Now, something completely different

Let's get off global wind-bag issues and get down to the real war.

I found myself in a loop reading about the Fatima "secrets" and how, once again, the actual words of import (Lucy or is it Miriam, aka Mary) do not exit the darkness of the Vatican. The Church is a past master of not letting people think for themselves, all the way back to the absorption of the Irish (Spanish/Coptic) church, the incredibly redacted Bible, down to the recent hiding of the Dead Sea Scrolls by the Vatican office formerly called the Office of the Inquisition.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were released by a museum in California that found a photographic copy had been archived there. The Church sued under copyright law (link to a priest comments on the scholarly in-fighting) to prevent the release, also saying it will take proper scholars a year just to translate a few words, which is the rate the Church had been releasing snippets for decades. After the document went public, the scrolls were translated in a year and showed a different Israel. It may even be that Paul (Saul) was considered the "Great Liar." Of course, there is scholarly disagreements in this area.

There is an argument that Yeshua may have been an Essene (which I seem to recall was the core of the Qumran Dead Sea Scroll folks) or that he was Jesus the Nazarean, making him a political activist, which is a completely different take than the Jesus of the carpenter in Nazareth. (Of course, the son of a carpenter would become a carpenter and would not receive an education befitting the wealthy). It is further argued that Nazareth did not exist at the time and that Nazarean is the correct nickname.

There is evidence that Yeshua and his apostles were political activists, if not revolutionaries. Keep in mind that Judas Iscariot, who some scholars now see as executing a plan, not turning on Yeshua, is not really from the Iscariot family. An iscariot was the name for an unpleasant dagger. It is a nickname. Recall "Peter's" first reaction in the presence of a few hundred Romans sent to arrest one man - he pulled his sword and struck. Why were so many soldiers sent to arrest a peaceful guy praying with his apostles? Things ain't what they tell you in Sunday school.

Anyway, the poop on the third secret, which was supposed to be withheld for few generations, is that the eventual release of the text is not accurate or highly redacted. The ins and outs of the tale are like a Dan Brown novel. Those in the know (like a few Popes and bishops) have commented that the message had to do with corruption from the top down in the Church causing a loss of direction and, thus, a loss of goodness resulting in the "chastisement" to come.

I am reminded of the Dan Brown scene where a Pope is poisoned with cocoa. I am reminded of comments from a friend who was attached to the Vatican that, in fact, the story was true and the reason he was killed, it is surmised, was he ordered a clean up of the Vatican Bank as soon as he was elected. If you recall, the head of the Vatican Bank was found, not too long after, hanging from a bridge in London.

Apparently, the released version of the Third Secret does not pass the smell test and contradicts prior discussion. The Church does not seem ready to heed the warning that it is an infected bureaucracy or the older Lucy's words:

“She (the Blessed Virgin Mary) told me that the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Also from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil. There is no other possibility.”

... Sister Lucy of Fatima speaking
to Father Fuentes,
December 26, 1957

More:

“It [the Third Secret] has nothing to do with Gorbachev. The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.”

... Cardinal Oddi, quoted March 17,
1990, in the journal Il Sabato

“Through some crack the smoke of satan has entered into the Church of God.”

... Pope Paul VI, Papal address of
June 30, 1972

On 60 Minutes several years ago interviewed a mullah from Pakistan who said the terrorists are infected by bad jinn, evil souls, and that their actions are evil. So, the two most powerful religions, with histories of sweeping, true-believer warfare, are both worried about their own souls being corrupted from within.

One group of jinn has a stated goal to destroy Christians who, faced with this world-wide war, is finding ways to destroy itself from within.

Sounds like a good plan, if you are the devil.

Maybe there is a movie in this.