A Bavarian Illuminati Primer - The World Conspirators: the Illuminati - THE PRESENT-DAY ILLUMINATI THEORY 

A Bavarian Illuminati Primer

April 22, 1995

Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati of Bavaria on May 1, 1776 on the principles of his early training as a Jesuit. Originally called the Order of the Perfectibilists, "its professed object was, by the mutual assistance of its members, to attain the highest possible degree of morality and virtue, and to lay the foundation for the reformation of the world by the association of good men to oppose the progress of moral evil."(1)

Adam Weishaupt was born February 6, 1748 at Ingoldstadt and educated by the Jesuits. His appointment as Professor of Natural and Canon Law at the University of Ingoldstadt in 1775, a position previously held by an ecclesiastic, gave great offense to the clergy. "Weishaupt, whose views were cosmopolitan, and who knew and condemned the bigotry and superstitions of the Priests, established an opposing party in the University.... This was the begining of the Order of Illuminati or the Enlightened...."(2) Weishaupt was not then a Freemason; he was initiated into Lodge Theodore of Good Council (Theodor zum guten Rath), at Munich in 1777.

Most information regarding the rituals and objectives of the order is derived from papers and correspondence found in an illegal search of Xavier Zwack's home in 1786 and a search of Baron Bassus's house in 1787. (3)

Status as a Mason was not required for initiation into the Order of Illuminati since the fourth, fifth and sixth degrees of Weishaupt and Baron Von Knigge's system practically duplicated the three degrees of symbolic Freemasonry. Although Knigge claimed to have a system of ten degrees, the last two appear never to have been fully worked up.(4)

"The Order was at first very popular, and enrolled no less than two thousand names upon its registers.... Its Lodges were to be found in France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Italy.

Knigge, who was one of its most prominent working members, and the author of several of its Degrees, was a religious man, and would never have united with it had its object been, as has been charged, to abolish Christianity. But it cannot be denied, that in the process of time abuses had crept into the Institution and that by the influence of unworthy men, the system became corrupted; yet the course accusations of Barruel and Robison are known to be exaggerated, and some of them altogether false....

The Edicts (on June 22, 1784, for its suppression) of the Elector of Bavaria were repeated in March and August, 1785 and the Order began to decline, so that by the end of the eighteenth century it had ceased to exist.... it exercised while in prosperity no favorable influence on the Masonic Institution, nor any unfavorable effect on it by its dissolution."(5)

Coil describes the Order as a "short lived, meteoric and controversial society"(6) while Kenning refers to it as a "mischievous association".(7)

In his own defence, Weishaupt did say:

 

"Whoever does not close his ear to the lamentations of the miserable, nor his heart to gentle pity; whoever is the friend and brother of the unfortunate; whoever has a heart capable of love and friendship; whoever is steadfast in adversity, unwearied in the carrying out of whatever has been once engaged in, undaunted in the overcoming of difficulties; whoever does not mock and despise the weak; whose soul is susceptible of conceiving great designs, desirous of rising superior to all base motives, and of distinguishing itself by deeds of benevolence; whoever shuns idleness; whoever considers no knowledge as unessential which he may have the opportunity of acquiring, regarding the knowledge of mankind as his chief study; whoever, when truth and virtue are in question, despising the approbation of the multitude, is sufficiently courageous to follow the dictates of his own heart, - such a one is a proper candidate." (8)

"The tenor of my life has been the opposite of everything that is vile; and no man can lay any such thing to my charge." (9)

As regards any information derived from celebrated anti-mason, John Robison (10): "In the (London) "Monthly Magazine" for January 1798 there appeared a letter from Böttiger, Provost of the College of Weimar, in reply to Robison's work, charging that writer with making false statements, and declaring that since 1790 'every concern of the Illuminati has ceased.' Böttiger also offered to supply any person in Great Britain, alarmed at the erroneous statements contained in the book above mentioned, with correct information." (11)

 

In the following year, 1785, Weishaupt was deprived of his professorship and banished with pension from the country. He moved to Gotha where he died in 1811.

The Encyclop¿dia Britannica refers to the Illuminati "cells" in an article on eighteenth century Italy as "republican freethinkers, after the pattern recently established in Bavaria by Adam Weishaupt."(13) and as a "rationalistic secret society" in an article on Roman Catholicism.(14)

Depending on your perspective, the lack of any detailed information on the Illuminati in the current edition of the Encyclop¿dia Britannica can be ascribed to their current power and secretiveness or to the much simpler explanation that the editors found the order to be of little importance in the flow of history and social development.

John M. Roberts claims that "The Illuminati were the first society to use for political subversion the machinery of secret organization offered by free masonry ... through the craft they began to spread."(15) while Robert Gilbert feels that Christopher McIntosh "overestimates the strength and significance of the Illuminati."(16)

Serious researchers are directed to the following partial list of the many books and pamphlets written by Weishaupt:

A Picture of the Illuminati, 1786.

A Complete History of the Persecutions of the Illuminati in Bavaria, 1786.

An Apology for the Illuminati, 1787.

An Improved System of the Illuminati, 1787.

The United Grand Lodge of England Library catalogue includes:

P.4. Adam Weisshaupt, "Uber den allgorischen Geist des Alterthums". Regensburg, 1794. 8vo.

Documented evidence would suggest that the Bavarian Illuminati was nothing more than a curious historical footnote. Certainly, this is the opinion of Masonic writers. Conspiracy theorists though, are not noted for applying Occam's razer and have decided that there is a connection between the Illuminati, the Freemasons, the Trilateral Commission, British Emperialism, International Zionism and (if you read the writings of Jack T. Chick of Chino California) communism that all leads back to the Vatican in a bid for world domination. Believe what you will but there is no evidence that the Illuminati survived its founders.

As an aside: the Alumbrados (Spanish for 'enlightened') were members of a mystical movement similar to the French Guerinets, in 16th century Spain; for the most part they were reformed Jesuits and Franciscans. They believed that the human soul could enter into direct communication with the Holy Spirit and, due to their extravagant claims of visions and revelations, had three edicts issued against them by the Inquisition.

Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits in 1534 and composer of the 'Constitutions" of the Society of Jesus, has written nothing that would suggest he was in sympathy with the Alumbrados.(17) The name translates as 'illuminati' in Italian but the name is the only similarity with the later Bavarian Illuminati.

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(1) Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing. 1966, p.474.

(2) Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing. 1966, p.1099.

(3) Charles William Heckethorn, The Secret Societies of all ages and Countries [in two volumes], London: George Redway. 1897 p.310.

(4) Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing. 1966. p.475.

(5) Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing. 1966. p.1099.

(6) Henry Wilson Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, New York: Macoy Publishing. 1961 p. 545.

(7) Kenning's Masonic Cyclopaedia and Handbook of Masonic Archealogy, History and Biography, ed. Rev. A.F.A. Woodford. London: 1878. p. 326.

(8) Adam Weishaupt, An Improved System of the Illuminati, Gotha: 1787.

(9) Adam Weishaupt (1748 - 1811), An Apology for the Illuminati,Gotha:1787.

(10) John Robison (1739 - 1805), Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe carried on in the Secret Meetings of the Freemasons, Illuminati. and Reading Societies, collected from Good Authorities, printed by George Forman for Cornelious David, Edinburgh: 1797. (531 pages).

(11) Heckethorn, p.314.

(12) Heckethorn, pp. 305 - 316.

(13) Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition. Vol. 22, p. 223, 2b.

(14) Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition. Vol. 26, p. 937, 2b.

(15) J.M. Roberts, The Mythology of Secret Societies, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1972, pp. 123-4.

(16) Christopher McIntosh, The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1992, reviewed by Robert Gilbert in the Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London: Butler & Tanner Ltd.1993 p. 241.

(17) The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, trans. by L.J. Puhl (1951); The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus; Translated with an Introduction and a Commentary", by G.E. Ganss:1970.

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Additional references:

"Illuminism and the French Revolution". Edinburgh Review vol. 204 pp35-60 July 1906.

"Jebedidiah Morse and the Bavarian Illuminati: An Essay on the Rhetoric of Conspiracy". Central States Speech Journal Fall/Winter 1988. pages 293-303.

New England and the Bavarian Illuminati. Vernon L. Stauffer. 1918.

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Trevor W. McKeown Editor, Mensa World "The heart may conceive and the head devise in vain, if the hand be not prompt to execute the design

 

And now, here are some sites debunking Masonic conspiracy theories, suggested, surprisingly enough, by a Freemason. In any case, thanks to Trevor W. McKeown of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and the Yukon for these fine suggestions:

 

 The World Conspirators: the Illuminati

The Illuminati are elite men, those on the top, who control the International Bankers to control, for evil purposes, the entire world. Their agentur are bred, educated, and trained to be placed behind the scenes at all levels of government. As experts and advisers, they mould government policy so as to further the secret plans of their masters. They lure people away from God by offering them money, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Those who direct the Illuminati are against Christ and for Satan. They always remain in the dark, unidentified, and generally unsuspected. They use all peoples to serve their diabolical purposes. They divide to conquer, supplying arms and money to both sides, instigating people to fight and kill each other, in order to be able to achieve their objectives. they foster the terrorism of atomic warfare and deliberately cause world famine. Their primary goal is to form a one world government to have complete control of the entire world, destroying all religions and governments in the process.

Recently I came across a tape entitled «The History of the Illuminati» by Myron Fagan in which Mr. Fagan explains in detail what the Illuminati is, how it started, and their conspiracy to form a one world government by the end of the 20th Century. Following are excerpts taken from this tape, based on William Guy Carr's book, "Pawns in the Game". The subtitles are from the "Michael" Journal.

Melvin Sickler

by Myron Fagan

Behind the United States and its Constitution is a small group of men whose sole objective is to enslave the whole world and humanity in their satanic plot for a one world govenment. Now to give you a very clear picture of this satanic plot, I will go back to its beginning, back to the middle of the 18th Century, and name the men who put that plot into action.

This satanic plot was launched back in the 1760's when it first came into existence under the name of the Illuminati. This Illuminati was organized by one Adam Weishaupt who became a convert to Catholicism and later a Catholic priest. Then, at the request of the Financiers, he defected from the Catholic Church, and organized the Illuminati which was financed by the International Bankers.

Every war since then, beginning with the French Revolution, has been promoted by the Illuminati operating under various names and guises. I say under various names and guises because, after the Illuminati was exposed and became too notorious, Weishaupt and his co-conspirators began to operate under various other names.

But why did the world conspirators chose the word "Illuminati" for their satanic organization? Weishaupt himself said that the word is derived from Lucifer and means «holders of the light».

The Luciferian conspiracy

Weishaupt was a Jesuit-trained professor of Canon Law, teaching in Inglecot University, when he defected from Christianity to embrace the Luciferian conspiracy. This was in 1770. He began to write out the master plan that was designed to give the Synagogue of Satan, so named by Jesus Christ, ultimate world domination so they could impose the Luciferian ideology on what would remain of the human race after the final social cataclysm by use of satanic despotism.

Weishaupt completed his task on May 1, 1776. (Communist nations continue to yearly conduct celebrations on May 1st in honor of this great event.) That was the day Weishaupt officially completed his plan which required the destruction of all existing governments and religions. That objective was to be reached by dividing the masses of people into opposing camps in ever increasing numbers on political, social, economic, and other issues, the very conditions we have in the United States today. The opposing sides were then to be armed, and incidents were to be provided which would cause them to fight and weaken themselves, gradually destroying national governments and religious institutions.

The plan of operation

The main features of the Weishaupt plan of operation required his Illuminati to do the following things to help them to accomplish their purpose:

1. Monetary and sex bribery was to be used to obtain control of men already in high places in the various levels of all governments and other fields of endeavor. Once influential persons had fallen for the lies, deceits, and temptations of the Illuminati, they were to be held in bondage by application of political and other forms of blackmail, threats of financial ruin, public exposure, and physical harm, even death to themselves and loved members of their families.

2. The Illuminati who were on the faculty of colleges and universities were to cultivate students possessing exceptional mental ability and who belonged to well-bred families with international leanings, and recommend them for special training in Internationalism. Such training was to be provided by granting scholarships, like the Rhodes Scholarship, to those selected by the Illuminati. All such scholars were to be first persuaded and then convinced that men of special talent and brains had the right to rule those less gifted on the grounds that the masses do not know what is best for them physically, mentally, and spiritually.

3. All influential people who were trapped to come under the control of the Illuminati, plus the students who had been specially educated and trained, were to be used as agents and placed behind the scenes of all governments as experts and specialists. They would advise the top executives to adopt policies which would, in the long run, serve the secret plans of the Illuminati's one world conspiracy, and bring about the destruction of the governments and religions they were elected or appointed to serve.

4. They were to obtain absolute control of the press so that all news and inforation could be slanted to convince the masses that a one world government is the only solution to our many and varied problems. They were also to own and control all the national radio and TV channels.

After reading these four points of strategy, we have to admit that our mass communications media is controlled at all levels, and that at all levels our governments are also infiltrated and controlled, just like Weishaupt had planned back in the 1700's. Unfortunately, few people are aware of this fact, which is why they make little sense out of many of the world events that take place today.

Let us now go back to the first days of the Illuminati.

Because Britain and France were the two greatest world powers in the late years of the 18th Century, Weishaupt ordered the Illuminati to foment the colonial wars, including the Revolutionary War in America, to weaken the British Empire. They were also ordered to organize the French Revolution in order to destroy the French Empire.

Weishaupt scheduled the French Revolution to start in 1789. However, in 1784, a true act of God placed the Bavarian Government in possession of evidence which proved the existence of the Illuminati. And that evidence could have saved France if they, the French Government, had not refused to believe it.

An act of God

What was this act of God? Let me explain.

It was in 1784 that Weishaupt had issued his orders for the French Revolution. A German writer named Zwack had put these orders into book form which contained the entire Illuminati story and Weishaupt's plan. A copy of this book was sent to the Illuminates in France, who were headed by Robespierre, whom Weishaupt had delegated to foment the French Revolution. The carrier was struck and killed by lightning as he rode on his way from Germany to France. The police found the subversive documents on his body, and turned them over to the proper authorities.

After a careful study of the plot, the Bavarian Government ordered the police to raid Weishaupt's newly organized lodges of the Grand Orient and homes of his most influential associates. All additional evidence thus discovered convinced the authorities that the documents were genuine copies of the conspiracy by which the Illuminati planned to use wars and revolutions to bring about the established. (Note: This is exactly in line with the United Nations plot of today.)

In 1785, the Bavarian Government outlawed the Illuminati, and closed the lodges of the Grand Orient. In 1786, they published all the details of the conspiracy, the English title of that publication being "The Original Writings of the Order and Sect of the Illuminati". Copies of the entire conspiracy were sent to all the heads of Church and State in Europe. But the power of the Illuminati was so great that this warning was ignored. Nevertheless, «Illuminati» became a dirty word, and it went underground.

At the same time, Weishaupt ordered Illuminates to infiltrate into the lodges of Blue Masonry, and form their own secret societies within all secret societies. Only Masons who proved themselves internationalists, and those whose conduct proved they had defected from God, were initiated into the Illuminati.

In order to infiltrate into Masonic Lodges in Britain, Weishaupt invited John Robison over to Europe. Robison was a high degree Mason in the Scottish Rite. He was a professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh University and secretary of The Royal Society of Edinburgh. Robison did not fall for the lie that the objective of the Illuminati was to create a benevolent dictatorship, but he kept his reaction to himself so well that he was entrusted with a copy of Weishaupt's revised conspiracy for study and safekeeping.

Because the warnings about the Illuminati were ignored, the Revolution broke out in 1789, as scheduled by Weishaupt. In order to alert other governments to their danger, Robison published, in 1789, a book entitled "Proof of a Conspiracy to Destroy All Governments and Religions", but his warnings were also ignored.

The Napoleonic Wars

The men who had directed the French Revolution decided to engage in another international plot. This time they organized the Napoleonic Wars to topple several more of the Crowned Heads of Europe.

One branch of the Financiers financed Napoleon, while another branch financed Britain, Germany, and other nations. Of course, both branches received their orders from the masterminds of the Illuminati.

Immediately after the Napolionic Wars, the Illuminati assumed that all the nations would be so desperate and so weary of wars that they would be glad for any solution. So the stooges of the Illumiati set up what they called «The Congress of Vienna». At this meeting they tried to create the first league of nations, their first attempted one world government. They held the theory that all the Crowned heads of the European Government were so deeply in debt to them that they would willingly or unwillingly seve as their stooges. But the Czar of Russia caught on to the plot, and completely torpedoed it. The enraged Financiers then vowed that some day they would destroy the Czar and his entire family. And this very threat was later accomplished in 1917.

We must bear in mind that the Illumianti was not set up to operate on a short-range basis. Normally, a conspirator of any type enters into a conspiracy with the expectation of achieving his objective during his own lifetime. But that was not the case with the Illuminati. True, they hoped to accomplish their objective during their lifetime but, paraphrasing "the show must go on", the Illuminati operates on the very long-range basis. Whether it will take scores of years or even centuries, they have dedicated their descendants to keep the plot going until they hope the conspiracy is achieved.

The disastrous rebuff at the congress held in Vienna by the Czar of Russia did not by any means destroy the Illuminati conspiracy; it merely forced them to adopt a new strategy. Realizing that the one world idea was, for the moment, killed, the Illuminati decided that, to keep their power, they would have to tighten their control of the money system of the European nations.

To control the economy

Earlier, the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo had been falsified. The Financiers had spread a story that Napoleon had won that battle, which brought about a panic on the stock market in England. All stocks had plumped down to practically zero. The International Bankers then bought all the stocks for virtually a penny on its dollar value, which gave them complete control of the economy of Britain and, virtually, of all Europe.

Immediately after the congress held in Vienna, the International Bankers forced Britain to set up a new bank of England, which they controlled absolutely, and which they still control to this very day.

Weishaupt died in 1830, but prior to his death, he prepared a revised version of the age-old conspiracy of the Illuminati, which, under various names, was to organize, finance, direct, and control all international organizations and groups bu working their agents into executive positions at the top.

The revolutionary program

In 1848, Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, under the direction of one group of Illuminists, while Professor Karl Ritter of Frankfurt University wrote the anti-thesis, under the direction of another group of Illuminists. the idea was that those who direct the overall conspiracy could use the differences of those two so-called ideologies to enable them to divide larger and larger members of the human race into opposing camps so that they could be armed and then brainwashed into fighting and destroying each other. And, in particular, to destroy all political and religious institutions.

The work Ritter started was continued after his death and completed by the German so-called philosopher, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. Nietzsche helped to develop Racism and then Naziism, which was used to foment World War I and II.

In 1834, the Italian revolutionary leader, Giuseppe Mazzini, was selected by the Illuminati to direct their revolutionary program throughout the world. He served in that capacity until he died in 1872. But some years before he died, Mazzini had enticed an American general named Albert Pike into the Illuminati. Pike was fascinated by the idea of a one world government, and ultimately he became the head of this Luciferian conspiracy.

Between 1859 and 1871, Pike worked out a military blueprint for three world wars and various revolutions throughout the world which he considered would forward the conspiracy to its final stage in the 20th Century.

World wars

The First World War was to be fought so as to enable the Illuminati to destroy Czarism in Russia, as vowed by the International Bankers after the Czar had torpedoed his scheme at the congress held in Vienna, and to transform Russia into a stronghold of atheistic Communism. The differences stirred up by agents of the Illuminati between the German and British Empires would be used to foment this war. After the war would be ended, Communism was to be built up and used to destroy other governments and weaken religions.

The Second World War, when and if necessary, was to be fomented by using the controversies between fascist and political Zionists. During this war, International Communism was to be built up until it equaled in strenght that of the United Christendom. When it reached that point, it was to be contained and kept in check until required for the final social cataclysm.

The Third World War is to be fomented by using the so-called controversy agents of the Illuminati would stir up between political Zionists and the leaders of the Moslem world. That war is to be directed in such a manner that all of Islam and political Zionism, Israel, will destroy each other while, at the same time, the remaining nations, once more divided on this issue, will be forced to fight themselves into a state of complete exhaustion - physically, mentally, spiritually, and economically. The stage will then be set to put the one world government into operation.

A one world government

In the final phases of the conspiracy, the one world government is to consist of a key dictator - the head of the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations (the Illuminati group in the U.S.), a few billionaires, the Communists, and scientists who have proven their devotion to the great conspiracy. All others are to be integrated into a vast conglomeration of monopolized humanity, becoming total slaves of the conspiracy.

In the United States, immediately after World War I, the Illuminati set up what they called the Council on Foreign Relations, commonly referred to as the CFR. This CFR is actually the Illuminati now operating in the U.S. Its hierarchy, the mastermind control of the CFR, to a very great extent, are descendants of the original Illuminati conspirators, even though many of them have changed their names to conceal this fact.

There is a similar establishment of the Illuminati in England, operating under the name of the British Institute of International Affairs. There are similar secret Illuminati organizations in France, Germany, and other nations operating under different names. All of these organizations, including the CFR, continuously set up numerous subsidiary or front organizations that are infiltrated into every phase of the various nations affairs. But at all times, the operation of these organizations were and are masterminded and controlled by the Illuminati.

Myron Fagan

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In this article we have touched only the tip of the iceberg as to what the Illuminati all consists of and of the subversive activities that it engages in. But hopefully you can now understand why we say that the nucleus of all evil stems from those who control the monies of the world. If we want to obtain true justice and peace in the world, we must first free every country from the yoke of International Finance.

In future articles, we will explain the history of the Illuminati in the United States, and how it was able to take complete control of the money system of that country without the American people even realizing what was happening.

Melvin Sickler

 

THE PRESENT-DAY
ILLUMINATI THEORY

The Real or Illusionary Threat
of a Secret Worldwide Conspiracy

by G. Richard Fisher

“For thus the Lord spoke to me with a mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ‘You are not to say, “It is a conspiracy!” in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy. And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear. And He shall be your dread’” (Isaiah 8:11-13).

Some who have never heard the term Illuminati may wonder, “What in the world is it?” The literal definition of the word Illuminati means “the enlightened ones.” It has been a term designating various groups since the mid-1700s. In this century some parts of the fundamental, evangelical and Charismatic Church have become interested in, and occasionally obsessed with, the Illuminati idea.

It is best to speak of the Illuminati as an idea because there are dozens of conflicting theories as to just whom the group is and what it is doing today. People who become heavily involved in the elusive pursuit of the Illuminati seem to fall under a deep persuasion of an “imminent takeover” and a “secret worldwide conspiracy” underlying everything happening today. Of course, the predetermined dates come and go and the takeover never takes!

Sometimes in the scheme presented there is an attempt to match the Antichrist to a specific person or movement. In short, the Illuminati has been credited with everything from the triggering of the French and American revolutions, being the brains behind communism, controlling all the banks and money of the world, to plotting to take over the world at any moment.

Not everyone holding and promoting such ideas is viewed as a fringe extremist or cult member. Some have gain prominence and esteem within Christian camps. For example, televangelist-turned-politician, Pat Robertson, writes in his book, The New World Order, that the Illuminati is about to install the new world order. All in all, it is folklore and myth that just refuses to die.

Brooks Alexander, of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, comments on the real lack of documentation for the worldwide conspiracy theory:

“Rumor and speculation fill the gaps between scanty data. A net of suggestive (but inconclusive) circumstances can be extended as far as the mind can throw it. ... Some theorists are serious and qualified scholars, but they had to struggle uphill to establish credibility in a field dominated by cranks, extremists, and hidden agendas. Conspiracy enthusiasts have taken spectacular leaps to get ‘behind the scenes.’”1

The Illuminati idea or concept was kept alive in the 1920s by no less than Henry Ford (with a hateful anti-Semitic thrust). In the three following decades it was perpetuated by certain men like Gerald Winrod and Myron Fagin. However, the premise did not become popular and widely accepted until the 1960s generation with the rising rejection of the government and authority and especially the widespread distribution of John Birch Society materials and the literature of the anti-Zi