You must conceal all crimes of your brother Masons ... and should you be summoned as a witness against a brother Mason be always sure to shield him ... It may be perjury to do this, it is true, but you’re keeping your obligations. Ed Ronayne, Handbook of Masonry p183
The first recorded making of a Mason took place at the height of the Civil War. He was the antiquarian Elias Ashmole, who later gave his name to the Ashmolian Museum in Oxford. His admission to freemasonry is recorded in his diary for 1646 ... The year 1717 marks a great watershed for freemasonry. It was then that four London Lodges met at the Goose and Gridiron in St Paul’s churchyard to form themselves into a Grand Lodge, electing Anthony Sayer as the first Grand Master. The Freemasons, 1987
It was during that period that I became interested in freemasonry ... In the eighteenth century freemasonry became expressive of a militant policy of enlightenment, as in the case of the Illuminati, who were the forerunners of the revolution; on its left it culminated in the Carbonari. Freemasons counted among their members both Louis XVI and the Dr Guillotine who invented the guillotine. In southern Germany freemasonry assumed an openly revolutionary character, whereas at the court of Catherine the Great it was a masquerade reflecting the aristocratic and bureaucratic hierarchy. A Freemason, Novikov, was exiled to Siberia by a Freemason empress.
I discontinued my work on freemasonry to take up the study of Marxian economics ... The work on freemasonry acted as a sort of test for these hypotheses ... I think this influenced the whole course of my intellectual development. Leon Trotsky, My Life: The Rise and Fall of a Dictator @p124
The Freemasons’ secret history begins inside a sacred temple one thousand years before Christ with the shadowy figure at the heart of freemasonry, Hiram Abiff, also known as the Widow’s Son ... As he died he cried out, ‘Who will help the widow’s son?’ Decoding the Past s3e7: Mysteries of the Freemasons – The Beginning, History 2007
There is little evidence outside the Bible that either Hiram Abiff or Solomon’s Temple ever existed. ibid.
The story begins in England where the first Grand Lodge of Freemasons was founded. The guilds and lodges of medieval stone-masons were transformed in the seventeenth century by well-educated gentlemen into an entirely new organisation. These new Freemasons created a secret club to advance their own blend of enlightenment ideas: Science, Reason, Equality and Freedom of Thought. Mysteries of the Freemasons – America
America was independent. When Washington swore his oath of office in 1789 on a Bible borrowed from a Masonic Lodge, and held by a fellow Mason, the fraternity had a unique opportunity to shape their nation. And they took it. ibid.
In 1826 William Morgan broke that oath ... Morgan announced plans to publish a book exposing every detail of even the most sacred Freemason rituals. Not long after, the heavy-drinking Morgan was jailed and charged with defaulting on a $2.60 loan. As the carriage pulled away, a witness heard Morgan cry out, ‘Murder! Murder!’ Four local Masons were arrested and charged with his kidnapping. When the defendants got away with light sentences a public outcry ensued ... The burgeoning anti-Mason movement had coalesced into a powerful political force. ibid.
The Freemasons worship their own deity. Only upon attaining a high degree is the Freemason informed that the Great Architect of Universe is called Jahbulon. In the degree called the Holy Royal Arch, the 13th, the appearance of the Masonic god Jahbulon is revealed. He has a spider’s body and three heads, that of a bat, a toad and a human head. In this way, the Father god, the god of the Heavens and the god of Death were united ... Freemasonry is based on demonism. Juri Lina, Lightbringers: Emissaries of Jahbulon
Freemasons have contended for the empire of the world as few sovereigns have done, and for what end? To be the pointed issue of all follies and all monstrosities. The Kabbalah. Magic. Hermetic philosophy. Communications with spirits. Magnetism. Theosophy. Deism ... Destruction of empires, the universe and public. If we excuse these follies what remains? A few honest citizens. Inquire Within, The Trail of the Serpent
To me it is another system of control. Another method of power under the cloak being yet again ‘for the people and by the people’ ... Great works of charity are done by all religions, including freemasonry, but great destructive works are also thrust upon us. Often these groups and faiths bring revolution and war, and then claim the high ground when they clean up the mess afterwards, as if they were the guardian angels. In the meantime, innocent people and animals have suffered. Philip Gardiner, Angels, Demons and Freemasons
In Spain a long effort by the Freemasons also brought revolution. Deschamps wrote in 1881 that the revolutions which since 1812 have succeeded each other in Spain have been caused for the most part by the rivalries of the different Masonic factions which always unite in order to fight Christian social order. It began in 1728 when a delegation from the English Grandmaster opened a lodge in Spain. By the time Charles III came to power, his own courtiers were full of Masons, and pretty soon the influence over government itself was like a stranglehold. ibid.
If occasionally, say once every twenty-five years or so, people can see that our normal business is as we describe it, they may be persuaded to shed whatever unreasonable worries they still have about what in truth is really an inclination to privacy. Prince Michael of Kent
Masonry is a pagan religion that has more in common with witchcraft than Christianity. Its God is not the God of the Bible; its God is Jah-bul-on. Freemasonry Exposed – The Occult Origins of a Secret Society
I think you can safely say that modern society would have been very different in its culture, its aesthetics and its outlook if we had not had freemasonry developing in the way it did in the seventeenth century. Professor Andrew Prescott, University of Sheffield
It is generally believed that the city of York in the north of England is the origin of what became known as modern freemasonry. The first guilds of stonemasons were organised here, possibly as early as 600 A.D. York Right Freemasonry
The Templars had two doctrines: one for the goyen, the uninitiated, and one for the insiders ... They had their secret inner information inculcated in the Rosicrucians and the Jesuits. The Jesuits again formed and created freemasonry. And freemasonry was created as the Protestant arm of the Roman Catholic Church. Professor Walter J Veith, The Secret of Secret Societies
Now surely the members of freemasonry themselves must be deceived because if they saw it they wouldn’t do it, right? So actually the Order is being used and they themselves are deceived. ibid.
John Robison’s Proofs of a Conspiracy and The Abbe Barruel Memoirs of Jacobinism were published simultaneously in 1798. Neither one of them knew of the other’s work at the time. They spread the myth of this anti-Christian, anti-Monarchical society like wildfire. James Wasserman, author The Slaves Shall Serve
Up to the 1930s they were open about their practices. In Europe at least the reason they went underground was because of Adolf Hitler. It’s estimated that at least 80,000 Freemasons died in Nazi concentration camps. Freemasons on Trial
It is damaging to freemasonry because the presumption is guilt. Professor Ian Markham, Philosophy and Ethics Hartford Seminary US
Freemasonry is the latest incarnation for what is known as the underground stream. This is a hidden stream of knowledge that has been passed down since the dawn of human history. Jim Marrs
The Masons played a very prominent role in the founding of America. Jim Marrs, interview Illuminating Angels & Demons
Masonry is based on Judaism. Eliminate the teachings of Judaism from the Masonic Ritual and what is left? Jewish Tribune of New York 28th October 1927
In 1987 Detective Alan Holmes, a Freemason who had joined the Craft while serving at Croydon Police Station, faced the ultimate test of his Masonic loyalty. Holmes was not corrupt but was under great pressure to betray a Masonic colleague. Scotland Yard’s anti-corruption squad CIB2 believed he knew of crooked links between a Masonic Detective Commander and Mason Kenneth Noye, convicted of receiving part of the £26 million’s worth of gold stolen in Britain’s biggest ever robbery – the 1983 Brink’s-Mat job. Unknown to Holmes, CIB2 arranged for him to be secretly recorded as he gossiped to a fellow detective in his Lodge. When Holmes was told he had unknowingly shopped his brother Masons, he became deeply distressed. One morning in his back garden he shot and killed himself. Darkside of Freemasonry III
These rituals used by Freemasons are undoubtedly of ancient Jewish origin, very old Jewish origin. Back to the time of Solomon, 3000 years probably. It is about death and resurrection which is at the heart of freemasonry. Christopher Knight, co-author The Hiram Key
The New Religion will manifest, for instance, through organizations like Masonry. In Freemasonry is embedded the core or the secret heart of the occult mysteries, wrapped up in number, metaphor and symbol. Benjamin Creme, The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom p87
The truth is the Jesuits of Rome have perfected freemasonry to be their most magnificent and effective tool accomplishing their purposes among Protestants. John Daniel Middleton, The Grand Design Exposed