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This project is inspired (in part) by Carroll Quigley's 1966 book: Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time.  A .pdf version of this book can be found here.

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Apollyon Rising 2012: The Lost Symbol Found and the Final Mystery of the Great Seal Revealed by Thomas Horn

In his book, Apollyon Rising 2012: The Lost Symbol Found and the Final Mystery of the Great Seal Revealed, best selling author, researcher, and co-host of the popular radio show Raiders Live! News Talk Radio,Thomas Horn welcomes you to learn the secrets of the true Lost Symbol (what Dan Brown was looking for and did not find), the forbidden knowledge of the Vatican and Washington DC, and the two-hundred year old cipher hidden in plain site at the Capitol Dome and on the Great Seal of the United States. You are about to embark upon the discovery of a lifetime, with a countdown toward the year 2012 that is unlike anything you have heard or read anywhere before.

APOLLYON RISING 2012 REVEALS FOR THE FIRST TIME...

• Unrecognized by the vast majority of peoples around the world is the greatest conspiracy of all time, sitting right out in the open in Washington DC and at the Vatican. It is an ancient, magical, talismanic diagram—the Lost Symbol—which waits its final use by the hidden, occult hand guiding the Secret Destiny of America toward the year 2012.
• To make sure they are prepared, the ritual for what is coming has been rehearsed in the Heredom by the Supreme Council over Washington DC with every passing US president starting with George Washington in anticipation of the deity's return in 2012.
• Many US Founding fathers were aware of these prophecies and designed the Capitol City to serve as the home of these pagan gods on their return.
• This secret is also openly hidden in the most spectacular way in the US Capitol Dome, directly tying the US and Vatican to the Mesoamerican 2012 date.
• Catholic priests who tried to warn about what was coming died under mysterious circumstances.
• A 200 Year Old cipher encoded on the Great Seal of the United States points to the same prophecy concerning the return of the gods in the year 2012.
• Nearly 500 years ago the Maya prophesied about the Colonial date 1776 as the beginning of the last 13 katuns leading to apocalypse in 2012. When academic Richard N. Luxton interpreted The Book of Chumayel: The Counsel Book of the Yucatec Maya 1539–1638, he was astonished to find it was connected to the "Christian Last Judgment" and the date 2012.
• A couple modern "Mayan elders" - who have been getting themselves in the news lately by claiming the year 2012 will not lead to the end of the world - are covering up how their prophecies diametrically contradict the prophecies of their forefathers including the Maya, Aztec, and numerous other ancient peoples who foresaw this time as portending destruction and "judgment from the gods."
• 200 Years ago Cherokee Indians prophesied likewise and set their calendar, like the Maya and Aztec, to end in the year 2012.
• In more than one place in the New Testament, scripture reveals by the same name that the deity encoded in the Masonic prophecy on the Great Seal and elsewhere throughout Washington DC will be the dreaded Antichrist.
• Over 700 years ago Orthodox Jewish priests prophesied in the Zohar that their Messiah would arrive in the year 2012.
• The first degree Masonic Tracing Board contains the same prophecy toward the year 2012.
• Jesus Himself in may have set the date for the apocalypse around the year 2012.
• This is a short sample of the HUNDREDS of new revelations in Apollyon Rising 2012.

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Apollyon Rising 2012: The Lost Symbol Found and the Final Mystery of the Great Seal Revealed by Thomas Horn

Book Review: The Ascendancy Of The Scientific Dictatorship by Phillip and Paul Collins

by Bruce Collins

RaidersNewsNetwork.com

Recently, I watched a debate on ABC.com, which I heard was also carried on Nightline. This contest of sorts featured two Christians versus two atheists. Obviously, this type of verbal sparring creates a little heat, particularly when Jesus Christ is a huge part of that debate. I felt a clear spirit of arrogance from the atheists who tried to subtly insinuate that Christianity was so implausible that only morons could believe in it. All in all, I thought the atheists were very well studied but I also believed that former "Growing Pains" star Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, both of the excellent "Way of the Master" television series, did a fine job of staying on the Message. The atheists relied heavily on science- some of it highly suspect.

At the same time, I happened to be reading "The Ascendancy Of The Scientific Dictatorship", a thoroughly researched book, by Phillip Darrell Collins and Paul David Collins. Somehow, both of these two events happening simultaneously created an awakening in me of how important the Collins brothers’ book is and how vital to our understanding it will be in the years to come. A secular ‘machine’ is diabolically shaping the world’s belief system through scientism: "the belief that the investigational methods of the natural sciences should be ecumenically imposed upon all fields of inquiry."

"The Ascendancy Of The Scientific Dictatorship" first touches on conspiratorial groups and their relationships. These purposeful assemblies are not always so secretive and could fall under the category of ‘the usual suspects’: the Trilateral Commission, the CFR, the Bilderbergers, and others. Although these powerful alliances function with varying degrees of competency, there is a master objective. Yet, despite a unified lust for world rule, interconnected affiliates are often unable to operate under consistent harmony and accompanied by a fluctuating hierarchy.

However, among the most influential of these subconspiracies, the Transnationalists and Internationalists work toward the goal of drawing nations together into an ever increasing dependency.

The dictatorship of science is steeped in the occult practices of Freemasonry, of which most members are uninformed.

Collins & Collins explore the epistemological cartel which is the elite’s dominance by ‘anointed’ scientists, portrayed as flawless messengers of truth. Originally, this theocracy tied into the worship of the Sun. At some point, this shifted to the new theocracy of science. The scientists reject supernatural explanations for their ‘bookkeeping’ of ‘truth’.

Much of science hopes to achieve singularity, the evolution of mankind to return to Eden and immortality through "world government and a unified consciousness." In this and other examples, science mirrors religion but its’ own culpability is not acknowledged as such.

Rama Coomaraswamy confirms:

"Unfortunately modern man sees science, not as a specialized kind of knowledge about the material world we live in, but as an almost "mystical" concept encompassing his most cherished convictions; his belief in evolution, progress, and that all reality is subjective, measurable, and centered on man qua man. For him, what science cannot measure and explain with its limited methodology simply doesn’t exist- all that is knowable is encompassed within its aegis. For modern man the scientist has replaced the priest, and when he speaks- even if it be outside the realm of his competence- his words are imbued with quasi-divine authority. Everything modern man believes in- be it hygiene, socialism or modern psychology- is described as "scientific", an adjective which seemingly endows its subject with the quality of truth and objectivity. It is to Science that we are directed in seeking a solution to our every problem. Modern man often proclaims his belief in science, and well he should, for science, or rather scientism, has become his religion. He accepts its fuzzy "dogmas," not because he feels they are true. Such a faith is "visceral" and "blind." It defies definition and can be described as an "immenantist awareness finding its source in the subconscious."

In an acceptance of scientism and the difficult philosophy of atheism, many reject "First Cause, which is God." Atheism breeds secularization. As "The Ascendancy Of The Scientific Dictatorship" states "sociologist William Sims Bainbridge makes clear, secularization does not represent the complete obliteration of religion. Instead, it represents the opening stage of occult counterculture movement."

The authors envelop much ground with excellent research on the British Royal Society, the Rosicrucians, Bacon’s utopian vision and Henri de Saint-Simon.

Phillip and Paul Collins identify sociology as a science of evolving knowledge and a worship of humanity. This proposed evolution will draw us into a supposed higher state of being.

Then, there is bio-power," a form of social control through the imposition of technocratic organizational frameworks upon society." All of this, of course, walks hand in hand with materialism. Humanity is a god that creates and saves itself.

The book explores evolution’s father, Charles Darwin. Darwin’s beliefs were rooted in the occult underpinnings of Freemasonry. "The Ascendancy" also looks at the often overlooked racist beliefs inherent in the science of Darwinism.

Packed with valuable information, the research covers the French Revolution, Planned Parenthood, UNESCO, elite wars and even peak oil theory. Each page is full of well documented facts. There is even a good study of the IMF and the World Bank.

In a chilling admission to the soul destroying effects of atheism, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer confided in NBC’s Stone Phillips, saying:

"If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then—then what’s the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing…"

The second half of the book deals with the "coming clash of scientific dictatorships." The end game is a cluster of competing socialist "regimes" making war with one another, yet leading us toward a prophetic trajectory.

Written from a Christian perspective, the Collins brothers conclude with the true war, the war of the ages, between God and Satan.

These guys are brilliant and I hope to see more books from them. Since my last name is Collins, if I was the third brother- you’d have to call me Curly.

I recommend this book. It’s unique. It’s well researched. It’s important. You should buy it.

To order the hard copy of this outstanding book, click here, or for an E-book version, go to www.4acloserlook.com/ascendancy.html. Phillip and Paul Collins are also regular RNN columnists.

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Book Review: The Ascendancy Of The Scientific Dictatorship by Phillip and Paul Collins

Bishop Lowell Paul Wadle

Wandering Bishops:
Not All Roads Lead to Rome

by Stephan A. Hoeller

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THE OFFICE OF BISHOP is as old as Christianity itself. As early as the 90's C.E., St. Clement of Rome, in a letter addressed to the feuding community of Corinth, reminded his fellow Christians that the apostles had appointed and anointed the bishops as their valid successors, and that it would be against God's will for the people to replace them. In early Christendom, men (and, it would seem, women) called episkopoi received authority from their predecessors by the laying on of hands to exercise the fullness of spiritual power bestowed by Jesus on his apostles. The bishops then delegated special functions, such as teaching, forgiveness of sins, healing, and counseling, to ministers who acted as their helpers. The office of bishop is thus more ancient than that of priest, deacon, or other lesser churchly orders, all of which were established by the second century C.E., considerably later than the apostolic order of bishop.
The apostles and their successors functioned in two ways: some were permanently attached to a particular city and geographical area where they cared for the spiritual welfare of a community of Christians, while others, inspired by the words of their founder commanding them to teach all peoples and nations, traveled to distant lands spreading the message of their faith. These leaders roamed far from the Mid-Eastern cradle of Christianity, penetrating even such remote countries as India, as did the apostle Thomas. Apostles of Jesus such as Thomas, Bartholomew, and Andrew, who did not remain in fixed residences caring for an established community, may thus be regarded as the first traveling, or "wandering," bishops.
Later, other categories of wandering bishops came upon the scene. Emperor Constantine established Christianity as the state religion of his realm and proceeded to enforce an artificial unity on the Christian communities. Prior to this time, there was a strong pluralistic orientation of such communities and of their leaders. Acknowledging a common devotion to Christ and his teachings, they differed widely in doctrine and practice. With Constantine conditions changed; "orthodoxy" was declared as binding upon all. Those who did not conform were forced to leave the community and often their places of residence. They became wanderers. Gnostic, Arian, Nestorian, Monophysite, and other non-conforming Christian leaders became wandering bishops. A new trend was created. Those who conformed to emperor and bishop were allowed to remain in office and enjoy the support of the state, while those who dissented were invited to depart and became wanderers. Yet, such wanderers were not without followers, for kindred, dissenting clergy and congregants rallied around wherever they went, often impelling the orthodox authorities to acts of persecution. The rest of the story is a familiar and sorrowful one.
From early times, transmission of apostolic authority existed outside of the mainstream of the churches of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and others. Many of these transmissions were condemned by their "big brothers" as heretical. Curiously, the validity of their apostolic orders was acknowledged by their critics. Due to an early tradition, articulated but not invented b y St. Augustine, the orthodoxy and validity of apostolic succession were not considered identical. Bishops could be heretics, yet could exercise their office as stewards of the sacraments in a valid manner. This doctrine (known as the Augustinian doctrine of orders) has been held to this day by the Roman Catholic Church. Provided the "wandering ones" held the same intentions when ordaining their successors as those traditionally held by sacramental Christendom over the ages, they could pass on their sacred powers and administer the sacraments in a manner that the popes would recognize as valid. Such is the character and status of the so-called wandering bishops as they exist today.

The Modern Wandering Episcopate

Wandering bishops existed throughout history. In the Middle Ages, local bishops frequently complained to the pope about traveling prelates moving through the countryside performing functions reserved for bishops, such as confirming young people and ordaining priests and deacons. In modern times, following the Reformation, such activities sometimes became the cause of large communities falling away from the Church of Rome. One such cause célêbre involved the French bishop Varlet, who, while traveling through Holland, began to minister to an isolated group within the Catholic minority remaining in that Calvinist land. Bishop Varlet was finally persuaded to bestow the episcopate on the leader of this group of Dutch Catholics, and in 1724, the Dutch Old Catholic Church was born. This staunch, devoted community retained its identity as a Catholic church separate from Rome, yet was grudgingly recognized as a valid Catholic body by the popes, and still retains this status today. In the records of the latest council of the Roman Catholic Church (known as Vatican II), the tiny Old Catholic Church of Holland is listed at the top of the list of observers, far ahead of such huge Protestant bodies as the Anglican or Presbyterian churches, because of its unquestioned validity.

Consecration of Bishop J.I. Wedgwood (second from left), February 1916, London.

Another place where wandering bishops abounded was the ancient Christian missionary territory of southern India, where, according to local tradition, the greatest and most vigorous of all wandering bishops, Apostle Thomas, lies in a tomb not far from the city of Madras. The Christians of St Thomas, originally Brahmins from the Malabar coast, continued for centuries as a fiercely independent series of communities, forever asserting their rights against popes and patriarchs who claimed jurisdiction over them. And so it came to pass that the stubborn Dutch Old Catholics and the factious South Indian Christians became the unpremeditated progenitors of independent, or wandering, bishops, who are now numbered in the thousands and are spread over every continent of the globe. The initiators of this unprecedented proliferation were two priests, one English, the other French-American, who, in the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries received consecration at the hands of representatives of the Dutch and South Indian Catholic bishops. They were Arnold Harris Matthew (1852-1919) and Joseph René Vilatte (1854-1929), respectively. Matthew became the leading prelate of the Old Catholic Church in Great Britain, while Vilatte brought the stream of the originally Syrian succession of the South Indian church to the United States. Not bound by traditional rules and restrictions regarding the consecrations of other bishops, these two free-lance prelates proceeded to lay their anointed hands on a goodly number of men on both sides of the Atlantic, and thus initiated a new era in the history of wandering bishops.

Bishop James Ingall Wedgwood.

Enter the Occult Connection

In 1913, the aging, cantankerous leader of the rather unsuccessful English branch of Dutch Old Catholicism, Matthew, received a visitor. The thirty-year-old, handsome, cultured, and enthusiastic man who knocked at the door of Bishop Matthew was James Wedgwood, scion of England's noted Wedgwood china family. He was a theosophist, an avid follower of the neo-gnostic spiritual system publicized since 1875 by the Russian noblewoman and prolific writer, H.P. Blavatsky. Unlike other theosophists (and many of their counterparts in today's New Age), Wedgwood valued the Western spiritual traditions, such as ceremonial magic, esoteric masonry, and the mystery and sacred magic of the Christian sacraments. Wedgwood joined the small Old Catholic movement in England, and after some time and vicissitudes became a bishop in 1916. Many of his fellow theosophists also became attracted to the stately beauty and mysticism of the Mass and the other sacraments administered by Wedgwood and his associates. Among these was the leonine "grand old man" of the Theosophical Society, the noted teacher, writer, and clairvoyant, Charles Webster Leadbeater. Soon Wedgwood and Leadbeater settled down in Australia to a prolonged period of planning and work. The result was a new ecclesiastical body possessing its distinctive liturgy, philosophy, and customs. It came to be called the Liberal Catholic Church, and with it was born a new occult mysticism that was to have influence and consequences far exceeding the numerical strength of the new church or even of its senior ally, the Theosophical Society.
To say that there could be an occult Catholicism is not as absurd as some might think. History teems with prelates, priests, and nuns of the Catholic Church who were devoted and skilled occultists. Kabbalah, hermeticism, astrology and magic were all patronized by numerous popes and championed by Churchmen. (Depending on the persons involved as well as on the historical period, practitioners of these same disciplines were also at times burnt at the stake by the Inquisition.) Viewed psychologically, the relationship of the Church and occultism appears to resemble the relationship of ego and shadow; in spite of their frequent conflict, they belong together and depend on each other in many ways. The greatest estrangement of Catholicism from its dark esoteric twin came about after the Enlightenment, when rationalistic considerations made inroads into the Church. Even today, one may discover that persons of gnostic-hermetic interests have more in common with traditionalist Catholics than with either modernist Vatican II Catholics or with Protestants. Without articulating these thoughts consciously, the theosophical Catholics of Wedgwood's and Leadbeater's type seem to have intuited these archetypal relationships and compatabilities between essential Catholicism and basic occultism. With these intuitions, they may have become pioneers of an approach to sacramental Christianity that has significant promise for the future of Western religion.

A New Magical View of Sacramental Power

The champion-in-chief of occult Catholicism was undoubtedly C.W. Leadbeater. A former Anglican priest who had left church, family, and country to follow Madame Blavatsky to India and into the world of theosophy late in the nineteenth century, he remained a mysterious and compelling figure until his death in the late 1930s. Utterly devoted to the teachings of theosophy, Leadbeater was nevertheless aware that the magic of the Christian sacraments was still very much needed by contemporary humanity. As early as April 1917, he wrote in The Theosophist:

When the great World-Teacher was last on earth, He made a special arrangement that what we may think of as a compartment of a reservoir of spiritual power should be available for the use of the new religion that he founded, and that its officials should be empowered, by the use of certain ceremonies, words, and signs of power, to draw upon it for the spiritual benefit of their people.

Bishop Leadbeater felt that by way of his extrasensory faculties he was able to describe with some accuracy the mechanism whereby the sacraments were able to work effectively. In such works as The Science of the Sacraments, The Inner Side of Christian Festivals, and his recently and posthumously published "The Christian Gnosis," he left an impressive legacy wherein he demonstrated to the satisfaction of many that the Mass and other sacraments of apostolic Christendom are capable of assisting the spiritual welfare and transformative growth of persons in our age as well as in the past. The small, but disciplined, church that Leadbeater and Wedgwood founded is still in existence on five continents, in countries such as Holland, Australia, and New Zealand, and possesses numerous impressive church buildings with large congregations. A serious blow was dealt to the Liberal Catholic Church, however, in the 1930s, when Jiddu Krishnamurti, who was heralded by the leading theosophists as the vehicle of the World-Teacher (Christ), abandoned the cause of his messiahship, and criticized all rites and ceremonies with particular vehemence.

Bishop Charles W. Leadbeater, in old age.

Leadbeater and his new brand of occult Catholicism have acted as seminal influences for many of the wandering bishops who followed him, and who frequently functioned outside of the formal ecclesiastical body founded by the theosophical bishops. One such churchman was Lowell Paul Wadle, principle representative in the United States of the successions brought to this continent by the French wanderer Vilatte. Bishop Wadle was a theosophist and a popular lecturer in circles of alternative spirituality, particularly in California. A charming and kindly man, his influence upon occult Catholicism was perhaps second only to Leadbeater's. Holding forth in his exquisitely appointed church of St Francis in Laguna Beach, California, he was a man whom churchmen and laity of many denominations sought out for counsel and company.
It is no exaggeration to say that the occult and theosophical view introduced into sacramental church worship by these pioneers had more far-reaching implications and exerted a greater influence that is discernible on the surface. Numerous creative persons have been deeply impressed by the possibility of an effective separation of the sacraments from the weight of the dogma and outdated moralizing with which the mainstream churches have inevitably tended to combine them. One could now partake of the benefits of sacramental grace without being forced into systems of belief and commandment that might be contrary to one's deeper convictions. More than half a century before, liberal and permissive theological trends made inroads into the main bastions of sacramental Christendom; an opening was thus created for freedom, creativity, and, more importantly, for unconventional kinds of magico-mystical thought within the grace and stately beauty of the time-honored ceremonial of the Church.

Gnostic Bishops Enter the Fray

The ostensibly Roman Catholic country of France has harbored heretics, schismatics, and wandering bishops for numerous centuries. The gnostics of Lyon annoyed the Church Father Irenaeus so greatly that he devoted volumes of diatribes to combat them. Gnostic groups of various kinds existed in the French provinces throughout history, the best-known and most numerous being the Cathar church in the thirteenth century. It is interesting to note that every time the hold of the Church of Rome weakened on the government of France, gnostic religious bodies emerged from hiding, usually only to be suppressed soon after by another clerical government. Thus, at the time of the French Revolution, the once-suppressed Templar Order was reorganized along vaguely gnostic lines by its grand master, former Roman Catholic priest and esotericist Bernard Fabré-Palaprat, who in the early 1800s was consecrated Patriarch of the Johannite Church of Primitive Christians allied to the Order of Templars. This consecration set a pattern for many subsequent creations of French wandering bishops of gnostic and related persuasion, for the consecrating prelate, Monsignor Mauviel, was a so-called Constitutional bishop, that is, a member of a hierarchy of validly consecrated French Catholic bishops set up by the revolutionary government in opposition to the papacy. Gnostic, Templar, Cathar, and other secret groups usually possessed their own esoteric successions, but from that time on, they found it useful to receive consecration at the hands of valid but irregular Catholic prelates who were not hard to find in the wake of the revolution and its ecclesiastical confusion.
By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at least one major public gnostic church, the Eglise Gnostique Universalle, was moderately active in France, led by such distinguished esotericists as Jules Doinel, Jean Bricaud, and eventually the leader of the revived Martinist order, know as Papus (Dr. G. Encausse). The revival of a Catholic Gnostic (or Gnostic Catholic) public movement was thus accomplished.
As in the case of the theosophical occult Catholicism, so here the question suggests itself: Why should occult or gnostic persons aspire to the office of bishop in the Catholic sense, and why should they practice the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church? The answer is not difficult. Gnostic movements of various kinds that survived secretly in Europe were all originally part of the Roman Catholic Church. Although they differed with their larger relative and were frequently persecuted by her, they still regarded her as the model of ecclesiastical life. They may have considered the content of their religion as quite at variance with the teachings of Rome, but the form of their worship was still the one that ancient and universal Christendom had always practiced. The kind of innovative religious pluralism that evolved in North America was unknown to them, and in all likelihood they would have been repulsed by it had they know it. A gnostic, although a heretic, was still a member of the one, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and had both a right and an obligation to practice the seven historic sacraments in the traditional manner.
French gnosticism thus established its own ecclesiastical life, following the example of Roman Catholic practice. The movement was never lacking in vicissitudes. As late as March 22, 1944, the head of the major gnostic religious body in France, Monsignor Constant Chevillon (Tau Harmonius) was cruelly executed after the Vichy collaborationist government suppressed the Gnostic Church. Still, the movement spread to Germany, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and such French-speaking countries as Haiti. There matters rested until years after World War II.
The gnostic tradition, which originally had its home in France, came to be established in England and later in the United States, initially as a result of the efforts of a bishop of French descent who was raised in Australia. Born Ronald Powell, he took the name Richard Jean Chretien Duc de Palatine. A learned and charismatic man, de Palatine (who received his successions from the well-known British independent prelate Hugh de Wilmott-Newman) may be regarded as the pioneer of sacramental gnosticism in both England and the United States. His tradition survives chiefly in the Ecclesia Gnostica, based in Los Angeles and headed by the present writer, who was consecrated in 1967 by Bishop de Palatine. Other gnostic churches of a very similar orientation have sprung up in recent years in increasing numbers. Today, there are vigorous and stable descendants of the French gnostic movement functioning in New York, Chicago (headed by Monsignor Robert Conikis), and Barbados (headed by Tau Thomas). The first woman bishop in the gnostic tradition in modern times is Bishop Rosamonde Miller, who has founded the Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum in Palo Alto, Calif.

Toward a New Christian Gnosis

The names and movements mentioned above by no means exhaust the number of wandering bishops and the movements they have founded. The most populous and stable of such organizations are the Independent Church of the Philippines, whose origins reach back to the separation of the Philippines from Spain; and the Brazilian Catholic Church, founded decades ago by a discontented Brazilian Roman Catholic bishop. Both of these churches maintain vaguely defined theories of an orthodox character, although occasional positive interactions between them and the occult-gnostic bodies exist. A potential for a large schismatic Catholic church exists in mainland China, where a non-papal Roman Catholic Church came into existence under orders from Mao Tse-tung. This movement with validly consecrated bishops still functions, and curiously conducts its services without any of the changes introduced by the Vatican II council.
Only time will tell what the role of the wandering bishops will be within the unfolding structures of sacramental Christendom. Since the second Vatican Council in the 1960s, confusion and overt dissension have appeared even within the Roman Catholic monolith. Liturgical "reforms" combined with laxity and sheer trivial-mindedness have so changed the nature of Roman Catholic church services in many countries that many of the wandering bishops can lay claim to greater traditional authenticity today than can their far wealthier and mover-powerful Roman Catholic counterparts. Also, while women still fight a seemingly hopeless battle for the priesthood with Rome, many of the wandering bishops can justly claim not only to have bestowed holy orders on women, but to have espoused a certain spiritual feminism for a considerable time. The gnostic patriarch, Tau Synesius thus wrote to a religious congress as early as 1908:

There is among our tenets one to which I shall call particular attention: the tenet of feminine salvation. The work of the Father has been accomplished, that of the Son, as well. There remains that of the Spirit, which alone is capable of bringing about the final salvation of humanity on earth and thereby, of laying the way for the reconstitution of the Spirit. Now the Spirit, the Paraclete, corresponds to what the divine partakes of a feminine nature, and our teachings state explicitly that this is the only facet of the godhead that is truly accessible to our mind. What will be in fact the nature of this new and not-too-far-distant Messiah?

The seeming promise residing in the wandering bishops is obscured and at times negated by the personal eccentricities and unsavory character of a large number of these bishops. Since consecration to the episcopate is often so easily obtained in the subculture of the wandering ones, venal, unstable, and woefully ill-educated persons abound in the ranks of the "independent" episcopate. Quite a large number of these bishops are simply people one would not wish to invite to dinner. The "sleaze factor" is all too evident and ubiquitous, and this factor will probably remain the greatest obstacle to the positive work the wandering bishops could accomplish in this age.
The unworthiness of the many should not blind one to the potential residing in the few. The mass of wandering bishops is very much like a kind of alchemical prima materia from whence a true stone of the philosophers might yet emerge. Christianity started as a disreputable Jewish heresy, having an executed criminal as its founder. Christian schisms and heresies that are today held in disrepute might lead to great and transformative spiritual developments as well. Cornerstones of the future are frequently made up of stones once rejected by the builders. The strange and paradoxical phenomenon of the wandering bishops may reveal itself as a vital ingredient in the historical-spiritual alchemy of the coming age. Some of us hope that this will be the case, while others sneer or turn away from such concerns. The last word, however, belongs to Powers that transcend both the advocates and the critics. And their word, we may be assured, will be final and to the point.

The article first appeared in Gnosis: A Journal of Western Inner Traditions (Vol. 12, Summer 1989),
and is reproduced here by permission of the author.

Wandering Bishops: Not All Roads Lead to Rome

The Deep Politics of God (Part Eleven): The CNP, Dominionism, and the Ted Haggard Scandal

RaidersNewsNetwork.com
By Phillip Collins and Paul Collins

Neocons and Evangelicals: Seduced by the Technocrats

Elements of the technocratic Enlightenment within the Evangelical establishment are made evident by the movement’s advocacy of neoconservativism. The cult of neoconservativism has always paraded around under a patriotic, pro-American, anticommunist facade. What lies behind this veneer? Frank Fischer answers this question in his book Technocracy and the Politics of Expertise: ". . .neoconservativism is at base an elitist ideology aimed at promoting a new group of conservative technocrats." (172)

To promote their own variety of Technocracy, neoconservatives present themselves as the antithesis to left-wing "policy professionals." However, the conflict between these two is superficial at best. As is the case with all good Hegelian dialectics, the neoconservative antithesis is not dichotomously related to its alleged technocratic opposition. Fischer elaborates:

Neoconservatives regularly argue that knowledge elites are a threat to democracy. But if this is their primary concern, their solution is scarcely designed to remedy the problem. Indeed, by challenging the Democratic party’s use of policy expertise with a counterintelligentsia, they implicitly accept—and approve of—the evolving technocratic terrain. Developing a conservative cadre of policy analysts cannot be interpreted as a measure designed to return power to the people. (171)

Fischer correctly argues that Neoconservativism’s advocacy of a so-called "conservative cadre of policy analysts" precludes citizen participation:

Neoconservatives doubtless maintain that their policy advisers speak for different political values: Rather than the welfare state and bureaucratic paternalism, conservative experts advocate democracy and free market individualism. Such an argument, however, fails to address the critical issue. As a system of decision making geared toward expert knowledge, technocracy—liberal or conservative—necessarily blocks meaningful participation for the average citizen. Ultimately only those who can interpret the complex technical languages that increasingly frame economic and social issues have access to the play of power Democratic rhetoric aside, those who nurture a conservative intelligentsia in reality only help to extend an elite system of policy-making. (171-72)

Whether under the superfluous appellations of conservative or liberal, "policy professionals" still constitute what Wells referred to as a "democracy of experts." Neoconservativism’s promotion of its own "policy professionals" betrays the ideology’s technocratic propensities. Rhetoric concerning "democracy" and "free market individualism" amounts to little more than pageantry. Neoconservativism is but the latest incarnation of the technocratic movement and represents another stage in the sociopolitical Darwinism’s metastasis.

Neoconservativism’s technocratic pedigree is also graphically illustrated by its adherents’ strong support for FDR’s New Deal. Irving Kristol, the "godfather of neoconservatism," states in his book Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea that neocons: ". . .accepted the New Deal in principle. . ." (x). Later in his book, Kristol writes:

In a way, the symbol of the influence of neoconservative thinking on the Republican party was the fact that Ronald Reagan could praise Franklin D. Roosevelt as a great American president-praise echoed by Newt Gingrich a dozen years later, when it is no longer so surprising. (379)

Why were neoconservatives so amicable towards the socialism of the New Deal? The answer is because Roosevelt's Marxist proclivities harmonized with the neoconservative variety of Technocracy. It is interesting to note that "godfather" Kristol was a Trotskyist in his youth. Kristol makes it clear that he is unrepentant: "I regard myself lucky to have been a young Trotskyist and I have not a single bitter memory" (Neoconservativism: The Autobiography of an Idea, 13). The statist tradition found in Marxism is also carried on by the neocons. This is another point made clear by Kristol: "Neocons do not feel that kind of alarm or anxiety about the growth of the state in the past century, seeing it as natural, indeed inevitable" ("The Neoconservative Persuasion," no pagination).

Several neoconservative ideologues have espoused socialist ideas. Former neoconservative Michael Lind admits:

The fact that most of the younger neocons were never on the left is irrelevant; they are the intellectual (and, in the case of William Kristol and John Podhoretz, the literal) heirs of older ex-leftists. The idea that the United States and similar societies are dominated by a decadent, postbourgeois "new class" was developed by thinkers in the Trotskyist tradition like James Burnham and Max Schachtman, who influenced an older generation of neocons. The concept of the "global democratic revolution" has its origins in the Trotskyist Fourth International's vision of permanent revolution. The economic determinist idea that liberal democracy is an epiphenomenon of capitalism, promoted by neocons like Michael Novak, is simply Marxism with entrepreneurs substituted for proletarians as the heroic subjects of history. (No pagination)

Neoconservativism, which has been embraced by the controlled Evangelical movement, is actually a creature of the political left. It is truly ironic that secular progressives would condemn their pseudo-Christian opponents for these dubious associations. If secular progressives are genuinely disturbed by the political system that the CNP, the Dominionists, and the Evangelical establishment are creating, then they must seriously question their own vision for society. Both sides are merely variants of the same neo-Gnostic vision and strive to immanentize the Eschaton. Both sides are merely variants of sociopolitical Darwinism and view global government as the unavoidable outcome of man’s alleged developmental ascent. This is a vintage Hegelian dialectic. The only difference is the name of the patron deity exalted by both sides. The god of secular progressives is man himself, enthroned to rule over a technocratic Utopia. The god of the Dominionists is a deistic Christ who proffers the neo-Gnostic mandate for a worldly kingdom sustained through worldly power.

Evidently, the culture war has provided fertile soil for the power elite’s Hegelian activism. The combatants in this dialectical struggle are merely fellow travelers on convergent paths toward a Hegelian synthesis. That synthesis is already underway, as is evidenced by the political ties being forged between leftist evangelicals and Dominionists. One example of this alliance is the recent "meeting of the minds" between Presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Dominionist, Mega-Church pastor Rick Warren. The pretext for their partnership seems to be AIDS awareness and prevention. After all, Warren invited Obama to a two-day AIDS summit held at his church (Donovan, no pagination). As cynical as it may sound, AIDS may be the last thing on Obama’s mind when it comes to his coalition with Warren. Democrats have come to appreciate how important it is to have a few Dominionists in their pockets if they want to seize this country’s sizeable Christian vote. Warren’s teachings are pure Dominionism. Sarah Leslie provides an examination into the Dominionist elements of Warren’s global P.E.A.C.E. plan:

Warren has audaciously called for a "Second Reformation" based upon his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which is a study in dominionism. Leftists who fret over Warren’s foray into AIDS may miss the more serious dominionist ramifications of his overall global plan. Warren intends to amass the world’s largest volunteer "army" of "one billion foot soldiers" to implement his global P.E.A.C.E. Plan. (No pagination)

It is very interesting that Warren refers to his Dominionists scheme as a "Second Reformation." The father of the first Reformation, Martin Luther, was actually an unconscious agent of secularization. Under Catholicism, the truth had become the province of priests and other self-proclaimed "mediators of God." However, Luther made the mistake of adopting nominalism as one of the chief philosophical foundations for his doctrines. In The Western Experience, the authors write:

[S]ome of Luther’s positions had roots in nominalism, the most influential philosophical and theological movement of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which had flourished at his old monastery. (450)

By the time Luther’s ideas were codified in the Augsburg Confession, nominalism was already beginning to co-opt Christianity. Nominalism’s rejection of a knowable God harmonized with the superstitious notions of the time. Misunderstanding the troubles that beset them, many peasants made the anthropic attribution of the Black Death to God’s will. Following this baseless assumption to its logical conclusion, many surmised that God was neither merciful nor knowable. Such inferences clearly overlooked the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which represented the ultimate act of grace on God’s part. Nevertheless, the superstitious populace were beginning to accept the new portrayal of God as an indifferent deistic spirit. Nominalism merely edified such beliefs. Invariably, nominalism would seduce those who would eventually convert to Protestantism.

Christians should have had more than a few philosophical misgivings with nominalism, especially in light of its commonalities with humanism:

Although nominalists and humanists were frequently at odds, they did share a dissatisfaction with aspects of the medieval intellectual tradition, especially the speculative abstractions of medieval thought; and both advocated approaches to reality that concentrated on the concrete and the present and demanded a strict awareness of method. (424)

Suddenly, Christianity was infused with materialism and radical empiricism. There was an occult character to both of these philosophical positions. Radical empiricism rejects causality, thereby abolishing any epistemological certainty and reducing reality to a holograph that can be potentially manipulated through the "sorcery" of science. Materialism emphasizes the primacy of matter, inferring that the physical universe is a veritable golem that created itself. Despite their clearly anti-theistic nature, these ideas began to insinuate themselves within Christianity.

With nominalist epistemology enshrined, man was ontologically isolated from his Creator. Knowledge was purely the province of the senses and the physical universe constituted the totality of reality itself. Increasingly, theologians invoked naturalistic interpretations of the Scriptures, thereby negating the miraculous and supernatural nature of God. The spiritual elements that remained embedded in Christianity assumed more of a Gnostic character, depicting the physical body as an impediment to man’s knowledge of God and venerating death as a welcome release from a corporeal prison. Gradually, a Hegelian synthesis between spiritualism and materialism was occurring. The result was a paganized Christianity, which hardly promised the abundant life offered by its Savior.

Luther’s unwitting role in the popularization of such thinking suggests an occult manipulation. There is already a body of evidence supporting the contention that occult elements had penetrated Christendom and were working towards its demise. Malachi Martin states:

As we know, some of the chief architects of the Reformation-—Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Johannes Reuchlin, Jan Amos Komensky—-belonged to occult societies. (521)

Author William Bramley presents evidence that backs Martin’s contention:

Luther’s seal consisted of his initials on either side of two Brotherhood symbols: the rose and the cross. The rose and cross are the chief symbols of the Rosicrucian Order. The word "Rosicrucian" itself comes from the Latin words "rose"("rose") and "cruces" ("cross"). (205)

Luther’s involvement in the Rosicrucian Order made him an ideal instrument of secret societies. Michael Howard explains the motive for this manipulation:

The Order had good political reasons for initially supporting the Protestant cause. On the surface, as heirs to the pre-Christian Ancient Wisdom, the secret societies would have gained little from religious reform. However, by supporting the Protestant dissidents they helped to weaken the political power of the Roman Catholic Church, the traditional enemy of the Cathars, the Templars and the Freemasons. (54).

However, occultism was not the only belief system benefiting from the Reformation. Elitism and oligarchy would also receive a boost from Luther’s activities. It should be recalled that many of the secret societies supporting Luther acted as elite conduits. While Luther was already ideologically aligned with the elites in many ways, he officially became their property in 1521. In this year, the papacy’s secular representative, Emperor Charles V, summoned Luther to a Diet at the city known as Worms (Chambers, Hanawalt, et al. 449). Luther was to defend himself against a papal decree that excommunicated him from the Church (449).

At the Diet, Luther refused to recant any of his beliefs (450). This led to the Emperor issuing an imperial edict for the monk’s arrest (450). However, Luther was rescued by the Elector Frederick III of Saxony (450). Frederick staged a kidnapping of the monk and hid him away in Wartburg Castle (450). The regional warlord of Saxony had much to gain by protecting Luther. Frederick represented a group of German princes that opposed the influence of the Church and its secular representative, the Emperor (450). These elites would use Luther’s teachings to justify breaking with the ecclesiastical authorities and establishing their own secular systems. In the end, the Reformation reformed nothing at all. It caused a division in Christendom and led Europe down the path of secularization. Howard states:

Indirectly the Reformation gave the impetus for the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century, which centred on Newton, and led to the founding of the Royal Society after the English Civil War. (148)

The "Scientific Revolution" facilitated by the Reformation led to the popularization of Baconian concepts, which were radically scientistic and occult in character. Commensurate with this paradigm shift was the rise of the elite’s first secular epistemological cartel and the acculturation of the masses to technocratic ideas. Warren might be repeating this process, even though it was damaging to Christian civilization and unleashed an era of some of the worst pagan brutality. Leftists everywhere have joined Warren and other Dominionists in trying to achieve these plans. Sarah Leslie writes:

Evangelical Leftists (Tom Sine, Ron Sider, Jim Wallis and others) have always hobnobbed with the dominionists. Many of the key Leftist dominionists have been coalescing around an agenda to eradicate world poverty, laboring with [Dominionist] Rick Warren to implement the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Micah Challenge is one of the key organizations operating in this realm. A number of international mission networking agencies have formed alliances around these mutual kingdom aspirations. Working to end poverty may seem laudable on the surface. But scratch the surface and dominionism appears. Charity is not what it seems. Charity is a vehicle to maneuver dominionism into the best possible international publicity spotlight. And altruistic appeals for charitable sacrifice are a mechanism to sign up recruits in the billion man army. (No pagination)

The United Nations can hardly be characterized as a right-wing Christian organization. Historically, the UN has promoted Marxist economic policies of wealth redistribution, which would upset the stomach of any patriotic American Christian. Moreover, the UN has advocated Malthusian programs of population control that have outraged many traditional Christians. Secular progressives like Michelle Goldberg claim that the Dominionists and the CNP are opposed to the United Nations. There may, in fact, be some conflicts between these factions. To be sure, neoconservatives, which are closely aligned with the Dominionists and the CNP, have been overtly critical of the United Nations. However, the conflict is superficial at best. These factions are only at variance over the globalist blueprint that each is attempting to actuate. Looming on the horizon is the Hegelian synthesis of these warring factions.

In short, the culture war has become a dialectical manipulation. It is a catalyst for Hegelian activism, which is a specialty of the power elite. Christians must dislodge themselves from partisan affiliations, which are susceptible to Hegelian activism. Like the Apostles of Jesus Christ in the early Church, the modern Christian shall have to operate on a grass roots level. Otherwise, the Church shall become the prostitute for the State. The culture war can be won, but not through strict adherence to partisan affiliations and political parties. When the Church relies upon such machinations, it becomes embroiled in the dialectical feuds of elite factions. The only true victor in these dialectical feuds shall be the global oligarchs. Truth will be the final and most tragic casualty of the conflict. Such are the consequences of Hegelian thinking. The real war is not between left and right, but right and wrong.

In the twelfth and final installment of this investigation, we shall examine the great exodus of Christians away from the Hegelian manipulation of partisan politics.

Sources Cited

All sources will be presented in the twelfth and final installment of this series.

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The Deep Politics of God (Part Eleven): The CNP, Dominionism, and the Ted Haggard Scandal