Change and decay in
all around I see:
O thou who changest not, abide with me!
Dear Friends,
Greetings. Well, things are really moving now. Pope Benedict Vl resigning, meteors over Russia, continued financial collapse, etc.
If the prophecies of St. Malachy are correct, and he has a pretty good record for being correct, the next Pope will be the last Pope. (See articles below.) Not only would this be the last Pope but according to Malachy, during the next Popes' reign, Rome will be destroyed and the antichrist will rise and reign, along with the mark of the beast and all the other prophecies mentioned in the Books of Daniel, Revelation, Matthew 24 and numerous other prophecies
concerning the End Times. It also would include the Second Coming and return of Jesus in the clouds after the Tribulation, and it would be followed by the Thousand Year reign of Christ upon the earth.
(If you are not familiar with the above mentioned events you can find them explained in the “Studies” section of this website.)
One of the signs of the End Times is signs in the heavens. (Luke 21:11) What has just happened in Russia is pretty unprecedented. See articles below.
We have also included a video, approximately forty-five minutes long. Along with articles and quotes concerning todays banking system.
Once again, remember the mark of the beast, the 666, is all about buying and selling.
It is all about control. Satan wants to control God's creation.
Below are a few verses we have included in regards to the banking system.
Have a great week ahead, and be sure to share Jesus with all you can. He is our only hope in the days ahead.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:10
Daniel 4:17 “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” Daniel 4:17
“The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22:7
He that putteth not out his money to usury,nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” Psalm 15:5
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16-17
Remember the mark of the antichrist is all about financial control, buying or selling.
The only act of physical violence ever recorded by Jesus in the Gospels, is when He whipped the money changers, the international bankers of His day, out of the temple.
“After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”
“He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.” Hosea 12:7
“Thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”
John 2
***
BBC
Pope Pope Benedict XVI to resign
The Pope is to resign at the end of this month in an entirely unexpected development, the Vatican says.
Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation in a surprise statement
Pope Benedict XVI is to resign at the end of this month after nearly eight years as the head of the Catholic Church, saying he is too old to continue at the age of 85.
The unexpected development - the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years - surprised governments, Vatican-watchers and even his closest aides.
The Vatican says it expects a new Pope to be elected before Easter.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope in 2005 after John Paul II's death.
I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me"
Pope Benedict XVI
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the move has come as a shock - but adds that in theory there has never been anything stopping Pope Benedict or any of his predecessors from stepping aside.
Under the Catholic Church's governing code, Canon Law, the only conditions for the validity of such a resignation are that it be made freely and be properly published.
But resignation is extremely rare: the last Pope to step aside was Pope Gregory XII, who resigned in 1415 amid a schism within the Church.
Doctor's advice
A Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said that even Pope Benedict's closest aides did not know what he was planning to do and were left "incredulous". He added that the decision showed "great courage" and "determination".
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is quoted as saying he was "greatly shaken by this unexpected news".
The brother of the German-born Pope said the pontiff had been advised by his doctor not to take any more transatlantic trips and had been considering stepping down for months.
Talking from his home in Regensburg in Germany, Georg Ratzinger said his brother was having increasing difficulty walking and that his resignation was part of a "natural process".
He added: "His age is weighing on him. At this age my brother wants more rest."
The Pope is not expected to take part in the conclave that will choose his successor, and will then retire to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo when he leaves office.
Father Lombardi said the Pope would then move into a monastery of cloistered nuns inside the Vatican, for "a period of prayer and reflection".
'Full freedom'
Damian Thompson, former editor of the Catholic Herald, says the Pope has made a "brave move"
At 78, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the oldest new popes in history when elected.
He took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades - the scandal of child sex abuse by priests - was breaking.
In a statement, the pontiff said: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.
"I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.
European press stunned
The Pope's shock resignation on health grounds is an "eruption of modernity" into the Vatican, according to Ezio Mauro, chief editor of Italy's La Repubblica daily.
The Spanish daily El Mundo says Benedict XVI will be remembered as "God's sweeper" - the man who tried to resolve the "numerous problems of the Church that did so much harm to its image".
In a video commentary, the chief editor of Poland's Rzeczpospolita daily, Boguslaw Chrabota, said: "I'm shocked, just like the whole world is... For a long time we have known about his health problems, but we never knew the details, of course. We thought that he would cope, that he would overcome his illness."
The editor of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Bernd Riegert, calls the Pope's move "a courageous step, a revolutionary step". "He has helped himself to freedom, he is setting boundaries. No longer will successors be able to cling onto their office."
"However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to steer the boat of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me.
"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is."
A theological conservative before and during his time as Pope, he has taken traditional positions on homosexuality and women priests, while urging abstinence instead of blessing the use of contraceptives.
His attempts at inter-faith relations were mixed, with Muslims, Jews and Protestants all taking offence at various times, despite ongoing efforts to reach out and visits to key holy sites, including those in Jerusalem.
A German government spokesman said he was "moved and touched" by the surprise resignation of the pontiff.
"The German government has the highest respect for the Holy Father, for what he has done, for his contributions over the course of his life to the Catholic Church.
"He has left a very personal signature as a thinker at the head of the Church, and also as a shepherd."
***
Mirror
A sign from above? Lightning strikes Vatican hours after Pope's shock resignation
By Paul Cockerton
11 Feb 2013
The lightning touched the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, one of the holiest Catholic churches, hours after Benedict XVI's shock announcement
This was the moment lightning struck the Vatican today - hours after Pope Benedict XVI's bolt-from-the-blue resignation.
***
Reuters
Discreet papal campaign began before pope shock
By Tom Heneghan, Reuters Religion Editor
Created: 02/13/2013
Pope Benedict XVI attends the Ash Wednesday mass at the Vatican February 13. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict may have shocked the world by announcing his resignation on Monday, but some cardinals apparently started maneuvering for the succession as long as two years ago.
Papal elections are among the world's most mysterious, with no declared candidates and more bluffing than a high-stakes poker game. No cardinal can openly campaign for a job whose election is said to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.
But behind the scenes, at meetings inside the Vatican's thick walls and dinners at the finer Roman restaurants, the cardinal electors size up potential candidates among themselves and drop subtle hints to Vatican watchers in the media about who's up or down.
This round of discreet discussions, dubbed "totopapa" or "pope sweepstakes" by irreverent Romans, was only kicked into a higher gear on Monday when Benedict announced the first papal abdication for centuries. It will go into overdrive when cardinals from around the world arrive in the next few days.
But Benedict seems to have set the Roman rumor mill in motion back in 2010 when he told a German interviewer that he would consider resigning if he felt physically unable to continue.
"This confession shook up everybody who's anybody at the Vatican and led some cardinals to launch into the semi-official battle," French journalist Caroline Pigozzi wrote in her newly published book Le Vatican indiscreet (The Indiscreet Vatican).
Their approach is the polar opposite of a modern
U.S.-style political campaign with primaries, televised debates, major donors and Facebook and Twitter strategies.
"Paradoxically, one must not appear in the papers and certainly not be photographed," she wrote. "A man of the Church is not a star and must always remember the saying 'whoever enters the conclave a pope comes out a cardinal'."
John Thavis, a veteran Rome correspondent whose book The Vatican Diaries comes out on February 21, said he had Benedict's comments from 2010 in mind as he rushed to finish it.
"I was afraid he would announce his resignation before we went to print," he told Reuters. "I thought he would do it on February 22, the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, which is the feast associated with the authority of the pope."
CONCLAVE IN MID-MARCH
About one-third of the 117 cardinals eligible to vote work in the Vatican bureaucracy, or Curia, and can easily compare notes on rising stars or unwanted candidates when they meet.
The others, archbishops overseeing major Catholic centers around the world, are now booking their flights to Rome, with many hoping to attend the pope's farewell to his cardinals on Feb 28. Once they're here, the quiet talk starts in earnest.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi confirmed on Wednesday that the conclave would start as early as March 15, but the exact date still had to be worked out.
Normally when a pope dies, cardinals rush to Rome for the funeral held on the ninth day after his death. Once here, the discreet exchanges they may have had by phone or email with friendly cardinals can turn into face-to-face discussions.
Lombardi said the fact there is no funeral this time should not mean "that the cardinals should not arrive in Rome, start meeting and speaking to each other and reflecting on the state of the Church and on the criteria of the choice of a successor."
Openly naming candidates is considered bad form, but many use the polite fallback of discussing which qualities the new man should have and leaving unsaid who fits the bill.
Before the conclave, the Vatican holds plenary meetings called general congregations where cardinals discuss issues facing the Church and report on conditions in their home countries. The exact date for these meetings this time has not yet been fixed.
No names are debated at these sessions, but they double as platforms where undeclared candidates attract attention by making speeches and meeting cardinals they don't know.
GRAND ELECTORS
The general congregations before the 2005 conclave proved decisive for the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who as the dean of the College of Cardinals moderated the discussions.
Several cardinals said afterwards his gracious way of conducting the sessions and summing up comments that had been made convinced them he was the best choice for the papacy.
Another subtle influence as the cardinals gather is the role of the so-called "grand electors," cardinals who may not be in the running but can influence groups to vote for their man.
Polish-born Karol Wojtyla could not have become Pope John Paul without the lobbying by the then Vienna Cardinal Franz Koenig and some German cardinals.
When Benedict named an unusual number of Italian and Curia prelates as cardinals in February 2012, several other Church leaders apparently read this as a bid by his deputy Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to sway the next conclave.
Their revenge came with the Vatileaks scandal, which saw unprecedented leaks of internal Vatican documents that cast Bertone in a very negative light. Benedict's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was sentenced to 18 months jail by a Vatican court last October for leaking the documents, but pardoned by Benedict just before Christmas.
The scandal deeply embarrassed Benedict, who surprised the Church by naming six non-European cardinals in November to partly tilt the balance away from the Old Continent again.
NO CLEAR FAVOURITE
Before the 2005 conclave, Benedict and the liberal favorite Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan stood out from the rest of the field as the most qualified to become pope.
Martini, who died last year, was ill and threw his support behind Buenos Aires Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, but it was not enough to stem the conservative tide swelling for Ratzinger.
No single favorite stands out this time, which could make it harder for the conclave to crystallize around one man and reach the necessary two-thirds majority in a few voting rounds.
Benedict's continued presence at the Vatican, even if he never leaves the small monastery on its grounds where he will live and never speaks in public, could also influence the vote.
Cardinals sometimes opt for a clean break from a former pope, as they did in 1958 in choosing the affable Pope John XXIII after the stern Pope Pius XII, but some may not want to back a departure from the policies of a still living ex-pope.
***
Newsmax
Prophecy on Pope Fulfilled by Eclipses? -
April 7, 2005 (First published on People of the Keys December 2009.)
A 10th Century Irish bishop - St. Malachy - predicted every pope that would preside over the Catholic Church. Almost ten centuries ago, Malachy predicted this pope, (John Paul ll,) would be noted by an eclipse of the sun. John Paul II was the only known pope to be born on the day of a solar eclipse.
But the prophetic link doesn't end there. Pope John Paul II will be buried this Friday during another solar eclipse.
Astronomers say that on Friday, the day of the Pope's funeral, a partial solar eclipse will blot out most of the sun and darken a wide area of the world, from the South Pacific to the Western Hemisphere.
Solar eclipses are not unusual. But what makes this coming Friday's eclipse notable is the fact that there was a near total eclipse of the sun seen across Europe on May 18, 1920, the very day that John Paul II was born in Poland.
Adding fuel to the arcane speculation about these events is the prophecy of St. Malachy.
Malachy was discovered to have left behind a prophetic list of all future popes beginning with Pope Celestine II, whose papacy began in 1143 A.D., up to and including the 112th. The list includes John Paul and just two more popes who will follow him.
In his list of popes, he uses a single line in Latin identifying a characteristic of each pope.
The description applied to the 110th pope on his list - John Paul II - is "De Labore Solis" (Of the Solar Eclipse), which seems to add great weight to the validity of St. Malachy's chilling prophecy: that the next two popes chosen to succeed John Paul II will be the last popes. (Pope Benedict XVI is the current pope.)
After the reign of the last pope, "Peter the Roman," St. Malachy wrote, Rome will be destroyed.
As NewsMax.com reported April 3, Saint's Prophecy: Only Two Popes Remain, the 112th prophecy says, "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will reign Petrus Romanus (Peter the Roman), who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city [Rome] will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people," an indication that the world will end.
***
Raiders New Network
Comments On Coast To Coast AM About The Arrival Of The Jewish Messiah In 2012
Tom Horn
NOVEMBER 27, 2009 (First published on People of the Keys January 2012.)
This last Wednesday on Coast to Coast AM, people were particularly taken with comments I made about the 700-year old Zohar predicting the arrival of the Jewish Messiah in the year 2012.
I must give credit where credit is due.
I was in my office earlier this year when Dr. J.R. Church of Prophecy in the News called me about my latest research, asking if I was aware that ancient orthodox Jewish prophets in the Zohar had predicted the arrival of their Messiah in the year 2012. I was not, and given that the Zohar is widely regarded the most important work of Jewish Kabbalah, J.R. certainly had my attention. Our conversation lasted about an hour with exciting details I am hoping to write soon, but involved several startling observations including those by a rabbi named Simeon:
"When the sixtieth year shall have passed over the threshold of the sixth millennium, the God of heaven will visit the daughter of Jacob with a preliminary remembrance. Another six and a half years will then elapse, and there will be a full remembrance of her ...
"This "sixtieth year" of the Jewish calendar, says J.R., passed over the "threshold of the sixth millennium" in the year 2000.
J.R. followed up in an email:
It was the Jewish year 5760. According to the 700 year-old prophecy, God will visit the "daughter" or remnant of Jacob with a "preliminary remembrance." Just what this preliminary remembrance should be is not clear. But what is clear, is that it is only preliminary. It is not the final arrival of the Messiah to establish the kingdom.
That this "remembrance" should occur around the year 2000 is quite interesting. The prophetic commentary continues by saying that the following "six and a half years" will conclude with a "full remembrance." The thirteenth-century rabbinical commentary continues:
"Then all the nations shall combine together against the daughter of Jacob in order to drive her from the world. It is of that time that it is written: "And it is a time of trouble unto Jacob, but out of it he shall be saved" (Jeremiah 30:7)."
This ancient rabbinical dissertation claims that Rome will be destroyed in the Jewish calendar year 5773, which, in our calendar begins with the new moon of September 2012 and concludes a year later:
"In the year seventy-three [2012 / 2013] the kings of the world will assemble in the great city of Rome, and the Holy One will shower on them fire and hail and meteoric stones until they are all destroyed, with the exception of those who will not yet have arrived there."
Besides the obvious revelations of the Zohar prophecies, another thing that immediately stood out to me was how among other scholars of the implications of the year 2012, a few have pointed to a prophecy by Malachy O'Morgair, or "St. Malachy" as he is known to Catholics, having to do with "the last pope." This prophecy, taken from St. Malachy's "Prophecy of the Popes," is among a list of verses predicting each of the Roman Catholic popes from Pope Celestine II to the final pope, "Peter the Roman," whose reign would end in the destruction of Rome. According to Malachy's prophecy, the next pope (following Benedict the 16th) is to be the final pontiff, Petrus Romanus, or "Peter the Roman." He will assume authority during a time of great tribulation, and then "the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible and fearsome Judge will judge his people."
So both the 700-year old prophecies of the Jewish Zohar and 870-year old prophecies of the Catholic St. Malachy focused on the timeframe 2012, with very similar predictions of the rise of a "Messiah" combined with the destruction of Rome.
(And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. Daniel 11:45)
***
RaidersNewsNetwork Exclusive
Editor Is Freaked Out by Contents of New Book
Exo-Vaticana provides disturbing allegations between Vatican and "aliens," production staff says
Posted: February 13, 2013 -
by Donna Anderson
SPRINGFIELD, MO -- Readers may be set back by information in a new book, but editor Donna Howell was more than spooked while working on Exo-Vaticana for Defender Publishing in Crane, MO.
Howell says several unexpected revelations from authorities of the first rank are creepy, almost unbelievable documents pointing to the arrival of a messianic, but satanic, figure. "The materials stopped me in my tracks. They really freaked me out," Howell says.
Defender Publishing is owned by author and CEO, Thomas Horn, who has made a name for himself in recent years with aggressive investigative works that have helped establish him as a leading voice among end-times prophecy believers. He and his authors have been featured in syndicated print, television, and radio markets representing over two billion households worldwide, including ultra-conservative outlets like "The Michael Savage Show" and WorldNetDaily.com.
But a source close to the writer/publisher says, "He started looking into the Vatican a couple years ago following the discovery of a prophecy that had been hidden inside the vaults of the church's library for hundreds of years. The prophecy--called 'The Prophecy of the Popes'--indicates the pontif following Benedict XVI will be the last one and a man who helps the Antichrist come to power. [Mr. Horn] hired a private investigator who told him that people may even have been murdered to keep the public unaware of a connection between this final pope and a coming false messiah. He started contacting high-ranking members of the Catholic church--including astronomers--and found evidence that the prophecy is believed by members of the Holy See and, in a strange twist, is connected to a belief in aliens.
Horn then traveled with his co-author Cris Putnam to Mt. Graham in Arizona, where they met with astronomers (including a Jesuit) at the Vatican-owned observatory. They have since interviewed one of the church's top astronomers and received a mass of information from Vatican theologians containing documents and information the public is not aware of. They plan to publish all of the information this April in their book. - - Howell adds, "I was at my wit's end, especially because the more I read, the more I believed. As a book editor, I have had to learn to press the 'disconnect button' from what my mind is subject to from job to job, so as not to be constantly immersed in the eschatological doom-and-gloom scenarios I sometimes read about. As a result, I have found that my emotions are more hardened against being concerned or fearful about what I read than most. Nonetheless, this latest work for Defender Publishing can't be treated merely like another editorial job. I choose to view this as God's placing a warning in my path that I may not have otherwise added to my library amongst my other fiction novels and devotional-style reading... As a mother of two, I have no option outside of being educated and responsible now regarding this rather top-secret issue."
Howell went on to highlight moments in the book that met, and exceeded, her own intuitive suspicions correlating to the prophecies of the Antichrist and the involvement of extraterrestrial activity. "I have always known that when he comes, his back story, his charisma, his cunning, and his overall appeal would have to be the most convincing thing the world has ever seen in order to accomplish the things the Bible accredits him to. People won't just get in line to take the mark of the beast. The deceptions under his rule are going to be, by no stretch of the imagination, the forcefully compelling and persuasive goings-on the likes of which this planet has never seen. Yet, knowing at least this much all along, it wasn't until Exo-Vaticana that I suddenly came face-to-face with the details of how this all may come about sooner than later and understand the importance of being prepared and enlightened..."
As a final thought, Howell left us with this: "When I watched the promotional video for the book, I was intrigued by the words, 'It doesn't matter what YOU believe...what the Vatican is preparing for is about to change everything.' This couldn't have been more dead-on. No matter your personal beliefs about extraterrestrial life, it's just simply not about that. What concerns everyone right now is what the Vatican is about to do. And the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI this week is one of the 'signs' the manuscript I have been editing for two months said to look for. What they predicted about that--and now suddenly it has happened--is really unnerving."
***
CNN
Russian meteor causes blast; hundreds injured
By Phil Black, Boriana Milanova and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
February 15, 2013
Moscow (CNN) -- A meteor streaked through the skies above Russia's Urals region Friday morning, before exploding with a flash and boom that shattered glass in buildings and left about 1,000 people hurt, state media said.
The number of injured has continued to rise through the day as new reports come in from across a swath of central Russia.
As of late afternoon local time, the Interior Ministry said about 1,000 people had been hurt, including more than 200 children, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency said.
Most of those hurt are in the Chelyabinsk region, the news agency said. The vast majority of injuries are not thought to be serious.
About 3,000 buildings have sustained damage -- mostly broken glass -- as a result of the shock waves caused by the blast, the news agency reported.
Vladimir Stepanov, of the National Center for Emergency Situations at the Russian Interior Ministry, earlier told state media that hospitals, kindergartens and schools were among those affected.
About 20,000 emergency response workers have been mobilized, RIA Novosti reported.
Read more: Saving Earth from asteroids
Amateur video footage showed a bright white streak moving rapidly across the sky, before exploding with an even brighter flash and a deafening bang.
The explosion occurred about 9:20 a.m. local time, as many people were out and about.
CNN iReporter and Instagram user Max Chuykov saw the meteor trail from the city of Yekaterinburg. He shared on Instagram that it was "close to the ground."
Witness Ekaterina Shlygina posted to CNN iReport and wrote on Instagram: "Upon Chelyabinsk a huge fireball has exploded. It wasn't an aircraft."
The national space agency, Roscosmos, said scientists believed one meteoroid had entered the atmosphere, where it burned and disintegrated into fragments, according to RIA Novosti.
Read more: When the Quadrantid meteor shower hit its peak
The resulting meteorites are believed to be scattered across three regions of Russia, one of them Chelyabinsk, as well as neighboring Kazakhstan, the news agency said.
One large chunk was discovered in a lake in the Chelyabinsk region, RIA Novosti cited the Chelyabinsk governor as saying
RIANOVOSTI
Russian Cleric: Meteorite Was Lord's Message
19:18 15/02/2013
Originally published at 18:48.
YEKATERINBURG, February 15 (RIA Novosti) – A meteorite which injured hundreds of people in Russia's Chelyabinsk Region on Friday was "the Lord’s message to humanity," a senior local clergyman said.
“From the Scriptures, we know that the Lord often sends people signs and warnings via natural forces,” Metropolitan of Chelyabinsk and Zlatoust Feofan said in a statement released on Friday.
"I think that not only for the Ural [regions] residents, but for the whole of humanity, the meteorite is a reminder that we live in fragile and unpredictable world,” the clergyman said.
He called on people to support each other and pray to God in thanks for saving the world from a devastating disaster.
Hundreds of people have sought medical aid after the meteorite hit Russia early on Friday. Thousands of buildings were affected by shock waves from the meteorite as it passed through the atmosphere at supersonic speed.
Many local residents will have to patch up their broken windows, with temperatures likely to drop as low as 17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit) in the region overnight.
***
WND EXCLUSIVE
SYRIAN CHRISTIANS 'RUNNING OUT OF PLACES TO SURVIVE'
Analysts say U.S. support for jihadis making threat level surge
Published: 02/10/12
by MICHAEL CARL
Human-rights activists say the situation for Christians in Syria is growing more intense and that the ever-shrinking Christian population is near the breaking point.
Middle East Forum fellow and analyst Raymond Ibrahim is one who holds that opinion, and adds U.S. support for the rebels is the major reason for Christians fleeing Syria.
"In Syria, again in the name of democracy, the U.S. is supporting jihadis who are eradicating the nation's Christians," Ibrahim said. "U.S.-backed freedom-fighters are driving away Syria's indigenous Christians."
Which, he said, leaves Christians few options.
"Christians in the Middle East are running out of places to survive," Ibrahim said.
Syria's Christians have also been the victims of inhumane violence. Ibrahim says one example was an incident involving a Christian cab driver.
Ibrahim cites a report that said rebels kidnapped and killed the cab driver, then fed his body to dogs.
One press report quoted a nun working inside Syria.
She said taxi driver Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped after his brother was heard complaining that fighters against the ruling regime behaved like bandits.
The nun said the headless corpse was found by the side of the road, surrounded by hungry dogs. She said he recently had married and was soon to be a father.
A Syrian Christian who lives in the U. S. but who still has family in Syria says that his relatives believe the situation with Syria's Christians can't go on much longer.
"Most seem to think things are coming to a climax," said the Syrian, whose identity is not being reported.
He adds that a family friend was recently set free after being taken by kidnappers.
"My wife's family friend was recently released from kidnappers alive and semi-well, a little beaten up and poorer," the Syrian Christian said. "He would almost certainly say the kidnappers were Islamists."
He continued, "The general gist of it all is that the rebels seek Christian areas to facilitate a government response in those areas."
Ibrahim says that some Christians in Syria are there because they fled Iraq.
"Ironically, many Christian Iraqis had fled to Syria, due to the religious tolerance enjoyed under the secularist Assad,"" Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim said Syria's Christians now are mirroring the experience of Iraq's Christians.
"The experiences of Syria's Christians are identical to the experiences of Iraq's Christians: after the U.S. deposed strongman Saddam Hussein, the jihad, which Saddam had long suppressed, was unloosed, seeing after nearly a decade the complete eradication of Iraq's Christian population," Ibrahim said.
WND reported in December that many of Iraq's Christians who escaped to Syria to avoid persecution now are going home.
Christian Solidarity International USA President John Eibner, who recently returned from Iraq, couldn't estimate the number of two-time refugees, but pointed to a report compiled by a special United Nations group that determined the Syrian civil war is now largely "sectarian."
"Entire communities are at risk of being forced out of the country or of being killed inside the country," he said.
He said there's a term for that: genocide.
***
We All Survive the Physical Death of Our Bodies
Mike Adams
February 10, 2013
There's a secret that's much bigger than politics, health freedom, science or even the entire history of the human race. That secret remains entirely unacknowledged -- even condemned -- by the scientific community, and yet it is the single most important secret about everything that is. Yes, everything.
That secret is simply this: We all survive the physical death of our bodies. Our consciousness lives on, and upon our death in this Earthly dream, our consciousness transcends this physical reality and experiences an existence so amazing and powerful that the human language cannot even begin to describe it.
This is the message from Dr. Eben Alexander, author of the newly-published book, Proof of Heaven. I recently read the book and found it both fascinating and also confirming of several important theories I've been developing about the nature of life and the Creator. (See below.)
A lifelong science skeptic who never believed in God, Heaven or consciousness
Long before this book was ever written, Dr. Alexander was a practicing neurosurgeon and a lifelong "science skeptic." He did not believe in consciousness, free will or the existence of a non-physical spirit. Trained in western medical school and surrounded by medical colleagues who are deeply invested in the view of the universe, Dr. Alexander believed that so-called "consciousness" was only an illusion created by the biochemical functioning of the brain.
This is a view held by virtually all of today's mainstream scientists, including physicists like Stephen Hawking who say that human beings are nothing more than "biological robots" with no consciousness and no free will.
Dr. Alexander would have held this view to his own death bed had it not been for his experiencing an event so bizarre and miraculous that it defies all conventional scientific explanation: Dr. Alexander "died" for seven days and experienced a vivid journey into the afterlife. He then returned to his physical body, experienced a miraculous healing, and went on to write the book Proof of Heaven.
E.coli infection eats his brain
It all started when e.coli bacteria infected Dr. Alexander's spinal fluid and outer cerebrum. The e.coli began to literally eat his brain away, and he went into an extremely violent fit of seizures, verbal outbursts and muscular spasms before lapsing into a brain-dead coma.
In this coma, he showed zero higher brain activity and was only kept alive via a respirator and IV fluids. The attending physicians soon concluded that Dr. Alexander would die within a matter of days, and that even if he lived, he would be a non-functioning "vegetable" with limited brain function. Statistically, the death rate for patients with e.coli infections of the brain is 97%.
But here's the real shocker in all this: Rather than experiencing nothingness during these seven earth-days of unconsciousness, Dr. Alexander found himself "awakening" from the dream of his earthly life, suddenly experiencing an incomprehensibly vast expansion of his consciousness in the afterlife.
This experience is described in more detail in his book Proof of Heaven, but here are the highlights:
The experience of the afterlife was so "real" and expansive that the experience of living
as a human on Earth seemed like an artificial dream by comparison.
There was no time dimension in the afterlife. Time did not "flow" as it does in our
universe. An instant could seem like eternity, and consciousness could move
through what we perceive to be time without effort. (This idea that all time exists simultaneously has enormous implications in understanding the nature of free will
and the multiverse, along with the apparent flow of time experienced by our
consciousness in this realm.)
The fabric of the afterlife was pure LOVE. Love dominated the afterlife to such a huge
degree that the overall presence of evil was infinitesimally small.
In the afterlife, all communication was telepathic. There was no need for spoken words,
nor even any separation between the self and everything else happening around you.
There was no "unknown" and the mere asking of a question was instantly accompanied
by the appearance of its answers in breathtaking depth and detail.
There also exists a literal Hell, which was described by Dr. Alexander as a place buried
underground, with gnarled tree roots and demonic faces and never-ending
torment. Dr. Alexander was rescued from this place by angelic beings and
transported to Heaven.
God acknowledges the existence of the multiverse
The passage of Proof of Heaven I found most interesting is found on page 48, where Dr. Alexander says:
Through the Orb, [God] told me that there is not one universe but many -- in fact, more than I could conceive -- but that love lay at the center of them all. Evil was present in all the other universes as well, but only in the tiniest trace amounts. Evil was necessary because without it free will was impossible, and without free will there could be no growth -- no forward movement, no chance for us to become what God longed for us to be. Horrible and all-powerful as evil sometimes seemed to be in a world like ours, in the larger picture love was overwhelmingly dominant, and it would ultimately be triumphant.
This passage struck an important cord with me, as I have long believed our universe was created by the Creator as just one of an infinite number of other universes, each with variations on life and the laws of physics. What Dr. Alexander's quote confirms is that our life on planet Earth is a "test" of personal growth, and that the way to make progress in this test is to overcome evil while spreading love and compassion.
Even more, this passage also confirms the existence of free will and even helps answer the question I'm often asking myself: "Why are we placed here in a world of such evil and surrounded by ignorance, darkness and deception?" The answer appears to be that Earth is a testing ground for souls that have been selected by the Creator for the ultimate test of good versus evil.
Earth as a testing ground
Although Proof of Heaven doesn't go as far as I'm explaining here, my working theory is that our planet Earth is among the highest evil-infested realms in the grand multiverse. Only the most courageous souls agree to come to Earth by being born into human bodies and stripped of their memories.
From there, the challenge of life is multi-faceted:
Figure out WHO you are and WHY you are here.
Learn to recognize and overcome EVIL (tyranny, slavery, oppression, Big Government, etc.).
Learn to spread love, compassion, healing and knowledge.
Upon our death, we are judged by a higher power, and that judgment takes into - account our performance in these areas. Did we achieve a measure of self-awareness? Did we work to overcome evil? Did we express love and compassion and help uplift others with knowledge and awareness?
As you've probably already figured out, the vast majority of humans fail these tests. They die as bitter, selfish, substance-addicted, greed-driven minions of evil who mistakenly thought they were winning the game of life while, in reality, they were losing the far more important test of the Creator.
The most important part about living a human life is not acquiring money, or fame, or power over others but rather achieving a high "score" in this simulation known as "life" by resisting evil, spreading love and expanding awareness of that which is true.
For those who respect life, who practice humility and self awareness, who seek to spread knowledge and wisdom while resisting tyranny, oppression, ignorance and evil, their souls will, I believe, be selected for special tasks in the greater multiverse. That's the "real" existence. This Earthly life is only a dream-like simulation where your soul interfaces with the crude biology of our planet for a very short time span that's actually the blink of an eye in the larger picture.
In reality, you are much more than your body. In fact, your soul is infinitely more aware, intelligent and creative than what can be experienced or expressed through the brain of a human. Trying to experience the full reality of what you are through the limited physical brain matter of a human being is a lot like trying to teach an insect to compose music like Mozart.
The multiverse is teeming with intelligent life, including multidimensional beings
Dr. Alexander's journey also confirms the existence of intelligent life far beyond Earth. As he explains in Proof of Heaven:
I saw the abundance of life throughout the countless universes, including some whose intelligence was advanced far beyond that of humanity. I saw that there are countless higher dimensions, but that the only way to know these dimensions is to enter and experience them directly. They cannot be known, or understood, from lower dimensional space. From those higher worlds one could access any time or place in our world.
This not only confirms the existence of other intelligent civilizations throughout our known universe, but more importantly the existence of multidimensional beings who can come and go from our realm as they please.
Throughout the cultures of the world, there are countless accounts of advanced beings visiting Earth, transferring technology to ancient Earth civilizations, and possibly even interbreeding with early humans. Even the very basis of Christianity begins with the idea that an omnipresent multidimensional being (God) can intervene at will, and can therefore transcend time and space.
Alternative researchers like David Icke also talk about multidimensional beings visiting Earth and infecting the planet with great evil. According to Icke, the globalist controllers of our planet are literally reptilian shape-shifters who have invaded our world for the purpose of controlling and enslaving humanity. Although nothing like this is covered in Dr. Alexander's book, it is not inconsistent with what Dr. Alexander was told by God during his coma... Namely, that there are multidimensional realities, that certain high-vibration beings can traverse those realities at will, and that Earth is infested with a great evil with the specific purpose of testing our character.
If all this sounds a little too spooky for you, consider the words of the Bible itself: An upright talking reptilian snake spoke in audible words to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, did it not?
The science skeptics are wrong (again)
Regardless of what you might think about multidimensional beings, intelligent life beyond Earth, and the existence of great evil on our planet, there's one aspect of all this that's crystal clear: The science skeptics are dead wrong.
Science "skeptics" are actually misnamed. They aren't skeptical at all. They simply follow their own religion with its own sacred beliefs that cannot be questioned... ever! Those beliefs include the utter worship of the materialistic view of the universe. Simultaneously, so-called "skeptics" do not believe they are conscious beings themselves because they believe consciousness is merely an "artifact" of biochemical brain function.
There is no afterlife, they insist. There is no mind-body medicine, the placebo effect is useless, and there's no such thing as premonition, remote viewing or psychic phenomena. Oh yes, and they also insist that injecting yourself with mercury, MSG and formaldehyde via vaccines is actually good for you, that fluoride chemicals are good for the public health and that we should all eat more GMOs, pesticides and synthetic chemicals.
It's no surprise these religious cult members of the "scientism" cult don't believe in an afterlife. That's what allows them to commit genocidal crimes against the human race today via GMOs, experimental medicine, toxic vaccines and other deadly pursuits. In their view, humans have no souls so killing them is of no consequence.
As Dr. Alexander says,
Certain members of the scientific community, who are pledged to the materialistic worldview, have insisted again and again that science and spirituality cannot coexist. They are mistaken.
Well, of course they are. The "science skeptics" are dead wrong about almost everything they claim to advocate. But their biggest mistake of all is in denying the existence of their own souls. Needless to say, they are all going to fail the human experience simulation once they pass on and face judgment. My, what a surprise that will be for those sad souls when their day arrives...
I would hate to face God one day after having lived a life of a science skeptic, and then have God ask the question: "You doubted ME?" How could anyone take a look at the world around them and not see the signs of an intelligent Creator? Even the very laws of physics have been tweaked and fine-tuned in precisely the right balance so that our universe itself can support the formation of stars, and planets, and carbon-based life forms. This is called the "Goldilocks Enigma," and there's a wonderful book by that same name written by Paul Davies.
No biochemical explanation for Dr. Alexander's experience
For those skeptics who may be reading this, Dr. Alexander goes through nine possible biochemical hypotheses for his experiences and then meticulously and scientifically dismisses them all one by one. The result? His experience was REAL. In fact, it was "more real" than life as a human being.
Remember, Dr. Alexander is a neurosurgeon. This guy knows the physical brain like no one else. The nine medical explanations he considers and dismisses as possible causes for his experience are:
Primitive brainstem program.
Distorted recall of memories from the limbic system.
Endogenous glutamate blockade with excitotoxicity.
DMT dump.
Isolated preservation of cortical regions of the brain.
Loss of inhibitory neurons leading to highly levels of activity among excitatory neuronal networks to generate an apparent "ultra-reality."
Activation of thalamus, basal ganglia and brainstorm to create a hyper-reality experience.
Reboot phenomenon.
Unusual memory generation through archaic visual pathways.
Dr. Alexander may be the most credible afterlife witness in the history of humanity
Dr. Alexander's experience (and subsequent book) is arguably the best-documented case of the afterlife that exists in western science today. The fact that a vivid, hyper-real afterlife was experienced by a science skeptic materialistic brain surgeon who didn't believe in the afterlife -- and who subsequently found the courage to document his experiences and publish them in a book -- adds irrefutable credibility to the experience.
This was not some kook seeking fame on a TV show. In fact, his writing this book earned him endless ridicule from his former "scientific" colleagues. There was every reason to NOT write this book. Only by the grace of God was Dr. Alexander healed of his e.coli infection, restored to normal brain function, and granted the VISION of the afterlife so that he could return to this realm and attempt to put it into words.
Personally, I believe Dr. Alexander, and his experience mirrors that of countless others, across every culture, who have reported similar NDEs (Near Death Experiences). There is life after life, and the shift in consciousness of Earthlings that is required to take our species to a higher level of understanding begins, I believe, with embracing the truth of the immortality of our own souls (and the existence of a grand Creator).
What does it all mean?
Dr. Alexander's spiritual journey gives us a wealth of information that can help provide meaning and purpose in our daily lives.
For starters, it means that all our actions are recorded in the cosmos and that there are no secrets in the larger scope of things. You cannot secretly screw somebody over here on Earth and think it won't be recorded on your soul forever. It also means that all our actions will be accounted for in the afterlife.
If this message sounds familiar, that's because an identical idea is the pillar of every major world religion, including Christianity.
It also means there are people living today on this planet whose souls will literally burn in eternal Hell. (See "Salvation In The Spirit World" and "Hell, What Happens To Souls That Are Sent To Hell" in the Letters section of this web site to read our view on this subject. Ed.)There are others whose souls, like Dr. Alexander, will be lifted into Heaven and shown a greater reality. What we choose to do with our lives each and every day determines which path our souls will take after the passing of our physical bodies.
What matters, then, is not whether you actually succeed in defeating evil here on Earth, but rather the nature of your character that emerges from all the challenges and tribulations you face. This is all a test, get it? That's why life seems to suck sometimes. It's not a panacea; it's a testing ground for the most courageous souls of all -- those who wish to enter the realm of great evil and hope they can rise above it before the end of their human lifespan.
***
CNN
Official resigns after stampede at Indian rail station kills 36
From Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN
February 11, 2013
New Delhi (CNN) -- A local Indian official resigned Monday after a chaotic crush at a railroad station a day earlier left 36 people dead among tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims flocking to the banks of the Ganges River for the world's largest religious gathering.
The stampede occurred on Sunday evening as floods of pilgrims entering the station in Allahabad, the scene of this year's Kumbh Mela festival, broke through temporary barriers and crowded onto already busy platforms, railway authorities said.
In addition to the 36 killed in the ensuing crush, more than 30 people were injured, according to North-Central Railway, which operates the station.
Local television footage showed bodies, many of them covered in white sheets, lying on the floor in the railway station, with wailing relatives sitting nearby. Luggage, shoes, slippers and other belongings also lay strewn across the ground.
Shreya Dhoundial, a reporter for CNN affiliate IBN in Allahabad, said that almost four hours after the stampede occurred, dead bodies remained on the station platform and injured people were still crying for help.
"If the media could get in, if police officials could get in, if railway officials could get in, why couldn't the doctors, why couldn't the ambulances?" she said.
Worried families
Relatives of many of the people injured in the chaos gathered at a hospital in the city on Monday, waiting for news on their loved ones, Dhoundial said.
Azam Khan, the local official in charge of security for the huge Hindu festival, resigned Monday, IBN reported.
Khan, who is also the minister for urban development in Uttar Pradesh, the state where Allahabad is situated, said he was taking responsibility for the fatal disaster.
Amid confusion about what exactly had set off the panic, the Uttar Pradesh government ordered an inquiry into a the stampede, IBN said.
Some eye witnesses blamed police for the crush, saying they had charged at the heaving crowds in the station. Authorities, however, denied police used force to try to control the mass of people.
At one point on Sunday, Sandeep Mathur, a spokesman for North-Central Railway, suggested that the mayhem had been prompted by a person falling from a platform bridge.
But on Monday, Railway Minister P.K. Bansal said straightforward overcrowding was the cause.
"There was a lot of chaos," he said, adding that the station remained very crowded Monday.
Authorities said they would give 500,000 rupees ($9,300) compensation to the families of victims and 100,000 rupees to those who were injured.
Tens of millions of pilgrims
An estimated 40 million people came to Allahabad, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday to bathe at the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges rivers and the mythical Saraswati River. It's the most significant Hindu pilgrimage, occurring every 12 years, Indian cultural and political observer K.G. Suresh said.
"The Hindus believe that a dip in the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the Saraswati on this occasion helps get rid of all worldly sins," Suresh said.
Sunday was the main day for bathing of the 55-day Kumbh Mela. In Hindu mythology, Allahabad is one of the four places where drops of the "nectar of immortality" contained in a pitcher fell to earth as gods and demons fought for it.
The holy bathing began on Saturday afternoon and peaked after midnight, festival official Satish Kumar Sharma said.
More than 12,000 police officers were guarding the nearly 20-square-kilometer (7.7-square-mile) site, India's government said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "deeply shocked" by the deaths and promised to extend "all possible help" to state authorities.
"I send my heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved families and wish those injured a speedy recovery," Singh said in a statement issued by his office. He pledged that those injured and the families of those killed would receive compensation.
***
The Economic Collapse
Who Controls The Money? An Unelected, Unaccountable Central Bank Of The World Secretly Does
By Michael, on February 5th, 2013
An immensely powerful international organization that most people have never even heard of secretly controls the money supply of the entire globe. It is called the Bank for International Settlements, and it is the central bank of central banks. It is located in Basel, Switzerland, but it also has branches in Hong Kong and Mexico City. It is essentially an unelected, unaccountable central bank of the world that has complete immunity from taxation and from national laws. Even Wikipedia admits that "it is not accountable to any single national government." The Bank for International Settlements was used to launder money for the Nazis during World War II, but these days the main purpose of the BIS is to guide and direct the centrally-planned global financial system. Today, 58 global central banks belong to the BIS, and it has far more power over how the U.S. economy (or any other economy for that matter) will perform over the course of the next year than any politician does. Every two months, the central bankers of the world gather in Basel for another "Global Economy Meeting". During those meetings, decisions are made which affect every man, woman and child on the planet, and yet none of us have any say in what goes on. The Bank for International Settlements is an organization that was founded by the global elite and it operates for the benefit of the global elite, and it is intended to be one of the key cornerstones of the emerging one world economic system. It is imperative that we get people educated about what this organization is and where it plans to take the global economy.
Sadly, only a very small percentage of people actually know what the Bank for International Settlements is, and even fewer people are aware of the Global Economy Meetings that take place in Basel on a bi-monthly basis.
These Global Economy Meetings were discussed in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal...
Every two months, more than a dozen bankers meet here on Sunday evenings to talk and dine on the 18th floor of a cylindrical building looking out on the Rhine.
The dinner discussions on money and economics are more than academic. At the table are the chiefs of the world's biggest central banks, representing countries that annually produce more than $51 trillion of gross domestic product, three-quarters of the world's economic output.
The article goes on to describe the room that these Global Economy Meetings are held in. It sounds like something out of a novel...
The Bank of England's Mr. King leads the dinner discussions in a room decorated by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, which designed the "Bird's Nest" stadium for the Beijing Olympics. The men have designated seats at a round table in a dining area scented by white orchids and framed by white walls, a black ceiling and panoramic views.
The central bankers that gather for these meetings are not there just to socialize. No staff members are allowed into these meetings, and they are conducted in an atmosphere of absolute secrecy...
Serious matters follow appetizers, wine and small talk, according to people familiar with the dinners. Mr. King typically asks his colleagues to talk about the outlook in their respective countries. Others ask follow-up questions. The gatherings yield no transcripts or minutes. No staff is allowed.
So the fate of the world economy is determined by unelected central bankers in secret meetings that nobody ever hears about?
That certainly does not sound very "democratic".
But this is the direction that "global governance" is taking us. The elite believe that the "big decisions" are far too important to be left "to the people", and so most of the "international institutions" that have been established by the elite operate independently of the democratic process.
Sadly, the truth is that all of this has been planned for a very long time.
In a recent article entitled "Who Runs The World? Solid Proof That A Core Group Of Wealthy Elitists Is Pulling The Strings", I included a quote from Georgetown University history professor Carroll Quigley from a book that he wrote all the way back in 1966 in which he discussed the big plans that the elite had for the Bank for International Settlements...
[T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations.
Back then, the Bank for International Settlements was only just starting to play a major role in global affairs. But over the years the BIS began to become increasingly important. The following is an excerpt from an article by Ellen Brown...
For many years the BIS kept a very low profile, operating behind the scenes in an abandoned hotel. It was here that decisions were reached to devalue or defend currencies, fix the price of gold, regulate offshore banking, and raise or lower short-term interest rates. In 1977, however, the BIS gave up its anonymity in exchange for more efficient headquarters. The new building has been described as "an eighteen story-high circular skyscraper that rises above the medieval city like some misplaced nuclear reactor." It quickly became known as the "Tower of Basel." Today the BIS has governmental immunity, pays no taxes, and has its own private police force. It is, as Mayer Rothschild envisioned, above the law.
Yes, it most definitely does bear a striking resemblance to the Tower of Babel as you can see from the photo in this article. Once again the global elite are trying to unite humanity under a single system, and that is most definitely not a good thing.
But many of these elitists are entirely convinced that "global governance" is what humanity desperately needs. They even publicly tell us what they plan to do, but most people are not listening.
For example, the following is an excerpt from a speech that former president of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet delivered to the Council On Foreign Relations in New York...
In the area of central bank cooperation, the main forum is the Global Economy Meeting (GEM), which gathers at the BIS headquarters in Basel. Over the past few years, this forum has included 31 governors as permanent members plus a number of other governors attending on a rotating basis. The GEM, in which all systemic emerging economies' Central Bank governors are fully participating, has become the prime group for global governance among central banks.
The speech was entitled "Global Governance Today", and you can find the full transcript right here. But most people have never even heard that such a thing as a "Global Economy Meeting" even exists because the mainstream media rarely discusses these sorts of things. They are too busy focusing on the latest celebrity scandal or the latest cat fights between the Republicans and the Democrats.
If you go to the official BIS website, the purposes of the organization sound fairly innocent and quite boring...
The mission of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is to serve central banks in their pursuit of monetary and financial stability, to foster international cooperation in those areas and to act as a bank for central banks.
In broad outline, the BIS pursues its mission by:
promoting discussion and facilitating collaboration among central banks;
supporting dialogue with other authorities that are responsible for promoting financial stability;
conducting research on policy issues confronting central banks and financial supervisory authorities;
acting as a prime counterparty for central banks in their financial transactions; and
serving as an agent or trustee in connection with international financial operations.
The head office is in Basel, Switzerland and there are two representative offices: in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and in Mexico City.
But when you start looking into the details, things get much more interesting.
So exactly how does the BIS achieve "monetary and financial stability"? An article posted on investorsinsight.com described how this is accomplished...
It accomplishes this through control of currencies. It currently holds 7% of the world's available foreign exchange funds, whose unit of account was switched in March of 2003 from the Swiss gold franc to Special Drawing Rights (SDR), an artificial fiat "money" with a value based on a basket of currencies (44% U.S. dollar, 34% euro, 11% Japanese yen, 11% pound sterling).
The bank also controls a huge amount of gold, which it both stores and lends out, giving it great leverage over the metal's price and the marketplace power that brings, since gold is still the only universal currency. BIS gold reserves were listed on its 2005 annual report (the most recent) as 712 tons. How that breaks down into member banks' deposits and the BIS personal stash is unknown.
By controlling foreign exchange currency, plus gold, the BIS can go a long way toward determining the economic conditions in any given country. Remember that the next time Ben Bernanke or European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet announces an interest rate hike. You can bet it didn't happen without the concurrence of the BIS Board.
In recent years, it has become increasingly obvious who really has power over our economy.
When Barack Obama speaks, the markets usually move very little.
When Ben Bernanke speaks, the markets often respond with wild gyrations.
A recent CNBC article entitled "Central Banks: How They Are Ruling the Financial World" detailed the enormous impact that central banks had on the global financial system during 2012...
In all, 13 other central banks in the world have followed the Fed's lead and set interest rates at or near zero in an effort to keep the liquidity spigots open and prop up their ailing economies. Those 14 economies represent a staggering $65 trillion in combined equity and bond market capitalizations, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Later on in that same article, the author discussed the enormous amounts of money that global central banks were creating out of thin air...
"When you add up all the central banks in the world, it's going to be over $9 trillion," said Marc Doss, regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. "That's like creating the second-largest economy in the world out of thin air."
Indeed, central banking has become an economy unto itself, a multi-trillion-dollar empire that massages and manipulates markets, which respond to the slightest news out of the respective entities' policy making committees.
So who controls the money?
The central banks of the world do.
And who controls those central banks?
The Bank for International Settlements does.
If we don't like what the Bank for International Settlements is doing, can we do anything about it?
Nope. The Bank for International Settlements is above the law...
Maybe we'd feel better about the BIS if it were more transparent, but most everything about it, including its bi-monthly member and board meetings, is shrouded in secrecy. And perhaps more worrisome is that the BIS is free from oversight. By rights granted under its agreement with the Swiss Federal Council, all of the bank's archives, documents and "any data media" are "inviolable at all times and in all places." Furthermore, officers and employees of BIS "enjoy immunity from criminal and administrative jurisdiction, save to the extent that such immunity is formally waived . . . even after such persons have ceased to be Officials of the Bank." Finally, no claims against BIS or its deposits may be enforced "without the prior agreement of the Bank."
In other words they can do whatever they want, without consequences. How's that for a leak-proof legal umbrella?
If the BIS wants to "intervene" in the financial markets, they simply just do it.
If the BIS wants to bail out big banks or even entire nations, they simply just do it.
The BIS reminds me of this old joke...
Q: Where does an 800 pound gorilla sit?
A: Anywhere it wants to.
So what is next for the Bank for International Settlements?
Well, many have speculated that eventually the goal is to have just a single global currency which will be administered by a single global central bank. The BIS is already using Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which are considered to be a precursor to the coming global currency. The BIS played a big role in the adoption of the euro, and more currency integration is almost certainly on the way in future years...
But in the end, how you feel about the BIS may come down to how you feel about a one-world currency. The bank was a major player promoting the adoption of the euro as Europe's common currency. There are rumors that its next project is persuading the U.S., Canada and Mexico to switch to a similar regional money, perhaps to be called the "amero," and it's logical to assume the bank's ultimate goal is a single world currency. That would simplify transactions and really solidify the bank's control of the planetary economy.
But if the United States ever did give up the U.S. dollar, it would be a massive blow to our national sovereignty.
When someone else controls your money, it doesn't really matter that much who makes the laws.
Unfortunately, the global elite seem absolutely obsessed with the idea of a global currency, a one world economic system and a global government.
None of those things will happen this year, but that is where we are moving. With each new crisis that arises, the solutions that we will be given will always involve more centralization and more globalization.
***
“The powers of financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.” - Prof. Carroll Quigley in Tragedy and Hope
“In a small Swiss city sits an international organization so obscure and secretive....Control of the institution, the Bank for International Settlements, lies with some of the world's most powerful and least visible men: the heads of 32 central banks, officials able to shift billions of dollars and alter the course of economies at the stroke of a pen.” - Keith Bradsher of the New York Times, August 5, 1995
“The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is eager to enter into close relationship with the Bank for International Settlements....The conclusion is impossible to escape that the State and Treasury Departments are willing to pool the banking system of Europe and America, setting up a world financial power independent of and above the Government of the United States....The United States under present conditions will be transformed from the most active of manufacturing nations into a consuming and importing nation with a balance of trade against it.” - Rep. Louis McFadden - Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency quoted in the New York Times (June 1930)
“[The] abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit.... In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holdings illegal, as was done in the case of gold.... The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.... [This] is the shabby secret of the welfare statist's tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the 'hidden' confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights.” - Alan Greenspan in an article he wrote in 1966.
“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.” – James Madison
“The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation. At the head is a small group of banking houses... This little coterie...runs our government for their own selfish ends. It operates under cover of a self-created screen...seizes...our executive officers...legislative bodies...schools... courts...newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.” - John F. Hylan, Mayor of New York, Mayor, 1918-1925
“The bank hath benefit of interest on all moneys which it creates out of nothing.” - William Paterson, founder of the Bank of England, 1694
“The money power denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.” - Democrat Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan.
"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce." - US President James A. Garfield
Banking and Currency quoted in the New York Times (June 1930)
“The money power preys on the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.” - Abraham Lincoln
"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson." - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a letter written Nov. 21, 1933 to Colonel E. Mandell House
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” - Henry Ford
"The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining super capitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control.... Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent." - Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by the Soviets
"It is the system of nationalist individualism that has to go....We are living in the end of the sovereign states....In the great struggle to evoke a Westernized World Socialism, contemporary governments may vanish....Countless people...will hate the new world order....and will die protesting against it." - H.G. Wells, in his book, “The New World Order”, 1940
“A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world - no longer a Government of free opinion no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men.... Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the U.S., in the field of commerce and manufacturing, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” – Woodrow Wilson - In The New Freedom (1913)
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the Government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.” - Thomas Jefferson
“We have stricken the (slave) shackles from four million human beings and brought all laborers to a common level not so much by the elevation of former slaves as by practically reducing the whole working population, white and black, to a condition of serfdom. While boasting of our noble deeds, we are careful to conceal the ugly fact that by an iniquitous money system we have nationalized a system of oppression which, though more refined, is not less cruel than the old system of chattel slavery.” - Horace Greeley - (1811-1872) founder of the New York Tribune
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” - Frederic Bastiat - (1801-1850) in Economic Sophisms
“This Federal Reserve Act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President (Wilson) signs this bill the invisible government of the Monetary Power will be legalized.” - Hon. Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr.
"I have never seen more Senators express discontent with their jobs....I think the major cause is that, deep down in our hearts, we have been accomplices in doing something terrible and unforgivable to our wonderful country. Deep down in our heart, we know that we have given our children a legacy of bankruptcy. We have defrauded our country to get ourselves elected." - John Danforth (R-Mo)
“Money plays the largest part in determining the course of history.” Karl Marx writing in the Communist Manifesto (1848).
When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes… Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.” – Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, 1815
***
ATLAS SHRUGGED
In 1957, a 1,168 page book by Ayn Rand, called Atlas Shrugged, was published. According to one source, Rand was alleged to be a mistress to Philippe Rothschild, who instructed her to write the book in order to show that through the raising of oil prices, then destroying the oil fields and shutting down the coal mines, the elite would take over the world. It also related how they would blow up grain mills, derail trains, bankrupt and destroy their own companies, till they had destroyed the economy of the entire world; and yet, they would be so wealthy, that it would not substantially affect their vast holdings. The novel is about a man who stops the motor of the world, of what happens when "the men of the mind, the intellectuals of the world, the originators and innovators in every line of industry go on strike; when the men of creative ability in every profession, in protest against regulation, quit and disappear."
If we are to believe that the book represents the elites plans for the future, then the following excerpts may provide some insight to the mentality of the elitists who are preparing us for one-world government.
One of the characters, Francisco d'Anconia, a copper industrialist and heir to a great fortune, the first to join the strike, says:
"I am destroying d'Anconia Copper, consciously, deliberately, by plan and by my own hand. I have to plan it carefully and work as hard as if I were producing a fortune- in order not to let them notice it and stop me, in order not to let them seize the mines until it is too late ... I shall destroy every last bit of it and every last penny of my fortune and every ounce of copper that could feed the looters. I shall not leave it as I found it- I shall leave it as Sebastian d'Anconia found it- then let them try to exist without him or me!"
A bit later, d'Anconia says: "We produced the wealth of the world- but we let our enemies write its moral code." Still later, he says: "We'll survive without it. They won't."
Dagney Taggart, the main character of the book, is the head of the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad. Her goal was to find out who John Galt was. She discovered that he was a young inventor with the Twentieth Century Motor Company, who said he would put an end to the regulations which bound a man to his job indefinitely. Before disappearing, he said: "I will stop the motor of the world." He told her:
"Dagney, we who've been called 'materialists' ... we're the only ones who know how little value or meaning there is in material objects ... we're the ones who create their value and meaning. We can afford to give them up ... We are the soul, of which railroads, copper mines, steel mines, and oil wells are the body- and they are living entities that beat day and night, like our hearts, in the sacred function of supporting human life, but only so long as they remain our body, only so long as they remain the expression, the reward and the property of achievement. Without us, they are corpses and their sole product is poison, not wealth or food, the poison of disintegration that turns men into hordes of scavengers ... You do not have to depend on any material possessions, they depend on you, you create them, you own the one and only tool of production ... leave them the carcass of that railroad, leave them all the rusted nails and rotted ties and gutted engines- but don't leave them your mind."
Later in the book, Galt says:
"And the same will be happening in every other industry, wherever machines are used- the machines which they thought could replace our minds. Plane crashes, oil tank explosions, blast furnace breakouts, high tension wire electrocutions, subway cave-ins, and trestle collapses- they'll see them all. The very machines that made their life so safe- will now make it a continuous peril ... You know that the cities will be hit worst of all. The cities were made by the railroads and will go with them ... When the rails are cut, the city of New York will starve in two days. That's all the supply of food its got. It's fed by a continent three thousand miles long. How will they carry food to New York? By directive and ox-cart? But first, before it happens, they'll go through the whole of the agony- through the shrinking, the shortages, the hunger riots, the stampeding violence in the midst of the growing stillness ... They'll lose the airplanes first, then their automobiles, then their trucks, then their horsecarts .. Their factories will stop, then their furnaces and their radios. Then their electric light system will go."
Francisco d'Anconia, who blew up all the copper mines in the world, said of Galt:
"He had quit the Twentieth Century. He was living in a garret in a slum neighborhood. He stepped to the window and pointed at the skyscrapers of the city. He said that we had to extinguish the lights of the world, and when we would see the lights of New York go out, we would know that our job was done."
Galt led the men of the mind, on strike, and they retired to a self-supporting valley, where a character, Midas Mulligan, says that "the world is falling apart so fast that it will soon be starving. But we will be able to support ourselves in this valley." Galt said: "There is only one kind of men who have never been on strike in human history ... the men who have carried the world on their shoulders, have kept it alive, have endured torture as sole payment ... Well, their turn has come. Let the world discover who they are, what they do and what happens when they refuse to function. This is the strike of the men of the mind."
The book describes what resulted from the strike: "But years later, when we saw the lights going out, one after another, in the great factories that had stood like mountains for generations, when we saw the gates closing and the conveyer belts turning still, when we saw the roads growing empty and the streams of cars draining off, when it began to look as if some silent power were stopping the generators of the world and the world was crumbling quietly..." And the culmination of their efforts: "The plane was above the peaks of the skyscrapers when suddenly, with the abruptness of a shudder, as if the ground had parted to engulf it, the city had disappeared from the face of the earth. It took them a moment to realize that the panic had reached the power stations- and the lights of New York had gone out." The men of the mind had taken over the world.
Rand based her novel on her philosophy which she calls Objectivism. As she puts it: "We are the radicals for capitalism ... because it is the only system geared to the life of a rational being ... The method of capitalism's destruction rests on never letting the world discover what it is that is being destroyed." She also said about the book: "I trust that no one will tell me that men such as I write about don't exist. That this book has been written- and published- is proof that they do."
In the book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, in a chapter titled "Is Atlas Shrugging" she wrote that "the purpose of this book is to prevent itself from being prophetic." She also quoted several news stories which seemed to indicate that the world was indeed being depleted of its brains and intellectuals.
Is Atlas Shrugged a coded blueprint for the elites plans of bringing this world to a point where they can institute a one world government? It certainly is thought provoking, and it is included only for the sake of conjecture. Being that the elites are destroying our economy, and they do control the corporate structure of the United States, if not the world, there just may be something to this book, and maybe we should consider it a warning.
***
***
Bloomberg News (Taken from longer article. Ed)
China Eclipses U.S. as Biggest Trading Nation
Feb 10, 2013
China surpassed the U.S. to become the world's biggest trading nation last year as measured by the sum of exports and imports of goods, official figures from both countries show.
U.S. exports and imports of goods last year totaled $3.82 trillion, the U.S. Commerce Department said last week. China's customs administration reported last month that the country's trade in goods in 2012 amounted to $3.87 trillion.
A man takes a photograph of commercial buildings at dusk in the Pudong area of Shanghai. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergPhotographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
***
USAA Recommends Members 'look for part-time job' in Anticipation of Government Shutdown
Adan Salazar - Infowars.com -
February 11, 2013
An article posted on the insurance company USAA's website is warning members "whose paycheck comes from the federal government" to "tighten up finances -- just in case" and look into securing a second source of income in preparation for possibly rough financial waters ahead.
The article, titled, "Will Washington's Spending Showdown Affect You?," recommends outlining a budget, stocking up on cash, limiting spending on large expenses and securing an additional source of income in response to a possible federal government shutdown which could spur furloughs for all but active-duty military personnel.
A section titled, "What You Can Do To Be Prepared," starts "In light of the uncertainty in Washington..." referring to spending and borrowing cuts set to expire or take place further down the legislative pike, and proceeds to detail four measures that can be taken to offset potential layoffs.
The first step outlines developing a budget to cut "Expenses like premium cable channels" and encourages the stemming of "frequent dining out" to "bulk up reserves."
The next step in preparing for a possible federal government shutdown, according to USAA, involves stocking up on cash because "If there is ever a chance your paycheck could get disrupted, your first line of defense is to have cash in the bank." The newsletter also advocates "building an emergency fund."
The third step warns to limit spending and borrowing and to "hold off" on large expenses as "now might not be the best time to incur them." Scott Halliwell, a Certified Financial Planner at USAA, recommends to "Keep your cash in the bank and your payments low until you see how things shake out."
The last step all but straight up tells members to go out and look for a second job: "4. Create some new income. Look for overtime work or a new part-time job for you or your spouse. Also, if you typically get a large income tax refund, consider adjusting your withholding to keep more of that money now."
According to USAA, all of this should be done in preparation for three important spending-related deadlines that will occur in the first quarter that could yield "potential fallout" for member finances.
Dan Brouillette, senior vice president of government and industry relations at USAA, states one of the crucial financial deadlines concerns the "debt ceiling" set to expire May 18, 2013 which will limit government borrowing.
The other two deadlines are planned spending cuts and an expiration on government's spending authority.
"First, $110 billion in so-called "sequestration" spending cuts -- originally scheduled to kick in Jan. 1 but then put off in the "fiscal cliff" deal -- are set to take effect March 1. Then, on March 27, a continuing resolution that provides spending authority for government operations will expire."
Brouillette warns that, while active-duty military members' pay should not be affected, "an impasse that prevents authorization of new government spending could prompt a federal government shutdown," which could effectively halt federal employee paychecks.
USAA views the "potential fallout" as "a great opportunity to tighten up your finances - just in case."
While a full-on federal government shutdown can still be avoided, it is somewhat curious that a company which specializes in insuring federal workers would be warning of an event in which "potential fallout" and "paycheck uncertainty" may occur. Nevertheless, most of the advice offered is sound.
***
Express
Has NASA's Curiosity rover found alien body parts on Mars?
THE Curiosity rover's lonley voyage across Mars' barren landscape could soon come to end, with the robot having seemingly found an object that looks uncannily like a metal arm.
By: Charlotte Meredith
Published: Fri, February 8, 2013
Internet conspiracy theorists have been sent into a frenzy over the image, with speculation heightening over the idea that alien life has been found on Mars. - - The image, posted by Nasa and taken with the right Mastcam on Curiosity, shows what appears to be a 0.5cm metal spoke protruding out of a rock. - - So, what is the strange sight? A robotic arm? A tool of some kind? An alien spaceship? - - According to reports, NASA don't actually know what the mysterious object is.
***
International Business Times
Did Red UFO in New Orleans Sky Trigger Super Bowl Power Cut?
By DOMINIC GOVER
February 6, 2013
A video appears to show two mystery red lights floating above the Super Bowl stadium, just minutes before a blackout plunged host city New Orleans into darkness.
The biggest sporting event in the United States was stopped for 34 minutes after the lights suddenly went out. One hundred and eleven million viewers lost the braodcast.
Officials in New Orleans are still baffled by what happened to disrupt the American football game between Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers.
Confusiondeepened when energy supplier Entergy New Orleans admitted its investigation had drawn a blank.
A full-scale inquiry has been mounted by the owners of the Superdome. Consultants were being drafted in to analyse data.
More than $1m of improvements to the stadium were commissioned in the aftermath of the blackout.
But could footage of the sky over the southern state city at the time of the power cut hold clues?
One UFO spotter claims to have uncovered time-lapse footage where two small blood red lights appear above the stadium.
Blimp or Ufo ? Lights Above Super Bowl 47 Before Blackout New Orleans Superdome Blackout ! UFO ?
A narrator for Underground World News said: "There was something that appeared - two red lights right above the Superdome, right before the lights went out
"It may be nothing, it may be something. I don't know if anybody else out there caught anything on their cameras."
This year's Super Bowl was beset by bizarre events. The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 but the result was almost secondary.
As well as the blackout and footage of the mysterious lights, pop star Beyoncé appeared to flash the sign of the Illuminati - a secret society of the rich and powerful said by conspiracy theorists to be plotting to take over the world.
Twitter users went mad.
***
MailOnline
Close call: This twister passed so close to the ship pictured that it appeared to be towering over it
10 February 2013
***
The Marmots and me -
Added: Tuesday, August 28th 2012
by Caireann
The schoolboy, 8, who has struck up a remarkable friendship with a colony of alpine animals
They are notoriously shy around humans, beating their tails and chattering their teeth to try to warn us off before emitting loud whistles to tell other members of their colony to flee.
But when these alpine marmots see Matteo Walch, they scuttle to his side and show him nothing but affection.
The eight-year-old built up a remarkable relationship with the creatures since first being taken to see them by his nature-loving family four years ago.
Special bond: Matteo Walch has struck up an unlikely friendship with a group of marmots in the Austrian Alps
The family return to visit the colony in Groslocker in the Austrian Alps for two weeks every year.
Matteo's mother Michaela said: 'Their friendship has lasted for more than four years now.
'He loves those animals and they are not at all afraid of Matteo because he has a feeling towards them and they understand that.
'We go there every year now for two weeks - it's amazing to watch the connection between a boy and his animal friends.'
Marmots stand at around 18cm tall and reach up to 50cm in length.
Bizarrely, the animals are heavier in the autumn, when they can weigh up to 8kg, in comparison to 3kg in the spring months.
Furry friends; The schoolboy from Innsbruck first met the clan of marmots four years ago on a family holiday and has returned every year since
Unlikely pair: The normally shy marmots show Matteo nothing but affection when he visits them at Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria
Michaela, a schoolteacher from Innsbruck, Austria, has uniquely captured the unique bond between Matteo and his marmot friends throughout the past four years.
He said: 'I could spend hours watching animals - it gives me a connection with nature and its life forms.
'It's great that I have been able to document the marmot's natural behaviour around Matteo without making them afraid of me and my equipment.
'I wanted to capture the animals exactly the way I see them - the way they behave among each other, in harmony with their surroundings.'
A member of the clan: The marmots gather around Matteo when he arrives and lets him feed them and play with them despite normally running away from humans
Matteo and his family spend two weeks every year in the Alps visiting his marmot friends
Nose to nose: A marmot greets eight-year-old Matteo on the slopes of the Austrian Alps
It is clear from the pictures that Matteo and the marmots are totally comfortable in each other's company.
Michaela, 46, said: 'The picture of a curious animal approaching me is a thousand times more beautiful than the picture of any animal looking at me in fear before it takes flight.
'This is how I try to picture the proudest, more beautiful and also the funniest moments, giving others the opportunity to enjoy the miraculous world of animals.'
Jealous: One marmot is so keen to get his attention that it has climbed up into Matteo's lap for a cuddle
***
Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
(Isaiah 11:9)