I had an interesting discussion about the Illuminati and the Free Masons and Jehovah's Witnesses and politics the other day, so I decided to give you some straight history instead of Bible analysis today because it got my brain buzzing.Here are my findings after my searching.
Who are the Illuminati aka the Enlightened ones?
Spanish historian Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo first finds the name about 1492 (in the form aluminados, 1498) but traces them back to a gnostic origin and thinks their views were promoted in Spain through influences from Italy. (Information from https://www.britannica.com/topic/illuminati-group-designation)
"The order of the day," they wrote in their general statutes, "is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them."( Quote from Richard van Dülmen, The Society of Enlightenment (Polity Press 1992) p. 110)
The Illuminati—along with Freemasonry and other secret societies—were outlawed through edict by the Bavarian ruler Charles Theodore with the encouragement of the Catholic Church. In 1785, the order was infiltrated, broken up and suppressed by the government agents of Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, in his preemptive campaign to neutralize the threat of secret societies ever becoming hotbeds of conspiracies to overthrow the Bavarian monarchy and its state religion, Roman Catholicism. (Taken from McKeown, Trevor W. (2004). "A Bavarian Illuminati primer")
There is no evidence that the Bavarian Illuminati survived its suppression in 1785. (Information from René le Forestier, Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande, Paris, 1914, pp. 453, 468–469, 507–508, 614–615) After these bans the church made extensive efforts to demonize them and their activities. Therefore they needed to go undercover with their discussions. Groups often related to the Illuminati are the Freemasons and the Skull and Bones. (Description a bit later on)
The New World Order aka why do people think that the Illuminati is secretly running the world:
In the late 18th century, reactionary conspiracy theorists, such as Scottish physicist John Robison and French Jesuit priest Augustin Barruel, began speculating that the Illuminati had survived their suppression and become the masterminds behind the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. The Illuminati were accused of being subversives who were attempting to secretly orchestrate a revolutionary wave in Europe and the rest of the world in order to spread the most radical ideas and movements of the Enlightenment—anti-clericalism, anti-monarchism, and anti-patriarchalism—and to create a world noocracy and cult of reason. During the 19th century, fear of an Illuminati conspiracy was a real concern of the European ruling classes, and their oppressive reactions to this unfounded fear provoked in 1848 the very revolutions they sought to prevent. (Taken from McKeown, Trevor W. (2004). "A Bavarian Illuminati primer")
During the interwar period of the 20th century, fascist propagandists, such as British revisionist historian Nesta Helen Webster and American socialite Edith Starr Miller, not only popularized the myth of an Illuminati conspiracy but claimed that it was a subversive secret society which served the Jewish elites that supposedly propped up both finance capitalism and Soviet communism in order to divide and rule the world. American evangelist Gerald Burton Winrod and other conspiracy theorists within the fundamentalist Christian movement in the United States—which emerged in the 1910s as a backlash against the principles of Enlightenment secular humanism, modernism, and liberalism—became the main channel of dissemination of Illuminati conspiracy theories in the U.S.. Right-wing populists, such as members of the John Birch Society, subsequently began speculating that some collegiate fraternities (Skull and Bones), gentlemen's clubs (Bohemian Club), and think tanks (Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission) of the American upper class are front organizations of the Illuminati, which they accuse of plotting to create a New World Order through a one-world government. (Taken from Barkun, Michael (2003). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. University of California Press)
Other than these events and religious leaders infiltrating and demonizing their work, the Illuminati also have been depicted as the secret organization running the world and controlling all events by popular media such as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (which is a book I love and read multiple times, pick it up if you haven't) and facts such as the American Dollar having the all seeing eye, an Illuminati symbol on it as well as a pyramid another Illuminati symbol. Also the element of secrecy is not helping their case either to appear benevolent. People tend to feel helpless and given that the world has many horrible events happening that make this feeling of insecurity and at cases paranoia even more prevalent, as mentioned and analyzed in this Guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/14/illuminati-running-world-not-mad-idea-questioning-hidden-power-elites-sane
Furthermore many artists such as Katy Perry, Beyoncé and many more used this kind of imagery and hand gestures associated with the organization making people think they are all controlled by these secret leaders who try to take control over people's minds through entertainment. This again stems from people's need to understand and connect everything and a common worry about our freedom and free will, especially mentally because we all value our thinking.
Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry consists of fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons that from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. Since the middle of the 19th century, Masonic historians have sought the origins of the movement in a series of similar documents known as the Old Charges, dating from the Regius Poem in about 1425 to the beginning of the 18th century. Alluding to the membership of a lodge of operative masons, they relate it to a mythologised history of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of fidelity are to be taken on joining.The 15th century also sees the first evidence of ceremonial regalia ( From John Yarker (1909). The Arcane Schools. Manchester. pp. 341–342.)
Freemasonry has attracted criticism from theocratic states and organised religions for supposed competition with religion, or supposed heterodoxy within the fraternity itself and has long been the target of conspiracy theories, which assert Freemasonry to be an occult and evil power. (Taken from Morris, S. Brent; The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry, Alpha books, 2006, p,204.)
As to why people believe that the Freemasons is the list of impressive and well-know members such as Benjamin Franklin or Mark Twain and Wintson Churchill. (See a nice list at https://www.businessinsider.com/powerful-masons-2011-9) It is easy to think they have control of nefarious things happening behind the scenes such as the oft quoted they must have sold their souls to the devil for their power and success. Not hard to be suspicious when a majority of their members are from such backgrounds such as Churchill leading the United Kingdom through World War II successfully and being admired throughout his career.
**Interesting fact: During the middle ages and enlightenment era all professions such as butchery, shoe making, sewing and weaponry and masonry had their production strictly regulated through guilds, and whoever did not follow the quality and quantity regulations and did not meet the demands to join a guild would be cast out as unreliable workers. **
Skull and Bones, The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bones has become a cultural institution known for its powerful alumni and various conspiracy theories. (From Stevens, Albert C. (1907). Cyclopedia of Fraternities: A Compilation of Existing Authentic Information and the Results of Original Investigation as to the Origin, Derivation, Founders, Development, Aims, Emblems, Character, and Personnel of More Than Six Hundred Secret Societies in the United States. E. B. Treat and Company)
The group Skull and Bones is featured in conspiracy theories, which claim that the society plays a role in a global conspiracy for world control. Theorists such as Alexandra Robbins suggest that Skull and Bones is a branch of the Illuminati, having been founded by German university alumni following the order's suppression in their native land by Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria with the support of Frederick the Great of Prussia, or that Skull and Bones itself controls the Central Intelligence Agency due to them having many powerful, and often politically influential members. (See https://www.britannica.com/topic/Skull-and-Bones-Yale)
So now that I gave a brief overlook on the Illuminati and other organizations connected to them, why would Jehovah's witnesses have anything to do at all with them? William Miller, with whom Russel studied with was a credited freemason. (http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/miller_w/miller_w.html)
I found claims that Charles Taze Russel was a freemason and thought I would research it because he did study closely with Miller until 1872 and his father was a free mason as well (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Taze-Russell and http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/russell_c/russell_c.html)
Charles Taze Russel believed in Pyramidology and after studying the early Watchtower material and his speeches experts have claimed that various symbols Russell employed in his published literature are Masonic in nature, and that such associations implied he engaged in occult activity. In later editions of the Studies in the Scriptures series a winged solar disk was stamped on the front cover, a symbol that is also associated with Freemasonry. However, Russell's use of the winged solar-disk originated from his understanding of Malachi 4:2, which denotes a sun with wings, as a symbol that Christ's millennial Kingdom had begun to emerge. Some critics also claim that the pyramid near Russell's gravesite is Masonic,because of its shape and its use of the Cross and Crown symbol, although this remains disputed. The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon has said that Russell was not a Freemason, and notes that these symbols under discussion used are not exclusive to Masonry but pre-date the fraternity.
In June 1913, during a transcontinental speaking tour, Russell lectured in a Masonic hall in San Francisco, saying:
"Although I have never been a Mason ... Something I do seems to be the same as Masons do, I don't know what it is; but they often give me all kinds of grips and I give them back, then I tell them I don't know anything about it except just a few grips that have come to me naturally."
Throughout his ministry he said that he believed Christian identity is incompatible with Freemasonry. He described Freemasonry, Knights of Pythias, Theosophy, and other such groups as "grievous evils" and "unclean".
Following views first taught by Christian writers such as John Taylor, Charles Piazzi Smyth and Joseph Seiss, Russell believed that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built by the Hebrews (associated to the Hyksos) under God's direction, but to be understood only in our day. He adopted and used Seiss's phrase, referring to it as "the Bible in stone". He believed that certain biblical texts, including Isaiah 19:19–20 and others, prophesied a future understanding of the Great Pyramid. He believed that the various ascending and descending passages represented the fall of man, the provision of the Mosaic Law, the death of Christ, the exultation of the saints in heaven, etc. Calculations were made using the pattern of an inch per year. Dates such as 1874, 1914, and 1918 were purported to have been found through the study of this monument. The Freemasons themselves say he was never a member but he seemed to have a sort of fascination with their history. (Information taken from and further images of early Watchtower material with masonic imagery https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/davinci-freemason.php and Occult Theocrasy, Volume 1, Lady Queenborough Edith Starr Miller (published posthumously for private circulation only, 1933) p.539)
Below we have the grave of Russel with a pyramid:
I found less connection between Jehovah's Witnesses and the Illuminati then I anticipated because of Russel's grave, and the early publishings. I am however interested in the history of this movement and their viewpoint on politics and human secular policy making and human rigths seme to be the closest to my own way of thinking.Needless to say with powerful people aligned with these organizations and with them seemingly being secretive and on the "winning side" of history, it is easy to get carried away, however I don't think they were more than politically inclined and artistically liberated people who came together at a time where religion did not leave them a chance to express their views. As well as the Second World War demonizing anything related to socialist theory that seems to be in line with these organizations (Other than the Skull and Bones which does not seem to have such ideas noted on any source I analyzed.)
So to finish this off I will leave you with two quotes I liked.
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. - Mark Twain
No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday. - Alexander Pope
I hope you found this bit about these interesting organizations interesting, I surely enjoyed writing it and had fun finding more out about history. I will be back with another one shortly, until then don't forget curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
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