure private business to blighted communities (i.e., Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration project). He was an advocate for issues related to human rights and social justice by traveling abroad to eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Africa, and formed working relationships with Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Walter Reuther.

In 1968, Kennedy became a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency by appealing to poor, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, and young voters.[8] His main challenger in the race was Senator Eugene McCarthy. Shortly after winning the California primary around midnight on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, in retaliation for his support of Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. Kennedy died 25 hours later. Sirhan was arrested, tried, and convicted, though Kennedy's assassination, like his brother's, continues to be the subject of widespread analysis and numerous conspiracy theories.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy

RFK Jr. says autism database will use Medicare and Medicaid info

May 8, 20254:57 PM ET

By

Alana Wise

NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak before a news conference at the Health and Human Services Department on April 22.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The National Institutes of Health will use information from federal health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid to create a "real-world data platform" to determine the cause of autism, the agency announced this week.

Doctor applying a bandage a patient's arm after an immunization.

Shots - Health News

RFK Jr. to require placebo-controlled studies for new vaccines

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement on Wednesday that the NIH would team up with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to create the database utilizing insurance claims, electronic medical records and data from wearable devices with health sensors, like smartwatches.

"We're using this partnership to uncover the root causes of autism and other chronic diseases," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.

HHS said that CMS and NIH would establish a data use agreement focused on Medicare and Medicaid enrollees — about 36% of Americans — and follow autism diagnoses before expanding their research into additional chronic health conditions.

"Using ASD [Autistic Spectrum Disorders] as the pilot research program, teams at CMS and NIH will establish a secure tech-enabled mechanism to enhance this data sharing with timely, privacy and security compliant data exchange," the statement read.

There was outrage last month after NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told his staff of plans to compile a database of Americans with autism using private data that could be used to create a national autism registry

A severe autism advocate responds to RFK Jr.'s research initiative

Consider This from NPR

A severe autism advocate responds to RFK Jr.'s research initiative

Unnamed HHS sources told multiple news outlets that the agencies are not creating an autism registry and described the effort instead as a real-world data platform linking existing datasets. NPR has not independently confirmed the reporting.

In Wednesday's statement, NIH's Bhattacharya said that the partnership with CMS was "an important step in our commitment to unlocking the power of real-world data to inform public health decisions and improve lives."

"Linking CMS claims data with a secure real-world NIH data platform, fully compliant with privacy and security laws, will unlock landmark research into the complex factors that drive autism and chronic disease — ultimately delivering superior health outcomes to the Americans we serve," he said.

NPR has reached out to HHS, NIH and CMS, but none responded to requests for comment before publication of this story.

The latest details immediately raised more alarm bells for the autistic community and privacy experts, who questioned how this data would be used and how patients' sensitive data would be protected.

Helen Tager-Flusberg is the director of the Center for Autism Research at Boston University and leader of the Coalition of Autism Scientists, an organization formed in response to Kennedy's widely debunked views on autism.

She warned of the potential for information collected in this database to be abused.

"CMS data includes certain information about individuals — age/date of birth, sex, where they live. It is possible to identify a person based on knowledge about these characteristics," Tager-Flusberg said in an email to NPR.

"While the NIH Director provides assurances that privacy protections will be put in place, we have seen other examples of how this administration has given permission to identify people to certain people working for the federal government. How will this registry be protected?" she asked.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives before President Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs Wednesday in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Public Health

Health secretary RFK Jr. endorses the MMR vaccine — stoking fury among his supporters

The heightened public focus on autism comes as Kennedy has repeatedly vowed to identify the cause of the disorder and ultimately eradicate it.

To that end, Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, has made a number of baseless, conspiratorial claims about autism, including that it can be traced back to childhood vaccinations and that an "environmental toxin" is to blame for the uptick in autism diagnoses over the years.

He described autism as "a preventable disease" and said his agency would find the root cause of the disorder by September.

The notion that vaccines cause autism has been thoroughly debunked in medical science, and experts say there is likely no single cause for autism. Bhattacharya, the NIH director, pushed back on the September deadline to find a cause and said that a year timeline was more realistic.

And while a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report did find that autism prevalence in the United States had increased from 1 in 36 children five years ago, to 1 in 31 children in 2022, it is more likely that this is due in large part to more comprehensive screening across a broader population.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/08/nx-s1-5391310/kennedy-autism-registry-database-hhs-nih-medicare-medicaid

[William Cooper]: And, now, reading again from the book: The Report from the 68th Convocation Of the Rose Cross Order, Introduction to the Great Seal:

"It is rather a strange and an unknown thing for one to write an introduction to a single chapter appearing in a book, but the conditions are so unusual as to warrant it.

"More than a year ago, Grace K. Morey, the author of the article, 'The Great Seal of the United States and Its Mystic Significance,' prepared a sketch for a short primer of the Illuminati teachings, and in this sketch, as will be shown by the drawings, it was brought out that man is not only a threefold being, but that he is actually a four-fold being as well. In short, that when he has succeeded in reaching Soul Illumination, he is the completed Pyramid or true Triangle.

"If the student will give serious study to the article on the Seal of the United States, he will find that on the reverse side of the seal which is as yet uncut, there is to be found the Pyramid, but with the capstone as yet not placed, and thus he will see that the Philosophy of the Illuminati is the absolute and undeniable Philosophy upon which these United States are founded as is clearly indicated by our four-fold philosophy, by the drawings representing our Philosophy, and by the drawings of the reverse side of the United States seal.

"And thus it would appear that the Unseen Hierarchies which shaped the foundation of the great Republic which must some day rule the world, are the same Hierarchies which gave us the Soul Science Philosophy as taught by the Illuminati."

[William Cooper]: And, now, you know why what has happened in this country has happened, and you know why what is happening today is happening. And you now know why, on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, are the words Novus Ordo Seclorum, which, literally translated, means "The New Order of the Ages" (also known as "The New World Order), but I won't let you rest with that shock.

[William Cooper]: Listen to this, dear listeners. Hold on to your chairs, because the incredible admission that is coming to you right out of the pages of this book is going to knock you flat. Reading again from the book:

"And thus it would appear that the Unseen Hierarchies which shaped the foundation of the great Republic which must some day rule the world, are the same Hierarchies which gave us the Soul Science Philosophy as taught by the Illuminati.

"And now let us look into the future, not far, but just beyond the line. We find that scholars condemn the design of the reverse side of the United States Seal, that it has never been cut but has remained hidden as though it were something to be ashamed of.

"However, though this appears the truth, it is not the truth. The reason why it has never been cut is because the time is not yet as the cap-stone has not yet been set.

"And what is this cap-stone? My reader, prepare for a shock.

"When Atlantis ruled the word, that which is now America was connected with Egypt by what is now Mexico, and in Mexico, in the territory of Yucatan, there is a Pyramid in which the Fire Philosophers worshiped God as Divine Fire and Life in like manner as did the Initiates of Egypt, for the two were then one.

"America is not complete, and will not be complete, cannot be complete, until Mexico is again part of America as she was in the long ago, and when Mexico is once again a part of the United States, then will the cap-stone have been set on the

Pyramid and the reverse side of the United States seal will be cut.

"Thus you will see that the Soul Science Primer with its drawings, is but the beginning of the article concerning the Seal of the United States, while the article on 'Body, Mind, Spirit and Soul' is the finale thereof.

"May it not be long until the Holy Pyramid shall be completed and may it be completed without the shedding of blood.

"Lovingly given, R. Swinburne Clymer. 'Beverly Hall,' Quakertown, Pennsylvania, July 6th, 1916."

[William Cooper]: And, now, you know the final truth, ladies and gentlemen. Now you know the purpose of the free trade agreements. Now you know the purpose of GATT and NAFTA. Now you know where we're headed. Now you know the middle class in this country is doomed. Now you know that the New World Order is being brought about by the intelligence community and the secret societies, whose headquarters are in the United States of America, just thirteen blocks from the White House. Now you know, in the incredible admissions, in their own writing, in this book, published by the Ancient Order of the Rose and Cross. Now you know that the Illuminati is real; that Freemasonry is a part of the Illuminati; that the Rose and Cross is a part of the Illuminati; that they are also called the Order, the Brotherhood; that they also consist of the Knights Templars; they also consist of the Knights of Malta and all of the other secret societies whose organizational structure is in the shape of the pyramid, with a few at the top who really know what the Great Work and the Great Plan is. And a whole bunch of slathering idiots thirsting after the secrets on the bottom, who will never, ever, know anything."

Hour 20: 68th Convocation of the Rose Cross Order (aired May 11th, 1993)

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

What is a SIN?

A Social Insurance Number (SIN) is a 9-digit number that you need to work and be paid in Canada and access government programs and benefits. It is also used to file taxes.

If you are not eligible for a SIN, you can apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) for tax purposes.

You are responsible for protecting your SIN. Ensure that you store documents containing your SIN and personal information in a safe place. For more information about protecting your SIN, please visit here.

International students get a SIN starting with the number ‘9,’ which lets employers know that you are a temporary resident in Canada.

https://international.northeastern.edu/ogs/student-support/global-campuses/canada/social-insurance-number/

As per numerology, 666 when added comes to 9, a tricky number that stands for greediness, and natural disasters. But 9 (6+6+6+18=1+8=90 is also the number of Mars (Mangal) which means extra energy which can either make or break. It is impulsive, restless, stubborn and inflexible,' adds Jumaani."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad-times/666-the-devil-or-cupid/articleshow/1621141.cms#

A novena (from Latin: novem, "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks.[1] The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.[2]

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

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

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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

Civil Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Therefore morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise.  Evening civil twilight begins at sunset, and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Under these conditions absent fog or other restrictions, the brightest stars and planets can be seen, the horizon and terrestrial objects can be discerned, and in many cases, artificial lighting is not needed. Civil Twilight is also known as Civil Dawn and Civil Dusk.

Nautical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon.  In general, the term nautical twilight refers to sailors being able to take reliable readings via well known stars because the horizon is still visible, even under moonless conditions.  Absent fog or other restrictions, outlines of terrestrial objects may still be discernible, but detailed outdoor activities are likely curtailed without artificial illumination. Nautical Twilight is also known as Nautical Dawn and Nautical Dusk.

Astronomical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.  In astronomical twilight, sky illumination is so faint that most casual observers would regard the sky as fully dark, especially under urban or suburban light pollution.  Under astronomical twilight, the horizon is not discernible and moderately faint stars or planets can be observed with the naked eye under a non light polluted sky.  But to test the limits of naked eye observations, the sun needs to be more than 18 degrees below the horizon.  Point light sources such as stars and planets can be readily studied by astronomers under astronomical twilight.  But diffuse light sources such as galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters need to be observed under a totally dark sky, again when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.

https://www.weather.gov/fsd/twilight

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

What is the meaning of 666?

Answer

At the close of Revelation 13, which discusses the beast (the Antichrist) and his false prophet, we read, “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666” (Revelation 13:18). Somehow, the number 666 is a clue to the identity of the beast. Revelation 13 also mentions the “mark of the beast” (verses 16–17), and popular thought often links 666 with the mark; however, the mark of the beast and 666 appear to be two different things. The mark of the beast is something people must receive in order to buy and sell. The number 666 is somehow associated with the beast/Antichrist as “his” number.

The meaning of 666 is a mystery, and it appears that the apostle John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, intended it to be that way. Calculating it, John says, requires “wisdom.” Some, using gematria (assigning a number value to each letter of a name or word and then combining the number values to arrive at a total number), have identified the Antichrist as various people in world history. Some of the popular targets have been “Caesar Nero,” “Ronald Wilson Reagan,” “Mikhail Gorbachev,” and various popes in Roman Catholic history. The lengths some will go to in order to get a person’s name to add up to 666 are amazing. Virtually any name can add up to 666 if enough mathematical gymnastics are employed.

Six hundred, sixty-six will somehow identify the beast, but precisely how 666 is connected to the beast is not the main point of Revelation 13:18. The Bible often uses the number 7 to refer to God and His perfection. Traditionally, 6 is thought to be the number of man, created on the sixth day and always “falling short” of God. The beast/Antichrist will strive to be like God. He will likely even claim to be God. But, just as the number 6 falls short of the number 7, so will the beast/Antichrist, with his “trinity” of 6’s, ultimately fail in his effort to defeat God.

Addendum: Interestingly, in some ancient Greek manuscripts of the Book of Revelation, the number is given as 616 instead of 666. The manuscript evidence is strongly in favor of 666, but the alternate reading of 616 should give us pause before we start pounding away on the calculators.

https://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-of-666.html

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

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

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 13:11-18

1599 Geneva Bible

11 [a]And I beheld, another beast coming out of the earth, [b]which had two horns like the Lamb, but he spake like the dragon.

12 [c]And he did all that the first beast could do before him, and he caused the earth and them which dwell therein, [d]to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

13 [e]And he did great wonders, so that he made fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men.

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [f]image of the [g]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

15 [h]And it was permitted to him to give a [i]spirit unto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speak, and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

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

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

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

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Footnotes

Revelation 13:11 The second member of the vision, concerning the ecclesiastical dominion, which in Rome succeeded that which was politic, and is in the power of the corporation of false Prophets, and of the forgers of false doctrine. Wherefore the same body or corporation is called of S. John by the name of false prophet, Rev. 6:13, 19 and 20. The form of this beast is first described in this verse, then his acts, in the verses following, and the whole speech is concluded in the last verse. This beast is by his breed a Son of the earth (as they say) obscurely born, and by little and little creeping up out of his abject estate.

Revelation 13:11 That is, in show he resembled the Lamb (for what is more mild or more humble than to be the servant of the servants of God) but in deed he played the part of the Dragon, and of the Wolf, Matt. 7:15. For even Satan changeth himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11:14, and what should his honest disciples and servants do?

Revelation 13:12 The history of the acts of this beast containeth in sum three things, hypocrisy, the witness of miracles and tyranny: of which the first is noted in this verse, the second in the 3 verses following: the third in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses. His hypocrisy is most full of leasing, whereby he abuseth both the former beast and the whole world: in that albeit he hath by his cunning, as it were by lime made of the former beast a most miserable … or anatomy, usurped all his authority unto himself and most impudently exerciseth the same in the sight and view of him: yet he carrieth himself so, as if he honored him with most high honor, and did in very truth cause him to be honored of all men.

Revelation 13:12

For unto this beast of Rome, which of civil Empire is made an Ecclesiastical hierarchy, are given divine honors, and divine authority so far as he is believed to be above the Scriptures, which the gloss upon the Decretals declareth by this devilish verse,

Articulos solvit, synodumque facit generalem,

That is,

He changeth the Articles of faith, and giveth authority to general Counsels.

Which is spoken of the Papal power. So the beast is by birth, foundation, feat, and finally substance, one: only the Pope hath altered the form and manner thereof being himself the head both of that tyrannical Empire, and also of the false Prophets, for the Empire hath he taken unto himself, and thereunto hath added this cunning device. Now these words, whose deadly wound was cured are put here for distinction sake, as also sometimes afterwards: that even at that time the godly readers of this prophecy might by this sign be brought to see the things as present: as if it were said, that they might adore this very Empire that now is, whose head we have seen in our own memory to have been cut off, and to be cured again.

Revelation 13:13 The second point of the things done by the beast, is the credit of great wonders or miracles, appertaining to the strength of this impiety: of which signs some were given from above, as it is said, that fire was sent down from heaven by false sorcery, in this verse. Others were showed here below in the sight of the beast to establish idolatry, and deceive souls, which part S. John setteth forth beginning (as they say) at that which is last, in this manner: First the effect is declared in these words, He deceiveth the inhabitants of the earth, Secondly the common manner of working in two sorts, one of miracles. For the signs that were given him to do in the presence of the beasts: the other of the words added to the signs, and teaching the idolatry confirmed by those signs, Saying unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they should make an image unto the beasts which, etc. Thirdly, a special manner is declared: That is given unto him to put life into the image of the beast: and that such a kind of quickening, that the same both speaketh by answer unto those that ask counsel of it, and also pronounceth death against all those that do not obey nor worship it: all which things oftentimes by false miracles through the procurement and inspiration of the Devil, have been effected and wrought in images. The histories of the Papists are full of examples of such miracles, the most of them feigned, many also done by the devil in images: as of old in the serpent, Gen. 3:1. By which examples is confirmed, not the authority of the beast, but the truth of God, and of these prophecies.

Revelation 13:14 That is, images by enallage or change of the number: for the worship of them ever since the second Council of Nice, hath been ordained in the Church by public credit, and authority contrary unto the Law of God.

Revelation 13:14 In the Greek the word is in the Dative case, as much to say, as unto the worship, honor and obeying of the beast: for by this maintenance of images this Pseudoprophetical beast doth mightily profit the beast of Rome, of whom long ago he received them. Wherefore the same is hereafter very fitly called the image of the beast, for that images have their beginning from the beast, and have their form or manner from the will of the beast, and have their end and use fixed in the profit and commodity of the beast.

Revelation 13:15 And of this miracle of the images of the beast (that is, which the beast hath ordained to establish idolatry) which miraculously speak and give judgment, or rather marvelously, by the fraud of the false prophets, the Papists books are full fraughted.

Revelation 13:15 To give life as Jannes and Jambres imitated the wonders that Moses wrought.

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%3A11-18&version=GNV

GROUP'S LEADER AMONG 39 CULT SUICIDES

FAMILIES GET NEWS OF MEMBERS LOST MANY YEARS AGO

March 28, 1997

By William Booth and William Claiborne

SAN DIEGO, MARCH 28 -- Authorities identified 35 of the 39 members of the space-age cult Heaven's Gate who committed mass suicide, and a portrait began to emerge of people who left everything behind -- spouses, children and jobs -- to disappear into a disciplined and demanding life that promised its members a ticket to a "higher Kingdom."

Authorities who contacted relatives of the dead said today many of the families had not heard from cult members in years. They simply vanished from their families' lives. The members of the cult defy easy categorization. Among the dead were the daughter of a federal judge, and a postal worker fascinated by UFOs who abandoned her children for the cult. There was a young woman who went to fashion school but was searching for meaning in her life, sending home cryptic postcards about refusing to "play the regular games of this society." One was the son of a prominent business executive. They were not just young cyber-techs. Most were in their forties. Some had joined the cult in the 1970s; others were recent converts. They had been recruited from around the country, particularly western states and from communities with colleges known for supporting alternative lifestyles. They lived communally, taking vows of celibacy, sharing food and money. For many years, they begged for meals and gas money from churches or students, traveling like vagabonds.

It was only recently that they entered the computer business, designing World Wide Web pages and using the money to rent the vast estate in the hills north of San Diego where they ended their long, strange trip. As families were notified of long-lost children or parents, police indicated that their investigation was nearing completion and that the members all voluntarily committed suicide -- calmly and methodically -- a dramatic conclusion reached after the appearance of the comet Hale-Bopp in the night sky.

Neighbors, co-workers and family who spoke of the dead uniformly describe the rank-and-file members as intelligent, gentle but very private people. Typical are comments like that from an apartment manager where cult member Dana Tracey F. Abreo, 35, lived in Denver before joining the group: "Nice young professional woman, nice tenant, absolutely nothing about her to suggest that she might do anything like join a cult."

Yet the group members were not normal when it came to their past lives. They went away and did not look back. Stories of longtime estrangement are surfacing from most of the cult members.

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Nichelle Nichols, an actress who played Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek" television series, had not heard from her brother Thomas in 20 years. Then, a few years ago, her 59-year-old brother contacted her and described his life in the space-age cult just as the group was considering going public with their theology and plans for transcendence. Yvonne McCurdy-Hill, a 39-year-old Cincinnati woman, left behind five children in September to join the Heaven's Gate cult. The family's pastor said she learned of the cult from the Internet.

McCurdy-Hill and her husband, Steven M. Hill, a man six years her junior, have five children, ranging in age from 18 years to 7-month-old twins. Hill, according to family members, was "addicted to science fiction and aliens." His wife, Yvonne, became interested in the Heaven's Gate philosophy last year. They left their children and moved to California to join the group in September. Hill moved back to Cincinnati some time later, but was unable to persuade his wife to return with him.

David Geoffery Moore, 41, was also among the cult's dead, and his mother Nancie Brown described how she lost her son to the group 21 years ago.

"I had no idea where they've ever lived. There's never been an address," Brown said.

The cult demanded that members leave their families behind and live as monks in a commune, sharing everything, living together in roving "classrooms."

Another of the suicide victims, LaDonna Ann Brugato, 40, apparently left a young daughter behind, whereabouts unknown. Neighbors of Brugato in Engelwood, Colo., where she lived briefly in 1993 on South Poplar Court, remembered her as "really a private person."

"Most of the families realized they were in the cult, or had been in different cults, but they had not had contact with them over the years," said Calvin Vine, the official from the Medical Examiner's Office who contacted family members.

Angelo Bellizzi, whose son married a daughter of Jacqueline Opal Leonard, 72, who committed suicide with the group, said, "She just disappeared sometime in the early 1970s. She left her husband, left her kids and just took off. . . . Nobody knew where the hell she went."

Bellizzi said Leonard did not return for her daughter's wedding. About five years ago, members of the cult began an intense search for recruits, traveling around the country, speaking not only at colleges but at meetings of UFO buffs and New Age seminars. In recent years, they appeared in Atlanta; Missoula, Mont.; Las Vegas; and Durham, N.H. The group, whose existence dates back two decades, also conducted heavy recruiting in the 1970s, traveling to the small oceanside Oregon town of Waldport, where they gathered up some 20 members. It is not known how many members were longtime participants or newer recruits.

More recently, they also trolled for recruits on the Internet and offered promises of moving from "the human level to the heavenly kingdom."

Robert McKown, who was a student studying cults in college, attended a meeting in 1994 with members of Heaven's Gate at the First Existentialist Church in Atlanta.

"They were very focused, very disciplined," McKown recalled. "They gave testimonials. They offered a lot of things, but kept talking about the notion of transcendence, of going to a higher level."

In one videotape released by a surviving group member to a television station in Michigan, a woman with close-cropped hair speaks before the camera: "Maybe they're crazy for all I know, but I don't have any choice but to go for it, because I've been on this planet for 31 years and there's nothing here for me. She continued: "I don't feel there was any way that anybody could say that I was influenced by somebody's strong personality. . . . The second time I sat with King Do, I felt absolutely {that} there was no lie in {him}, that there was truth and goodness beyond anything I've ever seen."

As information began to trickle out about the victims, police confirmed that the group's leader, Marshall Herff Applewhite, 66, was among the dead. He was found alone in the master bedroom of the $1.6 million estate in the wealthy San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe.

Police also said several of the cult's male members, including Applewhite, had at some point been surgically or chemically castrated. The cult insisted that its members refrain from sexual activity. San Diego County Medical Examiner Brian G. Blackbourne said Applewhite had apparently undergone a "remote," or chemical, castration "some time ago" and showed no evidence of surgical scars.

The walls of the home had at least three drawings of alien beings, shown as the almond-eyed and hairless creatures with big heads popular in science fiction and UFO accounts.

Investigators stressed that they found no evidence of foul play and police detectives said the 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult were "the core isolated group" and did not appear to be the splinter of any larger cult operating elsewhere.

When asked if any member of the group may have left the house alive, Lt. Jerry Lipscomb of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's homicide division said, "There's nothing to support that concept."

The mother of Joel Peter McCormick, 29, said she was unable to find her son because the group had a nomadic existence. Her son eventually sent her a postcard saying, "Trust me. I'm doing fine and continue to grow toward the future."

Megan McCormick described her son as "open and trusting, but not really vulnerable." When the cult came to Madison, Wis., to recruit members at the public library, and one man joined, she said she wanted to speak out publicly so that others would be forewarned.

Among the dead were Gail Renee Maeder, 28, from Long Island, who attended fashion school; Susan Frances Strom, 44, daughter of a retired federal judge; David Cabot Van Sinderen, 48, son of the former CEO of South New England Telephone; and Margaret June Bull 53, an English teacher from Washington state.

Investigators today referred to a sheet of paper they found at the suicide scene, titled "The Routine." It briefly outlined the systematic way in which the cult undertook the mass suicide in three stages over several days.

The first 15 "classmates" would kill themselves, with the help of eight "assistants." Then another 15, also assisted by eight fellow members, would commit suicide. And then the final group would "help each other."

Police said they were convinced that the deaths were all voluntary suicides. Autopsies have been completed on 21 victims and Blackbourne said toxicology tests on the first five showed evidence of phenobarbital, a powerful sedative. Of the five, three victims had enough of the drug in their bodies to kill them. Investigators suspect the deaths were hastened by cult members covering their heads with plastic bags.

San Diego Sheriff's Deputy Robert Brunk, the first to enter the estate, described the scene as "almost like it wasn't real." The odor, he said, was immediately overpowering when he first opened a kitchen door. Despite the gruesome discovery, Brunk described the scene as "serene." Staff writers Lorraine Adams, Peter Behr, Michael A. Fletcher, Judith Havemann, George Lardner Jr., Karl Vick and Michael Shear and staff researcher Margot Williams in Washington, staff writer Tom Kenworthy in San Diego and special correspondents Cassandra Stern and Sharon Waxman in Los Angeles contributed to this report. CAPTION: San Diego County Chief Medical Examiner Brian G. Blackbourne shows reporters list of home states of suicide victims. CAPTION: Workers with the San Diego County coroner's office move the body of one of the 39 victims of the mass suicide to the morgue in San Diego yesterday. CAPTION: Yvonne McCurdy-Hill, a 39-year-old Cincinnati woman, left behind five children in September to join cult. CAPTION: A California Department of Motor Vehicles photograph depicts David Geoffery Moore, one of the 39 dead. His mother said she lost him 21 years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/03/29/groups-leader-among-39-cult-suicides/58fddbf5-461b-4a52-833b-7ad6ba324413/

Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion Paperback – October 31, 2014

by Benjamin E. Zeller (Author), Robert W. Balch (Foreword)

The captivating story of the people of Heaven’s Gate, a religious group focused on transcending humanity and the Earth, and seeking salvation in the literal heavens on board a UFO

In March 1997, thirty-nine people in Rancho Santa Fe, California, ritually terminated their lives. To outsiders, it was a mass suicide. To insiders, it was a graduation. This act was the culmination of over two decades of spiritual and social development for the members of Heaven’s Gate.

In this fascinating overview, Benjamin Zeller not only explores the question of why the members of Heaven’s Gate committed ritual suicides, but interrogates the origin and evolution of the religion, its appeal, and its practices. By tracking the development of the history, social structure, and worldview of Heaven’s Gate, Zeller draws out the ways in which the movement was both a reflection and a microcosm of larger American culture. The group emerged out of engagement with Evangelical Christianity, the New Age movement, science fiction and UFOs, and conspiracy theories, and it evolved in response to the religious quests of baby boomers, new religions of the counterculture, and the narcissistic pessimism of the 1990s. Thus, Heaven’s Gate not only reflects the context of its environment, but also reveals how those forces interacted in the form of a single religious body.

In the only book-length study of Heaven’s Gate, Zeller traces the roots of the movement, examines its beliefs and practices, and tells the captivating story of its people.

https://www.amazon.com/Heavens-Gate-Americas-UFO-Religion/dp/1479881066

Zeller Family History

Zeller Surname Meaning

German and Dutch: habitational name for someone from any of various places called Zelle or Celle (in particular Celle near Hanover) or named with German or Dutch Zelle ‘cell’ (for instance Appenzell, Switzerland), all derived ultimately from Latin cella ‘cell, small room’; or a topographic name from this word denoting someone who lived near the site of a hermit's cell.

This surname is also found in France (mainly Alsace, Lorraine, and Nord).

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from German Zelle ‘small workshop’ + the agent suffix -er for someone who owned or was employed at a Zelle.

Among Jews, it may also have been an adoption of the German surname.

Americanized form of Slovenian Zalar 1 or Compare Zellar.

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

Similar surnames: Heller, Eller, Zelle, Geller, Feller, Weller, Beller, Seller, Peller

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

What is Masada? What is the history of Masada?

TL;DR:

Masada is not mentioned in the Bible but was a place where the Jewish Zealots hid when the Romans attacked. Masada calls us to trust in God and to stand for what is true.

what does the bible say?

Masada is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible. The events surrounding Masada occurred during the time period between the Old and New Testaments, so it's not directly referenced in biblical texts. However, Masada is a historically significant site, particularly known for the events that took place there during the Jewish-Roman War in the 1st century AD.

Herod the Great built the mountain fortress of Masada in 31 BC above the western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. He feared revolt and wanted a place to make a stand that was difficult to attack and easy to defend. The fortress, with large places to store food, vast cisterns to store water, and defensive structures, was accessed only by a narrow path up the 1,300-foot mountain.

King Herod, an Edomite appointed by Roman rulers to oversee Judea, built the fortress and made it nearly impregnable, but it was the Jewish Zealots who hid there one hundred years later who made Masada famous.

In AD 70, the Romans attacked Judea and overran Jerusalem. Masada was the last holdout and center of resistance. General Flavius Silva couldn't directly attack the fortress, so in AD 72 he put thousands of slaves to work building a siege ramp. It took months to complete and when the troops broke into the fortress in AD 73, they found 953 people dead of a ceremonial mass suicide. Two women and five children hid in a cistern and survived to tell the story. They quoted Eleazar, their leader, saying, "Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, not to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice."

from the old testament

Masada is not mentioned in the Old Testament.

from the new testament

Masada is not mentioned in the New Testament.

While Masada itself isn't mentioned in the Bible, some of the events related to the Jewish-Roman War are indirectly referenced in the New Testament, particularly in Jesus' prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (Matthew 24:1–2; Mark 13:1–2; Luke 21:20–24). However, Masada is not specifically mentioned in those passages.

implications for today

The story of Masada teaches us the enduring lesson of perseverance and courage in the face of adversity. Despite being outnumbered and facing overwhelming odds, the Jewish Zealots at Masada chose to stand firm in their beliefs and resist Roman rule. While the way we hold onto what is true may vary depending on situation, God calls us to hold onto Him and to build our lives on the Rock on whom we can stand. God is our refuge and strength; in Him we find the courage we need to stand for what is right.

https://www.compellingtruth.org/history-of-Masada.html

SOCIALISTS IN THE KOOL-AID

October 15, 2018 By ISI Archive

Forty years ago, the name Jim Jones and the idea of “drinking the Kool-Aid” became indelibly etched in our collective memory as the world learned of a mass cult suicide in the jungles of South America. Movies and books have been written about Jones, but a key element of his story remains in the shadows: his career in San Francisco as a preacher and politico, courting and seducing some of the most powerful Democratic Party players in that weird and wild city, including a man who has become a cultural icon and hero to many, Harvey Milk. Daniel J. Flynn, author of Blue Collar Intellectuals and Intellectual Morons, has written a deeply researched and chilling account of the strangest of bedfellows—Cult City, which hits bookstores today. Here is an excerpt.

The advertisement billed the December 2 benefit gala as “A Struggle Against Oppression.” Scheduled speakers included rising Assemblyman Willie Brown as the master of ceremonies and funnyman Dick Gregory as the keynote. Supervisor Harvey Milk and other movers and shakers of an oft moved and shaken city crammed their big names into a small font on the flyer. For the bargain of $25—and “tax deductible” at that—influence seekers could seek to influence the mighty of a great American city. In addition to mingling with such power brokers as Brown and Milk, they could corner Sheriff Eugene Brown, physician and newspaper publisher Carlton Goodlett, and Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver at San Francisco’s Hyatt Regency. And doing well meant doing good. The dinner’s proceeds subsidized the Peoples Temple Medical Program.

The Hyatt ballroom remained empty on December 2, 1978. Two weeks earlier, the small staff of the Peoples Temple Medical Program had mixed cyanide with Flavor Aid and administered the poisonous, sugary elixir to hundreds of people in faraway Guyana. The smiling seniors and racial rainbow of children touting the wholesomeness of the agricultural commune in the fundraiser’s promotional literature rotted in piles in the steamy South American jungle. On an airstrip in nearby Port Kaituma, five people, including Congressman Leo Ryan, lay dead, gunned down by Peoples Temple assassins. Others, including future congresswoman Jackie Speier, State Department official Richard Dwyer, and San Francisco Examiner reporter Tim Reiterman, nursed bullet wounds. In Guyana’s capital city, a former Harvey Milk campaign volunteer slashed her children’s throats.

The Reverend Jim Jones, the darling of the San Francisco political establishment, orchestrated the murders and suicides of 918 people on November 18, 1978. The man-made cataclysm represented the largest such loss of civilian life in American history until 9/11 and the largest mass suicide of the modern age. Nothing before or after struck Americans as so bizarre.

The event shocked the world. But the small world surrounding Peoples Temple predicted it—loudly and repeatedly. Not every utterance from Jonestown’s namesake, after all, proved as cryptic as the one block-quoted on the “Struggle Against Oppression” promotional literature: “We have tasted life based on total equality and now have no desire to live otherwise.”

THE BIG COVER-UP

In the chaotic aftermath of the carnage, the Temple’s aggressive communism and evangelical atheism got lost in translation from the Guyanese jungle to bustling urban newsrooms looking to get the story first rather than right.

A New York Times article alleged that “Mr. Jones had preached a blend of fundamentalist Christianity and social activism.” The Associated Press called the people of Peoples Temple “religious zealots.” Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, described Jim Jones as “a power-hungry fascist.” Comedian Mort Sahl explained on his radio show days after the massacre, “The exercise in Guyana was a fascist exercise, no matter what the label on the can. Socialists don’t do that.” Neither a half-hour CBS special called “The Horror of Jonestown” nor an NBC report titled “Jonestown, November 1978: How Could It Happen?” raised the issue of the group’s Marxism.

Not everyone accepted the initial narrative. One fundamentalist minister, in a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe, objected to a California News Service article that termed Jones’s flock a “fundamentalist congregation.” Pravda, the official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, seized an opportunity to ridicule the West by noting that “the United States news media are trying to convince Americans as well as the foreign public that the deaths were the action of wild religious fanatics.”

Pravda and the Globe’s fundamentalist correspondent—strange bedfellows—were right. The supposed religious fanatics of Jonestown had hosted a Soviet delegation, taught Russian to residents in preparation for a mass pilgrimage to the place Jim Jones dubbed the group’s “spiritual motherland,” and willed millions of dollars to the Soviet Union. Peoples Temple goons confiscated Bibles reaching Jonestown from the United States. Jonestown celebrated December 25 as Revolution Day. They sang songs about Jim rather than Jesus. Jones openly denounced the “stupid Skygod.” When the jungle community ran out of toilet paper, Jones distributed Bibles for bathroom use—a practice hitherto unknown among fundamentalist Christians.

The initial rush of information confused falsehood for fact to such an extent that many gleaned an impression of the Temple diametrically opposed to reality. Jonestown, a jungle citadel of evangelical atheism and militant socialism, strangely became a cautionary tale about the dangers of evangelical Christianity.

The Nation offered one of the few reality checks. “The temple was as much a left-wing political crusade as a church,” the weekly offered. “In the course of the 1970s, its social program grew steadily more disaffected from what Jim Jones came to regard as a ‘Fascist America’ and drifted rapidly toward outspoken Communist sympathies.”

Distortions endure. The cover of Rebecca Moore’s 2009 book Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple, a follow-up to A Sympathetic History of Jonestown and In Defense of Peoples Temple, shows pictures of a white teacher patiently instructing black children, jubilant multiracial chefs preparing a dinner, an elderly man receiving medical care, and an industrious boy spinning a pottery wheel. Moore insists that the commune’s “reality was not completely at odds with the façade” it presented to the world.

“If anything,” Julia Scheeres maintains in 2011’s A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown, “the people who moved to Jonestown should be remembered as noble idealists. They wanted to create a better, more equitable, society. They wanted their kids to be free of violence and racism. They rejected sexist gender roles. They believed in a dream.”

Most people who live in a nightmare do.

The beliefs of Jim Jones and Peoples Temple—political, spiritual, and otherwise—ultimately proved a terrible embarrassment to allies; their actions, more so. Politicians, journalists, and others distanced themselves from the Temple.

The situation was far different when Jones was alive. During Peoples Temple’s heyday, Huey Newton, Jane Fonda, and Angela Davis heaped praise on the clergyman. A Los Angeles newspaper named Jones “Humanitarian of the Year.” The prominent interfaith organization Religion in American Life named him one of the nation’s one hundred outstanding clergymen, feting him at New York’s Waldorf Astoria. The president of CBS talked to Jones about producing a TV documentary on Peoples Temple.

Peoples Temple offered the political class votes and volunteers. In return, the Temple received legitimacy. Jones held court with future first lady Rosalynn Carter; two vice presidents, Nelson Rockefeller and Walter Mondale; Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally of California; and many other political figures. Willie Brown compared Jones to Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King Jr. Local media speculated that Jones could abandon the pulpit for the best office in City Hall.

POISONED MILK

Just nine days after the live-action horror movie in Guyana, another tragic event shook San Francisco: Supervisor Dan White murdered fellow supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in City Hall. As with the Jonestown massacre, myths cloud our understanding of these assassinations.

In life, the assassin served as a protégé of future U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein, a public-employees union activist, and a friend and occasionally an ally of Harvey Milk. He represented blue-collar San Francisco Democrats as a blue-collar San Francisco Democrat. But after murdering fellow Democrats Milk and Moscone, the surely disturbed Dan White morphed into a “disturbed right-wing supervisor.”

White’s victims experience a similar treatment of revisionist history. Moscone and Milk, tightly linked to Peoples Temple in life, strangely became untethered from the group in death. Moscone probably owed his election as mayor to Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. As thanks, the mayor appointed Jones to an important city post, making him chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission.

Harvey Milk became one of Jones’s most effusive advocates. He sent gushing letters to Jones and lobbied prominent leaders on behalf of Peoples Temple. Milk sent the president of the United States a letter so fawning that, in the words of one Temple chronicler, it “reads as if it were written by a Temple publicist.” To the prime minister of Guyana, Milk declared, “Such greatness I have found at Jim Jones’ Peoples’ Temple.”

Before Peoples Temple drank Jim Jones’s Kool-Aid, powerful people in San Francisco did. Harvey Milk imbibed most enthusiastically.

The popular treatments of Milk’s life do not leave this impression. In the Academy Award–winning movie Milk, starring Sean Penn, the Peoples Temple preacher, who proved crucial to Milk’s political rise and whose rise crucially depended on Milk and other Bay Area pols, appears nowhere. Leading biographies of Milk and Jones barely mention how the two San Francisco leaders helped each other.

Whereas chroniclers whitewashed Jim Jones before the events of November 1978, they whitewashed Harvey Milk after them. A man who had a long romantic relationship with a runaway he picked up at age sixteen now gives his name to a state holiday celebrated in California’s schools. A pioneer in the practice of “outing” and a constant practitioner of in-fighting with other gays now serves as a homosexual Martin Luther King figure idealized to the point of distortion. A politician who served honorably in the military subsequently won praise for a nonexistent dishonorable discharge that fuels a victimhood storyline. If Jones’s death eventually unearthed the truth about him, Milk’s unleashed a caricature often at odds with the facts.

In addition to uncovering archived material unavailable to or overlooked by previous researchers, this book includes scores of interviews providing a fresh perspective that upends what we think we know about the events of November 1978. The figures interviewed include Jim Jones’s onetime chief lieutenant; one of only three still-living survivors of the Jonestown tragedy present when the killings began; classmates of Harvey Milk and a playmate of Jones; a follower who plotted to kill Jones; the police officer who arrested Dan White; people shot by Peoples Temple enforcers; colleagues and rivals of Milk, White, and Moscone; and numerous other eyewitnesses to history largely unheard until now. These voices tell an untold story.

WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN

Characters propelled the events of November 1978. A unique setting allowed the tragedy to occur.

In San Francisco, the tie-dyed, Day-Glo 1960s morphed into a grimmer 1970s scene populated by serial killers, mad bombers, political assassins, and atavisms advertising the excesses of the previous era in gait, speech, and stare. In the Star Wars bar scene of 1970s San Francisco, Peoples Temple fit in more than it stood out. Yet the thumbnail tale of the Temple generally fixates on how so many could fall for such a charlatan in Guyana. What about San Francisco? There Herb Caen, Paul Avery, and other star journalists fawned over Jones, clergy celebrated him, and elected officials spoke of him as though speaking of a supernatural force and not a mere man.

Many crooked preachers fool the flock from the pulpit. Jim Jones suckered an entire city, or at least that portion of it holding the most sway.

The tragedy birthed in Guyana was conceived in California. One of the midwives was Harvey Milk. He depicted Jim Jones as a saint, Jonestown as an Eden, and the Temple’s opponents as loathsome. He wrote lobbying letters to more powerful political leaders touting the Temple and its leader. Though generally phobic toward organized religion, he described his experiences attending Peoples Temple in ecstatic terms. Jones incentivized such treatment by producing campaign volunteers, promoting the politician, and providing material support. More important, he preached a message Milk wanted to hear: Jones used the pulpit to extol homosexuality when other religious figures regarded it as a sin. Milk chose to see the beautiful illusion and not the insanity staring him in the face.

People with worse educations and fewer opportunities did so at greater penalty. Never speaking with much of a megaphone in life, and silenced in death, the victims became victims all over again in the aftermath. The mighty back in San Francisco washed their hands of any complicity. The narrative stressed a band of kooks isolated in the jungle. It largely bypassed the alliance between Jim Jones and Harvey Milk, George Moscone, and other local leaders.

Reasons specific to San Francisco set the tragedy in motion. So did ones universal within human nature. The Temple’s influential friends overlooked evidence of severe wrongdoing to actively promote Jim Jones. The glorious vision Jones elucidated obscured the dark reality. The attempt to create heaven on earth instead produced a hell.

Jones found allies among the powerful; he found devoted followers in the pews. A charismatic preacher, he attracted thousands to his San Francisco services and exerted an extraordinary hold over his Peoples Temple followers. They called him “Father” and viewed him as God. The deeper they rooted their support for Jim Jones, the more difficult they found it to dig themselves out of the hole. The same phenomenon that damned the judgment of the powerful in San Francisco doomed the powerless in Jonestown. The cover-ups, the prioritizing of correct politics over right conduct, and the fidelity to the narrative when it clashed with facts led to the faithful’s demise and characterized the mentality of their boosters safe in San Francisco. And four decades later, the scrubbing of reality to produce a politically cleaner version continues. People who bowdlerize the events of 1978 strangely wonder how people in 1978 could have bowdlerized events in 1978.

In the cases of Jim Jones and Harvey Milk, an end-justifies-the-means mentality erased faults and emphasized good deeds. Then, politicians enjoying Peoples Temple support dismissed specific reports from numerous eyewitnesses of serious criminal conduct by Jim Jones. Now, Harvey Milk’s admirers erase his close alliance with Jim Jones. To note the tall tales he told about himself and others to further a persecution narrative, the outing of a friend for political advantage, and his predatory relationships with teens and young men all mark the messenger as indecent. This book confronts the noble lie.

Jones did no wrong in life. Milk proved infallible upon death. The politician and the preacher, a saint and a devil in their afterlives, walked the earth as human beings.

https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/socialists-in-the-kool-aid/

AI Overview

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Sufism and Buddhism, while differing in their fundamental beliefs, share some common ground in their emphasis on personal spiritual growth and the path to enlightenment. Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, centers on attaining a closer relationship with God through contemplation, self-discipline, and devotion. Buddhism, a non-theistic tradition, focuses on achieving enlightenment through the elimination of suffering and the practice of meditation.

Key Differences:

Theism vs. Non-Theism:

Sufism is a theistic tradition that believes in a supreme God, while Buddhism is a non-theistic tradition that does not worship a god.

Focus of Practice:

Sufism emphasizes the love and union with God through various practices like dhikr (remembrance) and whirling dervishes, while Buddhism focuses on the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the cultivation of virtues like compassion and wisdom.

Concept of Reality:

Sufism views the material world as a reflection of the divine, while Buddhism sees it as an illusion (maya).

Goal of Spiritual Practice:

Sufism seeks to attain union with God (tawhid), while Buddhism aims to achieve enlightenment and nirvana, the state of liberation from suffering.

Similarities:

Meditation and Contemplation:

Both traditions emphasize meditation and introspection as a means of spiritual growth.

Self-Discipline and Asceticism:

Both traditions value self-discipline, asceticism, and detachment from worldly desires as essential for spiritual progress.

Emphasis on Inner Transformation:

Both Sufism and Buddhism prioritize inner transformation and the cultivation of virtues as a path to enlightenment or union with the divine.

Importance of Spiritual Guides:

Both traditions value the guidance of spiritual teachers or leaders who can help practitioners on their path.

Generative AI is experimental.

The Body is The Temple of The Soul

Writer's picture: Alex Chen

Alex Chen

Jun 29, 2022

3 min read

Updated: Jun 30, 2022

Over the past year, I've become ever more fascinated with Chinese medicine. I'm pretty healthy, but my mother has accumulated pain and discomfort throughout her body over the years. Through acupoint massage and diet, I've managed to reduce my mom's pain and discomfort and also improve her emotions (I wrote about all this in my TCM Series). However, I'm not a trained professional, so my abilities are limited.

 

A couple months ago, I had the great fortune of meeting a TCM doctor named Kun Liu (Angel), and she is at the top of her field. She comes from a family of TCM doctors, so she's been surrounded by TCM since childhood. She also got her doctorate degree in TCM and has over 15 years of clinical experience. She is a busy and highly sought after doctor, but I managed to get an online consultation with her for my mother and I.

 

Before our first meeting, she told me to send her pictures of our meals for 4 days. Usually, my mother does the cooking in our household because she has the most free time, but she's never enjoyed cooking. She is also a devoted Buddhist, and she learned to not be so attached to the body and worldly pleasures like food.

https://www.weeklywisdomblog.com/post/the-body-is-the-temple-of-the-soul

Genesis 2:24

1599 Geneva Bible

24 Therefore shall man leave [a]his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Genesis 2:24 So that marriage requireth a greater duty of us toward our wives, than otherwise we are bound to show to our parents.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202%3A24&version=GNV

1 John 5:7-9

1599 Geneva Bible

7 For there are three, which bear record in heaven, the Father, the [a]Word, and the holy Ghost: and these three are [b]one.

8 And there are three, which bear record in the earth, the Spirit, and the Water and the Blood: and these three agree in one.

9 [c]If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for [d]this is the witness of God, which he testified of his Son.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

1 John 5:7 See John 8:13, 14.

1 John 5:7 Agree in one.

1 John 5:9 He showeth by an Argument of comparison, of what great weight the heavenly testimony is, that the Father hath given of the Son, unto whom agreeth both the Son himself and the holy Ghost.

1 John 5:9 I conclude this aright: for that testimony which I said is given in heaven, cometh from God, who so setteth forth his Son.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%205%3A7-9&version=GNV

With regard to self-immolation, it should be pointed out that, unlike Jainism, Buddhism is generally against religious suicide350 and self-mutilation (Sheth, 2012: 73-74), but there are exceptions both in Theravada as well as in Mahāyāna. The Theravāda Jātaka tales relate several instances of religious suicide in some of the previous lives of Gautama Buddha. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the most important and well-known Mahāyāna Scriptural text and often referred to briefly as the Lotus Sutra, extols the case of the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja, who previously, as the Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, burnt his own body as an act of honor (pūjā) accorded to the Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśri and to the Lotus Sutra. It also mentions that youth who burn some part of their body at the relic chambers of the Buddhas gain immense merit (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, ch. 22, pp. 237, 240). Such examples are adduced in order to justify exceptional cases of heroic, altruistic and sublime self-sacrifice of one’s life. For Thich Nhat Hahn self-immolation is neither good nor bad. It transcends the question whether self-immolation is good strategy in peace activism. But we must make an effort to put ourselves in the shoes of the immolators and try to see things with their eyes. They intend to enkindle the awareness of people and awaken them (Nhat Hahn 1975: 62). We had begun our social justice trip in India. Even though we now move on to Tibet, yet, in consonance with the cyclic worldview of Buddhism, we actually return to India: the reason is that the Dalai Lama has established a Tibetan Government in Exile in India.

The Buddha & Jesus

An Anthology of Articles by Jesuits engaged in

Buddhist Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue

Edited by

Cyril Veliath, SJ

Faculty of Global Studies

Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

https://web.archive.org/web/20220929093250/https://jcapsj.org/the-buddha-jesus/

On 11 June 1963, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated outside the Cambodian embassy in the city of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalists were notified in advance to show up, but had not been told what would happen. The US journalist Malcolm Browne photographed the scene. His photograph became an enduring worldwide image of Buddhist protest.

Many in the US assume that the self-immolation was a protest against the war in Vietnam, paralleling anti-war protestors at home. This idea fits nicely into the popular association of Buddhism with peace. It is, however, wrong. Quang Duc’s self-immolation and the others that followed were a protest against the South Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem administration and its allies in the West. Vietnamese Buddhists felt persecuted by the Vietnamese administration’s pro-Catholic stance. Their self-immolations were acts to defend Buddhism.

Buddhists have always been involved in civil disobedience movements and peace-making agendas, such as the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. Further, Buddhist meditations have proven incredibly helpful in the rehabilitation of criminals. In short, Buddhism, to its practitioners, is not an ‘accoutrement’ to life or ‘just’ a philosophy – it is a full-bodied religion whose adherents are eager to protect. The myth of Buddhism as a wholly peaceful religion ignores Buddhists’ agency and diversity – and the fact that they will go to great lengths to defend their religion, whether by way of pistol-bearing monks or self-immolating protesters.

Recently, Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also called for violence. In 2013, Time magazine placed the Burmese Buddhist monk U Wirathu on their cover with the headline ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror’. U Wirathu has been a fiery critic of Burmese Muslims, particularly those who identify as Rohingya. The 2014 Myanmar census found that Buddhists make up 89 per cent of the population, compared with Muslims at 4.3 per cent. Nevertheless, U Wirathu and his counterparts argue that both Burmese Buddhism and Myanmar itself are threatened by the ‘Islamification of Asia’. In well-attended sermons, U Wirathu has repeatedly derided Muslims and Islam, accusing them of seeking to destroy Burmese culture and the future of Buddhism. In one sermon, he likened Muslims to the African carp, explaining that they are inherently violent, prone to breed quickly, and want to eat their own kind.

U Wirathu is a member of the 969 movement. This movement and the Ma Ba Tha (the Patriotic Association of Myanmar) retain significant influence over the Buddhists of Myanmar. They distribute pamphlets and taped sermons that warn about the threat of Islam. Their work to foment fear of Muslims helps to propel Burmese Buddhists toward violence, as in the murderous anti-Muslim riots in the central city of Meiktila in 2013, where at least 40 people died. Before these, there were powerful precursors from the western Rakhine state. Since 2012, nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Most of these Rohingya have been deported from homes into special internment camps. Due to the terrible conditions in these camps, journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times argue that the Buddhist treatment of the Rohingya constitutes genocide.

In 2015, the two Burmese Buddhist organisations successfully lobbied for the passage of pro-Buddhist legislation. Many international human-rights groups argue that these new laws are discriminatory against minority groups, particularly Muslims. U Wirathu continues to develop connections not only with Thailand’s Buddhist monks, but also with Sri Lankan Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist organisation ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott on stores selling halal-certified meat

From 1983, Sri Lanka was engaged in a civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought to separate and form their own independent state of Tamil Eelam. The Sri Lankan government opposed this, both through secular language and Buddhist rhetoric. Buddhist monks fiercely argued against negotiations, and for fighting to keep Sri Lanka ‘whole’. For these monks, Sri Lanka is the true land of Buddhism and it was under attack. Monks were straightforward political players, delivering incendiary speeches, joining political parties (such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), and taking part in violent clashes.

The civil war ended in 2009, but Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have continued to push their political agendas. Since 2011, there have been further escalations in violent rhetoric by Sri Lankan Buddhist nationalist organisations such as the Sinhala Ravaya (The Roar of the Sinhalese), the Ravana Balaya (Ravana’s Force) and the Bodu Bala Sena (The Army of Buddhist Power). Often, the rhetoric is directed at businesses, for example against halal provision for Muslims. In early 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott against stores that provided halal-certified meat. The Buddhist organisation falsely alleged that Muslims were slaughtering young calves (an illegal practice), and accused the governing body for halal-certification, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, of taking steps to bring about Sharia law in Sri Lanka.

Similar to their counterparts in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have incited anti-Muslim riots, as in Aluthgama in 2014. Buddhist groups have been implicated in the assassination of politicians and peace activists. The growing influence of these hyper-nationalist Buddhist organisations, together with the Sri Lankan government’s tacit support (through a lack of response) has spurred NGOs and local communities to protest. In November 2016, 367 Sri Lankan citizens submitted a collective complaint about the inaction of the police to protect minorities from the persistence of Buddhist monk-led attacks.

No religion has a monopoly on ‘violent people’, nor does any one religion have a greater propensity for violence. Rather, social conditions such as poverty and societal upheavals generate violent behaviour, regardless of religion. It is no coincidence that poorer regions and neighbourhoods suffer higher crime rates. When people find the world changing around them, they turn to their religion to make sense of things. Some look to religion as a means to preserve what they have, and religion provides a way of understanding one’s place in the world and, more importantly, one’s duty.

In order to comprehend such people’s justifications for violence, it is important to explore their worldview, namely, the way in which Buddhists understand and protect what is sacred to them. Although Buddhism is incredibly diverse, all Buddhists venerate the Triple Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (doctrine) and Sangha (monastic community). As long as these jewels remain in the world, humanity still has a way of escaping the vicious cycle of rebirth. Buddhists, along with Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, believe that time is cyclical, and that there is a decline before the end of each great cycle.

According to Buddhists, their doctrine provides rulers with justice, societies with equilibrium, and individuals with a path to salvation. Its attenuation, therefore, is one sign of the decline. Another is the absence, or dwindling numbers, of the sangha. When there are no more monks, Buddhist End Times will begin.

Buddhist scriptures measure internal time by how many breaths you take, and external (cosmic) time through the rotation of four kalpas, or aeons. Unlike in Abrahamic religions, time in Buddhism has no beginning. It is a constant cycle. There is no definitive amount of time given for each kalpa, but Buddhist scriptures provide suggestive analogies. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one kalpa lasts longer than the time required to wear away an 18,000-square-metre rock by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every 100 years.

The first kalpa is a formative and chaotic period. In the second kalpa, the chaos continues to unfold. It is only in the third kalpa in which the chaos declines, and the world enters into a rapid stage of evolution. The fourth and final kalpa is called the Age of Destruction. It ends with an apocalyptic rainfall that destroys all life and sparks the beginning of the first kalpa. Buddhists believe that we are living in the fourth and final section of the last kalpa. The end of the kalpa will inevitably come and, when it does, a new Buddha will emerge: Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be. But Buddhists can forestall the end. The longer the Buddhist monks and their doctrine remain strong, then the slower the pace toward the end of the kalpa.

Buddhist traditions have different ways of identifying the signs of deterioration. According to legend, on the eve of the Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) becoming awakened, he was tempted by Mara, the embodiment of desire, death and rebirth. Although he conquered his desires and vanquished Mara, many Buddhists have believed that the re-appearance of Mara is a sign that the End Times have arrived. Others think that the erosion of their sacred Three Jewels signals the beginning of the end. In order to forestall the quickening of the End Times, Buddhists have fought against the manifestations of Mara and to preserve the integrity of their practices and doctrine.

For instance, in sixth-century China, the Buddhist monk Faqing led a revolt and declared the arrival of a new Buddha. He marshalled 50,000 men to fight, promising them that, with each kill, they would reach a higher stage in the bodhisattva path. In ninth-century Tibet, Emperor Langdarma was assassinated by a Tibetan lama. According to Tibetan sources, Langdarma had become possessed by demonic forces (gdon). He destroyed monasteries and began to attack the Buddhist establishment. Things were changing and not in the right direction. The murder of Langdarma ‘saved’ Buddhism in Tibet. It has become such an important event that the Tibetans commemorate the murder in their Cham dance, which offers moral instructions through performance.

Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese emperor strengthened support for Shintoism, and began to dismantle Buddhist institutions that were not favourable to the state. Buddhist monks had a choice of either complying with the state, or leaving the monkhood. Many remained and supported the onset of Japanese imperialism. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, Rinzai Buddhist monks spoke out in favour of the military campaign. For them, the war was a fight for the preservation of civilisation and the Buddhist doctrine – a fight for the world.

The Buddhist call-to-arms reoccurred throughout the Second World War. Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Zen and Pure Land Buddhist monks argued that the Second World War was justified in order to preserve ‘true’ Buddhism. The Buddhist traditions in places such as China, Korea and Singapore had become corrupt and faulty. It was a sign of decay.

As humanity moves closer to the Buddhist End Times, the Buddhist doctrine explains that it will become harder for a person to become enlightened. In recent years, many Buddhists have turned to Pure Land Buddhism. These Buddhists believe that our world is now fraught with a multitude of obstacles to becoming fully awakened. To avoid this, a follower practices uttering Amitabh’s name (nianfo) and visualizing him. In this way, the follower ensures a rebirth in Pure Land, where he can receive the teachings from the Bodhisattva Amitabha to reach enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism is one of the largest populated traditions in East Asia, and is quickly expanding its numbers globally. While some Buddhists turn to traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, others fight to preserve what they believe is true Buddhism, such as in southern Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Over the centuries, there have been tremendous changes to Buddhism. Indeed, change is one of the foundational principles in Buddhism: all is impermanent. Some changes are in concert with modernity, others are in reaction. Each Buddhist tradition has transformed with the times – and the times are always changing. But there are persistent patterns that keep pace with these changes. Buddhist monks in the early sixth-century China led revolts to defend Buddhism. Today, monks in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka continue to fight – violently – for their religion and to call their followers to action. The cycle of violence continues in this final stage of the cycle of time: the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction.

Monks with guns

Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam?

https://aeon.co/essays/buddhism-can-be-as-violent-as-any-other-religion

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

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

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

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

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'"

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

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

02/05/2025 He Yuyan

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

by He Yuyan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Epilogue-For Such A Time As This"

Pope Francis Lord of the World

by P.D. Stuart

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemns warship accident as 'criminal'

By Jack Kim and Josh Smith

May 21, 2025 9:32 PM PDT Updated an hour ago

Summary

Destroyer one of the largest warships to be built by North Korea

Leader Kim criticises accident for tarnishing state dignity

Vessel likely side-launched, a method not tried for warships

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles, Seoul says

SEOUL, May 22 (Reuters) - A serious accident occurred on Wednesday during the launch of a new North Korean warship while Kim Jong Un was attending the event, with the isolated state's leader calling it a "criminal act" that could not be tolerated, state media KCNA reported.

Kim, who witnessed the failed launch of the 5,000-ton destroyer, excoriated the accident as caused by "carelessness" that tarnished the country's dignity, and ordered the ship to be restored before a key ruling party meeting in June, KCNA said on Thursday.

The report did not mention whether there were any casualties.

KCNA said the incident at the northeastern port of Chongjin was caused by a loss of balance while the vessel was being launched and it said sections of the bottom of the warship were crushed, but it did not give more details of damage sustained.

"Kim Jong Un made stern assessment saying that it was a serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism which is out of the bounds of possibility and could not be tolerated," KCNA reported.

Kim said the accident "brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse", adding an immediate restoration of the destroyer was "not merely a practical issue but a political issue directly related to the authority of the state."

South Korea's military said the stricken warship was lying sideways in the water after the failed launch.

The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States had been monitoring the activities in advance, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung-jun told a briefing.

Later on Thursday, South Korea's military said the North fired multiple cruise missiles around the time its state media reported the failure of the warship launch from an area south of the port. It did not provide further details on the missiles.

The rare public disclosure of an accident follows a report of the launch of another destroyer of a similar size in April, also attended by Kim, at the west coast shipyard of Nampho.

North Korea has previously experienced accidents such as space launch vehicle failures and civilian disasters that have subsequently been used to promote the role of the leadership and the ruling Workers' Party in correcting the problems.

The 5,000-ton destroyers launched by North Korea this year are the country's largest warships yet, part of leader Kim's push to upgrade its naval power by adding vessels capable of carrying and launching dozens of missiles to its fleet.

In a report last week on preparations for the latest launch, U.S.-based 38 North said it appeared the ship would be side-launched from the quay.

Such a method has not been previously observed in launching warships in North Korea, according to military analysts.

"The use of this launch method could be one of necessity, as the quay where the ship is being built does not have an incline" to move the vessel stern first into the water, the 38 North report said.

Commercial satellite imagery of the shipyard the day before the launch showed the destroyer positioned on the quay with support vessels by its side and its missile tube magazines exposed.

A North Korea expert based in Seoul said Pyongyang's disclosure was surprisingly swift.

"It shows again Kim Jong Un's ruling style of cutting off negative rumours from spreading and controlling officials more forcefully by being open about it rather than hiding it," said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute.

Reporting by Joyce Lee, Jack Kim, Josh Smith, Hyunsu Yim and Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies, Stephen Coates and Saad Sayeed

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-condemns-warship-accident-kcna-says-2025-05-22/

The Mirror Match is a special match battle introduced in Mortal Kombat. The player has to face the character that they are playing as in kombat. The difference between each identical character is distinguished by the color of their clothes or of their skin.

Overview

In the original Mortal Kombat tournament, kombatants had to not only face their enemies in battle, but themselves. Facing a doppelganger, players had to defeat a warrior who shared their own strengths and weaknesses. Essentially, it is a duel where one must overcome themselves if they are to face the likes of Shang Tsung as they become truly aware of their own strengths as well as the weaknesses they can conquer.

In Mortal Kombat X, mirror matches are a topic of interest thanks to the unique interactions that each kombatant has before a fight. In one instance with Reptile, his double is Shang Tsung himself when Reptile assumed he was Chameleon. Other instances heavily imply the convergence of different timelines as Raiden must fight against an alternate version of himself who fights for Chaosrealm instead of Earthrealm while the Scorpion of the new timeline is faced against his original counterpart during his time as the Elder Gods' champion, with Lt. Sonya Blade meeting her future Gen. Sonya Blade self. Also, Shinnok faces his double who [he] "didn't kill at the pyramid".

This level of intrigue would later return to play a big role in the story of Mortal Kombat 11 where characters are be faced with past versions of themselves, particularly Liu Kang and Kung Lao confronting their future Revenant counterparts. In one Mirror Match, the Scorpion from Mortal Kombat X is seen acknowledging and defending Kuai Liang's sincerity in their newfound alliance while the opposing version believes Sub-Zero to be treacherous. Interactions between future and past selves also come with immense risks as damage inflicted on the past self will be reflected on the future self such as the younger Johnny Cage being shot in the face with the exact same scar being reflected on the older version as well as feeling their pain. In other cases, characters are faced with family members with identical visages such as Bi-Han in his human form, Sub-Zero's Grandfather, Liu Kang's ancestor Cheh Kang, or Shang Tsung's brother Shang Lao.

Mortal Kombat 1 would take the concept to its logical extreme in the latter half of the Story with the introduction of parallel timelines following the previous game's final battle for control of the Keep. This would introduce not only Titan versions of Liu Kang's old allies, but evil versions of them working for Titan Shang Tsung. This eventually culminates in another Armageddon-style battle between the Forces of Light and Darkness, Liu Kang assembling not only his own chosen warriors, but kombatants across parallel timelines, including heroic versions of his old enemies to match Shang Tsung's. Due to being able to choose the final warrior to accompany Liu Kang, they have the chance to fight characters from other endings of previous games and timelines such as Smoke facing off against his cyberized version from MK3 or Shao fighting a fleshbound version of the merger between him and Sub-Zero.

https://mortalkombat.fandom.com/wiki/Mirror_Match

Kim Kardashian testifies about being bound and held at gunpoint during Paris robbery

By  THOMAS ADAMSON, JOHN LEICESTER and NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY

Updated 12:23 PM PDT, May 13, 2025

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PARIS (AP) — Kim Kardashian said a silent prayer — for her sister, her best friend, her family — as a masked man pulled her toward him in a Paris hotel room during the 2016 jewelry heist that changed her life. She wore a bathrobe. Her hands were zip-tied. Her mouth was taped. She thought she wouldn’t survive.

“I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” she told a Paris court Tuesday. “I absolutely did think I was going to die.”

She said she was getting ready for bed when she heard stomping on the stairs. At first, she thought it was her sister Kourtney and a friend returning drunk from a night out at Paris Fashion Week.

In this artist sketch, Kim Kardashian testifies regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentin Pasquier)

In this artist sketch, Kim Kardashian testifies regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Valentin Pasquier)

“Hello? Hello? Who is it?” she called out. Then masked men stormed the room.

She grabbed her phone but didn’t know the French emergency number. She tried to call her sister and bodyguard, but one man stopped her. The men threw her on the bed, zip-tied her hands and pressed a gun to her.

0:00 / 55

AP AUDIO: Kim Kardashian testifies about being bound and held at gunpoint during Paris robbery

AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports on emotional testimony from Kim Kardashian.

“I have babies,” Kardashian said, according to her testimony. “I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”

She was carried into the bathroom. One man taped her mouth. She was told she’d be OK if she stayed quiet.

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The last time Kardashian saw the men that police say robbed her, she was locked in the marble bathroom while masked assailants stole more than $6 million in jewelry. On Tuesday, nearly a decade later, she faced them again — this time, from the witness stand.

Her testimony marked the emotional climax of a trial that has gripped France and reignited debates about the cost of fame and what it means to live in public.

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Kim Kardashian, center, arrives to testify regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Kim Kardashian, center, arrives to testify regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Following digital breadcrumbs

At the time of the robbery, Kardashian was one of the most recognized women on the planet. A fashion icon. A reality star. A billionaire business mogul. She had mastered a new kind of celebrity — one broadcast in real time, post by post, to millions of followers.

But in the early hours of Oct. 3, 2016, that visibility became a weapon against her. The robbery marked a turning point for Kardashian, and for how the world understood vulnerability in the digital age.

Investigators believe the attackers followed Kardashian’s digital breadcrumbs — images, timestamps, geotags — and exploited them with old-school criminal methods.

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Dressed in black with defiant sparkling diamonds, Kardashian on Tuesday stood across from her mother, Kris Jenner, in the heavily secured courtroom. Her voice trembled as she thanked French authorities for “allowing me to share my truth.”

She described how the attackers arrived at her hotel disguised as police officers, dragging the concierge upstairs in handcuffs. “I thought it was some sort of terrorist attack,” she said.

One attacker demanded she turn over her diamond ring valued at $4 million on the bedside table. “He said, ‘Ring! Ring!’ and he pointed to his hand,” she recalled.

French prosecutors say the assailants — most in their 60s and 70s — were part of a seasoned criminal ring. Two defendants have admitted being at the scene. One claims he didn’t know who she was.

Twelve suspects were originally charged. One has since died. Another was excused due to illness. The French press dubbed them les papys braqueurs — “the grandpa robbers” — but prosecutors insist they were no harmless retirees.

They face charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and membership in a criminal gang, offenses that carry the potential for life imprisonment.

Kim Kardashian, center left, accompanied by her mother Kris Jenner, center right, leaves the justice palace after testifying, regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Kim Kardashian, center left, accompanied by her mother Kris Jenner, center right, leaves the justice palace after testifying, regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

‘Take everything. I need to live’

After the men fled, Kardashian rubbed the tape against the bathroom sink to free her hands. She hopped downstairs, still bound, to find her friend and stylist, Simone Harouche. Fearing the robbers might return, they went onto the balcony and hid in bushes. While lying there, Kardashian called her mother.

Earlier in the trial, Harouche recalled hearing Kardashian scream from upstairs: “‘I need to live.’ That is what she kept on saying, ‘Take everything. I need to live.’”

Harouche locked herself in a bathroom and texted Kardashian’s sister and bodyguard: “Something is very wrong.”

She described how her friend was “beside herself ... she just was screaming.”

Judge David de Pas asked whether Kardashian had made herself a target by posting images of herself with “jewels of great value.” Harouche rejected the premise. “Just because a woman wears jewelry, that doesn’t make her a target,” she said. “That’s like saying that because a woman wears a short skirt that she deserves to be raped.”

After the robbery, critics slammed Kardashian for flaunting her wealth, including designer Karl Lagerfeld who told the Associated Press she was “too public” with her jewelry. But as details of the heist emerged, public opinion grew sympathetic.

The heist triggered a cultural shift, prompting publicists and managers to urge clients to delay social media posts, remove location tags and think twice before flashing luxury online. Yet Kardashian’s own image, some say, continues to complicate that narrative. As she testified Tuesday about her trauma, journalists received a press release touting her Paris courthouse appearance: “Kim Kardashian stuns …wearing a show-stopping $1.5 million diamond necklace by Samer Halimeh New York, featuring 80 flawless diamonds.” Visibility, it seemed, remains currency.

She told the court her house in Los Angeles was robbed shortly afterward in what appeared to be a copycat attack. Without security guards, she said, “I can’t even sleep at night.” She now keeps between four and six guards at home.

“I started to get this phobia of going out,” Kardashian said. “This experience really changed everything for us.”

At the time of the 2016 robbery, she said, her bodyguard was staying in a separate hotel: “We assumed that if we were in a hotel it was safe, it was secure.”

She said Paris had once been a sanctuary, a place where she would walk at 3 or 4 a.m., window shopping, sometimes stopping for hot chocolate. It “always felt really safe,” she said. “It was always a magical place.”

Kardashian, who is studying to become a lawyer herself, said she was grateful for the opportunity “to tell my truth” in the packed Paris courtroom.

“This is my closure,” she said. “This is me putting this, hopefully, to rest.”

https://apnews.com/article/kim-kardashian-trial-paris-fashion-week-b06a96edfa5271de2d92870dcafe2796

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

The program promoted mass production of multiple vaccines, and different types of vaccine technologies, based on preliminary evidence, allowing for faster distribution if clinical trials confirm one of the vaccines is safe and effective.[citation needed] The plan anticipated that some of these vaccines will not prove safe or effective, making the program more costly than typical vaccine development, but potentially leading to the availability of a viable vaccine several months earlier than typical timelines.[8]

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

History

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

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

Operation Warp Speed was formed to encourage private and public partnerships to enable faster approval and production of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The name was inspired by terminology for faster-than-light travel used in the Star Trek fictional universe, evoking a sense of rapid progress.[10][11]

The Food and Drug Administration announced on June 30, 2020, that a vaccine would need to be at least 50% effective for diminishing the severity of COVID-19 symptoms to obtain regulatory and marketing approval.[12]

In January 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that the program was expected to undergo a restructure and renaming under the Biden administration.[13][14] Also in January 2021, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, former Operation Warp Speed lead, was told not to use the name Operation Warp Speed anymore.[15] At the end of February 2021, responsibilities of Operation Warp Speed were transferred into the White House COVID-19 Response Team.[7][16]

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

Lieutenant Harry S.L. Kim was a Human Starfleet officer who served as the operations officer aboard the starship USS Voyager during the seven years it was lost in the Delta Quadrant and, in the 2380s, he served as a tactical officer aboard the USS Dauntless. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Non Sequitur", "The Disease", "Warhead", "Nightingale": PRO: "Supernova, Part 1")

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_Kim

Ensign Harry S. L. Kim is a fictional character who appeared in each of the seven seasons of the American television series Star Trek: Voyager. Portrayed by Garrett Wang, he is the Operations Officer aboard the Starfleet starship USS Voyager.

The character first appeared in the pilot episode of the series, "Caretaker". The character continued to appear throughout the series in a main cast role, with his final appearance in the finale, "Endgame". In that episode, an alternative future version of the character is seen as a Starfleet Captain. He is typically shown as being naive, especially in romantic situations, but gifted. The character finds the ship's first possible route home, and in one alternative future, he manages to develop a transwarp drive which allows him and Chakotay to travel home in a matter of hours but kills the rest of the crew. The producers had considered whether or not to kill off Kim during the third season. Wang subsequently reprised the role of Harry Kim for the fan-made Star Trek: Renegades. In 2024, Wang reprised the role as several alternate reality versions of Harry Kim in Star Trek: Lower Decks penultimate episode "Fissure Quest."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kim_(Star_Trek)

Kim Jong Un[d] (born 8 January 1982, 1983 or 1984)[b] is a North Korean politician and dictator who has been the third supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012.[e] He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was the second supreme leader of North Korea, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder and first supreme leader of the country.

From late 2010, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in December 2011, state television announced Kim as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause". Kim holds the titles of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs. He is also a member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country. In July 2012, Kim was promoted to the highest rank of marshal in the Korean People's Army, consolidating his positions as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. North Korean state media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un" or "Marshal Kim Jong Un". He has promoted the policy of byungjin, similar to Kim Il Sung's policy from the 1960s, referring to the simultaneous development of both the economy and the country's nuclear weapons program. He has also revived the structures of the WPK, expanding the party's power at the expense of the military leadership.

Kim Jong Un rules North Korea as a totalitarian dictatorship, and his leadership has followed the same cult of personality as his father and grandfather. In 2014, a United Nations Human Rights Council report suggested that Kim could be put on trial for crimes against humanity. According to reports, he has ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials including his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in Malaysia in 2017. He has presided over an expansion of the consumer economy, construction projects and tourist attractions in North Korea.

Kim expanded the country's nuclear weapons program, which led to heightened tensions with the United States and South Korea, as well as China. In 2018 and 2019, Kim took part in summits with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and U.S. president Donald Trump, leading to a brief thaw between North Korea and the two countries, though the negotiations ultimately broke down without progress on reunification of Korea or nuclear disarmament. He has claimed success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea, as the country did not report any confirmed cases until May 2022, although several independent observers have questioned this claim. Under his rule, North Korean soldiers have been deployed under Russian command in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Early life

North Korean authorities and state-run media have stated that Kim Jong Un was born on 8 January 1982,[4] but South Korean intelligence officials believe that the actual date is a year later, in 1983.[5] The US government lists his birth year as 1984, based on the passport he used while studying in Switzerland.[6] Ko Yong Suk, Kim's aunt who defected to the United States in 1997 also confirmed the 1984 birthdate, claiming that Kim was the same age as her own son who was a playmate from a young age.[7] It is thought that Kim's official birth year was changed for symbolic reasons; 1982 marked the seventieth birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, and forty years after the official birth of his father Kim Jong Il.[8]

Kim Jong Un is the second of three children of Ko Yong Hui and Kim Jong Il; his elder brother, Kim Jong Chul, was born in 1981, while his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, is believed to have been born in 1987.[9][10] He is a grandson of Kim Il Sung, who was the founder of and led North Korea from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994.[11] Kim is the first leader of North Korea to have been born a North Korean citizen, his father having been born in the Soviet Union and his grandfather having been born during the Japanese colonial period.

All of Kim Jong Il's children are said to have lived in Switzerland, as well as the mother of the two youngest sons, who lived in Geneva for some time.[12] First reports said that Kim Jong Un attended the private International School of Berne in Gümligen in Switzerland under the name "Chol-pak" or "Pak-chol" from 1993 to 1998.[13][14] He was described as shy, a good student who got along well with his classmates, and was a basketball fan.[15] He was chaperoned by an older student, thought to be his bodyguard.[16] His elder brother Kim Jong Chul also attended the school with him.[17]

The Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school in Köniz, Switzerland, reportedly attended by Kim Jong Un

Later, it was reported that Kim Jong Un attended the Liebefeld Steinhölzli state school in Köniz, near Bern, under the name "Pak-un" or "Un-pak" from 1998 until 2000 as the son of an employee of the North Korean embassy in Bern. Authorities confirmed that a North Korean student attended the school during that period. Kim first attended a special class for foreign-language children and later attended the regular classes of the 6th, 7th, 8th and part of the final 9th year, leaving the school abruptly in the autumn of 2000. He was described as a well-integrated and ambitious student who liked to play basketball.[18] However, his grades and attendance rating are reported to have been poor.[19][20] The ambassador of North Korea in Switzerland, Ri Chol, had a close relationship with him and acted as a mentor.[12] One of Kim's classmates told reporters that he had told him that he was the son of the leader of North Korea.[21][22] According to some reports, Kim was described by classmates as a shy child who was awkward with girls and indifferent to political issues, but who distinguished himself in sports and had a fascination with the American National Basketball Association and Michael Jordan. One friend claimed that he had been shown pictures of Kim with Kobe Bryant and Toni Kukoč.[23]

In April 2012, new documents came to light indicating that Kim Jong Un had lived in Switzerland since 1991 or 1992, earlier than previously thought.[24]

The Laboratory of Anatomic Anthropology at the University of Lyon, France, compared the picture of Kim taken at the Liebefeld Steinhölzli school in 1999 with a picture of Kim Jong Un from 2012 and concluded that the faces show a conformity of 95%, suggesting that it is most likely that they are the same person.[25]

The Washington Post reported in 2009 that Kim Jong Un's school friends recalled he "spent hours doing meticulous pencil drawings of Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan".[26] He was obsessed with basketball and computer games,[23][27][28] and was a fan of Jackie Chan action movies.[29]

Most analysts agree that Kim Jong Un attended Kim Il Sung University, a leading officer-training school in Pyongyang, from 2002 to 2007.[30] Kim obtained two degrees, one in physics at Kim Il Sung University and another as an Army officer at the Kim Il Sung Military University.[31][32]

In late February 2018, Reuters reported that Kim and his father had used forged passports—supposedly issued by Brazil and dated 26 February 1996—to apply for visas in various countries. Both 10-year passports carry a stamp saying "Embassy of Brazil in Prague". Kim Jong Un's passport records the name "Josef Pwag" and a date of birth of 1 February 1983.[33]

For many years, only one confirmed photograph of him was known to exist outside North Korea, apparently taken in the mid-1990s, when he was eleven.[34] Occasionally, other supposed images of him surfaced but were often disputed.[35][36] It was only in June 2010, shortly before he was given official posts and publicly introduced to the North Korean people, that more pictures were released of Kim, taken when he was attending school in Switzerland.[37][38] The first official image of him as an adult was a group photograph released on 30 September 2010, at the end of the party conference that effectively anointed him, in which he is seated in the front row, two places from his father. This was followed by newsreel footage of him attending the conference.[39]

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

Switzerland - The Oligarchy Strongbox

During the course of nine months, from September 1814 to June 1815, the crowned heads and their renowned diplomats had redrawn the map of Europe. They were not, however, secure in what they had accomplished. Although they scorned the theories of democratic government and opposed the doctrines of national self-determination, they feared the principles of the French Revolution. Not only had the Revolution endangered their sovereignty, it had compromised their wealth as well. The final agenda at the Congress was to remedy that problem.

The House of Rothschild had in the past played a significant role in the transport and protection of royalty's wealth, but in 1815 their banks were not in neutral nations. A nonpartisan location was needed to satisfy all parties. Austria was not acceptable. Moreover, the Merovingians were insecure in their remote headquarters in Vienna. Should the Templar Republicans revive, territory closer to the French border was more desirable for intelligence gathering. Switzerland had proven its strategic worth earlier. When the Big Four were closing in on Napoleon, Metternich had shifted Austrian imperial headquarters from Vienna to Freiburg, Switzerland, to better organize at close range his defense against the Corsican.66 Hence, the decision was made at the Congress of Vienna to create Switzerland as a bank with an army attached.67 Should the revolutions ever again regain momentum, and royalty be exiled from their respective lands, neutral Switzerland would protect them, as well as supply them with ample funds to live several lifetimes in luxury.

England, not hampered by the fears of the Venetian oligarchy and determined to safeguard her commercial and colonial interests, was fully agreed to ratify the neutrality of Switzerland. Before any financial moves were made, however, London required Swiss Grand Orients closed and replaced with Swiss Grand Lodges with English obedience. Only then would England cooperate.

In Paris on November 20, 1815, Switzerland's neutrality was guaranteed by France, Austria, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia. A century later, in 1919, at the Treaty of Versailles, neutrality was again confirmed. In 1920 the League of Nations acknowledged Switzerland as "conditioned by a centuries-old tradition explicitly incorporated in international law."68 The tradition of Swiss neutrality was again upheld from 1935 to 1945 - even while war raged around its borders.

The Congress of Vienna adjourned on June 18, 1815. Two days earlier Napoleon had been defeated at Waterloo. Over the next few decades the oligarchy's Grail bloodline moved their financial headquarters from Vienna to Zurich, Switzerland. Immediately they went to work absorbing the French Grand Orient Lodges, placing them under English Masonic obedience. Thirty-second degree Mason A.E. Waite, in A New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, gives us a century of history concerning the Masonic maneuvers in Switzerland. He reports that Swiss Freemasonry was founded by the British as early as 1736. In 1775 the Swiss lodges transferred their allegiance from English Masonry to the German Strict Observance. Under Napoleon the French Grand Orient invaded Switzerland, and a certain number of existing lodges came under its obedience. Geneva was ceded to France during the wars of Napoleon, and Swiss Masonry then became an appendage of the French Grand Orient. In 1818, as demanded by London, English Masonic obedience began to replace the Grand Orients, except in Geneva where the aristocracy permitted one Grand Orient Lodge to function.69

By 1844 fourteen lodges in Switzerland had united under English obedience, agreed to a Grand Lodge Constitution, and organized the Grand Lodge Alpina in Zurich.70 Within a few decades Alpina headquarters moved to Geneva, next to its Grand Orient rival. From these two lodges, both within a neutral nation, both headquartered in the same city, Scarlet and the Beast would continue to plot their separate intrigues to dominate the world. From Geneva both the right wing and the left wing revolutions would spread over the face of the earth. In Geneva both would unite a century later.

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

THE "ZIG-ZAG Man" of rolling papers fame is based on the story of a French North African soldier (Zouave) whose smoking pipe was shattered by a stray bullet during the battle of Sevastopol so he rolled his tobacco using a piece of paper torn from a musket cartridge.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/9oojd9/til_zigzag_man_of_rolling_papers_fame_is_based_on/?rdt=47114

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

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

What We Know

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

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

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

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

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

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

Note 370.—"Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The 32nd degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite, and for many years, or until the institution of the 33d degree, this was the highest degree, or ne plus ultra of Masonry. The body is styled a Consistory, and should be held in a building of two stories. The officers are, a Thrice Illustrious Commander, First and Second Lieutenants, a Minister of State, a Grand Chancellor, a Grand Treasurer, a Grand Secretary, and a Grand Captain of the Guard. In the East a throne, elevated on seven steps, which is the seat of the Thrice Illustrious Commander, who wears a robe of royal purple, and he and the Lieutenants, wear swords. The collar of this degree is black, lined with scarlet, and in the center, at the point, a double-headed eagle, of silver or gold, on a red Teutonic cross. The apron is of white satin, with a border of gold lace, one inch wide, lined with scarlet; on the flap is a double-headed eagle, on each side of which is the flag of the country in which the body is located, the flag of Prussia and the Beause- -ant of the Kadosh degree; on the apron is the camp of the Crusaders, , which is thus explained; it is composed of an enneagon, within which is ' inscribed a heptagon, within that a pentagon, and in the center an equilateral triangle, within which is a circle. Between the heptagon and pentagon are placed five standards, in the designs of whigjl are five letters, which form a particular word. The first standard is purple, on which is emblazoned the ark of the covenant, with a palm, tree on each side; the ark has the motto Laus Deo. The second is blue, on which is a lion, of gold, couchant, holding in his mouth a golden key, with a collar of the same metal on his neck, and on it is the device, Ad majorem Dei gloriam. The third is white, and displays a heart in flames, with two wings; it is surmounted by a crown of laurels. The fourth is green, and bears a double-headed black eagle, crowned, holding a sword in his right claw, and a bleeding heart in his left. The fifth bears a black ox. on a field of gold. On the sides of the enneagon are nine tents, with flags, representing the divisions of the Masonic army; on the angles are nine pinions, of the same color as the flag of the tent that precedes it. The hall of the Consistory is hung with black, strewed with tears of silver. The jewel is a double-headed white and black eagle, resting on a Teutonic cross, of gold, worn attached to the collar or ribbon. ^The members are called Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. The moral of the degree teaches opposition to bigotry, superstition, and all the passions and vices which disgrace human nature."—Macoy's Encyclopaedia and Pictionary of Freemasonry, Article Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

32 Let Christ the king of Israel now come down from the cross, that we may see, and believe. They also that were crucified with him, reviled him.

Mark 15:32

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2015&version=GNV

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the successors of Peter[32]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their 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

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.

§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The Final Coup

Can anyone doubt that Freemasonry, specifically English Freemasonry, is behind the recent

break-up of the Soviet Union? From the moment Kerensky's democratic government was ousted

by the Bolsheviks, London backed the White Russian counterrevolution. When the atrocities of

the Red Terror were exposed, London was strengthened in her resolve to topple the Soviet

Union.

The seriousness of the situation in the Soviet Union was brought to light by Admiral "Blinker"

Hall, head of British naval intelligence. Hall informed his colleagues at the end of World War I

427

that the "most durable monster Western intelligence has ever faced had surfaced in Moscow....

Therefore, it was not only necessary to discover the other side's secrets but to protect our own

from disciples of communism, one of whom could well be the colleague beside you."135

In the early 1920s, the British Special Intelligence Service (SIS) made its first attempt to break

up the Soviet Union. They nearly succeeded. The plot called for an uprising of the bodyguards of

the communist leaders, who would seize Lenin and Trotsky. (The plot also included the

assassination of Lenin if the occasion arose, which it did, but failed.)

British agents would then establish a provisional anti-communist government. However, agents

loyal to the communists penetrated the operation, and the whole plot fell apart. Phillip Knightley,

author of The Master Spy (1989), said that the CHEKA, realizing a formidable foe in the SIS,

from that moment planned "the long-term.. .Soviet penetration of Western intelligence... "136

When Hitler rose to power, London made a second attempt to destroy the Soviet Union by

pushing Nazi Germany east to war with Russia (see chapter 22). Having failed to topple the

Soviet Union with Hitler, London continued her objective. "The Final Coup" was well thought

out and took 59 years to perfect.

The most brilliant intelligence operation to topple a nation involved English Freemasonry, the

KGB and a man named Kim Philby, one of England's senior intelligence officers in MI-6

(Mission Impossible, department 6). As a young man, Philby was groomed for the task by his

father, Freemason St.-John Philby. The senior Philby was the British intelligence specialist in the

Arabian peninsula for forty years following the Bolshevik Revolution. He assisted in setting up

Masonic Lodges throughout Arabic speaking nations.137 Although there is no record that young

Philby joined Freemasonry (and he stated he had not), his father taught him free-thinking.

Moreover, he was educated at Cam-bridge, a college rife with secret societies, including

Freemasonry. There he learned the politics of the intellectual Left and became a communist

during the Third International, but never joined the Party. When he graduated in June 1933, he

went to Vienna under orders from the French Communist Party, which was headquartered in the

Grand Orient at Paris.138

When Philby knew all there was to know about the enemy, he was hired by British intelligence

as a correspondent and in 1939 sent to Spain to observe the communist revolution in progress

there. No one knows for sure when, or if, he was "recruited" by the KGB, but he did give away

secrets. The secrets he gave to his controller, however, were miniscule compared to those he

never revealed, such as operation "Ultra" during World War II. (Ultra was the code name given

to information gathered through deciphering German signal traffic produced by the radio

enciphering machine known as "Enigma.")139

After the War, Philby was given permission by British intelligence to try the "full double." He

was so instructed: "If an opportunity arises to convince the Russian intelligence service that you

are willing to betray your own service and work for the other side, then you have permission to

428

seize it."140

In 1949 Philby was sent to Washington as Great Britain's SIS representative in the United States,

working in liaison with the CIA and the FBI. By the time he left Washington to return to

London, no other British intelligence officer was as well equipped to perform "The Final Coup"

on Soviet Russia.

When he returned to London, Philby began to develop his cover that would make the KGB

believe he was a Soviet double agent. In 1952 two British SIS agents, Donald Maclean and Guy

Burgess, defected to Russia. Philby was suspected of helping them. In 1955, 33rd degree

Freemason J. Edgar Hoover cleared Philby ofinvolvement.141 After this reprieve, Philby was sent

to the Middle East as a correspondent for the London Observer and The Economist. The real

reason for this transfer was to debrief his father. The senior Philby introduced his son to the

entire range of his Middle East contacts. Together, Philby and Philby traveled the Middle East

from 1955 until September 1960, when SL John Philby died.142 The time had come for Kim

Philby's defection.

In January 1963, Philby disappeared while on his way to a diplomatic party in Beirut. In April he

surfaced in Moscow. Shortly thereafter, Khrushchev fell from power. After 1963 the West heard

nothing of Philby, until 1979. That year Western intelligence discovered that Philby had just

been promoted to the rank of General of the KGB. Then in 1980, shocking news came from

London that Kim Philby had never had a KGB controller, that Sir Anthony Blunt had all along

been Philby's intelligence controller for Britain's Royal Court. Translated, this meant that Philby

was a triple-agent, a British intelligence operative disguised as a Soviet double-agent. 143

In the next few years Brezhnev died and each of the next two Soviet leaders, Yuri Andropov and

Konstantin Chernenko, died suddenly and under mysterious circumstances.

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, Kim Philby granted an unprecedented interview to

Phillip Knightley, author of The Master Spy. Knightley's conclusion was that "the British had let

him [Philby] go."144 In "The Final Coup," the last chapter of his book, Knightley records Philby's

statement: "In Gorbachev I have a leader who has justified my years of faith."145

What did Philby mean? The policies implemented by Gorbachev dismantled the Soviet Union.

Was Philby involved in this process? Was this his assignment? Did he have something to do with

bringing Gorbachev to power?

In 1984, one year before Gorbachev took office, he travelled to the two Masonic headquarters in

London and Paris, to make a "report." Subsequent events suggest that while on that trip he was

initiated into French Freemasonry. The next year, in 1985, Gorbachev was at the helm of the

Soviet Union. A major Paris daily newspaper, Le Figaro, reported on Gorbachev's intense

interest in Freemasonry. By 1989 reports were coming out of France that Gorbachev was

planning to reopen Masonic lodges inside the Soviet Union and its satellite states. According to

429

Floshpoint (September 1990), a monthly newsletter published by Texe Marrs exposing the most

current developments in the conspiracy, "Both of the top masonic [sic] organizations in France,

the Grand Orient.. .and the Grand Lodge.. .are now working on this high priority project."146

When Freemasonry is permitted to operate within a nation, there will be revolution. The peaceful

demise of the Soviet Union in December 1991 can only be attributed to the activity of these new

lodges established inside Russian borders since 1989. We may never know what intrigue took

place to topple communism, but on December 26, 1991, when Gorbachev voluntarily stepped

down from power, he said in true Masonic terminology, "I hereby discontinue my activities at

the post of president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. We're now living in a New

World!" 147

In Conclusion

The Russian Revolution occurred in cooperation with English Masonic Socialists, funded by the

House of Rothschild, and in conflict with Grand Orient Communists, funded by the House of

Warburg. English Masonry wanted the Zionists out of Russia in order to establish a Jewish

homeland in Palestine, while French Grand Orient Masonry desired to keep the Zionists within

Russia. Russian Jews, although covertly manipulated by both Gentile Freemasonries, played a

significant role in the two Russian Revolutions of 1917. Even the wealthy Rothschilds and

Warburgs were pawns in the hands of the Priory of Sion and the Gentile Templars. Jews were

used, then abused as scapegoats. Freemasonry went unscathed.

Indeed, the Russian Revolution, the secret conflict it provoked between English and French

Freemasonry, and the financial competition it generated between the Rothschilds and the

Warburgs, was, and still is, only a manifestation of the thousand-year-old struggle between the

Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar.

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

Robert George Kardashian (February 22, 1944 – September 30, 2003) was an American attorney and businessman. He gained recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. He had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, who appear on their family reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spinoffs.

Early life and education

Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 22, 1944, one of three children born to Arthur Kardashian (1917–2012) and Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian (1917–2008), both Armenian Americans.[1] He had a sister, Barbara Kardashian Freeman, and a brother, Thomas "Tom" Kardashian.[2][3] The Kardashians were Armenian Spiritual Christians originally from Kars Oblast, and known by the surname Kardaschoff, a Russianized form of the Armenian surname Kardashian, as the area, though now part of modern-day Turkey, was then part of the Russian Empire.[4] Once in the United States, Arthur's father, Tatos, changed his name to Thomas, and began a career in garbage collection, founding his own business, and married Hamas Shakarian, also an immigrant of Armenian heritage.[5][6]

He grew up in the affluent View Park area of Los Angeles County, where the family lived at 4908 Valley Ridge Avenue.[7] Kardashian attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School and the University of Southern California, from which he graduated in 1966 with a B.S. degree in business administration.[8] He earned a J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and practiced for about a decade; after that, he went into business. In 1973, Kardashian was one of the co-founders of the trade publication Radio & Records, which he and his partners sold for a large profit in 1979.[8] Kardashian also pioneered the idea of playing music between movies in theaters. He subsequently parlayed the concept into a business, starting a company called Movie Tunes.[9][10][11][12] He served as president and CEO of the firm and later invested in Juice Inc., a frozen yogurt company, and in a music video business called Concert Cinema.[13][14]

O. J. Simpson case

Main article: O. J. Simpson murder case

Kardashian and Simpson first met around 1967 while both of them were at USC and became close friends.[15] Simpson was the best man at Kardashian and Kris Houghton's wedding in 1978.

Following the June 12, 1994, murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson stayed in Kardashian's house to avoid the media. Kardashian was the man seen carrying Simpson's garment bag the day that Simpson flew back from Chicago. Prosecutors speculated that the bag may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes or the murder weapon.[16] When Simpson failed to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, 1994, Kardashian read a letter by Simpson to the assembled media. This letter was interpreted by many as a suicide note.[17]

Simpson was charged with the murders and subsequently acquitted of all criminal charges in a controversial criminal trial. Kardashian had let his license to practice law become inactive before the Simpson case but reactivated it to aid in Simpson's defense as a volunteer assistant on his legal team, alongside Simpson's main defense attorneys, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran. As one of Simpson's lawyers and a member of the defense "Dream Team", Kardashian could not be compelled or subpoenaed to testify against Simpson in the case, which included Simpson's past history and behavior with his ex-wife Nicole, and as to the contents of Simpson's garment bag.[18] He sat by Simpson throughout the trial.[19]

The New York Times reported that Kardashian said in a 1996 ABC interview with Barbara Walters that he had begun to question Simpson's innocence: "I have doubts. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence."[18] After Simpson's acquittal, Kardashian and Simpson ultimately stopped speaking to each other.

Illness and death

Kardashian was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003. He died two months later, on September 30, 2003, at his home in Encino, Los Angeles, at age 59,[20][21] and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.[22]

In popular culture

Kardashian was portrayed by David Schwimmer in the 2016 FX miniseries American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson.[23] Schwimmer was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance, but lost to Sterling K. Brown, who portrayed Christopher Darden in the same series.[24] In 2016, ESPN Films and their 30 for 30 series produced a five-part miniseries called O.J.: Made in America, produced by Ezra Edelman, in which Kardashian was featured heavily through archive footage.[25]

In 2017, Kardashian was the subject of the pilot episode of the TV comedy series Over My Dead Body on Amazon Prime.[26]

Personal life

Kardashian dated Priscilla Presley from 1975 to 1976.[27][28] The pair met through Kardashian's sister-in-law Joan, who had previously been married to Joe Esposito, road manager for Elvis.[29][30] On an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, his daughter Kim stated that the two were briefly engaged.

Kardashian's married former flight attendant Kris Kardashian (née Houghton, later Jenner) on July 8, 1978.[31][32] They had four children: daughters Kourtney (born 1979), Kim (born 1980), Khloé (born 1984), and son Rob (born 1987). They divorced in March 1991 but remained close friends until his death.[33][34]

Shortly after separating from his first wife in 1991, Kardashian became engaged to Denice Shakarian Halicki, his third cousin and the widow of movie producer H.B. Halicki.[35][36][37] The couple never married.

In 1998, Kardashian married Jan Ashley; however, the marriage ended in annulment in 1999.[38] Ashley later claimed frequent upset and turmoil related to Kardashian's ex-wife, Kris, and their children "were instrumental" in the demise of the relationship.[39][40][41]

After dating for three years and proposing in 2001, Kardashian married his third wife, Ellen Pierson (née Markowitz), six weeks prior to his death.[42][19]

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

Robert Francis Prevost named first American pope

by The National News Desk Thu, May 8th 2025 at 9:16 AM

Updated Thu, May 8th 2025 at 11:29 AM

Robert Francis Prevost has been named the new pontiff, becoming the first American to hold the position after a two-day conclave. He will go by the name Pope Leo XIV.

His first words greeting his new followers were "Peace be with you" in a speech that shifted from Italian to Spanish and centered on messages of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization. He will now take over a Catholic Church with some 1.4 billion followers around the world facing decisions on how to move the church forward and whether to continue the path of his predecessor.

“We must try together to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges and dialogue,” Pope Leo told his new followers before leading the Hail Mary prayer.

Born in Chicago, Pope Leo XIV spent much of his life outside the United States. He spent two decades in Peru, where he became a bishop and naturalized citizen before being brought to the Vatican by Pope Francis to oversee the office that chooses and manages bishops around the world. His prominence due to his position within the Vatican positioned him as a leading candidate heading into the conclave aside from his nationality.

White smoke rose from the chimney over the Sistine Chapel Thursday evening in Vatican City after just over 24 hours of voting, when Pope Leo XIV earned at least 89 votes from the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, who died last month at the age of 88.

A crowded St. Peter's Square cheered as a top cardinal said the words “Habemus Papam!” or “We have a pope!” from the loggia of the basilica. The new pope made his first public appearance and delivered a blessing. He is the 267th holder of the office in a line of pontiffs dating back to St. Peter. The last pope to take the name Leo was Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878 to 1903.

He is expected to be a unifying figure for the Church after years of ideological divides between its progressive and conservative wings. Leo rarely took outspoken stances on some of the most controversial issues.

President Donald Trump congratulated Pope Leo XIV in a post on Truth Social.

"It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!" Trump wrote.

https://katu.com/news/nation-world/white-smoke-rises-above-sistine-chapel-to-signal-new-pope-has-been-chosen-vatican-conclave-cardinals

The Robertians (sometimes called the Robertines in modern scholarship) are the proposed Frankish family which was ancestral to the Capetian dynasty, and thus to the royal families of France and of many other countries (currently Spain and Luxembourg). The Capetians appear first in the records as powerful nobles serving under the Carolingian dynasty of Charlemagne in West Francia, which later became France. As their power increased, they came into conflict with the older royal family and attained the crown several times before the eventual start of the continuous rule of the descendants of Hugh Capet (ruled 987–996).

Hugh's paternal ancestral family, the Robertians, appear in documents that trace the family back to his great-grandfather Robert the Strong (d. 866). His origins remain unclear, but medieval records hint at an origin in East Francia, in present-day Germany, an area then still also ruled by the Carolingians. In particular, Regino of Prüm (died 915) states that Robert the Strong's son Odo was said to be a relative (nepos) of a Count Meingaud, count of an area near Worms, who died in 892, and there are indications that Maingaud's family used the names Robert and Odo.

Modern proposals about their ancestry further back are based on the idea that there was one family which frequently named its sons Robert, including Robert III of Worms (800–834), Robert the Strong (d. 866), and Robert I of France (866–923). For example, one proposed ancestor is Robert of Hesbaye (c. 800), about whom there are almost no records.

The Robertian family figured prominently amongst the Carolingian nobility and married into this royal family. Eventually, the Robertians themselves produced Frankish kings such as the brothers Odo (reigned 888–898) and Robert I (r. 922–923), then Hugh Capet (r. 987–996), who ruled from his seat in Paris as the first Capetian king of France.

Although Philip II Augustus (r. 1180–1223) was officially the last monarch of France with the title "King of the Franks" (rex Francorum) and the first to style himself "King of France" (roi de France), in (systematic application of) historiography, Hugh Capet holds this distinction. He founded the Capetians, the royal dynasty that ruled France until the revolution of the Second French Republic in 1848—save during the interregnum of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Members of the family still reign in Europe today : both King Felipe VI of Spain and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg descend from this family through the Bourbon cadet branch of the dynasty.

Origin

The oldest known Robertians probably originated in the county of Hesbaye, around Tongeren in modern-day Belgium. The first certain ancestor is Robert the Strong count of Paris,[1] probably the son of Robert III of Worms, grandson of Robert of Hesbaye, and nephew of Ermengarde of Hesbaye, who was the daughter of Ingram, and wife of Louis the Pious. Other related family includes Cancor, founder of the Lorsch Abbey, his sister Landrada and her son Saint Chrodogang, archbishop of Metz.

History

Robert the Strong

The sons of Robert the Strong were Odo and Robert, who were both king of Western Francia and ruled during the Carolingian era. His daughter Richildis married a count of Troyes. The family became Counts of Paris under Odo and "Dukes of the Franks" under Robert, possessing large parts of the ancient Neustria. Although quarrels continued between Robert's son Hugh the Great and Louis IV of France, they were mended upon the ascension of Lothair I of France (954–986). Lothair greatly expanded the Robertian dominions when he granted Hugh Aquitaine as well as much of Burgundy,[2] both rich and influential territories, arguably two of the richest in France.

The Carolingian dynasty ceased to rule France upon the death of Louis V (d. 987). After the death of Louis, the son of Hugh the Great, Hugh Capet was chosen as king of the Franks, nominally the last ruler of West Francia. Given the resurgence of the Holy Roman Empire title and dignities in the West Francian kingdom, Europe was later believed to have entered a new age, so Hugh came to be known in historiography as the first king of France, as western civilization was perceived to have entered the High Middle Ages period. Hugh was crowned at Noyon on July 3, 987 with the full support of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. With Hugh's coronation, a new era began for France, and his descendants came to be named, after him, the Capetians. They ruled France as the Capetians, Valois, and Bourbons until the French Revolution. They returned after 1815 and ruled until Louis Philippe was deposed in 1848.

However, they have continued to rule Spain, with two republican interruptions, through the Bourbon Dynasty right down to the current king Felipe VI.

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

When were the Jesuits restored?

August 7, 1814

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

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

The Capetian dynasty (/kəˈpiːʃən/; French: Capétiens), also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, and a branch of the Robertians. It is among the largest and oldest royal houses in Europe and the world, and consists of Hugh Capet, the founder of the dynasty, and his male-line descendants, who ruled in France without interruption from 987 to 1792, and again from 1814 to 1848. The senior line ruled in France as the House of Capet from the election of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328. That line was succeeded by cadet branches, the Houses of Valois and then Bourbon, which ruled without interruption until the French Revolution abolished the monarchy in 1792. The Bourbons were restored in 1814 in the aftermath of Napoleon's defeat, but had to vacate the throne again in 1830 in favor of the last Capetian monarch of France, Louis Philippe I, who belonged to the House of Orléans. Cadet branches of the Capetian House of Bourbon house are still ruling over Spain and Luxembourg."

Name origins and usage

The name of the dynasty derives from its founder, Hugh, who was known as "Hugh Capet".[4] The meaning of "Capet" (a nickname rather than a surname of the modern sort) is unknown. While folk etymology identifies it with "cape", other suggestions indicate it might be connected to the Latin word caput ("head"), and explain it as meaning "chief" or "head".[citation needed]

Historians in the 19th century (see House of France) came to apply the name "Capetian" to both the ruling house of France and to the wider-spread male-line descendants of Hugh Capet. It was not a contemporary practice. The name "Capet" has also been used as a surname for French royalty, particularly but not exclusively those of the House of Capet. One notable use was during the French Revolution, when the dethroned King Louis XVI (a member of the House of Bourbon and a direct male-line descendant of Hugh Capet) and Queen Marie Antoinette (a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine) were referred to as "Louis and Antoinette Capet" (the queen being addressed as "the Widow Capet" after the execution of her husband).

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

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

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

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

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

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

page 463

The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

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

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

Revelation 13:18

New International Version

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

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number

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

Lothair I (Dutch and Medieval Latin: Lotharius; German: Lothar; French: Lothaire; Italian: Lotario; 795 – 29 September 855) was a 9th-century Carolingian emperor (817–855, with his father until 840) and king of Italy (818–855) and Middle Francia (843–855).

Lothair I was the eldest son of the Carolingian emperor Louis I and his wife Ermengarde of Hesbaye,[1] daughter of Ingerman the duke of Hesbaye. On several occasions, Lothair led his full-brothers Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German in revolt against their father to protest against attempts to make their half-brother Charles the Bald a co-heir to the Frankish domains. Upon the father's death, Charles and Louis joined forces against Lothair in a three-year civil war (840–843). The struggles between the brothers led directly to the breakup of the Frankish Empire assembled by their grandfather Charlemagne, and laid the foundation for the development of modern France and Germany.[2]

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

The name Lothair traces its origins to German - Old High German and is derived from two elements: loth, meaning famous, and hari, meaning army. Thus, Lothair directly translates to famous army. This name gained prevalence during the 9th and 10th centuries in the Frankish Empire, which encompassed vast territories of modern-day Germany, France, and Italy.

In history, the name Lothair is notably associated with several prominent figures. The most well-known bearer of this name is Lothair I, who was crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor in the year 817. Lothair I was a key figure in the Carolingian dynasty and played a vital role in shaping the political landscape of medieval Europe. His reign marked significant accomplishments and challenges, ultimately cementing his position in history.

In modern-day usage, the name Lothair has become less common but still maintains some presence. It is occasionally bestowed upon children as a nod to their Germanic or medieval heritage, giving them a sense of historical and unique identity. Moreover, the name may occasionally appear in works of literature, films, or other forms of popular culture to evoke a sense of nobility or historicity. Overall, the name Lothair encapsulates the fascinating historical connections of the Frankish Empire and its influential figures.

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

The name Luther traces its origins back to English, where it emerged from the word leod meaning people and here meaning army. This etymology gives rise to the meaning Army of the People, making Luther a name that embodies strength and collective action. Over time, Luther has appeared in various historical contexts, leaving its mark on different cultures and regions around the world.

In history, the name Luther gained prominence with the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Martin Luther, an influential German theologian and composer, challenged the practices of the Catholic Church and sparked a movement that would reshape the religious and social landscape of Europe. Martin Luther's prolific writings and his translation of the Bible into German played a significant role in spreading Protestantism. His name became synonymous with the reformist movement, and Lutheranism was established as a distinct Christian denomination.

In modern-day usage, the name Luther continues to resonate with historical significance and strength. It is often chosen by parents who desire a name that exudes resilience, leadership, and a connection to the past. The name Luther can be found worldwide, and its usage extends beyond German-speaking countries. As a testament to its enduring appeal, Luther has also found its way into popular culture. Whether it be in literature, film, or music, the name Luther maintains its authoritative presence, leaving an indelible impression on those who hear or bear it.

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

The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (Latin: Magnum schisma occidentale, Ecclesiae occidentalis schisma), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon both claimed to be the true pope, and were joined by a third line of Pisan claimants in 1409. The schism was driven by personalities and political allegiances, with the Avignon Papacy being closely associated with the French monarchy.

The papacy had resided in Avignon since 1309, but Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377. The Catholic Church split in 1378 after Gregory XI's death and Urban VI's election. A group of French cardinals declared his election invalid and elected Clement VII as pope. After several attempts at reconciliation, the Council of Pisa (1409) declared that both rivals were illegitimate and elected a third purported pope. The schism was finally resolved when the Pisan claimant Antipope John XXIII called the Council of Constance (1414–1418). The Council arranged the renunciation of both Roman pope Gregory XII and Pisan antipope John XXIII. The Avignon antipope Benedict XIII was excommunicated, while Pope Martin V was elected and reigned from Rome.

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

The Diet of Worms of 1521 (German: Reichstag zu Worms [ˈʁaɪçstaːk tsuː ˈvɔʁms]) was an imperial diet (a formal deliberative assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the Imperial Free City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to the diet in order to renounce or reaffirm his views in response to a Papal bull of Pope Leo X. In answer to questioning, he defended these views and refused to recant them. At the end of the diet, the Emperor issued the Edict of Worms (Wormser Edikt), a decree which condemned Luther as "a notorious heretic" and banned citizens of the Empire from propagating his ideas. Although the Protestant Reformation is usually considered to have begun in 1517, the edict signals the first overt schism.

The diet was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521 at the Bischofshof palace in Worms, with the Emperor presiding.[1] Other imperial diets took place at Worms in the years 829, 926, 1076, 1122, 1495, and 1545, but unless plainly qualified, the term "Diet of Worms" usually refers to the assembly of 1521.

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

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls. [11]

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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

Rosicrucianism is a theosophy advanced by an invisible order of spiritual knights who in spreading Christian Hermeticism, Kabbalah,

and Gnosis seek to enliven and to preserve the memory of Divine

Wisdom, understood as a feminine flame of love called SOFIA or

Shekhinah, exoterically given as a fresh unfolded rose, yet, more akin to the blue fire of alchemy, the blue virgin. Rosicrucians have no organisation and there are no recognizable Rosicrucian individuals, but the order makes its presence known by leaving behind engrammatic writings in the genre of Hermetic-Platonic Christianity.

The historical roots of Hermeticism is to be located in Ancient

Egypt. Long before the rise of Christianity, Hermetic texts were structured around the belief that organisms contain sparks of a Divine mind unto which they each strive to attend. Things easily transform into others, thereby generating certain cyclical patterns, cycles that periodically renew themselves on a cosmic scale. These transformations of life and death were enacted in the Hermetic Mysteries in Ancient Egypt through the gods Isis, Horus, and Osiris. In the Alexandrian period these myths were reshaped into Hermetic discourses on the transformations of the self with Thot, the scribal god. These discourses were introduced in the west in 1474 when Marsilio Ficino translated the Hermetic Pimander from the Greek. The story of Christian Rosencreutz can be seen as a new version of these mysteries, specifically tempered by German Paracelsian philosophy on the Lion of the darkest night, a biblical icon for how the higher self lies slumbering in consciousness."

Rose Cross Over The Baltic: The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe

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

Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to).

This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'"

Scarlet and the Beast by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

The Priory of Sion is an initiatory Order of chivalry, founded on July 15 1099 in Jerusalem, by Godfrey of Bouillon, at the Abbey "Our Lady of Mount Sion" as "Order of our Lady of Mount Sion."The Order, after being registered for the first time in history, in 1956, and then being dissolved in 1993, was newly registered in 2015, perpetuating the legitimate Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair's lineage, through the actual Grand Master, Marco Rigamonti.The Priory of Sion is characterized by a gnostic and rosicrucian influence, who sets himself the task of supporting and nurturing personal growth, moral and spiritual, with respect and in harmony with the personal objectives that each of us, by nature, has to carry through in life experience.It's also our purpose the esoteric research as the study and experience related to the transcendent and mystical in an environment of communion with our Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Order.The Priory of Sion today inherits a tradition of esoteric, philosophical, spiritual and cultural legacy, which favors the cultivation of values and principles that offers the way to live a more aware and noble personal dimension.We work through symbols, ancient rituals, theurgic practice and traditions, in order to live a personal and collective sprirituality in communion with our Brothers and Sisters.The Order is apolitical and forbids its members to be made a place of political debate, or even worse, to be exploited for such purposes."

http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/

The Prieuré was cited by name in references extending from the twelfth to the early seventeenth century. Then, in documents dating from 1619, it was stated to have incurred the displeasure of King Louis XIII of France, who evicted them from their seat at Orléans and turned the premises over to the Jesuits.5 After that, the Prieuré de Sion seemed to vanish from the historical record, at least under that name, until 1956, when it appeared again, registered in the French Journal officiel. And yet the present-day Order had repeatedly cited certain of its activities between 1619 and the twentieth century, certain historical events in which it had played a role, certain historical developments in which it had some sort of vested interest. When we examined the events and developments in question, we found indisputable evidence attesting to the involvement of an organised and coherent cadre working in concert behind the scenes, sometimes using other institutions as a façade. This cadre was not named specifically, but everything indicated that it was indeed the Prieuré de Sion. What was more, it proved to involve precisely the same network of interlinked families claiming Merovingian descent. Whether it was the intrigues and the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, the insurrection known as the Fronde in the seventeenth century or the Masonic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, successive generations of precisely the same families were implicated, operating in accordance with a single consistent pattern."

The Messianic Legacy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UV7FwghOOhdkp4fdk2SzG7oem2nRleW0/view?usp=sharing

"The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valor and dedication; they vowed to obey Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically, under the command of the King of Jerusalem, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places.Very soon after the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands. This led to the creation of priories all over Europe, which were part of the Order as they came under the jurisdiction of the noble knights or prelates who had been invested on the Holy Sepulchre itself and who, although they were no longer in the direct service of the King of Jerusalem, continued to belong to the Order of Canons.The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.In the 14th century, the Holy See made an extremely high payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.In 1847 the Patriarchate was restored and Pope Pius IX modernized the Order, issuing a new Constitution, which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also defined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Paul VI reorganized and revitalized the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-coordinated and more effective.In February 1996, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II enhanced the Order’s status. Today it is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See under Canon Law 312, paragraph 1:1.

https://eohsjeastern.org/a-brief-history/

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

Pope Francis Unveils Christmas Nativity With Baby Jesus Atop A Keffiyeh

The pontiff declared "Enough wars, enough violence!" while presenting a scene by two Palestinian artists near the Vatican on Saturday.

Kelby Vera

By

Kelby Vera

Dec 8, 2024, 07:29 PM EST

Pope Francis made a plea for peace while unveiling a nativity featuring baby Jesus nestled in a keffiyeh in Vatican City on Saturday.

The pontiff declared “Enough wars, enough violence!” while receiving a delegation of representatives from the Palestinian groups that organized the project by Bethlehem-based artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi, Vatican News reported.

Part of a series of scenes from a collection titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024,” the biblical tableau shows figures of the holy family carved from olive wood while baby Jesus lies atop a keffiyeh, a style of scarf worn across the Middle East which has become a symbol of Palestinians’ resistance to the ongoing occupation by Israel.

Above the family is a panel of glass inscribed with, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all people” in Latin and Arabic.

At the event, the pope went on to tell his audience to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war,” according to the Times of Israel.

Following the nativity’s dedication, the New Arab reported that a mass for peace and a ceasefire in the region took place at the Angeli Chapel.

Pope Francis has previously called the public to support a ceasefire between Palestine and Israel as well as the safe release of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attacks.

The head of the Holy See directly questioned Israel’s aggressive military response in interviews from a new book published last month, in which he calls for an investigation into whether Israel’s actions in Palestine “fits into the technical definition” of genocide.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pope-francis-baby-jesus-keffiyeh-nativity_n_67560b2fe4b06b50ac931068

Luke 13:31-33

1599 Geneva Bible

31 [a]The same day there came certain Pharisees, and said unto him, Depart, and go hence: for Herod will kill thee.

32 Then said he unto them, Go ye and tell that [b]fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and will heal still [c]today, and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be [d]perfected.

33 [e]Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Luke 13:31 We must go forward in the case of our calling, through the midst of terrors, whether they be true or fained.

Luke 13:32 That deceitful and treacherous man.

Luke 13:32 That is, a small time, and Theophylact saith, it is a proverb: or else, by Today, we may understand the time that now is, and by Tomorrow, the time to come, meaning thereby all the time of his ministry and office.

Luke 13:32 To wit, when the sacrifice for sin is ended.

Luke 13:33 There are nowhere more cruel enemies of the godly, than they which are within the Sanctuary and Church itself: but God seeth it, and will in his time have an account of it.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2013%3A31-33&version=GNV

On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of colonel Charles Lindbergh and his wife, aviatrix and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was murdered after being abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Amwell, New Jersey, United States.[1] On May 12, the child's corpse was discovered by a truck driver by the side of a nearby road.[2][3]

In September 1934, a German immigrant carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested for the crime. After a trial that lasted from January 2 to February 13, 1935, he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Despite his conviction, he continued to profess his innocence, but all appeals failed and he was executed in the electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936.[4] Hauptmann's guilt or lack thereof continues to be debated in the modern day. Newspaper writer H. L. Mencken called the kidnapping and trial "the biggest story since the Resurrection".[5][6] American media called it the "crime of the century"; legal scholars have referred to the trial as one of the "trials of the century".[7] The crime spurred the U.S. Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act (commonly referred to as the "Little Lindbergh Law"), which made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime.[8]

Kidnapping

At approximately 9 p.m. on March 1, 1932, the Lindberghs' nurse, Betty Gow, found that 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was not with his mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who had just come out of the bath. Gow then alerted Charles Lindbergh who immediately went to the child's room, where he found a ransom note, containing poor handwriting and grammar, in an envelope on the windowsill. Taking a gun, Lindbergh went around the house and grounds with the family butler, Olly Whateley;[9] they found impressions in the ground under the window of the baby's room, pieces of a wooden ladder, and a baby's blanket.[10] Whateley telephoned the Hopewell police department while Lindbergh contacted his attorney and friend, Henry Breckinridge, and the New Jersey state police.[10]

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

Rapture

rapture (n.)

c. 1600, "act of carrying off" as prey or plunder, from rapt + -ure, or else from French rapture, from Medieval Latin raptura "seizure, rape, kidnapping," from Latin raptus "a carrying off, abduction, snatching away; rape" (see rapt). The earliest attested use in English is with women as objects and in 17c. it sometimes meant rape (v.), which word is a close relation to this one.

The sense of "spiritual ecstasy, state of mental transport or exaltation" is recorded by c. 1600 (raptures). The connecting notion is a sudden or violent taking and carrying away. The meaning "expression of exalted or passionate feeling" in words or music is from 1610s.

also from c. 1600

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

40 Christians Kidnapped from Church During Worship 5/09/2023

5/09/2023 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – Gunmen kidnapped 40 Christians on Sunday, during church worship in northern Nigeria.

Reverend Joseph John Hayan, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna state, said the attack took place on Sunday when gunmen attacked worshippers during a service at Bege Baptist Church, in Madala village, in Chikun local government area, according to Reuters.

Hayan added that 15 people escaped the same night of their kidnapping.  

“We have not heard any contact for ransom or anything from [the gunmen] concerning the remaining people, and we pray that the abductors would be merciful to release the remaining 25 back to their families,” Hayan said.

Nigeria has dealt with significant internal violence for years at the hands of several entities, including Boko Haram, radicalized Islamic Fulani herdsmen, and localized gang violence. Tens of thousands have been killed or abducted by these groups, and hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced. Christians in Nigeria are especially vulnerable to this violence, which is largely religiously motivated and have suffered greatly over the last few years as the level of jihadism has risen in Nigeria.  

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org

https://www.persecution.org/2023/05/09/40-christians-kidnapped-during-worship/

The Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Doctrine

June 11, 2022

By Mark Williams.

How did the pretribulation doctrine come about? A brief rundown would go something like this:

In 1591 a Jesuit priest named Francisco Ribera wrote a 500-page commentary on the grand points of Babylon and the antichrist, the object being to set aside the Protestant teaching that the Papacy is the antichrist. In his commentary, he assigned the first chapters of Revelation to the first century. The rest he restricted to a literal three and a half years at the end of time, BEFORE the resurrection. He taught that the Jewish temple would be rebuilt by a single individual antichrist that would abolish the Christian religion, deny Christ, pretend to be God, and conquer the world. Thus was laid the foundation for Dispensationalism.

In 1812 another Jesuit priest, named Emmanuel Lacunza, started teaching that there would be a 45-day tribulation period, AFTER Christ’s coming.

In 1826 Edward Irving translated Lacunza’s book and published it in 1827. Sometime after that, Irving started to teach a three-and-a-half-year tribulation after Christ’s coming.

In 1830, a man named John Darby of the Plymouth Brethren started teaching a seven-year tribulation period. He came to America seven times to promote his teaching. When George Muller of Bristol came up against the Dispensationalist doctrines of the Brethren movement, he severed all connection with it. “The time came,” he said, “when I had to either part from my Bible or part from John Darby. I chose to keep my precious Bible.”

So in 1812, we see the teaching of a 45-day tribulation after the rapture.

Around 1827 Edward Irving taught a three and a-half-year tribulation after the rapture. Then in 1830, the final turn to a seven-year tribulation after the rapture. Others picked up on this new doctrine and added to it.

In 1909, C. I. Scofield published the Scofield Reference Bible. His dispensational notes were mixed in with the verses of the Bible so well that if you didn’t know better, you would think they were part of the Holy Scriptures. Over two million copies of his Bible were sold with this new dispensational teaching. Scofield, although not a Plymouth Brethren, was a devoted disciple of John Darby.

After that, W. E. Blackstone wrote a book titled Jesus Is Coming Again. A millionaire financed sending several hundred thousand copies of this book to missionaries throughout the world.

After Israel became a nation in 1948, prophecy teachers sprung up like wildfire, teaching that the Second Coming would happen approximately forty years after Israel became a nation. They got this belief from misinterpreting the word “generation” in Matthew 24. Hundreds of books were written on this subject. People learned about this new doctrine, not from the Bible, but from these so-called prophecy books.

Today Dispensationalism has become the generally accepted belief of the Fundamentalist wing of popular Protestantism.

In his tract, “Who is the Antichrist?” a former Catholic priest, Joseph Zacchello, says: “The Jesuits were the first ones to introduce a new theory in order to divert men’s minds from perceiving the fulfillment of the prophecies of the antichrist in the papal church. The Jesuit Ribera brought out the futuristic system, which asserts that the antichrist is yet to appear.” And to this statement, he adds: “Protestants who advocate the futuristic system are pleasing the pope and are playing into the hands of Rome.”

The teaching that the Church is to be raptured to heaven just prior to a time called the great tribulation was not known prior to the 1800s. It’s amazing with all the writings left to us from early Christians on the rapture, all agreed that if there is going to be a tribulation at the end of time, the Church would go through it. Since no voice spoke out in favor of a pre-tribulation rapture, the only conclusion possible is that the Church did not teach this in the beginning and that it should not be teaching it now.

Conclusion

This material was condensed down from hundreds of pages of notes just to give you a quick insight into the problem we are facing today. If we continue to curl up into a ball and keep our mouths shut because somebody might get their feelings hurt, the original truth that was taught by Jesus and his apostles, will one day vanish.

I’m not saying that we should go out and create war with those who disagree, but we should, in a loving manner, spread the whole truth of the Gospel. And if it were only on the last days, it would be easier for me to keep my mouth shut. But Satan has caused Christians to pervert his truth in dozens of chapters throughout the Bible.

It’s sad to think that a large part of God’s Church teaches that the Abrahamic covenant is yet to be fulfilled and yet the Bible teaches it has been fulfilled to the very letter. It’s sad to see Christians teaching that Jesus Christ isn’t reigning now when a simple study of the Bible shows he is and that Jesus is reigning from David’s throne now just as the Scriptures foretold. It’s sad to see Christians misleading the world into believing that after Christ comes back, there will still be a chance for salvation, and again, the Bible says no such thing. Friends, the Bible warns against believing in false doctrine, and yet to many, it’s not a problem. I believe that Christians can come together with a more unified understanding of the Scriptures, but only if we take the time to study amongst ourselves and not be afraid to ask questions or get our feelings hurt. Our goal should be stamping out false doctrine and becoming unified in Christ Jesus. Remember, we are commanded to study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Now if you still disagree with my notes, I would love to hear what you have to say and I promise to keep an open and honest heart. I for one do not want to stand face to face with Jesus only to find out that I’ve been deceived my whole life and neither should you.

Download a PDF file of this article.

https://www.jamesjpn.net/basic-bible/the-origin-of-the-pre-tribulation-rapture-doctrine/?print=pdf

https://www.jamesjpn.net/basic-bible/the-origin-of-the-pre-tribulation-rapture-doctrine/

https://www.facebook.com/HisHolyChurchofAnonymous/posts/pfbid02GwNNQCsMhAmgdZcTYWSFPx2TYYgSJsJS8e4iMkv7XkTfgGRoVKthEfdzXtyNmgS7l

The Sacrifice Controversy

Why is it so important for a reestablished Israel to

build a Third Temple in Jerusalem? Do they desire to

fulfill some sense of national pride? Or reconnect to

long severed roots of ancient history?  

These questions can only be answered by a few

zealous individuals on the ground. I would assert that

the primary source for this desire is the book of their

faith, The Torah, to the Christian, the Old Testament.

To appreciate the importance of restoring the Temple

Sacrifice System for Judaism it may be necessary to

understand the history and significance of the Sacrifice

from its beginning. Therefore the Genesis Chapter Three

sacrifice, being the very first recorded sacrifice in the

Bible itself is where we must begin.

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God

make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Gen 3:21)

Adam and Eve stood before their High Priest having

just received their death sentence, thou shalt surely

die,62 accompanied with the several curses that would be

upon them and their offspring after being forced from

the Garden of Eden.  But this High Priest did not leave

them without hope, their redemption and that available

to all mankind would come through the Seed of the

Woman.63 Though not explicitly stated, but rather

62 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for

in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen 2:17)

63 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed

and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen 3:15)

94 APPENDIX

demonstrated by the animal skins that were given to

them, in place of the inadequate covering of fig leaves

which they had covered themselves with, a sacrifice was

necessary to provide those animal skins. Without the

shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.64 The

blood of the animals was only a type, a temporary

covering, looking forward to the seed of the woman who

would Himself allow His own blood to be shed,

acceptable to God and a permanent sacrifice, once for

all by their Redeemer and the Messiah of Israel.

It is further demonstrated by the story of Cain and

Abel that the sacrifice was not only done for Adam and

Eve at the first event but that it was taught to them by

their High Priest and subsequently passed down to their

children.  Abel was a keeper of sheep65 for the purpose

of the commanded sacrifice, because the sacrifice was

not only a departure, but also an exception to the

vegetarian diet prescribed for mankind on the sixth day

of the creation account.66  If indeed the sacrifice was not

instructed, how could it be that Cain was disobedient by

offering vegetables instead?  Fig leaves or animal skins,

like vegetable or animal, the parallel is evident. The

inference is again clear, without the shedding of blood

there is no remission of sin.

Also not explicitly stated in the Genesis record but

clearly inferred by Eve’s proclamation at the birth of

Seth (which name means substitute), For God, said she,

64 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without

shedding of blood is no remission. (Heb 9:22)

65 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but

Cain was a tiller of the ground. (Gen 4:2)

66 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is

upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree

yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (Gen 1:29)

95

hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom

Cain slew:67 They were looking forward to the promised

redemption which they believed was or would come

through Abel, but now hoped to come by Seth.  These

discerning parents absolutely knew that the promised

seed would not be of Cain.  The scripture also confirms

of the linage of Seth, then began men to call upon the

name of the LORD.68 So the righteous seed line of Seth

continued to the Messiah.

The next allusion to the sacrifice is the differentiation

between clean and unclean of the animals when Noah

was commanded to load the Ark.69 Then Noah shortly

after the flood built an alter and there offered a sacrifice

of only the animals that were declared clean, and yes the

sacrifice was eaten.  Thereafter, God speaking to Noah,

authorized the eating of that same clean meat as a

regular part of their diet “even as the green herb,” so no

longer exclusively for the sacrifice.70 But a warning

followed against the wanton shedding of the blood of

animals which God himself said he would personally

hold to account, but the death statute for the wanton

shedding of the blood of man (murder) God would

require at the hand of his fellow man.

Further demonstrated by the sacrifice or burnt

offerings made by several of the patriarchs on the

67 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name

Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom

Cain slew. (Gen 4:25)

68 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos:

then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. (Gen 4:26)

69 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every

thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into

the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. (Gen 7:8-9)

70 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb

have I given you all things. (Gen 9:3)

96 APPENDIX

scriptural record, we understand that some form of the

sacrificial system was part of an oral tradition before it

was codified in the Exodus by Moses. In the Exodus

God gave Moses instructions for a portable tabernacle

for the priest tabernacle sacrifice system that served

National Israel until Solomon built the temple

envisioned by his father David about 830 BCE, to which

the sacrificial services were transferred. The first

Temple stood until about 586 BCE when it was

destroyed by the Babylonians.

Israel went seventy years in exile without a temple to

pay a Sabbath debt to their God. The Second Temple

was built as prophesied and stood for about 500 years,

beyond the seventy weeks determined for the people and

the holy city.71 Yes, the temple stood until forty years

after Jesus was crucified, and the desolation determined

was poured out upon the desolate.72  

The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy

the city and the sanctuary:73  

With this prophecy being fulfilled to the letter about

70 CE, the Jewish people lost their Temple again, and

the words of Jesus remain true until this very day:  

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall

be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem

shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of

71Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to

finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation

for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision

and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (Dan 9:24)

72And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst

of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the

overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the con

summation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.(Dan 9:27)

73(Dan 9:26)

97

the Gentiles be fulfilled.74

Now it’s the Roman Year 2017, and there are Jews

back in the land of Israel, but we will not here retell the

events which brought this about. We also know that

Israel won back the territory which encompassed

Jerusalem during the aggressive act of several

surrounding nations during the six day war in 1967.

However Israel did not act to immediately seize the

Temple Mount nor destroy the several Islamic edifices

extant, so that the prophetic words of Jesus still stand

true. The Gentiles (other nations) continue to trod down

Jerusalem and specifically the Temple Mount creating

the most difficult roadblock to building a Third Temple.

I believe this times of the Gentiles will only be fulfilled

with the destruction of the Mystery Babylon Image of

Daniel chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 18.

The Abraham Accord

Harbinger of  

the Temple Mount Play  

about to Begin

by

Nicklas Arthur

https://www.nicklasarthur.info/The-Abraham-Accord-Rapture.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02Y7HHBdN3ADJBo1kFHHBvUNztCyk3sgBW9LvobSLFLHZK6jAiXndpd9DERbgb6Vool

China's Complicated Relationship With the Catholic Church

Published May 09, 2025 at 5:29 AM EDT

Updated May 12, 2025 at 1:38 PM EDT

By 

Micah McCartney is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers U.S.-China relations, East Asian and Southeast Asian security issues, and cross-strait ties between China and Taiwan. You can get in touch with Micah by emailing m.mccartney@newsweek.com.

As Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost dons the mantle of Pope Leo XIV, he faces the daunting task of leading the Holy See in navigating a fraught international landscape.

This will involve diplomatic relations with countries that pose long-standing unresolved issues—not least of which is China.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry waited a full day before issuing a brief, to-the-point message of condolence following Pope Francis's passing on April 22. As of this writing, it had yet to congratulate the new Pope Leo XIV.

Newsweek reached out to the Vatican via email for comment outside of office hours.

Divided Flock, Contested Authority

Beijing has a long history of skepticism toward organized religion, which involves an authority other than the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

An estimated 6 million Chinese belong to the country's state-approved Catholic Church, overseen by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Another 6 million are believed to be members of the underground Church, putting the total number of faithful on par with the population of Belgium.

Pope Leo XIV Waves to Onlookers 

File photo: Pope Leo XIV, left, appears with Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, center, and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, right, at St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Domenico Stinellis/Associated Press

It is unclear how the incoming pontiff will approach a provisional power-sharing agreement with China, worked out during Francis's tenure in 2018 and renewed last year. The deal allows Chinese authorities to appoint bishops to the state-sanctioned Church, with the Vatican—on paper—retaining the authority to approve or veto these selections.

Pope Francis defended the agreement as an imperfect but important means of maintaining ties. "I have opted for the way of dialogue. It is slow, it has its failures, it has its successes, but I cannot find another way," he said in a 2022 interview.

That same year, the Vatican accused China of breaking faith with the agreement by appointing a bishop to lead a diocese not recognized by the Church. In 2023, Beijing installed another bishop to lead the Diocese of Shanghai without consulting the Vatican, though Francis later recognized the appointment.

Read more Catholic church

North Korea's Kim Could Face War Crimes Charge: Ex-ICC Chief

China Censors Broadcast After News Anchor's Big Mistake

The 2018 agreement was not without its critics. One clergyman, Father Bernardo Cervellera of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, said in a 2018 interview with The New York Times: "Or those that are in jail, or those who don't want to belong to the patriotic church—what will happen to them?"

On Friday, the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., outlined its hopes for future engagement with the Holy See.

"We congratulate Cardinal Robert Prevost on his election as the new Pope," Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the U.S., told Newsweek.

"We hope that under the leadership of the new Pope, the Vatican will continue to engage in dialogue with China in a constructive spirit, have in-depth communication on international issues of common concern, jointly promote the continuous improvement of China-Vatican relations, and contribute to world peace, stability, development, and prosperity," he said.

Religion Under Pressure

Catholics in China are not the only Christians subject to heightened scrutiny. Religion in general has become increasingly under siege, activists say.

Bob Fu, founder of Texas-based ChinaAid—a group that provides legal aid to Christians in China—says persecution under Chinese leader Xi Jinping has reached levels not seen since the Cultural Revolution during the era of Mao Tse-tung.

"In addition to the genocide of groups such as Uyghurs and Tibetans, Chinese Christians are experiencing the worst persecution since the Cultural Revolution," Fu said during a July 2024 religious summit in Tokyo, Japan.

Fu said this clampdown has primarily been carried out in the name of "sinicization," with churches and mosques required to sing songs praising the party and hang up photos of Xi and Mao at church pulpits.

In 2018, the paramilitary People's Armed Police used dynamite and excavators to demolish a church in Linfen, Shanxi province, that served a congregation of 50,000. Authorities claimed the megachurch—built nearly a decade earlier—violated building codes, a common justification used against unregistered churches.

Taiwan

Another point that strains ties with China is the fact the Vatican remains one of only a dozen official allies of Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy China claims as its territory—and has vowed to someday annex by force if necessary.

Taiwan's government, officially the Republic of China, fled to the island after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao's communists in 1949. China has lured away Taiwan's dwindling diplomatic allies one by one.

The issue is likely to remain a point of contention as China continues its campaign of military, economic, and diplomatic pressure against its neighbor.

"On behalf of Taiwan's government and people, I sincerely congratulate Pope Leo XIV and wish His Holiness wisdom and grace in his new mission," President of Taiwan Lai Ching-te said in a statement on Friday. "We look forward to building on our diplomatic ties with the Holy See, 83 years strong, to advance peace, justice, solidarity, and benevolence."

Matthew Lee, Taiwan's outgoing ambassador to the Holy See, has suggested that bilateral ties will continue on their current path. Recalling a 2023 conversation with the then-cardinal, Lee told Taiwan's Central News Agency that Leo understood the difference between "democratic Taiwan and communist China."

Update 5/12/25, 1:38 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C.

https://www.newsweek.com/china-relations-catholic-church-pope-vatican-robert-francis-prevost-leo-xiv-2069971

About Microsoft’s Presence in China

Microsoft has had a presence in China for more than 20 years, entering the market in 1992. Our founder, Bill Gates, had the foresight to establish an office in Beijing, accurately predicting the country’s transition to the booming economy we see today.

Microsoft has expanded its business across the country under its strategy of long-term investment and development. Today, our most complete subsidiary and largest R&D center outside the United States is in China. Microsoft has been working closely with customers and industry partners to realize innovation and both localize and land Microsoft technologies and solutions in China. Microsoft boasts a robust partner ecosystem with 17,000 partners. For every RMB that Microsoft earns in China, Microsoft partners earn 16. In early 2015, Microsoft was awarded “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative of 2015 Companies in China ” by Fast Company magazine due to its local product strategy and commitments to helping Chinese partners, and was included as one of ” The Companies Remaking The Chinese Economy” along with Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and other companies.

Microsoft is committed to our Chinese customers and to enabling their success, supporting customers at the enterprise, city, provincial and national levels. Microsoft also attaches great importance to its social responsibilities and has been active in giving back to the local communities in which it operates. This includes supporting education and training initiatives, promoting innovation and local economic development and assisting in building a secure and open computing environment.

https://news.microsoft.com/about-microsofts-presence-in-china/

The Cox Report's 'Dirty Little Secret'

Arms Control Today

Jonathan D. Pollack

Back to Cox Report Main Page

To the uninitiated reader, the Cox Report presents an ominous picture of pervasive, sustained Chinese espionage and illicit technology acquisition breathtaking in its scope, scale and effectiveness. The document alleges extreme laxity in U.S. security procedures and a seriously flawed export control process, both of which were purportedly exploited by China's intelligence organizations and weapons manufacturers. In the committee's view, these actions were knowingly abetted by American scientists prepared to disclose U.S. nuclear weapons secrets and by American aerospace firms intent on securing commercial advantage with China, irrespective of the national security consequences.

Given the substantial excisions in the declassified version of the report, it is impossible to fully assess the potential consequences of China's acquisition of U.S. nuclear weapons design and technical information, however Beijing acquired such data. The report's judgments are sweeping and unequivocal, but the evidence supporting these claims seems far more limited and ambiguous, suggesting that the compromise of information may have been far less extensive than asserted by the report's authors.

But the study's shortcomings extend well beyond its inferences and assertions; they concern its basic premises and assumptions. Despite the document's prodigious bulk and detail, it is remarkably ahistorical. In particular, it is almost totally devoid of reference to the political, military, intelligence, and dual-use technology ties with China assiduously pursued at the highest levels of the U.S. government during the 1970s and 1980s.

Specific espionage claims must be investigated fully, and the acute lapses in security procedures at U.S. weapons laboratories undoubtedly require immediate attention. But instead of telling a larger story, the committee simply accumulates disparate information from an array of sources from which worst-case judgments were then drawn. As a consequence, media coverage focused almost exclusively (and uncritically) on the most sensational allegations, failing to ask how and why the United States and China were drawn into ever-closer dealings with one another.

Amid the report's dire claims and forecasts, a dirty little secret goes entirely unmentioned. From the very onset of the Sino-U.S. relationship in the early 1970s, successive Republican and Democratic administrations believed that the enhancement of Chinese power—as a counterbalance to Soviet power—was in the national security interest of the United States, and persistently sought to advance this goal in the ensuing two decades. This U.S. commitment was repeatedly imparted to senior Chinese officials in both word and deed. The United States was intent on strengthening relations in a host of highly sensitive areas and shaping China's expectations of the United States and its pursuit of U.S. high technology. The Chinese may well have exploited these opportunities by all available means, but they were walking through a door that the U.S. government had long since decided to open.

The U.S. negotiating record with China amply confirms this judgment. From the earliest years of Sino-American relations, senior U.S. officials (including then National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger) provided Chinese interlocutors with highly sensitive U.S. intelligence data on Soviet military capabilities and deployments—without the Chinese having ever solicited this information. The Nixon administration sought to coordinate its diplomatic and security actions with China in Vietnam, in South Asia, and in relation to Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Under President Ford, the United States explicitly encouraged major European allies to relax their export policies toward China, including on weapons sales; the Chinese were regularly kept informed of these actions. U.S. policymakers also sought to find the means to permit sales of U.S. computers to China that it would not export to the Soviet Union.

Under the Carter administration, these ties broadened and deepened. The United States provided Chinese officials with regular intelligence briefings; both countries also undertook active intelligence collaboration (in part to monitor Soviet compliance with the SALT accords). Other programs heightened collaboration against Soviet actions in Afghanistan and Vietnamese actions in Cambodia. These activities accelerated further under the Reagan administration, including the provision (with Chinese assistance) of U.S. Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to mujaheddin insurgents resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

But the Reagan administration's decision to expedite technology transfer to China bears most directly on the report's findings. As the Chinese sought to develop a civilian industrial base where none or little had existed before, technology transfer from the United States was pivotal. Much of this effort involved technologies and know-how with inherent relevance to both civilian and military programs. It included provision of a massive array of technical and design data for assembly of McDonnell-Douglas aircraft in Shanghai, including an MD-82 coproduction agreement signed in 1985—the largest U.S.-Chinese industrial project of the past two decades.

The Cox Report documents Chinese violations of U.S. export control regulations in the purchase and disposition of advanced machine tools from McDonnell-Douglas. But the larger collaborative effort (designed to meet exacting Federal Aviation Administration certification standards for indigenous production of commercial aircraft in China) was comprehensive in its scope. By enhancing a wide array of technical skills and industrial-technology applications required in aircraft manufacture, the project facilitated the skill base of the Chinese aviation industry as a whole, including the military sector.

The report also fails to acknowledge that the Reagan administration initiated foreign military sales (FMS) programs to China, including sales to military end-users, provision of technical know-how to Chinese military research and development, and active collaboration between U.S. defense contractors and Chinese counterparts. By 1987, these programs comprised avionics packages for Chinese combat aircraft, sales of anti-submarine warfare torpedos and gas turbine engines for the Chinese navy (the latter still in use on Chinese destroyers), sales of artillery-locating radar and the upgrading of artillery production capabilities. Other transactions included sales of Blackhawk helicopters and an array of non-lethal military equipment.

Successive U.S. administrations were not oblivious to the multiple implications of U.S. technology transfer to China. The commercial links were undoubtedly important, but the security implications were also inescapable. A more militarily credible China would be better able to counter Soviet power, and it would require the Soviet Union to deploy additional military assets in Asia. It was also assumed that (in return for U.S. technological assistance) the Chinese would exercise political and military restraint in relation to Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

The United States therefore saw China as an asset rather than a threat to U.S. security interests. Senior Chinese leaders acknowledged Chinese industrial and military backwardness to U.S. officials and corporate representatives, and they also made clear the longer-term Chinese intention to emerge as an advanced industrial, technological, scientific and military power. The Chinese repeatedly urged the United States to further relax its export control policies, and likely assumed that the United States would quietly facilitate Chinese efforts to acquire an extensive array of dual-use technologies.

Additional developments throughout the latter half of the 1980s—including purchase of more advanced computers, acquisition of sophisticated machine tools, prospective sales of nuclear reactors, and an explosive growth in the training of Chinese scientists and students in the United States—attested to the consolidation of U.S.-China relations, with an ever-increasing focus on advancing China's technical and industrial capabilities, many with potential relevance to China's military modernization.

In addition, following the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Reagan administration approved launches of U.S. satellites from Chinese rockets. It was hardly a state secret that Chinese launch vehicles (the Long March 3-B and 2-E) were derived from the same family of missiles used to deliver Chinese nuclear weapons, and that the space launch program was overseen by Chinese military personnel. Underwriting the costs of Chinese launches (there have been approximately 30 launches involving U.S. aerospace companies since 1988) undoubtedly enhanced Chinese space capabilities.

In the aftermath of several egregious launch failures in 1995 and 1996, Hughes, Loral and other major aerospace companies reviewed Chinese assessments of these failures, though Chinese aerospace personnel bristled at the implied criticisms of their programs offered by foreign experts. Alleged violations of U.S. export control provisions and security procedures by several of these companies remain under investigation. But U.S. companies had an obvious incentive to encourage the Chinese to pinpoint and remedy design and manufacturing flaws in the launch vehicles, since further catastrophic failures would have jeopardized their collaborative programs. These reviews by U.S. engineers and technical personnel very likely reinforced modifications in launch vehicle designs that the Chinese themselves had begun to consider. So construed, the Chinese benefitted from U.S. technical expertise. But it defies comprehension that it was in anyone's interest to depend on unreliable launch vehicles.

However, the Tiananmen crisis of 1989 had shattered the working consensus between the executive branch and the Congress on closer U.S.-China relations. Equally significant, the collapse of the Soviet Union eroded the strategic assumptions underlying U.S.-Chinese defense collaboration. The Bush administration sought to retain some of these dealings, but changes in U.S. strategy were already underway, including a substantial augmentation of U.S. military sales to Taiwan as the Chinese increasingly pursued weapons purchases from Russia. The Clinton administration, with intermittent success and also some major setbacks, sought to restore a modicum of civility in Sino-U.S. military relations, but it was not prepared to revisit the post-Tiananmen sanctions precluding military sales to China. At the same time, the scope of U.S. defense links with Taiwan continued to grow during the 1990s.

Thus, the Cox Report appears when the strategic divergence between the United States and China has widened, and when the Chinese are increasingly assertive about longer-term modernization goals that are no longer animated by animosities with Moscow. Indeed, Russia and China share common cause in seeking to inhibit, or at least caution, the United States from the unilateral exercise of its military power. One does not need to subscribe to the more conspiratorial Chinese renderings of U.S. strategy to discern the essential Chinese logic: officials in Beijing see the United States as intent on impeding the growth of Chinese national power and the enhancement of its strategic position.

Given the deliberate pace of Chinese weapons development, it is far from certain that Beijing deems a major acceleration of its weapons programs as either feasible or warranted. Indeed, China's enhancement of its strategic weapons capabilities has remained measured and incremental. If the Cox Committee's claims of Chinese possession of a full array of U.S. nuclear weapons information are accurate, it makes little sense that Beijing would have failed to exploit this knowledge. But if the Chinese conclude that the United States views China in essentially malign terms, an enhanced Chinese national defense effort, quite possibly including accelerated modernization of Chinese strategic weapons capabilities, seems very likely.

But the much larger transformation underway in China concerns the country's mushrooming involvement in global commerce, not its military development. Even as many in the United States exhibit increased unease about the implications of the growth of Chinese military power, the scale and scope of U.S.-Chinese commercial and technological interactions has never been greater. Information and technology flows between the two countries have accelerated dramatically over the past decade; as a consequence, the provision of high-end U.S. technologies to China far exceeds the undertakings of the 1980s. Short of a draconian effort to restrict these transactions and to pursue far more binding multilateral export controls, the momentum of these developments will not be slowed significantly, let alone reversed. Moreover, any such effort would very likely prove self-defeating, both politically and commercially.

Indeed, less than three weeks after release of the report, the committee chairman, Representative Christopher Cox, endorsed a major relaxation of constraints on U.S. computer exports to China. By consenting to a fivefold increase in the allowable speed of computers to be licensed for export to China, he acceded to inescapable commercial and technological realities, even as the committee's report had spoken in worrisome tones about the diverse applications such higher-speed computers could permit.

Although the United States still endeavors to fence off (both literally and figuratively) those activities with immediate national security implications, it is increasingly difficult to square this circle. In the final analysis, the dire tone of the Cox Report says far more about the United States than it does about China. Resolving this fundamental ambivalence about the growth of Chinese power may not prove possible, but the effects of an ominously worded document could make the search for a tolerable center of gravity in the Sino-American relationship ever more difficult.

https://www.armscontrol.org/act/1999-04/cox-reports-dirty-little-secret

1

2

Case No. 25 PO 00002 3G

PO Rec No.: 323314

254400044

FILED

2025 JAN-7 PM 4:58 JUSTICE PEACE

IN THE JUSTICE COURT OF DAYTON TOWNSHIP

3

4

JOSHUA JAMES COX

5

Applicant,

VS.

6

BILLY DUNN

7

Adverse Party.

8

COUNTY OF LYON, STATE OF NEVADA

TEMPORARY PROTECTION ORDER AGAINST STALKING OR HARASSMENT

9

Expiration: This order was issued by the Court above on January 7, 2025 and will expire

10

on FEBRUARY 21, 2025 at 11:59 pm unless the Court orders otherwise. Hearing to Extend:

There will be a hearing to determine whether to extend this order on FEBRUARY 18, 2025 at 3:00 pm at the Court listed above.

If you do not attend, the court may rule against you.

The Applicant filed a verified application for a protective order. The Court has jurisdiction over this matter. See NRS 200.591, et seq. The Court finds that stalking, aggravated stalking and/or harassment has occurred. Accordingly, and good cause appearing, it is the ORDER of the Court that the following orders apply to the Adverse Party:

1. YOU ARE PROHIBITED from threatening, physically injuring, or harassing the

Applicant and/or the following persons:

Protected Parties: The following persons are protected under this order: Applicant: JOSHUA JAMES COX

2. YOU ARE ORDERED to not contact the protected parties at all in any way,

including but not limited to in person, by phone/text, by email, or through social

media.

3. YOU ARE ORDERED to stay away from Applicant's residence located at: 2024 LONNIE LANE, DAYTON, NV 89403

20

02020 Nevada Supreme Court

Temporary Protection Order Against Stalking or Harassment (Revised October 2020)

Page 1 of 3

8.

7.

6.

How do you know the person you need protection from (check all that apply)?

We are related by blood or marriage. Explain We are or used to be friends/acquaintances.

We are

neighbors

or reside in the same

We are or were co-workers.

Other: (specify relationship):

in any court?

neighborhood.

Are there any other current or prior court cases that involve you and the Adverse Party

No.

Yes. If you know, please list the case type, county, state, and case number:

Firearms/Guns.

Does the Adverse Party own a gun or have a gun in his/her possession or control?

No

Yes

I don't know.

Most Recent Event. Think about the most recent event. These questions ask about the most recent event only.

Approximate date it happened:

City/State/Location where it happened:

Did the other person use or threaten to use a weapon? No Yes.

What Happened? Explain the most recent event and describe any injuries. Give specific and detailed information about the event. You can list past events on the next page. If you are filing on behalf of a child, include details about who happened to the child.

I WAS LEAVING CALIFORNIA ON JANUARY 2ND WHEN THE CFO

AT MY JAR MESSAGED ME AND

ASKED ME TO MEET HER IN HER OFFICE SOMETIME THAT WEEK. I INFORMED HER THAT I WAS OUT OF TOWN BUT WOULD BE THERE IN THE MORNING (JANUARY 3RD). I ASKED WHAT IT WAS ABOUT AND

02020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Order

(Revised October 2020)

Page 3 of 8

SHE SAID THAT SOMEONE THAT SHE DIDN'T KNOW WAS TEXTING HER AND 14 OTHER PHONE NUMBERS. AND THEY SENT HER A VIDEO ALSO, BILLY DUNN who RESIDES AT 2031 LONNIE LANE WAS THE PERSON THE OWNERS SENDING THE TEXTY AND VIDEO, HE SENT THESE TO AND FAMRY MEMBERS THAT HE IS STALKING, HARASSING AND CYBER BULLYING ME AND OTHER PEOPLE ONLINE. HE MIGHT DO: IT IS ESCALATING AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE

EMPLOY ME.

Attach more pages if you need more room (pages 4a, 4b, 4c).

C2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Order (Revised October 2020)

Page 4 of 8

9.

Past Event(s).

Think about any other times the person you want protection from threatened or abused you happened. and/or the child/children. The following questions ask about any past events that may have

Approximate Date:

What Happened:

JUNE 12TH 2024 I GOT HOME

FROM WORK AND MY NEIGHBOR APPROACHED WE AND ASKED IF I SAW A POST THAT BILLY SUNN HAD POSTED ON A TACEBOOK GROUP (RE DAYTON NEVADA JOB SEEKERS). I TOLD HIM NO I HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND ASKED TO SEE IT HE HAD AN A. I., APP ASE TO MAKE A STORY ABOUT ME COMMITTING SUICIDE. I HAVE REPORTED THE VIDEOS ONLINE, BUT I KNOW IT ISN'T ENDUGH AND MY FAMILY AND EMPLOYERS AFE WORRIED FOR ME AND WHAT HE MIGHT DO NEXT!

Approximate Date: What Happened:

10. Law enforcement involvement.

Was law enforcement informed?

No

Yes

a. If so, please provide a copy of the police incident report Was anyone arrested? No Yes (Who),

Is the Adverse Party in jail? A No

Yes

C2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Onder (Revised October 2020)

Page 5 of 8

Case No. 25 PO 00002 3G

If you want to dispute this order or have it changed, you can request a

hearing by filing a written request with this court. Court staff will give you information about how to file your request. The court will set a hearing on your request as quickly as

possible.

ORDER TO LAW ENFORCEMENT

Any law enforcement officer, with or without a warrant, may arrest and take into custody the Adverse Party, when the law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that (a) an Order has been issued pursuant to NRS 33.270 against the Adverse Party; (b) the Adverse Party has been served with a copy of the Order; and (c) the Adverse Party is acting or has acted in violation of the Order. This arrest may occur regardless of whether the violation occurred in the officer's presence.

Any law enforcement agency in this state may enforce a Court Order issued pursuant to NRS 33.270 without regard to the county in which the Order is issued.

8

9

10

11

January 7, 2025

121

12

13

14

14

15

16

17

18

19

amil

CAMILLE VECCHIARELLI Justice of the Peace

(Revised October 2020)

Temporary Protection Order Against Stalking or Harassment

20

20

©2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Page 3 of 3

About Extended Protection Orders: This application automatically asks the judge to issue up to a 45-day temporary protection order without notifying the other person first.

You can also ask for an extended order that could last for up to 2 years.

If you do, the judge will set a hearing. You and the other person will have to appear in court and explain your side before the judge can extend the protection order.

12.

Length of Protection Order.

X

I want an order up to 45 days only.

I want an order up to 45 days PLUS an extended order that could last up to 2

years.

13. Other Exhibits. You may attach documents, pictures, or anything else that you would like the judge to look at and consider when reviewing your application. The Adverse Party will receive a copy of all documents/evidence you provide.

Describe what you are attaching: Phoras OF TEXTS TO MY EMPLOYER AND PICTURES POSTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA OF ME ALONG WITH THE FICTITIOUS STORY HE HAD MADE AND POSTED. POLICE REPORT FILED ONLINE ALSO.

14. This document does not contain the personal information of any person as defined by NRS 603A.040.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the law of the State of Nevada that the foregoing is true and correct.

Dated MONDAY JAMY 6, 2025.

Submitted by:

Adh

Toster

(your signature)

Joshut J. Cox

(print your name)

VERIFICATION

I declare that I am the applicant in the above-entitled action; that I have read the foregoing application and know the contents thereof; that the pleading is true of my own knowledge, except for those matters therein contained stated upon information and belief, and that as to those matters, I believe them to be true. I declare under penalty of perjury under the law of the State of Nevada that the foregoing is true and correct.

Dated MONDAY ANUARY 6, 2025.

Submitted

by: Vacher

©2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Page 8 of 8

(your signature)

Joshua J. Cox

(print your name)

Application for Protection Order (Revised October 2020)

Work. The Adverse Party should stay away from my workplace.

Do you and the Adverse Party work at the same place?

No Yes

Is your work address confidential? No Yes (do not write details below)

HODGES TRANSPORTATION INC.

Employer

605 FORT CHURCHILL RD.

Address

SILVER SPRINGS, NV 89429 2YON

City, State, Zip Code

County

Employer

Address

City, State, Zip Code

School/Daycare. The Adverse Party should stay away from my school and/or the child's school/daycare.

County

Is the school/daycare address confidential? No Yes (do not write details below)

School/Daycare

Address

City, State, Zip Code

County

School/Daycare

Address

City, State, Zip Code

Other Places. The Adverse Party should stay away from the following places that I and/or the minor children go to regularly.

Location

Why?

Address

Location

Why?

Address

County

City, State, Zip Code

County

City, State, Zip Code

County

©2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Order (Revised October 2020)

Page 7 of 8

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.cox.777

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.swanick

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Successful production of a new car, truck, bus, or component depends on teamwork to meet customer expectations. We have spent over 60 years developing partnerships with our customers. Our divisions are dedicated to providing value-added technical solutions to the worldwide transportation industry. Our substantial international experience, allows us to evaluate products intended for global markets knowledgeably and objectively. We have compiled an extensive database of worldwide operational and infrastructure conditions allowing accurate definition of user duty cycles and creation of test programs that are representative of service environments around the world.

Along with worldwide duty cycles, data acquisition, and advanced engineering analysis, we provide complete prototype fabrication capabilities for one-stop solutions from design to product verification.

Between our four locations, we have the experience to cover all your engineering and testing needs.

https://natc-ht.com/about-us/

Mary Hitz/NATC/HODGES

Engineering Coordinator at Nevada Automotive Test Center

Nevada Automotive Test Center

Carson City, Nevada, United States  Contact info

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-hitz-natc-hodges-91563813/ 

In 1917, the Virgin appeared in Fatima. "The Mother of God" was a smashing success, playing to overflow crowds. As a result, the Socialists of Portugal suffered a major defeat. "Roman Catholics world-wide began praying for the conversion of Russia and the Jesuits invented the Novenas to Fatima which they could perform throughout North Africa, spreading good public relations to the Muslim world. The Arabs thought they were honoring the daughter of Muhammad, which is what the Jesuits wanted them to believe. "As a result of the vision of Fatima, Pope Pius XII ordered his Nazi army to crush Russia and the Orthodox religion and make Russia Roman Catholic." A few years after he lost World war II, Pope Pius XII startled the world with his phoney dancing sun vision to keep Fatima in the news. It was great religious show biz and the world swallowed it. "Not surprisingly, Pope Pius was the only one to see this vision. As a result, a group of followers has grown into a BLUE Army world-wide, totaling millions of faithful Roman Catholics ready to die for the blessed virgin. "But we haven't seen anything yet. The Jesuits have their Virgin Mary scheduled to appear four or five times in China, Russia, and major appearance in the U.S.

"What has this got to do with Islam?

Note Bishop Sheen's statement: "Our Lady's appearances at Fatima marked the turning point in the history of the world's 350 million Muslims. After the death of his daughter, Muhammad wrote that she "is the most holy of all women in Paradise, next to Mary."

"He believed that the Virgin Mary chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a sign and a pledge that the Muslims who believe in Christ's virgin birth, will come to believe in His divinity.

"Bishop Sheen pointed out that the pilgrim virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima were enthusiastically received by Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere, and that many Muslims are now coming into the Roman Catholic Church."

How the Vatican created Islam (remnantofgod.org)

http://www.remnantofgod.org/books/docs/how-the-vatican-created-islam.pdf

Mick Martin’s Big Birthday Bash with his Big Blues Band feat. Danny Sandoval + Annie Sampson, Tim Barnes, Katie Knipp!

Sofia [Sacramento]

Event info

Date: May 24, 2025

Time: 7:00 pm

Location: Sofia

Address: Sacramento

Details

k-zap Mick Martin BBB Birthday

Once more around the sun, and boom, it’s time to party with Mick Martin and the Big Blues Band May 24 at the Sofia. 

https://bstreettheatre.org/music/mick-martins-big-blues-band/

Should be a great show–Tim Barnes, Katie Knipp, Annie Sampson and Marcel Smith will be joining Mick and The Big Blues Band with the baddest sax player on the planet, the one and only Danny Sandoval.

When Mick Martin hits the stage May 24 at The Sofia, it’ll be his 76th birthday celebration. And, for this show, Martin is bringing back veteran Sacramento blues rocker Tim Barnes, who is also turning 76. Quipped Barnes: “We’re calling it 152 years of the blues.”

Most people in Northern California know Martin as the host/producer of “The Blues Party” on Sacramento’s KZAP Radio, Capital Public Radio, and as the leader of Mick Martin’s Big Blues Band/Blues Rockers for more than 40 years. An award-winning harmonica player and singer-songwriter, his accomplishments include more than 20 CDs (four in Europe) and recording the CD “Sum Serious Blues” with jazz organist Jimmy Smith, not to mention that he appeared with him at Carnegie Hall’s Blues in Jazz event.

Martin has achieved master status for his knowledge of the blues. His 15-year association with guitar innovator Harvey Mandel (Canned Heat, the Chicago Blues Reunion) led to them playing at the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Martin’s concert CV reads like a history of iconic blues musicians: Mick Taylor, Freddie King, Bo Diddley, Tommy Castro, Peter Green. John Mayall, Elvin Bishop, Ronnie Montrose, Jimmy Rogers, Cafe R&B, Rick Estrin and Jackie Greene.

For the Sofia show, Martin has assembled some of the area’s best musicians for the Big Band: Danny Sandoval (saxophone), Andrew Little (guitar), Steve Utstein (organ/piano), Aj Joyce (bass), David D. Johnson (trumpet/trombone) and Jim Caselli (drums). All have played and recorded with a list of world-famous artists that can be considered the Who’s Who of the music business. According to Martin, “This is my dream band; a group of gifted musicians I have long admired and never thought I would be able to assemble into a band. And, man, do we have a great time when we play.”

In addition to Barnes, vocalists Annie Sampson and Marcel Smith will be joining the band for this special 76th birthday concert. Forever the gentleman, Martin won’t divulge their ages. Doesn’t matter. 152 years of the blues will be more than enough to blow the roof off The Sofia.

Doors open 1 hour prior to showtime. This show is All Ages

Wha?  Let’s rock!

Buy tickets

https://k-zap.org/event/mick-martins-big-birthday-bash-with-his-big-blues-band-feat-danny-sandoval-annie-sampson-tim-barnes-katie-knipp/

98 Rock

 

Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 10:13 AM  · 

Come on down today! The Elk Grove Kia in the Elk Grove Automall. They have an incredible Memorial Weekend Sale happening. Great inventory, top dollar for your trade in, and can get you into a new car for as low as $199 a month! - Myki Angeline

https://www.facebook.com/98Rock/videos/1030224932628797

Murdered Out Cars: Aesthetics Vs. Safety

“Any color the customer wants, as long as it's black,” said Henry Ford. This phrase is still popular among owners of black cars. However, even the perfect color, according to the great industrialist, can have flaws. Today, we discover the concept of murdered out cars and their pros and cons.

What does "murdered out on a car" mean?

The term a "murdered out" or “blacked out” car refers to a vehicle that has been entirely painted black, receiving a blackout treatment from top to bottom. This encompasses not only black paint but also black window tints on every glass surface. Owners customize their vehicles with black mirrors, wheels, window tints, blacked-out taillights, and blacked-out chrome accents. The finish could be either matte or gloss, but the key element is that everything must be black.

The concept of a fully black car is associated with the term "murdered out" after Death Row Records conducted a promotional photoshoot in the 1990s featuring its artists dressed in black against a black backdrop. This black-on-black aesthetic became known as "murdered out" and eventually extended to cars.

Why do people like blacked out cars?

Blacked out chrome on the car lets you make your car stand out and give it a unique look.

 The dark window tint brings bold sophistication and exclusivity to the vehicle. It imparts a sleek, matte appearance that captures attention wherever you drive. 

Are black cars a good idea?

blacked out cars for sale in Indianapolis

The striking and enigmatic look of a murdered out car commands attention not only on the car shows, but  on the road and at any parking lot. When choosing a color for your future car and scheduling your window tint installation, weighing the benefits and drawbacks is crucial. 

Chic and prestige

Monochrome colors are a feature of expensive cars, and black is the most impressive one associated with luxury, fashion, and prestige. Even if you buy a used model under 25K in black, its silhouette will look clearer and the lines smoother.

Neutrality and versatility

The advantage of a black out vehicle is that you will never get tired of it or outgrow it as red, green, or even blue.

Easy to choose paint

Even common colors, for example, white, do not always match the original coating. With black, it is almost impossible to miss the shade if you cover up the body imperfections.

Visible in snow and daylight

Murdered-out cars are clearly visible on the road in heavy snowfall and during the day, reducing the risk of a collision.

Reduces glare due to tinting

The tinting film reflects and absorbs visible light waves, making black windows useful when the sun is shining or at night when someone turns on the high beams behind you. Good tinting stops up to 99% of ultraviolet rays, protecting you from UV radiation and preventing the car upholstery from fading.

Heat insulation

This property is based on the reflection and absorption of infrared waves. So, in summer, tinting does not allow the car to heat up, reducing the load on the air conditioner. Its service life increases, and fuel consumption decreases.

Cons of murdered out cars

murdered out cars pros and cons | buy used black car in Indiana

The advantages of a murdered out car seem attractive, but there are still several drawbacks to consider. There are several practical, safety, and legal issues related to black color and heavily tinted windows.

Dirt and dust

A blacked out auto looks chic when it is clean. The unique gloss gives any model an impressive and elegant look. But the dust layer becomes visible very fast. The owner of a mudered out car will have to wash it several times more often to maintain an attractive appearance.

Inconspicuous at night

A parked black out car is hardly visible on the side of the road at night. The car blends in with the dark asphalt, increasing the risk of an accident.

Worse visibility and legal restrictions

Depending on the degree of tinting, visibility is impaired, especially in the rain or at night. Therefore, various states and countries impose specific regulations on the permissible darkness levels and reflectivity percentages for car window tinting. Here you can check the regulations the Indiana state established to maintain the safety of drivers and passengers while permitting certain levels of window tinting. Check also what you need to register a car in Indiana.

Should you "Murder Out" your car?

Murder out your car | Buy black car in Indianapolis

If you're considering a murdered-out look for your sedan or sports car, the first step is to check your local regulations regarding window and headlight tint. Next, consider the cost. If you have excellent DIY skills and already drive a black car, the expenses shouldn't be too high. However, you may need to hire specialists for tasks like replacing badges, emblems, lights, and tinting windows.

If you don’t currently own a black car, you can check the assortment of black and murdered out cars in the Indy Auto Man used car lot near you in Indianapolis or order this customization option for your favorite model from our stock. 

https://www.indyautoman.com/blog/murdered-out-cars

Spaniard becomes Jesuits' new "black pope"

By Reuters

January 19, 2008 5:07 AM PST Updated 17 years ago

By Stephen Brown

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Spaniard Adolfo Nicolas was elected the Jesuits' "black pope", as the head of the largest and perhaps most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic order is known, in a secret conclave on Saturday.

Nicolas, 71, has run Jesuit operations in east Asia and Oceania since 2004 and spent most of his career in the Far East after being ordained in Tokyo in 1967.

The order said in a statement that Nicolas had been elected to succeed Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who received permission from Pope Benedict to retire as head of the order formally known as the Society of Jesus at the age of 79.

Jesuit superior generals are known as "black popes" because, like the pontiff, they wield worldwide influence and usually keep their position for life -- and because their simple cassock is black, in contrast to the pope who dresses in white.

The 468-year history of the Jesuit order has often included stormy relations with the Vatican. Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul, believed the order had become too independent, leftist and political, particularly in Latin America.

Soft-spoken, white-haired Dutchman Kolvenbach won widespread praise for mending relations with the Vatican during his years in the post, after conflicts between his charismatic Basque predecessor and Pope John Paul.

Kolvenbach also had to deal with declining vocations and the future of the order founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540.

In the 1960s, the all-male order peaked with some 36,000 members worldwide. It now has about 19,200 members involved in education, refugee help and other social services.

The general congregation that elected Nicolas gathered 217 electors from all over the world at Jesuit headquarters, a block from the Vatican.

They spent four days in prayer and what is known in Latin as "murmuratio", or murmurings, about who should be elected. It is strictly forbidden to lobby for the post and anyone actively seeking the job must be 'turned in' by the other delegates.

The election is by secret ballot and delegates are not allowed to leave the room until Pope Benedict is informed who has won, in keeping with a tradition that the "white pope" is first to know who is the new "black pope".

But unlike a conclave to elect the pontiff, a Jesuit general congregation can continue for weeks or even months after the election to discuss future challenges and priorities.

https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/spaniard-becomes-jesuits-new-black-pope-idUSL19414053/

ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad III (Persian: علاءالدین محمد; 1211–1255), more commonly known as ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn (Persian: علاءالدین), son of Jalāl al-Dīn Ḥasan III, was the 26th Nizāri Isma'ilism Imām. He ruled the Nizari Ismaili state from 1221 to 1255.[1] By some accounts, he was considered a respected scholar and the spiritual and worldly leader of the Nizari Ismailis.[2] The intellectual life of Persia has been described as having flourished during his 34-year reign.[3] Allegedly, he was known for his tolerance and pluralism.[4] His reign witnessed the beginnings of the Mongol conquests of Persia and the eastern Muslim world.[5] He was assassinated by an unknown perpetrator on 1 December 1255,[6] and was succeeded by his eldest son, Rukn al-Din Khurshah, in 1255.[5]

Life

Alauddin Muhammad, also known as Muhammad III, was born in 1213.[contradictory] At the age of nine, upon the death of his father, he became the ruler of the Alamut. However, his mother took over the administration of state affairs and governed Alamut for the next six years (1221–1227), making her the first woman to do so in Alamut's history. This period was a time of relative peace in Alamut, during which the Imam's mother seems to have deposed many incapable governors in Rudhbar and Kohistan, possibly due to suspicions that they had misused their powers.[citation needed]

When Alauddin Muhammad's mother died in 1227, he took full control of the Alamut at the age of 15 or 16. He dealt with the misusers of power strongly and firmly, causing most of them to turn against him and flee to Qazvin. In an attempt to cover up their wrongdoings, possibly including defalcation[citation needed], some of the governors spread rumors against the Imam, claiming that a physician's operation a few months before the death of his mother had damaged his brain and caused excessive blood loss. However, this opposition was quickly surmounted.

Under Muhammad III's reign, the Sunni conformity that had been initiated by his father was gradually and quietly reversed.[7] As a result, his community increasingly regarded itself openly as Ismaili Shi'ite.[8][9]

He was assassinated by an unknown perpetrator on 1 December 1255,[6] and was succeeded by his eldest son Rukn al-Din Khurshah in 1255.[5]

Education and intellectual leadership

Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad was an esteemed scholar who studied spiritual, philosophical, and jurisprudence sciences. He was well known for his mystical statements, which reflected his profound knowledge.[citation needed] He established a special school to train da'is in the correct principles of inviting people to Nizari Isma'ili Islam.

He authored a seminal constitution for the Nizari Ismailis, entitled Murids. One of the da’is, Shams Alden Ibn Ahmad Ibn Yaqoub Altaibi (شمس الدين بن أحمد بن يعقوب الطيبي), documented that the treatise named The Constitution and the Call to the Believers to attendance (الدستور و دعوة المؤمنين إلى الحضور) was delivered to him by Da’i Nasir al Din al Tusi, who obtained it directly from Ala’ al-Din Muhammad.[10] This treatise also mentioned that Ala’ al-Din Muhammad dictated to his hujja, Shams Alden Ibn Ahmad Ibn Yaqoub Altaibi, a document called The Constitution of Mawlana Ala'audeen, which displayed his high intellectual and scientific capacities.[11]

Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad offered special attention to the learned discussions and debates that took place in Alamut. He assigned one day per week to philosophical and doctrinal debates between da'is, guiding them to polish their skills for dialectical debating and offering pedagogical and argumentation techniques that made them proficient in dialectical discussions and arguments.[2]

The Syrian Nizārī author Qays bin Manṣūr All-Dādīkhī [ar] (1201–1257) was his da'i to Syria. He had important philosophical treatises as Risālat al-asābīʿ, ed., ʿĀrif Tāmir, in his Khams rasāʾil Ismāʿīliyya (pp. 057–079),[incomprehensible] which discussed esoteric exegesis (taʾwīl) of certain Quranic verses and Ismaili theology related to the number seven.[12][13] All-Dādīkhī was a talented poet; in the presence of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad and his son Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah, he expressed a poem titled "Degree of the Fatimid Imam is glorified" (قدر الإمام الفاطمي معظم), the verses of which affirm the Fatimid origin of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad.[13]

More recent studies have revealed that intellectual life flourished during the long reign of Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad and was bolstered by an influx of outside scholars who fled the first waves of Mongol invasions and found refuge in the Nizari fortress communities of Persia. Foremost among such scholars who availed themselves of the Nizari libraries and patronage was Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, a polymath who made major contributions to Nizari Ismaili thought of the late Alamut period during his three decades of residency. As elaborated in his spiritual autobiography, Sayr va suluk, al-Tusi converted to Ismailism sometime during his prolonged association with the Nizari Ismailis.[3]

Tolerance and pluralism

Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad was very inclusive and pluralistic in his outlook.[citation needed] He granted patronage and shelter to various scholars from surrounding countries destroyed by the Mongol invasion.[7] He granted access to libraries and offered all kinds of support. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was one of his prominent da'is who contributed to Ismaili theology.[7]

Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad's alliance with the larger Muslim community enlarged Nizari's political boundaries. The grand vision of world domination returned for a time. Purely local squabbles were replaced by ambitious diplomatic activities in lands as far away as Europe and Mongolia, while a Nizari religious mission was firmly established in India. Financial tribute for their safety was received from political leaders as distant as Germany, Aragon, and Yemen.[14]

Besides his missions to create a Christian–Muslim coalition in anticipation of the Mongols' invasion, Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad was among the first to send peaceful messages to the Great Khan Guyuk in Mongolia in full collaboration with the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate.[15] The relationship with Abbasid Caliphate during his leadership was friendly and cordial.[16] Additionally, he sent da'is to Sind to establish Nizāri Ismāʿilī Islam in the Indian subcontinent.[14]

Maymun-Diz fortress

Maymūn-Diz (Persian: میمون دز‎) was a major castle with a unique construction style built during the reign of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad on a high rock with a sharp cliff. It played an important role for the Nizari Ismailis of the Alamut period, which is well-captured historical records.[15]

Silver coins

Silver coins were used in Seljuk Iran for the first time in 618 AH (1221 CE), in the early period of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad's rule.[15]

Silver coins minted during the rule of Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad

Publication bias

There is academic evidence that many citations about Alāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad reflect the religious bias of Atâ-Malek Juvayni,[17] who alleged that his rule was described as "cruel, imperious, sadistic, alcoholic, and unpredictable".[18] Juvayni was an important Sunni official of the Mongol empire which invaded and destroyed the Ismaili state.[19]

Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad drugging his disciples (manuscript from The Travels of Marco Polo)

Marco Polo's fantastical description of Alāʾ al-Din Muhammad III, the penultimate Lord of the Alamut, was copied by other European writers without verification; though it caught the imagination of many readers, it lacked historical authenticity. The contemporary historian al-Juwayni—an avowed enemy of the Nizaris who accompanied the Mongol leader Hulagu to Alamut in 1256 and carefully inspected the fortress before its destruction—does not report discovering any "secret gardens of paradise" as claimed in Polo's popular account.[20]: 18  Even though Juwayni mentions that he selected many "choice books" from the famous Alamut library for his purposes, he unfortunately burned the books that he did not like.[20]: 305 

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

Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس, romanized: al-ʾAndalus)[a] was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim[1][2] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[3][4][5] as well as Septimania under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[1][2][6][7][8] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

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

1° 2° 3° 6°;

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

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

Don't forget, folks, Monday, March 15th, 8pm, LaFayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego. I'll be there, I'll be giving a three-hour presentation, entitled The Sacrificed King: On the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. In it, I will directly connect to the occult worship of Mystery Babylon, the secret societies, and specifically to the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which really is just the outward form of the old Knights Templar. And I also believe, have reason to believe, that the sovereign and military order of the Knights of Malta was involved, which is just another branch of the old Templar order. So make sure that you're there. Forty dollars is the admission fee unless you're a CAJI member, then the admission fee if thirty dollars. I managed to negotiate a 25% discount with the people who are putting this on and who have invited me to speak. If you're not a CAJI member, you can purchase advance tickets at the Controversial Bookstore in San Diego. If you are a CAJI member, you must buy your tickets at the event. That's the only way, uh, that we can get you the discount. If you would like information on this whole conference that lasts the whole weekend, there's a whole lot of Looney Tunes stuff going on there. There are some good speakers. Uh, my workshop is, uh, Monday night, the last one of the whole conference, and it's not a workshop ticket, so it's a separate event altogether. But you can call and find out about the whole thing in case you want to spend the whole weekend. Call (619)492-8588, that's (619)492-8588, and we still donations to pay for this airtime, folks. C'mon, get out your checkbooks and money orders and help us out here. Send your donation to Stan and make your checks and money orders to WWCR, not to me, I don't want your money. It goes to pay for airtime, that's it, period. Send them to Stan, P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322. That's Stan, P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322. Tell him Bill sent you (laughs), and while you're at it, and even if you don't send a donation, write to Stan or call him and tell him you'd like to receive a packet of information. He'd be glad to send it to you. If you'd like to call him, his number is (602)567-6109. That's (602)567-6109. Please call him during normal waking hours. Stan's getting up there and he likes his sleep, and I don't blame him, so please don't call him, uh, late in the evening or late at night. Let him have some, some of his own time. Call him during the day, during waking hours or early evening, please. Thank you very much for those of you who are doing that. Those of you who are not, please start. Well, let's continue where we left off and, uh, this is about the society in the Middle East known as the Assassins, and we've covered quite a bit of their history already:

[Reading from A History of Secret Societies]:

But this secret society, [the] most successful of secret societies showed that its strength ultimately depended upon a powerful leader. [Well,] Kia Mohammed was no such [leader]. [And] little by little it became obvious that his son, Hasan the Hated, was the stronger personality. [Now remember, Kia Mohammed was the Old Man of the Mountain, and the mountain lair was called: The Eagle's Nest.] Now Hasan, through some magnetic power, was able to capture the imagination of the Assassins, soon having it believed that he himself was none other than the Power of All Powers, the Hidden Imam, who had been mentioned by the first Grand Master; an incarnation of all greatness. So important was [Hasan] that he was the fountain of power, and others only held a [very small] measure of authority because he allowed them to have it [and for no other reason].

This final absurdity was lapped up by members who had been conditioned to believe in things which were not, shall we say, exactly self-evident to the ordinary man. The doctrine of the all-powerful Invisible Imam was a part of Ismailism; and Hasan was ready even during his early manhood to assume the role. But, since his father was able to assert himself by having some two hundred and fifty of Hasan' followers murdered, he thought it wiser to hold his hand. In 1163 his chance came. Mohammed died, and Hasan II issued an order to all Ismailis to collect below the castle of Alamut.

Never before had such an assembly of killers, fanatics and dedicated perverters of the truth been seen. Hasan, probably in a state of megalomania, assured them that he had received a message from the Almighty that as from now, all the bond of religion were loosed: everyone might do as he liked. [Later, in the modern age, we would hear that again as: “The whole of the Law shall be: do as thou wilt.”] It was not necessary [he said] to keep up pretences. And, furthermore, he, Hasan, was none other than the Hidden Imam. His word was law; and he was a form of the divinity, not merely relaying instructions from above [but the divinity].

Hour 12: The Templars and the Assassins (aired March 2nd, 1993)

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

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0YqL2U7UXrUgm5XanxM9y3H8W5cshAQXef6if64gprrQsEMt4mpieMVcASA9vaLDXl

A woman, her long hair streaming like flame, comes next. She

personifies Calcination and holds against her chest the disc of the

Salamander, 'which lives in the fire and feeds on fire'. This fabulous

lizard stands for nothing else but the incombustible and fixed central

salt, which preserves its nature even in the ashes of the calcinated

metals and which the ancients called metallic seed. The parts of

the body which can be burnt are destroyed in the violence of the

igneous process; only the pure, unalterable parts resist and, although

they are very fixed, they can be extracted by percolation.

This is, at least, the spagyric expression of calcination, a simile

used by authors to exemplify the general idea which one should

have of the hermetic work. However, our masters in the Art have

been careful to draw the reader's attention to the fundamental

difference which exists between ordinary calcination, such as is

carried out in chemical laboratories, and the one which the Initiate

operates in the philosopher's closet. The latter kind of calcination

is not achieved by any ordinary fire and does not need the assistance

of any reflector, but requires the help of an occult agent, of a secret

fire, which, to give a hint about its form, is more like water than

flame. This fire or burning water is the vital spark communicated

by the Creator to inert matter, it is the spirit enclosed within things,

the imperishable fiery ray imprisoned at the bottom of the dark,

formless and frigid substance. Here I touch on the greatest secret

of the Work. Remembering, alas, that I myself was held up by this

difficulty for more than twenty years, I would gladly cut this

Gordian knot for the benefit of those aspiring to our Science, were

I allowed to profane a mystery, whose revelation rests with the

Father of Lights. To my great regret, I can do no more than point

out the danger and, in company with the most eminent philosophers,

advise you to read attentively Artephi~sP,~on~ta nusZ1a nd the little

work, entitled: Epistola de Igne Philosophorum.22 There you will

find valuable indications of the nature and characteristics of this

watery fire or fiery water. These teachings can be completed by the

two following texts.

The anonymous author of the Prtceptes du Pbre Abraham says:

'This primitive and celestial water must be drawn from the body

where it resides, which body, in my opinion, is expressed in seven

letters, signifying the cause of all beings, a cause not specifically

limited to the house of Aries in engendering its son. It is to this

water that the Philosophers have given so many names and it is the

universal solvent, the life and health of everything. The Philosophers

say that it is in this water that the sun and moon bathe and that

they dissolve of their own accord in this water, which is their first

origin. It is through this dissolution that they are said to die, but

their spirits are carried on the waters of this sea, in which they were

swallowed up. . . . Whatever people say, my son, about there being

other ways of dissolving these bodies into their first matter, hold

fast to what I am telling you, because I know it from experience

and from the transmission of the Ancients.'

Limojon de St. Didier writes in the same way: 'The secret fire

of the Wise is a fire which the Artist prepares according to the Art,

or which he can at any rate have prepared by those having perfect

knowledge of chemistry. This fire is not really hot, but it is a fiery

spirit introduced into a subject having the same nature as the

Stone; and, being moderately excited by the exterior fire, it calcines

the Stone, dissolves it, sublimes it and turns it into dry water, as the

Cosmopolite says.'

Further, we shall soon find other figures referring either to the

production or to the qualities of this secret fire enclosed in water,

which constitutes the universal solvent. Now, the matter which is

used to prepare it is the very object of the fourth motif: a man

shows an image of the Ram and holds in his right hand an object,

which unfortunately cannot be distinguished today (pl. IX). Is it a

mineral, a fragment of an emblem, a utensil, or a piece of material?

I do not know. Time and vandalism have had their way. At any

rate, the Ram remains, and the man, the hieroglyph of the male

metallic principle, personifies it. This helps us to understand these

words of Pernety: 'The Adepts say that they draw their steel from

the belly of Aries, and they also call this steel their lodestone.'

This is succeeded by Evolution, showing the oriflamme, with its

three pennants, the triple colours of the Work, which are described

in all the classical works (pl. X).

The three colours succeed one another in an invariable order,

going from black, through white, to red. But since, according to the

old saying, Natura non facit saltus-nature does not proceed by a

leap, there are many intermediate stages between these three

principal ones. The artist does not attach much importance to them,

because they are superficial and fleeting. They serve only as a

witness to the continuity and the progress of the internal changes.

As for the main colours, they last longer than these transitory

shades and have a profound effect on the matter itself, marking a

change of state into chemical constitution. None of those fugitive

and more or less brilliant tints are meant here, which play upon

the surface of the bath; but rather the colourings within the body

itself, which are translated to the outside and which reabsorb all

the others. I believe it wise to stress this important point.

These coloured phases, referring specifically to the coction phase

in the Great Work, have always served as a symbolical prototype.

A precise meaning, and sometimes quite a lengthy one, was

attributed to each of them in order that they might be used as a

veil, behind which certain concrete truths might be given. In this way

a language of colours, intimately connected with religion, has been in existence at all times. Portal28 states this and it reappears in the

Middle Ages in the stained glass windows of the gothic cathedrals.

The colour black was given to Saturn. In spagyric art he is the

hieroglyph for lead, in astrology, a maleficent planet; in hermeticism,

the black dragon or Philosophers' Lead; in magic, the black Hen,

etc. In the Egyptian temples, when a new member was about to

undergo the initiatory ordeals, a priest approached him and

whispered this mysterious sentence in his ear: 'Remember that

Osiris is a black god!' This is the symbolical colour of the shades

and the Cimmerian darkness, the colour of Satan, to whom black

roses were offered. It is also the colour of primitive Chaos, in which

the seeds of all things are confused and mixed. It is the sable of the

science of heraldry and the emblem of the element earth, of night

and death.

Just as in Genesis day succeeds night, so light succeeds darkness.

Its signature is the colour White. The Wise assure us that when

their matter has reached this degree, it is freed from all impurity,

perfectly cleansed and very exactly purified. It then takes on the

appearance of solid granulations or shining corpuscles, reflecting

like diamonds and of a dazzling whiteness. White has also been

used to denote purity, simplicity and innocence. White is the colour

of the Initiates, because the man, who abandons darkness to follow

light, passes from the profane state to that of the Initiate, the Pure.

He is spiritually renewed. This term white,' says Pierre Dujols, 'has

been chosen for very profound psychological reasons. The colour

white, as most languages attest, has always denoted nobility,

candour and purity. According to the famous Dictionnaire-Manuel

he'breu et chalde'en of Gesenius, hur, heur, signifies to be white;

hurim, heurim, designates the noble ones, the white ones, the pure

ones. This more or less variable transcription of Hebrew (hur, heur,

hurim, heurim) leads us to the French word heureux (happy). The

bienheureux (blessed oneskthose who have been reborn and

washed in the blood of the Lamb--are always represented with

white garments. Everyone knows that bienheureux (the blessed) is

also the equivalent, the synonym of the Initiate, the noble one, the

pure one. Again, the Initiates wore white. The nobles dressed in

the same colour. In Egypt, the shades were similarly dressed in

white. Ptah, the Regenerator, was also clad in white, in order to

show the new birth of the Pure Ones or the White Ones. The

Cathars, a sect to which the Bianchi of Florence belonged, were the

Pure Ones (from the Greek KaBccp6~). . . . On the other hand,

the Hebrew schher represents a transitional black, that is to say the

Ariadne, the spider in the middle of its web-the empty shell, the

beginning of the funeral Rites," says Portal, "represents that state

of soul which is passing from night to day, from death into life".'

As for red, the symbol of fire, it shows exaltation, predominance

of spirit over matter, sovereignty, power and apostleship. The

Philosophic Stone, obtained in the volatile and fusible form of

crystal or red powder, becomes penetrating and capable of curing

leprosy; that is to say of transmuting into gold those ordinary

metals whose tendency to rust renders them inferior, imperfect,

'sick or infirm'.

Paracelsus, in the Book of Images, speaks thus of the successive

colours of the Work: 'Although there are several elemental colours

-the colour blue belongs particularly to earth, green to water,

yellow to air and red to fire-yet the colours white and black refer

directly to the spagyric art, in which the four primitive colours,

i.e. black, white, yellow and red are also found. Black is, further,

the root and origin of the other colours; for every black matter may

be reverberated for the time necessary to it, in such a way that the

other three colours will appear in succession, each in turn. White

succeeds black, yellow succeeds white and red succeeds yellow.

And every matter reaching the fourth colour by means of the

reverberation is the tincture of things of its kind, that is to say of

its nature.'

In order to give some idea of the scope of this colour symbolism

and especially of the three major colours of the Work, we may note

that the Virgin is always represented draped in blue (corresponding

to black, as I shall show later), God in white and Christ in red.

These are the national colours of the French flag, which, moreover,

was invented by the mason, Louis David. In it the dark blue or

black represents the middle class; the white is reserved for the

people, the pierrots or peasants, and the red for the executive or

royalty. In Chaldea, the Ziggurats, which were usually three-tiered

towers, an example of which was the famous Tower of Babel, were

faced in three colours : black, white and reddish-purple.

Up to now I have spoken theoretically about the colours, as the

Masters have done before me, in order to act in accordance with

the philosophical doctrine and with traditional usage. Perhaps it

may now be in order to write for the benefit of the Sons of Science

in a practical rather than a speculative way and thus to discover the

difference between similitude and reality.

Few Philosophers have dared to venture on this slippery ground.

Etteilla,24 in describing a hermetic picture,25 which he claims to

have had in his possession, has preserved the legend, which appeared

below it. Included, surprisingly enough, is the advice: 'Do not pay

too much attention to the colour.' What does this mean? Can the

ancient authors have been deceiving their readers deliberately? And

what indication should the disciples of Hermes substitute for the

discredited colours, in order to recognize and follow the right way?

Seek, my brothers, without becoming discouraged, since both

here and at other obscure points you must make a great effort. You

must have read in various parts of your works that the Philosophers

speak clearly only when they want to divert the attention of the

uniniated from their Round Table. The descriptions they give of

their processes and the symbolical colours they attribute to them

are of perfect clarity. Therefore, you may conclude that these

observations, so fully described must be false and illusory. Your

books are sealed, like the book of the Apocalypse; they are sealed

with cabalistic seals. You must break them, one by one. The task

is hard, I know, but to conquer without danger is to triumph

without glory.

Learn, then, not how one colour differs from another, but rather

how one process is to be distinguished from the one which follows

it. And, first of all, what is a process? Quite simply, it is a way of

growing, tending and increasing the life which your stone has

received since its birth. This is a modus operandi which cannot

necessarily be translated by a succession of different colours. 'He

who knows the process,' writes Philalethes, 'will be honoured by the

princes and great ones of the earth.' And the same author adds:

'We do not hide anything from you, except the process.' However,

in order not to draw down upon my head the curse of the Philosophers,

by revealing what they have thought it their duty to leave

hidden, I shall content myself with stating that the process of the

stone, that is to say its coction, includes several others, meaning

several repetitions of the same method of operation. Reflect, make

use of analogy, and, above all, do not desert the simple principles

of nature. Consider how you must eat every day in order to maintain

your vitality; how sleep is indispensible to you, because it

promotes, on the one hand, the digestion and assimilation of food

and, on the other hand, the renewal of those cells used up by daily

work. What is more, must you not frequently excrete various waste

products, which cannot be assimilated?

In the same way, your stone needs nourishment in order to

increase its power and this nourishment must be graduated or even

changed at certain times. First give milk, the more substantial meat

diet will come later. And after each digestion, do not fail to remove

the excrements, since your stone could be infected by them. . . .

Follow nature in this way and obey her as faithfully as you can.

You will understand in what way it is fitting to carry out the

coction, when you have acquired perfect knowledge of the process.

In this way you will better understand Tolli~sa'd~m~o nition to the

puffers, those slaves to the literal meaning: 'Depart at once, you

who sedulously seek your diverse colours in your glass vessels.

You tire my ears with your black crow; you are as mad as that man

in the old story, who used to applaud at the theatre, although he

was there by himself, because he always imagined some new

spectacle before his eyes. You do the same, when you shed tears of

joy, when you imagine that you see in your vessels your white dove,

your yellow eagle and your red pheasant. Go away, I say, and keep

far from me, if you are seeking the philosophic stone in something

fixed . . . for the latter will no more penetrate metal bodies than the

body of a man will go through solid walls. . . .

'That is what I had to say to you about colours, so that in future

you would leave off your useless tasks; to which I will add a word

concerning smell.

'The Earth is black; Water is white; the Air becomes more yellow,

the nearer it approaches the Sun; the Ether is completely red. In

the same way, death is said to be black, life is full of light; the purer

the light, the nearer it approaches the nature of the angels, who are

pure spirits of fire. Now, is not the smell of death or a corpse

unpleasant and disagreeable? So, with the Philosophers, a foul

smell denotes fixation; a pleasant smell, on the other hand, indicates

volatility, because it is nearer to life and warmth.'

To return to the base of the porch of Notre Dame, we shall find

there, in the sixth place, the bas-relief of Philosophy, whose disc

bears the figure of a cross. This is the expression of the four

elements and the sign of the two metallic principles, sun and moon,

or sulphur and mercury, which are, according to Hermes, the father

and mother of the stone (pl. XI).

Fulcanelli

Mystery of the Cathedrals

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

The Advent Rite

Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry

The following disclosure takes place in future chapters of the fictional novel Bipolar WINTER. It is presented here for those readers who have asked for coming plot elements. This document is lengthy, but you are encouraged to read to the end, as the information contained here explains foundational elements of Bipolar WINTER.

Like many other restrictive religious communities, the Seventh-day Adventist Church throws a cloak of secrecy over many of its practices and much of its history. One such example is that its founders were part of a newly-founded fraternity called The Shmita (Hebrew: שמיטה) Advent Rite of Freemasonry, a lodge that broke from regular lines of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, whose aim was to guide the formation and direction of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. One of those founders was William Miller, who was credited with starting the Advent movement and who served his lodge as Worshipful Master.

There are many indications that men who were previously members of a regular line of Freemasonry were responsible for establishing the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but their secrecy has concealed any specific information tying them to those events.

This corrupted, irregular line of Freemasonry (which had taken on the formal name The Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry) not only excluded women, but also permitted only a handful of men to join every year – making their invitation to Ellen White highly unusual. Ellen White, prophetess and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was asked to join the Advent Rite after she overheard a long conversation between a Noble Brother of the lodge and her husband. Because the Noble Brother and James White had unknowingly disclosed secrets (and they were under a blood oath to keep their secrets from being revealed), Ellen White was forced to join the covert society—herself under a blood oath to maintain the secrets of the Advent Rite. In their private conversation, the men discussed secret teachings, plans, and passwords, all of which Ellen White overheard.

One of the Advent order’s teachings held that members who passed on were to be buried on the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath (Saturday), and the number seven was to be extremely significant in the ceremony. (The secret meanings of “sevens within sevens”—the rituals, vestments, proper passwords, signs and tokens—will be explained in future volumes of Bipolar WINTER.)

The Advent Rite made clear that once the solemn formalities of the burial ceremony had begun, the service had to be completed without any interruption whatsoever.

The deceased was to be carried by seven men who, after setting the casket down near the grave, would walk around it seven times, stopping after each circuit to bow. They would then each turn around in a complete circle before walking around the casket again.

Seven other men would stand in a row near the head of the casket and recite Psalms 91 in its entirety, precisely 19 times (19 is the reverse of 91). That process would begin before and continue during the other parts of the service. Additionally, before beginning to read, the seven men would each be sprinkled with sacred oil seven times by the presiding Worshipful Master.

Ellen White, for reasons explained later, underwent four funeral ceremonies. Three were open to the public, but the fourth—performed in secret—was kept hidden from the non-Advent Rite Freemasons. The occurrence of a fourth secret ceremony begs the question: If the SDA church can bend the truth about Ellen White’s interment, is there anything they won’t do to keep their members in the dark, no matter what the subject? That’s certainly a question to ponder.

In Ellen White’s fourth funeral, seven pallbearers carried her casket to the gravesite, where seven Seventh-day Adventist ministers, who had all been initiated as Noble Brothers into the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry, acted as guards. Each of the seven men who walked around her casket bowed to the east seven times and wore a black band around their left arm, on which the seventh letter of the alphabet had been embossed in gold. The seventh letter, G, represented the words ‘Grand Geometrician’, also known as ‘The Great (or Grand) Architect of the Universe’. Why the left arm? The presence of the band on the left arm indicates the sinister nature of the men was being controlled by the higher nature of God.

Each of the sevens from the funeral ceremony represented one of the sevens mentioned in the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy depicted on the 1850 prophetic chart, which Ellen White had asked her husband to print. At the time it was printed, she stated that it was perfect in every way: “I saw that God was in the publishment of the chart by Brother Nichols. I saw that there was a prophecy of this chart in the Bible, and if this chart is designed for God’s people, if it [is] sufficient for one it is for another, and if one needed a new chart painted on a larger scale, all need it just as much.” (Manuscript Releases, volume 13, 359). The chart Ellen White mentioned included a few errors that were corrected with a second chart. Both were to be used by Adventists evangelists in explaining the message until the very month and year of Christ’s return in clouds of glory.

Exactly 33 days passed from the time of Ellen White’s mock burial—her third memorial, in which a casket weighted with rocks was lowered into the ground—attended by hundreds of people, until she was actually interred on Thursday, August 26, 1915. On each intervening day, members of the Advent Rite held a ceremony, and during each ceremony, a different member of the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry read one of the 32 degrees near the room in which her body was held in a vault.

On the 33rd day, Ellen White had the 33rd honorary degree of the Advent Rite (Sovereign Grand Advent Inspector General) conferred upon her. It was read from an 1880 manuscript which had been slightly modified by her husband, James White.

During that period of 33 days, seven younger ministers were initiated into the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry, each of them receiving the baptism of the 32nd degree. They had been closely observed and found to be perfect candidates for initiation, a process called being “stepped up to” in the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. The seven men were taught through rituals and read one level of initiation every day (from small books called ‘monitors’) in the presence of Ellen White’s body during the 33 days until her interment.

The initiations the Advent masons underwent had been altered from the original teachings of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, with the new initiates being taught the secrets of how and why the Catholic Church would be infiltrated in the years to come, how Masonic teachings would take over the Catholic Church hierarchy, and how the Catholic Church would one day be controlled by masons, with the top administrators, leaders, and the Pope himself all having been initiated into the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry.

The seven men were also told how Ellen White had been visited by 19 angels during her lifetime, and they learned the secrets of the number 19. Since then, SDA teachings have revealed additional insights into the number 19. The distinct orders of each of the 19 angels is explained here. Additionally, the seven men were coached in different aspects of the Qur’an, studying Islam in secret (which is still done to this day), and were instructed to greet each other with the words ‘As-Salaam-Alaikum’ when they met in secret. They were also schooled as to the reasons why the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy had to continue to be taught in secret and why the SDA church was to fade out any mention of The Third Woe or its connections to Islam. The church has also eliminated teachings on the second prophetic chart, which depicts Islam as bringing three levels of woes on the earth.

After having had the 32nd (highest) degree conferred upon them, the seven men were henceforth known as Masters of the Advent Royal Secret. At another meeting, they were given a second title of Advent Muslim, after which others present in the large chamber stood and in unison gave the secret sign and recited the Advent Obligation. The Masters of the Advent Royal Secret were informed that even though the main branches of the Seventh-day Adventist Church would begin to teach the Trinity doctrine, they, as the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry, would revert back to Ellen White’s original teachings concerning the nature of One God, which she had never abandoned, never intending her church to embrace the Trinity doctrine. The Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry now secretly follows Ellen White’s original doctrine.

Years later, John Harvey Kellogg (founder of the cereal giant Kellogg’s), who knew that certain leaders were, like him, ready to adopt the Catholic teachings on the Trinity, pushed for this new teaching to be surreptitiously introduced into the SDA church over time. He did this despite knowing the new Trinitarian belief would erode any respect devout of Muslims for the Seventh-day Adventist Church (because Muslims would see it as a challenge to the reasons Abraham was taught about one God). Kellogg, who was like a son to Ellen White, understood how harshly Islam would one day judge the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church if it abandoned the beliefs of its founder, but Kellogg still pushed for the church to embrace what Jews and Muslims consider idolatry – that idea of more than one God. Ellen White saw the Son as an expansion of the Father. She believed in One God—Jesus is both the Creator of the universe and the Creation. According to White, Jesus is the begotten creative force that is the expanded energy of God. The Holy Spirit is the energy field of God that is in touch with the creative expansion of Himself. White believed The One expands itself without a triune existence.

Ellen White died on July 16, 1915 at her home in Elmshaven, St Helena, California, where her first funeral service was held on July 18.

A camp meeting concerning White’s Conflict of the Ages series was being held in Richmond, California, at the time, so her body was taken there by train and a second funeral service was presided over by the president of the Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. White’s body was then taken to Battle Creek, Michigan, where on Saturday, July 24 (the Sabbath) it lay in state in the Battle Creek Tabernacle so that church members and well-wishers could pay their respects.

Between the hours of 8:00 am and 10:00 am, around 2,000 people passed by her body. Six—not seven, as there were in the closed order’s service—Seventh-day Adventist ministers acted as honor guards, rotating in 19-minute shifts. Every 19 minutes, another group of six ministers took their place. One of the ministers stood at the head of the casket, another stood at the foot, and two ministers guarded each side, keeping those paying their respects from getting too close. The six guards represented the 6th millennium in which we now live.

A third funeral service was held in the Battle Creek Tabernacle later that same day. With many of the surrounding Seventh-day Adventist churches canceling their Sabbath services so their members could travel to the funeral, around 4,600 people attended, but since the Battle Creek Tabernacle could hold just over 3,000 people, not even standing room was available for all who attended.

The sermon was preached by Elder Stephen Haskell, who had asked Ellen White to marry him after both of their spouses had passed. (She declined his proposal.)

After the service, Ellen White’s body appeared to be taken to the Oak Hill Cemetery to be buried next to her husband, James White, but the casket was empty—except for the rocks bound in cloth intended to duplicate her weight—something those in attendance didn’t know, leaving them to assume that she had finally been laid to rest on the Sabbath, July 24th.

Very few church members know of the role John Harvey Kellogg played in all of this. The vertical headstone (obelisk) set in the White’s family grave site was purchased by Kellogg sometime after the death of James White, some 34 years earlier. Ellen White had seen the obelisk and wanted to purchase it for her family’s gravesite, so Kellogg gave the money to a family friend, asking them to pay for the obelisk and give it as a gift, making it appear to have come from them.

I have been asked if it is true that a symbol associated with the Order of the Eastern Star is engraved on the obelisk. (The Order of the Eastern Star is a Freemasonic appendant and concordant body which both men and women can join. It was started in 1850 by an attorney named Rob Morris, who shared many friends with James and Ellen White and William Miller.) That answer will be given in a later volume of Bipolar WINTER.

Kellogg was also responsible for creating a story designed to be told to anyone who might one day discover that Ellen White’s body was kept out of the grave until August 26. According to the story, leaders of the SDA church were afraid Kellogg might want to exhume White’s body to have an autopsy performed to determine if her brain had been affected by a childhood accident. (At the age of nine, she was struck in the face by a rock.)

There is, though, another explanation—one which I am reluctant to mention, as it might make some question their beliefs. However, after much consideration, I feel it’s important enough to share and allow you to decide for yourselves.

Those closest to Ellen White in the Advent Rite strongly believed that the most senior angel who had come to her throughout her life was going to return to resurrect her. In files kept at her home, Ellen White had written about others being translated, meaning being taken up to Heaven without seeing death.

Only a few people throughout history have been considered pure enough to be visited by an angel of the Lord. Because Ellen White had been visited by 19 angels, her fellow members of the Advent Rite believed that she was certain to be resurrected, and then later, as Christ, be translated into Heaven. As a result, they kept her body out of the grave to allow that to happen. They fervently wished it would happen, as having their prophetess resurrected right from the room in which they’d conferred the 33rd degree upon her would bring awareness of the church and its teachings to the wider world.

But as time went by and nothing happened, members of the Advent Rite made the decision to lay Ellen White’s body to rest after the 33-day period had passed.

It’s important to mention these events because the belief that the angel would come to resurrect White directly conflicts with the SDA church’s teaching that all resurrection will happen only at the second coming of Christ. The church teaching on the State of the Dead is that all who have died are still sleeping, unaware of the passage of time, and waiting for Christ to come again.

As a side note, it’s said that Ellen White was approached by many leaders of the church after her husband died, asking her to contact the Lord and request that her husband be raised from the dead, as the church might not be able to continue without his help. She told them to keep their request private and explained to them that she’d been inspired to allow her husband to remain in his slumber. She told them her husband was tired, having been over-burdened with work and needed to rest until the Lord came, and that her husband’s work was to be carried on by her and the other leaders of the church.

Kellogg was also influential in retaining one aspect of the text in Ellen White’s book The Desire of Ages. He asked one of her assistants to tell her that if she left the wording concerning the Holy Spirit within the text, it would ensure that the SDA church would not come under attack until the Time of Trouble began.

Ellen White never changed her teaching that both God the Father and His Only Begotten Son radiated an all-pervading, self-effulgent and fully conscious blue light outward from Their bodies. God, being one, had a material expansion indicated through His begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. Unlike the Catholic Church’s doctrine of the Trinity, White’s teachings held that a shared light or spirit radiated from the bodies of God the Father and His material expansion expressed as His Only Begotten Son, bringing healing to those who would accept this holy, healing, and comforting Spirit.

Many people have asked why the bodies of Ellen White, her husband, her son, and other Adventists, such as Samuele R. Bacchiocchi (29 January 1938 – 20 December 2008), John Nevins Andrews (July 22, 1829 – October 21, 1883) and Le Roy Edwin Froom (October 16, 1890 – February 20, 1974), were all buried on the Holy Sabbath.

There is an answer, half of which will be shared on the Bipolar WINTER blog. The rest will be disclosed in future volumes of Bipolar WINTER.

For those of you who are unaware of the significance of interments being made on the Sabbath, it’s important to know that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has made it a custom to refuse funeral services on the Sabbath. But the reason for that is probably not what you think. The real reason is to reserve the Sabbath for the secret funeral services (which still go on to this day) of the few members of the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. Being buried on the Sabbath sets those Noble Brothers of the Advent Rite and their wives aside as being special when compared to other members of the SDA church.

Even though Ellen White’s assistants were allowed to become 32nd degree Masons, and Ellen White was herself a 33rd degree Mason (an honorary degree), she didn’t support the regular lines of Freemasons. In secret, she supported the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. However, she still believed in what she preached because she had been forced to take a secret oath to preserve her life. Following her death, the only places to continue teaching about such things as the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy were the few secret lodges of the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry. At the same time, certain initiated leaders within the Seventh-day Adventist Church were being directed to begin fading out the 2520 teaching and to develop different – and controversial – teachings concerning the ‘Daily’ in Daniel.

Early Adventists didn’t consider their new order—the Shmita Advent Rite of Freemasonry—to be like other Freemason societies. To early Adventists, the Advent Rite was like an extension of their church. Members of the Advent Rite even became known among themselves as ‘Excellent Masters of the Chart’ (a reference to the prophetic chart of 1850). According to the Shmita Advent Rite’s teaching, this can only be spoken of now that we live in the time of the coming of the Messiah heralded by a global pandemic—the plague of sores.

While Ellen White had not wanted her church members to join the traditional Freemason order, her fellow founders of the SDA church considered the Advent Rite’s secret and closed order to be a much higher and purer example of the ancient and accepted mysteries. She was forced to become a member when she overheard the secrets the Rite—because of this she warned SDA members to avoid any contact with secret societies lest they suffer the fate she did in being forced to join under the penalty of death.

The reasons Ellen White disapproved of the Freemasons while being a member herself are explained in later volumes of Bipolar WINTER.

Ellen White didn’t want the 2520 prophecy faded out of the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was not given any indication that it would happen. She watched as her husband became confused as to whether he should continue to support the 2520 teachings in public or go along with the other leaders of the Advent Rite and appear as if he no longer believed in it. Ellen White had already indicated that she would not openly continue to speak of the 2520 prophecy, but she did leave hidden references to it in her writings. Uriah Smith, along with others, would later agree with the leaders of the Advent Rite to keep their support of the 2520 prophecy private. That begs the question: Why did Sister White never publicly tell church members that the Seven Times Time Prophecy was an erroneous teaching?

Today, many (so-called) conservative Seventh-day Adventist ministers question why anyone would still give any importance to White’s prophetic charts. If you are one who disbelieves the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy, ask yourself the following questions:

1) Why would a prophecy which claims Christ began His judgement in the year 1844, and which the Spirit of Prophecy endorsed, be mocked by me and many of today’s Bible students and ministers? Leaders of the SDA church believe Christ entered the Most Holy Place in October 1844 and began to judge the living and the dead. This is one of two prophecies of Ellen White upon which the Seventh-day Adventist Church was founded and, indeed, on which its continued existence depends. Ellen White insisted that two witnesses attest to each prophecy. She further asserted that the 2300 Day Prophecy pointed to the Investigative Judgement and thus served as the second basis for the founding of the Adventist church. Many who scrutinize the 1844 prophecy and its proof spend hours each day in personal prayer, contemplation, meditation, and studying of sacred texts (such as the oral and written Torah) and the Spirit of Prophecy in its fullness. Adventist church leaders are now trying to disconnect 2300 Day Prophecy from Adventism. Leaders of the Adventist church removed the 2520 Seven Times Time Prophecy as an official teaching because it was hard to understand, and in so doing, removed the second witness to the Investigative Judgement.

2) Why would I want to appear to be an expert and then scorn a prophecy which Ellen White asked to be left on the 1850 chart before she had it printed by her husband, especially at a time in history when the Spirit of Prophecy is already being questioned by forces around the world who want to see it discredited and abandoned? Many leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church want to eliminate these prophecies from church doctrine because they are being mocked by the world (Daniel 8:14). The Adventist church’s foundational prophecies are easily mocked by others, but leaders and scholars who have tried to get rid of 2300 Day Prophecy have not been allowed to do so because without it (and the scripture to which it allegedly points), the very existence of the SDA church is rendered invalid. Adventist leaders now feel a sense of urgency because they believe Jesus has completed His judgement of the dead and is now judging the living.

Why also does one of the wealthiest organizations on earth allow its ordained ministers to disparage the 2520 teachings? What spirit leads those ordained men and women to want to deny the 2520 prophecy? Why is it important for those men and women to appear on video and lead people around the world to doubt the Seven Times Time Prophecy? What are these men and women trying to accomplish?

Finally, another problem facing the SDA church stems from Ellen White’s frequent use of Freemasonic and occult terms. I have no answer as to why she used those terms in her writings, other than to note that while Freemasons and occultists do at times use Biblical terms, texts, and expressions, the Bible doesn’t use Masonic and occult terminology, and neither would a prophet of God. Make of that what you will.

Today, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is seeking new ways to keep its members from asking questions about its Masonic origins, the Trinity, and any continuations of a closed society or hidden hand active within the SDA church.

I encourage you to consider all of this – including the information linked in the preceding paragraphs – and ask yourself what is behind the actions of SDA church leadership. I also invite you to follow me as I consider these and many other questions.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230320223618/http://adventrite.com/

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

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

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

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

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

History and development

Floor and table designs

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

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

Painted boards

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

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

Contemporary use

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

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

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

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

by Laura Gaspari 1,2,3,†,Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard 4,5,†ORCID,Scott Kerlin 6,Françoise Paris 1,2,3 andCharles Sultan 1,*

1

Unité d’Endocrinologie-Gynécologie Pédiatrique, CHU Montpellier, University Montpellier, 34090 Montpellier, France

2

INSERM 1203, Développement Embryonnaire Fertilité Environnement, University of Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier, France

3

CHU Montpellier, University Montpellier, Centre de Référence Maladies Rares du Développement Génital, Constitutif Sud, Hôpital Lapeyronie, 34295 Montpellier, France

4

Laboratoire Arago, Observatoire Océanologique, Sorbonne University, CNRS, 75016 Paris, France

5

Association HHORAGES-France, 66100 Perpignan, France

6

DES International Information and Research Network, Livermore, CA 94551, USA

*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

J. Xenobiot. 2024, 14(1), 166-175; https://doi.org/10.3390/jox14010010

Submission received: 28 November 2023 / Revised: 8 January 2024 / Accepted: 10 January 2024 / Published: 12 January 2024

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in the Human Health)

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Abstract

Diagnostic of transsexualism and gender incongruence are terms to describe individuals whose self-identity does not match their sex assignment at birth. A transgender woman is an individual assigned male at birth (AMAB) on the basis of the external or internal genitalia who identifies and lives as a woman. In recent decades, a significant increase in the number of transgender people has been reported. Although, its etiology is unknown, biological, anatomical, genetic, environmental and cultural factors have been suggested to contribute to gender variation. In XY animals, it has been shown that environmental endocrine disruptors, through their anti-androgenic activity, induce a female identity. In this work, we described four XY individuals who were exposed in utero to the xenoestrogen diethylstilbesterol (DES) and were part of the French HHORAGES cohort. They all reported a female transgender identity starting from childhood and adolescence. This high prevalence of male to female transgenderism (1.58%) in our cohort of 253 DES sons suggests that exposure to chemicals with xenoestrogen activity during fetal life may affect the male sex identity and behavior.

Keywords: sexual identity; diethylstilbestrol (DES); prenatal exposure

1. Introduction

Gender identity defines each individual’s deeply held personal sense of their own gender as male or female or something else [1]. Moreover, gender diversity and variance are umbrella terms used to describe the wide range of gender identifications outside the conventional gender categories [2]. Gender dysphoria [3] relates to the distress and unease experienced by individuals who are discontent with their assigned gender and identify with a gender other than the one associated with their birth sex [4]. A transgender man or woman is a person born phenotypically female or male, assigned female or male at birth on the basis of their external or internal genitalia, who identifies and lives as a male or a female. Actually, for many experts [5] this definition should be enlarged to Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) individuals, people with disorders of sex development (DSDs) and people assigned male (AMAB) or female at birth (AFAB) [6].

All studies on secular trends have reported a dramatic increase in the number of transgender people in recent decades [7]. A temporal change in the age of presentation is another notable phenomenon [8]. Quoting Hassler et al. [8] in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5), signs of transgender in children include: “A repeated desire to be the other sex or an assertion that they are the other sex; a belief that their assigned sex will change on its own (e.g., thinking they will grow a penis or that their penis will come off when they get older); wanting to change their name to a name typically associated with another gender, or a gender-neutral name; a preference for presenting as another gender (e.g., a child assigned male at birth who prefers long hair and wearing dresses, or a child assigned female at birth who prefers short hair and wearing gender-neutral clothing); resistance or distress when made to present as a gender they do not identify with (such as a ‘girl’ throwing a tantrum over having to wear a dress or a ‘boy’ crying after having to get a haircut); assuming the role of another gender in fantasy games or make-believe; an intense desire to participate in the games and activities typical of the other gender (such as an assigned-male child playing with Barbie and an assigned-female child playing contact sports); a preference for playmates of another gender”.

Hassler et al. also wrote [8]: “In adolescence, signs of transgender includes: feelings of panic or severe discomfort concerning puberty and body changes (e.g., refusing to acknowledge or admit that changes are occurring, refusing to look at their body, or becoming distressed or uncomfortable with body development, menstruation, or ejaculation); discomfort or distress with certain forms of gender presentation, such as disliking long hair or certain types of clothing; increased bullying at school due to differences in acting out one’s perceived gender or lack of self-confidence; isolation from peers due to lack of connection or fear of bullying; depression and/or anxiety as a result of confusion over gender identity or not fitting in with peers; be aware that some adolescents may try to repress their true gender due to outside pressure, such as from family and peers, even if they previously expressed their true gender as a child”.

The literature on the prevalence of transgender people is heterogeneous, depending on the geographic area, inclusion criteria and age at presentation [9]. Specialized centers that manage transgender people estimate a prevalence between 17 and 33/100,000 individuals [10]. Actually, people who identify as transgender represent a sizable proportion of the general population, from 0.1% to 2% [11,12].

Although the biological basis of transgenderism/incongruence is unknown, biological, anatomical, genetic and environmental factors have been suggested to contribute to gender identity [13,14]. The role of sex hormones and genetics in sexual development was described by studies published between 1948 and 2019, and the implication of endogenous steroids in brain sexual differentiation has been widely studied [14,15,16,17,18]. According to the accepted dogma, high levels of fetal testosterone organize the brain towards a male phenotype [19]. Any exogenous chemical that can reduce testosterone action during fetal life can affect the differentiation of genitalia and sex behavior.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a molecule that has strengthened the concepts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and the fetal basis of adult diseases [20]. It is well known that in utero exposure to DES, a compound with estrogenic and anti-androgenic activity, induces a wide range of reproductive tract/function abnormalities in the so-called ‘DES daughters’, e.g., alterations to Müllerian duct development, fertility problems, ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, premature births and cancers, especially clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCA) of the vagina and cervix in girls and young women [21]. In ‘DES sons’, epididymal cysts, hypospadias, cryptorchidism, hypoplastic testes and micropenises have been observed [22,23,24,25,26]. In addition, although less studied, in utero exposure to synthetic sex hormones, particularly DES, can cause psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, eating disorders and suicidal behavior [27]. Interestingly, some studies in patients exposed in utero to DES with psychotic disorders identified methylome changes that affect the expression of ZFP57 and ADAMTS9, two genes implicated in neurodevelopment regulation [28], with potential multigenerational and transgenerational effects [29,30].

In this work, we first describe four transgender women identified among the 253 sons exposed in utero to DES included in the HHORAGES-France cohort (a French National patient association). This high prevalence of male-to-female transgender individuals among DES sons (1.58%) strongly suggests that exposure of male fetuses to this xenoestrogen during fetal life may affect future male sex identity and behavior.

2. Patients and Methods

This study was based on a French national retrospective cohort of DES-treated women (HHORAGES-France Association) (n = 1200) and their families. Detailed standard questionnaires were obtained from all DES mothers when they joined the HHORAGES-France Association and all DES children were already adults at this time. The answers to this online questionnaire were used to select women who met the following inclusion criteria: (1) at least two pregnancies with two viable male babies (same father) among whom the first child was not exposed in utero to DES (pre-DES), followed by one or more children with fetal exposure to DES (DES); (2) confirmed data on the total DES dose (health record or physician’s observation). The cumulative dose D administered to the French pregnant mothers was 4050 mg < D < 7300 mg. This is considered a medium-low-dose cohort, in accordance with the observations by Tournaire et al. [31] and compared with the higher doses administered in the United States (7550 mg < D < 12,742 mg). The answers to the questionnaires were also used to identify women with a DES son who presented female gender variance. We then contacted all DES sons with female gender variance and we carried out an individual interview with them.

The local university hospital ethics committee approved this study (ID IRB No. 202301531), and all patients gave their informed consent through the HHORAGES-France Association (CNIL: J B/EM/DC042793, N° 1006460).

All DES sons who identified as transgender women underwent karyotyping at their local hospital at the moment of transition.

https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/14/1/10

Charles Babbage, an English mechanical engineer and polymath, originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered the "father of the computer",[22] he conceptualized and invented the first mechanical computer in the early 19th century.

After working on his difference engine he announced his invention in 1822, in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society, titled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables",[23] he also designed to aid in navigational calculations, in 1833 he realized that a much more general design, an analytical engine, was possible. The input of programs and data was to be provided to the machine via punched cards, a method being used at the time to direct mechanical looms such as the Jacquard loom. For output, the machine would have a printer, a curve plotter and a bell. The machine would also be able to punch numbers onto cards to be read in later. The engine would incorporate an arithmetic logic unit, control flow in the form of conditional branching and loops, and integrated memory, making it the first design for a general-purpose computer that could be described in modern terms as Turing-complete.[24][25]

The machine was about a century ahead of its time. All the parts for his machine had to be made by hand – this was a major problem for a device with thousands of parts. Eventually, the project was dissolved with the decision of the British Government to cease funding. Babbage's failure to complete the analytical engine can be chiefly attributed to political and financial difficulties as well as his desire to develop an increasingly sophisticated computer and to move ahead faster than anyone else could follow. Nevertheless, his son, Henry Babbage, completed a simplified version of the analytical engine's computing unit (the mill) in 1888. He gave a successful demonstration of its use in computing tables in 1906.

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

Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American author, and was both the prophet and a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Along with other Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, she was influential within a small group of early Adventists who formed what became known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. White is considered a leading figure in American vegetarian history.[2] Smithsonian named her among the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time".[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_G._White

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

The Mysteries of the Great Cross

by Jay Weidner

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

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02qiiwzR3E3KmahpXxmtBtYT5yPQPywRy1t8GkkAmHPWGdtUJsPKji8RVDhp7YdBLzl

Photoshop Of Horrors

7h  · 

"The Last Shake And Bake"

https://www.facebook.com/RogerHendrixArt/posts/pfbid0JdSvbBkkEVE8wu8jUpyYnk5Ee4yqvZvfRVgwUUUCzpCGRusbHG1gWcRDLwrZLLmsl

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a 2004 American satirical comedy film directed by Adam McKay in his directorial debut, produced by Judd Apatow, starring Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate and written by McKay and Ferrell. The first installment in the Anchorman series, the film is a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly the new Action News format.[3] It portrays a San Diego television station where Ferrell's title character clashes with his new female counterpart.

The film made $28.4 million in its opening weekend, and $90.6 million worldwide in its theatrical run. It was met with lukewarm reviews from critics upon release but has undergone a gradual critical reassessment since then. It was ranked at number 100 on Bravo's 100 funniest movies, number 6 on Time Out's top 100 comedy films of all time and 113 on Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.

Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, a companion film assembled from outtakes and abandoned subplots, was released straight-to-DVD on December 28, 2004. A sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, was released on December 18, 2013, with Paramount Pictures replacing DreamWorks Pictures as the distributor.[4][5][6]

Plot

In 1975, Ron Burgundy is the famous anchorman for a San Diego television station, KVWN Channel 4, working alongside his lifelong friends on the news team: lead field reporter Brian Fantana, sportscaster Champ Kind, and meteorologist Brick Tamland.

Station director Ed Harken informs the team that they have retained their long-held status as the highest-rated news program in San Diego, leading them to throw a wild party, where Burgundy unsuccessfully attempts to pick up a beautiful blonde woman, Veronica Corningstone.

Harken later informs the team that they have been forced to hire Corningstone. After a series of unsuccessful attempts by the team to seduce her, she finally agrees to a "professional tour" of the city with Burgundy, culminating in a sexual relationship. Despite agreeing to keep the relationship discreet, Burgundy announces it on air.

After a dispute with a motorcyclist ends in Burgundy's beloved dog Baxter being punted off the San Diego–Coronado Bridge, Burgundy is late to work. Corningstone fills in for him on-air, receiving higher ratings than Burgundy usually receives, and the couple break up when he bemoans her success. Corningstone is promoted co-anchor, to the disgust of the team. The co-anchors become fierce rivals off-air while maintaining a phony facade of cordiality on-air.

Depressed, the team (barring Corningstone) decide to buy new suits, but Tamland, leading the way, gets them lost in a shady part of town. Confronted by main competitor Wes Mantooth and his news team, Burgundy challenges them to a fight. When several other news teams converge onsite (which includes the Channel Two News team, the Public News Team, and the Spanish-language News team), a full-on melee battle ensues, only broken up by police sirens that cause them to flee. Realizing that having a female co-anchor is straining their reputation, Burgundy gets into another heated argument with Corningstone, and they get into a physical fight after she insults his hair.

After one of Corningstone's co-workers informs her that Burgundy will read whatever is written on the teleprompter, she sneaks into the station and changes the text in revenge. The next day, he (unaware of what he is saying) concludes the broadcast with "Go fuck yourself, San Diego!" instead of his signature closing line, "You stay classy, San Diego!" triggering an angry mob outside the studio and prompting Harken to fire him.

Realizing she went too far, Corningstone phones Burgundy to apologize but finds she can't speak to him. Unemployed, friendless, and heavily antagonized by the public, Burgundy grows depressed while Corningstone enjoys her new-found fame, with Fantana, Kind, and Tamland begrudgingly working with her. Harken has warned against them talking to Burgundy, under threat that they'd be fired as well.

Three months later, when a panda is about to give birth, every news team in San Diego rushes to the zoo to cover the story. In an attempt to sabotage her, a rival news anchor pushes Corningstone into a Kodiak bear enclosure. When Harken is unable to locate her, he recruits and rehires Burgundy.

Once at the zoo, Burgundy, with his morale restored, jumps into the bear pen to save Corningstone as the public watches. The rest of the news team then jump in to save them. Just as a bear is about to attack, Burgundy's dog Baxter, who miraculously survived his fall, intervenes and encourages the bear to spare them. As the group climbs out of the pit, Mantooth appears and holds the ladder over the bear pit, threatening to drop Burgundy back in, saying that deep down, he has always hated him, but then admits he does respect him before pulling him to safety.

After Burgundy and Corningstone reconcile, it is shown that, in the years to come, Fantana becomes the host of a Fox reality show named Intercourse Island, Tamland is married with 11 children and is a top political adviser to George W. Bush, Kind is a commentator for the NFL before getting fired after being accused by Terry Bradshaw of sexual harassment, and Burgundy and Corningstone are co-anchors for the CNN-esque World News Center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorman:_The_Legend_of_Ron_Burgundy

Raymond of Burgundy (c. 1070 – 24 May 1107) was the ruler of Galicia as vassal of Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the Emperor of All Spain, from about 1090 until his death. He was the fourth son of Count William I of Burgundy and Stephanie. He married Urraca, future queen of León and heir of Alfonso VI, and was the father of the future Alfonso VII.

Background

When Raymond and his cousin, Henry of Burgundy, first arrived in Iberia is uncertain, but it probably was with the army of Duke Odo I of Burgundy in 1086. In April 1087, the army abandoned the siege of Tudela. While most of the army returned home, Odo and his retinue went west. By 21 July 1087 they were probably at Burgos, at the court of Alfonso VI, and by 5 August he was in the capital city of León. There Odo most likely arranged Raymond's marriage to Alfonso's heiress, Urraca. All surviving charters which seem to place Raymond in Spain before 1087 are either mis-dated or interpolated.[1]

By his marriage Raymond received as dowry the government of the Kingdom of Galicia (which included the County of Portugal and the County of Coimbra),[2] although shortly after, in 1095, Alfonso VI gave the County of Portugal and the County of Coimbra to Henry of Burgundy, father of the first Portuguese King Afonso Henriques of Portugal, basing it in Bracara Augusta (nowadays Braga). During his government he was titled Count, Dominus, Prince, Emperor and Consul of Galicia or of the Galicians, exercising near absolute power in his domains ("in urbe Gallecia regnante Comite Raymundus"): "serenissimus totius Gallecie comes", "totius Gallecie Senior et Dominus", "totius Gallecie Consul", "totius Gallecie Princeps", "totius Gallecie Imperator".[3]

He was father of Alfonso VII of León and Castile (1104/1105–1157), already crowned king of Galicia in 1111, while his brother later became Pope Callixtus II.

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

Robert de Craon or Robert Burgundio (died 13 January 1149) was the second Grand Master of the Knights Templar from June 1136 until his death. He was instrumental in getting papal sanction for the Templar Order, making it independent from ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Robert negotiated the expansion of the Order into the Iberian peninsula with the acquisition of castles and territory. He died on 13 January 1149 and was succeeded by Everard des Barres.

Life

Robert was the son of Renaud le Bourguignon and Ennoguen de Vitré.[1] He was engaged to the daughter of the lord of Angoumois but gave up his wedding and travelled to Palestine after learning of the foundation of the Templar Order by Hughes de Payens. He soon showed his military valour and his piety. From 1132-1134, he was the seneschal of the order, and following the death of Hughes, in 1136, he was chosen as the new Grand Master.[2] He proved to be a brilliant organizer and legislator,[3] and turned the Order into a major force in the Crusader states. On March 29, 1139, Pope Innocent II issued the bull Omne Datum Optimum, which exempted the order from tithes and made them independent of any ecclesiastical jurisdiction.[3] The Templars were also granted the habit of a red cross over a white tunic.[4][a]

In 1143, Robert and Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona negotiated the donation of six castles and dependent enclaves consisting of Monzon, Mongay, Chalamera, Barbara, Belchite, and Remolins.[6] He participated in the Council of Acre during the Second Crusade on 24 June 1148 and supported the decision to attack Damascus.[7] Robert died on 13 January 1149, and was succeeded by Everard des Barres in April that year.[8]

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

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

Career

Arrival in England

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

Alan's career in England can be traced largely through his presence as a witness to charters granted by the king during his travels in the first decade or more of his reign. Some of his activities were traced by Eyton, and his researches overlap with William Farrer's calendar of Henry I travel. All of the business in which he took part was ecclesiastical, involving grants, sometimes disputed, to churches and monasteries.

Appearances at court

Alan appeared in Henry I's company at least as early as September 1101, probably at a court held in Windsor Castle,[8] when he witnessed important grants to Norwich Cathedral, confirming its foundation and various endowments.[9][10] Next, he appeared with the king at Canterbury in 1103,[11] where he witnessed the grant of a market to the nuns of Malling Abbey and land acquisitions by Rochester Cathedral, then in the process of rebuilding.[12]

Later that year,[13] or early in the next,[14] Alan was with the king in the New Forest, where the business concerned Andover Priory, a daughter house of the great Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur.[15] He was probably selected deliberately for this meeting because of his family's close connections with Saumur Abbey: one of his uncles was a monk there.[16] William Rufus had decreed that all chapels in the parish of Andover church should be handed over to the monks or destroyed.[17] One problem at issue revolved around the Foxcote chapel, which was evidently being defended from destruction or annexation by Edward de Foscote, a local landowner. Another seems to have been the administration of justice in the monastic estates.[18] Wihenoc, a monk of St Florent, had initiated an action against the reeve of Andover to have these issues clarified and resolved. Alan Fitz Flaad was called upon to witness a compromise, although Foxcote was among the properties confirmed to the priory by Pope Eugenius III in 1146.[19]

In the autumn of 1105, Alan was called to York to witness confirmation of Ralph Paynel's transfer of his refounded Holy Trinity Priory in York to Marmoutier Abbey, Tours[20][21] and his many endowments of the priory itself.[22][23] At some point, he also witnessed the Roger de Nonant's gift of the church at Totnes and various tithes to the Abbey of Ss Sergius and Bacchus at Angers, a gift earmarked as being for the souls of the royal family.[24]

In May 1110, Alan was at court at Windsor again to witness the king's settlement of a property dispute between Hervey le Breton, Bishop of Ely, and Ranulph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, resolved in favour of the former.[25]

Probably only later did he appear as a witness to a royal command issued to Richard de Belmeis I, the Bishop of London and the king's viceroy in Shropshire, to see that justice was done in the case of a disputed prebend at Morville.[26][27] The collegiate church there had been dissolved and replaced with a priory attached to Shrewsbury Abbey[28] and it seems that the son of one of the prebendaries was resisting the loss of what he regarded as his patrimony. Alan is listed among a group of Shropshire magnates, including Corbets and a Peverel, meeting perhaps during Henry I's 1114 military expedition into Wales. Johnson and Cronne tentatively place the meeting at Holdgate Castle in Shropshire. Eyton dates the event earlier, around the time of a royal expedition to Shropshire in 1109.[29] Whatever the date, it shows Alan as an important member of the Shropshire landowning class.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When were the Jesuits restored?

August 7, 1814

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

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

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

The Spiritual Exercises of Loyola

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good Time Charlie's

801 Overland Lp Ste 103 Dayton, NV 89403

https://order.toasttab.com/online/good-time-charlies-801-overland-loop-103

Rosalia Lombardo (13 December 1918 – 6 December 1920)[1] was a Palermitan child who died of pneumonia, resulting from the Spanish flu,[2] one week before her second birthday. Rosalia's father, Mario Lombardo, grieving her death, asked Alfredo Salafia, an embalmer, to preserve her remains.[3] Sometimes called "Sleeping Beauty",[4] hers was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo in Sicily.

Embalming

Lombardo's body in 2012.

Thanks to Salafia's embalming techniques, the body was well-preserved. X-rays of the body show that all the organs are remarkably intact.[5] Rosalia Lombardo's body is kept in a small chapel at the end of the catacomb's street and is encased in a glass covered coffin, placed on a wooden pedestal. A 2009 National Geographic photograph of Rosalia Lombardo shows the mummy is beginning to show signs of decomposition, most notably discoloration. Her body is starting to take on a yellow waxy skin texture.[6] To address these issues, the mummy was moved to a drier spot in the catacombs, and her original coffin was placed in a hermetically sealed glass enclosure with nitrogen gas to prevent decay.[7] The mummy remains one of the best preserved bodies in the catacombs.

While there are claims that Capuchin catacombs curator Dario Piombino-Mascali and his associates were the first to discover Salafia's unpublished manuscripts, Professor Umberto Di Cristina and co-author were the first to discover the unpublished manuscript in their book La Dimora delle Anime, which was published in February 2007, two years before Dario Piombino-Mascali and his colleagues published their work. An English translation by the authors of "The discovery of the Salafia handwritten manuscript and formula. Chronological and biological considerations" note 21, p. 90 from the book La Dimora delle Anime by Di Cristina et al., 2007:"Alfredo Salafia studied the process of mummification of the bodies and dedicated his life to the research of the methods to preserve the corpses by the use of pharmacological substances and chemical preparations. He wrote a treatise entitled Nuovo Metodo Speciale per la conservazione del cadavere umanointero alla stato permanentemente fresco (New Special Method for the Preservation of the Entire Human Cadaver in the State of Permanent Freshness). It consists of around 30 handwritten pages where Salafia performs a concise description of the mummification techniques from the Egyptians to the Capuchins, and provides information on the European and American studies in the first years of the twentieth century; in his treatise he describes his own (embalming) method and describes the history of the embalming procedures of some illustrious personages, (whose bodies were) well-preserved thanks to his method: among those (are), Francesco Crispi, the cardinal Michelangelo Celesia, Archbishop of Palermo, and the Senator Giacomo Armò»." The authors state that "there are no published documentary, archival or photographic sources which support the claim that Alfredo Salafia embalmed Rosalia Lombardo" [8] The embalming formula, as stated by Dario Piombino-Mascali et. al, is described as "one part glycerin, one part formalin saturated with zinc sulfate and zinc chloride, and one part of an alcohol solution saturated with salicylic acid", and was entered into the body through a single-point injection, most likely into the femoral artery via a gravity injector.[1][9] Rossella Lorenzi of Discovery News reported that the formalin was used to kill bacteria, the glycerin used to prevent desiccation, and the salicylic acid used to eliminate any fungi within the flesh, with the purpose of the zinc salts being petrifaction.[9]

The mummy has achieved further notoriety for a phenomenon in which her eyes appear to open and close several times a day, revealing her intact blue irises.[10] In response to speculation about her moving eyelids, Piombino-Mascali stated that "It's an optical illusion produced by the light that filters through the side windows, which during the day is subject to change ... [her eyes] are not completely closed, and indeed they have never been".[11]

In 2021, a German heavy metal band Under The Night Sky released an EP called Rosalia (1918-1920).[12][13][14]

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

The Lombards (/ˈlɒmbərdz, -bɑːrdz, ˈlʌm-/)[1] or Longobards (Latin: Longobardi) were a Germanic people[2] who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774.

The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the History of the Lombards (written between 787 and 796) that the Lombards descended from a small tribe called the Winnili,[3] who dwelt in northern Germany[4] before migrating to seek new lands. Earlier Roman-era historians wrote of the Lombards in the first century AD as being one of the Suebian peoples, also from what is now northern Germany, near the Elbe river. They migrated south, and by the end of the fifth century, the Lombards had moved into the area roughly coinciding with modern Austria and Slovakia north of the Danube. Here they subdued the Heruls and later fought frequent wars with the Gepids. The Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552, and Audoin's successor Alboin eventually destroyed the Gepids in 567. The Lombards also settled in Pannonia (modern-day Hungary). Near Szólád, archaeologists have unearthed burial sites of Lombard men and women buried together as families, unusual among Germanic peoples at the time. Contemporary traces have also been discovered of Mediterranean Greeks and a possible migrant from France.

Following Alboin's victory over the Gepids, he led his people into northeastern Italy, which had become severely depopulated and devastated after the long Gothic War (535–554) between the Byzantine Empire and the Ostrogothic Kingdom. The Lombards were joined by numerous Saxons, Heruls, Gepids, Bulgars, Thuringians and Ostrogoths, and their invasion of Italy was almost unopposed. By late 569, they had conquered all of northern Italy and the principal cities north of the Po River except Pavia, which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in central and southern Italy. They established a Lombard Kingdom in north and central Italy, which reached its zenith under the eighth-century ruler Liutprand. In 774, the kingdom was conquered by the Frankish king Charlemagne and integrated into the Frankish Empire. However, Lombard nobles continued to rule southern parts of the Italian peninsula well into the eleventh century, when they were conquered by the Normans and added to the County of Sicily. In this period, the southern part of Italy still under Lombard domination was known to the Norse as Langbarðaland ('land of the Lombards'), as inscribed in the Norse runestones.[5] Their legacy is also apparent in the name of the region of Lombardy in northern Italy.

Name

According to their traditions, the Lombards initially called themselves the Winnili. After a reported major victory against the Vandals in the first century, they changed their name to Lombards.[6] The name Winnili is generally translated as 'the wolves', related to the Proto-Germanic root *wulfaz 'wolf'.[7] The name Lombard was reportedly derived from the distinctively long beards of the Lombards.[8] It is probably a compound of the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz (long) and *bardaz (beard).

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

Sir Isaac Newton :: Chapter 6. Of the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten horns of the fourth Beast.

Part I. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel.

Chap. 6.

Of the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten horns of the fourth Beast.

Now by the wars above described the Western Empire of the Romans, about the time that Rome was besieged and taken by the Goths, became broken into the following ten kingdoms.

1. The kingdom of the Vandals and Alans in Spain and Africa.

2. The kingdom of the Suevians in Spain.

3. The kingdom of the Visigoths.

4. The kingdom of the Alans in Gallia.

5. The kingdom of the Burgundians.

6. The kingdom of the Franks.

7. The kingdom of the Britains.

8. The kingdom of the Hunns.

9. The kingdom of the Lombards.

10. The kingdom of Ravenna.

Seven of these kingdoms are thus mentioned by Sigonius. Honorio regnante, in Pannoniam Hunni, in Hispaniam Vandali, Alani, Suevi & Gothi, in Galliam Alani Burgundiones & Gothi, certis sedibus permissis, accepti. Add the Franks, Britains, and Lombards, and you have the ten: for these arose about the same time with the seven. But let us view them severally.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/.../prophecies/daniel06.cfm

All historians acknowledge the ascendancy of the popes began in 308 A.D., when King Clovis of the Salian or Merovingian Franks (later France), won the decisive battle in the Catholic and Arian religious war, thereby settling the dispute in favor of the Catholics. But the popes' temporal reign officially began in the year 538 A.D. when Roman Emperor Justinian subdued the last of the three kingdoms, or "horns," that opposed the rise of the Papacy."

-page 137

Chapter 19 "Exposed (Again): 1260 Years of World Domination

Codeword Barbelon book 2

by P.D. Stuart

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid035xnEp3Ly2wiUwdPzYuyuedPDSdcSEVe8gzHxCZfovqX8epcgRL4v7RbqwVsjavD3l

Louis de Bourbon (1438 – 30 August 1482 in Liège) was Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1456 until his death.

Family

He was the son of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and Agnes of Burgundy.[1] His own sister Isabella was the second wife of Charles the Bold.

He was brought up and educated by his uncle Philip, Duke of Burgundy, who let him study for ten years at the University of Leuven.[2]

It has been said that Louis married, in secret in 1464, Catherine, daughter of Arnold, Duke of Gelderland; these claims date only from the seventeenth century and are now believed to be false.

Louis' three children (all likely to have been born from a mistress) were:

Pierre de Bourbon, bâtard de Liège (1464–1529)[3]

Louis de Bourbon, bâtard de Liège (1465–1500)

Jacques de Bourbon, bâtard de Liège (1466–1537)

Louis' eldest son, Pierre, founded the Bourbon-Busset family.

Conflict over the bishopric

In 1456, Louis was given, through the efforts of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, by influencing Pope Callixtus III and removing the 69-year-old John of Heinsberg.[4] Given the strategic position of Liège almost enclosed by Burgundian possessions, Louis was a poor choice because his behavior quickly led to troubles, permitting French meddling.[a]

The citizens rejected the new bishop and the Burgundian influence, which led to the Liège Wars. Louis was exiled to Maastricht.[6] Marc de Bade was put in place by the Liégeois, who fought under Raes van Heers, restored the bishop, but Liège lost its sovereignty. Another revolt in 1467 was crushed at the Battle of Brustem.

In the summer of 1468, Louis was back in his prince-bishopric, after a papal legate had intervened, but was captured at Tongeren by a raiding party from Liège, at that time again asserting independence of Charles the Bold of Burgundy.[7] An unlikely alliance of Charles with Louis XI, who in 1465 had helped the Liégeois against the bishop, saw Bishop Louis released. Liège was taken,[8] and sacked on 30 October 1468.[9] In gratitude Louis gave Charles the Horn of St Hubert, now in the Wallace Collection[10]

Later life

Louis sold Condé and Leuze to Marie de Montmorency.

In 1477, Charles the Bold was killed, and his daughter and heiress Mary of Burgundy was forced to sign the Peace of Saint-Jacques, consolidating the bishop's position but returning sovereignty to Liège. He was at this time amongst the advisers of Mary who wanted her to marry the future Charles VIII of France, then Dauphin of France.[11]

Louis ruled until 30 August 1482, when he was assassinated by William de la Marck, an adventurer who from 1478 had been operating against the territory from the Castle of Logne.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Bourbon,_Bishop_of_Li%C3%A8ge

The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious until the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants, Charlemagne's death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Name

The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] Incidentally, the US states of North and South Carolina are also based on the name Charles, having been named after King Charles II of England. The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'freeman'.[5]

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

Pope Alexander VI[Note 2] (born Rodrigo de Borja[Note 3]; 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) (epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian")[6] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.

Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]

Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.

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

Francis Borgia SJ (Valencian: Francesc de Borja; Spanish: Francisco de Borja; 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his wife, Borgia renounced his titles and became a priest in the Society of Jesus, later serving as its third superior general. He was canonized on 20 June 1670 by Pope Clement X.

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

Borja (Borgia)

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Zaragoza province named from Arabic burj ‘tower’. See also Borgia .

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=borja

One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and erroneously as the Freedom Tower,[note 1] is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest in the world. The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. It is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east.

The construction of below-ground utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the new building began on April 27, 2006. One World Trade Center became the tallest structure in New York City on April 30, 2012, when it surpassed the height of the Empire State Building. The tower's steel structure was topped out on August 30, 2012. On May 10, 2013, the final component of the skyscraper's spire was installed, making the building, including its spire, reach a total height of 1,776 feet (541 m). Its height in feet is a deliberate reference to the year when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. The building opened on November 3, 2014;[12] the One World Observatory opened on May 29, 2015.[13]

On March 26, 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) confirmed that the building would be officially known by its legal name of "One World Trade Center", rather than its colloquial name of "Freedom Tower".[15][16][17] The building has 94 stories, with the top floor numbered 104.

The new World Trade Center complex will eventually include five high-rise office buildings built along Greenwich Street, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, located just south of One World Trade Center where the original Twin Towers stood, and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub to its east. The construction of the new building is part of an effort to memorialize and rebuild following the destruction of the original World Trade Center complex.

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

Pope John XXIII's coat of arms.

Of gules, a silver sash, a silver tower mazonada and clarified with sable especially, accompanied chiefly by two fleurs-de-lis of the same, a silver chief with a winged leopard lion, holding a gospel with the front right leg open with the text "PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS", all in gold and saber letters.

https://br.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restr:C_o_a_John_XXIII.svg

Pope John XXIII (Latin: Ioannes XXIII; Italian: Giovanni XXIII [dʒoˈvanni ventitreˈɛːzimo]; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Italian: [ˈandʒelo dʒuˈzɛppe roŋˈkalli];[a] 25 November 1881 – 3 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 1963.

Roncalli was among 13 children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.[8] He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after Pope Pius XII's death. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the first session opening on 11 October 1962, which is now his feast.

John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate. His views on equality were summed up in his statement, "We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike."[9][10] He made a major impact on the Catholic Church, opening it up to dramatic unexpected changes promulgated at the Second Vatican Council and by his own dealings with other churches and nations. In Italian politics, he prohibited bishops from interfering with local elections, and he helped the Christian Democracy party to cooperate with the Italian Socialist Party. In international affairs, his Ostpolitik engaged in dialogue with the communist countries of Eastern Europe. He especially reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches.

His overall goal was to modernize the Church by emphasizing its pastoral role, and its necessary involvement with affairs of state. He dropped the traditional rule of 70 cardinals, increasing the size to 85. He used the opportunity to name the first cardinals from Africa, Japan, and the Philippines. He promoted ecumenical movements in cooperation with other Christian faiths. In doctrinal matters, he was a traditionalist, but he ended the practice of automatically formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.[11]

He did not live to see the Second Vatican Council to completion. In September 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died eight months later on June 3, 1963. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, and because of the good which had come from his opening of the Second Vatican Council. He was canonized alongside Pope John Paul II himself on 27 April 2014.[12][13] John XXIII today is affectionately known as "the Good Pope" (Italian: il papa buono).

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

Facade of St. Peter's

On February 10, 1608 the first stone was laid and on July 21, 1612 most of the work was completed. It took another two years for the ornamentattion.

The inscription (1m high) states: "Paul V Borghese, Roman, Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate, [erected] in honour of the Prince of Apostles".

From the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings, the new pope is announced with "Habemus Papum", and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing. The relief under the balcony, by Buonvicino, represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter.

https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm

Pope Paul V (Latin: Paulus V; Italian: Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries.[2] In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.[3]

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

Borghese

Recorded in many forms including Bourges, Bourgaize, Bourgeois, (France), Burgess, Burges and Burgis (England and Scotland), Borghese, Borgesio and Burgisi (Italy), and others, this interesting surname is of pre 8th century Old French origins. It derives from the word "burgeis", meaning inhabitant and FREEMAN of a fortified town, one which could apply municipal rates, taxes, and duties. A burgeis generally had tenure of land or buildings from a landlord by "burgage", which involved the payment of a fixed money rent. In Scotland, the position of burgess required not only the making of payments, but to be availble to take part in guarding the town. The surname is one of the earliest recorded anywhere in the world. These recordings are from England because this country was the first to adopt both hereditary surnames and to make the necessary registers in which to record them. France was several centuries later, and Italy, not until the 19th century in most areas. Early recordings showing the influence of the Norman-French in England after the Invasion of 1066 include: Ralph le Burgeis, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Sussex in 1195, and Philip Bourges in the cartulary of Oseney Abbey, Oxford in 1197. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey Burgeis, which was dated 1115, in the "Winton Rolls" of Hampshire. This was during the reign of King Henry 1st, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Over the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Borghese

Petite bourgeoisie (French pronunciation: [pətit(ə) buʁʒwazi], literally 'small bourgeoisie'; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a term that refers to a social class composed of small business owners, shopkeepers, small-scale merchants, semi-autonomous peasants, and artisans. They are named as such because their politico-economic ideological stance in times of stability is reflective of the proper haute bourgeoisie (high bourgeoisie or upper class). In ordinary times, the petite bourgeoisie seek to identify themselves with the haute bourgeoisie, whose bourgeois morality, conduct and lifestyle they aspire and strive to imitate.[1]

The term, which goes as far back as the Revolutionary period in France, if not earlier, is politico-economic and addresses historical materialism. It originally denoted a sub-stratum of the middle classes in the 18th and early-19th centuries of western Europe. In the mid-19th century, the German economist Karl Marx and other Marxist theorists used the term petite bourgeoisie to academically identify the socio-economic stratum of the bourgeoisie that consists of small shopkeepers and self-employed artisans.[2][3][4]

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

FREEMASON

Encyclopedia Masonica

One who has been initiated into the mysteries of the Fraternity of Freemasonry. Freemasons are so called to distinguish them from the Operative or Stone-Masons, who constituted an inferior class of workmen, and out of whom they sprang (see Stonemasons and Traveling Freemasons). The meaning of the epithet free, as applied to Mason, is given under the word Free. In the old lectures of the eighteenth century a Freemason was described as being "a freeman, born of a freewoman, brother to a king, fellow to a prince, or companion to a beggar, if a Mason," and by this was meant to indicate the universality of the Brotherhood.

The word Freemason was until recently divided into two words, sometimes with and sometimes without a hyphen; and we find in all the old books and manuscripts Free Mason or Free-Mason. But this usage has generally been abandoned by writers, and Freemason is usually spelled as one word. The old Constitutions constantly used the word Mason. E et the word was employed at a very early period in the parish registers of England, and by some writers. Thus, in the register of the parish of Astbury we find these items:

1685. Smallwood, Jos., fils Jos. Henshaw, Freemason bapt 3 die Nov. 1697. Jos. fil Jos. Henshaw, Freemason, buried 7 April.

But the most singular passage is one found in Cawdray's Treasurie of Similies, published in 1609, and which he copied from Bishop Coverdale's translation of Werdmuller's A Spiritual and most Precious Perle, which was published in 1550. It is as follows:

As the freemason heweth-the hard stones . . . even so God the Heavenly Free-Mason buildeth a Christian church.

But, in fact, the word was used at a much earlier period, and occurs, Steinbrenner says in his Origin and Early History of Masonry (page 110), for the first time in a statute passed in 1350, in the twenty-fifth year of Edward I, where the wages of a Master Freemason are fixed at 4 pence, and of other Masons at 3 pence. The original French text of the statute is "Mestre de franche-peer." "Here," says Steinbrenner, "the word Freemason evidently signifies a free-stone mason?one who works in free-stone, the French franche-peer, meaning franche-pierre, as distinguished from the rough masons who merely built walls of rough, unhown stone." This latter sort of workmen was that class called by the Scotch Masons cowans whom the Freemasons were forbidden to work with, whence we get the modern use of that word.

Ten years after, in 1360, we have a statute of Edward III, in which it is ordained that "every Mason shall finish his work, be it of free-stone or of rough-stone," where the French text of the statute is file franche-pere ou de grosse-pere." Thus it seems evident that the word free-mason was originally used in contradistinction to rough-rruson. The old Constituitions sometimes call these latter masons rough layers.

https://www.universalfreemasonry.org/en/encyclopedia/freemason

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

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions

The Crowns of America

So often one hears politicians quoting the British Constitution as if it actually exists by way of adocumentary privilege — but it does not. It is simply an accumulation of old customs and precedents concerning parliamentary sanctions, together with a number of specific laws defining certain aspects. Since Scotland's 1320 Declaration of Arbroath was nullified by England's Treaty of Union in 1707, the oldest Written Constitution now in force is that of the United States of America. It was adopted in 1787, ratified in 1788, and effected in 1789. In that same year began the French Revolution, which abolished feudalism and ‘absolute’ monarchy in France, thereby influencing politics in much of Europe. In close to 200 years since the Revolution, France and other European States (with Britain as a noticeable exception) have adopted Written Constitutions to protect the rights and liberties of individuals — but who champions these Constitutions on behalf of the people? A popular alternative to absolute monarchy or dictatorship has been found in Republicanism. The Republic of the United States was created primarily to free the emergent nation from the despotism of Britain’s House of Hanover. Yet its citizens tend still to be fascinated by the concept of monarchy. No matter how Republican the spirit, the need for a central symbol remains. Neither a flag nor a president can fulfil this unifying role, for by virtue of the ‘party system’ presidents are always politically motivated. Republicanism was devised on the principle of fraternal status, yet an ideally classless society can never exist in an environment that promotes displays of eminence and superiority by degrees of wealth and possession. For the most part, those responsible for the United States’ morally inspired Constitution were Rosicrucians and Freemasons, notable characters such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Charles Thompson. The last, who designed the Great Seal of the United States of America, was a member of Franklin’s American Philosophical Society — a counterpart of Britain’s Invisible College. The imagery of the Seal is directly related to alchemical tradition, inherited from the allegory of the ancient Egyptian Therapeutate. The eagle, the olive branch, the arrows, and the pentagrams are all occult symbols of opposites: good and evil, male and female, war and peace, darkness and light. On the reverse (as repeated on the dollar bill) is the truncated pyramid, indicating the loss of the Old Wisdom, severed and forced underground by the Church establishment. But above this are the rays of ever-hopeful light, incorporating the ‘all-seeing eye’, used as a symbol during the French Revolution.

In establishing their Republic, the Americans could still not escape the ideal of a parallel monarchy — a central focus of non-political, patriotic attachment. George Washington was actually offered kingship, but declined because he had no immediately qualifying heritage. Instead he turned to the Royal House of Stuart. In November 1782 four Americans arrived at the San Clemente Palazzo in Florence, the residence of Charles III Stuart in exile. They were Mr Galloway of Maryland, two brothers named Sylvester from Pennsylvania, and Mr Fish, a lawyer from New York. They were taken to Charles Edward by his secretary, John Stewart. Also present was the Hon Charles Hervey-Townshend (later Britain’s ambassador to The Hague) and the Prince's future wife, Marguerite, Comtesse de Massillan. The interview — which revolved around the contemporary transatlantic dilemma — is doctimented in the US Senate archives and in the Manorwater Papers. Writers such as Sir Compton Mackenzie and Sir Charles Petrie have also described the occasion when Charles Edward Stuart was invited to become ‘King of the Americans’. Some years earlier, Charles had been similarly approached by the men of Boston, but once the War of Independence was over George Washington sent his own envoys. It would have been a great irony for the House of Hanover to lose the North American colonies to the Stuarts. But Charles declined the offer for a number of reasons, not the least of which was his lack of a legitimate male heir at the time. He knew that without a due successor the United States could easily fall to Hanover again at his death, thereby defeating the whole Independence effort. Since those days, many other radical events have taken place: the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, two major World Wars, and a host of changes as countries have swapped one style of government for another. Meanwhile, civil and international disputes continue just as they did in the Middle Ages. They are motivated by trade, politics, religion, and whatever other banners are flown to justify the constant struggle for territorial and economic control. The Holy Roman Empire has disappeared, the German Reichs have failed, and the British Empire has collapsed. The Russian Empire fell to Communism, which has itself been disgraced and crumbled to ruin, while Capitalism teeters on the very brink of acceptability. With the Cold War now ended, America faces a new threat to her superpower status from the Pacific countries. In the meantime, the nations of Europe band together in what was once a seemingly well conceived economic community, but which is already suffering from the same pressures of individual custom and national sovereignty that beset the Holy Roman Empire. Whether nations are governed by military-style regimes or elected parliaments, by autocrats or democrats, and whether formally described as monarchist, socialist or republican, the net product is always the same: the few control the fate of the many. In situations of dictatorship this is a natural experience — but it should not be the case in a democratic institution based on the principle of majority vote. True democracy is government by the people for the people, in either direct or representative form, ignoring class distinctions and tolerating minority views. The American Constitution sets out an ideal for this form of democracy ... but, in line with other nations, there is always a large sector of the community that is not represented by the party in power. Because presidents and prime ministers are politically tied, and because political parties take their respective turns at individual helms, the inevitable result is a lack of continuity for the nations concerned. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there is no reliable ongoing institution to champion the civil rights and liberties of people in such conditions of ever-changing leadership. Britain does, at least, retain a monarchy, but it is a politically constrained monarchy, and as such is ineffectual in performing its role as guardian of the nation. The United States, unlike Britain, has a Written Constitution — but has no one with the power to uphold its principles against successive governments who determinedly pursue their own politically vested interests. Is there an answer to the anomaly — an answer that could bring not just a ray of hope but a shining light for the future? There certainly is, but its energy relies on those in governmental service appreciating their roles as ‘representatives’ of society rather than presuming to stand at the head of society. Alongside the political administration, an appointed Constitutional champion would be empowered to keep check on any potential disparities and infringements of the Constitution that might occur. This can be achieved in the manner first envisaged by George Washington and the American Fathers. Their original plan was for a democratic Parliament combined with a working Constitutional Monarchy bound not to Parliament or the Church but to the people and their Written Constitution. In such an environment, sovereignty would ultimately rest with the people, while the monarch (as an operative Guardian of the Realm) would pledge an ‘Oath of Fealty to the Nation’ — not the reverse, as in Britain’s case, whereby the nation pays homage to the sovereignty of Parliament and the monarchy. The unfulfilled ambition of the American Fathers was that government ministers should be elected by the majority vote of the people, but that their actions be directed within the boundaries of the Constitution. Because that Constitution belongs to the people, its champion — as George Washington perceived — should be a monarch whose obligation is not to politics or religion but to the sovereign nation. Through the natural system of heredity (being born and bred to the task), such a Constitutional guardian would provide an ‘ongoing continuity’ of public representation through successive governments. In this regard both monarchs and ministers would be servants of the Constitution on behalf of the Community of the Realm. Such a concept of moral government lies at the very heart of the Grail Code, and it remains within the bounds of possibility for every civilized Nation State. A leading British politician recently claimed that it was not his job to be popular! Not so—a popular minister is a trusted minister, and holding a deserved electoral trust facilitates the democratic process. No minister can honestly expound an ideal of equality in society when that minister is deemed to possess some form of prior lordship over society. Class structure is always decided from above, never from below. It is therefore for those on self-made pedestals to be seen to kick them aside in the interests of harmony and unity. Jesus was not in the least humbled when he washed his Apostles’ feet; he was raised to the realm of a true Grail King — the realm of equality and princely service. This is the eternal ‘Precept of the Sangréal’, and it is expressed in Grail lore with the utmost clarity: only by asking ‘Whom does the Grail serve?’ will the wound of the Fisher King be healed, and the Wasteland returned to fertility.

pages 438-443 "The Sangreal Today"

Bloodline of the Holy Grail

by Laurence Gardner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zsH4O_ls0IgWEYXLXWCo7I3IUi32FJhq/view?usp=sharing

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.

Prevost was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the nearby suburb of Dolton. He 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 citizen of the United States 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

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02iAMXQuXsZrAxcHPXEXpYnV8ZYm4DarahVJVjpXBcR2Bm9a7bYk47DV6mcH99eieMl

The magisterium of the Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition".[1][2][3] According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, the task of interpretation is vested uniquely in the Pope and the bishops,[4] though the concept has a complex history of development. Scripture and Tradition "make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, which is entrusted to the Church",[5] and the magisterium is not independent of this, since "all that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is derived from this single deposit of faith."[6]

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

295 In the elaboration and expression of our theogical views and in our choice of pastoral options, we must always actively seek to understand the mind of the hierarchical Church, having as our goal the Society s objective to help souls. At the same time we must try to articulate the sensus fidelium and help the magisterium discern in it the movements of the Spirit in accord with the teaching of Vatican II.[125]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

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

The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, magistrate is a word applied to a person responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions (e.g., England and Wales), magistrates are typically trained volunteers appointed to deal with criminal and civil matters in their local areas.

Original meaning

In ancient Rome, the word magistratus referred to one of the highest offices of state. Analogous offices in the local authorities, such as municipium, were subordinate only to the legislature of which they generally were members, ex officio, often a combination of judicial and executive power, constituting one jurisdiction. In Rome itself, the highest magistrates were members of the so-called cursus honorum, 'course of honors'. They held both judicial and executive power within their sphere of responsibility (hence the modern use of the term "magistrate" to denote both judicial and executive officers), and also had the power to issue ius honorarium, or magisterial law. The Consul was the highest Roman magistrate. The Praetor (the office was later divided into two, the Urban and Peregrine Praetors) was the highest judge in matters of private law between individual citizens, while the Curule Aediles, who supervised public works in the city, exercised a limited civil jurisdiction in relation to the market.[1] Roman magistrates were not lawyers, but were advised by jurists who were experts in the law.

The term was maintained in most feudal successor states to the western Roman Empire. However, it was used mainly in Germanic kingdoms, especially in city-states, where the term magistrate was also used as an abstract generic term denoting the highest office, regardless of the formal titles (e.g. Consul, Mayor, Doge), even when that was actually a council. The term "chief magistrate" applied to the highest official, in sovereign entities the head of state and/or head of government.

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

The heptagram became a traditional symbol for warding off evil in Catholicism. The symbol is also used in Kabbalist Judaism. In Islam, the heptagram is used to represent the first seven verses in the Quran. The heptagram is used in the symbol for Babalon in Aleister Crowley's occult system Thelema."

"The heptagram is known among neopagans as the Elven Star or Fairy Star. It is treated as a sacred symbol in various modern pagan and witchcraft traditions. Blue Star Wicca also uses the symbol, where it is referred to as a septegram. The second heptagram is a symbol of magical power in some pagan spiritualities."

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

“Battle Born” is Nevada’s state motto. The state’s origins are framed by the Civil War. Nevada became a territory in March 1861, a month before the war began, and achieved statehood on October 31, 1864. No actual battles were fought here, but the state has an intriguing relationship with the war because of the legislation the war fostered.1 The social and cultural meaning of the Civil War has strong resonance in Nevada because of two modern groups: the Southern Nevada Living History Association and the Nevada Civil War Historical Society. Both of these groups participate in Civil War demonstrations and reenactments at the Old Mormon Fort in downtown Las Vegas and at Spring Mountain Ranch, about 30 minutes outside of town.

https://ncph.org/history-at-work/public-history-in-the-battle-born-state/ 

The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main antagonist in the legend of Robin Hood. He is generally depicted as an unjust tyrant who mistreats the local people of Nottinghamshire, subjecting them to unaffordable taxes. Robin Hood fights against him, stealing from the rich, and the Sheriff, in order to give to the poor; it is this characteristic for which Robin Hood is best known. The Sheriff is considered the archenemy of Robin Hood, as he is the most recurring enemy of the well-known outlaw.

It is not known whom this character is based on. The legend of Robin Hood (which is at least as old as the 14th century), traditionally referred to the Sheriff of Nottingham only by his title. There has in fact never been a Sheriff of Nottingham, as such. However, there was from very early Norman times been a High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests, appointed by the king. The character in the legend could therefore have been based on the notional royal appointee responsible for law enforcement in the Royal Forests (which included Sherwood Forest). If, on the other hand, one treats the legend as having had its origins in real events (despite the fact that the earliest known version of the legend appears 200 years later), the character could have been based upon one of (or a composite of multiple of) the real life people who occupied the post of High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests at the relevant time. If, as in many versions of the Robin Hood legend, the action of the story is placed during the absence of King Richard I of England in 1190–1193 during the Third Crusade and his subsequent holding to ransom in Austria, the character could be identified with the little-known William de Wendenal, who was High Sheriff from 1191 to 1194. In some versions, the Sheriff is identified with Philip Marc, who held the office of High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests from 1209 to 1221, during the later years of the reign of John, King of England (who ruled from 1199 to 1216).[1] However, the Sheriff usually remains either anonymous or pseudonymous.

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

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American action-adventure film based on the English folk tale of Robin Hood and loosely set in the 12th century. Directed by Kevin Reynolds and written by Pen Densham and John Watson, the film stars Kevin Costner as Robin Hood, Morgan Freeman as Azeem, Christian Slater as Will Scarlett, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marian, and Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, grossing $390.5 million worldwide, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 1991. Rickman received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as George, Sheriff of Nottingham. The theme song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and it won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood:_Prince_of_Thieves

The Holyrood or Holy Rood is a Christian relic alleged to be part of the True Cross on which Jesus died. The word derives from the Old English rood, meaning a pole and the cross, via Middle English, or the Scots haly ruid ("holy cross"). Several relics venerated as part of the True Cross are known by this name, in England, Ireland and Scotland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyrood_(cross)

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

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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

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

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

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

Hierarchy in the Church of Satan - Church of Satan

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

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

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

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

pages 73-74

"SCIENCE ACQUIRED THROUGH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE DEVIL"

Codeword Barbelon book One

by P.D. Stuart

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/730632681220167

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

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

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

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

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

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

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

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

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

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

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

Codeword Barbelon

by P.D. Stuart

The Temple of Set recognizes several stages or degrees of initiation. The degrees indicate the individual Setian's development and skill in magic.[96] The degree structure is based on that of the Church of Satan, which in turn was based on the degrees of a nineteenth-century occult group, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.[97] The Temple terms the progression through degrees as "recognitions", because the organization's philosophy sees that the individual member initiates themselves and that the Temple merely acknowledges this by granting the degree.[98] These degrees are:[99]

Setian (First Degree)

Adept (Second Degree)

Priest / Priestess of Set (Third Degree)

Magister / Magistra Templi (Fourth Degree)

Magus / Maga (Fifth Degree)

Ipsissimus / Ipsissima (Sixth Degree)

The priesthood of the Temple of Set consists of members holding the third degree or higher; those in the first and second degrees are considered "lay members" of the Temple.[100] The first degree serves as a space for mutual evaluation, in which the Temple assesses whether the individual is appropriate for the group, and the individual decides whether they wish to further their involvement with it.[101] Full membership comes with recognition to the second degree.[98] Many members do not advance beyond the second degree, nor is this expected of them, as while the first and second degree members use the organization's teachings and tools for their own development, the priesthood involves greater responsibilities towards the organization, such as being its official representatives.[102]

Recognition is performed by members of the priesthood.[98] The fourth degree, which is acknowledged by the high priest/priestess, entails that the individual is so advanced in their magical skills that they are able to found their own school of magic, represented in the different orders of the Temple.[98] The fifth degree can only be awarded by the unanimous decision of the Council of Nine and by the approval of the Temple's high priest/priestess.[98] A fifth degree member has the power to utter and define a concept which somehow affects the philosophy of the organization, such as the concept of Xeper defined by Aquino in 1975.[98] Only a handful of members have attained this degree and most "fifth-degree" concepts defined in such a manner are no longer studied in the organization.[98] The final sixth degree represents a Magus "whose Task is complete".[98] This degree is held by a very select few in the Temple, although any fifth-degree member can assume the sixth degree based on their own assessment.[98]

Leadership

The organization is led by a high priest/priestess, who is also the public face of the Temple.[89] The high priest is chosen among fourth or higher degree members by the chairman of the Council of Nine.[89] This ruling council has nine members chosen from the priesthood (third degree or higher), whose mandate lasts for nine years with a new member being elected every year.[89] The chairman of the council is chosen from among the council members each year.[89] The council has the ultimate ruling power in the Temple and even the high priest is responsible to it.[89] The Temple also has an executive director, whose task is to deal with administrative issues.[89]

Since its founding in 1975, the temple has had the following high priests/priestesses:[89]

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

Ronald K. Barrett (1979–1982)

Don Webb (1996–2002)

Zeena Schreck (2002)

Patricia Hardy (2004–2013)

James Fitzsimmons (2013–present)

Pylons, elements, and orders

Setian groups, or pylons, are named after the fortified gateways to ancient Egyptian temples (pictured here at the Isis Temple on Philae Island)

In addition to the international organization, the Temple sponsors initiatory Orders and Elements and local groups called Pylons. Pylons are intended to facilitate the initiatory work of the Temple's members by conducting meetings where discussions and magical works take place.[97] The purpose of a pylon is to provide a space in which the Setian can focus on their religion, aided by like-minded individuals.[103] Pylons typically meet in a member's home.[103] Members usually join the Pylon located geographically closest to them.[97] Correspondence- or Internet-based Pylons also exist,[97] with Harvey noting that this online networking is more common than in-person interaction.[71] A Pylon is led by a second-degree (or higher) member who is called a Sentinel.[97][103] The term pylon derives from the architectural features which served as fortified gateways to ancient Egyptian temples.[104] One Finnish Setian informed Granholm that the relationship between the orders and the temple was like that of different departments in a university.[97]

Elements are loosely structured interest groups, where specific themes and issues are addressed.[97] They can be open for non-members and are commonly in operation only for short periods.[97] Topics of interest include, for example, animal rights, which was the subject of the Arkte element operated by Aquino's wife Lilith.[97]

There are sections of the Temple known as Orders, each of which focus on a particular theme, for instance ancient Egypt, Norse culture, Tantric Hinduism, or vampirism.[105] Others focus on a particular skill, for instance the Order of Uart focuses on the visual arts and the Order of Taliesin on music.[106] Orders can be understood as schools of different aspects of magic providing different paths of initiation.[97] Orders are led by grand masters, who will usually be the founder of the order.[97] In longer-lived orders the founder may have a successive grand master.[97] Orders are founded by members of the fourth degree.[98] When members reaches the second degree of initiation, they are expected to join an order of their own choosing.[97] In normal circumstances, a Setian is only permitted to join one order, however special dispensation can be obtained for a practitioner to join two.[5]

Setians also hold annual International Conclaves. First Degree Initiates who obtain sponsorship by a member of the Priesthood are permitted to attend the International Conclave and Regional Gatherings.[107]

Demographics

In 2000, the Temple had thirteen pylons, which were operating in the United States, Australia, Germany, and across Sweden and Finland.[72] The extent of the Temple's membership has not been publicly revealed by the group;[103] however, in 2005 Petersen noted that academic estimates for the Temple's membership varied from between 300 and 500,[9] and Granholm suggested that in 2007 the Temple contained circa 200 members.[108] The Temple's members come from a variety of racial backgrounds.[109]

In 1999, the anthropologist Jean La Fontaine suggested that in Britain there were 100 members of the Temple at most, and possibly "considerably fewer".[110] In 2001 the scholar Gareth Medway posited that the group had 70 to 80 members in the United Kingdom, adding that it was the largest Satanic group then active in the country.[111] In 2009, Harvey concurred with La Fontaine's assessment, although still believed that it was the largest Satanic group in the United Kingdom.[112] He noted that most members were male, between the ages of twenty and fifty, and that—despite his expectation that they might be political extremists—they endorsed mainstream political positions, with all those whom he communicated with stating that they had voted for either the Conservative Party, Labour Party, or Liberal Democrats.[71]

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

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

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

Background

See also: 2024 United States elections

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

Electoral system

Main article: United States Electoral College

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

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

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

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

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

Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.

Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.

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

Pope Leo XIV[a] (born Robert Francis Prevost;[b] September 14, 1955) is the current head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected during the 2025 papal conclave on May 8, 2025, following the death of Pope Francis.

Born in the US city of Chicago, Prevost dedicated his early clerical career to the Order of Saint Augustine. His service included extensive work in Peru from 1985 to 1986 and 1988 to 1998, 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 later returned to Peru as Bishop of Chiclayo (2015–2023). In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and created him a cardinal the same year. These roles elevated his prominence as a papal candidate.[2]

A citizen of both the United States and Peru, Leo XIV is the first pope born in the United States, the first pope from Peru, and the second from the Americas. He is the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine and the seventh from orders following the Rule of Saint Augustine.[c]

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

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

"Chicago" (often listed as "Chicago / We Can Change the World") is the debut solo single by English singer-songwriter Graham Nash, released in 1971 from his debut solo album Songs for Beginners. The song reached number 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 29 on the Cash Box Top 100.[1] It is his highest-charting single. In Canada, "Chicago" peaked at number 19.[2] The song also made the Dutch charts in 1971, peaking at number 5.

Background

The title and lyrics of the song refer to the anti-Vietnam War protests that took place during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the subsequent trial of the Chicago Eight, where protest leaders were charged with conspiracy to incite a riot. The first line of the song, "So your brother's bound and gagged, and they've chained him to a chair", refers to Black Panther leader Bobby Seale,[3] the sole African-American defendant, who was gagged and chained to a chair in the courtroom following repeated outbursts in protest of rulings by Judge Julius Hoffman.

The line "Won't you please come to Chicago just to sing?" refers to Nash pleading with bandmates Stephen Stills and Neil Young to come to Chicago to play a benefit concert for the Chicago 8 defense fund. The chorus contains the lines, "We can change the world / Rearrange the World".

On the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album, 4 Way Street (1971), Nash dedicates the song to "Mayor Daley", a sardonic reference to Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, who was notoriously antagonistic towards anti-war protesters. CSN and CSNY played the song live throughout their career.

In June 2008, in Denver, Colorado, CSN played a slightly rewritten version of the song called "Denver", in anticipation of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_(Graham_Nash_song)

Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968, when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like his brothers John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, he was a prominent member of the Democratic Party and is considered an icon of modern American liberalism.[1]

Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy attended Harvard University, and later received his law degree from the University of Virginia. He began his career as a correspondent for The Boston Post and as a lawyer at the Justice Department, but later resigned to manage his brother John's successful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1952. The following year, Kennedy worked as an assistant counsel to the Senate committee chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy. He gained national attention as the chief counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee from 1957 to 1959, where he publicly challenged Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa over the union's corrupt practices. Kennedy resigned from the committee to conduct his brother's successful campaign in the 1960 presidential election. He was appointed United States attorney general at the age of 35, one of the youngest cabinet members in American history.[2] Kennedy served as John's closest advisor until the latter's assassination in 1963.[3]

Kennedy's tenure is known for advocating for the civil rights movement, the fight against organized crime, and involvement in U.S. foreign policy related to Cuba.[4] He authored his account of the Cuban Missile Crisis in a book titled Thirteen Days. As attorney general, Kennedy authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on a limited basis.[5] After his brother's assassination, he remained in office during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson for several months. He left to run for the U.S. Senate from New York in 1964 and defeated Republican incumbent Kenneth Keating, overcoming criticism that he was a "carpetbagger" from Massachusetts.[6][7] In office, Kennedy opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and raised awareness of poverty by sponsoring legislation designed to lure private business to blighted communities (i.e., Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration project). He was an advocate for issues related to human rights and social justice by traveling abroad to eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Africa, and formed working relationships with Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Walter Reuther.

In 1968, Kennedy became a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency by appealing to poor, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, and young voters.[8] His main challenger in the race was Senator Eugene McCarthy. Shortly after winning the California primary around midnight on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, in retaliation for his support of Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. Kennedy died 25 hours later. Sirhan was arrested, tried, and convicted, though Kennedy's assassination, like his brother's, continues to be the subject of widespread analysis and numerous conspiracy theories.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy

RFK Jr. says autism database will use Medicare and Medicaid info

May 8, 20254:57 PM ET

By

Alana Wise

NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak before a news conference at the Health and Human Services Department on April 22.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The National Institutes of Health will use information from federal health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid to create a "real-world data platform" to determine the cause of autism, the agency announced this week.

Doctor applying a bandage a patient's arm after an immunization.

Shots - Health News

RFK Jr. to require placebo-controlled studies for new vaccines

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement on Wednesday that the NIH would team up with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to create the database utilizing insurance claims, electronic medical records and data from wearable devices with health sensors, like smartwatches.

"We're using this partnership to uncover the root causes of autism and other chronic diseases," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.

HHS said that CMS and NIH would establish a data use agreement focused on Medicare and Medicaid enrollees — about 36% of Americans — and follow autism diagnoses before expanding their research into additional chronic health conditions.

"Using ASD [Autistic Spectrum Disorders] as the pilot research program, teams at CMS and NIH will establish a secure tech-enabled mechanism to enhance this data sharing with timely, privacy and security compliant data exchange," the statement read.

There was outrage last month after NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told his staff of plans to compile a database of Americans with autism using private data that could be used to create a national autism registry

A severe autism advocate responds to RFK Jr.'s research initiative

Consider This from NPR

A severe autism advocate responds to RFK Jr.'s research initiative

Unnamed HHS sources told multiple news outlets that the agencies are not creating an autism registry and described the effort instead as a real-world data platform linking existing datasets. NPR has not independently confirmed the reporting.

In Wednesday's statement, NIH's Bhattacharya said that the partnership with CMS was "an important step in our commitment to unlocking the power of real-world data to inform public health decisions and improve lives."

"Linking CMS claims data with a secure real-world NIH data platform, fully compliant with privacy and security laws, will unlock landmark research into the complex factors that drive autism and chronic disease — ultimately delivering superior health outcomes to the Americans we serve," he said.

NPR has reached out to HHS, NIH and CMS, but none responded to requests for comment before publication of this story.

The latest details immediately raised more alarm bells for the autistic community and privacy experts, who questioned how this data would be used and how patients' sensitive data would be protected.

Helen Tager-Flusberg is the director of the Center for Autism Research at Boston University and leader of the Coalition of Autism Scientists, an organization formed in response to Kennedy's widely debunked views on autism.

She warned of the potential for information collected in this database to be abused.

"CMS data includes certain information about individuals — age/date of birth, sex, where they live. It is possible to identify a person based on knowledge about these characteristics," Tager-Flusberg said in an email to NPR.

"While the NIH Director provides assurances that privacy protections will be put in place, we have seen other examples of how this administration has given permission to identify people to certain people working for the federal government. How will this registry be protected?" she asked.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives before President Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs Wednesday in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Public Health

Health secretary RFK Jr. endorses the MMR vaccine — stoking fury among his supporters

The heightened public focus on autism comes as Kennedy has repeatedly vowed to identify the cause of the disorder and ultimately eradicate it.

To that end, Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, has made a number of baseless, conspiratorial claims about autism, including that it can be traced back to childhood vaccinations and that an "environmental toxin" is to blame for the uptick in autism diagnoses over the years.

He described autism as "a preventable disease" and said his agency would find the root cause of the disorder by September.

The notion that vaccines cause autism has been thoroughly debunked in medical science, and experts say there is likely no single cause for autism. Bhattacharya, the NIH director, pushed back on the September deadline to find a cause and said that a year timeline was more realistic.

And while a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report did find that autism prevalence in the United States had increased from 1 in 36 children five years ago, to 1 in 31 children in 2022, it is more likely that this is due in large part to more comprehensive screening across a broader population.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/08/nx-s1-5391310/kennedy-autism-registry-database-hhs-nih-medicare-medicaid

1 John 2:18

1599 Geneva Bible

18 [a][b]Little children, [c]it is the last time, [d]and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last time.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

1 John 2:18 Now he turneth himself to little children, which notwithstanding are well instructed in the sum of religion, and willeth them by divers reasons to shake off slothfulness, which is too too familiar with that age.

1 John 2:18 He useth this word (little) not because he speaketh to children, but to allure them the more by using such sweet words.

1 John 2:18 First, because the last time is at hand, so that the matter suffereth no delay.

1 John 2:18 Secondly because Antichrists, that is, such as fall from God, are already come, even as they heard that they should come. And it was very requisite to warn that unheedy and wariless age of that danger.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%202%3A18&version=GNV

What is a SIN?

A Social Insurance Number (SIN) is a 9-digit number that you need to work and be paid in Canada and access government programs and benefits. It is also used to file taxes.

If you are not eligible for a SIN, you can apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) for tax purposes.

You are responsible for protecting your SIN. Ensure that you store documents containing your SIN and personal information in a safe place. For more information about protecting your SIN, please visit here.

International students get a SIN starting with the number ‘9,’ which lets employers know that you are a temporary resident in Canada.

https://international.northeastern.edu/ogs/student-support/global-campuses/canada/social-insurance-number/

As per numerology, 666 when added comes to 9, a tricky number that stands for greediness, and natural disasters. But 9 (6+6+6+18=1+8=90 is also the number of Mars (Mangal) which means extra energy which can either make or break. It is impulsive, restless, stubborn and inflexible,' adds Jumaani."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad-times/666-the-devil-or-cupid/articleshow/1621141.cms#

A novena (from Latin: novem, "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks.[1] The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.[2]

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

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

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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

Civil Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Therefore morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise.  Evening civil twilight begins at sunset, and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Under these conditions absent fog or other restrictions, the brightest stars and planets can be seen, the horizon and terrestrial objects can be discerned, and in many cases, artificial lighting is not needed. Civil Twilight is also known as Civil Dawn and Civil Dusk.

Nautical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon.  In general, the term nautical twilight refers to sailors being able to take reliable readings via well known stars because the horizon is still visible, even under moonless conditions.  Absent fog or other restrictions, outlines of terrestrial objects may still be discernible, but detailed outdoor activities are likely curtailed without artificial illumination. Nautical Twilight is also known as Nautical Dawn and Nautical Dusk.

Astronomical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.  In astronomical twilight, sky illumination is so faint that most casual observers would regard the sky as fully dark, especially under urban or suburban light pollution.  Under astronomical twilight, the horizon is not discernible and moderately faint stars or planets can be observed with the naked eye under a non light polluted sky.  But to test the limits of naked eye observations, the sun needs to be more than 18 degrees below the horizon.  Point light sources such as stars and planets can be readily studied by astronomers under astronomical twilight.  But diffuse light sources such as galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters need to be observed under a totally dark sky, again when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.

https://www.weather.gov/fsd/twilight

What is the meaning of 666?

Answer

At the close of Revelation 13, which discusses the beast (the Antichrist) and his false prophet, we read, “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666” (Revelation 13:18). Somehow, the number 666 is a clue to the identity of the beast. Revelation 13 also mentions the “mark of the beast” (verses 16–17), and popular thought often links 666 with the mark; however, the mark of the beast and 666 appear to be two different things. The mark of the beast is something people must receive in order to buy and sell. The number 666 is somehow associated with the beast/Antichrist as “his” number.

The meaning of 666 is a mystery, and it appears that the apostle John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, intended it to be that way. Calculating it, John says, requires “wisdom.” Some, using gematria (assigning a number value to each letter of a name or word and then combining the number values to arrive at a total number), have identified the Antichrist as various people in world history. Some of the popular targets have been “Caesar Nero,” “Ronald Wilson Reagan,” “Mikhail Gorbachev,” and various popes in Roman Catholic history. The lengths some will go to in order to get a person’s name to add up to 666 are amazing. Virtually any name can add up to 666 if enough mathematical gymnastics are employed.

Six hundred, sixty-six will somehow identify the beast, but precisely how 666 is connected to the beast is not the main point of Revelation 13:18. The Bible often uses the number 7 to refer to God and His perfection. Traditionally, 6 is thought to be the number of man, created on the sixth day and always “falling short” of God. The beast/Antichrist will strive to be like God. He will likely even claim to be God. But, just as the number 6 falls short of the number 7, so will the beast/Antichrist, with his “trinity” of 6’s, ultimately fail in his effort to defeat God.

Addendum: Interestingly, in some ancient Greek manuscripts of the Book of Revelation, the number is given as 616 instead of 666. The manuscript evidence is strongly in favor of 666, but the alternate reading of 616 should give us pause before we start pounding away on the calculators.

https://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-of-666.html

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 13:11-18

1599 Geneva Bible

11 [a]And I beheld, another beast coming out of the earth, [b]which had two horns like the Lamb, but he spake like the dragon.

12 [c]And he did all that the first beast could do before him, and he caused the earth and them which dwell therein, [d]to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

13 [e]And he did great wonders, so that he made fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men.

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [f]image of the [g]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

15 [h]And it was permitted to him to give a [i]spirit unto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speak, and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

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

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

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

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:11 The second member of the vision, concerning the ecclesiastical dominion, which in Rome succeeded that which was politic, and is in the power of the corporation of false Prophets, and of the forgers of false doctrine. Wherefore the same body or corporation is called of S. John by the name of false prophet, Rev. 6:13, 19 and 20. The form of this beast is first described in this verse, then his acts, in the verses following, and the whole speech is concluded in the last verse. This beast is by his breed a Son of the earth (as they say) obscurely born, and by little and little creeping up out of his abject estate.

Revelation 13:11 That is, in show he resembled the Lamb (for what is more mild or more humble than to be the servant of the servants of God) but in deed he played the part of the Dragon, and of the Wolf, Matt. 7:15. For even Satan changeth himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11:14, and what should his honest disciples and servants do?

Revelation 13:12 The history of the acts of this beast containeth in sum three things, hypocrisy, the witness of miracles and tyranny: of which the first is noted in this verse, the second in the 3 verses following: the third in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses. His hypocrisy is most full of leasing, whereby he abuseth both the former beast and the whole world: in that albeit he hath by his cunning, as it were by lime made of the former beast a most miserable … or anatomy, usurped all his authority unto himself and most impudently exerciseth the same in the sight and view of him: yet he carrieth himself so, as if he honored him with most high honor, and did in very truth cause him to be honored of all men.

Revelation 13:12

For unto this beast of Rome, which of civil Empire is made an Ecclesiastical hierarchy, are given divine honors, and divine authority so far as he is believed to be above the Scriptures, which the gloss upon the Decretals declareth by this devilish verse,

Articulos solvit, synodumque facit generalem,

That is,

He changeth the Articles of faith, and giveth authority to general Counsels.

Which is spoken of the Papal power. So the beast is by birth, foundation, feat, and finally substance, one: only the Pope hath altered the form and manner thereof being himself the head both of that tyrannical Empire, and also of the false Prophets, for the Empire hath he taken unto himself, and thereunto hath added this cunning device. Now these words, whose deadly wound was cured are put here for distinction sake, as also sometimes afterwards: that even at that time the godly readers of this prophecy might by this sign be brought to see the things as present: as if it were said, that they might adore this very Empire that now is, whose head we have seen in our own memory to have been cut off, and to be cured again.

Revelation 13:13 The second point of the things done by the beast, is the credit of great wonders or miracles, appertaining to the strength of this impiety: of which signs some were given from above, as it is said, that fire was sent down from heaven by false sorcery, in this verse. Others were showed here below in the sight of the beast to establish idolatry, and deceive souls, which part S. John setteth forth beginning (as they say) at that which is last, in this manner: First the effect is declared in these words, He deceiveth the inhabitants of the earth, Secondly the common manner of working in two sorts, one of miracles. For the signs that were given him to do in the presence of the beasts: the other of the words added to the signs, and teaching the idolatry confirmed by those signs, Saying unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they should make an image unto the beasts which, etc. Thirdly, a special manner is declared: That is given unto him to put life into the image of the beast: and that such a kind of quickening, that the same both speaketh by answer unto those that ask counsel of it, and also pronounceth death against all those that do not obey nor worship it: all which things oftentimes by false miracles through the procurement and inspiration of the Devil, have been effected and wrought in images. The histories of the Papists are full of examples of such miracles, the most of them feigned, many also done by the devil in images: as of old in the serpent, Gen. 3:1. By which examples is confirmed, not the authority of the beast, but the truth of God, and of these prophecies.

Revelation 13:14 That is, images by enallage or change of the number: for the worship of them ever since the second Council of Nice, hath been ordained in the Church by public credit, and authority contrary unto the Law of God.

Revelation 13:14 In the Greek the word is in the Dative case, as much to say, as unto the worship, honor and obeying of the beast: for by this maintenance of images this Pseudoprophetical beast doth mightily profit the beast of Rome, of whom long ago he received them. Wherefore the same is hereafter very fitly called the image of the beast, for that images have their beginning from the beast, and have their form or manner from the will of the beast, and have their end and use fixed in the profit and commodity of the beast.

Revelation 13:15 And of this miracle of the images of the beast (that is, which the beast hath ordained to establish idolatry) which miraculously speak and give judgment, or rather marvelously, by the fraud of the false prophets, the Papists books are full fraughted.

Revelation 13:15 To give life as Jannes and Jambres imitated the wonders that Moses wrought.

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%3A11-18&version=GNV 

MagicJack, stylized as magicJack, is a service that allows people in the United States and Canada to make phone calls over the Internet. This type of phone service is called Internet-based telephone service (VoIP).

Originally, MagicJack required a computer to work. Users connected a small device to their computer, and with an internet connection, they could make calls. In 2011, MagicJack introduced a new model called MagicJack Plus that does not need a computer, though users still need an Internet connection.

The MagicJack device works with a specific phone service provider, YMAX Corporation, which also offers local phone services. Voicemail is saved on MagicJack's servers and can be accessed directly by phone or received via email with audio files. Users can also download updates for the MagicJack device from third-party software providers.

History

Dan Borislow invented MagicJack in 2007 and, along with Donald Burns, invested $25 million to start the company. Borislow applied for patents with the U.S. government for the product.[1][2]

The first MagicJack product, released in 2007, was a USB device that allowed users to make phone calls over the Internet. It included both the necessary software and hardware to connect traditional landline telephones to a high-speed Internet connection.[3]

In September 2011, MagicJack introduced a new model called MagicJack Plus. This version eliminated the need for a computer after the initial setup, connecting directly to a modem or router via an Ethernet port. It also featured a standard phone jack and an AC power adapter for easy connection.[4]

The company promotes its products through TV infomercials and its website, where Dan Borislow is credited with inventing MagicJack and founding YMAX. Borislow holds several pending patents related to VoIP technology.

In July 2010, YMAX, the creator of MagicJack, merged with VocalTec to form MagicJack VocalTec Ltd, which is based in Netanya, Israel, and is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CALL.[5]

Reviews

In January 2008, PC Magazine reviewed MagicJack[6] and rated it as "Very Good," awarding it their Editors' Choice accolade. However, after receiving numerous complaints about the device's customer support, PC Magazine reassessed MagicJack in February 2009[7] and downgraded its rating to "Good," criticizing the company's technical support as "severely lacking."[8] MagicJack provides support primarily through web-based chat.

Consumer Reports gave MagicJack a positive review in 2010.[9]

In 2016, TheVoIPHub published a detailed review of MagicJack, covering every device the company had released up to that point. That same year, CNET described MagicJack as a "trade-off between price and reliability."[10][11]

By 2019, MagicJack's ratings had declined significantly. Voip Review rated it 1.6 stars, down from 3 stars in 2014.[12] Additionally, as of November 2019, Consumer Affairs rated MagicJack at just 1 star.[13]

Features

Local number portability

In September 2011, MagicJack introduced local number portability, allowing customers to keep their existing phone numbers when switching to their service. To maintain a "ported-in" number, there is an annual fee. Additionally, if customers wish to transfer their number from MagicJack to another service provider, the company charges a fee for this transfer. However, not all area codes in the U.S. are available for this service.[14]

Calling pay services

According to MagicJack's end-user license agreement:

3.b Outgoing Calls: "Once you have registered your MagicJack device you have agreed to these Terms of Service. You may now elect to choose the feature allowing you to make free outgoing calls over the Internet. You can make free calls to other MagicJack device users located anywhere in the world, and to subscribers on traditional telephone networks or wireless networks in the United States. You will not have the ability to call any number that would require the addition of any charges to your phone bill, such as 900 or 976 numbers or any other 'fee per call' type service."[15]

Not all calls in North America are free

A separate prepaid minutes purchase is required for calls to conference lines, platforms, calling cards, certain non-ILEC area calls, area code 867 (Northern Canada), and most of Alaska.

According to MagicJack's end-user license agreement:

4. What Is Free and What is Not: "We may require prepaid purchase and/or we may charge you for calls to conference lines, platforms, and certain non-ILEC area calls, or any call wherein we incur a cost from another carrier. We may provide for a fee, premium prepaid services, which may be powered by YMAX Communications Corp. (YMAX) and may include some inbound, international, conference, platform, and outbound calls that receive a recording and certain calls to non-ILEC areas, and the rates for those services will be governed by listed price lists or tariffs. International calling purchases expire six months after purchase. MagicJack, YMAX Communications Corp. (YMAX), and/or Vocal Tec may make available to you, for an additional fee, enhanced versions of the MagicJack and/or MagicJack Plus device or MagicJack APP Software (Upgraded Software) that provide new features and functions."[15]

Uninstallation

Initially, MagicJack lacked a formal uninstallation method in both its software and documentation, which led to frustration among users.[16] In response to these issues, the company introduced an uninstaller for the Windows version of MagicJack starting in 2010. This uninstaller can now be accessed through the "Add/Remove Programs" option in the Windows Control Panel.

Lawsuits

In March 2009, MagicJack sued Boing Boing for defamation over the blog's criticism of MagicJack's terms of service.[17] The blog had claimed that the terms allowed MagicJack to monitor user calls for targeted advertising and required users to forfeit their right to sue in court.[18] The lawsuit was dismissed as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), and MagicJack was ordered to pay Boing Boing's legal fees of $50,000.

In April 2012, MagicJack filed a patent infringement lawsuit against netTalk. However, the federal court dismissed the case with prejudice, including all claims and counterclaims.[19]

On September 21, 2012, netTalk sued MagicJack VocalTec, MagicJack Holdings (formerly YMAX Holdings), and Daniel Borislow in the Southern District of Florida, alleging patent infringement. NetTalk sought $200 million in damages. MagicJack requested a reexamination of netTalk's patent, which was granted, and the lawsuit was paused. In December 2013, the Patent Office indicated it would issue a reexamination certificate for netTalk's patent. NetTalk then sought to restart the lawsuit in January 2014, but MagicJack announced the dismissal of the case on February 4, 2014.[20]

On February 27, 2014, netTalk received the reexamination certificate, affirming the validity of its patent claims with minor amendments.[21]

On April 2, 2014, Daniel Borislow and Technochat sued MagicJack VocalTec and YMAX for defamation and fraudulent inducement.[22] The case was settled out of court in December 2014 following Borislow's death.[23]

On August 31, 2017, Finkelstein & Krinsk, LLP filed a class action lawsuit against MagicJack, claiming that MagicJack shareholders were deprived of fair proxy materials and voting rights related to the company's April 19, 2017 and July 31, 2017 proxy solicitations.[24]

On July 12, 2018, Ramon Martinez and Moses Lopez sued MagicJack over allegations of robocalls made using a predictive dialer without human intervention.[25]

On July 25, 2018, Galilee Acquisition filed a lawsuit against MagicJack, alleging that the company provided misleading information about the fair market value of Broadsmart telecommunications.[26] The court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the claims were derivative and that the plaintiff had not made a proper demand on MagicJack or demonstrated that such a demand would be futile.[27]

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

The Order of Preachers (Latin: Ordo Prædicatorum, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally display the letters OP after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning 'of the Order of Preachers'. Membership in the order includes friars,[a] nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans (formerly known as tertiaries). More recently, there have been a growing number of associates of the religious sisters who are unrelated to the tertiaries.

Founded to preach the gospel and to oppose heresy, the teaching activity of the order and its scholastic organisation placed it at the forefront of the intellectual life of the Middle Ages.[2] The order is famed for its intellectual tradition and for having produced many leading theologians and philosophers.[3] In 2018, there were 5,747 Dominican friars, including 4,299 priests.[1] The order is headed by the master of the order who, as of 2022, is Gerard Timoner III.[4] Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Siena are the co-patronesses of the order.

Saint Dominic, portrayed in the Perugia Altarpiece by Fra Angelico, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia.

Foundation

The Dominican Order came into being during the Middle Ages at a time when men of God were no longer expected to stay behind the walls of a cloister. Instead, they travelled among the people, taking as their examples the apostles of the primitive Church. Out of this ideal emerged two orders of mendicant friars – one, the Friars Minor, led by Francis of Assisi; the other, the Friars Preachers, led by Dominic de Guzmán. Like his contemporary, Francis, Dominic saw the need for a new type of organization, and the quick growth of the Dominicans and Franciscans during their first century of existence confirms that conditions were favorable for the growth of the orders of mendicant friars. The Dominicans and other mendicant orders may have been an adaptation to the rise of the profit economy in medieval Europe.[5]

Dominic sought to establish a new kind of order, one that would bring the dedication and systematic education of the older monastic orders like the Benedictines to bear on the religious problems of the burgeoning population of cities, but with more organizational flexibility than either monastic orders or the secular clergy. The Order of Preachers was founded in response to a perceived need for informed preaching.[6] Dominic's new order was to be trained to preach in the vernacular languages.

Dominic inspired his followers with loyalty to learning and virtue, a deep recognition of the spiritual power of worldly deprivation and the religious state, and a highly developed governmental structure.[7] At the same time, Dominic inspired the members of his order to develop a "mixed" spirituality. They were both active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer and meditation. The brethren of the Dominican Order were urban and learned, as well as contemplative and mystical in their spirituality. While these traits affected the women of the order, the nuns especially absorbed the latter characteristics and made those characteristics their own. In England, the Dominican nuns blended these elements with the defining characteristics of English Dominican spirituality and created a spirituality and collective personality that set them apart.

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

History of Couvent des Jacobins

The Couvent des Jacobins was the mother church of the Dominican Order, a small community of monastic preachers founded by Saint Dominic to combat the heresy of Christian Catharism. They needed somewhere to preach and decided to build this elegant ecclesiastical building in 1229 from pink Roman brick (though the church’s earlier incarnation was only half as tall).

The Couvent expanded over the next 200 years, and in 1368 Pope Urban V decreed that the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas –  a member of the Dominican Order – could be transferred from Italy to Toulouse.

Following the French Revolution of 1789, the Dominican Order was banned, and the friars were forced to leave. By 1810, the emperor Napoleon had converted the building into barracks to help in his various military campaigns. The next 150 years saw the Couvent take various forms – housing an exhibition of Arts and Industries in 1865, serving as a school playground in 1872 and as a safehouse for storing treasures from the museums of Paris during World War II.

After all these odd jobs, the Couvent spent much of the second half of the 20th century in a state of renovation to restore it to its former glory, and it finally (partially) reopened as a museum in the 21st century.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/toulouse/attractions/couvent-des-jacobins/a/poi-sig/1192995/1003054

Jacob Appelbaum - People Think They're Exempt From NSA (2014)

Jacob Appelbaum discusses the fallacy of Americans thinking that they won't be targeted, passive and active surveillance methods, AI and human analyst systems working together, satellite networks, deep packet inspection & injection, military contractors getting special access to surveillance programs, proprietary vs open source software, OTR messaging, hoarding exploits for self-gain. A great talk from an amazing person. 2014 Security Summit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyT7yzap1Wc

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

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

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

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

degree in Templar Freemasonry.

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

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

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

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

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled."

Revelation 17:17

In the British Empire, Jacobin was linked primarily to The Mountain of the French Revolutionary governments and was popular among the established and entrepreneurial classes as a pejorative to deride radical left-wing revolutionary politics, especially when they exhibit dogmatism and violent repression.[4] In Britain, the term faintly echoed negative connotations of Jacobitism, the pro-Catholic, monarchist, rarely insurrectional political movement that faded out decades earlier tied to deposed King James II of England and his descendants. Jacobin reached obsolescence and supersedence before the Russian Revolution, when the terms (Radical) Marxism, anarchism, socialism, and communism had overtaken it.

In France, Jacobin now generally leans towards moderate authoritarianism, more equal formal rights, and centralization.[5] It can, similarly, denote supporters of extensive government intervention to transform society.[6] It is unabashedly used by proponents of a state education system that strongly promotes and inculcates civic values. It is more controversially, and less squarely, used by or for proponents of a strong nation-state capable of resisting undesirable foreign interference.[7]

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

Weishaupt’s Illuminati, and his Lodges of the Grand Orient, went underground. They were succeeded by the Jacobin Clubs and convents as has been explained in Pawns in The Game. Mirabeau directed the French Revolution. He was ably assisted by Adrien Duport, who was also an initiate of the Higher Degrees of the

Illuminati. It was Duport who set before the Committee of Propaganda the policy of destruction they were to carry out on May 21, 1790.

"When Weishaupt had destroyed France as a monarchy and a world power, and had Americans cut each other’s throat because of alleged grievances which propaganda made appear very real, he then moved to Italy.

Illuminism was running hog-wild in Italy. Under various names and disguise, it was aimed at the destruction of the Vatican because it was both a spiritual as well as a temporal power. The Italian Illuminists reasoned, “how can we destroy ALL governments and ALL religions if we don’t first of all destroy the Vatican.” But this

line of reasoning was not in keeping with Weishaupt’s plans as we will prove.

Italian Grand Orient Masons and Illuminists, and Alta Vendita members had not been initiated into the FULL secret. According to Weishaupt’s plan, as has been confirmed by Mazzini, Pike, Lemmi, and Lenin, the Vatican is to be allowed to survive, and control nearly 500,000,000 souls, until those who direct the Synagogue

of Satan decide it is time to involve ALL Christian people in the final social cataclysm with all people controlled by atheistic-Communists. For this reason Weishaupt hurried to Italy to prevent a premature destruction of the Vatican. Nearly one hundred years later Pike had to take similar action to prevent first Mazzini and later Lemmi from upsetting the Synagogue of Satan’s plans by doing exactly the same thing, All this proves that only a very few men who comprise the High Priesthood of the Luciferian Creed know the full secret and how their conspiracy is intended to reach its final goal."

Satan Prince of This World

by William Guy Carr

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view?usp=sharing

Friends: of the Society are to be sought and cultivated [426, 823, 824] on behalf of them, whether living or dead, prayers are to be offered and other signs of gratitude are to be shown [638], 413; the extent to which communication with friends in the world is to be had [60, 246], 53, 111; the extent to which an examiner can examine candidates who are his friends [143]

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

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

The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (French: Société des amis de la Constitution), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality (Société des Jacobins, amis de la liberté et de l'égalité) after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club (Club des Jacobins) or simply the Jacobins (/ˈdʒækəbɪn/; French: [ʒakɔbɛ̃]), was the most influential political club during the French Revolution of 1789. The period of its political ascendancy includes the Reign of Terror, during which well over 10,000 people were put on trial and executed in France, many for political crimes.

Initially founded in 1789 by anti-royalist deputies from Brittany, the club grew into a nationwide republican movement with a membership estimated at a half million or more.[1] The Jacobin Club was heterogeneous and included both prominent parliamentary factions of the early 1790s: The Mountain and the Girondins.[3] In 1792–93, the Girondins were more prominent in leading France when they declared war on Austria and on Prussia, overthrew King Louis XVI, and set up the French First Republic. In May 1793, the leaders of the Mountain faction, led by Maximilien Robespierre, succeeded in sidelining the Girondin faction and controlled the government until July 1794. Their time in government featured high levels of political violence, and for this reason the period of the Jacobin/Mountain government is identified as the Reign of Terror. In October 1793, 21 prominent Girondins were guillotined. The Mountain-dominated government executed 17,000 opponents nationwide as a way to suppress the Vendée insurrection and the Federalist revolts, and to deter recurrences. In July 1794, the National Convention pushed the administration of Robespierre and his allies out of power and had Robespierre and 21 associates executed. In November 1794, the Jacobin Club closed.

In the British Empire, Jacobin was linked primarily to The Mountain of the French Revolutionary governments and was popular among the established and entrepreneurial classes as a pejorative to deride radical left-wing revolutionary politics, especially when they exhibit dogmatism and violent repression.[4] In Britain, the term faintly echoed negative connotations of Jacobitism, the pro-Catholic, monarchist, rarely insurrectional political movement that faded out decades earlier tied to deposed King James II of England and his descendants. Jacobin reached obsolescence and supersedence before the Russian Revolution, when the terms (Radical) Marxism, anarchism, socialism, and communism had overtaken it.

In France, Jacobin now generally leans towards moderate authoritarianism, more equal formal rights, and centralization.[5] It can, similarly, denote supporters of extensive government intervention to transform society.[6] It is unabashedly used by proponents of a state education system that strongly promotes and inculcates civic values. It is more controversially, and less squarely, used by or for proponents of a strong nation-state capable of resisting undesirable foreign interference.[7]

History

Foundation

When the Estates General of 1789 in France convened in May–June 1789 at the Palace of Versailles, the Jacobin club, originating as the Club Breton, comprised exclusively a group of Breton representatives attending those Estates General.[8] Deputies from other regions throughout France soon joined. Early members included the dominating comte de Mirabeau, Parisian deputy Abbé Sieyès, Dauphiné deputy Antoine Barnave, Jérôme Pétion, the Abbé Grégoire, Charles Lameth, Alexandre Lameth, Artois deputy Robespierre, the duc d'Aiguillon, and La Revellière-Lépeaux. At this time meetings occurred in secret, and few traces remain concerning what took place or where the meetings convened.[8]

Transfer to Paris

By the March on Versailles in October 1789, the club, still entirely composed of deputies, reverted to being a provincial caucus for National Constituent Assembly deputies from Brittany. The club was re-founded in November 1789 as the Société de la Révolution, inspired in part by a letter sent from the Revolution Society of London to the Assembly congratulating the French on regaining their liberty.[9][10][11]

To accommodate growing membership, the group rented for its meetings the refectory of the Dominican monastery of the “Jacobins” in the Rue Saint-Honoré, adjacent to the seat of the Assembly.[10][11] They changed their name to Société des amis de la Constitution in late January, though by this time, their opponents had already concisely dubbed them "Jacobins", a nickname originally given to French Dominicans because their first house in Paris was in the Rue Saint-Jacques.[8][11]

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

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

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

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

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

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

page 50

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

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

jacobin

Est. 1828

Dictionary

Definition

Jacobin

noun

Jac·o·bin ˈja-kə-bən

1

: DOMINICAN

2

[French, from Jacobin Dominican; from the group's founding in the Dominican convent in Paris] : a member of an extremist or radical political group

especially : a member of such a group advocating egalitarian democracy and engaging in terrorist activities during the French Revolution of 1789

Jacobinic

ˌja-kə-ˈbi-nik

adjective

or Jacobinical

ˌja-kə-ˈbi-ni-kəl

Jacobinism

ˈja-kə-bə-ˌni-zəm

noun

Examples of Jacobin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the spring of 1794, leading the Jacobin revolution required Robespierre to be for the rule of law and for its suspension, to defend and attack private property, to support and reject nationalism, to embrace feminism and antifeminism, and to promote religion and irreligion.

—Patrice Higonnet, Foreign Affairs, 1 July 2012

As the writer and historian Steve Fraser put it in a recent essay for the magazine Jacobin, the right and the left have settled on competing calls not for revolution but for restoration.

—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024

The Dominican Order — one of the four orders of the Roman Catholic Church — was known as the Jacobin Order in France.

—Moira Ritter, Miami Herald, 5 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Jacobin.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French jacopin, from Medieval Latin Jacobinus, from Late Latin Jacobus (St. James); from the location of the first Dominican convent in the street of St. James, Paris

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of Jacobin was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century

Articles Related to Jacobin

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In the beginning, illuminati were shut out, but now they hold the key.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Jacobin.

The Church of the Jacobins is a deconsecrated Roman Catholic church located in Toulouse, France. It is a large brick building whose construction started in 1230, and whose architecture influenced the development of the Gothique méridional (Southern French Gothic) style.[1] The relics of Thomas Aquinas are housed there. In the two centuries following the dissolution in France of the Dominican Order at the time of the French Revolution, it served various different purposes before undergoing major restoration in the 20th century. In the early 21st century, it was partially converted into a museum.

Toulouse being the city where the Dominican order was founded in 1215, the Convent of the Jacobins of Toulouse is sometimes considered the mother church of the order, although it was not the first convent built by the Dominican friars.[2] Other churches such as Santa Sabina in Rome also claim this title.

Name

The name Jacobins is the nickname that was given to the Dominican Order in the Middle Ages in France. Their first convent in Paris was located in the rue Saint-Jacques, (Latin Jacobus), and that name came to be attached to the order itself.[3]

The building complex is called a convent, although nowadays this term usually refers to a community of women, because in its historical usage the term convent was applied to communities of mendicant orders to differentiate them from the monasteries of monastics.

Dissolution

Following the French Revolution of 1789, the Dominican order was banned, and the friars forced to leave. In 1804 the conventual complex including the church became the property of the city of Toulouse, and in 1810 the emperor Napoleon requisitioned the church and converted it into a barracks. Floors were installed to create upper storeys for dormitories, while stables and an armoury occupied the ground floor. During the period the building served as a barracks, the stained glass windows were destroyed, and the medieval paintings in the choir were painted over with whitewash.[8]

Monument and museum

Citizens who were appalled at the destruction succeeded in 1861 in convincing the army to move to new barracks. In succeeding years, the building housed an exhibition of Arts and Industries (1865), served as a playground for the pupils of the nearby Lycée Fermat starting in 1872, and as a place to safely store treasures from the museums of Paris during World War I.[8]

Several periods of restoration work were undertaken over the course of the 20th century. In 1905 the floors installed by the army were removed; starting in 1923 blocked windows were uncovered and stained glass installed; between 1953 and 1963 the chapels were reconstructed; and between 1965 and 1974 the whitewash covering the medieval murals was removed. Today the building functions as a museum.[8]

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

"Wiretap" redirects here. For the radio program, see WireTap (radio program). For the listening device, see Covert listening device.

For the method of telephone dialing by depressing the hook switch, see Pulse dialing § Tapping.

Wiretapping, also known as wire tapping or telephone tapping, is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on an analog telephone or telegraph line. Legal wiretapping by a government agency is also called lawful interception. Passive wiretapping monitors or records the traffic, while active wiretapping alters or otherwise affects it.[1][2]

Legal status

Main article: Telephone call recording laws

Telephone line control device "Jitka", used in late 1960s by Czechoslovakian StB to signal line occupancy, and connect a recorder

Lawful interception is officially strictly controlled in many countries to safeguard privacy; this is the case in all liberal democracies. In theory, telephone tapping often needs to be authorized by a court, and is again in theory, normally only approved when evidence shows it is not possible to detect criminal or subversive activity in less intrusive ways. Oftentimes, the law and regulations require that the crime investigated must be at least of a certain severity.[3][4] Illegal or unauthorized telephone tapping is often a criminal offense.[3] In certain jurisdictions, such as Germany and France, courts will accept illegally recorded phone calls without the other party's consent as evidence, but the unauthorized telephone tapping will still be prosecuted.[5][6]

United States

In the United States, under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, federal intelligence agencies can get approval for wiretaps from the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a court with secret proceedings, or in certain circumstances from the Attorney General without a court order.[7][8]

The telephone call recording laws in most U.S. states require only one party to be aware of the recording, while twelve states require both parties to be aware.[9][10] In Nevada, the state legislature enacted a law making it legal for a party to record a conversation if one party to the conversation consented, but the Nevada Supreme Court issued two judicial opinions changing the law and requiring all parties to consent to the recording of a private conversation for it to be legal.[11] It is considered better practice to announce at the beginning of a call that the conversation is being recorded.[12][13]

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects privacy rights by requiring a warrant to search a person. However, telephone tapping is the subject of controversy surrounding violations of this right. There are arguments that wiretapping invades a person's personal privacy and therefore violates their Fourth Amendment rights. On the other hand, there are certain rules and regulations, which permit wiretapping. A notable example of this is the Patriot Act, which, in certain circumstances, gives the government permission to wiretap citizens.[14] In addition, wiretapping laws vary per state, making it even more difficult to determine whether the Fourth Amendment is being violated.[15]

Canada

In Canadian law, police are allowed to wiretap without the authorization from a court when there is the risk for imminent harm, such as kidnapping or a bomb threat.[16] They must believe that the interception is immediately necessary to prevent an unlawful act that could cause serious harm to any person or to property. This was introduced by Rob Nicholson on February 11, 2013, and is also known as Bill C-55.[16] The Supreme Court gave Parliament twelve months to rewrite a new law. Bill C-51 (also known as the Anti-Terrorism Act) was then released in 2015, which transformed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from an intelligence-gathering agency to an agency actively engaged in countering national security threats.

Legal protection extends to 'private communications' where the participants would not expect unintended persons to learn the content of the communication. A single participant can legally, and covertly record a conversation. Otherwise police normally need a judicial warrant based upon probable grounds to record a conversation they are not a part of. In order to be valid wiretap authorization must state: 1) the offense being investigated by the wiretap, 2) the type of communication, 3) the identity of the people or places targeted, 4) the period of validity (60 days from issue).[17]

India

In India, the lawful interception of communication by authorized law enforcement agencies (LEAs) is carried out in accordance with Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 read with Rule 419A of Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2007. Directions for interception of any message or class of messages under sub-section (2) of Section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 shall not be issued except by an order made by the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the case of Government of India and by the Secretary to the State Government in-charge of the Home Department in the case of a state government.[18] The government has set up the Centralized Monitoring System (CMS) to automate the process of lawful interception and monitoring of telecommunications technology. The government of India on 2015 December 2 in a reply to parliament question no. 595 on scope, objectives and framework of the CMS has struck a balance between national security, online privacy and free speech informed that to take care of the privacy of citizens, lawful interception and monitoring is governed by the Section 5(2) of Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 read with Rule 419A of Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2007 wherein oversight mechanism exists in form of review committee under chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary at Central Government level and Chief Secretary of the State at the state government level.[19][20] Section 5(2) also allows the government to intercept messages that are public emergencies or for public safety.[21]

Pakistan

In Pakistan, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is authorised by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication to intercept and trace telecommunications, as stipulated under Section 54 of the relevant Act, in July 2024.[22] Under the authorization, ISI officers of at least grade 18, subject to periodic designation, are empowered to surveil calls and messages.[22]

Methods

Official use

Main article: Lawful interception

The contracts or licenses by which the state controls telephone companies often require that the companies must provide access to tapping lines to law enforcement. In the U.S., telecommunications carriers are required by law to cooperate in the interception of communications for law enforcement purposes under the terms of Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).[23]

When telephone exchanges were mechanical, a tap had to be installed by technicians, linking circuits together to route the audio signal from the call. Now that many exchanges have been converted to digital technology, tapping is far simpler and can be ordered remotely by computer. This central office switch wiretapping technology using the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) was invented by Wayne Howe and Dale Malik at BellSouth's Advanced Technology R&D group in 1995 and was issued as US Patent #5,590,171.[24] Telephone services provided by cable TV companies also use digital switching technology. If the tap is implemented at a digital switch, the switching computer simply copies the digitized bits that represent the phone conversation to a second line and it is impossible to tell whether a line is being tapped. A well-designed tap installed on a phone wire can be difficult to detect. In some places, some law enforcement may be able to even access a mobile phone's internal microphone even while it isn't actively being used on a phone call (unless the battery is removed or drained).[25] The noises that some people believe to be telephone taps are simply crosstalk created by the coupling of signals from other phone lines.[26]

Data on the calling and called number, time of call and duration, will generally be collected automatically on all calls and stored for later use by the billing department of the phone company. These data can be accessed by security services, often with fewer legal restrictions than for a tap. This information used to be collected using special equipment known as pen registers and trap and trace devices and U.S. law still refers to it under those names. Today, a list of all calls to a specific number can be obtained by sorting billing records. A telephone tap during which only the call information is recorded but not the contents of the phone calls themselves, is called a pen register tap.

For telephone services via digital exchanges, the information collected may additionally include a log of the type of communications media being used (some services treat data and voice communications differently, in order to conserve bandwidth).

See also: Carnivore (FBI)

Non-official use

A telephone recording adapter (in-line tap). The phone jack connects to the wall socket while the phone being monitored is connected to the adapter's socket. The audio plug connects to the recording device (computer, tape recorder, etc.).

Conversations can be recorded or monitored unofficially, either by tapping by a third party without the knowledge of the parties to the conversation or recorded by one of the parties. This may or may not be illegal, according to the circumstances and the jurisdiction.

There are a number of ways to monitor telephone conversations. One of the parties may record the conversation, either on a tape or solid-state recording device, or they may use a computer running call recording software. The recording, whether overt or covert, may be started manually, automatically when it detects sound on the line (VOX), or automatically whenever the phone is off the hook.

using an inductive coil tap (telephone pickup coil) attached to the handset or near the base of the telephone, picking up the stray field of the telephone's hybrid;[27]

fitting an in-line tap, as discussed below, with a recording output;

using an in-ear microphone while holding the telephone to the ear normally; this picks up both ends of the conversation without too much disparity between the volumes[28]

more crudely and with lower quality, simply using a speakerphone and recording with a normal microphone

The conversation may be monitored (listened to or recorded) covertly by a third party by using an induction coil or a direct electrical connection to the line using a beige box. An induction coil is usually placed underneath the base of a telephone or on the back of a telephone handset to pick up the signal inductively. An electrical connection can be made anywhere in the telephone system, and need not be in the same premises as the telephone. Some apparatus may require occasional access to replace batteries or tapes. Poorly designed tapping or transmitting equipment can cause interference audible to users of the telephone.[citation needed]

The tapped signal may either be recorded at the site of the tap or transmitted by radio or over the telephone wires. As of 2007 state-of-the-art equipment operates in the 30–300 GHz range to keep up with telephone technology compared to the 772 kHz systems used in the past.[29][30] The transmitter may be powered from the line to be maintenance-free, and only transmits when a call is in progress. These devices are low-powered as not much power can be drawn from the line, but a state-of-the-art receiver could be located as far away as ten kilometers under ideal conditions, though usually located much closer. Research has shown that a satellite can be used to receive terrestrial transmissions with a power of a few milliwatts.[31] Any sort of radio transmitter whose presence is suspected is detectable with suitable equipment.

Conversation on many early cordless telephones could be picked up with a simple radio scanner or sometimes even a domestic radio. Widespread digital spread spectrum technology and encryption has made eavesdropping increasingly difficult.

A problem with recording a telephone conversation is that the recorded volume of the two speakers may be very different. A simple tap will have this problem. An in-ear microphone, while involving an additional distorting step by converting the electrical signal to sound and back again, in practice gives better-matched volume. Dedicated, and relatively expensive, telephone recording equipment equalizes the sound at both ends from a direct tap much better.

Location data

Mobile phones are, in surveillance terms, a major liability. For mobile phones the major threat is the collection of communications data.[32][33] This data does not only include information about the time, duration, originator and recipient of the call, but also the identification of the base station where the call was made from, which equals its approximate geographical location. This data is stored with the details of the call and has utmost importance for traffic analysis.

It is also possible to get greater resolution of a phone's location by combining information from a number of cells surrounding the location, which cells routinely communicate (to agree on the next handoff—for a moving phone) and measuring the timing advance, a correction for the speed of light in the GSM standard. This additional precision must be specifically enabled by the telephone company—it is not part of the network's ordinary operation.

Internet

In 1995, Peter Garza, a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, conducted the first court-ordered Internet wiretap in the United States while investigating Julio Cesar "Griton" Ardita.[34][35]

As technologies emerge, including VoIP, new questions are raised about law enforcement access to communications (see VoIP recording). In 2004, the Federal Communications Commission was asked to clarify how the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) related to Internet service providers. The FCC stated that “providers of broadband Internet access and voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) services are regulable as “telecommunications carriers” under the Act.”[36] Those affected by the Act will have to provide access to law enforcement officers who need to monitor or intercept communications transmitted through their networks. As of 2009, warrantless surveillance of internet activity has consistently been upheld in FISA court.[37]

The Internet Engineering Task Force has decided not to consider requirements for wiretapping as part of the process for creating and maintaining IETF standards.[38]

Typically, illegal Internet wiretapping is conducted via Wi-Fi connection to someone's Internet by cracking the WEP or WPA key, using a tool such as Aircrack-ng or Kismet.[39][40] Once in, the intruder relies on a number of potential tactics, for example an ARP spoofing attack, allowing the intruder to view packets in a tool such as Wireshark or Ettercap.

Mobile phone

The first generation mobile phones (c. 1978 through 1990) could be easily monitored by anyone with a 'scanning all-band receiver' because the system used an analog transmission system-like an ordinary radio transmitter. Instead, digital phones are harder to monitor because they use digitally encoded and compressed transmission. However the government can tap mobile phones with the cooperation of the phone company.[41] It is also possible for organizations with the correct technical equipment to monitor mobile phone communications and decrypt the audio.[citation needed]

To the mobile phones in its vicinity, a device called an "IMSI-catcher" pretends to be a legitimate base station of the mobile phone network, thus subjecting the communication between the phone and the network to a man-in-the-middle attack. This is possible because, while the mobile phone has to authenticate itself to the mobile telephone network, the network does not authenticate itself to the phone.[42][failed verification] There is no defense against IMSI-catcher based eavesdropping, except using end-to-end call encryption; products offering this feature, secure telephones, are already beginning to appear on the market, though they tend to be expensive and incompatible with each other, which limits their proliferation.[43]

Webtapping

Logging the IP addresses of users that access certain websites is commonly called "webtapping".[44]

Webtapping is used to monitor websites that presumably contain dangerous or sensitive materials, and the people that access them. It is allowed in the US by the Patriot Act, but is considered a questionable practice by many.[45]

Telephone recording

In Canada, anyone is legally allowed to record a conversation as long as they are involved in the conversation. The police must apply for a warrant beforehand to legally eavesdrop on a conversation, which requires that it is expected to reveal evidence to a crime. State agents may record conversations, but must obtain a warrant to use them as evidence in court.

History

The history of voice communication technology began in 1876 with the invention of Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. In the 1890s, "law enforcement agencies begin tapping wires on early telephone networks".[46] Remote voice communications "were carried almost exclusively by circuit-switched systems," where telephone switches would connect wires to form a continuous circuit and disconnect the wires when the call ended. All other telephone services, such as call forwarding and message taking, were handled by human operators.[47]

The earliest wiretaps were extra wires — physically inserted to the line between the switchboard and the subscriber — that carried the signal to a pair of earphones and a recorder. Later, wiretaps were installed at the central office on the frames that held the incoming wires.[47] In late 1940, the Nazis tried to secure some telephone lines between their forward headquarters in Paris and a variety of Fuhrerbunkers in Germany. They did this by constantly monitoring the voltage on the lines, looking for any sudden drops or increases in voltage indicating that other wiring had been attached. However, the French telephone engineer Robert Keller succeeded in attaching taps without alerting the Nazis. This was done through an isolated rental property just outside of Paris. Keller's group became known to SOE (and later Allied military intelligence generally) as "Source K". They were later betrayed by a mole within the French resistance, and Keller was murdered in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945. The first computerized telephone switch was developed by Bell Labs in 1965; it did not support standard wiretapping techniques.[46]

Greece

In the Greek telephone tapping case 2004–2005 more than 100 mobile phone numbers belonging mostly to members of the Greek government, including the Prime Minister of Greece, and top-ranking civil servants were found to have been illegally tapped for a period of at least one year. The Greek government concluded this had been done by a foreign intelligence agency, for security reasons related to the 2004 Olympic Games, by unlawfully activating the lawful interception subsystem of the Vodafone Greece mobile network. An Italian tapping case which surfaced in November 2007 revealed significant manipulation of the news at the national television company RAI.[48]

United States

Many state legislatures in the United States enacted statutes that prohibited anyone from listening in on telegraph communication. Telephone wiretapping began in the 1890s,[3] and its constitutionality was established in the Prohibition-Era conviction of bootlegger Roy Olmstead. Wiretapping has also been carried out in the US under most presidents, sometimes with a lawful warrant since the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional in 1928.

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entry of the United States into World War II, the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings on the legality of wiretapping for national defense. Significant legislation and judicial decisions on the legality and constitutionality of wiretapping had taken place years before World War II.[49] However, it took on new urgency at that time of national crisis. The actions of the government regarding wiretapping for the purpose of national defense in the current war on terror have drawn considerable attention and criticism. In the World War II era, the public was also aware of the controversy over the question of the constitutionality and legality of wiretapping. Furthermore, the public was concerned with the decisions that the legislative and judicial branches of the government were making regarding wiretapping.[50]

CrimethInc. sticker on a telephone warning users of phone tapping by the U.S. government

On October 19, 1963, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who served under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, authorized the FBI to begin wiretapping the communications of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The wiretaps remained in place until April 1965 at his home and June 1966 at his office.[51] In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that wiretapping (or “intercepting communications”) requires a warrant in Katz v. United States.[52] In 1968 Congress passed a law that provided warrants for wiretapping in criminal investigations.[53]

In the 1970s, optical fibers become a medium for telecommunications. These fiber lines, "long, thin strands of glass that carry signals via laser light," are more secure than radio and have become very cheap. From the 1990s to the present, the majority of communications between fixed locations has been achieved by fiber. Because these fiber communications are wired, they are protected under U.S. law.[46][47]

In 1978, the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) created a "secret federal court" for issuing wiretap warrants in national security cases. This was in response to findings from the Watergate break-in, which allegedly uncovered a history of presidential operations that had used surveillance on domestic and foreign political organizations.[54]

A difference between US wiretapping in the US and elsewhere is that, when operating in other countries, "American intelligence services could not place wiretaps on phone lines as easily as they could in the U.S." Also, in the US, wiretapping is regarded as an extreme investigative technique, while communications are often intercepted in some other countries. The National Security Agency (NSA) "spends billions of dollars every year intercepting foreign communications from ground bases, ships, airplanes and satellites".[47]

FISA distinguishes between U.S. persons and foreigners, between communications inside and outside the U.S., and between wired and wireless communications. Wired communications within the United States are protected, since intercepting them requires a warrant,[47] but there is no regulation of US wiretapping elsewhere.

In 1994, Congress approved the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which “requires telephone companies to be able to install more effective wiretaps. In 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wanted to expand CALEA requirements to VoIP service.”[46][47]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled in August 2005 that “broadband-service providers and interconnected VoIP providers fall within CALEA's scope. Currently, instant messaging, web boards and site visits are not included in CALEA's jurisdiction.[55] In 2007 Congress amended FISA to "allow the government to monitor more communications without a warrant". In 2008 President George W. Bush expanded the surveillance of internet traffic to and from the U.S. government by signing a national security directive.[46]

The NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007) controversy was discovered in December 2005. It aroused much controversy after then President George W. Bush admitted to violating a specific federal statute (FISA) and the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The President claimed his authorization was consistent with other federal statutes (AUMF) and other provisions of the Constitution, also stating that it was necessary to keep America safe from terrorism and could lead to the capture of notorious terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks in 2001.[citation needed][56]

In 2008, Wired and other media reported a lamplighter disclosed a "Quantico Circuit", a 45-megabit/second DS-3 line linking a carrier's most sensitive network in an affidavit that was the basis for a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless. The circuit provides direct access to all content and all information concerning the origin and termination of telephone calls placed on the Verizon Wireless network as well as the actual content of calls, according to the filing.[57]

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

Masonic Hoodwink

The Candidate's Blindfold

Man wearing hoodwink

A Masonic hoodwink is a type of blindfold used in Masonic rituals of initiation.

The image, above is of a man in a Masonic hoodwink which dates from the early 1800's to the early 1900s and were sold by DeMoulin, a Masonic lodge supplies manufacturer, as well as other purveyors (sellers) of lodge supplies.

Freemasonry is not the originator of the hoodwink.

Religious rites and initiations of civilizations and tribes dating back centuries before the believed or known origins of Freemasonry used blindfolds to represent going from darkness (ignorance) to light (knowledge).

Hood:  The word, “hood,” in old German and Anglo Saxon refers to a head covering, as in a hat, or helmet.  A hood might also be of cloth. To "hood" is to cover.  Hooded garments have been worn throughout history.

Wink:  The word, “wink,” in old German and Anglo Saxon refers to a closing of the eyes.  The word, “wince,” , is similarly derived from the word "wink".  The word "wink" pertains to the eye.

Therefore, a hood (to cover) wink (eyes) was a head covering designed to cover the eyes.

Misconception:  While Freemasonry has many secrets, the term "hoodwink" is not one of them.

The word is often misconstrued by non-Freemasons as having negative overtones due to our more modern-day definition of the word which defines it as meaning to be deceived or tricked rather than its actual meaning which is to cover the eyes.

A Masonic hoodwink is not used as a method of deception.

It is simply a symbolic and visual method of covering the eyes which is used in the initiation of the candidate into acquiring new knowledge, hence the term, "from darkness to light".

The Masonic symbolism of the hoodwink is not about placing the candidate into the darkness, which is symbolic of ignorance, but about the removal of the darkness to let in the light, which is symbolic of knowledge.

Albert Mackey, Masonic scholar, historian and author described it as:

"A symbol of the secrecy, silence, and darkness in which the mysteries of our art should be preserved from the unhallowed gaze of the profane.

It has been supposed to have a symbolic reference to the passage in Saint John's Gospel (I, 5), "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

But it is more certain that there is in the hoodwink a representation of the mystical darkness which always preceded the rites of the ancient initiations."

Source:  Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 1929, Volume 1, Page 464

Somewhat resembling aviator goggles of this same era, this antique Masonic hoodwink is made of metal, leather, cloth and velvet.

Size:  8-1/2 inches long, 3 inches wide and 2 inches in depth.

Front:  The front of this hoodwink is made of metal, painted black.  The nose covering is made of fabric which has been hand-stitched into place.

Eye "wink":  The round metal circles which cover each eye are welded to a cross-piece rod with cones on each end.  This entire unit is of one-piece construction.

Masonic hoodwink

It is spring-loaded and can be raised or flipped upward toward the forehead by grasping either of the 2 decorative, cone-shaped metal pieces located on either side of the eyes.

hoodwink open

Back/Interior:  The interior, which fits against the face, is made of velvet (original color, unknown), as are the insides of each round eye piece.  A leather strap fits around the back of the head.

hoodwink inside

Like other fraternities, such as college fraternities, most Masonic lodges, today, simply use modern-day blindfolds.

The antique Masonic hoodwink, above, would most likely be found in a Masonic museum or owned by a collector of Masonic memorabilia.

https://www.masonic-lodge-of-education.com/masonic-hoodwink.html

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

Alcántara

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

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

History

Origins of the Order

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

Internal dissensions

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

Royal involvement

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

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

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

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

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

List of grand masters

The following list is taken from Ayala Martínez.[7]

Gómez (c.1175–1200)

Benito Suárez (1200–1216)

Nuño Fernández (1218–1219)

García Sánchez (1219–1227)

Arias Pérez (1227–1234)

Pedro Ibáñez (1234–1254)

García Fernández (1254–1284)

Fernando Páez (1284–1292)

Fernando Pérez Gallego (1292–1298)

Gonzalo Pérez (1298–1316)

Rodrigo Vázquez (1316–1318)

Suero Pérez (1318–1335)

Rodrigo Pérez (1335–1337)

Gonzalo Martínez de Oviedo (1337–1340)

Nuño Chamizo (1340–1343)

Pedro Alfonso Pantoja (1343–1345)

Pedro Yáñez de Campo (1345)

Fernando Pérez Ponce de León (1346–1355)

Diego Gutiérrez de Cevallos (1355)

Suero Martínez (1356–1363)

Gutierre Gómez de Toledo (1362–1365)

Martín López de Córdoba (1365–1367)

Pedro Muñiz Godoy (1367)

Melén Suárez (1369–1370)

Rodrigo Díaz de la Vega (1370–1375)

Diego Martínez (1376–1383)

Diego Gómez Barroso (1383–1384)

Gonzalo Núñez Guzmán (1384–1385)

Martín Yáñez de Barbudo (1385–1394)

Fernando Rodríguez Villalobos (1394–1408)

Infante Sancho de Aragón (1408–1416)

Juan de Sotomayor (1416–1432)

Gutierre de Sotomayor (1432–1454)

Gómez de Cáceres y Solís (1458–1473)

Alonso de Monroy (1473–1477)

Francisco de Solís (1474–1475), elect

Juan de Zúñiga y Pimentel (1477–1494)

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

Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 26 June 1992 in Madrid),[2] Duke of Noto (Duke of Capua 2012–2015), Grand Constable of the Order of Saint George of the Reunion, Grand Prefect of the Constantinian Order, Knight of Alcántara, Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Married to Lady Charlotte Diana Lindesay-Bethune (born 12 May 1993), youngest child of Scottish businessman and politician James Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of Lindsay, and his wife, Diana Mary Chamberlayne-Macdonald, on 25 September 2021 at Monreale Cathedral.

Princess Francesca Sofía of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 13 October 2023 in London)[8]

Prince Juan of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 18 April 2003 in Madrid)

Prince Pablo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 26 June 2004 in Madrid)

Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 3 January 2007 in Ciudad Real)

Princess Sofía of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 12 November 2008 in Madrid)[citation needed]

Princess Blanca of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 7 April 2011 in Ciudad Real)[citation needed]

Princess María of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (born 5 March 2015 in Ciudad Real)[citation needed]

Honours

Dynastic

[additional citation(s) needed]

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies: House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Knight Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (1986–2015)[9]

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies: House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Sovereign and Grand Master of the Illustrious Royal Order of Saint Januarius[10]

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies: House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Sovereign and Grand Master of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George[11][unreliable source?]

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies: House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Sovereign and Grand Master of the Order of Saint Ferdinand and of Merit

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies: House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Sovereign and Grand Master of the Royal Order of the Two-Sicilies

National

 Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta[1]

 Vatican: Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.[12]

 Spain: Commander of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise (22 December 2017)[13]

Other activities

This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (March 2021)

President of the Foundation for the Protection of Nature

President of the Foundation Lux Hispaniarum

President of the Foundation of the Hospital of Santiago de Cuenca

Patron of the Foundation of Commanderies of Santiago

Vice-President of the Delegation of the Community of Castilla-La Mancha of the APD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Pedro,_Duke_of_Calabria

Kevin Alexander Leon (born December 10, 1966), known professionally as Kevin de León and colloquially as KDL,[1] is an American politician serving as the Los Angeles City Council member for District 14 since 2020.[2] A member of the Democratic Party, he was defeated in the 2018 United States Senate election in California against incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein and came in third place in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election.

From 2006 to 2010, de León represented the 45th district in the California State Assembly. He represented the 22nd state senate district from 2010 to 2014, and the 24th state senate district from 2014 to 2018. He was President pro tempore of the California State Senate from October 15, 2014 to March 21, 2018. He was elected to the city council in 2020.

Since October 2022, there have been widespread calls for his resignation after an audio recording of him and other council members making racist, homophobic, and derogatory remarks was leaked. He was formally censured by the Los Angeles City Council in a unanimous 12–0 vote on October 26, 2022.[3] In December 2022, De León gained further notoriety when he was videotaped in a physical conflict with an activist, in which de León "grabs [the activist] and throws him into a table."[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_de_Le%C3%B3n 

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 .

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=lyon

Lyon County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 59,235.[1] Lyon County comprises the Fernley, NV Micropolitan Statistical Area which is part of the Reno-Carson City-Fernley, NV Combined Statistical Area.

History

Lyon County was one of the nine original counties created on November 25, 1861.[2] It was named after Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union General to be killed in the Civil War.[3] Its first county seat was established at Dayton on November 29, 1861,[4] which had just changed its name from Nevada City in 1862, and which had been called Chinatown before that. After the Dayton Court House burned down in 1909, the seat was moved to Yerington in 1911. There were stories that it was named for Captain Robert Lyon, a survivor of the Pyramid Lake War in 1860, but Nevada State Archives staff discovered a county seal with the picture of the Civil War general, settling the conflict.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon_County,_Nevada

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

1 Timothy 6

1599 Geneva Bible

6 1 He showeth the duty of servants: 10 and what a mischievous evil coveteousness is: 13 and having spoken somewhat of rich men, he once again forbiddeth Timothy, 20 to cumber himself with vain babblings.

1 Let [a]as many servants as are under the yoke, count their masters worthy of all honor, [b]that the Name of God, and his doctrine be not evil spoken of.

2 [c]And they which have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren, but rather do service, because they are faithful, and beloved, and [d]partakers of the benefit. [e]These things teach and exhort.

3 [f]If any man teach otherwise, and consenteth not to the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,

4 He is puffed up and knoweth nothing, but doteth about questions and [g]strive of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,

5 Froward [h]disputations of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, which think that gain is godliness: from such separate thyself.

6 [i]But godliness is great gain, if a man be content with that he hath.

7 [j]For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain, that we can carry nothing out.

8 Therefore when we have food and raiment, let us therewith be content.

9 [k]For they that will be rich, fall into tentation and snares, and into many foolish and noisome lusts, which drown men in perdition and destruction.

10 For the desire of money is the root of all evil, which while some lusted after they erred from the faith, and [l]pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11 [m]But thou, O [n]man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness.

12 Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold of eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

13 [o]I charge thee in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, which under Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.

14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, and unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Which in due time he shall show, that is [p] blessed and Prince only, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

16 Who only hath immortality, and dwelleth in the light that none can attain unto, whom never man saw, neither can see, unto whom be honor and power everlasting, Amen.

17 [q]Charge them that are rich in [r]this world, that they be not high minded, and that they trust not in uncertain riches, but in the [s]living God, (which giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy.)

18 That they do good, and be rich in good works, and be ready to distribute, and communicate,

19 [t]Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may obtain eternal life.

20 [u]O Timothy, keep that which is committed unto thee, and avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called,

21 Which while some [v]profess, they have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee, Amen.

¶The first Epistle to Timothy, written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana.

Footnotes

1 Timothy 6:1 He addeth also rules for the servants’ duty towards their masters: whereupon no doubt there were many questions then moved by them which took occasion by the Gospel to trouble the common state. And this is the first rule: Let servants that are come to the faith, and have infidels to their masters, serve them notwithstanding with great fidelity.

1 Timothy 6:1 The reason: lest God should seem by the Doctrine of the Gospel to stir up men to rebellion and all wickedness.

1 Timothy 6:2 The second rule: Let not servants that are come to the faith, and have also masters of the same profession and religion, abuse the name of brotherhood, but let them so much the rather obey them.

1 Timothy 6:2 Let this be sufficient, that as touching those things which pertain to everlasting life, they are partakers of the same good will and love of God, as their masters themselves are.

1 Timothy 6:2 A general conclusion, that these things ought not only to be simply taught, but must with exhortations be diligently beaten into their heads.

1 Timothy 6:3 He condemneth severely, and excommunicateth or casteth out of the Church as proud men, such as content not themselves with Christ’s doctrine, (that is to say, the doctrine of godliness) but weary both themselves and others in vain questions, (for all other things are vain) because they content not themselves in Christ’s doctrine: and as lying deceivers, because they savor or sound of nothing but vanity: as mad men, because they trouble themselves so much in matters of nothing: as mischievous plagues, for that they cause great contentions, and corrupt men’s minds and judgment: to be short, as profane and wicked, because they abuse the precious name of godliness and religion to filthy lucre.

1 Timothy 6:4 Striving about words, and not about matter: and by words he meaneth all those things which have no pith in them, and whereby we can reap no profit.

1 Timothy 6:5 Such as we see in those shameless schools of Popery, which are nothing else but vain babbling and prating.

1 Timothy 6:6 He turneth away fitly the name of gain and lucre, confessing that godliness is great gain, but far after another sort, to wit, because it bringeth true sufficience.

1 Timothy 6:7 He mocketh their folly, which do so greedily gape after frail things, that they can in no wise be satisfied, and yet notwithstanding they cannot enjoy that excess.

1 Timothy 6:9 He frayeth Timothy from covetousness after another sort, to wit, because it draweth with it an infinite sort of lusts, and those very hurtful, wherewith covetous men do torment themselves so far forth, that in the end they cast away from them their faith and salvation.

1 Timothy 6:10 Sorrow and grief do as it were pierce through the mind of man, and are the harvest and true fruits of covetousness.

1 Timothy 6:11 A peculiar exhortation to divers virtues, wherewith it behooveth the Pastors especially to be furnished.

1 Timothy 6:11 Whom the Spirit of God ruleth.

1 Timothy 6:13 A most earnest request and charge, to observe and keep all the premises faithfully, with our eyes set upon the coming of Jesus Christ, whose glory we have to set against the vain glistering of this world, and his power, against all the terrors of the wicked.

1 Timothy 6:15 He heapeth many words together, to one purpose: whereby he voucheth the power of God, which if we stick fast unto, we shall not be moved out of our standings.

1 Timothy 6:17 He addeth for an overplus as it were a sharp admonition to the rich, that they chiefly take heed of two mischiefs, to wit, of pride, and deceitful hope, against which he setteth three excellent virtues, hope in the living God, liberality towards their neighbor, and gentle conditions.

1 Timothy 6:17 In things pertaining to this life, with whom those men are compared which are rich in good works.

1 Timothy 6:17 Who only is, and that everlasting: for he setteth the frail nature of riches against God.

1 Timothy 6:19 The praise of liberality by the effects thereof: because it is a sure testimony of the Spirit of God which dwelleth in us, and therefore of the salvation that shall be given us.

1 Timothy 6:20 He rehearseth the chiefest of all the former exhortations, which ought to be deeply imprinted in the minds of all ministers of the word, to wit, that they eschew all vain babblings of sophistry and continue in the simplicity of sincere doctrine.

1 Timothy 6:21 Not only in word, but also in countenance and gesture: to be short, while their behavior was such that even when they held their peace, they would make men believe their heads were occupied about nothing but high and weighty matters, even then they erred concerning the faith.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%206&version=GNV