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Final warning a history of the new world order
chapter twelve the curtain falls
prieure de sion
In the mid-1980’s, an incredible revelation was made in regard to the unity of Europe, the forces behind it, and its relationship to the man who will rise to prominence in Europe’s political community. First, let me relate the information as I have gathered it, and then afterward I will comment on how it may fit into the prophetic scheme of things. However, before embarking on this section, I have to warn you that you are going to be reading a mixture of factual history, as well revisionist history that represents a radical departure from the views traditionally held by Christians. I do not share these views, or advocate them in any way, but include them only for you to see how it may possibly have a bearing on end-time prophecy.
In 1891, in Rennes-le-Chateau, a tiny southern French mountaintop village, parish priest Berenger Sauniere, made a discovery while doing renovations to restore a church which had been dedicated to Mary Magdalene in 1059. The altar stone had been removed, which rested on two old Visigoth columns, one of which was found to be hollow. Inside were four parchments sealed in wooden tubes. Two were genealogies, one dated from 1244, which carried the seal of Queen Blanche de Castille, mother of King Louis IX; and the other dated from 1644 by Francois-Pierre d´Hautpoul.
Of the other two documents, the Testament of Henri d´Hautpoul, which was dated 1695, was written in French, and is believed to be a complex code detailing a state secret; and the other parchment, written in the 1780’s by a priest, Antoine Bigou, was written in Latin, and contained two coded Biblical texts, one on each side of the page, which were excerpts from the New Testament. Sauniere went to Paris to present the parchments to Church authorities.
Also during the restoration, a flagstone dating to the 7th or 8th century was removed, allegedly revealing a burial chamber, which contained skeletons; and because of the amount of money he would soon begin to spend– a treasure of some sort. There has been much speculation about what this treasure could have been.
Some talk had centered around the Holy Grail. The Grail was believed to be a chalice made of gold, which was first used by Melchizedek as he offered bread and wine to Abraham on Mount Moriah. It was guarded in a Phoenician temple in Tyre, the city of Hiram, the king who designed and built Solomon’s Temple. It fell into the hands of the Queen of Sheba, who gave it to King Solomon, and it was last used by Jesus and the disciples during the Last Supper. Other traditions have said that it was used by Mary Magdalene or Joseph of Arimathea to catch the blood of Jesus as it dripped off of His body while He hung on the cross. It was believed that Joseph took the cup to Glastonbury in England; while others claim that Mary took it with her to Marseilles in France.
The Cathars, who descended from the Bogomils in Bulgaria, and existed around the 10th and the 11th centuries, were perceived to be a wealthy people, and were said to possess a treasure beyond material wealth. In January, 1244, three months before the fall of their fortress in Montsegur, two men got out with the gold, silver, and money. As their defeat seemed eminent, the northern invaders served them with terms of surrender in March, and gave the Cathars two weeks to make a decision.
One of the terms of this ‘cease-fire,’ was that if anyone tried to escape, they would be killed. A day before the surrender, when they would have been released, four men escaped on a rope, down the sheer western face of the fortress. According to legend, the risk was made to protect their treasure. But if all their gold and silver had been smuggled out three months before, what did they risk their lives to protect. Was it the Holy Grail?
The Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table searched for the Grail, and legend has it that three of them seen it– Galahad, Percival, and Bors. Later stories revealed that the Grail was kept at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Rennes-le-Chateau, which is where she made her home.
Others believe that the treasure Sauniere found may have been the Temple treasure. In 70 AD when Rome ransacked Jerusalem, carrying its treasure back to Rome, it was believed that they may have gotten all of the Temple wealth, including the Ark of the Covenant. In 410, when the Visigoths invaded Rome, they carried away, “the treasures of Solomon, the King of the Hebrews, a sight most worthy to be seen, for they were adorned in the most part with emerald’s and in the olden time they had been taken from Jerusalem by the Romans.”
Or, could the treasure discovered by Sauniere been the treasure plundered from the Temple grounds by the Knights Templar.
Many of the Crusaders who went to Palestine to fight against the Moslem invaders were French Catholics, and by 1061, they had conquered Jerusalem, and put Godfroi de Bouillon (1061-1100), Duke of Lower Lorraine, on the throne of Jerusalem. Known as the ‘Guardian of the Holy Sepulcher,’ he claimed to be of the lineage of David, and between 1090 and 1099, organized a secret society called the Prieuré de Sion (Order of Sion). His aims were to possess the wealth of the world, including the Temple treasure, and to establish world government which would be controlled by a Merovingian king in Jerusalem.
Though deposed in the 8th century, the Merovingian dynasty and bloodline continued, and was perpetuated with Dagobert II, and his son, Sigisbert IV. Through alliances and intermarriages, this line continued through Godfroi. This bloodline was known as a “royal tradition ... founded on the rock of Sion,” which was considered to be equal to other European dynasties.
Their headquarters was at the Abbey of Notre Dame du Mont de Sion, in southern Jerusalem on Mount Sion, where the ruins of a Byzantine basilica from the 4th century stood, which was called the Mother of All Churches. It was Godfroi’s younger brother, Baudouin I, who became the first king of Jerusalem; it was the Prieuré de Sion that created the Knights Templar as its military arm.
In 1118, Hugues de Payen, a nobleman from Champagne, and Godfroi de St. Omer, a French Knight, along with seven other Knights, founded the Order of the Knights Templar (Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon). They swore to live according to the rules of St. Augustine, and to use their swords, arms, and strength to defend the Christian faith. They also took vows of chastity and poverty, and promised not to join any other organization. They pledged to “keep the roads and highways safe ... for the protection of pilgrims” and not to surrender any wall, or foot of land.
They offered their services to Baudouin I, the King of Jerusalem, and an entire wing of the royal palace on the Temple Mount (the site of Solomon’s Temple) was given to them to be used as a living quarters. In 1139, Pope Innocent II decreed that these Knights of Christ owed their allegiance to no one but the Pope (thus becoming a military arm of the Catholic Church), and they began to wear white robes with a red cross on the front. They carried a black and white striped banner which displayed the cross, and the words: “Non nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam,” which became their battle cry. Their meetings were carried out in secret.
It is known, that for nine years, the Knights were searching for something beneath the Temple grounds, and evidence points to the fact that they might have found something. In March, 1952, a copper scroll found in cave III at Qumran, near the Dead Sea, revealed that more than 138 tons of gold and silver were buried in 64 locations, before the Romans destroyed the Temple. It is believed that 24 of these locations were under the Temple Mount, which was plundered by the Knights Templar and taken to Europe, where it became the basis for the establishment of the international banking system.
In 1153, a nobleman, Bertrand de Blanchefort, who lived only a couple of miles from Rennes-le-Chateau, became the 4th Grand Master of the Knights Templar He escalated their growth into the diplomatic and political circles, and established a Templar presence in the area. Their numbers soon increased to 9,000, and the Order spread to Tripoli, Antioch, Cyprus, Portugal, Castile, Leon, Arragon, France, Flanders, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Sicily. They had a presence in most areas adhering to Christianity.
In 1187, after the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, they were forced to move their headquarters to the island of Cyprus; and in 1188, the Prieuré de Sion withdrew their control from the Knights Templar and separated from them. They moved their headquarters to a Temple in Paris, and through their organization and wealth, the Knights became the bankers of Europe.
By the end of the 12th century, they had 30,000 members (mostly French), and they fought in the wars of their own countries. They soon gained so much power, that their Grand Master Jacques du Molay became a challenge to the authority of King Philip IV (‘the Fair’). Between 1303-05, King Philip had Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) kidnapped and killed, and had his successor, Pope Benedict XI (1303-05) poisoned; then had his own man, Clement V (1305-16), elected to the vacant papal throne. Pope Clement worked with Philip to begin a campaign to destroy the power and the influence of the Knights, the Merovingian bloodline, and to confiscate their treasures.
In Germany, Spain, and Cyprus, they were acquitted of any charges; but not in England, Italy, and France. On October 13, 1307, all the Templars in France were arrested, amidst charges by a former member (Esquian de Horian), and an investigation by Pope Clement, who said that they appeared to serve Christ, but actually worshipped Lucifer. Accusations included: immorality, heresy, denying Christ and the Virgin Mary; spitting and stepping on the cross; burning the bodies of dead Templars and giving the ashes to initiates to mix in with their food and drink; carrying out rituals with a skull, believed to be that of founder Hugues de Payen; and worshipping a demon who took on the form of a cat.
When King Philip’s men broke into the Templar castle in Paris, they discovered a silver bust of a woman’s head, with a hinged top, which when opened, contained two head bones wrapped in a white cloth, with a red cloth around that. They were believed to be part of the skeletal remains of Mary Magdalene.
It was revealed, that part of the initiation, required the initiate to deny, curse, and spit at the cross, as part of a gesture symbolizing St. Peter’s denial of Christ, thus introducing the candidate to the Order as a sinner, so they could teach him the ways of Christianity. In actuality, the Knights had actually become opposed to the Pope, when they realized the Vatican’s pagan relationship to sun worship; and since the Catholic Church had become so identified with St. Peter, the Knights had renounced Peter, and became followers of John.
In 1312, Pope Clement ordered that the Knights Templar were to be suppressed. On March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the 22nd Grand Master of the Knights, Geoffrey de Charney (who possessed the Shroud of Turin, which was stolen from Constantinople), and two of their highest officers were burned at the stake for trying to overthrow the government. In England, Edward II joined in the denunciation by arresting and torturing 140 knights, 54 of whom were burned at the stake.
Some of the remaining Templars fled to Portugal, where there were protected by King Dinis II. Most however took refuge in Scotland, where they stayed for 400 years, developing the Scottish Rite branch of Masonry. In England, where the Templars established the first modern Masonic lodge at York, it was identified as the York Rite; while in France, it became known as the Scottish Rite. To signify the accomplishments of the Order, it was made the highest attainable degree in Masonry. It is said that “every true Mason is a Knight Templar...”
Meanwhile, the Prieuré de Sion existed for another 300 years, until 1619, when the historical record dried up.
According to recent information, it is believed that Sauniere’s ‘treasure’ was actually the knowledge gleaned from the parchments, that the crucifixion of Jesus was a set-up, and that He was alive as of 45 AD. Sauniere’s niece, Madame James of Montazels, inherited the parchments in 1917, and kept them until 1965 when she sold them to Capt. Roland Stanmore and Sir Thomas Frazier, who keep them in a safe deposit box in Lloyds Bank Europe Limited of London. Only two of the parchments have been released, the contents of the other two have not been revealed.
In the original sources concerning the Holy Grail, references are not to a cup, but to a mystery.
In the 1180’s, “Le Roman de Perceval” (or “Le Conte du Graal”), a poem by Chretien de Troyes, chronicles one, Perceval, who seeks his knighthood. At the castle of the “Fisher King” he sees the Grail, which is golden and is studded with jewels. It is not linked to Jesus. Perceval discovers that he is a member of the “Grail family” because the custodian of the Grail is his uncle. Chretian died before completing his work, and no copies exist. However, the story lived on, becoming closely aligned with King Arthur.
“Roman de l´Estoire dou Saint Graal” by Robert de Baron in the 1190’s was the version that Christianized the story, claiming that Joseph of Arimathea filled the cup with Christ’s blood, and that his family became the keeper of the Grail. Galahad was purported to be Joseph’s son, and the Grail was passed onto his brother-in-law, Brons, who took it with him to England, becoming the “Fisher King.” In this version, Perceval is the grandson.
The most noted version is “Parzival,” which was written between 1195 and 1216 by Wolfram von Eschenbach, a Bavarian Knight who claimed that Chretien’s version was inaccurate because Wolfram received his information from a more reliable source. He said that the Grail is some sort of stone. But more important, is his preoccupation with the Grail family, the genealogy, or bloodline.
In early stories, the Grail is called the Sangraal and Sangreal, which was divided to read ‘San Graal’ or ‘San Greal,’ when in fact, it should have read ‘Sang Raal’ or ‘Sang Real,’ meaning ‘Royal Blood.’ So therefore, the Grail actually had more to do with blood, and not a cup which held blood.
The “Queste del Saint Graal” written between 1215 and 1230, indicated that the Grail was brought to France by Mary Magdalene, and that the Grail story occurred about 456 years after the resurrection of Jesus, or about 487, which was about the time of the rise in Merovingian power.
In 1964, according to the book The Jesus Scroll (1972) by Donovan Joyce, an ancient parchment scroll was excavated on the western shore of the Dead Sea, at the ruins of the fortress of Masada. It was there that 965 Jewish men, women, and children, burned the complex, killed each other, and committed suicide, rather than be captured by the Romans.
The Jewish rebellion against Roman rule and their occupancy force came to a head in 66 AD when several thousand zealots stormed Masada and seized King Herod’s fortress. From there, the movement spread, as loyalists hoped to restore the throne of the Maccabean kings, which has been usurped a century earlier. One part of the rebel army stayed at Masada, while the other marched on Jerusalem. The attempt to recapture the city failed, and the survivors retreated back to Masada.
Rome struck back, and four years later, with nearly a million dead, and many enslaved, Jerusalem was firmly in their grasp, the Temple was destroyed, and the entire country was overrun. The Roman Tenth Legion, under the command of Flavius Silva, spent three years with a legion of 6,000 men, and 15,000 Jewish slaves, to build an assault tower in order to destroy the last vestiges of Jewish resistance at Masada.
When the Roman soldiers breached the walls of the fortress, they found only corpses, as the occupants preferred death to being captured and enslaved.
In 1963, Masada was excavated by the Israeli Dept. of Antiquities in a massive archaeological operation led by Israeli scholar and soldier, Gen. Yigael Yadin. They discovered coins, tools, weapons, catapult ammunition, wine jars, beads, rings, buckles, jewelry, cosmetics, ovens, pots, pans, lamps, dishes, baskets, and remnants of woven fabric clothing, as well as 14 parchment scrolls containing Biblical text (Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Ezekiel), the apocryphal Wisdom of Ben-Sira, and Book of Jubilees, and a sectarian scroll which provided a link between the zealots and the Essenes of Qumran, 30 miles north of Masada.
In a cave on the upper face of the southern-most cliff below the plateau, reached by descending to it with a rope, 25 skeletons were found: 14 males, ages 22-60; a man between 70 and 80; six females between 15-22; four children from 8-12; and a fetus. It had been believed that all of the bodies had been thrown over the side; so either the Roman centurions were unaware of this group which were separated from the main complex, or they were allowed to remain where they had fallen, just as the three skeletons found in Herod’s palace at the northern end of the complex, which were believed to be that of Eleazar ben Yáir, the Jewish commander, his wife and child, and left there as a tribute to his valor. The three were formally buried in July, 1969, at the foot of Masada in a common grave, with full military honors.
It seems likely that there was an easier access to the cave, back at that time, which had since eroded away, the face of which was clearly visible from at least two nearby camps, so it had to have been searched. Which means Silva may have known that this was a special group, and also left them untouched.
If the purpose of the rebel’s presence at Masada was to restore the Hasmonean throne, then why did the war continue another six years after the death of their leader Mennahem at the battle in Jerusalem. The prevailing evidence suggested that there was someone at Masada more senior than either Eleazar or Mennahem. Because of the discovery of this document, it is now believed that the Zealots on Masada were actually a bodyguard contingent for the Hasmonean Royal Family, headed by Jesus, their king and Messiah, who they swore to defend till the death.
Another document which was discovered, had been written on the evening of April 15, 73 AD, just after the Roman battering ram had compromised the fortress gate, and was pulled back, to await the Roman attack which would come at first light. The document was signed by Yeshua ben Yákob ben Gennesareth, who described himself as a “son of eighty years” (this would have placed his birth at 7 BC) and the last heir of the Hasmonean (Maccabean) King of Israel.
Translated, the name was ‘Jesus of Gennesareth, son of Jacob.’ This document was the 15th parchment to be discovered on Masada, and it is believed that it was smuggled out of Israel by a rogue archaeologist, and taken to Russia. Because it can not be located, the details given about it were only hearsay. The contents were allegedly revealed to the Vatican in February, 1967, because after a meeting between Podgorny of the U.S.R.R. and Pope Paul, the Vatican did an about face, and began supporting the Moslems in their quest for a homeland in Palestine.
Let me interject, that Yadin, in his book Masada: Herod’s Fortress and the Zealots’ Last Stand says of the 25 bodies, that the “only feasible assumption is that they were flung here irreverently by the Roman troops when they cleared the bodies after their victory.” Plus, he never mentions the discovery of a 15th scroll.
So, how could the veracity of this story even be considered? There is a developing trend that purports that Jesus was not the product of a virgin birth, that He was a normal man with a messianic complex, who was part of a conspiracy to fake his own death in order to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. It is believed that the Last Supper was actually a meeting to plan a way for Jesus to cheat death.
Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield, in his book The Passover Plot (1965), theorized that the vinegar-soaked sponge given to Jesus during the crucifixion, actually contained a drug that made Jesus appear as though He were dead, when he really wasn’t. This insured the prophetic fulfillment that his legs would not be broken (which was done to bring death quicker). Joseph of Arimathea (a member of the Sanhedrin) then went to Pilate to ask for permission to claim the body, so that it could be interred in a tomb owned by Joseph. Pilate sent a centurion to confirm that Jesus was dead. When Joseph asked for the body, he referred to it as ‘soma,’ (living); while Pilate referred to the body as ‘ptoma’ (dead).
To substantiate these facts, it is pointed out that the place of the crucifixion had to be near the tomb. While the other gospels state that He was crucified at Golgotha, “the place of the skull,” John 19:41 says that he was crucified in a garden, where a new sepulcher had been hewn by Joseph. This garden was actually ‘Golgeth,’ the ‘wheel press,’ where olives were pressed into oil, which was the Garden of Gethsemane. Some have even theorized that Joseph was actually the former husband of Mary, who had left Nazareth, and established himself at Jerusalem. After the story about Jesus in the Temple, Joseph is not mentioned again. The ‘angels’ seen at the tomb were said to be Essene physicians who were sent to revive Jesus, thus creating the illusion of a resurrection.
The apocryphal Gospel of Peter, discovered in an upper Nile valley in 1886, had existed as early as 180 AD, and reveals that Joseph of Arimathea was a friend of Pontius Pilate, and that Jesus was buried in the “garden of Joseph.” Basilides, an Alexandrian scholar, who wrote various commentaries on the Gospels between 120 and 130 AD, believed that Jesus did not die on the cross. In December, 1945, an Egyptian peasant discovered a pot near the village of Nag Hammadi in northern Egypt, which contained 13 scrolls, which consisted of copies of Biblical texts, which dated to about 400 AD, and were based on writings that were no older than 150 AD, and provides a good historical reference because they were not altered by the Roman Catholic Church.
In one, the Second Treatise of the Great Seth, it talks about Jesus escaping His death on the cross through substitution, who was identified as Simon of Cyrene. An ancient document, found in the 4th century, in the library of a building used by Greek monks, said that Nicodemus and Joseph conspired to retrieve the body of Jesus so that it could be revived by Essene physicians.
A document found in the 19th century by a member of the Societe Francaise Commerciale in Abyssinia, in the library of an old building formerly occupied by Greek monks, said that Jesus was born in Nazareth, was an Essene, and that after the crucifixion, Nicodemus told Joseph that he was going to resuscitate Jesus, but that John was not to know it. Inside the tomb, using Essene medical knowledge, stimulative substances were burned, and strips of ointment-covered linen were applied to the body. After the treatment, the stone put over the tomb opening held the vapors in.
Three days later, an Essene brother, in festive garments, went to the tomb, and the soldiers, thinking him to be an angel, ran away. Then 24 Essenes showed up, and spirited Jesus away to their commune. However, Jesus insisted on leaving and went to his disciples, and they believed him to have risen from the dead.
A document known as The Crucifixion by an Eye Witness, was a Latin manuscript in the possession of a Masonic library in Germany, which surfaced near the end of the 1800’s, and was said to have been copied from a letter written by a member of the Essene Order, to another in Alexandria, only seven years after the crucifixion.
It revealed that Jesus was the son of Mary and an Essene teacher who was not identified. It talked about the crucifixion, Jesus’ removal from the cross, and the Essene medical intervention which enabled him to survive the crucifixion; and by appearing to His disciples afterwards, made it seem as though He had risen from the dead. It was first published in 1873, but was withdrawn from circulation, its plates destroyed, as well as most copies. One copy did find its way into the possession of a Mason in Massachusetts, and in 1907, it was republished in Chicago.
The letter says of the birth of Jesus:
“I will tell you of the parentage of this man, who loved all men and for whom we feel the highest esteem. He was from his infancy brought up for our brotherhood. Indeed, he was predicted by an Essene, whom the woman thought to be an angel. This woman was given to many imaginings, delving into the supernatural and into the mysteries of life. Our brother the Essene has acknowledged his part in these things and has persuaded the brotherhood to search for and protect the child secretly.”
“Joseph, who was a man of great experience is life and of deep devotion to the immortal truth, was influenced, through a messenger of our Order, not to leave the woman nor disturb her faith in the sacredness of her experience. He was told to be a father to the child until our brotherhood should admit him as a novice. Thus, during their flight to Egypt, Joseph, his wife and the child were secretly protected and guided by our brotherhood.”
Apocryphal writings indicate that while in Egypt, Joseph and Mary stayed at the monasteries of Wadi-el-Natrun, Mataria, and al-Moharraq, which were run by the Essenes.
According to Josephus, the Essenes were “the most perfect of all sects in Palestine.” He wrote that “they despise riches and worldly gains and live in communes,” and “are the most honest people in the world … exercise justice and equality … never marry, and they keep no servants. They all live the same simple, industrious and frugal life.” He described them as a secret brotherhood that were against the Pharisees and Sadducees, abhorred violence, wore white robes, were vegetarians, did not believe in animal sacrifice, studied the healing properties of herbs, possessed a high moral standard, and observed celibacy.
In 1963, scrolls known as the Talmud of Jmmanuel, were discovered by Greek Catholic priest, Isa Rashid, in a cave he claimed was the burial cave of Jesus. Written in old Aramaic, sealed in protective resin, and buried under a flat rock, it is believed to have been written by Judas Iscariot. Pieces of the scrolls were missing, some unreadable, some deteriorating, yet, what had survived, was completely contrary to the story of Jesus as related in the Bible.
The document claims that Joseph of Arimathea realized that Jesus was still alive, and quickly went to Pilate to request the body, taking it back to his own tomb. There was a secret second entrance, and it was through here that his friends were able to bring the herbs and salves necessary to provide medical treatment. In three days he was strong enough to walk.
After a few appearances to his disciples, he went to Syria, then to India, and the area now known as West Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Himalayas, where he continued to teach. He married and had children, and it was believed that he died at the age of, between 110-115 years old, in Anzimar in Khanyar Srinagar, which is located in Kashmir, India. These scrolls were in the possession of his first born son, who returned to Jerusalem, and hid them in the burial cave of Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus had been taken.
The ‘sacred tomb in Kashmir’ is the burial site of a man known as Yazu Asaph (also written as Yuz Asaf), who was known as a prophet. He came to this valley about 2000 years ago from Egypt, teaching the same things as Jesus. Located in a small, rectangular brick and wood structure, he is buried in a wooden sepulcher which contains an inner wooden sarcophagus that is covered with a sacred shroud, and a rectangular stone slab.
The structure seems to be built over an ancient stone structure which actually contains the remains of Asaph. A tiny opening allows you to see into the crypt below the floor, and into the burial chamber.
Inside the shrine is a smaller tombstone, which is that of an Islamic saint Syed Nasir-ud Din, who was buried there in the 15th century. Both tombstones are aligned north-to-south, following Islamic custom, but the sarcophagus in the crypt below containing Asaph’s remains are aligned east-to-west, which is a Jewish custom.
Chiseled on a stone slab are the impressions of his two feet which bear the traces of crucifixion wounds, conceivably of the man who is buried there. The nature of the wounds indicate that the man was crucified with the left foot over the right, with one nail going through both feet– which matches the pattern of the figure on the Shroud of Turin, which is purported to be the burial cloth of Jesus.
It is also believed that Mary, the mother of Jesus, accompanied Jesus and Mary Magdalene to India. She died when she was 70 years old, trying to escape when the Kushans attacked the region of Taxila. The place she was buried in Pakistan (45 miles east of Taxila) was called ‘Mari’ until 1875, when the spelling was changed to ‘Murree.’ The tomb is called ‘Mai-Mari-de-Asthan’ or ‘resting place of mother Mary.’ No other tombs in the world are purported to be that of Mary. Mary Magdalene is reported to have died at Kashgar, in central Asia, and it was actually Martha, that took her son, along with some other followers of Jesus, to France, where she lived till her death.
Then came the story of St. Hazrat Issa. Around 1887, Nicolas Notovitch, a Russian journalist, while traveling in Ladakh in Tibet, had fallen from his horse and broke his right leg, below the knee, and was taken to the monastery at Hemis (Himis), 25 miles from Leh, the capital of Ladakh (400 miles north of Delhi), located in a hidden valley of the Himalayas, some 11,000 feet above sea level. There, the chief lama read him the story of Issa, the man he knew as Jesus, which said that during the 17 years in which he is not mentioned in the scriptures, Jesus was in India.
He was told that they had many scrolls describing the “life and acts of the Buddha Issa, who preached the holy doctrine in India and among the children of Israel.” He visited the monastery at Mulbekh, and was told that at the archives at Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, there were several thousand ancient scrolls detailing the life of Issa, and that some of the principal monasteries also had copies.
The documents, which had been brought from India, to Nepal, and then to Tibet, were originally written in Pali, the religious language of the Buddhists, and then translated into Tibetan. Notovitch believed that the verses “may have been actually been spoken by St. Thomas– historical sketches traced by his own hand or under his direction.”
There are various references to the apostle Thomas (also known as Didymus, Judas, and “twin brother of Christ, apostle of the Highest who shares in the knowledge of the hidden words of Christ…”), who, according to religious tradition, introduced Christianity to India in 52 AD.
The apocryphal Acta Thomae (The Acts of St. Thomas) written in the early 3rd century, said: “When the Apostles had been for a time in Jerusalem, they divided the countries among them in order that each might preach in the region which fell to him; and India (Parthia, northwest region of India, from the Euphrates to Indus and India proper), fell to the lot of Thomas.” He went to India as a carpenter, and preached the gospel to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Bactrians, Indians, and Hyrecaneans.
One story said that he arrived at the coast of Malabar in 52, and established his first church there. Another story said that after spending some time in the North, he went south, along the coast of the Arabian Sea. And yet another story said he arrived in the state of Kerala in 52, where it is believed that Thomas established seven churches: Cranganore, Palur, Kottakavu, Kokkamangalam, Niram, Chayal, and Quilon. After a couple years he went to South Tamil, and Tamil Najd.
According to a 2nd century Syrian manuscript called The Doctrine of the Apostles, it says:
“After the death of the Apostles, there were Guides and Rulers in the Churches; and whatever the Apostles communicated to them, and they had received from them, they taught to the multitudes. They, again, at their deaths also committed and delivered to their disciples after them everything which they had received from the Apostles; also what James had written from Jerusalem and Simon from the City of Rome, and John from Ephesus and Mark from the great Alexandria, and Andrew from Phrygia and Luke from Macedonia and Thomas from India, that the epistles of an Apostle might be received and read in the churches in every place ... India and all its own countries and those bordering on it even to the farthest sea, received the Apostles’ Hand of Priesthood from Thomas, who was Guide and Ruler in the Church which he built there and ministered there.”
His writings speak of the conversion of a king named Gundaphar, and in the 19th century, some coins were discovered in Afghanistan, near the capital city of Kabul, and in the western and southern regions on the Indian Punjab, which bear the name Godophares, and date back to 20 and 40 AD.
He went from the west coast to the east, to Mylapore (near Madras in southern India, now called St. Thomas Mount), on the Bay of Bengal, where in 72, he was killed by an assassin sent by the ministers of the king, while he was kneeling in prayer. After being pierced by the spear, he fell on a hand-carved stone cross.
This cross was rediscovered by some Portuguese workers on March 22, 1547, as they were digging the foundation for the church that was built on the site. His relics were preserved in a cathedral dedicated to him. The Roman Catholic Church considers the Cathedral of St. Thomas a Basilica, because it was erected over his tomb. However, another source said he was buried six miles away at the church he built, near Fort St. George in Tamil Nadj in India.
Notovich published his findings in New York in 1890 as The Life of Saint Issa, and in London in 1894, as The Unknown Life of Christ. He said that the Roman Catholic Church was aware of the existence of these manuscripts, and in fact have 63 complete, or partial copies of similar manuscripts in various languages.
Notovich was treated by Dr. Karl Marx (not the Russian Revolutionary), who recorded the information in his diary that is in the possession of the Moravian Christian Mission at Leh. However, the New York Times published a story about J. Archibald Douglas who visited the same monastery, and they told him they never saw Notovich, and knew nothing of a Saint Issa. They labeled Notovich’s book a forgery.
In 1921, a tourist named Henrietta Merrick visited the monastery at Hemis, was told about Issa, and that there were documents that had been in their possession for 1500 years that talked about him.
In 1922, Swami Abhedananda, a scholar, Hindu monk, and a disciple of Ramakrishna, went to India, visited the same monastery at Hemis, and was also told about St. Issa from their copy of the scroll; and he was shown an original copy of the scroll at the monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, which vindicated the incredible claims of Notovitch. He translated it into English, and then in 1929 to Bengali.
In 1928, Professor Nicolai Roerich also traveled to Ladakh and Kashmir, where he visited the Hemis monastery, saw many scrolls, and found out that the writings concerning Issa were kept in the most isolated part of the subterranean storage areas.
Roerich said that the Tibetan scroll he found indicated that Issa was 13 years old when he secretly left his father’s house left for India, and Notovich records in his book that he was 14 when he went to India, as does the Natha Namavali (or Sutra). He didn’t want to marry, which pushed him into leaving home. He traveled east with a caravan of merchants to Pakistan.
The apocryphal Gospel of the Hebrews (also known as the Gospel According to the Hebrews) said that Jesus traveled to India by way of Assyria and Chaldea with a group of merchants. His first stop was Sindh, where the Indus River and its tributaries flow into the Arabian Sea. He then went to Punjab and Rajputana, and then to Orissa. The evidence suggested that Issa stayed at the Temple of Jagannath in Puri for 6 years. He also visited Rajagriha, Varanasi (Benares) and other holy cities.
Issa then left the temple so he could visit the birthplace of Buddha, and lived in the Buddhist monastery there, where he was educated in the teachings of Buddha.
Sakyamuni Buddha (563 - 483 BC) was a well-educated prince who renounced his royalty (his father was the Chief of the Shakya Clain in Kapilavastu, in Nepal), because of his disillusionment with the ravages of illness and old age. At Gaya, while meditating under a Bodhi tree, he had a vision, and became ‘enlightened.’ He taught about “non-violence, peace, and compassion.” About 300 years later, Ashoka Maurya (269-232 BC), emperor of northern India, converted to Buddhism, and sent missionaries to many countries. In fact, it has been suggested that the Pythagoreans in Greece, and Essene community in Judea, was the result of missionary work by Buddhists. The man known as Issa was considered to be the incarnate of the spirit of Buddha, and was revered as a great prophet and teacher.
After 6 years in the foothills of the Himalayas in southern Nepal, he was recognized as a Master, and “had become a perfect expositor of the sacred writings.” He left, traveling westward. He passed through Punjab, and met up with a caravan of merchants from Kashmir, and he performed miracles among them, including the healing of the sick.
He returned to Egypt where he appeared before the Essene brotherhood, where he passed 7 tests, after which he was proclaimed the Christ. In a meeting before the 7 ‘Sages’ Issa said:
“The history of life is well condensed in these immortal postulates: ‘There are seven hills on which the holy city shall be built; there are seven sure foundation stones on which the universal church shall stand.’ The words I speak are not my own; they are the words of him whose will I do.”
“And from men of low estate I will select twelve men, who represent twelve immortal thoughts, and these will be the model of the church. And when a better age shall come, the universal church will stand upon the seven postulates. And in the name of God, our Father God, the kingdom of the soul shall be established on the seven hills. And all the peoples, tribes, and tongues of the earth shall enter in. The prince of peace will take his seat upon the throne of power; the triune God will then be All in All.”
He returned to Palestine when he was 29 years old, and the remainder of the narrative pretty much parallels the New Testament, except that the Jewish priests and elders are portrayed as supporting him, and Pilate is the one working behind the scenes to bring about his death. The text then ends with the persecution of his followers, and the disciples being sent forth to preach.
According to tradition, Issa died when he was 125 years old.
In 367, Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria made a list of writings which were to become what we now know as the New Testament. His selections were ratified by the Church Council of Hippo in 393, and again four years later, by the Council of Carthage. Therefore certain ‘books’ were left out, and were ‘lost’ even though some may have been historically accurate. One of the primary duties of the Church fathers between the 7th and 12th centuries was to obtain manuscripts from collections in Eastern countries, which contained information that differed from the version accepted and taught by the Church. These original documents may still be in the Vatican archives.
The first mention of the resurrection of Jesus appears in 1 Corinthians 15:3- 8, because it is believed that this was actually written about ten years before Mark was written. Therefore the stories concerning the resurrection of Jesus were unknown to Paul. In 1 Corinthians 9:1, Paul says: “...have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” yet there is no historical reference that he knew Jesus. The word “seen” was translated from the Greek word ‘ophthe,’ which means to have one’s eyes opened to realms beyond this physical world, which refers to visions.
It is the same verb which is used by Isaiah (Isa. 6:1) when he said: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne...” It was also used in Luke 24:34 to say that Jesus “appeared to Simon” and in the Book of Acts to describe the resurrection. Paul never spoke of a physical resurrection, because in light of the proper translation, it was only in a spiritual resurrection, where Jesus now “sitteth on the right hand of God.” (Col. 3:10)
Nearly a hundred “gospels” appeared during the first three centuries, and to preserve continuity and protect the new Christian religion, the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were chosen. Despite some gaps and contradictions, they were very similar. These books were not written during Jesus’ lifetime, but date from a time of major revolution in Judea, 66-74 and 132-135, and the earlier writings that they had been based upon have since been lost.
The argument has been made, that though some apocryphal gospels are derived from some sects that are doctrinely different from Christianity, their appearance, some in the early 2nd century, suggest that they were closer to the actual events than the four gospels, and possibly more historically accurate.
What all the writers of the Gospels had, concerning Jesus, was just an outline of the man. There were no eyewitnesses to consult, so where there was a void in detail, they just referred to the Hebrew Scriptures to fill in the blanks. For example, the removal of Jesus to Egypt by His earthly father Joseph, hearkens back to the patriarch Joseph in the Book of Genesis; the story about the young Jesus in the Temple, was modeled after Samuel’s Temple experiences; the Sermon on the Mount was an attempt to paint Him as another Moses; the story of Jesus’ raising of the widow’s son at Nain, was taken from Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17:17; Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 was just a retelling of God’s providing for Moses’ people as they wondered in the wilderness; the story of Jesus walking on the water, was a misunderstanding of the Greek preposition which could mean ‘on’ or ‘alongside of’; and the ascension of Jesus was taken from the story of Elijah being taken up into Heaven.
The earliest Gospel was considered to be Mark, which was compiled between 66-74 in Rome, and was believed to address a Greco-Roman readership, and if he wanted it to survive, he could not make it appear as though the Romans were responsible for the death of Jesus. It actually ends without the disciples’ assertion that Jesus rose from the dead, and only says that the women were told that He had risen. Mark never mentions whether He was ever seen after the crucifixion.
In 1958, in a monastery near Jerusalem, Professor Morton Smith of Columbia University, discovered a letter that contained a missing fragment of the Gospel of Mark, which through the years had been suppressed by Bishop Clement of Alexandria, who was informed that a gnostic sect known as the Carpocratians were interpreting various passages in the Gospel of Mark for their own purposes, which did not coincide with Church doctrine. The passage was part of the story about Lazarus being raised from the dead, and hinted that he wasn’t actually dead.
Along with the exclusion, there was also an addition, because the original manuscript ended with the death and burial of Christ, and the discovery of an empty tomb. Yet, the version that exists today, includes the Resurrection, which was added in the 2nd century, making the last twelve verses of Mark fraudulent. However, research by Ivan Panin (outlined in a booklet called The Last Twelve Verses of Mark), utilizing analysis of numeric design, has done a lot to reaffirm its authenticity.
The gospels of Luke and Matthew used Mark as a source for their writings. Luke (who also wrote the Book of Acts) dates to about 80, and was composed for a Roman official at Caesarea, and therefore was not anti-Roman. While Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus only goes back to Abraham, Luke’s goes back to Adam. Where Mark mentions only an empty tomb, in Luke, the women actually go in and see for themselves that it is empty. They encounter not one, but two angelic beings. Luke goes more into depth regarding the subsequent physical appearances of Jesus.
Matthew was put together about 85, and allegedly not by the disciple Matthew. It was intended to be a revision of Mark, in order to put more emphasis on the divine nature of Jesus, and borrowed references from the Book of Joshua who referred to placing guards at a cave in which he had five captured kings imprisoned, and having the cave sealed with a huge stone. It also alluded to Daniel in the lion’s den, and how he came out alive, when he applied the story to Jesus in regard to him surviving the tomb. In Mark, Peter is quoted to have said to Jesus, “Thou art the Christ,” and in Matthew, he is quoted to have said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The disciples were told to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” which it is alleged that Jesus could not have said, because it actually represented a theological premise that didn’t occur till much later.
Barnabas, a follower of Jesus, uncle of Mark, and a companion of Paul, who traveled around Palestine preaching the good news, wrote an apocryphal book, known as the Gospel of Barnabas. It was accepted as a canonical gospel in the Alexandrian churches until 325 AD, when the Nicene Council ordered all copies of it to be destroyed, and anyone who had it in there possession was to be put to death.
In the 5th century, a copy, written in his own hand, was found lying on his chest, in his tomb in Cyprus, which made its way into the library of Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) and was made available by a monk named Frater Marino.
Though there is no major deviation from the authorized gospels, one subtle difference appeared in the Sermon on the Mount, which seems to indicate that the account which in written in Matthew may have been embellished, to make it sound better. Barnabas writes: ““Blessed are they that mourn this earthly life, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the poor who truly hate the delights of the world, for they shall abound in the delights of the Kingdom of God. Blessed are they that eat at the table of God, for the angels shall minister unto them.”
Polycarp, author of a letter to the Philippians, wrote about the first three Gospels, but not the fourth, because it didn’t exist, and it wasn’t mentioned until 180 by Theophilus of Antioch. John has come to be regarded as the most accurate of the Gospels, even though it is believed to have been written over a period of years by theologians, at the Greek city of Ephesus, who in 100 AD, sought to fill the void in the contents of the other three.
John has the risen Jesus being seen by only Mary Magdalene, where in other books, other women accompanied her; and also singles her out as being a primary mourner. This hint at a more intimate relationship has given rise to a theory as to the actual role that Mary had in the life of Jesus. In the other three gospels, the Last Supper is portrayed as a Passover meal, after which Jesus was crucified; however in John, the crucifixion occurred before the Passover, whereby John puts more emphasis on the foot washing that occurred.
This discrepancy had been explained by saying that John was using the lunar calendar, while the others were using the solar calendar, however, it is now believed that John’s purpose was to present Jesus as the Passover Lamb of the Jews, who is killed as their sacrifice. Where in Luke, only Peter goes to inspect the tomb; in John, it was Peter and John. Critics claim that the story of Doubting Thomas (John 20:19-31) wasn’t true, based on the premise that Jesus was tied to the cross, rather than nailed. Some have even claimed that there was “no historical proof that he (John) ever existed.”
Simon Peter, the “Rock” upon whom Jesus said He would build His church, was believed to be the first to ‘see’ Jesus after the resurrection, and it was through his efforts that the philosophy of Christianity was perpetuated. The primary contention is that the New Testament was doctored to present Jesus as being divine. Because Jesus was not of the priestly tribe of the Levites, it was necessary to validate His claims so that He would be accepted by the early Christians.
In the Book of Hebrews, completed before the fall of Rome around 68, Jesus was described as being a perfect priest after the order of Melchizedek, who in Genesis was referred to as a priest of the most high God, yet neither was he a Levite. The Book of Hebrews, said to be written by Paul, also refers to the presence of Jesus in Heaven, but never refers to a physical resurrection.
Books such as Forgotten Worlds by Robert Charroux (1971), and Resurrection: Myth or Reality? by John Shelby Spong (1994), have questioned the authenticity of the Bible. In a 1977 book, called The Myth of God Incarnate, 7 scholars and professors from prominent American seminaries seriously questioned whether Jesus was Lord, and said that the Bible should be updated by having all traces of the deity of Jesus removed. They said that Jesus didn’t claim to be divine, but was promoted to that status by early Christians who were under pagan influences.
Another book, The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say?, a report by 77 Biblical scholars, which were part of the Jesus Seminar, said that Jesus did not say about 80% of the words which are attributed to him in the four gospels. They claim that the words were inserted by Christians after His death. In October, 1994, the Seminar convened and decided that the virgin birth of Jesus was fabricated. One participant called it “theological fiction.” This group began working on a new Bible commentary to reflect all of its findings.
The Gospel of John doesn’t mention the birth of Jesus, but it covers the conclusion of his ministry. The incident of the wedding at Cana is only mentioned in John, and is unusual in that the bride and groom are not identified, yet Jesus, His disciples, and His mother were there. When they ran out of wine, it was Jesus who performed the miracle of turning water into wine. The question was asked– why would Jesus use His divine powers for such an insignificant purpose– unless it was His own wedding.
Researchers have analyzed John 2:9-10, and feel that where the head of the feast is speaking to the bridegroom, it is actually Jesus that he is addressing. It is argued that this marriage was Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene, who it is believed was the woman whom Jesus cast the demons out of, who washed and anointed the feet of Jesus, and who is identified as Mary of Bethany (sister of Lazarus and Martha). She figures heavily in the gospels, and it was to her that Jesus first revealed Himself after the Resurrection.
Since the Essene law forbade marriage, Jesus may have been forced to withdraw from his relationship with her, because it would interfere with His work.
The Gospel of the Ebionites (‘ebionim’ Hebrew for ‘the humble’ or ‘poor’ were purists that believed only the poor could receive Salvation, observed the Law of Moses, and considered Jesus to only be a prophet) or Gospel of the Hebrews, supposedly shed so much light on Jesus, that it was suppressed by Church leaders. In fact, all books of the Ebionite sect have mysteriously disappeared. In the Gospel of Mary, Peter says: “Sister, we know that the Saviour loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Saviour which you remember– which you know but we do not, nor have we heard them.”
The apocryphal Gospel of Philip refers to Mary as his “spouse,” and says: “There were three who always walked with the Lord; Mary his mother and her sister (Salome) and Magdalen, the one who is called His companion (partner) ... the spouse (companion) of the Saviour is Mary Magdalen ... (He) loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on the mouth.” Near the end of the book, it says: “There is the Son of Man and there is the son of the Son of Man. The Lord is the Son of Man, and the son of the Son of Man is he who is created through the Son of Man.” It was Mary Magdalene, who carried the Grail, Sangraal, or ‘Royal Blood’ to France.
Around 70 AD, Mary, the wife of Jesus, took his children, and fled the Holy Land to escape the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. They made their way to a Jewish community in Provence, in southern France, where the lineage of Jesus, through marriage, was joined with the royal family of the Franks (during the 5th century, the Sicambrians, a Germanic tribe called the Franks, crossed the Rhine River into Gaul into what is now Belgium and northern France), thus creating the royal Merovingian dynasty. Within the Merovingian royal family, there were many Judaic names. It is believed that she later died at Saint Baume.
It could be that the Holy Grail, ‘Sang Raal,’ or ‘Royal Blood,’ could actually represent the womb of Mary Magdalene, which produced the bloodline. It is even conjectured that French cathedrals like Notre Dame, were built in honor of Mary Magdalene, and not the mother of Jesus.
In 2003, according to a novel by Dan Brown called The Da Vinci Code, the Prieuré de Sion deliberately manipulated the record of Mary’s role in the life of Jesus to spare her family from Roman Catholic leaders who sought to maintain the Biblical depiction. They used a code and symbols to represent and preserve her story, which evolved into the Holy Grail.
In a ABC television documentary exploring the possibility of Jesus being married, Brown uses Da Vinci’s (a Prieuré de Sion member) painting of The Last Supper (c. 1495) as an example. A close examination of the figure on Jesus’ right, long believed to be John, actually looks like a woman, and he believes that it is actually a representation of Mary. Art historians, however, only need to refer to his painting 1516 painting of John the Baptist as proof of his penchant for portraying Biblical figures as effeminate men.
Joseph of Arimathea, uncle to Mary, an Essene and well-to-do merchant in the tin market, who was a member of the Sanhedrin, appears to have been a guardian to Jesus. There is a legend that during one of his trips to Britain, Jesus was with him, and they stayed at a small house at Glastonbury. St. Augustine later wrote to Pope Gregory that Jesus had established a church there. Gildas (516-570), an early British historian, said that “Jesus afforded His light to this island during the height of the reign of Tiberius (who ruled 14-37 AD, with the ‘height’ being around 25-27).”
It is explained that Jesus may have possibly been in the area to learn about the Druids. It is a long-held tradition that after the crucifixion, around 37 AD, Joseph led a group of people who settled in Glastonbury; and a wattle church was built on what became the location of the Abbey, which existed until the 1100’s. It is from this group which came the Culdees (quidam advanae) or Christianized Druids, who lived on the islands off the west coast of Britain.
Merovee was the first king of the Merovingian bloodline, and he is surrounded in legend. He was said to have been fathered by two. When his mother was already pregnant by King Clodio, she went swimming in the ocean, where she was raped by a sea creature “similar to a Quinotaur,” so that when Merovee was born, the blood that coursed through his veins was a combination of both, which gave him superhuman powers. Merovee claimed he descended from Odin, a Norse God (which is where we get Wednesday, Woden’s Day, or Odin’s Day), which some researchers believe actually referred to Dan, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, because the Merovingian kings claimed to be the descendants of the Spartans and Trojans.
The tribe of Dan declined to accept their land when Joshua divided it up, and they marched up the Jordan valley to the city of Laish, conquered it, and called it the city of Dan. They immigrated to what is now known as Greece, where they dominated the people who were living there, the Pelasgians. They became known as the Danaoi. They established the settlement of Ionia on the Ionian Isles. A branch migrated to Ireland and were known as the “Tuatha de Danaan,” then went to Denmark as the Danes, and another branch eventually made their way to Britain. The Celts claim they came from the tribe of Dan, and that the name Denmark, and the Danube River, give evidence of their migration.
The Spartans lived in the southern Greek peninsula of Arcadia, later migrating across the Aegean Sea to build the city of Troy. According to the Iliad, by the Greek poet Homer, the founder of Troy was Dar-dan-us. Over the centuries the Spartans made their way into southern France, while the Trojans moved north and west into Germany, Belgium and northern France, following the Danube River, eventually settling in the province of Lorraine. In the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees, it was written that the Spartans were related to the Jews and were of the stock of Abraham, and for various reasons, were believed to have been from the tribe of Dan.
When the tomb of Childeric I, son of Merovee, was opened in 1653, 300 miniature bees of gold were found, which Napoleon had sewn into his coronation robe. In the Bible, the Danites were represented by a serpent, an eagle, a lion, and bees. The eagle’s wings on the back of the lion in the 7th chapter of Dan may symbolize Dan breaking away from the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Dan lived in the territory west of Jerusalem, near the coast of the Mediterranean, and after the death of Samson, lost their lands, and went north into the area now known as Lebanon, where they lived for 600 years. In 721 BC, when the Assyrians took ten of the tribes captive, there was no mention of Dan, thus they soon lost their identity.
In Genesis 49:17, Jacob gave a prophetic statement in regard to his sons in that “last days,” and said that, “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.” In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, an apocryphal book written about 150 BC, which is said to represent the final words of Jacob’s twelve sons to their families, attributes this statement to Dan, made when he was 125 years old: “I read in the Book of Enoch, the Righteous, that your prince is Satan ... I know that in the last days you will defect from the Lord, you will be offended at Levi, and revolt against Judah (the bloodline of Jesus), but you will not prevail over them.”
When Moses built the Tabernacle, he chose two men to head up the project, Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab of the tribe of Dan; and after it was completed, the tribes were positioned around it, and instructed to display their standard. Dan was in the north, and given the symbol of Scorpio, which according to the Egyptian Zodiac was a snake; and yet, Ahiezer, captain of the tribe, chose an eagle, considered a hunter of snakes. The symbol of ancient Spartan Greece was an eagle, as was the symbol of ancient Trojan Rome. In recent history, the symbol of the Hapsburg dynasty was an eagle.
The offspring of Merovee were noted for a birthmark, a small red cross, above their heart or between their shoulder blades, which became their symbol. The Merovingians were known as sorcerer-kings, who could heal, had clairvoyant powers, and could telepathically communicate with animals. They wore powerful amulets, and were called the ‘long-haired Kings’ because they didn’t cut their hair. Merovee (447-58) was a practitioner of the religious cult of Diana.
His son, Childeric I (458-96) practiced witchcraft. Childeric’s son, Clovis I (496-511) adopted Christianity, converting to Catholicism, and in 496, he was given the title “Novus Constantinus” (‘New Constantine’) by the Bishop of Rome, giving him the authority to preside over the rebirth of a “Christianized” Roman Empire, consolidating the power of the Church, and creating a tie between Church and State. During his rule, the Frank kingdom grew to cover most of France and Germany. It is believed that the Vatican knew the secret of the bloodline.
Merovingian Bloodline Merovee (447-58) | Childeric I (458-96) | Clovis I (496-511) | Clotaire I (511-58) | Chilperic I (561-84) | Clotaire II (584-628) | Dagobert I (602-38) | Sigisbert III (629-56) | Dagobert II (651-79) | Childeric III (deposed)
The Church had a hand in the assassination of Dagobert II, and Childeric III was deposed by Pepin III, the first of the Carolingian dynasty. The removal of the Merovingians was culminated with the coronation of Charles the Great, Carolus Magnus, or Charlemagne, who in 800 became the Holy Roman Emperor, thus betraying the pact made with the Merovingian bloodline, ending their dynasty. But the bloodline continued in the personage of Sigisbert IV (son of Dagobert II), who fled southward, taking on the surname “Plant-Ard” (eventually “Plantard”), and the title of the Count of Razes.
In 1956, the Prieuré de Sion was registered with the French Government, with the objective of “studies and mutual aid to members.” They were headquartered in Sous-Cassan, and within the group they circulated a magazine called CIRCUIT, which was an abbreviation for “Chivalry of Catholic Rules and Institutions of the Independent and Traditionalist Union.”
In 1976, the excommunication of traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre by Pope Paul VI was expected. He represented the conservative branch of the Roman Catholic Church, who fought against the modernization of the Church. In the end, the Pope backed down, and the Guardian (8/30/76) revealed their theory why: “The Archbishop’s team of priests in England ... believe their leader still has a powerful ecclesiastical weapon to use in his dispute with the Vatican. No one will gave any hint of its nature, but Father Peter Morgan, the group’s leader ... describes it as being something ‘earth-shaking’.”
The Order held a convent at Blois on January 17, 1981, the first since the one in Paris in 1956. The 121 at the meeting were all figures in high finance and international politics. A man named Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair was elected as their Grand Master. His name figures prominently in many Prieuré documents. He is the lineal descendant of King Dagobert II and the Merovingian dynasty. In 1960, he spoke of an “international secret” hidden at Gisors.
His grandfather was a personal friend of Berenger Sauniere, and he owns land in the area of Rennes-le-Chateau. In French records, he was listed as the Secretary-General of the Prieuré de Sion. When asked what their objectives were, he said: “I cannot tell you that. The Society to which I am attached is extremely ancient. I merely succeed others, a point in a sequence. We are the guardians of certain things. And without publicity.”
The organization is not limited to just restoring the Merovingian bloodline, and has many Jewish members, though the full extent of the membership is unknown. Documents on file indicate that their organizational hierarchy is similar to the Masons.
In 1979, in Paris, Plantard told reporters of the BBC, when asked if his organization had the treasures of the ancient Jewish Temple, he said: “Yes ... they will be returned to Jerusalem when the time is right.” He claimed that the real treasure was “spiritual” and consisted of a “secret” that would create a major social change regarding the restoration of the monarchy. In talking about France, Plantard said that Mitterand was “a necessary stepping-stone.” He revealed that their Order is on a timetable, and that their plans were unstoppable.
Plantard talked about unrest within the membership of the Prieuré’s Anglo-American contingent. The signatures of Gaylord Freeman, John Drick, and A. Robert Abboud were found on their official correspondence. They were associated with the First National Bank of Chicago. Drick was the President, and on the Board of Directors of other companies, including Stepan Chemical, MCA, Oak Industries, and Central Illinois Public Service. Freeman, an Illinois lawyer, was Chairman of the Board of First National, and on the Boards of other companies, including First Chicago Corporation, Atlantic-Richfield, Bankers Life and Casualty Co., Baxter Travenol Labs, and Northwest Industries.
He also chaired a Committee on Inflation for the American Bankers Association. He was a member of the MacArthur Foundation and a trustee of the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. Robert Abboud had also been Chairman of the Board of First National, and later became President of Occidental Petroleum Corp. It was originally believed that the signatures were forged from a 1974 Annual Report, but it was later discovered they were produced with rubber stamps. Though Freeman denied membership in the Prieuré de Sion, or of having any knowledge of their activities, Plantard has corroborated the information and said that their association with Freeman and other financiers had more to do with their goal of European unity, which had become their primary concern.
Plantard resigned as Grand Master, and member of the Order in July, 1984, “for reasons of health,” plus other personal reasons, foremost being that he didn’t agree with “certain maneuvers” by “our English and American brethren.”
During the 19th century, the Prieuré de Sion, working through Freemasonry and the Hiéron du Val d´Or, attempted to establish a revival of the Holy Roman Empire, which was to be a theocratic United States of Europe, ruled simultaneously by the Hapsburgs and by a radically reformed Church. Their goals were thwarted by World War I and the fall of Europe’s reigning dynasties. However, they continued to work for a United Europe as a protection against the Soviets, and as a neutral power to serve as a balance between Russia and the United States.
Out of the Merovingian bloodline had come most of the ruling families of Europe, and some Roman Catholic Popes. The genealogy of Dagobert’s son, Sigisbert IV, can be traced through a dozen families, including the Houses of Luxembourg, Montpezat, Montesquiou, Sinclair, Stuart, Devonshire, Plantard, and ending with the Hapsburgs. Even though the Hapsburg empire no longer exists, when the first parliament of the European Economic Community met in 1979, one of its primary delegates was Dr. Otto von Hapsburg, the oldest son of Charles I, the last Hapsburg emperor. He and son Karl have been among the leading proponents of a United Europe. Karl von Hapsburg is the heir apparent to the Hapsburg legacy.
In 1909, Hitler found out about the legend behind the Holy Lance of Longinus (the Spear of Destiny, said to be the one used to pierce the side of Jesus during the crucifixion). It was said, that whoever possessed the Spear, would rule the world. It was in the possession of 45 Merovingian rulers from 752-1806, and when Hitler saw it, it was on display at the Hapsburg Treasure House Museum in Vienna. His obsession for the Spear ended, when he began his European military campaign against Austria for the purpose of getting this holy relic, which he did on October 13, 1938. He placed it in the Hall of St. Katherine’s Church in Nuremberg.
When the War got closer to Germany, the Spear and other treasures were secured in a protective vault. On March 30, 1945, when the American invasion was expected, the treasures were moved again, however, the holy spear was accidentally left behind, where it was found by the Americans. Upon the order of Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, it was returned to the Hapsburgs.
It is believed that the Prieuré de Sion has “incontrovertible proof” concerning Jesus and His continuing bloodline, and has been working to again bring this bloodline to power.
With this type of research, which purports to give you ‘evidence’ of their claims, it can be rather unsettling. All of these theories and revelations seem so incredible, that they border on the impossible, because they are completely contrary to everything we have been taught to believe. The arguments are so strong and persuasive, but one thing you must always remember about what is going on, is that it is a Satanic conspiracy– planned from the very beginning.
With that said, bear in mind what it says in John 8:44– “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” The three main things that Satan does, is that he kills, steals, and destroys; so if any new information seeks to deviate from what is found in the Word of God, then it must be considered highly suspect. You must use spiritual discernment to separate fact from Satanic lies and deceit.
When I found out about the Prieuré de Sion there seemed to be something here, but for the longest time I just couldn’t put my finger on it. But soon, the deeper I got, certain things stood out. By approaching these theories as being untruths, which they are; and isolating certain aspects of the premise, I think that the Prieuré de Sion becomes an important piece of the puzzle which I have been trying to assemble. |