Man, this was a serious venture to research. Thanks for the exercise! I learned a lot while I did it! I trace the origins of the Freemasons from the time of Jesus until today. From the days of the ancients to the Knights Templar to the Rosicrucians to the Freemasons of today.
Here is the ancient History of the Masons
After the life of Jesus, the gospel was accepted by many people, in spite of fierce persecution. There were so many converts that the high priests of the Mysteries of Greece, Rome, and Egypt began to lose their control. The teachings of Christ clashed with the pantheistic beliefs and occult practices of the priests. Eventually the occult priests were forced to go underground in order to keep their secret knowledge and traditions alive.
These occult teachings have been handed down from generation to generation ever since, kept alive in the Western world by the secret societies, which are little more than a continuation of ancient occult priesthoods. Satan's plan was to keep his priesthood and secret doctrines alive until, being sufficient in number and power, the priesthood could once again seize control over his lost territories. .
The Knights Templar were established in AD 1118 in Jerusalem by nine French knights. At first membership in the Knights Templar was originally limited to nobles. Later other men who could be used to further its aims were allowed to join.
During the Crusades, the Knights Templar became very wealthy by involvement in the Crusades. The pilgrims gave donations to the Order in exchange for protection to and from Jerusalem. The Templar were granted favors by many European rulers and gained possession of property throughout the continent. Soon they became extremely wealthy and powerful.
Eventually the Templars had become the bankers of Europe, and were no longer military. It was influential in Spain, France, and England, where knights, men-at-arms, and chaplains were organized, each under its own superior, subordinate to the Grand Master of the order. Their goal was to become rich enough to buy the world. By 1312 they owned more than nine thousand estates in Europe.
They were corrupt from the beginning. In the Middle East they become influenced by the Gnostics and the Assassins, a ruthless Arabic military order. They adopted the religious beliefs of the Gnostics and learned their organizational and political traits from the Assassins. The Templars represented the first wide-scale attempt to organize and mobilize the forces of occultism for the purpose of gaining control of the world.
At this point the order degenerated, and some of its members were said to practice Satanism and to venerate "The Baphomet," idol of the Luciferians. The Knights were masters of deception appearing to serve Christ on the surface while worshiping Lucifer within their inner rites.
The Templars merged with the Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucians became a Mystic Sect, uniting with the Templars, the dogmas of the two intermingling.
In the early 1600s, the order decided to see how the public would respond to its occult philosophies. They created a new history so they would not be linked to the Templars. They invented a mythical character called Christian Rosenkreuz. They put out that Rosenkreuz went Egypt to study the occult. After learning philosophy in the Middle East and Northern Africa, he returned to Europe to spread his enlightenment throughout Europe. He returned to Germany to establish a society based on his teachings the Order managed to create a renewed interest in the occult throughout the Continent.
SO MUCH FOR ANCIENT HISTORY, NOW WE GET TO THE MASONS
If the Rosicrucian were to progress toward their goal of establishing a New World Order, they would eventually have to enlist the support of more people to carry out their task. Once again, they took on the outer appearance of a benevolent organization but continued their occult traditions within.
They merged with and finally took over the stone mason guilds of Europe, retaining their symbols from the building trade. The stone masons became referred to as Operative Masons, as they were actually employed in the building profession; unlike the occult adepts who took over their guilds, who became known as Speculative Masons.
The transition from Operative to Speculative Masonry took several decades. They formed the world's first Grand Lodge in London in l717. By way of this gradual takeover, the torch was passed to the Masonic order, with the Rosicrucian embedding themselves deep within its structure and hierarchy to become the Adepts, or the Princes of Freemasonry. The "new" Order expanded rapidly.
By the late 1700s, it had become firmly established as an organization known for its good works. With the groundwork successfully laid, the Adepts were once again free to pursue their age-old ambition of re-establishing the Lucifer World Order.
Another new ultra-secret society was formed, enlisting members from the highest degrees of the Masonic Order. This Order within an Order would come to be known as the Illuminati. The express aim of the Order was to abolish Christianity, and overturn all civil government. Using deception and intrigue, Weishaupt, the public founder of the Illuminati, and his inner circle of adepts gained the support of Germany's Masonic lodges.
Weishaupt's Illuminati solidified its position among Europe's secret societies as the undisputed leader of the occult one-world movement. Around the same time, Weishaupt also succeeded at forging an alliance between Illuminized Freemasonry and the growing Rothschild banking network, thereby giving the Order the financial means to begin to carry out its plans
As a result of this alliance with the international financiers, the Freemasons regained the banking prominence once held by the Templars, and the Illuminati gained momentum. It gathered men of royal and noble titles. Even the Jesuits joined. Using this cover of working for worldwide Christian unity, Weishaupt gained the backing of credulous leaders who thought they were working for a noble cause. In fact their every move was designed by Weishaupt to nudge the Illuminists one step closer to world domination"
Although the Illuminati's efforts officially ceased in the 1780s, unofficially its agenda continued to move forward through the network of Illuminized Masonic lodges that had already been set in place. The main catalyst for this continued drive seemed to come from the Grand Orient Lodge of France, and later on, from the Masonic leaders of Italy and the United States.
Already dominating the political affairs of Europe, the Masonic Order had made significant progress in the United States by the late 1700s. Most of the country's political founding fathers were Masons. Most, like George Washington, were decent men who knew of no higher aims of the Order and who even spoke out against the activities of the Illuminati. However, with the Masonic lodges having gained acceptance in America, the Illuminati finally had in place the network through which it could recruit members and carry on its work.
Freemasonry experienced tremendous growth during the nineteenth century. This was also a time of rapid growth for Masonically-inspired religious cults. In addition to founding the Theosophical Society, Freemasonry participated in the rise and spread of Christian Science and Unitarianism; and the Jehovah's Witnesses. These cults have directed people away from the truth of Christ. The largest of these religious offshoots, however, would be the Mormon Church, which was founded by Joseph Smith, another high ranking Mason.
Those in the Blue Lodge, the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason degrees, don't know what's going on. Most Masons never go past the Third or Master Mason degree. We have been told that only those in the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite or York Rite are allowed to see the true nature of Freemasonry.
All Master Masons have been through the Entered Apprentice Degree and the Fellow Craft Degree before being raised to Master Mason. As a result the lower orders have no knowledge of the activities going on above. They are simply good men who are unwillingly used by the dark inner circle, as a beneficent front to the world. It is the upper level we must be concerned with.
Since then the Illuminati has grown swiftly. The results of the evil they have sewn are everywhere today. From the French revolution to this day, they financed and organized every war. Currently the American government is spearheading the Illuminati drive towards the formation of the NWO although this agency receives its directives from Europe.
This is the true purpose behind the ridiculous religious wars on the planet. This is why we see the removal of so many basic human rights around the world. These Illuminati supply arms to both sides of a conflict that they have created by meddling and creating religious strife.
They are very secret about their rituals. It is almost impossible to find information on them. The apron dates back to the apron worn by the original stone masons who founded the guild. They are covered with insignia and symbols showing a clear connection with the occult. I have enclosed a few links on this.