Kevin Trudeau’s Brotherhood and the Global Info Network

Natural Remedies, How to Stop Pain Now, and Miracle Weight Loss Cures – snake oil comes in many shapes and sizes, and Kevin Trudeau is one of its heaven sent salesmen.

The Ridiculous Infomercial Review calls him “a leading light in the conspiracy theory community” who has joined forces with the infamous Alex Jones (you can watch Jones talk to Trudeau on the Alex Jones program).

In the 2010 infomercial appearance for his newly released book “Your Wish is Your Command”, Trudeau spoke with Skip Lindeman where he claimed his affiliation with the fraternity (or as he called it the brotherhood) and his use of the magical and mysterious Law of Attraction – aka “the Secret”.

His appearance was obviously to hawk his “Your Wish is Your Command” book which also comes with a private invitation to join a very elite society that proclaims to give you access to those members of the “brotherhood” as well as a cohort of the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Freemasons, Yale University’s Skull and Bones, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, Bohemian Club and many more.

No lie, the Global Information Network is a real “society” where you can join up and pay dues and squeeze brain cells with other MLM’ers and “develop your global wealth”. Oh, and according to the website you can learn and “Use the secrets from over 20 “secret societies” – just in case you didn’t already know ‘em.

John Stossel spent some time on ABC’s 20/20 debunking the guy in a slew of Q&A’s from various sources, to which Stossel suggests in conclusion that Trudeau is a liar and a charlatan – that he “prey’s on those who are sick and dying.”  And the evidence seemed to be pretty conclusive in the 8 minutes it was playing.

Mark Dice, author of Illuminati: Facts & Fiction says he likes the guy, but questions the “Secret Work” in his new book.  Dice asks us to consider Trudeau as another fraud for his Illuminati membership.

He has about 8 Federal legal proceedings against him for claims against his products and contempt’s of court (not to mention credit card fraud). And almost as many books from Weight Loss Cures to Debt Cures with a slew of infomercials in between – if you can trust the Wikipedia page on Trudeau.

Quack Watch has about 26 entries in 13 documents about Trudeau detailing some of his claims and run ins with the law.

Have you ever run across Trudeau or any of his products? What stories do you have?

The New World Order and what you need to know

The New World Order and what you need to know.

This popped into my inbox the other day. It might be a good indicator of why there is such a misconception on all things Masonic.

When your sermons are like this at church – check the fruit punch.

Mormons, Masons, Lucifer, the New World Order, HARP, weather control, and to much time on your hand….

This guy on the video is like watching 5 episode of Coast to Coast AM at one time.

Lodge Renewal – Part 2

In Lodge Renewal – Part 1 we saw how Craft Lodge performance and membership deteriorated after 1960.  We also took a brief look at the Grand Lodge response (when they woke up) of increased mandates, centralized control, relaxed standards, Institutional charity and One Day Classes which differed drastically from the response of individual Masons, that being the formation of TO Lodges.

One of the reasons that Masons themselves resorted to starting new TO Lodges is that they could get none of their reforms approved by a majority vote of the Lodges they belonged to. Senior citizens on fixed incomes comprised the bulk of Lodge membership and they refused to vote for anything that cost money or change anything from the way it was always done.  They possessed this power as we have seen because Mainstream Masonry skipped a generation resulting in a disproportionate number of elderly Masons.

Starting a new TO Lodge is not as easy as it sounds. First of all many jurisdictions prohibit them as being an illegal altering of Freemasonry – “You agree to make no changes in the body of Freemasonry.”  Even when approved some provisions a TO Lodge might want to adopt would violate Grand Lodge By-Laws, such as meeting less than once per month. Then there is the sheer volume of work involved, petitioning Grand Lodge, drawing up By-Laws, finding a place to meet etc.

So if much of what the reformers and the young enthusiasts hope to accomplish could be implemented within current Lodge structure and if it was not only sanctioned by the Grand Lodge but was enthusiastically encouraged by the Grand Master, would that not be a viable alternative? Such a program exists now.  It is called the “Lodge of the Year” program and exists in many jurisdictions under many different names.  Let’s take a look at the Grand Lodge of Iowa’s program.

Brother Gerald Edgar of Mosaic #125 AF&AM @ Dubuque, IA, Grand Lodge of Iowa has supplied The Beehive with the following information.

 The Iowa Grand Lodge “Lodge of the Year” program can be a truly rewarding program for those Lodges that compete.  As one can see from the application form, a successful lodge must not only engage its Master & Wardens but many other members as well if it hopes to achieve the variety of goals set out.  Not only do the Officers need to fulfill their duties, but they truly must put the Craft to work, engage the public, be charitable and in general use as many “tools” as possible to be a successful lodge.  A hallmark of the competition is the planning beginning with the WM’s vision for his term followed by the planning of individuals and committees to identify goals, the means to achieve them and implementation.

One measure of the success of the competition is that those Lodges that compete have fewer SNPD’s & demits and more Raisings.  One might conjecture that ‘good’ lodges would be successful regardless but the competition provides a measuring tool and a roadmap.  Ideally as soon as a Brother is elected to his lodge’s ‘line’ he can begin planning what events he will promote, what he needs to prioritize, whom he can influence to chair an event, etc.

We are all competitive to some degree – such lodge competitions, if done fairly, can satisfy our competitive nature while making our lodges true “working” lodges.  Members enjoy being part of a vital, lively organization and the lodge prospers.   Creativity results as well.  One competition requirement is holding a recognition of some persons or groups within the community apart from Masonry.  At Bethel Lodge a PM came up with the idea of recognizing community volunteers such as Scout & 4H leaders with a dinner.  Yes, these folks may be recognized within their own group but to be applauded in public makes them especially proud.  (and the Lodge got nice coverage in the local newspaper – just remember to prepare press releases and always have a camera ready!)
 
  Even if your Grand Lodge does not have such competition, the checklist will prove to a valuable tool in revitalizing your Lodge both within the Lodge Room as well as within your community. 

I would tweak the Iowa Program with these additions.

• There should be added to the list of actions required the formation of a Lodge esoteric study group.
• Then there should be some sort of financial reward for the top three vote getters. Granted hundreds of Lodges can win the award but the top 3 should get something special. Most Grand Lodges today are financially well off enough to give the First place winner $50,000, Second place $25,000 and Third place $10,000.

The Bee Hive is  indebted to Brother Gerald Edgar of Iowa for supplying the information that made this article possible.  The Lodge pictures included here are explained by Edgar.

The big temple is the Dubuque Masonic Temple, built in the 1930′s in the style of an English Manor House – it is as magnificent inside as it is outside.  Four Lodges, YorkRitBodies, OES, White Shrine, DeMolay, High-12, etc are among the Masonic bodies therein.  The storefront Lodge Hall was built in 1916 as the third home of Bethel Lodge #319 which owns the building with 3 tenants providing income.  The unusual feature is the large cast concrete square & compass at the roof line, with a York Rite keystone below

Hip Hop Freemasons

I stumbled across this by accident, but its amusing how many views and comments videos like these pick up in their linking of Hip Hop and Freemasonry. Its like the whole genre of conspiracy and secret societies has filtered down from the mass media culture of TV and movies and into the urban hip hop community.

It speaks volumes to the outreach that the fraternity has in those communities in engaging and educating them as to their work, but I wonder if the results are even more devastating in the way that the greater ideals of the fraternity are being perverted into the thought and imagery we see in the videos below. Interesting is that they are coming from an Islamic stand point (as you’ll see at the beginning of the 2nd video).

I say this because even as I post this, it will reach only a few thousand people who happen to find the material through a search, but the videos mentioned have already filtered through several thousands of computers (in come case several million) influencing and shaping the thoughts and perspectives of its viewers.

In other words, even though the detractors are wrong, they are telling the story of Freemasonry and not Freemasons. Even in the commentary the second video suggests that the artists are being approached by secret societies to spread their message.

This is the outcome of staying locked in our temples and not engaging with the greater society.
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It really becomes a rabbit hole of imagery and videos on the internet, like traditional mass media, is shaping the thinking of the viewers, even creating greater suspicions of institutions that already have a degree of conspiracy against them in society..

What to do?

Who knows, but the makers of these videos, like a Anti-Masonic party 150 years ago know what their doing, even if its happening by accident.

Jay-Z’s playing with us now.

So Jay-Z isn’t a Freemason… but his line of Rocawear is.

Not so new, but just in time for fathers day, is the Masters of the Craft T-shirt straight up with the Square and Compass. Called the Circle T, its one a few in the Rocawear line (both new and old) that’s riffing off the whole esoteric/occult/Masonic mystique.

It must mean were finally cool, right? A Hip hop mogul borrowing the iconography from the 300 year old fraternity for his own personal line of cloths.

It’s not a new thing. I remember being at a fashion trade show some years back seeing Shriners iconography being used as repeat screen printed patterns on urban apparel in much the same way.  The trend at the time turned into skulls (which is why there were so many in Penny’s, Sears, Wall Mart and Target a year or so back).

But Jay-Z’s Rocawear is riffing off the Scottish Rite too, Northern Jurisdiction to be precise. It makes me wonder if his designers who lifted the imagery have any idea that their linking the rappers line to a fraternity who at one point had confederate general Albert Pike as its organizer, not that theres anything wrong with the reformed confederate general or anything, but theres an irony there when successful urban hip hop apparel connects itself to Civil War anti-history.

The Double Phoenix Tee has as its description: Short sleeve tee features a ribbed crew neckline, a printed eagle graphic design at front, and a printed logo design at left sleeve. It might just as easily to of said the Scottish Rite Double Eagle Tee… In case your wondering, here’s a link to who they lifted the graphic from.

So then, one can only assume, if J isn’t a Freemason, then he must like to dress like one, and imitation is still the best form of flattery.

Or maybe his line of apparel is just trying to fuel the extra publicity that he is some illuminiati/Freemason agent, and that he is really playing behind the scenes – given as many denials Jay-Z has made to being a Mason.

Also in the Rocawear line is a cap that sports the square and compass too in the accessories section. Imagine running into somone with that cap askance on their head representing Freemasonry, err, I mean Jay-Z.

This is a great post on the use of Empire, Heraldry, Skulls and Esoteric Imagery In Modern Rap Culture from 2010, which you can see is not something new. But I think there is a definite connection trying to be drawn to the perceived life of the secret society as an aspirational message of the Brand, much the same way that earlier urban music linked itself to the iconic Al Pacino film Scarface.  I’ve even noticed in a few local fairs that side by side on the midway game prize wall sits framed pictures of the pyramid and the eye from the dollar bill right next to the black and white poster of Tony Montana and the machine gun, ready to adorn the walls of overly macho adolescents and their aspirational “gangsta” lifestyle.

So then, is Rocawear trying to do the same thing, subtly, by making such direct use of the fraternal imagery?  Are they trying to re-link Jay-Z to Freemasonry even after J denied it?

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