Lightbringers – The Emissaries of Jahbulon

There is a video posted on the internet called “Lightbringers – The Emissaries of Jahbulon” which puts out fallacious information. It can be found here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7447140689352016786. Whatever it says about Freemasonry is really of no consequence to me. My contention is its attempt to connect the Freemasons to the Templar Knights. There is no supporting evidence to lead to such a conclusion; in fact the verdict of history would show the opposite.

There are three main claims by the producers of this video to connect the Freemasons to the Templar Knights. It claims several knights escaped arrest and fled to Scotland, continued to practice “secret rites,” then founded the order of Freemasonry in Scotland. Only one claim is true – several knights and sargeants did escape to Scotland because their nobles were strong supporters of the Order of the Templar Knights.

In regards to “secret rites” of the Templar knights, there were no such creatures. The reason this rumor arose is because the order was cloistered and laymen were not allowed to attend Mass at a Templar commanderie. Templar Knights were not just knights. First, they were monks. They took vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience, just like other monks, but they were also allowed to make temporary vows if they did not want to devote their entire lives to the order. They lived under a very strict monastic rule written originally by Bernard of Clairvaux, with a couple of additions later. One of the reasons laymen were not allowed to attend the liturgies observed by the Templar Knights was one of the rules they observed was no contact with women, this was to help them preserve their chastity. The “secret Templar services” were in actuality the Liturgy of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, both of which were practiced daily. I can easily see how someone might confuse these things with occult practice because of a documentary video I have seen about Cistercian monks (interestingly enough Bernard of Clairvaux was a Cistercian). In one of the scenes the monks are all up on the altar, surrounding it in a circle. I am deeply and intimately familiar with several different forms of liturgical practice and my initial thought of that scene was, “Wow, that looks kind of creepy!” Something to note specially is the fact that many Templar chapels were built “in the round.” This would place all the celebrants of the liturgy in a circle around the altar and chanting in Latin. If someone who did not know Latin and was ignorant of liturgical practice saw what was going on they might think the Templar Knights had some cult or some form of demon worship going on that no one else was allowed to attend! Yea, I can see exactly where that’s going!

It was true that the Scottish nobles were friendly towards the Templar Knights. Many did escape to Scotland, as well as to Spain and Switzerland. These were mainly French knights and sergeants because in England, Spain and Germany the Templar Order did not fall under the persecution it did in France. There are several reasons for that. First and foremost the Order was wealthy, so wealthy it was able to bail kings out of bankruptcy, and did so on more than one occasion. King Louis was broke and needed lots of money because of the prosecution of a war. He also wanted to start another order of knights in which his own son would be grandmaster. He browbeat the Pope into suppressing the Templar Knights on trumped up charges, ceased their lands and treasuries and cleared the path for his brand new order all in one fell swoop. It would be important to point out that the Templar Order did not undergo the same maltreatment in any other country, nor were they ever convicted of the crimes alleged against them elsewhere. It was only in France, and under the direct intervention of the king, that convictions were drawn and punishments handed out. This all began on October 13th, 1307. The film claims that in 1420 the Templar Knights that escaped from France founded the order of Freemasonry in Scotland. What gives!? Were they immortal? Did they have extra long lives like Moses and Noah? Or is the claim simply untrue?