Hey Chris yeah Fred what’s a Mason that’s a really good question Fred you’ve reached the internet’s home for all things masonry join Chris and I as we Plum the depths of our ancient craft from the common gavel to the trout nothing is off the table so grab your
Tools and let’s get to work this is on the level well brother we are back uh how’s it going man hello is that your that’s becoming your signature greeting right there brother yeah yeah oh yeah it’s definitely a signature greeting at this point wow um I’m doing good you’re doing good yeah I
Got to bed about 1 o’l nice about uh six hours sleep yeah but you’re young and strong so you can handle it totally both of those things yeah I’m old and weak so I had to go home right away way what what we’re alluding to there is we had
An EA degree last night and um yes we did our worshipful master sat in the chair of the East as worshipful master for the degree and I for some reason I don’t know why they put me as Junior Warden which uh is reckless as far as I’m concerned you look good over there
Yeah and I almost got my parts right almost got them perfect in practice yeah perfect in practice perfect in practice as usual anybody out there who’s done it knows exactly what I’m talking about right now I mean totally Flawless and then of course our Deputy de our district Deputy instructor yes uh was
Sitting in on it so that helped a lot yeah thank you Doug yeah when the right honorable right District uh Deputy uh Doug dobs walks into your Lodge from the 23rd Masonic District you butt puckers and you sit up a little straighter and and let me just say that which is
Totally on you if you do that because he is the most humble gracious man you’ve ever met in your life uh and that there’s a reason why he’s in that position so yeah you’re sing is a great example of how a past Master should be behaving right an elder Mason should
Should carry himself totally support driven you know doesn’t okay all right all right sorry sorry Doug sorry right worful we’ll we’ll move on gav us we can keep going for an hour all right this has become the show of Douglas dos of Bradon speaking of what this show is about
Segue you might have noticed the shield and sword over there today we’re going to talk about the kns Templar o yeah very excited about that very excited and um just so you know if you’re expecting it to be all that stuff that’s on the internet well you haven’t listened to
The show you haven’t listened to the show yet yeah and and we haven’t done the show yet so we don’t even know yeah we’re listening but I mean traditionally we don’t go into superstitions or hokey pokey stuff talking about real stuff the real history Real History how does it
Relate to your life today how can it make you a better person that’s what we’re focused on right now for the last couple of days knowing that this show was coming up I did a little bit of research and very little I don’t like to over research stuff because that’s not
What we’re about here on on the level with Fred and Chris we’re we’re uh we’re two guys talking about Freemasonry and the things of Freemasonry just like you could if you were to sit down with a buddy and talk it’s the same idea yeah so that’s that’s what we’re about but
Anyway nights Templar there’s so much junk out there yeah on the internet we’re going to add to the junk and we’ll add to the junk uh we’ll bring our junk to the junk party that’s weird and um so I kind of waited through it I came down with this the the way the
The nonmon world uh sees the Knights Templar art um I found to be a decent description uh in the History Channel’s website now they’ve done some good documentary I I think they have yeah and and it they’re their uh their synopsis of it it’s a little long but uh it’s it’s pretty good
It’s a pretty good read um and it’s it I in my opinion I kind of after doing a lot of online research soon as I got the headache thing going that’s when I stopped uh and I came down with the most reasonable one would be like I said the
The History Channel One the rest of it is just contradictory there’s some wacky you know Alex Jones junk out there and all that stuff and I’m I’m just not into it man and we’re not going to talk about that here because like my partner just
Said uh we try to we try to bring the facts you know what what can be proven what what can be known um about it so anyways I’m going to go over to our and uh hopefully we continue to we do we continue to record excellent modern tech technology uh I’m just going
To read this it’s on it’s on the History Channel website and um anyone can read it history channel.com slights Templar will bring you to it uh bunch of research material footnotes you know they they do a pretty good job when they do a good job they do a really good job
Uh that’s the way I’m going to say it History Channel lately is more about American Pickers than it is about actual history but that’s okay not to put anything put them down a fun show Pickers you never seen the show American Pickers Pickers no you’ve never seen
American Pickers no wow I have to see it Mike Wolf is this a bad like dumb show or is it it’s it’s a reality show there Pickers are people who go from who who who go and find uh American artifacts so they’ll come up to an old barn uh house
Or an Old Farm and they’ll go in there and they’ll pick they pi and they buy stuff and they pick through your stuff and then they they sell it at their store which has made this man Mike Wolf a millionaire a 100 times o 10 times
Over uh for sure and he’s a he’s a weird dude he’s very colorful why am I talking about this I asked you that’s my fault I apologize I got you down that we’re getting better at at curbing the rabbit Trails here a little bit I think we’re starting to
Catch each other okay he’s got a beautiful hat and shirt on oh I don’t know if you’re watching the video but it’s beautiful if you’re yeah for those of you who are listening uh I am currently Dawning the new uh on the level with Fred and Chris t-shirt uh and
Both of us are Dawning Dawning the new uh on the level with Fred and Chris hats which are awesome I love it I wasn’t sure about the white know I got to be honest with you more picky about hats than I am so I was more worried about
How you’d find them a Hat’s a big part of my life because I don’t have any hair so that’s why it’s a huge part yeah hats are important so and you approv this is Fred approved now uh I approve I approve got to be careful with it it’s white so
You know don’t don’t work on your car uh while you’re wearing the Hat put it aside and then work on the car wash your hands put the hat back on why am I talking about this you know you are matching the colors of the night’s Templar oh look at that white with the
Red and the black white with the red and the black how appoo how appoo I don’t even know what that word means it just sounded great to use in that situation all right anyways let’s uh let me let me read this it’s a little long we’ll kind
Of break through it okay what I want to do is read this and keep in mind kind of I kind of I read this so that we kind of have an idea of how the nonmon world kind of looks at the Knights Templar without all the Alex Jones garbage uh
Out there okay this is it’s pretty this is pretty mainstream okay uh the knight’s Templar art was a large organization of devout Christians during the Medieval Era who carried out an important mission to protect European Travelers visiting sites in the Holy Land while also carrying out military operations a wealthy powerful and
Mysterious order that has fascinated historians and the public for centuries tales of the Knights Templar their financial and banking Acumen their military prowess and their work on behalf of Christianity during the Crusades still circulate throughout modern culture who were the Knights Templar that would be a subheading after Christian armies captured Jerusalem from
Muslim control in 1099 during the Crusades groups of pilgrims from across Western Europe started visiting the Holy Land many of them however were robbed and killed as they crossed through Muslim controlled territories during their Journey now we know this is a fact this these These are facts this is proven uh with ancient
Writings and stuff this is not this is not controversial at all around 1118 a French Knight named hugas D his name was pronounced hug Hugh deay Hugh depay thank you thank you for that pronunciation Hugh deay created a military order along with eight relatives and and acquaintances calling
It the poor fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon later known simply as the Knights Templar so that’s kind of the basis of it with the support of Baldwin II the ruler of J of Jerusalem they set up headquarters on the city’s sacred Temple mount the
Source of their of their now iconic name and pledge to protect Christianity Christian visitors to Jerusalem okay the Pope’s endorsement this is important you got and this is this is historical fact okay initially the Knights Templar faced criticism from some religious leaders but in 1129 the group received the
Formal endorsement of the ca Roman Catholic church and support from Bernard of clairo that’s what you call jackpot Ching that would have been cha-ching right there yeah well it the the key word there is endorsement so it that’s like winning the medieval Lottery that’s that’s like if you’re Eminem Living on
The 8 Mile and Dr Dre just pulls you out of nowhere and says I’ll make a record with you that’s what happened to the this guy who’s Eminem Eminem is a delicious treat okay but he’s also a poor white rapper from Eight Mile Detroit oh who got picked up by a guy
Who made a record with him and now he’s a world famous rapper oh a rapper P out of obscur nothingness just because he got lucky enough to get a guy who noticed him not a big rapper I I know I saw the Eight Mile movie so oh okay
Hopefully the movie’s right because I perhaps we should do a movie night and I’ll watch it with you it’s the same as this like these this is a a nobody a real nobody who somehow got the highest Authority in the land this is higher than a king the pope was higher than the
King they’re King makers and this Pope said you’re my guy and gave him the blessing of the Catholic church at that time it didn’t get any bigger than that that that’s like right top of the food chain yeah it it was an important endorsement initially the Knights Templar faced criticism from some
Religious leaders but in 1129 the group received the formal endorsement of the Roman Catholic church and support from Bernard of clairo a prominent French Abbot Bernard authored In Praise of the New Kingdom a text that glorified the Knights Templar and bolstered their growth so with endorsement came the
Actual work uh media work uh to to to bring this support to the masses in in 1139 Pope Innocent II issued a papal bull that allowed the Knights Templars special rights among them the Templars were exempt from paying taxes permitted to build their own orations and were held to no one’s
Authority except the popes so they they wore the ring man they wore the ring so and when you had that ring you got out of their way the Knights Templar art set up a prosperous network of Banks and gained enormous Financial influence their banking system allowed religious
Pilgrims to deposit Assets in their home countries and withdraw funds in the Holy Land that’s a key that’s key the first debit card yeah the very first debit card man Bank First debit card Yep this is and this is a key link between um the Templars in Freemasonry that in
Particular is the biggest uh romantic link between the Templars and Freemasonry because Legend says that if you Fred wanted to deposit your Goods at a Templar consist and then you wanted to go see the holy land and maybe you needed some of your cash you could go to
The consist there in Jerusalem and withdraw your money and spend it there and you didn’t have to deal deal with Bandits hijacking you killing you everything on the path to get there you could see the appeal of that but they didn’t have computers they didn’t have a
Lot of technology and so tradition is they would say Okay Fred here’s a word you’re going to want to say this word to this person at the consist when you get there or hey Fred here’s a really cool handshake right no one tell no one this
Handshake you only give it to the guy at the other end so that he can confirm that that you’re Fred and this is your stuff I’ve made the connection that word that handshake unlocks your stuff and in Freemasonry we have particular words and particular handshakes which are very important to
Us and we never tell anyone we are obligated we made an obligation before God to keep those Secrets it’s kind of silly to to Freemasons as to why we keep those Secrets but it’s a tradition that we’ve carried on from Antiquity and we have links romantically to the guilt and
We say oh it was important because of this but some people say it’s linked to this piece of the Templar culture it would make sense right to me it would make sense it’s a possible connection sorry no no this is why we’re doing this so that you can jump in and
Kind of bring us you know by the way tell us where you’re at with the appendant body known as well I’m a night Templar you’re a night Templar so there’s that part so there’s that this is my shield and SW sword that hangs in my office which is a Templar Shield I I
Have to say brother I I think this is the wrong motivation but I would probably become a member of that appendant body just for the sword oh they don’t give you a sword this has nothing to do with the unfortunately but you get to buy one for a specific
Purpose right and you’ll find the same symbolism and you know the probably the most common symbol of the knight’s Templar which started as the poor fellow Soldiers of Christ in the temple of Solomon as you said right that’s how how they started so their sigil was two knights riding on a horse together
Because they were poor they couldn’t even afford two horses so that’s what that is this is them saying look at how poor we are two nights have to ride on one horse and that was the sigil if you ever saw two knights riding on a horse
Then you know that was referring to the poor fellow Soldiers of Christ in the temple of Solomon which later became known as the knight’s Templar Knights Templar I love that the order became known for its aere code of conduct austere code of conduct which includes no pointy shoes and no kissing their
Mothers rules outline in the rules of the Templars and signature style of dress which featured a white habit em emblazoned with a simple Red Cross yes members swore an oath to poverty chassity and obedience they weren’t allowed to drink gamble or swear prayer was essential to their daily lives and
The Templars Express particular adoration for the mother of Jesus Christ the Virgin Mary of course being Roman Catholic as the Knights Templar grew in size and statue stat and Status it established new chapters throughout Western Europe at the height of their influence the Templars boasted a sizable Fleet of ships owned the Mediterranean
Island of Cyprus and served as a primary bank and lending institution to the European monarchs and Nobles wow that’s no joke paragraph also opens up a really interesting romantic legend of the Knights Templar uh and I think I told you about this one I never saw a documentary but I
Think I read something online about it uh and it makes a lot of sense so they had this great shipping Fleet and they had this massive wealth this is known fact right when they were wiped out in in the early 1300s by I’m sure you’re
Going to get there I won’t go there yep uh but at some point they were taken out completely but they never recovered their Fleet and they never recovered their wealth and so the question through time has been what the hell happened to the fleet and where did the money go
Right now we know that they operated in the Mediterranean and that they could sail a lot further than that um they were great Sailors and they had a huge Fleet so the tradition is that when they were cast out they fled to the Caribbean right and turned piracy right when they got
Later in life and quote piracy but they set up families in the Caribbean and they uh you know populated with the Caribbean culture and they lived in the Caribbean and they had no money no you know they were very angry at you know the man at that time yep and
Uh so they would have definitely been more than happy to pick off any French or English ships coming through the Caribbean and just live off of it and so Generations pass and the code is somewhat passed through the generations and so you know later you’ve got these
Pirates Who are living by a warped Templar code right called the Pirates Code and they’re sailing their Templar ships in the Caribbean Sea robbing from the rich and really giving it to the poor and living off of it and they became later you know Pawns in in bigger
Political games because they need the power that they still had in the Caribbean to help them when they went to war with each other so that’s a whole story of the Templars that I think deserves a whole lot more looking into is did that Fleet some of that wind up
In the Caribbean and were those pirates of the Caribbeans The Offspring of the night’s Templar fascinating fascinating anytime you have the ability to in some distant way become a freaking pirate I’m in I’m in I mean they were equipped for that right they were military trained they knew how to
Navigate the Seas they had plenty of money to live off and set up operations so it’s totally possible that that’s what happened wow all right this this subhead is expanded duties of the knights though its original purpose was to protect Pilgrims from danger the Knights Templar progressively expanded
Its duties they became Defenders of the Crusader the Crusader states in the holy land and were known as Brave highly skilled Warrior Warriors the group developed a reputation as Fierce Fighters during the Crusades driven by religious fervor and forbidden from retreating unless significantly outnumbered the Templars built numerous
Castles and fought and often won battles against his the Islamic armies their Fearless style of fighting became a model for other military orders that that is a true fact they were known as Fierce Fighters These Guys these guys were the elite soldiers of the day day but there’s some there’s there’s just a
Quick little statement in that last paragraph that bears repeating and looking at you want me to read it again just that first part the Templars built numerous castles it’s right there the Templars built numerous castles have you ever seen the Templar castles that were built in France uh I can’t say I have
Massive Gothic works of art gee in the 1100 to 1300s these guys were building massive Gothic temples all throughout Europe who built those I wonder right right no one was building those kinds of structures at that time this was kind of new I mean there’s a whole style of architecture that’s
Framed after what they did right the Templars Warriors religious Warriors how were they building huge Gothic temples all over Europe well uh they weren’t all warriors uh Legend says that they had many different classes right there were certain classes that only dealt with money and the banking part of their
Institution there were Sailors there were religious only people that dealt with local communities and and helping them with their religious issues and there were Builders a whole class of Builders H Craftsman that worked with stone and built beautiful Gothic temples all throughout England interesting that’s a very interesting connection
That not a lot of people talk about they know that there’s Templar buildings and they know that they were building these things things but there’s no talk about know how are they tied to the the guilds that built those temples or were the guilds or were they part of the actual
Order of the kns Templar and what is Freemason Rees Tai it had it just seems so obvious to me to say that there was at least part of the uh they surely would have mixed at some point even if they were two separate completely not associated organizations the Craftsman’s guilds and these
Templars had to mix at least to do business together and keep in mind this is this is the mid 12th century to the early 13th century right we trace it what 1800 1700s officially yes officially uh for actual masonry speculative masonry speculative yeah but we have documents
Of the speculative masonry going back to the 1300s right manuscripts where it’s mentioned uh h and you know listen so what we know is they were mixing with Craftsmen highly skilled the most skilled Craftsmen in the world building these Gothic temples uh we know that they had
Shipping fleets we know that they were involved with the Temple of Solomon right what is the whole point of Freemasonry the building of Solomon’s Temple that’s right that’s all we talk about that’s all we care about okay I’m being dramatic it’s a huge part of free
Huge part huge part of of that the the the the allegory of building the Temple I mean it it starts it starts there that’s right and where did they start they started in the ruins of Solomon’s Temple in the ruins of Solomon’s Temple yeah so they were given exclusive
Control over that uh you know and there was a a large portion of the Templar militia at the time did nothing but protect pilgrims but there were others Escavating Solomon’s site the site of Solomon’s Temple and the question always arises how did these poor Knights who couldn’t
Afford two horses together wind up the biggest military force the biggest Financial force uh with the biggest shipping Fleet in the world how is that possible right okay you get endorsed by the the Catholic church that’s going to bring a lot of money for sure people will start giving you lands and money
Just because you’re mixing you’re endorsed man you’re endorsed that’s what comes with endorsement you’re wearing the ring so sure you can say that some of that could be attributed to that and it is but um also tradition says that as they excavated Solomon’s Temple they found Many religious relics and that was a
Very important part of what the church was seeking at the time they were all looking for religious relics at that time right right like everyone wanted to have the best relics because it gave their particular Church the best uh pilgrim and you made the most money it’s
Always about the money it’s so follow the money baby uh and so they would have been sponsored looking for artifacts and some people say that they found some artifacts at Solomon’s Temple’s ruins uh it’s known to have housed the Ark of the Covenant um which has never
Been recovered right as well as other artifacts um and and so that’s a big tradition that you hear and you read online is that the Templars discovered some religious secrets and then they started to control the Catholic church because they had leverage over them they had secrets that
The church didn’t have that sounds kind of ridiculous to me because they were sponsored by the church I would think they would want to play nice with the church right as much as possible right right yeah um but over time and I’m sure you’re going to get to it there were
Other orders that that arose and also became favored by the church like the hospital hospital for example Y and these were basically competitors of the knight’s Templar and at some point the church favored the hospital teers and tried to get them to merge they were talking to the Templars
Like you really need to get with these guys and just com consolidate right uh but The Grandmaster of the Templars resisted that he wanted to remain separate right it wasn’t over over moral issues because the this new order was less uh less moral less you know straightforward and trustworthy another interesting link
No alcohol right no gambling no cursing you got to pray every day yep does that sound familiar to you it does sound familiar we don’t allow alcohol we don’t allow politics right uh we have to pray before everything we do we have to pray at the end of everything we
Do there’s a lot connections are never ending between what they do and what we do so sorry no no no no that’s that’s good this is I think this is pretty good stuff uh okay the fall of the Knights Templar is the next subheading in the late 12th century Muslim armies retook
Jerusalem and turned the tide of the Crusades forcing the Knights Templar to relocate several times the fall of Ark I think that’s a oh AER yeah AER yeah the fall of Aur in 1291 marked the destruction of the last remaining Crusader Refuge in the holy land that was basically their headquarters as they
Were trying European support for the military campaigns in the Holy Land began to erode over the decades that followed additionally many secular and religious leaders became increasingly critical of the templar’s wealth and power by 1303 the Knights Templar lost its last foothold in the Muslim world and established a base of operation in
Paris their King there King Philip IV of France resolved to bring down the order perhaps because the Templars had denied the in the indebted ruler additional loans perhaps no couldn’t be about money couldn’t be about money yeah be that they’re bad guys who worshiped the baffet and did all kinds of gay kissing
With each other right that had to be it yeah couldn’t be about the money right yeah right right on Friday October 13th that’s very specific date 1307 scores of French Templars were arrested including the Ord Grandmaster jacqu deole jacqu deol that’s where the deole comes from many of the knives were brutally tortured
Until they confess to false charges which included that’s not even like that statement doesn’t really do justice to what happened because you know what happened when you were tortured right right at that time it didn’t it wasn’t like a one torture session yeah it wasn’t water boarding guys you got
Tortured over the course of a year right nothing but constant pain thrown in a dungeon constant pain thrown in a dungeon constant pain thrown in a dungeon over the course of a year that’s the kind of torture we’re talking here yeah so you put we we did a fraction of
That we’d waterboard a few guys for like a few days and they’d give up anything we wanted right right oh yeah absolutely just a threat of it imagine real torture over the course of a year what could you get out of somebody what could you get
Them to say that they did anything is the answer right they would say anything to make the torture stop and to die that’s really all they wanted at that point was to just die yeah because all the torturers wanted was false confessions so that’s all they wanted
They didn’t need it to be true they just needed to be able to say that yeah before he died he confessed that he was this that and the other and it happened it happened time and time again not just with the Templars because this was the
Modus operand of the day if you wanted to take somebody out you got the pope to say that they did these things right and it was always these few things that you got brought up on charges for and you got tortured until you admitted it and then they killed you right and Boom
Justice is served yeah Justice that’s the kind of Justice we have today anyway different story many of the knights were brutally tortured until they confessed to false charges which included heresy homosexuality Financial corruption devil worshiping fraud and spitting on the cross a few years later dozens of
Templars were burned at the stake in Paris for their confessions false confessions deay was EX uted on in 1314 under pressure from King Phillip Pope Clement V reluctantly disolved the Knights Templar in 1312 the group’s property and and Monastery and monetary assets were given to rival orders the the knights
Hospers hospit yeah that’s a hard one to say hos p i t a l l d RS hospital teers however it’s thought by some sorry about that guys the group’s property and monetary assets were given to a rival order the knights Hospers however it’s it’s thought by
Some that King Phillip and King Edward II of England sees most of the Knights Templars wealth and I would probably agree with that because they’re inbred Royals and that’s what they do well interesting um it was Friday the 13th right in the 1300s oh and that is a
That is another romantic tradition that we like to say that Friday the 13th comes from this the day that they try to take out the Templars well you know as every every Mason knows every little quib of course and say out there comes from masonry right yeah black bald
There’s one that everybody that’s us when hear Black bald that’s us that’s us that’s right we we invented those terms all these terms come from us man yeah that’s our proud Traditions all right the next heading is uh the Knights Templar today uh which I I find I find interesting so
The the Catholic Church the Roman Catholic church has acknowledged that the persecution of the Knights Templar was unjustified the church claims that Pope Clement was pressured by secular rulers to destroy the order okay that’s what he claims the word claim here is right right but he’s
One right he’s the inside man he knows what what really went down better than anybody else in the world that’s right and there’s no way to know but I mean come on we know we know politicians we know people and we know people that’s right While most historians agree that
The knights Temple are fully disbanded in fully disbanded 700 years ago there are some people who believe the order went underground and remains in existence in some form to this day well that we know I got one sitting right across from me in the 18th century some groups most notably the Freemasons
Revived several of the medieval knights symbols rituals and traditions mhm currently there are several International organizations styled after the Knight’s Templar that in the public that the public can join these groups have Representatives around the world and aim to uphold the values and traditions of the original medieval
Order throughout the years various Tales have surfaced about the knights mysterious work more recently stories about the legendary Templars have found their way into popular books and movies some historians have claimed that the Knights Templar may have secretly guarded the Shroud of Turin the linen cloth that people claim is the face of
Christ for hundreds of years after the Crusades ended another widespread belief is that the knights discovered and kept religious artifacts and Relics such as the holy grail and the Ark of the Covenant as Parts as and parts of the cross from Christ’s crucifixion various other ideas and myths exist about the knights templar’s
Secret operations the popular novel and film The Da Vinci Code presented a theory that the Templars were involved in a conspiracy to preserve the bloodline of Jesus Christ although much of these speculations are considered fictional there is no question that the Knights Templar have provoked Intrigue and Fascination and will likely continue
To do so for many years in the future no doubt about that and even within our fraternity I did a a debate with uh worshipful David finlin and the lodge liked it and so we did it in a couple of other lodges about this wow and we’re
Divided about is this real is it not real were the Templars really connected is this just a romantic tradition we’re trying to gain some Fame from these you know famous people and there is a huge group of Masons that say that it’s it’s all Bs it’s all stories not real and
Then there’s another large group of Masons that are night Templars that really believe that this is a continuation of the original Knights Templar that were living the way that they lived in some small way and they love to uh you know lean into the fact that they are
Kns Templars and they’re living the ideas of the original night Templars I wish that the outfits were like the original night Templars because this is why I don’t really get involved too much their outfits are not like the original night Templars they have the Captain Crunch hat and the Confederate outfits
And yeah it’s not awesome uh The Outfits aren’t awesome but um you know the ideals uh you know there’s just so much that you can link between the two and if you’re a thinking critical thinking reasonable person I don’t think you can come to any other conclusion than uh
There’s an actual link historical link that existed uh that is being continued yes we didn’t come out of the closet until the 1700s yes it was shortly after that that we linked the Templars to Freemasonry officially but we know that free missonary existed prior to the 1700s correct we know this why wouldn’t
It make sense that we were practicing those Templar Traditions prior to when we publicly said we did shortly after we came out of the closet in the 1700s well it it leads to that assumption right that assumption the the facts in quotes uh kind of lead lead you to that
Assumption that’s right why would this uh Craftsman’s Guild have a position position called The Marshall that’s a military position right why would a Craftsman Guild have a military position as part of its order that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense historically speaking uh and there’s so many more
Links you know in in in traditional Freemasonry the inter Apprentice the fellowcraft and the Master Mason we don’t talk about Templars at all right we don’t say the name it’s not part of any of our Traditions but if you dig deeper and we have secret societies within secret societies that we call
Pendant bodies so in both the main two which is the Scottish right and the York right both of those bodies culminate in stories about the knight’s Templar the late degrees and both bodies you become some fashion of night Templar in their in their degrees and in their Traditions
So the Scottish right tells um Tales of Templars escaping France and England and finding refuge in Scotland because Scotland had already been excommunicated from the the Catholic church so it would have been a safe haven for anyone that was also excommunicated from the Catholic church and you can imagine in
Exchange for staying there they would ask for something in return and the world has always wondered how did Scotland this rag tag group of Braveheart guys that’s right the Braveheart guys how did they actually defeat the largest army of the world that ever SE right well the thinking men
And the Freemason Traditions tell us that the the elite Army uh had found Refuge there and were fighting alongside those guys um because they wanted to survive so in Scotland Robert the Bruce uh assisted in setting up an order for them and in the Scottish right would
Call that the uh come on now come on Chris use your your brain I’m one the uh uh she well there’s an order in the Scottish right uh and I’m a member of it and it’s really a service order in the Scottish right their tradition is um
About helping so when they can when they have reunions they’re the guys that will greet you at the door they’ll take your passes they’ll take your money they’ll um make sure they shuttle people in and out they’re they’re really just there for support uh they don’t ask anything
In return uh and in the York right you actually literally call yourself a night Templar and you’re conferred the final degree is a conferral of you being nighted as a night Templar in the old traditions wow the old traditions I mean I’ve been through all the degrees all of
Them and that last degree in the York right that Templar degree is on another level man it’s just so cool it’s everything you you want in Freemasonry and I can’t get into it much no right other than to say if you you know just to get the information I would
Join the York right just to go through those degrees because it’s pretty dang impressive now am I do I understand it correctly that if you go all the way night of St Andrews sorry night of St Andrews that’s it that’s it good see as soon as you stop TR thought it popped
Into your head um and and whatever I was going to say popped right out of my head so dang for thank you for the Vibes I needed it yeah no no words sorry you had to sacrifice yours uh no no no no hey so um the a couple of things one uh when
When you’re looking at history especially like ancient history um we always go back to the names are really important like for instance when having being a Christian and having studied the scriptures for a long time one of the one of the keys to apologetics um is looking at the historicity of the
Gospels one of the key figures of The Gospel is pontious pilot and he’s mentioned in he’s mentioned in three of the four gospels very clearly um as a district Governor uh for Rome in that region that is historical fact there is no question no one questions the the
Fact that that man lived and and and governed the way he governed um uh it would be um and there’s other ways of looking now when you look through the history of the Knights Templar you see historical figures um Clement of Clair vau is a real person that’s a verified
Fact he was a pop right and he issued a lot of Pap blls that are on record yeah so um it’s it’s it’s this isn’t Alex Jones speculation man there is a lot of historical fact here the connections are really where we’re is really what people talk about you know because it’s not
Okay here’s the document that the Templars and the Freemasons signed together as proof that they’re working together like we don’t have that document I’m sorry and by Nature uh let’s see Freemasonry and Scottish right York right Knights Templar those are organizations based in secrecy yeah so
It might stand a reason that they didn’t broadcast a lot of the stuff that they were doing back then because they were you know well they were on the lamb right they were on the RO from the Popo from the popo the popo that’s right the
Popo get it I didn’t even notice how punny that was until you re acted the po po so so I I find the entire idea of the knight’s Templar especially especially when you get into the the the Caribbean um and juicy stuff it’s really really hard to it’s not really hard to
Figure that masonry made its way into if you go to the Caribbean there’s a Temple I Temple sorry there’s a lodge um on just about every one of them Islands out there man they’re everywhere so there’s there’s just so much that we could get into here that that’s a
Logical connection that we can make my historical connection but that’s where people want to live is in the possible yeah right not in the real in the real yeah and the possible sometimes is the real you just have to get there by thinking about it so we had people on
The Lamb on the run from the popo and Scotland for example this is one place we know that they probably went to and found Refuge they uh certainly had the desire to continue to worship their God even though the church turned on them right right right yeah imagine the
Feeling of having the head of the church turn on you and say political gain all these bad things these lies about you and you see your brothers in pain and torture and your whole order Fallen because the head of your church turned his back on you because of political
Pressure now you still love God probably you can’t nothing’s going to take that right nothing’s taking their Devotion to Christ away but you sure don’t trust the church anymore after that in fact you might have very bad feelings about organized religion after that now Freemasonry is a system we welcome anyone that worships
God but we don’t want to hear anything about your religion right don’t want to talk about your organized religion doesn’t matter what it is it’s not part of Freemasonry that’s a pretty strong you know know you’re walking the same path as the Templars there uh and they would
Have still wanted to you know show their respect for God if they met an organized way the other thing uh that follows is if you’re in the Scot if you’re somewhere in Scotland you have a lodge a Freemason where you’re now meeting and you’re worshiping God there in your way
And you’re talking about you know how you can help your community and build back up from devastations of War uh it’s going to become really really important that nobody snitches you out cuz you’re on the land right so if you bring a new guy into that
Situation you don’t want him to see your face you don’t want him to hear your voice you don’t want him to know who you are until he’s made that obligation that he’s going to keep the secrets right your family’s at stake you probably set up home you probably have a wife at this
Point you probably have children and a stranger could take that all away from you and so we you know it’s never made a whole lot of sense historically as to why there’s so much secrecy in the degrees of Freemasonry um and they try to rationalize that it’s a guild and it’s
Important to keep the secrets of the guild or whatever sure right sure but these obligations are intense they’re intense life and death like you said don’t do it or you’re a bad boy like no don’t do it or this horrible thing might happen to you like your your wife and
Children being murdered murdered in front of you and you being taken away and tortured yeah well I mean the obligation itself the obligation that they put you under isn’t a simple uh friendly obligation like they’re very old school harsh obligations of if you do this something bad will happen to you
And Freemason we don’t we don’t do that we don’t really follow it it’s just part of our tradition that we carry on but where did the tradition come from why would a Craftsman Guild have put such a harsh penalty on a man for just saying the name of somebody that was a member
Of the organization that doesn’t make a lot of sense right people that are on the run from the largest political and religious organization on the face of the planet would have a lot to lose from somebody that they don’t know getting into their stuff it would make a whole
Lot of sense that you’d take all these extra steps of protection and not until they obligated themselves under God and you were sure that they’re a good person would you let them see who you really are yeah that’s right that’s right so those traditions in Freemasonry today
Could be in my mind very directly linked to the excommunicated Templars getting more involved in the Masonic organizations well the timing certainly is right if you look down through history you know we’re talking from 1100 down through to the 1800s if you look at what we just read through that synopsis
You know of the history of it um and what we just talked about it the timing is certainly there it historically chronologically what what they believe um is is clearly possible chronologically it it does fit into you know the the the string of time that we’re talking about and then add to that
The historical figures that are there um and for me you know for me it’s it’s always about plausibility what is the most plausible explanation for anything what the reason why I originally became a Christian at all was because the question that bothered me for you know most of my young life is
Why am I here why am I here what is the most plausible explanation for why I I why I am I am here and I spent many many years uh seeking that out figuring out what I believe and why I believe it I landed uh in Christianity I I hold to
The resurrection of Jesus Christ as a most plausible idea anyway we’ll go on and on about that on another show or perhaps another format um but plausibility what is the most plausible explanation not because there are no guarantees when it comes to ancient history There’s No Smoking Gun these
Situations but isn’t that what uh isn’t that what historians do that’s where they make their money man that’s exactly right fill in the blanks with the story they what is the most plausible explanation for those things we cannot completely concretely prove and then they say this is what we as experts
Believe happened and we accept it as fact and then you tell the person you’re speaking to I leave it to you you figure it out you go study it you do the work because you know the the things you believe matter as far as your world view
Goes you you look at the world through the glasses of what it is you believe so why not take the time to figure out what you believe and why you and you’ve heard me on this podcast say it over and over again know what you believe and know why
You believe it otherwise it’s not worth it it’s not worth it you because you’re just bouncing from one idea to another what is that you believe what is the most plausible explanation for the thing that’s in front of you what is the most plausible explanation for the knight’s
Templar what is the most exp plausible explanation for the relationship between masonry Free and Accepted masonry and the knight’s Templar and the Scottish right York right I love this conversation man I think it’s great I think it’s really enriching and for anybody out there and apparently we are
Now global so there’s lots and lots of people listening to us thank you very much we very much appreciate it we are blown away and um I I just I don’t know what else to say but there’s probably somebody out there at least one person out there who’s thinking yeah man I’m
Going to check this out yeah I want to look into this and we encourage you to do so and then we also encourage you to uh send us an email uh and share with us what you found um so that we can um share that email in an upcoming episode
That we’re going to call uh Fred and Chris answer your emails which is coming up but um I do want to talk a little bit about um the series four-part series we’re starting next week yes um we will come back to this we will go deeper on Templars abut like everything we’re
Doing we just want to this is the beginning of our P this is season one season one on level with Fred and Chris so we’re touching on the surface of as much as we can and Chris is waving his arm right now as he speaks for those of you who are only
Listening these aren’t the droids you’re looking for move on if only it was that easy by the power of the knight’s Templar I did cry okay so was that a rubber Trail yeah I’d say so okay so back to our four-part series coming up is you’ve
Asked for it we’re going to do it Master Mason degree lessons from the masterm degree it will be uh four parts I’m holding up three fingers I don’t know what four four fingers there you go it’ll be in four parts we’re going to break down um the Florida the the the
Grand Lodge of Florida’s uh mentoring manual which has four which has uh I want to say it’s 28 28 subsections and we’re dividing it into four um and I’ve gone through divided them out and then kind of came up with a synopsis of each little thing we want to do a better
Job we we we first did this with the EA degree uh and that was two parts and it was a very very popular that’s what you guys want you guys really want probably our most popular podcast those EA degree ones yep and then and then we Tred to do
A little better job with the fellowship fellowcraft uh degree um that was three-part uh if I’m not mistaken could have been four could have been four part and now with the Master Mason uh degree it it will be four part and we’re hoping to present you guys with something
That’s a little more in-depth uh and a little more well well-crafted but like Chris said this is our first season and uh we’re just we’re just kind of putting this together um and and we’re looking forward to getting the podcast to a place where it’s it’s a little bit more
Polished as far as the tech uh as and editing goes but never ever get to the point where we don’t do this what we’re doing right here and right now is just talking two guys two Masons talking about U the the craft the fraternity that they love yeah uh and trying their
Best to stay on topic yeah trying their best we’ll get better at it or worse or Worse better worse but we’re not going anywhere so we’ll always be here and um so and keep in mind the both of us have full-time jobs and careers that we we
Deal with we do this part-time and Freemasonry which is a second Freon which is a second full-time job yeah just ask our wives uh yep absolutely so anything else Chris give us a give us a round a brief little summation of the knight’s Templar uh on our way out well the knight’s
Templar um and Freemasonry and Freemasonry I believe personally are inextricably link through time and we know that they both existed before the Grand Lodge came out with Freemasonry publicly in the 1700s we know they both intermingled before then and we know that Freemasonry became a thing in the
1700s and then shortly after that we publicly came out with templarism in Freemasonry uh and that in my mind that continuation of events is pling as day and so the traditions of the Templars uh if you’re a Freemason and you haven’t joined an appendant body
I would encourage you to do so like Fred said experience them for yourself do a little history for yourself and then let us know where you wind up on this subject we’re curious to know yeah which side of the uh which side of the tracks
You are and most of the people that say there’s no link I found haven’t done a whole lot of research which is typically the case it’s easier to say no than it is to do the research and be able to bring you know a plausible explanation
Sure so the for me is that the more we talk about this and the more we think about it and the more we read about it the more we’re going to see how strong the connections were between are between Templars and uh you know there was a we
Didn’t get into it but uh one of the things that they got in trouble for was worshiping the head worshiping a severed head that was one of the claims that was made against them right um and seems unsanitary but yeah well the tradition is it was John the Baptist’s head that
They were worshiping out in the field because they were desperate for religious relics and they found the head of John the Baptist and worshiped it and uh as you know John the Baptist is a big part of our fraternity that’s right yeah dedicated to him yeah that’s right
That’s right just these links will never stop the more we keep talking about it yeah no it goes right it goes It goes I’ll stop I’ll stop you you stop remember plausibility what is the most plausible explanation for the thing that you’re digging into uh that that’s a
Great premise to begin any study with what is the most plausible explanation based on your own research okay my brother um I think this was a pretty good podcast man I hope we get a lot of success on it um whenever we go into Masonic history Andor Masonic teaching
You guys seem to respond really well to it I hope this is I hope this offering is is one and the same um and next week like I said we start a four-part series on Master masonry which I think is going to be a really great conversation so
Make sure guys that you uh you tune in please uh share um the podcast with anybody you know that you think might uh want to hear it um send your emails to Fred onthel lwith frand chris.com and uh Chris onthel with Fred and Chris now is
The time to send emails if you have unique thoughts ideas or anything to do with the Master Mason degree yeah that would be great particularly the second half of the Master Mason degree because we’re going to get into the first half quickly y but if you send us your emails
Now about your thoughts on the second half we can adopt them as part of our talk yeah absolutely yeah and just anything but definitely that would be great to bring that in to the four-part series that uh that we’re coming out with here so that would be really
Awesome um well once again brother U we get a we get the privilege um and opportunity to sit and talk about one of our well our favorite subject which is uh Freemasonry yes shout out to every brother brother out there uh who calls himself a Mason um and who is who’s
Dedicated to the work of his lodge um good on you brother good on you and uh this is a blessing for me you know I got to sit here with uh my brother uh before the podcast started we had to grabed something out of my car and we went out
There and he’s the type of guy that turned to the Sun and said thank you Lord for this blessing of the sun on my face to start my day and uh what a great example of a good Mason and somebody who just appre appreciates uh your Creator
And the little things that he gives you to make your life a little better because it’s hard life is hard and that was a great reminder to me you got to appreciate the small you have to approach life from a place of appreciation yeah that’s right I’ve been
Watching a lot of alone many seasons now of alone oh oh no and no it’s great I’m not an Outdoorsman so I’m fascinated by this whole life but one thing that the best have in common is appreciation that’s how they get through hard times they just appreciate gratitude and
Appreciation for the water for the Sun for the breath in your lungs it’s going to make your life go a whole lot easier so follow my brother Fred appreciate the little things it makes your life a lot more enriched and also enriches the lives of those around you like he did
For me today thank you yeah you’re welcome brother and follow uh Fred and Chris on the level with Fred and Chris uh on Apple podcast uh and Spotify uh we’re we’re on all of them you can find us on all of them but if you go to Apple
Podcast please please please leave us a festar rating and give us even if you’re not happy with us five star rating and then you can rail against us all you want in the comment section we would greatly appreciate it uh that puts us higher and higher on the rankings for
Apple podcast as I’m sure you all know and as far as uh YouTube goes thanks uh we’re just trying YouTube it’s fun to put it out there starting to get some some uh comments there but if you would hit that like button and subscribe that also helps us and it supports the show
So uh until next time my brothers um be on the level yes thank you and we appreciate you and we’re looking forward to talking about the Master Mason Degree come on back all right we’re out later
source