The Strategic Side Of Terrorism

One thing that I think we are missing about terrorism is it's strategic side. Things are not always as they seem. Let's have a closer look into the underlying purpose of terrorist attacks.

Refugees are pouring into Europe from the upheaval in Syria. IS, Islamic State, was hoping that these refugees would go and join them. Instead, they are going to Europe. IS, and IS sympathizers, are trying to reverse this so that they will be barred from entering Europe, and then will have little choice but to live in IS territory.

The last thing that IS wants is for all the displaced Syrians that they were hoping would become their citizens to be welcomed into Europe. So, IS and it's sympathizers are doing their best to turn Europe against the refugees.

The November attack in Paris was, on the surface, to punish France for it's military action in the Middle East. But I see the underlying reason as getting Europeans to worry about how many of these refugees might be planning similar attacks, and respond by sending them back home, where they would then likely become IS citizens.

Notice that the Brussels attack was near the headquarters of the European Union, and also that it took place in venues that were different from the Paris attacks. The attacks in Paris took place in a sports stadium, cafes and especially in a concert hall. In contrast, the attacks in Brussels were on transportation outlets, a metro station and the airport.

This was done purposely to spread the "web of fear". Now, as long as we keep these refugees in our countries, we cannot safely go to sports events, concerts, cafes, subway stations or, airports. The solution is to send all of them back home as soon as possible ( so that they will then likely join IS).

What about the attacks on women in Cologne on New Years Eve? Doesn't anybody see through this? Whoever heard of sex offenders coordinating their attacks together? And whoever heard of a female news anchor undergoing a sexual assault right while on camera, in view of the whole country?

They have not launched a terror attack on Germany, at least so far, because it is not directly involved in military action in the Middle East. But it is the country that is taking in the most refugees (which might otherwise be joining IS), and something has to be done to turn people against the refugees so that they will be sent back home, to IS. The purpose was to turn Angela Merkel, a woman herself, against the refugees.

We really should see through things like this and understand that shunning or shutting out Moslems in Europe and the west is really helping IS.

Turkey has recently undergone several attacks by IS sympathizers. The reason is obviously that it is a major route for the refugees. IS wants Turkey to shut the border to them so that they will then live in IS territory.

This underlying reasoning that we should see is not just for recent terrorist attacks. What do you notice about the hijackers of 9/11? By nationality, they were fifteen Saudis, two Emiratis, one Egyptian, and one Lebanese. These are countries that are traditionally considered as American allies in the Middle East. 

The reason for this was to turn Americans against their allies in the region, in order to expel outside cultural influences and weaken the governments in the Middle East that were opposed to implementation of Al Qaeda's vision of Islam, as well as turning the west against those Moslems who would go and live there.

A similar underlying strategy applies to the 2008 attack on Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The army of Pakistan was putting pressure on militants there. So they launched the attack on India, knowing that this would raise tensions between the two countries. Pakistan would then be forced to divert it's army to guard the border, and this would take pressure off the militants. The same can be said of the earlier 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, which brought the two countries to the brink of war and resulted in pressure taken off the militants in Pakistan.

The same kind of strategy was used by the John F. Kennedy Administration to stop idealistic and discontented Americans from hijacking planes to flee to Cuba, in the early 1960s. They threatened to have Fidel Castro assassinated. I am sure that there never was a serious plan to assassinate Castro. The purpose was the make the Cubans wary that one of the American defectors might be a CIA operative sent to assassinate Castro, and would put them in prison or send them back, instead of welcoming them.

The strategy seems to have largely worked except that demonizing Castro, who had earlier been popular in America, also got Kennedy killed because it made him the target of Lee Harvey Oswald, who thought killing Kennedy would boost his status after arrival in Cuba.

I have even wondered about the shooting down of a Russian jet by Turkey a few months ago. After Russia got militarily involved in Syria, a plane was sure to stray into Turkey's air space sooner or later, however slightly and unintentionally. Russia wouldn't go to war over a single plane, and shooting down the plane would show leaders of the European Union, which Turkey wants to join, what a reliable ally Turkey would be on Europe's southeastern flank, facing the Middle East. The recent agreement on refugees does make Turkey a defacto member of the European Union.

The Underground Orion Correlation Theory

I really have something today. I think I have solved something that the world has been trying to figure out for two hundred years, why the pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza are arranged as they are. The answer is relatively simple, but it took some "thinking outside the box".

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

There are over a hundred pyramids in Egypt. As far as I know, almost all are built on the west side of the Nile River because the sun sets in the west, representing death, and the pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs who ruled Egypt. Most of the pyramids are in various stages of ruin, many not being rediscovered until modern times.

By far the best-known, and best-preserved, are the three pyramids at Giza, built on a plateau which is actually now within the city of Cairo, which was not there in ancient times but was founded by the Fatimids in the year 969. When someone refers to "The Pyramids", it is almost inevitable that it is these three that are meant, and it is the Pyramids of Giza that we will focus on here.

From northeast to southwest, the three pyramids of Giza are that of Khufu, Khafre and, Menkaure. The three were kings of Egypt, in the early Old Kingdom and, in the order listed above, were father, son and, grandson. The earliest, that of Khufu, is the largest of the three pyramids, Khafre's is somewhat smaller, and Menkaure's is much smaller. These pyramids were completed by 2500 B.C.

This is the world-famous view of the Pyramids of Giza. The one in the distance is the largest, that of Khufu. The one in the middle, with some of the white limestone casing remaining at the top, is that of Khafre. The smallest, nearest the camera, is that of Menkaure. The three small pyramids in front of that are queens' pyramids. Image from the Wikipedia article "Giza Pyramid Complex.

There was once an elaborate complex around these three pyramids, with temples and boats put in pits around the pyramids. This may be so that the dead could "sail" into the afterlife. Statues of all three kings have been found in the pyramid complex. There was also once a stone wall around the entire complex, and a village to house the workers who built the pyramids, as well as extensive cemeteries for important figures and relatives of the three kings. The site of the "Valley Temple" is now buried beneath a nearby village.

As can be seen at the top of Khafre's Pyramid, all three were originally cased in white limestone that must have shone brilliantly in the sun. Some of this original casing also remains around the bottom of Khufu's Pyramid, although none on that of Menkaure. It is thought that this white limestone may have been pillaged when Cairo was being built.

The names of these three kings are often seen in their Greek form. More than two thousand years after these pyramids were built, Alexander would conquer Egypt and found his namesake city of Alexandria. When Alexander's empire broke up after his death, Egypt would be ruled by the dynasty known as the Ptolemies. They also ruled Israel, until control passed to another fragment of Alexander's empire, the Seleucids, against whom the Israelites would later launch the Maccabean Revolt. The Ptolemies are famous for being wrong in their model of the universe with the earth at the center, and everything else moving around it.

This was the era that produced the saga of Cleopatra, although all Ptolemaic queens actually took that name. Jews around a century or so before the time of Jesus had a thriving community in Alexandria. As they spoke Greek and began to forget Hebrew, they had the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek. Seventy scholars carefully did the translating, and this is why it was called the Septuagint and is the foundation of our modern Bible. These scholars added writings that had not been in the Hebrew Bible, such as stories of the Maccabean Revolt, which the Protestants later removed, and this is why there is a difference between the Protestant and Catholic Bibles today.

The Greek form of Khufu is Chepos, of Khafre is Cephren, and of Menkaure is Mycerinus. Thebes, the capital of Egypt during the Middle Kingdom, after the Pyramids of Giza were built but long before the time of Alexander, is also the Greek version of the earlier Egyptian name. Egypt itself is actually a Greek name. For that matter, Jesus is the Greek version of the name Joshua.

A LOOK AT THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

The "Great Pyramid" refers to that of Khufu (or Cheops). The building of this pyramid showed use of mathematical concepts that were not previously known to have existed that early, as the perimeter to height ratio of the Great Pyramid is almost exactly 2 pi. This is the Great Pyramid, the first of the three Giza pyramids to be built. Next three images from the Wikipedia article "Great Pyramid of Giza". 

This is the entrance to the inner passages and chambers of the pyramid. Medieval Moslems in the area are believed to have carved what is known as the "Robber's Tunnel".

Here is a diagram of the interior of the Great Pyramid. There is a Grand Gallery, and doors with handles, inside the pyramid. The pyramid is built over a small hillock, with one chamber led to by a passageway below ground level. Some believe that this underground chamber was originally intended to be the burial chamber, but then Khufu (Cheops) decided that he wanted to be buried higher up.

Khafre's (Cephren) pyramid is the one that retains some of the original white limestone casing at the top, and the one adjacent to the Sphinx. This pyramid may appear larger than the Great Pyramid because it is built on an elevation of about ten meters higher, and because it's height to base ratio is greater. But Khafre's Pyramid is somewhat smaller. In Khafre's Pyramid, the burial chamber was actually in the bedrock, and Khafre's associated temple complex survives in better condition than that of Khufu's. Image from the Wikipedia article "Pyramid of Khafre".

The Sphinx has been buried in sand, and then excavated, more than once since it was built. There is believed to have once been a temple at the paws of the Sphinx. The Sphinx is believed to be from the time of Khafre. The face of the Sphinx, with the body of a lion, may be that of Khafre. A few believe that the amount of water erosion evident on the Sphinx, the area was once wetter than it is today, indicates that the Sphinx is much older than the pyramids. Image from the Wikipedia article "Sphinx".

The youngest of the three kings, the grandson of Khufu, was Menkaure (Mycerinus). His pyramid is far smaller than the other two, and retains none of the original white limestone casing. He may have died before the pyramid was completed, because it seems to be partially unfinished. In medieval times, nearby Moslems around the end of the Twelfth Century set about dismantling the pyramids, and began with this one. The damage can still be seen on one side of the pyramid. Image from the Wikipedia article "Pyramid of Menkaure".

Here is a look around the Pyramids of Giza.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow. You can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.977803,31.132831,3a,75y,20.03h,99.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4U0hWZMxXfdfGpfpw8_nVg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D4U0hWZMxXfdfGpfpw8_nVg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D88.001396%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

THE ORION CORRELATION THEORY

We shouldn't be surprised that there are any number of theories about the real origin and meaning of the pyramids. One popular pyramid theory, that has been around for several decades, is the Orion Correlation Theory. The sides of all three of the Pyramids of Giza are aligned perfectly east-west and north-south. They are aligned by the stars, in other words true north, and not the north of a magnetic compass, which is not exactly the same thing.

But yet the three pyramids are not arranged, relative to one another, in a line with the compass directions. They are aligned from northeast to southwest. It has been pointed out that the spacing and alignment of the three pyramids matches that of the three stars of the belt of the constellation Orion, which is the most prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere winter sky. Ever since I learned the stars in my youth, I have noticed that when I first sight Orion in the late Autumn, it means that winter is not far away.

Orion is the constellation representing the hunter. The three stars are supposed to be the belt across his torso. The companion of Orion is his dog, the constellation Canis Major. The Latin Canis is where we get our word "canine". The point where the dog's neck joins the body is represented by the star Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky in apparent magnitude.

This is the constellation Orion, with other stars dimmed for clarity. The name is pronounced like O-Ryan. When I first learned about Orion, when I was eight years old, I mistakenly thought that it was pronounced in the same way as "onion". The top two stars represent the shoulders of the hunter. The two stars below the belt represent his knife. Image from the Wikipedia article "Orion (constellation)".

I used to be a stargazer, when I was in my early teens. The earth faces in a different direction with each season, and one good thing about winter is that the winter stars were my favorites. Some of the best-known stars are in the constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse, in the top left or the right shoulder of the hunter, is such a giant star that if it were put in place of the sun, it would extend out the around the orbit of Jupiter and the earth would be in the central region of the star. Rigel, the left foot of the hunter, is far away but is actually more then a hundred thousand times as bright as the sun.

About 70% of the stars in the sky have Arabic names. This is due to the extensive charts made of the sky during the early days of Islam. But you may notice that the brightest stars, such as these stars in Orion, do not have Arabic names. This is because these stars that stood out had meanings to, and were named by, the ancient people long before the dimmer stars were named.

The three stars forming the "belt" of Orion, from northwest to southeast, are Mintaka, Alnilam and, Alnitak. Other stars represent the blade of the "sword" hanging from Orion's "belt". Two of the stars have Greek names, Theta Orionis and Iona Orionis. The other, seen as a patch of light is actually the Orion Nebula.

It is well-known that the night sky was very important to the ancient Egyptians, there is abundant documentation of it online. They did not recognize Orion as the constellation of The Hunter, that was from much later Greek mythology, but it is the most prominent arrangement of stars in the winter sky. The belt of Orion points directly toward Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky, in the order that the Pyramids of Giza were built. One of the shafts in the Pyramid of Khufu aligns directly with the direction to Sirius in the sky.

Indeed, the arrangements of the Pyramids of Giza do line up very well in terms of spacing and alignment with the stars of the belt of Orion. This Orion Correlation Theory also points out that the famed Sphinx with the Pyramids of Giza could represent the constellation of Leo, the lion, which is near Orion in the sky. Furthermore, the Nile River near the three pyramids could then represent the Milky Way, which is the dense band of stars across the sky looking along the plane of our galaxy. Image from the Wikipedia article "Orion Correlation Theory".

The Orion Correlation Theory, that the three Pyramids of Giza were arranged in alignment with the three stars of Orion's belt, makes a lot of sense. The spacing is perfect and we have to wonder why the three pyramids were not built in a straight line. The first two pyramids, those of Khufu and Khafre, have a line from the center to corner, as seen from above, a continuous line for both pyramids, but yet the location of the Pyramid of Menkaure is slightly offset from this line, just as the southeastern-most star of Orion's belt is offset from being a straight line.

THE FAULT OF THE  ORION CORRELATION THEORY

The problem with the Orion Correlation Theory is that of compass direction. In the belt of Orion, the stars are aligned from northwest to southeast, with the southeastern-most star being offset to the north from a straight line. The directional alignment of the three pyramids is the opposite. The Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure are aligned from northeast to southwest, with the southwestern-most Pyramid of Menkaure being offset from a straight line to the south. It is as if the pyramids are actually some kind of reverse mirror image of the stars, rather than a direct image.

The Orion Correlation Theory was a popular concept of how these pyramids were arranged and makes so much sense, but yet it unfortunately just does not fit perfectly due to this mismatch in directional alignment.

THE UNDERGROUND ORION CORRELATION THEORY

I was reading about this theory when I noticed a simple solution that would make it fit perfectly. I looked extensively online and did not find that anyone else had thought of it. I am going to call my version of this theory "The Underground Orion Correlation Theory". I do give credit to the original theory, because without that I wouldn't have thought of this.

The concept of the "underworld" was very important to the ancient Egyptians. It was where they went to be judged after death. The sun, which was the God named Ra, passed through the underworld each night to rise on the opposite side of the sky the following morning. There is a detailed Wikipedia article about the Egyptian concept of the underworld, titled "Duat".

To the ancient Egyptians, west represented death because the sun set in the west each evening. This is why the pyramids, which are tombs, were built on the west side of the Nile River. It is thus logical that ancient Egyptians might be buried facing west, with their heads to the east.

Now, imagine being a deceased pharaoh buried, with his head to the east and facing west. Suppose that you look up from the underworld, and can see through the ground. You would see the three Pyramids of Giza, arranged exactly as the pharaoh would have seen the stars of the belt of Orion arranged, as seen from the earth's surface. Incredibly, the pyramids were arranged to match Orion, but were meant to be viewed from below.

We know that the Pyramid of Menkaure was the smallest of the three, and the last to be built, and  the one that is offset from being a straight line with the other two. But now we see that it was offset to the south as it is so that it would appear as offset from a straight line in the same way as the southeastern-most star of Orion's belt, which is offset to the north, if it was viewed from below the ground looking upward.

If we keep trying to make the Orion Correlation Theory fit in terms of the compass directions, we will never arrive at the answer. Instead, see it in terms of left and right, up and down. With an ancient Egyptian buried below the complex, facing west, and looking up the three pyramids would appear just like the stars in Orion's belt including the offset.

The three pyramids become literally Orion's belt on earth with the associated temples and cemeteries around the pyramids filling out the rest of the constellation of Orion. This makes the Orion Correlation Theory fit perfectly, and it is the only way that it will fit perfectly.

Here again is the well-known image of how the spacing and alignment of the Pyramids of Giza fit perfectly with the arrangement of the three stars in Orion's belt. The trouble is that one of the two lines, either the stars or the pyramids, has to be inverted to make this image match. This is because the line of stars run from northwest to southeast, with the southeastern-most star (Alnitak) offset from a straight line to the north, while the line of pyramids runs from northeast to southwest, with the southwestern-most pyramid (Menkaure) offset from a straight line to the south. The arrangement of the pyramids in the following image are correct, seen from the north, but the stars have been rotated 180 degrees and then mirror-imaged north to south, to make it fit. Image from the Wikipedia article "Orion Correlation Theory".

Here is a satellite view of the three Pyramids of Giza, with southernmost Pyramid of Menkaure seen as offset slightly to the south. There is a red dot at the apex of each pyramid. Image from Google Earth.

Imagine looking at this arrangement from below, from under the ground, with your head facing east (right in the image). What you would see is the arrangement of the pyramids and the Sphinx that exactly matches the arrangement of the stars of the belt of Orion, as the deceased pharaoh remembered looking up at them when he was alive on the surface of the earth.

You can see the four bright stars as the two shoulders and two feet of Orion, the belt diagonally across the middle, with the southeastern-most star offset slightly to the north, and there we have our mystery of the alignment and offset of the three pyramids solved. Look closely at the lowest star in the belt, and you will see that it is offset slightly to the north, just as the Pyramid of Menkaure is offset slightly to the south. Image from the Wikipedia article "Orion (constellation)".

This also reveals that the ancient Egyptians intended the pyramids not only as tombs, but also as representations of stars. Remember that the Pyramids of Giza were originally cased in white limestone that would have shone brilliantly in the sunlight. Some of this casing remains at the top of the Pyramid of Khafre. They didn't have structural glass or electric lighting, but this was as close as the ancient Egyptians could come to recreating a star.

Look at the telescopic image of the cluster of stars, not far in the sky from Orion, known as the Pleiades. Notice the horizontal and vertical lines emanating from the brightest stars. This is the "points" of the star, the optical illusion known as halation. Notice also how these vertical and horizontal lines resemble the vertices of a pyramid, emanating from the apex (peak) as seen from either above or below. The pyramids were the best that they could do to build copies of the stars that they wondered at in the night sky. Image from the Wikipedia article "Star".

The following diagram shows how we might perceive a star, with four points caused by the optical illusion known as halation. The pyramids were attempts to recreate stars, with the four vertices of the pyramid representing the points. 

THE SPHINX AND THE UNDERGROUND ORION CORRELATION THEORY

The Orion Correlation Theory only indirectly involves the Sphinx, which is clearly a very important part of the complex at Giza. The theory has the Sphinx as possibly representing the nearby constellation Leo, the lion.

Notice that the Sphinx is south of the line of the three pyramids, just as the "sword" of Orion is south of the belt, and the positioning is identical. Just as the similarity between the arrangement of the pyramids and of the stars of the belt are unmistakable, so is the position of the sword of Orion and the Sphinx.

But if the stars are a reverse mirror image of the pyramids, meant to be "viewed" from under the ground, we end up with the Sphinx being on the wrong side of the pyramids. The Sphinx is south and east of the line of the pyramids, but the sword is south and west of the line of the stars in Orion's belt. If "viewed from below ground, the Sphinx would appear to be "above" (north) of the line of the pyramids, rather than "below" (south) of it.

But consider Egypt at the time all of this was built. Egyptians were crowded around the Nile River, which was the source of life. All around was barren desert. The Sphinx is a lion that acts as a "guard" to the pyramid complex. People approached the complex from the east, the direction of the Nile. If the Sphinx had been built on the other side of the line of the pyramids, it would be further into the desert and would not have people passing it as they approached the pyramid complex from the direction of the Nile.

My conclusion is that the ancient Egyptians knew this, but built it not to be seen from below ground like the pyramids themselves, but to be seen by the people as the "guard" when approaching the pyramid complex. When we view it in this way, the Sphinx falls right into place as representative of the blade of Orion's sword, which are the two stars Theta Orionis and Iota Orionis and the Orion Nebula, even though it is on the "wrong" side of the line of the pyramids if viewed in the same way as the pyramids were meant to be viewed. Other than that, the positioning is identical.

Esau And The Temple Mount

It is difficult to write something new about religion, with the exception of fulfillment of end-time prophecies, since Christianity has been written about for about two thousand years. But I think I have something new, in a spiritual theory about the building of the Temple Mount In Jerusalem.

Certainly the most valuable real estate in the world is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Temple Mount is so-called because that is where King Solomon originally built the Jews' Temple. After the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, in 586 B.C., it was rebuilt by the Jews, upon their return from exile in Babylon. Just before the time of Jesus, King Herod dismantled this Second Temple in order to rebuild it on a grand scale. No sooner had it been completed when it was destroyed in the uprising of the Jews against Roman rule, but the artificially-constructed mount on which the Temple was built remains. 

I consider the story of the tree being cut down, in Chapter 4 of the Book of Daniel, but the stump being preserved, to be a prophecy of the Temple being destroyed, with the stump representing the Temple Mount.

What remains of the Temple complex is the retaining wall that Herod had built in order to expand what had been a natural holy mount, referred to as Mount Moriah. This is where, it is believed, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac, at the command of God. It was also where, at the time of King David, the threshing floor of Aruanah the Jebusite was located, where God had an angel halt a tribulation sent on Jerusalem. The tradition of a sacred mount reflects back to Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

Moslems split from Jews in that they believe that it was Abraham's older son, Ishmael, that he was willing to sacrifice in order to obey God. Moslems refer to the Temple Mount as the Noble sanctuary, and believe that the rock at the top of Mount Moriah, upon which Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son in order to obey God, was also the spot from which Muhammad later ascended to heaven.

The prominent structure over that spot today is the mosque, known as the Dome of the Rock. The rock, within the Dome of the Rock, upon which so much is believed to have happened, is called the Foundation Stone. My understanding is that the Foundation Stone was the top of the former Mount Moriah. There is a cave, next to the Foundation Stone within the Dome of the Rock, known as "The Well of Souls". The Temple Mount, aside from it's importance to Jews and Christians, is also the third holiest place in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

The New Testament refers to a people called Samaritans. They were a mixed-race people generally disliked by Jews. There were twelve tribes of Israel that had split into two nations. The ten in the north were known as Israel. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south were known as Judah. About 740 B.C. Assyria conquered Israel, and scattered most of the population around the Assyrian Empire. These are known as the Ten Lost Tribes, and were never heard from again. In their place, the Assyrians settled people from elsewhere in their empire. By the time of Jesus, these people had intermixed with the remaining Jews and were known as Samaritans, after the region of Samaria. Samaritans are still around today, and follow what they believe is the real Jewish religion, which was supposedly not contaminated by the Babylonian exile of Judah. Samaritans believe that it is Mount Gerizim, not the Temple Mount, that is sacred.

Let's start by having a look at the Old City of Jerusalem. There is a wall around the Old City, which was not there in biblical times but was built much later, by the Ottomans in the Sixteenth Century. We will start by looking at churches and important locations outside the wall, then we will look at the wall and the Old City within, and finally at the Temple Mount which has it's own walls. The retaining wall around the Temple Mount itself was built in biblical times, just before the coming of Jesus, and is thus much older than the wall around the Old City.

This image, from Google Earth, shows the Old City of Jerusalem with the wall around it. There are four small red dots, one at each corner of the wall. The Temple Mount is at lower right in the Old City. The gold circle in the middle of the Temple Mount is the Dome of the Rock. The wall on the east side of the Temple Mount is also the wall around the Old City, in that section.

Just east of the walled Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount is the Kidron Valley, and on the opposite side of that is the Mount of Olives that is referenced a number of times in the Bible. To the west and south of the Old City is the modern city of Jerusalem. Here is a view across the Old City, looking eastward, with the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, and the Mount of Olives in the distance. Image from the Wikipedia article "Old City, Jerusalem".

This is the Chapel of the Ascension, on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus is believed to have left for Heaven. Image from the Wikipedia article "Chapel of the Ascension".

Here is the Church of Mary Magdalene, image from the Wikipedia article by that name, who was Jesus' foremost female disciple, built by Czar Alexander III in 1886. It is in the Kidron Valley, between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. Notice the resemblance to the design of St. Basil's Cathedral in the Kremlin: 

Near the Church of Mary Magdalene is the Church of All Nations, image from the Wikipedia article by that name, which was built on, or near, Gethsemane, where Jesus did his prayers before being arrested. This church was opened in 1924, but there had been earlier structures on the site: 

The wall around the Old City of Jerusalem was built by the Ottomans in the Sixteenth Century, and is one of the main tourist sights there. There was no wall, where the present wall is now, in biblical times.

Let's start in the northwestern corner of the old city and have a look at the attractive gates, moving clockwise as seen from above. Each image is from the Wikipedia article by the name of the gate or feature.

This is the New Gate, to the Christian Quarter of the Old City, when it was first opened: 

Here is the Damascus Gate, so named because it is toward the road to Damascus: 

The Lions Gate is in the east wall, facing toward the Mount of Olives: 

The Dung Gate is in the southern wall around the Old City of Jerusalem: 

The Zion Gate is also in the southern wall: 

The Jaffa Gate is in the western side of the wall around the Old City of Jerusalem. This is not the same thing as the so-called "Western Wall", which is the Jewish site of worship. That refers to the western retaining wall around the Temple Mount, which is within the Old City. The wall around the Old City is different from the retaining wall around the Temple Mount, which is within the Old City. The exception is the east side, facing the Kidron Valley and the mount of Olives, where the two walls are one and the same.

The Tower of David does not refer to the towering structure built near it, which is a minaret from Ottoman times. The Tower of David is the remains of an ancient citadel that dates to long before the time of Jesus. It was named for King David, but was not built until after his time: 

This is the remains of the Tower of David, within the Old City of Jerusalem, with the adjacent Ottoman minaret: 

The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into four quarters, from north of the Temple Mount to south are the Moslem, Christian, Armenian and, Jewish Quarters. In the Christian Quarter is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: 

The present structure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is about a thousand years old. But a structure on the site dates back to when the first Roman Emperor who was a Christian, Constantine, sent his mother, Helena, to the Holy Land to identify important religious sites. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is so important because it is actually two adjoined churches, one of which is believed to be built over the site of Jesus' crucifixion, referred to as Golgotha or Calvary, and the other over the location of his nearby burial site: 

Generally, Protestants do not accept these crucifixion and burial sites within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. A tomb was discovered, cut into the rock some distance away, which was shown to date from around the time of Jesus, and which most Protestants accept as Jesus' actual tomb. This is referred to as the "Garden Tomb". There is also a nearby elevated area that is believed, by Protestants, to be the site of the crucifixion.

Protestants point out that the Bible gives the site of the crucifixion as "outside the city walls". Catholics and Orthodox Christians, who accept the sites within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the true crucifixion and burial sites, counter the Protestant position by stating that the sites in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, now within the city walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, would have been outside the city in biblical times because the present city walls were not built until Ottoman times, after the city had grown. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built before the Great Schism of 1054, between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and is thus still a point of union between them.

Anyway, have you ever heard the amazing story of "The Immovable Ladder"? Under the right side of the double windows, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a wooden ladder.

More than 250 years ago, someone was doing some kind of maintenance work on the building, and forgot to take the ladder. Now, the church is managed by different groups of monks. For any changes to be made, the monks all have to agree on it. Sometimes, the monks do not do very well at agreeing on how to go about doing things. The result is that, for over 250 years, the groups of monks who run the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have not yet come to an agreement about what to do about the ladder under the window. So, there it remains and has become a legend. The first reference to it seems to have been in 1757. The climate is dry, and so the wooden ladder has been preserved. The ladder has been moved temporarily, on at least a few occasions, so that other maintenance work may be done, but must immediately be returned to precisely it's position because all of the monks would have to agree to move it permanently.

Have you ever heard a story like that of The Immovable Ladder? In the following image, from Google Street View, you can see it on the ledge above the red dot.

Now, let's move further inward, to the Temple Mount which is at the southeastern side of the Old City of Jerusalem, all within the walls of the Old City.

The place of worship for Jews is known as the Western Wall, the following image is from the Wikipedia article by that name. Keep in mind that this does not refer to the wall around the Old City of Jerusalem, but to the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount, which is within the Old City. This is a view, looking eastward, of the Western Wall area, in the foreground, with the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives in the distance: 

There was once a fifth quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Moroccan Quarter, which was negotiated to be moved, in order to provide easy access to the Western Wall. Notice that this photo was taken before there were many structures on the Mount of Olives, in the distance, and before the gold covering was put on the Dome of the Rock. Image from the Wikipedia article "Moroccan Quarter".

On the southwestern wall of the Temple Mount, there was once a staircase that was destroyed in the uprising against Roman rule. It's remains are known today as Robinson's Arch. Image from the Wikipedia article by that name.

There used to be a Roman fortress, the Antonia. Image from the Wikipedia article "Antonia Fortress".

King Herod, who built the Temple Mount, also used to have a palace in what is now the Old City. Here is a model of that. Image from the Wikipedia article "Herod's Palace".

This is a view of the Temple Mount from the south. Image from the Wikipedia article by that name. The ruins in the left foreground, around the corner from Robinson's Arch, are that of a Palace built against the Temple Mount by the Umayyad Caliphate. The Umayyads also built both of the mosques on the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Remember that Islam is the youngest of the world's major religions, it began in the Seventh Century and so was not there in biblical times. 

On the south wall of the Temple Mount, there is a set of three gates, as well as a set of two, which are now sealed. These gates, which led to the top of the Temple Mount in biblical times, are known as the Hulda Gates. Image from the Wikipedia article "Gates of the Temple Mount".

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles refers to "The Beautiful Gate", but there does not seem to be agreement on exactly which gate that is.

The Golden Gate is also in the east wall, image from the Wikipedia article by that name, but has been sealed for centuries. This sealed gate has very special meaning to Christians, Moslems and, Jews:

There are several gates to the top of the Temple Mount. Since 1967, the Gate of the Moors has been the only gate to the Temple Mount that is used by non-Moslems. Image from the Wikipedia article "Gates of the Temple Mount".

Under the southeastern part of the Temple Mount is an underground area, where the roof is supported by pillars. This is known as Solomon's Stables. We could think of Solomon's Stables as the "basement" of the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount, of course, was built by King Herod just before the time of Jesus, which was nearly a thousand years after the time of Solomon. But the crusaders did use this underground area as stables. Solomon's Stables, now used as a mosque, Al Marwani, are under the corner of the Temple Mount facing the camera, and can still be accessed from the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Images from the Wikipedia articles "Gates of the Temple Mount" and "Solomon's Stables".

Due to the Temple Mount being very important to three different religions, archeological excavation is an extremely touchy issue. The Ark of the Covenant, the portable shrine carried by the Jews, was likely destroyed in the Babylonian destruction of the Temple, and carrying off of the Jews into exile, in 586 B.C. Nevertheless, there are those who believe that it was hidden somewhere, or escaped destruction, and is still waiting to be discovered. Theories such as this are helped along by the fact that there were tunnels and underground passages built into the Temple Mount, and there are extensive caves in the limestone of the area.

The most prominent structure on the Temple Mount is the Islamic Dome of the Rock, the following two images are from the Wikipedia article by that name. This is a very old structure, finished in 691, and is one of the oldest examples of Islamic architecture. This is the outside of the Dome of the Rock. The words in Arabic are lecturing Christians about believing that Jesus is the Son of God: 

Inside the Dome of the Rock this is known as the Foundation Stone, upon which so much is believed to have taken place, the stone on which Abraham was believed to be willing to sacrifice his son, the place where the Angel of God called a halt to a plague on Jerusalem and, the spot from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven: 

The Dome of the Rock, which was influenced itself by earlier Byzantine architecture, has had great architectural influence across the world. One building that I have never seen mentioned is the Aquarium building of Niagara Falls, NY. Just as the nearby casino building, formerly the Convention Center, with it's window face on the vertical drop from the structural arch is a reflection of the Hagia Sophia, also constructed by the Byzantines.

One fact that often gets overlooked is that the smaller dome adjacent to the Dome of the Rock, known as the Dome of the Chain, the following image is from the Wikipedia article by that name, was constructed as a scale model for the construction of the Dome of the Rock, and left in place afterward: 

This is the other mosque on the Temple Mount, the Al Aqsa Mosque. The following image is from the Wikipedia article by that name. When the Crusaders arrived, in the Thirteenth Century, some thought that this was Solomon's Temple: 

Here are some scenes on and around the Temple Mount. There are two levels of the Temple Mount, joined by stairs, with the northern section a little bit higher than the southern section. The gold-domed Dome of the Rock is on the higher northern section, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is on the lower southern section. The first scene is inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque:

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.7763637,35.2356375,3a,75y,73.71h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-o3w2v7uPtmQ%2FVbVPsBje-zI%2FAAAAAAAAQvo%2FD_WTdjcYCq8!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-o3w2v7uPtmQ%2FVbVPsBje-zI%2FAAAAAAAAQvo%2FD_WTdjcYCq8%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i10240!8i5120 

SPIRITUAL THEORY OF ESAU AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT

I have a spiritual theory about the construction of the Temple Mount.

The first Temple was built by King Solomon, on Mount Moriah. That temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. When the Jews were permitted to return from exile in Babylon, after Babylon was conquered by the Persians, they rebuilt the Temple on the same spot. This is known as the Second Temple, or the Temple of Zerubbabal. My understanding is that Zerubbabal would have been in line to be the king of the Jews, except that the country was now ruled by the Persians.

The Second Temple stood for over four hundred years until, near the time of Jesus, King Herod undertook to dismantle the Second Temple in order to rebuild it on a grand scale. To accomplish this, he enlarged Mount Moriah by building a massive retaining wall around it, and then filling in the gap. These retaining walls are the walls around the Temple Mount (not those around the Old City) that we see today. Herod's Temple itself is gone, it was destroyed by the Romans when the Jews rebelled against their rule not long after it had been completed, but the Temple Mount remains.

Jesus had prophecied that the Temple would be so destroyed that "not even one stone would remain upon another", which the religious leaders thought was ludicrous. My understanding is that, during the Jewish rebellion against Roman rule, several decades after the time of Jesus, the wooden parts of the Temple caught fire. The heat melted the gold in the Temple, some of which flowed down amidst the foundation stones. After the fire went out, Roman soldiers searching for gold pried the foundation stones apart so that indeed, "not one stone in the structure remained upon another".

Herod's rule was not liked by the Jewish people. The country was part of the Roman Empire. Herod had gained power, with Roman help disposing the last of the Hasmoneans (or Maccabeans), who had freed Israel from Seleucid rule to bring about a country that was independent, for the first time in centuries, until the Romans arrived.

The trouble was that Herod wasn't really Jewish. He was an Idumean, which had been formerly known as Edom and which the Hasmoneans had forcibly converted to Judaism. Remember that, in the Book of Genesis, the Edomites were descendants of Esau, who was the older brother of Jacob from whom the Jews were descended. In the famous story Jacob, with the help of his mother Rebekah, had disguised himself in order to trick their father Isaac (the son of Abraham, who Abraham had been earlier willing to sacrifice on the rock atop Mount Moriah in order to prove that he was perfectly obedient to God) into giving him the blessing instead of his older brother Esau.

By the way, the Book of Lamentations, which is a description of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the first Temple, in 586 B.C., indicates that "The land of Uz", as described in the Book of Job, is actually Edom. So Edom, the land to the southwest originally settled by Jacob's brother Esau, is actually where the story of Job takes place. Bad feelings between the Edomites and the Israelites also factored in how they cheered the Babylonians on as they were destroying Jerusalem. This is what the single chapter book of the prophet Obadiah is about.

Herod is the one who is described in the Gospels as massacring young boys because he had heard of Jesus' birth as a king, which he considered as a threat to his own rule. Jesus' mother and father took him to safety in Egypt until Herod had died. After Herod's death rule of his kingdom, which was ultimately under Roman rule, was divided among his sons. When Jesus began his ministry, the Herods mentioned at that time were Herod Phillip and Herod Antipas. Another son, Archelaus, ruled over Judea but had proven to be so inept and antagonistic of a leader that Rome replaced him with a governor called a prefect. At the time of Jesus' trial and crucifixion, that prefect was Pontius Pilate.

Let's briefly review how spiritual justice works, by reviewing the order of Jacob's own sons. One of Jacob's twelve sons would become the leader over the others, and each one would form a tribe. The oldest son was Reuben. He still formed one of the twelve tribes, but he forfeited his leadership role by later getting together with his father's concubine, Bilhah. Simeon and Levi were the next two in line but they forfeited their leadership roles with their massacre of the town of Shechem, in vengeance after their sister Dinah had been raped there. This left the fourth-born son, Judah, to inherit the leadership. Indeed, Judah became the leading tribe of Israel so that all Israelites became known as Jews.

With this in mind, shouldn't we expect that there would be some kind of spiritual justice brought to Jacob and Rebekah's deception and taking of Isaac's blessing from Esau? The deception may have had God's sanction, but it was still a deception.

Could it be spiritual justice for this deception that the Jews, the descendants of Jacob, were to be ruled over for a time by Herod, who was a descendant of Esau? This included having the Temple dismantled and rebuilt by this descendant of Esau. Furthermore, the enlarging of the sacred Mount Moriah, by Herod, represented the restoration of Esau back to the blessing of the Promised Land. The much-enlarged Temple had to be completed to represent this bringing back of Esau, even though the Temple was destroyed not long after.

Symbolism Theory Of The Vatican And Hagia Sophia

One popular topic to write about nowadays is conspiracy theories. Many writers have claimed to uncovered the identity of the supposed "second gunman", who really shot John F. Kennedy. Others have identified the "real" Jack the Ripper, the serial killer in the Whitechapel district of London in the Autumn of 1888. So today, we have dozens of people who "really" shot John F. Kennedy, and a whole gallery of Jack the Rippers. Another popular topic for writers is the supposedly "hidden" meanings of artwork in the Vatican.

I would like to present my theory, involving symbolism and secret societies. Unlike many theories involving secretiveness, hidden meanings, and the Vatican, this theory is not fictional and can be seen in photos. However I intend it only for educational, making history a little bit more interesting, and entertainment purposes.

THE FREEMASONS

Let's begin with the semi-secret society that most readers would probably have some familiarity with, the Freemasons. The Freemasons are not directly involved with my theory here, but I want to use them to illustrate the power of secret societies and the symbolism that they typically use.

A so-called "secret society" actually cannot be completely secret simply because it has to have new members joining. No one will seek to join it if they have never heard of it. My understanding of Freemasonry is that it began in either England or Scotland, in the time before the Reformation. Like many secret societies, it's activity revolves around secret rites and symbolism.

A central legend of Freemasonry is that of Hiram Abiff, believed to be the architect of Solomon's Temple who was murdered for refusing to divulge masonic secrets. Other legend has Freemasonry going back to ancient Egypt, before being taken to countries like England and France.

Freemasonry began, as the name implies, in medieval guilds of stone workers. It's main symbol is the compass and the square, around the "G", which stands for the Grand Architect of the Universe, which is God. Freemasonry is not believed to be primarily a religious organization, but it's members are supposed to express belief in a supreme being. This may not be a requirement of all Masonic Lodges, such as for those in France:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#/media/File:Square_compasses.svg

One important image associated with the Freemasons is the Eye of Providence, a reminder to Masons that God was watching everything that they did:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence#/media/File:MasonicEyeOfProvidence.gif

The Eye of Providence is a very important symbol to the United States, being on the country's Great Seal, and is seen today on the U.S. one-dollar bill, atop a pyramid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Providence#/media/File:Dollarnote_siegel_hq.jpg

One thing that no one doubts about the Freemasons is their power. We won't go into all of the influential persons known to be Freemasons here, but many of the founders of the United States and every significant figure in the French Revolution are believed to have been Freemasons. Lists of prominent Freemasons read like a who's who of much of the world. Five British kings, as well as Winston Churchill, were supposedly among them, as were many U.S. presidents.

Here is George Washington in his Masonic Lodge:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry#/media/File:Washington_Masonic_print.jpg

James Hoban, the designer of the White House, was a Freemason. Frederic Bartholdi, designer of the Statue of Liberty, was another Freemason.

One of the most prominent pieces of architecture in Washington D.C. is it's Masonic Lodge, The House of the Temple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Temple#/media/File:House_of_the_Temple.JPG

The reaction against Freemasonry shows the power that it had. The Catholic and Anglican Churches were very concerned about their influence. The Nazis thought that they had to eliminate them. There was once an anti-Masonry political party in the U.S., intending to curb their power.

Batavia, New York, between Buffalo and Rochester, is my one-time sales territory and as nice of a place as there is anywhere. It once gained national attention, with regard to Freemasonry, when a local resident, William Morgan, who claimed to have belonged to other lodges, was denied admission to the Masonic Lodge in Batavia. Morgan then threatened to write a book detailing the secret activity of the Masons. He was soon arrested, on questionable criminal charges. Shortly afterward, he vanished and was presumed murdered. These events around Batavia set off a national backlash against the power of Freemasonry.

Do you want another example of a powerful "secret society" that, in this case, wasn't so secret? Tammany Hall, otherwise known as the Columbian Order, virtually controlled all politics in New York City for 150 years. Regardless of the processes of democracy, little could be done in New York without the approval of the reigning "boss" of Tammany Hall.

This cartoon from 1899 illustrates, in astronomical terms, how the operation of New York City really revolves around the "boss" of Tammany Hall:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall#/media/File:New_York%27s_New_Solar_System2.jpg

THE VATICAN

Let's move on to another place where symbolism is very important, the Vatican. It is centers of power that tend to also become centers of conspiracy theories. Much has been written about the supposedly "hidden" meanings of Catholic artwork in the Vatican, but we do not need to get into that here.

The Vatican itself is designed around the shape of a key. In the Gospels, Jesus told St. Peter that he would be given the keys to the kingdom of God, meaning that he would be the leader of the church. St. Peter was a leader of the apostles, and was eventually martyred in Rome.

The Jewish religion was protected under Roman rule, Jews were exempt from both otherwise-mandatory emperor worship and military service. But when the early Christians became distinct from Judaism, the same protection did not apply to them. The Romans were concerned about the religious conflict within the empire between Christians and Jews and, according to another theory, the Emperor Nero set fire to part of the city of Rome himself, because he wanted to rebuild it as something else, and then blamed the fire on the Christians.

The grave of the martyred St. Peter was said to have been marked by a red stone. When the Roman Empire later became Christian, a church was built over St. Peter's Tomb. When that church fell into disrepair, the present St. Peter's Basilica was built on the spot.

St. Peter's Basilica and the adjoining St. Peter's Square are in the form of a key, with St. Peter's Square being the handle of the key:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_(lock)#/media/File:Standard-lock-key.jpg

This is starting in St. Peter's Basilica, and around the Vatican. Remember that the Vatican is actually an independent country, and the buildings in the gardens behind St. Peter's Basilica are the administration buildings:

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9003853,12.4529437,3a,75y,295.55h,92.3t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-9nfe69UJ5RM%2FVej4Ct1xD_I%2FAAAAAAAAF10%2FB2Lo3rH-Ld8!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-9nfe69UJ5RM%2FVej4Ct1xD_I%2FAAAAAAAAF10%2FB2Lo3rH-Ld8%2Fw203-h101-n-k-no%2F!7i8704!8i4352

One popular theory about the alleged symbolism in the Vatican concerns the interior paintings of the adjoining Sistine Chapel, where new popes are chosen by ballot. The Sistine Chapel was constructed as a copy of the inner chamber of Solomon's Temple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel#/media/File:Sistina-interno.jpg

Beginning in 1508, the artist Michelangelo spent several years painting the interior of the chapel. The popular conspiracy theory is that Michelangelo did not want the job of painting the chapel. He had earlier completed sculptures, like the Pieta, and would rather be doing sculpture than painting. After completing a sculpture like the Pieta, spending several years on scaffolding painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel must have seemed like some kind of punishment.

According to the theory, Michelangelo got revenge on Pope Julius by subtly painting hidden meanings into the scenes in the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo supposedly was a practitioner of the Jewish Kabbala, and a close look reveals Kabbalastic symbolism in the paintings. Jewish rabbis on a visit once noted that, while the paintings are of biblical scenes, the shapes formed by various figures and cloaks in the paintings form letters of the Hebrew alphabet, standing for concepts in Kabbala, as well as other symbolic shapes such as the right hemisphere of the human brain.

Michelangelo was from Florence, which he supposedly believed to be culturally superior to Rome. In the Sistine Chapel painting of the Great Flood it has been noted that, on one side of the painting, the head of a donkey or mule is seen against the background of red and golden yellow, which were the colors representing Rome at the time. One the opposite side of the painting, two of the antediluvian sinners have washed ashore, and both are wearing the same red and golden yellow colors of Rome.

ORDERS OF KNIGHTS

In the Middle Ages, orders of knights were formed to protect and assist Catholic pilgrims to the Holy Land. Some of these orders of knights ended up gaining great power and influence and becoming, in effect, the world's first multi-national corporations. Some of these orders remain in existence today. But as with all secret, and semi-secret, societies, the question is about how much of their activity is of a social and charitable  and medical nature, and how much is about exerting unseen influence and control?

There is the Knights Templar, also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple. Solomon's Temple is, of course, also very important to Freemasons, with the legendary Hiram Abiff being it's architect. Coincidentally, the Sistine Chapel that we have seen was based on the inner sanctuary of Solomon's Temple. So, we can see that Solomon's Temple is something that tends to be held in common among secret societies. Knights Templar, aside from being an organization, is also the name of an order of Masonry of the York Rite.

The Knights Templar are so named because when they reached Jerusalem, they renamed the Moslem buildings on the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock which is the former site of Solomon's Temple, as Solomon's Temple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar#/media/File:Temple_mount.JPG

Another order of knights, The Knights Hospitaller now headquartered in Rome, is also known as the Soveriegn Military Order of Malta, and is an international medical organization. They are known as the Order of St. John and as the Knights of Malta. They used to own the island of Malta, and are recognized as a landless sovereign state. So great was their influence that today, across the world, a building in which the sick and injured are cared for is referred to as a hospital.

These are only two of the orders of knights which formed in medieval times primarily to protect and assist pilgrims to the Holy Land. Many of these orders gained tremendous power, money and, influence, and still exist, in some form, today. These orders were Catholic, often formed with the blessings of the pope. Their heyday was the time of the Crusades, in the Thirteenth Century, the attempt to regain the Holy Land from the Moslems.

BRIDGING THE REFORMATION

My theory is that, when the Reformation happened, beginning in 1517, these Catholic societies suffered a great loss of territory and influence as Europe was split into Catholic and Protestant. They were not able to stop the Reformation, but they did what they could to bridge the gulf between the two halves of Europe, and we can see evidence of that in the symbolism of important places today. If they would react to the loss of the Holy Land to the Moslems, wouldn't they also react to the loss of much of Catholic territory to the Protestants?

In the article "Knights Hospitaller", on www.wikipedia.org , it is made clear how the organization was affected by the loss of influence and territory brought on by the Reformation. I find the Freemasons to be significant in this bridge because they were based primarily in the part of Europe that split away and became Protestant.

The de-facto "flag" of the crusaders, and the orders of knights, was the red cross on a white background. I find this to be the symbol of the attempt to bridge the gap brought about by the Reformation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar#/media/File:HPIM3597.JPG

The red and white cross of St. George is named for the widely-revered saint of that name. St. George was believed to be a commander in a Roman legion, who was martyred for his Christian faith. The flag of England (but not of all of Britain) is the George Cross:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_Cross#/media/File:Flag_of_England.svg

This red cross on a white background, dating from the days of the Crusades, is to be seen in many places associated with England, such as the Order of the Garter:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter

Why did the cross of a Catholic saint remain the flag of a country like England, which went overwhelmingly Protestant in the Reformation?

Scotland joined England, along with Wales, to form modern Britain in 1707, mainly because the two countries had ended up on the same side during the Reformation. The fiery sermons of John Knox turned his native Scotland from a bastion of Catholicism into one of the most Protestant of nations. Scotland's Cross of St. Andrew was superimposed onto England's Cross of St. George, in a process that resembles the Scottish tartan method, to create the flag of Britain, known commonly as the Union Jack:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan#/media/File:Flag_of_Scotland.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jack#/media/File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jack#/media/File:Union_Flag_and_St_Georges_Cross.jpg

But have you ever noticed that there is a perfect British flag imposed on the very center of Catholicism, St. Peter's Square? The Basilica of St. Peter is included in the following image. If you press the (-) button, to go up a step in altitude, you can see how the dome and the transepts of the basilica form the shape of a key, with St. Peter's Square being the handle of the key:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9023136,12.4571096,271m/data=!3m1!1e3

Could this British flag in St. Peter's Square represent, at least to the influential secret societies who lost such influence in the Reformation, an attempt to pull the former domain of Catholicism, where they had such great influence, back together? Along with the fact that the symbol of a Catholic saint remained the flag of England, despite the split during the Reformation? This location of the British flag in St. Peter's Square fits perfectly with the symbolism of the surrounding Collonades representing the all-embracing "arms" of the Catholic Church.

Considering how important symbolism is to the Vatican, as well as how vital symbolism is to secret societies, I consider this as very plausible. I cannot see that the lines which form the British flag in St. Peter's Square serve any essential purpose and, seen from the surface of the square, the British flag is not apparent unless viewed from above. The obelisk in the middle of St. Peter's Square acts as a sundial, but the time is indicated by markers on the Collonades, and does not involve the lines which form the British flag.

As a parallel example of this use of a pattern of lines in a prominent square in Italy to signify some kind of alliance, look at the pattern of interlocking squares and rectangles in Piazza San Marco, in Venice. Remember that Marco Polo, who visited China, was from Venice. This pattern is commonly seen in China, and I have seen it at a number of Chinese restaurants.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.4339152,12.3384387,133m/data=!3m1!1e3

Much has been written about how secret societies like to link themselves, not only to Solomon's Temple, but also to ancient Egypt. This Egyptian obelisk, in the center of St. Peter's Square, brings the Vatican into the link also.

There was plenty of effort to stop the split of the Reformation or, failing that, at least to bridge it. Considering their power and what they had to lose by the Reformation, secret societies must have had a hand in this effort. The Catholic Queen Mary I of England tried to bring the country back by force. When her successor, Elizabeth I created the Anglican Church, the pope had the Catholic King Phillip of Spain dispatch his armada. The Anglican Church does happen to be one of the branches of Protestantism that retained much of the Catholic liturgy.

I am surprised that no one has noticed this, but a Google search of "British flag St. Peter's Square Rome" turns up nothing. Remember that there is a place called St. Peter's Square in London also.

Isn't it interesting that the symbol of the Knights Hospitaller is the Maltese Cross?:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller#/media/File:Cross_of_the_Knights_Hospitaller.svg

While the flag of Malta today has the George Cross, on a red and white background. Remember that Malta was once owned by the Knights Hospitaller and that red and white is the primary colors of the orders of knights which protected and assisted pilgrims to the Holy Land. The George Cross is Britain's highest award for valor, after the Victoria Cross. Malta was a British island in the wartime and it was awarded to it's people for their resistance to relentless air raids and naval blockade. The George Cross is named, of course, after the red and white Cross of St. George which is England's flag:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cross#/media/File:Flag_of_Malta.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cross#/media/File:George_Cross_Malta_P1440218.jpg

As far as red crosses on white backgrounds go, today we have the International Red Cross which undergoes humanitarian missions across the world. This makes it a direct descendant of the medieval orders of knights which provided protection and medical assistance to pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The Red Cross certainly does not engage in any violence, but the principle is the same:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement#/media/File:Flag_of_the_Red_Cross.svg

SYMBOLISM AND THE HAGIA SOPHIA

In 1453, the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine Empire city of Constantinople, which was renamed Istanbul. Byzantium had been weakened by the earlier conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders, who apparently digressed from their stated mission of liberating the Holy Land from Moslem control.

The very old Hagia Sophia, the House of Holy Wisdom, which had been the largest church in the world for nearly a thousand years, was re-purposed into a mosque and four minarets were built around it. To show that they too were capable of such a building, the Ottomans built the Blue Mosque, facing the Hagia Sophia.

The Ottomans were responsible for a lot of important building that remains today. They built the wall around the Old City of Jerusalem, which has some really attractive gates, particularly the Damascus Gate and the Jaffa Gate. This does not include the retaining walls of the Temple Mount (or Noble Sanctuary to Moslems), which is within the Old City. The Ottomans also built the minaret at the Tower of David, within the Old City of Jerusalem.

But look at the Hagia Sophia. Three of the four minarets are made of white stone, while the other is made of red brick.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia#/media/File:Hagia_Sophia_Mars_2013.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia#/media/File:Hagia_Sophia_2017.jpg

Whoever heard of a mosque with four minarets, one at each corner, but where one was a different color than the others, particularly one of the most historic and famous buildings in the world? I can find no satisfactory answer as to why three of the minarets at the Hagia Sophia are white, while the fourth is red. I can see no other examples of important mosques, with four minarets, where one is a different color than the others.

This brings us back to the red and white flags of the Crusaders and the medieval orders of knights. The Ottomans would be considered as a rival, but perhaps there were other factors that brought the red and white symbolism of some kind of alliance.

It was the weakening of Byzantium by the attack of the Crusaders which made it possible, or at least easier, for the Ottomans to conquer it.

Maybe the red minaret among the white ones represented some kind of agreement to allow Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, which would come under Ottoman control.

The worst thing that ever happened to the Islamic religion took place around the time of the Crusades. But it wasn't the Crusades, it was the Mongol siege and destruction of Baghdad in 1258. The vast library, containing the records of the knowledge that the Abassid Caliphate had built up, during what is known as the Golden Age of Islam, was destroyed.

During the Golden Age, Moslems made great advances in knowledge. About 70% of the stars in the sky now have Arabic names for this reason. The numbers that we use: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, are referred to as Arabic numerals (although the vital concept of zero is an Indian invention). According to many accounts, Moslems ever since then have been seeking to regain what was lost in the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate capital of Baghdad, and this Golden Age is what IS is seeking to bring back.

The Mongols would slaughter the inhabitants of any city that resisted them, Moslem or Catholic. The Mongols had passed by the time the Ottomans took over, although they had earlier inflicted a nasty defeat on the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara. But could this red minaret among the white ones represent a "secret society" agreement with the Catholic orders of knights to join together if another threat from the east, such as the Mongols, reappeared? How much of a coincidence is it that the primary symbolism of the all-powerful medieval orders of knights was red on white, and these minarets are three white, and one red?

Once again, this theory is intended for education and entertainment purposes.