I've been fascinated by her book "The Christ Conspiracy" (hereafter called TCC) for some years. It is a wonderful introduction to the views of 19th Century eccentrics who wrote on the emerging fields of the "History of Religions", parapsychology, Atlantis, spirituality, etc. In many ways, this parallels the development of beliefs in the ancient world around the First Century BC onwards, when the expanding Roman Empire brought in new ideas and new religions, merging them together through a process of syncretism.
But what is the actual conspiracy in "The Christ Conspiracy"? Who conspired to create the Christ figure and first Christian texts, and why? My article explains Acharya S's view on the origin of Christianity and Christian texts. To do this, I will rely mainly on her "The Christ Conspiracy" book, but will also bring in details from her website as well.
Who were the Conspirators?
The answer to "who were the conspirators?" is not complex, but it does involve a lot of groups, starting from almost pre-Biblical times. Today, we would call them "Freemasons". As Acharya S explains:
- “Although the brotherhood of Masonry appears to be relatively new, it is in reality the oldest continuous network on the planet, dating back many thousands of years, beginning when stones were first dressed. Masonry today has a generally sinister reputation, because the people suspect that this powerful brotherhood has been manipulating and exploiting them. However, the average Mason has never been ‘in the know’ and is, therefore, merely a member of a social club.
Nevertheless, the higher-ups have indeed had their hand in creation on this planet on a large scale for a long time … The Masons are there, perpetually hidden behind the scenes, leaving clues to their existence as a brotherhood, some of which are evident yet still not seen. For example, the biblical Nimrod, the king who built the tower of Babel, is considered the first Mason.” (TCC, page 343)
Acharya S also provides a partial list of those groups involved in the formation of Christianity as the state religion:
- The following is a partial list of the various religions, cults, sects, secret societies and mystery schools that contributed to the formation of the state religion called Christianity:
1. Buddhist/Gymnosophic/Sufic
2. Cabirian/Phrygian/Syrian
3. Dionysian/Bacchanal/Orphist/Samothracian
4. Druidic/Gallic/Teutonic
5. Egyptian/African
6. Essene/Nazarene/Nazarite/Ebionite/Therapeut
7. Greek/Eleusinian
8. Indian/Brahmanical
9. Mandaean/Manichaean
10. Marcionite/Valentinian
11. Mithraic/Zoroastrian
12. Neoplatonist/Stoic/Cynic/Eclectic/Peripatetic
13. Phoenician/Canaanite/Israelite/Samaritan
14. Yahwhist/Kabbalist/Pharisaic
15. Roman/Etruscan
16. Samanean/Magusean/Sampsaean
17. Sethian/Ophite
18. Zealot/Zadokite/Sadducean
In addition to these groups, many of which obviously overlap, are not a few other branches and even more esoteric designations such as the “Followers of the Eight-Pointed Red Cross,” the “Sons of the Sun,” the “Order of the Black Hand,” the “Order of the Red Hand,” and the famed “Order of Melchizedek.”(TCC, page 342)
According to Acharya S, the "Order of Melchizedek" seems to be still operating today, but I will cover that below.
Acharya sees the Masons in the Chaldeans, the Druids, Christians, Jews and Muslims. Also Mithraites. The Templars. The Essenes. The Dead Sea Scrolls. And many more:
- The Indian-Gnostic Nazarene-Carmelites were also Nestorians, Manichaeans, Samanaeans and Buddhists, Templars and Rosicrucians, “or followers of the eight-pointed Red Cross and Rose of Sharon, all the same under different names,” serving to illustrate the complexity and pervasiveness of the international brotherhood of Masonry. The Masons were also Essenes, Therapeuts and Gnostics, and they are now Christians, Jews and Muslims. The Mithraites were also Masons, and the Kabbalists and Chaldeans were Master Masons. In fact, the Scottish Rite Masonry can be traced to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans, then, were also the Druids, who were likewise Masons. The Knights Templar were also Chaldeans, the same as the Culdees of India and as the Gnostic Manichaeans, who were followers of Bel/Baal. The Culdees/Masons were the judicial astronomers of Rome, and, as we have seen, the followers of Baal/Molech constituted the Order of Melchizedek, whose members were also Gymnosophs, as well as Zadokites. In fact, the fortress at Qumran was a Masonic enclave, since masons built it, particularly its large tower, a strong Masonic symbol. Likewise, the Dead Sea scrolls are abundant in “architectural metaphors,” demonstrating their writers were Masons. Furthermore, the mysteries of Isis and Serapis, which were models of those of Eleusis and Samothrace, are part of Masonry (TCC, page 345)
The Gnostic/Therapeutans were the groups that were involved in the creation of the original Christian texts. As Acharya S explains:
- In their creation of Christianity, the Therapeuts had at their disposal the university and library at Alexandria, which had been established by Alexander the Great as an international center of learning. (TCC, page 330)
- It is clear that the individuals who Judaized the Gnostic/Therapeutan efforts were in the main not Pharisaic but Hellenizing “Jews” or Israelites, i.e., Samaritan Zadokites/ Sadducees. Thus, the gospel story serves to elevate not only “the Jews” as God’s chosen but also the northern kingdom over the southern kingdom, with the southern actually being castigated for its interpretation of the law. In this regard, the Samaritan Jesus’s character is patterned after a Pharisee so that he can debate “the Jews” and usurp their power. (TCC, page 332)
- Christianity’s earliest proponents, the Gnostics, were non-historicizers and non-Judaizers who were attempting to amalgamate the many religions of the Roman Empire and beyond. When the might of Rome crushed Palestine, into this Gnostic-Therapeut soup fell a multitude of Jews and Samaritans, including the Zadokites, who insisted upon supremacy and dominance, such that the allegorical and astrotheological Jesus became “Jewish.” It was not until the Antiochan-Alexandrian efforts hit Rome, however, that they became locked into history, the result of the labors of the infamous church fathers, who were known liars, forgers and general psychotics whose brains were apparently afflicted by the lead in Roman pipes. (TCC, page 335)
The Masons still have influence today, through the Grand Master-Mason, the Pope:
- Unbeknownst to the masses, the pope is the Grand Master-Mason of the Masonic branches of the world... Masonry originally held, and still does at the higher levels, the knowledge that the Christ character was the sun. This knowledge has obviously been hidden from all but the few. (TCC, page 348)
- It is reported that priests, high-ranking Masons and members of other such brotherhoods are informed about the real origins of Christianity but are sworn to a blood oath against revealing the truth. Perhaps some of these individuals will be encouraged that others not thus bound are exposing this all-important information. (TCC, page 374)
- After becoming aware of such “mysteries” revealed herein concerning Christianity and its alleged founder, many people may find the scholarship on this subject to appear less than satisfactory, to say the least, as it becomes clear that this information is known by the scholastic elite.
...
It is clear that scholars have known about the mythological nature of the Bible, yet they have gone to immense lengths to hide it, including using sophisticated language, like the priestly counterparts who have utilized the dead language Latin to go over the heads of the uneducated masses. It is possible that any number of these scholars are also Masons or members of some such secret brotherhood who are under the blood oath. Or they may merely be products of their occupation, in that many universities and colleges are under the dominion of the fraternities and the grand master, the Pope, i.e., the Catholic Church. In any case, they have been pawns, unwitting or otherwise, in the Christ conspiracy, which has obscured ancient knowledge and wisdom under a false front of historicity, by the most thorough of methods, including secrecy, forgery, force and destruction. (TCC, page 376)
Acharya S notes that the Order of Melchizedek still appears to operate today, calling them "the same old terrestrial powerbrokers"
- Keith recounts Vallee's work:
- [Keith writes in his book:] "A remarkable UFO group was contacted by Jacques Vallee in Paris, France. The group is called the Order of Melchizedek, and it uses the Star of David for its emblem, and for its program espouses a one world government and the doing away with money and religion - except for the UFO-oriented sort of religion, I would imagine... Vallee notes the curious number of organizations that the head of the French Order of Melchizedek fronts, including the Front for Christian Liberation, Jesus People Europe, Jesus Revolution, the Charismatic Christian, the Christian Socialist Party, and Jew and Arab movements. Here revelant cross-currents include cabalism, the Order of Melchizedek, and the Star of David."