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Particulars of Christianity:
315 Global Conspiracy
(and Freemasonry)


Part 2: Financial Influence and Freemasonry

Intro: A Biblical Look at "Conspiracy"
Conspiracy: What does the Bible Say?
Conspiracy Against God in the End Times
Revelation Records the Conspiracy
The Lifespan of the Conspiracy (Part 1)
The Lifespan of the Conspiracy (Part 2)
Mystery: The Religion of the Conspirators (Part 1)
Mystery: The Religion of the Conspirators (Part 2)
Part 1: Mystery Religion in Modern Groups
Part 2: Financial Influence and Freemasonry
Part 3: The Great Merchants and Global Deception
Conspiracy Study Reference and Research Section
Controlling the News: Goldberg and Quigley



The fourth criterion in our list of Biblical descriptions for the end time conspiracy was the conspirators centralized control over global wealth and commerce. Since we have theorized that the modern Freemasons and their international affiliates fit this Biblical description, we have to test that theory with the following question.

Is Freemasonry involved in amassing and controlling vast amounts of wealth?

On this particular question, there is much evidence available. At the end of this study, we will present some links and references with expanded and more detailed research on the various topics presented in this section, including the financial and information spheres. For this portion of the study, however, we are trying to establish the theory that modern Freemasons fit the Biblical descriptions of the conspirators and their mystery religion using sources that are extremely uncontroversial and easily accessed.

Using these methods, the best way to demonstrate the Masonic trend of amassing and controlling wealth on a large scale is to prove the Masonic connections to the Order of the Knights Templar.

Concerning the Knights Templar, there are some basics from the historical record that we should cover.

"Knights Templars Pronounced As: templrz, in medieval history, members of the military and religious order of the Poor Knights of Christ, called the Knights of the Temple of Solomon from their house in Jerusalem." - encyclopedia.com

"The Templars were formed during the Crusades. They originally had a purely military function. Founded when Hugh de Payens and eight other knights joined together c.1118 to protect pilgrims, the order grew rapidly. St. Bernard of Clairvaux drew up its rules, and it was recognized at the Council of Troyes (1128) and confirmed by Pope Honorius III." - encyclopedia.com

According to popular history, the Order of the Knights Templar was completely destroyed, as encyclopedia.com recounts.

"The Templars were completely destroyed by 1314. Much of their property, theoretically designated for the Hospitalers, was acquired by secular rulers. The leaders of the order, including the last grand master, Jacques de Molay, were tried by ecclesiastic judges and sentenced to life imprisonment, but after denouncing their confessions they were burned at the stake (1314) as lapsed heretics by civil authorities." - encyclopedia.com

Now, what we want to bring out of this excerpt from the encyclopedia.com article is in regard to Jacques de Molay. Jacques de Molay was the last grand master of the Templars.

Modern conspiracy theorists assert that the when the Templars were arrested in mass numbers in 1307 and their leader Jacques de Molay killed in 1314, that many Templars survived and continued to live underground. According to these theorists, the property of the Templars (referred to in the excerpt above) was retained by these surviving members, who in time reemerged in Scotland and England under a new name, the Freemasons. Official Masonic institutions tend to deny this, particularly the Grand Lodge of England, who, as this article reflects, assert that the official start of Freemasonry was after the turn of the year 1700. Thus, official Freemasonic history denies their connection with the Templars.

However, this official history is not only doubted by some Masons themselves, but it contradicts some obvious details. Remembering that at this point we are using only extremely uncontroversial, readily accessible reference material, we return to the encyclopedia.com article on Freemasonry. There we find three items providing evidence of the direct connect between Freemasons and the Order of the Knights Templar.

1. When typing in a search for "Knights Templar" on encyclopedia.com, the first article that a visitor is directed to is the article on Freemasonry.

"1. - Knights Templars
Knights Templars: see Freemasonry..." - encyclopedia.com (search term "Knights Templar")

In itself, this cross-reference is only a hint of the connection between these two Orders. So, we will move on. This brings us back to the encyclopedia.com article on Freemasonry, which states the following.

Remember Jacques de Molay, reported to be the last grand master of the Templars, who was burned at the stake in 1314?

"There are also many subsidiary Masonic groups, including the Order of the Eastern Star, limited to Master Masons and their female relatives; De Molay, an organization for boys; and Job's Daughters and Rainbow, two organizations for girls. Many of the orders maintain homes for aged members." - encyclopedia.com

2. The article on Freemasonry records a subsidiary to the Freemasons called De Molay, a reference to none other than Jacques de Molay, the alleged last grand master of the Templars.

"The average Mason does not rise above Master Mason. If he does, however, he has the choice of advancing through about 100 different rites, encompassing some 1,000 higher degrees, throughout the world. In the United States, the two most popular rites are the Scottish and the York. The Scottish Rite awards 30 higher degrees, from Secret Master (Fourth Degree) to Sovereign Grand Inspector General (Thirty-third Degree). The York Rite awards ten degrees, from Mark Master to Order of Knights Templar, the latter being similar to a Thirty-third Degree Scottish Rite Mason." - encyclopedia.com

3. As seen in the above quote, one of the degrees of Freemasonry is still called the Order of the Knights Templar to this very day. And that Degree is not only the highest in the York Rite of Freemasonry, but it is similar to the 33rd degree of the Scottish Rite, which is the highest publicly known degree of that Rite as well. So, for modern Masons, it is absolutely true that the highest degree they can aspire to is still the Order of the Knights Templar.

So, even from encyclopedia.com we see that modern Freemasonry connects itself to the Order of the Knights Templar. (Even if the Freemasons publically deny their direct descent from the Templars, the Freemasons openly connect themselves ideologically to the Templars.) And as we have said, even though the official position of the Grand Lodge of England is that Freemasonry goes back only so far as the early 18th century, many modern Masons themselves doubt this claim and trace the origins of their Order back to the Knights Templar. (For more information on this, please see our links and references section at the end of this article.)

For now, we will leave these components of modern Freemasonry as enough to demonstrate the connection between Freemasonry and the Templars. And we will move on to demonstrate the extent to which the Templars practices rapidly amassed them unbelievable wealth. We believe that this aspect of the Templars is also alive and well in the Order of the Freemasons.

The article on Jacques de Molay from encyclopedia.com reads as follows.

"Molay, Jacques de 1243?-1314...After the Templars were driven from the Holy Land, he moved to Cyprus, where he began to organize a new force to recapture the lost territory. He was summoned (1306) to Avignon by Pope Clement V to discuss a new crusading effort. Philip IV, king of France, was jealous of the Templars' riches and fearful of their power. In 1307 all of the Templars in France were arrested, and their property was confiscated. De Molay...and was burned at the stake in Paris." - encyclopedia.com

The article on the Knights Templar from encyclopedia.com recounts the same events in slightly more detail.

"In 1307, Philip IV of France, who needed money for his Flemish war and was unable to obtain it elsewhere, began a persecution of the Templars. With the aid of Pope Clement V, the king had members of the order arrested and their possessions confiscated." - encyclopedia.com

Not only was the Order of the Knights Templar able to grow at a very rapid rate, but they were also able to acquire so much money that within 2 centuries they had control of enough wealth to pose a threat to the King of France. In fact, it was their vast wealth, that lead to the arrest of their members and the execution of Jacques de Molay. But, how did they do it? How did an order started by just nine knights manage to acquire that much wealth in just two centuries?

"The Templars received gifts of estates and money, and the organization soon became one of the most powerful in Europe. By combining monastic privilege with chivalrous adventure, they attracted many nobles. The order, organized under a grand master and general council, had its headquarters at Jerusalem." - encyclopedia.com

"When Jerusalem fell to the Muslims (1187), the Templars operated from Acre; after its fall (1291) the order retreated to Cyprus. By that time the Templars had ceased to be primarily a fighting organization and had become the leading money handlers of Europe. From the beginning the knights aroused opposition because of their special privileges, their freedom from secular control, and their great military and financial strength. As their banking role increased-they served such kings as Henry II of England and Louis IX of France-and their landholdings grew, they aroused the hostility, fear, and jealousy of secular rulers and of the secular clergy as well." - encyclopedia.com

The simple answer to the question posed above is that the Templars did two things. First, the order was able to attract wealthy nobles as members. These nobles then made sizeable "donations" (which some sources indicate may have been required.) The question is, what about the Templars was appealing enough to compel rich nobles to give them their wealth? Our contention is that it was the mysteries of their mystery religion that attracted such rich men to join and made them willing to give such large sums.

Second, the Templars became bankers, and by lending their money to the Kings of Europe, they amassed more wealth from these loans. Perhaps more importantly they were also able to turn the tables on these secular authorities so that it was no longer the Knights were under the rule of the kings, but the kings, through debt, who were under the power of the Knights.

But let's not move from this point to quickly. The encyclopedia.com article on the Knights Templar clearly states that the Knights increased their wealth by becoming "the leading money handlers of Europe," and more specifically to the point, they took on a "banking role," which meant they were lending money to the governments of Europe.

And remember what an earlier excerpt from the same article said, "In 1307, Philip IV of France, who needed money for his Flemish war and was unable to obtain it elsewhere, began a persecution of the Templars." The fact is, the Knights Templar were so skilled at lending money to the kings of Europe that by 1307 Philip IV was unable to obtain a loan from anywhere else.

Now, the point of this section of our article is to demonstrate that modern trends reflect the conspiracy depicted in the Bible. We have asserted that financial control over the nations is a significant characteristic of the end time Mystery Religion known in Revelation 17 and 18 as Babylon the Great. We have just shown how the Knights Templar were able to amass great sums of money within just 2 centuries while simultaneously gaining control over the kingdoms of Europe through debt.

When we look around at the modern world do we see this same trend at work? Yes, most certainly. Through international bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, western lending institutions have been able to place governments all over the world in severe debt and thereby gained control over these otherwise sovereign countries through loans and interest. This is identical to the practice of the Knights Templar. And while it does not prove conclusively that the Freemasons are an evolved form of the Templars or that the Freemasons are involved in this modern Templar financial practice, it does prove that someone in modern times who has control of western banking institutions is using this standard Templar practice. We suggest that this is the Masons perpetuating the methods handed down through their Templar roots.

So, in answer to our fourth question (Is Freemasonry involved in amassing and controlling vast amounts of wealth?), we believe the evidence points to a definite "yes." This means that so far the modern Freemasons match 4 out 5 descriptions of the Biblical conspiracy.

For a detailed investigation of the formation of the American financial cartel and its ties to Europe, we highly recommend The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin, copyright 1998. (See the Reference Section of this study for further details about this resource.)