Haunted Cosmos - Freemasonry: The Lodge Behind The Throne? (S8, E1)

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

The Freemasons have this whole esoteric, hidden knowledge thing going for them, but how did Freemasonry actually begin? Is it a secret order of men who are pulling all of the strings in society or is it something much simpler? What does Freemasonry have to do with the Illuminate? And is freemasonry a cult?Find out in this highly anticipated episode of Haunted Cosmos!New Haunted Cosmos shirt available for a limited time! - Get it here!Love Haunted Cosmos? Get access to our exclusive show, The Dusty Tome, early ad-free access to main episodes and monthly Livestreams, by becoming a patron of the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/HauntedCosmosThis episode is sponsored by: Jake Muller Adventures is an immersive, mysterious, and engaging audio drama. Use code "HAUNTED" to claim 10% off all digital downloads. https://www.jakemulleradventures.com/haunted Indigo Sundries Soap Company - Go to http://indigosundriessoap.com and use code HAUNTEDCOSMOS for 10% off your whole order!Stonecrop Wealth Advisors! Go to this link to check out their special offers to Haunted Cosmos listeners today. https://stonecropadvisors.com/hauntedcosmosTalk to Josh at Volenté Creative to get help you with your branding and marketing: https://volentecreative.com/ncpChronicles of the Elohim is a line of premium action figures Visit https://kaleolegends.toys and pre-order your figures todayWhite Tree Solutions can help your company’s data problems. Call William at 952-209-9638 or visit WTSData.comBuy the Haunted Cosmos book: https://www.newchristendompress.com/cosmos PS: It's also available as an audiobook!If you're a Christian business owner who wants to reach thousands of like-minded people and grow your company, we'd love to partner with you. Email us at [e-mail] Support the show

This episode is brought to you by Jake Mueller Adventures, a thrilling Christian audio drama. It's one of the most frequently requested topics we've ever gotten for the show, and we all know about them. And we've all seen national treasure and history channel documentaries exploring their wicked ways and secretive ways. But really, what are the Freemasons? In the beginning, the supreme being fashioned the cosmos, placing at its center the realm of Earth. Into the fabric of that cosmos and the earth, this being wove the threads of the arts and sciences.

Even the maker's own tool of making, mathematics and geometry, was written into the foundations. Sometime after this genesis, sometime after Adam and Eve stood in the garden for a final time, sometime after the blood of Abel cried out to the Lord. A man named Cain fathered a son. This line continued until one named Lamech took two wives, Ada and Zilla.

Ada bore Jabal and Jubal, Zilla bore two ballcane and Nama, two pairs of siblings who were at once half-brothers and half-sister. Jabal was blessed and so was endowed with the geometer's skill. Shown the world of thought by the light of some divine beneficence, he studied angles and lines, bisection, and cubics. He yearned for some way to manifest this knowledge, to show his eyes what only his mind could see. He found an object for this desire in the crafty,

and pruning of symmetrical stones. The balance and the purity of smooth sides and sharpened corners were beautiful beyond comparison. An object, one he could hold, that was blameless to both sight and touch. He could make things. By this art, masonry, came to the earth. And Jabal's forefather, Kane,

recognizing the achievement and the potential bid him stack stone upon stone. This Jabal did until the first city was born, Enoch. But it was not only Jabal who gained insight into heavenly wisdom. His siblings were also given the keys to other sciences. Jewball learned and then taught music with the lyre in the pipe. Two ball cane and Nama were instructed in metal smithing and weaving respectively. By their industry, the world of men was made. But a shadow came

over this noon tide. For in time, the siblings prophesied that the world would be unmade. Fearing the utter loss of the secrets they were only beginning to uncover, the family took counsel together. They bent their wills to preserving their enlightenment, should ever more men come into the world, and they carved the axioms of their sciences into two stone pillars. By the art of stonecraft was the art of stonecraft kept safe. Not long after this labor, the flood came and washed life away, but Noah and his family survived and resurrected humanity from an early end. Still the impurities lingered. In the unwritten annals of the New World's first generations, men found the pillars left behind by Lamex children. Then Nimrod, using his own wisdom

and the skill of those who took to the arts, started to erect a tower in the plains of Shinar, the fate of which is known to all. Time piled upon itself. The universe turned on the arch-geometer's table. The pillars were lost again, but enough of their influence remained for man to scrape out a living. And then as if by chance, a more ancient Pythagoras and a more philosophic Hermes found the stones once more. With their insight, intellection found a new spark, and as a descendant of the builders of Babel, Abraham, living in the land of Err, inherited a portion of the stone secrets. He took the chief science into his travels. Those travels eventually found him sojourning in the land of Egypt. There he instructed a more ancient Euclid in the geometry that still bears his name. By the time

Abraham's descendants began their long stay in Egypt, Euclid was a master teacher, feeling a debt to Abraham, he taught some of the Hebrews the art of their father. These few Hebrew elites, holding this wisdom as a precious thing, passed it down until the time that Moses led the Exodus and built the tabernacle in the wild. And it was by this inherited wisdom that the place of worship came to be. Still, the tabernacle was only the beginning. The generations mounted once more. And by the time King David lay on his deathbed, centers of geometric teaching existed in Jerusalem, Egypt, Tyre, and Greece. Thus, Solomon the Wise partnered with the King of Tyre and his master builder, Hiram Abif, to construct the greatest piece of architecture the world would ever know.

Upon the mountain of Zion, they formed the temple, wrought and perfectly cut stone. They pulled the transcendence of immutable geometry down into the three dimensions. But at the end of its construction came a fulcrum of tragedy. Hiram Abif, the chief mason, was content to rest from his efforts. He built the geometer's temple by his masonry and looked forward to a life of repose, but leaving the temple mount, he was cornered by three men, three men of lesser degree, worth, and virtue than he was. They demanded he divulged the secrets of the gods contained in the angles and lines.

They wished to build other such things, and only he could teach them, but he would not. He could not. Hiram knew that in less than a moment, and he watched his life of quiet joy fade into obscurity. Rather than yield to the dumb and darkened, he suffered their wrath at his refusal. His blood soaked the steps that were among the first he cut in Zion. But by his sacrifice, the divine secrets were kept from evil hands. The peril of geometry was crystallized. From his martyrdom, a new law emerged.

Those blessed to know the craft must be willing to guard it with themselves. The temple stood as the crown jewel of heaven on the earth. In its ruination, man felt the annihilation of his hopes, but in shadow the flames still smoldered, fanned and fed by a secret order of holy guardians, the wisdom of Jabal endures, the wisdom of the gods, the perfection of geometry, the hope of all that is transcendent. This history is the defining myth of the Freemasons. And though it might seem unconvincing to you, thousands have believed it. Thousands still do.

they swear oaths to protect its sanctity. They defend it with their lives and livelihoods. And what might we expect to come of such a passionate defense of this? Their own history contains the answer. William Morgan awoke with the cockerels. The bright dawn pushed through a breaking fog that had blanketed Batavia, New York for the entire night. It was cold, and when he stepped outside,

he could see the fires of trade and commerce already burning down the hill from his home. It was the year 1824, and he was a shell of the man he'd been. Born in Virginia, in 1774, Morgan started work as a bricklayer and stonecutter when he was still a boy. In that period of early economic boom, his savings from the trade eventually allowed him to open his own storefront in Richmond. It was in that store that he met the young woman he would marry in 1890, Lucinda Pendleton. Two years after their marriage, Morgan moved the family to York, Canada, he opened a brewery. There, the couple welcomed their two children into the world. This was also the time when Morgan was initiated into the Freemasons. Soon after his introduction to the fraternity,

he earned the degree of Master Mason. With that degree came the respect of only the most respectable men. His life was bright then, but the clouds were soon to come. He went back south with his family after his brewery suddenly burned down, leaving him with mouths to feed and nothing to feed them with. He took up work wherever he could find it, and so once again returned to bricklaying and stone cutting, this time in Rochester, New York. When work there dried up, he went due west for the budding settlement of Batavia. Unfortunately, upon moving, things continued to sour for the man. Some of the local mason started questioning his character for reasons ultimately lost to history. But the doubt was certainly there, and it found rich soil in which to grow. Eventually, someone

discovered that Morgan might have been telling lies regarding his person. past. His validity as a Freemason and a master mason was called into question. Some of the brothers did some digging and found a glaring lack of records to support his claim of membership in their fraternity, the evidence mountain. And Morgan was effectively shunned by the lodge in Batavia. Now for the second time in his life, Morgan was pushed back to the starting line. Only this time it wasn't because of dark providence. It was because his friends, his brothers, had betrayed him. Thus we find him looking over that wretched place from his wretched house. his aging back bent and his family deserving better.

He resolved right then and there on that morning to do whatever he needed to be done to get back on his feet. He resolved to harden himself against whatever affection he still felt for any of those traitors. He publicly announced the release of a book that he had authored, the contents of which promised to expose Freemasonry for all of its carefully guarded secrets, ceremonies, tactics, all of its rituals, some of which he claimed to be unsavory. This, more than anything else, proved to his former friends that he had only ever been their enemy. He was not some distant progeny of Hiram Abif.

He was a sorry son of the vile men who spilled that Mason's blood on the temple steps. Morgan needed to be stopped. It began peacefully enough. The Batavia Lodge published an ad in the local paper denouncing Morgan for his work while casting doubt on his credibility as a witness. But a few days later, the stakes were raised. The office and print shop sponsoring Morgan's book mysteriously caught fire. History doesn't recall how the fire started, only that it was contained with relative ease, and this still was not enough.

Morgan was then arrested for failing to pay off alone and was held in prison until his benefactor, a man named Miller, paid the debt and got him out. But this freedom lasted hardly a day. The authorities, many of whom just happened to be Freemasons, had Morgan taken right back into custody for allegedly failing to pay his bill at a local tavern. The poor man offered his shirt as security against the debt, and the judge denied it. And this time, the masons were quicker to up the ante. During the night, a group of men arrived at the jail.

The jailer, whose name was Hale, was away at the time, and his wife was tending to matters in his stead. These men offered to pay Morgan's debt and secure his freedom, but the wife did not wish to broker something so consequential. while her husband was away, and so she initially refused. Eventually, though, once the prosecutor himself came in person to accept the payment, she acquiesced and let Morgan go into the custody of these men, his saving grace, or so she thought. The wife watched the men escort Morgan to a carriage waiting for them outside. He started to struggle as they approached, and right before being shoved inside, the wife recoiled at his shouting, murder! She ran into the jail and locked the door,

fearing for her own self as a witness. It was just before midnight on the 12th of September, 1826. Two days later, the same carriage arrived at Fort Niagara on the shores of Lake Ontario. Witnesses reported seeing Morgan exit the carriage on the evening of the 14th, but he was never seen again after that. Ultimately, Morgan's fate is unknown. Some believe the masons bribed him to flee the country and never return. But most believe he was taken by boat to the middle of the Niagara River and thrown overboard to drown in the torrent. Whatever the truth of his fate may be, what concerns us is what followed this Batavia affair.

The first successful third-party political platform in the United States formed overnight, and it was called the anti-Masonic movement. It experienced rapid success and public support solely on this platform of fighting against the Freemasons. The question is why? Other than Morgan's untimely disappearance, what fueled such obvious? opposition to the Masons in America? What fueled enough opposition to make the public want them expelled from all public life? And were they right to want this? What actually are the Freemasons? In the high Middle Ages of England, artisans and tradesmen shared education, training,

and work with one another. There was enormous overlap in the lives of two men with the same vocation. And this overlap led to fellowship in the arts and the trades. These fellowships matured into what we remember as guilds. The Masonic Guild, comprised of architects and stone masons, was just one among many. If a child was to be a mason, he would leave home around the age of 10 to attend grammar school, after which he would be instructed in the basics of choosing, shaping, and building with stone. Then came the memorization of complex geometrical problems and methods of solving them. Finally, after working as a journeyman for another three years, the hopeful mason would submit a masterpiece, showcasing his proficiency in the trade. If it was accepted, he was considered

qualified by the guild. If, after a proven career, he displayed distinguished excellence, he might reach the status of a master mason, a decades-long process, and after that, he was only then considered part of the elite group. The evolution of the trade fellowship into a more unified brotherhood is not difficult to understand. We do the same thing today. But in those days, the ranks of the Masons were closed by convention. Again, it was just one guild among many. It would not be until later that the Masonry Guild became something more unique. Unfortunately, very few know how or exactly when that turn came about, but thanks to the discovery of an early Masonic document, we know it happened sometime before the 1300s.

And that document is an epic Masonic poem, the Regius poem, which details the lofty standards of character and camaraderie expected within the Masonic houses. It also introduces the first elements of the mythologized history that we heard earlier. In this governing document, one finds something much more and much deeper than mere tradecraft. By 1450, the myth had matured much more, as detailed in the Cook manuscript, masonry and its abstract parent geometry are sacred things now. The honorifics and hierarchy of the trade still exist, even more so, but their meaning is more explicitly mystical.

And then in 1600, the big changes that would eventually lead to modern free masonry started to occur in sequence, beginning with the introduction of non-Masons into the fellowship. Beginning in Scotland and steadily spreading through Britain and into Europe throughout about a century, these men were called accepted masons. Under their influence, for they tended to be influential, the practice and conviction of speculative masonry came to be. It was the speculative craft that completed and embraced the founding myth. Instead of actually practicing the trade of masonry,

this speculative form, which was an outgrowth of an esoteric paradigm for the world, philosophized about symbolic meaning and the importance of tools and architecture. Specifically, the speculative masons were fascinated by the medieval capacity for cathedral construction, the admixture of ancient building ability and rudimentary tools and a deeper power sensed to exist behind all of it. This period is when the signs and the symbols, the words and the rituals, the colors, and the garb, took on great and secret meaning.

The square and the compass were images of morality and self-restraint, respectively. A rough-cut ashlar was man in his imperfection, and the perfect ashlar was man in his complete virtue like Hiram. The master architect, of Solomon's temple. That temple itself became a sort of blueprint for spiritual man in his highest form. Taking after Pythagoras, the geometers trade became a moral code that demanded strict adherence with the promise of spiritual enlightenment. The rise of speculative masonry culminated in the year 1717, when the four London Masonic lodges, previously independent but in fellowship with one another,

combined to form the first ever grand lodge. This is widely regarded as the birth of modern Freemasonry as we know it. And all of this coincided with the rise of enlightenment thinking that started overtaking Europe in the late 18th century. Man, hungry for meeting, starved himself between rationalism and esoteric mysticism. In Freemasonry, both came together. It turned into a syncretism that accepted all religions so long as each initiate believed in and confessed some kind of,

kind of supreme being. After further development, Freemasonry coalesced into what is known as Kraft or Blue Lodge Masonry, the foundational form of the fraternity. It consists of three degrees, intert apprentice, fellow craft, and master mason. A Blue Lodge Freemason is the most common Freemason. It is esoteric, and it shares the origin stories already relayed, though more loosely. It's primarily interested in being a fraternal order seeking the common good of society. And yet, Yet the religious aspects of it are there, however superficial they appear to be. Blue Lodge, however, is not where Freemasonry ends. There are dozens of offshoots and many more degrees branching off of this tree,

some of which are recognized by Blue Lodge Masons, and some of which are not. But many of them have proven to be highly consequential in the turning of history. It is those shadowy orders, those more esoteric things that raise questions for us today. Why did William Morgan vanish? Why did Pope Clement the 12th condemn Freemasonry as unlawful in 1738? How was Freemasonry involved in the French Revolution and the American War for Independence?

What are they up to with these esoteric teachings? Join us as we seek to find out on this episode of Haunted Cosmos. We're glad you're here. Ben, have you heard of the Jake Muller Adventures? What's that? A Christian audio drama. Zombies, vampires, global conspiracies,

and faith at the center. I was up all night on the edge of the world. my seat. Is it fully immersive, sound effects, and cast and everything? Yes, full cast, cinematic sound. It's like you can hear the danger coming. Ooh, so kind of similar to Hanna Cosmos, but no, your mom jokes and more drama? No mom jokes yet. But yeah, tons of drama. So it's kind of like your mom then? Not quite. Check it out at jakemulleradventures.com slash haunted for 10% off. Kaleo Legends debut series, Chronicles of the Elohim, explores the divine beings referenced in scripture and mythology, framing their story within a biblical worldview.

They're asking big questions. If the gods are real and created by the one true God, what were their roles before their rebellion? What were the consequences of that rebellion? And what part does humanity play in the divine counsel? Chronicles of the Elohim is a line of premium action figures that takes a supernatural worldview and turns it into legendary collectibles, kids' love, and collectors display. Visit Caleo Legends. Toys and pre-order the Chronicles of Elohim figures today. Most companies have a data crisis.

Not from a lack of data, but from how that data is managed. White Tree Solutions has recognized that data is often scattered across reports, systems, and the minds of employees. They figured out how to turn data into functional processes by connecting the systems that run your company. They then build AI models on top of those processes to assist the people at your company. protect what your company knows. Call William at 952-209-9-638 or visit WTSData.com. Welcome to season eight of Haunted Cosmos. It took way too long for the lights to hit.

Evan, you're fired. We have a new light feature. We are going to abuse it. Okay, I'm just letting you know. I have a question for you, Ben. I have an answer. What do Henry Ford, Shaquille O'Neal, Mozart and George Washington have in common.

All of them loved the new light thing that Evan does. Evan, hit the lights again. They also, dude, that's sick. All of them were in the sentence I just said. No, they were all Masons. Were they? Yeah, they were all Freemasons. You know who else was a free Masons?

Some of them are they? Because Shaquille O'Neal, I don't know if you know this, is still with us. Well, not for long. After this episode? I'm kidding. That sounds like a threat. Buzz Aldrin? Buzz?

Buzz. Yeah, Buzzie. Our guy, Buzz. He took Mason stuff to the moon, which he went to. Wasn't Buzz Aldrin also the one that did communion on the moon? Yeah, I mean, it was a mixed back.

Dude, can I just say huge L for Buzz Aldrin for a number of things? Yeah. Chief among them being that he was a elder. Can you believe? He was a PCA elder. He was.

Did communion by himself? And then also was a Mason. The reformers are like, no secret societies. and Buzz Alter was like, but what if I fake the moon landing or even better actually go to the moon? No.

But bring Mason stuff. Don't, we're not rethinking our moon landing. We're bringing it back up because you guys were so mad. And you're probably going to be mad at this too. Just wait. Just wait.

No, the Freemasons are fascinating. I'm super excited to kick off season eight. Yeah, this is the first episode of season eight. It is. This is season eight, episode one. Which is the first episode. Season eight, who can relate? You're in flow state.

I'm in flow state. I just ate some suit and boiled eggs. That's true. He did. That's true. This is good. This is really... Freemason's going to boil my legs.

This is good content. In the torture chamber. Okay. When they catch me, just kidding... Hey, Ben. Hey, what are some of the big conspiracy theories about the masons? Okay. Like, what are some of the big things people believe about them?

Yeah. There's a lot of stuff about the... Here's the thing. Because I've only known one. What's your one? He was not a member of the... church, but I knew him. Oh, you've only known one free.

Yeah, I've known one freemace. No, I know a bunch of Illuminati thing. I'm playing with a Lego like a freaking... By the way, shout out to that family that came at the conference got us these Legos. That looked like us, allegedly. Oh, wait. This one's supposed to be you.

Wait a second. Because look at the mustache. Oh, and what's he holding? He's holding... Which one looks cool? He's holding Masonic talismans. That's you. Nah, this is me look professional.

Buttoned up. Hey, Evan. A little bit of American Psycho vibe. Enhance. Okay. Give us the lights. Enhance. Okay, anyway, now that we've created more editing work

that probably won't even happen. Yeah, fill me in. What are some conspiracies about the Freemasons? Starting with Nicholas Cage. I was going to say, like, National Treasure is the biggest one. We'll start with Canon, Nicholas Cage. That's just history.

There's nothing theoretical about it. It's real. That is real. It's actual history. It's a documentary. I mean, the biggest one, living in America, the biggest one is the American founding was like a Masonic state. Yeah.

You know, the number of masons involved in the founding of the country and the nation make people think like, oh, so it must be they were trying to form a Masonic deep state from the very beginning. So now there's a Masonic deep state going on and on up until now. And if you really think about it. If you were to think about it, though, sounds plausible. Like, dude, I heard, I'm hearing a lot in this episode. They don't believe in us.

People are going to hear it out of 1770s, you know what I'm saying? And Speedy. George Washington was telling like, Speedy they don't believe in us. Let's form a Masonic nation with the Illuminati. Okay. And then, yeah, the Illuminati's a big one. We'll actually get into the Illuminati.

Yeah, a little bit more. Can't wait. And so let's with, let's hold our comments there. I'm going to hold that back. The KKK. A lot of people believe that the KKK was a Masonic institution. And they believe that because of some stuff that came out allegedly with a guy named Albert Pike, who was a Confederate general.

He was a Mason. He was actually the leading Freemason in America at the time of the Civil War of the Scottish right of Freemasonry, which is one of the more strict wars. You're getting real kind of masons. Yeah, you're getting pretty real. Yeah. And that he like, he, the thing is that he didn't form the KKK.

Oh, he didn't. Like, I want you to know this. It's not true. Now, there was- I didn't say D. Booncombe. I said, we're back after that cut. Sorry for that cut.

Yeah, keep gone. Okay, so we have like the American founding itself. We have the KKK. Yeah. The Illuminati. We'll talk more about that. Also, uh,

World War II. So I will actually talk a little bit more about this, but to plant the seed. Yeah. There was a guy named Mazini who lived in Italy. He was a Mason. Yeah.

And he had a big interest in getting rid of the disparate monarchies that were making up, you know, you had like Milan, you had stuff like that, Florence. I couldn't think of the other. Vienna, Florence, you know, other ones. Other ones. I know. Yeah, like name three. I'm pretty sure I name three.

It's like when that kid, he's talking to like the bad, the bad ladies. And he's like, you like to read what? Name five books. Name five books right now. He's like, Game of Thrones. He's like, that's not even the name of a book. They're the Song of Ice and Five. Oh, you like people?

Name every person that's ever existed. Okay, so he was like a big Italian nationalist guy. Yeah. And what he wanted to do was get rid of all the different monarchies in the Italian peninsula and instead create one Republican form of government that was built on enlightenment ideals. And then have a really like a really deep national. is bent there.

Yeah. That like some people believe eventually matured into the fascist party in Italy and then Mussolini and then like he partnered with. Really? Yeah. But that's the thing. It's tendentious. Yeah. I don't want to show my cards too quick here.

I can, I can smell. But it's all very. I can smell on you. I can smell something. Smell me. I can smell the insufferable Reddit skepticism. Yeah. Coming off of you in ways.

I know. Okay. And you're about to kill all my joy. You're about to be a killjoy. Let me. And tell me stuff like, oh, it wasn't the Freemasons and the Jews ruling the world. And well, that's going to be. Half of that's true. Okay. And the thing is like, I thought you had game. Here's the thing. I thought you had game. Some of us do have game. I and E. Michael Jones agree. Okay. Michael Jones, by the way. Yeah, me and E. Michael Jones. A lot of us work. Very, very interesting. Libido Domini? Yeah. Modern degenerates.

Oh, Monster from the Id. Great book by Emanuel. What's the one on the Jewish Revolutionary Spirit? Is it called the Jewish Revolutionary Spirit? It's two volumes. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, in the Jewish Revolutionary Spirit, he talks about the Freemasons at length at the end of Volume 1.

And his opinion is very much like my own. And we arrived at it independently. It's nuanced. Yeah. But it's basically like, it's not as fun. It's not as fun, you know? say it's not as fun. I thought you were the guy that watched Apollo 13 and then believed in the moon landing. And I am and I still do. On vibes alone. Yeah, but the vibes that I'm getting aren't strong

from the Freemasons. It's not as cool. Here's, let's just go on the soapbox right now. Yeah. Yeah. Let's, let's hear it. You know what really grinds Ben's gears? We have been doing this show since March of 2023, which is like ancient history. It's over three years. Yeah. Okay. They hadn't even invented gravity yet. It's over three years. Newton didn't even invent gravity yet. Newton hadn't invented apples yet. Yeah. For them to fall on his head. Okay.

Einstein hadn't invented the speed of light yet. No. And it was going whatever speed it wanted until then. From the, from the first day. Yeah. The first episode of Monica Cosmos dropped. Until today, there has been

mountains of comments from people saying, do an episode on the Freemasons. They're like, do the Freemasons. Do the Freemasons. This is just a, this is just a hand signal I'm making naturally right now. Yeah. Okay. It has nothing to do with the Masons. With anything. Do the Freemasons. Do the Freemasons is crazy. This is going to, and I, in the whole time, you know, the whole time I've been complaining and fussing and I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. And then finally, this is another Oak Island. We got him to do it. And we got him. And I was like, I'm not going to do it. Do you want to know why I don't want to do it? Why? Because they're a secret society. Yeah. Yeah. And this is a story driven show. Right. And it's hard to tell a story about things that. that you don't know because they're secret. Never stopped you before.

Okay. That's true. That's true. Never. And I cannot emphasize this enough. Has never stopped you before. But my own prejudice knows no bounds. Yeah.

In confirmation bias. And you were like, no, we're not. And the thing is, yeah. I had the suspicion going into it. I had the suspicion fully solidified now where I'd be very hard to convince otherwise. Where you're like, freemasons, we're upstanding people. No, no, no, no. that's not it. Love them. But for the most part, personal member.

No, and I wouldn't recommend it. I've only known one Mason. For the most part, yeah. It's Ben Garrett. For the most part, I believe, and this is my whole thesis. Okay. The masons are just guys being dudes. And what I mean by that is like, they're just like, what if we got together and hung out? The one guy that I knew that was a Mason with no lady, no girls allowed. NGL. And I found out from his ring. Yeah. He was wearing the ring with the, with the Atlas or whatever and blah, blah, blah. And I looked at it.

And I was like, dog. You free Mason. You worship. And he was like. Yeah. And I didn't know anything about the Masons at the time. Yeah. But I was like, like, what is it?

And the thing about this guy, and I hope he doesn't watch this because I'm about to insult him. I haven't talked to him, like, known anything about him probably 10 years. Dang. This is about to get sinful. Well, I mean, like, I'm not saying who it is, whatever. He wasn't that bright. Okay. And he wasn't like, he definitely wasn't pulling the strings of society.

Unless he was pulling the ultimate play, long con. Yeah. Like, where like every aspect of your public life, you're like not, you're clearly not high octane between the ears. Like a guy pretends to have Down syndrome so that he can live his whole life. Yes. Playing video games in the basement and eating grilled cheese. Exactly. And someone.

Many such cases. Yes. I mean, story of my. my life. Sorry for that sniff. It was that situation and he was like kind of, you know, theologically ignorant. I really think it's like the masons are kind of usually guys being dudes. Okay. And they're guys that don't really have friends. And so they're like, I'm going to go find friends. Also, no girls allowed. So it would be more fun. Hey, and who hasn't had the thought? Who hasn't had the thought? Who hasn't built the tree house club? You know what I'm saying?

With the sign that says no girls allowed. You put women in any club for more than, three minutes. It becomes. And they are, they're, they're making rules. Yeah. They're like, they're taking away all, they're taking away all the snacks. They're like, no, you can't eat that. That's bad for your cholesterol.

You know what, ladies? Make your own club. Yeah. Stop. You don't have to come to ours. Let us have our things, okay? Now in this case, though. We had the Boy Scouts of America and you ruined that.

Now it's the Boy Scouts of hell. We had our thing, the Boy Scouts. Yeah, occasionally some of the leaders did bad stuff and had to go to jail. But like, at least there were no girls there. So you know what I mean? The Catholics too. And I was a Boy Scout. I was an Eagle Scout.

I started with my dad a thing. I was a Scoutmaster. We had a good time. Okay. We had a good time. This is getting too personal. backpacking. We just went backpacking with the boys.

Yeah. Next thing, you know, girls everywhere. Ruin the whole thing. Okay. But this episode isn't about women. In fact, literally, the organization is about,

there are no women in it at all. The only prominent Freemason woman that's ever existed was made up. We'll get there. She was made up. Which is something guys would do. Full shadow. Trust me.

I know this girl. She's in Canada. She goes to another. My girlfriend goes to another school. She goes to another school. She's in another lodge. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Okay, anyway, conspiracy. So back on my soapbox. Yeah, yeah, you're so. I can't remember where we are. I'm basically saying that everything that I expected to be true, I have determined to be true. Even from, like, E Michael Jones is not, is not like the voice of reason. He's not a debunker.

No. He is like, this dude, he's one of us, all right? Yeah. And even he's like, yeah, but the thing is, it's just not, that's just not what happened. It's not that there is a cabal of Freemasons in the deep state over all the world. And actually the World Economic Forum is a Masonic Psiop and yada, yada, yada, and behind all of it is the Freemason. That's just not the way it is.

And the Freemasons are not all Satanists. And the Freemasons are not all like sacrificing babies and performing human sacrifice on women and stuff like that. That's just not happening. at least not like maybe it has happened, okay, but not as freemasons. Does that make sense? Dude, you're really boring me right now. And national treasure is the only exception. Okay, that's all.

National treasure is true. You're not going to take that from me. No, no. There is a treasure buried. So we've got under Mount Rushmore. Oh, absolutely. Look for the eye. And Nick, can I call you Nick?

When are we getting the next one? Oh, Cage? When's the next, when's the next Natty Tredge coming out? Another clue. Because I need one. I would give my entire net worth to you personally. I'm going to marry and then divorce the Statue of Liberty. Yes.

And that needs to be the plot. And then I'll do it. And the whole net worth is yours. Now, here's the thing. We've got basically Freemasons as ringleaders behind all of history, like since forever. But especially when we're talking about the formation of a, America and the post-enlightenment West.

Yeah. And they're pulling the strings. And here's the thing. But even like Templars before that, people are like, oh, the Templars were the Mason. We go way back to Mason. We just, you know, called by many names. And then, but in their defense, we got like Taft, Jackson, George Washington.

Again, Henry Ford, Shaquille O'Neal, high-powered type of Mozart. We've got, the list of presidents who are Mason's is insane. Yeah. And I will say this, going back to the KKK thing. So there were six guys that formed the KKK. I remembered none of their names. Okay. Doesn't matter.

Two of them were Masons. Okay, but here's the thing. I own a car. Yeah. All right? Okay. That car is black. Okay.

It is a Toyota Sequoia 2015. Not sure where this is going. Might get us kicked off the old. It's not going to do that. It's just the color of the car. Yeah. Well, you said KKKKKKKK. Masons's black. That's all I've heard so far. That doesn't sound that. Keep going. Okay, it's black.

Yeah. Are all cars black? No. Do all, now, hold on. I've let this get away from me already. I don't know why I brought up color. You are, you're losing mad aura right now. Listen, let me go back in the beginning. I own, I own a car. All right. It is a black 2015 Toyota Sequoia. Okay. Yeah. Now, now, if I'm, I join, if I do something, and I make a club, and maybe it's a bad club, maybe it's a good club. Yeah, yeah. And the other founder of the club doesn't own a car. Yeah.

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And I'm trying to pull this or, better yet, he does own a car. Okay, now he owns a car. Does that mean that it's like, oh, this is a car owner in cahoots thing? sometimes people share a birthday. Sometimes people are members of the same club. Yeah. Sometimes people own cars. Sometimes people are idiots.

But it's not all connected. But it's not all connected. Put the math around me. And I... But it's the opposite of that. And you're welcome. Because what I just said makes so much sense. It was deep.

That one's free. No, it was deep. So we're saying that a lot of people are masons. A lot of influential people are masons. A lot of people also not masons. Like a lot of the founding fathers weren't masons. But A, they did secret stuff, and so like

it's secret, you don't know it. The masons? Yeah. Yeah. Two, a lot of them were guys being dudes. And they just wanted a secret club where there were no girls a lot. Yeah. And now look, I'm not saying that's good. I'm not saying that. Yeah, yeah. But there is a world wherein the concept

of freemasonry as like a principle of a fraternal secret order is totally lawful and fine. And it means nothing bad. Okay. You know, like even if the Freemasons were like, hey, we're a secular thing. We're not a religious thing. Yeah.

But it's just a club. Guys get together. Maybe we play billiards. I don't know. Maybe we do talk politics and we influence one another and we go into our... That's fine. There's nothing wrong with it. Yeah, that's fine.

The problem with the Freemasons is that it like started as a Christian thing and it did with the medieval guilds. You heard it in the cold open. It was a Christian thing. And then they got all into like rationalism and esotericism and esotericism. and pluralism. As many did in this time. As many did in those days. And it became something that was like anti,

not anti-necessarily, but unchristian, fundamentally unchristian. And then pluralistic. And well, because it was pluralistic. And yeah, you had the guys come in and they were getting, they were getting convinced of rationalism and French Enlightenment.

And then you had those guys go out in their respective offices and they were seeking to operate under these new convictions that they had. And now, next thing you know, the Masons are like this super genius secretive network of people that have run the world

since the Knights Templar. And up till now, and I just, like, I fundamentally think that that's untrue. I think that there are, there is a deep state. The secret rests with Charlotte. Lies.

The secret lies with Charlotte. Secret lies with Charlotte. It's a clue. It's a clue. And then it's going to be another clue. And then it, No, they're... Okay, so you believe there are elite networks of power that are running.

Obviously, there are. We did a whole episode on it with the Epstein files. This is kind of my whole point. Was Epstein a Freemason? I don't think he was, but I don't know. I actually don't know. Okay. I do know something that he was.

A bad guy. Yeah, a bad guy. The friends you made along the way. Okay. And this is one of my issues with the whole thing. With like the Illuminati run the world, the, uh, the Freemasons's, run the world, et cetera, we already know that there are elites who run the world. Yeah.

And that they are massively, politically powerful and influential. And the thing is, like, a lot of them, we literally know who they are and they tell us exactly what they're going to do. Yeah. Like, this is my issue with it. You go to the Enlightenment, to the French Revolution. You go through the whole, the whole story of how the West dissolved all of its Christian mores and dissolved, basically unseeded the monarchs, and killed, regicide as deacide,

introduced all these enlightenment ideas. We're going to get into it in the next story section, some of this. All of that is in the open. Yeah. It wasn't secret stuff. It was some of the most influential thinkers and philosophers of the day writing, what if we stopped obeying God and made up our own stuff to perfect humanity? and then they were like, man, that's so smart.

We should do that. And then everyone was like, yeah, we're going to do that. And then they did that. And now this is a big point. Ideas alone don't create a revolution. Institutions create revolutions. So there is, and we'll get into this, some of the architectonics of the French Revolution

is the easiest example. We'll talk about this after the next scripted section. But like there is something to it, but it's just it's not. To the very bottom, what all the people think of when they think of Freemasonry. I think that a lot of people use the Freemasons as like this boogeyman, where it's a secret society, and they're not doing themselves any favors with that, given how high profile they are.

And they really do some really stupid stuff, like esoteric rituals and things like that. And here's the thing. Here's the thing about that. We've talked about this before on the show. If you use a Ouija board, but you're a skeptic, does the demon care? No. No. And I do think that there are some elements of that in Freemasonry because of the esoteric doctrine that they purposely adopted. Even if they don't think it means anything, it's just like symbolism to them. The demons don't care about that.

If you're using a tool that is blasphemous and hates God, then you shouldn't be surprised if you start doing blasphemous and God hating things or your institution does. But I just don't think it's this widespread intentional network effort, you know. Yeah, it's like if you think about it, we're talking about a competing system of religion and worship and all of the things that come with that, like ethics and politics and these things. So even if you're just like guys wanting to do dude stuff and guys that are like, the human spirit is interested in the transcendent and the symbolic, because God has woven signs into everything. He literally made the heavenly bodies are for signs and seasons.

Yeah. Like God is hiding things all through. throughout creation. He's like the ultimate National Treasure script writer. But like, what is it about that movie? In all seriousness. Can you look up who wrote the screenplay for National Treasure? Probably Nick Cage. So why do we like movies like that? Because it's like this story where there's all this meaning and there's hidden symbolism and there's like this great grand story that stretches across generations that has this great reward at the end of it. And it's like, why are people interested in that? Screenplay written by Jim Kouf,

Cormac Wiberley, and Marianne Wiberley, conceived of by Orrin Aviv, Charles Cigars, and Jim Coof, obviously. Obviously. As we all knew before Jamie pulled it up on the great big television screen right over there. People love that kind of thing because we were actually, we're in a world like that. Yeah. There are that God made. So what people do, and the Mormons did this, who were also very Freemasony, like deeply influenced. This period of time, the 19th century, it was awash with hucksterism and charlatanism and people getting into symbolism and esotericism. In fact, so there was a story that we told in the cold open about the guy William Morgan

who like actually, okay, so I've said all that I've said, there are conspiratorial things that have happened with the freebies. Yeah, they did off that guy. The murder of William Morgan is one of them or his disappearance, whatever you want to call. Like that was a conspiratorial effort done in the shadows. using their political influence in ways that were not above reproach in order to get rid of one of their enemies. That happened.

Granted. Yes, granted. But in that whole area, like Batavia, New York, Rochester, New York, that was where the Fox Sisters eventually came out. That was around where Joseph Smith found his golden tap. Seventh-day Adventism. The whole spiritualist movement and the revivalism movement were birthed there. Yeah.

Like, but that doesn't make it. all the worst thing that you could possibly imagine. No, people love to tinker with spiritual stuff. And so like you said, if you use a Ouija board, you don't believe in it, demon doesn't care. A lot of people in Freemasonry, and there's potentially millions of them in the world today still. A lot of them, they like the secrecy.

They like the status game. They like the esotericism because it's deeply attractive to a certain type of person. It's also for a lot of the guys in escape. Like it's an escape from normal life. It's into a place where they have maybe a little bit more honor, where maybe they have some kind of equality

with men that in the civic sphere they wouldn't have a lot of equality with. And that's true, and I get that. You know, it's kind of like a nameless, rankless thing where you throw away all the stuff that you have out in the world and now you come into this other world and it's a blank slate. It's tabularosa.

And you can build yourself new here. And so it's kind of an escape mechanism. But that, like for a lot, I would say for most people, that's all that it is. Now, that's not good. I'm not saying that's healthy. And I certainly don't think that the esoteric myth and doctrine, this corruption of the true history of the world that they used to bolster the institution with is neutral or lawful. I don't think that at all. But like the Blue Lodge Masons, that is probably 90% of Freemasons in the world today, or Blue Lodge Masons. It's the equivalent of the guys getting together at the Billiards Club.

Yeah. And that doesn't mean that their intentions justify what they've come into. I'm not saying that. But I do think that it's in a lot of ways a lot more simple than people. We infiltrate the Freemasons and we find out. I'm game. They might kill us, though. We're going to have to do a lot of lying, though.

William Morgan got killed for this. For this exact thing. Well, more or less. He was like, I'll expose all the secrets. So will we do it? Top comment. Hey. Thank you, Evan.

Hey, whatever comment gets the most likes, we'll do that. We'll do it. Unless God doesn't want us to do. Unless it involves sinning against God. Yeah. And that's like I get to be the guy who decides. Yeah. Okay. So so far, let's just, before we move to the next story, what are, what are the main problems with three masonry that are real from what we know? Okay. Main problems are with a secret fraternity, you adopt a lot of risk. One of those is it's harder to go against slander because it's a secret. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you can't really defend yourself. People like, hey, did you do this? You're like, it's a secret. Yeah. Did you do this? No. Well, of course that's what you'd say. You're in a secret society that does shady stuff.

Yeah. So they adopted a lot of risk by making it secretive. But the other thing that they did was adopt a lot of genuine guilt, even before God, for letting the institution, which began as a trade guilt. It really did. Begin as just a trade guild. And it eventually became more and more esoteric and speculative. And it started to become a kind of like mystical philosophy club where they would let in, it used to be that you had to be a Christian and they let that go. Now you could be any religion as long as you confess belief in some kind of supreme being. That can be the Jewish God. That can be the Islamic God. That can be the Christian God.

that can be just an open deism. Only one of those is the real God. Only one of those is the real God. All the other ones are stupid. Just for your situational awareness. Yeah. So like God or Satan. God are one of the many fake.

Yes. God. Or shouldn't worship. First commandment, second commandment. You see them all. Even like a really honest agnostic that could come in as like, well, I think that there could be. Maybe.

Yeah. Or open deism. He set the world turning and it's impersonal. So they let all that in. And then while they were letting that in, as was common in the day of 18th century, 19th century, they were also getting really excited about speculative philosophy and esotericism and how they might combine.

So this is like when alchemy is really popular and, you know, like Hermes Trismegistus and Rosicrucianism and Knights Templar are still like lingering in the shadows. And they were getting maybe, depending on who you read. read esoteric and weird. So it became this really exciting thing. They were ditching Christianity and they were like, whoa, there's so much to this spiritual realm that we don't know about. Let's start engaging with it. And that opened, it basically unmoored them as an institution from the truth. The second you start seeking secret knowledge, as opposed to God's revealed

knowledge that is plain and obvious, literally anybody can see it, just read Romans 1. and then also he's revealed himself in Christ and in scriptures. The second you do that, you're getting into basically the exact cliff that many, many people have jumped off of to their spiritual death. I'm going to seek secret spiritual power and knowledge and Gnosticism and all the things. I'm going to seek. I'm going to seek. I'm going to seek. And I'm never going to land on what is true. They were even worse because in a sense it was an apostasy. They were moored to the truth. They unmoored themselves from the truth.

and that meant that they had their feet planted firmly in midair. They had nothing to stand on, and so they were just drifting. And what that means is that when you get influential people into your ranks, and when I say influential, I mean maybe they have money or power, maybe they're just charismatic. And they start to convince people of these new ideas that they're having and hearing about and reading about. Then the broader institution, because those are your guys,

is going to be more susceptible to moving in that direction. And so you get into this mess of like a lot of the guys are just low-level dudes that just want friends. But then you do get into the upper orders where there's real esotericism going on. There's a real false religion being practiced. There's a real demon even being worshipped, whether they know it or not. And that means that you're going to, even if it never leaves the lodge, you're going to ruin your soul. And you're probably going to ruin the souls of other people as well. Or you're going to try to, even if you're not meaning to.

One of my theories is that organizations like the Illuminati and the Freemasons and things like that are also tools of genuine evil elites and even dark spiritual powers to divert people into time wasting at best and actual evil alternative, like fake versions of like what? It's seeking for transcendence, seeking for meaning in the world, all these things.

And it's, they're convenient diversions to keep people from actually, going and pursuing the truth. I think that's a really good way to think about it. Even for those low level, like the Blue Lodge guys, at best, it's a kind of spiritual idleness. Yeah. That will only lead to wicked and rotten fruit.

Freemasons? Sound off in the comments. Tell us three reasons why you agree with everything we've just said. And then like this video, subscribe and become a patron. We appreciate your unwavering support. Yeah. And we look forward to the day that you leave the Freemasons and tell us all the secrets and put your,

life at risk. Yeah, thank you in advance. The other thing that I wanted to say, you know, you mentioned man has an attraction to the mystery and what is unknown and the secrets and and there are a lot of secrets. And we even have a proof text for this in scripture that it's the glory of God to conceal a thing. And it is the glory of a king to search that thing out and to find it. The thing is there's a right and wrong way to do that though. There are the right tools to use, which is the means of grace and faith and believing the Lord will lead you into further and further truth and a greater appreciation for his world and all that it entails and how it works. But there's also a way to fall into, well, I can tell you the real secrets and I can show you

what God won't show you. And what nobody else knows. No one else knows it. And that's where you have to, your sensors have to go up. Your sniffer has to go up. We test all things. Yeah, you test it against the script. We're not rationalists, but we have reason.

Yeah. We're not biblicalists. We see in scripture and nature God's revealed speech. He's speaking in both, even in the Bible says this day after day, pours out speech, speaking of creation. Romans 1. You know, okay. But then we test all things against scripture. Yeah, there is a natural theology.

There is a natural theology that God's put into the world. But that natural theology, because of man's fallenness and our own corruption and our inability, often to think rightly has to be tested against the infallible rule of theology and truth, which is the scriptures. Yeah. So political, a lot of it's overblown, but it's not all overblown. No, no, it's not. There is something there.

I think the next story is going to make that point really well. Yeah. We should go into it. Take it away, me. Give us the lights as we go. Evan, give us the light. There they are. You must begin a perilous journey to.

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How did you just appear? Head to valentecreative.com slash NCP to talk with Josh about your brand and website. Oh, oh, this is an ad that we're doing right now? Wait, wait, how did he teleport into this room? Ben, I wish I could tell you, but this is an ad. You have to go to valentec creative.com slash nCP and reach out today. Do you want a six-pack? No, I don't mean abs and I don't mean beer.

Now, I'm talking about the six-pack you really want. A six-pack of masculine-smelling bars of soap from Indigo-Sundry soap company. And if you're buying masculine soap, then we all know your beard needs some grooming too. and that's why they sell a beard care bundle with beard oil, balm, and mustache wax. Get the soap and the beard bundle at Endigosundrysoap.com and subscribe for 10% off your order. Paris, France, early July in 1789. The city was wet and gray from morning rain, carriages dug channels through the mud, rivulets mixed with waste and filled the channels in.

Each passing wheel unleashed a stench that was a foreshadowing of the fill. to come. The bleak filter put over the world by the lingering clouds was ominous. Into the fray of life there came the shrill cries of a man issuing from the city's center. He was a prisoner at the Bastille. His voice was dry and frantic as it shouted for all to hear about the horrors of the prison. We were being massacred. Prisoners are being massacred. The small population of France that heard him were split in their reaction. Some wished to take up arms against such tyranny. Others questioned whether the claim was true. But the time had not come yet.

More pressure was still to build, but only for a few days. The people silently listened and watched as guards dragged the man away from the prison and into a waiting carriage. The driver unceremoniously whipped it into motion, and soon enough, the cries were nothing but whispers some thought they could still hear on the breeze. The prisoner's name was Marquis de Sade. He'd been arrested in 1778 under charges of blasphemy, debauchery, and sex crimes. But he was already beloved by some even then. His libertinism, his rejection of the established morality of the land, his rebellion against a government that always sought to suppress his devilish desires.

Some, it was heroic. He was a kind of martyr. Taken as an especially extreme case, he applied the budding enlightenment thinking with honesty. He just took it to place. others had not yet been willing to go. In that thinking, those Enlightenment ideals, would see DeSod set free, arrested again, freed again, and then arrested again under the confused and anarchic regime

that came about from the Enlightenment's firstborn child, the French Revolution. Ten days after his shouted sermon in the streets of Paris, on July 14th, 1789, armed activists stormed the Bastille and laid siege to it. The revolution was underway. In the years that followed, followed, countless thousands would die by guillot.

Thousands more would suffer the pains of hunger, and an entire nation would be brought to its knees under the guise of progress. De Sade, unable to enjoy the sadism that bears his name, rejoiced. But he was just one man. The revolution was not his doing alone. It was hardly his doing at all. So how did it happen?

How did it get to that level of violence and hatred for God and man? At a time when there was no end of making game of and abusing secret societies, I plan to make use of this human foible for a real and worthy goal for the benefit of the people. I wish to do what the heads of ecclesiastical and secular authorities ought to have done by virtue of their offices. With these words, Adam Weishaupt knocked down the first in a long line of dominoes, the end of which he could not have foreseen. Born in 1748 in Ingolstadt in Bavaria, Weishaupt was raised to embrace the thinking of the

enlightenment with vigor. He was intoxicated with the liberty of rationalism and the boundless possibility of life sundered from more antiquated ways of thinking. After years of labor, Weishaupt graduated from the University of Ingolstadt, started a family of his own, and then returned to the university as a non-clerical professor. There he witnessed the stubborn refusal of a defunct Jesuit order to give up its ways for a changing world. With white knuckles, these men guard. their authority over the students, over the money, over the ideologies presented in the school. Wyshopped was disgusted. He wished for his alma mater and then the rest of his world to take up the call of societal reform offered by the new philosophy. But the deck was stacked

against him. He needed a way to multiply his meager influence. He needed to seem more powerful than he really was. Wyshopped therefore resolved on a form of guerrilla ideological warfare. He would join the secret societies of the day, multiply the Enlightenment's influence there, and then let those ideas work themselves out naturally. Of course, the Freemasons were the obvious choice. But right away, he ran into yet more opposition. The masons were expensive to join, and what's more, were just as resistant to his rationalism as the Jesuits were. Low on options, but still driven by conviction, Wyshop formed his own secret society, the structure of which was loosely based on the blue lodge form of Freemasonry he attempted to join before. He called it the covenant of perfectability,

for he believed that his rationalism could naturally perfect the condition of all mankind. On May 1, 1776, Wyshopped, and four of his students became the first initiates of the order. As their symbol, they adopted the Owl of Minerva, the mythic image of divine wisdom, and they each adopted aliases mined from the history of Western civilization. The order steadily initiated new members, very few of whom knew of the existence of the other members, and by the spring of 1778, the covenant of perfectability was burgeoning across five different centers of command. But at the close of 1777, Wyshop felt he needed to start turning the gear on the larger endgame, widespread and secret influence. Before long, he had an idea. Years prior, he'd failed to infiltrate

and influence the Freemasons. From that time, and through these early stages of the covenant, He dissuaded all of the members from joining the Masonic Lodge. To him, it was a waste of time, a distraction. But was that true? He was no longer just one man. He had some numbers around him now. He had little versions of himself that he could deploy to spread the message. Perhaps Weishabd realized something.

If the Freemasons were attracted to secret societies once, they could be again. With an existing force built up in the perfectibilists, and with more secrecy and the promise of explicitly political influence, he bet that the masons would start asking him for permission to join. He wouldn't have to move heaven and earth to proselytize, as he did before. If the right Freemasons became aware of this doubly secret society, they would conform themselves to its standards. Weishaupt therefore became a Masonic initiate and was accepted by the fraternity soon thereafter.

Whereupon, he encouraged the other members of his own order to do the same. They did, and the lump of German Freemasonry started being. leavened, and it was none the wiser. In this time he changed the name of his fraternity, the covenant of perfectibility, or the perfectibilists, for short, was cumbersome and confusing. He therefore adopted the moniker that we all remember his order by today, the Illuminati. He joined the Masonic rite of strict observance, which opened up to seven degrees of initiation instead of the normal three. Simultaneous to his initiation to this higher order, the right of strict observance in Bavaria was bleeding from the inside.

Their esoteric lineage to the Knights Templar was questioned. The existence of their upper hierarchy was uncertain to the lower ranks. The writings of Rousseau and Voltaire were critiquing the speculative spiritualism. In short, there was doubt and the doubt was poison. Faction for the Masons was an opportunity for Wyshaft. He and his other members got to work attracting those Masons. His aim took on a sharper distinction from the other three. thinkers of the time. He wished to perfect human nature entirely and primarily through the means of

education, communing with nature, and a rejection of organized government and religion. Then a breakthrough. Wychopped welcomed a man named Adolf Nigg into the Minerval Order of the Illuminati. A member of the same right of strict observance, Nigg was discontent with the state of affairs in the Brotherhood. His attempts at reform and realignment had been met with apathy and contempt. In this state, Yashop won his heart, and Nigg immediately proved his worth. His charisma, his sincerity, and his existing Masonic connections made him the Illuminati's greatest recruiter. His credibility was great among those great men, and he was not afraid to spend that credibility for something he truly believed in. Using the existing esoteric paradigm of the Freemasons, Wyshopped and Nigg adapted their rationalism

to what the masons already wanted, the highest ideal of abstract truth. And over the course, of a long, slow march, high-ranking Freemasons came to adopt and live out enlightenment ideals. Many of these men were also initiated into the Illuminati. These efforts culminated in Wychopped eventually obtaining a Masonic lodge consisting almost entirely of Illuminati members. Outside of that lodge, other lodges across Europe contained increasing population densities of Illuminati brethren. But, and this is critically important, most of those members were not aware of the scale of their society's triumphs. From the beginning, Y-Shops' Illuminati prioritized secrecy above everything else. To that end, in addition to the aliases, individual members only knew a very certain few

other members in the Illuminati. They knew the direct superior to report to, they knew of W-Shopped, and others of the highest rank, and they probably knew of some other members in their own rank, but that was it. This resulted in Y-Shopped and the other elite to the top, knowing everything, and knowing that everything was successful. But the rank-in-file was, were kept in the dark. They didn't know how high the stakes really were. In 1784, some of the Illuminati in Bavaria publicly boasted about the order's existence. It sway over the many nobles who swore oaths to it and its revolutionary aims against the monarchs and clerics still running Europe. The men were reprimanded for their lack of discretion, but it was too late. The damage was

already done. The public and Bavarian now knew of and feared the Illuminati. The ruling class of Bavaria could no longer trust itself. Many of the officials were Illuminati members. Those who weren't wondered who was and feared being accused themselves. Any and every anti-religious or anti-establishment publication was blamed on the Illuminati, and the accusations were rarely unfounded. Bavaria was paranoid. It knew enough to know a cancer was present, but it did not know where to begin cutting it out. In response, the elector of Bavaria, Charles Theodore, issued a series of edicts banning all secret societies that did not have state support. He was particularly explicit in his condemnation of the Illuminati, which would never have state approval. What followed was a proactive war against

the order. Police raided lodges that were made aware of them by informants. Papers were seized, detailing rituals, rights, governing philosophies, and societal aims. Suspected members were taken into custody and interrogated and punished. As a result, the Masonic lodges overrun with Illuminants. were snuffed out and suppressed. But not all Masons were targeted. The edict was careful to distinguish between the Masons and the Illuminati. The former had state approval, the latter did not. This guaranteed the cleansing of the Masonic order from the alleged parasite that had grown

out of Wyshop's schemes. The Illuminaity officially disbanded. Wyshop fled into exile to escape punishment, leaving all of his writings behind. These writings seized by the Bavarian authorities were published by the government in 1787. The manifestos of the Illuminati placed before the eyes of Europe. And two years later, revolutionaries stormed the Bastille in Paris. Ultimately, it cannot be known how much the Illuminati or the Masons are directly to blame for the horrors of the French Revolution. Many leading revolutionary figures were Masons, some others were former Illuminati, but many

others had no ties to a secret society, Freemasons, Illumini, or otherwise. What can be said with confidence is that the French Revolution was not a sudden and spontaneous event. It was the rotten fruit of years of moral and intellectual decay branded as enlightenment that had reached critical mass. And Wyshop's Illuminati, with its foothold of influence in the Masonic Lodges of Europe, was a force urging that decay forward. So were the Freemasons to blame for the Enlightenment? No. Or at least not only them. But their infrastructure and their system of religious pluralism and rank esoteric open-mindedness didn't help matters. It allowed the Illuminati in. What's more, it allowed the Illuminati in some measure to take over. All right, guys, welcome back to this episode of

Hanna Cosmos. This is always worth doing. Sound off in the comments about how much that's never going to get old. Sound off in the comments on a scale of 9 to 10, how much you like the new lights. By the way, for people that aren't watching, it's the lights. We've just been doing the lights. We've just been flickering cool colored lights. All right. That's the joke. So fascinating story there about the Illuminati, which I didn't know until this, the connection between the two. The Masons and the. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is actually like E. Michael Jones's big point. And I think he's very reasonable with this. Yeah. is, what we're not saying is that the French Revolution was a Masonic conspiracy.

That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying, what I am saying is that because of the structure of free masonry at the time. So the idea is that because of the structure of freemasonry. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's hot in here, guys. Which is very secret, very open to all forms of philosophy. Yeah. And then the guys involved become convinced of that,

and then they go and they live it out in their respective offices, a lot of which are high-ranking political offices. That's a real thing. What Adam Wysop was able to do was bring his Illuminati rationalism. His like, I think that man can be perfected by rationalism alone. and so he was anti-religion. He was anti-Christ, obviously. Hated all of that, ditched it.

And he was instead taking on this like very Voltaire-esque idea of like rationalism is the thing that's going to elevate man. So he forms his own secret society. Terrible name first. Yeah, the perfectibilists. Perfectibilists. The covenant of perfectibility. The number of times I have said that wrong when doing the story and had to reshoot. Aluminati.

Three, it was three. Illuminati actually really cool name. Illuminati's a sick name. Can we all agree? Also, like, if you're going to get in, if you're going to do like a lot of symbols and stuff and whatnot, this is just through trash. It's throwing trash in heaven.

You know, like, Illuminati, it has aura. It does. It does. And the Owl of Minerva, cool. Which shows up. Also in Bohemian Grove. In Bohemian Grove. And Harry Potter,

Minerva. Minerva McGonigle. But your grandma's right. Dude, by the way, I have become more convinced over doing this show that Harry Potter is Satanic than I ever thought was possible for me. I genuinely, like, I don't want anyone to watch. JK Rowling. Like pulled from all of this stuff. Yeah.

The history, the names, from genuine witchcraft and stuff for like the names and whatnot. By the way, J.K. Rowling, her name is funny. Like, she could tell a joke. Yeah. And then someone could believe it. And then she'd be like, J.K. Rolling, like rolling, like rolling on the floor laughing. Yes. R.O.F.L.

Did it be, if we, if she was here, the number of times we'd make that joke. So, J.K. rolling. Hey, join us. I know Ben just said that you're like a Satanist or whatever, but join us. I think she'd be interesting to have one. We can talk about, like, transgenderism. We definitely agree on that. We're locked in on that.

You know what I mean? Okay, so anyway. Go ahead. He formed the Illuminati, really cool name. He had a few guys. And then once he had some guys, he was like, well, wait a minute, the structure, the influence, the secrecy,

it already exists in Freemasons. I'm going to try to join them again and see if they're more open to my ideas. Get them to join me. Yes. So he does, and they were, and they did. His insight was basically dudes that want to join secret societies might want to join even cooler secret societies.

And even secretor society. And then they did. What if we made even... Until they were like taken over, until significant portions of like whole regions of the masons were Illuminati. All of Germanic masonry was very entrenched in Illuminati. He had motion. One thing you got to say about Wyshaft or whatever's name is.

Wysop, I guess. He had motion. Dude, he said, what if we made an even newer outgoing message with even more pep and even more zing? Yes. And he was like, now we're cooking. Now we're cooking.

Deep cut. So that's what he did. And a lot of the masons were open to it. And they were like, yeah, no, this guy knows what he's talking about. Okay, then that guy, Nigg. What's his first name? Adolf.

Aidolf. Neither one of them are good. Like both of them sound like we made them up to try to get away with something. Okay. The guy's name for real. You know what I'm saying? It's Adolf Nigg.

Adolf Nigg. Adolf Nigg. K-N-I-G-E. K-N-I-G-E. K-N-I-G. I don't know how you pronounce it. Maybe there's some German way that makes it sound less offensive to Americans. Because I'm an American in the only way that that is pronounced in America is NIG.

And if you pronounce the E at the end, it gets worse. 100%. But we're not doing it. So Adolf, he gets Adolf and Adolf is like really unhappy with what's going on in the strict order. Yeah. Like the high strict order of masonry. And there's a lot of turmoil there. It's like, who's in charge?

I'm just going to keep going. Who's in charge? Who's not? Are all these unseen masters? Like that's one of those esoteric thing. There's unseen masters in the higher order. And people are like, do they even exist? Are they real?

Adolf is like, well, I'm unhappy with this. This guy Wysop has some good ideas, and he has his own secret society with even more pep and more Zing. Yeah. So I'm going to join him. Adolf proves to be like the master administrator of winning people to the Illuminati and then also having them adopt more of the esoteric structure of the Freemasons to make it even more attractive to more of the masons. He got 50 cent. He got Bieber. He got all of them. 100%. J-Lo.

Kanye. Kanye. Jennifer Aniston. Except real people that exist. said at that time. Frankie Munez. All of them. So then there's a falling out

between Adolf and Wysop. Yeah. Okay. And Adolf leaves. And then, and that's when Wysop starts to hear about people. These boasters.

Yeah, these boasters that are like, well, we have an even more secret society, more pep and more thing and more power. Which is the problem with recruiting guys like this is that a lot of them really want you to know. They want you to know. They want to be in the single society,

but they don't really want it to be secret. They're like crossfitters. They want to be like, guess what? Hey, if you really ask you. I mean, what, Secret Society? Did you know that I do CrossFit? I might tell you. You know, they can't go five seconds without telling it.

You're like, have you heard the Illuminati? By the way, I used to coach CrossFit, so I can say that. Ben is deeply into CrossFit to this day. No, I'm not. But I am deeply into learning about the Illuminati to this day. Yeah. Which is almost the exact same as CrossFit. Very similar.

And so anyway, there's that whole thing. I don't need to recap the whole story. But the idea is this. And this is not just me and E. Michael Jones. This is like a lot of people. They're saying, the Freemasons aren't to blame, period, for the French Revolution. No.

However, the Freemasons allowed Wysop in. Wysop overran German Freemasonry. They got found out the Theodore guy, the Principate of Bavaria. He was like, no. Outlawed. No more of this. Why he did this, I'll never know. But he decided, you know, it would be a real stick-it-to-the-man-eosis for a secret society?

Is if I published all their secret works for everyone to read. So he did that. All their secret works, though, were just rationalism. Yeah, it wasn't anything that wasn't already in the zeitgeist, philosophically, politically, of the day. So now the general populace is like, wait a minute, these like high-ranking guys, these secret guys. And it was in the highest courts of the government are thinking like rationalism is the way to go. We need to go down with the monarchy, down with the established order, down with the religious institution. And we need to have liberty for the people, finally.

Yeah. And then two years later, the French Revolution happens. And it begins with the storming of the Bastille. So because of the mechanics that were baked into Freemasonry at the time, it allowed WISOP to come in and convince many of them to what is a horrible, godless idea that leads to human suffering and ugliness. And the guillotining of thousands of thousands. And then next thing you know,

his cousin, when all, little nepotiz. The little nepotism. Next thing you know, when all. those ideas get out for the public. Yeah. After, by the way, not just German masonry, but Freemasons in France were also very much like, yep, that is great. We need to be aiming

for that. Next thing you know, the French Revolution happens, and we get decades of horrible bloodshed, famine, and just like the worst debauchess, I mean, you heard about Marquis de Sade, some of the worst things that you could ever read about. Sadism. More and more of

him. Yeah, basically let's untether man from all sexual mores and from God himself. Yeah. So unspeakable horrors follow. So yeah. So there's like a very, there's political blame to lay on the Masons and of course on the Illuminati and WISOP. Yeah. Now what's interesting as a thought experiment though is to say, okay, so if that was true for the French Revolution, what may have been lingering for the American War for Independence and then the American founding, which happened before?

What was going on in that? Because there is a lot of overlap in the people. Exactly, because like I just said, it wasn't just German masonry that was like all into this rationalism. It was all of masonry was sympathetic to this new philosophy, including the masons that would come on and eventually found the American project. I'm not saying that America is a Masonic nation. I actually firmly believe America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation. And I will die on that hill. However, the way that the American government was drawn up, it's pretty hard to escape the fact that it was clearly influenced by rationalistic thinking. Right.

At some level. And the rejection of a monarch, that's actually like one of the easiest ones. Yes. The inability of the federal government to form a church and to impose that church. Right. That is another one. Anti-establishmentitarianism. You can say you can have your opinions on whether those are good or bad, whatever.

But the thing is, like, that actually was rationalistic enlightenment thinking that interjected its way into the very foundations of America. And the greatness of America is because the people who made America, the character of the people, they were deeply Christian. Yes. Like, deeply Christian. And so a lot of people want to put the secret sauce of American greatness in, like, the brute ideas, the propositions of American governance. And there are brilliant ideas there. But the ideas aren't what make the people. You can drop those ideas and people have done this over and over.

In many countries have adopted American-style constitutions and still remained, and I cannot emphasize this enough, third world hellholes. Yes. Why? Because they were not populated by deeply Christian Western peoples. In order to, this is one of Plato's big points that Socrates is constantly driving at in the republic. In order to have a virtuous state, you have to have a virtuous people that make up that state. if your people are ungovernable and unmoored from what is true,

then the state simply will collapse. It will devolve. It actually doesn't matter how good the laws are. No. It actually doesn't matter how good the rulers are. If as a presupposition, your people are degenerates, then the state, it'll be a failed state. And so this is why at once it is true

that there are these rationalist enlightenment ideas in the founding of America. That's genuinely true. There was some deism. There was some other things sprinkled in. Not as much as people want to claim their rights. was, but there was. So that's true. And at the same time, it's true that America was founded as a Christian nation and people that self-consciously thought of themselves this way. And that because of that,

the nature of the people, they were able to actually overcome some of the problems of this, these ideas that were catastrophic in places like France. So in a sense, and I'm saying this like cautiously, I don't totally know if I believe this, but this is an idea. maybe what can be said is that the American founding, because of what I think were some rationalistic flaws that were present, was kind of on borrowed time if the people didn't remain stanchly Christian virtuous people. I agree with that. And here's the problem.

They haven't. They didn't and haven't. They didn't and haven't remained staunchly Christian virtuous people. And so now what we're seeing is the dam already had the cracks in it. Now the water's starting to come out because the people aren't plugging it with their own virtue. And we're seeing more and more of those cracks in the foundation that were always... Great metaphor. Unlike your car one earlier.

This one was both coherent and beautiful. Both bangers. Both bangers. In the comments. Look, I was dizzy, hungry, hot, tired, sick when I made that car comment. I'm all those things now, but now I'm spool up. Yeah, he's spooled up. Now I'm warm.

So I'm sweaty. No, I think you're right, though, about that, that your illustration was very good. And it slowly gave way and eroded. And the big point, and I think we both agree on this, about the Freemasons, is that these things, the bad things about the Freemasons, there are some aspects of it that are secretive and bad,

but a lot of the, like, they're influencing the world for evil stuff, the people doing that are not doing it secretly. Yeah. They're doing it very loudly and out loud, often telling you their whole plan ahead of time. And they'll often tell you, I am, by the way, a Freemason.

Yeah. Like, that's not a season. So, like, a lot of this stuff, like the conquest of the institutions and the de-Christianization of them that was systematic and intentional, they literally said before they did this, hey, guys, like, this is Gramsian Marxism.

This is all that. This is basically liberalism, is the word for it. We're going to conquer all of your institutions de-Christianize them. and then they're going to be ours. And we're going to use them to steal your children and remake them in our own image because we think we're right.

Yeah. And our ideals are better than yours. And yours are all outmoded and old-fashioned and bad and actually evil and unethical. Christianity's evil. That's their view. And so we're going to get rid of all that and do our own thing.

And then here's what happened. We let them do that. This is how that's how the French Revolution happened. Yeah. That's how the Russian revolution happened. That's how we got the post-war consensus. And what we see is, like America as a Christian nation was founded with some of those bad ideas.

Yeah. In the Levin already. And so elites do bad things and there are genuine elites that operate in shadowy backrooms. That's absolutely true. That's part of the strategy. They're play calling in the background. They don't always tell you exactly everything they're going to do. And because those people are evil in those shadowy backrooms, they're governed by their

passions and their God is their belly and their sexual impulses. They do evil unspeakable things. Very. sometimes involving children and other bad stuff. Okay. So that's all true too. But what I think the cope is is like, oh, it's all these secret ideas that are infiltrating American society and making us, you know, miserable.

And I'm like, no, it's the obvious out loud ones. It's egalitarianism. It's feminism. It's all these ideas. It's anti-Christian. It's globalism. It's anti-nationalism. It's a lot of these ideas that are like they're not secrets.

They are not good ideas. They are not hidden in the Declaration of Independence. or the Statue of Liberty's left toenail. They're just people writing stuff and saying, we should do this thing that's really bad. And then people like, okay, I'll do that. Yeah. And by the way, I...

And then boom, everybody's gay. And then some of... Boom, you're gay. You're gay. Everybody's gay. It's like Oprah's big giveaway, but it's everybody's gay. And it's like... Oh, look, TV show, gay. Some of those people are Freemasons.

Many of them are not. Yeah. And that doesn't mean that Freemasonry, is not culpable to some degree, but it's also like, but it's not the vehicle of revolution and debauchy that people make it out. It wasn't deeply causal.

It was more itself a symptom of the apostasy of the Western peoples. It was more of a material cause. Like Freemasonry, I see it, it's more the material cause for certain individuals to be helped in coming along in adopting these bad ideas.

It's not the material cause or the formal cause or whatever in affecting broad change. Yeah, so don't get into Freemasonry. Yeah. It's cringe. Super cringe. Also, I think unlawful for the Christian.

Yeah, it's not something a Christian should be doing at all. Like, just don't get involved in it. Not, not, don't do it. Huge dub for, I'm just going to throw some love to Pope Clement the 12th here. I don't know anything else about him. Except for that in 1738, he ruled, or he ruled that the Freemasons were anti-Christian. Then later on, I can't remember the year. I can't remember the Pope, whatever.

he made the ruling, and it's still in place today in the Catholic Church, that any member of the Catholic Church who is found out to be a Freemason is immediately excommunicated. Dang. No questions asked. The reason for that, and this is why I say it's unlawful, is because the Freemasons began as a Christian institution, apostatized, and in their apostasy, they are now explicitly anti- pluralist.

God. Yeah, they adopted heretical false notions. Yes. They cannot coexist with Christianity. To believe pluralism to the very bottom is to embrace polytheism, which is satanic. Yeah. And so you can't have that. So.

Perfect segue. Don't be a Freemason. Oh, yeah. That is a perfect segue. Perfect segue because it is satanic. But how is it satanic? Right. And this last story is going to maybe upend everything we've just said and prove us wrong.

Or maybe not. Or maybe not. but it is going to show you some connections between Satanism and the Freemasons. Guys, thanks for listening. And also, I do just want to say, if you like what we do here, if you like what we're cooking up in the kitchen, and you're not a patron of the show, patreon.com slash haunted Cosmosis.

Oh, you're missing out. Then you, like, Freemasons, you, I mean, I've never seen. Are not really equal at all. I didn't finish this sentence. But like, I will say it'd be a lot cooler if you were a patron of the show. Yeah. We got special exclusive content on Patreon.

Dusty Tom. Dusty Tomes. Live streams with Brian and myself. We have graveyard shifts that are only available to patrons that only they will ever see. And we have Campfire Tales. Coming up. Yeah, Can't Fire Tail Tales. Patreon exclusive.

Nobody has seen it. Nobody's seen it ever. And no one will, maybe. On an unassuming street in South Carolina, a group enters, a Masonic Lodge. It is 1884. The sun strikes the city in harsh overtones, and the midday choir of bugs in every direction makes the heat feel hotter. Inside, with the still air, it is stifling. Still, the group dawns robes of heavy black fabric. There is one woman among them, and no one says a word. They ascend the stairs liturgically. The slow steps are betrayed by

the squeaking nails, pushing deeper into the wood grain before relaxing back out again. The The entire lodge is empty save these few initiates, these few of the other darker degrees. At the top of the stairs, they face a long hallway. Its atmosphere of dust is especially thick in the sunbeams. At the end is an oak door, which they enter and close behind them. A brief moment of stillness precedes the woman moving to the room's far corner. There she opens one of the panels of Wayne's cotting. Everyone stoops down to follow her into a secret chamber.

They scarcely notice the added weight of the stagnant air for the magnificent, of the room. For some of them it's the first time. They each light a black wax candle and turn and fill the space with a dim flickering glow. On the far wall is a shrine. Talismans of bone and fur and mineral and oil are arranged atop a purple linen cloth. All of this sits on an ebony table. Above the table, carved into the wood of the wall, hangs in idle, is baffamette. In the room's center is an altar shaped out of a single piece of black marble. Dark stains around the base of the altar, are only just visible in the candlelight. A low drone of humming rises into the air from the throats of the brethren and builds upon its echo from the walls. The woman steps forward. From a fold in her robe,

she takes a golden crucifix, standing now before the altar, before the shrine, before her god. She turns the cross until it is inverted and slams it down upon the stone. The humming stops. In the new silence, a much deeper silence,

the initiates step beside the woman. Two on her left and two on her right. In methodical unison, the four unsheathed ivory daggers and raise them over their onyx hoods. Each brings his other hand until the palm is pressed tight against the blade. With a muted cut, each hand starts to pour crimson blood, and the blood drips over and off the defiled crucifix. With a whirlwind of shrill cries, a pillar of lightning descends from the ceiling, with crackling powered engulfs the bloody thing.

From the pillar emerges a voice, inhuman, strained, and tortured by the pangs of dis, and it speaks in their esoteric tongue. One word, mine. And within the light, the initiates see the form of geometry, a figure of angles both acute and obtuse with infinite sides that could nonetheless be counted. The vision lingers for only a moment before vanishing entirely, and its place is a bitter cold that sweeps over the sweat of each person. Chills run down their spines. The candles falter and fade to darkness. Thus the pallidid were formed, a shadow ordered deep in the bowels of Freemasonry and led by the devil's servant herself, Diana Vaughn. Or so the story goes. After spending his formative years in a Jesuit

seminary, Leo Taxel apostatized from the faith and formed himself into a staunch polemicist against the Catholic Church. His books, vitriolic ravings and pseudo-exposés of the rank hypocrisy present in the higher offices of the church, made him into a polarizing figure. The progressives admired his honest courage, his contramundum mindset, knocking down the buttresses of Christendom without any regard for collateral damage. Moderates were drawn to some of his critiques, but recoiled at others. They could not accept his accusation that the popes and the bishops were hedonistic beasts, regularly committing acts that would make Marquis de Sade cringe in his grave.

They were also disgusted at Taxel's own debauchery, his pornographic writings and cheerful blasphemy against the Christian God. Finally, there were the conservatives, the Catholics, who rightly considered him their enemy. In 1879, he published a pamphlet entitled, Down with the Cloth, a scathing attack on the church that earned him civil charges of libel. He was tried the same year and ultimately was acquitted. But after this, extremely close run-in with the authorities he fought against, he went quiet for a time.

It's not known why. Perhaps he was frightened. Perhaps he was given over to work that was not ready for publication yet. or maybe he was just tired. At any rate, France received a break from the Cold War raging between Taxel and Rome. As Taxel rested, the tectonics of power in France were on the verge of crashing.

The repercussions of the revolution many decades prior were still being worked out. An atheistic Republican movement was gaining ground in the court of public opinion and the church was forced onto its heels in defense. Many of those decrying anti-clerical influence in the civil sphere, even some of the most powerful office holders at the time, were known to be Freemasons. Thanks to the papal condemnation of Freemasonry by Clement the 12th in 1738,

relations between Rome and the Masonic lodges were already hostile. This new, explicit ideological war between the two, a war for the soul of France, brought that lingering hostility rapidly to the surface. And then, suddenly in 1885, Leo Taxel emerged from his quietude, entered this tempestuous public square and did the one thing no one could have ever predicted. He converted.

The news shocked everyone. Taxol renounced his previous writings and lifestyle. He received membership into the church with the utmost solemnity, and he started turning his powerful voice to the defense of Christianity and polemics against the church's enemies. Catholic parishioners, priests,

bishops, and the Pope alike were radically encouraged by this, seeing in Taxel another Pauline Ark. He was their enemy, now he was a dear brother. In 1887, he gained an audience with Pope Leo the 13th, and the two left the meeting as beloved allies in a shared fight. With fresh wind in their sails, the church redoubled its efforts in winning back the heart of the people. If Leo Taxel could succumb to the power of the truth and the grace of God, so could the entire country, so could the entire continent once again. As part of the new crusade against the degradation of society,

Taxel turned his sights on the Freemasons. And starting in the 1890s, he released pamphlets condemning the Masons as being anti-Christian. He backed up his accusations by citing the Freemason's own printed material, their syncretism, their esoteric revisions of the Bible, their deistic tendencies. In all, Taxel had an easy time swaying many to the conviction that the Masons, being outside the church,

in a type of false church unto themselves, could not be trusted. but he wasn't content to stop there. He released a new expose, and the charges were far more grievous than any could have expected. Freemasons, Taxel said, were not just incompatible with Christianity. They were not mere political enemies of the church.

The Freemasons worshipped the devil. In vivid detail, Taxel wrote scenes similar to the one that I just read, that his retellings were even more visceral. In the dark corners and further recesses of secret, society, these brethren at the very top were willfully in league with the Prince of Darkness himself. They swore oaths to him, to serve him, and to propagate his lies to the world, leveraging every ounce of power and influence they had. They called themselves the pallidists, the Satanists turning the gears of the entire Masonic institution, and Taxel could prove it. He had an

inside source, the confessions of their former leader, Diana Vaughn. The reaction was one of untold confusion. People were calling for the destruction of the masons with no less vigor than Bavaria had with the Illuminati decades before. The book sold tens of thousands of copies to Catholic laymen and clergy alike. Vaughn, who never appeared publicly for fear of her safety, allowed Taxel to share pictures of herself and her letters written in her own hand in order to prove the claims. The Freemasons were in shambles. Anytime they attempted a defense of a refutation, their natural secrecy made it so Taxil could immediately gain the upper hand. Well, of course they would deny it.

But can they prove it's untrue? All of it culminated in April of 1897, when Taxel announced that Vaughn was finally ready to make her public debut. And so the public gathered, men and women from all sides of the religious and political spectrum. Security was serious, both due to the threats against Vaughn

and the presence of high-ranking officials from church and state in attendance. And when the lecture was set to begin, A plump and balding man, Leo Taxel himself, walked out onto the stage and made the grand announcement. All of it was fake. Palladism was Taxel's own invention. Vaughn was a fabrication. Her pictures were of actresses.

Her letters were from hired contractors. All the claims of Masonic Satanism and ritualistic abuse. They were all 100% made up. More than this, Taxel's radical conversion to Christianity, It was a farce. He was no friend of the church or the clerics. He was no friend of Pope Leo. He had the whole time been lying through his teeth

in order to trick the public, one big hoax. And he laughed in the faces of his new supporters. He laughed in the faces of all in attendance. For whatever their conviction they had fallen for the ruse, for 12 years he crafted a lie and he squeezed every bit of satisfaction from the puncher. line. As a result, the church looked foolish. His publishers, all of whom were Christians, lost their credibility. Priests looked pathetic. And the anti-Masonic movement in France

shriveled up into a useless shell of its former self. And the Freemasons, vindicated by their accuser, celebrated. Leo Taxel died in France in 1907 at the age of 53. All of this raises the question. Why was he so successful? Well, despite his having no proof for Masonic Satanism, he did have the undeniable truth that the Freemasons were very secretive, especially in the higher and more esoteric degrees. And they were highly influential in civic life. They believed that which was completely antithetical to Christianity. Taxel promulgated a lie, but like any good lie, his was so effective because of the real truths upon which it was built. To this day, many believe that it wasn't a hoax at all, that pallidism was real, that systemic ritual abuse

continues with the enthusiastic sponsorship and participation of the Freemasons. His lie was so powerful that not even his own confession undid its effects. Look, Freemasonry is unchristian on principle. It's unmoored from truth. It's sports with ideas and tools and, yes, even forces that are against the living God. I don't share this story about Leo Taxel to somehow vindicate the Freemasons. I share it to show that because of their success and carrying out their aims and convictions, they must consistently walk in defeat. Even in their acquittal from other, maybe greater evils, their fundamental folly is only brought into greater light. They will never escape this, so long as the institution remains. For nothing, no man, nor civilization,

nor secret society, nothing at all can truly live a lie in this world that God has made. Wolfman in disguise, giant angel cries, we hear all the lies. Moon night children here to steal your soul. Big foot, skin walkers are from mind control. Want more Honod Cosmos? Head over to the Honod Cosmos Patreon page. Over there, you get the pride and joy of supporting two very handsome men, Brian and myself. You also get access to our Patreon exclusive show, The Dusty Tome, monthly live streams, early and ad-free episodes, as well as our brand new show that's coming soon to patrons only Campfire Tales,

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