On The Hiram Key, by Knight and Lomas

In Progress. Preface: On Oaths

I am not a Mason, nor a professor at a Catholic college, having given priority to the saying of Jesus, ..."do not swear at all" (Matthew 5:34). Hence, we will not bind ourselves by oaths of fidelity, obedience or secrecy. Thomas Jefferson, too was not a Mason, because he would not swear an oath. Madison in his remonstrance gives the reason, too: What we owe to God, we cannot give to men. That said, the Catholics and the Masons were the two groups- in addition to government- to help out when an old woman and her servants were in poverty, two thousand years after he in whose name we work died for our sins, and told us to hence do better caring for one another.

Our oath to uphold the Constitution seems different because it is open at the top- not an oath of obedience or secrecy, and something about oaths is primarily political- to our political sovereignty, which includes the resolve to oppose EVERY tyranny. That is as far as I proceeded in the question of oaths, losing an attempt to persuade the Church under John Paul II not to require them. An example of a practical implication is that it is conceivable that Catholics be required to support a tyranny in an election because it has taken opposition to abortion as a plank in its platform. Americans- we don't do that!Significantly, Juliet takes up the question, and in the terms of Matthew what should she swear by? In "love's sweet idolatry."

Since these servants were coming around, I set out to find my lost book of the Hiram Key, and now have found it misplaced among books set in storage. It struck me that some things need correcting, though it is a wonderful book and a book of wonders, if only for the questions it raises, giving us an opportunity to answer- as we think we can do better than many Masons on some Masonic things, and this might be of service to the organization. No Masons I have yet met are able to ask the questions or follow even the first point- we shall see how the universal populace does here in blogs on the internet.

Introduction, p. xii: Hiram Abif "is not mentioned in the Old Testament." Now, the Masons have a deep study- the best of all, regarding the Temple, teachers of some of the best readers of these sections of scripture. How could they not know Hiram Abif is in the scripture? But his murder is not, and the passing on of what is QUITE likely a true story is a great mystery of history. Hiram of Tyre was the name of the King to whom Solomon applied (2 Chr. 2:3) at Tyre for materials and carpentry in building the Temple (1 King. Huram Abu is the architectonic carpenter 1 Kings 7; 2 Chr 2:13, Oxford note. He is half an Israelite, and if faiths follow the maternal, he is of Moses. The word Abi is included in the Hebrew at 2 Chronicles :13, and the name means "of the father," like a genetive in Greek, with the Hebrew Ab", "First-aleph-of the house-beth" (Chuck Missler). A.I. explains: "In Phoenician, Hiram likely means "benevolent brother," while in Hebrew, it means "high-born" or "exalted brother." The name "Huram" is a variant spelling used in the Hebrew Bible, and it also means "exalted brother." 

In an eponymous sentence, the Hiram Key of the title will refer to a new key to Western civilization provided by a genuine study of Hiram Abif, which begins in a king making ritual in ancient Egypt (xii).

Chapter One:

While discussing the appearances of Freemasonry, the author indicates that none of the initiates understand a thing about the Hiram ritual they are walked through at the first degree (p. 3) . This is fun!

We understand the Masons to be an association for the cultivation of virtue and mutual assistance, which, however, can become excessive- as regarding Mozart's Magic Flute and a murder in the 1840's. This murder ended the pervasive influence of Masons in the political and economic life of the US in the Revolutionary generation. There may also be a Satanic wing or element, as can also be said of the Catholic Church, especially if there has been an intentional infiltration. That much about the appearance of Masonry. The subjection of the medieval Papacy- when the Crusades turned inward- led to an attack on the Knights of the Temple, and in 1309, de Molay, among many others, were arrested, and in 1314, he was executed along with some others, in a horrible execution that rings throughout the West even now, 7 centuries later. The Masons provided and continue to provide a refuge welcoming men of all faiths, for the simple pursuit of natural virtue outside Catholic convention, when that convention had degenerated to the making of martyrs.

After de Molay, the Masons found shelter among the Portuguese King and court. Has anyone ever wondered how Portugal became a world power during colonization? Spain, the Dutch, along with Italy, France and England, also took turns as the leading and colonizing world power, following Portugal. For the first time since Caesar destroyed the fleet of the Gauls, overseas travel to America became possible. We suggest this was due to the guest of the Portuguese King, who turned out to be his benefactor. The Masonic interest in the New World was already as a refuge from the religious violence of Europe.

Boaz, the name of the left column of the temple, is the name of the husband of Ruth, and he is the great great grandfather of David. The lineage is Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David, Solomon. The teaching of Chuck Missler on the book of Ruth addresses leverite marriage, when a brother covers the wife of a deceased brother. Jachin, meaning he will establish. AI includes that Jachin "is also the name of a priestly family that served in the Temple. Jachin is also the name of the fourth son of Simeon, who is mentioned in the book of Genesis." As Boaz is in the lineage of Jesus, so we might look for some similar reference, to the building on the solid foundation of rock referenced by Jesus. 

The rituals of the first three degrees are similar to the meaning of baptism as referenced by Paul (Romans 6), and the Masonic rites imitate the sacraments in function- walking through a symbol. The going through death and being raised with Christ is analogous to baptism, and prepares us for literal death, to which baptism is analogous. What is subjected or dissolved is the original ordering of the soul, in which reason as an instrument serves the appetites and the baser self interest, rather than the true self interest of the soul.

To philosophize is to learn how to die, and the conquest of the fear of death is related to the knowledge of ignorance- not holding on to, but being able to ascend through, our own hypotheses (Apology, center; Republic VI-VII). The fear of death binds men to the earth and appetites, with reason as servant of earthly ends. Reason is not freed for the things above unless forgetful of one's own and death. This is part of the apprenticeship of philosophy in general.

Reason returns, though, to CARE FOR one's own. That is a different end- and reason serves the good. Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep (John 21).

p. 11: For the Lord has said in strength will I establish my word in this my house that it will stand fast forever." In Boaz will I Jachin. The Biblical source for this is I Sam 7: 10-27- but it is DAVID that will be established, the house of David- leading as Chuck Missler notes to the Millennial Kingdom as distinct from the Kingdom of God. "Word" is mentioned in the Psalm, by his word, the Lord Created...

Socrates too worked in stone on the Parthenon of Phidias and Pericles?

That the Arthurian knights are completely separate from the knights of the crusades, and receive medieval characteristics cast back onto a late Roman world by the French and then English authors, will be an interesting clue. The travelling free masons Darrah cites William of Malmsbury calling for stone masons, as they had none. The Knight- stone mason connection comes through the interest and discoveries made by the knights in and under Solomon's temple (p. 22), their incredible wealth following, and the connection to Portuguese prosperity after de Molay. Melrose Abbey in Scotland 1136, displays a shield with two compasses, and in the Churchyard, a square and compass on the grave of Andrew Mein (Darrah, p.83). Darrah cites Melrose as the first reliable evidence of the medieval travelling free mason, to whom the Pope extended many privileges such as exemption from taxation and independence of the sovereign in whose domain they might labor." (p.75). When I myself worked as a laborer on single jobs, attached to no particular craftsman as a boss, I would call myself a "free laborer." There is an obvious difference between a laborer, an apprentice, and a craftsman, as well as the architectonic master craftsman, far more apparent than the hierarchy in politics or rule is apparent. Another meaning of the "free" in free mason was almost the opposite of mine, meaning a master craftsman, free of his apprenticeship. And it is odd that politics is the architectonic art (Aristotle, Politics, I.1), and yet knowledge in rule so rare and difficult to identify that hereditary kingships have often been the alternative to civil war and tyranny. The standard of legitimacy is visible and can be agreed upon. And in ancient kingships and aristocracies, superior lineage might be quite visible.

A third meaning of the "free" in free mason, and how the word was first used, was for a worker in "free stone," a stone which can be cut in any direction, useful then for detailed stone architecture. which then came to mean, "free of the guilds." There is also an obvious connection to American Liberty, as in our Declaration- a natural right of all, by which we intend to live.

Trade guilds are political associations in Machiavelli's Florentine Histories, as the many and few expel one another in every Italian city in the 13-1500's. The masons do not seem especially prominent or linked to the Knights- though Machiavelli ignores the warrior monks and St. Bernard in presenting an effeminate Christianity. King and priest, or philosopher-king, is the conjunction of the virtues of body and mind which may be impossible and would be extremely rare- something like Arthur and Merlin in a single character.

Chapter 3: St. Paul of course writes that as we are buried with Christ in baptism, so too we should walk in newness of life: The analogy of baptism and the resurrection- visible in this life, verifies rather than refutes the literal resurrection, by the induction of analogy, which is indeed the teaching of Jesus. Paul (Romans 6: 4, 11) writes:

...We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life....So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

So the realization that the Gospel happens in image in each through baptism is not so surprising, and the thought that it pertains to the soul but not the cosmos is a phase. It may appear that the resurrection is the image, and baptism, or the birth of intellect in the soul, the original of the image. But that is, like marriage in two, what it means to say that the soul or man is an image of God. It is the gateway of metaphysics.

The saying attributed to Phillip p. 38), "Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error, they must receive the resurrection while they live" is not even heretical, and coheres with what Paul has said, and what Jesus in John has said: You must be reborn." All men can be oriented toward this through the sacraments, through images and laws, but it is not itself a thing that man can make. That these can be saved through the image is what we hope, and the image of Purgatory pertains to this, as that in us is attracted to the things regarding the salvation of each soul, even its birth out of the earth..

There is something to the statement concluding chapter 3 that "the concept of gnosis (knowledge) is the opposite of the Church's concept of faith' and that it is a type of thought process that "fits well with Freemasonry." Episteme, though, is the Greek word for knowledge in the sense of science, while gnosis could be translated "intellection," as it is also a seeing. There is a Johanine gnosticism, because we say the Christ is the logos, and the light that enlightens man, or that that reborn in the soul is nous, the opening of the eye of the soul, or lifting of the veil- the same as that covering the law (2 Corinthians 3:14). 'Faith and reason' is of course a long story, but it is sufficient here to note that faith is, like philosophy, often in conflict with the city, convention and belief, and that Socrates achieved the knowledge that he knew nothing- in conquest of the fear of death.

The Knights may have been the ones to recover the Shroud of Turin.

An answer given by the Artificial Intelligence of Google and the internet states:: "The Shroud of Turin's first documented public appearance was in the 1350s in Lirey, France, when it was displayed by the French knight Geoffroi de Charny. There is no reliable historical record of the shroud's existence prior to this time."

There are 2 Geoffroi. The second is the nephew of the Knight who died with de Molay: AI"Some theories suggest this Geoffroi de Charney may have passed the Shroud on to his nephew (the other Geoffroi de Charny) at some point between his arrest in 1307 and his execution...He would need only to tell the nephew of the hiding place during a prison visit.

Chapter 4: The writings hidden when Rome became Christian and a Christian orthodoxy began to wield the political powers of the empire are as a rule not the best writings, though some may be genuine writings of Apostles- The Thomas of 114 sayings and James, and the Philip may contain authentic sections and teaching- the Mary Magdalene is authentic, and important for the rejected warning not to, as we say, make a law out of the Christ. That means these are priceless, but it does not mean these should have been scriptures.

The authors say that the similarities between the story of Jesus- the gospel- and the stories of other religions and divinities is a fundamental difficulty for the church," What is said may follow from a premise, rather than lead to the conclusion, and this does not follow from what is said. If the Christ were simply true, one would expect that man at all times, or in a sense by nature, might be able to receive the truth.

p. 45: There is zero reason to think that Rome adopted Christianity after persecuting it for two centuries and then added pagan trappings "to create a hybrid theology that would meet the needs of the widest possible number of citizens. If the plebians had to have their superstitions, the Romans eventually reasoned, why not have one that was state controlled?" To say or imply that Roman Christianity was not imposed by men who believed in what they were doing is probably slander. But Imperial Rome always imposed worship of the emperor and when it became Christian, went right past the Edict of Toleration (313) and resumed persecuting and imposing worship, though not of the emperor, as though there were no alternative- these are men more common and of earthly concerns compared to the martyrs.

Here it is important to understand what custom is, and how tthe tradition upon which law and the city depend are bound by opinion. The realm of Light cannot be brought into the cave nor made by human artifice, which can at best reflect the higher truths. But a few might ascend into the light. Hence, sincere believers might do no other than make a sect, and the Protestant groups then require obedience and beliefs just as Rome did, repeating the Roman error throughout a splintered Christendom. The solution, we say, is the rejected philosophic way or life- the knowledge of ignorance, where humility goes with ourdogma rather than arrogance or pride, the assumption of every tradition of the city that its opinion is knowledge. Old ladies are not required to achieve right opinions about divine physics. The phrase "divine and natural things," describing what Socrates, in turning away from preSocratic philosophy, turned away from- the attempt to know the divine and natural things directly. Jesus knows we are stupid, and likely loves us anyway.A universal Christian tradition made by man can almost not avoid becoming a continuation of Babylon, and what Augsting addresses as the earthly city. K&L cite Thomas Hobbes:

There is an assumption that because folk holidays have nothing to do with the highest truths, we ought not practice and enjoy them. But to consider for example the convergence of All Saints day with Halloween, Christmas with the solstice etc- The church would have a calendar despite Paul, and these must be one way rather than another. They do not have the significance Protestants attribute to them. One is reminded of the sufficiency of the contribution of the poor widow.

Mithras was born of a rock, and Dionysius from the thigh of Zeus? The Buddha may be just what he says he is, and the Christ still be the Christ- in fact it is much what one would find if he found enlightenment. What we get nowhere else is the teaching "love one another," love your neighbor," love your enemies," and "God is love." A transcendent God, "Maker of heaven and earth," is fundamentally different from the Greek gods, who have come to be.

p. 46 the authors similarly find some debunking significance to the title messiah and the name Christ. But all the physics and biology in the world cannot refute the assertion that Jesus forgives sins and saves souls. This is much as physics cannot refute that life is- even though it cannot explain it- despite what humans might imagine as a result of it- a universe of particles in random motion, etc. Life defies entropy (Missler), and physics cannot explain it or hierarchy in nature. It is a different kind of cause.

p. 52 The family of Jesus and the history of the Apostles is a wonder filled field of study for us in part because the early church was persecuted and martyred. Much of the early history was lost. Eusebius in the fourth century has Heggisippus of the second century, but there were not histories published outside the scriptural and apocryphal Acts. That Jesus is the descendant of David through Joseph is thought by Knight and Lomas to be some decisive contradiction of the Immaculate conception- this is his descent by law, and its significance in Israel would have to be understood. The descent of Jesus from David through Mary is described by Luke! The point regarding law clarifies a number of other things thought difficulties that are solved if Joseph were quite old, and more like an appointed guardian to Mary, as described in the "Gospel of Mary," chosen by the Temple by lot.

K&L write that Mary was known to be a relative of John the Baptist, who was a Levite." Elizabeth the mother of John Baptist was apparently the aunt of Mary, the sister of her mother, St. Anne. John the Apostle is present at the wedding in Cana, and seems too to be a cousin by his mother Salome, with James the Apostle his brother. This whole family is especially holy. Eusebius writes that the Apostles, not being jealous of rule, chose James the Just to be Bishop of the Church at Jerusalem. That he was the son of Joseph by Mariamne (p. 71) as stated by Hippolytus confirms a reasoning that Joseph was much older, not younger than Jesus (p. 60), and is gone by the time of the ministry of Jesus. That he was martyred from the pinnacle of the Temple in 66 A.D. is told by Josephus ( ). We reason that, like Paul, he was a very serious Israelite until witnessing the risen Christ.

p. 58 The connection of the copper scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls, buried under the Temple, with that the Knights may have found when they excavated under the Temple is profound. What if Hiram were buried beneath his work, after being murdered, together with a story written for future people to recover, and Essene treasure in addition? But the Scrolls do not add a great deal to the teaching, even less so than the New Testament times Nag Hammadi collection, but are more of great historical interest.

pp. 62-63: While the Christianity of Constantine himself may be difficult, the authors forget to consider that he was raised in the household of St. Helen, and that his father Constantius was a Christian. The presentation of how Constantine thought and deliberated regarding the council of Nicaea seems groundless, and based on false assumptions. Jesus is worshiped, by Israelites, in the scripture ( Mat. 2:2; 9:18; 14:33;15:25; 20:20; 28:9; Mark 3:31; 5:6; 11:9; Luke 4:11; 5:8; 24:52; John 5:23; 9:38; Phil. 2:10; Hebrews 1:6; 2 Peter 3:18; Rev. 5:8, 14. What he says is blasphemy if it is wrong- so it is not only what Isaiah said God said, that you are gods. He forgives sins (Luke 5:21). That refutes the fundamental assumption of the text, that the divinity of Jesus is some Roman invention. These text are present in scriptures used even by Jahovah's Witnesses, but go unnoticed.

Fact Check (p. 63) Was the Emperor Constantine a high priest of the Sol Invictus cult?

A. I. : "The claim that Emperor Constantine was a high priest of the Sol Invictus cult is partially accurate in a technical sense, but misleading in terms of personal devotion. 

As a Roman Emperor, Constantine held the traditional title of Pontifex Maximus, which was the chief high priest of the Roman state religion and presided over all official Roman cults, including that of Sol Invictus."

From the research and reflection of K&L, the possibility appears that the Essenes are the same as the Nazarenes, and that these are so named because they come to the area of the dead sea from the area of Nazareth, where John the baptist was born in just the next province, where Mary visited Elizabeth.

The authors cite this book as well researched (p. 3):

Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson · Aud... https://youtu.be/IdbQazNtRHw?si=gpjQkMrSN3DZA_LM via @YouTube

I have:

Delmar Duane Darrah, 33rd degree, History and Evolution of Freemasonry. The Charles T. Powner Co. Chicago Ill., 1979.

And the Bible received through my father from William H. Henderson, including "A description of King Solomon's Temple and Citadel and the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, by John Wesley Kelchner, A.J. Holman company, 1925. He was initiated in 1915.