Reviews by Hubie Goode: Secret Societies, Freemasons, Occult Knowledge, Who Rules the World? Part 5

Secret Societies

Part 5

Grand Lodges have now spread into other nations all over the world and influenced the societies of these nations to such a degree that the history of the world cannot be written without the inclusion of their influence. However, even the Masons themselves have come to admit that the forms of Masonry have over time become divided. There are those who have called for the “ancient chain” to be once again soldered together in order for the politics of the current age to be influenced according to Mason edicts once again.

In 1921 the first meeting of the International Masonic Association was held in Geneva. The next year, the leader of the IMA meeting stated in front of a world gathering: “My brother Masons, my hope is that Freemasonry, which has done so much for the emancipation of men, and to which history owes the national revolutions of 1789 and 1871, will also know how to make the greatest revolution, which will be the international revolution.”

By 1930, this powerful order included the Grand Lodges of Vienna, Belgium, France, Spain, Greece, Poland, America and many more. They have even had an obvious intent to infiltrate the governments in Latin America and undermine the Catholic power base in those countries. Why? For the same reason that the Grand Lodge of France encouraged its brothers, namely, in order for there to be a network of Freemasons encircling the globe.

Even Islam has not been spared of the encroachment of Masonic intrigue. Revolution in Turkey was sparked there also by the Masons who had become friendly with the Turkish military, and by 1908 they had deposed the government.

One enemy of the Freemasons has stated: “Freemasons have contended for the empire of the world, as few Kings have attempted. And to what end? To be the point of issue for all follies and all monstrosities, the Kabbalah, magic, Hermetic philosophy, communications with spirits, magnetism, Theosophy, Deism, Atheism, physical and moral regeneration, vengeance, destruction of empires, the Universal Republic. If we take away these ideas, what would remain is but a few honest citizens.”

Today there are millions of innocent people playing a part in the Masonic game, completely dumb to the truth of the organization they are ignorantly a part of. Freemasonry’s call to members and the subsequent subjugation of their freedoms and independence is really no different than that of Mohammed telling the slaves that he will set them free, or Adolf Hitler telling his people that they are the chosen ones. It is a divisive and destructive practice. It sets men against one another.

Freemasons argue that they are indeed not religious and yet they hold dear to the grand architect of the universe and have more rules, dogma and doctrine more complex and draconian than any on earth. They are indeed a religion and thus believe in divinity, their own transformation from man into divinity.

Since the beginnings the initiation into the order has not changed. It is still a system of control. A wolf in sheep’s clothing that states it is for the good of the people, by the people and for the people. They are not the conquerors who come with tanks and bombs, but the infiltrators who take the place of the man who works beside you at the office everyday.

Great works of charity are performed by all religions, including Freemasonry. But great works of destruction also come from many of the same groups, who then claim the role of hero when they rebuild the cities and towns afterwards. In the meantime, the first victims of war, the innocent, cannot be consoled or reconstituted.

One hundred years ago a reporter wrote in a publication that the Masonic chief of a lodge or order has little free choice as to his direction over the people under him, or the society in which he finds himself the inevitable influencer. His directions come straight from an unseen power above him, a massive “underground” government to which he answers. Since the beginnings, nothing of this relationship has changed. The laws of nations may try to prevent such “under the table” intrigue, but the Masonry has few worries as to their being impended in their prime directive. Those who hold positions of power have a knack for seducing the uninitiated into the fold with their contacts and abilities which mimic something of an old style Sicilian organization and they can in fact be called, in reality, “the Untouchables.”

Today there are many high ranking persons with great influence and power who are Freemasons, most are unknown to the every day masses. But they are also involved in altering the mind set and beliefs of the ordinary person and the whole society. Books such as “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” is one of these types of planned influences. Its author is indeed a Freemason. The precepts of the book take direct aim at the Catholic church and all Christian beliefs and then replace them with the ideas and directives of Freemasonry. Its child, “The DaVinci Code” is merely another shot heard round the world in this ideological battle.

There are also hundreds of United States senators and governors who are indeed members. Others such as Buzz Aldren, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ex President Gerald Ford, Henry Ford, and even Daniel Boone. There is a great web of influence, including many of the names well known to society from today and yesterday; and that may or may not be a coincidence, which if looked at from a distance can be seen in a rather shocking light in terms of the persons who have indeed influenced society from all factions. These factions include politics, entertainment and business, and many other areas where curiously, the leadership and successful organization beneath the leadership have the look of conquering success.

From the earliest times the orders have been involved in the worship of nature, the stars and planets. They created icons in rock and stone “Houses of the Holy” and claimed these houses to be the place where god was. One of these places made famous by The DaVinci Code is Rosslyn Chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is in fact a structure devoted to nature itself covered in Masonic symbolism.

These works in stone are all known by the name “Masons”. It is the Masons who are responsible for building the stone houses of worship and rock deities which we know of down through antiquity. They have also placed sacred geometry upon the ground in places such as London and Washington. They seek to create a New Jerusalem which will result in their New World Order. Ultimately, Freemasonry seeks to also rebuild the temple of Solomon.

They also continue to worship the “divine light” which in coded Masonic language is indeed Lucifer himself, the morning star. The representation of the inner light is shown in the wearing of all white, which today is not at all that practical. Therefore, in replacement, but not in lesser importance is the wearing of the apron. This apron, it is stated, must be of the purest lambskin. There is widespread understanding that the KKK or Klu Kulx Klan may have indeed been started by Freemasons and was populated by a majority of Freemasons.

As for the beards, the very first Mason wore one as representative of a kind of “Aaron’s beard”, which when burned represented the inner light. Only the Master Mason was allowed to have the full beard, marking him as the “wise one”.

All the things I have covered here come to the world via a long historic chain of secret orders that have encircled the globe. They now influence politics, business, media and religion. They have caused revolutions, set up international organizations, and created numerous other sects and orders in the directive to achieve their purpose to influence humanity and create a New Jerusalem. A new Holy city.

This long invisible hand has left its powerful effects all over the world and its history, and is still alive today. The leaders of these secret societies have little use for your religion or political beliefs. They answer to a supreme father who runs the whole world wide network. It is a unifying creed and utopian ideal that is detested by fundamentalists across the world.

The choice is as old as time, as old as the first questions from the Garden of Eden. Whom do we believe? Like Eve, we can ask ourselves if what God says is the ultimate truth of our reality, or is anything anyone else tells us the truth instead. But unlike Eve, in our day and time, we may find ourselves pitted against the whole of the masses who have been manipulated once again to go off on a “Holy Crusade” to ultimately serve the nefarious machinations of the unseen powers of our society.


More on the story of these secret groups next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Secret Societies, Freemasons, Occult Knowledge, Who Rules the World? Part 4

Secret Societies

Part 4

One of the ways we can look further into the organization of the Freemasons is to examine a text written by Theosophist called: The Anatomy of Revolution. The writer, Dargon, explains; The modern Theosophist organization was founded by a person named Madame Blavatsky, who was an agent of The Cabonari. The Carbonari is a branch of the larger Freemason society. Blavatsky was admittedly working for so called “hidden masters” who directed her every move.

There are many other diverse sects like the Theosophist, and they all draw their existence from the large Freemasonry society. But what is the true purpose of this group? One person who has spoken up and written about this says that, occultism, Theosophy, and other sects connected to this mystic system all have the same common baseline purpose, to assure the liberation of man, to take away all traditional moral sense, in order to be able to enslave him for the good of the interests that Freemasonry is aimed at. To me, that seems a bit frightening when you consider the results of Supreme Court rulings from the 60’s that took prayer and the Bible out of schools and the resulting escalation of murder rates, increased poverty, convicted felons and moral decay that American society has suffered for forty years now.

This is, however, the supreme Freemason secret. It has its roots in the literal beginnings of our world. In 1822 the President of Austria warned about these groups to his allies in this way: “These societies are a malady, which eats into the social fiber at its noblest parts. The evil has already thrust out deep and extended roots, Europe runs the risk of succumbing to attacks upon it ceaselessly repeated by these associations on absolute monarchies, constitutional monarchies, republics, all are threatened by these levelers.”

Immediately after these warnings, revolution in Russia became a reality. It was fostered by the Freemasons from the few lodges that still remained. Many of the writings of Karl Marx himself are suspiciously line for line retreads of the writings of Adam Weishaupt, of the Illuminati from the 18th century.

This happened again in the 1900’s, in Hungary, and at that time the secret writings of a local lodge were published and it lead to a revolution in 1918. It was revealed that the Freemasons actually owned the press, they also sought control of the professionals, school masters and professors, seeking to take control of the minds of the youth in the nation. (I have talked about this sort of thing in other posts on this blog.) They managed to succeed.

This happened again in Spain, as long held efforts by the Freemasons brought about revolution. Deschamps wrote in 1881, that the subsequent revolutions that had rocked Spain since 1812 were the results of wars between rival factions of the Freemason lodges which always unite in order to fight “Christian Social Order”.

It all began in 1728 when the delegation from the English grandmaster (Freemason) opened a lodge in Spain. By the time Charles III came to power in Spain, the government was full of Freemasons. By 1766, the arch enemy of the Freemasons, the Jesuits, was driven out of the country. In 1812 the Catholic power base of Spain had become a lap dog of the people. The real power was held by a Freemason constitutional government. In 1878, they militarily deposed Queen Isabella with a Freemasonite army. (This gets even more interesting if you include the information of others about the possibility of The United Kingdom being the revived Roman Empire and Prince William as the possible AntiChrist.)

The then chancellor of Spain in the early 1900’s, proud of the work they had done to literally take over the entire nation of Spain, gave a speech where he told the people: “The Spanish Masonry associates itself with the task which the League of Nations has taken on. It is the Masons which must create this universal conscience.” Not long after this, the League of Nations would become the United Nations. The UN itself was now full of Freemasons in the highest positions of authority.

Moving on to Portugal, 1941, we find the following: that most of the men associated with political, religious and intellectual revolutions over the last 200 years, were somehow connected to the Freemasonry. The history of Spain and Portugal will now remain absolutely linked with the history of Freemasonry itself.

Tales of Masonic power struggles in Europe go on and on from Italy to France, Great Britain to Russia. As an example, in 1903 a Freemason had created an international court of justice. By 1917, Freemasons had set up the League of Nations. Similar plans also exist in India, as one of the major players in Theosophy, stated in 1929 in her own published newspaper, “Try to perceive the great plan as a whole, India is the key note. India is the center of a great storm that will usher in peace. No true Theosophist or anyone who is working for the inner Freemason organization will be careless of India’s welfare. CoMasonry has been given to India, that it may be a powerful organized force that may be of service.”

To assist in the rise of India, an annexed portion of the British Empire, a secret hereditary group of assassins known as the Thugees were employed. They were devoted to the goddess Kali. According to history, it all began in the 14th century.

This is the period that the Freemasons trace their own origins to and the same period of the Knights Templar. The story goes that a Thugee Saint appeared in India, possessing vast sums of money. He had come from Persia, where he had bee a disciple of the “old man of the mountain” (You’ll remember Persia and it’s Mahdi from former posts in this blog.) The Thugees, who were good buddies with the Knights Templar, were associated with the Fakirs, or the “Sufis”, the religious or mystical counterpart. With the aid of European secret societies, these Indian organizations eventually took back control of India from the British.

These Thugees existed right along side of the society as if they were common folk, they would rise when called and then fade away again and this tradition and training was passed down to their children. There is little difference in the way they operated from our own modern day terrorist groups across the world.

So what was the true purpose of the Theosophist and CoMasonries who directed the uprising of India against the British? As one historian put it: “The idea of establishing “nationhood” is a linchpin of the future creation of a world empire.” Therefore, it can be said, that the Freemasons influenced the people of India in such a way as to ensure that a future “socialist” New World Order would come to pass. (Hear that, Mr. Obama?)

More on the story of these secret groups next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Secret Societies, Freemasons, Occult Knowledge, Who Rules the World? Part 3

Secret Societies

Part 3

From ancient Sufi to the Druids and then to modern day “wise men” all searched for the same thing, this “inner light” of man that could connect them to the divine. They all had sacred rocks and stones and also had a “secret knowledge” of the divine inner light that was symbolized by a serpent, something that looks an awful lot like the symbol for medicine used by hospitals.

The Sufis, are indeed a secret society of Persian mystics whose original religion may well have been that of those called the “Sabeans”, those referred to in this article as the “star worshippers”. They also hold, that it’s possible for them to hold onto their own faith while expressing outwardly allegiance to the religion of their homestead. They even practice spending a fixed amount of days in the wild, all on their own, in order to connect with the surrounding nature.

The Essenes, the Israeli counterparts to the Sufi who also worshiped the heavenly host, were protected by the Cassi-deans, an elite fighting force known as the “knights of the temple”. The Cistercians, created the Knights Templar, who themselves have been accused of heresies by the very church they were a part of.

All these groups, and more, meet within a structure that can only be described as a hidden society within a society, the society of the world. Wherever we find this peaceful society, protected by the “warrior elite” we also find them dressing in white, sporting beards and having secret knowledge of the planets and stars. This hidden framework has been around for centuries and remains unavoidably connected to the past and they influence society on a level we can only imagine.

What is their true purpose? Are they simply the society of the mystical, or do they have other things in mind? As I have said, any organization made up of people will look a lot like the people themselves and it would be naive to believe that every single organization is completely and correctly altruistic in all its operations, due mostly to the fact that people themselves are rarely this way.

History records that “Sabeism”, worship of the heavenly host, spread across the middle east, taking with it the idea of an “inner light” within man himself. This concept can be found in the non-Biblical books known as “The Lost Gospels”. These books come from the Essene, early Gnostics, who worshiped the sun, the light, the serpent. Both the groups of the Persians and also the Israeli societies soon became “brothers” of the order protected by the Knights Templar.

The next event was the emergence of the alchemists, who aided in the formation of secret occult orders. The Freemasons, the Illuminati, and others emerged from the shadows with an amazing likeness to the practices of the Sabiests. Though they have different names, they all amazingly have the same tools for operation and the same base belief system.

This all began in ancient Egypt, with a confederation of priests who specialized in the study of governing mankind. The Egyptian sages had an immense knowledge of all things relating to the physical sciences, and a huge library of sacred books. Their influence spread across the known world and held sway for thousands of years. The consequential empires of Greece and Rome owed their base position to the arcane knowledge of ancient Egypt.

All the mystical secrets can be traced back to the ancient Egyptian empire, as displayed by the practices of initiation that were used then and are still in form today. Being exposed to long stretches of fasting, imprisonment in darkness and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs were all part of a “do or die” test, that if survived, was the price of admission into the secret society. (Consider the building of the Great Pyramid of Egypt and the inside King’s Chamber, although believed for a long time to be a tomb, it has NO artwork on the walls like other tombs of the day. What was the pyramid really for?)

From Egypt, these secrets were passed into Judaism, with the Essene and Gnostics, and from there to the Sufi and Ismaelite orders, and then into the Cistercian Templars. The Knights of St. John, also attached, continued to pass along the mystical concepts. The symbols and concepts passed down then appeared in the orders of the Alchemists and Cabalists (The Cabal) and from this mix came the secret societies of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and now which today are mostly known as Freemasons. This makes the Freemasons a literal sacred ancient Egyptian order.

The Rosicrucians, The Illuminati and others all are connected satellites to the core of the Freemasons. They are indeed a modern day society that can be traced back to millennia, despite their own vagueness toward their origins. Due to the undeniable connection of the search for power beyond mere man’s strength that is at the core of all this, what can we guess is the true motivation behind the organization of the Freemason lodge?

With the Freemasons we have an organization that is concerned with altruism and also alchemy, they have been helpful to society in many ways but have also had their fair share of being connected to revolution and scandal. But if indeed they are connected to history in this way, then somewhere somehow, deep within the construct of their organization we MUST find the truth about the “connection” to man’s inner light that is so aggressively pursued.

In the early years of the 16th century a book known as “The Long Livers” was written. It was a long essay on universal elixirs which was dedicated to the lodge. In this book, it was stipulated that connection to the illumination within man was not only attainable, but necessary for eternal life. But this could only be found at the highest level with the use of a language know as “the Rose and the Cross” (Rosicrucians).

The Rosicrucians tell of their founder, a 14th century man known as Christian Rosencruz, who went to Damascus, the home of the Gnostics, and Arabia where the Persian Magi lived. There he learned many things about achieving this connection which are held in strict secret even to this day.

To the common man, the one raised on an education of scientific physical reality, the idea of reaching physical enlightenment through drugs and suffering can seem completely insane. Within the Freemasonry there are the rationalists, who understand this, and the illuminist, who have this mystical connection that drives them at the core, seemingly contradictory but bound together by the ritual of the lodge. Freemasonry today is so huge and so powerful, that it could spread propaganda around the world in the blink of an eye. To deny the political influence on the outside of the organization is to completely miss the deep, hidden mystical impetus that drives them.

More on the story of these sacred groups next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Secret Societies, Freemasons, Occult Knowledge, Who Rules the World? Part 2

Secret Societies Part 2

We saw earlier how many signs and symbols used in the secret societies evolved over time from star worship. The ancient word “Tzaba” may actually derive from an old use of the word which no longer exists, and may mean “many baptisms”. The pole star was worshiped as the creative principle which they named IAO, which also means “Isis” or “nature”.

From those earlier times the nature and star worship were intermingled. Stones and rocks were worshiped and considered a part of the greater universe, they were used to erect “houses of god”, each one contained a major place within for the heavenly presence. Nations from all around the world, Asia, Africa, Egypt and even those you might find surprising such as the Aztec nation and other similars were all used as a part of a world wide construct, or world wide “map” if you will of these “houses of god”.

Eventually the worship of the stones would fall into alchemy and there would arise such things as the “philosopher’s stone”, and also adding many spiritual and psychological meanings. All these representations, from the works in Egypt to the Mayans, seemingly on the other side of the world, were all different manifestations of the “god of light”. And when I say “god of light” I most certainly mean Lucifer and the Devil. Surprisingly, the number seven, used for perfection in the Bible, is here used to represent the number of colors in the spectrum that make up the color white, as well as the number of planets known at the time. In fact, there is a “holy meteorite” that is held in great esteem in the Muslim world even to this day.

The spread of Satanism was so successful that traces of it can still be found within modern secret orders. The Rosicrucians have some sacred grains known as “Elohim Tzaboath”, the dead are invoked and adored. One of their inner circle sayings goes, “I am the light of fire.” Secret societies often practice the invocation of spirits by using these types of divine secret names.

The bottom line of all this is that members are taught that man is connected to nature by a divine light that resides within himself. This divine light is the key to connecting to nature itself and must be awakened. Over time, the mind-bending level of energy needed to produce this state of connection was kept ultra secret by these societies, believing they had some inroad into ultimately manipulating this connection into serving their own ways and means.

This universal agent as they call it, can be controlled, say the ancients, and reality itself as a result. Don’t be surprised if one day you see the AntiChrist himself following this line of thinking as he proves to the world what is believed to be hidden since ancient times. He will be able to send thoughts around the world, give out words that will guarantee success, and heal at a great distance.

This unknown language, which can reverberate around the world, is completely unknown to most ordinary men and women. It has been used for millennia to proselytize people all around the world into their societies, and is usually revealed in deep drug hallucinogenic states. Not scientifically provable, this ability more so belongs to the types that are “Tibetan masters” who practice a kind of mind control that escapes the grasp of the common man.

Overt drug use, sexual depravity and types of BDSM, transcendental meditation and other similar practices, are all used to bring the mind into an altered state of consciousness in order to grasp this connection to nature, and the “light within”. This is a device that spread across the world in much the same way as the stone “houses of the holy” but was kept less obvious by use of secret rituals and hidden practices. From the drunken parties of Bacchius, to the orgies of Caligula, to the shedding of blood in the Aztec nation, and the self mutilation of the Gauls; all were expecting to gain a secret wisdom and thus advantage.

It would appear that all through history, there is a consistent attempt to become one with a “higher power”. If the self flagellation that is required in order to receive this special connection is still practiced, and in these societies it indeed is, then it is no wonder they are kept as secretive as they are.

Amazing symbols can be found in the esoteric writings of the Greeks, the Elysius as they are called. These secretive symbols actually come from ancient Egypt in its antiquity. There was a sacred phallus, not unlike the Washington monument, which was erected in honor of the virile part of Osirus (the sun god), and to which Isis ordered sacrifices and offerings. This is, in fact, the IAO, or creative principle worshiped from the very beginning by those who worshiped the stars. The phallus was a stone pointing upright to the northern star, giving homage. In India it is known as the “shiva linda” or “philosopher’s stone”. Whether Shiva or Osirus, the idea is the same, we are talking about the worship of nature, the creation, as though it were the creator.

Down through the ages the central idea has splintered and been effected by those whom have handled it, but the basics of the secret ideas are all pointing in the same direction. They can be broken down into simpler parts. The stars and planets directed man, and therefore they were worshiped. They offered navigation and measurement and solidified man’s place in the time of day. This heavenly process gave rise to tales of Osiris and Isis and much more, the sun and the moon and the cycle of life measured out by the gods. This powerful knowledge was ruthlessly guarded.

To communicate with what man thought were deities, he had to alter his state of mind. The process was related to the heavenly host which would guide his way. The priesthood, learning and developing the means to do this became quite powerful, and therefore had to be protected by an elite guard. The royalty of that day was given its power by the work of the priests and therefore, there was a tribunal gathering of king, priest and military. (Not unlike the predicted state of the coming AntiChirst with his religious leader by his side and the massive control of the military.) Civil servants were the sinews by which the body of the tribunal could interact and they had all the knowledge of the Kings and Priest and could also manipulate the military.

More on the story of these sacred groups next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Secret Societies, Freemasons, Occult Knowledge, Who Rules the World?

Secret Societies

Secret societies, we’ve all heard about them. Everyone from the Illuminati to the Freemasons, to dark dealings with extraterrestrials and the occult, have all taken the public by storm at some time in history. The New World Order is another of these grand conspiracies and private clubs that have become a part of our national conversation. It is even believed by some that the New World Order is run by lizard people who change from human to lizard and back within the blink of an eye.

This concept of secret societies, which is gaining more and more notice with the spread of easy information around the world, is really nothing new, for they have existed far back into antiquity as one can imagine. This also includes early Christianity who were subversive and secretive in order to be overlooked by the ruling powers. They often spoke in coded language and as many of you know, much of Revelation is indeed coded language. If you look at the next fifty years or so after the death and resurrection of Christ you’ll notice that in secular society it seemed as if nothing of great import had happened at all. In fact, some fifty years later the leading Jewish rabbi of the time hailed the coming of the messiah and publicly supported a common man as the Jewish savior. Sadly, this messiah did not bring peace to Jerusalem and was killed in battle, yet how commonly is this known?

This early church was indeed a secret society of its day, and although it took quite sometime, has a major place on the stage of world history today. The same could be said for Islam, the Greek and Roman empires and also the burgeoning resistance of Russia. In order for us to comprehend the real possibilities of secret societies, we must take a step back and look at the wider, long term story of history. It would be in error for us to romanticize the secret society as something a Batman villain might do but it would also be error to ignore the idea that those with power will leverage their position by joining forces.

There is power in numbers, and also when you create a cadre of mankind you also bring together the smaller parts of that entity and magnify them to a greater degree. If indeed these larger entities are made up of people who are greedy, lusting for power and not necessarily humanitarian in their decrees, then you have something on the order of organized crime. The difference of course, is the scale and political leaning.

A hallmark of these organizations which runs all through history is the ever present forms of dualism that are found. On the one hand there is a great wealth of information from ancient history, such things as old spiritual truths and archaic beliefs. At first they seem redundant, but actually there are great psychological advantages to these long held beliefs in relation to the control they exercise over the elect of their organizations. These organizations then also have a rather bloody history in their participation with some of the major events of history. But how can this be, you ask? If there is a ritualistic, handed down spirituality from generation to generation then how can there be a literal murderous side to these organizations? This is a question they often struggle with themselves as there are also histories of splits within these organizations dealing with that very self same issue.

But this is merely the outgrowth of the nature of the people involved themselves. Naturally, the struggle within a single person will be manifested within a group of persons. Secret societies gather the divisions of persons within a group together, for you may have Freemasons in both political parties of one country at the same time.

Secret societies have an internal structure not at all different from many business or political models. They have a series of held beliefs and rituals, sometimes they even have their own set of holidays and festivals. The difference is that those events and beliefs are hidden and secret. They hide them away in symbols and codes. They basically live “under the table” of common public awareness, and this too, like the dualism of their inner struggle, is an outgrowth of human nature. Anyone who truly understands the deeper aspects of Biblical scripture regarding mankind and “what is in him” would find this fact to be of little surprise.

The power base of secret societies is not unlike the psychology studies of Madison avenue advertising. They understand the basics of human nature and how to manipulate it, and this is how they have gained their power for centuries. Much of their closely guarded secret information was held long before it became public, not just in the esoteric reading of the heavenly host, but also information on such subjects as navigation and mathematical properties of construction.

Many of the symbols that we see used today that are now a matter of every day life can be related back to ancient times and the worship of the heavenly host. Star tracking and knowledge of how to read the stars and their positions were matters of great survival to the societies of long ago which had no compass or wrist watch. This was the practice of literally moving your mind into the heavens and using that information for guidance and navigation. This information became rigorously guarded and secret societies emerged.

It was during these times that man needed a device for making measurements, and as one can see down through history, this measuring rod was a staff of great position. From wizards to holy wise men, the staff that they held was a symbol of greater knowledge and position.

If you’ll read in the Book of Wisdom, you’ll see where it is spoken of the scribe who has time to discern the great learnings of the world and to decide man’s place within the grand scheme of things. The potter must busy himself with clay and ovens, the blacksmith with tools and such, but the wise one with the staff had to have time to work on the deeper things of man’s reality, be they spiritual or be they practical towards the acquisition of power.

The man with the staff, therefore, became the priest or shaman of the society. He was the one who had the measuring rod or staff and could tell what the “signs of the times” were by looking into the heavens and seeing the placement of stars and the relation of planets around the Earth. These great wizards or sensei’s, if you will, became an integral part of the survival of the society as a whole. Even to the point that if they revealed that they had contacted the dead or heard from Angels, few would have been brave enough to challenge them. The knowledge that these priest disseminated was so powerful and amazingly true to the tribes that followed them that often war broke out among tribes over possession of “holy men”.

Therefore, secondly, you saw in history a development of a “brotherhood” of warriors who’s function was to protect these holy men. This brotherhood also had a store of symbolism and signage which placed into secrecy their true purpose for existence. The knowledge of these groups would be deemed sacred and protected. Whether it was practical methods of survival, navigation and measurement or psychological and spiritual inner wisdom they would become the ground floor of future secret societies, and as populations grew around them, they would be given great power and dangerous freedoms.

More on the story of these sacred groups next time.

Reviews by Hubie Goode: The Dark Man: A Christian Novel

The Dark Man

by Marc Schooley

The Dark Man is a near-future thriller about a master of disguise working to eradicate Christianity in America. Charles Graves is haunted by his dead brother, his lost mother, and a phantom arising cryptically from a child’s puzzle.

Charles goes undercover to infiltrate one of the last Christian cells in Southern North America, only to discover that someone else is attempting to infiltrate HIM. In a world turned over by oppressive government and a godless society, Charles strives to bring down the last Christian leaders.

But sometimes he who persecutes the Church is destined to serve her.

When I first began to read this novel, I found myself wondering just what kind of book it would be in comparison to the library of fiction that I am used to. After all, it’s not often you find a novel that implements many of the same devices that the general public is familiar with, things such as, making the reader feel great about the position of mankind, his supposed independence and power, and yet manages to subvert those things amicably.

It just goes to prove to an audience that it’s not necessary to always use the same triggers, despite their apparent money making draw, in order to create a work of fiction that is both engrossing and efficacious. And, indeed, The Dark Man is one of those books. A famous writer once said, “The easier it is to read something the more work has been placed into its’ creation.” As a reviewer I get to use college words, as I have done already, but one thing Schooley does is make the reading experience seamless without pandering to verbosity and pedantry. You, know, like I just did. So what the reader is in for is a beautifully written and intelligently formulated story that will entice you into its’ chapters without offense both plot wise and prose wise.

I will say, however, that the audience is indeed Christian, and most obviously Bible Christian, not just religious or sect Christian. What this means is that there is quite a bit of originality to the plotting that one doesn’t usually see in most secular books, in that the good guys are the followers of Christ and they are NOT nut cases. In fact what they are, are real people with a real world problem on their hands working for a bigger cause. This cause is not the same one you see in a lot of other novels who glorify mankind, some of them with the audacity to believe that a battle between a man and Satan can actually be won... just in the nick of time, and all by himself.

You won’t find anything here, but real humanity, hoping and believing in the power of God working unseen in every circumstance as they struggle against those who would force a world to live without God. And let’s face it, that’s original!

The characterization propels the book at first as the personalities and situations are set up for the reader. There is a little bit of weird psychological magic also in revealing the Dark Man as a character whom only the protagonist is familiar with. This hero, Charles Graves, carries the Dark Man around with him in his head as an almost Shakespearean type commentator and antagonistic adviser during much of the action.

The story itself is imbedded with elements in a worldly myriad of sources from The A-Team to James Bond, and this works on the level of familiarity needed to transfer the story to the reader. In its' Orwellian way the story brings the reader into a kind of New World Order organization that Charles Graves works for in a creative and entertaining spy type fashion. And this section of the story is entertaining and clever enough to bring about the set up for the rest of the book in a way that is both complex and yet easy to digest.

Not an easy thing to do if you understand writing.

Oh, but once you have gotten to the meat of this story, it turns into a grand rescue mission you will not soon forget. Chapter after chapter of tense, well written plotting by a superior, literate writer turns what might have been a preachy, heavy handed tome into a brisk and involving thriller. Major plot lines and a few minor ones swirl around and into each other in an exciting and surprisingly understandable way, all dovetailing toward an end you may or may not see coming.

But, just one word about this sort of thing. When I was a kid, I used to play a lot of flag football and I would love to create trick plays on the opposing team, in such a way as to orchestrate a series of plays from first down to fourth down that would get the other players to think in the way I wanted them to. So, say for instance, my team would run a double reverse on first down. Then on second down we would do a short cut back pass. The third down was crucial because we would run the double reverse again, but making it obvious, and the opposing team would think in their minds: “Aha! You’re not going to fool me with that again!” and they would, of course, over pursue. Little did they know that the double reverse was just a smokescreen for the real play we had in mind. Used to work like magic!

I was reminded of those days while reading through the book in that there is a pair of events just like this, and they are handled deftly I must say, in such a way as I was quite fooled by the level of delivery. You will be too, as the writer isn’t just out to entertain you but also to hoodwink you with some clever plotting. I was quite impressed, mostly due to the fact that I had underestimated the abilities of Marc Schooley to give me something I could brag about that was still not secularly written. It CAN be done! Hallelujah!

So what is it about? Well, its’ more action story than it is preachy tome but it still delivers on that promise to be true to its’ roots and its’ audience. In much the same way the book of Ester uses the trappings of the situation surrounding the main character without ever having God himself show up, but you know he is all over it. Agents and spies abound with a few space ship and sci fi ideas thrown in also. They start out one way, rounding up the “resistors” but the main character has an epiphany of Paulian scope and suddenly finds himself at odds with his own organization and assisting the persecuted. The spy versus spy game is afoot. In the meantime, we have real relationships of life, family and love we can all relate to, and there isn’t one angry word spoken throughout. I know.. amazing, huh?

I recommend this book for those who want to see more positive Christian portrayals of both man and his relationship to God, even in a fictional and somewhat hyper reality setting. And also to those who would like something original and different from the usual stuff you have seen in books, movies and TV and you don’t mind a presence of the Almighty on board. All in all a good, positive read and no doubt a ton of work for a talented writer.

Marc Schooley is a Texan, Christian Philosopher, theologian, Bible teacher, speaker, musician, and nascent Christian fiction writer. Join him at www.marcschooley.com

Reviews by Hubie Goode: America in the Dust Bin of History Part 2

America in the
Dust Bin of History
part 2

If great empires are the larger creations of the smaller parts of its citizenry and respond like all naturalistic systems, what does this mean for America? What can we say about the possible existence of the retro implications of a fly in the ointment of 30 years ago that will realize themselves, or perhaps already are paramount in the state of America today?

The primary concern is not so much the layers of decline that a nation experiences as it dissolves, but that moment of “going critical” that should be resisted at all costs. Historically, fiscal problems of great depth are the harbingers of that sudden fall that most national entities of the past have experienced. Therefore, as the United States considers a national debt of more than 11% of the GDP, there should be crying and wailing in the streets.

These are indeed troublesome figures, but it is the resultant confidence in the overall competence of leadership and the comforting “American Way” attitude that comes under suspicion. This degeneration of national opinion could well undermine the overall confidence in the country itself and cause a multitude of smaller problems. Figures can be a problem but national fear could be even more of a destructive force.

In the future, a major negative news story could reach an untold number of the populace. In a moments time the lack of confidence in American fiscal policy could jump from merely a few insiders to the public majority and also foreign investors. Loss in viability of the whole system by the majority of its members is a dangerous shift in view point.

In recent times, the system of the complex global economy went from stalwart to anemic almost overnight all because of a large amount of defaults on sub prime mortgages. This cut the legs out from under thousands of financial institutions that were heavily in debt themselves. The coming problems could easily stem from the results of the unusual steps taken in responding by the government to this crisis.

If measures such as 0% interest rates or a fiscal stimulus package is seen as the wrong answer, perhaps even leading to higher inflation rates or even complete default, then a sustainable recovery will not be possible. Cost of interest payments on new debt can increase dramatically if bond yields escalate due to the lack of courage regarding American solvency.

Looking to the Russian example once more, the example that nations do not follow a circle of life is plain for all to see. This is an historian novelization of the facts. Great world powers are much like natural adaptive systems, they appear to function quite properly for some time and then suddenly succumb to an internal malaise, whether immediately apparent or not.

What to do.... what to do?

Reviews by Hubie Goode: America in the Dust Bin of History

America in the
Dust Bin of History

Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “ ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’

Revelation 18:10

For a long time in history now, those who study the pathway of mankind have had a certain predilection for considering the process of the political in terms best left to the Buddhists and naturalists. From the ancient city of Babylon, which ruled with a mighty iron fist, but still fell to the higher sophistication of the Meado-Persians to Rome’s eventual development of the modern day United Kingdom, historians and the like have viewed history in “circle of life” terms. Mighty kingdoms and the men who ruled them have a bell curve existence: rising, cresting, falling. It matters little if the cause is economic, cultural or ecological, the end result is the same: it is a long and winding road to the end.

Today, there are many who see the same encroachment problems in the future of the United States. Challenges that face the nation are often viewed as a smoldering, yet containable fire. Competing world demographics would seem to have painted a bulls eye on the backs of the American way of life, thus not so much conquering the nation in an old fashioned invasion type scenario, but instead, whittling down the public finances of America and forcing an uptick in retirees versus the number of workforce persons. China, as an example, continues to flex unusually powerful muscles all over the world and will create a situation of economic superiority over America by the year 2027 if current trends continue.

As for climatic change, considering also the increase in powerful earthquakes all around the world in diverse places, a final pay day could be less than a century away. I loathe to even consider the fact that there are major fault lines in America just waiting to crack and cause a type of chaos that could go way beyond economic strife, as we have seen in Haiti and now also Chile. There is also a major undersea fault line shelf that runs parallel to the northern west coast, that if tampered with naturally or perhaps influenced in nefarious ways, could cause a tsunami that would cripple half of America. While we concentrate on the much shorter time lines of say, withdrawal of troops from Iraq, it is easy to loose sight of the long term storm that could be building in our own backyard.

But let’s consider that perhaps this is not the case. Let’s consider that perhaps the history of nations is actually more like a Toyota. Sudden acceleration into a blinding crash in the twinkling of an eye could actually be the truth of history. Someone somewhere (sic) once said they would come like a thief in the night, and it could well be that such a scenario is not at all that uncommon.

The inner workings of a great power are less like the business model of the tree that works from the top and spreads out toward the bottom and more like the workings of old style printed circuits, but with much less order. In fact, they operate in percentages of order, some greater than others, and get by day by day based on the competencies of the people who run them.

Such a system is in a constant state of flux, merely due to its human element. In the same way that a small business runs the rapids month to month of financial integrity, these organizations (major world powers included) teeter on the brink of going critical. There can also come a swift time when the power finds itself past the point of no return, being too big to fail can actually come back to haunt an entire nation overnight. All it takes is the wrong card at the bottom of the stack to suddenly weaken and die and the whole house comes down.

Unfortunately for historians, short stories are anathema. It lends much more credence to the position of an historian if they can give long term reasons and rules for the collapse of a nation than to simply state that the roots fell ill and killed the rest of the tree. This doesn’t make for good copy, or vilification of the historian’s position and therefore most of what is explained as history is somewhat revisionist in its attempts to explain and delineate cause and effect of most any major happening that is textbook worthy.

The truth of this however is that the majority of what is reported on by historians is not a gradual wearing away of a society’s economic or even moral fiber which leads to its eventual dissimulation and decline. The end for Ancient Rome came long before it was overrun by exterior communities of barbarians, that was merely Rome’s epilogue, and that was the protracted part of the story.

Nature’s complexity is very much a reality that lends itself to much understanding concerning the construction of nations composed of those who make up the multitude parts of that society. As in the case of a beach, there are millions of grains of sand that construct it, yet the beach carries the same characteristics at its base core as the finite grains of sand. In much the same way, honey bees begat honey bee hives that are a direct result in their construction and formulation. Following the analogy : A nation is known by the multitude of flawed humans who inhabit it and literally make up its “body”, if you will.

Complex systems at the core share certain verifiable tendencies. The human nervous system and the sub atomic makeup of water crystals may seem variant at the outset, yet when treated with the same kind of interruptive event, will both contend with the same predictable eventuality. Namely, when a system like these is interrupted from its normal course of functioning, it is impossible to predict the scale of the resulting chaotic condition.

It may seem on the surface that any large power is run by its “King”, which may or may not be a result of mere heredity, resultantly producing disaster with the variable nature of generational competency, or perhaps the ruling faction can simply have been the stronger faction of the society. There are many ways in which the powerful can rise to power. But the truth of the power is in the workings of the system below the King, the day to day workings of the society of those who make up the body of the kingdom and much rides on the proficiency of this body, as the decline of the educational system over the last 30 years has shown us here in America. As a result, it is quite possible that like the example of ancient Rome, America is already in its epilogue stage, suffering its killing blow some time in our past. In much the same way that natural systems as I have spoken of have a tendency to suddenly go critical, a nation too can reach this point and then live on in its death throws for countless years until it reaches a point where suddenly it is no longer relevant.

Let’s take the Soviet Union as another example. Historians now report the existence of all sorts of back room villainy that caused Russia’s collapse tracing back to the time of Brezhnev and beyond. Back in the 1970’s it has been surmised that only high prices of oil held back the end of the world and an escalation of the cold war between America and the USSR, but this was little more than a smokescreen of intel at the time as most nations from the third world were tilting in the northern direction toward communism due to the superior firepower of Russia over America.

When Mikhail Gorbachev took power, only five years past before Soviet power fell to ruin and then the total dissolution of the USSR followed in 1991. As you can see, the die was cast long before what seems to be a sudden crash, yet the “sudden crash” is what gets the press.

If great empires are the larger creations of the smaller parts of its citizenry and respond like all naturalistic systems, what does this mean for America? What can we say about the possible existence of the retro implications of a fly in the ointment of 30 years ago that will realize themselves, or perhaps already are paramount in the state of America today?

more on this next time

Reviews by Hubie Goode: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

Mad Hatter Johnny Depp
Alice Mia Wasikowska
Red Queen Helena Bonham Carter
White Queen Anne Hathaway
Knave Crispin Glover

And the voices of:
Caterpillar Alan Rickman
Cheshire Cat Stephen Fry
White Rabbit Michael Sheen
Bayard Timothy Spall
Jabberwocky Christopher Lee

Disney presents a film directed by Tim Burton. Written by Linda Woolverton, based on the books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Running time: 108 minutes. Rated PG (for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and a smoking caterpillar).

This is the kind of movie that makes me sit in the theater and think of other things besides what is happening on the screen. I think about the countless hours that college kids spend in various classes around the world, whether they be writers, costume designers, directors or whatever you may have to achieve college degree wise to be accepted into the industry at some level in order to end up producing works such as Alice in Wonderland. I imagine those job hunts, those rejections, those striving days and hours of work and practice that they all go through. The “hoops”, if you will, that they all must jump through in order to be accepted at the studio production level.

Now, independent film doesn’t suffer as much from the problem of studio “suits” as does the big studio movie. They get to be odd and interesting on a different level because the mass audience is not the primary focus of the draw or reach of the movie itself. This opens many doors for introspective creativity as you rarely see in mass produced big budget movies. It’s an unfortunate fact that the 80-20 rule plays more of a role in major studio releases than smaller more intimate films. That is, students learn about 80% of what it takes to be an integral part of what it takes to make a film but only really get to use about 20% of what they have learned. (Oh, but they DO pay for 100% of their student loans.)

Alice in Wonderland’s studio mass produced restrictions play out for all to see in glorious 3-D beauty. Having done a little reading on the production, I was tipped off to notice certain things about the costume design and such that your average moviegoer probably won’t realize. For instance, the Red Queen has little gold hearts on her costume that are made from the cheapest materials you can find. This is so the “tin foil” look reveals her character which is somewhat of a “white trash” type construction. (Really??) Anyone out there notice that? Also, the Mad Hatter’s hat was researched and constructed of some old style “Roman” era leather that had been treated with flame in order to gain a certain type of quality. (Is that right?)

Well, I can certainly understand that someone who loves costume design like Ms. Atwood would never question the lengths and breaths to which she reaches to make her art meaningful and resident. I am quite sure from the incredible job she has done here that she loves her work. The down side is that her efforts are couched inside of the inexorable studio executive board meeting control methods which are mostly concerned with the bottom line that the picture will produce. And that, for any artist, is a crying shame.

Board meeting members are, of course, beholding to the stock holders and innovation is something for street performers and fine art students who have a degree but pour coffee at Starbucks for a living. Alice in Wonderland suffers from serving up more of the same thing to its audience, and it is quite annoying. Beautiful to see, but mostly a story line you have, once again, seen before. I have truly seen comic book epics that had more of an intellectual creativity to their inner scripting, but then again, they are not afraid of missing the larger audience.

I have recently read two books on writing, one called “The 7 Basic Plot Lines” and the other, the “The 20 Common Stories”, and I do understand that the commonness of stories is not totally the fault of Hollywood executives. Some stories work, they always have and they always will. Why not cash in on that? Movie making is of course always first and foremost a business. But why, I ask you, does every adventure story have to have a final fight scene?

Alice is placed in full body armor and must fight the terrible dragon with her “excaliber” type sword in order to set things right in the kingdom. I won’t tell you what happens, since you can imagine it anyway. I have no problem with “empowered” Alice. “Progressive” Alice. But why not show us clever Alice instead of swashbuckling Alice who goes from kept waif to Wonderland Woman in the span of a short period of time? Try this. All movie Alice has been shrinking and growing by taking the potions provided her by the denizens of Wonderland. She keeps a little bottle of it in her dress pocket. The fierce dragon attacks, Alice tosses the shrinking potion into the dragon’s mouth, he shrinks to three inches. Alice grabs the cigarette out of the hand of the blue caterpillar and lights it with her new “bic lighter”, she then turns to the Red Queen and says, “What else you got?”

Yeah Baby!

I’m joking of course, but it would have been an unexpected twist that played right into the script which had Alice shrinking and trying to find her own way in the world, telling herself and others around her that she wanted to find a way to do things by her own directives. Having the character step out of the usual Hollywood and storytelling conventions would have been just the ticket considering the young woman she ends up becoming in the epilogue.

As for Alice herself, actress Mia Wasikowska plays her well, with just enough gravity, and she is easy on the eyes also. What is strange is that she actually looks like a different person when the movie begins and then has a strange dimensional shift in her features when she enters Wonderland, this effect never changes. It’s an interesting dynamic and I can’t say if it was on purpose or just a matter of lensing and lighting. She does provide one with a character that you won’t mind spending a few hours with though. Alice is likable, and not obnoxious in her desire to be freed from the conventional constraints of her society. The problem for her in the future is, however, that she will always have to conform to something somewhere. That’s just the way the world works.

Johnny Depp is, of course, totally enveloped by the Mad Hatter he plays. You never see HIM, and it’s quite the amazing transformation. Makeup helps, but the real acting here is what makes the fantasy of this fictional character come alive. Somehow though, the Hatter is not truly a MAD hatter, he is just goofy. He can do magic with a tea pot, but sits in the jail cell of the Red Queen with depressing resignation. He is afraid of the Knave of Hearts and his card player soldiers but also has no problem wielding a sword in the final great fight scene. In my estimation those sort of conventions make the Hatter a little boring as a character. Why not have him counting the strands of sawdust on the cell room floor, giggling to himself in abandon? Why not have the sword in the battle do the fighting for him, floating in mid air? He’s the “Mad Hatter” after all!

Helena Bonham Carter plays her Red Queen with interesting dimension though, and actually reveals a little vulnerability in her villain that was a bit unexpected. That was a nice thing to see. How often do you see that nasty Queen in these types of stories, being impish and flashing her eyes at the men in the story. Her CGI and makeup are a thing to behold and I can’t see as a whole the production credits not being given their due awards. Top flight performances to all involved to be sure.

My favorite thing in the whole production, however, was the incredible Cheshire cat. I could have seen a whole movie just based on this innovation. Completely CGI and voiced by actor Stephen Fry, the cat brought the true magic of the Wonderland experience to a new dimension. Seeing him appear and disappear in a puff of smoke with just a hint of larceny in his delivery was great stuff! If only he had been more of a “Yoda” or “Jimminy Cricket” for Alice, he could have been more than just a side line attraction. He also performs a magical rescue that makes giant skips in logic according to the movie’s set of rules, but I would not have minded more of that. Perhaps Wonderland could have been less mundane and more Wonderful as the Cheshire cat was, and that would have made the whole production teeter on the edge of the fantastic. Ah well, the road not taken.

Overall, a nicely done production, but it could have had a more innovative story especially considering the subject matter. Adhering a little too closely to the “nice” tone of Lewis Carroll’s original may have hamstrung a deeper experience the movie could have reached. Starting out that way is fine, for Alice herself starts out that way, but if she had changed and the movie itself had progressed along with her, I’d be sitting here telling you to go see it now! As it is, the whole production is a 3 out of 5 stars, and a nice outing for parents and their kids. There is nothing remotely offensive here, unless you consider the insistence on individuality at the expense of “what has been foretold” to be a rebellion preaching. If so, you might have a problem, but what do you expect from a populist industry?

3 of 5 stars (Don’t pay for the 3-D, you can’t let your head turn sideways or you lose the effect anyway)