Essene Church of Christ
Essene Church of Christ
Essene Church of Christ
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>.
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.