Essene Church of Christ, the Essene Nazorean Church of Mt.

Carmel, the New Covenant Church of God (B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh) and the Restored Essene Church. It could be said that many, calling themselves Essenes, have no real claim to the name other than an interest in either history or health. The term essenism can also refer to a denial of the divinity of Jesus. The "essene theory" was an early eighteenth century attempt to invent "natural" explanations for scripture. Authors such as Karl Friedrich Bahrdt (1784-1792), Karl Heinrich Venturini (1800), August Friedrich Gfrorer (1831-38), Charles Christian Hennell (1840), and Richard von der Alm [pseudonym of Friedrich Wilhelm Ghillany] (1863) promoted the idea that Jesus had been controlled by the Essenes. 1 The "Essene Epistle" first appeared in German, printed in Leipzig 1849 and financed by an unidentified "German Brotherhood". The Dead Sea Scrolls clearly demonstrate that this epistle was a hoax. Its influence has nonetheless been enormous, with several new editions in print. It is used by the half-islamic Ahmadiyya movement as evidence for some of their beliefs. Several later books, such as Jeshoua the Nazir and The Gospel of Peace were clearly dependent on the "Essene Epistle" for their ideas and style. 2 The beliefs and practices of "Essenism" range from extreme vegetarianism to channelling spirits. Both the spiritualism of Edger Cayce and such books by Dr. Edmond B. Szekely as the Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ play a role in these beliefs.3 Current Essenism utilizes a number of texts. The Gospel of the Holy Twelve, allegedly discovered in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet in the late 1800s by a Catholic priest, is claimed by some, without proof, to be the source of the four Gospels although much of it appears to be a direct plagiarisation of the 1611 King James Version.4 As with The Life of St. Issa by Notovitch, no hard evidence for the existence of source manuscripts exist. Unrelated to current claimants to the Essene mantle, the Mandaeans are a small remnant of the ancient Nazoreans who live mostly in Iran and Iraq. Well documented by academics, they believe Jesus was a Nazorean but their texts, edited by Ramuia around 640 CE, contain "a number of negative interpolations against the Romanized version of Christ, Christianity and Islam." 5 They do not accept converts. It has been postulated that there were different kinds of Essenism. At Qumran, there was a group of Pharisees and Essenes, and another group of Sadducees with Essenes. The Pharisee-Essene group eventually became Mandaean, and the Sadducee-Essene group became Christian. This is only an hypotheses. None of this has anything to do with Freemasonry. The belief held by some freemasons and non-masons that there is a link between Freemasonry, through the Knights Templar, to the Essene community in Qumran is the product of several recently published popular books such as The Hiram Key, reinforced by wishful thinking. [RETURN TO INDEX]
1. "They Shall Not Hurt or Destroy," Vasu Murti <jesusveg.com/murticomplete.pdf.>. p. 34. Oakland, CA 2. "The Inauthenticity of the Essene Epistle sent from Jerusalem to Alexandria", Nikos Kokkinos Ainigmata 38/9. 19-21, 26 (in Greek): 1978. 3. The gospel of peace of Jesus Christ by the disciple John; The true (unknown) gospel of John. Edmond Bordeaux Szkely. London, C. W. Daniel company, limited: 1937. 87, [1] p. 18 cm. Also see: The Essene Way : Biogenic Living, Edmond Szekely. IBS Intl.: June 1981 ISBN: 0895640198. 4. The Gospel of the Holy Twelve: known also as the Gospel of the Perfect Life. Edited by a Disciple of the Master [i.e. Rev. Gideon Jasper Richard Ouseley], from eastern and western sources. Paris : The Order of At-one-ment, & United Templars' Society: 1901. pp. viii. 181. ; 8o. 5. "The Mandaeans & The Dead Sea Scrolls" Dr. Barbara Thiering. Sydney University: 1995. <essenes.crosswinds.net/theiring.html>.

21. Does Freemasonry promote indifferentism?

No. As always one must carefully define terms. The American Heritage Dictionary defines indifferentism as the belief that all religions are of equal validity. Religious Indifferentism, as used by the Roman Catholic Church, refers to any belief denying that it is the duty of man to worship God by believing and practicing the one true religion, i.e.: Roman Catholicism. They also define political indifferentism as the policy of a state that treats all the religions within its borders as being on an equal footing before the law of the country. Absolute indifferentism refers to those philosophic systems which reject the ultimate foundation of all religion, that is, mans acknowledgment of his dependence on a personal creator, whom, in consequence of this dependence, he is bound to reverence, obey, and love. Restricted indifferentism admits the necessity of religion on account, chiefly, of its salutary influence on human life. But it holds that all religions are equally worthy and profitable to man, and equally pleasing to God. "The classic advocate of this theory is Rousseau, who maintains, in his Emile, that God looks only to the sincerity of intention, and that everybody can serve Him by remaining in the religion in which he has been brought up, or by changing it at will for any other that pleases him more ( Emile, III)."1 The fear is that a belief that all religions are equally good comes to mean, at bottom, that religion is good for nothing. Accusations of indifferentism are founded on a belief that there can only be one truth, that the particular religion of the accuser by definition holds the truth, and by extension every other religion must be in error. Liberal or latitudinarian indifferentism is claimed to spring from rationalism and incorporates the theory of evolution applied to the origin of man, Biblical criticism, the comparative study of religions, archaeology, and ethnology. It also includes any perceived hostility to the Catholic Church. When critics of Freemasonry use the term "indifferentism", they are defining not only the term, but the terms of the argument. Masonic writers, with varying degrees of authority, have claimed that Freemasonry is indifferent to religion. This is not the same as indifferentism. Freemasonry holds no opinion on any religion or the relative worth of different religions. The discussion of religion is not within Freemasonrys province or mandate. There may be those freemasons who subscribe to some form of indifferentism, there will be many who do not Freemasonry holds no opinion on the subject. [RETURN TO
INDEX] 1. The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. vii, Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

22. Are freemasons anti-atheists?

No. Regular freemasons are, by definition of membership requirement, non-atheists, but this does not mean that they are anti-atheists. On the other hand, Freemasonry has on occasion been accused of being atheistic simply because the accusers have defined any belief other than their own as such. In fact,

regular Freemasonry has always restricted its membership to men who express a belief in Deity. But does this make Freemasonry anti-atheistic? Dr. James Anderson, in The Charges of a Freemason, wrote in 1723: "A Mason is obliged by his Tenure, to obey the moral Law; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious Libertine." This phrasing was carried forward unchanged for many years although at this time, in many jurisdictions, the term "stupid" has been dropped as gratuitous and insulting. While individual freemasons may consider atheists to be stupid, or ignorant, or unfortunate, many other freemasons will simply consider atheists as individuals who hold a differing belief. Can an atheist become a regular freemason? No; not unless he lies when asked to express a belief in a Supreme Being. There are several irregular jurisdictions that will initiate atheists but they are not recognized by regular Freemasonry.