Secrets of Secret Societies

Secret societies, as the name suggests, have for years remained a subject shrouded in mystery, heresy, gossip and conspiracy theories. This, perhaps, owes to the fact members are sworn to oath of secrecy in a bid to block information leaks.

But with prominent figures in the local and international entertainment industry rumoured members of these clandestine organizations, there have been a sudden surge in interest among members of the public.

These explain these days it’s common to find teenagers in cyber cafes across Nairobi and other urban centers researching on names like Illuminati and Freemason. However, the sudden popularity of this topic among the youth has triggered unprecedented obsession with the occult, with every move and gesture by public figures being interpreted as a hint to belonging to a secret society.

When President Uhuru Kenyatta said he will not be lifting the bible during his inauguration, the social networks were abuzz with conspiracy theories with many alleging this to be a sign of something sinister.

“The line between fact and fiction in this enigmatic topic is further blurred by Hollywood and sensation authors who, in a bid to whet their audience’s on the issue, weave their storylines through a labyrinth of conspiracy theories,” explains Prof. Ngari Gituku, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi. “For these reasons many cannot filter the truth from myth about these ancient organizations”.

in a bid to shed some light on this enigmatic subject, Sagepage decided to dig beyond the heresy and mystery by poring through historical documents, talking to experts and researchers and the clergy.

Throughout history the mankind has been obsessed by secrets, more so organizations that claims to hold secrets from eras past. This is given even more potency by the prospect of holding meetings in secret places after having undergone through a series of rituals to gain admittance.

But do these groups really exist and if they does, do they wield enough power to trigger global events leading to a new world order as most claims?

“To create a New World Order is a very old goal of theirs,” explains American historian Wes Penre in his pamphlet titled A Brief History of the Moriah and the Shadow Government. “it has been a goal that slowly is to be accomplished over a long period of time. However, they have accomplished more in this direction during the last few decades than they have done in hundreds of years due to industrialization and the information technology era”.

The ultimate goal to control the world, according to both members of these orders and those who have spent years studying the topic, will be achieved by taking control of spheres of modern society like government, economy and charitable organizations.

This, their doctrines claim, will be achieved by recruiting the best minds in these fields hence the numerous allegations linking global leaders and organizations to Illuminati and Freemasons.

While United Nations, Greenspan International, Amnesty International and UNICEF are among a host of international bodies that Penre and other researchers claims are partly sponsored by the secret orders, high profile global political and business leaders are also alleged to be members.

But hard evidence substantiating these sensational claims is hard to come by.

While prominent individuals are said to pledge their loyalty to Illuminati, Freemasonry and other secret societies through suggestive signs made in public, subliminal messages or tattoos etched on their bodies, organizations are linked through their emblem, logo and financiers.

Penre, like many other scholars, alleges that besides penetrating the higher echelons of global institutions and multinationals the clandestine societies are also “taking over the movie industry, the record companies, and by their control of the fine arts, they know how to influence the teenagers to dance to their own tune and accept their kind of reality”.

This seems to collaborate the allegations by religious leaders that key players in the entertainment industry are members of the Illuminati.

Numerous documentaries have been made depicting high profile global artistes as being Illuminati and propagating the groups symbols and messages through music videos. Among those named includes Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Eminem, Jammie Fox, The Game among others.

“The music teenagers listen to is often totally without quality and lead them into ‘robotism’, apathy, violence and drugs,” explains Penre. “The same thing goes with Hollywood, which is also controlled and created by the Illuminati…Dooms Day films and catastrophe movies all align with the purpose to influence us in certain directions”.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica Illuminati, apparently the most popular secret society today, was established by a Jesuit priest and lawyer called Adam Weishaupt on May 1, 1776 in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.

Although the secret organization has been in existence many years before the Bavarian priest came into the picture, he is the one who coined the term Illuminati which basically means those who have seen the light or the “enlightened ones”.

Internal wrangles and government crackdown disintegrated the group in the late 1700s, with Weishaupt and other members seeking refuge in Masonic lodges across Europe where they are believed to have survived through the ages to create the modern day Illuminati.

The fact that the group does not believe in a supernatural being make them an instant hit with atheists and humanists, leading many to believe they have a sinister political agenda of overthrowing organized religion and government.

In Kenya several big names in the entertainment industry have been linked to the Illuminati, albeit through newspaper gossip pages, bar talk and the social media. Prominent politicians, academicians and members of the legal fraternity have also been associated with Freemasons.

However, many of these people have neither denied nor confirmed their membership in public.

“Most young people tend to incline to cultism cum secret societies due to the societal disarray of culture and value systems by reason of the fragmentation of the institution of family,” explains Reverend Gobanga Ojukwu, the presiding pastor at Infinite Fellowship Ministries Church in Nairobi. “They are usually in a kind of quest for identity and a sense of belonging”.

Adam Light, a self declared 33^rd degree Freemason and the author The Entire History of Secret Societies, says that since its inception the Illuminati has been controlled by thirteen bloodlines or families. Among them are famous names like Rockefellers, Rothschilds and DuPonts.

Thirty three is the highest order in the Masonic hierarchy.

The Providence-Eye or the All Seeing-Eye, a single eye sign above a thirteen tier pyramid, is said to be the principle sign of the Illuminati. Whenever this symbol appears it has generated a lot of controversy.

The pyramid and the All-Seeing Eye imprinted on the United States’ one dollar bill have been a source of tall tales, with many alleging that it was intentionally put there by state officials with connection to the Illuminati. Just below the dollar sign is the Latin phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum which translates to “New World Order”.

Designed by President Franklin Roosevelt administration in the 1950s, a letter by an official of his government suggests that the wartime American leader approved and endorsed the inclusion of the sign in the national currency.

“In 1934 when I was Sec. of Agriculture I picked up a State Department publication which was on a stand there entitled The History of the Seal of the United States…turning to page 53 I noted the coloured reproduction of the reverse side of the Seal,” wrote Henry Wallace in a letter dated February 6, 1951. “Therefore I took the publication to President Roosevelt and suggested a coin be put out with the obverse and reverse of the Seal… as he looked at the coloured reproduction of the Seal was first struck with the representation of the “All Seeing  Eye”, a Masonic representation of The Great Architect of the Universe”.

Roosevelt is said to have been so impressed with the idea that he suggested to his Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau that the Seal be imprinted on a dollar bill rather than a coin.

Adam Light also pushes his theory further by claiming that there are numerical figures connected to the United States history that points to a profound connection to the enigmatic world of secret societies.

“The numbers 3,7,9,11,13,39 and any multiple of these numbers have special meaning to the Illuminati,” he explains in The Entire History of Secret Societies. “The United States was born on July 4, 1776. July is the 7^th month of the year. Add 7 (for July) and 4 and you have 11; 1+7+7+6=21, which is a multiple of 3 and 7. For those of you who still say it’s accidental, I could write a book just on numerical links, but I won’t”.

In his book The Secret Destiny of America Manly P. Hall, another 33^rd –degree Mason and a renowned authority in the subject of secret societies, seems to empirically back the theory of numbers.

“For more than three thousand years, secret societies have labored to create a background of knowledge necessary to the establishment of an enlightened democracy among the nations of the world,” the American writer claims. “Men bound by a secret oath to labour in the cause of world democracy decided that in the American colonies they would plan the roots of a new way of life…not only were many of the founders of the United States government Masons, but they received aid from a secret body existing in Europe which helped them to establish this country for a particular purpose known only to the initiated few”.

Manly and other historians allege that Freemasonry, a secret society purportedly started in Bavaria in the middle ages, has a direct connection to the Illuminati.

However, this is vehemently denied by many modern day Freemasons, most of whom claims their organization is an innocent entity engaged in a quest to advance the human course.

A quest by Sagepage to track down a Freemason bore no fruit since those that we were led to denied being members while others said they were under oath not to publicly address the order’s issues.

In Illustrations of Freemasonry, a book written in 1826 by a confessed Freemason, claims that one of “the last mystery at the top of the Masonic pyramid is the worship of Lucifer”. More of this is discussed in the highly acclaimed book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail which traces the lineage of Jesus Christ and the Holy Chalice.

“Their goal is to rule the world. The doctrine of this group is not democracy or communism, but a form of fascism,” Adam Light alleges. “Unlike authors who out of fear have acted as apologists for the Freemasons, I decline to absolve them of responsibility and guilt. Look to the Masons for the guilty party if anything happens to me. I believe that they have murdered in the past and that they will murder in the future”.

His allegations of the group having a global mission was confirmed by a 1953 US Senate Investigating Committee on Education which stated thus “So-called modern Communism is apparently the hypocritical world conspiracy to destroy civilization that was founded by the Illuminati, and that raised its head in our colonies here at the critical period before the adoption of our Constitution”.

One of the most intriguing aspects of secret societies is the initiation rites which for ages have been shrouded by myths, rumours and mystery. From stories of drinking blood, orgies, sleeping in coffins and congregating with the dead in graveyards to human sacrifice, initiation is one of the most secretive aspects of groups like Illuminati and Freemason since most of what transpires in these occasions is mostly a subject of speculation.

But a lot of issues pertaining to these groups remain elusive and shady, with most of the information available from secondary sources and the few members who have come out openly to confess through interviews or writing books.

“Secret societies are a counterfeit of the satanic attempts to subvert God’s divine purpose for family where people would find their true identity from Him through the insight of their loved ones,” Rev. Ojukwu concludes.