On May 13, 1982, Pope John Paul II flew to Portugal on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving for his life having been spared the year before. At the airport welcoming ceremony, the Pope, reflecting that he’d been shot on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, mused that, “In the designs of Providence, there are no mere coincidences.” What we think of as coincidental is rather a facet of the divine plan for our lives that we’ve not fit into the proper frame. So I’ll take it as providential that I was reading Msgr. Stephen Rossetti’s book, Diary of an American Exorcist (Sophia Institute Press, 2021), when I recently visited Salem, Massachusetts, to speak at the Saint John Paul II Shrine of Divine Mercy.
The Shrine is well-located, for Salem is badly in need of divine protection. The town is, of course, notorious for the 1692 witchcraft trials that resulted in the judicial murder of twenty innocent men and women. Yet despite the nebulous guilt that hovers over Salem, the local economy seems dependent on witchcraft, Satanism, and similar perversions of the supernatural.
Salem hosts the Cabot-Kent Hermetic Temple, which boasts of being a “federally recognized Temple of Witchcraft.” Then there is the Satanic Temple, which, with no sense of irony, requires that “proof of vaccination…be presented upon entry” – vaccination against COVID-19, but not, evidently, against the wickedness that God proscribed in Leviticus 19.26: “You shall not practice augury or witchcraft.” And the streets of historic Salem are replete with shops hawking tarot cards, ouija boards, and other alleged instruments of divination and fortune-telling.
For moderns who imagine that “Satan” and “satanic” are heightened metaphors for evil — “Hitler was satanic” — these expressions of the dark arts may be harmless toys. But when Father Robert Bedziński, the rector of the Divine Mercy Shrine, describes what happens in Salem around Halloween, including Satan-worshipping “Black Masses” in which stolen, consecrated hosts are desecrated, it’s hard to think of these things as mere games played by silly people. Something else is going on.
When I was preparing The End and the Beginning, the second volume of my biography of John Paul II, I discussed with the postulator of the late Pope’s beatification cause the occasions on which John Paul, by quietly praying with a disturbed person, relieved what may have been that person’s oppression by the Evil One. Without drama, Msgr. Sławomir Oder said of Satan. “I feel his presence in this office every day. He hates him and he will do anything to stop the beatification.” I promised my friend that I would pray for his protection; we then pondered the possibility that a recent calumny against John Paul, which the postulation had to investigate and rebut, might have been concocted by a former leader of the Stasi, the old East German secret intelligence service.
The Evil One operates through many instruments, it seems. And once one surrenders to hatred, ideological besottedness, jealousy, fear of the present or despair about the future, the door is open for the Great Tempter to work his wicked ways through human weakness. Pope Paul VI’s warning in 1972 — that “Satan’s smoke has made its way into the Temple of God through some crack” — now seems prescient. That smoke is not only choking those “progressives” who deny settled truths of Catholic faith. It is befouling parts of the right-of-center Catholic blogosphere as well. (And that’s before we get to Twitter.)
Msgr. Rossetti’s book, which combines accounts of the work of Church-sanctioned exorcists in relieving satanic oppression or possession with reflections on the mystery of evil and its sundry expressions, warns against confusing mental illness with the work of Satan — a point on which Rossetti, a practicing psychologist, speaks with authority. Nonetheless, Msgr. Rossetti is quite clear that dabbling (or worse) in the kind of occult esoterica undergirding Salem’s economy opens cracks through which demonic forces can enter, often undetected.
The same dynamic is at work in world affairs. An appeal to Satan is not necessary to explain the evil Vladimir Putin has done in Ukraine. But that evil has opened more cracks through which the Great Tempter takes advantage of our vulnerabilities: as he does in the savagery of barbaric military assaults on innocent civilians; or in the sex-trafficking of refugee children; or in deliriums of conspiracy theorizing that befog moral judgment; or in the obstinacy of those who cannot concede that, in the matter of Putin, alleged defender of Christian civilization, they have mimicked Lenin’s “useful idiots.”
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us.
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All that George Weigel says about Satan is true, as is the truth about Vladimir Putin. If I may, Satan also operates in the form of double agency vilifying the villain with absolute negativity as if absent of any and all justice – which in world affairs is virtually never the case. Example, even Hitler was able to appeal to the great injustice of indemnities that left Germans starving in the streets, the adversity against humanness inflicted on German culture from amoral secularists and Marxists.
Russia, then, is not entirely without cause for reparatory negotiation, nor is Ukraine absent of unjust policy, of harsh policy toward ethnic Russians in Donbas. And for enormous corruption tied in with the Biden family’s long lucrative involvement in Ukraine.
As further example, the same European Union that condemns Putin’s aggression, and alleged atrocities, condemns Viktor Orbán for protecting Hungary’s borders from open migration, and for the defending the rights of the family, and that a woman is a definable person unlike a morally selective candidate for the US Supreme Court. An advanced course on conspiracy would center on George Soros as the multi billionaire who Orbán names as his chief adversary, a man who is admired by the EU, as well as intellectual elitists in the US, a man who purchases US attorneys, jurists, judiciary to implement the socialist egalitarian cause.
To reiterate, Vladimir Putin’s invasion and destruction of Ukraine, the killing of civilians must be condemned by the world community. Likewise, it mustn’t fall in the satanic trap of self righteousness blind to its own contribution to political antagonism seeking to implement its own views everywhere, and eastward, where those views are anathema to the faithful believer, even if Putin is a pretentious, ill motivated believer.
Yes, Satan is very clever, he never sleeps while we slumber on with ill conceived tunnel vision views of justice.
Father, thank you so much for this reasonable and rational comment. It seems that people have lost the ability to see anything except in extremes and polar opposites-cartoonish caricatures of the “good guys and bad guys” ( caricatures the mainstream media draws daily).These circumstances are far more complicated than most casual observers realize, and some logic and ability to discern are much needed. One can condemn the actions of Putin and Russia without holding Ukraine up as a shining model of purity, or discounting the blunders made by the Western powers that may have contributed to this conflict. Satan confuses, and part of his “smoke” obscures clear sight.
Father, thank you very much for your comment. Many in the West, who always claim to take the moral high ground, also support the murder of millions of the unborn under the guise of support for “reproductive rights.” And if their constant support for abortion is not the work of Satan, I do not know what it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJC7f1tosSg&list=WL&index=7
Watch this interesting video. I have always seen the lies of the US on WMD in Iraq and of the impending destruction of Ghadaffi when he proposes the use of Arab Dinars to pay for the oil purchases.
I do think it is time that the pulpit be used more vigorously to combat that the attack of the enemy taking place in our families. I sit in tears at the homilies that I hear Sunday after Sunday that do nothing to try to relate the Gospels to our everyday life. What is going on all across the country is sheer pandemonium not only destroying our posterity through abortion but destroying the lives of all of our young people with this gender dysphasia. I wonder how many people sit there in such despair waiting for a word of truth in regards to all of this chaos. I for one do!!!!
Myself as well, Sharon. The awfulness of our world sometimes overwhelms me. I wish I knew what else I could do besides what I am doing in my little corner of the world. (And prayer and adoration and the sacraments, of course.)
Sharon, I agree with you completely. We desperately need our priests to preach on these matters from the pulpit on a regular basis, but most of them fear to even mention these topics.
In our modern godless world we are under constant demonic attack on a daily basis.
You probably know that the word pandaemonium, meaning “all demons” was first used by John Milton in his poem Paradise Lost as the name of the capital city of Hell.
It appears that these demons now live in our world as much as they live in the place of darkness and gloom to which God assigned them.
God bless you and pray without ceasing.
What’s happening with Ukraine now is the fruit of a tree planted by Vice-President Biden for President Obama. The split in the narrative applied to Hunter Biden and “his infamous laptop”, is meant to disarm; and the prolongation of this and other Biden “complexes”, is part of the mechanics. President Zelensky “leading all the free world” and its Governments “onto more and more glory”, with the comedian Zelensky as The Spearhead General On The Ground, is a phantom ensemble; and those in it for the money and hating Catholicism, might be genuinely flattered albeit they are not sharing a burden. It is also somewhat ridiculous.
But for the bloodshed. And for the lying.
That the Obama-Biden design might connect back with New American Century, could be Satanic; or, could be incidental; or could be both; or, could be incidental yet exploited by Satan. For once, I am disappointed in Weigel’s article. He is behaving like a “maximum” influencer, marshalling every piece of disturbing vocabulary, image and context, in order to conclude with a note on Ukraine. He times the entry of this material just as Joseph Pearce is saying Henry VIII mustn’t get cancelled.
Ukraine’s issues and its very diverse and disparate borders, all have solutions proper to them, all very ordinary and regular going, quite familiar to history, part simple, part heavier in detail, everything workable. There is nothing more to it than that. They are all of very little, or, of no, international moment /momentousness; that any war or provoked or co-opted internal civil or other strife, should ever have followed -or, led- “so as to defend them” or “so as to resolve them”.
Fake news.
Ukraine is a poor nation of a bit more than 40 million. They have their own aspirations in culture and national expression after long years of Soviet oppression. If they want to join NATO or ANZAC or the UFP, that is entirely up to them and whatever group of nations with which they want to associate.
As a nation, Russia has much to offer the world and its neighbors: dance, music, literature, theatre, and when they don’t cheat and drug their own athletes, sport. Russia had a whole generation to court Ukraine. They failed. Now they wage war, and fail at that too.
I’m somewhat surprised CWR has Orthodox apologists here–the long difference in religion has been along the divide of 1054. One would think the Catholic defenders of the faith here, would be rooting for their side of the schism. What a twisted mess when Catholic Republicans try to venture out into the complex new world.
PS No serious person gives a hoot about Hunter Biden except his own family.
Yes, and what a twisted mess the world becomes when Progressive flee from its complexities and hide behind their mindless, malevolent ideologies.
Well, no. Doesn’t pass the smell test.
Being progressive or conservative or in between isn’t by definition mindless or malevolent. Human beings of any ideology can impart their personal imperfections, faults, and less serious sins, and so corrupt the final result. People can also be inattentive or innocent about the ideologies they follow–that happens in any approach to life, and Christians aren’t immune from it.
The world gets twisted through serious sin. Grave matter carelessly handled or the subject of mischief. And yes, malice: the invasion of a sovereign nation, for starters. A list? The murder of non-combatant civilians. The targeting of non-military sites. The unwillingness to permit safe evacuation. The ill-preparation of an army, exposing them to dangers of radiation, a lack of food and basic human needs. Then the lies about it to the home front and to the world.
Mr Putin is hardly a progressive.
Your premise is seriously faulty. The world becomes a mess when bad people do bad things. It’s a pretty simple equation.
I repeat my statement: the Russia apologists here have sided with the Orthodox against their own Catholic brothers and sisters. The ones who do don’t appear progressive to me.
No serious person ignores the criminal squalor and the insidious impact that Hunter Biden’s laptop has had on this nation. You’re simply taking the position that the MSM and Big Tech took in 2020 regarding the laptop. You’re aligning yourself with current deniers like Brian Stelter in ignoring the vile facts that this laptop contains. You are also aligning yourself with the Power Elite that runs this country like an oligarchy. Your position is entirely ideological.
” insidious impact that Hunter Biden’s laptop has had on this nation”
every now and then I get a good chuckle from such a real, true, honest-to-goodness boomer comment
Many care about the infamous laptop, from the President ‘s son.
He conducted himself badly with drugs, prostitutes, deals shameful to every American! He should be a model, as should his father, of virtuous behavior. Instead, he chose a path of fraud and greed.
You are correct, nobody gives a hoot about Hunter Biden. What they give a hoot about is that he appears to have fronted questionable activities to funnel cash to his father Joe Biden and evidently influence peddling was a concern. What is of concern is that the mainstream media suppressed the story at a critical point and continues to do so. What is of concern is that the media BANNED the NY POST, an American newspaper,for their printing of the story , and such free speech suppression had an unquestionable impact on the last Presidential election. Large numbers of swing voters when polled have indicated that had they known the story, they would NOT have voted for Biden. We have seen the FILM of Joe Biden threatening to withhold US aid if Hunter was investigated, have we not? The corruption seems substantial and thinking Americans ARE concerned about that. Unless of course you are a deluded Democrat who wishes to win at any price, even at the cost of the destruction of the country and its freedoms and institutions.
Todd Flowerday above, April 6 – Your not giving a hoot about Hunter Biden’s situation, is a further manifestation of a willingness to embrace what is wrong. President Biden and company have produced a strategic, diplomatic and legal blunder for the USA; and created a progression of dismay for most people including Ukrainians, Orthodox and Catholics. It would be difficult for him and company to admit it; prejudicing Hunter Biden and a whole section of people associated with him in those channels. But at least come clean and exit from the international blunder now and not later.
“manifestation of a willingness to embrace what is wrong”
Well, no. What I’ve read is that a lot of people had their fingers in the younger Mr Biden’s business. We also know that Mr Trump and Mr Putin had good cause to further the accusations and muddy the water in advance of an election. So I take reporting by partisan sources with a grain of salt. A pretty big one, in fact.
I do know from reading other sources that the man is under investigation. I’m withholding judgment until I see the results of that investigation. If I’m willing to entertain conspiracy theories about President Biden, I should be as open to the more salacious ones about Mr Trump. I don’t read those either. It’s a minefield full of rabbit holes.
I prefer to deal with facts and the observations I make. A lot of otherwise good Catholics have been sucked into some very questionable things. Supporting Mr Putin’s war or even blaming it on someone else just doesn’t pass the smell test.
“There was something grotesquely familiar about last week’s revelations about Hunter Biden’s business dealings abroad, both in the story’s particulars and in the more general saga of sleazy self-dealing into which it fits. The idea that these latest revelations definitively vindicate or villainize any party except Mr. Biden himself, however, is misplaced.”
More right-wing conspiratorializing from that nutty, radical rag: The Washington Post.
More:
“For now, what’s more compelling than the assorted accusations about the Bidens’ behavior is this question: Why is confirmation of a story that first surfaced in the fall of 2020 emerging only now? When the New York Post published its blockbuster exclusive on the contents of a laptop said to have been abandoned at a Delaware repair shop by Hunter Biden, mainstream media organizations balked at running with the same narrative. Social media sites displayed even greater caution. Twitter blocked the story altogether, pointing to a policy against hacked materials, and suspended the New York Post’s account for sharing it; Facebook downranked the story in the algorithms that govern users’ news feeds for fear that it was based on misinformation. Now, The Washington Post and the New York Times have vouched for many of the relevant communications.”
Translation: We carried water for the Bidens. We failed to actually do what media outlets are supposed to do. Worse, we blocked access to a legit and important story. But, hey, not to worry: we’re on it now!
Maybe. Why did it surface in 2020? The timing seemed similar to Mrs Clinton’s e-mails. And why now? The timing of the rather unified NATO support for Ukraine. If I’m inclined to skepticism on Hunter Biden, I can certainly ask questions about the allegations against him.
Given the numbers of oligarchs with many more millions and billions than the Biden family, I find it hard to believe Hunter Biden is the tipping point for war and the most corrupt family member of a prominent US politician. The Russians failed to nudge the US electorate in 2020. Maybe they’re trying again.
The people who are inviting me down rabbit holes seem to be the same ones suggesting I drink the potion labelled “read me” or “believe me.” And for the record, I was as much as a disinterested skeptic on Donald Trump stories about mistresses, abortions, and the like–and I remain so unless and until an investigation uncovers any of his behavior detrimental to US security or the national common good.
This whole line of thought makes me think of the kid who blew up his school’s chemistry lab, but the principal wants to know why the parents were feuding with another couple and what their kid was doing in the cafeteria the month before.
“… I find it hard to believe Hunter Biden is the tipping point for war…”
Might I just just call you “Dr. Straw Man”?
I don’t have a PhD, so perhaps no, no not a good idea.
The, then, ongoing investigation of an illegal private server of Clinton’s emails and subsequent ‘mysterious’ disappearance of 30k of the same hardly produced a ‘questionable’ timeline from an investigation of many months that culminated in explanations of recipes and not knowing what a ‘classified’ designation meant.
Like Mr Trump, just an old person who didn’t understand security.
I suppose the simple solution is to put everybody in jail.
Some people dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story when it was first reported because the New York Post (founded by Alexander Hamilton) and The Daily Mail (founded in 1896), both tabloids, were among the first to report the story and to report that they had authenticated some of the contents of the laptop by contacting people who had sent or received email messages found on the laptop.
From The Genetic Fallacy
Excerpt:
If I told you not to trust a word your doctor is telling you because he is overweight, would you give me credibility? Just because your doctor is obese, that doesn’t mean the information he provides you with about how to improve your health is invalid. Generally speaking, arguments stand or fall on their own merits and not on those of their sources. As you can see from my example, it is fallacious to either endorse or condemn an idea based on its past. This is called committing the genetic fallacy. Despite its name (coming from Ancient Greek as genesis, meaning beginnings), the genetic fallacy has nothing to do with genetic patterns, but rather, it refers to a type of logical fallacy in which an argument is rated on the basis of where it comes from. The genetic fallacy is committed whenever an idea is evaluated based upon irrelevant history.
There is a body of ideas at large including at FOREIGN POLICY, arguing that absolutism and militarist confrontation, is not the way forward in any international situation; nor is it in the best interests of the USA. An instance of it can be found in this article, “U.S. Grand Strategy After Ukraine – Seven thinkers weigh in on how the war will shift U.S. foreign policy”, March 21 2022. The article links to 7 opinions,
– Stephen M. Walt
– Shannon O’Neil
– Toshihiro Nakayama
– Anne-Marie Slaughter
– C. Raja Mohan
– Robin Niblett
– Kishore Mahbubani.
‘ The U.S. Defense Department’s National Defense Strategy, which lays out the United States’ approach to long-term security challenges, was originally scheduled to come out in February; it has now been delayed until further notice. ‘
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/21/us-geopolitics-security-strategy-war-russia-ukraine-china-indo-pacific-europe/#stephen-m-walt
The rejection of the centuries of signs of the presence of the Spirit, and the taking up of the occult by people as a replacement for true religion is what brought about the Divine destruction of our planet in the masterful sci-fi novel, CHILDHOOD’S END, by Arthur C. Clark, (1953). The novel aptly describes our civilization as it exists today. The “philosophy of thought,” that John Paul II described as the dominant motivator of the anti-religious Enlightenment, seeks, with its technology worship, (scientism), to dominate the “philosophy of existence,” based on the metaphysics of Aristotle and Acquinas. The trick employed by the men of the Enlightenment — the same that is being used by the Great Reset cultus — is to ignore the “coincidences” that are signs of the Providence and presence of God. It is evolutionary theory seeking to deny that angelic beings exist, and are above human elitists, in power and authority.
David Doerr, we would be very misled taking you as a sign of the God’s Presence and His Providence and His angels;, or, for that matter, Clarke’s CHILDHOOD”S END.
Arthur C. Clarke is part of the Brave New World/1984/Reset cultus; he just happens to be somewhat removed in the timeline and not easily seen: super-shrouded false prophet.
Putting him alongside JPII and the saints, as an equal with meaningful contribution or amplification, is very much against truth and rationality -and God’s Providence.
The situation with Ukraine requires right thinking, moral resolve, trust in God’s goodness and maturity of reasoning which are not in Clarke.
Clarke’s constructions are all Godless and antithetical. Check the video in the link; which can be found also within the WIKIPEDIA article.
His work and philosophy are in keeping with his keenly-attenuated atheism. He can be known precisely for the absence of hope and of cored-out humanity, in his output.
RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA is, in my estimation, an introduction to the occult. A case can be made against his other writings.
Personally, your comment can’t be trusted because it neither affirms Weigel nor faults him; while you remain free to land on any side at any time, who knows with what.
‘ Clarke left written instructions for a funeral: “Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral.”
‘
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AABC_Clarke_predicts_internet_and_PC.ogv
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke
University of Chicago had a disinformation/democracy conference, first week in April 2022; a number of out-front personalities attended.
‘ Back when the Hunter Files were a live crisis for the Biden camp, Applebaum published a lengthy essay in The Atlantic that aimed to discredit the reporter who broke the laptop story. So if she doesn’t find the story interesting, why did she—along with the entirety of the corporate media apparatus—dedicate so much time and effort to trying to legitimate censorship of the Post’s reporting? ‘
https://compactmag.com/article/why-anne-applebaum-shot-down-my-question
Forty-five days after I was born, a Lutheran boy was brought from the East Coast to his aunt’s home in my Catholic parish, in St. Louis County. He was the subject of the novel and movie, THE EXOCIST. Father Bowdern was the primary priest involved in conducting the rite. One of his brothers was a physician at the Catholic hospital where my eldest sister was a nurse. I corresponded a few times with another of his brothers, who was a retired Jesuit priest at the university that I attended.
While in my mother’s womb, an earthquake shook far-eastern Turkiye, in mid-May of 1948. This exposed an anomalous Boat-shaped Object that was first seen by a Kurdish farmer. He couldn’t remember the exact date, although the “coincidence” that this happened at the approximate time that Israel again became a nation — May 14, 1948 — is interesting. Particularly so, since the Turkish government, after years of careful consideration and investigation (mainly initially conducted by Americans Ron Wyatt and David Fasold, beginning in 1977) — since the Turkish government has officially declared that this Object at the Durupinar archeological site is what remains of Noah’s Ark. (The name is “Noach” in Hebrew.)
It is worth noting that most Christians don’t even know that the remains of Noah’s Ark have indeed been found, and that excavations are in the planning stage, following metal detector and sub-surface radar scans. I arranged for the gent who is largely responsible for the planning of the excavations (Ross Patterson of New Zealand) to be interviewed on Christian radio in San Diego, last summer, for two hours.
If Arthur C. Clarke was an atheist — and I will address that issue next — then what are the Catholics that I know, who either can’t answer, or refuse to even address the question, “What is the Greatest Commandment?”
David Doerr, your new comments today seem to say that because of your life experiences, you can be trusted at least on Clarke; however, you have held back on dealing with Clarke’s atheism.
Some time ago I saw a TV documentary on the earthquake and the ark; and the cordoning off of the site by the Government of Turkey. Perhaps the (alleged) finding had changed Clarke in some way?
In this video that Father Mervyn Fernando presents, http://arthurcclarke.org/site/clarke/ we see Arthur C. Clarke being greeted at the Vatican by a smiling Pope John Paul II. Father Fernando concludes the presentation by describing Mr. Clarke as “an extraordinary man.” He notes that Mr. Clarke did not accept astrology as a science. Compare this with Elias Galy’s statement above: “Putting him (Clarke) along side JPII and the saints, as an equal with meaningful contribution or amplification, is very much against truth and rationality — and God’s Providence.”
Regarding Mr. Clarke’s statement that he wanted absolutely no religious rites of any kind associated with his funeral, as Elias Galy tells us, what should we then make of this quote from Mt. 8:22? “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” If Mr. Clarke said something of that nature, what a scandal would ensue!
In 1953, in his novel CHILDHOOD’S END, Mr. Clarke had one of his angelic Overlords express these words to mankind: “Science was the only real religion of mankind. It was the gift of the western minority to the remainder of mankind, and it had destroyed all other faiths.” Now compare that with the book review that was published in “The Catholic World Report” not too long ago: ‘Metaphysics and the Case Against Scientism,” by Christopher S. Morrissey. https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2014/08/25/metaphysics-and-the-case-against-scientism/
Here is a Youtube video titled “President Putin venerates the Relics of Orthodox St. Nicholas the Miracle-worker.” That was made on May 25, 2O17 — four days before the worst storm in more than 1OO years afflicted Moscow, bringing death, harm, and destruction in its wake. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=President+Putin+visits+the+reliquary+of+St.+Nicholas+in+the+Cathedral+of+Christ+the+Saviour The Kremlin could use an exorcist right now.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40086616
Elias, I have been involved with research into the history of the Noachian Deluge since 1979. This has brought me into contact with some of the best biblical archeologists on the planet. I have introduced an Apollo 15 astronaut twice to large audiences (an entire high school student body). That was Col. James Irwin, who was searching for Noah’s Ark. I have become well acquainted with Dr. Robert C. Michelson, who has taught aeronautical engineering in five different nations. Click on the link at the top of his archeology page, and check out the fourth film of his five-part documentary concerning the Flood. http://www.angel-strike.com/sepdac/5MICHELSONArcheology.html That film discusses the Durupinar archeologyical site, and the anomalous Boat-shaped Object, that just happens to be exactly 3OO Royal Egyptian cubits in length, using the 2O.6 inch cubit.
David Doerr, maybe, after all, there is a Providential aspect to your contributions here, in that the Divine Providence will shed a different light into what you are seeing, at least as far as Clarke is concerned and at least for your sake.
In THE NEW YORKER of 2014, see the first link, Jeremy Bernstein describes Clarke in his mature years, such as he was living them for a very long and settled period of time subsequent to the meeting with JPII.
Clarke had gone off to Ceylon in pursuit of his own Shangri-La fantasies and excitements, homosexual fulfillment, treasure quests and high primal superstition-ism containing Adam as the backdrop authenticator.
Maybe it is the picture of the “businessman” he had described in his prophecies about future mankind.
It coincides with the biography of Clarke in WIKIPEDIA (as it is now) and at large and there is nothing from Clarke that dispels or casts doubt over any of it. WIKIPEDIA includes pedophilia.
In the Bernstein article you also discover Clarke’s terminal “3 Laws”. These very refined maxims could easily tie back in with Freemasonry and other estoerica. I wouldn’t be surprised that they do. In any event, standing on their own, they remain very dangerous rail lines for those whose wheels happen to catch on them.
It is a very long article but quite comprehensive. I hope you take the time to read it thoroughly and apply some thought in the direction AWAY from Clarke and his legacy.
You seem to be advocating for Weigel in some ways; but I am more convinced that you are spoiling the positions he tries to set up in this article and in his latest article.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/08/09/ego-chamber
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/04/13/holy-week-2022-a-wartime-meditation/
Thank you, Elias, for the links to the articles. I will read them when I get a little more time. Concerning the “lion race,” I will have to search-out Dr. Thor Heyerdahl’s writing on the subject, again. The cultures of the Middle East have changed considerably over the last five thousand years. Concerning Adam, you might find the link between ancient Sumerian mythology, Adam, and his descendants, (cf. Gn. 3-6), to be of interest, here: https://www.grisda.org/origins-18010
Something this important concerning the Christian religion ought to be made known to every Christian. Why isn’t it, then? No one knew that the Sumerians even existed until the nineteenth century, yet here is the evidence that links them to Genesis!
The Sudarium of Oviedo, Spain is the headcloth that was placed on the head of Jesus of Nazareth after He was removed from the Cross. The blood type, (AB+), and the blood stains are the same as on the Shroud of Turin. So why is it that most Christians have never heard of it?! https://www.shroud.com/guscin.htm Religious fervor?
I commend George Weigel for his quote from John Paul II concerning “coincidence.” It is a form of evidence, and it is applied in that manner in REPORT ON THE SHROUD OF TURIN, by Dr. John Heller, where a number of these synchronicities are noted. Even so, the Christian community makes little note of these phenomena. I have a few anecdotes concerning “coincidences” and the Shroud of Turin that I have experienced. Yet, this kind of evidence is mostly pushed to the background when the Shroud of Turin is discussed in articles such as you find on Yahoo.com. Where are the brilliant defenders of the Church in this regard?
Well, until I explain what happened on Good Friday, 2011 in St. Louis, in a comment to one of the articles that will be published then in “The Catholic World Report,” I must return to my regularly scheduled tasks at hand. Thank you, Elias, for your exchange of ideas.
One addendum: Arthur C. Clarke mentioned THE LORD OF THE RINGS in one of his novels.
So then, I think that his religious bent was most probably in line with the thinking of Professor Tolkien’s. I doubt seriously that a Catholic priest would refer to him as being an extraordinary man, if he were a true atheist. Professor Tolkien was a kind of reformist Catholic. His Numenoreans didn’t pray long, public prayers. That is in line with the ORIGINAL teaching of Christ concerning how to pray, as discussed in Mt. 6.5-8. That is perhaps the most violated teaching of Christ in the entire Christian Gospel.
David Doerr, you have traversed varied events, coincidences, parts of the Bible, items of originality, questions posed unanswered, pregnant pauses and, now, illusions from Tolkien.
Phew.
On the one hand, those are the things that have taken you; or, you have taken for yourself. On the other hand. Weigel was telling SOL to give up “Russian propaganda” for Triduum/Easter. I would have to conclude that neither you nor Weigel is open to anything besides what you have concluded already. It’s not to say that the two of you are exactly the same; it is to notice that, either way, it’s a lot of smoke blowing out of the stacks.
The more opposition you encounter that you can not resolve -or, can not handle- the thicker and blacker the smoke. It’s A LOT OF SMOKE. That the stacks have the carrying capacity indicates how they got built.
Most people that do this kind of stuff are usually overweight middle-age folks with way to much imagination,