BENNETT-WE BOLT LIKUD IF JERUSALEM GETS DIVIDED OR JUST TALK OF IT

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

GENESIS 25:20-26
20  And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22  And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

ISAIAH 31:5
5 As birds flying,(PLANES) so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem;(WITH PLANES) defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.(NUKE OR BOMB ISRAELS ENEMIES)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(WW3 STARTS BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AND ISRAELIS UPROOTED FROM THEIR GOD GIVIN LAND)

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)

PSALMS 137:5-6
5  If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6  If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-4 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished;(RAPED) and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Bennett: We’ll bolt coalition if it agrees to 1967 lines

In speech at Tel Aviv think tank, senior minister sets his party’s terms for an agreement with the Palestinians

By Lazar Berman January 7, 2014, 7:26 pm 40-The times of Israel

Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, rejected Tuesday afternoon the prospect of a peace deal based on the 1967 lines, and called a potential Palestinian state “a demographic disaster for Israel.”Bennett made his remarks on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies.He indicated that his right-wing party would bolt the coalition if the talks progressed under certain conditions. “We will not sit in a government that, due to international pressure, endangers the future of our children and divides our capital,” he said.However, Bennett did not say that the Jewish Home would leave the government automatically over any agreement.Bennett’s remarks came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry left the region having yet to win agreement from the sides on a framework for continued negotiations toward a permanent deal. Some reports suggest he will return as soon as next week.In his talk, Bennett laid out his party’s red lines for a peace deal. “We will never give up on a unified Jerusalem under Israeli — and only Israeli — sovereignty. We will not accept a Palestinian terror state, we will not accept an agreement based on the ’67 lines… We will not sit in a government that makes the easy and dangerous decisions.”“Enough with the games,” he continued. “We will no longer play word games: ’67 lines’ means the division of Jerusalem; giving up the Mount of Olives where Menachem Begin, Rav Kook, and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda are buried; and giving up the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, and the Old City.”Last week, Bennett reportedly held several one-on-one meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lay out red lines for a framework agreement with the Palestinians that, if breached, may prompt him to pull his party from the government, Channel 2 reported.Bennett on Tuesday also criticized international pressure on the Jewish state to come to an agreement with the Palestinians, and urged Israeli leaders to be willing to reject conditions forced on them by outside parties.“If we speak clearly,” he said, “they will listen to us. And if our friends push us to commit suicide, even if it comes from good intentions — then we will say, ‘No!’ We didn’t come here to be the world’s proving ground.”The minister’s statements seemed to be an implicit dig at Kerry’s latest push to get both sides to sign on to the framework agreement. Kerry is asking Netanyahu and Abbas to start making tough, highly political decisions in hopes of narrowing differences and thus to agree on a framework that will outline a final peace pact.Also Tuesday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon denied that there was an actual  framework agreement under discussion.“We are not working on a framework agreement,” Ya’alon said during a visit to the IDF Central Command headquarters, “but on a framework for negotiations, for continuing the negotiations for a longer period.”“Our interest is certainly to continue negotiations, and continue to act to stabilize the situation, and our relationship with the Palestinians,” the defense minister continued.According to senior government officials cited by Channel 10 Friday, Netanyahu intends to put the framework agreement to a vote in the cabinet, where it may find stiff opposition. He told Likud colleagues on Monday, however, that there was no framework deal yet, and that it wouldn’t be binding anyway.

Times of Israel staff and AP contributed to this report. 

FM asks sarcastically: Have Israel's Arabs suddenly become Zionists?

01/ 6/2014 VATICAN INSIDER

Pope engages in “parallel diplomacy” to get peace talks going and stop conflict in Syria

An Ethiopian Orthodox Christian in the Holy Land

The Pope has expressed his concern for persecuted faithful in the region. Francis is already much loved in Israel because of his great relationship with the Jewish community in Buenos Aires

Maurizio Molinari in New York Pope Francis’ visit to the Holy Land is meant to overlap with the massive efforts being made on the part of the Obama administration to ensure a permanent agreement is reached between Israel and Palestine. These are American former Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller’s thoughts on the personal diplomatic efforts the Pope is apparently engaged in.“The Secretary of State John Kerry is currently busy putting down in writing things which both sides have in common,” Miller explained. “This means the next few months will be crucial in working out whether an agreement [on the remaining contentious issues] can be reached” over security, borders, refugees and Jerusalem. “The Pope cannot play any formal role in negotiations between presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers but he can help make these a success for everyone through his words and gestures,” Miller added.But according to Rashid Ismail Khalidi, Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, the fact that Washington’s diplomatic action coincides with the papal visit is a risky business for Francis: he risks being caught up in a tug-of-war between Palestinians who will put pressure on him to support their cause on the one hand and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who will trying to take advantage of the Pope’s visit for his own ends, on the other.According to Miller, the unconfirmed reports in recent days of clashes between Israel and Palestine over the Jordan Valley, are confirmation that the situation is becoming increasingly heated: “Until now no news was leaked about the negotiations; the fact that they have now means either one or both sides are not happy about something. According to Khalidi therefore, “the Pope’s visit is risky in terms of image as he has not yet clarified his position on the situation in the Middle East. Palestinians are not at all happy with US diplomacy, as in the best case scenario all it will do is to form the State of Palestine on 20% of the historical territories.”

Informed Israeli and Palestinian sources consider the possibility of the Pope commenting on the negotiations directly as “highly improbable” but according to both sources we could well see some personal diplomatic gestures from the Pope.Marina Ottaway, a Middle East analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center, says these could be ecumenical gestures, as suggested by the Pope’s itinerary: he will be visiting Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Amman; in all of these cities  he will have the chance to address Jews, Christians as well as Muslims. But Khalidi pointed out another possibility: Francis may want to visit the Middle East in haste so as to address an issue that is very close to his heart, namely the rights of Christians in the region. He certainly cannot go to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon or Egypt to talk about this as his safety would be at risk.Whatever Francis may have planned for his trip to the Holy Land in May, Israel is awaiting his arrival with a great sense of curiosity given the close ties Bergoglio had with the Jewish community back when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. Leaders of the Jewish community in the Argentinean capital described “visits to our synagogue” on very “important occasions” such as the lighting of the Menorah (the candelabrum that recalls the re-consecration of the Temple of Jerusalem which the Greeks had defiled) and the evening prayers that are said every year before Jewish New Year’s Eve.The title of the editorial in Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, “Jews need the Pope”, shows how popular Francis is in Israel. The editorial describes Francis as better even than Israel’s chief rabbis, not just because of his personal determination and strategic vision but also because of his humour.In this context, Benjamin Netanyahu may try to take advantage of the run-up to the Pope-s visit to complete the bilateral agreement Israel and the Holy See reached in December 1993, by concluding an economic-financial agreement. But Sergio Minerbi, former Israeli diplomat and a veteran of Vatican-Israeli relations, is cautious: “Netanyahu will only meet the Pope for a few minutes in the Notre Dame hotel in Jerusalem. This building belongs to the Church, so there’s still a long way to go before real dialogue begins.” 

Liberman defends his population transfer plan

Foreign minister denounces as hypocrites critics of his proposal to relinquish Arab towns in Israel to future Palestinian state

By Stuart Winer January 8, 2014, 1:59 pm 1-The times of Israel

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday defended his promotion of a controversial plan to transfer jurisdiction of some Israeli Arab towns to a future Palestinian state by saying their residents have never wanted to part of the Jewish state. He further noted that those who oppose the idea didn’t object when Jews were relocated from the Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip in 2005.In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Liberman heaped scorn on opponents of his plan, which calls for towns in the “triangle” region southeast of Haifa, including heavily populated Arab cities, to become part of a Palestinian state in any peace agreement in exchange for the Jewish settlement blocs of the West Bank. Liberman pointed to the alleged hypocrisy of the Arab residents of the cities in question, saying that in the past they had strongly identified with the Palestinian cause, rejecting the right of Israel to exist and aligning themselves with those seeking to destroy the Jewish state.“The Arabs of Wadi Ara have suddenly become adorers of Zion,” he wrote sarcastically. “In interviews with the residents of Umm al-Fahm on the various television stations we saw those same people who, instead of celebrating [Israel's] Independence Day, mark Nakba Day and wave black flags instead of Israeli flags, those same people who, in their rallies wave pictures of [Hezbollah head Hassan] Nasrallah and the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah — those people are now objecting to the intention that as part of a peace agreement that will include land and population transfers, they will be citizens of a Palestinian state.“All of a sudden, they are an integral part of the State of Israel, suddenly Herzl is their national hero, Hatikva is a hit, and MK Ahmad Tibi [who has come out against the plan] and his friends have a ‘yearning Jewish soul,’” Liberman continued in a reference to a phrase from Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, that recalls Jewish longing for a return to Zion.The foreign minister also criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his objections to the plan.“Abbas, who is so concerned about freeing the Israeli Arabs sitting in prison because of terror activities against Israel, is suddenly crying out in protest against the thought that they will become his citizens,” he said.Liberman denounced opposition to the plan, which has emanated both from the left and from within the coalition, and pointed to the movement’s support of a 2003 extra-governmental peace proposal spearheaded by former Israeli minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Authority minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, which called for making East Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state.“And the bleeding hearts on the left and their ilk, who talk so much about how the Arabs of the triangle are not an object that can be moved from one jurisdiction to another (because there was no intent to move them physically) — they weren’t moved when in the Geneva Initiative Yossi Belin wanted to transfer the residents of East Jerusalem to Palestinian jurisdiction and to nullify their [Israeli] identity cards, and they didn’t blink when the residents of Sinai or Gush Katif were physically transferred and did not just have their jurisdiction transferred.”“There are many historical precedents for land and population swaps, and for the alteration of borders that enabled the creation of homogeneous states and the end of internal conflicts,” Liberman wrote. Invoking the memory of Theodor Herzl and his aspirations to create a Jewish state, he concluded, “Therefore there is no reason to think that the matter is not feasible. After all, we know that’s what they said about the Zionist dream, or in short, “If you will it, it is no dream.”President Shimon Peres on Wednesday rejected the idea of a population transfer as “impractical,” adding that ”Israel cannot take away its citizens’ citizenship simply because they’re Arab.”On Tuesday, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar expressed objection to Liberman’s proposal, saying that any long-term agreement must state that Israel’s Arab population remain in Israeli territory.“As interior minister, I would like to dwell on the concept of citizenship for a moment,” Sa’ar said during a visit to Sakhnin, an Arab city in the Lower Galilee region. “An Israeli citizen is not an object and not transferable as part of a framework political agreement.”

Redrawing Israel’s borders to exclude major Arab population centers that lie on the Israeli side of the Green Line has long been a major policy point for Liberman.At the beginning of January unnamed sources told Maariv that the “triangle” plan, involving some 300,000 Israeli Arabs living on land that would become part of a new Palestine, had come up during talks between Israel and US officials.In the past, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected such an approach.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

FALSE POPE FROM THE VATICAN

REVELATION 13:11-13
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he (FALSE RELIGIOUS LEADER) exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

REVELATION 17:1-5,9,15-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

01/ 7/2014 VATICAN INSIDER

Third Secret of Fátima is a “genuine document” says Portuguese professor

The statue of Our Lady of Fátima

A study by the palaeographer who attributes the text on the Third Secret to Sister Lucia de Jesus dos Santos will be published in the next few days

Andrea Tornielli vatican city The manuscript of the Third Secret of Fátima, which was published by John Paul II and Joseph Ratzinger in June 2000 is apparently a “genuine document” and was written by Sister Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, the eldest of the three shepherd children visited by a series of Marian apparitions who died in February 2005. This is according to Professor Maria José Azevedo Santos, a paleographer who lectures in the Literature faculty of Coimbra University. Mrs. Santos carried out a study on the seer’s manuscript which describes the scene of the “bishop dressed in white” who suffered martyrdom atop a mountain, along with many other Christians. John Paul Ii saw a connection between the Third Secret of Fátima and his assassination attempt on 13 May 1981.Upon completion of her study, Professor Santos gave an interview to the official newspaper of the Portuguese Marian sanctuary Voz da Fátima, which will be published on 13 January. The news agency of the Catholic Church in Portugal has released a preview of the interview. “The Church is certain that the document is original,” Professor Santos stated. “It is a genuine, true document, written by Sister Lucia.” Last September Professor Santos had the chance to carry out research at the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. She says that the absence of Sister Santos’ signature does not “invalidate the authenticity of the document” as it is possible to compare the text of the Third Secret with other manuscripts by Sister Lucia. There is therefore scientific evidence that she is the author of the text.Controversies over the authenticity of the text which came to light in 2000 aside, the document’s most serious critics do not really doubt that the text was written by Sister Lucia but claim that there are clues which suggest there is a section from the text that is missing. According to the critics’ reconstruction – which the Vatican has repeatedly rejected – a part from the sheet of paper containing the description of the vision, there should be another one with the words which the Virgin Mary apparently addressed to the three shepherd children. This would help explain the meaning of the apparition itself.In June 2000, when the then cardinal Ratzinger spoke to journalists about the Third Secret, he said there was no “official explanation” for the apparition, even though John Paul II recognised himself as the “ bishop dressed in white” who was killed. When the Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Tarcisio Bertone, acting on behalf of the Pope asked Sister Lucia to comment on this, she confirmed this interpretation.When Benedict XVI visited Portugal in 2010 he was more cautious when commenting on the subject, leaving open the possibility of the prophesy not yet being complete. Prophesy here is meant in the Biblical sense of the word and not in futuristic film terms.

The Real Secrets of Fatima

Joe Nickell-http://www.csicop.org/si/show/real_secrets_of_fatima/

Volume 33.6, November / December 2009

Among the intriguing mysteries of modern Catholicism are the “miracles” and “secrets” supposedly imparted by the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 (Oliveira 1999). In addition to an allegedly miraculous “dance of the sun,” there were three major secrets, two of which were revealed at the time. The third and final one—kept in an envelope by the Vatican—was not made public until mid-2000, provoking much interest and controversy. I was involved in the media debate over the release of the third secret, appearing on a documentary for the History Channel series History’s Mysteries titled “Fatima: Secrets Unveiled” (which aired January 4, 2001) as well as being interviewed for newspaper articles (e.g., Valpy 2000; Barss 2000). Here is my investigative take on the entire Fatima phenomenon.

The Lady Appears

The reported visits of the Virgin Mary to Fatima occurred in a time of trouble. After the fall of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, there came a wave of anti-clerical sentiment and persecution, followed by various revolutionary conflicts and Portugal’s involvement in World War I.On May 13, 1917, three shepherd children were tending their flock about two miles west of Fatima in a town near Ourém. The children were Lucia Santos, age ten, and her two cousins, nine-year-old Francisco Marto and his seven-year-old sister, Jacinta. A sudden flash of lightning sent the children fleeing down a slope, whereupon the two girls beheld the dazzling apparition of a beautiful lady, radiant in white light, standing among the holly-like leaves of a small holm oak.Lucia was the only one who talked with the figure, who promised to identify herself at the end of a six-month period, during which time the children were to return to the site on the thirteenth day of each month. The woman said that all three of them would go to heaven but that Francisco, who could not see her, would have to recite many rosaries. When she instructed Lucia to have Francisco say the rosary, the boy became able to see the apparition, but he was still unable to hear her speak. After she instructed the children to pray for an end to the war, the lady vanished into the sky.Even though the children had agreed that they should keep the event secret, once home, little Jacinta blurted out to her parents that she had shared in a vision of the Virgin Mary. News quickly spread throughout the town, and when the children revisited the site on June 13, they were accompanied by some fifty devout villagers. Kneeling in prayer at the oak, the children saw the woman glide down from heaven and take a position amid the oak’s foliage (Arvey 1990, 66; Rogo 1982, 221—223).Thus began a pattern that was repeated each month during the specified period, although the children were absent on August 13 (having been detained by secular authorities who disbelieved their tale and held them briefly for questioning in the public jail at Ourém). On July 13, the children claimed to have received a special revelation that the lady forbade them to disclose. The apparition remained invisible to the onlookers, but some reported seeing a little cloud rise from (or from behind) the tree, together with a movement of the tree’s branches “as if in going away the Lady’s dress had trailed over them” (Dacruz n.d.).
When the period ended on a stormy October 13, as many as seventy thousand people were gathered at the site anticipating the Virgin’s final visit, many anticipating a great miracle. Again, the figure appeared only to the children. Identifying herself as “the Lady of the Rosary,” she urged people to repent and to build a chapel at the site. After predicting an end to the war and giving the children certain undisclosed visions, the lady lifted her hands to the sky. Thereupon Lucia exclaimed, “The sun!” As everyone gazed upward to see that a silvery disc had emerged from behind the clouds, they experienced what is known in the terminology of Marian apparitions as a “sun miracle” (Arvey 1990, 69—71).

Miracle of the Sun

This Fatima “miracle” has been described in many very different ways. Some claimed that the sun spun pinwheel-like with colored streamers, while others maintained that it danced. One reported, “I saw clearly and distinctly a globe of light advancing from east to west, gliding slowly and majestically through the air.” To some, the sun seemed to be falling toward the spectators. Still others, before the “dance of the sun” occurred, saw white petals shower down and disintegrate before reaching the earth (Larue 1990, 195—196; Arvey 1990, 70—71; Rogo 1982, 227, 230—232).Precisely what happened at Fatima has been the subject of much controversy. Church authorities made inquiries, collected eyewitness testimony, and declared the events worthy of belief as a miracle (Zimdars-Swartz 1991, 90). However, people elsewhere in the world, viewing the very same sun, did not see the alleged gyrations; neither did astronomical observatories detect the sun deviating from the norm (which would have had a devastating effect on Earth!). Therefore, more tenable explanations for the reports include mass hysteria and local meteorological phenomena such as a sundog (a parhelion or “mock sun”).On the other hand, several eyewitnesses of the October 13, 1917, gathering at Fatima specifically stated they were looking “fixedly at the sun” or “tried to look straight at it” or otherwise made clear they were gazing directly at the actual sun (qtd. in Rogo 1982, 230, 231). If this is so, the “dancing sun” and other solar phenomena may have been due to optical effects resulting from temporary retinal distortion caused by staring at such an intense light or to the effect of darting the eyes to and fro to avoid fixed gazing (thus combining image, afterimage, and movement).Most likely, there was a combination of factors, including optical effects and meteorological phenomena, such as the sun being seen through thin clouds, causing it to appear as a silver disc. Other possibilities include an alteration in the density of the passing clouds, causing the sun’s image to alternately brighten and dim and so seem to advance and recede, and dust or moisture droplets in the atmosphere refracting the sunlight and thus imparting a variety of colors. The effects of suggestion were also likely involved, since devout spectators had come to the site fully expecting some miraculous event, had their gaze dramatically directed at the sun by the charismatic Lucia, and excitedly discussed and compared their perceptions in a way almost certain to foster psychological contagion (Nickell 1993, 176—181).Not surprisingly, perhaps, sun miracles have been reported at other Marian sites—at Lubbock, Texas, in 1989; Mother Cabrini Shrine near Denver, Colorado, in 1992; Conyers, Georgia, in the early to mid-1990s; and elsewhere, including Thiruvananthapuram, India, in 2008. Tragically, at the Colorado and India sites, many people suffered eye damage (solar retinopathy)—in some instances, possibly permanent damage (Nickell 1993, 196—200; Sebastian 2008).
At the Conyers site, the Georgia Skeptics group set up a telescope outfitted with a vision-protecting Mylar solar filter, and on one occasion I participated in the experiment. Becky Long, president of the organization, stated that more than two hundred people had viewed the sun through one of the solar filters and not a single person saw anything unusual (Long 1992, 3; see figure 1).

The Secrets

Those who believe in the Fatima “miracle” also cite certain predictions the apparition allegedly made to Lucia, one being that Jacinta and Francisco would soon die. Both did soon succumb to influenza: Francisco in 1919 and Jacinta the following year. However, Zimdars-Swartz observes, “much of what devotees today accept as the content of the apparition comes from four memoirs written by Lucia in the convent [where she later resided] between 1935 and 1941, many years after the series of experiences that constitute the apparition event” (Zimdars-Swartz 1991, 68). Indeed, Lucia recorded her first “prediction” of the children’s deaths in 1927—several years after the fact! As to the other predictions, they were supposedly part of three secrets that had been delivered to Lucia by the apparition on July 13, 1917 (Gruner 1997, 290—291). Lucia’s Third Memoir gave the first secret as a vision of hell. The second was a statement that World War I would end, “but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI” (who was pope from 1922 to 1939). However, since the Third Memoir was penned in August 1941, the so-called predictions were actually written after the fact (Zimdars-Swartz 1991, 198—199).
Before considering the important third secret of Fatima, and to fully comprehend the entire Fatima experience, we must look more closely at its central figure—not the Virgin Mary but Lucia de Jesus Santos. Born on March 22, 1907, to Antonio and Maria Rosa Santos, Lucia was the youngest of seven children. Five years younger than her next-oldest sibling, Lucia was a petted and spoiled child. Her sisters fostered in her a desire to be the center of attention by teaching her to dance and sing. At festivals, Lucia would stand on a crate to entertain an adoring crowd. Among her other talents was a gift for telling stories—fairy tales, biblical narratives, and saints’ legends—which made her popular with village children, as well as an ability to persuade others to do her bidding.Two years before the famous series of apparitions occurred at Fatima, eight-year-old Lucia and three girlfriends claimed to have seen apparitions of a snow-white figure on three occasions. Lucia’s mother called the experiences “childish nonsense.” The following year, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta were thrice visited by an “angel.”Lucia’s background is revealing. The seeds of her later visionary encounters were clearly contained in her childhood experiences and in her obviously fantasy-prone personality.1 Her charismatic ability to influence others drew little Francisco and Jacinta into the Fatima fantasy. As Zimdars-Swartz says of Lucia:It is clear that she played the leading role in the scenario of the apparition itself. All accounts agree that she was the only one of the three seers to interact with both her vision and with the crowd, carrying on conversations with both while her two cousins stood by silently. She has said, moreover, and probably not incorrectly, that Francisco and Jacinta had been accustomed to follow her directives before the apparition began, that they turned to her for guidance afterwards, and that it was she who convinced them that they had to be very careful in their experiences. (Zimdars-Swartz 1991, 68)
Further evidence that Lucia orchestrated the fantasy and manipulated the other children is provided by certain incidents. For example, when Jacinta first told the story, she stated that the Virgin had said many things that she was unable to recall but “which Lucia knows.” Lucia’s own mother was convinced that her precocious daughter was, in her words, “nothing but a fake who is leading half the world astray” (qtd. in Zimdars-Swartz 1991, 71, 86).

Third Secret Revealed

But there was a third secret of Fatima, possessed by the Vatican since 1957 and the subject of endless interest and speculation (Gruner 1997, 291). Certain Catholic notables have claimed to have the third secret, but their credibility is at issue because they seem to describe documents that were not first hand in their accounts. Nevertheless, they have hinted that the text predicted another world war and a great disaster of some kind (see Kramer 2006).In mid-2000, the Catholic Church revealed the third secret that was supposedly imparted to Lucia in 1917, which she set down as text in a 1944 letter. It was forwarded in 1957 to the Secret Archives of the Vatican’s Holy Office where it since reposed.On Monday, June 26, 2000, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—then prefect of church doctrine, now Pope Benedict XVI—spoke in a nationally televised news conference at the Vatican. Scrawled with a thick-nibbed pen in Portuguese—in wording Ratzinger characterized as “symbolic and not easy to decipher” (Valpy 2000)—Lucia had described seeing (at no specific time in the future) “an angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’”The visionary continued describing the appearance of a “bishop dressed in white,” who was “afflicted with pain and sorrow” as he made his way through a ruined city. Moreover, “he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another, the other bishops, priests, men and women Religious.”Now, many of the faithful have seen the text as having forecast the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, who was shot and wounded by a Turk in 1981 (Fleishman 2000). However, nearly every aspect of the vision—if indeed it was supposed to predict the assassination attempt on John Paul—was in error. It described not a pope but a bishop, who was not killed, who was not shot by soldiers, certainly not by arrows (an implausibility attributable to a child’s imagination); neither were all of the other bishops and priests killed.The vision only seems accurate if one engages in “retrofitting”—after-the-fact matching that fits statements to facts once they are known. This is the same process used to claim that the prognostications of Nostradamus (1503—1566), the French seer, accurately described future events (see Nickell 1989, 45—47). In the case of the “third secret,” the retrofitting involves counting the plausibly correct statements (e.g., the pope is “Bishop of Rome,” was dressed in white, and was struck by a would-be assassin’s bullet), while ignoring—or rationalizing—the many erroneous facts. Nevertheless, the Vatican statement claimed all three secrets represented authentic prophecy: “No one could have imagined all this” (qtd. in Valpy 2000).
In any event, many conspiracy-minded Catholics refuse to believe that the third secret has been fully revealed. They opine it may be “an indictment of most of the changes in the Church since Vatican II” (held 1962—1965) and would thus cause embarrassment to the current defenders of that council (Gruner 2006, 42). Meanwhile, the visionary who started it all, Lucia Santos—who became a Carmelite nun, Sister Lúcia of Jesus, and died on February 13, 2005—has been placed on the fast track to sainthood (“Lúcia” 2008). Certainly, the story will continue.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Luis Helbling (Nepean, Ontario, Canada), Sherman Harbeson (Milton, Florida), and Timothy Binga (director of CFI Libraries, Amherst, New York) for generous research assistance.

Note

1. For a discussion of fantasy proneness, see Wilson and Barber 1983.

References

• Arvey, Michael. 1990. Miracles: Opposing Viewpoints. Great Mysteries series. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.
• Barss, Patchen. 2000. The sun-dance secret. National Post (Canada), May 13.
• Dacruz, Rev. V. n.d. Quoted in Rogo 1982, 224—225.
• Fleishman, Jeffrey. 2000. Vatican says “third secret” speaks of renewal. The Buffalo News, June 27.
• Gruner, Nicholas. 1997. Fatima Priest. Pound Ridge, NY: Good Counsel Publications.
• —. 2006. Living our daily lives in light of the Fatima secret. The Fatima Crusader 82 (Spring): 5—10, 40—51.
• Kramer, Paul. 2006. The third secret predicts: World War III and worse? The Fatima Crusader 82 (Spring): 11—13, 52—62.
• Larue, Gerald A. 1990. The Supernatural, the Occult, and the Bible. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
• Lúcia Santos. 2008. Wikipedia. Available online at http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_dos_Santos (accessed September 3, 2008).
• Long, Becky. 1992. The Conyers apparitions. Georgia Skeptic 5(2) (March/April): 3.
• Nickell, Joe. 1989. The Magic Detectives. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
• —. 1993. Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. (The present discussion is largely abridged from this work—pp. 176—181—and expanded to include revelation of the Third Secret.)
• Oliveira, Mario de. 1999. Fátima Nunca Mais (Fatima Never Again). Porto, Portugal: Campo des Letras.
• Rogo, Scott D. 1982. Miracles: A Parascientific Inquiry into Wondrous Phenomena. New York: Dial Press.
• Sebastian, Don. 2008. 50 people looking for solar image of Mary lose sight. Available online at www.dnaindia.com/dnaprint.asp?newsid=1152984 (accessed March 12, 2008).
• Valpy, Michael. 2000. The Vatican, devotees clash over Third Secret of Fatima. The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada), June 27.
• Visions: Messages from the Virgin Mary or delusions? 1989. Los Angeles Times, April 9.
• Wilson, Sheryl C., and Theodore X. Barber. 1983. The fantasy-prone personality: Implications for understanding imagery, hypnosis, and parapsychological phenomena. In Imagery, Current Theory, Research and Application, ed. Anees A. Sheikh, 340—390. New York: Wiley.
• Zimdars-Swartz, Sandra L. 1991. Encountering Mary. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Joe Nickell

Joe Nickell, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and "Investigative Files" Columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. A former stage magician, private investigator, and teacher, he is author of numerous books, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1998), Pen, Ink and Evidence (2003), Unsolved History (2005) and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (2007). He has appeared in many television documentaries and has been profiled in The New Yorker and on NBC's Today Show. His personal website is at joenickell.com.

01/ 7/2014 VATICAN INSIDER

Bartholomew’s offensive against “localism” and “self-marginalisation”

Bartholomew I

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has convoked the leaders of all Othodox Churches to prepare for the 2015 Synod

Gianni Valente rome The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, has convoked a surprise meeting of the patriarchs and archbishops of all the Orthodox Churches at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul this coming March. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the guidelines and timeframe for the Preparatory Commission of the Pan-Orthodox Synod which is scheduled to take place in 2015. Nat da Polis revealed this in an article published by AsiaNews, in which he explains the underlying attempt on the part of Patriarch Bartholomew to bring the Orthodox Churches out of their isolation. “Orthodox circles see this as an attempt to move beyond a self-marginalization born of a localist mentality that has characterized the Orthodox Churches in the modern era, partly because of a certain post- Ottoman filettism (nationalism),” Da Polis writes. The meeting is intended as an opportunity for Constantinople to remind all Orthodox Churches that they cannot face the emergencies presented by globalisation without common initiatives.

By speeding up preparations for the “Great and Holy Council”, Bartholomew aims to reaffirm his positions as first among equals, among the other Orthodox Patriarchs that is. For decades the Orthodox world has been desperately trying to form an ecclesial axis to deal with the problems that the Orthodox Churches face in today’s world. Backing Bartholomew is the Metropolitan of Pergamon, Ioannis Zizioulas, co-chairman of ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox considered by many to be the greatest living Christian theologian. He has been warning against the risk of “introversion” in the Orthodox world for a long time. He believes Orthodox Churches need a large-scale synodal event like the Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council in order to avoid withdrawing into ghettos and becoming self-marginalised. In his book Orthodoxy in the Modern World Zizioulas wrote that the greatest danger faced not just by Orthodoxy but by the whole Christian world, “is not atheism, secular power in general or its various enemies” but “any escape from the historical reality and the continuing search for identity exclusively in the past.” This is especially common among men of the Church who are overcome by a “narcissist self-satisfaction that only leads to sterile confrontations.”

The messages and gestures of the current Bishop of Rome seem to have had a domino effect, stimulating the Orthodox Churches to reflect on their situation. Patriarch Bartholomew immediately grasped the ecumenical possibilities that opened up with the arrival of the new Pope. His attendance at the inaugural mass for the start of Francis’ Petrine ministry and at next May’s meeting between the successors to the apostles Peter and Andrew in Jerusalem are signs of a journey that has only just begun and which promises progress on an unimaginable scale. But the Argentinean Pope’s new modus operandi is also influencing the Russian Orthodox Church. The sign of the cross and the kiss which Vladimir Putin and the Pope both offered to the icon of Our Lady of Tenderness when the Russian President visited the Vatican, left a deep imprint in the minds of the Russian Orthodox faithful. The leaders of the Russian orthodox Church, including Hilarion of Volokolamsk who was also received by Pope Francis, stressed that they wished to focus on engaging in dialogue over issues in which Catholicism and Orthodoxy share common ground such as the protection of moral values and the suffering of Christians in the Middle East, instead of the theological conflict between these Churches. At the end of December, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said “niet” once again to the Ravenna document produced by the mixed Orthodox-Catholic theological Commission. The text attempted to come up with a formula for the theological doctrine of primacy that was acceptable to the Orthodox Churches as well.

The relations established with Pope Francis are giving new impetus to the discussions between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches which were never concluded. But this could unearth further contradictions that lie at the heart of the Orthodox faith. The image Bergoglio has been giving of himself as a shepherd who forsakes himself and is full of apostolic fervour, has been well received by Orthodox faithful as well.  Inevitably, this leads one to draw comparisons with the Orthodox clergy, who in many cases indulge in a sense of self-satisfaction and see themselves as members of a privileged class. After the scandals over the road accidents caused by members of the clergy driving big SUVs, there is now huge controversy over the “gay lobby” which is allegedly active within the Moscow Patriarchate. The issue has been denounced by proto-deacon and blogger, Andrei Kuraev, and could take some unexpected turns.