Russell, The Egyptian Pyramids, Freemasons and Demonology

[Micah Ong]

19 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

the all-powerful Almighty God, Jehovah.

In the Royal Arch degree, the Freemason " acknowledge that the devil, in the guise of Jahbuhlun, is his sacred Lord"--the name Jahbulun being a "composite of Jahweh, Baal, and Osiris." He chants "Jah-buh-lun, Jah-buh-lun, Jah-buh-lun, Je-hov-ah" (Texe Marrs, Codex Magica, Ch. 4). Albert Pike discusses the Cabalistic/Masonic significance of IAHOVAH in great length in Morals & Dogma (66, 213, 401, 467, 519).

 

DEMONOLOGY

The secret of the ancient Egyptians, and their modern disciples, the Freemasons, is the art of demonology for gaining power--mainly through the devil, Jehovah.

Russell, Pyramids & The Occult-

Mr. Russell introduced Occultism into his religion by teaching that the pyramids in Egypt are divine omens.  He taught that they contained prophetic secret which were known only to him.  Mr. Russell was so convinced of their mystic power & his exclusive knowledge of their secrets that he & his followers spent a small fortune in making a pilgrimage to Egypt in order to observe them.

 

The calculations were first printed in 1897 within which he stated: “…this measurement is 3,416 inches, symbolizing 3,416 years…This calculation shows A.D. 1874 as marking the beginnings of the period of trouble…” –Thy Kingdom Come, Series III, p. 342, 1897 edition.

Then in the 1916 edition it was changed to read: “We find it to be 3,457 inches, symbolizing 3,457 years…This calculation shows that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble...”  Mr. Russell’s pyramid actually grew 41 inches in 19 years.

[JW Insider]

On 5/27/2017 at 11:42 AM, Micah Ong said:

In the Royal Arch degree, the Freemason " acknowledge that the devil, in the guise of Jahbuhlun, is his sacred Lord"--the name Jahbulun being a "composite of Jahweh, Baal, and Osiris." He chants "Jah-buh-lun, Jah-buh-lun, Jah-buh-lun, Je-hov-ah" (Texe Marrs, Codex Magica, Ch. 4). Albert Pike discusses the Cabalistic/Masonic significance of IAHOVAH in great length in Morals & Dogma (66, 213, 401, 467, 519).

I haven't seen a post category like this before. The topic is locked, but I guess because it was directed at me, I have permissions to add a reply.

Problem is, I don't know anything about Freemasons really, and not much interest in them, either. So it's a vicious circle of willful ignorance on my part. I'll take your word for it that some book says that one or more Freemasons or groups of them have some sort of secret chant. I'm surprised that the chant would be worded as you have shown, but I'm not really concerned. If someone took your name and put it into a bad context, I'm sure it would not reflect on you personally.

On 5/27/2017 at 11:42 AM, Micah Ong said:

DEMONOLOGY

The secret of the ancient Egyptians, and their modern disciples, the Freemasons, is the art of demonology for gaining power--mainly through the devil, Jehovah.

That's quite a claim that that the "secret of the ancient Egyptians . . .is the art of demonology for gaining power mainly through the devil, Jehovah." From everything I've read so far that touched on this subject there were some Egyptian magicians who treated the name Jehovah like any other god. Egyptian magicians collected pronunciations of various names of God/gods in the belief that this was a way to gain magical powers. It's also true that some forms of Jewish-based and later Christian-based gnosticism, very popular in Egypt, formed a mythology that emphasized what appeared to be the failures of Jehovah/Yahweh and identified him with a less powerful god who was capricious, and perhaps "evil" in some ways. I suspect that if there is any basis to what you have said, that it is related to such things. Again, if someone took a good name and put it into a false mythology, or a bad context, it would not reflect on the person behind the good name, only the persons who are misusing that name.

On 5/27/2017 at 11:42 AM, Micah Ong said:

Russell, Pyramids & The Occult-

Mr. Russell introduced Occultism into his religion by teaching that the pyramids in Egypt are divine omens.  He taught that they contained prophetic secret which were known only to him.  Mr. Russell was so convinced of their mystic power & his exclusive knowledge of their secrets that he & his followers spent a small fortune in making a pilgrimage to Egypt in order to observe them.

There is some truth to what you claim here, but only a little bit. Russell only believed in a theory about ONE single pyramid. Russell was very much against Occultism, but he did succumb to a widespread interest in the pyramid discoveries of his day, which fueled all sorts of speculation.

Russell believed this world entered the "last days" in 1799 and that many of the great discoveries and inventions since 1799 were all part of God's purpose to bring mankind into the new millennium, which had just dawned around 1873. Russell incorporated the inventions of trains, cars, steam engines, telegraphs, telephones, and many other things into his beliefs about the time of the end and the comforts and conveniences of the new earth. He read some of the most "scientific-sounding" of the books on the Great Pyramid and came to believe that the pyramid held a lot of proofs that God had revealed knowledge many years before scientists would be able to understand it. Now that they were able to understand it in these last days, it meant that they would also understand that Bible knowledge had been revealed in the same stone monument. The idea was that God would use this method to reveal his Word to science-minded people who would otherwise have fallen into the trap of evolution and atheism.

In other words, Russell did not believe in any mystic power of the Great Pyramid of Giza or any other pyramid. He only believed that if it held enough evidence of a knowledge of science that Egyptians could not have known on their own, that it would attract their interest, and then they would also unavoidably notice that the zig-zagging lengths of drainage gutters and air shafts within the pyramid just happened to coincide with a Bible chronology that William Miller and other Adventists had made infamous. Since he had been convinced of an update to that "Miller" chronology, he was sure that it would match Nelson Barbour's version of the Adventist's chronology which currently focused on several significant dates in the history of Israel, then the first Christian century, 0 A.D., 33 A.D. then 1799 to 1844 to 1874 to 1914. He was sure that all those dates could be found to match the lengths of those inner chambers. When he looked at the charts from Piazza Smith's book on the Great Pyramid, he (or other persons he followed) thought there were ways to discover various locations within the Great Pyramid to match those major dates, including some of the B.C. dates.

Other so-called secrets of the Pyramid included some bits of astrology, and other items related to numerology that people had published prior to Russell's own beliefs, and unfortunately Russell included ways to interpret these things Biblically, too.

Most of what Russell wrote, right from the start, even if he made it look like he came up with it himself, actually was just copied from people before him. This was typical of many persons who wrote about the same chronology subjects that the various Adventists wrote about prior to Russell and Barbour. Russell didn't come up with much of anything about 1799, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, or 1914 on his own. Even the article he wrote for the Bible Examiner in 1876 that tied the 7 times of Daniel chapter 4 to 2,520 years that would end in 1914, also came from someone else before him. Most of what Nelson Barbour supposedly came up with (and Benjamin Keith, and others) supposedly came up with were just specific items that they had partially "plagiarized" because there were so many chronology beliefs to choose from. They simply chose a particular subset and "laid claim" to them. It's the same with Russell and the Great Pyramid, and his beliefs about all these dates, including 1914.

But Russell's visit to the pyramids was also a matter of looking into something that he thought was important. Perhaps he thought he had to make sure there was at least some truth to it. I wouldn't blame him for that, unless perhaps he considered it merely a photo-op to help sell more books. ("Divine Plan of the Ages" with the Pyramid Charts, and "Thy Kingdom Come" were always the two best-selling of the books.) I do think the entire enterprise was pretty silly, however. I don't think it was really a teaching from the demons, however, as Joseph Rutherford claimed. 

On 5/27/2017 at 11:42 AM, Micah Ong said:

The calculations were first printed in 1897 within which he stated: “…this measurement is 3,416 inches, symbolizing 3,416 years…This calculation shows A.D. 1874 as marking the beginnings of the period of trouble…” –Thy Kingdom Come, Series III, p. 342, 1897 edition.

Then in the 1916 edition it was changed to read: “We find it to be 3,457 inches, symbolizing 3,457 years…This calculation shows that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble...”  Mr. Russell’s pyramid actually grew 41 inches in 19 years.

Yes. This was embarrassing. All date-setting Bible chronology doctrines, so far, have ultimately resulted in either dishonesty or humility by their promoters. Russell, like most Biblical chronologists, chose not necessarily dishonesty, but a lack of humility and a lack of honesty by not explaining why he made the changes.  I expect to see a level of dishonesty among all persons who have set chronological limits based on dates: even dates like 1914 (or 1914 + a generation, or 1914 plus two overlapping portions of a generation, etc). To keep from having to admit total failure, there will always be some who are anxious to exaggerate and pretend that some of the predictions came true, even if what came true was just a matter of making adjustments to hedge the bet. 

But you should also know that it was NOT the 1916 edition that was changed to add the 41 inches. This change was made before the 1910 edition came out, so it's not like they waited until it failed and then changed the length. It's true though that Russell was beginning to hedge the idea everything he had expected could happen before 1914 and he reconsidered some of the claims about what would happen before 1914. But it is also true that 1914 was initially supposed to be the END of the time of trouble, and this was changed to the BEGINNING of a time of trouble. But this idea didn't wait until after 1914. In fact it started around 1904. But it's true that several edits were added around the time of the 1915 and later editions of Russell's books, so that expressions like "the close of 1914" were changed to "shortly after 1914" (or shortly after 1915). 

[Micah Ong]

Secret Society's work covertly with signs and symbols.

An interesting observation regarding the drama at this years convention.  In it a cross hanging from a teenager's neck is changed from upright to upside down in the same scene.

Well worth looking at, it only goes for 4 minutes.

 

[Evacuated]

On 5/27/2017 at 4:42 PM, Micah Ong said:

The secret of the ancient Egyptians, and their modern disciples, the Freemasons, is the art of demonology for gaining power--mainly through the devil, Jehovah.

The idea that any participation of the God we know as Jehovah could be related to magical gobbledegook on the part of any of these groups, ancient or modern, reduces the true God to the level of the genie in the magic lamp, subject to the whims of men. In that way you are basically insulting Him. Not the action of a wise man!

9 hours ago, JW Insider said:

Russell only believed in a theory about ONE single pyramid.

Yes, that's true. But even so, I would imagine that, regarding this silly idea, Charles Russell would share the sentiment  his colleague and successor, Joseph Rutherford experienced over his 1925 theory when he said:  "I made an ass of myself" WT Oct 1, 1984 p21.

[Micah Ong]

"I said that I had been in conference with the Great Master Workman, the Lord himself, and I have secret information through the Holy Spirit and guidance in respect to what the Bible says, and that contains all the truth, I believe on every subject. And so if we talk to our Masonic friends about the Temple and its meaning, and about being good Masons, and about the Great Pyramid, which is the very emblem they use, and what the Great Pyramid signifies, our Masonic friends are astonished....We are going to discuss free and accepted Masonry--the Bible Masonry, my dear friends".

"...If you feel that you want to become a member of the Free and Accepted Order of Masonry, and do not feel free and masonic enough as a follower of Christ, God bless you, use your own judgement; that is yours to decide not mine. But now I am talking about this great order of masonry of which Jesus is the Grand Master. This Order is to be entered in a peculiar way. There are certain conditions--the low gate, the narrow way, the difficult path".

"Our Masonic friends have it down very fine. I do not know where they got it so well. I have often wondered where they found out so many of the secrets of our High and Accepted Order of Masonry. From the time you come in to be a member of the Royal Priesthood, a living stone, a member of the craft of Masonry, from the Lord's stand-point,...if any man will be a living stone in the Temple, if any man will be a member of this High, Free and Accepted Masonry--let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me".

"So you and I as under-masons are waiting for the return of our Master Mason, who gave his life on this very account in connection with this secret of the construction of the Temple, the Church".

Christ died for our sins to set us free from the condemnation of sin and death, not for some secret regarding the Temple. Russell is way off base from the gospel.

He goes on to equate the Christian walk with the degrees of Masonry saying, "...we must go on to higher degrees, because those who are in the first degree practically know very little".

He then states again how exclusive he is in his own opinion, how clever, and how full of secret knowledge he considered himself,

 

"...Not everybody has the hearing ear and the seeing eye. It is only those who have come into this divine masonry that have this spiritual insight, and this spiritual guidance, and may know the things that are freely given unto us. It is something that is freely given to one class, and not intended for anybody else".

 

[JW Insider]

13 hours ago, Micah Ong said:

Well worth looking at, it only goes for 4 minutes.

It wasn't worth the time.

Adidas, and probably other companies have made soccer balls with the 5-pointed star design for a while now. 5-pointed stars are famous on flags, too. I suppose that Adidas or the United States has Satan behind them, too. (hmmmmm....)

Also, for a JW, a picture of a person wearing a cross represents the fact that they are NOT JWs, and in effect are still being blinded by Satan's system of things. It's a quick way of representing that the person is "worldly" or a non-JW. So, the person narrating the video is obviously not being honest when he pretends to draw the conclusion that it's supposed to represent what's behind the JW religion.

As to the fact that it is upside-down. I'm not concerned, but it may have been that the cross was upside down from the beginning and when it was noticed some of the scenes with it were reshot, but one of them made it back into the final edit. Or it's possible that, since JW actors do not own necklaces with crosses on them, that this was a makeshift prop that fell off in the middle of shooting, and was not put back on carefully when it fell off.

By the way, Russell was not a Freemason, and I think that AllenSmith presented the quotes to show Russell's own view of it. I understand that B. Anderson who apparently has no axe to grind for the Watchtower anymore, has researched the issue six ways from Sunday, and says that Russell could not have been a Freemason.   

[JW Insider]

5 hours ago, Micah Ong said:

But now I am talking about this great order of masonry of which Jesus is the Grand Master.

The entire set of quotations used in the post about Russell supposedly claiming to be a Freemason are presented in such as way as to imply a false narrative. You can actually pick out the true meaning in the quotes you gave, especially if you imagine the emphasis he would have needed to use on certain words to make these same points. Just as with the quote I pulled out from it here, the obvious point should be the same as if he had said: "But I am not so concerned with the secular order of masonry that Freemasons follow, it has a few things right if you pick and choose, but, NO, I am talking about this GREAT order of masonry of which JESUS is the Grand Master"

When you give speeches in Masonic halls, you often come up with analogous illustrations to help make your point. The apostle Paul may have given speeches where Olympic games were played, and therefore he gives speeches with analogous illustrations comparing the Christian ministry to Olympic games. He spoke of running, boxing, wrestling, etc. Here's an example:

(1 Corinthians 9:24-26) 24 Do you not know that the runners in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. 25 Now everyone competing in a contest exercises self-control in all things. Of course, they do it to receive a crown that can perish, but we, one that does not perish. 26 Therefore, the way I am running is not aimlessly; the way I am aiming my blows is so as not to be striking the air;

By the logic intended in the quotes you made about Russell, the apostle Paul was clearly an Olympic athlete.

You should read the entire speech from which the out-of-context quotes are taken:

https://rlctr.blogspot.com/2016/11/temple.html

 

 

[Micah Ong]

Stephen Lett gives the Freemason's the signal on the very first JW Broadcast

Please see at 1:40

 

Interesting too how Hosea 12:14 in the 1984 NWT had "grand Master" instead of Lord.  It has now been removed in the revised 2013 NWT.

[bruceq]

Sounds like conspiracy theories again Micah. However:

"And they kept on giving the Israelites a bad report." {Num 13:32}. But the report was TRUE. Those critical complainers did  tell the truth but Jehovah still says it is a "bad" report.

[Micah Ong]

13 minutes ago, bruceq said:

Sounds like conspiracy theories again Micah.

No sound here just visual evidence!

Not complaining, just sounding the warning!  I feel sorry that you blindly follow these men that mislead you.

[bruceq]

Just now, Micah Ong said:

Um no just visual evidence!

EXACTLY - good job.  And what the spies saw was also:

"And they kept on giving the Israelites a bad report." {Num 13:32}. But the report was TRUE. Those critical complainers did  tell the truth but Jehovah still says it is a "bad" report.

 

 

[Micah Ong]

2 minutes ago, bruceq said:

 

"And they kept on giving the Israelites a bad report." {Num 13:32}. But the report was TRUE. Those critical complainers did  tell the truth but Jehovah still says it is a "bad" report.

 

Haha wow, in no way does that scripture fit the context you are trying to put forward.  The WTS certainly has you captured. 

All the best!