A Peculiar Allegory

I have been playing with a new mental model evolving around water baptism. Like with Mnason being a thin encryption of Mason in the Book of Acts I find it fetching that the Order of Archelaus also represents Masonry. You might catch up a little by reading and absorbing the dust cover of my book NY Freemasonry – A Bicentennial History (Front, Back) and a cursory examination of Masonry and Its Jurisprudence shows the same court structure found in the secular courts. [Jacques cited Matthew 5 about coming out of controversy on the way to court in support of unconditional acceptance. So we might title this entry as Stay Out of the Lodge if you are not an Initiate!]

Looking critically at the original Baptism of Jesus under the ministry of John the Baptist has always had some unconnected dots for me – until now. Mainly though I accepted like the Christian faith that people were either intuitively accepting that Jesus was the Messiah and therefore present to deliver Jerusalem/Israel from the domineering Roman occupation so as to praise him as the new King. There was some kind of definite coronation as he rode a colt up the King’s Road – Blessed Be He Who Comes in the Name of the LORD. I like to find supporting history and facts that indicate that there was more than faith and intuition leading to the people’s acceptance of a Jewish king in the face of the consequences that finally came to fruition for Israel in 70 AD. I believe that I have found such circumstances in Bible Dictionaries.

Herod the Great had three sons; Philip, Antipas and Archelaus. Philip was Tetrarch over Trans-Jordan and never played much of a role in the Bible Story. Antipas was Tetrarch over the northern provinces and Archelaus was the King over all Israel and ruled primarily over Jerusalem, which included the provinces of Judea, Idumea and Sumaria. Not that Antipas was any kinder to the Jews (beheading John the Baptist and playing the active prosecution that hung Jesus to the Cross) but I glean that being in the heart of the Jewish religious traditions Archelaus brought about a lot more written complaints to Caesar for doing his job and was exiled from Jerusalem in about 6 AD (when Jesus would have been 9 or 10 years old), leaving those three provinces under Tetrarch Antipas (Antipater – also Herod Antipas). [Transposing our traditions of nomenclature Herod GREAT issued Antipater HEROD.]

My model perceives Archelaus as living in secret, like John the Baptist (mountain men) and keeping his title King until the initial Baptism by dunking in the Jordan River. That is when Archelaus finally died and passed his title of King of Israel to Jesus CHRIST. John the Baptist was beheaded after speaking against the ruler and rule of Antipas HEROD. This would make John the minister of ceremony for a secret society keeping the Kingdom, at least in TITLE alive in spite of Archelaus’ exile – what I have referred to as the Order of Archelaus. There are some indications of the enlightened John the Baptist encrypted in some of the famous paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, including the Last Supper. Some of these Bloodline traditions (Da Vinci Code) depict John pointing a finger to heaven.

Among a few presumptions above is my theory that there is something to be learned by this, about secret societies and esoteric knowledge. For one thing I discovered at the Mason Museum and Library a tradition that Jesus spent some time in his 20’s traveling to the mystery schools of Israel, Egypt and Babylon. I believe that the visitation by the Magi held significance here, gold paying for an expensive family tomb and for a scholarship of sorts. Without being required to swear out the traditional oaths Jesus was welcomed and given free roaming of the esoteric libraries. I can relate as I am not an initiate and have been best I know the only non-Mason visiting and conducting research. I found leads in the Bible about Jesus knowing the Letters (gamatria) without the tutoring of the local rabbis, to their amazement. But there is strong allusion elsewhere like the Gospel of Philip and Morals and Dogma – required reading for Scottish Rite Freemasons.

The Bible Story indicates then that suddenly Jesus had a change of heart about initiation rituals. John expressed his respect for Jesus’ healing skills by being surprised that Jesus was not initiating John into Jesus’ apocalyptic mystery school (12 apostles and numerous followers). Jesus was instead humbly asking for John to dunk him in the Jordan River in that tradition, what I have described as the Order of Archelaus. Then apparently out of the blue, Jesus became the King of Israel – the same title as Archelaus at about the time when Archelaus would have been elderly and still in exile, like John the Baptist was living off the land wearing leather instead of loomed garments of the city folk. My presumption is that Archelaus had died and John was administering the title KING to the recognized Messiah of God having heard from his father the high priest about how John’s name had been delivered from the Holy of Holies by striking him mute etc.

- All that to try drawing allegories with the Masons, American History and the Federal Reserve too.

We find that many Christian churches recite the baptism ceremony today. In light of my beliefs above it seems that the original significance has been lost. It is a sign of acceptance of Jesus as LORD and Savior – fine. But the notion of preserving a title of KING seems to have been completely lost over time.

I am having trouble articulating the proper roles this theory fits, to the Masons, Federal Reserve and US government, if there are any. But it feels as though I have pieces to a puzzle that will all fit nicely together soon. I admit that I am putting these characters together from my memory of the Bible Story without refreshing myself about the facts, so please excuse and freely correct me if I have made any errors.