“For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”
(Hebrews 11:10,16)
A Better Country

Dear Friends,

Greetings! With this posting we mark the end of ten years, one decade, in which People of

The Keys has been presenting news articles, comments, original material, videos, and more.

As you probably are aware many of the news articles posted relate to Bible prophecy now and in

the near future. (To see what is involved in preparing our weekly publication click here.)

We also have a studies section with generally agreed interpretations of the books of Daniel,

Revelation and other prophetic chapters in the Bible.

We have had hits and pages downloaded in every country in the world minus four.

During this time we have also published a monthly magazine called Activated.

The video we participated in, The Coming Temple, was originally recorded in English but has

now been translated in whole or part into French, Spanish, Hindi, and Japanese. About six months ago the number of views had gone over three million and was being promoted on at

least seventy-seven Youtube channels. (We stopped trying to keep track of the numbers at

that point as it had become impossible to follow.)

In one of our earlier posts from early 2011 we quoted James Hilton from his novel Lost

Horizon.

"Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is.

What blindness. What unintelligent leadership. A furiously racing mass of

bewildered humanity, strengthening, not in wisdom but in vulgar passions,

crashing headlong into each other, motivated by greed and propelled into

brutality. The time must come when evil will destroy itself.

When the day comes that the world begins to look for a new life, it is our hope

they may find it here in Shangri-La. Here we shall be with our way of life based

on one simple rule--love. And it is our hope that Shangri-La's brotherly love will

then spread throughout the world. And when the strong have devoured each

other, then at last the meek shall inherit the Earth.”

No words more perfectly describe the global plight of today and yet they were

written almost 85 years ago by the late James Hilton [1900-1954] to express the

philosophy of the High Lama of Shangri-La, his classic novel, Lost Horizon

[1933].

“In the madness that is the world today, the injustice, the wars, the inequality

amongst man, the corruption, the greed etc. we can find solace in knowing He

knows what is happening and will some day soon return to right the wrongs that

evil men have wrought upon this world through their lack of love and concern for

others.”

How much more over the past ten years, since we started posting, has the madness in the

world grown so much more exponentially.

Where will we be ten years from now, if we are even here. “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:12

We will see. Looking at the world today you do wonder, how much longer.

As we start our eleventh year we would like to ask for your continued prayers for us and for the situations that we highlight in our posts. If you feel you are benefiting from People of the Keys and wish to see continued articles coming your way please also consider helping us with a donation. You can donate through the Paypal link here .

Thank you and God bless you in the months and years to come.

Robert for People of the Keys.

***

Seeking a Better Country

By Dwight L. Moody

When I was a boy I thought of heaven as a great shining city, with vast walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it except white angels, who were strangers to me. By and by my little brother died, and I thought of a great city with walls and domes and spires, and a flock of cold, unknown angels, and one little fellow that I was acquainted with. He was the only one that I knew in that country. Then another brother died, and there were two that I knew. Then my acquaintances began to die, and the number continually grew.

But it was not until I had sent one of my little children back to God that I began to think I had a little interest there myself. A second, a third, a fourth went, and by that time I had so many acquaintances in heaven that I did not see any more walls and domes and spires. I began to think of the residents of the Celestial City. And now so many of my acquaintances have gone there that it sometimes seems to me that I know more in heaven than I do on earth..

The home for the soul

That unchangeable home is for you and for me,
Where Jesus of Nazareth stands;
The King of all kingdoms forever is He,
And He holdeth our crowns in His hands.

Oh, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land,
So free from all sorrow and pain;
With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands
To meet one another again.1

… What has been, and is now, one of the strongest feelings in the human heart? Is it not to find some better place, some lovelier spot, than we have now? It is for this that men are seeking everywhere, and they can have it if they will; but instead of looking down, they must look up to find it. As men grow in knowledge, they vie with each other more and more in making their homes attractive, but the brightest home on earth is but an empty barn, compared with the mansions in the skies.

What is it that we look for at the decline and close of life? Is it not some sheltered place, some quiet spot, where, if we cannot have constant rest, we may at least have a foretaste of the rest that is to be? What was it that led Columbus, not knowing what would be his fate, across the unsailed western seas, if it were not the hope of finding a better country?

This it was that sustained the hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers, driven from their native land by persecution, as they faced an iron-bound, savage coast, with an unexplored territory beyond. They were cheered and upheld by the hope of reaching a free and fruitful country, where they could be at rest and worship God in peace.

Somewhat similar is the Christian’s hope of heaven, only it is not an undiscovered country, and in attractions cannot be compared with anything we know on earth. Perhaps nothing but the shortness of our range of sight keeps us from seeing the celestial gates all open to us, and nothing but the deafness of our ears prevents our hearing the joyful ringing of the bells of heaven. There are constant sounds around us that we cannot hear, and the sky is studded with bright worlds that our eyes have never seen. Little as we know about this bright and radiant land, there are glimpses of its beauty that come to us now and then.

We may not know how sweet its balmy air,
How bright and fair its flowers;
We may not hear the songs that echo there,
Through these enchanted bowers.
The city’s shining towers we may not see
With our dim earthly vision,
For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key
That opes the gates Elysian.
But sometimes, when adown the western sky
A fiery sunset lingers,
Its golden gate swings inward noiselessly,
Unlocked by unseen fingers.
And while they stand a moment half ajar,
Gleams from the inner glory
Stream brightly through the azure vault afar,
And half reveal the story.2

It is said by travelers that in climbing the Alps the houses of far distant villages can be seen with great distinctness, so that sometimes the number of panes of glass in a church window can be counted. The distance looks so short that the place to which the traveler is journeying appears almost at hand, but after hours and hours of climbing it seems no nearer yet. This is because of the clearness of the atmosphere. By perseverance, however, the place is reached at last, and the tired traveler finds rest. So sometimes we dwell in high altitudes of grace; heaven seems very near, and the hills of Beulah are in full view. At other times the clouds and fogs caused by suffering and sin cut off our sight. We are just as near heaven in the one case as we are in the other, and we are just as sure of gaining it if we only keep on the path that Christ has pointed out.

I have read that on the shores of the Adriatic Sea the wives of fishermen, whose husbands have gone far out upon the deep, are in the habit of going down to the seashore at night and singing with their sweet voices the first verse of some beautiful hymn. After they have sung it they listen until they hear brought on the wind, across the sea, the second verse sung by their brave husbands as they are tossed by the gale—and both are happy.

Perhaps, if we would listen, we too might hear on this storm-tossed world of ours, some sound, some whisper, borne from afar to tell us there is a heaven which is our home; and when we sing our hymns upon the shores of the earth, perhaps we may hear their sweet echoes breaking in music upon the sands of time, and cheering the hearts of those who are pilgrims and strangers along the way. Yes, we need to look up—out, beyond this low earth, and to build higher in our thoughts and actions, even here!

You know, when a man is going up in a balloon, he takes in sand as ballast, and when he wants to mount a little higher, he throws out some of it, and then he will mount a little higher; he throws out a little more ballast, and he mounts still higher; and the more he throws out the higher he gets, and so the more we have to throw out of the things of this world the nearer we get to God. Let go of them; let us not set our hearts and affections on them, but do what the Master tells us—lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven…

Now, I think that is what we want to say to professing Christians—if you build for time, you will be disappointed. God says: Build up yonder. It is a good deal better to have life with Christ in God than anywhere else. I would rather have my life hid with Christ in God than be in Eden as Adam was. Adam might have remained in Paradise for 16,000 years, and then fallen, but if our life is hid in Christ, how safe!

1 Ellen Gates, 1865.

2 Nancy Wakefield, 1836–1870.

DAILY STAR

Bible BOMBSHELL as archaeologists unearth ‘first EVER evidence of the EXODUS'

A BIBLE bombshell may have just been unearthed as experts believe they have found what could be proof of the legendary Exodus from Egypt led by Moses.

By Henry Holloway

September 25, 2018

BIBLE: What would it mean if there was concrete proof of the Exodus?

Biblical legend records the prophet Moses liberating the Israelites from the Pharaoh’s slavery and leading them through the wilderness – before crossing the River Jordan into the promised land of Canaan.

Historical evidence for this event – which is key to Judaism and Christianity – has so far not been found,with archaeologists believing the Israelites were in fact native to the region and hadn’t fled from Egypt.

Ancient ruins newly uncovered near the River Jordan however are now thought to suggest that a nomadic Israelite people crossing into the ancient land from outside.

If proven – this could be the first ever evidence of the Exodus.

And the proof of the Exodus could also lead archaeologists towards other Biblical revelations – such as the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant.

“We have not proved that these camps are from the period of of the early Israelites, but it is possible,” said David Ben-Shlomo, an archaeologist with Ariel University.

“If they are, this might fit the biblical story of the Israelites coming from east of the Jordan River, then crossing the Jordan and entering into the hill country of Israel later.”

Archaeologists are now analysing whether the ruins, named Khirbet el Mastarah, are consistent with a newly-arrived nomadic people.

Pottery shards from the site have been dated to the early Iron Age, around the time traditionally associated with the Israelite arrival.

The ruins themselves, a number of low walls, are believed to be rudimentary stone fencing for animals – consistent with known nomadic practices.

According to Dr Ben-Shlomo and his American dig partner, Ralph Hawkins of Averett University, this could explain why pottery shards at the site were found outside – not inside – the stone walls.

“The floors of the structures were virtually empty of finds, and thus, we could not date them by conventional archaeological methods,” they said.

“In Bedouin settlements, people live in tents made of perishables which are relocated every season, thus artifacts would not be associated with stone architecture.

“So the structures might have housed animals, rather than people, who lived in tents around them.”

The site, five miles north of Jericho, also makes more sense as a nomadic settlement than a permanent one.

Temperatures there can easily reach a searing 45C and annual rainfall is as little as 1cm.

“The landscape is arid most of the time and even in modern times most of the population here are Bedouins,” said Dr Ben-Shlomo.

Furthermore, the site is isolated and is shielded from view by the surrounding hills – perhaps implying a new population in fear of a hostile reception.

Now the archaeologists are working to confirm whether site is as old as they suspect.

Dr Ben-Shlomo said: “Sites like Khirbet el Mastarah and other similar ones in the Jordan Valley seem – at least from survey material – to appear suddenly during the Iron Age.

“Since this area is not densely populated in many periods, this might indicate a new phenomenon like nomads suddenly creating settlements, or a new population.”

Soil samples from Khirbet el Mastarah have now been sent for analysis – with results expected in a few months.

The archaeologists are also planning to excavate nearby Uja el-Foqa to determine whether it might be linked to Israelite settlement of the region.

The Exodus story is spread over the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

It begins with the Israelites enslaved in Egypt, before the Pharaoh – coerced by 10 terrible plagues – agrees to release them and Moses leads them across the miraculously-parted Red Sea.

Once they reached the Sinai Peninsula, scripture says they travelled to Mount Sinai, where Moses received the 10 commandments.

They then headed to the southern border of Canaan, but being too scared to enter, were condemned to 38 years in the wilderness by God.

After passing the years at the oasis of Kadesh Barnea, the Israelites then travelled to the eastern border of Canaan, where Moses died and was buried on Mount Nebo.

***

WND

LAW PROTECTING CHRISTIANITY SINCE 1690 TO BE REVERSED

New era: Street preachers who answer questions with bibical verses rountinely arrested

Bob Unruh

September 23, 2018

Scotland still has on its books a law from 1690 that protects Christianity with penalties for blasphemy.
But it hasn’t been used in nearly two centuries, so lawmakers are ridding themselves of the ancient limits.

Just in time to impose a new, de facto blasphemy law that attacks Christianity.

The Barnabas Fund, an international ministry working on behalf of persecuted Christians, said the majority Scottish Nationalist Party has decided to get rid of the old law, a part of the Confession of Faith Ratification Act from 1690.

“It protects only the beliefs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and hasn’t been used since 1843,” the report said.

The SNP said in a statement: “Council believes that such a move will strengthen Scotland’s capacity to speak out against human rights abuses under the guise of blasphemy and heresy elsewhere in the world, as well as removing once and for all the possibility that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal service could prosecute on such grounds here.”

Barnabas said that abolishing blasphemy laws “is widely regarded as marking an improvement in human rights, specifically in relation to freedom of religion or belief, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and academic freedom.”
“However, at the same time the Scottish government has been keen to abolish its Christian blasphemy law, it has allowed, what is in effect, a new blasphemy law to develop, which has led to multiple arrests of those criticizing politically correct beliefs in twenty-first-century Scotland,” Barnabas Fund explained.

The new standard has been imposed more by practice than the letter of the law, making Christian street preachers vulnerable.

With “hate crime laws by activists seeking to silence them by deliberately asking questions about Christian teaching on Islam or sexual ethics. When the preachers explain what the Bible says, no matter how respectfully, the activists make a police complaint, leading to the preachers being arrested,” the report said.

One was Josh Williamson of the Craigie Reformed Baptist Church in Perth.

Another was Gordon Lamour. It took Kilmarnock Sheriff Court just minutes to decide to dismiss all counts against Lamour.

“Not only are police Scotland now treating respectful expression of disagreement with LGBT beliefs as a ‘hate crime,’ they are also arresting entirely peaceful street preachers simply because a complaint is made – without even checking to see if there is any evidence to support that complaint.

“This is a serious matter, and if the Scottish government are genuinely concerned to set an example to the world by ensuring there is no possibility of anyone ever being arrested for blasphemy they should take urgent action to stop it,” Barnabas warned.

The government studied the issue, and it’s conclusions are alarming.

First, the report focused on justifications for hate crimes, ignoring the damage that has incurred. Also, it ignored freedom of religion and speech. And in a review of other nations, it failed to address the impact on human rights.

Barnabas said: “What we are seeing here is the replacement of one blasphemy law in Scotland with another. The Scottish government is keen to get rid of a law which theoretically protected a specific form of Christian belief from criticism although, in reality, its disuse for nearly two centuries means it may no longer be legally valid anyway. However, at the same time, what is, in effect, a new blasphemy law in all but name is being created by the backdoor using hate crime laws.”

Most of the blasphemy laws in the world protect Islam.

The Organization of International Cooperation, a coalition of Muslim nations, even has tried multiple times at the United Nations to impose a worldwide Islam-protecting blasphemy law, forbidding any criticism of the religion.

***

NOW THE END BEGINS

POPE FRANCIS IN POLAND TELLS WORLD FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER ‘I AM THE DEVIL’ THEN LAUGHS IT OFF

Greeting journalists Saturday en route to Lithuania, Pope Francis was given a book about the former pope by Polish photographer Grzegorz Galazka. Receiving the large book with a beaming John Paul on the cover, Francis quipped: "Pope John Paul II was a saint, I am the devil."

by Geoffrey Grider

September 22, 2018

Isn’t the Devil the arch-enemy of God, isn’t the Devil the most disgusting creature in existence? The Bible tells us that the Devil is a liar, a murderer, someone in whom there is NO truth of any kind. Why on EARTH would anyone ever say that they were the Devil, much less someone who claims he is God’s hand picked representative?

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44 (KJV)

JUST A JOKE, YOU SAY? JUST A LITTLE VATICAN HUMOR, EH? WELL, MAYBE SO BUT CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING.

• Pope Francis preaches the New Age gospel of Gaia, earth worship, instead of the gospel of the grace of God.

• Pope Francis declared that Hell is not a real place, that it doesn’t exist.

• Pope Francis declared Mary to be the ‘Queen of the Universe‘.

• Pope Francis prays that Jerusalem never comes under Jewish control.

• Pope Francis has said repeatedly that a personal relationship with Jesus is ‘dangerous and harmful’.

• Pope Francis addressed the United Nations in 2015, and told that that he has “come in my own name“.

• Pope Francis not only allows other people to worship him, he demands it.

So when Francis declared quite plainly today that he was “the Devil”, it may just be the truest thing he has ever said. But please don’t take my word for it, click on the links I gave you in the bullet point list and decide for yourselves.

***

BREITBART

Vatican Cardinal: Pope Francis Is ‘Ice-Cold, Cunning Machiavellian’

By Thomas D. Williams PH.D

September 24, 2018

The German progressive weekly Der Spiegel has ended its love affair with the pope, declaring that the Church’s sex abuse crisis is “increasingly about Pope Francis.”

In a stunning cover article titled “The Silence of the Shepherds,” the magazine blasts the pope for his unwillingness to answer direct questions regarding what he knew about the serial homosexual abuse by U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and when he knew it.

An August 25 report from a high-ranking Vatican official declared that the pope was aware of McCarrick’s misdeeds at least as early as 2013—since the official personally informed him—and yet lifted sanctions against McCarrick that Pope Benedict had imposed and employed him as a consultant in naming new American bishops.

Yet when journalists asked the pope whether these allegations were true, and when indeed he had learned the facts about McCarrick, the pope neither confirmed nor denied the report, preferring instead the strategy of “no comment.”

According to Der Spiegel, Francis, who started as a “brilliant reformer,” now threatens to squander his legacy because “he often speaks at inopportune moments, yet in important moments remains silent.”

The German weekly also suggests that there is a good deal more resistance to the Francis pontificate within Vatican walls than is commonly believed.

One Vatican cardinal, who spoke with Der Spiegel under the condition of anonymity, said of the pontiff: “He preaches mercy, but in reality he is an ice-cold, cunning Machiavellian, and, what is worse – he lies.”

Der Spiegel drew on this statement for its cover title captioning a darkened profile of the pope: “Du sollst nicht Lügen”—Thou Shalt Not Lie.

But the pope’s bigger problems relate directly to the sex abuse crisis and the homosexual network that underlies it, Der Spiegel observes, and the pope gives the impression of dragging his feet rather than meeting the crisis head-on.

The Pope has convened a meeting of the chairmen of all national bishops’ conferences to discuss the matter of abuse — but not until February 2019. “This means that another five months will pass” before leading Catholic bishops travel to Rome to debate this matter with the pope, the article notes.

And now there is talk of the most serious crisis of the current pontificate, it states, and of a “civil war” among the faithful, which cannot be broken down along traditional party lines of conservatives versus progressives.

Rather, “whoever listens to the Catholic base, hears massive grumbling in the belly of the huge, worldwide community of faith,” Der Spiegel adds.

Francis is his own worst enemy, the magazine proposes. “He has been railing against global capitalism for years, but, like his predecessors, he took in millions from Cardinal McCarrick,” it notes. “The pope praises the value of the traditional family, but surrounds himself with counselors and workers who display the opposite — in more or less open concubinage with representatives of one sex or the other.”

And yet, “the man who is supposed to carry the torch of Christianity sees himself as a victim,” the article observes.

During morning Mass on Tuesday, Der Spiegel notes, Pope Francis compared his silence in the face of allegations with that of the Son of God during his Passion: “When people insulted him on that Good Friday and shouted ‘crucify him!’, He was silent, for he had compassion on those people.”

Victim or not, if the Spiegel article is any indication and the pope succeeds in alienating the progressive media, he may have lost his most important fan base of all.

Mahound's Paradise

BREAKING: Fr. Paul Kalchik Leaves For Undisclosed Location After Chicago Archdiocese Threatens Forcible Removal by Police

September 22, 2018

Fr. Paul Kalchik

Just hours ago, new Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Mark Bartosic arrived unannounced at Resurrection Parish on Chicago's Northwest side and told Pastor Paul Kalchik that he had just minutes to get his belongings together and vacate the premises or the police would be called to arrest him for trespassing.
Fr. Kalchik was about to perform a wedding.
Soon after, Fr. Kalchik left for an undisclosed location, accompanied by his brother who had been visiting the parish.
Bp. Bartosic performed the wedding instead, hastily slipping out the door of the church only seconds after concluding the ceremony.
Fr. Kalchik had been ordered by Cardinal Cupich and the archdiocese to report for psychiatric counseling and perhaps confinement yesterday after controversy broke concerning the exorcism and burning of a "gay rainbow flag" on parish grounds last week.
Fr. Kalchik had also called for Catholics to "boycott" masses celebrated by Cardinal Cupich due to Cupich's alleged involvement in the current clerical sex abuse scandal.
The flag - a rainbow with a superimposed cross - had been unveiled above the altar by a previous pastor Fr. Daniel Montalbano in 1991 to signal that the parish would be "gay friendly." Later taken down, it was rediscovered only recently by Fr. Kalchik.
Fr. Montalbano, a confidante of Cardinal Bernardin passed away in 1997 at the age of 50.
Fr. Montalbano was found dead in a rectory room behind and above the altar, literally hooked up to a masturbation device of his own design.
Today, a small group of parishioners not involved in the wedding but who had heard of the sudden appearance of Bp. Bartosic, stood stunned outside the Church. The group also included two employees who were hastily told by the bishop to report to work as normal on Monday.
One of the parishioners, a Chicago policeman, told me of some of the bizarre events of the last week, including numerous threats of death and rape against Fr. Kalchik, at least two probable attempted break-ins or acts of vandalism, one of which included breaking keys into all the locks in the doors of the church office. And then there was the visit by two Archdiocese representatives, yesterday, ordering Fr. Kalchik to vacate his parish and commit himself into psychiatric confinement.
One of these was Fr. Dennis Lyle, the same prelate who had visited St. John Cantius a few months ago to inform parishioners that their pastor, Fr. Phillips, had been relieved of his position there.
Fr. Kalchik had written of his own psychological trauma after being molested as a boy and as a young adult by two men - one of them a priest - in separate incidents. It is assumed that he will not comply with the order of the archdiocese. He is not now "hospitalized" as some reports have suggested.
The parishioners outside told me that Fr. Kalchik, who has been at Resurrection Parish for eleven years, has the full support of his parish.
Many of them will no doubt only discover what happened, tomorrow, when coming to Mass assuming it will be celebrated by Fr. Paul, will instead encounter Bp. Bartosic.

NY Times

What Happens to a Hub of Renaissance Florence When the Friars Move Out?

By Elisabetta Povoledo

Sept. 25, 2018

FLORENCE, Italy–For nearly 600 years, Dominican friars in Florence, Italy, have inhabited the Convent of San Marco, one of the city’s great spiritual and cultural hubs, renowned for its frescoes by Fra Angelico and once home to the fiery preacher Girolamo Savonarola.

But at the end of September, this storied occupation will end, a victim of the dwindling ranks of the Dominican order. The convent’s only remaining residents–four aging friars–have been told to pack their bags and move across town to the convent of Santa Maria Novella.

“The community of San Marco is no more, it is finished,” said the Rev. Fausto Sbaffoni, one of the four, who arrived here in 1979 and was present in June when the regional chief of the Dominicans arrived to read the order suppressing, or closing, the convent. “No friar can remain in a suppressed convent,” he noted.

The Roman Catholic Church is making similar hard choices around the world, though rarely in a place with such a historical and artistic legacy. The church is struggling with a worsening shortage of clergy–what the Vatican calls the crisis in vocations–especially in Europe and North America.

Worldwide, the number of priests is lower than it was in 1970, though the Catholic population has doubled, according to Vatican figures. The number of priests who are retired is growing, and the number of young men entering seminaries is shrinking.

Today, there are fewer than ten Dominican friars living in Florence, split between the two convents, so in a general restructuring, the order decided to join them under one roof.

What will become of San Marco is unclear, and some friars there still hold out hope for some form of divine intervention. Perhaps with a bit of a terrestrial hand.

“If there is one man who can stop the convent from closing it is Pope Francis,” said Bash D’Abramo, the secretary of “Beato Angelico for the Renaissance,” a cultural association named for Fra Angelico that holds art exhibits and concerts at San Marco (and that sometimes showcases the talents of two of the friars, one of whom is a talented organist, the other a drummer).

For weeks, Mr. D’Abramo has been seeking an audience with the pope, to hand him a petition to keep the convent open. Among the 18,000 signatories are a host of intellectuals and Florentine bigwigs.

A recent attempt to deliver the signatures at the pope’s weekly Wednesday audience was stymied when Mr. D’Abramo’s tickets were switched at the last minute–somewhat suspiciously, he thought–so that he would not be close enough to Francis to speak with him. “We can hardly throw the petition at him, it’s not a fruit market,” he said, disconsolately, in an interview.

The Dominicans took possession of the convent in 1437, when the architect Michelozzo began a vast reconstruction of an existing convent, at the expense of Cosimo de’ Medici, who reserved a cell for himself as a retreat. Between 1438 and 1443, the Dominican painter Fra Angelico painted a series of contemplative frescoes in the friar’s cells that are considered Renaissance masterpieces. In 1869, those cells and others areas of the complex were separated from the convent to become a national museum.

San Marco took center stage in 15th-century Florence when Savonarola started his reformist campaign. A plaque on one wall marks the spot where, on April 8, 1498, he was arrested by his opponents. A painting in the museum (which also houses his relics) depicts Savonarola’s execution later that month.

The future of the convent–which is actually state property–is still uncertain. One idea is for the adjacent Museum of San Marco to take over the structure.

“But I don’t know if I’d ask for it,” said Stefano Casciu, a Culture Ministry official in charge of several Tuscan museums, including the one at San Marco, which he said did not need more space. Adding the convent would be an unnecessary expense, he said.

Whatever becomes of the convent, he said, “it would make sense only if it had a cultural use open to the public.”

But any last-minute reprieve would most likely be temporary.

Mendicant orders–those like the Dominicans and the Franciscans that embrace lives of poverty–”have lost much of their original spirit, which is no longer possible to reactivate,” Father Sbaffoni said. “The world has changed too drastically for that.”

In Italy, “we are very few,” he said. “Increasingly fewer, and with fewer young people. There’s the famous point of no return, and for me these historic orders have reached it. There’s no going back.”

***

Dr. Thomas Horn On “The Original Halloween Witch”

September 27, 2018 by SkyWatch Editor

By Dr. Thomas R. Horn

On October 31, spooky beings and superheroes, cartoon characters and rubberized celebrities will line the streets and mall hallways of America, anticipating sugary rewards. Compelled by shouts of “trick or treat,” children of all ages will tote receptacles of various size and weight harboring the result of the night’s hunt. It’s called Halloween, and while for most it is a harmless annual activity, its roots run deep in ancient paganism.

All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, originated in the 7th century AD. It was celebrated on May 13 and was a night for remembering deceased saints and martyrs. The date was later changed to November 1 in order to Christianize the pagan holidays Beltane and Samhain—festivals of summer, winter and fire.

James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, said, “throughout Europe, Hallowe’en, the night which marks the transition from autumn to winter, seems to have been of old the time of year when the souls of the departed revisited their homes in order to warm themselves by the fire.” Such ghosts walked the countryside retrieving offerings of food and drink (the treat) supplied by living family members. Darker forces roamed the night as well. Demons, hobgoblins, witches on broomstick—all haunting the night with acts of mischief (the trick)

Real witches were also known to revel on Halloween night. According to Man, Myth & Magic, the witches of Aberdeen danced “round an old grey stone at the foot of the hill at Craigleuch, the Devil himself playing music before them.” Modern witches and Wiccans practice similar skyclad (nude) Halloween traditions, calling on Earth spirits and goddesses to visit their knife drawn circles of power.

Meet the Original Halloween Witch—Hecate

In the book by me and Josh Peck Abaddon Ascending: The Ancient Conspiracy at the Center of CERN’s Most Secretive Mission, we consider, among other topics, the goddess Hecate, the Titan Earth mother of the wizards and witches, who illustrates perhaps better than any other ancient goddess the connection between Wicca, the Celtic Halloween traditions and the realm of evil supernaturalism.

As the dark goddess of witchcraft, Hecate, like Isis, was worshiped with impure rites and magical incantations. Her name was probably derived from the ancient Egyptian word Heka, meaning “sorcery” or “magical,” which may explain her association with the Egyptian frog goddess of the same name. This may also explain the affiliation of frogs with witchcraft, and the various potions of frog-wart and “hecateis,” Hecate’s hallucinogenic plant, also called Aconite, which supposedly sprouted from the spittle of Cerberus (Hade’s three-headed guard dog) that fell to the ground when Hercules forced him to the surface of the Earth.

Because her devotees practiced such magic wherever three paths joined, Hecate was known by the Romans as Trivia (“tri”-three; and “via”-roads). Later, when the Latin church fathers compared the magic of the goddess Trivia with the power of the Gospel, they found it to be inferior, and thus the pursuit of Hecate’s knowledge became known as “Trivial Pursuit,” or inconsequential. But the fact that Hecate’s followers sincerely believed in and feared her magic and presence was legendary. This was primarily due to her role as the sorceress of the afterlife, but true believers also feared Hecate’s ability to afflict the mind with madness, as well as her influence over night creatures. She was thought to govern haunted places where evil or murderous activity had occurred. Such areas where violence or lechery had a history were believed to be magnets of malevolent spirits, something like “haunted houses,” and if one wanted to get along with the resident apparitions they needed to make oblations to the ruler of the darkness—Hecate.

Hecate’s familiar, the night owl, announced the acceptance of the oblations, and those who gathered on the eve of the full moon perceived the spooky sound of the creature as a good omen. Statues of the goddess bearing the triple-face of a dog, a snake, and a horse overshadowed the dark rituals when they were performed at the crossing of three roads. At midnight, Hecate’s devotees left food offerings at the intersection for the goddess (“Hecate’s Supper”), and, once deposited, quickly exited without turning around or looking back. Sometimes the offerings consisted of honey cakes and chicken hearts. At other time’s puppies, honey and female black lambs were slaughtered for the goddess and her strigae.

The strigae were deformed and vicious owl-like affiliates of Hecate who flew through the night feeding on bodies of unattended babies. During the day the strigae appeared as simple old women, and such may account for the history of Halloween’s flying witches (interestingly, Warner Brothers, who in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision produces the popular television drama/horror series Supernatural, used my published work on the Strigae in the first season of their series and then invited me to join a panel of paranormal activity experts for the release of the 5th Season. The series stars Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, two brothers who as demon hunters often find themselves pursued by spirits of the wicked dead. While expert input is sought by the screenwriters in order to give series episodes a mode of believability, Supernatural blends numerous religious concepts and worldviews not consistent with orthodox faith and should not be taken seriously. Thus the reason I declined the invitation). The same strigae hid amidst the leaves of the trees during the annual festival of Hecate, held on August 13, when Hecate’s followers offered up the highest praise of the goddess. Hecate’s devotees celebrated such festivals near Lake Averna in Campania where the sacred willow groves of the goddess stood, and they communed with the tree spirits—Earth spirits, including Hecate, were thought to inhabit trees—and summoned the souls of the dead from the mouths of nearby caves. It was here that Hecate was known as Hecate-Chthonia (“Hecate of the Earth”), a depiction in which she most clearly embodied the popular Earth-mother-spirit that conversed through the cave-stones and sacred willow trees.

Hecate was elsewhere known as Hecate-Propylaia, “the one before the gate,” a role in which she guarded the entrances of homes and temples from nefarious outside evils (talk about Satan casting out Satan!). She was also known as Hecate-Propolos, “the one who leads,” as in the underworld guide of Persephone and of those who inhabit graveyards. Finally, she was known as Hecate-Phosphoros, “the light bearer,” her most sacred title and one that recalls another powerful underworld spirit, Satan, whose original name was Lucifer (“the light bearer”). It was nevertheless her role as the feminist Earth-goddess-spirit Hecate-Chthonia that popularized her divinity and commanded reverence from among the common people.

Modern Symbolism

The connection between ancient paganism and the modern customs and costumes of Halloween is easy to trace. The Hecatian myths adopted by Celtic occultists continue in pop culture, symbolism and tradition in the following ways:

• People visiting neighborhood homes on Halloween night represent the dead in search of food (the treat).

• Masks of devils and hobgoblins represent evil spirits seeking mischief (the trick).

• Those who pass out candy represent the homes visited by the dead or may also represent worried individuals seeking to appease Hecate and other nighttime terrors.

• The Jack-O-Lantern (will-o-the-wisp, fox fire, fairy fire, etc.) is, according to some histories, a wandering soul stuck between heaven and hell. Others claim the Druids left Jack-O-Lanterns on doorsteps to ward off evil spirits. Another legend concerns a drunk named Jack who made a deal with the devil. Each claim to be the true origin of the Jack-O-Lantern myth.

Harmless Fun or Doorway to the Occult?

This month SkyWatch TV features a special investigation titled THE SECOND COMING OF THE NEW AGE (also the title of a groundbreaking new book by former new agers Steven Bancarz and Josh Peck) that uncovers how, all across North America, Christian churches have unknowingly encouraged occult beliefs and practices far removed from what the Bible teaches. This unfortunate reality is intrinsically linked to the popularity increase of New Age spirituality in the twenty-first century, and we’ve been so influenced by its integration into our society that we have become blind to recognizing, and preventing, the effects of this mainstream, pop-culture heresy, even within the walls of God’s house.

What does this have to do with Halloween?

According to Christian scholar Dr. Michael S. Heiser, who wrote the forward to THE SECOND COMING OF THE NEW AGE, Christians must awake to the fact our world is experiencing an explosion of ancient occultism combined with wicked fascination for ghosts and all things paranormal (including Angel-Quija boards, tarot cards, and even Satanism spreading to public schoolyards, elementary after school clubs, city council meetings that are being opened with invocations to Satan), and yes, even church goers enchanted by the darkness as viewers of SkyWatch TV’s October Special Investigative Reports will learn.

It is no stretch to suggest these are but a few of the signs that this age is under demonic influence. If we could see through the veil into the supernatural realm, we would find a world alive with good against evil, a place where the ultimate prize is the soul of this generation and where legions war for control of its cities and people.

Christian leaders should use the month of October and the season of Halloween to address these issues.

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Last Clash of the Titans Part 7: Demigods, Demons, and Saints

September 27, 2018 by Derek Gilbert

The Greek story of the origin of demons is consistent with Jewish beliefs, although they had very different views of the nature of those spirits.

In 1 Enoch, demons were the spirits of the giants born to human woman from their union with the angelic Watchers:

But now the giants who were begotten by the spirits and flesh—they will call them evil spirits on the earth, for their dwelling will be on the earth. The spirits that have gone forth from the body of their flesh are evil spirits, for from humans they came into being, and from the holy watchers was the origin of their creation. Evil spirits they will be on the earth, and evil spirits they will be called. The spirits of heaven, in heaven is their dwelling; but the spirits begotten on the earth, on the earth is their dwelling. And the spirits of the giants , do violence, make desolate, and attack and wrestle and hurl upon the earth and . They eat nothing, but abstain from food and are thirsty and smite. These spirits (will) rise up against the sons of men and against the women, for they have come forth from them.

From the day of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, from the soul of whose flesh the spirits are proceeding, they are making desolate without (incurring) judgment. Thus they will make desolate until the day of the consummation of the great judgment, when the great age will be consummated.[i] (Emphasis added)

Now, there are good reasons that the Book of Enoch is not included in the canon of scripture. A good bit of what’s in Enoch can’t be confirmed by the Bible, and so the book as a whole should mainly be taken as evidence of what Jews of the Second Temple period (530 B.C.-70 A.D.) thought about the spirit realm.

But remember, that period of history includes the writings of the later prophets and the entire apostolic age, so Enoch is a helpful guide to understanding and adding context to what they wrote. If Enoch was completely unreliable, Jesus would have told the apostles and the Holy Spirit would have prevented all references to it. But that happens not to be the case. Jude quotes 1 Enoch 1:9 in verses 14 and 15 of his short epistle, and Enoch’s account of the origin of demons was the common belief among the early church fathers:

“And when the angels of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, they took unto themselves wives of all of them whom they Chose.” Those beings, whom other philosophers call demons, Moses usually calls angels; and they are souls hovering in the air.

Philo, On the Giants 6

In my opinion, however, it is certain wicked demons, and, so to speak, of the race of Titans or Giants, who have been guilty of impiety towards the true God, and towards the angels in heaven, and who have fallen from it, and who haunt the denser parts of bodies, and frequent unclean places upon earth, and who, possessing some power of distinguishing future events, because they are without bodies of earthly material, engage in an employment of this kind, and desiring to lead the human race away from the true God.

Origen, Against Celsus 4.92 (emphasis added)

God…committed the care of men and of all things under heaven to angels whom He appointed over them. But the angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and begot children who are those that are called demons; and besides, they afterwards subdued the human race to themselves, partly by magical writings, and partly by fears and the punishments they occasioned, and partly by teaching them to offer sacrifices, and incense, and libations, of which things they stood in need after they were enslaved by lustful passions; and among men they sowed murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds, and all wickedness.

Justin Martyr, 2 Apology 5

Note that Justin Martyr understood that the angelic Watchers not only fathered the giants, who in turn became demons, they lured humans into worshiping them as gods and sowed the seeds of evil that matured into “all wickedness.”

Now, here’s another link in the chain of evidence showing how classical Greece and Rome inherited much of its religion from the East—in this case, it appears, specifically from the Amorites.

The word “hero” has a much different meaning today than it did 2,000 years ago. For us, a hero is a soldier, a firefighter, a police officer, or a star athlete. To the ancient Greeks, a heros was a dead person who remained powerful in death and was therefore venerated by the living. Heroes were believed to be historical persons, often ancestors. Like the Amorite kings of Ugarit, then, the living could aspire to becoming a heros after death.[ii]

Heroes were expected (or feared) to show supernatural power after death. Epic heroes were elevated to the status of protector of their cities,[iii] such as Theseus at Athens and Herakles, under the Phoenician name Melqart, at Tyre.

So, it appears the Greeks inherited the Amorite practices of venerating the demigods, whom they considered their ancestors, and something like the kispumritual as well.[iv]What’s startling, however, is that this practice was brought into the Christian church by the well-intentioned but misguided Augustine:

Christian writers first accepted the term [daimones] and the concomitant belief in dangerous and demonic dead (Tertullian, De an. 49, 2). Augustine, however, argued for a positive connotation of the term and a differentiation from the negative daemones: in the Christian sense, heroes were the martyrs (CD 10, 21). This not only followed a use of the word already known in Christian poetry, but laid the theoretical foundation for the cult of the saints as the Christian hero cult.[v]

Did you catch that? Augustine, by trying to rehabilitate Greek hero worship, established the theological basis for canonizing and venerating saints, a practice that continues in Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches to this day.

And it can be linked directly to the Amorite Rephaim cult—worship of the Nephilim, the “mighty men who were of old.”

The bottom line: The Greek meropes anthropoi, who were the heroes of the Golden Age ruled by Kronos, were one and the same with the giants—the Nephilim. And just like the Rephaim venerated by the Amorites, the demigods of the Greeks received worship and sacrifices.

Funny how that part of the story never makes it into the movies or novels marketed to our kids.

[I] 1 Enoch 15:8-16:1. Nickelsburg, George W.E.. 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation (p. 37). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.

[ii] Graf, F. (1999). Heros. In K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, & P. W. van der Horst (Eds.), Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible (2nd extensively rev. ed., p. 413). Leiden; Boston; Köln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] That’s the meal Amorite families were obligated to serve to their dead ancestors on the 30th day of each month, the night of no moon. The ancestors were summoned through a necromancy ritual.

[v] Graf, op. cit.

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The Guardian

Coven ready: from Instagram to TV, why are witches so popular?

Occult dramas from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina to Strange Angel are a theme of the new season’s TV. Is this a response to the uncertainty of contemporary politics?

Neil Armstrong

September 15, 2018

Kiernan Shipka in Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Photograph: Diyah Pera/AP

Once an endangered species confined to blasted heaths and moonlit woods, today’s witches are flourishing and emerging blinking into the Golden Age of Television. And, this time, it’s political.

A Discovery of Witches, an adaptation of Deborah Harkness’s novel about a young witch who finds an ancient manuscript that brings her to the attention of vampires and demons, began on Sky One last week and is just one of a slew of current and upcoming dramas about the occult, including Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and CBS All Access’s Strange Angel.

Why now? With self-professed witches all over the internet and on Instagram, many believe this new wave is linked to the bubbling cauldron of contemporary politics. “I think when the world is turned upside down it’s natural for people to look at things differently,” says George Pendle, the British author of a biography of American rocket scientist Jack Parsons. Parsons also happened to be a ritual-performing disciple of notorious British occultist Aleister Crowley, and the subject of Strange Angel, a 10-part Ridley Scott-produced drama.

“If all your preconceptions about, say, the validity of the democratic political system are overturned, maybe you might also rid yourself of your previous notions about ‘magick’ – to use Crowley’s term - and start drawing pentagrams on the floor. It can’t make things much worse, right?

“There’s a trend towards more esoteric ways of thinking, not just in entertainment but throughout society. For instance, in medicine there’s been a huge revival in the use of psychedelics for medicinal and therapeutic purposes. People believe that the mind can’t always best be served by modern science. And that belief, for better or worse, is percolating through everything. Take Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop with its talk of ‘sex bark’ and ‘shamanic energy medicine’. It’s less a modern lifestyle brand than a medieval occult apothecary.” In other words, when society has reached the stage where some people believe that popping a jade egg into one’s vagina will promote gynaecological health or that a no-deal Brexit will provide a £1.1 trillion boost to the UK’s economy, then perhaps the occult starts to look positively reasonable.

Harkness agrees that witchcraft can offer a sense of control in a world that seems to be spiralling beyond our grasp. “When there is social, political and cultural turmoil and the world feels like a very unstable place, people want a sense of control and normalcy again,” she says.

Spellbound, an exhibition about witchcraft, opened last month at Oxford’s Ashmolean museum. Among the exhibits is The Discovery of Witches, a 1647 work by the notorious “Witchfinder General” Matthew Hopkins, which inspired the title of Harkness’s novel.

Malcolm Gaskill, a historian of witchcraft and one of the exhibition’s curators, says: “Political turmoil makes people feel that truth and reality are being undermined. And, ironically, in an upside-down-world the supernatural can be a source of stability.

<

p>“Rational people indulge in all sorts of little fantasies, superstitions and rituals to get by. We’re all prone to anxiety caused by global affairs, as well as personal problems, and magical thinking can restore a sense of control, even if it’s just a comforting illusion.

“Of course, at a more prosaic level, people also just want escapism from depressing news, much as they turned to the cinema in the 1930s.”

Stephen Volk, who wrote the BBC’s celebrated Halloween “hoax” Ghostwatchand created the paranormal drama series Afterlife, agrees. “It’s easy to see the appeal of a world where you can learn spells to make things happen, rather than enduring the gruelling random unfairnesses of real life.”

The new productions promise escapism aplenty. October sees the start of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, described as a “dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult and, of course, witchcraft”, and another Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House, based on the novel by Shirley Jackson, the American writer so fascinated by witches that she used to joke she was one. Suspiria, a remake of Dario Argento’s cult 1977 film about a ballet school that is the front for a witches’ coven, is released in November. And, in July, it was announced that Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the beloved show about the adventures of a valley girl van Helsing, is to return, presumably still featuring Buffy’s witch friend Willow.

Meanwhile, Volk’s forthcoming novel Netherwood features Crowley – known as The Great Beast, 666 – as a character. “Witchcraft and the occult can represent – and have always represented – a threat, too,” he says. “When I adapted Phil Rickman’s Midwinter of the Spirit, about an exorcist, for ITV, for me the key was using satanism as a metaphor for our fear of terrorism.”

But, for Christina Oakley Harrington, a practising witch and the founder of Treadwell’s, one of the UK’s leading occult bookshops, witchcraft is a feminist issue.

“These films are an answer to what is happening in society,” she says. “As the world of Instagram has shown, young women are speaking out with autonomy more than ever, embracing feminism.

“It makes perfect sense to find role models: none is more apt than the witch. The witch is the disobedient woman, the ‘bad’ woman. Her ethics are her own, not society’s and as a creature on the edges of society, she sees injustices that others don’t care about. I am struck by how much today’s teen witches are activists for not only feminism but for the ending of animal cruelty, racism, homelessness.

“When you break society’s conforming rules, as young women are, you are punished. The witch is an icon to help young women be strong in the face of the pushback they get every day. So for me, these new shows are heartening – yes, even the horror films.” Of course, believing in magic or “magick”, no matter how fervently, is no guarantee of its efficacy.

Last year, witches across America joined forces at the stroke of midnight on Friday 24 February to cast a mass “binding” spell against Donald Trump, aimed at preventing the president from doing harm. The success of that particular ritual is very much open to debate.

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MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE

The Mysterious Lost Labyrinth of Egypt

Brent Swancer

September 17, 2018

There can be no doubt that Egypt is a land of deep, ancient mysteries that stretch back many millennia into the mists of time. Here is an enchanting land of magnificent ruins, soaring pyramids, and darkened tombs surrounded by whispers of curses and black magic. It is a place that has drawn the curiosity and study of archeologists and indeed the public for years, yet for all we have learned of this enigmatic place over the centuries there are still many secrets buried here in the desert sands, ensconced with mystery and as unknown as they always have been. One of these is an alleged network of subterranean tunnels and chambers whispered of in ancient and modern texts and forgotten for centuries, which are said to hold vast troves of lost knowledge and secrets and, if they exist, could change how we view history itself.

The almost mythological lost complex, known simply as “The Labyrinth” to the ancient Greeks after their own legends of the maze designed by Daedalus for King Minos of Crete to hold the mythic minotaur, is said to be composed of a vast web of meandering tunnels, rooms, temples, buildings, shrines, passageways, courtyards and chambers, sporting thousands of rooms and supposedly full of scores of ancient texts, hieroglyphs, artifacts, paintings, and untold treasure under the sands of Egypt. It was most famously first described by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote of it in his 5th century BC work Histories, Book, II, 148 claiming to have seen it himself and expounding on the grandeur of this place. He wrote of the Egyptian labyrinth:

They (the 12 kings) resolved to join all together and leave a memorial of themselves; and having so resolved they caused to be made a Labyrinth, situated a little above the lake of Moiris and nearly opposite to that which is called the City of Crocodiles. This I saw myself, and I found it greater than words can say. For if one should put together and reckon up all the buildings and all the great works produced by the Hellenes, they would prove to be inferior in labour and expense to this Labyrinth, though it is true that both the temple at Ephesos and that at Samos are works worthy of note.

The pyramids also were greater than words can say, and each one of them is equal to many works of the Hellenes, great as they may be; but the Labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids. It has twelve courts covered in, with gates facing one another, six upon the North side and six upon the South, joining on one to another, and the same wall surrounds them all outside; and there are in it two kinds of chambers, the one kind below the ground and the other above upon these, three thousand in number, of each kind fifteen hundred.

The upper set of chambers we ourselves saw, going through them, and we tell of them having looked upon them with our own eyes; but the chambers underground we heard about only; for the Egyptians who had charge of them were not willing on any account to show them, saying that here were the sepulchers of the kings who had first built this Labyrinth and of the sacred crocodiles. Accordingly we speak of the chambers below by what we received from hearsay, while those above we saw ourselves and found them to be works of more than human greatness. For the passages through the chambers, and the goings this way and that way through the courts, which were admirably adorned, afforded endless matter for marvel, as we went through from a court to the chambers beyond it, and from the chambers to colonnades, and from the colonnades to other rooms, and then from the chambers again to other courts.

Over the whole of these is a ceiling made of stone like the walls; and the walls are covered with figures carved upon them, each court being surrounded with pillars of white stone fitted together most perfectly; and at the end of the Labyrinth, by the corner of it, there is a pyramid of forty fathoms, upon which large figures are carved, and to this there is a way made underground. But a cause for marvel even greater than this is afforded by the lake, which is called the lake of Moiris, along the side of which this Labyrinth is built.

While this amazing account of Herodotus is the most widely known and perhaps the most famous, there were many other mentions of this mysterious place by authors and historians throughout the ages, including Manetho Aegyptiaca (3rd century BC), Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), Strabo (64 BC – 19 AD), Pliny (23 – 79 AD), and Pomponius Mela (c 43 AD), among others, many of whom saw the mystical place themselves and gave consistent and detailed descriptions of the complex, somewhat dispelling the notion that it was a purely mythical construct. Many of these authors make persistent mention of a confusing profusion of paths, tunnels, ramps, and stairs, and there are more mysterious details as well, such as a mention of a “a fearful noise of thunder” that permeated the whole colossal complex. There is also frequent mention of numerous soaring columns, a solid stone slab for a roof, and of the infinite treasures and beauty held within the Labyrinth, such as a description by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, who wrote:

When one had entered the sacred enclosure, one found a temple surrounded by columns, 40 to each side, and this building had a roof made of a single stone, carved with panels and richly adorned with excellent paintings. It contained memorials of the homeland of each of the kings as well as of the temples and sacrifices carried out in it, all skillfully worked in paintings of the greatest beauty.

Despite these frequent historical accounts of the magnificence of the Labyrinth of Egypt, it has long been seen as being a possible myth or legend, but this has not stopped people from actually searching for it. Making things difficult is that there is little mention of where the Labyrinth actually is in these old accounts, merely hints and clues. Herodotus himself said only that a pyramid was situated at one corner of the structure and that it was “a little above the lake of Moiris and nearly opposite to that which is called the City of Crocodiles,” and this is all maddeningly vague. Nevertheless, throughout the years there have been several serious expeditions that have sought to unravel the clues and solve the mystery.

One of the first attempts to seriously find and study the Labyrinth was in 1842, with a team sent to Egypt by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. The team, led by the archeologist Richard Lepsius, believed that the pyramid Herodotus had spoken of was the pyramid of Amenemhat III in the Hawara region of Faium, and that the City of Crocodiles was the old capital of the Faiyum Oasis valley, and so they concentrated their efforts there. They claimed to have been successful in locating the vast structure when they located large columns, ruins, and the remains of what they believed to be the artificial Lake Moeris that Herodotus had spoken of. The discovery has subsequently been sort of forgotten, and it is unclear just what they found out there, or whether it was really the legendary Labyrinth.

In 1888, famed English Egyptologist and archeologist Flinders Petrie claimed to have found the lost Labyrinth as well, ironically when he was in the same region on a mission to debunk Lepsius’ discovery as merely the remains of an old Roman village. Petrie would claim to have done some excavating at the alleged site and come across a massive stone slab of epic proportions, chipped and eroded by time, which he estimated as stretching over an area of 1116 feet by 800 feet, and reaching down to at least 6 feet deep, which he believed to be a part of the actual Labyrinth. According to Petrie, the site would have once held a colossal building measuring 1,000 by 800 feet, and it truly seemed as if he were on to something, but the site was not properly secured, and would be destroyed by quarrying, leaving it uncertain as to just what exactly he found out there in that wasteland.

Interpretation of the labyrinth

More recently was an expedition launched in 2008 by a group of researchers from Belgium and Egypt led by a Louis de Cordier, which descended on the region with state of the art ground penetrating radar in an effort to solve the mystery once and for all, thinking that Petrie had in fact found the ceiling of the structure. There on the south side of the Harawa Pyramid the so-called Mataha Expedition claimed to have found evidence of some sort of vast structure lurking deep down in the earth. Using their advanced technology, they found signs of chambers, rooms, tunnels, and thick walls, including two enormous chambers measuring 150m by 100m and 80m by 100m. Although the presence of large amounts of groundwater and a canal nearby made it hard to get a completely accurate reading, with such a complex network picked up on the radar it was thought that the legendary lost Labyrinth of Egypt had finally been found, but the discovery would hit some hurdles, from then on which have served to make the facts murky and spark rumors of shadowy conspiracies.

Although the results of the Mataha Expedition were officially published in the scientific journal of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) and divulged in various academic public lectures on the matter, the Egyptian Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities suddenly and without warning came in to silence everything. Due to this, the findings were buried and never made public, suppressed and hidden indefinitely. The frustrated researchers would end up setting up a website in 2010 in order to covertly release their findings, but the official details, records, and data of the expedition continue to be off-limits. Indeed, the Egyptian government has gone so far as to officially deny that anything was found at all, with one such release reading:

These things exist only in the minds of those who seek to attract the seekers for mystery, and the more we deny the existence of these things, the more the public is led to suspect that we are deliberately trying to hide that which constitutes one of the great secrets of Egypt. It is better for us to ignore all of these claims than merely deny them. All of our excavations in the territory of the Pyramid have failed to reveal any underground passageways or halls, temples, grottos, or anything of the kind.

It is unclear why this should all be covered-up, but what is certain is that with such intense denial and obfuscation by the government it is nearly impossible to tell just to what extent the expedition’s discovery reached, or whether they really did find the labyrinth that has been searched for centuries. The great Labyrinth of Egypt has in the meantime managed to remain just as mysterious as it always has been, a practically mythical place of grand underground structures that could very well hold knowledge that could change our very understanding of history. What might lie within those long buried chambers and corridors? What profound discoveries await those who unearth this place of legend and mystery? Indeed, does it really even exist at all? It remains to be seen, and continues to be another one of the many strange mysteries of this ancient land.

AMMC

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REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) - The deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned U.S. and Israeli leaders on Monday to expect a “devastating” response from Iran, accusing them of involvement in Saturday’s attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz that killed 25 people.

Mattis dismisses Iran's revenge threat as tensions climb after attack

Phil Stewart, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin

September 24, 2018

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday dismissed Iran’s threats of revenge after Saturday’s deadly attack at a military parade in southwestern Iran and said it was “ludicrous” for Tehran to allege U.S. involvement.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday the attackers who killed 25 people at a military parade had been paid by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and that Iran would “severely punish” those behind the bloodshed.

The deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also accused the United States and Israel of involvement in the attack and said they should expect a devastating response.

Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon that Iran’s threat did not give him any concern.

“We’ve been very clear that they shouldn’t take us on like that. And I am hopeful that cooler, wiser heads will prevail,” Mattis said.

“They’ve so far blamed at least three countries and I think one terrorist group. We’ll see how long the list goes. But it’d be good if they knew what they’re talking about before they started talking.”

In the southwestern city of Ahvaz, thousands packed the streets to mourn the victims of Saturday’s assault, many chanting “Death to Israel and America”. Twelve members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were among the dead.

The coffins, wrapped in flags, were carried by mourners. Many held pictures of a four-year-old boy killed in the incident, one of the worst such attacks against Iran’s most powerful military force.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said some 22 people had been arrested in connection with the attack.

“Weapons, (explosives) material and communication equipment were seized in the house that belonged to the five-member terrorist group that carried out the attack,” a ministry statement said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Gunmen fired on a viewing stand in Ahvaz where officials had gathered to watch an annual parade marking the start of Iran’s 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Fars and IRNA news agencies said on Monday five attackers were killed, not four as previously reported by state media. The body of the fifth assailant had not been identified as it was mixed up with other casualties, Fars said.

“Based on reports, this cowardly act was done by people who the Americans come to help when they are trapped in Syria and Iraq, and are paid by Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” Khamenei said on his website.

Guards Brigadier General Hossein Salami, in a speech broadcast on state TV, said: “You have seen our revenge before. You will see that our response will be crushing and devastating and you will regret what you have done.”

Tasnim news agency quoted Salami as saying the “horrific crime” exposed the dark side of an alliance that the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel had created to counter Iranian influence in the region.

The secretary of Iran’s National Security Council said Tehran needed to talk to its neighbours to avoid tensions.

“It’s essential to be fully aware and increase our constructive dialogues to neutralise the plots of enemies who want to create suspicion and disagreement among regional countries,” Ali Shamkhani said.

He also said U.S. sanctions against Iran were illegal and President Donald Trump was using them as a tool for “personal revenge”.

MATTIS “WOKEN UP” BY NEWS

Mattis said it was clear that Iran still didn’t know what had happened. He stressed the United States had no advance knowledge that such an attack was possible.

“I don’t get woken up with phone calls over something we know is going to happen. It’s just ludicrous to say we had anything to do with it,” he said.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asked by a Fox News interviewer if the United States played any role in the attack, said: “When you have a security incident at home, blaming others is an enormous mistake.”

The loss of innocent lives was tragic, Pompeo added. There has been no reaction from Saudi Arabia or Israel.

Accusations against Gulf countries will almost certainly antagonise Iran’s regional foe Saudi Arabia. The oil super-powers are waging a war for influence across the Middle East, backing opposite sides in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.

It is, however, highly unlikely the Guards will strike any of its foes directly and risk setting off a regional conflict.

Analysts said the violence has led to a boost in domestic support for the Guards which they could use to silence their critics, who include pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani.

Rouhani engineered Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that ushered in a cautious detente with Washington before tensions flared anew with Trump’s decision in May to pull out of the accord and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Mahmoud Alavi, said a network of suspects had been arrested in connection with the attack, the judiciary’s news agency Mizan reported. He did not elaborate.

Karim Dahimi, a human rights activist in London, told Reuters local sources had said more than 300 people had been arrested in the cities of Ahvaz, Khorramshahr and Abadan in recent days, mostly from the Sunni Muslim community.

Ahvaz National Resistance, an Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, and Islamic State have both claimed responsibility.

The Guard Corps was set up after the 1979 Islamic revolution to protect the Shi’ite clerical ruling system and revolutionary values. It answers to Ayatollah Khamenei and has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units.

Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy and Phil Stewart, Editing by Richard Balmforth and James Dalgleish

***

RT

‘We’ll overthrow them!’ Trump’s lawyer stirs up ‘Iran Uprising Summit’ after deadly terrorist attack

September 23, 2018

© Amr Alfiky / Reuters

The US will overthrow the Iranian government once socio-economic conditions there, shaped by sanctions, are ripe for a revolution, presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani told a cheering crowd on the day of the deadly attack in Ahvaz.

“I don’t know when we’re going to overthrow them. It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years, but it’s going to happen. They’re going to be overthrown, the people of Iran have obviously had enough,” said Giuliani at a so-called ‘Iran Uprising Summit’ held by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities in New York.

Speaking to members of Iranian expat and dissident communities in the US, who are seeking political change in Iran, the 74-year-old lawyer praised Donald Trump’s bullish approach towards Tehran, boasting that sanctions slapped on Iran, after the White House unilaterally withdrew from the internationally-backed nuclear deal in May, are stalling the country’s economy and damaging Iranians’ lives.

“The sanctions are working. The currency is going to nothing … These are the conditions that lead to successful revolution, and, God willing, non-violent revolution,” he said.

While the US administration has vowed to maintain economic pressure on the Islamic Republic with more sanctions to come into force on November 4 to target Iran’s energy sector, the State Department immediately distanced itself from Giuliani’s comments, stressing that Trump’s personal lawyer does not speak for the administration.

The imposition of sanctions has impacted Iran’s economy and caused the country’s currency to drop in value. The worsening socio-economic conditions have also led to street demonstrations across the country. While Tehran has acknowledged the people’s right to demonstrate, it urged the public to do so in a civil and a peaceful manner. At the same time, the Iranian leadership pinned the blame for sporadic violence on the US and their allies, accusing them of pushing for a regime change in the country.

While Trump has never been shy of supporting the opposition in Iran, his National Security Advisor John Bolton recently noted that a straightforward “regime change” in the country is not being considered by the administration. “Just to be clear, regime change in Iran is not American policy. But what we want is massive change in the regime’s behavior,” Bolton told Reuters in August.

Giuliani’s anti-Tehran comments came immediately after the Iranian supreme leader accused the US and its regional “puppets” of instigating the deadly shooting attack at a military parade in the city of Ahvaz that killed at least 25 people on Saturday.

After staying silent for hours following the atrocity, the US State Department finally issued a statement saying that Americans “stand with the Iranian people against the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism.” At the same time, however, National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis added that the “regime in Tehran” should better focus on keeping its citizens “safe at home.”

WND

DIRE EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENES WITH EUROPEON UNION

Hungarian pastor Sandor Nemeth reveals maneuvers changing geopolitical climate of the world

By Pastor Sandor Nemeth

September 23, 2018

I would like to offer my thoughts and analysis on events that are taking place in the European Union lately.
I believe these events have a prophetic significance: not only will they determine the future of the nations of Europe, but they will also initiate a significant change in the geopolitical climate of the world.

The parliamentary elections in the European Union will take place in May, 2019, for which the campaigning has just begun. Last week the main players have made important statements – the spirit of which will characterize the campaign at least until next May.

The struggle between sovereignists and globalists will not come to an end following the elections. The future will be determined by the power relations developing after May.

The EU is in a crisis.

There are a number of reasons why – the main one being the wrong reaction given to mass and illegal immigration. This issue has deepened the differences between the member states.

In its current state, the EU is impotent.

The European elite are afraid that they will be permanently left behind by the United States, by China, and even by Russia. A fear exists that Europe will only play a marginal role in the forming of future world politics. There would be many negative consequences of such a scenario for Europe, resulting in a diminishing quality of life for the citizens of the member states.

The fear of such a scenario is especially apparent amongst the German and French elite.

The EU in its current state is not yet an empire.

I believe interpretations by Christians equating current Europe with the beast of Revelation 13 are mistaken. Without a doubt, an empire can emerge out of Europe and the foundations for an empire could be established by the Europe of today – already in the foreseeable future.

This is precisely why this beginning of the election campaign of the EU parliament is so exciting – from a Biblical point of view. I am sure the upcoming months will show us exactly what will be at stake in May.

In recent years, politicians from the left and right have envisioned different ideas about the future of Europe.

The most popular among these is the belief that more integration is the solution to the continent’s problems. These are the globalists, who aim to integrate the different systems of the member states. They desire to establish a governing and controlling body that would be supranational. They would submit the member states to this centralized authority, so only decisions on less important issues would remain in the power of nation states.

This concept is primarily represented by the French and the Germans, as such a structure would be in the interest of large and strong European nations. This would grant them a power-position in geopolitics they desired to achieve multiple times in the past – through military means. Now they see an opportunity to achieve their old dream through peaceful means, through treaties on multiple levels, through alliances, and through bargaining.

The other European member states – especially the Eastern European ones – do not want greater integration.

They emphasize a necessity to maintain national independence, although they envision a close partnership with Western states. Eastern European states also want to stick to their Christian traditions – so they oppose the cultural revolution of ultraliberals. This minority group of nations desires to live in a Europe of nation states, without the supremacy of a centralized empire.

This past week European power and political groups made their positions clear on the two visions about the future of the continent.

This took place at the voting on the Sargentini Report, which accuses Hungary of violating basic European and democratic values. The report lists the areas where the author believes the Orban cabinet violated democratic and European basic values on which the EU is founded and based on which it operates.

In addition to this, the author of the report advises that the European Commission initiate Article 7 against our nation. This would result in the suspension and limitation of our rights in the governing institutions of the EU. These measures could also result in serious financial burdens for Hungarians.

The report does not take into account the fact that Hungary – along with other Eastern European nations – is a post-Communist society. It is exactly the political right – among them the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Fidesz) – that are doing the most to overcome this heritage.

No Eastern European nation has yet fully succeeded in achieving this, so all of them could be accused of having a “deficit in democracy.”

Having said this, in my opinion, this is also true for the Western states. Even though they had the opportunity, already after the Second World War – and primarily thanks to the United States – to dismantle autocracies and to build democracies.

A main obstacle in overcoming post-communist social structures is that upon the fall of Soviet-type Communism, the Western political elite made an alliance with reform-communists. They did this to achieve economic and financial domination in the process of the privatization programs in these nations and to secure the Eastern European market for their products.

A clear winner of these times was Germany. For a number of years now, all of Europe lays at the feet of Germany – as their market.

The result of the voting on the Sargentini Report proves that the German right believes the leftist and liberal Eastern European political side is closer to them than the Christian-leaning populist right.

It is important to briefly discuss the contents of the report.

This document contains a lot of lies and also information that is used by the author to portray realities in Hungary in a distorted, false way. The report is a mixture of lies and truth, the spirit and goal of which are outrageous and unacceptable to me.

I spent 40 years living in a dictatorship. As I personally was often the target of such attacks, I am quite aware of the methodology of corrupt propagandists. The EU has not yet been able to better the professional rhetoric of Bolshevik propaganda. Though Judith Sargentini clearly is striving to reach their level, she has yet much to learn about the skills of deception, falsifying reality and character assassination.

Without going into detail in refuting the statements made in the report, I would like to give a feeling as to what my problems are with it.

The independence of courts is problematic in Hungary (my personal experiences have also lead me to this conclusion), because – besides brilliant and professional individuals – there are judges who are tied to intelligence agencies that were in alliance with the previous regime – and this influences their decisions. I agree that retiring these judges is our common interest.

In regards to the fairness of elections and the fairness of the election system – opposition politicians and left wing liberals only started to seriously question these when, on election day, at around midnight, it came out that it wasn’t them, but Fidesz that are due to win a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Liberals only started to tune up their rhetoric on the Hungarian educational system when the government began to question the unlawful privileges that George Soros’s university had in Hungary. The left liberals became all the more angry when the government did not allow a gender-faculty to be opened at a major Hungarian university. The majority of Hungarians supported the intervention of government in this area, as the vast majority of tax payers do not wish to financially support the education of activists promoting sexually deviant behavior.

The Sargentini Report is also damning towards the Hungarian government in relation to basic human rights. In this area criticism does have some validity; however, it is up to one’s worldview whether one considers these actions of the government morally right or wrong.

As a Christian, I agree with the Orban Cabinet in introducing the traditional concept of marriage into our constitution. The state grants the right for everyone to freely choose their lifestyle, but in relation to homosexual rights it rejects the ultraliberal concept and rather supports traditional families and does not allow for various forms of homosexual marriage.

During the Orban administration, there is no state-supported gay and gender propaganda in the government-operated media and in educational institutions. At the same time, the state has tolerated lectures and opinions on these issues in cultural institutions. I have no information on anyone being persecuted for their homosexual lifestyle. Christian churches are free to preach God’s law and the redemption from the Gospels in relation to all such actions and lifestyles that the Word of God deems sinful and bad.

In addition to the above, the Hungarian government opposes illegal immigration and decides – based on our current, effective laws who it will allow into our country. There are individuals even within our church who recently received their Hungarian citizenship. Xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism in Hungary is not greater than it is in Western countries. In fact, while anti-Semitism is receding in Hungary, in the West it is on the rise.

The center of European anti-Zionism is not Budapest, but Brussels.

As a member of a Dutch Green Party, Judith Sergentini is a militant anti-Zionist. In other words, she is a loud voice for modern-day anti-Semitism. She has labeled Israel an apartheid state and she is also an advocate for gay rights.

In preparing her report, Sargentini only consulted with left liberal journalists, activists of NGOs of George Soros and representatives of homosexual and lesbian organizations. She was not interested in the opinion of the Hungarian State or of right-leaning intellectuals, church leaders and public figures.

In relation to the status of the Hungarian churches and freedom of religion, she included the opinion of a minister who has a 200-member congregation and has traditionally had a close alliance with left liberals, regularly speaking at their events. His conflict with the Hungarian government in this respect is unique and in no way does it realistically portray the status of the church in Hungary.

Having a knowledge of freedom of religion and the legal status of religious organizations in Europe, I can say that the Hungarian regulations – in spite of some valid points of criticism and objections – are still the most liberal regulations in Europe.

Independence of the media is also a European problem. The criticism you can hear in relation to Hungary could be said about every other European country. The differences are only in details and methodology.

This, of course, does not mean there are no valid objections to make about the current status of the media in Hungary. Our disgust at the objections given in the report comes from the evident hypocrisy and one-sidedness.

The overall status of the Hungarian media has not become worse than it was in previous administrations. Yes, there have been changes in the market. During left wing governments, the liberal media was in majority, now the Orban Cabinet is striving to reshape the market according to its own interests – in sometimes objectionable ways.

In spite of the above, and although the interests of some parties have really been hurt – we cannot say that the government has eradicated freedom of the press or that it has completely subdued the media. In spite of a few worrying incidents, independent press still exists in Hungary – of course, it could be stronger.

The media in alliance with the left liberal parties and the organizations of George Soros are just as one-sided and exclusive as the state media.

The report uses an anti-corruption rhetoric. Yes, corruption is present in Hungary, the question is whether the system itself is corrupt or whether corruption is just a byproduct of the Orban government. I have an opinion on this, but do not wish to enter into accusations and guessing.

However, corruption is also present in the EU. For a layman, it is very difficult to grasp how decision makers in EU institutions and in the member states nourish and encourage abuse.

Prior to voting on the report, a heated debate broke out between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and those who put forward or supported the report. I watched the discussion, which went on for nearly two hours. I understood what the most powerful European countries, Germany and France, want to establish in Europe. I already had suspicions and presumptions about the true motives of these governments, but when the legitimate representatives of these powers spoke openly and clearly about their objectives – this was new.

The opposition to globalization and migration has grown among the European countries in the past few years.

This brought with it the increasing popularity of the political parties and movements that support nation states. Viktor Orban became the leader of the oppositions against globalist Brussels. Orban’s party again won a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliament at the last elections held in the spring of this year. This was good news for the anti-globalists, but not for Merkel, Macron, their followers and leftist liberals. In the last couple of months the Western media has upped their attack on the Hungarian prime minister.

This September a new chapter in this confrontation has been opened.

Several Western politicians, like the German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, Merkel, Juncker and Macron declared that they envision a sovereign Europe, a union based on a federation of states, a superpower. They aim to achieve this by having the member states waive certain areas of their sovereignty, like foreign affairs, the military, border control, economic and financial independence. So they should raise their sovereignty to the level of the European Union.

In the German parliament, Angela Merkel spoke of taking away the task of border control from the member states and instead, a European army would be responsible for this.

The Southern border of our country is not only the border of Hungary, but also the border of the European Union. If Merkel’s plan is realized, border control would be taken away from our democratically elected government.

This is how Merkel would like to ensure mass, legal migration to Europe. The European central government would decide on letting in and distributing migrants. In this way, the policy of migration would also be dominated by Germany.

Such a decision would effectively mean a military occupation of Hungary, casting us into a colonial state. For if an international border controlling agency was to decide on who may enter and exit Hungary, that would effectively mean the cessation of the Hungarian border, replaced by the border of an empire.

By the way, the border of the ancient Roman Empire also ran here, along the River Danube …

These declarations by the Germans show that Merkel’s Germany has not given up the vision of Emperor Wilhelm or Adolf Hitler, which is the realization of a German Empire. Only the methodology, the ideology and the tactics have fallen into step with the requirements of this age.

The German elite have maintained their desire to rule and reign over Europe.

The Eastern European nations have so far – falsely – believed that the European Union in its current state is the freely chosen partnership of equal nations, based on common interests. The disillusionment began in 2015, when huge crowds of migrants began to invade Europe. Instead of protecting the native population, Merkel’s government – through their words and their policies – encouraged the predominantly Muslim migrants to come to Europe, even illegally.

This is when the international campaign to discredit Hungary began.

The reason was that the Hungarian government insisted on keeping with abiding European and Hungarian regulations. It first restricted, then completely halted, illegal migration. In the eyes of the Western elite, Viktor Orban became an unacceptable politician.

The Hungarian government got into a sharp conflict especially with the NGOs of George Soros.

Recently, the Italian government also entered this arena, as they began to take actions against the human trafficking and migration in the Mediterranean, declaring that they do not wish to become the migrant camp of Europe.

Zero Hedge

Europe Unveils "Special Purpose Vehicle" To Bypass SWIFT, Jeopardizing Dollar's Reserve Status

By Tyler Durden

September 26, 2018

In a stunning vote of "no confidence" in the US monopoly over global payment infrastructure, one month ago Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas called for the creation of a new payments system independent of the USthat would allow Brussels to be independent in its financial operations from Washington and as a means of rescuing the nuclear deal between Iran and the west.

Writing in the German daily Handelsblatt, Maas said "Europe should not allow the US to act over our heads and at our expense. For that reason it’s essential that we strengthen European autonomy by establishing payment channels that are independent of the US, creating a European Monetary Fund and building up an independent Swift system," he wrote.

Maas said it was vital for Europe to stick with the Iran deal. "Every day the agreement continues to exist is better than the highly explosive crisis that otherwise threatens the Middle East," he said, with the unspoken message was even clearer: Europe no longer wants to be a vassal state to US monopoly over global payments, and will now aggressively pursue its own "SWIFT" network that is not subservient to Washington's every whim.

Many discounted the proposal as being far too aggressive: after all, a direct assault on SWIFT, and Washington, would be seen by the rest of the world as clear mutiny against a US-dominated global regime, and could potentially spark a crisis of confidence in the reserve status of the dollar, resulting in unpredictable, and dire, consequences.

However, despite the diplomatic consequences, Europe was intent on creating some loophole to the US ability to weaponize the global currency of account at will, something observed most recently as part of Trump's latest sanctions on Iran, and as a result, late on Monday, the European Union said that it would establish a special payment channel to allow European and other companies to legally continue financial transactions with Iran while avoiding exposure to U.S. sanctions.

The move, as the WSJ notes, "is a direct rebuke of President Trump’s policy on Iran and his decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal in May," and sets the stage for a confrontation between the U.S. and Europe over the treatment of Iran, the payment for Iran oil, and potentially, jeopardizing the reserve currency status of the dollar itself.

While keeping SWIFT as is, for now, the EU's foreign-policy head Federica Mogherini side by side with Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif announced a "special purpose vehicle" jointly, in English and Farsi, after a meeting at the U.N. of the parties still committed to the deal—Iran, EU, U.K., France, Germany, Russia and China. In fact, everyone but the US.

According to Mogherini, the plan to create the SPV "will mean that EU member states will set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran, and this will allow European companies to continue trade with Iran" despite Trump's opposition.

As Bloomberg's Leonid Bershidsky explains, with Iran sanctions back, it is clear to the Europeans (as well as the Chinese and Russians) that any future transactions with Iran must go through entities insulated from the American financial system.

In a July 2018 report, Axel Hellman of the European Leadership Network think tank and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj of the Iranian company Bourse & Bazaar proposed “a new banking architecture” in response to the U.S. sanctions, relying on the existing system of “gateway banks,” such as the Hamburg-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank, and the European branches of private Iranian bank. “A further third category of gateway banks can be envisioned,” they wrote, “which would comprise of special purpose vehicles established by European governments, or as part of public-private partnerships in order to facilitate Iran trade and investment.”

The new plan focuses on this third option.

Mogherini further indicated that Germany, France and the U.K. would set up a multinational state-backed financial intermediary that would deal with companies interested in Iran transactions and with Iranian counter-parties. Such transactions, presumably in euros and pounds sterling, would not be transparent to American authorities. European companies dealing with the state-owned intermediary technically might not even be in violation of the U.S. sanctions as currently written.

And, in a potentially massive development, the system would be likely be open to Russia and China as well as it would enable the world's economies to trade with each other, fully independent of SWIFT.

Europe would thus provide an infrastructure for legal, secure sanctions-busting — and a guarantee that the transactions would not be reported to American regulators.

That said, Washington would not be without recourse, although at that point, all the U.S. could do is sanction the participating countries’ central banks or SWIFT for facilitating the transactions (if the special purpose vehicle uses SWIFT, rather than ad hoc messaging).

That, Hellman and Batmanghelidj wrote, would be self-defeating: “There are two possible outcomes if these institutions proceed to work with Iran despite U.S. secondary sanctions. Either U.S. authorities fail to take enforcement action given the massive consequences for the operations and integrity of the American financial system, serving to “defang” the enforcement threats and reduce the risk of European self-sanctioning on the basis of fear, or U.S. authorities take such an enforcement action, a step that would only serve to accelerate European efforts to create a defensible banking architecture that goes beyond the Iran issue alone.”

Europe, naturally, needs a "neutral" pretext to implement this SPV, and that would be Brussels' desire to continue transacting with Iran:

“We are not backing down [on the Iran nuclear agreement],” said a European diplomat. He said the speeches of European leaders at a Security Council meeting Mr. Trump is hosting on Wednesday on nonproliferation, including Iran, will reflect the Monday night statement.

Additionally, as basis for the potentially revolutionary development, the participants of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, "underlined their determination to protect the freedom of their economic operators to pursue legitimate business with Iran."

While the details of the SPV mechanism — which would be set up in future meetings with technical experts — were still to be determined, with the United States and the dollar dominating so much of global trade the statement said the new mechanism would "facilitate payments related to Iran's exports (including oil) and imports, which will assist and reassure economic operators pursuing legitimate business with Iran."

"In practical terms, this will mean that EU member states will set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran and this will allow European companies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance with European Union law and could be open to other partners in the world," she told reporters.

As a result of Trump's aggressive new sanctions on Iran, and potentially more sanctions after November as Trump hinted during his UN speech, European companies have been flocking out of Iran’s market and ending contracts to avoid risking U.S. sanctions. Meanwhile, Iran - which has argued that the 2015 deal entitled the Islamic Republic to benefit from lifting of sanctions and to enter the world market - has seen its economy stumble, with the currency collapsing almost daily against the U.S. dollar since the U.S. exited the deal.

Telegraphing that Europe will continue cooperation with Iran despite US sanctions, Mogherini said Iran has remained fully committed to its obligations under the nuclear deal, as certified by a dozen reports from U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. She also hailed the 2015 agreement as a major achievement for diplomacy and nonproliferation and “deeply regrets” what she called the unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. from the deal.

* * *

In any case, creating "a defensible banking architecture" may well be the end goal for the Europeans, China and Russia, anyway because, as noted above, Iran is merely a convenient pretext: after all, the nuclear agreement is one of the few things that unite the EU, China and Russia against the U.S.

But, as Bershidsky notes, "working to undermine the dollar’s global dominance isn’t ultimately about Iran at all. In his recent State of the European Union speech, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for strengthening the euro’s international role and moving away from traditional dollar invoicing in foreign trade."

China and Russia have long sought the same thing, but it’s only with Europe, home of the world’s second biggest reserve currency, that they stand a chance of challenging American dominance.

While it remains to be seen if the “special purpose vehicle” would entice European companies such as France's Total or Germany's Daimler to get back into business with Iran remains to be seen, the optics of the move by the European Union together with China and Russia to defy the U.S. signaled continued criticism of the Trump administration for its decisions on Iran.

More importantly, it strikes at the heart of the current economic and financial system which is held together by the dollar. By providing an alternative, the global #resistance sets the stage for what potentially could be the ascendancy of other global reserve currencies, and/or a world of bilateral trade agreements which bypass both the US Dollar and Swift entirely, eliminating Washington's "veto powers" on global trade.

Given U.S. law enforcement’s wide reach, there would still be a risk involved, and European governments may not be able to protect the companies from it. Some firms will be tempted to try the new infrastructure, however, and the public isn't likely to find out if they do. In any case, in response to Trump's aggressive foreign policies and "weaponization" of the dollar, it is worthwhile for Europe, Russia and China to experiment with dollar-free business.

But this brings up the bigger point: no currency’s international dominance has lasted forever, and there’s no reason for the U.S. dollar to be the exception to this rule.

Meanwhile, as Bershidsky concludes, "Trump’s confidence in his ability to weaponize the dollar against adversaries and stubborn allies alike could eventually backfire for the U.S. as efforts to push the dollar off its pedestal grow ever more serious."

***

RT

Italian government adopts anti-migrant security decree

September 24, 2018

The Italian government on Monday adopted a security decree which will make it easier to expel migrants and strip them of Italian citizenship. The new bill is “a step forward to make Italy safer,” far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Facebook. It will help Italy “be stronger in the fight against the mafia and [people] smugglers, reduce the costs of excessive immigration, expel delinquents and fake refugees, strip terrorists of citizenship, [and] give the police greater powers,” Salvini said. Parliament has 60 days to debate, amend and vote on the bill before President Sergio Mattarella signs it into law. Salvini said the decree streamlines the rules for processing asylum requests and brings Italy into line with other EU countries, AFP reports.

***

RT

Swedish parliament ousts PM Lofven in vote of no-confidence

September 25, 2018

File photo. Burning cars in Sweden. © Fredrik Sandberg/Scanpix / Reuters

Sweden’s newly elected parliament has voted against Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in a vote of confidence, officially ending his tenure as head of government. Lofven had earlier refused to step down voluntarily.

The dismissal of Lofven, leader of the center-left Social Democratic Party, was anticipated after members of the conservative Alliance announced in advance that they would not support him in Tuesday’s vote.

Political groups on both the left and right achieved the same number of votes in the general election, resulting in neither winning a majority in parliament.

The election resulted in major success for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, which won almost 13 percent of the votes. However, neither side of the political center agreed to form a coalition with the party.

Swedish law provides that a vote for a new head of government has to take place no later than two weeks after a new parliament chooses its speaker. Up to four candidacies may be rejected by the Riksdag before an new general election must be called.

Lofven, who had headed a minority coalition government since 2014, refused to step down after the election on September 9, saying that keeping the Sweden Democrats out of power was a paramount goal for the establishment parties. However, the Moderates, who lead the conservative Alliance, refused to support Lofven’s bid to remain as prime minister.

The electoral success of the Sweden Democrats occurred against a backdrop of tensions in the country over its immigration policy. The northern European country has long prided itself for its tolerant approach to asylum seekers. During the 2015 immigration crisis, Sweden took in more people per capita than any other EU member state.

However, problems associated with immigrants – including regular torching of cars and other crimes – moved to the forefront of public debate. This enabled the right-wing party to capitalize on anti-immigration sentiment, ultimately resulting its best-ever result in a general election.

Dissent Is No Longer Permissible In The West

Paul Craig Roberts

September 21, 2018

Dissent Is No Longer Permissible In The West
Will Russia Notice?

Update: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/09/21/europe-descends-into-tyranny/

A French Court Has Ordered A Psychiatric Exam Of Opposition Leader Marine Le Pen.

So Much for Western “democracy.” Nothing is less wecomed in the West than democracy.

It has long been understood in Europe that the resurrection of French President Charles de Gaulle’s French nationalism under Marine Le Pen was unacceptable to Washington. De Gaulle was not Washington-compliant, and Washington does not want another non-compliant French nationalist.

Marine Le Pen, a French patriot, seems destined for the fate of Joan of Arc. The French establishment has been after Le Pen for a long time. She has already had her parliamentary immunity stripped for a tweet and faces three years in prison if convicted by her enemies for a simple free speech statement in defense of French sovereighty. Now she is in trouble for posting on Twitter images of Daesh executing people.

The electorally threatened French establishment can produce any result it wishes from the ordered psychiatric exam of Le Pen. On the basis of a purely contrived “evaluation,” Le Pen can be got rid of by being imprisoned in a psychiatric facility. https://sputniknews.com/europe/201809201068194429-marine-le-pen-court-psychiatric-expertise/

A revival in European sovereignty is what Putin is relying on to break Europe away from Washington’s control. It is a naive belief that Russia can win Europe away with a policy of nonconfrontation and acceptance of insults and provocations. The EU itself prevents the rise of European sovereignty. Washington has suppressed European sovereignty and submerged the European countries in the EU where the idea of a sovereign country no longer exists. In France Le Pen’s belief that the French deserve their own country is considered to be a sign of insanity.

The French, like other Europeans, are being brainwashed to identify free speech with racism, misogyny, homophobia and hate crimes against immigrants.

Washington is never going to let loose of Europe or its UK vassals. Nor will Washington ever accept an independent Russian state, only a vassal like Russia under Yeltsin. Nothing else to be said. America is the exceptional, indispensable country. No other country counts. Least of all Russia.

Throughout Europe patriots are dismissed as racists. The epithat defines patriots as people to be hated for being in the way of open borders that produce immigration flows that eliminate ethnic nationalities, such as French, German, Italian, British.

Europe is being dissolved into “multiculturalism,” a diversity that has no common basis. Jean Raspail described this process in The Camp of the Saints.

RT

Black rapper's ‘hang white people’ video triggers meltdown in France

September 27, 2018

Still from the now-deleted video. © Nick Conrad / YouTube

A young French rapper has made it into the headlines with a graphic music video calling for white people to be killed. And while he’s shot to fame, with it has come widespread outrage and an investigation into his “art”.

The video features violent scenes of the rapper, Nick Conrad, and another black man torturing and killing a white male. The duo give the man a chance to escape, telling him to run fast – “as the blacks do” – then shoot him in the back for being too slow. Conrad then forces the white man to bite a kerbstone and stomps on his head, in an apparent reference to the movie American History X. The victim is then seen hanged from a post behind the rapper and his sidekicks.

The graphic footage is accompanied by equally shocking lyrics, with Conrad rapping “I go to nurseries and kill white babies” while hanging their parents “to entertain black kids of all ages.”

The video, uploaded to Youtube on September 17, gained several thousand views before being removed on Wednesday. Clips from the video, however, are still available on some Youtube accounts and other sites.

The video has garnered much attention from French politicians and activist groups, who called on the authorities to remove it from the web and prosecute the author.

“He must be prosecuted for incitement to racial hatred and condemned for these ignoble and irresponsible remarks,”Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, tweeted.

The France-based International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) also condemned the video, stating that freedom of expression was not the “freedom to call for hanging whites because of their skin color.”

“The incitement to murder in Nick Conrad's video is despicable and unbelievably violent,” LICRA tweeted.

The President of France's National Rally (formerly Front National) Marine Le Pen said the video was an example of "anti-white racism that no self-proclaimed expert or media speaks of."

"There is nothing artistic about what is, pure and simple, a call for hatred and murder!" she tweeted.

The widespread outrage caught the eye of Parisian prosecutors, who opened an investigation into the video over suspected "public calls to commit crimes" on Wednesday.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb also took to Twitter to condemn the video, saying his service was working hard to eradicate it from the web. Now, it's up to the judiciary to give "appropriate treatment to these heinous calls for hatred," he added.

Conrad, however, defended his "art," saying it was actually "a message of deep love."

The video was designed to get people thinking by "reversing the roles," he said, claiming the video was deeper than it looked.

"I was not looking for the buzz, this video is supposed to make you think and not stay on the surface," the rapper told RTL. "I do not understand people who do not go in-depth."

While the "message of love" was apparently lost on most critics, the rapper received support from controversial French comedian and political activist Dieudonné. The comedian himself has repeatedly been convicted for racist and anti-Semitic comments.

Dieudonné was quick to take to social media and praise Conrad as a young man "full of talent," who was determined to "fight against the lies of history."

"May God preserve us from the trap of racial hatred that is only there to serve the interests of Zionism," he wrote.

Apple launch new iphone XS - Mass hysteria ensues...

By Jamie Busby

September 22, 2018

Apple's latest iteration of the iphone hit the shelves today.
Hundreds of people queued outside Apple stores across the world waiting to get their hands on the tech giant's latest offerings, which also included the iPhone XS Max and Apple Watch Series 4.
The cost? The new handsets will set you back around £1449; the most expensive handsets Apple have ever released and a figure that is more XL than XS... Their army of "i" addicts worldwide will buy whatever they churn out regardless of the price it seems.
You would be forgiven for thinking that the cure for cancer had been made available to the masses judging by the scenes outside London's Apple store this morning.
The staff performed an overly-dramatic and cringeworthy 10 second countdown behind locked doors before the grand opening, of the doors... at which point herds of sheeple proceeded to aimlessly filter in like zombies, or rather junkies, desperate for their next hit.
A British couple actually flew to Australia in order to get their Apple fix early due to the global time difference. By going to these lengths, they got their precious new devices 12 hours sooner than if they'd have stayed at home...
This is more than materialism at it's worst; This demonstrates a widespread dependence on products that were intrinsically designed to be addictive. And it's clearly worked a treat.
The real tragedy here is that if Apple actually were peddling the cure for cancer, I doubt the scenes would have been quite so frenzied.

Ready Nutrition

Honey’s Health Benefits and Why You Need It In Your Ready Nutrition Medicinal Pantry

Jeremiah Johnson

Ready Nutrition readers, the use of honey in medical emergencies is older than recorded history. There are many reasons that honey is excellent for use in first aid and homeopathic aids such as cuts, abrasions, burns, coughs, colds, and infections. Honey has anti-inflammatory properties and is also anti-bacterial/microbial in nature. Honey is bacteriostatic against certain “bugs” such as E. coli and Salmonella. Bacteriostatic means that honey prevents these organisms from growing…and as these two are found in food, that’s a good thing.

Honey actually fights against bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. The latter is the most common bacteria found in the human nasal passages and nose. Also, honey should be as raw as possible, and the darker the better. Dark honey contains more antioxidants, and it is more effective in fighting microorganisms and bacteria.

It is highly effective as a cough-suppressant and as a demulcent. That latter term means something that coats the throat and the linings of the trachea and mouth to soothe the surfaces…a principle for which cough drops and lozenges have a primary function/goal. Buckwheat honey surpasses dextromethorphan (the primary cough suppressant found in Robitussin, for example) in terms of cough suppressant action.

There is also a type of honey known as Manuka Honey, a special type of healing honey that can fight against more than 200 types of bacteria and some of the species it defeats are resistant strains such as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Manuka honey is obtained from bees that are in New Zealand and is differentiated from other types of honey for its healing qualities because it comes from pollen the bees there take from the Manuka bush.

This bush apparently has a compound in its nectar called dihyroxyacetone…and this compound is converted from the nectar when the honey is made by the bees into another compound called MG. This MG stands for methylglyoxal, and it is found in other types of honey, but in only small qualities. It is believed that Manuka honey’s main “power” as an antibiotic comes from this high concentration of MG formed when the bees convert the Manuka bush nectar into honey. The Manuka honey can be used to treat burns, ulcers, and bacterial infections. Local health food stores in your locality may carry this health-promoting honey too.

When you treat a wound with honey, what happens is similar to what happens with sugar…a substance with high osmolality (basically, it can remove/absorb the fluid from a wound). While the water content of the wound is reduced by this action, the growth of bacteria is greatly inhibited. Honey is hypersaturated with sugar (about 80%), and it kills Staph bacteria within a couple of hours of application. The sugar also causes the bacteria to dehydrate and stops their spread.

• You can apply it topically on wounds or burns to help soothe the wound and stop the spread of microorganisms.

• Be careful to follow standard first-aid procedures first, such as cleaning the wound/burn, and stopping the bleeding prior to the application of the honey. Also, safety precautions are in order.

• Do not use honey as first-aid for an infant that is one-year-old or younger: their immune system is not developed yet, and if raw honey is given, it can contain spores of botulism that adults will not be harmed with, but will hurt an infant.

• Do not give it to a diabetic and anyone who has ever suffered an allergic reaction to it, or is allergic to bee-stings.

Consider the honey in your supplies, as it is easy to obtain, not particularly expensive, and it has few complications regarding its administration as a first-aid measure. Learn as much about it as possible (let this article be a “Honey 101” primer to stimulate your interest), and realize how it will be useful in a medical emergency and almost always readily available. We hope! Read the excellent article written by Ready Nutrition’s Lisa Egan on the dangers faced with the world bee population declining and why it is occurring. Until next time, stay in that good fight! JJ out!

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“Ye shall follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and ye shall hear his voice, and attach yourselves to him.”
(Deuteronomy 13:4)