SCARLET AND THE BEAST Vol. 1 A History of the War between English and French Freemasonry - Jon Kregel (November 1994)

John Daniel is an evangelical Protestant who places much of the content of his book within the context of Protestant "bible prophecy". I am Orthodox Christian, so I do not share all of his eschatological views, but in terms of actual facts, as opposed to interpretation, there is a wealth of information here. In Volume I, Daniel shows that Freemasonry is the common denominator in all common conspiracy theories (Communists, International bankers, Multinational corporations, European aristocracy, Jews, Jesuits, the Illuminati). Drawing heavily upon the work of Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, he proceeds to show that the rivalry between the Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar developed into rivalry between the Grand Lodge Masonry of England and the Grand Orient and Scottish Rite Masonries of France. He shows how this rivalry figured in the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the revolutions of the 1800's, Marxism, the Russian Revolution, World Wars I and II, the establishment of the League of Nations and the United Nations, and more. This volume is also valuable because it discredits anti-semitic conspiracy theory. While acknowledging the involvment of many Jews in subversive movements (for example, 82% of the Bolshevik government was staffed by Jews), he shows that the most prominent of these Jews were Masons, and were acting as Masons, not as Jews. In fact, he says Masonry is inherently antisemitic, and that Masonry conspired to both undermine Orthodox Judaism through Reform Judaism and to promote Jews in their ranks, so that if Masonic conspiracies were revealed, the Jews, and not the Masons, would be assigned blame. In Volume II, Daniel attempts to show the continuity between Masonry and the ancient pagan religions. While I agree with his thesis, his layout needs to be more chronological and systematic, and he needs to back up his assertions with more varied sources. In Volume III, he examines the domination of the world economy through central banking and control ! of gold. This will be familiar territory to students of Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, and other libertarian sources, and I think they do a better job of actually explaining the economics, but in tying the quest for economic hegemony with Masonic membership, Daniel's analysis is unique. In the same volume, Daniel also briefly discusses the assassinations of JFK and Pope John Paul I, as well as the "real" reason for the Vietnam War, and an explantion of what happened to the Nazis after the end of World War II. In Volumes I and III, Daniel assigns the blame for the rock-drug counterculture to sub-Masonic lodges such as the Order of the Golden Dawn. These volumes should serve as a springboard to further research, although many of the books Daniel references are out of print.