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TERRORISM AND THE ILLUMINATI -- A THREE THOUSAND YEAR HISTORY |
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Chapter Four: Gnosticism Through the promotion and dissemination of the Mysteries of Mithras, the House of Herod seems to have been involved in a plot to subvert the emerging Christian movement, by altering its doctrines to conform with their own Mithraic teachings, or the death and resurrection of the dying-god. According to the Gospel of Mark, “Be careful,” Jesus warned his disciples, “watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” [1] It was also this Herod who, according to the Gospel of Matthew, after having been warned by the Magi of the coming of a “King of the Jews”, ordered the murder of all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two. The power of the Pharisees was exercised through the Sanhedrin, who also seemed to have played an important role in this plot. God commanded Moses to “lay hands”, a rite of ordination known Semicha, on Joshua. It is from this point, according to Rabbinic tradition, that the Sanhedrin began, with seventy elders, headed by Moses, for a total of seventy- one. The Great Sanhedrin was an assembly of the greatest Jewish judges who constituted the supreme court and legislative body of ancient Israel. However, the Sanhedrin lost much of its significance when a powerful king was at the helm. In 47 BC, however, Hyrcanus II was appointed Ethnarch of the Jews, a man devoted to the cause of the Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin was reorganized according to their wishes. One of the first acts of the now all-powerful assembly was to pass judgment upon Herod the Great, accused of cruelty in his government. Therefore, when Herod eventually established his power in Jerusalem in 37 BC, forty-five of his former judges were put to death. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, though Herod allowed Sanhedrin to continue, “this new Sanhedrin, filled with his creatures, was henceforth utilized as a mere tool at his beck”. [2] According to the New Testament, it was the Sanhedrin which conspired to have Jesus killed, by paying one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, thirty pieces of silver in exchange for his delivery into their hands. Interestingly, a second and distinct meaning of Semicha, practiced by the Sanhedrin, is the laying of hands upon an offering of a sacrifice in the times of the Temple in Jerusalem. This involved pressing firmly on the head of the sacrificial animal, thereby symbolically “transmitting” sins onto the animal. [3] It would seem that the Sanhedrin had conspired to kill Jesus as a form of ritual sacrifice, and as atonement for their sins. This was in keeping with Kabbalistic and Mithraic doctrines, perpetuated by the House of Herod, whereby, human sacrifice was an act pleasing to their god, and was believed to liberate the devotee from sin, that is, from obedience to God. It was Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, when [he] heard of Jesus’ death, who requested from Pilate permission to remove the body. Joseph of Arimathea then retrieved the body, and placed it in his own tomb, an act witnessed by Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary”. Then, according to Matthew 27:57-66: The next day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again.” So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. By this time, Joseph of Arimathea would have already removed the body, and conspired with the two Marys to spread the message that Jesus had resurrected from the dead. Those disciples mentioned in the Gospels as spreading this message were again the two Marys but also Salome. Mary Magdalene is usually identified as the woman out of which Jesus exorcised seven demons, or with Mary of Bethany, and the woman sinner, who anointed Jesus’ feet. She is also identified with the adulterous woman he saved from stoning by the Pharisees. But if Mary Magdalene came to be identified with harlotry, it is because of an esoteric interpretation which regards her as a “sacred prostitute”, who officiates at the mysteries, or as goddess and consort to the “son of god”, as she is featured in the Gnostic texts. There is some contention as to the exact identity of Salome, who appears briefly in the canonical gospels, and who appears in more detail in apocryphal writings. However, one Salome was the step-daughter of Herod Antipas, and danced before Herod and her mother Herodias at the occasion of Herod’s birthday, and by doing so caused the death of John the Baptist. According to Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities: Herodias, [...], was married to Herod, the son of Herod the Great, who was born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest, who had a daughter, Salome; after whose birth Herodias took upon her to confound the laws of our country, and divorced herself from her husband while he was alive, and was married to Herod, her husband’s brother by the father’s side, he was tetrarch of Galilee; but her daughter Salome was married to Philip, the son of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; and as he died childless, Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus. [4] The purpose of this mission would be that, contrary to Jesus would be interpreted as the “Son of God”, and believed to have died and risen again. This would have been in accordance with the same mystery doctrines that had so plagued the orthodox tradition that Jesus was trying to uphold. To those initiates who could be duped into higher levels, however, they would be instructed of the real meaning of the interpretation, where Jesus was equated as the enemy of their “god”, Lucifer, and believed to have been killed as a form of ritual sacrifice. This esoteric interpretation came to be known as Gnosticism, and became the basis through which the Western occult tradition subverted Christianity, and secretly inculcated the worship of Lucifer. The agent responsible for the formulation and spread of this Gnostic interpretation of Christianity, was Paul, the Thirteenth Apostle. Paul has otherwise been thought of as having been an ardent enemy of the Gnostic tradition. Gnosticism is currently being popularized, by works like Brown’s Da Vinci Code, and scholars like Elaine Pagels, as merely an alternative, and possibly purer, form of Christianity. This notion has, however, been disproven by the most recent scholarship on the subject. As Moshe Idel indicates, “far more than did scholars in the first half of the twentieth century, contemporary scholars of Gnosticism refer to Jewish influence on the emerging Gnostic literature; the studies of Gilles Quispel, George MacRae, B. Pearson, Gedalliahu Stroumsa, and Jarl Fossum have altered the earlier Iranian-Egyptian-Greek explanations of Gnosticism.” [5] Specifically, the Jewish influence Idel is referring to is that of Merkabah. Essentially, the diffusion of Merkabah ideas into Greek and Roman culture, resulted in the emergence of several mystical schools, namely Neoplatonism, Hermeticism and Gnosticism. Scholars have recognized the similarities in these systems, but have mistakenly attributed them to what they term as “syncretism”, meaning that they “influenced” each other. A more correct way to perceive them is that they were merely branches of a single system. The core teachings were found in Merkabah, but were known outwardly to the Roman world as Mithraism. The alchemical symbolism of Mithraism was found in Hermeticism, said to derive from a supposed ancient Egyptian sage known as Hermes Trismegistus. The interpretation of these mysteries was offered in a school of philosophy known as Neoplatonism, believed to derive originally from Plato. When these ideas were melded to the emerging Christian movement, they produced the heresy of Gnosticism. Despite numerous attempts to apologize for Gnosticism as being merely goddess worship, the Gnostics equated the goddess with Venus. In other words, Lucifer. Gnosticsm was actually an adaptation of the Merkabah’s perception of Lucifer, presented in the mystery terms as the worship of the dying-god. Gnostic doctrine articulated the central rationalization for the the indulgence in evil which has become the basis of Illuminati strategy. In order to worship evil, it is first necessary to elevate it to the level of a god, a notion which the Gnostics borrowed from the primitive dualism of the pagans. According to doctrines of Gnosticism, from which the entire Western occult tradition derives its source, the Bible is to be interpreted in reverse. Though he was a lesser god, in the pantheon of pagan gods, God sought to proclaim himself the sole god. Therefore, God, who created the world, is evil. After having created humanity, he was oppressive in his insistence of rules of morality. Supposedly then, it is the devil, or Lucifer, identified with the dying god, who “liberated” man by instructing him in the truth: the Kabbalah. The followers of Jesus had persisted in Jerusalem following the crucifixion, where they were known as the Early Church, or Nazarenes, and were headed by James, the “brother of the Lord”. In compliance with the mission of Jesus, as set out in Matthew, they were strict adherents of the Law. On the contrary, Paul imposed a mystical interpretation of the religion, whereby Jesus was equated with the dying-god of the mysteries, who was believed to have died for the sins of mankind, and therefore, it was permitted not to follow the ancient Law. Thus, Paul’s Gentile converts were permitted to reject circumcision. It was this matter that brought him into direct conflict with the Early Church of Jerusalem, who attempted to suppress his deviations. Paul seems to have been part of a conspiracy on the part of the House of Herod, to subvert the emerging Christian movement, by conforming it to their occult doctrines. Paul was from Tarsus, the capitol city of Cilicia, the very hub of the intrigues that produced the Mithraic religion. In addition, according to Robert Eisenmen, in Paul as a Herodian, there is evidence, in the New Testament, early Church literature, Rabbinic literature, and Josephus, to suggest some connection between Paul and so-called “Herodians.” Eisenmen concludes: Though these matters are hardly capable of proof, and we have, in fact, proved nothing, still no other explanations better explain the combination of points we raise. One thing cannot be denied, Paul’s Herodian connections make the manner of his sudden appearances and disappearances, his various miraculous escapes, his early power in Jerusalem, his Roman citizenship, his easy relations with kings and governors, and the venue and terms of his primary missionary activities comprehensible in a manner no other reconstruction even approaches. [6] According to Eisenmen, Paul’s rejection of the Law is representative of the liberal attitudes of the Herodians to religious law, and their pro-Roman policies. Paul speaks in an unguarded moment in Rom 16:11 of his “kinsman Herodion.” The reference immediately preceding the one to “Herodion” in Rom 16:10, i.e., is to a certain “household of Aristobulus,” being that there were two or three Aristobuluses in the Herodian family, from different lines living at the same time. In particular, Paul’s repudiation of the Law rejected the necessity of circumcision for converts. This was an issue particularly sensitive for the Herodians, who were in the practice of forging various dynastic alliances with non-Jews in Cilicia and Lower Armenia, including Commagene. In addition to Drusilla, there was also the case of Monobazus’ mother Helen, Queen of Adiabene, later part of Armenia, and Polemos of Cilicia, whom Bernice, the daughter of Herod Agrippa, divorced after he was circumcised. Thus, explains Eisenmen, Paul arrives with funds gathered in overseas fund-raising from many of the areas into which Herodians have expanded and, in part because of this, those areas where circumcision had become such an issue because of the marital practices of Herodian princesses. He notes, The “Christian” community in Antioch, where Christians were first called Christians (Acts 11:26) — a suitable locale for the crystallization of this terminology — comprises, even according to Acts’ dubious historical reckoning, various persons of this “Herodian” mix. Among these one should include the curious “Niger” “Lucius of Cyrene,” who was very likely none other than Paul’s other famous traveling companion Luke, and “Manaen who was a foster-brother of Herod the Tetrarch” (Acts 13:1). [7] Suspiciously, following an unsuccessful conspiracy among forty Jews to assassinate Saint Paul, the Romans decided to send him to Felix in Caesarea. After the death of Herod, Judea was once more added to the great Roman province of Syria to be presided over by governors. Felix was originally a slave, but manumitted and promoted by Caesar, and appointed governor of Judea in 52 AD, and stayed in office until 58 AD. Felix was reputed to be a very cruel and lustful man. He had first been married to Drusilla, the daughter of Ptolemy King of Mauritania, the grandson of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, but later divorced her to marry another Drusilla, the daughter of Herod Agrippa, after she had already been married to Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus IV of Commagene, and then to Azizus, Kind of Emesa. [8] Before Felix, Paul was merely asked from which province he had come. Five days later, members of the Sanhedrin appeared, and made charges, which Paul denied. [9] Felix delayed the proceeding further until Claudias Lysias, the captain of the Roman troops in Jerusalem, could come to give evidence. After a few days, Felix’ wife, Drusilla, the Jewess, wanted to see and hear Paul. Paul appeared and gave the gospel to Felix and Drusilla. Felix trembled but was unrepentant. He wanted a bribe from Paul so did not acquit him. Felix kept Paul a prisoner in Caesarea, under loose house arrest, for two years until the arrival of Festus, the new governor. Eisenmen makes note that it is very unlikely that Paul could have made the miraculous escapes without the support of the Herodians and their Roman sponsors. As in, for example, the attack on Paul in the Temple, and his rescue by Roman soldiers witnessing these events from the Fortress of Antonia. [10] This episode, too, makes mention of a nephew and possibly a sister of Paul, resident in Jerusalem, but also presumably carrying Roman citizenship, who warn him of a plot by “zealots for the Law” to kill him. Without this kind of intervention, Paul could never have enjoyed the protection he does in Caesarea, and retired to Rome in such security. Eisenmen also points out that there is reference in Josephus about a member of the Herodian family named “Saulus”, which was not a common name in the period. This Saulus plays a key role in events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This Saulus is not only the intermediary between “the men of Power [the Herodians], the principal of the Pharisees, the chief priests, and all those desirous for peace”, in other words, peace with the Romans. Josephus also describes him as “a kinsman of Agrippa.” The mention of Saulus’ relation to “the chief priests” parallels material in Acts, relating to Saul’s commission from the chief priest to arrest “Christians”. Most importantly, it was the Valentinians, chief among the early Gnostic groups, [who] claimed to have received their doctrines from Theudas, a disciple of Paul. Elaine Pagels points out: Instead of repudiating Paul as their obstinate opponent, the Naassenes and Valentinians revere him as the one of the apostles who, above all others, was himself a Gnostic initiate. The Valentinians, in particular, allege that their secret tradition offers direct access to Paul’s own teaching of wisdom and gnosis. According to Clement “they say that Valentinus was a hearer of Theudas, and Theudas, in turn, a disciple of Paul.” [11] As a result of Paul’s mission, Christianity grew among non-Jewish communities, referred to as Gentiles, which became increasingly separated from the teachings of the Nazarenes of Jerusalem. Until, the Nazarene community were eventually treated as a deviant sect. Then, in response to what were perceived as growing heretical tendencies, the emerging orthodoxy stressed their version of the apostolic tradition, by focusing on the gospels and letters of Paul, whereby Jesus was equated with the dying-god of the mysteries, whose death and resurrection were celebrated every Easter.
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