Ok, folks. God is revealing truth every minute of every day these days. THAT is how you KNOW we are at the END.. Because many things even GOD said have been sealed up until the END. The enemy also has had secrets we were not able to uncover all these centuries. Some available to the chosen few and no one else. BUT NOW!!! It is all unraveling. They are being exposed.
You know when I first started walking by the SPIRIT and God called me to spiritual warfare, there was not much available as resources. I searched and searched. Of course we did not have PCs at that time. The ONLY place I could read the book of Jasher or the Book of Enoch was in a special room at the Library where they were chained to a desk. When I got my first computer, I started to search for resources which were still few and far between. EXPOSING SATANISM was one of the very first sites I found that was revealing truths about the enemy. Very shortly I found myself voluntarily editing for that site. then contributing to the content. I served there for years, then Jon opened the opportunity for me to have this webpage to share what GOD was revealing to me. I am so thankful for EXPOSING SATANISM and JON and all the work that he has done keeping the TRUTH going forth.
TODAY, for anyone who wants to find the TRUTH, it is out there. It takes time and effort, but you can find it when you follow the SPIRIT of GOD.
There is so much, no one person can keep up. If you are not already fully in the fight… JUMP IN!! You will never regret it. The things that God will reveal to you will amaze, thrill, excite, incite and bless you. Your relationship with Him will grow by leaps and bounds.
I am here to tell you that everything that happens in the earth, whether good or evil, has a spiritual source. Today we are going to get a very clear picture of the demonic spirit behind the transgender/gender fluid movement in our nation and really around the World. By the end of this post, you should have no doubt.
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The Militant Homosexual Movement
There are SO MANY militant homosexual movements, and they have a stronghold over the teacher’s union, NEA, National Education Association. “Gay Pride” T-shirts are okay in schools yet “Straight Pride” is banished. Michael Swift wrote in the Gay Revolutionary, reprinted from the Congressional Congress:
“We shall sodomize your sons, the emblems of your feeble masculinity of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups and in your movie theatre bathrooms, in your army bunk house in your truck stops, in your all male clubs and in your houses of Congress, wherever men are men together. Your sons will become the puppets of our bidding. We will recast them in our image and they will come to crave and adore us (sound like Romans 1?). We shall write poems of love between men, we shall stage plays in which men openly caress men, we shall make films about the love between heroic men which will replace the cheap superficial sentimental, insipid, juvenile, heterosexual infatuations presently dominating in your cinematic screens. We shall rise in a vast private army to defeat you. We will conquer the world because warriors inspired by, and banded together by homosexual love and honor are invincible. The family unit, the spawning ground of all lies, betrayals, hypocrisy and violence will be abolished. The family unit, which only dampens the imagination and curbs the free will must be eliminated. All churches that condemn us will be closed. Our only gods are handsome young men. One of the major requirements of a position of power in this new society will be the indulgence in this Greek passion and any man contaminated with heterosexual lust will be automatically barred from positions of influence. All males who insist on remaining stupidly heterosexual will be tried in homosexual courts of justice and will become invisible men.”
When I heard David T. Moore read this clip just a few years ago, I thought this couldn’t happen any time soon. But LOOK at what World Net Daily reported on January 24, 2002 by Diana Lynne. “Lawmakers ‘sanction’ use of district-approved porn.” OPT YOUR CHILD OUT OF SEX-ED NOW!!! And yet protest! Who wants their child in a high school locker room shower with a bunch of boys that are told to try homosexuality?
Additionally, 9th graders were assigned books in public school which contained abundant profanity, graphic sexual and homosexual content, violence and drugs.
Again, Christians are commanded to love everyone, of course this includes homosexuals. Christ would welcome them and rejoice! God invites us to come as we are, and none of us were without sin. But we object to the MILITANT gay movement indoctrinating our children. Everyone knows anal intercourse is NOT healthy. BlessedCause encourages all parents to sue schools that insist on teaching such behavior to impressionable youth. May God lead us to protect our children and future grandchildren as much as we can. Pray for revival!
Saints, God said it would be like this just before Jesus came. Last one out, you won’t need to turn out the light, it will just leave with you. Pray that your unbelieving friends and family receive Christ! Many of these ‘lawmakers’ honestly don’t know any better, how could they, they don’t know the Holy Spirit. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
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On Monday, Obama shared an image that had been taken five years ago when he was in office, following the court’s ruling to legalize gay marriage. On Monday, Obama tweeted a picture of the White House lit by rainbow colors, with the message: “Today reminds us that progress might be slow. It might take decades.
“But no matter what things might look like today, it’s always possible. Happy Pride month, everybody,” Obama added.
The White House was bathed in rainbow colors following the ruling on June 26, 2015 making same-sex marriage legal. The decision inspired former first lady Michelle Obama and the couple’s daughter Malia, to secretly join the public to celebrate the landmark decision, which she described in her book, Becoming.
The former president’s tweet on Monday came hours after a ruling by the court that under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, gay and transgender people were protected against employment discrimination based on sex.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was the first appointee to the court by President Donald Trump, wrote in the majority opinion that “the answer is clear. An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex.”
“Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids,” he added.
The 6-to-3 ruling had tussled over the meaning of the word “sex” within the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination because based on gender.
The Trump administration had intervened in the case arguing that firing gay or lesbian employees would not be discrimination because workers of both genders “would be similarly situated—and they would be treated the same.”
However, Gorsuch’s ruling concluded: “It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating … based on sex.”
Trump said that “we live with the decision of the Supreme Court,” which he described as “very powerful”, adding, “But they have so ruled.”
Many took to Twitter to praise the ruling. Taylor Swift tweeted: “We still have a long way to go to reach equality, but this is a beautiful step forward.”
Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry, said of the ruling, according to NPR: “One big lesson from this opinion is don’t give up. You have to believe that you can change things.”
In a display of complete disrespect for what the White House represents, President Barack Hussein Obama lit the W.H. up like a Christmas tree to celebrate the SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage.
Obama declared that, “Today, we can say in no uncertain terms that we have made our union a little more perfect,” Obama said.
Before that, Obama tweeted using the hashtag “#LoveWins” and the White House account changed its logo to an image of the White House seal covered in rainbow colors, bearing a resemblance to the actual building’s appearance Friday evening.
I wonder how this will play out in the dozen states that still have anti-sodomy laws on the books 10 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they are unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 that it is unconstitutional to bar consensual sex between adults, calling it a violation of the 14th Amendment.
One such state is Louisiana, where gay rights groups contend police have used anti-sodomy laws to target gay men. But state lawmakers sided with religious and conservative groups in refusing to repeal the law last week.
Of 14 states that had anti-sodomy laws, only Montana and Virginia have repealed theirs since the Supreme Court ruling, said Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights organization.
Obama hails Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling.
Photos courtesy of Google
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The White House is illuminated in rainbow colors. (Photo: Gary Cameron/Reuters)
The White House was lit with the colors of the rainbow Friday night in honor of the Supreme Court’s ruling that marriage equality is a constitutional right throughout the country.
“Tonight, the White House was lit to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to progress and equality, here in America and around the world,” the White House said in a statement. “The pride colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, and tonight, these colors celebrate a new chapter in the history of American civil rights.”
Many other landmarks were illuminated in gay-pride colors overnight as the LGBT community and its allies celebrated the historic ruling.
The spire of 1 World Trade Center in New York City is lit in rainbow colors as an NYPD officer opens a street for traffic. (Photo: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Among them were One World Trade Center in New York City, Niagara Falls between Ontario, Canada, and New York State, Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World in Florida and several city halls, including San Francisco’s and Denver’s.
San Francisco City Hall is illuminated by rainbow colors. (Photo: Gordon Mak/Instagram)
Earlier Friday, President Barack Obama said in a speech from the White House Rose Garden that the decision reaffirmed that all Americans are entitled to the equal protection of the law.
The commander in chief said the ruling was a victory for Jim Obergefell and the other plaintiffs in the case, gay and lesbian couples, the children and families of same-sex couples and the allies who have worked for marriage equality for decades.
President Obama talks on the phone in the Oval Office of the White House before speaking in the Rose Garden. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the symbolism of that perennially popular flower, the rose Roses are sometimes known as the queen of flowers, and they are perhaps the richest in symbolism, whether in Christianity, classical myth, or modern (especially romantic) literature. But the symbolism of roses is a curious topic, because red and white roses have attracted such starkly different connotations. Rose symbolism in classical mythology In Greek myth, roses are closely linked with Adonis, the lover of Aphrodite (equivalent of Ishtar). One day, Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip and died in Aphrodite’s arms as she wept; the first red roses were said to have sprung up from his blood as it soaked into the earth, staining the nearby white roses a deep crimson. This helps to explain how red roses came to be inextricably linked to romantic love (and adorn millions of Valentine’s Day cards every year): the idea is that such love transcends death and lives on beyond the lovers’ own short lives. The Romans even had a festival (didn’t they always), named Rosalia, which was celebrated on various days in May and June every year in the Roman calendar and involved paying tribute to the spirits of the dead; roses figured heavily in the festival, as the name suggests. And speaking of festivals, Dionysian festivals in ancient Greece and Rome often featured roses, which were worn as garlands because roses were thought to prevent drunkenness. And if you were knocking back the wine in honour of Dionysus (or Bacchus in Roman times), you probably needed something to ward off a stupor. As Hans Biedermann observes in his informative post on rose-symbolism in The Wordsworth Dictionary of Symbolism: Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them (Wordsworth Reference), this is probably how the rose came also to symbolise discretion. To this day, the Latin expression sub rosa (literally, ‘under the rose’) denotes something said under the veil of secrecy. The rose in Christianity Many pagan elements of nature symbolism are mirrored by Christian symbols, and this is true of the symbolism of roses: much like Adonis’ blood spilling into the earth and creating the first roses, so in Christianity, the rose symbolises Christ’s blood shed at the Crucifixion. In both Christian and pagan tradition, then, the rose is closely related to the idea of resurrection and rebirth. In ancient Greece, it was a common custom to lay roses upon graves for this reason. The mystical community known as the Rosicrucians even took its name from the Latin for ‘rose’ and ‘cross’, with its symbol being a cross (specifically, a saltire) with a rose in each of the four corners and a fifth rose in the centre. Later, as the Virgin Mary became a more central focus of Christian worship, she became associated with the rose, and was often depicted surrounded by them. spacer About: Rosalia (festival) – DBpedia |
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THE UNIVERSAL ANDROGYNE In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, we find the following Third Aphorism: The Third Aphorism The term “Hermaphrodite” is defined as: “An individual which has the attributes of both Male and Female.” The term is derived by joining together the two names, viz., Hermes and Aphrodite. The term came into ancient use through the legend of Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who, while bathing, became joined in one body with the nymph Salmacis. The term “Androgyne” is defined as: “An individual possessing the attributes of both Male and Female; a Hermaphrodite.” The term is derived from the combination of two Greek words, viz., “Andros,” meaning “a man,” and “Gyne,” meaning “a woman.” The conception of the Bi-Sexuality in the Universal Manifestation, or Universal Being, is one met with on all sides in the ancient esoteric and occult philosophies in all lands. In ancient Greece, in Ancient India, and in Ancient Atlantis, Persia, and Chaldea the doctrine formed an important part of the Inner Teachings. In its highest forms, this teaching lay at the very heart of the Ancient Mysteries, and resulted in the very highest and noblest conception of the dignity and worthiness of Sex. But prostituted by the vulgar popular mind, encouraged by a debased priesthood, the same teachings were inverted and made to serve as the basis of the various degenerate phase of Phallic Worship, the traces of which are found on every page of ancient philosophical or religious history. The Rosicrucians have never countenanced even the slight descent into Phallicism, but, on the contrary have kept alive the Flame of the True (Pagan) Teaching, and have used its particular symbol as the distinctive symbolic name and emblem of the Order. In order to understand the symbology of the Universal Androgyne, it is necessary to first become familiar with the two ancient symbols of Sex. In all the ancient philosophies and religions, we find that the “Cross” (+) is the symbol of the Male; and the “Circle” (O) the symbol of the Female. In representing the Bisexual, the Hermaphrodite, the Androgyne, the two symbols, i.e. the Cross and the Circle are combined in one of several ways. The original way was that of placing the Cross within the circumference of the Circle (symbol of Mammon); but later usage preferred the various forms of the so-called “Phallic Cross,” which consists of the Circle, or Oval, sustaining the Cross (The Ankh, Egptian key of life. Originally belonging to An/Anu the sky God. Anu, theoretically the highest god ) which depends downward from it. (See illustrations.) Sometimes the Cross is represented as the letter “T”, and the Circle as the letter “O”. The well-known esoteric symbol, the “Swastica” (see illustration) consists of a modified Cross, conceived as a “whirling wheel” (something like the familiar spinning “pin wheel” of the boys’ fireworks.) The whirling Cross of the Swastica, when seen in rapid motion, presents the appearance of a Circle enclosing a Cross. This symbol of the “Circle enclosing the Cross” is one particularly sacred to the Rosicrucians, since to them it represents the Universal Activity and Universal Creation, symbolizing the Great Mystery of Occult Generation on all planes of Life. In the fanciful symbology of the ancient Rosicrucian Brotherhoods, the Circle was transformed into the Rose, and the Cross sometimes transformed into the Sword with its Cross-like handle. The sign, then, of the Cross (or Sword) combined with the Circle (or Rose), symbolized the Mystic Union of the Rose and the Cross, from whence arose the name of the Order, i.e. Rosi-Crucian, meaning “Rose-Cross.” The Third Aphorism states: “The One became Two. The Neuter became Bi-Sexual. Male and Female the Two in One evolved from the Neuter. And the Work of Creation began.” In this Aphorism there is given the “hint” at the very important teaching of the Rosicrucians concerning the Universal Sex Principles in Nature the presence and activity of the Sexual Pairs of Opposites, Male and Female, which constitute the Secret of Creation. According to the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, there are present in All-Creation the activities of a Male Principle and a Female Principle, both Universal in Nature, Character and Extent both Opposing Aspects of the World Soul which act and react, one upon the other, and thus produce all Creative Activity and the “Cosmic Becoming” or Universal Activity and Change. And the teachings also are that these Two Sex Principles operate and manifest upon every plane of Life, from the Sub-Mineral, on to the Mineral, on to the Plant, on to the Animal, on to the Human, or to the Super-Human, on to the Angelic or God-like. And, likewise, that in every Thing in Creation there is present and manifest the activity of Sex. The above statement of the Universality of Sex may seem somewhat surprising to the person who has not acquainted himself, or herself, with the Ancient Wisdom of the Esoteric Schools; or who is not familiar with the daring conceptions of advanced modern science. But to that one who has mastered the ancient wisdom-teachings, and who has likewise become acquainted with the best of modern advanced scientific thought, there will seem nothing strange about these statements. The ancient teachings taught positively that there was present and active Sex in all manifested Creation; and Modern Science is beginning to teach that the evidence of the presence of Sex in every Thing is conclusive. The ancient teachings, which were later embodied in the early Rosicrucian teachings, held that in order that there might be Becoming, Change, or Creation, there must be Re-action following Action the play of one force on another. And the best teachings of the ancients were that these two opposing forces in Nature were Masculine, and Feminine, respectively dual aspects of the Universal Being. And Modern Science is fast coming to recognize and teach the same great truth. The best teachings of modern science is that there is a stimulating or fertilizing activity in nature which acts upon a generative force, the latter reacting upon the former. And, at the other end of the material scale, we find the teaching that the atom (once supposed to be the ultimate form of matter) is now discovered to be composed of a multitude of electrons, corpuscles, or ions (different names for the same thing) revolving around each other at a tremendous rate of motion. It was formerly supposed that the electrons simply revolved one around another, and that all were alike in character and nature; but the later discoveries show that the formation of the atom is due rather to the action of numerous circling positive (or “male”) electrons around a central negative (or “female”) electron, the positive (or “male”) electrons seemingly exerting a peculiar effect upon the negative (or “female”) electron, causing her to put forth certain energies which result in the “generation” of the atomic structure. This is in perfect accordance with the old Rosicrucian doctrine that the “positive” pole of magnetism and electricity (for both were well known to the ancient alchemists) was “masculine,” and that the “negative” pole of the same was “feminine.” But, unfortunately, the terms “positive” and “negative,” respectively are used with the wrong implication and much confusion results therefrom. For instance, the term “positive” is used to indicate strength and reality, as opposed to weaknesses and unreality of the “negative.” But the real facts of physical science show us the falsity of such an interpretation of these terms. The so-called “negative” pole of the battery is really the pole of generation or the production of new forms and energies the best authorities now prefer to use the term “the cathode pole” in place of “the negative;” the word “cathode” being derived from the Greek word meaning “descent; the path of generation,” etc. From the “cathode” pole of the battery emerge the great swarms of electrons, ions, or corpuscles; and from the same pole also emerge the wonderful “rays” which have played such an important part in modern physics. The “cathode” pole of the battery is the Mother of all that strange brood of new forms of matter which have appeared to confute the old materialistic theories, and to destroy the old conceptions of science. The “cathode” pole should, in reality and truth, be called the “female” pole; and the “positive” the “male,” for such terms truly represent their true respective offices. Modern science also teaches that the electrons which are “composed of negative (female) electricity,” frequently becomes detached from its male companion corpuscles, and starts on an independent career. It seeks a union with a masculine corpuscle, and gaining it a new set of creative activity is begun. When the female corpuscle unites with the new masculine one a strange phenomenon occurs; the corpuscles began vibrating and circling around each other, and the result is the birth of a new atom in which is combined the masculine and feminine energies in some particular proportion. The atom, thus formed, does not manifest the properties of free electricity but manifests an entirely new set of properties. The process of detachment of the feminine electrons is called “ionization;” and arising from such detachments and the formation of new unions result the varied phenomena of heat, light, electricity, magnetism, etc. In the same way, the varied phenomena of “chemical attraction” and “chemical affinity” arise from the manifestation of Sex on the atomic plane, though science has not as yet perceived this to be the truth. Science teaches that there are “marriages, divorces, and re-marriages” among the atoms, but it hesitates to go further and assert that this is a part of the universal Sex manifestation but this announcement must come in time for the evidence is overwhelmingly convincing.
The explosive properties of certain substances really result from a “divorce” of the atomic and molecular parties the detachment of the male and female particles under the influence of a stronger attraction; and the formation of the different substances result from the attractive unions of certain male and female elements of matter. Alchemy has always known this to be a fact; it remains for modern science to corroborate and reaffirm the “vagaries” of the old alchemists regarding this important fact of nature. It has always been admitted by science that there was Sex manifest in plant-life as well as by animal-life, but the mineral-life was not given the benefit of the manifestation of the universal principle of Sex. But recent discoveries have forced upon scientists the fact that in the crystallization of minerals there is an unmistakable evidence of the presence and activity of Sex, and in the near future it will be found that all the other changes in minerals are the result of Sex-attraction or repulsion. And, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter of this book, there is present the activity of Sex on the mental planes of life. In short, on each and every plane of Life, physical, mental, or spiritual there is found present and active the Universal Principle of Sex, in some of its phases and forms. Sex cannot be escaped in Nature the Universe is Bi-Sexual, and all Creation, on every plane, is caused by Sex and Sex only. (WOW, what horrendous deceit!!) A full understanding of this important fact would revolutionize the conceptions of modern science, and render practicable many important ideas which now exist merely as dreams in the minds of the advanced scientists. To those who cannot see this plainly, we would say: It is admitted that all physical and mental phenomena depend for activity upon the Law of Attraction. When it is discovered that the law of Attraction proceeds along the lines of Sex, and Sex alone, then it is seen that all activity is Sex-Activity. Had the World-Soul remained Neuter, there would have been no Universal Manifestation or Creation. It was necessary that the Principle of Sex should appear, in order that Creation should begin. It is only by the constant and continuous action and reaction of the Two Sex Principles in Nature that Creation, Process, Becoming, and Change is possible and as all Things are but the products of Change, Process, Becoming, and Creation, it follows that without Sex there would have been to Things in the Universe and in that even the World Soul would have abided apart, alone, and single until the end of its days. With the introduction of Sex came the beginning of Generation and Creation, under which the One became the Many and Sameness became Variety and Diversity. The ancient teachings furnish the only logical explanation of Creation. The One becomes the Two, and from the Two proceed the Many. (What outrageous Blasphemy! To the unsaved mind, no doubt, this could make sense. Because God CREATED Man, and saw that it was not good for Man to be alone HE CREATED woman. GOD COMMANDED that we be fruitful and multiply.
The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians / by Magus Incognito (1918) |
“And this ruling is a victory for America. This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts: When all Americans are treated as equal we are all more free,” Obama said.
Sarah Kate Ellis, the CEO and president of GLAAD, told Yahoo News — during liveblog coverage of the nation’s reaction — that she was thrilled the ruling came ahead of New York’s world-famous gay pride parade this weekend.
“I was thrilled beyond belief. It was a long time coming. I felt that it shows that our love is important, equal and should be protected as well. I feel that it was a phenomenal ruling,” she said over the phone. Sarah Kate Ellis has been president and CEO of GLAAD since January 2014. (Photo: GLAAD)
en Heerwig, an assistant professor of sociology at Stony Brook University, who has co-authored scholarly works on the subject, says that Supreme Court ruling brings the nation’s law up to speed with majority opinion in the United States, which has become steadily and rapidly more liberal on the issue of marriage equality in recent years.
“The past decade or so has seen the most pronounced changes. There are variations in attitudes of different ages. As millennials have come of age there’s been a striking shift in opinion on gay marriages,” she said in an interview with Yahoo News. (A generation fully indoctrinated and automated.)
Many companies — from American Airlines to General Electric — showed support for gays and lesbians by switching their profile pictures on social media to versions that incorporate the rainbow pride flag.
Colors of the rainbow light the dome of the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/ Reuters)
Countless people across the world took to the Internet to celebrate the decision. The final section of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion went viral and was widely lauded for saying gays and lesbians do not disrespect marriage but want to find fulfillment through it themselves:
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their pleas is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. The Constitution grants them that right.” (They have proven that is not their motivation. Nothing ever stopped them from having a life partner. They want to destroy the family and marriage.)
CBS News pointed out that the first time it tackled the issue of same-sex couples was in 1967 with the televised documentary “CBS Reports: The Homosexuals.”
A rainbow-colored U.S. flag flies in front of San Francisco’s iconic Castro Theater. (Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)
At the same time that they are totally disrespecting the US National Flag, burning it and pulling it down from flag poles they are hoisting the flag of abomination.
In it, the host, acclaimed journalist Mike Wallace, said that the mere notion of homosexuality repels most Americans.
“A CBS poll shows 2 out of 3 Americans look on homosexuality with disgust, discomfort or fear,” he said.
The very notion of rights for gays and lesbians was brand new for most people when the program aired. It predated the Stonewall riots in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City — often credited with sparking the gay liberation movement — by two years.
But, for many Americans, the most salient sign of how much our country has changed was emblazoned on the first family’s home in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. (Thank you OBUMA, king of CHANGE in the USA!)
The White House is lit up in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Gary Cameron/Reuters)
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The Empire State Building Will Be Lit In Rainbow Colors This Weekend In Honor Of NYC Pride
The Empire State Building will once again shine bright this year in a dazzling display of rainbow colors to honor NYC Pride!
This Sunday, June 26, the Empire State Building will transform into a multi-colored LED spectacle at sunset in honor of NYC Pride. With the ability to display up to 16 million different colors, the rainbow light show is a dazzling sight.
On the same day, the iconic NYC Pride March will return for its first fully in-person NYC Pride March in three years!
Other iconic NYC landmarks started sporting rainbow displays June 23, including One World Trade Center and the Empire State Plaza. Find out what other landmarks will be lit up here.
If you’re looking for more ways to honor and celebrate this weekend, check out our guide of over 35 events, happenings, and specials taking place in NYC for Pride Month this year!
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Celebrating Pride on the Empire State Building |
One World Trade Center shining gay pride colors |
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Ishtar | Goddess, Worship, & Facts | Britannica
Ishtar
Ishtar’s primary legacy from the Sumerian tradition is the role of fertility figure; she evolved, however, into a more complex character, surrounded in myth by death and disaster, a goddess of contradictory connotations and forces—fire and fire-quenching, rejoicing and tears, fair play and enmity. The Akkadian Ishtar is also, to a greater extent, an astral deity, associated with the planet Venus. With Shamash, the sun god, and Sin, the moon god, she forms a secondary astral triad. In this manifestation her symbol is a star with 6, 8, or 16 rays within a circle. As goddess of Venus, delighting in bodily love, Ishtar was the protectress of prostitutes and the patroness of the alehouse. Part of her cult worship probably included temple prostitution. Her popularity was universal in the ancient Middle East, and in many centres of worship she probably subsumed numerous local goddesses. In later myth she was known as Queen of the Universe, taking on the powers of An, Enlil, and Enki.
Revelation 17:1-18Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” |
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Ishtar was the prototype for the Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus and a host of other deities—and was identified with the planet Venus as the morning and evening star. The Bible equates the worship of pagan deities with the worship of demons (Deuteronomy 32:16-17; Psalms 106:35-38; 1 Corinthians 10:20). And it’s intriguing to see that Scripture refers to Satan in his rebellion as Lucifer, the morning star (Isaiah 14:12). The devil is the real personage behind the false deity.
The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary mentions the androgyny or gender ambiguity of Ishtar in its note on Deuteronomy 22:5 (2009, Vol. 1, p. 493), citing an enlightening source we now turn to—Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia: The Gilgamesh Epic and Other Ancient Literature by Rivkah Harris (2000).
Ishtar, Harris explains, “is androgynous, marginal, ambiguous . . . She is betwixt and between . . . Central to the goddess as paradox is her well-attested psychological and physiological androgyny. Inanna-Ishtar is both female and male . . . [in one place stating] ‘Though I am a woman I am a noble young man’” (pp. 160, 163).
She shattered all gender and socioeconomic distinctions—being both a royal queen and “the harlot of heaven . . . set out for the alehouse” (p. 166). And in all this she was the role model for her followers. Among her powers was this from a Sumerian poem: “To turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man are yours, Inanna” (p. 160).
In the Descent of Ishtar we are told of some participants in her cult: “The male prostitutes comb their hair before her . . . They decorate the napes of their necks with colored bands . . . They gird themselves with the sword belt . . . Their right side they adorn with women’s clothing . . . Their left side they cover with men’s clothing . . .” (p. 170). The revel and competition ended in a bloody spectacle of self-cutting (compare 1 Kings 18:28).
Harris states: “Their transvestitism simulated the androgyny of Inanna-Ishtar. It was perhaps the inversion of the male/female binary opposition that thereby neutralized this opposition. By emulating their goddess who was both female and male, they shattered the boundary between the sexes” (pp. 170-171). This was seen as a way of rising above the prison of the flesh.
Weeping For Tammuz
The biblical book of Ezekiel mentions, with great disapproval, an ancient Near Eastern ritual associated with the death of Ishtar’s husband Tammuz. As recorded in the Bible, God points Ezekiel toward a temple: “Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.” This is described in the Bible as an “abomination”—an all-female ritual in which the priestesses mourned the death of Tammuz for forty days.
Interestingly, some historians have suggested that the Christian practice of observing Lent—a period of forty days of prayer and penitence before Easter—stems from the ancient forty-day mourning period for Tammuz. Both Lent and the mourning for Tammuz precede a resurrection. (Lent is not Christian. It is part of Roman Church’s rituals.)
The other well-known myth of Ishtar concerns her descent to the underworld (land of the dead) and the sacrifice of her husband Tammuz (pronounced TAH-mooz, also known as Dumuzi). In this story, Ishtar decided to visit the underworld, which was ruled by her sister Ereshkigal (pronounced ay-RESH-kee-gahl), perhaps to seize power there. Before departing, she instructed her follower Ninshubur (pronounced neen-SHOO-boor) to seek the help of the gods if she did not return.
To reach the underworld, Ishtar had to pass through seven gates and remove a symbol of her power—such as an article of clothing or a piece of jewelry—at each one. At the last gate, the goddess, naked and deprived of all her powers, met her sister Ereshkigal, who announced that Ishtar must die. She died immediately, and her corpse was hung on a stake.
Meanwhile, the god Enki (pronounced EN-kee) learned from Ninshubur that Ishtar was missing and sent two messengers who restored her to life. However, in order to leave the underworld, Ishtar had to substitute another body for her own. The goddess offered her young husband, Tammuz, to take her place. This tale of death and rebirth was associated with fertility and linked to the seasons and agricultural cycles, much like the story of Persephone (pronounced per-SEF-uh-nee) in Greek mythology. In another version of the story, Ishtar travels to the underworld to rescue Tammuz, who has died, and manages to bring him back—but only for part of each year. Thus the death and rebirth of Tammuz is also linked to fertility and agricultural cycles.
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The most highly venerated deity in Ancient Mesopotamia was Inanna, who was also known as Ishtar after the two were merged. She was known as the Queen of Heaven and was the goddess of sex, war and justice. She also was believed to have the ability to change a person’s gender. This power of Inanna’s, the ability to change a man into a woman and vice versa, is well accounted for in multiple poetry fragments and is indicative of the existence of people living outside the gender binary in ancient Mesopotamia. The words of Enheduanna, Inanna’s High Priestess in the city of Ur in the 23rd Century BCE, attest to this. In her Passionate Inanna she writes: ‘To destroy, to create, to tear out, to establish are yours, Inanna. / To turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man are yours, Inanna.’ (115-131). The exact meanings of the original Sumerian cannot be known for sure; the passage could instead relate simply to gender stereotypes, but this is not the only instance of ancient references to people living outside the gender binary.
Seal of Inanna, 2350-2150 BCE / Ancient Akkadian cylinder seal depicting Inanna resting her foot on the back of a lion while Ninshubur stands in front of her paying obeisance, c. 2334 – c. 2154 BC. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
In fact, individuals living outside of the gender binary were heavily involved and associated with the cult of Inanna, and her cult members and priests were known for their androgyny and blurring or destroying the gender binary. The gender-blurring members of her cult have often been included in poems and dedications written for her, often with Inanna personally transforming the gender of her devotees. One such example is the pilipili, a group of cultic performers in Inanna’s Sumerian festivals. The name pilipili is referenced within Passionate Inanna (80-90) in relation to an individual named pilipili who is transformed by Inanna. They are raised as a woman, the Sumerian for young woman (ki-sikil) being used to describe them, and Inanna blesses them, handing them a spear ‘as if she were a man’ and renames them ‘pilipili’. From this point forward they are referred to as ‘the transformed pilipili’. We cannot know for sure what the word ‘transformation’ means in this context, and especially since Sumerian did not use gendered pronouns it is difficult to reconstruct the exact meaning, but one interpretation is that through the blessings of Inanna, the pilipili transitioned into a man. Even if Sumerian did not use gendered pronouns, the possible phallic connotations of the word ‘spear’ add more weight to this theory.
In Sumerian times, priests for Inanna known as the gala (hmm, is that why they want to be called “gay”?) were said to have been created by the god Enki to sing laments for her, one of their central roles in her temple. From the beginning of the Old Babylonian Period, their role was heavily expanded, and mourning rites originally sung by women replaced over time by members of the gala. Men who joined the priesthood in devotion for Inanna became women for all intents and purposes, adopting female names and singing in the Sumerian eme-sal dialect, reserved for feminine speakers to render the speech of female gods. The gala were heavily involved in her temples, performing elegies and lamentations, presiding over religious rites and healed and looked after the sick and poor. They were respected members of the community, closely related to the care of their community. The possibility of the gala undertaking ritual castration has been suggested frequently, but there is little evidence to support this – and regardless it would not be confirmation or validation of anyone’s gender identity. We cannot make assumptions about the gender identity of all of the gala, of course. There were gala who were cisgender women and others who were married to men or women with children. This could be due to gala priests being associated with multiple gods and only the gala of Inanna were living possible trans lives, or perhaps the gala were a group with a huge range of sexualities and gender identities, much like our own society today.
Other ancient texts offer further insights into the blurring of gender by the followers of Inanna. In the Sumerian version of Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld, Enki sends two emissaries to rescue the goddess Inanna from her sister Ereshkigal’s underworld, called the kurgarra and a galatar. Both are names for members of the cult of Inanna. The galatur is simply a junior gala. For further clarification on the role and identity of the kurgarra we must turn to a text of Enheduanna’s detailing a religious festival in honour of Inanna, in which it is said that ‘the ascending kurgarra priests raise their swords before [Inanna]’. The gender identity of the kurgarra is not clear, but if we equate the symbolism of a spear with masculine energy it runs true that the same could be suggested in relation to the swords of the kurgarra, perhaps as a representation of the warlike side of Inanna.
In later, Assyrian versions of Inanna’s Descent the inclusion of the kugarra is replaced by the assinnu, another member of Inanna’s cult, who Dalley avoids gendering by translating this as ‘Good-looks the playboy’ and suggests that they may have been a boy castrated in a ritual castration – but again this would simply be an assumption. The assinnu was another feminine member of Inanna’s gender-blurring cult; in the Babylonian poem The Epic of Erra of the assinnu the poet says: “Whose maleness Ishtar turned female, for the awe of the people”. It has been suggested by Peled that within the cult the assinnu and kurgarru, represented the combined feminine and masculine aspects of Inanna and the complete spectrum of gender that she encompassed.
Trans and non-binary individuals were not restricted solely to the cult of Inanna. A well-known statuette found in the Sumerian city of Mari depicts a singer with a dedication to Inanna. The individual is named Ur-Nanshe, a male name, yet the gender of the figure has been identified as a woman or eunuch. The gender of Ur-Nanshe is ambiguous; despite their masculine name, their face is soft with a trace of makeup and suggestion of breasts. The dedicatory inscription to Inanna may make it tempting to assume that this individual is a gala, but it is specified that Ur-Nanshe is a naru. Regardless, the dedication to Inanna makes the possibility that this is a gender-nonconforming individual more likely. The fact that such a statuette of a gender-ambiguous individual is an indication of the recognition of gender non-conforming individuals in ancient Sumer, and perhaps even acceptance.
A fragment of a statue in the archive of the British Museum further suggests this recognition of people who are neither man nor woman and is translated as “Silimabzuta, hermaphrodite of Inanna”. The use of the word ‘hermaphrodite’ is questionable. It is a word which we would now ascribe a more biological meaning, but as this is an older translation by a cisgender man, we can make allowances for terminology. Cheryl Morgan has offered a more literal, but more accurate, translation of “person-man-woman”, a term that has been used in relation to trans people in many cultures. We cannot know or make assumptions about the gender identity of Silimabzuta, but it is evident that their gender outside of the traditional binary was recognised – and perhaps accepted – in ancient Sumer.
Even if we cannot know for sure the exact gender identities of these individuals and temple members, it is clear that people have been living outside of the gender binary for thousands of years. Throughout ancient Mesopotamia, it is evident that people lived a wide range of gender identities. They may have even been widely known and respected, and perhaps even considered important members and contributors to their communities. (In their pagan cultures dominated by demonic spirits.)
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Jason Bermas guest hosts The Alex Jones Show to break down how transgenderism is actually transhumanism
7 months, 1 week ag
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