The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
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3.6.2 Illuminati
Although the history of the Illuminati started back with the founding of the Babylonian Magi
Cult, and its Kabbalistic and Mithraic beliefs in the sixth century BC, according to Gershom
Scholem (1897-1982) (as quoted in Livingstone), the modern version started with the Lurianic
Kabbalah (or New Kabbalah) around AD 1630-40 (Scholem 1974:245). As outlined by
Livingstone, this was followed by Shabbetai Zevi, in 1666, proclaiming himself to be the Jewish
Messiah [emphasis added] (known as the Shabbatean heresy, Frankists, Zoharists, or the
Illumined). This was then followed by the leader of the Zoharists, named Jacob Frank
(“originally named Jacob Leibowicz, who regarded himself as a reincarnation of Zevi”). Frank
taught a “Religious Myth of Nihilism,” or “the way to Esau or Edom”; that the only way to “true
life” or liberation was through the “overthrow and destruction of society”; and to “abolish all
laws, but to be accomplished in secret.” Frank was imprisoned by the Inquisition in 1760. He
was freed by “the conquering Russians in 1773, though, he eventually settled in Offenbach,
Germany, dubbing himself baron” (Rosenthal and Dubnow, “Frank, Jacob, and the Frankists,”
Jewish Encyclopedia; Antelman, To Eliminate the Opiate,
http://www.geocities.com/
cliff_shack/eliminateopiate1ch10.html/) - (Livingstone 2007:123-5).
The more formal genesis of the Illuminati came with the birth of Adam Weishaupt (its
founder); born in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, in 1748 to Jewish parents, who converted to Roman
Catholicism and had him attend monastery schools and a high school run by the Jesuits. There,
he learned Czech, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The Jesuits believed that he would become
a missionary. Instead, he rebelled and became a Professor of Canon Law at the University of
Ingolstadt. In 1768, Weishaupt began collecting a large library and reading every ancient
manuscript he could find. He became especially interested in the Great Pyramid of Giza. In 1770,
The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
st
Century . . . .
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he befriended a Danish merchant named Franz Kolmer, who had lived in Alexandria and made
several trips to Giza. Then, in 1771, he decided to form a secret society aimed at “transforming
the human race.” He spent the next five years developing his plan and researching/borrowing
from many sources such as, Egyptian occultism, Buddhism, Cabalism (Kabbalah), the Cathars (a
European Gnostic religion; the name means “perfect ones”), the Sufis of Islam, the French
Revolutionary Voltaire, the Eclectic German Masonry Lodge Theodore in Munich (to which he
belonged), and from his Jesuit training (
www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/Trainor 2002:1
).
Griffin outlines the documented formal birth of the Illuminati as follows. Finally on May
1, 1776, the Illuminati (from the same root word for Lucifer, “Bearer of Light” or Enlightened
Ones) was founded as a single powerful secret organization to overthrow established civilization
and religion, and to establish a Novus Ordo Seclorum (New World Order). Weishaupt
developed the following seven-fold plan as the means to arrive at that goal: 1) Abolish all
ordered governments; 2) Abolish private property; 3) Abolish inheritance; 4) Abolish patriotism;
5) Abolish religion; 6) Abolish the family unit; and 7) Creation of a New World Order/World
Government [emphasis added] (Griffin 1993:52).
According to Rev. Seth Payson, who in 1802 wrote Proof of the Illuminati, the Illuminati
is symbolized by the Great Pyramid, with the all-seeing eye on top (Great Seal of the U. S. on the
back of the one dollar bill), with thirteen levels. These thirteen levels are divided into three
groups: 1) Nursery (Preparation, Novice, Minerval, Illumined Minor), 2) Masonry (Apprentice,
Fellowcraft, Master, Illumined Major/Novice, Illumined Dirigens/Knight), and 3) Mysteries
(Presbyter/Priest, Prince/Regent, Majus, and Rex). The Order is controlled by the “Council of
13” (Council of 12 + the leader—Weishaupt himself). The true power of the organization was
considered to be “circles within circles;” that is the inner-most circle, governed by the Council
The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
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of 13 [emphasis added] (Payson 2003:67-8).
Kirban continues their early narrative history as follows. Weishaupt was joined in this
endeavor by Baron Xavier von Zwack (a lawyer) and Baron Adolf von Knigge (a very well-
connected Mason). On July 16, 1782, at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, the Illuminati joined with
the Free Masons to form the Illumined Lodges of Masons and moved its Headquarters to
Frankfurt (where the Rothschild banking family resided). By 1785, there were fifteen Illumined
Lodges set up in the Thirteen Colonies of America. The Lodge in New York had the following
famous members in attendance: Gov. Dewitt Clinton, Clinton Roosevelt, Charles Dana, and
Horace Greeley. The Lodge in Virginia included Thomas Jefferson as a member. Also in 1785,
lightning struck a courier of the Illuminati, who was carrying plans for the French Revolution
addressed to the Money Barons. These documents were seized by the Bavarian authorities. Then,
four professors, who were briefly in and left the Illuminati, were summoned to appear before the
Bavarian Court of Inquiry. Baron von Zwack’s home was raided and additional documents were
seized. As a result of the deliberations of the Court of Inquiry, all secret organizations were
banished from Bavaria and Weishaupt and his associates were denounced as heretics/occultists.
In 1786, the Bavarian Court published their findings as The Original Writings of the Order and
Sect of the Illuminati (Kirban 1980:150).
Payson adds the following narrative history. Weishaupt escaped to Saxe-Gotha,
Switzerland. In Switzerland, Weishaupt reorganized the Illuminati to appear on the surface to be
composed of legitimate groups; the German Union and The League of the Just (with sub-groups
of Literary Societies and Reading Clubs). He also pursued the Masonic Lodges in France
through Count Mirabeau, who formed the Jacobin Society in Paris (which consolidated all 266
Lodges of the Grand Orient in France under one head). Through this newly formed French
The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
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organization, and with the help of the Money Barons, the “reign of terror” and the French
Revolution through 1789 were directed and carried out [emphasis added] (Payson 2003:97-105).
Griffin interjects the following in this historical narrative. Shortly thereafter, two other
works were written: Proofs of a Conspiracy Against All the Religions and Governments of
Europe, Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies by
John Robison, Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh University in 1797; and Memoirs
Illustrating the History of Jacobinism by The Abbe Barruel (in French and translated into
English by Robert Clifford) in 1798, which further exposed the secret plans of the Illuminati
(Griffin 1993:44-9). Also in 1789, the U. S. Constitution was ratified and Art. 1, Sec. 8, Sub.
Sec. 5, stated, “Congress shall have the power to coin money (and) regulate the value thereof”
(emphasis added). The following year, the central Bank of North America folded, with
$12,000,000 in foreign debt and $42,000,000 in domestic debt outstanding. Despite this fact, this
central bank was renamed the Bank of the United States of America and was chartered for
twenty more years. In 1811 (after the 20-year charter expired without renewal) the central bank
gave way to individual “State Banks.” This then gave rise to the War of 1812, which was staged
and funded by the International Money Barons. In 1816, the central bank was revived and given
another twenty year Charter (Griffin 1993:181-4). In 1830, Weishaupt died at the age of 82. On
his death-bed, he feigned repentance back to his Catholic roots, to divert the focus away from the
Illuminati. In 1834, Guiseppe Mazzini succeeded Weishaupt and took over the leadership of the
Illuminati in Europe [emphasis added] (Hebert 2006a:1-4).
According to Livingstone, all this time, the Illuminati were developing their
“relationships with their brethren occultists in Egypt. . . . to play a pivotal role in the conspiracy
against Islam” (Livingstone 2007:141). This plan involved the British spy network recruiting a
The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
st
Century . . . .
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disgruntled Muslim, Mohammed Abdul Wahhab (1712-1792), as a British agent to legalize the
killing of one Muslim by another, under the guise of “ Jihad.” In 1746, the Saudi ruling family,
from the Aniza tribe (“being secret Jews” and part of the Illuminati family), agreed to maintain
political authority in the region and allow the Wahhabis (followers of Abdul Wahhab) to run the
cult. In 1776, “Abdul Wahhab declared himself leader of the Muslims of the world . . . In 1792,
Abdul Wahhab died, and Abdul Aziz assumed the leadership of the Wahhabi movement . . . Aziz
was murdered in 1803 . . . His son Saud ibn Abdul Aziz then succeeded him.” The Wahhabis
continued to disrupt and destroy the Ottoman Empire, from within, until Saud ibn Abdul Aziz
died in 1814. And, “Despite their initial defeat, the Wahhabis regrouped in Najd, establishing a
new capital in Riyad” and made new plans to continue to “dismember the Ottoman State”
(Livingstone 2007:141-3, 147-150).
Although the Illuminati were well-established and connected to the International Money
Barons by the time of Adam Weishaupt’s death, and appeared to be swelling to another flood
from Satan, the Lord continued to raise the standard of the Eschatological Gospel to fight against
this new form of the ancient Babylonian Mysteries cult religion (disguised as a secret
organization, society or order). Just prior to this and around the time of the French Revolution,
the resurgence of the Eschatological Gospel began on several fronts. In 1791, a Jesuit named
Manuel de Lacunza (who was living in Imola, Italy) published La Venida die Mesias en Gloria y
Magestad in Spanish under the pseudonym, Juan Josafat Ben Ezra. This work outlined the
Rapture of the Church, the appearance of the antichrist, the premillennial Second Advent of
Christ, and then the millennial reign of Christ on earth. This was a huge step for a member of the
Catholic Church (especially a Jesuit), but it actually did more to unite portions of the Catholic
and Protestant churches than anything else in nearly three hundred years (Froom 1946, 3:304-5,
The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
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Century . . . .
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309). This, coupled with the occurrence of the French Revolution, would lead up to the rebirth of
premillennialism in both England and America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Around the time of the French Revolution (1790’s), especially in Britain, there arose a
great interest in interpreting prophecy in Scripture. This, in addition to a renewed concern for the
state of the Jews and the rebirth of the doctrine of the premillennial Advent of Christ, formed the
basis for the rise of British Millenarianism. This movement involved strong advocates from the
laity (Scottish Presbyterian William Cuninghame of Lainshaw and James Hatley Frere), the
business community (Lewis Way, founder of the “London Society for Promoting Christianity
Among Jews”—to help Jews return to Palestine and rebuild their homeland) and the clergy (Rev.
George Stanley Faber and Rev. Edward Irving) - (Sandeen 1970:8-12).
Edward Irving moved from Scotland to London to take a parish in 1822. In 1825, he
became a disciple of Frere. By 1826, he had translated Lacunza’s The Coming of Messiah in
Glory and Majesty into English, established the “Society for the Investigation of Prophecy” (in
conjunction with Frere and Way) and began preaching on premillennial eschatology (Flegg
1992:40-50). During Christmastime in 1826, twenty interested laity and clergy were invited by
the Honorable Henry Drummond to his Albury Park estate for a week long discussion of
prophetic truth. This conference was held the following two years also, and included almost all
the millenarian scholars in Britain. This conference idea was to establish a pattern for not only
British millenarians in the next century, but for Americans also (Sandeen 1970:18-9). In 1829,
Drummond summarized the conclusions of all three conferences into six points: 1) the Church
“dispensation” or age will end in destruction, much the same as the Jewish dispensation ended;
2) the Jews will be restored to Palestine during this time of judgment; 3) this judgment to come
will fall primarily upon Christendom; 4) when the judgment is done, the Millennium will begin;
The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
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Century . . . .
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5) the Second Advent of Christ will occur before the Millennium; and 6) the 1,260 years of
Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 ought to be measured from the reign of Justinian to the French
Revolution (the vials of wrath, mentioned in Revelation 16, were then being poured out and the
Second Advent was imminent).
Also characteristic of this rise of millenarianism was the
publishing of periodicals (e.g., Morning Watch, London, 1829-33, Christian Herald, Dublin,
1830-35, Investigator, London, 1831-36) - (Sandeen 1970:21-4).
In 1831, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the forms of speaking in tongues and
prophesying broke out in Irving’s church and caused the focus to shift from premillennialism to
the gifts of the Spirit. Around the same time, John Nelson (J. N.) Darby and Benjamin Wills
Newton began to turn away from the secularness and laxness of the Church of England to form
an independent group (the Plymouth Brethren). This group maintained a focus on apostolic
Christianity and premillennialism. During the autumn of 1831, Lady Thedosia Powerscourt (who
had hosted Irving during a preaching tour in Dublin) hosted the first Irish Prophetic Conference
in her County Wickham home. It was attended by thirty-five clergy, fifteen laymen, and twenty
ladies. The main topics were the interpretation of the 1,260 days (years), the corrupt state of
Christendom, the imminent Return of Christ, and ways to identify the antichrist. During the
following year’s conference, a potential split in premillennial doctrine was identified between the
Historicists, who believed that most of the events described by Daniel and John in Revelation
were being fulfilled in European history, and Futurists, who believed none of these events had
occurred yet, but would occur at the end of the dispensation of the Church, just prior to the
Second Advent. The Futurists were also called Dispensationalists and included J. N. Darby and
most of the Plymouth Brethren (Sandeen 1970:29-37).
The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the 21
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Century . . . .
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The modern futurist concept was not new, but came from a Jesuit Priest named Francisco
Ribera, who wrote a five hundred page document on the Apocalypse in 1590. Among other
things, this work taught that the antichrist would come at sometime in the future for a literal 3 ½
year period right before the Second Advent (although, Ribera also taught that the Millennium
was not a literal one thousand-year period, but the period of time between the Cross of Jesus
Christ and the antichrist) (Froom 1948, 2:486-90). Sandeen (1970:38) wraps up this portion of
premillennial history with the following. During the 1833 Powerscourt Conference, Darby fully
introduced his “dispensational” ideas; the secret Rapture of the Church and a parenthesis or gap
between Daniel’s sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks (Daniel 9:24-27) - (Hebert 2004b:8-11).
Darby’s teaching of Dispensationalism included a revived version of the Eschatological
Gospel of Both Comings of the Lord Jesus Christ. This then shows the standard the Lord raised
up just at the time when the Illuminati were starting to expand their influence globally. By way
of continuity, this also leads into the consideration of the Modern Period (from 1830 up to the
present day).
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