People of the Keys!

“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.”
(Revelation 13:16)

He Causeth All

Dear Friends,

Greetings. With the recent announcement by Pope Benedict VI of his resignation from the throne of St. Peter, along with the Prophecy of the Popes by St. Malachy, there has been much speculation concerning what could be the final Pope and his place in End Time Bible prophecy.

There has been considerable speculation amongst non-Catholic Christians, especially in the West, and particularly in the US, that the next Pope could either be the anti-christ or the false prophet talked about in the book of Revelation.

We, at People of the Keys, do not believe this to be the case, unless something very unusual should happen concerning the Catholic Church and its transcendence into a more prominent role in world leadership.

We will explain our reasoning below:

We would like to draw your attention to the following verse.

“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.” Revelation 13:16

We wanted to emphasis the “all” in the above verse.

But before going on we did want to make clear that the “all” does not mean every single person in the world will take the “mark of the beast” as the following verse clearly shows.
“I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4

It is estimated there are approximately 7 billion people in the world today. The following graph shows the estimated breakdown of the worlds belief system.

You can see from the graph above approximately 33% of the worlds population consider themselves to be Christian, which translates to 2.1 billion people.

Below is a list of the breakdown of Christian denominations.

The Catholic Church being the largest, has 1.2 billion adherents, which is a very significant number, but translates mathematically into 17.1% of the worlds population. This also means that 82.9 percent of the world are not followers of the Catholic faith.

If the anti-christ or false prophet cause “all” the world, except those who refuse Revelation 20:4, to receive the “mark of the beast” it would not seem that the Catholic Church or the Pope would have the clout, at this time or possibly ever, to pull off the mark of the beast.

This is how we see it. What do you think?

***

The Nation Thailand

Global showdowns looming over us

Thanong Khanthong

February 15, 2013 1:00 am

Cardinal Peter Turkman

As we scan the globe in 2013, we are seeing seismic changes that will have profound effects on the international landscape. Leadership transition and policy realignments are proceeding at breakneck pace, while currency wars and geopolitical tensions are rising to fever pitch. We are heading into uncharted territory. The first major war of the 21st century looms on the horizon.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has come as a shock, though not totally unexpected. In Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope Is Here, co-authors Tom Horn and Cris Putnam examine St Malachy's "Prophecy of the Popes", which predicts the final pope after Benedict XVI. They base their research on his prophetic vision of the next 112 popes, beginning with Pope Celestine II, who died in 1144, and ending with the final pope - Peter of Rome. The last pontificate will end with the destruction of Rome, or the world as we know it, thereby fulfilling St Malachy's prophecy.

Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana has been widely tipped as the top candidate to become the next and first black pope. In his article "Final Pope Already Running Vatican?" Jerome R Corsi wrote that Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro ("Peter" in English) Evasio Bertone is already running the Vatican. He is currently secretary of state of the Vatican and also chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church. If this is the case, Bertone could be the next pope.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands earlier abdicated after 33 years on the throne in favour of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. There has been speculation that Queen Elizabeth II might also abdicate to pave the way for Prince William to become the next British king. President Barack Obama has won a second term to fortify his presidency, while President Vladimir Putin of Russia has also made a comeback. Xi Jinping of China has emerged as the fifth-generation leader of China, consolidating his power as Communist Party secretary, president and also top military commander.

Shinzo Abe of Japan has made a comeback for a second term, with hawkish policies including an increase in defence spending and a currency war to weaken the yen. North Korea earlier witnessed a leadership transition to the young Kim Jong-un, who has continued with nuclear and rocket tests. South Korea has a new leader, President-elect Park Geun-hye, who promptly warned the North that another nuclear test would spell doom for the communist regime.

Japan's currency war, on the heels of the US Federal Reserve's and the Bank of England's, is a prelude to economic war and social disorder. The pound sterling, the US dollar and the Japanese yen have unleashed hot money upon global financial markets. Venezuela has responded with an outright devaluation by 32 per cent of its bolivar. South Korea, Russia and Germany have complained bitterly about Japan's currency tactics.

Keep an eye on China, which is now pegging its yuan tightly to the US dollar. If China were to enter the currency war by devaluing its currency even further than Japan's, we'll see a repeat of the 1930s when competitive devaluations - started by Britain, which left the Gold Standard - led to global economic recession and eventually the Second World War.

Thai policy-makers are locked in a childish debate over whether to cut interest rates to stem capital inflows. Nobody can foresee the looming crisis that could break the global financial system.

Germany's attempt to reclaim its gold deposited in New York, London and Paris can be seen as another aspect of the currency war. Germany no longer trusts the US, UK or France as custodians of its gold. In the event of the euro's collapse, Germany would leave the euro zone to reprint its mark, backed by its gold holding of 3,400 tonnes.

Other countries are also moving away from Anglo-Saxon global dominance in finance and the US dollar sphere. Russia became the world's largest importer last year. China has also imported massive amounts of gold from Hong Kong. India is hoarding gold en masse. Iran, Turkey and other oil-producing nations are trading oil or other goods for gold. This could signal a move away from the fiat currency regime, dominated by the US dollar, back to the Gold Standard, in which currencies are backed by gold reserves.

Again, Thailand is far behind in preparing for the re-emergence of the Gold Standard, failing to heed the warning of the now deseased Luangta Mahabua, who mobilised gold to stabilise Thai finances in the aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis.

The war in Syria, the West's intervention in Mali, growing tension between China and Japan are geopolitical hotspots. False flags could be raised at any moment and they could lead to physical confrontation or war. The year 2013 is the beginning of a great unravelling. Our destiny cannot be altered as the global players head into the final showdown.

***

The Guardian

Papal resignation linked to inquiry into 'Vatican gay officials', says paper

Pope's staff decline to confirm or deny La Repubblica claims linking 'Vatileaks' affair and discovery of 'blackmailed gay clergy'

John Hooper in Rome

21 February 2013

The Vatican is awhirl with rumours about the pope's decision to retire. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom – the report said – were being blackmailed by outsiders.

The pope's spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report, which was carried by the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.

Last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting.

According to La Repubblica, the dossier comprising "two volumes of almost 300 pages – bound in red" had been consigned to a safe in the papal apartments and would be delivered to the pope's successor upon his election.

The newspaper said the cardinals described a number of factions, including one whose members were "united by sexual orientation".

In an apparent quotation from the report, La Repubblica said some Vatican officials had been subject to "external influence" from laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature". The paper said this was a clear reference to blackmail.

It quoted a source "very close to those who wrote [the cardinal's report]" as saying: "Everything revolves around the non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments."

The seventh enjoins against theft. The sixth forbids adultery, but is linked in Catholic doctrine to the proscribing of homosexual acts.

La Repubblica said the cardinals' report identified a series of meeting places in and around Rome. They included a villa outside the Italian capital, a sauna in a Rome suburb, a beauty parlour in the centre, and a former university residence that was in use by a provincial Italian archbishop.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said: "Neither the cardinals' commission nor I will make comments to confirm or deny the things that are said about this matter. Let each one assume his or her own responsibilities. We shall not be following up on the observations that are made about this."

He added that interpretations of the report were creating "a tension that is the opposite of what the pope and the church want" in the approach to the conclave of cardinals that will elect Benedict's successor. Another Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, alluded to the dossier soon after the pope announced his resignation on 11 February, describing its contents as "disturbing".

The three-man commission of inquiry into the Vatileaks affair was headed by a Spanish cardinal, Julián Herranz. He was assisted by Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, a former archbishop of Palermo, and the Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko, who once headed the Vatican's department for missionaries.

Pope Benedict has said he will stand down at the end of this month; the first pope to resign voluntarily since Celestine V more than seven centuries ago. Since announcing his departure he has twice apparently referred to machinations inside the Vatican, saying that divisions "mar the face of the church", and warned against "the temptations of power".

La Repubblica's report was the latest in a string of claims that a gay network exists in the Vatican. In 2007 a senior official was suspended from the congregation, or department, for the priesthood, after he was filmed in a "sting" organised by an Italian television programme while apparently making sexual overtures to a younger man.

In 2010 a chorister was dismissed for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting. A few months later a weekly news magazine used hidden cameras to record priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex.

The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals. But it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". Pope Benedict has barred sexually active gay men from studying for the priesthood.

***

FoxNews.com

Russian meteorite 1,000 times bigger than originally thought

By Jeremy A. Kaplan

Published February 19, 2013

It turns out the meteor that landed in Russia last week was a bit bigger than the 10 tons first reported. About 1,000 times bigger.

When a hunk of rock raced out of the morning skies over Russia on Friday and exploded with nearly 500 kilotons of energy, early size estimates from the Russian Academy of Sciences that were carried by the Associated Press, Reuters and other news wires pegged it on the small size, with a weight of about 10 tons.

Oops.

'This event was so much bigger than anything we've seen on video that it doesn't surprise me the guess was off by three orders of magnitude.'

- Margaret Campbell-Brown, physics professor at the University of Western Ontario

Later in the evening, after studying infrasound data from stations around the world, NASA released a new estimate revising that first guess upward by a thousand-fold: The meteorite actually weighed closer to 10,000 tons, scientists said -- approximately as much as 170 M1 Abrams tanks.

***

guardian.co.uk, (Edited from longer article.)

Russian meteorite: hunt for debris begins, but was it a comet?

Scientists say there are still many fragments to be found as debate starts over precise nature of celestial object

Howard Amos in Moscow

18 February 2013

Within the academic community there appeared to be a difference of opinion on Monday as to the exact nature of the object, when some experts said it was conceivable that it was a comet that had struck southern Russia at 9.20am on Friday.

"In Chelyabinsk we saw a type of comet in which there was almost no meteorite remaining," said Alexander Bagrov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Astronomy Institute, Interfax reported.

"It was mainly made up of a mass of ice, of which no trace is left."

The argument reflects the same debate that raged after the last big meteorite impact, the so-called Tunguska event in Siberia in 1908. For decades afterwards Russian scientists, trying to explain the absence of an obvious impact crater, argued over whether the blast was caused by a meteorite or a small comet.

While the intellectual debate was beginning on Monday, the clean-up operation in Chelyabinsk was winding down. The shockwave caused by the meteorite shattered windows across the region and injured about 1,500.

One woman was transferred to Moscow for treatment over the weekend and about 50 people remained in hospital. With night-time temperatures hovering around -20C, glass prices jumped as people rushed to replace broken panes.

***

The Examiner (Edited from longer article.)

Catholic prophecies of an antipope

BY: BOB THIEL

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Certain Catholic prophecies warn that a major "antipope" is to come, as well as warn that its church will be changed, have some type of clever "renewal," and also be destroyed:

Frederick William Faber (died 1863):...Antichrist...Many believe in a demonical incarnation--this will not be so--but he will be utterly possessed...His doctrine as apparent contradiction of no religion, yet a new religion...He has an attending pontiff, so separating regal and prophetic office (Edward. Prophecy for Today. Imprimatur + A.J. Willinger, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno; Reprint: Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford (IL), 1984, p. 87).

Anna-Katarina Emmerick(19th century): The Church is in great danger...The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere. I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for the destruction, even the clergy. A great destruction is now at hand...I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was admitted in it in order to be united and to have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church...I saw again a new and odd-looking Church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it... (Dupont Y. Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), 1973, pp. 66, 71, 116)

Yves Dupont {writer interpreting A. Emmerick}: They wanted to make a new Church, a Church of human manufacture, but God had other designs...An anti-pope shall be set up in Rome (Dupont, p. 116).

Oba Prophecy: It will come when the Church authorities issue directives to support a new cult, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other, when the highest positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions. (Dupont, p. 115)

Ted and Maureen Flynn (20th century): Catholic prophecy warns us of severe problems facing the papacy in these end times...chaos will be within our midst. An Antipope will seize papal authority...It will be those who hold fast to the truths of the faith who will be labeled as the perpetrators of this horrible schism, according to some visionaries. (Flynn Ted and Maureen. The Thunder of Justice. MaxKol Communications, Inc. Sterling (VA), 1993, p. 255)

Jeanne le Royer (d. 1798): I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches a bad priest will do much harm to the Church (Culligan E. The Last World War and the End of Time. The book was blessed by Pope Paul VI, 1966. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), p. 128).

Bl. Anna-Maria Taigi (19th century): At the end, he will have the gift of miracles (Birch DA. Trial, Tribulation & Triumph: Before During and After Antichrist. Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta (CA), 1996, pp. 362-363).

Saint Zenobius (died 285): Antichrist will work a thousand prodigies on earth. (Connor, p. 73)

Priest O'Connor (20th century?): This final false prophet will be a bishop of the church and will lead all religions into becoming one. (The False Prophet. Living in the Final Generation. http://www.geocities.com/rebornempowered/ApparitionsofMary.htm 10/12/07)

Priest Paul Kramer (21st century): The errors of Orthodoxy and of Protestantism will be embraced by that false church, it will be an ecumenical church because the Anti-Pope will be recognized by the world--not by the faithful, but by the world--by the secular world and the secular governments. (Kramer P. The Imminent Chastisement for Not Fulfilling Our Lady's Request. An edited transcript of a speech given at the Ambassadors of Jesus and Mary Seminar in Glendale, California, September 24, 2004.THE FATIMA CRUSADER Issue 80, Summer 2005, pp. 32-45 http://www.fatimacrusader.com/cr80/cr80pg32.asp viewed 4/15/08)

Blessed Joachim (died 1202): Towards the end of the world Antichrist will overthrow the Pope and usurp his See (Connor, p. 76).

St. Francis of Assisi (d. 1226): There will be an uncanonically elected pope who will cause a great Schism, there will be divers thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders, to doubt, yea even agree with those heretics which will cause My order to divide, then will there be such universal dissentions and persecutions that if these days were not shortened even the elect would be lost (Culleton, p. 130).

Gregory the Great, Pope (d. 604): In those days, near the end...an army of priests and two-thirds of the Christians will join the Schism. (Culleton, R. Gerald. The Reign of Antichrist, p. 122)

Yves Dupont {reader and collector of Catholic prophecies}: "prophecies are quite explicit about the election of an anti-pope...Many prophecies predict an anti-pope and a schism" (Dupont, pp. 34,60-61)

G. Rossi (1873): We must observe that St. Malachy does not mention the last Pope as a distinct person from the preceding one, whom he styles Glory of the Olive. He merely says, "During the last persecution of the Church, Peter II, a Roman, shall reign. He shall feed the flock in many tribulations, at the end of which the City of the Seven Hills (Rome) will be destroyed, and the awful Judge shall judge his people." According to St. Malachy, then, only ten, or at most eleven, popes remain to be in future more or less legitimately elected. We say more or less legitimately elected, because out of those future popes it is to be feared that one or two will be unlawfully elected as anti-popes. (Rossi, p. 139)

Priest E. Sylvester Berry (20th century) As indicated by the resemblance to a lamb, the prophet will probably set himself up in Rome as a sort of antipope during the vacancy of the papal throne . . .(Berry E.S. The Apocalypse of St. John. First published 1921. http://journals.aol.com/langosh5/Father_E_Sylvester_Berry/ 10/12/07)

Priest Herman Kramer (20th century): In accord with the text this is unmistakably a PAPAL ELECTION . . . But at this time the great powers may take a menacing attitude to hinder the election of the logical and expected candidate by threats of a general apostasy, assassination or imprisonment of this candidate if elected. This would suppose an extremely hostile mind in the governments of Europe towards the Church, because an extended interregnum in the papacy is always disastrous and more so in a time of universal persecution. If Satan would contrive to hinder a papal election, the Church would suffer great travail ... one...destined for the papacy at the time will institute the needed reforms. A general council may decree the reforms...The lax clergy at the time will extol the conditions then existing...The dragon is a symbolic term for the evil world powers...They will try to make the Church a "state church" everywhere. This is only possible if they can subject the pope to their wills and compel him to teach and rule as they direct. That would be literally devouring the papacy. (Kramer H.B. L. The Book of Destiny, pp. 278,285).

Bishop Malachy (12th century): During the persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit upon the throne, Peter the Roman...the City of Seven Hills (Rome) will be utterly destroyed (Culleton, R. Gerald. The Prophets and Our Times. Nihil Obstat: L. Arvin. Imprimatur: Philip G. Scher, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno, November 15, 1941. Reprint 1974, TAN Books, Rockford (IL), p. 138).

Thus there are many Catholic writers who have warned of some type of an antipope, and that there could even be issues with his election - it will seem fine, but perhaps it was not. Irrespective of Catholic writings, the reality is that if the next pope is the last pope, he will be the final Antichrist.

***

Raiders News Network

Petrus Romanus, Project LUCIFER, - and the Vatican's Astonishing Plan for the Arrival of an Alien Savior

By Tom Horn & Cris Putnam

NOTE: DUE TO THE RESIGNATION OF POPE BENEDICT (AS THE AUTHORS PREDICTED), EVENTS ARE ACCELERATING AROUND THE WORLD. WE HAVE BEEN FORCED TO JUMP FORWARD IN THIS SERIES TO THE FINAL HALF-DOZEN OR SO ENTRIES AND ARE WORKING HARD TO GET THE INVESTIGATIVE BOOK "EXO-VATICANA" OUT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE -- HOPEFULLY BY MID-MARCH -- RIGHT WHEN CONCLAVE WILL BE IN SESSION TO ELECT PETRUS ROMANUS -- THE FINAL POPE

From the very beginning of this arduous investigation, we knew we were facing a daunting task. To breach that labyrinthine monument to religion, the Roman Catholic Church, and to ascertain subterranean secrets concealed beneath its layers of classified documentation had been tried and failed by thousands before us.

The Vatican is impenetrable, we were warned, the very inventor of the term "above top secret." As the world's oldest-running bureaucracy, it is an amalgamation of secrets, vaults, and esoteric traditions dating back to the Dark Ages. Steeped in complexity and guarded by a procession of popes, cardinals, and multileveled priests, it is obsessed with maintaining "the need to know." When spokesmen for the Church do tantalize the outside world with commentary, it often turns out to be duplicity designed to keep researchers running in circles and in the wrong direction. And yet, of late, we had heard enough consistency from Jesuit astronomers to wonder now if, for some reason, Rome was intentionally moving the religious world toward accepting a definite revelation, a period in time coupled with a momentous disclosure that somehow required specific public comments and the development of theological arguments concerning extraterrestrial intelligence that ultimately will, they believe, impact the religion of Christianity.

On this, we will be providing: 1) first-person testimonies by high-ranking authorities that agree with the assessment above; 2) documents and newly drafted scholarly papers by Vatican academics that substantiate our conclusions; and 3) the threshold of what is called in the court system "a presumption of fact." When reading Exo-Vaticana, readers will find the number of documents and the amount of commentary evidence on the part of Rome's astronomers and the Vatican's emerging theology as conveyed therein to be conclusive beyond reasonable doubt that the Vatican has intentionally positioned itself to be the religious authority on, and ecclesiastical benefactor of, Official Disclosure: the imminent and authorized public admission by world governments of advanced extraterrestrial intelligence.

Why the Vatican has taken this carefully designed and deliberate course over the last few years is the greater mystery, but implies knowledge on their part of facts yet hidden to most of the world that may hold far-reaching and historic implications. It also illustrates how Rome has wittingly or unwittingly set itself up to become the agent of mass end-times deception regarding "salvation from above." That's because, historically, there exists a clear pattern wherein man's psychological need of a savior is displayed during times of distress--a time like today--when people look skyward for divine intervention. As Ted Peters, professor of systematic theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, wrote, "With the constant threat of thermonuclear destruction in the post-World War II era leaving our planet in a state of insecurity and anxiety, it is no wonder many have begun to hope for a messiah to save us. The holiness of the sky and the need for a salvation converge and blend when the bright clean powerful UFO zooms up onto the horizon. Could it be our celestial savior?"[i] Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno must think so, as he assured us that if highly advanced ET saviors from outer space touch down on planet Earth soon, it will not mean what Catholics believe is wrong, but rather, "We're going to find out that everything is truer in ways we couldn't even yet have imagined."[ii]

In truth, Consolmagno's advice for the religious faithful could be leading mankind into a gigantic setup, as many religions have at least one apocalyptic myth describing the end of the world accompanied by a redeemer who appears in the sky at the last minute to rescue the chosen from annihilation or wrath. Mayans, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Greeks held similar beliefs, while the Hopi Indians foresee times of great hardship when they will be preserved by the "power" of a blue star, far off and invisible, that suddenly makes its appearance in the heavens. Today, even factions of the New Age look for a techno-savior to arrive in the atmosphere in the nick of time to save mankind. Although Jesus, Himself, is prophesied to appear in the clouds during an era of great earthly trials (1 Thessalonians 4:16 - 18), predominant among prophecy scholars is the idea that coupled with any heavenly appearing and concurrent salvation of believers from chaos will first be the materialization of a false Christ or "man of sin." Where Hopi see a blue star and Vatican astronomers see their "space brothers" en route to guide us into the light, evangelical Christians understand the Antichrist will initially assume the role of a fabricated end-times messiah who mimics the return of Christ with a false second coming that also happens to be attended by heavenly "signs and lying wonders" (2 Thessalonians 2:8 - 9). Could these deceptive "wonders" be: 1) the discovery of artificial structures on another world; 2) a "contact" scenario, or; 3) maybe even something more dramatic, like a flying saucer armada piloted by creatures who appear to be advanced humanoids but who are in fact evil supernaturalism on a quest to mislead and destroy the human race? Even secular ufologists suspect demonic activity in the interaction between humans and "aliens." Whitley Streiber, author of Communion and other books on the subject, once wrote: "There are worse things than death, I suspected. And I was beginning to get the distinct impression that one of them had taken an interest in me. So far the word demon had never been spoken among the scientists and doctors who were working with me. And why should it have been? We were beyond such things. We were a group of atheists and agnostics, far too sophisticated to be concerned with such archaic ideas as demons and angels" (emphasis added).[iii]

Alien Saviors, Demonic Plots, Hidden Codes

To understand what is driving Vatican scholars into such strange astro-theological territory, a subtle game of cat-and-mouse has been playing out behind the scenes over the past few months between the authors of Exo-Vaticana and the church's theologians over the need to determine why Rome's authorities suddenly need alien-friendly dogma. At times responses to inquests have come in coded replies instead of straight forward answers. For instance, Jesuit astronomer Guy Consolmagno pointed Tom to a peculiar novel published in 1958 under the title, A Case of Conscience, by James Blish. In the story, a Jesuit priest named Father Ruiz-Sanchez and a team of scientists travel to a newly discovered planet dubbed "Lithia" to study the Lithians who live there. Unknown to the science team, the Vatican secretly advises the Catholic father to investigate whether the aliens have redeemable souls. What he finds in the Lithians are intelligent creatures whose morality fits perfectly with Christianity but who are devoid of any concept of religion or God. This dilemma grows, and soon the priest is invited to visit with a Lithian family. He writes:

Here was the first chance, at long last, to see something of the private life of Lithia, and through that, perhaps, to gain some inkling of the moral life, the role in which God had cast the Lithians in the ancient drama of good and evil, in the past and in the times to come. Until that was known, the Lithians in their Eden might be only spuriously good: all reason, all organic thinking machines, ULTIMACs with tails and without souls.[iv]

Original cover of A Case of Conscience by James Blish

Because the publisher of Exo-Vaticana is giving away A Case of Conscience in the data-dvd provided with the first release of this book, we will not spoil the ending--which includes the Jesuits (described as "the cerebral cortex of the Church") dealing with the knotty moral, theological, and organizational issues surrounding a papal proclamation and the seed of Satan--for those who want to read the novel. However, it is important to note that the fictional Father Ruiz-Sanchez warns the Vatican to classify Lithia as X-1--a planet to be forever quarantined from Earth and humans due to its potential for great deception.

"What we have here on Lithia is very clear indeed. We have--and now I'm prepared to be blunt--a planet and a people propped up by the Ultimate Enemy. It is a gigantic trap prepared for all of us--for every man on Earth and off it. We can do nothing with it but reject it, nothing but say to it, Retro me, Sathanas. If we compromise with it in any way, we are damned."[v]

When Ruiz-Sanchez uses the phrase, "Retro me, Sathanas," he is annunciating the medieval Catholic formula for exorcism, "Vade retro Sathanas" ("Go back, Satan"), a clear reckoning that the aliens on Lithia are part of a satanic plot to be avoided at all costs, an astro-theological conspiracy designed to mislead mankind. He eventually convinces the pope (Pope Hadrian in the story) of the satanic stratagem, but, ironically, he is unable to convince all of the Church's theologians. Did the author of A Case of Conscience foresee how such great deception would eventually be embraced by the Vatican as a result of some of Rome's celebrated scholars and astronomers? When science-fiction writer Jo Walton asked Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno (whom we also interviewed from Rome with this question and a lot more) what he made of these issues posed by Blish in his novel, Consolmagno admitted that the Jesuits are: 1) the strongest advocates of "inculturation" (allowing alien cultures to maintain their paganism while modifying expressions of Christian ideas within those beliefs); 2) accepting of "alien cultures for who they are"; and 3) willing to adapt alien "religious practices into a form and a language that can be accepted."[vi] So, if Brother Consolmagno had been on Lithia, Walton concluded, we'd already be in contact with aliens "and finding out as much as we could about them."[vii]

From what we have seen, Walton may not have to wait much longer for contact, which raises a hidden aspect of A Case of Conscience involving wordplay around the term "Lithia." While Blish makes an obvious connection to the name of the planet and its inhabitants as reflecting the abundance of "Lithium" ore on the alien world (ore that could be mined and exploited for use in making nuclear weapons), mention of the goddess I-Lithia or "Ilithyia" is strangely missing from the work. This stands out as possibly a secret code in the book that specifically relates to the deductions of Father Ruiz-Sanchez and the "seed of Satan" being debated by the Church back on Earth. If the similarity between Lithia and the goddess Ilithyia is coincidental, it is extraordinary, as it was the job of this goddess in antiquity to protect the very "seed of the serpent" that in turn generates the birth of the "serpent child" and future

"serpent-savior." So important was the goddess Ilithyia's role in ancient days as the preserver of this serpent seed toward the birth of the serpent-savior that shrines were erected to her by cult followers across Greece (including at Athens, Megara, Korinthos, Argos, Mycenae, Sparta, etc.) in which terra-cotta figures of immortal nurses were depicted watching over the divine children in whom the bloodline would survive. For example, on the mainland at Olympia, a shrine dedicated to Ilithyia (called Eileithyia by the Greeks) was witnessed by traveler and second-century geographer, Pausanias, in which a small inner chamber (cella) sacred to the serpent-savior hosted a virgin-priestess who "cared for a serpent that was fed on honeyed barley-cakes and water."[viii] The shrine memorialized the appearance of a Marian-like woman with a babe in her arms who, "at a crucial moment when Elians were threatened by forces from Arcadia," was placed on the ground between the contending forces and changed into a terrifying serpent, "driving the Arcadians away in flight, before it disappeared into the hill."[ix]

Interestingly, the myth of Ilithyia is also connected in ancient history with the birth of Apollo, whose coming as "the promised seed" formed the novus ordo seclorum prophecy of the Great Seal of the United States (as thoroughly documented in Apollyon Rising). This "messiah" who returns to rule the Earth in the latter days is also described (by the same name) in the book of 2 Thessalonians as the Antichrist who becomes the progeny or incarnation of the ancient seed (or spirit) of Apollo. The warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 reads: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [Apoleia; Apollyon, Apollo]" (emphasis added). Revelation 17:8 also directly ties the coming of Antichrist with the seed of Apollo, revealing that the Beast shall ascend from the bottomless pit and enter him: "The Beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the Bottomless Pit, and go into perdition [Apoleia, Apollo]: and they that dwell on the Earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is" (emphasis added).

The verses above elucidate a very important and central eschatological issue concerning how all of the Bible is really a story about the ancient and future struggle between the "seed" of the woman (Jesus) and that of the serpent. Genesis 3:15 says, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed [zera, meaning "offspring," "descendents," or "children"] and her seed." Besides the pre-preaching of the Gospel of Christ in this verse (known in theology as the protoevangelium), another incredible tenet emerges here--that Satan has "seed" and it is at enmity (hostility, hatred, antagonism) with Christ.

We believe an example of Satan's hostile seed can be found in Genesis chapter 6, where fallen angels mingled with humans and produced Nephilim. More importantly, in Exo-Vaticana we will discuss how Church leaders including Roman Catholics from the Middle Ages forward believed the Antichrist would be spawned of this demonic seed. Saint Augustine wrote about this in the City of God,[x] and in the De Daemonialitate, et Incubis, et Succubi, Father Ludovicus Maria Sinistrari de Ameno (1622 - 1701) argued how the coming of Antichrist represented the biological hybridization of demons with humans. "To theologians and philosophers," he wrote, "it is a fact, that from the copulation of humans with the demon...Antichrist must be born."[xi] Thus, as Jesus Christ was the "seed of the woman," the "Man of Sin" will be the "seed of the serpent." And if the serpent seed represents the second coming of Apollo as prophesied by the Apostle Paul, not only will he be the exact opposite of Jesus (Son of God), but the forerunner of the return of these Nephilim.

[i] Ted Peters, UFOs--God's Chariots?: Flying Saucers in Politics, Science, and Religion (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1977), 147.

[ii] Carol Glatz, "Do Space Aliens Have Souls? Inquiring Minds Can Check Jesuit's Book," Catholic News Service, November 4, 2005, http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0506301.htm.

[iii] Whitley Strieber, Transformation: The Breakthrough (Sag Harbor, NY: Beech Tree Books, 1988), 44 - 45.

[iv] James Blish, A Case of Conscience (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1958), 26.

[v] Ibid., 92.

[vi] Jo Walton, "Aliens and Jesuits: James Blish's A Case of Conscience," TOR, November 29, 2010, http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/11/aliens-and- - jesuits-james-blishs-a-case-of-conscience.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] "Eileithyia," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, last modified January 24, 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileithyia.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Augustine, City of God, 23:15.

[xi] Father Ludovicus Maria Sinistrari de Ameno, De Daemonialitate, et Incubis, et Succubi (1622 - 1701), English translation of this portion provided by Jacques Vallée in Passport to Magonia (Contemporary Books, 1993), 127 - 129.

Yahoo News

Pope Oks German lawyer to head embattled Vatican bank

By Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press - Fri, 15 Feb, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy Friday, approving a German lawyer and financier to head the Vatican's embattled bank.

Ernst von Freyberg has solid financial and Catholic credentials as a former investment banker and member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous order drawn from European nobility.

The appointment ends a nine-month search after the Institute of Religious Works ousted its previous president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, for incompetence. The ouster came just as the Vatican was submitting its finances to a review by a Council of Europe committee in a bid to join the list of financially transparent countries.

The Vatican said von Freyberg, currently the chairman of a Hamburg-based ship component group Blom+Voss Group, had been appointed by the bank's commission of cardinals and that the pope had "expressed his full consent."

The appointment may well be one of the last major decisions of Benedict's papacy given his planned retirement Feb. 28, and signals what the Vatican hopes will be a revived push to clean up its reputation in international financial circles.

The Vatican passed the Council of Europe Moneyval committee's transparency test over the summer, but the IOR and the Vatican's financial watchdog agency received failing grades. The new president will be tasked with bringing the IOR into compliance by Moneyval's next review.

CNN

NBC SKIT HAS JESUS ON MURDEROUS RAMPAGE

'He may be wearing sandals, but He can still kick a--'

Published: 02/17/13

NBC's "Saturday Night Live" spoofed famous Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino over the weekend with a gruesomely violent, fictitious movie trailer about Jesus wreaking bloody revenge upon the Romans who killed him.

"He's risen from the dead," the parody's voiceover intones, "and He's preaching anything but forgiveness. He may be wearing sandals, but He can still kick a - ."

The parody then re-enacts a number of Tarantino's scenes, only with "Jesus," "St. Peter" and other biblical characters shooting, beating and slicing their victims, all while sprays of blood splatter the screen.

"Jesus? O sh - !" shouts one victim about to suffer Jesus' wrath. "Chill, man, chill!"

To which the "Jesus" character responds, "When you get to heaven, say 'hi' to my dad," before blowing a melon-sized hole in the man's torso.

Tarantino has a reputation for creating blood-splattered and violent films, including "Pulp Fiction," the "Kill Bill" series, "Inglorious Basterds" and the most recent "Django Unchained," each of which was spoofed in the parody movie trailer titled "Djesus Uncrossed."

Guest host Christoph Waltz, who won an Academy Award for his role in "Inglorious Basterds," played the part of "Djesus" in the SNL trailer.

The voiceover bills the fake movie as "the ultimate historical revenge fantasy."

Rolling Stone called the SNL spoof trailer "stunning, in the best way possible ... a spot-on send-up of Quentin Tarantino's films, where Jesus (Waltz) rises from the dead, cuts down armies of Romans with swords and Uzis and leaves behind equal amounts hilarious blood and hilarious one-liners. Every last line in this gory sketch was written with impeccable sophistication."

"I'm reminded of the line from Steve Martin's 'Cheaper by the Dozen,' when he declared his children's pranks to be 'wrong - funny, but wrong,'" Zahn said. "Yes, the parody is well made, and yes, Tarantino is ripe for a spoof just like this. Shoot, I can even see the humor in it. But its subject matter can only be described with one word: blasphemous.

"If anything in our PC culture should be considered obviously offensive, this is it," Zahn continued. "Can you imagine the uproar that would occur if SNL made a parody, 'Muhammad Unleashed?' People at NBC would be losing their jobs. The 'sensitivity police' would be out in full force. It would cause international outcry.

"I just have to believe that if God gifted these actors and writers with such a gift for humor and wit," Zahn concluded, "that He intended it for nobler purposes than mocking His Son."

(“Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.” Proverbs 14:9-10}

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RIA Novosti.

Post-Soviet Integration is Unstoppable - Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Mikhail Klementiev

14/02/2013

MOSCOW, February 14 (RIA Novosti) - Nothing can stop or slow down the reintegration of the post-Soviet space, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"We've heard some recent nervous and outspoken remarks regarding integration in the post-Soviet space. Let's put them down to the emotional rhetoric of these politicians," Putin said at a meeting of FSB (Federal Security Service) officers.

"Close integration is an intrinsic global process," he said, adding Russia could face attempts to stop work toward integration.

"Different forms of pressure, including mechanisms of so-called 'soft power' may be used here," the president said calling for closer contacts with Belarus, Kazakhstan and other integration partners.

"Any direct or indirect interference in our domestic matters, any forms of pressure on Russia, our allies and partners is intolerable," Putin said.

Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia have since January 1, 2012, been part of a Common Economic Space (EEP), or Customs Union. The union allows free movement of capital, goods and services across the three states' national borders. Kazakhstan's Central Asian neighbor Kyrgyzstan has applied to join.

Russia views this grouping as a precursor to a broader Eurasian Economic Union, and has even touted membership to Ukraine and Moldova, although Kiev has long harbored ambitions of moving closer to the EU.

In December 2012, then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Russia's post-Soviet integration initiative, in an address to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"It's going to be called a Customs Union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that. But let's make no mistake about it," Clinton said, branding the move as "re-Sovietization."

Putin shortly afterwards dismissed her comments as "utter nonsense."

Putin on Thursday also criticized the attempts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) financed from abroad to speak on behalf of Russian society.

"No one has the monopoly or right to speak on behalf of Russian society as a whole, most of all those structures governed and financed from abroad. We have outlined a precise system for NGO work in Russia," Putin said referring to a controversial NGO law which came into force in November.

That law, obliging Russian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) financed from abroad and involved in political activity to register as "foreign agents," has been criticized by Russian human rights organizations. They claim it is just one of a slew of Kremlin-backed laws aimed at suppressing opposition to Putin's rule.

Kremlin officials have repeatedly claimed Washington is using NGOs in Russia as a cover to bring about political change. Putin once famously branded Russian NGOs involved in politics as "jackals."

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The Atlantic

Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet

By CONOR FRIEDERSDORF

FEB 19 2013,

An Air Force simulation says researchers are at work on killer robots so tiny that a group of them could blend into a cityscape.

Science writer John Horgan's feature on the many ways drones will be used in coming years is interesting throughout, and terrifying in the passage where he describes an effort to build micro-drones that are, as the U.S. Air Force describes them, "Unobtrusive, pervasive, and lethal."

Air Force officials declined a request to observe flight tests at a "micro-aviary" they've built, he reported, but they did let him see a video dramatization "starring micro-UAVs that resemble winged, multi-legged bugs. The drones swarm through alleys, crawl across windowsills, and perch on power lines. One of them sneaks up on a scowling man holding a gun and shoots him in the head."

When I watch that simulation I am horrified. I also think to myself, this technology is more likely to diminish American security than to enhance it. In a world without micro-drones, our military remains overwhelmingly powerful. But what about a world where micro-drones are pervasive? Who knows? Sure, we have a technological advantage right now, but micro-drones sure seem like a disruptive technology that will eventually help rather than hinder attempts at asymmetric warfare.

Yet the U.S. government is making no effort to enlist other powerful nations with the most to lose and establish international norms against the use of drones (in the way we've stigmatized biological weapons) -- rather, we're continuing to fuel a drone arms race that guarantees widespread proliferation. Perhaps such an effort would fail, but to never even try seems shortsighted.

How far ahead is President Obama thinking?

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The Telegraph

Gold faces 'global supply crunch'

Gold faces a "supply crunch" that could help propel the price to $2,000, a leading gold investor has said.

Gold miners are now focusing on the highest-grade, most profitable operations at the expense of production volume, Angelos Damaskos of the Junior Gold fund Photo: ALAMY

By Richard Evans

19 Feb 2013

Gold miners have responded to recent falls in the price by concentrating on the highest quality deposits, scrapping extraction of more marginal material. This will cause a "significant decline" in global production of gold, according to Angelos Damaskos, who runs the Junior Gold fund.

"A shift in gold market dynamics in the near future could result in a supply crunch," he said.

"Investors have recently been disappointed by the gold miners' inability to control costs. With miners' profitability naturally at risk if there is a decline in the gold price, the sector has experienced a sell-off.

"The response of management is to prioritise cost-control. An effective and immediate way of reducing costs is called 'high-grading'; essentially all mining teams are now focusing on the highest-grade, most profitable operations at the expense of production volume."

As a result, marginal deposits are being scrapped from miners' business plans and unprofitable operations are being shut down, Mr Damaskos said. "This strategy will increase miners' profits and also inevitably cause a significant decline in global production."

Investors were also wrong to assume that the eurozone crisis was over and that gold was no longer needed as a "safe haven", he added.

"The consensus among generalist investors is that gold reached a near-term peak in 2011 when it spiked at $1,927 and is now in decline. This is based on apparent stability in the eurozone and confidence that the debate on the US fiscal cliff will be resolved in a satisfactory manner," Mr Damaskos explained.

"However, it is likely that macroeconomic events will disappoint and impact the market negatively, dragging the European or US economies back into recession and forcing central banks to intervene in new, radical ways. Such developments would spook the market, encouraging investors to turn to gold as the ultimate safe haven."

The manager, who co-founded the Junior Gold fund with Jim Slater, the legendary investor, in 2009, pointed out that demand for gold was at an all-time high, according to the latest figures from the World Gold Council.

"Should economic events take a disappointing turn, causing a flight back to gold, demand levels could exceed supply, creating a global supply crunch," he said.

"This scenario is a recipe for the gold price to reach highs, potentially of as much as $2,000."

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MailOnline

Hair dyes used by millions of women contain chemicals linked to cancer, British scientists have warned.

By FIONA MACRAE

PUBLISHED: 19 February 2013

They say that both home hair colouring kits and the dyes used at expensive salons pose a potential risk to health.

Writing in a respected scientific journal, they say chemicals in permanent hair dyes can react with tobacco smoke and other pollutants in the air to form one of the most powerful cancer-causing compounds known to man.

High risk beauty: The hair dye chemicals could react with tobacco smoke and exhaust fumes, to form highly poisonous chemicals called N-nitrosamines

With more than a third of women and one in ten men regularly colouring their hair, the researchers say it is 'imperative' that the risk to health is quantified.

However, the cosmetics industry has strongly disputed the claim.

The warning comes from scientists at Leeds-based company Green Chemicals who conducted a review of the chemistry surrounding hair dye. They said that all the information was already available and they simply 'joined the dots' to make the link with cancer.

They warn that chemicals called secondary amines, which are either found in all permanent hair dyes or are formed in them, can penetrate the skin and stay on the hair for weeks, months or even years after the dye is applied.

Over time, they could react with tobacco smoke and exhaust fumes, to form highly poisonous chemicals called N-nitrosamines.

But the Leeds researchers argue that they can still be generated via a simple chemical reaction.

Hair dye has previously been linked to a range of cancers, including tumours of the breast, bladder, ovaries and brain and leukaemia.

There are also concerns that increasing numbers of people are becoming allergic to their contents, sometimes with fatal results.

The sale of home hair dye kits alone is worth an estimated £321million a year and the figure is expected to rise as the population ages.

Professor David Lewis, one of the authors of the study, and an expert in the chemistry of various dyes, said: 'At this stage, we can't be sure of the amount of N-nitrosamines produced or the level of risk these compounds pose but it is clear a potential hazard exists.

'In the interest of consumer safety, it is imperative that a thorough and independent investigation is conducted to establish the levels of toxicity of these compounds and the potential risks.'

A spokesman for Green Chemicals, which is about to launch its own 'ultra-safe' range of hair dyes, said that despite numerous studies of the subject the danger posed by the chemicals in hair dye reacting with the air has been missed or ignored until now.

But manufacturers insisted that the possibility of the chemical reaction has been long known.

Dr Emma Meredith, of the Cosmetic, Toiletry & Perfumery Association, said the law forbids using secondary amines in a form that can react in this way.

George Hammer, the owner of Urban Retreat at Harrods, the world's largest hair and beauty salon, said: 'Chemical companies have a huge vested interest in keeping this under wraps.'

The warning is set out in the journal Materials.

In 2009 the Mail revealed that women who use hair dyes more than nine times a year have a 60 per cent greater risk of contracting blood cancer. A year later the European Commission banned 22 hair dyes which put long term users at risk of bladder cancer

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OrganicConnections

Bhutan Aims to Be The First Fully Organic Nation

2013 02 19

By Adam Plowright

The tiny Buddhist-majority nation wedged between China and India has an unusual and some say enviable approach to economic development, centred on protecting the environment and focusing on mental well-being.

Its development model measuring "Gross National Happiness" instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been discussed at the United Nations and has been publicly backed by leaders from Britain and France, among others.

It banned television until 1999, keeps out mass tourism to shield its culture from foreign influence, and most recently set up a weekly "pedestrians' day" on Tuesdays that sees cars banned from town centers.

Its determination to chart a different path can be seen in its new policy to phase out artificial chemicals in farming in the next 10 years, making its staple foods of wheat and potatoes, as well as its fruits, 100 percent organic.

"Bhutan has decided to go for a green economy in light of the tremendous pressure we are exerting on the planet," Agriculture Minister Pema Gyamtsho told AFP in an interview by telephone from the capital Thimphu. "If you go for very intensive agriculture it would imply the use of so many chemicals, which is not in keeping with our belief in Buddhism, which calls for us to live in harmony with nature."

Bhutan has a population of just over 700,000, two-thirds of whom depend on farming in villages dotted around fertile southern plains near India and the soaring Himalayan peaks and deep valleys to the north.

Overwhelmingly forested, no more than three percent of the country's land area is used for growing crops, says Gyamtsho, with the majority of farmers already organic and reliant on rotting leaves or compost as a natural fertilizer.

"Only farmers in areas that are accessible by roads or have easy transport have access to chemicals," he explained, saying chemical use was already "very low" by international standards.

***