"Finally, I wish to mention one more instrument of the secret war, though it refers to a very particular domain: the tactic of the replacing infiltrations. It is when a certain spiritual or traditional organization falls into such a state of degeneration that its representatives know very little of its true, inner foundation, or the basis of its authority and prestige. The life of such an organization may then be compared to the automatic state of a sleepwalker, or living body deprived of its soul. In a sense a spiritual 'void' has been created that can be filled, through infiltrations, by other subversive forces. These forces, while leaving the appearances unchanged, use the organization for totally different purposes, which at times may even be the opposite of those that were originally its own. We should also not rule out the case where such infiltrated elements work for the destruction of the organization that they now control -- for example, by creating new scandals, liable to give rise to serious repercussions." - Julius Evola, "Men Among the Ruins: Post-War Reflections of a Radical Traditionalist"

I think that it is true that the New World Order or whatever it is a vehicle with different drivers--for example, I think the Masons do not have near the power they once had.

As for Freemasonry, one does get the impression that the Brethren have largely served their purpose. That said, it would perhaps be unwise to write them off altogether. A news story about some Nato junket in Prague, which I found on the internet in the early 2000s, uses some rather odd terminology that could conceivably be a reference to a particular masonic rebus:

"A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down, and a couple of cartoon children are helping to show Czech kids the positive qualities of their very own North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. According to Dnes, a new cartoon film appropriates classic Czech school-children characters 'Mach and Sebestova' to talk up the virtues of NATO. Mach is a clean-cut kid who does everything right, and Sebestova is his red-headed girl-friend. Together, the two talk about how NATO will protect children against the cruel Horáček and Pazout. In one typical episode, Horacek and Pazout want to throw a bomb at Mach a Sebestova school. At which point Sebestova spritely voice says: 'Politicians and Soldiers from America, England, and France agreed a long time ago that if anyone threw bombs on any of their lands, then all the others would come. It’s called NATO!' The film debuted before an audience of children whose artwork was chosen to be presented to NATO General Secretary George Robertson last month. Among the award-winning drawings were sketches of a safe and sunny world surrounded by tanks, jets, and machine guns. One highly praised drawing, by young Barborka Sulcova, was of the Madonna radiating happiness. Secretary Robertson was pleased with the pictures, but was much happier with a gavel presented to him by Vaclav Havel. The mallet was in the shape of a golden bough with two white balls. Nobody seemed to understand the symbolism of the two-ball cane."

The evidence for a 'New World Order'-type conspiracy is compelling; the best reason for rejecting it is that an enterprise on such a vast physical and temporal scale is beyond human capacity. Christians -- who believe in a fallen humanity -- should be the first the recognise this. David Icke is much ridiculed for his speculations about shape-shifting, blood-drinking alien lizards but he deserves credit for perceiving (or intuiting) the only way out of this dilemma: if the conspiracy exists and if it is impossible for mere humans to successfully maintain it, then it follows that the masterminds must be non-human intelligences who manipulate different human groups whose various agendas align at certain points with their overarching design. Mr Icke's tragedy is that, as a thoroughly modern man, he is unable to conceive of such an agency except in terms derived from pulp science-fiction.

My last comment concerns part of the story that Mr. Ruse covered, but Dr. Russell omitted. Two stellar, orthodox professors, Stephen Krason and Ann Hendershott, have been targeted for dismissal by this mob. Neither of professors, who are also frequent contributors to conservative Catholic publications, is, of course, connected in any way to the allegations of misconduct. The Left is just hoping to sweep them away in the frenzy. So far, Franciscan's response to this facet of the attack has been less than encouraging. The administration has declined to offer any public statement of support. I would ask everyone to let the school know that any capitulation to the demands of this crowd is completely unacceptable.

In regard to who may or may not be on the Soros payroll, it is perhaps worth mentioning that a rather notorious Patheos writer had some rather kind words for the "Hungarian" banker in one of his columns a month or so ago. This proves nothing of course. The most likely explanation is that the gentlemen in question is a complete fool.

Thank you for writing this article and providing the additional background on Soros. He is certainly not acting alone, but I have no doubt that he fully intends to be causing the damage he is doing. I would simply point out that there is a major religious figure out there, six years his junior, who is still quite energetic, if not always entirely coherent.

Who knows who is really holding the strings of power. People have suggested to me that even the Rothschilds are just the "money bags."

I am in basic agreement with you. Perhaps Soros is too well known now to be the real master of the universe (although most ordinary people have no or only the slightest idea who he is.) One day he is subsidizing rioters in Ferguson, the next day he is trying to overthrow the government of Hungary, and the day after that he is working with the Pope to implement population control. You are right - it is a busy schedule for any octogenarian. About 10 years ago, it occurred to me that to understand politics today, it is necessary to know who the billionaires are and what agendas they are pursuing. Surely, Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi don't come up with the mad programs they ram down our throats on their own. They are bought and paid for. But what if the Forbes list of the 500 richest people in the world is not entirely accurate? Is it that hard to believe that these people, who are desperate to remain anonymous, can't find ways to conceal the true extent of their wealth or to bribe or intimidate the journalists compiling the lists?

Tony

Jorge Bergoglio means that a growing number of both aging 1960s influenced liberal Catholics and JPII younger Catholics, who tend toward a romanticized fuhrerprinzip certainly in regard to JPII but also to the Petrine office, have made hard moves to join the zeitgeist - which today is decidedly farther left into moral and intellectual perversity than it was when JPII was facing the new millennium. That means that we would be seeing things like the raving of a Mark Shea or Simcha Fisher, and attacks on the presumed most conservative/orthodox Catholic colleges, even if there were no George Soroses funding leftist agitation across the globe.

But there are many such revoltingly rich people getting tax deductions to donate to all kinds of leftist causes. That does include paying people to blog and write articles to promote things acceptable to the current left and to attack things anathema to the current left. And if they are gunning for Franciscan University of Steubenville, then they intend to make all Newman Guide schools bow to them eventually.

The three goals they have to ensnare the Catholic Church, the 3 they are striving to bring to fruition: ordain women, accept gay sex at least with some kind of blessing for homosexual couples, embrace inter-denominational unity which includes allowing open communion. Pope Francis's various teachings are laying the foundations necessary for all three to be accepted by a slightly more liberal College of Cardinals. And Pope Francis's appointments are moving the Cardinals farther leftward.

This is the most perilous time for the Church since the height of the Arian crisis, and I have little doubt that this is worse.

And yes, none of this could have come about without Vatican II.

As conspiracy theories go, Mr. Matt, that's not a bad one. Amid the doom and gloom, your little aside that Vice-President-at-the-time Al Gore invented the internet was smooth. You tossed it in there so lightly - gave me a laugh.

After all, for pew sitters like me it really doesn't matter who's doing what to whom. I'm in my mid-70s and thank a loving God my time is limited. So I may not live to see the end of the show.

Rock on, Michael.

The author, Jesse Russell, will appreciate your comment. :-)

Anyone with even a small amount of contact with Christendom knows that the narrative promoted by Simcha Fisher is a false one. Simcha was just a tool, however: really a pawn in the hand of a small group of mostly apostate alumni/ae who were looking for a "Catholic" internet platform from which to launch their attack. I wonder if Simcha regrets being part of it now. Maybe not.

The goal of the apostates and their allies is to destroy Christendom by transforming it into a secular feminist haven for immorality. The fact that they may have gone and gotten funding from feminist organizations which are themselves funded by Open Society is really not surprising, and hardly amounts to a dubious conspiracy theory. They're obviously quite well-funded even though few of them have what most of us would call "jobs," which was mysterious until now.