For the Love of God and the Arab Rising
By Bradley George Bambridge
Copyright March 2012 Bradley George Bambridge
Synopsis: The heroines, Steve and Catriona Mitchell are in love, but become involved with a Masonic courier. They acquire information damaging to a career criminal which means they must fight for their survival from New York to London. Steve Mitchell is recognised for his bravery and selected by the Freemasons to head a pilgrimage to the Promised Land. They must assassinate a President, & negotiate their way through the Arab Rising. The negotiations involve several meetings with tribal, government, and Terrorist leaders. The aim of these meetings is to negotiate peace between the Jewish and Palestinian people. And bring about the formation of a Unity Government whereby the people of the Promised Land may live alongside each other in peace and equality.
Prologue: Quote: They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. The above quotation lends to popular public belief that Freemasonry is a secretive society not to be trusted and that its members use the network of ‘brotherhood’ to improve their status and wealth. Hearsay will have people guessing of hierarchal systems; and promotion won by proving knowledge of the societies cultural beliefs. Some anti parties will also label the Freemasons as nothing more than a pyramid system of temptation and reward; the more highly skilled you become in the hierarchy and the more you feed its insatiable appetite for financial gain, the more reward you will receive. It is rumoured that persons will become bankrupt to satisfy this system of reward, and deliberately disperse their personal or business wealth between ‘brethren’ before embracing bankruptcy. It is well documented that each member is under oath to improve the holdings of the lodge, and its brethren. Propaganda and publications by the Freemasons will inform you of their charitable work and their aim to recruit good men of sound character that may be made ‘better men’. Defined campaigns exist to recruit intelligent and ambitious young men straight from established and concentrated points of our society, such as universities. There is no doubt that good charitable work is carried out to the benefit of others, but doubt still lingers as to the true intentions of its members and their oath to champion their own charity.
The earliest text known to have recorded the word Freemason was written in the 1376. John of Northampton was elected Major of London and was determined to break the hold that the merchant oligarchy had on the London government. He did this by introducing tradesmen, notably Freemasons to the London council, which gave less wealthy citizens some influence over the affairs of London. The term Freemason is derived from the ‘Free’ stone worked by a Mason. ‘Free’ stone being a sand or lime stone that could be worked or cut in any direction, and hence was an ideal stone by which to produce ornate carvings.
But the rituals practised by Freemasons, which re-enact the tragic death and resurrection of one ‘Hiram Abiff’ go back to the time of King Solomon of the Israelites who built the ‘first temple’ on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. ‘Hiram Abiff’ was a chief stone worker employed at the building of Kings Solomon’s temple. He was brutally murdered after he held men in training and did not qualify them for promotion. The story of Hiram Abiff is recorded in the Bible; but nowhere is his tragic death and resurrection recorded except in the archives of Freemasonry.
The link between these ancient times and the modern day Freemason is quite possibly the Knights Templar; Poor soldiers of Christ and King Solomon. The impoverished fighting men of Christ became organised shortly after the first crusade when King Baldwin II gave permission for their head quarters to be set up adjacent to Mount Zion, within Jerusalem itself. Their aim was to protect pilgrims of Christ on their journey to Jerusalem. The order soon gained the support of the church and the Pope himself. A charity was promoted to finance the work of the Knights and one faction quickly grew into many, covering a vast swath of Europe. Each stronghold of the Knights Templar was ruled by a Grand Master, who not only controlled the ever expanding wealth of the order, but also the expenditure required to replace and train more knights as so many where killed during battle. Knights of the order were under oath to hand over all personal wealth, land and possessions, and fight to the death in the name of Christ. A common tactic in battle was to form a tight unit of knights mounted on heavy horses that charged at the enemy line with absolutely no thought of stopping; this tactic coupled with the fierce reputation of fighting to the death created such fear in the enemy lines, that many famous battles were won as the Knights Templar crashed through the enemy lines. These high risk tactics created heavy losses, in horses as well as men, in some cases as high as ninety percent. The famous battle of Montgisard in 1177 was a prime example; six hundred knights and their supporters stood in front of Saladin at Jerusalem on behalf of King Baldwin IV. The Knights Templar force was regarded by Saladin to be so insignificant against his twenty six thousand men, that he allowed his forces to split up and pillage the surrounding land and settlements. This dire tactical move was to prove his downfall and the Knights Templar were able to fight many smaller skirmishes rather than one massive force. Saladin was subsequently defeated.
The ‘Knights of the Temple’ are also credited for creating the first ever banking system. Kings, Queens and noblemen bequeathed vast amounts of land and gold to the order upon their death. The order became immensely wealthy and required administrative monks as well as fighting knights. Pilgrims of status: traders and noblemen; would leave their wealth and assets in the control of the order and receive a letter of credit that could be drawn upon as they travelled. The Knights Templar were powerful, exempt from any taxation and could travel unhindered across any border with a large body of men. This was a very real threat to any monarch trying to control his lands against would be enemies. But it was the massive loans to the English and French kings that were to prove their downfall in the end. King Phillip IV required a loan to finance a war against the English and was refused. The ‘Knights Templar’ had become a financial powerhouse of political influence that could be tolerated no more. Interest was not charged, but the loans would be paid back in the form of rent on the land they had signed over to the order. The ‘Knights Templar’ had become fantastically wealthy and influential, whilst King Phillip IV had raised tax levels to their limits and struggled to survive. The French King asked the Pope to excommunicate the order; he refused and excommunicated the French King instead. From that moment on, members of the order were systematically arrested and tortured to produce confessions with no supporting evidence of any kind. And once the axe had swung, and the Knights Templar were proven to be weak enough, nobleman and monarchs alike persecuted and plundered the order across Europe and England. Hundreds were burnt at the stake.
The modern Freemason movement as we know it derived in the 1700’s. Skilled partisans lodged together in areas of the country where Cathedrals, Churches, and other great buildings were to be built. Stone mason’s led a nomadic life, following the work around the country and across Europe. And where ever a building project was under way, a lodge would be required to provide welfare to the many tradesmen. As with any modern contract: the top men who controlled the flow of money and had the power to award work to the less privileged, formed a system to maintain that power. The person in control of the medieval building site was the ‘Master Mason’ and they had charge over all tradesmen. It is widely believed that they educated their members to have upstanding morals and have a positive effect within their local community. Each craftsman had differing degrees of skill, and hence a system of symbols was derived to prove a tradesman’s skill by passing on a secret message only known to persons at that lev
el of teaching; or above. This system is still in place today; albeit favoured by the up and coming modern professional from a multitude of trades and industries: engineering, journalism, politicians and the judicial system to name but a few.
The secret image of the society has bred mistrust of the Freemason, for he, or she, is said to have the unbridled loyalty of all other members that will aid their advancement and wealth, or as a Mason will tell you: ‘make their good man a better man’ ahead of and in favour of a profane. A profane being an outsider to Freemasonry. It should also be noted that women’s Freemasonry is becoming more common, albeit not as publicised. A female order of Freemasonry does exist and a few Freemason lodges do allow female members; Grand Lodges do not. Personally I am sure, that similar to all other groups, societies, creeds and hierarchal systems, there are good and not so good examples of good men among them. It seems to me the apprentices or new boys are paying some quite hefty subscriptions, and are also required to pay for several social and charitable functions. And yet the Master Masons receive payments for their work within the lodge and what appears to be favouritism in the way of promotion, pay rises, selection at interview, or as another example: it has been documented more than once that developers often benefit, by being awarded planning permission by their brothers who just happen to be on the council planning committee. These are just a few examples of ‘privileges’ or influence over others that one can enjoy if you are ‘On the Square’. I am sure that apprentices would benefit from this as well to a limited degree; but it’s like any hierarchal system, the persons at the top are receiving a substantially higher percentage of the rewards and doing less of the work. And when we get to the top of the tree, as in the United Grand lodge of England, we are talking about substantial amounts of money.
Dundee House was purchased by the Prince of Wales with money from a charitable trust at the height of its value for 20 million; take a look at the front of Dundee house, at the top of the front gable, what do you see? The Masonic symbol of a compass and set square no less. So what does this tell you; we know that the Prince of Wales is a Freemason, does the Grand Lodge own Dundee House or does a brother of the Lodge? Either way it’s a shady deal covered up by the premise of saving Dundee House for future generations. The house was sold at the height of its value after the market began to drop away; it was well documented in the press. I do believe, and most people ignore the fact that there is a ‘grand elite’ of extremely wealthy ‘good men’ at the top of this global tree. Remember, every other lodge pays license to a grand lodge, and I would surmise that a part, or all of those payments reaches its way to the United Grand Lodge of England, lodge: 01. Or: as it is commonly known among Freemasons, ‘The Mother Lodge.’ A Freemason in a tight spot, say in a court of law, could be heard to say: ‘My Grand Mother would not be very happy’. A clear and coded signal, that the accused was a Freemason.
One of the worse examples to recently hit the headlines in the last few years is of high profile criminals proving to be Freemasons. In the past, Police Detectives have had to infiltrate the criminal gangs to bring out the information that would facilitate successful arrests and hits on say: a large import of drugs. It is now known that the criminals have adopted a new strategy of gaining membership to Masonic lodges and using new contacts that are tied by Masonic Oath, to control and influence police officers, judges and public service staff that will turn a blind eye, and even alter or ignore critical evidence to ensure a ‘brother’ is acquitted. One high profile Cocaine Importer stated that you need a good million to pay off everyone and clear the way.
This phenomenon has recently culminated in the government becoming so concerned that the ‘Home Affairs Committee’ called the Freemasons to account for its membership and an official hearing was called. The enquiry called for the representative of the Freemasons to produce a list of their ‘brothers’ names and occupations. The Freemasons maintained a continual stance throughout intensive questioning, that they should and would comply: with Caveat! They were not a secret society, but a society with secrets and never did produce a list of members and their occupations. Senior judges within the judicial system are chosen via a secret process led by the Lord Chancellor, and for them to be part of a secret society may well raise suspicions of impartiality, which in turn may lead to the general public losing faith in the criminal justice system: that must remain impartial and objective.