And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Rev. 13:11-12
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:15
In the false 'Gospel in the Stars', the 'first sign, Virgo, represents the protevangelium, that 'the seed of the woman would destroy the seed of the serpent. The final four signs--Taurus, Gemini, Cancer and Leo--all represent the consummation of all things, when the Promised Seed will actually come to destroy the seed of the serpent. Certain stars in these astrological signs are claimed to portray the Promised Seed shepherding his flock of sheep until the final consummation of all things. The following synopsis of the 'Gospel in the Stars' fallacy is found on the Prophecy Central website. Note the extensive imagery of the Shepherd leading and protecting his Sheepfold:
"The first four signs [of the Zodiac] would prefigure the person, work and triumph of the illustrious Redeemer.
“Virgo, the Virgin, is the first sign. She has an ear of wheat in one hand and a branch in the other. The wheat is actually seed, and symbolizes the 'seed of the woman.' The branch is a familiar Old Testament name for the Messiah. The same woman is seen in the first Decan of this sign, Coma, holding a baby, the Branch, or the Desire of Nations. The next Decan in this group is Centaurus, a half-horse, half-man. This could represent the child who is born, having two natures: being both God and man. The last Constellation in this Sign is Bootes, or Arcturus, who is the Great Shepherd and Harvester. Together these images seem to portray, as in the Bible, the virgin birth of a child who has two natures, and the role of that child when he is grown as The Great Shepherd, leading His flock...
"The last four signs make the most sense if they stand for the final consummation of all things. This section would then foretell the coming judgments on the earth and the glorious outcome of Christ's reign.
“Taurus, the Bull, is an angry, rushing animal, which would be a meaningful symbol of God delivering His wrath during the Tribulation. The Decans are Orion, Eridanus, and Auriga. Orion is the warrior-prince with a sword on his side and his foot on the hare or serpent. Eridanus, the torturous River, is the River of Judgment belonging to Orion. Auriga, the Shepherd, is a picture of a powerful shepherd-king who tenderly holds a she-goat and two little goats in his left arm. This could be a picture of The Lord's comfort of the persecuted believers of this coming period of judgment.
“Gemini, The Twins, are two human figures seated together in loving closeness. This could portray the Marriage of the Lamb. The Decans are Lepus, Canis Major, and Canis Minor. Lepus is the mad hare, the enemy under Orion's feet. Canis Major, Sirius, the Great Dog could prefigure the Prince coming in His glory. Then Canis Minor, Procyon, The Second Dog, would be his princely following.
“Cancer the Crab is the figure of a crab, in the act of taking and holding on with its pincers. This could be a picture of the victorious King of Kings when He returns, and the Decans, Ursa Minor, the Lesser Bear, Ursa Major the Greater Bear, and Argo, could picture His privileged followers. Ursa Minor could also mean the lesser sheepfold, and stand for the first-born who will be rulers, and Ursa Major could be the greater sheepfold, the ones born later. Argo, the Ship, brings the weary travelers home from their toils and travels.
“Leo, the Lion might easily picture Christ in His final victory over the Devil. All three of the Decans point to the destruction of the enemy, pictured as a serpent. Hydra, the fleeing Serpent, is about to be pounced upon by the lion. Crater, the Bowl of Wrath, is placed on the serpent. And Corvus, the Raven, the bird of doom, is also on the serpent, devouring his carcass." (850)
Prophecy Central, D. James Kennedy, E.W. Bullinger et al would have Christians believe that the Great Bear and Little Bear constellations are representative of God's sheepfolds. A distinction is even made between two classes of sheep: a little fold of 'first-born who will be rulers' and a greater fold which follows them. In the course of our research, we happened upon the website of the Mystery of Rennes-le-Château, the French village where Merovingians claim to have discovered evidence disproving the Biblical origins of Christianity. An article on this website titled “Francis Bacon & The Arcadian Academy” provided a revelation of the esoteric meaning of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor:
“According to Peter Dawkins, in his book on the English Arcadian Academy;
“Arcadia was presided over by shepherds, and Pan was the great God of Arcadia…arcadia comes from the word Arcas – the son of Zeus & Callisto. Callisto is the Great Bear & Arcas is the Little Bear in astronomical terms, and in Greek Mythology. These stars circumnavigate the North Pole Star – which esoterically is the symbol of high Kingship... the Bear is a ‘veil’ to a real name, which means shepherd. It is where the sheep (ie initiates) and shepherds (adepts & Masters) come from...” (573)
The final sentence is the key that unlocks the meaning of this sign: “...the Bear is a ‘veil’ to a real name, which means shepherd. It is where the sheep (ie initiates) and shepherds (adepts & Masters) come from...”
Initiates? Adepts & Masters? This discovery seemed so significant that we purchased the $50 book cited by Hamblett—Arcadia: The Ancient Egyptian Mysteries by Peter Dawkins—hoping to learn more. We were not disappointed. Dawkins' explanation of the esoteric meaning of the Great and Little Bear constellations was worth the price of the book:
“Associated in esoteric knowledge with this role of high kingship is the symbol of the North Pole Star - the 'crown of the world - and the circumpolar constellations. Of these, the Lesser and the Greater Bear are the most important: the former providing the present North Pole Star. The 'Bear' is a veil to the real name, which means 'Dove', or 'Sheepfold', or 'Chariot'. As the Chariot, it is Arthur's vehicle of manifestation, as also the fiery chariot on which Elijah ascended to heaven. Hence Arthur is known as 'the Bear'. As the Sheepfold, it is the heavenly place of peace and enlightenment that Jesus spoke of, to which the 'sheep' (i.e. initiates) of mankind are led, and from which the 'shepherds' (i.e. the adepts and masters) come from. As the Dove, it is known as the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, by means of which that Spirit descends to the earth and governs its kingdom. It is signified by the royal crown of a High King (i.e. a crown with arches) - a halo of light which descends upon a truly worthy and anointed (i.e. illuminated) soul, bestowing full knowledge of Truth. The Great Bear is known as the mother of the Little Bear, which is her son. The Rampant Bear and Ragged Staff emblem...depicts just this - the Bear constellation tied to the Pole of the earth's axis, and dancing around it.” (889:80)
There you have it, the real meaning of Sheepfold in astrology: “As the Sheepfold, it is the heavenly place of peace and enlightenment that Jesus spoke of, to which the 'sheep' (i.e. initiates) of mankind are led, and from which the 'shepherds' (i.e. the adepts and masters) come from.” Although Dawkins credits Jesus Christ with this pagan concept, it is foreign to Jesus' teaching. Nowhere in chapter 10 of John's gospel, or anywhere else in Scripture, does Jesus refer to His sheep as 'initiates', 'adepts' or 'masters'. As a matter of fact, He is recorded in Matthew 23 as saying, "Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ." As for the trustworthiness of adepts and masters who are lead the initiates entrusted to them, let us not forget the words of Albert Pike, who stated in Morals & Dogma that Masonic initiates are intentionally misled by the adepts and masters:
“Part of the symbols [of Freemasonry] are displayed there to the initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them, but it is intended that he shall imagine that he shall understand them. Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the princes of Masonry.” (155:819)
False prophets and teachers know that sheep are very much herd animals. By way of warning about bad companions, this writer's father used to tell the story of the 'Judas goat'. Before they slaughter the sheep, meat packers train an old goat to lead the sheep out of the pen and down a chute into the slaughter house. At the last moment, the Judas goat is allowed to escape by a side-gate while the sheep go to the slaughter. False prophets are like Judas goats who are strategically placed to lead God's sheep to the slaughter, for Jesus said that the final end of deceived sheep is destruction. He also warned that deceivers would present themselves as Christians, affecting a disposition ever so meek and mild (like sheep), however, in reality such deceivers are a species more dangerous than goats; they are wolves!
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. - Matt. 7:13-15
The notorious German Thule Society, which Hitler joined in 1919, was founded by the followers of Jorg Lanz Von Liebenfels and Guido von List. Lanz was "formerly a Cistercian monk whom the Roman Church excommunicated because of his homosexual activities." (1029) List was "a close associate of Lanz who formed an elitist priesthood called the Armanen Order, to which Hitler may have belonged." In a penetrating analysis of the occult origin of Nazi Aryanism, authors of The Pink Swastika, Kevin Abrams and Scott Lively, implicate the Thule Society of empowering 'initiates' with supernatural powers for eugenics purposes:
“The Nazi dream of an Aryan super-race was adopted from an occult group called the Thule Society, founded in 1917 by followers of Lanz and List. The occult doctrine of the Thule Society held that the survivors of an ancient and highly developed lost civilization (Atlantis) could endow Thule initiates with esoteric powers and wisdom. The initiates would use these powers to create a new race of Aryan supermen who would eliminate all 'inferior' races." (1029)
The former Cistercian monk, Jorg Lanz Von Liebenfels was considered the 'father' of National Socialism by Austrian psychologist Wilhem Daim, the author of a 1958 study of Lanz, The Man Who Gave Hitler His Ideas. A compelling expose of the Merovingian infiltration of the Catholic Church reveals that the Cistercians were Rosicrucians:
“Like most Merovingian monasteries Glastonbury became a Benedictine Monastery. And the purpose of Merovingian monasteries was 'infiltration' based on the belief that the best way to crush the Church was from 'within.'... There is no doubt in my mind that [the Grail legend] would have been the work of the Cistercians, founded by Benedictine monks as 'the ratchet' for the structural organization of [the Prieuré de] Sion. Joseph of Arimathea is alone associated with the Grail legend and the Quest of the Grail legends, which per Colliers Encyclopedia, are dominated by the mystical symbolism of Cistercians...
“More than any heretical Merovingian organizations, the Cistercians personified the banality of evil at its finest. The name Cistercian and of their first monastery, Citeaux derive from Cistus, of the Cistaceae or Rockrose family resembling the wild rose and cultivated in the Mediterranean. The Myrrh with which Mary Magdalene anointed the Body of Jesus also comes from the Cistus family. And they had chosen the Magdalene...assigning her the symbol of the Rose and Cross in memory of the Brotherhood of the Sun founded by Akhenaten who had taken as its symbol the Rose and Cross (Lewis). Cistercians were Rosicrucians. And this Rosicrucian order of monks would triumph in its infiltration of the Church.” (550)
The Secret Doctrine, authored by H.P. Blavatsky in 1893, became the sourcebook for twentieth century esoteric societies, including the Thule Society. The inner core of the Thule Society were Satanists such as Dietrich Eckart to whom Hitler dedicated his book, Mein Kampf. Hitler assiduously applied himself to the The Secret Doctrine, whose underlying premise was the Aryan root race theory, a gnostic belief that the present race of Homo Sapiens is destined to be replaced by the seventh root race of "godmen" or Homo Noeticus, the New Man. There is evidence that the German scientists were aided by contact with 'Gray entities' from inside the Earth for the building of their war machine and genetic research.
ST. JOHN: HEAD OF KNIGHTS & INITIATES
The Templar Revelation by Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett confirms other reports of the Nazi sympathies of Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair, whose possible connection with Hitler's 'Angel of Death', Josef Mengele, was explored in a previous section, The False Christ. A website critical of Plantard's "mystic monarchist games" also exposed the fascist proclivities of the former Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion:
“Born in 1920, he first came to public notice in the Occupied France of 1942 as the editor of a journal called Vaincre pour une Jeune cehvalerie (Conquest for a Young Knighthood)—which was markedly uncritical of the Nazi oppressors, and which was actually published with their approval. This was officially the organ of the Order Alpha Galates, a quasi-Masonic and chivalric society, based in Paris, of which Plantard became the Grand Master at the age of just twenty-two...Vaincre is now [1998] the title of the Priory's internal bulletin, which Pierre de Saint-Clair edits with his son Thomas.” (242:43)
Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair was strongly influenced by one Paul Le Cour, a French mystic who wrote 'L'Ere du Verseau' (The Age of Aquarius). The 'Rennes-le-Château Papers of Paul Smith' charts the development of the Prieuré de Sion and cites the work of M. Le Cour to expose the fascist nature of the New World Order envisioned by the late Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion. Translator Peter O’Reilly interprets Le Cour's vision of the Age of Aquarius as a civilization which revives the mystery religion of ancient Atlantis: "In [L'Ere du Verseau] Le Cour looks forward to the future Age of Aquarius as bringing with it the return of Christ in the role of Christ the King. It is a work of esoteric and apocalyptic Christianity in which the author also voices his belief in an esoteric spiritual tradition that originated in Atlantis…" (994)
Note that the periodical which Pierre Plantard edited with his son Thomas, Vaincre pour une Jeune cehvalerie, means 'Conquest for a Young Knighthood.' In Le Cour's The Age of Aquarius, the following passages are from a chapter entitled ‘The Formation of a New Order of Knighthood.’ In 1949, Le Cour disclosed that his organization, Atlantis, had been making preparations for the formation of 'special establishments' for the training of future leaders. By this he meant a monastic "community of initiates under the direction of a man with a sense of mission."
"For more than twenty years we have been calling in 'Atlantis' for the formation of a new order of Knighthood and indicating the means by which it might be achieved... Jules Romain, in 'Le Probleme Numero Un', published in 1947, wishes, in the face of the current enormous danger, for a spiritual power consisting of a grand order of chivalry and it seems to him that for it to be realised the support of the Catholic church would be of great help. Another French author, Raymond Abellio, has published, likewise in 1947, a curious work entitled 'Vers un prophetisme nouveau', in which he, too, calls for the formation of a grand order consisting of a community of initiates under the direction of a man with a sense of mission." (994)
Le Cour insisted that the Roman Catholic Church must radically change its Christology if she would be the patron of the new knighthood. Implied here is the gnostic belief that St. John the Divine (a composite John the Baptist and John the Evangelist) was the Messiah rather than Jesus Christ.
"The order would comprise novices, disciples and masters. He does not indicate the means of realising it, but thinks that it could be through the Catholic Church, on condition that it lifts the veil off the New Testament and 'questions St John....'
"Let me also point out that P.Riquet in a conference in 1947 at Notre Dame de Paris, has also spoken for the need for the creation of an order of knighthood. And Jean-Louis Lagor has published a work with the title 'Une Chevalerie Renaitra' (An Order of Knighthood Will Be Reborn)." (994)
The target group for initiation into the new knighthood was the youth culture, which had been victimized by the baleful influence of secular humanism. Le Cour saw France as the locus of planning and activity by the new leadership with priories, i.e. monasteries, as the training centers. These warrior-monks will be directed by the false 'Christ' when he returns.
"Young people have been abandoned for far too long without moral or spiritual direction. Teaching has been developed at the expense of 'education'. Everything therefore needs to be created from the beginning to bring about the formation of leaders and educators, subject to a discipline simultaneously heroic and sanctifying, in special establishments: Priories (Prieures). We possess in France buildings that are permeated with a spiritual dynamism that favours its realisation, such as Mont St Michel with its wonderful cloisters for meditation, its majestic chapel for prayer and its magnificent hall of knights. All are unused.
"Our country has a mission to fulfil. It has been shaken hard to wake it from its torpor, its lethargy; and now ideas are shooting up on all sides, for France is a seedbed of ideas. Let us try to understand what our mission consists of, let us try to fulfil it by preparing knights of the Apocalypse whose head will be Christ when he returns!" (994)
At the right moment, said Le Cour, a new Grail King would rise to the occasion of directing the communities of youthful initiates. The esoteric Church of St. John would replace the traditional Church of St. Peter, which had ruthlessly persecuted the Knights Templar and related Gnostic sects.
"The cycle of the romances of the Round Table tells us the story of the holy vessel, the Grail, which there is good reason to connect with that Ganymede (i.e. Aquarius). Considered as containing all light and all knowledge, it is the object of a quest, a search to which the knights dedicate themselves. Their head is King Arthur, head of the legendary order of knighthood of the Grail, who is to return one day at the head of his knights to put the world back in order, and at that time all symbols will be explained. But such an order of knighthood will have to be placed under the patronage of St John, who is the head of knights and of initiates." (994)
The preceding passage presents an altogether different type of world order than is portrayed by the usual New World Order propaganda. Virtually all exposure of the global conspiracy creates the image of a secular, socialist world government under the management of the United Nations. Yet, according to the late Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion, which directs all other secret societies, the new world order will be not only of a religious character but a dynamic network of monastic communities under a priest-king. This would be a perfect fulfillment of a prophecy made in the twelfth century by the famous mystic monk, Joachim of Fiore.
"...the third age would be one of love, joy, and freedom, when the knowledge of God would be revealed directly in the hearts of all men. The Age of the Spirit was to be the Sabbath or resting-time of mankind. Then the world would be one vast monastery, in which all men would be contemplative monks rapt in mystical ecstasy and united in singing the praises of God. And this new version of the kingdom of the Saints would endure until the last judgment." (243:108-9)
Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202 AD) was born in Calabria, Italy and became a Calabrian monk, an order which merged with the Merovingian Celtic Church in 1128 A.D. "Joachim of Fiore, a Cistercian Abbot from Southern Italy, allegedly received visions on Mount Tabor which inspired him to write the 'Eternal Gospels' based on his own interpretation of Revelation 14:6. He proclaimed that there were three ages of the world corresponding to the three persons of the Holy Trinity. In the first age, the Father ruled the world through power and fear (Old Testament). The Son ruled through wisdom and discipline in the second age (New Testament). The third age was nearing (he prophesied around 1260) when the Holy Spirit would rule with universal love without the need for institutions. In this third age, the Church would be freed from everything carnal and worldly, and a new religious Order would be founded whose task it would be to propagate these ideas and thereby save the whole world." (1009)
Joachim's prophecy may not be as far-fetched as it seems. In their book, The Trojan Horse: How the New Age Infiltrates the Church, Brenda Scott and Samantha Smith reveal that the Temple of Understanding, a 'Spiritual United Nations' launched by Eleanor Roosevelt, is networking monastic communities worldwide in order to form the very leadership envisioned by Joachim of Fiore, Paul Le Cour and Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair for the new global spirituality:
"In June of 1980, the...Temple of Understanding...sponsor(ed) the formation of a World Monastic Council... - to be an international network of monks, nuns, scholars, theologians and laity from...both East and West, who would work together to create...the global society of the future to work for the awakening of spiritual consciousness (godhood)." (24:83)
KALLISTOS WARE
Timothy Ware (1934-) was an Anglican theologian who converted to Greek Orthodoxy in 1958. In 1966, at age 32, he was ordained priest and became a monk, receiving the new name 'Kallistos'. He made his monastic vows at St. John the Theologian monastery on the Greek island of Patmos and is now a bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church and considered the "foremost authority on Orthodoxy". Also in 1966, he returned to Oxford as Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University. Bishop Kallistos Ware is today a major figure in the interfaith / ecumenical movement. He has written books and conducted numerous seminars on the Eastern Orthodox Church and Christian mysticism. The following profile appears on the website of Ohio State University, where Bishop Ware lectured in April of 2002:
"Consecrated Bishop of Diokleia in 1982, Bishop Kallistos is well known for his popular books about Eastern Orthodox faith and practice and has been hailed as 'perhaps the 20th century's foremost authority on Orthodoxy' by the Russian Orthodox press. Bishop Kallistos serves in the diocese of Thyatira of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
"Bishop Kallistos Ware is a resident of Oxford, England. A British native, he left the Anglican Church and converted to Greek Orthodoxy in 1958. Timothy Ware's first contact with Orthodoxy was as a 17- year-old who 'by chance or divine providence' attended an Orthodox vigil service already in progress and immediately felt a sense of 'belonging' although he could not understand the language. He was ordained to the priesthood at age 32 and took monastic vows at St. John the Theologian monastery on the Greek island of Patmos.
"Before retiring last year, His Grace was the Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University of Oxford, where he had completed his own studies in Greek and Latin. His Grace also was a fellow of Pembroke College at Oxford. Active in work for Christian unity, His Grace was a member of the Anglican Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Discussions from 1973-84 and spent five years in the mid 1990s as co-chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Orthodox Methodist Theological Dialogue. He has written three books, including The Orthodox Church, and has translated three major Greek liturgical works. The first of an eight-volume set of his own collected works, entitled The Inner Kingdom, was recently published." (662)
The Greek island of Patmos, where the apostle John received his vision for the book of Revelation, was and is still a hotbed of pagan worship. On the high point of the island, in the very location where the monastery of St. John the Theologian now stands, there was in ancient times a famous temple in honor of Diana, also called Artemis. The founder of the monastery, Ioannis Christodoulos, was a leading figure in the Eastern church and monasticism at the time.
"In 313 AD, Christianity was officially recognized as the religion of the Roman Empire and from this time the new faith spread rapidly throughout the Greek islands. The eastern Christian empire of Byzantium exercised control over the isle of Patmos and in the 4th century the ancient shrine of the goddess Diana was torn down. Directly upon its foundations was erected a church dedicated to St. John but this church was itself destroyed sometime between the 6th and 9th centuries when the island was subjected to frequent raids by the Arabs. Left deserted after these raids, Patmos next entered history in 1088 when a Byzantine emperor granted the island to the monk Christodolous, whose intention it was to establish a monastery. Built upon the remains of the old church and the older shrine of Diana, the monastery of St. John has been in continuous operation for over 900 years." (1008)
From prehistoric times, the religion of Patmos was the worship of Artemis. There the Greek Orthodox monks tore down the temple of Artemis in order to erect a monastery to St. John instead. Or did they? Several occult sources agree that Diana/Artemis was the bisexual god, Janus/Jana; and a Roman philosopher informs us that the Roman variant of 'John' is 'Janus/Jana'. Robert Graves stated in The White Goddess: "...Janus was really the oak-god Dianus who was incarnate in the King of Rome..."-(406:69) "Macrobius...says that Janus is two-faced because he is a fusion of Artemis and Apollo (i.e., Sun and Moon, Janus and Jana = Dianus and Diana); thus he corresponds to the alchemical hermaphrodite..." (983)
In The Cult of the Black Virgin, Ean Begg confirms the duality and bisexuality of Janus/Diana, adding that Janus was also John: "Janus is one of the most important Roman gods. His two faces illustrate not only his role as deity of beginnings, looking to past and future, but his essential duality as the original bisexual chaos and the form which emerged from it. Diana/Jana and Saturn are especially associated with him. He may have been Gallicized into Jean (John), one of the companions to the Black Virgin." (272:7)
Monastic communities have historically built their monasteries and other edifices on the sacred sites of pagans, where human sacrifice was practiced as part of their Satanic rites. The construction of monasteries and cathedrals on sacred sites proliferated due to the fact that such sites were connected to an underground energy grid known today as ley lines. With the advance of Christianity, the worship of pagan gods and goddesses declined and was eventually proscribed by the Roman Catholic Church. To circumvent this prohibition, pagans simply disguised themselves as Christian monks and infiltrated the Church, where they were, whether unwittingly or no, given carte blanche as 'holy men' to reactivate the ancient underground grid:
"These mystical, occult [ley] lines join together the sacred sites thus making a grid which is a force or source field - ancient magic of the cabbalists and shamans... 'The ancestors walked the land, also filling it with spiritual forces. These forces are concentrated in sacred sites [which] include fertility sites, conception sites, initiation sites, and cremation and burial sites. Graham Mundine has shown how the ley-lines of the pagan world are to be reactivated from sacred site to sacred site, as the 'Rainbow Spirit Theology' book discloses." (70:15)
In their New Age book The Light Shall Set You Free, Norma Milanovich and Shirley McCune expound at length upon the electromagnetic grid that was developed by the gods of Atlantis. This matrix of sacred sites were and are still believed to connect mankind to the underworld and the 'divine cosmos'. In the selection from the book below, the hyperlinked words and phrases lead to more detailed information in another report, Heeding Bible Prophecy, which outlines the various elements of the New Age plan to recreate pre-flood world of Atlantis via demonic beings who will present themselves as reincarnated Atlantean high priests and priestesses.
"In Atlantis, an etheric energy matrix existed beneath the Earth's surface, providing a lattice network for such activities as telepathic communication and healing. This matrix was known as a grid...
"This grid was a system of electromagnetic frequencies created through worldwide linkages made by human thought waves and energy transmitted by the Earth and through crystals. The system followed a carefully designed global plan...[which] embodied the study and form of geomancy, which means the divination of lines drawn at random...
"...The electromagnetic grid was built by the Thrice-Greatest Geomancer and Master of Earth known as Hermes Trismegistus and the High Priests and Priestesses of Atlantis who came to earth to build a great civilization for this part of the galaxy...
"...The effect of this grid was to connect humans to the Earth though the power of Spirit.
"Hermes and other beings of Light first implanted celestial crystals within the etheric bodies of the High Priests and Priestesses and then within those of the Light Workers of the hierarchy. These crystals contained symbolic and geometric coding from the Universal Language of Light that send out frequencies to connect signals emanating from points of Light. This effort formed lines of Light radiating from their etheric bodies which connected to the Earth, forming the Illuminated web of Divine energy...
"These select emissaries of the Divine journeyed to various lands and sites. Each time they visited foreign places, the currents of energy were made stronger... The grid truly connected the Heavens and Earth and formed the perfect Oneness...
"That was the state of affairs when Atlantis was in it glory, But... Certain individuals, not of the priesthood, began to rise to power and change the systems, which resulted in disaster. In time, Atlantis fell, and...many of these great accomplishments were buried with the land underneath the ocean floor... Some of the survivors, who were keepers of this sacred knowledge on geomancy, settled in Egypt and the Yucatán, keeping a portion of the mysteries and knowledge alive... history would reveal that the souls of the High Priests and Priestesses would reincarnate to rebuild Atlantis in the form of the Seventh Golden Age. That time is now." (45:346-50)
There were other sacred sites in Greece as well. The following article notes that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was declared the "Mother of God' at the Council of Ephesus, which city was the very heart of Diana/Artemis worship. Some churchmen attempt to ascribe the rise of cult of the Black Virgin in Ephesus to the worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who, they claim (without a shred of evidence) lived there with John in her later years. This begs the question, however, the worship of Artemis being the obvious reason for the Black Virgin cult in Ephesus. Ean Begg traces the origins of Black Virgin statues in Greece to pre-Christian idols of Artemis, whose duality is expressed in her contradictory images. In Ephesus, she was the many-breasted Black Virgin; in Arcadia and Sparta, the lesbian goddess invoked by women participating in same-sex unions.
"It is debatable how far the Artemis of Greece, the 'maiden huntress', should be identified with the many-breasted, fertile, Ephesian goddess. Between them they combine the paradox of virgin and mother which is at the heart of Christian Marian dogma...
"It is with Artemis of Ephesus rather than the Arcadian Lady of Wild Things that we must now concern ourselves in the quest for the origins of the Black Virgin. According to legend she started as a black meteoric stone... Ephesus was where the Virgin Mary traditionally spent her closing years before her Dormition and Assumption, with St John, before his exile to Patmos. In Ephesus in AD 431 the Virgin Mary was proclaimed 'Mother of God', and her cult spread thence to the city of the she-wolf, Rome, and so to all the corners of the world, as, indeed, a thousand years earlier had that of her predecessor, the Black Ephesian. The best known image of Artemis of Ephesus, a Roman alabaster and bronze statue of the second century, shows her with a black face, hands and feet, multiple breasts, on her head a mural crown or tower, and on her dress images including bulls, goats, deer and a bee...
"Artemis is hostile to love and punishes sexual transgressors severely. Unawakened little girls, brownies playing bears to her honour in the forest, are great favourites of hers, but boys fare less well at the hands of her devotees. In Sparta, youths were flogged in front of the statue of Artemis Orthia (upright), in a combination of fertility rite and painful puberty initiation. The sexual puritanism of the new goddess of Christianity, with its proliferation of monastic establishments, would not altogether have displeased Arcadian Artemis." (272:54)
Another New Age fable imagines that, during his exile on the island of Patmos, the apostle John crafted a Black Madonna which was removed to France. No proof of this absurdity exists, however, the tale does demonstrate that the Black Virgin was venerated on Patmos.
"One of the treasured relics taken from the Cathar stronghold of Montsegur, France, just before its fall to the Inquisition, was a statue of the Christian Black Madonna crafted by St. John on the Isle of Patmos. It was a simple artwork, for John was not a skilled craftsman; but it was and is a venerated talisman, empowered by St. John during his mystical trances, through which he imparted the Book of Revelation." (1025)
Atlantis?
We interject here that Chuck Missler of Koinonia House sponsored an 'Exclusive Archaeological Cruise Event' called The Malta Expedition. Tourists sailed to the islands of Patmos, Malta and Crete with excursions to Ephesus and Athens, where they visited the Acropolis, Parthenon and Mars Hill. Two days were spent on the island of Malta, where the tour visited the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta!
Day 7 - Tuesday, April 6 Early arrival on Malta. Visit Valletta - A World Heritage Site, Grand Master's Palace (War Room), Paul's Cave, Paul's Shipwrecked Church, the fishing villages and an ancient Tarxien temple. Exclusive evening dinner and book signing at the Palazzo Parisio with dignitaries and those who assisted in the discovery of Paul's Anchors.
Valletta, the capital of Malta, has 320 monuments making it one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world and one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. At Valetta the tour also visited an ancient Tarxien temple. 'Tarxien' means 'huge stone' which describes those used for the numerous prehistoric temples on Malta. The World Monuments Fund is trying to help protect these temples. In Lady of the Beasts: The Goddess and Her Sacred Animals, Buffie Johnson informs that Malta was renown for its temples and monuments to the Mother Goddess.
"Even in the monument strewn islands of the Mediterranean, the spiritual singularity of the goddess temples of Malta is conspicuous. Built with monumental boulders, yet finished with the first dressed stone within, these temples were designed in a unique apsidal arrangement resembling the clover leaf form of the goddess herself. Some temples, large enough to be compared with cathedrals, were expanded through the addition of vaulted circular chambers. They contained altars, fonts, ovens for baking sacred bread, and many goddess figures; the remains of one are nearly six feet in height. A visit to the monuments there reveals convincing evidence of goddess worship." (141:68)
The stated purpose of the Malta Expedition was to view the newly-discovered 'lost anchors' of Paul's second missionary journey. The discoverer of the 'lost anchors of Paul' is Robert Cornuke, president of the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute (BASE). Cornuke's books are offered by the ministries of Chuck Missler and J.R. Church, as well as many other so-called Christian ministries. There is no evidence that Cornuke, whose organization co-sponsored the Malta cruise, has discovered these anchors but this did not deter the promoters from publishing their speculations as facts.
The Misslers' excursion appeared to be a pretext for promoting ancient centers of occult activity as historic Christian sites and this scheme may be even more sophisticated. Gaining in popularity is the theory is that the Mediterranean Sea is the location of the lost civilization of Atlantis! Archaeologists claim they have located underwater structures off the coast of Malta and the latest studies argue the existence of an advanced civilization that predates dynastic Egypt. Graham Hancock's recent book devoted 120 pages to evidence that Malta was the tip of the former continent of Atlantis.
"Last year the idea that Malta was Atlantis gained international recognition and featured in popular television documentaries, publications and guidebooks. A Russian TV crew had visited Malta for this purpose and a documentary was screened on OTR channel 1 in the Soviet Union. Piero Angela, of Super Quark, was also interested enough to come to Malta to make a documentary about the subject. David Furlong, author of Keys to the Temples, was also in Malta to study the positions of prehistoric sites and compare them with British sites. The theory that Malta was Atlantis was published in the Italian journal of archaeology Hera, while the French journal Archeologie also carried articles about it. Best selling author Graham Hancock had also published a book 'Underworld, flooded kingdoms of the Ice Age' in the UK, dedicating 120 pages out of its total of 761 to Malta and the publications Malta: Echoes of Plato's Island, and Dossier Malta - evidence for the Magdalenian, published in 1997. The latter had suggested that the presence of man on Malta could date back to about 15000 to 12000 BC rather than the traditionally accepted date of about 7000 BC." (1044)
Mount Athos
Bishop Kallistos Ware is also the President of the Friends of Mount Athos, a society dedicated to the "the advancement of education of the public in the study and knowledge of the history, culture, arts, architecture, natural history, and literature of the Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos and the promotion of the religious and other charitable work of the Holy Community and monasteries of Mount Athos". We will therefore consider some of the "history, culture, arts, architecture, natural history, and literature of the Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos".
History. Mount Athos is no ordinary sacred site in Greece, but the very center of Orthodox monasticism. "The religious history of Athos goes back long before the birth of Christianity however. The great marble peak of Mt. Athos (6670 feet, 2033 meters) was mentioned as early as Homer and Aiskhylos as being the first home of the Greek gods Zeus and Apollo before they moved to Mt. Olympus. Pagan hermits have lived in the deep forests since prehistoric times for it was known then, as it has been forgotten now, that places where the ancient gods had lived still held great powers for humans." Today, Mount Athos is still held in great reverence as a 'Holy Mountain' and populated exclusively with monastic communities, as well as many hermits, totaling over 2,000 monks from all of the Orthodox traditions.
"For in spiritual terms Athos is not of this world at all: it is, at least for those who live there, a station in sacred space, a foretaste of paradise. Not for nothing is it known as the Holy Mountain.
"For more than a thousand years Athos has existed as the principal centre of monasticism for the Orthodox Church -- or rather for all the Orthodox Churches. Ever since Byzantine times it has been a pan-Orthodox, multi-national centre. There were once monasteries for Albanians, Amalfitans, Bulgarians, Georgians, Moldavians, Russians, Serbs, and Wallachians as well as Greeks. Today there are still houses for Bulgarians, Greeks, Romanians, Russians, and Serbs. Furthermore Athos is unique for being a portion of contemporary Europe entirely devoted to the monastic life and to nothing else.
"Today the Mountain has a total population of some 2000 monks, a figure that is steadily rising. Most follow the cenobitic tradition which brings monks into communities for living, working, and worshipping together. Others follow the eremitical tradition and live as hermits, either in small groups or as solitaries. Between them they inhabit a variety of different establishments." (1026)
Art and Architecture. Icons are an integral part of the Orthodox belief and tradition--a direct violation of the 2nd commandment: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Exod. 20:4. During Paul's second missionary journey, while he was in Greece, God spoke through the apostle commanding all men, and in particular the Greeks, to repent of their idol worship:
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry... Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;... Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent. Acts 17
There are, in fact, close to 18,000 icons on the 'Holy Mountain' of Athos today and many of these are claimed to have performed miracles, particularly those of the Virgin Mary. Supposedly largest collection of Christian art in the world, some of this artwork is blatantly pagan. For example, one wall painting from an Athonite monastery displays a dragon eating the head of a man; the facade of another monastery exhibits an All-Seeing Eye, the well-known symbol of occult illumination. (1052)
Bill Schoenbelen writes from personal experience when he explains the occult meaning of the All-Seeing Eye: "To 'open' the eye a little bit is to experience psychic powers. To open the eye completely is to have your brain flooded with the 'pure' consciousness of Lucifer himself. This is why one of the Masonic symbols is the 'All-Seeing Eye.' It is a symbol of Illumination. This is Satan's counterfeit for being Born Again. In it, you acquire a 'personal relationship' with Lucifer. You begin to think his thoughts and see with his eyes. You begin to look at humans the way he does. It is not a pretty sight." (39:365) In the Greek Orthodox Church, there the many dark icons that can be considered Black Virgins. The Athens News Agency stated on November 11, 2002: "Several Eastern Orthodox monasteries are located on Mount Athos, an all-male community dedicated to the Madonna for a millennium." Monastic communities in the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the Carmelite and Benedictine, were noted for their devotion to the Black Virgin. This is understandable, considering that monasticism was birthed in Egypt (where Isis was worshipped) and Christianized in Alexandria (where the Mary Magdalene cult arose), whence it was transported to the Roman Empire by Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, and to the Byzantine Empire by Basil the Great. Subsequent to their genesis in Egypt, Black Virgins were worshipped by monastic communities of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, in that order. Ean Begg stated, "Since the Catholic [Black Virgin] icons are Byzantine in origin, it seems worth indicating some in Greece that are mentioned as potential [Black Virgins]..." (272:239) The Mount Athos icon in the Monastery of Dochairou "is of a totally Black Virgin and Child".
Culture. Mount Athos is also a major center for the gnostic tradition of hesychasm, which is a Byzantine form of contemplative prayer directed toward ecstatic mystical experience. A practice akin to Zen Buddhism and Hindu Yoga, hesychasm involves striving for 'inner stillness' as a means to having visions of 'the divine light'.
"The monks of Mount Athos accepted Hesychasm. According to Gregory of Sinai, the founder of hesychia, monks could see the ‘uncreated light of God’, the light that shone about Christ at his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, if they were virtuous and devoted themselves exclusively to prayer, seated from morn to eve in the same place, concentrating and repeating silently the prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me’. The hope that they could thus come close to God was perhaps a reaction to the ever increasing external dangers and the collapse of the Byzantine Empire." (1026)
The Philokalia is a five-volume collection of 'spiritual wisdom' in the Orthodox tradition that was written between the 4th and 15th centuries by the 'Holy Fathers' of the Orthodox tradition and preserved within Mount Athos monasteries. Co-edited by Bishop Kallistos Ware, Philokalia: The Complete Text is a source book for the Orthodox on the practices of Hesychasm, the Jesus Prayer, Nepsis or Inner Attention, Asceticism and Theosis, which is the deification of man doctrine embraced by the Greek Orthodox Church. A book review of The Philokalia reveals that the objective of repeating the Jesus Prayer is personal deification---the Satanically-inspired lie, 'ye shall be as gods':
"The goal is to repeat without ceasing the Jesus Prayer, whether aloud or not. Literally without ceasing. The prayer should revolve in the mind even while eating, speaking with others, or sleeping. Thus perpetual communion with God, the purpose of human existence, can be fulfilled. Theosis, deification, partaking of the divine nature, gaining the divinity that God has extended to us, is the purpose of practicing the Jesus Prayer in this way, just as it is the purpose of asceticism, hesychasm, and other practices."
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. - Gen. 3:4-5
The founder of hesychasm, Gregory of Sinai, also invented the 'Jesus Prayer', a 'monologistic' prayer, which means praying ‘Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me’ repeatedly and contemplatively while seated in the same place. (In some Russian traditions the phrase “a sinner” is added at the end.) Repeating this prayer from morning to evening is supposed to fulfill Paul's command to 'pray without ceasing.'
Bishop Kallistos Ware has written and lectured extensively on the practice of hesychasm, which originated at Mount Athos. His book, The Inner Kingdom, begins with a chapter on "Silence in Prayer: the Meaning of Hesychia". In the year 2002, Ware was also a presenter for the John Main Seminar, an annual event sponsored by the World Community for Christian Meditation. A promotional piece for Bishop Ware's seminar presents a word-for-word description of the hesychast technique:
"Countless Christians over the centuries have found a way of entry through practicing the invocation of the Holy Name: in the West often through the repetition of the name 'Jesus' on its own; in the East more commonly through a longer phrase, such as 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.'" (572)
Apposite to Bishop Ware's leadership in the advocacy of hesychasm, one medieval Patriarch of Constantinople by the name of 'Callistus' created an uproar in the Greek Orthodox Church when he persecuted opponents of hesychasm:
"In the fourteenth century a pseudo-spiritualism akin to that of the ancient Euchites or Messalians, culminating in the famous Hesychast controversies (see HESYCHASM; PALAMAS), greatly disturbed the mutual harmony of Greek monasteries, especially those of Mount Athos, one of whose monks, Callistus, had become Patriarch of Constantinople (1350-54) and in that office exhibited great severity towards the opponents of Hesychasm. Racial and national discord between the Greeks and the Servians added fuel to the flames, and for a while the monks were again subjected to the immediate supervision of the Bishop of Hierissus." (548)
Literature. Before relocating to Mt. Athos to teach the monks the hesychast method of contemplation, Gregory of Sinai belonged to the Monastery of St. Katherine at Mt. Sinai. It was at this convent that the gnostic manuscript, Sinaiticus Aleph, was discovered by Constantin Tischendorf in the 19th century. The Sinaiticus Aleph along with infamous Vaticanus B were used by B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort as the basis for their corrupt New Greek Text from which modern versions of the Bible are translated.
Mount Athos was ever a hotbed of gnostic occultism. James H. Sightler, author of A Testimony Founded Forever, sheds more light on the pivotal role of the Mount Athos monks in preserving the Corpus Hermeticum. These were the core documents of the Hermetic tradition which were unavailable to the West in classical times but 'rediscovered' in Athos during the Renaissance, and delivered to Europe where they were translated and disseminated. Dr. Sightler is of the opinion that the Vaticanus B was also preserved at Mount Athos, and there is evidence that the Codex Alexandrinus was found there as well.
"Frances Yates relates that a monk from Macedonia, Leonardo da Pistoria, working for Cosmo de Medici, brought the Corpus Hermeticum to Florence about 1460, where it was translated by Marsilio Ficino. Michael Psellus knew of this manuscript in his day in the eleventh century, and I believe that the Corpus Hermeticum actually came from Mount Athos, which is a peninsula of Macedonia. I say this because of the mystical and Hermetic influences in religious practice and art on Athos which we have just noted, and I am also convinced that Codex B was found there by Bessarion at just about the same time as the discovery of the Corpus Hermeticum."
"...It is interesting that F.H.A. Scrivener's book, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, shows in its index 30 references to Mount Athos covering 53 manuscripts which were found there. At the time of publication of this book in 1883 about 650 New Testament Manuscripts had been found. Therefore about eight per cent were from Athos. The index lists 5 ms. from Patmos, 20 from St. Saba in Jerusalem, 16 from the monastery of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, 20 from Jamina in Epirus, and 6 from St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai. For those manuscripts whose origin is known, Mount Athos is the most frequent source... Furthermore, Hatch's catalogue of uncials of 1939, cited previously, lists a total of 7 uncials from Athos, only 4 of which had been catalogued by Scrivener. Of these 6 are Byzantine and one, Codex Alexandrinus, is mixed. Scrivener states that Wetstein, on the authority of Matthew Muttis, a deacon attached to Cyril Lukar, believed that Cyril had obtained Codex A from Mount Athos... Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake agree with Scrivener and point out that Cyril was on Mount Athos in 1612-1613. I believe that Codex B as well had been removed from Athos l 50 years before by Bessarion."...
"It is now no longer necessary to believe Tischendorf's claim that Codices B and Aleph were once located and used in Constantinople. Jackson and Lake give the opinion that Codex B 'was brought from Alexandria to Sicily by fugitives from the conquering Arabs, in the seventh century, and thence to Calabria. Nothing is known which suggests that it remained in the East until the fifteenth century and was then brought to Rome under the influence of the revival of letters.'...
"Both B and Aleph were written in Egypt. I believe that both were there, probably in Alexandria, in 640 A.D. when the Arabs under Amrou captured the city after a siege of fourteen months. I believe they were removed by Egyptian anchorites before the city fell and taken to the island of Crete to be kept, perhaps in the famous Labyrinth cave, known from antiquity, by the monks and their successors until 823 A.D. when the Saracens captured portions of the island. At that time Codex B was taken to Mount Athos, where the earliest monastic communities were just arising, or to Mistra. The Corpus Hermeticum could have been carried along with it as well. Aleph was taken by other monks to Mt. Sinai, where the monastery of St. Catherine had been built by Justinian in the eighth century. These codices then remained in their respective places until Bassarion took Codex B from Athos or Mistra in 1846 and Tischendorf retrieved Aleph in 1859...
"At the Council of Florence Cosimo de Medici met Bassarion and his mentor, Plethon, and was moved by them to back the establishment of a school at Florence for the study and dissemination of Neo-Platonic philiosphy. Bassarion and Plethon in 1442 founded the Academia Platonica at Florence. Cosimo provided funds for the acquisition of rare manuscripts, including copies of the Corpus Hermeticum, Plato, and Plutarch, as well a Biblical manuscripts. He later gave a villa at Careggi, near Florence, to a student and colleague of Plethon and Bassarion, Marsilio Ficino, who was the first to translate the Corpus, Plato and Platinus into Latin and carried on the work of the academy." (350:128-33)
According to Ian Paisley's European Institute of Protestant Studies (EIPS), "Mount Athos comes under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, but enjoys the status of a semi-autonomous republic within Greece. Not only was this spelt out in the Greek constitution as recently as 1975, when Greece entered the European Union six years later the monasteries were specifically excluded from the jurisdiction of EU equality legislation." Unfortunately, the Mount Athos community has accepted "EU funds to help preserve both their treasures and the fabric of the monasteries"--a compromise having major consequences: On September 4, 2003 "A plenary session of the Euro-Parliament has passed a proposal-report demanding that the Greek government rescind the special protection the monks have enjoyed for a millennium."
This eventuality has the makings of an ecumenical uprising against the European Union and a groundswell of support for the poor monks of Mount Athos. Which is precisely what the social transformers have in mind to galvanize popular support for Joachim's mystical utopia---where "the world would be one vast monastery, in which all men would be contemplative monks rapt in mystical ecstasy..."
NEW ORDER OF MYSTICAL KNIGHTHOOD
Bishop Kallistos Ware is involved in a number of ecumenical initiatives the purpose of which is to unite Protestant, Catholics and Orthodox, not along the lines of doctrinal beliefs, but through an assimilation of the doctrinal (watered down to mere theism) into the mystical. For example, Bishop Ware co-edited the aforementioned complete text of The Philokalia and also contributed to James Cutsinger's book Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East, which is a collection of essays by Greek Orthodox and Islamic spiritualists finding common ground in the esoteric traditions of their respective religions.
This philosophy is termed the religio perennis, the 'eternal religion', which means that "every religion has, besides its literal meaning, an esoteric dimension, which is essential, primordial and universal." (1037) Frithjof Schuon, considered the foremost spokesman of religio perennis and author of books such as The Transcendent Unity of Religions, calls this dialogue 'esoteric ecumenism'.
"These commonalities suggest the possibility for a deeper kind of religious dialogue than is customary in our day, a dialogue which seeks to foster what Frithjof Schuon has called inward or 'esoteric' ecumenism, and which, while respecting the integrity of traditional dogmas and rites, 'calls into play the wisdom which can discern the one sole Truth under the veil of different forms'." (1027)
This strategy has been voiced by a number of leading figures in Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy; in fact, these are the very personages with whom Bishop Ware is sharing platforms in symposiums such as the Ecumenical Conference for Traditional Christians sponsored by Touchstone Magazine. All of the presenters at this conference—Dom Laurence Freeman, a Benedictine monk and Director of the World Center for Christian Meditation, J.I. Packer of Renovare and Richard Neuhaus (Catholic priest/author, ECT Document), Harold O.J. Brown of the UN/Mormon-affiliated World Congress of Families, James Cutsinger (mentioned above) and others—are affiliated with heterodox organizations.
The John Main Seminar is an annual event held by the UK-based World Center for Christian Mediation to "celebrates the life and teaching of the Benedictine monk whose life's work was passing on the ancient practice of Christian Meditation." The seminar has in the past featured as speakers the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who is a member of the Order of Druids; the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist High Priest; assorted Catholic priests; and Kallistos Ware, who was presenter of the seminar in 2002.
"Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia (Timothy Ware) will lead the John Main Seminar 2002. He is a member of the Monastery of St. John the Theologian, Patmos, Greece and one of the Assistant Bishops of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain (under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople).
"Since 1966, Bishop Kallistos has taught in the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University and is a past chairman of the board of the theology department in Oxford. Active in work for Christian unity, among his many charisms, Bishop Kallistos also speaks French. His books include 'The Orthodox Church' and 'The Orthodox Way', and he is co-translator of 'The Philokalia'. His latest book is 'The Inner Kingdom', published in 2000...
[at end of page]:
"The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) is an international community that practices and teaches meditation in the Christian tradition in over 60 countries, some 25 meditation centres and a large number of meditation groups, including just under 200 in Canada.
"The John Main Seminar is the Community's premiere annual event held in honour of Dom John Main (1926-1982), the inspiration and founder of The World Community for Christian Meditation. Recent Seminar presenters have included: Archbishop Rowan Williams, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Professor Huston Smith, Fr. Thomas Keating, Jean Vanier and Mary McAleese, President of Ireland. The Seminar was last held in Canada in 1993 with William Johnston, S.J., as speaker." (572)
Prior to the Archbishop of Canterbury's installation ceremony last year, Rowan Williams was inducted into the Ancient Order of Druids. We suspect that the Church of England's affiliation with the Druid Order is really nothing new; that all who have filled this high office of the Church of England have been closet Druids. The Times article, "Why the Archbishop is embracing pagan roots" by Ruth Gledhill, July 19, 2002, reported the event:
"...the new Archbishop of Canterbury will be inducted as a druid in a 200-year-old ceremony with pagan roots in Wales next month. As the sun rises over a circle of Pembrokeshire bluestones, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev Dr Rowan Williams, will don a long white cloak while druids chant a prayer to the ancient god and goddess of the land. After a trumpet fanfare and the thrice partial sheathing and unsheathing of a 6ft6in sword, a citation will be read. Dr Williams will close his hands in prayer while the archdruid, wearing a crown and shield over his bardic robes, will enfold them in his own and utter words of welcome. That will be the moment that Dr Williams, who will adopt a new, bardic name, is accepted into the white druidic order, the highest of three orders of the Gorsedd of Bards, the Welsh body of poets, musicians, writers and artists. The Mistress of the Robes, Sian Aman, will then clothe him in a druidic white headdress, and a steward will lead him to join the other assembled druids inside a sacred circle." (595)
The Dalai Lama, a presenter at the WCCM John Main Seminar in 1994, has of late been conjuring evil spirits in Hitler's old stomping grounds in preparation for the Fourth Reich. These rituals, which are detailed on a Buddhist education website, will hopefully give the reader an idea of the teachings of the Dalai Lama at the John Main Seminars.
"On October 11-23, 2002, the Kalachakra for World Peace will take place in Graz, Austria. Thousands of participants from over 30 nations are to be initiated into tantric teachings by the Dalai Lama XIV. The event is being supported by the Mayor of Graz and the Provincial and Federal Government in Austria. The Kalachakra tantra ritual is the key initiation rite into tantric or Tibetan Buddhism. It is a shamanistic process involving the conjuring of 722 spirits to be released over the land. "According to church leaders in Austria and Germany the Dalai Lama wants to make Graz the pillar of a bridge for Buddhism into the Western world. Buddhists prophesied that the next Dalai Lama will reincarnate in the Western world. In Graz children shall be presented to the Dalai Lama, to see if the next dalai lama is among them. According to some prayer leaders the rituals in Graz are linking into the nazi mythology that was typical for Austria during the Third Reich. Graz at that time was the main city embracing Hitler...
"The Kalachakra tantra ritual is the key initiation rite into tantric or Tibetan Buddhism and is given over the course of 12 days. First, there are eight days of preparatory rituals, during which monks make a mandala. The Dalai Lama presides over the complex event, which, essentially, is a shamanistic process involving the conjuring of 722 spirits through music, prayers, veneration, dances etc. These spirits are invited to take up residence in the mandala, or spiritual house, which has been built for them. The initiation event is completed when the Dalai Lama ritually destroys the mandala after all meditation and initiatory rites have been completed. The spirits are thereby released over the land while the initiates retain the spiritual connection to Kalachakra and his world, having internalized them through meditation. The sand from the mandala is poured into a nearby body of water; in Graz, the river Mur, which flows from Austria to Slovenia - where the Dalai Lama also starts his visits and preparations." (991)
In addition to his activities at the World Community for Christian Meditation, Kallistos Ware has shared platforms with Benedictine monk, Dom Laurence Freeman of the John Main Institute, J.I. Packer and Richard Neuhaus (authors of the ECT Document), Harold O.J. Brown of the UN/Mormon-affiliated World Congress of Families and other Catholic and Evangelical priests and apologists. The following brochure was published in Touchstone Magazine, a Journal of the Greek Orthodox Fellowship of St. James, advertising a 1995 conference to promote ecumenism among the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox traditions. (Editor's comments are in teal.)
Not of This World: An Ecumenical Conference for Traditional Christians Co-sponsored by Rose Hill College and Touchstone May 16-20, 1995 Hosted by Rose Hill College (Aiken South Carolina) |
This alliance of Reformed, Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, which calls itself the 'Confessing Movement,' is appealing to all Christians, i.e. Protestant, Roman Catholic or Orthodox, to embrace the teachings and practices of mysticism as authentic Christianity. Those who practice Gnostic mysticism usually hide within the organized Church system and claim to follow primitive Christianity. A.E. Waite wrote in The Hidden Church of the Holy Grail:
"...I should look assuredly to the East, in the direction of that pure catholic gnosticism which lies like a pearl of great price within the...shell of external Christianity, which is not of Marcion or Valentinus, or Cerenthus and all their cohorts, but is the unexpressed mystery of experience in deep wells which issue no strife or sects." - 179:681
DEIFICATION THROUGH THE DIVINE ENERGIES
According to Webster's Dictionary, mysticism is:
1. the experience of mystical union or direct communion with ultimate reality reported by mystics; 2. the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience (as intuition or insight); 3. a vague speculation : a belief without sound basis b : a theory postulating the possibility of direct and intuitive acquisition of ineffable knowledge or power.
Mystics rely primarily on subjective experiences to formulate their beliefs about God, rather than making Scripture the final authority in matters of faith and practice. The writings of mystics may claim the primacy of Scripture, but in practice they ignore its finer points of doctrine. For example, the following promotional for the John Main Seminar described the mantra technique taught by Kallistos Ware for receiving visions of the divine light of God. The use of mantras, however, is a direct violation of Christ's command: But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Mt. 6:7
"Countless Christians over the centuries have found a way of entry through practicing the invocation of the Holy Name: in the West often through the repetition of the name 'Jesus' on its own; in the East more commonly through a longer phrase, such as 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.'
"This is a prayer in words; but, because the words are so few and so simple, they reach beyond the words into silence; more exactly, they enable us to discover the silence that is hidden in the heart of the words themselves.
"In the Seminar we shall explore the distant origins of the Jesus Prayer among the Desert Fathers and Mothers of Egypt. We shall see how in Sinai and Mount Athos the invocation of the Name came to be accompanied by a physical technique, involving a positive use of the body. We shall learn also how, in the experience of the saints, the Jesus Prayer brought them to the vision of the Divine Light of Tabor.
"The Jesus Prayer is a prayer that all can use, requiring as it does no special knowledge or elaborate preparation; yet it is a prayer that leads to the deepest mysteries of contemplation. It is being practiced today more than ever in the past, and is especially suited to our present age of anxiety. Because it is rooted in the traditions of both the Christian East and the Christian West, it can serve as a powerful instrument in our shared quest for unity. The practice of the Jesus Prayer is akin to the teaching of Christian Meditation and other forms of the rich tradition of Christian contemplative prayer." - Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia (572)
Pagans also use mantras for invoking spirits. It is probable that another Jesus is summoned by repeating the name in an invocatory manner, since the real Jesus has forbidden mindless repetitive forms of prayer. Kallistos Ware nevertheless avers that suspending one's mental faculties and repeating the 'Jesus Prayer' leads to a vision of the Divine Light of Tabor. This mystical experience in greater detail in Kallistos Ware's book, The Orthodox Way:
“…God is revealed as light above all at the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, when ‘his face shone as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light’ (Matt. 17:2). This divine light, seen by the three disciples on the mountain—seen also by many of the saints during prayer—is nothing else than the uncreated energies of God. This light of Tabor, that is to say, is neither a physical and created light, nor yet a purely metaphorical ‘light of the intellect’. Although non-material, it is nevertheless an objectively existent reality. Being divine, the uncreated energies surpass our human powers of description; and so, in terming these energies ‘light’, we are inevitably employing the language of ‘sign’ and symbol. Not that the energies are themselves merely symbolical. They genuinely exist, but cannot be described in words; in referring to them as ‘light’ we use the least misleading term, but our language is not to be interpreted literally.” (633:127)
The gnostic strives for visions of the Divine Light, yet nowhere in Scripture is the believer led down the path to mystical experiences. The reader is then admonished by Kallistos Ware that his senses must be 'transformed' in order to see the light that is non-physical. This paranormal activity is attributed to the indwelling Holy Spirit.
“Although non-physical, the divine light can be seen by a man through his physical eyes, provided that his senses have been transformed by divine grace. His eyes do not behold the light by the natural powers of perception, but through the power of the Holy Spirit acting within him.” (633:127)
Through an ecstatic vision of the Divine Light of Tabor, Kallistos Ware claims the body is deified. The doctrine of the 'deification of man' is central to Eastern Orthodox doctrine This false doctrine of deification runs the gamut of false religions. Not only do the 'transformed' eyes see the Divine Light, the body is permeated with it. This sounds suspiciously like demon possession.
“’The body is deified at the same time as the soul’ (St Maximus the Confessor). He who beholds the divine light is permeated by it through and through, so that his body shines with the glory that he contemplates. He himself becomes light. Vladimir Lossky was not speaking merely in metaphors when he wrote: ‘The fire of grace, kindled in the hearts of Christians by the Holy Spirit, makes them shine like tapers before the Son of God.’ The Homilies of St Macarius affirm concerning this transfiguration of man’s body:
“Just as the Lord’s body was glorified, when he went up the mountain and was transfigured into the glory of God and into infinite light, so the saints’ bodies also are glorified and shine as lightning… ‘The glory which thou hast given to me I have given to them’ (John 17:22): just as many lamps are lit from one flame, so the bodies of the saints, being members of Christ, must needs be what Christ is, and nothing else… Our human nature is transformed into the power of God, and it is kindled into fire and light.’
“…In the lives of the saints, Western as well as Eastern, there are numerous examples of such bodily glorification… In The Sayings of the Desert Fathers we are told how a disciple looked through the window of Abba Arsenius’ cell, and saw the old man ‘like a flame of fire’. Of Abba Pambo, it is said, ‘God so glorified him that no one could look at his face, because of the glory which his face had.’…
“…as Jacob Boehme puts it, ‘The darkness is not the absence of light, but the terror that comes from the blinding light.’” (Bishop Kallistos Ware) - (633:128)
For theological support of the ecstatic experience of 'deification,' Bishop Ware appeals to mystic monks and canonized saints as authorities, rather than Scripture—except to misapply the Scriptures concerning the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, who is Deity Himself. Jacob Boehme (1575-1624), cited by Ware as a spiritual authority, was a German mystic whose writings were a precursor to existentialist philosophy. Boehme directly influenced the German Romantics, Hegel, Baader, and Schelling, and indirectly the existentialist philosophers Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hartmann, Bergson, and Heidegger; Paul Tillich, Martin Buber and even Carl Jung. Boehme's 'terror that comes from the blinding light' is a phenomenon peculiar to initiation rites. Alice Bailey described this mystical experience in one of her many books channeled through her spirit guide, Djwal Khul, titled Discipleship in the New Age. In the chapter 'Teachings on Initiation' Bailey states:
"We come now to our second point, that initiation veils a secret and that the revelation of that secret is imminent. Just what this secret is, I may not reveal, but it is concerned with a peculiar type of energy which can be induced at a moment of supreme tension. The only possible hint I can give you in connection with this mysterious matter is that it is closely related to the 'Blinding Light' which Saul of Tarsus saw on the road to Damascus and the 'blinding light' which accompanied the discharge of energy from the atomic bomb. The 'Blinding Light' which ever accompanies true conversion (a rare and sudden happening always when true and real) and which is an attendant demonstration of all Lives who have passed the human stage of consciousness - according to their degree - and the light which is released by the fission of the atom are one and the same expression on different levels of consciousness, and are definitely related to the processes and effects of initiation. This will not even make sense to you until certain initiate-experiences have been undergone by you. It is not easy for the average aspirant to realize that progressive stages upon the Path indicate a progressive ability to 'take the Light.' When the aspirant prays in the new Invocation: 'Let Light descend on Earth' he is invoking something which humanity will have to learn to handle; this is one of the things for which the disciples of the world must begin to prepare the race of men." (1028)
By way of comparison to Bishop Ware's meditative technique, we will now consider an extract from Aleister Crowley's book, Magick in Theory and Practice, Chapter XV titled "Of the Invocation". Note the elements common to 'Christian mystical' and 'Satanic magick' rituals of invocation—forgetfulness, total passivity, letting oneself go, mantras suitable to the gods, the blinding light (Lucifer), transformation of the body and union with God—after which Crowley correctly observes "there is no distinction between magick and meditation"!!
"In the straightforward or 'Protestant' system of Magick... The Magician addresses a direct petition to the Being invoked. But the secret of success in invocation has not hitherto been disclosed. It is an exceedingly simple one. It is practically of no importance whatever that the invocation should be 'right'. There are a thousand different ways of compassing the end proposed, so far as external things are concerned. The whole secret may be summarised in these four words: "Enflame thyself in praying." This is Qabalistically expressed in the old Formula: Domine noster, audi tuo servo! kyrie Christe! O Christe! [Our Lord, hear your servant! Come Christ! O Christ!]
"The mind must be exalted until it loses consciousness of self. The Magician must be carried forward blindly by a force which, though in him and of him, is by no means that which he in his normal state of consciousness calls I. Just as the poet, the lover, the artist, is carried out of himself in a creative frenzy, so must it be for the Magician...
"Every Magician must compose his ceremony in such a manner as to produce a dramatic climax. At the moment when the excitement becomes ungovernable, when then the whole conscious being of the Magician undergoes a spiritual spasm, at that moment must he utter the supreme adjuration.
"One very effective method is to stop short, by a supreme effort of will, again and again, on the very brink of that spasm, until a time arrives when the idea of exercising that will fails to occur. This forgetfulness must be complete; it is fatal to try to 'let oneself go' consciously.
"Inhibition is no longer possible or even thinkable, and the whole being of the Magician, no minutest atom saying nay, is irresistibly flung forth. In blinding light, amid the roar of ten thousand thunders, the Union of God and man is consummated.
"If the Magician is still seen standing in the Circle, quietly pursuing his invocations, it is that all the conscious part of him has become detached from the true ego which lies behind that normal consciousness. But the circle is wholly filled with that divine essence; all else is but an accident and an illusion.
"The subsequent invocations, the gradual development and materialization of the force, require no effort. It is one great mistake of the beginner to concentrate his force upon the actual stated purpose of the ceremony. This mistake is the most frequent cause of failures in invocation.
"A corollary of this Theorem is that the Magician soon discards evocation almost altogether --- only rare circumstances demand any action what ever on the material plane. The Magician devotes himself entirely to the invocation of a god; and as soon as his balance approaches perfection he ceases to invoke any partial god; only that god vertically above him is in his path. And so a man who perhaps took up Magick merely with the idea of acquiring knowledge, love, or wealth, finds himself irrevocably committed to the performance of The Great Work.
"It will now be apparent that there is no distinction between magick and meditation except of the most arbitrary and accidental kind. There is the general metaphysical antithesis that Magick is the Art of the Will-to-Live, Mysticism of the Will-to-Die; but --- 'Truth comes bubbling to my brim; Life and Death are one to Him!'.
"Beside these open methods thee are also a number of mental methods of Invocation, of which we may give three.
"The first method concerns the so-called astral body. The Magician should practise the formation of this body as recommended in Liber O, and learn to rise on the planes according to the instruction given in the same book, though limiting his 'rising' to the particular symbol whose God he wishes to invoke.
"The second is to recite a mantra suitable to the God.
"The third is the assumption of the form of the God --- by transmuting the astral body into His shape. This last method is really essential to all proper invocation, and cannot be too sedulously practised." (1011)
Crowley stated that the end of this ceremony, and indeed of all ritual magick, is the 'Great Work', which means the unification of the Microcosm (initiate) with the Macrocosm (Lucifer). In other words, demon possession.
In Volume III of his series, The Spiritual Man, Watchman Nee warned against the spiritual dangers of passivity in the believer, which opens the door to altered states of consciousness and possession by demonic spirits.
"What primarily precipitates the enemy's invasion among the 'heathen' and among carnal Christians is wilful sin; but 'the primary cause of deception ... in surrendered believers may be condensed into one word, passivity; that is, a cessation of the active exercise of the will in control over spirit, soul and body, or either, as may be the case.' The organ of volition ceases to choose and decide matters referred to it. 'The word passivity simply describes the opposite condition to activity; and in the experience of the believer it means, briefly, (1) loss of self-control in the sense of the person himself controlling each, or all, of the departments of his personal being; and (2) loss of freewill in the sense of the person himself exercising his will as the guiding principle of personal control, in harmony with the will of God.' The passivity of a saint arises out of the non-use of his various talents. He has a mouth but refuses to talk because he hopes the Holy Spirit will speak through it. He has hands but will not engage them since he expects God to do it. He does not exercise any part of his person but waits for God to move him. He considers himself fully surrendered to God; so he no longer will use any element of his being. Thus he falls into an inertia which opens the way for deception and invasion." (1012)
The Lord Jesus also warned of the dangers of states of passivity. Luke 11 records the manner in which Jesus taught His disciples to pray and His exhortation to ask for the Holy Spirit, with simple faith they would receive precisely whatever they request of the Father. No vain repetitions, no transformed senses, no visions of divine light, only humble believing prayer. In fact, Jesus sternly admonished those who were seeking after signs and wonder, calling such men an 'evil generation'. Our Lord also included a concise teaching on how to protect oneself against demon possession. Having been delivered from the power of Satan, the Christian must guard himself against any spiritual practice which would produce an altered state of consciousness.
THE HOUSE OF VERE
Is Kallistos Ware the False Prophet? If he would exercise all the power of the Antichrist, per Revelation 13:12, the False Prophet must be a member of the Merovingian bloodline. Previously mentioned is the fact that Godfroi de Bouillon—the first Grand Master of the Knights Templar who captured Jerusalem in 1099—was a member of the Merovingian de Vere bloodline. According to Dagobert's Revenge website, the exalted pedigree of this bloodline requires an organization whose sole purpose to protect its purity and perpetuity:
"...The Holy Grail itself was Elven as was Jesus himself, complete with his Crown of Fairy Thorns, depicted as the headgear of Godfroi de Vere de Bouillon in the 12th century...
"The Dragon Court exists as an organization solely for the bloodline descendants of the ancient Vere family — the senior bloodline successors as a Scythian-Merovin, Elven House of Princess Maelasanu—and for those whose bloodlines are extracted from this descent and its ancient Dragon Court." (342:5)
As King Arthur's Dragon Court was originally comprised of twenty-four knights, there are currently twenty-four families representing the Rex Deus group and the Dragon Court. These are supposedly descendants of Israel's twenty-four priestly families; they reign, but do not yet rule, as occult priest kings. As stated, the Dragon Court exists to protect the descendants of the ancient Vere family of the Merovingian bloodline, out of which will eventually come the Antichrist. [See: Antichrist in Virgo] Prince Nicholas de Vere von Drakenberg is currently the Sovereign Grand Master of the Imperial and Royal Dragon Court & Order.
The Druidic Council of Elders are represented by the Dragon Court, which is comprised of twenty-six members of royalty from Eurasian countries that help comprise the European Council of Princes. These twenty-six members will be a false twenty-four elders plus the Antichrist and False Prophet. The Druidic head dragon king (Pendragon), which has historically been called the 'King of Kings', will be the Antichrist.
Also previously documented in this series is the fact that Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair and his son, Thomas, the former and current Grand Masters of the Prieuré de Sion, descended from Godfroi de Vere de Bouillon, the first Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion. In Genesis of the Grail Kings, Laurence Gardner identified the Plantard bloodline as a branch of the House of Vere:
"The Plantagenets were themselves a junior branch of the House of Anjou, whose senior branch was the House of Vere [whose] ancestry was jointly Pictish and Merovingian descending from the ancient Grail House of Scythia." (248:8)
Kallistos Ware would also be a member of the Merovingian Vere bloodline. The following are variations of the Vere surname found in different countries and various dialects. For example, Weir is a Scottish form of Vere, the Old English Wer is related to Old Norse ver, Were is Old Frisian, Wehr/Weir is German, etc.
VERE / WEIR: Vere, de Ver, Ver, de Ver, Veer, Vear(e), Veir, Veyre, Vare, Veary, Very, Vary, Vire, Revere, Sver(e), Svar, Shpere, Spear(e), Spere, Svear, Fere, Fear, Fairy; Ware, Wayer, Waer, Weyir, Weyr, Weir(e), Weier, Wear, Weary, Wehre, Werre, Weer, Werr, Wyre
The werewolf is also derived from this surname.
The werewolf is also derived from this surname.
WEREWOLF. \Were"wolf`\, n.; pl. {Werewolves}. [AS. werwulf; wer a man + wulf a wolf; cf. G. w["a]rwolf, w["a]hrwolf, wehrwolf, a werewolf, MHG. werwolf. [root]285. See {Were} a man, and {Wolf}, and cf. {Virile}, {World}.] A person transformed into a wolf in form and appetite, either temporarily or permanently, whether by supernatural influences, by witchcraft, or voluntarily; a lycanthrope. Belief in werewolves, formerly general, is not now extinct. (868)
Prominent names related to the Vere/Weir bloodline are found at the highest levels of the various sectors of society:
Economy: Warburg (Banking), Verifone (Mondex)
Education: B.J. Weir (Transgenics), Virgil, Thomas Weir (Sorcerer of Edinburgh), Weir Hall (Yale)
Environment: James H. Ware (Public Health), Bruce Weir (Human Genome Project), Lance Ware (Biological Weapons/Founder of Mensa)
Government: Karl Ware (CFR), Thomas E. Weir (Environment), Jessie Weir LaRouche (mother of Lyndon LaRouche), Weir Systems (Intelligence/Software UK), Veri-Chip (Implantable Biochip), Veridian Systems (Federal Data Corp./Carlyle Group), Verio (Webhosting), Vera Inst. of Justice
Science/Genetics: Edmond Ware Sinnott (Genetics), Mary Ware Dennett (Birth Control), , Bruce S. Weir (DNA expert), Robert F. Weir (Euthanasia), Harry F. Weyher (Pioneer Fund), Weirton Steel, Verimark (Communications)
Religion: Bruce A. Ware (Apologetics), Henry Ware (Unitarian Church founder), B.B. Warfield (Bible), Bishop Kallistos (Timothy) Ware (Anglican/Eastern Orthodox), Weyerhauser (founded Fuller Theological School of Psychology), Thomas A. Weir (Masonic High Priest), John Ferguson Weir (Skull & Bones '83), Weirus (16th c. Sorcerer)
King James I opened his book, The Daemonologie, with mention of a German occultist named Weirus: "...WIERUS, a German Phisition, sets out a publick apologie for all these crafts-folks, wherby, procuring for their impunitie, he plainely bewrayes himselfe to have bene one of that profession."
It is also noteworthy that President George Bush is also a member of the Merovingian Vere bloodline. See our report: Heeding Bible Prophecy
The name Vere means 'Truth'. In the French language, the word for 'truth' is 'vérité'; German is 'verdad'; Italian is 'verità'; Latin is 'veritas'. As in William Cooper's organization, Veritas.
Edgar Allen Poe's Ulalume is full of esoteric meaning which only an occultist would comprehend. However, Poe's obsession with the 'ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir' is explicable and relevant to any inquiry as to the identity of the two Beasts of Revelation 13.
Our talk had been serious and sober, But our thoughts they were palsied and sere— Our memories were treacherous and sere— For we knew not the month was October, And we marked not the night of the year— (Ah, night of all nights in the year!) We noted not the dim lake of Auber— (Though once we had journeyed down here)— We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber, Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. (981)
"Weir" is the German spelling of the ancient French House of Vere of the Merovingian bloodline. And it is from the the Vere bloodline that the Antichrist and False Prophet which will eventually come.
Brother Truth?
The motto of the Theosophical Society founded by Helena P. Blavatsky, states: "There is no religion higher than truth." In her tomes, The Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky remonstrated against the revealed truth of Scripture and pontificated on her version of truth which is based in the ancient wisdom texts. This 'mother of the New Age' preached that all ideas — whatever their source — should be tested against one's knowledge, experience, and intuition, as if these subjective factors were reliable determinants of truth. As perceived by the occultist, truth is God, however, as Peter Dawkins expressed in Arcadia, the occultist wallows in his own reasonings about God rather than acknowledging the truth of Scripture: "Through thinking man comes to understand and eventually, through thought put into action, to know truth - to know God." (889:113) Thomas Paine stated it more succinctly: "My own mind is my own church."
The occult version of the 'Truth' embraces the falsehood that Lucifer is God; Aleister Crowley referred to him as "Lord God the Devil." The corollary to this fallacy is the belief that Lucifer will defeat Jesus Christ in a final battle, when the armies of the Antichrist are arrayed against Him and His heavenly armies. The occultist, of course, derives his understanding of the 'Truth' from communication with Lucifer, the "father of lies," and his hosts of lying spirits. However, Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, not Lucifer. Truth is to be found in Scripture alone; specifically Psalm 2 and Revelation 20, accurately foretell the outcome of the Antichrist's battle against Jesus Christ.
Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas state in The Second Messiah concerning Roslyn Chapel in Scotland, "when Rosslyn is excavated the truth will conquer all." These Masonic authors claim to have "uncovered the origins of Freemasonry which showed how modern Masonic rituals developed from those once used by the Jerusalem Church and later developed by the famous Crusader Order of the Knights Templar." Knight and Lomas further suggest that the high priests of the Jerusalem Church assumed the names of the major angels—7 angels to be exact.
"The twenty-eighth degree of the 'Knight of the Sun' claims that it is the Key of Masonry... The degree describes all the Masonic symbols, and the overall purpose is given as the inculcation of truth. A lecture on truth is delivered in sections by nine officers who are called Thrice Perfect Father Adam, Brother Truth, Michael, Gabrielle, Raphael, Zaphriel, Camael, Azrael and Uriel. Over the entrance to the chamber where the degree is conferred is written: 'Ye who have not the power to subdue passion, flee from this place of truth'.
"The last seven names used in this degree are those of the major angels. The Frenchman who told the story of the two schools of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus said that the high priests of Yahweh used these names for themselves. Perhaps as the new high priesthood of Yahweh, the Knights Templar also took these names.
"...The emphasis on 'truth' brought back to mind the sole inscription in Rosslyn [Chapel] that reads: '...truth will conquer all'." (96:14)
These nine officers of Masonry were probably intended to correspond to the original nine knights of the Order of the Temple, who also prefigure the Council of Nine which will rule the New World Order: the Antichrist, False Prophet and seven planetary angels. When he comes to power, the Antichrist will be known as the Third Adam (the first and second Adam being the heavenly Adam-Kadmon and fallen, earthly Adam respectively). Second in command, the False Prophet, will be affectionately called Brother Truth, and will be a religious figure who interprets the Law. Significantly, members of monastic orders refer to each other as 'Brother'. Kallistos Ware, a Greek Orthodox monk whose surname means 'Truth' fits the bill for this office of False Prophet.
According to The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, "God...will save his people by the hands of two messianic figures who arise at the end of time; one from 'Branch of David', and the other 'The Interpreter of the Law'." (162:201) These two figures answer to the Antichrist and False Prophet who will pose as the saviors of Israel and the world. We have demonstrated that the most likely candidate for Antichrist, Thomas Plantard de Saint Claire, will present himself as the 'Branch'. As the right hand man of the Antichrist, the False Prophet will function as the high priest who interprets the laws of his pagan religious system.
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. - Rev. 13:11
The Biblical reference to the False Prophet having 'two horns like a lamb' may refer to Bishop Kallistos Ware's leadership in both the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox churches, both apostate forms of the true Christian faith. 'He spake as a dragon' would refer to the False Prophet's descent from the Dragon race, the Merovingian bloodline.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 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. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. - Rev. 13:11-18
Subordinate to the Antichrist (Father Adam) and the False Prophet (Brother Truth) will be a counterfeit Michael the Archangel who presides over the seven planetary angels, who will be the seven kings who rule under the Antichrist. In ancient Egypt, "...Hermes Trismegestus taught the idea of the seven governors of the world, planetary angels..." (350:115)
"...the Gnostics derived some of their lore from the stellar religion practiced by the Chaldean astrologers. They adopted the seven planetary spirits or gods... represented by the classical gods of Roman and Greek mythology—Mercury (Hermes), Venus (Aphrodite), Mars (Aries), Jupiter (Zeus), Saturn (Chronos), Sol and Luna. In Gnostic belief these gods were transformed into archangels who became the central focus of medieval magic and the Hermetic tradition." (25:24)
J.R.R. Tolkein's Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, presages this angelic Council of Nine which will rule the world. Note in the following statement which appears in Laurence Gardner's Realm of the Ring Lords, that the Lord of the Rings is the Sun-god, and that this person corresponds to the Beast that rises out of the cosmic sea in Rev.13:1, aka the Antichrist. Next in position was the planetary god of the Earth, corresponding to the "Beast that rises out of the earth" - And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. (Rev. 13:11)
"In Ring Lore...[he] who held the Ninth Ring, the One Ring was Lord of the Rings. In ancient times, the One Ring was representative of the overlordship of the Sun, with the other key Eight Rings representing the planetary kingdoms of Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Mercury." (722:271 ff.6)
Nicholas de Vere, Sovereign Grand Master of the Dragon Court, informs us that the surname 'Vere' means vampire which means overlord, and that both derive from the Sanskrit word, Aryan, which means Lord:
"If spelt literally vampire would be uavber, uauber, or uaupir , which is the central European oupire or oupere. These variants stem from the Sanskrit upari (Up-Ari or Up-Arya, meaning Over-Lord)... Over (ME-ouere) began a graphic variant of uuere which translates into the dynastic name Vere with the Latin V being interchangeable with the double U for hard Germanic W which became V— rendering Ver or Were." (353:4)
There is in fact, at present, an earthly Council of Nine in France which appears to be headed by the Prieuré de Sion. The reader will recall that the Prieuré de Sion is located in Paris. A prominent occultist of the early twentieth century, R. Swinburne Clymer who directed the the oldest Rosicrucian body in the U.S.—the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis—claimed that his organization was directed by a Council of Nine in France. Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince reprint the Council of Nine's directive in The Stargate Conspiracy:
"Clymer claimed that the doctrines of his society were endorsed by a secret order that directed it from France—called the Council of Nine. He published a letter from them in 1932, which proclaimed: 'This is the New Dispensation, and the work of the Spiritual and Mystical Fraternities must be reestablished around the world, so that all peoples may be taught the Law and thereby enabled to apply it towards universal improvement as the only means of saving mankind... We, the Council of Nine, have selected your organization, as one of the oldest in America to help to this work.'
"This letter was signed by the excessively immodest 'Comte M. de St Vincent, Premier Plenipotentiary of the Council of Nine of the Confraternities of the World.'... Another title of the Council of Nine, according to Clymer, was the 'Secret School'." (268:288)
CALLISTO, THE GREAT BEAR
"Like Ursa Minor, Ursa Major is neither a dipper or a bear. Rather it is the greater sheepfold, as pictured in the most ancient planispheres or zodiacs of the various nations... "Other stars in Ursa Major are El Alcola, 'The Sheepfold'; Cab'd al Asad, 'Multitude of the Assembled'; El Kaprah, 'The Protected,' or in Hebrew 'The Redeemed' or 'Ransomed.' A more familiar star, Callisto, again means 'The Sheepfold.'..." (D. James Kennedy) (872:114)
Not only does Bishop Ware fit the description of 'Brother Truth,' his assumed name upon entrance to monastic life is 'Kallistos', the Greek form of the Roman Callisto, which is the Great Bear/Ursa Major constellation.
KALLISTO f Greek Mythology, Ancient Greek Derived from Greek kallistos meaning "most beautiful". In Greek mythology Kallisto was a nymph who was loved by Zeus. She was changed into a she-bear by Hera, and subsequently became the Great Bear constellation. This was also an ancient Greek personal name. (665)
Teachers of the false 'gospel in the stars', have misled their readers that Callisto, one of the stars in Ursa Major, means "Sheepfold." However, this star was named after a Roman lesbian goddess, Callisto, whose name means "most beautiful".
Callisto - “Most beautiful; a title of Artemis as totemic She-Bear and mother of Arcas, the Little Bear.” (Greek Myth) / kallistos (663)
In Greek mythology, Callisto was the daughter of King Lycaon II and a nymph of Artemis, the Roman Diana, to whom she made a vow of chastity. Callisto, however, was seduced by Jupiter (the Roman Zeus) and turned into a bear, either by Zeus, Hera or Diana, depending on which version is read.
"In Greek mythology Callisto, daughter of King Lycaon (wolf), was chosen as a young child to be one of Artemis's companions. Now Artemis was Apollo's sister, patroness of childbirth and protector of babies and of suckling animals. The one thing she prized above all was her chastity; she even asked Zeus for eternal virginity, which he granted.
"Artemis gathered about her a number of young nymphs. Reflecting her own vows of chastity, she also required complete fidelity from these young women (girls actually, who would grow into womanhood). One of these was Callisto.
"Zeus had the habit of seducing young maidens, and eventually he got around to Callisto. When Artemis discovered that Callisto was pregnant, she took her revenge. Artemis loved to hunt; she would take her revenge in the chase. So she changed Callisto into a bear...
"So Artemis's plan was to have Callisto, as a bear, hunted down and killed. But Zeus took pity, and sent Callisto to the heavens, keeping the same form of a bear. Her son Arcas would grow up to be the ancestral founder of the Arcadians, before he too joined his mother in the heavens as Ursa Minor." (666)
Zeus/Jupiter, the son of Saturn/Chronos, was the king of Atlantis whose offspring with Callisto was Arcas, the founder of the Greek Arcadia, ancient home of the Merovingians. The term lycanthropy derives from the mythical King of Arcadia, Lycaon, whom Zeus turned into a wolf for performing child sacrificing with his fifty sons. Recall that Danaus, who had fifty daughters, was made king of Argos after Apollo (twin brother of Artemis), disguised himself as a wolf and terrorized the inhabitants of this city.
"Occultly," wrote Blavatsky, "lycanthropy means the same as 'were-wolf', the psychological faculty of certain sorcerers to appear as wolves." (316:193-4) It was in ancient Greece that the cult of the werewolf originated. In his book, The Sirius Mystery, Robert Temple associates the wolf with the Dog Star Sirius, where the gods reside, and fifty daughters or sons in Greco-Egyptian mythology with fifty celestial thrones orbiting Sirius:
"The element of the wolf, sometimes substituted for a dog in the Sirius tradition of the Dog Star, is important. It is an obvious European substitute for the non-existent jackal of Anubis. It was from this changing of the jackal into the wolf through adaptation to the European clime that those peculiar wolf traditions arose in Arcadia which developed in pre-classical times into the werewolf concepts. Human blood-sucking vampires,...and lycanthropy of werewolves all luxuriated in the wilds of Arcady among the Pelasgian survivors in pre-classical Greece after the Dorian invasion... What is a werewolf? It is a man's body with a wolf's head.... And the temples of Wolfish (or Lycian) Apollo, were not altogether rare in Greece. Aristotle's famous school of Athens, the Lyceum, was in the grounds of the Lycian Apollo's temple just outside the Athens Gate of Diochares...
"...what was really meant to be significant about Danaos's progeny was not their sex but their number of fifty. And from Pindar we see that they were on fifty thrones. The fact that Aegyptos of Egypt had fifty sons as well and that Danaos's daughters...taught the Egyptian mysteries to the Greeks all indicates that what transpired was a transplanting from Egypt to Greece of the all-important tradition to be common to both countries from then on--the fifty linked with the Dog Star Sirius and as celestial thrones. In other words, the mystery of the orbit of Sirius B around Sirius A in its fifty celestial steps." (942:167-169)
Kenneth Grant, Grand Master of the Ordo Templis Orientalis (OTO), wrote of the Merovingians' affinity for the goddess Diana: "According to Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, the authors of The Templar Revelation, '...the Merovingian kings, from their founder Merovee to Clovis (who converted to Christianity in 496) were 'pagan kings of the cult of Diana'.' Picknett and Prince got this information from the Dossiers Secrets of the Priory of Sion." (571) To Diana, the huntress and goddess of wild places, all animals were sacred; for this reason, Diana is sometimes artistically portrayed running with wolves.
It is noteworthy that Convents of the Prieuré de Sion for selection of Grand Master are always held in the wolf-month, which is January: "The Anglo-Saxons called [January] the wulfmonath, the wolf month, and many European sightings of 'werewolves' take place during this season." (668) Robert Graves stated in The White Goddess that January is named after the bisexual god Janus/Jana, who is also Dianus or Diana. "...Janus was really the oak-god Dianus who was incarnate in the King of Rome..." - (406:69)
Recall that Janus/Dianus is the also Roman variant of 'John/Jean', the esoteric name of the Grand Masters of the Prieuré de Sion. Janus is also an hermaphrodite, i.e., male-female: "In the Saturnalia, Macrobius says that January is dedicated to Janus as December is dedicated to Saturn, and so Janus is the new god who reigns at the end of the Saturnalia. He also says that Janus is two-faced because he is a fusion of Artemis and Apollo (i.e., Sun and Moon, Janus and Jana = Dianus and Diana); thus he corresponds to the alchemical hermaphrodite..." (983)
Diana required of her band of nymphs a vow of chastity; as related in Ovid's Fasti: “Among the Hamadryads(2) in the train of the archeress Diana one of the sacred band was Callisto. Laying her hand on the bow of the goddess, 'Thou bow,' quoth she, 'which thus I touch, bear witness to my virginity.' Cynthia approved the vow, and said, 'Keep but thy plighted troth(3) and thou shalt be the foremost of my company.'” (916)
Callisto's chastity may have had little or nothing to do with sexual purity. There is a common perception among neo-pagans that the goddess Diana's loyal band were lesbians. In the lesbian subculture, virginity means strict avoidance of sexual relations with men only. It also seems to have been true in ancient Greece that the rule of "chastity" did not apply to relations between women, since ancient Greek society was male-centered.
Callisto is also the name of one of Jupiter's 4 major moons. The other three, Ganymede, Io and Europa, are named after deities associated with the Grail legend. As moons of Jupiter, Callisto and Ganymede, are considered fraternal twins although this relationship does not hold true in mythology.
"Galileo's orbital tour of Jupiter's 16 moons, focusing on the four majors - Io, the most volcanically-active body known; frozen Ganymede, largest moon in the Solar System with a surface temperature of minus 150 degrees; Callisto, Ganymede's crater-scarred twin; and Europa, icy world with a possible sub-surface ocean that may contain extra-terrestrial life. Jupiter and its moons are a mini solar system." (667)
According to J.R. Church, Ganymede was a descendant of Dardanus, the founder of Troy, the ancient home of the Merovingians. The king of the gods, Zeus, appointed Ganymede to be cupbearer to the gods and, for his service, granted him immortality. Ganymede is therefore regarded as keeper of the Grail:
"According to the ancient Greek treatise, THE ILIAD, by Homer, the founder of Troy was named Dar-dan-us. The name is strikingly familiar. It contains the name of Dan! It was said that Dardanus was the son of Zeus. Dardanus had a son named Erichthonius, who had a son named Tros, who was the namesake of the ancient Trojans and of their capital city, Troy.
"Tros had three sons, Ilus, Ganymede, and Assaracus. Priam, the reigning king of the Trojans, was of the line of Ilus. Aeneas, founder of the Roman Empire, as a prince of the royal house of Assaracus. Ganymede was the great-grandson of Dardanus, the founder of Troy. According to Homer's ILIAD (Book V), 4. Zeus kidnapped the prince, Ganymede. Zeus wanted Ganymede to be a special cup-bearer to the gods (which may be a clue to the origin of the legend of the so-called Holy Grail).
"The ILIAD does not relate how Zeus carried off Ganymede, but there is an ancient Roman mosaic showing Ganymede, the Trojan prince, being carried off by Zeus, who had taken the form of an eagle! Here is a possible clue to connect the progenitors of the ancient Trojans with the tribe of Dan, who had adopted the eagle as their insignia." (127:103)
Jupiter's moon, Io, was, in ancient mythology, one of the three main ancestors of all royal houses. Io was the ancestor of Danaus who became king of Argos. A native of Argos, Io was seduced by Zeus and turned into a cow by his jealous wife, Hera. Io wandered to Egypt where she gave birth to Epaphus 1 who became king of Egypt and father of Libya. Io's descendants were Agenor 1, Belus 1, the father of Danaus, and Lelex 2.
"In the Psalter of Cashel it states that: 'The Tuatha de Danaan ruled in Ireland for about two centuries, and were highly skilled in architecture and other arts from their long residence in Greece'. The Tuatha de Danaan were the descendants of Danaus, the son of Belus, who went with his fifty daughters to Argos, the home of his ancestrous Io. In Irish legends the Tuatha de Danaan, who were considered to be demigods,...were said to have possessed a...Grail-like vessel... These teachers of Wisdom...were the founders of the Druidic priesthood." (258:142)
Another major moon of the Jovian system, Europa, was, in Greek mythology, kidnapped by Zeus, and was never found. Europa was fathered by Agenor, the grandson of Io and uncle of Danaus, the king of Argos.
"Agenor 1 was by birth an Egyptian, but he departed to Phoenicia and reigned there. According to some Agenor 1 is the son of Poseidon and Libya, but others affirm that his parents were Belus 1 and Anchinoe.
"King Belus 1 of Egypt was son of Poseidon and Libya, and was also the father of Aegyptus 1 and Danaus 1... His mother Libya was, in turn, daughter of Epaphus 1 and Memphis 2. And King Epaphus 1 of Egypt, from whom sprang the Libyans and the Ethiopians, was the founder of the city of Memphis in Egypt and the son of Zeus and Io, the girl who was once turned into a cow, but who is one of the Three Main Ancestors." (993)
The naming of Europe after this Phoenician princess, who originated in Greece and fled to Egypt, indicates the extraordinary influence of Greek culture on the continent of Europe---her literature, music, sculpture, painting and other applied arts. The famous English Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote: "We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their root in Greece." Like many poets of his day, Shelley employed mythological themes and figures from Greek poetry to challenge Christian values.
Thus, the names 'Ware/Vere' and 'Kallisto/Great Bear' betray an association with the Merovingian bloodline as symbolized by the Plantard family crest, which features twin bears representing the Great Bear and Little Bear constellations, Ursa Major/Ursa Minor. The crest, as esoterically interpreted by Kenneth Grant, symbolizes the Typhonian/Draconian bloodline of the Merovingians:
"In his book Outer Gateways Kenneth Grant writes: 'In The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, the authors reproduce the family crest of Clan Plantard, the contemporary representative of which was, until recently, the Grand Master of the Prieure de Sion, an Order which, according to Lincoln, dominated the Order of the Knights Templar and various other highly influential institutions which, at certain periods of history, included the Vatican. The crest which supplies the key to the Current represented by the Merovingian bloodline and the Order of Sion, comprises the symbols of the Typhonian line of descent: the two bears, eleven bees, and the fleur de lys... The two bears denote the Mother (Typhon) and her son (Set)... |
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PART VII
MICHAEL THE COUNTERFEIT ARCHANGEL
THE MEROVINGIAN DYNASTY:
SATANIC BLOODLINE OF THE ANTICHRIST
NOTES:
REVIEW of MISSING FROM ACTION: A Powerful Historical Response to the Crisis among American Men
If you peeked at the Appendix at the back of the book, it may not come as a surprise that Weldon Hardenbrook is "Father" (Archpriest) John Weldon Hardenbrook. Fr. John oversees Saints Peter and Paul Church, Ben Lomond, California. His church is affiliated with the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, one of many denominational expressions of Eastern Orthodoxy in the United States. Weldon Hardenbrook was ordained in the Orthodox church back in the early 1970s.
In short, his "cure" for the feminized American male as well as the curse of matriarchy is the re-establishment of patriarchy in both family and church.
Patriarchy is the biblical and traditional blueprint for family life. The American home has no chance for survival without it. p. 216
While we generally don’t disagree, it would seem the authors are either unable or unwilling to differentiate between different forms of patriarchy; nor do they seem to acknowledge the negative side-effects of some historical and contemporary expressions of male authority. For Frs. Hardenbrook and Somerville, a biblical patriarchy will only be found in a revival of sacramental, ascetic, ecclesiastical religion -- namely the extension of Eastern Orthodoxy. Much of the last part of the book is an apologetic, an evangelistic introduction into the tenets of his "evangelical" brand of Eastern Orthodoxy. We believe this approach falls far short of the need of the hour – in fact, any hour. [Update 12/6/98. Hardenbrook, Somerville, and 18 other men were deposed, defrocked, and excommunicated by their Antiochian Orthodox denominational machinery during the summer of 1998 for being a "schismatic group."]
Shown below are our brief comments on Chapters 4, 5 & 6:
CHAPTER 4 - In an effort to explain how the process of feminization began, the authors begin with colonial America. They notably point out that theology historically has been "a manly topic," that colonial men reveled in theology, and that early America enjoyed a "patriarchal model of family structure." While husbands and wives were considered equals, each had a role which contributed to the overall well-being of the family and each other. The authors further assess the condition of 17th century women, the relationship between fathers and sons, and early colonial courtship. Not until we arrive at their discussion of "Extended Families" did we detect a proverbial 'fly in the ointment'. The authors finish this chapter with a eulogy to the old-world clan system of family. In a typical clan, absolute authority is vested in a senior family member. While one may be able to identify the existence of clans in ancient Jewish culture, this 'umbrella-type' organizational structure is contrary to Christian teaching. Pastor Ray R. Sutton makes these observations in this book That You May Prosper:
When Christianity began its trek across this barbaric part of the world [medieval Europe], there was a constant "Hatfield vs. McCoy" type of feuding. The family had absolute power to convict and even execute its own members. The [Protestant] Church broke down the clans through its court system. It argued that the father does not have absolute authority. The 'check and balance' on his power is the court of the Church.
Clans... simply transfer to the father [patriarch] the kind of authority which the Roman Catholic Church officially invests in the Pope. A father [patriarch] becomes a final court of earthly appeal, one who can veto a marriage. This is radically anti-Biblical.
While we are fully in favor of Spirit-authored patriarchy and the biblical 'extended family;' we seek to warn the reader of the dangers of clanism, both past and present. We have personally witnessed and experienced its horrible effects.
CHAPTER 5 - The authors continue their diagnosis with a look into America's "spirit of independence." However, their understanding of American history will strike most well-read American Christians as rather strange. They erroneously assert that America's break with England and "political liberty in the colonies" spawned a "distinctly novel American anomaly, the independent church." Have the authors' affiliation with Eastern Orthodoxy blinded them to the centuries-old abuse and corruption of religious bureaucracies -- the State Church? Are they unaware or have they forgotten the histories of the European independents such as the original Protestants, Puritan/Congregational Independency, Anabaptists, Waldensians, Baptists, and Brethren? Do they accord no cause/effect to the widespread secular influence of the Renaissance and the 18th century Enlightenment which affirmed, in the words of historian Thomas Langford, "the radical independence and competent rationality of human beings"? Since it appears to be these authors' goal to establish themselves within the "true" Church, readers should be forewarned of their subtle and not-so-subtle efforts to discredit the entire Western tradition of Christianity...
Why Eastern Orthodoxy?
Similar to Messrs. Peter Gillquist, Jon Braun, Dick Ballew, and Jack Sparks, Weldon Hardenbrook was a 1960’s refugee out of the ecumenical/Arminian para-church organization, Campus Crusade for Christ, International (CCCI). See his comments on page 221. Due to the serious theological errors of CCCI, particularly in the realm of the Christian life and spiritual maturity, these men suffered a "great deal of frustration and disillusionment." Campus Crusade, under the leadership of Dr. William ("Bill") Bright, has erroneously taught a form of "instant spirituality" which is said to result from their rote "by faith filling with the Spirit." This concept is built on a misinterpretation of Ephesians 5:18.
It was the bitter experience of repetitive failure (sin syndrome) that drove these men to abandon CCCI and then even turn their backs on the entire Protestant realm. All of the leaders mentioned above, including Franky Schaeffer – son of the well-known Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer, became clerics in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the early 1970s shortly before their departure, Miles Stanford wrote:
…there are those whose disillusionment has driven them into error. For example, we think of several leaders who are no longer with Campus Crusade, namely, John Braun, Peter Gillquist and Hal Lindsey. True to CCCI principles, these highly talented young men were dependent upon confession of sins for the filling with the Spirit and the expected spirituality. Lack of results resulted in total disillusionment.
Their understandable reaction caused them to go to the opposite extreme, to do away with confession of sins. They reasoned that since their sins were already forgiven, why confess them? Instead, just thank God and continue on. Mainly due to this [erroneous] teaching as set forth in Gillquist’s book LOVE IS NOW, many have been turned aside from the privilege and responsibility of confessing their sins, thus seriously damaging their fellowship with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).
Begg. p. 125 EO + Celts
3. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (347-407) cohort of Chrysostom - monk from Alexandria?
Among Diodorus' students at the School of Antioch were John Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia. The various encyclopedias agree that Chrysostom's view of sin was unscriptural:
"[Chrysostom's] conception of the Divine image in man, which he regards as consisting in his dominion over creation recalls Diodorus and Theodore. He regards the Fall as resulting in a privation of gifts which were not a part of man's natural constitution. He does not teach a complete loss of the Divine image. He agrees with Theodore in insisting on free will and denying original sin... He denies that mortality is the cause of sin." 37.
"[Chrysostom] expressly controverts the view...that sin is an integral part of our nature." 38.
The Chrysostom Society is a group of neo-gnostics founded and led by Richard Foster. Members include Madeline L'Engle of the New Age St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York, Karen Mains, Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, and similar false prophets who have sought to mainstream the esoteric as Christianity. Foster noted Chrysostom's agreement with the theology of the famous Gnostic of the School of Alexandria: "In his later life, Chrysostom was much maligned for his agreement with much of Origen's theology..." 39.
"The Star of Arcady either referred to Arcadia, the earthly home of Kallisto, or to Arcas, her son..." 927:456
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a BEAR, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. - Rev. 13:1-5
See: Secret Societies 15.A
Monastic Movement 24.F